-iii^lis
Igwt tke/e Bttks
for the fau/niimg tf a- College in iM^ Colony^l
ILIlIBI^^IElf -
Gift of
11^
Z&
THE
WOEKS
OF
PRESIDENT EDWARDS.
In jTour Volumt^.
VALUABLE ADDITIONS AND A COPIOUS GENERAL INDEX,
A COMPLETE INDEX OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS.
Vol. IV.
NEW YORK:
EOBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS,
530 Broadway. 1881.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV.
¦K
m)
36
64.
-i
m'
ico
-i
ns
2na
226 •
.^
254.
Paur
t UMON I. Importance and Advantage of a thorough Knowledge of Divine
Truth . . ' . . ~ . . . . . .
II. Men's Natural Blindness, in the tilings of Religion
111. Men Naturally God's Enemies ......
IV. Justification by Faith alone ......
V. The Wisdom of God, displayed in the way of Salvation
VI. God glorified in Man's Dependence .....
VII. The ExceUency of Christ
VIII. The Final Judgment; or the World judged r'ghteously by Jesus
Christ ..........
IX. The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners a- . . . :
X. The Future Panishment of the Wicked unavoidable and intolerable :
XI. The Eternity of Hell Torments . . . . . .;
XII. When the Wicked shall have filled up the measure of their Sin, wralh ¦
will come upon them to the uttermost ..... 280 /'
XIII. The End of the Wicked contemplated by the Righteous; or, The"
t'orments of the Wicked ia Hell, no occasion of grief to the Saints in
Heaven .......
XIV. Wicked Men useful in their Destruction only .
XV. Sinners Ln the hands of an Angry God .
XVI. The vain Self-Flatteries of the Smner
XVII. The Warnings of Scripture are in the best manner adapted lo the
awakening and conversion of Sinners
XVIII. Unreasonableness of Indetermination in Religion
XIX. The Sin and Folly of depending on Future Time
XX. Unbelievers contemn the Glory and Excellency of Christ
XXI. The Manner in which the Salvation of the Soul is to be sough
XXII. Pressmg into the Kingdom of God
XXIII. The Folly of looking back in fleeing out of Sodom .
XXIV. Ruth's Resolution .....
XXV. Great Guilt no obstacle to the pardon of the returning Sinner .422
XXVI. The Peace which Christ gives his true Followers . . { 429!
XXVII. A Divine and Supernatural Light, immediately imparted to the"*-™'
Soul by the Spirit of God, shown to be both a Rational and Scriptural - .^
Doctrine ......... 438 <
XXVIII. True Grace distinguished from the experience of Devils . . .453
XXIX. Hjrpocrites deficient in the duty of Prayer . . . .474
XXX. The fearfulness which will hereafter surprise Sinners in Zion, repre-,
sented and improved ........ 4SS '
XXXI. Great care necessary, lest we live in some Way of Sin . . 502
XXXII. A Warning to Professors • or, The great Guilt of those who
attend on the Ordinances of Divine Worship, and yet allow themselves
in any known Wickedness ....... 52J
XXXIII. God the best portion of the Christian .... 540
XXXIV. God's Sovereignty . . . . . 54S .
300
£.13 ,
33.0 M
. 338-
. 347 _..
•CSfi] ¦
. 308' '
. 381 -
• 403;
.412
IV
CONTENTS.
XXXV. The Most High a Prayer Hearing God . . . • 58
.XXXVl. The Trae Christian's life, a journey towai-ds Heaven . . 6?
'XXXVII. Jo-seph* Great Temptation and Gracious Deliverance . . 66
XXXVIII. The Sin of Theft and of Injustice . . . .601
XXXIX! The Perpetuity and Change of the Sabbath . . .61
^3r' The Nature and Eud of Excommunication , . • . 6Z\
SERMONS
OIT
VARIOUS IMPORTANT SUBJECTIS.
SERMONS
ON VARIOnS
[MPORTANT SUBJECTS
SERMON I.
THE iMFORT.VNCE AND ADVANTAGE OF A THOROUGH KNOWLEDGE OF DIVINE TRUTH
Hebrews V. 12. — For when, for the time, ye ought tobe teachers, ye have need that one teach vo/.
again wnirh be the first principles ofthe oracles of God ; and are become such as liave need of milk, ano
not of strong meal.
These words are a complaint, which the apostle makes of a certain defect
in the Christian Hebrews, to whon he wrote. Wherein we may observe,
1. What the defect complained of is, viz., a want of .such a proficiency
va the knowledge of the doctrines and mysteries of religion, as might have been
expected of them. The apostle complains of them, that they had not made
that progress in their acquaintance with tbe things of divinity or things taught
in the oracles of God, which they ought to have made. And he means
to reprove them, not merely for their deficiency in spiritual and experimental
knowledge of divine things, but for their deficiency in a doctrinal acquaintance
with the principles of rehgion, and the truths of Christian divinity ; as is evident
by several things.
It appears by the manner in which the apostle introduces this complaint or
reproof The occasion of his introducing it, is this : in the next verse but one
preceding, he mentions Christ's being a high priest after the order of Melchi
zedek : " Called of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek." This
Melchizedek being in the Old Testament, which was the oracles of God, held
forth as an eminent type of Christ, and the account we there have of Melchi
zedek containing raany gospel mysteries, these the apostle was willing to point
out to the Christian Hebrews. But he apprehended, that through their weak
ness in knowledge, and little acquaintance in mysteries of that nature, they
would not understand him ; and therefore breaks off for the present from saying
any thing about Melchizedek. Thus, in verse 1 1, " Of whora we have many
things to say, and hard to be uttered ; seeing ye are dull of hearing ;" i. e.,
there are many things concerning Melchizedek, which contain wonderful gos
pel mysteries, and which I would take notice of to you, were it not that 1 am
afraid, that through your dulness and backwardness in understanding these
things, you would only be puzzled and confounded by my discourse, and so
receive no benefit ; and that it would be too hard for you, as meat that is too
Strong. • Dated November, 1739.
Vol. IV 1
2 IMPORTANCE OF IHE
Then come in the words of the text : " For when, for the time, ye oueh' tc
be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles
of the oracles of God ; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of
strong meat." As much as to say, Indeed it might have been expected of you,
that you should have known enough of divinity, and the holy Scriptures, to be
able to understand and digest iiuch mysteries : but it is not so with you.
Again, The aposlle speaks of Iheir proficiency in such knowledge as is con
veyed and received by human teaching ; as appears by that expression, " When
„ forthe time ye ought to be teachers ;" which ir^^udes not only a practical and
j experimental, but also a doctrinal knowledge of the trutns aud n: ysteries of
religion. Again, The apostle speaks of such a knowledge, whereby Christians are
enabled to digest strong meat ; i. e., to understand those things in divinity
which are more abstruse and difficult to be understood, and which require great
skill in things of this nature. This is more fully expressed in the two next
verses: for everyone that useth milk, is unskilful in the word of righteousness ;
for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even
those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good
and evil."
Again, It is such a knowledge, that proficiency in it shall carry persons be
yond the first principles of religion. As here : " Ye have need that one xeacn
you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God." Therefore the
apostle, in the beginning of the next chapter, advises them, " to leave the first
principles of the doctrine of Christ, and to go on unto perfection."
2. We may observe wherein the fault of this defect appears, viz., in that
they had not made proficiency according to their time. For the time, they
ought to have been teachers. As they were Christians, their business was to
learn and gain Christian knowledge. They were scholars in the school of
Christ ; and if they had improved their time in learning, as they ought to have
done, they might, by the time when the apostle wrote, have been fit to be teach
ers in this school. To whatever business any one is devoted, it may be ex
pected that his perfection in it shall be answerable m the +ime he has had to
learn and perfect himself — Christians should not always remain babes, but should
grow in Christian knowledge ; and, leaving the food of babes, which is milk,
should learn fo digest strong meat. DOCTRINE :
Every Christian should make a business of endeavoring to grow in know
ledge in divinity.
This is indeed esteemed the business of divines and ministers : it is commonly
thought to be their work, by the study of the Scriptures, and other instructive
books, to gain knowledge ; and most seem to think that it may be left to them,
as what belongeth not to others. But if the apostle had entertained this notion,
he would never have blamed the Christian Hebrews for not having acquired
knowledge enough to be teachers : or if he had thought, that this concerned
Christians in general, only as a thing by the by, and that their time should not,
in a considerable raeasure, be taken up with this business; he never would have
so rauch blaraed them, that their proficiency in knowledge had not been answei"
able to the tirae which they had had to learn.
In handling this subject, T shall show,
I. What divinitj is
KNOWLEDGE OF DIVINE TRUTH. 3
2, What kind of knowledge in divinity is intended in the doctrine.
3 Why knowledge in divinity is necessary.
4. Why all Christians should make a business of endeavoring to grow in
Ihis knowledge.
First, I shall very briefly show what divinity is.
Various definitions have been given of it by those who have treated on the
subject. I shall not now stand to inquire which, according to the rules of art,
IS the most accurate definition ; but shall so define or describe it, as I think has
the greatest tendency to convey a notion of it to this auditory.
By divinity is meant, that science or doctrine which comprehends all those
truths and rules which concern the great business of religion. There are vari
ous kinds of arts and sciences taught and learned in the schools, which are
conversant about various objects ; about the works of nature in general, as
philosophy ; or the visible heavens, as astronomy ; or the sea, as navigation ;
or the earth, as geography ; or the body of raan, as physic and anatomy ;
or the soul of raan, with regard to its natural powers and qualities, as
logic and pneumatology ; or about human governraent, as politics and juris
prudence. But there is one science, or one certain kind of knowledge and
doctrine, which is above all the rest, as it is concerning God and the great business
of religion : this is divinity ; which is not learned, as other sciences, raerely by
the improvement of raan's natural reason, but is taught: by God himself in a
certain book that he hath given for tbat end, full of instruction. This is the rule
which God hath given to the world to be their guide in searching after this kind
of knowledge, and is a suraraary of all things of this nature needful for us to know.
Upon this account divinity is rather called a doctrine, than an art or science.
Indeed there is what is called natural religion or divinity. There are many
truths concerning God, and our duty to him, which are evident by the light of
nature. But Christian divinity, properly so called, is not evident by_the light
of naturejit depends ori^feyelatibn. Such are our circurastances now in ouH
fallen state, thaFiiothing which it is needful for us to know concerning God, is
manifest by the light of nature in the manner in which it is necessary for us to
know it. For the knowledge of no truth in divinity is of any significance to us,
any otherwise than, as it some way or other belongs to the gospel scheme, or
as it relates to a Mediator. But the light of nature teaches us no truth of divinity
in this matter. Therefore it cannot be sa|d, that we come to the knowledge, of
anyipart^of^ChrlstiaiidiyinitylSylhili^ The light of nature teaches
no truth as it is in Jesus. It is only the word of God, contained in the Old and
New Testament, which teaches us Christian divinity. _
Divinity comprehends all that is taught in the Scriptures, and so all that we
need know, or is to be known, concerning God and Jesus Christ, concerning
our duty to God, and our happiness in God. Divinity is commonly defined,
the doctrine of living to God ; and by sorae who seera to be more accurate, the
doctrine of living to God by Christ. It comprehends all Christian doctrines as
they are in Jesus, and all Christian rules directing us in living to God by Christ
There is nothing in divinity, no one doctrine, no promise, no rule, but what
some way or other relates to the Christian and divine life, or our living to God
by Christ. They all relate to this, in two respects, viz., as they tend to promote |
our living to God here in this world, in a life of faith and holiness, and also as ;
they tend to bring us to a life of perfect holiness and happiness, in the full en- i
joyment of God hereafter.— But I hasten to the ....
Second thin^ proposed, viz.. To show what kind of knowledge in divinity is
"otended in the doctrine.
4 IMPORTANCE OF THE
Here I would observe :
1. That there are two lands of knowledge ofthe thing.s of divinity, nz.,
speculative and practical, or in other terms, natural and spiritual. The former
remains only in the head. No other faculty but the undersianding is concerned
in it. It consists in having a natural or rational knowledge of the things of
religion, or such a knowledge as is to be obtained by the natuial exercise of our
own faculties, without any special illumination of the Spirit of God. The latter
rests not entirely in the head, or in the speculative ideas of things ; but the heart
is concerned in it : it principally consists in the sense of the heart. The mere
intellect, without the heart, the will or the inclination, is not the seat of it And
it may not only be called seeing, but feeling pr tasting. Thus there is a diffier-
ence between having a right speculative notion of the doctrines contained in the
word of God, and having a due sense of them in the heait. In the former con
sists speculative or natural knowledge of the ihings of divinity ; in the latter
consists the spiritual or practical knowledge of them.
2. Neither of these is intended in tlie doctrine exclusively of the other : but
it is intended that we should seek the former in order to the latter. The latter,
even a spiritual and practical knowledge of divinity, is of the greatest impor
tance; for a speculative knowledge of it, without a spiritual knowledge, is in
vain and to no purpose, but to make our condemnation the greater. Yet_a
speailatLye knowledge is also of infinite importance in this respect, that wiihout
it we can have no spiritual or practical knowledge ; as may be shown by
and by.
I have already shown, that the apostle speaks not only of a spiritual know
ledge, but of such knowledge as can be acquired, and communicated from one
to another. Yet it is not to be thought, that he means this exclusively of the
other. But he would have the Christian Hebrews seek the one, in order to the
other. Therefore the former is first and most directly intended ; it is intended
that Christians should, by reading and other proper means, seek a good rational
knowledge of the things of divinity. The latter is more indirectly intended,
since it is to be sought by the other, as its end. — But I proceed to the
Third thing proposed, viz.. To show the usefulness and necessity of know
ledge in divinity.
1. There is no other way by which any raeans of grace whatsoever can be
of any benefit, but by knowledge. All teaching is in vain, without learning
Therefore the preaching of the gospel would be wholly to no purpose, if it con
veyed no knowledge to the raind. There is an order of men whom Christ has
ippointed on purpose to be teachers in his church. They are to teach the things
of divinity. But they teach in vain, if no knowledge in these things is gained
by their teaching. It is impossible that their teaching and preaching should bt
a means of grace, or of any good in the hearts of their hearers, any otherwise than
by knowledge imparted to the understanding Otherwise it would be of as
much benefit to the auditory, if the minister should preach in sorae unknown
tongue. All the difference is, that preaching in a known tongue conveys some
thing to the understanding, which preaching in an unknown tongue doth not.
On this account, such preaching must be unprofitable. Men in such things
receive nothing, when they understand nothing ; and are not at all edified jn-
less some knowledge be conveyed ; agreeably to the apostle's arguing in 1 Cor.
xiy. 2 — 6.
—^ No speech can be any means of grace, but by conveying knowledge. Other
wise the speech is as much lost as if there had been no man there and he that
spoke, had spoken only into the air ; as it follows in the passage just quoted
KNOWLEDGE OF DIVINE TRUTH. 5
verses 6 — 10. He that doth not understand, can receive no faith, nor any other'
grace ; for God deals with raan as with a rational creature ; and when faith is
in exercise, it is not about soraething he knows not what. Therefore hearing
is absolutely necessaiy to faith ; because hearing is necessaiy to undersianding :
Rom. x. 14, " How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard'!"
So there can be no love without knowledge. It is not according to the
nature of the human soul, to love an object which is entirely unknown. The
heart cannot be set upon an object of which there is no idea in the understanding.
Thej;easjms which induce the soul to love, must first be understood, before they
can have^a reasonable influence on the heart.
God hath given usTEe^Bible, wTiich is a book of instructions. But this book
can be of no manner of profit to us, any otherwise than as it conveys some
knowledge to the raind : it can profit us no raore than if it were written in the
Chinese or Tartarian language, of which we know not one word.
So the sacraraents of the gospel can have a proper eff'ect no other way,
than by conveying some knowledge. They represent certain things by visible
signs. And what is the end of signs, but to convey some knowledge of the
things signified 1 Such is the nature of man, that nothing can come at ihe
heart, but through the door of the understanding : and there can be no spirit-
ual knowdedge_o£that_of\vhich_there is not first a ratipiTarTthowlexTge. It is
irapossible that any one should see the truth or excellency of any doctiine of the
gospel, who knows not what that doctrine is. A raan cannot see the wonderful
excellency and love of Christ in doing such and such things for sinners, unless his
understanding be first informed how those Ihings were done. He cannot have
a taste of the sweetne.ss and divine excellency of such and such things contained
in divinity, unless he first have a notion that there are such and such things.
2. Without krwwledge in divinity, none would differ from the most ignorant
and barbarous heathens. The heathens remain in gross heathenish darkness,
because they are not instructed, and have not obtained the knowledge of the
truths of divinity. So if we live under the preaching of the gospel, this will
make us to differ from them, only by conveying to us more knowledge of the
things of divinity.
3. If a man have no knowledge of the.se things, the faculty of reason in him
will be wholly in vain. The faculty of reason and understanding was given
for actual understanding and knowledge. If a man have no actual knowledge,
the faculty or capacity of knowing is of no use to hira. And if he have actual
knowledge, yet if he be destitute of the knowledge of those things which are
the last end of his being, and for the sake of the knowledge of which he had
more understanding given him than the beasts; then still his faculty of reason
is in vain ; he might as well have been a beast, as a man with this knowledge.
But the thino-s of divinity are the things to know which we had the faculty of
reason given us. They are the things which appertain to the end of our being,
and to the great business for which we are made. Therefore a man cannot have
his faculty of understanding to any purpose, any further than he hath knowledge
of the things of divinity.
So that this kind of knowledge is absolutely necessary. Other kinds of
knowledge may be very useful. Some other sciences, such as astronomy, and
natural philosophy, and geography, may be very excellent in their kind. But
the knowledge ofthis divine science is infinitely more useful and important than
that of all ofher sciences whatever.
I come now to the fourth, and principal thing proposed under the
doctrine vIz.T To give the reasons why all Christians shouW raake a busi-
6 IMPORTANCE OF THE
ness of endeavoring to grow in the knowledge of divinity This implies
two things.
1. That Christians ought not to content themselves with such degrees of
knowledge in divinity as they have already obtained. It should not satisfy theny
that they know as much as is absolutely necessary to salvation, but should seek
to make progress.
2. That this endeavoring to make progress in such knowledge ought not tc
be attended to as a thing by the by, but all Christians should make a business
of it : they should look upon it as a part of their daily business, and no sraall
part of it neither. It should be attended to as a considerable part of the work
of their high calling. The reason of both these may appear in the following
things. (1.) Our business should doubtless much consist in employing those facul
ties, by which we are distinguished from the beasts, about those things which
are the main end of those faculties. The reason why we have faculties superior
to those of the brutes given us, is, that we are indeed designed for a superior
employment. That which the Creator intended should be our main employment,
is something above what he intended the beasts for, and therefore hath given
us superior powers. Therefore, without doubt, it should be a considerable part
of our business to improve those superior faculties. But the faculty by which
we are chiefly distinguished from the brutes, is the faculty of understanding. It
follows then, that we should make it our chief business to improve this faculty,
and should by no means prosecute it as a business by the by. For us to make
the improvement of this faculty a business by the by, is in effect for us to make
the faculty of understanding itself a by faculty, if 1 may so speak, a faculty of
less importance than otheis ; whereas indeed it is the highest faculty we have.
But we cannot make a business of the improvement of our intellectual facul
ty, any otherwise than by making a business of improving ourselves in actual
understanding and knowledge. So that those who make not this very much
their business, but, instead of improving their understanding to acquire know
ledge, are chiefly devoted to their inferior powers, to provide wherewithal to
please their senses, and gratify their animal appetites, and so rather make their
understanding a servant to their inferior powers, than their inferior powers ser
vants to their understanding ; not only behave themselves in a manner not be
coming Christians, but also act as if they had forgotten that they are men,
and that God hath set them above the brutes, by giving them understanding.
God hath given to raan some things in common with the brutes, as his out
ward senses, his bodily appetites, a capacity of bodily pleasure and pain, and
other animal faculties : and some things he halh given him superior to the
brutes, the chief of which is a faculty of understanding and reason. Now God
never gave man those faculties whereby he is above the brutes, to be subject tf
those which he hath in common with the brutes. This would be great confu
sion, and equivalent to making raan to be a servant to the beasts. On the con
trary, he has given those inferior powers to be employed in subserviency to
man's understanding ; and therefore it must be a great part of man's principal
business, to improve his understanding by acquiring knowledge. If so, then it
will follow, that it should be a main part of his business to iraprove his under
standing in acquiring divine knowledge, or the knowledge of the thino-s of
divinity ; for the knowledge of these things is the principal end ofthis faculty.
God gave man the faculty of understanding, chiefly, that he mio-ht understand
divine things. )
The wiser heathers were sensible that the main business of man was the
KNOWLEDGE OF DIVINE TRUTH. 7
improvement and exercise ot his understanding. But they were in the dark, as
Jhey knew noi the object about which the understanding should chiefly be em
ployed. That science which many of them thought should chiefly employ the
understanding, was philosoph} ; and accordingly they made it their chief busi
ness to study it. But we who enjoy the light of the gospel are moie happy
we are not left, as to this particular, in the dark. God hath told us about what)
things we should chiefly employ our understandings, having given us a book'
full of divine instructions, hoUling forth many glorious objects about which all-
rational creatures should chiefly employ their understandings. These instruc
tions are accommodated to persons of all capacities and conditions, and proper
to be studied, noLonly bj^ men of learning, but by persons of every character,
learned and unlearned,' young and old, men and women. Thet-efore the acqui
sition of knowledge in these things should be a ti^ain business of all those who
have the atlvantage of enjoying the Holy Scriptures.
(-2.) The things of divinity are things of superlative excellency, and are
worthy that all should make a business of endeavoring to grow in the know
ledge of them. There are no. things so worthy to be known as these things.
They are as much above those things which are treated of in other sciences, as
heaven is above the earth. God himself, the eternal Three in one, is the chief
object of this science : in the next place, Jesus Christ, as Godman and Mediator,
and the glorious work of redemption, the most glorious work that ever was
wrought : then the great things of the heavenly world, the glorious and eternal
inheritance purchased by Christ, and promised in the gospel; the work of the
Holy Spirit of God on the hearts of men ; our duty to God, and the way in
which we ourselves may become like angels, and like God himself in our mea
sure : all these are objects of this science.
Such things as these have been the main subject of the study of the holy
patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, and the most excellent men that ever were
in the world, and are also the subject of the study of the angels in heaven ; 1
Pet. i. 10, 1 1, 12.
These things are so excellent and worthy to be known, that the knowledge
of thera will richly pay for all the pains and labor of' an earnest seeking of it.
If there were a great treasure of gold and pearls hid in the earth, but should
accidentally be found, and should be opened among us with such circumstances
that all might have as much as they could gather of it ; would not every one
think it worth his while to make a business of gathering it while it should last?
But that treasure of divine knowledge, which is contained in the Scriptures, and
is provided for every one to gather to himself as much of it as he can, is a far
more rich- treasure than any one of gold and pearls. How busy are all sorts
of men, all over the world, in getting riches ! But this knowledge is a far
better kind of riches, than that after which they so diligently and laboriously
pursue. 3. The things of divinity not only concern ministers, but are of infinite im
portance to all Christians. It is not with the doctrines of divinity as it is with
the doctrines of philosophy and other sciences. These last are generally specu
lative points, which are of little concern in human life ; and it very little alters
the case as to our temporal or spiritual interests, whether we know them or not.
Philosophers differ about them, some being of one opinion, and others of ano
ther. And while they are engaged in warm disputes about them, others may
well leave thera to dispute among themselves, without troubling their heads
much about thera ; it being of little concern to them, whether the one or the
Dther bo in the right.
8 IMPORTANCE OF THE
Buf it is not thus in matters of divinity. The doctrines ) this nearly con-
cern every one. They are about those things which relate to every man's eter
nal salvation and h-appiness. The common people cannot say. Let us leave these
matters to ministers and divines ; let them dispute them out among themselves as
they can ; they concern not us : fbr they are of infinite importance to eveiy man.
¦f Those doctrines of divinity which relate to the essence, attributes, and subsisten-
cies of God, concern all ; as it is of infinite importance to common people, as well
' as to ministers, to know what kind of being God is. For he is the Being who
hath made us all, " in whom we live, and move, and have our being ;" who is
the Lord of all ; the Being to whom we are all accountable ; is the last end of
our being, and the only fountain of our happiness.
The doctrines also which relate to Jesus Christ and his mediation, his incar
nation, his life and death, his^-esurrection and ascension, his sitting at the right
hand of the Father, his satisfaction and intercession, infinitely concern common
people as well as divines. They stand in as much need of this Saviour, and of
an interest in his person and offices, and the things which he hath done and
suffered, as ministers and divines.
The same may be said of the doctrines which relate to the manner of a sin
ner's ju.stification, or the way in which he becomes interested in the mediation
of Christ. They equally concern all ; for all stand in equal necessity of justi
fication before God. That eternal condemnation, to which we are all naturally
exposed, is equally dreadful. So with respect to those doctrines of divinity,
which relate to the work of the Spirit of Gcd on the heart, in the application
of redemption in our effectual calling and sanctification, all are equally concerned
in them. There is no doctrine of divinity whatever, which doth not some way
or other concern the eternal interest of every Christian. None of the things
which God hath taught us in his word are needless speculations, or trivial mat
ters; all of them are indeed important points.
4. We may argue from the great things which God hath done in order to
give us instruction in these things. As to other sciences, he hath left us to our
selves, to the light of our own reason. But the things of divinity being of in
finitely greater importance to us, he hath not left us to an uncertain guide ; but
hath himself given us a revelation of the truth in these matters, and hath done
very great things to convey and confirm to us this revelation; raising up many
prophets in different ages, immediately inspiring thera with his Holy Spirit, and
confirming fheir doctrine with innumerable miracles or wonderful woiks out of
the established course of nature. Yea, he raised up a succession of prophets,
which was upheld for several "ges.
It was very much for this end that God separated the people of Israel, in so
wonderful a manner, from all other people, and kept them separate ; that to
thern he might commit Ihe oracles of God, and that from them they might be
communicated to the world. He hath al,so often sent angels to bring divine in
structions to men; and hath often himself appeared to men in miraculous sym
bols or representations of his presence ; and now in these last days hath sent his
own Son into the -world, to be his great prophet, to teach us divinity ; Heb. i
at the beginning. By means of all, God hath given a book of divine instruc
tions, which contains the sum of divinity. Now, these thinos ijath God done
not only for the instruction of ministers and men of learning ; but for the in
struction of all men, of all sorts, learned and unlearned, men, women, and chil
dren. Anit certainly if God doth such great things to teach us, we ought not to
do little to learn.
God hath not made giving instructions to men hi things of divinity a busi-
KNOWLEDGE OF DIVINfi TRUTH 9
oess b) the by ; but a business whidi he hath i.ndertaken and prosecuted in a
oourse of great and wonderful dispensations, as an affair in which his heart
hath been greatly engageil ; which is sometimes in Scripture signified by the
expression of God's rising early to teach us, and to send prophets and teachers to us.
Jer. vii. 25, " Since that day that your fathers carae forth out of the land of
Egypt, unto this day, I have even sent unto you all my ser\ ants the prophets,
¦daily rising up early and sending thera." And so, verse 13, " I spake unto
you, rising up early, and speaking." This is a figuiative speech, signifying, that
God hath not done this as a by business, but as a business of great iraportance,
in which he took great care, and had his heart rauch engaged ; because persons
are wont to rise early to prosecute such business as they are earnestly engaged
"1- — If God hath been so engaged in teaching, certainly we should not be neg^
ligent in learning ; nor should we make growing in knowledge a by business,J
but a great part of the business of our lives.
5. It may be argued from the abundance of the instructions which God hath
given us, frora the largeness of that book which God hath given to teach us
divinity, and from the great variety that is therein contained. Much was taught
by Moses of old, which we have transmitted down to us ; after that, other
books were from time to time added ; rauch is taught us by David and Soloraon;
and raany and excellent are the instructions coramunicated bythe prophets: yet
God did not think all this enough, but after this sent Christ and his apostles, by
whom there is added a great and excellent treasure to that holy book, which is
to be our rule in the study of divinity.
This book was written for the use of all; all are directed to search the
Scriptures. John v. 39, " Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have
eternal life; and they are they that testify of me;" and Isaiah xxxiv. 16,
" Seek ye out ofthe book ofthe Lord, and read." They that read and under
stand are pronounced blessed. Rev. i. 3, " Blessed is he that readeth, and they
that understand the words of this prophecy." If this be true of that particular
book ofthe Revelation, much more is it true ofthe Bible in general. Nor is it
to be believed that God would have given instructions in such abundatice, if he
had intended that receiving instruction should be only a by concernment with us.
It is to be considered, that all those abundant iastructions which are con
tained in the Scriptures were written for that end, that they might be under
stood ; otherwise they are not instructions. That which is not given that the
learner raay understand it, is not given for the learner's instruction ; and unless
w^e endeavor to grow in the knowledge of divinity, a very great part of those
instructions will to us be in vain ; for we can receive benefit by no more of the
Scriptures than we understand, no more than if they were locked up in an un
known tongue. We have reason to bless God that he hath given us such various
and plentiful instruction in his word ; but we shall be hypocritical in so doing,
if we, after all, content ourselves with but little of this instruction. •
When God hath opened a very large treasure before us, for the supply of
our wants, and we thank hira that he hath given us so much ; if at the same
time we be willing to reraain destitute ofthe greatest part of it, because we are
too lazy to gather it, this will not show the sincerity of our thankfulness. We
are now under much greater advantages to acquire knowledge in divinity, than
ihe people of God were of old, because since that tirae, the canon of Scripture
iS much increased. But if we be negligent of our advantages, we raay be
never the better for thera, and may remain with as little knowledge as they.
6. However diligently we apply ourselves, there is room enough to increase.
our knowledge in divinity, without coraing to an end. None have this excuse
Vol. IV 2
10 IMPORTANCE OF THE
to raake for not diligently applying themselves to gain knowledge in divinity.
that they know all already ; nor can they make this excuse, that they have no
need diligently to apply themselves, in order to know all that is to ha^knovni.
None can excuse themselves for want of business in which to eraploy them
selves. Here is room enough to employ ourselves forever in this divine
science, with the utmost application. Those who have applied themselves
most closely, have studied the longest, and have made the greatest attain
ments in this knowledge, know but httle of what is to be known. The
subject is inexhaustible. That divine Being, who is the main subject of
this science, is infinite, and there is no end to the glory of his perfection.s.
His works at the same time are wonderful, and cannot be found out to per
fection ; especially the work of redemption, which is that work of God about
which the science of divinity is chiefly conversant, is full of unsearchable
wonders. The word of God, which is gi>en for our instruction in divinity, contains
enough in it to employ us to the end of our lives, and then we shall leave
enough uninvestigated to employ the heads of the ablest divines to the end of
the world. The Psalmist found an end to the things that are human; but he
could never find an end to what is contiiined in the word of God ; Psalm cxix.
96, " I have seen an end to all perfection ; but thy commandment is exceeding
broad.'' There is enough in this divine science to employ the understandings of
saints and angels to all eternity.
7. It doubtless concerns every one to end£avor to excel in the knowledge
of things which pertain to his profession or principal calling. If it concerns men
to excel in any thing, or in any wisdom or knowledge at all, it certainly con
cerns thera to excel in the aflfairs of their main profession and work. But the
calling and work of every Christian is to live to God. This is said to be his
high calling, Phil. iii. 14. This is the business, and, if I may so speak, the
trade of a Christian, his main work, and indeed shoiild be his only work. No
business should be done by a Christian, but as it is some way or other a part of
this Therefore certainly the Christian should endeavor to be well acquainted
with those things which belong to this work, that he may fulfil it, and he
thoroughly furnished to it.
It becomes one who is called to be a soldier, and to go a warfare, to endea
vor to excel in the art of war. It becomes one who is called to be a mariner,
and to spend his life in sailing the ocean, to endeavor to excel in the art of navi
gation. It becomes one who professes to be a physician, and devotes himself
to that work, to endeavor to excel in the knowledge of those things which per
tain to the art of physic. So it becomes all such as profess to be Christians, and
to devote themselves to the practice of Christianity, to endeavor to excel in the
knowledge of divinity.
8» It may be argued from this, that God hath appointed an order of men
for this end, to assist persons in gaining knowledge in these Ihings. He hath
appointed them to be teachers. 1 Cor. xii. 28, " And God hath set some in the
church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers." Eph. iv. 11, 12,
" He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and
teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ." If God hath set them to be teachers, makinc
that their business, then he hath raade it their business to irapart knowledge
But what kind of knowledge 1 Not the knowledge of philosophy, or of human
laws, or of mechanical arts, but of divinity.
If God hath made it the bu?iness of some to be teachers, it will follow that
KNOWLEDGE OF DIVINE TRUTH.
he hath made it the business of others to be learners ; for teachers anil learners
are correlates, one of which was never intentletl to be without the other. God
hath never made it the duty of some to take pains to leach those who are not
obliged to take pains to learn. He hath not commanded ministers lo spend
themselves, in order to impart knowledge to those who are not obliged lo apply
themselves to receive it.
The name by which Christians are commonly called in the New Testa
ment is disciples, the signification of which word is scholars or learners. All
Christians are put into the school of Christ, where their business is lo learn, or
receive knowledge from Christ, their common master and teacher, and from
those inferior teachers appointed by him to instruct in his name.
9. God hath in the Scriptures plainly revealed it to be his will, that all
Christians shnidd diligently endeavor to excel inthe knowledgeof divine Ihings.
It is the revealed will of God, that Christians .should not only have some
knowledge of things of this nature, but that they should be enriched -with all
knowledge : 1 Cor. i. 4, 5, " 1 thank my God always on your behalf, for the
grace of God that is given you by Jesus Christ, that in every thing )e are en
riched by hira, in all utterance, and in all knowledge." So the apostle earnestly
prayed, that the Christian Philippians might abound moie and more, not only
in love, but in Christian knowledge : Philip, i. 9, " And this I pray, that your
love may abound yet more and more in knowledge, and in all judgment." So
the Apostle Peter advises to " give all diligence, to add lo failh virtue, and to
virtue knowledge," 2 Pet. i. 5. And ihe Apostle Paul, in the next chapter
to that wherein is the text, counsels the Chii.stian Hebrews, leaving the first
principles of the doctrine of Christ, to go on to perfection. He would by no
means have them always to rest only in those fundamental doctrines of repent
ance, and faith, and the resurrection frora the dead, and the eternal judgment,
in which they were indoctrinated when they were first baptized, and had the
apostle's hands laid on them, at their first initiation in Chiistianity. See Heb.
vi., at the beginning.
APPLICATION.
The use that I would make of this doctrine is, to exhort all diligently to
endeavor to gain this kind of knowledge.
Consider yourselves as scholars or disciples, put into the school -of Christ .
and therefore be diligent to make proficiency in Christian knowledge. Con
tent not yourselves wilh this, that you have been taught your catechism in your
childhood, and that you know as much of the principlies of religion as is neces
sary to salvation. So you will be guilty of what the apostle warns against,
viz., going no further than laying the foundation of repentance from dead
works, &c.
You are all called to be Christians, and this is your profession. Endeavoc,
therefore, to acquire knowledge in things which pertain to your profession. —
Let not your teachers have cause to complain, that while they spend and are
spent, to impart knowledge to you, you take little pains to leam. It is a great
encourao-ement to an instructor, to have such to teach as make a business of
learnino-, bending their minds to it. This raakes teaching a pleasure, when
otherwise it will be a very heavy and burdensome task.
You all have by you a large treasure of divine knowledge, in that you have
ie Bible in your hands j therefore be not contented in possessing but little of
Li IMPORTANCE OF THE
this treasure. God hath spoken much to you in the Scripture ; labor to under
stand as much uf what he saith as you can. God hath made you all reasonable
creaaires ; therefore let not the noble facul'y of reason or understanding lie neg
lected. Content no^ yourselves with having so much knowledge as is thrown
in your way. and as you receive in some sense unavoidably by the frequen.
inculcation of divine iruth in the preaching of the word, of which you are
obliged to be hearers, or as you accidentally gain in conversation ; but let it be
very much your business to search for it, and that with the same diligence and
labor with which men are wont to dig in mines of silver and gold.
Especially I would advise those that are young lo eraploy themselves in
this way. Men are never too old to learn ; but the time of youth is e.specially
the tirae for learning ; it is especially proper for gaining and storing up know
ledge. Further, to stir up ail, bolh old and young, to this duty, let me entreat
you to consider,
1. If you apply yourselves diligently to this work, you will not want em
ployment, when you are at leisure from your coraraon secular business. In this
way, you raay find something in which you may profitably employ yourselves
these long winter evenings. You will find soraething else to do, besides going
about from house to house, spending one hour after another in unprofitable con
versation, or, at best, to no other purpose bul lo amuse yourselves, to fill up
and wear away your tirae. And it is to be feared that very much of the time
that is spent in our winter evening visits, is spent to a much worse purpose
than that -which I have now mentioned. Solomon tells us, Prov. x. 19, " That
in the multitude of words, there wanteth not sin." And is not this verified in
those who find nothing else to do for so great 4 part of the winter, but to go
to one another's houses, and spend the time in such talk as comes next, or such
as any one's present disposition happens to suggest ?
Some diversion is doubtless lawful ; but for Christians to spend so much of
their tirae, so many long evenings, in no other conversation than that which
tends to divert and amuse, if nolhing worse, is a sinful way of spending lime,
»nd tends to poverty of soul at least, if not to outward poverty : Prov. xiv. 23,
'' In all labor there is profit ; but the talk of the lips tendeth only lo penury."
Besides, when persons for so much of their time have nothing else to do but to
sit, and talk, anil chat in one another's chimney corners, there is great danger
of falling into foolish and sinful conversation, venting their corrupt dispositions,
in talking against others, expressing their jealousies and evil surmises concem
ing their neighbors ; not considering whal Christ hath said. Matt. xii. 36, " Of
every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account in the day of
judgment." If you would comply wilh what you have heard from this doctrine, you
would find something else to spend your winters in, one winter after another,
besides contention, or talking about those public affairs which tend lo conten
tion. Young people might find something else to do, besides spendino- their
tjme in vain company ; soraething that would be rauch more profitable to' them
selves, as it would really turn to sorae good account ; something, in doing
which they would bolh be more out ofthe devil's way, the way of teraptation, and
be mote in the way of duty, and of a divine blessing. And even aged people
would have something to employ themselves in after they are become incapable
of bodily labor. Their time, as is now often the uase, would not he heavy upon
their hands, as they would, with both profit and pleasure, be engaged in search
ing the Scriptures, and in comparing and meditating upon the various truths
which they should find there.
KNOWLEDGE OF DIVINE TRUTH. 13
2. This would be a noble way of spending your lime. The Holy Spirit
gives the Bereans this epithet, because they diligently employed themselves in
this business : Acts xvii. 1 1, " These were more noble that those of Thes;?alon-
'ca, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the
Scriptures daily, whether those Ihings were so." This is very much the em
ployment of heaven. The inhabitants of that world spend much of their time
in searching into the great things of divinily, and endeavoring to acquire know
ledge in them, as we are told of the angels, 1 Pet. i. 12, " Which things the
angels desire to look into." This will be very agreeable to what you hope will
be your business to all eternity, as you doubtless hope to join in the same em
ployraent with the angels of light. Soloraon say's, Prov. xxv. 2, " It is the
honor of kings to search out a "matter ;" anJ certainly, above all others, to
search out divine matters. Now if this be the honor even of kings, is it not
equally, if not much more, your honor 1
3. fhis is a pleasant way of improving tirae. Knowledge is pleasant and
delightful to intelligent creatures, and above all the ktiowledge of divine things;
for in them are the most excellent truths, and the most beautiful and amiable
objects held forth to view. However tedious the labor necessarily attending
this business may be, yet the knowledge once obtained will richly requite the
pains taken to obtain it. " When wisdom entereth the heart, knowledge is
pleasant to the soul," Prov. ii. 10.
4. This knowledge is exceeding useful in Christian practice. Such as
have much knowledge in divinity have great means and advantages for spiritual
and saving knowledge ; for no means of grace, as was said before, have their
effect on the heart, olherwise than by the knowledge they impart. The raore you
have ofa rational knowledge of the things ofthe gospel, the more opportunity
will there be, when the Spirit shall be breathed into your heart, to see the ex
cellency of these Ihings, and to taste the sweetness of them. The Hea
thens, who have no rational knowledge of the Ihings of the gospel, have no
opportunity to see the excellency of thera ; and therefore the more rational
knowledge of these things you have, the more opportunity and advantage you
have to see the divine excellency and glory of thera.
Ao-ain, The more knowledge you have of divine things, the better will you
know your duly ; your knowledge will be of great use to direct you as to your
duty in particular cases. You will also be the belter furnished against the
temptations of the devi'. For the devil often takes the advantage of persons'
io-norance to ply them with temptations which otherwise would have no hold of
them. By having much knowled.ge, you will be under greater advantages to con
duct yourselves with prudence and discretion in your Christian course, and so
to live much more to the honor of God and religion. Many who mean well,
and are full of a o-ood spirit, yet, for want of prudence, conduct themselves so
as to wound religion. Many have a zeal of God, which doth more hurt than
good, because it is not according to knowledge, Rom. x. 2. The reason why
many good men behave no better in many instances, is not so much that they
want grace, as that they want knowledge.
Besides, an increase of knowledge would be a great help to profitable con
versation It would supply you with matter for conversation when you come
together, or when you visit your neighbors : and so you would have less tempta
tion to spend the time in such conversation as tends to your own and other.s' hurt.
5. Consider the advantages you are under to grow in the knowledge of di
vinity. We are under far greater advantages to gain much knowledge in di-
b
14 IMPORTAVCE OF THE
vinity now, than God's people under the Old Testament, both because the -lan-
on of Scripture is so much enlarged since that time, and also because evangeli
cal truths are now so much moie plainly revealed. . So that common men are
now in some respects under advantages to know more of divinity, than the
greatest prophets were then. Thus that saying of Christ is in a sense applica
ble to us, Luke X. 23, 24, " Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye
see. For 1 tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those
things which ye see, and have not seen them ; and to hear those things which
ye hear, and have not heard them." We are in some respects under far great
er advantages for gaining knowledge, now in these latter ages of the church,
than Christians were formerly; especially by reason of the art of printing, of
which God hath given us the benefit, whereby Bibles and other books of divin
ity are exceedingly multiplied, and persons may now be furnished with helps
for the obtaining of Christian knowledge, al a much easier and cheaper rate
than they formerly could.
6. We know not what opposition we may meet with in the principles
which we hold in divinity. We know that there are many adversaries to the
go. pel and its truths. If therefore we embrace those truths, we must expect to
be attacked by the said adversaries ; and unless we be well informed (concern
ing divine, things, how shall we be able lo defend ourselves 1 Besides, 'he Apostle
Pei.er enjoins it upon us, always to be ready to give an answer to every man
who asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us. But this we cannot expect
to "Jo without a considerable knowledge in divine things.
I shall now conclude ray discourse -with sorae directions for the acquisition
of --his knowledge
1. Be a.ssiduous in reading the holy Scriptures. This is the fountain whence
all knowledge in divinity must be derived. Therefore let not this treasure lie
by you neglected. Every man of comraon understanding who can read, may,
if 1 e please, become well acquainted wilh the Scriptures. And what an excel-
leii £ attainment would this be I
2. Content not yourselves with only a cursory reading, without regarding
the sense. This is an ill way of reading, to which, however, many accustom
themselves all their days. When you read, observe what you read. Observe
how things come in. Take notice of the drift of the discourse, and compare
one Scripture with another. For the Scripture, by the harmony of the diflfer
ent parts of it, casts great light upon itself We are expressly directed by
Christ to search the Scriptures, which evidently intends something more than a
mere cursory reading. And use means to find out the meaning of the Scrip
ture. When you have it explained in the preaching of the word, lake notice
of it ; and if al any tirae a Scripture that you did not understand be cleared up
to your satisfaction, raark it, lay il up, and if possible reraember it.
3. Procure, and diligently use other books which may help you to grow in
this knowledge. There are many excellent books extant, which might greatly
forward you in this knowledge, and afford you a very profitable and pleasant
entertainment in your leisure hours. There is doubtless a great defect in many,
that through a lothness to be at a Utile expense, Ihey furnish themselves -with
no more helps of this nature. They have a few books indeed, which now and
then on Sabbath days they read ; but Ihey have had thera so long, and read
them so often, that they are weary of them, and it is now become a dull story,
a mere task to read them.
4. Improve conversation with others to this end. How much might per
sons promote each other's knowledge in divine things, if they would improve
KNOWLEDGE OF DIVINE TRUTH. 15
conversation as they might ; if men that are ignorant were not ashamed to
show their ignorance, and were willing to learn of others; if those that have
knowledge would TOinraunicale il, wiihout pride and ostentation; and if all
were more disposed to enter on such conversation as would be for their mutual
ed-ficalion and instruction.
5. Seek not !o grow in knowledge chiefly for the sake of applause, and to
enable you to dispute with others ; but seek it for the benefit of your souls, and:
in order to practice. If applause be your end, you will not be so likely to bei
led to the knowledge of the truth, but raay justly, as often is the, case of those
who are proud of their knowledge, be led into error lo your own perdition.
This being your end, if you shouhl obtain mucb rational knowledge, it would
not be hkely to be of any benefit to you, but would puff you up with pride : 1
Cor. viii. 1, " Knowledge puffeth up."
6. Seek lo God, that he would direct you, and bless you, in this pursuit
after knowledge. This is the apostle's direction, James i. 5: " If any raan lack
wisdom, let him ask it of God, who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not."
God is the fountain of all divine knowledge. Prov. ii. 6, " The Lord giveth
wisdom : out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." Labor to
be sensible of your own blindness and ignorance, and jour need ofthe help of
God, lest you be led into error, instead of true knowledge. 1 Cor. iii. 18, " If
any raan would be wise, let him becorae a fool, that he may be wise."
8. Practice according to what knowledge you have. This will be the
way to know raore. The Psalmist warraly recommends this way of seeking
knowledge in divinity, from his own experience : Psal. cxix. 100, " I understand
more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts." Christ also recom
mends the same : John vii. 17, " If any man will do his will, he shall know of
the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself"
SERMON II.
man's natural BLINDNESS IN THE THINGS OF KELIOION
Ps.iLM xciv. 8— 11.— Understand, ye brutish imong the people : and ye fools, when will ye be wise .
He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see ? He that cLas-
tiseth the heathen, shall not he correct ? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know 1 The
Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity.*
SECTION I.
Introductory Observations.
In these words the following particulars are to be observed. (1.) A certain
spiritual disease charged on some persons, viz., darkness, and bhndness of mind;
appearing in iheir ignorance and folly. (2.) The great degree of this disease:
so as lo render the subjects of \i fools. Ye fools, -when will ye be uise ? And
so as to reduce them to a degree of brutishness. Ye brutish amorig thepeople.
This ignorance and folly were to such a degree, as lo render men like beasts.
(3.) The obstinacy of this disease : expressed in that interrogation. When -will
ye be wise? Their blindness and ("oily were not only very great; but deeply
rooted and established, resisting all manner of cure. (4.) Of what nature this
bhndness is. It is especially in things pertaining to God. They were strangely
ignorant of his perfections, like beasts: and had foolish notions of him, as
though he did not se?^ nor know ; and as though he would not execute justice,
by chastising and punishing wicked men. (5.) The unreasonableness and sot
tishness of the notion they hail of God, that he did lot hear, did not observe their
reproaches of him anil his people, is shown by observing that he planted the ear.
Il is very unreasonable to suppose that he, who gave power of perceiving words
to others, should not perctive thera himself And the sottishness of their being
insensible of God's all-seeing eye, and particularly of his seeing their wicked
actions, appears, in that Gorl is the being vihoformed the eye, and gave others
a po-wer of seeing. The sottishness of their apprehension of God, as Ihough he
did not know what they did, is argued frora his being ihe fountain and original
of all knowledge. The unreasonableness of their expecting to escape God's
iust chastiseraents and judgraents for sin, is set forth by his chastising even fhe
heathen, who did not sin against that light, or against so great raercies, as the
wicked in Israel did ; nor had ever made such a profession as they. (6.) We
may observe, that this dreadful disease is ascribed to mankindin general. The
Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. The psalmist had
been setting forth the vanity and unreasonableness of the thoughts of some of
the children of men ; aud imiuediately upon it he observes, that this vanitv and
foolishness of thought is common and natural to mankind.
* This Treatise is a posthumtms work, collected from the author's papers. They were drawn up by
mm in the form of three short sermons, in his usual way of preparation ior the pulpit ; hut were by no
means finished in a manner fit for the public eye. [t is presumed, therefore, that tho present form is
much more suitable to the nature of the subject, than that in which they a|ipeared in the Glasgow edition
'1785) of Eighteen Sermons, connected with the Author's Life, by Dr. Hopkins.
This plan has been occasionally adopted respecting some other cour.ies of sermons, especially posthu
mous ones ; which we h.ive bpen encouraged to do by several judicious friends, who are well acquainted
wilh the author's writings. And we own, it is no small inducement in our view, to edit them in thia
manner in a standard edition, they are much more likely to do good at a future period. A tract may he re-
¦printed with much greater probability of acceptance and success, than the same in the form of sermons, un
finished by the author, with divisions, transitions, &c., to which the generality of readers are unaccus
lomed.— W.
MAN'S N.\TURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION n
From these particulars we may fairly deduce the following doctrinal obstr-
vation : that there is on extreme and brutish blindness in things of religion,
which naturally possesses the hearts qf mankind. — This doctrine is not lo be under
stood as any reflection on the capacity of the human nature ; for God hath made
man with a noble and excellent capacity. The blindness I speak of, is not a
merely negative ignorance ; such as in trees and stones, that know nolhing.
They have no faculties of understanding and perception, whereby they should
be capable of any knowledge. And inferior aniraals, though they have sensi
tive perception, are not capable of any intellectual views. There is no fiiult to
be found with man's natural faculties. God has given men faculties truly
noble and excellent ; well capable of true wisdora and divine knowledge. Nor
is the blindness I speak of like the ignorance of a new-born infant ; which
arises from want of necessary opportunity to exert these faculties.
The blindness that is in the heart of man, which is spoken of in the text and
doctrine, is neither for want of faculties nor opportunity to know, but frora some
positive cause. There is a principle in his heart, of such a blinding and besot
ting nature, that it hinders the exercises of h\s faculties about the things of reh
gion ; exercises for which God has made hira well capable, and for which he
gives him abundant opportunity.
In order to make it appear, that such an extreme brutish blindness, with
respect to the things of religion, does naturally possess the hearts of men, I shall
show how this is manifest in those things that appear in men's open profession;
and how it is raanifest in those things tliat are found by inward experience, and
are visible in men's practice. SECTION n.
Man's natural blindness in Religion, manifested by those things -which appear
in men's open profession.
I would now show, how it is manifest that there is a sottish and brutish
blindness in the hearts «>f men in the things of religion, by those things which
appear in men's open profession.
1. It appears in the grossness of that ignorance and those delusions, which
have appeared among mankind. Man has faculties given him whereby he is
well capable of inferring the being of the Creator from the creatures. The
invisible things of God are very plainly and clearly to be seen by the things
that are raade; and the perfections of the Divine Being, his eternal power and
Godhead, are very raanifest in the works of his hands. And yet grossly absurd
notions concerning the Godhead have prevailed in the world. Instead of ac
knowledging and worshipping the true God, they have fallen off to the worship
of idols. Instead of acknowledging the one only true God, they haye made a
multitude of deities. Instead of worshipping a God, who is an almighty, infi
nite, all-wise, and Holy Spirit, they have worshipped the hosts of heaven, the
sun, moon, and stars ; and the works oftheir own hands, images of gold and
silver, brass and iron, wood and stone ; gods that can neither hear, nor see, no'
walk, nor speak, nor do, nor know any thing. Sorae in the shape of men,
others in the shape of oxen and calves ; some in the shape of serpents, others
of fishes, &c. . I- 1 i_
The sottishness of men in thus worshipping the lifeless images which they
themselves have made, is elegantly and forcibly represented by the prophet
[saiah. " The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth
it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms. Yea, he U
Vol. IV. 2
18 MAN'S NATURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION.
hungry, and his strength faileth ; he drinketh no water, and is faint. The car
penter stretcheth out his rule ; he marketh it out with a hne : he fitteth it wilt
planes, and he marketh il out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure
of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house
He heweth him down cedars, -and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he
strengtheneth for hiraself among the trees of the forest ; he planteth an ash, and
the rain dolh nourish il. Then shall it be for a man to burn : for he will take
thereof and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he
maketh a god, and worshippeth il : he maketh it a graven image, and fallelh
down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire ; with part thereof he eat
eth flesh : he roasteth roast, and is satisfied : yea, he warmeth himself, and saith
Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. And the residue thereof he maketh a
god, even his graven image : he fallelh down unto it, and worshippeth it, and
prayeth unto it, and sailh. Deliver ipe, for thou art my god. They have not
known, nor understood : for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see, and
their hearts, that they cannot understand. And none considereth in his heart,
neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in
the fire, yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted
flesh, and eaten il, and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination 1 Shall
I fall down to the slock of a tree 1" Isa. xliv. 12 — 19.
Many of the images which the heathen worshipped were made in the most
monstrous and terrible shapes they could devise ; and the more hideous and
frightful they appeared, the better they supposed they would serve their turn
for gods. Some of their images were made so as to be the most unclean rep
resentations ; images ofmen openly exposing their nakedness. These unclean
images, they judged, appeared in a god-like manner,, and worthy to be -worship
ped. Many, instead of worshipping a holy and good God, and infinitely per
fect Being, ascribed vices to many of the gods which they worshipped. One
god they reckoned notorious for drunkenness ; others notorious for uncleanness :
to others they ascribed lying and stealing ; to others cruelty ; and yet looked upon
them worthy to be worshipped as gods ! Many worshipped devils, who ap
peared to thera, and whom they themselves reckoned lo be evil spirits ; but yet
built temples, and offered sacrifices to them, because they were afraid of them.
Many worshipped beasts and birds and fshes ; and the most hateful and loath
some animals were most worshipped ; particularly, serpents were more com
monly worshipped than any other beast. Many worshipped rivers, and trees,
and mountains. They worshipped many diseases. There is scarcely any thing
of which men have not made gods.
And so far has that principle of blindness prevailed, with respect to the
things of religion, that il has in a great measure extinguished all lio^hl in the
rainds of many, even in matters of morality, and Ihings that have but a distant
relation to religion. So that many whole nations have professedly approved of
many things directly contrary to the light of nature; and the most horrid vices
and immoralities have been esteeraed harmless, yea, accounted virtues amc;ng
them ; such as revenge, cruelty, and incest. Many nalions have openly allowed
the practice of sodomy. And with some it has been accounted commendable to
marry their nearest relations. Many have even worshipped their gods in their
temples with acts of drunkenness and whoredom, and Ihe most abominable lewd
ness. And the more filthy they were in their uncleanness, they thought theh
gods the more pleased and delighted wilh il.
Many nalions have been so under the influence of mental blindness, that
they have been void of all civility, and have been reduced to a state very little
MAN'S NATURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION. 19
ibove the berets in their comraon custom.^, and ordinary way of living ; and in
a great many things far below the beasts : being, if I may so speak, much more
iieastly than the beasts themselves. Now this has not been, because these meuj
with whora this has been the case, have not had the same faculties that we
have. That we are not as ignorant as they, is not because we have better
natural understandings, or that our minds are by nature raore clear, and our eyes
raore discerning ; or that our hearts are not naturally so inclined lo sottishness
md delusion as theirs. But only because God has not left us so rauch to our
selves, as he has them. He has given us more instruction to help us against
our delusions. God has so ordered it in his providence, that we should have
his good word to instruct us ; and has caused that we should grow up frora our
infancy under Christian instruction.
2. The extrerae blindness and sottishness in things of religion, which is na-
urally in the hearts of men, appears not only in embracing and professing those
errors that are very great, but also those that are so unnatural. They have
not only embraced errors which are very contrary to truth, but very contrary lo
humanity ; not only against the light of nature, but against the more innocent
inclinations of nature. Such has been, and still is, the blindness of many
nations in the world, that they embrace those errors which do not only exclude
all true virtue, all holy dispositions ; bul those that have swallowed up the more
harmless inclinations of human natare.
Thus they have embraced many gross delusions, that are as contrary as
possible to natural affection. Such as offering up their own children in sacri
fice to their idol ; which has been a comraon thing in the heathen world. And
the parents have not only offered thera up lo death, but they h.ave broughi them,
and offered thera up to the most cruel and tormenting deaths : as, to be burnt
alive, to be broiled lo death in burning brass ; which was the way of offering
up children to Moloch. The image of the idol being made of brass, in a horrid
shape, was heated red hot ; and the poor child was laid naked in this burning
brass, and so burned to death. And the parents themselves brought the child
to this offering, however sweet and pleasant a child it raight be. And thus the
innocent child was tormented lill it died, without any regard to its piteous cries.
And it has been the manner of some nations, to offer in sacrifice the fairest and
best beloved child that they had. And thus many thousands of poor babes have
been offered up. So strong has been the tendency of the hearts of raen to de
lusion, that it has thus overcorae those strong natural affections which men have
to the fruit of their own bodies.
And many of these delusions have been against men's natural love of their
own ease, and aversion lo pain. Many have worshipped their idols, and do so to
this day, wilh such rites as are most painful and torraenting; cutting, gashing,
and mangling their own flesh. Thus they sottishly worshipped Baal of old.
" And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their raanner with knives and
lancets, till the blood gushed out upon thera," 1 Kings xviii. 28. And it is still
the custom in some nations grievously to torment teraselves : to kindle a fire and
scorch their own bodies in a raost miserable manner ; and to put Ihemselves to
various and long-continued torments to please their idols. And it is the man
ner in sorae countries for persons, on certain occasions, to kill theraselves ; yea,
to put theraselves to cruel deaths ; to cast theraselves into great fires, and there
burn themselves to death. How powerful raust be the delusions of the human
mind, and how strong the tendency of the heart to carry them such a length,
and so to overcome the tenderest feelings of human nature!
3. The extrerae blindness of the mind of raan will appear further, if wc
20 MAN'S NATURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION.
consider how general gross ignorance and delusion has been. It nas for the
most part prevailed through the greater part of the world. For most of the
time from Noah's flood to the coining of Christ, all nalions, except the children
of Israel, were overspread with gross heathenish darkness: being given up to
the most vain and ridiculous notions, and all manner of superstitious, barbarous,
absurd, and unnatural practices. And, for the greater part of the time since,
most nations ofthe world have been covered with gross darkness.
So it is. at this day. Many nations are under popish darkness, and are in
such gross delusions that they worship the Virgin Mary, and a great multitude
of dead men, whom their church has canonized for saints ; some real saints,
and others abominably wicked raen. So they worship the bread in the sacra
ment, and account it not only the real body of Christ, but real Christ in body
and soul, and divinity. They carry a wafer, a small piece of bread, in pro
cession, fall down before it, adore it, and account it Christ himself, both in his
divine and huraan nature ; and yet believe that the body of Chiist is in heaven,
and in ten thousand different places on earth at the sarae time. They think they
can do works oi supererogation ; that is, more good works than they are oblig
ed to do, whereby they bring God inlo debt to them. They whip themselves,
and put themselves to other ridiculous penances and sufferings, whereby they
think they appease the anger of God for their sins. And they pay money to
the priests, to buy the pardon of their sins ; yea, they buy indulgences for fu
ture crimes, or pardon for sins before they commit them. They think they de*
fend themselves from evil spirits, by sprinkling holy water, 'ihey pay money
to buy the souls of their departed friends out of purgatory ; they worship the
relics of dead saints; such as pieces of their bones, their teeth, their hair, pieces
of their garments, and the like. And innumerable other such foolish delusions
are they under.
A great part of the nations of the world are Mahometans ; many of the
articles of whose belief are too childish and ridiculous to be publicly mentioned
in a soleran assembly. — But the greater part of the inhabitants ofthe world are
to this day gross, barbarous heathens, who have not the knowledge of the true
God, but worship idols and devils, with all raanner of absurd and' foolish rites
and ceremonies; and are destitute of even common civility: multitudes of na^
tions being like beasts in human shape. — Now this barbarous ignorance ana
gross delusion being of such great extent and continuance, shows that the cause
is general, and that the defect is in the cornq)ted nature of mankind ; man's
natural blindness and proneness of his heart to delusion.
4. The sottish blindness and folly of the heart of men appears in their being
so prone to fall into such gross delusions, soon after they have been favored
with clear light. Were not the minds of men exceeding dark, they never
would entertain such absurd notions at all ; for they are as contrary as possible
to reason : rauch less would they fall into them, after they had once been in
structed in the truth. For, were it not very strange and great sottishness in
deed, they would — when they come to be informed of the fruth, and have
opportunity lo compare it with those gross errors - behold such a reasonable
ness in the truth, and such absurdity in those errors, that they would never be
in danger of being deluded by thera any raore. But yet so it is ; mankind afier
they have been fully instructed, and have lived in clear light, have, time after
time, presently lost the knowledge of the truth, and have exchanged it for the
most barbarous and brutish notions.
So it was early after the flood, whereby the wicked world, those that were
visibly so, were destroyed ; and none were left but those who profe.ssed the true
MANS NATURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION. 21
religion : and they had such an eminently holy raan as Noah to instruct them.
And though the true God had so wonderfully and astonishingly manifested him
self in that great work of vengeance against his enemies ; yet the poaterily of
Noah, in great part, presently lost the knowledge of the true God, and fell
away to idolatry ; and that even while Noah was living. And the ancestors
bf Abraham were tainted with that idolatry ; even Terah his own father. " And
Joshua said unto all the people, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers
dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah the father of Abra
ham, and the father ofNachor: and they served other gods. And I took your
father Abrahara from the other side of the flood," &c.. Josh. xxiv. 2, 3, 4. It
seems as though Abraham was called away from his father's house,and from his
own country, for this reason, that the country was overrun with idolatry.
And even many of the posterity of Jlbraham and Isaac — Abraham's pos
terity by Hagar and Keturah, and that part of Isaac's posterity which were of
Esau — though the true religion was so thoroughlj taught and practised in the
houses of those holy patriarchs, and God had frora firae to time so wonderfully
and so miraculously manifested himself to them, yet — soon cast off the true God,
and fell away to idolatry. For, not very long after, we read of the posterity of
Jacob as being the only people of God, that he had in all the earth. — And so
the people of that part of the land of Canaan, who were under that holy king
Melchizedek, soon totally cast off the worship of the one only true God, which
he taught and raaintained. For before Joshua broughi in the children of
Israel, the inhabitants of that land were wholly given to idolatry. So the peo
ple of the land of Uz, who were under the governmenl of so great and holy a
man as Job, soon lost the knowledge of the true God, and all those religious
truths which were then known among them, and sunk into gross idolatry.
So the posterity of Jacob, theraselves — though God had manifested hiraself
to them, and had wrought such wonders for them in the lirae of Jacob and Jo
seph, yet — presently fell to worship the gods of Egypt. This appears from the
words of Joshua, "Put away the gods which your fathers served on the other
side of the flood and in Egypt," Josh. xxiv. 14. And how soon did they fall
to worship a golden calf in the wilderness, in the midst of the wonderful and
miraculous manifestations of the one only true God ! And notwithstanding
idolatry was so strictly forbidden, and the folly and wickedness of it so clearly
raanifested, in the law of Moses and in God's providence ; yet, how soon did
they fall into idolatry after they were brought into the land of Canaan ! And
when God raised up eminent men, j'udges to instruct and govern them, and re
claim thera from their idolatrous practices, from tirae to tirae ; though they
professed to be convinced of their foolish delusion, yet they would soon fall
again into the raost sottish idolatry. And this they did soon after such great
light as they enjoyed in the time of Samuel, David, and Soloraon ; and so, ft-om
time to time, down to the Babylonish captivity.
And in the apostles' tiraes, when such great things were done to rouse the
attention of mankind, and such great light was spread over raany nations, raul
titudes, after they had been instructed in the Christian religion by the apostles
and others, fell away inlo the grossest heresies, and embraced the raost corrupt
and absuid notions. — After the Roman empire had been converted from hea
thenism to Christianity, and the light of the gospel had driven out the sottish
i<Tnorance and gross absurdities of pagan idolatry, in which they had continued
so long ; they soon began to fall away from the tru^h into antichristian supersti-
lioa and idolatry, in which are opinions and practices no less absurd than those of
the heathen. And a great part of tl ; Christian' world fell away to Mahometanism
22 MAN'S NATURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION.
And since the reformation, wherein God wonderfully restored gospel light
in a great part of the Christian world, which was but about two hundred ye-ars
ago, many are fallen away again, some to pop<ry, some to gross heresies, and
some to atheistical principles : so that the reforraed church is greatly diminish
ed.— And as to our naiion in particular, which has been a nation favored with
light, since the reformation, above most, if not any in the world ; how soon has i1
m great part fallen away ! A great part of it lo atheism, deism, and gross inf-
delity ; and others to Arminianism, a'^nd to the Socinian and Arian heresies, to
believe that Christ is a created dependent God ; and to hold other foolish ab
surdities! And many have of late openly disputed and denied the moral evil
of some of the greaiest and most heinous vices.
These things show how desperately prone raankind are to bhndness and
delusion, how addicted they are to darkness.— God nciw and then, by his in
structions, lifts up some nations out of such gross darkness : bul then, how do
they sink down into it again, as soon as his hand is withdrawn ! like a heavy
stone, which, Ihough il may be forced upwards, yet sinks down again ; and will
continue to sink lower and lower with a swift progress, if there be nolhing to
restrain il. That is the woful tendency of the mind of man since the fall, not
withstanding his noble powers and faculties ; even to sink down into a kind of
brutality, lo lose and extinguish all useful light, and to sink lower and lower
into darkness.
5. The extreme and brutish blindness that possesses the hearts of mm
naturally, appears in their being so confdent in gross errors and delusions.
Sorae things mentioned already, show how confident and assured they are;
particularly, their running such great ventures as ofl^ering up their children ;
and cutting and mangling themselves. Multitudes hve and die in the most
foolish and absurd notions and principles, and never seem to make any doubt of
their being in the right.
The Ma-hometans seera lo raake no doubt but that, when they die, they
shall go to such a paradise as Mahomet has promised them ; where they shall
live in all manner of .sensual pleasures, and shall spend their lime in gratifying
the lusts of the flesh. Mahomet proraised them, that all who die in war for
the defence of the Mahometan religion, shall go to this paradise ; and they
make no doubt of it. Therefore, many of thera, as it were, willingly rush on
upon the point of the sword.
The papists, raany of them at least, make no doubt of the truth of those
foolish notions of a purgatory, and the power of the priests to deliver them out
of it, and give thera eternal life ; and therefore will not spare vast sums of
money to purchase deliverance frora those imaginary torments. How confi
dent are many heretics in the grossest heresies ! and how bold are many deists
in their infidelity !
6. The desperateness of that blindness which is in the heart of man, appears,
in that no nation or people in the world ever have had any remedy or deliver
ance frora such gross ignorance and delusion, frora themselves. No instance
can be mentioned of any people whatsoever, who have once fallen inlo heath
enish darkness, or any other gross superstitious and ridiculous opinions in reli
gion, that ever had any remedy by any wisdom of theii oitm ; or that have, of
themselves, grown wiser by the improvement of their own faculties, and by
instructing one another ; or that ever had any remedy at all, by the teaching
of any wise men, who did not professedly act as moved and directed of Godi
and did not declare, that they hail their in.structions, in the first place, from him
Thus in the heathen world Before Christ's tirae, the whole world, exceui
MAN'S NATURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION 23
the Jews, lay in their darkness for a great many hundred years, even beyonu
all time of which they had any certain history araong them. And there was
no reraedy, nor any appearance of a remedy ; Ihey continued, ages after ages,
waxing worse and worse, sinking deeper and deeper. Among all the many
nations in the world, no one ever bethought themselves, and emerged out of
their brutish darkness. There were indeed some nalions that emerged out of
slavery, cast off the yoke of their enemies, grew great, and conquered great
part ol the world ; but they never conquered the blindness of their own hearts.
There were some nations who excelled in other knowledge ; as the Greeks
and Romans. They excelled in policy, and in the form of their civil govern
ment. They had wise political rulers ; they had excellent laws for regulating
their civil slate ; many of which have been imitated, as a pattern, by many
Christian nations ever since. They excelled many other nations in arts, govern
ment, and civility, almost as much as men in common do beasts. Yet they
never could deliver themselves from their heathenism. Though they were sc
wise in other things, yet in raalters of religion they were very absurd and brut
ish. For even the Greeks and Romans, in their raost flourishing state, worship
ped innumerable gods; and some to whom they ascribed great vices : and some
they worshipped with most obscene and horrid rites. To sorae they offered hu
man sacrifices. The Romans had a temple dedicated lo the furies, which they
worshipped. And they had a multitude of childish notions and fables about
their gods.
And though there were raised up some wise men and philosophers among
the Greeks and Romans, who borrowed some Ihings concerning the true God
from the Jews ; yet their instructions never were effectual to deliver any one
people, or even one city or town, from their barbarous heathenism, or so much
as to get any one society, or company of men, lo unite in the public worship of
the true God. And these philosophers themselves had many grossly absurd
opinions, mingled with those scraps of truth which they had gathered up.
And the Jews, when fallen away to idolatry, as they often did, never re
covered of themselves. Never any remedy appeared, unless God raised up,
ana extraordinarily moved, some person to reprove and instruct them. — And in
this age of knowledge, an age wherein learning is carried lo a great height,
even many learned men seem to be carried away with the gross errors and
fooleries of the popish religion.
Europe is a part of the world the most famed for arts and sciences of
any ; and these things have been carried to a much greater height in this age
than in many others : yet many learned men in Europe at this day, who great
ly excel in human arts and literature, are still wilder popish darkness. A de
ceived heart has turned them aside ; nor do they seem to have any power to
deliver their souls ; nor does it come inlo their minds, that there is a lie in their
right hands.
Many men in France and in other countries, who are indeed men of great
learning, knowledge, and abilities, yet seem really to think that the church of
Rorae is the only true church of Christ ; and are zealous to uphold and propa
gate it. And though now, within this hundred years, human learning has been
very rauch promoted, and has risen to a greater height than ever in the world ;
and has greatly increased not only in our nation, but in France and Italy, and
other popish countries ; yet there seems to be no such effect of it, as any con
siderable turning from popish delusions ; but the church of Rorae has rather in
creased of late, than olherwise.
And in England, a land wherein learning flourishes as rauch as in any ii
24 MAN'S NATURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION
the world, and which is perhaps the most favored with light of a.iy ; there are
many men of vast learning, and great and strong reason, who have embraced,
and do at this day erabrace, the gross errors of the Arians and Deists. Our
nation, in all its light and learning, is full of infdels, and those that axe further
from Christianity than the very Mahometans themselves. Of so little avail is
human strength, or human reason and learning, as a reraedy against the ex
treme blindness of the human mind. The blindness of the mind, or an inchna
tion to delusion in things of religion, is so strong, that it will overcome the
greatest learning, and the strongest natural reason.
, Men, if let alone, will not help one another ; nor will they help themselves
The disease always proves without remedy, unless God delivers. This was ob
served of old : " And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge
nor understanding to say, I have burnt part of it in the fire ; yea, also I have
baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it : and
shall I make the residue thereof an abomination ? shall I fall down to the stock
of a tree ? He feedeth on ashes : a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that
he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand ?" Isa.
xhv. 19, 20.
If God lets men alone, no light arises ; but the darkness grows thicker and
thicker. How is it now, at this very day, araong all the nations where the
light of the gospel has not corae ? Many of whose ancestors, wiihout doubt,
have been in the midnight darkness of heathenism for above three thousand
years : and not one people have delivered themselves, who have not had the
light of the gospel. And this is not owing lo their want of as good natural
abilities as we have ; nor is it because they have an inclination raore to neglect
their natural abilities, or make a worse improvement of them than we.
7. The extreme blindness of man's heart, in matters of religion, appears, by
raen falling into gross delusions, or continuing in thera, at the same lirae that
they have been under great means of instruction from God. We have many
instances of this ; as Rachel in Jacob's family ; and the Israelites in the wilder
ness, &c. These last had great raeans of instruction ; yet they set up the golden
calf, &c. And after Joshua's tirae, they persisted in their delusions and folly,
frora tirae to time, even under the reproofs of the prophets ; and even in such hor
rid delusions, so contrary lo natural affection, as offering their children in sacri
fice lo Moloch, burning thera alive, in a most cruel manner.
In the time of Christ and the apostles, the Jews had great means of instruc
tion, and most ofthe nations of the world were put under great advantages to
come to the knowledge of the truth ; yet what was the effect? It would be
easy to pursue these remarks respecting the papists in the time of the reforma
tion, and since — the Arians and Deists in our day, &c. — but what has been said
may be quite sufhcient, if the reader will but indulge reflection.
8. The exceedingly great blindness of raen, in things of religion, appears in
the endless disputes and controversies, that there have been, and are, among
men, about those Ihings which concern rehgion. — Of oM, the wise men and
philosophers among the heathen, were, so to speak, infinitely divided among
themselves. Varro, who was one of Ihem, reckons up several hundred opinions
about that one point, Wherein man's happiness consisted 1 And they were con
tinually in disputes one with another. But the effect of their disputes was not
any greater union, or any better agreement in thei.- opinions. They were as
much divided after they had disputed many ages, as they were at first ; yea,
much raore.
So there have long been disputes in the Christian world about opinions and
MAN'a NATURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION. 25
principles in religion. There is a vast variety of sects and opinions ; and dis
putes have been carried on, age after age, with great warrath, and thousands oi
volumes have been written one against another. And all these disputes have
not terminated the differences, but they still subsist as much as ever ; yea, they
increase and multiply mare and more. Instead of ending controversies by dis
puting, one dispute only lays a foundation for another. And thus the world goes
on jangling and contending, daily writing and printing ; being as it were deluged
with controversial books ; and all to no purpose.
The increase of human learning does not bring these controversies to an issue,
but does really increase and multiply thera. There probably never was a time
in our nation wherein there was such a vast variety of opinions in matters of
religion, as at this day. Every now and then, a new scheme of things is broach
ed, and various and conlrary opinions are raixed and jumbled, divided and sub
divided ; and every new writer is willing to have the credit of some new notion.
.And after this raanner does this raiserable world go on in endless confusion;
like a great multitude of fool-hardy persons, who'go on in the dark, stumbling
and justling one against another, wiihout perceiving any remedy for their own,
or affording any for their neighbor's, calamity. — 'fhus I have shown how the
extreme blindness that possesses the hearts of men is manifest in what appears
in their profession. SECTION III.
Men's extreme blindness manifested by inward experience, and especially in their
practices under the gospel.
I come now to show, how this is raanifest in those things that are found by
inward experience, and are visible in men's practices under the light of the
gospel. 1. This appears in their being so prone to be deceived so many ways, or
being liable to such a multiplicity of deceits. There are thousands of delusions
in things which concern the affairs of religion, that men commonly are led
away with, who yet live under the light of the gospel. — They are many ways
deceived about God. They think hira to be an exceeding diverse kind of being
from what he is : altogether such a one as theraselves, Psal. 1, 21. They are
deceived about his holiness, they do not reahze il, that he is such a holy being
as he indeed is, or that he hates sin with such a hatred as he declares he does.
They are not convinced of his truth, or that he certainly will fulfil his threaten
ings or his promises. They are not convinced of his justice in punishing sin,
a.^ he does. They have very wrong notions of Christ. They are not convinced
of his ability lo save them, or of the sufficiency of his sacrifice and righteousness ;
nor of his willingness to receive them.
practices
nu'nierable false glosses on the rules of God's word, lo bend thera lo a compli
ance with their lusts ; and so they " put darkness for light, and light for darkness ;
bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter."
They are subject to deceits and delusions about the things of this world
They imagine that there is happiness and satisfaction to be found in the profits,
pleasures, "and honors, which are to be had here. They believe all the deluding
flatteries and promises of a vain world. And they will hold that deceit and
grand delusion, that these things are the highest good ; and will acl accordingly ;
Vol. IV 4
26 MAN'S NATURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION-
Will choose these things for their portion. And they will hold and piactis*
upon that error, that these things are of long continuance, and are t3 be depend
ed upon. They are greatly deceived about the things of another world. They jnder-
value that heavenly glory, which is promised to the saints; and are not much
terrified with whal they hear of the damnation of hell; they cannot realize it,
that ils torments are so dreadful as they hear ; and are very ready to imaguie
that they are not eternal, but will some time or other have an end.
They are deceived about the slate of good men. They think they are not
happy, but live a melancholy life. And they are deceived about the wicked.
They envy the state of raany of thera, as accounting them well off. " They
call the proud happy," Mai. iii. 15, " and bless the covetous, whom God abhors,"
Psal. X. 3 ; and they strive a great deal more after such enjoyments as these have,
than after such as are the portion of the godly.
They are subject lo deceits and delusions about themselves. They think
themselves wise, when they are fools. They are deceived about their own
hearts ; they think thera much betier than they really are. They think they
see many good Ihings in Ihemselves, when indeed there is nothing good there.
They apjiear lovely in their own eyes, when their hearts are like the inside of
a grave, full of dead men's bones and rotten flesh, crawling worms, and all un
cleanness. Or rather, the inward vault of hell, that is a habitation of devils
and every foul spirit. Those things in their hearts are highly esteeraed by them,
which are an abomination in the sight of God.
Men are very prone to be deceived about their own state ; to think them
selves soraething when they are nothing ; and to suppose theraselves '* rich and
increased in goods, and lo have need of nothing ; when they are wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." They are greatly deceived about
the princi-ples they act from. They think they are sincere in that in which
there is no sincerity ; and that they do those things from love to God, which
they do only from love to themselves. They call mere speculative or natural
knowledge, spiritual knowledge ; and put conscience for grace ; a servile, foi
a child-like fear; and common affections, that are only frora natural principles,
and have no abiding affect, for high discoveries, and erainent actings of grace.
Yea, it is common with raen to call their vicious dispositions by the name of
some virtue. They call their anger and raalice, zeal for a righteous cause, or
zeal for the public good ; and their covetousness, frugality.
They are vastly deceived about their own righteousness. They think their
aflfections and performances lovely to God, which indeed are hateful to him.
They think their tears, reformations, and prayers, sufhcienl to make atonement
for their sins ; when indeed if all the angels in heaven should offer themselves
in sacrifice to God, il would not be sufficient to atone for one of their sins.
They think their prayers and works, and religious doings, a sufficient price tc
purchase God's favor and eternal glory ; when, as they perform them, they do
nothing bul merit hell.
They are greatly deceived about their strength. They think they are able
to mend their own hearts, and work some good principles in themselves ; when
they can do no more towards it, than a dead corpse does towards raising itselr
to life. They vainly flatter themselves, they are able to come to Christ, when
they are not. They are greatly deceived about the stability of ihe\x own hearts.
They foolishly think their own intentions and resolutions of what good they
will do hereafter, to be depended on ; when indeed there is no dependence at
all to be had on them. They are greatly deceived about their opportunities
MAN'S NATURAL BLINDNESS IN '^FLIGION 27
They tl.ink that the long continuance of their op-ortunily is to be depended on
and that to-inoriow it is lo be boasted of; when indeed therr is the utraost utr
certainty of it. They flatter theraselves that they shall have a betier opportu
mty to seek salvation hereafter, than they have now ; when there is no proba
bility of It, but a very great iraprobability.
They are greatly deceived about their own actions and practices. Then
own faults are strangely hid from their eyes. They live in ways that are very
unbecoming Christians, but yet seera not to be at all sensible ofii. Those evil
ways of theirs, which are very plain to others, are hid frora them. Yea, those
very things which they themselves count great faults in others, they will justify
themselves in. Those Ihings for which they will be very angry with others
they at the same time do Ihemselves, and oftentimes in a much° higher degree
and never once think of it. While they are zealous to pull the mote out of
their brother's feye, they know not that a beara is in their own eye
Those sins that they commit, which they are sensible are sins, they are wo
fully deceived about. They call great sins, little ones ; and in their own imagi
nations find out many excuses, which make the guilt very small; while the
many heinous aggravations are hid frora their eyes. They are greatly deceived
about theraselves, when they corapare themselves wilh others? They esteem
themselves betier than their neighbors, who are indeed rauch betier than them
selves. They are greatly deceived about themselves, when they compare them
selves with God. They are very insensible of the difference the'-e is between
God and them, and act in many things as if they thought themselves his equals ;
yea, as if they thought Ihemselves above him. Thus manifold are the deceits
and delusions that men fall into.
2. The desperate bhndness that is natural to men, appears in their being so
ignorant and blind in things that are so clear and plain. Thus if we consider
how great God is, and hov\- dreadful sin against him must be, and how rauch
sin we are guilty of, and of whal importance it is that his infinite Majesty should
be vindicated ; how plain is il, that man's righteousness is insufficient ! And
yet how greatly will men confide in il ! how will they ascribe more to it, than
can be ascribed to the righteousness of the sinless and glorious angels of heaven !
What can be more plain in itself, than that eternal things are of infinitely greater
iraporlance than teraporal things ? And yet how hard is it thoroughly to con
vince men of it ! flow plain is it, that eternal misery in hell is infinitely to be
dreaded ! And yet how few appear to be thoroughly convinced of this ! How
plain is it, that life is uncertain ! And yet how much olherwise do raost raen
think ! How plain is it, that it is the highest prudence in matters of infinite
concern to improve the first opportunity, without trusting to another ! But yet
how few are convinced of this ! How reasonable is il, considering that God
is a wise and just being, to suppose that there shall be a fulure slate of rewards
and punishments, wherein every man shall receive according to his works ! And
)et, how does this seem like a dream to most men !
What can be in itself more plain and manifest, and easily to be known by
us, if it were not for a strange blindness, than we are to ourselves, who are
always wilh, never absent from ourselves, always in our own view, before our
own eyes ; who have opportunity to look inlo our own hearts, and see all that
passes there ? And yet what is there that raen are raore ignorant of, than they
are of theraselves 1 There are many vicious practices, the unlawfulness of
which is very plain ; the sins are gross, and contrary not only to the word of
God, but to the light of nature : and yet raen will often plead, *here is no harm
11 such sins ; such as, many actt of gross uncleanness ; and many acts of
28 MAN'S NATURA o BLINDNESS IN RELIGION.
fraud, injustice and deceitfulness ; and many others that might De men
tioned. There is no one thing whatsoever raore plain and manifest, and more demon
strable, than the being of a God. It is manifest in ourselves, in our own bodies
and souls, and in every thing about us wherever we turn our eye, whether to
heaven, or lo the earth, the air, or the seas. And yet how prone is the heart of
man to call this into questk)n ! So inclined is the heart of man to blindness and
delusion, that it is prone to even atheism itself
3. The great blindness ofthe heart of man appears, in that so little a thing
will deceive him, and confound his judgraent. A little self-interest, or only the
bait of some short gratification of a sensual appetite, or a little stirring of pas
sion, will blind men's eyes, and make them argue and judge raost strangely and
perversely, and draw the most absurd conclusion ; such as, if they were indif
ferent, they would see to be most unreasonable. The devil finds easy work to
deceive thera a thousand ways ; an argument of the great weakness and blind
ness of our minds. As a little child, weak in understanding, is very easily
deceived. 4. The woful blindness that possesses the hearts of men naturally, appears
in their being all totally ignorant of that in God, which they hail most need to
know ; viz., the glory and excellency of his nature. Though our faculties, which
we have above the beasts, were chiefly given us, that we might know this ;
and though without this knowledge all other will signify nothing to us ; and
our faculties are as capable of it, as of any other knowledge whatsoever — and
which is as plainly and abundantly manifested as any thhig whatsoever, innu
merable ways, bolh in the word and works of God — yet all men naturally are
totally ignorant of this ; as ignorant as one born blind is of colors. Natural
men ofthe greatest abilities and learning, are as ignorant of it, as the weakest
and the most unlearned ; yea, as ignorant as the very stocks and stones ; fbr
they see, and can see nothing at all of it.
5. It appears, in that they are so blind in those .mme things in religious mat
ters, which they are suflficienlly sensible of in other matters. In teraporal things
they are very sensible that it is a point of prudence to iraprove the first opportu
nity in things of great importance. But in matters of religion, which are of infin
itely the greatest importance, they have not this discernment. In temporal mat
ters they are sensible that it is a great folly long to delay and put off, when hfe
is in danger, and all depends upon it. But in the concerns of their souls, they
are insensible of this truth. So in the concerns of this world, they are sensible
t is prudence to improve tiraes of special advantage, and to embrace a good
offer when made thera. They are sensible that things of long continuance are
of greater importance, than those of short duration; yet in rdigious concerns,
none of these things are sensibly discerned. In temporal things they are suffi
ciently sensible, that it is a point of prudence to lay up for hereafter, in summer
to lay up for winter, and lo lay up for their families, after they are dead ; but men
do not generally discern the prudence of making a proper provision for a future
state.— -In matters of importance in this world, they are sensible ofthe wisdom
of taking thorough care to be on sure grounds ; but in their soul's concerns they
see nolhing of this. Our Saviour observed this to be the case with the Jews
when he was upon earth. " Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the skv,
and of the earth: but how is it that ye do not discern this time'?" Luke
xii. 56.
6. The desperate blindness that naturally possesses the hearts ofmen under
Che gospp' appears in their remaining so stupidli insensible and deceived, under
MAN'S NATURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION 23
80 great means of instruction and conviction. If they were brought under hea
thenish darkness, it would not be so full a demonstration of it : but thus they
remain, though under the clearest light, under the glorious light of the gospel,
wheJ-e they enjoy God's own instructions in his word, in a great fulness and
plainness, and have the evidence and truth of things set before them from time
to time in the plainest raanner. They have the arguraents of God's being and
perfection ; and of another world. They are told how eternal things are of
greater importance than temporal ; and of what importance it is to escape eter
nal misery. How much it is worth while to take pains for heavenly glory ; and
how vain their own righteousness is : but yet to what little purpose !
And they have not only great means of instruction in God's word, but also
in providence. They have the evidence of the shortness and uncertainty of
life. " He seelh that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person
perish, and leave their wealth to others." Yet " their inward thought is, that
their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations :
they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless man being in honor,
abideth not : he is like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly :
yet their posterity approve their sayings." They find the world is vain and
unsatisfactory ; they find the great instability and treachery of their own hearts ;
and how their own good intentions and resolutions are not to be depended oh.
They often find by experience, that their attempts to raake thera better, fail ;
but, alas ! with what sraall eflfect I
Such abundant evidence is there, both in what appears in the open profession
ofmen; anil also by what \s found in their inward experience, and is evident in
their practice, of the extreme and brutish ignorance and blindness, which natur
ally possess their hearts. SECTION IV.
Practical inferences and application of the subject.
Having shown how the truth of the doctrine is evident, bolh by what ap
pears in men's open profission, and by those Ihings which we found hy inward
experience, and are manifest by what is visible in men's practice ; I proceed to
improve the subject.
I. By this we may see how manifest are the ruins of the fall of man. It is
observable in all the kinds of God's creatures that we behold, that they have those
properties and qualities, which are every way proportioned to their end ; so that
they need no more, they stand in need of no greater degree of perfection, in
order well to answer the special use for which they seem to be designed. The
brute creatures, birds, beasts, fishes, and insects, though there be innumerable
kinds of them, yet all seera to have such a degree of perception and perfection
given them, as best suits their place in the creation, their raanner of living, and the
ends for which they were raade. There is no defect visible in them ; they are per
fect in their kind ; there seems to be nolhing wanting, in order to their filling up
their allotted place in the world. And there can be no reasonable doubt but
that it was so at first with raankind. It is not reasonable to suppose, that God
would raake raany thousands of kinds of creatures in this lower world, and one
kind the highest of them all, to be the head of the rest ; and that all the rest
should be complete in their kinds, every way endowed with such qualifications
as are proportioned to their use and end : and only this most noble creature of
all left exceeding imperfect, notoriously destitute of what he principally stands
in need of to answer the end of his being. The principal faculty by which God
30 MAN'S NATURAI BLINDNESS IN RELIGION.
has distinguished this noble creature from the rest, is his understanding : bul
would God so distinguish man in his creation from other creatures, and then
seal up that undersianding wilh such an extrerae blindness, as to render it useless
as lo the principal ends of it ; and wholly to disenable him from answering the
ends of an intelligent creature, and lo make his understanding rather a misery
than a blessing lo hira ; and rendering him much more mischievous than useful 'J
Therefore, if the Scripture had not told us so, yet we might safely conclude,
that mankind aie not now, as they were made at first; but that they are in a
fallen state and condhion.
II. From what has been said, plainly appears tho necessity of divine revela
tion. The deists deny the Scripture to be the word of God, and hold that there
is no revealed religion ; that God has given mankind no other rule but his own
reason ; which is sufficient, without any word or revelation from heaven, to give
man a righl understanding of divine things, and of his duty. But how is it
proved in fact? How much trial has there been, whether man's reason, with
out a revelation, would be sufficient or not! The whole world, excepting one
naiion, had the trial lill the coming of Christ. And was not this long enough
for trial, whether man's reason alone was sufficient to instruct him 1 Those
nalions, win all that lirae lay in such gross darkness, and in such a deplorable
helpless condition, had the same natural reason that the deists have. And diir-
ngthis lime, there was not only one man, or a succession of single persons,
that had the trial, whether their own reason would be sufficient to lead them to
the knowledge ofthe truth; but all nalions, who all had the same human facul
ties that we have. If huraan reason is really sufficient, and there be no need
of any thing else, -why has it never proved so 1 Why has it never happened,
that so much as one nation, or one city or town, or one assembly of men, have
been brought lo tolerable notions of divine things, unless it be bythe revelation
contained in the Scriptures? If it were only one nation that had remained in
such darkness, the trial mighl not be thought so great; because one particular
people might be under some disadvantages, which were peculiar. But thus it
has been wilh all nations, except those which have been favored with the
Scriptures, and in all ages. Where is any people, who lo this day have ever
delivered themselves by their own reason, or have been delivered without hght
fetched frora the Scriptures, or by raeans of the gospel of Jesus Christ ?
If huraan reason is suflacient wuhout the Scripture, is it not strange that, in
these latter ages-^since navigation has been so improved, and America and
many other parts of the world have been discovered, which -ft-ete before un
known — no one naiion has anywhere been found already enlightened, and
possessed of true notions about the Divine Being ami his perfections, by virtue
of that human reason they have been possessed of so many thousand years?
The many poor, barbarous nations here, in America, had the faculty of reason
to do whal they pleased with, before the Europeans came hither, and brouo-ht
over the light of the gospel. If human reason alone was suflScient, it is strange,
that no one people were found, in any corner of the land, who were helped by
it, in the chief concern of man.
There has been a great trial, as to what men's reason can do without divine
help, in those endless disputes that have been maintained. If human reason
alone could help mankind, it might be expected that these disputes -w-ould have
he]j)eil them, and have p it an end to men's darkness. The heathen philosophers
had many hundreds of years to try their skill in this way : bul all without ef
fect. That divine revelation, which the church of God has been possessed <jf
nas been in the world " as a light shining in a dark place " 2 Peter i. 19. It
MAN'S NATURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION. 31
is the only remedy which God has provided for the miserable, brutish blindness
of mankind, a remedy -without which this fallen world would have sunk down
for ever in brutal barbarism without any remedy. Il is the only means that
the true God has made successful in his providence, lo give the nations of the
world the knowledge of himself; and to bring them off' from the worship of
false gods.
If human reason be the only proper means, the means that God has design
ed for enlightening mankind, is il not very strange, that it has not been sufficient,
nor has answered this end in any one instance? All the right speculative
knowledge of the true God, which the deists Ihemselves have, has been derived
from divine revelation. How vain is it to dispute against fad, and the experience
of so many thousand years ! and to pretend that human reason is sufficient with
out divine revelation, when so many thousand years' experience, among so
many hundreds of nations, of different tempers, circumstances, and interests,
h-as proved the contrary ! One would think all should acknowledge, that so
long a time is sufficient for a trial ; especially considering the miseries that the
poor nations of the world have been under all this while, for want of light: the
innuraerable temporal calamities and miseries — such as sacrificing children, and
many other cruelties to others, and even lo Ihemselves — besides that eternal
perdition, which we may reasonably suppose to be the consequence of such
darkness. III. This doctrine should make us sensible how great a mercy it is to man
kind, that God has sent his own Son into the world, to be the light of the world.
— The subject shows what great need we stand in of some teacher to be sent
frora God. And even sorae of the wiser men araong the heathen saw the need
ofthis. They saw that they disputed and jangled among theraselves without
coming to a satisfying discovery of the truth ; and hence they saw, and spoke
of, the need there was of a teacher sent f'rora heaven. And il is a wonderful
instance of divine mercy that God has so beheld us in our low estate, as to pro
vide such a glorious reraedy. He has not merely sent sorae created angel to
instruct us, but his own Son, who is in the bosora of the Father, and of the
same nature and essence with hira ; and therefore infinitely better acquainted
with him, and more suflScient to teach a blind world. He has sent him to be
the light of the world, as he says of himself, " I am come a light into the world,"
John xii. 45. When he came, he brought glorious light. It was like the day-
spring frora ou high, visiting a dark world, as Zacharias observes, Luke i. 77,
78, 79. After Christ came, then the glorious gospel began to spread abroad,
delivering those " that had sitten in darkness, and in the region of the shadow
of death." What reason have we to rejoice, and praise God, that he has made such
excellent provision for us ; and has set so glorious a sun in our firmament, such
a " Sun of righteousness," after we had extinguished the light which at first
enlightened us ; and had, as it were, brought the world into that state, in which
it was when " without form, and void, and darkness was on the face of it."
See Jer. iv. 22, 23. — The glory of that light which God has sent into the world,
IS fully answerable to the grossness of that darkness which filled it. For Christ
who came to enlighten us, is truth and light itself, and the fountain of all light.
" tie is the light, and in him is no darkness al all," 1 John i. 5.
IV. Hence we may learn, what must be Ihe thing which will bring to pass
those glorious days of hght, which are spoken of in God's word. — Though
mankind be fallen into such darkness, andthe world be mostly inthe kingdom of
daikness ; yet the Scripture often speaks of a glorious day, wherein light shall
32 MAN'S NATURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION.
fill the earth. " For behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross dark
ness the people ; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen
upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the bright
ness of thy rising," Isa. Ix. 2, 3. " And he will destroy in this mountain, the
face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all
nations," Isa. xxv. 7. " The knowledge of God shall fill the earth, as the
waters cover the sea," Isa. xi. 9.
By what we have heard, we may on good grounds conclude, that whenevei
this is accomplished, it will not be effected by human learning, or by the skill
or wisdom of great men. What has been before observed of this learned age,
is a presumptive evidence of it ; wherein spiritual darkhess increases with the
increase of learning. God will again raake foolish the wisdora of this world ; and
will, as it were, say in his providence, " Where is the wise ? where is the scribe '¦
where is the disputer of this world ?"
When this shall be accoraphshed, it will be bya remarkable pouring out of
God's own Spirit, with the plain preaching of the gospel of his Son ; th*
preaching- of the spiritual, mysterious doctrines of Christ crucified, which to th*
learned men of this world are foolishness ; those doctrines, which are the stum
bling-block ofthis learned age. " Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit
saith the Lord of hosts." It will not be by the enticing words of man's wis
dom ; but by the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power. Not by the wis
dom of this world, nor by the princes of this world, that come to nought : but
by the_ gospel, that contains the wisdora of God in a rayslery, even the hidden
v-^isdom, which none of the princes of this woild, who have nothing to enhghtei
them bul tneir own learning, know any ihing of.
The Spirit of God, who searches all Ihings, even the deep things of God
must reveal it. For let natural men be never so worldly wise and learned, thej
receive not the things of the Spirit : they are foolishness to them ; nor can they
know thera, because they are spiritually discerned. This great effect, when it
is accomplished, will be a glorious effect indeed : and it will be accomplished
in such a manner, as most reraarkably to show it to be the work of God and his
only. II will be a more glorious work of God than that which we read of in the
beginning of Genesis : " And the earlh was wiihout form, and void, and dark
ness was upon the face ofthe deep. And the Spirit of God raoved upon the
face of the waters : and God said. Let there be light, and there was light,"
Gen. i. 2, 3.
V. Hence we may learn the raisery of all such persons, as are under the
power of that darkness which naturally possesses their hearts. There are two
degrees of this misery.
1. That of which all who are in a natural condition are the subjects. The
doctrine shows, that all such as are in a natural condition, are in a miserable
condition : for they are in an extremely dark and blind condition. It is un
comfortable living in darkness. What a sorrowful state would we all be in
if the sun should no more rise upon us, and the moon were to withdraw her
shining, and the stars to be put out, and we were to spend the rest of our time
in darkness ! The world would soon perish in such darkness. It was a p-reat
plague in Egypt, when they had a total darkness for three days. TheyVno
are deprived of sight, are deprived of the most noble of the senses; they have
no benefit of external light, one of the most excellent and needful of all the
things which God has raa.le in the visible creation. But they who are without
spiritual sight and light, are destitute of that which is far more excellent and
necessary.
MAN'S NATURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION. 33
That natural men are not sensible of their blindness, .«id the misery they
ire under by reason of it, is no arguraent that they are not miserable. For it is
very much the nature of this calamity to be hid from itself, or from those who are
under it. Fools are not sensible of their folly. Solomon says, " The fool is wiser
in his own conceit, than seven men that can render a reason," Prov. xxvi. 16.
The most barbarous and brutish heathens are not sensible of their own darkness ;
are not sensible but that they enjoy as great light, and have as good understand
ing of things, as the most enlightened nations in the world.
2. Another degree of this misery, is of those who are judicially given up of
God, to the blindness of their own minds. The Scripture teaches us that there
are sorae such. " W^hat then ? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh
for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded," Rora. xi. 7.
" But their minds were blinded ; for until this day remaineth the same vail un-
taken away," 2 Cor. in. 14. " And he said. Go and lell this people. Hear ye in
deed, and understand not ; and see ye indeed, and perceive not. Make the heart
of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see whh
their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand wilh their hearts, and con
vert and be healed," Isa. vi. 6, 10. This judgment, when inflicted, is comraonly
for the contempt and abuse of light which has been offered, for the comrais
sion of presumptuous sins, and for being obstinate in sin, and resisting the Holy
Ghost, and many gracious calls and counsels, warnings and reproofs.
Who the particular persons are, that are thus judicially given up of God to
the blindness of their minds, is not known to men. Bul we have no reason to
suppose that there are not multitudes of them ; and raost in places of the great
est light. There is no manner of reason to suppose, that this judgment, which
is spoken of in Scripture, is in a great measure peculiar to those old times. As
there were raany who fell under it in the times of the prophets of old, and of
Christ and his apostles ; so doubtless there are now also. And ihough the per
sons are not known, yet doubtless there may be more reason to fear il cotivcern-
ing some than others. All who are under the power of the bhndness of their
own minds, are raiserable ; but such as are given up to this blindness, are
especially miserable ; for they are reserved, and sealed over to the blackness of
darkness for ever. SECTION V.
Address to Siiiners.
The consideration of what has been said of the desperate blindness whicb
possesses the hearts of us all naturally, may well be terrifying to such as are
yet in a Christless condition, in this place of hght ; where the gospel has been
so lono- enjoyed, and where God has in times past so wonderfully poured out
his Spirit. .
And let such persons, for their awakening, consider the followmg things :
1. That they are blinded by the god of this world. Their blindness is from
hell. This darkness which natural men are under, is from the prince of dark
ness. This the apostle says expressly of those who remain in unbelief and
bhndness under the gospel : " But if our gospel be hid, it is hid from them tha'
are lost • in whom the god of this world hath blinded the rainds of thera that bt
lieve not " 2 Cor. i v. 3, 4. They belong to the kingdom of daikness. In that darkness
which re'igns in their'souls, the devil reigns ; and he holds his dorainion there.
2. Co'nsider how God in his word manifests his abhorrence and wrath to
wards those who remain so sottishly blind and ignorant, in the niid.st of light. How
Vol. IV. 5
34 MAN'S NATURAL BLINDNESS IN RELIGION.
does God speak of them ! " Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge V
Psal. xiv. 4. " Forty years long was I grieved wilh this generation, and said. It is
a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways, unto whom
' sware in ray wrath, that they should not enter into ray rest :" Psal. xcv. 10, 11
'^ The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib : but Israel doth not know,
my people doth not consider. Ah, sinful nation — Ihey have provoked the Holy
One of Israel unto anger," Isa. i. 3, 4. " It is a people of no understanding ; there
fore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them
will show them no favor," Isa. xxvh. 10. " My people is foolish, they have not
known me, they are sottish children, and they have no undersianding : they are wise
to do.evil, but to do good they have no knowledge," Jer. iv. 22. " Declare this in the
house of Jacob, and publish it in the house of Judah, saying, Hear now this, 0
foohsh people, and wiihout understanding, which have eyes and see not, which
have ears and hear not. Fear ye not me ? saith the Lord ; will ye not tremble at mv
presence ?" Jer. v. 20, 21, 22.
3. Consider how much wilfulnest there is in your ignorance. Sinners are
ready wholly to excuse theraselves in their blindness ; whereas, as observed
already, the blindness that naturally possesses the hearts of raen, is not a merely
negative thing ; but they are blinded by " the deceitfulness of sin," Heb. iii. 13.
There is a perverseness in their blindness. There is not a mere absence of
light, but a malignant opposition to the light ; as God says, " Ihey know not,
neither will they understand, they walk on in darkness," Psal. Ixxii. 5. Christ
observes, " that every one that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither corae'h to
the light." And that " this is their condemnation, that light is come into the
world, yet men loved darkness rather than light," John iii. 19, 20. And I may
appeal to your own consciences, whether you have not wilfully rejected the
many instructions you have had ; and refused to hearken ? Whether you have
not neglected to seek after the light, and neglected your Bible ? Whether you
have not been a very negligent hearer of the word preached, and neglected
other proper means of knowledge ? Whether you have not neglected to cry to
God for Ihat wisdom which you need ? Yea, have you not resisted the raeans
of knowledge ? Have you not resisted and quenched the raotions ofthe Spirit,
which at times you have had ? And taken a course to make yourself more and
more stupid, by stifling the convictions of your own conscience, and doing con
trary to the hght thereof; whereby you have done those things that have tend
ed to sear your conscience, and make yourself raore and raore senseless and
sottish. 4. Consider what is the course that God will take to teach those who will
not be taught by the instructions of his word. He will teach thera by briers
and thorns, and by the flames of hell. Though natural men will remain to ah
eternity ignorant of the excellency and loveliness of God's nature, and so will have
no spiritual knowledge ; yet God in another world will make them thoroughly
to understand many Ihings, which senseless unawakened sinners are sottishly
ignorant of in this world. Their eyes in many respects shall be thoroughly
opened in hell. Their judgments will be rectified. They shall be of the sarae
judgment with the godly. They will be convinced of the reality of those
things which they would not be convinced of here ; as the being of God ; his
power, hohness, and justice ; that the Scriptures are the wordof God; that
Christ is the Son of God ; and that lime is short and uncertain. They w'ill be
convinced of the vanity of the world ; of the blessed opportunity they had in
the world ; and how much it is men's wisdom to improve tlieir time. We
read of the rich man who was so sottishly blind in this world, that " in hell he lift
MAN'S NATURAL "5LINDNFSS IN RE.JGION. 3.":
up his eyes, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom," Luke xvi.
23. With many men, alas ! the first time they open their eyes is in hell.
God will make all men to know the truth of those great things which he
speaks of in his word, one way or another ; for he will vindicate his own truth.
He has undertaken to convince all men. They who v/ill not be convinced in
this world, by the gentle and gracious methods which God uses with them now,
shall be convinced hereafter by severe means. If they will not be convinced
for salvation, they shall be convinced by daranation. God will make thera
know that he is the Lord. And he will make them know that he bears rule.
" Consume them in wrath, that they raay not be ; and let them know that God
ruleth in Jacob, unlo the ends of the earth," Psal. lix. 13. " Let them be con
founded and troubled for ever : yea, let them be put lo shame, and perish.
That men may know that thou, whose name is Jehovah, art the Most High
over all the earlh," PsaL Ixxxiii. 17, 18.
What great care we had need all have, that we be not deceived in matters
of religion. If our hearts are all naturally possessed with such an extrerae
brutish ignorance and blindness in things of religion, and we are exceedingly
prone to delusion , then surely great care ought to be taken to avoid it. For
that we are naturally prone to delusion, shows our danger: but the greater our
danger of any calamity is, the greater had our watchfulness need to be. — Let
us therefore be hence warned to take heed that we be not deceived about our
duty ; about our own hearts ; about our ways ; about our slate ; and about
our opportunities. Thousands are deceived in these things, and thousands
perish by that means. Multitudes fall on our righl hand and on our left, and
are ruined eternally by their delusion in these things.
How foolish a thing it is for men to lean to their own understanding, and
trusttheir cwn hearts. If we are so blind, then our own wisdom is not to be
depended on ; and that advice of the wise man is most reasonable : " Trust in
the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding," Prov.
iii. 5, and " He that trusteth in his own heart, is a fool," Prov. xxviii. 26. — They
therefore are fools, who trust to their own wisdom, and will question the mys
terious doctrines of religion ; because they cannot see through them, and will
not trust to the infinite wisdom of God.
Let us therefore becorae fools ; be sensible of our own natural blindness and
folly. There is a treasure of wisdom contained in that one sentence : " If any
among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he
may bewise," 1 Cor. hi. 18. Seeing our own ignorance, and blindness, is the
first step towards having true knowledge. " If any man think that he knoweth
any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know," 1 Cor. viii. 2.
Let us ask wisdom of God. If we are so blind in ourselves, then knowledge
is not to he sought for out of our own stock, but raust be sought from some
other source. And we have nowhere else to go for it, but to the fountain of
light and wisdom. True wisdom is a precious jewel ; and none of our fellow-
creatures can give it us, nor can we buy it with any price we have to give. It
is the sovereign gift of God. The way to obtain it, is to go to him, sensible of
our weakness, and blindness, and misery on that account. " If any lack wisdom
let him ask of God," James i. 5.
SERMON Ii.
MEN 4ATURALLY GOD's ENEMIESI
ROSIAHS V. 10.— For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God ay the death of his Son
The apostle, from the beginning of the epistle to the beginning of this chap
ter, hath insisted on the doctrine of justification by faith alone. And having
particularly spoken to that, in this chapter he goes on to consider the benefits
that are consequent on justification. And there are three that flow from justifi
cation, which are here spoken of, viz., peace with God, present happiness, and
hope of glory. Peace with God is mentioned in the first verse. " Therefore
being justified by failh, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ."
In the following verses he speaks of present blessedness, and hope of glory, as
benefits accorapanying justification. " By whom also we have access by faith
into this grace, wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope ofthe glory of God."
And concerning this benefit of the hope of glory, the apostle does particu
larly take notice of two things, viz., the blessed nature of this hope, and the
sure ground of it.
1. He insists on the blessed nature of this hope, in that it enables us to glory
in tribulations. This excellent nature of true Christian hope is described in the
following words : " And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing
that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience,
hope ; and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of Gcd is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us," verses 3 — 5, q. d.
Through hope of a blessed rev\-ard, that will abundantly raore than make up for
all tribulation, we are enabled to bear tribulation with patience ; patiently
bearing, and patiently waiting for the reward. And patience works experience ;
for when we thus bear tribulation with patient waiting for the reward, this
brings experience ofthe earnest ofthe reward, viz., the earnest ofthe Spirit, in
our feeling the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. So
that our hope does not raake us asharaed ; though we do bear tribulation, our
hope is not disappointed ; for in the raidst of our tribulation, we experience
those blessed incoraes of the Spirit in our souls, that make even a time of tribu
lation sweet to us ; and is such an earnest as abundantly confirms our hope ;
and so experience works hope.
2. The apostle takes notice of the sure and abundant ground there is for this
hope ; or the abundant evidence we have, that we shall obtain the glory hoped
for, in that peace we have with God, in our justification through Christ's blood ;
because that while we were without strength, in due tirae Christ died for us :
while we were ungodly and sinners, enemies to God and Christ, verses 6 10
The apostle's argument is exceeding clear and strong : that if God has done al
ready so great a thing for us, as to give us Christ, to die and shed his precious
blood for us, which was vastly the greatest thing, we need not doubt but that
he will bestow life upon us, after all this is already done. It is but a small
thing for God actually to bestow eternal hfe, after it is purchased, to what it is
for hira to give his own Son to die, to purchase it. The giving Christ to purchase
it, was virtually all ; it included the whole grace of God in salvation. When
Christ had purchased salvation at such a dear rate, all the difficulty was got
throigh, all was virtually over and done It is a small thing, in comparison.
MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES. 37
for God to bestow salvation, after it has been thus purchased i t a full price. Sin-
.leis that are justified by the death of Christ, are already virtually saved : the
thing is, as it were, done ; what remains is no more than the necessary conse
quence of what is done. Christ when he died made an end of sin ; and when
he rose frora the dead, he did virtually rise with the elect ; he brought them up
nom dealh with hira, and ascended into heaven with them. And therefore,
when this is already done, and we are thus reconciled to God through the dealh
of his Son, we need not fear but that we shall be saved by his life. The love
of God appears rauch raore in his giving his Son to die for sinners, than in giv
ing eternal life after Christ's death.
The giving of Christ to die for us is here spoken of as a much greater thing,
than the actual bestowment of life, on two accounts.
1. That this is all that has any diflficulty in it.
2. When God did this for us, he did it for us as sinners and enemies. But
m actually bestowing salvation on us after we are justified, we are not looked
upon as sinners. After we are justified, God does not look on us any longer as sin
ners, but as perfectly righteous persons ; he beholds no iniquity in us. We are
no more eneraies, for then we are reconciled. When God gave Christ to die
for the elect, he looked on them as they are in themselves ; but in actually be
stowing eternal life, he does not look on them as they are in themselves, but as
they are in Christ.
There are three epithets used in the text and context, as appertaining to
sinners as they are in themselves.
1. They are without strength, they cannot help themselves, verses 6 — 8.
2. They are ungodly, or sinners.
3. They are etiemies, as in the text.
DOCTRINE :
NATURAL MEN ARE GOD's ENEMIES.
God, though the Creator of all things, yet has sorae eneraies in the world.
Men in general will own, that they are, or have been sinners. There are
few, if any at all, whose consciences are so blinded as not to be sensible
they have been guilty of sin. And raost sinners will own that they have bad
hearts. They will own that they do not love God so much as they should do ;
and that they are not so thankful as they ought to be fbr mercies ; and that in
many things they fail. And yet few of them are sensible that they are God's
enemies. They do not see how they can be truly so called ; they are not sensi
ble that they wish God any hurt, or endeavor lo do him any.
But we see that the Scripture speaks of thera as eneraies to God. So in our
text, and elsewhere, " And you that were soraelime alienated, and enemies in
your minds by wicked work.s," Col. i. 21. " The carnal mind is enmity against
God, "Rom. vh. 7. • , , ¦ ^ t i. u
And that all natural, or unregenerate men are indeed so, is what 1 sliall
endeavor now particularly to show. Which I propose to do in the following
method: .
1. I shall show, in what respects they are enemies to God.
2. To how great a degree they are enemies.
3. Why they are enemies.
4. I shall answer some objections.
I. I am lo show, in what respects they are enemies to God.
'l. Their tnmity appears in their judgraents; in the judgraent and esteem
Ja MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES.
they have of God. They have a yery mean esteem of God Men »re ready to
entertain a good esteem of thpse with whom they are friencts : they are apt to
.hink highly pf their qualities, to give them their due praises; and if there be
defects, to coyer thera. But those to whom they are enemies, they are disposed
to. have mean thoughts of; they are apt to entertain a dishonorable opinion of
thera ; they will be ready to look contemptibly upon any thing that is praise
worthy in them.
So it is with natural men towards God. They entertain very low and con-
tenaptible thoughts of God. Whatever honor and respect they may pretend and
make a show of towards God, if their practice be exarained, it will show, that
they dp certainly look upon, him to be a Being, that is but little to be regarded
They think him one that is worthy of very little honor and respect, not worthy
to be much taken notice of The language of their hearts is, " Who is the
Lord, that I should obey his voice ?" Exod. v. 2. " What is the Almighty,
that we I should serve him ? and what profit should we have if we pray unto
him ?" Job xxi. 15. They count him worthy neither to be loved nor feared
They dare not behave wilh that slight and disregard towards one of their fellow
creatures, when a little raised above them in power and authority, as they dare
and do towards God. They value one of their equals much more than Godj
and are ten times more afraid of offending such a one, than of displeasing the
God that made them. They cast such exceeding contempt on God, as to pre
fer every yile lust before hira. And every worldly enjoyraent is set higher in
their esteem than God. A morsel of raeat, or a few pence of worldly gain, is
preferred before him. God is set last and lowest in the esteem of natural
men. 2. They are eneraies,in the natural relish of their souls. They have an in
bred distaste and disrelish of God's perfections. God is not such a .sort of being
as they would have. Though they are ignorant of God, yet from what they
hear of hira, and frora what is manifest by the light of nature of God, they do
not like him. By his being endowed with such attributes as he is, they have
an aversion to him. They hear God is an infinitely holy, pure, and rio-hteous
Being, and they do not like him upon this account ; they have no relish of such
kind of qualifications; they take no delight in contemplating them. It would
be a mere task, a bondage to a natural man, to be obliged to set himself to con
template these attributes of God. They see no manner of beauty or loveliness,
nor taste any sweetness in them. And upon the account of their distaste of
these perfections, they dislike all the other of his attributes. They have greater
aversion to him because he is omniscient and knowts all Ihings ; because his
omniscience is a holy omniscience. They are not pleased that he is omnipotent,
and can do whatever he pleases ; because it is a holy oranipotence. They are
eneraies even, to his mercy, because it is a holy mercy. They do not like his
immutability, because by this he never will be otherwise than he is, an infinitely
holy God.
It is frora this disrelish that natural men have of the attributes of God, that
they do not Icve to have rauch lo do with God. The natural tendency of the
heart of man is to fly from God, and keep at a distance from him ; and get as
far off' as pos,sible from God. A natural man is averse to comraunion with God
and is naturally disinclined to those exercises of religion wherein he has imme
diately to do with God. It is said of wicked man, " God is not in all his
thoughts," Psal. x. 4. It is evident that the mind of raan is naturally averse
to thinking about God ; and hence, if any thoughts of God be suggested lo the
mind, they soon go away ; such thoughts are not apt to rest in the minds of
MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES, d9
natmnl men. If any thing is said to them of God, they are apt to forget it : h
is hke seed that falls upon the hard path, it does not at all ei.ter in, and the
fowls ofthe air soon catch it away ; or like seed that falls upon a rock. Other
things will stick ; but divine ihings do, as it were, rebound ; and if they are
cast inlo the raind, they meet with that there which soon thrusts thera out again ;
they raeet with no suitable entertainment, but are soon chased away.
Hence, also it is that natural men are so diflficultly peisuaded to be constant
in the duty of secret prayer. They would not be so averse to spending a quar
ter of an hour, night and morning, in some bodily labor, but it is because they
are averse to a work wherein they have so iraraediately to do with God, and
they naturally^ love to keep at a distance from God.
3. Their wills are contrary lo his will. God's will and theirs are exceed
ing cross the one to the other. God wills those things that they hate, and are
most averse to ; and they will those things that God hates. Hence they op
pose God in their wills : they set up their wills against the will pf God. Ther.e
is a dreadful, violent, and obstinate opposition of the will of natural men to the
will of God.
They are very opposite to the commands of God. It is from the enmity of
the will, that " the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be," Rom. vn. 7. Hence natural raen are enemies to God's government.
They are not loyal subjects, but enemies to God, considered as Lord of the
world. They are entire enemies to God's authority.
4. They are enemies to Gcd in their affections. There is in every natural
man a seed of malice against God : yea, there is such a seed of this rooted in
the heart of man naturally. And it does often dreadfully break forth and ap
pear. Though it may in a great measure lie hid in secure times, when God
lets men alone, and they meet with no great disturbance of body or mind ; yet
if God does but touch men a little in their consciences, by manifesting lo them
a little of his wrath for their sins, this oftentimes brings out the principle of
malice against God, which is exercised in dreadful heart-risings, inward wrang-
lings and quarrehngs, and blasphemous thoughts; wherein the heart is like a
viper, hissing, and spitting poison at God. There is abundance of such a prin
ciple in the heart. And however free from it the heart may seem to be when
let alone and secure, yet a very little thing will set it in a rage. Temptation
will show what is in the heart. The alteration of a man's circumstances will
often discover the heart : a change of circumstance will bring that out which
was hid before. Pharaoh had no more natural enmity against God than other
men; and if other natural men had been in Pharaoh's circurastances, the same
corruptions would have put forth themselves in as dreadful a manner. The
Scribes and Pharisees had naturally no more of a principle of malice in their
hearts against Christ than other men ; and other natural men would, in their
case, and having as little restraint, exercise as much malice against Christ as
they did. When wicked men come to be cast into hell, then their malice
against God will appear. Then it will appear what dreadful malice they have
in their hearts. Then their hearts will appear as full of malice as hell is full
of fire. But when wicked men come to be in hell, there will be no new cor
ruptions put into their he;:.rts ; but only old ones will then break forth wiihout
restraint. That is all the difference between a wicked man on earth and a
wicked man in hell, that in hell there will be more to stir up the exercise ot
corruption, and less to restrain it than on earth ; but there will be no new cor
ruption put in. A wicked man will have no principle of corruption in hell, but
wh£t he carried to hell with him. There are now the seeds of all the mahce
40 MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENE.'.TIES.
that will be exercised then. The malice of damned spirits is but a branch ,)i
the root, that is in the hearts of natural men now. A natural man has a heart
like the heart of a devil ; but only as corruption is more under restraint in man
than in devils. „
5. They are enemies in their practice. " They walk contrary to him. Lev
xxvi. 21. Their enmity against God does not he still, but they are exceeding
active in it. They are engaged in a war against God. Indeed they cannot
hurt God, he is so much above them ; but yet they do what they can. They op
pose themselves to his honor and glory : they oppose themselves to the interest of
his kingdom in the world : they oppose theraselves lo the will and coramand of
God ; and oppose him in his government. They oppose God in his works, and
in his declared designs ; while God is doing one work, they are doing the con
trary, and as much as in them lies, counter- working ; God seeks one thing, and
they seek directly the contrary. They list under Satan's banner, and are his
willing soldiers in his opposing the kingdom of God.
I proceed now,
II. To say something with respect to the degree of this enmity ; tending in
some raeasure to show, how great enemies natural men are to God.
1. They have no love to God ; their enmity is mere enmity, without any mix
ture of love. A natural raan is wholly destitute of any principle of love to God,
and never had the least exercise of this love. Some natural men have had bet
ter natural terapers than others ; and some are better educated than others ; and
some live a great deal raore soberly than others ; but one has no raore love to
God than another ; for none have the least spark of that. The heart of a
natural man is as destitute of love to God, as a dead, stiff, cold corpse is of vital
heat. " I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you," John v. 43.
2. Every faculty and principle of action is wholly under the dominion of
enmity against God. The nature of man is wholly infected with this enmitv
against God. t-Ie is tainted with it throughout, in all his faculties and princi
ples. And not only so, but every faculty is entirely and perfectly subdued under
it, and enslaved lo it. This enmity against God has the absolute possession of
the man. The Aposlle Paul, speaking of what he was naturally, says, " I am
carnal, sold under sin," Rom. vu. 14.
The understanding is under the reigning power of this enmity against God,
so that it is entirely darkened and blinded with regard to the glory and excel
lency of God. The will is wholly under the reigning power of it. All the af
fections are governed by enmity against God ; there is not one aff'ection, nor
one desire, that a natural man has, or that he is ever stirred up to act from, but
what contains in it .inmity against God. A natural man is as full of enmity
against God, as any viper, or any venomous beast is full of poison.
3. The power of the enmity of natural men against God, is so great, that it
is insuperable by any finite power. It has too great and strong a possession of
the heart, to be overcome by any created power. Natural men cannot over
come their own enmity, let them strive never so rauch with their own hearts.
Indeed a natural man never sincerely strives to root out his enmity against God ;
his endeavors are hypocritical : he delights in his enmity, and chooses it. Neither
can others do it, Ihough they sincerely, and tc their utmost, endeavor to over
come this enmity. If godly friends and neighbors labor to persuade them to
cast a'vay their enmity, aud become friends to God, they cannot persuade him
to it. Though ministers use never so many arguments and entreaties, and set
forth the loveliness of God, and lell them of the goodness of God to them, and
aold forth to them God's own graciou"! invitations, and entreat them never so
MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES. 41
earnestly to cast off their opposition and enmity, and to be reconciled, and be
come friends, yet they cannot overcome it : still they will be as bad enemies to
God as ever they were. The tongue of men or of angels cannot persuade Ihem
to relinquish their opposition to God. Miracles will not do it. How many
miracles did the children of Israel see in the^ wilderness ! Yet their enmity
against God remained, as appeared by their often murmuring. And how often
did Christ use miracles to this end without eflfect ! But the Jews yet obsti-
-lately stood out. " 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and
stonest thera which are sent unto thee, how olten would 1 have gathered thy
children together, even as a lieii galherelh her chickens under her wings, and
ye would not 1" Matt, xxiii. 37. And how great did the enraity of these
people appear to be after all ; how spiteful and venomous were their hearts
towards Christ, as appears by their cruel treatment of him in his last suffer
ings! They are mortal enemies to God, i. e., they have that enmity in their hearts,
that strikes at the life of God. A man raay be no friend to another, and may
have an ill spirit towards him, and yet not be his raortal eneray : his enmity will
be satisfied and glutted wilh something short ofthe death ofthe person. But it
is not so with natural raen wilh respect to God, they are mortal eneraies. In
deed natural raen cannot kill God. They have no hope of it, and so raake no
attempts. It has ever been looked upon so rauch above their power, that, it
may be, it i." not thought of. But this is no arguraent that this is not the ten
dency of the principle
Natural men are enemies to the dorainion of God ; and their nature shows
their good will to pull him down out of heaven, and dethrone him if they could !
Yea, thev are enemies to the being of God, and would be glad if there was no
God, and therefore it necessarily follows, that they would kill hira, and cause
that there should be none, if they could.
" The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God," Psal. xiv. 1. This
saying in his heart, there is no God, implies in it, not only an aptness to question
the being of God, but it iraphes that he inclines it should be so. His heart
says, i. e., his inclination says. The words in the origmal are thus : " The fool
hath said in his heart, no God." The words, ihere is, are not in the original, but
were put in by the translators. Now, if we read the words so, " The fool hath
said in his heart, no God," they will perhaps show the Psalmist's meaning more
fijlly than as they are now translated. " The fool halh said in his heart, no
God." That is, I would have none, I do not desire any, I wish there was none ,
that would suit my inclination best. That is the language of the inclinations
of a natural raan ; no God. Let there be no God for me, let me have no God ;
let the world be emptied of a God, he stands in my way. And hence he is an
Atheist in his heart, he is ready to think there is none ; and that also is ready to
be the language of his heart, " There is no God."
The viper's poison is deadly poison ; and when he bites, he seeks the pre
cious life. And men are in this respect a generation of vipers. Their poison,
which is enmity against God, seeks the life of God. " 0 generation of vipers,"
Malt. iii. 7. " The wicked are estranged from the womb. — Their poison is like
the poison of a serpent," Psal. Iviii. 3, 4. " For their vine is the vine of Sodom,
and of the fields of Gomorrah ; their grapes are the grapes of gall, their clusters
are bitter. Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps,"
Deut. xxxii. 32, 33.
The divine nature being imraorlal, and infinitely out of our reach, there is
DO other trial possible, whether the enmity that is naturally in the heart againsi
Vol. IV fi
42 MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIESt
God, be mortal or no, but only for God lo take on hira the hunjan .lature anj
become raan, so as to come wilhin man's reach, that they should be capable of
kilhng hira. There can be no other experiraent but this. And this trial theit
has been. And what has been the event ? Why, when once God became
man, and came down to dwell^here araong such vipers as fallen men, they
hated him and persecuted hi-m ; and never left hira till they had imbrued their
hands in his blood. There was a multitude of them that appeared combined in
this design. Nolhing would do, but he must be put to death. All cry out,
" Crucify him, crucify him. Away wilh him." They had rather Barabbas, who
greatly deserved dealh, should hve, than he should not die. Nothing would re
strain them from it; even all his preaching, and all his miracles; but they
would kill hira. And it was not the ordinary kind of execution that would
satisfy thera ; but it must be the most cruel, and raost ignorainious they possib'}'
could invent. And they, in the lime of il, added to it, and aggravated it as
much as ever they could, by mocking him, and spitting on him, and scourging
him. This shows what the nature and tendency of man's enmity against God
is ; here it appears in its true colors.
5. Natural men are greater enemies to God than they are to any other being
whatsoever. Natural men may be very great enemies to their fellow creatures, but
not so great as they are to God. There is no other being that so much stands
in sinners' way, in those things that they chiefly set their hearts upon, as God.
Men are wont to hate their enemies in proportion to two things, viz., their op
position lo what they look upon to be their interesi, and their power and ability.
One that is looked upon a great and powerful enemy, will be more hated than
one that is weak and impotent. But none of their enemies are so powerful as
God. ^
Man's enmity to other enemies may be got over : time may wear it out, and
they may be reconciled and be friends. But natural men, without a mighty
work of God. to change their hearts, will never get over their enmity against
God. They are greater enemies to God than they are to the devil. Yea, they
treat the devil as their friend and master, and join in with him against God.
" Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do : he
was a murderer from the beginning," John vhi. 44.
I now proceed,
III. To show why, or on what account they are enemies to God.
The general reason is, that God is opposite to them in the worship of their
idols. ,
The apostasy of man does summarily consist in departing from the true God
to idols ; fojsaking his Creator, and setting up other things in his room.
When God at first created man, he was united to his Creator ; the God that
made him was his God. The true God was the object of his highest respect,
and had the possession of his heart. Love to God was the principle in his heart]
that ruled over all other principles ; and every thing in the soul was wholly in
subjection lo it. But when man fell, he departed from the true God, and the
union that was between his heart and his Creator was broken : he wholly
lost the prmciple of love he had to God. And henceforward man clave to other
gods. He gave that respect to the creature which is due to the Creator When
cod ceased to be the object of his supreme love and respect, other things of
course became the objects of it. °
Man will necessarily have something that he respects as God. If man does
not give his highest respect to the God that made him, there will be something
else that has the possession of it. Men will either worship the true God oj
MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES. 4S
some idol : it is impossible it should be otherwise ; something will have the
heart of man. And that which a man gives his heart to, raay be called his god ;
and therefore, when man by the fall extinguished all love to the true God, he
set up the creature in his roora.
And so man came to be at enmity against the true God. For having lost
his esteem and love of the true God, and set up other gods in his roora, and in
opposition to him ; and God still deraanding their worship, and opposing them
in their worship of those false gods ; and man continuing still to worship idols,
enmity necessarily follows.
That which a man chooses for his god he sets his heart raainly upon. And
nothing will so soon excite enmity as opposition in that which is dearest. A
man will be the greatest eneray to him who opposes him in what he chooses
for his god : he will look on none as standing so much in his way as he that
would deprive him of his god : " Ye have taken away my gods ; and what have
I more?" Judg. xviii. 24. A man in this respect cannot serve two masters that
stand in corapetition for his service. And not only if he serves one, he cannot
serve the other, but if he cleaves to one he will necessarily hale the other. " No
man can serve two masters : for either he will hate the one, and love the other,
or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and
mammon," Malt. vi. 24. And this is the very reason that men hale God. In
this case it is as when two kings set up in one kingdora in opposition one to the
other ; and they both challenge the sarae throne, and are competitors for the
same crown ; they that are loyal, hearty subjects to one, will necessarily be
enemies to the other. It alway happens so, nor indeed can it be olherwise.
As that which is a man's god, is the object of his highest love ; so that God,
who chiefly opposes him in it, must be the object of his greatest hatred.
The gods which a natural man worships, instead of the God that made him,
are himself and the world. He has withdrawn his esteera and honor from God,
and proudly exalts himself as Satan did : he was not willing to be in such sub
jection ; and therefore rebelled, and set up himself for God. So a natural man
m the proud and high thoughts he has of himself, sets up himself upon God's
throne. And he gives his heart lo the world, worldly riches, and worldly
pleasures, and worldly honors ; they have the possession of that regard which is
due to God. The apostle sums up all the idolatry of wicked men in their love
of the world. " Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that
is in the world, the lust ofthe flesh, the lust ofthe eye, and the pride of life, is
not of the Father, but is of the world," 1 John ii. 15, i6. And the Apostle
James observes, that a man must necessarily be the eneray of the true God, if
he be a friend ofthe world. " Know ye not that the friendship ofthe world is
enraity with God ? Whosoever therefore -will be a friend of the world, is the
enemy of God," James iv. 4.
All the sin that men commit, is what they do in the service of their idols :
there is no one act of sin, bul what is an acl of service to some false god. And
therefore wherein soever God opposes sin in them, he is opposite to their wor
ship oftheir idols; on which account they are enemies to God.
God opposes them in their service of their idols in the following respects.
I. He manifests his utter abhorrence of their worship of their idols. Their
idols are whal they love above all things ; they would by no means part with
thera. This wickedness is sweet unto thera. Job xx. 12. If you take them
awav what have they more ? If they lose their idols, they lose their all. To
••cm. away their idols fnm them would be more grievous to them, than to rend
44 MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES.
body and soul asunder ; it is like rending their heart in twain. They love their
idolatry ; but God does not approve of it, but exceedingly hates it ; he hates it
implacably, and will by no means be reconciled to it ; and therefore they hate
him. God declares an infinite hatred of e*-ery act of sin which they do ; or
every act that they do in the service of their false gods. He approves of it in
no part, but hates it all. He declares himself to be a holy God, and a jealous
God; a God that is very jealous of his own honor; and that greatly abhors
the giving that honor to another.
2. He utterly forbids their cleaving to those idols, and all the service that they
do to them. He not only shows that he dislikes it, but he utterly forbids it ;
and demands that they should worship hira, and serve him only, and give their
hearts wholly to him, without tolerating any competitor. He allows them to
serve their idols in no degree; bul requires them to cast them away utterly, and
pay no more worship to thera at any tirae. He requires a final parting with
their idols. Not only that they should refrain from them for a while, but cast
them away forever, and never gratify their idolatrous respect to them any more
This is so exceeding conlrary to thera, and what they are so averse lo, and
so obstinate in their refusal of, that they are eneraies to God for it. They can
not endure God's coramands, because they forbid all that which their hearts are
so engaged in. And as they hate God's comraands, so they hate hira whose
coramands they are.
3. He threatens them with everlasting damnation for their service of their
idols. He threatens them for their past idolatry. He threatens them wilh his
eternal wrath, for their having departed from him, and their having chosen to
themselves other gods. He threatens thera for that disposition they have in
their hearts to cleave to other gods : he threatens the least degrees of that res
pect which they have in their hearts to their idols. He raanifesls that he will
not tolerate any regard to them, but has fixed eternal dealh, as the wages of
every degree of it. And he will not release them from their guilt ; he holds them
to their obligations ; he will not acquit them at all ; and he will accept of no
atoneraent that they can make. He will not forgive them, whatever they do in
religion; whatever pains they take ; whatever tears they shed. He will accept
of no money or price that they have to offer.
And he threatens every future act of their idolatry. He not only forbids
thera ever to be guilty of the least act, but forbids them on pain of eternal dam
nation. So strictly does God prohibit them from the service of their idols, that
are so dear to them, that are their all, and which they would on no account part
v/ith. He threatens them with everlasling wrath for all exercises of inordinate
love of worldly profit ; for all manifestations of inordinate regard to worldly
pleasures, or worldly honors. He threatens thera with everlasting torments for
their self-exaltation. He requires them to deny themselves, and renounce thera
selves, and to abase themselves at his feet, on pain of bearing his wrath to all
eternity. The strictness of God's law is a principal cause of man's enmity against
God. If God were a God that did not so much hate sin ; if he were one who
would allow them in the gratification of their lusts, in some degree: and his
threatenings were not so awful against all indulgence of their lust ; if his
threatenings were not so absolute ; if his displeasure could be appeased by a
!'ew tears, and a little reforraation, or the like ; they would not be so great ene
mies, nor hate him so much as they do now. But God shows himself to be an
implacable enem/to their idols, to every degree of their service of them ; and
has threatened everlasting wrath, infinite calamity for all that they do in the
MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES. It
service of their lusts ; and holds them bound under his wrath therefor. And
this makes them irreconcilable enemies to him.
For this reason the Scribes and Pharisees were such bitter eneraies to Christ,
because he showed himself to be such an enemy to their pride, and conceit oi
their own wisdom, and their self-righteousness, and inordinate aflfection of their
own honor, which was their god. Natural men are eneraies to God, bfcv,ause
be is so opposite to them in that in which they place their all. If you go to
take away that which is very dear to a man, nothing will provoke him more.
God is infinitely opposite to that in which natural men place all their delight,
and all their happiness, viz., their gods. He is an eneray to that which natural
men value as their greatest honor and highest dignity ; and which they trust
wholly to, that which is all their dependence, viz., their own righteousness.
Hence natural men are greater enemies to God than they are lo any other
. being. Some of their fellow creatures may stand very rauch in their way wilh
regard to some things they set their hearts upon ; but God opposes them with
respect to all their idols, and those gods which are their all. And then God's
opposition to their idols, which are above all things dear to thera, is infinitely
great. None of our fellow creatures ever oppose usTin any of our interests so
much as God opposes wicked men in their idolatry ; for God has an infinite
opposition against it. His infinite opposition is manifested by his threatening
an infinite punishment, viz., his dreadful wralh to all eternity, miseiy wiihout
end Hence we need not wonder that natural raen are eneraies to God. •
Having thus shown, in sorae measure, why natural men are God's enemies,
I proceed to the last thing proposed :
IV. To consider and make answer to some objections, that some may oe
ready to make against this.
Natural men do not generally conceive themselves to be so bad : they have
not this notion of themselves, that they are enemies to God. And therefore
when they hear such doctrine as this taught them, they stand ready to make
objections. Object. 1. Some natural men may be ready to say, I do not know that I
feel any such enmity in my heart against God as is spoken of I am not sen
sible that I ara such a dreadful enemy, so as lo hale God, and to have a mortal
enmity against him ; and to have a disposition, if I could, to kill him. I feel
no such thing in myself, and why should I think that I have such a thing in
me ? If I have euch enmity, why do not I feel it ? If I am a raortal enemy
why should I not know it belter than any body else ? How can others see
what is in my heart better than I rayself?" If I hale one of my fellow crea
tures, and have a spirit against him, I can feel it inwardly working. To such
an objection I would,
Ans. 1. If you do but observe yourself, and search your own heart, unless
you are strangely blinded, you may be sensible of those things wherein enmity
does fundamentally consist. As particularly, you may be sensible that you
have at least had a low and contemptible esteem of God ; and that you in your
esteem set the trifles and vanities of this world far above him ; so as to esteem
Ihe enjoyment of these things far before the enjoyraent of God, and to value
these thing? better than his love. And you raay be sensible that you despise
the authority "f God, and value his coramands and his honor but very little.
Or if by .«;orae means you have blinded yourself now, so as to think you do re
gard them now, doubtless you can look back and see that you have not regard
ed them. You may be sensible that you have had a disrelish and aversion
'owards God ; an opposition to thinking of God, or to have any thing to do
46 MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES.
with him ; so that it would have been a very uncomfortable task to have been
confined lo it for any time ; and that when the vanities of the world, at the
sarae tirae, have been very pleasing to you ; and you have been all .swallowed
up in them, while you have been averse to the things of religion.
If you look into your heart, it is there plain to be seen, that there is an en
mity in your will, that your will is contrary to God's will ; for you have been
opposing the will of God all your life long. These things are plain in natural
men ; il is nolhing but some great delusion that can hide them from you. And
these things are the foundation of all enmity ; if these things be in you, all the
rest that we have spoken of will follow of course.
2. One reason why you have not more sensibly felt the exercises of malice
against God is, that your enmity is now exercised partly in your unbelief of
God's being ; and this prevents it appearing in other ways, Ihat otherwise it
would. Man has naturally a principle of atheism in him ; an indisposition to
lealize God's being, and a disposition to doubt of it. The being of God does
not ordinarily seem real to natural men. All the discoveries that there are of God's
being, in his works, wil; not overcome the principle of atheism that is in the
heart. And though they seem in some measure to be rationally convinced,
yet it does not appear real ; the conviction is faint, there is no strong conviction
impressed on the raind, that there is a God : and oftentimes they are ready to
think that there is none. Now this will prevent the exercise of this enmity
thaPt otherwise would befell; particularly, it may be an occasion of there not
being those sensible exercises of haired, that otherwise there would be.
It may in some measure be illustrated by this: if you had a rooted malice
against another man, a principle that had been long established there ; if you
should hear that he was dead, and so should conceive that he had no being, ihe
sensible workings of your malice would not be felt, as when you realized it
that he was alive, or that there was such a person ; and that although there be
the same thing in the foundation, which would appear, if you should afterwards
hear the news contradicted, and perceive that your enemy was still alive; you
would feel the sarae workings of hatred that you did before. And when you
thought he was dead, you raight feel the exercise of your enraity, in being glad
of it. And thus your not realizing it, that God has a being, raay prevent those
sensible M-orkings of hatred, that olherwise you would have. If wicked men
in this world were sensible of the reality of God's being, as the wicked are in
another, they would feel more of that hatred, that men in another world do. The
exercise of corruption in one way, may, and often does prevent il working in
other ways. As covetousness may prevent the exercise of pride, so atheism
may prevent malice ; and yet it may be no argument of there being any the less
of a principle of enmity in the heart ; for it is the sarae enmity working in
another way. The same enmity that in this world works by atheism, will in
another world, where there will be no room for atheism, work by malice am';
blaisphemy. The sarae mortal enraity that, if you saw there was a God, mighl
make you to wish him dead, and lo desire, if it were possible, to kill hira, raay
now dispo.se and incline to think there is none. Men are very often apt to think
things are so as they would have them lo be. The same principle disposes you
to think God has no life, which, if you knew he had, would dispose you, if it
were possible, to take it away.
3. if you thiuK that there is a God, yet you do not reahze it, that he is sucb
a God as he is. You do not realize it, that he is so holy a God as he is : you
do not realize it, Ihat he has such a hatred of sin as indeed he has. You dc
not realize it, that he i? so 'msI a God as he is, that will by no means clear the
MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES. 47
guilty. But that in the Ps-alms is applicable to you : " These things hast thou
done, and I kept silence : thou thoughtest that I was allogether such a one as
thyself," Psal. 1.21. So that if you think there is a God, you do not think
there is such a God as there is. And your atheism appears in this, as well as
in thinking there is no God. For that God that you think there is, is not that
God that indeed is, but another, one of your own feigning, the fruit of your own
vain, deluded imagination. So that your objection arises from this, that you do
not find such a sensible hatred against that god which you have forraed, to suit
yourself; a god that you like betier than the true God. Bul this is no argument
that you have no bitter enraity against the true God ; for it was your enraity
against the true God, and your not liking hira, that has put you upon forraing
up another in your imagination, that you like belter. Il is your enmity against
those attributes of God's holiness and justice, and the like, that has put you upon
conceiting another, who is not so holy as he is, and does not hate sin so much,
and will not be so strictly just in punishing it; and whose wrath against sin is
not so terrible.
But if you were sensible of the vanity of your own conceits, and that God
was not such a one as you h?ve imagined ; but that he is, as he is indeed, an infinite-
Ij^ holy, just, sin hating, and sin revenging God, who will not tolerate nor endure
the v;orship of idols, you would be rauch raore liable lo feel the sensible exer
cises of enraity against him, than you are now. And this experience confi.rras.
For we see that when men come lo be under convictions, and to be made sen
sible that God is not as they have heretofore iraagined ; but that he is such a
jealous, sin hating God, and whose wrath against sin is so dreadful, they
are much more apt to have sensible exercises of enmity against God than before.
4. Your having always been taught that God is infinitely above you, and
out of your reach, has prevented your enmity's being exercised in those ways
that otherwise it would have been. You have always from your infancy been
taught, that God is so high, that you cannot hurt him ; that notion has grown
up with you. And hence you be not sensible, that you have any disposition to
hurt him ; because it has been conceived so impossible, that it has not come
into your raind. And hence your enmity has not been exercised in revengeful
thouo-hts ; because revenge has never found any room here ; it has never found
any handle to take hold of: there has been no conception of any such thing,
and hence it has lain still. A serpent will not bite, or spit poison at that which
it sees at a great distance ; which if it saw near, would do it iramediately.
Opportunity shows what raen be oftentimes, whether friends or enemies. Op
portunity to do, puts men -.n mind of doing; wakens up su^^h principles as lay
dormant before. Opportunity stirs up de.sire to do, where there was before a
disposition that without opportunity would have lain still. If a man has had
an old o-rudge against another, and has a fair oppoi-tunily to be revenged, this
will revive his malice, and waken up a desire of revenge.
If a o-reat and sovereign prince injures a poor man, and though what he
does is looked upon very cruel, that will not ordinarily stir up that passionate
revenge, as if he sustained no bigger an injury from one of his equals, because
he is so much above him, and out of his reach. Many a man that has appeared
calm and meek when he has had no power in his hands, and has not appeared,
either to himself or others, to have any disposition to these and those cruel acts;
that yet afterwards, when he came to have opportunity by unexpected advance
ment or olherwise, has appeared like a ravenous wolf, or devouring lion. So
it was with Hazael. " And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord ? And he an
swered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel;
48 .MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIEP.
their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay w.th
.he sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women wilh child.
And Hazael said, But what ! is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great
thing 1 And Elisha answered. The Lord halh showed me that thou shall be
king over Syria," 2 Kmgs viii. 12, 13. Hazael was then a servant ; he had
no power in his hands to do as he pleased ; and so that cruel disposition that
was in him had lain hid, and he did not himself imagine that it was there: but
afterwards, when he became king of Syria and was absolute, and had none to
control him ; then it broke out and appeared, and he did as the prophet had
foretold. He committed those very acts of cruelty, that he thought it was not
in his heart to do. And it was want of opportunity that was the thing that
made the difference. Il was all in his heart before : he was such a'dog then
as to do this thing, but only had not had opportunity. And therefore when he
seemed surprised that the prophet should say so of hira, all the reason the
prophet gives is, " The Lord hath showed rae that thou shalt be king over
Syria." And sorae natural men are such dogs as lo do things, if they had opportu
nity, which they do not iraagine it is in their hearts to do. You object against
your having a mortal haired against God ; that you never fell any desire t-5i
kill hiin. But one reason has been, that it has always been conceived so ira
possible by you, and you have been so sensible how such desires would be in vain,
that it has kept down such a desire. But if the life of God were within your
reach, and you knew it, it would not be safe one hour. Who knows what thoughts
would presently arise in your heart by such an opportunity, and what disposi
tion would be raised up in your heart? Who would trust your heart, that there
would not presently be such thoughts as these, though they are enough to raake
one trerable to mention thera ? " Now I have opportunity to set myself at lib
erty — that I need not be kept in continual slavery by the strict law of God.
Then I may take my liberty lo walk in that way I like best, and need not be
continually in such slavish fear of God's displeasure. And God has not done
well by me in many instances. He has done most unjustly by rae, in holding
me bound to destruction for unbehef, and other things which I cannot help.^
He has shown raercy to others, and refused it to me. I have now an opportu
nity to deliver myself, and there can be no danger of my being hurl for it : God
will not be alive to revenge it. And then there will be no God for us to be
terrified about, and so keep us in slavery."
Who would trust your heart, that such thoughts would not arise ? Anti
others rauch more horrid ! Too dreadful to be mentioned ! And therefore 1
forbear. Those natural raen are foolishly insensible of what is in their own
hearts, who think there would be no danger of any such workings of heart, if
they knew they had opportunity.
5. You little consider how rauch your having no more of the sensible exer
cises of hatred to God, is owing to a being restrained by fear. You have al
ways been taught what a dreadful thing it is to hate God. And you have beer
taught what a dreadful being God is, and how terrible God's displeasure is ,
that God sees the heart, and knows all the thoughts ; and that you are in his
hands, and he can make you as rai.serable as he pleases, and as soon as lie
pleases. And these things have restrained you : and the fear that has risen
from these things, has kept you frora appearing what you are ; it has kept down
your enmity, and made that serpent afiaid to show its head, as otherwise it
would do. If a raan were wholly under the power of an enemy, though he
vere never so much of an enemy to him, he would be afraid to exercise his
MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES. 40
hatied m outward acts, unless il were wilh great disguise. — And if it be sup
posed that such an enemy, in whose power he was, could see his heart, and
know all his thoughts, and apprehended that he would put him to a terrible
<leath, if he saw the workings of malice there, how greatly would this restrain I
He would be afraid so much as to believe himself, that he hated his enemy ;
but there would be all manner of smothering, disguise, and hypocrisy, and
feigning even of thoughts and aflfections.
Thus your enraity has been kept under restraint ; and thus it has been from
your infancy. You have grown up in it, so that it has become an habitual re
straint. You dare not so much as think you hale God. If you do exercise
hatred, you have a disguise for it, whereby you endeavor even to hide it from
your own conscience; and so have all along deceived yourself And your de
ceit is very old and habitual ; and hence you are so difficultly convinced. But
this has been only restraint : it has been no mortification. But there has been
an enmity against God in its full strength. It has been only restrained like an
enemy that duist not ri.se up and show himself.
6. One reason why you have not felt more sensible hatred to God, may be
because you have not had much trial of what is in your heart. Il may be God
has hitherto in a great measure, let you alone. The enmity that is in men's hearts
against God, is like a serpent, which, if he be let alone, hes still; but if any
body disturbs it, will soon hiss, and be enraged, and show its serpentine spite
ful nature. Notwithstanding the good opinion you have of yourself, yet a little trial
-would show you to be a viper, and your heart would be set all on rage against
God. One thing that restrains you now is your hope. You hope to receive
many things from God. Your own interest is concerned ; you hope to make
great gains of God. So that bolh hope and fear operate logelher, lo restrain
your enmity from such sensible exercises as otherwise would be. But if once
hope were gone, you would soon show what you were : you would soon feel
your enmity against God in a rage.
7. If you pretend that you do not feel enmity against God, and yet act as
an enemy, you may certainly conclude, that it is not because you are no enemy,
but because you do not know your own heart. Actions are the best interpre
ters of the disposition ; they show, better than any thing else, what the heart is.
It must be because you do not observe your own behavior, that you question
whether you are an eneray to God.
What other account can you give of your own carriage, hut only your being
God's eneray ? What other can be given of your so opposing God in your ways :
walking so exceeding contrary to ^im, contrary to his counsels, contrary to his
commands, and contrary to his glory ? What other account can be given of
your casting so much contempt upon God ; your setting him so low ; your acting
so much against his authority, and against his kingdom and interest in the
world ? What other account can be given of your so setting your will in oppo
sition to God's -will, and that so obstinately, for so long a time, against so many
wainings as you have had ? What other account can be given of your joining
so much wilh Satan, in the opposition he is making to the kingdom of God in
the world ? And that you will join with him against God, though it be so much
against your own interest, and though you expose ypurself by it to everlasting
misery ?
Such like behavior in one man towards another, would be looked on as suf
ficient evidence of a man's being an enemy lo another. If he should be seen to
behave thus from time to time, and that it was his constant n'anner, none would
Vol.. IV 7
bO MEN NATURALLY ^OD'S ENEMIES.
want any better evidence, that he was an enemy to his neighbor. If you youi-
self had a servant that carried it towards you, as you do towards God, you would
not think there was need of any greater evidence of his being your eneray. If
your servant should manifest so much contempt of you ; should disregard your
commands as much as you do the commands of God ; and should go so directly
contrary ; should in so many ways act the very reverse of your commands; and
should seem to set himself in ways that were contrary to your will so obstinate
ly and incorrigibly, without any amendment from your repeated calls and warn
ings, and threatenings ; and should act so cross to you day and night, as you
do to God ; when you sought one thing, he would seek tbe contrary ; when
you did any work, he would, as much as in him lay, undo and destroy your
work ; and should continually drive at such ends, as tended to overlhrow the
ends you airaed at ; when you sought to bring to pass any design, he would en
deavor to overlhrow your design ; and should set hiraself as much against your
interest, as you do yourself against God's honor. And you should moreover
see him, from tirae to time, with others that vi'ere your declared raortal eneraies;
and raaking thera his counsellors as rauch as you do the devils, God's declared
mortal enemies ; and hearkening to their counsels, as much as you do to
Satan's temptations : should you not think you had sufficient evidence that he
was your enemy indeed ?
Therefore consider seriously your own ways, and weigh your own behavior.
" How canst thou say, I am not polluted ? See thy way in the valley, know
what thou hast done," Jer. ii. 23.
Object. II. Natural men may be ready to object, Ihe respect they show to
God, from time to time. This raakes many lo think that they are far from
being such enemies to God. They carry it respectfully towards God : they pray
to him in secret, and do il in as humble a manner as they are able. Tbey at
tend on public wor.«hip, and take a great deal of pains to do it in a decent
raanner. It seems to them that they show God a great deal of respect ; they
use raany very respectful terras in their prayer ; they give him all the honor
they can ; they are respectful in their manner of speaking, and in their voice,
and their gestures, and the hke.
But to this, I
Answer, That all this is done in mere hypocrisy. All this seeming respect
IS feigned, there is no sincerity in it ; there is external respect, but no respect in
the heart ; there is a show, and nothing else. You only cover your enmity
wilh a painted vail. You put on the disguise of a friend, but in your heart
you are a mortal eneray for all that. There is external honor, but inward con
terapt ; there is a show of friendship and regard, but inward hatred. You do
but deceive yourself with your show of respect, and endeavor to deceive God ; not
considering God looks not on the outward appearance, but he looks on the heart.
Here consider particularly,
1. That much of that seeming respect which natural men show to God, is
owing to their education. They have been taught from their infancy that they
ought to show great respect to God. They have been taught to use respectful
language, when speaking about God, and to behave wilh solemnity, when at
tending on those exercises of religion, wherein they have to do with God. They,
from their childhood, have seen that it is the manner of others, when they pray .
to God, to use reverential expressions, and a reverential behavior before hini.
And their show of respect, which they make to God, is owing, in a great mea
sure, to this.
Those who are brought up in places where they have commonly, from theii
MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES. bl
infancy, heard men take the name of God in vain, and swear, and curse, anc'
blaspheme ; they learn to do the same, and it becomes habitual to them so to
do. And it is the same way, and no other, that you have learned to behave
respectfully towards God ; not that you have any raore respect to God than
they ; but they have been brought up one way, and you another. In sorae
parts of the world, raen are brought up in the worship of idols of silver, and
gold, and wood, and stone, raade in the shape of men and beasts. " They say
of them. Let the raen that sacrifice, kiss the calves," Hos. xiii. 2. In sorae
parts of the world they are brought up to worship serpents, and are taught frora
their infancy to carry it wilh great respec. *o them. And in some places they
are brought up in worshipping the devil, who appears to them in a bodily
shape ; and to behave with a show of great reverence and honor towards him.
And what respect you show to God has no better foundation ; it comes the
same way, and is worth no more.
2. That show of respect which you make is forced. You come to God,
and make a great show of respect to him, and use very respectful terras, with a
respectful, reverential tone and manner of speaking ; and your countenance is
grave and solemn ; and you put on a humble aspect ; and j'Ou kneel, and use
hurable, respectful postures, out of fear. You are afraid that God will execute
his wrath upon you ; and so you feign a great deal of respect, that he raay not
be angry with you. "Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies
submit theraselves unto thee,'' Psal. Ixvi. 3. In the original il is, •' shall thine
enemies lie to thee." It is rendered therefore in the margin, " shall yield feign
ed obedience unto thee." All that you do in religion is forced and feigned.
Through the greatness of God's power, you yield feigned obedience. You are
in God's power, and he is able to destroy you ; and so you feign a great deal of
respect to him, that he might not destroy you. As one raight do towards an ene
my that had taken him captive, though he at the same time would gladly make
his escape, if he could, by taking away the life of him who had taken him captive.
3! It is not real respect that moves you to behave so towards God ; you do
it because you hope you shall get by it. It is respect to yourself, and not res
pect to God, that moves you. You hope lo move God to bestow the rewards
of his children by it. You are like the Jews who followed Chri.st, and called
hira Rabbi, and would raake hira a king. Not that they honored hira so much
in their hearts, as to think him worthy of the honor of a king, or that they had
the respect of sincere subjects ; but they did il for the sake of the loaves. "Jesus
perceived that they would come and take hira by force to make him a king.
And when they bad found him on the other side ofthe sea, they said unlo hira.
Rabbi, when caraest thou hither ? Jesus answered, and said unlo thera. Verily,
verily, I say unto you. Ye seek me, not because you saw the miracles, but be
cause ye did eat ofthe loaves, and were filled," John vi. 15 — 25, 26.
These things do not argue but that you are implacable enemies to God
notwithstanding If you exaraine your prayers and other duties, ;- our own con
sciences will tell you that he seeraing respect which you have shown to God
in them, has been only in hypocrisy. That oftentimes you have set forth in
your prayers, that God was a great God, and glorious God, an infinitely holy
God, as if you greatly honored him on the account of these attributes ; and you,
at the same time, had no sense in your heart ofthe greatness and gloriousness
of God, or ol any excellency in his holiness. And so your own consciences
will tell you, that you have often pretended to be thankful ; you have told God,
that you thanked him that you was alive, and thanked hira for these and those
mercies, when you have not found the least jot of thankfulness in your heart.
52 MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES.
And so you have told God of your own unworthiness, and set forth what a vile
creature you was, when you have had no hurable sense of }our own unwor
thiness. And if these forementioned restraints were thrown off, you would soon
throw off all your show of respect. Take away fear, and take away a regard
to your cwn interest, and there would soon be an end to all those appearances
of love, honor and reverence, which now you make. All these things are not
at all inconsistent with the most implacable enmity.
The devil himself made a show of respect to Christ when he was afraid
that he was going to torment him ; and when he hoped to persuade Christ to
spare him longer. " When he saw Jesus he cried out, and fell down beforo
him, and with a loud voice said. What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son
of God most high ? I beseech thee torraent me not." Luke viii. 28.
Object. III. Some may perhaps object against this doctrine of their being
God's enemies, the rehgious affections they have sometimes experienced. They
may be ready lo say, that when they have come before God in prayer, they
have not only used respectful terras and gestures, but they have prayed with
affection ; their prayers have been attended with tears, which they are ready to
think showed soraething in the heart.
Answer. These aft'ections have risen from other causes, and not from any
true respect to God.
As particularly,
1. They have risen frora self-love, and not love to God. If you have wept
before God, from the consideration of our own pitiful case, that has been because
you loved yourself, and not because you had any respect to God. And if your
tears have been from sorrow for your sins, you have mourned for your sins, be
cause you have sinned against yourself, and not because you have sinned against
God. " When you fasted and mourned, did ye at all fast unto me. even untc
Me ?" Zech. vii. 5.
2. Pride and a good thought of themselves, very commonly has a great
hand in the affections of natural men. They have a good opinion of what they
are doing when they are praying ; and the reflection on that affects them ; they
are affected with their own goodness. Man's self-righteousness often occasions
tears. A high opinion of themselves before God, and an imagination of their
being persons of great account wilh hira, has affected them in their transactions
with God.
There is commonly abundance of pride in the midst of tears, and pride is, in
a great measure, the source of them. And then they are so far from being'an
argument that you be not an enemy to God, that on the contrary, they are Efn
argument that you be. In your very tears, you are in a vain conceit of yourself,
exalting yourself against God.
3. The affections of natural men do often arise from wrong conceits that
they have of God. They conceive of God, after the manner they do of men, as
though he were a being liable to be wrought upon in his affections. They con
ceive of him aS' one whose heart could be drawn, whose affections can be over
come by what he sees in them. They conceive of him as being taken with
thera and their performances ; and this works on their affections ; and thus one
tear draws another, and their affections increase by reflection. And oftentimes
they conceive of God as one that loves them, and is a friend to them ; and such
a mistake may work much on their afltclion.s. But such affections that arise
towards God, as they conceit hira to be, is no arguraent that they have not the
same i'uplacable hatred towards God, considered as he really is. There is no
MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES. 53
concluding that men are not enemies, because they are affected and shed tears
in their prayers, and the like. Saul was very much affiected when David ex
postulated wilh hiin about pursuing after him, and seeking lo kill him. David's
(vords wrought exceedingly upon Saul's affections. " And it came to pass
when David had made an end of speaking these words unlo Saul, that Saul said.
Is this thy voice, my son David ? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept,"
1 Sam. xxiv. 16, and chap. xxvi. 1, &c. He was so affected that he wept
aloud, and called David his son, though he was just before seeking his life.
But this affection of Saul's was no argument that he did not still continue in his
enmity against David. He was David's mortal enemy before, and sought his
life, and so he did afterwards. It was but a pang; his enmity was not mortified
or done away. The next news we hear of Saul is, that he was pursuing David,
and seeking his life again. APPLICATION.
This shall be of instruction, in several inferences.
Inf. I. If it be so that natural men are God's enemies, then hence we may
learn, how much we are indebted to God for his restraining grace. If all natu
ral men are God's enemies, what would they not do if they were not restrained 1
For what has one that is an eneray within himself, or in his disposition, to re
strain him from acting against him that he is an eneray to ? Hatred will not
restrain a raan from acting any thing whatsoever against him that is haled.
Nothing is too bad for hatred, if it be mere haired, and no love ; nolhing is too
bad for that to do towards the object of it. Hatred shows no kindness either in
doing or forbearing. Only hatred will never make a man forbear to act any
thing whatsoever against God; for the very nature of haired is to seek evil.
But wicked men, as has been shown, are mere enemies to God. They have
haired, without any love at all. And hence natural men have nothing within
them, in their own nature, to restrain them from any thing that is bad, be it
never so bad ; and therefore their restraint must not be owing to nature, but to
restraining grace. And therefore, whatever wickedness we have been kept
from, it is not because we have not been bad enough to commit it ; but it is
God has restrained us, and kept us back from sin. There can be no worse prin
ciple than a principle of hatred to God. The devils in hell do not do any thing
from any worse principle than this. And there can be no principle that will go
further in wickedness than this, if it be neither mortified nor restrained. But it
is not mortified in natural men ; and therefore all that keeps them from any de
gree of wickedness is restrained. If we have seen others do things that we
never did ; and if they have done worse than we, this is owing to restraining
grace. If we have not done as bad as Pharaoh, it is owing to divine restraints.
If we have not done as bad as Judas, or as the Scribes and Pharisees, or as bad
as Herod, or Simon Magus, it is because God has restrained our corruption, li
we have ever heard or read of any that have done worse than -We ; if we have
not gone the length in sinning that the most wicked pirates or carnal persecutors
have gone, this is owing to restraining grace. For we are all naturally the
eneraies of God as much as they. If we have not coramitted the unpardonable
3in, it is owing to restraining grace. There is no -w-orse principle in exercise in
that sin, than enmity against God. There is the entire fountain, and all the
foundation of the sin againsi the Holy Ghost, in that enmity against God that
we all have in us, and naturally reigns in us.
It is not we ourselves thr.t restrain ourselves frora the commission of the
54 MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES.
greatest imaginable wickedness; for enraity against God reijns in js ind ovei
us ; we are under the power and dominion of it, and aie sold under it. We
do not restrain that which reigns over us. A slave, as long as he continues a
mere slave, cannot control his raaster. " He that coraraitteth sin, is the servant of
sin," Job viu. 34. So that the restraint of this our cruel tyrant is owing to
God and not lo us. What does a poor impotent subject do to restrain the ab
solute lord that has hira wholly under his power ?
How much will it appear that the world is indebted to the restraining grace
of God, if we consider that the world is full of enemies to God ! The world is
full of inhabitants ; and ahnost all are God's eneraies, his iraplacable and raor
tal eneraies. What therefore would they not do ; what work would they not
make if God did not restrain them ?
God's work in the restraint that he exercises over a wicked world, is a glo
rious work. God's holding the reins upon the corruptions of a wicked world
and setting bounds to their wickedness, is a more glorious work than his ruling
the raging of the sea, and setting bounds to its proud waves, and saying, hither
to shalt thou come and no further. In hell God lets the wickedness of wicked
spirits have the reins to rage without restraint ; and it would be in a great
measure upon earlh as it is in hell, did not God restrain the wickedness of the
world. Bul in order to the better understanding how it is owing to the restraining
grace of God, that we are kept and withheld frora the highest acts of sin, I
would here observe several things.
1. Whenever raen are wiihheld from sinning b)' the common influence of
God's Spirit, they are withheld by restraining grace. If sinners are awakened
sinners, and are made sensible of the great guilt that sin brings, and that it ex
poses to a dreadful punishment ; they, under such circumstances, dare not allow
theraselves in wilful sin : God restrains thera by the convictions of his Spirit ;
and therein their being kept from sin is owing to restraining grace. And sin
ners that live under the gospel, that are not awakened sinners, but in a great
raeasure secure, yet commonly have some degrees of the influence of God's Spi
rit, with his ordinances influencing natural conscience. And thouoh they be
not sufficient thoroughly to rouse them out of security, or make them reform,
yet they keep thera from going such lengths in sin, as otherwise they might do.
And when it is thus, this is restraining grace. They are very stupid and sottish,
yet they would be a great deal more so, if God should let them wholly alone.
2. All the restraints that raen are under from the word and ordinances, is
frora restraining grace. The word and ordinances of God might have some
degree of influence on men's natural principles of self-love, to restrain them
from sm, without any degree of the influence of God's Spirit ; but this would
be the restraining grace of God ; for God's goodness to a sinful world, appears
in his giving his word to be a restraint on the wickedness of Ihe world.' When
men are restrained by fear of those punishments that the word of God threat
ens ; or by the warnings of the word, or by the oflfers and promises of it ; when
the word of God works upon hope, or upim fear, or natural conscience, to re
strain raen from sin, this is the restraining grace of God. When we are re
strained thus, it is owing to the raercy of God that we are restrained. It is an
instance of God's raercy, that he has revealed hell to restrain men's wickedness ;
and that he has revealed a way of salvation and a possibility of eternal life'
This is a thing that has great influence on men to restrain them from sin ; and
tnis is the re.straining grace of God.
3 When men are restrained from sin by the light of nature, this also is re-
MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIEi.". 65
straining grace. If men are destitute of the light of God's word, yet the light
of natural conscience leaches, that sin brings guill, and exposes to punishment.
The light of nature teaches, that there is a God who governs the world, and wil!
reward the good and punish the eviL \N hen men are restrained by this, they
are to attribute their restraints lo the restraining grace of God ; for il is God
who is the author ofthe light of nature, as well as the light of revelation. He
in mercy to mankind, makes known many things by natural light lo work upon
men's fear and self love to restrain their corruptions.
4. When God restrains men's corruptions by his providence, this is restrain
ing grace. And that whether it be his general providence, or his providence
in ordering the state of mankind ; or his paiticular providence, or providential
disposals towards them in particular.
(1.) God doth greatly restrain the corruption of the world by ordering the
state of mankind. He has set mankind here in a mortal state, and that is a
great restraint on their corruption. He hath set mankind in a slate of probation
for eternity, and that is a great restraint to corruption. God hath so ordered
the state of mankind, that ordinarily many kinds of sin and wickedness are dis
graceful, and what tend to the hurl of a man's character and reputation amongst
his fellow men ; and that is a great restraint. He hath so disposed the world
that raany kinds of wickedness are many ways very contrary to raen's temporal
interest; and that is a great restraint. God has so disposed the stale of man
kind, that they are ltd to prohibit many kinds of wickedne.ss by human laws;
and Ihat is a great restraint. God hath s«t up a church in the world, made of
those, who, if they are answerable to their profession, have the fear and love of
God in their hearts ; and they, by holding forth light and the word of God, and
keeping up the ordinances of God in the world, and by warning others, are a
great restraint to the wickedness of the world.
But in all these things the restraining grace of God appears. It is God's
mercy to mankind, that he has so ordered their state, that they should have so
many things, by fear and a regard to their own interest, to restrain their cor
ruptions. It is God's raercy to the world, that the slate of raankind here does
so differ in that respect from the state of the damned in hell ; where men will
have none of these things to restrain them : they will not be in such circum
stances that will so influence their hope and fear to restrain them from sin.
The wisdom of God, as well as the attributes of God's grace, greatly ap
pears in thus disposing ihings for the restraining the wickedness of men.
(2.) God doth greatly restrain the corruptions of raen by his paiticular pro
vidence, or providence towards particular persons, by placing raen in such cir
cumstances as to lay them under restraints. And to this it is often owing that
some natural men never go such lengths in sinning, or are never guilty of such
atrocious wickedness as some others, that Providence has placed in diff'erent cir
curastances. If it were not for this, many thousands of natural men, who now
live sober and orderly lives, would do as Pharaoh did. The reason why they
do not, is, that Providence has placed them in different circumstances. If they
were in the same circumstances as Pharaoh was in, they would do as he did.
And s"), if in the same circumstances as Manasseh, as Judas, as Nero. But
Providence restrains their corruptions, by pulling them in such circumstances as
not to open such a door or outlet for their corruptions as he did to them. So
some do not do such horrid things as others; they do not live such horribly
vicious lives as some others, because Providence has restrained thera, by ordering
that they should have a better education than others. Providence has ordered that
-hey should be the children of pious parents, it may be, or should live where
56 MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES.
they should enjoy many means of grace ; and so Providenct nas laid thein undei
restraints. Now this is restraining grace. The attribute of God's grace is ex
ercised in thus restraining persons in providence.
And oftentiraes God restrains men's corruptions by particular events of pro
vidence. By particular affections they are broughi under, or by particular occur
rences, whereby God does, as il were, block up men's way in their course of sin
or in sorae wickedne.ss that they had devised, and that otherwise they would
perpetrate. Or soraething happens unexpected, to hold raen back frora that
which they were about to corarait. When raen are restrained thus, it is God
fhat restrains them. Thus God restrained David by his providence from shed
ding blood as he intended to do. " Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord
liveth, and as thy soul hvelh, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from coming
to shed blood, and frora avenging thyself with thine own hand," 1 Sam. xxv.
26. God withheld it frora hira no otherwise than by ordering it so in his pro
vidence, that Abigail should corae, and by her wisdora should cool and pacify
him, and persuade him to alter his purpose. See verses 32, 33, 34.
5. Godly persons are greatly indebted to restraining grace, in keeping thera
frora dreadful acts of sin. So it was in that instance of David, that has been
just raentioned. Godly persons, when God has left, and has not restrained them,
have fallen into dreadful acls of sin. So did David in the rase of Uriah, Lot,
Peter. And when other godly persons are kept from falling into such sins, or
much worse sins than these, it is owing to the restraining grace of God.
Merely having a principle of grace in their hearts, or merely their being godly
persons, wiihout God's presence to restrain them, will not keep them from
great acls of sin. That the godly do not fall into the most horrid sins that can
be conceived of, is owing, not so rauch to any inconsistence between their falling
into such sins, and the baving the principle of grace in the heart, as it is owing
to the covenant mercy of God, whereby he has promised never to leave nor
forsake his people ; and that he will not suffer them to be tempted above what
they are able ; but wilh the temptation will make a way for them to escape.
If saving grace restrains men from great acts of sin, this is owing to God, who
gives such exercises of grace at that time when the temptation comes, that they
are restrained.
Let not the godly therefore be insensible of their indebtedness to the re
straining grace of God. Though the godly cannot be said to be eneraies to
God, because a principle of enraity does not reign; yet they have the very sarae
principle and seed of enmity in them, though it be mortified. Though it be not
in reigning power, yet it has great strength ; and is too strong for them without
God's almighty power to help them against it. Though they be not enemies
to God, because they have another principle, besides a principle of enraity, viz.,
a principle of love, yet their old man, the body of sin and death, that yet re
mains in thera, is a mortal enemy to God. Corruption in the godly is not a
whit better than it is in the wicked. The corruption in Ihein is of as bad a
nature every whit as that which is in a mortal enemy to God : it aims at the
life of God wherever it is. And though it be not in reigning power, yet il
would dreadfully rage were it not for God's reslrainino- grace.
God gives his restraining grace to both natural rnen and godly men ; but
only there is this difference. God gives his restraining grace to his children in
the way of covenant mercy ; it is part of the mercy promised to them in his
covenant. God is faithful, and will not leave them to sin in like manner as
wicked men do, otherwise they would do every whit as bad.
Let not th*;r ^fore the godlv attribute it to themselves, or merely to their own
MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES 57
goodness, that they are not guilty of such horrid crimes as they hear of in others
let them consider, it is not owing to them, but to God's restraints.
Thus all, both godly and ungodly, may learn from this doctrine, their great
ndebtedness to the restraining gi ace of God.
I now proceed to
Inf. II. Hence we may learn the reason why natural raen will not corae to
Christ : for they do not come because they will not come. " Ye will not come to
me that ye might liave life," John v. 40. When we say that natural men are
not willing to corae to Christ, it is not raeant that they are not willing to be de
hvered from hell ; for without doubt, no natural man is willing lo go to hell.
Nor is it meant that they are not willing that Christ should keep them from
going to hell. Without doubt, natural men that are under awakening'!, do often
greatly desire this. But if they do desire it, this does not argue tha; they are
willing to come to Christ ; for notwithstanding iheir desire to be delivered from
hell, yet their hearts do not close with Christ, but are averse lo hira. They see
nothing in Christ wherefore they should desire him ; no beauty nor comeliness
to drav/ or incline their hearts to hira. And they are not wilhng lo take
Christ as he is ; they would fain divide Christ. There are sorae things in him
that they like, and others that they greatly dislike ; but consider him as he is,
and as he is oflPered to thera in the gospel, and they will not have him. They
are noc willing to accept of Christ as he is offered ; for in doing so, they must
of nec.-?jsity part with all their sins ; they must sell the world, and part with
their own righteousness. But they are not willing lo do that ; they had rather,
for the piisent, run the venture of going to hell than do that.
When men are titily willing lo come to Christ, they are freely wilhng. It
is not what they are foi eed and driven to by threatenings ; bul they are willing
to come, and choose lo come wiihout being driven. But natural men have no
such free willingness; but, on the contrary, have an aver.sion. And the ground
of it is that which we have heard, viz., that they are enemies to God. Their
having such 3 reigning enmity against God, makes them obstinately refuse to
come to Chiibt. If a man is an enemy to God, he will necessarily be an enemy
to Christ too ; for Christ is the Son of God ; he is infinitely near to God, yea he
is God. He has the nature of God, as well as the nature of raan. He is a
Saviour appointed of God. God anointed him, and sent him into the world.
And in doing what he did in the work of redemption, he wrought the works
of God. He always did those Ihings that pleased God ; and all that he does
as a Saviour, is to "the glory of God. And one great thing that he airaed at
in his rederaption, was to deliver them from their idols which they had chosen,
and bring thera to God. The case being so, and sinners being enemies lo God,
they will necessarily be opposite to coming to Christ ; for Christ is of God, and
as a Saviour, seeks to bring thera to God only : but natural men arenot of God,
bul are averse to hira
Inf. III. Frora this doctrine we may learn, how dreadful the condition of
natural men is. Their state is a stale of enraity with God. If we consider
whal God is, and what raen are, it will be easy for us to conclude, that such
men as are God's enemies, must be miserable Consider, ye that are enemies
to God, how great a God he is that ye are enemies to. He is the eternal God :
the God that fills heaven and earth, and whora the heaven of heavens cannot
contain. He is the God that raade you ; the God in whose hand your breath
is, and whose are all your ways ; the God in whom you live, and move, and
have your being ; the God who has your soul and body in his hands every
moment. Vol. IV 8
58 MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES.
You would look on yourself as in very unhappy circumstances, 'if your neigh
bors were all your enemies, and none of your fellow creatures weid your ii-iends.
If every body were set agaiast you, and all despised and haled you, you would
be ready lo think, you had better be out of the vvorld than in il. But if it he
such a calamity to have enmity maintained between you and your fellow crea
tures, what is il when you and the Almighty God are enemies one to another ?
What avails either the friendship or enmity of your neighbors, poor little worms
ofthe dust, that are about you, in comparison of the friendship or enmity of
the great God of heaven and earth ?
Consider :
(1.) If you continue in your enmity a little longer, there will be a mutual
enraity between God and you to all eternity. God will appear to be your
dreadful and irreconcilable eneray. And you know not how soon it will come
to this. If you should die an eneray to God, there vtill be no such thing as
any reconciliation after death. God will then appear in haired of you. As
you are a mere enemy to God, so God will then appear a mere enemy to you ;
he will appear in perfect hatred without any love, and without any pity, and
without any mercy at all. As you hate God, he will Late you. And that will
be verified of you: My soul loathed them, and their soul ahhorredme, Zech. xi.
8. And then God will be your enemy forever. If you be not reconciled so as
to become his fiiend in this life, God will never become your friend after death.
If you continue -an enemy to God till death, God will continue an eneray to you
to ali eternity. There will nolhing avail lo reconcile God to you hereafter.
You will find that you cannot move the heart of God by any of your cries. You
will have no mediator offered you; there will be no day's raan betwixt you.
So that it becoraes you lo consider what it will be to have God your enemy lo
all eternity, without any possibility of being reconciled.
Consider, what it will be to have this enmity to be mutual or maintained
forever on both sides. For as God will forever continue an enemy to you, so
you will forever continue an enemy to God. If you continue God's enemy until
dealh, you will always be his enemy. And alter death your enmity will have
no restraint, but it will break out and rage without control. When you come
to be a firebrand of hell, you will be a firebrand in two respects, viz., as you will
be all on fire, full of the fire of God's wrath : and also as you will be all on a blaze
with spite and malice towards God. You will be as fiill of the fire of malice,
as you will with the fire of divine vengeance ; and both will make you full of
torraent. Then you will appear as you are, a viper indeed. You are now a
viper, but under great disguise ; a wolf in sheep's clothing ; but then your mask
will be pulled off ; you shall lose your garraents, and walk naked. Rev. xvi. 15.
Then will you as a serpent, spit poison al God, and vent your rage and mahce
in fearful blasphemies. Out of that mouth, out of which, when you open it, will
proceed flames, will also proceed dreadful blasphemies againsi God. That same
tongue, to cool which you will wish for a drop of waler, will be eternally employ
ed in cursing and blaspheming God and Christ. And that not from any new
corruption being put into your heart, but only from God's whhdrawmg his hand
from restrammg your old corruption. And what a miserable way will thia
be of spending your eternity !
(^2.) Consider what will be the consequence of a mutual enmity between God
and you, if it be contmued. Now you find yourself left alone ; you find no very
tenible event, but there will be great changes. Though hitherto you have met
with no very great changes, yet they will corae. After a little while dying
ame will come ; and then what wdl be the consequences of this enmity f God
MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES. 5S
whose enemy you are, has the frame of your body in his hands. Your times
are in his hand ; and he it is that appoints your bounds. And when he sends
death to arrest you, and change your countenance, and dissolve your fame,
and take you away from all your earihly friends, and from all that is dear and
pleasant to you in the world ; what will be the issue then of God and you
being enemies one to another ? Will not you then stand in need of God's help ?
Would not he be the best friend in such a case, worth more than ten thousand
earthly friends ? If God be your enemy, then whora will you betake yourself
to for a friend ? When you launch forth into the boundless gulf of eternity,
then you will need some friend to lake care of you ; but if God be your enemy,
-where will you betake yourself? Your soul must go naked inlo another world,
in eternal separation from all worldly things ; and you will not be able to dis
pose of yourself ; your soul will not be in ils own power lo defend or dispose of
itself Will you not then need to have God for a friend, into who.se hands you
may commend your spirit ? And how dreadful will it be to have God for your
enemy then !
Ihe tirae is coraing when the frame ofthis world shall be dissolved. Christ
shall descend in the clouds of heaven, in the glory of his Falher ; and you, with
all the rest of mankind, must stand before the judgment seat of God. Then
what will be the consequence of this mutual enraity between God and you ? If
God be your enemv, who will stand your friend ? W^ho else will be able to
help you, and what will you do ? And what will be the event of God's being
your enemy then ? Now, it may be, it does not appear to be very terrible to
you to have God for your enemy ; but when such changes as these are brought
to pass, it will greatly alter the appearance of things. Then God's favor will
appear to you of infinite worth. They, and they only will then appear happy,
who have the love of God ; and then you will know that God's enemies are
miserable. Bul under this head consider more particularly several things.
(1.) What God can do to his eneraies. Or rather, -what can he not do ?
How miserable can he, who is almighty, make his enemies, and those that he
is an enemy to ! Consider, you that are enemies to God, whether or no you
shall be able to make your part good with hira. " Do we provoke the Lord
to jealousy ? Are we stronger than he ?" 1 Cor. x. 22. Have you such a
conceit of your own strength as that you think to try it out wilh God ? Do
you intend to run the risk of an encounter wilh hira ? Do you imagine that
your hands can be strong, or your heart endure ? Do you think you shall be
well able lo defend yourself? Or will you be able lo escape out of his hand ?
Or do you think to harden your own heart and fortify yourself with courage,
and set yourself to bear ? And do you think that you shall be able lo uphold
your spirits when God acts as an enemy towards you ? If so, then gird up
your loins and prepare to meet God, and see whal the event will be. There
fore thus will I do unto thee—" And becau.se I -will do this unto thee, prepare
to meet thy God," Amos iv. 12. Is it not in vain to set the briers and thorns
in battle against God ? Is it not like setting dry briers and thorns in battle
array against devouring flames ; which, though they seem tobe armed wilh
natural weapons, yet the fire will pass through them, and burn them together ?
See Isa. xxvii. 4.
And if you endeavor to support yourself under God's wrath, cannot Goa
lay .so much upon you as to sink and crush you ? Cannot he lay you under
such misery a.s to cause your spirit quite to fail ; so that you shall find nc
strength to resist hun, or to uphold yourself ? Why should a little worm
60 MEN NATURALLY GOd's ENEMIES.
think of supporting hiraself against an omnipotent adversary 'I Has not be -
that made you, and gave you your strength, and your courage, grt your strength
and courage in his hands ? Is it a hard thing for him to overcome it ? Con
sider God has made your soul ; and he that raade it knows how to punish it
to what degree he will. He can fill it with raisery ; he can bring what degree
of sorrow, and anguish, and horror he wilh And he that made your body can
bring what torments he will upon it. He has made every vein and sinew ; and
has every one in his hands, and he can fill every one as fiill of torments as he
will. God, who made you, has given you a capacity to bear torraent ; and he
has that capacity in his hands; and he can enlarge it, and make you capable
of more misery, as much more as he will. If God hates any one, and sets him
self against him as his eneray, what cannot he do wilh him? How- dreadful
must it be to fall inlo the hands of such an enemy ! Surely, " It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands ofthe living God," Heb. x. 31.
2. If God be your mere enemy, you may rationally conclude that he will
act as such in his dealings wilh you. We have already observed that you are
a mere enemy to God ; that is, have enmity without any love or true respect.
So, if you continue lo be so, God will appear to be your mere eneray ; and will
be so forever without being reconciled. But if il be so, he will doubtless act as
such. If he eternally hates you, he will act in his dealings with you as one
that hates you with mere hatred, without any love or pity. The proper ten
dency and aira of hatred, is the misery of the object hated ; misery, and noth
ing else. So that you may expect God will make you miserable, and that you
will not be spared ; for sparing is not the effect of hatred, but of pity and
mercy, which is a quite different thing from enmity.
Now God does not acl as your raere eneray ; if he corrects you, it is ii
measure. He now exercises abundance of mercy to you. He threatens you now
but it is in a way of warning, and so in a merciful way. He now calls and
invhes, and strives with you, and wails to be gracious to you. But hereafter
there will be an end of all these things : in another world God will cease to
show you mercy.
3. If you will continue God's eneray, you may rationally conclude that God
will deal wilh you so as to make it appear how dreadful it is to have God
for an enemy. It is very dreadful to have a mighty prince for an enemy^
The wrath of a king is as the roaring of a lion, Prov. xix. 12. But if the
wrath of a raan, a fellow worm, be so terrible, what is the wralh of God !
And God will doubtless show it lo be immensely more dreadful If you will
be an eneray, God will make you know that it is not a light thing to be an
eneray to him, and have him for an enemy lo you. God will doubtless
glorify himself as an enemy, in his dealings with those to whom- he is an
enemy. That is, he will act so as to glorify those attributes which he exer
cises as an eneray ; which are his majesty, his power and justice. God will
deal so wilh you as to glorify these attributes in your destruction. His great
majesty, his awful justice, and raighty power, shall be showed upon you. " What
II God, willing to show his wrath, and to raake his power known, endured
\7ilh rauch long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction" Rom.
ix. 22. '
;^4.) Consider what God has said he will do to his enemies. He has de.
clared that they shall not escape, but that he will surely punish them : " Thine
hand shall find out all thine enemies, thy right hand shall find out all those thai
sate thee," Psal. xxi 8. " And repayeth them that hate him to their face to
lestroy thera : 1 e will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him
MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES, 61
^o his face," Deut. vu. 10. " The Lord shall wound the hef.d of his enemies,
and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on slill in his trespasses," Psal.
Ixviii. 21.
Yea, God hath sworn, that he -willbe avenged on them; and that in a most
awful and dreadful manner. " For I lift up my hand to heaven, and sa) , I live
forever. If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment ;
I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and 1 will reward them that hate me.
> will make mine arrows drunk wilh blood, and my sword shall devour flesh;
and that with the blood of the slain — from the beginning of revenges on the
enemy," Deut. xxxii. 40, 41, 42. The terribleness of that destruction that
God will bring on his eneraies, is here variously set forth. As particularly in
God's " whetting his ghltering sword," as one th.at prepares himself to do some
great execution. " His hands lake hold on judgment," to signify that he wil]
surely reward them as they deserve. " He will render vengeance to his ene
mies, and reward them that hate him," i. e, he will render their full reward;
he will not fail or come short. As in the forementioned place it was said he
would not be slack in this matter, " I will make mine arrows drunk with blood,"
this .signifies the greatness of the destruction. Il shall not be a little of their blood
that shall satisfy ; but his arrows shall be glutted with their blood. " And his
sword shall devour flesh." That is, it shall raake dreadful waste of it. Here
by is very lively set forth the terrible manner in which God will one day rise up
and execute vengeance on his enemies.
Again, the totality and perfection of their destruction is represented in the
following words : " The wicked shall perish, the enemies of the Lord shall be
as the fat of lambs, they shall consume ; inlo smoke shall they consume away,"
Psal. xxxvii. 20. The fat of lambs, when it is burnt in the fire, burns all up ;
there is not so much as a cinder left ; it all consumes into smoke. This is made
use of here lo represent the perfect destruction of God's enemies in his wralh.
So God hath promised Christ, tjiat he would make his enemies his footstool,
Psal. ex. 1 ; i. e., he would pour the greatest contempt upon them, and as it were
tread thera under foot.
Consider that all these Ihings will be executed on you if you continue God's
enemies. Inf. IV. If it be so, tbat natural men are God's enemies, hence we may
learn how justly God may refuse lo show you mercy. For is God obliged to
show mercy to his enemies ? Is God bound lo set his love on them that
have no love to him; but hate him with perfect hatred ? Is God bound to
come and dwell with them that have an aversion to him, and choose to keep
at a distance frora hira, and fly frora him as one that is hateful to them 1 If you
earnestly desire the salvation of your soul, is God bound to comply with your
desires, when you do always resist and oppose his will ? Is God bound to be
persuaded and overcome by your prayers, when you are obstinate in your op
position lo him, and refuse to yield obedience to hira ? Is God bound to put
honor upon you, and to advance you to such dignity as to be a child of the
King of kings, and the heir of the kingdora of glory, while you at the same
time have God in the greaiest contempt, and set hira too low to have the low
est place in your heart ? Is God bound to spare your life, and deliver you fiom
eternal dealh, when you are a mortal enemy to God, and would, if you could,
destroy the being of God ? Is God obliged to set his great and transcendent
love on you, so as to give you benefits purchased by the blood of his own Son,
when your heart is all the while full of 'hat enmity that strikes at the life o^
God?
62 MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES.
This doctrine affords a strong arguraent for the absolute sovereignty of God,.
with respect to the salvation of sinners. If God is pleased to show mercy tc
his haters, il is ceriainly fit that he should do it in a sovereign way, without
acting as any way obliged. God will show raercy to his mortal enemies ; but
then he will not be bound, he will have his liberty to choose the objects of his
mercy ; to show raercy to what enemy he pleases, and punish and destroy which
of his haters he pleases. And certainly this is a fit and leasonable thing. It
is fit that God should distribute saving blessings in this way, and in no othei,
viz., in a sovereign and arbitrary way. And that any body ever thought of, or
devised any other way for God to show mercy, than to have mercy on whora
he would iiave mercy, must arise frora ignorance of their own hearts, whereby
they were insensible what eneraies they naturally are to God.
But consider here the following things :
1. How causelessly you are eneraies to God. You have no raanner ot rea
son for it, either from whal God is, or from what he has done. You have no
reason for this from what he is, for he is an infinitely lovely and glorious Being ;
the fountain of all excellency : all that is amiable and lovely iri the universe, is
originally and eminently in him. Nolhing can po.ssibly be conceived of, that
could be lovely in God, that is not in hira, and that in the greatest possible de
gree, even infinitely.
And you have no reason for this, frora what God has done. For he has
been a good and bountiful God lo you. He has exercised abundance of kind
ness to you ; has carried you from the womb, preserved your life, taken care of
you, and provided for you all your life long. He has exercised great patience
and long-suffering toward you. If it had not been for the kindness of God to
you, what would have become of you? What would have becorae of your
body ? And what, before this lime, would have become of your soul ? And
you are now, every day, and hour, maintained by the goodness and bounty of
God. Every new breath you draw, is a new gift of God to you. How cause
lessly then are you such dreadful enemies to God ! And how justly raight
God, for it, eternally deprive you of all mercy, seeing you do thus requite God
for his mercy and kindness to you !
2. Consider how you would resent it, if others were such enemies to you as
you are to God. If they had their hearts so full of enraity to you ; if they
treated you with such conterapt, and opposed you, as you do God ; and injured
you so much as you do God, how would you resent it ! Do you not find that
you are apt greatly to resent it, when any oppose you, and show an ill spirit
towards you ? And Ihough you excuse your own enmity against God from
your corrupt nature that you brought into the world wilh you, which you could
not help, yet you do not excuse others for being enemies to you from their cor
rupt nature that they brought into the world, which they could not help ; but
are ready bitterly lo resent it notwithstanding.
Consider therefore, if you, a poor, unworthy, unlovely creature, do so resent
it, when vou be not loved, but hated, how may God justly resent it when you
are enemies to hira, an infinitely glorious Being; and a Being from whom you
have received so rauch kindness !
3. How unreasonable it is for you to iraagine that you can oblige God to
have respect to you by any thing that you can do, continuing still to be his
enemy ! If you think you have prayed and read, and done considerable for God ,
jet who cares for the seeming kindness of an enemy?
What value would you yourself set upon it, if a man should seem to carry
It rpspectfiilly to you, with a fair face, talking smooth, and making a show of
MEN NATURALLY GOD'S ENEMIES. 6.3
friendship ; when you knew, at the same time, that he was inwardly your mortal
enemy ? Would you look upon yourself obliged for sucb respeci and kindness ?
Would you not rather abhor it? Would you count such respect lo be valued
as Joab's towards .Amasa, who took him by the beard, anti kissed hira, and said,
Art thou in health, my brother ? — and smote hira at the same lime under the
fifth rib, and killed him !
What if you do pray to God, is God obliged to hear the prayers of an
enemy ? What if you have taken a great deal of pains, is God obliged to give
heaven for the prayers of an enemy ? God raay justly abhor your prayers, and
all that you do in religion, as the flattery of a mortal enemy. No wonder God
does not accept any thing from the hands of an enemy.
Inf. V. Hence we raay learn how \\ jnderful is the love that is manifested
in giving Christ lo die for us. For this love is love to enemies. That is taken
notice of in the text: " While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the dealh of his Son." How w-onderful was the love of God the Father in giv
ing such a gift to those, who not only were such as could not be profitable to
him, and such as could merit nothing frora hira, and poor little worras of the
dust ; bul were his enemies, and enemies lo so great a degree ! They had that
enmity that aimed at his life ; yet so did he love them, that he gave his own
Son lo lay down his own life losave their lives. Though they had that enmity
that sought to pull God down out of his throne, yet God so loved them, that he
sent down Christ frora heaven, from his throne there, to be in the form of a
servant ; and instead of a throne of glory, gave him to be nailed to the cross,
and to be laid in the grave, that so we mighl be brought to a throne of glory.
How wonderful was the love of Christ in thus exercising dying love to his
enemies ! That he should so love those that hated him, with hatred that sought
to take away his life, so as voluntarily lo lay down his life, that they might
have life through him. " Herein is Jove; not that we loved hira, but that he
loved us, and laid down his life for ds."
Inf. VI. If we are all naturally God's enemies, hence we may learn
what a spirit il becomes us to be of towards our enemies. Though we are ene
mies to God, yet we hope that God has loved us ; and we hope that Christ has
died for us ; and we hope that God has forgiven or will forgive us, and will do
us good, and bestow infinite mercies and blessings upon us, so as te make us
happy forever. All this mercy, we hope has been, or will be exercised towaids
us while enemies.
Ceriainly then, it will not become us to be bitter in our spirits against those
that are enemies to us, and have injured and ill treated us, and though they have
yet an ill spirit towards us. Seeing \ve depend so much on God's forgiving us,
though enemies, we should be of a spirit of forgiveness towards our enemies.
And therefore our Saviour inserted il in that prayer which he dictated as a gen
eral directory to all ; " Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," lo en
force the duty upon us, and to show us how reasonable it is. And we ought to
love them even while enemies ; for so we hope God hath done to us. W^e
should be the children of our Father, who is kind to the unthankful and evil,
Luke vi. 35.
If we refuse thus to do, and we are of another spirit, we may justly expect
that God will deny us his mercy, as he has threatened ! " If ye forgive men
their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you ; but if ye forgive
not men 'their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses,'-
Matt. vi. 14, 15. The sarae we have in the parable of the man who owed his
lord ten thousand talents, Matt. xviu. 23—35
SERMON III.
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
KoMANB IV. 5. — But to him that woAeth not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is
counted for righteousness.
The following things may be noted in this verse: 1. That justification
respects a raan as ungodly : this is evident by those -words—that justifieth the
ungodly: which words cannot iraply less, than that God, in the act of justifi
cation has no regard to any thing in the person justified, as godliness, or any
goodness in him; but that nextly or iraraediately before this act, God beholds
him only as an ungodly or wicked creature ; so that godliness in the person to
be justified is not so antecedent to his ju.itificalion as to be the ground of it.
When it is said that God justifies the ungodly, it is as absurd to suppose that
our godliness, taken as sorae goodness in us, is the ground of our justification,
as when it is said that Christ gave sight to the blind, to suppose that sight was
prior to, and the ground of that act of mercy in Christ ; or as, if it .should be
said, that such a one by his bounty has made a poor raan rich, to suppose that
it was the wealth of this poor man that was the ground of this bounty towards
him, and was the price by which it was procured.
2. It appears that by him that worketh not, in this verse, is not meant only
one that does not conform to the ceremonial law, because he that worketh not,
and the ungodly, are evidently synonymous expressions, or what signify the
same ; it appears by the manner of their connection : if it be not so, to what
purpose is the latter expression, the ungodly, broughi in ? The context gives
no other occasion for it, but only to show, that the grace of the gospel appears,
in that God, in justification, has no regard to any godliness of ours. The fore
going verse is," Now to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace,
but of debt." In that verse it is evident that gospel grace, consists in the re^
ward's being given without works ; and in this verse which immediately follows
t, and in sense is connected with it, it is evident that gospel grace consists in a
man's being justified that is ungodly ; by which it is most plain, that by him
that worketh not, and him that is ungodly, are meant the same thing ; and that
therefore not only works ofthe cereraonial law are excluded in this business of
justification, but works of morahty and godliness.
3. It is evident in the words, that by that faith, that is here spoken of, by
which we are justified, is not raeant the sarae thing as a course of obedience or
righteousness, by the expression by which this faith is here denoted, viz., be
lieving on him that justifies the ungodly. They that oppose the Solifidians, as
they call thera, do greatly insist on it, that we should take the words of Scrip-.
ture concerning this doctrine in their most natural and obvious meaning ; and
how do they cry out, of our clouding this doctrine wilh obscure metaphors, and
unintelligible figures of speech ! But is this to interpret Scripture according to
its raost obvious meaning, when the Scripture speaks of our believing on him
that justifies the ungodly, or the breakers of his law, to say, that the meaning of
it is performing a course of obedience to his law, and avoiding the breaches o'
it ? Believing on God as d. justifier, certainly is a different thing from submit
ting to God as a lawgiver ; especially a believing on him as a justifier of the
'JDgodly or rebels against the lawgiver
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 65
4. It is evident that the subject of justification is looked upon as destitute of any
righteousness in himself, by that expression, it is counted or imputed to hini for
righteousness. The phrase, as the aposlle uses it here, and in the context, mani
festly iraports, that God, of his sovereign grace, is pleased, in his dealings with
the sinner, to take and regard that which indeed is not righteousness, and in one
that has no righteousness, so, that the consequence shall be the same as if he
had righteousness (which may be fiom Ihe respect that it bears to some thing
that is indeed righteous). It is plain that this is the force of the expression in
the preceding verses. In Ihe last verse but one, it is manifest Ihat the apostle
lays the stress of his argument for the free grace of God, frora that text that he
cites out of the Old Testament about Abraham, on that word counted, or imputed,
and that this is the thing ihat he supposed God to show his grace in, viz., in his
counting .something for righteousness, in his consequential deahngs with Abra
ham, that was no righteousness in itself And in the next verse which imme
diately precedes the text, " Now to him that worketh, is the reward not reckon
ed of grace, but of debt," the word there translated reckoned, is the same that in
the other verses is rendered imputed, and counted ; and it is as much as if the
apostle had said, " As to him that works there is no need of any gracious reck
oning or countiiig il for righteousness, and causing the reward to follow as if it
were a righteousness ; for if he has works, he has that which is a righteousness
in itself, lo which the reward properly belongs." This is further evident by the
words that follow, verse 6, " Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the
man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works." What can here
be meant by imputing righteousness without works ; but imputing righteousness
to hira that has none of his own ? Verses 7, 8, " Saying, blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered : blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute sin." How are these words of David to the apostle's
purpose ? Or how do they prove any such thing, as that righteousness is im
puted wiihout works, unless it be because the word imputed is used, and the
subject of the imputation is mentioned as a sinner, and consequently destitute of
a moral righteousness ? For David says no such thing, as that he is forgiven
without the works of the ceremonial law ; there is no hint of the ceremonial
law, or reference to il, in the words. I will therefore venture to infer this doc
trine from the words, for the subject of my present discourse, viz.
DOCTRINE :
WE AKE JUSTIFIED ONLY BY FAITH IN CHRI.ST, AND NOT BY ANY MANNER OF VIRTUE OR
GOODNESS OF OUR OWH.
Such an assertion as this, I am sensible, many would be ready to cry out of
as absurd, betraying a great deal of ignorance, and containing much inconsist
ence ; but I desire every one's patience till I have done.
In handling this doctrine, I would,
1. Explain the meaning of it, and show how I would be understood by such
\n assertion. 2 Proceed to the consideration of the evidence of the truth of it.
3. Show how evangehcal obedience is concerned in this affair.
4. Answer objections.
5. Consider the importance of the doctrine.
I. I would explain the meaning of the doctrine, or show in what sense I
as-iert it, and would endeavor to evince the truth of it : which raay be done in
:\nsw-er'to these two inquiries, viz., 1. What is meant by being justified?
Vol IV. 9
66 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE
What is meant when it is said, that this is by faith alone, without any mannei
of virtue or goodness " of our own ?"
First, I would show what justification is, or what I suppo'o is meant in
Scripture by being justified. And here I would not at all enlarge ; and there
fore, to answer in short :
A person is said to be justified, when he is approved of God as free from
the guilt of sin ana its deserved punishraent; and as having that righteousness
belonging to him that entitles to the reward of life. That we should take the
word in such a sense and understand it as the judge's accepting a person as hav
ing bolh a negative and positive righteousness belonging to him, andlooking on
him therefore as not only quit or free from any obligation to punishment, but
.also as just and righteous, and so entitled to a positive reward, is not only most
agreeable to the etymology and natural import of the word, which signifies tc
make righteous, or to pass one for righteous in judgment, but also manifestly
agreeable to the force of the word as used in Scripture.
Some suppose that nothing more is intended in Scripture by justification, than
barely the remission of sins. If it be so it is very strange, if we consider the na
ture of the case ; for it is most evident and none will deny, that it is with respect
to the rule or law of God that we are under, that we are said in Scripture lo be
either justified or condemned. Now what is it to justify a person as the subject
of a law or rule, but to judge him or look upon him, and approve him as stand
ing right wilh respect to that rule ? To justify a person in a particular case,
is to approve him as standing right, as subject to the law or rule in that case ;
and to justify in general is to pass him in judgment, as standing right in a state
corresponding to the law or rule in general : but certainly in order to a person's
being looked on as standing right with respect to the rule in general, or in a
state corresponding with the law of God, raore is needful than what is nega
tive, or a not having the guilt of sin ;' for whatever that law is, whether a new
one or an old one, yet doubtless something positive is needed in order to its be
ing answered. We are no more justified by the voice of the law, or of hira that
judges according to it, by a raere pardon of si'n,than Ad.ara,our first surety, waa
justified by the law, at the first point of his existence, before he had done the
work, or fulfilled the obedience of the law, or had so rauch as any trial whether
he would fulfil it or no. If Adam had finished his course of perfect obedience,
he would have been justified ; and certainly his justification would have implied
something moie than what is merely negative; he would have been approved
as having fulfilled the righteousness of the law, and accordingly woulil have
been adjudged to the reward of it. Sp Christ, our second .surety (in whose jus
tification all who believe in hira, and whose surety he is, are virtually justified),
was not justified till he had done the work the Falher had appointed hira, and
kept the Father's commandments through all trials ; and then in his resurrectior
he was justified. When he that had been put to death in the flesh was quickenec
by the Spirit, 1 Pet. iii. 18, then he that was raanifest in the flesh was justified
in the Spirit, 1 Tim. ih. 16. But God, when he justified hira in raising him
from the dead, did not only release hira frora his humiliation for sin, and acquit
him from any further suffering or abasement for it, but admitted him to that
eternal and iraraortal life, and to the beginning of that exaltation that was the
reward of what he had done. And indeed the justification of a believer is no
other than his being admitted to comraunion in, or participation of the justifica
tion of this head and surety of all believers ; for as Christ suffered the punishraent
of sin, not as a private person, but as our surety ; so when after this suffering
le was raised from the dead, he was therein justified, not as a private persoa
JUSTIFICATION BY I VITH ALONE. 67
but as the surety and representative of all ;hat should believe in him ; so thai
he was raised again, not only for his own, bul also for our justification, according
to the apostle, Rom. iv. 25: " Who was delivered for our offences, and raised
again for our justification." And therefore it is that the apostle says, ashe
does in Rom. viii. 34, " Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died,
yea, rather, that is risen again."
But that a believer's justification implies, not only remission of sins, or ac
quittance from the wrath due to it, but also an admittance to a title lo that
glory that is the reward of righteousness, is more directly taught in the Scrip
ture, as particularly in Rom. v. 1, 2, where the apostle mentions bolh these as
joint benefits implied in justification : " Therefore, being justified by faith, we
have peace whh God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have
access into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
So remission of sins, and inheritance araong them that are sanctified, are men
tioned together as what are jointly obtained by faith in Christ, Acts xxvi. 18 :
" That they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among thera that
are sanctified through faith that is in me." Bolh these are without doubt
implied in that passing from death to life, -which Christ speaks of as the fruit of
failh, and which he opposes to condemnation, John v. 24 : " Verily I say unto
you, he that heareth ray word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath ever
lasting life, and shall not come into condemnation ; but is passed from death to
hfe." I proceed now
Secondly, To show what is meant when it is said, that this justification is by
faith only, and not by any virtue or goodness of our own.
This inquiry may be subdivided into two, viz., 1. How it is by faith. 2. How
it is by faith alone, without any manner of goodness of ours.
1. How justification is by failh. Here the great difficulty has been about
the import and force ofthe particle by, or what is that. influence that faith has
in the affair of justification that is expressed in Scripture by being justified by
faith. Here, if I may humbly express what seems evident lo rae, though failh be
indeed the condition of justification so as nothing else is, yet this matter is not
clearly and sufficiently explained by saying that faith is the condition of justifi
cation ; and that because the -word seems ambiguous, bolh in common use, and
also as used in divinily : in one sense, Christ alone performs tbe condition of
our justification and salvation ; in another sense, faith is the condition of justifi
cation ; in another sense other qualifications and acts are conditions of salvation
and justification too. There seeras to be a great deal of ambiguity in such ex
pressions as are commonly used (which yet we are forced to use), such as, con
dition of salvation, what is required in order lo salvation or justification, the
terms of the covenant, and the like ; and I believe they are understood in very
different senses by different persons. And besides, as the word condition is very
often understood in the coramon use of language, failh is not the only thing ir
us that is the condition of justification ; for by the word condition, as it is
very often (and perhaps most commonly) used, we mean any thing that may
have the place of a condition in a conditional proposition, and as such is truly
connected wilh the consequent, especially if tbe propo.shion holds bolh in the
affirmative and negative, as the condition is either aflirmed or denied. If it be
that with which, or which being supposed, a thing shall be, and without which,
or it being denied, a thing shall not be, we in such a case call it a condition of
that thing : but in 'his sense failh is not the only condition of salvation or justi
fication : for there are raany things that accompany and flow from faith, that
68 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
are things with which justification shall be, and without which, it wil.i not be
and therefore are found to be put in Scripture in conditional propositions with
justification and salvation, in multitudes of places ; such are, love to God, and
love to our brethren, forgiving men their trespasses, and many other good quali»
ficalions and acts. And there are many other things besides faith, which are
directly proposed to us. to be pursued and performed by us, in order to eternal
hfe, as those which if they are done, or obtained, we shall have eternal life, and
if not done, or not obtained, we shall surely perish. And if it were so, that
faith was the only condition of justification in this sense, yet I do not apprehend
that to say, that faith was the condition of justification, would express the sense
of that phrase of Scripture, of being justified by faith. There is a diflference
between being justified by a thing, and that thing universally, and necessarily,
and inseparahly attending or going with justification ; for so do a great many
things that we are not said to be justified by. It is not the inseparable connec
tion with justification that the Holy Ghost would signify (or that is uaturally
signified) by such a phrase, but sorae particular influence that faith has in the
affair, or sorae certain dependence that that effect has on its influence.
Some that have been aware ofthis have supposed that the influence or de
pendence might well be expressed by faith's being the instruraent of our justi
fication ; which has been raisunderstood, and injuriously represented, and ridi
culed by those that have denied the doctrine of justification by faith alone, as
though they had supposed that faith was used as an instruraent in the hand of
God, whereby he perforraed and brought to pass that act of his, viz., approving and
justifying the behever. Whereas it was not intended that faith was the instru
ment wherewith God justifies, but the instrument wherewith we receive justifica
tion ; not the instrument wherewith the justifier acts in justifying, but wherewith
the receiver of justification acts in accepting justification. But yet it must be
owned, that this is an obscure way of speaking, and there must ceriainly be some
impropriety in calhng it an instrument, wherewith we receive or accept justifi
cation ; for the very persons that thus explain the matter, speak of failh as being
the reception or acceptance itself; and if so, how can il be the instruraent of
reception or acceptance ? Certainly there is difference between the act and the
instruraent. And besides, by their own descriptions of faith, Christ the raedia
tor by whora, and his righteousness by which we, are justified, is more directly
the object of this acceptance and justification, which is the benefit arising there
frora more indirectly ; and therefore, if faith be an instruraent, it is more prop
erly the instrument by which we receive Christ, than the instrument by which
we receive justification.
But I humbly conceive we have been ready to look too far to find out whal
that influence of faith in our justification is, or whal is that dependence of this
eflfect on faith, signified by the expression of being justified by faith, overlooking
that which is most obviously pointed forth in the expression, viz., that the case
being as it is (there being a mediator that has purchased' justification),
faith in this midiator is that which renders it a raeet and suitable thing
in the sight of God, that Ihe believer, rather than others, should have this'
purchased benefit assigned to hira. There is this benefit purchased, which
God sees it to be a more meet and suitable thing that it should be assigned to
some than others, because he sees them diflTerently qualified ; that qualification
wherein the meetness to this benefit, as the case stands, consists, is that in us by
which we are justified. If Christ had not come into the world and died &c.
to purchase justification, no qualification whatever in us could render it a'meet'
or fit thing that we should be justified : but the case being as it now stands viz
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE 69
"-hat Christ has aituaUy purchased justification by his own blood for infinitely
unworthy creatures, there may be some certain qualification found in some per
sons, that, either fiom the relation it bears to the mediatoi and his merits, or on
some other account, is the thing that in the sight of God renders it a meet and
condecent thing, that they should have an interest in this purchased benefit,
and which if any are destitute of, it renders it an unfit and unsuitable thing
that they should have it. The wisdom of God in his constitutions doubtless ap-
tiears much in the fitness and beauty of them, so that those things are estab-
ished lo be done that are fit to be done, and ihat ihose things are connected 'in
his constitution that are agreeable one to another : so God justifies a believer
according to his revealed constitution, without doubt, because he sees something
in this qualification that, as the case stands, renders il a fit thing that such
should be justified ; whether it be because faith is the instrument, or as it were
the hand, by which he that has purchased justification is apprehended and ac
cepted, or because it is the acceptance itself, or whatever. To be justified, is to
be approved of God as a proper subject of pardon, and a right to eternal life ;
and therefore, when it is said that we are justified by faith, what else can be
understood by it, than that faith is that by which we are rendered approvable,
filly so, and indeed, as the case stands, proper subjects ofthis benefit?
This is soraething different from faith's being the condition of justification,
only so as to be inseparably connected with justification : so are many other
things besides faith ; and yet nolhing in us bul faith renders it meet that we
should have justification assigned to us ; as I shall presently show how, in
answer to the next inquiry, viz.
2. How this is said lo be by faith alone, wiihout any manner of virtue or good
ness of our own. T'his may seem to some to be attended with two diflFicullies,
viz., how this can be said to be by faith alone, without any virtue or goodness
of ours, -when faith itself is a virtue, and one part of our goodne.ss, and is not
only sorae manner of goodness of ours, but is a very excellent qualification, and
one chief part of the inherent hohness of a Christian ? And if il be a part of our
inherent goodness or excellency (whether it be this part or any other) that ren
ders it a condecent or congruous thing that we should have this benefit of Christ
assigned to us, what less is this than what they mean that lalk of a merit of
congruity ? And moreover, if this part of our Christian holiness qualifies us in
the sight of God, for this benefit of Christ, and renders it a fit or meet thing, in
his sight, that we should have it, why should not other parts of holiness, and
conformity to God, which are also very excellent, and have as much the image
of Christ in them, and are no less lovely in God's eyes, qualify us as rauch, and
have as rauch influence to render us meet in God's sight, for such a benefit as
this ? Therefore I answer.
When it is said, that we are not justified by any righteousness or goodness
of our own, what is raeant is, that it is not out of respect to the excellency or
goodness of any qualifications or acls in us whatsoever, that God judges it meet
that this benefit of Christ should be ours ; and it is not in any wise, on account
of any excellency or value that there is in failh, that it appears in the sight of
God a meet thing, that he that believes should have this benefit of Christ as
signed to him, bul purely from the relation faith has to the person in whom this
benefit is to be had, or as it uniies lo that mediator, in and by whora we are
justified. Here, for the greater clearness, I would particularly explain rayself
under several propositions.
1. Itis certain that there is some union or relation that the people of Christ
Bland in to him, that is expressed in Scripture, from time to time, by being ii'
70 JUSTIFICATION BV FAITH AL0N2
Christ, and is represented frequently by those raelaphor4 if being merabers oi
Christ, or being united to him as merabers to the head, and branches to the
stock,* and is corapared to a marriage union between husband and wife. I dc
not novv pretend to determine of what sort this union is ; nor is it necessary to
my present purpose to enter into any manner of dispute about it. If any are
disgusted at the word union, as obscure and unintelligible, the word relation
equally serves my purpose ; I do not now desire to deterraine any raore about
it, than all, of all sorts, will readily allow, viz., that there is a peculiar relation
between true Christians and Christ, or a certain relation between him and them,
that there is not between him and others ; which is signified by those meta
phorical expressions in Scripture, of being in Christ, being members of Christ, &c.
2. This relation or union to Christ whereby Christians are said to be in
Christ (whatever it be), is the ground oftheir nght to his benefits. This needs
no proof; the reason of the thing, al first blush, deraonstrates it : but yet it is
evident also by Scripture, 1 John v. 12, " He that hath the Son, halh life; and
he that halh not the Son, hath not life." 1 Cor. i. 30, " Of hira are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us — righteousness." First we must be in him,
and then he will be made righteousness or justification lo us. Eph. i. 6, " Who
halh made us accepted in the beloved." Our being in hira is the ground of our
being accepted. So it is in those unions which the Holy Ghost has thought fit
to compare this union to. The union of the merabers of the body with the head,
is the ground of their partaking of the life of the head ; it is the union of the
branches to the slock, which is the ground of their partaking of the sap and
life of the slock ; il is the relation of the wife to the husband, that is the ground
of her joint interest in his estate ; they are looked upon, in several respects, as
one in law : so there is a legal union between Christ and true Christians ; so
that (as all except Socinians allow) one, in some respects, is accepted for the
other by the Suprerae Judge.
3. And thus it is that failh is that qualification in any person that renders it
meet in the sight of God that he should be looked upon as having Christ's sat
isfaction and righteousness belonging lo him, viz., because it is that in him
which, on his part, makes up this union between him and Christ. By what
has been just now observed, it is a person's being, according to Scripture phrase,
in Christ, that is Ihe ground of having his satisfaction and merits belonging to
him, and a right to the benefits procured thereby : and the reason of it is plain ;
it is easy to see how a having Christ's merits and benefits belonging to us, fol
lows from our haying (if I may so speak) Christ himself belonging lo us, or a
heing united to him; and if so, it must al.so be easy to see how, or in what
manner, that, in a person, that on his part raakes up the union between his soul
and Christ, should be the thing on the account of which God looks on it raeet that
he .should have Christ's merits and benefits, from regard to any qualification in
him, in this respect, from his doing of it for him, out of respect to the value oi
loveliness of that qualification, or as a reward of the excellency of it.
* "Our Saviour compares his mystical body, that is his church, to a vine, which his Father, whom he
comp ires to a husbaiiclman, bslh planted ; lam the true vine, and my Fath'.r is the husbandman. To represent
.o us the umon that is betwixt Christ and all true Christians, and the influence of grace and spintual hfe,
which all that are united to him do derive and receive from him, he sets it forth to us by the resemblurce
of a vme and branches. As there is a natural, vi'.al jnion between the vine and the branches, so there ia
a spiritual union between Christ and true Christians ; and this union is the cause of our fruitfulness in
the worhs of obedience and a good life. There are some indeed that seem to be grafted in'o Christ by ar
outward profession of Christianity, who yet derive no influence from him so as to brin" forth fruit, be
cause they are not vitally united to him." Dr. TiUntsnn, 'id vui of Serm p 307
By this it appears that the vital union between Christ and true Christians,' which is much more ofa
mysterv ...«.i K^e relative union, and neces..ar,ly implies it, was not thought an unreasonable loct.ine bj
one ot the grea. jst divines on the other side of th ¦ question in hand.
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 71
As there is nobody but what will allow that there is a peculiar relation
between Christ and his true disciples, by which they are in some sense in Scrip
ture said lo be one ; so I suppose there is nobody but what will allow, that
there may be something that the true Christian does on his part, whereby he is
active in coraing into his relation or union, some of the soul of the Christian,
that is the Christian's uniting act, or that which is done towards this union or
relation (or whatever any please lo call it) on the Christian's part : now failh
I suppose to be this act.
I do not now pretend to define justifying failh, or lo determine precisely
how much is contained in it, but only lo determine thus much concerning it,
viz., that it is that by which the soul that before was separate and alienated
from Christ, unites itself to him, or ceases to be any longer in that state of
alienation, and comes into that foreraentioned union or relation lo hira, or, to
use the Scripture phrase, that il is that by which the soul comes lo Christ, and
receives him: and this is evident by the Scripture's using these very expres
sions to signify faith. John vi. 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, " He that cometh to me,
shall never hunger ; and he that believeth on me, shall never thirst. But I
said unto you, that ye also have seen me, and beheve not. All that the Father
giveth me, shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast
out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine o-wn will, but the will of
him that sent me." Ver. 40, " And Ihis is the will of him that sent me, that
every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life;
and I will raise him up at the last day." Chap. v. 38, 39, 40, " Whom he hath
sent, him ye believe not. Search the Scriptures, for — they are they which tes
tify of me. And ye will not come unlo me, that ye might have life." Ver. 43,
44, " I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not : if another shall
come in his own name, bim ye will receive. How can ye believe which receive
honor one of another ?" Chap. i. 12, " But as many as received him, to them
gave he power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe on his
name." If it be said that these are obscure figures of speech, that, however
they might be well under.slood of old among those that then commonly used
such metaphors, yet they are diflBcullly understood now ; I allow that the ex
pressions, receiving ChrLst, and coming to Christ, are metaphorical expressions:
and if I should allow them to be obscure metaphors, yet so much at least is
certainly plain in them, viz., that failh is that by which those that before were
separated, and at a distance from Christ, (that is to say, were not so related
and united to him as his people are), do cease to be any longer at such a dis
tance, and do come into that relation and nearness ; unless they are so unintel
ligible, that nothing at all can be understood by them.
God does not give those that believe, a union with or an interest in the
Saviour, in reward for faith, but only because faith is the soul's active uniting
with Christ, or is itself the very act of unition, on their part. God sees it fit,
that in order to a union's being established between two intelligent, active
beings or persons, so as that they should be looked upon as one, there should
be the mutual act of both, that each should receive the other, as actively join
ing themselves one to another. God, in requiring this in order to a union with
Christ as one of his people, treats men as reasonable creatures, capable of act
and choice; and hence sees it fit that they only that are one with Christ by
their own act, should be looked upon as one in law. W^hat is real in the unior.
between Christ and his people, is the foundation of what is legal ; that is, it is
something that is really in thera, and between them, uniting them, that is the
ground of the suitableness o*' their being accounted as one by the Judge : and if
72 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH .iLONE.
there be any act or qualification in believers that is of that uniting nature, that
it is meet, on that account, that the Judge should look upon them and accept
them as one, no wonder that upon the account of the same act or qualification^
he should accept the satisfaction and merits of the one for the other, as if it
were their satisfaction and merits : it necessarily follows, ot rather is implied.
And thus, it is that faith justifies, or gives an interest in Christ's satisfactior
and merits and a right to the benefits procured thereby, viz , as it thus makes
Christ and the believer one, in the acceptance of the Supreme Judge. It is by
taith that we have a title to eternal life, becau':,e it is by faith that we have the
Son of God, by whom life is. The Apostle „ )hn in these words, 1 John v. 12,
" He that iialh the Son, hath life," seeras evidenlly to have respect to those
words of Christ that he gives an account of in his gospel, chap. iii. 36, " He
that believeth on the Son, halh everlasting life ; and he that believeth not the
Son, shall not see life." And in the sarae places that the Scripture speaks of
faith as the soul's receiving or coming to Christ, it also speaks of this receiving,
or coming to, or joining with Christ, as the ground of an interest in his benefits :
to as many as received him, " to thera gave he power" to become the sons
of God. Ye will not corae unlo rae " that ye raight have hfe." And there
is a wide diflference between ils being looked on suitable that Christ's satisfac
tion and raerits should be theirs that be]ie\ e, because an interest in that satis
faction and merit is but a fit reward of faith, or a suitable testimony of God's re
spect to the araiableness and excellency of that grace, and its only being looked
on suitable that Christ's satisfaction and raerits should be theirs, because Christ
and they are so united, that in the eyes of the Judgt> they may suitably be looked
upon and taken as one.
Altho-jgh, on the account of failh in the believer, it is, in the sight of God, fit
and congriious, bolh that he that believes should be looked upon as in Christ, and
also as having an interest in his merits in the way that has been now explained; yet
it appears that this is very wide from a merit of congruity, or indeed any moral
congruity at all to either. There is a twofold filness to a state ; I know not
how to give them distinguishing names, or otherwise, than by calling the one a
moral and the other a ?iatural fitness. A person has a moral fitness for a state,
when his moral excellency coraraends him to il, or when his beino- put into such
a good state is but a fit or suitable testiraony of regard or love loathe moral ex
cellency, or value, or araiableness of any of his qualifications or acls. A person has
a natural fitness for a stale, when it appears raeet and condecent that he should be
in such a state or circumstances, only frora the natural concord or agreeableness
there is between such qualifications and such circurastances ; not because the
qualifications are lovely or unlovely, but only because the qualifications
and the circumstances are like one another, or do in their nature, suit
and agree or unite one to another. And it is on this latter account only that
God looks on It fit, by a natural fitness, that he whose heart sincerely unites
Itself to Christ as his Saviour, should be looked upon as united to that Saviom-
and so having an interest m hira ; and not from an ' moral fitness there is be-'
txyeen the excellency of such a qualification as faith, and such a glorious bless
edness as the ha-s^iiig an interest in Christ. God's bestowing Christ and his
benefits on a soul in consequence of failh, out of regard only lo the natural con
cord there IS between such a qualification of a soul, and such a union with
..hrist, and interest in him, makes the case very widely different from what
would be, if he bestowed this from regard to any moral suitableness: for, in
the former case, it is only from God's love of order that he bestows these things
on the account of failh : mi the latter, God doth it out of love to the grace of faith
JUSTIFICATICN BY FAITH ALONE. 73
itself. God will neither look on Christ's merits as ours, nor adjudge his bene-
5ts to us, till we be in Christ ; nor will he look upon us being in him, wUhout
an active union of our hearts and souls to him ; because he is a wise being, am.
delights in order and not in confusion, and that things should be together oi
asunder according to their nature ; and his making such a constitution is a testi
mony of his love of order : whereas if it were out of regard to any moral fitnesf
or suitableness between faith and such blessedness, it would be a testimony oi
his love to the act or qualification itself: the one supposes this divine constitu
tion to be a manifestation of God's regard lo the beauty of the act of failh ; the
other only supposes it to be a manifestation of his regard lo the beauty of that
order that there isin uniting those things that have a natural agreement, and con
gruity, and unition the one with the other. Indeed a moral suitableness or fitness to
a state includes a natural : for it is never so that if there be a moral suitableness
that a person should be in such a state, there is not also a natural suitableness ;
bul such a natural suitableness as I have described, by no raeans necessarily in
cludes a moral.
This is plainly what our divines intend when Ihey say, that failh does not
iistify as a work, or a righteousness, viz., that it does not justify as a part of
our raoral goodness or excellency, or Ihat it does not justify as a work in the
sense, that man was to have been justified by his works by the covenant of
works, which was to have a title to eternal life given him of God in testiraony
of his pleasedness with his works, or his regard lo the inherent excellency and
beauty of his obedience. And this is certainly what the Apostle Paul raeans,
when he so much insists upon il, that we are not justified by works, viz., that
we are not justified by them as good works, or by any goodne.ss, value, or ex
cellency of our works. For the proof of this I shall at present mention but one
thing (being like lo have occasion to say -what shall make il more abundantly
manifest afterwards), and that is, the apostle, from lime to tirae, speaking of our
not being justified by works, as the thing that excludes all boasting, Eph. h. 9
Rom. iii. 27, and chap. iv. 2. Now which way do works give occasion for
boasting, but as good ? What do raen use to boast of, but of something they
suppose good or excellent ? And on what account do they boast of any thing
fcut for the supposed excellency that is in it ?
From these things we may learn in whal manner failh is the only condition
of justification, and salvation : for Ihough it be not the only condition, so as
alone truly to have the place of a condition in a hypothetical proposition, in
which justification and salvation are the consequent, yet il is Ihe condition of
justification in a manner peculiar to it, and so that nothing else has a parallel
influence with it ; because faith includes the whole act of unition to Christ as a
Saviour. The entire, active uniting of the soul, or the whole of what is called
coraing to Christ, and receiving of hira, is called faith in Sciipture ; and how
ever other things raay be no less excellent than faith, yet it is not the natur.e of
any other graces or virtues directly to close wilh Christ as a raediator, any fur
ther than they enter into the constitution of justifying failh, and do belong to
its nature. Thus I have explained my raeaning in asserting it as a doctrine of the gos-
pel, that we are justified by faith only, without any manner of goodness of oui
own. I now proceed,
II. To the proof of it; which I shall endeavor to produce in the fol
lowing arguments.
First. Such is our case, and the state of things, that neither faith, nor any
other qualification, or act or course of acts, does or can render il suitable or fi*
Vol IV 10
74 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALOE.
that a person should have an interest in the Saviour, and so a title to Lis jere.
fits, on account of any excellency therein, or any other way, than only as sorat-
thing in him may unite him to the Saviour. It is not suitable that God should
give fallen man an interest in Christ and his merits, as a testimony of his res
pect to any thing whatsoever as a loveliness in hira ; and that because it is not
meet, lill a sinner is actually justified, that any thing in hira should be accepted
of God, as an excellency or amiableness of his person ; or that God, by any a:t,
should in any manner or degree testify any pleasedness with him, or favor
towards him, on the account of any thing inherent in hira : and that for two
reasons : 1. Because the nature of things will not adrait of it. 2. Because an
antecedent, divine constitution stands in the way of it.
1. The nature of things will not adrait ofii. And this appeals from the infi
nite guill that the sinner, till justified, is under ; which arises from the infinite evil
or heinousness of sin. But because this is whal some deny, I would therefore
first establish that point, and show that sin is a thing that is indeed properly of in
finite heinousness ; and then show the consequence, and show that, it being so, and
so the sinner under infinite guilt in God's sight, it cannot be suitable, till the sinner
is actually justified, that God should by any act testify any pleasedness with, or
acceptance of any thing, as any excellency or amiableness of his person, or in
deed have any acceptance of him, or pleasedne.ss with him to testify.
That the evil and demerit of sin is infinitely great, is most demonstrably
evident, because what the evil or iniquity of sin consists in, is the violating of an
obligation, the doing contrary to what we are obliged to do, or doing what we
should not do ; and therefore by how much the greater the obligation is that is
violated, by so much the greater is the iniquity of the violation. But certainly
our obligation to love or honor any being is great in proportion to the greatness
or excellency of that being or his worthiness to be loved or honored : we are
under greater obligations to love a more lovely being than a less lovely ; and if
a being be infinitely excellent and lovely, our obligations to love him are
therein infinitely great : the matter is so plain, it seems needless to say much
about it.
Some have argued strangely against the infinite evil of sin, from its being
committed against an infinite object, that if so, then it may as well be argued,
that there is also an infinite value or worthiness in holiness and love to God,
because that also has an infinite object ; whereas the arguraent, frora parity of
reason, will carry it in the reverse : the sin of the creature against God is ill
deserving in proportion lo the distance there is between God and the creature;
the greatness of the object, and the raeanness of the subject aggravates it. But
it is the reverse wilh regard lo the worthiness of respect of the creature to God ;
it is worthless (and not vvorthy) in proportion to the meanness of the subject;
so rauch the greater the distance between God and the creature, .so much the
less is the creature's i espect worthy of God's notice or regard. The unworthi
ness of sin or opposition to God rises and is great, in proportion to Ihe dignity
of the object and inferiority of the subject ; but on the contrary, the worth or
value of respect rises in proportion to the value of the subject ; and that for
this plain reason, viz., that the evil of disrespect is in proportion to the obliga
tion that lies upon the subject to the object ; which obligation is most evidently
increased by the excellency and superiority of the object ; but on the contrary,
the -worthiness of respect to a being is in proportion to the obligation that lies
on hira who is the object (or rather the reason he has) to regard the subject,
which ceriainly is in propoi t^on lo the subject's value or excellency. Sin or dis
respect is evil or heinous m proportion to the degree of what it denies in the
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. /ft
object, as it were takes from it, viz., its excellency and worthiness of respect;
on the contrary, respect is valuable in proportion lo Ihe value of what is givei.
to the object in that respect, which undoubtedly (other things being equal) is
greater in proportion to the subject's value, or worthiness of regard ; because the
subject in giving his respect, can give no more than himself to the object;
and therefore his gift is of greater or less value in proportion to the value of
himself. Hence (by the way), the love, honor, and obedience of Christ towaids God,
has infinite value, from the excellency and dignity of the person in whom these
qualifications were inherent ; and the reason why we needed a person of infinite
dignity to obey for us, was because of our infinite comparative meanness, who
had disobeyed, whereby our disobedience was infinitely aggravated. We needed
one, the worthiness of whose obedience might be answerable lo the unworthi
ness of our disobedience ; and therefore needed one who was as great and
worthy as we were unworthy.
Another objection (that perhaps may be thought hardly worth mentioning)
is, that to suppose sin to be infinitely heinous, is to make all sins equally hein
ous ; for how can any sin be more than infinitely heinous ? Bul all that can be
argued hence is, that no sin can be greater with respect lo that aggravation,
the worthiness of the object against whom il is committed. One sin cannot be
more aggravated than another in that respect, because in this respect the ag
gravation of every sin is infinite ; but that does not hinder but that some sins
may be more heinous than others in other respects : as if we should suppose a
cylinder infinitely long, it cannot be greater in that respect, viz., with respect to
the length of it ; bul yet it may be doubled and trebled, and made a thousand
fold more, by the increase of other dimensions. Of sins that are all infinitely
heinous, sorae may be raore heinous than others ; as well as of divers punish
ments that are all infinitely dreadful calamilies, or all of them infinitely exceed
ing all finite calamities, so that there s no finite calamity, however great,
but what is infinitely less dreadful, or more eligible than any of them, yet some
of them may be a thousand times raore dreadful than others. A punishment
may be infinitely dreadful by reason of the long duration of it ; and therefore
cannot be greater with respect to that aggravation of il, viz., its lenglh of
continuance, but yet may be vastly more terrible on other accounts.
Having thus, as I imagine, made it clear, that all sin is infinitely heinous
and consequently that tlie sinner, before he is justified, is under infinite guilt in
God's sight ; it now remains that I show the consequence, or how il follows
from hence, that it is not suitable that God should give the the sinner an inter
est in Christ's merits, and so a title to his benefits, from regard to any qualifi
cation, or act, or course of acts in him, on the account of any excellency or
goodness whatsoever therein, bul only as uniting to Christ; or (which fully im
plies il) that it is not suitable that God, by any acl, should, in any manner or
degree, testify any acceptance of, or pleasedness wilh any thing, as any virtue,
or excellency, or any part of loveliness, or valuableness in his person, until he is
actually already interested in Christ's raerits; which appeais by this, that from the
preraises it follows, that before the sinner is already interested in Christ, and justi
fied, it is impossible God should have any acceptance of, or pleasedness with the
person of the sinner, as in any degree lovely in his sight, or indeed less the ob
ject of his displeasure and wrath. For, by the supposition, the sinner still remains
infinitely guilty in the sight of God ; for guilt is not removed bul by pardon •
but to suppose the sinner already pardoned, is to suppose him already justi-
ned • which is contrary to the supposition. But if the sinner still remains in-
76 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE
finitely guilty in God's sight, that is the same thing as still to ^e beheld of Goa
as infinitely the objeci of his displeasure and wrath, or infinhely hateful in hia
eyes; and if so, where is any room for any thing in him, to be accepted as some
valuableness or acceptableness of him in God's sight, or for any act of favor of
any kind towards hira, or any gift whatsoever to him, in testimony of God's
respect to and acceptance of something of him lovely and pleasing ? If we
should suppose that it could be so, that a sinner could have faith or sorae ether
grace in his heart, and yet reraain separate from Christ ; and it should continue
still to be so, that he is not looked upon as being in Chiist, oi having any re
lation to him, it would not be raeet that that true grace should be accepted of
God as any loveliness of his person in the sight of God. If it should be ac
cepted as the loveliness of the person, that would be to accept the person as in
some degree lovely to God ; but this cannot be consistent wilh his still reraain
ing under infinite guilt, or infinite unworthiness in God's sight, which that
goodness has no worthiness lo balance. While God beholds the raan as separate
from Christ, he raust behold him as he is in himself; and so his goodness cannot
be beheld by God, but as taken with his guilt and hatefulness ; and as put in
the scales with il ; and being beheld so, his goodness is nothing; bec-ause there
is a finite on the balance against an infinite, whose proportion to il is nolhing.
In such a case, if the man be looked on as he is in himself, the excess of the
weight in one scale above another, must be looked upon as the quality of the
man. These contraries being beheld together, one takes from another, as one
number is subtracted from another ; and the raan must be looked upon in God's
sight according to the remainder : for here, by the supposition, all acts of grace
and favor, in not imputing the guilt as it is, are excluded, because that supposes
a degree of pardon, and that supposes justification, which is contrary lo what
is supposed, viz., that the sinner is not already ju.stified ; and therefore things
raust be taken strictly as they are: and so the man is still infinitely unworthy
and hateful in God's sight, as he was before wiihout diminution, because his
goodness bears no proportion to his unworthiness, and therefore when taken
together is nolhing.
Hence may be raore clearly seen the force of that expression in the text, ot
believing on him that judifieth the ungodly ; for Ihough there is indeed some
thing in raan that is realty and spiritually good, that is prior to justification, yet
there is nolh^np that \z accepted as any godliness or excellency of the person till
after justification. Goodness or loveliness of the person in the acceptance of
God, in any degree, is not lo be considered prior but posterior in the order and
method of God's proceeding in this affair. Though a respect to the natural
suitableness between such a qualification, and such a state, does go before justi-
'ication, yet the acceptance even of faith as any goodness or loveliness of the
believer, follows justification : the goodness is on the foreraentioned account
justiy looked upon as nolhing, until the raan is justified : and therefore the raan
IS respected in justification, as in himself altogether hateful. Thus the nature
of things will not admit of a man's having an interest given him in the merits
or benefits of a Saviour, on the account of any thing as a righteousness, or vir
tue, or excellency in him.
2. A divine constilution that is antecedent to that which estabhshes justifi
cation by a Saviour (and indeed lo any need of a Saviour), stands in the way
of it, viz., that original constitution or law which raan was put under ; by
which constitution or law the sinner is condemned, becau.se he is a violator of
that law ; stands condemned, till he has actually an interest in the aaviour,
(hrnugh whora he is set at hberty from thai' condemnation. But to suppose that
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. T?
God gives a man an interesi in Christ in reward for his righteousness or vinuc
is inconsistent with his still reraaining under conderanation till he has an interest
in Christ; because it supposes, that the sinner's virtue is accepted, and he ac
cepted for it, before he has an interest in Christ; inasmuch as an interest in
Christ is given as a reward of his virtue : but the virtue must first be accepted,
before it is rewarded, and the man raust first be accepted for his virtue, belore
he is rewarded for it with so great and glorious a reward ; for the very notion
of a reward, is some good bestowed in testimony of respeci to, and acceptance
of virtue in the person rewarded It does not consist with the honor of the
majesty of the king of heaven anil earth, to accept of- any thing from a con
demned malefactor, condemned by the justice of his own holy law, lill that con
demnation be removed : and then such acceptance is inconsistent wilh, and con
tradictory lo such remaining condemnation ; for the law condemns him that
violates il to be totally rejected and C£.st oft' by God. But how can a man con
tinue under this condemnation, i, e., continue utterly rejected and cast off by
God, and yet his righteousness or virtue be accepted, and he himself accepted
on the account of il, so as to have so glorious rewar.* as an interest in Christ
bestowed as a testimony of that acceptance ?
I know that the answer that will be ready for this, is, that we now are not
subject lo that constitution that mankind were al first put under ; but that God, in
mercy to mankind, has abolished that rigorous constitution or ,law that they
were under originally, and he has put us under a new law, and introduced a
more mild constilution ; and that the constitution or law itself not remaining,
there is no need of supposing that the condemnation of it remains, lo stand in
the way of the acceptance of our virtue. And indeed there is no other way of
avoiding this difficulty ; the conderanation of the law rausi stand in force against
a raan till he is actually interested in the Saviour, that has satisfied and answer
ed the law, effectually lo prevent any acceptance of his virtue, before,. or in
order to such an interest, unless the law or constitution itself be abolished. But
the scheme of those raodern divines by whom this is maintained, seems lo con
tain a great deal of absurdity and self-contradiction : they hold, that the old law
given to Adam, which requires perfect obedience, is entirely repealed, and that
instead of it we are put under a new law, which requires no more than imper
fect, sincere obedience, in compliance with our poor, infirm, impotent circum
stances since the fall, whereby we are unable lo perform that perfect obedience
that was required by the fir^l law : for they strenuously maintain, that it would
be unjust in God to require any thing of us that is beyond our present power
and ability to perform ; and yet they hold, that Christ died to satisfy for the
imperfections of our obedience, that so our imperfect obedience raight be accept
ed instead of a perfect. . Now, how can these Ihings hang together ? I would
ask, Whal law these imperfections of our obedience are a breach of? If they
are a breach of no law, then they are not sins, and if they be not sins, what need
of Christ's dying to satisfy for thera ? But if they are sins, and so the breach
of sorae law, what law is it ? They cannot be a breach of their new law, for
that requires no other than imperfect obedience, or obedience wilh imperfections ;
and they cannot be a breach of the old law, for that they say is entirely abol
ished, and we never were under il ; and we cannot break a law that we never
were under. They say il would not be just in God to exact of us perfect obe
dience, because it would not be just in God to require more of us than we can
perform in our present state, and to punish us for failing of it ; and therefore, by
their own scheme, the imperfections of our obedience do not deserve lo be pun
ished. What need therefore of Christ's dying to satisfy for them ? What ieed
78 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
of Christ's suffering to satisfy for that which is no fault, and in its own nature
deserves no suffering- ? Whal need of Christ's dying to purchase 'hat our im
perfect obedience should be accepted, when, according to their scheme, it would
be unjust in itself that any other obedience than imperfect should be required ?
What need of Christ's dying to raake way for God's accepting such an obedi
ence, as it would in itself be unjust in hira not to accept ? Is there any need of
Christ's dying to persuade God not to do unjustly ? If it be said, that Christ
died to satisfy that law for us, that so we might not be under that law, but
might be delivered from it, that so there might be room for us to be under a more
riiild law; slill I would inquire, Whal need of Christ's dying that we mighl not
be under a law that (according to their scheme) it would in itself be unjust that
we should be under, because in our present slate we are not able to keep it?
What need of Christ's dying that we might not be under a law that it would
be unjust that we should be under, whether Christ died or no ?
Thus far I have argued principally frora reason, and the nature of things : —
I proceed now to the
Second a'-guinent, which is. That this is a doctrine that the holy Scripture,
the revelation that God has given us of his mind and will, by which alone we
can ever come lo know how those that have offended God can be accepted of
him, and justified in his sight, is exceeding full in . particularly the Apostle
Paul is abundant in teaching, that " we are justified by faith alone, without the
works of the law." There is no one doctrine that he insists so much upon, and
is so particular in, and that he handles with so rauch distinctness, explaining and
giving reasons, and answering objections.
Here it is not denied by any, that the aposlle does a.ssert, that w-e are
justified by faith, wiihout the works of the law, because the words are express;
¦but only it is said, that we lake his words wrong, and understand that by them
that never entered into his heart, in that when he excludesthe works of the law
we understand hira of the whole law of God, or the rule which he has given to
mankind to walk by ; whereas all that he intends is the ceremonial law.
Some tbat oppose this doctrine indeed say, that the aposlle sometimes raeans
that it is by faith, i. e., a hearty erabracing the gospel, in its first act only, or
without any preceding holy life, that peVsons are adraitted into a justified slate ;
but, say they, it is by a persevering obedienc? tbat they are continued in a jus
tified state ; and it is by this that they are finally justified. But this is the same
thing as lo say, that a man, on his first embracing the gospel, is conditionally
justified and pardoned : to pardon sin, is to free the sinner from the punishment
of it, or from that eternal raisery that is due lo it ; and therefore, if a person is
pardoned or freed frora this misery, on his first embracing the gospel, and yet
not finally freed, but his actual freedom still depends on some condition yet to
be performed, it is inconceivable how he can be pardoned otherwise than con
ditionally ; that is, he is not actually pardoned, and freed from punishraent, but
only he has God's proraise that he shall be pardoned on future conditions • God
promises him, that now, if he perseveres in obedience, he shall be finally par
doned, or ^clually freed from hell ; which is to raake just nothing at all of the
apostle's great doctrine of justification by failh alone : such a conditional ppr-
don is no pardon or justification al all, any raore than all raankind have, whe
ther they embrace the gospel or no ; for they all have a promise of final justifi.
cation on condition of future, sincere obedience, as much as he Ihat embraces
the gospel. Bul not lo dispute about this, we will suppose that there may be
3omething or other at the sinner's first embracing the gospel, that may properly
oe called justification or pardon, and yet that final justification, or real freedora
.liSTinCATION BY FAITH ALONE. 7S
from the puinshi. ,!.ii of sin, is still suspended on conditions hitherto unfulfilled ,
yet they that hold that sinners are thus justified on embracing the gospel, suppose
that they are justified by this no otherwise than as this is a leading acl of obedi
ence, or at least as virtue and moral goodness in them, and Iherefore would be
excluded by the apostle as much as any other virtue or obedience, if it be allow
ed that he raeans the moral law, when he excludes the works of the law. And
therefore, if that point he yielded, that the apostle means the moral, and not thf
ceremonial law only, their whole scheme falls to the ground.
And because the is,sue of the whole argument from those texts in St. Paul's
epistles depends on the determination of this point, I would be particular in the
discussion of it.
Some of our opponents in this doctrine of justification, when they deny, that
by the law the apostle means the moral law, or the whole rule of life which
God has given to mankind, seem to choose to express themselves thus, that the
apostle only intends the Mosaic dispensation. But this comes lo just the same
thing as if they said, that the apostle only means to exclude the works of the
ceremoniaLlaw ; for when they say, that it is intended only that we be not jus
tified by the works ofthe Mosaic dispensation, if they mean any thing by it, it
raust be, that we be not justified by attending and observing whal is Mosaic in
that dispensation, or by what was peculiar to it, and wherein it differed frora
the Christian dispensation ; which is the same as that which is ceremonial and
positive, and not moral, in that administration. So that this is whal I have lo
disprove, viz., that the apostle when he speaks ofthe works of the law in this
affair, means only the works of the ceremonial law, or those observances that
were peculiar to the Mosaic administration.
And here it must be noted, that nobody controverts it with them, whether
the works of the ceremonial law be not included, or whether the aposlle does
not particularly argue againsi justification by circumicision, and other ceremonial
observances ; but all that is in question is, whether, when he denies justification
by works of the law, he is lo be understood of the cereraonial law only, or whe
ther the moral law be not also implied and intended ; and therefore those argu
ments that are broughi to prove that the aposlle meant the ceremonial law, are
nothing to the purpose unless they prove more than that, viz., that the apostle
meant those only.
What is rauch insisted on is, Ihat it was the judaizing Christians' being
so fond of circuracision, and other ceremonies of the law, and depending so
much on thera, which was the occasion of the apostle's writing as he does against
justification by the works of the law. Bul supposing it were so, that their
truslino- in works of the ceremonial law were the sole occasion of the apostle's
writing (which yet there is no reason to allow, as may appear afterwards), if
their trusting in a particular work, as a work of righteousness, was all that
gave occasion to the apostle to write, how does it follow, that therefore the
apostle did not upon that occasion write against trusting in all wotks of right
eousness whatsoever ? Where is the absurdity of supposing that the apostle
might take occasion, from his observing some to trust in a certain work as a
work of righteousness, to write to them againsi persons' trusting in any works
of righteousness, and that it was a very proper occasion too ? Yea, il would
have been unavoidable for the apostle to have argued against trusting in a par
ticular work in that quality ofa work of righteousness, which quality was, gen
eral, but he must therein argue against works of righteousness in general.
Supposing it had been sorae other particular sort of works that was the occasion
of the apostle's writing, as for instan:e, works of charity, and the apostle should
80 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
hence take occasion to write to thera not to trust in their woiks, could the apos
tle by that be understood of no other work besides works of charity ? Would
it have been absurd lo understand him as writing against trusting in any work
at all, because it was their trusting to a particular work that gave occasion to
his writing ?
Another thing that is alleged as an evidence that the apostle means the
cereraonial law, when he says, we cannot be justified by the works of the law,
is, that he uses that arguraent to prove it, viz., that this law that he speaks of
was given so long after the covenant with Abraham, in Gal. iii. 17 : " And
this, I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the
law, which was four hundred and thirty years alter, cannot disannul." Bul, say
they, it was only the Mosaic administration, and not the covenant of works, that
was given so long after. Bul the apcstle's argument seems manifestly to be
raistaken by thera. The aposlle does not speak of a law that began first to
have being four hundred and thirty years after; ifhe did, there would be some
force in their objection ; but he has respeci to a certain soleran transaction, wel)
known among the Jews, by the phrase of the giving of the law% which wa?
that great transaction at Mount Sinai, that we have account of in the 19th and
20th chapters of Exodus, consisting especially in God's giving the ten cora
raandraents, which is the raoral law, wilh terrible voice, which law he after
wards gave in tables of stone. This transaction, the Jews, in the apostle's time
raisinlerpreted ; they looked upon it as God's establishing the law as a rule ol
justification. This conceit of theirs the apostle brings this invincible argument
againsi, viz., that God would never go about to rksannul his covenant with
Abraham, w^hich was plainly a covenant of grace, by a transaction wilh his
posterity, that was so long after it, and was plainly built upon il : he would not
overthrow a covenant of grace that he had long before established with Abra
hara, for him and his seed (which is often mentioned on the ground of God's
making them his people), by now establishing a covenant of works with them
at Mount Sinai, as the Jews and judaizing Christians supposed.
But that the apostle does not mean works of the ceremonial law only, when
he excludes works of the law in justification, but also of the moral law, and al
works of obedience, virtue and righteousness vifhatsoever, may appear by the
following things.
1. The apostle does not only say, that we are not justified by the works ot
the law, but that we are not justified by works, using a general term ; as in our
text, it is said, to him that irorkethnot, but believeth on him that justifieth, &c.;
and in the 6th verse, " God imputeth righteousness without works ;" and chap.
xi. 6, " And if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no
more grace : but if it be of works, then is it no raore grace ; otherwise work is
no more work." So Eph. ii. 8, 9, " For by grace are ye saved, through faith;
not of works;" by which there is no reason in the w"orld to understand the
apostle of any other than works in general, as correlates of a reward, or good
works, or works of virtue and righteousness. When the apostle says, we
are justified or saved not by works, without any such term annexed, as the law,
or any other addition, to limit the expression, what warrant has any one to con
fine it to works of a particular law or institution, excluding others ? Are not
observances of other divine laws, works, as well as of that? It seems to he
allowed by the divines in the Arminian scheme, in their interpretation of several
of those texts where the aposlle mentions works only, without any additions,
that he means our own good woiks in general ; but then, they say, he only
means to exclude any proper merit in those works. But to say the apostle
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 8)
means one thing when he says, we be not justified by works, another when iu
says, -we be not justified by the works of the law, when we find the expressions
.-nixed and used in the sarae discouise, and when the apostle is evidently on the
same argument, is very unreasonable ; it is to dodge and fly frora Scripture,
rather than to open and yield ourselves to its teachings.
2. In the third chapter of Romans, our having been guilty of breaches of
the moral law, is an argument that the apostle uses, why we cannot be justified
by the works ofthe law ; beginning with the 9th veise, there he proves, out of
the Old Testament, that all are under sin : " There is none righteous, no not
one : their throat is an open sepulchre ; wilh their tongues they have used de
ceit : their raouth is full of cursing and bitterness ; and their feet swift to shed
blood.'' And so he goes on, mentioning only those ihings that are breaches ot
the raoral law ; and then when he has done, his conclusion is, in the 19th and
20th verses, " Now, we know that whatsoever things the law saith, il saith to
them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the
world may becorae guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds ofthe law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight." This is most evidently his argument, because
all had sinned (as it was said in the 9lh verse), and been guilty of those breaches
of the moral law that be had mentioned (and it is repealed over again after
ward, verse 23) : " For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God ;"
therefore none at all can be justified by the law. Now if the apostle meant
only, that we are not justified by the deeds of the cereraonial law, what kind of
arguing would that be : " Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet
areswift to shed blood ;" therefore they cannot be justified by the deeds ofthe
Mosaic administration : they are guilty of the breaches of the raoral law ; and
therefore they cannot be justified by the deeds of the cereraonial law ? Doubt
less the apostle's argument is, that the very sarae law that they have broken and
sinned agaitist, can never justify thera as observers of it, because every law does
not justify, but necessarily condemns its violators. And therefore our breaches
of the moral law argue no more, than that we cannot be justified by that law
that we have broken.
And it may be noted, that the apostle's argument here is the same that I
have already used, viz., that as we are in ourselves, and out of Christ, we are
under the condemnation of that original law or constitution that God estab
lished with mankind ; and therefore it is no way fit that any thing that we do
any virtue or obedience of ours should be accepted, or we accepted on the ac
count of it.
3. The apostle, in the preceding part of this epistle, wherever he has the
phrase, the law, evidently intends the moral law principally. As in the 12th
verse of the foregoing chapter : " For as many as have sinned without law,
shall also perish without law." It is evidently the written, moral law the
apostle raeans, by the next verse but one : " For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law;" that is, the
n-joral law that the Gentiles have by nature. And so the next verse, " Which
show the work of the law written in their hearts." It is the moral law, and
not the cereraonial, that is written in the hearts of those that are desMtute ot
divine revelation. And so in the 18th verse, " Thou approvest the things the*
are raore excellent ; being instructed out of the law." It is the moral law that
shows us the nature of things, and teaches us what is excellent ; 20th verse,
" Thou hast a forra of knowledge anA cruth in the law." It is the moral law.
as is evident by what follows, verses 22, 23 : " Thou that sayest a man should
not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery ? Thou that abhorrest idols,
Vol. IV. '1
82 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONR
dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through
breaking the law dishonorest thou God ? Adultery, idolatry, and sacrilege,
surely are the breaking of the raoral, and not the ceremonial law. So in th"
27th verse : "And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law,
judge thee, who by the letter and circuracision dost transgress the law?" i. e.,
the Gentiles, that you despise because uncircuracised, if they live moral ind
holy lives, in obedience to the moral law, shall condemn you though cir
cumcised. And so there is not one place in all the preceding pa-^t of the epistle,
where the apostle speaks of the law, but that he raost apparenti ' intends prin
cipally the raoral law ; and yet when the apostle, in continuance of the same dis
course, coraes to tell us that we cannot be justified by the w^orks of the law,
then they will needs have it, that he raeans only the ceremonial law ; yea,
though all this discourse about the moral law, showing how the Jews, as well
as Gentiles have violated it, is evidenlly preparatory and introductory to that
doctrine, chap. iii. 20, " that no flesh," that is none of mankind, neither
Jews nor Gentiles, " can be justified by the works of the law."
4. Il is evident that when the apostle says, we cannot be justified by the
works of the law, he means the moral as well as cereraonial law, by his giving
this reason for it, that " by the law is the knowledge of sin," as Rora. iii. 20 :
" By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight ; for by the law
is the knowledge of sin." Now that law by which we corae to the knowledge
of sin, is the moral law chiefly and primarily. If this argument of the aposlle
be good, " that we cannot be justified by the deeds of the law, because it is by
the law tbat we come to the knowledge of sin ;" then il proves that we cannot
be ju.stified by the deeds of the moral law, nor by the precepts of Christianity ;
for by them is the knowledge of sin. If the reason be good, then where the
reason holds, the truth holds. It is a raiserable shift, and a violent force put
upon the words, to say that the raeaning is, that by the law of circuracision is
the knowledge of sin, because circuracision, signifying the taking away of sin,
puts raen in mind of sin. The plain meaning of the apostle is, that as the law
most strictly forbids sin, il tends lo convince us of sin, and bring our own con
sciences to conderan us, instead of justifying us ; that the use of it is to declare
to us our own guilt and unworthiness, which is the reverse of justifying and ap
proving us as virtuous or worthy. This is the apostle's meaning, if we will /
allow hira to be his own expositor ; for he hiraself, in this very epistle, explain!:
to us how it is that by the law we have the knowledge of sin, and that it is by
the law's forbidding sin, chap. vii. 7 : " I had not known sin but by the law;
for I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet."
There the apostle deterraines two things ; first, that the way in which " by the
law is the knowledge of sin," is by the law's forbidding sin: and secondly,
which is more directly still to the pv-pose, he determines that it is the moral
law by which we come to the knowledge of sin ; ?' for," says he, " I had not
known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not cov€t." Now it is the
moral, and not the cereraonial law, that says, thou shalt not covet : therefore when
the apostle argues, that by the deeds of the law no flesh living shall be justified,
because by the law is the knowledge of sin, his arguraent proves (unless he was
mistaken as to the force of his argument), that we cannot be justified by the
deeds of the moral law.
5. It is evident that the apostle does not 'tr.ean the ceremonial law only,
because he gives this reason why we have righteousness, and a title to the privi-
lege of CJod's children, not by the law, but by faith, « that the law worketh
¦vrath." Rom. iv. 13—16, « For the promise, that he should be the heir of the
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 83
world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed thiough the law, hJt through the
'ighteousness of faith. For if ihey which are of llie law be heirs, faith is made
void, and the promise made of none effect. Because the law worketh wrath:
for Avhere no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it
might be by grace." Now the way in which the law works wrath, by the
apostle's own account, in the reason he himself annexes, is by forbidding sin,
and aggravating the guilt of the transgression ; " for,'' says he, " where no law
is, there is no transgression :" and so, chap. vii. 13, " That sin by the command
ment might become exceeding sinful." If, therefore, this reason of the apostle
be good, it is much stronger against justification by the moral law than the
ceremonial law ; for it is by transgressions of the moral law chiefly that there
comes wrath ; for they are most strictly forbidden, and most terribly threatened.
6. It is evident that when the apostle says, we be not justified by the works
of the law, he excludes all our own virtue, goodness, or excellency, by that
reason that he gives for it, viz., " that boasting might be excluded." Rora.
iii. 26, 27, 28, " To declare, I sa}, at this tirae his righteousness : that he raight
be just, and the justifier of hira that believeth in Jesus. W here is boasting then ?
It is excluded. By what law ? Of works ? Nay ; but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude, that a raan is justified by faith, without the deeds of
. the law." Eph. ii. 8, 9, " For by grace are ye saved, through faith ; and that
not of yourselves : it is the gift of God : not of works, lest any man should boast."
Now what are men wont to boast of, but what they esteem their own goodness
or excellency ? If we are not justified by the works ofthe ceremonial law, yet
how does that exclude boasting, as long as we are justified by our own excel
lency, or virtue and goodness of our own, or works of righteousness which we
have done ?
But it is said, that boasting is excluded, as circumcision was excluded,
which was what the Jews especially used to glory in, and value themselves
upon, above other nations.
To this I answer, that the Jews were not only used to boast of circumcision,
but were notorious for boasting of their moral righteousness. The Jews of
those days were generally admirers and followers of the Pharisees, who were
full of their boasts of their moral righteousness ; as we may see by the example
of the Pharisee mentioned in the I8lh of Luke, which Christ mentions as des
cribing the general temper of that sect : " Lord," says he, " I thank thee, that
I am not as other raen, an extortioner, nor unjust, nor an adulterer." The works
that he boasts of were chiefly moral works : he depended on the works of the
law for justification ; and therefore Christ tells us, that the publican, that re
nounced all his own righteousness, " went dovm to his house justified rather
than he." And elsewhere we read of the Pharisees' praying in the corners of
the streets, and sounding a trumpet before them when they did alms. But
those works which they so vainly boasted of were moral works : and not only
so, but what the apostle, in this very epistle, is condemning the Jews for, is
their boasting of the moral law. Chap; n. 22, 23, "Thou that sayest a man
should not comrait adultery, doest thou commit adultery ? Thou that abhorrest
idols, dost thou commit sacrilege ? Thou that makest thy boast of the law,
through breaking the law dishonorest thou God ?" The law here mentioned
that they made their boast of, was that of which adultery, idolatry and sacri
lege, were the breaches, whicli is the moral law. So that this is the boasting
which the apostle condemns them for, and therefore, if they were justified by '
the works; of this law, then how coraes he to say that their boasting is exckd^
ed ? And heside<J, whrn they boasted of the rites of the cereraonial law, it was
84 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALON£.
under a notion of its being a part of their own goodness or excellency, or uhdt
made them holier and more lovely in the sight of God than other people , and
if they were not justified by this part of their own supposed goodness or holi
ness, yet if they were by another, how did that exclude boasting ? How was
their boasting excluded, unless all goodness or excellency of their own was
excluded ?
The reason given by the aposlle why we can be justified by faith only, and
not by the works of the law, in the 3d chapter of Gal., viz., " that they that
are under the law, are under the curse," makes it evident he does not mean the
cereraonial law only. In that chapter the apostle had particularly insisted
upon it, that Abraham was justified by failh, and that it is by faith only, and
not by the works of the law, that we can be justified, and become the chil
dren of Abrahara, and be made partakers of the blessing of Abraham : and he
gives this reason for it, in the 10th verse : " For as many as are of the works
ofthe law, are under the curse ; for it is written. Cursed is every one that con
tinueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."
It is manifest that these words, cited frora Deuteronoray, are spoken, not only with
regard to the ceremonial law, but the whole law of God to mankind, and chiefly
the moral law; and that all mankind are therefore, as they are in theraselves,
under that curse, not only while the ceremonial law lasted, but now since that .
has ceased : and therefore all that are justified are redeeraed from that curse,
by Christ's bearing it for thera ; as there, in verse 13 : " Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us ; for it is written. Curs
ed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Now therefore, either its being said
so, that he is cursed that continueth not in all things which are written in the
book of the law to do them, is a good reason why we cannot be justified by
the works of that law of which it is so said ; or it is not : if it be, then it is a
good reason why we cannot be justified by the works of the moral law, and of
the whole rule which God has given to raankind to walk by ; for the word.s
are spoken of the moral as well as the cereraonial law, and reach every com
mand or precept which God has given to mankind ; and chiefly the raoral pre
cepts, which are most strictly enjoined, and the violations of which in both
New Testaraent and Old, and in the books of Moses themselves, are threatened
with the most dreadful curse.
8. The apostle does in hke manner argue against our being justified by our
own righteousness, as he does against being justified by the works of the law •
and evidently uses the expressions, our ovm righteousness, and works of the law,
promiscuously, and as signifying the same thing. It is particularly evident hy
'Kora. X. 3 : " For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establifih their own righteousness, have not subraitted themselves unto the
righteousness of God." Here it is plain that the same thing is asserted as in
the last two verses but one of the foregoing chapier : " But Israel, which fol
lowed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteous
ness. Wherefore ? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the
works of the law." And it is very unreasonable, upon several accounts, to
stjppose that the apostle, by their own righteousness, intends only their ceremo
nial righteousness. For when the apostle warns us against trusting in our own
righteousness for justification, doubtless it is fair to interpret the expression in
an agreeraent with the other Scriptures, where we are warned, not to think
that it is for the sake of our own righteousness that we obtain God's favor and
olessing : as particularly that in Deut. ix. 4, 5, 6, " Speak not thou in thine
Uea-t, after that the Lord th]- God hath cast them out from before thee saying
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. S5
For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land : but for
the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive Ihera out from before thee.
Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou
go to possess their land : but for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord thy
God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word
which he sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand
therefore, that the Lord thy .God giveth thee not this good land to possess it,
for thy righteousness : for thou art a stiff-necked people." None will pretend
that here the expression thy righteousness, signifies a cereraonial righteousness
only, but all virtue or goodness oftheir own; yea, and the inward goodness of
the heart, as well as the outward goodness of life, which appears by the begin
ning of the 5th verse, " Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of
thy heart ;" and also by the antithesis in the 6th verse, " Not for thy righteous
ness, for thou anfc a stiff-necked people." Their stiflf-neck edness was their moral
wickedness, obstinacy, and perverseness of heart : by righteousness, therefore,
on the contrary, is meant their moral virtue, and rectitude of heart and life.
This is whal I would argue from hence, that the expression of our own right
eousness, when used in Scripture with relation lo the favor of God, and when
we are warned against looking upon it as that by which that favor or the fruits
of it, are obtained, does not signify a ceremonial righteousness only, bul all man
ner of goodness of our own.
The Jews also, in the New Testament, are conderaned for trusting in their
own righteousness in this sense Luke xviii. 9, &c. : " And he spake this para
ble unto certain that trusted in theraselves that they were righteous." This
intends chiefly a raoral righteousness ; as appears by the parable itself, in which
we have an account of the prayer of the Pharisee, wherein the things that he
mentions as whal he trusts in, are chiefly moral qualifications and performances,
viz., that he was not an extortioner, unjust, nor an adulterer, &c.
But we need not go to the writings of other penmen of the Scripture. If
we -will allow the Apostle Paul to be his own interpreter, he, when he speaks
of our own righteousness as that which we are not justified or saved by, does
not mean a cereraonial righteousness only, nor does he only intend a way of re
ligion, and serving God, of our own choosing and fixing on, without divine
warrant or prescription ; but by our own righteousness he means the same as a
righteousness of our own doing, whether it be a service or righteousness of
God's prescribing, or our own unwarranted performing : let it be an obedience
to the ceremonial law, or a gospel obedience, or what it -will, if it be a right
eousness of our own doing, it is excluded by the apostle in this affair, as is
evident by Titus in. 5: " Not by works of righteousness which we have done."
But l' would more particularly insist on this text ; and therefore this may be
the 9th argument. That the apostle, when he denies justification by works, and
by works of the law, and by our own righteousness, does not mean works
ofthe ceremonial law only, viz., what is said by the Apostle in Tit. iii. 3—7 :
•' For we ourselves also were soraetiraes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and haling one
another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man
appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our
Saviour : that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to
the hope of eternallife." Works of righteousness that we have done are here
f\-cluded, as what we are neither saved nor justified by The apostle express
86 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH AUSE.
¦ly^ says, we are not saved by them ; and it is evident that when he saysthiSj he
has respect to the aff'air of justification, and that he means, we are not saved by
them in not being justified by them, by the next verse but one, which is.part of
the same sentence.: '¦' That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life." : :
It is several ways manifest, that the aposlle in this text, by " works of right
eousness which we have done," does not mean works, of the ceremonial law
only. It appears by the third verse, " For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice
and envy, hateful and hating one another.'' These are breaches ofthe moral
law, that the apostle observes they lived in before they were justified: and.it is
most plain that it is this that gives occasion to the aposlle to observe, as he does
in the 5th verse, that it was not by works of righteousness which they had done,
that they were saved or justified. ^
But we need not go to the context; it is most apparent from the words
themselves, that the apostle does not mean works of the ceremonial law only.
Ifhe had only said, it is not by our own works of righteousness, what could we
understand by works of righteousness, but only righteous works, or, which is
the same thing, good works ? And to say, that it is by our own righteous
works that we. are justified, though not- by one particular kind of righteous
works, would certainly be a contradiction to such an assertion. But the words
are rendered yet raore strong, plain and deterrained in their sense, by those addi
tional words, which we have done ; which shows that the apostle intends to ex
clude all our own righteous or virtuous works universally. If it should be as
serted concerning any coraraodity, treasure, or precious jewel, that it could
not be procured by money, and not only so, but, to make |he assertion the
more strong, it should be asserted with additional words, that it could not be
procured by raoney that raen possess ; how unreasonable would it be after all,
to say, that all that was meant was, that it could not be procured with brass
money ? .
And what renders the interpreting this text of works of the ceremonial law
yet more unreasonable, is, that these works were indeed no works of righteous
ness, but were only falsely supposed to be so by the Jews ; and that, our oppor
nentsiin this doctrine suppose, is the very reason why we be not justified bj
them, because they are not works of . righteousness, or because (the ceremonial
law being now abrogated) there is no obedience in them; But how absurd is
it to say, that the aposlle, when he says we are not justified by works of right
eousness that we have done, meant only works, of the ceremonial law* and that
for that very reason, because they are not works of righteousness ! To illus
trate this by the forementioned comparison: if it should be asserted, that such
a thing could not be procured by money that raen possess,- how ridiculous would
It be to say, that the meaning, only was, that it could not be procured by counter
feit money, anddhat for that reason, because it was not raoney ! What Scripture
will stand b.fore raen, if the^ wih take liberty to mangle it thus? Or what one
text is there in the Bible that may not at this rate be explained away, and per
verted to any sense men please? . , ,
But then further, if we should allow that the apostle intends imly to oppose
justification by works of the cereraonial law in this text, yet it is. evident by
the expression he uses, that he means to oppose it under that notion, or in that
qualit), of their being worksof righteousness of our own doing. .But if the
apostle argues against our being justified by works of the ceremonial law, under
the notion oftheir being of that nature and kind, viz., works of our own doing;
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 87
Jien it will follow that the apostle's argument is strong against, not only those,
but all of that nature and kind, even all that are of our doing.
If there were no other text in the Bible about justification but thi.s, this
would clearly and invincibly prove that we are not justified by any of our own
goodness, virtue, or righteousness, or for the excellency or righteousness of any
thing that we have done in religion ; because it is here so fully and strongly
asserted : but this text does abundantly coii'^rra other texts of the apostle where
he denies justification by works of the law. There is no doubt can be ration
ally made, but Ihat when the apostle here shows, that God " saves us accord
ing to his mercy," in Ihat he doth not save us by " works of righteou.sness
that we have done," verse 5, and that so we are "justified by grace," verse
7, herein opposing salvation by grace, he means the same works as he does
in other places, where he in like manner opposes works and grace : the same
works as in Rom. xi. 6, " And if by grace, then il is no more of works : olher
wise grace is no more grace. But if it be of ¦« oiks, ihtn is it no more grace :
otherwise work is no more work." And the sarae works as in Rora. iv. 4, " Now
to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of giace, but of debt." And the
same works that are spoken of in the context of the 24th verse of the foregoing
chapter, which the aposlle there calls " works of the law, being justified freely
by his grace." And of the 4th chapter, 16th verse, "Therefore it is of faith,
that it might be by grace." Where in the context, the righteousness of failh
is opposed to the righteousness of the law : for here God's saving us according
to his mercy, and justifying us by grace, is opposed to saving us by works of
righteousness that we have done ; in the sarae manner as in those places, justi
fying us by works of the law.
The apostle could not raean works of the ceremonial law only, when he
says, we are not justified by the works of the lavv, because it is asserted of the
saints under the Old Testament as well -as New. If men are justified by their
sincere obedience, it will then follow that formerly, before the ceremonial la-w
was abrogated, men were justified by the works of the cereraonial law as well
as the moral. For if we are justified by our own sincere obedience, then it alters
not the case, whether the commands be moral or positive, provided they be
God's coramands, and our obedience be obedience to God : and so the case must
be just the same under the Old Testaraent, with the works of the moral law
and ceremonial, according to the measure of the virtue of obedience there was
in either. It is true, their obedience to the ceremonial law would have nothing
to do in the affair of justification, unless it was sincere ; and so neither would
the works of the moral law; obedience to the raoral law would have been con
cerned in the affair of justification, if sincere; and so would obedience lo the
ceremonial. If obedience was the thing, then obedience to the ceremonial law,
while that stood in force, and obedience to the raoral law, had just the same
sort of concern, according to the proportion of obedience that consists in each ;
as now under the New Testament, if obedience is what we are justified by, that
obedience must doubtless coraprehend obedience to all God's commands now in
force, to the positive precepts of attendance on baptism and the Lord's supper,
as well as moral precepts. If obedience be the thing, it is not because it is
obedience to such a kind of comraands, but because it is obedience. So that
by this supposition the saints under the Old Testament were justified, at least
in part, by their obedience to the ceremonial law.
But it IS evident that the saints under the Old Testaraent were not justified
in any raea.sure by the works of the ceremonial law. This may De proved, pro-
ceedino- on the foot of our advefsan as' own interpretation of the apostles phrase
88 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
of the works of the law, and supposing hira fo raean by it only the works of the
ceremonial law. To instance in David, it is evident that he was not justified in any
wise by the works of the cereraonial law, by Rora. i v. 6, 7, 8 : "Even as David also
describeth the blessedness of the raan unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose
sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."
It is plain <.hat the apostle is heie speaking of justification, by the preceding
verse and by all the context ; and the thing spoken of, viz., forgiving iniquities
and covering sins, is what our adversaries themselves suppose to be justification,
and even the whole of justification. This David, speaking of himself, says (by
the apostle's interpretation) that he had without works. For it is manifest that
David, in the words here cited, from the beginning of the 32d Psalm, has a special
respect to himself : he speaks of his own sins being forgiven and not imputed
to hira ; as appears by the words that iramediately follow : " When I kept
silence, ray bones waxed old ; through ray roaring all the day long. For day
and night thy hand was heavy upon me : my moisture is turned into the drought
of summer. I acknowledged ray sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid :
I said I will confess ray transgressions unlo the Lord ; and thou forgavest the
iniquity of my sin." Let us therefore understand the apostle which way we
will, by works, when he says, David " describes the bl&ssedness of the man to
whora the Lord imputes righteousness without works," whether of all manner
of works, or only works of the ceremonial law, yet it is evident at least, that
David was not justified by works of the cereraonial law. Therefore here is the
arguraent : if our own obedience be that by which men are justified, then under
the Old Testament men were justified partly by obedience to the cereraonial law
(as has been proved) ; but the saints under the Old Testaraent were not justi
fied partly by the works of the ceremonial law ; Iherefore men's own obedi
ence is not that by which they are justified.
11. Another argument that the apostle when he speaks ofthe two opposite
ways of justification, one by the works of the law, and the other by faith, does
not mean the works of the ceremonial law only, may be taken from that place,
Romans x. 5, 6, " For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law,
that the raan which doeth tbose things, shall live by thera. But the righteous
ness which is of failh, speaketh on this wise," &c. Here two things are evident.
First, That the apostle here speaks of the same two opposite ways of justi
fication, one by the righteousness which is ofthe law, the other by faith that he
had treated of in the former part of the epistle ; and therefore it must be the
same law that is here spoken of. The same law is here meant as in the last
verses of the foregoing chapter, where he says the Je-w^s had " not attained to
the law of righteousness. Wherefore ? Because they sought it not by faith,
out as it were by the works ofthe law ;" as is plain, because the apostle is still
speaking of the same thing ; the words are a continuation of the same dis
course, as may be seen at first glance, by any one that looks on the context.
Secondly, It is raanifest that Moses, when he describes the righteousness
which is of the law, or the way of justification by the law, in the words here
cited, " He that doeth these things shall live in them," does not speak only, nor
chiefly, of the works of the ceremonial law ; for none will pretend that God
ever made such a covenant with raan, that he that kept the cereraonial law
should live in it, or that there ever was a tirae, that it was chiefly by the works
of the cereraonial law that raen lived and were justified. Yea, it is manifest
by the forementioued instance of David, mentioned in the 4th of Romans, that
-.here never was a time wherein men were justified in any measure by the
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 89
works of the ceremonial law, as has been just now .shown. Mosei theiefore, in
those words which, the apostle says, are a di^scription of the righteousness which
is of the law, cannot mean the ceremonial law only. And therefore il follows,
that when the apostle speaks of justification by the works of the law, as ojipo-
site to justification by failh, he does not mean the ceremonial law only, but
also the woiks of the moral law, which aie the things spoken of by Moses,
vhen he says, "he that doeth these things shall live m them;" and which are
Ihe things that the apostle in this very place is arguing thai we cannot be justi
fied by ; as is evident by the context, the last verses ol the preceding chapier : " But
Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained lo the
law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by laith, but
as it were by the works of the law," &.c. And in \he 3d verse of this chapter :
" For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about lo establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves mito the righteousness
of God." And further, how can the apostle's description that he here gives frora Mo
ses of this exploded way of justification by the works of the law, consist with
the Arinhiian scherae, of a way of justification by the virtue of a sincere obe
dience, that still remains as the true and only way of justification under the
gospel. It is raost apparent that it is the design of the apostle to give a descrip
tion of both the legal rejected, and the evangelical valid ways of justification,
in that wherein they differ, or are distinguished the one fiom the other : but how
is that, " he that doeth those things shall live in Ihem ;" that wherein the way
of justification by the works of the law differs, or is distinguished from that in
which Christians under the gospel are justified, according to their scheme;
for still, according lo thera, it may be said, in the same manner, of the
precepts of the gospel, he that doeth these Ihings, shall live in them : the
difference lies only in the Ihings to be done, but not at all in that, that
the do'ing of them is not the condition of living in them, just in the one
case, as in the other. The words, " he that doeth them shall live in Ihem,"
will serve just as well for a description of the latter as the former. By
the apostle's saying, the righteousness of the law is described thus, he that doeth
these thmgs shall live in them ; but the righteousness of faith saith thus, plainly
intimates that the righteousness of failh sailh olherwise, and in an opposite
manner. But besides, if these words cited from Moses, are actually said by
him ofthe moral law as well as ceremonial, as it is most evident they are, it
renders it still more absurd lo suppose them mentioned by the aposlle, as the
very note of distinction between justification by a ceremonial obedience, and a
moral and sincere obedience, as the Arminians must suppose.
Thus I have spoken to a .second arguraent, to prove that we are not justi
fied by any manner of virtue or goodness of our own, viz., that to suppose
otherwise, is contrary to the doctrine that is directly urged, and abundantly ir
sisted on, by the Apostle Paul in his epistles.
I now proceed to a
Third argument, viz., That to suppose that we are justified by our own
sincere obedience, or any of our own virtue or goodness, derogates from gospel
grace. That scheme of justification that manifestly takes from, or diminishes the
grace of God, is undoubtedly to be rejected ; for it is the declared design of
God in the o-ospel, lo exalt the freedora and riches of his grace, in that method
vf justification of sinners, and way of admitting them to his favor, and the
blessed fruils of it, which it declares. The Scripture teaches, that the way of
Vol. IV 12
90 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
justification that is appointed in the go.spel covenant, is appointed as it is, for
that end, that free grace might be expressed and glorified : Rom. iv. 16,
" Therefore it isof faith, that it might be by grace." The exercising and mag
nifying the free grace of God in the gospel contrivance for the justification and
salvation of sinners, is evidenlly the chief design ofii; and this freedom and
riches of the grace of the gospel, is everywhere spoken of in Scripture as the
chief glory of it. Therefore that doctrine that derogates from the free grace ol
God in justifying sinners, as it is most opposite to God's design, so it must be ex
ceedingly offensive to him.
Those that raaintain, that we are justified by our own sincere obedience, do
pretend that their scheme does not dirainish fhe grace of the gospel ; for they
say, that the grace of God i's wonderfully manifested in appointing such a Way
and method of salvation, by sincere obedience in assisting us to perform such
an obedience, and in accepting our imperfect obedience instead of perfect.
Let us therefoie examine that raatter, whether their scherae, of a man's
being justified by his own virtue and sincere obedience, does derogate from the
grace of God or no>; or whether free grace is not more exalted, in supposing,
as we do, that we are justified wiihout any raanner of goodness of our own. In
order to thisj I will lay down this self-evident
Proposition, That " whatsoever that be by which the abundant benevolence
ofthe giver is expressed, and gratitude in the receiver is obliged, that magnifies
free grace." This I suppose none will ever controvert or dispute.
And il is not much less evident, that it doth bolh show a more abundant
benevolence in the giver when he shows kindness without goodness or excellen
cy in the object, to move him to it ; and that it enhances the obligation to grati
tude in the receiver.
1. It shows a more abundant goodness in the giver, when he shows kind
ness without any excellency in our persons or actions that would move the
giver to love and beneficence. For it certainly shows the more abundant and
overflowing goodness, or disposition lo communicate good, by how much the
less loveliness or excellency there is lo entice beneficence : the less there is in
the receiver to draw good will and kindness, il argues the more of the princi
ple of good v.iU and kindness in the giver ; for one that has but little of a prin
ciple of love and benevolence, may be drawn to do good and to show kindness
when there is a great deal to draw him, or when there is much excellency and
loveliness in the object to move good will ; when he whose goodness and be
nevolence is more abundant, will show kindness where Ihere is less to draw it
forth ; for he does not so much need to have it drawn from without he has
enough of the principle, within, to move him of itself. Where there is raost of
the principle, there it is most sufficient for itself, and stands in least need of
something without to excite it: for certainly a more abundant goodness more
easily flows forth with less to impel or draw it, than where there is less* or
which is the same thing, the more any one is disposed of himself, the less be
needs from without himself, to put him upon il, or stir hira uptoit. And there
fore' his kindness appears the more exceeding great when it is bestowed with
out any excellency or loveliness in the receiver, or when the receiver is respect
ed in the gift, as wholly wiihout excellency : and much raore still when the
benevolence ofthe giver not only finds nothing in the receiver to draw if,. but a
great deal of hatefiilness to repel it : the abundance of goodness is Ihen'mani-
fested, not only in flowing forth wiihout any thing extrinsic to put it forward,
but in overcoming great repulsion in the object. And then does kindness and
»ove appear most triumphant, and wonderfully great, when- the receiver isre.*-
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 91
.pected in the gift, as not only wholly without all excellence or beauty to attract
it, but altogether, yea, infinitely vile and hateful.
I 2. It is apparent aiso that il enhances the obligation to gratitude in the
receiver. This is agreeable to the coraraon sense of mankind, that the less
worthy or excellent the object of benevolence, or the receiver of kindness, is,
-the more he is obliged, and the greater gratitude is due. He therefore is most
of all obliged, that receives kindness without any goodness or excellency in
.himself, but with a total and universal hatefulness. And as it is agreeable to
the common sense of mankind, so it is agreeable to the word of God. How
often does God in the Scripture insist on this argunlent with men, to raove them
to love hira, and to acknowledge his kindness! How rauch does he insist on
this as an obligation to gratitude, that they are so sinful and undeserving, and
ill deserving !
Therefore it certainly follows, that that doctrine that teaches, that God,
when he justifies a raan, and shows hira that gr^at kindness, as to give hira a
¦ right lo eternal life, does not do it for any obedience, or any manner of good
ness of his ; bul that justification respects a man as ungodly, and wholly with
out any manner of virtue, beauty or excellency. I say, this doctrine does cer
tainly more exalt the free grace of God in justification, and raan's obligation
to gratitude to him for such a favor, than the contrary doctrine, viz., that God,
in showing this kindness to raan, respects him as sincerely obedient and virtu-
ous, and as h-aving something in him that is truly excellent, and lovely, and
acceptable in his sight, and that this goodness or excellency of man is the
very fundamental condition of the bestowment of that kindness on him, or of
the distinguishing him from others by that benefit. But I hasten lo a
Fourth argument for the truth of the doctrine, " That to suppose that a
.man is justified by his own virtue or obedience, derogates frora the honor of
-the Mediator, and ascribes that to raan's virtue that belongs only to the right
eousness of Christ."
It puts man in Christ's stead, and makes hira his own Saviour, in a re
spect in which Christ only is the Saviour ; and so it is a doctrine contrary to
the nature and design ofthe gospel, which is to abase man, and to ascribe Etll
.the glory of our salvation to Christ the Redeemer. Itis inconsistent wilh the
.doctrine of the imputation of Christ's righteousness, which is a gospel doctrine.
Here I would,
1. Explain what we mean by the iraputation of Christ's righteousness.
2. Prove the thing intended by it to be true.
3. Show that this doctrine is utterly inconsistent with the doctrine of our
being justified by our own virtue or sincere obedience.
First, I would explain what we mean by the imputation of Christ's right
eousness. Sometiraes the expression is taken by our divines in a larger sense,
for the imputation of all that ChrLst did and suff'ered for our redemption, where
by we are free from guilt, and stand righteous in the sight of God ; and so im
plies the imputation both of Christ's satisfaction and obedience. But here I in
tend it in a stricter sense, for the imputation of that righteousness or raoral
goodness that consists in the obedience to Christ. And % that righteousness
beinf iraputed to us, is meant no other than this, that that righteousness of
'3.rist is accepted for us> and admitted instead of that perfect inherent right
eousness that ought to be in ourselves : Christ's periect obedience shall be reck
oned to our account, so that we shall have the benefit of it, as thcugh we had
performed it ourselves : and so we suppose that a title to eternal life is given
us as the reward of this righteousness. The Scriptuie n°^ 'he word impute
92 lUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
in this sense, viz., for reckoning any thing belonging to any person, to anothei
person's account : as Philemon 18, " If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thet
aught, put that on mine account." In the original it is lovro sfioi c),).o-ysi, im
pute that tn me. It is a word of thr same root wilh that which is translated
impute, Rora. iv. 6, " To whom God imputeth righteousness without works."
And it is the very sarae word that is used in Rom. v. 13, that is translated im
pute, " sin is not imputed when there is no law."
The opposers ofthis doctrine suppose that there is an absurdity in it : they say
that to suppose that God imputes Christ's obedience to us, is to suppose that God is
mistaken, and thinks that we performed that obedience that Christ performed. But
why cannot that righteousness be reckoned to our account, and be accepted for us,
without any such absurdity ? Why is there any more absurdity in it, than in a
merchant's transferring debt or credit from one man's account to another, when
one raan pays a price for another, so that it shall be accepted, as if that other
had paid it? Why is there any more absurdity in supposing that Christ's obe
dience is imputed to us, than that his satisfaction is iraputed ? If Christ has
suffered the penalty of the law for us, and in our stead, then it will follow, that
his suffering that penally is imputed to us, i. e, that it is accepted for us, and in
our stead, and is reckoned to our account, as though we had suffered it. But
why may not his obeying the law of God be as rationally reckoned to our ac-
iount, as his suffering the penalty of the law ? Why raay not a price to bring
inlo debt, be as rationally transferred from one person's account to another, as
a price lo pay a debt ? Having thus explained what we raean by the imputa
tion of Christ's righteousness, I proceed.
Secondly, To prove that the righteousness of Christ is thus imputed.
1. There is the very same need of Christ's obeying the law in our stead, in
order to the reward, as of his suffering the penalty of the law in our stead, in
order to our escaping the penalty ; and the same reason why one should be ac
cepted on our account, as the other. There is the sarae need of one as the
other, that the law of God raight be answered : one was as requisite to answer
the law as the other. This is certain, that that was the reason why there was
need that Christ should suffer the penally for us, even that the law might be
answered ; for this the Scripture plainly teaches. This is given as the reason
why Christ was made a curse for us, that the law threatened a curse to us. Gal.
iu. 10, 13. But the same law that fixes the curse of God as the consequent of
not continuing in all things written in the law to do them, verse 10, has as
much fixed doing those things as an antecedent of hving in them (as verse 12
the next verse but one). There is as rauch of a connection established in one case
as in the other. There is therefore exactly the sarae need, from the law, of per
fect obedience being fulfilled in order to our obtaining the reward, as there is ol
death's being suffered in order to our escaping the punishraent ; or the same
necessity by the law, of perfect obedience preceding life, as there is of disobe
dience being succeeded by dealh. The law is, without doubt, as much of an
established rule in one case as in the other.
Christ by suffering the penalty, and so making atonement for us, only re
moves the guilt of our sins, and so sets us in the same state that Adara was the
first raoraent of his creation : and it is no raore fit that we should obtain eternal
life only on that account, than that Adara should have the reward of eternal
life, or of a confirmed and unalterable state of hapiness, the first moraent of his
existence, -without any obedience at all. Adara was not to have the reward
merely on the account of his being innocent; if so, he would have had it fixed
jpon him at once, as soon as ever he was created ; for he was as innocent then
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE 93
as he could be ; but he was to have the reward on the account of his acliveness
in obedience ; not on the account merely of his not having done ill, but on the
account of his doing well.
So on the same account we have not eternal life raerely on the account of
being void of guilt (as Adam was at first existence), which we have by the
atonement of Christ ; but on the account of Christ's acliveness in obedience and
doing well. Christ is our second federal head, and is called the second Adam,
1 Cor. XV. 22, because he acted the part for us that the first Adam should have
done. When he had undertaken for us to stand in our stead, he was looked
upon and treated as though he were guilty with our guilt ; and by his satisfy
ing or bearing the penalty, he did as it were free b'Cmself from this guilt. But
by this the second Adam did only bing himself into the state that the first
Adam was in on the first moment of his existence, viz., a state of mere freedom
frora guilt ; and hereby indeed was free from any obligation to suff'er punish
ment: bul this being supposed, there was need of something further, even a
positive obedience, in order to his obtaining, as our second Adam, the reward
of eternal life.
God saw meet to place man first in a slate of trial, and not to give him a
title to eternal life as soon as he had raade hira ; because it was his will that he
should first give honor to his aulhorily, by fully submitting lo il, in will and act,
and perfectly obeying his law. God insisted upon il, that his holy majesty and
law should have their due acknowledgment and honor from man, such as be
came the relation he stood in to that Being Ihat created him, before he would
bestow the reward of confirmed and everlasling happiness upon him; and
therefore God gave hira a law when he created him, that he might have
opportunity, by giving the due honor to his authority in obeying it, to obtain
this happiness. It therefore becarae Christ, seeing that in assuming man to
himself, he sought a title lo tbis eternal happiness for hira after he had broken
the law, that he himself should become subject lo God's aulhorily, and be in
the form of a servant, that he raight do that honor to God's authority for him,
by his obedience, which God at first required of man as the condition of his
having a title lo that reward. Christ came into the world to that end, lo ren
der the honor of God's authority and law consistent with the salvation and eter
nal life of sinners ; he carae to save thera, and withal lo assert and vindicate
the honor of the lawgiver, and his holy law. Now if the sinner, after his sin
WEis satisfied for, had eternal life bestowed upon him without active righteous
ness, the honor of his law would not be sufficiently vindicated. Supposing this
were possible, that the sinner himself could, by suffering, pay the debt, and af
terwards be in the same stale that he was in before his probation, that is to say,
negatively righteous, or merely wiihout guilt ; if he now at last should have
eternal life bestowed upon him, without perforraing that condition of obedience ;
then God would recede frora his law, and would give the promised reward, and
his law never have respect and honor shown lo it, in that way of being obeyed.
But now Christ, by subjecting hiraself to the law, and obeying of it, has done great
honor to the law, and to the authority of God who gave it. That so glorious
a person should become subject to the law, and fulfil it, has done much more
honor toil, than if mere raan had obeyed it. It was a thing infinitely honorable
to God, that a person of infinite dignity was not ashamed to call him his God,
and to adoj-e and obey him as such : this was more to God's honor than if any
mere creature, of any possible degree of excellency and dignity, had so done.
It is absolutely necessary, that in order to a sinner's being justified, the
"ighteousness of some other should be reckoned to bis accoi\nt ; for it is declar
94 JUSTIFICATION BY F^ITH. ALONE
ed, that the person justified is looked upon as (in himself) ungodly ; but God
neither will nor can justify a person without a righteousness ; for justification
is manifestly a forensic term, as the word is used in Scripture, and the thing
a judicial thing, or the act of a judge : so that if a person should be justified
without a righteousness, the judgment would not be according to truth : Ihe
sentence of justification would be a false sentence, unless Ihere be a righteous
ness perforraed that is by the judge properly looked upon as his. To say, that
God does not justify the sinner without sincere, though an iraperfect obedience,
does not help the case ; for an imperfect righteousness before a judge is no right- .
eousness. To accept of something that falls short of tbe rule, instead of some
thing else that answers the rule, is no judicial act, or acl of a judge, but a pure
act of sovereignty. An imperfect righteousness is no righteousness before a:
judge ; for " righteousness (as one observes) is a relative thing, and has always
relation to a law. .The formal nature of righteousness, properly undei stood, ,
lies in a conformity of actions to that which is the rule and measure of ihem."
Therefore that only is righleousnessinthesightof a judge that answers the law.*
The law is the judge's rule : if he pardons and hides what really is, and so does
not pass sentence according to what things are in theraselves, he either does not
act the part of a judge, or else judges falsely. The very notion of judging is
to deterraine what is, and what is not, in any one's case. The judge's work is
twofold ; it is to determine first -what is fact, and then whether what is in fact
he according to rule, or according to Ihe law. If a judge has no rule or law
established beforehand, by which he should proceed in judging, he has no foun
dation to go upon in judging, he has no opportunity to be a judge; nor is it
possible that he should do the part of a judge. To judge wiihout a law, or rule
by which to judge, is impossible ; for the very notion of judging, is to deiermine
whether the object of judgment be according to rule ; and therefore God has
declared, Ihat when he acts as a judge, he will not justify the wicked, and cannot
clear the guilty ; and, by parity of reason, cannot justify without righteousness.
* That it is perfect obedience, (hat is what is called righteousness in the New Testament, ana that
this righteousness, or perfect oi^edi. nee, is by God's fixed unalterable rule, the condition of justification,
is from the plain evidence of truth, cinfessed by a certain great man, that nobody will think Io be a likely
person to be blinded by a prejudice ..n favor of the doctrine we are maintaining, and one who did not re
ceive l-his doctrine, viz., Mr. Locke in his B easonabltness of Christianity, as delivered in ihe IScriptures.
Vol. il. of his works, p. 474; '* To one that thus unbiassed reads the Scripture what Adam fel] from is
visible, was the state of perfect obedience whieh is cMeti justice in the New Testament, though the word,
which in the original signifies justice, be translated righteousness.'^ ibid. p. 476, 477, " For righteous
ness, or an exact obedience to the law seems by the Scripture to have a claim of right to eternal life.
Rom. iv. 4, To him that worheth, i. e., does the works of the law, is the reward reckoned, not reckoned of
grace, but of debt. On the other side, it seems the unalterable purpose of the divine justice, that no un-
rigbteoMs person, no one that is guilty of any breach ofthe law, should be in paradise ; but that the wages
of sin should be to every man, as it w.as to Adam, an exclusion of him out of that happy state of immor
tality, and bring death upon hun. And this is so conformable to the eternal and established law of right
and wrong, that it is spoken of too as it could not be otherwise. Here then we have tlie standing .
and fixed measures of life and dealh ; immortality and bliss belonging to the righteous. Those who have
lived in an exact conformity to the law of God are out ofthe reach of death ; but an exclusion from para
dise and loss of immortality,' is the portion of sinners, of all those who have any way broke that law, and
'ailed of a complete obedience to it, by the guilt of any one trangression. And thus mankind, by the law,
ire put upon the issues of life or death, as they are righteous or unrighteous, just or unjust, i. e., exact
[jerformers or trangressors of the law " Again, in p. 477 : " The law of works then in short is, that law
which requires perfect obedience, wiwi.-nt any remission or abatement ; so that by that law a man cannot '
be just, or justified, without an exact perfoi-mance of every tittle. Such a perfect obedience in the New
Testament, is termed ^tzotio^tirij, which we translate righteousness." In which last passage it is also
to be noted, that Mr. Locke, by the law of works does not understand the ceremonial law, but the cove
nant of works: ashe more fully expresses himself in the next paragiaph but one. WhertJ this law ot
works was to be found, the i\ew Testament tells us, viz., in the law delivered by Moses : John i. 17,
The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth come by Jesus Christ Chap. vii. 19, Did not il/y?es givt
youthe ?««>, says our Saviour, and yei none of you kept the law? Andl. i is the law which he speaks of, ver
28 : This do and thm shalt live. This is that v hich St. Paul so often styles tlw, law without any othei i
Jist'iction : Rom. ii. 13, Not thehearers of the law are jwii before God, but the doers of the law are jtistified.
t is needless So quote any more places, hils epistles are all full of it, espf ciajly this to the Romans,
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE 9u
And the scherae of the old law's being abrogated and a new law mtroduced,
will not help at all in this difficulty ; for an iraperfect righteousness cannot an
swer the law of God that we are under, whether that be an old on 3 or a new-
one ; for every law requires perfect obedience to itself Every rule whatsoever
requires peifect conformity to itself; it is a contradiction to suppose olherwise
For to say, that there is a law that does not require perfect obedience to itself,
is to say that there is a law that does not require all that it requires. That law
that now forbids sin, is certainly the law that we are now under (let that be an
old one or new one) ; or else it is not sin. That which is not forbidden, and is
the breach of no law, is not sin. But if we are now forbidden to commit sin,
then it is by a law that we are now under ; for surely we are neither under the
forbiddings nor commanding of a law that we are not under. Therefore, if all
sin is now forbidden, then we are now under a law that requires perfect obedi
ence ; and therefore nothing can be accepted as a righteousness in the sight of
our Judge, but perfect righteousness. So that our Judge cannot justify us, un
less he sees a perfect righteousne.ss, some way belonging to us, either performed
by ourselves, or by another, and justly and duly reckoned lo our account.
God dolh, in the sentence of justification pronounce a man perfectly right
eous, or else he would need a further justification after he is justified. His sins
being removed by Christ's atonement, is not suflScient for his justification ; for
justifying a man, as has been already shown, is not merely pronouncing him
innocent, or wiihout guilt, but standing right with regard lo the rule that he is
under, and righ'.eous unlo life : but this, according to the established rule of
nature, reason, ?nd divine appointment, is a positive, perfect righteousness.
As there is the sarae need that Christ's obedience should be reckoned to our
account, as that his atoneraent should ; so there is the sarae reason why it
should. And if Adara had persevered, and finished his course of obedience, we
should have received the benefit of his obedience, as much as now we have the
mischief of his disobedience ; so in like manner, there is reason that we should
receive the benefit of the second Adair's obedience, as of his atonement of our
disobedience. Believers are represented in Scripture as being so in Christ, as
that they are legally one, or accepted as one, by the Suprerae Judge : Christ
has assuraed our nature, and hat so assumed all, in that nature that belongs to him,
into such a union with himself, that he is become their Head, and has taken
them to be his raerabers. And therefore, what Christ has done in our nature,
whereby he did honor to tbe law and authority of God by his acts, as well as
the reparation to the honor of the law by his suff'erings, is reckoned to the be
liever's account ; so as that the believer should be made happy, because it was
so well and worthily done by his Head, as well as freed from being miserable,
because he has suffered for our ill and unworthy doing.
When Christ had once undertaken wilh God to stand for us, and put him
self under our law, by that law he was obliged to suffer, and by the sarae law
he was obhged to obey : by the same law, after he had taken man's guilt upon
him, he himself being our surety, could not be acquitted until he had suffered,
nor rewarded until he had obeyed : but he was not acquitted as a private per
son, but as our Head, and believers are acquitted in his acquittance ; nor was he
accepted to a reward for his obedience, as a private person, but as our Head,
and we are accepted to a reward in his acceptance. The Scripture teaches us
that when Christ was raised from the dead, he was justified ; which justification,
as I have already shown, implies, both his acquittance frora our guilt, and his
acceptance to the exaltation and glory that was the reward of his obedience :
but hehesversj as soon as they believe, are admitted to partake with Christ in
96 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
this his iustification : hence we are told, that he was " raised again for our jus.
tification," Rora. iv. 25, which is Irue, not only of that part of his justification
Ihat consists in his acquittance, but also his acceptance lo his revv'ard. The
Scripture teaches us that he is exalted, and gone to heaven to take possession of
dory in our name, as our forerunner, Heb. vi. 20. We are, as it were, both
raised up together wilh Christ, and also made to sit together with Christ, in
heavenly places, and in him, Eph ii. 6.
If it be objected here, that there is this reason, why what Christ suffered
should be accepted on our account, rather than thd obedience he performed,
that he was obliged to obedience for himself, but was not obliged to suflTer but
only on our account; to this 1 answer, that Christ was not obliged, on his own
account, to undertake to obey. Christ, in his original circumstances, was in
no subjection to the Father, being altogether equal wilh him : he was under no
obligation to put himself iu man's stead, and under man's law ; or to put him
self inlo any state of subjection to God whatsoever. There was a transaction
between the Father and the Son, that was antecedent to Christ's becoraing
man, and being made under the law, wherein he undertook to put hiraself under
.he law, and both lo obey and to suffer ; in vk'hich transaction these things were
already virtually done in the sight of God ; as is evident by this, that God act
ed on the ground of that transaction, justifying and saving sinners, as if the
things undertaken had been actually performed long before they were per-
f^jrraed indeed. And Iherefore, without doubt, in order to the estimating the
value and validity of what Christ did and suffered, we must look back to that
transaction, wherein these things were first umlerlaken, and virtually done in
the sight of God, and see what capacity and circumstances Christ acted in then,
and then we shall find that Christ was under no manner of obligation, either to
obey the law, or suffer the penal .y of it. After this he was equally under obli
gation to bolh; for henceforwaid he stood as our surety or representative: and
therefore this consequent obligation maybe as much of an objection against the
validity of his suffering the penally, as against his obedience. But if we look
to that orig-inal transaction between the Falher and the Son, wherein both these
were undertaken and accepted as virtually done in the sight of the Father, we
shall find Christ acting wilh regard to both, as one perfectly in his own right,
and under no manner of previous obligation to hinder the validity of either.
2. To suppose that all that Christ does is only to raake atoneraent for us by
suffering, is lo make him our Saviour but in part. It is to rob him of half his
glory as a Saviour. For if so, all th-at he does is to deliver us frora hell ; he
does not purchase heaven for us. The adverse scheme supposes that he pur
chases heaven for us, in the sense, that he satisfies for' the imperfections of our
oDedience, and so purchase, that our sincere iraperfect obedience mio-ht be ac
cepted as the condition of eternal hfe ; and so purchases an opportunity for us
to obtain heaven by our own obedience. But lo purchase heaven for us only in
this sense, is to purchase it in no sense at all ; for all of it coraes to no more than a
satisfaction for our sins, or removing the penalty by suffering in our stead : for all
the purchasing they speak of, that our imperfect obedience should be accepted,
is only his satisfying for the sinful imperfections of our obedience : or (whichis
the same thing) making atonement for the sin that our obedience is attended
with. But that is not purchasing heaven, merely to set us at liberty again,
that we may go and get heaven by what we do ourselves ; all that Christ does
is only to pay a debt for us ; there is no positive purchase of any good. We
are taught in Scripture that heaven is purchased fbr us ; it is called the pur-
ch.ased possession, Eph. i. 14. The gospel proposeu the eternal inherifance, not
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 97
to he acquired, as the first covenant did, but as already acquired and purchased.
But he that pays a raan's debt for him, and so delivers him from slavery, cannot
be said to purchase an estate for him, merely because he sets him at liberty, so
that henceforward he has an opportunity to get an estate by his own hand labor.
So that according to this scheme, the saints in heaven have no reason lo thank
Christ for purchasing heaven for them, or redeeraing them to God, and making
thera kings and priests, as we have an account that Ihey do, in Rev. v. 9.
3. Justification by the righteousness and obedience of Christ, is a doctrine
that the Scripture teaches in very full terms : Rom. v. 18, 19, " By the right
eousness of one, the free gift carae upon all men unto justification of life. Foi
as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners: so by the obedience of
one, shall many be made righteous." Here in one verse we are told, that we
have justification by Christ's righteousness ; and, that there might be no room
to understand the righteousness spoken of, merely of Christ's atonement by his
sufifering the penalty, in the next verse it is put in other terms, and asserted,
that it is by Christ's obedience that we are made righteous. It is scarce possi
ble any thing should be raore full and determined : the terms, taken singly, are
such as do fix their own meaning, and taken together, they fix Ihe meaning
of each other : the word.-s show that we are justified by that righteousness of
Christ that consists in his obedience, and that we are made righteous or justified
by that obedience of his, that is, his righteousness, or raoral goodness before
God. Here possibly it may be objected, that this text means only, that we are
justified by Christ's passive obedience
To this I answer, whether we call it active or passive, it alters not the case
as to the present arguinent, as long as it is evident by the words, that it is not
merely under the notion of an atonement for disobedience, or a satisfaction for
unrighteousness, but unner the notion of a positive obedience, and a righteous
ness or moral goodnesc, that it justifies us or makes us righteous ; because both
the words righteousness and obedience are used, and used too as the opposites of
sin and disooedience. and an offence. " Therefore as by the offence of one, judg
ment came upon all men to condemnation : even so by the righteousness of one,
the free gift came upon all men to justification of life. For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners : so by the obedit-rice of one, shall many
he made righteous." Now, what can be meant by righteousness, when spoken
of as the opposite to sin, or moral evil, but only moral goodness? What is the
righteousness that is the opposite of an oflfence. bul only the behavior that is
well pleasing ? And what can be meant by obedience, v/hen spoken of as the
opposite of disobedience, or going contrary to a comraand, but a positive obey
ing, and an actual complying with the command ? So that there is no room
for any invented distinction of active and passive, to hurt Ihe argument frora
this Scripture, as long as it is evident by it as any thing can be, that believers
are justified by the righteousness and obedience of Christ, under the notion of
his moral goodness, and his positive obeying, and actual complying with the
commands of God, and that behavior of his, that, because of its conformity to
his comraands, was well pleasing in his sight. This is all that ever any need
to desire to have granted in this dispute.
By this it appears that if Christ's dying be here included in the words right
eousness and obedience, it is not raerely as a propitiation, or bearing a penalty
ofa broken law in our stead, but as his voluntary submitting and yielding him
self to those suflTerings, was an act of obedience to the Father's commands, and
so was a part of his positive righteousness, or moral goodness.
Vol. IV 13
i)8 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
Indeed all obedience, considered under the notion of obedience or righleous.
ness, is something active, something that is done in active and voluntary com'
pliance with a command ; whether that which we do in obedience is something
easy, and something that raay be done wiihout suffering, or whether it be sorae
thing hard and difficult ; yet as it is obedience, or righteousness, or moral good
ness, it raust be considered as soraething voluntary and active. If any one is
coraraanded to go through difficulties and sufferings, and he, in compliance with
this command, voluntarily does il, he properly obeys in so doing ; and as he
voluntarily does it, in compliance with a command, his obedience is as
active as any whatsoever. It is the same sort of obedience, a thing of the
very sarae nature, as when a man, in compliance with a command, does
a piece of hard service, or goes through hard labor ; and there is no room to
distingui.sh between such obedience and other that is more easy, to make a
different sort of obedience of it, as if it were a thing of quite a different nature, by
such opposite terras as active and passive : all the dislinclion that can be pretend
ed, is that which is betw:een obeying an easy coramand and a difhcult one. But is
not the obedience itself of the same nature, because the coraraands to be obeyed
are sorae of them raore difficult than others ? Is there from hence any founda
tion lo make two species^of obedience, one active and the other passive ? There
is no appearanc-e of any such distinction ever entering into the hearts of any of
the penmen of Scripture.
It is true, that of late, when a man refuses to obey the precept of a hu
raan law, but patiently yields himself up to suffer the penalty ofthe law, it is
called passive obedience : but this I suppose is only a raodern use of the word
obedience ; surely it is a sense of the word that the Scripture is a perfect
stranger to ; and it is improperly called obedience, unless there be such a pre
cept in the law, that he shall yield himself patiently lo suffer, to which his so
doing shall be an active, voluntary conformity. There may in some sense be
said to be a conformity to the law in a person's suffering the penally of the
law ; but no other conforraity to the law is properly called obedience to it but
an active, voluntary conformity to the precepts of it : the word nbeyis often found
in Scripture with respect to the law of God to raan, but never in any other
sense. It is true that Christ's wiUingly undergoing those suflFerings which he en
dured, is a great part of that obedience or righteousness by which we are justi
fied. The sufferings of Christ are respected in Scripture under a twofold con
sideration, either merely as his being substituted for us, or put into our slead in
suffering the penalty ofthe law; and so his sufferings are considered as a sat
isfaclion and propitiation for sin : or as he, in obedience to a law or command
of the Falher, voluntarily submitted himself to those sufferings, and actively
yielded himself up to bear thera ; and so they are considered as his righteous
ness, and a part of his active obedience. Christ underwent death in obedience
to the coramand ofthe Falher: Psalm xl. 6, 7, 8, " Sacrifice and oflfering thou
didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt-offering and sin-offering
hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come : in the vohime of the book it is
written of me, I delight to do thy will, 0 my God : yea, thy law is within
my heart." John x. 17, 18, " I lay down my life, that I might take it agam.
No man taketh it frora rae, but I l^y it down of rayself I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it again. This coramsndraent have I received
of my Father." John xviii. 11, "The cup which my Father hath given me,
shall not I drink it ?" And this is part, and indeed the principal part of that
active obedience that we are justified by.
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 99
It can be no just objection against this, /hat that coramand of the Father to
Christ, that he should lay down his life, was no part of the law that we had
broken ; and therefore that his obeying this command could be no part of that
obedience that he performed for us, because we needed that he should obey no
other law for us, but only that which we had broken or failed of obeying. For
although it raust be the same legislative authority, whose honor is repaired by
Christ's obedience, that webave injured by our disobedience; yet there is no
need that the law that Christ obeys should be precisely the same that Adam
was to have obeyed, in that sense, that there should be no positive precepts
wanting, nor any added : there was wanting the precept about the forbidden
fruit, and there was added the ceremonial law. The thing required was per
fect obedience : it is no matter whether the positive precepts were the sarae, if
they were equivalent. The positive precepts that Christ was lo obey, were
much more than equivalent to what was wanting, because infinitely raore diffi
cult, particularly the command that he had received to lay down his life, which
was his principal act of obedience, and which above all others is concerned in
our justification. As that act of disobedience by which we fell, was disobedience
to a positive precept that Christ never was under, viz., that of abstaining from
the tree of knowledge of good and evil; so that act of obedience by v hich
principally we are redeemed, is obedience to a positive precept that Adam never
was under, viz., the precept of laying down his life. It was suitable that it
should be a positive precept, that should try bolh Adam's and Christ's obedience :
such precepts are the greatest and most proper trial of obedience ; because in
them, the mere authority and will of the legislator is the sole ground of the
obhgation (and nothing in the nature of the things themselves) ; and there
fore they are the greatest trial of any person's respect to that authority and will.
The law that Christ was subject to, and obeyed, was in some sense the same
that was given to Adam. There are innumerable particular duties that are re
quired by the law only conditionally ; and in such circumstances, are comprehended
in some great and general rule of that law. Thus, for instance, there are innu
merable acts of respect and obedience to raen, which are requiredby thelaw of
nature (wbich was a law given lo Adara), whicb yet be not required absolutely,
but upon many prerequisite conditions; as, that there be men standing in such
relations to us, and that they gave forth such coramands, and the like. So raany
acts of respect and obedience to God are included, in like manner, in the raoral
law conditionally, or such and such things being supposed ; as Abrahara's going
about to sacrifice his son, the Jews circuracising their children when eight days
old, and Adam's not eating the forbidden fruit; they are virtually comprehend
ed in that great general rule of the moral law, that we should obey God, and
be subject to hira in whatsoever he pleases to comraand us. Certainly the moral
law does as rauch require us to obey God's positive coraraands, as it requires us
to obey the positive coraraands of our parents. And thus all that Adam, and
all that Christ was commanded, even his observing the rites and ceremonies of
the Jewish worship, and his laying down his life,' was virtually included in the
same great law.*
* Thus Mr-. Locke m his Reasonablen.ess of Christianity as delivered in the Scriptures, Vol. IL of his
work, p, 478 : " Nay, whatever God requires anywhere to be done, without making any allowance for faith,
that is apart ofthe law of works. So that forbidding Adam to eat oi the tree of knowledge, was part oi
she law of works. Only we must tJike. notice here, that some of God's posiiive commands being for
peculiar ends, and suited to particular circumstances of times, places and persons, have a limited, and
>illy temporary' obligation, ¦ by virtue of G^)d's positive injunction. Such as was that part of Moses'
iaw which concerned the outward worship or political constitution of the Jews, and is called the
reremonial and judaical law." Ag-ain, p. 479, " Thus then as to the law in short, the civil and ritual part
»f the law delivered by Mo.ses, obliges not Christians, though to the Jews it were a part of the law of
JOO JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE
It is no objection against the last mentioned thing, even Christ's laying
down liis life, its being included in the moral law given to Adam ; because that
law itself allowed of no occasion for any such thing ; for the moral law virtu
ally includes all right acts, on all possible occasions, even occasions that the law
itself allows not : thus we are obliged by the moral law to mortify our lusts, and
repent of our sins, though that law allows of no lust to mortify, or sin to repent of
There is indeed but one great law of God, and that is the same law that
says, " if thou sinnest, thou shalt die ;" and " cursed is every one that continues
not in all things contained in this law to do thera." All duties of posiiive in
stitution are virtually coraprehended in this law : and therefore, if the Jews
broke the cereraonial law, it exposed thera lo the penalty of the law, or cove
nant of works, which threatened, " thou shalt surely die." The law is t'ne
eternal and unalterable rule of righteousness between God and man, and there
fore is the rule of judgment, by which all that a man does shall be either justi
fied or condemned ; and no sin exposes to damnation, but by the law : so now
he that refuses to obey the precepts that require an attendance on the sacra
ments of the New Testament, is exposed to damnation, by virtue of the law or
covenant of works. It may raoreover be argued, that all sins whatsoever are
breaches of the law or covenant of works, because all sins, even breaches of
the posiiive precepts, as well as others, have atoneraent by the death of Christ :
but what Christ died for, was to satisfy the law, or to b'ear the curse ofthe law ;
as appears by Gal. iii. 10 — 13, and Rom. viii. 3, 4.
So, Christ's laying down his life might be part of that obedience by which
we are justified, though it was a positive precept not given to Adam. It was
doubtless Christ's main act of obedience, because it was obedience to a com
mand that was attended with iramensely the greatest difficulty, and so to a
command that was the greatest trial of his obedience. His respect shown to
God in it, and his honor to God's authority was proportionably great ; it is
.spoken of in Scripture as Christ's principal act of obedience. Philip, ii. 7, 8,
" But made himself of no reputation, and look upon hira the form ofa servant,
and was made in the hkeness of raen : and, being found in fashion as a man,
he hurabled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross." Heb. v. 8, " Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by
the things that he suffered." It was raainly by this act of obedience that Christ
purchased so glorious a reward for hiraself; as in that place in Philippians, ii.
8, 9, " He became obedient unto dealh, even the death of the cross. Where
fore God also hath highly exalted hira, and given hira a name which is above
every name." And it therefore follows from what has been already said, that it
is raainly by this act of obedience that believers in Christ also have the reward
of glory, or come to partake with Christ in his glory. We are as much saved
by the dealh of Christ, as his yielding himself to die was an act of obedience,
as we are, as it was a propitiation for our sins : for as it was not the only act
of obedience that merited, he having performed meritorious acts of obedience
through the whole course of his life ; so neither was it the only suffering that
was propitiatory ; all his sufferings through the whole course of his life being
propitiatory as well as every act of obedience meritorious : indeed this was his
principal suffering ; and it was as rauch his principal act of obedience.
Hence we may see how that the death of Christ did not only make atonement,
but also merited eternal life ; and hence we may see how by the blood of
Christ we are not only redeeraed from sin, but redeeraed unto God ; and there-
works : it being a pa, t of the law of nature, that men ought to obey every positive law of Gnd whenever
ne sr»d,. please to make any such addition to the law of his nature." <= law oi una, wnenever
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 101
fore the Scripture seems everywhere to attribute the whole of salvation to the
blood of Chiist : this precious blood is as much the main price by which heav
en is purchased, as il is the main price by which we are redeemed from hell
The positive righteousness of Christ, or that price by which he merited, was of
equal value with that by which he satisfied ; for indeed it was the same price.
He spilled his blootl to satisfy, and by rea.son of the infinite dignity of his per
son, his suff'erings were looked upon as of infinite value, and equivalent to the
eternal sufferings of a finite creature : and he spilled his blood out of respect to
the honor of God's majesty and in submission to his authority, who had com
manded him so to do : and his obedience therein was of infinite value : both
because of the dignity of the person that perforraed it, and because he put hira
self to infinite expense to perform it, whereby the infinite degree of his regard
to God's authority appeared.
One would wonder what the Arminians raean by Christ's raerits. They
talk of Christ's merits as much as any body, and yet deny the imputation of
Christ's positive righteousness. Whal should there be that any one should
merit or deserve any thing by, besides righteousness or goodness ? If any thing
that Christ did or suffered, merited or deserved any thing, it was by virtue of
the goodness or righteousness, or holiness of it ; if Christ's sufferings and death
merited heaven, it must be because there was an excellent righteousness and
transcendent moral goodness in fhat act of laying down his life : and if by that
excellent righteousness he merited heaven for us ; then surely that righteousness
is reckoned to^ our account, that we have the benefit of it, or which is the same
thing, it is imputed to us.
Thus, 1 hope 1 have raade it evident, that the righteousness of Christ is in
deed iraputed lo us. I proceed now to the
Third and last thing under this argument, tbat this doctrine, of the iraputa
tion of Christ's righteousness, is utterly inconsistent with the doctrine of our
being justified by our own virtue or sincere obedience. If acceptance to God's
favor, and a title to life, be given to believers as the reward of Christ's obedi
ence, then it is not given as the reward of our own obedience. In what re
spect soever Christ is our Saviour, that doubtless excludes our being our own
saviours in the same respect that Christ is ; it will thence follow, that the salva
tion of Christ is needless in that respect ; according to the apostle's reasoning,
Gal. V. 4, " Christ is rendered of no eflfect unto you, whosoever of you are justi
fied by the If^w." Doubtless, it is Christ's prerogative to be our Saviour in that
sense wherein he is our Saviour : and therefore if it be by his obedience that
we are justified, then it is not by our own obedience.
Here perhaps it may be said, that a title to salvation is not directly given
IS the reward of our obedience; for that is not by any thing of ours, but only
3y Christ's satisfaclion and righteousness ; but yet an interest in that satisfac-
-.ion and righteousness is given as a reward of our obedience.
But this does not al all help the case ; for this is to ascribe as much to our
obedience as if we ascribed salvation to it duectly, without the intervention of
Christ's righteousness : for it would be as great a thing for God to give us
Christ, and his satisfaction and righteousness in re-wwd for our obedience, as to
give us heaven immediately ; it would be as great a reward, and as great a
testimony of respect to our obedience : and if God gives as great a thing as
salvation for our obedience, why could he not as well give salvation itself di
rectly ? And then there would have been no need of Christ's righteousness.
And indeed if God gives us Christ, or an interest in him, properly in reward of
our obedience, he does really give as salvation in reward for our obedience
102 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
tor the former iraplies the latter ; yea it implies it, as the greater mplies the
less. So that indeed it exalts our virtue and obedience more, to suppose that
God gives us Christ in reward of that virtue and obedience, than if he should
give salvation without Christ.
The thing that the Scripture guards and militates against, is our imagining
that it is our own goodness, virtue, or excellency, that instates us in God's ac
ceptance and favor. But to suppose that God gives us an interest in Christ in
reward for our virtue, is as great an argument that it instates us in God's fa
vor,^ as if he bestowed a title to eternal life as its direct reward. If God gives
us an interest in Christ as a reward of our obedience, it will then follow that
we are instated in God's acceptance and favor by our own obedience, antece
dent to our having an interest in Christ. For a rewarding any one's excellency,
evermore supposes favor and acceptance on the account of , that excellency,: it
is the very notion of a reward, that it is a good thing, bestowed in testimony of
respect and favor for the virtue or excellency rewarded. So that it is not by
virtue of our interest in Christ and his merits, that we first corae inlo favor with
God, according to this scheme; for we are in God's favor before we have any
interest in those merits; in that we have an interest in those merits given as a
fruit of God's favor, for our own virtue. If our interest in Christ be the fruit
of God's favor, then it cannot be the ground of it. If God did not accept us,
and had no favor for us for our own excellency, he never would bestow so
great a reward upon us, as a right in Christ's satisfaction and righteousness.
So that such a scheme destroys itself; for it supposes that Christ's satisfaclion
and righteousness are necessary for us lo recommend us to the favor of God ; and
yet supposes that we have God's favor and acceptance before we have Christ's
satisfaction and righteousness, and have these given as a fruit of God's favor.
Indeed, neither salvation itself, nor Christ the Saviour, are given as a re
ward of any thing in man : they are not given as a reward of faith, nor any
thing else of ours : we are not united to Christ as a reward of our failh, but
have union with hira by faith, only as failh is the very act of uniting or clos
ing on our part. As when a raan offers hiraself lo a woman in marriage, he
does not give himself to her as a reward ofher receiving hira in raarriage: her
-receiving him is not considered, as a worthy deed in her, for which he rewards
her. by giving himself to her ; but it is by her receiving hira that the union is
raade, by which she hath hira for her husband : it is on her part the unition it
self By these Ihings it appears, how contrary to the scherae of the gospel of
Christ their scheme is, who say that faith justifies as a principle of obedience,
or as a leading act of obed'ience ; or (as others) the sum and coraprehension of
all evangelical obedience or virtue that is in failh, that is the thing that gives
it its justifying influence ; and that is the sarae thing as to say, that we are
justified by our own obedience, virtue, or goodness.
Having thus considered the evidence of the truth of the doctrine, I now
proceed, . III. To show in what sense the acts of a Christian life, or of evangelical
obedience, raay be looked upon to be concerned in this affair.
From what has been said already, it is manifest that they cannot have any
concern in this affair as good works, or by virtue of any moral goodness in
thera ; not as works of the law, or as that moral excellency, or any part of it,
that is the answering or fulfilraent of that great and universal, and everlasting
law or covenant of works that the great L, wgiver has established, as the high
est and unalterable rule of judgment, whicl Christ alone answers, or does any
thing towards it.
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 102
An.-l it having been shown out of the Scripture that it is only by failh, oi
the soul's receiving and uniting to the Saviour that has wrought our righteous
ness, that we are justified ; it therefore remains, that the acts of a Christian
life cannot be concerned in this affair any otherwise than as they iraply, and
are the expressions of faith, and may be looked upon as so many acts of recep
tion of Christ the Saviour.
But the deterraining what concern acts of Christian obedience can have in
justification in this respect, will depend on the resolving of another point, viz.,
Whether any one act of failh besides the first act, has any concern in our iusti
fication, or how far perseverance in faith, or the continued and renewed acts ol
faith, have influence in this affair.
And it seeras raanifest that justification is by the first act of faith, in some
respects, in a peculiar raanner, because a sinner is actually and finally justified
as soon as he has perforraed one act of failh ; and faith in its first act does,
virtually at least, depend on God for perseverance, and entitles to this araong
other benefits. But yet the perseverance of failh is not excluded in this affair ;
il is not only certainly connected wilh justification, but it is not to be excluded
from that on which the justification of a sinner has a dependence, or that by
which he is justified.
I have shown that the way in which justification has a dependence on faith.
Is that it is the qualification on which the congruity of an interesi in the right
eousness of Christ depends, or wherein such a fitness consists. But the con
sideration ofthe perseverance of faith eannotbe excluded out of Ihis congruity
of an interesi in Christ's righteousness, and so in the eternal benefits purchased
by it, because faith is that by which the soul hath union or oneness with Christ ;
and there is a natural congruity in it, that they that are one with Christ should
have a joint interest wilh him in his eternal benefits ; but yet this congruity
depends on ils being an abiding union. As it is needful that the branch should
abide in the vine, in order to its receiving the lasting benefits of the root ; so it
is necessary that the soul should abide ip Christ, in order to its receiving those
lasting benefits of God's final acceptance and favor. John xv. 6, 7, " If a
man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch. If ye abide in rae, and my
-words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
Verse 9, 10, " Continue ye in my love. If ye keep (or abide) my command
ments, ye shall abide in ray love : even as I have kept ray Father's command
ments, and abide in his love." There is the same reason why it is necessary
that the union with Christ should remain, as wby it should be begun ; why it
should continue to be, as why it should once be : if it should be begun wiihout
remaining, the beginning would be in vain. In order to the soul's being now
in a justified stale, and now free from condemnation, it is necessary that it
should now be in Christ, and not only that it should once have been in him.
Rom. vhi. 1, " There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus."
The soul is saved in Christ, as being now in him, when the salvation is bestow
ed, and not merely as remembering that il once was in him. Phil. ih. 9, " That
1 may be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith." 1 John h. 28, " And now, httle children, abide in him ; that
-when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be asharaed before him
at his coming." In order to persons' being blessed after death, it is necessary
not only that they should once be in him, but that they should die in hini.
Rev. xiv. 13, " Blessed are the dead Ihat die in the Lord."
And there is the same reason why faith, the uniting qualification, shouJtl je-
104 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONF.
main, in order to the union's remaining ; as why it should once bt, in ordej tr.
the union's once 'oeing.
So that although the sinner is actually and finally justified on the first act
of failh, yet the perseverance of faith, even then, coraes into consid'^ration, a^"
one thing on which the fitness of acceptance to life depends. God, in the act
of justification, which is passed on a sinner's first believing, has respect to per
severance, as being virtually contained in that first act of faith ; and it is looked
upon, and taken by him that justifies, as being as it were a property in thai
faith that then is: God has respect to the believer's continuance in faith, and he
is justified by that, as though it already were, because by divine establishment
it shall follow ; and it being by divine constitution connected with that first
failh, as much as if il were a property in it, it is then considered as such, and
so justification is not suspended ; but were it not for this, it would be needful that
it should be suspended, till the sinner had actually persevered in faith.
And that it i^ so, that God in that act of final justification that he passes at the
sinner's conversion, has respect to perseverance in faith, and future acts of
faith, as being virtually iraplied in that first act, is further raanifest by this, viz.,
that in a sinner's justification at his conversion, there is virtually contained a
forgiveness as lo eternal and deserved punishment, not only of all past sins, but
also of all future infirraities and acts of sin that they shall be guilty of; because
that first justification is decisive and final. And yet pardon, in the order of
nature, properly follows the crime, and also follows those acts of repentance
and faith that respect the crirae pardoned, as is raanifest both from reason and
Scripture. David, in the beginning of Psalm xxxii., speaks of the forgiveness
of sins of his, that were doubtless coramitted long after he was first godly, as
being consequent on those sins, and on his repentance and faith wilh respect to
them; and yet this forgiveness is spoken of by the aposlle in the 4th of Romans,
as an instance of justification by faith. Probably the sin David there speaks of
is the sarae that he committed in the matter of Uriah, and so the pardon the same
with that release from dealh or eternal punishment, that the prophet Nathan
speaks of, 2 Sara. xii. 13 : " The Lord also hath put aw y thy sin ; thou shalt
not die." Not only does the manifestation pf this pardon follow the sin in the
order of tirae, but the pardon itself, in the order of nature, follows David's re
pentance and faith with respect to this sin ; for it is spoken of in the 32d Psalm,
as depending on it.
But inasmuch as a sinner, in his first justification, is forever justified and
freed from all obligation to eternal punishment ; it hence of necessity follows,
that future faith and repentance are beheld, in that justification, as virtually con
tained in that first faith and repentance ; because repentance of those future
sins, and faith in a Redeeraer, with respect to them, or, at least, the continu
ance of that habit and principle in the heart that has such an actual repentance'
and faith in ils nature and lendenc>, is now made sure by God's promise.
If remission of sins, coraraitted after conversion, in the order of nature, fol
lows that faith and repentance that is after thera, then it follows that future sins
are respected in the first justification, no otherwise than as future faith and re
pentance are respected in it. And fulure faith and repentance are looked upon
by him that justifies, as virtually implied in the first repentance and faith, in the
same manner as justification from fulure sins is virtually implied in the first jus
tification ; which is the thing that was to be proved.
And besides, if no other act of faith could be concerned in justification but
the first act, it wdl then follow, that Christians ought never to seek justification
bv any othei act of faith For if justification ijs not to be obtained bv aftei
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE lOfa
acts of fi'.ith, then surely it is not a duly to seek it by such, acts ; and so it can
never be a duty for persons after th6y are once converted, by faith to seek to God.
or believingly to look to him for the remission of sin, or dehverance from the
guilt of it, because deliverance from the guilt of sin is part of whal belongs tc
justification. And if it be not pioper for converts by faith to look to God
through Christ for it, then it will follow, that it is not proper fbr them to pray
for it ; Chr'istian prayer to God for a blessing, is but an expression of faith in
God for that blessing ; prayer is only the voice of failh. But if these things
are so, it will follow that that petition ofthe Lord's grayer, forgive vs our debts,
is not proper to be put up by disciples of Christ, or lo be used in Christian
assemblies ; and thai Christ irapropeily directed his disciples to use that petition,
when they were all of them, except Judas, converted before. The debt that
Christ directs his disciples to pray for the forgiveness of, can mean nolhing else
but the punishment that sm deserves, or the debt that we owe to divine justice,
the ten thousand talents we owe our Lord. To pray that God would forgive
our debts, is undoubtedly the same thing as to pray that God would release us
from obligation to due punishment ; but releasing from obligation to the pun-
-ishment due to sin, and forgiving the debt that we owe to divine justice, is what
appertains to justification.
And then to suppose that no after acts of faith are.concerned in the business
of justification, and so that it is not proper for any ever to seek justification by
such acts, would be forever to cut off' those Christians that are doubtful concern
ing their first act of faith, frora the joy and peace of believing. As the busi
ness of a justifying faith is to obtain pardon and peace with God, by looking to
God and trusting in hira for these blessings ; so the joy and peace of that faith
are in the apprehension of pardon and peace obtained by such a trust. This a
Christian that is doubtful of his first act of faith cannot have frora that act,
because by the supposition, he is doubtful whether it be an act of faith, and so
whether he did obtain pardon and peace by that act. The proper reraedy, in
such a case, is now by faith to look to God in Christ for these blessings : but
he is cut off from this remedy, because he is unceriain whether he has warrant
so to do ; for he does not know but that he has believed already ; and if so,
then he has no warrant to look to God by failh for these blessings now, because,
by the supposition, no new act of faith is a proper means of obtaining these
blessings. And so he can never properly obtain the joy of failh ; for there are
acls of true faith that are very weak acts, and the first act may be so as well
as others : it raay be hke the first motion of the infant in the womb ; it may
be so weak an act, that the Christian, by exaraining it, may never be able to
determine whether it was a true act of faith or no ; and it is evident from fact,
and abundant experience, that many Christians are forever al a loss to detei
raine which was their first act of faith. And those saints that have a good
degree of satisfaction concerning their faith, maybe subject to great declensions
and falls, in which case they are liable to great fears of eternal punishment;
and the proper way of deliverance, is to forsake their sin by repentance, and by
failh now to corae to Christ for deliverance frora the deserved eternal punish
ment ; but this it would not be, if deliverance from that punishment was not this
way to be obtained.
But what is a still more plain and direct evidence of what I am now argu
ing for is, that that act of faith that Abrahara exercised in the great proraise
of the covenant of grace that God made to him, of which il is expressly said,
Gal. ih. 6, " it was accounted to him for righteousness," which is the grand
instance and proof that the apostle so much insists upon, throughout the 4th
Vol. IV 14
1U6 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
chapter of Roraans, and 3d of Galatians, to confirm his doctrine of justuii ation
by faith alone, was not Abraham's first act of faith, but was exerted long after
he had by failh forsaken his own country, Heb. xi. 8, and had been treated as
an eminent friend of God.
Moreover, the Aposlle Paul, in the 3d chapter of Philippians, tells us how
earnestly he sought justification by faith, or to win Christ and to obtain that
righteousness which was by the faith of hira, in what he did after his conver
sion : ver. 8, 9, " For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count
them but dung, that I raay win Christ, and be found in him, not having raine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith." And in the two next verses he
expresses the sarae thing in other words, and tells us how he went through
sufferings, and becarae conformable to Christ's death, that he raight be a par
taker with Christ in the benefit of his resurrection ; which the sarae apostle
elsewhere teaches us, is especially justification. Christ's resurrection was his
justification ; in this, he that was put to death in the flesh, was justified by the
spirit ; and he that was delivered for our offences, rose again for our justifica
tion. A ml the aposlle tells us in the verses that follow in that 3d chapter of
Philippians, that he thus sought to attain the righteousness which is through
the faith of Christ, and so to partake of the benefit of his resurrection, still as
though he had not already atttained, but that he continued to follow after it.
On the whole il appears, that the perseverance of faith is necessary, even
to the congruity of justification ; and that not the less, because a sinner is jus
tified, and perseverance promised, on the first act of faith, but God, in that
justification, has respect, not only to the past act of failh, but to his own prom
ise of fulure acts, and to the filness of a qualification beheld as yet only in his
own promise.
And that perseverance in faith is thus necessary to salvation, not merely as
a sine qua non, qr as a universal concomitant of it, but by reason of such an in
fluence and dependence, seems manifest by many Scriptures ; I would mention
two or three : Heb. iii. 6, " Whose house are we, if -we hold fast the confiden ce,
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." Verse 14 : " For we are
made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast
unto the end." Chap. vi. 12, " Be ye followers of them, who through failh and
patience inherit the promises." Rom. xi. 20, " Well, because of unbelief they
were broken off; but thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear."
And as the congruity lo a final justification depends on perseverance in faith,
as well as thefirst act, so oftentimes the raanifestation of justification in the con
science, arises a great deal more from after acts, than the first act. And all
the diff'erence whereby the first act of faith has a concern in this aflfair that is
peculiar, seeras to be, as it were, only an accidental diflference, arising from
the circurastance of time or it bemg first in order of time, and not frora any pe
culiar respect that God has to it, or any influence it has of a peculiar nature, in
the affair of our salvation.
And tlius it is that a truly Christian walk, and the acts of an evangelical,
childlike, believing obedience, are concerned inthe affair of our justificatior,
and seera to be sometimes so spoken of in Scripture, viz., as an expression ofa
persevermg faith in the Son of God, the only Saviour. Faith unites to Christ,
and so gives a congruity lo justification, not merely as remaining a dormant
principle in the heart, but as being and appearing in its active expre.ssions.
The obedience ofa Chiistian, so far as it is truly evangelical, and perform-
ed with the Spirit of the Sen sent forth mto the heart, has all relation to Christ,
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 107
iiie Mediator, and is but an expression of the soul's believing unition to Christ
All evangelical works are works of that failh that worketh by love ; and every suck
act of obedience, wherein it is inward and Ihe act of the soul, is only a new, effect
ive act of reception of Christ, an adherence to the glorious Saviour. Hence that
of the apostle, Gal ii. 20, " I live ; yr^ not I, but Christ liveth in rae ; and the
life that I now live in the flesh, is by the faith of the Son of God." And hence
We are directed, in whatever we do, whether in word or deed, to do all in the
narae of the Lord Jesus Christ, Col. iii. 17.
And that God in justification has respect not only to the first act of faith, but
also lo future, persevering acls, in this sense, viz., as expressed in life, seeras
manifest, by Rom. i. 17 ; " For therein is the righteousness of God revealed
frora faith to faith : as it is written, The just shall live by faith." And Heb. x.
38, 39, " Now the just shall live by faith ; but if any raan draw back, ray soul
shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of thera that draw back unto
perdition ; but of them that believe, to the saving of the soul."
So that as was before said of faith, so may it be said of a childlike, believ
ing obedience, it has no concern in justification by any virtue or excellency in
it ; bul only as there is a reception of Christ in il. And this is no more con
trary to the apostle's frequent assertion of our being justified without the works
of the law, than to say, that we are justified by failh ; for faith is as much a
work, or act of Christian obedience, as the expressions of failh, in spiritual life
and walk. And Iherefore, as we say that failh does not justify as a work, so
we say of all these- eflfective expressions of faith.
This is the reverse of the scheme of our modern divines, who hold, that faith
justifies only as an act or expression of obedience ; whereas, in truth obedience
has no concern in justification, any otherwise than as an expression of faith. I
now proceed,
IV. To answer objections.
Object. 1. W'e frequently find promises of eternal life and salvation, and
sometimes of justification itself, made to our own virtue and obedience. Eter
nal life is promised to obedience, in Rom. ii. 7 : " To them who by patient
continuance in well doing seek for glory, honor, and immortality ; eternal life."
And the like in innumerable other places. And justification itself is promised tc
that virtue of a forgiving spirit and temper in us. Matt. vi. 14 : " For if ye for
give raen their trespasses, your heavenly Father -will also forgive you : but if
ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your tres
passes." All allow that justification in great part consists in the forgiveness
of sins. To this I answer,
1. These things being promised to our virtue and obedience, EU-gues no more,
than that there is a connection between thera and evangelical obedience ; which,
I have already observed, is not the thing in dispute. All that can be proved by
obedience and salvation being connected in the promise, is, that obedience and
salvation are connected in fact ; which nobody denies ; and whether il be owned
or denied, is, as has been shown, nolhing to the purpose. There is no need that
an/ achnission to a title to salvation, should be given on the account of om- obe
dience, in order to the promises being true. If we find such a promise, that he
that obeys shall be saved, or he that is holy shall be justified ; all that is need
ful in order tosgch promises being true, is, that it be really so, that he that obeys
shall be saved, and that holiness and justification shall indeed go together.
That propositicn raay be a truth, that he that obeys shallbe saved; because
obeihence and salvation are connected together in fact ; and yet an acceptance
108 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
to a title to salvation not be gi anted upon the account of any of our own viitue
or obedience. What is a promise, bul only a declaration of future truth, for tbe
comfort and encouragement of the person to whom it is declared ? Promises are
conditional propositions ; and, as has been already observed, it is not the thing
in dispute, whether other things besides faith may not have the place of the con
dition in such propositions wherein pardon and salvation are the consequent.
2. Promises may rationally be made to signs and evidences of faith,
and yet the thing promised not be upon the account of the sign, but the thing
signified. Thus, for instance, huraan government raay rationally make prom
ises of such and such privileges to those that can show such evidences of their
being free of such a cily, or menibers of such a corporation, or descended of
such a family ; when it is not at all for the sake of that which is the evidence or
sign, in itself considered, that they are admitted to such a privilege, but only
and purely for the sake of that which it is an evidence of
And though God does not stand in need of signs to know whether we have
true failh or not, yet our own consciences do ; so that it is much for our com
fort that proraises are made to signs of failh. A finding in ourselves a forgivmg
temper and disposition, may be a most proper and natural evidence to our
consciences, that our hearts have, in a sense of our own utter unworthiness,
truly closed and fallen in with the way of free and infinitely gracious forgive
ness of our sins by Jesus Christ ; whence we may be enabled, with the greater
corafort, to apply lo ourselves the proraises of forgiveness by Christ.
3. It has been just now shown, how that acls of evangelical obedience are
ndeed concerned in our justification itself, and are not excluded from that con
dition that justification depends upon, without the least prejudice to that doctrine
of justification by faith, without any goodness of our own, that has been main
tained ; and therefore it can be no objection againsi this doctrine, that we have
sometimes in Scripture proraises of pardon and acceptance made to such acts of
obedience. 4. Promises of particular benefits implied in justification and salvation, may
especially be fitly made lo such expressions and evidences of faith as they have
a peculiar natural liken&ss and suitableness to. As forgivene.ss is promised to a
forgiving spirit in us; obtaining mercy is fitly proraised to raercifulness in us ;
and the like : and that upon several accounts ; they are the most natural evi
dences of our heart's closing with those benefits by faith ; for they do especially
show the sweet accord and consent that there is between the heart and these
benefits ; and by reason of the natural likeness that there is between the virtue
and the benefit, the one has the greater tendency to bring the other to mind •
the practise of the virtue tends the raore lo renew the sense, and refresh the
hope of the blessing promised : and also to convince the conscience of the
justice of being denied the benefit, if the duty be neglected.
And besides the sense and manifestation of divine forgiveness in our own
consciences ; yea, and many exercises of God's forgiving raercy, as it respects
God's fatherly displeasure, that are granted after justification, through the course
cf a Christian's life, raay be given as the proper rewards of the virtue of a forgiv
ing spirit, and yet this not be at all to the prejudice of the doctrine we have
maintained; as will more fully appear, when we come to answer another
objection hereafter to be mentioned.
Object. 2. Our own obedience and inherent holiness, is necessary to prepare
men for heaven ; and therefore is doubtless, what recommends persons to God's.
acceptance, as the heirs of heaven.
To this I answer,
.-USTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE lOK
1. Our own obedience being necessary in order to a preparation for an ai tuai
bestowraent of glory, is no argument that it is the thing upon the account of
which we are accepted to a right lo it. God may, and does do many Ihings tc
prepare the saints for glory, after he has accepted them as the heirs of glory.
A parent raay do much in its education, to prepare a child for an inheritance
after the child is an heir; yea, there are many things necessary to fit a child for
the actual possession of the inheritance, that be not necessary in order to its
having a right to the inheritance.
2. If every thing that is necessary to prepare men for glory n/ust be the
proper condition of justification, then perfect holiness is Ihe condition of justifi
cation. Men must be made perlectly holy, before they aie admitted to the en
joyment of the blessedness of heaven ; for there musi in no wise enter in there
any spiritual defilement. And therefore, when a saint dies he leaves all his sin
and corruption when he leaves the body.
Object. 3. Our obedience is not only indissolubly connected with salvation,
and preparatory to it, but the Scripture expressly speaks of bestowing eternal
blessings as rewards for the good deeds of the saints. Matt. x. 42, " Whoso
ever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only,
in the name of a disciple, he sball in no wise lose his reward." 1 Cor. iii. 8,
" Every man shall receive his own reward, according lo his own labor." And
in many other places. This seems to militate against the doctrine that
has been maintained, two ways : 1. The bestowing a reward, carrits in it a
respect to a moral filness, in the thing rewarded, to the reward ; the very notion
of a reward being a benefit bestowed in testiraony of acceptance of, and respect
to, the goodness or araiableness of sorae qualification or work in the peison re
warded. And besides, the Scripture seems to explain itself in this matter, in
Rev. ui. 4 : " Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled
their garments : and they shall walk with me in white ; for they are worthy."
This is here given as the reason why they should have such a reward, " because
they were worthy ;" which, though we suppose it lo iraply no proper merit, yet
it at least imphes a moral fitness, or that the excellency of Iheir virtue in God's
sight recommends thera to such a reward ; which seems directly repugnant to
whal has been supposed, viz., that we are accepted, and approved of God, as
the heirs of salvation, not out of regard to the excellency of our own virtue or
goodness, or any raoral fitness therein to such a reward, but on the account of
the (hgnity and raoral fitness of Christ's righteousness. 2. Our being eternally
rewarded fbr our own holiness and good works, necessarily supposes that our
fulure happiness will be greater or sraaller, in some proportion as cur own holi
ness and obedience are raore or less ; and that there are different degrees of
glory, according to diff'erent degrees of virtue and good works, is a doctrine
very expressly and frequently taught us in Scripture. But this seems quite
niconsistent with the saints' all having their fulure blessedness as a reward
of Christ's righteousness : for if Christ's righteousness be iraputed to all, and
this be what entitles each one to glory, then it is the same righteousness that
entitles one to gloiy which e^titles another. But if all have gloiy as the
reward of the same righteousness, why have not all the same glory ? Does
not the sarae righteousness merit as much glory when imputed to one as when
imputed to another ?
In answer to thefirst part of this objection, I would observe, that it does
not argue that we are justified by our good deeds, that we shall have eternal
blessings in reward for them, for it is in consequence of our justification, that our
good deeds become rewardable with spiritual and eternal rewards. The accept-
110 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE,
ableness, and so the rewardableness of our virtue, is not anlecedert to ji.istifica-
tion, but follows it, and is built entirely upon it ; which is the reverse of what those
m the adverse scherae of justification suppose, viz., that justification is built on the
acceptableness and rewardableness of our virtue. They suppose that a saving
interest in Christ is given as a reward of our virtue, or (which is the sarae thing)
as a testimony of God's acceptance of our excellency in our virtue. Bul the con^
tiar) is true, that God's respect to our virtue as our amiableness in his sight, and his
acceptance of il as rewardable, are entirely built on our interesi in Christ already
established. So that that relation to Christ, whereby believeis, in Scripture
language, are said to be in Christ, is the very foundation of our virtues and
good deeds being accepted of God, and so of their being rewarded ; for a re
ward is a testimony of acceptance. For we, and all that we do, are accepted
only in the beloved, Eph. i. 6. Our sacrifices are acceptable, only through our
interest in him, and through his worthiness and preciousness being, as it were;
raade ours. 1 Pet h. 4, 5, " To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallow
ed indeed of men, bul chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones;
are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to ofl'er up spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable lo God by Jesus Christ" Here a being actually built on this
stone, precious to God, is mentioned as all the ground of the acceptableness of
our good works to God, and their becoraing also precious in his eyes. So, Heb.
xiii. 21, " Make you perfect in every good word to do his will, working in you
that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ." And hence we
are directed, whatever we offer lo God, to offer it in Christ's name, as expect
ing lo have it accepted no other way, than from the value that God has to that
name. Col. iii. 17, " And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in th<'
narae of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Falher by him." Tn
act in Christ's name, is lo acl under him, as our head, and as having hira to
stand for us, and represent us Godward.
The reason ofthis may be seen, from whal has been already said, to show
that it is not meet that any thing in us should be accepted of God as any ex
cellency of our persons, until we are actually in Christ, and justified through
him. The loveliness of the virtue of the fallen creatures is nothing in the sight
of God, till he beholds thera ui Christ, and clothed with his righteousness.
1, Because till then we stand conderaned before God, by his own holy law, to
his utter rejection and abhorrence. And, 2, Because we are infinitely guilty
before hira ; and the loveliness of our virtue bears no proportion to our guilt,
and must therefore pass for nothing before a strict judge. And, 3, Because
our good deeds and virtuous acts theraselves are in a sense corrupt ; and the
hatefulness ofthe corruption of thera, if we are beheld as we are in ourselves,
or separate from Christ, infinitely outweighs the loveliness of that which attends
the act of virtue itself, the loveliness vanishes into nothing in coraparison of it:
and therefore the virtue must pass for nolhing, out of Christ. Not only are our
'jest duties defiled, in being attended with the exercises of sin and corruption;
that precede them, and follow them, and are intermingled with holy acts ; but
even the holy acts themselves, and the gracious exercises of the godly, though
the act most siraply considered is good, yet take the acts in their measure and
dimensions, and the manner in which they are exerted, and they are corrupt
acts; that is, they are defectively corrupt, or sinfully defective; there is that
defect in thera that may well be called the corruption of thera. That defect is
properly sin, an expression of a vile sinfulness of heart, and what tends to pro
voke the just anger of God ; not because the exercise of love and other grace
is not equal 1 1 God's loveliness ; for it is impossible the love of creature.* (men
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. Ul
or angels; should be so ; but because the act is so very disproportionate to the
occasion given for love or other grace, considering God's loveliness, !ind the
manifestation that is made of it, and the exercises of kindness, and the capacily
of huraan nature, and our advantages (and the like) together. A nega'ive ex
pression of corruption may be as truly sin, and as just cause of provocation, as
a positive. Thus if a man, a worthy and excellent person, should, from mere
generosity and goodness, exceedingl} lay out himself, and should, with great
expense and suffering, save another's life, or redeera hira from some extreme
calamity ; and when he had done all, that other person should never thank hin.
for it, or express the least gratitude any way; this would be a negative ex
pression of his ingratitude, and baseness ; but is equivalent to an act of ingrati
tude or posiiive exercise of a base unworthy spirit ; and is truly an expression
ofii, and brings as much blarae, as if he, by some positive act, had much injur
ed another person. And so it would be (only in a le.ss degree), if the gratitude
was but very small, bearing no proportion to the benefit and obligation ; as if,
for so great and extraordinary a kindness, he should express no more gratitude
than would have been becoraing towards a person that had only given hira a
cup of water when thirsty, or shown him the way in a journey when at a loss,
or had done him some such sraall kindness : if he should come to his benefac
tor to express his gratitude, and should do after this manner, he raight truly be
said to act unworthily and odiously ; he would show a most ungrateful spirit:
and his doing pfter such a manner raight justly be abhorred by all : and yet the
gratitude, what little there is of il, most siraply considered, and so far as it goes,
is good. And so it is with respect lo our exercise of love, and gratitude, and
other graces, towards God : they are defectively corrupt and sinful, and take
thera as they are, in their manner and raeasure, raight justly be odious and pro
voking to God, and would necessarily be so, were we beheld out of Christ : for
in that this defect is sin, il is infinitely hateful ; and so the hatefulness if the
very act infinitely outweighs the loveliness of it'; because all sin has infinite
hatefulness and heinousness ; but our holiness has but little value and lovehness,
as has been elsewhere demonstrated.
Hence, though it be true that the saints are rewarded for their good works,
yet it is for Christ's sake only, and not for the excellency of their works in
theraselves considered, or beheld separately frora Christ; for so' they have no
excellency in God's sight, or acceptableness to him, as has now been shown.
It is acknowledged that God, in rewarding the holiness and good works of be
lievers, does in some respect give them happiness, as a testiraony of his respect
to the loveliness oftheir holiness and good works in his sight; for that is the
very notion of a reward : but in a very different sense from what would have
been, if man had not fallen ; which would have been to bestow eternal life on
man, as a testimony of God's respect to the loveliness of what man did, con
sidered as in itself, and as in raan, separately by himself, and not beheld as a
member of Christ : in which sense also, the scherae of justification we are op
posing necessarily supposes the excellency of our virtue to be respected and re
warded ; for it supposes a saving interest 'n Christ itself to be given as a re
ward of it.
Two things come to pass, relating to the saints' reward of their inherent
righteousness, by virtue of their relation to Christ. 1. The guilt of their persons
IS all done away, and the pollution and hatefulness that attend their good
¦works are hid. 2. Their relation to Christ adds a positive value and dignity to
their good works in God's sight. That little holinf ss, and those faint and feeble
acts of love, and other grace, receive an exceeding value in the sight of God, bv
112 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH .\LONE..
virtue of God's beholding them as in Christ, and as it were members of one sc
infinitely worthy in his eyes; and that because God looks upon their persons
as persons of greater dignity on this account, Isa. xliii. 4 : " Since thou wast
precious in my sight, thou hasl been honorable." God for Christ's sake, and
because they are raembers of his own righteous and dear Son, sels an ex
ceed! no- value upon their peisons ; and hence it follows, that he also sets a
great value upon their good acls and offerings. The same love and obedience
in a person of greater dignity and value in God's sight is raore valuable in his
eyes than in one of less dignity. Love and respect (as has been before observ
ed) are valuable in proportion to the dignity of the person whose love it is;
because, so far as any one gives his love to another, he gives himself, in that he
gives his heart : but this is a raore excellent offering, in proportion as the person
whose self is offered is raore worthy. Believers are becorae iraraensely more
honorable in God's esteem by virtue of their relation to Christ, than man would
have been, considered as by himself, though he had been free frora sin ; as a
mean person becomes more honorable when mairied lo a king. Hence God
will probably reward the little, weak love, and poor and exceedingly imperfect
obedience of believers ih Christ, with a more glorious reward than he would
have done Adam's perfect obedience. According lo the tenor of the first cove
nant, the person was to be accepted and rewarded, only for the work's sake;
but by the covenant of grace, the work is accepted and rewarded, only for the
person's sake ; the person being beheld antecedently as a raeraber of Christ,
and clothed with his righteousness. So that though the saints' inherent holi
ness is rewarded, yet this very reward is indeed not the less founded on the wor
thiness and righteousness of Christ : none of the value that their works have in
his sight, nor any of the acceptance they have with him, is out of Christ, and
out of his righteousne.ss ; bul his worthiness as Mediator is the prime and only
foundation on which all is built, and the universal source whence all arises,
God indeed doth great things out of regard to the saints' loveliness, but it is
only as a secondary and derivative loveliness, as it were. When I speak of a
derivative loveliness, I do not mean only, that the qualifications themselves that
are accepted as lovely, are derived from Christ, and are from his power and
purchase ; but that the acceptance of them as a loveliness, and all the value
that is set upon them, and all their connection with the reward, is founded in,
and derived frora Christ's righteousness and worthiness.
If we suppose that not only higher degrees of glory in heaven, but heaven
itself, is in sorae respect given in reward for the holiness and good works of th»»
saints, in this secondary and derivative sense, it will not prejudice the doctrine
we have maintained. It is no way impossible that God may bestow heaven's
glory wholly out of respect lo Christ's righteousness, and yet in reward for raan's
inherent holiness, in different respects, and diff'erent ways. It raay be only Christ's
righteousness that God has respect to, for his own sake, the independent accept
ableness and dignity of it, being sufficient of itself to recoraraend all that be
lieve in Christ to a title to this glory ; and so it may be only by this, that per
sons enter into a title to heaven, or have their prime right to it : and yet God
may also have respect to the saints' own holiness, for Christ's sake, and as de
riving a value frora Christ's raerit, which he may testify in bestowing heaven
upon them. The saints being beheld as raembers of Chrint, their obedience is
looked upon by God as something of Christ's, it being the obedience of the
merabers of Christ, and their sufferings are looked upon, in sorae respect, as the
sufferings of Christ. Hence the aposlle, speaking of his sufferings, says, Col. i
94, " Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, -nd fill up that which is be-
JUSTIFICATION BY FaITH ALONE. 113
hind of the afflictions of Christ in ray flesh." To the same purpose is Matt
xxv. 35, &,c., 1 was an hungered, naked, sick, and in prison, &c. And so Ihat
in Rev. xi. 8, " And their dead bodies shall he in the street cf the p-ieat
city, which spiritually is called Sodora and Egypt, where also our Lord^was
crucified." By the merit and righteousness of Christ, such favor of God towards be
lievers may be obtained, as that God may hereby be already, as il were, disposed
to make them perfectly and eternally happy. But yet this does not hinder, but
that God in his wisdora may choose to bestow this perfect and eternal happiness in
this way, viz., in sorae respect as a reward of their holineiss and obedience : it
is not impossible but that the blessedness may be bestowed as a reward for that
which is done, after that an interest is already obtained in that favor which (lo
speak of God after the raanner of raen) disposes God to bestow the blessedness.
Our heavenly Father raay already have that favor for a child, whereby he raay
oe thoroughly ready to give the child an inheritance, because he is his child ;
which he is by the purchase of Christ's righteousness : and yet that does not
hinder but that it should be possible, that the Falher may choose to bestow the
inheritance on the child, in a way of reward for his dutifulness, and behaving
as becoraing a child. And so great and exceeding a reward may not be judged
more than a raeet reward for his dutifulness ; but Ihat so great a reward is
judged raeet, does not arise frora the excellency of the obedience absolutely con
sidered, but frora his standing in so near and honorable a relation to God, as
that of a child, which is obtained only by the righteousness of Christ And
thus the reward arises properly frora the righteousness of Christ ; though it be
indeed in some sort the reward of their obedience. As a father might justly
esteem the inheritance no more than a raeet reward for the obedience of his
child, and yet esteem it more than a meet reward for the obedience of a ser
vant. The favor whence a believer's heavenly Father bestows the eternal in
heritance, and his title as an heir, is founded in that relation he stands in to
him as a child, purchased by Christ's righteousness; though he in wisdom
chooses to bestow it in such a way, as therein to testify his acceptance of the
amiableness of his own obedience in Christ
Believers having a title to heaven by faith, antecedent to their obedience,
or its being absolutely proraised to them before, does not hinder but that the
actual bestowraent of heaven raay also be a testimony of God's regard to their
obedience, though perforraed afterwards. Thus, it was with Abraham, the
father and pattern of all believers : God bestowed upon hira that blessing of
multiplying his seed as the stars of heaven, and causing that in his seed all the
farailies ofthe earth should be blessed, in reward for his obedience in offeringuphis
son Isaac: Gen. xxii. 16 — 18, " Andsaid,by myself have I sworn, saith Ihe Lord.
for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only
son ; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy
seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore ; and
thy seed shall possess the gate of his eneraies ; and in thy seed shall all the
nations ofthe earth be blessed ; because thou hast obeyed ray voice." And
yet the very sarae blessings had been frora time to lirae promised to Abraham.,
in the mo.sl positive terms, and the promise, with great solemnity, confirmed and
sealed to him ; as chap. xh. 2, 3, chap. xiii. 16, chap. xv. 1 — 7, &c., chap
xvii. throughout, chap, xviii. 10, 18.
From what has been said we may easily solve the difficulty arising fron
that text in Piev. iii. 4. " They shall walk -with ine in white, for they are worthy ;'
which is parallel with that text in Luke xx. 35, " But they wh\ch shall be ac-
Vol. IV. 15
114 JUSTIFICATION lY FAITH iLONE.
.TOunted worthj to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead." I
allow (as in the objection) that this worthiness does doubtless denote a moraJ
fitness lo the reward, or that God looks on these glorious benefits as a meet tes
timony of his regard to the value which their persons and performances have in
his sight. 1. God looks on these glorious benefits as a meet testimony of his regard to
the value which their persons have in his sight But he sets this value upon
their persons purely for Christ's sake : they are such jewels, and have such pre"-
ciousness in his eyes, only because they are beheld in Christ, and by reason of
the worthiness of the head they are the members of, and the stock they are
grafted into. And this value that God sets upon them on this account is so
great, that God thinks meet, frora regard to it, to admit them to such exceed
ing glory The saints, on fhe account of their relation to Christ, are such pre
cious jewels in God's sight, that they are thought worthy of a place in his own
crosvn. Mai. iii, 17, Zech. iv. 16. So far as the sainls are said to be valuable in
God's sight, upon whatever account they are so, so far raay they properly be said lo
be worthy, or meet for that honor that is answerable to that value or price whicb
God sels upon them. A child or wife of a prince is worthy to be treated with
great honor; and therefore if a mean person should be adopted to be a child of
a prince, or should be espoused to a prince, it would be proper to say, that she
was worthy of such an honor and respect, and there would be no force upon the
words in saying that she ought to have such respect paid her, for she is worthy,
though it be only on the account of her relation to the prince that she is so
2. Frora the value God sets upon their persons, for the sake of Christ's
worthiness, he also sets a high value on their virtue and performances. Their
raeek and quiet spirit is of great price in his sight. Their fruils are pleasant
fruits, their offerings are an odor of sweet sraell lo hira ; and that because of
the value he sets on their persons, as has been already observed and explained.
This preciousness or high valuableness of believers is a moral fitness to a re
ward ; and yet this valuableness is all in the righteousness of Christ, that is the
foundation of it. The thing that respect is had lo, is not the excellency that is
in thera separately by themselves, or in their virtue by itself, but to the value
that in God's account arises thereto on other considerations ; which is the nat
ural iraport of the manner of expression in Luke xx. 35, " They which shall
be accounted worthy to obtain that world," &c. ; and Luke xxi. 36, " That ye
may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass,
and to stand before the Son of Man." 2 Thess. i. 5, " That ye may be counted
worthy ofthe kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer."
There is a vast difference between this scherae, and what is supposed
m the scheme of those that oppose the doctrine of justification by faith alone.
This lays the fouridation of first acceptance with God, and all actual salvation
consequent upoh it, wholly in Christ and his righteousness. On the confr-ary,
in their scheme a regard to man's own excellency or virtue is supposec to \ie
first, and to have the place of the first foundation in actual salvatjon, though
not in that ineffectual redemption, which they suppose common to a'J: they lay
the foundation of all discriminating salvation in man's Own virtue and moral
excellency: this is the very bottora stone in this affair; for they suppose that
it is frora regard to our virtue, that i pen a special interest in Christ itself is
given. The foundation being thus contrary, the whole scherae becomes exceed
ing diverse and contrary ; the one scheme is an evangelical one, the other a
\eg,il one ; the one is utterly inconsistent with our being justified by Christ's
righteousness, the other not at all.
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE !15
From what has been said, we may understand what has been before men
tioned, viz., how that not only is that forgiveness of sin that is granted in
justification indissolubly connected wilh a forgiving spirit in us, but there may
be many exercises of forgiving mercy that may properly be granted in reward
for our forgiving those that trespass against us : for none will deny but that
there are many acts of divine forgiveness towards the sainls, that do not pre
suppose an unjustified slate immediately preceding that forgiveness. None
will deny, that saints that never fell from grace or a justified state, do yet com
mit raany sins which God forgives afterwards, by laying aside his fatherly dis
pleasure. This forgiveness raay be in reward for our forgiveness, without any
prejudice to the doctrine that has been maintained, as well as other mercies and
blessings consequent on justification.
With respect to the .second part of the objection, that relates lo the different
degrees of glory, and the seeming inconsisteuQe there is in it, that the degrees
of glorv in different sainls shoukl be greater or less according to their inherent
holiness and good works, and yet, that every one's glory should be purchased
with the price of the very same iraputed righteousness :
I answer, that Christ, by his righteousness, purchased for every one cora
plete and perfect happiness, according to his capacity. But this does not hin
der but that the saints, being of various capacities, raay have various degrees of
happiness, and yet all their happiness be the fruit of Christ's purchase, indeed
it cannot be properly said that Christ purchased any particular degree of happi
ness, so that the value of Christ's righteousness in the sight of God, is suflEcient
to raise a believer so high in happiness, and no higher, and so that if the be
liever were raade happier, it would exceed the value of Christ's righteousness ;
but in general, Christ purchased eternal life or perfect happiness for all, accord
ing to their several capacities. The saints are as so raany vessels of different
sizes, cast into a sea of happiness, where every vessel is full ; this Christ pur
chased for all : yet it is left to God's sovereign pleasure to determine the large
ness of the vessel ; Christ's righteousness raeddles not with this matter. Eph.
iv. 4 — 7, " There is one body, and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope
of your calling ; one Lord, one faith, one baptism," &c. " But unto every one
of us is given grace according to the measure ofthe gift of Christ" God may
dispense in this matter according to what rule he pleases, not the less for what
Christ has done : he may dispense either without condition, or upon what con
dition he pleases to fix. It is evident that Christ's righteousness raeddles not
wilh this raatter ; fbr what Christ did was to fulfil the covenant of works ; but
the covenant of works did not raeddle at all with this : if Adam had persevered
in perfect obedience, he and his posterity would have had perfect and full hap
piness ; every one's happiness would have so answered his capacity, that he
would have been completely blessed ; but God would have been at liberty
to have made some of one capacity, and others of another, as he pleased. The
angels have obtained eternal life, or a state of confirraed glory, by a covenant
of works, whose condition was perfect obedience ; but yet some are higher in
glory than others, accordi;ig to the several capacities that God, according to
his sovereign pleasure, hath given thera. So that it being still left wilh God,
notwithstanding the perfect obedience of the second Adam, to fix the degree of
each one's capacity by what rule he pleases, he hath been pleased to fix the
degree of capacity, and so of glory, by the proportion of the saints' grace and
fruitfulness here : he gives higher degrees of glory, in reward for higher de
grees of holiness and good works, beciiuse it pleases him ; and yet all the hap
piness of each saint is indeed the fr'ii'' of the purchase of Christ's obedience. D
116 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONB,
it had been but one man that Christ had obeyed and died foi, and it had pleas
ed God to make him ofa very large capacity, Christ's peifect obedience would
have purchased that his capacity should be filled, and then all his happiness
might properly be said to be the fruit of. Christ's perfect obedience; though il
he had been of a less capacity, he would not have had so rauch happiness by
the sarae obedience ; and yet would have had as rauch as Christ raeriled foi
him. Christ's righteousness raeddles not with the degree of happiness, anj
otherwise than as he merits that it should be full and perfect, according to the
capacity ; and so it may be said to be concerned in the degree of happiness, as
perfect is a degree with respect to imperfect ; but it meddles not with degrees
of perfect happiness.
This matter raay be yet betier understood, if we consider that Christ and
the whole church of saints are, as it were, one body, of which he is the Head,
and they members, of different place and capacity : now the whole body, head
and members, have coraraunion in Christ's righteousness ; they are all parta
kers of the benefit of it ; Christ hiraself the head is rewarded for it, and every
meraber is partaker of the benefit and reward : but it does by no raeans follow,
that every part should equally partake of the benefit, but every part in propor
tion to ils place and capacity ; the head partakes of far raore than other parts,
because it is of a far greater capacity ; and the more noble members partake
of more than the inferior. As it is in a natural body that enjoys perfect health,
the head, and the heart, and lungs, have a greater share of this health, they
have il more seated in them, than the hands and feel, because they are parts of
greater capacity ; though the hands and feet are as much in perfect health as
those nobler parts of the body : so it is in the mystical body of Christ, all the
members are partakers ofthe benefit of the righteousness ofthe head ; but it is
according to the diflferent capacity and place they have in the body ; and God
determines th-at place and capacity as he pleases ; he makes whom he pleases
the foot, and whom he pleases the hand, and whora he pleases the hino-s, &c. :
1 Cor. xii. 18, " God hath set the members every one of thera in the body, as it
hath pleased him." And God efficaciously determines the place and capacity
of every raeraber, by the different degrees of grace and assistance in the im
proveraent of it here in this world : those that he intends for the highest place
in the body, he gives thera most of his Spirit, the greatest share of the divine
nature, the Spirit and nature of Christ Jesus the head, and that assistance where
by they perforra the raost excellent works, and do raost abound in thera.
Object. 4. It raay be objected againsi what has been supposed, viz., that
rewards are given to our good works, only in consequence of an interest in
Christ, or in testimony of God's respect to the excellency or value of them in
his sight, as built on an interest in Christ's righteousness already obtained : that
the Scripture speaks of an interest in Christ itself, as being given out of respect
to our raoral fitness. Matt x. 37 — 39, " He that loveth father or raother more
than me, is not worthy of rae : he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is
not worthy of rae : he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth after me, is
not worthy of me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it," &c. Worthiness
here, at least signifies a moral fitness, or an excellency or virtue that recom
mends : and this place seems to intimate as though il were from respect to a
moral fitness that men are adraitted even to a union with Christ, and interesi
in hira ; and therefore this worthiness cannot be consequent on being in Christ,
and by the imputation of his worthiness, or from any value that is in us, or in
our actions in God's sight^ as beheld in Christ.
To this I answer, that though p?rsons when they are accepted, are not ac-
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH .VLONE 117
cepted as worthy, yet when they are rejected they are rejected as unworlhv
He that does not love Christ above other things, that treats him wilh such iii-
iignity, as to set him below earthly things, shall be trea-ted as unworthy of
Christ ; his unworthiness of Christ, e.specially in that particular, shall be mark-
ed against hira, and iraputed to hira : and though he be a professing Christinn,
and live in the enjoyment of the gospel, and has been visibly ingrafted inlo
Christ, and admitted as one of his disciples, as Judas was ; yet he shall be
thrust out in wrath, as a punishment of his vile treatment of Christ. The fore-
mentioned words do not imply, that if a raan does love Christ above father and
raother, &c, that he should be worthy ; the most they iraply is, that such a
visible Christian shall be treated and thrust out as unworthy. He that believes is
not received for the "woiiliiness or moral fitness of faith ; but yet the visible
Christian is cast out by God, for the unworthiness and raoral unfitness of unbe
lief A being accepted as one of Christ's, is not the reward of believing ; but
being thrust out from being one of Christ's disciples, alter a visible admission as
such, is properly punishment of unbelief : John iii. 18, 19, " He that believeth on
hira, is not condemned ; bul he that believeth not, is conderaned already, because
he halh not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is
the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil." Salvation is proraised to
faith as a free gift, but damnation is threatened to unbelief as a debt, or pun
ishment due to unbelief They that beheved in the wilderness did not enter into
Canaan, because of the worthiness of their faith ; but God .sware in his wrath,
that they that believed not should not enter in, because of the unworthiness of
their unbelief The adraitting a soul to a union with Christ is an act of free
and sovereign grace; but an excluding at death, and at the day of judgment,
those professors of Christianity that have had the oflfers of a Saviour and enjoy
ed great privileges as God's people, is a judicial proceeding, and a just punish
ment of theh unworthy treatraent of Christ The design of this saying of Christ
is to rnake men sensible of the unworthiness of their treatment of Christ, that
professed him to be their Lord and Saviour, and set him below falher and
mother, &c., and not to persuade of the worthiness of loving hira above falher
and mother. If a beggar should be oflfered any great and precious gift, but as
soon as offered, should trample it under his feel, it might be taken from hira, as
unworthy to have it : or if a raalefactor' should have his pardon offered him,
that he might be freed frora execution, and should only scoff at it, his pardon
might be refused him, as unworthy of il ; though if he had received il, he would
not have had it for his vt'orthiness, or as being recommended to it by his virtue ;
for his being a malefactor supposes him unworthy, and ils being oflfered him to
have it only on accepting, supposes that the king looks for no worthiness, nothing
in him for which he should bestow pardon as a reward. This may teach us
how to understand Acts xiii. 46 : " It was ne< essary that the word of God
should first have been spoken unto you ; but seeing ye put it from you, and
iudge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn lo the Gentiles."
Object. 5. It is objected against the doctrine of justification by faith alone,
that repentance is evidently spoken of in Scripture as that which is in a spe
cial manner the condition of remission of sins : but remission of .sins is by all
allowed to be that wherein justification does (at least) in great part coasist.
But it must ceriainly arise frora a misunderstanding of what the, Scripture
says about repentance, to suppose that faith and repentance are two distinct
things, that in like manner are the conditions of justification. For it is most
olain from the Scripture, that the condition of justification, or that in us ht.
118 JUSTIFICATION BY- FAITH ALONt.
which we are justified, is but one, and that is faith. Faith and .reptntanci are
not two distinct conditions of justification, nor are they two distinct ihings thai
together make one condition of justification; but faith comprehends tne whole
of "that by which we are justified, or by which we come to have an interest in
Christ, and nothing else' has a parallel concern with' it in the aflfair of our sal
vation. And this the divines on the other side Ihemselves are sensible of, and
therefore they' suppose that that faith thatthe Apostle Paul speaks of, which he
says we are justified by alone, comprehends init repentance.
And therefore, in answer to the objection, I would say, that when repent
ance is spoken of in Scripture as the condition of pardon, thereby is not intend
ed any particular grace, or act properly distinct from faith, that has a parallel
influence with it in the affair of our pardon or justification ; but by repentance
is intended nothing distinct from active Conversion (or conversion actively con
sidered), as it respects the terra from which. Active conversion is a motion or
exercise of that mind that respects two terins, viz., sin and God : and by repent
ance is meant this conversion, or active change of the mind, so far as it is conver
sant about the term from which, or about sin. This is what the word repent^
ance properly signifies ; which in the original of the New Testaraent, is fit-ia-
voiu, which signifies a change ofthe mind, or which is the same thing, the turn
ing or the conversion of the raind. Repentance is this turning, as it respects
what is turned frora : Acts xxvi. 20, " Whereupon, 0 king Agrippa, I showed
unto them of Damascus, and al Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of
Judea, and then lo the Gentiles, that they should repent, and turn to God."
Both these are the sarae turning, but only with respect to opposite terras : in
the forraer, is expressed the exercise of raind that there is about sin in this turn
ing ; in the other, the exercise of mind towards God.
If we look over the Scriptures that speak of evangelical repentance, we
shall presently see that repentance is to be understood in this sense ; as Matt;
ix. 13, " 1 ara not come fo call the righteous, bul sinners to repentance." Luke
xiii. 3, " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." And chap. xv. 7, 10,
'' There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth," i. e., over one sinner
that is cbnvferled. Acts xi. 18, " Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted
repentance unto life." This is said by the Christians of the circumci.sion at
Jerusalem, upon Peter's giving an account of the conversion of Cornelius and
his faraily, aind their erabracing the gospel, though Peter had said nothing ex
pressly about their sorrow for sin. And again. Acts xvii. 30, " But now
commandeth all men everywhere to repent." And Luke xvi. 30, " Nay, father
Abraham, but if ont went to thera f'rora the dead they would repent." 2 Pet
in. 9, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness, but is long-suff'ering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all Should come lo repentance." It is plain that in these ahd other
places, by repentance is raeant conversion.
Novv, it is triie, that conversion is the condition of pardon and justification:
but if il be so. how absuid is it to say, that conversion is one condition' of justi
fication, and faith aii6ther, as Ihough they were distributively distinct and par
allel conditions ! Conversion is the condition of justification, because it is that
^reat change by which we are brought frora sin lo Chri.st, and by which we
beco'irie believers ih him, agreeable to Matt xxi. 32 : " And ye, when ye had
seen it, repented not afterward, tha-t ye might believe him." When we are di
rected to repent, that our sins may "be blotted out, it is as much as to say, let
your rai.id.'S and hearts be changed, that yOur sins mky be blotted out. But if
'¦t be said, let your hearts be changed, that you may be justified ; and also said,
JUSTIFICA nOK BY FAITH ALONE. IIG
ijelieve that you may be justified ; does it therefore follow, that the heart's htang
changed is one condition of justification, and believing another ? But our minds
must be changed, that we may believe, and so may be justified.
And besides, evangelical repentance, being active conversion, is not lo be
treated of as a particular grace, propeily and entirely distinct from faith, as by
some it seems to have been. What is conversion, bul the sinful, alienated soul's
closing wilh Christ, or the sinner''s being bi ought to believe in Christ ? That
exercise of soul that there is in convension, t^iat respects sin, cannot be
excluded out of the nature of faith in Christ : there is something in failh, or
closing- wilh Christ that respects sin, .ind.that is evangelical repentance. That
repentance which in Scripture is called repentance for the remission of sins,
is that very principle or operation of the mind itself that is called faith, so
far as it is conversant about sin. Justifying faith in a Mediator is conversant
about two Ihings : it is conversant about sin or evil to be rejected and to
be delivered from by the Mediator, and about positive good to be accepted
and obtained by the Mediator ; as conversant about the Ibrmer of these it is
evangelical repentance,, or repentance fbr remission of sins. Surely they
must be very ignorant, or at least very inconsiderate of the whole tenor of the
gospel, that think that that repentance by which remission of sins is obtained,
can be completed, as lo all that is essential to il, without any respect lo Christ,
or application of the mind to the Mediator, who alone has made atonement for
sin. Surely so great a part of salvation as remission of sins, is not to be obtain
ed v.'ithout looking or coming to the great and only Saviour. It is true, repent
ance, in its more general, abstracted nature, is only a sorrow for sin and
forsaking of it, which is a duty of natural religion ; but evangelical repentance,
or repentance for remission of sins, hath more than this essential to it ; a depend
ence of soul on the Mediator fbr deliverance from sin, is of the essence of it
That justifying repentance has the nature of faith, seems evident by Acts
xix. 4: " Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance,
saying unto the people, that they .should believe on him which should come
after him, that is, on Ohrist Jesus." The latter words, " saying unto the people,
that they should believe on him," &c., are evidently exegelical of the former, and
explain how he preached repentance for the remission of sin. When it is
said, that he preached repentance for thereraission of sin, saying, that they should
beheve on Christ, cannot be supposed but that it is intended this saying, that
they should believe in Christ, was as directing them whal to do that they might
obtain the remission of sins.. So, 2 Tim. ii. 25, " In raeekness instructing those
that oppose themselves ; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the
acknowledging of the truth." That acknowledging of the truth which there is
in beheving, is here spoken of as what is attained in repentance. And on the
other hand, that failh includes repentance in its nature, is evident by the apostle's
speaking of sin as destroyed in faith. Gal. ii. 17. In the preceding verses the
apostle mentions an objection againsi the doctrine of justification by faith alone,
viz., that it tends to encourage raen in sin, and so to make Chiist the minister
of sin. This objection he rejects and refutes with this, "If I build again the
things that I had destroyed, I make rayself a transgressor." If sin be destroyed
by faith, it must be by repentance of sin included m it ; for we know that il is
our repentance of sin, or the para-poia or turning of the mind from sin, that is
our deslroyiiig our sin.
That in justifying failh that directly respects sin, or the evil to be delivered
from by the Mediator, is as follows : a sense of our own sinfulness, and the hateful-
Bess of it, and a hearty acknowledgment of its desert of the threatened pun
130 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE
ishineiit, looking io the free mercy of God in a Redeeraer, for deliverarce fiom
it and its punishraent.
Concerning this here described, three things may be noted. 1. That it is
the very same with that evangelical repentance to which remission of sin.s is
promised in Scripture. 2. That it is all of it of the essence of justifying faith,
and is the sarae with that faith, so far as it is conversant about the evil to be
delivered frora by the Mediator. 3. That this is indeed the proper and peculiar
condition of remission of sins.
1. All of it is essential to evangelical repentance, and is indeed the very
thing meant by that repentance, to which reraission of sins is proraised in the
gospel. As to the forraer part of the description, viz., a sense of i^r own
sinfulness, and the hatefulness of it, and a hearty acknowledgraent of its
desert of wrath, none will deny il to be included in repentance : but this does
not coraprehend the whole essence of evangelical repentance ; but what follows
does also properly and essentially belong to ils nature, looking to the free mercy
of God in a Redeeraer, for deliverance frora it, and frora the punishment of it
That repentance to which remission is proraised, not only always has this with
it, but it is contained in it, as what is of the proper nature and essence of it ,
and respect is ever had to this in the nature of repentance, whenever remission
is promised to it ; and it is especially from respect to this in the nature of repent
ance, that it has that promise raade to it. If this latter part be raissing, it fails
of the nature of that evangelical repentance to which reraission of sins is
proraised. If repentance reraains in sorrow for sin, and does not reach to a
looking to the free mercy of God in Christ for pardon, it is not that which is
the condition of pardon, neither shall pardon be obtained by it E\ angelical
repentance is a humiliation for sin before God ; but the sinner never conies
and humbles himself before God in any other repentance, but that which
includes a hoping in his raercy for remission : if his sorrow be not accom
panied wilh that, there will be no coming to God in it, but a flying further
frora hira. There is some worship of God in justifying repentance ; but that
there is not in any other repentance, but that which has a sense of and faith
in the divine mercy to forgive sin : Psalm cxxx. 4, " There is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared." The promise of mercy to a true pen
itent, in Prov. xxviii. 13, is expressed in these terms : " Whoso confesseth and
forsaketh his sins, shall have raercy." But there is failh in God's raercy in that
confessing. The Psalmist, in Psalra xxxii., speaking of the blessedness of the
man whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered, to whom the
Lord imputes not sin, says, that he acknowledged his sin unto God, his iniquity
he did not hide ; he said he would confess his transgression to the Lord, and
then God forgave the iniquity of his sin. The manner of expression plainly
holds forth, that then while he kept 'silence his bones waxed old, but then he
began to encourage himself in the mercy of God, when before his bones waxed
old, while he kept silence ; and therefore the Apostle Paul, in the 4lh of Ro
mans, brings this instance to confirra the doctrine of justification by faith alone
that he had been insisting on. When sin is aright confessed to God, there is
always faith in that act : that confessing of sin that is joined with despair such
as was in Judas, is not the confession lo which the proraise is made. In Acts
ii. 38, the direction that was given to those that were pricked in their heart wilb
a sense of the guilt of sin, was to repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of their sins. A being baptized in the name of Chrisf
for the remission of sins, imphed faith in Christ for the remission of sins Re-
Dentance for the reraission of sins was typified of old by the priest's confessing
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE 121
the sins of the people over the scape goat, laying his hands on him. Lev. xvL
21, denoting that it is that repentance and confession of sin only that obtains
rerais.sion, that is made over the scape goat, over Christ, the great sacrifice, and
wilh dependence on him. Many other things raight be proiluced f'rora Ihe
Scripture, that do in like manner confirm this point ; but these may be sufficient
2. All the forementioned description is ofthe essence of justifying faith, and
not different frora it, so far as it is conversant about sin, or the evil lo be de
livered from by the Mediator. For il is doubtless of the essence of justifying
faith, to erabrace Christ as a Saviour frora sin and its punishment ; and all that
is contained in that act is contained in the nature of faith itself : but in the act
of erabracing Christ as a Saviour f'rora our sin and ils punishment, is implied a
sense of our sinfulness, and a hatred of our sins, or a rejecting Ihem with abhor
rence, and a sense of our desert of their punishment. An embracing Christ as
a Saviour from sin, implies the contrary act towards sin, viz., rejecting of sin
If we fly to the light to be delivered fiom darkness, the same is contrary to
wards darkness, viz., a rejecting ofii. In proportion to the earnestness or appe
tite with which we erabrace Christ as a Saviour from sin, in the same propor
tion is the abhorrence wilh which we reject sin, in the same act. Yea, if w^e
suppose there to be in the nature of faith as conversant about sin, no more than
the hearty embracing Christ as a Saviour from the punishment of sin, this act
will iraply in it the whole of the aboveraentioned description. It implies a
sense of our own sinfulness. Certainly in the hearty erabracing a Saviour from
the punishment of our sinfulness, there is the exercise of a sense of our sinful
ness, or that we be sinful : we cannot heartily erabrace Christ as a Saviour
frora the punishraent of ihat which we are not sensible we are guilty of.
There is also in the sarae act, a sense of our desert of the threatened punish
raent : we carmot heartily embrace Christ as a Saviour from that which we be
not sensible that we have deserved : for if we are not sensible that we have de-
Served the punishment, we shall not be sensible that we have any need of a
Saviour from it, or, al least shall not be convinced but that the God that oflfers
the Saviour, unjustly makes him needful ; and we cannot heartily embrace such
an ofl'er. And further, there is iraplied in a hearty embracing Christ as a Sa
viour frora punishraent, not only a conviction of conscience that we have de
served the punishment, such as the devils and damned have ; but there is a
hearty acknowledgraent of it, wilh the subraission of the soul, so as wilh the
accord of the heart, lo own that God might be just and worthy in Ihe punish
ment If the heart rises againsi the act or judgraent of God, in holding us
obliged to the punishment, when he offers us his Son as a Saviour from the
punishment, we cannot with the consent of the heart receive him in that char
acter : but if persons thus submit to the righteousness of so dreadful a punish
ment of sin, this carries in ut a hatred of sin.
That such a sense of our sinfulness, and utter unworthiness, and desert of
punishment, belongs to the nature of saving faith, is what the Scripture from
time to tirae seems to hold forth, as particularly in Matt. xv. 26 — 28 : " But
he answered and said, it is not meet to take the children's bread and lo cast it
to dog.s. And she said. Truth, Lord : yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall
from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered, and said unlo her, 0 woman,
great is thy failh." A nd Luke vii. 6 — 9, " The centurion sent friends to him,
saying unto him. Lord, trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy that thou
shouklst enter under my roof Wherefore neither thought I rayself worthy tc
come unto thee ; but say in a word, and ray servant shall be healed : for I also
ara a man set under authority, &c. — When Jesus heard these things, he mar-
VoL. IV 16
122 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH AI ONE.
veiled at him, and turned him about, and said unlo the people . thav followed
him, I say unto you, I have not found so great failh, no, not in Israel," And
also ver. 37, 38, " And behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when
she knew th-dt Jesus sat at raeat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster
box of ointraent, and stood at his feel behind him weeping, and began lo vvash
his feet, with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed
bis feet and anointed thera with the ointraent" Together with verse 5Q, " He
said unto the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace."
These things do not necessarily suppose that repentance and faith are words
of just the sarae signification ; for it is. only so much in justifying faith as re
spects the evil to be delivered from by the Saviour, that is called repentance :
and besides, both repentance and faith, take thera only in their general nature,
and they are entirely distinct : repentance is a sorrow for sin, and forsaking of
it ; and faith is a trusting in God's sufficiency and truth : but faith and repent
ance, as evangelical duties, or justifying faith, and repentance for remi.ssiofl of
sins, contain raore in thera, and imply a respect to a Mediator, and involve
each other's nature ;* though il be true, that they still bear the name of faith
and repentance, from those general moral virtues, that repentance which is a
duty of natural religion, and that faith, that was a duty required under the first
covenant, that are contained in the evangelical act ; which severally appear
when this act is considered wilh respect to its ihfferent terms and object, that it
is conversant about
It may be objected here, that the Scripture soraetimes mentions faich and
repentance together, as if they were entirely distinct things, as in M&rk i. 15 :
" Repent ye, and believe the go.spel." But there is no need of understanding
these as two distinct conditions of salvation, but the words are exc'j-etical ont
of another : it is to leach us after what raanner w-e must repent, viz., as believ.
ing the gospel, and after what manner we raust believe the gospel, viz., as re
penting : these words no raore prove failh and repentance to be entirely distincl
than those forementioned. Malt. xxi. 32, "And ye, when ye h.nd seen it, re^
pented not afterwards, that ye might believe him." Or those, 2 Tim. ii. 2i,
" If peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the
truth." The apostle, in Acts xix. 4, seems to have reference to these words of
John the Baptist : " John baptized wilh the baptisra of repentance, saying unto
the people that they should believe," &c., where the latter words, as we have
aheady observed, are to explain how he preached repentance.
Another Scripture where faith and repentance are mentioned together, is
Acts .XX. 21, "Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance
towards God, and faith towards the Lord Tesus Christ." It may be objected
that in this place, faith and repentance are not only spoken of as distinct thingSj
but having distinct objects.
To this I answer, that it is true that faith and repentance, in, their general
nature, are distinct things ; and repentance, for the remission of sins, or that in
justifying faith that respects the evil lo be delivered from, so far as it regards
that term, which is whal especially denominates it repentance, has respept to
God as the object, because he is the being oflfended by sin, and to be reconciled,
but that in this justifying acl, whence it is denominated faith, does more espe-
sially respect Christ. But let us interpret it how we will, the objection of faith
* Agreeable to this, is what Mr. Locke says in his second Vindication of the Reasonableness o!
Chnstianity, &o.. Vol. II. of his works, p. 630, 631 : "The believing him, therefore, to be the Idessiah,
is very often, with great reason put both for faith and repeitauce too, which are sometimes set domi
suif;ly, \v..ere one is put for both, as implying the other '
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 123
being here so distinguished from repentance, is as much for an objection against
the scheme of those that oppose justification by faith alone, as against mis
scheme; for they hold that the justifying failh that the Apostle Paul speaks of,
includes repentance, as has been already observed.
3. This repentance that has been described, is indeed the special conditioi
of remission of sin. This seeras very evident by the Scriptuie, as particularly
Mark i. 4 : " John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baplisra of re
pentance, for the remission of sins." So, Luke iii. 3, " And he came inlo all
the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance, for the remis
sion of sins." Luke xxiv. 47, " And that repentance and' remission of sins should
be preached in his name among all nations." Acls v. 31, " Him halh God ex
alted with his right hand lo be a Prince and Saviour, for lo give repentance unlo
Israel, and forgiveness of sins." Chap. ii. 38, " Repent, and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the reraission of sins." And chap.
iii. 19, " Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted
out." The like is evident by Lev. xxvi. 40 — 42, job xxxiii. 27, 28, Psalm
xxxii. 5, Prov. xxvih. 13, Jer. ih. 13, and 1 John i. 9, and other places.
And the reason may be plain frora what has been said. We need not wonder
that that in faith whieh especially respects sin, should be especially the condition
of reraission of sins ; or that this motion or exercise of the soul, as it rejects and
flies from evil, and embraces Christ as a Saviour from it, should especially be
the condition of being free from that evil ; in like raanner, as the same principle
or motion, as it seeks good, and cleaves to Christ as the procurer of that good,
should be the condition of obtaining that good. Faith wilh respect lo good is ac
cepting, and with respect to evil it is rejecting. Yea, this rejecting evil is itseli
an act of acceptance ; it is accepting freedora or separation from that evil ;
and this freedom or separation is the benefit bestowed in remission. No wonder
that that in failh which immediately respects this benefit, and is our acceptance
of this benefit, should be the special condition of our having it : it is so with
respect to all the benefits that Christ has purchased. Trusting in God through
Christ for such a particular benefit that we need, is the special condition of our
having it : it is so wilh respect to all the benefits that Christ has purchased.
Trusting in God through Christ for such a particular benefit that we need is the
special condition of obtaining that benefit When we need protection from
enemies, the exercise of faitli with respect to such a benefit, or trusting in
Christ for' protection from enemies, is especially the way to obtain that parti
cular benefit, rather than trusting in Christ for something else; and so of any
other benefit that might be mentioned. So prayer (which is the expression of
faith) for a particular mercy needed, is especially the way to obtain that mercy.*
So that we see that no argument can be ch-awn from hence agamst the doc
trine of justification by faith alone. And there is that in the nature of repent
ance, which particularly tends to establish the contrary of justification by works :
for nothing so much renounces our own unworthiness and excellency, as repent
ance; the very nature of it is to acknowledge our own utter sinfulness and un
worthiness, and to renounce our own goodness, and all confidence in self; and
fo to trust in the propitiation of the Mediator, and ascribe all the glory of for
giveness to hira.
Object. 6. The last objection I shall mention, is that paragraph in the 2d
*¦ If repentance justify, or be that by which we ootain pardon of sin any other way than this, it must
tKJ either as a \ irtue or righteousness, or something amiable in us ; or else it must be. that our sorrow ana
condemning what is past, is accepted as some atonement for it ; both which are equaUy contrary to the
gospel ioctrine of justification by Christ,
124 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
chapter of Jaraes, where persons are said expressly to be justified ty works
verse 21, " Was not Abraham our father justified by works ?" verse 24, '" Ye
see then how that by works a raan is justified, and not by faith only;" ver 25.
" Was not Rahab the harlot justified by works 1"
In answer to this objection I would,
1. Take notice of the great unfairness of the divines that oppose us, m the
improvement they raake of this passage against us. All will allow, that in that
proposition of St. Jaraes, " By works a raan is justified, and not by failh only,"
one ofthe terms, either the word faith, or else the word justify, \s not to be un
derstood precisely in the same sense as the same terms when used by St Paul ;
because they suppose, as well as we, that it was not the intent of the Apostle
Jaraes to contradict St Paul in that doctrine of ju.stification by faith alone, that
he had instructed the churches in : but if we understand bolh the terras, as used
by each aposlle, in precisely the sarae sense, then what one asserts is a precise,
direct, and full contradiction of the other, the one affirraing and the other deny
ing the very sarae thing. So that all the controversy frora this text comes to
this, viz , which of these two terms shall be understood in a diversity from St
PauL They say that it is the word faith ; for Ihey suppose, that when .the
Apostle Paul uses the word, and makes faith that by which alone we are justified,
that then by it is understood a compliance with, and practise of Christianity in
general ; so as to include all saving Christian virtue and obedience. But as the
Aposlle Jaraes uses the word faith in this place, they suppose thereby is to be
understood only an assent of the undersianding to the truth of gospel doctrines,
as distinguished from good wprks, and that may exist separate from thera, and
frora all saving grace. We, on the other hand, suppose that the word justify
is to be understood in a different sense frora the Apostle Paul. So that they
are forced to go as far in their scheme, in altering the sense of terms from Paul's
use of them, as we. But yet at the sarae tirae that they freely vary the sense
of the former of them, viz., faith, yet when we understand the" latter, viz., jus
tify, in a different sense from St Paul, they cry out of us, what necessity of
framing this distinction, but only to serve an opinion ! At this rate a raan may
maintain any thing, though never so conlrary to Scripture, and elude the clear
est text in the Bible ! Though they do not show us why we have not as good
warrant to understand the vrord justify in a diversity frora St Paul, as they the
word faith. If the sense of one of the words raust be varied on either scheme,
to raake the Apostle James's doctrine consistent with the Apostle Paul's, and
the varying the sense of one term or the other, be all that stands in the way o;
'heir agreeing with either scheme, and the varying the sense ofthe latter, bein
itself as fair as of the former, then the text lies as fair for one scheme as the
other, and can no more fairly be an objection against our scheme than theirs
And if so, whal becomes of all this great objection from this passage in Jaraes?
2. If there be no more difficulty in varying the sense of one of these terms
than another, from any thing in the text itself, so as to make the words suit
with either scherae, then certainly that is to be chosen that is raost agreeable to
the current of Scripture, and other places where the same matter is more parti
culariy and fully treated of; and therefore that we should understand the word
justify in this passage of Jaraes, in a sense in sorae respect diverse from that in
which St Paul uses it For by what has been aheady said, it may appear,
that there is no one doctrine in the whole Bible more fully asserted, explained
and urged, than the doctrine of justification by failh alone, without any of ou'
. wn righteousness.
3. There is a very fair interpretation of this passage of St James, that is no
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE 126
way inconsistent with this doctrine of justification, which I have shown thai
other Scriptures do so abundantly teach, which interpretalion the words them
selves will as well allow of, as that which the objectors put upon them, and
much better agrees wilh the context; and that is, that works are here spoken
of as justifying as evidences. A man may be said to be justified by that which
clears him, or vindicates hira, or raakes the goodness of his cause raanifest
Wher. a person has a cause tried in a civil court, and is justified or cleared, he
may be said in different senses to be cleared, by the goodness of his cause, and
by the goodness ofthe evidences ofii. He raay be said to be cleared by what
evidences his cause to be good. That which renders his cause good, is the pro
per ground of his justification ; it is by that that he is himself a proper subject
of it; but evidences justify, only as they manifest that his cause is good ih
fact, whether they are of such a nature as to have any influence to render it so
or no. It is by works that our cause appears to be good ; but by faith our cause
not only appears to be good, but becomes good ; because thereby we are united
to Christ. That the -word juitify should be sometimes understood to signify the
former of these, as well as the latter, is agreeable to the use of the word in
comraon speech ; as we say such a one stood up to justify another, i. e., he en
deavored to show or manifest his cause to be good. And it is certain that the
word is soraetiraes used in this sense in Scripture when speaking of our being
justified befoie God; as where it is said, we shall be justified by our words :
Matt. xii. 39, " For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou
shalt be conderaned." It cannot be meant that men are accepted before God
on account of tbeir words ; for God has told us nolhing raore plain, than that it
is the heart that he looks at; and that when he acts as judge towards men, in order
to justifying or condemning, he tries the heart: Jer. xi. 20, "But 0 Lord of
hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see
thy vengeance on them ; for unto thee have I revealed my cause." Psalra vh.
B, 9, " "The Lord .shall judge the people : judge rae, 0 Lord, according to my
righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in rae. 0 let the wicked
ness ofthe wicked come lo an end; but establish the just; for the righteous
God trieth the hearts and reins." Verse 11," God judgeth the righteous." And
many other places to the like purpose. And therefore men can be justified by
their words, no otherwise than as evidences or manifestations of what is in the
heart And it is thus that Christ speaks of the words in this very place, as is
evident by the context, verses 34, 35, " Out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaketh. A good raan out of the good treasure of the heart," &c. The
words, or sounds themselves, are neither parts of godliness, nor evidences of
godliness, but as signs of what is inward.
God himself, when he acts towards raen as judge, in order to a declarative
judgraent, raakes use of evidences, and so judges raen by their works. And
theiefore, at the day ofjudgraent, God will judge men according to their works :
for though God will stand in no need of evidence to inform him what is right.
yet it is to be considered, that he will then sit in judgment, not as earthly judges
do, to find out what is right in a cause, but to declare and manifest what is
right ; and therefore that day is called by the aposlle, " the day of the revela
tion of the righteous judgment of God," Rom. ii. 5.
To be justified, is to be approved and accepted : but a man may be said to
be approved and accepted in two respects ; the one is to be approved really, and
the other to be approved and accepted declaratively. Justification is twofold
it is either the acceptance and approbation of the judge itself, or the manifesta
tion of '.hat approbation, by a sentence or judgment declared by the judge,
126 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
either to our own consciences, or to the world. If justification be understood m
the forraer sense, for the approbation itself, that is only that by which we be
corae fit to be approved : but if it be understood in the latter sense, for the man
ifestation of this approbation, it is by whatever is a proper evidence of that
fitness. In the forraer, faith only is concerned ; because it is by that only in us
that we becorae fit to be accepted and approved : in the latter, whatever is an
evidence of our fitness, is alike concerned. And therefore, take justification in
this sense, and then failh, and all other graces and good works have a common
and equal concern in it : for any other grace, or holy acl, is equally an evidence
of a qualification for acceptance or approbation, as faith. To justify has always,
in comraon speech, signified indifferently, either simply approbation, or testify
ing that approbation ; .sometimes one, and sometimes the other: and that be
cause they arc both the same, only as one is out*' ard ly what the other is in
wardly. So we, and it may be all nations, are wont to give the sarae names to
two things, when one is only declarative of the other. Thus soraetimes judg
ing intends only judging in our thoughts ; at other times, testifying and deckrr
ing judgment. So such words as justify, conderan, accept, reject, prize, slight,
approve, renounce, are sometiraes put for raental acts, at other tiraes, for an
outward treatraent. So in the sense in which the Apostle Jaraes seeras to use
the word justify for manifestative justification, a man is justified not only by faith
but also by works ; as a tree is raanifested to be good, not only by immediately
exaraining the tree, but also by the fruit. Prov. xx. 1 1, " Even a child is known
by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right"
The drift of the apostle does not require that he should be understood in
any other sense : for all that he airas at, as appears by a view of the context,
is to prove that good works are necessary. The error of those that he opposed
was this, that good works were not necessary lo salvation ; that if they did
but believe that there was but one God, and that Christ was the Son of God,
and the like, and were baptized, they were safe, let them hve how they -would;
which doctrine greatly tended to licentiousness. The evincing of the contrary
of this-is evidently the apostle's scope.
And that we should understand the apostle, of works justifying as an evi
dence, and in a declarative judgment, is what a due consideration of the con
text will naturally lead us to. For it is plain, that the apostle is here ins'isting
on works, in the quality of a necessary manifestation and evidence of faith, or
as what the truth of failh is showed or raade to appear by : as verse 18, " Show
me thy faith without thy worksj and I will show thee my faith by my works."
And when he says, verse 26, " As the body wiihout the spirit is dead, so failh
without works is dead also," it is rauch more rational and natural to understand him
as speaking of works done as proper signs and evidences ofthe reality, life, and
gooflness of faith. Not that the very works or actions are properly the life of
faith, as the spirit in the body ; bul it is the active, working nature of faith, of
which the -tctions or works done are the signs, that is itself the life and spirit
of faith. The sign of a thing is often in Scripture language said to be that thing;
as it is in that coraparison by which the apostle illustrates it It is not the
actions theraselves of a body, that are properiy the life or spirit of the body:
but it is the active nature, of which those actions or motions are the signs, that
is the life of the, body. That which makes raen call any thing alive, is, that
they observe that it has an active, operative nature in it ; which they observe
no otherwise than bythe actions or motions that are the signs, of it It is
plainly the apostle's aim to prove that works are necessary from that, that if
faith hath not works, it is a sign that it is not a good sort of faith; which
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. 127
would not have been to his purpose, if it>was his design to show that it is noi
by faitn alone, though of a right sort, that we have acceptance with Goc, but
that we are accepted on the account of obedience as well as faith. It is evi
dent by the apostle's reasoning, that the necessity of works that he speaks of, is
not as having a parallel concern in our salvation with faith; but he speaks of
works only as related to failh, and expressive of il ; which, after all, leaves failh
the alone fundamental condition, without any thing else having a parallel con
cern with it in this affair; and other thing-s conditions, only as several expres
sions and evidences of it.
That the apostle speaks of works justifying only as a sign or evidence, and
in God's declarative judgment, is further confirmed by verse 21: "Was not
Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered up Isaac his son
upon the altar?" Here the apostle seems plainly to refer to that declarative
judgment of God, concerning Abrahara's sincerity, raanifested to hira, for the
peace and assurance of his own conscience after his offering up Isaac his son on
the altar, that w^e have account of Gen. xxii. 12 : " Now I know that thou fisar-
est God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." But
here it is plain, and expressed in the very words of justification or approbation,
that this work of Abraham's, his offering up his son on the altar, justified him
as an evidence. When the Apostle James says, we are justified by works, he
may, and ought to be understood in a sense agreeable to the instance he brings
for the proof of it : bul justification in that instance appears by the works of
justification themselves referred to, to be by works as an evidence. And where
this in.stance of Abrahara's obedience is elsewhere mentioned in the New Testa
ment, it is mentioned as a fruit and evidence of his faith. Heb. xi. 17, " By
faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac ; and he that had received
the promises, offered up his only begotten son."
And in the other instance which the aposlle mentions, verse 25 : " Likewise
also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the
messengers, and had sent thera out another way ?" The apostle refers to a
declarative judgraent, in that particular testimony which was given of God's
approbation of her as a believer, in directing Joshua to save her when the rest
of Jericho was destroyed. Josh. vi. 25 : " And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot
alive, and her father's household, and all that she had ; and she dwelleth in
Israel even unlo this day ; because she hid the raessengers which Joshua sent
to spy out Jericho." This was accepted as an evidence and expression of her
faith. Heb. xi. 32, " By failh the harlot Rahab perished not with them that
believed not, when she had received the spies wilh peace.'' The apostle in
saying, " Was not Rahab the harlot justified by works ?" by the manner of
his speaking has reference to something in her history ; but we have no account
in her history of any other justification of her but this.
4. If, notwithstanding, any choose to take justification in St James's precise
ly as we do in Paul's epistles, for God's acceptance or approbation itself, and
not any expression of that approbation ; what has been already said concern
ing the manner in which acts of evangelical obedience are concerned in the
affau of our ju.stification, affords a very easy, clear and full answer : for if we
take works as acts or expressions of failh, they are not excluded ; so a man
is not justified by faith only, but also by works ; i. e. he is not justified only by
faith as a principle in the heart, or in its first and raore immanent acts, but also
by the efifective acts of it in life, which are the expressions of the life of faith.
as the operations and actions of the body are of the life of that ; agreeable tc
verse 26.
128 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
What has been said in answer to these objections, raay also, [ hope, abun
dantly serve for an answer to that objection, that is often made against this doc
trine, viz., that it encourages licentiousness in life. For, from what has beer,
said, we raay see that the Scripure doctrine of justification by faith alone, with
out any raanner of goodness or excellency of ours, does in no wise dirainisl
either the necessity or benefit of a sincere, evangelical, universal obedience ii
that, man's salvation is not only indissolubly connected with it, and daranatior
with the want of it, in those that have opportunity for it, but that it depends
upon it in raany respects ; as il is the way to it, and the nece.ssary preparatior
for il, and also as eternal blessings are bestowed in reward for it, and as om
justification in our own consciences, and at the day ofjudgraent, depends on it
as the proper evidence of our acceptable state ; and that, even in accepting
us as entitled to life in our justification, God has respect to this, as that on
which the fitness of such an acl of justification depends : so that our salvatioii
does as truly depend upon it, as if we were justified for the raoral excellency o)
it And besides all this, the degree of our happiness lo all eiernity is suspended
on, and deterrained by the degree of this. So that this gospel scheme ot
jastification is as far from encouraging licentiousness, and contains as much tc
encourage and excite to strict and universal obedienee, and the utmost possibk
erainency of holiness, as any scheme that can be devised, and indeed unspeak
ably more.
I corae now to the la.st thing proposed, which is,
V. To consider the iraporlance of this doctrine.
I know there are many that make as though this controversy was of no
great importance ; that it is chiefly a matter of nice speculation, depending on
certain subtle distinctions, which many that make use of thera do not under
stand themselves ; and that the diff'erence is not of such consequence as to be
worth the being zealous about ; and that more hurt is done by raising disputes
about it than good.
Indeed I am far from thinking that it is of absolute necessity that persons
should understand, and be agreed upon, all the distinctions needful particularly
to explain and defend this doctrine against all cavils and objections (though
all Christians should strive after an increase of knowledge, and none should
content Ihemselves without sorae clear and distinct understanding in this point):
but that we should beheve in the general, according to the clear and abundant
revelations of God's word, that it is none of our own excellency, virtue, or
righteousness, that is the ground of our being received frora a state of condem
nation into a slate of acceptance in God's sight, but only Jesus Christ, and his
righteousness, and worthiness, received by faith. This I think to be of great
importance, at least in application to ourselves ; and that for the following
reasons. 1. The Scripture treats of this doctrine, as a doctrine of very great importance.
That there is a certain doctrine of justification by faith, in opposition to jusfifi-
cation by the works of the law, that the Aposlle Paul insists upon as of the
greatest iraportance, none will deny ; because there is nothing in the Bible
raore apparent. The apostle, under the infallible conduct of the Spirit of
God, thought it worth his raost strenuous and zealous disputing about and de
fending. He speaks of the contrary doctrine as fatal and ruinous to the souls
of men, m the latter end of the ninth chapter of Roraans, and beo-inning of the
tenth. He speaks of it as subversive of the gospel of Christ, and calls it an
other gospel, and says concerning it, if any one, " though an angel frora heaven.
preach it, let hira be accursed ;" Gal. i. 6—9 compared whh the following
JUSTiFICA-nON BY FAITH ALONE. 129
part of the epistle. Certainly we must allow the apostles to be good jt'dges of
the importance and tendency af doctrines; at least the Holy Ghost in them..
And doubtless we are safe, and in no danger of harshness and censoriousneir if
we only follow hira, and keep close to his express teachings, in what we be
lieve and say of the hurtful and pernicious tendency of any error. Why are
we to blame, or to be cried out of, for saying what the Bible has taught us to
say, or for believing what the Holy Ghost has taught us to that end that we
night believe it ?
2. Th'i adverse scheme lays another foundation of man's salvation than God
hath laid. I do not now speak of that ineflfectual redemption ihat they suppose
to be universal, and what all mankind are equally the subjects of; but I say, i^
lays entirely another foundation of man's actual, discriminating salvation, Oi
that salvation, wherein true Christians differ frora wicked men. We suppose
the foundation of this to be Christ's vvorthiness and righteousness : on the con
trary, that scheme supposes it to be men's own virtue ; even so, that this is the
ground of a saving interest in Christ itself It takes away Christ out of the
place ofthe bottom stone, and puts in raen's own virtue in the roora of him :
so that Christ himself in the affair of distinguishing, actual salvation, is laid
upon this foundation. And the foundation being so different, I leave it to
every one to judge whether the difference between the two schemes consists
only in punctilios of small consequence. The foundations being contrary, makes
the whole scherae exceeding diverse and opposite ; the one is a gospel scheme,
the other a legal one.
3. It is in this doctrine that the most essential difference lies between the
covenant of grace and the first covenant. The adverse scheme of justification
supposes that we are justified by our works, in the very sarae sense wherein
man was to have been justified by his works under the first covenant By that
covenant our fii.st parents were not to have had eternal life given them for any
proper merit in their obedience ; because their perfect obedience was a debt
that they owed God : nor was it to be bestowed for any proportion between
the dignity of their obedience, and the value of the reward ; but only il was
to be bestowed frora a regard to a moral fitness in the virtue of their obedience
to the reward of God's favor ; and a title to eternal life was to be given them,
as a testimony of God's pleasedness with their works, or his regard to the in
herent beauty of their virtue. And so it is the very sarae way that those
in the adverse scherae suppose that we are received into God's special favor
now, and to those saving benefits that are the testiraonies of it I ara sensible
fhe divines of that side entirely disclaira the Popish doctrine of raerit ; and are
free to speak of our utter unworthiness, and the great iraperfection of all our
services : but after all, it is our virtue, iraperfect as it is, that recommends raen
to God, by which good raen corae to have a saving interest in Christ, and
God's favor, rather than others ; and these things are bestowed in testimony of
God's respect to their goodness. So that whether they will allow the term
merit or no, yet they hold, that we are accepted by our own raerit, inthe sarae
sense though not in the sarae degree as under thefirst covenant.
But the great and most distinguishing difference between that covenant and
tbe Covenant of grace is, that by the covenant of grace we are not thus justified
by our own works, but only by faith in Jesus Christ It is on this account
chiefly that the new covenant deserves the name of a covenant of grace, as if
evident by Rom. iv. 16 : " Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace.'
And chap. iu. 20, 24, " Therefore by ne deeds of the law, there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight — Being justified freely by his grace, through the rederap-
VoL. IV. 17
130 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALOI^fE.
tion that is in Jesus Christ." And chap. xi. 6, " And if bj grace, then it ijno
more of works ; otherwise grace is no more grace : but if it be of works ; then
it is no raore grace ; otherwise work is no raore wprk." Gal. v. t, " Whoso
ever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace." And therefore
the aposlle, when in the sarae epistle to the Galatians he speaks of the doctrine
of ju-stification by works as another gospel, he adds, " which is not another,"
chap. i. verses 6, 7. It is no gospel at all ; it is law : it in no covenant of grace,
but of works : it is not an evangelical, but a legal doctrine. Certainly that
doctrine wherein consists the greaiest and most essential difference between the
covenant of grace and the first covenant, raust be a doctrine of great importance.
That doctrine of the gospel by which above all others it is worthy of the narae
gospel, is doubtless a very important doctrine of the gospel.
4. This is the main thing that fallen raen stood in need of divine revelation
for, to teach us how we that have sinned raay come to be again accepted of
God ; or, which is the same thing, how the sinner may be justified. Something
beyond the light of nature is necessary to salvation chiefly on this account
•Mere natural reason afforded no means by which we could corae to the know
ledge ofthis, it depending on the sovereign pleasure of the Being that we had
offended by sin. This seems to be the great drift of that revelation that God
has given, and of all those raysteries it reveals, all those great doctrines that
are peculiarly doctrines of revelation, and above the light of nature. It seems
to have been very rauch on this account, that it was requisite that the doctrine
bf the Trinity itself should be revealed to us ; that by a discovery of the con
cern of the several divine persons in the great affair of our salvation, we raight
the belter understand and see how all our dependence in this affair is on God,.
and our sufficiency all in hira, and not in ourselves ; that he is all in all in this
business, agreeable to that in 1 Cor. i. 29—31, " That no flesh should glory in
his presence. But of hira are ye in Christ J«sus, who of God is raade unto us
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption : that accoiding
as it is written. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." What is the gos
pel, but only the glad tidings of a new way of acceptance with God unto life,
a way wherein sinners may come to be free frora the guilt of sin, and obtain a
title to eternal life ? And if, when this way is revealed, it is rejected, and an
other of raan's devising be put in the roora of it, wuhout doubt it must be an
error of great importance, and the aposlle might well say it was another
gospel. 5. The contrary scheme of justification derogates rauch from the honor of
God and the Mediator. I have already shown how il diminishes the glory ofthe
Mediator, in ascribing that to raan's virtue and goodness, which belongs alone
to his worthiness and righteousness.
By the apostle's sease of the matter it renders Christ needless: Gal. f. 4,
" Christ is becorae of no effect to you, whosoever of you are justified by the law."
If that scheme of justification be followed in its consequences, it utterly over
throws the glory of all the great things that have been contrived, and done, and
suffered in the work of redemption. Gal. ii. 2 1, « If righteousness come by the-
law, Christ is dead in vain." It has also been already shown how it dirainishes
the glory of divine grace (which is the attribute God hath especially .set him
self to glorify in the work of redemption) ; and so that it greatly dirainishes the
obligation to gratitude in the sinner that is saved : yea, that in the sense ofthe
apostle, it raakes void the distinguishing grace of the gospel. Gal. v. 4, " Who
soever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace." It dirainishes the
glory of the grace of God and the Redeeraer, and proportionably raagnifi»-s,
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE 131
man . ii makes hira something before God, when indeed he is nothing : it
makes the goodness and excellency of fallen raan to be son.elhing, which
[ have shown are nothing. I have also already shown, that it is contra
ry to the- truth of God in the threatening of his holy law, to justify the sinner
for his virtue. And whether it were contrary to God's truth or no, it is a scheme
of things very unworthy of God, that supposes that God, when about to lift up
a poor, forlorn raalefactor, conderaned to eternal raisery for sinning against his
Majesty, out of his misery, and to make him unspeakably and eternally happy,
by bestowing his Son and himself upon hira, as it were, sels all Ihis to sale, tor
the price of his vhtue and excellency. I know that those we oppose do ac
knowledge, that the price is very disproportionate to the benefit bestowed ; and
say, that God's grace is wonderfully manifested in accepting so httle virtue.
and bestowing so glorious a reward for such iraperfect righteousness. But see
ing we are such infinitely sinful and aborainable creatures in God's sight, and
by our infinite guilt have broughi ourselves into such wretched and deplorable
circumstances, and all our righteousnesses are nothing, and ten thousand tiraes
worse than nolhing (if God looks upon thera as they be in theraselves), is it
not unraensely raore worthy ofthe infinite majesty and glory of God, to deliver
and make happy such poor, filthy worms, such -wretched vagabonds and
captives, wiihout any money or price of theirs, or any manner of expectation of
any excellency or virtue in thera, in any wise to recommend them ? Will it
not betray a foolish, exalting opinion of ourselves, and a mean one of God, to
have a thought of offering any thing of ours, to recommend us to the favor of
being brought frorn wallowing, like filthy swine, in the raire of our sins, and from
the enmity and misery of devils in the lowest hell, to the state of God's dear
children, in the everlasting arms of his love, in heavenly glory ; or to imagine
that that is the constitution of God, that we should bring our filthy rags, and
offer thera to him as the price of this ?
6. The opposite scheme does raost directly tend lo lead men to trust in their
own righteousness for justification, which is a thing fatal to the soul. This is
what men are of Ihemselves exceedingly prone to do (and that though they are
never so much taught the contrary), through the exceeding partial and high
thoughts they have of themselves, and their exceeding dulness of apprehending
any such mystery as our being accepted for the righteousness of another. But
this scheme does directly teach men to trust in their own righteousness for justi
fication ; in that it teaches thera tbat this is indeed what they raust be justified
by, being the way of justification that God himself has appointed. So that if
a man had naturally no disposition to trust in his own righteousness, yet if he em
braced this scheme, and acted consistent wilh it, it would lead him lo it But
that trusting in our own righteousness, is a thing fatal to the soul, is what the
Scripture plainly leaches -as: it tells us, that il will cause that Christ profit us
nothing, and be of no effect to us. Gal. v. 2 — 4. For Ihough the apostle speaks
there particularly of circuracision, yet (I have shown already, that) it is not
merely being circumcised, but trusting in circumcision as a righteousness, that
the apostle has respect to. He could not mean, that merely being circumcised
would render Christ of no profit or eff'ect to a person ; for we read that he him
self, for certain reasons, took Timothy and circumcised hira. Acts xvi. 3. And
the same is evident by the context, and by the rest of the epistle. And the
apostle speaks of trusting in their own righteousness as fatal to the Jews, Rora.
ix. 31, 32: "But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath
not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore ? Because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law ; for they stumbled al
132 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.
that stumbling stone." Together with chap. x. verse 3, " Forthey, being igno
rant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not subraitted themselves unto the righteouijtiess of God." And this is
spoken of as fatal to the Pharisees, in the parable of the Pharisee and the Pub
lican, that Christ spake to them to reprove them for trusting in theraselves that
they were righteous. The design of the parable is to show them, that the very
publicans shall be justified, rather than they ; as appears by the reflection Christ
makes upon it, Luke xviii. 14 : "I tell you, this man went down to his house
justified rather than the other ;" that is, this and not the other. The fatal ten
dency of it raight also be proved from its inconsistence with the nature of justi
fying faith, and also its inconsistence with the nature af that humiliation that
the Scripture often speaks of as absolutely necessary to salvation ; but these
Scriptures are so express, that it is needless to bring any further arguments.
How far a wonderful and mysterious agency of God's Spirit may so influ
ence some men's hearts, that their practice in this regard may be contrary to
their own principles, so that they shall not trust in their own righteousness,
though they profess that men are justified by their own righteousness ; or how
far they believe the doctrine of justification by men's own righteousness in gen^
eral, and yet not believe it in a particular application of it to themselves ; or
how far that error which they may have been led into by education, or cunning
sophistry of others, may yet be indeed contrary to the prevailing disposition of
their hearts, and contrary to their practice : or how far some may seem to main
tain a doctrine contrary to this gospel doctrine of j«stification, that really do not,
but only express theraselves differently from others; or seem to oppose it'
through their misunderstanding of our expre;ssions, or we of theirs, when indeed
our real sentiments are the same in the main ; or may seem to differ raore than
they do, by using terms that are without a precisely fixed and determinate mean
ing ; or to be wide in their sentiraents from this doctrine, for want of a distinct
understanding of it, whose hearts, at the sarae time, entirely agree with it, and
if once it was clearly explained to their understandings, would immediately close
with it, and embrace it : how far these things may be, I will not deterraine ; but
am fully persuaded that great allowances are to be made on these and such like
accounts, in innumerable instances ; though it is manifest, from what has been
said, that the teaching and propagating contrary doctrines and schemes are of
a pernicious and fatal tendency.
SERMON V.
THE WISDOM OF GOD, DISPLAYED IN THE WAY OF SALVA. TION.
Sfhestans iii. lO.^To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places,
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.
Introduction. ,
The apostle is speaking in the context of the glorious doctrine of the re
deraption of sinners by Jesus Christ ; and how it was in a great measure kept
hid in the past ages of the world. It was a mystery that before they did not
understand, but now it was in a glorious manner brought to hght. Ver. 3 — 5,
" By revel-ation he made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few
words ; whereby when ye read ye may understandmy knowledge in the mystery
of Christ), which in other ages was not raade known unto the sons of men, as
it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets, by the Spirit" And
ver. 8, 9, " Unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given,
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus
Christ" And the apostle in the text inforras us, that what Christ had accoraplished
towards his church, in the work of rederaption, had not only in a great raeasure
unveiled the mystery to the church in this world ; but God had raore clearly
and fully opened it to the understanding even of the angels themselves ; and that
this was one end of God in it, to discover the glory of his wisdom to the angels.
" To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places,
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God."
One end of revealing God's counsels concerning the work of redemption,
is making known God's wisdom. It is called manifold wisdom ; because of the
manifold glorious ends that are attained by it. The excellent designs, hereby
accomplished, are very manifold. The wisdora of God in this is of vast extent.
The contrivance is so manifold, that one may spend an eternity in discovering
more of the excellent ends and designs accoraplished by it ; and the raultitude
and vast variety of things that are, by divine contrivance, brought to conspire
to the bringing about those ends.
We may observe, to whom it is that God would raanifest this his wisdom,
by revealing the mystery of our redemption ; — and they are not only men, but
the angels. " To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in
heavenly places raight be known — the manifold wisdom of God." The angels
are often called principalities and powers, because of the exalted dignity of
their nature. The angels excel in strength and wisdom. Those who are the
wise men of the earth are called princes in the style of the apostle, 1 Cor. ii. 6 :
" Howbeit we speak wisdom araong thera that are perfect, yet not the wisdom
ofthis world, nor ofthe princes of this world." — Ver. 8, " Which none of the
princes of this world knew ; for had they known it, they would not have cruci
fied the Lord of glory." So the angels are called principalities for their great
wisdom. They may also be so called for the honor God has put upon thera, in
employing thera as his ministers and instruments, wherewith he goveTns tht
l34 -WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SAL^V-^TION.
world : and therefore are called thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers,
Col. i. 16.
They are called principalities and powers in heavenly places, as distinguish
ing them from those that are in places of earthly power and dignity. The offices
or places of dignity and power that the angels sustain, are not earthly, but
heavenly. They are in places of honor and power in the heavenly city and the
heavenly kingdom.
One end of God in reveahng his design or contrivance for redemption, as he
halh so fully and gloriously done by Jesus Christ, is that the angels in heaven
may behold the glory of his wisdom by it. Though they are such bright in
telligences, and do always behold the face of God the Father, and know so
much ; yet here is matier of instruction for them. Here they may see raore of
the divine wisdora than ever they had seen before. It was a new discovery of
the wisdora of God to them.
The time when this display of the wisdom of God was especially made to
the angels is, when Christ introduced the gospel dispensation, implied in those
words, " To the intent that now unto the principalities," &c. When Christ
carae into the world and died, and actually perforraed the work of redemption — ;
when he had fully and plainly revealed the counsels of God concerning it ; and
accordingly introduced the evangelical dispensation, and erected the gospel church
— then the angels understood more of the mystery of raan's rederaption, and
the raanifold designs and counsels of divine wisdom, than ever they had done
before. In the foregoing verse the aposlle, after speaking of reveahng this wisdom of
God lo raan, " and to raake all men see, whal is the fellowship of this mystery,"
&c., speaks of this mystery as a thing from the beginning kept hid till now,
" The mystery, which from the beginning ofthe world had been hid in God
-that now," &c. In this verse he mentions another end, viz., that he raay, at
the sarae tirae, make the angels also see God's wisdom in his glorious scheme
of redemption. — " Now," at this time, iraplies that it was before a mystery
kept hid from thera in coraparison of what it is now. And here is room enough
for the angels to discover more and raore lo all eternity of the wisdom of God
in this work.
Observe the medium by which the angels come by this knowledge, viz., the
church. — " That now unto principalities — might be known by the church," —
i. e., by the things they see done in the church, or towards the church : and by
whal they see concerning the church. So hath it pleased the sovereign God,
that the angels shoukl have the most glorious discoveries of divine wisdom by
his doings towards his church, a sort of beings much inferior to themselves. It
hath pleased God to put this honor upon us.
The wisdom appearing in the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, is far above
the wisdom of the angels. For here it is mentioned as one end of God in re
vealing the contrivance of our salvation, that the angels thereby raight see and
know how great and manifold the wisdom of God is ; to hold forth the divine
wisdora to the angels' view and admiration. But why is it so, if this wisdom
be not higher than their own wisdom ? It never would have been mentioned
as one end of revealing the contrivance of redemption, that the ano-els might
see how raainfold God's wisdora is ; if all the wisdom to be seen in" it was no
greater than their own. Il is mentioned as a wisdom such as they had -,ever
seen before, not in God, much less in Ihemselves. That now might be known
how raanifold the wisdora of Go! is; now, four thousand years smce the crea
tion.— In all tha' *ime the angels had always beheld the face of God ; and had
•WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION. 16^
been studying God's works of creation ; yet they never, till that day, haa seen
any thing hke that ; never knew how manifold God's wisdom is, as now the."
knew it by the church. SECTION. I.
Wonderful things done, by which salvation is procured.
Such is the choice of the person chosen to be our redeemer, — the substitu
ting of him in our room ; — his incarnation — his life — his deatli — and exalta
tion. And,
1. We will consider the choice of ihe person to be our redeemer. When
God designed the redemption of mankind, his great wisdom appears in that he
pitched upon his own, his only-begotten Son, to be the person lo perform the
work. He was a redeeraer of God's own choosing, and therefore he is called in
Scripture, God's elect, Isa. Ixii. 1. The wisdora of choosing this person to be
the redeemer, appears in his being every way -a fit person for this undertaking.
It was necessary, that the person that is the redeemer, should be a divine
person. — None but a divine person was sufficient for this great work. The
work is infinitely unequal to any creature. It was requisite, that the redeemer
of sinners, should be hiraself infinitely holy. None could take away the infinite
evil of sin, but one that was infinitely far from and contrary to sin hiraself
-Christ is a fit person upon this account.
It was requisite, that the person, in order to be suflScient for this undertak
ing, should be one of infinite dignity and worthiness, that he might be capable
of meriting infinite blessings. The Son of God is a fit person on this account.
It was necessary, that he should be a person of infinite power and wisdom ; for
this work is so difficult, that it requires such a one. Christ is a fit person also
upon this account. Il was requisite, that he should be a person infinitely dear
to God the Father, in order to give an infinite value to his transactions in the
Father's esteem, and that the Father's love to him might balance the offence
and provocation by our sins. Christ is a fit person upon this account. There
fore called the beloved, Eph. i. 6. He halh made us accepted in the beloved.
It was requisite that Ihe person should be one that could act is this as of
his own absol-ute right : one that, in himself, is not a servant or subject ; because,
if he is one that cannot act of his own right, he cannot merit any thing. He
that is a servant, and that can do no more than he is bound to do, cannot merit.
And then he that has nothing that is absolutely his own, cannot pay any price
to redeem another. Upon this account Christ is a fit person ; and none but a
divine person can be fit — And he must be a person also of infinite mercy and
love ; for no other person but such a one would undertake a work so difficuh
for a creature so unworthy as raan. — Upon this account also Christ is a fit per
son. — It was requisite that he should be a person of unchangeable perfect truth
and faithfulness ; otherwise he would not be fit to be depended on by us in so
great an aflfair. Christ is also a fit person upon this account
The wisdora of God in choosing his eternal Son, appears, not only in that
he is a fit person ; but in that he was the only fit person of all persons, whether
created or uncreated. No created person, neither man, nor angel, was fit for
this undertaking ; for we have just now shown, that he must be a person of in-
Unite holiness — dignity — power — wisdom ; infinitely dear to God — of infinite
love and mercy ; and one that may act of his own absolute right. But no crea
ture, how excellent soever, has anyone of these qualifications. — There are three
uncreated pers .^ns, the Falher, Son, and Holy Ghost ; and Christ alone of these
136 WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION,
was a suitable person for a redeemer. It was not meet, that the redeemei
should be God the Father ; because he, in the nivine econoray of the persons
of the Trinity, was the person that holds the rights of the Godhead, and so was
the person offended, whose justice required satisfaction ; and was to be appeased
by a mediator. It was not meet it should be the Holy Ghost, for in being
.nedialor between the Father and the saints, he is in some sense so between the
Falher and the Spirit. The saints, in all their spiritual transactions with God,
act by the Spirit ; or rather, it is the Spirit of God that acts in them ; they are
the temples of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit dwelling in them, is their
principle of action, in all their transactings with God. But in these their spiritual
transactings with God, they act by a mediator. These spiritual and holy exer
cises cannot be acceptable, or avail any thing with God, as from a fallen creature,
but by a raediator. Therefore Christ, in being mediator between the Fathei
and the saints, raay be said to be mediator between the Father and the Holy
Spirit, that acts in the saints. And therefore it was meet, that the mediator should
not be either the Father or the Spirit, but a middle person between them both
It is the Spirit in the sainls, that seeks the blessing of God, by faith and prayer;
and, as the apostle says, with groanings that cannot be uttered : Rom. viu. 26,
" Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities : for we know not what we
should pray for as we ought : but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us,
wilh groanings that cannot be uttered." The Spirit in the saints seeks divine
blessings of God, by and through a mediator ; and therefore that mediator must
not be the Spirit, but another person.
It shows a divine wisdora, to know that he was a fit person. No other but
one of divine wisdora could have known it. None but one of infinite wisdom
could have thought of hira to be a redeemer of sinners. For he, as he is God,
is one of the persons oflfended by sin ; against whom man by his sin had rebell
ed. Who but God infinitely wise could ever have thought of him to be a re
deemer of sinners ; against whom they had sinned, to whora they were enemies,
and of whora they'deserved infinitely ill ? Who would ever have thought of
hira as one that should set his heart upon man, and exercise infinite love and
pity to him, and exhibit infinite wisdora, power, and merit in redeeming him ?
We proceed,
2. To consider the substituting of this person in our room. After choosing
the person to be our redeemer, the next step of divine wisdora is, to contrive
the way how he should perforra this work. If God had declared who the person
was, that should do this work, and had gone no further ; no creature could
have thought which -way this person could have perforraed the work. If God
had told thera, that his own Son raust be the redeemer ; and that he alone was
a fit person for 'the work ; and that he was a person every way fit and sufficient
for It, — but had proposed to them to contrive a way how' this fit and sufficient
person should proceed,— we may well suppose that all created understandings
would have been utterly at a loss.
The fir.st thing necessary to be done, is, that this Son of God should become
our representative and surety ; and so be substituted in the sinner's room. . But
who of created intelligences would have thought of any such thing as the eter
nal and infinitely beloved Son of God being substituted in the roora of sinners ?
his standing in stead ofa sinner, a rebel, an object ofthe wrath of God ? W,ho
would have thf -lirht of a person of infinite glory representing sinful worms, iLt
had raade themselves by sin infinitely provoking and abominable ?
For, if the Son of God be substituted in the sinner's room, then his sm must
ie Charged upoi hira : he will thereby take the guilt of the sinner npon him-
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION 13/
self, he must be subject to the sarae law that man was, both as to the com
mands, and threatenings : but who would have thought of any such thing con
cerning the Son of God ? But we proceed,
3. To consider the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The next step of divine
wisdom in contriving how Christ should perform the work of redeeming sin
ners, was in determining his incarnation. Suppose God had revealed his coun
sels thus far to created understandings, that his own Son was the person chosen
for this work, Ihat he had substituted him in the sinner's room, and appointed
him to take the sinner's obhgations and guilt on himself — and had revealed no
more, but had left the rest to them to find out ; it is no way probable, that even
then they could ever have thought of a way, whereby this person might actu
ally have performed the work of rederaption. For if the Son of God be substi
tuted in the sinner's stead, then he takes the sinner's obligations on hiraself For
instance, he must take the obligation the sinner is under to perforra perfect obe
dience to the divine law-. But it is not probable, that any creature could have
conceived how that could be possible. — How should a person who is the eternal
Jehovah, become a servant, be under law, and perform obedience even to the
law of man ?
And again. If the Son of God be substituted in the sinner's stead, then he
coraes under the sinner's obligation to sufltr the punishment which man's sin
deserved. And who could have thought that to be possible ? For how should
a divine person, who is essentially, unchangeably, and infinitely happy, suffer
pain and torraent ? And how should he who is the object of God's infinitely
dear love, suflTer the wrath of his Falher ? It is not to be supposed, that creat
ed wisdom ever would have found out a way how to have got over these diffi
culties. But divine wisdom hath found out a way, viz., by the incarnation of
the Son of God. That the Word should be made flesh, that he raight be both
God and man, in one person : what created understanding could have cpnceiv-
ed that such a thing was possible ? Yet these things could never be pi'oved to
he impossible. This distinction duly considered will show the futility of many
Socinian objections.
And if God had revealed to them, that it was possible, and even that it
should be, but left them to find out how it should be ; we raay well suppose
that they would all have been puzzled and confounded, to conceive of a way
for so uniting a man to the eternal Son of God, that they should be but one
person ; that one who is truly a man in all respects, should indeed be the very
same Son of God, that was with God from all eternity. This is a great myste
ry to us. Hereby, a person that is infinite, omnipotent, and unchangeable, is
become, in a sense, a finite, a feeble man ; a man subject to our sinless infir
mities, passions, and calamilies ! The great God, the sovereign of heaven and
earth, is thus become a wi/rm of the dust Psal. xxu. 6, " I ara a worra, and
no raan." He that is eternal and self-existent, is by this union born of a -\yo-
man ! He who is the great origmal Spirit, is clothed wilh flesh and blood like
one of us [ He who is independent, self-sufficient, and all-sufficient, now is
corae to stand in need of food and clothing : he becoraes poor, " has not
where to lay his head :" — stands in need of the charity of men ; and is main-
'.ained by il ! It is far above us, to conceive how it is done. It is a great won-
. der and mystery to us ; but it was no mystery to divine wisdom.
4. The next thing to be considered is, the life of Christ in this world. I'he
wisdom of God appears in the circumstances of his life — and in the work and
jusiness of his life.
( 1.) The circum,stances of his life. If God had revealed that his own Sod
Vol.. IV \S
138 WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION.
should be incarnate, and should live in this world in the human .lature; aid it
had been left to men to determine what circurastances of life would have been
most suitable for hira, huraan wisdom would have determined that he should
appear in the world in a most magnificent manner ; with very extraordinary
outward ensigns of honor, authority, and power, far above any of the kings of
¦the earlh : that here he should reign in great visible porap and splendor over
all nations. — And thus it was that men's wisdom did determine before Christ
came. The wise, the great raen araong the Jews, Scribes and Pharisees, who
are called " Princes of this worid," did expect that the Messiah would thus
.appear. But the wisdom of God chose quite otherwise : it chose that when the
Son of God became man, he should begin his hfe in a stable ; for many years
dwell obscurely in a family of a low degree in the world ; and be in low out
ward circumstances : that he should be poor, and not have where to lay his
head : that he should be maintained by the charily of some of his disciples :
that he should " grow up as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground,"
Isa. liii. 2 : that he should " not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be
heard in the streets," Isa. xiii. 2: that he should corae to Zion in a lowly
raanner, " riding on an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass :" that he should he
" despised and rejected of raen, a raan of sorrows, and acquainted with grief"
And now the divine determination in this matter is made known, we may
safely conclude that it is far the most suitable ; and that it would not have heen
al all suitable for God, when he was manifest in flesh, to appear with earthly
pomp, wealth, and g'randeur. No I these Ihings are infinitely too mean and
despicable, for the Son of God to show as if he affected or esteemed thera. Men
if they had had this way proposed to thera, would have been ready to condemn
it as foolish and very unsuitable for the Son of God. But " the foolishness of
God is wiser than raen," 1 Cor. i. 25. " And God hath brought to nought the
wisdora of this world, and the princes of this worid," 1 Cor. ii. 6. Christ, bj
thus appearing in raean and low outward circurastances in this world, has pou^
ed contempt upon all worldly wealth and glory ; and has taught us to despise
it And if it becoraes mean raen lo despise thera, how much more did it be
come the Son of God ! And then Christ hereby hath taught us to be lowly in
heart. If he who is infinitely high and great, was thus lowly ; how lowly
should we be, who are indeed so vile !
(2.) The wisdom of God appears in the work and business of the life of
Christ Particularly, that he should perfectly obey the law of God, under such
great teraptations : that he should have conflicts with, and overcome for us, ih
a way of obedience, the powers of earth and hell ; that he should be subject to,
not only the moral law, but Ihe cerem.onial also, that heavy yoke of bondage.
Christ went through the time of his public ministry, in delivering to us divine
instructions and doctrines. The wisdora of God appears in giving us such a one
to be our prophet and teacher, who is a divine person : who is hiraself the very
wisdora and word of God ; and was frora all eternity in the bosora ofthe Father.
His word is of greater authority and weight than if delivered by the mouth of
an ordinary prophet. And how wisely ordered that the same should be our
teacher and Redeemer; in order that his relations and offices, as Redeemei-,
might the more sweeten and endear his instructions to us. We are ready to give
heed to what is saul by those who are dear to us. Our love to their persons
makes us to delight in their discourse. It is therefore wisely ordered, that he
who has done so much to endear hiraself to us, should be appointed our great
prophet, to deliver to us divine doctrines.
5. The next thing to be considered is the death of Christ. This is a means
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION. 139
of salvation for poor sinners, that no other but divine wisdom would hive pitch
ed upon ; and when revealed, it was doubtless greatly to the surprise of ail the
hosts of heaven, and they never will cease to wonder at it. How astonishing
is it, that a person who is blessed for ever, and is infinitely and essentially happy,
should endure the greatest sufferings that ever were endured on earth I That a
person who is the supreme Lord and judge of the world, should be arraigned,
and should stand at the judgment-seat of raortal worms, and then be conderan
ed. That a person who is the living God, and the fountain of life, should be
put to death. That a person who created the world, and gives life to all his
creatures, should be put to death by his own creatures. That a person of infinite
majesty and glory, and so the object of the love, praises, and adorations of an
gels, should be mocked and spit upon by the vilest of men. That a person, in
finitely ijood, and who is love itself, should suffer the greatest cruelly. That a
person who is infinitely beloved of the Father, should be put to inexpressible
anguish under his own Father's wrath. That he who is King of heaven, who
hath heaven for his Ihrone, and the earth for his footstool, should be buried in
the prison of the grave. How wonderful is this I And yet this is the way that
God's wisdom hath fixed upon, as the way of sinners' salvation ; as neither un
suitable nor dishonorable to Christ
6. The last thing done to procure salvation for sinners, is Christ's ea;a/<«h'o?i.
Divine wisdom saw it needful, or most expedient, that the same person who died
upon the cross, should sit al his right hand, on his own throne, as Supreme
Governor of the world ; and shoukl have particulariy the absolute disposal of
all things relating to man's salvation, and should be the judge of the worid.
This was needful, because it was requisite that the same person who purchased
salvation, should have the bestowing of it ; for it is not fit, that God should at
all transact with the fallen creature in a way of mercy, but by a mediator. And
this is exceedingly for the strengthening of the failh and corafort of the saints,
that he who hatl endured so much to purchase salvation for them, has all things
in heaven and in earth delivered unto him ; that he raight bestow eternal life
on thera for whom he purchased it. And that the sarae person that loved them
so greatly as to shed his precious blood for them, was to be their final judge.
This then was another thing full of wonders, that he who was raan as well
as God; he who was a servant, and died like a raalefactor ; should be raade
the sovereign Lord of htaven and earth, angels and men ; the absolute disposer
of eternal life and death ; the supreme judge of all created intelligent beings,
for eternity : and should have committed lo hira all the governing power of
God the Falher ; and that, not only as God, hut as God-man, not exclusive of
the human nature.
As it is wonderful, that a person who is truly divine should be humbled sc
as to becorae a servant, and to suffer as a raalefactor ; so it is in like manner
wonderful, that he who is God-man, not exclusive of the manhood, should be
exalted to' the power and honor of the great God of heaven and earth. But
such wonders as these has infinite wisdora contrived, and accomplished in ordei
to our salvalicii. SECTION II.
In this way of salvation God is greatly glorified.
God has greatly glorified himself in the work of creation and providence.
All his works praise hira, and his glory shines brightly from them all : but as
.501116 sta--' differ from others in glory, so the glory of God shines brighter in
140 WISDOM DISPL.\YED IN SALVATION.
some cf his works than in others. And amongst all these, the work of redemp.
tion is like the sun in his strength. The glory of the author is abundantly the-
most resplendent in this work.
I. Each attribute of God is glorified in the work of redemption. How God
has exceedingly glorified his wisdom, may more fully appear before we have
done with this subject But more particularly,
1. God hath exceedingly glorified his power in this work. — It shows the
great and inconceivable power of God to unite natures so infinitely diflferent,
as the divine and huraan nature, in one person. If God can make one who
is truly God, and one that is truly raan, the self-same person, what is it.
that he cannot do ? This is a greater and raore marvellous work than creation.
The power of God most gloriously appears in man's being actually saved
and redeemed in this way. In his being brought out of a state of sin and
misery, into a conformity to God ; and at last to the full and perfect enjoy
ment of God. This is a more glorious demonstration of divine power, than
creating things out of nothing, upon two accounts. One is, the effect is greater
and more excellent. To produce the new creature is a more glorious effect,
than merely to produce a creature. — Making a holy creature, a creature in the
spiritual iraage of God, in the iraage of the divine excellencies, and a partaker:
of the divine nature — is a greater effect than raerely to give being. And there
fore as the effect is greater, it is a more glorious manifestation of power.
And then, in this effect of the actual redemption of sinners, the term from
which, is more distant from the term to which, than in the work of creation.
The term frora which, in the work of creation, is nothing, and the terra to
which, is being. But the terra from which, in the work of redemption, is a
state infinitely worse than nothing ; and the term to which, a holy and a happy
heing, a state infinitely better than mere being. The terms in the production ot
the last, are much more remote frora one another, than in the first.
And then the production of this last eflfect, is a more glorious manifestation
of power than the work of creation ; because, though in creation, the terras are
very distant — as nothing is very remote from being — yet there is no opposition.
Nothing makes no opposition to the creating power of God. — But in redemp-.
tion, the divine power meets with and overcoraes great opposition. There is
great opposition in a state of sin to a state of grace. Men's lusts and corrup
tions are exceedingly opposite to grace and holiness ; and greatly resist the
production of the eflfect. But this opposition is corapletely overcome in actual
rederaption. Besides, there is great opposition from Satan. The power of God is very
glorious in this work, because it therein conquers the strongest and raost power
ful enemies. Power never appears more illustrious than in conquering. Jesus
Christ, in this work, conquers and triuraphs over thousands of devils, strong and
raighty spirits, uniting all tlieir strength against him. Luke xi. 21, " When
a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a
stronger than he shall overcome hira, he taketh from him all his armor where
in he trusted, and divideth his spoil." Col. ii. 15, " And having spoiled prin
cipalities and powers, he raade a show of thera openly, triumphing over them
in the cross."
2. The jiM^ice of God is exceedingly glorified in this work. God is so st. ictly
.xnil immutably just, that he would not spare his beloved Son when he took
upon him the; guilt of men's sins, and. was substituted in the room of sinners
He would not abate hira the least mite of that debt which justice demanded.
Iustice sho-ild take place, though it cost his infinitely dear Son his precious
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION. 141
blooti , and his enduring such extraord'nary reproach, and pain, and death in its
most dreadfnl form.
3. The holiness of God is also exceedingly glorious in this work. Never
did God so raanifest his hatred of sin asin the death and sufferings of his only-
begotten Son. Hereby he showed hiinj^elf unappeasable to sin, and that it was
impossible for hira to be at peace with it.
4. God hath also exceedingly glorified his truth in this way, bolh in his
threatenings and proraises. Herein is fulfilled the threatenings of the law,
wherein God said, " In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." And
" Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of
the law to do them." God showed hereby, that not only heaven and earth
should pa.ss away, but, which is raore, that the blood of him who is the eternal
Jehovah .should be spilt, rather than one jot or thtle of his word should fail, till
all be fulfilled.
5. And lastly, God has exceedingly glorified his mercy and love in this work.
— The mercy of God was an attribute never seen before in its exercise, till it
was seen in this work of redemption, or the fruils of it. The goodness of God
appeared towards the angels in giving them being and blessedness. It appeared
glorious towards raan in his priraitive state, a state of holiness and happiness.
But now God hath shown that he can find in his heart to love sinners who de
serve his infinite haired. And not only hath he shown that he can love them,
but love them so as to give thera more and do greater things for them than ever
he did for the holy angels, that never sinned nor offended their Creator. He
loved sinful men so as to give them a greater gift than ever he gave the angels;
so as to give his own Son, and not only to give hira to be their possession and
enjoyraent, but to give hira to be their sacrifice. And herein he has done more
for thera, than if he had given thera all the visible world ; yea, more than if he
had given them all the angels, and all heaven besides. God hath loved them
so, that hereby he purchased for them deliverance from eternal misery, and the
possession of immortal glory.
IL Each person of the Trinity is exceedingly glorified in this work. Herein
the work of rederaption is distinguished frora all the other works of God. The
attributes of God are glorious in his other works; but the three persons of the
Trinity aie distinctly glorified in no work as in this of redemption. In this work
every distinct person has his distinct parts and offices assigned him. Each one
has his particular and distinct concern in it, agreeable to their distinct, personal
'Properties, relations, and economical offices. The redeemed have an equal con
cern with and dependence upon each person, in this affair, and owe equal honor
and praise to each of them.
The Father appoints and provides the Redeemer, and accepts the price of
redemption. The Son is the Redeemer and the price. He redeems byoflfering
up hiraself The Holy Ghost imraediately coraraunicates to us the thing pur
chased ; yea, and he is the good purchased. The sura of what Christ purchased
for us is holiness and happiness. But the Holy Ghost is the great principleboth
of all holiness and happiness. The Holy Ghost is the sum of all that Christ
purchased for men. Gal. ui. 13, 14, " He was made a curse for us, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit, through faith."
The blessedness of the redeemed consists in partaking of Christ's fulness
which consists in partaking of that Spirit, which is given not by measure unto
him. This is the oil that was poured upon the head of the church, which ran
down to the merabers of his body, to the skirts of his garment. Thus we have
an eauai concern with and dependence upon each of the persons of the Trinitv
142 WISDOM DISPLA-VED IN SALVATION.
distinctly ; upon the Father, as he provides the Redeeraer, and the' person oi
whora the purchase is raade ; — the Son as the purchaser, and ths price; — the
Holy Ghost, as the good purchased. SECTION, ni.
The good attained by salvation is wonderfully various and exceeding great.
Here we may distinctly consider — the variety — and the greatness — of the
good procured for men.
I. The good procured by salvation is wonderfully various. Here are all
sorts of good procured for fallen raan, that he does or can really need, or is capa
ble of The wisdora of God appears in the way of salvation, in that it is most
worthy of an infinitely wise God, because evcy way perfect and sufficient. We,
in our fallen stale, are most necessitous creatures, full of wants : but they are
here all answered. Every sort of good is here procured ; whatever would
really contribute to our happiness, and even many things we could not have
thought of, had not Christ purchased them fo us, and revealed them to us.
Every demand of our circumstances!, and craving of our natures, is here exactly
answered. — For instance,
1. We stand in need of peace with God. We had provoked God to anger,
his wrath abode upon us, and we needed to have it appeased. This is done for
us in this way of salvation ; for Christ, by shedding his blood, has full} satisfied
justice, and appeased God's wrath, fbr all that shall believe in hira. By the
sentence of the law we were conderaned to hell ; and we needed to have our
sins pardoned that we raight be delivered frora hell. But in this work, pardon
of sin and deliverance from hell, is fully purchased for us.
2. We needed not only to have God's wralh appeased, and our sins pardon
ed ; but we needed to have the favor of God. 'To have God, not only not
our enemy, but our friend. Now God's favor is purchased for us by the right
eousness of Jesus Christ
3. We needed not only to be delivered frora hell, but to have some sati.fy-
ing happiness bestowed. Man has a naluial craving and thirst after happiness;
and will thirst and crave until his capacity is filled. And his capacity is of vast
extent ; and nothing but an infinite good can fill and satisfy his desires. But,
notwithstanding, provision is made in this way of salvation lo answer those
needs, there is a satisfying happiness purchased for us ; that which is fully an
swerable to the capacity and cravings of our .souls.
Here is food procured to answer all the appetites and faculties of our souls.
God has made the soul of man of a spiritual nature ; and therefore he needs a
corresponding happiness ; sorae spiritual object, in the enjoyraent of which he
raay be happy. Christ has purchased the e'njoyraem of God, who is the great
and original Spirit, as the portion of our souls. And he hath purchased the
Spirit of God lo corae and dwell in us as an eternal principle of happiness.
God hath raade raan a rational intelligent creature; and man needs some
good that shall be a suitable object of his understanding, for hira to conteraplate;
wherein he raay have full and sufficient exorcise for his capacious faculties, in
their utrao.st extent Here is an object that is great and noble, and worthy of
the exercise of the noblest faculties of the rational soul.— God hiraself should
be theirs, for thera for ever to behold and contemplate ; his glorious perfections'
and works are mosi worthy objects ; and there is room enough for improving
thera, and still to exercise their faculties to all eternity. — What object can be
more worthy to exercise the undersianding of a rational soul, than the glories
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION. 143
ofthe Divine Being, with which the heavenly intelligences, and e\en the infi
nite understanding of God himself is entertained ?
Our souls need some good that shall be a suitable object of the will and af
fections ; a suitable object for the choice, the acquiescence, the love, and Ihe
joy of the rational soul. Provision is made for this also in this way of salva
tion. There is an infinitely excellent Being offered lo be chosen, to be rested
in. to be loved, to be rejoiced in, by us : even God himself, who is infinitely
lovely, the fountain of all good ; a fountain that- can never be exhausted, where
we can be in no danger of going to excess in our love and joy : and nere we
may be assured ever to find our joy and delight in enjoyments answerable to
our love and desires.
4. There is all possible enjoyment wf this object, procured in this way of sal
vation. When persons entirely set their love upon another, they naturally de
sire to see that person : merely to hear ofthe person, does not satisfy love. So
here is provision made that we should see God, the object of our suprerae love.
Not only that we should hear and read of him in his word, bul that we should
iSee hira with a spiritual eye here : and not only so, bul that we should have the
satisfaction of seeing God face lo face hereafter. This is proraised. Mall, v.8:
" Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." It is promised that
we shall not see God, as through a glass darkly, as we do now, but face to
face, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. That we shall see Christ as he is, 1 John iii. 2.
We nat'irally desire not only to see those whora we love, but to converse
-with thera. Provision is made for this also, that we should have spiritual con
versation with God while in this world ; and that we should be hereafter ad-
milted to converse with Christ in the raost intimate raanner possible. Provi
sion is made in this way of salvation, that we should converse with God rauch
more intiraately, than otherwise it would have been possible for us ; for now
Christ is incarnate, is in our nature : he is becorae one of us, whereby we are
under advantages for an immensely raore free and intimate converse with him,
than could have been, if he had reraained only in the divine nature; and so in
a nature infinitely distant frora us. — W^e naturally desire noi only to converse
with those whora we greatly love, but to dwell with them. Provision, through
Christ, is made for this. It is purchased and provided that we should dwell
with God in his own hou.se in heaven, which is called our Father's house. — To
dwell for ever in God's presence, and at his right hand.
We naturally desire to have a right in that person ^\¦hom we greatly love.
Provision is raade, in this way of salvation, that we should have a right in God ;
a right to him. "This is the promise of the covenant of grace, " That he will
be our God." God, with all his glorious perfections and attributes, with all his
power and wisdom, and with all his majesty and glory, will be ours; so that
we raay call hira our inheritance, and the portion of our souls : whal we can
humbly claim by faith, having this portion made over to us by a firm instru
ment ; by a covenant ordered in all things and sure. — And we may also hereby
claira a rieht to Jesus Christ. Love desires that the right should be mutual.
The lover "desires, not only to have a right to the beloved, but that the beloved
i-fi'iuld have a right to him: he desires to be his beloved's, as well as his
beloved should be his. Provision is also raade for this, in this wise raethod of
salvation, that God should have a special propriety in the redeemed, that they
should be in a distinguishing manner his, that they should be his peculiar peo
ple. We are told fhat God sets afiart Ihe godly for himself, Psal. iv. 3. They
are called God's jewels. The spou.se speaks it wilh great satisfaction and re
joicing. Cant. ii. 16 : " My beloved is mine, and I nm his."
144 WISDOM DISPL.iiiYED IN SALVATION.
Love desires to stand in sorae near relation to the beloved. Prodsion is
made by Christ, that we shoultl stand in the nearest possible relation to God 5
that he should be our Father, and we should be his children. W^e are often
instructed in the Holy Scriptures, that God is the Father of believers, and that
they are his faraily. — And not only so, but they stand in the nearest relation tc
Christ Jesus. There is the closest union possible. The souls of believers are
married lo Christ The church is the bride, the Lamb's wife. Yea, there is
yet a nearer relation than can be represented by such a sirailitude. Believers
are as the very raerabers of Christ, and of his flesh and of his bones, Eph. v. 30.
Yea, this is not near enough yet, but tlipy are one spirit, 1 Cor. vi. 17;
Love naturally inclines to a conformity to the beloved. To have those ex
cellencies, upon the account of which he is beloved, copied in himself Provi
sion is raade in this way of salvation, that we raay be conformed to God ; that
we shall be transforraed into the sarae iraage. 2 Cor. iii. IS, ". We all, with
open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the
sarae image from glory to glory." — And that hereafter we shall see him as he
is, and be like him.
It is the natural desire of love to do something for the beloved, either for his
pleasure or honor. Provision is raade for this also in this way of salvation ;
that we should be made instruments of glorifying God, and promoting his king
dom here, and of glorifying hun to all eternity. '
5. In this way of salvatic n, provision is made for our having every sort of
good that man naturally craves ; as honor, wealth, and pleasure. — Here is pro
vision made that we should be brought lo the highest honor. This is what God
has promised, that those that honor him, he will honor. And that Irue Christians
shall be kings and priests unto God. — Christ has proraised, that as his Father
has appointed unto him a kingdom, so he u ill appoint unto them, that they may
eat and drink at his table in his kingdom. He has proraised to crown them
with a crown of glory, and that they shall sit unth him in his throne. That
he will confess their names before his Father, and before his angels. That he
will give ihem a new name ; and that they shall walk ivith him in white.
Christ has also purchased for thera the greatest wealth. All those that are
in Christ are rich. They are now rich. They have the best riches ; being rich
in faith, and the graces of the Spirit of God. They have gold tried in the fire;
They have durable riches and righteousness. They have treasure in heaven,
where neither thief approacheth, nor moth corruptelh, an inheritance incorrupti
ble, undefiled,. and that fadeth not away. They are possessor; of all things.
Christ has also purchased pleasure for them ; pleasures tl at are immensely
preferable to all the pleasures of sense, raost exquisitely sweet, and satisfying.
He has purchased for them fulness of joy, and pleasures for everraore at God's
right hand ; and they shall drink of the river of God's pleasure.
6. Christ has purchased all needed good both for soul and body. While we
are here, we stand in need of these earthly things ; and of these Christ has
purchased all that are best for us. He has purchased for fhe body, that God
should feed and clothe us. Matt vi. 26, " How much more shall he /eed you, 0
ye of little faith !" How rauch more shall he clothe you ! Christ has purchased,
that God should take care of us, and provide what is needed of these things, as
a father provides for his children. 1 Pet v. 7, '« Casting your care upon bird,
for he careth fo- you."
7. ChrisI has purchased good that is suitable for his people rn aW conditions.
There is, in Ibis way of salvation, respect had to, and provision made for, all
circumstances that they can be in. Here is provision made, for a time of af-
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION. 146
fliction — for a time of poverty and pinching want — for a time of bereavement
and mourning — for spiritual darkness — for a day of temptation — for a lime of
pei-secution — and for a tirae of death. Here is such a provision made that is suf
ficient to carry a person above death, and all its terrors ; and to give him a com
plete ti-iiunph over that king of terrors. Here is enough to sweeten the grave
and make it cease to seem terrible. Yea, enough to make death in prospect tr
seem desirable ; and in its near approat;h to be not terrible but joyful.
8. There is provision made in this way of salvation for the life and blessed
ness of soul and body to all etemity. Christ has purchased, that we should be
delivered frora a stale of temporal death, as well as spiritual and eternal. Th^
bodies of the saints shall be raised to life. He has purchased all manner of
perfection for the body of which it is capable. It shall be raised a spiritua
body in incorruption and glory, and be made like Christ's glorious body, to shine
as the sun in the ki^pgdom of his Father, and to exist in a glorified state in union
with the soul to all eternity.
9. Bul man in his fallen state still needs something else in order to his hap
piness, than that these forementioned blessings should be purchased for him ;
viz., he needs to be qualified for the possession and enjoyment of them. In
order to our having a title lo these blessings of the covenant of grace (so that
we can scripturally claim an interest in them), there is a certain condition must
be performed by us. W'e must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and accept of
him as oflfered in the gospel for a Saviour. But, as we cannot do this of our
selves, Christ has purchased this also for all the elect. He has purchased, that
they shall have faith given them ; whereby they shall be [actively] united to
Christ, and so have a [pleadable] title to his benefits.
But still something further is necessary for raan, in order to his coming to the
actual possession of the inheritance. A man, as soon as he has believed, has a title
to the inheritance : but in order to come to the actual possession of it, he must
persevere in a way of holiness. There is not only a gale that must be entered;
but there is a narrow way that must be travelled, belore we can arrive al heav
enly blessedness ; and that is the way of universal and persevering holiness.
But men, after they have believed, cannot persevere in a way of holiness, of
themselves. But there is sufficient provision made for this also, in the way of
salvation by Jesus Christ The matter of a saint's perseverance is sufficiently
secured by the purchase that Christ has made.
But still there is something else needful in order to qualify a person for the
actual enter'ing upon the enjoyraents and employments of a glorified estate, viz.,
that he should be made perfectly holy ; that all remainders of sin should be
taken away ; for there cannot any sin enter into heaven. No soul must go into
the glorious presence of God, whh the least degree of the filth of sin. But there
is provision made : for Christ has purchased that all sin shall be taken away
out of the hearts of believers at death ; and that they should be made perfectly
holy : whereby they shall be fully and perfectly qualified to enter upon the plea
sures and enjoyments ofthe new Jerusalem.
Christ has purchased all, both objective and mherent good : not only a por
tion to be enjoyed by us ; but all those inherent qualifications necessary to our
enjoyment of it He has purchased not only justification, but sanctification and
glorification; both holiness and happiness.— Having considered the good at
tained in the way of salvation as manifold and various, I now proceed, as pro
posed, II. To consider the good attained for us by this way of salvation, as exceed
ing great.
Vol. IV. 19
146 WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION.
There is not only every sort of good we need, but of every sort in that degree^
so as to answer the extent of our capacity, and the greatest stretch of our de-
-sires, and indeed of our conceptions. They are not only greater than our co.i-
ceptions are here, but also greater than ever they could be, were it not that
God's relation, and our own experience, will teach us. They are greater than
the tongue of angels can declare, the deliverance that we have in it is exceeding
great ; It is deliverance frora gudt, frora sin itself, from the anger of God, and
from the raiseries of hell.
How great is the good conferred ! The objective good is the infinite God,
and the glorious Redeeraer, Jesus Christ. How great is the love of the Father,
ind the Son ! And how near the relation between thera and the true believer!
How close the union, how intimate the communion, and ultimately how dear
will be the vision in glory !
There are great communications made to the believing soul on earth, but
how much greater in heaven ! Then their conforraity to God will be perfect,
their enjoyment of hira will be full, their honor great and unsulhed, and the
glory of body and soul ineffable. The riches of the Christian are immense ; all
things are included in his treasure. Pleasures unspeakably and inconceivably
great await hira ; rivers of dehght, fulness of joy ; and all of infinite duration !
The benefit procured for us, is doubly infinite. Our deliverance is an infinite
benefit, because the evil we are delivered from is infinite ; and the positive
good bestowed is eternal; viz., the full enjoyraent of all those blessings merited.
SECTION IV.
How angels are benefited by the salvation of men.
' So halh the wisdom of God contrived this aflfair, that the benefit of what he
has done therein should be so extensive, as to reach the elect angels. It is for
men that the work of redemption is wrought out ; and yet the benefit of the
things done in this work is not confined to them, though all that is properly
called redemption, or included in il, is confined to men. The angels cannot
partake in this, having never fallen ; yet they have great indirect benefit by
it. —God hath so wisely ordered, that what has been done in this directly and
especially for men, should redound to the exceeding benefit of all intelligent
creatures who are in favor wilh God. The benefit of it is so diffu.sive as to
reach heaven itself So great and manifold is the good attained in this work,
that those glorious spirits who are so rauch above us, and were so highly exalted
in happiness before, yet should receive great addition hereby. — I will show
how in some particulars.
1. The angels hereby see a great and wonderful raanifestation of the glory
of God. The happiness of angels as well as of men consists very much in be
holding the glory of God. Tne excellency of the Divine Being is a most de
lightful subject of contemplation to the saints on earth ; but much more to the
angels in heaven. The more holy any being is, the more sweet and deligntful
will it be to him to behold the glory and beauty of the Suprerae Being. — There-
fore the beholding of the glory of God must be ravishing to the holy angels, who
are perfect in holiness, and never had their minds leavened with sin. The man
ifestations of the glory of God, are as it were the food that satisfies the angeis ;
they live thereon. It is their greatest happiness.
It is wiihout doubt much of their employment to behold the glory of God
appearing in his works. Therefore this work of redemption greatly contrioutes
to their happiness and delight, as the glory of Go^ 's so exceedingly manifested
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION. 147
by it. For what is done, is done in the sight qf the angels, as is evident by
many passages of Holy Scripture. And they behold the glory of God appear
ing herein with entertainment and delight, as it is raanifest by 1 Pet i. 12 :
" Which things the angels desire to look into."
The angels have this advantage, that now they may behold the glory of
God in the face of Jeslis Christ, where it .shines with a peculiar lustre and bright
ness. 1 Tim. iii. 16, " Great is the mystery of godUness : God was manifest in
the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels." Perhaps all God's attributes
are more gloriously manifested in Ihis work, than in any other that ever the
angels saw. There is certainly a fuller manifestation of some of his attributes,
than ever they saw before ; as is evident by the text. And especially, it is so
with respect to tlv..- mercy of God, that sweet and endearing attribute of the
divine nature. The angels of heaven never saw so much grace manifested be
fore, as in the work of redemption ; nor in any measure equal to it. How full
of joy doth it fill the hearts of the angels, to see such a boundless and bottom
less ocean of love and grace in their God ! And therefore wilh what rejoicing
do all the angels praise Christ for bis being slain ! Rev. v. 11, 12, " And I
beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the
beasts and the elders : and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
t'housand,. and thousands of thousands ; saying with a loud voice. Worthy is the
Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength,
and honor, and glory, and blessing."
2. They have this benefit by it, that hereby Jesus Christ, God-man, is be
come their head, God, subsisting in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, was the King of angels, and would have been, if it had not been for out
redemption. But it was owing to what is done in this work, that Jesus Christ,
as God-man, becomes the head of the angels. Christ is now not only the head
of angels simply as God, bul as God-raan. Col. ii. 10, " And ye are coraplete
in hira, who is the head of all principality and power." Eph. i. 20 — 22,
" Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised hira frora the dead, and set hira
on his own right hand in heavenly places, far above all principality and power,
and might and dorainion, and every narae that is named, not only in this world,
but also in that which is to corae. And hath put all things under his feet, ancI
gave hira to be head over all Ihings to the church."
This is a part of the exaltation and glory of Christ which God confers on
hira as his reward. And not only so, but it is greatly to the angels' benefit
It is God's manner in his dealings wilh his elect creatures, in the sarae
works wherein he glorifies hiraself, or his Son, greatly to benefit them. The
same dealings of his that are most for his glory, shall be most for their good.
— That Christ, God-raan, should be raade the head of the angels, is greatly to
their benefit several ways.
(1.) Because they becorae hereby raore nearly related to so glorious a. per
son, the Son of God, than otherwise they would have. The angels esteem it a
great honor done them to be related to such a person as Jesus Christ, God-man,
who is an infinitely honorable person.
The angels, by Christ becoming theii head, are with the saints gathered
together in one in Christ, Eph. i. 10. They, by virtue hereof, though Christ
be not their Redeemer as he is ours, have a right and propriety in this glorious
person, as well as we. He is theirs ; though not their Saviour, yei .^e is their
head of government, and head of influence.
(2.) Again, this is greatly to their benefit ; as they are under advantages
for a far more intimate converse with God. The cUvine nature is at an infinite
148 WISDOM DISPLAYED iN SALVATION
distance from the nature of angels, as well as frora the nature of man. Thij
distance forbids a familiarity and intimacy of intercourse. — It is therefore a great
advantage to the angels, that God is come down to them in a created nature ;
and in that nature is become their head ; so that their intercourse and enjoyment
may be more intimate. They are invited by the similar qualifications of the
created nature, with which the Son of God is invested.
(3.) It is fbr the benefit of the angels, as hereby the elect of mankind art
gathered into their society. Christ, by the work of rederaption, gathers in thi
elect of mankind to join the angels of heaven. Eph. i. 10, "That in the dis
pensation of the ful-ness of tiraes, he might gather in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven, and which, are on earth, even in hira." Men are
brought in to join with the angels in their work of praising God ; to partake
with them of their enjoyraents. The angels greatly rejoice at this. Tliey
rejoice when but one person is gathered in, as Christ teaches us, Luke xv. 10:
* " Likewise I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over
onesinner that repenteth." The heavenly society is made more complete by this
accession of the saints to it ; they contribute to the happiness of each other.
Th angels rejoice that others are added lo join them and assist thera in prais
ing God. — And Ihus the vacancy by the fall of angels is filled up.
(4.) It tends to make the angels lo prize their happiness the raore, when
they see how rauch it cost to purchase the same happiness for man. Though
they knew so rauch, yet they are not incapable of being taught more and more
the worth of their own happiness. For when they saw how much it ccst to
purchase the same happiness for raan ; even the precious blood of the Son of
God ; this tended to give thera a great sense of the infinite value of their hap
piness. They never saw such a testiraony of the value of the eternal enjoyraert
of God before.
Thus we have shown, how the wisdom of God appears in the work of redemp
tion in the good ends attained thereby, wilh respect to God, men, and good angels.
But are there any good ends obtained wilh respect to bad angels, God's
grand eneraies ? Undoubtedly there are, as raay appear from the few follow
ing considerations Satan and his angels rebelled against God in heaven, and
proudly presumed to try their strength wilh his. And when God by his al
mighty power overcame the strength of Satan, and sent hira like lightning fn^m
heaven lo hell with all his army, Satan still hoped to get the victory by subtlety.
Though he could not overcome by power, yet he hoped to succeed by ckatl ;
and so by his subtlety lo disappoint God of his end in creating this lower -world. >
— God therefore has shown his great wisdom in overthrowing Satan's design
He has disappointed the devices of the crafty, so that they cannot perform their
enter,prise ; he has carried their counsel headlong.
1. Satan thought lo have disappointed God of his glory, which he designed
in creating this lower world ; and to raa'be raankind be for his own glory, in
setting up himself god over thera. Now Christ, by what he has done in the
work of rederaption, has overthrown Satan; and utterly frustrated hira as to
this end. God is exceedingly glorified in the elect, to the .surprise of angels
and devils. God by rederaption has all the glory that he intended, and more
than either men, angels, or devils imagined that God intended. God might have
glorified his justice in the destruction of all mankind. But it was God's design
in creating the worid, to glorify his goodness and love ; and not only to be
glorified eventually, but to be served and glorified actually by men. Satan in
tended to frustrate God ofthis end; but, by the redemption of Jesus Christ, his
design is confounded
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION 149
2. Another design of the devil, was to gratify his envy jn the uiter dcstruc-
.ion of mankind. But, by the redemption of Jesus Christ, this malicious design
of Satan is crossed : because all the elect are brought to their designed happi
ness; which is much greater than ever Satan thought it was in God's heart to
bestow on raan. And though sorae of raankind are left to be raiserable, yet
that does not answer Satan's end ; for Ihis also is ordered for God's glory. No
more are left miserable than God saw meet to glorify his jusuce upon.
One end why God suffered Satan to do what he did in procuring the fall of
man, was that his Son might be glorified in conquering that strong, subtle, and
proud spirit, and triuraphing over him. How glorious doth Christ Jesus appear
in baffling and triumphing over this proud king of darkr.ESS, and all the haughty
confederate rulers of hell 1 How glorious a sight is it to see the meek and
patient Larab of God leading that proud, raalicious, and mighty enemy in tri
umph ! What songs doth this cause in heaven I It was a glorious sight in
Israel to see David carrying the head of Goliath in triumph to Jerusalem. It
appeared glorious to the daughters of Israel, who carae out with timbrels and
with dances, and sang, " Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thou
sands." But how much mo-e glorious to see the Son of David, the Son of God,
carrying the head of the spiritual G.oliath, the charapion of the arraies of hell, in
triuniph to the heavenly Jerusalem ! It is wilh a principal view to this, that
Christ is called, " the Lord of hosts, or armies, and a man of war," Exod. xv.
3. And Psal. xxiv. 8, "Who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and
raighty, the Lord raighty in battle." SECTION v.
In this way of salvation wonderful glory redounds to God, as the eff'ect of divine
wisdom.
1. By this contrivance for our redemption, God's greatest dishonor is made
an occasion of his greatest glory. Sin is a thing by which God is greatly dis
honored ; the nature of ils principle is enmity against God, and conterapt of bin?.
And raan, by his rebellion, has greatly dishonored God. Eut this dishonor/, by
the ccmtrivance of our redemption, is made an occasion of the greatest manifes
tation of God's glory that ever was. Sin, the greaiest evil, is made an occasion
of the greatest good. It is the nature of a principle of sin that it seeks to de
throne God : bill this is hereby raade an occasion of the greatest manifestation
of God's royal raajesty and glory that ever was. By sin, man has slighted and
despised God : but this is raade an occasion of his appearing the raore greatly
honorable. Sin casts contempt upon the authority and law of God : but this,
by the contrivance of our rederaption, is raade the occasion of the greaiest honor
done to that sarae authority, and to that very law. It was a greater honor to
the law of God that Christ was subject to it, and obeyed it, than if all mankind
had obeyed it. It was a greater honor to God's authority that Christ showed
such great respect, and such entire subjection to il, than the perfect obedience
of all the angels in heaven. Man by his sin showed his enmity against the holi
ness of God ; but this is made an occasion of the greatest raanifestation of God's
holmess. The holiness of God never appeared to so great a degree, as when
God executed vengeance upon his own dear Son.
2. So has the wisdom of God contrived that those attributes are glorified in
man's salvation, -whose glory seeraed to require his destruction. 'When raan had
fallen, several attributes of God seeraed to require his destruction. The justice
of God requires, that sin be punished as it deserves : but it deserves no less
100 WISDOM DISPL..\.YED IN SALVATION
than eternal destruction. God proclaims it as a part of the glory of his nature,
that he will in no wise clear the guilty, Exod. xxxiv. 7. The holiness of God
seemed to require man's destruction ; for God by his holiness infinitely hates sin.
This seemed to require therefore that God should manifest a proportionable
hatred of the sinner ; and that he should be for ever an enemy unto him. The
truth of God seemed also to require man's destruction ; for eternal death was
what God had threatened for sin, one jot or tittle of which threatening cannot by
any means pass away. But yet so has God contrived, that those very attributes
not only allow of raan's rederaption, and are not inconsistent with it, but they
i.-e glorified in it. Even vindictive justice is glorified in the dealh and suffer
ings of Christ. The hohness of God, or his holy haired of sin, that seemed to
require man's damnation, is seen in Christ's dying for sinners. So herein also
is manifested and glorified the truth of God, in the threatenings of the law.
3. Yea, it is so ordered now that the glory of these attributes requires the
salvation of those that beheve. The justice of God that required man's dam
nation, and seemed inconsistent with his salvation, now as much requires the sal
vation of those that believe in Christ, as ever before it required their damnation.
Salvation is an absolute debt to the believer from God, so that he may in jus
tice demand it, on account of what his surely has done. For Christ has satisfied
justice fully for his sin ; so that it is but a thing that raay be challenged, that
God should now release the believer frora the punishment ; it is but a piece of
justice, that the creditor should release the debtor, when he has fully paid the
debt. And again, the believer raay deraand eternal hfe, because it has bei.n
merited by Christ, by a merit of condignity. So is it contrived, that that justice
that seeraed to require man's destruction, now requires his salvation.
So the truth of God that seemed to require man's damnation, now requires
his salvation. Al the same tirae that the threatening of the law stands good, there
is a promise of eternal life to many who have broken the law. They bolh
stand good at the same time ; and the truth of God requires that both should be
fulfilled. How rauch soever they seem to clash, yit so is the matter contrived
in this way of salvation, that bolh are fulfilled, and do not interfere one with
another. At the very time that God uttered the threatening, " In the day thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die ;" and at the tirae that Adara had first eaten the
forbidden fruit ; there was then an existing proraise, that raany thousands of
Adam's race should obtain eternal life. This promise was made to Jesus Christ,
before the world was. What a difhcully and inconsistence did there seera to
be here ? But it was no difficulty to the wisdom of God, that the promise and
the threatening should be bolh fully accomplished to the glory of God's truth in
each of thera. Psal. Ixxxv. 10, " Meri:y and truth are met together, righteous
ness and peace have kissed each other."
4. Those very attributes which seemed to require man's destruction, are
more glorious in his salvation, than they would have been in his destruction.
The revenging justice of God is a great deal more manifested in the death of
Christ, than it wcjuld have been if all mankind had been sufferers to all eternity.
If man had reraained under the guilt and iraputation of sin, the justice of God
would not have had such a trial, as it had, when his own Son was under the
imoutation of sin. If all mankind had stood guilty, and justice had called for
vengeance upon them, that would not have been such a triql of the inflexible
ness and unchangeableness of the justice of God, as when his own Son, wh(
was the object of his infinite love, and in whom he infinitely dehghted, st v^.^
with the iraputation of guilt upon him.
WISDOM riSPLAYED IN SALVATION. Ibl
This was the greatest trial that could be, lo raanifest whether Gou's justice
was perfect and unchangeable, or not ; whether God was so just that he would
not upon any account abate of what justice required ; and whether God would
have any respect to persons in judgraent.
So the majesty of God appears much more in the sufferings of Christ
than it would have done in the eternal sufferings of all mankind. The majesty
of a prince appears greater in the just punishraent of great personages under the
guilt of treason, than of inferior persons. The sufferings of Christ have this ad
vantage over the eternal sufferings of the wicked, for impressing upon the rainds
ofthe spectators a sense of the dread majesty of God, and his infinite hatred of
sin ; viz., that the eternal suflfeiings of the wicked iie\er will be seen actually
accomplished, and finished ; whereas they have seen that which is equivalent
to those eternal sufferings actually fulfilled and finished in the sufferings of
Christ 5. Such is the wisdom of this way of salvation, that the more any of the
elect have dishonored God, the more is God glorifiecl in this redemption. Such
wonders as these are accomplished by the wisdom of this way of salvation.
Such Ihings as these, if they had been proposed to any created intelligence,
would have seeraed strange and unaccountable paradoxes, till the counsels of
divine wisdom concerning the matter were unfolded.
So sufficient is this way of salvation, that it is not inconsistent with any of
God's attributes to save the chief of sinners. However great a sinner any one
has been, yet God can, if he pleases, save wiihout any injury to the glory of
any one attribute. And not only so, but the raore sinful any one has been, the
more doth God glorify himself in his salvation. The more doth he glorify his
power, that he can redeera one in whom sin so abounds, and of whora Satan
hath such strong possession. — The greater triuraph has Christ over his grand
adversary, in redeeming and setting at liberty from his bondage those that were
his greatest vassals. The more doth the suffcciency of Christ appear, in that il
is sufficient fo;- such vile wretches.
The more is the sovereignty and boundless extent of the mercy of God mani
fested, in that it is sufficient to redeem those that are most undeserving. Rom.
V. 20, " Where sin abounded, grace did much raore abound."
SECTION VI.
How the vnsdom of God appears in the manner and circumstances of obtaining
the good intended.
We now come to take notice of some wonderful circumstances ofthe attain
ment of our good, hereby ; which shows the great wisdom of this contrivance.
1. So hath God contrived in this way, that a sinful creature should become
not guilty; and that he who has no righteousness of his own, should become
rio-hteous. These things, if they had been proposed, would have appeared con
tradictions to any but the divine understanding.
If il had been proposed to any created intelligence, to find out a way in
whick a sinful creature should not be a gtcilty creature, how irapossible would
it have been judged, that there should be any way at aU. It would doubtless
have been judged irapossible but that he vbo has committed sin, must stand
guilty of the sin he has committed ; and if sin necessarily oW^es to punishraent,
it must oblige hira who has committed it. If punishment and sin be insepara
ble, then that punishment and the sinner are inseparable. If the law denounces
152 WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION.
death to the person who is guilty of sin, and if it be irapossible that the la-.v sh julc!
not lake place, then he who has committed sin must die. Thus any created un
derstanding would have thought
And if it had been proposed, that there should be some way found out,
wherein man might be righteous without fulfilling righteousness himself; so that
he mio-ht reasonably and properly be looked upon and accepted as a righteous
person, and adjudged to the reward of righteousness, and yet have no righteous
ness of his own, bul the contrary — that he should be righteous by the righteous
ness of the law, by a perfect righteousness, and yet have broken the law, and
done nothing else but break it — this doubtless would have been looked upon as
impossible and contradictious.
But yet the wisdora of God has truly accomplished each of these things. He
hath accoraplished that men, though sinners, should be without guilt, in that he
hath found out a way that the threatenings of the law should truly and properly
be fulfilled, and punishment be executed on sin, and yet not on the sinner. The
sutferings of Christ answer the demands of the law, with respect to the sins of
those who believe in him; and justice is truly satisfied thereby. And the law
is fulfilled and answered by the obedience of Christ, so that his righteousness
should properly be our righteousness. Though not performed by us, yet it is
properly and reasonably accepted for us, as much as if we had perforraed it our
selves. Divine wisdora has so contrived, that such an interchanging of sin and
righteousness should be consistent, and raost agreeable with reason, wilh the
law, and God's holy attributes. For Jesus Christ has so united hiraself to us,
and us lo hira, as to raake himself ours, our head. The love of Christ to the
elect is so great, that God the Father looks upon it proper and suitable to ac
count ChrisI and the elect as one; and accordingly to account what Christ
does and suff'ers, as if they did and suffered it. — That love of Christ which is so
great as to render him willing to put himself in the stead of the elect, and to
bear the misery that they deserved, does, in the Father's account, so unite Christ
and the elect, that they may be looked upon as legally one.
2. It shows wonderful wisdom that our good should be procured by .such
seeraingly unlikely and opposite means, as the hurailiation of the Son of God.
When Christ was about to undertake that great work of redemption, he did not
take that raelhod that any creature-wisdom would have thought the most pro
per. Creature-wisdom would have deterrained that in order to his eflfectually
and more gloriously accomplishing such a great work, he should rather have
been exalted higher, if it had been possible, rather than hurabled so low. —
Earthly kings and princes, when they are about to engage in any great and
difficult work, will put on their strength, and will appear in all their raajesty
and power, that they may be successful. — But when Christ was about to per-'
form the great work of recleeming a lost worid, the wisdom of God took an op
posite m.ethod, and deterrained that he should be hurabled and abased to a mean
state, and appear in low circurastances. He did not deck himself with glory,
but laid it aside. He emptied hiraself Phil. ii. 6, 7, 8, " Being in the form of
God— he made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant,
and was raade in the likeness of men : and being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."—
Creature-wisdom would have thought that Christ, in order to perform this great
work, should deck himself with all his strength ; but divine wisdom determined,
that he should be made weak, or put on the infirraities of huraan nature.
And why did divine wisdora deterraine that he should become thus weak?
U was that he raight be sutioct to want, and to suffering, and to the power and
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION. 153
malice of his enemies. But then what advantage could it be lo him in thia
work, to be subject to the power and malice of his enemies ? It was the very
design on which he came into the world, to overcorae his enemies. Who would
have thought that this was the way lo overthrow thera, that he should becorae
weak and feeble, and for that very end that he raight be subject to their power
and raalice ? But this is the very raeans by which God determined, that Christ
should prevail against his eneraies, e^en that he should be subject to theii power,
that they might prevail against hiin, so as to put hira to disgrace, and pain, and
death. What other but divine wisdom could ever have deterrained, that this was
the w^ay to be taken in order to being successful in the work of our rederaption !
This would have appeared to creature-wisdom the raost direct course lo be frus
trated that could be devised. But il was indeed the way to glorious success,
and the only way. " The foolishness of God is wiser than men," 1 Coi. i. 25.
God has brought strength out of w-eakness, glory out of ignominy and reproach.
Christ's sharae and reproach are the only means by which a w ay is raade to our
eternal honor.
The wisdom of God halh made Christ's humiliation the means of our exalt
ation ; his coming down from heaven is that which brings us to heaven. The
wisdom of God hath made life the fruit of death. The death of Christ was the
only means by which we could have eternal life. The death of a person who
was God, was the only way by which we could corae to have life in God. —
Here favor is raade to arise out of wrath ; our acceptance into God's favor out
of God's wrath upon his own Son. A blessing rises out of a curse ; our ever
lasting blessedness, frora ChrisI being made a curse for us. Our righteousness
is made to rise out of Christ's imputed guilt He was raade sin for us, that we
might be made the righteousness of God, 2 Cor. v. 21. By such wonderful
means hath the wisdom of God procured our salvation.
3. Our sin and misery, by this contrivance, are made an occasion of our
greater blessedness. This is a veiy wonderful thing. It would have been
a very wonderful thing if we had been merely restored from sin and misery, to
be as we were before ; but it was a much more wonderful thing that we should
oe brought to a higher blessedness than ever; and that our sin and misery should
be the occasion of it, and should make way for il.
(J.) It was wonderful that sin should be made the occasion of our greater
ulessedness ; for sin deserves raisery. By our sin we had deserved to be ever
lastingly miserable ; but this is so turned by divine wisdom, that it is made an
occasion of our being raore happ)'. — It was a strange thing that sin should be
the occasion of any thing else but raisery : but divine wisdom has found out a
way whereby tbe sinner might not only escape being raiserable, but that he
should be happier than bei'ore he sinned; yea, than he would have been if he
had never sinned at all. And this sin and unworthiness of his, are the occasion
of this greater blessedness.
(2.) It was a wonderful thing that man's own misery shoxAd be an occasion
of his greater happiness. For happiness and misery are contraries; and raan's
misery was very great. He was under the wralh and curse of God, and con
deraned to everlasting burnings. — But the sin and misery of man, by this con
trivance, are made an occasion of his being more happy, not only than he was
before the fall, but than he would have been if he never had fallen.
Our first parents, if they had stood and persevered in perfect obedience, till
God had given them the fruit of the tree of life as a seal oftheir reward, would
probably have been advanced lo higher happiness : fbr they before were but in
Vol IV ^U
154 WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATJON,
a state of probation for their reward. And it is not. to be supposed but tha^
their happiness was to have been greater after they had persisted in obedience,
and had actually received the reward, than it was while they were in a stale of
trial for it But by the rede;raption of Christ, the sin and misery of the elect
are raade an occasion of their being brought to a higher happiness than man
kind would have had if they had persisted in obedience till they had received
the reward. — For,
1st. Man is hereby brought to a greater and nearer union with God. If maa
had never fallen, Goii would have remained raan's friend ; he would have en
joyed God's favor, and so would have been the object of Christ's favor, as he
would have had the favor of all the peisons of the Trinity. — But now Christ be
coming our surety and. Saviour, and having taken on him our nature, occasions
between Christ and us a union of a quite diff'erent kind, and a nearer relation
than otherwise would have been. The fall is the occasion of Christ becoming
our head, and the church his body. And believers are become his brethren, and
spouse, in a raanner that olherwise would not have been. And by our union
with Christ we have a greater union with God the Father. We are sons by
virtue of our union with the natural Son of God. Gal. iv. 4 — 6, " When the
fulness of tirae was corae, Gotl sent forth his Son, raade of a woraan, made under
the law, to redeera them that were under the law, that we mighl receive the
adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of
his Son inlo your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." And therefore Chiist has
taught us, in all our addresses to God, to call hira our Father, in like manner
as he calls hira Father : John xx. 17, " Go tell my brethren, behold 1 ascend to
my Father, and your Father."
This is one of llie wonderful Ihings brought about by the work of redeffi^-
tioii, that thereby our separation from God, is made an occasion of a greater
union than was before, or otherwise would have been. — When we fell, there
vvas a dreadful separation made betwixt God and us, but this is made an occa
sion of a greater union. John xvii. 20 — 23, " Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall btheve on me through their word; that they ali
may be one, as thou Falher art in me, and I in thee ; that they also may be
one in us : that the world may believe that thou hast sent rae. And the glory
which thou gavest rae 1 have given them ; that they may be one, even as we
are one : I in thera, and thou in me, that they raay be made perfect in one."
2dly. Man now has greater manifutations of the glory and love of God,
than otherwise he would have had. In the manifestatioiis of these two things,
man's happiness principally consists. Now, raan by the work of redemption,
has greater manifestation of both, than otherwise he would have had. We
have already spoken particularly of the glory of God, and what advantages
even the angels have by the i discoveries of it in this work ; but if they have
such advantages, much raore will man, who is far more directly concerned in
this affair than they.— Here are imraediately greater displays of the love of
God, than man had before he fell ; or, ais we may well suppose, than he would
have had, if he had never fallen. God now manifests his love to his people,
by sending his Son into the world, to die for them. There never would have
been any such testimony of the love of God, if man had not fallen.
Christ manifests his love, by coming into the world, and laying down his
hfe. This IS the greatest testiraony of divine love that can be conceived. Now,
surely, the greater discoveries God's people have of his love to them, the more
occasion will they have to rejoice in that love. Here will be a delicrhtful theme
for the saints to contemplate to all eternity which they never could have had. if
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION. 15fi
man never had fallen, viz., the dying love of Christ They will have occasion
now to sing that song for ever. Rev. i. 5, 6, " Unto him that loved us, and
washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests
unto God and his Father ; to whom be glory and dominion for ever. Amen.
3dly. Man now has greater motives offered him to love God than otherwise
he would have had. .Man's happiness consists in mutual love between God
and man ; in seeing God's love to hira, and in reciprocally loving God. And
the more he sees of God's love lo hira, and the more he loves God, the more
happy must he be. His love to God is as necessary in order to his happiness, as the
seeing of God's love to him ; for he can have no joy in beholding God's love to
him, any olherwise than as he loves God. — This raakes the saints prize God's love
to thera ; for they love him. If they did not love God, lo see his love to them \v ould
not make them happy. But the raore any person loves another, the more will he
be delighted in the manifestations of that other's love. There is provision
theretbre made for both in the work of redemption. There are greater nianij'es-
tations of the love of God to us, than there would have been if man had not
fallen ; and also there are greater -motives to love him than otherwise there
would have been. There are greater obligations to love him, for God has done
more for us to win our love. Christ hath died for us.
Again, man is now brought to a more universal and immediale and sensible
dependence on God, than otherwise he would have been. All his happiness is
now of him, through hira, in him. If man had not fallen, he would have had
all his happiness of God by his own righteousness ; but now it is by the right
eousness of Christ He would have had all his holiness of God, but not so sensi
bly ; because then he would have been holy from the beginning, as soon as he
received his being ; but now, he is fir.st sinful and universally corrupt, and af
terwards is made holy. If man had held his integrity, misery would have been
a stranger to him ; and therefore happiness wouU not have been .so sensible a
derivation from God, as it is now, when man looks to God from the deeps of
dtstress, cries repeatedly to him, and waits upon him. He is convinced by
abundant experience, that he has no place of resort but God, who is graciously
pleased, in consequence of man's earnest and persevering suit, to appear to his
relief, to take him out of the miry clay and horrible pit, set him upon a rock, es
tablish his goings, and put a new song into his mouth. By raan's having thus
a raore immediate, universal, and sensible dependence, God doth more entirely
secure man's undivided respect. There is a greater motive for raan to make
God his all in all, — lo love hira, and rejoice in him, as his only portion.
Athly. By the contrivance for our salvation, man's sin and misery are but
an occasion of his bethg brought to a more full and free converse with and en-
joyment of God than otherwise would have been. For as we have observed
already, the union is greater; and the greater the union, the moie full the com
munion, and intimate the intercourse. — Christ is come down lo man in his own
nature ; and hereby he may converse with Christ raore intimately, than the in
finite distance of the divine nature would allow. This advantage is more than
wha. the angels have. For Christ is not only in a created nature, but he is in
man's own nature. — We have also advantages for a more full enjoyment of
God. liy Christ's incarnation, the saints may see God wilh their bodily eyes,
as well as by an intellectual view. The saints, after the day ofjudgraent, will
consist of both body and soul : they will have outward as well as spiritual sight
It is now ordered by divine wisdora, that God hiraself, or a divine peison, should
be the principal entertainraenl of both these kinds of sight, spiritual and cor
poreal ; and the saints in heaven shall not only have an intellectual sight of CJod,
156 WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION.
but they shall see a divine person as they see one another ; not only spiritually
but outwardly.— The body of Jesus Christ will appear wilh that transcendent
visible raajesty and beauty, which is exceedingly expressive of the divine maj
esty, beauty, and glory. The body of Christ shall appear with the glory of
God upon it, as Christ tells us. Matt xvi. 27 : " The Son of man shall come ir.
the glory of his Father." Thus to see God will be a great happiness to the
.•aints. Job comforted himself that he should see God with his bodily eyes,
iob xix. 26 : " And though after my skin worras destroy this body, yet in my
lesh shall I see God."
bthly. Man's sin and raisery is raade an occasion of his greater happiness,
cS he has now a greater relish of happiness, by reason of his knowlege of bolh.
In order to happiness, there raust be two things, viz., union to a proper object —
and a relish of the object. Man's misery is made an occasion of increasing both
these by the work of redemption. We have shown already, that the union is
Increased ; and so is the relish too, by the knowledge man now has of evil.
These contraries, good and evil, heighten the sense of one another. The for
bidden tree was called the tree of knowledge of good and evil; of ev?7, because
by it we carae to the experience of evil ; of good, because we should never
have known so well whal good was, if it had not been for that tree. We are
taught the value of good, by our knowledge of its contrary, evil. This teaches
us lo prize good, and raakes us the more lo relish and rejoice in it. The saints
know soraething what a state of sin and alienation frora God is. They know
something what the anger of God is, and what it is to be in danger of hell.
And this makes thera the more exceedingly to rejoice in the favoi and in the
enjoyment of God.
Take two persons ; one who never knew what evil was, but was happy
frora the first raoment of his being, having the favor of God, and nuraerous
tokens of it ; another who is in a very dolefid and undone condition. Let there
be bestowed upon these two per.sons the sarae blessings [subjectively], the
sarae good things ; and let thera be objectively in the sarae glorious circumstan
ces, — and which will rejoice raost ? Doubtless he that was brought to this hap
piness out of a raiserable and doleful state. So the saints in heaven will for
ever the raore rejoice in God, and in the enjoyraent of his love, for their being
brought to it out of a raoU lamentable state and condition.
StCTION VII.
Some wonderfui circumstances ofthe overtlirow of Satan.
The wisdom of God greatly and reraarkably appears in so exceedingly
baffling and confounding all the subtlety of the old serpent. Power never ap
pears so conspicuous as whej opposed, and conquering opposition. The same
raay be said of wisdom ; it never appears so brightly, and with such advantage
as when opposed by the subtlety of som^ veiy crafty eneray ; and in baffling and
confounding that subtlety. — Tiie devil is exceeding subtle. The subtlety of the
serpent is erableraatical of his. Gen. iii. 1. He was once one of the bright
intelligences of heaven, and one ofthe brightest, if not the very brightest of all
And all the devils Avere once morning stars, of a glorious brightness of under-
wtanuing They still have the sarae faculties, though they°ceased to be in
fluenced and guided by the Holy Spirit of God ; and so their heavenly wisdom
is turned into hellish craft and subtlety. — God in the work of redemption hath
wondrously baffled the utraost cmft ofthe devils, and though they are all cora-
oined to frustrate God's designs of glory to himself, and goodness to men.— The
wisdom of God appears very gloriou,-. 'lerein. For,
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION. 167
1. Consider the weak and seeraingly despicable means and weapons iha.
God employs to overthrow Satan. Christ poured the greater contempt upon
Satan in the victory that he obtained over hira, by reason of the means of his pre
paring hiraself for it, and the weapons he hath used. Christ chooses to encounter
Satan in the human nature, in a poor, frail, afflicted state. He did as David did.
David when going against the Philistine refused Saul's arraor, a helmet of brass,
k coat of mail, and his sword. No, he puts them all off. Goliath coraes mightily
armed against David, with a helmet of brass upon his head, a coat of mail
weighing five thousand shekels of brass, greaves of brass upon his legs, and a
target of brass between his shoulders ; a spear, whose staff' was like a weaver's
beam ; and the spear's head weighing six hundred shekels of iron. And be
sides all this, he had one bearing a shield before hira. Bul David takes nothing
bul a staff' in his hand, and a shepherd's bag and a sling ; and he goes against
the Philistine. So the weapons that Christ raade use of were his poverty, af
flictions and reproaches, sufferings and dealh. His principal weapon was his
cross: the instruraent of his own reproachful death. These were seeraingly
weak and despicable instruments, to wield against such a giant as Satan. And
doubtless the devil disdained thera as i;5uch as Goliath did David's staves and
sling. But with such weapons as these has Christ, in a huraan, weak, mortal
nature, overthrown and baffled all the craft of hell.
• Such disgrace and conterapt has Christ poured upon Satan. David had a
more glorious victory over Goliath for his conquering him wilh such mean in-
slrmnents ; and Samson over the Philistines, for killing so many of thera with
such a despicable weapon as the jaw-bone of an ass. Il is spoken of in Scrip
ture as a glorious triuraph of Christ over the devil, that he should overcome
him by such a despicable weapon as his cross. Col. ii. 14, 15, " Blotting out the
hand-writing of ordinances that was against us, which was conlrary lo us, and
took it out of the way, naihng it lo his cross : and having spoiled principalities
and poweis, he made a show of thera openly, triumphing over them in it." —
God shows his great and infinite wisdom in taking this method, to confound the
wisdom and subtlety of his enemies. He hereby shows how easily he can do it,
and that he is infinitely wiser than they. 1 Cor. i. 27, 28, " God halh chosen
the foolish Ihings of the worid, to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen
the weak things ofthe world, to confoimd the tilings that are raighty : and the
base things of the world, and ihings that are despised, hath Qod chosen; yea,
and things that are not, lo bring lo nought Ihings that are."
2. God has hereby confounded Satan with his own weapons. It is so
contrived in Ihe work of rederaption, that our grand enemy should be made a
means of his own confusion ; and that, by those very Ihings whereby he en
deavors lo rob God of his glory, and to destroy raankind, he is raade an instru
ment of frustrating his own designs. His most subtle and powerful endeavors
for accomplishing his designs are made a means of confounding them, and of
promoting the conlrary. Of this, I will mention but two instances. First. His
procuring man's fall is made an occasion of the contrary to what he designed.
Indeed he has hereby procured the ruin of multitudes of mankind, which he
aimed at But in this he does not frustrate God's design from all efernily to
glorify himself; and the rai,sery of multitudes of mankind will prove no content
to him, but will enhance his own misery.
What Satan did in templing man to fall, is made an occasion of the contrary
to what he intended, in that it gave occasion for God lo glorify hiraself the
more; and giveth occasion for the elect being brought to higher happiness
The happy slate of man was ei ued by Satan. That raan who was of
I5S "WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION.
earthly origiottt should be advanced to such honors, when he who was origi
nallv of a so rauch more noble nature should be cast down to such disgrace^ his^
pride could not bear. How then would Satan triuraph, when he had brought
hira down !
The devil terapted our first parents wilh this, that if they would eat of the
forbidden fruit, they should be as gods. — It was a lie in Satan's mouth ; for he
aimed at nolhing else but to fool man out of his happiness, and make him his
own slave and vassal, with a blinded expectation of being like a god. — But little
did Satan think that God would turn it so, as to raake raan's fall an occasion
of God's becoraing raan ; and so an occasion of our nature being advanced to
a slate of closer union to God.
By this raeans it coraes to pass, that one in raan's nature now sits at the right
hand of God, invested with divine power and glory, and reigns over heaven and
earth with a God-like power and dominion. Thus is Satan disappointed in his
subtlety. As he intended that saying. Ye shall be as gods, it was a lie, to decoy
and befool raan. Little did he think, that it would be in such manner verified
by the incarnation of the Son of God. And this is the occasion also of all the
elect being united to this divine person, so that they become one wilh Christ.
Believers are as raerabers and parts of Christ Yea, the church is called Christ
Little did Satan think, that his telling that lie to our first parents, " Ye shall
be as gods," would be the occasion of their being raembers of Christ the Son
of God. Again, Satan is raade a raeans of his own confusion intbis : — It was Satan's
design, in terapting raan to sin, to make man his captive and slave forever; to
have plagued, and triuraphed over hira. And this very thing is a means to
bring it about, that raan instead of being his vassal should be his judge. The
elect, instead of being his captives, to be forever torraented and triumphed over
by him, shall sit as judges to sentence hira to everlasling torraent. It has been
the means, that one in raan's nature, should be his suprerae Judge. It was
man's nature that Satan so envied, and sought to make a prey of. But Jesus
Christ al the last day shall corae in raan's nature ; and the devils shall be all
brought to stand trembling at his bar : and he shall judge, and conderan thera,
and execute the wrath of God upon thera. And not only shall Christ in the
huraan nature judge the devils, but all the saints shall judge thera wilh Christ
as assessors with hira in judgment : 1 Cor. -vi. 3, " Know ye not that we shall
judge angels?"
Secondly. In another instance Satan is made a means of his own confusion;
that is, in his procuring the death of Christ. Satan set himself to oppose Christ
as soon as he appeared. — He sought, by all means, to procure his ruin. He set
the Jews against hira. He filled the minds of the scribes and Pharisees with
the most bitter persecuting malice against Christ He sought by all means to
procure his death ; and that he might be put to the raost ignorainious death
We read " that Satan entered into Judas, and terapted hira to betray hira;"
Luke xxii. 3. And Christ speaks of his suflTerings as being the eflfects of the
power of/larkness, Luke xxii. 53 : " When I was daily with you in the temple, ye
stretched forth no hands against rae : but this is your hour and the power of dark
ness." — But Satan hereby overthrows his ownkingdora. Christ came into the
worid to destroy the works of the devil. And this was the very thing that did
"t, viz., the blood and dealh of Christ The cross was the devil's own weapon :
and with this weapon he was overthrown : as David cut oflf Gohalh's head with
his own sword.
Christ thus raaking Satan a raean : of his owr confusion was typified ot old
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION. 159
by Samson's getting honey out of the carcass of the lion. There is more im
plied in Samson's riddle, " Out of the eater came forth raeat, and out of the
strong came forth sweetness," than ever the Philistines explained. It was veri
fied by Christ in a far more glorious manner. God's eneraies and ours are taken
in the pit which they theraselves have digged : and their own soul is taken in
the net which ihey have laid. Thus we have shown, in sorae measure, the
wisdom of this way of salvation by Jesus Christ.
SECTION vm.
The superiority ofthis wisdom to that ofthe angels.
The wisdom of this contrivance appears to have been above the wifsdom of
ti;e angels by the following things.
1. It appears that the angels did not fully comprehend the contrivance, till
they saw it accomplished. They knew that man was to be redeemed, long be
fore Christ came into the world : but yet they did not fully comprehend it until
they saw it This is evident by the expresfsion in the text. That now might be
known unto the principalities - the manifold wisdom of God ; i. e.. Now the
work is actually accoraplished by Jesus Christ. Which implies that it was now
new to them. — If they understood no more of it now, than they had all along,
the apostle would have expressed hiraself so ; for he is spe king of it as a mys
tery, in a measure kept bid until now.
Now it is to be considered, that the angels had four thousand years lo con
template this affair ; and they did not want inclination and desire to understand
and look into it, as the Scripture teaches us. They had also a great deal lo put
them upon an attentive conteraplation of it. For when it was raade known that
God had such a design, it must appear a new and wonderful thing to thera.
They had seen their fellow-angels destroyed without mercy ; and this redeem
ing of the fallen sinful creature, was quite a new thing. It must needs be as
tonishing to them,when God had revealed this design of mercy to them present
ly after the fall; and had given an intiraation of it, in saying, "The seed of
the woraan shall bruise the serpent's head." They knew that God had such a
design ; for they were, from the beginning, ministering spirits, sent forth to
^minister to those that were the heirs of salvation. — They were present at the
institution of Ihe typical dispensation, that was so full of shadows of gospel
truth. Psal. Ixix 17.
The angels conteraplating the contrivance of our redemption was typified
by the posture of the cherubims over the raercy-seat, which was the lid of the
ark. These emblems were made bending down towards the ark and raercy-
seat. — This is what the apostle Peter is thought to have some reference to,
1 Peter i. 12. Yet the angels, though for four thousand years they had been
studying this contrivance, did not fully coraprehend it till ihey saw it accora
plished. This shows that the wisdom of il was far above theirs ; for if they
could not fully comprehend it after it had been revealed Ihat there wss such a
design— and after rauch of it had already been made known in the Old Testa
ment — how much less could they have found it out of themselves ?
Consider lor what end this wisdom of God waf made known unto the angels,
viz., that they might admire and prize it. It was raade known to them, that
they might see how manifold, how great and glorious, it is ; that they might
see the unspeakable " depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of
God,'' as the apo.«tk expresses it, Rora. xi. 33. — It was manifested to them that
t^.ev oiinhf spT;'thr glory of God in it, and how great and wonderful the raystery
160 WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION. 4»
was. 1 Tim. iii. 16, " Great is the mystery of godliness : God was manifest
in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels." Now if the wisdom of it
were not far above their own understandings, this would not be shown them for
the express purpose that they might admire and praise God for it.
2. It appears to be above the wisdom of the angels, because they are still
contemplating it ; ai.d endeavoring to see more and more of it Indeed there
is roora for their faculties to employ themselves to all eternity. It is evident
frora 1 Pet. i. 11, 12, that they are slill eraploying theraselves in endeavoring
to see raore and raore of God's wisdora appearing in the work of rederaption,
" Searching what, or what raanner of time the Spirit of Christ which vvas in
thera did signify, when it testified beforehand ofthe sufferings of Christ, and the
glory that shoukl follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto them
selves, bul unto i^s they did minister the things which are novs' reported unto
you by thera that have preached the gospel unto you, wilh the Holy Ghost
sent down from heaven ; which Ihings the angels desire to look into." They
still desire to look into it, after they have seen it accomplished. They do not
so perfectly comprehend all the wisdom that is to be seen in it ; but. they are
conteraplating, looking into it, that they raay see raore and more ; but there
will still be room enough in this work to employ the angelical understandings.
SECTION IX.
The subjr'ct improved.
I. Hence we may learr. the blindness of tbe world, that the wisdora appear
mg in the work of rederaption is no more admired in it. God has revealed this his
glorious design ann contrivance lo the world ; sends forth his gospel, and causes
it to be preached abroad, in order to dec lare lo the world that his infinite wis
dom has been engaged for man's salvation. But how little is it regarded '
There are some who have their eyes opened to behold the wondrous things of
the gospel, who see the glory of God in, and admire Ihe wisdom of it. But the
greater part art wholly blind to it. They see nolhing in all this that is anv
way glorious and wonderful. Though the angels account it worthy of their
most engaged and deep contemplation ; yet the greater part of men "take httle
notice of it It is all a dull story and dead letter to many of them. They can
not see any thing in it above the wisdom of men. Yea, the gospel to many
seems foolishness.
Though the light that shines in the world be so exceeding glorious, yet
how few are there that do see it The glory of God's wisdom in this work is
surpassing the brightness of the sun : but so blind is the world that it sees noth
ing. It does not know that the Sun of righteousness shines. Thus it has been
in all ages, and wherever the gospel has been preached, ministers of the word
of God in all ages have had occasion to say. Who hath believed our report,
and to whora is the arra of the Lord revealed ? Thus the prophets were sent
to raany with that errand, Isa. vi. 9, 10 : " Go and tell this people. Hear ye in
deed, but understand not ; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the
heart of this people fal, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes ; lest they
should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their
heart, and convert, and be healed."
When Christ that glorious prophet came, and more fullv revealed the coun
sels ot i.lod concerning our redemption, how raany were then bhnd ! how
much did Chnst coraplain of them ! How blind were Ihe scribes and Phari-
sees, the most noted sect of men araong the Jews for wisdom : they beheld no
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION. 161
glory in that gospel which Christ preached unto them ; which gave nira occa
sion to call them fools and blind. Matt. xxiu. 17. — So h was again in the apos
tles' times. In all places where they preached, some believed, and some behev
ed not, Acts xxviii. 24. " As many as were ordained to eternal life believed,"
chap. xiii. 48. " The election obtained, but the rest were blinded," Rom. xi. 7.
And so it is still in those places where the gospel is preached. There are a
few who see the glory of the gospel. God has a small number whose eyes he
opens, who are called out of darkness inlo marvellous hght. and who have an
understanding to see the wisdora and fitness of the -way of life. But how many
are there who sit under the preaching of the gospel all their days, yet never
see any cfivine wisdora or glory in it ! To their dying day they are unafl^ecled
with it. When they hear it, they see nothing to attract their attention, rauch
less excite any admiration. To preach the gospel lo thera will serve very well
to lull them asleep ; but produces very little other effect upon them. This
shows the exceeding wickedness of the heart of raan. How aflfecting the
thought, that infinite wisdora should be set on work, so as to surprise the angels,
and to entertain them from age to age ; — and that to men, though so plainly set
before them, it should appear foohshness I 1 Cor. i. 18, " The preaching of
the cross is to thera that perish foolishness."
II. This is a great confirraation of the truth of the gospel. The gospel
stands in no need of external evidences of its truth and divinily. Il carries its
own light and evidence wilh it. — There is that in its nature that sufficiently
distinguishes it, to those who are spiritually enlightened, from all the eflfects of
human invention. There are evident appearanoes of the divine perfections ; the
stamp of divine glory, of vvhich this ofthe divine wisdom is not the least part.
There is as much in the gospel to show that jt is no work of men, as there
is in the sun in the firmament As persons of mature reason who look upon
the sun, and consider the nature of it, ils wonderful height, its course, its bright
ness and heat, raay know that il is no work of raan ; so, if the gospel be duly
considered, if the true nature of it be seen, it raay be known that it is no work
of man, and that it must be from God. And if the -wisdom appearing in the
gospel be duly considered, it will be seen as much to excel ah human wisdom,
as the sun's light excels the hght of fires of our own kindling. — The contri
vance of our salvation is of such a nature that no one can rationally conclude
that man had any hand in it The nature of the contrivance is such, so out of
the way of all human thoughts, so different frora all huraan inventions ; so
much more sublime, excellent, and worthy, that it does not savor at all of the
craft or subtlety of man : it savors of God only.
If any are ready to think man might have found out such a way of salvation
for sinners — so honorable to God, to his holiness and authority— -they do not
well consider the scantiness of human understanding. Mankind were of a poor
capacity for any such undertaking ; for till the gospel enlightened the world,
they had but miserable notions of what was honorable to God. They could
have but poor notions of what way would be suitable to the divine perfections ;
for they were wofully in the dark about these divine pe^eclions themselves,
till the gospel came abroad in the world. They had strange notions about a
Deity. Most of them thought there were raany gods. " They changed the
glory of the incorruptible God into an iraage like to corruptible raan, and to
birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping Ihings," Rom. i. 23. They attiibuted
vices to God. Even the philosophers, their wisest men, entertained but imper
fect notions of the Suprerfie Being. How then should men find out a way so
glorious and honorable to God, and agreeable to his perfections, who nad not
Vol. IV 91
162 WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION.
wisdom enough to get any tolerable notions of God, till the gospei was reveal-i
ed lo them. They groped in the dark. Their notions showed the infinite in^
sufficiency of man's blind undersianding for any such undertaking, as the con
triving ofa way of salvation every way honorable to God, and suitable to the
needs of a fallen creature.
But since the gospel has told what God's counsels are, and how he has con
trived a way for our salvation, men are ready to despise it, and foolishly to exah
their own understanding ; and to imagine they could have found out as good a
way themselves. W^hen, alas ! raen, of theraselves, had no notion of what
was honorable to God, and suitable for a Divine Being. — They did not so much
as think of the nece.ssity of God's law being answered, and justice satisfied..
And if they had, how dreadfully would they have been puzzled to have found out
the way how! Who would have thought of a trinity of persons in the God
head ; and that one should sustain the rights of the Godhead; and another
should be the Mediator ; and another should make application of redem-ition ?
Who would have thought of such a thing as three distinct persons, and yet but
one God ? All the same Being, and yet three persons I Who would have
thought of this, in order to have found out a way for satisfying justice ? Who
would have thought of a way for answering the law that threatened eternal
death, without the sinner's suffering eternal dealh ? And who would have
thought of any such thing as a divine person suffering the wrath of God 1 And
if they had, who would have contrived a way how he should suflfer, since the
divine nature cannot suffer ?
Who would have thought of any such thing as God becoming man ; two
natures and but one person ? These things are exceedingly out of the way of
huraan thought and contrivance. It is raost unreasonable to think that the
world, who, till the gospel enlightened thera, were so blind about the nature of
God and divine things, should contrive such a way that should prove thus to
answer all ends ; every way to suit what the case required ; raost glorious to
God, and answerable to all man's necessities. Every thing is so fully provided
for, and no absurdity to be found in the whole affair, but all speaking forth the
most perfect wisdom. That there should be no infringement upon holiness or
justice; nothing dishonorableto the majesty of God ; no encouragement tosin,
aU possible motives to holiness ; all manner of happiness provided ; and Satan
so confounded and entirely overthrown ; how truly wonderful I
And if we suppose that all this notwithstanding was the invention of men,
whose invention should it be ? Who should be pitched upon as the most
likely to invent it ? It was not the invention of the Jews ; for they were
the most bitter eneraies to it The wise raen araong them, when they first heard
of it, conceived raalice against it, and persecuted all that held this doctrine. It
was not the invention of the heathen ; for they knew nothing about it, till the
apostles preached it to them ; and it appeared a very foolish doctrine to the
wise raen araong thera. The doctrine of Christ crucified was not only to the
Jews a sturabling-block, but also to the Greeks foolishness, 1 Cor. i; 23. Be
sides, it was contrary to all their notions about a Deity, and they knew nothing
about the fall of man, and the like, till the gospel revealed it to them
It was not the invention of the apostles ; for the apostles, of themselves.
were no way capable of anj such learned contrivance. They were pooi fisher
men and publicans, an obscure and illiterate sort of raen, till they were txtra"-
ordinarily taught. "They were all surprised when they first heard of it. When
they heard tbat Christ must die for sinners, they vTere oflfended at it • and it
was a long while before they were brought fully to receive it.
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALV.VTION. 163
There is but one way left ; and that is, to suppo.se, that Christ was a mere
jijin, a very subtle crafty man, and that he invented it all : but this is as un
reasonable as the rest; for it would have been all against himself, to invent a
way of salvation by his own crucifixion, a raost tormenting and ignominious
death. IIL How great a sin they are guilty of who despise and reject this way of
salvation ! When God has manifested such unsearchable riches of wisdom ;
when all the persons of the Trinity have as it were held a consultation from all
eternity in providing a way of salvation for us sinful, miserable worms ; — a way
that should be sufficient and every way suitable for us ; — a way that should be in all
things complete, whereby we might have not only full pardon of all our sins, and
deliverance from heh ; but also full blessedness in heaven forever : — how must
God needs be provoked, when, after all, raen reject this way of salvation !
When salvation comes to be preached, and is offered to thera in this way ;
when they are invited to accept of ts benefits, and yet they despise and refuse
it ; they thus practically deny it to f a wise way, and call this wisdora of God
foolishness. — How provoking it must be, when such a poor creature as man
shall rise up, and find fault with that wisdora which is so far above the wisdom
of angels ! This is one thing wherein consists the heinousness of the sin of un
belief, and it implies a rejecting and despising of divine wisdoni in the way of
salvation by Jesus Christ. — Unbelief finds fault wilh the wisdora of God in the
choice of the person, for performing this work. It dislikes the person of Christ.
It sees no forra nor coraeliness in hiin, nor beauty wherefore it should desire him.
That person whom the wisdora of God looked upon as the fittest person of
any, the only fit person, is despised and rejected by unbelief — Men, through
unbehef, find fault with the salvation itself that Christ has purchased ; they do
not hke to be saved as Christ would save. They do not like to be made holy,
and to have such a happiness as is lo be had in God for a portion.
It may not be amiss here to mention two or three ways whereby persons
are guilty of a provoking contempt of the wisdora of God in the way of sal
vation. 1. They are guilty of a provoking contempt, who live in a careless neglect
of their salvation ; they who» are secure in their sins, and are not rauch con
cerned about either salvation or damnation. This is practically charging God
with folly. — Its language is, that all is in vain, and to no purpose ; that God
hath contrived and consulted for our salvation, when there was no need of it
They are well enough as they are. They do not see any great necessity of a
Saviour. They hke that stale they are in, and do not much desire to be de
livered out of it. — They do not thank hira for all his considtation and contriv-
ince, and think he might have spared bis cost. God has greatly minded that,
which they do not think worth minding ; and has contrived abundantly for
that w-hich they do not trouble their heads about.
2. They are guilty of a provoking contempt of the wisdom of this, way of
salvation, who go about to contrive ways oftheir own. Tbey who are not con-
icn; with salvation by the righteousness of Christ, which God has provided, are
for contriving some way of being saved by their own righteousness. — These
find fault with the wisdora of God's way, and set up their own wisdora in op
position to it How greatly raust God be provoked by such conduct !
3. Those that entertain discouraged and despairing apprehensions about
their salvation, cast contempt on the wisdom of God. They think that because
they have been such great sinners, God will not be willing to pardon thera ;
Christ will not be willing to accepi* jf them. They fear that ChrisI, in the in.
164 WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION.
vilations of the gospel, does not raean such wicked creatures as they are ; thai
because they have coramitted 30 much sin, they have sinned beyond the reaci
of raercy. They think it is in vain for thera to seek for salvation. — These cast
conterapt on the wisdom of God in the way of salvation, as though it were not
all-sufficient ; — as though the wisdom of God had not found out a way that was
sufficient for the salvation of great sinners.
SECTION X.
The misery of unbelievers.
Unbelievers have no portion in this matter. There is a raost glorious waj
of salvation, but you, who are unbelievers, have no interest in it The wisdom
of God hath been gloriously employed for the deliverance of mep frora a miser
able, doleful state ; but you are never the better for it, because you reject it
If you continue in that state, this wisdom will do you no good.
Christ is a glorious person ; every way fit to be a Saviour of sinners ; 3
person who has power sufficient, wisdom sufficient, raerit sufficient, and love
sufficient for perfecting this work. And he is the only fit person ; but you
nave no right in hira ; you can lay claira to no benefit by his power, wisdora,
love, or merits. — This wisdora of God halh found out a way whereby this
Saviour raight satisfy justice, and fulfil the law for us: a way whereby he might
De capable of suffering for us : but you have no lot in the incarnation, dealh,
ind sufferings of Jesus Christ.
The wisdom of God hath contrived a way of salvation that there should be
procured for us perfect and everlasting happiness. Here is that happiness pro
cured which is most suitable to our nature, and answerable to the salvation of
our souls. Here is a most glorious portion, viz., the Divine Being himself,
with his glorious perfections. Here it is purchased, that we should see God
face to face ; — that we should converse and dwell with God in his own glori
ous habitation ; — that we should be the children of God, and be conformed to
hira. — Here are the highest honors, the most abundant riches, the raost substan
tial satisfying pleasures for everraore. — Here we have prepared all needed good,
Doth for the souls and bodies of sinners: all deeded earthly good things,
ivhile here ; and glory, for bolh body and soul hereafter, forever.
But you are never the betier for all this. You have no lot nor portion in
any of it. Notwithstanding all this rich provision, you raay reraain in the same
miserable state and condition, in which you carae into the world. Thouo-h the
provision of the gospel be so full, yet your poor soul reraains in a famishing,
perishing state. You remain dead in trespasses and sins ; under the dominion
of Satan ; in a condemned stale, having the wrath of God abiding on you, and
being daily exposed to the dreadful eff'ects of it in hell. Notwithstanding all
this provision, you remain wretched and miserable, poor and blind and naked.
0 that y^ou might turn to God through Jesus Christ, be nurabered araong his
disciples and faithful followers, and so be entitled to their privileges ! They
have an interest in this glorious Saviour, and are entitled to all the ineffable
blessedness ()f his kingdora, so far as Iheir capacities will admit : but you remain
wiihout Christ, being aliens frora the coraraonwealth of Israel, strangers to the
covenant of promise, having no well-grounded hope, and wiihout God in the
world. — Further consider a few thinors.
First. Il argues the great misery of sinners, that the wisdom of God should
oe exercised to such a degree in order to find out a way to deliver them from it
Their case surclv was most deplorable, since it required infinite wisdom to find
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION. 166
out a way for their deliverance. The wisdora of angels was not sufficient
nothing but divine wisdora could reach and remedy their case. And all the
persons of the Trinity did enter into a consultation about it. If man's misery
were not very great, divine wisdom would not have been exercised for his deli
verance from it. God would not contrive and do things so wonderful in a tri
vial affair. If the salvation of a sinner were not a great salvation, from an ex
ceeding great misery, it is not to be supposed, that God's wisdom should be
raore signalized in this aff'ahthan in any other whatever.
But so it is ; this contrivance seems to be spoken of in Scripture as the
master-piece of divine wisdom. This work of rederaption is represented as
most wonderful, and spoken of in Scripture in the most exalted manner of any
work of God. — Doubtless therefore salvation is a great thing ; and consequent
ly the misery that sinners are saved from, is a great and unspeakable misery.
Now this is the misery that you are all in, who reraain in a natural condition.
This is the condemnation you lie under. This is the wrath of God that abides
upon you. The wisdom of God knew it to be a very doleful thing for a peison
to be in a natural slate, and therefore did so exercise itself to deliver raiserable
sinners out of it. But this is the state that raany among us do yet remain in.
Secondly. Consider that if you continue in the stale you are in, you will
be so far from being the better for this contrivance, that you will be rauch more
miserable for it. The justice and wisdora of the way of salvation will be your
conderanation. " This is the condemnation, that light is come into the worid,
and men loved darkness rather than hght," John iii. 19. If you continue in
the stale that you are now in, it would have been better for you, if Christ had
never died for sinners ; if God had left all mankind lo peri.sh, as he did the fal
len angels. Your ptraishraent then would have been light in comparison of
what it will be now. 'Vou will have greater sins by far to answer for ; and all
your sins will be abundantly the more aggravated.
Since I have been upon this subject, I have observed, that the work of re
demption is an occasion ofthe elect being brought to greater happiness than
man could have had, if he had not fallen. And it is also true as to reprobates,
that it will be the occasion of tbeir having greater misery than they would
have had, if there had been no rederaption. 2 Cor. ii. 15, " For we are unto
God a sweet savor of Christ, in thera that are saved, and in thein that perish.
To the one we are a savor of dealh unto death ; and to the other we are a sa
vor of life unto life." If you perish at last, you will be the more raiserable for
the benefits of the gospel being so glorious, and that because your crime in re
jecting and despising them will be the more heinous. Heb. ii. 3, " How shall
we escape, if we neglect so great salvation ?"
Thirdly. Whilst you continue an unbeliever, the more you hear of this way
of salvation, your condition will become the more raiserable. The longer you
sit under the preaching of tbe gospel, the more doleful does your case grow.
Your guilt continually increases. For your refusals of the gospel, and your re
jections ofthis way of salvation are so much the oftener repeated. Every time
you hear the gospel preached, you are guilty of a renewed rejection of it, the
guilt of which therefore you will have lying upon you. And the more you hear
ofthe suitableness and glory ofthis way, the greater is your guilt who slill con
tinue to reject it. Every new illustration of the wisdora and grace of God in
redemption, adds to your guilt : Matt xxiii. 37, " 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem-
how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gather-
;th her chickens under her wings, but ye would not !" — What adds to youi
misery is, that as long as it continues it is a growing evil.
166 WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION.
Fourthly Consider the danger there iS, that you will never have any lot bi
portion in this matter; seeing there are but few that have. Christ has told us
that strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few
there be that find it. There have been but few in all ages of the world. Maiij
seek ; and many hope that they shall obtain. There are few that intend to bf
daraned ; while raany hope that they shall sorae way or other find means tc
escape eternal misery. But after all, there are but few saved ; or obtab the
¦jenefits of redemption. SECTION XI.
Exhortation to come to Christ.
I conclude with a use of exhortation to come to Christ, and except of sal
vation in this way. You are invited lo come to Christ, heartily to close With
him, and trust in him for salvation: and if you do so, you shall have the beneflt
of this glorious contrivance. You shall have the benefit of all; -as much as if
the whole had been contrived for you alone. God has already contrived every
thing that is needful for your salvation ; and there is nothing wanting but your
tonsent Since God has taken this raatter of the rederaption of sinners into his
Own hand, he has raade thorough Work of it ; he has not left it for you to
finish. Satisfaction is already raade, righteousness is already wrought out :
death and hell are already conquered; The Redeemer has already taken pos
session of glory, and keeps it in his hands to bestow on them who corae lo hini.
There were raany difficulties in the way, but they are all reihbved. The Saviour
has already triurhphed over all, and is al the right hand of God, to give eternal
life to his people.
Salvation is ready brought to your door; and the Saviour stands, knocks,
ancf calls that you wpuld open to hira, that he raight bring it in to you. There
reraains nothing but your consent. All the chihculty now reraaining is with
your own heart. If you perish now, it must be wholly at your door. It mu.st
be because you would not .come lo ChrisI that you might have life ; and because
you virtually choose death rather than hfe : Prov. vin. 36, " He that sinneth
against me, wrongelh his own soul: all they that hate me love death." — All
that is now required of you, is, that your heart should close With Christ as a
Saviour. Here consider,
1. That the wisdora of God hath so contrived, that he hath forestalled all
your objections. If you niake objections against Christ and the way of salva
tion, they must be all unreasonable. YoU' cannot reasonably object that your
sins are of such a nature, that God's honor will not allow of your pardon. It
is true God insists upon his Own honor. He is a God that will be honored, and
his majesty shall be vindicated : and when sinners cast conterapt upon him', his
honor requires Vengeance. But God has 'so contrived this way, that his honor
may be repaired by the punishraent of sin wiihout the sinher's suffering, how
great soever the sin be. Herein the Wisdora of this way appears, that tliere is
a sufficiency for the greatest and most heinous transgressors.
You catinot object that Gcjd the Father will not be willino- to accc^pt you,
for the Mediator's sake ; for he hath chosen his own Son to be a mediator, to
cut ofl" any such objections. So you hiay be svre that God will receive you if
you goto him through Christ— You cannot object that God the Father has hot
given sufficient assurance of salvation lo behevers ; for the principal things,
those Which would have been most difficult to believe, are already fulfilled :
Goi hath already given his Son to dip for us. This, before it was accomplished
WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION. 167
was much mon. strange, and difficult to believe, than that he should give eter
nal life to sinners after Christ died for them.: Rom. vhi. 32, " He that spared
not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, hovs' shall he not wilh him
freely give us all things ?"
.'rhere is no room to doubt but that if we accept of Christ, God will give
eternal life ; for he hath given it already into the hands of our Saviour for us.
He hath intrusted hira wilh the whole affair. He halh given all things into his
hands, that he might give eternal life to as many as should come to him. The
Father hath appointed hira who died for believers, to be their judge, to have
the whole deterraination of the matter, and the disposal of the reward, in his
own hand. And you cannot doubt but that Christ will be willing to bestow
eternal life on them for whom he purchased it. For if he is not wifling to be
stow it, surely he never would have died to purchase it. Who can think that
Christ would be so desirous of sinners being saved, as to undergo so much for
it ; and not be willing to let thera have it, when he had obtained it for them ';
Consider, 2. The wisdora of God hath contrived that there should be in the person of
the Saviour all manner of attractives to draw us to hira. He has in him all
possible excellency. He is possessed of all the beauty and glory of the Godhead.
So that there can be no manner of excellency, nor degree of excellency Ihat
we can devise, but what is in the person of the Saviour. — But yet so redundant
has the wisdom of God been, in providing attractives in order that we should
corae lo Christ, it hath so ordered that there should also be all huraan excel
lencies in him. If there be any thing attractive in this consideration, that Christ
is one in our own nature, one of us ; this is true of Christ. He is not only in
the divine, but in the huraan nature. He is truly a man, and has all possible
human excellencies. He was of a most excellent spirit ; wise and holy, con
descending and meek, and of a lowly, benign, and benevolent disposition.
Again : The wisdora of God hath chosen a person of great love to sinners,
and who should show that love in the most endearing manner possible. What
more condescending love can there be, than the love of a divine person to such
worms of the dust ? What freer love can there be than love to enemies ? What
greater love can there be, than dying love ? And what more endearing ex
pression of love, than dying for the beloved ? And the wisdom of God hath
so contrived, that Christ shall sustain that office which should most tend to
endear hira to us, and draw us to hira : the office of a Redeemer, a redeemer
from eternal misery, and the purchaser of all happiness.
And if all this be not enough to draw us, the wisdom of God hath orderea
more ; it halh provided us with a Saviour that should oflTer himself to us in the
most endearing relation. He oflfers to receive us as friends. To receive us to
a union to himself, to become our spiritual husband and portion forever. — And the
wisdom of God has provided us a Saviour that woos in a raanner that has the
greatest tendency to win our hearts. His word is raost attractive. He stands
at our door and knocks. He does not raerely command us to receive him : but
he condescends to apply hiraself to us in a more endearing manner. He entreats
and beseeches us in his word and by his messengers.
3. The wisdora of God halh contrived that there should be all manner of
attractives in the benefits that Christ offers you. There are not only the ex
cellencies ofthe person of Christ to draw you to hira, but the desirable benefits
he oflfers. Here is what is raost suitable to the cravings ofthe huraan nature.
Men when distressed and burdened, long for ease and rest : here it is oflfered to
OS in Christ. " Come unto me," says he^ " all ye that labor and are heavy
168 WISDOM DISPLAYED IN SALVATION.
laden, and I wiU give you rest." — Men when in fear of danger, long tor mf--
ty : here it is provided for us in Christ. God promises that he will become i
Shield and buckler, a strong rock and high tower to those tbat trust in him. —
Those that mourn need comfort : Christ tells us that " he carae to comfort those
that mourn," Isa. Ixi. 2. — The blind need to have their eyes opened. The
light is sweet to men : Christ oflfers to anoint our eyes with eye-salve that we
may see glorious hght He will be our sun, and the light of God's countenance.
What is raore dear to raen than life 1 Christ hath purchased for men, that
they should live forever : Psal. xxi. 4, " He asked life of thee, and thou gavest
it hira, even length of days forever and ever." — How greatly is a crown prized
and admired by the children of raen ! And ChrisI offers this ; — not a corrupti
ble crown, but an incorruptible and far more glorious crown than any worn by
earthly kings : a crown of glory, the lustre of which shall never fade, nor decay;
with an everlasting kingdom. — Do men love pleasures 1 Here are pleasures
for evermore. What could there be more to draw our hearts to Jesus Christy
and to make us willing to accept of him for our Saviour, w.'th all his unspeak
able benefits ?
SERMON VI *
1 Cor. i. 29 — 31. — That no fiesh should glory in liis presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jfsns, wlic of
God is made unto us wisdom, and righleonsiK-ss. und stinctificalion, und redemption ; that according aa
is written. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
Those Christians to whora the apostle directed this epistle, dwelt in a part
of the world w'.iere human wisdom was in great repute ; as the apostle observes
in the 22d veree of this chapter, " The Gieeks seek after wisdom." Corinth
was not far from Athens, that had been for many ages the most famous seat of
philosophy and learning in the world.
The apostle therefore observes lo them, how that God, by the gospel, des
troyed and brought to nought their human wisdora. The learned Grecians, and
their great philosophers, by all their wisdom did not know God : they were not
able to find out the truth in divine things. But after they had done their utraost
to no effect, it pleased God at length to reveal himself by the gospel, which
they accounted foolishness. He " chose the foolish things of the world to con
found the wise, and the weak things of the world lo confound the things which
are mighty, and the base things of the world, and things that are despised, yea,
and things which are not, to bring to nought the things that are." And the apostle
inforras them why he thus did, ii, the verse of the text ; That no fiesh should
glory in his presence, &c.
in which words raay be observed,
1. What God aims at in the disposition of things in the affair of redemp
tion, viz., that man should not glorj in hiraself, but alone in God ; That nofiesh
should glory in his p-^esence, — that, according as it is written, He that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord.
2. How this end is attained in the work of redemption, viz., by that abso
lute and immediate dependence which men have upon God in that work for all
their good. Inasmuch as,
FiBST. All the good that they have is in and through Christ ; He is made
unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. All the good of
the fallen and redeemed creature is concerned in these four things, and cannot
be better distributed than into them ; but Christ is each of them to us, and we
have none of thera any olherwise than in hira. He is made of God unto us
-wisdom : in him are all the proper good and true excellency of the understand
ing. Wisdom was a thinj," that the Greeks adraired ; but Christ is the true
hght of the world, it is through hira alone that ttue wisdora is iraparted to the
mind. It is in anti by Christ that we have righteousness : it is by being in him
that we are justified, have our sins pardoned, and are received as righteous into
God's favor. It is by Christ that we have sanctification : we have in him true
excellency of heart as well as of understanding ; and he is made unlo us in
herent, as well as imputed righteousness. It is by Christ that we have redemp
tion, or actual deliverance frora all misery, and the bestowment of all happiness
*nd glory. Thus we have all our good by Christ, who is God.
Secondly. Another instance wherein our dependence on God for all qui
* Ftiis was the first piece the author jiuUli&hed 1731.
Vol. IV. 22
170 GOD GLORIFIED IN MAN'S DEPENDENCE.
good appears, is this. That it is God Ihat has given us Chi .st, that we raight have
these benefits through hira ; he of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, &c
Thirdly. It is of hira that we are in ChrisI Jesu.s, and corae to have an in-
terest in him, and so do receive those blessings which he is made unto us. It is
God that gives us faith whereby we close wilh Christ
So that in this verse is shown our dependence on each person in the Trini
ty for all our good. We are dependent on Christ the Son of God, as he is our
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and rederaption. We are dependent on the
Father, who has given us Christ, and raade hiin to be these things to us. We
are dependent on the Holy Ghost, for it is of him that we are in Christ Jesus ;
it is the Spirit of God that gives faith in him, whereby we receive him, and
close with hira.
DOCTRINE.
" God is glorified in the work of rederaption in this, that there appears in it
so absolute and universal a dependence of the redeemed on him."
Here I propose to show, 1st, That there is an absolute and universal de
pendence of the redeemed on God for all their good. And 2dly, That God
hereby is exalted and glorified in the work of rederaption.
I. There is an absolute and universal dependence of the redeemed on God.
The nature and contrivance of our redemption is such, that the redeemed are in
every thing directly, immecfiately, and entirely dependent on God : they are
dependent on hira fbr all, and are dependent on him every way.
The several ways wherein the dependence of one being raay be upon another
for its good, and wherein the redeeraed of Jesus Christ depend on God for all
their good, are these, viz., that they have all their good of him, and that they
have all through him, and that they have all in him : that he is the cause and
original whence all their good comes, therein it is o/' hira; and that he is the
medium by which it is obtained and conveyed, therein they have it through him;
and that he is that good itself that is given and conveyed, therein it is in him.
Now those that are redeemed by Jesus Christ do, in all these respects, very
directly and entirely depend on God for their all.
First. The redeemed have all their good of God ; God is the great author of
it; he is the first cause of it, and not only so, bul he is the only proper cause.
It is of God that we have our Redeeraer : it Is God that has provided a
Saviour for us. Jesus Christ is not only of God in his person, as he is the only
begotten Son of God, but he is frora God, as we are concerned in him, and in
his office of Mediator : he is the gift of God to us : God chose and anointed
him, appointed hira his work, and sent him into the world.
And as it is God that gives, so it is God that accepts the Saviour. As it is God
that provides and gives the Redeemer to buy salvation for us, so it is of God that
salvation is bought : he gives the purchaser, and he affords the thing purchased.
It IS of God that Christ becomes ours, that we are brought to him, and are
united to him : it is of God that we receive faith to close with him, that wemay
have an interest in him. Eph. h. 8, " For by grace ye are saved, through faith ;
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." It is of God that, we aclHally
do receive all the benefits that Christ has purchased. It is God that pardons
and justifies, and delivers from going down to hell, and it is his favor that the
redeemed are received into, and are made the objects of, when they are justi
fied. So It IS God that dehvere from the dominion of sin, and cleanses us from
om filthiness. and changes us from our deformity. It is of God that the re-
Jeemed do receive all their true excellency, wisdom, and holiness ; and that two
eOD GLORlt'lED IN MAN'S DEPENDENCE. 171
ways, viz., as the Holy Ghost, by whom these things are immediately wiLiUght^
IS from God, proceeds from him, and is sent by hira ; and also as the Hc^y Ghost
himself is God, by whose operation and indwelling, the knowledge ol divine
things, and a holy disposition, and all grace, are conferred and upheld.
And though means are raade use of in conferring grace on raen's souls, yet
it is of God that we have these means of grace, and it is God that makes thera
effectual. It is of God that we have the holy Scriptures; they are the word of
God. It is of God that we have ordinances, and their efficacy depends on the
immediate influence ofthe Spirit of God. The ministers of the gospel are sent
of God, and all their sufficiency is of him. 2 Cor iv. 7, " We have this trea
sure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and
not of us." Their success depends entirely and absolutely on the iramediate
blessing and influence of God. The redeemed have all,
1. Of the grace of God. It was of mere grace that God gave us his only
"begotten Son. The grace is great in propoi lion lo the dignity and excellency
of what is given : the gift was infinitely precious, because it was a person infi
nitely worthy, a pereon of infinite glory ; and also because it was a person infinitely
near and dear to God. The grace is great in proportion lo the benefit we have given
us in him : the benefit is doubly infinite, in that in him we have deliverance from
an infinite, because an eternal misery ; and do also receive eternal joy and glory.
The grace in bestowing this gift is great in proportion to our unworthiness to
whom it is given ; instead of deserving such a gift, we merited infinitely ill of God's
hands. The grace is great according to the mannerof giving, or in proportion
to the humiliation and expense of the method and means by which way is made
¦for our having the gift He gave hira to us dwelhng amongst us ; he gave
him to us incarnate, or in our nature ; he gave him' to us in our nature, in the
like infirraities, in which we have it in our fallen state, and which in us do ac
company, and are occasioned by the sinful corruption of our nature. He gave
him to us in a low and afflicted state ; and not only so, but he gave him to us
slain, that he might be a feast for our souls.
'fhe grace of God in bestowing this gift is most free. It was what God was
under no obligation to bestow : he raight have rejected fallen raan, as he did the
fallen angels. It was what we never did any thing to merit ; it was given
while we were yet enemies, and before we had so much as repented. It was
from the love of God that saw no excellency in us to attract it ; and it was
without expectation of ever being requited for it.
And it is from mere grace that the benefits of Clirist are applied to such and
such particular persons. Those that are called and sanctified are to attribute it
alone to the good pleasure of God's goodness, by which they are distinguished.
He is sovereign, and hath mercy on whom he will have raercy, and whom he
will, he hardens.
Man hath now a greater dependence on the grace of God than he had be
fore the fall. He depends on the free goodness of God for rauch more than he
did then : then he depended on God's goodness for conferring the reward of
perfect obedience : for God was not obliged to promise and bestow that reward :
but now we are dependent on the grace of God for much more: we stand in
'need of grace, not only to bestow glory upon us, but to deliver us from hell and
•eternal wrath. Under the first covenant we depended on God's goodness to
-give us the reward of righteousness; and so we do now. And not only so, but
we stand in need of God's free and sovereign grace to give us that righteous
ness ; and yet not only so, but we stand in need of his grace to pardon our sin,
and release us from the guilt and infinite demerit of it.
172 GOD GLORIFIED m MAN'S DEPENDENCE.
And dS we are dependent on the goodness of God for more now than undei
the first covenant, so we are dependent on a much greater, more free ?.nd won
derful goodness. We are now raore dependent on God's arbitrary and sovereign
good pleasure. We were in our first estate dependent on God for hohness : we
had our original righteousness frora hira ; but then holiness was not bestowed
in such a vay of sovereign good pleasure as it is now. Man was created holy,
and it becarae God to create holy all the reasonable creatures he created : it
would have been a disparageraent lo the holiness of God's nature, if he had
made an intelligent creature unholy. But now when a man is raade holy, it is
from mere and arbitrary grace ; God may forever deny holiness to the fallen
creature if he pleases, wiihout any disparageraent to any of his perfections.
And we are not only indeed more dependent on the grace of God, but om
dependence is much raore conspicuous, because our own insufficiency and help
lessness in ourselves is much raore apparent in our fallen and undone state, than
it was before we were either sin.Ail or raiserable. We are more apparently de
pendent on God for holiness, because we are first sinful, and utierly polluted, and
afterwards holy : so the production of the eflfect is sensible, and its derivation
from God more obvious. If man was ever holy and always was so, it would
not be so apparent, that he had not holiness necessarily, as an inseparable quali
fication of huraan nature. So we are more apparently dependent on free grace
for the favor of God, for we are first justly the objects of his displeasure and
afterwards are received into favor. We are more apparently dependent on God
for happiness, being fi.rst miserable, and afterwards happy. It is more appa
rently free and wiihout merit in us, because we are actually wiihout any kind
of excellency to merit, if there coulcl be any such thing as merit in creature ex
cellency. And we are not only without any true excellency, bul are fuh of,
and wholly defiled with, that which is infinitely odious. All our good is more
apparently from God, because we are first naked and wholly without any good,
and afterwards enriched with all good.
2. We receive all of Ihe power of God. Man's redemption is often spoken
of as a w ork of wonderful power as well as grace. The great power of God
appears in bringing a sinner from his low state, from the depths of sin and
misery, to such an exalted state of holiness and happiness. Eph. i. 19, " And
what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according
to the working of his mighty power."
We are dependent on God's power through every step of our redemption.
We are dependent on the power of God to convert us, and give faith in Jesus
Christ, and the new nature.
It is a work of creation : " If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,"
2 Cor. V. 17. " We are created in Christ Jesus," Eph. h. 10. The fallen
creature cannot attain to true holiness, bul by being created again. Eph. iv.
24, " And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteous
ness and true holiness." It is a raising frorn the dead. Col. u. 12, 13,
" Wherein ye also are risen with hira, through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised hira frora the dead." Yea, it is a more glorious work ol
pc)wer than mere creation, or raising a dead body to life, in that the effect at
tained IS greater and more excellent. That holy and happy being, and spiritual
hfe which is reached in the work of conversion, is a far greater and more glo-
nous eff'ect, than mere being and life. And the state from whence the change
is made, of such a dealh in sin, and total corruption of nature, and depth of
misery, IS far more remote frora the state attained, than raere death or nonentity
It IS by God's power also that we are preserved in a slate of grace-
GOD GLORIFIED IN MAN'S DEPENDENCE. 173
1 Pet. i. 5, " Who are kept by the power of God thiough faith unto salvation."
As grace is at first from God, so it is continually frora him, and is maintained
by hira, as much as light in the atraosphere is all day long from the sun, as well
as at first dawning, or at sunrising.
Men are dependent on the power of God, for every exercise of grace, and
for carrying on the work of grace in the heart, for Ihe subduing of sin and cor
ruption, and increasing holy principles, and enabling to bring forth fruit in good
works, and at last bringing grace lo its perfection, in making the soul completely
araiable in Christ's glorious likeness, and filling of it wilh a satisfying joy and
bles.sedness ; and for the raising of the body to life, and to such a perfect state,
that it shall be suitable for a habitation and organ for a soul so perfected and
blessed. These are the most glorious effects of the power of God, that are seen
in Ihe series of God's acts with respect to the creatures.
Man was dependent on the power of God in his first estate, but he is more
dependent on his power now ; he needs God's power to do more things for hira,
and depends on the raore wonderful exercise of his power. It was an effect of
the power of God to make raan holy at the first ; but more reraarkably so now,
because there is a great deal of opposition and difficulty in the way. It is a
more glorious effect of power to raake that holy that was so depraved, and under
the dorainion of sin, than to confer holiness on that which before had nothing
of the conlraiy. It is a more glorious work of power to rescue a soul out of
the hands of the devil, and from the powers of darkness, and to bring it into a
state of salvation, than to confer holiness where there was no prepossession or
opposition. Luke xi. 21, 22, " When a strong man armed keepeth his palace,
his goods are in peace ; but when a stronger than he shall corae upon hira,
and overcome hira, he taketh frora hira all his armor wherein he trusted, and
divideth his spoils." So il is a more glorious work of power lo uphold a soul
in a state of grace and holiness, and to carry it on till it is brought to glory,
when there is so rauch sin reraaining in the heart resisting, and Satan with all
his might opposing, than it would have been to have kept raan frora falling at
first, when Satan had nothing in raan.
Thus we have shown how the redeemed are dependent on God for all their
good, as they have all of him.
Seco.n'dly. They are also dependent on God for all, as they have all
through him. It is God that Ls the rnediura of it, as well as the author and
fountain of it All that we have, wLsdora, and the pardon of sin, deliverance
from hell, acceptance in God's favor, grace and holiness, true comfort and hap
piness, eternal life and glory, webave from God by a Mediator ; and this Meili-
ator is God, which Mediator we have an absolute dependence upon as he through
whom we receive all. So that here is another way wherein we have our de
pendence on God for all good. God not only gives us the Mediator, and ac
cepts his mediation, and of his power and grace bestows the things purchased
by the Mediator, but he is the Mediator.
Our blessings are what we have by purchase ; and the purchase is made ot
God. the blessings are purchased of hira, and God gives the purchaser ; and not
only so, but God is the purchaser. Yea, God is both the purchas';r and 'he price ;
for Christ, who ;s God, purchased these blessings for us, by off'erinig uj. hioLself
as the price of our salvation. He purchased eternal life by the sacrifice of hira
self Heb. vii. 27, " He offered up himself;" and ix. 26, " He hath appeared
to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself" Indeed it was the human nature
that was oflfered ; but it w as the same person with the divine, and therefore was
an infinite once : 't was looked upon as if God had been offered in sacrifice.
174^ GOD GLORIFIED IN MAN'S DEPENDENCE.
As we thus have our good through God, we have a dependence on God in
a respect that raan in his first estate had not Man was te have eternal life then
•¦hrough his own righteousness; so that he had partly a dependence upon vvhat,
was in hiraself; for we have a dependence upon that through which we have;
our good, as well as that frora which we have it ; and though man's righteous
ness that he then depended on was indeed from God, yet it was his own, it was
inherent in hiraself; so thai his dependence was not so immediately on GoJ.
But now the righteousness that we are dependent on is not in ourselves, but in
God. We are saved through the righteousness of Christ : he in made unto vs
righteousness ; and therefore is prophesied of, Jer. xxiii. 6, under that name,
" the Lord our, righteousness." In that the righteousness we are justified by is
the righteo-dsness of Chri.st, it is the righteousne.ss of God : 2 Cor. v. 21, " That
we inighl be made the righteousness of God in him."
Thus in redemption we have not only all Ihings of God, but by and through
him : 1 Cor. vhi. 21, " Bul to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are,
all things, and we in hira ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things,
and we by hiin."
Tmp.DLY. The redeeraed have all their good in God We not only have
it of hira, and through hira, but it consists in him ; he is all our good.
The good of the redeemed is either objective or inherent By their objective
good, I raean that extrinsic object, in the possession and enjoyment of which
they are happy. Their inherent good is that excellency or pleasure which isin
the soul itself. With respect lo both of which the redeemed have all their good
in God, or, which is the same thing, God himself is all their good.
1 The redeemed have all their objective good in God. God himself is the
great good which they are brougl/ lo the possession and enjoyment of by re
demption. He is the highest good, and the sum of all that good which Christ
purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints ; he is the portion of their souls.
God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their hfe, their dwelling place, their
ornament and diadem, and their everlasting honor and glory. They have none
in heaven but God ; he is the great good which the redeemed are received to at
death, and which they are lo rise to at the end of the world. The I,ord God,
he is the light of the heavenly Jerusalera ; and is the " river of the waler of
life," that runs, and " the tree of life that grows, in the midst of the paradise
of God." The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will for
ever entertain the rainds of the saints, and the love of God will be their ever
lasting feast The redeeraed will indeed enjoy other things; they will enjoy
the angels, and will enjoy one another ; but that which they shall enjoy m the
angels, or each other, or in any thing else whatsoever that will yield them de
light and happiness, will be what will be seen of God in thera.
2. The redeemed have all their inherent good in God. Inherent gopd is
twofold ; it is either excellency or pleasure. These the redeemed not only de
rive from God, as caused by him, but have them in him. They have spiritual
excellency and joy by a kind of participation of God. They are made excellent
by a coraraunication of God's excellency : God puts his own beauty, i. e., his
beautiful likeness, upon their souls : they are made partakers of the divine nature,
or moral image of God, 2 Pet i. 4. They are holy by being made partakers
of God's hohness, Heb. xii. 10. The saints are beautiful and blessed by a com
munication of God's holiness and joy, as the raoon and planets are bright by
the sun's light. The saint hath spiritual joy and pleasure by a kind of effusion
of God on the soul. In these things the redeeraed h-^ve communion, with God;'
that is, they partake with him and of hira
GOD GLORIFIED IN MAN'S DEPENDENCE. 175
The saints have both their spiritual excellency and blessedness by the gift
of the Hoy Ghost, or Spirit of God, and his dwelling in them. They are not
only caused by Ihe Holy Ghost, but are in Ihe Holy Ghost as their principle.
The Holy Spirit becoming an inhabitant, is a vital principle in Ihe soul : he,
acting in, upon, and with the soul, becomes a fountain of true holiness and
joy, as a spring is of water, by the exertion and diffusion of itself John iv.
14, " But whosoever drinketh of the water that 1 shall give hira, shall never
thirst; but the water that I shall give hira, shall be in him a wil of water
springing up into everlasting life." Compared with chap. vii. 38, 39, " He
that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water; but this spake he ofthe Spirit, which they that believe on him
should receive." The sum of what Christ has purchased for us, is that spring
of water spoken of in the forraer of those places, and those rivers of living wa
ter spoken of in the lattet. And the sura of the blessings, which the redeemed
shall receive in heaven, is that river of water of life that proceeds frora the
throne of God and the Lamb, Rev. xxii. 1. W hich doubtless signifies the sarae
with those rivei-s of living water, explained, John vii. 38, 39, which is elsewhere
called the " river of God's pleasures." Herein consists the fulness of good,
which the saints receive by Christ. It is by partaking of the Holy Spirit, that
they have communion wilh Christ in his fulness. God hath given the Spirit,
not by measure unto hira, and they do receive of his fulness, and grace for
grace. This is the sum of the saints' inheritance ; and therefore that little of
the Holy Ghost which believers have in this world, is said lo be the earnest of
their inheritance. 2 Cor. i. 22, " \^ ho hath also sealed us, and given us the
Spirit in our hearts." And chap. v. 5, " Now he that hath wrougl : us for the
«elf-sarae thing, is God, who also halh given unto us the earnest of Jie Spirit"
And Eph. i. 13, 14, " Ye were sealed with Ihat Holy Spirit of proraise, which is
the earnest of our inheritance, until the rederaption of the purchased possession."
The Holy Spirit and good things aie spoken of in Scripture as the same ;
as if the Spirit of God communicated to the soul, comprised all good things:
Matt. vii. 11, " How much more shall your heavenly Ji ather give good things
to them that ask him ?" In Luke it is, chap. xi. 13, " How much more shall
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask bim ?" This is
tlie sura of the blessings that Christ died to procure nd that are the subject of
gospel promises : Gal. in. 13, 14," He was made a curse for us, that we might
receive the proraise of the Spirit through failh." The Spirit of God is the great
-promise of the Father : Luke xxiv. 49, " Behold, I send the promise of my
Father upon you." The Spirit of God therefore is called " Ihe Spirit of pro
mise," Eph. i. 13. This proraised thing Christ received, and had given into
his hand, as soon as he had finished the work of our redemption, to bestow on
all that he had redeemed : Acts ii. 33, " Therefore, being by the right hand of
God exalted, and having received of the Father the proraise of the Holy Ghost,
he hath shed forth this, which ye both see and hear." So that all the hohness
and happiness of the reileeraed is in God. It is in the coraraunications, indwell
ing, and acting ofthe Spirit of God. Holiness and happiness are in the fruit,
here and hereafter, because God dwells in them, and they in God.
Thus it is God that has given us the Redeeraer, and il is of him that out
good is purchased : so it is God that is the Redeeraer, and the price ; and it is
God also that is the good purchased. So that all that we have is of God, and
through hira, and in hira : Rora. xi. 36, " For of him, and through him, and to
him, or in him, are all things." The same in the Greek that is here rendered to
him, is rendert.;-! in him, 1 Co-- "ii. 6.
176 GOD GLORIFIED IN M.^N'S DEPENDENCE.
II. God is glorified in the work of redemption by this raeans, viz.. By there
being so great and universal a dependence of.lhe redeemed on hira.
1. Man hath so much the greater occasion and obligation to take notice and
acknowledge God's perfections and all-sufficiency. The greater the creature's
dependence is on God's perfections, and the greater concern he has with thera,
so rauch the greater occasion ha;5 he to take notice of thera. So rauch the
greater concern any one has with, and dependence upon, tlie power and grace
of God, so much the greater occasion has he to take notice of that power and
grace. So much the greater and more immediate dependence there is on the
divine holiness, so rauch the greaterjDrcasion to take notice of, and acknow
ledge that. So rauch the greater and raore absolute dependence we have on
th§ divine perfections, as belonging to tbe several persons of the Trinity, so
much the greater occasion have we to observe and own the divine glory of
each of thera. That which we are raost concerned with, is surely raost in the
way of our observation and notice; and this Idnd of concern whh any thing,
viz., dependence, does especially tend to coraraand and oblige the attention and
observation. Those Ihings that we are not much dependent upon, it is easy to
neglect ; but we can scarce do any other than mind that which we have a great
dependence on. By reason of our so great dependence on God, and his perfec
tions, and in so many respects, he and h'us glory are the more directly set in our
view, which way soever we turn our eyes.
We have the greater occasion to take notice of God's all-sufficiency, when
all our sufficiency is thus every way of him. We have the more occasion lo
contemplate hira as an infinite good, and as the fountain of all good. Such a
dependence on God, deraonstrates God's all-sufficiency. So much as the depend
ence of the creature is on God, so rauch the greater does the creature's empti
ness in him.self appear to be ; and so much the greater the creature's emptiness,
so rauch the greater raust the fulness of the Being be who supplies him. Our
having all of God shows the fulness of his power and grace : our having all
through him shows the fulness of his merit and worthiness ; and our having all
in him deraonstrates his fulness of beauty, love, and happiness.
And the redeeraed, by reason of the greatness of their dependence on God,
have not only so rauch the greater occasion, but obligation to conteraplate and
acknowledge tho glory and fulness of God. How unreasonable and ungrateful
should we be if we did not acknowledge that sufficiency and glory that we do
absolutely, iraraediately, and universally depend upon !
2. Hereby is demonstrated how great God's glory is considered corapara
tively, or as compared with the creature's. By the creature's being thus wholly
and universally dependent on God, it appears 'that the creature is nothing, and
that God is aU. Hereby it appears that God is infinitely above us ; that God's
strength, and wisdom, and holiness, are infinitely greater than ours. However
great and glorious the creature apprehends God to be, yet if he be not sensible
ofthe tlifference between God and him, so as to see that God's glory is great,
corapared wilh his own, he wiU not be disposed to give God the glory due to
his name. If the creature, in any respect, sets himself upon a level with God,
or exalts hiraself to any corapetition with hira, however he may apprehend
that great honor and profound respect may belong to God from those that are
more inferior, and at a greater distance, he will not be so sensible of its being due
frora hira. So rauch the raore raen exalt themselves, so much the less will
they surely be disposed to exalt God. It is ceriainly a thing that God aims at
m the disposition of things in the affair of rederaption (if we allow the Scrip
tures to be a revelation of God's mind), that God should appear all, and man noth
GOD GLORIFIED IN MAN'S DEPENDFJCCE. 177
ing. It is God's declared design that others should not " glory in his presence ;"
which iraphes that it is his design to advance his own coraparative glory. So
much the more raan " glories in God's presence," ,so much the less glory is as
cribed to God.
3. By its being thus ordered, that the creature should have so absolute and
universal a dependence on God, provision is made that God should have our
whole souls, and should be the object of our undivided respect. If we had our
dependence partly on God, and partly on something else, man's respect would
be divided to those diflferent things on which he had dependence. Thus it
would be if we depended on God only for a part ofoiu- good, and on ourselves,
or some other being for another part : or if we had our good only from God,
and through another that was not God, and in something else distinct from both,
our hearts woidd be divided between the good itself, and hira frora whom, and
him through whora we received it. But novsr there is no occasion for this, God
being not only he frora or of whora we have all good, but also through whom
and one that is that good itself, that we have from hira and through hira. So
that whatsoever t'nere is to attract our respect, the tendency is still directly
towards God, all unites in hira as the centre.
USE.
1. We may here observe the raarvellous wisdora of God, in the work of re
deraption. God hath made man's eraptiness and raisery, his low, lost and ruin
ed stale into which he sunk by the fall, an occasion of the greater advancement
of his own glory, as in other w-ays, so particularh- in this, that there is now a
much more universal and apparent dependence ol raan on God. Though God
be pleased to lift raan out of that dismal abyss of sin and wo inlo which he
was fallen, and exceedingly to exalt him in excellency and honor, and to a
high pitch of glory and blessedness, yet the creature halh nolhing in any res
pect to glory of; all the glory evidently belongs to God, all is in a raere,
and most absolute and divine dependence on the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
And each person of the Trinity is equally glorified in this work : there is an
absolute dependence of the creature on every one for all : all is of the Father,
all through the Son, and all in the Holy Ghost Thus God appears in the
work of redemption as all in all. It is fit that he that is, and thereis none else,
should be the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the all, and the only, in
this work.
2. Hence those doctrines and schemes of divinity that are in any respect
opposite to such an absolute and universal dependence on God, do derogate from
God's glory, and thwart the de.sign of the contrivance for our redemption. Those
schemes that put the creature in God's .stead, in any of the forementioned re
spects, that exalt raan into the place of either Father, Son, or Holy Ghost, ib
any thing pertaining to our rederaption ; that, however they raay allow of t
dependence of the redeeraed on God, yet deny a dependence that is so absolute
and universal ; that own an entire dependence on God for sorae things, but not
for others ; that own that we depend on God for the gift and acceptance of a
Redeemer, but deny so absolute a dependence on him for the obtaining of an
interest in the Redeemer ; that own an absolute dependence on the Father for
giving his Son, and on the Son for working out redemption, but not so entire
a dependence on the Holy Ghost for conversion, and a being in Christ, and so
coming to a title to his benefits ; that own a dependence on God for means of
grace, but not absolutely for the benefit and success of those raeans ; that own
B partial dependence on the power of God, for the obtaining and exercising
Vol. IV. 23
178 GOD GLORIFIED IN MAN'S DEPENDENCE.
holiness, but not a mere dependence on the arbitrary and sovereign grace of God ¦
that own a dependence on the free grace of God for a reception into his favor, sc
far that it is without any proper merit, but not as it is without being attracted,
or moved with any excellency ; that own a partial dependence on Christ, as he
through whom we have life, as having purchased new terras of life, bu;
Btill hold that the righteousness through which we have life is inherent in our-
ielves, as it was under the first covenant ; and whatever other way any scheme
IS inconsistent with our entire dependence on God for all, and in each of those
ways, of having all of hira, through him, and in him, it is repugnant to the de
sign and tenor of the gospel, and robs it of that which God accounts its lustre
and glory.
3. Hence we may learn a reason why failh is that by which we come to
have an interest in this redemption ; for there is included in the nature of faith,
a sensibleness and acknowledgment of this absolute dependence on God in this
affair. It is very fit that it should be required of all, in order to their having
the benefit of this redemption, that they should be sensible of, and acknowledge
their dependence on God for it. It is by this means that God hath contrived:
to glorify hiraself in redemption ; and it is fit that God should at least have this
glory of those that are the subjects ofthis redemption, and have the benefit of it
Faitli_,ia. a. sensibleness pfjwhatj.s real in the; wgrk^.of redejnption ; and as
we do really wholly clepend on God, so the soul that believes doth entirely de
pend on God for all salvation, in its own sense and act Faith abases raen, and
exalts God, it gives all the glory of redemption to God alone. It is necessary
in order to saving faith, that raan should be eraptied of himself, that he should
be sensible that he is " wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."
Humility is a great ingredient of true faith : he that truly receives redemption,
receives it as a little child. Mark x. 15, " Whosoever shall not receive the
kingdora of heaven as a little child, he shall not enter therein." It is the de
hght of a believing soul to abase itself and exalt God alone : that is the lan
guage of it, Psalra cxv. 1, " Not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, but to thy
narae give glory."
4. Let us be exhorted to exalt God alone, and ascribe to hira all the glory
of redemption. Let us endeavor to obta'm, and increase in a sensibleness of our
great dependence on God, to have our eye to him alone, to mortify a self-de
pendent, and self-righteous disposition. Man is naturally exceedincr prone to
be exalting hiraself and depending on his own power or goodness, as though he
were he from whom he must expect happiness, and to have respect to enjoy
ments alien from God and his Spirit, as those in which happiness is to be
found. And this doctrine should teach us to exalt God alone, as bv trust and reli
ance, so by praise. Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord. ' Hath any man
hope that he is converted, and sanctified, and that his mind is endowed wilh true
excellency and spiritual beauty, and his sins forgiven, and he received into
God's favor, and exalted to the honor and blessedness of being his child, and
an heir of eternal life ; let him give God all the glory ; who alone makes him
to differ frora the worst of raen in this worid, or the raiserablest of the damned
in bell. Hath any man much comfort and strong hope of eternal life, let nothis
hope lift hirn up, but dispose him the more to abase himself, and reflect on his
own exceeding un-vyorthiness of such a favor, and to exalt God alone. Is any
man eminent in holiness, and abundant in good works, let hun take nothing of
the glory of it to hiraself but ascribe it to him whose " workmanship we are.
created in Christ Jesus uritpgood works."
SERMON VII.
the excellency of CHRIST.
Rbvki.A'iicin v. 5, 6 — And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not ; behold, the Lion of the tribe ol
Juilah, the Root of David, huth prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seats thereof. And
I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, und of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders
stood a Lamb as it had been slain —
The visions and revelations that the Apostle John had ofthe future events of
God's providence are here introduced" wilh a vision of the book of God's de
crees, by -«'hich those events were foreordained ; which is represented in the
first verse of this chapter, as a book in the right hand of him that sat on the
throne, " written within and on the back side, and sealed with seven seals."
Books in the form in which they were wont of old to be made, were broad
'¦eaves of parchment or paper, or something of that nature, joined together at
one edge, and so rolled up together, and then sealed, or some way fastened to
gether, to prevent their unfolding and opening. Hence we read of the roll of
a book, Jer. xxxvi. 2. It seems to have been such a book that John had the
vision of here ; and therefore it is said to be " written within and on the back
side," i. e., on the inside pages, and also on .^ne of the outside pages, viz., that
that Was rolled in, in the rolling of the book up together. And it is said to be
" sealed with seven seals," to signify that what was written in it was perfectly
hidden and secret ; or that God's decrees of future events are sealed, and shut
up from all possibUity of being discovered by creatures, till God is pleased to
make them known. We find that seven is often used in Scripture as the num
ber of perfection, to signify the superlative or most perfect degree of any thing ;
which probably came from that, that on the seventh day God beheld the works of
the creation finished, and rested and rejoiced in them, as being complete and perfect.
When John saw this book, he tells us, he " saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice. Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals there
of ? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to
open the book, neither to look thereon," And that he wept rauch, because " no
man was found worthy to open the book, neither to look thereon." And then
he tells us how his tears were dried up, viz., that " one of the elders said unto
him. Weep not; behold, the Lion ofthe tribe of Judah hath prevailed," &c., as
in the text Though no man nor angel, nor any raere creature, was found either
able to loose the seals, or worthy to be adraitted to the privilege of reading the
book; yet this was declared, for the corafort ofthis beloved disciple, that Christ
was found both able and worthy. And we have an account in the succeeding
chapters how he actually did it, opening the seals in order, first one, and then
another, reveahng what God had decreed should corae to pass hereafter. And
we have an account in this chapter, of his coming and taking the book out of
the right hand of him that sat on the Ihrone, and of the joyful praises that were
sung to hira in heaven and earth on that occasion.
Many things might be observed in the words of the text ; but it is to my
present purpose only to ta'ke notice of the two distinct appellations here given
to Christ. 1. He is called a it'on. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He seems
to be called. the Lion of the tribe of Judah, in allusion to what Jacob said in
180 EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST.
his blessing of the tribes on his death-bed ; who, when he carae to bless Judah,
compares him to a lion, Gen. xlix. 9 : " Judah is a lion's whelp ; frora the prey,
my son, thou art gone up : he stooped down, he couched as a hon, and as an old
lion ; who .shall rouse him up V Arid also to the standard of the camp of
Judah in the wilderness, on which was displayed a lion, according to the ancient
tradition of the Jews. It is much on account of the valiant acts of David, that
the tribe of Judah, of which David was, is in Jacob's prophetical blessing cora
pared to a lion ; but more especially wilh an eye to Jesus Christ, who also was
of that tribe, and was descended of David, and is in our text called " the root of
David ;" and therefore Christ is here called " the lion of the tribe of Judah."
2. He is called a Lamb. John was told of a lion that had prevailed to
open the book, and probably expected to see a lion in his vision ; but while he is
expecting, behold a Larab appears to open the book, an exceeding diverse kind o)
creature from a lion. A hon is a devourer, one that is wont lo make terrible
slaughter of others ; and no creature more easily falls a prey to hira than a
Jamb. And Christ is here represented not only as a lamb, a creature very liable
to be slain, but a " Lamb as he had been slain," that is, with the raarks of its
deadly wounds appearing on it.
That which I would observe frora the words, for the subject of my present
discourse, is this, viz..
There is an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies in Jesus Christ
The hon and the lamb, though very diverse kinds of creatures, yet have
each their peculiar excellencies. The lion excels in strength, and in the majes
ty of his voice : the lamb excels in raeekness and patience, besides the excel
lent nature of the creature as good for food, and yielding that which is fit for
our clothing, and being suitable to be oflfered in sacrifice to God. But we see
that Christ is in the text compared to both ; because the diverse excellencies of
both wonderfully raeet in hirn.
In handling this subject, I would.
First, Show wherein there is an adrairable conjunction of diverse excellen
cies in Christ.
Secondly, How this admirable conjunction of excellencies appears in Christ's
acts. And then make application.
First, I would show wherein there is an admirable conjunction of diverse
excellencies in Jesus Christ. Which appears in three things.
I. There is a conjunction of such excellencies in Christ, as, in our mannei
of conceiving, are very diverse one frora another.
II. There isin him a conjunction of such really diverse excellencies, a?
otherwise would have seeraed to us utterly incompatible in the sarae subject.
III. Such diverse excellencies are exercised in hira towards men, that
otherwise would have seemed irapossible to be exercised towards the same
object. L There is a conjunction of such excellencies in Christ, as, in our man
ner of conceiving, are very diverse one from another. Such are the various
divine perfections and excellencies that Christ is possessed of Christ is a divine
person, or one that is God ; and therefore has all the attributes of God. The
difference there is between these is chiefly relative, and in our manner of con
ceiving of them. And those that in this sense are most diverse, do meet in the
person of Christ.
I shall raention two instances.
1 There do meet in Jesus Christ intinite highness and infinite condescension :
EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST. 181
Christ, as he is God, is infinitely great and high above all. He is higher than
the kings of the earth : for he is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is high
er than the heavens, and higher than the highest angels of heaven. So great
is he, that all men, all kings and princes, are as worms of the dust before him ;
all nations are as the drop of the bucket, and the light dust of the balance ;
yea, and angels themselves are as nothing before hira. He is so high, that he
is infinitely above any need of us ; above our reach, that we cannot be profita
ble to him ; and above our conceptions, that we cannot comprehend hira. Prov.
xxx. 4, " What is his name, or what is his son's name, if thou canst tell V
Our undei-standings, if we stretch them never so far-, cannot reach up to his di
vine glory. Job xi. 8, " It is high as heaven, what canst thou do ?" Christ
is the Creator and great possessor of heaven and earlh : he is sovereign Lord
of all: he rules over the whole universe, and doth whatsoever pleaseth him:
his knowledge is wiihout bound : his wisdom is perfect, and what none can
circumvent : his power is infinite, and none can resist him : his riches are im
mense and inexhaustible : his majesty is infinitely awfuL
And yet he is one of infinite condescension. None are so low or inferior,
but Christ's condescension is sufficient to take a gracious notice of them. He
condescends not only to the angels, humbling himself lo behold the Ihings that
are done in heaven, but he also condescends to such poor creatures as raen ; and
that not only so as to take notice of princes and great raen, but of those that are
of meanest rank and degree, the " poor of the world," Jaraes u. 5. Such as are
commonly despised by their fellow creatures, Christ does not despise. 1 Cor.
i. 28, " Base things of the world, and things that are despised, hath God chosen."
Christ condescends to lake notice of beggars, Luke xvi. 22, and of servants, and
people of the most despised nations : in Christ Jesus is neither " Barbarian,
Scythian, bond nor free," Col. hi. 11. He that is thus high, condescends to
take a gracious notice of httle children. Matt. xix. 14, " Suffer little children to
come unto rae." Yea, which is much more, his condescension is sufficient to
take a gracious notice of the raost unworthy, sinful creatures, those that have
mfinile ill deservings.
Yea, so great is his condescension, that it is not only sufficient to take some
gracious notice of such as these, but sufficient for every thing that is an act of
condescension. His condescension is great enough to become their friend : it is
great enough to become their companion, to unite their souls to him in spiritual
marriage : it is great enough to take their nature upon him, to become one of
them, that he may be one with them : yea, it is great enough to abase hiraself
yet lower for thera, even to expose himself to shame and spitting ; yea, to yield
up himself to an ignominious dealh for them. And what act of condescension
can be conceived of greater 1 Yet .such an aQl as this, has his condescension
yielded to, for those that are so low and mean, despicable and unworthy !
Such a conjunction of such infinite highness and low condescension, in the
same person, is adrairable. We see, by raanifold instances, what a tendency a
high station has in raen, to raake them to be of a quite a contrary disposition.
If one worm bea little exalted above another, by having raore dust, or a bigger
dunghill, how much does he raake of hiraself! What a distance does he keep
from those that are below him ! And a little condescension is what he expecte
should be raade much of, and greatly acknowledged. Chiist condescenci's to
wash our feet ; but how would great men (or rather the bigger worras) account
themselves debased by acts of far less condescension !
2. There raeet in Jesus Christ, infinite justice and innnite grace. As Christ
is a divine person he is infinitely holy and just, infinitely hating sin, and disposed
Ib2 EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST.
to execute condign punishraent for sin. He is the Judge of the world, and lii
the infinitely just judge of it, and will not at all acquit the wicked, or by any
means clear the guilty.
And yet he is one that is infinitely gracious and merciful. Though his jus
tice be so strict with respect ta all sin, and every breach of the law, yet be has
grace sufficient for every sinner, and even the chief of sinners. And it is not
only sufficient for the most unworthy to s/how them mercy, and bestow some
good upon them, but to bestow the greatest good ; yea, it is sufhcient to bestow
all good upon thera, and to do all things for thera. There is no benefit or bless
ing that they can receive so great, but the grace of Christ is sufficient to bestow
it on the greatest sinner that ever lived. And not only so, but so great is his
grace, that nolhing is too much as the means of this good : it is sufficient not
only to do great things, but also to suffer in order to it ; and not only to suffer,
but lo suffer most extreraely even unto death, the most terrible of natural evils ;
and not only death, bul the most ignominious and torraenting, and every way
the raost terrible death that raen could inflict ; yea, and greater suflferings than
raen could inflict, who could onlytorraent the body, but also those sufferings in
his soul, that were the more immediate fruits of the wrath of God against the
sins of those he undertakes for.
II. There do meet in the person of Christ such really^ diverse excellencies,
which otherwise would have been thought utterly incompatible in the same sub
ject ; such as are conjoined in no other person whatever, either divine, human,
or -angelical ; and such as neither men nor angels would ever have iraagined
could have met together in the same person, had it not been seen in the person
of Christ I would give some instances.
1. In the person of Christ do meet together infinite glory, and the lowest
hhniilily. Infinite glory and the virtue of humility, meet in no other person but
Christ. They meet in no created person ; for no created person has in
finite glory : and they meet in no other divine person but Christ For though
the divine nature be infinitely abhorrent tb pride, yet humility is not properly
predicable of God the Falher, and the Holy Ghost, that exist only in the di
vine nature ; because it is a proper excellency only of a created nature ; for it con
sists radically in a sense of a com/.irative lowness and littleness before God, or
the great distance between God and the subject of this virtue ; but it would be
a contradiction to suppose any such thing in God.
But in Jesus Christ, who is both God and man, these two diverse excellen
cies are sweetly united. He is a person infinitely exalted in glory and dignity.
Phil. ii. 6, " Being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal
with God." There is equal honor due lo hira with the Father. John v. 25j
" That all raen should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." God
himself says so to hira : " Thy throne, 0 God, is forever and ever," Heb. i. 8.
And there is the sarae suprerae respect and divine worship paid to hira by the
angels of heaven, as to God the Falher ; as there, verse 6, " Let all the angels
of God worship hira."
But however he is thus above all, yet Ne is lowest of all in huraility. There
never was so great an instance of this virtue araong either men or angels, as
Jest!3. None ever was so sensible of the distance between God and hira, or
had A heart so lowly before God, as the man Christ Jesus, Malt. xi. 29: What
a wonderful spirit of huraility appeered in hira, when he was here upon earth
in all his behavior ! In his conlentraenl, in his mean outward condition, con-
Lcntedly hving in the faraily of Joseph the carpenter, and Mary his mother, for
thirty years together a^d afterwards choosmg outward meannes.s, poverty and
EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST. 183
contempt, rather than earthly greatness ; in his wa.shing his disciples' feet
and in all his speeches and deportment towards thera ; in his cheerfully sus
taining the form of a servant through his whole life, and submitting to such im
mense humiliation at dealh !
2. In the person of Christ do meet together infinite majesty and transcend
ent meekness. These again are two qualiflcations that meet together in nc
other person but Christ Meekness, properly so called, is a virtue proper only
to the creature : we scarcely ever find meekness raentioned as a divine attri
bute in Scripture ; at least not in Ihe New Testament ; for thereby seems to
be signified, a calmness and quietness of spirit, arising from huraility in mutable
beings that are naturally liable to be put into a ruffle by the assaults of a tem
pestuous and injurious world. But Christ being both God and man, hath both
infinite raajesty and superlative raeekness.
Christ was a person of infinite majesty. It is he that is spoken of, Psalra
xiv. 3 : " Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, 0 most mighty, wilh thy glory and
thy majesty." It is he that is raighty, that ridelh on the heavens, and in his
excellency on the sky. It is he that is terrible out of his holy places ; who is
mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the
sea ; before whom a fire goeth, and burneth up his enemies round about ; at
whose presence the earth doth quake, and the hills do melt ; who sitteth on
the circle of the earlh, and all the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers ; who
rebukes the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up the rivers ; whose eyes are as
a flarae of fire ; frora whose presence, and from the glory of whose power, the
wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction ; who is the blessed and
only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, that hath heaven for his
throne and the earth for his foostool, and is the high and lofty One, who in
habits eternity, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and of whose domin
ion there is no end.
And yet he was the most marvellous instance of meekness, and humble quiet
ness of spirit, that ever was; agreeable to the prophecies of him. Mall. xxi.
4, 5, " All this was done, that it raight be fulfilled which was spoken by the
prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." And agree
able to what Christ declares of himself. Matt. xi. 29, " I am meek and lowly
in heart." And agreeable to what was manifest in his behavior here in this
world: for there was never such an in.stance seen on earth, of a meek behavior,
under injuries and reproaches, and towards eneraies ; who, when he was reviled,
reviled not again ; who was of a wonderful spirit of forgiveness, was ready to
forgive his woi-st eneraies, and prayed for thera with fervent and effectual pray
ers. With what meekness did he appear when in the ring of soldiers that were
contemning and mocking hirn, when he was silent and opened not his raouth,
but went as a larab to the slaughter ! Thus is Christ a lion in majesty, and a
lamb in raeekness.
3. There meet, in the person of Christ, the deepest reverence towards God
and equality with God. Christ, when he was here on earth, appeared ful' of
holy reverence towards the Father : he paid the most reverential worship to fiim
tvith postures of reverence. Thus we read of his " kneeling down and praying,"
Luke xxii. 41. This became Christ, as he was one that had taken on him the
huraan nature ; but at the same time he existed in the divine nature ; whereby
his person was in all respects equal to the person of the Father. God the Father
hath no attribute or perfection that the Son hath not, in equal degree, and
equal glory. These things meet in no other person but Jesus Christ
184 EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST.
4. There are conjoined in the person of Christ infinite worthiness of good,
and the greatest patience under sufferings of evil. He was perfectly innocent,
and deserved no suffering. He deserved nothing from God by any guilt of his
own ; and he deserved no ill from men. Yea, he was not only harraless and
undeserving of suffering, but he was infinitely worthy, worthy of the infinite
love of the Father, worthy of infinite and eternal happiness, and infinitely wor
thy of all possible esteem, love, and service from all men. And yet he was
perfectly patient under the greatest sufferings that ever were endured in this
world. Heb. xii. 2, " He endured the cross, despising the shame." He suffer
ed not from his Father for his faults, but ours ; and he suflTered from men not
for his faults, but for those things on account of which he was infinitely worthy
of their love and honor ; which made his patience the more wonderful and the
more glorious. '1 Pet. ii. 20 — 24, " For wha' glory is it, if when ye be buffeted
for your faults, ye shall take it patiently 1 But if when ye do well, and suffer
for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable wilh God. For even hereunto
were ye called ; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that ye should follow his steps ; who did no sin, neither was guile found in his
mouth ; who, when he was reviled, reviled not again ; when he suffered, he
threatened not ; but coramitted himself to hira that judgeth righteously : who
his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to
sins, should live unto righteousness : by whose stripes ye were healed." There
is no such conjunction of innocence, worthiness and patience under sufferings,
as in the person of Christ.
5. In the person of Christ are conjoined an exceeding spirit of obedience,
wilh supreme dominion over heaven and earth. Christ is the Lord of all things
in two respects : he is so, as he is God-raan and mediator; and so his dorainion
is appointed, and given of the* Father, and is by delegation frora God, and he
is, as it were, the Father's vicegerent Bul he is Lord of all things in another
respect, viz., as he is (by his original nature) God; and so he is by natural
right the Lord of all, and Supreme over all as much as the Father. Thus, he
has dominion over the world, not by delegation, but in his own right : he is not
an under God, as the Arians suppose, but, to all intents and purposes. Supreme
God. And yet in the sarae person is found the greatest spirit of obedience to the
comraands and law of God that ever was in the universe ; which was manifest
in his obedience here in this worid. John xiv. 31, " As the Father gave me
comraandment, even so I do." John xv. 10, " Even as I have kept my Fa
ther's coraraandments, and abide in his love." The greatness of his spirit of
obedience appears in the perfection of his obedience, and in his obeying com
mands of such exceeding difficulty. Never any one received comraands from
God of such difficulty, and that were so great a trial of obedience, as Jesus Christ
One of God's commands to him was, that he should yield himself to those dread
ful sufferings that he underwent See John x. 18 : " No man taketh it from
me, but I lay it down of myself"—" This comraandraent received I of my
Father." And Christ was thoroughly obedient to this command of God. Heb.
vi. 8, " Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things that he
suffered." Philip, li. 8, " He hurabled himself, and became obedient unlo death,
even the death of the cross." Never was there such an instance of obedience in
man nor angel as this, though he that obeyed was at the sarae time Supreme
Lord of both angels and men.
6. In the person of Christ are conjoined absolute sovereignty and perfect re
signation. This IS another unparalleled conjunc ion. Christ, as he is God, is thf
EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST. 186
absolute sovereign ofthe world ; he is the sovereign disposer of ewinls. The
dei-rees of God are all his sovereign decrees; and the work of creation, and all
God's works of providence, are his sovereign works. It is he ihat worketh all
things according to the counsel of his own will. Col. i. 16, 17, " By him,
and through him, and to him, are all things." John v. 17, " The Falher work
eth hitherto, and I work." Matt vii. 3, " I will, be thou clean."
But yet Christ was the most wonderful instance of resignation that ever ap
peared in the world. He was absolutely and perfectly resigned when he had a
near and iramediate prospect of his terrible sufferings, and the dreadful cup that
he was to drink, the idea and expectation of which made his soul exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death, and put him into such an agony that his sweat was
as it were great drops or clots of blood, falhng down lo the ground ; but in
such circumstances he was wholly resigned to the will of God. Matt. xxvi.
39, " 0 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless,
not as I will, but as thou wilt" Ver. 4-2, " 0 my Father, if tbis cup may not
pass frorn rae, except I drink it, tby will be done."
7. In Christ do meet together self-sufficiency, and an entire trust and rehance
on God ; which is another conjunction peculiar to the person of Christ. As
he is a divine person, he is self-sufficient standing in need of nothing : all
creatures are dependent on hira, but he is dependent on none, but is absolutely
independent. His proceeding from the Falher, in his eternal generation of
filiation, argues no proper dependence on the will of the Father; for that pro
ceeding was natural and necessary, and not arbitrary. But yet Chiist entirely
trusted in God : his enemies say that of him, " He trusted in God that he
would deliver hira," Matt xxvii. 43. And the aposlle testifies, 1 Pet. ii. 23,
" That he committed himself to God."
III. Such diverse excellencies are expressed in him towards men, that
otherwise would have seemed impossible to be exercised towards the same
object ; as particularly these three, justice, mercy, and truth. The same that
are mentioned Psalm Ixxxv. 10, " Mercy and truth are met together, righteous
ness and peace have kissed each other." The strict justice of God, and even
his revenging justice, and that against the sins of men, never was so gloriously
manifested as in Christ He raanifested an infinite regard lo the attribute of
God's justice, in that, when he had a raind to save sinners, he was willing to
undergo such extreme suflferings, rather than that their salvation should be to
the injury of the honor of that attribute. And as he is the judge of the world, he
doth himself exercise strict justice ; he will not clear the guilty, nor at all acquit
the wicked in judgment. And yet how wonderfully is infinite raercy towards
sinners displayed in hira ! And what glorious and ineffable grace and love have
been, and are exercised by hira, towards sinful raen ! Though he be the just
judge of a sinful world, yet he is also ihe Saviour of the world. Though he
be a consuraing fire to sin, yet he is the light and life of sinners. Rora. iii. 25,
26, " Whora God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through failh in his blood,
to declare his righteousness for the reraission of sins that are past, through the
forbearance of God; lo declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he
might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."
So the irarautable truth of God, in the threatenings of his law against the
sins of men, was never so raanifested as it is in Jesus Christ ; for there never
Was any other so great a trial of the unalterableness of the truth of God in
those threatenings, as when sin came to be imputed to his own Son. And
tben in Christ has been seen already an actual complete accomplishment of
•hose threatenings which never has been, nor will be seen in any other in-
VoL. IV 24
186 EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST
Stance , because the eternity that will be taken up in fulfilling those Ihreaiter,.
ings on others^ never will be finished. Christ manifested an infinite regard to
this truth of God in his suff'erings. And, in his judging the world, he makes
the covenant of works, that contains those dreadful threatenings, his rule of
judgraent ; he will see to it, that it is not infringed in the least jot or tittle ; he
will do nothing contrary to the threatenings of the law, and their completes
fulfilment And yet in hira we have many great and precious promises, prom
ises of perfect deliverance from the penally ofthe law. And this isthe prom
ise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. And in him are all the prom
ises of God, Yea, and Araen. ,- ; ,
Having thus shown wherein there is an admirable conjunction of exceMeu-.
cies in Jesus Christ, I now proceed, i
Secondly, To show how this admirable conjunction of excellencies appears
in Christ's acts.
Lit appears in what Christ did in taking on him our nature. In this act
his infinite condescension wonderfully appeared, that he that was God should
become man ; that the Word should be made flesh, and should take on him a
nature infinitely below his original nature ! And it appears yet more remarka
bly in the low circumstances of his incarnation. He was conceived in the
womb of a poor young woman, whose poverty appeared in thatj when she
came to offer sacrifices for her purification, she brought what was allowed of
in the law only in case of poverty ; as Luke ii. 24 ; " According to that which
is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeoas.";
This was allowed only in case the person was so poor that she was not able to
offer a larab. Levit xii. 8.
And though his infinite condescension thus appeared in the manner of. his-
incarnation, yet his divine dignity also appeared in it ; for though he was con
ceived in the womb of a poor virgin, yet he was there conceivecl by the power
of the Holy Ghost And his divine dignity also appeared in the holiness of
his conception and birth. Though he was conceived in the womb of one ofthe
corrupt race of mankind, yet he was conceived and born without sin ; as the
angels said to the blessed Virgin, Luke i. 35 : " The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of
God." His infinite condescension marvellously appeared in the manner of his birth.
He was brought forth in a stable, because there was no room for them in. the.
inn. The inn was taken up by others, that were looked upon as persons of;
greater account. The blessed Vhgin, being poor and despised, was turned or
shut out Though she was in such necessitous circumstances, yet those that
counted theraselves her betters would not give place to her; and therefore, in
the time ofher travail, she was forced to betake herself to a stable; and when
the child was born, it vvas -wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger;
and there Christ lay a little infant ; and there he erainently appeared as a Iamb.
But yet this feeble infant, that was born thus in a stable, and laid in a raanger,
was born to conquer and triuraph over Satan, that roaring lion. He came to
subdue the mighty powers of darkness, and make a show of them openly ; and
ptid so lo restore peace on earih. and to manifest God's good will towards men,
and to bring glory to God in the highest ; according, as the end of his birth was
declared by the joyful songs of the glorious hosts of angels, appearing to the
shepherds at the same tirae that the infant lay in 'he raanger ; whereby his
divine dignity was manifested.
EXCELLENCY. OF CHRIST. 187
II. This adrairable conjunction of excellencies appears iii the acts and
various passages of Christ's life. Though Christ dwelt on the earth in mean out
ward circumstances, whereby his condescension and humility especially appear
ed, and his majesty was veiled ; yet his divine dignity and glory did, in many
«f his acts, shine through the veil, and it illustriously appeared, that he was not
only the Son of man, but the great God.
Thus in the circumstances of his infancy, his outward meanness appeared ;
yet there was soraething then to show forth his divine dignity, in the wise men's
being stirred up to come frora the east to give honor to hiin, their being led by
a miraculous star, and coraing and falhng down and worshipping him, and pre
senting him with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. His humility and meekness
wonderfully appeared in his subjection to his mother and reputed father when
he w,as a child : he therein appeared as a lamb. But his divine glory broke forth
and shone, when, at twelve years old, he disputed with the doctors in the tem •
pie. In that he appeared, in sorae raeasure, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
And so, after he entered on his public ministry, his marvellous huraility and
meekness was raanifested, in his choosing to appear in such mean outwaid cir
cumstances, and in being so contented in them, when he was so poor that he
had not where to lay his head, and depended on the charity of some of his follow
ers for his subsistence ; as. appears by Luke viii. at the beginning; as also in
his raeek, condescending, and farailiar treatraent of his disciples ; in his discour
ses with them, treating them as a father his children ; yea, as friends and com
panions ; and in his patient bearing such affliction and reproach, and so many in
juries frora the Scribes and Pharisees, and others : in the>e Ihings he appeared as
a lamb. And yet he at the same time did many ways show forth his divine majesty
and glory, particularly in the miracles tbat he wrought, which were evidently
divine works, and manifested omnipotent power, and so declared hira lo be the
.Lion of the tribe of Judah. His wonderful and miraculous works plainly
showed him to be the God of nature ; in that il appeared by them that he had all
nature in his hands, and could lay an arrest upon it, and slop, and change its
course as he pleased. In healing the sick, and opening the eyes of the blind,
and unstopping the ears of the deaf, and healing the larae ; he showed that he
was the God that framed the eye, and created the ear, and was the author of
the frarae of man's body. By the dead's rising at his coraraand, it appeared
that he was the author and fountain of life, and that " God the Lord, to whom
belong Ihe issues from dealh." By his walking on the sea in a storm, when
the waves were raised, he showed himself lo be that God spoken of, Job ix. 8,
" That treadeth on the waves of the sea." By his stilling the storm, and calm
ing the rage ofthe sea, by his powerful command, saying, " Peace, be still,"
he showed hiraself to be he that has the comraand of the universe, and to be
that God that brings things to pass by the word of his power, that speaks and
it is done, that coramands and it stands fast; and he that is spoken of. Psalm
Ixv. 7, " Who stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves." And
Psalm cvii. 29, "That raaketh the storra a calm, so that the waves thereof are
still." And Psalm Ixxxix. 8, 9, " 0 Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord
like unto thee, or to thy faithfulness round about thee ? Thou rulest the raging
of the sea ; when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them." Christ, by cast
ing out devils, remarkably appeared as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and
showed that he was stronger than that roaring lion, that seeks whora he raay
devo'is He commanded thera to come out, and they were forced to obey
They wereterribly afraid of him; they fall down before hira, and beseech him
not to torment them ; he forces a whole legion of them to forsake their old
138 EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST.
hold, by his powerful word ; and they could not so much as enter into the
swine without his leave. He showed the glory of his omniscience, by telling
the thoughts of raen ; as we have often an account. Herein he appeared to h«
that God spoken of, Araos iv. 13, " That declarelh unto man what is his
thought" Thus, in the midst of his raeanness and hurailiation, his divine glory
appeared in his rairacles : John ii. 11, " This beginning of miracles did Jesus in
Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory."
And though Christ ordinarily appeared without outward glory, and in great
obscurity, yet al a certain time he threw off the veil, and appeared in his divine
majesty, so far as it could be outwardly manifested to men in this frail state,
when he was transfigured in the raount. The Apostle Peter speaks of il, 2 Pet
i. 16, 17. Speaking there of hiraself, as one that was an " eye-witness of his
majesty, when he received frora God the Father honor and glory, when there
carae such a voice to hira frora the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son, in
whom L am well pleased ; which voice that carae from heaven they heard, when
they were with him in the holy mount."
And at the sarae time that Christ was wont to appear in such meekness,
condescension, and huraihty, in his farailiar discourses with his disciples, appear
ing therein as the Larab of God ; he was also wont to appear as the Lion ofthe
tribe of Judah, wilh divine aulhorily and raajesty, in his so sharply rebuking the
Scribes and Pharisees, and other hypocrites.
III. This admirable conjunction of excellencies reraarkably appears in his
offering up himself a sacrifice for sinners in his last sufferings. As this was the
greatest thing in all the work of redemption, the greatest act of Christ in that
work ; so in this act especially does there appear that admirable conjunction of
excellencies that has been spoken of Christ never so much appearecl as a lamb,
as when he was slain : " He came like a larab to the slaughter," Isaiah liii. 7.
Then he was offered up to God as a lamb without blemish, and without spot :
then especially did he appear to be the antitype of the lamb of the passover :
1 Cor. V. 7, " Christ our pa-^sover sacrificed for us." And yet in that act he
did in an especial' raanner appear as the Lion of the tribe of Judah ; yea, ip this
above all other acls, in many respects, as raay appear in the following thirigs.
1. Then was Christ in the greatest degree of his humiliation, and yet by
that, above all other things, his divine glory appears. Christ's hurailiation was
great, in being born in such a low condition, of a poor virgin, and in a stable:
his huraihation was great, in being subject to Joseph the carpenter, and Mary
his mother, and afterwards living in poverty, so as not to have where lo lay his
head, and in suffering such manifold and bitter reproaches as he suffered, while
he went about preaching and working rairacles ; but his humiliation was never
so great as it was in his la.st sufferings, beginning with his agony in the garden,
until he expired on the cross. Never was he subject to such ignominy as then;
never did he suffer so much pain in his body, or so much sorrow in his soul ;
never was he in so great an exercise of his condescension, humility, meekne.ss,
and patience, as he was in these las'; sufferings ; never was his divine glory and
raajesty covered with so thick and dark a veil ; never did he so empty himself,
and m-dke hiraself of no reputation, as at this tirae ; and yet never was his divine
glory so raanifested by any act of his, as in that act of yielding himself up to these
luff'ering.T. When the fruit of it came to appear, and the mystery and ends of
It to be unfolded in the issue of it, then did the glory of it appear ; then did il
appear as the most glorious acl of Christ that ever he exercised towards the
creature. 'This act of his is celebrated by the angels and hosts of heaven with
peculiar praises, as that which is above -^W other.! glorious, as you may see in the
EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST. 189
context, verse 9, &c. : " And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to
take the book, and to open the seals tl ereof ; for thou wast slain, and hasl re
deemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people,
and nation; and hast made us unlo our God kings and priests; and we shall
reign on the earth. And 1 beheld, and 1 heard the voice of many angels round
about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders ; and the number of thera was ten
thousand tiraes ten thousand, and thousiinds of thousands ; saying wilh a loud
voice. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wis
dom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing."
2. He never in any act gave so great a manifestation of love to God, and
yet never so manifested his love lo those that were enemies to God, as in that
act. Christ never did any thing when by his love to the Father was so emi
nently raanifested, as in his laying down his life, under such inexpressible suffer
ings, in obedience to his coraraand, and for the vindication ofthe honor of his
authority and majesty ; nor did ever any mere creature give such a testimony of
love to God as that was ; and yet this vvas the greatest expression of all of his
love to sinful raen, that were enemies to God : Rora. v. 10, " When we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." The greatness
of Christ's love to such appears in nothing so rauch as in its being dying love.
That blood of Christ that was sweat out, and fell in great drops lo the ground,
in his agony was shed from love to God's eneraies and his own. That sharae
and spitting, that torment of body, and that exceeding sorrow, even unlo death,
that he endured in his soul, was what he underwent from love to rebels against
God, to save them from hell, and to purchase for thera eternal glory. Never
did Christ so erainently show his regard lo God's honor, as in offering up him
self a victira to revenging justice, to vindicate God's honor : and yet in this,
above all, he manifested his love to them that dishonored Gcd, so as lo bring
such guilt upon themselves, tbat nothing less than his blood could atone for it
3. Christ never so eminently appeared for divine justice, and yet never suf
fered so much from divine justice, as when he oflfered up hiraself a sacrifice for
our sins. In Christ's great suff'erings, did his infinite regard to the honor of
God's justice distinguishingly appear ; for it was frora regard to that, that he
thus humbled hiraself: and yet in these sufferings, Christ was tbe raark of tbe
vindictive expressions of that very justice of God. Revenging justice then
spent all its force upon hira, on the account of our guilt that was laid upon hira ;
he was not spared at all ; bul God spent the arrows of his vengeance upon hira,
which raade him sweat blood, and cry out upon the cross, anel probably rent his
vitals, broke his heart, the fountain of olood, or sorae other internal blood ves
sels, and by the violent fermentation lUrned his blood to waler : fbr the blood
and water that issued out of his side, when pierced by the spear, seems to have
been extravasated blood ; and so there raight be a kind of literal fulfilraent of
that in Psalra xxii. 14, " I am pp-jred out like water, and all ray bones are out
of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted in the raidst of my bow^els." And
this was the way and means by which Christ stood up for the honor of God's
justice, viz., by thus suffering its terrible executions. For when he had under
taken for sinners, and had substituted himself in their roora, divine justice could
have its due honor no other way than by his suffering its revenges.
In this the diverse excellencies that raeet in the person of Christ appeared,
viz., his infinite regard to God's justice, and such love to those that have expos
ed themselves to it, as induced him thus to yield himself a sacrifice to it.
4. Christ's holiness never so illustriously shone forth as it did in his last suf
ferings; and yet he ncer was to such a degree treated as guilty. Christ's ho-
190 EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST
imess never had such a trial as it hacl then ; and therefore never had so great a
manifestation. When it was tried in this furnace, it came forth as gold, or as
silver purified seven times. His holiness then above all appeared in his stead
fast pursuit of the honor of. God, and his obedience lo him ; for his yielding
hiraself unto dealh was transcendently the greatest act of obedience that ever
was paid to God by any one since the foundation of the world.
And yet then Christ was in the greatest degree treated as a wicked person.
He was apprehended and bound as a malefactor. His accusers represented him
as a most wicked wretch. In his sufferings before his crucifixion, he was treated
as if he had been the worst and vilest of mankind ; and then he was put to a
kind of death, that none but the worst sort of malefactors were wont to suffer,
those that were mc?* abject in their persons, and guilty of the blackest crimes.
And he suff'ered as though guilty from God himself, by reason of our guilt im
puted to hira; for he was made sin for us, who knew no sin ; he was made
subject tu wrath, as ifhe had been sinful himselt: he was made a curse for us.'
Christ never ,so greatly manifested his hatred of sin, as against God,' as in
his dying to take away the dishonor that sin had done to God ; and yet never
was he to sucb a degree subject to the terrible effects of God's hatred to s'n,
and wrath against il, as he was then. In this appears those diverse excellen
cies meeting in Christ, viz., love to God, and grace to sinners.
5. He never was so dealt with as unworthy as in his last suff'erings, and yet
it is chiefly on account of thera that he is accounted worthy. He was therein
dealt with as if he had not been worthy to live : they cry out, " Away with
hira! Away with hira! Crucify hira," John xiv. 15. And they prefer Bar
abbas before hira. And he suffered frora the Father, as one whose demerits
were infinite, by reason of our demerits that were laid upon him. And yet it
was especially by that act of his, subjecting himself to those sufferings, that he
merited, and on the account of which chiefly he was accounted worthy of his
exaltation : Philip, ii. 8, 9, " He humbled himself, and becarae obedient unto
dealh ; wherefore God hath highly exalted hira." And we see that it is on
this account chiefly that he is extolled as worthy by saints and angels in the
context : " Worthy," say they, " is the Lamb that was slain." This shows an
admirable conjunction in him of infinite dignity, and infinite condescension and
love to the infinitely unworthy.
6. Christ in his last sufferings suffered most extremely frora those that he was
then in his greatest act of love lo. He never suffered so much from his Father
(though not from any hatred to hira, but from hatred to our sins), for he then for
sook him (as Christ on the cross expresses il), or took away the comforts of his
presence ; and then " it pleased the Lord to bruise hira, and put him to grief,"
as Isaiah hii. 10 ; yet he never gave so great a manifestation of love to God as
then, as has been already observed. So Christ never suffered so much from the
hands of men as he did then ; yet never was so high an exercise of love to men
He never was so ill treated by his disciples ; who were so unconcerned about
his sufferings, that they would not watch with him one hour, in his agony; and
when he was apprehended, all forsook hira and fled, except Peter, who denied
hira wilh oaths and curses. And yet then he was suffering,'Shedding hisblood,
and pouring out his soul unlo death for thera. Yea, he probably was then shed
ding his blood for some of thera that shed his blood : he was dying for some
that killed him ; whom he prayed for while they were crucifying him ; and
were probably afterwards broughi home to Christ by Peter's preaching. Com
pare Luke xxiii. 34, Acts h. 23, 36, 37, 41, and chapter ih. 17, and chapter
IV. 4, This shows an adm'.rable meeting of justice and grace inthe redemption
of Christ
EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST. 191
7. It WrtS in Christ's last suffering, above all, that he was delivered up to the
power of his enemies ; and yet by these, above all, he obtained victory over
his enemies. Christ never was so in his enemies' hands, as in the time of his
last sufferings. They sought his life before ; but from time to ti.ne they were
restrained, and Christ escaped out of their hands ; and this reason is given for
it, that his tirae was not yet come ; but now they were suffered to work their
will upon him; he was in a great degree delivered up to the malice and cruelty
of both wicked men and devils ; and therefore when Christ's enemies came to
apprehend him, he says to them, Luke xxii. 53, " W'hen I was daily with you
iw the teraple, ye stretched forth no hand against me ; but this is your hour,
and the power of darkness."
And yet it was principally by means of those suflferings that he conquered
and overthrew his enemies. Christ never so effectually bruised Satan's head,
as when he bruised his heel. The weapon with which Christ warred against
the devil, and obtained a most complete victory and glorious triumph over him,
was the cross, the instrument and weapon with which he thought he had over
thrown Christ, and brought on him shameful destruction. Col. ii. 14, 15,
" Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances — nailing it to his cross ; and
having spoiled principalities and powers, he raade a show of thern openly, tri
umphing over thera in it." In his last sufferings, Christ sapped the very foun
dations of Satan's kingdora ; he conquered his eneraies in their own territories,
and beat them with their own weapons ; as David cut ofl^ Goliath's head with
his own sword. The devil had, as it -were, swallowed up Christ, as the whale
did Jonah ; but it was deadly poison to him ; he gave him a mortal wound in
his own bowels ; he was soon sick of his raorsel, and forced lo vomit hira up
again ; and is to this day heart-sick of what he then swallowed as his prey. In
those sufferings of Christ was laid the foundation of all that glorious victory
that he has already obtained over Satan, in the overlhrow of hjs heathenish
kingdora in the Roraan empire, and all the success the g.ospel has had since;
and also of all his future and still raore glorious victory that is to be obtained
in all the earth. Thus Samson's riddle is most erainently fuhilled, Judges xiv.
14, " Out of the eater carae forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweet
ness." And thus the true Samson does more towards the destruction of his
enemies at his death than in his life ; in yielding up himself to death, he pulls
down the temple of Dagon, and destroys raany thousands of his enemies, even
while they are making theraselves sport in his suff'erings ; and so he whose type
was the ark, pulls down Dagon, and breaks off his head and hands in his own
temple, even while he is brought in there as Dagon's captive.
Thus Christ appeared at the same time, and in the same act, as both a lion
and a lamb. He appeared as a larab in the hands of his cruel enemies ; as a
lamb m the paws, and between the devouring jaws, of a roaring lion ; yea, he
was a lamb actually slain by this lion ; and yet at the sarae time, as the Lion of
thetribe of Judah, he conquers and triumphs over Satan, destroying his own de
vourer; as Samson did the lion that roared upon him, when he rent hira as he
would a kid. And in nothing has Christ appeared so much as a hon, in glo
rious strength destroying his eneraies, as when he was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter. In his greatest weakness he was most strong ; and when he suflfered
most from his enemies, he brought the greatest confusion on his enemies.
Thus this admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies was manifest in Christ,
in his offering up himsielf to God in his last sufferings.
IV. It is still manifest in his acts, in his present state of exaltation in heaven
Indeed, in his exalted state, he most eminently appeairs in a manifestation of
192 EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST.
those excellencies, on the account of which he is compared to a lion ; but still
he appeais as a Iamb. Rev. xiv. 1, " Ami I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on
Mount Sion ;" as in his state of humiliation he chiefly appeared as a lamb, and
yet did not appear without manifestations of his divine inajesly and power, as
the Lion of the tribe of Judah. fhough Christ be now at the right hand of
God, exalted as King of heaven, and Lord ofthe universe; yet-as he slill is in
the human nature, he still excels in humility. Though the man Christ Jesus
be the highest nf all creature;", in heaven, yet he as much excels thera all in
huraility, as he doth in glory and dignity ; for none sees so rauch of the distance
between God and hiin as he does. And though he now appears in such glo
rious majesty and dorainion in heaven, yet he appears as a lamb in condescend
ing, raild and sweet Irealment of his saints there ; for he is a Larab slill, even
in the midst of the thrime of his exaltation ; and he that is the shepherd of the
whole flock is himself a Lamb, and goes before them in heaven as such. Rev..
vii. 17, " For the Larab which is in the raidst of the throne shall feed them, and
shall lead thein unto living fountains of waters ; and God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes." Though in heaven every knee bow«s to hira, and
though the angels fall down befoie him, adoring him, yet he treats his sainls
with infinite condescension, raildness and endearment. And, in his acts to
wards the saints on earlh, he still appears as a Lamb, manifesting exceed
ing k)ve and tenderness, in his intercession for thera, as one that has had ex
perience of affliction and temptation : he has not forgot what these things are;
nor has he forgot how to pity those that are subject to them. And he still man
ifests his lamb-like excellencies, in his dealings wilh his saints on earth, in ad
mirable forbearance, love, gentleness and compassions, instructing, supplying,
supporting and comforting them, often coming to them, and manifesting himsell
to them by his Spirit, that he raay sup wilh thera, and they with him, admitting
thera lo sweet communion with hira, enabling them with boldness and confidence
to come to him and solace their hearts in hira. And in heaven Christ slill ap
pears, as it were, wilh the raarks of bis wounds upon him ; and so appears ass
Lamb as il had been slain ; as he was represented in vision to St. John, in the
text, when he appeared to open the book sealed with seven seals, which is part
of the glory of his exaltation.
V. And, lastly, this admirable conjunction of excellencies will be manifested
in Christ's acts at the last judgment. He then, above all other times, will ap
pear as the Lion ofthe tribe of Judah in infiutte greatness and majesty, when he
shall corae in the gl iry of his Father, with all the holy angels, and the earth
shedl trerable before hira, and the hills shall melt. This is he, spoken of Rev.
XX. 11, that shall "sit on a great while throne, before whose face the earlh and
heaven shah flee away." He will then appear in the most dreadful and amaz
ing manner lo the wicked : the devils tremble at the thoughts of that appear
ance ; and when it shall be, the; kings and the great men, and the rich men,
and the chief captains, and the raighty raen, and every bond raan, and every free.
man, shall hide theraselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the raountains, and
shall cry to the raountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from thi
face aiKl wrath of the Lamb. And none can declare or conceive of the amaz
ing manifestations of wrath in which he will then appear towards these ; or the
trembling and astonishment, the shrieking and gnashing of teeth, with which
they shall stand before his judgment seat, and receive the terrible sentence of
his wrath.And yet he will at the sarae time appear as a Lamb to his saints : he will
receive them as friends and brethren, treating them with infinite mildness and
EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST. 193
love : there shall be nothing in him terrible to them ; but towaids them he will
clothe himself wholly with sweetness and endearment The church shall then
be adm-'tted to him as his bride : that shall be her wedding day : the saints
shall all be sweetly invited to come with him to inherit the kingdom, and reign
in it with him to all eternity.
APPUCATION.
I. Frora this doctrine we may learn one reason why Christ is called by such
a variety of names, and held forth under such a variety of representations in
Scripture. It is the better to signify and exhibit to us that variety of excellen
cies that raeet together, and are conjoined in hira. Many -appellations are men
tioned together in one verse: Isa. ix. 6, " For unto us a Child is born, unto us
a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasling Falher,
the Prince of Peace." It shows a wonderful conjunction of excellencies, that
the sarae person should be a Son, born and given, and yet be the everlasting
Father, wiihout a beginning or end ; that he should be a Child, and yet be he
whose name is Counsellor, and the mighty God ; and well may his narae in
whom such things are conjoined, be called Wonderful
By reason of the same wonderful conjunction, Christ is represented by a
great variety of sensible things, that are on some account excellent. Thus in
some places he is called a Sun, as Mai. iv. 2, in others a Star, Nurab. xxiv. 17.
And he is especially represented by the Morning Star, as being that which ex
cels all other stars in brightness, and is the forerunner of the day. Rev. xxii. 16.
And, as in our text, he is corapared to a lion in one verse, and a lamb in the
next, so soraetiraes he is corapared lo a roe, or a young hart, another creature
most diverse from a lion. So in .some places he is called a rock, in others he
is compared to a pearl : in sorae places he is called a raan of war, and the Cap
tain of our salvation, in other places he is represented as a bridegroora. In the
second chapter of Canticles, the 1st verse, he is compared to a rose and hly,
that are sweet and beautiful flowers ; in the next verse but one, he is corapared
to a tree, bearing sweet fruit In Isa. liii. 2, he is called a Root out of a dry
ground; but elsewhere, instead of that, he is called the Tree of Life, that
grows (not in a dry or barren ground, but) "in the raidst ofthe paradise of
God," Rev. ii. 7.
II. Let the consideration of this wonderful raeeting of diverse excellencies in
ChrisI induce you to accept him, and close with hira as your Saviour. As all
manner of excellencies raeet in hira, so there are concurring in him all manner
of arguments and motives, to move you to choose him for your Saviour, and
every thing that tends to encourage poor sinners to come and put their trust in
him. His fulness and all-sufficiency as a Saviour gloriously appear in that variety
of excellencies that has been spoken of
Fallen man is in a stale of exceeding great raisery, and is helpless in it , he
is a poor weak creature, like an infant, cast out in its blood, in the day that it
is born : bul Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Judah ; he is strong, though we
are weak ; he hath prevailed lo do that for us which no creature else could do.
Fallen raan is a raean, despicable creature, a contemptible worra ; but Christ
who has undertaken for us, is infinitely honorable and worthy. Fallen raan is
polluted, but Christ is infinitely holy : fallen raan is hateful, but Christ is infi
nitely lo ely : fallen raan is the object of God's indignation, but Christ is infi
nitely dear to hira : we have dreadfully provoked God, but Christ has performed
that righteousness that is infinitely precious in God's eyes.
Vol IV. 25
194 EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST.
And here is not only infinite strength and infinite worthii; ess, but infinite
COI descension; and love and mercy, as great as power and dignity: if you are
a poor, distressed sinner, whose heart is ready to sink for fear that God never
will have mercy on you, you need not be afraid to go to Christ, for fear that he
is either unable or unwilling lo help you • here is . strong foundation, and an
inexhaustible treasure, to answer the necessities of your poor soul ; and here ia
infinite grace and gentleness to invfte and embolden a poor, unworthy, fearful
soul to come to it. If Christ accepts you, you need not fear but that you will be
safe ; for he is a strong lion for your defence : and if you corae, you need not
fear but that you shall be accepted ; for he is like a larab to all that come to
him, and receives them with infinite grace and tenderness. It is true he has
awful majesty ; he is the great God, and is infinitely high above you ; but there
is this to encourage and embolden the poor sinner, that Christ is a man as well
as God; he is a creature as well as the Creator; and he is the most humblp
and lowly in heart of any creature in heaven or earth. This may well make
the poor unworthy creature bold in coraing to bira. You need not hesitate
one raoment; but raay run lo hira, and cast yourself upon him; you will cer
tainly be graciously and meekly received by hira. Though he be a lion, he
will only be a lion lo your eneraies, but he will be a lamb loyou. It could not
have been conceived, had it not been so in the person of Christ, that there could
have been so much in any Saviour, that is inviting, and lending to encourage
sinners to trust in hira. Whatever your circumstances are, you need not he
afraid to come to such a Saviour as this ; be you never so wicked a creature,
here is worthiness enough : be you never so poor, and raean, and ignorant a
creature, there is no danger of being despised ; for though he be so rauch
greater than you, he is also iraraensely more humble th'an you. Any one of you
that is a falher or raother, will not despise one of your own children that comes
to you in distress ; rauch less danger is there of Christ despising you, if you in
your heart come lo hira. — Here let me a httle expostulate with the poor, bur
dened, distressed soul.
What are you afraid of, that you dare not venture your soul upon Christ ?
Are you afraid that he cannot save you ; that he is not strong enough to con
quer the eneraies of your soul 1 But how can you desire one stronger than the
" mighty God ?" as ChrisI is called, [sa. ix. 6. Is there need of greater than
infinite strength 1 Are you afraid that he will not be willing lo stoop so low as
to take any gracious notice of you 1 But then, look on hira, as he stood in the
ring of soldiers, exposing his blessed face to be buffeted and spit upon by them 1
Behold him bound, with his back uncovered to those that sraole hira ! And be
hold him hanging on the cross ! Do you think that he that had condescensiofi
enough to stoop to these ihings, and that for his crucifiers, will be unwilling to ac
cept you if you come to hira ? ' Or, are you afraid, that if he does accept you,
that God the Falher will not accept hira for you 1 But consider, will God re
ject his own Son, in whora his infinite delight is and has been, from all eternity,
and that is so united to hira, that if he should reject hira, he would reject him
self ?
2. What is there that you can desire should be in a Saviour, that is not m
Christ ? Or, wherein should you desire a Saviour should be otherwise than
Christ IS ? What excellency is there wanting ? What is there that is great
or good ? What is there that is vene.able or winning 1 What is there that is
adorable or endearing ? Or, what can you think of, that would be encouraging,
what IS not to be found in the person of Christ ? Would you have your Saviour
to be great and honorable, because you are not willing to be beholden tn ?
EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST. 196
mean person ? And is not Christ a person honorable enough to be worthy that
ycu should be dependent on him 1 Is he not a person high enough to be worthy lo
oe appointed to so honorable a work as your salvation ? Would you not only have
a Saviour that is of high degree, but would you have hiin, notwithstanding his
exaltation and dignity, to be made also of low degree, that he might have ex
perience of afflictions and trials, that he raight iearn by the things that he has
suffered, to pily them that suffer and are templed ? And has not Christ been
made low enough for you ? And has he not suffered enough 1 Would you
not only have him have experience ofthe afflictions you now suffer, but also of
that amazing wrath that you fear hereafter, that he may know how to pity
those that are in danger of it, and afraid of it 1 This Christ bas had experi
ence of, which experience gave him a greater sense of it, a thousand times, than
you have, or any man living has. Would you have your Saviour to be one
that is near to God, that so his raediation might be prevalent with him ? And
can you desire hira to be nearer to God than Christ is, who is his only begotten
Son, of the sarae essence with the Falher 1 And would you not only have him
near to God, but also near to you, that you raay have free access to him ? And
would you have him nearer to you than to be in the same nature, and not only
so, but united to you by a spiritual union, so close as to be fitly represented by
the union of the wife to the husband, of the branch to the vine, of the member
to the head ; yea, so as to be looked upon as one, and called one spirit 7 For
so he will be united to you, if you accept him. Would you have a Saviour that
has given some great and extraordinary testimony of mercy and love to sinners,
by soraething that he has done, as well as by what he says 1 And can you
think or conceive of greater Ihings than Christ has done "? Was it not a great
thing for him, who was God, to take upon hira human nature ; to be not only
God, but man thenceforward lo all eternity ? But would you look upon .suffer
ing for sinners to be a yet greater testimony of love to sinners, than raerely do
ing, Ihough it be never so extraordinary a thing that he has done? And would
you desire tbat a Saviour should suffer raore than Christ has suffered for sinners ?
What is there wanting, or what would you add if you could, to raake hira raore
fit to be your Saviour 1
But further, to induce you to accept of Christ as your Saviour, consider two
things particularly.
1. How much Christ appears as the Lamb of God in his invitations to you
to corae to him and trust in hira. With what sweet grace and kindness does he
from time to tirae call and invite you ; as Prov. viu. 4 : " Unto you, 0 m.en, I
call, and ray voice is to the sons of men." And Isa. Iv. 1 — 3, " Ho, every one
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy
and eat, yea, corae, buy wine and railk wiihout money and without price." How
graciously is he here inviting every one that thirsts, and in so repeating his in
vitation over and over, " Come ye to the waters ; come, buy and eat, yea,
come !'' And in declaring the excellency of that entertainment which he invites
you to accept of, " Come, buy wine and milk ;" and in assuring you that your
poverty, and having nothing to pay for it, shall be no objection, " Come, he that
hath no raoney, corae without money and whhout price !" And in the gracious
arguraents and expostulations that he uses with you ! As it follows. " Where
fore do ye spend money for that which is not bread 1 And your labor for
that which satisfieth not ? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which
is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." As rauch as to say, " It is
altogether needless for you to continue laboring and toiling for that which can
"".ver serve your turn, seeking rest i-i the world and in your own righteousness;
196 EXCELLENCY OF CHRliJT.
I have made abundant provision for you, of that which is leally good, and will
fully satisfy your desires, and answ'er your end, and stand ready to accept of
you : you need not be afraid ; if you will come to me, I will engage to see all youi
wants supplied, and you made a happy creature." As he proraises in the third
verse, " Incline your ear, and come unto rae ; hear, and your soul shall live, and
I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure raercies of David."
And so, Prov. ix. at the beginning. How gracious and sweet is the invitation
there ! " Whoso is siraple, let him turn in hither ;" let you be never so poor
ignorant, and blind a creature, you shall be we.come. And in the following
words, Christ sets forth the provision that he has raade for you : " Come, eat of
ray bread, and drink of the wine which I have raingled." You are in a poor
famishing state, and have nothing wherewith to feed your perishing soul ; yov
have been seeking soraething, but yet remiain destitute : hearken, how Christ
calls you to eat of his bread, and to drink of the wine that he hath mingled !
And how much like a lamb does Christ appear in Matt. xi. 28 — 30 : " Come
unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest Take
my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart ; and ye
shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is easy, and ray burden is light."
0 thou poor distressed soul, whoever thou art, that art afraid that you never
shall be saved, consider that this that Christ raenlions is your very case, when
he calls to thera that labor, and are heavy laden ! And how he repeatedly
proraises you rest if you corae to hira ! In the 28lh verse he says, " I will give
you rest." And in the 29th verse, " Ye shall find rest to your souls." This is'
what you want This is the thing you have been so long in vain seeking after. 0
how sweet would rest be to you, if you could but obtain it ! Corae to Christ,
and you shall obtain it. And hear how Christ, to encourage you, represents
hiraself as a larab ! He tells you, that he is raeek and lowly in heart ; and are
you afraid to corae to such a one ? And again, Rev. hi. 20, " Behold, I stand
f.t the door and knock : if any raan hear my voice, and open the door, I wifl
come in to hira, and will sup with hira, and he wilh rae." Christ condescends
not only to call you to him, but he comes to you ; he coraes to your door, and
there knocks. He raight send an officer and seize you as a rebel and vile male
factor ; but instead 6f that, he coraes and knocks at your door, and seeks that
you would receive him inlo your house, as your friend and Saviour. And he not
only knocks at your door, but he stands there wailing, while you are backward
and unwilling: And not only so, but he makes promises what he will do for
you, if you wi?I adrait him, what privileges he will admit you to ; he will "sup
with you and you with him." And again. Rev. xxii. 16, 17, " I am the root
and the offspring of David, and the bright and raorning star. And the Spirit
and the bride say. Come: and let him that heareth, say, Come: and let him
that is athirst corae: and whosoever will, let hira come and take of the vater
of life freely." How does Chri.st here graciously set before you his own win
ning, attractive excellency ! And how does he condescend to declare fo you
not only his own invitation, but the invitation of the Spirit and the bride, if by
any raeans he raight encourage you to corae ! And how does he invite' every
one that will, that they raay " take of the water of life freely," that they may
taks it a free gift, however precious it be, and though il be the watei of life !
2 If you do come lo Christ, he will appear as a lion, in his glorious power
anJ dominion, to defend you. All those excellencies of his, in which be
appears as a lion, shall be yours, and shall be employed for you in your defence;
for vour safety, and to promote your glory ; he will be as a hon to figlit ao-ainst
vour eneraies : he that touches you, or off^ends you, will provoke his wralh, as
EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST. 197
ne that ^tirs up a lion . Unless your enemies can conquer this lion, tnej shall
not be able to destroy or hurt you ; unless they are stronger than he, they shall
not be able to hinder your happiness. Isa. xxxi. 4, "For thus hath the Lord
spoken unto me, Like as the hon and the young lion roaring on his prey, when
a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of
their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them ; so shall the Lord of hosts
corae down to fight fbr mount Zion, and for the hill thereof"
III. Let what has been said be improved to induce you to love the Lord
Jesus Christ, and choose him for your friend and portion. As there is such an
admirable meeting of diverse excellencies in Christ, so there is every thing in
him to render him worthy of your love and choice, and to win and engage it.
Whatsoever there is or can be, tbat is desirable to be in a friend, is in Christ,
and that to the highest degree that can be desired.
Would you choose a friend tbat is a person of great dignity ? Il is a thing
taking with men lo have those for their friends that are much above thera, be
cause they look upon themselves honored by the friendship of such. Thus,
how taking, would it be with an inferior maid to be the object of the dear love
->f sorae great and excellent prince. But Christ is infinitely above you, and
above all the princes of the earlh ; for he is King of kings. So honorable a
person as this offers himself lo you, in the nearest and dearest friendship.
And would you choose to have a friend not only great but good 1 In Christ,
infinite greatness and infinite goodness meet together, and receive lustre and
glory one from another. His greatness is rendered lovely by his goodness. The
greater any one is without goodness, so much the greater evil ; but when infi
nite goodness is joined wilh greatness, it renders it a glorious and adorable
greatness. So, on the other hand, his infinite goodness receives lustre from his
greatness. He that is of great undersianding and ability, and is withal of a
good and excellent disposition, is deservedly more esteeraed than a lower and
lesser being, wilh the same kind inclination and good will. Indeed, goodness is
excellent in whatever subject it be found ; it is beauty and excellency itself, and
renders all excellent that are possessed of it ; and yet more excellent when joined
wilh greatness ; as the very same excellent qualities of gold do render the body
in which they are inherent more precious, and of greater value, when joined with
greater than when with lesser diraensions. And how glorious is the sight to
see hira who is the great Creator and suprerae Lord of heaven and earth, full
of condescension, and tender pity and raercy, towards the raean and unworthy !
His alraighty power, and infinite majesty, and self-sufficiency, render his ex
ceeding love and grace the more surprising. And how do his condescension
and compassions endear his majesty, power and dominion, and render those at
tributes pleasant, that would olherwise be only te.-irible ! Would you not desire
that your friend, though great and honorable, be of such condescension and
grace, and so to have the way opened to free access to hira, that his exaltation
above you might not hinder your free enjoyment of his friendship 1
And would you choose not only that the infinite greatness and majesty of
your friend should be, as it were, mollified and sweetened with condescension
and grace ; but wouW you also desire to have your friend in your own nature,
that he might he brought nearer to you ? Would you choose a friend far above
vou, and yet as it were upon a level with you too 1 (Though it be taking with
men to have a near and dear friend of superior dignity, yet there is also an incli
nation in thein to have their friend a sharer with them in circurastances.) Thus
is Christ Though he be the great God, yet he has, as it were, brought himself
down to be upon a level with y^u, so as to become man as thou art, tbat he might
ISU EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST.
not only be your Lord, but your brother,and that he might be the m.ire fit to be s
companion for such a worm of the dust This is one end of Christ's taking
upon him man's nature, that his people might be under advantages for a more
familiar converse with him, than the infinite distance of the divine nature would
allow of. And upon this account the church longed for Christ's incarnation :
Cant viii. 1, " 0 that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my
mother ! When I should find thee wiihout, I would kiss thee, yea, I should
not be despised." One design of God in the gospel, is to brirg us to make
God the object of our undivided respect, that he may engross our regard every
way, that whatever natural inclination there is in our souls, he may be the
centre of it; that God may be all in aU. But there is an inclination in the
creature, not only to thci adoration of a Lord and Sovereign, but to coraplacence
in sorae one as a friend, lo love and delight in some one that may be conversed
with as a companion. And virtue and holiness do not destroy or weaken this
inchnation of our nature. But so hath God contrived in the affair of our re
demption, that a divine person raay be the object even of this inchnation of our
nature. And in order hereto, such a one is corae down to us, and has taken
our nature, and is become one of us, and calls himself our friend, brother and
corapanion. Psalra cxxii. 8, " For my brethren and corapanions' sake, will I
now say. Peace be within thee."
But is it not enough to invite and encourage to free access to a friend sc
great and high, that he is one of infinite condescending grace, and also has
taken your own nature, and is become man 1 But would you further, to em
bolden and win you, have him a man of wonderful meekness and humility ?
Why, such a one is Christ! He is not only become man for you, but far the
meekest and most humble of all men, the greatest instance of these sweet vir
tues that ever was, or will be. And besides these, he has all other human ex
cellencies in the highest perfection. These, indeed, are no proper addition to
his divine excellencies. Christ has no raore excellency in his person, since his
incarnation, than he had before ; for divine excellency is infinite, and cannot be
added to : yet his huraan excellencies are additional raanifestations of his glory
and excellency to us, and are additional recoraraendations of hira to our esteem
and love, who are of finite coraprehension. Though his human excellencies are
but coraraunications and reflections of his divine ; and though this light, as re
flected, falls infinitely short of the divine fountain of light in its immediate
glory; yet the reflection shines not without its proper advantages, as presented
to our view and affection. As the glory of Christ appeais in the qualifications
of his huraan nature, it appears lo us in excellencies that are of our own kind,
that are exercised in our own way and manner, and so, in sorae respects, are
peculiariy fitted to invite our acquaintance and draw our affection. The glory
of ChrisI, as it appears in his divinity, though il be far brighter, yet doth it also
more dazzle our eyes, and exceeds the strength or comprehension of our sight.
but as it shines in the huraan excellencies of ChrisI, it is brouo-ht more to a
level with our conceptions, and suitableness to our nature and manner, yet re
taining a serablance of the same divine beauty, and a savor of the sarae divine
sweetness. But as both divine and huraan excellencies meet together in Christ,
they set off and recommend each other to us. It is what tends to endear the
divine and infinite raajesty and holiness of Christ to u.s, that these are attributes
of a person that is in our nature, that is one of us, that is become our brother,
and IS the meekest and humblest of men ; it encourages us to look upon these
divme perfections, however high and great, yet as what we have sorae nes'
¦concern in, and more of a right to, -cii.d liberty freely to enjoy. And on the
r...vUELLENCY OF CHRIST. 19a
Other hand, how much more glorious and surprising do the meekness, the humi
lity, obedience and resignation, and other human excellencies of Christ appear,
when we consider that they are in so great a person, as the eternal Son of God
the Lord of heaven and eai ih !
By your choosing Christ for your friend and portion, you will obtain these
two infinite benefits :
1. Christ will give himself to you, wilh all those various excellencies that
meet in him, to your full and everlasling enjoyment He will ever after treat
you as his dear friend ; and you shall erelong be where he is, and shall bebok':
nis glory, and shall dwell wilh him, in most free and intimate communion and
enjoyment. When the saints get to heaven, they shall not merely see Christ, and have
to do v.iih him as subjects and servants wilh a glorious and gracious Lord and
Sovereign, but Christ will entertain them as friends and brethren. This we
may learn from the manner of Christ's conversing wilh his disciples here on earlh :
though he was their sovereign Lord, and did not refuse, but required their
suprerae respect and adoration, yet he did not treat them as earihly sovereigns
are wont to do their subjects ; he did not keep them at an awful distance ; but
all along conversed with thera wilh the raost friendly farailiarity, as a father
araongst a corapany of children, yea, as with brethren. So he did wilh the
twelve, and so he did with Mary, JVIartha, and Lazarus. He told his disciples,
that he did not call them servants, bul friends ; and we read of one of them that
leaned on his bosom. And doubtless he will not treat his disciples wilh less
freedom and endearment in heaven : he will not keep them al a greater distance
for his being in a stale of exaltation ; bul he will rather take thera inlo a state
of exaltation wilh hira. This will be the improveraent Christ will make of his
own glory, to make his beloved friends partakers wilh hira, to glorify them in
his glory, as he says to his Father, John xvii. 22, 23 : " And the glory which
thou hast given me, have I given them, that they may be one, even as we are
one ; I in them," &c. We are to consider, that though Christ is greatly exalted,
yet he is exalted, not as a private person for himself only, but as his people's
head ; he is exalted in their narae, and upon their account, as the first fruits,
and as representing the whole harvest. He is not exalted that he may be at a
greater distance from thera, but that they may be exalted with him. The ex
altation and honor of the head is not to make a greater distance between the
head and the raembers ; but the members have the same relation and union with
the head they had before, and are honored with the head ; and instead of the
distance being greater, the union sball be nearer and more perfect. When be
lievers get to heaven, Christ will conform thera to himself; as he is set down
on his Father's throne, so they shal! sit down with him on his throne, and shall
in their measure be made like him.
When Christ was going to heaven, he coraforted his disciples wilh that,
that after a while, he would corae again, and take thera to himself, that they
might be with him again. And we are not to suppose that wben the disciples
got to heaven, they found hiin keeping a greater distance than he used to do.
No, doubtless, he embraced them as friends, and welcomed them to his and their
Father's house, and lo his and their glory. They that had been his friends in
this world, that had been together with him here, and had together partaken of
sorrows and troubles, are now welcomed by him to rest, and lo partake of
glory wilh him. He took thera and led thera into his charabers, and showed
them all his glory ; as he prayed, John xvii. 24 : " Falher, I will that they alsc
whora thou hast given me, be with me, that they may behold the glory whicb
200 EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST.
thou hast given me." And he led them to his living fountains uf waters and
made thera partake of his delights ; as he prays, J..iin xvii. 13, " That my joj
may be fulfilled in themselves;" and set them down with him at his table in
his kingdom, and made them partake with him of his dainties, according to hia
promi.se, Luke xxii. 30, and led them into his banqueting house, and made
them to drink new wine with him in the kingdora of his heavenly Father; aa
he foretold them when he instituted the Lord's Supper, Matt. xxvi. 29.
Yea, the saints' conversation wilh Christ in heaven shall not only be as in
timate, and their access to hira as free, as of the disciples on earth, but in many
respects much more so : for in heaven, that vital union shall be perfect, which
is exceeding iraperfect here. While the saints are in this world, there are
great reraains of sin and darkness, lo separate or disunite them from Christ,
which shall then all be removed. This is not a tirae for that full acquaintance,
and lho.se glorious manifestations of love which Christ designs for his people
hereafter ; which seems lo be signified by Christ's speech to Mary Magdalene,
when ready to embrace hira, when she raet him after his resurrection, John
XX. 17 : " Jesus saith unto her. Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended to my
Father." When the saints shall see Christ's glory and exaltation in heaven, it will
indeed possess their hearts with the greater adrairation and adoring respect, but
->vill not awe them inlo any separation, but will serve only to heighten their sur
prise and joy, when they find Christ condescending to adrait them lo such intimate
access, and so freely and fully coramunicating hiraself to thera.
So that if we choose Christ for our friend and portion, we shall hereafter be
so received to him, that there shall be nolhing to hinder the fullest enjoyment
of him, to the satisfying the utmost cravings of our souls. We rnay take our
full swing at gratifying our spiritual appetite after these holy pleasures. Christ
will then say, as in Cant. v. 1, " Eat, 0 friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly,
0 beloved." And this shall be our entertainraenl lo all eternity! There shall
never be any end of this happiness, or any thing to interrupt our enjoyment of
it, or in the least lo molest us in it !
2. By your being united to Christ, you will have a raore glorious union
with, and enjoyraent of God the Father, than otherwise could be. For, hereby
the saints' relation to God becoraes rauch nearer; they are the children of God
in a higher raanner than otherwise could be. For, being raembers of God's
own natural Son, they are in a sort partakers of his relation to the Father :
they are not only sons of God by regeneration, but by a kind of commu
nion in the sonship of the v-ternal Son. This seeras to be intended. Gal. iv. 4,
5, 6 : " God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, raade under the law, lo re
deera thera that are under the law, that we raight receive the adoption of sons
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father." — The church is the daughter of God, not only
as he hath begotten her by his word and Spirit, but as she is the spouse of his,
eternal Son.
So we, being members of the Son, are partakers in our measure of the.
Father's love to the Son, and complacence in him. John xvii. 23, " I in them,
and thou in rae.— Thou hast loved thera as thou hast loved me." And verse 26,
•' That the love wherewith thou ha.st loved rae raay be in them." And chapter
xvi. 27, " The Father hiraself loveth you,' because ye have loved rae, and have
believed that I carae out frora God." So we .shall, according to our capacities,
be partakers of the Son's enjoyraent of God, and have his joy fulfilled in onr-
Relves, John xvii. 13. And by this raeans we shall come to an immensely
EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST. 2<)i
higher, more intimate, and full enjoyment of God, than otherwise could have
been. For there is doubtless an infinite intimacy between the Father and the
Son ; which is expressed by his being in the bosom of Ihe Father. And sainls
being in him, shall, in their measure and manner, partake with him in it, and
the blessedness of it.
And thus is the aflfair of our rederaption ordered, that thereby we are obliged
to an iramensely more exalted kind of union wilh God, and enjoyment of him,
both the Father and the Son, than otherwise could have been. For, ChrisI be
ing united to the human nature^ we have advantage for a more free and full
enjoyraent of hira, than we could have had if he had reraained only in the divine
nature. So again, we being united to a divine person, as his members, can
have a more intimate union and intercourse with God the Father, who is only
m Ihe divine nature, than otherwise coukl be. Christ, who is a divine person,
by taking on him our nature, descends frora the infinite distance and height
above us, and is brought nigh to us ; whereby we have advantage for the full
enjoyment of him. And, on the other hand, we, by being in Christ, a divine
person, do as it were etscend up to God, through the infinite distance, and have
nereby advantage for the full enjoyment of him also.
This was the design of Christ to bnng it to pass, that he, and his Father,
and his people might all be united in one. John xvii. 21, 22, 23, " That they all
may be one, as thou, Falher, art in me, and I in thee ; that they also may be one
in us ; that the world may beheve that thou hast sent me. And the glory which
thou hast given me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are
one ; I in them, and thou in me, that they raay be raade perfect in one." ChrisI
has brought it to pass that those that the Father has given should be broughi
into the household of God ; that he and his Father, and his people, should be.
as it were, one society, one faraily ; that the church should be as it were ad
mitted into the society of the blessed Trinity
Vol IV 2ti
SERMON VIII.
THE f INAI. Jl U&MENT : OK THE WORLD JUDGED KIGHTEOUSLY BV JESUS CHRIJT.
Acts xvii. 31.— Because he halh appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righleau8iics>i
by that man whom he hath ordained.
Introduction.
These words are a part of the speech which Paul made in Mars' hill, a
place of concourse of the judges and learned men of Athens. Athens was
the principal city of that part of Greece whicb was formerly a common
wealth by itself, and was the rapst noted place in the whole world for learning,
philosophy, and human wisdom; and il continued so for many ages; till at
length the Romans baving conquered Greece, its renown from that time began
to dirainish ; and Rome having borrowed learning of it, began to rival it in
science, and in the polite and civil arts. However, it was still very famous in
the days of Christ and the apostles, and was a place of concourse for wise and
learned men.
Therefore, when Paul came thither, and began to preach concerning Jesus
Christ, 'a man who had lately been crucified at Jerusalera (as in the 18th verse),
the philosophers thronged about him, to hear what he had lo say. The strange
ness of his doctrine excited their curiosity ; for they spent their tirae in endea
voring to find out new things, and valued themselves greatly upon their being the
authors of new discoveries, as we are informed in verse 21 They despised
his doctrine in their hearts, and esteeraed it very ridiculous, calling the apostle
a babbler ; for the preaching of ChrisI crucified was to the Greeks foolishness,
1 Cor. i. 22. Yet the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, two different sects, had
a mind to hear what the babbler bad to say.
Upon this Paul rises up in the raidst of thera, and raakes a speech ; and as
he speaks to philosophers and men of learning, be speaks quite differently from
his common mode of address. There is evidently, in his discourse, a greater
depth of thought, raore philosophical reasoning, and a raore elevated style, than
are lo be found in his ordinary discourses lo coraraon men. His speech is such
as was likely to draw the attention and gain the assent of philosophers. He'
shows himself to be no babbler, but a man who could ofifer such reason, as
they, however they valued themselves upon their wisdom, were not able to gain
say, tlis practice here is agreeable to what he sailh of hiraself, 1 Cor ix. 22,
" That he becarae all Ihings to all men, that he mighl by all means save some."
He not only to the weak becarae as weak, that he might gain the weak ; but
to the wise he became as wise, that he raight gain the wise.
In the first place, he reasons with them concerning their worship of idols.
He declares to them the true God, and points out how unreasonable it is to sup
pose, that he delights in such superstitious worship. He begins wilh this, be
cause they were raost likely to hearken to it, as being so eviaently agreeable to
the natural light of huraan reason, and also agreeable to whal some of their
owr noets and philosophers had said, verse 28. He begins not immediately to
tell thera about Jesus Christ, his dying for sinners, and his resurrection frora the
dead ; but first draws their attention with that lo which they were more likely
to hearken ; and then, having thus introduced himself, he proceeds to soeai
concerning Jesu« Christ
THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 203
He tells them, the times of this ignorance concerning the true God, in which
they had hitherto been, God winked at ; he suffered the world to lie in heathen
ish daikness ; but now the appointed time was come, when he expected men
should everywhere repent j " because he had appointed a day, in the which he
will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordaned."
As an enforcement to the duty of turning lo God from their ignorance, supersti
tion, and idolatry, the apostle brings in this, that God had appointed such a
day of judgment. And as a proof of this, he brings the resurrection of Christ
from the dead.
Concerning the words of the text, we raay observe.
That in thera the aposlle speaks of the general judgment : He ivill judge the
WOKLD. — The time when this shall be, on the appointed day : He hath appointed
a day.— How the world is to be judged : In righteousness. — The raan by whom
it is to be judged : Christ Jesus whom God raised from the dead.
DOCTRINE.
There is a day coraing, in -which there will be a general righteous judgment
of the whole world, by Jesus Chris't.
In speaking upon this subject, I .shall show, that God is the Suprerae Judge
of the world. That there is a lime coming, when God will, in the most public
and soleran raanner, judge the whole world. That the person by whora he will
judge it is Jesus Christ That the transactions of that day will be greatly in
teresting and truly awful. That all shall be done in righteousness. And finally,
•J shall take notice of those Ihings which shall be imraediately consequent upon
the judgment. section I.
God is the Supreme Judge of the world.
1. God is so by right. He is by right the supreme and absolute ruler and
disposer of all things, both in the natural and raoral worid. The rational, un
derstanding part of the creation is indeed subject lo a diflferent sort of govern
ment frora that to which irrational creatures are subject. God governs the sun,
moon and stars ; he governs even the raoles of dust which fly in the air. Not a
hair of our heads fallelh to the ground wiihout our heavenly Father. God also
governs the brute creatures ; by his providence, he orders, according to his own
decrees, all events concerning those creatures. And rational creatures are sub
ject to the same sort of governraent ; all their actions, and all events relating
to them, being ordered by superior providence, according to absolute decrees;
so that no event that relates to them ever happens without the disposal of God,
according to his own decrees. The rule of this government is God's wise de
cree, and nothing else.
but rational creatures, because they are intelligent and voluntary agents,
ire the subjects of another kind of governraent. They are so only with respect
fo those of their actions, in which they are causes by counsel, or with respect to
their \oluntary actions. The governraent of which I now speak is called moral
government, and consists in two things, in giving laws, and in judging.
God is, with respect to this sort of governmenl, by right the sovereign ruler
)f the world. He is possessed of this right by reason of his infinite greatness
204 THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
and excellency, by which he raerits, and is perfectly and solely fit fot, the office
of supreme ruler. He that is so excellent as to be infinitely worthy of the
highest respect of the creature, halh thereby a right to that respect ; he deserves
it by a merit of condignity ; so that it is injustice to deny it to him. And he
that is perfectly wise and true, and is only so regarded, hath a right in every
thing to be regarded, and to have his determinations attended to and obeyed. .
God hath also a right to the character of supreme ruler, by reason of the
absolute dependence of every creature on him. All creatures, and rational
creatures no less than others, are wholly derived from him, and every raoment
are wholly dependent upon hira for being, and for all good : so that they are
properly his possession. And as, by virtue of this, he halh a right to give his
creatures whatever rules of conduct he pleases, or whatever rules are agreeable
to his own wisdom ; so the mind and will of the creature ought to be entirely
conforraed to the nature and will of the Creator, and to the rules he gives, that
are expressive of it.
For the same reason, he hath a right to judge their actions and conduct, and
to fulfil the sanction of his lavv. He who halh an absolute and independeni
right lo give laws, hath everraore the sarae right to judge those to whom the
laws are given. It is absolutely necessary that there should be a judge of rea
sonable creatures ; and sanctions, or rewards and punishraents, annexed to rules
of conduct, are necessary lo the being of laws. A person raay instruct anothei
without sanctions, bul not give laws. However, these sanctions theraselves art
vain, are as good as none, without a jodge to determine the execution of them
As God hath a right to be judge, so he halh a right to be the supreme judge
and none hath a right to reverse his judgment, to receive appeals from him, oi
to say to hira. Why ludgest thou thus ?
2. God is, in fact, the supreme judge of the world. He halh power suffi
cient to vindicate his own right As he hath a right which cannot be disputed,
so he hath power which cannot be controlled. He is possessed of omnipotence
wherewith lo maintain his dorainion over the worid ; and he doth maintain his
dorainion in the raorai as well as the natural world. Men raay refuse subjec
tion lo God as a lawgiver ; they raay shake off the yoke of his laws by rebel
lion ; yet they cannot withdraw themselves from his judgraent. Ahhough they
will not have God for their lawgiver, yet they shall' have hira for their judge,
The strongest of creatures can do notliing to control God, or to avoid hira while
acting in his judicial capacity. He is able to bring them to his judgment-seat,
and is also able to execute the sentence which he shall pronounce.
There was once a notable attempt made by opposition of power entirely to
shake off the yoke of the raoral government of God, both as lawgiver, and.as
judge. This attempt was made by the angels, the most raighty of creatures ;
but they miserably failed in it ; God notwithstanding acted as their judge in
casting those proud spirits out of heaven, and binding them in chains of dark
ness unto a further judgment, and a further execution. " God is wise in heart
and mighty in strength ; who halh hardened himself against him, and halh
prospered V Job ix. 4. Wherein the enemies of God deal proudly, he is
above thera. He ever hath acted as judge in bestowing what rewards^ and in
flicting what punishraents, he pleased on the children of men. And so he dolh
still ; he is d-aily fulfilling the proraises and threatenings of the law, in dis
posing of the souls of the children of raen, and so he evermore will act ,
God acteth as judge towards the children of men more especially,
„ In man's particular judgment at death. Then the sentence is executed,
ind the reward bestowed in part , which is not done without a judgment. The
THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 206
soul, when it deparis from the body, appears bf-fore God to be disposed of by
him, according lo his law. But by this appearing' before God, to be judged at
dealh, we need understand no more than this, that the soul is made imraediately
sensible of the presence of God, God manifesting hiraself immediately to the
soul, with the glory and majesty of a judge ; Ihat the sins of the wicked, and
the righteousness of the sainls, are brought by God to the view of their con
sciences, so that they know the reason of the sentence given, and their con
sciences are raade to testify to the justice of it ; and that thus the will of God
for the fulfilment of tbe law, in their reward or punishment, is made known to
them and executed. This is undoubtedly done at every man's death.
2. In Ihe great and general judgment, when all men shall together appear
before the judgment-seat to be judged : and which judgment will be much more
solemn, and the sanctions of the law will lo a further degree be fulfilled. — But
this brings me to another branch of the subject.
SECTION II.
That there is a time coming when God will, in the most public and solem?
manner, judge the whole world of mankind.
The doctrine of a general judgment is not suflficienlly discoverable by the
light of nature. Indeed some of the heathens had some obscure notions
concerning a future judgment. Bul the light of nature, or raere unassisted rea
son, was not sufficient to instruct the world of fallen men in this doctrine. It
is one of the peculiar doctrines of revelation, a doctrine of the gospel of Jesus
Christ There were indeed some hints of it in the Old Testament, as in Psal
xcvi. 13 : " The Lord cometh to judge the world with righteousness, and his
people wilh his truth." And Eccl. xii. 14, " For God will bring every work
into judgraent, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be
evil." And in sorae other such like passages. Put this doctrine is wilh abun
dantly the greaiest clearness revealed in the New Testament : there we have it
frequently and particulariy declared and described with ils circumstances.
However, although it be a doctrine of revelation, and be brought to light
by the gospel, the brightest and most glorious revelation that God halh given
to the world ; yet it is a doctrine which is entirely agreeable to reason, and of
which reason give" great confirmation. That there will be a time before the
dissolution of the world, w hen the inhabitants of it shall stand before God, and
give an account of their conduct; and that God will in a public manner, by a
general and just judgment, set all things to rights respecting their moral beha
viour, is a doctrine entirely agreeable to icason ; which 1 shall now endeavor to
make appear. But I would premise, that what we would inquire into, is not
whether all raankind shall be judged by God ; for that is a thing that the light
of nature clearly teaches, and we have already spoken something of it: but
whether it be rational to think that there will be a public judgment of all raan
kind together. This I think will appear very rational frora the following con
siderations. 1. Such a judgment will be a more glorious display of God's majesty and
dorainion ; it will be more glorious, becau.se il will be more open, public, and
solemn. — Although God now actually exercises the most sovereign dominion
over the earth ; although he reigns and dolh all things according to his own
will, ordering all evenis as seemeth to himself good ; and although he is actu
ally judge in the earth, continually disposing of men's souls accoiding to Iheir
works ; yet he rules after a more hidden and secret raanner, insomuch that it is
206 THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
comraon araong the proud sons of raen to refuse acknowledging his dominion.
Wicked men question the very existence of a God, who taketh care of tht
worid, who orderelh the affairs of it, and judgeth in it ; and therefore they cas'
off the feai of him. Many of the kings and great raen of the earlh cb not
suitably acknowledge the God who is above them, but seem to look upon Ihem
selves as supreme, and iherefore tyrannize over raankind, as if they were in no
wise accountable for their conduct. There have been, and now are, many athe
istical persons, who acknowledge not God's moral dominion over raankind; and
therefore they throw off' the yoke of his laws and governraent. And how great
a part of the world is there now, and has there always been, that has not ac
knowledged that the governraent of the world belongs to the God of Israel, or
to the God of Christians ; bul has paid horaage to other iraaginary deities, as
thoun-h they were their sovereign lords and suprerae judges ! Over how great a
part of the word halh Satan usurped the dominion, and set up himself for God
in opposition to the true God !
Now, how agreeable to reason is it, tbat God, in the winding up of things.
when the present state of mankind shall corae lo a conclusion, should, in tlie
most open and public manner, manifest his dominion over the inhabitants ofthe
earlh, by bringing them all, high and low, rich and poor, kings and subjects,
together before hira to be judged with respect to all that they ever did in the
world ! That he should thus openly discover his dominion in this world, where
his authority hath been so much questioned, denied, and proudly opposed ! That
those very persons, who have thus denied and opposed the authority of God,
should be Ihemselves, wilh the rest of the world, brought before the tribunal
of God ! That however God be not now visibly present upon earth, disposing
and judging in that visible manner that earihly kings do ; yet at the conclusion
of the world he should make his dorainion visible to all, and with respect to all
raankind, so that every eye shall see him, and even they who have denied him
shall find, that God is suprerae Lord of thera, and of the whole world !
2. The end ofjudgraent will be more fully answered by a public and gene
ral, than only by a particular and private, judgment. The enci for which there
is any judgment at all is to display and glorify the righteousness of God ; which
end is more fully accomplished by calling men lo an account, bringing their ac
tions to the trial, and determining their state according" to thera, the whole
world, both angels and raen, being present to behold, than if the same things
should be done in a more private way. At the day of judgraent there will be
the most glorious display of the justice of God that ever was made. Then God
will appear to be entirely righteous towards every one ; the justice of all his
raoral government will on that day be at once discovered. 'Then all objections
will be removed ; the conscience of every ihan shall be satisfied ; the blasphe
mies of the ungodly will be forever put to silence, and argument will be given
for the saints and angels to praise God for ever : Rev. xix. 1, 2, " And after
these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying. Alleluia :
Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God : for true
and righteouf are his judgments."
3. It is Tti-y agreeable to reason, that the irregularities whicb are so open
and manifest in the world, should, when the world comes to an end, be public
ly rectified by the supreme governor. The infinitely wise God, who inade this
world to be a habitation for men, and placed mankind to dwell here, and halh
appointed raan his end and work, must take care of the order and good govern
ment of the worid, which he hath thus made. He is not regardless how things
proceed here on earth : it would be a reproach to his wisd'-^m, and to the per
THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 207
led rectitude of his nature, to .suppose so. This world is a w-jrld of confiusion;
it halh been filled wilh irregularity and confusion ever since the fall ; and the ir
regularities of it are not only private, relating lothe actions of particulur persons;
butstales, kingdoras, nations, churches, cities, and all societies of raen in all ages,
have been full of public irregularities. The aff'airs of the world, so far as Ihey
are in the hands of men, are carried cm in a most irregular and confused
manner. Though justice sometimes takes place, yet how often do injustice, cruelty,
and oppression prevail ! How often are the riahleous condemned, and the
wicked acquitted and rewarded! How comraon is it for the virtuous and pious
to be depressed, and the wicked to be advanced ! How many thousands of the
best raen have suffered intolerable cruelties, merely for their virtue and piety
and in this world have had no help, no refuge to fly lo ! The world is verv
much ruled by the pride, covetousness, and passions of raen. Solomon take*
rauch noticr of such like irregularities in the present stale (in his book of Ec
clesiastes), whereby he shows the vanity of the worhl.
Now, how reasonable is it to suppose, that God, when he shall corae and
put an end to the pr-esent stale of mankind, will in an oper, public manner,
the whole worid being present, rectify all these disorders! And that he will
bring all ihings to a trial by a general judgraent, in order that those who have
been oppressed raay be delivered ; that Ihe righleous cause may be pleaded and
vindicated, and wickedness, wbich has been approved, honored, and rewarded,
' may receive its due disgrace and punishment ; thatthe proceedings of kings and
earthly judges may be inquired into by him, whose eyes are as a flame of fire;
and that the pi blic actions ofmen may be publicly examined and tecompensed
according to tht^ir desert ! How agreeable is it to divine -^^ isdom thus to order
things, and how worthy of the suprerae governor of the world !
4. By a public and general judgment, God more fully accomplishes the re
ward he designs for the godly, ami the punishment he designs for the wicked.
One part ofthe reward which God intends for his saints, is the honor which he
intends to bestow upon thera. He will honor them in the most public and
open manner,, before the angels, before all mankind, and before them that ha
ted them. And it is most suitable that it should be so : il is suitable that those
holy, humble souls, that have been haled by wicked men, have been cruelly
treated and put to sharae by thera, and who have been haughtily domineered
over, should be openly acquitted, commended and crowned, before all the world.
So one part of the punishment of Ihe ungodly will be the open shame and
di.sgrace which they shall suff'er. Although many of thera have proudly lifted
up their heads in this world, have had a very high ihought of Ihemselves, and
have obtained outward honor among men ; yet God will put them to open
shame, by showing all their wickedness and moral fillhiness before the whole
assembly of angels and men ; by raanifesting bis abhorrence of them, in placing
them upon his left hand, among devils and foul spirits ; and by turning Ihem
away into the most loathsome, as well as most dreadful, pit of hell, to dwell
there forever. — Which ends may be much raore fully accoraplished in a gener-
il, than in a particular judgraent SECTION in.
The world ivill be judged by Jesus Chrisi.
The person by whom God will judge the world, is Jesus Christ, God-man.
The second person in the Trinity, that same person of whom we read in our
208 THE FINAL JUDGMENI.
Bibles, who was born of the 'Virgin Mary, lived in Galilee and Judea, and was at
last crucified without the gates of Jerusalem, will come to judge the world both
in his divine and huraan nature, in the sarae huraan body that was crucified,
and rose again, and a.scended up into heaven : Acls i. 1 1, " This saine Jesus
that is taken up from you inlo heaven, shall come in like manner, as ye have
seen hira go into heaven." It will be his huraan nature which will then be
seen by the bodily eyes of men. However, his divine nature, which is united
to the human, will then also be present : and it will be by the wisdom of that
divine nature that Christ will see and judge.
Here naturally arises an inquiry. Why is Christ appointed lo judge the
world rather than the Father or the Holy Ghost 7 We cannot pretend to know-
all the reasons of the divine dispensations. God is not obliged to give us an
account of them. But so rauch raay we learn by divine revelation, as to dis-^
cover marvellous wisdom in what he determines and orders wilh respect to this
matter. We learn,
1. That God seeth fit, that he who is in the human nature, should be the
judge of those who are of the human nuture : John v. 27, " And hath given
hira authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man." See
ing there is one of the persons of the frinily united lo the human nature. Got!
chooses in all his transactions with raankind, to transact by hira. He did so of
old, in his discoveries of hiraself to the patriarchs, in giving the law, in leading
the children of Israel through the wilderness, and in the manifestations he
made of hiraself in the tabernacle and temple ; when, although Christ was not
actually incarnate, yet he was so in design, it was ordained and agreed in the
covenant of redemption, that he should become incarnate. And since the in- i
carnation of Christ, God governs both the church and the world by Christ So
he will also at the er\d judge the world by hira. All men shall be judged by
God, and yet at the same time by one invested wilh their own nature.
God seeth fit, that those who have bodies, as all mankind will have at the
day of judgment, should see their judge with their bodily eyes, and hear him
with their bodily ears. If one ofthe other persons of the Trinity had been ap
pointed to be the judge, there raust have been sorae extravirdinary outward ap
pearance made on purpose to be a token of the divine presence, as it was of
old, before Christ was incarnate. But now there is no necessity of that : now,
5ne of the persons of the Trinity is actually incarnate, so that God hy him may
appear lo bodily eyes without any miraculous visionary appearance.
2. Christ hath this honor of being the judge of the world given him, as a
suitalle reward for his sufferings. 'This is a part of Christ's exaltation. The
exaltation of Christ is given hira in reward for his humiliation and sufferings.^
This was stipulated in the covenant of redemption ; and we are expressly told,
it was given him in reward for his sufferings, Phil. ii. 8 — 12 : " And being found
in fashion as a raan, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted hira, and giv
en him a name which is above every narae ; that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the
earth; and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father."
Gocl seeth raeet, that he who appeared in such a low estate araongst man
kind, without forra or coraeliness, having his divine glory veiled, should appear
amongst men a second time, in his own proper majesty and glory, without a
veil ; It) the end that those who saw him here at the first, as a poor, frail man,
•jot having where lo lay his head, subject to much hardship and affliction,' may see
THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 2<!9
mm the sev-.ond time in power and great glory, invested with the glory and dig
nity ofthe absolute Lord of heaven and earth ; and that he who once taberna
cled with raen, and -"vas despised and i-ejected of then;, may havo the honor of
arraigning all men before his throne, and judging them with respect to their
eternal state ! John v. 22 — 24.
God seelh meet that he who was once arraigned before the judgment-seat
of men, and was there most vilely treated, being mocked, spit upon, and
condemned, and who was at last crucified, should be rewarded, by having those
very persons brought to his tribunal, that Ihey may see him in glory, and be
confounded ; and that he raay have the disposal of them for all eternity ; at
Christ said to the high priest while arraigned before hira. Matt. xxvi. 64, " Here
after ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the righl .land of power, and com
ing in the clouds of heaven."
3. It is needful that ChrisI should he the judge of the world, in order that
he may finish the work of redemption. It is the will of God, that he who is
the redeemer of the world should be a complete redeemer ; and that therefore
he should have the whole work of rederaption left in his hands. Now, the re
demption of fallen man consists not merely in the impelration of redemption, by
obeying the divine law, and making atonement for sinners, or in preparing the
way for their salvation, but it consists in a great raeasure, and is actually ful
filled, in converting sinners to the knoWir-dge and love ofthe truth, in carrying
thera in the way of grace and true holiness through life, and in finally raising
their bodies lo life, in glorifying them, in pronouncing the blessed sentence upon
them, in crowning thera wilh honor and glory in the sight of men and angels.^
and in completing and perfecting Iheir reward. Now, it is necessary that Christ
should do this, in order to his finishing the work which he hath begun. Rais
ing the saints from the dead, judging them, and fulfilling the sentence, is part
oftheir salvation; and therefore it was necessary that Christ should be appoint
ed judge of the world, in order that he might finish his work. (John vi. 39,
40, chap.' V. 25 — 31.) The redemption of the bodies of the saints is part of
the work of redemption ; the resurrection to life is called a redemption of theii
bodies, Rom. viii. 23.
It is the will of God, that Christ himself should have the fulfilhng of tha*
ibr which he died, and for which he suffered so much. Now the end for
H'hich he suffered and cUed was the complete salvation of his people : and
this shall be obtained al the last judgment, ana not before. Therefore it was
necessary that Christ be aj)pointed judge, in order that he himself raigh;
fully accoraplish the end for which he had both suff'ered and died. When
Christ had finished his appointed sufferings, God did, as it were, put the pur
chased inheritance into his hands, to be kept for believers, and be bestowed
upon them at the day of judgment
4. It was proper that he who is appointed king of the church should rule
till he should have put all his eneraies under his feet ; in order to which, he
must be the judge of his enemies, as well as of his people. One of the offices
of Christ, as redeemer, is that of a king ; he is app6inted king of the church,
and head over all things to the church ; and in order that his kingdom be
complete, and the design of his reign be accomplished, he must conquer all his
enemies, and then he will deliver up the kingdom to the Falher : 1 Cor. xv.
24,25, "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all author
ity and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet."
Now, when Christ shall have brought his enemies, who had denied, opposed
Vol. IV. 27
210 THE riNAL JUDGMENT
and rebelled against hira, to his judgraent-seat, and shall have passed and ex
ecuted sentence upon thera, this will be a final coraplete victory over them, a
victory which shall put an end to the war. And it is proper that he who at
present reigns, and is carrying on the war against those who are of the oppo
site kingdora, should have the honor of obtaining the victory, and finishing the war.
5. It is for the abundant comfort of the saints that Christ is appointed to
be their judge. The covenant of gracie, with all its circurastances, and ah those
events to which it hath relation, is every way so contrived of God, as to give
strong consolation lo believers : for God designed the gospel for a glorious
manifestation of his grace to them ; and therefore every thing in it is so ordered,
as to manifest the raost grace and raercy.
Now, il is for the abundant consolation of the sainls, that their own Re
deeraer is appointed to be their judge ; that the same person who spilled his
blood for them hath the determination of their state left wilh hira ; so that they
need not doubt but that they shall have whal he was at so much cri.st to procure.
What raatter of joy to thera will it be at the last day, to hft up their eyes,
and behold the peison in whom they have trusted for salvation, to whora they
have fled for refuge, upon whom they have built as their foundation for eternity,
and whose voice they have often heard, inviting them to himself for protection
and safety, coraing lo judge them.
6. That Christ is appointed to be the judge of the world, will be forthe more
abundant conviction of the ungodly. It will be for their conviction, that they are
judged and conderaned by that very person whora they have rejected, by whom.
they raight have been saved, who shed his blood lo give thera an opportunity
t» be saved, who was wont to offer his righteousness lo thera, when they were in
their slate of trial, and who raany a tirae called and invited them to come tc him,
that they might be saved. How justly will they be conderaned by him whose
salvation they have rejected, whose blood tbey have despised, whose many call?
they have refused, and whom they have pierced by their sins !
How rauch will it be for their conviction, when they shall hear the sentence
of condemnation pronounced, to reflect with themselves. How often hath this
same person, who now passes sentence of condemnation upon me, called me, in
his word, and by his messengers, to accept of hira, and to give myself to him !
How often hath he knocked at the door of my heart ! and had it not been for
ray own folly and obstinacy, how raight I have had him for my Saviour, who is.
now my incensed Judge ' SECTION IV
Christ's coming, the resurrection, the judgment prepared, the books opened, th'.
sentence pronounced and executed.
1. Christ Jesus will, in a most magnificent manner, descend from heaven
with all the holy auj^els. The man Christ Jesus is now in the heaven of heavens,
or, as the apostle expi-esses it,/ar above all heavens, Eph. iv. 10. And there he
hath been'ever since his ascension, being there enthroned in glory, in the midst
of millions of angels and blessed spirits. But when the time appointed for the
day ofjudgraent shall have come, notice ofii wUl be given in tbose happy re
gions, and Christ will descend to the earth, attended with all those heavenly
hosts, in a raost soleran, awful, and glorious manner. Christ will come with
divine majesty, he will corae in the glory of the Father : Matt. xvi. 27, " For
the Son of Man shall corae in the glory of his Father, with his angels."
We can new conceive but little of the holy and awful raagnificence in which
THE r~NAL JUDGMENT, 211
Christ will appear, as he shall come in the clouds of heaven, or of the glory of his
retinue. How mean and despicable, in comparison with it, is Ihe most splendid
apjiearance that earihly princes can make ! A glorious visible light will shine
roundabout him, and the earth, with all nature, will tremble at his presence.
How vast and innumerable will that host be which will appear with him ! Heav
en will he for the time deserted of its inhabitants.
We may argue the glory of Christ's appearance, from his appearance at
other times. When he appeared in transfiguration, his face did shine as the
sun, and his raiment was white as the light. The apostle Peter long after spake
of this appearance in magnificent terms : 2 Pet. i. 16, 17, " We were eye-wit
nesses of his majesty ; for he received from God the Father honor and glory,
when there came such a voice to him fromthe excellent glory." And his ap
pearance to St. Paul, at his conversion, and to St. John, as related in Rev. i. 13,
&c., were very grand and magnificent. But wemay conclude, that his appear
ance at the day of judgment will be vastly more so than either of these, as the
occasion will be so rauch greater. We have good reason to think, that our na
ture, in the present frail state, could not bear the appearance of the majesty in
which he will then be seen.
We raay argue the glory of his appearance, from the appearances of some
ofthe angels to raen ; as of tbe angel that appeared at Christ's sepulchre, after
his resurrection. Matt, xxviii. 3 : " His countenance was like lightning, and his
raiment white as snow." The angels will doubtless all of thera make as glori
ous an appearance at the day of judgn.ent, as ever any of them have raade on
former occasions. How glorious, then, will be the retinue of Christ, made up of
so many thousands of such angels ! and how much raore glorious will Christ, the
judge hiraself, appear, than those his attendants ! Doubtless their God will ap
pear immensely more glorious than Ihey.
Christ will thus descend into our air, to such a distance from tbe surface of
the earth, that every one, when all shall be gathered together, shall see him :
Rev. i. 7, " Behold, he cometh wilh clouds, and every eye shall see him."
Christ will raake his appearance suddenly, and to the great surprise of the
inhabitants of the earth. It is therefore compared to a cry at midnight, by
which men are wakened in a great surprise.
2. At the sound of the last trumpet, the dead shall rise, and the living sball
be changed. As soon as Christ is descended, the last trurapet shall sound, as a
notification to all mankind to appear ; at which mighty sound shall the dead be
immediately raised, aiJ *he living changed : 1 Cor. xv. 52, "For the trumpet
shall sound, and the deaa shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be chang
ed." Matt xxiv. 31, " And he shall send his angels with a great sound 04 a
trumpet" 1 Thess. iv. 16, " For the Lord hiraself shall descend frora heaven
wilh a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and wilh the trump of God."
There will be some great and remarkable signal given for the rising of the dead,
which it seems will be sonii mighty sound, caused by the angels of God, who
shall attend on Christ.
Upon this all the dead shall rise frora their graves ; all, both sraall and
great, who have lived upon earth since the foundation of the world; those
who died before the flood, and those who were drowned in the flood, all that
.lave died since that time, and that shall die to the end of the world. There
will be a great moving upon the face of the earth, and in the waters, in bring--
ing bene to his bone, in opening graves, and bringing together all the scattered
particles of dead bodies. The earth shall give up the dead that are in it, and
'•»e sea shall give up the dead that are in it.
212 THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
However the parts of the bodies of many are divided and scattered ; how.
ever many have been burnt, and their bodies have been turned to ashes and
smoke, and driven to the four winds ; however many have been eaten of wi'd
beasts, of the fowls of heaven, and the fishes of the sea ; however many hare
consumed away upon the face of the earlh, and great part of their bodies have
ascended in exhalations ; yet the all-wjee and all-powerful God can imraediately
bring every part to his part again.
Of this vast raultitude some shall rise to life, and others to condemnation.
John V. 28, 29, " All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, ami shall
corae forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and they
that have done evil, unto the resurrection of daranation."
When the boches are prepared, the departed souls shall again enter intc
their bodies, and be reunited to them, never more to be separated. The souls of
the wicked shall be broughi up out of hell, though not out of misery, and shall
very unwillingly enter into their bodies, which will be but eternal prisons to
' thera. Rev. xx. 13, " And death and hel! delivered up the dead that were in
thera." They shall hft their eyes full of the utraost araazeraent and horror to
see their awful Judge. And perhaps the bodies with which they shall be rais
ed will he raost filthy and loathsorae, thus properly corresponding to the in
ward, raoral turpitude oftheir souls.
The souls of the righleous shall descend frora heaven together with Christ
and his angels : 1 Thess. iv. 14, " Thera also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with hira." They also shall be reunited to their bodies, that they maj
be glorified with thera. They shall receive their bodies, prepared by God to be
raansions of pleasure to all eternity. They shall be every way fitted for the
uses, the exercises, and dehghts of perfectly holy and glorified souls. They
shall be clothed wilh a superlative beauty, similar to that of Christ's glorious
body : Phil, iii, 21, " Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashion
ed like unto his glorious body." Their bodies shall rise incorruptible, no more
liable tq pain or disease, and with an extraordinary vigor and vivacity, like
that of those spirits that are as a flarae of fire. 1 Cor. xv. 43, 44, " It is sown
in dishonor, it is raised in glory : it is sown in weakne.ss, it is raised in power :
it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." Wilh what joy will
the souls and bodies ofthe sainls raeet, and with what joy will they lift up their
heads out of their graves to behold the glorious sight of the appearing of Christ!
And it will be a glorious sight to see Ihose saints arising out of their graves,
putting off their corruption, and putting on incorruption and glory.
At the sarae tirae, those that shall then be alive upon the earth shall be
changed. Their bodies shall pass through a great change, in a raoment, in the
twinkling of an eye : 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52, " Behold, I show you a great mystery;
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twink
ling of an eye, at the last trump." The bodies ofthe wicked then living will be
changed into such hideous things, as shall be answerable to the loathsome souls
that dwell in them, and such as shall be prepared to receive and administer
eternal torments without dissolution. But the bodies of the righteous shall be
Ehanged into the same glorious and iraraortal form in which those that shall be
Jiised will appear.
3 They shall all be brought to appear before Christ, the godly being placed
on the nght hand, the wicked on tbe left. Matt. xxv. 31, 32, 33. The wick
ed, however unwilling, however full of fear and horror, shall be brought or
driven before the judgraent-seat. However they may try to hide themselves
and for this purpose creep into dens and caves of the niounte^ns, and cry to tht
THE FINAL .IUDGMENT 213
mountains to tall on them, and hide thera frora the face of him that sitteth on
the Ihrone, and from the wrath of the Lamb ; yet there shall not one escape ;
to the judge they must come, and stand on the left hand wilh devils. On the
contrary, the righteous will be joyfully conducted to Jesus Christ, probably by
the angels. Their joy will, as it were, give them wings to carry them thither
They will with ecstasies and raptures of delight meet their friend and Saviour,
come into his presence, and stand at his right hand.
Besides the one standing on the right hand and the other on the left, there
seems to be this difference between them, that when the dead in Christ shall be
raised, they will all be caught up into the air, where Christ shall be, and sball
be there at his right hand during the judgment, never more to set their feet on
this earlh. Whereas the wicked shall be left standing on the earlh, there to
abide the judgment. 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17, " The dead in Christ shall rise first ;
then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in
the clouds to meet the Lord in tbe air : and so shall we ever be with the
Lord." And what a vast congregation will there be of all the men, women, and
children that sball have lived upon earlh from the beginning to the end of the
world ! Rev. xx. 12, " And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before
God." 4. The next thing will be, that the books shall be opened : Rev. xx. 12,
" I saw the dead, great and small, stand before God ; and the books were open
ed." Which books seem to be these two, the book of God's remerabrance,
and the book of Scripture ; the forraer as the evidence of their deeds which are
to be judged, the latter as the rule ofjudgraent The works both of the right
eous and of the wicked will be brought forth, that they raay be judged accord
ing to them, and those works will be tried according to the appointed and writ
ten rule.
(1.) The works of both righteous and wicked will be rehearsed. The book
of God's remembrance will be first opened. The various works of the children
of raen are, as it were, written by God in a book of reraembrance. Mai. iii. 16,
" A book of remembrance was written before hira." However ready ungodly
raen raay be to raake light of their own sins, and to forget them ; yet God never
forgettelh any of them : neither doth God forget any of the good works of the
saints. If they give but a cup of cold water with a spirit of charity, God re
members it.
The evil works of the -"vicked shall tben be brought forth to light. They
must then hear of all their pofaneness, their impenitence, their obstinate unbe
lief, their abuse of ordinances, and various other sins. The various aggrava
tions of their sins will also be brought lo view, as how this raan sinned after
such and such warnings, that after the receipt of such and such mercies ; one
after being so and so favored with outward light, another after having been
the subject of inward conviction, excited by the immediate agency of God. Con
cerning these sins, they shall be called to account to see what answer they can
raake for theraselves : Matt. xii. 36, " But I say unlo you, that every idle word
that men shall speak, they sball give account thereof in the day of judgment."
Rora. xiv. 12, " So then every one of us shall give account of himself to
God." The good worksof the sainls wil] also be brought forth as evidences oftheir
sincerity, and oftheir interest in the righteousness of Christ. As to their evil works,
they will not be brought forth against thera on that day ; for the guilt of them
ivii! not lie upon thera, they being clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ
214 THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
The Judge himself will have taken the guilt of their sins upon hira; therefore
their sins will, not stand against them in the book of God's remembrance. The
account of them will appear to have been cancelled before that time. The ac
count that will be found in God's book will not be of debt, but of credit. God
cancels their debts, and sets down their gopd works, and is pleased, as it were,
to make hiraself a debtor for thfera, by his own gracious act
Bolh good and bad will be jtidged according to their works : Rev. xx. 12,
" And the dead were judged out of those things that were found written in the
books, according, to their works;" and ver. 13, " And they were judged every
man according to their works." Though the righteous ai-e justified by faith,
and not by their wprks ; yet they shall be judged according to their works :
their works shall be brought forth as the evidence of their faith. Their failh
on that great day shall be tried by ils fruits. If the works of any man shall
have been bad,, if his life shall appear to have been unchristian, they will con
demn him, wiihout any further inquiry. But if his works, when they shall be
examined, prove good and of the right sort, he shall surely be justified. The}
will be declared as a sure evidence of his having believecl in Jesus Christ, am.
of his being clothed with his righteousness.
But by works we are to understand all voluntary exercises of the facuhies
of the soul ; as for instance, the words and conversation of raen, as well as what
is done with their hands : Matt. xu. 37, " By thy words thou shalt be justified, and
,by thy words thou shall be condemned.'' Nor are we to understand only out
ward acts, or the thoughts outwardly expressed, but also the thoughts them
selves, and all the inward workings of the heart. Man judgeth according tc
the outward appearance, but God judgeth the heart : Rev. ii. 23, " I am h^
that searcheth the heart and the reins, and I will give unto every one of you ac
cording to his works." , Nor will only positive sins be brought into juclgment,
but also omissions of duty, as is raanifest by Matt xxv. 42, &c., " For I was an
hungered, and ye gave me no meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave rhe no
drink,"»&c;. On that day secret and hidden -wickedness will be brought to light All the
uncleanness, injustice, and violence, of which men have been guilty in secret,
shall be manifest bolh to angels and men. Then it will be made to appear, how
this and that man have indulged themselves in wicked imaginations, in lascivi
ous, covetous, malicious, or impious desires and wishes ; and how others have
harbored in their hearts enraity against God and his law ; also irapenitency
and unbelief, notwithstanding all the means used wilh them, and motives set
before, thera, to induce fhera lo repent, return, and live.
.The good works of the sainls also, which were done in secret, shall then be
made public, and even the pious and benevolent affections and designs of theij
hearts; so that the real and secret characters of both saints and sinners shall
then be raost clearly and publicly displayed.
(2.) The book of Scripture will be opened, and the works of men will be
tried by that touchstone. Their, works will be compared with the word of God.
That which God gave raen for the rule of their action while in this life, shal!
then be made the rule of their judgment God halh told us beforehaiicj, what
will be the rule of judgment. We are told in the Scriptures upon what terms
we shall be justified, and upon what terras we shall be conderaned. That which
God halh given us to be our rule in our lives, he will make his own rule in
judgraent The rule of judgraent will be twofold. The primary rule ofjudgraent will
be the law. The law ever hcth stood, aid ever will sfand in force, as a rule
THE FINAL JULVMENT. 218
of judgment, for those to whom the law was given . Matt. v. 18, " For verily ]
say unto you, Till heaven and earlh pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." The law will so far be raade the rule; ol
judgment, that not one person at that day shall by any means be justified or
condemned, in a way inconsistent with that which is established by the law
As to the wicked, the law will be so far the rule of judgment respecting them,
that the sentence denounced against thera will be the sentence of the law. The
righteous will be so far judged by the law, that although their sentence will not
be the sentence of the law, yet it will by no means be such a sentence as
shah be inconsistent with the law, but such as it allows : for it will be by the
righteousness of the law that they shall be ju.itified.
It will be inquired concerning every one, both righteous and wicked, whether
the law stands against him, or whether he hath a fulfilment of the law to
show. As to the righteous, they will have fulfilment to show ; they will have
it to plead, that the judge himself hath fulfilled the law for thera ; that he hath
both satisfied for their sins, and fulfilled the righteousness of the law for thera :
Rom. X. 4, " Christ is the end of the law fbr righteousness to every one that
believeth." But as to the wicked, when it shall be found, bythe book of God's
remembrance, that they have broken the law, and have no fulfilment of it to
plead, the sentence of the law shall be pronounced upon them.
A secondary rule ofjudgraent will be the gospel, or the covenant of grace,
wherein it is said, " He that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth
not shall be damned :" Rom. h. 16, " In the day when God shall judge
the secrets of raen by Jesus Christ, according to ray gospel." By the gospel,
or covenant of grace, eternal blessedness will be adjudged lo believers.
When it shall be found that the law hinders not, and that the curse and
conderanation of the law stands not against them, the reward of eternal life
shall be given them, according to the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ
5. The sentence will be pronounced. Christ will say to the wicked on the
left hand, " Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the (Jevil and
his angels." How dreadful will these words of the judge be lo the poor, miser
able, despairing wretches on the left hand ! How amazing will every syllable
of them be ! How will they pierce them to the soul ! These words show the
greatest wrath and abhorrence. Christ will bid them depart; he will send
them away from his presence, will remove thera forever far out of his sight, into
an everlasting separation frora God, as being most loathsorae, and unfit to dwell
in his presence, and enjoy communion with him.
Christ will call them cursed ; Depart, ye cursed, to whora everlasting wrath
and ruin belong ; who are by your own wickedness prepared for nothing else,
but to be firebrands of hell ; who a,e the fit objects and vessels of the vengeance
and fury of the Alraiehty. Into fire : he will not send them away raerely inlo
a loathsorae prison, the receptacle oi' lb" filth and rubbish of the universe ; but
into a furnace of fire ; tbat must be their dwelling-place, there they raust be
tormented with the most racking pain and anguish. It is everlasting fire ; there
Ls eternity in the sentence, which infinitely aggravates the doom, and will make
every word of it immensely more dteaoful, sinking, and araazing to the souls
that receive it. Prepared for the devil and his angels : this sets foi h the
greatness and intenseness ofthe torments, as the preceding part of the sentence
does the duration. It shows the dreadfulne'ss of that fire lo which they shall
be condemned, that it is the same that is prepared for the devils, those foul
spirits and great enemies of God. Their condition will be the same as that of
ihe devils, in many respects ; particularly as they must burn in the fire for ever
216 THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
This sentence will doubtless be pronounced in such an awful manner aa
shall be a terrible manifestation of the wrath of the judge. There will be
divine, holy, and almighty wrath manifested in the countenance and voice of
the judge; and we know not what other raanifestations of anger will accom
pany the sentence. Perhaps it will be accompanied wilh thunders and hght-
nino-s, far more dreadful than were on raount Sinai at the giving of the lavv.
Correspondent to these exhibitions of divine wralh, will be the appearances of
terror and most horrible amazement in the condemned. How will all theii
faces look pale ! How will death sit upon their countenances, when Ihose words
shall be heard ! What dolorous cries, shrieks, and groans ! What trembling,
and wringing of hands, and gnashing of teeth, will there then be !
But with the most benign aspect, in the most endearing manner, and with
the sweetest expressions of love, will Christ invite his saints on his right hand
to glory ; saying, " Come, ye blessed of ray Falher, inherit the kingdom pre
pared for you from the foundation of the world." He will not bid them to go
from him, but to come with him ; to go where he goes ; to dwell where he
dwells ; to enjoy him, and to partake with him. He will call them blessed,
blessed of his Father, blessed by him whose blessing is infinitely the most de
sirable, namely, Gon. Inherit the kingdom : they are not only invited to go
with Christ, and to dwell with hira, but to inherit a kingdora with hira; to sit
down with hira on his Ihrone, and to receive the honor and happiness of a
heavenly kingdora. " Prepared for you from the foundation of the world :"
this denotes the sovereign and eternal love of God, as the source of their bless
edness. He puts them in mind, that God was pleased to set his love upon
them, long before tbey bad a being, even frora ejernity ; Ihat therefore God
raade heaven on purpose for thera, and filled it for their delight and happiness.
6. Iraraediately after this, the sentence will be executed, as we are inform
ed. Matt. xxv. 46 : " These shall go away into everlassting punishraent ; but
the righteous into life eternal." When the words of the sentence shall have
once proceeded out of the mouth of the judge, then that vast and innumerable
throng of ungodly men shall go away, shall be driven away, shall be necessitat
ed to go away with devils, and shall wilh dismal cries and shrieks be cast into
the great furnace of flre prepared for the punishraent of devils, the perpetual
thunders and lightnings of the wrath of God following them. Into this furnace
they must in both soul and body enter, never more to come out. Here they
must spend eternal ages in wrestling with the most excruciating torments, and
in crying out in the midst of the most dreadful flames, and under the most
insupportable wrath.
On the other hand, the righteous shall ascend to heaven with their glorified
bodies, in corapany wilh Christ, his angels, and all that host which descended
with hira; they shall ascend in the raost joyful -and triuraphant raanner, and
shall enter wilh ChrisI inlo that glorious and blessed world,' which had for the
tirae been erapty of ils creature inhabitants. Christ having given his church
that perfect beauty, and crowned it with that glory, honor, and happiness, which
were stipulated in the covenant of redemption before the worid was, and which
he died lo procure for thera ; and having radde it a truly glorious church, every
way complete, will present it before the Father, without spot, or wrinkle, oi
any such thing. Thus shall the saints be instated in everiasting glory, to dweh
there wilh Christ, who shall feed them, and lead thera to living fountains ot
water, to the full enjoyraent of God, and to an eternity of the most holv, glo-
;ioi is, and joyful eraployraents.
THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 217
SECTION, v.
All will be done in righteousness.
Christ will give to every man his due, according to a most righteous rule.
Those who shall be condemned, will be most justly condemned ; will be con
demned to that punishraent which they shall most justly deserve ; and the jus
tice of God in condemning thera will be raade most evident Now Ihe justice
of God in punishing wicked raen, and especially in the degree of their punish
ment, is often blaspheraously called in question. But il will be made clear and
apparent lo all ; their own consciences will tell them that the sentence is just,
and all cavils will be put to silence.
So those that shall be justified, shall be most justly adjudged to eternal life.
Although they also were great sinners, and deserved eternal dealh ; yet it will
not be against justice or the law to justily thera; they n'ill be in Christ. But
the acquitting of them will be but giving fhe reward merited by Christ's right
eousness : Rora. iii. 26, " That God may be just, and the justifier of him that
beheveth in Jesus."
Christ will judge the world in righteousness, particularly as he will give to
every one a due proportion either of reward or punishment, according lo the
various characters of those who shall be judged. The punishment shall be duly
proportioned to the number and aggravations of the sins of the wicked ; and
the rewards of the righteous shall be duly proportioned to the number of their
holy acls and affections, and also to the degree of virtue implied in them. — I
would observe further,
1. That Christ cannot fail of being ju.st in judging, through m.istake. He
cannot take some to be sincere and godly, who are noi so, nor others to be hypo
crites, who are really sincere. His eyes are as a flame of fire, and he search
eth the hearts and trieth the reins of the children of men. He can never err in
determining what is justice in particular cases, as human judges often do. Nor
can he be blinded by prejudices, as human judges are very liable to be : Deut
X. 17, " He regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward." Il is impossible he
should be deceived by tbe excuses, and false colors, and pleas of the wicked, as
human judges very commonly are. It is equally impossible that he should err, in
assigning to every one his proper pro-portion of reward or punishment, according
to his wickedness or good works. His knowledge being infinite, will eff'ectually
guard hira against all these, and other suc;h errors.
2. He cannot fail of judging righteously through an unrighteous disposition ;
for he is infinitely just and holy in his nature : Deut : xxxii. 4, " He is the rock,
his work is perfect; for all his wa}s aie judgment: a God of truth, and with
out iniquity, just and righl ':s he." Il is not possible that an infinitely powerful,
self-sufficient being should be under any temptalion to injustice. Nor is it pos
sible that an infinitely wise being, who knoweth all things, should not choose
justice. For he who perfectly knows all things, perfectly knows how much
more araiable justice is than injustice ; and therefore must choose it.
SECTION. VI.
Tho.<:e things which toill immediately follow the day of judgment.
1. After the sentence shall have been pronounced, and the sainls shall have
ascended with Chri-st into glory, this world will be dissolvijd by fire : the con
flagration will imraediately succeed the judgment When an end shall have
Vol.. IV. 28
218 THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
been put to the present stale of mankind, this world, which wa^ ihe place ol
their habitation during that stale, will be destroyed,, there being no further iist
for it. This earth, which had been the stage upon which so many scenes ha-i
been acted, upon which there had been so many great' and faraous kingdom
and large cities ; where there had been so many wars, so much trade and busi
ness carried on for so raany ages ; shall then be destroyed. These continents
these islands, these seas and rivers, these mountains and valleys, shall be seen
no raore at all : all shall be destroyed by devouring flames. This we are plainly
taught in the word of God, 2 Pet. iii. 7: " But the heavens and the eartJb
which are now, by tbe sarae word are kept in store, reserved unto flre against the
day ofjudgraent, and perdition of ungodly raen." Ver. 10, " But the day of
the Lord wdl come as a thief in the night ; ir which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements shaM melt -with fervent heat, the
earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up." 'Ver. 12, "Look
ing for and has. ening unlo the coming ofthe day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the eleraents shall melt with fervent heat"
Both the raisery of the wicked and the happiness of the saints will be in
creased, beyond what shall be before the judgment. The misery of the wicked
will be increased, as they will be tormented not only in their souls, but also in
their bodies, which will be prepared both to receive and adrainister torment to
their souls. There will doubtless then be the like connection between soul and
body, as there is now ; and therefore the pains and torraents ofthe one wifl af
fect the other. And why raay we not suppose that their torments will be in
creased as well as those of the devils ? Concerning them we are informed
(Jara. ii. 19,) that they believe there is one God, and tremble in the belief; ex
pecting no doubt that he will inflict upon thera, in due tirae, raore severe tor
ments than even those which they now suffer. We are also informed that they
are bound " in chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment ; and unto the
judgraent of the great day" (2 Pet. ii. 4, and Jude 6) ; which iraplies that
their full punishment is not yet executed upon them, but that they are now re
served as prisoners in hell, to receive their just recorapense on the day of judg
ment Hence it was that they thought Christ was come to torment them. be
fore the time. Malt. viii. 29. Thus the punishment neither of wicked men nor
devils will be complete before the final judgment
No more will the happiness of the saints be coraplete before that time.
Therefore we are in the New Testaraent so often encouraged , with proraises of
the resurrection ofthe dead, and of the day when Christ shall come thesecond
time. These things are spoken of as the great objects of the expectation and
hope of Christians. A slate of separation of soul and body is to men an unna
tural state. Therefore when the bodies of the sainls sball be raised from the
dead, and their sOuls shall be again united to thera, as their state will be more
natural, so doubtless it will be more happy. Their bodies will be glorious
bodies, and prepared to adrainister as rauch to their happiness, as the bodies oi
*he wicked will be to administer to their raisery.
We may with trood reason suppose the accession of happiness to the souls
of the sainls will be great, since the occasion is represented as the marriage of
the church, and the Lamb : Rev. xix. 7, "The raarriage of.lhe Larab is come,
and his wife halh made herself ready." Their joy will then be increased, he-
cause they will have new arguments of joy. The body of Christ will then he
perfect, the church will be complete; all the parts of it will have come into
existence, which will not be the case belore the end of the worid ; no parts of
it will je under sin or aftlictioii : all the members of it will be in a perfect
THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 8l»
State ; and they shall all be together by themselves, none being mixed with
un(;oi!|y men. Then the church will be as a bride adorned for her husband, anc?
iherefore she will exceedingly rejoice.
Then also the Mediator will have fully accomplished his work. He will
then have destroyed, and will triumph over, all his enemies. Then ChrisI will
have fully obtained his reward, and fully acc;oinphshed the design which was in
his heari from all eternity. For these reasons Christ hiraself will greatly re
joice, and his members must needs proportionably rejoice with him. Then God
will have obtained the end of all the great vk'orKS which he hath been doing
from the begmning of the world. All the designs of God will be unfolded in
tlieir eveiits ; then his raarvellous contrivance in his hidden, intricate, and inex
phcable works will appear, the ends Seing obtained. Then the works of God
heing perfected, the divine glory will raore abundantly appear. These things
wdl cause a great accession of happiness to the saints, who shall be)iold them.
Then God will have fully glorified himself, his Son, and his elect ; then he will
see that all is very good, and will entirely rejoice in his own works. At the
same time the saints also, viewing the works of God brought thus to perfec
tion, will rejoice in the view, and receive frora it a large accession of happiness.
Then God will make more abundant manifestations of his glory, and ofthe
glory of his Son ; then he will more plentifully pour out his Spirit, and make
answerable additions to the glory of Ihe sainls, and by means of all these will
so increase the happiness of the saints, as shall be suitable to the commence
ment of the ultimate and most perfect state of things, and to such a joyful oc
casion, the completion of all things. In this glory and happiness will the saints
reraain forever and ever. SECTION. Vll.
The uses to which this doctrine is applicable.
I. Thefirst uie proper to be made ofthis doctrine is of instruction. Hence
many ofthe mysteries of Divine Providence may be unfolded. There are many
things in the deahngs of God towards the children of men, which appear very
mysterious, if we view thera wiihout h-aving an eye to this last judgment, which
yet, if we consider this judgraent, have no difficulty in thera. As,
1. That God suffers the wicked to live and prosper in the world. The infi
nitely holy and wise Creator and Governor of the world must necessarily hate
wickedness ; yet we see many wicked raen spreading themselves as a green
bay-tree ; they live with impunity ; Ihings seem to go well with them, and the
world smiles upon them. Many who have not been fit to live, who have held
God and reho-ion in the greatest contempt, who have been open enemies to all
that is good, who by their wickedness have been the pests of mankind ; many
cruel , tyrants, whose barbarities have been such as would even fill one with
horror lo hear or read of thera; yet have lived in great wealth and outward
glory, have reigned over great and mighty kingcloms and empires, and have
.been honored as a sort of earthly gods.
.', Now, it is very mysterious, that the holy and righteous Governor of the
world, whose eye beholds all the children of men, should suffer it so to be,
unless, we look, forward to the day of judgment ; and then the mystery is un
ravelled. For although God for tbe present keeps .silence, and seeras to let
?hem alone ¦ yet then he will give suitable manifestations of his displeasure
agaiti.'st therr wickedness ; they shall then receive condign punishment The
saiflts, under. the Old Testament were rauch stumbled at the^e dispensations of
220 THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
Pro-'*ideiiCe, as you may see in Job ch. xxi., and Psal. Ixxiii, jnd Jer ch. xi.
The diflficulty to them was so great, because then a fulure stale and a day of
judgment were not revealed with that clearness with which they are now
2. God sometiraes suffers sorae of the best of men to be in great aflSiction,
poverty, and persecution. The wicked rule, while they are subject ; the wicked
are the head, and they are the tail -, the wicked domineer, while they .serve, and are
oppressed, yea are trampled under their feet, as the mire of the streets. These
things are very comraon, yet they seera lo iraply great confusion. When Ihe
wicked are exalted to power and authority, and the godly are oppressed by them,
things are quite out of joint : Prov. xx. 26, " A righteous man falling down
before the wicked, is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring." .Sometimes
one wicked man makes many hundreds, yea thousands, of precious saints a
sacrifice to his lust and cruelty, or lo his enmity against virtue and the truth, and
puts them to death for no other reason but that for which Ihey are especially to
be esteemed and commended.
Now, if we look no further than the present state, these things appear
strange and unaccountable. But we ought not to confine our views wilhin such
narrow limits. When God shall have put an end to the present slate, these-
things shall all be brought to rights. Though God suflfeis Ihings to be so for
the present, yet they shall not proceed in this course always ; coraparatively
speaking, the present state of Ihings is but for a moment. When all shafl be
settled and fixed by a divine judgment, the righteous shall be exalted, honored
and rewarded, and the wicked shall be depressed and put under their feet
However the wicked now prevail againsi ihe righteous, yet the righleous shall
at last have the ascendant, shall come off conquerors, arid shall see the just ven
geance of God executed upon those who now hate and persecute thera.
3. It is another raystery of Providence, that God .suffiers so much public in
justice to take place in the world. There arc not only private wrongs, which
in this stale pass unsettled, but many public wrongs, wrongs done by raen act
ing in a public character, and wrongs which aflfect nations, kingdoms, and other
public bodies of men. Many suffer by rnen in public oflfices, from whom Ihere
is no refuge, hom --vhose decisions there is no appeal. Now it seems a raysterv
that these things are tolerated, when he Ihat is rightfully the Supreme Judge
\nd Governor of the worid io perfectly just; but at the final judgment all these
wrongs shall be adjusted, as well as those of a more private nature.
II. Our second -use of this subject shall be to apply it to the awakening of
sinners. You that have not the fear of God before your eyes, that are not
afraid to sin against hira, consider seriously what you have heard concerning the
day of judgraent. Although these things be now future and unseen, yet they
are real and certain. If you now be left to yourselves, if God keep" silence,
and judgment be not speedily executed, it is not because God is regardless how
you live, and how you behave yourselves. Now indeed God is invisible to you.
and hrs wrath is invisible ; but at the day of judgment, you yourselves shall see
him with your bodily eyes : you shall not then be able to keep out of his sight
or to avoid seeing hira : Rev. i. 7, " Behold he cometh with clouds ; and
every eye shall see hira, and they also which pierced hira : and all kindreds
of the earth shall wail because of hira." You shall see hira coming m the
clouds of heaven ; your ears shall hear the last trumpet, that dreadful sound.
the voice of the archangel ; your eyes shall see your judge sitting on the throne,
they shall see those manifestations of wrath which there will be in his counte-
uaiice ; your ears shall hear him pronounce the sentence.
Seriously consider, if you live in the ways of sin, and appear '»t that dav
THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 221
With the guilt of it upon you, how you will be able to endure the sight oi
the hearing of these things, and whether horror and amazement will not be
likely to seize you, when you shall see the judge descending, rmd hear the
trump of God. What account will you be able lo give, wben it shall be inquir
ed of you, why you led such a sinful, wicked life '? What will you be able to
say for yourselves, when it shall be asked, why you neglected such and such
particular duties, as the duty of secret prayer, for instance ; or why you have
habitually practised such and such particular sins or lusts 1 Although you be
so careless of your conduct and manner of life, make so light of sin, and pro
ceed in it so freely, with little or no dread or remorse ; yet you must give an
account of every sin that you corarait, of every idle word that you speak, and of
every sinful ihought of your hearts. Every tirae you deviate from the rules of
justice, of temperance, or of charity ; every time you indulge any lust, whether
secretly or openly, you must give an account of it : il will never be forgotten,
it stands written in that book which will be opened on that day.
Consider the rule you will be judged by. It is the perfect rule of tbe di
vine law, which is exceeding strict, and exceeding broad. And how will you
ever be able lo answer the deraands of this law ? — Consider also,
1. That the judge wi'l be your supreme judge. You will hive n > oppor
tunity to appeal from his def/ision. This is often the case in this world ; when
we are dissatisfied with th" decisions of a judge, we often may a; peal to a
higher, a more knowing, or a more just judicatory. But no such appeal can be
made frora our Divine Judge ; no such indulgence will be allowed : or if it
were aUowed, thei-e is no superior judge to whom the appeal should be raade.
By his decision, therefore, you must abide.
2. The judge will be omnipotent. Were he a mere man, like yourselves,
however he raight judge and determine, you might resist, and by the help of
others, if not by your own strength, prevent or elude the execution of the judg
ment But the judge being omnipotent, this is utterly impossible. In vain is
all resistance, either by yourselves, or by whatever help you can obtain:
"Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished," Prov. xi. 2L
As well mighl you " set the briers and thorns in battle against God," Isa.
xxvii. 4.
3. The judge will be inexorable. Huraan judges raay be prevailed upon to
reverse their sentence, or at least to remit sornething of its severity. But in
vain will be all your entreaties, all your cries and tears lo this effect, wilh the
great Judge of the world. Novv indeed he inclines his ear, and is ready to hear
the prayers, cries, and entreaties of all mankind ; but then the day of grace' will
be past, and the door of mercy be shut : then although ye spread forth your
hands, yet the judge will hide his eyes from you ; yea, though ye make many
prayers, he will not hear, Isa. i. 15. Then the judge will deal in fury : his eye
shall not spare, neither will he have pity : and Ihough ye cry in his ears wilh a
loud voice, yet will he not hear you, Ezek. viu. 18. And you will find no
place of repentance in God, though you seek it carefully with tears.
4. The judge at that day will not mix mercy with justice. The time for
raercy to be shown to sinners will then be past. Christ wi.^l then appear in
another character than that of the merciful Saviour. Having laid aside the in
viting attributes of grace and raercy, he will clothe hiraself with justice and
Vengeance. He will not only, in general, exact of sinners the deraands of the
law, but he will exact the whole, without any abatement; he will exact the
very utterraost farthing. Matt. v. 26. Then Christ will corae to fulfil that in Rev
Siv. 10, " The sarae shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which ia
222 THE FINAL JUDGBIENT.
poured out without mixture, into the cup of his indignation," The punishment'
threatened to ungodly men is without any pity ; see Ezek. v. 11 : " Neither snail
mine eye spare ; neither will I have any pity." Here all judges have a mixture
of mercy ; but the wrath of God will be poured out upon the wicked without'
mixture, and vengeance will have its full weight
III. 1 shall apply rayself, thirdly, to several different characters of men.
1. To those who live in secret wickedness. Let such consider, that for all
these things God will bring thera into judgraent. Secrecy is your teraptation.
Promising yourselves this, you practise many things, you indulge many lusts,
under the cover of darkness, and in secret corners, which you would be asham
ed to do in the light of the sun, and before the world. But this temptation is
entirely groundless. All your secret abominations are even now perfectly
kno\<'nlo God, and will also hereafter be made known both lo angels and ra^n :
Luke xii. 2, 3, " For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed ; neither
hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in dark-'
ness, shall be heard in the light : and that which ye have spoken in the ear in
closets, shall be proclaimed upon the house-lops."
Before human judges are brought only those Ihings which are known; but
before this judge shall be brought the raost " hidden things of darkness, and
even the counsels ofthe heart,'' 1 Cor. iv. 5. All your secret uncleanness, aU
your secret fraud and injustice, all your lascivious desires, wishes, and designs,
all your inward covetousness, whicb is idolatry, all your raalicious, envious, and
revengeful thoughts and purposes, whether brought forih inlo practice or not,
shall then be raade manifest, and you shall be judged according to thera. Of
these things, however secret, there will be need of no other evidence than the
testiraony of God and of your own consciences.
2. To such as are not just and upright in their dealings wilh their fellow
raen. Consider, that all your dealings with men mu.st be tried, raust be brought
forth into judgment, and there compared with the rules of the word of God.'
All your actions must be judged according lo those Ihings which are found writ
ten in the book of the word of God. If your ways of dealing with raen shall
not agree with those rules of righteousness, they wifl be conderaned. Now, the
word of God directs us to practise entire justice : " That which is altogether just
shalt thou follow," Deut. xvi. 20, and to do to others as we would they should
do to us. Bul how raany are there, whose dealings with their fellow-men, if
strictly tried by theso rules, would not stand the test !
God hath in his word forbidden ali deceit and fraud in our deahngs one
wilh another. Lev. xi. .13. He hath forbidden us to oppress one another. Lev.'
xxv. 14. But how frequent are practices conlrary to those rules, and which wiU
not bear to be tried by them ! How coraraon are fraud and trickishness in trade !
How will men endeavor to lead on those with whora they trade in the dark, that
so they raay raake their advantage ! Yea, lying in trading is too coraraon a thing
araong us. How common are such things as that mentioned, Prov. xx. 14, " It is
nought, it is nought, saith the buyer ; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth."
Many men will take the advantage of another's ignoiance to adv.ince their
own gain, to his wrong ; yea, they seem not to scruple such practices. BeSide
downright lying, raen have raany ways of blinding and deceivi-ng one another
in trade, which are by no raeans right in the sight of God, and will appear to
be very unjust, when they shall be tried by the rule of God's word at the uay '
ot judgraent And how coraraon a thing is oppression or extortion, in taking
any advantage that raen can by any means obtain, to get the utraost possible
Df their neighbor for what they have to dispose of, and their neighbor ne?ds
THE FINAL JUDGMENT. £23
Let such coasider that there is a God in heaven, w ho beholds them, and
sees how they conduct themselves in their daily traftick wilh one another ; ano!
that he will try their works another day. Justice shall assuredly lake place at
last. The righteous Governor of the world will not suff'er injustice without
control ; he will control and rectify il, by returning the injury upon the head
ofthe injurer: Matt vii. 2, " With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured
to you again."
3. To those who plead for the lawfulness of practices generally condemner
by God's people. You who do this, consider that your practices must be trieci
al the day ofjudgraent Consider, whether or no they are hkely to be approv
ed by the most holy Judge at that day : Prov. v. 21, " The ways of raan are
before the eyes of the Lord ; and he pondereth all his goings." However, by
your carnal reasonings, you may deceive your own hearts, yet you will ncrt be
able to deceive the judge, he will not hearken to your excuses, but will try
your ways by the rule ; he will know whether they be straight or crooked.
When you plead for these and those liberties -which you lake, let il be con
sidered, whether they be likely lo be allowed of by the judge at the last great
day. Will they bear to be tried by his eyes, which are purer than to behold
evfl, and cannot look on iniquity 1
4. To those ^^ho are -w'ont to excuse their wickedness. Will the excuses
-which you make for yourselves be accepted at the day of judgraent ? If you
excuse yourselves to your own consciences, by saying, that you were under such
and such teraptalions wbich you could not withstand ; that corrupt nature pre
vailed, and you could not overcome it ; that it would have been so and so to
your damage, if you had done olherwise ; that if you had done such a duly,
you would have brought yourselves into diflficulty, would have incurred the dis
pleasure of such and such friends, or would have been despised and laughed at ;
or if ycu say, you did no more than it was the common custom lo do, no more
thsn many godly men have done, no more than certain persons of good, reputa
tion now practise, that if you had done otherwise, you would have been singular ;
if these be your excuses tor tbe sins you commit, or for the duties which you
negleci, let me ask you, will they appear sufhcient when they shall be examin
ed at the day of judgment 1
5. To those who live in impenitence and unbelief There are some persons
who live in no open vice, and perhaps conscientiously avoid secret immorality,
who yet live in impeiiitence and unbelief They are indeed called upon to re
pent and believe the gospel, to forsake their evil ways and thoughts, and tore-
turn to God, that he may have mercy on them ; to come unlo Christ, laboring,
and heavy-laden with sin, that Ihey may obtain rest of him ; and are assured,
that if they believe, they shall be saved ; and Ihat if they believe not, they shall
he damned; and all the most powerful motives are set before Ihem, to induce
them to comply with these exhortations, especially those drawn from the eter
nal world ; yet they persist in sin, tbey remain impenitent and unhumbled;
they willnol corae unto Christ, ihat they may have life.
Now such men shall be broughi into judgment for their conduct, as well as
more gross sinners. Nor will they be any njore able lo stand in the judgment
than the oth^r. They resist the most powerful means of grace ; go on in sin
against the clear light of the gospel ; refuse to hearken to the kindest calls and
invitations; reject the most amiable Saviour, the judge himself; and despise the
free offers of eternal life, glory and felicity. And how will the-' be able lo an
swer for these things at the tribunal of Christ 1
IV. If there be a dav of judgment appointed, then let all he very strict in
224 THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
trying their own sincerity. God on that day will discove the secrets of all
hearts. The judgraent of that day will be like a fire, which burns up whatso
ever is not true gold ; vvood, hay, stubble, and dross, shall be all consumed by
the scorching fire of that day. The judge will be like a refiner's fire, and ful
ler's soap, which will cleanse awav all fillhiness, however it may be colored
over : Mai. iii. 2, " Who may abiih the clay of h-Ls coming 1 And who shall
stand when he appearelh ? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap;"
and chap. iv. 1, " For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and
all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble, and the day that
coraeth shall burn them up, sailh the Lord of hosts."
There are multitudes of rnen that wear the guise of saints, appear like saints,
and their stale, both in iheir own eyes and in the eyes of their neighbors, is
good. They have sheep's clothing. But no disguise can hide them from the
eyes of the judge of the worid. His eyes are as a flarae of fire : they search
the hearts and try the r-eins of the children of men. He will see whether they
be'sound at heart ; he will see frora what principles they have acted. A fair
show will in no degree deceive hira, as it dolh raen in the present stale. It
will signify nolhing to say, " Lord, we have eaten and drunk in thy presence ;
and in thy narae have we cast out devils, and in thy narae have done many
wonderful works " it will signify nolhing to pretend to a ereat deal of comfort
and joy, and to the experience of great religious aflfections, and to your having
done many things in religion and raorality, unless you have some greater evi
dences of sincerity.
Wherefore let every one lake heed that he be not deceived concerning 'nim
self; and that he depend not on that which will not bear examination at the
day ofjudgraent Be not contented with this, that you have the judgraent of
men, the judgraent of godly men, or that of ministers, in your favor. Consider
that they are not to be your judges at last. Take occasion frequently to com
pare your hearts with the word of God ; that is the rule by which you are to
be finally tried and judged. And try yourselves by your works, by "which also
you raust be tried at last Inquire whether you lead holy. Christian lives,
whether you perform universal and unconditional obedience to all God's com
mands, and whether you do it from a truly gracious respect to God.
Also frequently beg of God, the judge, thai he would search you, try you
nov/, and discover you to yourselves, that you may see if fou be insincere in
religion ; and that he would lead you in the way everlasting. Beg of God,
that if you be not upon a good foundation, be would unsettle you, and fix you
upon the sure foundation. The example of the Psalmist in this is worthy of
imitation : Psal. xxvi. 1,2, " Judge me, 0 Lord, examine me, and prove me;
try my reins and raine heart ," an^ Psal. cxxxix. 23, 24, " Search, me, 0 God,
and know my heart : try rae, and know ray thoughts. And see if there be any
wicked way in rae, and lead rae in the way everlasting." God will search us
hereafter, and discover what we are, both lo ourselves and to all the worid ; let
us pr-ay that he would search us, and discover our hearts to us now. We have
need of divine help in this raatter ; for tbe heart is deceitful above all things.
V. If God hath appointed a day to judge the world, let us judge and co°n-
deran ourselves for our sins. This we raust do, if we would not be judged and
conderaned for thera on that day. If we would escape conderanation, we must
see that we justly raay be conderaned ; we must be so sensible of our vileness
and guilt, as to see ihat we deserve all that conderanation and punishment
which are threatened ; and that we are in the hands of God, who is the sove
reign disposer of us, and will do with us as seemeth to himself good. Let us
HE FINAL JUDGMENT. 22£
therefore often reflect on our sins, confess them before God, condemn and
abhor ourselves, be truly humbled, and repent in dust and ashes.
VI. If these things be so, let us by no means be forward to judge others.
Some are forward to judge others, to judge their hearts, both in general and
upon particidar occasions, to determine as to the principles, motives, and ends of
their actions. But this is to assurae the province of God, and to set up our
selves as lords and judges. Roin. xiv. 4, " Wlio art thou, that thou judgest
another man's servant ?" Jara. iv. 11, " Speak not evil one of another, brethren.
He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of
the, law, and judgeth the law." To be thus disposed to judge and act censori
ously towards others, is the way to be judged and condemned ourselves. Matt.
vii. 1. 2, " Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge,
ye shall be judged : and wilh what measure ye mete, it shall be measured tc
you again."
VII. This doctrine aflfords matter of great consolation to the godly. This
day of judgment, which is so terrible to ungodly men, aflfords no ground of
terror to you, but abundant ground of joy and satisfaction. For though you
now meet with more aflfliction and trouble than most wicked men, yet on that
day you shall be delivered from all afflictions, and f'rora all trouble. -If you be
unjustly treated by wicked men, and abused by them, what a comfort is it to the
injured, that they may appeal to God, who judgeth righteou.sly ! The Psalmist
used often to comfort himself with Ihis.
Upon these accounts the saints have reason to love the appearing of Jesus
Christ. 2 Tim. iv. 8, " Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right
eousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day : and
not to me only, but to all those that love his appearing." This is to the saints
a blessed hope. Tit. ii. 13, " Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing ofthe great God, and our Savioui Jesus Christ This day may well
be the object of their eager desire, and when they hear of Christ's coming to
judgment tbey may well say, " Even so come. Lord Jesus," Rev. xxii. 20. Il
will be the most glorious day that ever the saints saw ; it will be so both to
those who shall die, and whose souls shall go to heaven, and to those -who shal.
then be found alive on earth : it will be the wedding-day of Ihe church. Sure
ly then in the consideration of the approach of this day, there is ground of grea-
consolation to the saints.
V(a. IV S»
SERMON IX.
THE JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE DAMNATION CI SINNERS
RoiiANS ni. 19. — That every mouth may be stopped.
The main subject of the doctrinal part of this epistle, is the free grace of
God in the salvation of men by Christ Jesus ; especially as it appears in the
doctrine of justification by faith alone. And the more clearly to evince th«
doctrine, and show the reason of it, the apostle, in the first place, establishes
that point, that no flesh living can be justified by the deeds of the law. And to
prove it, he is very large and particular in showing, that all mankind, not only
Gentiles but Jews, are under sin, and so under the condemnation of, the
law ; which is what he insists upon frorn the beginning of the epistle to this
place. He first begins with the Gentiles ; and in the fir»l chapter .shows that
they are under sin, by setting forth the exceeding corruptions and horrid wick
edness that overspread the Gentile world : and then through the second chapr
ter, and the foriner part of this third chapier, to the text and following verse,
he shows the sarae of the Jews, that they are also in the same circumstances
with the Gentiles in this regard. They had a high thought of theraselves, be
cause they were God's covenant people, and circuracised, and the children of •
Abraham. They despised the Gentiles as polluted, condemned, and accursed ;
but looked on theraselves, on account of their external privileges, and ceremo
nial and raoral righteousness, as a pure and holy people, and the children of
God, as the apostle observes in the second chapter. It was therefore strange
doctrine to thera, that they also were unclean and guilty in God's sight, and
under the conderanalion and curse of the law. The apostle does therefore, on
account of their strong prejudices against such doctrine, the raore particularly.
Insist upon it, and shows that they are no better than the Gentiles ; and as in the
9th verse of this chapter, " What then 1 Are we betier than they 1 No, in
no wise ; for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all
under sin." And to convince thera ofii, he then produces certain passages out
oftheir own law, or the Old Testament (whose authority they pretend a grea;
regard to), frora the 9th verse to the verse wherein is our text And it may be
observed, that the aposlle, first, cites certain passages to prove that raankmd
are all corrupt, in the 10th, 1 1th, and i2th verses : " As it is written, There is
none righteous, no, not one : there is none that understandeth, there is none that
seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together be
come unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Secondly, the
passages he cites next, are to prove, that not only all are corrupt, but each one
wholly corrupt, as it were all over unclean, frora the crown of his ead to the
soles of his feet ; and therefore several pariicular parts of the body are men
tioned, as the throat, the tongue, the lips, the raouth, the feet : verses 13, 14,
15, " Their throat is an open sepulchre ; with their tongues they have used de
ceit; the poison of asps is under their lips ; whose raouth is full of cursing and
bitterness: their feet are swift lo shed blood." And, third'y, he quotes other
passages to show, that each one is not only all over corrupt, but corrupt to a
desperate degree, in the 16th, 17th. and 18th verses ; in which the exrj?eding
degree of their corruption is shown, both by affirraing and denying : by affir-
DAMNATION OF SINNERS. 227
matively expressing the most pernicious nature and tendency of their wicked
ness, in the 16th verse : " Destruction and misery are ir. *heir ways." And
then by denying all good or godliness of them, in the 17th and 18th verses,
" And the way of peace have they not known : there is no fear of God before
their eyes." And then, lest the Jews should think these passages of their law
do not concern them, and that only the Gentiles are inteniled in thera, the apos
tle shows, in the verse of thfe text, not only, that they are not exempt, but that-
they especially must be understood : " Now we know that whatsoever things
the law saith, it saith to thera who are under the law." By those that are
under the law is meant the Jews ; and the Gentiles by those that are without
law ; as appears by the 12lh verse of the preceding chapter. There is a spe
cial reason to understand the law, as speaking to and of them, to whora it was
imraediately given. And iherefore the Jews would be unreasonable in exempt
ing themselves. And if we examine the places of the Old Testament whence
these passages are taken, we shall see plainly that special respect is had to the
wickedness of the people of that nation, in every one of thera. So that the law
shuts all up in universal and desperate wickedness, that every mouth may be
stopped ; the mouths of the Jews, as well as of the Gentiles, notwithstanding
all those privileges by which they were distinguished from the Gentiles.
The things that the law says, are suflScient to stop the mouths of all man
kind, in two respects :
1. To stop them from boasting of their righteousness, as tbe Jews were wont
to do ; as the apostle observes in the 23d verse of the preceding chapter. —
That the apostle has respect to stopping their raoulbs in this respect, appears
by the 27th verse of the context, " Where is boasting then 1 It is excluded."
The law stops our mouths frora making any plea for life, or the favor of God,
or any positive good, from our own righteousness.
2. To stop them from making any excuse for ourselves, or objection against
the execution of the sentence of the law, or the infliction of the punishment that
it threatens. That it is intended, appears by the words immediately following,
" That all the world raay becorae guilty before God." That is, that they may
appear to be guilty, and stand convicted before God, and justly hable to the
conderanation of his law, as guilty of death, according to the Jewish way of
speaking. And thus the apostle proves, that no flesh can be justified in God's sight by
the deeds of the law ; as he draws the conclusion in the following verse ; and
so prepares the way for the establishing ofthe great doctrine of justification by
faith alone, which he proceeds to do in the next verse to that, and in the follow
ing part of the chapter, and of the epistle.
DOCTRINE.
It is just with God eternally to cast oflf and destroy sinners.
For this is the punishment which the law conderans to ; which the things
that the law says, raay well stop every mouth from all manner of objection
against. The truth of this doctrine may appear by the joint consideration of two
things, viz., raan's sinfulness, and God's sovereignty.
L It appears from the consideration of man's sinfulness. And that whether
we consider the infinitely evil nature of all sin, or how rauch sin men are
guity of
1 If we consider the Infinite evil -^nd heinousness of sin in general, it Ls iW
228 JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE
unjust in God to inflict vvhat punishment is deserved ; because the very notion
of deserving punishment is, that it may be justly inflicted : a deserved punish
ment and a just punishment are the sarae thing. To say that one deserves such
a punishraent, and yet to say that he does not justly deserve it, is a contradic
tion ; and if he justly deserves it, then it raay be justly inflicted.
Every crime or fault deserves a greater or less punishment, in proportion as
the crime itself is greater or less. If any fault deserves punishment, then so
rauch the greater the fault, so rauch the greater is the punishment deserved.
The faulty nature of any thing is the forraal ground and reason of its desert of
punishraent ; and therefore the raore any thing hath of this nature, the more
punishment it deserves. And therefore the terribleness ofthe degree of punish
ment, let it be never so terrible, is no argument against the justice of it, if the
proportion does but hold betwcMi the heinousness of the crime and the dreadful
ness of the punishment ; so that if there be any such thing as a fault infinitely
heinous, it will follow tnat it is just to inflict a punishment for it that is infinitely
dreadful. A crime is raore or less heinous, according- as we are under greater or less
obligations to the contrary. This is self-evident ; because it is herein that the
crirainalness or faultiness of any thing consists, that it is conlrary to what we
are obliged or bound to, or what ought to be in us. So the faultiness of one
being's hating another, is in p.'-oportion to his obligation to love him. The
crirae of one being's despising and casting conterapt on another, is proportiona
bly raore or less heinous, as he was trader greater or less obligations to honor
hira. The fault of disobeying another, is greater or less, as any one is under
greater or less obligations to obey hira. And therefore if there be any being that
we are under infinite obligations to love, and honor and obey, the contrary to
wards hira must be infinitely faulty.
Our obligations to love, honor, and obey any being, is in proportion to his
loveliness, honorableness, and authority ; for that is the very meaning of the
words. When we say any one is very lovely, it is the sarae as to say, that he
is one very rauch to be loved : or if we say such a one is more honorable than
another, the raeaning of the words is, that he is one that we are raore obliged
to honor. If we say any one has great authority over us, it is the same as to
say, that be has great right to our subjection and obedience.
But God is a being infinitely lovely, because he halh infinite excellency and
beauty. To have infinite excellency and beauty, is the same thing as to have
infinite loveliness. He is a Being of infinite greatness, majesty, and glory ; and
therefore is infinitely honorable. He is infinitely exalted above the greatest
potentates of the earth, and highest angels in heaven ; and therefore is infinitely
more honorable than they. His authority over us is infinite ; and the ground
of his right to our obedience is infinitely strong : for he is infinitely worthy to
be obeyed in himself, and we have an absolute, universal, and infinite depend
ence upon him.
So that sin against God, being a violation of infinite obligations, must be a
crime infinitely heinous, and so deserving of infinite punishment. — Nothing is
more agreeable to the common sense of mankind, than that sins committed
against any one, must be heinous proportionably to the dignity ofthe being of
fended and abused ; as it is also agreeable to the word of God : 1 Sam. ii. ?5.
"If one naan sin against another, the judge shall judge him ;" (i. e., shafl judge
hira, and inflict a finite punishraent, such as finite judges can inflict ;) " but if a
man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat fbr hira ?" This was the aggrava-
lioo: of sin that made Joseph afraid of it : Gen. xxxix. 9, " How shall I com-
DAMNATION OF SINNERS. 229
mit this great wickedness, and sin against God '?" This was the aggravation
of David's sin, in coraparison of which he esteenieu all otheis as nothing, be
cause they were infinitely exceeded by it. Psalm li. 4. " Against thee, thee only
have I sinned." — The eternity of the punishment of ungodly men renders it in
finite ; and it renders it no more than infinite, and therefore no more than propor
tionable to the heinousness of what they are guilty.
If there be any evil or faultiness in sin against God, there is certainly infi
nite evil : for if it be any fault at all, it has an infinite aggravation, viz., that it
is against an infinite object. If it be ever so sraall upon other accounts, yet if
it be any thing, it has one infinite dimension ; and so is an infinite evil. 'Which
may be illustrated by this : if we suppose a thing to have infinite length, bul
no breadth and thickness, but to be only a mere mathematical line, it is nothing ;
but if it have any breadth and Ihickn&ss al all, though never so small, yet if it
have but one infinile dimension, viz., that of length, the quantity of it is infi
nite ; it exceeds the quantity of any thing, however broad, thick and long,
wherein these dimensions are all finite.
So that the objections that are made against the infinite punishment of siuj
from the necessity, or rather previous certainty of the futurition of .sin, arising
frora the decree of God, or unavoidable original corruption of nature, if they
argue any thing, do not argue against the infinileness of the degree of the faulti
ness of sin directly, and no otherwise than they argue against any faultiness at
all : for if this necessity or certainty leaves any evil at all in sin, that fault raust
be infinite by reason of tbe infinite object.
But every such objector as would argue from hence, that there is no fault at
all in sin, confutes himself, and shows his own insincerity in his objection. For
at the same lime that he objects, that raen's acls are necessary, from God's de
crees, and original sin, and that this kind of necessity is inconsistent with faulti
ness in the act, his own practice shows that he does not believe what he objects
to be true : olherwise why does he at all blame men 1 Or why are such per
sons at all displeased with men, for abusive, injurious, and ungrateful acls to
wards thera 1 W^hatever they pretend, by this they show that indeed they do
believe that there is no necessity in raen's acts, frora divine decrees, or corrup
tion of nature, that is inconsistent with blarae. And if their objection be this,
that this previous certainty is by God's own ordering, and that where God orders
an antecedent certainty of acts, he transfers all the fault from the actor on him
self ; their practice .shows, that at the same time they do not believe this, but
fully believe the contrary : for when they are abused by men, they are dis
pleased with men, and not with God only.
The light of nature teaches all mankind, that when an injury is voluntary,
it is faulty, without any manner of consideration of what there might be previ
ously to determine the futurition of that evil act of the will. And it really
teaches this as rauch to those that object and cavil raost as to others ; as theii
universal practice shows. By which it appears, that such objections are insin
cere and perverse. Men will mention others' corrupt nature in their own case,
or when they are injured, as a thing that aggravates their crime, and that wherein
their faultiness partly consists. How common is it for persons, when they
look on themselves greatly injured by another, to inveigh against hira, and ag
gravate his baseness, by saying, " He is a man of a most perverse spirit : he is
laturally of a selfish, niggardly, or proud and haughty temper : he is one of a
oase and vile disposition." And yet men's natural, corrupt dispositions are
mentioned as an excuse for them, with respect to theh sins against God, and as
if thev rendered them blameless.
230 JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE
2. That it is just with God eternally to cast off wicked men may raore
abundantly appear, if we consider how much sin they are guilty of From
what has been already said, it appears, that if men were guilty of sin but, in
one particular, that is sufficient ground of their eternal rejection and condera
nation : if they are sinners, that is enough : merely this might be sufficient to
keep them from ever lifting up their heads, and cause them to sraite on theh
breasts, with the publican that cried " God be merciful to rae a sinner." But
sinful raen are not only thus, but they are full of sin; full of principles of sin,
and full of acts of sin : their guilt is like great raountains, heaped one upon
another, till the pile is grown up to heaven. They are totally corrupt, in every
part, in all their faculties, and all the principles of their nature, their under
standings, and wills ; and in all their dispositions and aflfections, their heads,
l.heir hearts, are totally depraved ; all the members of their bodies are only
instruments of sin ; and all their senses, seeing, hearing, tasting, &c., are only
mlets and outlets of sin, channels of corruption. There is nolhing but sin, no
good at all. Rora. vu. 18, " In me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing."
There is all manner of wickedness. There are the seeds of the greatest and
blackest criraes. There are principles of all sorts of wickedness agaiast men ;
and there is all wickedness against God. There is pride; there is enmity;
there is contempt ; there is quarrelling ; there is atheism ; there is blasphemy
There are these things in exceeding strength ; the heart is under the power of
them, is sold under sin, and is a perfect slave to it. There is hardheartedness,
hardness greater than that of a rock, or an adaraant stone. There is obstinacy
and perverseness, incorrigibleness and inflexibleness of sin, that will not be
overcome by threatenings or promises, by awakenings or encouragements, by
judgraents or mercies, neither by that which is terrifying, nor that which is
winning : the very blood of God will not win the heart of a wicked man.
And there is actual wickedness wiihout number or measure. There are
hreaches of every coraraand, in thought, word, and deed ; a hfe full of sin ;
days and nights filled up with sin ; mercies abused, and frowns despised; mercy
and justice, and all the divine perfections, trampled on ; and the honor of each
person in the Trinity trod in the dirt. Now if one sinful word or thought has
so much evil in it, as to deserve eternal destruction, how do they deserve to be
eternally cast off and destroyed, that are guilty of so rauch sin !
II. If with raan's sinfulness, we consider God's sovereignty, it may serve
further to clear God's justice in the eternal rejection and conderanation of sin
ners, frora raen's cavils and objections. I shall not now pretend to determine
precisely, what things are, and what things are not, proper acts and exercises
of God's holy sovereignty ; but only, that God's sovereignty extends to the
following things.
1. That such is God's sovereign power and right, that he is originally undei
no obligation to keep raen frora sinning ; but may in his providence permit and
leave them to sin. He was not obliged to keep either angels or raen from fall
ing. It is unreasonable to suppose, that God should be obliged, if he makes a
reasonable creature capable of knowing his will, and receiving a law from him,
and being subject to his moral government, at the same time to make it im
possible for hira to sin, or break his law. For if God be obliged to this, it de
stroys all use of any coramands, laws, prorai.ses or threatenings, and the very
notion of any raoral governraent of God over those reasonable creatures. Foi
tt) what purpose would it be, for God to give such and such laws, and declare
his holy will to a creature, and annex proraises and threatenings to raove hira
to his duty, and make him carefiil to perform it, if the creature at tl e same
DAMNATION OF Siis]SLli8. 231
time has this to think of, that God is obliged to make it impossible for him to
break his laws ? How can God's threatenings move to care or watchfulness
when, at the same time, God is obliged to render it impossible that he should
be exposed to the threateuings ? Or, to what purpose is it fbr God to give a
law at all ? For, according to this supposition, it is God, and not the creature,
that is under the law. It is the lawgiver's care, and not the subject's, to see
that his la-vv is obeyed; and this care is what the lawgiver is absolutely obliged
to. If God be obliged never to permit a creature to fall, there is an end of all
divine laws, or government, or authority of God over the creature ; there can be
no manner of use of these things.
God may permit sin, though the being «f sin will certainly ensue on that
permission: and so, by permission, he may dispose and order the event If
there were any such thing as chance, or mere contingence, and the very notion
of it did not carry a gross absurdity (as might easily be shown that it docs), it
would have been very unfit, that God should have left it to mere chance, whether
man should fall or no. For, chance, if there should be any such thing, is unde
signing and blinil. And certainly it is more fit that an event of so great impor
tance, and that is attended with suoh an infinite train of great consequences,
should be disposed aud ordered by infinite wisdom, than that it should be left to
blind chance.
If it be said, that God need not have interposed to render it impossible for
man to sin, and yet not leave it to mere contingence or bhnd chance neither ;
but might have left it wilh man's free will, to determine whether to sin or no ;
I answer, if God did leave it to man's free will, wiihout any sort of disposal,
or ordering in the case, whence it should be previously certain how that free
-will should determine, then still tbat first determination of the will must be
merely contingent or by chance. It could not have any antecedent acl of the
will to determine it ; for I speak now of the very first act or motion of the will,
respecting the aflfair that may be looked upon as the prime ground and highest
source of the event. To suppose this to be determuied by a foregoing act is a
contradiction. God's disposing this determination of the will by his permission,
does not at all infringe the libeity of the creature : it is in no respect any
more inconsistent with liberty, than mere chance or contingence. For if the
deterraination of the will be from blind, undesigning chance, it is no more from
the agent himself, or from the will itself, than if we suppose, in the case, a wise,
divine disposal by permission.
2. It was fit that it should be at the ordering of the di-vine wisdora and
good pleasure, whether every particular man should stand for himself, or
whether the first father of mankind should be appointed as the raoral and fede
ral head and representative of the rest If God has not liberty in this matter to
determine either of these two as he pleases, it raust be because determining that
the first father of men should represent the rest, and not that every one snould
stand for hiraself, is injurious to raankind. For if it be not injurious to mankind^
how is it unjust 1 But it is not injurious to raankind ; for there is nolhing in
the nature of the case itself, that raakes it better for mankind that each man
should stand for himself, than that all should be represented by their coraraon
father ; as the least reflection or consideration will convince any one. And if
there be nothing in the nature of the thing that raakes the former better for
raankind than the latter, then it will follow, that mankind are not hurt in God'.t
choosing and appointing the latter, rather than the forraer ; or, which is the
same thing, that it is not injurious to mankind.
3. When men are fallen, and become sinfu^, God by his sovereignty has a
232 JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE
right to determine about their redemption as he pleases. He has a ngtt. to
determine whether he will redeem any or no. He might, if he had pleased, have
left all to perish, or might have redeemed all. Or, he may redeem some, and leave
others ; and if he doth so, he may take whom he pleases, and leave whora he pleases
To suppose that all have forfeited his favor, and deserved to perish, and to sup
pose that he may not leave any one individual of thera to perish, implies a con
tradiction; because it supposes that such a one has a claim to God's favor,
and is not justly liable to perish ; which is contrary to the supposition.
It is raeet that God should order all these things according to his own plea
sure. By reason of his greatness and glory, by which he is infinitely above
all, be is worthy lo be sovereign, and that his pleasure should in all things take
place : he is worthy that he should raake himself his end, and that he should
make nothing but his own wisdom his rule in pursuing that end, without asking
leave or counsel of any, and without giving any account of any of his matters.
It is fit that he that is absolutely perfect, and infinitely wise, and the fountain
of all wisdom, should determine every thing by his own will, even things of
the greatest iraportance, such as the eternal salvation or damnation of sinners.
It is meet that he should be thus sovereign, because he is the first being, the
eternal being, whence all other beings are. He is the Creator of all things ;
and all are absolutely and universally dependent on him ; and therefore it is
meet that he should act as the sovereign possessor of heaven and earth
APPLICATION.
In the iraproveraent of this doctrine, I would first direct myself to sinners
that are afraid of damnation, in a use of conviction. This raay be raatter of
conviction to you, that it would be just and righteous with God eternally to re
ject and destroy you. This is what you are in danger of: you that are a Christ
less sinner are a poor conderaned creature : God's wrath still abides upon you ;
and the sentence of conderanation lies upon you : you are in God's hands, and
it is uncertahi what he will do with you. You are afraid what will become of
you : you are afraid that it will be your portion to suflfer eternal burnings ; and
your fears are not without grounds ; you have reason to trerable every raoment
But let you be never so rauch afraid of it, let eternal damnation be never so
dreadful, yet it is just : God may nevertheless do it, and be righteous, and holy,
and glorious in it. Though eternal damnation be what you cannot bear,
and how rauch soever your heart .shrinks at the thoughts of it, yet God's justice
may be ¦glorious init The dreadfulness of the thing on your part, and the
greatness of your dread of il, do not render it Ihe less righteous on God's part
If you think otherwise, it is a sign that you do not see yourself, that you are
not sensible what sin is, nor how much of it you have been guilty of
Therefore for your conviction, be directed.
First, To look over your past life : inquire at the raouth of conscience, and
hear what that has to testify concerning it. Consider what you are, what light
vou have had, and what raeans you have lived under ; and yet how have you be-
naved yourself! What have those raany days and nights, that you have lived,
been filled up with ? How have those years, that have rolled over your heads,
one after another, been spent 1 What has the sun shone upon you for, from day
to day, whde you have iraproved his light to serve Satan by it ? What has
God kept your breath in your nostrils for, and given you meat and drink, from
day to day for, that you have spent that life and strength that have be^n sup-
oorted by them, in opposing God and rebellion against him ?
DAMNATION OF SINNERS. 233
How manysorti of wickedness have you been guilty of! How raanifold
have been the abcminations of your life! What profaneness and contempt ot
God has been exorcised by you ! How littU regard have you had to the Scrip
tures, to the word preached, to Sii'Dbath.N, and sacraraents ! How profanely
have you talked, many of you about those Ihirga that are holy! After what
manner have many of you kept God's holy day, not regarding the holiness of
the time, not caring whjit you thought of in it ! Y^ea, you have not only spent
the time in worldly, vain, and iinproiitable Ihoughts, but in immoral thoughts ;
pleasing yourself with the reflection of past acls of wickedness, and in contriv
ing new acts. Have not you spent iiiuch holy time in gratifying your lusts in
your imagir>ations ; yea, not inly holy time, but the veiy time of God's pub
lic worship, when you have appeared in God's raore iramediate presdk.t;! How
have you not only not attended to the worship, but have in the mean time been
feasting your lusts, and wallowing yourself in aborainable uncleanness ! How
many Sabbaths have yoii spent, one after another, in a most wretched manner .
Some of you not oiily in ;vorldly and wicked thoughts, but also a very wicked
outward behavior ! Whm you on Sabbath days have got along with your
wicked companions, how has holy lime been treated among you ! Whal kint.
of conversation has there been ! Yea, how have some of you, by a very inde
cent carriage, openly dishonored and cast conterapt on the sacred services of
God's iiouse, and holy day ! And what you have done some of you aione, what
wicked practices there have been in secret, even in holy time, God and your
own consciences know.
And hi'W have you behaved yourself in the time of family prayer ! Ant!
what a trade have many of yo-u made of absenting yourselves from the worship
of the families you belong to, for the sake of vain corapany ! And how have
you continued in the neglect of secret prayer ! Wherein wilfully living in ?.
known sin, going abreast against as plain a comraand as any in the Bible
Have you not been one tbat has cast off fear, and restrained prayer before God 1
What \vicked carriage have some of you been guilty of towards your pa
rents ! How far have you been from paying that honor to them that God
has required ! Have you not even harbored ill will and m.alice towards them 1
And when they have displeased you, have wished evil to them 1 Yea, and
shown your vile spirit in your behavior 1 And it is well if you have not raock
ed them b(;hind their backs; and like the cursed Ham and Canaan, derided
your parents' nakedness instead of covering il, and hiding your eyes from it
Have not some of you often disobeyed your parents, yea, and refused to be sub
ject to them '? It is a wonder of raercy and forbearance, that that has not be
fore now been acijomplished on you, Prov. xxxi. 17, " The eye that raockelh
at his father, and refuselh to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall
pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it."
What revenge and malice have you been guilty of towards your neighbors !
How have you indulged this spirit of the devil, haling others, and wishing evil
to them, rejoicing wher„ evil befel thera, and grieving at others' prosperity, and
lived in such a way foi a long time ! Have not .some of you allowed a pas
sionate, furious spirit, and behaved yourselves in anger, more like v;ild beasts
than like Christians ?
What covetousness has been in many a' yow! Such has lieen your inordi
nate love ofthe world, and caie about the thing? of it, (hat it bas ta'ken up your
heart; you have minded the v/crld more than ycmr eternal sah-ation. For the
canities of Ihe worid you have neglected readinf;, praying and meditation : for
the things ofthe world, you have broken the Sabbath : for the world -you have
Vol. IV. 30
234 JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE
spent a great deai of your time in quarrelling: for the world you have enviea
and haled your neighbor : for the world you 1 ave cast God, and Christ, and
heaven, behind your back : for the worid you have sold your own soul : you
have, as it were, drowned your soul in worltily i ares and desires : you have been
a mere earthworm, that is never in its element but when grovelhng and buried
in the earth.
How much of a spirit of pride has appeared in you, which is in a peoifliar
manner the spirit and condemnation of the devil ! How have some of you
vaunted yourselves in your apparel ! Others in their riches ! Others in their
knowledge and abilities ! How has it galled you to see others above you !
How mucl> has it gone against the grain fbr you lo give others their due honor !
And how have you shown your pride by setting up your wills, and in opposing
others, and stirring up and proraoting division, and a party .spirit in public affairs !
How sensual have you been ! Are there not sorae here that have debased
theraselves below the dignity of human nature, by wallowing in sensual
filthiness, as swine in the raire", or as filthy verrain feeding with delight on rot
ten carrion ? What interaperance have sorae of you been guilty of ! How
much of your precious time have you spent at the tavern, and in drinking com
panies, when you ought to have been at home seeking God and your salvation
in your families and closets !
And what abominable lasciviousness have some of you been guilty of!
How have you indulged yourself from day lo day, and from night to night, in
all raanner of unclean iraaginations ! Has not your soul been filled with them,
till it has become a hold of foul spirits, and a cage of every unclean and hate
ful bird 1 What foul-mouthed persons have some of you been, often in lewd
and lascivious lalk and unclean songs, wherein were things not fit to be spoken 1
And such company, where such conversation has been carried on, has been
your delight. And what unclean acts and practices have you defiled yourself
with ! God and your consciences know what abominable lasciviousness you
have practised in things not fit to be naraed, when you have been alone ; when
you ought to have been reading or meditating, or on your knees before God in
secret prayer. And how have you corrupted others, as well as polluted your
selves ! Whal vile uncleanness have you practised in company ! What abora
inations have you been guilty of in the dark ! Such as the apostle doubtless
had respect to in Eph. v. 12, " For it is a shame even to speak of those
things that are done of them in secret." Some of you have corrupted others,
and done what in you lay to undo thet*- souls (if you have not actually done
it) ; and by your vile practices and exaraples have made room for Satan, and
invited his presence, and established his interest, in the town where you have
lived. What lying have some of you been guilty of, especially in childhood ! And
have not your heart and lips often disagreeil since you carae to riper years 1
What fraud, and deceit, and unfaithfulness, have many of you practised in your
dealings wilh your neighbors that your own hej.rt is conscious to, if you have
not been noted for it by others !
And how have sorae of you behaved yourselves in your family relations!
How have you neglected your children's souls ! And not only so, but huve
corrupted their minds by your bad examples; and instead of training Ihera up
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, have rather brought them up in the
devil's service !
How have sorae of you attended that sacred ordinance of the Lord's sup
per without any raanner of serious preparation, and in a careless, slighty frame
DAMNATION OF SINNERS 23fi
Ol spmt, and chiefly to comply with custom ! Have you not ve itured to put iht
sacred symbols ofthe body and blood of Christ inlo your raoith, while ac tht
same time you lived in ways of known sins, and intended no cth^r than still to
go on in the same; wicked practices ? And, it raay be, have sat at the Lord's
table with rancor in your heart against sorae of your brethren you have sat
there with. You have come even to that holy feast of love among God's chil
dren, \yith the leaven of mahce and envy in your heart ; and so have eat ana
drank judgment to yourself
W'hat stupidity and sottishness has attended your course of wickedness;
which has. appeared in your obstinacy under awakening dispensations of God's
word and providence ! And how have some of you backslidden after you have
set out in religion, and quenched God'te Spirh after he had been striving with
you! Arid what unsteadiness, and slothfulness, and great mifsimprovment of
God's strivings with you, have you been chargeable with, that have long
been subjects of them !
Now, can you think when you have thus behaved yourself, that God is
obliged to show you mercy ? Are you not, after all this, ashamed to talk of
its being hard wilh God lo cast you off? Does it become one that has lived
such a life, lo open his moutb to excuse hiraself, or object against God's justice
in his conderanation, or to complain of it as hard in God not to give hira convert-
uig and pardoning grace, and raake him his child, and bestow on him eternal
hfe ! Or to talk of his duties and great pains in religion, and such like things,
as if such performances were worthy to be accepted, and to'draw God's heart to
such a creature ! If this has been your manner, does il not show how little you .
have considered yourself, and how little a sense you have had of your own sin
fulness ?
Secondly, Be directed to consider, if God should eternally reject and destroy
you, what an agreeableness and exact mutual answerableness there would be
bet'.veen God's so dealing with you, and your spirit and behavior. There
would not only be an equality, but a similitude. God declares, that his dealings
with men shall be suitable lo their disposition and practice. Psalm xviii. 25, 26,
" W^ilh the merciful thou wilt show thyself raerciful ; with an upright man, thou
wilt show thyself upright ; wilh the pure, thou wilt wilt show thyself pure ; and
with the froward, thou wilt show thyself froward." How much soever you dread
damnation, and are aflfrighted and concerned at the Ihoughts of it ; yet if God
should indeed eternally daran you, you would but be raet with in your own way;
you would be dealt wilh exactly according lo your own dealing : God would but
measure to you in the same measure in which you mete. Surely it is but fair
that you should be made to buy in the sarae measure in which you sell.
Here 1 would- particularly show, 1. That if God should eternally destroy you,
it would be afrreeable to your treatraent of God. 2. That it would be agreeable
to your treatment of Jesus Christ 3. That it would be agreeable to your be
havior towards your neighbors. 4. That it would be according to your own
foolish behavior towards yourself
I. If God should forever cast you oflf, it would be exactly agreeable to your
treat-n ent of him. That you raay be sensible of this, consider,
1. You never have exercised the least degree of love to God; and there
fore it would be agreeable to your treatraent of him ifhe s^-jould nefer express
any love to you. When God converts and saves a sinner, il is a wr nderiui and
unspeakable manifestation of divine love. When a poor lost soul is broughi
bome to ChrLst, and has all his sins forgiven him, and is made a child of God,
it will take up a whole eternity to express and declare the greatness of that loAe
236 JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE
And why should God be obliged to express such wonderful love t6 you, wno
never exercised the least degree of love to him in all your life ? You never
have loved God, who is infinitely glorious and lovely ; and why then is God
under obligation to love you, who are all over deformed and loathsome as a
filthy worm, or rather a hateful viper ? You have no benevolence in your heart
towards God ; you never rejoiced in God's happiness ; if he had been miserable,
and that had been possible, you would have liked it as well as if he were hap
py ; you would not have cared how miserable he was, nor mourned for it, any
more than you now do for the devil's being miserable : and why then should
God be looked upon as obliged to take so much care for your happiness, as to
do such great things for it, as he doth for tbose that are saved ? Or why should
God be called hard, in case he should not be careful to save you from misery 1
You care not what becomes of God's glory ; you are not distressed how mucI
soever his honor seems to suffer in the world : and why should God care any
more for your welfare 1 Has it not been so, that if you could but promote your
private interest, and gratify your own lusts, you cared not how much the glory
of God suffered ? And why may not God advance his own glory in the ruin
of your welfare, not caring how rauch your interest suffers by it 1 You never
so rauch as stirred one step, sincerely making the glory of God your end, or
acting from real respect to him : and why then is it hard if God do not such
great things for you, as the changing your nature, raising you from spiritual
death to life, conquering the powers of darkness for you, translating you out of
the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son, delivering you from
eternal misery, and bestowing eternal glory upon you ? You do not use to be
willing to deny yourself for God ; you never cared lo put yourself out of your
way for Christ : whenever any thing cross or diflficult carae in your way, that
the glory of God was concerned in, it has been your manner to shun it, and ex
cuse yourself frora it : you did not care to hurt yourself for Christ, that you did
not see worthy of it : and why then must it be looked upon as such a ha/d and
cruel thing, if Christ has not been pleased to spill his blood and be tormented
to death for such a sinner ?
2. You have slighted and raade light of God ; and why then raay not God
justly slight you ? When sinners are sensible in sorae raeasure of their misery,
they are ready to think it hard that God will not take more notice of them ; that
he will see thera in such a laraentable distressed condition, beholding their bur-
dens and tears, and seem to shght it, and raanifest no pity to them. Their souls
they think are precious: it would be a dreadful thing if they should perish, and
burn in hell forever. They do not see through it, that God should raake so
hght oftheir salvation. But then, ought they not lo consider, that as theh souls
are precious, so is God's honor precious ? The honor of the infinite God, the
great King of heaven and earih, is a thing of as great importance (and surely
may justly be so esteemed by God), as the happiness of you, a poor little worra.
But yet you have slighted that honor of God, and valued 'it no more than the dirt
under your feet You have been told that such and such things were contrary
to the will of a holy God, and against his honor ; but you cared not for that
God called upon you, and exhorted you to be more tender of his honor; but you
went on without regarding him. Thus have you slighted God ! And yet, is
It hard that God should shght you ? Are you more honorable than God, that
he miist be obhged to make much of you, how hght soever you make of hira
and his glory ?
And you have not only slighted God in tirae past, but you shght hira still.
You mdeed nc w make a nretence and show of honoring him in your prayers, and
DAMNATION OF SINNERS. 237
attendance on .ither external duties, and by a sober countenance, and seeming
uevoutness in your words and behavior ; but it is all mere dissembling. That
downcast look and seeming reverence, is not frora any honor you have to God
in your heart, though you would have it go so, and would have God take it so.
You that have not believed in Christ, have not the least jot of honor to God ;
that show of it is merely forced and what you are driven toby fear, like those
mentioned in Psalm Ixvi. 3, " Through Ihe greatness of thy power shall thine
eneraies submit themselves to thee." In the original it is, " shall lie unto thee ;''
that is, yield feigned submission, and dissemble respect and honor to thee.
There is a rod held over you that makes you seem to pay such respect to God.
This religion and devotion, even the very appearance ofii, would soon be gone,
and all vanish away, if that were reraoved. Soraetiraes it may be you weep in
your prayers, and in your hearing sermons, and hope God will take notice of it,
and take it for some honor ; but he sees il to be all hypocrisy. You weep for
yourself ; you are afraid of hell ; and do you think that that is worthy that God
should take much notice of you, because you can cry when you are in danger
of being daraned; when at the sarae time you indeed care nothing for God'-s
honor 1
Seeing you thus disregard so great a God, is it a heinous thing for God to
shght you, a little wretched, despicable creatur-e ; a worm, a mere nolhing, and
less than nothing ; a vile insect, that has risen up in contempt against the Ma-
jesty of heaven and earth 1
3. Why should God be looked upon as obliged to bestow salvation on you,
when you have been so ungrateful for the mercies he has bestovted upon you
already ? God has tried you with a great deal of kindness, and he never has
sincerely been thanked by you for any of it. God has watched over you and
preserved you, and provided for you, and followed you with raercy all your
days ; and yet you have continued sinning against him. He has given you food
and rairaent, but you have improved bolh in the service of sin. He has pre
served you wjjile you slept ; but when you arose, it was to return to the old trade
of sinning. God, notwithstanding this ingratitude, has still continued his mer
cy ; but his kindness has never won your heart, or brought you lo a more grate
ful behavior towards hira. It may be you have received raany reraarkable
mercies, recoveries flora sickness, or preservations of your life, when at one lime
and another exposed by accidents, when, if you had died, you would have gone
directly to hell : but you never had any true thankfulness for any of Ihese mer
cies. God has kept you out of hell, and continued your day of grace, and the
offei-s of salvation, this so long a lime ; and that, it may be, while you did not
regard your own salvation so much as to go in secret and ask God for it : and
now God has greatly added to his mercy to you, by giving you the strivings of
nis Spirit, whereby you have a raost precious opportunity for your salvation in
your hands. But what thanks has God received for it ? What kind of returns
have you made for all this kindness ? As God has multiplied mercies, so have
yon raultiplied provocations.
And yet now are you ready to quarrel for mercy, and to find fault whh God,
not only that he does not bestow more raercy, but to contend with hira, because
he does not bestow infinite mercy upon you, heaven with all it contains, and
even himself, for your eternal portion. What ideas have you of yourself, that
you think God is obliged to do so much for you, though you treat him so un
gratefully for his kindness that you have been followed with all the days oi
your life ?
4. You have voluntarily chosen to be with Satan in his enmity and oppo-
238 JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE
sition to God ; how justly therefore might you be with him in his punishment
You did not choose lo be on God's side, but rather chose to side with the
devil, and have obstinately continued iz it, against God's often repeated caiis
and counsels. You have chosen rather to hearken to Satan than to God. and
would be with him in his work : you have given yourself up to him, to be sub-,
ject to his power and government, in opposition to God. How justly therefore-
raay God also give you up to hira, and leave you in his power, to accomplish
your ruin! Seeing you have yielded yourself to his will, to do as he would
have you, surely God may leave you in his hands to execute his will upon you.
If men will be with God's enemy, and on his side, why is God obliged to re
deem them out of his hands, when they have done his work 1 Doubtless you
would be glad to serve the devil, and be God's eneray while you live, and then •
to have God your friend, and lo deliver you from the devil, when you come to
die. But will God be unjust if he deals otherwise by you 1 No surely ! It will
be altogether and perfectly just, that you should have your portion with him
with whom you have chosen your work ; and that you should be in his posses--,
sion to whose dorainion you have yielded yourself; and if you cry lo God foi
deliverance, he may raost justly give you that answer. Judges x. 14, " Go lothe'
gods which ye have chosen."
5. Consider how often you have refused to hear God's calls to you, and
how just it would therefore be, if he should refuse to hear you when you calf
upon hira. You are ready, il raay be, lo complain that you have often prayed,
and earnestly begged of God to show you mercy, and yet have no answer of
prayer : one says, I have been constant in prayer for so many years, and God
has not heard rae. Another says, I have done what I can; I have prayed an
earnestly as I am able ; I do not see how I can do raore ; and it will seem bird
if after all I am denied. But do you consider how often God has called, s nd
vou have denied hira ? God has cafled earnestly and for a long time ; he has
called, and called again in his word, and in bis providence, and you have re
fused. You was not unea.sy for fear you should not show regard enough to his
calls. You let him call as loud, and as long as he would; for your part, you.
had no leisure to attend to what he said ; you had other business to mmd ; you
had these and those lusts to gratify and please, and worldly lusts to attend; you
could not aflford to stand considering of what God had to say to you. When the
rainisters of Christ that he sent on that errand, have stood and pleaded with
you, in his narae. Sabbath after Sabbath, and have even spent their strength in
It, how little was you moved by it ! Il did not alter you, but you went on still
as you usetl to do ; when you went away, you returned again to your sins, to
your lasciviousness, to your vain mirth, to your covetousness, to your intemper
ance, and that has been the language of your heart and practice, Exod. v. 2,
" Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice ?" Was it no crirae for you
to refuse to hear when God called ? And yet is it now very hard that God.
does not hear your earnest calls, and that though your calling on God be not'
from any respect to him, but merely from self-love 1 The devil would beg as
earnestly as you, if he had any hope to get salvation by it, and a thousand times
as earnestly and yet be as rauch of a devil as he is now. Are your cialls more
worthy to be heard than God's 1 Or is God more obliged to regard what you!
say lo him, than you to regard his coramands, counsels and invitations to you?
What can have more justice in it than that in Prov. i. 24, &c., " Because Ihave
called, and ye have refused, I stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your feai cometh ; when
DAMNATION OF SINNERS. 039
your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whiriwind :
when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me,
. but I will not answer ; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me."
6. Have you not taken encouragement to sin against God, on that very pre-
suraption, that God would show you mercy when you sought it ? And raay
not God justly refuse you that mercy that you have so presumed upon ? That
has been what you have flattered yourself with, and that which has made you
bold to drsobey God, viz., that though you did so, yet God would show you
mercy when you cried earnestly to him for it How righteous therefore would it
be in God to disappoint such a wicked presumption ! It was upon that veiv
hope that you dared to afl'ront the Majesty of heaven so dreadfully as you have
done; and can you now be so sottish as lo think that God is obliged not to
frustrate that hope ?
When a sinner takes encouragement to neglect that secret prayer that God
has coraraanded, and lo gratify his lusts, and to live a carnal and vain life, and
thwart God, and run upon him, and contemn hira lo his face, thinking 'with
himself, " If I do so, God would not damn me ; he is a merciful God, and there
fore when I seek his mercy he will bestow it upon me ;" must God be accounted
hard because he will not do according to such a sinner's presumption ? Cannot
he be excused from showing such a sinner mercy when he is pleased to seek it
without incurring the charge of being unjust ? If this be the case, God has no'
liberty to vindicate his own honor and majesty ; but must lay himself open to
all raanner of affronts, and yield himself up to the abuses of vile raen, and let
them disobey, despise and dishonor him, as much as they will ; and when they
have done, his mercy and pardoning grace must not be in his own power and
¦^t his own disposal, but he must be obhged to dispense it at their call : he must
take these bold and vile contemners of his majesty, when it suits them to ask
it, and must forgive all their sins, and not only so, but must adopt them into
his faraily, and raakt thera his children, and bestow eternal glory upon thera.
What mean, low and strange thoughts have such men of God, as think thus of
him? Consider that you have injured God the more, and have been the worse
eneray to hira, for his being a raerciful God. So have you treated that attribute
of God's raercy ! How just is it iherefore that you never should have any
benefit of that attribute !
There is something peculiarly heinous in sinning against the mercy of God
tuore than other attributes. There is such base and horrid ino-ratitude, in being
the worse to God, because he is a being of infinite goodness and grace, that
it above all things renders wickedness vile and detestable. This ought lo win
us, and engage us to serve God belter; but instead of that, to sin againsi hira
the more, has soraething inexpressibly bad in il, and does in a peculiar raanner
enhance guilt, and incense wrath, as seems to be intimated in Rom. ii 4 5 :
"Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and for'oearance, and long-suffer
ing ; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance ? Bur
aftei thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unlo thyself wralh against
the day of wrath, and revelation of the righleous judgment of God."
The greater the mercy of God is, the more should you be engaged to love
him, and live to his glory. But it has been contrariwise wilh vou ; the con
sideration of the mercies of God being so exceeding great, is the thing where
with you have encouraged yourself in sin. You have heard that the mercy of
God was without bounds, that' it was suflficient lo pardon the greatest sinner, and
you have upon that very account ventured to be a \eiy great sinner Though it
240 JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE
was very offensive to God, though you heard that God infinitely hated sin, and
that such practices as you went on in were exceeding,cont-rary to his nature,
will and glory, yet they did not make you uneasy ; yoii heard that he was a
very raerciful God, and had grace enough to pardon you, and so cared not how
offensive your sins were to him. How long have some of you gone on in sin,
and what great sins have some of you been guilty of, on that presumption!
Your own conscience can give testimony to it, that this has made you refuse
God's calls, and has made you regardless of his repeated commam's. Now
how righteous would it be if God should swear in his wrath, that yjj should
never be the better for his being infinitely raerciful !
Your ingratitude has been the greater, that you have not only abused the
attribute of God's raercy, taking encourageraenl f'rora it to continue in sin, but
you have thus abused this raercy, under that very notion of its being exeicised
towards you, in a supposition that God would exercise infinite mercy to you in
particular ; whicb consideration should have especially endeared God to you.
You have taken encouragement to sin the more, from that consideration, that
Christ came into the world and died to save sinners. What thanks has Christ
had from you, for enduring such a tormenting death for his eneraies 1 Now,
how justly might it be so, that God should refuse that you should ever be the
better for his Son's laying down his life ! It was because of these things that
you put off' seeking salvation ; you would take. the pleasure of sin still longer,
hardening yourself with that, that raercy was infinite, and it would not be too
late if you sought it afterwards. Now, how justly may God disappoint you in
this, and order it so that it shall be too late !
7. How have sorae of you risen up against God, and in the frarae ol you-
minds opposed hira in his sovereign dispensations ! And how justly upon that
account raight God oppose you, and set himself against you ! You never yet
would subrait to God ; never could willingly comply with it, that God should
have dominion over the world, and that he should govern it for his own glory,
according to his own wisdom. You, a poor worm, a potsherd, a broken piece
of an earthen vessel, have dared to find fault and quarrel with God. Isa. xiv.
9 " Wo lo hira that strives with his Maker. Let the potsherd strive with the
potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What
makest thou V But yet you have ventured to do it. Rora. ix. 20, " Who
art thou, 0 man, that repliest againsi God ?" But yet you have thought you
was big enough ; you have taken upon you to call God to an account, why he
does thus and thus ; you have said to Jehovah, What dost thou ?
If you have been restrained by fear from openly venting your opposition
and enraity of heart against God's government, yet it has been in you : you
have not been quiet in tbe frame of your mind ; you had the heart of a viper
within, and have been ready to spit venora at God ; and it is well if sometimes
you have not actually done it, by tolerating blasphemous thoughts and mahg
nant risings of heart against him ; yea, and the frame of your heart in some
measure apjieared in an impatient and fretful behavior.
Now, seeing you have thus opposed God, how just is it that God shonld
oppose you ! Or is it because you are so much better, and so much greater
than God, that it is a crime for God to make that opposition against you that
you do against hira ?* Do you think you ought to appropriate" the liberty of
making opposition to yourself as b'.ing your prerogative, so that you may be an
• The reader will not understand from thi.'! m-,mner of speaking, that Mr. Edwards would be under
stood to say, that God has at any time, or in anj^ view, the same moral f3elings towards the sinner, that
•ha unner has lo« ards hull. ° '
DAMNATION OF SINNERS &4i
»nemy to God, but God raust by no means be an enemy to you, but must be
'ooked upon under obligation nevertheless to help you, and save you by his
blood, and bestow his best blessings upon you ?
Consider how in the frame of your mind you have thwarted God in those
very exercises of mercy towards others tliat you are seeking for yourself God's
exercising his infinite grace towards your neighbors, has put you into an ill
frame, and it may be, set you into a mere tumult of mind : how justly therefore
may God refuse ever to exercise that mercy towards you ! Have you not thus
opposed God's showing mercy to others, even at the very tirae when you pre
tended to be earnest with God for pity and help for yourself ? Yea, and while«
you was endeavoring to get something wherewith to recommend yourself to
God ! And will you look to God still with a challenge of mercy, and contend
with hira for it notwithstanding"? Can you, who have such a heart, and have
thus behaved yourself, come to God for any other than mere sovereign mercy ?
II. If you should be forever cast off by God, it would be agreeable to your
treatment of Jesus Christ It would have been just with God ifhe had cast
you off forever, without ever making you the offer of a Saviour. But God hath
not done that, but has provided a Saviour for sinners, and oflfered him to you,
even his own Son Jesus Christ, who is the only Saviour of men : all that be
not forever cast off are saved by him ; Gou offers men salvation through him,
and has promised us, that if we come to hira, we shall not be cast off. But
you have treated, and still treat this Saviour after such a manner, that if you
should be eternally cast oflf by God, it would be most agreeable to your behavior
towards him ; which appears by this, viz.
That you reject Christ, and will not have him for your Saviour.
If God offers you a Saviour from deserved punishment, ^nd you will not re
ceive hira, then surely it is just that you should go without a Saviour. Or is
God obliged, because you do not like this Saviour, to provide you another 1
If, when he has given an infinitely honorable and glorious person, even his only
begotten Son, to be a sacrifice for sin, in the fire of his wrath, and so provided
salvation, anil this Saviour is oflfered to you, you be not suited in him, and re
fuse to accept him, is God therefore unjust if he does not save you ? Is he
obliged to save you in a way of your own choosing, because you do not like
the way of his choosing 1 Or will you charge Christ with injustice because he
does not become youV Saviour, Avhen at the same tirae you will not have him
when he oflfers himself to you, and beseeches you to accept of him as a Saviour?
I am sensible that by this time many persons are ready to open their mouths
in objection against this. If all should speak what they now think, we should
hear muimuring all over the meeting-house, and one and another would say, " I
cannot see how this can be, that I be not willing that Christ should be my
Saviour, when I would give all the worid that he was my Saviour. How is it
possible thai I should not be willing to have Christ for my Saviour, when this
is what I am seleking after, and praying for, and strivuig for, as for my life V
Here therefore 1 would endeavor to convince you, that you are under a gross
mistake in this matter. And, 1st, I would endeavor to show the weakness of
the grounds of your mistake. And 2dly, to demonstrate to you, that you have
rejected, and do wilfully reject Jesus Christ.
1. That you may see the weakness of the grounds of your mistake, consider,
1st There is a great deal of diflference between a willingness not to be
daraned, and a being willing to receive Christ for your Saviour. You have the
former; there is no doubt to be made of that : nobody supposes that yDU love
misery so well as to choose an eternity of it ; and so doubtless you are willing
Vol IV 31
242 JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE
to be saved from eternal misery. But that is a very diflferent thing from being
willing to come to Christ : persons very commonly mistake the one for the
other, but they are quite two things. You may love the deliverance, but hate
the deliverer. You tell of a willingness ; but consider what is the object of
that willingness : it does not respect Christ ; the way of salvation by him is not
at all the object of it ; but it is wholly terminated on your escape from misery.
The inclination of your will goes no further than self, it ne-ver reaches Christ.
You are willing not to be miserable ; tha* is, you love yourself, and there your
will and choice terminate. And it is but a vain pretence and delusion to say
•cr think, that you are wilhng to accept of Christ.
2d. There is certainly a great deal of difference between a forced compli
ance and a free willingness. Force and freedom cannot consist together.
Now that willingness that you tell of, whereby you think you are willing to
have Christ for a Saviour, is merely a forced thing. Your heart does not
go out after Christ, of itself, but you are forced and driven to seek an in
terest in him. Christ has no share at all in your heart ; there is no manner of
closing ofthe heart wilh him. This forced corapliance is not what Christ seeks
of you ; he seeks a free and willing acceptance : Psalra ex. 3, " Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power." He seeks not that you should re
ceive hira against your will, but with a free will. He seeks entertainment in
your heart and choice. — And,
If you refuse thus to receive Christ, how just is it that Christ should refuse
to receive you ! How reasonable are Christ's terms, who offers to save all thaso
that willingly, or with a good will, accept of him for their Saviour ! Who can
rationally expect that Christ should force himself upon any man to be his Sav
iour ? Or what can be looked for more reasonable, than that all that would be
saved by Christ, should heartily and freely entertain him ? And surely it would
be very dishonorable for Christ to offer himself upon lower terms.
But I would now proceed,
2. To show that it is really so, that you are not willing to have Christ for
a Saviour. To convince you of it, consider,
1st. How irapossible it is that you should be willing to accept of Christ as a
Saviour from the desert ofa punishment that you are not sensible you have desen'ed.
If you are truly willing to accept of Christ as-« Saviour, it must be as a sacrifice to
make atoneraent for your guilt : Christ carae into the world on this errand, to offer
hiraself as an atoneraent, to answer for our desert of punishment But how is
it possible that you should be willing to accept of Christ as an atonement for
that guilt that you be not sensible tbat you have 1 How can you be willing to
have Christ for a Saviour from a desert of hell if you be not sensible that you
have a desert of hell 1 If you have not really deserved everlasting burnings
in hell, then the very oflfer of an atonement for such a desert is an imposition
upon you. If you have no such guilt upon you, then the very offer of a satisfac
tion for that guilt is an injury, because it implies in it a charge of guilt that you
are free from. Now, therefore, it is impossible that a man that is not convinced
nf his guilt can be wilhng to accept of an oflfer; because he cannot be willing
to accept the charge that the offer implies : that he looks upon as injurious. A
man that is not convinced that he has deserved so dreadful a punishment, can
not willingly submit to be charged with it ; if he think he is willing, it is but a
mere forced, feigrfed business ; because in his heart he looks upon hunself great
ly injurecl ; and therefore he cannot freely accept of Christ, under that notion
of a Saviour from that guilt, and from the desert of such a punishment; for such
an acceptance is an implicit owning that he does deserve such a punishmeiil
DAMNATION OF SINNERS. 243
I do not say, but that men may be willing to be saved from an undeserved
punishment ; they raay rather not suffer it than suffer it : but a man cannot be
willing to accept one at God's hands, under the notion of a Saviour from a
punishment deserved from him that he thinks he has not deserved ; it is irapos
sible that any one should freely allow a Saviour under that notion. Such a
one cannot like the way of salvation by Christ ; for if he thinks he has not
deserved hell, then he will think that freedom from hell is a debt; and therefore
cannot willingly and heartily receive it as a free gift If a king shoi;ld condemn
a man to sorae exceeding tormenting death, which the condemned pei-son
ihought himself not deserving of, but looked upon the sentence unjust and cruel,
dnd the king, when the time of execution drew nigh, should offer him his par
don, under the notion of a very great act of grace and clemency, the condemn
ed person never could willingly and heartily allow it under that notion, because
he judged himself unjustly condemned.
Now by this it is evident that you are not willing to accept of Christ as your
Saviour ; because you never yet had such a sense of your own sinfulness, and
such a conviction of your great guilt in God's sight, as to be indeed convinced
that you lay justly conderaned to the punishraent of hell. You never w as convinced
that you had forfeited all favor, and was in God's hands, and at his sovereign
and arbitrary disposal, to be either destroyed or saved, just as he pleased. You
never yet was convinced of the sovereignty of God. Hence are there so many
objections arising against the justice of your punishment from original sin, and
from God's decrees, frora mercy shown to others, and the like.
2d. That you be not sincerely willing to accept of Christ as your Saviour,
appears by this, that you never have been convinced that he is sufficient for the
work of your salvation. You never had a sight or sense of any such excellency
or worthiness in Christ, as should give such great value to his blood and his
mediation with God, as that it was suflficiest to be accepted for such exceeding
guilty creatures, and those that have so provoked God, and exposed themselves
to such araazing wrath. A saying it is so, and a customary yielding and
allowing it to be as others say, is a very different thing from being really con
vinced of it, and a being made sensible of it in your own heart The sufficiency
of Christ depends upon, or rather consists in his excellency. It is because he is
so excellent a person that his blood is of sufficient value to atone for sin, and it
IS hence that his obedience is so worthy in God's sight ; it is also hence that his
intercession is so prevalent ; and therefore those that never had any spiritual
sight or sense of Christ's excellency, cannot be sensible of his sufficiency.
And that sinners be not convinced that Christ is sufficient for the work he
has undertaken, appears most manifestly when they are under great convic
tions of their sin, and danger of God's wrath. Though it may be before they
thought they, could allow Christ to be sufficient (for it is. easy to allow any one
to be sufficient for our defence at a time when we see no danger), yet when
they' come to be sensible of their guilt and God's wrath, what discouraging
thoughts do they entertain ! How are tbey ready to draw towards despair, as
f there were no hope or help for such wicked creatures as they- ! The reason
IS, they have no apprehension or sense of any other way that God's majesty can
be vindicated, but only in their misery. To tell them of the blood of Christ
signifies nothing, it does not relieve their sinking, despairing hearts. This raakes
it most e^ idenl that they are not convinced that Christ is sufficient to be their
Mediator. And as long as they are unconvinced of this, it is impossible that they should
be wilhng to accept of him as their Mediator and Saviour. A raan in distress-
244 JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE
ing fedr will not willingly betake himself to a fort that he judges not sufhcient
to defend him from the enemy. A man will not willingly venture out into the
ocean in a ship that he suspects is leaky, and will sink before he gets through
his voyage. 3d. It is evident that you are not, willing to have ChrLst for your Sa-viour,
because you have so mean an opinion of him, that you durst not trust his faith-
fulne^. One that undertakes to be the Saviour of souls had need be faithful;
for if he fails in such a trust, how great is the loss I But you are not convinced
pf Christ's faithfulness ; as is evident, because at su^h times as when you are
in a considerable measure sensible of your guilt and God's anger, you cannot
be convinced that Christ is willing to accept of you, or that he stands ready to
receive you if you should come to, hira, though Christ so much invites you to
ooine to him, and lias so, fiflly declared that he will not reject you, if you (So
corae ; as particularly, John vi. 37, " Him that cometh to me, I will in no wite
cast out" Now, there is no. man can be . heartily willing to trust his eternal
welfare in, the hands, of an unfaithful person,, or one whose faithfulness ho.
suspects. , 4th, You are not willing. to be saved in that way by, Christ, as is evident,
because you are not willing that your own goodness should be set at nought'
In the way of salvation by Christ, men's own goodness is wholly set at nought;;
there is no account at all made of it. Now you cannot be wilhng to be saved
in a way wherein your own goodness is set atnought, as is e-vident by that, that
you make much of if yourself You make much of your prayers and pains iiii
religion, and are often thinking of them ; how considerable do they appear to
you, when you look back upon them ! , And how much are some of you in think
ing how much more you have done than some others, and in expecting some
respect or regard that God, should manifest to what you do! Now, if you
make so much of what you do yourself, it is impossible that you should be ffee-
ly Ayilling that God, should make nothing of it. As we may see in other things ;
if a man is proud of a great estate, or if he values himself much upon his hon
orable office, or his great abilities, it is impossible that he should like it, and:
heartily approve of it, that others should make light of these things and despise
them. Seeing, therefore that, it ;s so evident that you refuse to accept of Christ as
your Saviour, why is Christ vo be blamed that he does not save you 1 Christ
has oflfered hinaself to yoti to be your Saviour in time past, and he continues of-i
fering himself still,, and you continue to reject him, and yet complain that he
does not save yQu> — ;So strangely unreasonable, and inconsistent with them •
selves,, are gospel sinners !
But I .expect that there are many of you that in your, hearts still object ;i
your mouthg be, not stopped.— Such an objection as this, is probably now in tho
hearts of raany here present.
Object. If it he so, that I am not willing to ha-ye? Christ for my Saviour, yet
I cannot make myself willing.
But I would give an answer to this objection by laying down two things,
that must be acknowledged to be exceeding evident.
1. It IS no excuse, that you cannot receive Christ of yourself, unless you
wouW if you could. This is so evident of itself, that it scarce needs any proof
Certainly if persons would not if they could, it is just the same thing as to thf
blame that lies upon them, whether they can or cannot If you were willing,
and then found that you could not, your beirg unable would alter the case, and
might be some excuse ; because then the defect would not be in youi -will, bul
DAMNATION OF SINNERS. 45
only in your abihty : but as long as you will not, it is no matter what the abi
lity is, whether you have ability or no ability.
If you be not willing to accept of Christ, it will follow that you have no
sincere willingness to be willing ; because the will always necessarily approves
ofj and rests in its own acts. To suppose the contrary would be to suppose a
oontradiction ; it would be to suppose that a man's will is contrary to itself,
or that he wills contrary to what he himseilf wills. So that as you are not
wilhng to come to Christ, and cannot make yourself willing, so you have nO
sincere desire to be willing ; and therefore may most justly perish Without a
Saviour. There is no excuse at all for }'ou ; for say what you will about your
inability, the seat of your blame lies in your perverse will, that is an eneray to
the Saviour. It is in vam for you to tell of your want of power, as long as
your wUl is found defective. If a man should hate you, and devour you, and
exalt himself and smite you in the face, and tell you that he did it voluntarily,
and because he had a mind to, but only should tell you at the same time, that
he hated you so much, that he could not help choosing and willing so to do,
would you take it the more patiently for that 1 Would not your indignati'^n
be rather stirred up the more 1
2. If you would be willing if you could, that is no excuse, unless your un
willingness to be wilhng be sincere. That which is hypocritical, and does not
come from the heart, but is merely forced, ought wholly to be set aside, as
worthy of no consideration ; and that because comraon sense leaches, that that
which is not hearty but hypocritical is indeed nothing, being only a show of
what is not ; but that which is good for nothing, ought to go for nothing.
But if you set aside all that is not free, and call nothing a willmgness, but a
free hearty -wilhngness, then see how the case standsj and whether or no you
have not lost all your excuse for standing out against the calls of the gospel.
You say you would make. yourself willing to accept if you could; but itis
not from any good principle that you are willing for Ihat; it is not from any
free inclinat'ion or true respect to Christ, or any love to your duty, or any spirit
of obedience, or frora the influence of any manner of real respect, or tendency
in your heart, towards any thing that is good, or from any otha* principle than
such as is in the hearts of devils, and would make them have the same sort of
willingness in the same circuinstances. It is therefore evident, that there can
be no goodness in „that woulding to be willing to come to Christ: and that
which has no goodness cannot be an excuse for any badness. If there be no
good in it, then it signifies nothing, and weighs nothing, when put into the
scales to counterbalance that which is bad.
Sinners therefore spend their time in foolish arguing and objecting, making
much of that which is good for nothing, making those excuses that be not
worth offeruig. It is in vain to'keep raaking objections ; you stand justly con
demned : the blarae lies all at your door : thrust it oflf frora you as often as you
will, it will return upon you : sew fig leaves as you will, your nakedness will
appear : you continue wilfully and wickedly rejecting Jesus Christ, and will not
have hira for your Saviour, and therefore it is sottish madnesS in you to charge
Christ wilh injustice that he does not save you.
Here is the sin of unbelief ! Thus the guilt of that great sin lies upon you ! Il
you never had thus treated a Saviour, yoa raight most justly have Been damned to
all eternity': it would but be exactly agreeable to your treatment of God. But
besides this, when God, notwithstanding, has oflfered you his own dear Son, to
save you from this endless misery you had deserved, and not only so, but to
make you happy eternally in the' enjoyment of himself, you refused him, and
84b JUSTICE) OF GOD IN THE
would not have him for your Saviour, and still refuse to coraply with the offers
of the gospel ; what can render any person raore inexcusable ? If you should
new perish forever, what can you have to say 1
Hereby the justice of God in your destruction appears in two respects.
1. It is more abundantly manifest that it is just that you should be destroyed
Justice never appears so conspicuous as it does afier refused and abused mercy
Justice in damnation appears abundantly the more clear and bright, after a wil
ful rejection of offered salvation. What can an oflfended prince do more thaa
freely offer pardon to a condemned malefactor 1 And if he refuses to accept
of it, will any one say that his execution is unjust 1
2. God's justice will appear in your greater destruction. Besides the guilt
that you would have had if a Saviour never had been offered, you brmg that
great additional guilt upon you, of most ungratefully refusing oflfered deliverance
What raore base and yile treatment of God can there be, than for you, wheii
justly condemned to eternal misery, and ready to be executed, and God gra
ciously sends his own Son, who comes and knocks at your door with a pardon
in his hand, and not only a pardon, but a deed of eternal glory ; I say, what
can be worse, than for you, out of dislike and enmity against God and his Son,
to refuse to accept those benefits al his hands 1 How justly raay the anger ol
God be greatly incensed and increased by it ! When a sinner thus ungratefully
rejects raercy, his last error is worse than the first ; this is more heinous than
all his former rebellion, and may justly bring down more fearful wrath upon
hira. The heinousness of this sin of rejecting a Saviour especially appears in two
things. 1. The greatness of the benefits offered ; which appears in the greatness of
the deliverance, which is frora inexpressible degrees of corruption and wicked
ness of heart and life, the least degree of which is infinitely evil ; and from
misery that is everlasting ; and in the greatness and glory of the inheritance
purchased and offered, Heb. ii. 3 : " How shall we escape, if we neglect so
great salvation V
2. The wonderfulness of the way in which these benefits are procured and
offered. That God should lay help on his own Son, when our case was so de
plorable that help could be had in no raere creature ; and that he should under
take for us, and should corae into the world, and take upon him our nature, and
should not only appear in a low state of life, but should dfe such a death, and
endure such torments and contempt for sinners while eneraies, how wonderful is
it! And what tongue or pen can set forth the greatness of the ingratitude,
baseness and perverseness that there is in it, when a perishing sinner that is in
the raost extreme necessity of salvation, rejects it, after it is procured in such a
-way as this ! That so glorious a person should be thus treated, and that when
he comes on so gracious an errand ! That he should stand so long offering
himself,, and calling, and inviting, as he has done to many of you, and all to no
purpose, bill all the while be set at nought ! Surely you might justly be cast
into bell without one more offer of a Saviour ! Yea, and thrust down into the
lowest hell ! Herein you have exceeded the very devils ; for they never reject
ed the offers of such glorious mercy ; no, nor of any mercy at all. This will
be the distinguishing conderanation of gospel sinners : John iii. 18, " He that
beheveth not, is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the nam*'
ofthe only begotten Son of God."
That outward smoothness of your carriage towards Christ, that appearance
of respect to him in your looks, your speeches and gestures, do not argue but
DAMNATION OF SINNERS. 247
that you set him at nought in your heart There may be much of thest out
ward shows of respect, and yet you be like Judas, that betrayed the Son of rnan
with a kiss ; and like those mockers that bowed the knee before him, and at the
same time spit in his face.
111. If God should forever cast you oflf and destroy you, it would be agree
able lo your treatment of others ; it would be no other than what would be
exactly answerable to your behavfor towards your fellow creatures, that have
the same human nature, and are naturally in the same circurastances wilh you,
and that you ought to love as yourself And that appears especially in two
things. 1. You have many of you been opposite in your spirit to the salvation of
others. There are several ways tbat natural men manifest a spirit of opposition
against the salvation of other souls. It soraetimes appears by a fear that their
companions, acquaintance, and equals, will obtain raercy, and so become un
speakably happier than they. It is soraetiraes raanifested by an uneasiness at the
news of others having hopefully obtained. It appears when persons envy others
for it, and dishke them the more, and disrelish their talk, and avoid their com
pany, and cannot bear to hear their religious discourse, and especially to receive
warnings and counsels from them. And it oftentimes appears by their back
wardness to entertain charitable thoughts of them, and their being difficultly
brought lo believe that it is really so, that they have obtained raercy, and a for
wardness to listen to any thing that seems to contradict it. The devil hated to
own Job's sinceiity. Job i. 7, &c., and chap. ii. verses 3, 4, 5. There appears
very often much of this spirit of the devil in natural men. Sometimes they
are ready to raake a ridicule of others' pretended godliness : they speak of the
ground of othei-s' hopes, as the eneraies of the Jews did of the wall that they
built: Neh. iv. 3, " Now Tobiah the Araraonite was by hira, and he said, That
which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall." There
are many that join wilb Sanballat and Tobiah, and are of the same spirit wilh
them. There always was, and always will be, an enmity between the seed
of the serpent and the seed of the woraan. It appeared in Cam, who hated
his brother, because he was more acceptable to God than himself; and it ap-
pearsstiU in these limes, and in this place. There are many that are like the elder
brother, who could not bear it that the prodigal, when he returned, should be
received with such joy and good entertainment, and was put into a fret by it
both against his brother that had returned, and his father that made him so
welcorae, Luke xv.
Thus have many of you been opposite to the salvation of others, that stand
m as great necessity of it as you. You have been against their being delivered
from everlasting misery, that can bear it no better than you ; not because their
salvation would do you any hurt, or their daranation help you, any otherwise
than' as it would gratify that vile spirit that is so much like the spirit of the
devil, who, because he is miserable himself, is unwilling tbat others should be
happy. How just therefore is it that God should be opposite to your salva
tion 1
If you have so little love or mercy in you as to begrudge your neighbor's
salvation, whom you have no cause to hate, but the law of God and nature re
quires you to love ; why is God bound to exercise such infinile love and mercy
to you, as to save you at the price of his own blood, that he is no way bound
to love, but that have deserved his hatred a thousand and a thousand tiraes '{
You are not willing that others should be converted, that have behaved them
selves injuriously towards you ; and yet, will you count it hard if God does not
248 JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE
be.stow converting grace upon you that have deserved ten thousand tiinej as iD
of God, as any of your neighbors have of you ? You are opposite to God's
showing mercy to these, and those that you think have been vicious persons,
and are very unworthy of such mercy. Is others' unworthiness a just reason why
God should not bestow raercy on them ? And yet will God be hard, if, not
withstanding all your unworthiness, and the abominableness of your spirit and
practice in his sight, he does not show you mercy ? You would h-ive God bestow
liberally on you, and upbraid not ; but yet, when he shows mercy to others, you
are ready to upbraid as soon as you hear of it ; you immediately are thinking
with yourself how ill they have behaved themselves ; and it may be your mouths
on this occasion are open, enumerating and aggravating the sins they have been
guilty of You would have God bury all your faults, and wholly blot out all
your transgressions ; but yet if he bestows mercy on others, it may be you will
take that occasion to rake up all their old faults that you can think of. You do
not much reflect on and condemn yourself for your baseness and unjust spirit
towards others, in your opposition to their salvation ; you do not quarrel with
yourself, and condemn yourself for this ; but yet you, to your heart, will quar
rel with God, and condemn him, and fret at his dispensations, because(you think
he seems opposite to showing mercy to you. One would think that the consid
eration of these things should forever stop your mouth.
2. Consider how you have promoted others' damnation. Many of you, by
the bad examples you have set, by corrupting the minds of others, by your sin
ful conversation, by leading them into sin, or strengthening them in sin, and by
the mischief that you have done in human society other ways, that might be
mentioned, have been guilty of those things that have tended to others' damna
tion. You have heretofore appeared on the side of sin and Satan^ and have be
haved yourself so as much to strengthen their interest, and have been many
M'ays accessory to others' sins, have hardened others' hearts, and thereby : have
done what has tended to the ruin of their souls.
And without doubt there are those here present that have been in a great
measure the means of others' damnation. Though it is true that it is determin
ed of God whom he' will save, and whom not, from all eternity, yet one raan
may really be a means of others' daranation as well as salvation. Christ charges
the Scribes and Pharisees with with this. Matt. xxiu. 13 : " Ye shut up the
kingdora of heaven against men ; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer
ye them that are entering, to go in." We have no reason to thmk that this
congregation has none in it that are cursed frora day to day by poor souls that
are roaring out in hell, whose damnation they have been a means of, or have
greatly contributed to.
There are many that contribute to their own children's damnation, by ner
glecting their education, and setting thera bad exaraples, and bringing them up
in sinful ways : they take sorae care of their bodies, but take but little care of.
their poor souls ; they provide for them bread to eat, but deny thera the bread
of life, that their faraishing souls stand in need of. And are there no such
parents here that have thus treated their children ? If their children be not
gone to hell, it is not because they have not done what has tended to their de
struction. Seeing therefore you have had no raore regard to others' salvation,
and have promoted their daranation, how justly raight God leave you to perish
yourself !
IV. If God should eternally cast you off, it would but be agreeable to yout
Dwn behavior towards yourself: and that in two re.spects :
1. In being so careless of your own salvation. You have refuseu to take
DAMNATION OF SINNERS. 24S
care for your salvation, as God has counselled and commanded you from time
tc time ; and why may not God neglect it, now you seek it of him 1 Is God
obhged to be more careful of your happiness, than you are, either of your own
happiness or his glory ? Is God bound to take that care for you, out of love to
you, that you will not take for yourself, either from love to yourself, or regard
to his authority "i How long, and how greatly, have you neglected the welfare
of your precious soul, refusing to take pains and deny yourself, or put yourself
a little out of your way for your salvation, while God has been calling upon
you ! Neither your duty to God, nor love to your own soul, were enough to
induce you to do little things for your own eternal welfare ; and yet do you
now expect that God should do great things, putting forth almighty power, and
exercising infinite mercy for it 1 You was urged to take care for your salva
tion, and not to put it oflf: you was told that that was the best tirae, before you
grew older, and that it might be, if you would put it off, God would not hear
you afterwards ; but yet you would not hearken ; you would run the venture of
it Now how justly might God order it so, that il should be too late, leaving
you to seek in vain ! You was told, that you would repent of it if you delay
ed ; but you would not hear : how justly therefore may God give you cause to
repent of it, by refusing to show you mercy now ! If God sees you going on
in ways contrary to his commands and. 'his glory, and requires you to forsake
thera, and tells you that they are ways that tend to the destruction of your own
soul, and therefore counsels you to avoid them, and you refuse ; how just would
it be if God should be provoked by it, henceforward to be as careless of the
good of your souls as you are yourself !
2. You have not only neglected your salvation, but you have wilfully taken
direct courses to undo yourself You have gone on in those ways and practices
that have directly tended to your damnation, and have been perverse and obsti
nate in it. You cannot plead ignorance ; you had all the light set before you
that you could desire : God told you that you was undoing yourself ; but yet
you would do it : he told you that the path you was going in led to destruction,
and counselled you to avoid it ; but you would, not hearken : how justly there
fore may God leave you to be undone ! You have obstinately persisted to
travel in the way that leads to hell for a long tirae, contrary to God's continual
rxmnsels and commands, till it may be at length you are almost to your journey's
end, and are come near to hell's gate, and so begin to be sensible of your dan
ger and raisery ; and now account it unjust and hard if God will riot deliver
you ! You have destroyed yourself, and destroyed yourself wilfully, contrary
to God's repeated counsels, yea» and destroyed yourself in fighting against God :
now therefore, why do you blarae any but yourself if you are clestroyed 1 If
you will undo yourself in opposing God, and while God opposes you by his
calls and counsels, and, it raay be too, by the convictions of his Spirit, what
can you object against it, if God now leaves you to be undone? You would
have your own way, and did not like that God should oppose you in it, and
your way was to ruin your own soul : how just therefore is it if now, at length,
God ceases to oppose you, and falls in with you, and lets your soul be ruined ;
and as you would destroy yourself, so should put to his hand to destroy you too !
The ways you went on in, had a natural tendency to your misery : if you would
drink poison in opposition to God, and in contempt of him and his advice,
whom can you blame but yourself if you are poisoned, and so perish ? If yot,
Would run into the fire against all restraints both of God's mercy and authority,
you must even blame yourself if you are burnt.
Thus I have pnposed some things to your consideration, which, if you are
Vol. IV 32
250 JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE
not exceeding blind, senseless, and perverse, will stop your mouth, and c;onimce
you that you stand justly condemned before God, and that he would in no wise
deal hardly with you, but altogether justly, in denying you any mercy, and in
refusing to hear your prayers, let you pray never so earnestly, and never so
often, and continue in it never so long ; and that God may utterly ilisregard
your tears and moans, your heavy heart, your earnest desires, and great endeav
ors ; and that he may cast you into eternal destruction, without any regard to
your welfare, denying you converting grace, and giving you over to Satan, and
at last cast you into the lake that burns wilh fire and brimstone, to be there to
eternity, having no rest day nor night, forever glorifying his justice upon you,
in the presence of the holy angels and the presence of the Lamb.
Object. But here many may slill object (for 1 am sensible it is a hard
thincr to stop sinners' mouths), " God shows mercy to others that have done
these things as wefl as I, yea, that have done a great deal worse than I."
Ans. 1. That does not prove that God is any way bound to show raercy to
you, or them either. If God does bestow it on others, he does not bestow it
on thera because he is bound to bestow it : he raight if he had pleased, wilh
glorious justice, have denied it thera. If God bestows it on sorae, that does not
prove that he is bound to bestow il on any ; and if he is bound to bestow it on
none, then he is not bound to bestow it on you. God is in debt to none ; and
if he gives to some that he is not in debt to, because it is his pleasure, that does
not bring hira into debt to others. It alters not the case as to you at all, whe
ther others have it or have it not : you do not deserve daranation the less, than
if raercy never had been bestowed on any at all. Matt. xx. 15, " Is thine eye
evil, because I ara good ?" '
2. If this objection be good, then the exercise of God's mercy is not in his
own right, and his grace is not his own to give. That which God raay not
dispose of as he pleases, is not his own; for that which is one's own, is at his
own disposal ; but if it be not God's own, then he is not capable of raaking a
gift or present of it to any one ; it is impossible to give a debt.
What is it that you would raake of God "? Must the great God be tied up
to that, that he raust not use his own pleasure in bestowing his own gifts, but if
he bestows thera on one, raust be looked upon obliged to bestow them on ano
ther ? Is not God worthy to have the sarae right, with respect to the gifts of
his grace, that a raan has to his raoney or goods 1 Is it because God is not so
great, and should be more in subjection than man, that this cannot be allowed
hira 1 If any of you see cause to show kindness to a neighbor, do all the rest
of your neighbors corae to you, and tell you, that you owe them so much as you
have given to such a man ? Bul this is the way that you deal with God, as
though God were not worthy to have as absolute a property in his goods, as
you have in yours.
At this rate God cannot make a present of any thing ; he has nothing of his
own to bestow : if he-has a mind lo show peculiar favor to some, or to lay sorae
particular persons under peculiar obligations to him, he cannot do it ; because
he has no special gift, that his creatures stand in great need of, and that would
tend greatly to their happiness, at his own disposal. If this be tbe case, why
do you pray to God to bestow saving grace upon you 1 If God does not fairly
deny it lo you, because he bestows it on others, then it is not worth your while
to pray for it, but you may go and tell him that he has bestowed it on these
and those, as bad or worse than you, and so demand it of hira as a debt And
at this rate persons never need to thank God for salvation, when it is bestowed;
fo< what occasion is there to thank God for that which was not at his own disposalj
DAMNATION OF SINNERS. 26]
and that he could not fairly have denied. The thing at bottom is, that men
have low thoughts of God, and high thoughts of themselves ; and therefore it is
that they look upon God as having so little right, and they so much. Matt xx
15, " Is it not lawful for me to do whal I will wilh raine own 1"
3. God may justly show greater respect to olheis than to you, for you have
shown greater respect to others than to God. You have shown greater respect
to men than to God. You have rather chosen to offend God than offiend men.
God only shows a greater respect to others, that are by nature your equals,
than to you ; but you have shown a greater respect to those that are infinitely
inferior to God than to him. You have shown a greater regard to wicked men
than to God ; you have honored them more, loved them better, and adhered to
them rather than to him. Yea, you have honored the devil, in many respects,
more than God : you have chosen his will and his interest, lather than God's
wiU, and his glory : you have chosen a little woridly pelf, rather thjn God : you
have set more by a vile lust than by hira : you have chosen these things, and
rejected God : you have set your hearts on these things, and cast God behind
your back : and where is the injustice if God is pleased to show greater respect
to others than to you, or if he chooses others and rejects you 1 You have shown
great respect to vile and worthless Ihings, and no respect to God's glory ; and
why raay not God set his love on others, and have no respect to your happiness '/
You have shown great respect to others and not to God, that you are laid under
infinile obligations to respect above all ; and why may not God show respect
to others, and not to you, that never have laid him under the least obligation ?
And will you not be ashamed, notwithstanding all these things, still to open
your moulh, to object and cavil about the decrees of God, and other Ihings that
you cannot fully understand 1 Let the decrees of God be whal they will, that
alters not the case as to your liberty, any more than if God had only foreknown.
And why is God to blame for decreeing things 1 How unbecoming an infi
nitely wise Being would it have been to have raade a world, and let things
run at random, without disposing events, or foreordering how they should come
to pass 1 And what is that to you, how God has foreordered things, as long as
your constant experience teaches you, that that does not hinder your liberty, or
your doing what you choose to do ? This you know, and your daily practice
and behavior amongst men declares that you are fully sensible of it, wilh res
pect to yourself and others : and slill to object, because there are sorae things in
God's dispensations above your understanding, is exceeding- unreasonable. You'r
own conscience charges you wilh great guilt, and with those things Ihat have
been raentioned, let the secret things of God be what they will. Your con
science charges you wilh those vile dispositions, and that base behavior tow-ards.
God, that you would at any time most highly resent in your neighbor towards
you, and that not a whit the less for any concern those secret counsels and
mysterious dispensf.tions of God may have in the matter. It is in vain for you
to exalt yourself against an infinitely great, and holy, and just God. If you
continue in it, it will be to your eternal shame and confusion, when hereafter you
shall see at whose dour all the blarae of your misery lies.
I will finish what I have to say to natural men in the application of this
doctrine with a caution not to improve 'the doctrine to discouragement For
though it would be righteous in God forever to cast you off', and destroy you,
yet it will also be just in God to save you, in and through Christ, who has made
complete satisfaction for all sin. Rom. iii. 25, 26, " Whom God halh set forth
to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for
the, reraission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God ; to declare.
252 JUSTICE OP GOD IN THE
I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justiCer of
him which believeth in Jesus." Yea, Godmay,- through this Mediator, hot tmly
justly, but honorably show you mercy. Thii blood of Christ is so precibuis,
that it is fully sufficient to pay that debt that you have contracted, and per
fectly to vindicate the divine Majesty from all that dishohor that has been cast
upon it, by those many great sins of youns, that have been mentioned. It was
as great, and indeed a much greater thing, for Christ to die, than itwbiildhave
been for you and all mankind to have burnt- in hell to all eternity. Of such
dignity and excellency is' Christ in the eyes of God, that, seeing he has suff'ered
so much for poor sinners, God is willing to be at peace with thera, however vile
and unworthy they have been, and on how many accounts soever the punish
ment would be just. So that you need not be at all discouraged from seeking
mercy, for there is enough in Christ.
Indeed it would not become the glory of God's majesty to show mercy tb
you that have been so sinful and vile a creature, for any thing that you have
done, for such worthless and despicable things as yourprayers, and other religious
performances ; it would be very dishonorable and unworthy of God so todo,'ahd
it is in vain to expect it : he will show mercy only on Christ's aciCount, ahd that,
according to his sovereign pleasure, on whom he pleases, when he pleases,
and in what manner he pleases. "You cannot bring him under the obligation
by your works; do what you will, he will not look oh himself obliged. But
if it be his pleasure, he can honorably show mercy through Christ to ah'y sin
ner of you all, not one in this congregation excepted.
Therefore here is encouragement for you still to seek and wait, notwith
standing all your wickedness ; agreeably to SamuePs speech to the children of
Israel, when they were terrified with the thunder and rain that God sent, and
their guilt stared them in the face : 1 Sam. xn. 20, " Fear not ; ye have done
all this wickedness ; yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the
Lord with all your hearts."
I would conclude this discourse by iraptoving thie docitrine, in the second
place; very briefly to put the godly in mind of the Wonderfulness of the grace
of God towards thera. Fbr such Were some of you. — The case was just so with
fon as you have heai'd ; • you had such a wicked heart, you lived slich a wickej
ife, and it would have been most just with God forever to have cast you off ; but
he has had raercy upon you ; he halh raade his gloridUs grace appear in ybui
everiasting salvation. "YoU have behaved ' yourself so as you have heard to
wards God : you had no love to God ; but yet he has exerciised unspeakable
love to you : you have conleraned God, and Set hght by hira ; but so great a
value has God's grace set on you and your happiness, that you have been re
deeraed at the price of the blood of his own Son : you chose to be with Satan
in his service ; but yet God hath made you a joint heir with Christ of his glory.
You Was ungrateful for past mercies; but yet God not only continued those
mercies, but bestowed unspeakably greater mercies upon you: you refused to
hear when God Called ; but yet God heard you when you called: you abused
the infinileness of God's mercy to encourage yourself in sin against God; but
yet God has manifested the infinileness cif that mercy, in the exercises of it tcjwards
you : you have rejected Christ, and set him at nought ; and yet he is become
your Saviour: you have neglected your own salvation ; but God has not ne
glected it : you have destroyed ycjurself ; but yet in God has been your help
God has magnified his free grace towards you, and not io others; becausehe
has chosen you, and it halh pleased Inim to set his love upon you.
0 ! • what cause is here for praise . What obligations are ujion you to bless
I
DAMNATION OF SINNERS. 253
;he l/)rd, who hath dealt bountifully with you, and to magnify his holy name !
What cause to praise him in humility, to walk humbly before God ; and to be
conformed to Ihat in Ezek. xvi. 63, " That thou mayest remember and be con
founded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when 1
am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God !"
You should never open your mouth in boasting, or self-justiflcation : you should
lie the lower before God for his mercy to you. But you have reason, the more
abundantly for your past sins, to open your mouth in God's praises, that they
may be continually in your mouth, both here and to all eternity, for his rich,
unspeakable, and sovereign mercy to you, whereby he, and he alone, hatb
made vou to diflfer from others.
SERMON X
THE FUTURE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED UNAVOmAELE AND INTOLEEABl,E.
SZEEIGL xxii. 14. — Can thine heajt endure, or can thine hands be strong in the days that I shall deal
with thee ? I the Lord have spoken it, and' will do' it.
In the former part ofthis chapter, we have a dreadful catalogue of the sins
of Jerusalem ; as you may see from the flrst to the thirteenth verse. In the
thirteenth, which is the verse preceding the text, God manifests his great dis
pleasure and fearful wrath against thera for those their iniquities : " Behold, I
have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hasl made, and at thy
blood which hath been in the midst of thee." The expression of God's smiting
his hand, signifies the greatness of his anger, and his preparing himself, as it
were, to execute wrath answerable to their heinous crimes. It is an allusion to
what we sometimes see in men when they are surprised, by seeing or hearing
of sorae horrid offence, or most intolerable injury, which very much stirs their
spirits, and animates thera wilh high resentment ; on such an occasion they will
rise up in wrath and smite their hands together, as an expression of the heat of
their indignation, and full resolution to be avenged on those who have commit
ted the injury, as in chap. xxi. 17 : " I will also smile raine hands together, and
I will cause my fury to rest ; I the Lord have said it"
Then, in the text, the punishraent of that people is represented.
1. The nature of their punishment is more generally represented in that
therein God will undertake to deal with them : God here threatens to deal with
the sinners in Jerusalem. The prophets could do nolhing with them. God
had sent them one after another ; bul those sinners were loo strong for them,
and beat one, and killed another. Therefore now God himself undertakes to
deal wilh them.
2. Their punishraent is raore particularly represented in three things, viz,
the intolerableness, the reraedilessness, and the unavoidableness of it
n.) The intolerableness ofii : Can thine heart endure 1
(2.) The reraedilessness, or the irapossibility of their doing any thing for
their own relief: Can thine hands be strong 1
(3.) The unavoidableness of it : / the Lord have spoken it, and will do it.
DOCTRINE.
Since God bath undertaken to deal with irapenitent sinners, they_shaU-^i«-
ther shun the threatened misery, nor deliver themselves out of it, nor can they
bear it.
In handling this doctrine, I shall, 1. Show what is implied in God's under
taking lo deal with impenitent sinners. 2. That Iherefore they cannot avoid
punishraent 3. That they cannot in any raeasure dehver themselves from it,
or do any thing for their own relief under it 4. That they cannot bear it 5.
T shall answer an inquiry ; and then proceed to the use.
1. I shall show what is unplied in God's undertaking to deal wilh impeni
tent sinners.— Others are not able to deal wilh them, fhey bafiBe all the means
u.sed with thera by those that are appomted to teach and to rule over them.
They will not yield to parents, or tu the counsels, warnings, or reproofs of minis
PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED. 255
ters : they prove obstinate and stiflf-hearted. Therefore God ur. derlakes tc deal
with them. — This implies the following things :
1. That God will reckon with them, and take of them satisfaction to his
iustice. In this world God puis forth his authority to comraand thera ; and to
require subjection to him. In his comraands he is very positive, striilly requir
ing of them the performance of such and such duties, and as positively torbidding
such and such things which were contrary to their duly. But they have no re
gard to these comraands. God continues commanding, and they continue re
belling. They make nothing of God's authority. God threatens, but they
despise his thi eatening. — They make nothing of chshonoring God; they care
not how rauch their behavior is to the dishonor of God. He oflfers them mercy,
if they will repent and return ; but they despise his mercy as \\ ell as his wrath.
God calleth, but they refuse. — Thus they are continually plunging themselves
deeper and deeper in debt, and at the sarae tirae iraagine they shall escape the
payraent of the debt, and design entirely to rob God of his due.
But God hath undertaken to right hiraself He will reckon -with them ;
he hath undertaken to see that the debts due to hira are paid. All their sins
are written in his book; not one of thera is forgotten, and ever_- one must be
paid. If God be wise enough, and strong enough, he will have full satisfaction :
he will exact the very uttermost farthing. He undertakes it as his part, as what
belongs to him, to see hiraself righted, wherein he hath been wronged. Deut.
xxxii. 35," To me belongeth vengeance." Chap. vii. 10," He will not be slack
to hira that hateth hira ; he w"ill repay him to his face."
2. He hath unde'-faken to vindicate the honor of his Majesty. His Majesty
they despise. They hear that he is a great God ; but they despise his great
ness ; they look upon him worthy of contempt, and treat him accordingly
They hear of him by the name of a great King ; but his authority they regard
not, and soraetiraes traraple upon it for years together.
But God hath not left the honor of his Majesty wholly to their care.
Though they now trample it in the dust, yet that is no sign that it will finally be
lost If God had left it wholly in their hands, it would indeed be lost. But
God doth not leave his honor and his glory to his enemies ; it is too precious in
his eyes to be so neglected. He hath reserved the care ofii to himself: he will
see to it that his own injui-ed Majesty is vindicated. If the honor of God, upon
which sinners trample, finally lie in the dust, then it will be because he is not
strong enough to vindicate hunself He halh sworn that great oath in Numb.
xiv. 21, " As truly as 1 live, all the earth shall be fllled with the glory of the
Lord." Sinners despise his Son, and traraple hira under their feet But he will see
if he cannot raake the glory of his Son appear, with respect to them ; that all
the earlh may know how evil a thing it is to despise the Son of God. — God in
tends that afl men and angels, all heaven and all earlh, shall see whether he be
sufficient to magnify hiraself upon sinners who now despise hira. He intends that
the issue of things with respect to thera shall be open, that all raen may see it
3. He hath undertaken to subdue irapenitent sinners. Their hearts while
in this world are very unsubdued. They lift up their heads and conduct them
selves very proudly and contemptuously, and often sin with a high hand.
They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongues walk thrciugh the
earth. They practically say as Pharaoh did, " Who is the Lord ? I know not
the Lord, neither wiO I obey his voice." Job xxi. 41, " They say to God, De
part from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways."
Some, who cover their sin with specious show, who put on a face of reli-
256 PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKEU.
gion, and a demure countenance and behavior, yet have this spirit secretly reign« •
ing in their breasts. Notwithstanding all their fair show, and good external ,
carriage, they despise God in their hearts, and have the weapons of war about
thera, though they are secret eneraies, and carry their swords under their skirts.
They have most proud, stubborn, and rebellioas hearts, which are ready to rise;
in opposition, to contend with hira, and to find fault with his dispensations Their
hearts are full of pride, enraity, stubbornness, and blasphemy, whicb work in
thera many ways, while they sit under the preaching of the word, and while the
spirit of God is striving with them : and they always continue to oppose and '
resist God as long as they live in the world; they never lay down the weapons
of their rebellion.
But God halh undertaken to deal with them and to subdue them ; and those
proud and stubborn hearts, which will not yield to the power of God's word,
shall be broken by the power of hrs hand. If they will not be wilhng subjects.
to the golden sceptre, and will not yield to the attractives of his love, they shall
be subject to the force of the iron rod, whether they will or no.
Thera that proudly set up their own righteousness, and their own wills
against God, God hath undertaken to bring down ; and wiihout doubt it will
be done. He hath undertaken to make those who are now regardless of God,
regard hira They shall know that he is Jehovah. Now they will not own
that he Ls the Lord; but they shall know it Isa. xxvi. 11, "Lord, when thine
hand is lifled up, they will not see : but they shall see."
Now wicked raen not only hate God, but they slight him; they are not,
afraid of hira. But he will subdue their conterapt When he shall come to
take them in hand, they will hate him still ; but they will not shght hira ; they
will not make light of his power as they, now do ; they will see and feel too
much ofthe infinity of his power to slight it. — They are now wont, to slight his
wrath ; but then they will slight it no more, they will be infinitely far from it,
they, will find by SuflScient experience that his wrath is not to be slighted : they
will learn this to their cost, and they never will forget it.
4. God hath undertaken to rectify their judgments. Now they will not be
convinced of those things which God tells them in his word. Ministers take.
much pains to convince them, but all is in vain. Therefore God will undertake
to convince thera,, and he will do it eflfectually. — Now they will not be con-^
vinced of the truth of divine things. They have indeed convincmg arguments
set before thera ; they hear and see enough to convince them ; yet so prone are
they to unbelief and atheism, that divine things never seem to them to be real.
But God will hereafter make them seera real.
Now they are always doubting of the truth of the Scriptures, questioning
whether they be the word of God, and whether the threatenings of Scripture be
true. But God hath undertaken to convince thera that those threatenings are
true, and he will make them to know that they are true, so that they will never.
doubt any more forever. They will be convinced by dear experience.— Now
they are always questioning whether there be any such place as hell They,
hear much about it, but it always seems to them like a dream. But God, will
make it seera olherwise than a dream. — Now they are often told of the vanity.
of the worid ; but we may as well preach to the beasts, to persuade thera of,
the vanity of earthly things. But God will undertake to convince thern of this ;
he will hereafter give them a thorough conviction of it, so that they shafl have
a ."trong sense of the vanity of all these things. . ,
Now ministers often tell sinners of the great importance of an interest ir
Christ, and that that is the one thing needful They are also told the folly of de-
PUNISHMENT OF IHE -WICKED. R57
laying the care of their souls, and how much it concerns thera lo improve theii
jpportunity. But tbe instructions of mini.siers do not convince them, therefore
aod will undertake to convince them.
Irapenitent sinners, while in this world, hear how dreadful hell is. But they
wih not believe that it is so dreadful as ministers represent. They cannot think
that they shall to all eternity suflfer such exquisite and horrible torments. Buf
they shall be taught and convinced to purpose, that the representations ministers
give of those torraents, agreeable to Ihe word of God, are no bugbears ; and
that the wrath of God is indeed as dreadful as they declare. — Since God hath
undertaken to deal with sinners, and to rectify their judgments in these matters,
he wifl do it thoroughly ; for his work is perfect ; when he undertakes to do
things, he dolh not do them by halves ; therefore before he shall have done
with sinners, he will convince them eff-iclually, so that Ihey shall never be in
danger of relapsing into their former errors any more. He will convince them
oftheir folly and stupidity in entertaining such notions as they now entertain.
Thus God hath undertaken to deal with obstinate unbelievers. They carry
things on in great confusion ; but we need not be dismayed at it ; let us wait,
and we shall see that God will rectify things. Sinners will not always con
tinue to rebel and despise wilh impunity. The honor of God will in due time
oe vindicated ; and tbey shall be subdued and convicted, and shall give an ac
count There is no sin, not so much as an idle word that they shall speak, but
they must give an account of it. Matt xii 36. And their sins must be fully bal
anced, and recompensed, and satisfaction obtained. Because judgraent against
tneir evil works is not speedily executed, their hearts are fully set in them to do
evil. Yet God is a righteous judge ; he will see that judgment is executed in
due time.
I come now,
II. To show, that therefore irapenitent sinners shall not avoid their due pun
ishment — God halh undertaken to inflict it ; he hath engaged to do it ; he takes
it as his work, as what properly belongs to him, and we may expect it of him.
If he hath sworn by his life, that he will do it ; and if he hath power sufficient ; if
he is the living God, doubtless we shall see it done. And ibat God halh declared
that he will punish irapenitent sinners, is manifest from many Scriptures ; as Deut.
xxxii. 41, " I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward thera that
hate rae." Deut vii. 10, " He will not be slack to him that hateth him : he will
repay him to his face." Exod. xxxiv. 7, " That will by no raeans clear the
guilty." Nahum i. 3, " The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and
wfll not at all acquit the wicked."
God saith in the text, " I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it ;" which
leaves no room to doubt of the actual fulfilment of the threatening in its utraost
extent — Sorae wicked men have flattered Ihemselves, that although God hath
threatened very dreadful things to wicked men for their sins, yet in his heart be
never intends to fulfil his threatenings, but only to terrify them, and make them
afraid, while they live. But would tbe infinitely holy God, who is not a man that
he shonld lie, and who speaketh no vain words, utter himself in this manner : Ithe
Ijord have spoken it, and will doit ; Ihave not only threatened, but 1 vnll also fulfil
my threatenings ; when at the same tirae these words did not agree with his
tieart, but he secretly knew that though he had spoken, yet he intended not
lo do it ? Who is he that dares to entertain such horrid blasphemy in his heart 1
No; let no irapenitent sinner flatter himself so vainly and foolishly. If it
Were indeed only a man, a being of like impotency and mutability with them
selves, who' had, undertaken to ilea with thern ; they might perhaps with some
Vol. IV 33
258 PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED.
reason flitter themselves, that they should find some means to avoid the threat
ened punishment. But since an omniscient, oranipotent, immutable God hath
undertaken, vain are all such hopes.
There is no hope that possibly Ihey may steal away to heaven, though
tbey die unconverted. There is no hope that they can deceive God by any
false show of repentance and faith, and so be taken to heaven through mistake ;
for the eyes of God are as a flarae of fire ; they perfectly see through every
man ; the inmost closet of tbe heart is all open to hirn.
There is no hope of escaping the threatened punishment by sinking into nolh
ing al dealh, like brute creatures. Indeed, raany wicked raen upon their death
beds wish for this. If it were so, dealh would be nothing to them in compari
son with what it now is. But all such wishes are vain.
There is no hope of their escaping wiihout notice, when they leave the body.
There is no hope that God, by reason of the multiplicity of Eiffairs which he
hath to raind, will happen to overlook them, and not take notice of them, when
they corae to die ; and so that their souls will slip away privately, and hide
theraselves in sorae secret corner, and so escape divine vengeance.
There is no hope that they shall be raissed in a crowd at the day ofjudg
raent, and that they can have opportunity to hide themselves in sorae cave or
den of the mountains, or in any secret hole of the earth ; and that while so
doing, they will not be minded, by reason ofthe many ihings which will be the
objects of attention on that day. — Neither is there any hope that they wifl be
able to crowd theraselves in among the multitude of the saints at the right hand
ofthe Judge, and so go to heaven undiscovered. — Nor is there any hope that
God will alter his mind, or that he will repent of what he halh said ; for he is
not the son of raan that he should repent. Halh he said, and shafl he not do it ?
Hath he spoken, and shall he not raake it good 1 When did God ever under
take to do any thmg and fail ?
I corae now,
III. To show that as impenitent sinners cannot shun the threatened punish
raent ; so neither can they clo any thing to deliver themselves frora it, or to re
heve theraselves under it. This is iraplied in those words of the text. Can
thinehands be strong? It is with our hands that we make and accomplish
things for ourselves. But the wicked in hell wifl have no strength of hand to
accoraplish any thing at all for theraselves, or to bring to pass any deliver
ance, or any degree of relief
1. They will not be able in that conflict to overcorae their enemy, and so to
deliver themselves. God, who will then undertake lo deal with them, and wifl
gird himself whh might to execute wrath, will be their eneray, and will act the
part of an enemy wilh a witness ; and they will have no strength to oppose
him. Those who live negligent of their souls under the light of the gospel, act
as if they supposed that they should be able hereafter to make their part good
with God. 1 Cor. x. 22, " Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy 1 Are we
stronger than he ?"— But they will have no power, no might to resist that, om
nipotence, which will be engaged against them.
2. They will have no strength in their hands to do any thing to appease
God, or in the least to abate the fierceness of his wralh. They wOl not be able
to offer any satisfaclion : they will not be able to procure God's pity. Though
they cry, God will not hear thera. They will find no price to offer to God, in
order to purchase any favor, or to pay any part of their debt
3. They will not be able to find any to befriend them, and mtercede with
jod for thera. They had the off'er of a mediator often ^ made them in this
PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED. 259
worid ; but they will have no offers of such a natui-e in lell. None will be
friend them. They will have no friend in hkli. ; all there willbe their enemies.
They will have no friend in heaven : none of the saints or angels will befriend
fliem ; or if ihey should, it would be to no purpose. There will be no creature
that will have any power to deliver thera, nor wfll any ever pity them.
4. Nor will they ever be able to make their escape. They wfll find no
means to break prison and flee. In hell they will be reserved in chains of dark
ness forever and ever. Malefactors have often found means to break prison,
and escape the hand of civil justice. But none ever escaped out of Ihe prison of
hell, which is God's prison. It is a strong prison : il is beyond any finite power,
or the united strength of all wicked men and devils, to unlock, or break open
the door of that prison. Christ hath thfe key of hell ; " he shuts and no man
opens." 5. Nor will they ever be able to find any thing to reheve them in hell
They wifl never find any resting place there; any place of respite ; any secret
corner, which wfll be cooler than the rest, where they may have a little respite,
a smafl abateraent of the extremity of their torment. They never will be able
to find any cooling stream or fountain, in any part of that world of torraent ;
no, nor so much as a drop of water to cool their tongues. They will find
no company to give them any comfort, or to do thera the least good. They
wifl find no place, where they can reraain, and rest, and take breath for one
minute : for they will be tormenled with fire and brimstone ; and will have no
rest day nor night forever and ever.
Thus impenitent sinners will be able neither to shun the punishment threat
ened, nor to deliver themselves from it, nor to find any relief under it.
I corae now,
IV. To show, that neither wfll they be able to bear it. Neither will their
hands be strong to deliver themselves from il, nor wfll their hearts be able to
endure it It is common with raen, when they meet with calamities in this
world, in the first place lo endeavor lo shun thera. But if tbey find, that they
cannot shun them, then after ihey are corae, tbey endeavor to deliver themselves
frora them as soon as they can ; or at least, to order Ihings so, as to deliver
themselves in some degree. But if they find that they can by no means delivei
theraselves, and see that the case is so that they raust bear thera ; then they .set
themselves to bear them : they fortify their spirits, and take up a resolution, that
they wiU support themselves under thera as well as they can. They clothe
themselves with all the resolution and courage they are masters of, to keep their
spirits from sinking under their calamilies.
But it will be utterly in vain for impenitent sinners to think to do thus with
respect to the torments of hefl. They will not be able to endure them, or at
all to support theraselves under thera : the torment will be immensely beyond
their strength. W'hat will it signify for a worra, which is about to be pressed
under the weight of some great rock, to be let fall wilh ils whole weight upon
it, to coflect ils strength, to set itself to bear up the weight of the rock, and to
preserve itself frora being crushed by it 1 Much raore in vain -will it be for a
poor daraned soul, to endeavor lo support itself under Ihe weight of the wralh
of Almighty God. What is the strength of man, who is but a worm, to sup
port himself against Ihe power of Jehovah, and against the fierceness of his
Wrath ? What is man's. sireng'lh, when set to bear up against the exertions of
infinite power ? Matt xxi. 44, " Whosoever .shall fall on this .stone shall be
broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it wfll grind him to powder."
When sinners hear of hell torments, thi y sometimes think wilh themselves ;
^60 PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED.
Well, if it shall corae to that, that I raust go to hell, I will bear it as well as 1
can : as if by clothing theraselves with resolution and firraness of raind, they
would be able to support themselves in some raeasure ; when, ilas ! they will
have no resolution, no courage al all. However they shall have prepaired
theraselves, and collected their strength; jet as soon as they shall begin to feel
that wrath, their hearts will raelt anel be as^water. However before they
raay seera to harden their hearts, in order to prepare theraselves to bear, yet the
first moment they feel it, their hearts will become like wax before the furnace.
Their courage and resolution will be all gone in an instant ; it will vanish away
like a shadow in the twirkhng of an eye. The stoutest and most sturdy will
have no more courage than the feeblest infant : let a man be an infant, or a
giant, it will be all one. They wfll not be able lo keep alive any courage, any
strength, any comfort, any hope at all.
I come now as was proposed,
V. To answer an inquiry which may naturally be raised concerning these
things. Inquiry. Sorae may be ready to say. If this be the case, if impenitent
sinners can neither shun future punishment, nor deliver themselves from it, nor
bear it; then what wfll become of them 1
Answer. They will wholly sink down into eternal death. There wfll be
that sinking of heart, of which we now cannot conceive. We see how it is
with the body when in extreme pain. The nature of the body will support
itself for a considerable lime under very great pain, so as to keep from whoUy
sinking. There will be great struggles, laraentable groans and panting, and it
may be convulsions. These are the strugglings of nature to support itself under
the extreraily of the pain. There is, as it were, a great lothness in nature to
yield to it ; it cannot bear wholly to sink.
But yet sometimes pain of body is so very extrerae and exquisite, that the
nature of the body cannot support itself under it ; however loth it may be to
sink, yet it cannot bear the pain ; there are a few struggles, and throes, and
pantings, and it raay be a shriek or two, and then nature yields to the violence
of the torraents, sinks down, and the body dies. This is the death of the body
So it wifl be wilh the soul in hefl ; it will have no strength or power to deliver
itself ; and its torraent and horror will be so great, so raighty, so vastly dispro
portioned to its strength, that having no strength in the least to support itself,
although it be infinitely contrary to the nature and inclination ofthe soul utter
ly to sink ; yet it will sink, it will utterly and totally sink, without the least
degree of remaining corafort, or strength, or courage, or hope. And though it
wfll never be annihflaled, its being and perception will never be abolished ,
yet such will be the infinite depth of gloominess that it will sink into, that if
will be in a state of death, eternal death.
The nature of man desires happiness ; it is the nature of the soul to crave
and thirst after well-being; and if it be under misery, it eagerly pants after re
lief; and the greater the raisery is, the raore eageriy doth it struggle for help.
But if afl relief be withholden, all strength overborne, all support utterly
gone ; then it sinks into the darkness of death.
We can conceive but little of the matter ; we cannot conceive what thai
sinking ofthe soul in such a case is. But to help -^ our conception, imagine
yourself tobe cast into a fiery oven, all ofa glowing heat, or into the midst of
a glowing brick-kiln, or of a great furnace, where your pain would be as much
greater thin that occasioned by accidentally touching a coal of fire; as the heat
is greater Imagine also that vour body were to lie there for a quarter of an
PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED. 261
lour, fuU of fire, as full within and without as a bright coal of fire, all the while
full of quick sense ; what horror would you feel at the entrance of such a fur
nace 1 And how long would that quailer of an hour seem to you ! If it were
to be measured by a glass, how long would Ihe glass seem to be running ! And
after you had endured it for one minute, how overbearing would it be to you to
think that you had it to endure the otiier fourteen !
But what would be the effect on your soul, if you knew you must lie
there enduring that torraent to the full for twenty-four hours 1 And how much
greater would be the eff'ect, if you knew you must endure it for a whole year ;
and how vastly greater still, if you knew you must endure it for a thousand
years ! 0 then, how would your heart sink, if you thought, if you knew, that
you raust bear it forever and ever ! That Ihere would be no end ! That after
mfllions of millions of ages, yom- torment would be no nearer to an end, than
ever it was ; and that you never, never should be delivered I
Eut your torment in hell will be immensely greater than this illustration re
presents. How then will the heart of a poor creature sink under it ! How
utterly inexpressible and inconceivable must the sinking of the soul be in such
a case I ,
'fhis is the death threatened in the law. This is dying in the highest sense
of the word. This is to die sensibly ; to die and know it ; to be sensible of the
gloom of death. This is to be undone ; this is worthy of the name of destruc
tion. Tbis sinking of Ihe soul under an infinite weight, which it cannot bear,
is the gloora of hell. We read in Scripture of the blackness of darkness ; this
is it, this is the very thing. We read in Scripture of sinners being lost, and of
their losing their souls : this is the thing intended ; this is to lose the soul :
they that are the subjects of this are utterly lost.
APPLICATION.
This subject raay be applied in a use of awakening to impenitent sinners.
What hath been said under this doctrine is for thee, 0 'impenitent sinner, 0
poor wretch, who art in the same miserable slate in which thou earnest into the
world, excepting that thou art loaded with vastly greater guilt by thine actual
.sins. These dreadful things which thou hast heard are for thee, who art yet
unconverted, and still remainest an alien and stranger, wiihout Christ and with
out God in the world. They are for thee, who to this day remainest an eneray
to God, and a child of the devil, even in this remarkable season, when others
both here and elsewhere, far and near, are flocking to Christ ; for thee who
hearest the noise, the fame of these things, but knowest nothing of the power
of godliness in thine own heart.
Whoever thou art, whether young or old, little or great, if thou art in a
Christlefss, unconverted state, this is the wrath, this is the dealh to which thou art
conderaned. This is the wrath that abideth on thee ; this is tbe hell over which
thou hangest, and into which thou art ready to drop every day and every night.
If thou shalt reraain blind, and hard, and dead in sin a little longer, this des
truction will corae upon thee : God hath spoken and he wfll do it It is vain
for thee to flatter thyself with hopes ihat thou shalt avoid it, or to say in thine
heart, perhaps it will not be ; perhaps it will not be just .so ; perhaps things
iiave been represented worse than they are. If thou wilt not be convinced by
the word preached to thee by men in the name of God, God himself wfll under
take to convince thee, Ezek. xiv. 4, 7, 8.
Doth it seem to thee not real that thou shalt suffer such a dreadful destruc-
262 PUFTSHMENT OF THE WICKED.
tion, because it seems to ihee that thou dost not deserve it 1 And because thou
dost not see any thing so horrid in thyself, as to answer such a dreadful punish
ment ? — Why is it that thy wickedness doth not seem bad enough to deserve
this punishment 1 The reason is, that thou lovest thy wickedness ; thy wick
edness seems good to thee ; it appears lovely to thee ; thou dost not see any
hatefulness in it, or to be sure, any such hatefulness as to answer such misery.
But know, thou stupid, blind, hardened wretch, that God dolh not see, as
thou seest with tby polluted eyes : thy sins in his sight are infinitely abomina
ble. — Thou knowest that thou hast a thousand and a thousand tiraes made light
of the Majesty of God. And why should not that Majesty, which thou hast
thus despised, be raanifested in the greatness of thy punishment 1 Thou hast
often heard what a great and dreadful God Jehovah is ; but thou hast raade so
hght of it, that thou hast not been afraid of him, thou hast not been afraid to
sin against hira, nor to go on day after day, by thy sins, to provoke him to
wiath, nor to cast his commands under fool, and traraple on thera. Now
why raay not God, in the greatness of thy destruction, justly vindicate and
manifest the greatness of that Majesty, which thou hast despised 1
Thou hast despised the mighty power of God ; thou hast not been afraid of
it Now why is it not fit that God should show the greatness of hLs power in
thy ruin ? What king is there who wifl not show his authority in the punish
ment of those subjects that de.spise it ! And who will not vindicate his royal
majesty in executing vengeance on those that rise in rebellion 1 And art thou
such a fool as lo think that the great King of heaven and earth, before whom
all other kings are so raany grasshoppers, will not vindicate his kingly Majesty
:a sucb conteraptuous rebels as thou art 1 — Thou art very rauch mistaken if thou
ihinkest so. If thou be regardless of God's Majesty, be il known to thee, God
is not regardless of his own Majesty; he taketh care of the honor of it, and
he wfll vindicate it
Think it not strange that God should deal so severely with thee, or that the
wrath which thou shalt suffer should be so great. For as great as it is, it is no
greater than that love of God which thou hast despised. The love of God, and his
grace, condescension, and pity to sinners in sending his Son into the world to die for
thera, is every whit as great and wonderful as this inexpressible wrath. This
mercy hath been held forth to thee, and described in its wonderful greatness
hundreds of tiraes, and as often hath it been offered to thee ; but thou wouldst
not accept Christ ; thou wouldst not have this great love of God ; thou despisedst
God's dying love ; thou trarapledst tbe benefits of it under foot. Now why shouldst
thou not have wrath as great as that love and raercy which thou despisest and
rejectest ? Doth it seem incredible to thee, that God should so harden his heart
against a poor sinner, as so to destroy him, and to bear him down with
infinite power and mercfless wrath ? And is this a greater thing than it is for
thee Ic) harden tiiy heart, as thou hast done, against infinite raercy, and against
the dying love of God 1
Doth it seem to thee incredible, tbat God should be so utterly regardless of
the sinner's welfare, as so to sink hira into an infinite abyss of raisery 1 Is this
shocking to thee ? And is it not at all shocking to thee, that thou shouldst ba
so utterly regardless as thou hast been of the honor and glory of the infinite
God 1
It arises frora thy foolish stiipidity and senselessness, and is because thou
hast a heart of stone, that thou art so senseless of thine own wickedness as
tc think thou hast not deserved such a punishraent, and that it is to thee in-
credible that it wifl be inflicted upon thee.— But if, when all is said and done
PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED. 263
thou be not convinced, wait but a little while, and thou wilt be convinced :
Gcd wfll undertake to do the woik which ministers cannot do. — Though judg
ment against thine evil works be not yet executed, and God now let thee alone
yet he will soon come ppon thee with his great power, and then thou shalt
know what God is, and what thou art.
Flatter not thyself, that if these things shall prove true, and the worst shall
come, thou wilt set thyself to bear it as well as thou canst What will il signify
.to set thyself to bear, and to collect thy strength .to support thyself, when thou
shalt fall into the hands of that omnipotent King, Jehovah 1 He that raade thee,
can make his sword approach unto thee. His sword is not the sword of man, nor
is his wralh the wrath of man. If it were, possibly .stoutness might be maintained
under it But it is the fierceness ofthe wrath ofthe great God, who is able
to baffle and dissipate all thy strength in a moment. He can fill thy poor soul
with an ocean of wrath, a deluge of fire and brimstone ; or he can make it
ten lliousand times fuller of toiment than ever an oven was full of fire; and at
the same time, can fill it with despah of ever seeing any end to its torment, or
any rest from its misery : and tben where will be thy strength ? What will
become of tby courage then ? Whal will signify thine attempts to bear 1
What art thou in the hands of the great God, who raade heaven and earth
hy speaking a word 1 What art thou, when dealt with by that strength, which
manages all tbis vast universe, hohls the globe of the earth, directs all the mo
tions of the heavenly bodies from age to age, and, when the fixed time shall come,
wifl shake all to pieces 1 — There are other wicked beings a thousand times
stronger than thou : there are the great leviathans, strong and proud spirits, of
a gigantic stoutness and hardiness. But how little are they in the hands of the
great God ! They are less than weak infants ; they are nolhing, and less than
nothing in the hands of an angry God, as wfll appear at the day of judgment.
Their hearts will be broken ; they will sink ; they will have no strength nor
courage left ; they wfll be as weak as waler ; their souls will sink down into
an infinite gloom, an abyss of death and despair. — Then what will become of
thee, a poor worra, wben thou shalt fall inlo the hands of that God, when he
shall come to show his wrath, and make his power known on thee ?
If the strength of all the wicked men on earth, and of all the devils in hell,
were united in ^ne, and ihou wert possessed of it all ; and if the courage, great
ness, and stoutness of all their hearts were united in thy single heart, thou
wouldst be nothing in the hands of Jehovah. If il were all collected, and thou
shouldst set thyself to bear as well as thou couldst, all would sink under his
great wrath in an instant, and would be utterly abolished : thine hands would
drop down at once and thine heart would melt as wax. — The gi-eat mountains,
the firm rocks, cannot stand before the power of God ; as fast as they stand,
they are tossed hither and thither, and skip like lambs, when God appears in
his anger. He can tear the earlh in pieces in a moraent ; yea, he can shatter
the whole universe, and dash it to pieces at one blow. How then will thine
hands be strong, or thine heart endure 1
, Thou canst not stand before a lion of the forest ; an angry wfld beast, if
stirred up, will easily tear such a one as thou art in pieces. Yea, not only so,
but thou art crushed before the raoth. A very little thing, a little worm or
spider, or some such insect, is able to kill thee. Whal then canst thou do in
the hands of God 1 It is vain to set the briers and thorns in battle array
against glowing flames ; the points of thorns, Ihough sharp, do nothing to wit''L-
stand the fire.
Some of you have seen buildings on fire ; imagrne therefore with yourselves^
2b4 PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED.
what a poor hand you would make at fighting with the flames, if you were in
the midst of so great and fierce a fire. You have often seen a spider, or some
other noisorae insect, when thrown into the midst of a fierce fire, and have ob
served how iramediately it yields to the force of the flaraes. There is no long
struggle, no fighting against the fire, no strength exerted to oppose the heat, or
to fly frora it ; but it imraediately stretches forth itself and yields ; and the fire
takes possession of it, and at once it becoraes full of fire, and is burned into a
bright coal. — Here is a little iraage of what you will be the subjects of in hell,-
except you repent and fly to Christ However you raay think that you will
fortify yourselves, and bear as well as you can ; the fir.st raoment you shall be
cast into hell, all your strength wifl sink and be utterly abolished. Tp en
courage yourselves, that you wfll set yourselves to bear hell torments as weU as
you can, is just as if a worra, that is about lo be thrown into a glowing furnace,
should swell and fortify itself, and prepare itself to fight the flaraes.
What can you do wilh lightnings ? What dolh it signify to fight with
them ? What an absurd figure would a poor weak raan make, who, in a
thunder-storra, should expect a flash of lightning on his head or his breast, and
should go forth sword in hand to oppose it ; when a streara of brimstone would,
in a'n instant, drink up all his spirits and his life, and melt his sword !
Consider these things, all you enemies of God, and rejecters of Christ,
whether you be old men or women, Christless heads of farailies, or young peo
ple and wicked children. Be assured, that if you do not hearken and repent,
God intends to show his wrath, and raake his power known upon you. He
intends to magnify him.self exceedingly in sinking you down in hell. He in
tends to show his great majesty at the day ofjudgraent, before a vast assembly,
in your misery ; before a greater asserably raany thousandfold than ever yet ap
peared on earlh ; before a vast asserably of saints, and a vast asserably of wick
ed raen, a vast asserably of holy angels, and before all the crew of devils. God
will before all these gel himself honor inyour destruction ; you shall be torment
ed in the presence of thera all. — Then all wfll see that God is a great God in
deed ; then afl wfll see how dreadful a thing it is to sin against such a God, and to
reject such a Saviour, such love and grace, as you have rejected and despised.
All will be filled with awe al the great sight, and all the saints and angels wfll
look upon you, and adore that majesty, and that raighty powei| and that holi
ness and justice of God, which sball appear in your ineffable destruction and
misery. It is probable that here are sorae, who hear me this day, who at this very
moment are unawakened, and are in a great degree careless about their souls.
I fear there are some araong us who are most fearfully hardened : their hearts
are harder than the very rocks. It is easier to make impressions upon an ada
mant than upon their hearts. I suppose some of you have heard all that I have
.said with ease and quietness : it appears to you as great big sounding words,
but doth not reach your hearts. You have heard such things many times : you
are old soldiers, and have been too rauch u.sed to the roaring of heaven's cannon,
to be frighted at it. It wifl therefore probably be in vain for me to say any
thing further to you ; I will only put you in mind that erelong God will deal
with you. I cannot deal with you, you despise what I say ; I have no power
to make you sensible of your danger and misery, and ofthe dreadfulness ofthe
wrath of God. The attempts of men in this -way have Often proved vain.
However, God halh undertaken to deal with such men as you are. It is
his manner comraonly first to let raen try their ulm.ost strength : particularly
,0 let rainisters try, that thus he raay show ministers tiieh own weakness and
PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED. 266
Impoterijy ; and when they have done what they can, and all fails, then God
takes the matter into his own hands. — So it seenis by your obstinacy, as if God
intended to undertake to deal with you. He will undertake to subdue you ; he
wfll see if he cannot cure you of your senselessness and regardlessness of his
threatenings. And you wfll be convinced ; you will be subdued effectually ;
your hearts wfll be broken wilh a witness ; your strength will be utterly
broken, your courage and hope wifl sink. God will surely break those who
wifl not bow. — God, having glided himself with his power and wrath, hath
heretofore undertaken to deal wilh many hard, stubborn, senseless, obstinate
hearts; and he never failed, he always did his work thoroughly.
It will not be long before you will be wonderfully changed. You who now
hear of hell and the wralh of the great God, and sit here in these seats so easy
and quiet, and go away so caiele.ss ; by and by will shake, and Iremble, and
cry out, and shriek, and gnash your teeth, and will be Ihoroughly convinced of
the vast weight and importance of Ihese great things, which you now despise.
You will not then need to hear sermons in order to make you sensible ; you will
be at a suflScient distance from slighting that wrath and power of Gkid, of
which you now hear with so much quietness and indifference.
34
SERMON Xj
THE ETERNITY OF HELL TORMENTS
Matthew xxv 46. — These shall go away into everlasting pun shment.
In this chapter we have the most particular description of the day of judg
ment, of any that we have in the whole Bible. Christ here declares, that when
he shall hereafter sit on the Ihrone of his glory, the righteous and the wicked
.shall be set before him, and separated one frora the other, as a shepherd divi
deth his sheep from the goals. Then we have an account how both will be
judged according to Iheir works ; how the good works of the one and the evfl
works ofthe other wfll be rehearsed, and how the sentence shall be pronounced
accordingly. We are told what the sentence willbe ori each, and then in the
verse of the text, we have an account of the execution of the sentence on both
the righteous and the wicked. In the words of the text is the account of the
execution of the sentence on the wicked or the ungodly : concerning which, it
is to my purpose to observe two Ihings.
1. 'fhe duration ofthe punishment on which they are here said to enter : if
is called everlasting punishment
2. The lime of their entrance on this everlasting punishraent ¦; viz., after
the day ofjudgraent, at the end ofthe world, when all these things that are of
;. tt-mporary continuance shall have come to an end, and even those of them
"ihat are most lasting, the frame of the world itself; the earlh, which is said to
abide forever ; the ancient mountains and everlasting hills; the sun, moon and
stars. When the heavens shall have waxed old like a garment, and as a ves-
¦¦u.'e shafl be changed, then shall be the time when the wicked shall enter on
their punishment
Doctrine. The misery v. the wicked in hell will be absolutely eternal.
There are two diverse opinions that I mean to oppose in this.doctrine. One
is, that the eternal dealh that wicked raen are threatened wilh in Scripture, sig
nifies no more than eternal annihilation; that men will be the subjects of eter
nal dealh, as they wifl be slain, and their life finally and forever be extinguish
ed by God's anger-; that God wfll punish their wickedness by eternally abol
ishing their being, and so that they shall suffer eternal death in this sense, that
they shall be eternally dead, and never raoie come to life.
The other opinion which I mean to oppose, is, that though the punishment
of the wicked shall consist in sensible raisery, yet it shall not be absolutely eter
nal ; but only of a very long continuance.
Therefore to establish the doctrine in opposition lo these different opinions,
I shall undertake to show,
I. That it is not contrary lo the divine perfections to inflict on wicked
men a punishment that is absolutely eternal.
II. That the eternal death which God threatens, is not annihflation, but an
abiding sensible punishment or misery.
III. That this misery wfll not only continue for a very long time, but wifl
I e absolutely without end.
IV. That various good ends will be obtained by the eternal punishment of
t/ie wicked.
I. I ,.m to show that it is not contrary to the divine perfections to inflict on
'^ iked men a punishment that is absolutely eternal.
ETERNITY OF HELL TORMENTS. 267
Tbis IS the sum of the objections usually made against this doctrine, that it
is inconsistent with the justice, and especially with the mercy of God. And
gome say, if it be strictiy just, yet how can we suppose that a merciful God can
bear eternally to torment his creatures ?
1. Then I shall briefly show, that il is not inconsistent with the justice of
God to inflict an eternal punishment. To evince this, I shall use only one ar
gument, viz., that sin is heinous enough to deserve such a punishment, and such
a punishraent is no raore than proportionable lo the evil or demerit of sin. If
the evil of sin be infinite, as the punishment is, then it is manifest Ihat Ihe pun
ishment is no more than proportionable to the sin punished, and is no more than
sin deserves. And if the obligation to love, honor, and obey God be infinite,
then sin, which is the violation of this obligation, is a violation of infinite obli
gation, and so is an infinite evil. Again, if God be infinitely woi-tby of love,
honor, and obedience, then our obligation to love, and honor, and obey him is
infinitely great So that God being infinitely glorious, or infinitely worthy of
our love, honor, and obedience ; our obligation lo love, honor-, and ohey hira,
and so to avoid all sin, is infinitely great. Again, our obligation to love, honor,
and obey God being infinitely great, sin is the violation of infinite obligation,
and so is an infinite evfl. Once more, sin being an infinile evil deserves an in.
finite punishment, an infinite punishment is no more than it deserves : therefore
such punishment is just ; which was the thing to be proved. There is no
evading the force ofthis reasoning, but by denying that God, the sovereign of
the universe, is infinitely glorious; which I presume none of my hearers will
adventure to do.
2. I am to show, that il is not incon.sistent with tbe merc;y of God, to inflict
an eternal punishment on wicked men. It is an unreasonable and unscriptural
notion of the mercy of God, that he is merciful in such a sense that he cannot
bear that penal justice should be executed. This is to conceive of the mercy of
God as a passion to which his nature is so subject that God is liable to be
moved, and affected, and overcome by seeing a creature in misery, so that he
cannot bear to see justice executed ; which is a most unworthy and absurd notion
ofthe mercy of God, and would, if true, argue great weakness. It would be
a great defect, and not a perfection, in the Sovereign and Supreme Judge of
the world, to be merciful in sucb a sense that be could not bear to have penal
justice executed. It is a very unscriptural notion of the mercy of God. The
Scriptures everywhere represent the raercy of God as free and sovereign, and
not that the exercises of it are necessary, so that God cannot bear justice should
take place. The Scriptures abundantly speak of it as the glory of the divine
attribute of mercy, that it is free and sovereign in ils exercises ; arid not that it
is so, that God cannot help but deliver sinners from misery. This is a mean
and most unworthy idea of the divine mercy.
It is most absurd also as it is contrary lo plain fact. For if there be any mean
ing in the objection, this is is supposed in it, that all raisery ofthe creature, wheth
er just or unjust, is in itself contrary to the nature of God. For if his raisery be
Of such nature that a very great degree of raisery, though just, is contrary to his
nature ; then it is only to add to the mercy, and then a less degree of misery is
contrary to bis nature ; again to add further to it, and a stfll less degree of mis
ery is contrary to his nature. And so, the raercy of God being infinite, all mis
ery must be contrary to his nature ; ' which we see to be contrary to fact ; for we
see that God in his providence, doth indeed inflict very great calamities on man-
k'md even in Ihis life.
However strong such kind of objections against the eternal misery of the
268 ETERNITY OF HELL TORMENTS.
wicked, may seem to the carnal, senseless hearts of men, as though it were
against God's justice and mercy ; yet their seeming strength', and its seeming
to be incredible that God should give over any of his creatures to such a dreadful
calaraity, as eternal, helpless misery and torment, altogether arises frora a want
of a sense of the infinite evil, odiousness and provocation that there is in sin.
Hence it seeras to us not suitable that any poor creature should be the subject
of such raisery, because we have no sense of any thing abominable and provoking
in any creature answerable to it. If we had, then this infinite calaraity would
not seera unsuitable. For one thing would but appear answerable and pro
portionable to another, and so the raind would rest in it as fit and suitable, and
no raore than what is proper to be ordered by the just, holy and good Governor
of the world.
That this is so we may be convinced by this consideration, viz., that when we
hear or read, as sometiraes we do, of very horrid Ihings coramitted by some men,
as for instance, some horrid instance of cruelty, it may be to some poor inno
cent child, or sorae holy raartyr; when we read or hear how such and such '
persons delighted theraselves in torturing thera with lingering torments ; what
terrible distress the poor innocent creatures were in under their hands for many
days together ; and their cruel persecutors, having no regard to their shrieks
and cries, only sported theraselves wilh their misery, and would not vouchsafe
even to put an end to their lives : I say, when we hear or read of such things,
we have a sense of the evil of thera, and Ihey raake a deep impression on our
minds. Hence it seems just, and not only so, but every way fit and suitable,
that God should inflict a very terrible punishraent on persons who have perpetrated
such wickedness : it seeras no way disagreeable to any perfection of the Judge
of the world ; we can think of il wiihout being at all shocked. The reason is,
that we have a sense ofthe evfl of their conduct, and a sense of the proportion
there is between the evil or demerit of their conduct and the punishment
Just so if we saw a proportion between the evil of sin and eternal punish
ment, if we saw soraething in wicked men that should appear as hateful to us,
as eternal misery appears dreadful ; something that should as much stir up in
dignation and detestation, as eternal raisery does terror ; afl objections against
this doctrine would vanish at once. Though now it seems incredible ; though
when we hear of it and are so often told of il, we know not how to realize it;
though when we hear of such a degree and duration of torraents as are held
forth in this doctiine, and think whal eternity is, it is ready to seera impossible,
that such torraents should be inflicted on poor feeble creatures by a Creator pf
infinite raercy : yet this arises principally frora these two causes : (1.) That itis
so contrary lo the depraved inclinations of mankind, they are so averse to the
tru h of this doctrine, they hate to believe il, and cannot bear it should be true.
(2.) That they see not the suitableness of eternal punishment to the evfl of sin;
they see not that eternal punishment is proportionable and no more than pro
portionable to the deraerit of sin.
Having thus shown that tbe eternal punishment ofthe wicked is not incon
sistent wilh the divine perfections, I shall now proceed further, and show that
.t is so far from being inconsistent with the divine perfections, that those per
fections evidently require it ; i. e., they require that sin should have so great a
punishment, either in the person who has committed h, or in a surety ; and
therefrire with respect to those who believe not in the surety, and have no in-
tc;rest in hira, the divine perfections require that this punishment should be in-
fiicted on them.
This appears, as it is not only not unsuitable tha' sin should be thus punished
ETERNITY OF HELL TORMENTS. 26S
but it is positively suitable, decent, and proper. If this be made to ap], ear, thu".
it is positively suitable that sin should be thus punished, then it wfll follow, that
the perfections of God require it ; for certainly Ihe perfections of God require
that that should be done which is proper to be done. The perfection and ex
cellency of the nature of God require that that should take place wbich is per
fect, excellent and proper in its own nature. But that sin should be punished
eternally is such a thing ; which appears by the following considerations.
1. It is suitable that God should infinitely hate sin, and be an infinite enemy
to it Sin, as I have before shown, is an infinite evil, and therefore is infinitely
odious and desteslable. It is proper that God should hate every evil, and hate
it according to its odious and detestable nature. And sin being infinitely evil
and odious, it is proper that God should hale it infinitely.
2. If infinite hatred of sin be suitable to tbe divine character, then the ex
pressions of such hatred are also suitable lo his characier. If il be suitable that
God should hate sin, then it is suitable he should express that hatred. Because
that which is suitable to be, is suitable to be expressed ; that which is lovely in
itself, is lovely when it appears. If it be suitable that God should be an infi
nite enemy lo sin, or that he should hate it infinitely, then it is suitable that he
should act as such an enemy. No possible reason can be given why it is not
suitable for God to act as such a one, as it is suitable for him to be. If it be
suitable Ibat he shcjuld hate and have enmity against sin, then it is suitable for
him to express tharhatred and enmity in that lo which hatred and enmity by
its own nature tends. — But certainly hatred in its own nature lends lo opposi
tion, and to set itself against that which is hated, and to procure its evil and not
its good : and that in proportion to the hatred. Great hatred naturally tends
to the great evil, and infinile hatred to the infinite evil of its object.
Whence it follows, that if it be suitable that there should be infinite hatred
of sin in God, as I have shown it is, it is suitable that he should execute an in
finite punishment on it ; and so the perfections of God require that he should
punish sin with an infinite, or wbich is tbe same thing, wilh an eternal punish
ment. Thus we see not only the great objection against tbis doctrine answered,
but the truth of the doctrine established by reason.
1 now proceed further to establish it by considering the remaining particu
lars under the doctrine.
II. That eternal death or punishraent wbich God threatens to the wickdJ
is not annihfliition, but an abiding sensible punishraent or misery.
The truth of this proposition will appear by the following particulars.
1. The Scripture everywhere represents the punishment of Ihe wicked, as
implying very extreme pains and sufferings; but a state of annihilation is :c
state of suffering at all. Persons annihilated have no sense or feeling of pair,
or pleasure, and much less do they feel that punishraent which carries in it an
extrerae pain or suffering. They no more suffer to eternity than they did s-iffer
from eternity.
2. It is agreeable both to Scripture and reason to suppose, tbat the wicked
wifl be punished in such a manner, that they shall be sensible of the punishment
they are under ; that they should be sensible that now God has executecl and
fulfilled what he threatened, and which they disregarded, and would not believe;
that they should know themselves that justice takes place upon them ; that they
should see and find that God vindicates that Majesty wbich they despised ; tha*
they should see that God is not so despicable a being as they thought him to be ;
that they should be sensible for what they are punished, while Ihey are ander
270 ETERNITY OF HELL TORMENTS
the threatened punishraent; that they should be sensible of theh own guilt, anc
should reraember their forraer opportunities and obligations, and should see theii
own folly and God's justice. If the eternal punishment threatened be eternal
annihilation, when it is inflicted, they wfll never know that it is inflicted; they
will never know that God is just in their punishment, or that they have their
deserts. And how is this agreeable to the Scripture, in which God threatens,
Ihat he will repay the wicked to bis face, Deut vii. 10. And to that in Job
xxi. 19, 20. Speaking there of God's punishing wicked men, it is said, " God
rewardeth him, and he shall know it ; his eyes shall see his destruction, and he
shall drink of the wralh of the Almighty." And to th.^t in Ezekiel xxii. 21,
22, " Yea, 1 will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and
ye shall be melted in the midst thereof As silver is melted in the midst of the
\'urnace, so shafl ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that Ithe
Lord have poured out ray fury upon you." And how il is agreeable to that
expression so often annexed lo the threatenings of God's wrath against wicked
men. And ye shall know that I am the Lord.
3. The Scripture teaches, that the wicked will suffer different degrees of
torment, according lo the different aggravations of their sins. Matt v. 22,
" Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the
judgment ; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of
the council ; but whosoever shall say. Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire."
Here Christ teaches us, that the torments of wicked men will be different in
diff'erent persons, according lo the different degrees of their guilt. It shall be
more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, for Tyre and Sidon, than for the cities
where most of Christ's raighty works were wrought. Again, our Lord assures
us, that he that knoweth his Lord's will, and prepareth not himself, nor doth
according lo his wifl, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knoweth
not, and coraraitteth things worthy of stripes, .shall be beaten with few stripes.
These several passages of Scripture prove, that there will be different degrees of
punishment in hell ; which is utterly inconsistent with the supposition, that that
punishment consists in annihilation, in which there can be no degrees, bul is the
sarae thing to every one who is a subject of it.
4. The Scriptures -ire very express and abundant in this raatter, that the
eternal punishment of tne wicked will consist in sensible raisery and torment,
and not in annihilation. What is said of Judas is worthy to be observed here :
" It had been good for tbat raan if he had not been born," Matt xxvi. 24.
This seems plainly lo leach us, that the punishment of the wicked is such that
their existence, upon the whole, is worse than non-existence. But if their
punishment consists merely in annihilation, this is not true. The v,'icked, in
their punishment, are said to weep and wail, and gnash their teeth ; which
implies not only real existence, but life, knowledge, and activity, and that they
are in a very sensible and exquisite manner affected with their punishment In
Isaiah xxxiii. 14, sinners in the stale of iheir punishraent are represented to
dwell with everiasting burnings. But if Ihey are only turned into nothing,
where is the foundation for this representation ? It is absurd to say, that sinners
will dwell with annihilation ; for there is no dwelling in the case. It is also
absurd to call annihilation a buming, which implies a slate of existence, sensi
bility, and extieme pain ; whereas in annihilation, there is neither one nor
another of these. The state of the fulure punishment of the wicked is evidently
represented tij be a state of existence and sensibility, when it is said, that they
shall be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone. How can this expression with
nny propriel;- be understood to mean a state of annihilation ? Yea, they arc
ETERNITY OF HELL TORMENTS. 271
expressly said to have no rest day nor night, but to be tormented with fire and
brimstone forever and ever. Rev. xx. 10. But annihilation is a slate of rest,
a state in which not the least torment can possibly be suffered. The rich raan
in hefl lifted up his eyes being in torment, and" saw Abraham afar off, and
Lazarus in his bosom, and entered into a particular conversation with Abraham ;
afl which proves that he was not annihilated.
The spirits of ungodly men before the resurrection are not in a state of
annihilation, but in a slate of miseiy ; they are spirits in prison, as the aposlle
saith of thera that were drowned in the flood, 1 Pet. iii. 19. Aud this appears
very plainly froraihe instance ofthe r-ich man before mentioned, if we consider
him as representing the wicked in their separate slate between death and the
resurrection. Bul if the wicked even then, are in a state of torment, much
more will they be, when they shall come to suffer that which is the proper
punishment of their sins.
Annihilation is not so great a calamity but that some raen have undoubtedly
chosen it, rather than such a slate of suffering as they have been in even in this
life. This was the case of Job, a good man. But if a good man in this world
m-ay suffer that which is w-orse than annihilation, doubtless the proper punish
ment of the "icked, in which God raeans to raanifest his peculiar abhorrence
of their wickedness, will be a calamity vastly greater still ; and therefore can
not be annihilation. That must be a very mean and contemptible testiraony of
God's wrath towards those who have rebelled against his crown and dignity,
have broken his laws, and despised both bis vengeance and his grace, which is
not so great a calamity as some of his true children have suffered in life.
The eternal punishment of the wicked is said to be the .second death, once
and again, as Rev. xx. 14, and xxi. 8. It is doubtless called the second death
in reference to the death of the body ; and as the dealh of the body is ordinarily
attended wilh great pain and distress, so the like, or something vastly greater, i'
implied in calling the eternal punishment of the wicked the second death ; anc
there would be no propriety in calling it so, if it consisted merely in annihilation
And Ihis second death wicked men wifl suffer ; for it cannot be called the second
death with respect to any other than raen ; it cannot be called so wilh respect
to devils, as they die no teraporal dealh, which is the first death. In Rev. r. 11.
it is said, " He that overcometh, shall not be hurt of the second dealh ;" im /iy-
ing, that all who ,do not overcorae their lusts, but live in sin, shall suffe ¦ iti
second death.
Again, wicked men will suffer Ihe same kind of death with the devils ; as
in ver.se 25th of the context, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devfl and his angels." Now the punishment ofthe devil is not annfl.i-
lation, but torment ; he therefore trembles for fear of it ; not for fear of being
annihilated, he would be glad of that What he is afraid of is torment, as
appears by Luke vin. 28, where he cries out, and beseeches Christ, that he
would not torment hira bei'ore the tirae. And il is said. Rev. xx. 10, " The devfl
that deceived them was cast inlo the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast
and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night, forever and ever."
It is strange how men will go directly against so plain and full revelations of
Scripture, as to suppose, notwithstanding all these Ihings, that the eternal punish
ment threatened against the wicked sigi/ifies no more than annihilation.
III. As the fulure punishment of the wicked consists in sensible misery ;
so it shall not onl} wntinue for a very long time, but shall be absolutely with
out end.
Of those who have held that the torments of hell are not absd utely etefnal,
272 ETERNITY OF HELL TORMENTS.
there have been two sorts. (1.) Some suppose, that in ihe threatenings of
everlasting punishment, the terms used do not necessarily iraport a proper eter
nity, but only a very long duration. (2.) Others suppose, that if they do im
port a proper eternity, yet we cannot necessarily conclude thence, that God wifl
fulfil his threatenings.
Therefore I .shall.
First, show that the threatenings of eternal punishraent do very plainly and
fully import a proper, absolute eternity, and not raerely a long duration.
This appears,
1. Because when the Scripture speaks of the wicked's being sentenced to
their punishraent at the tirae when all teraporal things are come lo an end, it
then speaks of it as everlasting, as in the text, and elsewhere. — It is true that
the term forever is not always in Scripture used to signify eternity. Sometimes
it raeans, as long as a raan liveth. In this sense it is said, that tbe Hebrew
servant, who chose to abide with his raaster, should have his ear bored, and shoifld
serve his raaster forever. — Sometiraes it means, during the continuance of the
state and church of the Jews. In this sense, several laws, which were peculiar
to that church, and were to continue in force no longer than that church should
last, are called statutes forever. See Exod. xxvii. 21, xxviii. 43, &c. — Some
times il means as long as the world stands. So in Eccles. i. 4, " One generation
passeth away, and another generation cometh ; bul the earlh a\)ideth forever."
And this last is the longest temporal duration that such a term is used to
signify. There is no instance of using such a term, for a long duration, when
it signifies a teraporal duration : for tbe duration of the world is doubtless the
longest of any of those Ihings that are teraporal, as ils beginning was the ear
liest of any of those Ihings that are teraporal. Therefore when the Scripture
speaks of things as being before the foundation ofthe world, il raeans that Ihey
existed frora eternity, and before the beginning of lime. So those things which
continue after the end of the world, are eternal Ihings, and are after the end
of time. — Doubtless when Ihe teraporal worid is at an end, there wifl be an end
tT tercporal Ihings. When the time comes that heaven and earlh are shaken
and removed, those Ihings that reraain will be Ihings that cannot be shaken, but
will / ,n.ain forever, Heb. xii. 26, 27.— This visible world contains all things
th-.T vie seen and are temporal ; and therefore when that is at an end, there will
be an end of all things that are temporal, and therefore the things that remain
after that will be eternal.
^¦c f'. e punishment ofthe wicked will not only remain after the end ofthe
-vor'--:, but it is called everiasting after that, as in the text, " These shafl go
f.7;ay inlo everlasting punishment." So in 2 Thess. i. 9, 10, " Who shall be
punished with everlasting de.struction frora the presence of Ihe Lord, and from the
glory of his power ; when he shall corae to be glorified in his saints," &c.—
Now, what can be raeant by a thing's being everiasting, after all temporal
things are corae to an end, but that it rs absolutely without end ?
2. Such expressions are used to set forth the duration of the punishment of
the wicked, as are never used in the Scriptures of the New Testament tosignify
any thing but a proper eternity. It is said, not only that that punishraent shall
be forever, but forever and ever. Rev. xiv. 1 1, " The sraoke of their torment
ascendeth up forever and ever." Rev. xx. 10, " Shall be tormented day and
mght, forever and ever."— Doubtless the New Testament has some expression
to signify a proper eternity, of which it has so often occasion to speak. But if
is ignorant of any higher expression than this : if tbis do not sisrnify an ab-
"clute eternity, there is none that does.
ETERNITY OF HELL TORMENTS. 273
3. The Scripture uses the same way of speaking to set forth the eiernity of
the punishraent ofthe wicked, that it uses to set forth the eternity of the happi
ness of the righteous, or the eternity of God hiraself Matt, xxv 46, " These
shall go away inlo everlasting punishment ; but the righteous into life eternal." —
¦''he woids everlasting and eternal, in the original, are the sarae. Rev. xxii. 5,
•• And they (the saints) shall reign forever and ever." And the Scripture has no
higher expression to signify the eternity of God himself, than that of his being
forever and ever ; as Rev. iv. 9, " To him who sat on the throne, who liveth
forever and ever," and in the lOlh verse, and in chap. v. 14, and chap. x. 6,
and chap. xv. 7.
Again the Scripture expresses God's eternity by this, that it shafl be for
ever, after the world has come lo an end : Psalm cii. 26, 27, " They shall per
ish, but thou shalt endure : yea, all of thera shall wax old like a garraent ; as
a vesture shalt thou change thera, and they shall be changed. But thou art
the same, and thy years shall have no end."
4. The Scripture says, that wicked men shall not be delivered, till they
have paid the uttermost farthing of their debt. Matt. v. 26. Nor lill they have
paid the last mile, Luke x. 59 ; i. e., the utmost that is deserved, and all mercy
is excluiled by Ihis expression. But we have shown that they deserve an infi
nite, an endless punishment.
5. The Scripture says absolutely, that their puni.shraent shall not have an
end :" Mark ix. 44, " Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
Now, it will not do to say, that the raeaning is, their worra shall live a great
while, or that it shall be a great while before their fire is quenched. If ever
the tirae coraes that their worra sball die ; if ever there shall be a quenching of
the fire at all, then it is not true that their worm dieth not, and that the fire is
not quenched. For if there be a dying of tbe worra, and a quenching of the
fire, let it be at whal tirae it will, nearer or further off, it is equally contrary to
such a negation, it diethnot, it is not quenched.
Secondly, There are others who allow, that the expressions of Ibe threaten
ings do denote a proper eiernity ; bul then, they say, it doth not certainly fol
low, that the punishment will really be eternal ; because, say they, God raay
threaten, and yet not fulfil his threatenings. Though they allow that the threat
enings are posflive and pereraptory, without any reserve, yet they say, Gc)d is
not obliged to fulfil absolute positive threatenings, as he is absolute promises,
because in promises a right is conveyed that the creature to whom the promises
are raade will claim : but there is no danger of the creature's claiming any
right by a threatening. — Therefore I ara now to show, that what God has
positively declared in this raatter, does indeed raake il certain, that it shall bf
as he has declared. To this end, I shall raention two things :
I. It is self-evidenlly contrary to the divine truth, positively to declare any
thing to be real, whether past, present, or lo come, which God at the same
time knows is not so. Absolutely threatening that any thing shall be, is the
same as absolutely declaring that it is to be. For any to suppose, that God
absolutely declares" that any thing will be, which he at the same time knows
wifl not be, is blasphemy, if there be any such thing as blasphemy.
Indeed, it is very true, that there is no obligation on God, arising from tbe
claim of the creature, as there is in promises. They seem to reckon the wrong
way, who suppose the necessity ofthe execution of the threatening to arise from
a proper obligation on God to the creature to execute consequent on bis threat
ening. For indeed the certainty of the execution arises the other way, viz., on
tho obligation there was on the omniscient God, in threatening, to conform his
Vol. IV. 35
274 ETERNITY OF HELL TORMENTS.
threatening lo what he knew would be future in execution. Though, strictly
speaking, God is not properly obliged lo tbe creature to execute, because he
has threatened, yet he was obliged not absolutely to threaten, if al the same
time he knew that he should not, or would not fulfil, because tbis would net
have been consistent with his Irutb. -So that frora the truth of God there is an
inviolable connection between posiiive threatenings and execution. They that
suppose that God absolutely threatened, or positively declared, that he would
do contrary to what he knew would come to pass, do therein suppose, that he
absolutely threatened contrary lo what he knew to be truth. And how any one
can speak contrary to what he knows to be truth, in declaring, promising, or
threatening, or any other way, consistently wilh inviolable truth, is inconceivable.
Threatenings are significations of something ; and if they are raade consis
tenlly with truth, they are true significations, or significations of truth, or signi
fications of that which shall be. If absolute threatenings are significations of any
thing, they are significations of the futurity of the things threatened. But if the
futurity of the things threatened be not true and real, then how can the threaten
ing be a true signification ? And if God, in them, speaks contrary to what he
knows, and contrary to what he intends, how he can speak true is inconceivable
Absolute threatenings are a kind of predictions; and though God is not
properly obliged by any claim of ours to fulfil predictions, unless they are ofthe
nature of promises ; yet il certainly would be contrary lo truth, to predict and
say such a thing would come lo pass, which he knew at the same time would
not corae to pass. Threatenings are declarations of something future, and they
raust be declarations of future truth, if they are true declarations. Its behic
future alters not the case any more than if it were present It is equally con
trary to trulh, to declare contrary to what allhe same time is known to be truth,
whether it be of Ihings past, present, or to come ; for all are alike to God.
Besides, we have often declarations in Scripture of the future eternal pun
ishment ofthe wicked, in the proper form of predictions, and not in the form of
threatenings. So in the text. These shall go away into everlasting punishment
So in those frequent assertions of eternal punishment in the Revelation, some of
which I have already quoted. The Revelation is a prophecy, and is .so called
in the book itself; so are those declarations of eternal punishment. — The like
declarations we have also in many other places of Scripture.
2. The doctrine of those who teach, that it is not certain that God will ful
fil those absolute threatenings, is blasphemous another way; and that is, as
God, according to their supposition, was obliged to make use of a fallacy lo
govern the world. They own, that il is needful that men should apprehend them
selves liable to an eternal punishraent, that they might thereby be restrained
from sin, and that God has threatened such a punishment, for the very end that
they might believe themselves exposed to it. But what an unworthy opinion
does this convey of God and his government, of his infinite majesty, and wis
dom, ami all-suflSciency ! — Besides, they suppose, that though God has made
use of such a fallacy, yet it is not such a one but that they have detected hira
in it Though God intended raen should believe it to be certain, thpt sinners
are liable to an eternal pi'nishraent ; yet they suppose, that they have been so
cunning as lo find out that -t is not certain ; and so that God had not laid his
design so deep, but that such cunning men as they can discern the cheat, and
defeat the design ; because they- have found out, that there is no necessary con
nection between the threatening o.*' eternal punishraent, and the execution of that
threatening. Considering t'nese thing.s, is it not greatly to be wondered at, that the'great
ETERNITY OF HELL fORMENTS. 27(b
Archbishop Tillotson, who has made so great a figure araong the new fashioned
divines, should advance such an opinion as this 1
Before 1 conclude this head, it may be proper for me to answer an objection
or two, that may arise in the minds of some.
L It may be here said. We have instances wherein God halh not fulfilled
his threatenings ; as his threatening lo Adam, and in him to raankind, that they
should surely die, if they should eat the forbidden fruit 1 answer, il is not
true that God did not fulfil that threatening: he fulfilled it, and will fulfil it in
every jot and tittle.— -When God said, " Thou shalt surely die,'' if we respect
spiritual death, it was fulfilled in Adam's person in the day that he ate. God
immediately took away his image, his Holy Spirit, and original righteousness,
which was the highest and be.st hfe of our first parents; and they were imraedi
ately in a doleful state of spiritual death.
If we respect temporal death, that was also fulfilled: he brought death
upon himself and all his posterity, and he virtually suffered that death on that
very day on which he ate. His body was brought into a corruptible, raortal,
and dying condition, and so it continued -till it was dissolved. — If we look at
eternal death, and indeed all that death whicb was comprehended in the threat
ening, it was properly speaking, fulfilled in Christ When God said to Adam,
If thou eatest, thou shalt die, he spake not only to him, and of him personally ;
but the words respected raankind, Adam and his race, and doubtless were so
understood by hira. His offspring were to be looked upon as sinning in hira, and
so should die with him. The words do as justly allow of an imputation of death
as of sin; they are as well consistent with dying in a surety as wilh sinning in
one. Therefore, tbe threatening is fulfilled in the death of Christ, the surely.
2. Another objection may arise from God's threatening to Nineveh. He
threatened, that in forty days Nineveh should be destroyed, which yet he did
not fulfil. — I answer, that threatening could justly be looked upon no otherwise
than as conditional. It was of the nature of a warning, and not of an absolute
denunciation. Why was Jonah sent to the Ninevites, bul to give them warning,
that they might have opportunity to repent, reform, and avert the approaching
destruction ? God had no other design or end in sending the prophet to them,
but that tbey might be warned and tried by hira, as God warned the Israelites,
and warned Judah and Jerusalera before their destruction. Therefore the pro
phets, together with their prophecies of approaching destruction, joined earnest
exhortations to repent and reforra, that it might be averted.
No more coifld justly be understood to be certainly threatened, than that
Nineveh should be destroyed in forty lays, continuing as it was. For it was
for tbeir wickedness that that destructio,' was threatened, and so the Ninevites
took it Tiierefore, when the cause was removed the effect ceased. — It was
contrary to God's known manner, to threaten punishment and destruction for
sin here in tbis world absolutely, so that it should come upon the persons threat
ened unavoidably, let them repent and reform and do what they would, agreeably
to Jer. xviii. 7, 8 : " At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and con
cerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to pull down, and to destroy it ; if that na
tion against whora I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evfl
that I thought to do unto them." So that all threatenings ofthis nature bad a con
dition iraplied in them, according to the known and declared mannerof God's deal
ing. And tbe Ninevites did not take it as an absolute sentence or denunciation :
if they lad they would have despaired of any benefit "by fasting and reformati'>n.
But the threatenings of eternal wralh are positive and absolute. Thtra Is
oofaing in the vsjord of God frora which we can gather any condition. The Mi'y
2';6 3TERNITY OF HELL TORMENTS.
i>pporluiiity of escaping is in this world ; this is tbe only state of trial wherein
we have any offers of mercy, or there is any place for repentance.
IV. I shall mention several good and iraportant ends, which wfll be obtained
by the eternal punishment of the wicked.
1. Hereby God vindicates his injured majesty. Wherein sinners cast con
tempt upon it, and trample it in the dust, God vindicates and honors it, and
makes il appear, as il is indeed, infinite, by showing that it is infinitely dreadful
to contemn or offend it.
2. God glorifies his justice. The glory of God is the greatest g-)od ; it is
that v.-hich is the chief end of the creation ; it is a thing of greater importance
than any thing else. But this is one way wherein God will glorify himself, as
in tbe eternal destruction of ungodly men, be will glorify his justice. Therein
he will appear as a just governor of the world. The vindictive justice of God
will appear strict, exact, awful, and terrible, and therefore glorious.
3. God hereby indirectly glorifies his grace on the vessels of mercy. The
saints in heaven will behold the torments of the daraned : " The smoke of their
torment ascendeth up forever and ever." Isa. Ixvi. 24, " And they shall go
forth and look upon the carcasses of tbe raen that have transgressed against me :
for their worm shall not die, neither shall Iheir fire be quenched, and they shafl
be an abhorring unto all flesh." And in Rev. xiv. 10, il is said, thai they
shall be torraented in the presence ofthe holy angels, and in the presence of
the Lamb. So they will be torraented in the presence also ofthe glorified saints.
Hereby the saints will be raade the raore sensible how great their salvation
is. When tbey shall see how great the misery is frora which God hath savei
thera, and how great a difference he halh made between tbeir stale, and the
state of others, who were by nature, and perhaps by practice, no more sinful
and ill deserving than they, it will give thera more of a sense of the wonder
fulness of God's grace to them. Every lime they look upon the daraned, it will
excite in them a hvely and adrairing sense of the grace of God, in milking thera
so to differ. This the apostle informs us is one end of the daranation of ungodly
men, Rora.ix. 22, 23 : " What if God, wflling to show his wrath, and to raake his
power known, endureth with rauch long-suffering the vessels of wralh fitted to de
struction : and that he might raake known the riches of his glory on the vessels of
mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory ?" The view of the raisery of
the daraned wfll double the ardor of the love and gratitude of the sainls in heaven
4. The sight of hell torraents wfll exalt the happiness of the sair^ts forever.
It wifl not only make them raore sensible of the greatness and freeness of the
grace of God in their happiness ; but it will really rnake their happiness the
greater, as it will make them more sensible of their own happiness ; it will
give them a raore lively relish of it ; it will make thera prize it more. When
they see others, who were of the sarae nature, and born under the same circum
stances, plunged in such misery, and they so distinguished, 0 it will make them
sensible how happy they are. A sense of the opposite raisery, in all cases,
greatly increases the relish of any joy or pleasure.
The sight of the wonderful power, the great and dreadful inaje.sty, and awful
jitrtice and holiness of God, manifested in the eternal punishment of ungodly
men, wfll make thera prize his favor and love vastly the more; and they will
be so irruch the raore happy in the enjoyment of it.
APPLICATION.
1. From what hath been said, we may learn the folly and madness ofthe
greater par' of mankind, in that for the sake of present momentary gratification,
ETERNITY OF HELL TORMENTS. 277
ihey lun the venture of enduring all these eternal torments. They prefer a
small pleasuie, or a httle wealth, or a liltle earthly honor and greatness, which
can last but for a moment, to an escape from this punishment. If it be true that
the torments of hell are eternal, what will it profit a man, if he gain the whole
world and lose his own soul ; or what shall a man give in exchange for hi."
soul 1 What is there in this world, which is not a trifle, and lighter than vanity,
in comparison with these eternal things 1
How mad are men, who so often hear of these things and pretend to be
lieve them ; who can live but a little while, a fewyears ; who do not even expect
to live here longer than others of their species ordinarily do; and who yet are
careless about what becomes of themselves in another -world, where there is no
change and no end ! How mad are they, when they hear that if they go on in
sin, they shall be eternally miserable, that they are not moved by it, but hear it
with as much carelessness and coldness as if they were no way concerned in
the matter ; when they know not but that it may be their case, tbat they may be
suffering these torments before a week is at an end, and that if it should be so, it
would be no strange thing, no other than a comraon thing !
How can men be so careless of such a raatter as their own eternal and des
perate destruction and torraent ! What a strange stupor and senslessness possesses
the hearts of raen ! How common a thing is it to see raen, who are told from
Sabbath lo Sabbath of eternal raisery, and who are as raortal as other men, so
careless about il, that they seem not to be at all restrained by it from whatever
their souls lust after ! It is not half so much their care to escape eternal misery,
as it is to get money and land, and tobe considerable in the world, and to gratil'y
their senses. Their thoughts are rauch more exercised about these things, and
much raore of their care and concern is about thera. Eternal misery, though they
he every day exposed to it, is a thing neglected, it is but now and then Ihought
of, and then with a great deal of stupidity, and not wilh concern enough to stir
them up to do any thing considerable in order to escape il. They are not sen
sible that it is worth their while to take any considerable pains in order to it.
And if they do take pains for a little while, they soon leave off, and soraething
else takes up their thoughts and concern.
Thus you will see it to be among young and old. Multitudes of those who
are in youth, lead a careless life, taking little care about tbeir salvation. So
you raay see it to be among persons of middle age. So it is still with many,
when advanced in years, and when they ceriainly draw near lo the grave. Yet
these sarae persons will seera to acknowledge, that the greater part (3f men go
to hell and suffer eternal raisery, and this through carelessness about it How
ever they will do the sarae. How strange is it that raen can enjoy themselves
and be at rest, when they are thus hanging over eternal burnings ; at tbe sarae
time, having no lease of their lives, and not knowing how soon the thread by
which they hang will break, nor do they pretend to know ; and if it breaks,
they are gone, they are lost foreVer, and there is no remedy I Yet they trouble
not themselves much about it ; nor will they hearken to those who cry to them,
and entreat thera to take care for theraselves, and labor to get out of that dan
gerous condition : tbey are not willing to take so rauch pains: they choose not
Eo be diverted frora arnusing themselves wilb those toys and vanities which they
have in hand. Thus well might the wise rnan say, as in Eccles. ix. 3, "The
heart of the sons of men is full of evil. Madness is in their heart while they
live ; and after that they go to the dead."
How much wiser are those few, who make it their mail business to lay a
foundation for Wernity, to secure their salvation !
27S ETERNITY OF HELL TORMENTS.
2 I 2hall iraprove this subject in a use of exhortation to sinners, to take
care to escape these eternal torments. If ihey be eternal, one would think that
would be enough to awaken your concern, and excite your diligence. If the
punishraent be eternal, it is infinite, as we said before; and therefore no other
evil, no death, no teraporary torment thai ever you heard of, or that you ca.-.
imagine, is any thingin coraparison with it, but is as much less and less consider
able, not only as a grain of sand is less than the whole universe, but as it is less
tli.in the boundless space which encorapasses the universe. Therefore here,
(1.) Be entreated to coasider attentively how great and awful a thing eter
nity is. Although you cannot comprehend it the more by considering, yet you
may be raade raore sensible that it is not a thing to be disregarded. Do but
consider what it is to suffer extreme torment forever and ever ; to suffer it day
and night, frora one day to another, frora one year lo another, frora one age to
another, from one thousand ages to another, and so adding age to age, and
thousands to thousands, in pain, in wailing and lamenting, groaning and shriek
ing, and gnashing your teeth ; wilh your souls full of dreadful grief and amaze
ment, with your bodies and every member full of racking torture, wiihout any
possfljflity of getting ease; without any pos.sibility of moving God to pity by
your cries; wiihout any possibility of hiding yourselves from hira; without any
possibflity of diverting your thoughts from your pain ; without any possibility
of obtaining any manner of mitigation, or help, or change for the better any way.
(2.) Do but consider how dreadful despair will be in such torment How
dismal will it be, when you are under these racking torraents, to know as
suredly that you never, never shall be delivered from them ; to have no hope:
when you shall wish that you might but be turned into nothing, but shall have
no hope of il ; when you shall wish that you mighl be turned into a toad or a
serpent, but shall have no hope ofii; when you would rejoice, if you might but
have any relief, after you shall have endured these torments millions of ages, but
shall have no hope of it; when after you shall have worn out the age of the
sun, moon, and stars, in your dolorous groans and lamentations, without any
rest day or night, or one minute's ease, yet you shall have no hope of ever being
delivered ; when after you shall have worn out a thousand ino.e such ages, yet
you shall have no hope, but shall know that you are not one whit nearer to the
end of your torments ; bul that still there are the sarae groans, the sarae shrieks,
the sarae doleful cries, incessantly to be raade by you, and that the smoke, of
your torraent shall still ascend up forever and ever ; and that your souls, which
shall have been agitated wilh the wralh of God all this while, yet will stifl ex
ist to bear raore wralh; your bodies, which shall have been burning and roast
ing- afl tbis whfle in these glowing flames, yet shall not have .been consumed,;
but will remain to roast through an eternity yet,; which will not have been at
all shortened by what shall have been past
You raay by considering make yourselves more sensible than you ordinarily
are ; but it is a little you can conceive of what it is to have no hope in such
torments. How sinking would it be to you, to endure such pain as you have felt in-
this world, without any hopes, and to know that you never should be delivered
frora it, nor have one minute's rest ! You can now scarcely : conceive how
doleful that would be. How much more to endure tbe vast weight of the
wrath of God wiihout hope! The more tbe damned in hell think of the eter
nity of their torments, the more amazing will it appear to thera ; and alas !
they are not able to avoid thinking of it, they wifl not be able to keep it out
of their minds. Their tortures wifl not divert thera from it, but will fix their
ETERNITY OF HELL TORMENTS. 279
attention to it 0 how dreadful will eternity appear to them after they shall
nave been thinking on it for ages together, and shall have had so long an ex
perience of their torments! — The damned in hell will have two infinites per
petually lo amaze ihem, and swallow them up: one is an infinite God, whose
wrath they will bear, and whom they will behold their perfect and irreconcila
ble enemy, fhe other is the infinite duration of their torment.
If it were possible for the damned in hefl to have a comprehensive know
ledge of eternity, their sorrow and grief would be infinite in degree. The com
prehensive view of so much sorrow which they must endure, would cause infinite
grief for the present Though they will not have a comprehensive knowledge
of it, yet they will doubtless have a vastly more lively aiul strong apprehension
of it than we can have in this world. Their lorinenls will give them an impres
sion of it. A man in his present state, without any enlargement of his capacity,
would have a vastly more lively impression of eternity than he has, if he were
only under some pretty sharp pain in some meraber of his body, and were at
the same time assured, that he must endure that pain forever. His pain woula
give him a greater sense of eternity than other rnen have. How much more will
those excruciating torments, whicli the damned will suffer, have this eff'ect !
Besides, their capacity will probably be enlarged, their understandings will
be quicker and stronger in a future state ; and God can give thera as great a
sense and as strong an impression of eternity, as he pleases, to increase tbeir
grief and torraent.
0 be entreated, ye that are in a Christless state, and are going on in \ "" ,
to hell, that are daily exposed to damnation, to consider the.se things. If you
do not, it will surely be but a little while before you will experience them, and
then you will know how dreadful it is to despair in hell ; and it may be befoie
this year, or this month, or this week, is at an end ; before another Sabbath, or
ever you shall have opportunity lo hear another serraon.
(3.) That you may effectually escape these dreadful and eternal tormer.-is,
be entreated to flee to, and embrace him who carae into the world for the very
end of saving sinners from these torments, who has paid the whole debt due to
the divine law, and exhausted eternal in temporal sufferings. Whal great en
couragement is it to those of you who are sensible that you are exposed to eter
nal punishment, that there is a Saviour provided, who is able, and who freely
offers to save you frora that punishraent, and that in a way which is perfectly
consistent with the glory of God, yea, which is raore to the glory of God than it
Would be if you should suffer the eternal punishment of hefl. For if you should
suffer that punishraent you would never pay the whole of the debt. Those who are
sent to hell neve; will have paid the whole ofthe debt which they owe to God,
nor indeed a part which bears any proportion to the whole. They never will
have paid a part which bears so great a proportion to the whole, as one raite
to ten thousand talents. Justice therefore never can be actually satisfied in
jour daranation ; but it is actually satisfied in Christ Therefore he is accepted
ofthe Father, and therefore all who believe are accepted and justified in hira.
Therefore believe in him, come to him, commit your souls to him to be saved
by hira. In him you shall be safe from the eternal torments of hell. Nor is
ihat all : but through him you shall inherit inconceivable blessedness and glory,
which wfll be of equal duration with the torments of hell. For as al the last day
the wicked shall go away into everiasting punishment, .so shafl the righteous
or those who trust in Christ, go into hfe eternal.
SERMON xn
WHEN THE WICKED SHALL HAVE FILLED CP THE MEASURE OF TIIEIR Siri, WKATU WUJ.
COME UPON THEM TO THE UTTERMOST.
1 Thess. ii. 16. — To fill up their sins alway; forthe wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
In verse 14, the apostle commends the Christian Thessalonians that they
becarae the followers of the churches of God in Judea, bolh in faith and in suf
ferings ; in faith, in that they received the word, not as the word of man, but
as it is in truth the word of God ; in sufferings, in that they had suffered like
things of their own countrymen as they had of the Jews. Upon which the
apostle sets forth the persecuting, cruel, and perverse wickedness of that people,
" who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have," says he,
" persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all raen, forbid
ding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they raight be saved." Then come in the
words of the text ; " To fill up their sins alway ;' for the wrath is come upon
thera to the uttermost."
In these words we may observe two things :
1. To what effect was the heinous wickedness and obstinacy of the Jews,
viz., to fill up their sins. God hath set bounds to every raan's wickedness; he
suffers raen to live, and to go on in sin, lill they have filled up their raeasure,
and then cuts thera off. To this effect was the wickedness and obstinacy of the
Jews : they were exceedingly wicked, and thereby filled up the raeasure of theh
sins a great pace. And the reason why they were permitted lo be so obstinate
under the preaching and miracles of Christ, and of the apostles, and under afl
the means used wilh thera, was, that they raight fill up the raeasure of their sins.
This is agreeable to what Christ said, Matt, xxiii. 31, 32, " Wherefore ye be
witnesses unlo yourselves, that ye are the children of thera which killed the
prophets. Ffll ye up then the measure of your fathers."
2. The punishment of their wickedness: " The wrath is corae upon them
to the uttermost" There is a connection between tbe measure of men's sin,
and the measure of punishraent. When they have filled up the measure of their
sin, then is filled up the measure of God's wrath.
The degree of their punishraent, is the uttermost degree. This raay respect
both a national and personal punishment. If we take it as a national punishment,
a little after the time when the epistle was written, wrath carae upon the nation
of the Jews to the uttermost, in their terrible destruction by the Romans ; when,
as ChrisI said, " was great tribulation, such as never was since the beginning of
the world to that tirae," Matt. xxiv. 21. That nation had before suffered many
of tbe fruits of divine wrath for their sins ; but this was beyond all, this was
their highest degree of punishment as a nation. If we take il as a personal
punishraent, then it respects their punishment in hell. God often punishes men
very dreadfully in this world ; but in hell " wrath coraes on them to the utter
most " — By this expression is also denoted the certainty of this punishment.
for though the punishment was tben future, yet it is spoken of as present:
" The wralh is come upon thera to the utterraost" It was as certain as if it
had already taken place. God, who knows all Ihings, speaks of Ihings that
are not as tiiough Ihey were; for things present and things future are equally
vertain with hlin. It also denotes the near r.pj roach of it. The wrath is come.
WRATH UPON THE WICKED TO THE UTTERMOST. 281
\ e., it is just at hand ; it is at the door ; as it proved with respeci to that na
tion ; their terrible destruction by the Romans was soon after the apostle wrote
this epistle.
Doctrine. When those that continue in sin shall have filled up the measure
of their sin, then wrath will come upon thera to the ulterinost
I. Prop. There is a certain measure that God halh set to the sin of every
wicked man. God says crmcerning the sin of man, as he says to the raging
waves of the sea. Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further. The measure of
somc! is much greater than of others. Sorae reprobates commit but a little sin
in comparison wilh others, and so are to endure proportionably a smaller punish
ment There aie many vessels of wralh; but some are smaller and others
greater vessels; some will contain comparatively but liltle wrath, others a
greater measure of it. Sometimes, when we see men go lo dieadful lengths,
and become very heinously wicked, we are ready to wonder that God lets Ihem
alone. He sees them go on in such audacious w-ickedness, and keeps silence,
nor does any thing to interrupt them, but they go smoothly on, and meet with
no hurt But sometimes the reason why God lets them alone is, because they
have not filled up the measure of their sins. When they live in dreadful
wickedness, tbey are bul filling up the measure which God hath limited for the.m.
This is sometimes the reason why God suffers very wicked men lo live so long ;
"because their iniquity is not full : Gen. xv. 16, " The iniquity of the Amorites
is not yet full." For this reason also God sometimes suffers them to live in
prosperity. Their prosperity is a snare to them, and an occasion of their sinning
a great deal raore. Wherefore God suffers them lo have such a snare, because
he suffers them to fill up a larger measure. So, for this cause, he sometimes
suffers thera to live under great light, and great means and advantages, at the
same lime lo neglect and misiraprove all. Every one shall live lill he hath
filled up his raeasure.
II. Prop. While raen continue in sin, they are filling the measure set them.
This is the work in which they spend their whole lives ; they begin in their
chfldhood ; and if they live to grow old in sin, they stifl go on with this work.
It is the work with which every day is filled up. They may alter their business
in other respects ; they may sometimes be about one thing, and sometimes about
another ; but they never change from this work of filling up the measure oi
their sins. Whatever they put their hands lo, they are slill employed in this
work. This is the first thing that they se* theraselves about when they awake
in the morning, and the last thing they do at night. They are all the while
treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righleous
judgment of God. It is a gross mi.stake of some natural men, who think that
when they read and pray they do not add to their sins ; bul, on the contrary,
think they diminish their guilt by these exercises. They think, that instead of
adding to their sins, they do something lo satisfy for their past offences ; but
instead of that, they do but add lo the raeasure by iheir best prayers, and by
those services wilh which they theraselves are most pleased.
III. Prop. When once tbe measure of their sins is filled up, then wrath wfll
come upon them to the utterraost. God will then wait no longer upon them.
Wicked men think that God is altogether such a one as themselves, because,
when they commit such wickedness, he keeps silence. " Because judgment
against an evfl work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart ofthe children
of men is fuHy set in Ihem to clo evil." Bul when once they shafl have filled
ip the measure ot th^-ir sins, judgment will be executed ; God wil! not beai
Vol. IV 36
282 WRATH UPON THE WICKED TO THE UTTERMOST.
with thera any longer. Now is the day of grace, and the day of patience, whiefc
they spend in filling up their sins ; bul when their sins shall be full, then will
corae the day of wralh, the clay of the fierce anger of God. God often executes
his wrath on ungodly men, in a less degree, in this world. He sometimes brings
afflictions upon them, and that in wi-alh. Sometiraes he expresses his wrath ir.
very sore judgments ; sometimes he appeais in a terrible raanner, not only out
wardly, but also in the inward exr.-essions of 't on their consciences. Some,
oefore Ihey died, have had the wrath of God inflicted on their souls in degries
that have been intolerable. But these things are only forerunners of theij
punishment, only slight foretastes of wrath. God never stirs up all his wralh
against wicked men whfle in this world ; but when once wicked men shall have
filled up the measure of their sins, then wrath wfll come upon them to the
uttermost ; and that in the following respects:
1. Wralh will corae upon them without any restraint or moderation in the
degree of it. God dolh always lay, as it were, a restraint upon hiraself; he
doth not stir up his wrath ; he stays his rough wind inthe day of his east wind;
he lets not his arm light clown on wicked rien with ils full weight. But when
sinners shall have filled up the measure of iheir sins, there will be no caution,
no restraint. His rough wind will not be stayed nor moderated. The wralh
of God will be poured out like fire. He will come forth, not only in anger, but
in the fierceness of his anger ; he will execute wrath wilh power, so as to show
what his wralh is, and make his power known. There will be nothing to alle
viate his wrath ; his heavy wrath will lie on them, wiihout any thing lo light
en the burden, or to keep off, in any measure, the full weight of it from
pressing the soul. — His eye will not spare, neither will he regard the sinner's
cries and lamentations, however loud and bitter. Then shall wicked men know
that God is the Lord ; they shafl know how great that majesty is which they
have despised, and how dreadful that threatened wralh is which they have so
little regarded. Then shafl come on wicked men that punishment which they
deserve. God will exact of them the utterraost farthing. Their iniquities are
marked before him ; they are afl written in his book ; and in the future world
he will reckon with them, and Ihey must pay all the debt. Their sins are laid
up in store with God ; they are sealed up among his treasures ; and thera he
will recompense, even recompense inlo their bosoms. The consummate degree
of punishraent wifl not be executed lill the day of judgment ; but the wicked
are sealed over to this consumraate punishraent imraediately after death ; they
are cast into hell, and there bound in chains of darkness to the judgment ofthe
great day ; and tbey know that the highest degree of punishraent is coming
upon thern. Final wralh will be executed without any mixture ; all meicy, afl
enjoyraents will be taken away. God sometiraes expresses his wrath in this
world ; but here good Ihings and evil are mixed together ; in the future there
wifl be only evil things.
2. Wrath will then be executed without any merciful circumstances. The
judgments which God executes on ungodly men in this worid, are attended vhh
many merciful circumstances. There is rauch patience and long-suffering, to
gether with judgment ; judgments are joined with continuance of opportunity
lO seek, mercy. But in hell there will be no raore exercises of divine patience
The judgments which God exercises on ungodly raen in this worid are warningi
to thera lo avoid greater pun-ishraenls; but the wrath which will corae upon
thera, when they shall have filled up the raeasure of their sin, wifl not be of the
nature of warnings. Indeed they will be effectually awakened, and made tho
roughly sensible, by what they shall suffer ; yet their being awakened and made
WRATH UPON THE WICKED TO THE 'JTTERMOTS. 283
sensible will do thera no good. Many a wicked man hath suffered very awful
things from God in this worid, which have been a means of saving good; but
that wrath which sinners shall suff'er after dealh will be no way for tlieir good.
God wifl have no merciful design in it ; neither will il be possible that thev
should get any good by that or by any thing else.
3. Wrath will be so executed, as to perfect the work to which wrath tends,
viz., utterly to undo the subject of it 'VV'ralb is often so executed in ihis life,
as greatly to distress pereons, and bring them into great calamity; yet not so
as to complete the ruin of those who suffer it; but in another world, il wfll be
so executed, as to finish tbeir destruction, and render them utterly and perfectly
undone : it will take away all comfort, all hope, and all support. The soul
will be, as it were, utteriy crushed ; the wrath wifl be wholly intolerable. It
must sink, and will utterly sink, and wifl have no more strength lo keep itself
frora sinking, than a worm would have to keep itself from being crushed under
the weight of a mountain. The wrath will be so great, so migbly and power
ful, as wholly to abolish all manner of welfare : Matt. xxi. 44, " But on whom
soever it shall fall, it will grind hira to powder."
4. When persons sball have filled up tbe raeasure of their sin, that wrath
will come upon them which is eternal. Though raen may suffer very terrible
and awful judgraents in tbis world, yet those judgments have an end. They
may be long continued, yet they commonly admit of relief Teraporal distresses
and sorrows have intermissions and respite, and commonly by degrees abate
and wear off; but the wrath that shall be executed, wben the measure of sin
shall have been filled up, will have no end. Thus it will be to the uttermost
as to its duration ; it will be of so long continuance, that it will be impossible
h should be longer. Nothing can be longer than eternity.
5. When persons shall have filled up the-measure oftheir sin, then wralh will
come upon them to the uttermost of what is threatened. Sin is an infinite evil ;
and the punishment wbich God hath threatened against it is very dreadful.
The threatenings of God against the workers of iniquity are very awful ; but
these threatenings are never fully accomplished in this world. However dreadful
things some raen may suffer in this life, yet God never fully executes his threat
enings for so rauch as one sin, till they have filled up the whole raeasure. The
threatenings of the law are never answered by any thing that any raan suffers
here. The raost awful judgment in this life doth not answer God's threaten
ings, either in degree, or in circumstances, or in duration. If the greatest
sufferings that ever are endured in this life should be eternal, it would not an
swer the threatening. Indeed temporal judgments belong to the threatenings
of thelaw ; but these are not answered by them ; they are but foretastes ofthe
punishraent. " The wages of sin is death." No expressions of wralh that are
suffered before men have fifled up the measure of their sin, are its full wages.
But then, God will reckon with them, and will recompense inlo their bosoms
tlie full deserved sum. APPLICATION.
The use I would make of this doctrine is, of -warning to natural men, to
.est no longer in sin, and to make haste to flee from it. The things which
have been said, under this doctrine, raay well be awakening, avvfii! considera
tions to you *It is awful to consider whose wrath it is that abides upon you,
and of what wrath you are in danger. It is impossible to express the raisery
of a natural condition It is like being in Sodora, with a dreadful storm of fire
284 WRATH UPON THE WICKED TO THE VTTERMOST.
and orliustone hanging over it, just ready to break forth, and to be poured
down upon it. The clouds of divine vengeance are full, and just ready lo burst
Here let those who yet continue in sin, in this town, consider particularly,
1. Under what great means and advantages you continue in sin. God is
now favoring us with very great and extraordinary means and advantages, in
that we have such extraordinary tokens of the presence of God araong us ; his
Spirit is so remarkably poured out, and multitudes of all ages, and all sorts, are
converted and brought home to Christ. God appears among us in the most
extraordinary manner, perhaps, that ever he did in .New England. The chil
dren of Israel saw many mighty works of God, when he brought them out of
Egypt ; but we at this day see works raoie mighty, and of a more glorious
nature. We who live under such light, have had loud calls ; but now above all.
Now is a day of salvation. The fountain halh been set open among us in an
extraordinary raanner, and hath stood open for a considerable tirae : yet you con
tinue in sin, and the calls that you have hitherto had have not brought you lo be
washed in it What extraonlinary advantages have you lately enjoyed, to stir you
up ! How hath every thing in the town, of lale, been of that tendency ! Thosp
things which used to be the greatest hinderances have been removed. You have
not the ill exaraples of immoral persons to be a temptation to you. There is
not now that vain worldly talk, and ill company, to divert you, and to be a
hinderance to you, which there used to be. Now you have raultitudes of good ex
araples set before you ; there are raany now all around you, who, instead of divert-
.'ng and hindering you, are earnestly desirous of your salvation, and willing to
do all that they can to move you lo flee to Christ : they have a thirsting desire
for it. The chief talk in the town has of late been about tbe things of religion,
and has been such as hath tended-to proraote, and not to hinder, your souls'
good. Every thing al! around you halh tended to stir you up ; and wifl yoL
yet continue in sin 1
Sorae of you have continued in sin till you are far advanced in life. You
were warned when you were children ; and some of you had awakenings then:
however, the time went away. You became men and women ; and then you
were stirred up again, you had the strivings of God's Spirit ; and some of you
have fixed the limes when you would make thorough work of seekino- salvation
Sorae of you perhaps determined to do il when you should be married and
settled in the world ; others when you should have finished such a business, aad
when your circumstances should be so and so altered. Now these times have
come, and aie past ; yet you continue in sin.
Many of you have had reraarkable warnings of Providence. Sorae of you
have been warned by the deaths of near relations ; you have stood by, and
seen others die and go into eternity ; yet this hatb not been effectual. Some of
you have been near death yourselves, have been brought nigh the grave insure
sickness, and were full of your proraises bow you would behave yourselves, if it
should please God to spare your lives. Sorae of you have narrowly escaped
dealh by dangerous accidents ; but God was pleased to spare you, to give you
a further space to repent ; yet you continue in sin.
Sorae of you have seen times of remarkable outpourings of the Spirit of
God, in this town, in limes past ; bul it had no good effect on you. You had
the strivings ofthe Spirit of God too, as well as others. God dkl not so pass'
by your door, but that he came and knocked ; yet you stood it out Now God
hath come again in a raore reraarkable raanner than evei before, and hath been
nouring out his Spirit for sorae months, in its most gracious influence , yet you
WRATH UPON THE WICKED TO THE UTTERMOST. 28
remain in sin until now. In the beginning of this awakening, you weie warn
ed to fiee from wralh, and to forsake your sins. You were "told what a wide
door there was open, what an accepted time there was, and were urged to press
die kingdom of God. And many did press in ; they forsook their sins
and believed in Christ; but you, when you had seen it, repented not, that vou
might believe him.
Then you were warned again, and still others have been pressing and
thronging into the kingdom of God. Many have fled for refuge, and have laid
hold on Christ; yet you continue in sin and unbelief You have seen multi
tudes of all sorts, of all ages, young and old, flocking to ChrisI, and many of
about your age and your circurastances ; but you are slifl in the same raiserable
condition in which you used lo be. You have seen persons daily flocking to
Christ, as doves to their windows. Gocl halh not only poured out his Spirit on
this town, but also on other towns around us. and they are flocking in there, as
wefl as here. This blessing spreads further and further ; many, far and near
seem to be setting their faces Zionward : yet you who live he're, where this
work first began, continue behind slill ; you have no lot or portion in this
matier. 2. How dreadful the wrath of God is, when it is executed to the uttermost !
To raake you in some measure sensible of that, I desire you to consider whose
wralh it is. The wrath of a king is the roaring of a lion ; bMl this is the wrath
of Jehovah, the Lord Gocl Omnipotent Let us consider, whal can we ration
ally think of it 1 How dreadful must be the wrath of such a Being, when it
coines upon a person to the uttermost, without any pity, or moderation or mer
ciful circurastances ! What must be the utterraost of his wrath who made
heaven and earlh by the word of bis power ; who spake, and il was done, who
commanded, and il stood fast ! Whal must his wrath be, who coraraandelh
the sun, and it rises not, and sealelh up the stars ! What raust l.»is wralh be
who shakelh the earlh out of its place, and causeth the pillars of heaven t(3
trerable ! What must his wralh be, who rebuketh the sea, and ma.kelh it dry
who removeth tbe raountains out of iheir places, and overlurnelh thera in his
anger! What raust his wrath be, whose majesty is so awful, that no man
could live in the sight of it ! What raust the wrath of such a Being be, when
It comes to the uttermost, when he makes his majesty appear and shine bright
in the raisery of wicked raen ! And what is a worm of the dusf before the furv
and under the weight of this wrath, which the stoutest devils cannot bear but
utterly sink, and are crushed under it ! — Consider how dreadful the wralh of
God is soraetimes in this world, only in a little taste or view of it Sometimes,
when God only enlightens conscience, lo have sorae sense of his wrath, il causes
the stout-hearted lo cry out ; nature is ready lo sink under it, when indeed it is
hut a little glimpse of divine wrath that is seen. This hath been observed in
tr.any cases. But if a slight taste and apprehension of wrath be so dreadful and
htolerable, what must it be, when it comes upon persons to the ultermo.st !
When a few drops or little sprinkling of wralh is so distressing and overbearing
lo the soul, bow must it be when God opens the flood-gates, and lets the mighty
deluge of his wrath come pouring down upon men's guilty heads, and brings ia
all his waves and billows upon their souls! How little of God's wralh will
sink them ! Psal. u. 12, " When his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are
afl they that put their trust in him."
3. Consider, you know not what wrath God may be about to execute upon
Wicked raen in this world. Wrath may, in some sense, be coming upon them.,
m the present life, to the uttermost, for aught we know. When it is said ol the
286 WRATH UPON ?IIE WICKTD TO THE UTTERMOST.
Jews, " The WTalh is come ipon them to the uttermost," respect is had, not
only to Ihe execution of divine wrath on that people in hell, bul that terriblf
destruction of Judea and Jerusalera, \\hich was then near approaching, by the
Roraans. We know not but the wralh is now coraing, in sorae peculiarly aw
ful manner, on the wicked workl. God seems, by the things which he is doing
among us, to be coming forth for some great thing. The work which halh
been lately wrought among us is no ordinaiy thing. He doth not work in his
jsual way, but in a way very extraordinary ; and it is probable, that il is a fore
runner of some very great revolution. We must not pretend to say what is in
the womb of Providence, or what is in the book of God's secret decrees; yet
we may and ought to discern the signs of these times.
Though God be now about lo do glorious things for his church and people,
ye', il is p.-obable that they will be accompanied with dreadful Ihings lo his en
emies. It is the manner of God, when he brings about any glorious revolu
tion for his people, at the same lirae to execute very awful judgraents on his
eneraies : Deut. xxxii. 43," Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he wifl
avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries,
and will be merciful unlo his land, and to his people." Isa. iii. 10, 11, "Say
ye to Ihe righteous, Il shall be well wilh him : for they shall ea-t of the fruit of
their doings. Wo unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him : for the reward of
his hands shall be given him." Isa. Ixv. 13, 14, " Therefore Ihus sailh the
Lord Goo, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry : behold, my
servants sball drink, bul ye shall be thirsty : behold, my servants shal! rejoice,
but ye shafl be ashamed ; behold, my servants sball sing for joy of heart, but
ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit." We
find in Scripture, Ihat where glorious times are prophesied to God's people,
there are at the same lime awful judgments foretold to his enemies. What
God is now about to do, we know not : but this we may know, that there wifl
be no safely to any but those w ho are in the ark. — Therefore it behooves all to
haste and flee for their lives, lo get into a safe condition, to get into Christ ;
then they need not fear, though the earth be reraoved. and the mountains car
ried into the raidst of the sea ; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled ;
though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof: for God will be theii
refi ge and strength ; they need not be afraid of evil tidings : their hearts may
be nsed, trusting in the Lord.
SERMON XIII.
THE END OF THE WICKED CONTEMPLATED BY THR RIGHTEOUS : OK THE 'aOKMENTS OE
THE WICKED IN HELL, NO OCCASION OF GRIEF TO THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN.
Rrv. xviii. 20.— Rejoice over tier, thou heaven, and ye holy aiiostles and prophets ; for God hath avenged
you oil her.
Introduction
In this chapter we have a ^ery particular account of the fall of Babylon,
or the anticbristian church, and of the vengeance of (ilod executed ,upon her.
Here il is proclairaed that Babylon the gre.-^l is fallen, and become the habita
tion of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean
and hateful bird ; that her sins had reached unto heaven, and that God had re
raerabered her iniquity ; that God gave commandraent lo reward her, as whe
had rewarded others, to double unto her double according to her works ; in the
cup she had filled, to fill to her double, and how^ ranch she had glorified herself,
and lived dehciously, .so rauch torraent and sorrow to give her. And it is
declared, that these plagues are corae upon ber in one day, death, mourning,
and famine; and that she should be utterly burnt with fire ; because strong is
the Lord who judgeth her.
These things have respect partly to the overthrow of the antichristian church
in this world, and partly lo the vengeance of God upon her in the world to
come. There is no necessity to suppose, that such extreme torments as are here
mentioned will ever be executed upon papists, or upon the antichristian church,
II. this worid. There will indeed be a dreadful and visible overthrow of that
idolatrous church in this world. But we are not lo understand the plagues hr re
mei.'ioned as exclusive of the vengeance wbich God will execute on the wick
ed upholders and promoters of antichristianism, and on the cruel antichristian
persecutors, in another world.
This is evident by ver. 3, of the next chapier, where with reference to the
same destruction of antichrist which is spoken of in this chapter, it is said,
" Her sraoke rose up forever and ever;" in which words the eternal punish
ment of antichrist is evidenlly spoken of Antichrist is here represented as being
cast into hell, and there remaining forever after ; he hath no place anywhere
else but in hefl. This is evident by ver. 20 of the next chapter, where, con
cerning the destruction of antichrist, il is said, " And the beast was taken, and
with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before hira, with which he
deceived thera that received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his
image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."
Not but that the wicked anticbristians have in all ages gone to hell as they
died, and not merely at the fall of antichrist ; but then the wrath of God
ao-ainst antichrist, of whicb daranation is the fruit, will be made eminently
visible here on earth, by many remarkable tokens. Then antichrist will be
confined to hell, and will have no more place here on earth ; much after the
sarae manner as the devil is said at the beginning of Christ's thousand years'
reifrn on earth, to be cast into the bottomless pit, as you rnay see in the begin
ning of the twentieth chapter. Not but that he had his place in the bottomless
pit before ; he was cast down to hell when he fell at first : 2 Pet. ii. 4, " Ca.st
288 THE END OF THE WICKFO CONTEMPLATED.
them down to hefl, and delivered Ihera into chains of darkne.ss." But now, when
he shall be suffered to deceive the nations no more, h/s kingdora will be cjii-
fined to hell.
In this text is contained part of what John heard uttered upon this occasion ;
and in these words we may observe,
!. To whora this voice is clirecteil, viz., tQ the holy prophets and apostles, and
the rest of the inhabitants of the heavenly world. "When God shall pour out
his wrath upon the anlichiislian church, it will be seen, and take-./ notice of, by
all the inhabitants of heaven, e\ en by holy prophets and aposllea. Neither wifl
they see as unconcerned spectators.
2. What they are cafled upon by the voice lo do, viz., to rejjice over Babylon
now destroyed, and lying under the wralh of God. They ore not directed to
rejoice over her in prospCiity, but in flames, and beholding the smoke of her
burning ascending up forever and ever.
"i. A rchsoii given : for God hath avenged you on hek ; i. e., God hath exe
cuted just vengeance upcm her, for shedding your blood, and cruelly persecuting
you. For thus the matter is represented, that antichrist had been guilty of
shedding the blood of the holy prophets and apoolles, as in chap. xvi. 6, " For
they have shed the blood of saints' and of prophets." And in ver. 24 of this
context, " In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all them
that were slain on the earth.'' Not that anlichiist had literally shed the blood
of the prophets and apostles ; bul he had shed the blood of those who were
'heir followers, who were of the same spirit, and of the same church, and same
mystical body. The prophets and apostles in heaven are nearly related and
united lo the saints on earlh ; they live, as it were, in true Christians in all ages.
So that by slaying these, persecutors show that they would slay the prophets
and apostles, if they could ; and they indeed do it as much as in thera lies.
On the sarae account, ChrisI says of the Jews in his time, Luke xi. 50,
" That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the
world, may be required of this generation ; from the blood of Abel, unto the
blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the teraple : verily I
say unto you, il shall be required of this generation." So Christ himself is said
to have been crucified in the antichristian church, chap. xi. 8 : " And their dead
bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom
and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." So all the inhabitants of
heaven, all thesaints from the beginning ofthe world, and the angels also, are
called upon to rdoice over Babylon, because of God's vengeance upon her,
wherein he avenges them : they all of thera had in effect been injured and per
secuted by antichrist. Indeed they are not called upon to rejoice in having theii
revenge glutted, but in seeing justice executed, and in seeing the love and ten
derness of God towards them, manifested in his severity towards their eneraict!
SECTION 1.
When the saints in glory shall see the wrath of God executed on ungodly men, iC
will be no occasion of grief io them, but of rejoicing.
It is not only the sight of God's wrath executed on those wicked men who
are of the anticbristian church, which wifl be occasion of rejoicing to the saints
in glory; but also the sight of the destruction of all God's enemies: whether
they have been the followers of antichrist or not, that alters not the case, if they
have heen the eneraies of God, and of Jesus Christ All wicked raen vill at
last be destroyed together, as being united in the sarae cause and interest^ P£>
THE END OF THE WICKED CONTEMPLATED. 289
oeing afl of Satan's army. They wfll all stand together at the day ofjudgraent,
as being all of tbe same company.
And if we understand the text to have respect only to a teraporal execution
of God's wrath on his enemies, that will not alter the case. The thing they are
called upon to rejoice at, is the execution of God's wralh upon his and their
eneraies. And if it be raatter of rejoicing to thera to see justice executed in part
upon thera, or to see the beginning of the execution of it in this world ; for the
same reason wfll they rejoice with greater joy, in beholding it fully executed.
For the thing here mentioned as the foundation of their joy, is the execution of
just vengeance : Rejoice, for God hath avenged you on her.
Prop. I. The glorified saints wifl see the wralh of God executed upon
ungodly raen. This the Scriptures plainly teach us, that tbe righteous and the
-wicked in the other world see each other's stale. Thus the rich raan in hell,
and Lazarus and Abraham in heaven, are represented as seeing each other's
opjiosite states, in the 16th chap, of Luke. The wicked in their misery wfll see
the saints in the kingdora of heaven. Luke xiii. 28, 29, " There shall be weep
ing and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jvacob,
and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust nut."
So the saints in glory will see the raisery of the wicked under the wrath of
God. lsa. Ixvi. 24, " And they sball go forth and look on the carcasses of the
men that have transgressed asrainst me : for their worm shall not die, neither
shall their fire be quenched." And Rev. xiv. 9, 10, " If any man worship the
beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the
same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without
mixture, into the cup of his indignation ; and he shall be torraented with fire and
brimstone, inthe presence ofthe holy angels, and in the presence of the Larab."
The saints are not here raentioned, being included in Christ, as his members.
The church is the fulness of Christ, and is called Christ, 1 Cor. xu. 12. So in
the 19th chapter, ver. 2, 3, the smoke of Babylon's torraent is represented as
rising up forever and ever, in the sight of the heavenly inhabitants.
At the day ofjudgraent, the saints in glory at Christ's right hand, wfll see
the wicked at the left hand in their amazement and horror, will hear the judge
pronounce sentence upon them, saying, " Depart, ye cursed, inlo everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels ;" and wfll see thera go away into
everlasling punishraent Bul the Scripture seeras to hold forth to us, that the
saints will not only see the misery of tbe wicked althe day ofjudgraent, but the
forementioned texts iraply, that the state of the daraned in hell wifl be in the
view of the heavenly inhabitants ; that the two worlds of happiness and misery
wfll be in view of each other. Though we know not by what means, nor after
what raanner, it wfl' be ; yet tbe Scriptures certainly lead us to think, that they
will sorae way orother have a direct and iraraediate apprehension of each other's
slate. The saints in glory will .see how the damned are torraented ; tbey wifl
see God's threatenings fulfilled, and his wrath executed upon them.
Prop. II. When they shall see it, it wifl be no occasion of grief to them.
The miseries of the daraned in hell wfll be inconceivably great 'When they
shall come to bear the wrath of the Almighty poured out upon them without
mixture, and executed upon them without pity or restraint, or any mitigation ;
it will doubtless cause anguish, and horror, and araazeraent vastly beyond afl the
sufferings and torraents that ever any man endured in this worid ; yea, beyond
afl extent of our words or thoughts. For God in executing wrath upon ungodly
men will act like an Almighty God. The Scripture calls this wrath, God's
fury, and the fierceness of his wrath ; and we are told that this is to show God's
Vol. IV. 37
290 THE END OF THE WICKED CONTEMPLATED.
wrath, and to makt his power known ; or to make known how dreadful hia
wrath is, and how great his power.
The saints in glory wfll see this, and be far more sensible of it than now we
can possibly be. They wfll be far raore sensible bow dreadful the wrath of God
is, and will better understand how terrible the sufferings of the damned are ;
yet this will be no occasion of grief to thera. They will not be sorry for the
daraned ; it wfll cause no uneasiness or dissatisfaction to them ; but on the con
trary, when they have this sight, it will excite them to joyful praises. — These
two things are evidences of it :
1. That the Sfv^ing of the wrath of God executed upon the daraned, should
cause grief in the saints in glory, is inconsistent with that stale of perfect happi
ness in which tbey are. There can no such thing as grief enter, to be an
alloy to the happiness and joy of that world of blesssedness. Grief is an utter
stranger in that world. God bath proraised that he will wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more sorrow. Rev. xxi. 4, and chap.
vh. 17.
2. The saints in heaven possess all things as their own, and therefore afl
things contribute to their joy and happiness. The Scriptures leach that the saints
in glory inherit all Ihings. This God said in John's hearing, when he had the
vision of the New Jerusalem, Rev. xxi. 7. And the Scriptures teach us to
understand this absolutely of all the works of creation and providence. 1
Cor. iii. 21, 22, " All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas,
or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come ; all are yours."
Here the aposlle leaches, that all things in the world to corae, or in the fulure and
eternal worid, are the saints' ; not only life, but death; raen, and angels, and
devils, heaven and hell, are theirs, lo contribute to their joy and happiness.
Therefore the daraned and their misery, their sufferings and the wrath of God
poured out upon them, will be an occasion of joy to them. If there were any
thing whatsoever that did not contribute to tbeir joy, but caused grief, then there
would be soraething which would not be theirs.
Tbat tbe torments of the daraned are no raatter of grief, but of joy, to the
inhabitants of heaven, is very clearly expressed in several passages c.f this book
of Revelation ; particularly by chap. xvi. 5 — 7, and chap. xix. at the beginning.
SECTION II.
Why the sufferings ofthe wicked will not be cause of grief to the righteous, but
the contrary.
1. Negatively ; it will not be because the saints in heaven are the subjects
of any ill disposition ; but on the contrary, this rejoicing of theirs wifl be tbe
fruit of an araiable and excellent disposition: it will be the fruit of a perfect
holiness and conformity to Christ, the holy Larab of God. The devfl delights
in the misery of men from cruelty, and frora envy and revenge, and because he
delights in raiseiy, for its own sake, from a malicious disposition.
But it will be frora exceedingly different principles, and for quite other rea
sons, that the just damnation of tbe wicked will be an occasion of rejoicing to
the saints in glory. It wfll not be because they delight in seeing the misery of
others absolutely considered. Tbe damned suffering divine vengeance wfll
be no occasion of joy to tbe saints merely as it is the misery of others, or
because it is pleasant lo them to behold the misery of others raerely for
its own sake. The rejoicing of the saints on this occasion is no argument,
that they are not of a most amiable and excellent spirit, or th'it there is any
THE END OF THE WICKED CONTEMPLATED. 291
defect on that account, that thereis any thing wanting, wb'ch would render
them of a raore amiable disposition. It is no argument that they have not a
spirit of goodness and love reigning in them in absolute perfection, or that
herein they do not excel the greatest instances of it on earth, as much as trie
stars are higher than the earth, or the sun brighter than a glowworm.
And whereas the heavenly inhabitants are in the text called upon to rejoice
over Babylon, because God had avenged thera on her ; it is not lo be under
stood, that they are to rejoice in having their revenge glutted, but to rejoice in
seeing the justice of God executed, and in seeing his love to them in executing
it on his enemies.
2. Positively ; the sufferings of the damned will be no occasion of grief to
the heavenly inhabitants, as they wifl have no love nor pity lo the damned as
such. It will be no argument of want of a spirit of love in thera, that they do
not love the daraned ; for the heavenly inhabitants will know that it is not fit
tbat they should love them, because they will know tben, that God has no love
to thera, nor pity for them ; but that they are the objects of God's eternal
hatred. And they wifl then be perfectly conformed to God in their wills and
affections. They will love what God loves, and that only. However the
saints in heaven may have loved the daraned while here, especially those of
thera who were near and dear to them in this world, they will have no love to
them hereafter.
It wfll be an occasion of their rejoicing, as the glory of God wfll appear in
it The glory of God appears in all his works : and therefore there is no work
of God whicb the saints in glory shall behold and contemplate but what will
be an occasion of rejoicing to thera. God glorifies hiraself in the eternal dam
nation of tbe ungodly raen. God glorifies hiraself in all that he doth ; bul he
glorifies hiraself principally in his eternal disposal of his intelligent creatures:
some are appointed to everlasting hfe, and others left to everlasling death.
The saints in heaven will be perfect in their love to God : their hearts will
be all a flame of love to God, and therefore they will greatly value the glory of
God, and will exceedingly delight in seeing him glorified. The sainls highly
value the glory of God here in this, but how mucb more wfll they so do in the
world to come. They will therefore greatly rejoice in all that contributes to
that glory. The glory of God will in their esteem be of greater consequence,
than the welfare of thousands and raiflions of souls. — Particularly,
(1.) They will rejoice in seeing the justice of God glorifiecl in the suffer
ings of the damned. The misery of tbe damned, dreadful as il is, is but what
iustice requires. They in heaven will see and know it rauch raore clearly,
than any of us do here. They will see bow perfectly just and righleous their
punishraent is, and therefore how properly inflicted by the suprerae Governor
of the world. They will greatly rejoice to see justice take place, to see that
afl the sin and wickedness that have been coraraitted in the world is reraeraber
ed of God, and has its due punishraent The sight ofthis strict and iramutable
justice of God wifl render bira araiable and adorable in their eyes. They will
rejoice when they see him who is their Father and eternal portion so glorious
m his justice.
Then there Avill be no reraaining difficulties about the justice of God, about
the absolute decrees of God, or any thing pertaining to the dispensations of
God towards raen. But divine justice in tbe destruction of the wicked will
then appear as light without darkness, and will shine as the sun without clouds,
•and on this account will they sing joyful songs of praisei lo God, as we see the
saints and angels do, when God pours the vials of his wrath upon antichrist
892 THE END OF THE WICKED CON^FEMPLATED
Rev. xvi. 5 — 7. They sing joyfully to God on this account, that true and
righteous are bis judgments. Rev. xix. 1 — 6. Tbey seeing God so strictly
just will make them value his love the more.- Mercy and grace are more valu
able on this account. The more tbey shall see of the justice of God the more
wifl they prize and rejoice in bis love.
(2.) They wfll rejoice in it, as it wfll be a glorious manifestation of the
power and majesty of God. God wfll show his own greatness in executing
vengeance on ungodly men. This is mentioned as one end of the destruction of
the ungodly : " What if God, wifling to show his wrath, and make his power
known, endured with much long-sufifering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruc
tion ?" God wifl hereby show how rauch he is above his enemies. There are
many now in the worid, who proudly lift up themselves against God. There
are many open opposers of the cause and interest of Christ. " They set their
mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth." Then
God will show his glorious power in destroying these enemies.
The power of God is soraetimes spoken of as very glorious, as appearing in
the teraporal destruction of his eneraies : Exod. xv. 6, " Thy right hand, 0
Lord, is become glorious in power; thy right band, 0 Lord, hath dashed in
pieces the eneray." But how much more glorious will it appear in his triumph
ing over, and dashing in pieces at once, all his enemies, wicked men and
devils together, all bis haughty foes ! The pov/er of God will gloriously ap
pear in dashmg to pieces his enemies as a potter's vessel. Moses rejoiced and
sang when he saw God glorify his power in the destruction of Pharaoh and his
host at the Red Sea. But how rauch more wfll the saints in glory rejoice,
when they shall see God gloriously triumphing over all his enemies in their
eternal ruin! Then it will- appear how dreadful God is, and how dreadful a
thing it is ts disobey and contemn hira. It is often mentioned as a part of the
glory of God, that he is a terrible God. To see the majesty, and greatness, and
terribleness of God, appearing in the destruction of his enemies, will cause the
saints to rejoice ; and when they shall see how great and terrible a being God
is, how will they prize his favor ! How will they rejoice that they are the
objects of his love ! How will they praise hira the more joyfully, that he should
choose them to be his chfldren, and to live in the enjoyment of him !
It will occasion rejoicing in them, as they will have the greater sense of
their own happiness, by seeing the contrary raisery. It is the nature of plea
sure and pain, of happiness and misery, greatly to heighten the sense of each
other. Thus the seeing of the happiness of others tends lo make men more
sensible of their own calaraities ; and the seeing of the calamities of others
tends to heighten the sense of our own enjoyments.
When the saints in glory, therefore, shafl see the doleful state ofthe damned,
how will this heighten their^ sense of the blessedness of their own state, so ex
ceedingly different from il ! When they shall see how miserable others of their
fellow-creatures are, who were naturally in the sarae circumstances with them
selves ; wben they shall see the smoke of their torraent, and the raging of the
flaraes of their burning, and hear their dolorous shrieks and cries, and consider
that they in the raean time are in the most blissful state, and shall surely be in
it to all eternity ; how -will they rejoice !
This will give them a joyful sense of the g-race and love of God to them,
because hereby they will see bow great a benefit they have by it. When they
shall cee the dreadful miseries of the daraned, and consider that they deserved
the sarae raisery, and that it was sovereign grace, and nothing else, which made
thera so much to diffei from the damned, that, if 'it had not been for that, they
THE END OF THE WICKED CONTEMPLATED. 293
would have been in the same condition ; but that God from aU eternity was
pleased to set his love upon them, tbat Christ halh laid down his hfe for them,
and hath made thera thus gloriously happy forever, 0 how will they admire that
dying love of Christ, whicb has redeemed them from so great a raisery, and
puicn.ised for thera so great happiness, and has so distinguished thern from
others of their fellow-creatures ! How joyfully will they sing to God and the
Lamb, when they behold this ! SECTION III.
An objection answered.
Tbe objection is, " If we are apprehensive of the daranation of others now,
it in no wise becomes us to rejoice at it, but to lament it If we see others in
imminent danger of going to hell, it is accounted a very sorrowful thing, and it is
looked upon as an argument of a senseless and wicked spirit, to look upon it
otherwise. When it is a very dead lime with respect to religion, and a very
degenerate and corrupt time among a people, it is accounted a thing greatly to
be lamented ; and on this account, that at such times there are but few convert
ed and saved, and many perish. Paul tells us, that he had great heaviness and
continual sorrow in his heart, because so many of the Jews were in a perishing
state : Rom. ix. 1, 2, 3, " I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience
also bearing rae witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and
continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that rayself were accursed from
Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.'' And if a neigh
bor die, and his death be attended with circumstances which look darkly as to
the state of his soul, we account it a sorrowful thing, because he has left us no
more comfortable grounds to hope for his salvation. Why is it not then an
unbecoming thing in the saints in glory to rejoice when they see the daranation
of the ungodly 1
Ans. 1. It is now our duty to love all men, though they are wicked ; but
it will not be a duty to love wicked raen hereafter. ChrLst, by raany precepts
in his word, hath made it our duty to love all men. We are coraraanded to
love wicked men, and our eneraies and per.secutors. But this command doth
not extend to the sainls in glory, with respect to the damned in hell. Nor is
there the same reason that it should. We ought now to love all, and even
wicked raen ; we know not but tbat God loves them. However wicked any
man is, yet we know not but that he is one whom God loved from eternity, we
know not but that Christ loved hira with a dying love, had his name upon his
heart before the workl was, and had respect to him when he endurecl those
bitter agonies on the cross. We know not but that he is to be our companion
in glory to all eternity.
But this is not the case in another world. The saints in glory will know
concerning the damned in hell, that God never loved them, but that he hates
them, and wfll be forever hated of God. This hatred of God will be fully de
clared to them ; they will see it, and will see the fruits of it in their misery.
Therefore, when God has thus declared his haired of the daraned, and the sainls
see it, it will be no way becoming in tbe sainls to love thera, nor to raourn over
thera. It becomes the saints fully and perfectly to consent to what God doth,
without any reluctance or opposition of spirit ; yea, it becomes them to rejoice
in every thing that God sees meet to be done.
Ans. 2. We ought now to seek and be concerned for the salvation or wick
ed men, because now they are capable subjects of it Wicked raen, though
294 THE END OF THE WICKED CONTEMPLAlEDi
they raay be very wicked, yet are capable subjects of mercy. It is yet a day
or grace wilh thera, and they have the offers of salvation. Christ is e.s yet
seeking their salvation ; he is calling upon, them, inviting and wooing them,
he stands at the door and knocks. He is using many means with them, is call
ing them, saying. Turn ye, turn ye,, -why will ye die ? The, day of his patience;
is yet continued to them ; and if Christ is seeking their salvation, surely we
ought to seek it
God is wont now to make, men the means of one another's salvation ; yea,
it is his ordinary way so to do. He makes the concern and endeavors of his
people the raeans of bringing, horae many to Christ Therefore they ought to
be concerned for and endeavor it. But it wilt not be so in another world :
there wicked raen will be no longer capable subjects of mercy. Thesaints wifl
know, that it is the will of God the wicked should be miserable to all eternity.
It wfll therefore cease to be their duty any more to seek their salvation, or to be
concerned about their misery. On tbe other hand, it will be their duty to re
joice in the will and glory of God. It is not our duly to be sorry that God
hath executed just vengeance on the devils, concerning whom the will of God
in their eternal stale is already known to us.
Ans. 3. Rejoicing at the calamities of others now, rests not on the same
grounds as tbat of the sainls in glory. The evil of rejoicing at others' calamities
now, consists in our envy, or revenge, or some sucb disposition is gratified there
in : and not that God is glorified, tbat the majesty and justice of God gloriously
shine forth.
Ans. 4. The different circumstances of our nature now, from what will be
hereafter, make that a virtue now which will be no virtue then. For instance,
if a man be of a virtuous disposition, the circumstances of our nature now are
such, that it will necessarily show itself by natural affection, and to be without
natural affection is a very vicious disposition ; and is so mentioned in Rom. i.
31. But natural affection is no virtue in the saints in glory. Their virtue wifl
exercise itself in a higher manner.
Ans. 5. The vengeance inflicted on many of the wicked will be a manifes
tation of God's love to tbe saints. One way whereby God shows his love to the
saints, is by destroying their eneraies. God hath said, " He that toucheth you,
toucheth the apple of raine eye." And il is often raentioned in Scripture, as an
instance of the great love of God to his people, that his wrath is so awakened,
when they are wronged and injured. Thus Christ hath promised that God will
avenge his own electa Luke xviu. 7, and hatb said, that " if any man offend one
of his little ones, it were better for him that a mfllstone were hanged about his
neck, and that be were drowned in the depth of the sea," Matt, xviii. 6.
So the sainls in glory wfll see the great love of God to them, in the dreadful
vengeance whicb he shall inflict on those who have injured and persecuted them ;
and the view of this love of God to them will be just cau.se of their rejoicing.
Thus, in tbe text, heaven and the holy apostles and prophets are cafled to rejoice
over their enemies, because God hatb avenged them of them.
SECTION rv.
The ungodly wa-,'ned.
I shall apply this subject only in one use, viz., of warning to ungodly men.
And in order to tbis, I desire sucb to consider,
1. How destitute of any comforting consideration your condition wfll be, if
you perish at last You wifl have none to pity you. Look which way yoc
THE END OF THE WICKED CONTEMPLATED. 29£
wifl, before or behind, on the riaht hand or left, look up to heaven, or look about
/ou in hell, and you will see none to condole your case, or lo exercise any pity
towards you, in your dreadful condition. You must bear these flames, you must
bear that torment and amazement, day and night, forever, and never have the
comfort of considering, that there is so much as one that pities your case ; there
never will one tear be dropped for you.
( I.) You have now been taught that you wifl have no pity from the created
inhabitants of heaven. If you shall look to them, you will see them all rejoic
ing al the sight of the glory of God's justice, power, and terrible raajesty,
manifested in your torraent. You wifl see thera in a blissful and glorious stale ;
you will see Abrahara, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdora
of God ; you wfll see many come from the east, and from the west, and from the
north, and from the south, and sit down in that glorious kingdora ; and will see
them all with one voice, and with united joy, praising God foi glorifying hira
self in your destruction. You wfll wail and gnash your teeth under your own
torments, and wilh envy oftheir happiness; but they will rejoice and sing : Isa.
Ixv. 13, 14, " Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, my servants shafl eat, but
ye shall be hungry : behold, ray servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty :
behold, my servants shall rejoice, bul ye shall be ashamed : behold, my servants
shafl sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl
for vexation of spirit"
(2.) God will exercise no pity tov/ards you. If you might have his pity in
any degree, that would be of raore worth to you than thousands of worlds.
That would make your case to be not without corafort and hope. But God will
exercise no pity towards you. He hath often said concerning wicked men, that
his eye shafl not spare, neither will behave pity, Ezek. v. 11, and vii. 4, 9, and
viu. 18. He will cast upon you, and not spare ; you wifl see nothing in God,
and receive nothing from hira, but perfect hatred, and the fierceness of his wralh ;
nolhing bul the raighty falls or outpourings of wrath upon you every moment ;
and no cries will avail to move God to any pity, or in the least lo move hira to
hghten his hand, or assuage the fierceness and abate the power of your torments.
Jesus Christ, the Redeeraer, will have no pity on you. Though he had so
much love to sinners, as to be willing to lay down his life for them, and offers
vou the benefits of his blood, whfle you are in this worid, and often calls upon
you to accept thera ; yet then he will have no pity upon you. You never wfll
hear any more instructions from hira; he wfll utierly refuse lo be your instruc
tor : on the contrary, he will be your judge, to pronounce sentence against you.
3. You will find none that will pity you in hell. The devils will not pity
you, but will be your torraentors, as roaring lions or hefl-hounds to tear you in
pieces continuafly. And other wicked raen who sball be there will be like devils ;
they wfll have no pity on you, but will hale, and curse, and torment you. And
you yourselves wifl be like devfls ; you wifl be like devils to yourselves, and will
be your own torraentors.
2. Consider what an aggravation what you have heard under this doctrine
w.U be to your raisery. Consider how it will be at the day of judgment, when
you .shall see Christ corning in the clouds of heaven, when you shall begin to
wail and cry, as knowing that you are those who are to be conderaned ; .ind
perhaps you wifl be ready to fly to sorae of your godly friends ; but you wfll ob
tain no help from them : you will see them unconcerned for you, with joyful
Eountenances ascending to raeet the Lord, and not the less joyful for the horror
in which they see yoii. And when you shall stand before the tribunal at the
left hand, among devils, trembling and astonished, and shall have the dreadful
296 THE END OF THE WICKED CONTEMPLATED.
sentence passed upon you, you will at the same time see the blessed company
of saints and angels al the right hand rejoicing, and shall hear them shout fortt
tbe praises of God, while they hear your sentence pronounced. You will then
see those godly people, wilh whom you shall have been acquainted, and who
shall have been your neighbors, and with whom you now often converse, re
joicing at the pronunciation and execution of your sentence.
Perhaps there are now sorae godly people, to whora you are near and deai,
who are tenderly concerned for you, are ready to pity you under all calaraities,
and wifling to help you ; and particularly are tenderly concerned for your poor
soul, and have put up many fervent prayers for you. How will you bear to
hear these singing for joy of heart, while you are crying for sorrow of heart,
and howling for vexation of spirit, and even .singing the more joyful for the
glorious ju.slice of God which they behold in your eternal conderanation !
You that have godly parents, who in this world have tenderly loved you, who
were wont to look upon your welfare as their own, and were wont to be grieved
for you when any thing calaraitous befell you in this world, and especially were
greatly concerned for the good of your souls, industriously sought, and earnest
ly prayed for their salvation ; how wfll you bear to see thera in the kingdom ot
God, crowned with glory 1 Or how will you bear to see them receiving the
blessed sentence, and going up wilh shouts and songs, lo enter with ChrisI into
the kingdom prepared for them frora the foundation ofthe world, while you are
amongst a company of devfls, and are turned away with the most bitter cries,
to enter into everlasting burnings, prepared for the devil and his angels '? How
will you bear to see your parents, who in this life bad so dear an affection for
you, now wiihout any love to you, approving the sentence of conderanation,
when Christ shall with indignation bid you depart, wretched, cursed creatures,
into eternal burnings ? How will you bear to see and hear them praising the
ludge, for his justice exercised in pronouncing this sentence, and hearing it with
holy joy in their countenances, anel shouting forth Ihe praises and haflelujahs of
God and Christ on tbat account ?
When they shall see what manifestations of araazeraent there will be in you,
at the hearing of this dreadful sentence, and that every syllable of it pierces you
like a thunderbolt, and sinks you into the lowest depths of horror and despair;
when they .shall behold you wilh a frighted, araazed countenance, trembling
and astonished, and shall hear you groan and gnash your teeth ; these things
wfll not move thera at all lo pity you, but you will see thera wilh a holy joyful-
uess in their countenances, and with songs in their mouths. When they shall
see you turned away and beginning to enter into the great furnace, and shafl
see how you shrink at it, and hear how you shriek and cry out ; yet they wifl
not be at afl grieved for you, but at the sarae lirae you wfll hear frora them renew
ed praises and hallelujahs for the true and righteous judgments of God, in so
dealing wilh you.
Then you will doubtless reraeraber how those your glorified parents seeded
to be concerned for your salvation, while you were here in this world; you wfll
reraeraber how they were wont to counsel and warn you, and how litile you re
garded their counsels, and how they seemed to be concerned and grieved, Ihat
there appeared no more effect of their endeavors for the good of yiu. souls.
You wifl then see them praising God for executing just vengeance on you, for
setting so light by their counsels and reproofs. However here they L^'ed you,
and were concerned for you, now they will rise up in judgment against you,
and will declare how your sins are aggravated by the endeavors which they lo
no purpose used with you, lo bring you to forsake sin and practise virtue, and
THE END OF THE WICKED CONTEMPLATED. 297
.0 seek and serve God ; but you were obstinate under all, and would not hearken
.0 thera. They will declare how inexcusable you are upon this account. And
when the Judge shall execute the more terrible wrath upon you on Ihis account,
that you have made no better improveraent of your parents' instructions, they
will joyfully praise God for it After they shall have seen you lie in bell thou
sands of years, and your torment shall yet continue without any rest, day or
night ; they wfll not begin lo pity you then ; they will praise God, that his jus
tice appears in the eternity of your misery.
You that have godly husbands, or wives, or brethren, or sisters, wilh whom
you have been wont to dwell under the same roof, and to eat at the same table,
consider how it will be wilh you, when you shall come to part with them ;
when they shall be taken and you left : Luke xvii. 34, 35, 36, " I tell you, in
that night, there shall be two men in one bed ; the one shall be taken and tbe
other left. Two women shall be grinding together ; the one sball be taken and
the other left. Two men shall be in the field ; the one shall be taken and the
other left" However you raay wail and lament, when you see them parted
frora you, they being taken and you left, you will see in thera no signs of sorrow,
that you are not taken with thera ; that you ascend not with them lo meet the
Lord in the air, but are left below to be consuraed with the world, which is re
served unto fire, against the day of the perdition of ungodly rnen.
Those wicked men, who shall go to hell frora under the labors of pious and
faithful ministers, will see those ministers rejoicing and praising God upon the
occasion of their destruction. Consider, ye that have long lived under Mr. Stod
dard's ministry,* and are yet in a natural condition, how dreadful it will be to
you to see him who was so tenderly concerned for the good of your .souls while
he was here, and so earnestly sought your salvation, to see him rising up in
judgment against you, declaring your inexcusableness, declaring how often he
warned you; how plainly he set your danger before you, and told you of the
opportunity that you had ; how fully he set forth the miserable condition in
which you were, and the necessity there was that you should obtain an interest
¦n Christ ; how movingly and earnestly he exhorted you to get into a belle
itate, and how regardless you were ; how little you minded all that he said tc
jrou; how you went on slill in your trespasses, hardened your necks, and raade
your hearts as an adaraant, and refused to return ! How dreadful will it be to
you to hear hira declaring how inexcusable you are upon these accounts ! How
wifl you be cut to the heart, "when you shall see him approving the sentence of
conderanation, which the Judge shall pronounce against you, and judging and
sentencing you with Christ, as an assessor in judgment ; for the sainls shall
judge the world (1 Cor. vi. 2) ; and when you shall' see him rejoicing in the
execution of justice upon you for all your unprofitableness under his ministry!
3. Consider what a happy opportunity you have in your hands now. Now
your case is very different from the case of wicked men in another world, of
which you have now heard ; and particulariy in the following respects.
(1.) God raakes it the duly of all the godly now tobe concerned for your
salvation. As to those who are damned in hefl, the saints in glory are not
concerned for their welfare, and have no love nor pity towards thera ; and if you
perish hereafter, it will be an occasion of joy to all the godly. But now God
makes it the duty of all the godly, to love you with a sincere good-will and
earnest affection. God dolh not excuse raen frora loving you, for your ill qua-
'ities : though you are wicked aad undeserving, yet God makes it the duty of
* The author's ,-randfalher and predecessor.
Vol. IV. 38
298 THE END OF THE WICKED C0NTE14PLATED.
aU .sincerely to wish wefl tp you ; and il is a heinous sin in the siglit of God
for any to hate you. He requires all to be concerned foriyour salvalion,and by
all means lo seek it It is theh duly now to lament your danger, and to pray
for mercy lo you, that you may be converted andbrought horae to Christ.
Now the godly who know yoii, deshe your salvation, and are readv to seek,
and pray for it If you be now in distress about the condition of your souls,
you are not in such a forsaken, hel jiless condition, as those that are damned ;
but you may find raany to pray for you, many who are wifling to assist you by
their advice and counsels, and afl with a tender concern, and with hearty wishes
that your souls may prosper. Now sorae c?f you have godly friends who are
near and dear to you ; you are beloved of those who have a great interest in
heaven, and who have power wilh God by their prayers: you have the blessing
of living under tbe same roof wilh them. Some of you have godly parents to
pray for you, and to counsel and instruct you, who you raay be sure wfll do it
wiih sincere love and concern for ynu. And there is not only the comraand of
God, God hath not only made it the duty of others to seek your salvation, but
bath given encouragement toothers lo seek it He gives encouragement that
they may obtain help for you by. their prayers, and that they may be instrumen
tal of your spiritual good. God reveals il lo be his manner, to make our sincere
endeavors a means of each other's good. How different is the case with you
from what it is wilh those that are already damned ! And how happy an op
portunity have you in your hands, if you would but improve it !
(2.) Now you live where there is a certain order of men appointed to make
it tbe business of their lives to seek your salvation. Now you have ministers,
not to rise up in judgment. against you ; but in Christ's stead, to beseech you to
be reconcfleil to God, 2 Cor. v. 20. God hatb not only made it the duly of
all to wish well to your souls, and occasionally to endeavor to promote your
spiritual interests, bul he halh set apart certain persons, to make it their whole
work, in which they should spend their days and their strength.
(3.) Christ himself is now seeking your salvation. He seeks it by the
forementioned means, by appointing men to make it tbeir business to seek it;
he seeks it by them ; they are his instruments, and they beseech you in Christ's
stead, lo be reconciled to God. He seeks it in commanding your neighbors to
seek it. Christ is represented in Scripture, as wooing Ibe souls of sinners. He
uses means to persuade them to choose and accept oftheir own salvation. He
often invites them to corae to bira tbat they may have life, that they may find
rest to their souls ; to come and take of Ihe waler of life freely. He stanij§ at,
the door and knocks; and ceases not, though sinners for a long tirae refuse him.
He bears repealed repulses frora Ibem, and yet mercifully continues knocking,
saying, " Open to me, that I may come in and sup with you, and you with me."
At the doors of many sinners he stands thus knocking for many years together.
Christ is becorae a most importunate suitor lo sinners, that he may becorae Iheir
sovereign. He is often setting before them the need they have of him, the
miserable condition in which tbey are, and the great provision that is made fo'"
the good of their souls ; and he inyites them to accept of this provision, and
promises it shall be theirs upon their mere acceptance.
Thus how earnestly did Christ seek the salvation of Jerusalem, and he wept
over it when they refused : Luke xix. 4,1, 42, " And when he was corae near,
he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, af
least in this thy day, the things which belong unlo thy peace ! but now they are hid
from thine eyes." And Matt xxiu. 37, " 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalera, thou that
kfllbst tbe prophets, and stonest them that are sent uptothee, how often would
THE END OF THE WICKED CONTEMPLATED. 29S
I have gathered thy chfldren together, even as a hen galhereth her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not !" Tbus Christ is now seeking your salvation ,
such an opportunity have you now in your hands. Consider iherefore how
many means Christ is using with you, to bi-ing you to salvation.
Besides those Ihings which have been now mentioned, some of you have a
degree of the inward strivings and influences of the Spirit, which makes your
opportunity much greater. You have Christ's internal calls and knocking.s
All the persons of the Trinity are now seeking your salvation. God the Father
h-dth sent his Son, who hath made way for your salvation, and reraoved all dif
ficulties, except those which are with your own heart. And he is wailing to be
gracious to you ; tbe door of his mercy stands open to you ; he hath set a foun
tain open for you to wash in from sin and uncleanness. Christ is calling, invi
ting, and wooing you'; and the Holy Ghost is striving wilh you by his internal
motions and influences.
4. If you now repent, before it be too late, the saints and angels in glory
will rejoice at your repentance. If you repent not till it is loo late, they wfll,
as you have heard, rejoice in seeing justice executed upon you. But if you now
repent, they will rejoice at your welfare, that you who were lost, are found ; that
you who were dead, are alive again. They will rejoice that you are corae to so
happy a state already, and that you are in due tirae to inherit eternal happiness,
Luke XV. 3 — 10. So that if now you will iraprove your opportunity, there will
be a very different occasion of joy in heaven concerning you, than that of which
the doctrine speaks ; not a rejoicing on occasion of your misery, but on occasion
of your unspeakable blessedness.
5. If you repent before it is too late, you yourselves shall be of that joyful
company. They will be so far from rejoicing- on occasion of your ruin, that you
yourselves will be of that glorious corapany, who will rejoice in all the works of
God, who will have all tears wiped away from their eyes, to whora there will be
no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, and from whom sorrow and sighing shall
flee away. You yourselves will be of those who will rejoice at the glorious
display of God's majesty and justice in his wrath on his enemies. You will be of
those that shall sing for joy of heart at the day of judgraent, while others
mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit; and you will enter
into the joy of your Lord, and there shall never be any end or abatement of
your joy!
SERMON XIV
WICKED MEN USEFUL IN THEIK DESTRUCTION ONLY
EzERiEL XV 2, 3, 4. — Son of man. What is the vine-tree more than any tree, or tt.SLii a. Ijranch which
5 among the trees of the forest ? Shall wood be taken tiiere.')f to do any work ? or will men take a pin of
It to hang any vessel theieon ? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel ; the fire devoureth bolh the ends of
it, and the midst of it is Liurnt. Is it meet for any work !
The visible church of God is here compared to the vine-tree, as is evident
by God's own explanation of the allegory, in verses 6, 7, and 8 : " Therefore
thus saith the Lord God, As the vine-tree among the trees ofthe forest, which I
have given fo the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem," &c.
And it raay be understood of mankind in general. We find raan often in Scrip
ture corapared to a vine. So in chapter 32, of Deuteronomy, " Their vine is
the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Goraorrah. Their grapes are grapes of
gall." And Psal, Ixxx. 8, " Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt ;" ver. 14,
" Look down frora heaven, behold, and visit this vine." And Cant. ii. 15,
" The foxes that spoil the vines ; for our vines have lender grapes." Isaiah v.
at the beginning, " My beloved hath a vineyard, and he planted il with the
choicest vine." Jer. ii. 21, "I had planted thee a noble vine." Hos. x. 1,
" Israel is an empty vine.'' So, in chap. 15 of John, visible Christians are com
pared to the branches ofa vine.
Man is very fitly represented by the vine. Tbe weakness and dependence
of the vine on other things wbich support it, well represents to us what a poor,
feeble, dependent creature man is, and how, if left to hiraself, he raust fall into
mischief, and cannot help himself The visible people of God are fitly com
pared lo a vine, because of the care and cultivation of the husbandraan, or vine
dresser. The business of husbandmen in the land of Israel, was very much in
their vineyards, about vines ; and the care they exercised to fence thera, to defend
thera, to prune thera, to prop thera up, and to cultivate them, well represented
that merciful care which God exercises towards his visible people ; and this
latter is often in Scripture expressly compared to the former.
In the words now read is represented,
1. How wholly useless and unprofitable, even beyond other trees, a vine is,
in case of unfruitfulness : " What is a vine-tree more than any tree, or than a
branch which is among the trees of the forest?" i. e., if it do not bear fruit
Men make much more of a vine than of other trees ; they take great care of it,
to wall it in, to dig about it, to prune it, and the like. It is much raore highly
esteeraed than any of the trees of the forest ; they are despised in corapari
son with it And if it bear fruit, it is indeed mucb preferable to other trees ;
for the fruit of it yields a noble hquor ; as it is said in Jotbam's parable, Judg.
ix. 13, " And the vine said unlo them. Should I leave my wine, which cheereth
God and raan ?"
But if it bear no fruit, it is raore unprofitable than the trees of the forest ; for
the wood of thera is good for timber ; but the wood of the vine is fit for no
work ; as in the text, " Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work 1 Or will
men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon V
2. The only thing for which a vine is useful, in case of barrenness, viz., for
luel : "Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel." It is wholly consumed; no
part of it is worth a saving, to m.ake any instrument of it, for any work.
WICKED MEN USEFUL IN THEIR DESTRUCTION ONLY 30]
DOCTRINE.
If raen bring forth no fruit to God, they are wholly useless, unless in their
destruction. For the proof of this doctrine, I shall show,
1. That it is very evident, that there can be but two ways in which man can
se useful, viz., either in acting, or in being acted upon, and disposed of.
2. The man can no otherwise be useful actively than by bringing forth
firuit to God.
3. That if he bring not forth fruit to God, there is no other way in which
he can be passively useful, but in being destroyed.
4. In that way he may be useful without bearing fruit.
I. There are but two ways in which raan can be useful, viz., either in acting
or being acted upon. If man be a useful sori of creature, he must be so either
actively or passively : there is no medium. If he be useful to any purpose, he
must he so either in acting himself, or else in being disposed of by some other ;
either in doing something hunself to that purpose, or else in having something
done upon him by some other to that purpose. What can be more plain, than
that if man do nothing himself, and nothing be done with him or upon hira by
any other, he cannot be any way at all useful ?
If man do nolhing hiraself to proraote the end of his existence, and no other
being do any thing with him to promote tbis end, then nothing wfll be done to
promote this end ; and so man must be wholly useless. So that there are but
two ways in which man can be useful to any purpose, viz., either actively or
passively, either in doing something himself, or in being tbe subje-.t of some
thing done to him.
il. Man cannot be useful actively, any otherwise than in brin*^ing forth
fruit to God, than in serving God, and living lo his glory. This is the only way
wherein he can be useful m doing ; and that for this reason, that the glory of
God is the very thing for which raan was raade, and to which all other ends
are subordinate. Man is not an independent being, but he derives his being
frora another; and therefore hath his end assigned hira by that other : and he
that gave hira bis being, made bim for tbe end now mentioned. This was the
very design and aim of the Author of raan, this was the work for which he made
him, viz., to serve and glorify his Maker.
Other creatures are made for inferior purposes. Inferior creatures were
made for inferior purposes. But it is to be observed, that man is the crea
ture tbat is highest, and nearest to God, of any in this lower world ; and there
fore his business is wilh God, although other creatures are made for lower end.s.
There raay be observed a kind of gradation, or gradual ascent, in the order of
the diff'erent kinds of creatures, from the meanest clod of earth to man, who
halh a rational and iraraortal soul. A plant, an hefb, or tree, is superior in
nature to a stone or clod, because it bath a vegetable life. The brute creatures
are a degree higher still ; for they have sensitive life. But man, having a
ratitmal soul, is the highest of this lower creation, and is next to God ; there
fore his business is with God.
Things without life, as earth, water, &c., are subservient to things above
them, as the grass, herbs, and trees. These vegetables are subservient to that
order of creatures which is next above them, the brute creation ; Ihey are for
food to them. Brute creatures, again, are made for the use and service of the
order above them ; they are made for the service of mankind. But raan being
the highest of this lower creation, the next step from him is to God. He there-
302 WICKED MEN USEFUL IN
fore is made for tbe service and glory of God. This is the whole work and
business of man ; it is his highest end, to which all other ends are subordinate.
If it had not been for this end, there never would have been any such sort
of creature as raan ; there would have been no occasion for it Other inferior
ends may be answered as well, wiihout any such creature as man. There
would have beefn no sort of occasion for making so noble a creature, and en
dowing him with such faculties, only to enjoy earthly good, to eat, and to drink,
and to enjoy sensual things. Brute creatures, wilbout reason!, are capable of
these things, as jvell as man : yea, if no higher end be aimed at than to enjoy
sensitive good, reason is rather a hinderance than a help. It doth but render
raan the raore capable of aflSicting himself with care, and fears of death, and
other future evils, and of vexing himself with many anxieties, from which brute
creatures are wholly free, and therefore can gratify their senses with less moles
tation. Besides, reason dolh but make raen more capable of molesting and im
peding one another in the gratification of their senseis. If man have no other
end to seek but to gratify his senses, reason is nothing but an impediraent
Therefore if man be not made to serve and glorify his Creator, it is wholly
to no purpose that sucb a creature is raade. Doubtless then the all-wise God,
who dolh all things in infinite wisdora, bath raade raan for this end. And this
is agreeable to what he hath taught us in raany places in the Scriptures. This
is the great end for which raan was made, and for whicb he was made such a
creature as he is, having a body and soul, bodily senses and rational powers
For this is he placed in such circumstances as he is, and the earth is given hirn
for a possession. For this he hath dominion given him over tbe rest of the
creatures of this world. For this the sun shines on him, and tbe moon and stars
are for signs and seasons to him, and tbe rain falls on him, and the earth yields
hira her increase.
All Other ends of raan are subordinate to this. There are inferior ends for
which raan was raade. Men were raade for one another ; made for their friends
and neighbors, and for tbe good of the public. But all these inferior ends are
designed lobe subordinate to the higher end of glorifying God ; and therefore man
cannot be actively useful, or actively answer any purpose, otherwise than by
actively glorifying God, or bringing forth fruit to God. Because,
1. That is not actively useful which doth not actively answer its end : tha*
whicb doth not answer its end is in vain ; for that is the raeaning of the propo
sition, that any thing is in vain. So that which doth not actively answer its
end, is, as to its own activity, in vain.
2. That is as to its own activity allogether useless which actively answers
only subordinate ends, without arrswering' the ultimate end ; and that because
the ultimate end is the end of subordinate ends. The notion of a suprerae end
is, that it is the end of all inferior ends. Subordinate ends are to no purpose,
only as they stand related to the highest end. The very notion of a subordinate
end is, that it is in order to a further end. Therefore these iriferior end.s are
good for nothing though they be obtained, unless they also obtain theh end.
Inferior ends are not aimed at for their own sake, but only for the sake of tbe
ultimate end. Therefore he that fails of his great end of all, dolh as much al
together fail of bis end, and is as much to no purpose, as if he did not ohtaui
his subordinate end.
I -.vill illustrate this by tvw or three exaraples. The subordinate end of the
underpinning of a bouse is to support the house ; and the subordinate end of the
windows is to let in the light But the ultimate fend of the whole is the benefif
of the inhabitants: Therefore, if the house be never inhabited, the whole U in
THEIR DESTRUCTION ONLY. 303
va'.n. The underpinning is in vain, though it be ever so strong and support
the building ever so well. The win.lows also are wholly in vain, though they
be ever so large and clear, and though they obtain the subordinate end of letting
in the light : they are as much in vain as if they let in no light.
So tbe subordinate end of the husbandman in ploughing and sowino-, and
well raanuring his field is, that it may bring forth a crop. Bul his more ulti
mate end is, that food may be provided for him and his family. Therefore
though his inferior end he obtained, and his field bring forth ever so good a crop,
yet if after all it be consumed by fire, or otherwise destroyed, he ploughed and
sowed his fiifld as rauch in vain, as if the seed had never sprung up.
So if a man obtain his subordinate ends ever so fully; yet if he altoo-ether
fafl of his ultimate end, he is wholly a useless creature. Thus if raen be veiy
useful iU teraporal Ihings to tbeir families, or greatly proraote the teraporal in
terest of the neighborhood, or of the public ; yet if no glory be broughi to God
by it, they are allogether useless. If raen actively bring no glory to God, they
are, as to tbeir own activity, altogether useless, how much soever they may
promote the benefit of one another. How much soever one part of mankind
may subserve another ; yet if the end of the whole be not answered, every
part is useless.
Thus if the parts of a clock subserve ever so well one to another, mutually
to assist each other in tbeir motions; one wheel moving another ever so regu
larly ; yet if the motion never reach the hand or the hamraer, it is altogether
in vain, as much as if it stood stifl. As in a clock one wheel moves another, and
that another, till at last the motion comes to the hand and hammer, which im
mediately respect the eye and the ear, otherwise all tbe motions are in vain, so
it is in tbe world ; one man was made to be useful to another, and one part of
mankind to another ; but the use of the whole is to bring glory lo God the
m.aker, or else all is in vain; and however a man may serve among his fellow
creatures, in a private or public capacity, upon the whole he is in vain.
It may perhaps be objected, that a wicked man may, by being serviceable
to the public, be useful to many who do bring forth fruit to God, and thus glo
rify him.
Answer 1. If he be so, he is no further useful than he brings glory to God.
It all hath an ultimate respect lo that glory that is brought to God, and is useful
no further ; as the motion of no one wheel of a clock is any further useful, than as
it finally respects the right pointing of the hand, and striking of the hammer.
Answer 2. When it is thus, wicked men are useful only accidentally, and
not designedly. Although a wicked man may, by being serviceable to good
men, do what wifl be an advantage to them to their bringing forth fruit to God ;
yet that serviceableness is not what he aims at ; this is not his end ; he doth not
look so far for an ultimate end. And however this end be obtained, no thanks
are due to him; itis as to him accidental. He is only the occasion, and not
the designing cause of it That fruit which is brought forih to the glory of God,
is not broughi forth by him, but by others.
The usefulness of such a man, being not designed, is not to be attributed tc
hira as though it were his fruit He is not useful as a man, or as a rational
creature, because he is not so designedly. He is useful as things without life may
be. Things wiihout life raay be useful to put the godly under advantages lo bring
forth fruit, as the timber and stones wilb which his house is built, the wool and
flax with which he is clothed; but the fruit which is brought forth to God's
glory, cannot be said for all tbat to be the fruit of these lifeless things, but of
the crodly man who makes use of them. So it is when wicked men put lh(
304 WICKED MEN USEFUL IN
godly under advantages to glorify God, as Cyrus, and Aitaxerxes, and others
have done.
III. If raen bring not forth fruit to God, there is no other way in which they
can be useful passively, but in being destroyed. They are fit for nothing else.
1. Thfy are not fit to be suffered to continue always in tbis world. God
suffers them to live for the present, but it is only for a certain season. They are
here in a transitory state. It is not fit that this world should be the constant
abode of those who bring forth no fruit to God. It is not fit that the barren tree
should be allowed always to stand in the vineyard. The husbandman lets it
stand for a while, till he digs about it, dungs it, and proves it to be incurable,
or till a convenient time to cut it down corae ; but it is not fit that such a tree
should stand here always. It is not fit that they who bring forth no fruit to
God, should be suffered to live always in a world which is so full of the good
ness of God, or that his goodness should be spent upon thera forever.
This world, Ihough it is fallen, and is under a curse, and is a raiserable place
to what it once w-as, yet is full of the slrearas of divine goodness. Bu. it is not
fit that those who bring forth no fruit to God, should always be continued in
partaking of these slrearas. There are these three different states; a state
wherein is nothing but good, which is the state of the blessed in heaven ; a state
wherein is a raixture of good and evfl, which is the earthly state ; and a state
wherein is nothing but evil, w-hich is the state of eternal destruction and damna
tion. Now they that bring forth no fruit to God, are not fit for either of the
former ; it is not fit that they should be continued in the enjoyment of any of the
goodness of God.
Il is not fit that an unprofitable, unfruitful creature, who will not glorify his
Creator, should always live here to devour the fruits of the earth, and consume
the fruits of divine bounty ; to have the good things of this life, as God's wool
and his flax, his corn, and wine, and oil, spent with him in vain. 'While a man
lives in this world, the other creatures of the world are subjected to hira. The
brute creatures serve hira wilh their labor and wilh their lives. The sun, raoon
and stars, the clouds, fields and trees, all serve him. But it is not fit that these
creatures should always be made lo serve him, who brings forth no fruit to the
Creator. Why should God always keep his creatures in subjection to that man,
who will not be subject to him 1 Why should the creation be always kept in
sucb bondage, as to be subject to wicked raen ? The creatures are raade sub
ject to vanity for a littie tirae ; God hath subjected tbern to wicked raen, anci
given them for their use. This however he would not have done, but as it is
only for a little while ; and the creatures can bear it through tbe hope of
approaching deliverance ; and otherwiNC it would have been intolerable. Rom.
viii. 20;| " For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by
reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope."
The creature doth, as it were, groan by rea.son of this subjection to wicked
men, although it be but for a whfle. Rora. vui. 22, " For we know that the
whole creation groaneth, and travaileth in pain together until now." There
fore surely it would be no way fit tbat wicked raen, who do no good, and bring
forth no fruit to God, should live here always, to have the various creatures
subservient to thera, as they are now. The earth can scarcely bear wicked men
during that short time for which tbey stay ber>., but is ready to spew them out
It is no way fit, therefore, that it .should be forced to bear them always.
Men who bring forth no fruit to God are curaberers of the ground. Luke
xiii. 7, " And it is not meet that they should be suffered to cumber the ground
always." God cannot be glorified in this way of disposing of unfruitful per-
THEIR DESTRUCTION ONLY. 30C
sons. If such men -should be suffered to live always in such a state as this, it
would be so far from being to the glory of God, that it would be to the clis-
paragement of the wisdom of God, to continue them in a state so unsuitable for
thera, forever spending- tbe fruits of his bounty in vain upon them. It would
also be a disparageraent to bis justice ; for this is a world where " all things
come alike lo all, and there is one event to the lighteous and to the wicked."
If there were no other state but this for wicked raen to be in, justice could not
possibly take place. It would also reflect upon the holiness of God. Forever
to uphold this world for a habitation of such persons, and forever to continue
the coramunications of his bounty and goodness to them, would appear as though
he were disposed to countenance and encourage sin and wickedness.
2. If raen do not bring forth fruit to God, they are not fit to be disposed of
in heaven. Heaven, above all others, is the most improper place for them.
Every thing appertaining to that state is unsuitable for them. The company is
most unsuitable. The original inhabitants of that world are the angels. But
what a disagreeable union would tbat be, to unite wicked men and angels in
the same society ! The eraployraents of that world are unsuitable. The eraploy
raents are serving and glorifying God. How unsuitable then would it be to
plant barren trees in that heavenly paradise, trees that would bring forth no
fruit to the divine glory ! The enjoyments of heaven are unsuitable. The en
joyments are holy and spiritual enjoyments, the happiness of beholding the glo
ry of God, and praising his narae, and the like. But these enjoyments are as
unsuitable as can be to the carnal earthly minds of wicked raen. They would
be no enjoyments to thera ; but on the contrary would be most disagreeable,
and what they cannot relisb, but entirely nauseale.
The design of heaven is unsuitable to thera. The de.sign of God in raaking
heaven was, that it might be a place of holy habitation, for the reward of the
righteous, and not a habitation for wicked men. It would greatly reflect on the
wisdom of God to dispose of wicked men there ; for il would be the greatest
confusion. But God is not the author of confusion, 1 Cor. xiv. 33. It would
be contrary to the holiness of God, to take wicked men so near to himself, into
his glorious presence, to dwell forever in tbat part of the creation which is, as
it were, his own palace, andto sit at his t-able. We read in Psalm v. 4, " Thou
art not a God that halh pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with
thee." Therefore it would doubtless be irapossible that the end of the existence
of wicked raen should be in any wise answered by the placing of them, in heaven.
lY. Men who bring forth no fruit to God, yet in suffering destruction may
be useful. Although they be not useful actively, or by any thing wbich they
do ; yet they may be useful in what they may suffer ; just as a barren tree,
which is no way useful standing in the vineyard, yet may be good fuel, and be
very useful in the fire. God can find use for the most wicked men ; he hath his
use for vessels of wralh as well as for vessels of mercy ; as in a house there is
use for vessels unto dishonor, as well as for vessels unto honor. 2 Tim. ii. 20,
" In a great house there are not only vessels of gold, and of silver, but also of
wood and of earth ; and some to honor, and some lo dishonor." Prov. xvi. 4,
" The Lord hatb made all things for himself; yea, even the wicked for the day
of evil" I shall briefly '?ke notice of what ends God accomplishes by it.
1. Unfruitful persons are of use in their destruction for the glory of God's
justice. It was t'he wifl of God to glorify his justice, as well as his mercy, on
his creatures. Tbe vindictive justice of God is a glorious attribute, as well a«
his mercy ; and tbe glory of this attribute appears in the everiasting destructioc
and ruin of the barren and unfruitful
Vol. IV. 39
30f! > WICKED MEN USEFUL IN
The glory of divine justice in tbe perdition of ungodly- men appears won
derful and glorious in the eyes of the saints anci fingels in heaven. Hence we
have an account, that they sing praises to God, and extol bis justice at the
sight of the awful judgments which he inflicts on wicked raen. Rev. xr, 5, 6,
" Thou art righteous, 0 Lord, which art, and wast, and art to corae, because thou
hast judged thus ; for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou
hast given them blood to drink ; for they are worthy :" and Rev. xix. 1, 2.
"And after these things I beard, a great voice, saying. Alleluia: salvation, and
glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God ; for true and righteous are
his judgments ; for hebalh judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth
with her fornication, and bath avenged tbe blood of his servants al her hand."
2. Unfruitful persons in their destruction are of use for God to glorify his
majesty upon them. The awful majesty of God remarkably appears in those
dreadful and amazing punishments which he inflicts on those who rise up
against him, and contemn him. A sense of the raajesty of an earthly prince is
supported very rauch by a sense of its being a dreadful thing to affront, hira.
God glorifies his own raajesty in the destruction of wicked raen ; and herein he
appears infinitely great, in that it appears to be an infinitely dreadful thing to
offend him. How awful doth the majesty of God appear in the dreadfulness of
bis anger! This we may learn to be one end of the damnation of the wicked,
frora Rora. ix. 22: " What if God, wifling to show his wiath, and to make his
power known, endured with mucb long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction ?"
It is often spoken of God, that he is a terrible God. It is a part of the
majesty and glory of God, that be is a terrible God. God lefls Pharaoh, that
for this cause he raised him up, that he might show his power in hira, and that
his narae might be declared through all the earth, in his destruction, Exod. ix
15, 16 ; and again chap. xiv. 17, " I wfll get rae honor upon Pharaoh, and
upon all his host, upon bis chariots, and upon his horsemen."
3. The destruction of the unfruitful is of use, to give the saints a greater
sense of their happiness, and of God's grace to them. The wicked will be de
stroyed and tormenled in the view of the saints, and other inhabitants of heaven.
This we are taught in Rev. xiv. 10 : " The sarae sball drink of the wine of the
-wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture, into the cup of his indig
nation ; and be shall be tormented wilh fire and brirastone, in tbe presence of
the holy angels, and in the presence of the Larab." And in Isaiah IxvL 24 :
" And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the raen that have
transgressed against me : for tbeir worra shall not die, neither shall their fire be
quenched, and they shafl be an abhorring unto all flesh."
When the saints in heaven shall look upon the daraned in hell it will serve
to give thera a greater sense of their own happiness, seeing how vastly differ
ent their case is from their own. Tbe view of the doleful condition of the
damned will raake thera the more prize their own blessedness. When they
shall see how dreadful the anger of God is, it will raake thera the raore prize
his love. They will rejoice so rauch the more that they are not the objects of
God's anger, bul of his favor ; that tbey are not the subjects of his dreadful
wralh, but are treated as his chfldren, are taken near to him, to dwell in the
everlasting embraces of his love.
When they sball see the misery of fhe daraned, it wfll give thera e greater
sense ofthe distinguishing grace arid love of God to them, that God should from
al. eternity set his love on them, and make so great a difference between them
and others who are of the same species with them, aie no worse by nature thaa
THEIR DESTRUCTION ONLY. 307
they, and have deserved no worse of God than they. Wben they shull look
upon the raisery of the daraned, and consider how different their own stale is
frora theirs, and tbat it is only free and sovereign grace that makes the dif
ference, what a great sense will this give thera of the wonderful grace of Goo
to them ! And how wfll it heighten their praises ! With how much greatei
admiration and exultation of soul will they sing of the free and sovereign grace
of God to thera !
When they shall look upon the damned, and see their misery, how wfll heaven
ring with the praises of God's justice towards the wicked, and his grace to
wards the saints ! And with how much greater enlargement of heart will they
praise Jesus Christ their Redeemer, that ever he was pleased lo set his love upon
them, his dying love ! And that he should so distinguish them as to spfll his
Wood, and make his soul an offering, to redeem them frora that so great misery.
and to bring them to such exceeding happiness !
With what love and ecstasy will ihey sing that song in Rev. v. 9, 10, " Thou
art worthy : for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out
of every tongue, and kindred, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto
our God kings and priests." One end wbich the apostle mentions why God
appointed vessels of wrath, is the raore to make known the wonderfulness of his
mercy towards the saints. In Rom. ix. 22, 23, there are two ends mentioned :
" What if God, wifling to show his wralh, and to make bis power known, en
dured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction ?"
That is one end, then another is mentioned imraediately after : " And that he
might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he
had afore prepared unto glory." APPLICATION.
L Hence we raay learn, how just and righteous God is in the destruction of
those who bring forth no fruit to God. Seeing there is no other way in which
they can be useful, or in which the end of their being can be obtained, certainly
it is most just that God should thus dispose of thera. Why should God be frus
trated of his end through their perverseness 1 If men wfll not do the work for
which he hath made and filled them; if they, through a spirit of opposition and
rebeflion against God, refuse ; yet why should God suffer himself lo be disap
pointed of his end in making thern ? It doth not become the infinile greatness
and majesty of God, to suff'er himself to be disappointed and frustrated by the
wickedness' and perverseness of sinful worms of the dust. If God should suffer
this, it would .seem to argue, either a want of wisdom in God to fix upon a good
end, or a want of power to accomplish it
God made all men that they raight be useful ; and if they will not be useful
in tbeir conduct and actions, how just is it that God should make them useful m
their sufferinc^s ! God made all men for his own glory ; and if they, contrary to the
revealed wilfof God, refuse to glorify hira actively and wflhngly, how just is it
that God should glorify himself upon them in what he doth with thera !
It hath been shown, that there is no other way wherein this can be done,
bul by their destruction. Surely, therefore, it must be just and righteous that
God should destroy thera. . r ^ -c ¦
Men are under no natural necessity of being put to this use of glorifying
God in their suff'erings. God gives them opportunity of glorifying him in doing,
in bringino- forth fruit, puts thera trader advantages for it, and uses many means
to brial them to it. But if they will not be useful this way, it is very just that
308 WICKED MEN USEFUL IN
God .should make thera useful in the only remaining way in which they can be
useful, viz., in their destruction. God is not forward to put them to tbis use.
He tells us that he hath " no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; ':/at that the
wicked turn from his way and live," Ezek. xxiu. 11. God represents the de
struction of sinners as a work to which be is backward ; yet it is meet that they
should be destroyed, rather than tbat they should be suffered to frustrate God of
the end of their being. Who can blame the husbandman for cutting down amf
burning a barren tree, after he halh digged about it, and dunged it, and used ah
proper means to make it fruitful 1
Let tbose araong us consider this, who have lived all their lives hithertc
unprofitably, and never have brought forth any fruit to God's glory, notwith
standing all the means that have been used with thera. Consider how just it
would be if God should utierly destroy you, and glorify hiraself upon you in that
way ; and what a' wonder of patience it is, that God hath not done it before
now. II. This subject ought to put you upon examining yourselves, whether you
be not wholly useless creatures. You have now heard, that those who bring
forth no fruit to God, are, as to any good they do, wholly useless. Inquire,
therefore, whether you have ever in your lives brought forth any fruit to God.
Have you ever done any thing from a gracious respect to God, or out of love to
God 1 By only seeking your worldly interest, you do not bring forth fruit to
God. It is not bringing forth fruit to God, for you to come to pubhc worship
on the Sabbath, to pray in your farailies, and other such like things, raerely in
corapliance with the general custora. It is not to bring forth fruit to God, that
vou be sober, moral and religious, only to be seen of men, or out of respect to
your own credit and honor. How is that for God which is only for the sake
of custom, or tbe esteera of raen ?
It is not to bring forth fruit to God, for men to pray, and read, and hear,
and to be strict and diligent in religious and moral duties, merely frora the fear
of hell. 'What thanks are due to you for not loving your own raisery, and for
being wifling to take sorae pains to escape burning in hell to all eternity 1
There is ne'er a devil in hell but would gladly do the same: Hos. x. 1, " Israel
is an empty vine ; he bringeth forth fruit unto himself."
There is no fruit brought forth to God, where there is nothing done in any
wise from love to God, or frora any true respect to hira. God looketh at the
heart. He doth not stand in need of our services, neither is he benefited by
any thing that we can do. He dolh not receive any thing of us, because it ben
efits hira, bul only as a suitable testimony of our love and respect to hirn. This
is the fruit that he seeks. Men theraselves wifl not accept of those shows of
friendship, which they think are hypocritical, and come not frora the heart
How much less should God, who searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins of the
children of men ! John iv. 23, " God is a spirit, and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth."
Inquire, Iherefore, whether you ever in your lives did the least thing out of
love to God. Have you not done afl for yourselves 1 Zech. vu. 5, 6, " 'When
ye fasted and raourned in the fifth and seventh raonth, even those seventy years,
did ye at all fast unto rae, even unto me ? And when ye did eat, and when ye
did drink, did ye not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves V
III, Another use of this subject raay be of conviction and humiliation to
those who never have brought forth any fruit to God. If, upon exaraination,
you i^nd that ycu have never in afl your hves done any thing out of a true respect
to God, then it hath been deraonstrated, that, as to any thing which you do, you
THEIR DESTRUCTION ONLY. 309
are altogether useless creatures. And consider, what a shameful thing it is for
such rational beings as you are, and placed under such advantages for usefulness,
yet to be wholly useless, and to live in the world to no purpose !
We esteera it a very raean character in any peison, that he is a worthless
msignificant person ; and to be called so is taken as a great reproach. But con
sider seriously, whether you can clear yourselves of this character. Set reason
to work; can you rationally suppose, that you do in any measure answer the
"nd for which God gave you your being, and made you of a nature superior to
the beasts ? But that you may be sensible what cause you have lo be ashamed
of your unprofitableness, consider the following ihings.
1. How much God bath bestowed upon you, in the endowments of your
nature. God halh made you rational, intelligent creatures, halh endowed you
with noble powers, those endowments wherein the natural iraage of God con
sists. You are vastly exalted in your nature above other kinds of creatures
here below. You are capable of a thousand times as much as any of the brute
creatures. He halh given you a power of undersianding, which is capable of
vastly extending itself, of looking back to the beginning of time, and of consid
ering what was before the world was, and of looking forward beyond the end
of time. It is capable of extending beyond the utmost limits of the universe ;
and is a faculty whereby you are akin to angels, and are capable even of know
ing God, of contemplating the divine Being, and his glorious perfections, mani
fested in his works and in his word. You have souls capable of being the ha
bitation ofthe Holy Spirit of God, and his divine grace. You are capable of the
noble eraployraents of angels.
How lamentable and shameful it is, that such a creature should be alloge
ther useless, and living in vain ! How lamentable that such a noble and excel
lent piece of divine workmanship should fail of its end, and be to np purpose !
Was it ever worth the while for God to make you such a creature, with such
a noble nature, and so much above other kinds of creatures, only to eat, and
drink, and gratify your sensual appetites ? How lamentable and shameful to
you, that such a noble tree shoifld be more useless than any tree of the
forest ; that man, whom God hath thus set in honor, should raake himself more
worthless than the beasts that perish !
2. How much God hatb done for you in the creation of the world. He
made the earlh, and seas, and all the fulness of thera, for the use of man, and
bath given them to him : Psal. cxv. 16, " The earth halh he given to the chil
dren of men." He made the vast variety of creatures for raan's use and service :
Gen. i. 28, " Have dorainion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over every hving thing that raovelh upon the earth." For the sarae
purpose he made all the plants, and herbs, and trees ofthe field : Gen. i. 29, " I
have given you every herb bearing seed, wbich is upon the face of all the earth,
and every tree, in the whicb is the fruit of a tree, yielding seed ; to you it shall
he for raeat" 'He made the sun in the heavens, that glorious luminary, that
wonderful globe of light, to give light to raan, and to constitute the difference
between day and night He also made the moon, and the vast multitude of
stars, for the use of raan, to be to hiraybr signs and seasons.
What great provision hath God made for man ! What a vast variety ot
good things for food, and otherwise lo be for his convenience, to put him under
advantages to be useful ! How laraentable is it, that after all these Ihings he
should be a useless creature in the world !
3. IIow much is done for you in the course of God's common providence !
Consider how nature is continually laboring for you. The sun is, as it were, in
310 WICKED MEN USEFUL iN
a ferment for mankind, unweariedly running his course from ^ear to year, ano
rrom day to day, and spending his rays upon raan, to put hii.t under advantage
to be usefu,'. ; every day giving him light that he may have opportunity to
behold the glorious wisdora of God, and to see and serve God. The winds and
clouds are continually laboring for you, and the waters are going in a constant
circulation, ascending in the air from the seas, descending in rain, gathering in
streams and rivers, returning to the sea, and again ascending and descending,
for you. The earth is continually laboring to bring forth ber fruit fbr your sup
port The trees of the field are laboring and spending their strength for you.
And bow many of tbe poor brute creatures are continually laboring for you,
and spending their strength for you ! How much of the fulness of the earth is
spent upon you ! How many of God's creatures are devoured by you ! How
many of the lives of the living creatures of God are destroyed for your sake,
for your support and comfort !
Now, how lamentable will it be, if, after afl, you be altogether useless, and
live to no purpose ! Whal mere curaberers of the ground will you be ! Agree
ably to Luke xiii. 7. Nature, which thus continually labors for you, wfll be
burdened wilh you. This seems to be what the apostle means, Rora. yii. 20,
21, 22, where be tells us, that the creation is made subject to vanity, and
brought into the bondage of corruption ; and that the whole creation groans,
and travails in pain, under this bondage.
4. How much is done for you in the use of the raeans of grace ! How
much bath God done to provide you with suitable means and advantages for
usefulness ! How many prophets halh God sent into the world, in different
ages, inspiring them with his Holy Spirit, and enabling them to work many
miracles to confirm their word, whereby you now have the written word of
God to instruct you ! How great a thing halh God done for you, to give you
opportunity and advantage to be useful, in that he hath sent his own Son into
the world ! He who is really and truly God, united hiraself to tbe human na
ture and became raan, to be a prophet and teacher to you and other sinners.
Yea, he laid down his life to make atonement for sin, tbat you might have en
courageraenl lo serve God with hopes of acceptance.
How raany ordinances have been instituted for you ! How much of the
labor of the rainisters of God have been spent upon' you ! Is not that true con
cerning, you which is written in Isaiah v., at the beginning, concerning the vine
yard planted in a very fruitful hill, and fenced and cultivated with peculiar care
and pains, which yet proved unfruitful ? How rauch hath the dresser of the
vineyard digged about the barren tree, and dunged it, and yet it reraains
barren !
5. Consider what a shame it is that you should live in vain, when all the
other creatures, that are inferior to you, do glorify their Creator, according to
their nature. You who are so highly exalted in the world, are more useless
than the brute creation ; yea, than the raeanest worras, or things wiihout life,
as earlh and stones : for they all do answer their end, in the way in which
nature hath fitted them for it ; none of thera fafl of it. They are all useful in
their places, al! render their proper tribute of praise to their Creator ; while ypu
are raere nuisances in the creation, and burdens to the earth ; as any tree ofthe
fore.st is raore useful than the vine, if it bear not fruit.
IV. Let ine, m a farther application of this doctrine, exhort you by all raeans
to bring forth fruit to God. Let it be your constant endeavor to be in this way
actively useful in the worid. Here consider three things :
1 What an honor it will be to such p or creatures as you are, to bring
THEIR DESTRUCTKN .^NLY. 311
fotth fruit to the divine glory. What is such a poor worm as man, that hf
should be enabled to bring forth any fruit to God ! It is the greatest honor ofthe
nature of man, that God hath given biui a capacity of glorifying tbe great
Creator. It is what no other creature in this lower world can do, in the same
manner as man. There is no creature in the visible world that is capable of
actively glorifying God, but man.
2. In bringing forth fruit to God, you will be so profitable to none as to
yourselves ; you cannot thereby be profitable to God. Job xxii 2, " Can a
man be profitable to God 1" You may thereby be profitable to your fellow
creatures ; yet not so much as to yourselves. The fruit which you bring forth
to God will be a greater benefit to yourselves than to any one living. You
wfll be raore useful to yourselves than to any one else.
Although you are under a natural obligation to bring forth fruit to God,
yet God doth not require it of you without a reward. He will richly rewarcl
you for it. In requiring you to bring forth fruit to hira, he dolh but require you
to bring forth fruit lo your own happiness. You will taste the sweetness of your
own fruit. It wfll be raost profitable lo you in this world to bring forth fruit to
3od ; it will be exceedingly to your benefit while here. Il will be pleasant to
/ou to lead a fruitful and holy lifct; the pleasure will be beyond the labor.
Besides this, God halh promised to such a hfe everlasting rewards, unspeakable,
infinite benefits. So that by it you will infinitely advance your own interest
3. If you remain thus unprofitable, and be not actively useful, surely God
wifl obtain his end of you, in your destruction. He wifl say concerning the
barren tree, " Cut it down, why curabereth it tbe ground 1" Christ, in John
XV. 6, tells us, " If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is
withered ; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burn
ed." This is spoken of the barren branches in the vine. How would you
yourselves do in such a case wilh a barren tree in an orchard, or with weeds
and tares in your fields ? Doubtless, if it were in your power, you would ut
terly destroy them.
God will have his end ; he will accomphsh it As it is not meet that God
should be frustrated, so be wfll not be frustrated. Though all raen and devfls
unite their endeavors, they cannot frustrate God in any thing ; and " though
hand join in hand, the wicked shafl not be unpunisberl," Prov. xi. 21. God
hath sworn by his great narae, that he wfll have his glory of men, whether
they wifl actively glorify him or no. Numb. xiv. 21, 22, 23, " But as truly as
I live, all the earth sball be filled wilh the glory of the Lord. Because all those
men which have seen ray glory, and ray miracles which I did in Egypt and in
the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten tiraes, and have not heark
ened to my voice ; surely they shall not see the land which I sware unlo their
fathers, neither shafl any of thera that provoked rae, see it."
" The ax lieth at the root of the trees ; and every tree which bringetii not
forth good fruit, is hewn down, and ci.st into the fire," Malt ill 10. The
end of those men who bring forth nolhing but briers and thorns is to be burned,
as in Heb. vi. 7, 8 : " For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft
upon it, and bringeth forth herbs raeet for them by whora it is dressed, receiveth
blessings from God : but that which beareth thorns and briers, is rejected, and
is nigh unto cursing ; whose end is to be burned." So we read of the tares.
Matt xiu. 30: "Let both grow together untfl the harvest; and in the lime of
harvest I will say to the reapers. Gather ye together first the lares, and bind
them in bundles to burn them :" and in verses 40, 41, 42, " As Iherefore the
tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be at the end of the world.
312 WICKED MEN USEFUL IN THE-R DESTRUCTION ONLY
The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his
kingdom all things that offend, and thera which do iniquity, and shall cast them
into a furnace of fire : there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
So it is said of the chaff. Matt iii. 12, " Whose fan is in his hand, and he wfll
thoroughly purge his floor, and gather bis wheat into the garner; but he wifl
burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
If you continue not to bring forth any fruit to the divine glory, as you have
hitherto done, hell will be the only fit place for you. It is a place prepared on
purpose to be a receptacle of such persons. In hell nature ceases to labor any
raore for sinners : the sun doth not run his course to shine upon thera, the earlh
doth not bring forth her fruits to be consuraed upon them there. There tbey
wfll have no opportunity to consurae the fruits of divine goodn&ss on tbeir lusts.
In hell they can prejudice or encuraber nothing, upon which God sets any
value. There the faithful servants and rainisters of God will no longer spend
their strength in vain upon thera. Wben the barren tree is in the fire, the ser
vants of the husbandraan are freed from any further labor or tofl in digging about
it and manuring it.
In hell they will no raore have opportunity to clog and discourage the
flourishing of religion, and to destroy rauch good, as they often do in this world.
In hell tbey will no raore have opportunity to corrupt others by their ill ex
araple. In hell they will no more have it in their power to offend the godly ;
tbey may hurt and torraent one another ; but the godly will be out of their
reach. In hell there wfll be no ordinances, no Sabbaths, no sacraments, no
sacred things, for them to profane and defile by their careless and hypocritical
attendance. Hell, therefore, if you remain unfruitful and curaberers of tbe ground, wifl
be the fittest place for you, and there you will surely have your portion assigned
you. There God will get himself honor upon you ; there he wifl raagnify him
self in your ruin, in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the
Lamb ; and will be praised upon tbat account by the saints, at the day of
iudgment ; and by all the host of heaven throughout everlasting ages.
SERMON XV.
t
SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY QOD.
DEnTEHONOMY xxxil. 35. — Their foot shall slide in due time.
In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving
Israehles, that were God's visible people, and hved under means of grace ; and
that notwithstanding all God's wonderful works that he had wrought towards
that people, yet remamed, as is expressed verse 28, void of counsel, having no
understancbng in thera; and that, under all tbe cultivations of heaven, brought
forth bitter and poisonous fruit ; as in the two verses next preceding the text
The expression that I have chosen for my text, their foot shall slide in due
time, seems to imply the following things relating to the punishment and des
truction that these wicked Israelites were exposed to.
1. That they were always exposed to destruction ; as one that stands or
walks in slippery places is always exposed lo fall. This is implied in the man
ner of their destruction's coming upon thera, being represented by their foot's
sliding. The same is expressed. Psalm Ixxiii. 18 : " Surely thou didst set them
in slippery places ; thou castedst them down into destruction."
2. It imphes, that they were always exposed to sudden, unexpected destruc
tion. As he that walks in slippery places is every moment hable to fafl, he
cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next ; and wben
he doe^ fall, he falls at once, without warning, which is also expressed in that
Psalm Ixxui. 18, 19 : " Surely thou didst set them in slippery places ; thou
castedst them down into destruction : how are they brought into desolation as
in a moraent."
3. Another thing iraplied is, that they are liable to fall of themselves, with
out being thrown down by the hand of another ; as he that stands or walks on
slippery ground needs nolhing but his own weight to throw him down.
4. That the reason why they are not faflen already, and do not fall now, is
only that God's appointed time is not corae. For it is said that when that due tirae,
or appointed time comes, their feet shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall,
as tbey are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold thera up in these
slippery places any longer, but wifl let thera go ; and then, at that very instant,
they sball fall inlo destruction ; as he that stands in such slippery declining
ground on the edge of a pit that he cannot stand alone, wben he is let go be
immediately falls and is lost.
Tbe observation -from the words that I would now insist upon is tbis.
There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hefl.
Out the mere pleasure of God.
By the raere pleasure of God, I mean bis sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary
wifl, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more
than if nothing else but God's raere wfll bad in the least degree or in any res
pect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one raoment
Tbe truth of this observation may appear by the following c:onsiderations.
1. There is no want of power in God to cast wicked raen into hell at any
moment Men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up : the strongest
have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands.
He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do
Vol IV 40
314 SINNERS IN THE HANDS
it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a grei*^ ileal of difficulty ^c subdie
a rebel, that has found means to fortify himself, and nas made himself itrong by
the number of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress
that is any defence against the power of God. Though hand join in hand, and
vast multitudes of God's enemies combine and a.ssociate themselves, they are
easily broken in pieces : they are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirl
wind ; or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. We find it
easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth ; su u- is
easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by ; thus easy
is il for God, when he pleases, lo cast his eneraies down to bell. What are we,
that we should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke tbe earth trembles,
and be fore whom the rocks are thrown down !
2. They deserve to be cast into hell ; so that divine justice never stands in
tbe way, it raakes no objection against God's using his power at any moment
to destroy thera. Yea, on the contrary, justice calls aloud for an infinite punish
ment of their sins. Divine justice says of the tree that brings forth such grapes
of Sodom, " Cut il down, why curabereth it the ground ?" Luke xiii 7. The sword
of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing
but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God's mere will, that holds it back.
3. They are already under a sentence of condemnation to bell- They do
not only justly deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the law of
God, that eternal and imraulable rule of righteousness that God has fixed be-
¦Iween hira and mankind, is gone out against them ; and stands against them ;
so tbat tbey are bound over already to hell : John in. 18, " He that believeth not
is condemned already." So that every unconverted man properly belongs to
hell; that is his place ; from thence be is : John vin. 23, ""Ye are from be
neath :" and thither he is bound ; it is the place that justice, and God's word,
and the sentence of his unchangeable law, assign to bira.
4. They are now the objects of that very sarae anger and wrath of God, that
'is expressed in the torraents of hell : and the reason why tbey do not go dowm
to hell at each raoraent, is not because God, in whose power they are, is not
then very angry wilh them ; as angry, as he is wilh many of those miserable
creatures that be is now tormenting in hell, and do there feel and bear the fierce
ness of his wrath. Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great nurabert
that are now on earth ; yea, doubtless, with many that are now in this congre
gation, that, it may be, are at ease and quiet, than he is with many of those
that are now in the flames of hell.
So that it is not because God is unraindful of tbeir wickedness, and does not
resent it, that he does not let loose his hand and cut them off. God is not alto
gether sucb a one as themselves, though they may imagine him to be so. f Th',
wrath of God burns against them ; their damnation does not slumber ; the pit
is prepared ; the fire is made reaily ; the furnace is now hot ; ready to receive
thera ; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and
held over them, and the pit hath opened her moulh under them.
5. The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, al
what moment God sball permit bira. They belong to hira ; he bas their souls
in his possession, and under his dorainion. The Scripture represents thein as his
goods, Luke xi. 21. The devfls watch thera; they are ever by them, at theh
right band ; tbey stand waiting for them, hke greedy hungry lions that see their
prey, and expect to have it, but are for the preSent kept back ; if God should
withdraw his hand by wbich they are restrained, they would in one moraent fly
upon tbeir poor .souls. The old serpent is gaping for them; hefl opns its
OF AN ANGRY GOD. 315
mouth wide to receive them ; and if God should permit it, they woula d£ basti- I
ly swallowed up and lost '
6. There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning,
that would presently kindle and flame out inlo hell-fire, if il were not lor God't,
restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men, a fbundation for the
torments of hell : there are those corrupt principles, in reigning power in them,
and in full possession of thera, that are the beginnings of bell-fire. These prin
ciples are active and powerful, exceeding violent in their nature, and if it were
not for the restraining band of God upon them, they would soon break out, Ihey
would flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions, the same enmity
does inthe hearts of damned souls, and would beget the same torments in thera as
they do in thera. The souls of the wicked are in Scripture compared to the
troubled sea, Isaiah Ivii. 20. For the present God restrains their wickedness by
his raighty power, as he does the raging waves of the troubled sea, saying,
" Hitherto sbalt thou come, and no further ;" bul if God should withdraw that
restraining power, il would soon cany all before it. Sin is the ruin and misery
of the soul ; it is destructive in its nature ; and if God should leave it wiihout
restraint, there would need nothing else lo make the soul perfectly miserable.
The corruption of the heart of man is a thing that isiramoderate and boundless
in its fury ; and whfle wicked men live here, it is like fire pent up by God's
restraints, whereas if it were let loose, it would set on fire the course of nature ;
and as the heart is now a sink of sin, so, if sin was not restrained, il would im
mediately turn the soul into a fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone.
7. It is no security to wicked men for one raoraent, that there are no visible
means of death at hand. It is no security to a natural raan, that he is now in*^-
health, and that he does not see which way he should now immediately go out
of the world by any accident, and that thereis no visible danger in any respect
in his circumstances. The manifold and continual experience of the world in
all ages, shows that this is no evidence that a man is not on the very brink of
eternity, and that the next step wfll not be into another world. The unseen,
unthought of ways and means of persons' going suddenly out of the world are
'umuraerable and inconceivable. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on
a rotten covering, _andjhere are innumerable places in Ihis covering so weak
that they will not bear their_weighl,_and these places are not seen. "The arrows
. of death fly unseen at noonday; the sharpest sight cannot discern them. Godj
has so many different, unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of thei
world and sending them to hell, that there is nothing to make il appear, that|
God had need to be at the expense of a miracle, or go out of the ordmaryl
course of his providence, to destroy any wicked man, at any moraent. Afl the)
means that there are of sinners' going out of the worid, are so in God's hands,
and so absolutely subject to bis power and deterraination, that it does not depend
at all less on the mere will of God, whether sinners shafl at any moraent go to
hell, than if means were never made use of, or at all concerned in the case.
8. Natural men's prudence and care to preserve their own lives, or the care
of others to preserve them, do not secure them a moment This, divine provi
dence and universal experience do also bear testiraony to. There is Ihis clear
evidence that men's own wisdom is no security to them from death ; that if it
were otherwise we should see some difference between the wise and politic men
of the world, and others, with regard to their hableness to early and unexpect-
ed death ; but how is i* in fact ? Eccles. il 16, " How dieth the wise raan 1
As the fool." . , ^ „ , .,
9. All wicked men's pains and contrivance they use to escape hell, while
316 SINNERS IN THE HANDS
they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked .flen, Jo not jecure thenii
from hell one raoment. Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters
himself that he shall escape it; he depends upon hiraself for his own security,
he flatters hiraself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he
intends to do ; every one lays out matters in his own mind how he shafl avoid
damnation, and flatters hiraself that he contrives wel' for hiraself, and that his
scheraes will not fail. They hear indeed that there an but few saved, and that
the bigger part of raen that have died heretofore are -Tone to hell ; but each
one iraagines that he lays out raatters better for bis own ' scape than others have
done : he does not intend to corae to that place of to; ment ; he says within
himself, that he intends to take care that shall be effectual, and to order matters
so for himself as not to fail
, But the foolish children of men do miserably delude theraselves in theirown
.%heraes, and in their confidence in their own strength and wisdora, they trust to
' nothing but a shadow. The bigger part oi those that heretofore have lived
under the sarae raeans of grace, and are now dead, are undoubtedly gone to hell ;
.and il was not because they were not as wise as those that are now alive; it
jwas not because they did not lay out raatters as well for theraselves to secure
their own escape. If it were so that we could come to speak wilh them, and
could inquire of them, one by one, wbether they expected, when alive, and
when they used to hear about hell, ever to be subjects of that misery, we, doubt
less, should hear one and another reply, " No, I never intended lo come here :
I had laid out raatters otherwise in my mind ; I thought I should contrive well
for myself: I thought ray scherae good : I intended to take effectual care ; but
it came upon me unexpectedly ; I-did not look for it at that time, and in that
manner; it carae as a thief: death outwitted me: God's wrath was too quick
for rae : 0 ray cursed foolishness ! I was flattering rayself, and pleasing, myself
with vain drearas of what I would do hereafter ; and when I was saying peace
and safety, then sudden destruction carae upon me."
10. God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise, to keep any
natural man out of hell one raoraent : God certainly has made no promises
either of eternal life, or of any dehverance or preservation from eternal death,
' but what are contained in the covenant of grace, the promises that are given
in Christ, in whora all the promises are yea and amen. But surely they have
no interest in the proraises of the covenant of grace that are not the children
of the covenant, and that do not believe in any of tbe promises of the cove
nant, and have no interest in the Mediator of the covenant.
So that, whatever sorae have imagined and pretended about promises made
to natural raen's earnest seeking and knocking, it is plain and raanifest, that
whatever pains a natural raan takes in religion, whatever prayers he makes, tfll
he believes in ChrisI, God is under no manner of obligation to keep him a
moment from eternal destruction.
So that thus it is, that natural men are held in the band of God over the
pit of hell ; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced toil ; and
God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that
are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hefl, and
they have clone nolhing in the least, to appease or abate that anger, neither is
God in the least bound by any promise to hold thera up one raoment ; the devfl
is waiting for thera, hell is gaping for thera, the flaraes gather and flash about
them, and would fain lay hold on them and swallow them up ;)the fire pent up
m their own hearts is struggling to break out ; and tbey have no interest in any
Mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them.
OF AN ANGRY GOD. 317
In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; afl that preserves thera
every momont is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanled, unoblioed forbear-
ance of an incensed God. APPLICA'nON
The use may be of awakening to unconverted persons in this congregation
This that you have beard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ
That \vorid of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under
you. C 1 here is the dreadlul pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God ; there
is hell's wide gaping raouth open ; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any
thing to take hold of. There is nothing between you and bell bul the air; it is
only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.)
You probably are not sensible of this ; you find you are kept out of hell, but
do not see the hand of God in it; but look at other things, as the good slate of
your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for
your own preservation. Bul indeed these things are nolhing ; if God should
withdraw his hand, tbey would avail no more to keep you from falling, than
the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it.
Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend down
wards with great weight and pressure towards hell ; and if God shoifld let you '
go, you would immediately sink and swiflly descend and plunge inlo the bottom-
Jess gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best
contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more infiuence to uphold
you and keep you out of hell, than a spider's web would have to stop a falling
rocls^ Were il not that so is the sovereign pleasure of God, the earlh would not
bear you one raoraent ; for you are a burden to it ; the creation groans with you ;\
Ihe creature is made subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly;)
the sun does not willingly shine upon you to giye you light to serve sin°and
Satan ; the earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy your lusts ; nor
is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon; the air does not
wfllingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of life in your vitals, whfle
you spend your life in the service of God's enemies. God's creatures are good,
and were raade for men to serve God with, and do not willingly subserve to any
other purpose, and groan when they are abused to purposes so directly contrary
to their nature and end. And the world would spew you out, were it not for
the sovereign hand of him who hath subjected it in hope. There are the black!
clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful'
storm, and big with thunder ; and were it not for the restraining hand of God,|
it would iraraediately burst forth upon you. The sovereign pleasure of God, for
the present, stays his rough wind ; otherwise it would come wilh fury, and your
destruction would come like a whirlwind, and you would be hke the cbaff of the
summer threshing floor.
The wrath of God is like great waters tbat are dammed for the present ;
theyihcrTase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given;
and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is ils course,
when once it is let loose. It is true, that judgment against your evil work has
not been executed hitherto; the floods of God's vengeance have been withheld;
but your guilt in the mean time is constantly increasing, and you are every day
treasuring up more wrath; tbe waters are continually rising, and waxing raore
and raore raighty ; and there is nothing but tbe mere pleasure of God, that holds
ihe waters back, that are unwilhng to be stopped, and press hard to go forward.
If God should only withdraw his hand from the floodgate, it would immediately
,^18 SINNERS IN THE HANDS
fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God, would rush
forth wilh inconceivable fury, and would comt npon you with omnipotent pow
er ; and if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten
thousand limes greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in bell
it would be nothing to withstand or endure it
The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on tbe string,
and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing
bul the mere pleasure of God, and thatof anangry God, without, any promise
or obligation at- all, that keeps the arrow one moment frora being made drunk
wilh your blood.
Thus are all you tbat never passed under a great change of heart, by the
mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls ; all that were never born
again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state
of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, (however you may
have reforraed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections,
and may keep up a forra of religion in your farailies and closets, and in the houses
of God, and raay be strict in it,) you are thus in the hands of an angry God ; it
! is nolhing but his raere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swal
lowed up in everlasling destruction.
However unconvinced you may now be of the truth of what you hear, by
and by you wfll be fully convinced of it Those tbat are gone frora being in
the like circumstances wilh you, see that it was so with them ; for destruction,
came suddenly upon raost of thera ; wben tbey expected nolhing of it, and while
they -were saying. Peace and safety : now they see, that those Ihings that they
depended on for peace and safety were nothing but thin air and empty shadows.
The God that holds you over tbe pit of hell, much as one bolds a spider,
or sorae lo-athsorae insect, over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked ;
his wrath towards you burns hke fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing
else, but to be cast into the fire ; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you
in bis sight ; you are ten thousand times so abominable in his eyes, as the
raost baleful and venoraous serpent is in ours.j You have offended hira infinite
ly more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince : and yet it is nothing but his
hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment : it is ascribed to
nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last nigbt ; that you was suffei-ed to
awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep ; and there is no
other reason lo be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose
in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up : there is no other reason
to be given wby you have not gone to hell, since you have sat herein the house
of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his
solemn worship : yea, there is nolhing else that is to be given as a reason wby
you do not this very moment drop down into hell.
0 sinner! consider Ihe fearful danger you are in : it is a great furnace of
wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, fifll of the fire of wrath, that you are held
over in the hand of that God, whose -w-rath is provoked and incensed as mucb
against you, as against many ofthe damned in hell : you hang by a slender thread,
with Ihe flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every raoraent to
singe it, and burn il asunder; and you bave no inteiest in any Mediator, and
nothing lo lay hold of to save yourself nothing to keep off the flames of wrath,
C nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do,
to induce God to spare you one moment.^
'"' And consider here more particularly several thii'.gs concerning that wrath
tbfit you are in such danger of.
OF AN ANGRY GOD. 319
1. 'Whose wrath it is. It is tbe wrath ofthe infinite God. If il weie only
ihe wrath of man, though it were of the most potent prince, it would be
comparatively liltle to be regarded. The wrath of kings is very much dreaded,
especially of absolute monarchs, tbat have the possessions and lives of theii
subjects wholly in their power, to be disposed of at their mere will. Prov
XX. 2, " Tbe fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion : whoso provoketl
hira to anger, sinneth against bis own soul'' The subject that very mucl
enrages an arbitrary prince, is liable to suffer tbe mo.sl extreme torments Ihai
human art can invent, or human power can inflict But the greaiest earthly
potentates, in their greatesf' majesty and strength, and when clothed in theii
greaiest terrors, are but feeble, despicable worms of the dust, in comparison of
the great and almighty Creator and King of heaven and earth : it is but little
that they can do, when most enraged, and when they have exerted the utmost
of their fury. All the kings of the earth before God, are as grasshoppers ;
they are nolhing, and less than nothing : both their love and their haired is
to be despised. The wrath of the great King of kings, is as much more terrible
than theirs, as his majesty is greater. Luke xn. 4, 5, " And 1 say unlo you,
my friends. Be not afraid of thera that kill the body, and after that have no
more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shafl. fear : fear him,
which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell ; yea, I say unto
you. Fear hira."
2. It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often
read of the fury of God ; as in Isaiah lix. 18 : " Accorchng to their deeds,
accordingly be will repay fury to bis adversaries." So Isaiah Ixvi. 15, " For
behold, the Lord will corae wilh fire, and with his chariots like a whirl
wind, to render bis anger with fury, and his rebuke with flaraes of fire."
And so in many other places. So we read of God's fierceness. Rev. xix.
15. There -we read of " the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of
Almighty God." Tbe words are exceedingly terrible : if it had only been
said, " tbe wrath of God," the words would h-ave implied that which is infin
itely dreadful : but it is not only said so, but " the fierceness and wrath of God :"
the fury of God ! the fierceness of Jehovah ! Oh how dreadful must that bei
Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in thera ! But it is not
only said so, but " the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." As though
there would be a very great manifestation of his almighty power in whal the
fierceness of his wralh should inflict, as though omnipotence .should be as it
were enraged, and exerted, as men are wont to exert their strength in the
fierceness of their wrath. Oh ! then, what will be the consequence ! "What
will becorae of the poor worra that shall suffer it ! Whose bands can be strong !
And whose heart endure ! To what a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable
depth of misery must the poor creature be sunk who shall be the subject of this !
Consider tbis, you that are here present, that yet remain in an unregenerate
state. That God wifl execute the fierceness of his anger, implies, that he will
inflict wrath whhout any pity : when God beholds the ineffable extremity of
your case, and sees your torment so vastly disproportioned to your strength, and
sees bow your- poor' soul is crushed, and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite
gloom; he wfll have no corapassion upon you, he Avill not forbear the execu
tions of bis wrath, or in the least lighten his hand ; there shall be no raodera
tion or mercy, nor will God then at all stay his rough wind ; he wifl have no
regard to your welfare, nor be at all careful lest you should suffer too much in
any other sense, than only tbat you should not suffer beyond what strict justice
requires : nolhing shall be withheld, because it is so hard for you to War. Ezek.
320 SINNERS IN THE HANDS
viii. 18, " Therefore wifl I also deal in fury; mine eye shall not spare, neithei
will I have pity ; and though they cry in mine ears wilh a loud voice, yet
wfll I not hear thera." Now God stands ready to pity you; this is a day of
inercy ; you raay cry now wilh sorae encourageraenl of obtaining inercy : but
when once the day of raercy is past, your raost laraentable and dolorous cries and
shrieks will bein vain; you will be wholly lost and thrown away of God, as to any
regard to your welfare ; God will have no other use to put you to, but only to suffei
misery ; you sball be continued in being to no other end ; for you wfll be a vessel
of wralh fitted lo destruction ; and there will be no other use ofthis vessel, bul only
to be filled full of wrath : God will be so far from pitying you when you cry to hira,
that it is said he will only " laugh and mock," Prov. i. 25, 26, &c.
How awful are those words, Isaiah Ixiii. 3, which are the words ofthe great
God : " I wifl tread Ihem in mine anger, and traraple thera in my fury, and
tbeir blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my rai
ment" It is perhaps impossible to conceive of words that carry in them great
er manifestations of these three things, viz., contempt and hatred, and fierceness
/of indignation. If you cry lo God lo pity ybu, he will be so far from pitying
[you in your doleful case, or showing you the least regard or favor, that instead
\of that he will only tread you under foot : and though he will know that you
cannot bear the weight of omnipotence treading upon you, yet he will not re-
'gard that, but he will crush you under his feet wiihout mercy; he will crush
out your blood, and make it fly, and il shall be sprinkled on his garraents, so
as to stain all his raiment He will not only hate you, but he wifl have you in
the utmost contempt ; no place shall be ihought fit for yoa but under his feet,
to be trodden down as the mire in the streets.
3. The misery you are exposed to is that whicb God will inflict to tbat
end, that he might show whal that wrath of Jehovah is. God halh haid it on
his heart to show to angels and men, both how excellent his love is, and also how
terrible his wrath is. Sometiraes earthly kings have a mind to show how terri
ble their wrath is, by the extreme punishments they would execute on those
that provoke thera. Nebuchadnezzar, that raighty and haughty monarch of the
Chaldean empire, was willing to show his wrath when enraged with Shadrach,
Meshech, and Abednego; and accordingly gave order that the burning fiery fur
nace should be healed seven tiraes hotter than it was before ; doubtless, it was
raised to the utmost degree of fierceness that huraan art conld raise it ; but the
great God is also wflling to show his wrath, and raagnify his awful Majesty
and mighty power in the extreme sufferings of his enemies. Rom. ix. 22, " 'What
if God, willing to show his wrath, and lo rnake his power known, endured with
mucb long-suffering, the vessels of wrath fitted to destuction V And seeing this is
his design, and what he has deterrained, to show bow terrible the unraixed, unre
strained wrath, the fury and fierceness of Jehovah is, be wfll do it to effect
There wifl be soraething accoraplished and brought lo pass that will be dreadful
with a witness. When the great and angry God bath risen up and executed
his awful vengeance on the poor sinner, and the wretch is actually suffering the
infinile weight and power of his indignation, then will God call upon the whole
universe to behold that awful raajesty and mighty power that is to be s 'en in it
Isa. xxxiu. 12, 13, 14, " And the people sball be as the burnings of hme, as
thorns cut up shall tbey be burnt in the fire. Hear, ye that are afar off, what I have
done ; and ye that are near, acknowledge my might The sinners in Zion are
afraid ; fearfulness bath surprised the hypocrites," &c.
Thus il will be with you Ihat are in an unconverted state, if you continue
m it ; the infinite might, and majesty, and terribleness, of the Omnipotent God
OF AN ANGRY GOD. 321
iball be magnified upon you in the ineffable strength of your torments : you shall
be tormented in tbe presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the
Larab ; and when you shall be in this state of suff'ering, the glorious inhabitants
of heaven shall go forth and look on the awful spectacle, that they maysee what
the wrath and fierceness of the Almighty is ; and when they have seen it, they
wfll fall down and adore that great power and majesty. Isa. Ixvi. 23, 24," And
it shall corae to pass, that from one raoon to another, and from one Sabbath to
another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And tbey
shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed
againsi rae ; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched,
and tbey shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."
4. It is everlasling wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and
wralh of Almighty God one moment ; but you must suffer it to all eternity :
there will be no end to this exquisite, horrible misery : wben you look forward,
you shall see a long forever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow
up your thoughts, and amaze your soul ; and you will absolutely despair of ever
having any deliverance, any end, any'raitigation, any rest at all ; you wifl know
certainly that you raust wear out long ages, raiflions of millions of ages, in wrestling
and conflicting with this Alraighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have
so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this raanner,
you will know that all is but a point to what remains. So that your punishment
wfll indeed be infinite. Ob, who can express whal the state of a soul in such
circumstances is ! All that we can possibly say about il, gives but a very feeble,
faint representation ofii ; it is inexpressible and inconceivable : for " who knows
tbe power of God's anger ?"
How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in danger of this
great wrath and infinite misery ! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this
congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober and
rehgious, they may otherwise be. Oh that you would consider it, whether you
be young or old ! There is reason to think, that there are many in this congre
gation now hearing this discourse, that wifl actually be the subjects of this very
misery to all eternity. We know not who tbey are, or in what seals tbey sit, or
what thoughts they now have. It may be they are now at ease, and hear all
these things without much disturbance, and are now flattering themseh'es that
they are not the persons; proraising themselves that they shall escape.( If we
Knew that there was one person, and but one, in the whole congregation, that
was to be the subject of tbis misery, what an awful thing it would be to think
of! If we knew who it was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a
person ! How might all the rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and,
bitter cry over him ! But alas ! Instead of one, how raany is it likely wfll re-l
aiember this discourse in hell ! And it would be a wonder, if sorae that are now
present should not be in hell in a very short time, befc)re this year is out. Andl
.t would be no wonder if sorae persons, that now sit here in some seats of this,
meeting-house in health, and quiet and secure, should be there before to-morrow'
morning.
Vol. rv. **
SERMON XVI
THE VAIN SELF-FLATTERIES OF THE SINNER.
FsALM xxx-L. 2 — Fo- he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hatoftll.
Is the foregoing verse, David says, that the transgression of the wicked said
within nis heart, " that there is no fear of God before his eyes ;" that is, when
he saw that the wicked went on in sin, in an allowed way of wickedness, it
convinced hira, that he was not afraid of those terrible judgments, and of that
wrath wbich God halh threatened sinners. If he were afraid of these he could
never go on so securely in sin, as he doth.
In our text he gives the reason why the wicked did not fear. It was a
strange thing that men, who enjoyed sijcb light as they did iri the land of Israel,
wh6 read and heard those raany awful threatenings which virere written in the
book of the law, should not be afraid to go on in sin. But sailh tbe Psalmist,
They fiatter themselves in their own eyes: they have something or other which
they rnake a foundation of encourageraenl, wbereby they persuade theraselves
that they shall escape those judgments ; and that makes them put far away the
evil day.
In this manner he proceeds, untfl his iniquity be found to be hateful ; that
is, until he finds by experience that it is a raore clreadful thing to sin against
God, and break his holy coramands, than be iraagined. He thinks sin to be
sweet, and hides it as a sweet raorsel under his tongue : he loves it, and flatters
hiraself in it, till at length he finds, by experience, tbat it is as bitter as gafl
and wormwood. Though he thinks the commission of sin to be lovely, yet he
fvfll find the fruit of it to be hateful, and what he cannot endure. Prov. xxiii
32, " At last it wfll bite like a serpent, and sting like an adder."
Here observe,
1. The subject spoken of is the wicked man, of whom the Psalmist bad been
speaking in the foregoing verse.
2. His action in flattering himself in his own eyes ; i. e., he makes hiraself
and his case to appear lo hiraself, or in his own eyes, better than it is.
3. How long he continues so lo do, until his iniquity be found to be hateful
Which may be taken for his sin itself, as the wicked will see how odious sin is
to God, when he shafl feel the effects of his hatred, and how baleful to angels
and sainls ; or rather the cause is here put for the effect, the tree for its fruit,
and be will find his iniquity to be hateful, as be wfll find tbe hatefulness and
feel the terribleness of tbe FRtJiT of his iniquity.
DOCTRINE.
Wicked raen generally flatter theraselves with hopes of escaping punishment,
till it actually coraes upon thera.
There are but few sinners who despair, who give up the cause and con
clude wrth theraselves, tbat they shall go to hell ; yet there are but few who do
not go to hell. Il is lo be feared tbat raen go to hell every day out of thb
country ; yet v ery few of thera suffer theraselves to believe, tbat tbey are in
any great danger of that punishraent They go on sinning and travelhng in
SELF-FLATTERIES. 323
the direct road to the pit ; yet by one raeans or other they persuade themselves
that they shall never fall into il.
In my present discourse, I shall,
1. Mention some things in confirmation of the doctrine, that sinners flatter
themselves with the hope of irapunity.
2. Mention some of the various ways wherein sinners flatter themselves in
that hope.
3. Show that sinners generally go on flattering themselves, till punishment
actually overtakes them.
I. I am to mention some things in confirmation ofthe doctrine, that sinners
flatter themselves with the hope of future impunity.
1. We are so taught in the word of God. Besides our text, you may see,
Deut. xxix. 18, 19, " Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or
family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from tbe Lord our God.
Lest there should be among you a root that beai-eth gall and wormwood, and
it come to pass when he beareth these words of this curse, that he bhss himself
in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of
mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst." Where it is supposed that they
whose hearts turn away from God, and are roots that bear gafl andworrawood,
generally bless themselves in their hearts, saying, we shall have peace.
See also Psalra xlix. 17, 18 : " When he dieth, be shall carry nothing away :
his glory shafl not descend after him, though while he lived, he blessed nrs
SOUL." And Psalm I 21, " These things thou hast done, and I kept silence:
thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: but I will reprove
thee, and set thera in order before thee."
2. It is very evident, tbat sinners flatter themselves that tbey shall escape
punishment, by this, that otherwise they would be in dreadful and continual
distress. Olherwise, as long as tbey are in sin, they could never live and go
about so cheerfully as they no-w do : their lives would be filled wilh sorrow and
mourning, and they would be in continual uneasiness and distress ; as rauch as
those that are exercised with sorae violent pain of body. Bul it is evident that
it is not in fact so ; it is apparent that men are careless and secure ; that they
are not much concerned about future punishment, and that they cheerfiilly pur
sue their business and recreations. Therefore they undoubtedly flatter them
selves, that they shall not be eternally miserable in hell, as they are threatened
in the word of God.
3. It is evident that they flatter themselves with hopes that they shall escape
punishment, as otherwise they would certainly be restrained, at least from many
of those sins in which tbey now live : tbey would not proceed in wilful courses
of sin. The transgression of the wicked convinced the Psalmist, and is enough
to convince every one, that there is no fear of God before his eyes, and that he
flatters himself in bis own eyes. It would be impossible for men allowedly
frora day to day to do those very things, which they know are threatened with
everiasting destruction, if they did noisome way encourage themselves, they
should nevertheless escape that destruction.
IL I shall mention some of the various ways wherein sinners flatter them
selves in their own eyes.
1. Sorae flatter themselves with a secret hope, that there is no such thing
as another worid. Tbey hear a great deal of preaching, and a great deal of
talk about hefl, and about the eternal judgment ; but those things do not seem
to them to be real. Tbey never saw any thing of them ; they never saw hel ,
le-cr saw the devils and "damned spirits; and therefore are ready to say with
324 SELF-FLATTERIES.
theraselves. How do I know that Ihere is any such thing as another woild
When the be-asts die, there is an end of them, and how do I know but that i
wfll be so with me 1 Perhaps all these things are nothing but tb.. /nveniions ol
men, nothing but cunningly devised fables.
Such thoughts are apt to rise in the rainds of sinners, and the devil sets in to
enforce thera. Sucb thoughts are an ease to thera : therefore they wish they
were true, and that makes ihem tbe more ready to think that they are indeed
true. So that they are hardened in the way of sin, by infidelity and atheistica.
thoughts. Psalm xiv. 1, " The fool hath said in his heart. There is no God."
Psalra xciv. 6, 7, " They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder tbe
fatherless. Yet tbey say. The Lord shall not see ; neither shall the God of Jacob
regard it"
2. Sorae flatter theraselves that death is a great way off, and that they sball
hereafter have much opportunity to seek salvation; and they think if they ear
nestly seek it, though it be a great while hence, they shall obtain. Although
they see no reason to conclude that they shafl live long, and perhaps they do not
positively conclude that tbey shall ; yet il doth not come into their ininds that
their lives are really uncertain, and that it is doubtful whether they will live
another year. Such a thought as this dolh not lake any hold of them. And
although they do not absolutely determine that they shall live to old age or to
middle age, yet they secretly flatter themselves with such an imagination. They
are disposed to believe so, and do so far believe il, that they act upon it, and
run the venture of it
Men will believe that things will be as they choose to have them, without
reason, and sometiraes without tbe appearance of reason, as is most apparent in
this case. Psalraxlix.il, " Their inward thought is, that tbeir houses shafl
continue forever, and their dwelling places to afl generations ; they call their
lands after their own naraes."
The prepossession and desire of raen to have it so, is the principal thing
that makes them believe so. However, there are several other things which
they use as arguments to flatter theraselves. Perhaps they think with themselves,
tbat since they are at present in health, orinyoutb, or that since they are useful
men, do a great deal of good, and both Ihemselves and others pray for the con
tinuance of their lives ; they are not likely to be removed by dealh very soon.
If they shall live many years in the world, they think that it is very probable
they shall be converted before tbey die ; as they expect hereafter to have rauch
more convenient opportunities to becorae converted, than they have now. AniJ,
by sorae raeans or other, they think they shall get through their work before
they arrive at old age.
3. Sorae flatter theraselves that they lead moral and orderiy lives, and
therefore think that they shall not be daraned. They think wilb themselves
that they live not in any vice, that they take care to wrong no man, are just and
honest dealers ; that they are not addicted to hard drinking, or to uncleanness,
or to bad language ; that they keep the Sabbath strictly, are constant attendants
on the public worship, and raaintain the worship of God in their famflies.
Therefore they hope Ihat God wfll not cast them into hefl. Tbey see not whv
God should be so angry with thera as that would imply, seeing they are so
orderiy and regular in their walk ; they see not that tbey bave done enough to
anger hira to that degree. And if they have angered him, they imagine they
have also done a great deal lo pacify him.
If tbey be not as yet converted, and it be necessary that they should experi-
ence any other conversion in order to their salvation, they hope that their orderiy
SELF-FLATTERIES. .325
and strict lives will move God to give them converting gi ace. Tbey bope tbat
surely God will not .see those that hve as they do go to hefl. Thus" they flaltei
ihemselves, as those we read of, Luke xviii 9, " that trusted in themselves thai
they were righteous."
4. Some make the advantages under wbich tbey live an occasion of self-
flattery. They flatter theraselves, because they live in a place where the gospel
IS powerfully preached, and among a rehgious people, where many have been
converted; and they think it wfll be much easier for them lo be saved on that
account Thus they abuse the grace of God to their destiuction ; they do that
winch the Scriptures call despising the riches of God's goodness : Rom. ii. 4,
" Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffer
ing; not knowing that Ihe goodness of God leadeth thee lo repentance 1"
Some flatter theraselves, because tbey are born of godly parents, who are
dear to Gc)d, who have often and earnestly prayed for them, they hope that their
prayers will be heard ; and that encourages them to go on in the way of ne
glecting their souls. The Jews had great dependence upon this, that Iheywere
the children of Abrahara : John viii. 33, they raake their boast, " We be
Abraham's seed :" and in verse 39, " Abraham is our falher." /
5. Some flatter themselves with their own intentions. They intend to ne
glect themselves and give Ihemselves liberty for a while longer, and then lo re
form. Though now they neglect their souls, and are going on in sin ; yet they
intend erelong to bestir themselves, to leave off their sins, and to set themselves
to seek God. They hear that there is a great encouragement for those who
earnestly seek God. tbat they shall find hira. So they intend lo do ; they pro
pose to seek wilh a great deal of earnestness. They are told, that there are
many who seek lo enter the kingdom of heaven, who shall not be able ; but
they intend, not only to seek, but to strive. However, for the present they
allow themselves in their ease, sloth, and pleasure, minding only earthly Ihings
Or if they should be seized with some mortal distemper, and should draw
near to the grave, before the lime which they lay out in their minds for refor
mation, they think how earnestly they would pray and cry lo God for mercy ;
and as they hear God is a merciful God, who taketh no delight in the dealh of
sinners, they hence flatter themselves that they shall move God to have pily on
them. There are but few who are sinners, and know themselves to be such, "wno do
not encourage themselves wilh intentions of future repentance and reformation ;
but few who do not flatter Ihemselves, that they shall in good earnest set them
selves to seek God sprae time or other. Hell is full of good intenders, who
never proved to be true performers : Acts xxiv. 25, " Go thy -way for this
time ; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee."
6. There are some who flatter Ihemselves, that they do, and have done, a
great deal for their salvation, and therefore hope they shall obtain, when indeed
they neither do what they ought lo do, nor wbat they inighl do in tbeir present
state of unregeneracy ; nor are they in any likely way to be converted. They
think they are striving, when they neglect many moral and some instituted
duties ; nor do they exert themselves as if it were for their lives ; they are not
violent for the kingdom of heaven.
There are doubtless many such ; many are concerned, and are seeking, and
do many things, and think that they are in a very fair way to obtain the king
dom of God ; yet there is great danger that they will prove at last to be sorae
ofthe foolish virgins, and be found wiihout oil in their vessels.
7 Some hope by their strivings to obtain salvation of themselves. They
326 SELF-FLATTERIES.
have a secret imagination, that tfley sball, by degrees, work in themselves sor
row and repentance of sin, and love towards God and Jesus Christ Their
striving is not so much an earnest seeking to God, as a striving to do thenoselves
that which is the work of God. Many who are now seeking have this imagi
nation, and labor, read, pray, hear serraons, and go tip private raeetings, with
the view of making themselves holy, and of working in themselves holy affec
tions. Many, who only project and design to turn to God hereafter, are apt tc
think that il is an easy thing to be converted, that it is a thing which wifl be in
their own power at any time, when they shall earnestly set themselves to it.
8. Some sinners flatter themselves, that they are already converted. They
sit down and rest in a false hope, persuading themselves that all tbeir sins are
pardoned ; tbat God loves them ; that they shall go to heaven when they die ;
and that they need trouble themselves no more : Rev. iii. 17, " Because thou
sayest, I ara rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing ; and
knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked." III. Sinners very generally go on flattering theraselves in sorae or other of
these ways, tfll their punishraent actually overtakes thera. These are the baits
by which Satan catches souls, and draws thera inlo his snare. They are such
self- flatteries as these that keep raen frora seeing what danger they are in, and
that raake them go securely on in the way they are in, " as the bird hasteth tc
the snare, and knoweth not that it is for bis life."
Those that flatter themselves wilh hopes of living a great while longer in
the world, very coraraonly continue so to do till death comes. , Death coraes
upon thera when they expect it not ; they look upon it as a great way off, when
there is but a step between thera and death. They thought not of dying at that
tirae, nor at any time near it When they were young, they proposed to live a
good while longer ; and if they happen to live tifl middle age, they still raain
tain the same Ihought, that tbey are not yet near death ; and so that thought
goes along with thera as long as they live, or till they are just about to die.
Men often bave a dependence on their own righteousness, and as long as they
live are never brought off frora it Multitudes uphold Ihemselves wilb their own
intentions, lill afl their prospects are dashed in pieces by death. They put off
the work wbich they have lo do till such a time ; and when that comes, they
put il off to another lime, untfl death, whicb cannot be put off, overtakes them
There are many also that hold a false hope, a persuasion that they belong to
God ; and as long as they live, by all the maiks and signs which are given of
a true convert, they never will be persuaded to let go their hope, till it is rent
from them by death.
Thus raen coramonly uphold themselves, and raake themselves easy, tfll bell-
fire makes thera uneasy. Everlasling ruin coraes upon thera as a snare, and afl
their hopes are at once cut off, and turned into everlasting despair. 1. Thess.
V. 3, " When they shall say, Peace and safety ; then sudden destruction coraeth
upon thera, as travail upon woman wilh cbild ; and they shall not escape."
APPLICATION.
1. Hence we learn one reason wby there are but few saved, and wby sc
many perish from under the gospel Afl men know that they must die, and all
that sit under the light of the gospel have been told many a time, that after
his there is another world ; that there are but two stales in that other worid.
SELF-FLATTERIES. 327
a State of eternal happiness, and a state of eternal misery ; tbat there is but
one way of escaping the misery and obtaining the blessedness of eternity,
which is by obtaining an interest in Christ, through failh in hira ; and that this
life IS the only opportunity of obtaining an interesi in Christ Yet men are sc
mucb given to flatter themselves in those ways which we bave mentioned, that
there are but fcjw that seasonably take care of tbeir salvation. Indeed tbey
cannot but be in some measure concerned about their souls ; yet they flatter
themselves with one thing or other, so that they are kept steadily and uninter
ruptedly going on in the broad way to destruction.
2. Hence we learn tbe reason why awakening truths of Scripture, and
awakening sermons, make no raore impression upon men. It is in itself a won
derful and surprising thing, that God's denunciations of eternal misery, and
threatenings of casting sinners inlo the lake that burneth wilh fire and brimstone
forever and ever, do not affect thera, do not startle thera. But the truth is, they
flatter themselves, by sucb means as we have mentioned, that this dreadful
misery is not for them ; that they shall escape it, though multitudes of others
are involved in il. They take not these threatenings to theraselves ; they seem
to think tbat they do noi belong lo thera.
How raany are there in this congregation, who, for afl the awakening serraons
they have heard, are yet secure in sin ! And who, although they are sensible
that they are in a Christless condition, and are still going on in sin, yet intend
to go to heaven, and expect that by some means or other they sball arrive there.
They are often told, that God is very angry wilh them; yet they think God is
a very merciful God, and they shall be able lo pacify him. If they be told how
uncertain hfe is, that doth not awaken them, because they flatter Ihemselves
wilh long hfe. If they be told how dangerous it is to delay the business oi
rehgion, they promise Ihemselves, that they will hereafter engage in it with
more earnestness than others, and so obtain the end, the salvation of their souls.
Others, when they are told that many shall seek who shall not be able lo obtain,
think surely, that they, baving done so much for salvation, shall not be denied.
3. Let every sinner exaraine himself, whether he do not flatter himself in
some pf those ways whicb bave been mentioned. What is it in your own minds
whicb makes you think it is safe for you to delay turning to God ? What is it
that encourages you to run such a venture as you do by delaying this necessary
work 1 Is it that you hope there is no such state as heaven or hell, and have a
suspicion that there is no God 1 Is it that makes you secure ? Or is it that
you are not much afraid but that you shall have opportunity enough a great
whfle hence to mind such Ihings 1 Is it an intention of a future seeking a more
convenient season ? And are you persuaded that God wfll hearken lo you
then, after you shafl have so long turned a deaf ear to his commands and gra
cious invitations 1 Are you encouraged to commit sin, because you hope to
repent of it 1 Are you encouraged by the mercy of God to be his eneraies ?
And do you resolve stifl to provoke hira to anger, because you think be is easily
pacified ?
Or do you think that your conversion is in your own power, and tbat you
can turn lo God when you please ? Is it because you have been born of godly
parents that you are so secure 1 Or do you iraagine that you are in a fair way
to be converted ? Do you think that what you have done in religion wifl en
gage God to pity you, and that he never can have the heart lo conderan one
who has lived in so orderly a manner? Or do you think that you are indeed
converted already 1 And doth that encourage you lo take a liberty in sintflng ]
Or are you secure, because you are so stupid as to think nothing about these
328 SELF-FLATTERIES.
things 1 Do you let these concerns wholly alone, and sea: ctly evei think at all
how it wifl be with you after you are dead ?
Certainly it must be one or more of these things which keeps you in youi
security, and encourages you to go on in sin. Examine, therefore, and see
which of them it is.
4. By tbe text and doctrine be persuaded to leave off thus flattering your
selves in your own eyes. You are therein informed, that those who do as you
(io coramonly continue so doing lill their punishment actually comes upon thein.
Thereby you raay be convinced of the vanity of all sucb flatteries. Be aftaid
of that which you are sure is the devil's bait. " Surely in vain is the net spread
in the sight of any bird," Prov. i. 17.
You are not only told in the Scriptures, that sinners are generally thus al
lured to hell, but your own reason may convince you that it is so. For doubt
less other sinners have as much ground to hope to escape punishment as you ;
and it is evident, that they generally do hope to escape. Men under the gospel
almost universally think they shafl not go lo hell : if it were otherwise, they
could have no peace or comfort in tbe world. Yet what multitudes bave we
reason to conclude go down from under the preaching of tbe gospel to tbe pit
of destruction ! Now, this is surely enough lo convince any sober, prudent per
son of the folly of such flattery, and of the folly of every one that doth not
immediately set about bis great work with his raight. If you could have access
to the damned, you would hear many of thern curse themselves, for thus flatter
ing themselves while they lived in this world ; and you would have the sarae
doctrine preached to you by their wailings and yellings which is now preached
to you frora the pulpit
If your teraptation to security be unbelief of the fundaraental doctrines of
religion, sucb as the being of God, of another world, and an eternal judgraent, you
may consider, tbat Ihough that makes you secure at present, yet it will not do
always, it will not stand by when you come to die. The fool often in health
saith. There is no God ; but when he comes to die, he cannot rest in any such
supposition. Then he is generally so much convinced in his own conscience,
that there is a God; that he is in dreadful amazement for fear of bis eternal
wrath. It is folly, Iherefore, lo flatter yourselves with any supposition now wbich
you will not then be able to hold.
If you depend on long hfe, consider how many who have depended on the
same thing, and had as much reason to depend on it as you, have died wilhin
your remerabrance.
Is it because you are outwardly of an orderly life and conversation, that you
think you sball be saved ? How unreasonable is it to suppose, that God should
be so obliged by tbose actions, wbich he knows are not done from the least
respect or regai-d to hrm, but wholly with a private view ! Is it because you
are under great advantages that you are not much afraid but that you shafl
some lime or other be converted, and therefore neglect yourselves and your
spiritual interests'? And were not the people of Bethsaida, Chorazin and Ca
pernaum, under as great advantages as you, when Christ hiraself preached the
gospel lo thera, alraost continuafly, and wrought such a multitude of rairacles
afnong them 1 Yet be says, that it sball be more tolerable in the day of judg
ment for Sodom and Gomorrah, than for those cities.
Do you expect you sball be saved, however you neglect yourselves, because
yju were born of godly parents ? Hear what Clirist saith. Matt in. 9 : " Think
not to say within yourselves. We have Abraham to our father." Do you flatter
yourselves that ycu shall obtain mercy, though others do not, because you in-
SELF-FLATTERIES. 329
tend hereafter to seek it more earnestly than others 1 Yet you deceive your
selves, if you think that you intend belter than many of those others, or betier
than raany who are now in bell once intended.
If you think you are in a way of earnest seeking, consider, whether or no
you do not mind other things yet more. If you imagine that you have it in
your own power to work yourselves up to repentance, cc.isider, Ihat you must
assuredly ^ve up that imagination before you can bave repentance wrought
in you. If you think yourselves already converted, and that encourages you to
give yourselves the greater liberty in sinning, this is a certain sign that you are
not converted.
Wlierefore abandon all these ways of flattering yourselves; no longer fol
low the devil's bait; and let nothing encourage you to go on in sin; but
immediately and henceforth seek God with all your heart, and soul, and strengi-h.
42
SERMON XVII.
IHE WiRNlNGS OF SCRIPTURE ARE IN THE BEST MANNER ADAPTEL 10 THE A.VAKENINa
AND CONVERSION OF SINNERS.
Luke xvi. 31. — And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be
persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
We here bave an account bow the rich man in bell — after be had in vaii.
begged of Abrahara to send Lazarus to his relief — prays that Lazarus may bt
.sent to his brethren to warn them, that they might take care for their salvation,
and escape that place of torment By the way, il may be proper to reraark,
that we cannot frora this conclude, that the damned will have any workings of
natural affection to their near relations in this world, or any concern for theii
salvation. The design of Christ was only parabolically to represent whal dif
ferent Ihoughts worldly and wicked men wifl have of things, when in hell, frora
what they have whfle upon earth. The rich raan, when he was upon earth,
only minded his honor, ease, and pleasure, and did not think it worth whfle to
take care of his soul, and lo be at much pains lo escape hefl. But now he is of
another mind, and is sensible that if his five brethren, who live in the same care
less neglect of their souls as he did, knew what hell is, they would take more
care. Bul this seems to be put into the parable chiefly to introduce what follows,
tbe reply which Abraham raade to hira. They have Moses and the prophets, let
them hear them. As much as to say, They have already abundant warning and
instruction, which God himself bath provided for them, let them make use of
that. The rich man replies, J^ay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them
from the dead, they will repent. Then come in the words of the text. And he
said unto him. If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be per
suaded, though one rose from the dead. By Moses and the prophets is meant
the whole Old Testament, which was the whole canon of Scripture which they
had in those times. The hearing of them iraplies, attending lo whal they say,
believing thera, and obeying them — they would not be persuaded — that is, they
would not be persuaded to lake thorough care of their souls, to forsake their sins
and turn to God, so as lo avoid tills place of torments — though one rose from the
dead ; though one should go frora the invisible worid, either frora heaven, where
they see the torments of the damned, or frora hell, where tbey feel thera.
DOCTRINE.
The warnings of God's word are raore fitted to obtair the ends of awaken
ing sinners, and bringing them to repentance, than tbe rising of one frora tha
dead to warn them.
In this passage, Moses and the prophets seem not only to be equalized to
the warnings of one from the invisible worid, but to be preferred before them.
They have Moses and tbe prophets, let them hear them : they have already
thooe raeans which God in his infinile wisdom hath .seen to be fittest for them,
and more suitable to their nature and circumstances, than the rising of one from
the dead. - -But whether there can be any more than an equality necessarily in-
SCRIPTURE WARNINGS, ETC. SSI
terred or not; yet if only the warnings of the Old Testament have an equal
tendency to bring men lo repentance, as the rising of one from the dead ; then
surely these, together with the rauch clearer revelation under Ihe gospel-dispen-
sation by Christ and his apostles— wherein we are abundantly raore plainly
told of another world, and wherein life and iraraortahty are brought to light-
must have a much greater tendency and fitness to obtain these end.s.
Sinners are apt to find fault with the raeans of grace which they enjoy, and
to say with themselves. If I had ever seen hell, or had ever heard the cries of
the damned, or had ever seen a person who had felt bell-torments, or had
seen them at a distance, that would awaken rae ; then I would forsake all ray
sins, anci would do whatever I could to escape hell. But now I am only told
of hell in the Bible and by ministers ; and there never was any in this world
that saw or felt it : so that I am ready to think it is mere delusion and fancy.
How do I know tbat there is any hefl ? How do I know but that when I die
there will be an end of me "?
But il is the indisposition of sinners to this great work, to which they are
directed, whicb makes them find fault wilh their means and advantages. The
slothful and negligent, who hate to bestir Ihemselves, are they who object
" The way of tbe slothful is as a hedge of thorns." — Sinners know not what
they would have. They are fixedly averse lo breaking off their sins by right
eousness ; and lo make the matier the more excusable, they object against the
sufficiency of their means, and so they will not believe, except they see hell,
or see sorae person who has seen it.
But God, who knows our nature and circurastances, knows what is most
' adapted to them. He who made the faculties of our souls, knows whal will
have the greatest tendency to move them, and to work upon them. He who
is striving with us, to bring us to repentance and salvation, uses the fittest and
best means. In contriving and appointing tbe means of our salvation, he chooses
better for us than we should for ourselves.
Suppose a person should rise from the dead to warn sinners, either from
heaven, where they see the raisery of the damned, or from hell, where they feel
it; and should tell how dismal those torraents are, having seen or felt thera ;
and suppose he should confirm what he said, by declaring that he had seen the
smoke of their torments, tbe raging of the flames, the dreadful crew of devils
and damned souls together, and had heard their dismal cries and shrieks ; or
suppose he should say that he had felt thera, and should express by words and
actions the doleful state of the damned and the extremity of their torments ;
this would probably greatly fright and terrify many sinners who were not ter
rified by reading the Bible, nor by hearing preaching- about hell-torments. But
il would be very much because ofthe unusualness and strangeness of the thing.
Men are apt to be much affected with strange things, and to be much affiigbted
by spectres in tbe dark, because they are unusual. But if they were as com
mon as preaching is, they would lose their effect.
It might be that on such an unusual occasion, as the rising of one from the
dead, for a while men would reform their lives, and possibly sorae might be so
affected as never to forget it. But we are to consider which would have the
greatest tendency to awaken us, if both were alike new and unusual, to be warn
ed of tbe misery of hell by the great God himself, declaring as it were from
heaven how dreadful hell is, and abundantly warning us about it ; or to be
Warned only by a man coming from tbe invisible worid, who had either seen or
I'elt these miseries. It is in tbis view that we shall consider the matter ; and
we shafl show what advantages ,he former mode of warning has above tbe lat
332 SCRIPTURE WARNINGS BEST ADA.'TED
ter : or how tbe warnings of God's word have a greater tendency to awaKei'
sinners and bring them to repentance, than the rising of one from the dead tr
warn them.
1. God, in many respects, knows better what belongs to the punishraent ot
sinners than departed souls. Departed souls doubtless know what hell-torments
are, mucb belter than any on earth. The souls of the wicked feel them, and
the souls of the saints see them afar off. God glorifies his justice in the punish
ment of ungodly raen, in the view of the saints and angels, and thereby makes
them the more admire the riches of his goodness in choosing thera to life. As
the rich man saw Lazarus in heaven afar off, so Lazarus saw the rich man in
hefl ; he saw bell-torments ; and therefore the rich man desires be may be sent
to warn his brethren. — And if one should rise frora the dead to warn wicked
men, if it would at all awaken them, it would be because he knew what hefl-
torraenls were by his own knowledge, and could describe them to others, as bav
ing seen and felt thern.
But surely the all-seeing God knows as well as any of the dead, what the
present sufferings of the damned are. He is everywhere present wilh his all-
seeing eye. He is in heaven and in hell, and in and through every part of the
creation. He is where every devil is ; and where every damned soul is, he is
present by his knowledge and his essence. He not only knows as well as those
in heaven, who see al a distance ; but he knows as perfectly as those who feel
the raisery. He seeth into the innermost rece.sses of the hearts of those raisera
ble spirits. He seeth all tbe sorrow and anguish that are there ; for he upholds
thera in being. They and all the powers of their spirits, whereby they are ca-
bable of either happiness or raisery, are in his hands.
Besides, it is his wrath tbey endure ; he raeasures out to thera their several
portions of punishment ; he makes his wrath enter into them ; be is a consum
ing fire to them ; his anger is that fire, in which they are torraented. He there
fore is doubtless able to give us as clear and distinct, and as true, an account of
hell, as the damned theraselves, if they should rise from the dead. He needs not
any to inform him.
He knows far better what the eternity of those torraents is than any of them,
He can better tefl us how awful a thing eternity is. He knows better what
the future judgments of sinners will be, wben the Lord Jesus shall come in flara
ing fire to take vengeance on thera that know not God, and obey not the gospel. '
He knows far better than they bow much the torment of the wicked will then be
increased. 2. We have the truth upon surer grounds from God's testimony, than we
could have it frora the testiraony of one rising from the dead. Suppose one
should rise from the dead, and tell us ofthe dreadfulness of hell-torments ; how
precarious a foundation would that be to build upon, in a matter of such import
ance, unless we consider it aS confirmed by divine testiraony. We should be
uncertain whether there were not some delusion in the case. We know tbat it
is irapossible for God to lie; and we may know that tbe raatter is just as he
declares it to us. But if one should corae from the dead, we could not be so sure
that we were no way imposed upon. We could not be so sure that he who
testified was not himself subject to some delusion. We could not be sure that
the matier was not strained too high, and represented greater than it really is.
One coraing frora the dead could not, merely by force of his own testimony,
mak<^ us sure that we should corae to that place of torments if we did net repent
and reforra. And .f there should come more witnesses than one from the dead,
if there should be ever so many, yet there is no authority equal to that of God-
TO IHE CONVERSION OF SINNERS. 33S
tLcie is no testimony of spirits from tbe invisible worid which would be 30 indis
putable and unquestionable as the divine testimony. How could we know
unless by some divine revelation, that they who should come frora the dead hacl
not corae to deceive us 1 How could we know how wicked or how good they
were, and upon wbat views they acted 1
Whereas we have Ihe greatest ground to be assured, that tbe First Being,
and the fountain of all being and- perfection, is nothing but light and truth
itself, and therefore that it is impossible he should deceive or be deceived.
3. The warnings of God's word have greatly the advantage, by reason of
fhe greatness and majesty of him who speaks. The speeches and declarations
of those who are great, excellent, and honorable, bave a greater tendency lo
move tbe affections, than the declarations of others who are less excellent
Things spoken by a king affect more than the same things spoken by a mean
man. But God is infinitely greater than kings ; he is universal King of heaven
and earth, the absolute Sovereign of all Ihings. Now, what can have a great
er tendency to strike the mind and move the heart, than to be warned by this
great and glorious Being 1 Shall we be unmoved when he speaks who made
heaven and earth by the word of his power 1 If his immediate speeches, de
clarations, and warnings, wfll not influence us, wbat will ? Isa. i. 2, " Hear, O
heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken." — Tbat is to the
present purpose which we have in Matt xxi. 37, " But last of all he sent his
son, saying. They wfll reverence my son." He sent his servants before, but Ihey
did not regard them. He therefore sent his son, who was a much greater and
more honorable messenger, and said. Surely they will regard him.
What if God shold send messengers from the dead to warn us, even many
in succession, and men should reject them ; we should justly argue, that it would
have a rauch greater tendency to raake men regard and obey the counsel, if he
would send his Son, or corae himself. But God bath sent his Son, and therein
he hath corae himself. He carae down from heaven, and took upon him our
nature, and dwelt among us, teaching and warning us concerning hell and dam
nation. In the Bible, we not only have those warnings whicb were given by inspi
ration of the prophets, but we have God's own words, which he spake as it
were by his own mouth. In the Old Testaraent is his voice out of the midst of
the fire and the darkness, from mount Sinai ; and in the New Testament, we
have God speaking to us, as dwelling among us. He carae down from heaven,
and instructed us in a farailiar manner for a long while ; and we have his in
structions recorded in our Bibles. — Now, wbich has the greatest tendency to
influence men, to have one of the departed spirits sent back inlo its body to
warn them, or to have God himself assume a body and warn them ?
4. It more evidently shows the importance of tbe affair, that God should
immediately concern himself in it, than the coming of one from the dead would
do. Those things about which kings most iramediately concern themselves are
coraraonly matters of the greatest importance, while they leave less concern
ments lo be managed by tbeir officers. And surely that must be a matter of
very great moment, in which God shows himself so much concerned as he does
in our salvation. God, in afl ages of the world, hath showed himself very rauch
concerned in tbis matter. How abundantly hatb be warned us in his holy
word ! How earnest bath be shown himself in it ! How many arguments
and expostulations hath he used, that we might avoid the way to hell !— This
evidentl ' argues, tbat what we are warned about is a matter of the utmost con-
334 SCRIPTURE WARNINGS BEST ADAPTED
cern, and proves it mucb more than if we were only wtrned by one risen from
tbe dead.
5. God warning us of our danger of damnation hath a greater tendency to
have influence upon us, because he is our Judge. Damnation is a punishment
to whicb he condemns and which he inflicts. What he warns us of is his own
wrath and vengeance. In his word we have his threatenings against sin denounced
by hiraself He tells us, that if we go on in sin, he wfll destroy us^ and
cast us out of bis sight, and pour his wrath upon us, and hold us eternally undei
misery. He lefls us so himself; and this bath a rauch greater tendency to in
fluence us, than to be told so by another, who is not to be onr judge, wbo halh
not in his hands the power of raaking us raiserable. — When a king immediately
threatens his own displeasure, it has a greater tendency to terrify men, than
wben another raan threatens it, or warns them ofthe danger.
6. God is infinitely wise, and knows better how to speak to us so as lo per
suade us, than one risen frora the dead. He perfectly knows our nature and
state, and knows how to adapt his instructions and warnings to our frame and
circumstances in the world ; and wiihout doubt that method which God has
chosen, is agreeable to his infinile wisdora, and most adapted to our nature.
If one should come from hell to warn sinners, it rnay be he would tell them
of hefl in sucb a raanner as would bave more of a tendency to drive men into
despair, and set thera a blaspheming as they do in hefl, than to excite them to
strive for salvation, and diligently to use the means wbich God hath appointed'
But God knoweth what revelation of hell we can bear, and wbat hath the raost
tendency to do us good in this our infirra, dark, and sinful state. — The declara
tions of one come from hell might raore tend lo drive us from God than to bring
us near to hira. It is best for us to be warned and instructed by God, who
kncws best how to do it.
These are some of the reasons why the warnings of God's word bave m.ore
of a tendency to bring us to repentance, than the warning of one risen from the
dead. APPLICATION.
1. It is a natural inference from this doctrine, that if these raeans which
God bath appointed do not answer to lead men to repentance and reformation,
no others would. — Although this be not an absolutely necessary consequence
from the words of the doctrine ; yet it seeras to be Christ's aim to teach us, that
if God's raeans wfll not answer, none will. Our own means, those whicb we
can devise , however they may seera more likely at a distance to be effectual, if
brought to the trial, will not prove to be better. The rich man Ihought that if
his brethren were warned by one rising from the dead, tbey would surely re
pent. But Abraham tells him, he is mistaken.
If one rising fi-om the dead would not answer the purpose, we may ration
ally conclude that no other kind of means different from these appointed by
God, would. For what can we think of, which seeras to have more tendency
to awaken men, and lead lo repentance, than one coming from the dead to
thera ; except tbose means wbich we enjoy.— Indeed men can think of raany
raeans, which they raay iraagine, if they enjoyed tbern, would make them be
lieve and repent : but they deceive themselves.
It may be they think, if they could see some prophet, and see hira work-
miracles, that this would awaken them. But how was it tben when there were
prophets ? There has rarely been a more degenerate time than tiiat of Elijat
TO THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS. 335
and Elisha, who wrought so many miracles. The people did not rega.vl their
prophecies nor their miracles ; but walked in their own ways, and served their
own gods, so that Elijah thought there was none left ofthe true worshippers of
God. And how did they treat the prophet Jereraiah, solemnly warning thera
from God of their approaching destruction ! And how often do the prophets
complain that all their prophecies and warnings were neglected and despised !
Would it be suflScient if you could hear God speak from heaven? How
was it in Moses's time, when they heard God speak out of the midst of ihe fire,
and heard the voice of words exceeding loud and full of majesty, so that they
exceedingly trembled ; when they saw raount Sinai all covered wilh sraoke, and
shaking exceedingly ? How did tbey behave theraselves 1 Did they all turn
from tbeir sins, and after that walk in the ways of God ? It is true, they were
very rauch affected at first, while it was a now and strange thing lo thera ; bul
how hard-hearted and rebellious -were they soon after ! They did not scruple lo
rebel against this same great and glorious God. Yea, tbey made a golden calf
while Moses was in the mount conversing with God, just after they had seen
those dreadful appearances of divine majesty.
Tbus tbey rebelled against the Lord, although they had seen so many mira
cles and wonders in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness ; although
they continually saw tbe pillar of cloud and of fire going before them, were
continually fed in a rairaculous manner with manna, and in the same miracu
lous manner made to drink waler out of the rock.
Men are apt to think, that if they had lived in Christ's tirae, and had seen
and heard bira, and had seen his miracles, that they would have effectually con
vinced and turned thera frora sin. But how was il in fact ? How few were there
brought to repentance by all his discourses and miracles ! How hard-hearted
were tbey ! Some were very much affected for a little while ; bul bow few
constant steady follow-ers hacl he ! He was, notwithstanding his miracles, re
jected, despised, and even murdered by the people among whora he dwelt
And they were men of tbe same natures as sinners in these days.
The Scripture is full of instances, sufficient to convince us, that if tbe word
of God will not awaken and convert sinners, nolhing wifl. — And we see enough
m these days lo convince us of it. Men soraetimes meet with those things by
wbich we should not iraagine, if we did not see it, and were not used to it, but
that they would be thoroughly awakened and reformed. — They sometimes hear
the warnings of dying men expecting to go to hell. One would think this
would be enough to awaken them ; and it may be they are affecjted with it for
the present : but it only touches them ; it vanishes away, and is gone like a
puff of wind.
Sometimes sinners themselves are laid upon beds of sickness, and their lives
hang in doubt before them. They are brought to the sides of the grave, and to
the very mouth of hell, and their hearts are full of terror and amazement Yet
if they recover, they soon forget it, and retiirn to tbe ways of folly and wicked
ness.— Sometiraes this is repeated ; they are taken sick again, and are again in
extreme peril of death, their hearts are full of amazement, and they make many
promises and vows ; yet being recovered, they again soon forget all, and re
tiirn to sin and folly. Such things are enough to convince us, that if the word
of God be not sufficient to convince men, and make thera break off their sins,
no external means would be sufficient. _
Perhaps some may yet be ready to think, that if sinners should see hell, and
hear the cries of tbe damned, that would be effectua., Ihough nothing else would
But if we duly consider the matter, we shall see reason lo think, that it woulc
336 SCRIPTURE WARNINGS BEST ADAPTED
not have so great a tendency to turn men from sin, as the word of God. SucL
a thing would doubtless be effectual to terrify and affright men, and probably
to death. Such a means is not suitable to our nature and state in the world.
If it should not fright men lo dealh, it would not have so great a tendency to
make thera dihgently use means for their salvation as the warnings cif Scripture.
[t would probably drive them to despair ; or so take way their sphits that they
vould have no heart to seek God. In.stead of driving them to God, il would
probably raake thera hale him the more. Il would make thera raore flke devils;
and set them a blaspheming as the damned do. For while the hearts of men
are filled wilh natural darkness, they cannot see the glory of the divine justice
appearing in such extreme torraents.
Therefore the raeans which God hath instituted for us, are doubtless the best,
and most conducive to lead men to repentance and salvation. They are doubt
less far betier than any other which we can devise.
2. Hence we learn thedreadful hardness of raen's hearts, since the word of God
halh no more influence upon them, and they are no more raoved and wrought
ipon by those rae ans which infinile wisdom hath provided Th'i warnings of the
word of God are, as you have heard, better and more powerful means than if
one should rise from the dead to warn us, and tell us our danger, and the dread
fulness of the wrath of God. You have also heard, tbat if these means wfll
not answer the end of awakening and leading sinners tp repentance, no other
wifl ; neither the working of miracles, nor the hearing of God speak with an
audible voice frora heaven, nor any thing else. — Yet how few are there who
are effectually wrought upon by the word df God ! They are very thinly sown ;
there is but here and there one.
When we read how the children of Israel conducted themselves in tbe
wilderness, bow often they raurmured and offended ; -R-e are ready to wonder
at tbe hardness of their hearts. And when we read the history of Christ, and
bow the Jews hated and rejected him notwithstanding his many miracles; we
are ready lo wonder how they could be so hard-hearted. But we have as rauch
reason lo wonder at ourselves, for we have naturaily tbe same sort of hearts
that they had ; and sinners in these days raanifest a hardness of heart as much
to be wondered at, in that they are not influenced by the word of God ; for
tbey who will ncjt hear Moses and the prophets, Jesus Christ and his apostles,
neither would be persuaded, if one should rise from tbe dead, or if an angel
should come from heaven.
The best raeans of awakening and conversion are plentifully enjoyed by us,
mucb more plentifully in several respects, than Iheywere by those who had only
Moses and the prophets. In the first place, we have divine truth more fully
revealed in the Bible than they had then. Light now shines abundantly clear.
Gospel truth is revealed, not in types and shadows, but plainly. Heaven and
hell are much more cleariy and expressly made known. We are told, that tbe
glory of that revelation was no glory in coraparison with the revelation of the
gospel. Again, we have a greater plenty of Bibles than they had under tbe dispen
sation of Moses and the prophets. Tben there was no such thing as printing,
and Bibles were scarce tbings. They seldora had any Bibles any where else
but in their synagogues. But now we have them in our houses ; we can look
into them when we please. Besides Christ hatb appointed the gospel ministry,
by which we have the word of God explained and enforced every week. Yet
how liltle influence hath the word of God to bring men to repentance !
Let this strike conviction into those who never yet have found any such
TO THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS. 337
effect by the word of God. Though you are convinced of nothing else, yet
you have abundant reason to be convinced tbat your hearts are as hard as a
stone, and that you are exceedingly stupid and sottish.
3. Hence we may learn how justly and fairly God deals with us. lie gives
¦JS tbe best means of awakening and reclaiming us frora our sins ; better than
ifhe had sent one from the dead to warn us. He gives us those means whicb
are most suited to our nature and circumstances. He gives sinners abundant
warning before he punishes them. What could he have done more than he
bath done 1 We can devise or imagine no .sort of warning which would have
been better than what God hath given us. How justly therefore are ungodly
men punished ! how inexcusable will they be !
4. Let all make use of the means which God hath instituted. They are the
best and only means by which we may expect to obtain salvation. We sball
be most inexcusable therefore if we neglect them. Let us attend to the word
of God, read and bear it carefully, consider it thoroughly, and daily walk by it.
Let us be diligent in this work. The word of God is a great price put into our
hands to get wisdom and eternal salvation ; let us therefore improve it while
we have it, as we know not how soon we may be deprived of it ; lest Christ
say to us, as in Luke xix. 42, " If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this
thy day, the things which belong unlo thy peace ! But now they are hid frona
thme eyes. 43
SERMON XVIII.
the tTNREASONABLENESS OF INDETERMINATION IN RELIGION.
1 Kings xvni. 21. — And Elijah came unto all the people, and said. How long halt ye belwf fn tw"
opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him ; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answeroa
him not a word.
It is the raanner of God, before he bestows any signal or reraarkable mercy
on a people, first to prepare them for it ; and before he removes any awful
judgraents wbich he halh brought upon thera for their sins, first to cause thera
to forsake those sins which procured those judgments. We bave an instance
of this in tbe chapter wherein is the text.
It was a tirae of sore famine in Israel. There had been neither rain nor '
dew for the space of three years and six months. This famine was brought
upon the land for their idolatry. But God was now about to remove this
judgment ; and therefore, to prepare them for il, sent Elijah to convince them
of the folly of idolatry, and lo bring thera to repentance of it — In order to this,
Elijah, by tbe comraand of tbe Lord, goes and shows himself to Ahab, and
directs bim to send and gather all Israel lo hira at Mount Carmel, and all the
prophets of Baal, four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves that ate
at Jezebel's table, four hundred, that they might determine the matter and bring
the controversy to an issue, whether Jehovah or Baal were God. — To this end,
Elijah propo-ses, that each should take a bullock, that he should take one, and
the prophets of Baal another, that each should cut his bullock iu pieces, lay it
on the wood, and put no fire under ; and that tbe God who should answer by
fire should be concluded lo be God.
The text 'contains an account of wbat Elijah said to all the people at their
first meeting, and of their sflence : " And Elijah came unto all the people, and
said. How long hall ye between two opinions ? If the Lord be God, follow
him; but if Baal, tben follow hira." To which the people, it seeras, ra-ade nc
reply. In these words, we may observe,
1. How Elijah expostulates with the people about their halting so long be
tween two opinions; in which expostulation raay be observed,
( 1.) Whal the two opinions were, between wbich they halted, viz., whe
ther the Lord were God, or whether Baal were God. The case in Israel seems
to bave been this; there were sorae who were altogether for Baal, and wholly
rejected the true God ; of which nuraber, lo be sure, were Jezebel and the pro
phets of Baal. And there were sorae among them, who were altogether foi
the God of Israel, and wholly rejected Baal; as God told Elijah, that " he had
yet left in Israel seven thousand that had not bowed the knee to Baal, and whose
raoulhs had not kissed hira," 1 Kings xix. 18.
But the rest of tbe people halted between two opinions. They saw tha;
soin' were for one, anci sorae for the other, and they did not know which tc
choose ; and, as is coraraonly the case when difference of opinion prevafls, there
were many who had no religion at all ; they. were not settled in any thing ; the
different opinions prevalent in Israel distracted and confounded thera. — Many
who professed to believe in the true God, were yet very cold and indifferent, and
many were wavering and unsettled. They saw that the king and queen were
for Baal ; and Baal's party was the prevailing partv ; but tb?.ir forefathers had
UNREASONABLENESS OF INDETERMINATION IN RELIGION. 339
been for the Lord ; and they knew not which was right. Thus tbey halted be
tween two opinions.
(2.) In this expostulation is implied the unreasonableness of their ihus halt
ing between two opinions : " How long halt ye between two opinions ? If the
Lord be God, follow bim ; but if Baal, then fbflow hira." Which implies that
they ought to deterraine one way or the other.
2. We may observe their silence on this occasion : " And tbe people an
swered him not a word," as being convicted in their own consciences of the un
reasonableness /)f their being for so long a time wavering and unresolved : they
had nothing to reply in excuse for themselves.
DOCTRINE.
The unresolvedness of many persons in religion is very unreasonable.
I. Prop. Many persons remain exceedingly undetermined with respeci to
the things of religion. They are very much undetermined in Ihemselves whe
ther to embrace religion or to reject it — Many who are baptized, and raake a
profession of religion, and seem to be Christians, are yet in their own minds
hailing between two opinions : they never yet came fully lo a conclusion whe
ther to be Christians or not. They are taught the Christian religion in their
chfldhood, and have the Bible, the word preached, and the means of grace all
their days, yet continue, and grow up, and many grow old, in an unresolvedness,
whether lo embrace Christianity or not ; and many continue unresolved as long
as they live.
1. There are some persons who have never corae to a settled determination
m their own minds, whether or no there be any truth in religion. They hear
ofthe things of religion from their childhood all their days; but never come to
a conclusion in their own minds, whether they be real or fabulous. Particularly,
some have never come to any determination in their own minds, whether there
be any such thing as conversion. They hear rauch talk about it, and know-
that many pretend to be the subjects of it ; but they are never resolved wbether
all be not mere designed hypocrisy and imposture, or the mere notions of whim
sical persons.
Some never come to anj -letermination whether the Scriptures be the word
of God, or whether they be tbe invention of raen ; and whether Ibe story con
cerning' Jesus Christ be any thing but a fable. They fear it is true, but some
times very .nuch doubt of il. Soraetiraes, when they hear arguraents for it,
they give an assent to it, tbat it is true ; but upon every little objection or
teraptation arising, they call ilin question; and are always wavering and never
settled about it. , r • r^, ¦ , • ,
So it seems to have been with many of the Jews in Christ s tirae ; they
were always at a loss what to make of him, whether he were indeed the Christ,
or whether he were Elias, or one of the old prophets, or a raere impostor. John
X 24 25 " Then came the Jews round about bim, and said unto him, How long
dost thou make us to doubt '. If thou be the Christ, tefl us plainly. Jesus
answered them, I told you, and ye believed not"— Some have never so raucih
as come to a resolution in their own rainds, whether there be a God or not
They know not that there is, and oftentimes very much doubt cif it_.
2 There are some who never have come to any determination in their own
minds wbether to embrace religion in the practice of it Religion consists not
merely, or chiefly in theory or speculation, but in practice. It is a practical
thincr- the end of it is to guide and influence us in our practice ; and consider-
C40 UNRE.\SONABLENESS OF INDETERMINATION IN REL.GION.
ed in tbis view, there are multitudes who never bave corae to a conclusion
whether to erabrace religion or not. — It is probably pretty general for men to
design to be religious some time or oiher before they die ; for none intend to gc
to bell. Bul they stfll keep it at a distance ; they put it off from time to time,
.-."nd never come to any conclusion which determines them in their present prac
tice. And some never so much as fix upon any time. They design to be re
ligious some lirae before they die, but they know not when.
There are many who have always hitherto continued unresolved about the
necessity of striving and being earnestly engaged for salvatiorj. They flattei
theraselves that they raay obtain salvation, though they be not so earnestly en
gaged ; though they raind the world and their worldly affairs raore than their
salvation. They are often told how necessary it is that they m.ake haste and
not delay, that they do whatever their hand findeth to do with their might, that
they be violent, that a dull, slack way of seeking salvation is never like lo be
effectual. But of these things they are never thoroughly convinced. Some
seera to resolve to be in earnest, and seera to set out with sorae engagedness
of raind ; but soon fafl, because they have never been fully convinced of the ne
cessity of it.
Many have never corae to a determination what to choose for their portion.
There are but two things which God offers to mankind for tbeir portion. One is
this world, with the pleasures and profits of sin, together with eternal misery
ensuing : the other is heaven and eternal glory, with a life of self-denial and
respect to all the commands of God preceding. Many, as long as they live,
come to no settled determination which of these to choose. Tbey must bave
one or the other, they cannot have both ; but they always reraain in suspense,
and never make their choice.
They would fain bave heaven and this world too ; they would have salvation
and the pleasures and profits of sin loo. But considering heaven and Ihe world,
as God offers them, they will have neither. God offers heaven, only with the
self-denial and difficulty which are in tbe way to it ; and they are not wifling
to have heaven on these conditions. God offers the world and the pleasures of
sin to raen not alone, but with eternal raisery in connection with thera ; and so
neither are they wifling to have the world. They would fain divide heaven
from the holiness and self-denial which are the way to il, and frora the holiness
which reigns in it, and then they would be glad to have heaven. They would
fain divide sin frora hell, and then they would fully determine forever to cleave
to sin. Bul God will not make such a division for thera. They must have one or
the other of these for their portion, as G,od offers ; and therefore they never
make any choice at all. — Indeed they do practically and in effect choose .sin
and hell. But they do not come to any resolution in their own minds which tbey
will have for their portion, whether heaven and holiness, or the worid and hefl ;
they are always wavering and halting between two opinions. Soraetiraes they
seera to determine for the one, and soraetiraes for the other. In tiraes wherein
they meet with no difficulty or temptation, and can, as they say, do their duty with-
out hurting theraselves, or rauch crossing their carnal inclinations, they seem to
"hoose heaven and holiness. At other times, wherein they meet wilh difficulty
in the way of duty, and great temptations of worldly profits or pleasures are laid
before them, then they choose the worid, and let heaven and holiness alone-
There are among us vast raultitudes, before whom these two things have been se<
hundreds of tiraes, who have never to tbis day corae to a determination which
to have.
UNREASONABLENESS OF INDETERMINa I'lON IN RELIGION 341
So they have never yet determined which shall be their master, whether
God or mammon. There are but few- who have undertaken the service of God,
and are come to a r-esolution and preparedness of mind to serve God and follow
Christ at all times, and to whatever difficulties it may expose them. Yet at Ihe
same tirae neither are tbey determined that they will continue to serve Satan:
they are afraid to draw up such a conclusion. Thus many spend away their
lives wiihout making tht'r choice, pulling that off, though ihey do in the mean
time pi actically choose lb.-' service of Satan. These are tbe peisons of whom the
Aposlle James speaks in vhap. l 8, " The double-minded man is unstable in all
his ways."
fll. To continue thus undetermined and unresolved in the things of religion,
iS very unreasonable, and that upon the following accounts.
1. The things of religion are things wherein we are to the highest degree
interested. The truth or falsehood of the doctrines of religion concerns us to the
highest degree possible. It is no matter of indifference to us whether there be
a God or not ; or whether the Scriptures be the word of God ; or wbether Christ
be the Son of God ; or whether there be any sucb thing as conversion. Il makes
infinile odds to us whether these things be so or not. Therefore we are under
the greatest obligation in point of interest to resolve in our minds whether they
be true or false. Tbey who are undetermined whether there be any trulh in re
ligion, and are contented to be so, not inquiring, nor Ihoroughly using the raeans
to be determined, act very unreasonably. They reraain in doubt whether there
be any such thing as a heaven or hell ; are quiet and easy lo continue ignorant
in this matier ; are not engaged in their minds to come to a determination ; do
not search and inquire whal arguments there are lo prove any such things ; nor
diligently weigh and consider tbe force of them ; but busy their rainds about
other tbings of infinitely less iraportance ; and acl as if they Ihought il did not
much concern them, whether there be a future and eternal stale.
If they think that there is not, yet it is a raatter of so great iraportance, that
no wise man would rest untfl he had satisfied hiraself; because if there be such
a fulure state as tbe Scriptures tell us of, then we raust have our part in il, either
in a slate of eternal rewards, or in a state of eternal punishment. So it is no
matter of indifference to us what we have for our portion, whether this world
wilh hell, or a life of holiness and self-denial wilh heaven. These opposite
portions relate not merely to a few days in this worid, but they relate lo eterni
ty. It is infinite madness Iherefore not to come to a determination.
So it is no matter of indifference what master we serve, whether God or
maramon ; or what interest we will pursue, whether our teraporal or eternal
interest; or which we prefer, the commands of God, or our pleasures, our ease
and convenience. Doubtless it wfll make a vast odds one way or the other.
We ought Iherefore to come to sorae determination which we will choose.
2. God hath made us reasonable creatures, and capable of rationally cle-
termining for ourselves. God bath made us capable of good acquaintance with
those things which do especially concern our interest Doub^'ess God hath
made man capable of discovering the truth in raalters of rehgion, of coraing to
a good deterraination in these questions, whether the Scnptures be the word of
God whether there be a fulure stale, and the like. The resolution of these
questions, wbich il so much concerns us lo deterraine, is not above our capaci-
ties Go'd hath not set these tbings beyond the extent of our faculties.
So God halh made us capable of making a wise choice for ourselves, as to
the life which we shall choose to lead. He hath given man so rauch under-
stariding as to make bim capable of determining which is best ; to lead a lite
342 UNREASONABLENESS OF INDEI£RMIN.*TION IN RELIGION.
if self-denial and enjoy eternal happiness, or to take our swing in sinful enjoy
ments and burn in hell forever. "The question is of no difficult determination
It is so far from being a raatter too bard for our reason, that the reason of a
child is sufficient to determine this matier. Therefore men in remaining unde
termined in these matters, do not act as reasonable creatures, but make them
selves like " the horse and the mule, whicb have no understanding," Psalra
xxxu. 9.
3. God puts into our hands a happy opportunity to deterraine for ourselves.
What better opportunity can a raan desire to consult his own interest, than tc
bave liberty to choose his own portion 1 God setteth life and death before us
Deul xxx. 19, " 1 call heaven and earlh lo record this day against you, that I
have set before you life and dealh, blessing and cursing ; tiierefore choose life,
that thou and thy seed after thee raay live." See also Ezek. xviii. 31, 32, and
chap, xxxiii 11. Whal better opportunity can we desire for securing to our
selves the greaiest good, than to have eternal life and unchangeable happiness
set before us, and offered to our choice 1 Therefore those who neglect coraing
to a resolution, act unreasonably, because they stand so much in their own light,
and miss so glorious an opportunity.
4. The Ihings araong which we are to make our choice are but few in
number ; there are but two portions set before us, one of which must be our
portion ; either life or death, either blessing or cursing ; either a life of univer
sal and persevering obedience wilh eternal glory ; or a worldly, carnal, wicked
life, with eternal misery. If there were many terms in the offer made us, many
things of nearly an equal value, one of which we must choose, to remain long
in suspen.se and undetermined would be more excusable ; there would be more
reason for long deliberation before we should fix. Bul there are but two terras,
there are but two stales in another world, in one or the other of which we must
be fixed to all eternity.
And there are bul two states in this world, a slate of sin, and a .state of holi
ness, a natural slate, and a converted state. There is but one way in which we
can come to life, which renders the determination of reason rauch the easier.
There are but two masters, to one of wbich we must be reputed the servants,
Baal and Jehovah, God and mamraon. There are but two competitors for the
possession of us, ChrisI and the devil. There are but two paths, in one of which
you are to travel, either in the strait and narrow way whicb leadeth unto life, or
the broad way whicb leadeth unto destruction.
This shows the unreasonableness of those who live under light, and have tbe
offers of the gospel made to them, and yet remain from year to year unfixed and
undetermined, halting between two opinions.
5. God hath given us all needed helps to determine us. We have all needed
helps to determine our understandings, as to the truth of the things of religion,
as whether there be a God, whether the Scriptures be the word of God, wbether
there be a future state, &c. We are not left in tbe dark as to these Ihings, as
the poor heathen are, who are under great disadvantages to come to the know
ledge of the trulh, Ihough they be not under an impossibihty, for they may
haply feel after God and find him, Acts xvii. 27. Bul we have a clear sunshine
to guide us, we have a particular description of those tbings wbich are set
before us for truth, and have great opportunity to examine thera. The Scrip
ture lies open before us, and all tbe doctrines of the gospel are particularly set
forth, with tbe reasons on whicb their evidence is founded. We raay searcn
and try their force and sufficiency, as we will
We have great helps to a wise and rational determination in our choice ; tc
UNREASONABLENESS OF INDETERMINATION IN RELIGION. 343
determine whether it be best for us to choose a life of sin or a life of bolintss,
the service of God or the service of Baal We have very plainly set before ut;
the advantages of both sides ; the loss and gain are particularly stated Christ
hath dealt by us faithfully, and hath told us wh-at we shall get, and what we
shall lose, by being his followei-s. He halh also told us what we shall get, and
what we shafl lose by a life of sin. He hatb not dealt by us deceitfully. He
nath not pretended greater advantage? in godhness than there really are, nor
greater disadvantages or dangers in sin. John xiv. 2, " In my Father's house
are raany raansions. If it were not so, I would have told you."
He hath told us plainly that we must take up the cross daily and follow him ;
tbat we must hate father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren anci
sisters, and our own life also, in order to become his disciples ; and that we must
cut off our right hands, and pluck out our right eyes, in order to enter into
heaven. Thus we have a fair opportunity to count the cost on bolh sides, and
are directed so to do, Luke xiv. 28. How unreasonable therefore is it for men
who have all these helps and advantages, to remain in suspense, and lo corae lo
no conclusion whether they will be Christians or heathens, whether they wfll be
for God or the devil ; though they have lived under tbe preaching of the word
and offers of the gospel for many yeai-s.
6. W^e have no reason to expect to be under better advantages to deterraine
hereafter than we are now. "We never shafl have a clearer revelation of gospel
trulh ; never shall have the advantages and disadvantages of bolh sides more
plainly set before us, than they are already in the word of God ; nor are we
ever like to be under better advantages lo know what wifl be best for us, and
most for our interest. Those therefore who delay, gain nothing by their delays,
but give Satan raore opportunity to darken their minds, to deceive them, and
lead them astray in their choice. Therefore their delay of coming to a resolu
tion is unreasonable.
7. If they come not to a determination in this life, God wifl determine for
thera, and appoint them their portion with the wicked. If sinners, by refusing
to choose either life or death, either heaven or hell, could thereby avoid both,
or it m this case the matter would remain undetermined tfll tbey should deter
mine it ; the folly and unreasonableness of delaying a determination would not
be so great Bul that is not the case ; if they go on halting between two
opinions, God wifl determine for thera, and tbat quickly ; he will determine
where their portion shall be, viz., araong the unbelievers, in the lake that burn
eth with fire and brimstone forever. God wfll not wait upon thera always, to
see what they wifl choose ; but he wfll put an issue to the rnatter by bis unal
terable sentence. Therefore it becomes all, if they are afraid to have tbeir lot
assigned them in hefl, to come soon to a deterraination.
8. Delay in this case is unreasonable, because those who delay know not
how soon the opportunity of choosing for Ihemselves wfll be past. Tbis oppor
tunity wifl last no longer than life ; when once life is past, they wfll no more
have the offer made them ; the sentence wifl be past ; the matter wfll be issued.
Those who delay their choice in this worid will be glad to choose after
wards • then they will not be at all at a loss which to choose ; they will be able
easily to determine. The judgments of sinners who are departed this life, are
soon" resolved whether there be any truth in religion or not ; they can scjon
deterraine which is best and raost eligible, a life of obedience and self-denial,
with heaven for a reward, or a life of irreligion and sin, wilh hell for a punish-
ment Now they no longer halt between two opinions ; but it is too lale, their
opportiinity is past; they are ready loo lale. They would give all the world
344 UNREASONABLENESS OF INDETERMINATION IN RELIGION
for another opportunity to choose ; they would then soon come to a detf'ninu-
tion. But it wfll not be granted them.
APPLICATION.
1. Let this put every one upon examining himself, whether or no be have
ever yet come to a full determination in the affair of religion.
First. Inquire whether or no you have ever yet come to a full determination
with respect to the truth of the things of religion. Have you ever been fully
convinced ? Is it a question which has been answered and determined with
you, whether there be a fulure state ; or does it yet remain a question with you
unresolved 1 Are you not yet to seek whether there be any future s*ate, and
whether or no the story about Jesus Christ be any more than a fable 1 Here I
desire you to note two thing.s.
1. If the main reason why you assent to tbe truth of religion be that others
believe so, and you have been so instructed frora your childhood ; you are oi
those with whom the truth of religion yet remains undetermined, fradition
and education wfll never fix and settle the mind in a satisfactory and effectual
belief of the truth of religion. Though raen, taking religion upon trust, raay
seera to give a full assent lo the trulh of religion, ahd not to call it in question ;
yet such a faith will not stand a shock ; a teraptation easily overthrows it : the
reason of man, in tirae of trial, will not rest on so poor evidence as that.
There are raultitudes wbo seera to grant the trutii of religion, with whom
the main foundation of their failh is the tradition of their neighbors ; and it is
to be feared, it is so with raany who count theraselves good Christians. But as
to all such persons as never have seein any other evidence lo satisfy thern, either
of the truth or falsehood of religion, they are they that halt between two opin
ions. The sarae raay be said of those who are unstable in tbeir disposition wilh
regard to Christ or tbe things which he taught
2. If you are fully corae to a determination concerning the things of reh
gion, that they are true, tbey will be of weight with you above all things in the
world. If you be really convinced that these things are true, that they are no
fable, but reality, it is impossible but that you must be influenced by them above
all things in the world ; for these Ihings are so great, and so infinitely exceed
afl temporal things, tbat it cannot be olherwise. He tbat really is convinced
tbat there is a heaven and hefl, and an eternal judgment ; that the soul, as soon
as parted from the body, appears before the judgraent seat of God ; and that
the happiness and raisery of a future state is as great as the Scripture represents
it ; or that God is as holy, just and jealous, as he hath declared concerning him
self in his word ; I say, he that is really convinced and hath settled it wilh
hiraself that these Ihings are certainly true, will regard thera, and be influenced
by them above all Ihings in the world. He will be more concerned by far bow
he shall escape eternal daranation, and bave the favor of God and eternal life.
than how he shall get the world, gratify the flesh, please bis neighbors, get
honor, or obtain any temporal advantage whatsoever. His main inquiry will not
be, what .shall 1 eat, and what shall I drink, &c., but he wifl seek first the king
dom of God and his righteousness.
Exaraine yourselves therefore by this : Are not your hearts chiefly set upon
the world, and the things of it ? Is it not raore your concern, care and endea
vor to further your outward interest, than lo secure an interest in heaven ? And
is not this the very reason that you bave never seen the reality of eternal tbings 1
Secondly. Inquire whether you have ever yet corae to a determination about
UNREASONABLENESS OF INDETERMINATION IN RELIGION. 345
feligion with respeci to the practice of it ; whether you have chosen heaven
with the way to it, viz., the way of obedience and self-denial, before this world
and the ways of sin ; whether you have determined upon it as most eligible, to
devote yourselves to the service of God. Here I shafl mention three or four
things which are signs that men halt between two opinions in tbis matter.
1. To put off duly till hereafter. 'V^ben persons love lo keep theii duty at
a distance, engage not in it for tbe present, but choose to keep at a little dis
tance from it ; when they think of engaging in religion in belter earnest in a
little time, when they sball so and so be under betier conveniences for il, but do
it not now, do not make baste without delay ; when they are very good intend
ers, concerning whal ihey will do to-morrow, but very poor performers to-day ;
when they say, as Felix, " Go thy way for this lime, wben I have a con
venient season I will call for thee ;" when these tbings are so, it is a sign tbat
they hale between two opinions, and bave never as yet comelo a full determin
ation with respect to the practice of rehgion. Those that have once fully deter
mined that religion is necessary and eligible, will not desire to put it off, but
A-fll make it their present and immediate ibusiness.
2. It is a sign of the same thing- wben persons are strict and conscientious in
some things, but not in afl, not universal in tbeir obedience ; do some duties,
but live in the omission of others; avoid some sins, but allow themselves in
others ; are conscientious with respect to tbe duties of worship, public and pri
vate, but not in their behavior to tbeir neighbors; are not just in their dealings,
nor conscientious in paying their debts ; nor do to others as they would that
they should do to them ; but have crooked, perverse ways in their deahngs
among raankind.
The same may be said when they are ju.st in their deahngs and trade with
men, but are not conscientious in other things ; indulge sensual appetites, drink
to excess, or allow Ihemselves in wanton practices : or are honest and temper
ate, bul licentious in using their tongues, backbiting and reproaching their fel
low men, 2 Tim. in. 6, 7.
3. It is a sign that you halt between two opinions, if you sometimes are
wont to be considerably engaged in religion, but at other times neglect it ;
sometimes forming a resolution to be in good earnest, then dropping it again ;
soraetiraes seeraing lo be really engaged in seeking salvation, and very earnes'.
in rehgious duties ; at other times wholly taken up about the things of tbe world,
while rehgion is neglected, and religious duties are omitted.
These tbings show that you are yet unsettled, have never yet come to a full
determination concerning religion, but are halting between two opinions, and
therefore are thus unstable in all your ways, and proceed thus by fits and starts
in religion : James l 6, 7, 8, " Bul let him ask in failh, nothing wavering ; for
he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven wilh the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A
double-minded man is unstable in all bis ways." If your determination were
fixed in religion, you would be more steady in your practice.
4. It is a sign that you are hahing between two opinions, if it be your raan
ner to balk your duty whenever any notable difficulty comes in the way, cori-
siderably cross to your interest, or very inconsistent with your ease or conveni
ence, or your temporal honor. "Whatever zeal you may seem lo have, what
ever concern about the things of religion, and however strict you be in ordinary,
vou have never, if »his be your manner, come to a full determination ; have
iiiever fully made choice of religion and tbe benefits of fl for your only portion;
and at best have got no further than King Agrippa, who was almost persuadecj
Vol. IV. 44
346 UNREASONABLENESS OF INDETERMINATION IN RELIGION.
CO be a Christian, Acts xxvi. 28. You are in the state of the stony ground
hearers, you have no root in yourselves, and like a tree witnout root, are easily
blown down by every wind.
II. I shall conclude wilh an earnest exhortation to all, no longer to halt be
tween two opinions, but immediately to come lo a determination whether to be
Christians or not Let rae insist upon it, that you now make a choice, whether
you will have heaven, with a life of universal and persevering obedience for
your portion ; or hell, with a life spent in the pursuit of this world. Consider
those things which bave been said, showing tbe unreasonableness of continuing
in such irresolution about an affair of infinite importance to you, and as lo which
you have so short an opportunity to make your choice. Consider two things
in addition to what hath been already said.
Those who live under the gospel, and thus continue undetermined about re
ligion, are more abominable to God than the heathen. God had rather that
men should either be Christians or downright heathens. He hates those per
sons who continue from year to year, under the calls, and warnings, and in
structions, and entreaties of God's word ; who yet can be brought to nothing;
who will corae lo no deterraination at all ; will neither be Christians nor heath
ens. These are they who are spoken of in Rev. ill 15, 16 : " I know thy works,
that thou art neither cold nor hot : I would thou wert cold or hot : so then, be
cause thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my
mouth." Ezek. xx. 39, " As for you, 0 house of Israel, thus sailh the Lord
God, Go ye, serve ye* every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye wfll not heark
en unto rae : but pollute ye iny holy name no raore with your gifts, and with
your idols." These are they spoken of in 2 Tira. ih. 7 : Ever learnino^ and
never coraing to a knowledge of the trulh."
2. If you still refuse to corae to a determination whether to be Christians or
not, how just will it be, if God shall give you no further opportunity ! If you
refu.se lo make any choice at all ; and after all that hath been done to bring
you to it, in setting life and death so often before you, in calling and warning
you, if you will not come to a determination, how just will it be, if God shafl
wail no longer upon you, ifhe shall, by his unalterable sentence, deterraine the
case hiraself; if he shall fix your state with the unbelievers, and teach you the
truth and eligibleness of religion, by sad and fatal experience, wben it will be
too late for you to choose your portion, and tbe offer will be no more made you
SERMON XIX
the sin and folly of depending on FUTURL riME.
Pdo-tbrbs jtavii. I. — Boast not thyself of to-morrow ; for tliOU knowest not what a day may bring forth.
The design of the wise man in this book of Proverbs, is to give us tbe pre
cepts of true wisdom, or to teach us bow to conduct ourselves wisely in the
course of our lives. Wisdom very much consists in making a wise improvement
of time, and of the opportunities we enjoy. This is often in Scripture spoken
of, as a great part of true wisdom ; as Deut xxxu. 29, " 0 that they were
wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their Ikter end !" And
Psalm xc. 12, " Teach us so to number our days, that we may apply our hearts
unto wisdom." So the wisdom of the wise virgins is represented as consisting
much in this, that they improved the proper season to buy oil.
Therefore tbe wise man in these books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, agreeab y
to his design, insists on this part of wisdom. He tells us the advantage of seek
ing Chr'ist early, Prov. viii. 17. And advises us to do what oub hand findeth
to do, with our MIGHT, Eccles. ix. 10. He advises young people lo remem
ber their Creator in tbe days of their youth, while the evil days come not, in
which they shall say they have no pleasure, Eccles. xu. 1. So here in the
text he advises us to a wise improvement of the present season. — In the words
are two things to be particularly observed.
i. The precept not to boast of to-morbow ; i. e., not to speak or act as
though it were our own. It is absurd for men to boast of that which is not
their own. The wise man would not have us behave ourselves as though any
time were ours but tbe present. He that boasts of to-morrow, acls as though
he had to-morrow in his possession, or had something whereby he might depend
on il, and call it his own.
2. The reason given for this precept ; fob thou knowest not what a day
may bring forth. It is a good reason why we should not behave ourselves as
though the morrow were our own, that indeed it is not our own ; we are not
sure of it ; we have no hold of future tirae ; we know not whether we shall see
the raorrow : or if we do know that we shall see it, we know not what we
shall see on it. DOCTRINE.
We ought to behave ourselves every day as though we had no dependence
on any other day.
In handhng this doctrine, I shall (1,) briefly say something which raay be
needful to prevent raisunderstanding. (2.) Show what is iraplied in this doc
trine. (3.) Show when men behave themselves, as if tbey had dependence on
another day. (4.) Show why this should be avoided.
I To prevent a misunderstanding of the doctrine, I observe to you, that it
is not meant, that we should in every respect behave as though we knew or
concluded tbat we should not hve another day. Not depending on another
day is a different thing from concluding, that we shall not live another day.
We may have reason fbr the one, and not for the other. We have gocjd rea
son not to depend on another day, but we have no reason to conclude, that we
348 FOLLY OF PROCRASTINATION.
shall not live another day. We may have no reason to Jepend cipon anctther
day, and so that may be one extreme. On the other hand, neither may we
have any reason to depend upon it that we shall not enjoy another day, and
therefore that raay be another extreme.
In sorae respects we ought to carry ourselves, as though we knew we should
not live another day, and should iraprove every day as if it were the last. Par
ticularly, we should live every day as conscientiously and as holily as if we
knew it were the last We should be as careful every day to avoid all sin, as
if we knew that that night our souls should be required of us. We should be
as careful to do every duty which God requires of us, and take as much care
that we have a good account to give to our Judge, of our improveraent of that
day, as if we concluded that we must be called to give an account before ano
ther day.
But in many other respects we are not obliged to behave ourselves as though
we concluded that we should not live to another day. If we bad reason lo con
clude that we should not hve another day, some tbings would not be our duly
which now are our duty. As for instance, in such a case it would not be
the duly of any person to make provision for his teraporal subsistence during
another day : to neglect which, as things now are, would be very imprudent
and foolish, as the consequences would show, if every man were to act in thia
Planner; al this rate the whole worid would presently murder itself
If so, it would never be man's duty to plough or sow the field, or to lay up
for winter ; but these Ihings are man's duty ; as Prov. vi. 6, " Go to the ant,
thou sluggard, consider her v\'ays, and be wise : which, having no guide, over
seer, or ruler, providelh her raeat in the summer, and galhereth her food in the
harvest." And chap. x. 5, &c., " He that galhereth in suraraer is a wise son ;
but he that .sleepeth in harvest, is a son tbat causeth shame." And many other
places might be mentioned.
So, on the other hand, if we were certain that we should not live another
lay, some things would be our duty to-day, whicb now are not so. As for in-
itance, it woulcl be proper for us lo spend our time in giviAg our dying counsels,
md in selling our bouses in order. If it were revealed to lis, that we should die
oefore to-morrow morning, we ought to look upon it as a cafl of God to us, to
.ipend the short remainder of our lives in those things which iramediately con-
tjern our departure, raore than otherwise it would be our duty to do.
But the words of the text, which forbid us to boast of to-morrow, cannot be
extended so far as to signify, that we ought in all respects to live, as if we
knew we should not see another day. Yet they undoubtedly mean, that we
ought not to behave ourselves in any respect, as though we depended on an
orher day.
I now proceed,
II. To show wbat is implied in the precept. Boast not thyself of to-morrow,
or in behaving ourselves every day as though we had no dependence on any
other day. In this precept two things seem to be forbidden.
1. Boasting ourselves of what shall be on the morrow, or behavinc our
selves as though wc depended on particular Ihings to come to pass in this world,
in £ )rae future time. As when men behave themselves, as though they depend
ed on being rich, or j/rciaoted to honor hereafter ; or as Ihough they were sure
of accomplishing any particular design another day. So did the rich man in
the gospel, when he did not only proraise hiraself, that he should live many
years, but proraised himself also, that he should be rich many years. Hence
he said to his soul, that he had much goods laid up for r:any years.
FOLLY OF PROrRASTINATION. 349
¦Vnd if men act as though they depended upon it, that they should another
day accomplish such and sucb Ihings for their souls, then may they be said to
coast themselves of to-moiTOw, and not to behave theraselves as though they
depended on no other day. As wben they behave themselves, as though they
depended upon it, that they should at another day have such and such advan
tages for the good of their souls ; that tbey should at another day have the striv
ings of God's Spirit; that they should at another day find theraselves disposed
to be thorough in seeking their salvation ; that they should at another day have
a more convenient season ; and that God al anothei day would stand ready to
bear their prayers, and show them raercy.
Or if they act as though they depended upon it that they should bave con
siderable opportunity on a death-beil to seek raercy ; or whatever they proraise
themselves shall corae to pass respecting thera in this world, if they act as de
pending on it, they boast themselves of to-morrow.
2. Another thing imphed, is our boasting of future tirae itself, or acting as
though we depended on it, that we should have our lives continued to see an
other day. Not only is the command of God delivered in tbe text transgressed
by those wbo behave themselves as depending upon it, that they shall see and
obtain such and such things to-morrow ; but by those who act as depending
upon it, that tbey shall remain in being in this worid to-morrow.
Both these ways of boasting of to-raorrow are reproved by the Aposlle Jaraes,
;bapter iv. 13 : " Go to now, ye that say. To-day or to-raorrow we wfll go into
such a cily, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain." By
proraising theraselves that they shafl do such and such things, and tbat they
shall get gain, they boast theraselves of what shall corae lo pass in such a lirae.
The aposlle in the next verse teaches them, that they ought not to do this, no,
nor so rauchias depend upon seeing another day, or on having their lives con
tinued. Verse 14, " Whereas ye know not what shall be on the raorrow : for
wbat is your hfe 1 It is even a vapor that appearelh for a little tirae, and tben
vanisheth away." And in verse 15, he teaches us that both are uncertain and,
dependent on the wfll of God, viz., whether we shall live another day, and
if we do, whether such and sucb things shall corae to pass : " For that ye
ought to say. If the Lord wfll, we shall live, and do this or that" Therefore
he adds in verse 16, " But now ye rejoice in your boastings : all such rejoic
ing is evil."
I corae now,
III. To show more particularly, when men act as though they depended on
another day.
1. They will do so, if they set their hearts on the enjoyraents of this life.
I mean not if they have any manner of affection to them. We may have sorae
affection to tbe enjoyraents of this world ; otherwise they would cease to be en
joyments. If we might have no degree of rejoicing in them, we could not be
thankful for them. Persons may in a degree take delight in earthly friends,
and other earthly enjoyments. It is agreeable to the wise man's advice that
we should do so : Eccles. v. 18, " It is good and coraely for one to eat and to
-Irink, and to enjoy the good of afl his labor that he taketh under the sun."
But by setting our hearts on these things, by placing our happiness in them,
and letting out tbe current of our affections after thera, by turning and fixing
our inclinations so much upon them, that we cannot well enjoy ourselves with
out thera, so that very much of tbe strength of tbe faculties of our minds is em
ployed and taken up about these things, we show that we have our dependence
3n another day.
350 FOLLY OF PROCRASTINATION.
The man who doth thus, acts as though he depended on another day, yea,
many other days, in the world : for it is most evident, that if the enjoyments of
this world be of such a nature that they are not to be depended on for one day
more, they are not worth the setting of our hearts upon thera, or the placing of
our happiness in thera. We may rejoice in the enjoyments of the worid, but
not in such a manner as to place the rest of our souls in them. As tbe apostle
saith, we should rejoice in them, as though we rejoiced not, 1 Cor. vii. 30. So
that if this joy should fail, our stock may hold good ; and in this case we must
behave ourselves only as if we had lost a small stream of joy, but still had the
fountain in full possession. We should conduct ourselves as those who have
not the fciuhdation of tbeir joy shaken, though some appurtenances have failed.
Our happiness as to the body of it, if I may so speak, shduld yet stand as on an
immovable foundation.
They who exceedingly rejoice, and are very much pleased and elated with
the enjoyments of the world, certainly behave themselves as though they had
mucb dependence on their continuance for more than one or two days more.
They that addict themselves to vain rairth, and lead a jovial life, show that
they set their hearts on the enjoynients of tbe world, and act as those who de
pend on more days than the present. For if they were sensible that they could
not depend on any future time, but that death would put an eternal end to all
their carnal mirth before to-morrow, tbey would»have no heart to spend the pre-
sbnt day in such a manner as tbey now do. It would immediately produce in
them a sober, solid disposition, far from levity and vanity.
And when persons are very much sunk with the loss of any temporal enjoy
ments, or wilh any temporal disappointments, it shows that they set their hearts
upon them, and behave as though they boasted of to-morrow, and depended on
their longer continuance ih life. If they bad no sucb dependence, they would
not be frustrated in tbeir dependence ; or tbey would not be overwhelmed by
their frustration. If they be very much sunk, and tbe comfort of their lives be
destroyed by it, it shoWsthat those temporal enjoyraents were too much the foun
dation on which their comfort stood. That which makes a building totter, and
threatens its destruction, is not the taking away of someof the exterior parts of
the superstructure, but tbe removal of some considerable part of the foundation
on wbich the house stands.
2. If raen are proud of their worldly circurastances, it shows tbat they havt
a dependence on to-raorrow ; for no man would think it worth his while to
/aunt himself in that whicb is to be depended on only for a day. Though a
raan have a great estate to-day, he will not be puffed up with il, unless he de
pend upon having it to-morrow. A man who hath no dependence on any othei
bul that he may to-morrow be in the grave, where the small and great are
upon a level. Job iii. 19, will not be much lifted up with his advancement to s
post of honor.
That person wfll not be proud of his rich and fine clothes, who is sensible
that he cannot depend upon it, that be sball not be stripped by death to-raorrow,
and sent naked out of the worid. as he carae naked into it He will not to-day
be very proud of bis personal beauty, who hath no dependence on escaping to
morrow that stroke of death which wfll raar all bis beauty, and make that face
wbich he now thinks so coraely, appear ghastly and horrid ; when instead of a
ruudy and florid countenance, there will be blood settled, cold and congealed,
flesh stiff and clayey, teeth set, eyes fixed and sunk into tbe head. Nor wfll he
to-day very mucb affect to beautify and adorn with gaudy and flaunting apparel,
tbat body concerning whicb he is sensible tbat he can have no dependence that
FOLLY OF PROCRASTINATION, 351
it wfll not be wri.pped In a winding-sheet to-morrow, to be carried to the grave,
'here lo root, and to be covered and filled with worras.
3. So when men envy others their worldly enjoyments, their wealth, or
tiieir worldly ease, or their titles and high places, or envy them iheir sensual
pleasures, or any of their woridly circumstances, it shows that they set their
hearts on the things of the world ; and that they are not sensible that tiiese
things are not to be depended on for another day. Jf they were, they would
not think them worth their envy. They would appear so worthless in their
eyes, that tiiey would not care who had thera, nor wbo went wiihout thern.
So when they contend about woridly possessions and enjoyments (as almost
all the contentions that are in the worid are about these things), it shows that
they have dependence on to-morrow ; otherwise they would not think the en
joyments of the worid worth tbe contending about. They would be very much
of the teraper recoraraended by Jesus Christ, Matt v. 40, " He that will sue thee
at the law, and take away thy coat, let him bave tby cloak also."
4. Men behave themselves as if they depended on another day, when they
rest and are easy to-day, in a condition out of which they must be delivered be
fore they die. When a man's mind is at ease and rest, there is something Ihat
he rests in ; that rest must have some foundation, either real or imaginary. But
if the man be in a condition frora which he is sensible he must some time or
other be delivered, or be undone, it is impossible that he should rest in the
thoughts of remaining in his condition always, and never being delivered from
it ; fbr no man is willing to be ruined ; no man can rest in that which he con
ceives to be connected, wilh his own misery and undoing.
Therefore, if be rests in snch a condition for the present, it must be on a
supposition, that he shall be delivered from il. If he rest in it to-day, it must
be because he depends on being delivered another day, and therefore depends
on seeing another day.
We in this land generally profess thot, as we are by nature, we are exposed
to eternal dealh, and that therefore there is a necessity that we get out of a na-
tiiral condition some time before we die. And those among us who are sensi
ble that they have never passed through any such change as in Scripture is
:!alled a being born again, though they be not sufficiently convinced that there
IS any such place as hell, yet have a kind of belief of il ; at least they do not
conchide, that there is no such place, and therefore cannot but be sensible that
it would be dreadful to die unconverted. Therefore, if they be in a considerable
degree of ease and quietness in the condition they are in, it must be because
tbey have a dependence on being delivered out of such a condition some time
oefore they die.
Inasmuch as they are easy in reraaining in sucb a condition to-day, with
out any prospect of present deliverance, it shows plainly that tbey depend on
another day. If they did not, they could have no manner of ease or quietness
in their spirits in reraaining in a natural condition to the end of the present day ;
oecause if Ihere be no grounds of dependence on any further opportunity than
what they have to-day, then what they are exposed to, by missing the oppor
tunity which they have to-day, is infinitely dreadful.
Persons who are secure in their sins, under the hght of the gospel, unless
chey be deceived with a false hope, are generally so bechuse tbey boast them
selves of to-morrow. They depend on future opportunity ; they flatter themselves
with hopes of living long in the world ; they depend on what shall come lo pass
nereafter ; they depend on the fulfilment of tbeir good intentions a? to wbat
they will do at a more convenient season.
369 FOLLY OF PROCRASTINATION,
o. Men behave Ihemselves as those who depend on another day, wben thty
neglect any thing to-day which must be done before they die. If there be any
thing, let it be what it will, which is absolutely necessaiy to be done sorae tirae
before death, and the necessity of it be sufficiently declared and shown to the
person for whora it is thus necessary, if he neglect setting about it immediately
sincerely, and with all his might, certainly it carries this face wilh it, that the
man depends upon ils being done hereafter, and consequently that he sball have
opportunity to do it.
Because, as to those tbings which are absolutely necessary to be done, there
is need, not only of a possibility of a future opportunity, but of something which
is to be depended on, sorae good ground lo conclude tbat we shall have future
opportunity ; therefore, whoever lives under the gospel, tbat doth not now this
day thoroughly reforra his life, by casting away every abomination, and denying
every lust, and doth not this day also apply hiraself to the practice of the whole
of his duly towards God and towards raan, and doth not now begin to raake
religion his main business, be acls as one who depends on another day; be
cause he is abundantly taught that these things must be done before he dies.
So those who have been seeking salvation for a great while, in a dull, in
sincere, and slighty manner, and find no good eff'ect of it, have abundant rea
son to conclude, tbat some tirae before they die, they raust alter their hand, and
must not only seek, but strive, to enter in at the strait gate, and must be violent
for the kingdom of heaven; and therefore, if they do not begin thus to change
their hand to-day, they act as those who depend on another day.
So those who bave hitherto lived in the neglect of some particular known
duty, whether it be the duly of secret prayer, or the duty of paying some old
deot, which they have long owed to tbeir neighbor, or the duty of confessing
some fault to a brother Vbo hath aught against thera, or the duty of making
restitution for some injury which they have done their neighbor, they act as
those who depend on another day.
6. Men behave theraselves as Ihough they depended on another day, if they
do that to-day which sorae time or other must be undone. There are many
things done by men which raust be undone by them. They must go back again
frora the way which they had gone, or they are ruined to all eternity. There
fore, in doing these things, they act as tbose who depend on future opportunity
to undo thera : as wben a man cheats or defrauds his neighbor in any thing, he
acts as one tbat boasts of to-morrow ; for he raust undo what he (loth before
he dies ; be raust some tirae or other raake restitution, or divine justice, which
oversees all things, and governs the whole world, and will see to it that right
be done, wfll ncjt let go its hold of hira.
So when rnen hearken to temptation, and yield to tbe solicitations of their
lusts to corarait any sin, they act as those who depend on another day. They
do what raust be undone. What they then do raust be undone by hearty and
thorough repentance, or tbey are ruined and lost forever. The raorsel they
swaflowed down, tbey must vomit up again. So if persons bave been seeking
salvation for a time, and tben afterwarcls are guflty of backsliding, and turn
back after their hands have been put to the plough, they act as those who de
pend on another day. For wbat they now do, tbey must undo some time or
other ; they must go back again from tbeir backsliding, and have all their
work to do over again. And these things must be undone in this world, while
men live ; for there will be no undoing of them afterwards ; they may be suf
fered for, but never can be undone.
T come now,
FOLLY OF PROCRASTINATION. 353
IV. To show why we ought not thus to boast ourselves of to-morrow ; but
on the conlrary, to behave ourselves every day as though we had no dependence
on another day. And there is this plain and sufficient reason for it, viz., that
we have no grounds of dependence on another day.- We have neither any foun
dation to depend upon seeing any particular things corae to pass another day,
which we may hope or wish for, nor upon enjoying another day here intbis worid.
Webave nolhing for a foundation of dependence tbat we shafl not be in eternity
befoi-e another day, as both reason and experience show.
We have no promise of God that we shall ever see another day. We are
in God's hands ; our lives are in his hands ; he hath set our bounds ; the num
ber of our months and days is with him ; nor halh be told them to us. We
see that tbe life of man at longest is very short, and tbat nothing is more un
certain ; and it is a thing universal among mankind, that they know not tbe
day of their death. We see that great natural abihties, and sharpness of wit,
and clearness of discernment, do not help to any discovery in this matter. But
wise and discerning raen are as uncertain of the terra of their lives as others.
There are so many ways and means whereby the lives of men corae to an
end, that no circumstances in whicb a man can be are any security to him from
death. That it is but a very little while till to-morrow, is no good ground of
dependence that we shall hve lill then. We see that deaths as sudden as our
dying before to-morrow raorning, are coraraon in the world. We very often
see or hear of sudden deaths. How many suddenly, in a few minutes, pass
from a state of health to a state of death, in the daytime, by several kinds of
disease, which give no warning of their approach, and by many unforeseen acci
dents ! How many go to bed, and to sleep, in health, and are found dead in
their beds in the morning ! So that our present health is no good ground ^i
dependence that we shall live to see another day.
That persons are now in youth, is no good ground of dependence upon
another day ; for sudden, unexpected deaths are common even among those
who are in the bloom of youjb. Nor is it any ground of dependence in this
case, that a man is ofa more than ordinary healthy and strong constilution. It is
found by experience, that such are liable lo sudden death as well as others. Job
xxi. 23, " One dieth in his fufl strength. His breasts are full of mflk, and bis
bones are moistened with marrow."
That persons have already lived to see a great many days, and that after
tbey bad been often in times past told, that they were uncertain of any future
time ; or that persons have a strong desire to live longer ; or that they are
now very unprepared for death, both on teraporal and spiritual accounts ; is no
ground of dependence on another day. Dealh tarries for no raan, but coraes
when and to whom he is sent, and strikes the deadly blow, whether the man be
prepared or not.
Again, that men have been very useful in their day, and that it is of great
importance lo their families and neighbors that they should live longer, is no
ground of dependence. The raost useful raen are often cut down by dealh, in
the raidst of their usefulness. The sarae may be said, though we cannot see
which way death should come at us before to-raorrow. To how many accidents,
to how many diseases are we liable, which may prove fatal before to-morrow
which yet it is impossible for us lo foresee ! So, if we be very careful of our lives,
and our health, not to expose ourselves to any dangers, stfll this is no ground
of dependence as to any fulure time. Death cctmes in many ways which were
not thought of Men foresee not the means of their death, any more than the
5sh securely swimming in the water foresees the net, or tbe bird that securely
Vol. IV. 45
354 FOLLY .OF PROCRASTINATION.
feeds upon the bait sees the snare. It is a= the wise raan observes, in Eccles
ix. 12, " For raan also knoweth not bis lirae ; as the fishes that are taken in an
evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare ; so are the sons of men
snared in an evil lime, when it faileth suddenly upon thera."
IMPROVEMENT.
I. I shall iraprove this doctrine, by putting you all upon exaraining your
selves, whether you do not boast yourselves of to-morrow, or whether you do
not live in such a raanner as you would not, were it not that you depend on fu
ture time and future opportunity in the world. Would not your behavior be
very different from whal it now is, if you everyday lived and acted wiihout any
dependence on seeing one day more 1
You cannot bul acknowledge, every one of you, that it is most reasonable
that you should live and act thus. If you should be particularly inquired of,
you would doubtiess own, and you cannot but own, that you have no good
ground of dependence on another day ; and therefore that you cannot act wise
ly any otherwise than in acting as one who hath no dependence on any sucb
thing. Therefore inquire whether you act wisely and reasonably in tbis respect
1. Do you not set your hearts much raort on this world, than you would,
if you had no dependence on the morrow 1 Is not the language of the rich
man in the gospel, the secret language of your hearts : " Soul, thou hast much
goods laid up for many years ?" &c. Is not tbis the language of your hearts,
with respect to what you have gotten already ; wbich makes you place your
happiness so much in it 1 And with respect to what of the world you are seek
ing and pursuing, is it not with a dependence on enjoying it for a great whfle,
when you -shall have obtained it ? Are not your lands and other possessions
which you have gotten, or about to get, in your own imagination, yours for a
great whfle ?
Would your mind be so filled up with thoughts and cares about these things,
so much to the crowding out of tbings of another world ? Would you lay
yourselves under so great disadvantages for your souls' good, by involving
yourselves in worldly cares, if you had no dependence on having any thing to
do with these Ihings for raore than tbe present day ? If you did not depend on
considerable more tirae in the world, would your inquiry be so much. What
shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and wherewithal .shall we be clothed 1
And so little, How sball we make our calling and election sure 7 How shafl
we be assured that we are upon a good foundation for another world, and
that we are in such a slate that dealh cannot hurt us ? How shall we be sure
that we are ready to appear before the judgment seal of a heart-searchincr
God? ^
Would there be allogether so rauch of your tirae spent in laying up treasure
on earth, and so littie in laying up treasure in heaven, that you might have
store against the day of dealh, were it not that you put death at a distance ?
Would you be so rauch raised at your teraporal prosperity, and so ranch sunk
when you meet with crosses and disappointments in your worldly affairs, if you
did not think that continuance in the world is to be depended on for more days
than the present 1
Let tbose wbo very mucb affect to adorn their bodies in gaudy apparel, in
quire whether they would think it worlh their while to spend so much lime to
make theraselves fine, and to set theraselves forth as gayer than others if they
really had no dependence that their bodies would be preserved one day longer
(rom being clasped in the cold arras of death ?
FOLLY OF PROCRASTINATION. 356
2. Inquire whether you would not much less meddle with the concerns of others,
and be much more eraployed with your own hearts, if each day you had no de
pendence on hving another day. If you were sensible that you had no other
Jay lo depend upon than this "day, you would be sensible that you had great
aff'airs of your own to attend to. You would find a great deal of business to
do at borae concerning affairs between God and your own soul ; and consider
ing that you cannot depend on another day, it would seem to you that you have
but a short tirae in which to do it, and that therefore you have need to be much
engaged in it. You would say as Christ did, I must work while the day lasts,
for the night cometh wherein no man can work. You would find so much lo
be done, and so much difficulty in doing it, that you would have little leisure,
and little heart to intermeddle with the business of others. Your business would
be confined to a much narrower compass, to a less circle than now it is. You
would have so much to do al home in your closets, and with your own hearts,
tbat you would find no occasion to go abroad for business lo fill up your tirae.
But the truth is, men conceive of a great deal of time which they have to
be filled up, and hence they want business to fill it up. They depend on to
morrow, and the day following, and next month, and next year, yea, many years
to come. When tbey are young they depend on living to be raiddle aged, and
wben middle aged they depend on old age, and always put far away tbe day of
death. Let thera be young or old, there always seeras to thera to be a great
vacancy between them and death ; hence they wander to and fro for business
to fill up that vacancy.
Whereas if they were sensible of the uncertainty of life, they would, in the
first place, make sure of tbeir own business ; the business of their own precious,
iraraortal souls would be done, before they would attend much to the business
of other people. They would have no desire or disposition to concern them
selves wilh every private quarrel which breaks out in the neighborhood. They
would not think it much concerned them to inquire into the matter, and to pass
their censure on the affair. They would find something else to do, than to sit
by the hour together, discussing and censuring the conduct of such and such
persons, gathering up or rehearsing the stories which are carried about to the
disadvantage of this and that person.
We seldora, if ever, see men who are upon sick beds, and look upon thera
selves very dangerou.sly .sick, disposed to spend their time in this manner; and
the reason is, that they look upon it doubtful whether tbey shall live very long.
They do not so much as others, depend on much tirae to spare ; hence their
minds are taken up raore about their own souls' concerns, than about the con
cerns of others. So it would be with persons in health, if their health did not
make them depend on a great deal of tirae in the world.
3. If you each day depended on no other day but the present, would you
not engage and interest yourselves rauch less in parly designs and scheraes, than
you are now wont to do ? Araong a people divided into two parlies, as this
town hath been for a long tirae, there is commonly rauch done by the partisans
in forraing scheraes of opposition to one another. There is always a strife,
who shall get their wills and carry their point This often engages thera in
open quarrels, and also in secret intrigues. That there isso rauch done in these
tbings, is a certain evidence that they boast theraselves of to-raorrow, and put
death at a distance.
Men would certainly find them.selves very much indisposed to sucb Ihings
if they were so sensible of the uncertainty of life, as to depend on no other day
than the pr-esent It is therefore very proper, that you should everv one examine
35b FOLLY OF PHOCRASTII/AIION.
yourselves in this particular, at this lime. If it were really so with you, thai
you depended on no other day than the present, would your hearts be so much
engaged in the strife between the two parties, as they often are 1 ' Would your
spirits be so often raised and ruffled "? Would you go about with so rauch of a
grudge and prejudice against such and such men ; harboring so much of old
leaven, which so often breaks out in heals of spirit ; and as an old sore which
was skinned over, but not cured, sets to raging, breaks open and runs, with a
touch which would not have hurt sound flesh ?
Coramonly in the raanageraent of a strife between two parties there is a
great deal of envy. When any who belong to one of the parties seem to
prosper, the other party will envy thein ; it is a grievous thing to them. So
there is also much contempt ; when one of tbe parlies gels the ascendant a little
over the other, they are ready to make the utmost improvement of it, and to
insult the other party.
There is comraonly in such cases a great deal of rautual secret reproach.
When those of one party get together then is the tirae to inveigh against tbose
of the other parly, and to set forth their injustice and their fraudulent practices.
Then is the tirae for thera to pass their censure on their words and actions.
Then is the tirae to expose their own surraises and suspicions of what the other
parly intends, what it airas al in such and such things, what the purposes of
individuals are, and what they suppose their scant actions are.
Then is the tirae for all that are friends in the cause, and engaged in the
sarae designs, lo entertain one another by ridiculing the words and actions of
the other party, and lo raake themselves sport of their folly and their disap
pointments ; and rauch is done at calling one another Raca and fools, or other
names equivalent, if not much raore than equivalent. Then is the tirae to lay
their heads together, to plot and contrive how they shall manage such an affair
so as lo disappoint the other party, and obtain their own wills.
Brethren, these things ought not so to be among a Christian people ; espe
cially among a people tbat has raade the profession which we have made. Nor
would they be so if it were not for your dependence on much future tirae in the
world. If you were so sensible of your continual liableness to death, that every
day was the last you depended upon, these ihings certainly would not be so.
For let us bul consider what are tbe eff'ects of dealh with respect to such things.
It puts an end to party quarrels. Many raen hold these quarrels as long as they
live. They begin young, and hold on through raany great and sore afflictions
and chastiseraents of Providence. The old sore remains, when tbe supporters
of nature bow, and the eyes grow dim, and the hands tremble with age. But
death, when that coraes, puts an end to all their quarrelling in this world.
Dealh sflences the raost clamorous, and censorious, and backbiting tongue.
When men are dead, they cease to lay scheraes against those of another party.
Death dashes all their scheraes, so far as they bave any concern in thera. Psalm
cxlvi. 4, " His breath goeth forth, be returneth to his earth ; in that very day
his Ihoughts perish."
When raen are dead, they cease to bite and devour others ; as it is said lo
have been of old a proverb araong tbe Egyptians, Dead m.en don't bite. There
are raany who will bite and devour as long as they live, but death tames them.
Mca could not be quiet or safe by them while alive, but none will be afraid of
them when they shafl be dead. The bodies of those that made such a noise and
tumult when alive, when dead, lie as quietly among tbe graves of their neigh-
Dors as any others. Their enemies, of whom tbey strove to get their wills
^'hile alive, get thfiir wills of them when they are dead. Nothing can please
FOLLY OF PROCRASTINATION. 357
vheir enemies better than to bave them out of their way. It suits them, that
those who were troublesome to them, are locked up safe in Ihe close grave,
where they will no more stand in their way.
After men are dead, there are no more effects of tbeir pride, their craftiness,
their hatred and envy. Eccles. ix. 6, " Also their love, and their hatred, anci
their envy is now perished."
The time will soon corae, when as raany of you who are now present, as
have for many years been at limes warmly contending one wilh another, will
be very peaceable as to any quarrelling in this world Your dead bodies will
probably lie quietly together in the sarae burying place. If you do not leave
off contending before dealh, how natural will it be for others to have such
thoughts as these in their rainds, when Ihey shall come to see your dead
corpses : \Vhat ! Is this the man who used lo be so busy in carrying on the
designs of bis party 1 Oh, now he has done ; now he hath no more any part
in any of these Ihings ; now it doth not at all concern him, who gel their wills,
or what party is uttermost We shall hear his voice no more in our touyn meet
ings. He will not sit any more to reproach and laugh al others. He is gone
to appear before bis Judge, and to receive according to his conduct in life.
The consideration of such things as these would certainly have a mighty
effect among us. If we did not put far away the day of death, if all acted
every day as not depending on any other day, we should be a peaceable, quiet
people. 4. Inquire whether or no you do not allow yourselves in sorae things, and
endeavor lo flatter yourselves that there is no evil in thera, which you would
by no means care lo do if you had not a dependence on living till to-morrow.
It is very common among men, when they are strongly enticed lo some sinful
practice, by their worldly interest, or by their carnal appetites, lo pretend that
they do not think there is any evil in it ; when indeed they know better. The
pretence they make use of for the present, to stifl the cry of their consciences,
IS no more than a pretence to serve a present turn. And if they expected to
have their souls required of them that night, they would by no means dare to
persist in the practice.
Therefore examine the liberties you take by this test, What would you think
of thera, if you now should have the following news sent you by sorae raessen-
ger frora heaven : John or Thoraas (or whatever your narae be), this night thy
soul shall be required of thee ? How would such tidings strike you ! How would
they alter the face of things ! Doubtless your thoughts would be very quick ;
you would soon begin to reflect on yourselves, and to examine your past and
present conduct And in wbtit colors would these and those liberties wbich you
now take, appear lo you in the case now supposed ? Would you then be as
full in il as you are now, that there is no evil in thera 1 Wtould you not be at
all the less bold to go forward and raeet dealh, for having continued in such
practices 1 Would you dare to comrait sucb acts again before you should die,
which now you say are lawful 1 Would not the few hours which you would
have to live, be at all the raore uncomfortable to you, for having done such
things 1 Would you not presently wish that you had let thera alone ? Yea,
would they not appear frightful and terrifying hke ghosts loyou ? If it be thus,
it is a sign that the reason why you now aflow yourselves in thera, and plead
for tbe lawfulness of thera, is, that you put death at a distance, and depend on
many other days in the world.
5. Inquire whether you do not some things on the presumption, that you
shall hereafter repent of them. Is not this the very thing wbich causes you tr
.^58 FOLLY OF PROCRASTINATION.
aare lo do such things as you do 1 Is it not the very ground on which you
venture so and so to gratify your lusts 1 Let young people examine all their ce-
cret carriage ; what they do alone in the dark and in secret corners. God
knoweth, and your own hearts know, though raen do not know. Put the ques
tion impartially to your own consciences ; is not this the very thing that gives
you the courage lo do as you do, that you hear that God is a very raerciful God,
and that he often of his sovereign mercy gives repentance of great sins, and
even wilful sins, and in consequence of repentance forgives'? And so you hope
that one day or other he wfll do so lo you. You intend some time hereafter
earnestly to seek it ; and you hope you shall be awakened. And if you be very
earnest, as you intend to be, you hope you shall be converted, and then you
shall be forgiven, and it wifl be as well as if you had never comiuitted such sins.
If this be the case consider bow you boast of to-morrow, and foolishly de
pend on fulure opportunity to repent, as well as foolishly presurae on the mercy
of God to give you repentance, at the same time that you take a course to pro
voke God, forever to give you up lo a sealed hardness and blindness, and to a
most fearful damnation ; not considering that God will glorify his revenging
justice as well as his mercy ; nor remembering the sad exaraple of Esau, " who
for a raorsel of meat sold his birlbright ; and afterwards, when he would have
inherited the bles.sing, he was rejected : for he found no place of repentance,
though he sought it carefully with tears." Heb. xu. 16, 17.
6. Inquire whether you iraprove this day, as one who doth not depend upon
ever having an opportunity to keep another Sabbath, or hear another serraon.
It appears from wbat hath been already said, tbat you bave no grounds to de
pend on any more such opportunflies. Now the day is present, and so you are
in a better capacity to determine how it is wilh you. It is but for you to reflect
upon yourselves, to look inward, and see how it is wilh you now al tbis present
time. And how is it? Are you as strict and diligent in keeping tbis Sabbath,
watching your Ihoughts, and keeping your hearts, striving in duties both public
and private, and improving ordinances, as might be expected of one who halh
no dependence on ever enjoying such an opportunity any more ; one who doth
not depend on ever setting foot again within the walls of God's house 1
Do you hear this sermon with that attention, and care, and desire, and en
deavor to improve it for your good, as you would, if you did not depend on
ever hearing another sermon ; or did not depend upon it that your bodies would
not be in the grave, and your souls fixed in eternity, in their unalterable state,
before the next Sabbath 1
7. Are you careful to see to it that the grounds of your bope are good ?
A man who hath a hope of being in a stale of acceptance with God, but is not
sure, if he had no dependence on any other day's opportunity of making it sure
than to-day ; if he did not at all depend upon it, but that his bope must be
tried before to-morrow, by the all-seeing, heart-searching God ; would be very
strict in exaraining hiraself and searching the grounds of his hope, and would
not rest in an uncertainty. He would be very thorough in informing himself
what might be depended on as good evidence of an interesi in Christ, and what
not ; and would be exceedingly strict in searching his own heart, to see whether
there were any thing in him that comes up to the requisites laid down in the
Scriptures. If wbat a^ppears hopeful in hira were dira and obscure, he would set hinisefT
very earnestly to obtain that wbich would be more clear and . manifest, and
A'ould cry earnestly lo God for it, and would apply himself to a diligent use of
raeans in orcler t" it And good reason wby ; for he depends on no other oo?
FOLLY OF PROCRASTINATION. 359
portunity to make his calling and election sure, than what he halh to-day. In
quire therefore whether you are thus thorough in examining your hope. And
are ycu thus careful effectually to see to il, that you are on a sure foundation 1
If not, then you behave yourselves as those that depend on to-morrow.
II. This doctrine may be improved in a use of hXHOETATioN to all, to spend
every day as not depending on any other day. It is ceriainly most reasonable
that we should do so. God hath concealed from us the day of our death, with
out doubt, p-artly for this end, that we might be excited to be always ready, and
might live as those that are always wailing for the coming of their Lord, agree
ably to the counsel which Christ gives us. Matt. xxiv. 42, 43, 44, and chap.
xxv. 13, and Mark xiii. 32, &c.
That watchman is not faithful, who, being set to defend a house from
thieves, or a city from an enemy wbo is at hand, will, al any hour, venture to
sleep, trusting that the thief or enemy wfll not corae. Therefore it is expected
of tbe watchman, that he behave himself every bour of the night, as one who
doth not depend upon it that tbe enemy wfll tarry until the next hour. Now,
therefore, let me, in Christ's name, renew the call and counsel of Jesus Christ to
you, lo watch as those that know not what hour your Lord will come. Let me
call upon those poor wretches who are hitherto in a natural condition, having
never been born again. Depend not upon it, that you will not be in hell before
to-morrow morning. You have no reason for any such dependence ; God bath
not promised lo keep you from it, or to withhold his wrath so long.
How can you reasonably be easy or quiet for one day, or one night, in such
a condition, when you know not but that your Lord wfll come this nigbt, and
what hour of the night you know not 1 And if you should tben be found as
you now are, unregenerate, how unprepared would you be for his coraing, and
how fearful would be tbe consequence ! Be exhorted therefore, for your own
sakes, iramediately to awake out of sleep, and sleep no more, but watch hence
forward, and iraprove the remainder of this day, and each of your days hence
forward, if you shall live to see any more days, as not depending on any other
day. Let me exhort every one, of whatever character, to have no dependence on
any future time ; to keep every Sabbath as having no dependence on the op
portunity to enjoy another Sabbath ; to hear every sermon, as if it were the
last that yoo shall ever hear. And when you go into your closets, and ad
dress yourselves to your Father who seeth in secret, do it in no dependence on
any future opportunity to perforin the same duty. When any of you tbat are
young go into company for your arauseraent and diversion, consider that that
may be the last opportunity bf the like nature that ever you raay have. In all
your dealings with your neighbors, acl as if you were never to make another
barcrain. Behave in your famflies every day, as though you depended on no
other, than to take your final leave of them before another day. Here I shall
offer you two motives.
1. Consider, if you wfll hearken to this counsel, how much it will tend to
your safety and peace in life and death. It is the way really and truly to be
ready for death ; yea, to be fit to live or fit lo die ; to be ready for affliction
and adversity, and for whatever God in his providence shall bring upon you.
It is the way to be in, not only an habitual, but actual preparedness for all
changes, and particularly for your last change.
It is the way to possess your souls in a serene and undisturbed peace, and
to enable you to go on wilh an immovable fortitude of soul, to meet the mo.st
frightful changes, to encounter the most formidable enemies, and to be ready
360 FOLLY OF PROCRASTINATION.
with unshaken confidence to triumph over death whenever you meet bim ; to have
your hearts fixed, trusting in God, as one that stands on a firm foundation, and
hath for his habitation the munition of rocks, that is not afraid of evil tidings,
but laughs at the fear of the eneray. It will be the way for you to possess that
quietness and assurance spoken of, Isai. xxxii. 17, " The work of righteous
ness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance
forever." The servant who always stands watching, will not be at all surprised at the
news that his Lord is coming. This wfll be the way for you lo live above the
fear of death. Yea, if heaven and earth should shake, you may stand firm and
unshaken, being settled on a rock, which cannot be reraoved, but abideth for
ever. 0 how happy are sucb persons, who have such safety and peace ! What
a blessed peace is that which arises frora such a constant preparation for death !
How happy therefore is that servant whom his Lord, when he coraeth, shafl
find so doing !
2. What disraal calaraities and raiseries mankind are subject to for want of
this, for want of behaving themselves every day as not depending on any fu
ture day ! Tbe way of the world is, one day foolishly to depend on another,
yea, on many others. And what is the consequence ? W'^hy, the consequence
wilh respect to the bigger part of the world is, that they live all their days
without any true peace or rest of soul They are all their lifetime subject to
bondage through fear of death. And when death sensibly approaches Ihey are
put into a terrible fright They, have a dismal view of their past lives ; the fll
iraprovement of their time, and the sins they have been guilty of, stand staring
them in the face, and are more frightful than so many devils. And when they
look forward inlo that eternity whither they are going, how dismal is the pros
pect ! 0 how do their hearts shrink at the thought of it ! They go before the
judgraent seat of God, as those that are dragged thither, while they would
gladly, if they could, hide theraselves in the caves and dens of the earth.
And whal is worse yet than all the disquietude and terror of conscience in
this world ; the consequence of a contrary behavior, with respect to the bulk
of raankind, is their eternal perdition. They flatter themselves, that tbey shall
see another day, and then another, and trust to that, untfl finally raost of them
are swallowed up in hell, to lament their folly to all eiernity, in tbe lake that
burneth with fire and brirastone.
Consider how it was with all the foolish virgins who trusted to the delay
of tbe bridegroom's coming ; when he carae they were surprised, and found un
prepared, baving no oil in their laraps at that tirae ; and while they went to
buy, tbose who were ready went in wilh hira to the raarriage, and the door
was shut against thera, and they came afterwards crying in vain. Lord, Lord^
<men to us.
SERMON XX.
ONBEIIKVERS CONTEMN THE GLORY AND EXCELLENCY OF CHRISI.
Acts iv. II. — This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders
In the foregoing chapters webave an account of tbe outpouring of the Holy
Ghost on the apostles at Pentecost, and of the extraordinary eff'ects of it, in
their speaking boldly in the name of Jesus, and speaking many stiange lan
guages, and so being made the instruraents of the sudden conversion of vast
raultitudes. And in the chapter iramediately preceding there is an account
how Peter and John miraculously healed a man wbo bad been a cripple from
his birth ; which, together with the word which they spake to the people that
flocked together on the occasion, was the means of a new accession to the
church ; so that the number of them that heard the word and believed, as we
are told in the fourth verse of this chapter, was about five thousand.
Tbis sudden and extraordinary progress of the gospel greatly alarmed the
priests and scribes, and other chief men araong the Jews; so that they laid
hands on Peter and John and put thera in hold, and tbe next day brought them
forth to appear before them, and called them to an account for whal they had
doDf. Tbey asked them particularly by what power, or by what name they
had wrought the miracle on the impotent man. Upon which Peter, filled with
the Hcfly Ghost, makes answer, " Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel —
Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, tbat by the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whora God raised from the dead,
even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which
was set atnought by you buflders, which is become the head ofthe corner." In
the verse of the text the apostle raenlions lo them as now fulfilled, that in the
118th Psalra verse 22, " The stone which tbe buflders refused is become tbe
head stone of the corner." This text, in that psalrh, the apostie applies to
them :
1. By telling them. This is the stone, i. e., this person of whom he had
spoken in the foregoing verse, viz., Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whora they had
crucified, and whora God had raised from the dead.
2. By telling them, that they were the builders spoken of. They before
whom the aposlle tben was, and to whom he was speaking, were rulers and
elders and scribes of the people, the high priest and other priests. They, as
they were set to be rulers and teachers among God's people, by their office,
were called to be builders of the church of God.
3. By telling them, that they had set this stone at nought They had so
done by refusing to accept of hira. Christ carae to his own, and his own re
ceived him not ; and not only so, but they had openly manifested tbe greatest
conterapt of hira. They had mocked hira, scourged and spit upon hira, and in
derision crowned him with a crown of thorns, and arrayed bira in a mock robe,
and tben had put hira to a most ignominious death.
4. By telhno- thern, that notwithstanding this, he was becorae the head of
the corner. In spite of afl that they could do, he had obtained the chief place in
-he building. God had made him the main foundation of it, by raising hira from
the dead, and so putting great honor upon him, and by pouring out his Spirit,
and enduing his disciples with extraordinary gifts, and by suddenly convertmg
Vol. IV 46
3G2 UNBELIEVERS CONTEMN CHRIST.
so many thousands to be the foflowers of Christ They put him to death that
he might have no followers, concluding that that would utterly put an end to
his interest in Judea. But they were greatly disappointed ; for the gospel had
incomparably greater success after Christ's dealh than before. God bad ac
complished that very thing which they endeavored to prevent by Christ's cruci
fixion, viz., Christ's being believed in and submitted to, as the great Prophet of
God and Prince of his people.
DOCTRINE.
Unbelievers set nothing by all the glory and excellency in Christ.
I. They set nothing by the excellency of his person. Christ is a great and
glorious person, a person of infinite worthiness, on which account he is infinite
ly esteemed and loved of the Falher, and is continually adored by the angels.
But unbelievers have no esteera al all of hira on tbat account. They have no
value at all of bira on account of his being the Son of God. He is not set tbe high
er in their esteera on the account of his standing in so near and honorable a re
lation lo God the Father. He is not valued at all the raore for his being a
divine person, or one that is God. By his having the divine nature, be is infi
nitely exalted above all created being.s. But he is not at all exalted by it in
their esteera. Tbey set nothing by his infinite Majesty. His glorious bright-
tiess and greatness excite not any true respect or reverence in thera.
Christ is the holy one of God : he is so holy that the heavens are not pure
in bis sight He is possessed of all that holiness which is the infinite beauty
and loveliness of the divine nature. But an unbeliever sets nothing by the
holiness of Christ Christ is the wisdom of God and the power of God, as he
is cafled, 1 Cor. l 24. But an unbeliever sets nothing by his power and wis
dom. The Lord Jesus Christ is full of grace and mercy ; the raercy and love
of God appear nowhere else so brightly and gloriously as they do in the face
of Jesus Christ. But an unbeliever sets no value at all upon the infinile grace
of Christ Neither do unbelievers set any thing by tbose excellent virtues which ap
peared in Christ's huraan nature when he was upon earth. He was holy, harm
less, undefiled, and separate from sinners; he was meek and lowly of heart ;
he was patient under afflictions and injuries; when he was reviled, he revileii
not again. But unbelievers set nothing by these tbings in Jesus Christ They
very often hear how excellent and glorious a person Christ is ; they are told of
his holiness, and grace, and condescension, and raeekness, and have the excel
lencies of Christ plainly set forth to thera ; yet they set all at nought.
II. They set nothing by his excellency in his work and office. They are
told how glorious and coraplete a Mediator he is, how sufficient to answer all
our necessities, and to save sinners to the uttermost ; but tbey make light of it
all ; yea, they make nothing of it They hear of the wonderful wisdora of God
in contriving such a way of salvation by Christ, they have the manifold wisdom
of God set forth lo them ; but they set nothing by this wisdom, nor do they
make any account of the excellency of this way of salvation.
The unbeliever hears what a wonderful thing it was, that he wbo was in the
form of G.jd, and esteemed it no robbery to be equal with God, should take
upon bira the human nature, and corae and live in this world in a raean and
'ow condition ; but he raakes nothing of this. He hears much of the dying
love of Christ to sinners, how wonderful it was that so glorious a person, who
is infinitely above the angels, should so set bis love on sucb worms of the dust, so
UNBELIEVERS CONTEMN CHRIST 36c
much below him, on sinful creatures, who were his enemies, as to come and be
made a curse for them, and die a cruel and ignominious dealh in their slead ;
but he sets nothing by all this. This dying love of Christ is a thing of no account
with him ; those great things that Christ halh done and suffered are wilh bim
light matters, tbings of no weight at all.
Unbelievers not only set little by the glory and excellency of Christ, but
tbey set nothing by these things. Notwithstanding all the shows and preten
ces which many natural men make of respect to Christ, by speaking honorably
of Christ in tbeir prayers, and in their coraraon conversation, and by coming
to sacraments, and attending other ordinances of Christ ; yet indeed they do not
set so much by all the glory and excellency of Christ, either the glory of his
person, or the glory of his work as a Saviour, as they do by tbe smallest earth
ly enjoyment. I proceed now lo mention some evidences ofthe truth of this doctrine.
1. They never give Christ any honor on the account of this his glory and
excellency. They may, and often do pay Christ an external and seeraing re
spect ; but they do not honor Christ in their hearts. They have no exalting
thoughts of Christ, no inward respect or reverence towards him ; they have in
deed no honorable, respectful thoughts of Christ All tbeir outward worship
is only feigned ; none of it arises frorn any real honor or respect in their hearts
towards ChrisI. Il is either only for fashion's sake, and in compliance with cus
tom, or else it is forced, and is what they are driven to by fear ; as we read,
Psalm Ixvi. 3, " Through the greatness of tby power shall thine enemies submit
theraselves unto thee." In the original it is, shall thine enemies lie unto thee,
I. e., yield a feigned obedience. Through tbe greatness of Christ's power, and
for fear of his wrath, his enemies, who have no respect or honor for him in their
hearts, will lie to him, and raake a show of respect when they have none.
An unbeliever is not sensible that Christ is worthy of any glory, and there
fore does not at all seek the glory of Christ in any thing that he does ; he does
nothing that he does in religion, out of respect to Christ's glory, but wholly for
other ends ; which shows that he sees not ChrisI to be worthy of any glory.
Christ is set last and lowest in the heart of an unbehever. He has high thoughts
of other things ; he has high thoughts of creature objects and earihly enjoy
ments, but raean and low thoughts of Christ. He has more honorable thoughts
of that which is but mere dirt and dung, than he has of Jesus Christ
Tbe unbeliever shows the mean and conteraptible thoughts that he has of
Christ, in refusing to accept of bira, and in shutting the door of his heart against
him. Christ stands at the door and knocks, and sometiraes stands raany years
knocking at tbe door of bis heart, and he refuses to open lo bim. Now it cer
tainly shows that men have a very mean thought of a person, when they shut
hira out of their doors. Unbelievers show the raean and dishonorable thoughts
tbey have of Christ, in that they dare not trust bira. They believe not what
he says to be true ; they will not trust the word of Christ, so far as the word of
one of their honest neighbors, or of a servant whom they have found to be faith
ful. It also appears that they have no real honor for Christ in their hearts, in
that they refuse to obey his coramands. They do nothing that they do from a
spirit of obedience to him ; and that external obedience which they render, is
but a forced, feigned obedience, and not from any respect to Christ's authority
or worthiness to be obeyed.
2. They have no love to him on the account of bis glory and excellency.
If they did set any thing by all the glory and excellency of Christ, or if they
3av any excellency or glory in Christ, they would have sorae measure of love
364 UNBELIEVERS CONTEMN CHRIST
to Christ. But the truth is, they see no forra or comeliness in Christ, and hence
they have no love at all to Christ : an unbeliever never exercises one act of
true love to Christ. All that he is told of the glory of Christ, of his divine
perfections, of his holiness, his meekness, and grace, has no influence at all to
draw forth any love. The display of these Ihings doth no more draw forth
love out of the heart of an unbeliever, than it draws forth love from the stones
and rocks.
A natural man halh no love of benevolence towards Christ Notwithstand
ing all that is declared to bim of tbe excellency of Chri.st, he has no good wfll
towards Christ. He rejoices not in his glory and happiness ; he would not care
what becarae of Christ, if he could but escape hell. If Christ should be de
throned, or raade miserable, or .should cease to be, be has not so much good
w'fll to Christ, as would raake hira concerned about it. And if the kingdom
and interest of Christ in the world should go lo ruin, il would be nowise griev
ous to the unbeliever, provided his own interest could be secure.
So also an unbeliever has no love of complacency in Jesus Christ for his
excellency. He takes no delight in the view or consideration of any of that
glory and excellency of Christ of which he is told. He is told that it is exceed
ingly beautiful and glorious; but he sees nothing entertaining in it ; he takes no
pleasure in the view of any thing that he can see in Christ ; the thoughts of
the glory of Christ are nowise entertaining to him : he has no delight in the
thoughts of il, or in any conteraplations upon it He takes dehght in thinking
of these and those earthly objects ; but when he comes to turn his mind upon
Jesus ChrisI, if ever he so does, this is lo him a dry and barren subject ; he finds
nothing there to feed and delight his soul ; no beauty or loveliness to please or
gratify hira.
3. Unbelievers have no desires after the enjoyraent of Christ If they did
set any thing by the glory and excellency of ChrisI, they would bave some de
sires after him on account of that excellency ; especially when he is offered to
them, and is from time to lirae set forth as tbe proper object of their choice and
desires. That which raen prize, they are wont to desire, especially if it be repre
sented to thern as attainable, and as fit and suitable for thera. But unbelievers
have no desires after the enjoyment of Christ They desire to be delivered frora
hell, but they desire not lo enjoy Christ
They have no idea of any happiness to be had in the enjoyment of Christ :
they cannot conceive what happiness there can be in beholding Christ and
being with him, in seeing his holiness, and contemplating his wonderful grace
and divine glory. They have no relish for any such thing, nor appetite after it.
4. They show that they set nolhing by the glory and excellency of Christ, in
that they seek not at all a conformity lo that glory and excellency. A natural
man raay seek to be holy, but it is not for holiness' sake, it is only that he raay
escape wrath. He has no desires after holiness, nor is it indeed holiness that
he seeks, becausehe is all the while an enemy to holiness. A natural raan has
no desires to have his soul conforraed to the glorious beauty and excellency of
Christ, nor to have bis iraage upon hira.
If he in any degree prized or delighted in tbe excellencies of Christ, he would
necessarily desire to be like hira so far as he could. This we see in ourselves
and in all raen : when we see any qualifications in others tbat are pleasing to
u.s, and that we set by, it is natural fbr us to endeavor to iraitale thera, and to
seek lo be in those things conforraed to those persons. Hence raen are apt to
learn of those of whora they have a great esteem ; they naturally fall into an
'imitation of their ways and manner of behavior. But natural men feel within
UNBELIEVERS CONTEMN CHRIST. 36E
themselves no disposition or inclination to leam of ChrisI, or to imitate him
Their tempers and dispositions remain quite contrary to Christ's, neflber do they
grow at all better or more conforraed to Christ, but wax worse and worse : 2
Tim. hi. 13, " Evfl raen and seducers shall wax wo-se and worse."
APPLICATION.
L This doctrine may teach us tbe heinousness of the sin of unbehef, as this
sm sets all the glory and excellency of ChrisI at nought It often appears
strange to natural men, that unbelief should be spoken of as such a heinous and
crying sin. They cannot see such evil in it. There are other sins whicn often
trouble natural men's consciences, wben this sin of unbelief troubles thera not
at all, though it be that whicb brings far greater guifl upon thera, than those
sins about which they are more troubled.
This that has been now said may show why unbelief is spoken of as such a
heinous sin, as it is, John ni. 18, and chap. xvi. 9, and 1 John v. 10. For
thereby all the glory and excellency of Christ is set at nought, though it be so
great, though it be infinite, though it be the glory of the Godhead itself, and
though il has been so gloriously manifested in wbat Christ has done and suffered.
Natural raen in their unbelief cast contempt on all this glory, and tread it under
foc)t, as being nolhing worth. Their unbehef treats the excellency of Christ as
being of less value than the meanest earthly enjoyments.
11. This doctrine may convict natural men in four particulars.
1. Hereby you may be convinced of the greatness of your guilt Consider
bow great and excellent that person is, whom you thus set at nought. Con
tempt of any person is heinous in proportion to the worthiness and dignity of
the person contemned. Though we are but men, and worms of the dust, and
very vile, sinful creatures ; yet we take it grievously when we are despised.
Consider how you yourselves are ready to resent it, when any of your neighbors
seem to slight you, and set light by wbat you say and do, and to make no ac
count of it, but to treat you as if you were good for nothing, or not worlh mind
ing. Do you take this well of your neighbors and equals, when you observe any
thing ofthis nature 1 Are you not ready to look upon it with resentment, to
think very fll of it, and to judge that you have great cause to be offended ?
But if it be such a crime to despise you and set you at nought, wbat is it to
set at nought the eternal, infinitely glorious Son of God, in comparison wilh
whom you, and all nations, are nothing, and less than nothing, and vanity 1
You dislike it much to be contemned by your equals; but you would take it
yet more grievously to be despised by your inferiors, by those wbo on every
account you much excel. — Wbat a crime is it then for a vile, sinful worm, to
set at nought him who is tbe brightness of the glory of tbe King of kings !
It would be a crirae inexpressibly heinous, to set little by the glory and ex
cellency of such a person ; but it is more so, to set nothing at all by it, as you
do. You have no value at all for it, as has been shown. And this is the more
aggravated, as Christ is a person whom you so mucb need, and as he came into
the world out of infinite grace to sinners, to lay down bis life to deliver them
from hell, and purchase for thera eternal glory. How mucb bas Christ done
and suffered, tbat you raight have opportunity to be saved ! Yet you set noth
ing by it all ; you set nolhing by the blood of Christ, even by that blood that was
shed for sucb poor sinners as you are, and tbat is offered to you for your salva
tion. Bu; you traraple under foot tbe blood of tbe Son of God. If Christ
had come into the worid only to teach us, it would have been a heinous thing
?66 UNBELIEVERS CONTEMN CHRIST.
tc trample under foot his word and instructions. But when be came to die for
us, how rauch raore heinous is it to traraple under foot his blood !
Men take it hardly to have any of their qualifications or actions despised,
which they esteera coramendable. Bul especially do they highly resent it when
others slight their kindness. And above all, when they have put Ihemselves
out of their way, and have denied themselves, and suffered considerably to do
others a kindness; then to have their kindness despised and set at nought, is
whal men would above afl things resent How heinous then is it, and how
exceedingly provoking to God must it be, thus to set at nought so great kind
ness and love of Christ, when, from love to sinners, he suffered so rauch !
Consider how highly the angels, who are so much above you, do set by the
glory and exceflency of Christ, by whicb you set nothing. They admire and
adore the glory of Christ, and cease not day nor night to praise the same in the
raost exalted strains. Rev. v. 11, 12, " And I beheld, and I heard the voice of
many angels round about the Ihrone, and the beasts, and tbe elders : and the
nuraberof them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
saying with a loud voice. Worthy is the Lamb that was si ain, to receive power, and
riches, and wisdora, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." The
saints adraire the excellency of Christ, and the glorious angels adraire it, and
every creature in heaven and earth, but only you unbeheving chfldren of men.
Consider not only how mucb tbe angels set by the glory of Christ, but how
much God hiraself sels by it ; for he is tbe darling of Heaven, he was eternally
God's delight ; and because of his glory God hath thought hira worthy to be
appointed the heir of all things, and hath seen fit to ordain that all raen shoidd
honor the Son even as they honor the Father. — Is he tbus worthy of the infi
nile esteera and love of God hiraself 1 And is he worthy of no esteem from
you? 2. Hereby you may be convinced of your danger. You must needs think
that such guilt wifl bruig great wrath : doubtless God is dreadfully provoked
by your thus despising Jesus ChrisI. Dreadful destruction is denounced in
Scripture against tbose that despise only the disciples of ChrisI, Matt xvni. 6.
What destruction then wfll corae on them that despise all the glorious excellen
cy of Christ hiraself!
Consider that you not only have no value for all the glory and excellency of
Christ ; but you are enemies to hira on that very account. "The very ground of
th^at enraity and opposition which there is between your hearts and Jesus Christ,
JS the glorious perfections and excellencies that there are in Jesus Christ. By
being such a holy and excellent Saviour, he is contrary lo your lusts and cor
ruptions : if there were a Saviour offered to you that was agreeable to your
corrupt nature, such a Saviour you would fall in' with the offer of; such a Sav
iour you would accept. Bul, Christ being a Saviour of such purity, holiness,
and divine perfection, this is the cause why you have no inclination to hira, but
are offended in bira.
Instead of being a precious stone in your eyes, be is a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offence to you. That he is a Saviour who bath manifested such
divine perfections in what he hath done and suffered, is one principal reason
why you set nothing by hira. Consider how provoking this must needs be to
God the Father, who bas given his only begotten Son for your salvation ; and
what wrath il merits from the Son whom you thus treat And consider how
you wifl hereafter bear this wrath.
Consider that however Christ be set at nought by you, yet he shafl be the
head of the corner, and that even with respect to you. "Though you 5ethira low,
UNBELIEVERS CONTEMN CHRIST 367
yet he shall be exalted with respect to you. It is but a vain thing for you to
make light of Christ and treat him with contempt. How mucb soever you con
temn bira, you cannot break his bands asuncler, nor ca.st his cords fiom you.
You will still be in his hands. While you despise Christ, God will despise you,
and the Lord will have you in derision. God will set bis king on his holv hill of
Zion in spite of afl bis eneraies, Psalm il 1 — 6. Though you say we will not
have this man to reign over us, yet Christ will rule over you : Psalm ex. 2,
" Rule thou in the raidst of thine enemies." If you will not submit lo the
sceptre of bis grace, you shall be subject to the rod of his wralh, and he will
rule you wilh a rod of iron. Psalm ii. 9, 10, 11, 12.
3. You may hence be led to see how worthless many of those things in your
selves are, that you have been ready to make much of Particularly if it be so
that you set nolhing by all the glory of Christ, then whal are tbose desires that
you bave after Christ good for ? And that wfllingness that you think you find
to come to Christ'? — Sinners are often wont to excuse themselves in their unbe
hef wilh this, tbat tbey see not but that they are willing to come lo Christ, and
would gladly come to him if they could, and have great desires lo come lo him.
And they make m-uch of such a wilhngness and sucb desires, as though God
was unjust to punish thera for not coming to Christ, when they would gladly
come to Christ if they could. But this doctrine shows that your willingness and
desires lo corae to Christ are not worthy to be mentioned as any excuse : for
they are not from any respeci lo Christ, bul are merely forced : you al the same
tirae set Christ at nought ; or set nolhing by afl bis exceflency and glory.
So you may hence learn the worthlessness of all your pains and endeavors
after Christ. Wben sinners have taken a great deal of pains to get an interest
in Christ, they are wont lo make a righteousness of it ; little considering that
at the very time they are taking so mlich pains to get an interesi in Christ, they
set nothing at all by Christ for any glory or excellency that there is in hjm ;
but set him wholly at nought, and seek bim out of respeci to their own interest.
4. Hence learn how justly God might forever refuse lo give you an inter
est in Christ For why should God give you any part or interest in him whom
you .set at nought, all whose glory and excellency you value not in Ihe least, but
rather trample it under your feel, and prefer the dirt before il 1
Why should God ever give you any interest in hira whom you so despise 1 See
ing you despise him, bow justly might you be obliged to go without any interest in
hira ! How justly raight you be refused any part in tbat precious stone, who.se
preciousness you make no account of, and esteem no more Ihan that of the stones
of the streets ! — Is God obhged to cast such a pearl before swine who wifl trample
it under their feet ! Is God obliged to make you possessors of his infinitely glo
rious and dear Son, when at the same time you count him not worth the having,
for tbe sake of any worth or excellency that there is in him ; bul merely be
cause you cannot escape hell without him "
SERMON XXI
TETE MANNER IN WHICH THE SALVATION OF THE S007, IS TO BE SOUOHr.
GsNKsis vi. 22. — Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did 1.6.
CoNCERNiNO these words, I would observe three things :
1. What it was that God commanded Noah, to which these words refer
It was the building of an ark according to the particular direction of God,
against the lime wben the flood of waters should come ; and the laying up of
food for himself, his fainily, and tbe other aniraals, whicb were to be preserved
in the ark. We have the particular coramands which God gave bira respect
ing this affair, from the 14tb verse, " Make thee an ark of gopher wood," &c.
2. We raay observe the special design of the work which God had enjoin
ed upon Noah : it was to save himself and his family, when the rest of the
world snould be drowned. See ver. 17, 18.
We may observe Noah's obedience. He obeyed God: thus did JVoah.
And his obedience was thorough and universal : according to all that God
commanded him, so did he. He not only began, but he went through his work,
which God had commanded him lo undertake for his salvation from the flood.
To this obedieiice tbe aposlle refers in Heb. xi. 7, " By faith Noah, being warned
of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the sav
ing of his house."
DOCTRINE.
We should hi! wflling to engage in an 1 go through great undertakings, in
Older to our own salvation.
The buflding of the ark, which was enjoined upon Noah, that he and his
family might be saved, was a great undertaking ; the ark was a buflding of vast
size ; the length of it being three hundred cubits, the breadth of il fifty cubits,
and the heigbt of it thirty cubits. A cubit, till of late, was by learned men
reckoned to be equal to a foot and a half of our raeasure. But lately some learned
men of our nation have travelled inlo Egypt, and other ancient countries, and
have measured sorae ancient buildings there, which are of several thousand years
standing, and of which ancient histories give us the diraensions in cubits; par
ticularly the pyraraids of Egypt, which are standing entire at this day. Bv
measuring these, and by comparing the measure in feet with the ancient accounts
of their measure in cubits, a cubit is found to be almost two and twenty inches.
Therefore learned raen raore lately reckon a cubit rauch larger than they did
formerly. So that the ark, reckoned so much larger every way, will appear to be
alraost of double tbe bulk whicb was formerly ascribed to it. According to
this computation of tbe cubit, it was raore than five hundred and fifty feet long,
about ninety feet broad, and about fifty feet in height ,
To build such a structure, with all those apartments and divisions in it which
¦were necessary, and in such a raanner as to be fit to float upon the water for so
wng a time, was then a great undertaking. It took Noah, with all the work
men be eraployed, a hundred and twenty years, or thereabouts, to build it For
so long it was, that the Spirit of God strove, and tbe long-suffering God waited
on tbe old world, as you may see in Gen. vl 3 : " My Spirit shall not always
THE MANNER OF SEEKING SAI VATION. 369
strive with man ; yet bis days sball be a hundred and twenty years " Ah
this whfle tbe ark was a preparing, as appears by 1 Pet. iii 20 : " When once
the long-suffering of God waited in tbe days of Noah, whfle the ark was a pre
paring." . It was a long tirae that Noah constantly employed hirnself in this
business. Men would esteem tbat undertaking very great, w hich should keep
chera constantly employed even for one half of that time. — Noah must bave had
a great and constant care upon his mind for these one hundred and twenty years,
in superintending this work, and in seeing that all was done exactly according
to the directions which God had given him.
Not only was Noah himself continually eraployed, but it required a great
number of workraen to be constantly employed, during all that tirae, in procur
ing, and collecting, and filling the raalerials, and in pulling thern together in
due forra. How great a thing was it for Noah to ..ndertake such a woik ! For
beside tbe continual care and labor, it was a work of vast expense. It is not
probable that any of that wicked generation would put to a finger to help for
ward such a work, which doubtless they believed was raerely the fruit of Noah's
folly, wiihout full wages. Noah must needs have been very rich, to be able to
bear the expense of such a work, ?mcI to pay so many workmen for so long a
time. It would have been a very great expense for a prince ; and doubtless
Noah was very rich, as Abraham and Job were afterwards. Bul it is probable
that Noah spent afl his woridly substance in this work, thus manifesting his
faith in the word of God, by selling all he had, as believing there would surely
come a flood, which would destroy all ; so that if he should keep what he
had, it would be of no service to hira. Herein he has set us an exaraple, show
ing us how we ought to sell afl for our salvation.
Noah's undertaking was of great difficulty, as it exposed him to the con
tinual repi caches of all his neighbors, for that whole one hundred and twenty
years. None of them believed what he told them of a flood which was about
to drown the world. For a man lo undertake such a vast piece of work, under
a notion that it should be the means of saving him when the world should be de
stroyed, it made him the continual laughing-stock of the world. When he was
about lo hire workraen, doubtless all laughed al hira, and we raay suppose, that
though the workraen consented to work for wages, yet they laughed at the folly
of him wbo employed thera. When the ark was begun, we may suppose that
every one that passed by and saw^ such a huge hulk stand there, laughed at it,
calling it J^oah's folly.
In these days, men are with difficulty brought to do or submit to Ihat which
makes them the objects of the reproach of all their neighbors. Indeed, if whfle
some reproach thera, others stand by them and honor them, this will support
them. Bul il is very difficult for a raan to go on in a way wherein he raakes
hiraself the laughing-stock of tbe whole world, and wherein he can find none
who do not despise bim. Where is the man that can stand the shock of such a
trial for twenty years 1
But in such an undertaking as this, Noah, at the divine direction, engaged
and went through it, tbat himself and bis family mighl be saved from the cora
mon destruction which was shortly about to come on tbe world. He began,
and also raade an end : " According to all that God coraraanded him, so did
he." Length of time did not weary hira : he did not grow weary of his vast
expense. He stood the shock of the derision of all bis neighbors, and of all the
world, year after year : be did not grow weary of being their laughing-stock
so as to give over his enterprise ; but persevered in it till the ark was finished.
After this, be was at the trouble and charge of procuring stores for the main
Vol. IV. 47
370 THE MANNER OF SEEKING SALVATION.
tenance of his faraily, and of all the various kinds of creatures, foi so long •\
time. Such an undertaking he engaged in and went through in ordi. lo a tem^
poral salvation. How great an undertaking then should men be wifling to en
gage in and go through in order to their eternal salvation ! A salvation froa-
an eternal deluge ; from being overwhelmed with the billows of God's wrath,
of which Noah's flooo was but a shadow.
I shafl particularly handle this doctrine under the three following propo-
sitions I. There is a work or business wbich must be undertaken and accomplished
by men, if they would be saved.
II. This business is a great undertaking.
in. Men should be wflling to enter upon and go through inis undertaking,
though it be great, seeing it is for their own salvation.
I. Paop. There is a work or business which raen must enter upon and ac
complish, in order to their salvation. — Men have no reason to expect lo be
saved in idleness, or to go to heaven in a way of doing nolhing. No; in order
to it, there is a great work, which must be not only begun, but finished. — I shafl
speak upon this proposition, in answer to two inquiries.
Inq. 1. What is this work or business whicb must be undertaken and ac
complished in order to the salvation of men ?
Ans. Il is the work of seeking salvation in a way of constant observance
of all the duty to which God directs us in his word. If we would be^savecl_we
mu^tsegk salyatkm. For although men do not obtain he^avenoTtheraselves, yet
they do not go thither accidentally," or without any intention or endeavors of their
(own. God, in his word, hath directed men lo seek their salvation as they would
I'hope to obtain it Thereis a race that is set before them, which tbey raust run,
and in that race come off victors, in order to their winning the prize.
The Scriptures have told us whal particular duties must be perforraed by up
in order to our salvation. It is not sufficient that men seek their salvation only
in the observance of .some of those duties ; but they raust be observed universal
ly. The work we have to do is not an obedience only to sorae, but to all the
coraraands of God ; a compliance with every institution of worship; a dfligent
use of all the appointed raeans of grace ; a doing of all duty towards God and
towards raan — It is not sufficient that raen bave sorae respect to all the cora
mands of Go I, and that they may be said lo seek their salvation in some sort
of observance of all the commands ; but tbey must be devoted to it They raust
not raake this a business by the by, or a thing in which they are negligent and
careless, or which they do with a .slack hand ; bul it must be their great busi
ness, being attended to as their great concern. They must not only seek, but
strive; they must do what their hand findeth to do with their might, as men
thorou,o;hly engaged in their rainds, and influenced and set forward by great de
sire and strong r-esolution. They raust act as those that see so rauch of the im
portance of religion above all other things, that every thing else must be as an
occa.sional affair, and nothing must stand in corapetition with its duties. This
must be the one thing they do; Phil. iii. 13, "This one thing I do." — It must
be the business to which they make all other affairs give place, and to wbich
they are ready to make other things a sacrifice. They must be ready to part
wilh pleasures and honor, estate and life, and to sell afl, tbat they may success
fully accoraplish this business.
It is required of every raan, tbat he not only do something in this business,
, jut tbat he should devote hiraself to it ; wbich iraplies that he should give up
hunself to it, all his affairs, and afl bis teraporal enjoyraents. Th'is is the impon
THE MANNER OF SEEKING SALVATION. 371
of taking up tbe cross, of taking Christ's yoke upon us, and of denyi ig our
selves to fcfllow Christ. The ric;h young raan, who came kneeling to Christ to
know what he should do to be saved, Mark x. 17, in some sense sought salva
tion, but did not obtain it. In some sense he kept all the commands from his
youth up ; but was not cordially devoted to this business. He had not made a
sacrifice lo it of all his enjoyments, as appeared when Christ came to try him ;
he would rot part with his estate for him.
It is not only necessary that men should seem to be very rauch engaged,
and appear as if they were devoted to their duly for a liltle while ; bul there
must be a constant devotedness, in a persevering way, as Noah was to the busi
ness of the building the ark, going on with ihat great, diflicult, and expensive
affair, tifl it was finished, and till the flood carae. Men raust not only be dili
gent in the use of tbe means of grace, and be anxiously engaged to escape
eternal ruin, tfll they obtain hope and corafort ; bul afterwards they must perse
vere in the duties of religion, till the flood come, the flood of death. Not only
must the faculties, strength, and possessions of men be devoted to this work,
but also their time and their lives ; they raust give up their whole lives to it,,
even to the very day when God causes the storms and floods to come. Tbis is
Ihe work or business which men have to do in order to their salvation.
Inq. 2. Why is it needful that men should undertake to go through such a
work in order to their salvation 1
Ans. 1. Not to merit salvation, or to recommend them to the saving mercy 1
of God. Men are not saved on the account of any work of theirs, and yet theyj
are not saved without works. If we merely consider wbat it is for whicb, or on
the account of which, men are saved, no work at all in raen is necessary to
their salvation. In this respect they are saved wholly wiihout any work of
theirs : Tit. ni. 5, " Not by works of righteousness whicb we have done, but
according lo his raercy he saved us, bythe washing of regeneration, and renew
ing of the Holy Ghost." We must indeed be saved on the account of works ;
but not our own. It is on account of the works which Christ halh done for us.
Works are the fixed price of eternal life ; it is fixed by an eternal, unalterable
rule of righteousness. But since the fall there is no hope of our doing these
works, without salvation offered freely without money and without price. But,
2. Though it be not needful that we do any thing to raerit salvation, whicb '
Christ hath fully raeriled for all who believe in hira ; yet God, for wise and holy i
ends, halh appointed, that we should corae to final salvation in no other wayj
but tbat of good works done by us.
God did not save Noah on account of the labor and expense be was at in
building the ark. Noah's salvation frora the flood was an instance of the free
and distinguishing raercy of God. Nor did God stand in need of Noah's care,
or cost, OF labor, lo build an ark. The sarae power which created the world,
and which broughi the flood of waters upon the earlh, could have raade the ark
in an instant, wiihout any care or cost to Noah, or any of the labor of those
many workmen who were employed for so long a tirae. Yet God was pleased
to appoint, that Noah should be saved in this way. So God hath appointed that
raan should not be saved without his undertaking and doing this work of which
I bave been speaking ; and therefore we are coraraanded " to work out our
own salvation with fear and trerabling," Philip, n. 12.
There are many wise ends to be answered by the establishraent of such a
work as prerequisite lo salvation. The glory of God requires it. For although V
God stand in no need of any thing tbat men do to recommend them to his saving
mercy, vet it would reflect much oi? the glory of God's wisdora and holiness, tc
372 THE MANNER OF SEEKING SALVATION.
bestow salvation on raen in such a way as tends to encourage then: in sloth and
wickedness ; or in any other way than that which tends to proraote dfligeiice
and hohness. Man was made capable of action, with many powers of both
body and raind fitting hira for it He was made for business and not idleness ;
and the main business for which he was raade, was that ofreljgion. Therefore
it becomes tbe wisdora of God to bestow salvation ancTbappiness on raan, ir
such a way as tends most to promote his end in this respect, and to stir him up
to a diligent use of his faculties and talents.
It becoraes the wisdora of God so to order it, that things of great value and
iraportance should not be obtained without great labor and diligence. Much
huraan learning and great raoral accomplishments are not tobe obtained wiihout
care and labor. It is wisely so ordered, in order lo maintain in raan a due
sense of the value of those things which are excellent If great things were in
coramon easily obtained, it would have a tendency to cause men to slight and
undervalue them. Men comraonly despise those things which are cheap, and
which are obtained without difficulty.
I Although the work of obedience perforraed by raen, be not necessary in
I order to raerit salvation ; yet it is necessary in order lo their being prepared
; for it. Men cannot be prepared for salvation wiihout seeking it in such a
way as hath been described. This is necessary in order that they have a pro
per sense oftheir own necessities, and unworthiness ; and in order that they be
prepared and disposed to prize salvation when bestowed, and be properly thank
ful to God for it. The requisition of so great a work in order to our salvation
is no way inconsistent with the freedora of the offer of salvation ; as after all
it is bolh offered and bestowed wiihout any respect to our work, as the price oi
meritoi-ibus cause of our salvation, as I have already explained. Besides, salva
tion bestowed intbis way is better for us, more for our advantage and happiness
both in tbis and the fulure world, than if it were given without this requisition
II. Prop. This work or business, which must be done in order to the salva
tion of raen, is a great undertaking. It often appears so to raen upon whom i*
is urged. Utterly to break off from all their .sins, and lo give up themselves for
ever to the business of religion, without raaking a reserve of any one lust, sub
mitting lo and coraplying wilh every command of God, in all cases, and per
severing therein, appears to many so great a thing, that they are in vain urged
to undertake it In so doing it seems to thera, that they should give up thera
selves to a perpetual bondage. The greater part of raen therefore choose lo
put it off, and keep it at as great a distance as they can. They cannot bear to
think of entering iramediately on such a hard service, and rather than do it, tbey
wfll run the risk of eternal daranation, by putting it off lo an uncertain future
opportunity. Although the business of religion is far from really being as it appears to
such men, for the devil wfll be sure, if he can, to represent it in false colors lo
sinners, and raake it appear as black and as terrible as he can ; yet it is indeed a
great business, a great undertaking, and il is fit that all who are urged to it,
should count the cost beforehand, and be aensible of tbe difficulty attending it.
For though the devil discourages raany frora this undertaking, by representing
it lo be raore difficult than it really is ; yet wilh others he takes a contrary course,
and flatters thera it is a very easy thing, a trivial business, which may be done
at any lime wben they please, and so emboldens thera to defer it from tbat con
sideration. But let none conceive any other notion of tbat business of religion,
which is absolutely nece.ssary to their salvation, than that it is a great under
taking It is so on tbe following -accounts.
THE MANNER OF SEEKING SALVATION. 37S
1. It is a business of great labor and care. There are mahy commands to
be obeyed, many duties to be done, duties to God, duties to our neighbor, and
duties to ourselves. — There is rauch opposition in the way of these duties from
wUhoid. There is a subtle and powerful adversary laying afl manner of blocks
in the way. There are innumerable temptations of Satan to be resisled and re-
pefled. There is great opposition from the world, innumerable snares laid on
every side, many rocks and mountains to be passed over, many slrearas lo be
passed through, and many flatteries and enticements f'rora a vain world to be
resisted. There is a great opposition from within ; a dull and sluggish heart,
which is exceedingly averse from that activity in religion whicb is necessaiy ;
a carnal heart, which is averse frora religion and spiritual exercises, and contin
ually drawing the contrary way ; and a proud and a deceitful heart, in which
corruption will be exerting itself in all manner of ways. So tbat nolhing can
be done to any effect without a most strict and careful watch, great labor and
strife. 2. It is a constant business. — In that business which requires great labor,
raen love now and then to have a space of relaxation, that they raay rest from
their extraordinary labor. But this is a business which must be followed every
day. Luke ix. 23, " If any man will come after rae, let hira deny himself, and
take up his cross da'-ly and follow me." — We raust never give ourselves any re
laxation frorn this business ; it must be continually prosecuti-d day after day. If
soraetiraes we raake a great stir and bustle concerning religion, but tben lay all
aside to take our ease, and do so frora tirae lo time, it will be of no good effect ;
we bad even as good do nothing al all. The business of religion so followed
is never like to come lo any good issue, nor is the work ever like to be accom
plished to any good purpose.
3. It is a great undertaking, as it is an undertaking of great expense. — We
must therein sell all : we raust follow this business at the expense of all our un
lawful pleasures and delights, at the expense of our carnal ease, often at the
expense of our substance, of our credit araong raen, tbe good will of our neigh
bors, at the expense of afl our earthly friends, and even at the expense of life
itself Herein it is like Noah's undertaking to bufld the ark, which, as hath been
shown, was a costly undertaking : it was expensive to his reputation araong
men, exposing hira to be the continual laughing-stock of all bis neighbors and
of the whole world : and it was expensive to his estate, and probably cost him
afl that he had.
4. Sometimes the fear, trouble, and exercise of raind, which are undergone
respecting this business, and the salvation of the soul, are great and long con
tinued, before any corafort is obtained. Sometimes persons in this situation
labor long in the dark, and sometiraes, as it were, in the very fire, they having
great distress of conscience, great fears, and many perplexing temptations, before
they obtain hght and comfort to raake their care and labor more easy to them.
They soraetiraes earnestly, and for a long time, seek comfort, bul find it not, be
cause tbey seek it not in a right manner, nor in tbe right objects. God there
fore hides his face. They cry, but God doth not answer Iheir prayers. They
strive, but all seeras in vain. They seera to theraselves not at all to get forwaril,
or nearer lo a deliverance from sin : but to go backward, rather than forward.
Fhey see no gliraraerings ot light : things rather appear darker and darker. In
sorauch that they are often ready to be discouraged, and to sink under the weight
of tbeir present distress, and under the prospect of future raisery. In this
situation, and under these views, some are almost driven to despair.
Many, after they have obtained sorae saving .comfort, are again involved in
374 THE MANNER OF SEEKING SALVATION.
uarKncss and trouble. It is with them as it was wilh tbe Cbrrst»tiii Hebrews,
Heb. X. 32, " After ye were illuminated ye endured a great fight of afflictions
Some through a melancholy habit and distemper of body, together will Satan's
temptations, spend a great part of their lives in distress and darkness, e^en after
they have had some saving comfort
5. It is a business which, by reason of the raany difficulties, snares, ami
dangers that attend it, requires much instruction, consideration, and counsel.
There is no business wherein men stand in need of counsel raore than in this.
It is a difficult undertaking, a hard raatter to proceed aright in it There are
ten thousand wrong ways, whicb raen raay take ; there are many labyrinths
wherein many poor souls are entangled and never find the way out ; there are
many rocks on which thousands of souls have suffered shipwreck, for want of
having steered aright
Men of themselves know not how to proceed in this business, any raore than
the children of Israel in the wilderness knew where to go without tbe guidance
-of the pillar of cloud and fire. There is great need that they search tbe Scrip-
j tures, and give dihgent heed to the instructions and directions contained in thera,
as to a light shining in a dark place ; and that they ask counsel of those skflled
in these matters. And there is no business in which raen have so much need of
seeking to God by prayer, for his counsel, and that he would lead them in the
right way, and show thein the strait gate. " For strail is tbe gate and narrow
is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it ;" yea, there
are none that find it without direction frora heaven.
The building of the ark was a work of great difficulty on this account, that
Noah's wisdom was not sufficient to direct him how to raake such a building as
should be a sufficient security againsi sucb a flood, and which should be a con
venient dwefling-place .for himself, his faraily, and all the various kinds of beasts,
and birds, and creeping things. Nor could he ever have knoWn how to con
struct this building, had not God directed him.
6. This business never ends till life ends. They tbat undertake this labori
ous, careful, expensive, .self-denying business, must not expect fo rest from their
labors, till deatli shall bave put an end to them. The long continuance ofthe
work which Noah undertook was what especially raade il a great undertaking.
This also was what raade the travel of ihe children of Israel tbrough the wilder
ness appear so great to them, that it was continued for so long a tirae. Then
spirits failed, they were discouraged, and bad not a heart to go through with so
great an undertaking.
But such is this business that it runs parallel wilh life, whether it be longer
or shorter. Although we should live to a great age, our race and warfare will
not be finished till dealh shall come. We must not expect that an end will be
put to our labor, and care, and strife, by any hope of a good estate which we
may obtain. Past attainments and past success wifl not excuse us frora what
remains for tbe future, nor wfll tbey make future constant labor and care not
necessary to our salvation.
III. Men should be willing to engage in and go through this business, how
ever great and difficult it raay seera to them, seeing it is for their own salvation.
Because, 1. A deluge of wrath wifl surely come. The inhabitants ofthe old worid
would not believe that there would corae sucb a fiood of waters upon the earlh,
as that of whicb Noah told them, though he told thera often ; neither would
they take any care to avoid the destruction. Yet such a deluge did corae ;
nothing of all those things of which Noah had forewarned them, failed.
THE MANNER OF SEEKING SALVATION. 376
So there wfll surely come a more dreadful deluge of divine wrath on thi.«
wicked world. We are often forewarned of il in the Scriptures, and the world,
as then, doth not believe any sucb thing. Yet the threatening wifl as ceriainly
be accomplished, as the threatening denounced against the old world. A day
of wrath is coming ; it will come at its appointed season ; it wfll not tarry, it
shall not be d'^layed one moraent beyond ils appointed time.
2. All such as do not seasonably undertake and go through the great work
mentioned will smely be swallowed up in this deluge. When the floods of
wrath sball corae, they will universally overwhelm the wicked world : all such
as shall not have taken care to prepare an ark, will surely be swallowed up in
it ; they will find no other way of escape. In vain shall salvation be expected
frora the bills, and from the multitude of raountains ; forthe flood shall be above
the lops of all the mountains. Or if they shall hide ihemselves in the caves and
dens of the raountains, there tbe waters of the flood wifl find them out, and
there shall they miseiably perish.
As those of the old world wbo were not in the ark perished, Gen. vii. 21,
23, so all who shall not have secured to themselves a place in the spiritual ark
of the gospel, sball perish much more miserably than the cfld world. Doubt
less the inhabitants of the old world had many contrivances lo save Ihemselves.
Some, we may suppose, ascended lo the tops of their houses, being driven out of
one story lo another, tfll at last they perished. Others climbed to the tops of
high towers ; who yet were washed thence by the boisterous waves of the rising
flood. Some climbed to the lops of trees ; others to the tops of mountains,
and especially of the highest mountains. But all was in vain ; the flood sooner
or later swaflowed them all up ; only Noah and his faraily, who had taken care
to prepare an ark, remained alive.
So it will doubtless be at the end of the world, when Christ shall come to
judge the world in righteousness. Sorae, when they shall look up and see him
coraing in the clouds of heaven, shafl hide theraselves in closets, and secret places
in their houses. Others flying to the caves and dens of the earlh, shall attempt to
hide theraselves there. Others shall call upon the rocks and mountains to fall
on them, and cover them from the face of him that sitteth on the Ihrone, and
from the wralh of tbe Lamb. — So it will be after the sentence is pronounced,
and wicked raen see that terrible fire coining, which is to burn this world for
ever, and wbich will be a deluge of fire, and will burn tbe earth even to tbe
bottoras of the raountains, and to its very centre. Deut. xxxii. 22, " For a fire
is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn to the lowest hell, and shall consume
, the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains."
I say, wben the wicked shafl, after the sentence, see this great fire beginning to
kinclle, and to take hold of this earlh ; there will be many contrivances devised
by them to escape, some flying to caves and holes in tbe earth, some hiding
tberaselves in one place, and some in another. But let Ihem hide thera--
selves where they wfll, or let them do what they wifl, it wifl be utterly in vain
Every cave shall burn as an oven, the rocks and mountains shall melt with fer
vent heat, and if they could creep down to tbe very centre of the earth, still the
heat would follow them, and rage with as much vehemence there, as on the
very surface.
So when wicked men, who neglect their great work in their lifetime, who
are not willing to go through the difficulty and labor of this work, draw near
to dealh, they sometimes do many things lo escape dealh, and put forth many
endeavors to lengthen out their lives at least a little longer. For this end they
Bend for physicians, and perhaps many are consulted, and their prescriptions are
376 THE MANNER OF SEEKING S.iLVATION
punctually observed. They also use raany endeavors to sa-s t flieir souls front
bell. They cry to God ; they confess their past sins ; they promise future re
forraation ; and. Oh ! wbat would tbey not give for some sraall addition to theit
lives, or some bope of fulure happiness ! But all proves in vain : God hath
numbered their days and finished thera ; and as they bave sinned away the day
of grace, they raust even bear the consequence, and forever lie down in sorrow.
3. The destruction, when it shall come, wifl be infinitely terrible. The
destruction of the old world by the flood was terrible ; but that eternal destruction
which is coraing on the wicked is infinitely raore so. That flood of waters was
but an image of this awful flood of divine vengeance. When the waters poured
down, more like spouts or cataracts, or the fafl of a great river, than like rain ;
wbat an awful appearance was there of the wrath of God ! This however is
but an image of that terrible outpouring of the wralh of God which sball be for
ever, yea forever and ever, on wicked men. And when the fountains of the
great deep were broken up, and the waters burst forth out of the ground, as
Ihough they had issued out of the womb (Job xxxviii. 8), this was an imao-e
ofthe mighty breakings forth of God's wrath, which shall be, when the flood
gates of wrath shall be drawn up. How may we suppose that the wicked of
the old -world repented that tbey had not hearkened to the warnings which
Noah had given them, when they saw these dreadful Ihings, and saw that they
must perish ! How much more will you repent your refusing to hearken to the
gracious warnings of the gospel, when you shall see the fire of God's wratn
against you, pouring down frora heaven, and bursting on all sides out of the
bowels of the earth !
/- 4. Though the work whicb is necessary in order lo man's salvation be a
great work, yet it is not impossible. What was required of Noah, doubtless
appeared a very great and difficult undertaking. Yet he undertook it with
) resolution, and be was carried through it So if we undertake this work with
the same good will and resolution, we shall undoubtedly be successful. 'How
ever difficult it be, yet multitudes have gone through it, and have obtained sal
/vation by the raeans. It is not a work beyond the faculties of our nature, noi
beyond the opportunities which God giveth us. If raen wifl but take warnino
and hearken to counsel, if they will but be sincere and in good earnest, be sea
sonable in tbeir work, take their opportunities, use their advantao-es, be stead
fast and not wavering ; they shall not fail.
APPLICATION.
The use I would make ofthis doctrine, is lo exhort all to underiake and gc
tbrough this great work, which they have to do in order to tbeir salvation, am,
this, let the work seera ever so great and difficult If your nature be averse to
il, and there seeras to be very frightful Ihings in the way, so tbat your heart is
ready to fail al the prospect ; yet seriously consider what has been said, and act
a wise part. Seeing it is for yourselves, for your own salvation ; seeing it is
for so great a salvation, for your deliverance frora eternal destruction ; and
seeing il is of such absolute necessity in order lo your salvation, that the deluge
Df divine wrath wfll come, and there will be no escaping il without preparing
an ark ; is it not best for you lo underiake the work, engage in it wilh your
raight, and go through it, though this cannot be done without great labor, care
difficulty, and expense 1
I would by no means flatter you concerning this work, or go about to make
vou believe, that you shall find an easy light business of it : no, I would not
THE MANNER OF SEEKING SALVATION. 377
have you expect any such thing. 1 would bave you sit down and count the
jost ; and if you cannot find it in your hearts to engage in a great, hard, labo
rious, and expensive undertaking, and lo persevere in it to the end of life
pretend not lo be religious. Indulge yourselves in y our ease ; follow youi
pleasures ; eat, drink, and be merry ; even conclude to go lo hell in that way
and never make any more pretences of seeking your salvation. Here consider
several things in particular.
1. How often you have been warned of the approaching flood of God's
wrath. How frequently you have been told of bell, heard the threatenings of
the word of God set before you, and been warned to flee from the wralh to
come. It is with you as it was with the inhabitants of the old world. Noah
warned thera abundantly of tbe approaching flood, and counselled them to take
care for their safety, 1 Pet iii 19, 20. Noah warned thera in words ; and
he preached to them. He warned them also in his actions. His buflding the
ark, which took him so long a time, and in which he employed so many hands,
was a standing warning to them. All the blows of the hammer and axe,
during the progress of that building, were so many calls and warnings to tbe
old world, to take care for tbeir preservation from the approaching destruction.
Every knock of tbe workraen was a knock of Jesus Christ at the door of their
hearts : but they would not hearken. All these warnings, though repeated
every day, and continued for so long a tirae, availed nothing.
Now, is it not rauch so with you, as it was with them 1 How often have
you been warned ! How have you heard the warning knocks of the gospel,
Sabbath after Sabbath, for these raany years ! Yet bow have sorae of you no
raore regarded them than tbe inhabitants of the old world regarded the noise of
the workraen's tools in Noah's ark \
Obj. But here possibly it may be objected by sorae, that though it be true
they have often been told of hell, yet they never saw any thing of it, and there
fore they cannot realize il that there is any such place. They have often heard
of hefl, and are told that wicked men, when they die, go to a most dreadful
place of torment ; that hereafter there will be a day of judgment, and that the
world wfll be consumed by fire. Bul how do they know that it is really so 1
How do they know what becoraes of those wicked men that die ? None of
them come back to tell them. They have nolhing to depend on but the word
which tbey hear. And how do they know that all is not a cunningly-devised
fable ?
Ans. The sinners of the old world had the very sarae objection against what
Noah told thera ofa flood about to drown the world. Yet the bare word of
God proved to be sufficient evidence that such a thing was coraing. What
was the reason tbat none of the many raiflions tben upon earlh believed what
Noah said, but this, that il was a strange thing, that no such thing had ever
before been known ? And whal a strange story must that of Noah have ap
peared to them, wherein he told them of a deluge of waters above the tops of
the mountains ! Therefore it is said, Heb. xi. 7, that " Noah was warned of
God of things noi: seen as yet" It is probable, none could conceive how it
could be thai tbe whole world should be drowned in a flood of waters ; and all
were ready lo ask, where there was water enough for it ; and by what means
it should be brought upon the earth. Noah did not tefl thera how it should be
brought to pass ; he only told thern that God had said that it should be : and
that proved to be enough. The event showed their folly in not depending on
the mere word' of God,"wbo was able, wbo knew how to bring it to pass, anfl
wbo could not lie.
Vol. IV is
378 THE MANNER OF SEEKING SALVAIION
In like raanner the word of God wfll prove true, in Ihrei. ening a flood ct
eternal wralh lo overwhelm all the wicked. You wfll believe it when the
event shall prove it, when it shall be too late lo profit by the belief Tbe word
of God will never fail ; nothing is so sure as that : heaven and earlh shall pass
away, but the word of God shall not pass away. It is firmer than mountains
of bras.s. At the end, the vision will speak and not lie. The decree shall bring
forth, and all wicked men shall know that God is the Lord, that be is a God of
trulh, and that they are fools who will not depend on his word. The wicked
of the old world counted Noah a fool for depending so mucb on the word of
God, as to put himself to all the fatigue and expense of building the ark; but
the event showed ihat. Ihey themselves were the fools, and that he was wise.
2. Consider that the Spirit of God will not always strive wilh you ; nor
wifl his long-suffering always wait upon you. So God said concerning the in
habitants of the old world, Gen. vi. 3 : " My Spirit shall not always strive with
man, for that, be also is flesh ; yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty
years." All this while God was striving with thera. It was a day of grace
wilh Ihera, and God's long-suffering all this while waited upon, them: 1 Pet
iii 20, " Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of
God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing." Afl this
while they bad an opportunity to escape, if they would but hearken and beheve
God. Even after the ark was finished, wbich seeras to have been but little before
the flood carae, slill there was an opportunity ; tbe door of the ark stood open
for some lirae. There was some tirae during which Noah was employed in
laying up stores in the ark. Even then it was not too lale ; the door of the ark
yet stood open. — About a week before the flood came, Noah was coraraanded
to begin lo gather in the beasts and birds. During this last week still the door
of the ark .stood open. But on the very day that the flood began to corae,
while the rain was yet withheld, Noah and his wife, his three sons, and their
wives, went into the ark ; and we are told. Gen. vh. 16, that " God shut him
in." Then the day of God's patience was past ; the door of the ark was shut;
God himself, who shuts and no man opens, shut the door. Then all hope of
their escaping the flood was past; it was too late to repent that they had not
hearkened to Noah's warnings, and had not entered into the ark while the door
stood open.
After Noah and his family had entered inlo the ark, and God had shut thera
in, after the windows of heaven were opened, and they saw how the waters
were poured down out of heaven, we raay suppose that many of tbose who were
near came running to the door of the ark, knocking, and crying most piteously
for entrance. But it was too late ; God himself had shut the door, and Noah
had no license, and probably no power, to open it. We may suppose, they
stood knocking and calling. Open to us, open to us ; 0 let us in ; we beg that
we may be let in. And probably some of them pleaded old acquaintance wilh
Noah ; that they bad always been bis neighbors, and had even helped him to
build the ark. But all was in vain. There they stood tifl the waters of the
flood came, and without mercy swept them away from the door of the ark.
So il will be with you, if you continue to refuse to hearken to the warnings
which are given you. Now God is striving wilh you ; now he is warning you
of the approaching flood, and cafling upon you Sabbath after Sabbath. Now
the door ofthe ark stands open. Bul God's Spirit will not always strive with
you ; his long-suffering will not always wait upon you. There is an appointed
day of God's patience, wbich is as certainly united as it was lo the old world.
THE MA.NNER OF SEEKING SALVATION. 379
God hatb set your bounds, Vi'bicb you cannot pass. Though now warnings arr-.
continued in plenty, yet there will be last knocks and last calls, the la.st thai
ever you sball hear. When the appointed lime sball be elapsed, God will shut
the door, and you shall never see it open again ; for God shullelh, and no man
openeth. — If you improve not your opportunity before that lime, you wifl cry
in vain, " Lord, Lord, open lo us," Matt xxv. 11, and Luke xiii. 25, &c.
While you shall stand at the door with your piteous cries, the flood of God's
wralh will come upon you, overwhelm you, and you shall not escape. Tbe
tempest sball carry you away without mercy, and you shall be forever swallow
ed up and lost.
3. Consider how mighty the billows of divine wrath wfll be wben they
sball come. The waters of Noah's flood were very great. The deluge was
vast ; it was very deep ; the billows reached fifteen cubits above the highest
mountains ; and it was an ocean which had no shore ; signifying the greatness
of tbat wralh whicb is coming on wicked men in another world, which will be
like a mighty flood of waters overwhelming them, and rising vastly high over
their heads, with bfllows reaching lo the very heavens. Those bfllows M'ill be
higher and heavier than mountains on tbeir poor souls. The wralh of God
will be an ocean without shores, as Noah's flood was : it will be misery that
wfll have no end.
The misery of the damned in hell can be better represented by nothing,
than by a deluge of misery, a mighty deluge of wralh, wbich will be ten thou
sand limes worse than a deluge of waters ; for it will be a deluge of hquid fire,
as in the Scriptures it is called a lake of fire and brimstone. — Al the end of the
world all the wicked sball be swallowed up in a vast deluge of fire, whick
shall be as great and as mighty as Noah's deluge of water. See 2 Pet. iii. 5,
6, 7. After that the wicked will have raighty bfllows of fire and brimstone
eternally rolling over their poor souls, and their miserable tormenled bodies.
Those bfllows may be called vast liquid mountains of fire and brimstone. And
when one billow shall have gone over their heads, another shall follow, with
out intermission, giving them no rest day nor night to afl eiernity.
4. This flood of wralh will probably corae upon you suddenly, when you
sball think little of it. and it shall seem far from you. So the flood came upon
the old world. See Matt xxiv. 36, &c. Probably many of them were surprised
in the night by tbe waters bursting suddenly in at their doors, or under the
foundations of their houses, coraing in upon them in their beds. For when the
fountains of tbe great deep were broken up, the waters, as observed before,
burst forth in raighty torrents. To such a sudden surprise of tbe wicked of tbe
old world in the night, probably that alludes in Job xxvii. 20, " Terrors take
hold on hira as waters; a tempest stealeth bim away in the night."
So destruction is wont to come on wicked men, who hear many warnings
of approaching destruction, and yet will not be influenced by them. For " he
that is often reproved, and hardenelh his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and
that without reraedy," Prov. xxix. 1. And " wben they shall say. Peace and
safety ; then sudden destruction coraeth upon them, as travafl upon a woman
with child, and they sball not escape," 1 Thess. v. 3.
5. If you will not hearken to the many warnings whicb are given you of
apprt^aching destruction, you will be guilty of more than brutish madness.
" "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib." They know upon
whom they are dependent, and whom they must obey, and act accordingly.
But you, so long as you neglect your own salvation, acl as if you knew not
God, your Creatoi and Proprietor, nor your dependence upon him. Tbe very
380 THE MANNER OF SEEKING SALVATION.
beasts, when they see signs of an approaching storm, will betake Ihemselves tc
their dens for shelter. Yet you, when abundantly warned of the approaching
storm of divine vengeance, will not fly to the hiding-place from the stvrm, and
the covert from the tempest. The sparrow, the swallow, and other birds, when
they are forewarned of approaching winter, will betake themselves to a safer
climate. Yet you who bave been often forewarned of the piercing blasts of
divine wrath, wfll not, in order to escape them, enter inlo the New Jerusalem,
of most mild and salubrious air, Ihough the gale stands wide open to receive
you. The very ants wfll be diligent in summer to lay up for winter : yet you
wfll do nolhing to lay up in store a good foundation against the time to come.
Balaam's ass would not run upon a drawn sword, though bis raaster, for the
sake of gain, would expose hiraself lo the sword of God's wrath ; and so God
made the durab aas, bolh in words and actions, to rebuke the madness of the
prophet, 1 Pet il 16. In hke manner, you, although you have been often
warned that the sword of God's wrath is cirawn against you, and will ceriainly
be thrust through you, if you proceed in your present course, still proceed, re
gardless of the consequence.
So God made the very beasts and birds of the old world to rebuke tbe mad
ness of the raen of that day : for tbey, even all sorts of thera, fled lo the ark,
while the door was yet open : which the raen of that day refused to do ; God
hereby thus signifying, that their folly was greater than tbat of the very brute
creatures. — Such folly and madness are you guilty of, who refuse to hearken
to the warnings that are given you of the approaching flood of tbe wralh of
God. You have been once more warned to-day, while the door of tbe ark yet
stands open. Yon have, as it were, once again heard the knocks of the ham
mer and axe in the building of the ark, lo put you in mind tbat a flood is ap
proaching. Take heed therefore that you do not stifl stop your ears, treat these
warnings with a regardless heart, and still neglect the great work which you
have to do, lest the flood of wrath suddenly cc)me upon you, sweep you away,
and there be no remedy.
SERMON XXII.
PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOP.
LxnSE Evi. 16. — The law and the prophets were iinlil John : since that time ihe kingdom of God ia preucti
ed, and every man pre.sseth into it.
In these words two things raay be observed : First, wherein the work and
office of John the Baptist consisted, viz., in preaching the kingdom of God, tc
prepare the way for its introduction to succeed the law and the prophets. By
the law and the prophets, in the text, .seems to be intended Ihe ancient dispen
sation under the Old Testaraent, vvhich was received frora Moses and the pro
phets. These are said to be witil John ; not that the revelaticns given by tbern
are out of use since that time, but that the state of the church, founded and re
gulated under God by them, the dispensation of which they were the ministers,
and wherein the church depended mainly on light received from them, fully
continued lill John. He first began to introduce the New Testaraent dispensa
tion, or gospel-state of the church ; which, wilh its glorious, spiritual, and eter
nal privileges and blessings, is often called tbe kingdom of heaven, or kingdom
of God. John the Baptist preached, that the kingdora of God was at hand
" Repent," says he, " for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." — " Since that
time," says Christ, " the kingdora of God is preached." John the Baptist first
began to preach it ; and then, after hira, Christ and his disciples preached the
same. Thus ChrisI preached : Matt iv. 17, " From that tirae Jesus began to
preach, and to say. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at band." So the disci
ples were directed to preach : Matt. x. 7, " And as ye go, preach, saying. The
kingdom of heaven is at hand." It was not John the Baptist, but ChrisI, that
fully brought in, and actually established, this kingdom of God ; but he, as
Christ's forerunner to prepare his way before him, did the first thing that was
done towards introducing it. The old dispensation was abolished, and the new
brought in by degrees ; as the night gradually ceases and gives place to the in
creasing day wbich succeeds in its room. First the day-star arises ; next
follows the light of the sun itself, but dimly reflected, in the dawning of the
day ; but tbis hght increases, and shines more and more, ai.d Ihe stars tbat serv
ed for light during the foregoing night, gradually go out and their light ceases,
as being now needless, till at lenglh the sun rises, and enlightens the woild by
his own direct light, which increases as he ascends higher above the horizon,
till the day-star itself gradually disappears ; agreeable to what John says of
himself : John in. 30, " He must increase, but I must decrease." John was the
forerunner of Christ, and harbinger of the gospel-day; much as tbe morning-
star is the forerunner of the sun. He had the most honorable office of any of
the prophets; the other prophets foretold Christ to come, he revealed hira as
already corae, and had the honor to be that servant who should corae imraedi
ately before him, and actually introduce hira, and t."en to be the instrument
concerned in his solemn inauguration, as he was in baptizing bira. He was the
greatest of the prophets that carae before Christ, as the morning-star is the
brightest of all Ihe stars. Matt xi. 11. He came to prepare men's hearts to
receive that kingdom of God which Christ was about more fully lo reveal and
erect: Luke i. 17, " To make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
Secondly, We may observe wherein his success appeared, viz., in that since
382 PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
he began his rainistry, every raan pressed into tbat kingdom of God which he
preached. The greatness of his success appeared in two things ;
1. In the generalness of il, with regard to the subject, or the persons in
whom tbe success appeared ; every man. Here is a term of universality ; but it
is not lo be taken as universal with regard to kidividuals, but kinds; as such
universal terms are often used in Scripture. When John preached, there was
an extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit of God that attended his preaching.
An uncomraon awakening and concern for salvation, appeared on the rainds of
all sorts of persons ; and even in the mo.sl unlikely persons, and those from
whom such a thing mighl least be expected ; as the Pharisees, who were ex
ceeding proud and self-sufficient, and conceited oftheir own wisdom and right
eousness, and looked on themselves fit to be teachers of others, and u.sed to scorn
to be taught; and the Sadducees, who were a kind of infidels, tbat denied any
resurrection, angel, or spirit, or any future state. So that John himself seeras
to be surprised lo see thera come lo hira, under such concern for their salvation,
as in Malt. iu. 7 : " But when he saw raany of the Pharisees and Sadducees
come to his baptism, he said unto them, 0 generation of vipers, who halh warn
ed you to flee frora the wrath to corae 1" And besides these, the publicans,
who were sorae ofthe raost infaraous sort of raen, came to hira, inquiring what
they should do lo be saved. And the soldiers, who were doubtless a very pro
fane, loose, and profligate sort of persons, raade the .same inquiry, Luke iii. 12,
and 14 : " Then carae also publicans to 'be baptized, and said unlo him. Master,
what shal! we do ? And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying. And
whal shall we do 1"
2. His success appeared in tbe manner in which his bearers sought the king
dom of God ; they pressed into it. It is elsewhere set forth by their being
violent for the kingdom of heaven, and taking it by force. Matt xi. 12, "From
the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth vio
lence, and the violent take it by force."
The DOCTRINE that I observe from the words is this. — It concerns every one
that would obtain the kingdom of God, lo be pressing into it. — In discoursing
on this subject, I would,
First, Show what is that way of seeking salvation that seeras to be pointed
forth in the expression of pressing into the kingdom of God.
Secondly, Give the reasons why it concerns every one that would obtain the
kingdora of God, to seek it in this way. —And then raake application.
I. I would show what manner of .seeking salvation seeras to be denoted by
" pressing into the kingdom of God."
1. This expression denotes strength of desire. Men in general wbo live
under the light ofthe gospel, and are not atheists, desire tbe kingdora of God ;
that is, they desire to go to heaven rather than to, bell. Most of them indeed
are not rauch concerned about il; but on the contrary, live a .secure and careless
hfe. And some who are raany degrees above tliese, being under sorae degrees
of the awakenings of God's Spirit, yet are not pressing into the kingdora of
God. Bul they that may be said to be truly so, have strong desires to o-et out
of a natural conditioi^, and to get an interest in Christ. They have such a con
viction of the raisery of their present state, and of the extreme necessity of
obtaining a better, that their rainds are as it were possessed with and wrapped
up in concern shout it To obtain salvation is desired by them above all things
in the world. This concern is so great that it very much shuts out other con
cerns. They used before to have the .stream of their desires aft^r other tbings,
PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOn. 383
or, it may be, had their concern divided between tbis and Ihem ; but when they
come to answer the expression in the text, of pressing into the kingdom of God,
this concern prevails above all others ; it lays other Ihings low, and does in a
manner engross the care of the mind. This seeking eternal life should not only
be one concern that our souls are taken up about wilh other things ; but salva
tion shoukl be sought as the one thing needful, Luke x. 42. And as the one
thing that is desired, Psalm xxvii. 4.
2. Pressing into tbe kingdom of heaven denotes earnestness and firmness
qf resolution. There should be strength of resolution, accompanying strength
of desire, as it was in the psalmist, in the place just now referred lo ; " one thing
have 1 desired, and that will I seek after." In order to a thorough engagedness
of the mind in this affair, bolh these must meet logelher. Besides desires after
salvation, there shoukl be an earnest resolution in persons to pursue this good as
much as lies in their power ; to do all that in the use of their utmost strength
they are able to do, in an attendance on every duly, and resisting and militating
against all raanner of sin, and to continue in such a pursuit
There are two things needful in a person, in order to these strong resolutions ;
there must be a sense of the great importance and necessity of the mercy sought,
and there must also be a sense of opportunity to obtain il, or tbe encourage
ment there is to seek it. The strength of resolution depends on Ihe sense which
God gives to tbe heart of these Ihings. Persons wiihout such a sense, may
seem to themselves to take up resolutions ; they may, as il were, force a promise
to themselves, and say within themselves, " I will seek as long as I live, 1 will
not give up till I obtain," when they do but deceive themselves. Their hearts
are not in it ; neither do they indeed lake up any such resolution as they seem
to themselves lo do. It is tbe resolution of the moulh more than of the heart;
their hearts are not strongly bent lo fulfil whal their mouth says. The firraness
of resolution lies in the fulness of the disposition of the heart lo do what is
resolved to be done. Those who are pressing into the kingdora of God, have
a disposition of heart lo do every thing that is required, and that lies in their
power to do, and to continue in it. They have not only earnestness, but steadi
ness of resolution : they do not seek wilh a wavering unsteady heart, by turns or
fits, being off and on ; but it is the constant bent of the soul, if possible, to
obtain tbe kingdom of God.
3. By pressing into tbe kingdom of God is signified greatness of endeavor. It
is expressed in Eccles. ix. 10 by doing what our hands find to do -with our might.
And this is the natural and necessary consequence ofthe two forementioned things
Where there is strength of desire, and firraness of resolution, there will be an
swerable endeavors. Persons thus engaged in their hearts will '¦ strive to enter
in at the strait gate," and wfll be violent for heaven ; Iheir practice will be
agreeable lo the counsel of the wise man, in Prov. n. at the beginning, " My
son, if thou wilt receive ray words, and hide ray coraraandraents with thee ; so
that thou incline thine ear unto wisdora, and apply thine heart to understand
ing ; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understand
ing ; if thou seekest her as sflver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures ;
then shalt thou understand the fear ofthe Lord, and find the kno^'ledge of God."
Here the earnestness of desire and strength of resolution is signified by inclining
the ear to wisdom, and applying the heart to understanding ; and the greatness
of endeavor is denoted by crying after knowledge, and lifting up the voice for
understanding ; seeking her as silver, and searching fc her as for hid treasures :
such desires and resolutions, and sucb endeavors, go together.
4 Pressing into the kingdora of God denotes an engagedness and earnest-
384 PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
ness, that is directly about that business of getting into the kingdom of God.
Persons may be in very great exercise and distress of mind, and that about the
condition of their souls ; their Ihoughts and cares raay be greaUy engaged ant!
taken up about Ihings of a spiritual nature, and yet not be pressing into the
kino-dom of God, nor towards it. The exercise of their minds is not directly
about the work of seeking salvation, in a dihgent attendance on the means that
God hath appointed in order to il, bul something else that is beside their busi
ness; it may be about God's decrees and secret purposes, prying into them,
searching for signs whereby they raay deterraine, or at least conjecture, what
they are before God raakes thera known by their accomplishment They dis
tress their rainds wilh fears that they be not elected, or that they have cora
mitted the unpardonable sin, or that their day is past, and that God has given
them up to judicial and final hardness, and never intends lo show Ihem mercy ;
and therefore, that il is in vain for them to seek salvation. Or they entangle
Ihemselves about the doctrine of original sin, and other mysterious doctrines of
religion that are above their comprehension. Many persons that seem to be in
great distress about a future eternal state, gel much inlo a way of perplexing
themselves with such Ihings as the.se. When it is so, let thera be never so
much concerned and engaged in their minds, they cannot be said to be pressing
towards the king of God ; because their exercise is not in their work, but /alher
that which lends to hinder them in their work. If they are violent, they are
only working violently to entangle theraselves, and lay blocks in their own way ;
their pressure, is not forwards. Instead of getting along, they do but lose theii-
time, and worse than raerely lose it ; instead of fighting with the giants that
stand in the way to keep thera out of Canaan, they spend away tbeir tirae and
strength in conflicting with shadows that appear by the way-side.
Hence we are not to judge of the hopefulness ofthe way that persons are
in, or ofthe probabflity oftheir success in seeking salvation, only by the great- ¦
ne.ss of the concern and distress that they are in ; for raany persons have need
less distresses that they had rauch better be without. It is thus very often with
persons overrun with the disteraper of raelancholy ; whence the adversary of
souls is wont lo take great advantage. But then are persons in the raost like
ly way to obtain the kingdom of heaven, when the intent of their minds, and
the engagedness oftheir spirits, is about their proper work and business, and all
the bent of their souls is to attend on God's raeans, and to do what he cora
raands and directs thera to. The apostle lells us, 1 Cor. ix. 26, " that he did not
fight as those that beat the air." Our tirae is short enough ; we had not need
to spend it in that whicb is nolhfng to the purpose. There are real difficulties
and enemies enough for per.sons to encounter, lo employ all their strength ;
they had not need to waste it in fighting with phantoms.
5. By pressing into the kingdom of God is denoted a breaking through op
position and difficulties. There is in the expression a plain intimation of diffi
culty. If there were no opposition, but the way was all clear and open, there
would be no need of pressing to gel along. They therefore that are pressing
nto the kingdora of God, go on with such engagedness, tbat they break through
the difficulties that are in their way. They are so set for salvation, that those
things by which others are discouraged, and stopped, and turned back, do not
stop thera, but they press through thera. Persons ought to be so resolved for
heaven, that if by any means tbey can obtain, they will obtain. Whetner those
raeans be difficult or easy, cross or agreeable, if they are requisite means of sal
vation, they should be coraplied with. When any thing is presented to be done,
the question should not be. Is it easy or hard 1 Is it agreeable lo my carnal in
IRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 3Sh
chnations or interest, or against them ? But is it a required means of my obtainim,
an inlereslin Jesus Christ, and eternal salvation ? Thus the apostle, Philip, iii
11, "If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." He
tells I's there in the context what difficulties he broke through, that be suffered
the less of all things, and was willingly made conforraable even lo Christ's
death, though that was attended with such extrerae torraent and ignominy.
He that is pressing into the kingdom of God, commonly finds many Ihings
m the way that are against the grain ; but he is not stopped by the cross that lies
before hira, but takes it up, and carries it. Suppose there be something incum
bent on him to do, tbat is cross to his natura! temper, and irksome to hira on
that account ; suppose something that he cannot do wiihout suffering in his
estate, or that he apprehends will look odd and strange in tbe eyes of others,
and expose him to ridicule and reproach, or any thing that will offend a neigh
bor, and get his ill-will, or something that vrill be very cross lo his own carnal
appetite — he will press through such difficulties. Every thing that is found to
be a weight that hinders him in running this race he casts frora him, though it
be a weight of pearls ; yea, if it be a right hand or a foot that offends him, he
will cut thera off, and will not stick al plucking out a right eye with his own
hands. These Ihings are insuperable difficulties to those who are not thoroughly
engaged in seeking their salvation ; they are stumbling-blocks that they never
get over. Bul it is not so wilh him that presses inlo the kingdom of God.
Those things (before he was thoroughly roused from his security) about which
he was wont to have long parleyings and disputings with bis own conscience —
employing carnal reason to invent arguments and pleas of excuse — he now
slicks at no longer ; he bas done with this endless disputing and reasoning,
and presses violently through afl difficulties. Let what will be in the way,
heaven is what he must and will obtain, not if be can without difficulty, but if
it be possible. He meets with temptalion : the devil is often whispering in his
e-dr, setting allurements before him, magnifying the difficulties of the work he is
engaged in, telling him that they are insuperable, and that he can never conquer
them, and trying all ways in tbe world to discourage hira ; but stifl he presses
forward. God has given and maintains such an earnest spirit for heaven, that
the devil cannot stop hira in his course ; he is not at leisure to lend an ear to
whal he has to say. — I come now,
II. To snow why the kingdora of heaven should be sought in this raanner.
It should be thus sought,
1. On account of the extreme necessity we are in of getting into the king
dom of heaven. We are in a perishing necessity of it ; without it we are utter
ly and eternally lost Out of the kingdom of God is no safely ; there is ro
other hiding-place; this is the only cily of refuge, in which we can be secure
frora the avenger that pursues all the ungodly. Tbe vengeance of God will
pursue, overtake, and eternally destroy, Ihem that are not in this kingdom. Afl
that are without tbis inclosure wifl be swallowed up in an overflowing fiery
deluge of wrath. They raay stand at the door and knock, and cry. Lord, Lord,
open to us, in vain ; they will be thrust back ; and God will have no mercy on
tbem ; tbey shall be eternally left of him. His fearful vengeance will seize
ihera ; tbe devils will lay hold of thera ; and all evil will corae upon them ;
and there will be none to pily or help ; their case willbe utterly desperate, anci
infinitely doleful It wfll be a gone case with them ; all offers of mercy and
expressions of divine goodness wfll be finally withdrawn, and all hope wifl be
lost .God will have no kind of regard to their wefl-being ; wifl take no care of
them to save tbem from any enemy, or any evil ; but himself will be tbeir dread-
'Vol. IV. 49
386 PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
ful eneray, and wfll execute wrath with fury, and wfll take vengeance in an in.
expressibly dreadful raanner. Such as shall be in this case will be lost and
undone indeed ! They will be sunk down into perdition, infinitely below al!
that we can think. For who knows the power of God's anger *? And who
knows the raisery of that poor worra, on whom that anger is executed without
mercy 1
2. On account of the shortness and uncertainty of the opportunity for get
ting into this kingdom. When a few days are past, all our opportunity for il
will be gone. Our day is limited. God has set our bounds, and we know not
where. While persons are out of this kingdom, they are in danger every hour
of being overtaken with wrath. We know not how soon we shall get past that
line, beyond which there is no work, device, knowledge, nor wisdom ; and
therefore we should do what we have to do with our might Eccles. ix. 10.
3. On account of the difficulty of getting into the kingdom of God. There
are innumerable difficulties in the way ; such as few conquer : most of them
that try have not resolution, courage, earnestness, and constancy enough ; bul
they fail, give up, and perish. The difficulties are loo many and too great for
thera that do not violently press forward. They never get along, bul stick by
the way ; are turned aside, or turned back, and ruined. Malt vii. 14, " Strait
is the gale, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be
that find it" Luke xin. 24, " Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I
say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able."
4. Tbe possibility of obtaining. Though il be attended with so much diffi
culty, yet il is not a thing impossible. Acts vin. 22, " If perhaps the thought
of thine heart may be forgiven thee." 2 Tim. ii. 25, " If peradventure God
will give them repentance lo the acknowledging of the truth." However sinful
a person is, and whatever his circumstances are, there is, notwithstanding, a
possibility of his salvation. He himself is capable of il, and God is able to
accomplish it, and has raercy sufficient for it ; and there is sufficient provision
made through ChrisI, that God may do it consistent with the honor of his raaj
esty, justice, and truth. So that there is no want either of sufficiency in God,
or capacity in tbe sinner, in order to this. The greatest and vilest, most blind,
dead, hard-hearted sinner living, is a subject capable of saving light and grace.
Seeing therefore there is such necessity of obtaining the kingdom of God, and
so short a time, and such difficulty, and yet such a possibility, it may well induce
us lo press into il. Jonah in. 8, 9.
5. It is meet that the kingdom of heaven should be thus sought, because of
the great excellency of it We are willing to seek earthly Ihings, of trifi'ing value,
with great diligence, and through much difficulty ; it therefore certainly becomes
us to seek that with great earnestness which is of infinitely greater worlh and
excellence. And how well may God expect and requii-e it of us, that we should
seek il in sucb a manner, in order lo our obtaining it !
6. Such a manner of seeking is needful to prepare persons for the kingdon-
of God. Such earnestness and thoroughness of endeavors, is the ordinary raeans
that God raakes use of lo bring persons to an acquaintance wilh theraselves, to
a sight of Iheir own hearts, to a sense of their own helplessness, and to a despait
in their own strength and righteousness. And sucb engagedness and constancy
in seeking the kingdom of heaven, prepare tbe soul to receive it Ihe more joy
fully and thankfully, and the more highly to prize and value it when obtained.
So that it is in mercy to us, as well as for the glory of his own name, that God
has appointed such earnest seeking, to be tbe way in which he wfll be.stow thf
Kingdom of heaven.
PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 387
APPLICATION.
The use I would make of this doctrine, is of exhortation lo alJ Christiess
persons lo press into the kingdom of God. Some of you are inquiring what
you shall do. You seem to desire to know what is the way wherein sa!"ation
IS to be sought, and how you may be likely to obtain il. You have now heard
the way that the holy word of God directs to. Some are seeking, but it cannot
be said of them that they are pressing into the kingdom of heaven. There are
many that in lime past have sought salvation, but not in this manner, and so
they never obtained, but are now gone lo hell. Some of thera sought it year
after year, but failed of it, and perished at last. They were overtaken with
divine wralh, and are now suffering the fearful misery of damnation, and have
no rest day nor night, having no more opportunity to seek, bul raust suffc?r and
be miserable throughout the never-ending ages of eternity. Be exhorted, there
fore, not to seek salvation as they did, bul let the kingdom of heaven suffer
violence from you.
Here I would first answer an objection or two, and tben proceed to give
some directions how lo press inlo the kingdom of God.
Object. 1. Some may be ready to say. We cannot do this of ourselves ; that
strength of desire, and firraness of resolution, that have been spoken of, are out
of our reach. If I endeavor to resolve and to seek wilh engagedness of spirit,
I find I fail ; my thoughts are presently off from the business, and I feel. myself
dull, and my engagedness relaxed, in spite of all I can do.
Ans. 1. Though earnestness of mind be not immediately in your power, yet
the consideration of what has been now said of the need of il, may be a means
of stirring you up lo it. It is true, persons never wifl be thoroughly engaged
in this business, unless il be by God's influence ; but God influences persons by
means. Persons are not stirred up lo a thorough earneslness without some con
siderations that move them lo it And if persons can but be made sensible of
the necessity of salvation, and also duly consider the exceeding difficulty of it,
and the greatness of tbe opposition, and how short and unceriain the lime is,
but yet are sensible that they have an opportunity, and that there is a possibility
of their obtaining, they will need no more in order to their being ihoroughly
engaged and resolved in this matier. If we see persons slack and unresolved,
and unsteady, it is because they do not enough consider these things.
2. Though strong desires and resolutions of mind be not in your power, yet
painfulness of endeavors is in your power. Il is in your power to take pains
in the use bf means, yea, very great pains. You can be very painful and dili
gent in watching your own heart, and striving against sin. Though there is all
manner of corruption in the heart continually ready to woi-k, yet you can very
laboriously watch and strive against these corruptions; and it is in your power,
with great diligence lo attend the matier of your duty towards God and towards
your neighbor. Il is in your po-wer to attend all ordinances, and afl public and
private duties of religion, and lo do il wilh your might It would be a contra
diction to suppose that a man cannot do these things with all the might be bas,
though he cannot do them wilh more raight than he has. Tbe dulness and dead
ness of the heart, and slothfulness of disposition, do not hinder men being able
to take pains, Ihough it hinders their being willing. That is one thing wherein
your laboriousness may appear, even striving against your own dulness. That
men bave a dead and sluggish heart, does not argue that they be not able to
iake pains ; il is so far from that, that it gives occasion for pains II is one of
388 PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
the difficulties in tiie way of duty, that persons have to strive with, and that give?
occasion for struggling and labor. If there were no difficulties attended seek
ing salvation, tiiere would be no occasion for striving; a man would have
nolhing to strive about There is indeed a great deal of difficulty attending all
duties requhed of those that would obtain heaven. It is an exceeding difficult
thing for thera to keep their thoughts ; it is a difficult thing seriously, or to any
good purpose, to consider raatters of the greatest iraportance ; it is a difficult
thing to hear, oi read, or pray attentively. But it does not argue that a naan
cannot strive in these Ihings because they are difficult ; nay, he could not strive
therein if there were not difficulty in thera. For what is there excepting diffi
culties that any can have to strive or struggle with in any affair or business ?
Earnestness of raind, and diligence of endeavor, tend to proraote each other.
He that bas a heart earnestly engaged, wfll take pains; and he that is diligent
and painful in all duly, probably wifl not be so long before he finds the sensi
bleness of his heart and earneslness of his spirit greatly increased.
Object. 2. Some m.ay object, that if they are earnest, and take a great deal
of pains, they shall be in danger of trusting to wbat they do ; they are afraid
of doing their duty for fear of raaking a righteousness of it
Ans. There is ordinarily no kind of seekers that trust so much to wbat
they do, as slack and dull seekers. Though all seeking salvation, that have
never been the subjects of a thorough humiliation, do trust in their own right
eousness ; yet some do it rauch more fully than others. Some, though they trust
in their own righteousness, yet are not quiet in it And tbose who are most
disturbed in theii; self-confidence, (and therefore in tbe likeliest way to be wholly
brought off from it,) are not such as go on in a remiss way of seeking, but such
as are most earnest and thoroughly engaged ; partly because in such a way
conscience is kept raore sensible. A more awakened conscience will not rest so
quietly in raoral and religious duties, as one that is less awakened. A dull
seeker's conscience wifl be in a great measure satisfied and quieted wilh his own
works and perforraances ; bul one that is thoroughly awakened cannot be sidl
ed qr pacified with such things as these. In this way persons gain much raore
knowledge of theraselves, and acquaintance with their own hearts, than in a
negligent, slight way of seeking ; for they have a great deal more experience of
themselves. It is experience of ourselves, and finding what we are, that God
coraraonly makes use of as the means of bringing us off from all dependence on
ourselves. But raen never get acquaintance with theraselves so fast, as in the
raost earnest way of seeking. They that are in this way have raore to engage
thera to think of their sins, and strictly to observe theraselves, and have much
more to do wilh their own heart', than others. Such a one has mucb more ex
perience of bis own weakness, than another that does not put forth and try his
strength ; and wfll therefore sooner see himself dead in sin. Such a one, though
he hath a disposition continuafly to be flying to his own righteousness, yet finds
rest in nothing ; he wanders about from one thing to anotiier, seeking sorae
thing to ease his disquieted conscience ; he is driven frora one refuge to another,
goes frora mountain to hill, seeking rest and finding none ; and therefore wifl
tiie sooner prove that there is no rest to be found, nor trust to be put, in any
creature whatsoever.
It is therefore quite a wrong notion that sorae entertain, that the more they
do, the raore they shall depend on it Whereas tbe reverse is true ; tbe more
they do, or Ihe more thorough they are in seeking, tbe less wfll they be hkely
to rest in tbeir doings, and the sooner will they see the vimity of all tbat tbey
Io. So that person wifl exceedingly miss it, if ever they neglect to Io any
PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM v,f GOD. 389
duty either to God or man, whether it be any duty of religion, justice, oi charity,
under a notion of its exposing thera to trust in their own righteousness. It is
very true, that it is a common thing for persons, when they earnestly seek sal
vation, to trust in the pains that they lake : but yet commonly those that go
on in a more slight way, trust a great deal more securely to their dull services,
than he that is pressing into the kingdora of God does to his earnestness. Men's
slackness in religion, and their trust in theh own righteousness, stiengthen and
establish one another. Tbeir trust in what they have done, and wbat they now
tlo, settles thera in a slothful rest and ease, and hinders their being sensible of
their need of rousing up themselves and pressing forward. And on the other
hand, their neghgence tends to benumb thera, and keep them in such ignorance
of theraselves, that the raost raiserable refuges are stupidly rested in as sufficient
Therefore we see, that wben persons have been going on for a long time in such
a way, and God afterwards comes more thoroughly to awaken them, and lo stir
thera up to be in good earnest, he shakes all their old foundations .tnd rouses
them out of their old resting-places ; so that they cannot quiet theraselves with
those things tbat formerly kept thera secure.
I would now proceed to give sorae directions how you should press into the
kingdora of God.
1. Be directed to sacrifice every thing to your soul's eternal interest. Let
seeking this be so rauch your bent, and what you are so resolved in, that you
will make every thing give place to it. Let nothing stand before your resolu
tion of seeking the kingdom of God. Whatever il be that you used to look
upon as a convenience, or comfort, or ease, or thing desirable on any account,
if it stands in the way of this great concern, let it be dismissed without hesita
tion ; and if it be of th-at nature that it is likely always to be a hinderance,
then wholly have done wilh it, and never entertain any expectation from il more.
If in tirae past you have, for the sake of worldly gain, involved yourself in more
care and busmess than you find to be consistent with your being so thorough in
the business of religion as you ought to be, then get into some other way, though
you suffer in your worldly interesi by it. Or if you have heretofore been con
versant with corapany that you have reason to think have been and will be a
snare to you, and a hinderance lo this great design in any wise, break off from
their society, however it may expose you to reproach from your old companions,
01 let what wfll be the effect of it. Whatever it be that stands in the way of
your most advantageously seeking salvation — whether it be some dear sinful
pleasure, or strong carnal appetite, or credit and honor, or the good-will of some
persons whose friendship you desire, and whose esteem and liking you have
highly valued — and Ihough there be danger, if you do as you ought, that you
shall be looked upon by them as odd and ridiculous, and become contemptible
in their eyes — or if it be yom- ease and indolence, and aversion to continual
labor ; or your outward convenience, in any respect, whereby you might avoid
difficulties of one kind or other — let all go ; offer up all such things together, as
it w-ere, in one sacrifice, to the interesi of your soul. Let nothing stand in com
petition wilh this, but make every thing to fall before it. If the flesh raust be
crossed, then cross it, spare il not, crucify it, and do not be afraid of being too
cruel lo it Gal. v. 24, " They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with
the affections and lusts." Have no dependence on any worldly enjoyment
whatsoever. Let salvation be the one thing wilh you. Tbis is whal is cer
tainly required tf you; and this is what many stick at; this giving up other
things for salvation, is a stumbling-block that few get over. While others
presseci into the kingdom of God at the preaching of John the Baptist, Herod
390 PRrSSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
was pretty rauch stirred by bis preaching. Il is said, he beard him, and obsei v-
ed him, and did many Ihings ; but when he came to tell hira that he must pari
with his beloved Herodias, here he stuck ; this he never would yield to, Mark
vii. 18 — 20. The rich young man was considerably concerned for salvation
and accordingly was a very strict liver in many things : bul when Christ cam(
to direct him to go and sell all that he had, and give to the poor, and come and
follow him, he could not find in his heart to comply with it, bul went away
sorrowful. He had great possessions, and set his heart much on his estate, and
could not bear to part with it It may be, if Christ had directed hira only to
give away a considerable part of his estate, he would have done it ; yea, per
haps, if be had bid hira part wilh half of il, he would have coraplied with it ;
when he directed hira to throw up all, he could not grapple with such a propo
sal. Herein the straitness of the gate very much consists ; and it is on this ac
count that so many seek lo enter in, and are not able. There are many that
have a great mind to salvation, and spend great part of their time in wishing
that they had il, bul they will not comply with the necessary means.
2. Be directed to forget the things that are behind ; that is, not to keep
thinking and making much of what you have done, but let your raind be wholly
intent on what you have lo do. In sorae sense you ought to look back ; you
should look back on your sins. Jer. ii. 23, " See thy way in the vaUey, know
wbat thou hast clone." You should look back on the wretchedness of your re
ligious performances, and consider how you have fallen short in them ; how
exceedingly polluted all your duties have been, and how justiy God niighl re
ject and loathe them, and you for thera. But you ought not to spend your firae
in looking back, as raany persons do, thinking how rauch they have done for
their salvation; whal great pains they have taken, how that they have done
what they can, and do not see how they can do more ; how long a tirae they
have been seeking, and how much more they have done than others, and even
than such and such who have obtained raercy. They think with theraselves
how hardly God deals with thera, that he does not extend mercy to thera, but
turns a deaf ear lo their cries ; and hence discourage Ihemselves, and coraplain
of God. Do not thus spend your time in looking on what is past, but look
forward, and consider whal is before you ; consider what it is that you can do,
and what it is necessary that you should do, and what God calls you "still to do, in
order to your own salvation. The apostle, in the 3d chapter to the Philippians,
tells us what Ihings he did while a Jew, how much he had to boast of, if any could
boast ; bul he lells us, that he forgot those Ihings, and all others that were behind,
and reached forth towards the things that were before, pressing forwards towards
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
3. Labor to get your heart thoroughly disposed to go on and hold out to
the end. Many that seem to be earnest have not a heart thus disposed. Il is
a coiumon thing for persons to appear greatly affected for a little while; bul all
is soon passed away, and there is no more lo be seen of it Labor therefore to
obtain a thorough wfllingness and preparation of spirit, to continue seeking, in
the use of your utmost endeavors, without limitation ; and do not think your
whole life too long. And in order to this, be advised to two things.
(1.) Remeraber that if ever God bestows inercy upon you, be will use bis
sovereign pleasure about the time when. He will bestow it on some in a little
time, and on others not till they have sought it long. If other persons are soon
enhghtened and coraforted, whfle you remain long in darkness, there is no other
way l3ut for you to wait God wifl act arbitrarily in this matier, and you cannot
help it You must even be content to wait, in a way of laborious and enr,iesl
PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 391
striving, till his time comes. If you refuse, you wfll but undo yc urself ; and
when you shafl hereafter find yourself undone, and see that your case is past
remedy, how will you condemn your.self for foregoing a great probability ot
salvation, only because you had not patience lo hold out, and was not willing
to be al Ihe trouble of a persevering- labor ! And what wfll it avail before
God or. your own conscience to say, that you could not bear to be obliged to seek
salvation so long, when God bestowed it on others that sought it but for a very
short time 1 Though God may have bestowed the testimonies of his favor on
others in a few days or hours after they have begun earnestly lo seek il, how
does that alter the case as to you, if there proves to be a necessity of your
laboriously seeking many years before you obtain them 1 Is salvation less
worlh taking a great deal of pains for, because, through the sovereign pleasure
of God, others have obtained it with coraparatively littie pains 1 If there are
two persons, the one of which bas obtained converting grace wilb comparative
ease, and another that bas obtained it after continuing for many years in the
greatest and raost earnest labors after it, how little difference does it make at
last, when once salvation is obtained ! Put all the /a6or and pains, the long-
continued difficulties and strugglings of the one in the scale against salvation,
and how little does it subtract ; and put the ease wilh whicb the other has
obtained in the scale wilh salvation, and how liltle does it add ! What is either
added or subtracted is lighter than vanity, and a thing worthy of no considera
tion, wben corapared with that infinile benefit that is obtained. Indeed, if you
were ten thousand years, and all that time should strive and press forward with
as great earneslness as ever a person did for one day, all this would bear no
proportion to the importance of the benefit ; and il will doubtless appear liltle
to you, when once you come lo be in actual possession of eternal glory, and to
see what that eternal raisery is which you have escaped. You raust not think
much of your pains, and of the lenglh of time; you must press towards the
kingdora of God, and do your utmost, and hold out to the end, and learn to
make no account of it when you have done. You must undertake the business
of seeking salvation upon these terras, and wilh no other expectations than this,
that if ever God bestows raercy it will be in his own lime ; and not only ,so,
but also that vi'ben you have done all, God will not bold hiraself obliged to
show you raercy at last.
(2.) Endeavor now thoroughly to weigh in your mind the difficulty, and
to count the cost of perseverance in seeking salvation. You that are now set
ting out in this business, (-as Ihere are many here who have very lately set
about it ; — praised be the name of God that he has stirred you up to il !) be ex
horted to attend this direction. Do not undertake in this affair wilh any other
thought bul of giving yourself wholly lo it for the reraaining part of your life,
and going through many and great difficulties in it Take heed that you do
not engage secretly upon this condition, that you shafl obtain in a little time,
promising yourself that it shafl be wilhin this present season of the pouring out
of God's Spirit, or with any other limitation of time whatsoever. Many, when
they begin, (seeming to set out very earnestly,) do not expect that they shall
need to seek very long, and so do not prepare themselves for it. And there
fore, when they come lo find il olherwise, and meet with unexpected difficulty
they are found unguarded, and easily overthrown. But let me advise you all
who are now seeking salvation, not to entertain any self-flattering thoughts •
but weigh tbe utmost difficulties of perseverance, and be provided for them, hav
mg your mind fixed in it to go through thern, let thera be wbat they will Con-
sitier now beforehand, how tedious il would be, wilh utraost earnestness and la-
392 PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD
bor, to strive after salvation for raany years, in tbe mean tirae receiving no joyful
or corafortable evidence of your baving obtained. Consider whal a ^real temp
tation to discourageraent tbere probably would be in it ; how apt you would be
to yield the case ; how ready to think that it is in vain for you lo seek any long
er, and that God never intends to show you mercy, in thai he has not yet done
it ; how apt you would be to think whh yourself, " What an uncomfortable
life do 1 live ! How rauch raore unpleasantly do I spend ray time than others
that do not perplex their minds about the things of another world, but are at
ease, and take the comfort of their worldly enjoyments !" Consider what a
teraptation there would probably be in it, if you saw others brought in that be
gan lo seek the kingdom of heaven long after you, rejoicing in a bope and sense
of Gods' favor, after but little pains and a short time of awakening ; while you,
frora day to day, and from year to year, seemed lo labor in vain. Prepare for
such teraptations now. Lay in beforehand for such trials and difficulties, that
you may not think any strange thing has happened when they come.
I hope that those who have given attention to what has been said, have by
this tirae conceived, in sorae measure, wbat is signified by tbe expression in the
text, and after wbat manner they ought to press into the kingdora of God.
Here is this lo induce you to a compliance with wbat you have been directed
to ; if you sit slifl, you die ; if you go backward, behold you shall surely die ;
if you go forward, you raay live. And though God has not bound himself to
any thing that a person does while destitute of faith, and out of Christ, yet
there is great probabflity, that in a way of hearkening to this counsel you will
live ; and that by pressing onward, and persevering, you will at last, as it were
by violence, take the kingdora of heaven. Those of you who have not only
heard the directions given, but sball, through God's m.erciful assistance, practise
according lo thera, are those that probably will overcorae. These we raay wefl
bope at last to see standing wilb the Larab on mount Sion, clothed in white
robes, wilh palras in their hands ; when all your labor and tofl will be abun
dantly corapensated, and you will not repent that you have taken so much pains,
and denied yourself so much, and waited so long. This self-denial, this wait
ing, wifl tben look httle, and vanish into nothing in your eyes, being all swal
lowed up in the first rainute's enjoyraent of that glory tbat you wfll then pos-
'sess, and will uninterruptedly possess and enjoy to all eternity.
4th Direction. Improve the present season of the pouring out of the Spirit
of God on this town. Prudence in any affair whatsoever consists very much in
minding and iraproving our opportunities. If you would bave spiritual prospe
rity, you raust exercise prudence in the concerns of your souls, as well as in
.lutward concerns when you seek outward prosperity. The prudent husband
man will observe his opportunities; he will iraprove seed-tirae and harvest ; he
will raake his advantage of the showers and shines of heaven. The prudent
merchant will discern his opportunities ; he wifl not be idle on a market-day :
ae is careful not to let slip bis seasons for enriching himself: so will those who
prudently seek the fruits of righteousness, and the merchandise of wisdora, im
prove tbeir opportunities for their eternal wealth and happiness.
God is pleased at this time, in a very remarkable manner, to pour out his
Spirit araongst us ; (glory be to bis narae !) You that have a mind to obtain
converting grace and to go to heaven when you die, now is your season ! Now,
if you have ariy sort of prudence for your own salvation, and have not a mind
to go to hell, improve this season ! Now is the accepted tirae! Now is the
day of salvation ! You t\iat in tirae pa.sl have been calFed upon, and have turned
a deaf ear to God's voice, and long stood out and resisted his commands and
PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 393
counsels, hear God's voice to-day, whfle it is called to-day ! Do not harden
your hearts at such a day as this ! Now you have a special and remarkable
price put into your hands to get wisdora, if you have but a heart to iraprove it.
God hath bis certain days or appointed seasons of exercising bolh raercy
and judgraent. There are sorn^ reraarkable tiraes of wrath, laid out by God
for his awful visitation, and the executions of his anger ; which times are called
days of vengeance, Prov. vi. 34. Wherein God will visit for sin, Exod. xxxil
34. And so, on the contrary, God has laid out in bis sovereign counsels seasons
of remarkable raercy, wherein he wifl manifest hiraself in the exercise of his
grace and loving-kindness, raore than at other times. Such tiraes in Scripture
are called by way of eminency accepted times, and days of salvation, and also
days of God's visitation ; because they are days wherein God will visit in a way
of rnercy, as Luke xix. 44 : " And sball lay thee even with the ground, and
thy children wilhin thee; and they sball not leave in thee one stone upon
another ; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." It is such a
time now in this town ; it is with us a day of God's gracious visilation. Il is
indeed a day of grace wilh us as long as we live in this world, in the enjoyraent
of the means of grace ; but such a time as this is especially, and in a dis
tinguishing manner, a day of grace. There is a door of mercy always stand
ing open for sinners ; but at such a day as tbis, God opens an extraordinary
door. We are directed to seek the Lord while he raay be found, and to call upon
hira while he is near, Isa. Iv. 6. If you tbat are hitherto Christless, be not
strangely besotted and infatuated, you will by all means improve sucb an op
portunity as this to get to heaven, when heaven is broughi so near, when tbe
fountain is opened in the midst of us in so extraordinarv a manner. Now is the
time to obtain a supply of the necessities of your poor perishing souls ! This is
the day for sinners tbat have a mind lo be converted before Ihey die, when God
is dealing forth so liberally and bountifully amongst us; when conversion and
salvation work is going on amongst us from Sabbath to Sabbath, and many are
pressing into the kingdom of God ! Now do not stay behind, but press in
amongst the rest ! Others bave been stirred up to be in good earnest, and have
taken heaven by violence ; be entreated lo follow their exaraple, if you would
have a part of the inheritance with them, and would not be left at the great
day, when they are taken !
How should it move you to consider tbat you have this opportunity now in
your hands ! You are in the actual possession of it ! If it were past it would
not be in your power to recover it, or in the power of any creature to bring it
back for you ; but it is not past ; it is now, at tbis day. Now is the accepted
time, even while it is called to-day ! Will you .sit still at such a time ? Will
you sleep in such a harvest 1 Will you deal with a slack hand, and stay behind
out of mere sloth, or love to sorae lust, or lothness to grapple wilh sorae small
difficulty, or to put yourself a littie out of your way, when so many are flow
ing to the goodness ofthe Lord 1 You are behind still ; and so you wifl be in
danger of being left behind, when the whole number is compleled that are to
enter in, if you do not earnestly bestir yourself! To be left behind at the close
of .such a season as this, will be awful — next to being left behind on that day
when God's saints shall mount up as wilh wings to raeet tbe Lord in tbe air —
and will be what will appear very threatening of it.
God is now cafling you in an extraordinary manner : and it is agreeable tc
the wfll and word of Christ, that I should now, in his name, call you. as one set
over you, and sen to you to that end ; so it is bis will that you .should hearken
Vol. IV. 50
394 PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
to what I say, as bis voice. I therefore beseech you in Christ's stead now tc
press into the kingdora of God ! Whoever yoii are, whether young or old,
small or great ; if'you are a great sinner, if you have been a backslider, if you
have quenched tbe Spirit, be who you will, do not stand making objections, but
arise, apply yourselves to your work! Do what you have to do with your rnrght.
Christ is calling you before, and holding forth his grace, and everiasting bene-
fits, and wrath is pursuing you behind : wherefore fly for your life, anfl look
not behind you !
Bul here I would particularly direct rayself to several sorts of persons.
I. To those sinners who are in a measure awakened, and are concerned for
tbeir salvation. You have reason to be glad that you have such an opportunity,
and lo prize il above gold. To induce you to prize and improve it, consider
several Ihings.
1. God "has doubtiess a design now to deal forth saving blessings to a
number. God bas done il to some already, and il is not probable that he has yet
finished his work amongst us : we may well hope still lo see others brought ciut
of darkness into marvellous light. And therefore,
2. God comes this day, and knocks at many persons' doors, and at your
door among the rest God seems lo be come in a very unusual raanner amongst
us, upon a gracious and merciful design; a design of saving a number of poor
miserable souls out of a lost and perishing condition, and of bringing them into
a happy state and eternal glory ! This is offered to you, not only as il bas
always been in the word and ordinances, but by the particular influences of the
Spirit of Christ awakening you ! This special offer is made to raany araongst
us ; and you are not passed over. Christ has not forgot you ; bul has come to
your door ; and there as it were stands waiting for you to open lo hiin. if you
have wisdora and discretion to discern your own advantage, you will know that
now is your opportunity.
3. How much more easily converting grace is obtained at such a time, than
at other tiraes! The work is equally easy wilh God at all times; but tbere is
far less difficulty in the way as to men at sucb a time, than at other times. It
is, as I said before, a day of God's gracious visitation ; a day that he has as it
were set apart for the more liberally and bounlififlly dispensing of his grace; a
day wherein God's hand is opened wide. Experience shows it. God seems to
be raore ready to help, to give proper convictions, to help against temptations,
and let in divine light. He seems lo carry on his work with a more glorious
discovery of his power, and Satan is raore chained up than at other times.
Those difficulties and teraptations that persons before stuck at, from year to
year, they are soon helped over. The work of God is carried on wilh greater
speed and swiftness, and there are often instances of sudden conversion at such a
tirae. So it was in the apostles' days, when there was a time of most extraor
dinary pouring out of the Spirit that ever was. How quick and sudden were
conversions in those days ! Such instances as that of the jailer abounded then,
in fulfilment of that prophecy, Isa. Ixvi. 7, 8, " Before she travailed, she brought
forth : before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child. Who hath
heard such a thing ? Who bath seen such things ? For as soon as Zion tra
vailed, she broughi forth her children." So it is in some degree, whenever
there is an extraordinary pouring out of tbe Spirit of God ; more or less so, in
proportion to the greatness of that effusion. There is seldom such quick work
made of it al other times. Persons are not so soon delivered from their vanous
temptations and entanglements ; but are much longer wandering in a wilder
ness, and groping in daikness. And yet.
PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 39.')
4. There are prob-ably some here present that are now concerned <i00ut theii
salvation, that r.ever wfll obtain. It is not lo be supposed that all tbat are now
moved and awakened, wifl ever be savingly converted. Doubtless there are
many now seeking that will not be able lo enter. Wben bas it been so in tioes
past, when there has been times of great outpourings of God's Spirit, but that
many who for a while have inquired with others, v* hat they should do lo be
saved, havo failed, and afterwards grown hard and secure ] All of you that.
are now awakened, bave a mind to obtain salvation, and probably hope to get
a title lo heaven, in the tirae of this present moving of God's Spirit : bul yet,
(though it be awful to be spoken, and awful to be thought,) we have no reason
to think any other, than that some of you will burn in hell to afl eiernity. You
all are afraid of hell, and seem at present disposed to take pains lo be delivered
from it; and yet it would be unreasonable to think t.ny other, than Ihat some
of you will have your portion in the lake that burns wilh fire and brimstone.
Though there are so many that seera lo obtain so easily, having been bul a liltle
while under convictions, yet, for all that, sorae never will obtain. Some will
soon lose the sense of things tbey now have ; though their awakenings seera lo be
very considerable for the present, tbey wifl not hold ; they have not hearts dis
posed to hold on through very raany difficulties. Some that have set out for heav
en, and hope as tnuch as others lo obtain, are indeed but slighty and slack, even
now, in the midst of such a lime as Ibis. And others, who for the present
seem to be raore in earnest, will probably, before long decline and fafl, and grad
ually return to be as they were before. The convictions of some seera to be
great, while that whicb is the occasion of their convictions is new ; which,
when that begins to grow old, will gradually decay and wear off. Thus, it may
be, the occasion of your awakening bas been the hearing of the conversion of
some person, or seeing so extraordinary a dispensation of Providence as this in
which Gocl now appears araongst us ; but by and by the newness and freshness
of these things will be gone, and so will not affect your mind as now they do ;
and it may be your convictions will go away wilh it
Though tbis be a tirae wherein God doth more liberally bestow his grace,
and so a time of greater advantage for obtaining il ; yet there seems to be, upon
some accounts, greater d-anger of backsliding, than wben persons are awak
ened at other times. For comraonly such extraordinary times do not last long;
and tben when they cease, there are multitudes that lose their convictions as it
were together.
We speak of it as a happy thing, that God is pleased to cause such a tirae
amongst us, and so it is indeed : but there are some to whom it will be no ben
efit ; it will be an occasion of their greater raisery ; they will wish they had
never seen this lime ; it will be more tolerable for those that never savi? it, or
any thing like il, in the day ofjudgraent, than for tbem. It is an awful consid
eration, that there are probably those here, whom the great Judge will hereaf
ter call to a strict account about this very thing, why tbey no betier improved
this opportunity, when he set open tbe fountain of his grace, and so loudly call
ed upon them, and came and strove with them in particular, by tbe awakening
influences of his Spirit; and they will bave no good account to give to the
Judge, but tbeir mouths will be stopped, and they will stand speechless before
hum. You had need therefore to be earnest, and very resolved in tbis aff'air, that
you may not be one o." those who shall thus fall, tbat you may so fight, as not
uncertainly, and so run. as that you may win the prize.
5. Consider in what ."^d circurastances times of extraordinary effusion of
396 PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM 0^ QOD.
God's Spirit commonly leave persons, when they leave them unconveited
They find them in a doleful, because in a natural condition ; but commonly
leave them in a much more doleful condition. They are lef dreadfully hardened,
and wilh a great increase of guilt, and their souls under a raore strong dominion and
possession of Satan. And frequently seasonsof extraordinary advantage for salva
tion, when they pass over persons, and tbey do not iraprove them, nor receive any
good in them, seal their daranation. As such seasons leave thera, God for
ever leaves them, and gives them up to judicial hardness. Luke xix. 41, 42,
" And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying.
If thou hadst known, even thou, the things which belong unto thy peace ! but
now they are hid frora thine eyes."
6. Consider, that it is very uncertain whether you will ever see such anoth
er tirae as this. If there should be such another time, it is very uncertain
whether you will live to see it Many that are now concerned for their salva
tion amongst us, will probably be in their graves, and il raay be in bell, before
that tirae ; and if you should raiss this opportunity, it may be so wilh you.
And what good will that do you, to have tbe Spirit of God poured out upon
earth, in the place where you once lived, while you are torraented in hell 1 What
will it avafl you, that others are crying. What sball I do lo be saved ? while
you are shut up forever in the bottomless pit, and are wailing and gnashine
your teeth in everlasling burnings ?
Wherefore iraprove this opportunity, whfle God is pouring out his Spirit,
and you are on earlh, and while you dwell in that place where the Spirit of
God is thus poured out, and you yourself have the awakening influences of it,
that you may never wafl and gnash your teeth in hell, but may sing in heaven
forever, with others that are redeemed from amongst men, and redeemed
amongst us.
7. If you should see another such time, it will be under far greater disad
vantages than now. You will probably tben be much older, and wifl have
more hardened your heart ; and so will be under less probability of receiving
good. Sorae persons are so hardened in sin, and so left of God, that they can
live through such a tirae as this, and not be much awakened or affected by il ; they
can stand their ground, and be bul little moved. And so it may be with you,
by another such time, if there should be another araongst us, and you should
live to see it. The case in all probability will be greatly altered with you by
that tirae. If you should continue Christless and graceless till then, you will
be rauch further frora the kingdom of God, and much deeper involved in snares
and misery ; and the devil will probably bave a vastly greater advantage
against you, to tempt and confound you.
8. We do not know but that God is now gathering in bis elect, before sorae
great and sore judgraent. It has been God's raanner before he casts off a visi
ble people, or brings sorae great and destroying judgments upon thera, first to
gather in his elect, that they raay be secure So it was before the casting off
the Jews from being God's people. There was first a very reraarkable pouring
out of th| Spirit, and gathering in of the elect, by the preaching of the apos
tles and evangelists, as we read in the beginning of the Acts : but after tbis
harvest and its gleanings were over the rest were blinded, and hardened ; tbe
gospel had liltle success araongst them, and the nation was given up, and cast.
off from being God's people, and their city and land was destroyed by the Ro
mans in a terrible manner ; and they have been cast off by God now for a great
many ages, and still reraain a hardened and rejected people So we read in
the beginning of Ihe 7lh chapter of the Revelations, that God, when about to
PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OV GOD. 397
bring destroying judgments on tbe earth, first sealed his servants in tbe forehead
He set his seal upon the hearts of the elect, gave thera the saving influences
and indwelling of his Spirit, by which they were sealed to the day of rederap
tion. Rev. vii. 1 — 3, " And after these thing.s, I saw four angels standing on
the four corners ofthe earth, boiling the four winds of the eartii, that tbe wind
should not blow on the earth, nor on tbe sea, nor on any tree. And I saw an
other angel ascending from tbe east, having the seal of the living God : and he
cried with a loud voice to the four angels, lo whora it was given to hurt the
earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, tfll
we have sealed tbe servants of our God in their foreheads."
And this may be the case now, that God is about, in a great measure, to
forsake this land, and give up tbis people, and to bring most awful and over-
wbelraing judgments upon it, and tbat he is now gathering in his elect, to se
cure thera from the calamity. The stale of the nation, and of this land, never
looked so threatening of such a thing as at this day. The present aspect of
things exceedingly threatens vital rehgion, and even those truths that are es
pecially the foundation of it, out of this land. If it should be so, how awful
wfll the case be with those that shall be left, and not broughi in, while God
continues the influences of bis Spirit, to gather in those that are to be redeemed
frora amongst us !
9. If you neglect tbe present opportunity, and be finally unbelieving, those
that are converted in this tirae of tbe pouring out of God's Spirit will rise up in
judgraent against you. Your neighbors, your relations, acquaintance, or com
panions that are converted, wfll tbat day appear against you. They wifl not
only be taken while you are left, mounting up wilh joy to raeet the Lord in the
air — at his right band with glorious saints and angels, while you are at the left
with devfls — but how will they rise up in judgraent against you ! However
friendly you have been together, and have taken pleasure in one another's cora
pany, and have often farailiarly conversed togetber, they will then surely ap
pear against you. Tbey will rise up as witnesses, and will declare what a
precious opportunity you had, and dicf not improve ; how you continued un
believing, and rejected the offers of a Saviour, when those offers were made in
so extraordinary a manner, and when so many others were prevafled upon to
accept of Christ; bow you was negligent and slack, and did not know the
things that belonged to your peace, in that your day. And not only so, but
they shafl be your judges, as assessors wilh the great Judge ; and as such wfll
appear against you ; they will be wilh the Judge in passing sentence upon you.
1 Cor. vi. 2, " Know ye not that the sainls shall judge the world ?" Christ
will admit tbem to the honor of judging the world wi'th him : " They shall sit
wilh hira in his throne," Rev. in. 21. They shall sit wilh Christ in bis Ihrone
of governmenl, and tbey will sit with bim in bis throne ofjudgraent, and shall
be judges with him when you are judged, and as such shall condemn you.
10. And lastly, You do not know that you shall live tbrough the present
time out of the pouring out of God's Spirit You may be taken away in the
midst of it, or you raay be taken away in the beginning of it; as God in his
providence is putting you in raind, by tbe lale instance of death in a young per
son in the town. God has of late been very awful in bis dealings with us, in
the repeated deaths of young persons amongst u.s. This should stir every one
up to be in the more ha.jte to press into the kingdom of God, tbat so you may
be safe whenever death comes. This is a blessed season and opportunity ; but
you do not know how liltle of it you may have. You may have much less
of it than others ; may by death be suddenly snatched away from all advan-
398 PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD
tages that arc here enjoyed for the good of souls. Therefore make haste, aud
escape for thy life. One moment's delay is dangerous ; for wrath is pursuing,
and divine vengeance hanging over every uncovered person.
Let these considerations move every one lo be improving this opportunity
that while others receive saving good, and are made heirs of eternal glory, you
raay not be left behind, in the same raiserable doleful circumstances in which
you came into the world, a poor captive to sin and Satan, a lost sheep, a per
ishing, undone creature, sinking down into everlasting perdition ; that you may
not be one of them spoken of, Jer. xvii. 6, " That shafl be like the heath in the
desert, and shall not see when good coraes." If you do not improve this oppor
tunity, reraember I have told you, you will hereafter lament it ; and if you do
not lament it in this world, then I will leave it with you to remember it through
out a raiserable eiernity.
II. I would address rayself to such as yet reraain unawakened. It is an
awful thing that there should be any one person reraaining secure amongst us at
such a time as this ; but yet il is to be feared that there are sorae ofthis sort I
would here a little expostulate with sucb persons.
1. When do you expect that it wfll be more likely that you should be
awakened and wrought upon than now 1 You are in a Christiess condition ; and
yet without doubt intend to go to heaven ; and Iherefore intend to be convert
ed some time before you die ; but this is not to be expected tfll you are first
awakened, and deeply concerned about the welfare of your soul, and brought
earnestly to seek God's converting grace. And when do you intend that this shall
be 1 How do you lay things out in your own raind, or what projection have
you about this raatter ? Is it ever so likely that a person wfll be awakened, as
at such a time as this? How do we see raany, who before were secure, now
roused out of their sleep, and ciying. What shall I do to be saved ? But you
are yet secure! Do you-flatler yourself that it will be more likely you should
be awakened when il is a dull and dead time ? Do you lay matters out thus
in your own mind, that though you are senseless wjien others are generally
awakened, that yet you shall be awakened when others are generally senseless 1
Or do you hope to see another such tirae of the pouring out of God's Spirit
hereafter 1 And do you think il will be raore likely that you should be wrought
upon then, than now ? And wby do you think so ? Is it because then you
shall be so much older than you are now, and so that your heart wfll be grown
softer and raore tender with age ; or because you will then have stood out so
much longer against the calls of the gospel, and all means of grace ? Do you
thing it more likely that God will give you the needed iinfluences of his Spirit
then, than now, because then you will have provoked him so much more, and
your sin and guilt will be so much greater ? And do you think it will be any
benefit to you, to stand it out through the present season of grace, as proof
against the extraordinary raeans of awakening there are 1 Do vou think tbat
this will be a good prepnration for a saving work of the Spirit hereafter 1
2. What raeans do you expect lo be awakened by 1 As to tbe awakening
awful Ihings ofthe word of God, you have had those set before you times with-
out number, in the most moving manner that the dispensers of the word have
been capable of As to particular .solemn warnings, directed to those that are
in your circumstances, you have had thera frequently, and have tbem now from
time to tirae. Do you expect to be awakened by awful providences 1 Those
also you have lately had, of the most awakening nature, one after another.
Do you expect to be moved by the deaths of others ? We bave lately had re
peated instances of these There have been deaths of old and young : the yeai
PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 399
has been remarkable for the deaths of young persons in the bloom of life ; and
sorae 01 thera very sudden deaths. Will the conversion of others move you 1
Tbere is indeed scarce any thing that is found to have so great a tendency to
stir persons up as this : and this you have been tried with of late in frequent in
stances; bul are hitherto proof against it. Will a general pouring out of the
Spirit, and seeing a concern about salvation araongst all sorts of people, do it ?
This means you now have, but without effect. Yea, you have all these Ihings
together; you have tbe solemn warnings of God's word, and awful instances of
dealh, and the conversion of others, and see a general concern about salvation : '
but all together do not move you to any great concern about your own precious,
imraorlal, and miserable soul Therefore consider by wbat means it is that you
expect ever to be awakened.
You have heard tbat il is probable some wbo are now awakened, will never
obtain salvation ; how dark then does it look upon you that reraain stupidly un
awakened ! Those who are not moved at such a time as this, come to adult
age, have reason lo fi ar whether they are not given up to judicial hardness. I
do not say they have, reason lo conclude it, but they have reason to fear it.
How dark doth it look upon you, that God comes and knocks at so many per
sons' doors, and misses yours ! tbat God is giving the strivings of bis Spirit so
generally amongst us, while you are left senseless !
3. Do you expect to obtain salvation without ever seeking it ' If you are
sensible that there is a necessity of your seeking in order to obtaining, and ever
intend to seek, one would think you could not avoid it at such a lime as this.
Inquire therefore, whether you intend to go to heaven, living all your days a
secure, negligent, careless life. Or,
4. Do you think you can bear tbe damnation of hell ? Do you imagine
that you can tolerably endure tbe devouring fire, and everlasting burnings t
Do you hope that you shall be able to grapple with the vengeance of God
Almighty, when he girds himself wilb strength, and clothes himself wilh
wralh ? Do you think lo strengthen yourself against God, and lo be able to
make your part good with him 1 1 Cor. xx. 22, " Do we provoke the Lord
to jealousy 1 are we stronger than he V Do you flatter yourself that you shall
find out ways for your ease and support, and lo raake it out tolerably wefl, to
oear up your spirit in those everlasting burnings tbat are prepared for the devil
and his angels? Ezek. xxii. 14, " Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands
De strong, in the days that I sball deal wilb thee?" — It is a difficult thing to
conceive what such Christless persons think, that are unconcerned al such a lime.
III. I would direct myself lo them who are grown considerably into years,
and are yet in a natural condition. I would now take occasion earnestly to
exhort you to improve this extraordinary opportunity, and press into the king
dom of God. You have lost raany advantages thai once you had, and now
have not the same advantages that others have. The case is very diff'erent
with you frora what it is with many of your neighbors. You, above all, had
need to improve such an opportunity. Now is tbe time for you to bestir your
self, and lake the kingdom of heaven ! — Cpnsider,
1. Now there seems to be a door opened for old sinners. Now God is
dealing forth freely to all sorts : his band is opened wide, and be does not pass by
old ones so much as be used lo do. You are not under such advantages as
others who are younger; but yet so wonderfully has God ordered it, that now
you are not destitute of great advantage. Though old in sin, God has put a
new and extraordinary advantage inlo your bands. 0! improve this price
you have to get wisdcm ! You that bave been long seeking to enter in al tbe
400 PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
Strait gate and yet reraain wiihout, now take your opportunity and press in
You that have been long in the wilderness, fighting wilh various teinptalio.o?.
laboring undev discourageraents, ready lo give up Ihe case, and have been often
terapted to despair, now behold the door that God opens for you ! Do not giye
way to discourageraents now ; this is not a lirae for it. Do not spend time in
thinking, that you have done what you can already, and that you are nc t elect
ed, and in giving way to other perplexing, weakening, disheartening terapta
tions. Do not waste away this precious opportunity in such a raanner. You
have no time to spare for such things as these ; God calls you now to spmething
else. Improve this tirae in seeking and striving fo salvation, anil not in that
which tends to hinder it. — It is no time now for yi i to stand talking with the
devil ; bul hearken to God, and apply yourself to hat which he does now so
loudly call you to.
Sorae of vou bave often lamented the loss of past opportunities, particularly,
,tbe loss of the time of youth, and have been wishing that you had so good an
opportunity again ; and have been ready lo say, " 0 ! if I was young again,
how would I improve such an advantage!" Tha'. opportunity which you have
had in lime past is irrecoverable ; you can never bave it again : but God can
give you other advantages of another sort, that are very great, and he is so doing
at this day. He is now putiing a new opportunity inlo your hands; though
not of the same kind with that which you once had, and have lost, yet in sorae
r«!Spects as great of another kind. If you laraent your folly in neglecting and
losing past opportunities, then do not be guilty of the folly of neglecting the
opportunity which God now gives you. This opportunity y?u could not have
purchased, if you would have given all that you had in the world for it But
God is putting it into your hands himself, of his own free and sivereign mercy,
without your purchasing it Therefore when you have it, do ml neglect it.
2. It is a great deal more likely wilh respect to such perso.is than others,
tbat this is their last tirae. There will be a last tirae of special offer of salva
tion to impenitent sinners. — " God's Spirit shall not always strive wilh man,"
Gen. vl 3. God sometiraes continues long knocking at the doors of wicked
raen's hearts ; but there are the last knocks, and the last calls that ever they
shafl have. And sometimes God's last calls are the loudest; and tben if sinners
do not hearken, he finally leaves them. How long has God been knocking at
many of your doors that are old in sin ! It is a great deal raore likely that these
a-re his last knocks. You have resisted God's Spirit in tiraes past, and have har
dened your heart once and again ; bul God will not be thus dealt with always.
There is danger, that if now, after so long a tirae, you wfll not betirken, he
wfll utterly desert you, and leave you to walk in your own counsels.
It seems by Gocl's providence, as though God had yet an elect number
amongst old shiners in tiiis place, tbat perhaps he is now about to bring in. It
looks as Ihough tbere were some that long lived under Mr. Stoddard's ministry,
that God has not utterly cast off, though they stood it out under such great
raeans as they then enjoyed. It is to be hoped that God wfll now bring in a
reranant flora araong thera. But il is the raore likely tbat God is now about fin
ishing wilh thera, one way or otber,'for tbeir having been so long the subjects of
such extracirdinary raeans. You bave seen former times of tbe pouring out of
God's Spirit upon the town, when others were taken and you left, others were
called out of darkness into marvellous light, and were brought into a glorious
and happy state, and you saw not good when good oame. How dark wifl your
circumstances appear, if you shall also stand it out through this opportunity, and
still be left behind ! Take heed that you be not of those spoken of, Heb. vi. 7
PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD 401
8, that are like the " earth that bas rain coraing oft upon it, and only bears briers
and thorns." As we see there are some pieces of ground, the more showers
of rain fall upon thera, the raore fruitful seasons there are, the more do Ihe
briers, iftd other useless and hurtful plants, that are rooted in tbem, grow and
flourish. Of such ground the apostle says, " It is rejected, and is nigh unto
cursing, whose end is to be burned." Tbe way 'hat the husbandraan takes
wilb such ground, is, to set fire to it, to burn up thr growth ofii. — If you miss this
opportunity, tbere is danger that you will be u*^terly rejected, and tbat your end
will be to be burned. And if this is lo be, i'. is to be feared, that you are not
far from, but nigh unto cursing.
Those of you that are already grown old in ;'in, and are now under awak
enings, when you feel your convictions begin to go off, if ever tbat should be,
then reraember w hat you have now been told ; it may wtdl tben strike you to
tbe heart !
IV. I would direct the advice to those tbat are young, and now under their
first special convictions. I would earnestly urge sucb to improve tbis oppor
tunity, and press into the kingdora of God. — Consider two things.
1. You have all manner of advantages now centering upon you. It is a
tirae of great advantage for all ; but your advantage is above others. There is
no other sort of persons that have now so great and happy an opportunity as
you have. — You have the great advantage that is coraraon to all who live in
this place, viz., that now it is a tirae of the extraordinary pouring out of the
Spirit of God. And bave you not that great advantage, the awakening influ
ences of the Spirit of God on you in particular ? And besides, you bave this
peculiar advantage, tbat you are now in your youth. And added to this, you
have another unspeakable advantage, that you now are under your first convic
tions. Happy is he that never has hardened bis heart, and blocked up his own way
to heaven by backsliding, and has now the awakening influence of God's Spi
rit, if God does but enable him •horoughly to improve thera ! Such above all
in tbe world bid fair for the kingdora of God. God is wont on such, above any
kind of person.:., as it were easily and readily lo bestow the saving grace and
comforts of his Spirit. Instances of speedy and sudden conversion are raost cora
monly found araong such. Happy are they that have the Spirit of God wilh
thera, and never have quenched it, if tbey did but know tbe price tbey have
in their hands !
If you have a sense of your necessity of salvation, and the great worth and
value of it, you will be willing to take the surest way to il, or that which has
the greatest probability of success ; and that certainly is, thoroughly to iraprove
your first convictions. If you do so, it is not likely that you wfll fail ; Ihere is
the gi eatest probabflity that you will succeed. — 'What is it not worth, to have
such an advantage in one's hands for obtaining eternal life ? The present sea
son of the pouring out of God's Spirit, is thefirst that many of you who are now
under awakenings have ever seen, since you came to years of understanding
On which account, it is the greatest opportunity that ever you have had, and
probably by far tbe greatest that ever you wfll have. Tbere are raany here
present who wish they had such an opportunity, but they never can obtain
it ; they cannot buy it for money ; but you have it in your possession, and can
improve it if you will. But yet,
2. There is on sorae accounts greater danger that such as are in your cir
curastances will fafl of thoroughly improving their convictions, with respect
to steadfastness and perseverance, than others. Those that are young are raore
unstable than elder persons. They who never had convictions before, bave less
Vol. IV. 51
402 PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
experience of the difficulty of the work tbey bave engaged in ' /hey are more
ready to think that tbey shall obtain salvation easily, and are more easily dis
couraged by disappoinlraents ; and young persons have less reason and con
sideration to fortify them against temptations to backsliding. You should there
fore labor now the more to guard against such temptations. By all means
make but one work of seeking salvation ! Make thorough work ofii Ibe first
tirae ! There are vast disadvantages that they bring themselves under, who
bave several turns of seeking wilh great intermissions. By such a course, per
sons exceedingly wound their own souls, and entangle them.selves in many
snares. Who are those that commonly meet with so many difficulties, and are
so long laboring in darkness and perplexity, but those wbo have bad several
turns at seeking salvation ; who have one whfle had convictions, and then have
quenched them, and then bave set about the -work again, and have backslidden
again, and have gone on after that manner ? The children of Israel would not
bave been forty years in the wilderness, if they had held their courage, and had
gone on as they set out ; but tbey were of an unstable mind, and were forgoing
back again into Egypt — Otherwise, if they had gone right forward without
discouragement, as God would have led them, they would soon bave entered
and taken possession of Canaan. They had got lo the very borders of it when
they turned back, bul were thirty-eight years after that, before they got through
the wilderness. Therefore, as you regard the interest of your soul, do not run
yourself into a like difficulty, by unsteadiness, intermission, and backsliding; but
press right forward, from henceforth, and make but one work of seeking, con
verting, and pardoning grace, however great, and difficult, and long a work
that may be,
SERMON XXIII.
THE VOl.LY OF LOOKING BACK IN FLEEING OUT OF SODOBI.
Luke xvii. 32. — Remember Lol's wife.
Christ is here fo.etelling his coming in his kingdora in answer to the question
which the Pharisees asked him, viz.. When the kingdom of God should come.
And in what he says of his coraing, he evidenlly has respect to two Ihings, his
coramg at the destruction of Jerusalem, and his coming to the general judgment
at the tud of the world. He compares his coraing at those times to the cora
ing of » rod in two remarkable judgments that were past ; first, lo that in the
time of the flood ; " and as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the
days of '.he Son of Man." Next, he compares it to the destruction of Sodora
and Gomorrah ; " likewise also, as it was in tbe days of Lot, even thus shall it
be in Ike day wben the Son of Man is revealed."
Then he iraraediately proceeds to direct his people how they should behave
tberaselves at the appearance of tho signal of the approach of that day, referring
especially to the destruction of Jerusalem. " In tbat day, he which shall be
upon the house-top, and his stuff in the house, let him not corae down to lake il
away : and he that is in the field, let hira likewise not return back." In which
words Christ shows that they should make the utmost haste to flee and get out of
the city to the mountains, as be commands. Matt, xxiv. 15, &c. : " When ye
therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the pro
phet stand in the holy place, then let them which be in Judea flee to the moun
tains ; let him which is in the house-top not come down lo take any thing out
of the house, neither let him which is in the field turn back to take his clolbes."
Jerusalera was like Sodora, in that it was devoted to destruction, by special
divine wrath, as that was ; and indeed to a more terrible destruction than Sodom
was. Therefore the like direction is given concerning fleeing out of it wilh the
utmost haste, wiihout looking behind, as the angel gave to Lot, when he bid
him flee out of Sodom. Gen. xix, " Escape for thy life ; look not behind thee,
neither stay thou in all the plain." — And in the text Christ enforces his counsel
by the instance of Lot's wife. He bids thera reraember her, and lake warning
by her, who looked back as she was fleeing out of Sodom, and became a pillar
of salt. If it be inquired wby Christ gave this direction to bis people to flee out of
Jerusalem, in such exceeding baste, at the first notice of the signal of her ap
proaching destruction ; I answer, it seeras to be, because fleeing out of Jerusa
lera was a type of fleeing out of a state of sin. Elscapingout of that unbehev
ing city typified an escape out of a state of unbelief Therefore they were
directed to flee wiihout slaying to take any thing out of their houses, to signify
with what haste and greatness of concern we should flee out of a natural con
dition, that no respect to any worldly enjoyraent should prevent or delay us one
moment, and that we should flee to Jesus Christ, tbe refuge of souls, our stron"
rock, and the mount of our defence, so as in fleeing to bim, to leave and forsake
heartily all earthly Ihings.
This seems to be the chief reason also wby Lot was directed to raake such
haste, and not to look behind ; because his fleeing out of Sodora was designed on
104 FOLLY OF LOOKING BACK
purpose to be a type of our fleeing from tnat state of sin and misery in which
we naturally are. DOCTRINE
We ought not to look back when we are fleeing out of Sodom.
The following reasons may be .sufficient to support this doctrines :
1 That Sodom, is a city full of filthiness and aborainations. It is a filthy
and aborainable city ; it is full of those impurities that are worthy to be had in
the utmost abhorrence and detestation by all. The inhabitants of it are a pol
luted corapany, they are all under the power and dominion of hateful lusts.
All their faculties and affections are polluted with those vile dispositions that
are unworthy of the huraan nature, that greatly debase it, tbat are exceedingly
hateful lo God and dreadfully incense his anger. Every kind of spiritual
abomination abounds in il : in Sodora there is all fillhiness that can be thought
of There is nothing so hateful and aborainable but that there it is to be found,
and there it abounds.
Sodom is a city full of devils and all unclean spirits ; there they have their
rendezvous, and there they have their dominion. There they and those that are
like unto thera, do sport and wallow theraselves in filthiness, as it is said of
mystical Babylon, Rev. xviii 2: " Babylon Ls become the habitation of devils,
and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful
bird." Who would be of such a society ? Wbo would not flee frora such a city
with the utmost haste, and never look back upon it, and never have the least
inclination of returning, or having any thing to do there any more ?
Some in Sodora raay seem to carry a fair face, and make a fair outward
show ; but if we could look into their hearts, they are every one altogether filthy
and abominable. We ought to flee from such a cily, wilh the utmost abhorrence
ofthe place and society, with no desire to dwell longer there, and never to discover
the least inclination to return to it ; but should be desir-ous to get to the great
est possible distance from it, that we might in no wise be partakers in. hei
abominations. 2. We ought not to look back when fleeing out of Sodora, because Sofloin
is a city appointed to destruction. The cry of the cily hath reached up to
heaven. The earlh cannot bear such a burden as her inhabitants are ; she will
therefore disburden herself of thera, and spew thera out God wfll not suffer
such a city to stand ; he will consurae it. God is a holy God, and his nature
is infinitely opposite to all sucb uncleanness as Sodora is full of; he wifl therer.
fore be a consuraing fire to it. The holiness of God wifl not suffer it to stand,
and the Majesty and justice of God require that the inhabitants of tbat city,
who thus offiend and provoke hira, be destroyed. And God will surely destroy'
thera; itis the iramutable and irreversible decree of God. He bath said it,
and he will do it The decree is gone forth, and so sure as there is a God, ahd
he is Alraighty, and able to fulfil his decrees and threatenings, so surely wifl he
destroy Sodora. Gen. xix. 12, 13, " Whatsoever thou hast in this city, bring
Jhem out of this place; for we wfll destroy tbis place, because the cry of thera
is waxen great before the face of tbe Lord, and the Lord hath sent us to destroy
it." And verse 14, " Up, get ye out of tbis place, for tbe Lord will destroy
this city."
This city is an accursed city ; it is destined to ruin., Therefore, as we would
not be partakers of her curse, and would not be destroyed, we should flee put
of it. and not look behind us: Rev. xviii. 4, " Come out of her, my people, thai
ye bt not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."
IN FLEEING OUT OF SODOM 405
•S. We ought not to look back wben fleeing out of Sodom, because the
destruction to which it is appointed is exceedingly dreadful ; it is appointed to
utter destruction, to be wholly and entirely consuraed. It is appointed lo suffer
?he wralh of the great God, which is to be poured down frora God upon it, like
a dreadful storm ol fire and brimstoine. This city is to be filled full of the
wrath of God. Every one that remains in it shall have the fire of God's wrath
corae down on his head and into his soul : he shall be full of fire, and full of the
wrath of the Almighty. He shall be encompassed with fire without and full of
fire within : his bead, his heari, his bowels, and all his hmbs sball be full of fire,
and not a drop of water to cool him.
Nor shall he have any place lo flee to for relief Go where he will, there
is the fire of God's wralh : his destruction and torment will be inevitable. He
shall be destroyed without any pily. He shall cry aloud, but there shall be
none lo help, there shall be none to regard bis laraentations, or to afford relief.
The decree is gone forth, and the days come wben Sodom shall burn as an oven,
and all the inhabitants thereof shall be as stubble. As it was in the literal
Sodom, the whole city was fufl of fire; in their houses there was no safety, for
they v^ere all on fire ; and if they fled out into the streets, they also were full
of fire. Fire continually came down out of heaven everywhere. That was a
disraal tirae. Whal a cry was Ihere then in that city, in every part of it ! But
there was none to help ; they had nowhere to go, where they could hide their
heads frora fire : they had none to pity or relieve them. If they fled to their
friends, they could not help them.
Now, with what haste should we flee from a cily appointed to such a des
truction ! And how should we flee wiihout looking behind us! How should
it be our whole intent, and what we with all our minds and might are engaged
about, to get at the greaiest distance from a cily in such circumstances ! How
far should we be from Ihinking at all of returning to a cily wbich has such
' wralh hanging over it !
4. The destruction to which Sodom is appointed is a universal destruction.
None that slay in it sh-all escape : none will bave tbe good fortune to be in any
by corner, where the fire will not search them out All sorts, old and young,
great and small, .shall be destroyed. There shall be no exception of any age,
or any sex, or any condition, but all shall perish together, Gen. xix. 2-1, 25,
" Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire
from the Lord out ot heaven, and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain,
and all the inhabitants of tbe cities, and that which grew upon the ground."
We therefore must not longer delay or look behind us ; for there is no place of
safety in Sodora, nor in all the plain on which Sodom is built. The mountain
of safety is before us, and not behind us.
5. The destruction to which Sodom is appointed is an everlasting destruc
tion. This is said of the literal Sodom, that it suffered the vengeance of eternal
fire, Jude 7: "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, in
like manner giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh,
are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." That des
truction tbat Sodom and Gomorrah suffiered was an eternal destruction; those
cities were destroyed, and have never been built since, and are not capable of
heing rebuilt ; for the land on which they stood at the time of their destruction
sunk, and has been ever since covered with the lakeof Sodom, or the dead sea,
or 2s itis called in Scripture, the salt sea. This seems to have been thus order
ed on purjiose to be a type ofthe eternal destruction of ungodly men. So that
fire by which they were destroyed is called eternal fire,, because it was so typir
406 FOLLV OF LOOKING BACK
cally, it was a type of the eternal destruction of ungodly men ; whi^n HiSy
be in part what is intended, when it is said in that text in Jude, that they were
set forth for an exaraple, or for a type or representation of the eternal fire m
which all the ungodly are to be consuraed.
Sodora has in all ages since been covered whh a lake whicb was first
brought on it by fire and brimstone, to be a type of the lake of fire and brim
stone in which ungodly men shafl have their part forever and ever, as we read
Rev. XX. 15, and elsewhere.
We ought not therefore to look back when fleeing out of Sodora, seeing
that the destruction to which il is appointed is an eternal destruction ; for this
renders the destruction infinitely dreadful.
6. Sodom is a cily appointed to swift and sudden destruction. The des
truction is not only certain and inevitable, and infinitely dreadful, but it wifl
come speedily. " 'Their judgment lingereth not, and their damnation slumber-
elh not," 2 Pet ii. 3. And so Deut. xxxii. 35, "The day oftheir calamity is
at hand, and the Ihings that shall come upon thera raake haste'' The storra of
wrath, the black clouds of divine vengeance even now every moment hang over
them, ju.st ready to break forth and comedown in a dreadful raanner upon them.
God hath already whet his sword, and bent bis bow, and made ready bis arrow
on the string, Psalra vii. 12. Therefore we should make haste, and not look
behind us. For if we linger and stop to look back, and flee not for our lives,
there is great danger that we shall be involved in the coramon ruin.
The destruction of Sodom is not only swift, bul will come suddenly and un
expectedly. It seems to have been a fair morning in Sodom on the morning
that it was destroyed. There is notice taken of the time when tbe sun rose that
raorning, Gen. xix. 23. It seeras that there were no clouds to be seen, no ap
pearance of any storm at all, much less a storm of fire and brimstone. The in
habitants of Sodom expected no such thing ; even when Lot told his sons-in-law
of it, they would not believe it. Gen. xix. 14. They were makuig raerry ;
their hearts were at ease, tbey Ihought nothing of such a calamity at hand.
But it came al once, as travail upon a woman with child, and there -was no
escape ; as il is observed in the context, v. 28, 29, " They clid eat, they drank ;
they bought, they sold ; they planted, they Wlded ; but the same day that
Lot went out of Sodora, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed
thera all."
So it is with wicked men ; Psalra Ixxiii. 19, " How are they brought into
desolation in a moment; they are utterly consuraed with terrors." If therefore
we linger and look back, we may be suddenly overtaken and seized with des
truction. 7. There is nothing in Sodom that is worlh looking back upon. All the en
joyment's of Sodom will soon perish in the common destruction, all wifl be burnt
up. And surely it is not worth the whfle to look back on tbings that are per
ishing and consuming in the flames, as it is with all the enjoyments of sin ; they
are all appointed to the fire. Therefore it is foolish for any who are fleeing out
of Sodora to hanker any raore after thera ; for when they are burnt up, what
good can they do ? And is it worth the while for us to return back for the sake
of a moment's enjoyment of thera, before they are burnt, and so expose ourselves
to be burnt up with thera ?
Lot's wife looked back, because she remerabered the pleasant things that
she left in Sodora. She baled to leave fhem ; she hankered after them ; she
could not but look back with a wishful eye upon the city, where she bad lived
m such ease and pleasure. Sodora was a place of great outward plenty ; they
IN FLEEING OUT OF SODOM. 407
ate the fat and drank tbe sweet. Tbe sofl where Sodom was buflt was exceed
ingly fruitful; it is said to be as the garden of God, Gen. xn. 10. And fulness
of bread was one ofthe sins ofthe place, Ezek. xvi. 49.
Here Lot and his wife lived plentifully ; and it was a place where tbe in-
aabitants wallowed in carnal pleasures and delights. But however much it
abounded in these things, wbat were they worth now, when tbe city was burn
ing 1 Lot's wife was very foolish in lingering in her escape for the sake of
things which were all on fire. So the enjoyraents, the profits, and pleasures of
sin, have the wralh and curse of God on them : brimstone is scattered on thera :
hell-fire is ready to kindle on thera. It is not Iherefore worlh whfle for any
person to look back after sucb Ihings.
8. We are warned by messengers sent to us frora God to make haste in our
flight from Sodom, and not to look behind us. God sends to us his rainisters, the
angels of the churches, on this grand errand, as he sent the angels to warn Lot
and his wife lo flee for their lives, and to say and do as -we have account in
Gen. xix. 15, 16. If we delay or look back, now that we have had such fair
warning, we shall be exceedingly inexcusable and monstrously foolish.
APPLICATION.
The use that I would raake of this doctrine is, to warn tbose who are in a
natural condition to flee out of il, and by no means to look back. While you
are out of Christ, you are in Sodom, The whole history of the destruction of
Sodom, with all its circumstances, seems to be inserted in the Scriptures for our
warning, and is set forth for an example, as the Aposlle Jude says. It, in a
lively raanner, typifies the case of natural men, tbe destruction of those that
continue in a natural state, and the raanner of their escape who flee to Christ.
The Psalraist, when speaking of the appointed punishraent of ungodly men,
seems evidently to refer lo the destruction of Sodom, in Psalm xi. 6 : " Upon the
wicked God sball rain snares, fire, and brirastone, and a horrible tempest; this
shall be tbe portion of their cup."
Consider therefore what the state is that you are to get out of, you that are
seeking an interest in Christ : you are lo flee out of Sodom. Sodora is the place
of your nativity, and the place where you have spent your lives hitherto. You
are citizens of that city which is full of fillhiness and abomination before God,
that polluted and accursed cily. You belong to tbat impure society. Y^ou not only
live araong them, but you are of thera, you are some tbat bave committed those
abominations, and have so provoked God as you have heard. It is you that I have
all this while been speaking of under this doctrine ; you are the inhabitants of
Sodom. Perhaps you may look on your circumstances as not very dreadful ; but
you dwell in Sodom. Though you raay be reforraed, and appear with a clean
outside, and a sraooth face to the world; yet as long as you are in a natural
condition, you are irapure inhabitants of Sodora.
The world of mankind is divided into two corapanies, or, as I raay say, into
two cities : there is tht -?ity of Zion, the church of God, the holy and beloved
city; and there is Sodora, that polluted and accursed city, whicb is appointed
to destruction. You belong to tbe latter of these. How much soever you may
look upon yourselves better than some others, yet you are of the sarae city ; the
same company with fornicators, and drunkards, and adulterers, and comraon
swearers, and highwayraen, and pirates, and Sodoraites. How much soever you
may think yourselves distinguished, as long as you are out of Christ you belong
to the very sarae society ; you are of the corapany, you join with thera, and are
408 FOLLY OF LOOKING BACK
no better than they, any otherwise . than as you have greater restra...ts. Yol
are considered in the sight of God as fit to be ranked with them. You and they
are altogether the objects of the loathing and abhorrence of God, and haye the
wrath of God abiding on you ; you wifl go with them and be destroyed with
thera, if you do not escape from your present state. Yea, you are o the saine
society and the sarae corapany with the devils, for Sodom is not only the city
of wicked men, but it is the hold of every foul spirit. .
You belong to that city that is appointed to an awful, inevitable, universal,
swift, and sudden destruction; a city that hath a storra of fire and wrath hang
ing over it Many of you are convinced of the awful state you are in while in
Sodom, and are making some atterapts to escape from the wrath which hangs
over it. Let such be warned by wbat hath been said, to escape for their lives,
and not to look back. Look not back, unless you choose to bave a share in
the burning tempest that is coming down on that city. Look not back in re
membrance of the enjoyraents which you have had in Sodom, as hankering
after the pleasant things which you have had tiiere, after the ease, the security,
and the pleasure which you have there enjoyed.
Remeraber Lol's wife ; for she looked back, as being loth utteriy and for
ever to leave the ease, the pleasure and plenty which she enjoyed in Sodom, and
as having a raind lo return to them again : remember what became of her. —
Remember the children of Israel in the wildfirness, who were desu-ous of going
back again into Egypt, because they remembered the leeks and onions, &c., of
Egypt : Numb. xi. 5, " We remeraber tbe flesh which we did eat in Egypt
freely, the cucu.rabers, and the melons, and tbe leeks, and the onions, and tbe
garliclf." Remember what was tbe issue of tbeir hankering. You must be
wflling forever to leave all the ease, and pleasure, and profit of sin, to forsake
all for salvation, as Lot forsook all, and left all be had, to escape out of Sodora.
And further to enforce this warning, let rae entreat all you who are in this
state to consider these several things which 1 shall now raention.
1. The destruction of which you are in danger is infinitely raore dreadful
than that destruction of the literal Sodom from which Lot fled. The destruc
tion of Sodora and Gomorrah in a storm of fire and brimstone, was but a shadow
of the destruction of ungodly raen in hell, and is no raore to it than a shadow
or a picture is to a reality, or than painted fire is to real fire. The misery of
hell is set forth by various shadows and images in Scripture, as blackness of
darkness, a never dying worm, a furnace of fire, a lake of fire and brimstone,
the torments of the valley of the son of Hinnora, a storm of fire and brimstone.
The reason why so raany similitudes are made use of, is because none of thera
are sufficient Any one does but partly and very imperfectly represent the truth,
and therefore God makes use of many.
You have therefore rauch more need to make baste in your escape, and not
to look behind you, than Lot and his wife had when tbey fled out of Sodom ;
for you are every day and every moment in danger of a thousand times raore
dreadful storm coming on your heads, than tbat wbich came on Sodom, when
the Lord rained brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven upon them ; so
that it will be vastiy more sottish in you to look back than it was in Lot's wife.
2. The destruction you are in danger of is not only greater than tbe temporal
destruction of Sodora, but greater than the eternal destruction ofthe inhabitants
of Sodora. For however well you may think you have behaved yourselves, you
who have continued impenitent underlhe glorious gospel, bave sinned more;
and provoked God far more, and bave greater guilt upon you, than the inhabit
ants of Sodora; although you raay seera to yourselves, and perhaps to others
IN FLEEING OUT OF SODOM. 409
to be vei'y harmless creatures. Matt. x. 15, " Verily I say unto you, il fliall be
more tolerable for Sodom and Goraorrah in tbe day of judgment, ihan for that
city." 3. Multitudes, whfle they have been looking back, bave been suddenly over
taken and seized by the storm of wralh. The wrath of God halh not delayed,
while they have delayed ; it has not waited at all for them lo repent, to turn
about and flee ; but has presently seized them, and they have been past bope.
When Lot's wife looked back, she was immediately destroyed. God bad exer
cised patience towards ber before. Wben she lingered at the selling out, the
angels pressed her, ber husband and children, to make baste. Not only so, but
when tbey yet delayed, they laid hold on ber bands, and brought ber forth, and
set her without tbe city, the Lord being merciful to her. But now when, not
withstanding this mercy, and the warnings which had been given her, she
looked back, God exercised no more patience towards her, but proceeded in
wrath immediately to put her to death.
Now God has in like manner been merciful to you. You in time past have
been lingering ; you have been warned by the angel of your danger, and pressed
to make haste and flee; yet you bave delayed. And now at length God hatb,
as it were, laid hold on you, by the convictions of his Spirit, to draw you out of
Sodora ; therefore remember Lot's wife. If now after afl, you should look back,
when God hath been so merciful to you, you will have reason to fear, that God
will suddenly destroy you, and wait no longer on you. Multitudes vv^ben they
have been looking back and putting off' to another opportunity, tbey have never
bad another opporlunity ; tbey bave been suddenly destroyed, and that wiihout
reraedy. 4. If you look back, and live long after it, there will be great danger tbat
you will never get any further. The only way to seek salvation is to press
forward, with all your might, and still lo look and press forward, never to stand
still or slacken your pace. Wben Lol's wife stopped in her flight, and stood
still in order that she might look, her punishment was, that there she was lo stand
forever ; she never got any farther ; she never got beyond that place ; bul there
she stood as a pillar of salt, a durable pfllar and monument of wrath, for ber
folly and wickedness.
So it very often is with backsliders, though they may live a considerable lime
after. When tbey look back, after they have been taking pains for their salva
tion, they lose all, they put Ihemselves under vast disadvantages ; by quench
ing the Spirit of God, and losing their convictions, they dreadfully harden their
own hearts and stupify their souls, make way for discourageraents, dreadfully
strengthen and establish tbe interest of sin in their hearts, raany ways give Sa
tan great advantages to ruin them, and provoke God oftentimes utterly to leave
thera to hardness of heart. When they corae to look back, their souls presently
become dead and hard like Lot's wife's body : and if this be the case, Ihough
they live long after, tbey never get any further; it is worse for thera than if
they were iraraediately daraned. When persons in fleeing out of Sodom look
back, their last case is far worse than the first. Matt xn. 43, 44,45. And ex
perience confirms that none ordinarily are so hard to be brought to repentance
as backsliders. 6. It may well stir you up to flee for your lives, and not to look behind you,
when you consider how many have lately fled to lo the mountain, while you yet
remain in Sodom. To what multitudes hatb God given the wisdom to flee to
Christ, the mountain of safety! Tbey have fled to tbe little city Zoar, which
God .will spare and never destroy. How raany have you seen of all sorts re-
Voi.. IV. 52
410 FOLLY OF LOOKING BACK
sorting out of Sodora thither, as believing the word of God by the «ngels, thai
God would surely destroy that place. They are in a safe condilR/n ; they are
got out of the reach of the storm ; tbe fiie and brimstone can do tbem no hurt
there. But you yet remain 11 that cursed city among that accursed company. You
are yet in Sodom, which God is about so terribly to destroy, where you are in
danger every rainute of having snares, fire, and brimstone, conae down on your
head. Though so many have obtained, yet you bave not obtained deliverance
Good has come, but you have seen none of it Others are happy, but no one
knows what wifl become of you : you have no part nor lot in that glorious salva
tion of souls, which has lately been among us. The consideration of this should
stir you up effectually to escape, and in your escape to press forward, still lo
press forward, and to resolve to press forward forever, let what will be in the way,
to hearken lo no temptation, and never to look back, or in any wise slacke nor abate
your endeavors as long as you live, but if possible to increase them more and more.
6. Backsliding after such a time as this,* wfll have a vastly greater ten
dency to seal a raan's daranation than al another time. The greater raeans
men have, the louder calls, and the greater advantages they are under, the raore
dangerous is backsliding, the raore it has a tendency to enhance guilt, to pro
voke God, and lo harden the heart
We, in this land of light, have long enjoyed greater advantages than tbe
most of the world. But the advantages wbich persons are under now for their
salvation, are perhaps tenfold to what tbey have been at such times as we have
ordinarily lived in ; and backsliding wfll be proportionably the greater sin, and
the more dangerous lo the soul. You bave seen God's glory and his wonders
araongst us in a raost marvellous manner of late. If therefore you look back
after this, there will be great danger that God will swear in his wrath, that
you shall never enter into his rest ; as God sware concerning them that were
for going back inlo Egypt, after they had seen the wonders which God wrought
for Israel. Numb. xiv. 22, 23, " Because all those men that have seen my glory
and ray rairacles that I did in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and have tempted
me now these ten times, and have not hearkened lo my voice ; surely they shall
not see the land which 1 sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that
provoked me .see it" — The wonders that we have seen among us of late, have
been of a more glorious nature than those tbat the children of Israel saw in
Egypt and in the wflderness.
7. We know not but tbat great part of tbe wicked world are, at this day,
in Sodom's circurastances, when Lot fled out of il, baving some outward tem
poral destruction hanging over it II looks as if sorae great thing were corning ;
the state of things in the world seems to be ripe for some great revolution. The
world h-as got to such a terrible degree of wickedness, that it is probable the
cry of it has, by this lirae, reached up to heaven ; and it is hardly probable that
God will suffer Ihings to go on, as they now do, much longer. It is likely that
God will erelong appear in awful Majesty to vindicate his own cause; and
then none will be safe tbat are out of Christ. Now therefore every one should
flee for his hfe, and escape to the mountain, lest he be consumed. We cannot
certainly tell what God is about to do, but tbis we may know, that those who
are out bf Christ are in a most unsafe state.
8. To enforce this warning against looking back, let me beseech you to
consider tbe exceeding proneness which there is in the heart to it The hear*
* The time ofthe reviva. of religion at Northampton, A. D. 1735.
IN FLEEING OUT OF SODoM. 411
Dl man is a backsliding heart. There is in the heart a great love and hank
ering desire after the ease, pleasure, and enjoyraents of Sodom, as tbere was in
Lot's wife, by which persons are continually liable to temptations to look back.
The heart is so much towards Sodora, that it is a difficult thing lo keep llie eye
from turning that way, and the feet from tending Ihilber. V\'hen men under
convictions are put upon fleeing, it is a mere force, il is because Gocl lays hold
on their hands, as he did on Lol's and his wife's, and drags theia so far. But
the tendency of the heart is to go back to Sodom again.
Persons are very prone to backsliding, also through discouragement Tbey
are apt to be discouraged. The heart is unsteady, soon tired, soon gives out, is
apt to listen to discouraging temptations. A little difficulty and delay soon
overcome its feeble resolutions. And discouragement tends to backsliding : it
weakens persons' bands, lies as a dead weight on tbeir hearts, and makes them
drag heavily : and if il continue long, il very often issues in security and sense
lessness. Convictions are often shaken off that way ; tbey begin first to go off
with discouragement
Baeksliding is a disease that is exceeding secret in its way of working. It
is a flattering di.stemper; it works like a consuraplion, wherein persons often
flatter themselves that tbey are not worse, but something betier, and in a hopeful
way to recover, till a few days before they die. So backsliding commonly
comes on gradually, and steals on men insensibly, and they slill flatter them
selves that they are not backslidden. They plead that they are seeking yet,
and they hope they have not lost their convictions. And by the tirae they find
it out, and cannot pretend so any longer, they are coramonly so far gone, that they
care not rauch if they have lost their convictions. And when it is come to that,
it is commonly a gone case with persons as to those convictions.
Thus they blind themselves, and keep Ihemselves insensible of their own
disease, and so are not terrified with it, nor awakened to use means for relief,
tfll it is past cure.
Thus it is that backsliding commonly comes upon persons that bave for
some time been under any considerable convictions, and afterwards lose thera. Let
the consideration of this your danger excite you- to the greatest care and dili
gence to keep your hearts, and to watchfulness and constant prayer against back
sliding. And let it put you upon endeavors to strengthen your resolutions of
guarding against every tbiicg tbat tends to tbe conlrary, that you may indeed
hold out to Ihe end, for then shall you know, if you follow on to know the Laid
SERMON XXIV-
kuth's kesolution.
RcTH i. 16.— And Rnth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from fiilla lying after thee i foi
whither thou goest, I will gb ; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge : thy people shill be my people, and
thy God my God.
The historical things in tbis book of Ruth, seem to be inserted in the canon
of the Scripture, especially on two accounts :
First, Because Christ was of Ruth's posterity. The Holy Ghost thought fit
to take pariicular notice of that raarriage of Boaz with Ruth, whence sprang
the Saviour of the worid. We raay often observe it, that the Holy Spirit who
indited the Scriptures, often lakes notice of little things, or minute occurrences,
that do but remotely relate to Jesus Christ
Secondly, Because this history seems to be typical of the calling of the Gen
tile church, and indeed of the conversion of every believer. Ruth was not
orio-inally of Israel, bul was a Moabitess, an alien from the commonwealth of
Israel: but she forsook her own people, and the idols of the Gentiles, to wor
ship the God of Israel, and to join herself to that people. Herein she seems to
be a type of the Gentile churcb, and also of every sincere convert Ruth was
the reraote raother of Christ ; he came of her posterity : so the churcb is Christ's
mother, as she is represented. Rev. xil, at tbe beginning. And so also is every
true Christian his mother. Matt. xu. 50, " Whosoever shall do tbe wfll of ray
Father wbich is in heaven, the sarae is ray brother, and sister, and raother."
Christ is what the soul is in travail with, at the new birth. Ruth forsook all
her natural relations, and her own country, the land of her nativity, and all her
forraer possessions there, for the sake of the God of Israel ; as every true Chris
tian forsakes all for Christ. Psalra xiv. 10, " Hearken, 0 daughter, and con
sider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine oWn people, and thy father's
bouse." Naomi was now returning out of the land of Moab, into the land of Israel;
with ber two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth ; who will represent to us two
sorts of professors of religion: Orpah, those who indeed raake a fair profession,
aud seera to .set out well, but continue only for a while, and then turn back ;
Ruth, those who are sound and sincere, and therefore are steadfast and perse
vering in their way. Naomi, in the preceding verses, represents to her daugh
ters the difficulties of their leaving their own country to go with her. And in
this verse may be observed,
1. The remarkable conduct and behavior of Ruth on this occasion ; with
what inflexible resolution she cleaves to Naomi, and follows her. When Naorai
first arose to return frora the country of Moab into the land of Israel, Orpah and
Ruth both set out wilh ber ; and Naomi exhorts tbem both to return. And
both wept, and seemed as if tbey could not bear the thoughts of leaving her,
and appeared as if they were resolved to go with her. Verse 10, " And tbey
said unto her. Surely we will return with thee unto thy people." Then Naomi
says to tbem again, " Turn again, my daughters, go your way," &c. And tben
tbey v^ere greatly affected again, and Orpah returned and went back. Now
Ruth's steaclfastness in ber purpose had a greater trial, but yet is not overcome :
" She clave unto ber " verse 14. Tben Naomi speaks to her again, verse 15 '
RUTH'S RESOLUTION. 413
' Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto ber people, and unto her gods ;
leturn thou after thy sister-in-law." And then she shows her immovable re
solution in the text and folio-wing verse.
2. I would particularly observe that wherein tbe virtuousness of this her re
solution consists, viz., that it was for the sake of the God of Israel, and that she
might be one of his people, that she was thus resolved to cleave to Naomi:
" Thy people shall be my people, and tby God my God." It was for God's
sake tbat she did thus ; and therefore ber so doing is afterwards spoken of as a
virtuous behavior in ber^ chap. ii. 11, 12 : " And Boaz answered and said unto
ber. Il hath fully been showed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-
law since tbe death of thine husband ; and how thou bast left tby father, and
thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which
thou knewest not heretofore. The Lord recorapense thy work, and a full re
ward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come
to trust." She left her father and mother, and the land of her nativity, to corae
and trust under tbe shadow of God's wings : and she had indeed a full re
ward given ber, as Boaz wished ; for besides immediate spiritual blessino-s to
her own soul, and eternal rewards in another world, she was rewarded wilh
plentiful and prosperous outward circurastances in the family of Boaz. And
God raised up David and Solomon of her seed, and established the crown of
Israel (the people that she chose before her own people) in her posterity; and,
which is much more, of her seed he raised up Jesus Christ, in whom all the
farailies of the earth are blessed.
From the words thus opened, I observe tbis for the subject of my present dis
course : — " When those that we have formerly been conversant with, are turninc
to God, and joining tbem.selves to his people, it ought to be our firm resolution,
that we will not leave them ; but that their people shall be our people, and
their God our God."
It sometimes happens, that of those who have been conversant one with
another — who have dwelt together as neighbors, and have been often together
as corapanions, or united in their relation, and have been together in darkness,
bondage, and misery, in the service of Satan — some are enlightened, and have
their minds changed, are made to see the great evil of sin, and bave their hearts
turned to God. They are influenced by tbe Holy Spirit of God, to leave their
company tbat are on. Satan's side, and to join themselves with that blessed cora
pany that are with Jesus Christ They are made willing fo forsake the tents
of wickedness, to dwell in the land of uprightness wilh the people of God.
And soraetiraes this proves a final parting or separation between Ibem and
tbose wilh whom they have been forraerly conversant Though it may be no
parting in outv/ard respects, they raay stifl dwells and converse one with ano
ther ; yet in other respects, it sets them at a great distance. One isa child of
God, and the other his enemy ; one is in a raiserable, and the other in a happy
condition ; one is a citizen ofthe beavenly Zion, the other is under condemna
tion to bell. They are no longer together in those respects wherein they used
to be together. They used to be of one mind to serve sin, and do Satan's work ;
now tbey are of contrary minds. They used to be together in worldliness and
sinful vanity; now tbey are of exceeding different dispositions. They are
separated as they are in different kingdoms ; the one remains in the kingdora
of darkness, the other is translated intothe kingdora of God's dear Son. And
Sfjmotimes they are finally separated in these respects': while one dwells in the
land of Israel, and in tbe house of God ; the other, like Orpah, lives and dies in
the land of Moab.
414 RUTH'S RESOLUTION.
Now it is lamentaKe, it is awful being parted so. It is doleful, when ol
those who have forraerly been together in sin, sorae turn lo God, and join tliem.
sehes wilh his people, tbat it .should prove a parting between theni anci their
former companions and acquaintance It should be our firra and inflexible re
solution in such a case, that it shafl be no parting, but that we will foflow them,
that their people shall be our people, and theh God our God ; and that for the
following reasons : . i-i i • i. •
L Because their God is a glorious God. There is none like bira, who is
infinite in glory and excellency. He is the most high God, glorious in holimss,
fearful in praises, doing wonders. His narae is excellent in all the earth and his
glory is above the earth and the heavens. Araong the gods there is none like unlo
hira ; there is none in heaven to be corapared to him, nor are there any araong
the sons of the mighty that can be likened unto him. Their God is the foun
tain of afl good, and an inexhaustible fountain ; he is an all-sufficient God, able
to protect and defend thera. and do afl things for them. He is the King of glo
ry, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle: a strong rock, and
a high tower. There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who ridelh on the
heaven in their help, and in bis excellency on the sky _: the eternal God is their re
fuge, and underneath are the everiasting arms. He is a God who hath all things
in'his hands, and does whatsoever be pleases: he killeth and maketh alive ;
he brino-eth down lo the grave and bringeth up ; be maketh poor and maketh
rich : the pillars of the earlh are the Lord's. Their God is an infinitely holy
God ; there is none holy as the Lord. And he is infinitely good and merciful
Many that others worship and serve as gods, are cruel beings, spirits that seek
the ruin of .souls ; but this is a God that delightelh in mercy ; his grace is
infinile, and endures for ever. He is love itself, an infinite fountain and ocean
of it Such a God is their God ! Such is the excellency of Jacob ! Such is the God
of them wbo have forsaken their sins and are converted ! They have made a
wise choice who have chosen tbis for their God. They have made a happy
exchange indeed, that have exchanged sin, and Ihe world, for such a God!
They have an excellent and glorious Saviour, who is the only-begotten Son
of God ; tbe brightness of his Father's glory ; one in whora God frora eternity
had infinite delight ; a Saviour of infinite love ; one that bas shed his own
blood, and raade bis soul an offering for their sins, and one that is able to save
tbern to tbe utterraost
II. Their people are an excellent and happy people. God has r-enewed them,
and stamped his own iraage upon thera, and made them partakers of his hoh
ness. They are more excellent than their neighbors, Prov. xii. 26. Yea, they
are tbe excellent of tbe earth. Psalm xvi. 3. Tbey are lovely in the sight of
the angels; and they have tbeir souls adorned with those graces tbat in the
sight of God himself are of great price.
Tbe people of God are the most excellent and happy society in the world.
That God whora they have chosen for their God, is their Father ; he has par
doned all their sins, and they are at peace with hira ; and he has admitted them
to all the privileges of his chfldren. As they have devoted theraselves to God,
so God has given himself to them. He is become their salvation, and their por
tion : bis power and mercy, and all his attributes, are theirs. They are in a
safe state, free from all possibflity of perishing : Satan has no power to destroy
them. God carries tbem on eagle's -wings, far above Satan's reach, and above
tbe reach of all the enemies of their souls. God is with them in tbis world;
they have his gracious presence. God is fi)r them ; who then can be against
RUTH'S RESOLUTION. 415
them 1 As the mountiins are round about Jerusalem, so Jehovah is round about
tbem. God is their shield, and tbeir exceeding great reward ; and Iheir fel
lowship is with the Father, and wilh his Son Jesus Christ : and ihey have the
divine promise and oath, that in the world to come they sball dwell forever in
tbe glorious presence of God.
It may well be sufficient to induce us to resolve to cleave to those that for
sake their sins and idols to join themselves with this people, that God is with
thera, Zech. viii. 23 : " Thus sailh the Lord of hosts, in those day s it shall come
to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages ofthe nalions, even
shafl lake bold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying. We wifl go with you ;
for we have heard that God is wilh you." So should persons, as il were, lake
hold of the skirl of their neighbors and companions that bave turned to God,
and resolve that they wfll go with thera, because God is with them.
111. Happiness is nowhere else to be bad, but in their God, and with their
people. There are that are cafled gods many, and lords many. Some make
gods of their pleasures ; sorae choose Mammon for their god; sorae make gods
of their own supposed excellencies, or the outward advantages they have above
tbeir neighbors : some choose one thing for their god, and others another. But
men can be happy in no other but the God of Israel : he is the only fountain
of happiness. Other gods cannot help in calamity ; nor can any of them
afford what the poor empty soul stands in need of Let raen adore those other
gods never so much, and call upon them never so earnestly, and serve them
never so diligently, they wfll nevertheless remain poor, wretched, unsatisfied,
undone creatures. All other people are raiserable, but that people whose God
is the Lord. — The world is divided into two societies : the people of God, the
little flock of Jesus Christ, that company that we read of, Rev. xiv. 4, " These
are they which were not defiled with women ; for they are virgins : these are
tbey which follo-w the Lamb whithersoever he goeth : these were redeemed from
araong men, being the first-fruits unlo God, and lo the Lamb :" and, those that
belong to the kingdom of darkness, that are without ChrisI, being aflens from
the commonwealth of Israel, strangers frora the covenant of promise, having
no hope, and without God in the worid. All that are of this latter company
are wretched and undone ; they are the enemies of God, and under his wrath
and condemnation. They are the devfl's slaves, that serve hira blindfold, and
are befooled and ensnared by him, and hurried along in the broad way to eter
nal perdition.
IV. When tbose that we have formerly been conversant wilb are turning to
God, and to his people, their example ought to influence us. Their example
should be looked upon as tbe call of God to us, to do as they have done. God,
when he changes the heart of one, calls upon another ; especially does he loudly
call on those that have been their friends and acquaintance. We have been
influenced by their examples in evil; and shall we cease lef follow tbem, when
they make the wisest cboice tbat ever they made, and do the oest thing tbat
ever tbey did 1 If we bave been companions wilh tbem in worldliness, in vanity,
Ul unprofitable and sinful conversation, it will be a bard case, if tbere must be
a parting now, because we are not wflling to be companions with them in holi
ness and true happiness. Men are greatly influenced by seeing one another's
prosperity in other things. If those whom they have been mucb conversant
with, grow rich, and obtain any great earthly advantages, it awakens tbeir am
bition, and eager desire after the like prosperity : how much more should they
be influenced, and stirred up to follow thera, and be hke tbem, when they ob
tain that spiritual and eternal bappiness, that is of infinitely more worth, than
all the prosperity and glory of tbis world !
416 RUTH' RESOLUTION.
V. Our resolutions to cleave to and follow those tbat are turning to God,
and joining themselves to his people, ought lo he fixed and strong, because of
tbe great difficulty of it If we will cleave to them, and have their God for
our God, and their people, for our people, we must moriify and deny all chii
lusts, and cross every evil appetite and inclination,. and forever part with afl sin.
But our lusts are raany and violent Sin is naturally exceeding dear to us; to
part with il is compared to plucking out our right eyes. Men may r-efrain from
wonted ways of sin for a little while, and may deny their lusts in a partial de
gree, with less difficulty; but it is heart-rending vifork, finally to part with all
sin, and to give our dearest lusts a bill of divorce, utterly to send them away
But this we must do, if we would follow those that are truly turning to Gocl :
yea, we raust not only forsake sin,-but must, in a sense, forsake all the world .
Luke xiv. 33, " Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all he bath, be can
not be my disciple." That is, he must forsake all in his heart, and must come
to a thorough disposition and readln<;ss acluafly to quit all for God, and tbe
glorious spiritual privileges of his people, whenever the case may require
it; and that without any piospect of any thing of the like nature, or any
worldly thing whatsoever, to make amends for it ; and all to go into a
strange country, a land that bas hitherto been unseen ; like Abrahara, who
being called of God, " went o-at of bis own country, and frora his kindred, and
from his father's house, for a land tbat God should show him, not knowing
whither he went"
Thus, it was a hard thing for Ruth to forsake ber native country, her fathei
and mother, her kindred and acquaintance, and all the pleasant Ihings she hati
in tbe land of Moab, to dwell in the land of Israel, where she never had been.
Naorai told ber of the difficulties once and again. They were too hard for her
sister Orpah ; tbe consideration of thera turned her back after she was set out
Her resolution was not firra enough to overcorae thera. But so firraly resolved
was Ruth, that she broke through all ; she was steadfast in it, that, let the dif
ficulty be what it would, she would not leave her mother-in-law. So persons
had need lo be very firm in their resolution to conquer the difficulties that are
in the way of cleaving to them who are in;ieed turning from sin lo God.
Our cleaving to them, and having their God for our God, and their people
for our people, depends on our resolution and cboice ; and that in two respects.
1. The firmness of resolution in using raeans in order to it, is tbe way to
have means effectual There are means appointed in order to our becoraing some
of the true Israel, and baving tbeir God for our God ; and the thorough use of
these means is the way to have success ; but not a slack or slighty use of thera.
And that we raay be thorough, there is need of strength ot resolution, a firra and
inflexible disposition and bent of mind to be universal in the use of means, and
to do what we do with our might, and to persevere in it. Matt xi. 12, " The
kingdom of beaverf suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."
2. A choosing of their God, and their people, with a full determination, and
with the whole soul, is tbe condition of a union with them. God gives every
man his choice in this matter:. as Orpah. and Ruth had their cboice, whether
they would go with, Naomi into the land of Israel, or stay in the land of Moab
A natural man may choose. deliverance from hell ; but no man doth ever hear
tily choose God and Christ, and the spiritual benefits tbat Christ has purchased,
and the happiness of God's people, till he is converted. On tbe contrary, he ia
averse lo them ; he bas no relish of them ; and is wholly ignorant of tbeir in
estimable worth and value.
Many carnal men seem to choose these things, but do it not really ; as Orpab
RUTH'S RESOLUTION. 417
»eeined at first to choose to forsake Moab to go into tbe land of Israel : but
when Naomi came to set before her tbe difficulty of it, she went back ; and
thereby showfd that she was not fully determined in her choice, and tbat her
whole soul was not in it as Ruth's was.
APPLICATION.
The use tbat I shall make of wbat has been .said, is to move sinners to this
resolution, wilh respect to those araongst us tbat have lately turned to God, and
joined themselves lo Ihe flock of Christ. Through the abundant mercy and
' grace of God to us in this place, it may '-.e said of many of you that are in a
Christless condition, that you bave lately been left by those that were formerly
wilb you in such a state. Some of those with whom you have formerly been
conversant, bave lately forsaken a life of sin and tbe service of Satan, and have
turned to God, and fled to Christ, and joined themselves lo that blessed compa
ny that are with him. They formeriy were wilb you in sin and in misery ; but
now they are wilh you no more in that stale or manner of life. They are
changed, and bave fled from the wr-ath lo come ; they have chosen a life of
holiness here, and tbe enjoyment of God hereafter. They were formerly your
associates in bondage, and were with you in Satan's business ; but now you
have their company no longer in these Ihings. Many of you have seen those
you live with, under the same roof, turning from being any longer with you ia
sin, to be with the people of Jesus Christ. Some of you that are husbands,
have had your w^ves ; and some of you that are wives, have had your husbands;
some of you tbat are children, have had your parents ; and parents have bad
your children ; many of you have had your brothers and sisters ; and many your
near neighbors, and acquaintance, and special friends ; many of you that are
young have had your companions : I say, many of you have had those that
you have been concerned wilh, leaving you, forsaking that doleful life and
wretched state in which you still continue. God, of his good pleasure and won
derful grace, hath lately caused in tbis place multitudes to forsake their old
abodes in the land of Moab, and under the gods of Moab, and go into the land
of Israel, to put their trust under the wings of the Lord God of Israel
Though you and they bave been nearly related, and have dwelt together, or
have been often together and intimately acquainted, they have been taken, and
you hitherto left ! 0 let it not be tbe foundation of a final parting ! But
earnestly follow tbem ; be firm in your resolution in tbis matter. Do not as
Orpab did, who, though at first she raade as though she would foflow Naorai;
yet when she bad the difficufly set before her, went back : but say as Ruth,
'' I wfll not leave thee ; but where thou goest, I will go : thy people shall be my
people, and tby God my God." Say as she said, and do as she did. Consider
the exceflency of their God, and their Saviour, and the happiness of their peo
ple, the blessed state tbat they are in, and the doleful state you are in.
You who are old sinners, wbo have lived long in the service of Satan, have
lately seen some that have travelled wilb you in tbe paths of sin these many years,
turning to Gcd. Tbey with you enjoyed great means and advantages, bad calls
and warnings with you, and with you passed tbrough remarkable times of tbe
pouring out of God's Spirit in this place, and hardened their hearts and stood it
out with you, and with you have grown old in sin ; yet you have seen some of
tbem turning to God,:i. e., you bave seen those evidences of it in thera, whence
you may rationally judge tbat it is .so. 0 ! let it not be a final parting ! You
have been thus long together in sin, and under condemnation ; let it be your
Vol IV. 53
418 RUTH'S RESOLUTION.
firm resolution, tbat, if possible, you will "be with them still, now they are in a
holy and happy state, and that you wfll follow them into the holy and pleasant
land. — You that tell of your having been seeking salvation for many years,
(though, without doubt, in a poor dull way, in coraparison of wbat you ought
to have done,) have seen some old sinners and old seekers, as you are, obtaining
mercy. God has lately roused them from tbeir dulness, and caused tbem lo al
ter the-rhand, and put them on more thorough endeavors ; and they have now,
after so long a time, heard God's voice, and have fled for refuge to tbe rock ol
ages. Let this awaken earneslness and resolution in yoa Resolve that you
vifl not leave thera.
You who are in your youth, how many have you seen of your age and stand-
.ng, that have of late hopefully chosen God for their God, and Christ for their
Saviour ! You have followed thera in sin, and have perhaps followed them into
vain corapany ; and will you not now follow them lo Christ ? — And you who
ire childr-n, know that there have lately been sorae of your sort who have re
pented of their sins, loved the Loid Jesus Christ, and trusted in bira, and are
becorae God's children, as we have reason to bope : let it stir you up to resolve
to your utraost to seek and cry to God, that you raay have the like cbange made
in your hearts, that their people may be your people, and their God your God.
You who are great sinners, who have made yourselves distinguishingly guil
ty by the wicked practices you have lived in, know that there are some of your
sort who have lately (as we have reason to hope) had their hearts broken for
sin, and have forsaken it, and trusted in the blood of Christ for the pardon of it
They have chosen a holy life, and have betaken Ihemselves lo the ways of wis
dora : let it excite and encourage you resolutely to cleave to tbem, and earnest
ly to follow them. ,
Let the following things be considered :
1. That your soul is as precious as theirs. It is immortal as theirs is ; and
stands in as much need of bappiness, and can as fll bear eternal misery. You
was born in tbe sarae raiserable condition that tbey were, having tbe same wrath
of God abiding on you. You must stand before the same Judge ; who wifl be
as strict in judgraent wilb you as wilb thera ; and your own righteousness will
stand you in no raore stead before him than theirs ; and therefore you stand in
as absolute necessity of a Saviour as they. Carnal confidences can no more an
swer your end than theirs; nor can this world or its enjoyraents serve lo make
you happy whhout God and Christ more than thera. 'When tbe bridegroora
comes, the foolish virgins stand in as much need of oil as the wise. Matt. xxv.
at the beginning.
2. Uriless you follow tbem in tbeir turning to God, their conversion wifl be
a foundation of an eternal separation between you and them. You will be in
different interests, and in exceeding differetil slates, as long as you live ; they
the chfldren of God, and you the children of Satan ; and you wifl be parted
in another worid ; when you come to die, there will be a vast separation made
between you : Luke xvi. 26, " And besides all this, between us and you there is
a great gulf fixed . so that they which would pass from hence to you, cannot;
neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." And you will be
parted at the day ofjudgraent You will be parted at Christ's first appearance
in the clouds of heaven. While tbey are caught up in tbe clouds to raeet the
Lord in the air, to be ever with tbe Lord, you will reraain below, confined to
.his cursed ground, that is kept in store, reserved unto fire, against the day ot
udgraent, and perdition of ungodly men. You will appear separated from them
>vhfle you stand before tbe great judgment-seat, they being at the right hand,
RUTH'S RESOLUTION. 419
while you are set at the left : Matt xxv. 32, 33, " And before bira shall be
gathered all nations ; and he shall separate tbem one from another, as a shep
herd divideth his sheep from the goats ; and he sball set the sheep on bis right
hand, but the goats on the left." And you sball tben appear in exceeding dif
ferent circumstances : while you stand with devils, in the image and deformity
of devils, and in ineffable horror and amazement, tbey shall appear in glory,
silting upon thrones, as assessors with Christ, and as such passing judgment
upon you, 1 Cor. vi. 2. And what shame and confusion will then cover you,
when so many of your colemporaries, your equals, your neighbors, relations, and
corapanions, shall be honored, and openly acknow .iidged, and confessed by the
glorious Judge of tbe universe, and Redeemer of sainls, and shall be seen by
you sitting wilh him in such glory. You sball appear to have neglected your
salvation, and not to bave improved your opportunities, and rejected the Lord
Jesus Christ, the same pei-son tbat will then appear as your great Judge, and
you sball be tbe subjects of wrath, and, as il were, trodden down in eternal con
tempt and disgrace : Dan. xu. 2, " Some shall rise to everlasting life, and some
to sharae and everlasting contempt." And what a wide separation wifl the
sentence tben passed and executed make between you and thern ! When you
sball be sent aw-ay out ofthe presence of the Judge wilh indignation and abhor
rence, as cursed and loathsome creatures, they shall be sweetly accosted and in
vited into his glory as his dear friends, and the blessed of bis Father ! When
^ot(,wilh all that vast throng of wicked and accursed men and devils, shall de
scend with loud lamentings, and horrid shrieks, into that dreadful gulf of fire and
brimstone, and shall be swallowed up in that great and everlasting furnace ;
they shall joyfully, and with sweet songs of glory and praise, ascend with Christ,
ami all that beauteous and blessed company of saints and angels, into eternal
felicity, in the glorious presence of God, and the sweet embraces of his love.
You and they shafl spend eternity in such a separation, and immensely different
circumstances ! You have been intiraately acquainted and nearly related, closely
united and rautually conversant in this world ; and you bave taken delight in
each other's corapany ! And shall it be — after you have been together a great
while, each of you in undoing yourselves, enhancing your guilt, and heaping up
wrath — that their so wisely changing their rainds and their course, and choosing
such bappipess for themselves, should now at length be the beginning of sucb
an exceeding and everlasling separation between you and tbem ? How awful
will it be to be parted so !
3. Consider the great encouragement tbat God gives you, earnestly to strive
for the same blessing that others have obtained. There is great encouragement
in the word of God to sinners to seek salvation, in the revelation -we have of the
abundant provision made for tbe salvation even of tbe chief of sinners, and in
the appointment of so many raeans to be used with and by sinners, in order to
their salvation ; and by the blessing whicb God in his word connects wilh tbe
means of his appointment. There is hence great encouragement for all, at all
times, tbat will be thorough in using of these means. But now God gives ex-
traorciinary encouragement in his providence, by pouring out his Spirit so reraark
ably araongst us, and bringing savingly horae to himself all sorts, young and
old, rich and poor, wise and unwise, sober and vicious, old self-righteous seekers,
and profligate livers : no sort are exerapt. There is at this day araong.st us the
loudest call, and the greatest encouragement, and the widest door opened lo sin
ners, to escape out ofa state of sin and condemnation, that perhaps God ever
granted in New England. Who is tbere tbat has an immortal soul, so sottish
as not to improve such an opportunity, and that wfll not bestir himself with all
420 RUTH'S RESOLUTION.
his might I How unreasonable is negligence, and bow exceeding unreasonable
is discouragement, at such a day as this ! Will you be so stupid as to neglect
your soul now ? Will any mortal amongst us be so unreasonable as to lag be
hind, or look back in discouragement, when God opens such a door? Let
every person be thoroughly awake.! Let every one encourage himself now tc
Dress forward, and fly for his life !
4. Consider how earnestly desirous they that have obtained are that you
should follow them, and tbat tbeir people should be your people, and their God
your God. They desire that you should partake of that great good which God
has giyen them, and that unspeakable and eternal blessedness whljh he bas
promised thera. They wish and long it. If you do not go with tbem, and are
not still oftheir company, it wfll not be for want of their wilhngness, but your
own. That of Mosesto Hobab is the language of every true saint of your ac
quaintance to you, Nurab. x. 29, " We are journeying unto the place of which the
Lord said, I will give il you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good;
for the Lord hath spoken good' concerning Israel." As Moses, when on his
journey through the wilderness, following the pfllar of cloud and fire, invited
Hobab — with whom he had been acquainted in the land of Midian; where
Moses had formerly dwelt with him — to go with hira and his' people to Canaan,
to partake with thera in the good that God had proraised them ; so do those of
your friends and acquaintante invite you, out of a land of darkness and wicked
ness, where they have formerly been with you, to go with them to the heavenly
Canaan. The company of saints, the true church of Christ, invite you. The
lovely bride calls you to the marriage supper. She hath authority to invite guests
to ber own wedding ; and you ought to look on her' invitation and desire, as
the Call of Christ the bridegroom ; for it is the voice of his Spirit in her : Rev.
xxii. 17, " Tbe Spirit and the bride say, Corae." Where seems to be a refer-
reiice to what has been said, chap. xix. 7 — 9, " Tbe marriage of the Lamb is
come, and his wife hatb raade herself ready. And to her was granted, that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white ; fOr the fine linen is the right
eousness of 'saints. And he saith unto rae. Write, Blessed are they which are
cafled to the raarriage-supper of the Lamb." It is with respect to this her mar
riage-supper that she, from the motion of tbe Spirit of tbe Lamb in her, says.
Come. So that you are invited on all hands; all conspire to call you. God
the Father invites you : this is the King wbo bas made a raarriage for his Son;
and he sends forth his servants, the ministers of the gospel, to invite the guests.
And the Son himself invites you: itis he that speaks. Rev. xvii 17, "And
let him tbat beareth say, Come ; and let him tbat is athirst, come ; and whoso^
ever wifl; let him come." He fells us who be is in tbe fot-egoing verse, " I
Jesus, the root and offspring bf David, tbe bright and morning star." And
God's ministers invite you; and all the churcb invites yott; and there wifl be
joy in the presence of the angels of God that hour that you accept the in
vitation. 5. Consider what a doleful company will be left after this extraordinary
time of mercy is' over. We have reason to think tbat there wifl be a numbet
left We read that wben Ezekiel's healing waters increased so abundantly, and
the healing effect of "thera was so very general ; yet there were certain placies.
where the -water came, that never' were healed: Ezek. xlvii 9—11, "Audit
sball come to paSS, tbat every thing that liveth, whicb^ moveth, whithersoever
the rivers shall come, sball Hve. And there shall be a very great multitude of
fish, because these waters sball come thither : for tbey shall be healed, and every
thing shall live whither the-river cometh. And it shafl come to pa4, that th6
RUTH'S RESOLUTION 421
Sshers shall stand upon it, from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim ; they shall be a
place to spread forth nets ; tbeir fish shall be according to their kinds, as the
fish of tbe great sea, exceeding many. But the miry places thereof, and the
marshes thereof, shall not be healed, they shall be given to salt." And even in
the apostles' times, when tbere was such wonderful success of the gospel wher
ever they came, there were some tbat did not believe : Acts xiii. 48, " And
wben the Gentfles beard tbis, tbey were glad, and glorified the word of the
Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." And chap.
xxvui. 24, " And some believed, and some believed not" So we have no rea
son to expect but tbere will be some left amongst us. It is to be hoped it will
be but a sraall company : but wbat a doleful company will it be ! How darkly
and awfully wfll it look upon them ! If you sball be of that company, bow-
well may your friends and relations lament over you, aud bemoan your dark and
dangerous circumstances ! If you would not be one of them, make haste, delay
not, and look not behind you. Sball all sorts obtain, shall every one press into
the kingdom of God, while you stay loitering behind in a doleful undone con
dition ? Sball every one take heaven, whfle you remain with no other portion
but this world? Now take up that resolution, that if it be possible you will
cleave to thera that bave fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them,
Count the cost of a thorough, violent, and perpetual pursuit of salvation, and forsake
all, as Ruth forsook ber own country, and all her pleasant enjoyments in it Do
not do as Orpah did ; who set out, and then was discouraged, and went back :
out hold out with Ruth through all-discouragement and opposition. When you
consider others tbat bave chosen tbe better part, let that resolution be ever firm
with you : " Where thou goest, I will go ; where thou lodgest, ] will lodge :
thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."
SERMON XXV.
BEEAT GUILT NO OBSTACLE TO THE PARDON OF THE RETURNING SIKNEB.
Psalm xxv. U.— For thy name's sake, O Lord, pard.m my iniquity ; foi" it is great.
It is evident by some passages in tbis psalm, that when it was penned, it
was a time of affliction and danger with David. This appears particularly by
the 15th and following verses: "Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord ; tor lie
shall pluck my feet out of the net," &c. His distress raakes him thmk ot his
sins, and leads him to confess them, and to cry to God for pardon, as is suitable
in a tirae of affliction. See ver. 7 : « Reraeraber not the sins of my youth, nor
my transgressions ;" and verse 18, " Look upon mine affliction, and my pain,
and forgive all my sins." _
It is observable in the text, wbat arguments the psalraist makes use ot in
pleading for pardon. .
1. He pleads for pardon /or God's name's sake. He has no expectation of
pardon for the sake of any righteousness or worthiness of his for any good deetls
he had done, or any compensation he had made for his sins ; though if man's
righteousness could be a just plea, David would have had as much to plead as
most But he begs that God would do it for bis own name's sake, for his own
glory, for the glory of his own free grace, and for the honor of bis own
covenant faithfulness.
2. The psalmist pleads the greatness of his sins as an argument for raercy.
He not only doth not plead his own righteousness, or the smallness of bis sins;
he not only doth not say. Pardon raine iniquity, for I have done rauch good to
counterbalance it ; or. Pardon raine iniquity, for it is small, and thou hast no
great reason to be angry with me ; raine iniquity is not so great, that thou hast
any just cause to reraeraber it against rae; mine offence is not sucb bul thatthou
mayest well enough overlook it ; but on the contrary he says. Pardon mine
iniquity, for itis great ; he pleads the greatness of his sin, and not the sraall
ness of it ; he enforces his prayer wilb tbis consideration, that his sins are very
heinous. But how could be raake this a plea for pardon ? I answer. Because the
greater his iniquity was, the more need he had of pardon. It is as rauch as if
he had said. Pardon mine iniquity, for it is so great that I cannot bear the
punishment ; rny sin is so great that I ara in necessity of pardon ; my case wfll
be exceedingly miserable, unless thou be pleased to pardon me. He raakes use
of tbe greatness of his sin, to enforce his plea for pardon, as a man would raake
use of tbe greatness of calamity in begging for relief When a beggar begs
for bread, be will plead the greatness of his poverty and necessity. When a
man in distress cries for pity, what raore suitable plea can be urged than the
extremity of his case ? And God allows such a plea as this : for he is moved
to raercy towards us by nothing in us but the miserableness of our case. He
doth not pity sinners because tbey are worthy, but because tbey need his pily.
Doctrine. If we truly come to God for mercy, the greatness of our sin will
he no impediment to pardon. If it were an impediment. Davit! would never
have used it as a plea for pardon, as we find he does in the text. The foflo'"-
uig things are needful in order that we truly come to God for mercy :
PARDON FOR THE GREATEST SINNERS. •J23
1. Tbat we should see our misery, and be sensible of our need of mercy.
They who are not sensible of their misery cannot truly look to God for mercy ;
for it is the very notion of divine mercy, tbat it is the goodness and grace of
God to the raiserable. Without miseiy in the object, tbere can be no exercise
of mercy. To suppose raercy without supposing misery, or pity wilbout
calamity, is a contradiction : therefore men cannot look upon themselves as
proper objects of mercy, unless they first know themselves to be miserable ; and
so, unless this be the case, it is impossible that they should come to God for
mercy. They must be .sensible that they are the children of wralh ; that the
law is against them, and that they are exposed to the curse of it : that the wralh
of God abideth on them ; and that he is angry with them every day while they
are under the gufll of sin. They must be sensible that it is a very dreadful
thing 10 be tbe objeci of the wiath of God; that it is a very aw-ful thing to
have him for their enemy ; and that they cannot bear his wrath. They must be
sensible that the guilt of sin makes them miserable creatures, whatever temporal
enjoyments they have ; that they can be no other than miserable, undone crea
tures, so long as God is angry with tbem ; that they are wilbout strength, and
must perish, and that eternally, unless God help them. They must see that their
case is utterly desperate, for any thing that any one else can do for thera ; that
they bang over the pit of eternal raisery ; and that they must necessarily drop
into it, if God have not mercy on them.
II. Tbey must be sensible that they are not worthy tbat God should have
mercy on tbem. They who truly come to God for mercy, corae as beggars, and
not as creditors: tbey corae for mere mercy, for sovereign grace, and not for any
thing that is due. Therefore, they must see that the misery under which they
lie is justly brought upon tbem, and that the wralh lo which they are exposed
is justly threatened against them ; and that tiiey have deserved that God should
be their enemy, and should continue to be their eneray. Tbey raust be sensible
that it would be just wilh God to do as he hath threatened in his holy law, viz.,
raake thera the objects of his wralh and curse in hell lo all eternity. They who
come to God for mercy in a right raanner are not disposed to find fault with his
severity , but they corae in a sense of tbeir own utter unworthiness, as with
ropes about their necks, and lying in the dust at the foot of raercy.
III. Tbey must come to God for mercy in and through Jesus Christ alone.
All their hope pf mercy must be from the consideration of what he is, what he
hatb done, and wbat be hath suffered ; and that there is no other name given
under heaven, among men, whereby we can be saved, but that of Christ ; that
be is the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world ; that his blood cleanses
from all sin, and that he is so worthy, that all sinners who are in him may well
be pardoned and accepted. — It is impossible that any should come to God for
mercy, and at the same time have no hope of mercy. Their coming to God
for it, implies tbat they have some hope of obtaining, otherwise they would
not think it worlh the while to come. But tbey that come in a right manner
have all their bope through Christ, or from the consideration of his redemption,
and the sufficiency of it. — If persons thus come to God for raercy, the greatness
oftheir sins v?ill be no impediment to pardon. Let tbeir sins be ever so many,
and great, and aggravated, it will not make God in the least degree more
backward to pardon thera. This raay be made evident by the following con-
lideralions :
1. The mercy of God is as sufficient for the pardon of the greaiest sins, as
for the least ; and that because bis mercy is infinile. That w'bich is infinile.
is as much above what is great, as it is above what is smafl. Thus God being
424 PARDON FOR THE GREATEST SINNERS.
infinitely great, be is as much above kings as he is above beggars : be ia as
much above tbe highest angel, as be is above the meanest worrn.^ One mhiiite
measure dolh not corae any nearer to the extent of what is infinite than an
other. -So the inercy of God being infinite, it must be as sufficient for tbe par
don of afl sin, as of one If one of the least sins be not beyond the raercy ol '
God, so neither are the greatest, or ten thousand of thera. — However, it must
be acknowledged, that this alone doth not prove the doctrine For though tht
mercy of God raay be as sufficient for the pardon of great sins as others ; yei
there raay be other obstacles, besides the want of raercy. The rnercy of Goi*.
rnay be sufficient, and yet tbe other attributes may oppose the dispensation of
mercy in these cases. — Therefore I observe,
2. Tbat the satisfaction of Chrisi is as sufficient for the removal of the
greatest guilt, as the least : 1 John i. 7, " The blood of Christ cleanseth from afl
sin." Acts xiii 39, " By hira all tiiat believe are justified from afl things from
whicb ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." Afl the sins of those
who truly corae to God for mercy, let them be what tbey will, are satisfied for,
if God be true who tells us so ; and if they be satisfied for, surely it is not in
credible, that God should be ready to pardon them. So that ChrisI having fully
satisfied for all sin, or having wrought out a satisfaction that is sufficieht fbr all,
it is now no way inconsistent wilh the glory of the divine attributes to par
don the greatest sins of those who in a right manner come unto bim for it —
God may now pardon tbe greatest sinners without any prejudice to the honor
of his holiness. The holiness of God will not suffer hira lo give tbe least coun
tenance to sin, but inclines hira to give proper testimonies of bis hatred of it
But Christ having satisfied for sin, God can now love the sinner, and give no
countenance at all to sin, however great a sinner be may have been. It was a
sufficient testiraony of God's abhorrence when he took the guilt of it upon hira
self Nothing can more show God's abhorrence of sin than this. If all ihah-
kind had been eternally damned, it would not have been so great a testimony
of it God may, through Christ, pardon the greatest sinner without any prejudice
to the honor of his majesty. Tbe honor of the dinne majesty indeed requires
satisfaction ; but the sufferings of Christ fully repair the injury. Let the con
tempt be ever so great, yet if so honorable a person as Christ undertakes to be
a Mediator for the offender, and suffers so much for bim, it fully repairs the in
jury done to the Majesty of heaven and earth. The sufferings of Christ fully
satisfy justice. The justice of God, as the supreme Governor and Judge of the
worid, requires tbe punishment of sin. The supreme Judge must judge the
world according to a rule of justice. God doth not show mercy as a Judge, but
as a sovereign ; therefore his exercise of mercy as a sovereign, and his justice as
a judge, must be made consistent one with another ; and tbis is done by the suf
ferings of Christ, in which sin is punished fully, and justice answeired. Roih.
iii. 25, 26, " Whom God halh set forth to be a propitiation through faith ih
hisblood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins tbat are past,
tbrough the forbearance of God ; to declare, I say, at this time bis righteous
ness ; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."
— Tbe law is no impediment in the way of the pardon of the greatest sin, if
men do but truly corae to God for mercy ; for Christ hath fulfilled the laW', he
hath borne the curse of it, in his sufferings : Gal. iii 13, " Christ hath redeeraed
us frora the curse of the law, being made a curse for us ; for it is written, Curs^
ed is every one that hangeth on a tree." '
3 Christ will not refuse to save the greatest sinners, who in a right manner
PARDON FOR THE GREATEST .SINNEAS. 425
corae to God for mercy ; for tbis is his work. It is his business to be a Saviour
jf sinners; it is the work upon which he came into the world; and therefore
he will not object to it. He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance, Matt. ix. 13. Sin is the ver-y evil wbich he came into the world
to remedy : therefore he will not object to any man, that he is very sinful.
The more sinful be is, the moie need of ChrisI. — The sinfulness of man was the
reason of Christ's coming into the world ; this is the very misery from which
he came to deliver men. The more they have of it, the more need they have
of being delivered : " They tbat are whole need not a physician, but tbey that
are sick," Matt. ix. 12. The physician will not make it an objection against
healing a man who applies to hira, tbat he stands in great need of bis help. If
a physician of corapassion comes among the sick and wounded, surely be will
not refuse to heal tbose tbat stand in most need of healing, if he be able to
heal them.
4. Herein doth the glory of grace by the redemption of Christ rauch con
sist, viz., in its sufficiency for tbe pardon of the greatest sinners. The whole
contrivance of the way of salvation is for this end, to glorify the free grace of
God. God had it on his heart from afl eternity to glorify this attribute; and
therefore it is, tbat the device of saving sinners by Christ was conceived. The
greatness of divine grace appears very much in this, that God by Christ saves
the greatest offenders. The greater the guilt of any sinner is, the more glori
ous and wonderful is the grace manifested in bis pardon : Rom. v. 20,, " Where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Tbe apostle, wben telling bow
great a sinner he had been, takes notice of the abounding of grace in his par
don, of which his great gufll was the occasion : 1 Tim. I 13, "Who was be
fore a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious. But I obtained mercy ; and
the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, with failh and love which is in
Christ Jesus." The Redeemer is glorified, in that be proves sufficient to re
deem those who are exceeding sinful, in tbat his blood proves sufficient lo wash
away tbe greatest guilt, in that he is able to save men to the uttermost, and. in
that he redeems even from the greatest misery. It js the honor of Christ to
save the greatest sinners, when they come lo bim, as it is the honor of a phy
sician that he cures the most desperate diseases or wounds. Therefore, no doubt
Christ wfll be wilhng to save the greatest sinners, if tby, come to bim ; for he
will not be backward to glorify hiraself, and to commend the value and virtue of
his own blood. Seeing he hath so laid out himself to redeem sinners, he will
not be unwilling to show, that he is able to redeem to the ultermost.
5. Pardon is as much offered and promised to the greatest sinners as any, if.
they will come aright to God for mercy. Tbe invitations of the gospel are
always in universal terms: as. Ho, every one that thirsteth; Corae unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden; and, 'Whosoever will, let him come.
And the voice of Wisdom is to men in general; Prov. viu. 4, "Unto you, 0
men, I call, and ray voice is to the sons of raen.?.' Not to moral men, or reli
gious men, but to you, 0 men. So Christ: promises, John vi. 37, " Him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.'' This is the direction of Christ to
his apostles, after his resurrection, Mark xvl 15, 16, *f Go.ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature ; he that believeth, and is baptized,
sliall be saved." Which is agreeable to what the apostie saith, that " the gos
pel was preachei to every creature which is under heaven," Col. i. 23
APPLICATION.
The proper M5e of this subject is, to encourage sinners whose consciences are
Vol. IV. 54
426 PARDON FOR THE GREATEST SINNERS.
burdened with a sense of guilt, imraediately to go to God thiough Christ foi
mercy. If you gp in the manner we have described, the arms of mercy are
open to erabrace you. You need not be at all the more fearful of commg
because of your sins, let thera be ever so black. If you had as much guilt lying
on each of your souls as all the wicked raen in the worid, and all the ilamned
souls in hell; yet ii you come to God for mercy, sensible of your own vileness,
and seeking pardon only through the free mercy of God in Christ, you would
not need to be afraid ; the greatness of your sins would be no impediment to
your pardon. Therefore, if your souls be burdened, and you are distressed for
fear of hell, you need not bear that burden and distiess any longer. If you are
but willing, you raay freely come and unload yourselves, and cast all your
burdens on Christ, and rest in hira.
But here I shall speak to sorae objections whicb some awakened sinners
may be ready lo make against what I now exhort Ihera lo.
I. Sorae raay be ready to object, I have spent my youth and afl tbe best ol
my life in sin, and I ara afraid God will not accept of me, wben I offer hira only
mine old age. To this I would answer, — 1. Hath God said anywhere, tiial be
will not accept of old sinners wbo come to him ? God hath often made offers
and proraises in universal terms ; and is there any such exception put in ? Doth
Christ say. All that thirst, let them come to rae and drink, except old sinners ¦?
Coine to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, except old sinners, and I
will give you rest ? Hiih that coraeth to me, I wfll in no wise cast out, if he
be not an old sinner ? Did you ever read any such exception anywhere in the
Bible ? And why should you give way to exceptions which you make out of
your own heads, or rather which the devil puts into your heads, and which have
no foundation in the word of God ? Indeed it is more rare that old sinners are
willing lo come, than others; but if they do come, they are as readily accepted
as any whatever.
2. When God accepts of young persons, it is not for the sake ofthe service
which they are like to do bim afterwards, or because youth is belter worth
accepting than old age. You seem entirely to raistake the matier, in thinking
that God will not accept of you because you are old : as though he readily
accepted of persons in their youth, because tbeir youth is better worth his
acceptance ; whereas it is only for tbe sake of Jesus Christ, that God is willing
to accept of any.
You say, your life is almost spent, and you are afraid tbat the best time for
serving God is past ; and that therefore God wfll not now accept of you ; as if
it were for the sake of the service whicb persons are like to do him, after they
are converted, that he accepts of them. But a self-righteous spirit is at the
bottora of sucb objections. Men cannot get off from the notion, tbat il is for
sorae goodness or service of tbeir own, cilber done or expected to be done, that
God accepts of persons, and receives thera into favor. Indeed tbey who deny
God their youth, thehest part of their hves, and spend ilin the service of Satan,
dreadfully sin and provoke God ; and he very often leaves thera to hardness of
heart, when tbey are grown old. But if they are willing to accept of Christ
wben old, he is as ready to receive thera as any others ; for in that matter God
hatb respect only to Christ and his worthiness.
II. But I am afraid that I have committed sins that are peculiar to repro
bates. 1 have sinned against hght, and strong convictions of conscience ; I
have sinned presumptuously ; and bave so resisted the strivings of the Spirit of
God, tbat I am afraid I bave committed such sins as none of God's elect ever
:oinmit. 1 cannot think that God will ever leave one whom he intends to save,
PARDON FOR THE GREATEST SINNERS. 427
ro go on and comrait sins against so much light and conviction, and wilh such
horrid presuraption. Others raay say, I bave had risings of heart against God ;
blasphemous thoughts, a spiteful and malicious spirit ; and have abused mercy
and the strivings of the Spirit, trampled upon the Saviour, and ray sins are such
as are peculiar to those who are reprobated to eternal damnaiion. To all this
I would answer,
1. There is no sin peculiar to reprobates but tbe sin against the Holy Ghost
Do you read of any other in tbe word of God ? And if you do not read of
any there, what ground bave you to think any sucb thing ? What other rule
have we, by which to judge of such matters, but the divine word ? If we ven
ture to go beyond tha't, we shall be miserably in tbe dark. When we pretend
to go further in our determinations than the word of God, Satan takes us up,
and leads us. It seeras to you that such sins are peculiar to the reprobate, and
such as God never forgives. But wbat reason can you give for it, if you have
no word of God to reveal it ? Is it because you cannot see bow the mercy ol
God is sufficient to pardon, or the blood of Christ to cleanse from such pre
sumptuous sins ? If so, it is because you never yet saw how great the mercy
of God is ; you never saw the sufficiency of the blood of Christ, and you know-
not how far the virtue of it extends. Some elect persons have been guflly of
all manner of sins, except the sin against the Holy Ghost ; and unless you
have been guilty of this, you bave not been guilty of any tbat are peculiar to
reprobates. 2. Men may be less likely to believe, for sins which they have commflted,
and not the less readily pardoned when tbey do believe. It must be acknow
ledged that some sinners are in more danger of hell than others. Though all
are in great danger, sorae are less likely to be saved. Some are less likely ever
to be converted and to come to Christ : but all who do corae lo hira are alike
readily accepted ; and there is as much encouragement for one man to corae lo
Christ as another. — Such sins as you raention are indeed exceeding heinous and
provoking to God, and do in an especial raanner bring the soul inlo danger of
damnation, and into danger of being given to final hardness of heart; and God
more coramonly gives men up to the judgment of final hardness for such sins,
than for others. Yet they are not peculiar to reprobates ; there is but one sin
that is so, viz., tbat against the Holy Ghost And notwithstanding tbe sins
wbich you have committed, if you can find it in your hearts to come to Christ,
and close with bira, you will be accepted not at all tbe less readily because you
have coraraitted such sins. — Though God doth raore rarely cause sorae sorts of
sinners to come to Christ than others, it is not because his mercy or the redemp
tion of Christ is not as sufficient for them as others, but because in wisdora he
sees fit so to dispense his grace, for a restraint upon the -wickedness of men ;
and because it is bis wfll to give converting grace in tbe use of means, among
which this is one, viz., to lead a moral and religious life, and agreeable to our
light, and the convictions of our own consciences. But when once any sinner
is willing to come lo Christ, mercy is as ready for him as for any. There is no
consideration at all had of his sins ; let him have been ever so sinful, his sins
are not remembered ; God doth not upbraid bim with thera.
III. But hacl I not better slay tfll I shall have made rayself better, before I pre
sume to corae to Christ ? I have been, and see rayself to be very wicked now ; but
am in hopes of mending myself, and rendering rayself at least not so wicked :
then I sball have raore courage to come to God for mercy. — In answer to this,
1. Consider how unreasonably you act. 'Y^ou are striving to set up your-
eelves for your own saviours ; you are striving to get something of your own.
428 PARDON FOB THE GREATEST SJNNiERS.
on the account of wbich you may the more readily be accepted. So. that by
tbis it appears that you do not seek to be accepted only on Christ's account,
And is not this to rob Christ of tbe glory of being your only Saviour ? Yet
tbis is the way in wbich you are hoping to make Christ wifling to save youj ,
2. You can never come to Christ at all, unless you first see that he wifl not
accept of you Ihe more readily for any thing that you can do. You must first
see, that it is utterly in vain for you to try to make yourselves better on any
sucb account. You must see that you can never make yourselves any more
worthy, or less unworthy, by any thing which you can perforra.
3. If ever you truly cOrae to Christ, you must see that there is enough in
hira for your pardon, though you be no better than you are. If you see not the
sufficiency of Christ to pardon you, without any righteousness of your own to
recommend you, you never will corae so as to be accepted of him. The way
to be accepted is to come — not on any such encouragement, that now you bave
made yourselves better, and more worthy, or not so unworthy, but — on the
mere encouragement of Christ's worthiness, and God's mercy.
4. If ever you truly corae to Christ, you must come to him to make you
better. You must come as a patient comes to his physician, with his diseaseSi
or wounds to be cured. Spread all your wickedness before hira, and do not.
plead your goodness ; but plead ypur badness, and your necessity, on that ac
count : and say, as the psalraist in the text, not Pardon mine, iniqjily, for it ia
Dot so great as it was, but, " Pardon mine iniquity, for it is gieat."
SERMON XXVI.
THE PEACE WHICH CHRIST GIVES HIS TRUE FOLLC-WERS
loHN xiv Z7. — Peace I leave witn you, my peace I give unto you : not as the world givtth, give 1 vint;
you.
These wi>rds are a part of a most affectionate and affecting discourse that
Christ had with his disciples the sarae evening in which he was betrayed, know
ing that he was to 'be crucified the next day. This discourse begins with the
31st verse of the xiulh chapter, and is continued to tbe end of the xvith chapter.
Christ began his discourse after he had partook ofthe passover with thera, after
he had instituted and administered Ibe sacrament of the Supper, and after Judas
was gone out, and none were left but his true and faithful disciples ; Avbom be
now addresses as bis dear chfldren. This was tbe last discourse that ever Christ
had with them before bis death. As it w-as his parting discourse, and as it were
his dying discourse, so it is, on many accounts, the most reraarkable of all the
discourses of Christ which we have recorded in our Bibles.
It is evident this discourse made a deep impression on tbe minds of tbe dis
ciples ; and we may suppose that it did so, in a special manner, on the mind of
John, the beloved disciple, whose heart was especially full of love to him, and
who had just then been leaning on bis bosom. In this discourse Christ had
told his dear disciples that he was going away, which filled them with sorrow
and heaviness. The words of the text are some ofthe words wbich Christ said
to comfort them, and to relieve their sorrow. He supports them with the pro
mise of tbat peace which he would leave with them, and which they would have
in him and with bim, when he was gone.
This proraise he delivers in three eraphatical expressions, which illustrate
one anotber. " Peace I leave with you." As mucb as to say, though I am
, going away, yet I will not take all corafort away wilh me. While I bave been
with you, I have been your support and comfort, and you bave bad peace in me
in tbe midst of tbe losses you bave sustained, and troubles you bave met with
in this evil generation. This peace I will not take from you, but leave it
with you wilb great advantage, and ih more full possession.
" My peace I give unto you." Christ, by calling it ms peace, signifies two
things :
1. That it was bis own, tbat which he had to give. It was tbe peculiar
benefit that be bad to bestow on his children ; now be was about to die and
leave the world as to his human presence. Sflver and gold he had none : for
while in his estate of humiliation he was poor. The foxes had boles, and the
birds of the air had nestS ; bat the Son of man had not where to lay bis head,
Luke ix. 58. He had no earthly estate to leave to his disciples who were, as it
were, bis family: but he had peace to give them.
2. It was his peace that he gave^tbem ; aS it was the sarae kind of peace
which be himself enjoyed. The same excellent and divine peace which he ever
had in God, and which he was about to receive in his exalted stat6 in a vastly
greater perfection and fulness : for the happiness Christ gives to his people, is
a participation of his own happiness; agreeable to what Christ says in this
same dying discourse of bis, chap. xv. 11, "These Ihings have I said unto you,
that my joy might remain in you." And in his prayer that he made with his
430 PEACE WHICH CHRIST GIVES
disciples at the conclusion of this discourse, chap. xvn. 13: "And now come
I to thee, and these Ihings I speak in the worid, that they might have my joy
fulfilled in theraselves." And verse 22, " And the glory which thou gavest
me, I bave given Ihera."
Christ here alludes to men's making their wills before death. When parents
are about to leave their children by dealh, they are wont, in their last will and
testament, to give thera their estate ; tbat estate wbich they themselves were
wont lo possess and enjoy. So it was wilh Christ when he was about to leave
tbe worid, wilh respect lo the peace which he gave his disciples ; only with
this difference, that earihly parents, when they die, though they leave the same
estate lo their chfldren which they ihemselves heretofore enjoyed ; yet, wben
the children come to the full possession of it, they enjoy it no more ; the parents
do not enjoy it wilh their children. The time of the full posses.sion of parents
and chfldren is not together. Whereas with respect to Christ's peace, he did
not only possess it hiraself before his death, when be bequeathed it to his dis
ciples ; but also afterwards more fully ; so tbat tbey were received to pos
sess it wilh hira.
The third and last expression is, " not as the world giveth, give I unto you."
Which is as ranch as to say. My gifts and legacies, now I am going to leave tbe
world, are not like those wbich the rich and great men of the world are wont
to leave to their heirs, when they die. They bequeath to their chfldren theit
woridly possessions; and it may be, vast treasures of sflver and gold, and sorae
times an earthly kingdom. But the thing that I give you is my peace, a vastiy
different thing from what tbey are wont to give, and wbich cannot be obtained
by all that they can bestow, or their children inherit from them.
DOCTRINE.
That peace whicb Christ, when he died, left as a legacy to all his true
sainls, is very diverse frora all those Ihings which the men of this world bequeath
to tbeir chfldren, wben they die.
I. Christ at his death made over the blessings of the new covenant to
believers, as it were in a will or testament
II. A great blessing that Christ made over to believers in this his testament
was bis peace.
III. This legacy of Christ is exceeding diverse from afl tbat any ofthe men
of tbis world ever leave to tbeir children when they die.
I. Christ at his death made over the blessings of tbe new covenant to
believers, as it were in a will or testament
The new covenant is represented by the aposlle as Christ's last w-fll and
testaraent. Heb. ix. 15, 16, " And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New
Testament, that by means of dealh, for the rederaption of the transgressions that
Were under the first testament, they whicb are called might receive the promise
of eternal inheritance For where a testament is, there must also of nece.ssity
be the death of the testator." What men convey by tbeir wifl or testaraent, is
their own estate. So Christ in the new covenant conveys to believers his own
inheritance, so far as they are capable of possessing and enjoying it They
bave that eternal life given lo them in their measure, which Christ bimself pos
sesses. They live in bim, and with him, and by a participaticm of his life.
Because he lives they live also. They inherit bis kingdom; the same kingdom
which the Father appointed unlo bim. Luke xxii. 29, " And I appoint unto
you a kingdom, as ray Father bath appointed unto me." Tbey shall r^ign on
HIS TRUE FOLLOWERS. 431
his throne. Rev. hi. 21. Tbey bave his glory given to then^, John xvii. And
because all things are Cbrist'.s, so in Christ all Ihings are also the saints', 1 Cor.
ni. 21, 22.
Men in tbeir wills or testaments most coramonly give Iheir estates to tbeir
children. So believers are in Scripture represented as Christ's children. Heb.
u. 13, " Behold I, and the children wbich God hath given rae.'' Men most
coramonly make Iheir wills a little before their death. So Christ did, in a very
special and solemn raanner, make over and confirra to his disciples the blessings
ofthe new covenant, on the evening before the day of his crucifixion, in that
discourse of which my text is a part. The proraises of the new covenant were
never so particularly expressed, and so soleranly given forth by Christ in all the
time that he was upon earth, as in this discourse. Christ promises them man
sions in bis Father's bouse, chap. xiv. 1, 2, 3. Here he promises Ihem whatever
blessings they should need and ask in his name, chap. xv. 7, xiv. 23, 24.
Here he does more solemnly and fully than anywhere else, give forth and con
firm the promise of Ibe Holy Spirit, which is the sum of the blessings of tbe
covenant of grace, chap. xiv. 16, xvii. 26, xv. 25, xvi. 7. Here he promises
them his own and his Father's gracious presence and favor, chap. xiv. 18,
xix. 20, 21. Herehe promises them peace in the text. Here he promises them
his joy, chap. xv. II. Here he promises grace to bring forth holy fruils,
chap. XV. 11. And victory over the worid, chap. xvi. 33. And indeed there
seems to be nowhere else so full and complete an edition of the covenant ot
grace in the whole Bible, as in this dying discourse of Christ with his eleven
true disciples.
This covenant between Christ and his children is like a will or testament
also in this respect, that it becomes effectual by, and no other way than by, his
death ; as the apostle observes it is with a will or testament among men. For
a testament is of force after men are dead, Heb. ix. 17. For though the
covenant of grace indeed was of force before the death of Christ, yet it was of
force no olherwise than by his dealh. So that his death then did virtually
intervene; being already undertaken and engaged. As a man's heirs come by
the legacies bequeathed to thera no olherwise than by the death of the testator,
so men come by the spiritual and eternal inheritance no otherwise than by the
death of Christ. If it had not been for the death of Christ tbey never could
have obtained it.
II. A great blessing tbat Christ, in his testament, hath bequeathed to his true
followers, is his peace. Here are two things that I would observe particularly,
viz., tbat Christ bath bequeathed to believers true peace ; and tben, that tbe
peace be has given them is his peace.
1. Our Lord Jesus Christ has bequeathed true peace and corafort to his fol
lowers. Christ is called the Prince of Peace, Isa. ix. 6. And when be was
born into Ihe world, the angels, on that joyful and wonderful occasion, sang,
Glory to God in Ihe highest, on earth peace ; because of tbat peace which be
should procure for, and bestow on the children of men ; peace with God, and
peace one with anotber, and tranquillity and pea<;e within themselves: which
last is esnecially the benefit spoken of in the text This ChrisI has procured
for bis followers, and laid a foundation for tbeir enjoyment of, in that be has
procured for them the other two, viz , peace with God, and with one another.
He has procured for tbem peace and reconciliation wilb God, and his favor and
friendship ; in that be satisfied for their sins, and laid a foundation for the pe.'--'
feet reraoval of the guilt of .sin, and the forgiveness of all their trespasses, and
wrought out for thera a perfect and glorious righteousness, most acceptable to
432 PEACE WHICH CHRIST GIVES
God, and sufficient to recommend tbem to God's fufl acceptance, and to the
adoption of chfldren, and to the eternal fruits of his fatherly kindness.
By these raeans true saints are brought into a state of freedom from con
demnation, and all the curses of the law of God. Rom. viii. 34, " Who is he
that condemneth ?" And by these means tbey are safe from that dreadful and
eternal raisery which naturally they are exposed to, and are set on high out of
the reach of all tbeir enemies, so that the gates of hell and powers of darkness
can never destroy tbem ; nor can wicked raen, ihough they raay persecute them,
ever huri thera. Rora. viii 31, " If God be for us, who can be against us ?"
Nurab. xxiii. 8, "How shall I curse whom God halh not cursed ?" Verse 23,
" There is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against
Israel." By these means they are out of .reach of dealh. John vi. 4, ix. 50,
51, " This is the bread which coraeth down frora heaven, that a man may eat
thereof and not die" By these raeans death with respect to them has lost its
sting, and is no raore worthy of the name of death. 1 Cor. xv. 56, " O death,
where is thy sting ?" By these means they have no need to be afraid of the
day ofjudgraent, when the heavens and earth shall be dissolved. Psal. xlvi. 1, 2,
" God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will
not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea." Yea, a true saint has reason to be at rest in an as
surance, that nothing can separate him from the love of God, Rom. viii 38, 39.
Thus he that is got into ChrisI, is in a safe refuge from every thing that
might disturb him ; for this is that man spoken of, Isa. xxxii. 2 : " And a man
shafl be as a biding place from the wind, and a covert from tbe tempest. As
livers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."
And hence they that dwell in Christ have that promise fulfilled to them which
we have in the 18th verse of the same chapter : " And my people shall dwell
in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places."
And the true followers of Christ have not only ground of rest and peace of
soul, by reason of their safely frora evil, but on account of their sure title and
certain enjoyraent of all that good wbich tbey stand in need of, living, dying,
and throughout all eternity. Tbey are on a sure foundation for happiness, are
built on a rock that can never be raoved, and have a fountain that is sufficient,
and can never be exhausted. The covenant is ordered in all things and sure,
and God has passed his word and oath, " That by two irarautable things, in
which it was irapossible for God to lie, we might bave strong consolation, who
have fled for refuge to lay hold ont he hope set before us." The infinite Jehovah is
become their God, who can do every thing for them. He is their portion who has
an infinite fulness of good in himself. " He is tbeir shield and exceeding great
reward." As gl-eat a good is made over to them as tbey desire, or can desire or
conceive of Yea, as great and sweet as they are capable of; and to be contin
ued as long as they desire ; and Ihis is made as sure as they can desire : there
fore they have reason lo put their hearts at rest, and be at peace in their minds.
Besides, he has bequeathed peace to the souls of bis people, as he has pro
cured for them and made over to them, the Spirit of grace and true holiness;
wbich has a natural tendency to the peace and quietness of tbe soul. It has
such a tendency as it imphes a discovery and relisb of a suitable and sufficient
good. It brings a person into a view of divine beauty, and to a relish of that
good wbich is a raan's proper happiness ; and so it brings the soul to its true
centre. The soul by this means is brought to rest, and ceases from restlessly
inquiring, as others do, wbo wfll show us any good ; and wandering lo and fro,
like lost sheep, seeking rest, and finding none. The soul hath found him who
HIS TRUE FOLLOWERS. 433
IS as tne apple tree among the trees of the wood, and sits down under his shadow
with great delight, and his fruit is sweet unto his taste. Cant, il 2. And thus
IS that saying of Christ fulfilled, John iv. 14, " Whosoever drinketh of Ibe wa
ter that I shall give him, shall never thirst" And besides, true grace nat
urally tends to peace and quietness, as it settles tbings in the soul in tbeir due
order, sets reason on the throne, and subjects the senses and affections to ils
government, which before were uppermost, and put all tbings into confu.sion
and uproar in tbe soul Grace tends to tranquillity, as it mortifies tumultuous
desires and passions, su'odues tbe eager and insatiable appetites of tbe sensual
"jature and greediness atter the vanities of the world. It mortifies such princi
ples as hatred, variance, emulation, wralh, envyings, and the like, whicb are a
continual source of inward uneElsiness and perturbation ; and supplies those
sweet, calming, and quieting principles of humility, meekness, resignation, pa
tience, gentleness, foi giveness, and sweet reliance on God. It also lends lo peace,
as it fixes the aim of the soul to a certain end ; so that the soul is no longer dis
tracted and drawn contrariwise by opposite ends to be sought, and opposite
pen tions to be obtained, and raany raasters of contrary wflls and coraraands to
be .served ; bul tbe heart is fixed in the choice of one certain, sufficient, and un
failing good ; and the soul's aira at this, and hope of it, is like an anchor to it,
that keeps it steadfast, that it should no more be driven to and fro by every wind.
2. This peace which Christ has left as a legacy to his true followers, is his
peace. It is the peace which hiraself enjoys. This is what f lake lo be tbat
whichis principally intended in the expression. It is the peace tbat he enjoyed
while on earth, in his state of humiliation : though be was a man of sorrows,
and acquainted with grief, and was everywhere haled and persecuteilby men and
devils, and had no place of rest in this world ; yet in God his Father, be had
peace. W^e read of his rejoicing in spirit, Luke x. 21. So Christ's true disci
ples, though in the world they bave tribulation, yet in God have peace.
When Christ had finished his labors and sufferings, and rose from the dead,
and ascended into heaven, then be entered into his rest, and into a state ol' most
blessed, perfect, and everlasting peace : delivered by his own sufferings from
our imputed guilt, acquitted and justified of the Father on his resurrection;
having obtained i perfect victory over all his enemies; was received of his
Father inlo heaven, the rest which be had prepared for hira, tbere lo enjoy his
heart's desire fully and perfectly to all eternity. And then were those words
in the first six verses ofthe 21st Psalra, which have respect to Christ, fulfilled.
This peace and rest of the Messiah is doubtless exceeding glorious. Isai. xl
10, " And his rest shall be glorious." This rest is what Christ has procured,
not only for hiraself, but also his people, by bis death ; and has bequeathed it
to thera, that they raay enjoy it with hira, imperfectly in this world, and per
fectly and eternally in anotber world.
"That peace, which has been described, which believers enjoy, is a partici
pation of tbe peace whicb their glorious Lord and Master hiraself enjoys, by
virtue of the sarae blood of Christ, by which Christ himself bas entered into
rest; it is in a participation of tbis same justification ; for believers are justified
with Christ. As he was justified when be rose from tbe dead, and as he was
raade free from our guill, which be had as our surety, so behevers are justified
in him and through him. It is as being accepted of God in the same righteous
ness : it is in tbe favor of tbe same God and heavenly Falher that tbey enjoy
peace. "I a.scend to my Father and your Father, to ray God and your God."
It is in a participation of tbe same spirit ; for believers have the spirit of Christ.
He had tlie Spirit given to him not by measure, and of his fulness do thev all
Vol. IV. £6
434 PEACE WHICH CHRIST GIVES
receive, and grace for grace. As the oil, poured on the head of Aaron, went
down to the skirts of his garments, so the Spirit poured on Christ, the head, de
scends to all his raerabers. It is pariaking of the same grace of the Spirit that
believers enjoy this peace, John I 16.
Il is as being united to Christ, and living by a participation of his life, as a
branch lives by the life of the vine. Il is as partaking of the same love of God
John xvii 26, " That the love wherewith thou hast loved rae may be in them."
It is as having a part with him in his victory over tiie same eneraies : and also
as having an interest in the sarae kind of eternal rest and peace. Eph. ii. 5, 6,
" Even when we were dead in sins, halh quickened us together with Christ — and
hath raised us up together, and hatb made us sit together in heavenly places."
III. This legacy of Christ to his true disciples is very diverse from all that the
men ofthis world ever leave to their children when Ihey die. Tbe men of tbi.f
world, raany of thera, when tbey corae to die, have great estates lo bequeath to
their children, an abundance of the good things of this worid, large tracts of
ground, perhaps in a fruitful sofl, covered with flocks and herds. They some
tiraes leave lo their children stalely raansions, and vast treasures of silver, gold,
iewels, and precious things, fetched frora both the Indies, and from every side of
the globe of the earth. They leave thera wherewith to live in rauch state and
magnificence, and raake a great show araong men, to fare very sumptuously,
and swim in worldly pleasures. Some have crowns, sceptres, and palaces, and
great raonarchies to leave to their heirs. But none of these Ihings are to be
compared to that blessed peace of Christ which he has bequeathed to his true
foflowers. These things are stich as God commonly, in his providence, gives
his worst enemies, those whom he bates and despises most. But Christ's peace
IS a precious benefit, which he reserves for his peculiar favorites. These world
ly things, even the best of them, that the men and princes of the world leave
for their children, are things which God in his providence throws out to those
whom he looks on as dogs ; but Christ's peace is the bread of his children. Al
these earthly Ihings are but empty shadows, which, however men set their hearts
upon thera, are not bread, and can never satisfy their souls ; but tbis peace of
Christ is a truly substantial, satisfying food, Isai. Iv. 2. None of tbose things
if men have thera lo tbe best advantage, and in ever so great abundance, cai
give true peace and rest to tbe soul, as is abundantly manifest not only in rea
son, but experience ; it being found in all ages, tbat tbose who have the raost
of thera, have coramonly the least quietness of mind. It is true, there may be
a kind of quietness, a false peace they raay bave in their enjoyraent of worldly
things ; men raay bless their souls, and think themselves the only happy per
sons, and despise others ; may say to their souls, as the rich raan did, Luke xil
19, " Soul, thou hasl much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat,
drink, and be raerry." But Christ's peace, which he gives to his true disciples,
vastly differs from this peace that men may have in tbe enjoyments of the world,
in the foflowing respects :
1. Christ's peace is a reasonable peace and rest of sou]; it is wbat bai its
foundation in light and knowledge, in tbe proper exercises of reason, and a
right, view of tbings; whereas the peace of the worid is founded in blindness
and delusion. Tbe peace that the people of Christ have, arises from tbeir hav
ing tbeir eyes open, and seeing tbings as tbey be. The more they consider, and
the more they know of tbe truth and reality of things, the more they know what
IS true concerning Ihemselves, the state and condition tbey are in ; tbe more
they know of God, and the more certain they are that there is a God, and the
more they know wbat manner of being he is, the more certain they are of an-
HIS TRUE FOLLOWERS 43fc
otlier world and future judgment, and of the truth of God's threatenings and
promises; thd more their consciences are awakened and enlightened, and the
brighter and the more searching the light is that they see things in, the more is
their peace established : whereas, on the contrary, the peace that the men of
the world have in their worldly enjoyments can subsist nO olherwise than by
their being kept in ignorance. They raust be blindfolded and deceived, olher
wise they can have no peace : do but let light in upon their consciences, so ibat
they raay look about them and see what they are, and what circumstances they
are in, and it will at once destroy all their quietness and corafort Their peace
can live nowhere but in tbe dark. Light turns their ease inlo torraent The
raore they know what is true concerning God and concerning .neraselves, the
more they are sensible of the truth concerning those enjoyments which they pos
sess ; and the more tbey are sensible whal tbings now are, and what things are
like to be hereafter, the more wfll their calra be turned into a storm. Tbe world
ly man's peace cannot be maintained bu+ by avoiding consideration and reflec
tion. If he allows himself to think, and properly to exercise bis reason, it
destroys his quietness and comfort If he would establish his carnal peace, it
concerns him to put out the light of bis mind, and turn beast as fast as he can.
The faculty of reason, if at liberty, proves a mortal enemy to his peace. It con
cerns him, ifhe would keep alive bis peace, to contrive all ways that may be,
to stupify his mind and deceive himself, and to iraagine things lo be otherwise
than they be. But with respect to the peace -which Christ gives, reason is its
great friend. The more this faculty is exercised, the more it is established.
The raore they consider and view ihings with truth and exactness, the firraer is
their corafort, and the higher their joy. How vast a difference is there between
tbe peace of a Christian and the worldling ! How miserable are tbey who can
not enjoy peace any otherwise than by biding tbeir eyes frora the light, and con
fining themselves to darkness ; whose peace is properly stupidity ; as the ease
that a man has who has taken a dose of stupifying poison, and the ease and
pleasure that a drunkard may have in a house on fire over his head, or the
joy of a distracted raan in tbinking that he is a king, though a miserable
wretch confined in bedlara : whereas, the peace which Christ gives his true
disciples, is tbe light of life, something of tbe tranquillity of heaven, the peace
ofthe celestial paradise, that has the glory of God lo lighten it
2. Christ's peace is a virtuous and holy peace. The peace that the men of
the world enjoy is vicious ; it is a vile stupidity, that depraves and debases the
mind, and raakes raen brutish. But the peace tbat the saints enjoy in Christ,
is not only their comfort, but it is a part of tbeir beauty and dignity. The Chris
tian tranquillity, rest, and joy of real saints, are not only unspeakable privileges,
bul they are virtues and graces of God's Spirit, wherein the image of God in
them does partly consist. This peace basils source in those principles that are
in the highest degree virtuous and amiable, such as poverty of spirit, holy re
signation, trust in God, divine love, meekness, and charily ; the exercise of
such blessed fruits of the Spirit as are spoken of. Gal. 22, 23.
3. This peace greatly differs frora that which is enjoyed by the men of the
world; with regard to its exquisite sweetness. It is a peace that passes all that
natural men enjoy in worldly things so much, that it passes their understanding
ind conception, Phil. iv. 7. It is exquisitely sweet, because it has so firm a
foundation as the everlasting rock that never can be moved. It is sweet, because
perfectly agreeable lo reason. It is sweet, because it rises frora holy and divine
principles, that as they are tbe virtue, so they are the pi'oper happiness of men.
It IS' exquisitely sweet, because ol the greatness of the objective good that
436 PEACE WHICH CHRIST GIVES
the saints enjoy, and bave peace and rest in, being r.- other than the infinite
bounty and fulness of tbat God who is the fountain of all good. It is sweet,
on account of the fulness and perfection of that provision that is made for hin
Christ and the new covenant, where there is a foundation laid for tl<: saints'
perfect peace ; and hereafter they shall actually enjoy perfect peace ; and
though their peace is not now perfect, it is not owing lo any defect in the pro
vision raade, but in their own imperfection and misery, sin and darkness; and
because as yet they do partly cleave lo the worid and seek peace frora thenc-e,
and do not perfectly cleave to ChrisI. But the more they do so, and the more
they see of the provision there is made, and accept of it, and cleave to that alone,
tbe nearer are they brought to perfect tranquillity, Isaiah xxvi. 5.
4. The peace of the Christian infinitely differs from that of the worldling, in
tbat it is unfailing and eternal peace. That peace which carnal men have in
the things of the world, is, according to the foundation that it is built upon, of
short continuance; like the corafort of a dream, 1 John ii. 17, 1 Cor. vii. 31.
These things, the best and most durable of them, are like bubbles on the face of
the waler ; they vanish in a moraent, Hos. x. 7.
^t the foundatio.T of the Christian's peace is everlasting ; it is what no
time, no change, can destroy. It will remain wben the body dies ; it will re
main when the mountains depart and the bills shafl be removed, and when the
heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll. The fountain of his corafort sball
never be dirainished, and the streara shall never be dried. His corafort and joy
is a living spring in the soul, a well of water springing up to everlasting life.
APPLICATION.
The use that I would raake of this doctrine, is to iraprove it, as an induce
ment unlo afl to forsake the world, no longer seeking peace and rest in its
vanities, and to cleave to Christ and follow bim. Happiness and rest are what
afl men are in pursuit of. But the Ihings of the world, wherein most men seek
it, can never afford it ; they are laboring and spending themselves in vain. But
Christ invites you to corae lo him, and offers you this peace whicb he gives his
true foflowers, tbat so much excels all tbat the world can afford, Isa. Iv. 2, 3.
You that have hitherto spent your tirae in the pursuit of satisfaction and
peace in the profit and glory of tbe worid, or in the pleasures and vanities of
youth, have this day an offer raade lo you of that excellent and everiasting
peace and blessedness, which Christ has purchased with the price of bis own
blood, and bestows only on tbose that are his peculiar favorites, bis redeeraed
ones, that are his portion and treasure, the objects of his everlasting love. As
long as you continue to reject tbose offers and invitations of Christ, and continue
in a Christless condition, you never will enjoy any true peace or comfort; but
in whatever circumstances you are, you will be miserable ; you will be like the
prodigal, that in vain endeavored to fill his belly wilh tbe husks that the swine
did eat; tbe wralh of God will abide tpon, and raisery wfll attend you wher
ever you go, which you never will, by any raean.s, be able to escaj.e. Christ
gives peace lo the most sinful and miserable that come to hira. He heals the
broken in heart and bindeth up tbeir wounds. But il is impossible tbat they
should have peace, that continue in their sins, Isa. Ivii. 19 — 21. Thereis no peace
between God and thern ; as they have the guill of sin remaining in their souls,
and are under the dominion of sin, so God's indignation continually burns against
tbem, and therefore there is reason why they should travail in pain all tbeir days.
Whfle you continue in such a state, you live in a state of dreadful uncertain
ly what will becorae of you, and in continual oanger. W^hen you are in the
HIS TRUE FOLLOWERS. 437
enjoyment of things that at-e the most pleasing to you, where y ur heart is best
suited, and raost cheerful, yet you are in a state of condemnation, banging over
the infernal pit, with the sword of divine vengeance banging over your head,
having no security one moraent frora utter and remediless destruction. What
reasonable peace can any one enjoy in such a state as this. What does it sig
nify to take such a one and clothe hira in gorgeous apparel, or to set bira on a
throne, or at a prince's table, and feed him with the rarest dainties the earth
affords ? And bow miserable is the ease and cheerfulness that such have ! What
a poor kind of comfort and joy is it that such lake in tbeir wealth and pleasures for
a moraent, while tbey are the prisoners of divine justice, and wretched captives
of the devfl, and have none to befriend thera or defend them, being w'ilhout
Christ, aliens frora the coinmonweallh oi Israel, strangers from the covenant of
proraise, having no hope, and without God in the world !
I invite you now lo a better portion. There are better things provided for
the sinful miserable children of men. There is a surer comfort and more dura
ble peace : comfort that you may enjoy in a state of safety and on a sure foun
dation : a peace and rest that you raay enjoy with reason and with your eyes open ;
having all your sins forgiven, your greatest and most aggravated transgressions
blotted out as a cloud, and buried as in the depths of the sea, that they raay
never be found more ; and being not only forgiven, but accepted to favor ; be
ing tbe objects of God's complacence and delight ; being taken into God's
faraily and made his children ; and having good evidence that your naraes were
written on the heart of ChrisI before tbe world was raade, and that you have
an interest in that covenant of grace that is well ordered in all things and sure;
wherein is promised no less than life and immortality, an inheritance incorrupt
ible and undefiled, a crown of glory that fades not away ; being in such circura
stances, that nolhing shall be able to prevent your being happy to all eternity ;
having for the foundation of your hope, that love of God which is frorn eter
nity unto eternity ; and his promise and oath, and his omnipotent power, things
infinitely firraer than mountains of brass. The raountains sball depart, and the
hills be removed, yea, the heavens shall vanish away like sraoke, and the earth
shall wax old like a garment, yet these things will never be abohshed.
In such a state as this you will h-ave a foundation of peace and rest through
all changes, and in tiraes ofthe greatest uproar and outward calaraity be de
fended frora all storms, and dwell above the floods, Psalra xxxu. 6, 7 ; and
you sball be at peace with every thing, and God will make all his creatures
throughout all parts of his dorainion, to befriend you. Job v. 19, 24. You
need not be afraid of any thing that your eneraies can do unto you. Psalm iii. 5,
6. Those things tbat now are raost terrible to you, viz., dealb, judgraent, and
eternity, will then be raost comfortable, the most sweet and pleasant objects ol
your contemplation, at least there will be reason that they should be so. Heark
en iherefore lo the friendly counsel that is given you this day, turn your feet inlo
tbe way of peace, forsake the foolish and live ; forsake those things which
are no other than the devil's bails, and seek after this excellent peace and rest
of Jesus Christ, that peace of God which passes all understanding. Taste and
Bee ; never was any ilisappointed that raade a trial, Prov. xxiv. 13, 14. You
will not only find those spiritual coraforls that Christ offers you to'be of a sur-
Eiassing sweetness for the present, but they will be to your soul as the dawning
ight that shines raore and more to the perfect day ; and the issue of all will be
your arrival in heaven, that land of rest, those regions of everlasting joy, where
your peace and happiness wifl be perfect, without the least mixture of trouble
.ir affliction, and never be interrupted nor bave an end.
SERMON XXVII.
k DfVlNE AND SUPERNATUKAL LIGHT, IMMEDIATELY IMPARTED TO THE SOUI, BV THB
SPIRIT OF GOU, SHOWN TO BE BOTH A SCRIPTUKAL AND EATIUNAL DOCTRINE.
Matthew xvi. 17.— And Jesus answered and said unfohim, Blessed art thou, Simon fiarjona; for flesli
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is m hea.en.
Christ says these words to Peter upon occasion of his professing his faith
in him as the Son of God. Our Lord was inquhing of bis disciples, who
raen said he was; not that he needed to be informed, but only lo introduce
and give occasion to what follows. They answer, that some said he was John
the Baptist, and some Elias, and others Jcremias, or one of the Prophets.
When they had thus given an account who others said he was, Christ asks
tbem, who they said he was ? Simon Peter, whom we find always zealous and
forward, was the first to answer : be readily rephed to the question. Thou art
Christ, the Son of the living God.
Upon this occasion, Christ says as he does to bim, and of bim in the text :
in which we raay observe,
i. That Peter is pronounced blessed on this account Blessed art thou. —
'Thou art a happy raan, that thou art not ignorant of tbis, that I ara Christ,
the Son of' the living Gon. Thou art distinguishingly happy. Others are
blinded, and have dark and deluded apprehensions, as you have now given an ac
count, sorae thinking that I ara Elias, and sorae that I am Jeremias, and sorae
one thing, and some another ; but none of them Ihinking right, afl of thera misled.
Happy art thou, that art so distinguished as lo know the trulh in this matter."
2. , The evidence of this his bappiness declared ; viz., tbat God, and be
ONLY, had revealed it to him. This is an evidence of bis being blessed.
First. As it shows how peculiariy favored be was of God above others;
q. d., " How highly favored art thou, that others that are wise and great raen,
the Scribes, Pharisees, and Rulers, and the naiion in general, are left in dark
ness, to follow their own misguided apprehensions ; and that thou shouldst be
singled out, as it were, by name, that my Heavenly Father should thus set his
love,, on THEE, Simon Bakjona. This argues thee blessed, that thou shoiddst
tbus be the object of God's distinguishing love."
Secondly. It evidences his blessedness also, as it intiraates that this know
ledge is above any that flesh and blood can reveal. " This is such knowledge
as ray Father which is i.\ heaven only can give : it is too high and excellent to
be communicated by such means as other knowledge is. Thou art blessed, that
thou knowest that which God alone can teach thee."
The original of tbis knowledge is here declared, both negatively and posi
tively. PosmvELY, as God is here declared the author of k. Negatively, as
it is declared, that flesh and blood had not revealed it God is the author of all
knowledge and understanding whatsoever. He is the author ofthe knowledge
that is obtained by human learning : he is the author of all moral prudence,
and of the knowledge and skfll that raen bave . in their secular business. Thus
it is said of all in Israel that were wise-hearted, and skilful in erabroidering,>that
God had filled tbem with the spirit of wisdora, Exod xxvui. 3.
God is the author of such knowledge; but yet not so but that flesh and
BLOon reveals it. Mortal men are capable of impariing tiie knowledge of hu
REALiri OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT 439
man arts and sciences, and skill in temporal affairs. God is tbe aun^r of
such knowledge by Ihose raeans : flesh and blood is made use of by God as
the mediate or second cause of it ; be conveys it by the power and influence ol
.latural means. But this spiritual knowledge, spoken of in the text, is wbat
God is the author of, and none else : be leveals it, and flesh and blood reveals
it not. He imparts tbis knowledge imraediately, not raaking use of any in
termediate natural causes, as be does in other knowledge.
What had passed in the preceding discourse naturally occasioned Christ to
observe this ; because the disciples had been telling how others did not know
him, but were generally mistaken about bim, and divided and confounded in
their opinions of him : but Peter had declared his assured faith, that he was the
Son of God. Now it was natural to observe, how it was not flesh and blood
that had revealed it to him, but God-: for if this knowledge were dependent on
natural causes or means, how came it to pass that they, a corapany of poor
fishermen, illiterate men, and persons of low education, attained to the know
ledge of the trulh ; while the Scribes and Pharisees, men of vastly higher ad
vantages, and greater knowledge and sagacity in other matters, remained in
ignorance ? This could be owing only to the gracious distinguishing influence
and revelation of tbe Spirit of God. Hence, what I would make the subject ot
my present discourse from these words, is this
DOCTRINE.
That there is such a thing as a Spiritual and Divine Light, imraediately im
parted to the soul by God, of a different nature from any that is obtained by
natural raeans.
In wbat I say on this subject, at this time, I would,
I. Show what this divine light is.
II. How it is given immediately by God, and not obtained by natural
means. III. Show the trulh of the doctrine.
And tben conclude whh a brief improvement
I. 1 would show what this spiritual and divine light is. And in order to it,
would show.
First, In a few things what it is not. And here,
1. Those convictions that natural raen raay have of their sin and misery, is
not tbis spiritual and divine light. Men in a natural condition may have con
victions of the guill tbat lies upon thera, and of the anger of God, and their
danger of divine vengeance. Such convictions are frora light or sensibleness
of truth. That some sinners have a greater conviction oftheir guilt and misery
than others, is because some have more light, or more of an apprehension of
truth, than others. And this light and conviction raay be from the Spirh of
God ; the Spirit convinces men of sin : but yet nature is much more concerned
in it than in the communication of that spiritual and divine light that is spoken
of in tbe doctrine ; it is frora tbe Spirit of God only as assisting natural prin
ciples, and not as infusing any new principles. ComraoB grace differs from
special, in tbat it influences only by assisting of nature ; and not by imparting
grace, or bestowing any thing above nature. The light tbat is obtained is
wholly natural, or of no superior kind to wbat mere nature attains to, though
more of that kind be obtained than would be obtained if men were left wholly to
themselves : or, in other words, common grace only assists the faculties ofthe soul
to do that more fully whicb they do by nature, as natural conscience or reason will.
440 REALITY OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT.
by mere nature, make a man sensible of guilt, and will accuse and condemn
him wben be has done araiss. Conscience is a principle natural to men ; and
the work that it doth naturally, or of itself, is to give an apprehension of r.ght
and wrong, and lo suggest to tbe mind the relation that there is between right
and wrong, and a retribution. The Spirit of God, in those convictioris which
unregenerate men soraetiraes have, assists conscience to do this work in a fur
ther degree than it woulcl do if they were left to themselves : -he helps it against
those things that tend to stupify it, and obstruct its exercise. But in the renew
ing and sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost, those things are wrought in the
soul tbat are above nature, and of whicb there is nothing of the like kind in the
soul by nature ; and they are caused to exist in the soul habitually, and accord
ing to such a stated constitution or law tbat lays sucb a foundation for exercises
in a continued course, as is cafled a principle of nature. Not only are remain
ing principles assisted lo do their work more freely and fully, but those prin
ciples are restored that were utterly destroyed by the fall ; ami the mind thence
forward habitually exerts those acts that Ihe dorainion of sin bad made it as
wholly destitute of, as a dead body is of vital acts.
The Spirit of God acts in a very different raanner in the one case, frora what
be doth in the other. He raay indeed act upon the raind of a natural raan, but he
acts in the raind of a saint as an indwefling vital principle. He acts upon the
mind of an unregenerate person as an extrinsic, occasional agent ; for in act
ing upon them, he dolh not unite himself to tbem ; for notwithstanding afl his
influences that they raay be the subjects of, they are stfll sensual, having not the
Spirit, Jude 19. But he unites bimself with the mind of a saint, takes him for
his teraple, actuates and influences hira as a new supernatural principle of life
and action. There is this difference, that the Spirit of God, in acting in the
soul of a godly man, exerts and communicates hiraself there in bis own proper
nature. Holiness is the proper nature of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit
operates in tbe rainds of the godly, by uniting himself to them, and living in
them, and exerting his own nature in tbe exercise of their faculties. The Spi
rit of God may act upon a creature, and yet not in acting communicate hiraself.
The Spirit of God raay act upon inanimate creatures ; as, the Spirit moved upon
the face of the waters, in the beginning of the creation ; so the Spirit of God
may act upon the minds of men raany ways, and coraraunicale himself no more
than when he acts upon an inanimate creature. For instance, he may excite
thoughts in them, raay assist their natural reason and undersianding, or raay as
sist other natural principles, and this wiihout any union wilh tbe soul, but raay
act, as il were, as upon an external object But as he acts in bis holy influ
ences and spiritual operations, he acls in a way of peculiar communication of
hiraself; so that the subject is thence denorainated spiritual.
2. This spiritual and divine light does not consist in any impression made
upon the imagination. It is no impression upon the mind, as though one .saw
any thing wilh the bodily eyes : it is no imagination or idea of an outward
light or glory, or any beauty of forra or countenance, or a visible lustre or
brightness of any object The imagination raay be strongly irapressed with
Biich things ; but this is not spiritual light Indeed wben the raind has a lively
discovery of spiritual things, and is greatly affected by the power of divine light,
it may, and probably very coraraonly doth, rauch affect tbe iraagination ; st;
that impressions of an outward beauty or brightness raay accompany those spi
ritual discoveries. Bul spiritual light is not that irapression upon the iraagina-
¦don, but an exceeding different thing from it Natural men may have lively
iif)p--pssions on their iraaginations ; and we cannot determine but the devil, whc
REALITY OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT. 441
transforms himself into an angel of light, may cause iraaginations of an outward
beauty, or visible glory, and of sounds and speeches, and other such things; but
these are things of a vastly inferior nature to spiritual light.
3. This spiritual light is not the suggesting of any new truths or propositions
not contamed in the word of God. This suggesting of new truths or doctrines
to the mind, independent of any antecedent revelation of tbose propositions,
either in word or writing, is inspiration; such as the prophets and apostles had,
and such as sorae enthusiasts pretend to. But tbis spiritual light that I am speak
ing of, is quite a different thing from inspiration : it reveals no new doctrine, it
suggests no new proposition to the mind, it teaches no new thing of God, or
Christ, or another w-orld, not taught in the Bible, but only gives a due appre
hension of those tbings that are taught in the word of God.
4. It is not every affecting view that men bave of the tbings of religion that
is this spiritual and divine light Men by mere principlesof nature are capable
of being affected with things that have a special relation to religion as well as
other things. A person by mere natiu-e, for instance, may be liable to be af
fected with the story of Jesus Christ, and the sufferings he underwent, as well
as by any other tragical story : he may be the raore affected wilh it frora the
interest be conceives raankind to have in it : yea, he may be affected wilh it
wiihout believing it ; as well as a man may be affected with what he reads in
a romance, or sees acted in a stage play. He may be affected with a lively and
eloquent description of raany plea.sant Ihings that attend the stale of the blessed in
heaven, as well as his iraagination be entertained by a roraantic description of
the pleasantness of fairy land, or the like. And that commo-n belief of the truth
of the things of religion, that persons raay have frora education or otherwise,
may help forward their affection. We read in Scripture of raany that were
greatly affected wilh things of a religious nature, who yet are there represented
as wholly graceless, and raany of them very ill raen. A person therefore raay
have affecting views of the things of religion, and yet be very destitute of spi
ritual light. Flesh and blood raay be the author of this : one man may give
another an affecting view of divine things with but coraraon assistance : but
God alone can give a spiritual discovery of them.
But I proceed lo show,
Seconuly, Positively what this spiritual and divine light is.
And it may be thus described : a true sense of the divine excellency of the
things revealed in the word of God, and a conviction of the trulh and reality of
thera thence arising.
This spiritual light priraarily consists in the former of these, viz , a real
sense and apprehension of the divine exceflency of things revealed in the word
of God. A spiritual and saving conviction of the truth and reality of these
things, arises from such a .sight of their divine excellency and glory ; so that
Ihis conviction of their truth is an effect and natural consequence of this sight
of their divine glory. There is therefore in this spiritual light,
1. A true sense of the divine and superlative excellency of the things of
religion ; a real sense of the exceflency of God and Jesus Christ, and of the work
of redemption, and the w-ays and works of God revealed in the gospel. There
is a divine and superlative glory in these things ;• an excellency that is of a
vastly higher kind, and raore sublime nature than in other things : a glory
greatly distinguishing them from all that is earthly and temporal. He ibat ia
spiritually enlightened truly apprehends and sees it, or has a sense of it He
does not merely rationafly believe that God is glorious, but be has a sense of
;be gloriousness of God in bis heart Tbere is not only a rational belief that
Vol. IV. 56
442 REALITY OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT.
God is holy, and tbat holiness is a good thing, but there is a.senst if the loveU-,
mess of God's holiness. There is not only a speculatively judging that God w
gracious, bul a sense how amiable God is upon that account, or a sense of the
beauty of this divine attribute. o i u
! There is a twofold understanding or knowledge of good that God has made
the mind of man capable of The first, that wbich is merely speculative
,'and notional; as wben a person only speculatively judges that anything is,
which, by the agreeraent of mankind, is called good or excellent, viz., that
which is raost to general advantage, and between which and a reward there is.
a suitableness, and the like And the other is, that wbich poasists in the sen.se
iof the heart: as when there is a sense of the beauty, amiableness, or sweetness
iof a thing ; so that the heart is sensible of pleasure and delight in the presence
jof the idea of it. In the former is exercised merely the speculative faculty, or
'ithe understanding, strictly so called, or as spoken of in distinction frorn the wifl
or disposition of the soul. In tbe latter, the wifl, or inclination, or heart, is
.mainly concerned.
' Thus there is a difference between baving an opinion, tbat God is holy and
gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and
I grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey
i is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness. A man may have the ibrmer,
! tbat knows not how honey tastes ; bul a raan cannot have the latter unless he
has an idea of the taste of honey in his raind. So there is a difference between
believing that a person is beautiful, and having a sense of his beauty. The
former may be obtained by hearsay, but the latter only by seeing the counte
nance. There is a wide difference between mere speculative rational judging
any thing to be excellent, and having a sense of ils sweetness and beauty. The
former rests only in the head, speculation only is concerned in it ; but the
heart is concerned in tbe latter. When the heart is sensible of the beauty and
amiableness of a thing, it necessarily feels pleasure in the apprehension. It is
iraplied in a person's being heartily sensible of the loveliness of a thing, that
the idea of it is sweet and plea.sant lo his soul ; which is a far different thing
from having a rational opinion that it is excellent.
2. There arises from this sense of divine excellency of things contained in
the word of God, a conviction of the trulh and reality of them ; and that eithei
directly or indirectly.
First, Indirectly, and that two ways.
1. As the prejudices that are in tbe heart, against the truth of divine
things, are hereby reraoved ; so that the raind becomes susceptive of the due
force of rational arguments for their truth. The mind of man is naturally fufl
of prejudices against the trulh of divine Ihings : it is full of enmity again.st the
doctrines of the gospel ; which is a disadvantage to those arguments tbat prove
their trulh, and causes them to lose their force upon the mind. But when a
person has discovered to him tbe divine excellency of Christian doctrines, this
destroys the enraity, removes those prejudices, and sanctifies the reason, and
causes it lo lie open to tbe force of arguments for their truth.
Hence was the different effect that Christ's miracles had to convince the
disciples frora what they had to convince the Scribes and Pharisees. Not that
they had a stronger reason, or bad their reason raore improved ; but tbeir rea
son was sanctified, and those blinding prejudices, that the Scribes and Pharisees
were under, were removed by the sense tbey had of the excellency of Christ
tmd his doctrine.
2 It not only removes the hinderances of reason, but positively helps rea-
REALU'Y OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT. 443
son. It makes even the speculative notions the more lively. It engages tbe
attention of the mind, with the more fixedness and intenseness to Ibat kind of
objects ; wbich causes it to have a dearer view of them, and enables it more clearly
to see tbeir mutual relations, and occasions il lo take more notice of them. The
ideas themselves that otherwise are dira and obscure, are by this raeans impressed
with the greater stienglh, and have a light cast upon them ; so that the mind
can better judge of them. As he that beholds tbe objects on the face of the
earth, when the light of the sun is cast upon them, is under greater advantage
to discern them in their true forms and mutual relations, than he tbat sees them
in a dira starlight or Iwihght
The mind having a sensibleness of the excellency of divine objects, dwells
upon them with delight ; and the powers of the soul are more awakened and en
livened lo employ themselves in the conteraplation of them, and exert Ihemselves
more fully and mucb more lo the purpose. The beauty and- sweetness of the
objects draws on the faculties, and draws forth their exercises: so that reason
itself is under far greater advantages for its proper and free exercises, and to
attain its proper end, free of darkness and delusion. But,
Secondly. A true sense of the divine excellency of the tbings of God's
word dolh raore directly and iramediately convince of the truth of them ; and
tbat because the excellency of these ihings is so superlative. There is a beauty
in tbem that is so divine and godlike, that is greatly -and evidently distinguish
ing of them from things merely human, or that men are the inventors and au
thors of; a glory that is so high and great, that when clearly seen, commands
assent to their divinity and reality. When there is an actual and lively discovery
of this beauty and excellency, it will not allow of any such thought as Ihat it is
a huraan work, or the fruit of raen's invention. Tbis evidence that they that are
spiritually enlightened bave of the truth of the things of religion, is a kind of
intuitive and iraraediate evidence. They believe Ihe doctrines of God's word
to be divine, because they see divinity in them ; I e, tbey see a divine, and
transcendent, and. most evidently distinguishing glory in thera ; such a glory as,
if clearly seen, does not leave roora to doubt of their being of God, and not of
men. Such a conviction of the truth of religion as tbis, arising, these w'ays, from
a sense of the divine excellency of them, is that true spiritual conviction that
¦ tbere is in saving faith. And this original of it, is that by which it is most es
sentially distinguished from that common assent, which unregenerate men are
capable of.
II. I proceed now to the second thing proposed, viz., to show how this
light is immediately given by God, and not obtained by natural means. And
here, 1. It is not intended that the natural faculties are not made use of in it. The
natural faculties are the subject of this light : and they are the subject in such a
manner, that they are not miTely passive, but active in it ; the acls and exer
cises of man's, understanding ^re concerned and made use of in it God, in let
ting in tbis light into the soul, deals with man according to bis nature, or as a
rational creature; and makes use of bis human faculties. But yet this hght is
jot the less iraraediately from God for that; Ihough the faculties are made use
of, it is as the subject and not as tbe cause; and tbat acting of the faculties in
it, is not tbe cause, but is either iraplied in tbe Ihing itself (in the light that is
imparted) or is the consequence of it. As the use that -we make of our eyes in
beholding various objects, wben the sun arises, is not the cause of the light that
discovers those objects to us.
444 REALITY OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT
2. It is not intended that outward means have ..o concern m ihis affair. As
I have observed already, it is not in this affair, as it is in inspiration, where new
truths are su^rgested : for here is by this light only given a clue apprehension of
the same truths that are revealed in the word of God; and thereiore it is not
given wiihout the word. The gospel is made use of in this affair : this light is
the licrht of the glorious gospel of Christ, 2 Cor. iv. 4. The gospel is as a glass,
by which this light is conveyed to us, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. Now we see througl
3. When 'it is said that this light is given immediately by God, and not ob
tained by natural raeans, hereby is intended, that it is given by God withou'
making use of any raeans that operate by their own power, or a natural fwce.
God niakes use of means ; but it is not as mediate causes to produce this effect.
There are not truly any second causes ofii; bul it is produced by God immedi
ately. The word of God is no proper cause of this effect : it does not operate
by any natural force in it. The word of God is only raade use of to convey to
the raind the subject matter of tbis saving instruction ; and tbis indeed it doth
convey to us by natural force or influence. It conveys to our minds these and
those doctrines; il is the cause of the notion of them in our heads, but not of the
sense of the divine excellency of thera incur hearts. Indeed a person cannot
have spiritual light without the word. Bul that does not argue, that the word
properly causes °that light. The raind cannot see the excellency of any doctrine,
unless that doclrint be first in tbe raind; but the seeing ofthe excellency of the
doctrine raay be iraraediately from the Spirit of God ; though the conveying of
the doctrine or proposition itself raay be by the word. So that the notions that
are the subject raatter of this light, are conveyed to the mind by the word of
God ; but that due sense of the heart, wherein this hght formally consists, is
immediately by the Spirit of God. As for instance, that notion that there is a
Christ, and that Christ is holy and gracious, is conveyed to the raind by tbe
word of God : but tbe sense of tbe excellency of Christ by reason of that hoh
ness and grace, is nevertheless imraediately the work of the Holy Spirit.
I corae now,
III. To show the truth of the doctrine ; that is, to show that there is such a
th'"ng as that spiritual light that has been described, thus iramediately let into
tbe raind by God. And here I would show briefly, tbat this doctrine is both
scriptural and rational.
First. It is scriptural My text is not only full to the purpose, but it is a
doctrine that the Scripture abounds in. We are there abundantly taught, that
the saints differ from the ungodly in this, that they bave the knowledge of God,
and a sight of God, and of Jesus Christ I shall mention but few texts of many.
I John in. 6, " Whosoever sinneth, bas not seen him, nor known him.'' 3 John
1 1, " He that dolh good, is of God : but he that doth evfl, hath not seen God."
John xiv. 19, " The world seeth rae no raore; but ye see me." John xvii. 3,
" And this is eternal life, that they might know thee, tbe only true God, and
lesus Christ whora thou hast sent" This knowledge, or sight of God and
Christ, cannot be a mere speculative knowledge ; because it is spoken of as a
seeing and knowing, wherein they differ frora tbe ungodly. And by these Scrip
tures it raust not only be a different knowledge in degree and circumstances, and
different in its effects ; but it must be entirely different in nature and kind.
And tbis light and knowledge is always spoken of as immediately given of
God, Matt. xi. 25, 26, 27 : " At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee
0 Father, Lord of heaven and earlh, because thou hast hid these things from the
wise and prudent, and hast revealed thera unto babes. Even so, Father, for .sn
REALITY OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT. 445
It seemed good in thy sight All Ihings are delivered unto me of my Father :
and no man knoweth the Son, but the Falher : neither knoweth any man the
Father, save the Son, and he to whorasoever the Son will reveal bim." Here
this effect is ascribed alone to the arbitiary operation, and gift of God, bestow
ing this knowledge on whora be will, and distinguishing those with it, tbat have
the least natural advantage or means for knowledge, even babes, when it is de
nied to tbe wise and prudent. And Ihe imparting of the knowledge of God is
here appropriated to the Son of God, as bis sole prerogative. And again, 2
Cor. iv. 6, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath
shvned in our hearts, lo give the light of tbe knowledge of tbe glory of God, in
the face of Jesus ChrisI." This plainly shows, that there is such a Ihing as a
discovery ofthe divine superlative glory and excellency of God and Christ, and
that peculiar to the saints : and also, that it is as imraediately frora God, as light
flora the sun: and that it is the immediate effect of his power and will ; for it
is compared to God's creating the light by his powerful word in the beginning
of Ihe creation ; and is said to be by the Spirit of the Lord, in the IBlb verse
of the preceding chapter. God is spoken of as giving the knowledge of Christ
in conversion, as of what before was bidden and unseen in Ihat Gal. l 15, 16,
" But when it pleased God, w-ho separated me from ray mother's womb, and
cafled me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me." The Scripture also speaks
plainly of such a knowledge of the word of God, as has been described, as the
iramediate gift of God, Psal. cxix. 18 : " Open thou mine eyes, that I may be
hold wondrous things out of thy law." What could the Psalraist mean when
he begged of God to open his eyes 1 Was he ever bliuvl 1 Might he not have
resort lo the law and see every word and sentence in it wben he pleased ? And
what could he mean by those wondrous things? Was it the wonderful stories
of the creation, and deluge, and Israel's passing through the Red Sea, and the
like 1 Were not his eyes open to read these strange things when he would ?
Doubtless by wondrous things in God's law, he had resjiect to those distinguish
ing and wonderful excellencies, and marvellous manifestations ofthe divine per-
?'ections, and glory, that there was in the comraands and doctrines of the word,
and those works and counsels of God that were there revealed. So the Scrip
ture speaks ofa knowledge of God's dispensation, and covenant of mercy, and
way of grace towards his people, as peculiar to the sainls, and given only by
God, Psal xxv. 14 : " The secret of the Lord is with tbem that fear him ; and
he will show them his covenant."
And that a true and saving belief of the truth of religion is that wbich arises
frora such a discovery, is also what the Scripture teaches. As John vi. 40,
•' And this is the will of bim that sent me, that very one which seeth the Son,
and believeth on bim, may bave everlasting life ;" where it is plain that a true
faith is what arises from a spiritual sight of Christ. And John xvii. 6, 7, 8,
'' I bave manifested thy narae unto tbe men wbich thou gavest me out of tbe
world. Now tbey have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me,
are of thee. For I have given unto them tbe words wbich thou gavest me;
and they have received thera, and have known surely that I came out from thee,
and they havebelieved thatthou didst send me ;" where Christ's raanifesting God's
flarae to the disciples, or giving tbem the knowledge of God, was that wbereby
they knew that Christ's doctrine was of God, and tbat Christ himself was of
him, proceeded from bim, and was sent by hira. Again, John xii. 44, 45, 46,
" Jesus cried and said. He tbat believeth on rae, believeth not on me, but on bim
that sent me. And be that seeth me, seelh him tbat sent rae. I ara come a
light intc the world, tbat whosoever believeth on me, should not abide in dark-
446 REALITY OF SPIRITUAL LIGH-r.
ness." Their believing in Christ, and spiritually seeing bun, are spoken »t as
running parallel.
ChrisI conderans the Jews, that tbey did not know that he was the, Messiah,
and that his doctrine was true, from an inward distinguishing taste and relish
of what was divine, in Luke xii. 56, 57. He having there blamed the Jews,
that though they could discern the face of the sky and of the earthy and signs
of the weather, that yet they could not discern those times ; or as it is expressed
in Matthew, the signs of those tiraes ; he adds, yea, and why even of your
own selves, judge ye not whal is right ? l e, without extrinsic signs. Why haye
ye not that sense of true exceflency, whereby ye may distinguish that which is
holy and divine ? Why have ye not that savor of the things of God, by which
you may see the distinguishing glory, and evident divinity of me and my doctrine 1
The Apostle Peter mentions it as what gave them (the apostles) good and
well grounded assurance of the truth of the gospel, that they had seen the di
vine glory of Christ 2 Pet. I 16, " For we have not followed cunningly
devised fables wben we raade known Unto you the power and coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty." The apostle has respect
to that visible glory of ChrisI which they saw in his transfiguration : that glory
was so divine, baving such an ineffable appearance and semblance of divine
holiness, majesty and grace, that it evidently denoted him to be a divine person.
But if a sight cif Christ's outward glory mighl give a rational assurance of hi,s
divinily, why rnay not an apprehension of his spiritual glory do so too 'S Doubt
less Christ's spiritual glory is in itself as distinguishing, and as plainly show
ing his divinily, as his outiA'ard glory, and a great deal raore: for his spiritua!
glory is that wherein his divinity consists; and the outward glory of his trans
figuration showed hfm to be divine, only as it was a remarkable image or repre
sentation of that spiritual glory. Doubtless, therefore, he that has had a clear
sight of the spiritual glory of Christ, may say, 1 have not followed cunningly
devised fables, bul have been an eyewitness of his majesty, upon as good grounds
as the apostle, when he had respect to the outward glory of Christ that he bad
seen. But this brings me to what was proposed next, viz., to show that,
Secondly, This doctrine is rational.
1. It is rational to suppose, that there is really sucb an excellency in divine
things, that is so transcendent and exceedingly different frora what is in other
things, that, if it were seen, would most evidently distinguish them. We can
not rationafly doubt bul that Ihings that are divine, that appertain lo tbe Supreme
Being, are vastly different from things that are human ; that there is that god
like, high and glorious excellency in thera, that does most reraarkably differ
ence thera frora the things that are of men; insorauch that if the difference
were but seen, it would have a convincing, satisfying influence upon any one,
that they are what they are, viz., divine. Whal reason can be offered against
it 1 Uifless we would argue, that God is not reraarkably distinguished in
glory from men.
If Christ should now appear to any one as he did on the mount at his
tranfiguration; or if he should appear to the worid in the glory that he now
appears in, as he will do al the day ofjudgraent ; without doubt, the glory and
majesty that he would appear in, would be such as would satisfy every one,
that he was a divine person, and that religion was true: and it would be a most
reasonable, anci well grounded conviction too. And why raay tbere not be that'
stamp of divinity, or divine glory on the word of God, on the scheme and doc
trine ofthe gospel, that may be in like nranner distinguishing and as rationally.
REALITY OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT. 447
convincing, provided it be but seen ? It is rational to suppose, tbat wl en God
speaks to the w-orld, tbere should be something in his word or speech vastly
different frora man's word. Supposing that God never had spoken to tbe world,
but we had noticed that he was about to do it; that be was about to reveal
hiraself from heaven, and speak to us immediately hira.self, in divine speeches
or discourse-.?, as it were frora his own raouth, or Ibat he should give us a book
of his own inditing ; after what manner should we expect Ihat he would speak ?
Would il not be rational to suppose, that his speech would be exceeding differ
ent from man's speech, that be should speak like a God ; that is, that there
should be such an excellency and sublimity in bis speech or woid, such a
starap of wisdom, holiness, majesty and other divine perfections, that the
word of man, yea of the wisest of raen, should appear raean and base in cora
parison of it ? Doubtless it would be thought rational to expect this, and un
reasonable to think otherwise. W^hen a wise man speaks in the exercise of
his wisdora, there is sornething in every thing he says, that is very distinguisha
ble frora the talk of a liltle child. So, wilbout doubt, and mucb more, is the
speech of God (if tbere be any such thing as the speech of God) to be distin
guished frorn that of tbe wisest of men ; agreeably to Jer. xxiii 28, 29. God
having there been reproving the false prophets that prophesied in his name, and
pretended that whal they spake was his word, wben indeed it was their own
word, says, " The prophet that hatb a dream, let hira tell a dreara ; and he that
halh ray word, let hira speak my word faithfully : what is the cbaff to the
wheat 1 sailh the Lord. Is not ray word like as a fire ? saith the Lord ; and
like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces ]"
2. If there be such a distinguishing exceflency in divine things ; it is rational
to suppose that there may be such a thing as seeing it W^hat should hinder but
that il raay be seen 1 It is no arguraent, that there is no such thing as sucb a
distinguishing excellency, or that, if there be, that it cannot be seen, that r-vome
do not see it, though tbey may be discerning men in temporal mailers. It is
not rational to suppose, if there be any such excellency in divine things, that
wicked raen should see it It is not rational to suppose, that those whose minds
are fufl of spiritual pollution, and under the power of filthy lusts, should have
any relish or sense of divine beauty or excellency ; or tbat their rainds should
be susceptive of tbat light tbat is in its own nature so pure and heavenly. It
need not seem at all strange, that sin should so blind the raind, seeing that
men's particular natural terapers and dispositions will so much blind thera in
secular matters ; as when men's natural temper is melancholy, jealous, fearful,
proud, or the like.
3. It is rational to suppose, that this knowledge should be given immediate
ly by God, and not be obtained by natural means. Upon what account should
it seem unreasonable, that there should be any immediate communication be
tween God and the creature ? It is strange that men shoifld make any matier
of diflBcully of it. Why should not he that made afl things, still have some
thing immediately to do wilh the things that he has made 1 Where lies the
great difficulty, if w-e own the being of a God, and tbat be created all things
out of nolhing, of allowing some immediate infiuence of God on the crea-^ion
still ? And if it be reasonable to suppose it with respect to any part of the
creation, it is especially so with respect to reasonable, intelligent creatures ; who
are next to God in the gradation of the different orders cif beings, and whose
bu.siness is most imraediately with God ; wbo were made on purpose for tbose
exercises that clo respect God and wherein they have nextly to do with God :
for reason teaches, ibat man was made to serve and glorify his Creator. And
448 . REALITY OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT.
if il be rational to suppose that God immediately coraraunicates hira;ielf to man
in any affair, it is in this. It is rational to suppose that God woulcl reserve that
knowledge and wisdom, that is of such a divine and excellent nature, to be
bestowed iramediately by bimself, and tbat it should not be left in tbe power of
second causes. Spiritual wisdom and grace is the highest and most exceflent
gift that ever God bestows on any creature : in tbis the highest excellency ana
perfection of a rational creature consists. It is also iramensely the most impor
tant of all divine gifts: it is that wherein man's hapjiiness consists, and on which
his everlasting welfare depends. How rational is it to sujipose that God, how
ever he has left meaner goods and low^er gifts lo second causes, and in some soit
in their power, yet should reserve thisraosi excellent, divine, and important of all
divine coramunications, in his own hands, to be bestowed immediately by himself,
as a thing too great for second causes lo be concerned in ! It is rational to
suppose, that this blessing should be immediately f'-ora God ; Ibr there is no
gift or benefit that is in itself so neariy related to the divine nature, there is
nolhing the creature receives *hat is so rauch of God, of his nature, so much a
participation of the deity : it is a kind of emanation of God's beauty, and is
related to God as the light is to the sun. It is therefore congruous and fit, that
when it is given of God, it should be nextly frora hiraself, and by hiraself, ac
cordino- to his own sovereign will
It is rational lo suppose, that it should be beyond a man's power to obtain
this knowledge and light by tbe mere strength of natural reason ; for it is not
a thing that belongs to reason, to see the beauty and loveliness of spiritual
things ; it is not a speculative thing, but depends on the sense of the heart
Reason indeed is necessary in order to it, as it is by reason only tbat we are be
come the subjects of the raeans of it ; wbich means I have already shown to be
necessary in order to it, Ihough they have no proper causal in the affair. It is
by reason that we become possessed of a notion of those doctrines that are tbe
subject matter of this divine light ; and reason may many ways be indirectly
and remotely an advantage to it And reason has aiso lo do in the acts that
are immediately consequent on this discovery : a .seeing the truth of religion
frora hence, is by reason ; though it be but by one ctep, and the inference be
immediate. So reason has to do in' that accepting of, and trusting in Christ,
that is consequent on it But if we take reason strictly, not for the faculty of)
mental perception in general, but for ratiocination, or a power of inferring by
arguments ; I say, if we lake reason thus, the perceiving ot spiritual beauty and
excellency no raore helongs to reason, than it belongs to rhe sense of feeling to
perceive colors, or to the power of seeing to perceive the sweetness of food. It '
is oui of reason's province to perceive the beauty or lo\eliness of any thing:
such a perception does not belong to that faculty. Reason's work is to perceive
truth and not excellency. It is not ratiocination that gives men the perception
of the beauty and araiablene.ss of a countenance, though it may be many ways
indirectly an advantage to it ; yet il is no more rea.son that immediately per
ceives i't, than it is reason that perceives the sweetness of honey : it depends on
the sense ofthe heart. Reason may cleterraine that a countenance is beautiful
to others, it raay determine that honey is sweet to others ; but it wfll never give
me a perception of its sweetness.
I will conclude wilh a very brief iraprovement of what has been said.
First. This doctrine may lead us lo reflect on the goodness of God, that
has so ordered it, that a saving evidence of the truth of the gospel is such, as is
attainable by persons of raean capacities and advantages, as well as those tbat
<\te of the greatest parts and learning. If the evidence of the gospel depended
REALITY OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT. 44S
Dniy on history, and sucb reasonings as learned men onlv are cajiable of, it
would be above the reach of far the greatest part of mankind. Bul persons
with but an ordinary degree of knowledge, are capable, without a long and
subtile train of reasoning, to see the divine excellency of the thing,'' of religion :
they are capable of being taught by the Spirit of God, as well as learned raen.
The evidence that is this way obtained, is vastly better and more satisfying,
than afl that can be obtained by the arguings of those that are most learned,
and greatest raasters of reason. And babes are as capable of knowing these
things, as the wise and prudent; and they are often bid frora these wben they
are revealed lo those. 1 Cor. l 26, 27, " For ye see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise raen, after the flesh, not many raighty, not raany noble
are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world."
Skcondly. This doctrine raay well put us upon examining ourselves, whe
ther we bave ever had this divine light, that has been described, let into our
souls. If there be such a thing indeed, and il be not only a notion or whirasy
of persons of weak and distempered brains, then doubtless it is a thing of great
iraporlance, whether we have tbus been taught by the Spirit of God ; whether
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, hath shined
unions, giving us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face ol
Jesus Christ ; whether we have seen the .Son, and believed on hira, or have that
faith of gospel doctrines that arises from a spiritual sight of Christ.
Thiroly. All may hence be exhorted earnestly to seek this spiritual light.
To influence and move to it, the foflowing things may be considered.
1. This is the most excellent and divine wisdom tbat any creature is capable
of It is more excellent than any huraan learning ; it is far more excellent than
all the knowledge of the greatest philosophers or statesmen. Yea, the least
glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Christ dolh more exalt and ennoble
the soul, than all the knowledge of those that have the greatest speculative un
derstanding in divinily without grace. This knowledge has tbe most noble ob
ject that is or can be, viz., the divine glory or excellency of God and Christ
The knowledge of these objects is that wherein consists the most excellent.
knowledge of the angels, yea, of God hiraself
2. This knowledge is that which is above all others sweet and joyful. Men
bave a great deal of pleasure in human knowledge, in studies of natural things ;
but tbis is nothing to that joy which arises from this divine light shining
into the soul. This light gives a view of those things that are immensely the
most exquisitely beautiful, and capable of delighting the eye of the understand
ing. Tbis spiritual light is the dawning of the light of glory in the heart
There is notbing so powerful as this to support persons in affliction, and to
give the mind peace and brightness in this stormy and dark world.
3. This light is sucb as, effectually influences the inclination, and changes
tbe nature of the soul. It assimilates Ihe nature to the divine nature, and
changes the soul into an image of the same glory that is beheld. 2 Cor. in.
18, " Biit we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of
the Lord." This knowledge wfll wean from tbe world, and raise the inclination
to heavenly things. It will turn the heart to God as the fountain of good, and
to choose hira for tbe only portion. This light, and this only, will bring the
soul to a saving clo.se wilh Christ It conforms the heart to the gospel, morti
fies its enmity and opposition against the scheme of salvation therein revealed :
it causes the heart to embrace tbe joyful tidings, and entirely to adhere lo, and
acquiesce in the revelation of Christ as our Saviour : it causes the whole .soul to
Vol. iv. 57
450 REALITY OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT.
accord and symphonize with it, admitting it with entire credit and respect
cleaving to it with full inclination and affection ; and it effectually disposes the
soul to give up itself entirely to Christ.
4. This Ught, and this only, has its fruit in a universal holiness of life. No
merely notional or speculative understanding of the doctrines of religion will
ever bring to tbis. But this hght, as it reaches the bottora of the heart, and
changes the nature, so it will effectually dispose to a universal obedience. It
shows God's worthiness to be obeyed and served. It draws forth the heart in
a sincere love to God, which is the only principle of a true, gracious, and uni
versal obedience ; and it convinces of tbe reality of those glorious rewards that
God has promised to them that obey hira.
SERMON XXVIII.
TRUE GRACE DISTINGUISHED FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF DEVItS.
/amcs li. 19.— Thou believest that there ia one God ; thou doest well ; the devils also, relieve and
tremble.
Observe in these words — 1. Soraething that some depend on, as an evi
dence oftheir good estate, and acceptance, as the objects of God's favor, viz.,
a speculative failh, or belief of tbe doctrines of religion. The great doctrine of
the existence of one only God is particularly raentioned; probably because this
was a doctrine wherein especially there was a visible and noted distinclion be
tween professing Christians and the heathens, araongst whora the Christians,
in those days, were dispersed : and therefore this was what many trusted in,
as what recommended them to, or at least was an evidence of, their interest in
the great spiritual and eternal privileges, in which real Christians were distin
guished frora the rest of the world.
2. How much is allowed concerning this faith, viz., that it is a good attain
ment ; " Thou doest well" It was good as it was necessary; This doctrine
was one of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity ; and, in sorae respects,
above all others, fundaraental It was necessary to be beheved, in order to
salvation : and a being without the belief of this doctrine, especially in those
that bad such advantage to know, as they bad, whom the apostle wrote to,
would be a great sin, and what would vastly aggravate their damnation. This
belief was also good, as it had a good tendency in many respects.
3. What is implicitly denied concerning it, viz., that it is any evidence
of a person's being in a state of salvation. The whole context shows this to be
the design of the apostle in the words : and it is particulariy manifest by the
conclusion of the verse ; wbich is,
4. The thing observable in the words, viz., the arguraent by which the
apostle proves, that this is no sign of a state of grace, viz., that it is found in the
devils. They believe that there is one God, and that be is a holy, sin-hating
God; and that he is a God of trulh, and will fulfil his threatenings, by which
he has denounced future judgments, and a great increase of misery on them ;
and tbat he is an Almighty God, and able to execute his threatened vengeance
upon tbem.
Therefore the doctrine I infer from the words, to make the subject of my
present discourse, is this :
Nothing in the mind of man, that is of tbe same nature with wbat the
devils experience, or are the subjects of, is any sure sign of saving grace.
If there be any thing that tbe devils have, or find in themselves, which is an
evidence of the saving grace of the Spirit of God, tben tbe apostle's argument is
not good ; which is plainly this : that whicb is in thfe devfls, or whicb tbey do,
IS no certain evidence of grace. But the devils believe that there is one God.
Therefore, thy helie-ving that there is one God, is no sure evidence tbat thou
art gracifjus. So that the whole foundation of the apostle's argument, hes in
that proposition ; tbat which is in tbe devils, is no certain sign of grace.
Nevertheless, I shall mention twu or three further reasons, or arguments, ol
the truth of this doctrine.
I Tbe devils hive no degree of holiness; and therefore those things which
452 TRUE GRACE.
are nothing beyond what they are the subjects of, c; nnot ^e holy expe
nences.
The devfl once was holy ; bul when be fell he lost afl his holiness, and be-
carae perfectly wicked. He is the greatest sinner, and, in some sense, the
father of all sin. John viii 44, " Ye are of your father the devfl, and the lusts
of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode
not in the truth ; because there was no truth in him : when he speaketh a lie,
he speaketh of bis own; for he is a liar, and the father of it" 1 John iii. 8,
" He that coraraitteth sin is of the devil ; for the devil sinneth from the begin
ning." He is spoken of as, by way of eminence, " the wicked one." So Matt
xfll 19, " Then cometh the wicked one, and calchetb away that which was
sown in his heari." Verse 38, " The tares are the children of the wicked one."
1 John ii. 13, " I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcorae the
wicked one" Chap. iii. 12, " Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one"
Chap. V. 18, " Whosoever is born of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one
toucheth him not" So the devils are called evil spirits, unclean spirits, powers
of darkness, rulers of the darkness of tbe world, and wickedness itself Eph.
vl 12, " For we wrestie not against flesh and blood ; bul against principalities,
against powers, againsi the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spirit
ual wickedness in high places."
Therefore, surely, those things which tbe minds of devils are the subjects of,
can have nothing of the nature of true holiness in them. The knowledge, and
understanding whicb they have ofthe things of God and religion, cannot be of
the nature of divine and holy hght, nor any knowledge that is merely of the
sarae kind. No such irapressions as are raade on their hearts can be of a .spirit
ual nature. That kind of sense which tbey have of divine things, however
great, cannot be a holy sense. Such affections as move tbeir hearts, however
powerful, cannot be holy affections. If there be no holiness in thera, as they
are in the devfl, there can be no holiness in them as they are in man; unless
something be added to them beyond what is in them, or they are in the devfl.
And if any thing be added to thera, then they are not the same things ; but are
soraething beyond what devils are the subjects of; which is conlrary to the
supposition ; for the proposition whicb I am upon, is, tbat those things which
are of the same nature, and nothing beyond what devils are the subjects of,
cannot be holy experiences. It is not the subject that makes tbe affection or
experience, or quality, holy ; but il is the quality that makes the subject holy.
And if tbose qualities and experiences which the devils are the subjects of,
have nothing of the nature of holiness in thera, tben they can be no certain .signs
that persons who have thera are holy or gracious. There is no certain sign of
true grace, but tiiose tbings which are spiritual and gracious, ft is God's
image, that is, his seal and mark, the stamp by which those tbat are his are
know-n. But that whicb has notbing of the nature of holiness, bas notbing of
this image. That whicb is a sure sign of grace, must either be something
which has tbe nature and essence of grace, or is flowing frora, or some way
belonging to its essence For that which distinguishes tbings one from another,
is their essence, or soraething apperiaining to their essence ; and therefore, that
wbich is sometimes found wholly without the essence of hohness or grace, can
be no essential, sure, or distinguishing mark of grace.
II The devils are not only absolutely without afl true holiness, but they are
not so mucb as tbe subjects of any comraon grace.
If any should iraagine that sorae tbings may be signs of grace which are not
grace itself, or which have nothing of the nature and essence of grace and holi-
TRUE GRACE. 453
ness in them ; yet, certainly, they wfll allow that the qualifications, -^'bich are
sure evidences of grace, must be things, that are near akin to grace, or having
some remarkable affinity with it. But the devils are not only wholly destitute
of any true holiness ; but they are at the greaiest distance from it, and have
nothing in tbeiQ in any wise akin to it.
Tbere are many in this world, who are wholly destitute of saving grace,
wbo yet have common grace. Tbey have no true holiness, but, nevertheless,
bave soraething of tbat which is called moral virtue ; and are the subjects of
sorae degree of the coraraon influences of the Spirit of God. It is so with those
in general, tbat live under the light of the gospel, and are not given up to judi
cial blindness, and hardness. Yea, those tbat are thus given up, yet have sorae
degree of restraining grace while they live in this world ; without which, tbe
earth could not bear them, and they would in no measure be tolerable members
of human society. But when any ure damned, or cast into hell, as the devils
are, God wholly withdraws his restraining grace, and all merciful influences of
nis Spirit whatsoever, and they have neither saving grace nor comraon grace;
neither the grace of the Spirit, nor any of the comraon gifts of tbe Spirit ; neither
true holiness, nor raoral virtue of any kind. Hence arises the vast increase of
the exercise of wickedness in the hearts of men, when they are damned. And
herein is the chief difference between the damned in hell, and unregenerate and
graceless men in this world. Not that wicked men in this world have any more
holiness or true virtue than the damned, or tbat wicked men, wben tbey leave
this world, bave any principles of wickedness infused into them ; but when men
are cast into hell, God perfectly takes away his Spirit from them, as to all its
merciful, coramon influences, and entirely withdraws from them all restraints of
his Spirit and good providence.
III. It is unreasonable to suppose, that a person's being in any respect as
the devil is, should be a certain sign that he is very unlike and opposite to hira ;
and, hereafter, shafl not have his part with hira. True saints are extremely
unhke and contrary to the devfl, both relatively and really. They are so rela
tively. The devil is the grand rebel ; tbe chief eneray of God and ChrisI ; the
object of God's greatest wrath; a conderaned malefactor, utterly rejected and
cast off by him ; forever shut out of his presence ; the prisoner of bis justice ; an
everlasting inhabitant of the infernal world. Tbe saints, on the contrary, are
the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalera ; merabers of the faraily of the glorious
King of heaven ; the children of God ; tbe brethren and spouse of his dear Son ;
heirs of God ; joint heirs with Christ ; kings and priests unto God. And they
are extremely different really. The devil, on account of his hateful nature, and
those accursed dispositions which reign in him, is called Satan ; the adveiaary ;
Abaddon and Apollyon ; the great destroyer ; the wolf; tbe roaring lion; the
great dragon ; tho old serpent. The saints are represented as God's holy ones ;
his anointed ones ; the excellent of the earth ; the meek of the earth ; lambs anci
doves ; Christ's little children ; having tbe iraage of God, pure in heart ; God's
jewels ; lilies in Chri.st's garden ; plants of paradise ; stars of heaven ; temples of
tbe LiviNCr God. The sainls, so far as the,y are saints, are as diverse from the
devil, as heaven is frora hell ; and much more contrary than light is to dark
ness ; and the eternal state that they are appointed to, is answerably diverse and
contrary. Now it is not reasonable to suppose, that a being in any respect as Satan
is, or the being tbe subject of any of the same properties, qualifications, affec
tions ar actions, that are in bim, is any certain evidence that persons are thus
exceeding different from him ; and in circumstances so diverse, and appointed
454 TRUE GRACE.
to an eternal state, so extremely contrary in al] respects. Wicirced men are in
Scripture called " children of the devil." Now is it reasonable to suppose, that
men's being in any respect as the devil is, can be a certain sign that they are
not his children, but the children ofthe infinitely holy and blessed God ? We
are informed, that wicked men shall, hereafter, bave their part with devils ,
shall be sentenced to the same everlasting fire which is prepared for the devfl
and his angels. Now, can a man's being like the devil in any respect, be a sure
token that he shafl not have his part with him, but wilh glorious angels, and
with Jesus Christ, dwelhng with bim where he is, that he may behold and par
take of his glory ?
IMPROVEMENT.
The first use may lie in several inferences, for our instrsction.
I. Frora what has been said, it raay be inferred, by parity of reason, that
nothiri.g tbat daraned rnen do, or ever will experience, can be any sure sign of
grace. Daraned men are like the devils ; are conforraed to them in nature and state.
They have nothing better in thera than the devils ; . have no higher principle.?
in tbeir hearts ; experience nothing, and do nolhing of a raore excellent kind :
as they are the children and servants of the devil, and as such shall dwell with
hira, and be partakers wilh bira, of the sarae misery. As Christ says, concerning
the saints in their future slate. Matt xxu. 30, that " they shall be as tbe an
gels of God in heaven ;" so it may be said concerning ungodly men, in their
future state ; that they shall be as the fallen, wicked angels in hell.
Each of the forementioned reasons, given to show the truth of the doctrine
with respect to devfls, holds good wilh respeci to daraned rnen. Daraned men
\iave no degree of holiness ; and Iherefore, those things which are nothing be
yond what they have, cannot be holy experiences. So fl is true that the damn
ed men are not only absolutely destitute of all true holiness, but they have not
so rauch as any common grace. And lastly, it is unreasonable to suppose, that
a person's being in any respect as the damned in hell are, should 'be a certain
sign that they are very unhke and opposite to tbem, and hereafter shafl not
have their portion wilb them.
II. We may hence infer, that no, degree of speculative knowledge of things
of religion, is any certain sign of saving grace. The devil, before bis fall, was
among those bright and glorious angels of heaven, which are represented as
morning stars, and flaraes of fire, tbat excel in strength and wisdom. And
Jiough he be now become sinful, yet bis sin has not abolished tbe faculties of
the angelic nature; as when raan fell, he did not lose the faculties of the hu
man nature Sin destroys spiritual principles, but not the naltu-al faculties. It
is true, sin, when in full clominion, entirely prevents tbe exercise of the naturs^l
faculties, in holy and spiritual undersianding; and lays many irapediraents in
tbe way of their proper exercise in other respects: it lays tbe natural facilty of
reason, under great disadvantages, by the many and strong prejudices which
the mind is broughi under the power of : and in fallen men, the faculties of
the soul are doubtiess greatly impeded in their exercise, throuc/-b that great
weakness and disorder of the corporeal organ, which it is siriclly united
to ; which is the consequence of sin. But there seeras to be nothing in tlie
nature of sin or raoral corruption, that bas any tendency to destroy the natural
capacity, or even to diminish il, properly speaking. If sin were of such a na
ture, as necessarily lo have that tendency and effect, tben it m'lght be expecteii
that wicked men, in a future state, where they are given up entirely to tbe un-
TRUE GRACE 455
restrained exercise of their corruptions and lusts, and sin is, in all respects,
brought to its greaiest perfection in tbem, would have the capacity of tbeir souls
greatly diminished : which we have no reason to suppose ; but rather on tbe con
trary, tbat their capacities are greatly enlarged, and tbat tbeir actual knowledge
Is vastly increased ; and that even wilh respect to tbe Divine Being, and the
tbings of religion, and the great concerns of the immortal souls of men ; and
that with regard to these things, the eyes of wicked men are opened ; and they,
in some respects, emerge out of darkness into clear light, when tbey go into
another world.
The greatness of the abilities of tbe devils, may be argued from the repre
sentation in Eph. vl 12, " We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
pincipalities, against powers," &c. Tbe same may also be argued frora what
the Scripture says of Satan's subtilty. Gen. ul 1, 2 Cor. xi. 3, Acts xiii. 10.
And as the devil has a faculty of understanding of large capacity, so he is
capable of great speculative knowledge, of the things of God, and tbe invisible
and eternal world, as well as other things ; and raust needs actually bave a
great understanding of these things; as these are the things wbich have always
been chiefly in his view ; and as bis circurastances from bis first existence, bave
been such as have tended chiefly lo engage bim to attend to these tbings. Be
fore his fall be was one of tbose angels w-ho continually beheld the face of the
Falher, which is in heaven. And sin has no tendency to destroy the meraory ;
and therefore bas no tendency lo blot out of it any speculative knowledge tbat
was forraerly tbere.
As the devil's subtilty shows his great capacity, so the way in which his
subtilty is exercised and raanifested, wbich is principally in his artful manage
ment, with respect to tbings of religion ; his exceeding subtle representations,
insinuations, reasonings, and temptations, concerning Ihese Ihings, deraon
strates his great actual undersianding of them. As in order to the being a very
artful disputant in any science, Ihough it be only to confound and deceive such
as are conversant in the science, a person had need to bave a great and exten
sive acquaintance with the things which pertain to that science.
Tbus the devil has, undoubtedly, a great degree of speculative knowledge
in divinity ; having been, as it were, educated in tbe best divinity school in tbe
universe, viz., the heaven of heavens. He must needs have such an extensive
and accurate knowledge concerning the nature and attributes of God, as we,
worms of the dust, in our present stale, are not capable of And he must have
a far raore extensive knowledge of the works of God, as of the work of crea
tion in particular ; for be was a spectator of the creation of this visible world ;
he was one of those morning stars that we read of. Job xxxvul,4, 5, 6, 7,
who sang together, and of those sons of God that shouted for joy, when Gocl
laid tbe founclations of the earth, and laid the measures thereof, and stretched
the line upon il. And so be must have a very great knowledge of God's
works of providence : he has been a spectator of the series of these works frora
tbe beginning : he has seen how God has governed the world in all ages : be
has seen the whole train of God's wonderful successive dispensations of pro
vidence towards his church, frora generation to generation. And he has not
been an indifferent spectator ; but the great opposition whicb there has been
between G id and him, in tbe whole course of tbose dispensations, has necessa
rily greatly engaged bis attention in the strictest observation of tbem. He raust
have a great degree of knowledge concerning Jesus Christ as the Saviour of
men, and the nature and method of the work of redemption, and the wonderful
wisdom of God in this contrivance. It is (hHt work of God wherein, above afl
456 TRUE GRACE,
others, God has acted in opposition to bira, and in wuich he has chiehy set him
self in opposition to God. It is with relation t) this affair, that ibat raighty
warfare has been raaintained, whicb has been carried on between Micl xel anil
his angels, and the devil and his angels, through all ages frora tbe beginning ol
the world, and especially since Christ appeared in the world. The devfl has bad
enough lo engage his attention to the steps of divine wisdom in this work ; foi
it is to that wisdom he has opposed his subtilty ; and he has seen and found, tc
bis great disappointment, and unspeakable torraent, how divine wisdora, as ex
ercised in that work, has baffled and confounded hrs devices. He has a great
knowledge of tbe things of another world ; for the Ihings of that worid are irr
his iraraediate view. He bas a great knowledge of heaven ; for be bas been
an inhabitant of that world of glory ; and he has a great knowledge of hefl,
and the nature of its misery ; for he is the first inhabitant of hell ; and above
all the other inhabitants, has experience of its torments, and has felt them con
stantly, for more than fifty-seven. hundred years. He must have a great know
ledge of the holy Scriptures ; for it is evident he is not hindered from know
ing wbat is written there, by the use be made of the words of Scripture in his
temptation of our Saviour. And if he can know, he has much opportunity to
know, and must needs have a disposition to know, with the greatest exactness ;
that he may, to greater effect, pervert and wrest the Scripture, and prevent such
an effect ofthe word of God on the hearts of men, as shall lend to overthrow
bis kingdora. He must have a great knowledge of the nature of mankind ;
their capacity ; their dispositions, and the corruptions of their hearts : for he has
bad long and great observation and experience. Tbe heart of man is what he
had chiefly to do with in his subtle devices, mighty efforts, restless and lidefati-
gable operations and exertions of hiraself from the beginning of the ti^orid.—
And it is evident that he has a great speculative knowledge of the nature of
experimental religion, by his "being able to imitate it so artfully, and in such a
manner, as to transform himself inlo an angel of light.
Therefore it is raanifest, frora ray text and doctrine, that no degre.', of spec
ulative knowledge of things of religion, is any certain sign of true picVy. What
ever clear notions a raan may have of the attributes of God, and cloctrines of
the Trinity ; the nature of the two covenants ; the economy of tht persons of
the Trinity, and the part which each person has in the affair of mail's rederap
tion ; if he can discourse never so excellently of the offices of Christ, and Ihe
way of salvation by bim, and the adrairable inethods of divine wisil/om, and the
harmony ofthe various attributes of God in that way ; if he can lalk never so
cleariy and exactly of the raethod ofthe justification of a sinner, and of the nature
of conversion, and the operations of the Spirit of God in applying the rederaption
of Christ ; giving good distinctions ; happily solving diflficulties, aud answering
objections, in a manner tending greatly to the enlightening of the ignorant ; to
the edification of the church of God, and the conviction of gainsayers, and the
great increase of light in the worid ; if he has more knowledge of this sort
than hundreds of true saints of an ordinary education, and most divines, yet afl
is no certain evidence of any degree of saving grace in the heart
It is true, the Scripture often speaks of knowledge of divine things, as whal
is peculiar to true saints ; as in John xvii. 3, " This is life eternal, that tbey might
know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou bast sent." Matt
xi. 27, "No man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man
the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal bim."
Psalra ix 10, " They that know thy name, will put tbeir trust in thee." Philip
ui. 8, " I count all thing-' but loss, for the cxp'-llency of the knowledge of Chrisf
TRUE GRACE. 46'
Jesus my Lord." But then we raust understand gf a different icind of know
ledge, from that speculative undersianding w hich tbe devil has to so great a
degree. It will also be allowed, that the spiritual, saving knowledge of God
and divine tbings greatly promotes speculative knowledge, as it engages the mind
in ils search into things of this kind, and much assists to a distinct understand
ing of them, so that, other things being equal, tbey that have spiritual know
ledge, are mucb raore likely than others to have a good doctrinal ac;quaintance
with things of religion, but yet such acquaintance may be no distinguishing
characteristic of true saints.
III. It may also be inferred from what has been observed, that for persons
merely to yield a speculative assent to the doctrines of religion as true, is no
certain evidence of a slate of grace. My text tells us, that the devils believe,
and as they believe that tbere is one God, so they believe the truth of the doc
trines of religion in general. The devil is orthodox in his faith ; be believes
the true scherae of doctrine ; he is no Deist, Socinian, Arian, Pelagian, or An
tinomian ; the articles of his failh are all sound, and wbat he is thoroughly es
tabhshed in.
Therefore for a person to believe the doctrines of Christianity, merely from
the influence of tbings speculative, or from the force of arguments, as discerned
only by speculation, is no evidence of grace.
Though it is probably a very rare thing for unregenerate men to have a
strong persua.sion of the truth of the doctrines of religion, especially such of them
as are very mysterious, and much above the comprehension of reason : yea, it
is manifest, that we have no warrant to deiermine, that it can never be so, or lo
look upon such a persuasion, as an infallible evidence of grace ; and that no per
son can safely determine his state to be good from such an evidence. Yet if he,
not only himself, seeras to be very confident of the trulh of Christianity and its
doctrines, but is able to argue most strongly for the proof of them ; yet in this
he goes nothing beyond the devil, who, doubtless, has a great knowledge of the
rational arguments, by which the truth of the Christian religion, and ils several
principles are evinced.
And, therefore, when the Scripture speaks of believing that Jesus is the Son
of God, as a sure evidence of grace, as in 1 John v. 1, and other places, il must
be understood, not of a mere speculative assent, but of another kind and manner
of 'oelieving, whicb is called the failh of God's elect, Titus l 1. There is a
spiritual conviction of tbe truth, which is a believing with the whole heart, pe
cuhar fO true saints, of which 1 would speak particularly by and by.
IV. It may be inferred from the doctrine which has been insisted on, that it
is no certain sign, that persons are savingly converted — that they have been
subjects of very great distress and terrors of mind, through apprehensions of
God's wralh, anci fears of damnation.
That the devils are the subjects of great terrors through apprehensions of
God's wrath, and fears of future effects of it, is imphed in my text, which speaks
not only of their believing, but trerabling. It must be no small degree of terror,
wbich should make those principalities and powers, tbose mighty, proud and
sturdy beings to tremble.
There are raany terrors, that some persons, who are concerned for tbeir sal
vation, are the subjects of, which are not from any proper awakenings of con
science, or apprehensions of truth, but from melancholy, or frightful impressions
on their imagination, or some groundless apprehensions, and the delusions, and
false suggestions of Satan. But if tbey have had never so great and long con
tinued terrors, from real awakerings and convictions of truth, and views of
Vo*.. IV. 58
468 TRUE GRACE.
things as they are ; this is no more than wbat is in the devfls, and will bf in al)
wicked men in anotber world. Howeverstupid and senseless most ungodly men
are now, all will be effectually awakened, at last: there wifl be no such thing
as slumbering in hefl. There are many that cannot be awakened by the most
.solemn warnings and awful threatenings of the word of God, the most alai-ming
discourses from the pulpit, and the most awakening and awful providences ; but
all wifl be thoroughly awakened by the sound of the last trumpet, and the ap
pearance of Christ to, judgment, and all sorts will then be fifled with most amaz
ing terrors, from apprehensions of truth, and seeing things as they be ; when
" the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and Ihe chief
captains, and the mighty men (such as were the most lofty and stout-hearted,
most ready to treat the things of religion with conterapt), shafl hide themselves
in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains; and say to the mountains and
rocks. Fall on us, and hide us from the face of hira that sitteth, on the throne, and
from the wrath of the Larab : for the great day of his wrath, is come, and who
shafl be able to stand 1" Rev. vl 15, 16, 17.
Therefore, if persons have first been awakened, and then afterwards bave
had comfort and joy, it is no certain sign that their comforts are of tbe right
kind, that they were preceded by very great terrors.
V. It may be further inferred from the doctrine, that no work of the law on
men's hearts, in conviction of guilt and just desert of punishment, is a sure ar
gument that a person bas been savingly converted.
Not only are no awakenings and terrors any certain evidence of this, but no
raere legal work whatsoever, though carried to theutraosl extent that it can be;
nothing wherein there is no grace or spiritual light, bul only the mere convic
tion of natural conscience, and those acts and operations of the mind wbich are
the result ofthis ; and so are, as it were, merely forced by the clear light of
conscience, without the concurrence of the heart and inclination wilh that light
I say, these things are no certain sign of the saving grace of God, or that a
person was ever savingly converted.
The evidence of this, from my text and doctrine, is deraon.strative ; because
the devils are the subjects of these things ; and all wicked men that shall finally
perish, will be tbe subjects of the same. Natural conscience is not extinguished
in the daraned in hell ; but, on the contrary, reraains, and is therein its greaiest
strength, and is brought to its raost perfect exercise ; raost fully to do ils proper
office as God's vicegerent in the soul, to condemn those rebels against the King
of heaven and earth, and manifest God's just wrath and vengeance, and by that
means lo torment them, andbe as a never-dying worm -«nlhin them. Wretched
men find means in this world to bhnd the eyes and stop the mouth of this vice
gerent of a sin-revenging God ; but they shall not be able to do it always. In
anotber world, the eyes and mouth of conscience wifl be fully opened. God
will hereafter make wicked men to see and know these things which now Ihey
industriously hide their eyes from. Isa. xxvi. 10, 11, " Let favor be showed to
the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness will
be deal unjustly, and will not beholdithe raajesty of tbe Lord. Lord, when thy
hand is lifted up, tbey will not see. But they shall see, and be asharaed for their
er.7y at the people, yea, the fire of thine enemies shafl devour them." Wc
have this expression often annexed to God's threatenings of wrath to his
enemies : " And tbey shall know thati am tbe Lord." Tbis sball be accom
plished by tbeir woful experience, and clear hght in tbeir consciences^ whereby
they sball be raade to know, whether they will or not, how great and terrible,
holy aud lighteous a God Jehovah is, whose authority they have. despised; anci
TRUE GRACE. 46y
icy shafl know that he is righteous and holy in their destruction. This all the
ungodly will be convinced of at the day of judgraent, by the bringing to light
all tbeir wickedness of heart and practice, and setting all tbeir sins wilh afl their
aggravations, in order, not only in tbe view of others, even ofthe whole world,
but in the view of their own consciences. This is threatened. Psalm l 2x,
" These things thou bast done, and I kept silence. Thou Iboughtest that I was
.altogether such a one as thyself But I will reprove thee, and set them in order
before thine eyes." Compare tbis wilb tbe four first verses of tbe psalm. The
end ofthe dai jf judgraent is not to find out what is just, as il is with huraan
'udgments, but it is to manifest w-hat is just ; to make known God's justice in
the judgment which he will execute, to men's own consciences, and to the
world. And therefore that day is called " the day of wrath, and revelation of
the righteous judgment of God," Rora. ii. 5. Now sinners often cavil against
the justice of God's dispensations, and particularly tbe justice of the punishment
wbich God threatens for their sins, excusing themselves, and condemning God.
But when God coraes to manifest their wickedness in the light of that day, and
to call them to an account, they wfll be speechless. Matt. xxii. 11, 12, " And
wben the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which bad not on
a wedding garraent. And be saith unto hira, Friend, how eamest thou in hithei
.lot having a wedding garment 1 and he was speechless.'' When the King of
neaven and earth comes to judgment, their con.sciences wfll be so perfectly
enlightened and convinced by tbe all-searching fight they sball then stand in,
that their mouths will be effectually stopped, as to all excuses for themselves,
all pleading of their own righteousness to excuse or justify them, and all objec
tions against the justice of tbeir judge, tbat their conscience will condemn tbem
only, and not God.
Therefore il follows from tbe doctrine, tbat it can be no certain sign of grace,
tbat persons bave had great convictions of sin— bave had tbeir sins of life, with
their aggravations, reraarkably set before them, so as greatly to affect and terrify
thera ; and withal, have had a great sight of tbe wickedness of their hearts, and
been convmced of the greatness of the sin of unbehef, and of the inexcusableness
and heinousness oftheir most secret spiritual iniquities; and bave been brought
to be convinced of the utter insufficiency of their own righteousness, and to
despair of being recommended to God by it ; bave been as much brought ofl
from their own righteousness, as ever any are under a mere legal humiliation ;
have been convinced that they are wholly without excuse before God, and'
deserve damnation, and that God would be just in executing the threatened
punishment upon them, though it be so dreadful. All these tbings will be in
all the ungodly at the day of judgment, when they shall stand with devils, at
the left hand, and shafl be doomed, as accursed, to everiasting fire with them.
Indeed there will be no subraission in them. Their conscience will be freely
c(/nvinced that God is just m their condemnation, but yet their wflls wfll not be
Dowed to God's justice. There will be no acquiescence of mind in that divine
attribute — no yielding of the soul to God's sovereignty, but tbe highest degree
of enmity and opposition. A true submission of tbe heart and will to the jus
tice and sovereignty of God, is therefore allowed to be something peculiar to true
converts, being something wbich the devils and damned souls are and ever wfll
be far from ; and v;hii-h a mere work of thelaw, and convictions of conscience,
aowever great and cliar, will, never bring men to.
Wben sinners are the s-ubjects of great convictions qf conscience, and a re-
narkable work, of tbe law, it is only a transacting tbe business of the day of
judgment ii the conscience beforehand. God sits enthroned in the conscience,
460 TRUE GRACE.
as al the last day be will sit enthroned in the clouds of neaven ; the sinnei is
arraigned, as it were, at God's bar, and God appears in his awful ^reatnes.s, as
a just and holy, sin-hating, and sin-revenging God, as be will then. The smii«r'3
iniquities are brought to light— his sins set in order before him— the bidden
things of darkness, and the counsels of the heart are made mani'fest — as it will
be then. Many witnesses do, as it were, rise up against the sinner under con
victions of conscience, as tbey wfll against the wicked at the day of judgment
And fhe books are opened, particularly the book of God's strict and holy law,
is opened in the conscience, and its rules applied for tbe condemnation of the
sinner ; which is the book tbat will be opened at the day of judgment, as the
grand rule of judgment, to all such wicked men as have livecl under it And
the sentence of the law is pronounced against the sinner, and the justice of the
sentence made manifest as it will be al the day ofjudgraent The conviction
of a sinner at the day of judgment, wfll be a work of the law, as well as the con
viction of conscience in this worid ; and the work of the law (if the work be
merely legal) be sure, is never carried further in the consciences of sinners now,
than it will be at that day, when its work will be perfect in thoroughly stop
ping the sinner's moutb. Rora. iii. 19, " Now we know, that wbat things
soever the law sailh, il saith to thera w-ho are underlhe law ; that every raouth
may be stopped, and all tbe world may become guilty before God." Every
mouth shall be stopped by the law, either now or hereafter, and all the world
shall become sensibly guilty before God — guilty of death — deserving of damna
tion. And, therefore, if sinners have been tbe subjects of a great work of the
law, and have thus become guilty, and their mouths have been stopped ; it is no
certain sign that ever they have been converted.
Indeed, the want of a thorough sense of guilt, and desert of punishment, and
conviction of the justice of God, in threatening daranation, is a good negative
sign ; it is a sign that a person never was converted, and truly brought, with the
whole soul, to embrace Christ, as a Saviour from this punishraent. For it is
easily deraonstrablcj that there is no such thing as entirely and cordially accept
ing an offer frora God, of a Saviour frora a punishraent that he threatens, which'
we think we do not deserve. But the having such a conviction is no certain
sign, that persons have true failh, or have ever truly received Christ as their
Saviour: And if persons have great corafort, joy and confidence, suddenly let
.into their rainds, after great convictions, of such a kind as has been mentioned,
it is no infallible evidence that their comforts are built on a good foundation.
It is manifest therefore, that too much stress has been laid by many persons
on a great work of the law, preceding their comforts ; who seera not only to
have looked on such a work of the law, as necessary to precede faith, but also
to have esteemed it as the chief evidence of the truth and genuineness of suc
ceeding failh and coraforls. By tbis means, it is to be feared very many have
been deceived, and established in a false hope. And what is to be seen in the
event of things, in multitudes of instances, confirras this. It may be safely al
lowed, not to be so unusual for great convictions of conscience to prove abor
tive, arid failof a good issue, as for less convictions; and that more generally,
when the Spirit of God proceeds so far wilh sinners, in the work of the law, as
to give them a great sight oftheir hearts, and of tbe heinousness oftheir spirit
ual iniquities, and lo convince them that tbey are vrithout excuse, and tbat all
their righteousness can do nothing to raerit God's favors, but that they lie just
ly exposed to God's eternal vengeance without mercy, a work of saving conver
sion follows.— But we have no warrant to say, it is universally so, or to lay il
iown as an infallible rule, tbat when convictions of (^Jnscience have gone thus
TRUE GRACE. 4t,l
lar, saving faith and repentance will surely follow. If any should think they
have ground for such a determination, becau.se tbey cannot conceive what enti
God should hnve in carrying on a work of conviction to such a lenoth, and so
preparing the heari for fahh, and, after all, never giving saving failh to the soul ;
I desire it may be considered, where will be the end of our doubts and difficul
ties, if we think ourselves sufficient to determine so positively and parlicularlv
concerning (iod's ends and designs in wbat be does. It may be asked sucb an
objector, what is God's end in giving a sinner any degree of tbe strivings of bis
Spirit, and conviction of conscience, when he afterwards suffers it lo come to
notbing, and to prove in vain ? If be may give some degree that may finally be
in vain, who shall set the bounds, and say how great the degree shall be ? Who
can, on sure grounds, deterraine, that wben a sinner has so rauch of that convic
tion, which tbe devils and damned in hell bave, true faith and eternal salvation
wifl be tbe certain consequence? This we raay ceriainly deterraine, that, if tbe
apostle's arguraent in the text be good, not any thing whatsoever, that the devils
have, is ceriainly connected with such a consequence. Seeing sinners, while
such, are capable ofthe most perfect convictions, and will have ihem at the day
ofjudgraent, and in bell; who sball say, that God never shall cause reprobates to
anticipate the future judgment and clamnation in that respect ? And if be does
so, wbo shall say to him. What doest thou ? or call him to account concerning
his ends in so doing ? Not but that many possible wise ends might be thought
of, and mentioned if it were needful, or I bad now room for it. — Tbe Spirit of
God is often quenched by the exercise of the wickedness of men's hearts, after
be has gone far in a work of conviction ; so that their convictions never bave
a good issue. And who can say tbat sinners, by the exercise of their opposition
and enraity against God, (which is not at all mortified by the greatest legal con
victions, neither in the daraned in hell, nor sinners on earth,) may not provoke
God to take his Spirit from them, even after he has proceeded the greatest lenoth
in a work of conviction ? Who can say, that God never is provoked to destroy
sorae, after be has brought them, as it were, through the wilderness even to the
edge of the land of rest 1 As he slew some of the Israelites, even in tbe plains
of Moab. And let it be considered, where is our warrant in Scripture, to make use of
any legal convictions, or any method or order of successive events in a work of
the law, and consequent comforts, as a sure sign of regeneration 1 The Scripture
is abundant, in expressly mentioning evidences of grace, and of a state of favor
with God, as characteristics of the true saints : but where do we ever find such
things as these amongst those evidences'? Or where do we find any other signs
insisted on, besides grace itself, its nature, exercises, and fruits ? These were the
evulences that Job relied upon : these were the things that the Psalmist every
where insists upon, as evidences of his sincerity, and particularly in the cxixth
Psalm, from tbe beginning to tbe end : these were the signs that Hezekiah trust
ed to in his sickness.
These were the characteristics given of those that are truly happy, by our
Saviour, in the beginning of his serraon on the mount : these are tbe things that
Christ mentions, as the true evidences of being his real disciples, in his last and
dying discourse to his disciples, in tbe xivth, xvth, and xvhb chapters of John, and
in bis intercessory prayer, chap, xvn : — these are tbe Ihings which the Apostle
Paul often speaks of as evidences of his sincerity, and sure tflle to a crown of
glory : and these are the tbings he often mentions lo others, in his epistles, as
the proper evidences of real Christianity, a justified state, and a title to glory
He insists on the fruits of the Spirit : love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
462 TRUE GRACE
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, as the proper evidences or being Christ's,
and living in the Spirit, Gal. v. 22—25. It is that charity, or divine love,
which is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy, &c., that
he insists on, -as the most essential evidence of true godliness; wflhoul which,
afl other tbings are nothing. Such are Ihe signs which tbe apostle James in
sists on, as the proper evidence of a truly wise and good man : James ill 17, " The
wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be
entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, wiihout pariiality, and wiihout hypoc
risy." And sucb are tbe signs of true Christianity, whicb the Apostle .lohn
insists on throughout his episties. And we never have anywhere in the Bible,
from the beginning to the end of it. any other signs of godliness given than
such as these. If persons have such things as these apparently in them, it
ought to be deterrained that they are truly converted, whhout ils being insisted
that it be first known what steps or raethod tbe Spirit of God took to introduce
these things into the soul, wbich oftentimes is altogether untraceable. Afl the
works of God are, in some respects, unsearchable : but tbe Scripture often
represents the works of the Spirit of God as peculiarly so. Isa. xl. 13, " Who
hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his coun.sellor, bath taught hira V'~
Eccl. xi. 5, " As thou knowest not wbat is tbe way of tbe Spirit, nor bow the
bones do grow in the womb ofher tbat is wilh cbilcl ; so thou knowest not the
works of God, who raaketh all." John fll 8, " The wind bloweth -where it
listeth, and thou hearest tbe sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh,
and whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
VI. Il follows from my text and doctrine, that il is no certain sign of grace,
that persons have earnest desires and longings after salvation.
The devils, doubtless, long for deliverance from the misery they suffer, and
from that greater raisery whicb tbey expect. If tbey tremble through fear of it,
tbey must, necessarily, earnestly desire to be delivered from it Wicked men
are, in Scripture, represented as longing for the privileges of the righteous,
wben the door is shut, and tbey are shut out from among them ; they come to the
door, and cry, Lord, Lord, open to us. Therefore we are not to look on all desires,
or all desires that are very earnest and vehement, as certain evidences ofa pious
heart There are earnest desires of a religious nature, which Ibe saints have,
that are the proper breathings of a new nature, and distinguishing qualities of
true saints. But there are also longings which unregenerate men may haye,
whicb are often mistaken for marks of godliness. Tbey think they hunger and
Ihirst after righteousness, and have earnest desires after God and Christ, and
long for heaven ; when indeed, all is to be resolved into desires of salvation
from self-love ; and so is a longing which arises from no higher principles than
the earnest desires of devils.
VII. It may be inferred from what bas been observed, that persons who
have no grace may have a great apprehension of an external glory in things
heavenly and divine, and of whatsoever is external pertaining to tbings of reli
gion. If persons bave impressed strongly on their minds ideas of that sort ^'hich
are obtained by the external senses, wbether they are of that kind ihat enter
by tbe ear, as any kind of sound ; -whether it be the most pleasant music, or
words spoken of excellent signification; words of Scripture, or any other, im
mediately suggested, as Ihough they were spoken, though Ihey seem to be
never so suitable t>^ Iheir case, or adapted to the subject of their meditations
Or whelher tbey are cf Ihat kind tbat are obtained by tbe eye, as ideas ofa
visiuit besuly and glory, a shining lightj and external glory of heaven, golden
TRUE GRACE. 463
streets, walls and gates of precious stones, splendid palaces, glorious inhabhants
shining forth as tlie sun, a most magnificent throne surrounded by angels and
saints in shining ranks ; or any thing external, belonging to Jesus Christ,
cither in bis humble state, as of Jesus banging on tbe cross, whh his crown of
thorns, his wounds open, and blood trickling down ; or in his glorified state,
with awful majesty, or ravishing beauty and sweetness in bis countenance, bis
face shining above the brightness of the sun, and the hke : these tbings are no
certain signs of grace.
Multitudes that are now in hell, will have ideas of the external glory that
pertains to things beavenly, far beyond whatever any have in tbis world. They
wifl see all tiiat external glory and beauty, in which Christ will appear at the
day of judgment, when tbe sun sball be turned inlo darkness before bim ; which,
doubtiess, vvfll be ten thousand tiraes greater than ever was impressed on the
imagination of either saints or sinners in this present state, or ever was con
ceived by any mortal man.
VIII. It may be inferred from the doctrine, that persons who have no grace
may have a very great and affecting sense of many divine tbings on their
hearts. The devil bas not only great speculative knowledge, but he has a sense of
many divine things, whicb deeply affects him, and is most strongly irapressed on
his heart. As,
1. The devils and damned souls have a great sense of the' vast importance
of tbe things of another world. They are in tbe invisible world, and tbey see
and know how great the things of that world are : their experience teaches
them in the most affecting manner. They have a great sense of the worth of
salvation, and the worth of iramortal souls, and the vast importance of those
things that concern men's eternal welfare. The parable in the latter end ofthe
xvith chapter of Luke, teaches this, in representing the rich man in hell, as en
treating that Lazarus might be sent to his five brothers, to testify unlo them, lest
tbey should come to that place of torment. They who endure the torments of
hell have doubtless a most lively and affecting sense of the vastness of an end
less eternity, and of the comparative momentariness of this life, and the vanity
of tbe concerns and enjoyments of time. Tbey are convinced eff'ectually, that
all the things of this world, even tbose that appear greatest and niost important
to the inhabitants of the earth, are despicable trifles, in comparison of the things
of the eternal world. Tbey have a great sense of the preciousness of time, and
of the means of grace, and the inestimable value of tbe privileges which they
enjoy who live under the gospel. They are fully sensible of the folly of those
that go on in sin; neglect their opportunities; make light of the counsels and
warnings of God ; and bitterly lament their exceeding folly in their own sins,
by which they have brought on themselves so great and remediless misery.
When sinners, by woful experience, know the dreadful issue of their evil way,
they will mourn at the last, saying. How have I hated instruction, and ray heart
despised reproof, and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined
mine ear to thera that instructed me I Prov. v. 11 — 13.
Therefore, however true godliness is now attended with a great sense of tbe
importance of divine things, and it is rare tbat men that have no grace do rhain-
tain such a sense in any steady and persevering manner ; yet it is manifest those
things are no certain evidences of grace. Unregenerate men may have a sense
of the importance of the tbings of eternity, and the vanity of tbe things of time ;
the worth of immortal souls ; the preciousness of time and means of grace, and
the folly of the way of allowed sin : and may have such a sense of those things,
464 TRUE GRACE.
as may deeply affect tbem, and :ause tbem to mourn for tbeir own sins, anJ be
much concerned for others; though il be true, tbey bave not these things in the
same manner, and in all respects from the sarae principles and views as godly
men have Ihem.
2. Devils and damned men bave a strong and most affecting sense of the awful
greatness and majesty of God. The awful majesty of God is greatly made manifest
in the execution of divine wrath, which they are tbe subjects of The making Ihis
known, is one thing God has in design in his vengeance on his eneraies : Rora. ix.
22, " vVhat if God, wflling to show his wrath, anflmake bis power known, endur
ed with rauch long-suffering the vessels of wralh fitted to destruction V Tbe dev
ils trerable before this great and terrible God, and under a strong sense ofbisawfui
majesty. It is greatly raanifested to Ihera, and daraned souls now ; but shali
be manifested in a further degree, in that day, when the Lord Jesus shall be re
vealed from heaven, in flaming fire, to take vengeance upon thera ; and when
they shall earnestiy desire to fly, and be hid from the face of bim that sits on the
throne (" which shall be, because ofthe glory of his majesty," Isa. ii. 10), and
when they shall be punished wilh everlasting destruction, from the presence of
the Lord, and from the glory of his power. When Christ comes at Ihe last day
in the glory of bis Father, every eye shall see him in tbat glory (in this respect,
that they shall see his terrible majesty), and tbey also that pierced him. Rev. i.
7. Both those devils, and wicked men, which tormented and insulted hira when
he appeared in meanness and ignominy, shall then see him in the glory of his
Father. It is evident, therefore, that a sense of God's terrible majesty is no certain
evidence of saving grace ; for we see tbat wicked raen and devils are capable
of it; yea, raany wicked raen in this world have actually had it Thie is a
raanifestation w hich God made of bimself, in tbe sight of tbat wicked congrega
tion of Mount Sinai, which they saw, and were deeply affected with, so that all
the people Ihat were in the camp trembled.
3. Devfls and damned men bave some kind of conviction and sense of afl
the attributes of God, both natural and moral, tbat is strong and very affecting.
The devils know God's almighty power; they saw great manifestation of
it, when they saw God lay the foundation ofthe earth, &c., and were much af
fected with it ; and they bave seen innumerable other great demonstrations of
bis power ; as in the universal deluge, the destruction of Sodom, the wonders in
Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness ; the causing tbe sun lo stand still in
Joshua's time, and raany other.s. And Ihey bad a very affecting manifestation of
God's mighty power on theraselves, in casting all their hosts down from heaven
into hell ; and have continual affecting experience of it, in God's reserving them
in strong chains of darkne.ss, and in the strong pains they feel, and will hereafter
have far more affecting experience of it, wben Ihey shall be punished from the
glory of God's power, with that mighty destruction which they now tremble in
expectation of So the devils have a great knowledge of tbe wisdom of God :
tbey have had unspeakably more opporlunity and occasion to observe it in the
work of creation, and also in the works of providence, than any mortal man
has ever had ; and have been themselves tbe subjects of innumerable affecting
manifestations of it, in God's disappointing and confounding thera in their most
subtle devices, in so wonderful and amazing a manner. So they see and fine!
the infinite purity and holiness of the divine nature in the most affecting manner,
as this appears in his infinite hatred of sin, in wbat they feel of Ibe dreadful ef-
tects of that hatred. They know already by what they suffer, and will know
hereafter to a greater degree, and far more affecting manner, that such is thr
TRUE GRACE. 4b5
,')ppositiou of God's nature to sin, that it is like a consuming fire, that burn."!
with infinite vehemence against il ; they wfll feel the vehement heat of that fire
Ul a very dreadful manner. Tbey also will see the hohness of God, as exercised
in bis love to righteousness and holiness, in what they \\i\\ see of the reward of
the righteousness of Christ, and the holiness of his peo])le, in tbe glory of Christ
and bis church ; which also will be very affecting to devils and wicked men.
And the exact justice of God wfll be manifested to them in the clearest and
strongest, most convincing and most affecting light, at the day of judgment ;
when they will also see great and aflfecting deraonstrations of the riches of his
grace, in the raarvellous fruits of his love to the vessels of mercy ; when they
shall see them at the right hand of Christ shining as the sun in the kingdom
oftheir Father, and shall hear the blessed sentence pronounceo jpon fhem ; and
wfll be deeply affected with it, as seeras naturally implied in Luke xiii. 28, 29.
The devils know God's truth, and therefore they believe his threatenings, and
tremble in expectation of their accoraplishment. And wicked men that now
doubt his truth, and dare not trust his word, will hereafter, in the most convin
cing, affecting manner, find his word to be true in all that he has threatened,
and will see that he is faithful to his proraises in the rewards of his saints. Devils
and daraned men know that God is eternal and unchangeable ; and therefore
they despair of there ever being an end to tbeir misery.
Therefore it is manifest, that raerely persons' having an affecting sense of
some, or even of all God's attributes, is no certain sign that they have the true
grace of God in tbeir hearts.
Object. Here possibly sorae may object against the force of the foregoing
reasoning, that ungodly men in this world are in exceeding different circum
stances frora those which the devils are in, and from those which wicked men
wfll be in, at the day ofjudgraent ; those things whicb are visible and present
to these, are now future and invisible to tbe other ; and wicked raen in this
world are in the body, that clogs and hinders the soul, and are encompassed with
objects that blind and stupify thera : and therefore it does not follow, that
because the wicked in another world bave a great apprehension and hvely
sense of such and such things without grace, that ungodly raen in tbeir present
state raay have the sarae.
Ans. To this I answer, it is not supposed that ever men in this hfe have
all those things which have been mentioned, to the same degree tbat the devils
and daraned have tbem. None supposes that ever any in this life have terrors
of conscience to an ^/jual degree wilb them. It is not to be supposed that any
raortal raan, whether godly or ungodly, has an equal degree of speculative know
ledge wilh the levfl. And, as was ju.st now observed, the wicked, at the day
ofjudgraent, will have a vastly greater idea ofthe external glory of Christ than
ever any bave in the present state. So, doubtless, they will have a far greater
sense of God's awful greatness and terrible raajesty, than any could subsist under
in this frail state. So we may well conclude, that the devils and wicked men
in hell have a greater and more affecting sense of the vastness of eternity, and
(in some respects) a greater sense of the importance of tbe tbings of another
world, than any here have, and they have also longings after salvation to a
higher degree than any wicked raen in this world.
But yet it is evident, tbat raen in this world may bave things of the same
kind with devils and daraned men. The same sort of light in the understanding,
ihe sarae views, and the sarae affections — tbe same sense of tbings — tbe same
kind of impressions on the mind, and on the heart. If the objection is against
the conclusiveness of tbe reasoning tbat has been made use of to prove tbis. t't
Vol. IV 59
46b TRUE GRACE.
ii. against tbe conclusiveness of that reasoning wbich is the apostle s more pro
periy than raine. The aposlle judged it a conclusive arguraent against such as
thought their believing there was one God, an evidence of their being graciou.i,
that the devils believed the same. So the argument is exactly the same against
such as think they have grace, because they beheve God is a holy God, oi
because they have a sense ofthe awful majesty of God. The same may be ob
served of other tilings that have been mentioned. My text bas reference not
only to the act of the understanding of devils in believing, but to that affection
of their hearts, which accompanies the views they have ; as trembling is an ef
fect of the affection of the heart ; which shows, that if men have both the same
views of understanding, and also the same affections of heart, that tbedevils
have, it is no sign of grace.
And as lo the particular degree, to which these tbings may be carried in
men, in this workl, without grace, it appears not lo be iafe to go about so to
ascertain and fix it, as to raake use of it as an infallible rule to determine raen's
slate. I know not where we have any rule to go by to fix tbe precise degree,
in which God, by bis providence, or bis comraon influences on the mind, will
excite in wicked men in this world, the sarae views and affections which the
wicked have in another world ; which, it is manifest, the former are capable of
as well as the latter, baving the same faculties and principles of soul, and which
views and affections, it is evident, they often are actually the subjects of in some
degree — some in a greater, and some in a less degree. The infallible evidences
of grace, wbich are laid dovs'n in Scripture, are of another kind ; they are afl
of a holy and spiritual nature, and Iherefore Ihings of that kind wbich a heart that
is wholly carnal and corrupt, cannot receive, or bave any experience of, 1 Cor.
u. 14. I raight also here add, that observation and experience, in very many in
stances, seem to confirra whal Scripture and reason teach in these tbings.
The second use m-ay be of self-examination.
Let the things which have been observed put all on examining themselves
and inquiring whether they have any better evidences of saving grace, than
such as have been raentioned.
We see how the infallible Spirit of God in the text plainly represents the
things tbe devils are subjects of, as no sure sign of grace. And we have now,
in sorae instances, observed how far the devfls and daraned raen go, and will
go, in their experience— their knowledge of divine things-^their behef of truth
— their awakenings and terrors of conscience — their conviction of guill, and of
tbe justice of God, in their eternal, dreadful daranation — their longings after
salvation — their sight of the external glory of Christ, and beavenly tbings — their
sense ofthe vast importance ofthe things of religion, and another worid — their
sense of the awful greatness and terrible majesty of God, yea, of all God's at
tributes. These things may wefl put us on serious self-examination, whether
we have any thirig to evidence our good estate, beyond wbat the devils are the
subjects of Christ said to his disciples, " Except your righteousness exceed the
righteousness rf tbe Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into fhe
kingdom of heaven." So tbe Spirit of Christ, in his apostle James, does in ef
feet say, in my text, except what you experience in your souls go beyond th*
experiences of devfls, ye sball in no case enter into tbe kingdom of God.>
Here, it may be, some wfll be ready to say, I bave something besides al)
these Ihings, which have been mentioned; I have things which tbe devils have
not, even love and joy.
I answer, you may bave something besides, th" experiences of devils, and
TRUE GRACE. 467
yet nothing beyond tbem. Though the experience be different, yet it may not
be owing to any different principle, but only the different circumstances, under
which tbese principles are exercised. The principles, from whence the fore-
mentioned Ihings in devils and damned men do arise, are these two ; natural
understanding and self-love. It is from natural understanding or reason that
they have sirch a degree of knowledge in divine things and such a belief of thera.
Il is from these principles of natural understanding and self-love, as exercised
about their own dispositions and actions, and God as their judge, that they have
natural conscience, and have such convictions of conscience as have been
spoken of It is frora these principles that they have sucb a sense of the impor
tance of the things of religion and the eternal world, and such longings after
salvation. It is from tbe joint exercise of these two principles that they are so
sensible of the awful raajesty of God, and of all the attrib- les of the divine
nature, and so greatly affected with them : and it is frora these principles, join
ed wilh external sense, the wicked, at the day ofjudgraent, will have so great
an apprehension of, and will be so greatly affected by, the external glory of
Christ and bis sainls. And that you have a kind of love, or gratitude and joy,
whicb devfls and damned men have not, may possibly not arise from any other
principles in your heart different from these two, but only frora tbese principles,
as exercised in different circumstances.
As for instance, your being a subject of the restraining grace of God, and
being under circumstances of hope, and the receipt of mercy. The natural un
derstanding and self-love of devils possibly mighl affect them in the same man
ner, if they were in the sarae circurastances. If your love to God bas ils first
source frora nothing else than a supposed iramediate divine witness, or any
-other supposed evidence, that Christ died for you in particular, and tbat God
loves you, it springs from no higher principle than self-love, which is a princi
ple that reigns in the hearts of devfls. Self-love is sufficient, wiihout grace, to
cause raen lo love those that love them, or that they imagine love thera, and
make much of them : Luke vl 32, " For if ye love tbem whicb love you, what
thank have ye 1 For sinners also love those tbat love them." And would
not the hearts of devilii be filled with great joy, if they, by any means should
take up a confident persuasion that God had pardoned thera, and was becorae
their friend, and that they should be delivered frora that wrath which they now
are in trerabling expectation of? If the devfls go so far as you have heard, even
in their circumstances, being totally cast off, and given up lo unrestrained wick
edness, being without hope, knowing that God is and ever will be their enemy,
they suffering his wrath without mercy ; how far may we reasonably suppose
tbey mighl go, in imitation of grace and pious experience, if they had the sarae
degree of knowledge, as clear views, and as strong conviction, under circum
stances of bope, and offers of mercy ; and being the subjects of common grace,
restraining their corruptions, and assisting and exciting the natural princij-lesof
reason, conscience, &c. 1 Such tbings as devils are the subjects of ; such great
conviction of conscience ; such a sense of the importance of eternal tbings ; sucb
affecting views of the awful majesty, greatness, power, holiness, justice, and
truth of God, and sucb a sense of his great grace to the saints, if they, or any
thing like them, should be in the heart of a sinner, in tbis worid, at the same
time that he, from sorae strong irapression on his iraagination of Christ appear
ing to him, or sweet words spoken to him, or by sorae other raeans, has sud
denly, after great terrors, irabibed a strong confidence, that now this great God
is his friend and father, has released hira from all the misery he feared, and has
promised bim eternal happiness ; I say, such things would, doubtless, vastly
468 TRUE GRACE.
heighten his eestasy of joy, and raise the exercist nf natural giatitude ^that
principle from whence sinners love those that love tnem), and would occasion a
great imitation of raany graces in strong exercises. Is it any wonder then,
that raultitudes under such a sort of affection are deceived 1 Especially when
they have devils to help forward the delusion, whose g.-eat subtilty bas chiefly
been exercised in deceiving raankind, through all past generations.
Inquiry. Here possibly some may be ready to inquire. If there may be so
many things which raen may e.xperiencefromnohigherprinciples than aiein the
mintis and hearts of devils ; what are those exercises and affections, that are of
a higher nature, which I raust find in my heart, and which I raay justly look
upon as sure signs of the saving grace of God's Spirit ?
Ans. I answer ; those exercises and affections whicb are good evidences of
grace, differ frora all that the devils are the subjects of, and all that can arise
frora such principles as are in their hearts, in two tbings, viz., theh foundation
and their tendency.
1. They differ in their foundation, or in that belonging to tbem, which is
most fundamental in them, and tbe foundation of all tbe rest which pertains to
thera, viz., an apprehension or sense ofthe suprerae holy beauty and coraehness
of divine things, as they are in themselves, or in tlieir own nature.
This the devils and daraned in hell are, and forever will be entirely desti
tute of; this the devils once had, while they stood in their integrity; but this
they wholly lost when they fell : and this is tbe only thing that can be men
tioned, pertaining lo the devil's apprehetision and sense of tbe Divine Being,
that he did lose. Nothing else belonging lo the knowledge of God, can be de
vised, that he is destitute of It has been observed, that there is no one attri
bute of the divine nature, but what he is sensible of, and knows, and has a strong
and very affecting conviction of ; and this, I think, is evident and undeniable.
But the supreme beauty of the divine nature be is altogether blind to : he
sees no more of it than a man born perfectiy blind does of colors. The great
sight he has of the attributes of God gives bim an idea and strong sense of
his awful majesty, but no idea of his beauty and comeliness. Though he
has seen so much of God's wonderful works of power^ wisdom, holiness, jus
tice, and truth, and his wonderful works of grace to mankind, this so many
thousand years, and has had occasion to observe them with the strongest at
tention ; yet all serves not to give him the least sense of his divine beauty.
And though the devfls should continue to exercise their mighty powers of mind
with the strongest intention ; and should take tbings in all possible views, in
every order and arrangement, yet tbey never wifl see this. So little akin isthe
knowledge they have to this, that the great degrees of that knowledge bring
them no nearer to it. Yet the raore knowledge they have of God, of that kind,
the more do they hate God. That wherein the beauty of the divine nature does
most essentially consist, viz., his holiness or moral excellency, appears in their
eyes, furthest from beauty : it is on that very account, chiefly, that be appears
hateful lo them. The more hohness they see in bim, the more baleful he ap
pears: the greater their sight is of his holiness, the higher is their hatred of him
raised. And because of their hatred of his holiness, they bale bim the more, the
more tbey see of his other attributes. They would hate a holy being whatever
his other attributes were, but tbey hate such a holy being the worse°for his be
ing infinitely wise, and infinitely powerful, &c., more than they would do, if
they saw in him less power and le.ss wisdom.
The wioked at the day of judgment, wfll see every thing else in Christ but
his beauty and amiableness. There is no one quality or property of his person
TRUE GRACE 469
that can be thought of, but whal will be .set before them in the strongest light
at that day, but only such as consist in tbis. Tbey will see him coining in the
clouds of beaven in power and great glory ; in the glory of his Falher. They
will bave that view of his external glory wbich is vastly beyond what we can
have any imagination of: and they will have the strongest and most convinc
ing demonstrations ol all his attributes and perfections. They will have a sense
of his great raajesty, that will be, as il were, infinitely aff'ecting lolhem. They
shall be made to know effectually that he is the Lord. They shall see whal he
is, and what he does; his natm-e and works shall appear in the strongest view.
But bis holy and infinite beauty and araiableness, which is all in all, and with
out which every other quality and property is nothing, and worse than nolhing,
they wfll see nothing ot
Therefore, it is a sight or sense of tbis that is the thing wherein does fun-
daraentally consist the difference between those things in which the saving grace
of God's Spirit consists, and the experience of devils and damned souls. This
is the foundation of every thing else that is distinguishing in true Christian ex
perience. This is the foundation of the faith of excellency of the things exhi
bited in tbe gospel, or sense of the divine beauty and amiableness of the scheme
of doctrine there exhibited, that savingly convinces the mind that il is indeed
divine, or of God. This account of the matter is plainly unplied, 2 Cor. iv. 3,
4 : " But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost : in whom the God
of this world bath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of
the glorious gospel ol Christ, who is the iraage of God, should shine unto thera."
And V. 6, " For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath
shined in our hearts, to give the light ol the knowledge of the glory of God,
in the face of Jesus Christ." It is very evident that a saving belief of the gos
pel is here spoken ofby the apostle, as arising from a view of the divine glory
or beauty of the Ihings it exhibits. It is by this view that the soul of a true con
vert is enabled, savingly, lo see the sufficiency of Christ for his salvation. He
that has his eyes open to behold the divine superlative beauty and loveliness of
Jesus ChrisI, is convinced of his sufficiency lo stand as a mediator between bira,
a guilty, bell-deserving wretch, and an infinitely holy God, in an exceeding dif-
fereni raanner than ever he can be convinced by all the arguraents tbat are
made use of by the raost excellent authors or preachers.
When he once comes to see Christ's divine loveliness, he wbnders no more
that he is Ihought worthy by God the Father to be accepted for the vilest sin
ner. Now it is not difficult for him to conceive bow the blood of Christ should
be esteemed, by God, so precious, as to be worthy lo be accepted as a compen
sation for the greatest sins. The soul now properly sees tbe preciousness of
Christ, and so does properly see and understand the very ground and reason oi
his acceptableness to God, and tbe lalue God sets on his blood, obedience, and
intercession. This satisfies the poor guilty soul, and gives il rest ; wben the
finest and most elaborate discourses about tbe sufficiency of Christ, and suitable
ness ofthe way of salvation, woidd not clo it. When a man then comes to .see the
proper foundation of faith and affiance with his own eyes, tben he believes sav
ingly. " He that seeth the Son, and believeth on hira, hath everlasting life,"
John vl 40. "When Christ thus raanifesls God's name to men, then " they be
lieve tbat all tbings, whatsoever God has given to Christ, are of him, and be
lieve tbat Christ was sent of God," John xvu. 6, 7, 8. And "they that thus
know Christ's narae will trust in him," Psalm ix. 10. In order to true failh in
Jesus Christ, tbe Son of God is revealed in men. Gal. l 15, 16. And it is this
sight of the divine beauty of Christ that bows tbe wills and draws the hearts of
470 TRUi; GRACE.
men. A sight of tbe greatness cf God, in his attributes, may overwhelm men,
and be more than they can endure ; but the enmity and opposition of the heart
may remain in its full strength, and the will remain inflexible, whereas one
ghmpse of the moral and spiritual glory of God, and supreme araiableness of
Jesus Christ, shining into tbe heart, overcomes and abolishes this oppo.sition,
and inclines the soul to ChrisI, as it were, by an omnipotent power ; so tbat now,
not only the understanding, bul the will, and the whole soul, receives and em
braces the Saviour. This is raost certainly the discovery, wbich is the first in-
terrial foundation of a saving faith in Chrisi, in the soul of tbe true convert; and
not on having of it ira med lately suggested and revealed to the soul by a text of
Scripture, or any iraraediate outward or inward witness, tbat Christ loves him,
or that he died for hira in particular, and is his Saviour; so begetting confidence
and joy, and a seeraing love to Christ because he loves bim ; by wbich sort of
failh and conversion (demon.stratively vain and counterfeit) multitudes have
been deluded. Tbe sight ofthe glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, works
true supreme love to God. This is a sight of the proper foundation of supreme
love to God, viz., the supreme loveliriess of his nature; and a love to him on
this ground is truly above any thing that can come from a mere principle of
self-love, which is in the hearts of devils as well as men. And this begets true
spiritual and holy joy in the soul, which is indeed joy in God, and glorying in
hira, and not rejoicing in ourselves.
This sight of the beauty of divine things wfll excite true desires and long*
ings of soul after those things ; not like the longings of devils, or any such
forced desires, as those of a raan in great danger of death, after some bitt«
raedicine that he hopes will save his life ; but natural, free desires, the desires
of appetite — the thirstings ofa new nature, as a newborn babe desires the raother's
breast, and as a hungry man longs for some pleasant food he thinks of — or, as
the thirsty hart pants after the cool and clear streara.
This sense of divine beauty is' the first thing in the actual change raade in
the soul in true conversion, and is tbe foundation of every thing else belonging
lo that change, as is evident by those words of the apostle, 2 Cor. iii 18, " But
we all, wilh open face, beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord." 2. Truly gracious affections and exercises of mind differ from sucb as are
counterfeit, which arise from no higher principles than are in tbe hearts, oi
devfls in their tendency, and that in these two respects.
(1.) They are of a tendency and influence very contrary to that which wai*
especially the devfl's sin, even pride. That pride was, in a peculiar manner.
the devil's sin, is manifest from 1 Tira. iii. 6 : " Not a novice, lest, being litteci
up with pride, he fall inlo the condemnation of the devil." False and delusive
experiences evermore tend to. this, though oftentimes under tbe disguise of
great and extraordinary humility. Spiritual pride is tbe prevaihng temper and
general character of hypocrites, deluded wilh false discoveries and affections.—
They are in general, of a disposition directly conlrary lo those two Ihings be
longing lo the Christian temper, directed to by the apostie ; the one in Rom.
xil 16, ¦' Be not wise in your own conceit ;" and the other in Phil ii. 3, " Let
each esteem others hAter than themselves."— False experience is conceited of
itself, and affected with itself Thus he that has false humility is much affect
ed to think how he is abased before God. He that has false love is affected,
when he thinks of the greatness of his love. The very food and noufishment of
false experience -.s lo view itself, and take much notice cf itself; and its veiV
TRUE GRACE. 471
"ureath and life is to talk much of itself, or some way to be showing itseF «
Whereas truly gracious views and affections are of a quite contrary tendency ;
fliey nourish no self-conceit — no exalting conceit of the man's own righteous
ness, experience, or privfleges — no high conceit of his humiliations. They in
cline to no ostentation, nor self-exallation, under any disguise whatsoever ; but
that sense of the supreme, holy bei uty and glory of God and Christ, which is
the foundation of tbem, and that only mortifies pride, and truly humbles tbe
soul. It not only cuts off some of the outermost branches (causing many
branches to grow out where but one was before) bul it strikes at the very root
of pride — it alters tbe very nature and disposition uf the heart. The light of
God's beauty, and that alone, truly shows the soul its own deforraity, and effect
ually inclines it to exalt God and abase itself.
(2.) These gracious exercises and affections differ frora tbe other in their
tendency to destroy Satan's interest. 1. In the person himself, in their tenden
cy to cause the soul to hate every evil and false way, and to produce universal
holiness of heart and life, disposing him to make the service of God, and the
promoting of his glory and tbe good of mankind, the very business of his life ;
whereas tbose false discoveries and affections have not this effect. There may,
indeed, be great zeal, and a great deal of what is called religion ; but it is not
a truly Christian zeal — it is not a being zealous of good works ; their religion
is not the service of God — it is not a seeking and serving God, bul, indeed, a
seeking and serving themselves. — Though there may be a change of life, it is
not a change from every wicked way to a uniforra Christian life and practice,
bul only a turning the stream of corruption from one channel lo another. Thus
the apostle James distinguishes, in our context, a true faith frora the failh of
devils: Jaraes ii. 19, 20, "Thou believest that thereis one God; the devils
also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, 0 vain man, that failh without
works is dead 1" And thus the Apostle John distinguishes true conimunion wilh
God : 1 John l 6, 7, " If we say that we have fellowship wilh hira, and walk
in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; but if we walk in the light, as he isin
the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Christ cleans
eth us frora all sin." By tbis he distinguishes true spiritual knowledge, chap.
u. 3, 4 : " Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his command
ments. He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his coraraandraents, is a
liar, and the trulh is not in bim." And hereby the same apostle distinguishes
true love, chap. iii. 18, 19 : " Let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in
deed | in work, as the word signifies] and in truth. And hereby we know tbat we
are of the truth, and sball assure our hearts before hira."
2. Truly gracious experiences have a tendency to destroy Satan's interest in
the world.False religion, consisting in tbe counterfeits ofthe operation ofthe Spirit of
God, and in high pretences and great appearances of inward experimental re
ligion : when this prevails among a people, though, for the present, it raay sur
prise many, and may be the occasion of alarming and awakening some sinners,
yet in the final issue of things, tends greatly to wound and weaken the cause of
vital religion, ahd to strengthen the interesi of Satan, desperately to harden the
hearts of sinners, exceedingly to fill the world with prejudice against the power
of godliness, to promote infidelity and hcentious principles and practices, to
build up and make strong the devil's kingdom in the world, more than open
vice and profaneness, or professed Atheism, or puoflc persecution, and perhaps
more than any thing else whatsoever.
But it is not so with true religion in its genuine beauty. That, if it prevails
472 TRUE GRACE.
n great power, will doubtiess excite tbe rage of the devil, and n-dny other en
emies of religion ; — however, it gives great advantage to its friends, and ex
ceedingly strengthens their cause, and tends to convince or confound enemies,
True religion is a divine light in tbe souls of the saints ; and, as it shines out in
tbe conversation before men, it tends lo induce others to glorify God. Tbere is
nothing like il (as to means) to awaken the consciences of men, to convince
infidels, and f o stop the mouths of gainsayers. Though men naturally hate the
power of godliness, yet when tbey see tbe fruits of it, tbere is a witness in their
consciences in its favor. " He that serveth Chiist in righteousness, and peace,
and joy in tiie Holy Ghost, is acceptable to God, and approved of men," Rom
xiv. 17, 18. The prevailing of true religion ever tends to the honor of religion
in the world, though it commonly is the occasion of great persecution. It is a
sure thing ; the raore it appears and is exeraplified in tbe view of the world, the
more wfll ils honor, and the honor of its author, be advanced. Phil. I 11, " Be
ing fifled with the fruits of righteousness, whicb are by Jesus Christ, unto the
glory and praise of God."
The third use raay be of exhortation, to seek those distinguishing qualifica
tions and affections of soul which neither the devil, nor any unholy being, has or
can have.
How exceflent is that inward virtue and religion which consists in those!
Herein consists the most excellent experiences of saints and angels in beaven.
Herein consists the best experience of the man Christ Jesus, whether in his
hurabled cr glorified state. Herein consists the image of God ; yea, this is
spoken of in Scripture, as a communication of something of God's own beauty
and excellency. — A participation ofthe divine nature, 2 Peter l 4. A partak
ing of his holiness, Heb. xu. 10. A partaking of Christ's fulness, John i. 16.
Hereby the saints are filled with all the fulness of God, Eph. iii. 18, 19. Here
by they have fellowship with both the Falher and the Son, 1 John l 3 ; that
is, they communicate with thera in their happiness. Yea, by raeans of this di
vine virtue, tbere is a mutual indwelling of God and the saints : 1 John iv. 16,
" God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in
bim." This qualification must render tbe person tbat bas it exceflent and happy
indeed, and doubtless is the highest dignity and blessedness of any creature.
This is the peculiar gift of God, which he bestows only on his special favorites.
As to silver, gold, and diamonds, earthly crowns and kingdoras, he often throws
them out to those tbat he esteems as dogs and swine ; but this is the peculiar
blessing of his dear children. This is what flesh and blood cannot impari, and
whal afl the devils in hell cannot work the least degree of, in any heart ; it is
God alone can bestow it. This was Ihe special benefit which Christ died lo
procure for his elect, the raost excellent token of his everiasting love ; the chief
fruit of his great labors, and tbe most precious purchase of bis blood..
By this, above all other things, do men glorify God. By this, above all
other things, do the saints shine as lights in tbe worid, and are blessings to man
kind. And this, above all tbings, tends to their own comfort ; frora hence arises
that " peace which passeth all understanding," and that "joy whicb is unspeak
able, and full of glory." And this is that which will most certainly issue in the
eternal salvation of those that have it. It is irapossible that the soul wherein if
IS should sink and perish. It is an iramortal seed— it is eternal life begun ; and
therefore they that have it can never die It is tbe dawning of the light of
glory— it is thedaystar risen in the heari, that is a sure forerunner of that sun's
nsmg which will bring on an everiasting day. This is tbat water which Christ
TRUE GRACE. 473
i rives, which is in bim that drinks it " a well of water springing up into ever-
asting life," John iv. 14. It is something from heaven, is of a beavenly na
ture, and tends to heaven. And tbose tbat bave it, however tbey may now
wander in a wilderness, or be tossed to and fro on a tempestuous ocean, shall
certainly arrive in heaven at last, where this beavenly spark sball be increased
and perfected, an.2 the souls of the saints all be transformed >,iilo a bright and
pure flame, and they shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father
Amen.
SERMON XXIX.
HYfOCRlTES DEFICIENT IN THE DUTY OF PUiVHS,
Job xxvii. 10. — -Will he always call upon God ?
Concerning these words, I would observe,
1. Who it is that is here spoken of, viz., tbe hypocrite ; as you may see,
if you take the two preceding verses with the verse of tbe text. " For what is
the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his
soul 1 Will Gocl hear bis cry when trouble cometh upon him ? Will he
delight himself in the Almighty ? Wfll be always cafl upon God?" Job's
three friends, in their speeches to bira, insisted rauch upon it, that he was a
hypocrite. But Job, in this chapier, asserts bis sincerity and integrity, and
sbows how different his own behavior hacl been frora that of hypocrites. Par
ticularly he declares his steadfast and iraraovable resolution of persevering and
holding out in the ways of religion and righteousness to the end ; as you may
see in the six first verses. In the text, be shows how contrary to this steadfast
ness and perseverance the character of the hypocrite is, who is not wont thus
to hold out in religion.
2. We may observe what duty of religicm it is, with respect to which the
hypocrite is deciphered in the text, and that is the duty of prayer, ot calling
upon God.
3. Here is something supposed of the hypocrite relating to this duty, viz.,
that he may continue in \tfor a while ; he may call upon God for a season.
4. Something asserted, viz., tbat it is not the manner of hypocrites to con
tinue always in this duly. Will he always call upon God 1 II is in the form
of an interrogation ; but the words have the force of a strong negation, or of an
assertion, that however the hypocrite may call upon God for a season, yet he
•vill not always continue in it
DOCTRINE.
However hypocrites raay continue for a season in the duty of prayer, yet it
is their manner, after a while, in a great measure, to leave it off.
In speaking upon this doctrine, I shafl show,
I. How hypocrites often continue for a season to call upon God.
II. How it is their manner, after a while, in a great measure to leave off
the practice of tbis duty.
III. Give sorae reasons why this is tbe raanner of hypocrites.
I. I would show how hypocrites often continue for a season in the duty of
prayer. 1. They do so for a whfle after they have received common fllurainations
fnd affections. While they are under awakenings, they raay, through fear of
hefl, call upon God, and attend very constantly upon the duty of secret prayer.
And after tbey bave bad some melting affections, having their hearts much
moved with tbe goodness of God, or wilh some affecting encouragements, and
false joy and comfort; while tbese impressions last they continue to cafl upon
God in the duly of secret prayer.
HYPOCRITES DEFICIE:IT IN THE DUTY OF PRAYEK. 475
2. After tbey bave obtained a hope, and have made profession of their good
estate, they often continue for a while in Ihe duly of seciet prayer. For a
whfle they are affected with their hope : tbey think that God halh delivered
them out of a natural condition, and given them an interest in Christ, thus in
troducing tbem into a stale of safety from that eternal misery which they lately
feared. With this supposed kindness of God to tbem, tbey are much afl'ecled,
and often find in themselves for a while a kind of love to God, excited by his
supoosed love to them. Now while tbis affection towards God continues, the
duties of religion seem pleasant lolhem ; it is even with some delight that they
approach to God in tbeir closets ; and for tbe present, it may be, tbey think of
no other than continuing to call upon God as long as they live.
Yea, they may continue in the duly of secret prayer for a while after tbe
hveliness of tbeir affections is past, partly through the influence of their former
intentions : tbey intended lo continue seeking God always; and now suddenly
to leave off, would therefore be too shocking to their own ininds ; and partly
through the force of their own preconceived notions, and wbat they have always
believed, viz., that godly peisons do continue in religion, and that their goodness
is not like the morning- cloud. Therefore, Ihough they have no love to the
duty of prayer, and begin to grow w-eary of it, yet as they love their o-^vn bope,
they are somewhat backward to take a course, whicb will prove it to be a false
bope, and so deprive tbem ofii.
If they should at once carry themselves so as tbey have always been taught
is a sign of a false hope, they would scare tberaselves. Their hope is dear to
thera, and it would scare them to see any plain evidence that it is not true.
Hence, for a considerable time after the force of their flluminalions and affec
tions is over, and after they hate the duty of prayer, and would be glad lo have
done with it, if they could, without showing themselves to be hypocrites; they
bold up a kind of attendance upon the duty of secret prayer. This may keep
up the outside of religion in them for a good while, and occasion it to be some
what slow-ly that they are brought to neglect it They must not leave off sud
denly, because that would be too great a shock to their false peace. But they
raust come gradually to it, as tbey find tbeir consciences can bear il, and as
tbey can find out devices and salvos to cover over tbe matter, and make
their doing so consistent, in their own opinion, with the truth of their hope.
But, II. It is the raanner of hypocrites, after a while, in a great measure to leave
off the practice ofthis duty. We are often taught, that the seeraing goodness
and piety of hypocrites is not of a lasting and persevering nature. It is so
with respect to tbeir practice of the duty of prayer in particular, and especially
of secret prayer. They can omit tbis duty, and their omission of it not be taken
notice of by others, who know what profession they have made. So tbat
a regard to their own reputation doth not oblige them still to practise it If
others saw how they neglect it, it would exceedingly shock tbeir charity
towards them. But their neglect doth not fall under their observation ; at
least not under the observation of many. Therefore tiiey may orait this duty
and .still have the credit of being converted persons.
Men of tbis character can come to a neglect of secret prayer by degrees
without very much shocking tbeir peace. For though indeed for a converted
person to live in a great measure without secret prayer, is very wide of the no
tion they once had of a true convert; yet they find means by degrees to alter
their notions, and to bring tbeir principles lo suit with their inclinations ; and
at length they come to that, in tbeir notions of tbings, that a man may be a
476 HYPOCRITES DEFICIENT IN
convert, and yet hve very much in neglect of this duty. In time, thev can bring
all Ihings to suit well together, a hope of beaven, and an indulgence jf .sloth
in gratifying carnal appetites, and living in a great raeasure a prayerless hfe.
They cannot indeed suddenly make these things agree ; it must be a work of
time ; and length of tirae will effect it. By degrees they find out ways to
guard and defend their consciences against tbose powerful eneraies ; so that
those eneraies, and a quiet, secure conscience, can at length dwell pretty well
together. Whereas it is asserted in the doctrine, that it is the raanner of hypocrites,,
after a while, in a great raeasure to leave off Ihis duty ; I would observe to you,
1. That it is not intended but that they raay coraraonly continue lothe end
of life in yielding an external attendance on open prayer, or prayer with others.
They may commonly be present at public prayers in the congregation, and also
at family prayer. This, in such places of, light as this is, men coramonly do
before ever tbey are so much as awakened. Many vicious persons, who raake
no pretence to serious religion, coramonly attend public prayers in tbe congre
gation, and also raore private prayers in the families in which they live, unless
it be when carnal designs interfere, or when their youthful pleasures and diver
sions, and their vain company call tbem; and then they make no con.science of
attending family prayer. Olherwise tbey may continue to attend upon prayer
as long as liiey live, and yet raay truly be said not to call upon God. For
such prayer, in the raanner of it, is not their own. They are present only for
tbe sake of their credit, or in coraphance with others. They may be present
at these prayers, and yet have no proper prayer of their own. Many of those
concerning whom it raay be said, as in Job xv. 4, that they cast off' fear and
restrain prayer before God, are yet frequently present at fainily and public
prayers. 2. But they in a great raeasure leaveoff the practice of secret prayer. They
corae to this pass by degrees. At first they begin to be careless about it, under
sorae particular teraptations. Because they have been out in young corapany,
or bave been taken up very rauch with worldly business, they omit it once :
after that they more easily omit it again. Thus it presently becomes a frequent
thing wilh them to orait it ; and after a while, it comes to tbat pass, tbat they
seldom attend it Perhaps they attend it on Sabbath days, and sometiraes on
other days. But they have ceased to make it a constant practice daily to retire
to worship God alone, and to seek his fac m secret places. They sc5raelimes
do a little to quiet conscience, and just to keep alive their old bope ; because it
would be shocking to thera, even after all their subtle dealing wuh their con
sciences, to call themselves converts and yet totally to live wiihout prayer. Yet
the practice of secret prayer they have in a great measure left off.
I corae now,
III. To the reasons why this is the raanner of hypocrites.
1. Hypocrites never had the spirit of prayer given them. They may have
been stirred up to tbe external perforraance of this duty, and that with a great
deal of earnestness and aff'ection, and yet always have been destitute of the
true spirit of prayer. The spirit of prayer is a holy spirit, a gracious spirit
We read of tbe spirit of grace and supplication, Zech. xil 10 : " I wfll pour out
on tbe house of David and the inhabitants of .lerusalem, the spirit of grace and
supplications." Wherever there is a true spirit of supplication, there is the spirit
of grace The l-cte spirit of prayer is no other than God's own Spirit dwelling
in the hearts of the saints. And as this spirit comes from God, so doth it natu
rally tend to God in holy breathings and pantings. It naturally leads to God,
THE DUTY OF PRAYER. 477
to converse with him by prayer. Therefore the Spirit is said to make interces
sion for the saints with groanings which cannot be uttered, Rora. viii. 26.
The Spirit of God makes intercession for tbem, as it is that Spirit which in
some respect indites their prayers, and leads thera so and so to pour out their
souls before God. Therefore the saints are said to worship God in the spirit :
Phfl. iu. 3, " We are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit ;" and
John iv. 23, "The true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth."
The truly godly have tbe spirit of adoption, tbe spirit of a cbild, to which it is
natural to go to God and call upon him, crying to hiin as to a father.
But hypocrites have notbing of tbis spirit of adoption : they have not tbe
spirit of children; for this is a gracious and holy spirit, only given in a real
work of regeneration. Therefore it is often raentioned as a part ofthe distinguish
ing characier of the godly, that they call upon God. Psal. cxlv. 18, 19, " The
Lord is nigh to them that call upon hiin, to all that call upon hira in trulh. He
will fulfil the desire of them that fear hira ; be will also bear their cry and will
save thera." Joel ii. 32, " It sball come to pass, that whosoever calleth on the
narae of the Lord shall be delivered."
It is natural to one who is truly born from above to pray to God, and to
pour out his soul in holy supplications before his heavenly Father. This is as
natural to the new nature and life as breathing is to the nature and life of the
body. But hypocrites have not this new nature. Those illuminations and
affections whicb they bad, went away, and left no change of nature. Therefore
prayer naturally dies away in them, having no foundation for the keeping of it
up laid in the nature of tbe soul. Il is raaintained, while it is raaintained, only
by a certain force put upon nature. But force is not constant ; and as tbat
declines, nature will t-ake place again.
The spirit of a true convert is a spirit of true love to God, and that naturally
inclines tbe soul to tbose duties wherein it is conversant with God, and makes
it to delight in approaching to God. But a hypocrite hath no sucb spirit He
is left under tbe reigning power of enmity against God, wbich naturally inclines
bim to shun tbe presence of God.
The spirit of a true convert is a spirit of faith and reliance on the power,
wisdom, and mercy of God, and such a spirit is naturally expressed in prayer.
True prayer is nothing else bul faith expressed Hence we read of the prayer
of faith, James v. 15. True Christian prayer is the failh and reliance of the
soul breathed forth in words. But a hypocrite is without the spirit of failh.
He bath no true reliance or dependence on God, but is really self-dependent
As lo those common convictions and affections which tbe hypocrite had, and
which raade hira keep up the duly of prayer for a while ; they not jeaching tbe
bottom of tbe heart, nor being accorapanied with any change of nature, a littie
thing extinguishes tbem. The cares of tbe world commonly choke and suffocate
thera, and often the pleasures and vanities of youth lol ally put an end to thera,
and wilh them ends their constant practice of tbe duly of prayer.
2. When a hypocrite hath had bis false conversion, his wants are in his
Sense of things already supplied, his desires are already answered ; and .so he
finds no further business at the throne of grace. He never was sensible that he
had any other needs, but a need of being safe frora hell. And now tbat he is
converted, as he thinks, tbat need is supplied. Wby then should he stfll go on
to resort to the throne of grace with earnest requests 1 He is out of danger ; all
that be was afraid of is removed. Hebalh got enough to carry him to heaven,
and wbat more should ht desire? Whfle he was under awakenings, he had
¦fhis to stir him up to go to God in prayer, that he was in continual fear of hel)
478 HYPOCRITES DEt .CIENT IN
This put him npon crying to God for mercy. But since, in bis own opinion, he
is converied, he hath no further business about wbich to go to God. And
although be may keep up the duty of prayer in tbe outward fo'-m a liltle while,
for feat- of .-ipoiling his lope, yet he will find a dull business of continuing it
without any need or necessity, and so by degrees he will let drop the practice.
The work of the hypocrite is done when he is converied, and therefore he
standeth in no further need of help.
But it is far otherwise wilh the true convert His work is not done ; but he
finds still a great work to do, and great wants to be supplied. He sees himsell
still to be a poor, empty, helpless creature, and that be stfll standsin great and
continual need of God's help. He is sensible that wiihout God he can do
nothing. A false conversion makes a man in his own eyes self-sufficient. He
saith he is rich, and increased with goods, and halh need of nolhing ; and know
eth not that he is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.
But after a true conversion, the soul remains sensible of hs own impotence and
emptiness, as it is in itself, and its sense of it is rather increased than chminishedi
It is stfll sensible of its universal dependence on God for every thing. A true
convert is sensible that his grace is very imperfect ; and he is very far from
having all that he desires. Instead of that, by conversion are begotten in him
new desires which he never had before.' He now finds in bim holy appetites,
a hungering and thirsting after righteousness, a longing after more acquaint
ance and coraraunion with God. So tbat be hath business enough stfll at the
throne of grace ; yea, bis business there, instead of being diminished, is, since
bis conversion, rather increased.
3. The hope which the hypocrite hath of his good estate takes off the force
that the coram.and of God before bad upon l«s conscience ; so that now he dares
neglect so plain a duty. The command which requires the practice of the duty
of prayer is exceeding plain. Matt. xxvi. 41, " Watch and pray, that ye enter
not into temptation." Eph. vi. 18, " Praying always wilh afl prayer and sup
plication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with afl perseverance, and suppli
cation for all saints." Matt vi. 6, " When thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and wben thou hast shut thy door, pray to tby Father whicb is in secret" As
long as the hypocrite was in his own apprehension in continual danger of hefl,
be durst not disobey tbese commands. But since he is, as he thinks, safe from
hell, he is grown bold, he dares to live in the neglect of the plainest command
in the Bible.
4. It is the raanner of hypocrites, after a whfle, to return to sinful practices
which will lend to keep thera from praying. While they were under convic
tions, they reformed tbeir lives, and walked very exactly. This reformation
continues for a little tirae perhaps after their supposed conversion, while they are
much affected with hope and false comfort. But as these tbings die away, their
old lusts revive, and ibey by degrees return like the dog to his vomit, and the
sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. They return to their sen
sual practices, to their worldly practices, to their proud and contentious prac
tices, as before. And no wonder this makes thera forsake their closets. Sinning
and praying agree not well togetber. If a raan be constant in the duty of
secret prayer, il will lend to restrain hira frora wilful sinning. So, on the other
hand, ifhe allow himself in sinful practices, it will restrain hira frora praying
It will give quite anotber turn to bis raind, so that be wfll bave no disposition
to the practice of such a duty. It wfll be contrary to him. A raan wbo knows
tiiat he lives in sin against God, will not be inclined to come daily into the pre-
penct of God ; but will rather be inclined to fly frora his presence, as Adaral
THE DUTY OF PR.^YER. 479
when he bad eaten of the forbidden fruit, ran away from God, and hi,1 nimself
araong tbe trees of tbe garden.
To keep up tbe duty of prayer after be hath given loose to his lusts, would
tend very much to disquiet a man's conscience. It would give advantage lo
his conscience to testify aloud against bim. If be should come from bis wicked
ness into the presence of God, imraediately to speak to him, his conscience
would, as il -were, fly in his face. Therefore hypocrites, as tbey by degrees
idrah tbeir wicked practices, exclude prayer.
5. Hypocrites never counted the cost of perseverance in seeking God, and
of follovving hiin to ihe end of life. To continue instant in prayer wilh all per
severance to the end of life, requires mucb care, watchfulness, and labor. For
much opposition is rnailc to it by the flesh, the world, and the devil ; and Chris
tians meet with many i.^inptations to forsake this practice. He that would per
severe in this duly must be laborious in religion in general. But hypocrites
never count the cost of such iabor ; i. e, they never were prepared in the dispo
sition of tbeir rainds to give theh lives to tbe service of God, and lo ibe duties
of religion. It is therefore no great wonder they are weary and give out, after
they have continued for a while, as their affections are gone, and they find that
pi ayer to them grows irksome and leoious.
6. Hypocrites havo no interest in those gracious promises which God bath
mi'rie to his people, ol those spiritual supplies whicb are needful in order lo
uphold thera in tbe way of their duty to the end. God hatb proraised to true
saints that they shall not forsake hira. Jer. xxxil 40, " I will put my fear into
their hearts, that they shall not depart frora rae." He hath promised tbat he will
keep thera in the way of their duly 1 Thess. v. 23, 24, " And the God of
peace sanctify you wholly. And 1 pray God your spirit, soul, and body, be
preserved blaraeless unto the coining o^ our i^ord Jesus Christ Faithful is he
that calleth you, who also will do it." Bul hypocrites bave no inlereslin these
and such like promises ; and Iherefore are liable to fafl away. If God do not
uphold men, there is no dependence on their steadfastness. If the Spirfl of God
depart from tbem, they will soon become careless and profane, and there will
be an end to their seeming devotion and piety.
APPLICATION
May be in a use of exhortation, in two branches.
I. I would exhort those who have entertained a bope of tbeir being true
converts, and yet since their supposed conversion have left off the duty of secret
prayer, and do ordinarily allow themselves in the oraission ofii, lo throw away
their hope. If you have left off calling upon God, it is tirae for you to leave
off hoping' and flattering yourselves with an iraagination tbat you are the
children of God. Probably it will be a very difficult thing for you to do tbis
It is hard for a man to let go a hope of beaven, on whicb he hath once aflowed
himself to lay hold, and wbich be halh retained for a considerable tirae. True
conversion is a rare thing; but that men are brought off from a false bope of
conversion, after they are once settled and established in it, and have continued
in it for some time, is much raore rare.
Those things in men, which, if they were known to others, would be suffi
cient lo convince others that they are hypocrites, will not convince themselves ;
and tbose tbings which would be sufficient to convince thera concerning others,
and to cause tbern to cast others entirely out of their charity, will not be suffi
cient to convince them concerning themselves. Tbey can make larger allow
ances foi themselves than they can for others. Tbey can find out ways to
480 HYPOCRITES DEFICIENT IN
.solve objections against their own hope, when they can find none in the likt
case for tbeir neighbor.
But if your case be such as is spoken of in the doctrine, it is surely time for
you to seek a better hope, and another work of God's Spirit, than ever you have
yet experienced ; something raore thorough and effectual Wben you see and
find by experience, that the seed which was sown in youi hearts, though at first
it sprang up and seeraed flourishing, yet is withering away, as by the heat of
the sun, or is choked, as with thorns ; this shows in what scjrt of ground the
seed was sown, that it is either stony or thorny ground ; and that therefore itis
necessary you should pass tbrough another cbange, whereby your heart may be
corae good ground, which sball bring forth frui* with patience.
I insist not on that as a reason why you should not throw away your hope,
that you had the judgraent of others, that the cbange of which you were the
subject was right. It is a sraall matter to be judged of raan's judgment, whe
ther you be approved or condemned, and wbether it be by minister or people,
wise or unwise. 1 Cor. iv. 3, "It is a very sraall thing that I should be judged
of you or of raan's judgraent" If your goodness have proved to be as the
morning cloud and early dew ; if you be one of those who have forsaken God,
and left off calling upon his name, you have the judgment of God, and the sen
tence of Gocl in the Scriptures against you, wbich is a thousand times more
than to have the judgment of all tbe wise and godly men and ministers in tht;
world in your favor.
Others, from your account of tbings, may have been obliged to bave charity
for you, and to think that, provided you were not mistaken, antlin your account
did not misrepresent things, or express tbem by wrong terms, you were really
converted. But what a miserable foundation is this, upon which to build a
hope as to your eternal stale !
Here I request your attention to a few things in particular, which I have to
say to you concerning your hope.
1. Why will you retain tbat bope which by evident experience you find
poisons you ? Is it reasonable to think, that a holy bope, a hope that is frora
heaven, would have such an influence ? No, surely ; nothing of such a mahg
nant influence coraes frora that world of purity and glory. No poison groweth
in the paradise of God. Tbe same hope which leads men to sin in Ihis worid
wifl lead to hell hereafter. Why therefore will you retain sucb a hope, of
which your own experience shows you the fll tendency, in that it encourages
you lo lead a wicked life ? For certainly tbat life is a wicked life wherein you
live in the neglect of so well-known a duly as that of secret prayer, and in the
disobedience of so plain a comraand of God, as that by which this duty is en
joined. And is not a way of disobedience to God a way lo hell ?
If your own experience of the nature and tendency of your bope will not
convince you of the falseness ofii, what wfll ? Are you resolved to retain your
hope, let il prove ever so unsound and hurtful 1 "Will you bold it fast tfll you go
to hell with it ? Many men cling to a false hope, and embrace it so closely,
tbat they never let it go till the flames of hell cause their arms to unclench and
let go their bold. Consider bow you wfll answer it at the day of judgment,
when God shall cafl you to an account for your folly in resting in such a hope.
Wfll it be a sufficient answer for you to say, that you bad tbe charity of others,
and tbat tbey thought your conversion was right ?
Certainly it is foolish for raen to imagine, that God bad no more wisdoni,
or coukl contrive no other way of bestowing comfori and hope of eternal fife,
than one w'hicb should encourage men to forsake hira.
THE DUTY OF PRAYER. 481
2. How is your doing, as you do, consistent with loving God above all ? If
yo>. have not a .spirit to love Gocl above your dearest earthly friends, and your
raost pleasant earthly enjoyraents ; the Scriptures are very plain, and full in it,
that you are not true Christians. Bul if you had indeed such a spirit, would you
thus grow weary of the practice of drawing near lo bira, and becorae habitually
30 averse to it, as in a great raeasure to cast off so plain a duty, which is so
rauch the life of a chfld of God ? It is tbe nature of love lu oe averse to ab
sence, and to love a near access to those whom we love. We love to be wiih
thera ; we delight to corae often to thera, and to have mucb conversation with
thera. Bul when a person who hatb heretofore been wont to converse freely
with another, by degrees forsakes bim, grows strange, and converses with him
but littie, and tbat although tbe other be iraporlunate with him for the continu
ance of their former intiraacy ; this plainly sbows the coldness of his heart to
wards bira.
Tbe neglect of the duty of prayer seems to be inconsistent with supreme
love to God also upon another account, and that is, that it is against the will of
God so plainly revealed. True love lo God seeks to please God in every thing,
and universally to conform lo bis will.
b. Your tbus restraining prayer before God is not only inconsistent with
the love, but also v?ilh the fear of God. It is an arguraent that you cast off
fear, as is raanifest by tbat text. Job xv. 4 : "Yea, thou easiest off fear, and re-
strainest prayer before God." While you thus live in the transgression of so
plain a coramand of God, you evllently show, tbat there is no fear of God be
fore your eyes. Psalm xxxvi. 1, " The tran.°gression ofthe wicked sailh with
in my heart, that tbei-e is no fear of God before his eyes."
4. Consider bow living in such a neglect is inconsistent with leading a holy
life. We are abundantly instructed in Scripture, that true Christians do lead a
holy life ; tbat without holiness no man shall see the Lord, Heb. xn. 14 ; and
that every one that hath tbis hope in hira, purifieth himself, even as Christ is
pure, 1 John iii 3. In Prov. xvl 17, it is said, " The highway of the upright is
to depart frora evil," l e., it is, as it were, the common beaten road in which all
the godly travel. To the like purpose is Isaiah xxxv. 8, " A highway sball be
there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness ; the unclean shall
not pass over it, bul it shall be for those," i. e., those redeemed persons spoken
of in the foregoing verses. It is spoken of in Rora. viu. 1, as the character of
all believers, that they walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit
But bow is a life, in a great measure prayerless, consistent wilh a holy life ?
To lead a holy life is to lead a life devoted to God ; a life of worshipping and
serving God ; a life consecrated to the service of God. But how doth he lead
such a life who doth not so much as maintain the duty of prayer 1 How can
such a man be said to walk by the Spirit, and to be a servant of the Most High
God ? A holy life is a life of failh. The life that true Christians live in the
worid, tbey live by tbe faith ofthe Son of God. But who c^n believe thatthat
man lives by faith who lives without prayer, which is the natural expression of
faith ? Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is of life ; and
to say a raan lives a life of faith, and yet lives a prayerless life, is every whit
as inconsistent and incredible, as to say, that a man lives wilbout breathing. A
prayerless life is so far frora being a holy life, that it is a profane hfe : he that
lives so, lives like a heathen, who calleth not on God's name ; be that lives a
prayeriess life, lives without God in the world.
5. If you live in the neglect of secret prayer, you show your good will to
neglect all the worship of God. He tbat prays only when he prays with
Vol. IV. 61
482 HYPOCRITES DEFICIENT IN
others, would not pray at afl, were it not that the eyes of others are upon him
He that will not pray where none but God seeth him, manifestly doth not praj
at all out of respect to God, or regard to his all-seeing eye, and Iherefore doth in
effect cast off all prayer. And he tbat casts off prayer, in effect casts off all
the worship of God, of which prayer is the principal duty. Now, wbat a mis
erable saint is he wbo is no worshipper of God ! He tbat casts off tbe worship
of God, in effect casts off God hiraself: he refuses to own bim, or to be con
versant with him as his God. For the way in whicb men own God, and are
conversant wilh hira as their God, is by worshipping hira.
6. How can you expect to dwell wilh God forever, if you so neglect and
forsake him here 1 This your practice shows, that you place not your happiness
in God, in nearness to him, and comraunion wilh him. He who refuses to
come and visit, and converse with a friend, and who in a great measure forsakes
him, when be is abundantly invited and importuned to come ; plainly shows
that he places not his happiness in the corapany and conversafion of that friend.
Now, if this be the case with you respecting God, then how can you expect
to have it for your happiness to all eternity, to be with God, and to enjoy holy
comraunion with him ?
Let those persons wbo hope they are converted, and yet bave in a great
measure left off the duty of secret prayer, and whose manner it is ordinarily to
neglect it, for their own sake seriously consider these tbings. For what will it
profit them to please ihemselves with that, while they live, which will fail them
at last, and leave them in fearful and amazing disappointment ?
It is probable, that some of you who have entertained a good opinion of
your state, and have looked upon yourselves as converts ; but have of late in a
great measure left off the duty of secret prayer ; wfll tbis evening attend secret
prayer, and so may continue to do for a liltle while after your hearing this ser
mon, lo the end, that you may solve tbe difficulty and the objection which is
made against the truth of your hope. But this will not hold. As it hath been
in forraer instances of the hke nature, so what you now hear will have such
effect upon you but a little while. When the business and cares of the world
shall again begin lo crowd a littie upon you, or tbe next lirae you sball go out
into young corapany, it is probable you will again neglect tbis duty. The next
time a frolic shall be appointed, lo which il is proposed to you to go, it is high
ly probable you wfll neglect not only secret prayer, but also family prayer. Or
at least, after a whfle, you wfll corae to the sarae pass again, -as before, in cast
ing off fear and restraining prayer before God.
It is not very likely that you will ever be constant and persevering in this
duty, untfl you shafl have obtained a betier principle in your hearts. The
streams wbich have no springs to feed tbem will dry up. Tbe drought and heat
consume the snow waters. Although they run plentifully in the spring, yet when
the sun ascends higher with a burning heat, they are gone The seed that is
sown in stony places, though it seems to flourish at present, yet as the suh shafl
rise with a burning heat, will wither away. None will bring forth fruit with
patience, but those whose hearts are become good ground.
Without any heavenly seed remaining in tbem, men may, whenever they
fafl in among the godly, continue all their lives to talk like saints. They may,
for their credit's sake, tell of what they have experienced : but their deeds will
not hold. Tbey raay continue to tell of tbeir inward experiences, and yet hve
m the neglect of secret prayer, and of other duties.
II. I would take occasion frora this doctrine to exhort afl to persevere in
the duty of prayer. Tbis exhortation is mucb insisted on in the word of
THE DUTY OF PRAYER. 483
God. It is insisted on inthe Old Testament : 1 Chron. xvi. 11, "Seek the
Lord and bis .strength, seek bis face continually.'''— Is'di. Ixii. 7, " Ye that
make mention of the Lord, keep not .silence ;" l e., be not silent as lo the
voice of prayer, as is manifest by tbe following words, " and give him no rest
till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." Israel
of old is reproved for growing weary of the duty of prayer. Isai. xliii. 22,
" But thou hast not called upon me, 0 Jacob, thou hast been weary of me,
0 Israel" Perseverance in the duty of prayer is very much insisted on in the New Tes
tament, as Luke -xviii. at the beginning : " A man ought always to pray, and
not to faint ;" i. c, not tb be discouraged or weary of the duty ; but should al
ways continue in it Again, Luke xxi. 36, " Watch ye iherefore, and pray
always." We bave tbe example of Anna the prophetess set before us, Luke
I 36, &c., wbo, though she bad lived to be more than a hundred years old, yet
never was weary of this duly. It is said, " she departed not from the temple,
but served God, with fastings and prayers, night and day." Cornelius also is
commended for his constancy in this duly. It is said, that be prayed to God
always, Acts x. 2. The Apostle Paul, in his epistles, insists very much on constan
cy in this duty : Rom. xii. 12, " Continuing instant in prayer." Eph. vi. 18, 19,
" Praying always wilh all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching
thereunto with all perseverance." Col. iv. .2, " Continue in prayer, and watch
in tbe same." 1 Thess. v. 17, " Pray without ceasing." To the same effect
the Apostle Peter, 1 Pet. iv. 7, " Watch unlo prayer." — Thus abundantly
the Scripture insists upon it, that we should persevere in the duly of prayer,
wbich shows tbat it is of very great importance that we should persevere.
If the contrary be tbe raanner of hypocrites, as hath been shown in the doc
trine, then surely we ought to beware of this leaven.
But here let the following things be particularly considered as motives to
perseverance in this duly.
1. That perseverance in the way of duty is necessary to salvation, and is
abundantly declared so to be in the holy Scriptures ; as Isai. Ixiv. 5, " Thou
meelest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that reiucmber thee
in thy ways : behold, thou art wroth, for we bave sinned : in those is continue
ance, and we shall be saved." Heb. x. 38, 39, " Now Ihe just shall live by
faith : but if any raan draw hack, my son] hath no pleasure in hira. But we are
not of thera wbo draw hack unto perdition ; but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul." Rom. xi. 22, " Behold therefore the goodness and severi
ty of God : on tbem which fell, severity ; but towards thee, goodness, if thou
continue in his goodness ; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." — So in raany
other places..
Many, when they think tbey are converied, seem to imagine that their work
is done, and tbat there is notbing else needful in order to their going to heaven.
Indeed perseverance in holiness of life is not neces.sary to salvation, as tbe right
eousness by wbich a right to salvation is obtained. Nor is actual perseverance
necessary in order to our becoming interested in tbat righteousness by which
we are justified. For as soon as ever a soul halh believed in Christ, or bath put
forth one act of faith in him, it becoraes interested in his righteousness, and in
all tbe promises purchased by it
Bul persevering in tbe way of duty is necessary to salvation, as a concomi
tant and evidence of a tflle to salvation. There is never a titie to salvation
without it, though it be not tbe righteousness by wbich a titie to salvation is ob
tained. It is necessary to salvation, as il is the necessary consequence of tme
184 HYPOCRITES DEFICIENl IN
taith. It is an evidence which universally attends uprightness, and thi defect
of it is an infallible evidence of the want of uprightness. Psal. cxxv. 4, 5.
There such as are good and upright in heart, are distinguished from such as faU
away or turn aside : " Do good, 0 Lord, to those tbat are good, anu to there
tbat are upright in their hearts. As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways,
the Lord shall lead thera forth with the workers of iniquity. But peace shafl be
upon Israel It is mentioned as an evidence that the hearts of the children of
Israel were not right with God, that they did not persevere in the w^ays of holi
ness. Psal. Ixxviii. 8, " A generation tbat set not their hearts aright, and whose
spirit was not steadfast with God."
Christ gives this as a distinguishing character of those that are bis disciples
indeed, and of a true and saving faith, that it is accompanied wilb perseverance
in the obedience of Christ's word. John viii. 31, " Then said Jesus to those
Jews which believed on hira. If ye continue in ray word, then are ye my disciples
indeed :" This is mentioned as a necessary evidence of an interest in Christ,
Heb. in. 14 : " We are raade partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of
our confidence steadfast to the end."
Perseverance is not only a necessary concomitant and evidence of a titie to
salvation ; but also a necessary prerequisite to the actual possession of eternal
life. It is the only way to heaven, the narrow way that leadeth to life. Hence
Christ exhorts the chuich of Philadelphia to persevere in holiness from this con
sideration, that it was necessary in order to ber obtaining the crown. Rev. in. 11,
" Hold fast that which thou hast, tbat no man take thy crown." It is necessa
ry, not only that persons should once have been walking in the way of duly, but
that tbey sbould be found so doing when Christ coraeth. Luke xu. 43, " Bless
ed is tbat servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing."
Holding out to the end is often made the condition of actual salvation. Matt
X. 22, " He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved." And Rev. il
10, " Be thou faithful unto death, and I wfll give thee a crown of life."
2. In order lo your own perseverance in the way of duly, your own care and
watchfulness is necessary. For Ihough il be promised that true sainls shall
persevere, yet tbat is no argument that their care and watchfulness is not ne-
ceSvSary in order lo it ; because their care to keep the coraraands of God is the
thing proraised. If fhe saints should fail of care, watchfulness, and diligence to
persevere in holiness, that failure of their care and diligence would itself be a
failure of holiness. They who persevere not in watchfulness and dihgence, per
severe not in holiness of life, for holiness of life very rauch consists in watchful
ness and diligence to keep the commands of God. It is one promise of the
covenant of grace, that the sainls shafl keep God's comraandraents, Ezek. xi.
19, 20. Yet that is no argument that they have no need to take care to keep
these coraraandraents, or to do their duty. So the promise of God, that the
saints .shall persevere in holiness, is no argument that it is not necessary that
they should take heed lest they fall away
Therefore the Scriptures abundantly warn men to watch over themselves
dfligenlly, and to give earnest heed lest they fall away : 1 Cor. xv. 13, " Watch
ye, stand fa.st in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." 1 Cor. x. 12, " Let
hira tbat thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." Heb. nl 12, 13, 14,
" Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in
departing frora the living God ; b it exhort one anotber daily, while it is called
to-day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we
are raade partakers of Christ, if we hold tbe beginning of our confidence
steadfa,st unlo tbe end." Heb. iv 1, " Let us therefore fear^ lest a promise b^ing
THE DUTY OF PRAYER. 485
left us of entering into his rest, any of you sbould seera to coi. e short of il."
2 Pet. iii. 17, " Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things belore,
'oeware lest ye also, being led away w ilh the error of the wicked, fall from your
own steadfastness." 2 John v. 8, " Look to yourselves that we lose not those
things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward."
Thus you see how earnestly the Scriptures press on Christians exhortations to
take diligent heed to themselves that they fall not away. And certainly tbese
cautions are not without reason.
The Scriptures particularly insist upon watchfulness in order to perseverance
in the duty of prayer. Watch and pi'ay, saith Christ ; whicb implies that we
should watch unto prayer, as the Apostle Peter says, 1 Pet. iv. 7. It implies,
that we should watch against a neglect of prayer, as well as against other sins.
The apostle, in places which have been already raentioned, directs us lo pray
with all prayer, watching thereunto wilh all perseverance, and to continue in
prayer, and watch in tbe same. Nor is it any w-onder that the aposties so rauch
insisted on watching, in order lo a continuance in prayer with all perseverance ;
for there are raany temptations to neglect this duty ; first to be inconstant in it,
and from time to time to omit il ; then in a great measure to neglect it The
devfl watches lo draw us away from God, and to hinder us frorn going to hira
in prayer. We are surrounded with one and another tempting object, business
and diversion : particularly we meet with raany things which are great tempta
tions to a neglect of this duty.
3. To raove you to persevere in the duty of prayer, consider how mucb you
always stand in need of the help of God. If persons who have formerly attend
ed this duty, leave it off, the language of it is, that now they stand in no further
need of God's help, that they have no further occasion to go to God wilh re
quests and supplications : when indeed it is in God we live, and move, and have
our being. We cannot draw a breath without his help. You need his help
every day, for the supply of your outward wants; and especially you stand in
continual need of him to help your souls. "Without bis protection they would
immediately fafl jnlo tbe hands of the devil, who always stands as a roaring
hon, ready, whenever he is permitted, lo fall upon the souls of men and devour
them. If God should indeed preserve your lives, but sbould otherwise forsake
and leave you to yourselves, you would be most miserable : your lives would be
a curse to you.
Those that are converted, if God should forsake them, would soon fall away
tot-ally from a state of grace into a state far more miserable than ever they were
in before their conversion. They have no strength of their own to resist those
powerful enemies who surround them. Sin and Satan would imraediately carry
thera away, as a mighty flood, if God should forsake tbem. You stand in need
of daily supplies from God. "Without God you can receive no spiritual light
nor comfort, can exercise no grace, can bring forth no fruit. Without God
your souls will wither and pine away, and sink into a most wretched state.
You continually need the instructions and directions of God, What can a little
child do, in avast howling wflderness, wiihout sorae one to guide it, and lo lead
it in tbe righl way ? Without God you wfll soon fall into snares, and pits, and
many fatal calaraities.
Seeing Iherefore you stand in sucb continual need ofthe help of God, how rea
sonable is it that you should continually seek it of hira, and perseveringly acknow
ledge your dependence upon him, by resorting to him, to spread your needs be
fore bira^ and to offer up your requests to bim in prayer. — Let us consider how
miserable we should be, if we should leave off prayer and God at the sarae
486 HYPOCRITES DEFICIENT IN
time should leave off to take any care of us, or to afford us any moi-e iupplies oi
his grace. By our constancy in prayer, we cannot be profitable to God; and
f we leave it offj God wifl sustain no damage: he doth not need our prayers;
lob xxxv. 6, 7. But if God cease lo care for us and lo help us, we immedi
ately sink : we can do nothing : we can receive nothing without him.
4. Consider the great benefit of a constant, diligent, and perseverhig attend
ance on this duty. It is one ofthe greatest and most excellent means of nour
ishing the new nature, and of causing the soul to flourish and prosper. It is an
excellent raeans of keeping up an acquaintance with God, and of growing inthe
knowledge of God. It is the way to a life of coramunion with God. It is an
excellent means of taking off the heart frora the vanities of the world, and of
causing the raind to be conversant in heaven. It is an excellent preservative
from sin and the wiles of the devfl, and a powerful antidote against the poison
ofthe old serpent It is a duty whereby slrength is derived from God against
the lusts and corruptions of the heart, and tbe snares of the world.
It hath a great tendency to keep the soul in a wakeful frame, and to' lead
us to a strict walk with God, and to a life that shall be fruitful in such good
works, as tend to adorn the doctrine of ChrisI, and to cause our light so lo shine
before others, that they, seeing our good works, shall glorify our Father who is
in heaven. And if the duty be constantly and diligently attended, it will be a
very pleasant duly. Slack and slothful attendance upon it, and unsteadiness
in it, are the causes which make it so great a burden as it is to some persons.
Their slothfulness in it halh naturally the effect to beget a dislike of the duty,
and a great indisposition lo it. But if it be constantly and diligently attended, it
is one of the best raeans of leading, not only a Christian and araiable, but also
a pleasant life ; a life of rauch sweet feltowship with Christ, and ofthe abund
ant enjoyraent of the light of his countenance.
Besides, the great power which prayer, wben duly attended, hath with God,
is worthy of your notice. By it raen becorae like Jacob, who, as a prince, had
power with God, and prevailed, when he wrestied wilh God for the blessing.
See the power of prayer represented in Jaraes v. 16 — IS. By these things you
may be sensible how much you wfll lose, if you shall be negligent of this great
duly of calling upon God ; and bow ill you will consult your own interest by
such a neglect.
I conclude ray discourse with two directions in order to constancy and per
severance in this duty.
1. Watch against the beginnings of a neglect of this duty. Persons who
have for a tirae practised this duty, and afterwards neglect it, comraonly leave
it off by degrees. While their convictions and religious affections last, they are
very constant in their closets, and no woridly business, or company, or divetsion
binclers them. But as their convictions and affections begin to die away, they
begin to find excuses to neglect it sometimes. Tbey are now so hurried ; they
have now such and such things to attend to ; or there are now such incon-
veniencjes in the way, that they persuade themselves tbey may very excusa
bly omit it for this tirae Afterwards it pretty frequently so happens, that
they have soraething to hinder, something which tbey call a just excuse
After a while, a less thing becomes a sufficient excuse than was allowed lo be
such at first Thus tbe person by degrees contracts more and more of a habit
of neglecting prayer, and becoraes more and more indisposed to it. And even
when he doth perforra il, it is in such a poor, dull, heartless, miser-able manner,
that he says to hunself, he might as well not do it at all, as do it .so. Thus he
makes his own dulness and indisposition an excuse for wholly neglecting it,
THE DUTY OF PRAYER. 487
or at least for living in a great measure in Ihe neglect of it. Aftei tbis manner
do Satan and men's own corruptions inveigle them to their ruin.
Therefore beware of the first beginnings of a neglect : watch against temp
tations to il : take heed bow you begin to allow of excuses. Be Watchful t" keep
up the duty in the height of it ; let it not so much as begin lo sink. For when
you give way, though il be but little, it is like giving way to an enemy in tbe
field of battle ; tbe first beginning of a retreat greatly encourages tbe eneray,
and weakens the retreating soldiers.
2. Let me direct you to forsake all sucb practices as you find by experience
do indispose you to the duty of secret prayer. Examine tbe things in which
you have albwed yourselves, and inquire whether they have bad tbis effect.
You are able to lock over your past behavior, and may doubtless, on an impar
tial coasideration, make a judgment of the practices and courses in which you
have allowed yourselves.
Particularly let young people examine their manner of company keeping,
and the round of diversions in which, with their companions, they have allowed
theraselves. I only desire that you would ask at the moulh of your own con
sciences what has been the eff'ect of these things whh respect to your attendance
on the duty of secret prayer. Have you not found that such practices have
tended to the neglect ofthis duly ? Have you not found that after them you
have been more indisposed to it, and less conscious and careful to al tend iti
Yea, bave they not from time to time actually been tbe means of your neglect
ing it 1
If you cannot deny that tbis is really the case, then, if you seek the good of
your souls, forsake these practices. W hatever you may plead for them, as that
there is no hurt in them, or that tbere is a time for all things, and tbe hke ; yet
if you find this hurt in the consequence of them, it is time for you to forsake
thera. And if you value heaven more than a little worldly diversion ; if you
set a higher price on eternal glory than on a dance or a song, you will forsake
thera. If these things be lawful in Ihemselves, yet if your experience show tbat
they are attended with such a consequence as I have now mentioned, that is
enough. It is lawful in itself for you to enjoy your right hand and your right
eye: but if, by experience, you find they cause you to offend, it is tirae for you
to cut off the one, and pluck out the other, as you would rather gtj to beaven
witho it tbem than go to bell with thera, into that place of torment where the
wcrm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
SERMON XXX.
THE FEAHFULNESS WHICH WILL HEREAFTER SURPRISE SINNERS IN ZION, REPRESENTEB
AND IMPROVED.
leAlAH xxxiii. 14.— The sinners in Zion are afraid ; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocritrs : who 'imong
us shall dwell with the devouring fire ? "Who among us shall dwell wilh everlasting hurnings ?
There are two kinds of persons among God's professing people ; the one
IS those wbo are truly godly, who are spoken of in the verse following the text ;
" He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly," &c. The other kind
consists of sinners in Zion, or hypocrites. It is to be observed, tbat the pro
phet in this chapter speaks interchangeably, first to the one, and then to the
other of tbese characters of men ; awfully threatening and denouncing the wrath
of God against the one, and comforting the other with gracious proraises. Thus
you raay observe, in the 5tb and 6th verses, there are comfortable promises to
the godly ; then in the eight following verses, awful judgraents are threatened
against the sinners in Zion. Again, in the two next verses are blessed prom
ises lo the sincerely godly, and in the forraer part of verse 17. And then in
the latter part of verse 17, and in verses 18, and 19, are terrible threatenings to
sinners in Zion : then in the verses tbat follow are gracious promises to the
Our text is part of wbat is said in this chapter to sinners in Zion. In verse
10, il is said, " ISfow will I rise, saith the Lord ; now will I be exalted, now
wifl I lift up myself," l e.. Now will I arise to execute ray wrath upon the
ungodly ; I will not let thera alone any longer. They shall see that I ara not
asleep, and that I am not regardless of raine own honor. " Now wfll I be exalted."
Though they have cast contempt upon me, yet I will vindicate the honor of my
own majesty : I will exalt myself, and show my greatness, and ray awful ma
jesty in their destruction. " Now will I lift up rayself;" now I wifl no longer
bave raine honor to be trampled in the dust by them : but my glory shall be
manifested in their misery.
In verse 11, the prophet proceeds, " Ye shall conceive cbaff, ye shall bring
forih stubble :" l e.. Ye shall pursue happiness in ways of wickedness, but
you shall not obtain it; you are as ground which brings forth no fruit, as if
only chaff were sowed in il ; it brings forth nothing but stubble, which is fit
for nolhing but lo be burned.
It seeras to have been the manner in that land where tiie corn grew very
rank, when they had reaped the wheat, and gathered it off from the ground, to
set fire to the stubble ; which is alluded to here ; and therefore it is added,
" Your breath, as fire, shafl devour you :" l e.. Your own wicked speeches,
your wickedness that you commit with your breath, or with your tongues, sball
set fire lo the stubble and devour it
Tben it follows in verse 12, " And the people shall be as the burnings of
lime." As they are wont to burn lime in a great and exceeding fierce fire, tih
stones, and bones, and other things are burnt to lime; so sball the wicked be
burnt in the fire of God's wralb. " As thorns cut up shall they be burnt in thd
fire :" as briers and thorns are tbe incurabrance and curse of the ground where
they grow, and are wont to be burnt ; so shafl il be with the wicked that are
araong God's people and grow in God's field. Heb. vi. 7, 8, « For tbe earth
FEARFULNESS WHICH WILL SURPRISE HYPOCRITES. 489
which drinketh in the rain tbat comelh ofl upon it, and bringeth forth neibs
meet for tbem by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God : but that
which beareth thorns and briers, is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing ; whose
end is to be burned."
Then it follows in verse 13, " Hear ye tbat are afar off, wbat I bave done ;
and ye that are near, acknowledge my might." This implies that God will,
by tbe destruction of ungodly men, raanifest his glory very publicly, even in
the sight of the whole world, both in the sight of those that are near, and those
that are afar off." " Acknowledge my might." Wbich iraplies that God will
execute wrath upon ungodly men, in such a manner as extraordinarily to show
forth his great and mighty power. The destruction and misery of the wicked
will be so dreadful that it -wfll be a dreadful manifestation of Ibe omnipotent
power of God, that he can execute so dreadful misery; agreeably to Rom. ix.
22, " What if God, wifling to show bis wrath, and to make bis power knowm,
endured wilh mucb long suffering tbe vessels of wralh, fitted to destruction."
Next follow tbe words of the text . " The sinners in Zion are afraid : fear
fulness hath surprised the hypocrites : who among us shall dwell wilh the de
vouring fire 1 Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings ?" The sense
of the text is, that the time will come when fearfulness will surprise the sinners in
Zion ; because they wfll know, that they are about to be cast into a devouring
fire, wbich they must suffer forever and ever, and wbich none can endure. This
I .sball make the subject of my present discourse ; and shall particularly speak
upon the subject,
1. By inquiring, who are sinners in Zion 1
2. By showing bow fearfulness wfll hereafter surprise them.
3. By insisting on those reasons of this fear and surprise, whicb are men
tioned in the text.
4. By showing why sinners in ZiON will be especially surprised with fear.
I. It may be inquired. Who are the sinners in Zion 1 — I answer, that tbey
are those who are in a natural condition among the visible people of God. Zion,
or the cily of David of old, was a type of the church ; and the church of God
in Scripture is perhaps more frequently called by the name of Zion than by any
other name. And commonly by Zion is meant the true church of Christ, or the
invisible church of true sainls. But soraetimes by this narae is meant the visi
ble church, consisting of those who are outwardly, by profession and external
privileges, the people of God. This is intended by Zion in this text.
The greater part of the world are sinners : Christ's flock is, and ever hath
been but a little flock. And the sinners of tbe world are of two sorts : there
are those that are visibly of Satan's kingdom, who are without the pale ofthe
visible church. Such are all who do not profess the true religion, nor attend the
external ordinances of it Beside these there are the sinners in Zion. Both
are objects of tbe displeasure and wrath of God ; but bis wrath is more espe
cially raanifested in Scripture against tbe latter. Sinners in Zion will bave by
far the lowest place in hell. Tbey are exalted nearest to beaven in tbis world,
and they will be lowest in hell in another. The same is meant in the text, by
hypocrites, as sinners in Zion. Sinners in Zion are all hypocrites; for they
make a profession of the true religion ; tbey attend God's ordinances, and make
a show of being the worshippers of God ; but all is in hypocrisy. — I now hast
en as was proposed,
II. To show bow fearfulness wifl hereafter surprise sinners in Zion.
1. They will hereafter be afraid. Now many of them seem to have littie
or no fear. Thiy are quiet and secure. Nothing wfll awaker. them : the most
Vol. IV 62
490 FEARFULNESS WHICH W::L
awful threatenings and tbe loudest warnings do not rauch nove thern. They
are not so much moved wilh tbem, but that they can eat, and drink, and sleep^
and go about their woridly concerns wiihout rauch disturbance. But the tirae
will come, when the hardest and raost stupid wretches wfll. be awakenec^
Though now preaching wfll not awaken them, and tbe death of others will not
make them afraid ; Ihough seeing others awakened and converted will nut
rauch aff'ect thera ; though they can stand all that is to be heard and seen in
a tirae of general outpouring ofthe Spirit of God, without being much moved;
yet the tirae wifl corae, when they will be awakened, and fear will lake hold
of them. They will be afraid of the wralh of God : however sen.seless tbey be
now, they will hereafter be sensible ofthe awful greatness of God, and that il
is a fearful thinj; to fall into his hands.
2. They will be surprised with fear. This seeras to imply two tbings ; viz.,
tbe greatness oftheir fear, and the suddenness ofii.
(1.) The greatness of their fear. Surprise argues a high degree of fear.
Their fears will be to the degree of astonishment Sorae of the sinners in Zion
are soraewhat afraid now : tbey now and then have sorae degree of fear. They
are not indeed convinced that there is such a place as hell ; but they are afraid
there is. They are not thoroughly awakened ; neither are they quite easy.
They have at certain times inward molestations from their consciences ; but
they have no such degrees of fear, as to put thera upon any thorough endeavors
to escape future wrath.
However, hereafter tbey will have fear enough, as mucb, and a great deal
more than they will be able to stand under. Their fear will be to tbe degree
of horror ; they will be horribly afraid ; and terrors will take hold on them as
waters. Thus we read of " their fear coining as a desolation, and of distress
and anguish coming upon thera," Prov. l 27. It is also very eraphatically
said of the wicked, that "trouble and anguish shall prevail against bim, as a
king ready to the battie," Job xv. 24.
The stoutest heart of them all will then melt with fear. The hearts of
those who are of a sturdy spirit, and perhaps scorn to own themselves afraid of
any man, and are even ashamed to own themselves afraid of tbe wrath of God,
will then become as weak as water, as weak as the heart of a littie child. And
the most reserved of thera wifl not be able to hide his fears. Their faces wiU
turn pale ; tbey will appear with araazeraent in their countenances ; every
joint in thern wfll trerable ; all their bones will shake ; and their knees wfll
smite one againsi another ; nor will they be able to refrain from crying out
with -fear and rending the air wilh the most disraal shrieks.
(2.) Tbey will be suddenly seized with fear. The sinners in Zion often
reraain secure, tfll they are surprised, as wilh a cry at raidnight They wfll be,
as it were, awakened out of their secure sleep in a disraal fright They wfll
see an unexpected calamity coraing upon them ; far more dreadful than they
were aware of, and coming al an unexpected season.
With respect to tbe time when the wicked shall be thus surprised with fear ;
1. It is often so on a death-bed Many things pass in their hfetime, whicb
one would think raight wefl strike terror into their souls ; as when they see
others die, wbo are as young as they, and of like condition and circumstances
with themselves, whereby they may see how uncertain their lives are, and how
unsafe their souls. It may well surprise many sinners, lo consider how old
they are grown, and are yet in a Christless state ; how much of tbeir oppcriu-
nity to get an interest in Christ is irrecoverably gone, and how little remains ;
also how much greater their disadvantages now are, than they have been. But
SURPRISE HYPOCRITES. 491
these things do not terrify them : as age increases, so do tbe hardi ess and stii
pidity of their hearts grow upon thera.
But when death coraes, then the sinner is often fifled with astonishraent. It
may be, wben be is first taken sick, he has great hope that he shall recover ; as
men are ready to flatter themselves whh hopes, that things will be as they fain
would have thera. But when the distemper comes to prevail much upon bim,
and he sees that he is going into eternity ; wben he sees that all the raedicines
of physicians are in vain, that all the care and endeavors of friends are to no
purpose, that notbing seems to help bim, that his strength is gone," tbat bis
friends weep over him, and look upon his case as desperate ; wben he sees, by
the countenance and behavior of Ihe physician, that he looks upon his case as
past hope, and perhaps overbears a whispering in the room, wherein his friends
signify one to another, that tbey look upon il tbat he is struck with dealh, or
wherein they tell one another, that his extrerae parts grow cold, that his coun
tenance and manner of breathing, and his pulse, show death, and that he begins
to be in a cold death sweat ; and when perhaps, by and by, some one thinks
hiraself bound in duty and faithfulness to let hira know the worst, and Iherefore
coraes and asks him whether or no be be sensible that he is dying — then how
doth fearfulness surprise the sinner in Zion! How doth bis heait melt with
fear ! This is the thing whicb he feared ever since be was taken sick ; but till
now he had bope that he sbould recover. The physician did not speak; or if
he despaired, he spoke of such and such raedicines as being very proper ; and
be hoped that they would be effectual; and when these failed, be changed his
medicines, and apphed something- new : then the sinner hoped that that would
be eff'ectual. Tbus, although be constantly grew worse and worse, stifl he hoped
to recover. At the same tirae he cried to God to spare bim, and made promises how he
would live, if God would spare him ; and he hoped that God would hear him.
He observed also that his friends, and perhaps the minister, seemed to pray
earnestly for him ; and he could not but hope that those prayers w-ould be an
swered, and he should be restored. But now how dolh bis heart sink and die
within bim 1 How doth he look about wilh a frighted countenance ! How quick
is the motion of his eye, through inward fear ! And how quick and sudden are
afl bis motions ! What a frightful hurry doth he seera to be in ! How doth
every thing look to him when be sees pale grim dealh staring bim in tbe face^
and a vast eternity within a few hours or minutes of him !
It may be, he still struggles for a little. hope; he is loth to beheve what is
told him ; be tells those who tefl bira that be is dying, that he hopes not ; be
hopes that they are more affrighted than they need be ; he hopes that those
syraptoras arise frora sorae other cause ; and, like a poor drowning raan, be
catches at slender and brittle twigs, and clinches his bands about whatever he
Sees wilhin bis reach.
But as death creeps more and more on him, be sees bis twigs break, all bis
hopes of life fail, and he sees be must die. 0 ! there is nothing, but death be
fore him 1 He bath been hoping ; but bis hopes are all dashed ; be sees tbis
worid, and afl tbat belongs to it, are gone. Now come the thoughts of hell
into his mind with araazeraent. 0 ! how shall he go out' of the world 1 He
knows be bath no interest in Christ ; his sins stare bim in the face. 0 the
dreadful gulf of eternity ! He bad been c^rying to God, perhaps since he was
sick, to save him; and he had some hope, if it were his lastsickness, that yet God
would pity him, and give hira pardoning grace before he .should die. He beg
ged, and pleaded, and he hoped tbat God would have pity on his poor soul Aj
492 FEARFULNESS WHICH WILL
tbe sarae time he asked others to pray for bim, and he .lad beeri looking day
after day for some light to shine into his soul. But, alas! now he is dying,
and bis friends ask him, how death appears to him ? Whether any light ap
pear ? Whether God have not given him sorae token of his favor ? And he
answers. No, wilh a poor, faltering, trembling voice, if be be able to speak at
all : or if his friends ask a signal of hope, he can give none.
Now death comes on bira more and more, and he is just on the brink of
eternity. Who can express the fear, the misgivings, tbe hangings back, and
the horrible fright and amazement, that his soul is the subject of? Some wbo,
in such circuinstances, have been able to speak, have been known to cry out,
0 etemity ! eternity ! And some, 0 ! a thousand worlds for an inch of time!
O if they might but live a little while longer ! Bu*^ it must not be ; go they
must They feel the frame of nature dissolving, and pr^rceive the soul is just
going ; for soraetiraes the exercise of reason seeras to hold 10 tbe last
What, in such a case, is felt in the soul, in those last moraents, when it is
just breaking ils bands with the body, about to fetch its leap, and is on the
edge of eternity, and the very brink of hell, without any Saviour, or the least
testiraony of divine mercy : I say, what is sometimes felt by Christless souls in
these moments, none can tell ; nor is il within the compass of our conception.
2. The raisery of the departed soul of a sinner, besides what it now feels,
consists in a great part in amazing fears of what is yet to come. When the
union of the soul and body is actually broken, and the body has fetched ils last
gasp, the soul forsakes its old habitation, and then falls ijilo the hands of devils,
who fly upon il, and seize it more violently than ever hungry lions flew upon
their prey. And with what horror will it fall into those cruel bands !
If we iraagine lo ourselves tbe dreadful fear with wbich a lamb or kid falls
nto the paws of a wolf, whicb lays hold of il with open raouth ; or if we ima
gine to ourselves the feeling of a little child, that hath been pursued by a lion,
when il is taken hokl of, and sees the terrible creature open his devouring jaws
to tear it in pieces ; or the feehng of those two and forty children, who were
cursed by Elisha, when they fell into the paws of the bears that tore them in
pieces ; I say, if we could have a perfect idea of that terror and astonishment
which a little child has in such a case, yet we should have but a faint idea of
what is felt in the departing soul of a sinner, wben it falls into tbe hands of
those cruel devils, those roaring lions, whicb then lay hold of it !
Anxl when the poor soul is carried to bell, and there is tormented, and suf
fers the wralh of the Almighty, and is overwhelmed and crushed with it, it wifl
also be amazed with the apprehensions of whal shall yet reraain. To think of
an eternity of this torment remaining, 0 how will it fill, and overbear, and sink
down the poor soul ! How will the thought of the duration of this torment
-without end cause the heari to raelt like wax ! How will the thought of it
sink the soul into the bottomless pit of darkness and gloominess ! Even those
proud and sturdy spirits, the devils, do trerable at the thoughts of that greater
torment which they are lo suffer at the day of judgraent. So will the poor
damned souls of men. They will already have vastly more than they wfll be
able to bear : how then will they trerable at the thought of baving their misery
so vastiy augmented !
Persons sometimes in this worid are afraid of the day ofjudgraent If there
be an earthquake, or if there be raore than comraon thunder amf lightning, or if
there be some unusual sight in the heavens, tbeir hearts are ready to tremble
for fear that the d,iy of judgment is at hand. 0 bow then do tbe poor souls in
hell fear it, wbo know so much raore about it, who know by what they feel al-
SURPRISE HYPOCRITES. 493
ready, and know certainly, that whenever it coraes tbey sball stand on tbe left
hand of the Judge, to receive the dreadful sentence ; and that then tbey, in
both soul and body, must enter into those everlasting burnings whicb are pre
pared for the devil and bis angels, and who probably know that tbeir misery is
to be a hundred fold greater than il is now.
3. Fearfulness will surprise them at the last judgment W^hen Christ sball
appear in tbe clouds of heaven, and the last trurapet shall sound, then will the
hearts of wicked men be surprised with fearfulness. The poor daraned soul, in
expectation of it, Irerables every day and every hour frora the tirae of ils de
parture frora the body. It knows not, indeed, when it is to be, but it knows it
is to be. But when the alarra is given in bell, tbat the day is corae, it will be a
dreadful alarm indeed. It wfll, as it were, fill the caverns of hell with shrieks;
and when the souls of the damned shall enter into their bodies, it will be with
amazing horror of what is coming. And when they shall lift up their heads
out of their graves, and shall see the Judge, it will be a most terrible sight.
Gladly would they return inlo their graves again, and hide theraselves there,
if that might be ; and gladly would tbey return into hell, their forraer state of
misery, lo hide theraselves from this awful sight, if that would excuse them.
So those sinners in Zion, who shall then be found alive on the earth, when
tbey sball see this sight, will be surprised with fearfulness. The fear and horror
which raany poor sinners feel when they are dying, is great, and beyond all that
we can have any idea of; bul that is nothing to the horror that will seize thera
when they shall corae to see this sight.
There will not be a wicked raan upon earth who wifl be able to bear it, let
him be who he will, let him be rich or poor, old or young, male or feraale,
servant or master, king or subject, learned or unlearned, let hira be ever so
proud, ever so courageous, and ever so sturdy. There is not one who wfll be
able at all to support hiraself; when he shall see this sight, it wifl immediately
sink his spirit ; it will loose the joints of bis loins ; it will make bis countenance
more ghastly than death. The rich captains, and valiant generals and princes,
who now scorn to show any fear at the face of any eneray, who scorn to
tremble at the roaring of cannon, will tremble and shriek when they shall hear
the last trumpet, and see the majesty of tbeir Judge. Il wfll make their teeth
to chatter, and make them cry out, and fly to hide themselves in the caves and
rocks of raountains, crying to the rocks and raountains to fall on thera, and cover
them from the wrath of tbe Judge.
Fearfulness will surprise them when tbey shall be dragged before the judg
ment seat The wicked hang back when they are about to meet death ; but in
no raeasure as they wfll hang back wben they come to meet their great Judge.
And when they come to stand before the Judge, and are put on his left hand,
fearfulne.ss and amazement will surprise them. The raajesty of the Judge will
be intolerable to them. His pure and holy eye, which will behold and search
thein, and pierce thera through, will be raore terrible to their souls a thousand
times than flashes of lightning piercing tbeir hearts. Tbere wfll they stand in
a trembling expectation, tbat by and by tbey sh-all hear the words of tbat dread
ful sentence proceed out of the moutb of Christ. They will have a horrible
expectation of that sentence ; and what shall they do, whither shall they fly, so
as to be out of the bearing of it 1 They cannot shut their ears, so as not to
hear it
Fearfulness wfll surprise them when the sentence shall come to be pro
nounced. At tbe close ofthe judgment, that dreadful doom will be uttered by
the Judge; and it wfll be tbe raost terrible voice that ever was heard. Tbe
494 FEARFULNESS WHICH WILL
sound of tie last trurapet, that .shall call men to judgment, wfll be a more ter
rible aound to wicked raen than ever they shall have beard tifl tbat tirae. But
the sound of the last sentence wifl be mucb raore terrible than that. There
will not be one of afl those millions at the left hand, whether high or low, king
or subject, who will be able to support himself at all under the sound of that
sentence ; but tbey will all sink under it
Lastiy, fearfulness wifl surprise thera, wben they sball come to see tbe fire
kindle upon the world, in whicb tbey are to be tormented forever. When the
sentence shall have been pronounced, Christ, wilh his blessed saints and glori-
ousangels, will leave this lower world, and ascend into heaven. Then will the
flames begin lo kindle, and fire wfll probably be seen coming down frora heaven ;
and soon will the fire lay hold of that accursed raultitude. Then will their
hearts be surprised wilh fearfulne.ss ; that fire will appear a dreadful fire indeed.
0 what chatterings of teeth, what shakings of loins, what distortions of body,
w-fll Ihere be at tbat tirae, when they sball see, and begin to fieel, the fierceness
of the flaraes ! What shall they do, whither shall they go, to avoid those
flames? Where shall they hide themselves? If they creep into holes, oi
creep into caves of the earth, yea, if they could creep down to the centre of
the earth, it will be in vain; for it wifl set on fire the bottoras of tbe mountains,
and burn to the lowest hell. They wfll see no place to flv to, no place to hide.
themselves. Then their hearts wifl be filled with fearfulness, and will utterly sink in
despair. Thus it shafl hereafter be with .every one that shall then be found to
be a sinner, and especially with sinners in Zion. I come now,
III. To consider those reasons spoken of in the text, why sinners in Zion
will hereafter be tbus surprised with fear.
1. Fearfulness wifl surprise them, because they -^'ill know that tbey are to
be cast into devouring fire. There is nolhing which seeras to give one a raore
terrible idea of torment and misery, than to think of being cast alive into a fire;
especially if we conceive of the senses remaining quick, and not benumbed by
the fire. The wicked wifl hereafter have that to make thera afraid, that they
are not only to be cast into a fire, but into devouring fire ; which imphes, that
it will be a fire of extraordinary fierceness of heat, and before which notbing
can stand.
The fire into which raen are to be cast is called a furnace of fire. Furnaces
arc contrived for an extrerae degree of heat, this being necessary for the pur
poses for which tbey are designed, as the running and refining of raetals, and
the raelting of Ihings into glass. The fire of such earthly furnaces raay be
called devouring fire, as the heat of some of thera is such, that in them even
stones wifl presently be dissolved. Now, if a person sbould be brought to the
raouth of surh a furnace, and there sbould see how the fire glows, so as pre
sently to make every thing cast into it, all over white and bright with fire, and
at the same time should know that he was immediately to be cast into this
furnace, would not fearfulness surprise him ?
In some heathen countries, the manner of disposing of dead bodies is to dig
a great pit, to put in it a great quantity of fuel, lo putthe dead bodies on tbe
pile, and to set it on fire. This is some iraage of tbe burning of dead souls in
the pit of hell. Now, if a person were brought to the edge of sucb a pit, aU
filled with glowing flaraes, lo be iraraediately cast into it, would it not surprise
the heart wilh fearfulness ?
The flaraes of a very great fire, !i5 when a bouse is afl on fire, give one some
dea of the fierceness of tbe wrati sf God. Such is the rage of the flames.
SURPRISE HYPOCRITES. 496
And we see that tbe greatei- a fire is, the fiercer is its beat in every part ; and
the reason is, because one part heats anotber. The heat in a particular place,
besides the heat which proceeds out of the fuel in ihat place, is increased by
the additional heat of the fire afl around it. Hence we may conceive some
thing of what fierceness tbat fire will be, when this visible world shall be turned
into one great furnace. That will be devouring fire indeed. Sucb will be the
heat of it, that, as tbe apostlesays, "tbe eleraenls shall melt with fervent heal,"
2 Pet iii. 10.
Men can artificially raise such a degree of beat with burning glasses, as
will quickly melt the very stones and sand. And il is probable that the heal of
that great fire which will burn the world, will be such as to melt the rocks, and
the veiy ground, and turn them into a kind of liquid fire. So that the whole
world will probably be converted into a great lake, or liquid globe of fire, a
vast ocean of fire, in wbich Ibe wicked sball be overwhelmed. It will be an
ocean of fire, wbich will always be in a tempest, in which the wicked shall be
tossed to and fro, baving no rest day nor night, vast waves or billows of fire
continually rolling over their beads.
But all tbis wfll be only an image of that dreadful fire of tbe -wrath of God,
wbich the wicked shall at the same time suffer in their souls. We read in Rev.
xix. 15, of "the fierceness and wralh of Almighty God." This is an extraor
dinary expression, carrying a terrible idea of the future misery of the wicked.
If it had been only said the wrath of God, tbat would have expressed what is
dreadful. If the wrath ofa king be as the roaring of a lion, what is the wralh
of God ? But it is not only said the wrath of God, but the fierceness and wrath
of God, or the rage of his wrath; and not only sc, bul the fierceness and wralh
of Alraighty God. 0 what is that ! The fierceness and rage or fury of
Omnipotence ! Of a being of infinite slrength ! What an idea doth that give
Df the .state of those worms that suffer the fierceness and wrath of such an
Almighty Being ! And is il any wonder that fearfulness surprises their hearts,
when they see this about to be executed upon them ?
2. Another reason given in the text, why fearfulness will hereafter surprise
sinners, is, that they will be sensible that this devouring fire will be everlast
ing. If a man were brought to the mouth of a great furnace, lo be cast into
the midst of it, if at the same time he knew be should suffer the torment of it
but for one minute, yet that minute would be so terrible lo him, that fearful
ness would surprise and astonish him. How much more, if be were to be cast
into a fire so much fiercer, as the fire in which wicked men are hereafler to be
tormenled ! How mucb more terri'ule would tbe minute's suffering be !
But if tbe thought of suffering this devouring fire for one minute would be
enough to fill one with such surprising fearfulness, what fearfulness wfll seize
thera, when they shall know that they are to bear it, not for one minute, nor
for one day, nor for one year, nor for one age, nor for two ages, nor for a
hundred ages, nor for ten thousand or million ages, one after anotber, but for
ever and ever, wiihout any end at all, and never, never to be delivered !
They shall know, tbat the fire itself will be everlasting fire, fire tiiat shall
never be quenched. Mark ix. 43, 44, " To go into hefl, into the fire that never
shall be quenched ; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quench
ed." And they shall know that their torment in that .fire never will bave an
end. Rev. xiv. 10, 11. They sball know that tbey shaU 'orever be full of quick
sense writhin and without ; their beads, their eyes, their tongues, their hands,
their feet, their loins, and their vitals, sball forever be full of glowing, melting
(ire, fierce enough to melt the very rocks and elements ; and also tbat they shall
eternalh be full ofthe most quick and lively sense to feel the torment.
496 FEARFULNESS WHICH WILL
Tbey sball know that they shall never cease restlessly to plunge and rofl in
that mighty ocean of fire. Tbey shafl know that those billows of fire, which
are greater than the greatest mountains, will never cease to roll over thera, are
following one another forever and ever.
At the sarae tirae they will have a more lively sense of eternity than we
ever can have here. We can have but a little sense of wbat an eternal dura-
lion is; and indeed none can coraprehend it; it swallows up all thought and
imagination : if we set ourselves to think upon it, we are presently lost But
they will have another and far clearer sense of it than we have. 0 bow vast
will eternity appear to thera, when they think of spending it in .such burnings '
This is another reason tbat fearfulness wfll surprise thera. The thoughts of
eternity wfll always amaze them, and will sink and depress ihem to a bottom
less depth of despair.
3. The third reason given in the text, why fearfulness will surprise them
at the apprehension of this punishment, is, tbat they will know that they shall
not be able to bear it When they shall see themselves going into that de
vouring fire, they will know that they are not able to bear it. They will
know that they are not able to grapple with the fierceness and rage of those
flames ; for they will see the fierceness of the wrath of God in them ; they wiU
see an awful manifestation of Oranipotence in the fury of that glowing furnace.
And in those views their hearts will utterly fail thera ; their hands will not be
strong, nor their hearts endure. They will see that tbeir strength is weakness ;
they will know that they will not be able to grapple with such torraents, and
that they can do nolhing in such a conflict
When they shall have corae to the edge of the pit, and of the burning lake,
and sball look into the furnace, then they will cry out wilh exclamations like
these : 0 ! what sh-afl I do ? how shall I bear the torraents of Ibis fire ? how can
I endure thera ? who can endure ? where is the raan so stout-hearted, where is the
giant of such strength and such courage, that he can bear this ? 0 ! what shafl I
do ? must I be cast in thither ? I cannot bear it ; I can never endure it 0 that I
could return lo my first nolhing ! how can I endure it one raoment ? how much
less can I endure il forever and ever? and must I bear it forever ? What'
forever and ever, without any end, and never find any refuge, never be suffered
to return to my first nothing, and be no nearer to the end of these sufferings af
ter raiflions of ages ? 0 what disraal shrieks, sh-aking of loins, and gnashing
of teeth, wifl there be then ! No wonder that fearfulness wfll then surprise the
wicked. I corae now,
IV. To show, why it will be especially tbus with tbe sinners in Zion, or
sinners that dwell araong God's visible people, wbo sit under tbe preaching of
the gospel, and have the offers of a Saviour, and yet accept not of hira, but re
raain in an unconverted state.
There wifl hereafler be a very great difference between them and other sin
ners ; a great difference between the raost painted hypocrite of thera all, and
the drunkards, the adulterers, tbe Sodoraites, the thieves, and raurderers among
the heathen, who sin against only the light of nature. The fearfulness which
wfll surprise them, although it will be very dreadful, yet will be in no measure
so amazing and horrible, as tbat wbich will seize the sinners in Zion. That
fierceness and wralh of Almighty God, which they will suffer, wfll be mild and
moderate in coraparison wilh that which the sinners in Zion will suffer.
Tbe wrath of God is in his word raanifested against the wicked heathens ;
but it is ten tiraes as ranch raanifested againsi those sinners wbo raake the pro
fession and enjoy the privileges of the people of God ; and yet reraain enemies
SURPRISE HYPOCRITES. 497
lo God. Both the Old Testament and the New are full of terrible denuncia
tions against such. Read tbe books of Moses, and read tbe prophets, and you
will find them full of dreadful threatenings against sucb. Read over the histo
ry of Christ's life, and the speeches whicb be made when upon earth ; there you
will see w hat woes and curses he frequently denounced againsi such. How of
ten did be say, that it sbould be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the
day of judgraent, than for the cities in which most of bis mighty works were
done ! Read over the history of the Acts of the Apostles, and their epistles ;
there you will find the same. It is tbe sinners in Zion, or hypocrites, that are
always in Scripture spoken of as tbe people of God's wrath : Isa. x. 6, " I wfll
send hira against an hypocritical nation, against tbe people of my wrath will I
give him a charge, to take the spoil."
Now, the reasons of this are chiefly tbese :
1. That they sin against so much greater light Tbis is often spoken of in
Scripture, as an aggravation to tbe sin and wickedness of sinners in Zion. He
that knows not his Lord's will, and doeth it not, is declared not to be worthy of
so raany stripes, as he who, being informed of bis Loid's will, is in like manner
disobedient. If men be blind, tbey bave coraparatively no sin ; but when they
see, when they have light to know tbeir duty, and to know their obligation,
then their sin is great, John ix. 41. When the hght that is in a man is dark
ness, how great is that darkness I And when men live in Avickedness, in the
midst of great light, that light is like to be the blackness of darkness indeed.
2. That they sin against such professions and vows. Tbe heathens never
pretended to be the worshippers of the true God. They never pretended lo be
Christ's disciples ; they never came under any covenant obligations lo be such
But this is not tbe case wilh sinners in Zion. Now, Gorl highly resents false
hood and treachery. Judas, wbo betrayed Christ with a kiss, was a greater
sinner, and much more the object of God's wrath, than Pflale, who condemned
him to be crucified, and was his murderer.
3. That they sin against so rauch greater raercy. They have tbe infinite
mercy of God, in giving his own Son, often set before thera : they have the dy
ing love of Christ represented to tbem : they have this raercy, this glorious Sa
viour, his blood and righteousness, often offered to thera : tbey have a bles.sed
opportunity to obtain salvation for their souls ; a great price is put into their
hands to this end : they have that precious treasure, the holy Scriptures, and en
joy Sabbaths, and sacraments, and Ihe various raeans of grace : but all these
means and advantages, tbese opportunities, offers, raercies, and invitations, tbey
abuse, neglect, despise, and reject
But tbere is no wrath like that which arises frora raercy abused and rejected.
When raercy is in this way turned inlo wrath, thi's is the fiercest wrath ; in
comparison with this other wrath is cool.
Sinners in Zion, besides their fall by tbe first Adara, have a fafl also by the
second : be is a stone of slurabling and a rock of offence, at which tbey stumble
and fall ; and there is no fall like tbis ; tbe fall by tbe first Adam is light ip
comparison with it.
On these accounts, whenever we see the day of judgment, as every one ot
us shafl see it, we sball easily distinguish between tbe sinners in Zion and other
sinners, by their shriller cries, their louder, more bitter and dolorous shrieks, the
greater araazeraent of their countenances, and the raore disraal shaking of their
lim'bs, and contortions of their bodies.
I shall conclude with an earnest exhortation to sinners in Zion, now to fly
from the devouring fire and everlasting burnings.
Vol IV. 63
498 TEARFULNESS WHICH WILL
You sinners wbo are here present, you are the very persons spoken of in tlie
text ; you are the sinners in Zion. How many of these people of Go.i's wrath
are there silling here and there in the seats of tbis house at this time ? You
have often been exhorted lo fly from the wrath to come. This devouring fire,
these everlasting burnings, of which we have been speaking, are the wrath to
come. You hear to-day of this fire, of these burnings, and of that fearfulness
which will seize and surprise sinners in Zion bereafte" ; and 0 what reason
have you of thankfulness that you only hear of them, that you do not as yet feel
thera, and that they bave not already taken hold of you ! They are, as il were,
following you, and coming nearer and nearer every day. Those fierce flames
are, as it were, already kindled in the wrath of God ; yea, the fierceness and
wrath of Almighty God bum against you ; it is ready for you : that pit is pre
pared for you, with fire and much wood, and the wralh of the Lord, as a stream
of brirastone, doth kindle it.
Lot was with great urgency hastened out of Sodom, and commanded
to raake haste, and fly for his life, and escape to the mountains, lest he
should be consumed in those flaraes wbich burned up Sodom and Goraorrah.
But that burning was a mere spark of that devouring fire, and those everlast
ing burnings of which you are in danger. Therefore improve the present
opportunity. Now, God is pleased again to pour out his Spirit upon us ; ann he is doing
great things among us. God is indeed come again, the same great God whc
so wonderfully appeared among us some years ago, and who bath since, for our
sins, departed from us, left us long in so dull and dead a state, and hath let
sinners alone in their sins; so that there have been scarcely any signs to be seen
of any such work as conversion : that same God is now come again ; he is really
come in like raanner, and begins, as he did before, gloriously tp raanifest his
mighty power, and the riches of his grace. He brings sinners out of darkne.ss
into marvellous light He rescues poor captive souls out of the hands of Satan ;
he saves persons from the devouring fire ; he plucks one and another as brands
out ofthe burnings ; he opens the prison doors, and knocks off their chains, and
brings out poor prisoners ; he is now working salvation among us from this very
destruction of which you have now heard.
Now, now, then, is the time, now is the blessed opportunity to escape those
everlasting burnings. Now God hath again set open the same fountain among
us, and gives one more happy opportunity for souls to escape. Now he hath
set open a wide door, and be stands in the door-way, calling and begging with
a loud voice to the sinners of Zion : Come, saith be to rae, corae, fly from the
wralh to corae ; here is a refuge for you ; fly hither for refuge ; lay hold on
the hope set before you.
A littie whfle ago, it was uncertain wbether we should ever see sucb an
opportunity again. If it bad always continued as it bath been for five or six
years past, alraost all of you would surely have gone to hell ; in a littie time
fearfulness would have surprised you, and you would have been cast into that
devouring fire, and those everlasting burnings. But in infin.ite mercy God give.'
another opporlunity; and blessed are your eyes, that tbey see it, if you did but
know your own opportunity.
You have bad your life spared through these six years past, to this very
time, to another ou'pouring of the Spirit. What would you bave done, if
you had died before it came ? How doleful would your case bave been !
I3ut you have reason to bless God tbat it was not so, and that you are yei
alive, ?ncl now again see a blessed day of grace. And wifl you not iraprove
SURPRISE HYPOCRITES. 499
it I Ha-ve you not so much love to your poor souls, as to iraprove sucb an cjipor-
tunity as this ?
Sorae, there is reason to think, bave lately fled for refuge lo Christ; and wfll
you be willing to stay behind still, poor miserable captives, conderaned lo suff'er
forever in the lake of fire? Hereafter you wfll see those of your neighbors
and acquaintance, who are converted, raounting up as with wings, with songs
of joy, to raeet their Lord; and if you reraain unconverted, you at tbe same
time will be surprised with fear, and horror will take hold of you, because of
the devouring fire, and the everlasting burnings..
It is an awful thing to think of, that there are now some persons in tbis
very congregation, here and there, in one seat and another, who wfll be the
subjects of that very misery of wbich we have now heard, although it be so
dreadful, although it be so intolerable, and although it be eternal ! There are
probably sorae now bearing this serraon, whom the rest of tbe congregation
wifl, at tbe day of judgraent, see araong the devils, at the left band of Ihe
Judge. They wfll see their frighted ghastly countenances ; they will see tbem
wring their bands, and gnash their teeth, .shrieking and crying out.
Now we know not their names, we know not what seats they sit in, nor
where to look for them, nor whom to pitch upon. But God knoweth their
names, and now seeth and knoweth what tbey think, and bow ranch Ihey regard
the warnings whicb are given them this day. We have not the least reason lo
suppose any other than tbat some of you will hereafter see others entering inlo
glory with Christ, and saints, and angels, while you, with dreadful horror, shall
see the fire begin to kindle about you. It may be, that the persons are now
blessing themselves in theirown hearts, and each one saying with himself. Well,
I do not intend it sball be I. Every one here hopes to go to beaven ; none
would by any raeans raiss of il. If any thought tbey should miss of it, they
would be greatly amazed. But all will not go thither ; it will undoubtedly
he the portion of some lo toss and tumble forever araong tbe fiery billows of
God's wrath.
It is not to be supposed, but that there are sorae here who will not be in ear
nest ; let them have ever so good an opportunity to obtain heaven, they will
not thoroughly iraprove it. Tell thera of hell as often as you will, and set it
out in as lively colors as you will, they will be slack and slothful ; and they
wifl never be likely to obtain heaven, while they are sleeping, and dreaming,
and intending, and hoping. The wrath of God, which pursues them, will
take them by the heels ; hell, that foflows after, wifl overtake thera ; fearful
ness wfll surprise them, and a tempest wfll steal thera away.
Nor is it lo be supposed, that all wbo are now seeking wifl hold out ; some
will backslide ; they wfll be unsteady. If now tbey seera to be pretty rauch
engaged, it will not hold. Tiraes will probably alter by and by, and they, hav
ing not obtained grace, there will be raany teraptations to backsliding, with
whicb tbey will comply. The hearts of men are very unsteady; they are not
to be trusted. Men cannot tell bow to have patience to wait upon God ; they
are soon discouraged. Some that are now under convictions may lose them.
Perhaps tbey wfll not leave off seeking salvation at once ; but they will corae
to it by degrees. After a while, they will begin to hearken to excuses, not to
bequite so constant in duty; they wifl begin to think tbat they need not be
quite so strict ; tbey will say to theraselves, they see no hurt in such and such
things ; they see not but they may practise them wiihout any, or to be sure great
goflt Thus giving way to temptations, and hearkening to excuses, they wfll
by degrees lose tbeir convictions, and become secure in sin
500 FEAttFULNESS WHICH WILL
Tbere were some wbo were guilty of backsliding, the last tirae of the revi
val of religion among us. While the lalk upon religious subjects was general
ly kept alive; they continued to seek ; but when this began to abate, and they
saw others less zealous than they had been, and especially when they saw some
miscarriages of nrofessors, they began to grow more careless, to seek less
earnestly, and to plead these things as an excuse. And they are left behind still ;
tbey are to this day in a miserable condemned state, in danger of tbe devouring
fire, and of everlasting burnings; in twice so dangerous a state as tbey were in
before tbey were awakened ; and God only knows what will become of them.
And as it was then, so we dread it will be now-.
Some who are now here present in a natural condition, are doubtless near
death ; they have not long to live in the world ; and if they seek in a dull way,
or if after they have sought for a while, tbey are guilty of backsliding, death
will come upon them long enough before there will corae such another oppor
tunity, wben they leave off seeking, it wfll not be without a design of seek
ing again some tirae or other ; but death will be too quick for them. It is not
tbe manner of dealb to wait upon men, while they take time to indulge their
sloth, and gratify their lusts. When his appointed tiii^e comes, he will do his
work. Will you put off in hopes of seeing another such time seven years hence ?
Alas ! how raany of those who are now in a natural condition may be in hell
before another seven years shall have elapsed!
Therefore now let every one look to hiraself. It is for your own soul's sal
vation. If you be foolish, and will not hearken lo counsel, will not iraprove
the opportunity when it is given you, and will not enter inlo such an open door,
you alone must bear it If you shall raiss this opportunity, and quench your
convictions now, and there shall corae another time of the outpouring ofthe
Spirit, you wfll he far less hkely to have any profit by it ; as we see now God
chiefly moves on the hearts of those who are very young, who are brought
forward upon the stage of action since the last outpouring of tbe Spirit, who
were not tben come to years of so much understanding, and consequently, not
so much in the way of the influences of the Spirit. As those wbo were grown
up, and had convictions tben, and quenched them, the most of these are
abundantly more hardened, and seem to be raore passed over. So it will pro
bably be with you hereafter, if you miss this opportunity, and quench the convic
tions of the Spirit which you have now.
As to you who had awakenings tbe last time of tbe outpouring of tbe Spirit,
and have quenched them, and remain to this day in a natural condition, let rae
call upon you also now tbat God is giving you one more such opportunity If
passing in impenitence through one such opportunity hath so hardened you,
and hath been such a great disadvantage to you, how sad will your case be,
if you shall now miss another! Wfll you not now thoroughly awake out of
sleep, bestir yourselves for your salvation, and resolve now to begin again and
never leave off more ? Many fled for refuge from the devouring fire before,
and you were left behind. Others have fled for refuge now, and still you are
left behind ; and wfll you always remain behind ? Consider, can you dwell
with devouring fire ? Can you dwell wilb everiasting burnings ? Shall chil
dren, babes and sucklings, go into the kingdora of God before you ?
How wifl you hereafter bear to see them coraing and sitting down witn
Abrahara, Isaac, and Jacob, in tbe kingdom of God, wben yourselves are thrust
out, and are surprised with fearfulness at the sight of that devouring fire, and
tbose everiasting burnings, inlo which you are about to be cast ? Take heed
lest a like threatening be fulfilled upon you wilb that which we have in Numb
SURPRISE HYPOCRITES. 501
xiv. 22, 23 : " Because all tbose men which have seen my glory, and my
miracles which I did in Egypt, and in tbe wilderness, and have tempted me
now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice ; surely they sball
not see the land which I sware unto tkeir fathers ; neither sball any of them
that provoked me see it." Togetber with verse 31: "But your little ones,
which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know lb"
land which ye have despised."
SERMON XXXI.
GREAT LARE NECESSARY, LEST WE LIVE IN SOME WA-y OF SIN
PsALH cxxxix. 23, 24. — Search me, 0 God, and know my heart ; try me, and know my thoughts ; .ni. see
if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
This ps-alra is a meditation on the omniscience of God, or upon his perfect
view and knowledge of every thing, which the Psalmist represents by that per
fect knowledge wbich God had of all his actions, bis down-sitting and his up
rising ; and of his thoughts, so that he knew his thoughts afar off ; and of his
words, " There is not a word in ray tongue," says the Psalmist, " but thou
knowest it altogether." Then he represents it by the impossibility of fleeing
from the divine presence, or of hiding from him ; so that if he should go into
heaven, or hide himself in hell, or fly lo the utterraost parts of the sea ; yet he
would not be hid from God : or if he should endeavor lo hide himself in dark
ness, yet that would not cover him ; but the darkness and light are both alike
to hira. Then he sepresents il by the knowledge whicb God bad of hira while in his
mother's womb : verses 15, 16, " My substance was not hid frora thee, when I
was made in secret ; thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect ; and
m thy book all my members were written."
After this the Psalraist observes what must be inferred as a necessary con
sequence ofthis oraniscience of God, viz., that he will slay the wicked, since he
seeth all their wickedness, and nothing of it is hid from him. And last of all,
the Psalraist iraproves this meditation upon God's all-seeing eye, in begging of
God that he would search and try hira, to see if there were any wicked way in
hira, and lead hira in the way everlasting.
Three things raay be noted in the words.
1. The act of raercy which the Psalraist implores i>f God towards bimself,
viz , tbat God would search him : " Search me, 0 God, and know my heart ;
try me, and know my thoughts."
2. In what respect he desires to be searched, viz., " to see if there were any
wicked way in hira." We are not to understand by it, that the Psalmist means
that God sbould search hira for his own information. What he had said be
fore, of God's knowing all tbings, iraplies that he hath no need of that The
Psalraisl had said, in the second verse, that God understood his thought afar off;
I e., it was all plain before him, he saw it without difficulty, or without being
forced to come nigh, and dfligenlly to observe. That which is plain to be seen,
may be seen at a distance.
Therefore, when the Psalraist prays that God would search bira, to see if
there were any wicked way in hira, be cannot mean that he should search that
be hiraself might see or be inforraed, but that the Psalmist might see and be in
formed. He prays that God would search him by his discovering light ; that
he would lead him thoroughly to discern hiraself, and see whether there were
any wicked way in him. Such figurative expressions are often used in Scrip
ture. The word of God is said to be a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
tbe heart. Not that tbe word itself discerns, but it searches and opens out
hearts to view ; so that it enables us to discern tbe temper and desires of
SELF-EX.iMINATION 503
our hearts. So God is often said to try raen. He doth nc t try tbem for his
own information, but for the discovery and manifestation of them to themselve.'
or others. 3. Observe to what end he thus desires God to search him, viz., " that he
might be led in the way everlasting ;" i. e , not only in a way which may Lave
a specious show, and appear right to hira for a while, and in which he may
have peace and quietness for the present ; but in the way which will bold, wbich
wifl stand the test, which he may confidently abide by forever, and always ap
prove of as good and right, and in which he raay always bave peace and joy.
It is said, that " the way of the ungodly shall perish," Psalm l 6. In opposi
tion to this, the way of tbe righteous is in the text said to last forever.
DOCTRINE.
All raen should be mucb concerned to know, whether they do not live in
some way of sin.
David was mucb concerned to know this concerning hiraself : he searched
hiraself, be examined his own heart and ways ; but he did not trust lo that ; he
was stfll afraid lest there might be sorae wicked way in him which had escaped
his notice : Iherefore he cries to God to search him. And his earnestness ap
pears in the frequent repetition of the same request in different words : Search
me, 0 God, and know -my heart ; try me, and know my thoughts. He was
very earnest to know whether tbere were not some evil way or other in him, in
wbich be went on, and did not take notice of it
1. We ought to be much concerned to know whelher we do not live in a
TATE OF SIN. Afl unregenerate men live in sin. We are born under the power
and dorainion of sin, are sold under sin ; every unconverted sinner is a devoted
servant to sin and Satan. We should look upon it as of the greaiest import
ance tons, to know in whal slate we are, whelher we ever bad any change
made in our hearts from sin to holiness, or whelher we be not still in the gall
of bitterness and bond of iniquity ; whether ever sin were truly mortified in us ;
whether we do not live in the sin of unbelief, and in the rejection of the Saviour.
This is what the apostie insists upon with the Corinthians : 2 Cor. xiii. 5, " Ex
amine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your own selves ; know ye
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates ?"
Those who entertain the opinion and bope of themselves, that they are godly,
should take great care to see that their foundation be right. Those that are in
doubt sbould not give themselves rest lill the matier be resolved.
Every unconverted person lives in a sinful way. He not only lives in a
particular evil practice, but the whole course of his life is sinful. The imagina
tion of the thoughts of his heari is only evfl continually. He not only doth evil,
but he doth no good : Psal. xiv. 3, " They are altogether become filthy : there
is none that doeth good, no not one."* Sin is an unconverted raan's trade ; il
is the work and business of his life ; for he is the servant of sin. And ordinarily
hypocrites, or those who are wicked raen, and yet think tberaselves godly, and
make a profession accordingly, are especially odious and aborainable lo God.
2. We ought to be rauch concerned to know whether we do not live in some
particular way which is offensive and displeasing to God : this is what I prin
cipally intend in the doctrine. We ought to be much concerned lo know whe
ther we do not live in the gratification of sorae lust, either in practice or in our
thoughts; whether we do not live in the oraission of sorae duty, some thing
ivhich God expects we should do : whelher we do not go into some practice
b04 SELF-EXAMINATION.
or manner of behavior, which is not warrantable. We sbould inqui.-f *betfl«
we do not live in some practice which is against our light, and whether we do
not' allow ourselves in known sins.
"We should be strict to inquire whether or no we have not hitherto allowed
ourselves in sorae or other sinful way, through wrong principles and mistaken
notions of our duly : whether we have not lived in the practice of sorae things
offensive to God through want of care, and watchfulness, and observation of our
selves. We should be concerned to know whether we live not in some way
wbich dolh not becorae the profession we make ; and whether our practice in
sorae things be not unbecoming Christians, contrary to Christian rules, not suita
ble for the disciples and followers of the Holy Jesus, the Lamb of God. We
ought to be concerned to know tbis, because,
( 1.) God requires of us, that we exercise the utmost watchfulness and dfli-
gence in his service. Reason teaches, that it is our duty to exercise the utmost
care, that we raay know tbe mind and will of God, and our duty in all the
branches of it, and to use our utmost diligence in every thing to do it; because
the service of God is the great business of our lives, it is that work which is the
end of our being ; and God is worthy, that we should serve him to the utmost
of our power in all things. Tbis is what God often expressly requires of us :
Deut. iv. 9, " Take heed to thyself, and keep tby soul diligently, lest thou forget
the ihings that thine eyes have seen, and lest they depait from thy heart afl the
days of tby life." And v. 15, 16, " Take ye therefore good heed to yourselves,
lest ye corrupt yourselves." And Deut vl 17, " You sball dfligenlly keep the
coraraandraents of the Lord your God, and his testimonies, and bis statutes
which he hath coraraanded thee." And Prov. iv. 23, " Keep thy heart wilh
all diligence ; for out of it are the issues of life."
So we are commanded by Christ to watch and pray. Matt xxvi. 41; and
Luke xxi. 34, " Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be
overcharged wilh surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of tbis life." Eph.
V. 15, " See that ye walk circumspectly."
So that if we be found in any evil way whatsoever, it will not excuse us,
tbat it was through inadvertence, or that we were not aware of it ; as long as
it is through want of that care and watchfulness in us, wbich we ought to have
maintained. (2.) If we live in any way of sin, we live in a way wbereby God is dishon
ored ; but the honor of God ought to be supremely regarded by all. If every
one would raake it his great care in all things to obey God, to live justly and
bt)lily, to walk in every thing according to Christian rules; and would raain
tain a strict, watchful, and scrulinous eye over himself, to see if there vvere no
wicked way in hira ; would give diligence to araend whatsoever is amiss ; would
avoid every unholy, unchristian, and sinful way ; and if the practice of all were
universally as becoraelh Christians, how greatly would this be to the glory of
God, and of Jesus Christ ! How greatly would it be to the credit and honor of
religion ! How would it tend to excite a high esteera of religion in spectators,
and to recommend a holy life ! How would it stop the moutiis of objectors and
opposers ! How beautiful and amiable would religion then appear, when ex
eraplified and holden forth in the lives of Christians, not raairaed and rautilated,
but whole and entire, as it were in its true shape, having all its parts and ils
proper beauty ! Religion would then appear to be an amiable thing indeed.
If lho.sc who call theraselves Christians generally, tbus walked in all the
paths of virtue and hohness, it would tend raore to the advanceraent of the
kingdom of Christ in the vorld, tbe conviction of sinners, and the propagation
SELF-EXAMINATION. 506
of religion among unbelievers, than all the sermons in the world, so long as the
lives of those who are called Christians are as they are now.
For want of this concern and watchfulness in the degree in wbich it ought
to take place, many truly godly persons adorn not their profession as they ought
to do, and, on the contrary, in some tbings dishonor it. For want of being so
much concerned as tbey ought to be, to know whether they do not walk in
some way that is unbecoming a Christian, and offensive to God ; their behavior
in some ihings is very unlovely, and such as is an offence and stumbling-block
to others, and gives occasion to tbe enemy to blaspheme.
(3.) We should be much concerned to know whether we do not live in
some way of sin, as we would regard our own interest If we live in any way
of sin, it wifl be exceedingly to our hurt Sin, as it is the most hateful evil, it
is that whicb is most prejudicial to our interest, and tends most to our hurl of
any thing in the world. If we live in any way that is displeasing to God, it
may be tbe ruin of our souls. Though raen reform all other wicked practices,
yet if they live in but one sinful way, which they do not forsake, il raay prove
their everlasting undoing.
If we live in any way of sin, we shall thereby provoke God to anger, and
bring guilt upon our own souls. Neither will it excuse us, that we were not
sensible how evil that way was in which we walked ; that we did not consider
it ; that we were blind as to any evil in il. W^e contract guilt not only by
living in those ways which we know, 'out in those which we raight know to be
sinful, if we were but sufficiently concerned to know what is sinful and what
not, and to exaraine ourselves, and search our own hearts and ways. If we
walk in some evil way, and know it not for want of watchfulness and considera
tion, that will not excuse us ; for we ought to have watched and considered
and raade the raost diligent inquiry.
If we walk in some evil way, it wfll be a great prejudice to us in this world.
We sball thereby be deprived of that comfort which we otherwise mighl enjoy,
and shall expose ourselves to a great deal of soul trouble, and sorrow, and dark
ness, which otherwise w< night have been free from. A wicked way is the
original way of pain or grief In it we shall expose ourselves to the judgments
of God, even in this world ; and we shall be great losers by it, in respect to our
eternal interest; and that though we raay not live in a way of sin wilfully, and
with a deliberate resolution, but carelessly, and tbrough the deceitfulness of our
corruptions. However we shall offend God, and prevent the flourishing of grace
in our hearts, if not the very being of it.
Many are very careful that they do not proceed in mistakes, where their
temporal interest is concerned. They will be strictly careful that they be not
led on blindfold in the bargains whicb they make ; in their traffick one with
another, they are careful to have their eyes about thera, and to see that they go
safely in these cases ; and wby not, where the interest of their souls is concerned ?
(4.) We sbould be much concerned to know whether we do not live in
sorae way of sin, because we are exceedingly prone to walk in some sucb way.
The heart of man is naturally prone to sin ; the weight of the soul is naturally
thtt way, as the .stone by its weight tendeth downwards. And there is very
m icb of a remaining proneness to sin in the saints. Though sin be mortified in
thera, yet there isa body of sin and death remaining ; there are all raanner of
lusts and corrupt inclinations. We are exceeding apt to get into some ifl path
or other. Man is so prone to sinful ways, that without maintaining a tonstant.
strict watch over himself, no other can be expected than that he will walk in
some way of sin.
Vol. IV 64
606 SELF-EXAMINATION.
Our hearts are so full of sin, that they are ready tc Defray us. That to
whicb men are prone, they are apt to get into before they are aware. Sin ia
apt to steal in upon us unawares. Besides this, we live in a world where we
continually meet with temptations ; we walk in tbe midst of snares ; and the
devfl, a subtie adversary, is continually watching over us, endeavoring, by all
manner of wiles and devices, to lead us astray inlo by-paths. 2 Cor. xl 2, 8,
" I am jealous over you. I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent begufled
Eve through bis subtlety ; so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ." 1 Pet v. 8, " Be sober, be vigilant ; because your adversary
the devfl, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."
These Ihings should make us the more jealous of ourselves.
(5.) We ought to be concerned to know whether we do not live in some
way of sin ; because tbere are raany who live in such ways, and do not consider
it, or are not sensible of it It is a thing of great iraportance that we should
know it, and yet the knowledge is not to be acquired without difficulty. Many
live in ways which are offensive to God, who are not sensible of it. They are
strangely blinded in this case. Psal. xix. 12, " Who can understand his errors ?
Cleanse thou me from secret faults." By secret faults, the Psalmist means
tbose which are secret to himself, those sins which were in hira, or whicb he
was guilty of, and yet was not aware of
That the knowing whelher we do not live in some way of sin is attended
with difficulty, is not because the rules of judging in such a case are not plain
or plentiful. God hath abundantly taugbt us what we ought, and what we
ought not to do ; and the rules by which we are to walk are often set before us
inthe preaching ofthe word. So that the difficulty of knowing whether there
be any wicked way in us, is not for want of external light, or for want of God's
having told us plainly and abundantly what are wicked ways. But that many
persons live in ways which are displeasing to God, and yet are not sensible of
it, raay arise frora the following things.
1. Frora the blinding, deceitful nature of sin. The heart of man is fufl of
sin and corruption, and that corruption is of an exceeding darkening, blinding
nature. Sin always carries a degree of darkness with it ; and the raore it pre
vails, the more it darkens and deludes the raind. Il is frora hence that the
knowing whether there be any wicked way in us, is a difficufl thing. The
difficulty is not at all for want of ught without us, not at all because the word
of God is not plain, or the rules not clear ; but it is because of the darkness
within us. Tbe light shines clear enough around us, but the fault is in oiir
eyes ; they are dim, are darkened and blinded by a pernicious disteraper.
Sin is ofa deceitful nature^ becau.se, so far as it prevails, so far it gains the
inclination and will, and that sways and biasses the judgment So far as any
lust prevails, so far it biasses the mind to approve of it. So far as any sin sways
tbe inclination or wifl, so far that sin seems pleasing and good to the man. And
that which is pleasing, tbe raind is prejudiced to think is right. Hence when
any lust hath so gaiiied upon a raan, as to get him into a sinful way Or practice ;
it having gained his wifl,- also prejudices his understanding. And the more
irregularly a raan walks, the more will his mind probably be darkened and
blinded ; because by so much the more doth sin prevafl.
Hence many men who live in ways whicb are not agreeable to the rules of
God's word, yet are not sensible of it ; and it is a difficult thing to make them
sensible of it ; because the same lust that leads thera into that evil way, blinds
them in it Thus, if a man live in a way of malice or envy, tbe more raalice
or envy prevails, the more will it blind his understanding to approve of it The
SELF-EXAMINATION. 507
more a man hates his neighbor, the more will he be disposed to think tbat he
has just cause to hate him, and that his neighbor is hateful, and deserves to be
hat-ed, and tbat it is not bis duty to love him. So if a man live in any way of
lasciviousness, the more his impure lust prevails, the more sweet and pleasant
wifl it make the sin appear, and so the more will he be disposed and prejudiced
to think there is no evil in it.
So the more a man lives in a way of covetousness, or tbe raore inordinately
he desires tbe profits of tbe world, the more will he tbink hiraself excusable in
BO doing, and the more will he tbink that he has a necessity of tbose tbings,
and cannot do wiihout them. And if they be necessary, tben he is excusable
for eagerly desiring them. The same might be shown of all the lusts which are
in men's hearts. By how mucb the more they prevafl, by so much more do
they bhnd the mind, and dispose the judgraent to approve of them. All lusts
are deceitful lusts. Eph. iv. 22, " Tbat ye put off, concerning the former con
versation the old man, wbich is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." And
even godly men may for a tirae be blinded and deluded by a lust, so far as to
hve in a way which is displeasing to God.
The lusts of men's hearts, prejudicing them in favor of sinful practices, to
which tbose lusts tend, and in which they delight ; this stirs up carnal reason, and
puts raen, with all tbe subtlety of which they are capable, to invent pleas and
arguments to justify such practices. When men are very strongly inclined and
tempted to any wicked practice, and conscience troubles them about it, they
will rack their brains to find out arguments to stop tbe moutb of conscience,
and to make themselves believe that they may lawfully proceed in that practice.
When men have entered upon an ill practice, and proceeded in it, then their
self-love prejudices them to approve of it. Men do not love to condemn them
selves; tbey are prone to flatter themselves, and are prejudiced in their own
favor, and in favor of whatever is found in themselves. Hence they will find
out good names, by which to call their evil ; dispositions and practices ; they
wfll make thera virtuous, or at least will make them innocent. Their covet
ousness they will call prudence and diligence in business. If tbey rejoice at
another's calamity, they pretend it is because they hope it will do hira good^
and' will bumble him. If tbey indulge in excessive drinking, it is because their
constitutions require it. If tbey talk against, and backbite tbeir neighbor, they
cafl it zeal against sin ; it is because they would bear a testimony against such
wickedness. If they set up their wflls to oppose others in public affairs, then
they call tbeir wflfulness conscience, or respect to the public good. Thus tbey
find good names for all tbeir evil ways.
Men are very apt to bring their principles to their practices, and not their
practices to their principles, as they ought to do. They, in then practice, com
ply not with their consciences; but all their strife is to bring their consciences
to comply with their practice
On tbe acconnt of this deceitfulness of sin, and because we have so much
sin dwefling in our hearts, it is a difficult thing to pass a true judgment on our
own ways and practices. On tbis account we should make diligent search, and be
much concerned to know, whether there be not some wicked way in us. Heb.
ui 12, 13, " Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief in departing from the hving God. But exhort one anotber daily, while
it is called to-day, lest any ol you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin."
Men can more easily see faults in others than they can in themselves. Wben
they see others out of the way, tbey will presently condemn them, when per
haps thev do, or haYfe done the same, or tbe like theraselves, and in themselveg
608 SELF-EXAMINATION.
justify it. Men can discern motes in others' eyes, jetter than they can beams
in tbeir own. Prov. xxl 2, " Every way of raan is right in his own eyes."
The heart in this matter is exceedingly deceitful. Jer. xvii. 9, " The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked : wbo can know it V We
ought not Iherefore to trust in our own hearts in tbis matter, but to keep a jeal
ous eye on ourselves, to be prying into our own hearts and ways, and to cry to
God that be would search us. Prov. xxviii. 26, " He that trusteth bis own
heart is a fool."
2. Satan also sets in with our deceitful lusts, and labors to blind us in this
matter. He is continually endeavoring to lead us into sinful ways, and sets in
with carnal reason to flatter us in such ways, and tc blind the conscience. He
is the prince of darkness ; he labors to blind and deceive ; it bath been bis work
ever since he began it with our first parents.
3. Soraetiraes raen are not sensible, because they are stupified through custom.
Custora in an evil practice stupifies the raind, so that itmakes ariy way of sin^
which at first was offensive to conscience, after a while, lo seera barraless.
4. Soraetiraes persons live in ways of sin, and are not sensible of it, because
they are bhnded by coraraon custora, and tbe exaraples of others. There are so
raany who go into tbe practice, and it is so coramon a custom, that it is es
teeraed little or no discredit lo a raan ; it is little testified against. This causes
some things lo appear innocent, which are very displeasing to God, and abom
inable in his sight. Perhaps we see them practised by those of whom webave
a high esteera, by our superiors, and those who are accounted wise men. This
greatly prepossesses the mind in favor of thern, and takes off the sense of their
evil. Or if they be observed to be commonly practised by those wbo are ac
counted godly men, men of experience in religion, this tends greatly to harden
the heart, and blind the raind with respect to any evil practice.
5. Persons are in great danger of living in ways of sin, and not being sensi
ble of it, for want of duly regarding and considering their duty in tbe full extent
of it. There are some who hear of the necessity of reforming frora all sins,
and attending all duties, and will set theraselves to perforra sorae particular du
ties, at the sarae time neglecting others. Perhaps their thoughts will be wholly
taken up about religious duties, such as prayer in secret, reading the Scriptures,
and other good books, going to public worship and giving diligent attention,
keeping the Sabbath, and serious meditation. "They seem to regard these things,
as though they comprised their duty in its full extent, as if this were their
whole work ; and moral duties towards their neighbors, their duties in the re
lations in which they stand, their duties as husbands or wives, as brethren or
sisters, or their duties as neighbors, seera not to be considered by them.
They consider not the necessity of tbose things : and when they hear of
earnestly seeking salvation in a way of diligent attendance on all duties, they
seera to leave those out of their thoughts, as if they were not meant ; nor any
other duties, except reading, and praying, and keeping the Sabbath, and the
hke. Or if they do regard some parts of their moral duty, it may be other
branches of it are not considered. Thus if they be just in their deahngs, yet
perhaps they neglect deeds of charity. They know they must not defraud their
neighbor ; they raust not lie ; tbey raust not comrait uncleanness ; but seera not
to consider what an evil it is to talk against others lightly, or to take up a re
proach against thera, or to contend and quarrel with thera, or to live contrary
to the rules of the gospel in their family relations, or not to instruct their chil
dren or servants.
Many men seem to be very conscientious in sorae thirigs, in some branches
SELF-EXAMINATION. 509
of their duty on which tbey keep their eye, when othei important branches arc
entirely neglected, and seem not to be noticed by them. Tbey regard not their
duty in the full extent of it. APPLICATION.
The use I sball make of this doctrine is, to stir up in you the concern of
whicb I have been speaking, and to lead you to a strict inquiry, whether you do
not live in some way of sin.
1. I sh-all propose some directions for you to follow, that you may discover
whether you do not live in some way of sin.
2. I shall mention some particulars, concerning vyhich you may examine
yourselves, in order to know whelher you do not live in some way of sin.
3. I sball mention some things which show the importance of knowing and
forsaking the ways of sin in wbich you live.
I. 1 shall show wbat method you ought to take, in order to find out whelh
er you do not live in some way of sin. This, as halh been observed, is a diffi
cult thing to be known ; but it is not a matier of so much difficulty, but that if
persons were sufficiently concerned about it, and strict and thorough in inqui
ring and searching, it might, for the most part, be discovered ; men raight knov/
whether tbey live in any way of sin, or not. Persons wbo are deeply concerned
to please and obey God, need not, under tbe light we enjoy, go on in ways of
sin, through ignorance. It is true, tbat our hearts are exceedingly deceitful ;
but God, in his holy word, bath given that light with respect to our duty, which
is accoraraodated to the state of darkness in which we are. So tbat by thorough
care and inqtury, we raay know our duty, and know whether or no we live in
any sinful way. And every one who hath any true love to God and his duty,
will be glad to bave any assistance in this inquiry. It is wilh sucb persons a
concern wbich hes with much weight upon their spirits, in all Ihings to walk
as God would have them, and so as to please and honor hira. If they live in
any way which is offensive to God, they wifl be glad to know it, and do by no
means choose to have it concealed frora them.
All those also, -who in good earnest make the inquiry. What shall I do to he
saved ? wfll be glad to know whether they do not hve in sorae sinful way of
behavior. For if they live in any such way, it is a great disadvantage to tbem
wilh respect to tbat great concern. It behooves every one who is seeking sal
vation, to know and avoid every sinful way in which he lives. The means by
which we must come to the knowledge of this, are two, viz., the knowledge of
the rule, and the knowledge of ourselves.
1st If we would know whether we do not live in some way of sin, we
should take a great deal of pains to be thoroughly acquainted with tbe rule.
God hath given us a true and perfect rule by whicb we ought to walk. And
that we might be able, notwithstanding our darkness, and the disadvantages
which attend us, to know our duty ; he halh laid the rule before us abundantly.
Whal a fell and abundant revelation of the mind of God have we in tbe Scrip
tures ! And bow plain is it in what relates to practice ! How often are rules re
peated ! In how many various forms are tbey revealed, that we might the more
fiilly understand them !
But lo what purpose will all this care of God to inform us be, if we neglect
the revelation which God hatb made of his mind, and take no care to become
acquainted with iti It is impossible tbat we should know whether we do not
liv£ in a way of sin, unless we know the rule by which we are to walk. The
610 SELF-EXAMINATION.
sinfulness of any way consists in its disagreement fromthe rule; arid we can
not know whether it agree with the rule or nor not, unless we be acquaint
ed with the rule. Rom iii. 20, " By the law is the knowledge sin." •
Therefore, lest we go in ways dtspleasing to God, we ought with the great
est diligence to study the rules whicb God bath given us. We ought lo read
and search the Holy Scriptures much, and to do it with the design lo know the
whole of our duty, and in order that the w^ord of God may be "a lamp linto
our feet, and a light unto our paths," Psalm cxix. 105. Every one ought to
strive to get knowledge in divine tbings, and to grow in such knowledge, to
tbe end that he raay know his duty, and know what God would have hira to
do. These things being so, are not the greater part of men very mucb to blame
in that they take no raore pains or care to acquire tbe knowledge of divine
things 1 In that they no raore study the Holy Scriptures, and other books which
might inform them ? As if it were the work of ministers only, to take pains
to acquire this knowledge. But wby is it so much a minister's work to strive
after knowledge, unless it be, that others may acquire knowledge by him 1
Will not many be found inexcusable in the sinful ways in which they live
through ignorance and mistake, because their ignorance is a wilful, allowed ig
norance 1 They are ignorant of their duty, but it is tbeir own fault that they
are so ; they have advantages enough lo know, and raay know it if they will ;
bul they take no pains to acquire knowledge in such things. They .are careful
to acquire knowledge, and to be well skflled in their outward affairs, upon
whicb their temporal interest depends ; but will not take pains to know tbeir
duty. We ought to lake great pains to be well inforraed, especially in those things
which relate to our particular cases.
2dly. The other means is tbe knowledge of ourselves, as subject to the rule.
If we would know whether we do not live in some way of sin, we should take
the utmost care to be well acquainted wilh ourselves, as well as with the rule,
that we may be able to corapare ourselves wilh the rule. When we have
found what the rule is, then we should be strict in examining ourselves, whether
or no we be conforraed to the rule. This is the direct way in which our char
acters are to be discovered. It is one thing wherein raan differs frora brute
creatures, that he is capable of self-reflection, or of reflecting upon his own ac
tions, and what passes in his own mind, and considering the nature and quality
of thera. And doubtless it was partiy for this end that God gave us this power,
which is denied to other creatures, that we raight know ourselves, and consider
our own ways.
We should exaraine our hearts and ways, until we have satisfactorily dis
covered either their agreeraent or disagreement with tbe rules of Scripture.
This is a matter that requires the utmost diligence, lest we overlook our own
irregularities, lest sorae evil way in us should lie bid under a disguise, and pass
uriobserved. One would think we arc under greater advantages to be acquainted
with ourselves, than with any thing else ; for we are always present with ourselves,
and have an iramediate consciousness of our own actions : all that passeth in us,
or is done by us, is imraediately under our eye. Yet really in sorae respects
tbe knowledge of nolhing is so difficult to be obtained, as the knowledge of
ourselves. We should therefore use great dfligence in prying intc) the secfets
of our hearts, and in examining all our ways and practices. That you may the
raore successfully use those means to know whether you do not live in some
way of sin ; be advised.
SELF-EXAMINATION. 511
1. Evermore to join self-reflection with reading and hearing tbe word of God
When you read or bear, reflect on yourselves as you go along, comparing your
selves and your own ways with wbat you read and hear. Reflect and ccmsider
what agreement or disagreement there is between tbe word and your ways.
The Scriptures testify against all manner of sin, and contain directions for every
duty ; as the apostie saith, 2 Tim. iii. 16. " And is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." Therefore wben you
there read the rules given us by Christ and bis apostles, reflect and consider.
each one of you with himself. Do 1 live according to this rule 1 Or do I live
in any respect conlrary to it 1
When you read in the historical parts of Scripture an account of tbe sins of
which others bave been guilty, reflect on yourselves as you go along, and in
quire wbether you do not in sorae degree live in the same or like practices.
'When you tbere read accounts how God reproved the sins of others and exf
cuted judgraents upon them for their sins, examine whether you be not guilty
of things of the same nature. When you read the exaraples of Christ, and of
the saints recorded in Scripture, inquire whelher you do not live in ways con
trary to those examples. When you read tbere bow God commended and
rewarded any persons for tbeir virtues and good deeds, inquire whether you
perform those duties for wbich they were commended and rewarded, or whelher
you do not live in the contrary sins or vices. Let rae further direct you, particu
larly to read the Scriptures to these ends, that you may corapare and exaraine
yourselves in the raanner now raentioned.
So if you would know whether you do not live in some way of sin, when
ever you hear any sin testified against, or any duty urged, in the preaching of
the word, be careful to look back upon yourselves, to compare yourselves and your
own ways wilh what you bear, and strictly examine yourselves, whether you live
in tbis or the other sinful way which you hear testified against ; and whether
you do this duty which you hear urged. Make use of the word as a glass, where
in you may behold yourselves.
How few are there who do this as they ought to do ! Who, while the min
ister is testifying against sin, are busy with Ihemselves in examining their own
hearts -and ways ! The generality rather think of others, how this cr that per
son lives in a manner contrary to what is preached ; so that there may be hun
dreds of things delivered in the preaching of the word, which properly belong
to thera, and are well suited lo their cases ; yet it never so much as comes inlo
their minds, that what is delivered any way concerns them. Their rainds read
ily fix upon others, and they can charge others, but never think with themselves
whether or no they be the persons.
2. If you live in any ways which are generally condemned by the better,
and more"sober sort of men, be especially careful to inquire concerning these,
whether they be not ways of sin. Perphaps you bave argued -w'ith yourselves,
that such or .such a practice is lawful; you cannot see any evfl in it How
ever, if il be generally condemned by godly ministers, and the better and raore
pious sort of people, il ceriainly looks suspiciously, whether or no there be not
wme evil in it ; so that you may well be put upon inquiring 'with the utmost
strictness, whether it be not sinful. Tbe practice being so generally disapprov
ed ofby those who in such cases are raost likely to be in the right, raay i-eason-
ably put you upon more than ordinarily nice and dihgent inquiry concerning the
lawfulness or unlawfulness of it.
3. Exaraine yonrselves, whether all the ways in which you hve, are likely
to be pleasant to think of upon a death-bed. Persons often in health allow and
612 SELF-EXAMINATION.
plead for tho.^e things, which they would not dare to do, if tbey looked upon
themselves as shortly about to go out of the world. They in a great measure
still their consciences as to ways in whicb they walk, and keep them pretty easy.
while death is thought of as at a distance : yet reflections on tbese sarae ways
are very uncoraforlable when they are going out of the world. Con.science is
not so easily blinded and muffled then as at other limes.
Consider Iherefore and inquire diligently whether or no you do not live in
some practice or other, as to the lawfulness of whicb, when it shall co.ne into
your minds upon vour death-bed, you wifl choose to have some further satisfac
tion, and I'.orae belter arguraent than you now have, to prove that it is not sin
ful, in order to your being easy about it Think over your particular ways, and
try yourselves, with the awful expectation of soon g'jlng out of the world into
eternity, and earnestly endeavor irapartially to judge what ways you will on a
death-bed approve ol, and rejoice in, and what you will disapprove of, and wish
you had let alone.
4. Be advised to consider wbat others say of you, and improve il to this end,
to know whether you do not live in some way of sin. Although men are blind
to their own faults, yet they easily discover the faults of others, and are apt
enough to speak of tbem. Sometiiiic-s persons live in ways which do not at all
become them, ygt are blind to it themselves, not seeing the deformity of their
own ways, while it is raost plain and evident to others. They theraselves can
not see it, ytt others cannot shut their eyes againsi it, cannot avoid seeing it
For instance. Some persons are of a very proud behavior, and are not sen
sible of it ; but it appears notorious to others. Some are of a very worldly
spirit, they are set after the worlcl, so as to be noted for it, so as to have a name
for it ; yet they seera not to be sensible of it themselves. Some are of a very
malicious and envious spirit ; and others see it, and to thera it appears very hate
ful ; yet they tberaselves do not reflect upon it Therefore since there is no
trusting to our own hearts, and our own eyes in such cases, we sbould make our
improveraent of what others say of us, observe whal they charge us wilh, and
whal fault they find with us, and strictly exaraine whether tbere be not founda
tion for it.
If others charge us wilh being proud ; or worldly, close, and niggardly ; or
spiteful and raahcious ; or with any other ill temper or practice; we should im
prove it in self- reflection, to inquire whelher it be not so. And though the im
putation raay seera to us to be very groundless, and we think that tbey, in charg
ing us so and so, are influenced by no good spirit ; yet if we act prudentiy, we
shall take so rauch notice of it -as to raake it an occasion of examining ourselves.
Thus we should iraprove what our ft lends say to us and of us, when they,
frora friendship, tell us of any thing which they observe araiss in us. It is most
imprudent, as well as most unchristian, to take it araiss, and resent it fll, when
we are thus told of our faults : we shoukl rather rejoice in it, that wt are shown
tbe spots which are upon us. Tbus also we should impiove what oar enemies
say of us. If they, from an fll spirit, reproach and revile us to our faces, we
shcjuld consider it, so far as to reflect inwardly upon ourselves, and inquire wheth
er il be not so, as they charge us. For though what is said, be said in a re
proachful, reviling manner; yet tbere may be loo much truth in it When
rnen revile others even from an ill spirit towards them ; yet they are likely to
fix upon real faults ; they are likely to fall upon us where we are weakest and
most defective, aod where we have given them most occasion. An eneray will
soonest attack us where we can least defend ourselves ; and a man tbat reviles
us, though he do it from an unchristian spirit, and in an unchristian raanner, yet
SELF-EXAMINATION. 513
Will be most likely to speak of that, for wbich w'e are really most to blame, ana
are most faulted by others.
So when we bear of others talking against us behind our backs, though they do
very ifl in so doing, yet the right improvement ofii will be, to refiect upon our
selves, and consider whelher we indeed have not those faults which tbey lay to
our charge. This will be a raore Christian and a more wjse improvement of it,
than to be in a rage, to revile again, and to entertain an ill wfll towards them
for their evil speaking. Tbis is the most wise and prudent improveraent of
such things. Hereby we may gel good out of evil ; and tbis is the surest way
to defeat tbe designs of our enemies in reviling and backbiting us. They do it
from ill will, and to do us an injury ; but in this way we may turn it to our
own good.
5. Be advised, when you see others' faults, to examine whether there be
not the sarae in yourselves. This is not done by many, as is evident from this,
that they are so ready to speak of others' faults, and aggravate thera, wben they
have the very sarae themselves. Thus, nolhing is raore common than for proud
men to accuse others of pride, and to declaim against thera upon that account
So it is common for dishonest men to coraplain of being wronged by others.
When a person seeth ill dispositions and practices in others, he is not under the
sarae disadvantage in seeing their odiousness and deformity, as wben be looks
upon any ill disposition or practice in bimself He can see bow odious tbese
and those things are in others ; he can easily see what a hateful thing pride is
in another ; and so of malice, and other evil dispositions or practices. In others
he can easily see their deformity ; for he doth not look through such a deceit
ful glass, as wben be sees the sarae tbings in himself
Therefore, when you see others' faults ; when you take notice, bow such
a one acts araiss, what an fll spirit he shows, and how unsuitable his behavior
is; wben you bear others speak of it, and when you yourselves find fault wilh
others in their dealings with you, or in things wherein you are any way con
cerned with tbem ; then reflect, and consider, wbether there be nothing of the
same nature in yourselves. Consider that these things are just as deformed and
hateful in you as they are in others. Pride, a haughty spirit and carriage, are
as odious in you as they are in your neighbor. Your malicious and revengeful
spirit towards your neighbor, is just as nateful as a malicious and revengeful
spirit in him towards you. It is as unreasonable for you to wrong, and to be
dishonest with your neighbor, as it is for him to wrong and be dishonest with you
Itis as injurious and unchristian for you to talk against others behind their backs
as it is for others to do the same with respect to you.
6. Consider the ways in which others are blinded as to tbe sins in which
they live, and strictiy inquire whether you be not Winded in the sarae ways.
You are sensible that others are blinded by their hists ; consider whether the
prevalence of sorae carnal appetite or lust of tbe raind have not blinded you
You see how others are blinded by their teraporal interest ; inquire whether your
teraporal interest do not blind you also in sorae things, so as to raake you ap
prove of things, and allow yourselves in things which are not right You are
as liable lo be blinded tbrough inclination and interest, and have tbe same de
ceitful and wicked hearts as other men : Prov. xxvn. 19, " As in water fact
answereth to face, so the heart of man to raan."
11. I proceed now to the second thing proposed in the use of \'he .loctrine,
VIZ., to mention some particulars as to which it becomes you to exaraine your
selves, that you may know wbether you do not live in some way of sin. I de
sire all tbose would strictly exaraine themselves in tbe following particulars,
Vol. IV. 66
514 SELF-EXAMINATION.
who are concerned not to live in any way of sin, as I hope tbere are a .onslder-
able number of such now present; and this certainly will be the case whh all
wbo are godly, and afl who are duly concerned for their own salvation.
1. Examine yourselves wilh respect lo the Sabbath day, whether you do noi
live in some way of breaking or profaning God's holy Sabbath. Do you
strictly in all things k,eep this day, as sacred to God, in governing your thoughts,
words, and actions, as the word of God requires on this holy day 1 Inquire
whether you do not only fafl in particulars, but whether you do not live in
sorae WAY, whereby tbis day is profaned ; and particularly inquire concerning
three things.
(1.) Whetner it be not a frequent thing with you to encroach upon the
Sabbath al ils beginning,* and after the Sabbath is begun to be out al your
work, or following that woridly business which is proper to be done only in
our own time. If this be a thing in wbich you aflow yourselves, you live in a
way of sin ; for it is a thing which can by no means be justified. You have
HO more warrant lo be out with your team, or to be cutting wood, or doing any
other woridly business, imraediately after tbe Sabbath is begun, than you have
to do it in the raiddle of tbe day. Tbe time is as holy near the beginning of
the Sabbath as it is in ll>e middle ; it is the whole that we are to rest, and to
keep holy, and devote to God ; we have no license to lake any part of it to our
selves. When men often thus encroach upon the Sabbath, it cannot be from any
necessity which can justify thera ; it can only be for want of due care, and due
regard to holy tirae. They can whh due care get their work finished, so that
they can leave it by a certain hour. This is evident by tbis, that when they
are under a natural necessity of finishing their work by a certain tirae, then they
do take that care as to have done before that time comes : as for instance, when
they are aware that at such a tirae it will be dark, and they will not be able to
follow their work any longer, but wfll be under a natural necessity of leaving
off; why, then, they wfll and do take care ordinarily lo have finished then
work before that time ; and this although the darkness sometimes begins sooner,
and sometimes later.
This shows, tbat with due care men can ordinarily have done their work by
a limited time. If proper care will finish their work by a limited tirae when
tbey are under a natural necessity of it, tbe sarae care would as wefl finish il by
a certain tirae when we are only under a moral necessity. If it w-ere so.
that men knew that as soon as ever the Sabbath should begin, it wo-uld be
perfectly dark, so that they would be under a natural necessity of leaving off
their work abroad by that tirae, then we should see that they would generally
have tbeir work done before the lime. This shows that it is only for want of care,
and of regard to the holy command of God, that men so frequently bave sorae of
their work abroad to do after the Sabbath is begun.
Nehemiah look great care that no burden should be borne after the begin
ning of the Sabbath : Nehem. xin. 19, " And it carae to pass, tbat when the
gales of Jerusalera began to be dark before the Sabbath," i. e., began to be
darkened by the shade of the mountains before sunset, " I commanded that the
gates sbould be shut, and charged that they shoifld not be opened till after the
Sabbath ; and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should be nc
burden brought in on the Sabbath day."
* It maybe necesaai-y here to inform some readers, that it was tJie sentiment of the author, aa
well as of the country in general -where he lived, that the Sabbath beg-ins with the evening precedirg
the day, and is to he celebrated from evening to evening, Lev. xxiii. 32.
SELF-EXAMINATION. 615
(2.) Examine whether jt be not your manner to lalk on Ibe Sabbath of
tilings unsuitable for holy time. If you clo not move sucb talk yourselves, yet
when you fall into company Ihat sets you the example, are you not wont to
ioin in diverting talk, or in talk of worldly affairs, quite wide from any relation
to the business ofthe day 1 There is as much leason that you should keep the
Sab'oath holy with your tongues, as with your hands. If il be unsuitable for
you to employ your bands about common and worldly tbings, wby is it not as
unsuitable for you to employ your tongues about thera ?
(3.) Inquire wbether it be not your manner to loiter away tbe lime of tbe
Sabbath, and to spend it in a geat measure in idleness, in doing nothing. Do
you not spend more time on Sabbath day, than on other days, in your beds, or
otherwise idling away the time, not iraproving it as a precious opportunity of
seeking God, and your own s-alvation?
2. Examine youi-selve.5, whether you do not live in some way of sin wilh
respect to the institutions of God's bouse. Here I sball mention several in
stances. (1.) Do you not wholly neglect some of those instructions, as particularly
the sacraraent of the Lord's Supper 1 Perhaps you pretend scruples of con
science, that you are not fit to come to that ordinance, and question whether
you be commanded to come. Bul are your scruples tbe result of a serious and
careful inquiry ? Are they not rather a cloak for your own negligence, indo
lence, and thoughtlessness concerning your duty 1 Are you satisfied, have you
thoroughly inquired and looked into tbis matter 1 If not, do you not live in sin,
in that you do not more thoroughly inquire 1 Are you excusable in neglecting
a positive institution, when you are scrupulous about your duly, and yet do not
thoroughly inquire Avhat it is '(
But be it so, tbat you are unprepared, is not this your own sin, your own
fault ? And can sin excuse you from attending on a positive institution of
Christ 1
When persons are like to bave children to be baptized, they can be convin
ced that it is their duty to come. If it be only conscience that detained them,
why doth it not detain tbem as well now as heretofore ? Or if they now be more
thorough in tbeir inquiries concerning their duly, ought tbey not to bave been
thorough in their inquiries before as well as now 1
(2.) Do you not live in sin, in living in the neglect of singing God's praises ?
If singing praises to God be an ordinance of God's public worship, as doubtiess
it is, then it ought to be attended and perforraed by the whole worshipping as
sembly. If il be a command that we should worship God in this way, then all
ought to obey this command, not only 'oy joining wilh others in singing, bul
in singing themselves. For if we suppose it answers the command of God for
as only to join in our hearts with others, it will run us into tbis absurdity, tbat
all may do so ; and then there would be none to sing, none for others to join
with. If it be an appointment of God, tbat Christian congregations sbould sing
praises to hira, then doubtless it is the duty of all ; if there be no exception in
the rule, then all ought to comply with it, unless they be incapable of il, or un
less it would be a hinderance to the other work of God's house, as the case may
be with ministers, who sometimes may be in great need of that respite and in
termission after public prayers, to >ecover their breath and strength, so that
they raay be fit to speak tbe word. But if persons be now ncjt capable, becau.se
they know not bow to sing, that doth not excuse them, un'e.ss Ihey have been
incapable of learning. As it is the comra.i.nd of God, that all should sing, so
bi6 SELF-EXAMINATION.
all should make conscience of learning to sing, as it is a tning wliich cannot be
decently performed at all wilbout learning. Tho'se, therefore, who neglect to
learn to sing, live in sin, as they neglect what is necessary in order to their at
tending one of the ordinances of God's worship.
Not only should persons make conscience of learning to sing themselves,
but parents should conscientiously see to it, that their children are taught this
among other tbings, as their education and instruction belong to thera.
(3.) Are you not guilty of allowing yourselves in sin, in neglecting to do
your part towards the removal of scandals from among us ? All persons that
are in the church, and the children of the churcb, are under the watch of the
church ; and it is one of those duties to which we are bound by the covenant
whicb we either actually or virtually make, in uniting ourselves to a particular
church, that we will watch over our brethren, and do our part to uphold the
ordinances of God in their purity. This is the end of the institution of parti
cular churches, viz., the maintaining of the ordinances of divine wor.ship there,
in tbe raanner which God hath appointed.
Exaraine whether you have not allowed yourselves in sin with respect to
tbis matter, through fear of offending your neighbors. Have you not allowedly
neglected the proper steps for removing scandals, wben you have seen them;
the steps of reproving thera privately, where the case would allow ofii, and of
telling Ihem to Ihe church, where the case required it? Instead of watching
over your brother, bave you not rather hid yourselves, that you might not be
witnesses against hira 1 And when you have seen scandal in him, have you
not avoided the taking of proper steps according to the case ?
(4.) Art not thou one whose raanner it is, lo come late to tbe public wor
ship of God, and especially in winter, when the weather is cold 1 And dost
thou not live in sin in so doing ? Consider whether il be a way which can be
justified ; whelher it be a practice which doth honor to God and religion ;
whether it have not the appearance of setting light by the public woi-ship and
ordinances of God's house. Doth it not show that thou dost not prize such op
portunities, and that thou art willing to have as littie of them as thou canst?
Is it not a disorderly practice ? And if all sbould do as thou dost, what confu
sion would it occasion ?
(5.) Art thou not one whose manner it coramonly is to sleep in tbe time of
public service ? And is not this lo live in a way of sin ? Consider the matter
rationafly ; is it a thing to be justified, for thee to lay thyself down to sleep,
whfle thou art present in the tirae of divine service, and pretendesl to be one of
the worshipping asserably, and to be hearing a message from God ? Would it
not be looked upon as a high affront, an odious behavior, if thou shouldst do so
in the presence of a king, w^hile a raessage was delivering to thee, in his name,
by one of his servants ? Canst thou put a greater contempt on the raessage
which the King of kings sendeth to thee, concerning things of the greatest im-
poriance, than frora lime to time to lay thyself down, and compose thyself to
sleep, while tbe messenger is delivering bis raessage to thee ?
(6.) Art thou not one who is not careful to keep his mind intent upon what
Is said and done in public worship ? Dost thou not, in the midst of the most
Boleinn acts of worship, suffer thy thoughts to rove after woridly objects, worldly
sares and concerns, or perhaps the objects of thy wicked lusts and desires?
And dost thou not herein live in a way of sin ?
3. The next thing I shall propose to you to examine yourselves about, is,
¦whether you do not live in some secret sin ; whether you do not live in the
neglect of some secret duty, or secretly live in some practice which is offensive
SELF-EXAMINATION. 617
'0 the pure and afl-seeing eye of God. Here vou sbould examiRe yourselves
concerning all secret duties, as reading, meditation, secret prayer ; whelher you
attend those at all, or if you do, whether you do not attend them in an unsteady
and careless manner. You sbould also exaraine your.selves concerning all se
cret sins. Strictly inquire what your behavior is, wben you are bid frora the
eye of the world, when you are under no other restraints than those of con
science, wben you are not afraid of the eye of man, and have nothing to fear but
the all-seemg eye of God.
Here, araong many other tbings wbich might be mentioned, I shafl partic
ularly mention two.
(1.) Inquire whether you do not live in the neglect of the duly of reading
the holy Scriptures. The holy Scriptures were surely written to be read ; and
unless we be Popish in our principles, we shall maintain, tbat they were not
only given to be read by ministers, but by the people too. It doth not answer
the design for which tbey were given, that we have once read them, and that
we once in a great while read something in them. They were given lo be
always with us, to be continually conversed with, as a rule of life. As the ar
tificer must always have his rule with him in his work ; and the blind man that
walks raust always have his guide by him ; and he that walks in darkness must
have bis light wilh him ; so the Scriptures were given to be a lamp to our feet,
and a light to our path.
That we may continually use the Scriptures as our rule of life, we should
make them our daily companion, and keep them with us continually. Josh, l
8, "This book of the law shall not depart out of Ihy mouth, but thou shalt
meditate therein day and night." See also Deut. vl 6, 7, 8, 9. So ChrisI
commands us to search the Scriptures, John v. 39. These are the mines where
in we are to dig for w-isdom as for hidden treasures. Inquire, therefore, wheth
er you do not live in the neglect of this duty, or neglect it so far, that you may
be said to live in a way of sin.
(2.) Inquire wbether you do not live in sorae way of secretly gratifying
some sensual lust. There are many ways and degrees wherein a carnal lust
may be indulged ; but every way is provoking to a holy God. Consider
wbether, although you restrain yourselves from raore gross indulgences, you do
not in some way or other, and in sorae degree or other, secretly from time to
tirae gratify your lusts, and allow youselves to taste the sweets of unlawful de
light Persons may greatiy provoke God, by only allowedly gratifying their lusts in
their thoughts and imaginations. Tbey may also greatly provoke God by ex
cess and interaperance in gratifying their animal appetites in those things wbich
are in themselves lawful. Inquire, therefore, whether you do not live in some
sinful way or other, in secretly gratifying a sinful appetite.
4. I would propose to you, to examine yourselves, whether you do not live
in some way of sin, in the spirit and temper of mind which you allow towards
your neighbor.
(1.) Do you not hllow and indulge a passionate, furious disposition? If
your natural teraper be hasty and passionate, do you truly strive against such a
temper, and labor to govern your .spirit ? Do you laraent it, and watch over
yourselves to prevent it ? Or do you allow yourselves in a fiery temper ? Such
a disposition dolh not become a Christian, or a man. It dolh not become a
man, bf<cause it unmans him ; it turns a man frora a rational creature lo be like
a wild beast When men are under the prevalency of a furious passion, they
Uave rot mut:b of tbe exercise nf reason. We are warned to avoid such men.
518 SELF-EXAMINATION.
as being dangeroiis creatures, Prov. xxii. 24, 25 : " Make no friendship with an
angry man ; and wilh a furious man thou shalt not go, lest thou learn his ways,
and get a snare to thy soul."
(2.) Do you not live in hatred towards some or other of your neighbors?
Do you not hate him for real or supposed injuries that you have received from
him ? Do you not hale him, because be is not friendly towards you, and be
cause you judge that he hath an ill spirit against you, and bates you, and because
he opposes you, and d >ih not show you that respect which you think belongs
to you, or doth not show himself forward to promote your interest or honor ?
Do you not hate bira, because you think he despises you, has a mean thought
of you, and takes occasion in bis talk of you to show it ? Do you not hate
hira, because he is of the opposite parly to that which is in your interest, and
because he has considerable influence in tbat party ?
Doubtless you wfll be loth to call it by so harsh a name as hatred ; but
inquire seriously and impartially, whether it be any thing better. Do you not
feel ill towards him ? Do you not feel a prevailing disposition within you to
be pleased when you hear hira talked against and run down, and lo be glad
when you hear of any dishonor put upon him, or of any disappointments which
happen to him ? Wtould you not be glad of an opporlunity to be even with
bim for the injuries which be hath done you ? And wherein doth hatred work
but in such ways as these ? •
(3.) Inquire whether you do not live in envy towards some one at least of
your neighbors. Is not his prosperity, his riches, or his advancement in honor,
uncomfortable to you ? Have you not, therefore, an ill will, or at least less
good wfll to him, because you look upon him as standing in your way, you look
upon yourself as depressed by his advancement ? And would it not be pleasing
to you now, if he should be deprived of his riches, or of his honors, not from
pure refipect lothe public good, bul because you reckon he stands in your way?
Is it not raerely from a selfish spirit that you are so uneasy at his prosperity ?
5. I shall propose to your consideration, whether you do not live in some
-way of sin, and wrong in your dealings with your neighbors.
(1.) Inquire whetber you do not from tirae to time injure and defraud those
with whom you deal. Are your ways with your neighbor altogether just, such
as will bear a trial by the strict rules of the word of God, or such as you can
justify before God ? Are you a faithful person ? May your neighbors depend
on your word ? Are you strictly and firmly true to your trust, or any thing with
which you are belrusled, and which you undertake ? Or do you not by your
conduct plainly show, that you are not con.scientious in such thino'S ?
Do you not live in a careless, sinful neglect of paying your debts ? Do you
not, to the detriment of your neighbor, sinfully withhold that which is not your
own, but his ? Are you not wont to oppress your neighbor ? Wben you see
another in necessity, do you not thence take advantage to screw upon hira ?
When you see a person ignorant, and perceive that you have an opportunity to
make your gains of h, are you not wont to take such an opportunity ? Wfll
you not deceive in buying and selling, and labor to blind the eyes of him of
whom you buy, or to Whom you sefl, wilh deceitful words, biding the faults of
whal you sell, and denying the good qualities of wbat you buy, and not strictly
keeping to the truth, wben you see that falsehood wifl be an advantage to you
m your bargain ?
(2.) Do you not live in some wrong which you bave formerly done your
neighbor, without repairing il ? Are you not conscious that you have formerly,
al som» time or other, wronged your neighbor, and yet you live in it, have
SELF-EXAMINATION. 619
.ipvor repaired tbe injury which you bave done him 1 If so, you livp in a way
t)f sin. 6. I desire you would examine yourselves, whether you do not live in the
neglect of the duties of charity towards your neighbor. You may live in sin
towards your neighbor, though you cannot charge yourselves w-ilh living in any
mjustice in your dealings. Here also I would mention two Ihings.
(1.) Whetber you are guilty of sinfully withholding from your neigiibor
who is in want. Giving to the poor, and giving liberally and bountifully, is a
duly absolutely required of us. It is not a thing left to persons' choiceto do
as they please ; nor is it raerely a thing commendable in persons to be liberal to
others in want; but it is'a duty as strictly and absolutely required and coraraand
ed as any other duty whatsoever, a duty from w hich God will not acquit us ;
as you raay see in Deut. xv. 7, 8, &c. : and the neglect of this duly is very pro
voking to God. Prov. xxi. 13, " Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the
poor, be also hiraself shall cry, and not be heard."
Inquire, therefore, whether you bave not lived in a way of sin in tbis re
gard. Do you now see your neighbor suffer, and be pinched wilh want, and
you, although sensible of it, harden your hearts against bim, and are careless
about it ? Do you not, in such a case, neglect lo inquire inlo his necessities,
and to do something for his relief ? Is it not your manner lo hide your eyes,
in such cases, and to be so far from devising liberal things, and endeavoring to
find out the proper objects and occasions of charity, that you rather contrive to
avoid the knowledge of them ? Are you not apt to make objections to such
duties, and to excuse yourselves ? And are you not sorry for such occasions,
on which you are forced to give something, oc expose your reputation ? Are
not such Ihings grievous lo you ? If these things be so, surely you live in sin,
and in a great sin, and bave need lo inquire, whether your spot be not such as
is not the spot of God's children.
(2.) Do you not live in the neglect of reproving your neighbor, when you
see bim going on in a way of .sin 1 Tbis is required of us by the cominand of
God, as a duty of love and charily which we owe our neighbor : Lev. xix. 17,
" Thou sbalt not hale thy brother in thine heart ; thou shalt in any wise rebuke
thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him." When we see our neighbor go
ing on in sin, we ought to go, and in a Christian way deal with him about it.
Nor wfll it excuse us, that we fear it will have no good effect ; we cannot cer
tainly tell what effect it will have. Tbis is past doubt, that if Christians
generally perforraed this duty as tbey ought to do, it would prevent abundance
of sin and wickedness, and would deliver many a soul from the ways of dealh.
If a raan, going on in the ways of sin, saw tbat it was generally disliked
and discountenanced, and testified against by others, it would bave a strong
tendency to reform him. His regard for bis own reputation would strongly
persuade hira lo reform ; for hereby he would see that the way in which he
lives makes him odious in the eyes of others. When persons go on in sin, and
no one saith any thing to them in testiraony against it, they know not bul that
their ways are approved, and are not sensible that it is much to their dishonor
to do as they do. The approbation of others tends to blind men's eyes, and
harden their hearts in sin ; whereas, if they saw that others utterly disapprove
of their ways, it would tend to open theh eyes and convince thera.
If others neglect tbeir duty in this respect, and our reproof alone wfll not be
so likely lo be effectual ; yet that doth not excuse us ; for if one singly may
be excused, then every one .nay be excused, and so we shall make it no duty
at afl
530 SELF-EXAMINA iION.
Persons often need the reproofs and admonitions of otheis, to make then.
sensible that the ways in wbich tbey live a.-e sintul ; for, as hath been already
observed, men are often bhnded as to their own sins.
7. Examine yourselves, whelher you do not live in some way of sin in your
conversation with your neighbors. Men comrait abundance of sin, not only in
the business and dealings which they have with tbeir neighbors, but in their
talk and converse with them.
( 1.) Inquire whether you do not keep corapany with persons of a lewd and
iraraoral behavior, wilh persons who do not make conscience of their ways,
are not of sober hves, but, on the contrary, are profane and extravagant, and
unclean in tbeir coraraunication. This is what the wo;d of God forbids, and
testifies against : Prov. xiv 7, " Go frora the presence of a foolish man, when
thou perceivesl not in hira the lips of knowledge." Prov. xiii. 20, " A com
panion of fools shall be destroyed." The Psalmist professes bimself clear o^
this sin. Psalm xxvl 4, 5, " I have not sat with vain persons; neither wifl I
go with dissemblers : I have bated the congregation of evil doers, and will not
sit wilh the wicked."
Do you not live in tbis sin ? Do you not keep corapany with such persons ?
and have you not found them a snare lo your souls ? If you have any serious
thoughts about the great, concerns of your souls, have you not found this
a great hinderance to you ? Have you not found that it hath been a great
teraptation to you ? Have you not been from time to time led into sin thereby ?
Perhaps it rnay seem diflScult wholly to forsake your old wicked corapanions.
You are afraid they will deride you, and make a game of you ; therefore you
bave not courage enough to do it But whether it be difficult or not, yet know
this, that if you continue in such connections, you live in a way of sin, and, as
tbe Scripture saith, you shall he destroyed. You must either cut off your right
hands, and pluck out your right eyes, or else even go wilh them into the fire
that never shall be quenched
(2.) Consider whether, in your conversation with others, you do not accus
tom yourselves to evil speaking. How common is it for persons, when they
meet together, to sit and spend their tirae in talking against others, judging this
or that of thera, spreading fll and uncertain reports which they have heard of
thera, running down one and another, and ridiculing their infirmities ! How
much is such sort of talk as this the entertainment o. corapanies when they
meet together ! And what talk is there which seems to f,e raore entertaining,
to whicb persons will raore listen, and in which they will seera to be raore en
gaged, than such talk ! You cannot but know how common tbis is.
Therefore examine whether you be not guilty of this. And can you justify
it? Do you not know it to be-a way of sin, a way which is condemned by
many rules in the word of God ? Are you not guilty of eageny taking up ai.y
ill report which you hear of your neighbor, seeraing lo be glad that you have
sorae news to talk of, wilh whicb you think others wifl be entertained ? Do
you not often spread ill reports wbich you bear of others, before you know what
ground there is for them ? Do you not take a pleasure in being the reporter of
sucb riews ? Are you not wont tg pass a judgraent concerning others, or their
behavior, wiihout talking to them, and bearing wbat tbey have to say for thera
selves ? Doth not that folly and sharae belong to you wbich is spoken of in
Prov. xviii. 13, "He tha^ answereth a raatter before he heareth it, it is foby
and sharae unto bim."
This is utterly an iniquity, a very unchristian practice, which commonly
Drevails, that men, wben they hear c:- know of any fll of others, will not do a
SELF-EXAMINATION. 52 J
Christian part, in going to talk with tbem about it, to reprove Ibera for it, bul
wfl! get behind their backs before they open their moutli3, and Ihere are very
forward to speak, and to judge, to the hurt of their neighbor's good name. Con
sider whether you be not guilty of this. Consider also how apt you are to be
displeased when you hear that others have been talking against you ! How
forward you are to apply the rules, and to think and tell bow they ought first to
have come and talked with you about it, and not to have gone and spread an
fll report of you, before they knew what you had to say in your vindication !
How ready are persons to resent it, wben others meddle with their private
affairs, and busy themselves, and judge, and find fault, and declaim against
thera ! How ready are tbey to say, it is no business of theirs ! Yet are you
not guilty of the same ?
(3.) Is it not your manner to seem to countenance and fall in wilh tbe talk
of the corapany in whicb you are, in tbat which is evil ? Wben tbe corapany
is vain in its talk, and falls into lewd discourse, or vain jeslery, is it not your
manner, in sucb a case, to comply and fafl in with the corapany, to seera pleas
ed with its talk, if not to join with it, and help to carry on such discourse, out of
compliance with your company, though indeed you disapprove of it in your bearts ?
So inquire whether it be not your manner to fall in wilh your companions, when
they are talking against others. Do you not help forv.ard the discourse, or at
least seera to fall in wilh their censures, and the aspersions they cast on others,
and the reflections they make upon their neighbors' character ?
There are sorae pei-sons, who, in case of diff'erence between persons or
parties, are double-tongued, will seem to fall in with bolh parties. When they
are with those on one side, they will seem to be on their side, and to fall in wilb
them, in their talk against their antagonists. Al another time, wben they are
with those on the other side, they will seem to comply with them, and condemn
the other party ; which is a very vile and deceitful practice. Seeraing to be
fiiendly to both before their faces, they are enemies lo both behind their backs ;
and that upon so mean a motive as tbe pleasing of the parly whh which they
are in corapany. Tbey injure both parties, and do wbat in them lies to estab
lish the difference between thera. Inquire whelher or no this be your manner.
(4.) Is it not your manner, not to confine yourselves to strict truth in your
conversation wilh your neighbors ? Lying is accounted ignominious and re
proachful among men ; "and they take it in high disdain lo be called liars ; yet
how many are there that do not so govern their tongues, as strictly to confine
thera to the truth ! There are various degrees of transgressing in this kind.
Some who may be cautious of transgressing in one degree, raay allow tbera
selves in another. Sorae, who avoid coraraonly speaking directly and wholly
contrary to the truth, in a plain matter of fact ; yet perhaps are not strictly true
in speaking of tbeir own thoughts, desires, affections, and designs, and are not
exact to the truth, in the relations which tbey give of things in conversation ;
scruple not to vary in circuinstances, to add sorae things, to make their story the
more entertaining ; will magnify and enlarge Ihings, lo raake their relation the
more wonderful ; and in things wherein their interest or credit is concerned,
wifl raake false representations of things ; wfll be guflty of an unwarrantable
equivocation, and a guileful way of speaking, wherein they are chargeable with
a great abuse of language. In order to save their veracity, words and sentences
mustbe wrested to a raeaning quite beside tbeir natural and established signification
Whatever interpretalion such men put on theirown words, they tlo not save
themselves from the guilt of lying in the sight of God. Inquire w4iether you be
not guilty of living in sin in tbis particular.
Vol. IV 66
522 SELF-EXAMINATION.
8. Examine yourselves, whetber you do not live in some way of sin in th*
famihes to wbich you belong. Tbere are many persons who appear well among
their neighbors, and seera to be of an honest civil behavior in their dealings and
conversation abroad; yet if you follow thera to their own hotises, and to the
families lo which tbey belong, there you will find thera very perverse in their
ways; there they live in ways which are. very displeasing lo the pure all-seaiqhr
ing eyes of God. You have already been directed lo examine your conversation
abroad; you have been. directed to search the house of God, and to see flyoo
bave brought no defilement into it; you have been directed to search yeiur
closets, lo see if there be no pollution or provocation there ; be advised now tc
search your houses, examine your behavior in the farailies to which you belong,
and see what your ways and manners are there.
Tbe houses to which we belong are the , places where the generality of us
spend the greater part of our time. If we respect the world as a man's sphere
of action, a raan's own house is the greater part of the world to hira ; l e., the
greater part of his actions and behavior in the world is limited wilhin this
sphere. We should therefore be very critical in examining our behavior, not
only abroad, but at home. A great proportion of the wickedness that men are
guilty of, and that will be broughtout al the day ofjudgraent, will be the, sin
which they shall have committed in the famflies to whicb they belong.
Therefore inquire bow you behave yourselves in the faraily relations in which
you stand. As those relative duties which we owe towards the raembers of the
same family belong to the second table of the law, so love is tbe general duty
which comprises thera all.
Therefore,(1.) Exaraine yourselves, wbether you do not live in some way which is
conlrary lo that love which is due to those who belong to the same family;
Love, implying a hearty good wifl, and a behavior agreeable to it, is a duty
which we owe to all raankind. We owe it lo our neighbors, to whom we are
no otherwise related than as they are our neighbors ; yea, we owe it to those
who stand in no relation to us, except that tbey are of raankind, are reasonable
creatures, tbe sons and daughters of Adam. It is a duty that we owe to our
eneraies ; how rauch more then do we owe it to those who stand in so near a re
lation to us, as a husband or wifi^ parents or chfldren, brethren or sisters !
There are the same obligations on us to love sucb relatives as to love the
rest of mankind. We are to love them as men ; we are to love them as our
neighbors ; we are to love thera as belonging to tbe sarae Christian church ;
and not only so, but here is an additional obligation, arising from that near re
lation in which they stand to us. This is over and above the other. The nearer
tbe relation, the greater is the obligation lo love. To live in hatred, or in a way
that is contrary to love, towards any man, is very displeasing to God ; but how
much more towards one ofthe same faraily ! Love is the uniting band of all
societies : Col. nl 14, " And above all these things, put on charity, which is the
bond of perfectness."
The union in love in our own family should be so much the stronger, as
that society is, more pecuharly our own, and is more appropriated to ourselves,
or is a society in which we are more especially interested! Christ saith. Matt
vii 22, "Isay unto you, whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause,
sball be in danger of the judgment ; and whosoever sball say to his brother,
Saca, shall be in danger of the council ; and whosoever shall say. Thou fcjol,
sball be in danger of bell-fire." If this be true concerning those who are our
brethren only as raen, or professing Christians, bow much more concerning
SELF-EXAMINATION. 523
those who are of the same family ? If contention be so evfl a thing in a town
among neighbors, how much more hateful is it between members of the sarae
fdinily ? If hatred, envy, or revenge, be so displeasing to Gocl, towards those
who are only our fellow creatures, how much raore provoking must it be be
tween those that are our natural brothers and sisters, and are one bone and flesh ?
If only being angry with a neighbor without a cause be so evil, bow rauch sin
must needs be committed in those broils and quarrels between the nearest
relations on earth ?
. Let every one inquire how it is with himself Do you not in this respect
aflow yourselves in some way of sin ? Are you not often jarring and contend
ing wilh those who dweU under tbe same roof? Is not your spirit often ruffled
with anger towards some of the same faraily ? Do you not often go so far as
to .wish evil to them in your hearts, to wish that sorae calaraity would befall
thera ? Are you not guilty of reproachful language towards thein, if not of re
vengeful acls ? Do you not neglect and refuse Ihose offices of kindness and
mutual helpfulness wbich become tbose who are of one faraily ? Yea, are there,
not some who really go so far, as in sorae degree to entertain a settied hatred
or malice against some of their nearest relations ?
But here I would particularly apply myself,
(1.) To husbands and wives. Inquire whelher you do not live in sorae way
3f sin in this relation. Do you make conscience of perforraing all those duties
which God in his word requires of persons in tbis relation ? Or do you allow
yourselves in sorae ways whicb are directly opposite thereto ? Do you not live
in ways that are contrary lo the obligations into which you entered in your mar
riage covenant ? The promises which you then raade are not only binding as
proraises which are ordinarily made between man and man, but they have the
nature of vows or promissory oaths ; they are raade in the presence of God, be
cause tbey respect him as a witness to tbem ; and therefore the marriage cove
nant is cafled the covenant of God : Prov. il 17, " Which forsaketh the guide
of her youth, and forgettelh the covenant of her God." Wben you have vow
ed that you will behave towards tbose to whom you are thus unfled, as the
word of God directs in such a relation, are you careless about it, no more think
ing what you have promised and vowed, regardless how you perforra those
vows. ?
Particulariy, are you not commonly guilty of bitterness of spirit towards one
another, and of unkindness in your language and behavior ? If wrath, and
contention, and unkind and reproachful language, be provoking lo God, when
only between neighbors; what is it then between those whom God hath joined
together to be one flesh, and between whom he hath commanded so great and
dear a friendship to be maintained ? Eph. v. 28, 29, " So ought men to love
their wives, as their own bodies. He that lovelh his wife, loveth hiraself For
no raan ever yet hated his own flesh ; but nourishelh and cherishelb it, even as
the Lord the churcb." Eph. v. 25, " Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the churcb, and gave bimself for it"
, It is no excuse al all for either party to indulge bitterness and contention in
tliis relation, that the other party is to blame ; for when was there ever one of
fallen raankind to be found, who had no faults ? When God commanded sucb
an entire friendship between man and wife, he knew that the greater part of
tnankind would have faults ; yet he made no exception. And if you think your
yoke-fellows have faults, you should consider whether you yourselves have no':
some too. Tbere never will be any such thing as persons living in peace one
with another, in this relation, if tbis be esteemed a sufficient and justifiablf
524 «Li -EXAMIN ATION.
cause of tbe contrary. It becomes good friends to cover one another's faults ,
Love covers a multitude of faults. Prov. x. 1, " Hatred slirreth up strife ; but
love covereth all sins." But are not you rather quick to spy faults, and ready
to make the most of them ? Are not very liltle things often the occasion of
contention between you ? Will not a little thing often ruffle your spirits towards
your corapanions? And when any raisunderstanding is begun, are yoir not
guilty of exasperating one another's spirits by unkind language, until you
blow up a sparK into a flame ?
Do you endeavor to accommodate yourselves to each other's tempers ? Dn
you study to suit each other ? Or do you set up your own wflls, to have your
own ways, in opposition to each other, in tbe raanageraent of your faraily con
cerns ? Do you raake it your .study to render each other's lives comfortable ?
Or is there not, on the conlrary, very otten subsisting between you, a spirit of
ill wifl, a disposition to vex and cross one another?
Husbands do soraetimes greatly sin against God, in being of an unkind, im
perious behavior towards their wives, treating them as if they were servants ;
and (to mention one instance of such treatment in particular) laying them un
der unjust and unreasonable restraints in the use and disposal of their comraoi;
property ; forbidding thera so rauch as lo dispose of any thing in charity, as of
their own judgment and prudence. This is directly contrary to the word of
God, where it is said of the virtuous wife, Prov. x.xxl 20, that " she stretch
eth out her hand to the poor ; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy."
If God hath made this her duty, then be bath given her this right and power,
because the duty supposes the right. It cannot be the duty of her who hath
no right to dispose of any thing, to stretch forth her hand lo the poor, and to
reach forth her hands lo the needy.
On the other hand, are not the comraands of God, the rules of his word,
and the soleran vows of tbe raarriage covenant, with respeci to the subordination
whicb there ought to be in this relation, raade light of by many ? Eph. v. 22,
" Wives, subrait yourselves to your own husbands, as unlo the Lord." So Col
iu. 18. What is coraraanded by God, and what hath been solemnly vowed and
sworn in his presenile, certainly ought not lo be raade a jest of; and the person
who lightly violates these obligations will doubtless be treated as one who
slights the authority of God, and takes his name in vain.
(2.) 1 sball apply myself to parents and heads of families. Inquire wheth
er you do not live in some way of sin .with respect to your children, or others
committed to your care ; and partir ularly inquire,
1. Whether you do not live in in, by living in the neglect of instructing
them. Do you not wholly neglect tbe duty of instructing your children and
servants ? Or if you do not wholly neglect it, yet do you not afford them so
liltle instruction, and are you not so unsteady, and do you not take so little
pains in it, that you live in a sinful neglect ? Do you take pains in any mea
sure proportionate to the iraporlance of the matter ? You cannot but own that
it is a raatter of vast iraportance, that your children be fitted for death, and
saved frora hell ; and that all possible care be taken that it be done speedily ;
for you know not how soon your children, may die. Are you as careful about
the welfare of their souls as you are of tbeir bodies ? Do you labor as rauch
that they raay have eternal life, as you do to provide estates for them to live on
in this world ?
Let every parent inquire, whether he do not live in a way of sin in this re
spect ; and let masters inquire wbether tbey do not live in a way of sin, in neg
lecting the poor souls of their servants; whetber tbeir only care be not to make
SELF-EJCAMINATION. 525
their servants subservit.it to their woridly interest, without any concern wbat
becomes of them to all eternity.
2. Do you not live in a sinful neglect of the government of your farailies ?
Do you not live in the sin of Eli? Who indeed counselled and reprovecl
his children, but did not exercise governraent over thera. He reproved thera
very soleranly, as 1 Sara. ii. 23, 24, 25 ; but he did not restrain thera ; by
which he gi-eatly provoked God, and broughi an everlasling curse upon his
house. 1 Sara. iii. 12, " In that day I will perform againsi Eli all things
which I have spoken concerning bis bouse. When I biegin, I will also make
an end. I will judge his house forever ; because his sons made tberaselves
vile, and he restrained them not."
If you say you cannot restrain your children, tbis is no excuse; for it is a sign
that you have broughi up your children without government, that your children
regard not your authority. When parents lose their government over their chil
dren, their reproofs and counsel signify but littie. How many parents are
there who are exceedingly faulty on this account ! How few are there wbo
are thorough in maintaining order and governraent in their farailies ! How is
fainily governraent in a great raeasure vanished ! And how many are as likely
to bring a curse upon their families, as Eli ! This is one principal ground of the
corruptions whicb prevail in the land. This is tbe foundation of so much de
bauchery, and of such corrupt practices araong young people. Faraily govern
ment is in a great measure extinct By neglect in this particular, parents bring
the guilt of tbeir children's sins upon their own souls, and the blood of their
chfldren wfll be required at their hands.
Parents sometimes weaken one another's bands in tbis work ; one parent
disapproving what the other doth ; one smiling upon a child, whfle the other
frowns ; one protecting, while the other corrects. When Ihings in a family are
thus, children are like to be undone. Therefore let every one examine whether
he do not live in sorae way of sin with respect to this raatter.
(3.) I shall now apply rayself to children. Let thera exaraine themselves,
whether they do not live in some way of sin towards their parents. Are you
not guilty of some undiitifulness towards thera, in which you allow yourselves?
Are you not guilty of despising your parents for infirraities whicb you see in
them ? Undutiful children are ready to contemn their parents for their infirmi-
•ies. Are not you sons of Hara, wbo saw and raade derision of his fath
er's nakedness, whereby he entailed a curse on hiraself and his posterity lo tbis
day ; and not the sons of Shem and Japhelb, who covered the nakedness of
their father ? Are you not guflty of dishonoring and despising your parents for
natural infirmities, or those of old age ? Prox. xxhl 22, " Despise not thy
raother when she is old-" Doth not that curse belong to you, in Deut xxvii.
16, " Cursed be be tbat setteth light by his father or mother ?"
Are you not wont to despise tbe counsels and reproofs of your parents ?
Wben tbey warn you against any sin, and reprove you for any raisconduct, are
you not wont to set light by it, and to be irapatient under it ? Do you honor
your parents for it ? On the contrary, do you not receive it wilh resentment,
proudly rejecting it ? Doth it not stir up corruption, and a stubborn and per-
ver.se spirit in you, and rather make you to have an ill wifl to your parents, than
to love and honor thera ? Are you not to be reckoned among the fools raen
tioned, Prov. XV. 5, " A fool despiseth his father's instruction ?" And doth not
that curse belong to you, Prov. xxx. 17, " Tbe eye that mocketh at his father,
and (iespiseth to obey his mother, tbe ravens of tbe valley shall pick il out, and
the young eagles shall eat it ''"
526 SELF-EXAMINATION.
Do you not aflow a fretful disposition towards yourparenty, when they cross
you in any thing ? Are you not apt to find fault with your parents, and to be
out of temper with them ?
Consider, that if you live in such ways as these, you not only live in sin,
but in that sin, than which there is scarcely any one oftener threatened with a
curse in the word of God. *
III. We come now to tbe third thing proposed in tbis use of tbe doctrine,
viz., to mention some tbings, to convince those, who, upon examination, find
that they do live in sc5rae way of sin, of the importance of their knowing and
amending their manner of life. You bave bad directions laid before you, how
to find out whether you do live in any way of sin or not : and you have heard
many particulars mentioned as proper subjects for your examination of your
selves. How then do you find Ihings ? Do you find yourselves clear of living
in any way of sin ? I mean not whether you find yourselves clear of sin ; Ihat
is not expected of any of you; for there is not a man upon earlh that doeth
good, and sinneth not, 1 Kings viii. 46. But is there not some way of sin in
which you live, which is your stated way, or -practice ? There are doubtiess
some who are clear in this matter, some " wbo are undefiled in the way, and do
no iniquity," Psal. cxix. 1, 2, 3.
Let your own consciences answer bow you find with respect to yourselves,
by those Ihings which have been proposed to you. Do you not find that you
are guilty ? That you live in a way of sin, and have allowed yourselves in it ?
If this be the case, then consider the following things.
1. If you have been long seeking salvation, and have not yet succeeded, it
may be this hath been the cause. You have perhaps wondered what hath been
the matter, that you have been so long a time under concern about your salva^
tion, that you have taken so much pains, and all seeras to be to no purpose.
You have raany a tirae cried earnestiy to God, yet be doth not regard yoUi
Others obtain comfort, but you are left in darkness. But it is no wonder at all,
if you have lived in sorae way of sin all this whfle. If you have lived in any
iinful way, this is a suflScient reason why all your prayers and all your pains
jave been blasted. ,
If all this whfle you have lived in some sinful way, so far you have fafled
of seeking salvation in the right way. The right way of seeking salvation is,
to seek it in the dihgent performance of all duties, and in the denial of all un
godliness. If there be any one member that is coirupt, and you cut it not off,
there is danger that it will carry you to bell. Malt v. 29, 30.
2. If grace have not been in flourishing, but, on the conlrary, in languish
ing circumstances in your souls, perhaps this is the cause. The way to grow
in grace is to walk in the way of obedience to all the commands of God, lo be
very thorough in the practice of religion. Grace will flourish in the hearts of
those who live in this manner ; but if you live in some way of sin, that w-ifl be
like sorae secret disease at your vitals, which wifl keep you poor, weak, and
languishing. One way of sin lived in will wonderfully keep you down in your spiritual
pi osperity, and in the growth and strength of grace in your bearts. It will grieve
Ihe Holy Spirit of God, and wifl in a great measure banish bira from you : this
will prevent the good influence of the word and ordinances of God to the caus
ing of grace to flourish in you. It wifl be a great obstacle to their good effect.
It "virifl be like a^i ulcer wilhin a man, which, while it remains, wfll keep him
weak and lean, .bough you feed him wilh ever so wholesome food, or feast him
ever so daintfly.
SELF-EXAMINATION 62?
3 If you bave been left to fafl into great sin, perhaps this was Ihe occa.sion
of it If yc)u bave been left greatly to wound your own souls, perhaps tbis was
what raade way for it, tbat you allowed yourselves in some way of sin. A man
who doth not avoid every sin, and is not universally obedient, cannot be well
guarded against great sins. Tbe sin in whicih he lives will be always an inlet,
isn open door, by which Satan from time to time will find entrance. It is like
U breach in your fortress, through which the enemy may get in, and find his
way to you, greatly to hurt and wound you.
If there be any way of sin which is retained as an outlet to corruption, it
wfll be like a breach in a dam, which, if it be let alone, and be not stopped,
will grow bigger and wider, and will endanger tbe whole. If any way of sin
DC lived in, it wifl be like Gideon's ephod, which was a snare to him and his
nouse. 4. If you live very mucb in spiritual darkness, and without the comfortable
presence of God, it may be this is the cause. If you complain that you have
bul littie sweet coramunion with God, that you seem lo be left and deserted of
God, that God seeras to hide his face from you, and bul seldom giveis you the
sweet views of his glory and grace, that you seera to be left very rauch to grope
in darkness, and to wander in a wilderness; perhaps you have wondered what
is the matter; you have cried to God often, that you mighl have the light of
his countenance, but he beareth you not; and you have sorrowful days and
nights upon this account But if you have found, by whal hath been said, that
you live in some way of sin, it is very probable that is the cause, that is the root
of your raischief, tbat is the ./ichan, the troubler that offends God, and causes
him to withdraw, and brings so many clouds of darkness upon your souls. You
grieve the Holy Spirit by tbe way in which you live ; and that is the reason
that you have no more corafort frora hira.
Christ hatb promised, that he will manifest himself to his disciples ; but it
is upon the condition, tbat they keep his comraands. John xiv. 21, " He that
hatb ray comraandraents, and keepeth them, he it is that lovelh me; and he
that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father ; and I will love him, and will
raanifest myself to him." But if you habitually live in disobedience to any of
the comraandraents of Christ, then it is no wonder that be doth not give you the
corafortable raanifestations of hiraself The way to receive the special favors
of God, and lo enjoy comfortable communion with him, is to walk closely with
hira. 5. If you have been long doubting about your condition, perhaps this is tbe
cause. If persons be converted, the most likely way to bave the evllences of it
clear, and lo have tbe Spirit of God witnessing wilh our spirits, that we are the
children of God, is to walk closely wilh God. This, as we have observed al
ready, is the way to have grace in a flourishing state in the soul ; it is the way
to have the habits of grace strengthened, and the exercises of il lively. And
the more lively the exercises of grace are, the raore likely will they be to be
seen. Besides, this is the way to have God manifesting himself to us, as our
father and our friend, to have the manifestations and inward testimonies of his
love and favor.
But if you hve in some way of sin, it is no wonder if that greatiy darkens
your evidences, as it keeps down the exercises of grace, and hides the light of
God's countenance. And il raay be that you never will corae to a comfortable
resolution of that point, whether you be converted or not, untfl you shall bave
wholly forsaken the way of sin in which you live.
6. If you have rnet wilh frowns of Providenci, perhaps tbis hath been the
528 SELF-EXAMINATION.
cause. Wben you have met with very sore rebukes and chastisements, thai
way of sin hath probably been your troubler. Sometimes (rod is exceedingly
awful in bis dealings with his own people in tbis worid, for tbeir sins. Moses
and Aaron were not suffered to enter into Canaan, because Ihey believed not
God, and spake unadvisedly with their lips, at tbe waters of Meribah. And
how terrible was God in his dealings with David ! What aflfliction in his family
did be .^end upon hira ! One of bis sons ravishing his sister; another murdering
bis brother, and, having expelled his father out of his kingdora, openly in the
sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun, defiling his father's concubines on
the top of the house, and at last coming to a miserable end ! Immediately after
this followed the rebeflion of Sheba ; and he had this uncomfortable circum
stance attending the end of his hfe, that be saw another of bis sons usurping Ihe
crown. How awfully did God deal with Eli, for living in the sin of not restraining
his children from wickedness I He kflled his two sons in one day ; brought a
violent death upon Eli hiraself; took the ark frora hira, and sent it into capti
vity; cursed his bouse forever ; and sware that the iniquity of his house should
not be purged with sacrifice and off'ering forever ; tbat the priesthood should be
taken frora hira, and given to another family ; and that there should never be
^n old man in bis family.
Is not some way of sin in wbich you live the occasion of the frowns and re
bukes of Providence which you have met with ? True, it is not the proper bu
siness of your neighbors to judge you with respect to events of Providence ;
but you yourselves ought to inquire, -wherefore God is contending with you,
Job. ix. 10.
7. If dealb be terrible to you, perhaps tbis is the foundation of it. When
you think of dying, you find you shrink back at the thought Wlien you have
any illness, or when there in any thing which seems any way to threaten life,
you find you are affrighted by it; tbe Ihougbtsof dying and going into eiernity,
are awful to you ; and that although you entertain a hope that you are converted.
If you live in sorae way of sin, probably tbis is very much the foundation of it. This
keeps your minds sensua' and worldly, and hinders a lively sense of heaven and
heavenly enjoyments. This keeps grace low, and prevents that relish of heavenly
enjoyraents which otherwise you would have. This prevents your having the
comfortable sense of tbe divine favor tnd presence ; and without that no wonder
you cannot look death in the face wiihout terror.
• The way to have the prospect of dealh comfortable, and to have undisturbed
peace and quiet when we encounter death, is, to walk closely with God, and to
be undefiled in the way of obedience to tbe comraands of God ; and that it is
otherwise sometimes with truly godly persons, is doubtless frequently owing to
tbeir living in ways displeasing to God.
8. If you find bv these things wbich have been proposed to you, that you
have lived in a way of sin, consider that if you henceforward live in the same
way, you will hve in known sin. Whetber in tirae past it bave been known
sin or not, though you may bave hitherto lived in it through ignorance or inad
vertence ; yet if now you be sensible of fl, henceforward, if you continue in it
stfll, it will not be a sin of ignorance, but you wifl be proved to be of tbat class
ofmen who live in ways of known sin.
SERMON XXXIL
A WARNING TO PROFESSOR.S :
THE GREAT GUILT OF THOSE WHO ATTEND ON THE ORDINANCES OF DIVINE WtjRSIlJ?,
AND VET ALLOW THEMSELVES IN ANY KNOWN WICKEDNESS.
Ezekiel xxiii. 37. 33, 39.— That tlipy have oommiltcd adiiltfry, and hlnod is in Iheir hands, and with
IJKlr iduls lluve Ihey oiinmitleJ adiillery, and have also (Mused iheir sons, whom ihcy hiirr iiiilo rae,
to puss for Ihem ihrough ihe fire lo devour them. Moreover, ihis they have diine unlo me ; ihey have
defiled iny sanctuary in llie same day, and have |irof:ined ray salibalhs. Tor when ihey had shiin iheir
chddren lo iheir n'ols, ihen ihey game llie same day into my sanctuary lo profane it ; and lo, Ihus
liavc ihey done in the midst of mine licuse.
INTRODUCTION.
Samaria and Jerusalem, or Israel and Judah, are here represented by two
women, Aholab and Aholibah ; and their idolatry and treachery towards Iheir
covenant God is represented by the adullery of these women. They forsook
God, wbo was ibeir husband, and the guideof their youth, and prostiluleil ihem
selves to others. The baseness of Aholab and Aholibah loward,s God, their
husband, is here pointed out by two things, viz., adultery and bloodshed : They
have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands.
1. They commilled adultery with oilier lovers, viz., with their idols : With
their idols have they committed adulttry.
2. They not only committed adullery, but they took their children that they
bore lo God, and killed Ihem for iheir lovers. Their hearts were quite alienated
from Gotl, their husband, and Iheywere so bewitched wilh lust afier Ihose oiher
lovers, that Ihey look their own children, whom they had by their husband,
and j)ul thein to cruel deaths, lo make a feast with thera for their lovers; as it
is said in ver. 37, " And have also caused their sons, whora they bare unto me, tc
pass for them through Ihe fire lo devour thera."
But here is a twofold wickedness of those actions of theirs held forth to us
in the words. ( I.) The wickedness of thera considered in theraselves ; fbr who
can express the horrid baseness of this their Irealraent of God their husband ?
(2.) An additional wickedness, resulting frora the joining of these actions wilh
sacred thing.*. Beside the monstrous wickedness of these actions in Ihemselves
considered, there was this which exceedingly increased the guilt, that on Ihe
.same day they carae into God's sanctuary, or that they lived in sucb wicked-
ness at the sarae time that they carae and allended ihe holy oidinances of God's
house, pretending to worship and adore bira, whora Ihey all the while treated
in such a horrid manner ; and so herein defiled and profaned holy Ihings ; as
in ver. 38, and 39 : " Moreover, this have they done unlo me ; they have de
filed my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned ray sabbaths. For when
Ihey had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my
sanctuary, lo profane it; and lo, thus have they done, in the midst of mine
house." Doctrine. — Wben they that attend ordinances of divine worship allow them
selves in known wickedness, they are guilty of dreadfully profaning and pol
luting tbose ordinance.s.
By a divine ordinance, when the expression is used in its greatest latitude,
67
630 A WARNING TO PROFESSORS.
IS meant any thing of divine institution or appointment Tbus we call mar.
riage a divine ordinance, bpcause it was appointed by God. So ci\il govern
ment is called an ordinance of God : Rora. xiii. 1, 2. " Let every soul be sub-
ject lo the higher powers ; for there is no power but of God ; the powers that
be are ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisleth the power, resisleth
the ordinance of God."
But the word is more coramonly used only for an instituted or appointed way
01 raeans of worship. So the sacraments are ordinances; so public prayer, sing
ing of praise, ihe preaching of the word, and the hearing of the word preached,
are divine ordinances. The selling apart of certain officers in Ihe church, the
appointed way of discipline, public confession of scandals, admonition, and ex
communication, are ordinances. These are called the ordinances of God's house,
or of public worship ; and these are intended in the doctrine : it is tbe profan
ation of these ordinances that is spoken of in tbe text: " They carae into my
sanctuary lo profane it ; and lo ! thus have they done in the raidst of raine house,"
saith God. Tbis doctrine seeras to contain two propositions. j
SECTION L
The ordinances of God are holy.
Divine ordinances are holy in the following respects :
1. They are conversant wholly and imraediately about God, and things divine.
When we are in the attendance on the ordinances of divine worship, we are in the
special presence of God. When persons come and attend on the ordinances of
God, Ihey are said to corae before God, and to corae inlo his presence : Jer.
vii. 10, " Co ne and stand before me, in this house which is called by my name."
Psal. c. 2, " Corae inlo his presence wilh singing."
In divine ordinances, persons have iraraediate intercourse with God, either
in applying to him, as i-n prayer and singing praises, or in receiving from him,
wailing soleranly and immediately on hira for spiritual good, as in hearing the
word ; or in both applying lo God and receiving frora him, as in the sacraments.
Tbey were appointed on purpose that in them men raight converse and hold com
raunion with God. We are poor, ignorant, blind worms of tbe dust ; and God
did not see it ibeet that our way of intercourse wilh God sbould be left to our
selves; but God halh given us his ordinances, as ways and means of conversing
wilh him
In these ordinances, holy and divine things are exhibited and represented.
In the preaching of the word, holy doctrines and the divine will arje exhibited ;
in the sacraraents, Christ Jesus and his benefits are represented ; in prayer and
praise, and in the attendance on the word and sacraments, are represented our
faith, love, and obedience.
2. The end of God's ordinances is holy. The immediate end is to glorify
God. They are instituted to direct us in the holy excercises of faith and love,
divine fear and reverence, subraission, thankfulness, holy joy and sorrow, holy
desires, resolutions, and hopes. True worship consists in these holy and spirit
ual exercises ; and as these divine ordinances are the ordinances of woiship,they
are to help us, and to direct us in such a worship as tbis.
3. They have the sanction of divine authority. They are not only conver
sant about a divine and holy object, and designed to direct snd help us in di
vine and holy exercises, but they bave a divine and holy author. The infinitely
great and holy God hatb appointed them, the eternal Three in One. Each
oerson in the Trinity hatb been concerned in their institution. God the Fathri.r
A WARNING TO PROFESSORS. 53l
hath appointed tbem, and tbat by his own Son. They are of Christ's own
appointment ; and he appointed, as he bad received of ibe Father : John xii
49, " I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent rae, he gave me
comraandment wbat I should say, and what I should speak." And the Father
and Son mere fully revealed and ratified Ihem bythe Spirit ; and they are com
mitted to wiiting by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
They are holy, in that God hath hallowed them, or consecrated Ibera. They
are conversant about holy things; and God ordained them, that in them we
might be conversant about holy things. They are for a holy use ; and it is God
who, by his own immediate authority, ordained thera for that holy use; which
rtnilers thera much more sacred than otherwise they would have been.
4. They a:e altended inthe name of God. Thus we are commanded to do
all that we do, in word or deed, in the name of Christ, Col. iii. 17, which is to
he understood especially of our attendance on ordinances. Ordinances are ad-
iniiiis'ered in the name of God. When the word is preached by authorized
ministers, they speak in God's name, as Christ's ambassadors, as co-workers
together with Christ : 2 Cor. v. 20, " Now we are ambassadors for Christ."
Chap. vi. 1, " W'e are workers together with him." When a true rainister
preaches, he speaks as tbe oracles of God, 1 Pet iv. 12, and be is to be^ heard
as one representing Christ.
So in administering tbe sacraraents, the rainister represents the person of
Christ ; he baptizes in bis name, and in the Lord's supper stands in his stead. In
administering church-censures, he still acts, as the apostle expresses it, in the
person of Christ, 2 Cor. ii. 10. On the other band, the congregation, in their
addresses to God in ordinances, as prayer and praise, acl in Ih^ narae of
Christ, the Mediator, as having bim to represent them, and as coming to God
by him. SECTION n.
God's ordinances are dreadfully profaned hy those who attend on them, and yet
allow themselves in ways of wickedness. i
Persons who come to the house of God, into the holy presence of God,
altendinor the duties and ordinances of his public worship, pretending with
others, according lo divine institution, to call on tbe narae of God, lo praise
him, to hear his word, and commemorate Christ's dealh, and who yet, at the
same tirae, are willingly and allowedly going on in wicked course^, or in any
practice contrary to the plain rules ofthe word of God, therein greatly profane
the holy worship of God, defile the teraple of God and those sacred ordinances
on whicli they attend. "The truth of this proposition appears by the following
considerations. 1. By attending ordinances, and yet living in allowed wickedness, tbey
show great irreverence and contempt of those holy ordinances. When persons
who bave been coraraitling known wickedness, and yet live in it, and have no
other design than to go on still in the same, when they corae from their wicked
ness, as it were the same day, as it is expressed in the text, and attend the
sacred soleran worship and ordinances of God, and then go from the house of
God, directly to the like allowed wickedness — they hereby express a most ir
reverent spirit with respect to holy things, and in a horrid raanner cast conterapt
upon God's sacred instituiions, and on those holy things wbich we are concerned
with in them.
They show that they h.-i-ve no reverence of tbat G id who hath hallowed tbese
5'M A WARNING TO PROFESSORS.
ordinances. They show a conterapt of that divine authority whicb instituted
them. They show a horribly irreverent spirit towards that Gocl inlo whose
presence they come, and with whom Ihey immedialely have lo do in ordinances,
and in whose name these ordinances are peiforined and altended. They show a
contempt of Ihat adoration of God, of that failh and love, and that huinilialion,
subraission, and praise, whicb ordinances were instituted lo express. What an
irreverent spirit dolh it show-, that they are so careless afier what manner Ihey
come before God ! that they lake no care lo cleanse and puiily Ihemselves, in
order that they may be fit to come before God! yea, Ihat they take no care to
avoid making themselves raore and more unclean and fillhy !
They have been taught many' a lime, that God is of purer eyes than to be
hold evil, and cannot look on iniquity, and how exceedingly be is offended wilh
sin ; yet they care not how unclean and aborainable they corae into his pres
ence. It shows horrid irreverence and contempt, that they are so bold, that
they are not afraid lo come into the presence of God in such a raanner ; and
that they will presume lo go out of the presence of God, and from an attend
ance upon holy ihings, again lo their sinful practices. If ihey bad any rever
ence of God and holy ihings, an approach inlo bis presence, and an attendance
on those holy things, would, leave that awe upon their rainds, Ihat Ibey would
not dare to go imraediately flora thera lo Iheir ways of known wickedness.
It woulcl show a great irreverence in any peison towards a king, if he
should not care how he came inlo his presence, and if he should corae in a sor
did habit, and in a very indecent manner. How much more horrid irreverence
doth it show, for persons willingly and allowedly to defile Ihemselves wilh ihat
filth which God infinitely hates, and so frequently lo come into the presence
ofGod! ^ ,
2. By making a show of respect lo God in ordinances, and then acting Ihe
contrary in tlieir lives, ihey clo bul 77iof/f God. In allendiiig ordinances, they
make a show of respeci to God. By joining in prayer, in public adoialinns,
confessions, petitions, and Ihank.sgiving.s, they make a show of high tlinughls
of God, and of humbling themselves before hira ; of soriow for Iheir sins, of
thankfulness for mercies, and of a desire of grace and assistance to obey and
serve God. By atlendlng upon the hearing of the word, they raake a show of
a teachable spirit, and of a readiness to practise according lo Ihe inslruclionS
given. By attending on the sacraraents, they raake a show of faith in Christ,
of choosing him for Iheir portion, and spiritually feeding upon bira.
But by their actions they all the while declare the conlrary. They declare,
that Ihey have no high esteem of God, bul that they despise bira in Iheir hearts.
They declare, that they are so far from repentingof. that Ihey intend lo conlinue
in Iheir sins. They declare, that they have no desire of that grace and as
sistance lo live in a holy manner for which Ihey prayed, and thai Ihey had
rallier live wickedly : this is what they choose, and for the present are resolved
upon. They declare by their actions, Ihat there is no truth in what they pre
tend in hearing the word preached, Ihat ibey bad a desire to know whal the
will of God is, that tbey might be directed in Iheir duly ; for they declare by
their actions, that they desire not to clo the will of God, and that "they do not
intend any such thing : but intend, oa the contrary, to disobey him ; and Ihat
they prefer their carnal interests before bis aulhorily and glory.
They declare by their actions, ihat there is no Irulh in what they pretend
ill their attendance on Ihe sacraraents, that thc^ desire to be fed with spiritual
nourishment, and to be conformed and assimilaled lo Clirist, and lo have com
munion with him Thej show by their practices, that they have no regard to
A WARNING TO PROFESSORS. 533
Christ ; and that tbey had rather have their lusts gratified, than to be fed with
his spiritual food : tbey show, that they desire not any assimilation to Christ,
but to be different from hira, and of an opposite character to him: they .show
that instead of desiring communion with Christ, they are his resolved and allow
ed enemies, wilfully acting the part of enemies to Christ, dishonoring hira, and
promoting the interest of Satan against bim.
Now, what can this be else but mockery, to make a show of great re
spect, reverence, love and obedience, and at the same time wilfully to declare
the leverse in actions. If a rebel or traitor should send addresses lo his king,
milking a show of great loyalty and fidelity, and should all the while opeijly,
and in tbe king's sight, carry ou designs of dethroning him, bow could his ad
dresses be considered as any other than mockery ? If a man sbould bow and
kneel before his superior, and use many respectful terms to hiin, but at the same
time should strike him, or spit in his face, would his bowing and his respectful
terins be looked upon in any light than as done in mockery ? When the Jews
kneeled before Christ, and said. Hail, King of th-e' Jews, but at the same lime
spit in his face, and smote him upon the head wilh a reed ; could their kneeling
and salutations be considered as any other than mockery ?
Men who attend ordinances, and- yet willingly live in wicked practices, treat
Christ in the sarae manner that these Jews did. They corae to public wor
ship, and pretend to pray lo him, to sing bis praises, to sit and hear his word;
they corae to the sacraraent, pretending to comraemorate his death. Thus they
kneel before hirn, and say. Hail, King ofthe Jews ; yet at the sarae lirae they
live in ways of wickedness, which they know Christ hath forbidden, of which
he hath declared the greatest haired, and whicb are exceedingly lo his dishonor.
Thus they buffet bim, and spit in bis face. They do as Judas did, who caaicto
Christ saying. Hail, Master, and kissed him, at the same time betraying hira
into Ihe hands of those who sought his life.
How can it be interpreted in any other light, when men come to public
worship, and attend ordinances, and yet will be drunkards and profane swearei-s,
"wilMive in lasciviousness, injustice, or some other known wickedness? If a
man should pray to God to keep him from drunkenness, and at the sarae tirae
should put the bottle to his own mouth, and drink hiraself drunk ; the absurdity
and horrid wickedness of his conduct would be manifest to every man. But
the very sarae thing, though not so visible to us, is done by those wbo make
profession of great respect to God, and pray God from time lo time lo keep
thera from sin ; yet at the same tirae have no design to forsake their known
sins, but intend the conlrary.
God sees men's designs and resolutions more plainly than we can see their
outward actions ; therefore for a man to pray to God lo be kept from sin, and
at the same lirae to intend to sin, is raockery as visible to God as if he prayed
to be kept from some particular sin, which he was at tbe same time willingly
and allowedly coraraitling.
These persons are guilty of a horrid profanation of God's ordinances ; for
they make them occasions of a greater affront to God, the occasions of showing
tlieir irapudence and presumption ; for he who lives in wilful wickedness, and
doth not enjoy the ordinances of God, is not guilty of so great presuraption, as
he who attends these ordinances, and yet allows himself in wickedness. 'This
latter acts as though he carae into tbe presence of God on purpose to afl'ront
him. He coraes flora time to time to hear the will of God, and all the while
designs disobedience, and g-ies away and acts directly contrary to it
A seivant would affront his master by wilfully disobeying his commands in
534 A WARNING TO PROFESSORS.
any wise. But he would affront bira much more, if he sbould on every ocxh-
sion corae to hira to inquire his will, as though he were ready to do whalevei
his master would have him do, and then should immediately go away and d(
the contrary.
3. They put tbe ordinances of God to a profane use. The ordinances of
God are holy, as they are set apart of God to a holy use and purpose. They
are Ihe worship of God, instituted for the ends of giving honor and glory to him,
and to be means of grace and spiritual good to u.s. But tbose persons who at
tend these ordinances, and yet live in allowed wickedness, aim al neither of ihese
ends: they, in Iheir attendance on ordinances, neither aim to give honor lo God,
or to express any love, or esteem, or thankfulness ; nor do they sincerely seek
tbe good of their own souls. It is not truly the aira of any such persons to ob
tain grace, or to be made holy ; their actions plainly show that tbis is not their
desire ; tbey choose to be wicked, and intend it -
It is not therefore to these purposes that tbey improve tbe holy ordinances
of God ; but they put them to another and profane use. Tbey attend ordinances
to avoid that discredit which a voluntary and habitual absence from thera would
cause araong those wilh whom they live, to avoid the punishraent of human
laws, or for their worldly advantage ; to make up for other wickedness, or for
sorae other carnal purposes. Thus they profane tbe ordinances of God, by per
verting them to profane purposes.
4. When persons thus treat God's holy ordinances, it tends to beget contempt
of them in others. When others see sacred Ihings coraraonly used so irrever
ently, and attended with such carelessness and contempt, and treated wiihout
any sacred regard ; when they see persons are bold wilh them, ti-eat them
without any solemnity of spirit ; when they see them thus commonly profaned,
it tends to diminish tbeir sense of their sacredness, and to make them seem no
very awful things. In short, it tends to embolden them to do the like.
Tbe holy vessels and utensils of the temple and tabernacle were never to be
put to a coinraofi use, nor to be bandied wiihout the greatest care and reverence :
for if it had been commonly olherwise, the reverence ot them could not have been
maintained ; they would have seeraed no more sacred than any thing else. So
it is in the ordinances of Christian worship.
SECTION III.
A call to self-examination.
Let this doctrine put all upon examining themselves, wbether tbey do not
allow themselves in known wickedness. You are such as do enjoy the ordi
nances of divine worship. You come into the holy presence of God, attending
on those ordinances, which Gocl, by sacred authority, hath hallowed and set
apart, that in them we might have iraraediate intercourse with hiraself ; that
we raight worship and adore him, and express lo bira a humble, holy, supreme
respeci ; and that in them we might receive iramediate coramunications from
him. Here you corae and speak to God, pretending to express your sense how
glorious he is, and bow worthy tbat you should fear and love him, humble your
selves before hira, devote yourselves to bim, obey hira, and bave a greater re
spect to his coraraands and lo his honor, than to "any temporal interest, ease, o.
pleasure of your own. Here you pretend before God, tbat you are sensible how
unworihily you have done by sins coraraitted in times past, and tbat you have a
great desire not to do the like in time to corae. You pretend to confess your
A WARNING TO PROItSSORS. 53b
sins, and to humble yourselves for thera. Here you pray that God would give
you his Spirit to assist you against sin, lo keep you from the coramission of it,
enable you to overcome temptations, and help you to walk holily in all your
conversation, as thoui>-h you really had a great desire to avoid such sins as you
have been guflty of in tirae past. And the like pretences you have made in
your attendance upon the other ordinances, as in hearing the word, in singing
praise, &c.
But consider whether you do not horribly defile and profane tbe public
prayers and other ordinances. Notwithstanding all your pretences, and what
you seem to bold forth by your attendance on them, do you not all the while
live in known wickedness against God ? For all your pretences of respeci tc
God, of huinilialion for sin, and desires to avoid it, bave you not come clirectly
frora the aflowed practice of known sin to God's ordinances, and did not at all
repent of what you bad done, nor at all sorry for it at tbe very tirae when you
stood before God, raaking these pretences ; and even bad no design of reforraa
tion, but intended to r'eturn lo the same practice again after your departure from
the presence of God ? — I say, bath not this, on many occasions, been your
manner of coining and attending on the ordinances of divine worship ? Not
only so, but is it not stfll your manner, your common way of attending upon
these ordinances, even to this very day ? Do you not lie lo God with your
tongues, when you pretend, that he is a great God, and that you are poor,
guilty, unworthy creatures, deserving bis wrath by the sins of wbich you have
been guflty ? and when you pretend, that you earnestly desire he would
keep you from tbe like for time to come ? Are you not guilty of horrid
mockery of God in it, when al the same time you design no such thing, but
the contrary ?
Do you not even the sarae day that you come into God's bouse, and to bis
ordinances, allow yourselves in known sins ? Do you not wilh consent and
approbation think of the sinful practices, in which you aflow yourselves, and
in which you have been exercising yourselves in the week past ? Do you not
the very day in wbich you attend ordinances, allowedly please and gratify a
wicked iraagination ? And are you not then perpetrating wickedness in your
thoughts, and contriving the future fulfilment of your wickedness ? Yea, are
you not guilty of these things soraetimes even in the very time of your attend
ance on ordinances, when you are in ihe immediate presence of God ? and ^vhile
others have immediate intercourse with God, and you likewise pretend lo Ihe
sarae ? Do you not, even in these circuinstances, allow yourselves in wicked
thoughts and imaginations, voluntarily wallowing in known wickedness ?
Are not some of you guilty of allowedly breaking God's holy Sabbath, in
maintaining no government of your thoughts, Ihinking indifferently about any
thing that t^mes next to mind ; and not only thinking, but talking too about coin-
mon° woi-hllv affairs? And sometimes talking in such a manner, as is not suit
able even on other days; talking profanely, or in an unclean manner, sporting
and diverting yourselves in such conversation on God's holy clay ? Yea, it is
well if some have not been tbus guilty in the very time of aitendai.ce on the
ordinances of worship.
Examine yourselves, how it bath been with you. You all attend many
of tbe ordinances of divine worship. You come to the bouse of God, attend
public prayers, singing, and preaching of the word ; and many of you corae to
the Lord's supper,°thal holy ordinance, instituted for the special coraraeraora
tion of ihe greatest and most wonderful of all divine acls towards mankind ; fo:
tbe special and visible representation of tbe ino^t glorious and wonderful things
536 A WARNING TO PROFESSORS.
of our religion; for the most solemn profession and renewal of your engage
ment lo God ; and for special communion wilh Jesus Chiist Let such exam
ine themselves whether they do not allow themselves in known sin, lo the horrid
profanation and pollution of tbis most sacred ordinance.
Examine and see whether you do not allow yourselves in sorae way of
deahng with your fellow men, which you have sufficient light to know lo be
evil ; or whelher you do not aflow yourselves in a known evil behavior towards
some person or persons of Ihe families to which you respectively belong, as to-
wards your husbands, your wives, your children, or servants ; or your neigh
bors, ill your spirit and behavior towards them, or in your talk of them.
Examine whether you do not some way willingly indulge an unclean ap
petite, in less or grosser acts of uncleanness, or in your discourse, or in your
imagination. Or do you not give way lo a lust after strong drink, or indulge
yourselves in some vicious excess in gratifying some sensual appetite in raeat
or drink, or otherwise? Are you not willingly guilty of vanity, and extrava
gance in your conversation ?
Do you not, for all your attendance on ordinances, continue in tbe allowed
neglect of your precious souls, neglecting secret prayer or some known duty of
private religion ? Or do you not allow yourselves in Sabbath-breaking? — In
all these ways are the ordinances of God's sacred worship polluted and profaned;
Men are apt lo act very treacherously and perversely in the matter of self-
examination. 'When they are put upon examining themselves, they very often
ilecline it, and will not enter into any serious examination of Ihemselves at afl.
They hear uses of examination insisted on, but put them off to others, and never
seriously apply thera lo theraselves. — And if they clo examine theraselves, when
ihey are put upon it, they are exceedingly partial to themselves ; they spare
themselves ; they do not search, and look, and pass a judgment according to
truth ; but so as unreasonably lo favor and justify themselves. — If they can be
brought to examine themselves at all, whether they do not allow themselves
in known wickedness, although they attend on divine ordinances, they will not
do it impartially. Their endeavor will not be indeed to know the trulh oftheir
case, and to give a true answer to their consciences ; but to blind Ihemselves, to
persuade and flatter themselves that they do not allow Ihemselves in known
sin, whether it be true or not. There are two tbings especially wherein per'
sons often act very perversely and falsely in this matter.
1. Persons very often deal very perversely in pretending, that the sins in
which they live are not known sins. Nolhing is more common surely, than for
persons to flatter themselves with this concerning the wickedness in which ihey
hve. Let that wickedness be almost wbat it may, Ibey will plead to their con
sciences, and endeavor lo slill thera, that there is no evil in it, or that they do
not know that there is any evil in it. Men's own conscienties can best lelLliow
they are wont to do in this raatter. — There is hardly any kind of wickedness
tbat rnen comrait, but they will plead thus in excuse for it They will plead
thus about their cheating and injustice, about their hatred of their neighbors;
about their evil speaking, about their revengeful spirit, about their excessive
drinking, about their lying, their neglect of secret pray er, their lasciviousness,
their unclean dalliances; yea, they wfll plead excuses for very gioss acls of
uncleanness, as fornication, adullery, and what not They have tbeir vain
excuses and carnal reasonings in favor of all Iheir evil actions. They wifl
say. What harm, what evil is there in such and sucb an action ? And if tnerv
be a plain rule against it, yet they will plead that their circurastances are
peculiar, and that tbey are excepted from tbe general rule ; .that tbeir temp.
A WARNING TO PROFESSORS. 53',
tation is so great, that tbey are excusable ; or some thing will they find to
plead. If ithe some thing upon which their lusts are much set, and about whicb
they feel remorse of conscience, they will never leave studying and contriving
with all the art and subtlety of which they are masters, till liiey shall have found
out some reason, some excuse, with whicb Ibey shall be able in some raeasure
to quiet iheir consciences. And whether after all they shall have made it out
to blind conscience or not, yet they will plead that their argument is good, and
it is no sm ; or if it be a sin, it is only a sin of ignorance. — So men will plead
for the wickedness which they do in Ihe dark. So without doubt some very
gross sinners plead to their consciences; as would appear, if we could but look
inlo their hearts ; when indeed the strongest arguraent they have, that in such a
thing there is no evil, is the strongest lust they have to il, the inordinate desire
they have to commit it.
It was the saying of one, Licitis perimus omnes ; that is. We all perish by
lawful things ; which is as much as lo say, men comraonly live w-ickedly and
go to hell, in those ways whicb they flatter themselves lo be lawful. Or at
least tbey flatter themselves, that they are sins of ignorance ; they do not know
thera to be unlawful. — Thus, I make no doubt some will be apt lo do, in apply
ing to Ihemselves this use of exaraination, if they can be per.suaded to apply
It lo ihemselves at all. Whether these things be true of you, let your own
consciences speak, you that neglect secret prayer ; you that live in secret, un
clean, lascivious actions ; you that indulge an inordinate appetite for strong
drink; you that defiaud or oppress others ; you that indulge a spirit of revenge
and hatred towards your neighbor. — Here I desire you to consider two or three
things. (1.) Not all sins, wbich one knows not with a certain knowledge to be sin
ful, are justly called sins of ignorance. Men often will excuse themselves for
venturing upon a sinful action or practice, wilh this, that Ihey know not that it
is sinful ; which is at most true no otherwise than as Ihey do not know it to be
sinful wilh a certain knowledge, or wilh the evidence of absolute demonstration ;
although at the same time it is a sin against their light, and againsi great light.
They have been so taught, that they have had light enough to make them sen
sible Ihat it is displeasing lo God, and not warranted or allowed by him. And
they do in Iheir consciences think it to be sinful ; they are secretly convinced
bf it, however Ihey may pretend Ihe conlrary, anil labor lo decei\e ihemselves,
and to persuade Ihemselves that they do not think there is any evil in il.
Those sins whicb are contrary to sufficient information and instniclion, and
contrary to the real dictates of their own consciences, or to the judgment of
theirown minds: whether there be certain or demonstrative knowledge or no;
these are what I would be understood to mean, when I speak of known sins.
Such light as this, whelher there be absolutely certain knowledge or no, is suf
ficient to render the action utteriy inexcusable, or to render il, when allowed, a
horrible profanation and pollution of Ihe holy ordinances of God.
(2.) It is in vain for persons lo pretend that those are sins of ignorance,
which they bave often and cleariy beard testified against frora the word of God.
It will be "found to be so at last ; it wfll be found to be a vain thing for persons
who have lived under the light ofthe gospel, and where all manner of iniquity
is testified against, if they live in immoral and vicious practices, to pretend that
they are sins of ignorance ; unless the case be very peculiar and extraordinary >
(3.) It isin vain for you to pretend that tho.se are sins of ignorance, oj
which you would not dare to proceed in the practice, if you knew thai your sou
Vol. IV 68
538 A WARNING TO PROFESSuRS.
was lo be icquired of you this night. Persons do many things, for which tliev
plead, and pretend they tbink tiiere is no evil in them, who yet would as soon
eat fire, as do the same, if they knew that tbey were to stand before the judg
ment-seal of Christ within four and twenty hours. This show-s that persons do
but prevaricate, when they pretend that their sins are sins of ignorance.
2. Another way wherein men deal falsely and perversely in tbis raatter, is,
rn pretending Ihat they do not allow themselves in those sins wbich they prac
tise. They either pretend that they know them not to be sins, or if ibey cannot
bul own that, then Ihey will say, they do not allow themselves in them ; and so
tbey hope God is not very much provoked by them. They pretend this, though
they make a trade of them. They go on repealing one act after another, with
out ever seriou.sly repenting of past, or resolving against future acts. Bul take
lieed Ihat you do not deceive yourselves in Ibis matter; for sucb preten .-es, how
ever they do something tow-ards stilling your consciences now, will do nothing
wben you come lo stand before your righteous and holy Judge. i
SECTION IV.
Address to such as attend ordinances, and yet allow themselves in known sin.
Consider how holy and sacred the ordinances of God are; what mockery
you are guilty of in making such a show, and such pretences in attending ordi
nances, and yet voluntarily acting tbe reverse of wbat you pretend. Consider
that there is no sort of sinners with whora God is so provoked, and who stand
.so guilty before him, as the profaners of bis ordinances. The fire of God's
wralh is kindled by none so much as by Ihe polluters of holy thing.s. They are
represented as those who are especially guflly before God, in the third com
mandment : " Tbe Lord will not hold him guiltiess that taketh his name in vain "
'Why is this annexed to this command, rather than to any oiher of the ten, but
because ihe breach of it e.<;pecially renders a man guilty in the sight of God ?
The taking of God's name in vain includes the profanation and pollution of
ordinances and holy things. They do in a veiy dreadful manner take God's
narae in vain, who attend on bis ordinances, and yet live in known sin ; for, as
we bave shown, they raanifest the greatest irreverence for hira, and contempt of
divine things. They manifest a contempt of his autliority, a contempt of the
business and design of his ordinances, and a most careless and irreverent spirit
in things w-herein they have immediate converse with God. Ordinances, as we
bave .shown, are attended in the narae of God ; and therefore, by such an attend
ance on tliera, the name of God is greatly profaned. You that attend ordinances
in such a manner, take the name of God so mucb in vain, that you use il only
in raockery, and so as to expose it to contempt. Such a way of attending ordi
nances is a trampling of all tbat is sacred under foot.
We bave in Scripture scarce any sucb awful instances of tbe iraraediate and
miraculous vengeance of God, as on the profaners of holy ihings. How clid God
consume Nadab and Abihu, for off'ering strange fire bfore him ! How did he
break forth upon Uzza, for handling the ark with too mucb irreverence I 2
Sam. vi. 6, 7. And how did he break forth on the children of Israel at Belh-
shemesh, for profaning the ark ! " He smote of the people fifty ihousand
threescore and ten men," as in 1 Sam. vi. 19.
Ard God hath threatened in the New Testament that if any man " defile
the temple of God, him shall God destroy ; for the temple of God is holy," 1
Cor. iii. 17. There is an emphasis in the expression. God will destioy all
sinners, let it be what sin it will wbich they commit, and ii. which they con-
A WARNING TO PROFESSORS. 539
tinue ; and yet it is said, " If any man defile tbe temple of God, him sball God
destroy," as if it had been said, there is something peculiar in the case, and God
is especially provoked to destroy such, and consume them in the fire of hiS
wrath ; and be will indeed destroy them wilh a destiuction especially dreadful.
So God hath declared. Gal. vi. 7, " That be wifl not be mocked ;" i. e , if
iny presume to mock bira, they wfll find him, by experience, lo be no contemp
tible being. God will vindicate his holy majesty frora the contempt of those
who dare to mock bim, and be will do it effectually : they sball fully find bow
dreadful a being he is, whose name they bave daringly profaned and polluted.
Defilers and profaners of ordinances, by known and allowed wickedness, pro
voke God raore than the heathen, who bave no ordinances. Thus the wicked
ness of Judah and Jerusalera is said to be far worse than that of Sodom, Ihough
the inhabitants of Sodom were, as we bave reason lo think, some of ibe worst
of the heathens. See Ezek. xvi. 46, 47, &c. The sin of Sodom is here spoken
of as a light thing in comparison wMlh the sins of Judah. And what should be
the rea.son, but tbat Judah enjoyed holy things which they profaned and pol
luted, which Sodom had no opporlunity to do ? for it is not to be supposed, that
Judah olherwise arrived to the same pass that Sodora bad.
Consider therefore, ye who allow yourselves in known wickedness, and live
in it, who yet come to the house of God, and to his ordinances from time to
time, without any serious design of forsaking your sins, but, on the contrary,
with an intention of continuing in thera, and "who frequently go from Ihe hou.se of
God to your wicked practices; consider bow guilty you have made yourselves in
the sight of God, and how dreadfully God is provoked by you. It is a wonder
of .God's patience, tbat he doth not break forth .upon you, and strike you dead
in a raoraent ; for you profane holy things in a more dreadful manner than Uzza
did, when yet God struck him dead for his error. And whereas he was struck
dead for only one offence ; you are guilty of the same sin from week lo week,
and from day to day.
It is a wonder that God suffers you to live upon earth, that be hath not,
with a thunderbolt of his wralh, struck you down to tbe bottomless pit long
ago. You that are allowedly and voluntarily living in sin, who bave gone on
hitherto in sin, are stfll going on, and do not design any other than to go on
J yet; it is a wonder that the Alraighty 's thunder lies slill, and suff'ers you to sit
\in bis bouse, or to live upon earth. It is a wonder that the earth will be-tir you,
and that hell doth not swallow you up. It is a wonder that fire dolh not corae
down from heaven, or come up frora hell, and devour you ; that hell-flaraes do
not enlarge themselves to reach you, and that the bottoraless pit halh not swal
lowed you up.
However, fhat you are as yet borne wilb, is no arguraent that your damna
tion slumbers. The anger of God is not like the passions of raen, that it should
be in haste. There is a day of vengeance and recompense appointed for the
vessels of wrath ; and when the day sball bave corae, and tbe iniquity shafl be
full, none sball deliver out of God's hand. Thej wfll he recompense, even re
compense into your bosoms.
SERMON XXXIII.
GOD THE BEST PORTION OF THE CHRISTIAN.
PsAIH Ixxiii. 25. —-Whom lave I in heaven but thee! And thereis none upon earth thai I desire i( sides
tliee.
The Psalraisl, in this psalm, relates tbe great difficulty that he met with in
his own mind, frorn the consideration of the prosperity of wicked men. He
tells us, ver. 2 and 3, " As for rae, ray feet were almost gone ; ray steps had
well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when Isaw Ihe prosperity
of the wicked." In the 4lh and follow-ing verses, be inforras us, vvhat it was
he had observed in the wicked, which was his teraptation. In the first place, he
observed, that tbey were very prosperous, and all things went well with them.
He then observed iheir behavior in their prosperity, and the use which they
raade of it; and that God, iiotwiihstanding sucb a use or abuse, continued
their prosperity, as in the 6th and following verses. Tben Ibe Psalraist lells
us by whal means he was helped out of this difficulty, viz., by going inlo the
sanctuary, verses 16, 17 ; and proceeds to inform us what considerations they
were which helped hira, viz., these three:
1. The consideration of the raiserable end of wicked men. How^ever they
prosper for the present, yet tbey. come to a woful end at last, ver. 18, 19, 20.
2. The consideration ofthe blessed end ofthe saints. Although the saints,
while they live, may be afflicted, yet they come to a happy end al last, ver. 21,
22, 23, 24.
3. The consideration, tbat the godly have a much better portion than the
wicked, even Ihough they h-"ive no other portion than God ; as in the text and
following verse. If it be .so, that the wicked are in prosperity, and are not in
trouble as other raen ; yet the godly, Ihough they be in afifliction, are in a state
infinitely betier than the wicked, because they bave God for their portion.
However they raay have nolhing else, this is enough, without ihe enjoyraents
of wicked raen ; they need desire notbing else; be that bath God, hath all.
Thus the Psalmist professes it was wilh him, in the sense i and apprehension
which he hacl of things : Whom have I in heaven but thee ? And there is none
upon earth that I desire besides thee.
In the verse immediately preceding, the Psalmist takes notice bow the'
saints are happy in God, bolh wben they are here in this worid, and also when
they are taken to anotber world. They are blessed in God. in tbis world, in
that while here God guides themhyhis counsel ; and when he takes tbem out of
this worid, they are slill happy, in that then God receives them to glory. The
Psalmist having thus taken notice of the happiness of the saints in God, both
while here upon earth, and also when removed into another world, was prob
ably by this observation led, in the next verse, which is the text, to declare ihat
be desired no other portion, either in Ibis world or in the worid to come, either
in heaven or upon earth
DOCTRINE.
It is the spirit of a truly gcdly man, to prefer God oefore all other things,
sither in heaven or on earlb
GOD THE BEST PORTION OF THE CHRISTIAX. 5.4I
1. .^ godly man prefers God before any thing else in heaven.
1. He prefers God before any thing else that actually is in beaven. Every
godly man bath his heart in heaven ; his afreclions are mainly set ri heaven,
and whal is to be bad there. Heaven is bis chosen country and inheritance.'
He bath respect to heaven, as a traveller who is on occasion abroad in a dislani
land hath to his own country. The traveller can content himself to be in a
strange land for a while, until bis present occasion and business be over ; but
bis own native land is preferred by himlo all others. Heb. xi. 13, &c., " These
all died in faith, not having received the promises, bul were persuaded' of them,
and erabraced thera, and confessed that they were strangers and pilo-iims on
the earlh. For they that say such things, declare plainly that they seek a
countiy. And truly if they had been mindful of Ihat country fiom whence
they came out, they might have had opportunity lo have returned: but now
they desire a better countiy, that is, a heavenly."
So also the respect which a godly person hath to beaven, may be compared
to the respect which a child, wben he is abroad, hatb to his father's house. He
can be contented abroad for a little while; but the place to which he de.siies to
return, and in which to dwell, is his own home at his father's house. Heaven
is the true saint's father's house. John xiv. 2, " In my Father's house are many
mansions." John xx. 17, " I ascend to my Falher and your Falher."
Now, the main reason why ihe godly man halh his heart thus in heaven, is
because God is there ; that is the palace ofthe most high God ; il is the place
where Gocl is gloriously present, where he is lo be seen, where he is to be
enjoyed, where his love is gloriously manifested, where the godly may be w-ilh
him, see bim as he is, and love, serve, praise, and enjoy him perfectly. It is for
this chiefly that a godly man desires heaven. If God and Christ were not in
heaven, he would not be so earnest in seeking il, nor would he take so .much
pains in a laborious travel Ihrough this wilderness, nor w-ould the coiisidernlion
'hat he is going to beaven when he dies, be sucb a comfort lo bim under Ihe
toils and afflictions ofthe world, as it now is. The martyrs would not undergo
those cruel sufferings which are brought upon them by their persecutors, wilb
that cheerfulness in a prospect of going to heaven, did they not expect lo go
and be wilh Christ, and lo enjoy God there. They would not with that cheer
fulness forsake all Iheir eailhly possessions, and all their earihly fi lends, as
many thousands of them have done, and wander about in poverty and banish
ment, being destitute, aflhcled, tormenled, in lio|ies of exchanging their earihly
for a heavenly inheritance, were it not that they hope to be with their glorious
Redeemer and heavenly Falher in heaven.
If Gocl anil ChrisI were not in heaven, however beautiful the place be, and
whatever excellent creature inhabitants there be there, yet heaven would be but
an empty place, it would be but an unlovely place. The believer's heart is in
heaven, because his treasure is there; and that treasure is Jesus Christ, the
same that w-e read of in Malt xiii. 44, which is there called " a treasure bid
in a field, which, when a man halh found, he hidelh, and for joy thereof goeth
and sellelh all he bath, and 'buyeth Ihat field."
2. A godly man prefers God before any thing else Ihat might be in heaven.
Not only is there nolhing aclually in heaven, which is in bis esteem equal with
God ; but neither is Iheie any thing of which he can conceive as possible lo be
there, which by him is esteemed and desired equally wilh God. Tbose ol some
nations and professions suppose quite dift'eient enjoyments lo be in heaven, from
those which the Scriptures leach us lo be there. The Mahometans, for instance,
suppose that in heaven a-e to be enjoyed all manner of sensual delights and
54& GOD THE BEST PORTION
pleasures. Many (bings which Mahomet bas feigned are, fo the lusts and
carnal appetites of men, the most agreeable that he could devise ; and he flat
tered bis followers wilb proraises of sucb enjoyments in heaven.
But the true saint, if he were to contrive such a heaven as would suit bin:
best, could not conceive one more agreeable lo bis inclination and desires, than
such a one as is revealed in tbe word of God ; a heaven of the enjoyment of
the glorious God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, where he shall bave all sin
taken away, ami shall be perfectly conforraed to God, where he shall have a
perfect acquaintance wilh God, and sball spend an eternity in exalted exercises
of love to God, and in the enjoyraent of his love. Sucb a heaven is to the
saint belter than any Mahoraetan paradise ; it is tbe best beaven that can pos
sibly be; there is no happiness conceived of, that would be belter, or tbat would
appear so desirable to him, as this. If God were not to be enjoyed in heaven,
but, instead of that, there were vast wealth, immense treasures of silver and
gold, and great honor of such kind as men obtain in Ihis world, and a fulness
ofthe greatest sensual delights and pleasures ; all these things would not make
up for the want of God and Christ, and the enjoyraent of thera there. If it
were empty of God, it would indeed be an empty melancholy place.
The godly have been made sensible, as to all creature enjoyments, that they
cannot salisly the soul, and that happiness is in God ; and therefore nolhing
will content thera but God. Off'er a saint whal you will, if you deny hira God,
he will esteera hiraself raiserable. His soul thiisis for God, to come and ap
pear before God. God is the centre of bis desires ; and as long as you keep his
soul from its proper centre, it will not be at rest. Tbe true saint sels his heart
on God as the chief good.
II. It is the spirit ofa godly man to prefer God before afl other things on
the earlh. 1. The saint prefers that enjoyment of God, for wbich he hopes hereafter,
to any thing in this world. He looketh not at tbe Ihings whicb are seen, and
are temporal, so much as at those Ihings which are unseen and eternal, 1 Cor.
iv. IS. It is but a liltle of Goil that Ibe saint enjoys here in Ibis world ; he hath
but a little acquaintance wilh God, and enjoys but a little of the manifestations
of the divine glory and love. But God halh promised to give bim himself
hereafter in a full enjoyment. And these promises of God are more precious to
tiie .saint, than tbe most precious earthly jewels. The gospel which contains
these promises, doth therein contain greater treasures, in his esteem, than the
cabinets of princes, or Ihe mines of the Indies.
2. Thesaints prefer what of God may be obtained in this world before all
tilings in the world. They not only prefer those glorious degrees of the enjoy
ment of Gocl which are promised hereafter, before any thing in this -worid ; but
even such degrees as may be attained lo here in the present state, though they
are immensely short of what is lo be enjoyed in heaven. Tliere is a great differ
ence in the spiritual attainments of the sainls in this worid. Some attain to
much greater acquaintance and comraunion wilh God, and conformity lo hira,
than cithers. But the highest attainments are very small in comparison wilh
what is future.
The sainls are capable of raaking progress in spiritual attainments, and of
obtaining more of God Ihan ever yet they bave obtained ; and they are of such
a spirit that they earnestly desire sucb further attainments. Not conlenled with
those degrees to whicb tbey have already attained, Ibey hunger and ihiist
afier righteousness, and as newborn babes, desire the sincere railk of tbe word.
'hat tbey raay grow Ihrreby. Il is tbeir desire, to know more of God, to have
OF THE CHRISTIAN. 543
more cf bis image, and to be enabled more to imitate G id and Christ in heir
ivalk and conversation. The appetite of the soul of a godly man is aftci God
and Jesus Christ, as appears by many places of Scripture ; as Psalm xxvii 4
" One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that 1 may dwell
ra the bouse of the Lord all tite days of my life, to behold the beauty of Ihe
Lord, and lo inquire in his temple." Psalm xiii. 1, 2, " As the hart pantelh
after the whaler brooks, so pantelh my soul after thee, 0 God. My soul Ihirsl-
elh for God, for the living God : when sball 1 come and appear before God ?
Psalm Ixiu. 1, 2, " 0 God, thou art my God, early will 1 seek thee ; my soul
thiisteth for thee, my flesh longelh for Ihee in a dry and thirsty land, where
no waler is ; lo see thy power and thy glory, so as Ihave seen thee in the sanc
tuary." See also Psalm Ixxxiv.l, 2, 3, and Psalm cxxx. 6, " My soul waiteth
for the Lord, more Ihan Ihey Ihat walch for the morning : I say, raore than
they that w-alcb for the morning.''
Though every saint has not this longing desire after God to the S'tme de
gree that the Psalmist had, yet they are all of the same spirit; they have a
spirit earnestly lo desire and long for more of God, lo be nearer to him, lo bave
more of his presence and ofthe light of bis countenance, and to have more of
God in their hearts. That this is the spirit of the godly in general, and not of
some particular sainls only, appears from Isa. xxvi. 8, 9, where not any partic
ular saint, but Ibe church in general, speaks tbus: "Yea, in the way of thy
judgments, 0 Lord, bave we wailed for thee ; the desire of our soul is to thy
narae, and to the remembrance of thee. Wilh my soul have I desired thee in
the night, and with my spirit within me will I seek thte early."
It appears also to he the spirit of the sainls in general, by some expressions
of the spouse or Ihe church in Ihe Canticles ; as chapter iii. 1,2: " By night
on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth; I sought him, bul I found him
not I will rise now, and go about the city ; in the stieets and broad ways I
will seek him whom my soul loveth." So chapter v. 6, 8 : "I sought bim, but
I could not find hira ; I called bim, but he gave rae no answer. 1 charge you,
0 daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him. that I am
sick of love."
The saints are not always in the lively exercise of such a spirit; but such a
spirit Ihey have, and soraetimes they have the sensible exercise of il : they have
a spirit to desire God and divine altaininents, raore than all earthly Ihings.
They desire and seek to be rich in grace, more than they do lo get earthly
riches. They seek and desire the honor which is of God, more than that which
is of raen, John v. 44. Tbey desire comraunion wilh God, more than any
earthly pleasures whatsoever. They are in some measure of the same spirit
which the aposlle expresses in Phflip. iii. 8 : " Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,
and do count them but dung that I may win Christ."
3. The saint prefers what he hath already of God before any thing in tbis
woild. That wbich was infused into bis heart at his conversion, is more pre
cious to him than any thing whicb the world can afford. The knowledge and
acquaintance which he bath wilh God, though it be but littie, he would not part
wilh for any thing that the world can afford. The views which are sometimes
given hirn of the beauty and excellency of God, are more precious lo bira than
all Ihe treasures of the wicked. The relation of a child in which he stands lo
God, Ihe union which there is between his soul and Jesus Chnst, he values
more than the greaiest earihly dignity ; he had rather have this, than to be the
child of a prince. He would not part wilh tbe honor whicb God bath been
544 GOD THE BEST PORTION
pleased to put on him by bringing him so near to him, to be set upon an eartn>
ly throne, or to wear an earihly crown, though it were the raost splendiJ ihal
ever w-as worn by any earihly polenlale.
That image of God wbich is instamped on his soul, be values more than any
earihly ornaments. Il is, in his esleem, belter lo be adorned wilb tiie graces ot
Gocl's Holy Spirit, than lo be made lo shine in jewel;; of gold, and the most cost
ly pearls, or to be admired for the greatest external beauty. He values Ihe
robe of the righteousness of Christ, which he hath on his soul, more than tiie
robes of princes. The spiritual pleasures and delights which he soraeliines has
in God, he prefers far before afl the pleasures of sm : Psalm Ixxxiv. 10, " A day
in thy courts is betier than a Ihonsand : I hacl r:iU!cr be a door-keeper in the
house of God, than to dwell in Ihe tents of wickedness."
A saint thus prefers God before all things in this world,
1. As he prefers Gocl before any Ihing else that be possesses in the world.
Whatever temporal enjoyraents he has, he prefi.'is God to ihem all. Ifhe have
pleasant eailhly accommodations ; yet it is with respeci to God, and not his
earihly accommodations, that he saith, as in Psalm xvi. 5, 6 : " The Loid is the
portion of mine inheritance, and of ray cup : thou raainlainest my lot. The
lines have fallen to rae in -,ileasant places ; yea, I have a goodly heritage."
If he be rich, yet he chiefly sels his heart, not on his earthly, but his heavenly
riches. He prefers God before any earthly ftiencl, and the favor of God before
any respect tiiat is shown hira by his fellow creatures.
Although a godly man may have many earthly enjoyments, yet in his heart
he sets God above them all. Although he may give these room in hislieail,and
too much room ; yet he reserves the throne for God : Luke xiv. 26, " If any man
come to me, and hate not his falher, and mother, and wile, and childien, and
brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be ray disciple."
2. He prefers God before any earthly enjoyment of which he hath a -prospect.
The chililien ofmen commonly set Iheir hearts more on some earthly happiness
for "vhich Ihey hope, and after whicb Ihey are seeking, Ihan on what lliey have
in present possession. They very much live upon vain hopes of happiness in
earihly things, a happiness which they imagine is to be oblained by and by.
But a godly man prefers God lo any thing which he bas In prospect, or is seek
ing in Ihe world. He may, indeed, through the prevalence of coiruptio.i for a
season be carried away and swallowed up, wilh some enjoyment which he is
pursuing; however, be will again comelo himself; this is not the temper of
the man, he is of another spirit.
3. It is the spirit of a godly man to prefer God to any earthly enjoym,ent
of which he can conceive. He not only prefers hira fo any thing which he
now possesses ; but he sees nothing possessed by any of his neighbors, or any
of his fellow crealures, that he has such an esleem of, ashe has iTf God. If he
couici have as much woridly iirosperily as he w-ould, if he could have eailhly
things, just to his mind, and agreeable lo his inclination ; he values the portion
which he has in God, above such a portion :is this : he prefers Christ to earthly
kingdoms. APPLICATION.
4. Hence we may learn, that whatever changes a godly raan passes through
he is happy : because God, who is unchangeable, is his chosen portion. If he
meet with temporal losses, and be deprived of many of his temporal enjoyments,
or of all of tbem : yet God, whom tie prefers before all those things which he
OF THE CHRISTIAN. 545
hath lost, stifl remains, and cannot be lost. While he stays here in tbis chano-e-
able, Iroublesorae world, yet he is happy, because his chosen portion, on which
he builds, as his main foundation for happiness, is above the world, and above
all changes. And if he die and go inlo another world, still he is happy, be
cause that portion which be prefers to all that is either in this or another world,
yet remains. Whatever he be deprived of, he cannot be deprived of his chief
portion ; his inheritance remains sure to hira.
If woridly minded men could find out a way to secure to themselves some
certain earthly enjoyments, on which they mainly set their hearts, so tbat they
could not be lost, nor impaired while they live, how great woulcl tiiey accoum
the privilege, though other ihings whicb they esteem in a less degree were lia
ble lo the same uncertainly as they now are ? Whereas now, those earthly
enjoyments, on which men chiefly set their hearts, are often raost fading. But
how great is the happiness of ihose who have chosen the Fountain of all good,
and prefer bim befKi-e all Ihings in heaven or on earlh, as they can never be de
prived of him to all eternity !
2. Let all by these things exaraine and try themselves, whether they be
saints or not. As this wbich hath been exhibited is the spii-it of the saints, so it
is peculiar to ihein : none can use the language of the text, and say. Whom
have I in heaven hut thee ? And there is none upon earth that 1 desire besides thee,
but the saints. A man's choice is tbat whicb deterraines his state. He that
chooses Gocl for his portion, and prefers him lo all other Ihings, is a godly man,
for he chooses and worships God as God. To respect God as God, is to respect
hiin above all other Ihings ; and if any man respect God as bis God, his God
he is ; there is a union and covenant relation between that man and the true God.
Every man is as his God is. If you would know what a man is, whelher
he be a godly man or not, you raust inquire what his God is. If the true
God be he whom he respects as his God, i. e., to whora he hath a supreme re
spect, and whom be regards above all ; he is doubtless a godly man, a servant
ofthe true God. But if the man bave sorae other gocl, something else lo which
he pays a greater respect than to Jehovah, he is not a godly man ; God is not
his God ; he dolh not worship him for his God, nor doth he belong to God, as
one of his people.
Inquire, therefore, how it is with you, whether you prefer God before all
other Ihings. It may sometimes be .some difficulty for persons to deterraine
this to their satisfaction ; the ungodly raay be deluded with false affections;
the godly in dull frames may be al a loss about it. Therefore you may try
yourselves as to this matter these several ways; if you cannot speak fully to
one thing, yet you may perhaps to otiiers.
1. What is it which chiefly makes you desire to go to heaven wben you die ?
Indeed sorae have no great desire to go lo heaven. They do not care to go to
hell ; but if they could but be safe from that, they would not much concern
themselves about heaven. If it be not so wilh you, but you find that you have
a desire to go to heaven, then inquire what it is for. Is the raain reason, that
you raay be with God, have comraunion with hira, and be conforraed to bim ?
That you raay see God, and enjoy bira there ? Is tbe consideration ibat these
things are lo be bad in heaven, that which keeps your heart, and your desires,
and your expectations towards heaven ?
(2.) If you could avoid dealh, and might have your free choice, would you
choose to live always in this world without God, rather than in God's tirae to
leave tbe worid, in order to be with God in the full enjoyment of him ? If you
might live here in earihly prosperity to all el fruity, but destitute of the presence
Vol. IV. 69
546 GOD THE BEST PORTION
of God andconraunion with him, having no spiritual divine intercourse betweriu
God and your souls, God and you being strangers to each other forever ; woujd
you choose this rather than to leave the ivorld, in order to go and dwell in
God's house in heaven, as the children of God, there to enjoy the glorious priv-
ilegef. of children, in an acquaintance wilb God, in a holy and perfect love to
God, and enjoyment of bim to all eternity?
(3.) Do you prefer ChrisI to all others as the way to heaven? .He who
chooses God, and prefers hirn, as hath been spoken of, he prefers him in each
person of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; the Father, as his Father ;
the Son, as his Saviour ; the Holy Ghost, as his Sanctifier. Inquire, therefore,
not only whether you choose Ihe enjoyment of God in beaven as your highest
portion and happiness, but also whelher you choose Jesus Christ before all
others, as your way to heaven ; and that in a sense ofthe exceflency of Chri.st,
and of the way of salvation by him, as being that which is to the glory of
Christ, and to the glory of sovereign grace. Is the way of free grace, by the
blood and righteousness of the blessed and glorious Redeemer, tbe most excel
lent way to life in your esteem ? Dolh it add a value lo the heavenly inherit
ance, that it is conferred in this way ? Is this far betier to you than to be sav
ed by your own righteousness, by any of your own performances, or by any
other mediator ?
(4.) If you might gb to beaven in wbat course you please, would you pre
fer to all others the way of a strict walk wilh God ? They that prefer God as
hath been represented, choose God, as you bave beard, not only hereafter, but
here ; they choose and prefer him, not only in the end, but in the way. Thty
had rather be with God than with any other, when they come to the end of
their journey ; and not only so, but they had rather have God wilh them than
any other, whfle they are in the way thither. Their chosen way of going to
heaven is a way of strict walking with God. Tbey would neither fail of com
ing to God in the end, nor would ihey depart frora God by the way. They choose
the way of walking wilh God, though it be a way of la'oor, and care, and self-
denial, rather than a way of sin, Ihough it be a way of sloth, and of gratifying
their lusts.
(5.) If it were so, that you were to spend your eternity here in this world,
would you choose rather to live in mean and low circumstances wilh the gra
cious presence of God, than to live forever in earthly prosperity wiihout God in
the world ? If you were to spend your eternity in this .world, would you ralher
spend it in a way of holy living, in serving and walking wilh Gocl, and in the
enjoyment ofthe privileges ofthe children of God, having God often raanifest
ing bimself to you as your Father, discovering to you bis glory, and manifesting
his love, lifting the light of his countenance upon you; as God often doth to his
sainls in this world ; would you rather choose these things, though you shouV
live in poverty, and wilh but liltle of the good Ihings of this world, than to
abound in a fulness of worldly tbings, and to live in ease and prosperity, at^ the
same' time being an alien fromthe commonwealth of Israel, standing in no
childlike relation to God, enjoying no gracious intercourse with hira, having no
right in God, either to have bim for your God, or to be acknowledged by him
as his children ? Or would sucb a life as tbis, though in ever so great earthly
prosperity, be esteemed by you a miserable life ?
If, after all this, there remain with you doubts, and a difErulty, to deterraine
concerning yourselves whether you do truly and sincerely prefer God to all other
things, I would raention two things which are the surest ways to be determuied
in this matter, and which seem to be the best grounds of satisfiiotion in it.i ¦ ^
OF THE CHRISTIAN. 547
1. The feeling of sorae particular, strong, and lively exercises of such n
spirit A person raay have such a spirit as is spoken of in the doctrine, and
may have the exercise of it in a low degree, and yet remain in doubt whether
he have it or not, and be unable, by all his self-examination, to come to a
satisfying determination. Bul God is pleased at some times to give to some of
his people, such lively and strong exercises of such a spirit, and they see it so
clearly, and feel it so plainly, tbat it puts it, at least for the present, out of
doubt. They obtain such discoveries of the glory of God, and of the excellency
of Christ, as do so draw forth the heart, that they know beyond all doubt or
question, th'at they feel such a spirit as Paul spake of, when be said, " He
counted all things but loss, for the excellency of Christ Jesus his Lord ;" and
they can boldly say, as in the text, " Whora have I in heaven but thee ? And
tbere is none upon earth that I desire besides thee." At such limes the people
of God do not need any help of rainisters to satisfy them wbether they have the
true love of God ; they plainly see and feel it ; and the Spirit of God then wit-
nesselb with their spirits, that they are the children of God.
Therefore, if you would be satisfied upon tbis point, earnestly seek sucb
attainments; seek that you may have such clear and lively exercises of this
spirit. To this end, you must press forward, and labor to grow in grace. If
you have bad such experiences in times past, and they satisfied you then, yet you
raay again doubt 'Y^ou should therefore seek that yoU' raay have thera raore
frequently; and the way to that is, earnestly to press forward, that you raay have
more acquaintance with God, and have tbe principles of grace strengthened.
fhis is the way to have the exercises of grace stronger, raore lively, and more
frequent, and so to be satisfied that you have a spirit of suprerae love to God.
2. The other way is, to inquire wbether you prefer God to all other Ihings
in practice, i. e., whether, when you have occasion in the course of your life to
manifest by your practice which you prefer, when you must either cleave lo one
or the other, and raust either forsake other things, or forsake God ; whetber then
it be your manner practically to prefer God to all other things whatever, even
to your dearest earthly enjoyments, to those earthly things to which your hearts
are raost wedded. Do you lead such lives as this ? Are your lives, lives of
adherence to God, and of serving Gocl in tbis raanner ?
He that doth sincerely prefer God to all other things in his heart, he will do
it in his practice. For when God and all other things- corae to stand in corape
tition, that is the proper trial what a raan chooses; and the raanner of acting in
such cases raust certainly determine what the choice is in all free agents or those
who act on choice. Therefore there is no sign of sincerity so much insisted on
in the Bible as this, tbat we deny ourselves, sell all, forsake the worid, lake up
the cross, and follow Christ whithersoever he goeth.
Therefore, so run, not as uncertainly ; so fight, not as those that beat tbe air ;
but keep under your bodies, and bring them into subjection. Act not asthougb
you counted yourselves to have apprehended; but tbis one *hing do, "forget
ting those things whicb are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, press toward tbe mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in
ChrisI Jesus." 2 Pet i. 5, &c., " And besides this, giving all dfligence, add to
your faith, virtue ; and tb virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperamce;
and to temperance, patience ; and to patience, godliness ; and to godliness,
brotherly kmdness ; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be
IU you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren rior unfruit
ful in tbe knowledge a.^ our Lord Jesus Christ "
SERMON XXXIV
god's sovereignty.
Ki'MANS ix. 18.— Thereforo liath he mercy on vihom h«) will have mercy, and whom he will he larduneth
The apostie, in tbe beginning of this chapter, expresses his great concern
and sorrow of heart for the nation of the Jews, who were rejected of God. This
leads hira to observe the diff'erence which Goil made by election between some
ofthe Jews and others, and between the bulk of that people and the Christian
Gentiles. In speaking of this he enters into a more minute discussion ofthe
sovereignly of God in electing sorae lo eternal life, and rejecting others, Ihan is
found in any other part of the Bible ; in the course of which he quotes several
passages from the Old Testament, confirraing and fllustrating this doctrine. In
the ninth verse he refers us lo what God said to Abraham, showing his election
of Isaac before Ishmael — " For this is the word of promise ; At this time wfll I
corae, and Sarah shall have a son :" then to what God had said lo Rebecca,
showing his election of Jacob before Esau, '' The elder shall. serve the younger ;"
in the thirteenth verse, to a passage frora Malachi, " Jacob have I loved, but
Esau have I hated:" in the fifteenth verse, to what God said to Moses, " I will
have mercy on whora I will have mercy ; and I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion :" and the verse preceding the text, lo what God says
to Pharaoh, " For the Scripture sailh unlo Pharaoh, Even for this sarae purpose
have 1 raised thee up, that I raight show ray power in thee, and that ray name
might be declared throughout all the earlh." In whal the apostie says in the
text, he seeras to have respeci especially to the two last-cited passages : lo what
God said lo Moses in the fifteenth verse, and to what he said lo Pharaoh in the
verse imraediately preceding. God said to Moses, " I will have mercy on whom
I will have mercy." To tbis the apostle refers in the former part ofthe text
And we know bow ofien it is said of Pharaoh, that God hardened his heart
And to this the aposlle seems lo have respect in the latter part of the text ;
" and whom he wfll be hardenelh." We may observe in the text,
1. God's different dealing with raen. He bath inercy on some, and har-
j dcneth others. When God is here spoken of as hardening sorae of the chfldren
ofmen, it is not to be understood that God by any positive efficiency hardens
any man's heart. There is no positive act in God, as though he put forth any
U)OW-er to harden tbe heart. To suppose any such thing would be to raake God
f the iraraediate author of sin. God is said to harden raen in two ways : by
\ withholding the powerful influences of his Spirit, wiihout which their beails wfll
Remain hardened, and grow harder and harder ; in this sense be hardens them,
ks he leaves thera to hardness. And again, by ordering tbose Ihings in his
f providence which, through the abuse of their corruption, become the^occa.sion
vj)f theii hardening. Thus God sends his word and oidinances to men
which, by their abuse, prove an occasion of their hardening. So the
apostle said, that he was unto some " a savor of dealh unto death." So
God is represented as sending Isaiah on this errand, to make the bearts
of the people fat, and to raake theh ears heavy, and to shut their eyes ; lest
they should see with tbeir eyes, and bear wkh their ears, and understand
GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY. 5^19
with tbeir heart, and convert, and be healed, Isa. vi. 10. Isaiah's preaching I
was, in itself, of a contrary tendency, to make thera belter. But theit )
abuse of it rendered it an occasion of their hardening. As God is here
said to harden men, so be is said to put a lying spirit in the raouth of Ihe false
prophets. 2 Chron. xviii. 22. That is, he suff'ered a lying spirit to enter into
them. And thus he is said to have bid Shimei curse David, 2 Sam. xvi. 10.
Not tbat be properly commanded him ; for it is contrary to God's commands.
Gocl expressly forbids cursing the ruler of the people, Exod. xxii. 28. But
he suffered corruption at that lime so lo work in Shimei, and ordered that occa
sion of stirring it up, as a manifestation of his displeasure against David.
2- The foundation of his diff'erent dealing with mankind; viz., his sovereign
will and pleasure. " He halh raercy on whom be will have ijiercy, and whom
he will he hardenelh." This does not imply, merely, that God never shows
mercy or denies il against his will, or that he is always willing to do it when he
does it. A wifling subject or servant, when he obeys his lord's comraands, raay
never do any thing against his will, nothing but what he can do cheerfully and j
wilh delight ; and yet he cannot be said to do what he wills in the sense of the
text. But the expression implies that it is God's mere wfll and sovereign plea- |
sure, which supremely orders this affair. It is the divine will without restraint, I
or constraint, or obligation.
DOCTRINE.. ,^
God exercises his sovereignty in Ihe eternal salvation of raen.
He not only is a sovereign, and has a sovereign right to dispose and order ^
Hi that affair; and he not only raight proceed in a sovereign way, if he would,
and nobody could charge him wilh exceeding his righl; but he actually does
so; be exercises the right which he has. In the following discourse, I propose
to show, I. ¦\\'hat is God's sovereignty.
II. Wbat God's sovereignty in tbe salvation of raen iraplies.
III. That God actually dolh exercise his sovereignty in this raatter.
IV. The reasons for tbis exercise.
I. I would show what is God's sovereignty.
The sovereignly of God is his absolute, independent right of disposing of all /
creatures according to his own pleasure. I will consider this definition by the '
parts of it.
The wfll of God is called his raere pleasure,
1. In opposition to any constraint Men may do things voluntarily, and
yet there rnay be a degree of constraint. A man may be said lo do a thing
voluntarily, that is, he himself does it ; and, all things considered, he may
ihoose lo do it ; yet he may do it out of fear, and the thing in itself considered
be irksome to hira, and sorely against his inchnation. When men do Ihings
tbus, they cannot be said to do fhera according to their raere pleasure.
2. In opposition to ils being under the will of another. A servant raay
fulfil his master's commands, and may do it willingly, and cheerfully, and may de-
lightto do bis master's will ; yet w"hen he does so, he does not do il of his own
mere pleasure. The sainls do the will of God freely^ They choose to^do il ; fl »
is their meat and drinlc^ YeTtfiey'ctb'hot flblt oTTheir mere pleasure and arbi
tiary will ; because their will is under the direction of a superior will.
3. In opposition to any proper obligation. A man may do a thing whicb
ae is "obliged to do, very freely ; but he cannot be said to act from his own
mere wifl and pleasure. He who acts from his own raere pleasure, is at full
550 GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY.
j hberty; but be who is under any proper obligation, is no', a', llloerty, but is
/bound. Now the sovereignty of God supposes, that be b-ds a right to dispose
of all his creatures according lo his mere pleasure in the sense explained. And
his right is absolute and independent. Men may have a right to di.'^pose of
some things according to, their pleasure. But their righl is not absolute and
unlimited. Men may be said to have a right to dispose of their own goods as
tbey please.. But their right is not absolute ; it has limits and bounds. They
have a right to dispose of their own goods as they please, provided they do not
do it contrary to the law of the slate to which tbey are subject, or contrary lo
he law of God. Men's right to dispose of their things as Ihey will, is not ab
solute, because it is not independent. They have not an independent right to
what they bave, but in sorae things depend. on the community to whicb they
belong, for tbe right they have ; and in every thing clepend on God. They re
ceive all the right they bave to any thing frora God. But the sovereignty of
God imports that he has an absolute, and unlimited, and independent right of
disposing of his creatures as he will. I proposed lo inquire,
II. Whal God's sovereignty in the salvation of men implies. In answer to
tbis inquiry, I observe, it implies that God can either bestow salvation on any
ofthe children of men,, or refuse it, wilbout any prejudice lo the glory of any
of his altributej, except wliere he has been pleased to declare,, that he. wfll or
will not bestow it It cannot be said absolutely, as the case now stands, that
God can, without any prejudice'to the honor of any of his attributes, bestow
salvation on any of the children of men, or refuse it ; because, concerning some
God has been pleased lo declare either that he will or that he wUl not bestow
salvation on them; and thus to bind himself by his own promise. And con
cerning some he has been pleased to declare, tbat he never will bestow .salva
tion upon them ; viz , those who have coramitted the sin against the Holy Gho.st
Hence, as the case now stands, he is obliged ; he cannot bestow salvation in
one case, or refiise it in the other, without prejudice to the honor of his trulh.
/But God exercised his sovereignly in making these declarations. God was not
Vpbliged to promise that he would save all who believe in Christ; nor was he
obliged to declare, that be who committed the sin against the Holy Ghost
/should never be forgiven. But it pleased him so lo declare. And bad it not
^-Jjeen so that God hacl been pleased to oblige himself in these cases, be might stifl
have either bestowed salvation, or refused it, without prejudice to any of his
attributes. If it wouhl in itself be prejudicial to any of his attributes to bestovy
or refuse salvation, then God would not in that matter act as absolutely sove
reign. Because il then ceases to be a raerely arbitrary thing. It ceases lobe
a matter of absolute liberty, and is become a matter of necessity or obligation.
For God cannot do any thing to the prejudice of any of his attributes, or con
trary to what is in itself excellent and glorious. Therefore,
1. God can, wiihout prejudice to the glory of any of his attributes, bestow
salvation on any of the children of men, except on those who have coramitied
the sin against the Holy Ghost The case was thus wben man fell, and before
God revealed his eternal purpose and plan for redeeming men by Jesus Christ
It was probably looked upon by the angels as a thing utteriy inccmsistent wilh
God's attributes to save any of the children of raen. It was utterly incon
sistent wilh the honor of the divine attributes lo save any one of the fallen
children of men, as they, ^ere in theraselves. Il could not have been done had
not God contrived a way consistent with the honor of his holiness, raajesty,
j istice, and truth. But since God in the gospel has revealed that nothing is too
hard for him to do, nothing beyond the reach of bis power, and wisdom, and
GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY. 55-,
sufficiency; and since Christ has wrought out the work of redemption, and ful
filled tbe law by obeying, tbere is none of mankind whom be may not save
without any prejudice to any of bis attributes, excepting those who have com
mitted the sin against the Holy Ghost. And those he might bave saved wiihout
going conlrary to any of his attributes, had he not been pleased to declare that
he woulcl not It was not because he could not have saved thera consistently
with his justice, and con.sistently with his law, or because his attribute of mercy
was not great enough, or the blood of Christ not sufficient lo cleanse from that
sin. But It has pleased him for wise reasons lo declare that that sin shall never
be forgiven in tills worid, or in the world to come. And so now it is conlrary
to God's truth to save such. But olherwise there is no sinner, let bira be ever
so great, bul God can save bim wiihout prejudice lo any attribute; ifhe has
been a murderer, adulterer, or perjurer, or idolater, or blasphemer, God may
save bun if be pleases, and in no respect injure bis glory. Though persons
have sinned long, bave been obstinate, have committed heinous sins a Ihousand
times, even till they have grown old in sin, and have sinned under great aggra
vations : let the aggravations be what ihey may ; if Ihey bave sinned under
ever so great light ; if they have been backsliders, and have sinned against
ever so numerous and solemn warnings and strivings of tiie Spirit, and mercies
of his ijommon providence : Ihough the danger of such is rauch greater than of
other sinners, yet God can save thera if he pleases, for the saKe of Christ, with
out any prejudice to any of his attributes. He may bave mercy on whom he
will have mercy. He raay bave mercy on the greatest of sinners, if he pleases,
and the glory of none of his atlribules will be in the least sullied. Such is the
sufficiency of the satisfaction and righteousness of Christ, that none ofthe divine
attributes stand in the way ofthe salvation of any of thern. Thus Ihe glory
of any attribute did not al all suffer by Christ's saving sorae of his crucifiers.
1. God raay save any of them wiihout prejudice to the honor of his holiness.
God is an infinitely holy being. The heavens are not pure in his sight He is
of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity. And if God
should in any way countenance sin, and should not give proper testimonies of
his hatred of it, and displeasure at it, il would be a prejudice to Ihe honor of
his holiness. But God can save the greatest sinner wilbout giving Ihe least
countenance to sin. If he saves one, who for a long time has stood out under
the calls of the gospel, and has sinned under dreadful aggravations ; if he saves
one who, against light, bas been a pirate or blasphemer, he raay do it wiihout
giving any countenance to their wickedness ; because his abhorrence ofii and
displeasure against it have been already sufficiently raanifested in the sufferings
of Christ It was a suflficient testimony of God's abhorrence against even the
greatest wickedness, that Christ, the eternal Son of God, died fbr it. Nolhing
can show God's infinile abhorrence of any -.vickedness more than this. If Ihe
wicked man bimself should be thrust into hell, and should endure the most
extreme torraents which are ever suffered there, it would not be a greater
manifestation of God's abhorrence of it, than tbe sufferings of the Son of God
for it. 2. God may save any of the children of men without prejudice lo the honor
of his majesty.! If men have affronted God, and that ever so much, if Ihey have
cast ever so much contempt on his authority ; yet God can save them, if he
pleases, and the honor of his majesty not suffer in the least. If God should
save those w-ho have.affionted him, whhout satisfaction the honor of his majesty
would suffer. For when contempt is cast upon infinite majesty, ils honor suffers,
and the contempt leaves an obscurity upon tbe honor of the divine inajesly, if
552 GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY.
tbe injury is not repaired. But tbe sufferings of Christ do fully repair the injury
Let tbe contempt he ever so great, yet if so honorable a person as Christ under-
takes to be a Mediator for the offender, and in the raediation suffer in his
stead, it fully repairs the injury done to tbe majesty of heaven by the greatest
sinner. 3. God raay save any sinner whatsoever consistentiy with bis justice. The
justice of God requires the punishment of sin. God is tiie Supreme Judge of the
worid, and he is to judge the worid according to the rules of justice. It is not
the part of a judge to show favor to the person judged , but he is to deterraine
according lo a rule of justice without departing lo the right hand or left
Gocl does not show raercy as a judge, but as a sovereign. And Iherefore when
mercy sought the salvation of sinners, the inquiry was bow to make the exer
cise of the raercy of God' as a sovereign, and of his strict justice as a judge,
agree together. And this is done by the sufferings of Chiist, in which sin is
punished fully, and justice answered. Christ suffered enough for the punish
ment of the sins of the greatest sinner that ever lived. So that God, when he
iudges, may act accoiding lo a rule of strict justice, and yet acquit the sinner, if
he be in Christ. Justice cannot require any raore for any man's sins, than those
sufferings of one of the persons in tbe Trinity, which Christ suffered : Rom iii.
25, 26, " Whora Gocl halh set forth lo be a propitiation ihrough failh in his
blood ; to declare his righteousness, that be raigbt be just, and the justifier of
him which believeth in Christ"
4. God can save any sinner whatsoever, without any prejudice lothe honor
of his trulh. God passed his word, that sin sbould be punished wilh death,
which is lo be understood not only of tbe first, but of the second death. God
can save the greatest sinner consistently with his trulh in this threatening. For
sin is punished in the sufferings of Christ, inasmuch as he is our surety, and so
is legally the same person, and sustained our guilt, and in his sufferings bore
our punishment. It may be objected, that God said, If thou eatest, thou shalt
die; asthougb the same person that sinned must suffer; and therefore why
does not God's truth oblige him to that? I. ansvver, that the word then was
not intended to be restrained to him, that in his own person sinned. Adara
probably understood that his posterity were included, whether they sinned in
their own person or not If they sinned in Adam, their surety, those words,
" if thou eatest," raeant, if thou eatesl in thyself, or in thy surely. And Ihere-
{ fore, the latter words, " thou shalt die," do also fairly allow of sucb a construc-
I tion as, thou shalt die in thyself, or in thy surety : Isa. xiii. 21, " The Lord is
I well pleased for his righteousness' sake, he will magnify the law and raake it
i honorable." But,
II. God raay refuse salvation to any sinner whatsoever, without prejudice to
the honor of any of bis attributes.
There is no person whatever in a natural condition, upon whom God may
not refuse to bestow salvation without prejudice lo any part of his o-lory. Let
a nalui-al person be wise or unwise, ofa good or fll natural temper, of raean or
; honorable parentage, whelher born of wicked or godly parents ; let him be s
j raoral or immoral person, whatever good he may bave done, however religious
he has been, how many prayers soever he has made, and whatever pains he has
taken that he raay be saved ; whatever concern and distress he may have for
fear he shall be damned; or whatever circumstances he raay be in ; God can
deny hira salvation w'ilhout the least disparageraent to any of his perfections.
His glory w-ill not in any instance be the least obscured by it.
1. God may deny salvation to any natural person wiihout any injury to the
GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY. 553
honor of his righteousness. If he does so, there is no injustice nor unfairness in
it There is no natural man living, let bis case be what it will, but God raay
deny hira salvation, and cast hira down to bell, and yet not be chargeable wilh
the least unrigbteoife or uflfair dealing in any respect whatsoever. This is evi
dent, because they all have deserved hell ; and it is no injustice for a proper
judge to inflict on any man what be deserves. And as be bas deserved condem
nation, so he has never done any thing to reraove the liability, or to alone for
the sin. He never has done any thing whereby he has laid any obligations on
God not to punish bim as be deserved.
2. God may deny salvation to any unconverted person whatever wilbout
any prejudice to the honor of bis goodness. Sinners are sometimes ready tc
flatter themselves, tbat Ihough it may not be conlrary to tbe justiee of God tc
condemn thera, yet it will not consist with the glory of bis mercy. They think
it will be dishonorable to God's mercy to cast them into bell, and have nc
pity or corapassion upon tbem. Tbey think it will be very hard and severe,
and not becoming a God of infinite grace and tender compassion. But God
can deny salvation lo any natural person without any disparagement to his
mercy and goodness. That which is not contrary lo God's justice, is not con
trary lo his mercy. If damnation be justice, then mercy may choose ils own
object. They mistake the nature of the mercy of God, who think that it is an attri
bute, which, in some cases, is contrary to justice. Nay, God's mercy is illus
trated by it, as in the twenty -third verse ofthe context: "That he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he bad afore
prepared untw glory."
3. It is in no way prejudicial to the honor of God's faithfulness. For God
has in no way obliged himself lo any natural raan by his word to bestow salva
tion upon bira. Men ill a natural^ condition arenot the children of promise ;
hut lie open tothe curse of the la.w, which would not IjeTbTiiase iflbeyhad
any promise to lay hoTcT of
III. God does actually exercise his sovereignty in men's salvation.
We shall show how be exercises this right in several particulars.
1. In calling one people or nation, and giving them the means of grace, and ]
leaving others without them. According to the divine appointment, salvation
is bestowed in connection with the means of grace. God may sometimes maice I
use of very unlikely means, and bestow salvation on raen who are under very
great disadvantages; but he does not bestow grace wholly without any raeans.
But God exercises his sovereignty in bestowing those raeans. All mankind are
by nature in like circumstances towards God. Yet God_greatiy distingiiishes
some frora others by the means and advantages whicli Tie bestows upon tbem.
The sava"-es, who^rre-iff^he reiuote parts of this continent, and -aTe-imri-er~tlie
grossest heathenish darkness, as well as the inhabitants of Africa, are naturally
in exactly similar circumstances towards God with us in this land. They are no
more alienated or estranged from God in their natures than we ; and God has
no more to charo-e thera wilh. And yet whal a vast difference has God made
between us and thern ! In this he has exercised his sovereignly. He did thi:.
of old, when he chose but one people, to raake thera his covenant people, and
to give Ihem the means of grace, and left all others, and gave them over lo hea
thenish darkness and tyranny of the devfl, to perish from generation to genera-,
tion for many hundreds of years. The earlh in tbat lime was peopled wim
raany great and mighty nations. There were the Egyptians, a people famed
for Iheir wisdom There were also the Assyrians and Chaldeans, who wert
Vol. IV 7C
554 GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY.
great, and wisi', and powerful nations. There were tbe Persians, who by then
strength and policy subdued a great part of the world. There were the renown
ed nations of Ihe Greeks and Romans, who were famed over Ibe whole worlo
for Iheir excellent civil governments, for their w-isdoii> and Akfll in the arts of
peace and war, and who by their military prowe.ss in their turns subdued anu
reigned over the worlcl. Those w'ere rejected. God did not; choose tbern for
bis people, but left them for many ages under gross healhenish darkness, to
perish lor lack of vision ; and chose one only people, the posterity of Jacob, to
be his own people, and lo give thera Ihe means of grace : Psal. cxlvii. 19, 20,
" He showeth his word unlo Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unlo Israel.
He bath not dealt so wilh any nation ; and as for his judgments, they have not
known thera." This nation were a small, inconsiderable people, in comparison
with many other people : Deut. vii. 7, " The Lord did not set bis love upon you,
nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were
the fewest of all people." So neither was il for their righteousness ; for Ihey
had no more of that than other people : Deut ix. 6, " Understand Iherefore, that
the Lord Ihy God givelh thee not Ihis good land lo possess it fbr thy righteous-
j ness ; for thou art a stiff-necked people." God gives Ihem to underslanil, ihat
• it was fiora no other cause but his free electing love, that he chose thera lo be
bis people. That reason is given why God loved Ihein ; it was because he
loved thern, Deut. vii. 8. Which is as much as to say, it was agreeable to
1 his sovereign pleasure to set his love upon you.
God also showed his sovereignly in choosing that people, when other nalions
were rejected, who came of the same progenitors. Thus the children of Isaac
were chosen, when the posterity of Isbraael and other sons of Abrahara were
rejected. So the children of Jacob were chosen, when the poslerily of Esau
wei-e rejected : as the aposlle observes in the seventh verse, " Neither because
they are the seed of Abrahara, are they all children ; but in Isaac shafl thy seed
be called;" and again in verses 10, 11, 12, 13 : " And not only Ibis; but when
Rebekah also bad conceived by one, even by our father Isaac ; the children
moreover being not yet born, neither having done any good or evi], that the
promise of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that
calleth ; it was said unto her. The elder shall serve the younger. As it is writ
ten, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." The apostle has, not respect
merely to the election of the persons of Isaac and Jacob before Ishmael and
Esau; but of their poslerily. In the passage, already quoted from Malachi,
God has respeci to the nalions, which were the poslerity of Esau and Jacob:
Mai. i. 2, 3, "I have loved you, sailh the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast
thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? sailh the Lord : yet 1 loved
Jacob ; and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the
dragons of the wilderness." God showed his sovereignty, when Christ came,
in rejecting the Jews, and cafling the Gentiles. God rejected that naiion who
were the children of Abrahara according to the flesh, and had been bis peculiar '
people for so raany ages, and who alone possessed the one true God, and chose
jdolalrous heathen before them, and cafled Ihem to be his people. When the
Messiah carae, wbo was born of their nation, and whora they so much expected,
he rejected them. He came to bis own, and bis own received him not. John
i. 11. "U'hen the glorious dispensation of the gospel came, God passed by the
Jews, and called Ihose who had been heathens, to enjoy the privileges of it they
«ere broken off, that the Gentiles might be graffed on, Rom. xi. 17. She is
now called beloved, that was not beloved. And more are the i-hililien ofthe
desolate, than the children of the married wife, Isa. liv. 1. Tbe natural chfl-
GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY. 555
dren of Abraham are rejecued, and God raised up children to Abraham of stones.
That nation, which was so honored of God, have now been for many aces re
jected, and remain dispersed all over tbe world, a remarkable rnnnumenl of cfi
vine vengeance. And now God greatly distinguishes some Gentile nations from
othei's, and all according to bis sovereign pleasure.
2. God exercises his sovereignty in the advantages he bestows upon parti
cular persons. All need salvation alike, and all are, naturally, alike undeserv
ing of it; but he gives some vastly greater advantages for salvation than others.
To some he assigns their place in pious and religious families, where they may
be well instructed and educated, and bave religious parents lo dedicate Ihem to
God, and put up raany prayers for thera. God places some under a more
powerful ministiy than others, and in places where there are raore of Ihe out
pourings ofthe Spirit of God. To some he gives much more of the strivings.
and the awakening influences of the Spirit, than to others. It is according to
his mere sovereign pleasure.
3. God exercises his sovereignly in sometimes bestowing salvation upon
the low and mean, and denying it to the wise and great Christ in his sove-
'eignty passes by the gales of princes and nobles, and enters some collage and
Hwells there, and has coraraunion wilh its obscure inhabitants. God in bis
sovereignty withheld salvation from the rich man, who fared sumptuously every
day, and bestowed it on poor Lazarus, who sat begging at his gate. God in
this way pours contempt on princes, and on all their glittering splendor. So
God sometimes passes by wise men, men of great understanding, learned and
great scholars, and bestows salvation on others of weak understanding, who
only comprehend some of the plainer parts of Scripture, and the fundamental
principles of the Christian religion. Yea, there seem to be fewer great men
called, than others. And God in ordering il thus manifests his sovereignty : 1
Cor. i. 26, 27, 28, " For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many, wise
men after the flesb, not many raighty, not many noble, are called. But God
hath chosen the foolish Ihings of tbe worid to confound the wise ; and God halh
chosen the weak things ofthe world lo confound the things which are mighty ;
and base Ihings of the world, and Ihings which are despised, hath God chosen,
yea, and tbings whicb are not, to bring to nought Ihings that are."
' 4. In bestowing salvation on some who have bad few advantages. God
soraetimes wfll bless weak means for producing astonishing effects, when more
excellent raeans are not succeeded. God sometimes will withhold salvation fiom
those who are the children of very pious parents, and bestow it on others, who
have been brought up in wicked farailies. Thus we read of a good Abijah in
the faraily of Jeroboam, and of a godly Hezekiah, the son of wicked Ahaz, and
of a godly Josiah, the son of a wicked Amon. But on the contrary, of a wicked
Aranon and Absalom, the sons of holy David, and that vile Manasseh, the son
of good Hezekiah. Sometiraes sorae, who have had eminent means of grace,!]
are rejected, and left to perish, and others, under far less advantages, are saved. ,
Thus the scribes and Pharisees, who bad so much light and knowledge of Ihe
Scriptures, were raoslly rejected, and the poor ignorant publicans saved. The
greater part of those, araong whom Christ was much conversant, and who
heard him preach, and saw him work miracles from day to day, were left; and
th" -7oman of Samaria was taken, and many other Samaritans at the sarne time,
wbo only heard Christ preach, as he occasionally passed Ihrough their cily. So
the woman of Canaan was taken, who was not of the country of the Jews, and
but once saw Jesus Christ So the Jews, who bad seen and heard Christ, and
saw his miracles, and wilh whom the apostles labored so much, were not saved
556 GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY
Bul the Gentiles, many of them, wbo, as it were, but transiently beard the glad
tidings of salvation, embraced them, and were converted.
—~ 5. God exercises his sovereignty in calling sorae lo salvation, who havt
been very heinously wicked, and leaving others, who bave been racial an''
religious persons. The Pharisees were a very strict sect among the Jews.
Their religion was extraordinary, Luke xviii. 1 1. They w-ere not, as other
men, extoilioneis, unjust, or ailulterers. There was their raorality. They
fasted twice a week, and gave tithes of all that they possessed. There was
their religion. But yet they w-ere raostly rejected, and the publicans, and har
lots, and openly vicious sort of people, entered inlo the kingdom of God before
thera. Matt xxi. 31. The apostle describes bis righteousness while a Pharisee,
Philip iii. 6 : "Touching the righteousness which is ofthe law, blaraeless."
The rich young raan, who carae kneeling to Christ, saying. Good Master, what
shall I do, that 1 may have eternal life, was a moral person. When Christ
bade him keep the comraandraents, be said, and in his own view wilh sincerity,
" All these bave I kept frora ray youth up." He bad obviously been brought
up in a good family, and was a youth of sucb amiable manners and correct
deportraent, that il is said, " Jesus beholding him, loved him." Still he was
left ; while tbe thief, that was crucified wilh Christ, was chosen and called, even
on the cross. God soraetiraes shows his sovereignty by showing mercy to the
chief of sinners, on those who have been raurderers, and profaners, and blas-
pheraeis. And even w hen they are old, sorae are cfilled at the eleventh hour.
God sometiraes shows the sovereignty of his grace by showing raercy to some,
who have spent most oftheir lives in the service of Satan, and have little left
to spend in the service of God.
6. In saving some of those who seek salvation, and not others. Sorae who
seek salvation, as we know both flora Scripture and observation, are soon con
verted ; while others seek a long time, and do not obtain at last. God helps
-Somie over the mountains and difficulties which are in the way; he subdues
Satan, and delivers thera frora his teraptations: but others are ruined by the
temptations wilh wbich they raeet. Sorae are never Ihoroughly awakened ;
.»hile to others God is pleased lo give thorough convictions. Some are left
.0 backsliding hearts ; others God causes to hold out to the end. Some are
brought off' flora a confidence in their own righteousness ; others never get
over that obstruction in their way, as long as Ihey live. And some are con
verted and saved, who never had so great strivings as some wbo, notwithstand
ing, perish.
IV. I come now lo give the reasons, why God does tbus exercise his sove
reignty in the eternal salvation of tbe children of men.
1. It is agreeable to God's design in the creation of the universe to exercise
every attribute, and thus to manifest the glory of each of them. Gisd^s^d^n
in the creation was to glorify hiraself, or to make a discovery of the essential
glory of his nature. It was fit that infinite glory should shine forth; and it
was God's original design to make a raanifestation of his glory, as it is. No'
that it was his design to manifest all his glory to the apprehension of creatures ;
for il is impossible that the rainds of creatures should comprehend it. But it
was his design to raake a Irue raanifestation of his glory, such as sbould repre
sent every attribute. If God glorifiecl one attribute, and not another, such
manifestation of his glory would be defective; and the representation would
not be complete. If all God's atiributes are not manifested, Ihe glory of none
of them is manifested as it is : for the divine attributes reflect glory on one
another Thus if God's wisdom be manifested, and not his holiness, the glory
GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY. 557
of 1 is wisdom wo fld not be manifested as it is ; for one part of the glory of
the attribute of cUvine wisdom is, that il is a holy wisdom. So if bis holiness
were manifested, and not his wisdom, the glory of bis holiness would not be raani
fested as it is ; fbr one thing which belongs to the glory of God's holiness is, Ihat )
it is a wise holiness. So it is wilh respect to the atlribules of mercy and jus- '
tice. Theglo->-y of God'smercy does not appear as it is, unless it is manifested as
a just mercy, or as a mercy consistent wilh justice. And so wilb respeci to God's
sovereignty, it reflects glory on all his other attributes. It is part of the glory
of God's mercy, that it is sovereign mercy. So afl the atlribules of God reflect
glory on one another. The glory of one attribute cannot be raanifested, as it
i.s, without tbe manifestation of another. One attribute is defective without
another, and therefore the raanifestation willbe defective. Hence it was Ihe
will of God to manifest all his atiributes. The declarative glory of God in
Scripture is often called God's name, because it declares his nature. But if his
narae does not signify his nature as it is, or does not declare any atlribute, it is not
a true name. The sovereignly of God is one of his attributes, and a part of his
glory. The glory of God eminently appears in his absolute sovereignty over
all creatures, great and small. If the glory of a prince be his power and do
minion, Ihen Ihe glory of God is his absolute sovereignly. Herein appeais God's
infinite greatness and highness above all creatures, 'rherefore it is the will of
God lo manifest his .sovereignty. And his sovereignty, like his other attributes,
is manifested in the exercise of it. He glorifies his power in the exercise of
power. He glorifies bis mercy in tbe exercise of mercy. So be glorifies his
sovereignly in the exercise of sovereignly.
2. The more excellent the creature is over whom God is sovereign, and
the greater the matter in whicb he so appears, the raore glorious is his sove
reignty. The sovereignty of God in his being sovereign over raen, is more glo
rious Ihan in his being *vereign over the inferior creatures. And his sovereignty
over angels is yet more glorious than his sovereignly over men. Forthe nobler
the creature is, still the greater and higher dolh God appear in his sovereignly
over it It is a greater honor to a man to have dominion over raen, than over
beasts ; and a still greater honor to have dorainion over princes, nobles, and
kings, than over ordinary men. So the glory of God's sovereignty appears in
that he is sovereign over Ihe souls of men, who are so noble and excellent crea
tures. God therelbre will exercise his sovereignty over them. And the furthei
the dominion of any one extends over another, the greater will be the honor.
If a raan has dorainion over another only in some instances, he is not therein so
much exalted, as in baving absolute dominion over his life, and fortune, and all
he has. So God's sovereignty over men appears glorious, that it extends to
every thing which concerns tbem. He may dispose of ihera with respect to all
that concerns tbem, according lo bis own pleasure. His sovereignty appears
glorious, that it reaches their most important affairs, even the eternal stale and
condition of the souls of men. Herein it appears tbat the sovereignly of God
is without bounds or limits, in that it reaches to an affair of such intinite im
portance. Gocl, therefore, as it is bis design lo manifest his own glory, will arid
docs exercise bis sovereignly towards men, over their souls and bodies, even in
this most imporlant matter oftheir eternal salvation. He has mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens.
APPLICATION.
1. Hence we learn bow absolutely we are dependent on God in tbis great j
mattei of the eternal salvation of our souls. We are dependent not only '
5,W GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY.
on his wisdom to contrive a way to accomplish it, and on his power to brine Vt
to pass, but we are dependent on his mere wifl and pleasure in the affair. We
depend on the sovereign will of Gocl for every thing belonging to it, from the
foundation to the top-stone; It was of the sovereign pleasure of Gocl, that ne
contrived a way to save any of mankind, and gave us Jesus Christ, his only
begotten Son, lo be ouf Redeemer. Why did he' look on us, and send us a
Saviom, ^nd not the fallen angels ? It was from tbe sovereign pleasure of God.
It was of his sovereign pleasure whal means to appoint His giving us tht^
Bible, and the ordinances of religion, isof bis sovereign grace. His ^ giving
those means to us ralher than to others, his giving the awakening influences of
his Spirit, and his bestowing saving grace, are all of his sovereign pleasure.
VVhen he says, " Let there be light in the soul of such a one," it is a word of
infinite power and sovereign grace.
2. Let us with the greatest humility adore tbe awful and absolute sovereignty
of God. As we have just shown, it is an eminentattribuleof the Divine Being','
that he is sovereign over such excellent beings as the souls of men, and ihat in
every respect, even in that of their eternal salvation. The infinite greatness' of
God, and his exaltation above us, appears in nolhing more, than in his sove
reignty. It is spoken of in Scripture as a great part of bis glory. Delit xxxii.
39, "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no God with rae. I kill, and
I raake alive ; I wound, and I heal; neither is there- any that can deliver out
of ray hand." Psal. cxv. 3, " Our God is in theheavens ; he bath done what
soever he pleased.'' Daniel iv. 34, 35, " Whose dominion is an everiasting
dominion, and his kingdora is f'rora generation to generation. And all the in
habitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he doeth according lo his
will in Ihe armies of heaven, and araong the inhabitants of the earth ; and none
can stay his hand, or say unto hira. What doest thou?" Our Lord Jesus Christ
praised and glorified the Falher for the exercise of his sfivereignty in ibe salva
tion of raen. Matt xi. 25, 26, " I ihank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and
earlh, because thou hast hid these ihings frora Ihe wise and prudent, and hast
revealed thera unto babes. Even so. Father, for so it seemed good ih thy
sight." Let us Iherefore give God the glory of bis sovereignly, as adoring him,
wbose sovereign will orders all Ihings, beholding ourselves as nothing in com
parison wilh hira. Dominion and sovereignty require humble reverence and
1 honor in the subject. The absolute, universal, and unlimited sovereignty of
God requires, that we should adore bim wilh all possible humility and reverence.
It is impossible that we should go to excess in lowliness and reverence of that
Being who raay dispose of us to all eternity, as he pleasesi
I 3. Those who are in a state of salvation are to attribute it to sovereign grace
alone, and lo give all the praise to him, who raaketh them to differ from others.
'Godliness is no cause for glorying, except it be in God. 1 Cor. i. 29, 30, 31,
" That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of bim are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unlo tis wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctifieation, and
redemption. That, according as it is written. He that glorieth^ let him glory
in the Lord." Sucb are not, by any raeans, in any de^r-ee^to attribute their
godliness, therr safe and happy«tate and conditioh7'rto-a«y-BaEirariltffercnce
between them and other raen, or to any strength or righteousne.ss oftheir own.
Tbey have no reason to exalt theraselves in the least degree •bii?^' Gocl is the
being whom they should exalt They should exalt God the Falher, who chose
Ihera in Christ, who set his love upon them, and gave thera salvation, before
they were born, and even before tbe world was. If tbey inquire,' wby God set
his Icve on tbem, and chose them rather than others,' if tbey think they can see
GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY. 559
any cause out of vjcd, tbey are greatly mistaken. Tbey sbould exalt God Ihe
Son, who bore their names on his heart, when he carae into the world, and |
hung on the cross, and in whom alone they have righteousne.ss and streno-th. 1
They should exalt God the Holy Ghost, who of sovereign grace has called
them out of darkness into raarvellous light ; wbo has by his own iiiiraediale and
free operation, led thera into an understanding of the evil and danger of sin,
and brought thein off from their own righteoiusness, and opened their eyes to
discover the glory of God, and tbe wonderful riches of God in Jesus Christ, and
has sanctified them, and raade them new creatures. When they hear of thjj
wickedness of others, or look upon vicious persons, they should think how wick
ed they once were, and how much they provoked God, and how they deserved
forever to be left by hiin to perish in sin, and that it is only sovereign grace
which has made the difference, 1 Cor. vi. 10. Many sorts of sinners are there
enumerated ; fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves
with mankind. And then in the eleventh vei-se, the aposlle tells Ihem, " Sucb
were sorae of you ; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified,
in the narae of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." The people of
Gotl have the greater cause of thankftflness, raore reason to love God, who
hath bestowed such great and unspeakable mercy upon them of his raere sove
reign pleasure.
4. Hence we learn what cause we have to adraire tbe grace of God, that
he should cxindescend to become bound to us by covenant ; that he, who is na
turally supreme in his dorainion over us, -who is our absolute proprietor, and
may clo with us as be pleases, and is under no obligation lo us; that he should, 1|
as it were, relinquish his absolute freedora, and should cease lo be merely i'
sovereign in bis dispensations towards believers, when once they have believed,
in Christ, and should, for their more abundant consolation, become bound. So,
that tjiCTCiULclialJerige salvation ofthis Sovereign ; they.canji£iiiai}-dJtJhroughj
Christ as a debt And it would be prejudicial to the glory of God's attributes,'
10 deny it to them ; il would be contrary to his justice and faithfulness. What
wonderful condescension is it in suc;h a Being, thus to become bound to us,
worms of the dust, for our consolation ! He bound himself by his word, his
proraise. But he was not satisfied with that ; but that we mighl have stronger
consolation slill, be hath bxiund hiraself by his oath. Heb. vi. 13, &c., " For when
God made promise lo Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware
by himself; saying. Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will
multiply thee. And so, after he had palientiy endured, he oblained the pro-
nise. For men verily swear by the greater ; and an oath for confirmation is lo
them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing raore abundantly lo show
unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an
oath; that by two irarautable things, in whichii was irapossible for God lo lie,
we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the bope set before us. Which hope we have as an anchor of the sciul, both
sure and steadfast, and which entereth inlo that within the vail; whither the
forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the
order of Melchisedec."
Let us, therefore, labor to subrait to the sovereignty of God. God insists, ,
that bis sovereignty be acknovi^ledged by us, and that even in this great matter,
a matter which°so nearly and infinitely concerns us, as our own eternal salvation.
This is the stumbling-block on which thousands fall and perish; and if we goi
on contending wilh God about bis sovereignty, it willbe our eternal ruin. Itis!
absolutely necessary that we sbould submfl to God, as our absolute sovereign,!
560 GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY.
and tbe sovereign over our souls ; as one who may have mercy on whom Le
vrill have mercy, and harden whora he will.
5. And l-dstly. We may make use of this docfrine lo guard those who seek
salvation from two opposite extremes — presumption and discouragement. Do
not presurae upon the mercy of God, and so encoiuage yourself in sin. Many
bear that God's mercy is infinite, and therefore think, that if they delay seeking
salvation- for the present, and seek it hereafter, Ihat God will bestow bis grace
upon ihem. But consider, that Ihough God's grace is sufficient, yet be is sovereign,
and will use his own pleasure wbether be wifl save you or not. If you' put off
salvation till hereafter, salvation will not be in your power. It will be as a
sovereign God pleases, whether you shall obtain it or not. Seeing, therefore,
that in this affair you are so absolutely dependent On God, it is best lo foflow his
direction ih seeking it, which is to hear his voice to-day : " To-day if ye w-fll
bear bis voice, harden not your lieart." Beware also of discouragement Take
heed of despairing Ihoughts, because you are a great sinner, because you have
persevered ,so long in sin, bave backslidden, and resisted the Holy Ghost. Re
member that, let your case be whal it raay, and you ever so great a sinner, if
you have not committed the sin against tbe Holy Ghost, Gcid canbegtow raercy
ugoii.yrui-w ilhout Ibe least prejudice lothe honor of bis boliriess, whitiTyouTiRve
offended, or to the honor of his majesty, which you have insulted, or of his jus
tice which you have raade your enemy, or of bis truth, or of any of his altri-
bules. Let you be what sinner you may, God can, if he pleases, greatly glorift
bimself in your salvation.
SERMON XXXV.
THE MOST HIGH A PRAYEK HEARING 30D.
Psalm Ixv. 2. — 0 thou that hearest prayer.
This psalra seems to be a psalm of praise to God for some remarkable w.,
swer of prayer, in the bestowraent of some public mercy ; or else was writte.T
on occasion of some special failh and confidence which David had, that his
prayer would be answered. It is probable that this mercy bestowed, or expect
ed to be bestowed, was sorae great public raercy, fcr which David had been
very earnest and importunate, and had annexed a vow to his prayer ; and that
he had vowed a vow to God, that if he would grant bim bis request, he would
do thus or thus, lo praise and glorify God.
This seems to be tbe reason why he expresses himself as he does in the first
verse of the psalm : " Praise waiteth for thee, 0 God, in Sion ; and unlo thee
shafl the vow 'oe perforraed ;" i. e., that praise which I have vowed to give
^th^e, on the answer of my prayer, waiteth for thee, to be given thee as soon as
thou" shalt have answered my prayer ; and the vow wbich I raade lo thee shall
he performed. In the verse of tbe text, is a prophecy of tbe glorious times of the gospel,
when " all flesh shall come" to the true God, as to the God who heareth prayer ;
which is here mentioned as what distinguishes tbe true God from the gods to
whom the nalions prayed and sought, those gods wbo cannot hear, and cannot
answer tbeir prayer. Tbe tirae was coraing wben all flesh should come to that
God who doth hear prayer.
DOCTRINE.
Il is tbe character of tbe Most High, that he is a God that hears prayers,
I sball handle this point in the following method.
1. Show that the Most High is a God that bears prayer.
2. That he is eminently such a God.
3. Tbat he is so distinguishingly, or tbat herein he is distinguished from ail
false gods.
4. Give tbe reasons of tbe doctrine.
I. The Most High is a God that hears prayer. Though he is infinitely
above all, and stands in no need of creatures; yet he is gracio-usly pleased to
take a merciful notice of poor worras of the dust. He raanifesls and presents
himself as the object of prayer, appears as silling on a raercy seal, that raen
may corae to him by prayer. When they stand in need of any thing, he al
lows them to come to hira, and ask it of him ; and be is wont to hear their
prayers. God in his word hath given many promises that he will hear their
prayers ; the Scripture is fufl of exaraples of it ; and God, in his dispensations
towards his church, manifests hiraself to be a God that hears prayer.
Here it raay be inquired, Wbat is meant by God's hearing prayer ? There
are two things implied in it
1. His accepting the supplications of those who pray to him. He accepts
them when they corae to hira; their address to bira is well taken, he is well
pleased wilb it He approves of their coming to him, and approves of theii
71
562 PRAYER HEARING GOD.
asking such mtrcies as they request of him, and approves of their manner ol
doing it. He accepts of their prayers as an offering to him ; he accepts thi
honor they do him in prayer.
2. He acls agreeably lo his acceptance ; and that l-\vo ways.
(1.) He sometimes manifests his acceptance of their prayers, by special
discoveries of his mercy and sufficiency which he makes in prayer, or imniedi-
ately after. God is sometiraes pleased to manifest his acceptance of bis people's
prayers: he gives thera special coramunion wilb hirn in prayer. Whfle they
are praying, be as it were coraes to tbern, and discovers himself to Ihera ; gives
thera sweet views of his glorious grace, purity, sufficiency, and sovereignly ; and
enables them, wilh great quietness, to rest in him, and leave themselves and
prayers wilh bim, subraitting to his will, and trusting in his grace and faithful
ness. Such a manifestation God seems to have made of bimself in prayer tc
Hannah, which so quieted and coraposed her mind, and took away ber sadness.
We read in the first chapter of the first book of Sarauel, how earnest she wa,s,
how exercised in her mind, and that she was a woman of a sorrowful .spirit
But she carae and poured out her soul before God, and spake out of the
abundance of her complaint and grief; then we read, that she went away, and
did eat, and her countenance was no more sad, verse 13, which seeras lo have
been from sorae refreshing discoveries which God bad raade of himself lo her,
to enable her quietly to subrait to his will, and trust in his mercy, whereby God
manifested his acceptance of her.
Not that I conclude that persons can hence argue, that the particular thing
which Ihey ask will certainly be given them, or that they can particularly fore
tell from it what God will do in answer to their prayers, any farther than he
has promised in his word ; yet God may, and doubtless does, thus testify his ac
ceptance of their prayers, and from hence they may confidently rest in his provi
dence, in his merciful ordering and disposing with respect to the thing which
they ask.
(2.) God manifests his acceptance of their prayers, by answering thera, by
doing for Ihem agreeably to their needs and supplications. He not only in-
w^ardly and spiritually discovers his raercy lo their souls by his Spirit, but
outwardly in his providence, by dealing mercifully with them in his providence,
in consequence of their prayers, and by causing an agreeableness between his
providence and their prayers.
I proceed now,
II. To show that il is erainentiy the character of the true God, that he is a
God Ihat hears prayer. This appears in several things.
1. In his giving such free access to him by prayer. God in bis word raani
fesls himself reaJy at all tiraes to aflow us lo come to bim. He sits on a Ihrone
of grace ; and there is no vail to hide this throne, and keep us from it. The
vail is rent frora the top to the bottom ; the way is open at all tiraes, and we
raay go lo God as often as we will. Although God be infinitely above us, yet
we raay come wilh boldness. Heb. iv. 14, 16, " Let us therefore corae boldly
unto the ihrone of grace, that we raay obtain mercy, and find grace to help in
time of need." How wonderful is it that such worms as we should be allowed
to corae boldly at all tiraes to so great a God !
Thus God indulges all kinds of persons, of all nations, Jews cr Gentfles:
1 Cor. i. 2, 3, " Unto all that in every place call on the name of Jesus ChrisI
our Lord, both theirs and ours ; grace be unto you," &c. God aflows .such
access to all of all ranks ; none are so mean but that they may corae boldly to God
bv prayer Yea God allows the most vile and unworthy ; the greatest sinneiti
PRAYER HEARING GOD. 563
are allowed to co-.iie through Christ. And God not only allows, but encouiages,
and frequently invites them ; yea, God manifests himself as delighting in beinff
sought to by prayer. Prov. xv. 8, " The prayer of the upright is his delight ;"
and in Cant. ii. 14, we bave Christ saying to the spouse, " 0 ray dove, let rae
near tby voice ; for sweet is tby voice." The voice of the saints in prayer is
sweet unto Christ ; he delights lo hear it.
The freeness of access by prayer tbat God allows thera, appears wonder-
fiflly in bis allowing tbem to be earnest and importunate ; yea, to that degree
as to take no denial, and as it were to give hira no rest, and even encouraging
thera so to do. Isa. Ixiii. 6, 7, " Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not
silence, and give him no rest." Thus Christ encourages us, as it were, to
weary God out by prayer, in the parable of the importunate widow and the
unjust judge, Luke xviii. at the beginning. So, in the parable of the man who
went to his friend at midnight, to borrow three loaves, Luke xi. 5, &c.
Thus God allowed Jacob to wrestle with him, yea, tobe resolute in it. God
aflows men lo use, as it were, a violence and obstinacy, if I may so speak, this way ;
as in Jacob, who, when God said, " Let me go," said, " I will not let thee go, except
thou bless me." So it is spoken of wilb approbation, when men are violent for
the kingdom of heaven, and takt it by force. Thus Christ suffered the blind man
to be most importunate and unceasing in bis cries to him, Luke xviii. 38, 39 :
he continued crying, " Jesus, thou Sori of David, have mercy on me.'' Others
wbo were present rebuked him, that he should hold his peace, looking upon it
too great a boldness, and an indecent behavior towards Christ, for him tbus lo
cry after him as he passed by. But Christ bimself did not rebuke him, Ihough
he did not cease at tbe rebuke of the people, but cried so much the raore.
Christ was not ofi^nded at it, but stood and coraraanded hira lo be brought unto
hiin, saying, " What wfll thou that I should do lo thee ?" And when tbe blind
man had told him, Christ graciously granted his request.
The freedom of access that God gives in prayer, appears also in allowing
us to come to hira by prayer for every thing we need, both temporal and spir
itual, whatever evil we need to be delivered frora, or good we would obtain.
Phil. iv. 6, " Be careful for nolhing, but in every thing by prayer and supjili-
cation, wilh thanksgiving, let your requests be raade known to God."
2. That God is erainentiy of this character, appears in his hearing prayer
so readily. He often manifests bis readiness to hear prayer, by giving an
answer so speedily, sometiraes while they are yet speaking, and soraetiraes
before they pray, when they only have a design of praying. So ready is God
to bear prayer, that he takes notice of the first purpose of praying, and sorae
tiraes bestows mercy thereupon : Isa. Ixv. 24, " And it shall corae to pass, tbat
before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear."
We read, that when Daniel was making humble and earnest supplication to God,
God sent an angel to comfort hira, and assure hira of an answer, Dan. ix. 20-24.
And when God defers for the present to answer the prayer of faith, it is not
from any backwardness in God to answer, but for the good of his people, sorae
times that they rnay be better prepared for tbe raerciy before they receive il, or
oecause another tirae would be the best and fiUest lirae on sorae other account
And even then, when God seeras to delay an answer, the answer is indeed
hastened, as in Luke xviu. 7, 8, " And shall not God avenge bis own elect, that
3ry unto bim day and nigbt, though he bear long with tbem ? I tell you, tbat
he will avenge them .speedily." Sometiraes, when the blessing seeras to tarry,
God is even then at work to bring it about in the best time and best raanner :
Hab. ii. 3, " Though it tarry, wait for it ; it will come, it wfll not tarry."
564 PRAYER HEARING GOD.
3. Tbat the Most High is eminently one tbat hcjars prayer, appears by hi.«
giving so liberally in answer to prayer : James i. 5, 6, " If any of you lack
wisdom, let bim ask it of God, who giveth lo all liberally, and upbraideth not"
Men often show their backwardness and lothness to give to those who ask of
them, both by tbe scantiness of their gifts, and by upbraiding those who ask of
thera. Tbey will be sure to put thera in mind of these and those faults; when
they give them any thing ; but, on the contrary, God both gives libeially, and
upbraids us not wilh our undeservings, wben he gives.
God is plenteous and rich in his communications lo those who call upon hira.
Psal. Ixxxvi. 5, " For thou art good and ready to forgive, and plenteous in
mercy unto all that call upon thee;" and Rora. x. 12, " For there is no differ
ence between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over afl is ricb unto
all that call upon liiin."
Soraeliines God not only gives the thing asked, but lie gives more than is
asked. So be did lo Soloraon : 1 Kings iii. 12, 13, " Behold, 1 have tl-one
according to thy words : lo, I have given thee a wise and an understaniling
heart, so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any
arise like unto Ihee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked,
both riches and honor ; so that there shafl not be any araong the kings like
unto thee, all thy days." Yea, God will give morelo his people Ihan they can
either ask or think, as is implied in ihat, Eph. iii. 20, " Now, unto him that is
able to ilo exceeding abundantly above all that we a.sk or think."
4. That God is eminently ofthis character, appears by the greatness ofthe
tbings whicb he halh often done in answer to prayer. Thus, when Esau was
coraing out against his brother Jacob, wilh four hundred men, wiihout doubt
fully resolved to cut hira off, Jacob'prayed to God, and God turned the heart of
Esau, so tbat he raet Jacob in a very friendly raanner; as in Gen. xxxii.,. So
in Egypt, at the prayer of Moses, God biought those clreadful plagues, and,:al
his prayer, removed them again. When Samson was ready to perish with
thirst, he prayed to God, and God brought water out of a dry jaw-bone, for his
supply, Judg. XV. 18, 19. And when he prayed, after bis strength was departed
from him, God strengthened hira, so as lo pull down the temple of Dagon on
the Philistines; so Ihat those wbom he slew at bis death were more than afl
those whom he slew in his life.
Joshua prayed to God, and said to Ibe sun, " Sun, stand thou slill upon
Gibeon, and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon ; and God heard his prayer,
and caused the sun and moon to stand slill accordingly. The prophet " Elijah
was a man of like passions" with us; " and he prayed earnestly that it might
not rain ; and it rained not on the earlb by the space of three years and six
months. And be prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and Ihe earlh brought
forth her fruit ;" as the Apostle James observes, James v. 17, 18. So God
confounded the array of Zerah, the Ethiopian, of a thousand thousand, in answer
to the prayer of Asa, 2 Chron. xiv. 9, &c. And God sent an angel, and slew
in one night a hundred and eighty thousand men of Sennacheti'b's army, in
answer to Hezekiah's prayer, 2 Kings xix. 14, 15, 16, 19.
5. This truth appears, in that Gocl is, as it were, m-eicome by prayer.
When God is displeased by ,sin, and manifests his displeasure, and comes out
against us in his providence, and seeras to oppose and resist us; rin such cases,
God is, speaking after tbe manner of men, overcome by hurable and fervent
prayer. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avaflelh raiTiih,"
James v. 16. It bas a great power in it Such a prayer hearing 'God is the
Most High, that he graciously raanifesls hiraself as conquered by it Thus Ja-
PRAYER HEARING GOD. 565
cob conquered in the wrestle which be bad with God. God appeared to oppose
Jacob in what be sought of him ; be did, as it were, struggle againsi hira, and
to get-away from him ; yet Jacob was resolutej and overcarae. "Therefore God
3hangecl his narae from Jacob to Israel ; for, says he, " as a prince thou bast
pciwer with God and wilb raen, and hast prevailed," Gen. xxxii. 28. A
mighty prince indeed I to be great enough to overcome God : Hos. xii. 4, " Yea,
he had power over the angel, and prevailed ; he wept and made supplication
unlo hiin."
So Moses, from tirae to tirae, did in this sense overcorae God by prayer.
When his anger -was provoked against Israel, and be appeared to be ready to
consurae thera in his hot displeasure, Moses stood in the gap, and by his humble
and earnest pi'ayer and supplication averted the stroke of divine vengeance.
This appears by Exod. xxxii. 9, &c., and by Numb. xiv. 11, &c.
in. Herein the Most High God is distinguished frora false gods. The true
God is Ihe only God of this character ; there is no other of whora it raay be
said, that he heareth prayer. Those false gods are not gods that hear {irayer,
upon three accounts.
1. For want of a capacity to know what tbose who worship them pray for.
Many of those things that are worsshipped as gods in the worid, are ihings
without life ; raany are idols made by their worshippers ; they are raere stocks
and stones, that know nothing. They are indeed raade wilb ears; but they
hear not the prayers of them that cry to tbem, let them cry ever so loudly :
they have eyes ; but they see not, &c., Psal. cxv. 5 — ^9.
Olber,s, though tbey are not the work of raen's hands, yet are things without
life. Thus, many worship the sun, moon, and stars, which, Ihougb glorious
crealures, yet are not capable of knowing any thing of the wants and desires
of those who pray lo them.
Others worship some certain kinds of brute animals, as the Egyptians were
wont lo worship bulls, which, Ihough they be not without life, yet are destitute
of that reason whereby tbey would be capable bf knowing the requests of their
wnishippers. Others worship devils, instead of the true God: 1 Cor. x. 20,
" Bull say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice lo devils."
These, though they are beings of great powers and understandings, and gi-eat
subtlety, have not that knowledge which is necessary to capacitate thera fully
to undei-stand the state, circurastances, necessities, and desires of those who pray
to thera. No devil is capable of a perfect understanding of the circumstances
and need of any one persc>n, much less of attending to, and being thoroughly
acquainted with, all who pray to tbem through the world.
But the true God perfectly knows the circurastances of every one that prays
to him throughout the world ; he perfectly knows fhe needs and desires of
every one. If there be millions praying to hira at once, in diff'erent parts of the
worid, it is no more difficult lo bira, who is infinite in knowledge, to take notice
of all, and perfectly to be acquainted wilh every one, than of one alone. But it
is not so with any other being but Ihe Most High God.
God is so perfect in knowledge, that he doth not need to be inforraed by us,
in order to a knowledge of our wants ; for he knows what things we need be
fore we ask hira. The worshippers of false gods were wont to hft their voices
and cry aloud, lest tbeir gods sbould fail of bearing thera, as Elijah tauntingly
bid the worshippers of Baal do, 1 Kings xviii. 27. But the true God hears tbe
silent petitions of his people. ' He needs not that we should cry aloud ; yea^ he
knows and perfectly understands wben we only pray in our hearts, is Hannah
did, 1 Sam. '. 13
566 PRAYER HEARING GOD.^
2. False gods are not prayer bearing gods, for want of power to answei
prayer. Idols are but vanities and lies ; in them is no help. As to power oi
knowledge, they are nolhing ; as the apostle says, 1 Cor. viii. 4, "An idol is
nolhing in the worid." As to Ihe images that are the works of men's hands,
they are so far from having any power to answer prayer, or to help '.hem that
pi-ay to them, that they are not able at all to act : " They have hands, and
handle not ; feet have they, but tbey walk not ; neither speak they Ihrough their
throat." They, Iherefore, that make them, and pray lo thera, are senseless and
sottish, and raake themselves slocks and stones, like unto thera. Psal. cxv. 7,
8, and Jer. x. 5, " They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not They
must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of tbem ; for they
cannot do evil ; neither also is il in tbem to do good." As to Ihe hosts of
heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, although mankind receive benefit by them,
yet they act nothing voluntarily, but only by necessity of nature ; therefore they
bave no power to do any thing in answer to prayers. And devils that are
worshipped as gods, they are not able, if they bad disposition, to make those
happy who worship them, and can do nothing al all but only by divine per
mission, and as subject to the disposal of divine Providence.
False gods can none of Ihera save those that pray to Ihem ; and therefore,
when the children of Israel departed from the true God to idols, and were dis
tressed by their enemies, and cried lo God in their distress, God reproved them
for their folly in worshipping false gods, by bidding them go and cry to the
gods whom they had served, and let them deliver them in the tirae of their
tribulation. Josh, x 14. So God challenges those gods Ihemselves, in lsa. xii
23, 24 : " Show us things that are to come hereafter, that we raay know that
ye are gods ; yea, do good or do evil, that we raay be disraayed, and behold it
together. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought : an abomina
tion is he that chooselh you."
The false gods, instead of helping those wbo pray to tbem, cannot help
themselves. The devils are miserable torraented spirits ; they are bound in
chains of darkness for their rebellion against the true God, and cannot deliver
theraselves. 3. False gods are not gods that hear prayer, for want of a disposition to
help those who pray to thera. As to those lifeless idols whom the Heathen
worship, they are without bolh understanding and will. As lo the devfls, who
in the dark places of the earlh are worshipped as gods, they bave no disposi
tion to help those who cry to ihem ; for they are cruel spirits ; they are the
mortal enemies of raankind, that thirst for their blood, and delight in nolhing
but their raisery. They have no more disposition to help mankind, than a par
cel of hungry wolves or lions would have to protect and help a flock of lambs.
And those that worship and pray to them get not their good will by serving
them : all the reward that Satan will give them, for tbe service which they do
him, is to make a prey of them, and devour thera.
I proceed now,
iV. To give tbe reasons of the doctrine ; which I would do in answer to
these two inquiries: 1. Why God requires prayer in order to tbe bestowraent
of mercies on raen ? 2. Why God is so ready to hear the prayers of raen ?
iNQtJiRY 1. Why doth God require prayer in order to Ihe bestowment of
mercies ? To this I shall answer both negatively and affirmatively.
(1.) Negatively. 1. It is not in order Ihat God may be informed of our
wants or desires. God is omniscient, and wilh respect to his knowledge, un
changeable ; his knowledge cannot be added to. God never is informed of any
PRAYER HEARING GOD. [,g7
ihing, nor gains any knowledge by information. He knows wbat we want u tnou-
sand times more perfectly than we do ourselves. He knows what things we have
need of before we ask bim ; be knows our desires before we declare thera by prayer.
2. Nor is it to dispose and incline God to show raercy : for though, in
"peaking after the manner ofmen, God is .sometimes in Scripture represented as
though he were moved and persuaded by the prayers and cries of bis people ;
yet it is not to be thought that God is properly moved or raade wflling by our
prayers ; for it is no more possible that there should be any new inclination or
will' in God, than new knowledge. The inercy of God is not moved or drawn by
anything in the creature; but the spring of God's beneficence is within himself
only ; he is self raoved ; and whatsoever raercy he bestows, the reason and ground
of it is not to be sought for in the creature, but in God's own good pleasure.
It is the will of God to bestow mercy in this way, viz., in answer to prayer,
when he designs beforehand to bestow raercy, yea, when he has proraised it ;
as Ezek. xxxvi. 36, 37, " I the Lord have .spoken it, and will do it Thus sailh
the Lord, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for
them." God has been pleased to constitute prayer to be an antecedent lo the
bestowraent of raercy ; and be is pleased to bestow mercy in consequence of
prayer as -though he were prevafled on by prayer.
Yet God is not in fact prevailed on or made wifling by prayer. But when
he shows raercy in answer to prayer, his intention of raercy is not the effect of
the prayer ; but that the people of God are stirred up to prayer, is the effect of
God's intention to show raercy. Because God intends to show raercy, there
fore he pours out the spirit of grace and supplication.
(2.) Affirmatively. There raay be two reasons given why God requires
prayer in order to tbe bestowment of mercy ; one especially respects God, and
the other respects ourselves.
1. With respect to God, prayer is but a sensible acknowledgment of our
dependence on God, to bis glory. As God halh made all things for his own
glory, so he will be glorified and acknowledged by his creatures ; and it is fit
that he should require this of those who would be tbe subjects of his mercy.
That we, when we stand in need of any raercy of God, or desire to receive any
mercy from bim, should go to God, and hurably supplicate the divine Being for
tne bestowraent of that raercy, is but a suitable acknowledgraent of our depend
ence on the power and mercy of God for that which we need, and but a suita
ble honor paid to the great Author and Fountain of all good.
2. W^ith respect lo ourselves, God requires prayer of us in order to the be
stowraent of mercy, because it tends lo prepare us for the receipt of inercy
Fervent prayer many ways tends to prepare the heart for the receipt of tbe
raercy prayed for. Hereby is excited a sense of our need of the mercy, and of
the value ofthe mercy whicb we seek, and at tbe same lime are excited earnest
desires of it; whereby the mind is raore prepared to prize it, and rejoice in it
when bestowed, and to be thankful for it Prayer, with that confession which
should be in prayer, may be the occasion ofa sense of our unworthiness of the
mercy we seek;" and the placing of ourselves in tbe iraraediate presence of
God raay make us sensible of his majesty, and we raay be hurabled befc>re hira,
and be fitted to receive mercy of hira. Our prayer to God raay excite in us a
suitable sense and consideration of our dependence on God for the mercy we
ask, and a suitable exercise of faith in God's suflnciency, that so we may be
prepared to glorify his nann when the raercy is received.
Inquiey 2. Why is God so ready to hear tbe prayers of men ? To this
I answer :
b6b PRAYER HIL<=RING GOI.
1. Because God is a God of infinite grace and mercy. It is inueed a very
wonderiiil thing, that so great a God should be so ready to hear our prayers,
though w-e are so despicable and unworthy ; that he .should give free access at
all times to everyone; should allow us to be as iraporlunate as we will, wilhoul
esteeming it any indecent boldness ; should bear all sincere prayers put up lo
him ; should be so ready to hear, and so rich in mercy to them that call upon
him ; that worras of the dust should have sucb power wilh God by prayer ;
that God sbould do such great things in answer to their prayers, and should
show hiraself, as it were, overcorae by thera. This is very wonderful, when we
consider the distance between God and us, and consider how we have provoked
God by our sins, and how unworthy we are of tbe least gracious notice.
And it can be resolved into nothing else but infinite mercy and grace. It
cannot be from any need Ihat God stands in of us ; for our goodness extendeth
not to him. Neilber can it be from anything in us to incline the heart of God
to us : it cannot be frora any worthiness in our prayers, wbich are in themselves
very miserable polluted things. Bul it is because God delights in mercy and
condescension. He is herein infinitely distinguished from all other gods : he is
the great fountain of all good, frocp whom goodness flows as light from the sun.
2. We have a glorious Mediator, who has prepared Ibe way^ Ihat our
prayers raay be heard consistenlly with the honor of God's justice and Majesty.
Not only has God in hiraself rnercy sufficient for this, but the Mediator has pro
vided that this mercy may be exercised consistenlly with tbe honor of God.
Through him we may come to God, and God raay show mercy to us : he is the
way, ihe trulh, and the life ; no man can corae to the Father but by hira. This
Mediator halh done three things lo make way for the hearing of our prayers.
(1.) He halh by his blood made atonement for sin, so tbat our guilt need
not stand in the way, as a separation wall between God and us, and that our
sins might not be a cloud Ihrough which our prayers cannot pass; and by his
atonement he halh raade the way to the throne of grace open. God would
have been infinitely gracious if there had been no Mediator ; but the way to
the raercy seat would have been blocked up. But Christ hath reraoved what
ever stood in the way. The vafl which was before the mercy seat " is rent from
the top to the bottora," by the dealh of Christ. If it had not been for the death
of Christ, our guilt would have reraained as a wall of brass, to hinder our ap-!
proach. But all is reraoved by his blood, Heb. x. 17, &c.
(2.) Christ has, by his obedience, purcbased that tbe prayers of tbose who
believe in hira should be heard. He has not only reraoved the obstacles lo
our prayers, but has merited a bearing of thera. His merits are the incense
that is offered with the prayers of the saints, which renders them a sweet savor
to God. and acceptable in bis sight Hence the prayers of the saints bave such
power with God ; hence the prayer of a poor worm of the dust had such pow
er wilh God, that in answer God stopped tbe sun in his course for about the
space of a whole day ; hence such unworthy creatures as we are able to over
corae God ; hence Jacob as a prince had power wilh God and prevailed. ; Our
prayers would be of no account, and of no avail with God, \yere it not for the
merits of Christ ; for in themselves they are miserable worthless things, and
might justly be odious and abominable to God.
(3.) Christ enforces the prayers of bis people, by his intercession at the right
hand of God in heaven. He hath entered for us into the holy of holies, with
the incense which he hath p.'-rvided, and there he raakes continual intercession
for all that corae to God i-n his narae ; co that tbeir prayers come to God the
Falhe! through his hands, ifl may so say ; which is represented in Rev. vui. 3,
PRAYER HEARING GOD. 56S
4, " And another angel came and stood at tbe altar, having a golden censer ;
and there was given unto hirn much incense, that he should offer it with the
prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar wbich is before the throne. And
the smoke of the incense which came wilh the prayers of tbe saints, ascended
up before God out of the angel's band."
This was typified of old by the priest's offering incense in the temple, at tbe
tirae when the multitude of the people were offering up their prayeis to God ;
as Luke i. 10, " And the whole multitude of the people were praying wiihout,
at the time of incense." APPLICATION.
I. Hence we raay learn, how highly we are privileged, in that we bave the
Most High God revealed to us, who is a God that beareth prayer. The greater
part of mankind are destitute of this privilege ; they are ignorant of this God ;
the gods whom they worship are -not prayer bearing gods. Whatever Iheir
necessities are, whatever calamities or sorrows they are the subjects of, if they
meet with grievous and heavy afflictions, wherein they cannot help theraselves,
and raan is unable to help thera, they have no prayer bearing God to whora
they in-ay go. If ihey go to the gods whom they worship, and cry lo Ihein ever
so earnestiy, it wfll be in vain. They worship either lifeless things, that can
neither help them, nor know that they need help; or wicked cruel spirits, who
are their enemies, and wish nolhing but their misery, and who, instead of help
ing them, are frora day to day working their ruin, and watching over them, as
a hungry lion watches over his prey.
How are we distinguished from thera^ in that we bave the true God made
known to us ; a God of infinite grace and mercy; a God full of corapassion to
the raiserable, who is ready to pity us under all our troubles and .sorrows, to
hear our cries, and give us all tbat relief which we need ; a God who delights
in raercy, and is rich to all that cafl upon hira ! How highly privileged are we,
in that we have the holy word of this sarae God, to direct us how lo come to
him, and seek mercy of him ! And whatever difficulties or distress we are in,
we may go wilh confidence and great encourageraenl to hira with all our diffi
culties and coraplaints. What a conifoit raay this be to us ! And what rettson
bave we to rejoice in our own privileges, highly to prize them, and to bless
Sod that he hath been so merciful to us, as to give us his word, and reveal hira
self to us; and that he hath not left us to cry for help to stocks, and stones, and
devils, as he has left many thousands of others !
Objection. I bave often prayed to God for tbese and those mercies, and
'God has not heard my prayers.
To this I shall answer ueveral Ihings.
(1.) It is no argument, that God is not a prayer hearing God, if he give not
to men what they ask of him, to consume upon their lusts. Oftentimes, when
men pray for these and tho.se temporal good Ihings, they desire them chiefly to
gratify their lusts. They desire Ihera for no good end, but only to gratify Iheir
pride or sensuality. They pray for woridly good things chiefly frora a -\yoridly
spirit : it is because they raake too much of an idol of the worid ; and if so, it
Is no wonder that God iloth not bear their prayers : James iv. 3, " Ye ask and
.•eceive not, because ye ask araiss, to consume it upon your lusts."
It is no arguramt that God is not a prayer hearing God, that he wfll not
grant your req°uest, when you ask bim to give you something of which you wil-
make an idol, and set it up in opposition to bim ; or that he will not hear you^
Vol. IV 72
570 PRAYER HEARING GOD.
when you asb of bim these and those things to use as weapons of w arfare arranisl
him, or as instruments to serve bis enemies. No wonder that God will not hear
you, when you pray for silver, or gold, or wool, or flax, to off'er thera lo Baal. If
God should hear such prayers, be woulcl act as his own eneray, inasmuch as
be would bestow on his eneraies Ihe Ihings which they desire out of enmity
against hira, and to use against hira as his eneraies, and to serve his eneraies.
(2.) It is no arguraent that God is not a prayer hearing God, that he hear
eth not insincere and unbelieving prayers. How can we expect ihat God slioi Id
have any respect to that which has no sincerity in it ? God looketh not at
words, but at the heart; and it is fit that he should do so. If raen's prayers be
not hearty, if they pray only in words, and not in heart, whal are their prayers
good for ? And why .should ihat God who searches the heart and tries the
reins have any respect to thern ?
Soraetiraes men do nothing but dissemble in their prayers ; and when they
do so, it is no arguinent that God is ever the less a prayer hearing Gocl, Ihat he
dolh not hear such prayers ; for il is no arguinent of want of raercy. Some
tiraes men pray for that in words which they really desire not in Iheir hearts.
Soraetiraes raen pray to God that he would purge thern from sin, w hen at the
sarae time they show by their practice that they do not desire to be purged ft oin
sin, bul love sin, and choose il, and are utterly averse to parting wilh il. So
they will pray for other spiritual blessings, of which they bave no real desire.
In like manner they often dissemble inthe pretence and show, whicb Ihey make
in their prayers, of a dependence on God for mercies, and of a sense of his suffi
ciency to supply thera. In our coining to God, and praying lo him for such and
such Ihings, there is a show that we are sensible that we are dependent on hira
for thern, and that he is suflScient to give Ihera to us. But raen sometiraes seem
to pray, who are not sensible of their dependence on God, nor do they think
hira to be sufficient to supply thera. For some Ihings that they go to God for,
they all the whfle trust in Ihemselves ; and for other things they bave no confi
dence in God.
Another way in wbich men often dissemble is, in seeming lo pray and to
be supplicants in words, when in heart they pray not, but challenge and demand.
They show in words as though they were beggars ; but in heart they come as
creditors, and look on God as their debtor. In words they seem lo ask tliese
and those Ihings as the fruit of free grace ; but in heart they account it would
be hard, unjust, and cruel, if God should deny them. In words they seera hum
ble and submissive, bul in heart they are proud and contentious • there is no
prayer but in their words.
It doth not render God at all the less a prayer hearing God, that be distinguish
es, as an afl-seeing God, between real prayers and pretended ones. Such pray
ers as those which I bave just now been mentioning, are not worthy ofthe name
of prayers ; and they are so accounted in the eyes of him who searches Ihe
heart, and sees Ihings as they are. Nor would men account such things to be
prayers, any more than the lalk of a parrot, that knows not wbat it says, were
it not that theyj-udge by the outward appearance.
All prayer that is not tbe prayer of faith, is insincere ; for prayer is a show
or manifestation of dependence on God, and trust in his suflficiency and mercy.
Therefore, where this trust or faith is wanting, there is no prayer in the sight
of God. And however God is sometiraes pleased lo grant the requests of Ihose
who have no faith, yet be has not obliged hiraself so lo do ; nor is it an argu
ment of his not being a -j/rayer hearing God, when he hears Ihera not
(3.) Il is no argument that God is not a prayer hearing God, that be ex-
PRAYER HEARING GOD. 571
ercises his own wisdom as to the time and manner of answering prayers. Soms
of God's people are sometimes ready to Ibink, that God dolh not hear their
prayers, because he doth not answer tbem at the times wben Ihey expec;ted ;
when indeed God dolh hear them and wfll answer thera, in the time and way
to wbich his own wisdom directs.
The business of prayer is not to direct God, who is infinitely wise, and needs
not any of our directions, who knows what is best for us ten Ihousand limes
belter than we, and knows what time and what way are best It is fit that
God .should answer prayer, as an infinitely wise God, in the exercise of his own
wisdora, and not ours. God will deal as a father wilh us, in answering our re
quests. But a cbild is not to expect tbat the father's wisdom will be subject to
bis; nor ought he to desire it, but sbould esteem it a privilege, that the parent
wbo lakes care of hira, and provides for hira, is wiser than be, and will provide
for bim according to his own wisdom.
As lo particular temporal blessings for which we pray, it is no argument
that God is not a prayer hearing God, that he bestows them not upon us ; for
it may be that God sees the things for which we pray not to be best for us. If
so, it would be no mercy in him to bestow them upon us, but a judgment.
Such things, therefore, ought always to be asked with subraission to the divine
will. But God can answer prayer, though he be.stow not the very thing for which
we pray. He can sometiraes better answer the lawful desires and goocl end we
have in prayer anotber way. If our end be our own good and happiness, God
can perhaps better answer that end in bestowing something else than in the
bestowment of that very thing which we ask. And if the main good we aira
at in our prayer be attained, our prayer is answered, though not in the bestow
ment of the individual thing which we ask. And so that may still be true which
was asserted in the doctrinal part, viz., that God always hears the prayer of faith
God never once failed of hearing a sincere and believing prayer ; and those pro
mises forever bold good, " Ask, and ye shall receive ; seek, and ye shall find ;
knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, receiveth ;
and he that seeketh, findeth ; and to hira tbat knockelh il shall be opened."
2. The seconduse raay be,.of reproof lo those that neglect the duly of prayer.
If we enjoy so great a privilege as to have the true God, who is a prayer hear
ing God, revealed to us, how great will be our folly and inexciis-ableness, if we
neglect the privilege, make no use of il, and deprive ourselves of tne advantage
of it, by not seeking this God by prayer. They are hereby reprovecl who
neglect the great duly of secret prayer, whic> is raore expressly required in the
word of God than any other kind of prayer. What account can those persons
give of Ihemselves, wbo neglect so known a duty ? It is impossible that any
among us should be ignorant of this coraraand of God. How daring, therefore,
is then- wickedness, wbo live in tbe neglect of this duty, if any such there be
among us! And what can tbey answerto.their Judge, when he shall cafl them
to an account for it ?
Here I shall briefly say soraething to an excuse which some may be ready
to make for themselves. Some raay be ready to say. If I do pray, my prayer
will not he the prayer of faith, hecause lamina natural condition, and have no
faith. Answer 1. This excuses not from obedience to a plam coraraand of God.
The coramand is to all to whom the comraand shall come. God not only directs
godly persons to pray, but others also. In the beginning of the second chapier
of Proverbs, God directs all persons to cry after wisdom, and to lift up then
572 PRAYER HEARING GOD.
voices for understanding, in order to their obtaining tbe fear and knowledge of
Gocl ; and in James i. 5, the aposlle Says, " If any man lackwisdora,let him ask
it of God ;" and Peter directed Simon Magus lo repent and pray God, if per :
haps tbe thought 'of his heart might be forgiven hira. Acts vin. 22. 1 herefore,
when Gocl says, do thus or thus, it is not for us tP make excuses, but we must
do Ihe thing required.
Answer 2. God is pleased soraetimes'to answer tbe prayers of unbelievers.
Indeed he heats not their prayeis from any goodness or acceptableness that there
is in their prayers, or because of any true respect to hira manifested in thera, for
there is none ; nor has be obliged himself to answer such prayers ; y et he is plea.sed
soraetimes, of his sovereign mercy, to pity wicked raen, and bear their cries.
Thus he heard the cries of the Nineviles, Jonah chap. iu. So be heard the
prayer of Ahab, 1 Kings xxi. 27, 28.
Though there be no regard lo God in their prayers, yet God, of his infinite
grace, is pleased to have respect to their desires of their own bappiness, and to
grant their requests. God raay, and sometiraes does, hear the cries of wicked'
men, as he hears Ihe hungry ravens, when they cry. Psalm cxlvii. 9, and as he
opens his bountiful hand, and satisfies the desiiec of every Jiving thing, Psalrn
cxlv. 16. Besides, the prayers of sinners, though tbey have no goodness in
them, yet are raade a raeans of a preparation for mercy.
3. The last use shall be of exhortation. Seeing we have such a prayer
hearing God as we have heard, let us be rauch eraployed in the duly of prayer/
Let us pray wilh all prayer and supplication. Let us live prayerful lives, con
tinuing instant in prayer, watching thereunto with all perseverance; praying^
without ceasing, praying always, and not fainting ; and not praying in a dull,'
cold, and lifeless manner, but w-restling with God in prayer. I shall' particu-'
larly at ihis lime exhort to two Ihings.
(I.) Let us pray for others, as well as for ourselves. God hath in bis word'
manifested himself lo be especially wefl pleased wilb hearty intercessory pray-'
ers, or prayers for our fellow crealures. 1 Tim. n. 1, 2, 3, " I exhort, therefore,'
that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of ihanks, be
made for all men; for kings, &c. ; for Ihis is good and acceptable in Ihesightof
God our Saviour." It is especially acceptable to- God, as sucb prayers, when
sincere, are an expression of a spirit of Christian cliarity, which is a grace
peculi-ciriy becoraing Christians, and acceptable to God, as may be seen by what"
is said of it in 1 Cor. xiii.
(2.) Let us especially be earnest wilh God in our prayers, for tbe outpour-'
ing of his Spirit both on ourselves and others. We have not such encourage-
ment_ in Scripture to pray for any other blessing, as we have to pray for this
blessing. It is the greatest of all mercies ; yet God halh given such encourage
ment lo pray for no other rnercy, as he hath for this mercy. See Luke xi. 13,
" If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, bow
much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to thera that ask
hira ?" Though it be Ihe greaiest mercy, yet God is most ready to bestow it
of any whatsoever. We ought Ikerefoie raost earnestly to pray for the out
pouring of God's Spirit on our own souls, on others in whom we are particu
lariy concerneil, on the people among whom we dwefl, and on the whole land
and whole earlh. We are directed to pray for this with the greatest possible .
importunity in Ihe forementioned place, Isaiah Ixu. 6, 7 : " Ye that make men
tion ()f the Lord,, keep not silentie, and give him no rest, tifl he' make Jerusalem
a praise in the earth."
SERMON XXXVI.
THE TRUE christian's LIFE, A JOURNEY TOWARDS HEAVEN.
Hbbrbws xi. 13. U. — And confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For t.^ioj thai
say such things, declare plainly that ihcy seek a country.
The aposlle is here setting forth the excellencies of the grace of faith, by
the glorious effects and happy issue of it in the saints of the Old Testament He
had spoken in the preceding part of the chapter particularly of Abel, Enoch,
Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Jacob. Having enumerated those in
stances, he lakes notice that '• these all died in faith, not having received the
promises, but baving seen them afar off', and were persuaded of thera, and em
braced thera, and confessed that tbey were strangers," &c.
In these words the aposlle seeras lo have a raore particular re.spect to Abra
hara and Sarah, and their kindred that carae with thera frora Haran, ami from
Ur of the Chaldees, by the 15th verse, where the aposlle says, " and truly if
they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, tbey might
have bad opportunity to have returned." It was they that upon God's call
left their own country.
Two Ihings raay be observed in the text.
1. What these sainls confessed of themselves, viz., "that they were stran
gers and pilgrims on the earlh."
Thus w-e have a particular account concerning Abraham : " I ara a stranger
and a sojourner wiih you," Gen. xxiii. 4. And it seeras to have been the gen
eral sense of tbe patriarchs, by what Jacob says to Pharaoh : " And Jacob
said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and
thirty years : few and evfl have the days of the years of ray life been, and
have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of ray fathers in Ihe
days of their pilgriraage," Gen. xlvii. 9. " I ara a stranger and a sojourner with
thee, as all my fathers were," Psal. xxxix. 12.
2. The inference tbat the aposlle draws from hence, viz., tbat they sought
another country as their home : " For they that say such Ihings, declare plainly,
that they seek a country.'' In confessing that they were strangers, they plainly
declared, that this is not their country ; that this is not the country where they
are at borae. And in confessing themselves lo be pilgrims, they declared plainly,
that this is not their settled abode ; but that they have respect to sorae other
country, tbat they seek and are travelling to as their home.
DOCTRINE.
Tbis life ought so to be spent by us, as to be only a journey towards beaven.
Here I would observe,
I. That we ought not to rest in the world and its enjoyments, but should
desire heaven.
This our hearts sbould be chiefly upon and engaged about We should
seek first the kingdom of God, Matt. vi. 33. He that is on a journey, seeks the
place tbat he is journeying to. We ought above all things lo desire a heavenly
happiness : to go to heaven, and there be with God, and dwell with Jesus Christ
If we are surrounded with many outward enjoyments, and things that are very
574 TRUE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE.
corafortable to us ; if we are settled in farailios, and bave tbose gcod friends
and relations that are very desirable; if we bave corapanions wbose society is
delightful lo us ; if we have children that are pleasant and hopeful, and in whom
we see many proraising qualifications ; if we live 'by gcod neighbors ; have
much of the respeci of others ; have a good name ; are generally beloved wnere
we are known ; and have comfortable and pleasant accommodations ; yet we
ought not to take our rest in these tbings. Weshouldnot be willing to bave these
Ihinsfs for our portion, but should seek a higher bappiness in another world.
V\'e should not merely seek something else in addition lo these things, but should
be so far from resting in them, tbat we sbould choose and desire to leave these
things for heaven ; to go to God and Christ there. W^e should not be willing
to live here always, if we could, in the sarae strength and vigor of body and
mind as when in youth, or in the raidst of our days ; and always enjoy the same
pleasure, and dear friends, and other earihly comforts. We sbould choose and
desire lo leave thera all in God's due lirae, that we might go to heaven, and
there have the enjoyment of God. — Wf ought to possess tbem, enjoy and rnake
use of thera, wilh no other view or aim, but readily to quit thera whenever we
are called to it, and lo change thera for heaven. And wben we are called
away frora thera, we should go cheerfully and willingly.
He that is going a journey, is not wont to rest in what he raeels whh that
is corafortable and pleasing on the road. If he passes along Ihrough pleasant
places, flowery raeadows, or shady groves ; he does not lake up bis content in
these things. He is content only to lake a Iran.sient view of these pleasant ob
jects as he goes along. He is not enticed by these fine appearances to put -an
end lo his journey, and leave off the Ihought of proceeding : no; but his jour
ney's end is in his raind ; that is the great thing tbat he airas at. So if he
meets wilh comfortable and pleasant accoraraodations on the road at an inn,
yet ha does not rest there ; he entertains no thoughts of settiing there. He
considers that these things are not his own, and tbat he is but a stranger ; that
that is not allotted for his home. And when be bas refreshed himself, or tarried
but for a night, he is for leaving these accoraraodations, and going forward, and
gelling onward towards his journey's end. And the Ihoughts of coming lo his
journey's end, are not at all grievous to hira. He does not clesire to be travelling
always and never come to his journey's end ; the thoughts of that would be
discouraging to him. But it is pleasant to him lo think, that so much of the way
is gone, that he is now nearer horae ; and that he shall presentiy be there ; and
the toil and fatigue of his journey will be over.
So should we thus desire heaven so rauch raore than the comforts and en
joyments of this life, that we should long to cbange these things for heaven.
We should wait wilh earnest desire for the lime when we shall arrive at our
journey's end. The apnsllc mentions it as an encouraging, comfortable con
sideration to Christians, when they draw nigh Iheir happiness. — " Now is our
salvation nearer than when we believed.''
Our bearts ought to be loose to these tbings, as it is with a man tbat is on
a journey. However comfortable enjoyments are, yet we ought to keep our
bearts so loose from thera, as cheerfully to pari with thera, whenever God calls.
^ " But this I say, brethren, the tirae is shori II remaineth that both they that
have wives, be as though they had none ; and they tbat Weep, as though they
wept not ; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not ; and they ibal
buy, as though they possessed not ; and they that use tbis world, as not abusing
it; for the fashion of this worid passeth away," 1 Cor. vii. 29, 30, 31.
Wc ought to look upon these Ihings as only lent to us for a little whfle, to
TRUE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE. 575
serve a present turn ; but we should set our hearts on beaven as oui inheritance
forever. II. We ought to seek heaven, by travelling in ihe way thai' leads thither.
The way that leads to heaven is tbe way of holiness. We should choose
and desire to travel Ihilber in this way and in no other. We should part wilb
dl those sins, those carnal appetites that are as weights, that will tend lo hinder
us in our travelling towards heaven. " Let us lay aside every weight, and the
sin whicb doth so easily beset us, and let us run wilh patience the race set hv-
forc us," Heb. xii. 1. However pleasant any practice, or the gratification of
any appetite raay be, we must lay it aside, cast it away ; if it be any hinder
ance, and stumbling-block in the way to heaven.
We should travel on in a way of obedience to all God's coraraands, even the
difficult as well as the easy comraands. We should travel on in a way of
self-denial •, denying all our sinful inclinations and interests. The way lo hea
ven is ascending ; we raust be content to travel up hill, though it be hard and
tiresorae, though it be contrary to the natural tendency and bias of our flesh that
tends downwa"--;! to the earth. We should follow Christ in the path thai be
has gone in. i he way that he travelled in was the right way lo heaven. We
should take up our cross and follow hira. We should travel along in the same
way of meekne,ss and lowliness of heart; in the sarae way of obedience and
charity, and dihgence to do good ; and patience under aflHiclions. The way
to heaven is a heavenly life ; we must be travelling towards heaven in a way
of iraitation of those that are in beaven. In iraitation ofthe saints and angels
there, in their holy eraployraent, in their way of spending their tirae, in loving,
adoring, serving, and praising God and the Larab. This is the path that w-e
ought to prefer before afl others, if we could have any other that we raight
choose. If we could go to heaven in a way of carnal living, in the way of
the enjoyment and gratification of our lusts, we should rather prefer a way of
holiness and conformity to tbe spiritual self-denying rules of tbe gospel.
III. We should travel on in this way in a laborious manner.
The going of long journeys is altended with toil and fatigue ; especially if
the journey be through a wilderness. Persons, in such a case, expect no other
than to suffer hardships and weariness in travelhng over mountains and through
bad places.
So we sbould travel in this way of holiness, in a laborious manner, improv
ing our tirae and strength lo surmount the difficulties and obstacles that are in
the way. The land that we bave to travel through is a wilderness : there are
many mountains, rocks, and rough places that we mufst go over in tbe way ; and
there is a necessity that we sbould lay out our strength.
IV. Our whole lives ought to be spent in travelling this road.
1. We ought to begin early. This should be the first concern and business
that persons engage in when they come to be cap-able of acting in the world
in doing any business. When they first set out in tbe woril, tbey should set
out on this journey. And,
2. We ought to travel on in tbis vvay with assiduity. It ought to be the
work of every day to travel on towards beaven. We should often be thinking
of our journey's end ; and not only be thinking of it, but it should oe our daily
work to travel on in the way that leads to it.
As he that is on a journey is often thinking on the place that he is going to
.nd it is bis care and business every day to get along ; to iraprove his tirae, to
get tow^ards his journey's end. He spends the day in it ; it is the woric of tbe
aay, whilst the sun serves him. And wben he bas rested in tbe night, be ^ets
576 TRUE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE.
up in the morning, and sets out again on bis journey ; and so from day to day,
till he has got to his journey's end. Thus should beaven be continually in our
'bought; and the nnmediale entrance or passage lo it, viz., death, should be
present with us. And it should be a thing that we familiarize to ourselves;
and so it should be our work every day, to be preparing for death, and travel
ling heavenward.
?.. We ought to persevere in this way as long as we live : we sboulit hold
out in il to the end.
" Let us run with patience the race that ira set before us," Heb. xu 1
Though the road be difficult, and il be a toilsorae thing to travel it, we must
bold out with patience, and be content to endure tbe barclships of it If the jour
ney be long, yet we raust not slop short ; w-e should not give out in discourage
ment, but hold on tifl we are arrived at Ihe place we seek. We ought not lo
oe discouraged wilh the length and difinculties of the way, as Ihe chililien of
Israel were, and be for turning back again. All our thought and design
should be to get along. Whe should be engaged and resolved to press forwara
"ill we arrive.
V. We ought to he continually growing in holiness ; and in that respea
coming nearer and nearer to heaven.
He that is travelling towards a place comes nearer and nearer to it con-
'inually. So we should be endeavoring to come nearer lo heaven, in being
.-nore heavenly ; becoming more and more like the inhabitants of heaven,
and more and more as we shall be when we bave arrived there, if ever that
be. We should endeavor continually to be more and more, as we bope to be id
heaven, in respect of holiness and conformity to God. And whh respeci to
light and knowledge, we should labor to be growing continually in the know
ledge of God and Christ, and clear views of the glory of God, the beauty of
Christ, and the exceflency of divine things, as we corae nearer and nearer lo
tbe beatific vision.
We should labor to be continually growing in divine love ; that Ibis may be
an increasing flame in our hearts, till our hearts ascend wholly in this iiame.
We should be growing in obedience, and in heavenly conversation ; that we
may clo the will of Gocl on eailh as the angels do in heaven.
We ought lo be continually growing in comfort and spiritual joy ; in sensi
ble communion wilh God and Jesus Christ. Our path should be as " ihe shin
ing light, that shines mote and more to the perfect day," Prov. iv. 18.
We ought lo be hungering and thirsting after riglileousness; after an in-
crepse in righteousness. " As newborn babes desire Ihe sincere railk of the
word, that ye may grow thereby," 1 Pet ii. 2. And we should make Ihe
perfection of beaven our mark. 'We should rest in nolhing short of this, but be
pressing towards this mark, and laboring conlinually to be coming nearer and
neaier to it. " This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those Ihings tiiat are before, I press toward the mark,
for the prize of the high cafling of God in Christ Jesus," Phil. iii. 13, 14.
"VT. All other concerns of life ought to be entirely subordinate to this.
As when a nian is on a journey, all the steps that he takes are in order to
further him on his journey; and subordinate to that aira of getting lo bis jour
ney's <?nd. And if he carries raoney or provi.sion with hira, it is lo supply him
in h:.s journey. So we ought wholly lo subordinate all our other business, and
zfl our teraporal enjoyments to this affair of travelling to heaven. Journeying
towards beaven, ought to be our only work and business, so that all we have
TRUE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE. 677
and do, f.hould be in order to tbat When we have worldly enjoyments we
should be ready to part witii them, whenever they are in the way of our going
toward heaven. We sbould sell all this world for heaven. "When once any
thing we have becomes a clog and hinderance to us, in tbe way heavenward,
we should quit it immediately. When we use our woridly enjoyments and pos
sessions, it should be wilh sucb a view and in such a manner as to fiirther us in
our way heavenward. Thus we should eat, and drink, and clothe ourselves.
And thus should we impr.ove the convereation and enjoyment of friends.
And whatever business we are setting about ; whatever design we are en
gaged in, we should inquire wilh ourselves, whetber this business or underta
king wfll forward us in our way to heaven ? And if not, we should quit our
design. We ought v, wake use of worldly enjoyments, and pursue worldly business
in such a degree and manner as shall have the best tendency to forward our
journey heavenward, and no olherwise.
I shall offer .some reasons of the doctrine.
I. This world is not our abiding place.
Our continuance in this world is but very short Man's days on tbe earlb
are as a shadow. It was never designed by God this world should be our home.
We were not born into this world for tbat end. Neither did God give us these
temporal things that we are accommodated with for that end. If God bas
given us good estates ; if we are settled in families, and God has given us chil
dren, or other friends that are very pleasant to us ; it is wilh no such view or
design, tbat we should be furnished and provided for here, as for a settled abode ;
but with a design that we should use them for tbe present, and then leave them
again in a very little tirae.
If we are called to any secular business ; or if we are charged With the care
ofa faraily; with the instruction and education of children, we are called to
these thino-s with a desijjn that we shall be called frora thera again, and not to
be our everlasting eraployraent So that if we iraprove our lives lo any other
purpose, than as a journey towards heaven, all our labor will be lost. If we
spend our lives in the pursuit of a teraporal happiness : if we set our hearts on
riches, and seek bappiness in them ; if we seek to be happy in sensual plea
sures; if we spend our lives in seeking tbe credit and esteem of men ; the: good
will and respect of otiiers; if we set our hearts on our chfldren, and look to
be happv in the enjoyment of thera, in seeing them well broughi up, and well
settied, &c. All Ihese things will be of little significancy to us. Death wfll
blow up all our hopes and expectations, and will put an end to our enjoyment
of these thin<>-s. The places that have known us will know us no more : and the
eye that has°seen us shall see us no more. We must be taken away forever
from all these things ; and it is unceriain when ; it raay be soon after we haye re
ceived thera, and are put into the possession of thera. It may be in the midst of
our days and from the midst of our enjoyraents. And then where will be afl
our worldly eraployraents and enjoyments, when we are laid in the silent grave I
" So man lieth down and riselh not again, till the heavens be no more," Job
xiv. 12. ' .
II. The future world was designed to be our settled and everlasting abode.
Here it was intended that we should be fixed ; and here alone is a la.sting
habitation, and a lasting inheritance and enjoyment to be had. We are design
ed for tbis fu;ure worid. We are to be in two states ; tbe one in this worid,
which is an imperfect state ; the other, in the worid to corae. The present state
b short and transitory ; but our state in the other world is everiasting. When we
Vol IV. ¦ 73
578 TRUE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE.
go into another world, there we must be to all eternity. And as we are here
at first, so we must be without change.
Our state in the future world, therefore, being eternal, is of so exceedingly
greater importance than our state in this world, that it is worthy that our slate
here, and all our concerns in tbis world should be wholly subordinate to it.
III. Heaven is that place alone where our highest end and highest good is to
'jB obtained. God hath made us for hiraself Of God, and through God, and to God nre
all things. Therefore then do we attain to our highest end when we are
brought to God : but that is by being brought to heaven ; for that is God's
throne ; that is the place of his special presence, and of bis residence. There
is but a very iraperfect union with God to be had in this world ; a very imperfect
knowledge of God in the midst of abundance of darkness ; a very iraperfect
conforraity to God, raingled wilh abundance of enraity and estrangement Here
we can serve and glorify God, but in an exceeding iraperfect manner; our ser
vice being mingled wilh rauch sin and dishonor to God.
But wben we get lo beaven (if ever that be), there we shall be brought to
a perfect union with God. There we shall have clear vie-ws of God. We shall
see face lo face, and know as we are known. There we .shall be fully con
formed to God, without any remainder of sin. We shall be like hira, fbr we
shall see bira as he is. There we shall serve God perfectiy. We shall glorify
hira in qn exalted raanner, and to the utraost of the powers and capacity of our
nature. Then we shall perfectly give up ourselves to God. Then will our
hearts be pure and holy offerings to God ; offered all in a flarae of divine love.
In heaven alone is the attainment of our highest good. God is the highest
good of the reasonable creature. The enjoyraent of hira is our proper happi
ness ; and is the only happiness wilh whicb our .souls can be satisfied.
To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleas
ant accommodations here. Better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives or
children, or the corapany of any, or all earthly friends. "These are bul shad
ows ; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered
beams ; bul God is the sun. These are but streams ; but God is the fountain.
These are but drops ; but God is the ocean.
Therefore it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey towards beaven,
as it becomes us to make the seeking our highest end and proper good, the whole
work of our lives; and we should subordinate all other concerns of life to it
Why should we labor for any thing else ; or set our bearts on any thing else but
that which is our proper end and true happiness ?
IV. Our present state, and all that helongs to it, are designed by him that
made all things, to be wholly in order to another world.
¦ This world was raade for a place of preparation for another world. Man's
raortal life was given hira only here, tbat he might be prepared for bis fixed
state. And all that God has bere given us, is given to this purpose. The sun
shines upon us; the rain falls upon us; the earth yields her increase lous;
civil and ecclesiastical affairs, family affairs, and afl our personal concerns are
designed and ordered in a subordination to a future worid, by the maker and
disposer of all things. They ought, therefore, to be subordinate to this by as
APPLICATION.
I. In the use of instruction.
1. This doctrine may teach us moderation in our mournmgfor the loss of
iear friends, who, whilt they lived, improved their lives to right purposes.
TRUE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE. I 579
If they lived a holy life, then their hves were a journey towai Is heaven
And why should we be immoderate in mourning when they are oot to their
journey's end ? Death to them, though it appeais lo us wilh a frighlful aspect;
is a great blessing. Their end is happy, and better than their beginnino- : " The
day of their death is better to thera Ihan the day of Iheir birth," Eccl. vii. 1,
While they lived they desired heaven, and chose it above this world, or any of
tne enjoyments of it. They earnestly sought and longed for heaven ; and whv
should we grieve that they have obtained il ?
Now Ihey have got to heaven, they have got home. They never -were at
home before. They have got to tbeir Father's house. They find more corafort
a thousand tiraes, now they are got horae, than they did in Iheir journey. Whfle
they were on their journey, they underwent much labor and toil. Il was a wil
derness that they passed through ; a difficult road. There were abundance of
diflTiculti, s in the way ; mountains and rough places. It was a laborious, fa
tiguing thing to travel the road. They vvere forced to lay out themselves to get
along ; and had many wearisome days and nights : but now they have got
through ; they bave got to the place they sought ; they are got home ; got to
their everlasting rest. They need to travel no more ; nor labor any more; nor
endure any raore toil and difficulty; but enjoy perfect rest and peace ; and will
enjoy thera forever. " And I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto rae. Write,
Blessed are tbe dead wbich die in tbe Lord, frora henceforth : yea, saith the Spirit,
that they raay rest from their labors ; and their works do foflow them," Rev.
xiv. 13. They do not raourn that they are got home, but greatly rejoice.
They look back upon the difficulties, and sorrows, and dangers of life, rejoicing
that they have got through them all.
We are ready to look upon death as though it were a calamity to them ;
we are ready lo mourn over them wilh tears of pity ; to think that those that
were so dear to us, shoifld be in the dark, rotting grave ; that they should there
turn to corruption and worms ; that tbey should be taken away from their dear
children, and other pleasant enjoyraents; and tbat they never sbould have any
part raore in anything under the sun. Our bowels, are ready to yearn over
them, and we are ready to look upon it, as Ihougb some sorrowful thing had be
fallen thera ; and as though they were in awful circuinstances. But this is ow
ing to our infirmity that we are ready thus to look upon it They are in a
happy condition. They are inconceivably blessed. Tbey do not mourn, but
rejoice with exceeding joy. Their mouths are filled with joyful songs ; they
drink at rivers of pleasure. They find no mixture of grief at all, that tiiey
have changed tbeir earthly houses and enjoyments, and their earthly friends,
and the company of mortaf mankind, for heaven. They think of it wiihout any
degree of regret.
Tbis is an evil world in comparison to that they are now in. Tbeir life here
if attended with the best circumstances tbat any earthly life ever was, was at
tended with abundance that was adverse and afflictive ; but now there is an end
to all adversity. " They shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more ; neither shall
the sun light on fhem, nor any heat For the Lamb, which is in the midst of
the throne, shall feed tbern, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water ;
and God sball wipe away all tears from their eyes," Rev. vii. 16, 17.
It is true we sball see tbem no more while here in this world, yet we ought
not immoderately to raourn for tbat ; though it used to be pleasant to us to see
Ibera ; and Ihough tbeir corapany was sweet ; for we sbould consider ourselves
as but on a journey too ; we should be travelling towards the sarae place that
Ihey are gone to ; and wby sbould we break our hearts wilb Ihat, that they have
580 j TRUE CHRISTIANS LltE
got ihere before us ; whei ve are following after thern is fast as we can ; and
hope, as soon as ever we get to our journey's end, to be wi'.h thern again ; to
be with thein in better circurastances, than ever we were with them while here?
A degree of mouining for near relations wben departed, is not inconsistent witn
Christianity, but very agreeable to it : for, as long as we are flesh and hlocd, no
other can be expected, than that we shall have aniraal propensities and aflfeclicns.
But we have not just reason to be overborne and sunk inspirit, when the dealh of
near ft lends is altended with these circurastances ; we should be glad they are
got to beaven, our mourning sbould be mingled with joy. " But I would not
bave you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning Ihera that are asleep, that ye
sorrow not, even as others that have no hope," 1. Thess. iv. 13; i.e., that they
sbould not sorrow as the heathen, that had no knowledge of a future happiness,
nor any certain hope of any thing for Ihemselves or Iheir friends, after they were
dead. This appears by the following verse: "For if we believe tbat Jesus
died and arose again, even so them also wbich sleep in Jesus^ will God bring
wilh hira."
2. If it be so, that our lives ought to be only a journey towards heaven ;
how ill do they improve their lives, that spend them in travelling towards hell?
Some raen spend their whole lives, from their infancy to their dying day, in
going dow-n the broad way to destruction. They do not only draw nearer to
bell in length of time, bul they every day grow more ripe for destruction ; they
are more assimflated to the inhabitants ofthe infernal world. While others
press forward in the strait and narrow way to life, and laboriously travel up Ihe
hill towards Zion, against Ihe inchnations and tendency of th« fiesh ; these run
with a swift career down towards the valley of eternal death; towards the lake
of fire ; towards the bottomless pit. This is the employment of every day, wilh
all wicked raen ; the who'e day is spent in it As soon as ever they awake in
the raorning, they set out anew towards hell, and spend every waking moment
in it They begin in early days before they begin lo speak : " The wicked are
estranged flora the womb, they go astray as soon as Ihey are born, speaking
lies," Psalm xlviii. 4. They hold on in it with perseverance. Many of them
that live to be old, are never weary in it ; if they live lo be a huiiclred years
old, they will not give over travelling in Ihe way lo hell tfll they -arrive ihere.
And all the concerns of life are subordinated lo this employment. A virkeil man
is a servant of sin ; his powers and faculties are all employed in the service of
sin, and in fitting for hefl. And all his possessions are so used by himj as lo be
subservient to the same purpose. Some men spend their time in treasuring up
wrath against the day of wrath. Thus do all unclean pei-sons, that hve in las
civious practices in secret 7~hus do all malicious persons. Thus do all profane
persons, Ihat neglect duties of religion. Thus do all unjust persons ; and those
that are ftauduleiit and oppressive in their dealings.' Thus do all backbiters
and revilers. Thus do all covetous persons, that set their hearts chiefly on the
riches of this worid. Thus do tavern-haunters, and frequenters of evil company ;
and many other kinds of persons that might he mentioned. Tbus do far the
greater part of men ; the bulk of mankind are hastening onward in the broad
way to destruction. The way, as broad as it is, is, as it were, filled up wilh tne
multitude that are going wilh one accord this way. And tbey are every day
going into hell out ofthis broad way by thousands Multitudes are continually
flowing down intC) the great lake of fire and brirastone, out of tbis broad way,
as some raighty river constantly disembogues its water into the ocean
3. Hence when persons are converted, they do but begin their work, and sd
Tut in (he way they have to go.
TRUE CHKiSTIAN'S LIFE. 581
riiiy never tfll tben do anything at that work which their whole lives
ought to be spent in; which we have now .shown to be travelling towards
heaven. Persons, before conversion, never take a step that way. fhen does
a man first set out on bis journey, wben he is brought hame to Christ ; and he
is but just set out in it So far is he from baving done his work, Ihat he then
only begins to set his face towards heaven. His journey is not finished ; he is
then only first brought to be willing to go to it, and begins to look that way ;
so that his care and labor, in his Christian work and business, is then but be
gun, which he must spend the remaining part of his life in.
Those persons do ill, who, when they are converted, and have obtained a
hope of their being in a good condition, do not strive as earnestly as they did
belore, while they were under awakenings. They ought, henceforward, as long
as they live, to be as earnest and laborious as ever; as watchful and careful as
ever ; yea,. they should increase more and more. It is no just objection or ex
cuse from this, that now they bave not the sarae to strive for as before ; before
they strove that they might be converted, but that they have obtained. Is there
nothing else that persons have as -much reason to strive, and lay out their
strength for, as their own safety? Shoifld we not be as wifling to be diligent
that we ray serve and glorify God, as that we ourselves may be happy ? And
if we have obtained grace, yet there is not all obtained that raay be. It is but
a very little grace that we have obtained ; we ought to strive that we may ob
tain more. We ought to strive as much that vve may obtain the other degrees
that are before, as we did to obtain that sraall degree that is behind. The
apostle tells us, that he forgot what ¦ was behind, and reached forth towards
whal was before, PhiL iii. 13.
Yea, those that are converted, have now a further reason to strive for grace
than they bad before; for now they have ta.sted and seensomelhing ofthe sweetness
and excellency of it. A man that has once tasted the blessings of Canaan, has
raore reason to press forward towards it than he had before. And, then, Ihey that
are converted, should strive that they may raake their calling and election sure.
All those that are converted, are not sure of it ; and those that are sure of it, do
not know that they shall be always so; and still seeking and serving God with
the utraost diligence, is tbe way to have assurance, and to have it raaintained.
II. Use may be of exhortation ; so to spend the -present life that it may only
ie a- journey towards heaven.
Labor to be sanctified; and to obtain sucb a disposition of mind, that you
raay be wflling and desirous to change this world, and all the enjoyraents of it
for beaven. Labor lo have your heart taken up so rauch about heaven and
heavenly enjoyments, as that you rnay rejoice at any time when God calls you
to leave your best earthly friends, and those things that are most comfortable
to you here, to go lo heaven, there to enjoy God and Christ.
Be persuaded to travel in the way that leads to heaven, viz., in a way of holi
ness, self-denial and mortification, in a way of obedience to all the commaiicls of
God, in a way of following Christ's example^ in a way of heavenly life, orimitation
of thesaints and angels that live in heaven. Be content to travel on intbis way,
in a laborious rnanrier, to endure all the fatigues of il. Begin to travel it without
delay, if you have not already begun it ; and travel in it with assiduity. Let it be
our daily work from morning to night, and hold out in il to the end ; let there
e nOthin-o Ibat sball stop or discourage you, or turn you aside from this road
Labor to be growing in holiness, to be coining nearer and nearer to beaven, in
that you are more and ijore as you shall be when you gel there, (if ever thai
be ) And let afl o'her concerns be subordinated to tbis great concern of got-
I
582 laUE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE.
ting forward toward beaven. Consider tbe reasons tbat have been mentioned
why you should thus spend your life. Consider that the world is not your
abiding place, and was never so intended by God. Consider how little a while
you ar< lo be here, and how little worlh your while it is to spend your life to
any other purpose. Consider that the fulure worlcl is to be your everlasting
abode ; and that the enjoyments and concerns of this world, have their being
only and entirely in order to another world. And consider-further for motive,
1. How worthy is heaven that your life should be wholly spent as a journey
towards it.
To what better purpose can you spend your life, whether you respect your
duty or your interest ? What betier end can you propose to your journey Ihan
to obtain beaven ? Here you are placed in this world, in this w-flderness, and
bave your cboice given you, that you may travel which way you please. And
there is one way that leads lo heaven. Now, can you direct your course betier
than this way ? What can you choose better for your journey's end ? All
men have some aira or other in living. Sorae mainly seek worldly ihings;
they spend their days in the pursuit of these Ihings. But is not heaven, where
is fulness of joy forever and ever, much more worthy to be sought by you ?
How can you belter employ your strength and use your means, and sjiend your
days, than in travelling the road that leads lo the everiasting enjoyraent of God ;
to his glorious presence ; to the city of the Nevv Jerusalem ; lo the heavenly
raount Zion : where all your desires will be filled, and no danger of ever losing
your bappiness ?
No man is at home in this world, whelher he choose heaven or not ; here
be is but a transient person. Where can you choose your horae better than in
heaven ? The rest and glory of heaven is so great, that it is worthy we should
desire it above riches ; above our t.'tbers' houses, or our own ; above husband
or wife, or children, or all earthly fnends. It is worthy that we should subor
dinate tbese things to it, and that we sbould be ready, cheerfully, tc part wilh
thera for heaven, whenever God calls.
2. This is the way to have death comfortable to us.
If we spend our lives so as to be only a journeying towards beaven, this
will be the way to have death, that is the end of Ihe journey, and entrance into
heaven, not terrible but corafortable.
This is the way to be free frora bondage, Ihrough the fear of dealb, and to
have the prospect and forethought ol dealh corafortable. Does the traveller
tbink of his journey's end with fear and terror, especially when he has been
many days travelling, and it be a long and tiresome journey ? Is it terrible to
hira to think that he has almost got: to his journey's end ? Are not men ralher
wont to rejoice at it ? Were tbe children of Israel sorry, after forty years travel
in the wilderness, when they had almost got lo Canaan ? This is the way tc
bave death not terrible when it conies. It is Ihe way to be able to part will
the world wiihout grief Does it grieve the traveller when he has got home,
to quit his staff and load of provision that he had to sustain him by the way ?
3. JVp more of your life vrill he pleasant to think of when you come to die,
than has heen sppnt after this manner.
All of your past life tbat has been spent as a journey towards heaven, wfll
be corafortable to think of on a death-bed, and no more. If you have spent
none of your life this way, your whole life will be terrible to you to think of,
unless you die under some great delusion. You will see then, bow that all of
your lif2 that has been spent otherwise is lost You will then .see tbe vanity of
otl.ei aims, that you may have proposed to yourself. The thought of what you
TRUE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE. tH'S
here possessed and enjoyed in the world, wfll not be pleasant to you, unless you
can tbink withal, that you have subordinated tbem to tbis purpose.
4. Consider that those that are willing thus to spend their lives as a joumey
towards heaven, may have heaven.
Heaven, as high as it is, and glorious as it is, is attainable for sucb poor
worthless creatures as we are. We, even such worms, may attain to have for
our home, that glorious region tbat is the habitation of the glorious angels; yea,
the dwelling-place of the glorious Son of God ; and where is the glorious pre
sence of the great Jehovah. And we may have it freely ; tbere is no high price
that is deraanded of us for this privilege. We raay have it without money and
without price ; if vve are but willing to set out and go on towards it ; are but
wflling lo travel tbe road that leads to it, and bend our course tbat way as long
as we live ; we may and shall have heaven for our eternal resting place.
5. Let it be considered, that ifour lives he not a journey towards heaven, they
will he a journey to hell.
We cannot continue here always, but we must go somewhere else. All
mankind after they have been in tbis world a little while, go out of it, and there
are but two places that they go to ; tbe two great receptacles of all that depart
out of this world ; the one is heaven ; whither a few, a small number in cora
parison, travel ; the way that leads hither, is bul thinly occupied with travellers.
And the other is hell, whither the bulk of mankind do throng. And one or the
other of these must be our journey's end ; tbe issue of our course in this world.
I shall conclude by giving sorae directions.
1. Labor to get a sense of the vanity of tbis world, or the vanity of it on
account of tbe httle satisfaction that is to be enjoyed here ; and on account of
its short continuance, and unserviceableness when we most stand in need of
help, viz., on a death-bed.
All men, that live any considerable tirae in tbe world, see abundance that
might convince them of the vanity of the world, if they would but consider.
Be persuaded to exercise consideration, wben you see and hear, from tirae
to time, of the dealh of others. Labor to turn your thoughts tbis way. See if
you can see the vanity ofthis world in such a glass. If you were sensible how
vain a thing this world is, you would see that it is not worthy that your life
sbould be spent to the purposes thereof ; and afl is lost that is not sorae way
aimed at heaven.
2. Labor to be much acquainted with heaven.
If you are not acquainted wilh it, you will not be likely to spend your life
as a journey Ihilber. You wfll not be sensible of tbe w^orth of il ; nor will you
long for it Unless you are much conversant in your mind with a better good,
it will be exceeding diflficult to you to have your hearts loose frora these things,
and to use them only in subordination to soraething else, and to be ready to part
with them for the sake of that better good.
Labor therefore to obtain a realizing sense of a heavenly worid, to get a
film belief of the reality of it, and to be very mucb conversant with it in your
Ihoughts. 3. Seek heaven only hy Jesus Christ.
Christ tells us that he is the way, and the truth, and the life, John xiv. 6.
He tells us that be is tbe door of tbe sheep : " I ara the door : by me if any man
enter in, be shall be saved ; and go in and out, and find pasture," John x. 9. If
we, therefore, would improve our lives as a journey towards heaven, we must
seek it 'oy him, and not by our own riglileousness; as expecting to obtain only
or bis sake, looking to him, having our dependence on bira only for the pur-
584 TRUE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE.
chase of heaven, and procuring it for us by bis merit And expect strength tc
walk in a way of hohness, tbe way that leads to heaven, only from bira.
4. Let Christians help one another in going this journey.
Tbere are many ways tbat Christians might greatly help and forward one
another in their way to heaven, by religious conference, and otherwise. Anc
persons greatly need help in this way, wbich is, as I bave observed, a difficult
way. Let Christians be exhorted to go this journey, as it were in company, con
versing together while their journey sball end, and assisting one another
Corapany is very desirable in a journey, but in none so mucb as in this.
Let Christians go unfled, and not fall out by the way, whicb would be tht
way to hinder one another ; but use all means tbey can to help one another up
tbe bill.This is the way to be more successful in travelling, and to have the more
joyful meeting at their Father's bouse in glory.
SERMON XXXVII.
Joseph's great temptation and gracious deli er.\nce.
Gbnesis xxxix. 12. — And he left his garment in her hand, and fled, 'jnd got him out.
We have an account here, and in tbe context, of tbat remarkable behaviot
of Joseph in the house of Poliphar, tbat was tbe occasion both of his great
affliction, and also afterwards of his high advanceraent and great prosperity ic
the land of Egypt. The behavior that I speak of, is that wbich was on occa
sion of the teraptation that his mistress laid before bim to commit uncleanness
with her.
We read in the beginning of the chapter bow Joseph, after he had been
so cruelly treated by his brethren, and sold inlo Egypt for a slave, w-as advanced
in the house of Poliphar, who had bought bira. Joseph was one that feared
God, and therefore God was with hira; and wonderfully ordered things for him,
and so influenced the heart of Poliphar bis raaster, that instead of keeping bira
as a mere slave, to wbich purpose he was sold, be made him his steward and
overseer over his house, and all that be bad was put into bis hands; insomuch
that we are told, verse 6, " that be left all that he had in his hand; and that
he knew not auoht that he had, save the bread which he did eat." While
Joseph was in these prosperous circumstances, he raet with a great temptation
in his master's house ; so we are told that he, being a goodly person, and well
favored, his mistress cast her eyes upon and lusted after him, and used all her
art to tempt him to commit uncleanness with her.
Concerning tbis temptalion, and his behavior under it, many Ihings are
worthy lo be noted.
We raay observe, bow great the temptation was that he was under. It is
to be considered, Joseph was now in his youth, a season of life when persons
are most liable to be overcome by temptations of tbis nature. And he was in
a stale of unexpected prosperity in Potipbar's house, which has a tendency to
lift persons up, especially young ones, whereby coramonly they more easily fall
before temptations.
And then the superiority ofthe person that laid fhe temptation before hira
rendered it much the greater. She was his mistress, and be a servant under
her. And the manner of her tempting him. She did not only carry herself so
to Joseph, as to give him cause lo suspect that he raight be adraitted to sucb
criminal converse with her, that yet mighl be accompanied wilh some appre
hension, that possibly he might be mistaken, and so deter him from adventuring
on sucb a proposal ; but she directly proposed it to him; plainly manifesting
her disposition lo it So that here was no such thing as a suspicion of her
unwillinp-ness to deter him, but a manifestation ofher desire to entice him to it
Yea, she^appeared greatly engaged in the matter. And there was not only her
desire manifested to entice him, but her authority over him to enforce the temp
talion. She was bis mistress, and he raight well imagine, that if he utterly
refused a compliance, be should incur ber displeasure ; and she, being bis mas
ter's wi.fe, had power to do much to bis disadvantage, and to render his circura
stances more uncomfortable in the family.
And the temptation was the greater, in that she did not only tempt hira
once, but ftequently, day hy day, verse 10. And at last becarae more violerit
Vol. IV 74
686 JOSEPH'S TEMPTATION
with him. She caught hira by bis garment, saying, lie with me : as in tht
verse of the text
His behavior was very remarkable under tbese temptations. He absolutely
refused any corapliance wilh thera : he made no reply that manifested ..s though
the temptalion had gained at afl upon him ; so much as lo hesitate about it, or
al all to deliberate upon it He coraplied in no degree, either to the gross act
she proposed, or any thing tending towards it, or that should in a lesser degree
be gratitying to her wicked inclination. And he persisted, resolute and unshaken
under her continual solicitations : verse 10, " And it carae to pass as she spake
to Joseph, day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or lo be
with her." He, lo his utmost, avoided so rauch as being where she was. And
the motives and principles frop which he acted, manifested by his reply to her
solicitations, are remarkable.
He first sels before her how injuriously be sbould act against his master, if
he sbould coraply wilh her proposal : " Behold ray raaster — halh coraraitted all
that he hath to my hand ; there is none greater in this house than 1 ; neither
hath he kept back any thing frora me bul thee, because thou art his wife."
Bul he then proceeded to inform her of ihat which, above all things, deterred
him from a compliance, viz., that it would be great wickedness, and sin against
Gocl : " How shall I clo this, and sin against God !" He would not do any
such thing, as he would not injure his master; but that which influenced raore
than all on this occasion, was the fear of sinning against God. On this account
he persisted in his resolution lo the last
In the text we have an account of his behavior under the last and greatest
teinplation that he had frora her. This temptation was great, as we are told it
was at a time when there was nobody in the house but he and his mistress,
verse 11; there was an opportunity to commit the fact wilb the greatest secrecy.
And al this lime it seems that she was raore violent than ever before : " she
caught hira by Ihe garment," &c. She laid hold on him as though she was
resolute to attain her purpose of hira.
Under these circumstances he not only refused her, but fled frora her, as he
woula have done from one that was going to assassinate, or murder hira; he
escaped as for his life. He not only would not be guilty of such a fact, but
neither would he by any raeans be in the house wilh her, where he should be
in the way of her teraptation.
This behavior of Joseph is doubtless recorded for tbe instruction of all :
therefore, from the words 1 shall observe this
DOCTRINE.
It is our duty, not only to avoid those things that are themselves sinful, bui
also, as far as may be, those things that lead and expose to sin.
Thus did Joseph : he not only refused aclually to commit uncleanness with
his mistress, wbo enticed bira, but refused lo be there, where he should be in
the way of teraptation, verse 10. He refused to lie by her, or be wilh her :
and in the text we are told, he fled, and got him out ; would by no raeans be
in her corapany. Though it was no sin in itself for Joseph to be in the house
where his mistress was, but under these circurastances it would expose him to
tAa. Joseph was sensible he had naturally a corrupt heart, that tended to
betray him to sin ; and iherefore be would by no means be in the way of temp
tation ; but with haste he fled, be ran frora the dangerous place. Inasmuch as
tie was exposed to sin in tbat house where be was, he fled out of it with as
AND DELIVERANCE. 587
much baste as if the hou.se had been all a light of fire, cr ft.ll of enemies, wbo
stood ready with drawn swords to stab him to the very heart. When she took
him by the garment, be left bis ga-ment in her hands : be had ralher lose his
garment than slay a moment there, where he was in such danger of losing bis
chastity. I say in tho doctrine, tbat persons should avoid things Ihat expose to sin, as
far as may be, because the case may be so, tbat persons raay be called to expose
theraselves to temptation ; and when it is so, they may bope for divine strength
and protection under te'.nptatitins.
The case may be so that it may be a man's indispensable duty to underiake
an office, or piece of VJork^ that is altended wilh a great deal of temptation.
Thus, although ordinarily a raan ought not to run inlo that temptalion, of being
(exposed to pei-secution for tbe true religion, lest tbe temptation should be loo
hard for him ; but should avoid it as much as may be (iherefore, Christ thus
directs his disciples, Malt. x. 23, " When ye be persecuted in one city flee to
another") ; yet the case may be so, that a raan may be called not to flee from
persecution, but to run the venture of such a trial, trusting in God to uphold him
under it Ministei-s and magistrates may be obliged to continue wilh their
people in such circumstances; as Nehemiah says, Neh. vi. 11, " Should such a
man as I flee ?" So the apostles.
Yea they may be called to go into the midst of it, to those places where
they cannot reasonably expect but lo meet with such temptations. So some
times the apostles did. Paul went up to Jerusalem, when he knew beforehand,
that Ihere, bonds and affl-'ictions awaited him. Acts xx. 23.
So in some other cases, the necessity^ of aff'airs raay call upon raen to engage
in sorae business that is peculiarly allended with temptations. But when il is
so, men are indeed in,this way, least exposed lo sin; for they are always safest
in the way of duly. Prov. x. 9, " He that walketh uprightly, walketh surely."
And Ihough Ihere be many things by which they may have extraordinary temp
tations, in the affairs they have undertaken, yet if they have a clear cafl to it,
it is no presumption to hope for divine support and preservation in it.
But for persons needlessly to expose theraselves to teraptation, and to do
those ihings that tend lo sin, is unwarrantable and contrary lo that excellent
example we have set before us in the text. And that we ought to avoid not
only rhose things that are in Ihemselves sinful, but also tbose Ihings that lead-
and expose to sin, is manifested by the following arguments:
I. It is a thino- very evident and manifest, that we ought to use our utmost
endeavors lo avoid sin, which is inconsistent with needles>ly doing those things
that expose and lead to sin. That we ought lo do our utmost to avoid sin is
manifest, that being the greatest evil ; and the greater any evil is, the greater
care, and the more earnest endeavors does it require to avoid it This is plain,
and what we by our practice show, that we are all sensible of the trulh of
Those Ihinc^s that appear to us very great and dreadful evils, do we use propor
tionably o-reat care to avoid And tberefore the greatest evil of all requires the
greatest and utmost care to avoid it
Sin is an infinite evil, because committed against an infinitely great and
excellent EWing, and so a violation of infinite obligation ; Iherefore, however
great our care be to avoid sin, it cannot be more than proportionable to the
evil we w-ould avoid. Our care and endeavor cannot be infinite, as the evil of
sin is infinite ; but yet it ought to be to the utmost of our power ; we ought to
use every method that tends to tbe avoiding of sin. This is manifest lo reason.
And" not only so, but this is positively required of us in the word of G'ldj
58S JOSEPH'S TEMPTATION
Josh. xxii. 5, " Take dfligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which
Moses, the servant of the Lord, charged you, to love the Lord your God, and
to walk in all his ways, and to keep his comraandraents, and to cleave unto
hiin, and to serve hira with all your .soul." Deut. iv, 15, 16, "Take ye
theiefore good heed unto yourselves, lest ye corrupt yourselves." Chap, xii -30,
" Take heed to thyself, that ihou be not snared," &c. Luke xi. 36, " Take
heed, anil beware of covetousness. 1 Cor. x. 12, " Let hiin that thinketh he
standeth, lake heed lest he fall." Deut. iv. 9, " Take heed to thyself, keep Ihy
soul dl gently." These and many other texts of Scripture, plainly require of
us the u I most possible diligence and .-".aution to avoid sin.
But how can he be said to use the utn.ost possible diligence and caution to
avoid sin, that voluntarily does those Ihings, that naturally expose and lead lo
sin ? How can he be said wilh the utmost possible caution lo avoid an enemy,
that voluntarily lays hiraself in his way ? How can he be said to use the ut
raost possible caution to preserve the life of his child, that suffers it to go on the
edge of precipices or pits ; or lo play on the borders of a deep gulf;, or to
wander in a wood, that is haunted by beasts of prey ?
II. It is evident that we ought to avoid those things that expose and lead to
sin ; because a due sense ofthe e-vil of sin, and a just hatred of it, will necessa
rily have this effect upon us, so to do.
If we were duly sensible of the evil and dreadful nature of sin, we should
bave an exceeding dread of it upon our spirits. We should hale it worse than
death, and should fear it worse than the devil hiraself; and dread it even as we
dread damnation. But those things that men have an exceeding dread of upon'
their spirits, they naturally and necessarily keep at a great distance from ; and
avoid those Ihings that they apprehend expose to them. As a child that has
been greatly terrified by the sight of any wild beast, will by no means be per
suaded to go anywhere, where it apprehends that it shafl be exposed toil, oi
fall in its way.
Sin in its own nature is infinitely hateful, so in its natural tendency it is in
finitely dreadful. It is the tendency of all sin eternally lo undo the soul. Every
sin naturally carries hell iu it ! Therefore all sin ought lo be treated by us as
we would treat a thing that is infinitely terrible. If it be not so, that any one
sin, yea, the least sin, do not necessarily bring eternal ruin with it, it is owing to
nothing bul the free grace and mercy of God to us, and not to the nature and
tendency of sin itself. But certainly we ought not to take the less care to
avoid sin, or afl that tends to it, for the freeness and greatness of God's mercy
to us, through which there is hope of pardon ; for that would be a most un-
grateftil and vile abuse of mercy indeed. If it were so, that it were raade
known to us, that if we ever voluntarily committed any particular act of sin, we
should be daraned without any reraedy or escape, should we not exceedingly
dread the coraraission of such sins ? Should we not be very watchful and care
ful to stand at the greatest distance frora that sin, and from every thing that
might expose us to it, and that has any tendency lo stir up our lusts, or to be
tray us lo such an act of sin ? Let us then consider, that if it be not so, that
the next voluntary act of known sin sball necessarily and unavoidably issue in
certan daranation, yet it wifl certainly deserve it: we shafl tb«-eby really
deserve to be cast (Dff, wiihout any remedy or hope ; and it can only be owing
to fi-ee grace, that it will not ceriainly and remedflessly be followed with such
d punishment And shall we be guflty of sucb a vile abuse of God's mercy
to us, as to take encouragement from it, tbe m.ore boldly to expose ourselves
to sin 1
AND DELIVERANCE. 599
TH. It IS evident that we ought not only to avoid sin, but things thai expose
and lead to sin ; because this is the way we act in things that pertain to our
temporal -interest.
Men do not only avoid those things that are themselves Ihe hurt and ruin ol
their temporal interest, but also the things ibat lend lo expose to it ; because
they love their temporal lives, they will not only actually avoid killi'no- them
selves, bul they are very careful to avoid those tbings that bring their liTes into
danger, though they do not certainly know but they may escape.
They are careful not to pass rivers and deep waters on rotten ice, thouoh
they clo not ceriainly know that they shall fall through and drown ; so they
will not only avoid Ihose Ihings that wouhl be in themselves Ibe ruin of their
estate,^, such as the setting their own houses on fire, and burning Ihem up wilh
their sub.slance ; their taking their money and throwing it into the sea, &c., but
they carefully avoid those things by which their estates aie exposed. They are
watchlul, anil have their eyes about thein; are careful whom they deal w-ilh ;
they are watchful, that they be not overreached in their bargains ; that they do
not lay themselves 0|)en to knaves and fraudulent persons.
It a man be sick of a dangerous distemper, he is careful to avoid every
thing that tends to increase Ihe disorder; not only what he knows to be raortal
in his situation, but other things Ihat he fears the consequence of, or that raay
be prejudicial to hira. Men are in this way wont to lake care of their tempo
ral' interest, as what they have a great regard for. And Iherefore if we arenot
as careful to avoid sin, as we are toavoici injuiy in our temporal interest, it wifl
show a regardless disposition with respect to sin and duly ; or that we do noi
much caie though we do sin against God.
God's glory is surely a thing of as much importance and concern as our
te;nporal interest. Ceriainly we should be as careful not lo be expo.seil lo sin
against the .Majesty of heaven and earth, as raen are wool to be of a few pounds ;
yea, the latter are but mere trifles, compared with Ihe former.
IV. We are wont to tio thus hy our dear earthly friends.
We not only are careful of those things wherein the destruction of their
hves, or their hurt and calamity in any respect tlo directly consist, bul are care
ful to avoid those Ihings Ihat do but remotely tend to it. We are careful to
prevent and cut off all occa.sions of their lo.ss or damage in any respect ; and
are watchful against th-at which tends in aily wise lo deprive them of their
comfori or good name; and the reason is because they are very dear to us. In
this manner men are wont to be careftil of tbe good of their own children, and
dread the approaches of any mischief that they apprehend they are, or may be
exposed to. And we sbould take it hard if^ our fiiends ilid not tlo thus by us.
And surely we ought to treat God as a dear ftiencl ; we ought to act to
wards him, as Ihose that bave a sincere love and unfeigned regard lo him ; and
.,0 ought to watch and be careful against all occasions of that which is conlrary
to his honor and glory. If we have not a temper and desire' so to do, it will
show Ihat whatever our pretences are, we are not God's sincere friends, and
bave no Irue love to bim.
If we should be offended at any that have professed friendship to us, if Ibey
treated us in this manner, and were no more careful of our interest, surely God
may justly be oflfended, tbat we are no more careful of his glory.
V. We would have God in his -providence towards us, not order those things
that tend to our hurt, or expose our interest ; therefore certainly we ought to
avoid things that lead to sin against him.
We desire and love to have God's providence such towaul us, as that ou/
590 JOSEPH'S TEMPTATION
welfare may be well secured. No raan loves to live in exposed, tincertainj and
dangerous circum.stances. While he is so, he lives uncomfortably, in that be
hves in continual fear. We desire that God would so r^rder Ihings concerning
us, that we raay be safe frora fear of evil ; and that no evil raay corae nigh our
dwelling ; and that because we dread calamity. So we do not love the appear
ance and approaches of it; and love to have it a great di'slance from us. We
desire lo have God be to us as a wall of fire round ab.)r.t us, to defend us; and
that he would surround us as the raountains do the vafle'/S, to guard us from everv
danger or enemy, Ihat so no evil may come nigh us.
INow this plainly shows, Ihat we ought in o-jr behavior towards God to
Keep at a great distance from sin, and from all that exposes to it ; as we desire
God in his providence to us, should keep calamity and misery at a great distance
from u.s, and not order those things that expose r^ur welfare.
VI. Seeing we are to pray we may not he hd into temptation ; certainly
we ought not to run ourselves into it.
riiis is one request Ihat Christ directs us to make to God in tbat forra of
prayer which he taught bis disciples, " Lead us not into temptation." And
how inconsistent shall we be with ourselves, if we pray to God, not to o.-der it
so in his providence, that we should be led into teraptations ; and yet at the
same lime we are not careful to avoid teraptation ; but bring ourselves into it, by
doing those Ihings that lead a;id expose to sin. What self-contradiction is there
in it, for a man to pray lo God that he raay be kept from that, which he lakes
no care to avoid ? By praying that we may be kept from temptation we pro
fess to (^rocl, that being in temptation is a Ihing that is to be avoided ; but by
running into it, show that we choose the contrary, viz., not to avoid it.
Vll. The apostle directs us to avoid those things that are in themselves law
ful, but tend to lead others into sin ; surely then we should avoid what tends to
lead ourselves into sin.
The apOvStle directs to this, 1 Cor. viii. 9 : " Take heecl lest tbis liberty of
yours becorae a stumbling-block, to thera tbat are weak." Rora. xiv. 13,
" That no raan put a stumbling-block, or an occasion lo fall in his brother's
way." Verse 15, " Bul if thy brother be grieved wilh thy raeat, now walkest
thou not charitably. Destroy not hira with thy meat."- Verses 20, 21, "For
meal destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil
for that man who eateth with offence. It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink
wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is raade
weak." Now if this rule of the apostle be agreeable to the word of Christ, as we
must suppose, or expunge whal he Says out of the canon of the Scripture ; then
a like rule obliges more strongly in those things that tend to lead ourselves
inlo sin.
VIH There are many precepts of Scripture that do directly and positively
imply, that we ought to avoid those things that tend to sin.
fhis very thing is coraraanded by ChrisI, Malt. xxvi. 41, wh^re he directs
us lo watch lest we enter inlo teraptation. But certainly runnino- ourselves into
:era])tation, is the reverse of watching against it
Again, we are commanded lo abstain flora all appearance of evil ; i. e., do
by s'n, as a man does by a thing he hates Ihe sight or appearance of; and
therefore will avoid any thing that savors of it, or looks like it ; and wifl not
come near it, or in sight of it.
Again, Christ commanded to separate frora us, those things that are stumb
ling-blocks, 0 occasions of sin, however dear they are to us. Matt v. 29, " If
AND DELIVERANCE. 591
.hy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it frora thee." Verse 30, " And
if thy rioht hand offend thee, cut it off." By tbe right band offemling us, is not
raeant its paining us, but tbe word in tbe origin-al signifies, being a .stumbling-
block; if thy light hand prove a stumbling-black, or occasion lo fall ; i. e., an
occasion to sin. Those things are called olfences or stumbling-blocks in the
New Testaraent, that are tbe occasions of falling inlo sin. We ought to avoid
running up against sturabling-blocks; i. e., we should avoid those things that
expose us to fall into sin.
Yea, Christ tells us, wo raust avoid thera however dear they are to us, though
as dear as our righl hand or right eye. If there be any practice that we have
been acrusloined to, that naturally tends and exposes us lo sin, we must have
Hone wilh il : though we love it ever so well, and are ever so loth to part wilh
it, Ihough it be as contrary to our inclination, as to cut off our righl hand, or
pluck out our own right eye, and that upon pain of damnation, for it is intimat
ed, that if we do not, we must go with two hands and tv»fo eyes into hell -fire.
.¦Vnd again : God look great care to forbid the chiluren of Israel those things
that tended to lead them into sin. For this reason, he forbid them marrying
strange wives : Deul. vii. 3, 4, " Neither sbalt thou make marriages with them —
for they will turn away thy son from following rae, that they raay serve other
gods." For this reason tbey were commanded to destroy all those things, that
the nations of Canaan had used in their idolatry ; and if any were enticed over
to idolatry, they were to be destroyed without mercy, Ihough ever so near and
dear ftiemls. Fhey were not only to be parted with but stoned wilh stones ;
yea, they Ihemselves were to fall upon thera, and put thera lo death, though
son or daughter, or their bosora friend : Deut. xiii. 6, &c., " If tby brother, or
thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as
thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying. Let us go and serve other gods, thou
shalt not consent unto hira, neither sball thine eye pity hira, neither shalt thou
spare, neither shalt thou conceal hiin. But thou shalt surely kill hira. Thine
hand shall be first upon hira to put him to death."
Again, the wise man warns us to avoid those Ihings that tend and expose
us to sin; especially the sin of uncleanness. Prov. vi. 27, "Can a man take
fire in his bo.som, and his clothes not be burnt ? Can one go upon hot coals, and
his feet not be burnt ? So, whosoever toucheth her, sball not be innocent" This
¦ is the truth held fortii ; avoid those custoras and practices that naturally tend to
stir up lust And there are many exaraples in Scripture, which have the force
of precept ; and recorded, as not only worthy of, bul demand our iinilation. The
conduct of Joseph in the text is one ; and that recorded of King David is ano
ther. Psal xxxix. 1, 2, " I said, I wifl take heed to my ways, that I sin not
with my tongue : I will keep ray raouth with a bridle, while the wicked is be
fore me. I was dumb with silence, I held ray peace, even from good." Even
frora good — that is, he was so watchful over his words, and kept al such a great
distance from speaking what raight in any way tend to sin, that he avoided, in
certain circumstances, speaking wbat was in itself lawful, lest he should be be
trayed into that which was sinful.
IX. A prudent sense of our own weakn'.ss, and exposedness to yield to temp
tation, obliges us to avoid that which leads or exposes to sin.
Whoever knows himself and is sensible how weak he is; and his con.itaiit
exposedness to run into sin ; how ftill of corruption his heart is, which, hke feel, is
exposed to catch fire, and bring destruction upon him ; how much he has in hira
to incline him to sin ; and how unable he is to stand of hiraself; who is sensi-
ble of this, and has any regard of his duty, but wfll be very watchful againsi
692 JOSEPH'S TEMPTATION
every thing that may lead and expo.se to sin ; on tbis account Christ direclec
us, .Matt xxvi. 41, " To walch and pray lest we enter inlo temptation." The
rea.son there is added, the flesh is weak ! He that in confidence of his own
strength, bohlly runs the venture of sinning by going into temptation, manifests
great presumption, and a sottish insensibility of his own weakness. " He that
trusteth in his own heart is a fool," Prov. xxviii. 26.
The wisest and strongest, and some of Ihe most holy men in the world, bave
been overthrown by sucb means. So was David ; so was Soloraon. His wives
turned away his heart If such persons, so eminent for holiness, were this way
led into sin, surely il should be a warning to us. Let bira that thinketh he
standeth take heecl lest he fall.
I now proceed to the application.
In one use of exhortation. To exhort all to a compliance unth their duty in
this respect, not only to avoid sin, but those things that lead and expose to sin.
If it be made out clearly and evidently from reason and the word of God, lo be
our duty so lo do, this \rould be enough wilh all Christians. Will a followei
of ChrisI stand objecting and disputing against a thing, that is irrefragably
proved and deraonstrated to be his duty ?
But here sorae may be ready to inquire. How shall we know wbat things do
lead and expose to sin ? Let a man do what he will, he cannot avoid sinnino-,
as long as he has such a corrupt heart within hiin. And there is noihino a
man can do, or turn his hand to, but that he may find some temptation in it
And Ihough it be true, as it is said in the doctrine, that a man ought, as far
as may be, lo avoid those Ihings that lead and expose lo sin ; and il is evident
by the arguments that have been brought, Ihat those Ihings that have special
tendency lo expose men to sin, are what we ought lo shun, as much as in us
lies : yet how shall we judge and deterraine w-hat Ihings they are, that have a
natural tendency to sin ; or do especially lead lo il ?
I woulcl answer in sorae particulars, which are plain and easy, and which
cannot be denied wilhoul the greatest absurdity.
Answer 1. That which is bordering on those sins that the lusts of men's
hearts strongly incline them to, is of this sort. Men corae into the world,
wilh many strong and violent lusts in their hearts, and are exceeding prone of
themselves lo transgress, even in the safest circumstances they can be placed in.
And surely so ratK-.h the nearer they are to that sin, which they are naturally
strongly inclined to, so rauch the more are they exposed. If any of us that are
parents, should see our children near the brink of sorae deep pit, or close by the
edge of the precipice of a high mountain, and not only .so, bul the ground upon
which the child stood slippery, and steeply descending directly towaids the pre
cipice, should we not reckon a child exposed in such a case"? Should we not
be in haste to remove the chfld frora its very dangerous situation ?
Il vvas the manner araong the Israelites, to build their houses with flat roofs,
so that persons raight walk on the tops of their houses. And Iherefore God
took care to raake it a law araong thera, that every man should have battle
ments upon the edges of their roofs ; lest any person shoukl fall off and be kill
ed. Deut xxii. 8, " When thou buildest a new bou.se Ihen thou shalt make a
batllement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man
fall ftom Ihencje." And certainly we ought to lake the like care that we do
not fall into sin ; which carries in it eternal death. We should, as it were,
fix a battlement, a guard to keep us from the edge of Ihe precipice. Much
raore ought we to take care, that we do not go upon a roof that is not only
without batileraenls, but when it is steep, and we shall naturally incline to fall.
AND DELIVERANCE 593
Men's lusts are like strong enemies, endeavoring to draw fliem into sm If
H man stood upon a dangerous precipice, and bad enemies about him, pulling
and drawing him, endeavoring to throw liiin down; would he in sucb a case,
choose, or dare to stand near the edge? Would he look upon himself safe
close on the brink ? Would be not endeavor, for bis own safety, to keep at a
iistance ?
2. Those things that tend to feed lusts in the imagination, at-e of this kind
They lead and expose hira to sin. Those things that have a natural tenden
cy lo excite in the mind, the idea or imagination of that which is tbe objeci of
the lust, certainly tend lo feed and jiromute that lust What can be more plain
anil evident, than that a presenting the object, lends lo stir up the appetite ?
Reason and experience teach this.
Therelbre all things, whether they be words or actions, bave a tendency and
expose lo sin, that tend to raise and uphold in the mind, imaginations or ideas,
of those Ihings which the lust tends to. It is certainly wrong and unlawful to
feed a lust even in the imagination. It is quite contrary lo the holy rules of
God's word : Prov. xxiv. 9, " The thought of foolishness is sin." Matt. v. 28,
" Whosoever looketh on a woman lo lust after her, halh commilled adultery."
A man, by gratifying his lust in his imagination and thoughts, may make his
soul, in the sight of God, to be a hold of foul spirits ; and like a cage of every
unclean and hateful bird. And sinful imaginations lend to sinful actions, and
outward behavior in the end. Lust is always first conceived in the imagination,
and then brought forth in the outward practice. You may see the progress of
it in James i. 15 : " Then when lust halh conceived, it bringeth forth sin."
Therefore for a raan to do those things that tend lo excite the objects of bis
lusts in his imagination, he does that which has as natural a tendency lo sin, as a
conception has lo a birth. And such Ihings are therefore abominable in the sight
ofa pure and holy God. We are commanded to keep at a great distance from
spiritual pollution; and to hale even tbe very " garment spotted with the flesh,"
Jude 23.
3. Those things that the experien-.e and observation of mankind show to
he ordinarily attended or followed with sin, are of this sort.
Experience is a good rule to determine by in things ofthis nature. How
is it we know ihe natural tendency of any thing, but only by observation and
experience? Men observe and find, lime after time, that such things are com
monly attended and followed wilh such other Ihings. And hence mankind
pronounce of them, that ihey have a natural tendency to thera. We have no
other way lo know the tendency of any thing. Thus men by observation and
experience, know that the warmth ofthe sun, and showers of rain, are attended
with the growth of plants ofthe earth; and hence they learn, that they have a
tendency Ic it So they find by experience, that tbe bite of some kind of ser
pents is commonly ft)llowpd with illness, and often wilh death. Hence they
learn, that the bile of such serpents bas a natural tendency to bring disordei
npon Ihe body, and exposes lo death.
And so, if experience and common observation sbows, that any particulai
practice or custom is commonly altended with that which is very sinful, we
may safely conclude, that such a practice tends to sin; that it leads and exposes
to it. Thus we may determine, that tavern-haunting and gaming are tbings that
tend lo sin ; because coramon experience and observation show, that those prac
tices are allended with a great deal of sin and wickedness. The observation of
all ages and all nations, wilh one voice declares it It shows, where taverns arc
Vol. IV 75
594 JOSEPH'S TEMPTATION
much frequented, for drinking and the like, tbey are especially places of sin, of
profaneness, and other wickedness : and il shows, that those towns, where there
is rauch of this, are places where no good generally prevails. And it also shows
tbat tbose persons that are given rauch to frequenting taverns, are most com
monly vicious persons. And so of garaing ; as playii'g al cards, experience
shows, that those persons that practise this, do generally fall into much sin.
Hence these practices are become infamous among all sober, virtuous persons.
4. Another way hy which persons may determine of some things, that they
lead and expose to sin, is hy their own experience, or what they have found in
themselves. If persons have found in themselves, from time to time, that tbey have actu
ally led thera inlo sin, this surely is enough to convince thera, that such Ihings
do aclually lead, and expose lo sin; for what will convince men, if their own
experience will not ? 'fhus if raen have found, by undeniable experience, that
any practice or custom stirs up lust in thera, and bas betrayed thera into foolish
and sinful behavior, or sinful thoughts ; they may deterraine Ihat they lead and
expose to sin. Or if they, upon examining themselves, must own that such a
custora or practice has, tirae after tirae, had that eflfect upon thera, as to dispose
thera to sins of oraission of known duty, such as secret prayer, and raake them
more backward to it ; and also to indispose them to reading and religious medi
tation ; and they, after they have been doing such or such a thing, have found
tbis has commonly been the effect of it, that they have been raore apt to cast
off' prayer, or has had a tendency to the neglect of famfly prayer. Or if it seems
to lead lo unwatchfulness ; Ihey find, since they have coraplied with such a
custom, they are less watchful oftheir hearts, less disposed to any thing that is
serious ; that the frame oftheir raind is more light, and their hearts less on the
things of another world, and more after vanity; these are sinful eflfects; and
therefore if experience shows a custora or practice to be attended wilb these
things, then experience shows that they lead and expose to sin.
5. We may determine whether a thing be of an evil tende-ncy, or not, by the
eff'ect that an outpouring of the Spirit of God, and a general flourishing of reli
gion, has with respect to it.
If a pouring out of the Spirit of God on a people, puts a stop to any prac
tice or custom, and roots it out, surely it argues, that that practice or custom is
of no good tendency ; for if there be no hurt in il, and it tends lo no hurt, why
should the Spirit of God destroy il ? The Spirit of God has no tendency to
destroy any thing that is neilber sinful, nor has any tendency to sin. Why
should it ? Why shoifld we suppose that tiie Spirit of God should be an
enemy to that wbich has no burl in it, nor has any tendency to that which ia
hurtful ?
The flourishing of religion bas no tendency to abolish or expel any thing tbat
is in no way against religion. Tbat whicb is not against religion, religion wfll
not appear againsi. Religion has no tendency lo destroy any custom or prac
tice, that has no tendency to destroy tbat. It is a rule that holds in all contra
ries and opposites : the opposition is equal on both sides. So contrary as light
is to darkness, so contrary is darkness to light It is equal both ways. So,
just .so contrary as the flourishing of religion is to any custora, just so contrary
IS that custora to the flourishing of religion. That custora tbat religion tends to
destroy, that custora, if it prevafl, tends also to destroy religion. Tberefore, if
the flourishing of religion, and tbe outpouring of tbe Spirit of God, tends to
Dverthrow any custom tbat takes place or prevails, we may surely determine
.hat that custora is either in itself sinfifl, oi lends and exposes to evil.
AND DELIVER .4.NCE. 595
6. We may ddermint,by the effect that a general decay of religion has with
respect to them, whether they he things of a sinful tendency or not.
If they be things that come wilh a decay of religion, that creep in as that
decays, we may determine tiiey are ihings of no good tendency. The withdraw
ing of good, does not let in good, but evil. It is evil, not good, comes in, as good
gradually ceases. What is it bul darkness that comes in as light withibaws?
Therefore if there be any decay of religion in the town, or in particular per
sons, and upon this any certain customs or practices take place and are allowed,
whicb were wholly abstained from and renounced when religion was in a raore
flourishing state, we may safely conclude that such customs and practices are
contrary to tbe nature of true religion ; and therefoi ^ in theraselves sinfiil, or
tending lo sin.
7. We may in many things determine, whether any custom he of a good ten
dency, by considering what the effect nould be, if it was openly and universally
owned and practised.
There are many things that some persons practise somewhat secretly, and
are partiy hidden in ; and that they plead to be not hurtful ; which, if they had
suitable consideration to discern what the consequence would be, if every body
openly practised the same, it would soon show that the consequence would be
confusion, and a most woful state of things. If, Iherefore, there be any custom,
that is of such a nature, that it will not bear universal open practice and profes
sion; but if it should come to that, the least consideration will show that the
consequence would be lamentable; we may determine thatthat custom is of an
ill tendency. For if there is no hurt in it, and it is neither sinful in itself, nor
tends to any thing sinful, then it is no matter how open and universal the world
is in it ; for we need not be afraid of that custom's being loo prevalent and uni
versal, that bas no ill tendency in it.
Thus I have mentioned sorae general rules, by which to determine and judge
what things are cf a bad and sinful tendency. And these Ihings are so plain,
tbat for a person to deny them, would be absurd and ridiculous.
I would now, in the narae of God, warn all persons to avoid such things, as
appear by these rules to lead and expose to sin. And particularly, I woulcl now
take occasion to warn our young people, as they would approve Ihemselves
earers of God, to avoid afl sucb ihings in corapany, that, being tried by these
rules, will appear to have a tendency or lead lo sin. Avoid all such ways of
talking and acting as have a tendency to this ; and follow the example of
Joseph in this.
Not only tbe most gross acts of uncleanness, but afl degrees of lascivious-
ness, both in talking and acting, are strictly forbidden in Scripture, as what
should not be so much as once naraed araong sainls or Christians : " Gal. v. 9,
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, adullery, fornication, uncleannesfs,
lasciviousness." Eph. v. 3, 4, 5, " But fornication, and all uncleanness, let it
not be once naraed among you, as becoraelh saints. Neither filthiness, nor
foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient For this ye know, that
no whoremonger, nor unclean person, halh any inheritance in tbe kingdora of
Christ, and of God." W^e should hate even the garraents spotted with the flesh,
1. e., should hate- and shun all that in the least approaches to any such thing or
savors of it
And I desire tbat certain customs that are common among young people in
the country, and have been so a long time, maybe examined by those rules that
liave been mentioned. That custora in particular, of young people of different
sexes lying in bed togetb-pr ! However light is mad of it. and however ready
696 JOSEPH'S TEMPTATION
persons may be to laugh at its being condemned ; if it be examined by tht
rules that have been mentioned, it will appear past all contradiction, to be one
of those Ihings that lead and expose to sin. And I believe what experience
and fact will show of the consequence and event of it, does abundantly bear
witness to it. And whoever wisely considers the matter, must Jay, that Ihis
custom of this country (lo wbich it seems to be peculiar, among people Ihal
pretend to uphold their credit) has been one main thing that has led lo that
growth of uncleanness that has been in the land. Ai;d so there are other cus
toms and liberties that are customarily used among young people in company,
that they that use them know that they lead to sin. They know that they lend
to slit up their lusts ; that it does do it ; and this is the very end for which they
do it, lo giatify their lusts in some measure. Liltle do such per.sons consider
what a holy God they are soon to be judged by, that now make a mock of sin ^
wbo abominates the impurities of their hearts.
If. therefore, they do aclually stir up and feed lust, then certainly they tend
to further degrees and more gross acts. That whicb stirs up lust, makes it more
violent, and does Iherefore ceitainly Ihe more expose persons lo be overcome bj
it How evident and undeniable are these things ; and how strange that any
should cavil against them, or make a derision of them I
Possibly you may be confident of your own strength, and may tbink with
yourself, Ihal you are not in danger, that tbere is no teraptation in these things,
but what you are able easily lo overcorae. But you should consider, that the
raost self-confident are most in danger. Peter was very confident, that he should
not deny Christ, but how dreadfully otherwise was the event ! If when others
that have fallen inlo gross sins, should be inquired of, and should declare how it
was with Ihem; doubtless they would say, that they at first thought there was
no danger; Ibey were far from the Ihought that ever they should commit such
wickedness; but yet by venturing further and further, they fell at last into the
foulest and grossest transgressions. And persons may long withstand tempta
tion, and be suddenly overcome at last. None so much in danger, as the most
bold. They are most safe, that are most sensible oftheir own weakness ; and
most distrustful oftheir own hearts, and most sensible of their continual need of
restraining grace. Young persons with respeci to the sin of uncleanness, are
dealt with by the devil, just as sorae give an account of sorae sort of serpents
charraing of birds and other aniraals down into their mouths. If the serpent
takes them with his eyes, though they seem to be affrighted by it, yet they will
not flee away, but will keep the serpent in sight, and approach nearer and
nearer to him, till they fall a prey.
Anotiier custora that I desire may be examined by the forementioned rules,
is that of young people of both sexes getting together in the night, in those
companies for mirih and jollity, that tbey call frolics; so spending the time
together lill lale in the night, in their jollity. I desire our young people to
suff'er their ears lo be open to what I have to say upon this point ; as I ara the
messenger of the Lord of Hosts to Ihera, and not determine that they will not
hearken, before they have heard what I shall say. I hope Ihere are but few
persons among us so abandoned, as lo determine that they will go on in a prac
tice, whelher they are convincecl that it is unlawful or mil ; or Ihough it should
be proved to thera to be unlawful by undeniable arguraents.
Therefore let us exaraine tbis custora and practice by what has been said.
It nas been proved undeniably, that we ought not lo go on in a practice that
leads and exposes to sin ; and rules have been laid down to judge what does
thus expose aud lead to it. that I tbink are plain and undeniable
AND DELIVERANCE. 59"|
Therefore, now let us try th'is custom by tbese rules »nd see whether it will
bear the test or not. Ceitainly a Christian will not bt unwilling to have bis
practices examined and tried by the rules of reason and God's word ; but will
rather rejoice in it.
And 1 desire particulariy, tbat the practice may be tried by tbat sure toucb-
Btone of experience. Let il be tried by tbe consideration of w-hat is experienced
in fact abroad in one town, and place, and another. This is one of the rules of
trial that have been mentioned, that that custora that the experience and obser
va i in of mankind shows to be ordinarily attended or followed wilh sin, raay be
determined and concluded to be unlawful. And if we look abroad in the coun
trv, I doubt not but these two Ihinos wfll be found :
1. That as to tbose towns where there is raost of this carried on among
young people (as there is more of it insome places than others), it will be found,
as a thing that universally holds, that the young people there are comraonly a
loose, vain, and irreligious generation ; little regarding God, heaven, or hell, or
Mny thing bul vanity. And that commonly in those towns where most ftolick-
ing is carried on, there are the raost frequent breaking out of gross sins ; forni
cation in particular.
2. If we try it by persons : if we go through the country, we shafl, for the
most part, find, that those persons that are greatest frolickers, are raost addicted
to this practice which we are speaking of; they are the persons furthest from
serious Ihought, and are the vainest and loosest upon other accounts. And
whence should this be, if such a practice were not sinful, or had not a natural
tendency to lead persons into .sin ?
.And furthermore, 1 appeal to the experience of you here present, as to what
you have found in yourselves. I desire those of you that have made pretences
of serious religion, and saving piety, and have forraerly pretended to keep up
religion in your closet, and your own souls, that you would seriously ask your
selves, wbether or no you have not found, that this practice has indisposed you
to serious religion, and taken off your minds frora it? Has it not tended to
your neglect of secret prayer ? Have you not found, that after you have been
to a frolick, you have been more backward to fhat duty? And, if you have not
wholly neglected it, have vou net found that you have 'oeen abundantiy more
slighty, and ready to turn it off in any manner, and glad to have done with it ?
And more backward to reading and serious meditation, and such things? Anci that
your mind has been excefcflngly diverted from religion, and that for soraetirae?
I do not send yo't far off to find out whether this custom be not of bad ten
dency—not beyond the sea, to some distant country; I send you no further
than to your own breast to examine your own experience in this matter ; let
Ihe matter be determined by that
And then again, let us try this custom by the effect the outpouring of the
Spirit of God on a people bas with respect to it This we are under great ad
vantage to do ; because there has lately been here in this place, the most re
markable outpouring of the Spirit of God that has ever been in New England,
and, it may be, in the world, since the apostles' days. And it is known, that
before this, that custom of young peoples' frolicking did prevail in the town
And bere we all know the eff'ect it had : it put an end to it— It was a custora
that was wholly dene with.-Jt was altogether laid aside; and was so for sev
eral years. . , ,
It has been already shown, that there is nc- account can be given why the
Spirit of God, and the flourishing of religion should abolish such a custom, un
less it be because that cu.=tom is, either in its nature or tendency, an enemy to
thf Spirit of O'od and rehgion.
598 JOSEPH'S TEMPTATION
The fruits of the Spirit of God are good, and I bope there are r_<)ne that
bave the blaspberay to say otherwise. And iherefore it is good that this cua-
tora ^I.ould be reraoved ; for this is plainlv one of Ihe effects of the Spirit of
God. And if so, it is because tbe custom is bad, either in its nature o."- tenden
cy ; olherwise there would be no good in its being removed. The Spirit of
God abolished this custom for this reason, because if it bad been kept up in the
town, it would have had a direct tendency to hinder that work that the Spirit
was about to do araongst us. Tbis was undeniably the reason.
Supposing such a custora had been begun and set up by the young people
all over the town, in the raidst of the tirae of the late oupouring of the Spirit, a'..'
of a sudden, would any wise persons, that have truly the cause of religion at
heart, rejoice at it ? Would not every one at first Ihought have concluded,
wiihout any hesitation, that it was a thing that looked darkly upon the interest
of religion, and there was great danger that it would take off people's .-hinds
fro-Ti religion, and make thera vain ; and so put an end lo the flourishing of re
ligion ? Would not every considerate per.son in this town have Ihought ihus
of il ? .\nd if such a custom would have had an ill tendency then so it will now
Objection. The town is not in such circumstances now as il was then. Ani?
though it might have done hurt then, by putflng an end to the great concern ;
yet now il may do no hurt : for there is now no such great concern to be put
an end to by it.
Answer. Though the town is not in such circurastances now as it was
then, yet it ought to be ; tbere ought to be as much engagedness of mind about
r*>''.gion ; as much concern araong sinners, and as much engagedness araong the
^odly, as then : and il is to our shame that there is not And if such a prac
tice would have tended to destroy such a religious concern then, it certainly
tends to prevent it now. Il is a rule that will hold, that that which has a ten
dency to destroy a thing when il is, tends to prevent it when it is not. Anc
are we not praying from Sabbath to Sabbath, and from day to day, for such a
concern again ? And do not those of you that pretend to be converted, that
have lately set up this custora, pray for the same ? Are you a convert, a saint,
and yet not desire that here should be any raore pouring out of the Spirit of
God ?. The town has cause to be asharaed of such converts, if it has any such.
And if ye do, why do you do what tends to prevent it ?
Again, Let this practice be tried by the effect that a general decay of re
ligion has with respect to it Now we have a trial ; it is now a t'lnie that re
ligion is greatly decayed araongst us ; and the effect is that this custora coraes
in with t'ais decay. Young people begin again to set up tbeir old custom of
Trolicking, and spending great part ofthe night in it, to the violation of faraily
order. What is the reason, if Ihis custom is not bad, either in its nature or
tendency, that it did not corae in before, when religion was lively ? Why does
it stay lill it can take the advantage of the withdrawinent of religion ? This
is a sign that it is a custom that shuns a spirit of lively rehgion, as darkn&ss
shuns the light, and never coraes in untfl light withdraws.
And bere again, I would send persons to their own experience. How did
this practice corae in with you in particular : you that two or three years ago,
seemed to be engaged in religion ? Did il not come in, did you not begin tn.prac-
tise it, as the sense of religion wore off? And what is the matier ? . Why did
not you set up tbe practice then, when your heart was taken up about reading,
raeditation, and secret prayer to God ? If this do not at all stand in the way
of them, and is no hinderance to thera, why was you not engaoed in bolh to
gether ? What account can you give of it ? Wby did yo'i feave off this prao-
AND DELIVER^-ifCE. 59P
tice and custom, oi ibstain from it ? To what pnrpose is this changing ? Gne
while it must be avoided as evil, and another while practised and ple-aded for as
good. The making such an alteration does not look well, nor will it be tor
the honor of religion in tbe eye of tbe world. For wbether the practice be
lawf'jl or not, yet such a thing will surely be improved to our disadvantage,
For your avoiding of it then, bas this appearance, in the eye of the country, tbat
then you condemned it ; and therefore your now returning- to il will appear to
thera as backsliding in you. Such changelings are evermore in the eye of the
world, greatly to tbe dishonor of the profe.ssion they are of, let it be what it will.
Indeed this custom, as it was practised, does not only tend to sin, but is in
itself very disorderly, sinful, and shameful. For it is attended late in Ihe night,
and in the dead of the night, lo the neglect of famfly prayer, and violating all
family order, which is disorder and profaneness. Is il lawful to rob God of his
ordinary sacrifices, for the sake of your pleasure, diversion, and jollity ? Are you
of that raind that il is a decent thing, that the stated worship of the great God
should give way to your mirth, and your diversions ? Is this the way of God's
holy chfldren, to talk after this raanner? Those woiks that are commonly
done in the dead of the nigbt, seem to have a black mark set upon thera by the
apostie, and Christians are exhorted to avoid them : Rom. xiii. 12, 13, " Let us
cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us
walk honestly, as in the day ; not in rioting and drunkenness ; not in chain-
beiino and wantonness." The word here rendered rioting, is of far different
signification from the terra as used in our laws : for the forcible doing an un
lawful thing, by three or more persons assembled together for that purpose;
W^orils, as they are terms in the law, are often used very much beside their com
mon signification. But the word here properly signifies, a disorderly conven
tion of persons lo spend their time together in pleasure and jollity. So the word
is commonly used in Scripture : Prov. xxiii. 20, " Be not amongst riotous eaters
of flesh." Prov. xxviii. 7, " He that is a companion of riotous men, shamelh his
father." Luke xv. 13, " Wasted his substance wilh riotous living."
Ao-ain, a black mark seems to be set on such in Scripture, as in 1 Thess. v.
5 — 8,°" Ye are all children of the light, and children of the day : we are not of
the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others ; but let us
watch°and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night ; and they that be
drunk, are drunken in the night
Many of you that have lately set up this practice of frolicking and jollity,
profess to be chfldren of the light and of the day ; and not to be the children of
darkness. Therefore walk as in the day; and clo not those works of daikness
thai are commonly done at unseasonable hours ofthe night.
Such Ihinos are not only condemned by the apo.stle, but are looked upon as
JU'amous through the worid in all ages among sober sort of people ; and afl
past writings show it. Therefore it is a thing of bad report, and so ioibidden,
Phil. iv. 8 :"" Whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, any
-iraise, think on tbese things."
Object. 1. But the wise man allows of this practice, when he says, Eccles
ii. 4, " There is a lime to mourn, and a time lo dance."
Answer. This is nothing to the purpose ; for the utmost tbat any can pre
tend thai it proves, is denying it lobe unlawful, and allowing il may be used under
some circumstances ; but not at all, that dancing and other Ihings used by our
youno people in their frolicks are lawful in those circumstances, any more than
whatsis said in the same chapter, verse 3, " there is a tirae to kill," proves that
It is lawful for a man lo commit murder.
dOO JOSEPH'S TEMPFATION AND DELIVERANCE.
To deny tbat dancing, under any circumstances whatever, was lawful, wjukl
be absurd : for there was a religious dancing in the Jewish church, that was a
way of expressing their spiritual mirth. So David danced belore the Lord.
And he calls upon others to praise God in the dance. So there may be other
circurastances wherein dancing raay not be unlawful. But all this raakes nolhing
to the present purpose ; to prove that ihis particular custora, that we have been
speaking of among our young people, is not of a bad tendency. And besides,
wben the wise man says, there is a tirae to dance, that does not prove, that the
dead of the night is the tirae for it. The sarae wise man doth not justify carnal
mirth, but conderans it : Eccles. h. 2, " I said of laughter. It is 'raad ; and of
mirth, Wbat doeth it ?"
Object. 2. If we avoid all such tbings, it will be the way for our young
people to be ignorant how to behave Ihemselves in company\
Answer. Bul consider what this objection comes to. It certainly coraes to
tbis, viz., that the pouring out of the Spirit of God upon a people, tends
to banish all good conduct, good breeding, and decent behavior Irora araong
thera ; and lo sink thera down into clownishness and barbarity. And if sucb
a pouring out of the Spirit of God, as has been araongst us, should be continued,
it woulcl lend to have this effect ; for that we have seen by experience. The
Spirit of God did actually put an end to this practice araong us.
Bul who is it araongst us that is not ashamed lo make such an objection ?
Will any of our young converts talk thus ? Wifl you that tbink you were
converted by the lale pouring out of the Spirit of God, and are made holy per
sons, heirs of eternal life, talk so blasphemously of it ?
If our young people are resolute still to go on, notwithstanding all that has
been said, I hope ihat those of thera tbat call theraselves converied, will first
find out some rational, satisfying answer to the arguments that have been used
againsi it This at least raay be reasonably expected of thern, seeing they make
sucb a profession. You have this day been partaking of the sacraraent of the
Lord's supper, and therein soleranly renewed your profession.
If after such light set before you, and sucb raercy given, you will go on, be
t known to you, that your eating now, and at other times, will prove only an
I'ating and drinking judgment to yourselves.
And I desire heads of families, if they have any government over their
children, or any coraraand of their own houses, would not tolerate their chil
dren in such practices, nor suffer such conventions in their bouses.
I do not de.sire that young people should be abridged of any lawful and
proper liberties. — But tbis custom can be of no benefit or service in the world ;
it tends only to mischief
Satan doubtless would be glad to bave ouch an interest amongst us as he
Msed lo have ; and is therefore striving lo steal in, while we are sleeping; but
let us rouse up ourselves, and vigorously oppose his encroachraents.
I shall repeat those words ofthe aposlle, Rom. xiii 12 — 14, and leave them
to the serious consideration of afl persons, old and young : " The night is far
spent, the day is at hand ; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and
let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in
rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in "strife and
envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the
flpsh, to fulfil the lusta thereof."
SERMON XXXVIII.
THE SIN OF THEFT AND OF INJUSTICE.
ExoDOs XX. 15. — Tliou shalt not steal.
This you all know is one of the ten comraandments whicb constitute a sum
mary of raan's duty, as revealed by God. God raade many revelations to the
childien of Israel in the wilderness by Moses : but this raade in the ten coin-
mandmenls is the chief Most of those other revelations, which God raade tc
that people, contained ceremonial or judicial laws ; but this contains the moral
law. The most of those other laws respected the Jewish nation ; but here is a
summary of tbe laws that are binding on all mankind. Those were lo last till
ChrisI should come, and have set up the Christian church; these are of perpe
tual obligation, and last to the end ofthe world. Gocl everywhere, by Moses
and the prophets, manifests a far greater regard to the duties of these commands,
than lo any of the rites of the cereraonial law.
These comraands were the first coraraands that were given forth al Mount
Sinai, before any of the precepts of the ceremonial or judicial laws. They were
dehvered by a great voice out of the midst of fire, which made afl the people
in the camp tremble, and afterwards were engraven on the tables of stone, and
laid up in the ark : the first table containing the four first commandinents,
which teach our duly to God ; the second table containing the six last, which
leach our duly to raan. The sum ofthe duties ofthe first table is contained in
that which Christ says is the first and great coramandmenl of the law : Matt
xxii. 37, " Thou sbalt love the Lord thy God wilh all Ihy heart, and wilh all
thy soul, and with all thy mind." The sura of wbat is required in the second
table, is what Christ calls the second command, like unto the first: verse 39,
" The second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"
Of the coraraands of tbis second table of the law, the first, which is the fifth
ofthe ten, refers to that respect and honor which is due to our neighbor ; the
second respects his life ; the third his chastity ; the fourth his estate ; the fifth
his good name; the sixth and last respects his possessions and enjoyments in
general. Il is that command which respects our neighbor's estate, and whicb
is the fourth comraand of Ihe second table, and the eighth of the whole deca
logue, on which I am to insist at this lirae.
Here I shall not raise any doctrine frora the words, as 'the subject of ray
liscourse, but shall raake tbe comraand itself, as the words ofii lie before us in
the decalogue, my subject And thai 1 may treat of this command in a manner
as brief as may be, 1 shall not stand to show, first, what duties are required by
the command, and then what sins are forbidden in it : but as the wc)rds of the
commandment are in the form of a prohibition, forbidding a certain kind of sin;
so I shall handle thera, by considering particularly what it is thai ihis cominand
foriiicls. The sin tbat is forbidden in this command, is called stealing; yet we
cannot reasonably understand il only of that act, wbich in the raore ordinary
and strict sense ofthe word, is cafled stealing.
But the iniquity which this coramand forbids, raay be suramarily expressed
'.bus :
An unjust usurping of our neighbor's property, without his consent.
So much is doubtless comprehended in the text ; yet this comprehends much
Vol. IV. 7fi
602 THE SIN OF THEFT
more than is implied in the ordinary use of the word, stealing ; which is only
a secret taking of that wliich is another's, from his possession, without either
his consent or knowledge. But the ten comraands are not lo be limited to Ihe
strictest sense of the words, but are to be understood in such a latitude, as to in
clude all Ihings that are of Ihat nature or kind. Hence Christ reproves the
riiai'isees' interpretation of the sixth comraand. Malt. v. 21, 22; and also their
interpretation of the seventh comraand ; see ver. 27, 28 ; by which it appears
that the commands are not to be understood as forbidding only these individual
sins, which are expressly mentioned, in the slrictest sense of the expressions ;
bul all other things of the same nature or kind.
Therefore undoubtedly whal is forbidden in this command is not only Ihat
private robbing of our neighbor, which is called stealing in the strictest sense
of the expression ; but all unjust usurpation of our neighbor's properly. Here
il may be observed, that an unjust usurpation ol our neighbor's property is two
fold ; il may be,
(1.) Either by withholding what is our neighbor's, or,
(2.) By taking it from hira.
First, It consists in an unjust withholding of what is our neighbor's. There
are many ways in which persons may unjustly usurp their neighbor's property,
by withholding wbat is his due ; bul I shall particularize at tbis lime only two
tbings. 1. The unfaithfulness of raen in not fulfilling their engageraents. Or-dinari-
ly when rnen proraise any thing to their neighbor, or enter into engagements
by undertaking any business with whicb their neighbor intrusts them, tbeir en
gagements invest their neighbor with a righl to that which is engaged ; so that
if they withhold il, they usurp that which belongs to their neighbor. So it is,
when men break their promises, because they fincl tiiem to be inconvenient, and
they cannot fulfil Ihem without difficulty and trouble; or merely because they
have altered their minds since they proraised. They think they have not con
sulted their own interest in the promise which they have made, and that if they
had considered the matter as much before they promised as they have since,
they should not have promised. Thei-efore they take the liberty lo set their
own promises aside. Besides, sometimes persons violate this command, by neg
lecting to fulfil their engagements, through a careless, negligent spirit
Tbey violate this command, in withholding whal belongs to their neighbor,
wben they are not faithful in any business which they have undertaken to do for
their neighbor. If their neighbor have hired them lo labor ior him for a certain
time, and they be npt careful well to husband the time ; if they be hired to day's
labor, and be not careful lo iraprove the day, as tbey have reason to think that
he who hired thera justly expected of thern ; or if they be hired to accoraplish
such a piece of work, and be not careful to do it well, but do il slightly, do it
not as if it were for theraselves, or as they would have others do for them, when
they in like raanner betrust them wilb any business of theirs ; or if they be in
trusted with any pariicular aflfair, which they underiake, but use not that care,
contrivance, and dfligence, to manage it so as will be to the advantage of him
who intrusts ihera, and as they would manage it, or would insist that it should
be managed, if the affair were their own : in all these cases tbey unjustiy with
hold what belongs lo their neighbor.
2. Another way in which men unjustly withhold wbat is their neighbor's, is,
in neglecting to pay their debts. Soraetiraes this happens, because Ihey run so
far intc debt that they cannot reasonably hope to be able to pay their debts ;
9nd this they do, either through pride and affectation of living above their cir-
AND OF INJUSTICE. G03
lumstances; or through a grasping, covetous disposition, or some other corrupt
principle. Sometimes they neglect to pay their debts from carelessness of spirit
about it, litile concerning themselves whether they are paid or not, taking no
care to go to their creditor, or to send to bim ; and if they see him from lime to
time, they say nolhing about their debts.
Soraetimes they neglect to pay their debts, because it would put them to
sorae inconvenience. The reason wby Ibey do it not, is not bec-iuse they can
not do il, bul because they cannot do it so conveniently as they desire ; and so
they rather choose to put their creditor to inconvenience by being without what
properly belongs lo him, than to put theraselves to inconvenience by being wilb
out what doth not belong to them, and what they have no right, to detain. In
any of these cases they unjustly usurp the property of their neighbor.
Sometimes persons have that by tbem wilh which they could pay their
debts if they would ; but they want to lay out their money for sornelhing else,
to buy gay clothing for their children, or to advance their estates, or for sorae
such end. They have other designs in hand, which raust fail, if they pay their
debts. Wben raen thus withhold wbat is clue, they unjustly usurp what is not
theirown. Sometimes they neglect to pay their debts, and their excuse for it
is, that their creditor dolh not need it ; that he halh a plentiful estate, and can
Well bear to lie out of bis money. But if the creditor be ever so rich, that
gives no right to the debtor to witbbold frora him that vvhich belongs to hira.
If it be due, it ought lo be paid ; for tbat is the very notion of its being due.
It is no mure lawful to withhold from a man what is his due, without his con
sent, because be is ricb and able to do wiihout it, Ihan it is lawful to steal from
a man because he is rich, and able lo bear the loss.
Skco.vdly, The second way wherein men usurp their neighbor's property is
by unjustly taking it from hira.
The principal ways of doing this seera to be tbese four, by negligence, by
fraud, by violence, or by stealing, strictly so called.
1. "The first way of unjustly depriving our neighbor of that which is his, is
by negligence, by carelessly neglecting that which is expected by neighbors,
one of another, and is necessai-y to prevent our neighbor's suffering in his estate
by us, or by any thing that is ours ; and necessary in order that neighbors raay
hve one by another, without suffering in their lawful interests, rights and pos
sessions, one by another.
For instance, when proper care is not taken by raen to prevent their neigh
bor's suff'ering in the produce of his fields or inclosures, from their caUle, or other
brute creatures ; which may be either Ihrough negligence with regard to their
crealures theraselves, in keeping those that are unruly, and giving thera their
liberty, Ihough they know that they are not fit to have their liberty, and are
coraraonly wont to break hilo their neighbor's inclosures greatly lo hisdaraage;
or through a neglect of that which is justly expected of them, lo defend others'
fields from suffering by tbe neighborhood of theirown. In such cases men are
guflty of unjustly taking from their neighbor what is bis properly.
It is said in tbe law of Moses, Exod. xxii. 5 : " If a rnan shall cause a
field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in anotb
er raan's field ; ofthe best of his own field and of the best of his vineyard shall
he make restitution." Now a man may be unjustly the cause of his neighbor's
field or vineyard being eaten, either by putting in his beast, and so doing what
he should not do ; or by neglecting to do what he should do, to prevent his
beast from getting into bis field. What is said in tbe 144th Psalm, and two
ast verses, supposes that a people who carry themselves as becomes a people
604 THE SIN OF THEFT
wbose God is tbe Lord, wfll take thorough care tbat beasts d.> not break into
their neighbor's inclosures : " That our oxen may be strong to labor ; that there
be no breaking in nor go-ing out ; that there be no complaining in the streets.
Happy is ihat people that is' in such a case ; yea, happy is tbat people .^bose
Gocl is the Lord."
2. Taking away that which is our neighbor's- by fraud, or by deceiving
hira, is another raode of usurping our neighbor's property. This is the case.
when raen in their de-alings take advantage of tbeir neighbor's ignorance, or
oversight, or mistake, to get soraething frora him ; or when they make their
gains, by concealing the defects of what they sell, putiing off bad for goiid,
though this bejiot done by speaking falsely, but only by keeping silence; or
when they lake a higher price than what Ibey sell is really worth, and raore
than they coulcl get for it if the concealed defects were known: or when they
sell that for good, which incleed is not raerchanlable, whicn is condemned in
Araos viii. 6 : " Yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat."
If a raan puis off sornething lo another with defects that are concealed,
knowing that the other receives it as good, and pays such a price for it, under
a notion of ils having no reraarkable defect but what he sees, and takes the
price which llie buyer under that notion offers ; the seller knows that he takes
a price of the buyer for that which tbe biiyer,had not of hira ; for the buyer is
deceived, and pays for those things which he finds wanting in what he buys.
It is just the sarae thing, as if a raan should take a payment that another offers
him, lliiough a mistake, for that whicb be never had of hira, Ihinking that he
bad it of him, when he had it not.
So a raan fraudulently takes away that which is his neighbor's when he
gets his raoney from hira by falsely commending what he hatb lo sell, above
what he knows lo be the true quality ofii; and attributes those good qualities
to il which he knows it has not : ^or if he does not that, yet sels forth tbe good
qualities in a degree beyond whal he knows to be the true degree ; or speaks
of the defects and ill qualities of what he has to sell, as if they were mucb less
than he knows they are : or, on the contrary, when the buyer will cry down
what he is about to buy, contrary to bis real opinion of the value of it. — These
things, however coraraon they be in raen's dealings one wilh another, are noth
ing short of iniquity, and fraud, and a great breach ofthis commandment, upon
which we arc discoursing: Prov. xx. 14, " It is nought, it is nought, saith the
buyer; but when he is gone his way then he boasteth."
Many other ways there are, whereby men blind and deceive one another in
their tiadiiig, and whereby they fraudulently and unjustly take away that whicl
is their neighbor's.
3. Another mode of unjustly invading and taking away our neighbor's pro
perty, is by violence. This violence may be done in different degrees.
( 1.) Men raay lake away their neighbor's goods either by mere open vio
lence, either raaking use of superior strength, forcibly taking away any thing
ihal is his ; or by express or iraplicit threatenings forcing him to yield up what
he has into their hands ; as is done in open robbeiy or piracy. Or,
(2.) By making use of some advantages whicb they bave over their neighbor,
in Iheir 'lealings wilh him, to constrain hirn to yield to their gaining unreasona'oly
of bim ; as when they take advantage oftheir neighbor's poverty to extort un
reasonably frora hira for those things tbat be is under a necessity of procuring
fbr himself or faraily. 'fhis is an oppression against which God bath shown a
great displeasure in his word : Levit xxv 14, " And if thou sefl aught unto thy
neighbor, or bujvSi aiurbt of tby neighbor, ye sball not oppress one another."
AND OF INJUSTICE. 605
Prov. xxii. 22, 23, " Rob not the poor, because be is j oor, neither oppress the
afflicted in the gate : for the Lord will plead tbeir cause, and spoil the souls of
those that spoil them." Ancl'Ainos iv. 1. 2, " Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan,
that are in the mount of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush Ihe
needy, Ihe Lord hath sworn in his holine.ss, that be will take you away with
hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks.'"
When the necessity of poor indigent people is the very thing whence others
take occasion lo raise the price of provisions, even above the market ; this is
such an oppre.ssion. There are many poor people whose families are in such
necessity fir bread, that they, in their extremity, will give ahnost any price
for it, ra'lier than go without il. Those who have to sell, Ihough hereby Ihey
have an advantage in their hands, yet surely should not lake llie advantage to
raise the price of provisions. We should doubtless think Ihat we had just cause
to complain, if we were in such necessity as Ihey are, and were reduced to their
straits, and were treated in this raanner: and let us remember, that il is owing
only lo the distinguistiing goodness of Gocl to us, that we are not in their cirr
cum.stances ; and whatever our present circuinstances are, yet we know not but
that Ihe time may still corae when tbeir case raay be ours.
Men may oppress othei-s, Ihough they be not poor, if they will lake advan
tage of any particular necessities of their neighbor unreasonably to extort from
him. The case may be so at particular seasons, that those who are not poor,
may .stand in particular and extraordinary need of what we have, or wlr.u we
can do for them ; so that it would be greatly to their disadvantage or Ics'j to be
without it. Now to take advantage of their urgent circumstances, lo get from
them an unreasonable price, is a violent dealing wilh our neighbors.
It is very unreasonable talk to say, that such and such men are so ricb, and
get raoney so rauch more easily ihan I, that it is no hurt for me to take advan
tage when tbey are in special need, and make them give me, for work Ihal I
do for Ihera, a great deal more than I would desire lo ask of other men. Let
such consider, whether, if they sbould by any raeans hereafter gel forward in
the world, and come to have plentiful estates, they would like that persons
should act upon sucb principles towards them. That men are rich, gives us no
more right to take away from thera what is theirs in this w-ay, than il does to
steal from Ihein, because they come easily by their property, and can do witb-
nut it better than we.
Again, another thing that is a kind of violent taking frora our neighbor what
IS bis, is taking the advantage of the law lo gain from olheis, when Iheir cause
in honesty amf conscience is just and good. The circumstances of mankind,
their rights, possessions, and dealings one with another, are so various, Ihat it
is impossible that any body of human laws should be contrived to suit all pos
sible cases and circumstances. Hence the best laws may be abused and per
verted lo purposes contrary lo the general design of laws, which is to maintain
the rights and secure the properties of raankind. Human laws have a regard
due to Ihera, but always in subordination to the higher laws of God and
nature. Therefore when it so happens, that we bave an advantage by the law, to
gain what the laws of moral honesty allow not, it is an oppression and violence
to take the advantage. That huraan laws allow it, wifl not excuse us before
God, the Judge ofthe worid, who will judge us anolher day by his own laws,
and not by the laws of the coraraonwealth. ,.,.,•
4. The fourih way of unjustly taking from our neighbor that which is his,
B stealino- so called. All urijust ways of taking away, or invading, or usurping
606 THE SIN OF THEFT
what is our neigh bor'.s, are called stealing in the most extensive use of the word,
and all is included in the expression in this command. Yet the word stealing,
as it is most commonly used, is not of so great extent, and intends hot all unjust
invasion of our neighbor's property, but only a particular kind of unjust taking;
So that in common speech, when we speak of fraudulent dealings, of extortion,
¦infaithfulness in our trust, and of stealing, we understand different sins by tbese
expressions, Ihough they are a usurpation of what is our neighbor's.
Stealing, strictly so called, may be thus defined : A designed taking of our
neighbor's goods fro-m him, -without his consent or knowledge. It is not nierely
a withholding of what is our neighbor's, bul a taking away ; and therein it dif
fers from unfaithfulness in our undertakings and betruslments, and also from
negligence in the payraent of debts. It is a designed or wilful depriving of
our neighbor of whal is his, and so differs from wronging our neighbor in his
estate through carelessness or negligence. It is a taking of our neighbor's
goods without his knowledge ; it is a private, clandestine taking away, and so
differs ftom robbery by open violence.
So also it differs from extortion ; for in that the person knows what is taken
frorn bira. The aim of him that lakes, is no other than that he .should know
it ; for he makes use of other raeans than his ignorance, to obtain what is bis
neighbor's, viz., violence to constrain bira to give it up. So also it differs froni
fiauclulent dealing or trading. For though in fraudulent dealing, the lawful
possessor dolh not understand the way and means, by which he parts wilh bis
goods, and by which bis neighbor becomes possessed of thera ; yet he knows
the fact : the deceiver designedly conceals the manner only. But in stealing,
strictly so called, he that takes, intends not that it shall be known that betakes.
It also differs from extortion and fraudulent dealing, in that it is wholly without
the consent of Ihe owner. For in extortion, though there be no free consent ;
yet the consent of the owner is in some sort gained, though by violent and op
pressive raeans. So in fraudulent dealing consent is in some sort obtained,
though it be by deceit But in stealing no kind of consent is obtained.
A person may steal from another, yet not take his goods without the know
ledge ofthe owner; because he may know of it accidentally, he may see what
is done, unawares to the thief Therefore I have defined stealing, a designed
taking without tbe consent or knowledge of the owner. If it be accidentally
known, yet it is not known in the design and intention ofthe thief. Tbe thief
is so far at least private in it, that be gives no notice to the owner in the time
of it. It must be also wiihout Ihe consent of the owmer. A person may take
wiihout the knowledge of the owner, and yet not take wiihout bis consent The
owner may not know of his taking al the lirae, or of bis taking any particular
tilings; yet there may be his implicit consent There may have been a general
consent, if not expressed, yet implied. The circumstances of tbe affair raay be
such, that his consent may well be presumed upon, eiiher frora an established
iMistom, allowed by all, or frora the nature of Ihecase; the thing being of such
a nature, that it may well be presuraed that none Would refuse their consent ; as
in the case of a person's accidenlally passing through his neignbor's vineyard in
'srael, and eating bis fill of grapes; or from the circumstances ofthe persons.
as is the case, in raany instances, of the freedom which near neighbors and in
timate friends often take, and of tbat boldness which they use with respect to
each other's goods.
In all such cases, though the owner do not particiflarly know what is done,
yet he that takes, does it not wilh any contrived, designed concealment And
though there is no espress, particular consent, yei" tbere is a consent either im-
AND OF INJUSTICE. 607
plied, or just'.y presumed upon ; and be that takes, doth not de; ignedly and ad
vertently do it wiihout consent.
It may happen in some cases, that one may take the goods of anotber, both
wiihout his knowledge and consent, either explicit, or implicit, but thiough
raistake ; yet be may not be guilty of stealing. Therefore the design of him
who lakes must come into consideration. When he designedly lakes away that
which is bis neighbor's without his consent or knowledge, tben he steals. So
that if it shoukl happen, that he has both bis consent and knowledge, wilhoul
his design, he steals. And if it so happen that he lakes wilhoul eiiher his neigh
bor's consent or knowledge, and yet wiihout his own design, he steals not I desire
therefore that this, which I take to be the true definition of theft or stealing, may
be borne in mind, viz., a designed taking of our neighbor's goods, wiihout his
consent or knowledge ; because it is needftfl to clear up raany things which I
bave yet lo say on this subject.
Here I .shall particularly take notice of some things, by whicb some persons
may be ready to excuse themselves, in privately taking their neighbor's goods,
which however cannot be a just excuse for it, nor will tbey make sucb a taking
not to be stealing.
1. That the person whose goods are privately taken, owes or is in debt to
hira tbat takes Ihein. Possibly some may be ready to excuse a clandestine
taking of their neighbor's goods, wilh this plea. They may be ready to say,
that they do not take that which is their neighbor's, tbey take that which is
their own, because as much is due to theraj their neighbor owes thera as rauch,
and unjustly detains it, and they know not whether ever they shall get their
due of him. Their neighbor wont do tbem right, and tberefore they must right
theraselves. But such pleas as tbese will not justify a man in going in a private and
clandestine manner to take away any thing of his neighbor's from his posses
sion, without his consent or knowledge ; but nevertheless his doing this is pro
perly stealing. For Ihough something of his neighbor's, which is as valuable
as \\'hat he takes, raay be due to him ; that doth not give him such a righl to
his neighbor's goods, that be may take any thing that is his, according to his
own pleasure, and at what time, and in vvhat manner he pleases. That his
neighbor is in debt lo him, doth not give him a right to take it upon himself lo
be his own judge, so Ihat he may judge for bimself, which of his neighbor's
goods shall be taken from hira lo discharge the debt ; and that he raay act
merely according lo his own private judgment and pleasure in such a case,
without so much as acquainting his neighbor wilh the affair.
In order to warrant such a proceeding as tbis, every thing that bis -eigb-
bor has, must be his. A man may not take indifferently what he pleases ouf
of a number of good.s, without the consent or knowledge of any other person,
unless all is his own, lo be disposed of as he pleases. Such a way of using
goods according to our own pleasure, taking what we will, and al what time
we will, can be warranted by nothing but a dorainion over the whole. And
though he who is in debt raay be guilty of great injustice in detaining whal is due
to aiTother ; yet it doth not thence follow, but that he that takes ftom hi'in, raay
also be o-uilty of great injustice towards hira. The course he takes lo right
hiraself may be very irregular and unreasonable ; and such a course, that if
universally allowed and pursued in such cases, would throw human society into
confusion. . r i • vr
When rnen obtain a property in any of tbe possessions of this life, at the
same time they are also invested with a right to reraain in possession of them.
608 THE SIN OF THEFT
tfll they are deprived of them in some fair and regular proceeding. Every man
bas a right to hold bis estate, and keep pos.session of bis rights and properties,
so that no other can lawfully use them as his own, until he either parts will
them of his own accord, or until it be taken ftom hira according to some estab
lished rule, in a way of open justice. Therefore he who, under pretence of
baving just demands upon bis neighbor, privately takes bis goods without hi«
consent, takes ihem unjustly, and is guilty of stealing.
2. Much le.ss will it raake such a private taking not to be stealing, that he
who takes, has, in way of kindness or gift, done for the person from whom he
takes, as much as is equivalent to the value of what he lakes. If a man do his
neighbor some considerable kindness, whether in labor, or in something that he
gives him, what be does or gives is supposed lo be done voluntarily, and he is
not to make his neighbor debtor fcr it ; and therefore if any Ih.ng be privately
taken away, upon any sucb considtation, it is gross stealing.
For instance, when any person needs lo have any services done for him,
where a considerable number of hands are necessary ; it is comraon for Ihe
neighborhood lo raeet together and join in helping their neighbor, and frequentiy
sorae provision is made for (heir entertainment If any person who hath as
sisted on such an occasion, and is a partaker at such an entertainment, shall
think within himself, the service I have done is worlh a great deal more than
what 1 shall eat and drink here, and therefore shall lake liberty privately lo lake
of the provision set before him, to carry away wilh him, purposely concealing
the matier from him who halh entertained him, this is gross stealing ; and
t is a very ridiculous plea which they make to excuse so unmanly and vile
aa act Persons in sucb cases raay say lo themselves, tbat the provision is raade for
them, and set before thera ; that it is a time wherein considerable liberty is given,
and they think, seeing t'hey have clone so much for their host, they raay lake
sornething raore than they eat and drink there. But then let thera be open in
il ; lei thera acquaint those wrilh it who make the entertainment; and let it not
be done in any wise, in a secret, clandestine manner, with the least design or
attempt lo avoid their notice : on tbe contrary, let care be taken to give Ihem
notice and obtain their consent
W^hen persons do such Ihings in a private manner, they conderan themselves
by their own acl ; their doing whal they clo secretly, shows tbat they are con
scious theraselves, that they go beyond whal il is expected they should do, and
do what would not be aflowed, if il were known. Such an acl, however light
they may make of il, is abominable theft, and what any person of religion or
any sense of the dignity of their own nature, would to the greatest degree ab
hor and detest
3. Il is not sufficient to raake a private taking wiihout consent, not to be
stealing, that il is but a sraafl rnatter that is taken. If the thing be of little
value, yet if it be worth a purposed concealing from the owner, the value is
great enough to render Ihe taking of it proper Iheft. If it be pretended that
the thing is of so small consequence, that it is not worth asking for ; then sure
ly it is not worth a purposed concealing frora the owner, wben it is taken. He
who, under this pretence, conceals his taking, in tbe very act contradicts his own
pretence ; for his action shows that he apprehends, or al least suspects, tbat, as
smafl a matter as it is, the owner would not like the taking of it, if he knew it ;
otherwise the taker would not desire to conceal it.
The owner of any goods, and not other people, is the proper judge, whether
what he owns be of such a value, that it is worth his while to keep it, and to
AND OF INJUSTICE 60P
refu.'se his consent to the taking of it from him. He wbo possesses, and not he
who takes away, bas a right to judge of wbat consequence his possessions arc
to him. He has a right to .set wbat value be pleases on thera, and to treat thera
according to that value. Besides, raerely that a tiling is of sraall value, cannot
give a right to others, purposely and designedly lo take il away, wilhoul the
knowledge or consent of the owner. Because if this only gives a right, tben
all have a right to take things of sraall value; and at this rate a great nuraber
of persons, each of them taking from a man that wbich is of small value,
might take away all he has.
Therefore, it will not justify persons, in going purposely to take such Ihinos
as fruit from the trees, or gardens, or fields of tbeir neighbors, wilhoul their
knowledge or consent, that the Ihings which tbey take are Ihings of small value ;
nor is that suflScient lo render such an act, not an acl of theft, properly so
called. This shows also that the smallness of the value of what is privately
taken at feasts and entertainments, doth not render tbe taking of such Ihings,
not stealing. The sraall value of a thing may in some cases justify an occa.sional taking
of tbings, so far as we may from thence, and from what is generally allowed,
reasonably presume that the owner gives his consent. Bul if that be the case,
and persons really take, as not supposing any other than that the owner consents
to such occasional taking, tben, he that takes will not at all endeavor to do what
he does secretly, nor in any measure to avoid notice. But merely the smallness
of the value of a thing, can never justify a secret taking of what is another's.
APPLICATION.
I. The first use I would raake of this doctrine, is to warn against afl injus
tice and dishonesty, as to wbat appertains to our neighbor's temporal goods or
possessions. Let me warn all to avoid all ways of unju.stly invading or usurj)-
ing whal is their neighbor's, and let rae press that exhortation of the apostle,
Rom. xii. 27, " Provide things honest in the sight of all raen ;" wbich iraplies,
that those things which we provide for ourselves, and use as our own, should be
such as we come honestly by ; and especially that we should avoid all clandes
tine or underhand ways of obtaining any thing that is our neighbor's, either by
fraudulent deahng, or by that taking without our neighboi's knowledge and
consent, of which we have been speaking.
I warn you to beware of dishonesty in withholding wbat is your neighbor's,
either by unfaithfulness to your trust in any business wbich you undertake, or
by withholding your neighbor's just and honest dues. Consider that saying of
the aposlle, Rora. vui. 8, " Owe no raan any thing, but tc3 love one another."
Be also warned against wronging your neighbor or injuring hira in his inclo
sures, or in any of his just rights and properties, through c;areless neglect of
what is reasonably expected by neighbors one of another, in order that they
may live one by another without mutual injury. Let all beware that they bring
not guilt on their souls in the sight of God, by taking an advantage to oppress
any person. Especially beware of taking advantage of others' poverty to ex
tort from thera : for Gcid wfll defend their cause, and you will be no gainers
by such oppression. .
Beware also of afl injustice by deceitful and fraudulent dealing. Many ot
you have rauch to do with others in a way of traffick in buying and selling
You dou'titiess raeet wilh abundance of temptalion to fraud, and have need tc
keepastrono- guard upon yourselves. There are many teraptations to fals*
Vol. Iv! ?'?
610 THE SIN OF THEFT
speaking in trading, to speaking that wbich is false, both about wbat you would
buy and what you bave to sell. There are, in buying, temptations to do as in
Prov. XX. 14, " It is nought, it is nought, saith the buyer." Tbere are many
temptations to take indirect courses, to blind those with whom you deal, about
tbe qualities of what you have to sell, to diminish the defects of your commodi
ties, or to conceal them, and to put off' things for good which are bad. Anc
there are doubtless raany other ways that men meet with temptations lo deceive
others, which your own experience will better suggest to you than I can.
But here I shall take occasion to speak of a particular kind of fraud, whick
is very aggravated, and is ralher a defrauding of God than nan. What I
mean is, tlie giving of that which is had for good in public contributions.
Though it be matter of great sharae and lamentation, that it sbould be so in
.such a place as this ; yet it is to be feared, from what has sometiraes been ob
served, Ihat there are sorae persons araong us, who, wben tbere is a public con
tribution to be allended for the poor, or some other pious and charitable use, dc
soraetiraes take that opportunity to put off their had money. That whicb they
find, or think, their neighbors will refuse to take at their bands, beMuse they
will have opportunity to see what is offered thera, and to observe tbe badness
of it, even that tbey therefore take opportunity to put off to God.
Hereby they save their credit ; for they apprehend that they shall be con
cealed. They appear wilh others to go to the contribution, and il is not known
but that they put in that wbich is good. But they cheat the church of God.
and defraud the expectations of the poor : or rather they lie to God : for those
who receive wbat is given, stand as Christ's receivers, and not as acting for
theraselves in tbis raatter.
They that do thus, do Ihat whicb is very much of tbe same nature with that
sin, againsi which God denounces that dreadful curse in Mai. i. 14, " Cursed
be the deceiver which hath in bis flock a male, and vowetb and sacrificeth unto
the Lord a corrupt thing : for I am a great King, saith tbe Lord of Hosts, and
my narae is dreadful araong tbe Heathen." That hath in his fiock a male,
i. e., tbat halh in his flock that which is good and fit to be offered to God : for
it was Ihe male of the flock principally that was appointed, in tbe law of Moses^
to be offered in sacrifice lo God. He has in his flock that which is good, but
he vows and sacrifices to tbe Lord, " tbe torn, the larae, and tbe sick," as it is
said in the foregoing verse : " Ye said also. Behold what a weariness is it, and
ye have snuff'ed at it, sailh the Lord of Hosts ; and ye brought that which was
torn, and the larae, and the sick ; thus ye brought an offering : sbould 1 accept
this of your bands ? saith tbe Lord."
Contributions in tbe Christian church corae in the roora of sacrifices in the
Jewish church : raercy coraes in tbe roora of sacrifice. And what is offered in
tbe way of mercy is as much offered to God, as the sacrifices of old were.
For what is done to the poor is done to Christ, and he that hatb pity on tbe
poor, lendeth to the Lord, Prov. xix. 17. The Jews that offered tbe sick and
lame ofthe flock, knew that if tbey had offered it to their governor, and bad
attempted to put rt off, as part of the tribute or public taxes due to tbeir earthly
rulers, it would not be accepted, and therefore they were wflling to put it off to
God, as in the 8lh verse of tbis chapter : " And if ye offer the blind for sacri
fice, is it not evfl ? And if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil ? Offler it
now unto tby governor, will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person 1
saith the Lord of Hosts."
So those persons who purposely put bad money into contributions, know
that what they put in would not be accepted if they should offer it to pay thei»
AND OF INJUSTICE. 611
Eublic taxes. Yea, they know that their neighbors woifld not accept it off theit
ands: and therefore they are willing to save themselves, by putting it off' to
God. This practice is also very mucb of tbe nature of the sin of Ananias and
Sapphira. What they offered was by way of contribution for charitable uses.
'The brethren sold what tbey had, and brought it into a common stock, and put
all under the care of deacons, that the poor might every one be supplied.
Ananias and Sapphira brought a part oftheir possessions, and put it into the
common- stock ; and theh sin was, that tbey put it in for raore than it really
was. It was but a part of what tbey bad, and they put it in, and would have
it accepted, as if it bad been all. So those among us, of whom I am speaking,
put off wbat tbey put into tbe charitable stock, fbr more than it is. For they
put it in, under the notion that it is something of some value ; they intend it
shafl be so taken by tbe churcb that sees them go to the contribution, when
indeed they put in nothing at all.
Ananias and Sapphira were charged with lying to God, and doing an act
of fraud towards God himself, in wbat they did : Acts v. 4, " Whfle il reraained,
was it not thine own ? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power ?
Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart ? Thou hast not lied unto
men, but unto God." So those who knowingly put bad money for good into a
contribution for a charitable use, as much as in them lies comrait an act of fraud
and deceit towards God. For the deacons who receive wbat is contributed,
receive it not in their own names, but as Christ's receivers. I bope these things
may be sufficient to have said on this head, and enough to deter every one frora
ever daring to do such a thing for the future.
Again, another thing I would warn you against, is, stealing, properly and
strictly so called ; or designedly taking away any of your neighbor's goods
without his consent or knowledge. And especially I would now take occasion
to warn against a practice which is very comraon in the country, particularly
among children and young people : and that is, stealing fruit frora their neigh
bor's trees or inclosures. There is a licentious liberty taken by raany children
and young people, in making bold with their neighbor's fruit ; and it is lo be
feared, that they are too much countenanced in it by tbeir parents and raany
elder people.
I am sensible, that the great thing which is pleaded, and made very mucb
the ground of this liberty which is taken, and so much tolerated, is a very
abusive and unreasonable construction and application of that text of Scripture
in Deut. xxiii. 24: " When thou comest into thy neighbor's vineyard, then thou
mayest eat grapes thy fill. But thou shalt not put any in thy vessel." Because
this text seeras to be so much mistaken and misiraproved, I shafl therefore
endeavor particularly to state the matier of persons taking their neighbor's fruit,
and to set it in a just and clear light as concerning tiiis text
1. I shall show what the liberty was which was given in it
2. What the ground of that liberty was.
3. What would, and what would not, be parallel with it, among us.
1. I am to show what the liberty was whicb was given in tbis text. It was
to eat tbeir fill of grapes wben tbey occasionally came into, or passed through,
tbeir neighbor's vineyard, and not "that tbey sbould go thither on purpose lo eat
grapes. Tbis is manifest by the raanner of expression : " When thou comest
into thy neighbor's vineyard, thou mayest eat ;" i. e., when thou art come
thither on some other occasion. If God had meant tb give them leave to come
thither on purpose, for no other end, it Would not have been expressed so; but
612 THE SIN OF JHEFT
rather thus. Thou mayest come inlo thy neighbor's vineyard, and eat grape
tby fill.
2. I .shall show wbat must be supposed to be tbe grounds of tbis liberty ,
which were these two ihings :
(1.) That such were the circurastances of tbat people, and vineyards araong
thera were so coraraon, that there was no danger tha* tbis liberty would be
attended with ill consequence. It is raanifest throughout tbe history cf Israel,
that vineyards araong thera were so coramon that the people in general had
thera. Every husbandraan araong thera was a vine-dresser ; and a great part
of the business of a husbandman araong tbem, consisted in dressing and taking
care of his vineyards. Grapes seera to have been the most coraraon sort of
fruit tiiat they had. Besides, there was no liberty given for persons to go on
put-pose to a vineyard to eat the fruit of it So that there wa-s no danger of
neighbors suffering one by another, by any such liberty.
Not only would not the owner of the vineyard suffer any thing sensibie, if
one or two men should act upon the liberty granted in this text; but the liberty
did not tend lo any such consequence, as the flocking ofa great number to eat
grapes, whereby the fruit ofthe vineyard might be much dirainished.
(2.) Such were the circurastances ofthe case, that the consent ofthe owners
of vineyards in general raigbt well be presumed upon, Ihough no such express
liberty had been given. You raay remera'oer, that in the definition of stealing,
I observed, that explicit consent is not always necessary ; because the case may
be so circumstanced, that consent may well be presumed on. And the reason
consent might well be presuraed on in the case of eating grapes, of wbich
we are now speaking, is, what was observed just now, that there could be no
sensible injury, nor any danger of any ill consequences, by which a man would
sensibly suffer in the benefit of his vineyard.
Hence it is the more easy to deterraine,
3. Whal would, and what would not be parallel with this eating of grapes;
or wbat would and what would not be justified by this text, araong us.
(1.) If some particular person among us had a vineyard of the sarae kind
of grapes with those which the children of Israel had, il would not justify others
in using the same liberty w-hen occasionally passing through il. Because, if
sorae one person araong us had such a vineyard, il would be a rare thing, and
the rarity and scarcity of tbe fruit would render it of much greater value.
Besides, if one man were distinguished by such a possession, to allow of such a
liberty would have a much greater tendency to ill consequences, than if they
were common, as they were in the land of Canaan. There would be danger
of many persons falsely pretending occasions, and making occasions, to pass
through the vineyard, for the sake of their fill of such rare fruit.
(2.) It woulcl not be a parallel case, if raen in general among us bad each
of them a few vines. That would be a very different thing from persons in
general having large vineyards, as they had in Canaan. Nor would tbis test,
in such a case, warrant men's eating tbeir fill of grapes wben occasionally
passing by.
(3.) If all in general had vineyards, as they had in the land of Canaan,
this text woifld not justify men in going inlo tbeir neighbor's vineyard on
purpose to eat the fruit. No such Ij^erty is given in the text. If there had
been such liberty, it might have been of ill consequence. For the sake of sav
ing their own grapes, men might raake a practice of going and sending their
ch'ldren into their neighbors' vineyards, to eat their fill frora time to tirae.
But the liberty given in this text to the children of Israel, seeras to be very
AND OF INJUSTICE. 613
parallel wilh the liberty taken among us, to take up an apple or two an 1 eat,
as we are occasionally passing tbrough a neighbor's orchard ; which, as oui
circumstances are, we may do, and justly presurae that we have the owner's
consent This is a liberty that we take, and find no fll consequences. It was
very rauch so with vineyards in the land of Canaan, as it is with orchards
among us. Apples in some countries are a rare fruit ; and there it would by no
means be warrantable for persons to take tbe same liberty, when occasionally
passing by their neighbor's apple t>-ee, which we warrantably lake here, when
going ihrough a neighbor's orchard.
The consideration of these things wifl easfly show the great abuse that is
made of this text, when il is brought to justify such a resorting of children and
others to tbeir neighbor's fruit trees, as is soraetiraes, on purpose to take and eat
the fruit. Indeed tbis practice is not only not justified by the law of Moses, but it
is in itself unreasonable, and contrary to the law of nature. The consequences
cf it are pernicious, so that a raan can have no dependence on enjoying the fruit
of his labor, or tbe benefit of his properly in those Ihings, whicb possibly he
may very rauch value. He can have no assurance but that he shafl be raainly
deprived of what he has, and that others will not have the principal benefit ol
It ; and so that his end in planting and cultivating that frora which he expected
those fruits ofthe earth, which God hath given for the use, comfori, and delight
of mankind, wifl not be in the raain frustrated.
II. The second use may be of exhortation. Under this use, I shall confine
myselfto two particulars, many other ihings having been already spoken lo.
1. I shall hence take occasion lo exhort parents to restrain their children
from stealing, and particularly from being guflty of theft in stealing the fruits
of their neighbor's trees or fields. Christian parents are obliged to bring up
their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. But how much other
wise do they bring up their children, who bring them up in theft ! Which cer-
tiinly those parents are guflty of, not only who directly teach them to steal, set
Inem an example and set them about it, but also those who tolerate thera in it
Parents should take thorough and effectual care, not only to instruct thei
children better, and lo warn them against any such thievish practices, bul also
thoroughly lo restrain them. Children who practise stealing, make theraselves
vile. Stealing, by the common consent of raankind, is a very vile practice
Therefore those parents tbat will not take thorough care to restrain their chil
dren frora such a practice, will be guilty of the same sin which God so highly
resented, and awfully punished in Eli, of which we read, 1 Sara, iii 13 : " For
I have told him, that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he
knoweth ; because his sons raade themselves vile, and he restrained them not."
2. I exhort those who are conscious in themselves that they have heretofore
wronged their neighbor, to make restitution. This is a duty tbe obligation to
which is exceeding plain. If a person was wronged in taking away any thing
that was his, certainly he is wronged also in detaining it, and keeping il away.
And all the while a person, who has been guilty of wronging his neighbor,
neglects lo rnake restitution, he lives in that wrong. He not only hves irapeni
tent of that first wrong, of which he was guilty, but he conlinually wrongs his
neighbor. A man who bath gotten any thing from another wrongfully, goes
on to wrong him every day that he neglects to restore it, when he has oppor
tunity to do it. The person injured d.l not only suffer wrong from the other
when his goods were first taken from him, bul he suffers new injustice from him
^11 the while they are unjustly kept from bira.
Therefore I counsel all those of you that are sensible that you have hereto.
614 THE SIN OF THEFT AND CF LVJUSli E.
fore wronged your neighbor, either by fraud, or oppression, or unfaithfulness,
or stealing, whether lately or formerly, though it may bave been a great while
ago, speedily to go and make restitution for all the wrong your neighbor bas
suffered at your hands. That it was done long ago, doth not quit "ou from
obligation stfll to restore, as much as if it had been done yesterday. This is a
duty with which you must comply ; you cannot be acquitted without it. As long
as you neglect it, it will be unreasonable in you to expect any forgiveness c'
God. For wbat ground can you have to think that God will, pardon you, as
long as you wilfully slill continue in tbe same wrong, and wrong the same man
still every day, by detaining from hira that which is his ? You in your prayers
ask of God, that be would forgive all your sins; but your very prayers are
mockery, if you still wilfully continue in those sins.
Indeed, if you go and confess your faults to your neighbor, and he w'fll freely
acquit you from raaking restitution, you will be acquitted from the obhgation ;
for in so doing, your neighbor gives you wbat before was bis. But otherwia?
you cannot be acquitted.
Particularly I would leave this advice whh all. for their direction in their
behavior on their death-beds. Indeed you should not by any means put it off
till you come to die ; and you will run the most fearful risk in so doing. But if
you will not do it now, whfle you are in health, I will leave it wilh you to
remember, when you sball come to he on your death-beds. Doubtless, then, if
you have the use of your reason, you will be concerned for the salvation of
your poor souls. And let this be o'je thing then remembered, as absolutely
necessary in order to your salvation, that before you die, you must rnake resti
tution for whatever wrong you shaf have done any of your neighbors ; or at
least leave orders that such restitution be raade ; olherwise you will, as it were,
go out ofthe world, and go before your Great Judge, with stolen goods in your
hands. And certainly it wfll not be very corafortable or safe, to bring thera into
his infinitely holy and dreadful presence, when he sits on his Ihrone of judg
ment, wilb his eyes as a flame of fire, being more pure than to kok on iniquity ;
when he is about to sentence you to your everlasting unalterable stale.
Every one bere present, who has been guflty of wronging bis neighbor, and
has not yet made restitution, raust die. Let all such therefore reraeraber this
counsel now given thera, on the day when death shall approach, if they shall
be so foolish as to neglect it till tbat time.
SERMON XXXIX.
THE PERPETUITY AND CHANGE OF THE SAUBArH
I OoDiNTHUKS xvi. 1, 2. — Now concerning the collection for the sainls, as 1 have gii en order to tho
churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the (irst day of the week, let every one ofyo-i lay by /liii
in store as God hath prospered hun, that there lie no gatherings when I come.
We find in the New Testament often mentioned a certain collection, which
was raade by the Grecian churches, for the brethren in Judea, who were re
duced to pinching want by a dearth w hich tben prevailed, and was the heavier
upon them by reason of their circurastances, they baving been frora the begin
ning oppressed and persecuted by tbe unbelieving Jews. — We have this collec
tion or contribution twice mentioned in tbe Acts, as in chapter xi. 28 — 31, and
in chapter xxiv. 17. Il is also taken notice of in several of the episties ; as
Rom. XV. 26, and Gal. ii. 10. Bul it is most largely insisted on, in these two
epistles lo the Corinthians ; in this first epistie, chapter xvi., and in the second
epistle, chapters vhi. and ix. The apostle begins the directions, which in this
place be delivers concerning this matter, with the words of the text — wherein
we raay observe,
1. What is the thing to be done concerning whicb the apostle gives them ¦,
direction, and that is, the making of a collection for tbe saints ; the exercise [
and raanife.station of their charity towards tbeir brethren, by coramunicating to I
thera, for the supply of their wants ; whicb was by Christ and his apostles often j
spoken of and insisted on, as one main duty of the Christian religion, and is ex
pressly declared to be so by the Apostle James, chap. i. 27: " Pure religion and
undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in
tbeir aflBiction."
2. We may observe the time on whicb the apostle directs tbat tbis should !
be done, viz., " on the first day ot fhe week." By the inspiration of the Holy '
Ghost be insists upon it, tbat it be done on such a particular day of the week, \
as if no other day would do so well as that, or were so proper and fit a tirae j
for such a work. Thus* although the inspired apostle was not for making tha* ,
distinction of days in gospel times, which the Jews made, as appears by Gal
iv. 10, "Ye observe days, and months, and tiraes, and years. 1 am afraid ot
you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain ;" yet here he gives the pre i
ference to one day of the week, before any other, for the performance cf a cer |
tain great duty of Christianity
3. It raay be observed, that this is the direction wbich tbe apostie had given
to other churches that were concerned in the sarae duty, upon this occasion : y
he had given direction to them also to do it on the first day of tbe week : " As
I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye." Whence we
may learn, that it was nothing peculiar in the circumstances of tbe Christians
at Corinth, which was the reason why the Holy Ghost insisted that they should
perform this duty on this day of the week. The apostie had given the hke or
ders to the churches of Galatia.
Now Galatia was far distant from Corinth ; the sea parted them ; and be
sides that, there were several other countries between them. Therefore it can
not be thought that the Holy Ghost directs them to this time upon any secular
account, having respect to some particular circumstances of the people in that
city, but upon a rehgious account In giving the preference to this day for
616 PERPETUITY AND CHANGE
such work, before any other day, he has respect to soraething wbich rcQcbed ali
Christians hrougbout the wide world.
And by other passages of the New Testaraent, we learn that the case was
tbe sarae as to other exercises of religion; aud that in the age of the aposlle-s,
the first day of the week was preferred before any other day, araong the primitive
Christians, and in churches iraraediately under the care of the apostles, f..r an
attendance on the exercises of rehgion in general : Acls xx. 7, " Upon the first
day ofthe week, when the disciples carae together to break bread, Paul preach
ed unto them." It seeras by these things to bave been among, the primitive
Christians in the aposlles' days, wilh respect to the first day of the week, as it
was araong the Jews with respeci to the seventh.
We are taught by ChrisI, that the doing of alms and showing of mercy are
proper works for the Sabbath day. When Ihe Pharisees found fault wilh Christ
for suffering his disciples to pluck the ears of corn and eat on the Sabbath,
Christ corrects them wilh that, " 1 will bave raercy and not sacrifice," Matt
xii. 7. And Christ teaches that works of mercy are proper to be done on Ihe
Sabbath, in Luke xiii. 15, 16, and xiv. 5. These works used to be done en
sacred festivals and days of rejoicing, under the Old Testament, as in Nehemi-
ab's and Esther's tirae ; Neh. vin. 10, and Esther ix. 19 — 22. And Josephus
and Philo, two very noted Jews, who wrote not long after Christ's tirae, give
an account that it was the raanner among the Jews on the Sabbath, to make
collections for sacred and pious uses. DOCTRINE.
Il is the mind and will of God, that the first day of the week should be
especially set apart araong Christians, for religious exercises and duties.
That this is the doctrine which the Holy Ghost intended to teach us, by this
and some other passages of the New Testament, I hope wfll appear plainly by
the sequel. This is a doctrine that we have been generally brought up in by
the instructions and examples of our ancestors ; and it is and has been the general
profe.ssion of the Christian world, that this day ought to be religiously observed,
and distinguished from other days of the week. However, some deny it Sorae
refuse to take any notice of the day, or any way lo diff'erence it frora other days.
Others own, that it is a laudable custora of the Chrisl;ian church, into which
she fell by agreement, and by appointment of her ordinary rulers, to set apart
this day for public worship. But they deny any other original to such an
observation of the day, than prudential huraan appointraent. Others religiously
observe the Jewish Sabbath, suppose that the institution of that is of perpetual
obligation, and that we want foundation for deterraining that that is abrogated,
and another day of tbe week is appointed in the room of the seventh.
All those classes of raen say, that there is no clear revelation tbat it is tbe
raind and will of God, that the first day of the week should be observed as a
day lo be set apart for religious exercises, in the room of the ancient Sabbath ;
wbich there ought to be in order to the observation ofii by the Christian church
IS a divine institution. They say, that we ought not to go upon the tradi
tion of past ages, or upon uncertain and far-fetched inferences frora sorae pas
sages of the history of the New Testaraent, or upon some obscure and uncer
tain hints in the aposties' writings ; but tbat we ought to expect a plain insti
tution ; which, they say, we may conclude God would have given us, if he had
I designed that the whole Christian church, in all ages, should observe anotiier
day of the week for a holy Sabbath, than that which was* appointed of old bj
plain a id posiiive institution.
OF THE SABBATH. 617
So far is undoubtedly true, that if this be the mind and will of God, he hatb
not left the matter to human tradition ; but bath so revealed his mind about it
in his word, that there is there to be found good and substantial evidence that
it is bis mind and doubtless, tbe revelation is plain enough for them that have
ears to hear; that is, for them that will justly exercise their understandings
abi3ut what God says to them. No Christian, therefore, should rest lill he has
satisfactorily discovered the mind of God in this mailer. If the Christian Sab
bath be of divine institution, it is doubtless of great importance lo religion that
it be well kept ; and therefore, tbat every Christian be well acquainted with the
institution. If men only take it upon trust, and keep the first day of the week only be
cause their parents taught thera so, or because they see others do so, and so
they take it for certain that it is right ; they wifl never be likely to keep it so
conscienticiusly and strictly, as if they had seen wilh tlieir own eyes, and had
been convinced by seeing for themselves, good grounds in the word of Gcd for
their practice : and unless they do see thus for themselves, whenever they are
negligent in sanctifying the Sabbath, or are guilty of profaning it ; their coti-
sciences will not have that advantage to smile them for it, as otherwise they
would. And those who have a sincere desire to obey God in all tbings, will I
keep the Sabbath raore carefully and more cheerfully, if they have seen and '
been convinced that therein they do what is according lothe will and command of ^
God, and what is acceptable lo hira ; and will also have a great deal more corafort I
in the reflection upon their having carefully and painfully kept the Sabbath.
Therefore, I design now, by the help of God, to show, that il is sufliciently
revealed in the Scriptures, to be the raind and will of God, that the first day of
the week should be distinguished in the Christian church from other days of the
week, as a Sabbath, to be devoted lo religious exercises.
In orcler to this, I shall here premise, that the mind and will of God, con- i
cerning any duty to be perforraed by us, may be sufficiently revealed in his |
word, without a particular precept in so many express terms, enjoining it (
The human undersianding is the ear to which the word of God is spoken ; and
if it be so spoken, that that ear may plainly hear it, it is enough. God is
sovereign as to the manner of speaking his mind, whelher he will speak it in
express terms, or whether he will speak il by saying several other things which
imply it, and frora which we may, by comparing them together, plainly perceive
it If the mind of God be but revealed, if there be but sufficient means for the
communication of his mind lo our minds, that is sufficient ; whelher we hear so
many express wsrds with our ears, or see them in writing with our eyes ; or
whether we see tbe thing that he would signify to us, by the eye of reason
and understanding.
Who can positively say, that if il had been tbe mind of God, that we should
keep the first day of the week, he would have commanded it in express terras,
as he did the observation of the seventh day of old ? Indeed, if God had so
made our faculties, that we were not capable of receiving a revelation of his
mind in any other way ; then there would have been some reason to say so.
But God bath given us such understandings, that we are capable of receiving
-i revelation, when made in another manner. And if God deals with us
agreeably to our natures, and in a way suitable to our capacities, it is enough.
If God discovers his mind in any way whatsoever, provided il be according to
3ur faculties, we are obhged to obedience ; and God may expect our notice and
Dbservance of his revelation, in the same manner as if he bad revealed it in ex
press terpis.
Vol. IV. 78
618 PERPETUITY ANE CHANGE
I shall speak upon this subject under tbese two general propositions :
1. It is sufficiently clear, that it is the mind of God, that one day of the
week should be devoted to rest, and to religious exercises, throughout all age-j
and nalions.
2. It is sufficiently clear, that under the gospel dispensation, this day is tht
first day of tbe week.
I. Proposition. It is sufficiently clear, that it is the mind of God, that one
day of the week should be devoted to rest, and to religious exercises, through
out all ages and nations ; and not only among the ancient Israehles till Christ
came, but even in these gospel times, and among all nations professing Chris-
tianity. 1. From the consideration of tbe nature and stale of raankind in tbis world,
it is raost consonant to huraan reason, that certain fixed parts of time should be
set apart, to be spent by the church wholly in religious exercises, and in the
duties of divine worship. It is a duty incumbent on all mankind, in afl ages
alike, to worship and serve God. His service should be our great business.
It becomes us lo worship him with the greatest devotion and engagedness of
raind ; and therefore to put ourselves, at proper limes, in such circumstances,
as wifl most contribute to render our rainds entirely devoted to this work, with
out being diverted or interrupted by other things.
The stale of raankind in this world is such, that we are called to concern our
selves in secular business and affairs, which will necessarily, in a considerable
degree, take up the thoughts and engage the attention of tbe mind. However
some particular persons may be in sucb circumstances as to be more free and
disengaged; yet the stale of raankind is such, that the bulk of them, in all
ages and nalions, are called ordinarily to exercise their thoughts about secular
affairs, and to follow worldly business, which, in its own nature, is reraote from
the solemn duties of religion.
It is therefore most raeet and suitable, that certain tiraes should be set apart
upon which men should be required to throw by all other concerns, that their
minds raany be the more freely and entirely engaged in spiritual exercises, in the
duties of religion, and in the imraediate w-orship of God ; and that their minds
being disengaged frora common concerns, their religion may not be mixed wilh
tbem. It is also suitable that these tiraes sbould be fixed and settied, that the
church may agree therein, and that they should be the same for all, that men
may not interrupt one anolher ; but may rather assist one anolher by mutual
exaraple : for exaraple bas a great influence in such cases. If there, be a time
set apart for public rejoicing, and there be a general manifestation of joy, the
general example seeras to inspire raen with a spirit of joy and mirth; one kin-
lies another. So, if it be a time of mourning, and t'nere be general appear
ances and manifestations of sorrow, it naturally affects the mind, it disposes it
to depression, it casts a gloom upon it, and doe^ as i'l were dull and deaden the
spirits. — So, if a certain tinic be set apart as holy time, for general devotion,
and solemn religious exercises, ,a gen'eral ex^'inple tends to render the spirit seri
ous and soleran.
2. Without doubt, one proportion of tirae is better and fitter than ar>other
for this purpose. One proportion is more suitable to the state of mankind, and
wifl have a greater tendency to answer the ends of sucb times, than anolher
The times may be too far asunder ; I think huraan reason is suflacient to dis
cover, that it would be too seldom for tbe purposes of sucb solemn times, that
they should be but once a year. So, I conclude, nobody will deny, but thai
OF THE SABBATH. 61J
such times may be too near together to agree with the state and necessary af
fairs of mankind.
Tberefore, there can be no difficulty in allowing, that some certain propor
tion of time, wbether we can exactly discover it or not, is really fillest and
best; and considering all Ihings, considering tbe end for wbich such times ar';
kept, and the condition, circumstances, and necessary affairs of men, and con
sidering wbat tbe state of man is, taking one age and nation with another, tbat
one proportion of time is more convenient and suitable than any other ; which
God may know and exactly determine, Ihough we, by reason of the scantiness
of our understandings, cannot.
As a certain frequency of tbe returns of tbese times may be more suitable
than any other, so one length or continuance of the times tberaselves may be
fitter than anotber, to answer tbe purposes of such times. If such limes, when
they come, were to last but an bour, it would not well answer the end ; for
then worldly things would crowd too nearly upon sacred exercises, and there
would not be that opportunity to get tbe mind so thoroughly ftee and disengag
ed frora other things, as there would be, if tbe tiraes were longer. But they
being so short, sacred and profane things would be as it were raixed together.
Therefore, a certain distance betvveen tbese times, and a certain continuance of
them when they come, is more proper than others ; wbich God knows and is
able to determine, though perhaps we cannot
3. It is unreasonable to suppose any other, than that God's working six
days, and resting the seventh, and blessing and hallowing it, was to be of
general use in determining this matter, and that it is written, that the practice
of raankind in general might some way or other be regulated by it. What
could be the meaning of God's resting the seventh day, and hallowing and
blessing it, which he did, before the giving of the fourth commandment, unless
he hallowed and blessed it with respect to raankind ? For he did not bless and
sanctify it with respect to hiraself, or that he hiraself and within himself might
observe it ; as that is most absurd. And it is unreasonable to suppose that be
hallowed it only with respect to tbe Jews, a particular nation, which rose up
above two thousand years after.
So much tberefore must be intended by it, that it was bis mind, tbat man
kind sbould, after his example, work six days, and tben rest, and hallow or sanc
tify the next following; and that they sbould sanctify every seventh day, or that
the space between rest and rest, one hallowed time and another, araong bis
creatures here upon earth, should be six days. So that it hence appears to be
the raind and wifl of God, that not only the Jews, but men in all nations and
ages, should sanctify one day in seven ; whicb is tbe thing we are endeavoring
to prove. 4. The mind of God in this matter is clearly revealed in the fourth com
mandment The will of God is there revealed, not only that the Israelitish
nation, but that all nations, should keep every seventh day holy ; or, which is
the same thing, one day after every six. This command, as well as the rest, is
doubtless everiasting and of perpetual obligation, at least, as to the substance of
it, as is intimated by its being engraven on the tables of stone. Nor is itto be
thought that Christ ever abolished any command of tbe ten ; but that there is the
complete nuraber ten yet, and will be to the end of the worid.
Sorae say, that the fourth comraandment is perpetual, but not in its literal
sense, not as designing any particular proportion of time to be set apart arid
devoted to literal rest and religious exercises. Tbey say, tbat it is abolished m
that sense, and stands in force only in a mystical sense, viz., as that weeklv rest
o20 PERPETUITY' AND CHANGE
of the Jews typifed spiritual rest in the Christian church. And so, they say
that we under the gospel, are not to make any distinclion of one day from ano
ther, but are to keep all time holy, doing every thing in a spiritual manner.
But this is an absurd way of interpreting the command, as it refers to Chris
tians. For if the coraraand be so far abolished, it is entirely abolished. For
it is the very design of the coraraand, to fix the time of worship. The first
coramand fixes the object, the second the means, the third the manner, the
fourih the lime. And, if it stands in force now only as signifying a spiritual.
Christian rest, and holy behavior at afl tiraes, fl dolh not remain as one of the
ten coraraandraents,, bul as a summary of all the coramands.
The main objection against the perpetuity of this command is, that the duly
required is not mokal. Those laws wbose obligation arises ftom the nature of
Ihings, and from the genera! slate and nature of mankind, as well as from God's
positive revealed will, are called moisal laws. Others, whose obligation depends
raerely upon God's posiiive and arbitrary institution, are not raoral : such as the
ceremonial laws, and the precepts of the gospel, about the two sacraraents.
Now, the objector.'- say, they will allow all that is moral in the decalogue to be
of perpetual obligation ; but this command, they say, is not nmral.
Bul this objection is weak and insufficient for the purpose for wMch it is
brought, or lo prove that the fourth coramand, as to the substance of t, is not
of perpetual obligation. For,
(1.) If it should be allowed that there is no morality belonging to the cora
raand, and that the duty required is founded raerely on arbitrary insiitution, it
cannot therefore be ceriainly concluded that the coramand is not perpetual. W^e
know that there may be comraands in force under the gospel, and to the end of
the world, which are not moral : such are the institutions of the two sacraments.
And why may there not be posiiive comraands in force in all ages of the church ?
If positive, arbitrary institutions are in force in gospel tiraes, whal is there which
concludes that no posiiive precept given before the times of the gospel can yet
conlinue in force ? But,
(2.) As we have observed already, tbe thing in general, that there sbould
I be certain fixed parts of lime set apart lo be devoted to religious exercises, is
; founded in the fitness of the thing, arising frora the nature of things, and the
nature and universal slate of raankind Therefore, there is as rauch reason tbat
there sbould be a coraraand of perpetual and universal obligation about this, as
about any other duly whatsoever. For if the thing in general, that there be a
tirae fi.Ked, be founded in the nature of things, there is consequent upon it a
necessity, that the tirae be limited by a coramand ; for there must be a propor
tion of time fixed, or else the general moral duty cannot be observed.
(3.) The particular determination of tbe proportion of time in the fourth
commandment, is also founded in the nature of things, only our understandings
are not sufficient absolutely to determine it of theraselves. We have observed
already, that without doubt one proportion of tirae is in itself fitter than another,
and a certain continuance of tirae fitter than any other, considering the universal
state and nature of raankind ; which God may see, Ihough our understandings
are not perfect enough absolutely to determine it So that the difference be-
weeii this comraand and others, doth not lie in this, that other coraraands are
founded in the fitness of the things then.selves, arising frora the universal state
!and nature of raankind, and tins not : but only in this, tbat tbe fitness cf other
ccmmands is raore obvious lo the understandings ofmen, and they might have
seen it of themselves; but this could not be precisely discovered and positively
determined without the assistance of revelation.
OF THE SABBATH. 62 1
So that ti/e comraand of God, that every seventh day sbould be devoted to
religious exercises, is founded in tbe universal state and nature of raankind, as
¦ffeW as other coramands ; only raan's reason is not sufficient, wiihout divine
direction, so exactly to determine it : though perhaps raan's reason is suffic;ient I
to deterraine, that it ought not to be much seldoiner, nor much oftener than once j
in seven days.
5. It further confirms it, tbat it is the mind and will of God, tbat sucb a
weekly Sabbath should forever be kept, that God appears in his word as lav
ing abundantly more weight on this precept concerning the Sabbath, than on
ony precept of the ceremonial law ; not only by inserting it in the decalogue,
and making it one of the ten commands, which were delivered by God with an
audible voice, by writing it with his own finger on the tables of stone, which
were the work of God in the mount, and by appointing it afterwards to be writ
ten on the tables which Moses made ; but as the keeping of the weekly Sab-
oath is spoken of by the prophets, as that wherein consists a great part of holi
ness of life ; and as it is inserted among moral duties, as particularly in Isaiah
iviii. 13, 14 : " If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy
pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord,
honorable, and shalt honor hira, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine
own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words : then shalt thou delight thyself in
the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon tbe high places of the earth, and
feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father ; for the moulh of the Lord
halh spoken if
6. It is foretold, that this coramand should be observed in gospel tiraes ; as
in Isaiah Ivi., at the beginning, where the due observation of the Sabbatb is
spoken of as a great part of holiness of life, and is placed among moral duties.
It is al.';o mentioned as a duty that sbould be most acceptable to God from bis
people, even where the prophet is speaking of gospel limes ; as in the forego
ing chapter, and in the first verse of this chapter. And, in the 3d and ith
verses, the prophet is speaking of the abolition of the ceremonial law in go.spel
times, and particulariy of that law, which forbids eunuchs to come inlo the con
gregation ofthe Lord. Yet, here the man is pronounced blessed, who keeps the
Sabbath from polluting it, verse 2. And even in the very sentence where the
eunuchs are spoken of as being free from the cereraonial law, they are spoken
of as being yet under obligation to keep the Sabbath, and their keeping of it,
as that which God lays great weight upon: "For, thus sailh the Lord, unto
the eunuchs that keep my Sabbath, and choose the things that please me, and
take hold of ray covenant : even unto tbem will I give in mine house, and with
in my walls, a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters : I will
give thera an everlasting narae, that shall not be cut off."
Besides, the strangers spoken of in the 6th and 7lh verses, are the Gentiles,
that should be called in the limes of the gospel, as is evident by the last clause
in the 7lh, and by the 8th verse : " For mine house shall be called a house of
prayer ybr all people. The Lord God, which galhereth the outcasts of Israel,
sailh. Yet will I gather others to him,besides those that are gathered unto him."
Yet it is represented here as their duly to keep the Sabbath : " Also the sons
ofthe stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve hira, and lo love the
narae of the Lord, to be his servants, every one. that keepeth the Sabbath from
polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant : even them will Ibring to ray holy
raountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer."
7. A further argument for tbe perpetuity of the Sabbatb, \ye have in Matt
xxiv. 'fo : " Pray ye that your flight t'; not in the winter, neither un the Sab-
622 PkRPETUITY and CHANGE
hath day." Christ is here speaking of the flight of tbe apostles and other Chris-
tians out of Jerusalera and Judea, just before tbeir final destruction, as is mani
fest by the whole context, and especially by the 16th verse : " Then let tiiera
whicb be in Judea flee into the mountains." But this final destruction of Je
rusalem was after the dissolution ofthe Jewish constitution, and after the Chris
tian dispensation was fully set up. Yet, it is plainly implied in these words of
our Lord, that even tben Christians were bound to a strict observation of the
Sabbath. Thus I have shown, that it is the will of God, that every seventh day be de
voted to rest and lo religious exercises.
I proceed now to the
II. Proposition. That it is the will of God, that under the gospel dispen
sation, or in the Christian church, tbis day should be the first day of tbe
week. In Older to the confirmation of this, let the following things be considered :
1. The words of the fourih commandment afford no objo^tion against tbis
being the day that sbould be the Sabbath, any raore than against any other day.
That this day, which, accordin.gto the Jewish reckoning, is the first of the week,
should be kept as a Sabbath, is no more opposite to any sentence or word of
the fourth coraraand, than that tbe seventh of the week should be tbe day ; and
that because the words of the fourth coraraand do not deterraine which day
of the week we sbould keep as a Sabbath; they raerely deterraine this, that
we should rest and keep as a Sabbatb every seventh day, or one day after every
six. It says, six .days thou shalt labor, and the seventh thou shalt rest;
which iraplies no raore, than that after six days of labor, we shall, upon the next
to the sixth, rest and keep it holy. And so, to be sure, we are obliged to do
forever. Bul the words no way determine where those six days shall begin,
and so where the rest or Sabbath shall fall. There is no direction in the fourth
coraraand how lo reckon the tirae, i. e., where to begin and end it. That is not
meddled v\'ith in the fourth command, but is supposed to be determined other
wise. The Jews did not know, by tbe fourth command, where to begin tbeir six
days, and on which particular day to rest ; this was determined by anotber pre
cept. The fourth command does indeed suppose a particular day appointed ;
but il does not appoint any. It requires us to rest and keep holy a seventh
day, one after every six of labor, whicb particular day God eiiher had or should
appoint. The pariicular day was determined for that nation in anolher place,
viz., in Exod. xvi. 23, 25, 26 : " And he said unto them, Tbis is tbat whicb the
Lord hath said, to-morrow is tbe rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord : bake
that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe tbat ye will seethe ; and that which
remaineth over, lay up for you to be kept until tbe morning. — And Moses said
Eat that to-day, for to-dav is a sabbath unto the Lord : to-day ve shall not find
it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it ; but on the seventh day, which is
the sabbath, in fl there shall be none." This is tbe first place where we have
any mention raade of tbe Sabbath, frora the first Sabbath on which God rested.
It seeras that the Israelites, in the time of their bondage in Egypt; had lost
tbe true reckoning of time by tbe days of the week, reckohing from the first day
of the creation, if it had been kept up tifl that time. They were slaves, and in
cruel bondage, and had, in a greafmeasure, forgotten the true religion :' for we
are told, that tbey served the gods of Egypt And it is not to be supposed, thai
the Egyptians would suffer their slaves to rest frora their wOrk every seventh
day. Now, they having remained in bctndage for so Ibng a time, had probably
OF THE SABBATH. 623
lost the weekly reckoning; therefore, when God had brought them Out of
Egypt into the wilderness, he made known to thera tbe Sabbatb, on tne occa
sion, and in tbe raanner recorded in the text just now quoted. Hence we read
in Neheraiah, that when God had led the children of Israel out of Egypt, &i;.', j
he made known unto them his holy Sabbatb: Neh. ix. 14, "And madest j
known unto them thy holy Sabbatb." To the same effect, we read in Ezek.'
XX. 10, 12, "Wherefore I c-.iused tbem to go forth out of the land of Egypt,
and brought ibem into tbe wflderness. Moreover also, I gave t'hein my Sab
baths." But tbey never would have known where the particular day would have
fallen by the fourth cominand. Indeed, the fourth command, as it was spoken
to the Jews, did refer lo their Jewish Sabbath. But that dolh not prove, that
that d-4y was determined and appointed by it The precept in tbe fourih com
mand is to be taken generally of a seventh day, such a seventh day as God
should appoint, or had appointed And because such a particular day had been
already appointed for the Jewish church; iherefore, as it was spoken to thera,
it did refer to that particular day. But this doth not prove, bul that the sarae
words refer to anolher appointed seventh day, now in the Christian church.
The words of the fourih coramand raay oblige the church, under different dis
pensations, to observe different appointed seventh days, as well as the fifth cora
raand raay oblige different persons to honor different fathers and mothers.
The Christian Sabbath, in the sense of the fourth command, is as much the
seventh day, as the Jewish Sabbath ; because it is kept every seventh day as
rauch as that ; it is kept after six days of labor as well as that ; it is the seventh,
reckoning from the beginning of our first working day, as wefl as that was the
seventh from the beginning of their first working day. All the difference is,
that the seven days formerly began from the day after God's rest frora the cre
ation, and now they begin the day after that It is no matter by what naraes
the days are called : if our naiion had, for instance, called Wednesday the first
of the week, it woukl have been all one as to this arguraent.
Therefore, by the institution of the Christian Sabbath, there is no change
froraihe fourth coraraand ; but the change is from another law, which deter
mined the beginning and ending of their working days. So tbat those words
of the fourth cominand, viz., " Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work ;
bul the seventh day is the Sabbatb of the Lord thy God ;" afford no objection
against that wbich is called tbe Christian Sabbatb; for these words remain in
full force still. Neither does any just objection arise from these words follow-
inof, viz., " For in six days the Lord raade beaven and earth, the sea, and all
that in them is, and rested the seventh day : Wherefore the Lcird blessed the
Sabbath day, and hallowed it" The.se words are not made insignificant to
Christians, by the institution of the Christian Sabbath ; they still reraain in their
full force as to that vvhich is principally intended by thera. They were design
ed to give us a reason why we are to work but six days at a tirae, anil then rest
on the seventh, because God hath set us the exaraple. And taken so, they re
raain still in as rauch force as ever they were. This is the reason still, as much
as ever it was, why we may work but six days at a time. What is the rea.son
that Christians rest every seventh, and not every eighth^ or every ninth, or tenth
day ? It is because God worked six days and rested the seventh.
It is true, these words did carry something further in their raeaning, as Ihey
were spoken lo the Jews, and to the church, before the coraing of Christ: it
was then also intended by them, that the seventh day was to be kept in com-
taeraor ation of tbe work of creatton. But this is no objection to the supposition,
624 PERPETUITY AND CHANGE
that tbe words, as they relate to us, do not import all tbat they did, as they re
lated to the Jews. For there are other words which were written upon tno.se
tables of stone wilb the ten comraandraents, which are known and allowed not
to be of the same .nport, as they relate to us, which they were of, as Ihey rda
ted to the Jews, viz., these words, in the preface to the ten coraraands, " 1 ara
the Lord thy God, which broughi thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage." — These words were written on tbe tables of stone wilh tne
rest, and these words are spoken to us, as well as to the Jews : they are spo-
Ken to all to whom the coraraandments Ihemselves are spoken ; for they are
spoken as an enforcement of the coraraandments. But they do not now remain
in all the significalion which they had, as they respected the Jews. For we
never were fiiought out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, except in a
raystical sense. The same may be said of those words which are inserted in
the coraiiiandinen's Ihemselves, Deut. v 15 : " And reraeraber that Ihoi) wast a
servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence,
through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm : Iherefore the Lord Iny
God commanded thee lo keep the Sabbatb day."
So all the arguments of those who are against the Christian Sabbath, drawn
frora the fourth command, which are all their strength, come lo nolhing.
2. That the ancient church was coraraanded to keep a seventh day in com-
memoratiim ofthe work of creation, is an arguraent for the keeping of a week.'v
Sabbalh in coraraeraoration of the work of rederaption, and not any reason
again.st il.
We read in Scripture of two creations, the old and tbe new : and tbese
words ofthe fourth comraand are lo be taken as ofthe same force to those who
belong lo Ihe new creation, with respect to the new creation, as they were to
those who belonged to the old creation, wilh respect lo ihe old cr-ealion. We
read, that " in the beginning God created the heaven and the earlh," and the
church of old were to coraraeraorate that work But when God creates a new
heaven and a new earlh, those that belong to ti is new heaven and new earlh,
by a like reason, are to comraeraorale the creation of their heaven and earlh.
The Scriptures leach us to look upon the old creation as destroyed, aad as it
were annihilated by sin ; or, as being reduced to a chaos again, without form
and void, as it was at first : Jer. iv. 22, 23, " They are wise to do evil, bul to do
good they have no knowledge. I beheld tbe earth, and lo, it was without form
and void ; and the heavens, and they had no light ;" i. e., they were reduced
fo the same state in which they were at first ; the earth was without form and
void, and there was no light, bul darkness was upon the face of the deep.
The Scriptures further teach us to call the gospel restoration and redemp
tion, a creation of a new heaven and a new earth : Isai. Ixv. 17, 18, " For
behold, I create new heavens, and a new earlh ; and the former shall not be
reraembered, nor corae into raind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in tbat
which I create: for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a
joy." And Isai. li. 16, " And 1 have put ray words in tbv mouth, and bave
covered thee in the shadow of raine band, that I may plant the heavcn.s, and lay
the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people." And
chap. Ixvi. 22, " For as the new heavens and tbe new earlb whicb I will
make," &c.— In these places, we are not only told of a new creation, or new
heavens and a new earth, bul we are told wbat is meant by il, viz., the gospel
renovation, the making of Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy ; saying
unto Zion, " Thou art ray people," &c. Tbe prophet, in afl these places, is
prophesying ofthe gospel redemption.
OF THE SABBATH. g.75
' Thf" gospel state is everywhere spoken of as a renewed state of things.
wherein old things are passed away, and all things become new: we are said to
be created in Christ Jesus unto good works : all things are restored and reconciled
whether in heaven or in earth, and God halh caused light to shine out of dark-
lewj as be did at tbe beginning ; and tbe dissolution of the Jewish state was
often spoken of in the Old Testament as the end of the world. But we who
belong to the gospel church belong to the new creation ; and therefore there
seems to be at least as much reason, that we should commemorate the work of
this creation, as that the members of the ancient Jewish church should com
meniorale the work of tbe old creation.
3. There is another thing whicb confirras it, that tbe fourth comraand
reaches God's resting frora the new creation, as well as frora the old ; which is,
that the Scriptures do expressly speak of the one, as parallel with tbe other, i. e.,
Christ's resting frora the work of redemption, is expressly .spoken of as being
parallel with God's resting frora the work of creation, as in Heb. iv. 10: " For
he that is entered into his rest, he also hatb ceased from his own works, as God
did from his."
Now, Christ rested from his works when be rose from the dead, on the first
day ofthe week. When he ro.se from the dead, then he finished his work of
redemption ; his humiliation was then at an end ; he then rested and was re
freshed. When it is said in this place, " There remaineth a rest to the people
of God :" in the original, it is, a Sabbatism, or the keeping of a Sabbath : and
this reason is given for it, " For he that entereth into his rest, he also hath
ceased from his own works, as God did from bis." The.se three Ihings at least
we are taught by tbese words :
(1.) We are taught by them to look upon Christ's rest from bis work of
rederaption, as parallel with God's rest frora the work of creation ; for they are
expressly compared together, as parallel one with the other.
(2.) They are spoken of as parallel, particularly in this respect, viz. ,lhe
relation which they both have to the keeping of a Sabbalh among God's peo
ple, or with respect to the influence whicb these two rests have, as to Sabbali
zing in the church of God : for it is expressly with respect lo this that tbey are
compared togetber. Here is an evident reference to God's blessing and hallow
ing the day of his rest from the creation to be a Sabbath, and appointing a Sab
bath of rest in imitation of him. For tbe apostle is speaking of this, verse 4 :
" For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise. And God did
rest the seventh day frora all his works." Thus far is evident ; whatever the
apostie has respect to by his keeping of a Sabbalh by tbe people of God, whe
ther it be a weekly Sabbalizing on earlb, or a Sabbalizing in heaven.
(3.) It is evident in these words, that the preference is given to the latter
rest, viz., the rest of our Saviour frora his works, wilh respect to the influence
it should have, or relation it bears to the Sabbalizing of the people of God,
now under the gospel, evidently iraplied in the expression, "There remaineth
therefore a Sabbatism to the people of God. For he that entereth into his rest,"
&c. For, in this expression, there remaineth, il is intimated, that the old Sab
batism appointed in remembrance of God's rest f'rora the work of creation, tloth
not reraain, but ceases ; and that this new rest, in coraraeraoration of Christ's
resting from his works, remains in the room of it
4. The Holy Ghost hath implicitly told us, that the Sabbath which was in-
."tituled in coraraeraoration of the old creation, .should not be kept in gospei
cimes, in Isai. Ixv. 17, 18. There we are told that when God sbould create
cew heavens and a new earth, the forraer should not be reraembered, nor come
Vol. IV. 79
6Sit PERPETUITY AND CHANGE
mlcj. mind. If this be so, it is not to be supposed, tbat we are to keep a seventh,
pan of time, on purpose to remember it, and call it to mind.
Let us understand this which way we will, it will not Le well consistent
with the keeping of one day in seven, in the gospel church, principally for the
remembrance and cafling to mind ofthe okl creation. If th<! meaning of the
place be only this, that the old creation shall not be remeinberert, nor corae into
mind in comparison with the new, and that the hew will be so much more re
raarkable and glorious, and will .so rauch more nearly concern us, that so much
more notice will be taken of it, and it wfll be thought so much more worthy to
be remerabered and cora meliorated, that the other wifl be forgotten, will not be
reraembered, nor come into mind : if we understand it thus, fl is impossible that
I it should be more to our purpose. For then, hereby the Holy Ghost teaches
[ us, that the Christian churcb has mucb more reason to comraemorate the new
j creation than the old ; insomuch that the old is worthy to be forgotten in cora-
Vparison with it
And as the old creation was no more to be reraembered, nor come into mind ;
so, in the following verse, the church is directed forever to coraraeraorate Ihe
new creation : " But be ye glad, and rejoice forever in that which I create ;
for behold, I create Jerusalera a rejoicing, and ber people a joy ;" i. e., Ihough
you forget the old, yet forever, lo the end of the world, keep a remembrance of
the new creation.
It is an arguraent, that the Jewish Sabbath was not to be perpetual, that
the Jews were coraraanded to keep it in remembrance of their deliverance out
of Egypt. One reason why it was instituted was, because God thus delivered
thera, as we are expressly told in the decalogue itself, in one of the places where
we have il recorded in the books of Moses : Deut v. 15, " And remember that
thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God broughi
thee out thence, through a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm : there
fore the Lord thy God coraraanded thee to keep the Sabbath day." Now, can
any person think, that God would bave all nations under the gospel, and to th
end of the worid, keep a day every week, which was instituted in remembrance
of the deliverance of the Jews out of Egypt ?
6. The Holy Ghost hath implicitly told us, that instituted raeraorials of the
Jews' deliverance frora Egypt should be no longer upheld in gospel times, as in
Jer. xvi. 14, 15. The Holy Ghost, speaking there of the gospel tiroes, says,
'' Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it sball no more be said,
The Lord liveth that brought up the chfldren of Israel out of Egypt ; but the
Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north,
and from all the lands whither he had driven them ; and I will bring them again
into their own land." They shall no -more say. The Lord liveth that brought,
&c., i. e., at least they shall keep up no raore any public raemorials of it.
If there be a Sabbath kept up in gospel limes, as we have shown there must
be, it is more jast from these words to suppose, that il should be a memorial of
that which is spoken of in the latter verse, the bringing up of the children of
Israel from the land of the north; that is, the redemption of Christ, and his
bringing home the elect, not only from Judea, but from the north, and from afl
quarters of the world. See Isai. xliii. 16 — 20.
7. Il is no raore than just to suppose, that God intended to intimate to us,
tbat the Sabbath ought by Christians lo be kept in coraraeraoration of Christ's
rederaption, in that the Israelites were commanded to keep it in '•^mernbrance of
itheir deliverance out of Egypt : because that deliverance out oi Egypt is an
evident, known, and allowed type of it. It was contrived and ordered ot God-
OF THE SABBATH 627
¦TO purpose to represent it ; every thing about that deliverance was typical of
tbis redemption, and much is made of it, principally for tbis reason, because it
is so reraarkable a type of Christ's redemption. And it was but a shadow.
die work in itself was nothing in coraparison wilh the work of rederaption.
What is a petty redemption of one nation from a teraporal bondage, to tbe eter-
n.il salvation of the w-hnle church of the elect, in all ages and nalions, frora
eternal damnation, and the introduction of them, not into a temporal Canaan,
but into heaven, into eternal glory and blessedness ? Was that shadow so
much to be commemorated, as that a day once a week was lo be kept on the
account of it ; and shall not we much more commemorate that great and glori
ous work of which it was designed on purpose to be a shadow ?
Besides, the words in the fourth commandment, which speak of the deliver
ance out of Egypt, can be of no significancy unlo us, unless they are to be in
terpreted of the gospel rederaption : but the words of the decalogue are spoken
to all nations and ages. Therefore, as the words were spoken lo the Jews, they
referred to the type or shadow- ; as they are spoken to us, they are to be inter
preted ofthe antitype and substance. For the Egypt from which we underlhe
gospel are redeeraed, is the spiritual Egypt ; the bouse of bondage, frora which
we are redeemed, is a slate of spiritual bondage. Therefore the words, as spok
en lo us, are to be thirs interpreted : Remember, thou wast a servant to sin and
Satan, and the Lord thy God delivered thee from this bondage, with a mighty
hand and outstretched arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to
keep tbe Sabbath day.
As the words in the preface to the ten comraandraents, about tbe bringing
of tbe children of Israel out of Egypt, are interpreted in our catechisra, and as
they bave respect to us, must be interpreted of our spiritual redemption, so, by
an exact identity of reason, must these words in Deuteronomy, annexed to the
fourth comraand, be interpreted ofthe sarae gospel redemption.
The Jewish Sabbalh was kept on the day that the children of Israel came
up out of the Red Sea. For we are told in Deut. v. 15, that tbis holy rest
of the Sabbath was appointed in coraraeraoration of their coming up out of
Egypt But the day of their going thraugh the Red Sea was the day of their
coining up out of Egypt ; for till then they were in the land of Egypt The
Red Sea was the boundary ofthe land of Egypt— The Scripture itself tells us,
that that day on which they sung the song of Moses, was the day of their cora
ing up out of the land of Egypt. Hos. ii. 15, " And she shall sing there, as
in tbe days of her youth, as" in the day when she carae up out of the land of
Egypt ;" referring plainly to tbat triuraphant song which Moses and the chil
dren of Israel sang when they carae up out ofthe Red Sea.
The Scripture lells us, that God appointed the Jewish Sabbath in coraraera
oration of the deliverance of the children of Israel ftom their task-masters, the
Egyptians, and of their rest from their hard bondage and slavery under them.
Deut v. 14, 15, "That thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well
as thou. And remeraber tbat thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that
the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, Ihrough a raighty hand, and by an
outstretched arm : therefore the Lord thy God coraraanded thee lo keep the
Sabbath day." But the day that the children of Israel were delivered from
their task-raaslers and had rest frora thera, was the day when the children of
Israel came up out of the Red Sea. They had no rest ftom them till then. For
though they were before come forth on tbeir journey to go out of the land of
Egypt ; yet they were pursued by the Egyptians, and were exceedingly per
plexed and distressed. But on the morning that they came up out of the Red
628 PERPETUITY AND CHANGE
Sea, tl.ey had complete and final deliverance ; tben they had full rest from
their task-masters. Then God said to them, " The Egyptians wbich ye have
seen this day, ye shall see no more forever ;" Exod. xiv. 13. Then they en
joyed a joyful day of rest, a day of refreshraent. Then they sang the song of
Moses ; and on that day was their Sabbatb of rest.
But this coraing up of the children of Israel out of the Red Sea, was only a
type of the resurrection of Christ That people was the mystical body of Christy
and Moses was a great type of Christ hiraself; and besides, on that day ChrisI
went before the children of Israel in the pillar of cloud and of fire, as theii
Saviour and Redeeraer. On that raorning Christ, in this pillar of cloud and
I fire, rose out of the Red Sea, as out of great waters; which was a type of
i Christ's rising frora a slate of death, and from that great humfliation which he
i suffered in death.
The resurrection of Christ frora the dead, is in Scripture represented by his
coraing up out of deep waters. So it is in Christ's resurrection, as represented by
Jonah's coraing out of the sea. Matt xii. 40. It is also compared to a deliverance
out of deep waters in Psal. Ixix. 1, 2, 3, and ver 14, 15. These things are spoken
of Christ, as is evident frora this, that raany things in this Psalm are in the New
' Testaraent expressly applied to ChrisI, as you raay see by comparing ver. 4
with John xv. 25, and ver. 9, wilh John ii. 17, and ver. 2, with Matt, xxvii
34, 48, and Mark xv. 23, and John xix. 29, and ver. 22, with Rom. xi. 9, 10
land ver. 25, with Acts i. 20.
Therefore it being so, that the Jewish Sabbath was appointed on the day
on which the pillar of cloud and fire rose out of the Red Sea, and on which Mo
ses and the church, the mystical body of Christ, carae up out of the same sea,
which is a type of the resurrection of Christ ; it is a great confirmation tbat the
Christian Sabbath should be kept on the day of the rising of the real body of
ChrisI from the grave, whicb is the antitype. For surely the Scriptures have
taugbt us, that the type should give way to the antitype, and that the shadow
should give way to tbe substance.
8. I argue tbe same thing frora Psalm cxvin. 22, 23, 24. There we are
taught, tbat the day of Christ's resurreation is to be celebrated with holy joy by
the churcb. " The stone which the buiklers refused is become the head stone of
the corner. This is the Lord's doing, it is raarvellous in our eyes. This is the
day which the Lord hath made, we wfll rejoice and be glad in it." The stone
spoken of is Christ ; be was refused and rejected by the buflders, especially wben
he was put to death. That making of him 'the head of the corner spoken of,
whicb is the Lord's doing, and so marvellous in our eyes, is Christ's exaltation,
w-hich began with his resurrection. While Christ lay in the grave, be lay as a
stone cast away by the builders. But when God raised hira flora the dead, then
he becarae the head of the corner. Thus it is evident the apostle interprets it.
Acts iv. 10, 11: " Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that
by the narae of Jesus of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whora God raised frora
the dead," &c. — " This is the stone which was set at nought by you builders,
which is becorae the head of the corner."
And Ihe day on whicb this was done, we are here taught, that God hath
made to be the day of the rejoicing of the church.
9. The abolition ofthe Jewish Sabbalh seeras to be intimated by trnis, that
Christ, the Lord ofthe Sabbath, lay buried on tbat day. Christ, tbe author ot
the worid, was the author of that work of creation, of which the Jewish Sab
bath was the memorial. It was he tbat worked six days and rested tbe seventh
day from all his works, and was refreshed. Yet he was holden in the chains ol
OF THE SABBATH. ggj)
ieath on that day. God, who created the world, now in his second work of
creation, did not follow his own example, if I may so speak ; be did not rest on
the sarae day, but remained imprisoned in the grave on that day, and took ano
ther day lo rest in.
The Sabbath was a day of rejoicing ; for it was kept in commemoration ot
God's glorious and gracious works of creation, and the redemption out of Egypt
Therefore we are directed to call the Sabbatb a delight. But it is not a proper
day for the churcb, Christ's spouse, to rejoice, when Christ the bridegroom lies
buried in tbe grave, as Christ says. Matt. ix. 15, " That the children of the
bridechamber cannot mourn, while the bridegroora is with thera. Bul the time
will corae, when the bridegroora shall be taken from them ; then shall they
mourn." While Christ was holden under the chains of dealh ; then the bride
groom was taken frora thera ; then il was a proper time for the spouse to mourn
and not rejoice. But when Christ rose again, tben it was a day of joy, because
we are begotten again to a lively hope, by tbe resurrection of Jesus ChrisI from
the dead. 10. Christ hath evidently, on purpose and design, peculiarly honored Ihe
first day of the week, the day on whicb he rose from the dead, by tak-ing this
day of the week, frora tirae to lime, to appear to the aposlles, and by taking
this day to pour out the Holy Ghost on the apostles, which we read of in the
second chapter of Acts : for this was on Ihe first day of the week, being on
Pentecost, which was on the first day of the week, as you may see by Levit
xxiii. 15, 16. And by pouring out his Spirit on the Apostie John, and giving
him his visions on this day. Rev. i. 10, " I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
day," &c.
Now doubtless Christ bad bis meaning in thus distinguishingly honoring
this day.
11. It is evident by the New Testament, that this was especially the day of
the public worship of the primitive church, by the direction of the aposlles.
We are told that this was the day that they were wont to corae together lo break
bread ; and this they evidenlly did with the approbation of tbe aposlles, inas
much as they preached to them on that day ; and therefore, doubtless, they
asserabled together by the direction of the apostles: Acls xx. 7, " And upon
the first day of tbe week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul
preached unto them." So the Holy Ghost was careful that the public contri
butions should be on this day, in al! the churches, rather than on any other day,
as appears by our text
12. The first day of the week is, in the New Testaraent, cafled the Lord's
d\y; see Rev. i. 10. Sorae sav. How do we know that that was the first day of
the week? Every day is the Lord's day. Bul it is ridiculous so lo talk. For
the design of John is to lell us when he had tbose visions. And if by the Lord's
day is meant any day, how doth that inform us when that event took place ?
But what is meant by this expression we know, ju.st in the same way as we
know what is the meaning of any word in the original of the New Testament,
or the raeaning of any expression in an ancient language, viz., by what we find
to be the universal signification of the expression in ancient times. This ex
pression of THE Lord's day is found, by the ancient use of the whole Christian
churcb. by what appears in all the writings of ancient times, even frora the
apostles' days, to signify the first day of the week.
And the expression iraplies in it the holiness of the day. For doubtiess the
day is called the Loi4d's day, as the sacred supper is called the Lord's supper,
wbich is so called, because it is a holy supper, to be celebrated in reraerabrance
630 PERPETUITY AND CHANGE
of tbe Lord Christ, and of his rederaption. So this is a hoiy d£.y, to be kepi
in remembrance ofthe Lord ChrisI, and bis redemption.
The first day of the week, being in Scripture cafled the Lord's day, suffi.
cienlly raakes il out to be the day of the week that is to be kept holy unto God ;
for God halh been pleased to call it by his own narae. When God puts bis name
upon any thing, or any thing is called by the name of God in Scripture, this
denotes the business of that thing and the appropriation of it to Qod." Thus
God put bis name upon his people Israel of old : " Nurab. vi. 27, " And they
shall put my name upon tbe children of Israel." They were called by the narae ol
God, asil is said, 2 Chron. vii. 14, " If ray people which are called by my name,"
&c. ; i. e., they were called God's people, or the Lord's peopl^. This denoted that
they were a boly, peculiar people, above all others. Deut vii. 6, " Thou art
a holy people unto the Lord ;" and so in verse 14, and raany other places.
So the cily Jerusalem was a cily that was called by God's name : Jer. xxv
29, " Upon the city which is cafled by my name." Daniel ix. 18, 19, " And
the city which is called by thy narae, " &c. This denoted that that was a holy
city, a city chosen of God above all other cities for holy uses, as it is often called
the holy CITY, as in Nehera. xi. 1, " To dwell in Jerusalera the boly city;" and
in raany other places.
So tbe temple is said to be a house called by God's name : 1 Kings viiL
43, " This house that is called by my narae." And often elsewhere. That is,
it was called God's bouse, or the Lord's house. This denoted that it was called
a holy place, a house devoted lo holy uses, above all others.
So also we find that the first day of the week is called by God's name, being
called in Scripture God's day, or the Lord's day, which denotes that it is a holy
day, a day appropriated to holy uses, above all others in the week.
13. The tradition of the churcb from age to age, though it be no rule, yet
may be a great confirraation of the truth in such a case as this is. We find by
ail accounts, that it halh been the universal custora ofthe Christian church, in
all ages, even frora the age of the apostles, to keep the first day of Ihe week.
We read in tbe writings wbich reraain of the first, second, and third centuries,
of the Christians' keeping the Lord's day; and so in all succeeding ages; and
there are no accounts that contradict them. This day hatb all along been kept
by Christians, in all countries throughout the world, and by almost all that have
borne the name of Christians, of afl denominations, however different in their
opinions as to other things.
Now,allhough this be not .sufficient of itself, without a foundation in Scrip
ture; yet il may be a confirmation of il, because there is really matter of
conviction in it lo our reason. Reason raay greatly confirm truths revealed in
the Scriptures. The universality of the custom throughout all Christian coun
tries, in afl ages, by what account we have of thera, is a good argument, that
the church had it from the aposties ; and it is difficult lo conceive bow all
should come lo agree lo set up such a custora through the world, of different
sects and opinions, and we bave no account of any' such thing.
14. It is no way weakening to these arguments, that there is nothing more
plainly said about it in the New Testament, till John wrote his revelation,
because there is a sufficient rea.son to be given for it In all probabflity il was
purposely avoided by the Holy Spirit, in the first settiing of Christian churches
in the world, both among the Heathen and among the Jews, bul especially for
the sake of the Jews, and out of tenderness lo the Jewish Christians. For it is
evident that Christ and the aposties declared one thing after anotber to thein
gradually as they could bear it.
OF THE SABBATH. 631
The Jews had a regard for their Sabbath above almost any thing in the law
of Moses ; and there was that in the Old Testament wbich tended to uphold
them in the obsevance of this, much more strongly than any thing else that was
Jewish. God had raade so rauch of it, bad so solemnly, frequentiy, and
carefully commanded it, and had often so dreadfully punished the breach ol
it, that there was raore color for their retaining this custora than almost any
other. Therefore Christ dealt very tenderly wilh thera in this point Other Ihings
of this nature we find very gradually revealed. Christ had raany things lo say,
as we are informed, which yet he said not, because they could not as yet bear
thera, and gave this reason for it, that it was like putting new wine into old
bottles. They were so contrary to their old custoras, that Christ was gradual
in revealing them. He gave here a little and there a little, as they could bear ;
and it was a long time before be told them plainly the principal doctrines of
the kingdom of heaven. He took the most favorable opportunities to tell them
of his sufferings and death, especially when they were full of adrairation at
some signal rairacle, and were confirraed in il, that he was the Messiah.
He told them many things much more plainly after his resurrection than
before. But even then, he did not lell them all, but left more to be revealed by
the Holy Ghost al Pentecost. They therefore were much raore enlightened
after that than before. However, as yet he did not reveal all. The abolition
of tbe cereraonial law about meats and drinks was not fully know-n tifl
after this.
The apostles were in the same manner careful and lender of those to whom
they preached and wrote. It was very gradually that they ventured to leach
thera the cessation of the ceremonial laws of circumcision and abstinence from
unclean meats. How tender is the Aposlle Paul with such as scrupled, in the
fourteenth chapter of Romans! He directs those who had knowledge lo keep
il to Ihemselves, for the sake of their weak brethren, Rom. xiv. 22. Bul I need
say no more lo evince this.
However, 1 will say this, that it is very possible that the apostles themselves
at first might not have this change of the day of the Sabbatb fully revealed lo
them. The Holy Ghost, at his descent, revealed rauch to them, yet after that,
they were ignorant of rauch of gospel doctrine; yea, they were so a great while
after they acted the part of apostles, in preaching, baptizing and governing the
church. Peter was surprised when he was coraraanded to eat meats legally
unclean ; so were the apostles in general, when Peter was commanded to go to
the Gentiles, to preach to them.
Thus tender was Christ of the church whfle an infant He did not feed
them with strong meal, but was careful to bring in the observation of the Lord's
day by degrees, °aii(l therefore took all occasions to honor it, by appearing f'rora
lime to time of choice on that day, by sending down his Spirit on that day in
that reraarkable raanner al Pentecost; by ordering Christians to raeet in order
to break bread on that day, and by ordering their contributions and other duties
of worship to be holden on'il ; thus introducing the observation of it by degrees.
And though as yet the Holy Ghost did not speak very plainly about it, yet God
look special care that there should be sufficient evidences of his will, to be found
out by the Christian church, when it should be raore established and settled,
and should have corae to the strength of a raan.
Thus I leave it with every one to judge, whether there be not sufficient
evidence, that it is the mind and will of God, that the first day ofthe weeb
should be kept by tbe Chiistian church as a Sabbath ?
632 PERPETUITY AND CHANGE
APPLICATION
This shall be in a use of exhortation.
1. Let us be thankful for the institution of tbe Christian Sabbath. It « ^
thing wherein God hatb shown his mercy to us, and his care for our souls. He
shows, that he, by bis infinite wisdom, is contriving for our good, as Christ
teaches us, that the Sabbalh was raade for man ; Mark ii. 27 : " The Sabbalh
was made for raan, and not man for the Sabbath." It was made for the profit
and for the comfort of our souls.
The Sabbath is a day of rest ; God hath appointed that we should, every
seventh day, rest frora all our worldly labors. Instead of tbat, he might have
appointed the hardest labors for us lo go through, some severe hardships for us
to endure. Il is a day of outward, but especially of spiritual rest. It is a day
appointed of God, that his people thereon may find rest unto tbeir souls ; that
tbe souls of believers may rest and be refreshed in their Saviour. It is a day of
rejoicing ; God made it to be a joyful day lo the church : Psalm cxvni. 24,
" This is the day which the Lord bath raade, we will rejoice and be glad in if
They that aright receive and improve the Sabbalh, call it a delight and honor
able ; il is a pleasant and a joyful day lo them ; it is an image of the future
heavcmly rest of the church. Heb. iv. 9, 10, 11, "There reraaineth therefore
a rest (or sabbatisra, as it is in the original) to the people of God. For he that
hath entered into his rest, he also halh ceased from his own works, as God did
frora his. Let us labor therefore lo enter into that rest"
The Christian Sabbalh is one of the raost precious enjoytnents of the visible
church. ChrisI showed his love to his church in instituting il ; and it becoraes
the Christian church to be thankful to her Lord for it The very name of this
day, the Lord's day, or, Jesus' day, should endear it to Christians, as it inti
mates the special relation it has to Christ, and also the design of it, which is Ihe
commemoration of our dear Saviour, and his love lo his church in redeeming it
2. Be exhorted lo keep this day holy. God hath given sucb evidences that
this is his mind, that he wifl surely require it of you, if you do not strictly and ,
conscientiously observe it And if you do thus observe it, you may have this
comfort in the reflection upon your conduct that you have not been superstitious
in it, but have done as God hath revealed il to be his mind and will in his word,
that you .should do ; and that in so doing you are in tbe way of God's accept
ance and reward.
Here let me lay before youthe following motives to excite you to tbis duty.
(1.) By a strict observation ofthe Sabbath, the name of God is honored,
and that in sucb a way as is very acceptable to hiin. Isa. Ivin. 13, " If thou
call the Sabbath a delight, the holy ofthe Lord, and shalt ho.nor him." God
is honored by it, as il is a visible manifestation of respect lo God's holy law,
and a reverencing of that which has a peculiar relation lo God himself, and
that more in some respects than the observation of many other comraands. A
man may be just, and may be generous, and yet not so plainly show respect to
Ihe revealed mind and will of God, as many of the Heathen have been so. But
if a person, wilh evident strictness and care, observe the Sabbath, it is a visible
manifestation of a conscientious regard to God's declaration of his mind, and so
is a visible honor done lo his aulhorily.
By a strict observation of the Sabbatb, tbe face of religion is kept up in the
world. If it were not for the Sabbath, there would be but little public and
visible appearance of serving, worshipping, and reverencing the supreme and in
visible Being The Sabbath seems lo have been appointed very mucb for this
OF THE SABBATH. 633
and, VIZ., to uphold the vislbflity of religion in public, or among professing so-
sieties ofmen ; and by how much greater the strictness is wilb whicb the Sab
batb is observed, and with how much more soleranity the duties of it are ob
served among a people ; by so much the greater is the manifestation among
thera of respect to the divine Being.
This sbould be a powerful motive with us to the observation of tbe Sabbalh.
It sbould be our study above all things to honor and glorify God. Il should be
the great thing with all that bear tbe name of Christians, lo honor their great
God and King, and I hope is a great «thing with many that hear me at this
time. If this be your inquiry, if this be your desire, to honor God ; by this sub-
ect you are directed to one way whereby you may do much in tiiat "way, viz.,
by honoring the Sabbath, and by showing a careful and strict observance of it
(2.) Tbat which is the business of the Subbath is the greatest business of
our lives, viz., the business of religion. To serve and worship God is that for
which we were raade, and fbr which we had our being given us. Oiher busi
ness, which is of a secular nature, and on which we are wont to attend on
week days, is but subordinate, and ought to be subservient to the higher pur
poses and ends of religion. Therefore surely We should not think much of de
voting one seventh part of our time, to be wholly spent in this business, and to
be set apart lo exercise ourselves in the immediate duties of religion.
(3.) Let it be considered that all our time is God's, and Iherefore wben he
challenges of us one clay in seven, he challenges his own ; be doth not exceed
his righl ; be would not have exceeded it, if he had challenged a far' greater
proportion of our time to be spent in his immediate service. But he hath mer
cifully considered our state, and our necessities here : and, as he halh consulted
the good of our souls in appointing a seventh day for the immediate duties of
religion, so he hath considered our outward necessities, and hath aflowed us six
days for attendance on our outward affairs. What unworthy treatment, there
fore, will it be of God, if we refuse to allow him the seventh day !
(4.) As the Sabbath is a day v/hich is especially set apart for religious ex
ercises, so it is a day wherein God especially confers his grace and blessing.
As God hath commanded us to set it apart lo have converse with God, so God
hath set il apart for himself lo have converse wilh us. As God hath command
ed us to observe the Sabbath, so God observes the Sabbath too. It is witii res
pect to the Sabbath, as Solomon prayed that it might be wilh respect to the
teraple, 2 Chron. vi. 20. His eyes are open upon it : he stands ready then es
pecially to hear prayers, to accept of religious services, to raeet his people, to
raanifest himself lo them on this day, to give his Holy Spirit and blessing to
those who dfligentiy and conscientiously sanctify it
That we should sanctifvlhe Sabbalh, as we have observed, is according to
God's institution. God in'a sense observes bis own institutions; i. e., is wont
to cause thera to be attended with a blessing. Tbe institutions of God are his
appointed raeans of grace, and with his institutions he hath promised his bless
ing. Exod. XX. 24, " In all places where I record my narae, I will corae unto
thee, and I will bless thee." For the same reason may we conclude, that God
will meet his people and bless them, waiting upon him not only in appointed
places, but at appointed times, and in al! appointed ways. Christ halh proii.is-
ed, that where two or three are gathered together in his name, he will be in
the midst of them. Matt, xvifl. 20. One thing included in the expression, m
his name, is, that it is by his appointment, and according to bis institution
God hath raade it our duty, by his insiitution, to set apart this day for a
special seeking of his grace and blessing. Frora which we raay argue, that he
Vol. IV. 80
634 PERPETUITY AND CHANGE
wifl je especiafly ready to confer bis grace on those who tbus seek it. If il 'je
the day on which God requires us especially to seek hira, we raay argue, tbat
it is a day on which especially he will be found. That God is ready on this
day especially to bestow his blessing on tbem that keep it aright, is implied in
thai expression of God's blessing the Sabbath day. God hath not only hallow
ed the Sabbath day, but blessed it ; he halh given his blessing to it, and wfll
confer bis blessing upon all the due observers of it. He hath hallowed it, or
appointed that it be kept holy by us, and hath blessed it ; he hath determined
to give his blessing upon it.
So that here is great encouragement for us to keep holy the Sabbath, as
we would seek God's grace and our own spiritual good. The Sabbath day is
an accepted lime, a day of salvation, a lime wherein God especially loves to'be
sought, and loves to be found. The Lord Jesus Christ takes delight in his own
lay ; be delights to honor it ; be delights lo meet with and manfl'est hiraself lo
his disciples on it, as he showed before his ascension, by appearing to thera
from time to tirae on this day. On this day he delights to give his Holy Spirit,
as he intiraated, by choosing- it as the day on which to pour out the Spirit, in so
remarkable a raanner on the primitive church, and on which to give his Spirit
to the Aposlle John.
Of old God blessed the seventh day, or appointed it to be a day whereon
[especially he would bestow blessings on his people, as an expression of his
town joyful reraerabrance of that day, and ofthe rest and refreshraent which he
/bad on it Exod. xxxi. 16, 17, " Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep
the Sabbath. — For in six days the Lord raade heaven and earth, and oh the
seventh day he rested and was refreshed." As princes give gifts on their
birlh days, on their raarriage days, and the like ; .so Gocf was wont to dispense
spiritual gifts on the seventh day.
But how rauch more reason has Christ to bless the day of his resurrection,
and to delight lo honor it, and lo confer his grace and blessed gifts on his peo
ple on this day. It was a day whereon ChrisI rested and was refreshed in a
hteral sense. Il was a day of great refreshraent and joy to ChrisI, being the
day of his deliverance frora the chains of dealh, the day of his finishing that
great and difficult work of rederaption, which had been upon his heart from all
eternity; the day of his justification by the Father; the day of the beginning
of his exaltation, and of the fulfilraent of the promises of the Father ; the day
when he had eternal life, which he had purchased, put into his hands. — On
this day Christ dolh indeed delight lo distribute gifts, and blessings, and joy, and
bappiness, and will delight lo do the sarae lo the end of the world.
0 therefore, how wefl is it worth our while lo iraprove this day, to call
upon God and seek Jesus ChrisI on il ! Let awakened sinners be stirred up by
tbese Ihings, to improve the Sabbalh day, as they would lay ihemselves most in
the way ofthe Spirit of God. Improve the Sabbath day to call upon God ; for
then he is near. Improve the Sabbath day for reading the holy Scriptures, and
diligently attending his word preached ; for then is the likeliest tirae to have
the Spirit acconapanying it Let the saints who are desirous of growing in
grace, and enjoying coramunion whh Christ, iraprove the Sabbath in'order to il.
(5.) The last raolive which I shall mention, is the experience of the infiu
ence which a strict observation of the Sabbalh has upon the whole of religion
Il may be observed, that in tbose places where the Sabbalh is well kept, reli
gion in general will be most flourishing ; and that in those places where the
Sabbatb is not rauch t,»ken notice of, and mucb is not made of it, there is no
great raatter of religion any way
OF THE SABBATH. 63[
Here I would give several directions in answer to tbis.
Inquiry. How ought we lo keep the Sabbalh ?
Answer 1. We ought to be exceedingly careful on tbis day to abstain ftom
sin. Indeed, afl breaches of the Sabbalh are sinful; but we .speak now of
those things which are in theraselves sinful, or sinful upon other accounts, besides
that they are done upon the Sabbatb. The Sabbath being boly lime, it is es
pecially defiled by the commission of sin. Sin by being committed on Ihis day
becomes the more exceeding sinful. We are required to abstain ftom sin al all
times, but especially on holy time. The commission of immoralities on the
Sabbatb is the worst way of profaning it, that which most provokes God, and
brings most guilt upon tbe souls of men.
How provoking must it be to God, when men do those things on that day
which God has sanctified, and set apart lo be spent in the immediate exercises
of religion, whicb are not fit to be done on commoL days, which are impure and
wicked whenever ibey are done !
Therefore, if any persons be guflty of any sucb wickedness as intemperance
or any unclean actions, they do in a very horrid manner profane the Sabbath.
Or if tbey be guilty of wickedness in speech, of talking profanely, or in an
unclean and lascivious manner, or of talking against their neighbors, they do in
a dreadful manner profane the Sabbath. Yet very comraonly those who are
used to such things on week days, have not a conscience to restrain thera on the
Sabbath. It is well if those that live in the indulgence of the lust of uncleanness
on week days be not sorae way or other unclean on the Sabbath. They will be
indulging tbe sarae lusts then ; tbey will be indulging the same irapure flaraes
in their imaginations at least : and it is well if they keep clear while in the
house of God, and while they pretend to be worshipping God. The unclean
young raan gives this account of himself, Prov. v. 14 : " I was alraost in an evil
in the raidst of the congregation and tbe asserably." So those who are addict
ed to an impure way of talking in the week time, have nothing lo keep thera
from the sarae upon the Sabbalh, when tht;y meet together. Bul dreadfully is
God provoked by such Ihings.
We ought carefully to watch over our own hearts, and to avoid all sinful
thoughts on the Sabbalh. We ought to maintain such a reverence for the Sab
bath, as to have a peculiar dread of sin, such as shall awe us to a very careful
Walch over ourselves.
2. We ought to be careful to abstain frora all worldly concerns. The rea
son, as we have showed, why it is needful and proper that certain staled parts
of tirae should be set apart to be devoted lo religious exercises, is because the
state of mankind is such in Ihis world, that they are necessitated to exercise their
minds, and eraploy their thoughts about secular matters. It is, Iherefore con
venient that there should be stated tiraes, wherein all should be obliged to throw
by all other concerns, that their minds raay the more freely and wilh less en
tanglement, be engaged in religious and spiritual exercises.
We are therefore to do thus, or else we frustrate the very design of the in
stitution of a Sabbath. We are strictly to abstain from being outwardly en
gaged in any worldly thing, either worldly business or recreations. We are to
rest in remerabrance of Gocl's rest frora the work of creation, and of Christ's
rest ftom the work of redemption. We should be careful that we do not en
croach upon the Sabbath at its beginning, by busying ourselves about tiie world
•nfter the Sabbath is begun. We should avoid talking about worldly raatters,
and even thinking about them ; for whelher we outwardly concern ourselves
with the world or not, yet if our minds be upon it, we frustrate tbe end of tbe
636 PERPETUITY AND CHANCn
Sabbatb. The end of its separation from other days is, tbat our minds may be
disengaged from worldly things ; -and we are to avoid being outwardly concern
ed wilb the worid, only for this reason, that that cannot be wiihout taking up
our minds. We ought therefore to give tbe world no place in our thoughts
on the Sabbalh, but to abstract ourselves from all worldly concernment, and
.nainlain a watch over ourselves, that the world do not encroach, as it is very
apt lo do, Isai. Iviu. 13, 14.
3. We ought to spend the time in religious exercises. This is the more
ultimate end of the Sabbath : we are to keep our minds separate from the world,
principally for this end, that we may be the more free for religious exercises.
I Though it be a day of rest, yet it was not designed to be a day of idleness: lo
rest from worldly eraployraents, without employing ourselves about any thing,
I is but lo lay ourselves so much more in the devil's way. Tbe mind wifl be
employed sorae way or other ; and Iherefore doub-tless the end for which we are
to call off our rainds from worldly things on the Sabbath is, that we may
employ thern about things that are better.
We are to attend on spiritual exercises with the greatest diligence. That it
is a day of rest, doth not hinder us in so doing ; for we are to look on spiritual
exercises but as the rest and refreshment of the soul. In heaven, where the
people of God have the raost perfect rest, they are not idle, but are employed
in spiritual and heavenly exercises. We should take care therefore to eraploy
our rainds on a Sabbalh day on spiritual objects by holy meditation ; improving
for our help therein the Holy Scriptures, and other books that are according to
the word of God. We should also employ ourselves outwardly on this day in
the duties of divine worship, in public and private. It is proper to be more
frequent and abundant in secret duties on this day, than on other days, as we
have time and opportunity, as well as to attend on public ordinances.
It is proper on tbis day, not only especially to promote tbe exercises of re
ligion in ourselves, bul also in others; to be assisting them, and endeavoring to
promote their spiritual good, by religious conversation and conference. Espe
ciafly those who have the care of others ought, on this day, lo endeavor to pro
mote their spiritual good : heads of families should be instructing and counsel
ling their children, and quickening them in the ways of religion, and should see
to it that the Sabbalh be strictly kept in their houses. A peculiar blessing may
be expected upon those famflies where there is due care taken that the Sabbalh
be strictly and devoutly observed.
I 4. We are on this day especially to meditate upon and celebrate the work
' of redemption. We are with special joy to remeraber the resurrection of Christ ;
because that was the finishing of the work of redemption : and this is the day
whereon Christ rested and was refreshed, after he had endured those extreme
labors which be bad endured for our perishing souls. This was the day of the
gladness of Christ's heart ; it was the day of bis deliverance frora the chains
of dealh, and also of our deliverance : for we are delivered in hira who is our
head. He, as it were, rose with his elect. He is thefirst fruits ; those tbat are
Christ's will foflow. — Christ, when he rose, was justified as a public person,
and we are justified in him. This is the day of our deliverance out of Egypt
We should tberefore meditate on this wilh joy ; we sbould have a sympathy
with Christ in his joy. He was refreshed on this day, we should be refreshed
as those whose hearts are united with his. When Christ rejoices, it becomes
all his church everywhere to rejoice. We are to say of this day, " This is tbe
"lay that the Lord hath made ; we will rejoice and be glad in it."
But we are not only to commemorate the resurrection of Christ, but the
OF THE SABBATH. 637
WLole work of .ederaption, of wbich tbis was tbe finishing. We keep tbe day
on wbich the work was finished, because it is in remembrance of the whole
work. We sbould on this day conteraplate the wonderful love of God and of
Christ, as expressed in the work of redemption ; and our reraembrance of these
things should be accompanied with suitable exercises of soul with respect to
tbem. When we call to mind the love of Christ, il should be with a return of
love on our part When we comraeraorale this work, it should be with faith
II I'-e Saviour. And we should praise God and the Larab for this work, for
the divine glory and love manifested in it, in our private and public prayers, in
talking of the wonderful works of God, and in singing divine songs.
Hence it is proper that Christ's disciples should choose this day to come
together to break bread, or to celebrate the ordinance of the Lord's Supper,
Acts xx. 7, because it is an ordinance instituted in remembrance ofthe work of
rederaption. 5. Works of mercy and charity are very proper and acceptable lo Christ
on this day. They were proper on the ancient Sabbath. Christ was wont to
do such works on the S-dbbalh day. But they especially become the Christian
Sabbath, because it is a day kept in commemoration of the greatest work of
mercy and love towards us that ever was wrought. Wbat can be more proper
than that on such a day we should be expressing our love and mercy towards
our fellow creatures, and especially our fellow Christians. ChrisI loves to see
us show our thankfulness to him in such ways as these. Therefore, we find
that the Holy Ghost was especially careful, that such works should be perform
ed on the first day of the week in the primitive churcb, as we learn by our text.
SERMON XLII.
the nature .\nd ene of excommunication.
I CaaiNTHiANS V. 11. — But now I have written unto you, not to keep company, if ar/ ^mr. that le co;/i-
a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or xn extortioner ; w ti
such a one, no not to eat.
The church of Corinth, in priraitive tiraes, was very faraous for the gifts anc
graces of the Spirit of God, as well as for the nuraber of its members. Thif
church w-as first planted by the Apostle Paul : be was, as il were, the spiritual
falher ofii, who had converied its merabers from Heathenism to Christianity;
as be reminds them in these epistles : 1 Cor. iv. 15, " For Ihough ye have ten
thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers. For in Christ
Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." We have an account of the
apostle's planting this church in the iSlh chapter of Acts.
Il was doubtless excellently regulated by him, when he was present to have
an immediate inspection of its affairs. Bul in his absence many corruptions and
disorders crept in among its members. Among other disorders, one of the raem
bers hatl been guilty ofa very heinous kind of wickedness: he had coramitted
incest in one of the grossest degrees of it, in having bis father's wife; which
the apostle observes was infamous even araong the Heathens. And the churcb
of Corinth had tolerated him in it, so as notwithstanding to suffer him to con
tinue in Iheir comraunion.
The chapter of which our text is a pert, is Avholly upon this subject The
aposlle reproves the church for conniving at this wickedness, as they had done
in not excoraraunicatingthe person who had been guilty of it; and direct^ thera
speedily to cast him out frora among them ; thus delivering him to Satan. He
orders them to purge out such scandalous persons, as the Jews were wont to
purge leaven out of their houses when they kept the passover.
in the text and two foregoing verses he more particularly explains tbeir
duty wilh respect to such vicious persons, and enjoins it on them not to keep
corapany with such. But then shows the difference they ought to observe in
.heir carriage towards those who were vicious among the Heathen, who had
never joined with the church, and towards those ofthe same vicious character
who had been their professed brethren ; see vetses 9 — 12 : " I wrote unto you,
not lo company wilh fornicators. Yet not altogether with the fornicators of
this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or wilb idolaters; for then
must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unlo you, not to
keep c;ompany, if any raan that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous,
or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner : with such a one,
no not to eat "
In the words ofthe text we raay observe two Ihings, viz., tbe duty, and the
object. I. The duty enjoined, of which two things are expressed.
1. The behavior required, negatively expressed, not to keep company.
2. The manner or degree, no not to eat.
II. The object, wbo is designed by two things.
]. That he appear to be vicious ; a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater.
3r a -ailer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner We are not tn understand only
THE NATURE AND END OF EXCOMMUNICATION. 639
these particular vices, but tbese, or any other gross sins, or whatever cariies in
it visible wickedness. It is evident, that the apostle here, and in the context,
intends that we should exclude out of our company all those who are visibly
wicked men. For in tbe foregoing verses he expresses his meaning by this,
that we should purge out the old leaven ; and, explaining what he means by
leaven, he includes all visible wickedness, as in verse 8 : " Therefore let us
keep the feast, not wilh old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and
wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and trulh."
2. The other thing by wbich the objeci of this behavior or dealing is char
acterized, is, that he be one that is called a brother, or one tbat halh been a
professed Christian, and a member ofthe church. I
DOCTRINF
Those members of the visible Christian church tbat are become visibly
wicked, ought not to be tolerated in the church, but should be excommunicated
In handling this subject, I shall speak,
I. of the nature of excoraraunication ;
II. Of the subject ; and,
11 1. Of the ends of it.
I. I sball say soraething of the nature of excoraraunication. Il is a ptraish
raent executed in the name and according to the will of Christ, wbereby a
person who hath heretofore enjoyed tbe privileges of a meraber of the visible
church of Christ, is ca.st out of tbe church and delivered unto Satan.
It is of the nature of a punishment inflicted : il is expressly called a punish
ment by the aposlle in 2 Cor. ii. 6 : speaking of the excommunicated Corin
thian, he says, " Sufficient to such a man isi this punishment" For Ihough it
be not designed by rnan for the destruction of the person who is the subject ot
il, but for bis correction, and so is of the nature of a castigatory punishraent,
at least so far as it is a punishraent inflicted by raen ; yet it is in itself a great
and dieadful calamity, and the most severe punishment that Christ halh ap
pointed in the visible church. Although in il the church is to seek only tbe
good of the person and his recovery from sin, there appearing, upon proper
trial, no reason lo hope for his recovery by gentler means ; yet it is al God's
sovereign disposal, whelher it shall issue in his humiliation and repentance, or
in his dreadful anci eternal destruction ; as it always doth issue in the one or
the other. Ill the definition of excoraraunication now given, two things are chiefly
worthy of consideration. 1. Wherein this punishment consists. 2. By whom
it is inflicted.
First, I would show wherein this punishment consists; and il is observable
tbat there is in it something privative, and sornelhing posiiive.
First, There is something privative in excoraraunication, which consists in
being deprived of a benefit heretofore enjoyed. This part of the punishment is
in Scripture expressed by being cast out ofthe church. So this punishment in
tbe Jewish church was called putting out of the synagogue, John xvi. 2, The
word synat'oo-ue is a word of the sarae signific ation as the wo.d church. So
this punishment in the Christian church is called casting out of tiie churcb.
Tbe Apostle John, blaming Diolrephes for inflicting this punishraent without
cause, says, 3 John v. 10, " He casteth them out of the church."
This privative part of the punishraent is soraetimes expressed by the church's
withdrawing from a member : 2 Thes. ih. 6, " Now we command you, brethren.
640 THE NATURE AND END
in the narae ofthe Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves frora evry
brother tbat walketh disorderly." '
The privative part ofthe punishment of excoraraunication consists in this,
viz., in being cut off from the enjoyraent of the privileges of God's visible people.
The whole worid of mankind is divided into these two sorts, those that are God's
visible people, and so are wilhin the visible church of Christ ; and those that
are wiihout the visible church, and are of the visible kingdora of Satan. Now
il is a great privilege to be one of the visible people of God, to be within the
visible church of Christ, and to enjoy the benefits of such : it is abundantiy so
spoken of in Scripture. On the other hand, it is very doleful to be without
?his visible kingdom, or to be cut off' from the privileges of it, and to be ex
cluded, as those who are lo be treated as belonging to the visible kingdom oi
Satan. The privileges which are lo be enjoyed in the visible chur^-.h of Christ, from
which excoramunicated persons are to be cut off, are of these four kinds :
1. The charity of the church.
2. Brotherly society wilh the raerabers of the church.
3. The fellowship of the church in worship.
4. The internal privileges of visible Christians.
1. They are cut off frora being the objects of that charity of God's people
which'is clue to Christian brethren. Fhey are not indeed cut off frora all the
charity of God's people, for all raen ought to be tbe objects of their love. There
is a love due from the people of God even to the Heathens and others who are
not in the visible church of Christ Our love should be like that of our hea
venly Father, who is kind lo the evil and the good. But I speak of the brotherly
charity due to visible saints.
Charily, as the apostle represents it, is as it were the bond by which the
several members of the church of ChrisI are united together ; and therefore he
calls it the bond of perfectness : Col. ih. 14, " Put on charily, which is the bond
of perfectness." But when a person is justly excommunicated, it is like a
physician's cutting off a diseased member from the body ; and then the bond
which before united it to the body is cut or broken.
A scandal is the same as a stumbling-block ; and when a member of the
visible church is guilty of scandal, a stumbling-block is laid before others in
two respects.
(1.) It is a dishonor to God, a bad exaraple, and a sturabling-block, asil is
the occasion of others falling into sin.
(2.) It is a stumbhng-block in the way ofthe charity of bis fellow Chris
tians towards the offender. As long therefore as the scandal reraains, il sturables
the charity of others : and if it finally remains after proper endeavors to remove
it, then il breaks their charily, and so the offender is cut off from the charity of
the church.
He is cut off from the charity ofthe church in the following respects :
[1.] As he is cut off frora the charitable opinion and esteera ofthe church;
RO that the church cannot any longer look upon him as a Christian, and so
rejects him ; therefore excoraraunication is called a rejection : Tit. iii. 10, " A
man that is a heretic, after the fir.st and second admonition, reject." This im
plies that the church doth not approve, or that it disapproves the person as a
Christian : it cannot any longer charitably look upon him as a saint, or feflow
worshipper of God, and can do no other than, on the contrary, esteem hira an
enemy of God ; and so doth openly withdraw its charity from" him, ceasing
to acknowledge bira as a fellow Christian, or fellow worshipper of God.
OF EXCOMMUNICATION. 641
and henceforv\-ard treating him as no more a fellow worshipper than the
Heathens. [2.] The person excommunicated is also cut off from tbat honor wbich is
I'le to brethren and fellow Christians. To be a visible Christian is an honor-
ame character, and mucb honor is*due to persons of this character. But ex
coramunicated persons forfeit *h'\ ; honor. Christians ought not to pay that
honor and respect to them which they pay to others; but should treat thera as
unworthy of such honor, that they raay be ashamed. Christ tells us, that tbey
should " be unto us as Heathen men and publicans," (Matt, xviii. 17,) which
implies a withdrawing from them that comraon respect and honor which we
pay lo others. There doubtless, therefore, should be a great difference between
the respect that we show such, and that whicb we show others : we ought lo
treat tbem so as to let them plainly see tbat we do ..ot count them worthy of it,
and so as tends to put them lo shame.
[3.] They ought to be cut off from that brotherly complacence that is due
to Christian brethren. Much love and coraplacency is due to those wbo are
visible Christians, or to those whora we are obliged in charity to receive as
saints ; -and on this account, because tbey are visible Christians. But this cora
placence excoraraunicaled persons forfeit
The love of benevolence or of good will is indeed .still due to them, as it is
to tbe visibly wicked : we should still wish well lo thera, and seek their good.
Excommunication itself is to be performed as an act of benevolence or good
wfll ; we should seek their good by it ; and it is to be used as a means of their
eternal salvation. But complacence and delight in them as visible Christians
is lo be withdrawn ; and on the contrary they are to be the objects of dis
placency and abhorrence. When they are excoraraunicaled they are avoided
and rejected with abhorrence, as visibly and apparently wicked. We are to
cast them out as an unclean thing which defiles the church of God.
In this sense the Psalmist professes a hatred of tbose who were the visible
enemies of God. Psal. cxxxix. 21, 22 : " Do I not hate thera, 0 Lord, that
hate thee ? And am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee ? I hate
them wilh perfect hatred." Not that he hated them with a hatred of malice or
ifl will, but wilh displacency and abhorrence of their wickedness. In this
respect we ought to be the chfldren of our Father who is in heaven, who,
though he loves many wicked raen with a love of benevolence, yet cannot love
them wilb a love of complacence. Thus excommunicated persons are cut off
from the charily of the church.
2. They are cat off from the society -which Christians have togetber as
brethren. I speak now of the common society which Christian brethren have
together. Tbus we are commanded to withdraw from such ; 2 Thes. iii. 6. To
avoid them ; Rom. xvi. 17 To have no company wilh them ; 2 Thess. iii. 14.
And to treat them as Heathens ^ and publicans; Matt, xviii. 17. The people of
God are not only to avoid society with visibly wicked men in sacred Ihings;
but when excommunicated, as much as raay be to avoid and withdraw from
thera as to that coramon society which is proper to subsist amiDng Christians.
Not that they should avoid speaking lo thera on any occasion. All manner
and all degrees of society are not firbidden; but all unnecessary society, all
such society as holds forth coraplacen ;e in them, or such as is wont to be among
those that delight in the company of one anolher. We should not associate
ourselves with them so as to make thera our corapanions. Yea, there ought to
be such an avoiding oftheir corapany as shall show great dislike, or such as
Jiere is wont to be between persons wbo very much dislike each other.
Vol. IV 81
C42 THE NATURE AND END
Particulariy, we arc forbidden such a degree of society, or appearance ol
associating ourselves with thera, as there is in raaking thera our guests at out
tables, or in being their guests at their tables ; as is manifest in the text, where
we are coraraanded to have no company wilh them, no not to eat. That this
resjiects not eating with them at the Lord's;,Siipper, but a comraon eating, is
ivident by two tbings.
( 1.) It is evident by the words, tbat tbis eating bere forbidden, is one of tbe
lowest degrees of keeping corapany, which are forbidden. Keep no company
with such a one, saith the apostle, no not to eat. As mucb as to say, no not in
so low a degree as to eat with him. But this would be a ridiculous sort of lan
guage for eating wilh hira at the Lord's Supper, which is the very highest
degree of visible Christian coraraunion. Who can suppose that the apostie
would speak such nonsense as this. Take heed and have no corapany with a
man, no not so much as in the highest degree of coraraunion that you can have ?
(2.) The apostle raenlions this eating as a way of keeping corapany which
they raight not hold with an excoraraunicaled brother, which howe.ver they
raight hold with the Heathen. He tells thera, not to keep corapany with forni
cators; then he inforras thera, he means not with the fornicators of this world,
that is, the Heathens ; but, saith he, " if any man that is called a brother be a
fornicator, &c., with such a one keep no company, rionot to eat." This makes
It most apparent, that the aposlle dolh not mean eating at the Lord's table ; for
so they might not keep company with the fornicators of the Heathens any raore
than wilh an excoraraunicaled person.
Here naturally arise two questions.
Question 1. How far are the churcb to treat excommunicated persons as
they would treat the Heathens, or those wbo never have been of the visible
church ? 1 answer, they are lo treat thera as Heathens, excepting in these tws
things, in which there is a difference to be observed.
(1.) They are to have a greater concern for their welfare still than if they
had never been brethren, and therefore ought to take more pains, by admoni
tions and otherwise, lo reclaim and save thera, than they are obliged to take
towards those who have been always Heathens. This seems manifest by that
of the apostle, " 2 Thess. iii. 14, 15 : " And if any man obey not our word by
this epi'stle, note that raan, and have no corapany with him, that he may be
ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother."
The consideration that he hath been a brother heretofore, and that we have not
so finally cast him off frora that relation, but that we are still hoping and using
means for his recovery, obliges us lo concern ourselves more for the good of hia
soul than for those with whom we never had any sucb connection ; and so to
pray for him, and lo take pains wilh him by adraonishing him.
The very reason of the thing shows the same. For this very ordinance of
excommunication is used for this end, that we may thereby obtain the good of
the person excoramunicated. And surely we should be more concerned for tbe
good of those who have been our brethren, and wbo are now under tbe opera
tion of means used by us for their good, than for those with whom we never
had any special connection. Thus there should be raore of the love of benevo
lence exercised towards persons excommunicated, than towards tbose who never
were members of the church.
But then,
(2.) On the other hand, as to wbat relates to tbe love of complacence, they
Dught to be treated with greater displacency and disrespect than the Heathen.
This is plain by the text and context. For the apostie plainly doth not require
OF EXCOMMUNICATION. 643
lit US to avoid the company of the Heathen, or the fornicators o: the worid,
but doth expressly require us to avoid tbe company of any brother wbo sball be
guilty of any of tbe vices pointed out iif the text, or any other like vic;e, and
therefore be excommunicated.
This is also plain by the reason of tbe thing. For those who bave once
been visible Christians and bave apostatized and cast off that visibility, de.serve
to be treated with more abhorrence than those who have never made any pre-
ten.sions to Christianity. The sin of such in apostatizing frora iheir profession
is more aggravated than tbe sin of those w bo never raade any profession. They
far raore dishonor religion, and are much more abhorreo of God. Therefore
when Christ says, Mati. xviii. 17, " Let him be unto thee as a Heathen man and
a publican," il is not meant that we should treat an excoraraunicaled brother
as Christians ought lo treat Heathens and publicans ; for they raight eat with
them, as Christ bimself did; and the aposlle gives leave to eat wilh such, 1
Cor. X. 27 ; and in the context gives leave to keep company with such ; yet
forbids to eat with an excommunicated person.
Christ's meaning must be, that we should treat an excoramunicated person,
as the Jews were wont to treat the Heathens and publicans ; and as the disciples
had been always taught araong the Jews, and brought up, and used to treat thera.
They would by no means eat with publicans and sinners ; they would not eat
with the Gentiles, or wilh the Samaritans. Therefore Peter durst not eat wilh
tbe Gentiles when the Jews were present. Gal. ii. 12.
Question 2. What kindness and respect may and ought to be shown lo such
persons ?
(1.) There are some things by which the merabers of tbe church are obliged
to show kindness to thera ; and these things are chiefly two, to pray for thera,
and to admonish them.
(2.) The comraon duties and offices of huraanily ought to be performed
towards them ; such as relieving tbem when they are sick, or under any other
distress ; allowing them those benefits of human society, and that help, wbich
are needful for tbe support and defence of their lives and property.
(3.) The duties of natural and civil relations are still to be perforraed
tovHards thera. Excoraraunication doth not release children frora the obligation
of duly to their parents, nor parents from parental affection and care towards
their children. Nor are husbands and wives released from the duties proper lo
tbeir relation. And so of afl other less relations," whelher natural, domestic, or
civil. 3. They are cut off from the fellowship of the worship of the Christian
jhurcb. Yhe true notion ofthe visible church of Christ, is tbat part of raankind,
which, as his people, is united in bis worship, or which agrees in upholding his
appointed worship. And the notion of a particular visible church of ChrisI, is
a particular society of worshippers, or of visible saints, united for the social
worship of God according to his institutions or ordinances. One great and main
privileo-e then, which the raerabers of sucb a church enjoy, is fellowship in the
worship which God halh appointed in his church. But they that are excora
municated are cut off ftora this privilege, they have nc) fellowship, no cora
munion wilh the people of God in any pari oftheir worship. They can have no
fellowship with them in baptism, or the Lorcl's Supper, or in the prayers which
they offer up, or in the praises whicb they sing.
He that is the moutb ofthe worshipping congregation in offering up pubhc
prayers, is not the raouth of those who are excoramunicated. He is the moulh
only of 'the worshipping society ; but they are cast out of that society. The
644 THE NATURE AND END
church may and ought to pray for such ; but tbey cannot bave fellowship with
sucb in prayer. The rain ster, when speaking in prayer, ought to pray for those
tbat are shut out of tife society of God'« visible servants or worshippers ; but he
doth not speak in their narae. He speaks only in the narae of the united
society of visible saints or worshippers. If the people of God were to put up
prayers in their narae, il would iraply a receiving of them into charily, or that
tbey charitably looked upon thera, and received them as the servants or wor
shippers of God. But, as was observed before, excoramunicated persons are in
this respect cast out ofthe charity ofthe church, and the church hath no longer
charity for them, as the servants or worshippers of God ; but looks upon thera
as wicked men and eneraies of Gotl, and treats thera as such.
So when a congregation of visible sainls join in singing tbe praises of God,
as the Psalraist says. Psalm xxxiv. 3, " Let us extol his name together ;" they
do it only as joining wilh tbose that are in their charily to be looked '"pon as
feflow servants and fellow worshippers of God. They do it not as joining with
Heathens ; nor do the people of God say to the open enemies of God, remain
ing such, " Come let us extol his narae together ;" but they say it lo their
brethren in God's service. If we ought not lo join with excoraraunicaled per-
s-jus in familiar society, much less ought we to hold fellowship with them in
solemn wor.ship.
4. There are privileges of a more internal nature, whicb those wbo are
membeis ofthe visible church enjoy, frora which excommunicated persons are
cut off'. They being God's covenant people, are in the way of covenant bless
ings; and therefore have more encouragement lo come lo God by prayer for
any inercy they need. The visible church is the people araong whora God
hath set his tabernacle, and araong whom he is wont to bestow his blessings.
But Ihey that are excoramunicated are in a sense cast out of God's sight, or
from God's face, into a land of banishraent, as Cain was; Gen. iv. 14, 16.
They are not in the way of those smiles of Providence, those tokens of God't
favor, and that light of God's countenance, which those who are wilhin are in
the way of Nor, as they are cast out frora araong God's covenant people,
bave they the divine covenant to plead, as the merabers ofthe church have.
Thus far I have considered the privative part of the punishment of excom
municalion. I now proceed.
Secondly, To the positive'part, whicb is expressed by being delivered to
Satan, in verse 5, of the context By wbich two tbings seera to be signified.
1. A being delivered over to the calaraities to which thev are subject who
belong to the visible kingdora of the devil. As they who are" excommunicated
are thrust out ftom among the visible people of God ; so doubtiess they are tc
be looked upon, in most respects at least, a.s being in the raiserable, deplorable
circumstances in which those who are under the visible tyranny of the devfl,
as the Heathens are. And in many respects tbey, doubtless, suffer the cruel
tyranny of the devil, in a manner agreeable to the condition they are in, being
cast out inlo his visible kingdom.
2. It is reasonable to suppose that God is wont to make the devil tbe in
struraent of those peculiar, severe chastisements wbich their apostasy deserves.
As they deserve more severe chastiseraent than the Heathens, and are deliverer:
to Satan for the deNlruction of the flesh; so we may well suppose, either tbat
God is wont lo let Satan loose, sorely to molest thera outwardly or inwardly,
and by such severe raeans to destroy tbe flesh, and to hurable thera ; or tbat he
uuffers th" devfl to take possession of thera, dreadfufly to harden tbem, and str
OF EXCOMMUNICATION. Q45
to destroy tbem forever. For although wbat men are to aim a'., .s only th
destruction of the flesh ; yet whether it shall prove the destruction of Ibe flesh,
or the eternal and more dreadful destruction of tbem, is at God's sovereign dis
posal. — So much for tbe nature of excommunication.
Seconuly, I come to show by whom this punishment is to be looked on as
being inflicted.
1. When it is regulariy and duly inflicted, it is to be looked upon as done
by Christ bimself. Tbat is iraportecl in the definition, that it is according to his
will, and to the directions given in his woi-d. And therefore he is lo be looked
upon as principal in it, and we ought lo esteem it to be as really and truly from
him, as it' he were on earlb, and personally inflicted it
2. As it is inflicted by raen, it is only clone rainisterially. Tbey do not act
of themselves in this, any more Ihan in preaching the word. When tbe word
is preached, it is the woid of Christ wbich is spoken, as tbe spe-aker speaks in
the name of Christ, as his ambassador. So, when a church excommunicates
a meraber, the church acts in the name of Christ, and by bis authority, not by
its own. It is governed by his will, not by its own. Indeed it is only a par
ticular application ofthe word of Christ
Therefore it is promised, that when it is duly done, it shall be confirraed in
heaven ; i. e., Christ wfll confirm it, by acknow-ledging it to be bis own acl ;
and he will, in his future providence, have regard lo what is done thus as done
by hirnself: he will look on the person, and treat him as cast out and deliver
ed to Satan by hiraself; and if be repent not, will for ever reject and damn
hini : Malt. xvin. 18, " Verily I say unto you. Whatsoever ye sball bind on
earlh, shall be bound in heaven;" John xx. 23, " Whosesoever sins ye retain,
they are retained."
I shall now, as was proposed,
n. Endeavor to show who are the proper subjects of excommunication.
They are those members of the church who are now become visibly wicked.
Visibly wicked persons ougbf not to be tolerated in the church, but should be
cast out, as the very name and nature of the visible church show, which is a
society of visible saints, or visibly boly persons. When any of those visible
sainls becorae visibly wicked raen, they ought to be cast out of the church.
Now, the raerubers of the churcb become visibly wicked by these two things :
1. By gross sin. Saints may be guflly of other sins, and very often are^
without throwing any just stumbling-block in the way of public charity, or of
the charity of their Christian brethren. The coraraon failures of humanity, and
the daily short coraings of the best of men, do not ordinarily slurable the charity
oftheir brethren ; but when they fall into any gross sin, this effect follows; for
we naturally argue, that be who halh comraitied some gross sin halh doubtless
much more practised less and raore secret sins; and so we doubt concerning
the soundness and sincerity of his heari. Therefore all those who corarait any
gross sin, as they stumble the charity of their brethren, are proper subjects of
discipline ; and unless they confess their sin, and manifest their repentance, are
proper subjects of excommunication. This leads me lo say,
2. That the members of the church do especially become visibly wicked,
when they reraain impenitent in their sins, after proper means used to reclaim
them. Merely being guilty of gross sin, is a sturabling-block lo charity, un
less repentance immedialely succeed ; but especially when the guilty perscjn
remains obstinate and contumacious ; in such a case he is raost cleariy a visibly
wicked person, and therefore to be dealt with as such ; to be cast out into the
wicked worid, the kingdom of Satan, where he appears to belong.
646 THE NATURE AND END
Nor is contumacy in gross sins only a sufficient ground of excoraraunica
tion. In the text the apostle commands us lo inflict this censure, not only on
tbose who are guilty ofthe gross sins of fornication, idolatry, and drunkenness,
bul also on those who are guflty of covetousness, rafling, and extortion, which,
at least in some degrees of them, are generally esteemed no very heinous crimes.
And in Rora. xvi. 17, the sarae apostie coramands the churcb to excommuni
cate " thera who cause divisions and offences, conlrary to the doctrine they had
learned;" and in 2 Thess. in. 14, to excommunicate everyone wbo should
" not obey his word by that epistle." Now, according to these precepts, every
one who doth not observe the doctrine of the apostles, and their word contain
ed in their epistles, and so, by parity of reason, the divine instructions contained
in the other parts of Scripture, is to be excommunicated, provided he continue
impenitent and contumacious. So that contumacy and impenitence in any real
and manifest sin whatsoever, deserve excommunication.
111. I come al length to speak of the ends of this ecclesiastical censure.
The special ends of il are these three :
1. That the church may be kept pure, and the ordinances of God not be
defiled. This end is mentioned in the context, verse 6, &c., " Know ye not
that a liltle leaven leavenelh the whole lurap ? Purge out tberefore tbe old
leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. Therefore let us
keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wick
edness, but wilh the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
When the chuich and the ordinances of God are defiled by the toleration of
wicked raen in the church, God the Father, Jesus Christ the head and founder
of the church, the religion of the gospel, and the church itself, are dishonored
and exposed lo conterapt
That the other members themselves may not be defiled, it is necessary that
they bear a testimony againsi sin, by censuring it whenever it appears araong
them, especiafly in the grosser acts of wickedness. If they neglect so lo do,
they contract guilt by the very neglect; and not only so, bul they expose them
selves to learn the .same vices which they tolerate in others ; for " a little leaven
leavenelh the whole lurap." Hence that earnest caution of the aposlle, Heb.
xii. 15, " looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God ; lesl any
root of bitterness springing up, trouble you, and thereby raany be defiled."
2. That others raay be deterred ftora wickedness. As the neglect of pro
per censure wilh respect to visibly wicked church raembers, tends to lead and
encourage others lo commit the same wickedness ; so the infliction of proper
censure tends to restrain others, not only from the same wickedness, but from
sin in general. Tbis, therefore, is repeatedly mentioned as one end of the pun
ishments appointed to be inflicted by the law of Moses : Deut. xiii. 11, " And
all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shafl do no more such wickedness as this is
among you."
3. That the persons themselves may be reclaimed, and that their souls may
be saved. When other more gentle means have been used in vain, then it is
the duty c)f the ..hiirch lo use this, which is more severe, in order to bring thera
to conviction, shame, and humiliation ; and that, by being rejected and avoided
by the church, and treated with disrespect, Ihey raay be convinced 'bow they
deserve lo be forever disowned of God ; that by being delivered unto Satan,
they raay learn how they deserve forever to be delivered up to him ; that by
his being rjiade the instruraent of tbeir chastiseraent, they may learn how they
deserve to be tormented by hira, without any rest day or night, forever and
OF EXCOMMUNICATION. (,4';
This with the counsels and admonitions by which it is to be followed, is tbe
.ast means tbat tbe churcb is to use, in order to reclainA those members which
are become visibly wicked. If tbis be ineffectual, what is next to be expected,
is destruction without remedy. APPLICATION.
I shall apply tbis subject in a brief use of exhortation to tbis church, to
maintain strictly the proper discipline of the gospel in general, and particularly
that part of it which consists in excommunication. To this end I shall just
suggest to you the following motives.
1. That if you tolerate visible wickedness in your members, you wifl greatly
dishonor God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the religion which you profess, the church
in general, and yourselves in particular. As those members ofthe churcb tbat
-iractise wickedness Ihemselves, bring dishonor upon all tbese, so do those who
..olerate them in il. The language of it is, that God doth not require holiness
in his servants; that Christ dolh not require it in bis disciples; tbat the religion
of the gospel is not a holy religion ; that the church is not a body of holy
servants of God ; and that this church in particular, bath no regard to holiness
or true virtue.
2. Your own good loudly calls you to the sarae thing. Frora what bath
been already said, you see how liable you, as individuals, wfll be to catch the
contagion, which is easily coraraunicated by reason of the natural depravity, in
a degree at least reraaining in the best of men.
Besides, if strict discipline be maintained among you, it wifl not only tend to
prevent the spread of wickedness, but to make you more fruitful in holiness.
If you know that tbe eyes of your brethren observe all your conduct, it will
not only make you more guarded against sm, but raore careful " to maintain
good works," and to abound in " the fruits of the Spirit" Thus you will have
more abundant joy and peace in believing.
3. The good of those who are without should be anotber motive. Wbat
tbe apostle saith wilh reference to another object, in 1 Cor. xiv. 24, ''5, is per
fectly apphcable to the case before us: " But if all prophesy, and ther; corae in
one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is j idged of
afl ; and thus are tbe secrets of his heart raade raanifest ; and so fall, ng down
on bis face be will worship God, and report that God is in you of a trijth." If
strict discipline, and thereby strict morals, were maintained in the church, it
would, in all probability, be one of the most powerful means of convic tion and
conversion towards those who are wilbout
4. Benevolence towards your offending brethren theraselves cafls uj ion you
to raaintain discipline in all its parts. Surely, if we love our brethren, it will
(brieve us to see them wandering from the path of truth and duty ; and n pro
portion as our corapassion is moved, shall we be disposed to use all proper
raeans to reclaim and bring thera back to the right way. Now, tbe riles of
discipline contained in the gospel are the most proper, and best adapted to this
end, that infinite wisdom itself could devise. Even excommunication is i istilu-
ted for this very end, the destruction of the flesh, and the salvation ofthe ipirit.
If therefore, we have any love to our offending and erring brethren, it be omes
us' to manifest it, in executing strictly the rules of gospel discipline, and eve n ex
communication itself, whenever it is necessary.
5. But the absoluto authority of Christ ought to be s-afficient in this case, if
there were no other motive. Our text is only one of many passages in tbe
fi48 THE NATURE AND END OF EXCOMMUNICATION
Scrip'.Lre, wherein strict discipline is expressly commanded, and peremptorily
enjoined. Now, how can you be the true disciples of Christ, if you live in the
neglect of these plain, positive commands ? " If ye love mt," saith Christ,.
'' keep my commandments ;" and, " Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I
have commanded you." But, "He that lovetb me not, keepeth not my sayings,"
'' And wby call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the tbings which I say ?" If
you strictly follow tbe rules of discipline instituted by Christ, you bave reason
to hope for his blessing ; for he is wont to bless his own institutions, and to
3mile upon the means of grace which he hath appointed.
GENERAL INDEX.
T.ie Roman letters I. II. etc., refer to the volume — the Arabic figures to the
.Absalom — a type of Antichrist III. 549.
Absolute — meaning of, when used about the Decrees II. 514.
Accident — used for manner of Erent II. 15, 37 Note, 38.
Act — of the will, II. 1 — direct and immediate object of 5 — kind of necessity of 12 — inilissoliil Ij
connected with motive ; does not exclude the nature of things 14 — before another in the order of
nature, the cause or ground of its existence, as distinct and independent as if in the order of time
24 — must have a cause 29 — every free act done in a state of freedom, not after such a state 42 —
never contingent 46, 47 — eifect of motive 53 — caused by motive 60 — not contingent, proved from
God's foreknowledge 61 — necessary by a necessity of connection or consequence 73— liie first one
of a series foUowing one another, and one the effect of another, the proper subject of command ;
— any act of the soul prior to all free acts of the will or acts of choice directing and determining
what the act of the will shall be, cannot be subject to command or precept in any way what
soever 99 — immanent or the state of the will 104 — in God now, is only relatively different fronr.
that act of the wUl, in Him before and from eternity, decreeing the thing should be in time 543.
Acting voluntarily, doing as one pleases II. S ; what appears most agreeable 48.
Action — voluntary, rather than volition or choice, determined by what is most agreeable II. 6 — view
of Mr. Chubb and others that it is something wherein is no passion or passiveness j absurd 123—
usual meaning of, is some motion or exertion ol power, that is voluntary or the eifect of the will
124 ; other ways in which the word is used in common speech less proper, but never in the
Arminian sense of self-determinate exercise of the will or exertion of the soul that arises without
any necessary connection wilh any thing foregoing 125 — when set in opposition to passion, is a
mere relation ; used transitively also 126 — no contradiction to suppose that an action may be a
bad action and yet it may be a good thmg that there has been such an action 520 — no one im
puled to us any further than it is voluntary and involves the real disposition of the heart ; applied
to question of sincerity of endeavors 554.
Actions— virtuous in proportion as they proceed from a heart strongly inclined, fixed towards virtue
II. Ill — repeated and continued considered by all men as evidence of fixed, abiding inclination
362^^1erive tlieir goodness from the principles from which they proceed 382— God's decrees or
purposes, his own actions 518.
AcTiviTy — of nature, wiU not enable a being to produce an effect without a cause' II. 30 — ability or
tendency of nature to action ; may be a cause why the soul acts as occasion or reason is given,
but cannot be sufficient cause why the soul exerts such a particular act at such a time, &c. 30 —
the exercise of it must go before the effect it brings to pass 31.
Acts— nf men and will not less subject to their consciousness than those of their judgment ; nothing
in human nature to prevent it I. 121.
Adah— Sin of, or of angels, without a sinful nature, no objection against the doctrine of Original
sin, as they do not prove settled disposition, fixed cause II. 361-363— sin of, wilh relation to the
forbidden fruit the first sin he committed ; could not do right witiiout an inclination to right action
3ffi— his ijeing created without a principle of holiness inconsistent with his history of enjoying
God's favor while he remained in innocency 387, 388 — reward promised his obedience was eter
nal life, so dealh as punishment must be eternal death 391— actual failing of the possible exist-
mce of innumerable multitudes of his posterity, scriptural 39S — sentence pronounced on, not
meant as a blessing but a curse 398-401 — must have understood God pronouncing the sentence of
death to refer also to his posterity ; evident from way of speaking ; from the curse on the
ground ; from his giving his wife the name of Eve or Life 400 — and his posterity constituted one
by God 481, 484. , , . .
Affection- private, or general, what II. 26 Note— liable and has a tendency to issue in enmity to
Being in general 268, 2G9.
Affections— all raised eiiher by light or by error a.id delusion in the understanding, &c. III. 334—
from some apprehension of the understanding ; point of inquiry concerning them ; high raised
tend to beo-el true ideas and how? 335— mixture of, gives the devil an advantage 3S1-384.
Affections— only certain modes of the exercise of the will II. 104— private caimot be of the nature
of true virtue 268— infi'rior ones accounted virtuous because there are virtuous ones of the same
name 299— true religion consists in a great part in holy ones III. 2— are the more vigorous and
sensible exercises of the will and soul ; wiU and the affections of the soul not two faculties ; differ
from the will only in liveliness and sensibleness of exercise 3— all actings of the inclination or
wiU not ordinarily so called ; not the body but the mind the seat of them ; differ from passions
in ordinary signification : more extensive ; affections used for all vigorous lively actings of the
will or inclination, but passion for the more sudden, whose effects on the animal spirits are more
' violent and overpower the mind, &c. 4— proof that true religion consists in lioly affections 0—
mude by God the spring of men's actions; the things of religion take hold of men s souls nt
82
650 INDEX.
further than ihey affect them 6 — the Scripture places rc.9gionvery much ii them ; fear ; nope i .
love ; hatred ; longings, &c. 8 ; in holy joy. sorrow, gratitude ; compassion ; or mercy, &c. 9;
S9 in zeal ; especially as summarily comprehended in love 10 — the religion of the most enunent
sainls consisted in them ; David; Paul 11 ; John; so it was with Jesus Christ 11— the religion
of Heaven also in the same 14 ; evident too from the nature and design of the ordinances and
duties God has appointed 15 ; because the Scripture places the sin of the heart in hardness of
heart 16— great error of those who discard all religious affections, as having nothing solid oi
substantial in them 18, 19— things that are no sign they are or are not gracious ones ; that they
are very gieat or raised very high ; high affections not to be condemned 22-24 — sometimes suet
are vain 24, 25 ; that they have great effects on the body ; holy ones may have 26 ; that thej
cause persons to be fluent, fervent and abundant in talking of the things ot religion 27 ; may be
from a good cause or a bad one 28 ; that people did not make them themselves or excite them
of their own contrivance and strength 29 ; that they come with texts of Scripture remarkably
brought to the mind ; they may come from abuse of Scripture 32 ; that there is au appeal ance
of love in them 34 ; that they are of many kinds ; men in a state of nature can have many false
ones 35 ; that comforts and joy seem to follow awakening and convictions of conscience in a
certain order 37 ; no reason for prejudice because they follow a certain method 38 ; rea.sons
stated 42 ; thai they dispose persons to spend much time in religion, and to be zealously engaged
in its external duties 45 ; that they dispose persons with their moulh to praise and glorify God
47 ; that they make persons who experience them verv confident that what they experience is
divine, and that they are in a good state 48; that their outward manifestation and the relation
given of them are very affecting, pleasing to the godly, gain their charity and win their hearts
57 — no such signs of gracious ones can be given as will enable any certainly to distinguish true
affections from false in others ; or which will enable saints low in grace, &c. certainly to discern
their own good estate 63; nor to convince hypocrites who have been deceived with great false
discoveries and affections, settled in false confidence, &c. — truly spiritual and gracious, arise from
those inflnences and operations on the heart which are spiritual, supernatural and divine 65 — are
attended with and do arise from some apprehension, idea or sensation of the mind, which is in its
whole nature exceedingly different from any thing that is or can be in the mind of a natural man
72 ; yot not every thing that in any respect appertains to spiritual affection, is new, and entirely
different from what natural men can conceive of, &c. ; illustrated 73 ; a natural man may have
new, &c., and yet what he experiences be nothing like the exercises of the principle of a new
nature or the sensation of a new spiritual sense 74 — suggestions may be the occasion or acci
dental cause of gracious ones 86 — the first objective ground of gracious ones, is the transcen
dently excellent and amiable nature of divine things, as they are in themselves and not any
conceived relation they bear to self or self-interest 91 — of the saints begin with God, and self-love
has a hand in them only consequentially and secondarily; but false affections begin wilh self, &c.
96 — truly holy ones are primarily founded on the loveliness of the moral excellency of divine
things ; explained 100- gracious ones arise from the mind's being enlightened, riclily and spiritu
ally to understand or apprehend divine things 108 — such as do not arise from any light in the
understanding, though ever so high, not spiritual 110— all to be tried by a spiritual knowledge,
&c. 114 — difl-erence between strong ones arising from lively imaginations, and lively imagina
tions arising from strong affections— truly gracious ones attended with a reasonable conviction,
of the judgment, of the reality and certainty of divine Ihings ; proof of the fact from the Scrip-
tures 125 - many not attended with such a conviction of the judgment 126 — even if they ariso
from a strong persuasion, &c. of the truth of the Christian religion, not better unless the persua.
sion, &e. be a reasonable one ; evident that there is such a belief in those that are spiriliial 127—
gracious are attended with evangelical humiliation 137— nature nf high religious ones in many is
to hide and cover over the corruption of their hearts, &c. 147 ; the contrary in eminent saints
148, 149— aU holy ones grow out oi' a heart of humUity— gracious ones distinguished from others
by being attended with a change of nature ; arise from a spiritual understanding 155- as before
so after conversion, transforming ;— high ones some have without any abiding effect 158— truly
gracious differ from false, in that they tend to and are attended with tlie lamb-like and dove-like
spirit and temper of Christ, and beget and promote such a spirit of meekness, &c. ; proved from
Scripture 159— gracious ones soften the heart and are attended with and foUowed by a Christian
tenderness of spirit ; fales ones have a tendency to harden the heart 167— gracious ones do not
tend to make men bold, noisy, &c. ; objection, as to holy boldness in prayer ; considered 109—
reason why gracious ones are so attended with tenderness of spirit ; that true grace tends to pro
mote convictions of conscience 170 ; not only godly sorrow, but a gracious joy — holy ones diffei
from false in beautiful symmetry and proportion ; not perfect in this life 171 — the higher gracious
ones are raised, the more is a spiritual appetite and longing after spiritual attainments increased
the conlrary as to false ones 178 ; reason ofthis 179— gracious ones have their exercise and fruit
in Christian practice ; what this implies 182 ; reasons of it 185-189 ; proof from Scripture 189
typified, how? 190, 191 ; proved from Scripture 194, also from reason 195; meaning 197; not
properly distinguished from the wUl 280— religious, of natural men, arise from self-love, pride,
wrong conceits of God, &c. IV. 52.
Affiance — five things stated which it implies II. 621.
Agency, moeal— notion of II. 17— what helongs to it? difference between that of ruler and si bject
"'hat? also of the Supreme Being 19, 83— Arminian notion of tends to bring men into doubts
of the moral perfections of God 168.
Agent— or doer, possessed of the wiU II. 18— moral, a being capable of actions that have a moral
({aaUty ; essential qualities of what 19— can have but one last end in aU his actions, &c.; ui wha
sense things are said to be agreeable tc him 196.
Agreeable— how may a thing be so to an agent ' simply, absolutely, hypotheticaUv and consequen
tially ; distinction iUustrated II. 196, 197. J' Jr J i
Ageeeablehess- of an object of volition, how derived II. 6 — of a thing in the eyes of God is it.
fitness to answer its end 224. '
INDEH. 651
AeBEcaretiT— two kinds of cordial, true moral beauty and natural, which is a distinct thing II. 273.
Ail— in Scripture phraseology, means only a great many, &c. I. 164.
Ames Dr.— quotation fro.Ti III. 53 Note, 177 Note.
Anoee— the choice of, as a medium to prove p. sense and determination to delight in virtue natural to
mankind, unlucky II. 282.
Antei;f.dent— perfect identity as to all that is previous in, cannot be the ground of diversity in ths
consequent ; applied to Mr. Chubb's view II. 58.
Antichrist — explanation of varioi-s prophecies relating to the destruction of 111. 473-,503.
.A PRIORI a-gumeiit — ditferent from a posteriori II. 27, 28 Note.
Arbitrar* constitution — me-aning of II. 490.
Ark — llie computed dimensions of the, IV. 368,
Arminian notion of Liberty, implies, self-determining power, indifference, and contingence, as
opposed to aU necessity II. 18, 46, 51, 175, 473— of Ihe wiU's determining itself, means by wUl
the soul wUling 20 ; disproved 21, 22, 523 ; supposed evasion, th.it the soul iw the use of thf
pwwer of the will determines its own acts without any previous act, considered ; absurd, con-.
tradictory 22 - 25, 3'2 - 34 ; the question, not wliether any thing at aU determines the wiU, ol
whether it has any cause, but where the foundation is, whether in the will itself or somewhere
else ; volition has no cause or foundation of existence in the notion supposed ; incnnsislent wilh
'tSelf 25 ; if evasions true woidd not help the cause 32 — alleged proof by expevitnce, considered
35— of liberty of the will as consisting in indifference examined 39, 40 ; least degree of antece-
lent bias inconsistent with it 41-43 ; evasions considered 43, 44— of volitions as contingent
avents 45 — of will as connected with the understanding ; inconsistent 48 — of liberty as opposed
.0 necessity, but as connected with the last dictate of the understanding ; runs into tlie old
absurdity of one determination before another m infinitum 51 — independence of the undersianding,
on any evidence or appearance of things 52 — of God's prescience, that tliere is no betore or after
in God, no succession, doe.s not disprove the necessity of future events tbreknown 79 ; ]jroves it
as God's knowledge is so absolute, perfect, clear 80 — dUemmas in which it is involved 82, 83 — of
praise and blame — that God is necessarUy holy, which according lo Arminian iinliou is no holi
ness 84, 121 ; inconsistent wilh what its advocates hold of Christ's satisfaction for sin 98 — of
the freedom of the wiU, consisting in the soul's determining its own acts of will, not essential to
moral agency, but inconsistent with it ; and the same true of the notion of indifference of the
will 100 ; dilemma as to actions done in or out of indifference 111 — of liberty inconsistent with
the being of virtuous or vicious ha'Dils or dispositions 112; and therefore no virtue in humility,
meekn&ss, &c. ; no vice in the most sordid, malignant dispositions, &c. ; no such thing as virtuous or
vicious quality of the mind, and the more violent and fixed men's lusts and passions are, the least
blameworthy 113 ; so virtue and vice but a name 113, 114, 118, 121 — inconsistent with the infiu
ence of motives 116, 169 — according to, God had no hand in men's virtue ; inconsistent in using
so many counsels, warnings, &c. with sinners 117 — of moral agency and of the being ofa faculty
of a will cannot coexist ; nor can God foreknow or even conjecture tbe future moral ictions of
intelligent beings IIS— of action implies, and yet does not, nece.ssity ; cause and yet no cause;
indifference yet none ; self-originated and yet has its origin from something else ; an absolute
nonentity 123, 124 — from it, foUows, that there is no connection between virtue and vice and
any foregoing event or thing; and there can be no ground of conjecture, as to choice of
means, &c. 138 — implies a servile subjection of the Divine Being to fatal necessity and how?
154, 155 — of contingent and self-determining power of the wUl, tends to atheism and hcentious
ness 169, 170.
Arminians -their argument against Calvinists from the use of counsels, &c. against themselves II.
]]6— in their argument from Scripture to support their scheme, beg the question 168— depena
for proof on uninteUigible notions and phrases, &c. 174- object to the doctrine of efficacious
grace and God's decrees and why? 178 — their principles cannot be made consistent with common
sense 181— ridicule the distinction between the secret and revealed wiU of God 513— their
scheme, that God permits sin, attended by the same difiiculty as in supposing he wills it 520—
object that the divine decree infringes on the creature's liberty ; no more so than foreknowledge
523 ¦ also that it makes God the Author of sin ; no more than does theirs of permitting sin 525—
say that man cannot sin without making himself sinful and guUty and so God cannot decree it ;
equally stronp- against God's permitting it— say that in religion we ought tn begin with tht
perfectinns of God and make this a rule to interpret the Scriptures ; as weU to argue fron-
omniscience, infinite happiness, wisdom and power of God as other attributes ; also, to embracf
no rule which they by their own reason cannot reconcile with the moral perfections of God ; con
sequences 526— by thair doctrines rob God of the greater part of the glory of his grace and tak(
a-wav a nrincipal mo ive to praise him, &c. 627— beg the question, respecting llie doctrine ol
Elct-tion- are unreasonable in considering only, that professing Christians aie distinguished
from others as the Jewis'h nation was 53-3- their notions and principles lead to Deism 540—
their princii'les, denying efficacious grace as the cause of men's virtue and piety whoUy mcon
sistent with the promises and prophecies 560 ; tend to prevent the conviction of sm 561— diffe-
among themselves 588. „ . . . i r . e Tir a^-
AssENT— sueculative to the doctrines of rehgion as true, no certain evidence of a state of grace IV. 4o ,
A6SUEANCE— not uncommou with saints III. 48, 49— to be obtamed not so much by self-examinatioj
AuTrtoH-manmay be of his own actsof wUl; how? II. 122-of sin, its meaning 157-how mai
Author"of''the°Essav'on"he Freedom ofthe ^WUl in God and the Creatures: his views quoted II. 30
35 3S-- his view of chance 82-objects against the necessity ofthe wiU of God ; quoted 142
146 inconsistent with himself 146, 147-denies a preferableness of oue thmg to annthet of ca
pable objects of choice in the divine mind 148.
AuTHORiTY-in speaking, may be either in matter or manner IU. 398.
AvocoH— what is it to avouch God to be our Goi J. 114.
652 INDEX.
Backsliding— trae saints may be guilty of it III. 185 — proneness of the heart to it and how IV
410, 411.
Balance — iUustration from II. 96.
Baptism — that, by which the primitive converts were admitted into the visible church, was used as ar.
exhibition or token of their being visibly regenerated, &c. I. 103.
Bartlet Phebe — account of her conversion, &c. in very early childhnod II. 265-269.
Beauty — moral or spiritual, primarUy consists in virtuous benevolc.ce II. 265 ; no one can relish it
who has not that temper himself 266 — a secondary, consisting in a mutual consent and agreement
of different things, in form, manner, quantity, visible end or design ; callad by Mr. Hutcheson
uniformity in the inidst of variety 272 ; the cause why it is grateful is a law of nature God has
fixed 273 ; sensation of this differs from a sensation of primary, spiritual beauty, consisting in a
spiritual union and agreement ; reasons of the establishment ot tile law of secondary beauty, in
relation to spiritual ; modes in which the mind is affected by greatness and by relation, &c. 274 —
secondary, in immaterial things, as in wisdom, justice, &c. 275 ; what Mr. Wollaston had in his
eye when he resolved all virtue into an agreement of inclinations, volitions and actions wilh truth
276 — of affections, in judging of them, we are apt to limit our consideration to only a small part
of the created system ; hence consider private affections as truly virtuous 296- the manner we
come by the idea of ; by the immediate sensation of the gratefulness of the idea caUed beautiful
300 — the true beauty of aU inteUigent beings consists primarily in holiness III. 102 — of the divine
nature, most essentiaUy consists in holiness IV. 468 — a sight and sense of this that wherein fun
damentally consists the difference between the things in which God's saving grace, and the expe
rience of devils consist 469.
tEiNG, and perfections of God must be proved a posteriori, then a priori II. 27.
Belief — of the truth of the things of religion may be increased when the foundation is only a per.
suasion of self-interest III. 137.
Bflieving, with the heart, always implies a gracious sincerity I. 130.
Benevolence — love of, is that affection or propensity of the heart to any being which causes it tc
incline to. its weU being, or dispose it to desire or take pleasure in its happiness II. 263— first ob
ject of, is being simply considered ; being in general ; and its ultimate propensity is the highest
good of being in general 264 ; second object is benevolent being 265.
Bernard — quotations from III. 144.
BLA'.tE, Mr.— his Treatise of the Covenant quoted. I. 156.
Blame — in a tiling so far as the will is in it and no further II. 174.
Blameworthiness —vulgar notion of, consists of a person's being or doing wrong and with his own
will and pleasure II. 131 — not essential to the original notion we have of, that an evU thing be
from a man or from something antecedent, in him, but it is its being the choice of his heart 174.
Blindness — men's natural, in tne things of religion IV. 16 ; not mere negative ignorance, not from
want of necessary opportunity to exert the faculties — manifested in those things which appear in
open profession 17-25 ; in the grossness of ignorance 17 ; in its being so unnatural 19 ; so gene-
ral ; such proneness lo faU into delusions after light 20 ; in confidence in errors and delusions 22 .
in disputes about things that concern religion 24 — also manifested by inward experience and
practices under the gospel 25-29 ; many deceits ; errors about duty ; about things of this world
25 ; of anotiier world ; about good men, themselves 26 — the misery of those affected with it 32.
Boldness— holy, least opposite to reverence, &c. III. 169.
Bolton Mr.— case of awakening under the preaching of Mr. Perkins III. 286.
Born again— meaning of the term ; same as repentance and conversion II. 466 ; as circumcision ol
heart 467 ; as spiritual resurrection 468 ; as a new heart and new spirit ; putting off the old ma&
and putting on the new man 469 ; as being new created or made new creatures, &c. 471.
Brainerd, Rev David— closing scene of his life ; leaves Boston for Northampton; journal I. 645—
takes leave of his brother ; greatly opposed to Antinomianism 646— writes a preface to a book
of Mr. Shepard's 647— attends public worship for the last time 648 ; delightful contemplations ;
diary 649— employed in reading and correcting his writings 651— writes with his own hand in his
journalf or the last time 651— his happy frame of mind 653, 654 ; end of his diary ; last woids
655 ; death and funeral 656 ; reflections and observations on his memory 657 - 673— Sermon at
the funeral of. III. 624— his character 637-639.
Brutes- actions of, not sinful or virtuous II. 19.
Burgess on Original Sin— quotation from III. 123 Note.
Calamity— God may bring an outward on in bestowing a greater spiritual good III. 282.
Calvin - quotation from III. 116 Note, 139 Note, 144 Note.
Calvinists— their doctrine of necessity asserted lo be the same as the fate of the Stoics and as Mr.
Hobbes' opinion of necessity II. 140 ; no objection, if it is the truth 141— are said tn ascribe
two inconsistent wills to God ; incorrect — have no more difficulty in accounting for the first
entrance of sin into the world than have the Arminians 165,661 — supposed inconsistency of thei
Srinciples with God's moral perfections and government 166— are charged with maintainin.g
octrines that tend to atheism and licentiousness 169 — suppose that divine influence and operation
bv which savnig virtue is obtained is entirely different from and above common assistance, or
that which is given in a course of ordinary providence, according to universally established
laws of nature 550— main difference between them and Arminians, as to the doctrine of efiica-
cious grace, that the grace of God is determining and decisive as to the conversion of a sinner ;
that the power and grace and operation of the Holy Spirit is immediate ; the habit of true hoii
ness immediately planted or infused ; and some hold to no immediate interposition of God
but that it is done by general laws 569.
C.\N, CANNOT— meaning of II. 10; cannot when improperly used applied to the will 17; as often
means natural necessity or inipossibility, &c. 128.
Cause, causes — in a restrained sense often signifies only that which has positive efficiency to pro
duce a thing or bring it to pass ; causes also, that have truly the nature of a ground or reason
uny some ihings -ather than others are, or that tiey are as ihey arc without such positive pro
INDEX. 653
ductive influence ; natural and moral ; how used by Edwar .s ; nothing comes to pass withoui
II. 26 — whatsoever begins to be must liave one, the first dictate uf common anl natural sense ,
10 deny this, all arguing from effects to causes ceases ; no proof of a being of a God, &c. bj
argument 2-7, 28- of any thing must o> proportionable and agreeable to the effect 28— is any
antecedent on which the existence, ot kind or manner of existence depends 29 — of un event
cannot be and yet the event not connected with it 46 — of an effect, is a true ground or reason
rf !t« existerice 47— of an acl of the will is a motive 53 — is something that is the ground or
reason of a thing by its influence 60 — is ihat which has productive infiuence prevalently so as
thereby to become the ground of another thing 60 — efficient 81 — of the acts of the will which
are excited by motives, are motives ; efficiency of, necessarily followed by effects 115 — of dis
positions or acts of the mind, not ihat in which their virtuousness or viciousness consists 119 —
sf being, being the author of, having a hand in (applied to God, &c.), how to be understood
122 — and effect terms of opposite signification 125 — used as occasion, in the case of the sun's
being so of cold and darkness 160 — is some antecedent ground or reason why a thing begins to
be 172^)ower and efficacy of, seen only by ihe effect 173 Note — God the efficient one of
things and the final one for which they are made 222— there must be a stated one for a stated
effect 3U' — permanent, how proved ; fixed because the effect is so abiding through so many
changes ; internal because the circumstances are so various ; powerful because the means it has
to overcome are so great ; applied to the wickedness of mankind from the depravity of natur?
363— God the efficient one of virtue in man 658— a being may be the determiner and disposer
of an event and not properly an efiicient or efficacious cause 579.
C.4U1E - nature of not to De judged from effect when the cause is only causa sine qua non III. 290.
Censoriousness — not so inconsistent with true godliness as some imagine IU. 294.
Censure — on minisiers, because they seem in comparison with others cold &c. III. 394 — mode of,
in prayer, &c. 395.
Certainty — the same as metaphysical necessity, how II. 10— of connection of subject and predi
cate, how, intrinsically, dependently, consequentially II. II.
Chance— used for manner of event II. 15— used by an author quoted, as something done without
design 82.
Change— of state, necessary to an actual interest in the blessings of redemption w^at II. 466.
Charnock, Mr. — quotation from I. 610.
Chief end — opposite to inferior end II. 193.
Children— apparently innocent, not really so IU. 240.
Children of wra'h; meaning of the term 11.429-433.
Choice— in many cases arises from nature, &c. II. 15— power of, belongs to man, or the soul, not
to the powef nf volition itself 18— to touch some particular square ofa chess-board, considered
37— an act of, a comparative act 57— question as to the different objects of, in the Pivine
mind 148, ,,.,,. • r
Christ— future promised advancement of his kingdom an unspeakably glorious event ; lime ol a
vast increase of knowledge UI. 445— Christ labored and suffered much in order lo the glory
and happiness of that day 447 ; great number of inhabitants on earth in that day 448— doc
trine of the necessity of his satisfaclion most important 542— reasons of love and honor to,
required nf us 543. , ,, .. c v
Christ— his people shoiUrt openly profess respect to him in their hearts as weU as a true notion ot him
in their heads ; shown from the nature of things I. 119— his coming into the world or taking upon
him our nature, &c. 396 ; his incarnation and the fulness of time in which it was accomplished
397_reasons why he came no earlier 398 ; its greatness and remarkable circumstances and con-
comitanls ; his righteousness, how distributed ; obeyed the law to which he was suliject as man,
&c. 404; as a Jew; ihe mediatorial law, &c. 405- his obedience perfect; performed in the
greatest trials, &c. ; wilh infinile respect to the honor of God, &c. ; his obedience m private life
workin
satisfaction lo. >,.. .,. .u.......5:= .-¦.- -.- —¦;¦¦, -;- r"v.-^__^, .,-,. j^j^ j^^j humUiation
; pubUc ministry ; its forerunner John the Baptist 407 ; his baptism ; his work ; in pre»ching ;
king miracles ; multitude and mercy 40S-the virtues he exercised and manifested 409-his
.„..sfaction for sii or sufferings and humUiation; in infancy ; m his private life at Nazareth ;
during his public life from his baptism to his being betrayed 413; his last humiliation
and sufferings 414; how capacitated for accomphshing the end of his purchase ; resurrec
tion 431 ; aicensioa 432- how he accomplished it 433 -doctrine of his satisfaction for sin con-
of the will of his human soul holy yet necessary; proved from Scripture II.
rewardable 91 - 94- voluntary in all he did 92, 9^^-l^ a stale of trial 94 ; no need
sidered 582.
Christ- the acts also
his last and highest end, God's glory ; not to be understooa, mat ne nau . o lega.n .,,, ,
eorv 231 --S'dlf ation of, Vor God's name's sake 237-example of, would have an influe
fhosl who live under he gospel but for the dreadful depravity of nature 367-by eminence
called the elect or chosen o^f God 5.35- 637-theexampio ministers I I 593 an admira^^^^
coniunction of diverse excel encies in ; and what they tre IV. 180-182 , such as woum nave
beei "eemed incompatible; what thesi are 182-186; »"'Ve''r'=[hTthe "Falher'o Hol'v fflmi
be the future Judge of tHe world 207 ; reasons why he, rather than the Falher or Holy GIiosc
should be so 208 -?I0,
ChristiaChubb, "V
motives i
calls moi
^:^^^'^^^^^:^^:^^:^^'^^o^\;i^^ .^....^no. o„ly tu. has no
654 INDEX.
t' ndency tc it, but a contrary tendency 56 — supposes the will tb be wholly dependeti '; and to be
wholly independent on motives 57 — considers necessity to be utterly inconsistent with agency
and yet that volition is the effect of volition 58 — means not only external actions but acts of
choice, when he speaks of free actions as the produce of free ctioice ; absurd 58, 59 — denies
that motives are causes of the acls of the will 59 ; yet speaks of motives as exciting and
moving the will 60 — his meaning of the word action unintelligible and inconsistent 123— hia
method of demonstrating the moral perfections of God 168.
Church— of Christ, called the fulness of Christ II. 209 — the marriage of the, to her sons aiid tc
her God IU. 559.
Church visible — who are to be undertsood as its members I. 89 — none according to Scripture to De
admitted into but visible saints or Christians 95 — not two churches^ one vi.«ible ana the othei
real 96— no one ougiit to be admitted to it but such as make a profession of real piety. 1 10.
Clark, Dr. Samuel — evades the argument to prove necessity of volition II. 51 — supposes will and
understanding lo be the same d'2 — quoted 77 — allows necessity to be consistent with the most
perfect freedom 144, 145 Note.
Clark., Rev. Peter — letter from I. 201.
Colman, Dr. — letter to ; narrative of surprising conversions UI. 231.
Comfort — instances of remarkable effects of III. 287 — no certain sign of its bet jg of the nght kind
because preceded by terrors IV. 458.
Coming of Christ — a spiritual one prophesied of before his coming to juds!"^ent I. 552.
Coming to God, for mercy, things needful to IV. 423.
Command — the proner object of II. 99— the being of a good state or act n"- the will, most properly
commanded 103 — and invitation come much to the same, the difference only circumstantial
m invitation the "UmII arises from the goodness of kindness, in command from that of authority
105 — cannot be satisfied by a volition of a different nature from the required one, and termi
nating on different. objects ; illustration of excellent father and' ungrateful son 106, 107 — God's '
things which are contrary to them, are in a sense agreeable to Ills will 515 — a:id prohibitions
of God, only significations of our duty and his nature 519 — of God, and, manifestation of his
will not tile same thing ; the command always implies a true desire that the thing commanded
should be done 559 — the fourth, is it perpetual? IV. 619 — the main objection that the duty
enjoined is not moral, considered 620.
Common — common inclination or common dictates of inclination often so called III 540.
^OMMON SENSE — why it appears contrary to. that things which are necessary should be worthy ol
praise or blame II. 127-131 — agreeable tn, Ihat things which are necessary by a moral necessity
should be worthy of praise and blame 131-136 — does not call up the question, how the will
is determined, &c. in usuaUy deciding on the worthiness or faultiness of actions 131, 133—
according to, natural necessity, &c. excuses from blame; moral does not ; the influence of a
good motive renders an action none the less good 153 — agreeable to, that God and saints have
the highest possible freedom 136^at va.ianee with, Arminian principles 173, 181 — agreeable
to, not only that the fruit or effect of a good choice, but the good choice itself, yea the tintece-
dent good disposition, temper or affection of mind from whence proceeds the good choice is
virtuous 382 — contrary to, the Arminian scheme of God's grace, &c.' 584.
HoMKUNioN, full — humble inquiry inlo qualifications for; reasons for writing the work 1.86; the
question stated 89— those who are admitted should be, by profession, godly or gracious persons ;
meaning of this 93 ; reasons fbr believing, that none but such as in the eye of Christian judgment
are so should be admitted 94-149 ; from the word of God 94— no quality that is transient and
vanishing can be fitness for a standing privilege like this 237— no fitness for in persons, in them
selves, who if known would not be fit to be admitted by others : that rule of which if attended to
would cause that the greater part of communicants would be unfit cannot be a divine one 237.
Complacence — love of, delight in beauty II. 263.
Conception — of passions and moral things in others, obtained by transfer ofthe ideas of such things
from consciousness in our own mmds into their place II. 286.
Concern, great about religion— beginning of, in Northampton III. 233, 234 ; made a great alteration
in the town, &c. 325 ; consequences stated ; case of scoffers ; &c., extends to other places 236.
Concert of prayer^history of its rise in Scgtland ; the days appointed and reasons of quarterly
435 ; use of it 436 ; proposed by private letters and' why; success and where ; the memorial
printed and sent to America 437 — motives to induce compliance 439, 458; the good tendency
of il, &c. 462 ; encouragement in the Word of God 464— objections to il answered 465 ; rea
sons for prayer at the same time ; visibility of union 467; not pharisaical 471 ; considered id
reference to prophecies 472-504 — two things to be united in carrying it into effect 507.
Condescension— infinite, not unworthy of God, bul infinitely to his honor and glory II. 218.
Condition— as commonly used, means any thing that may have the place ol a condition in a con
ditional ]iroposition, and as such is truly connected with- the consequent, &c. IV. 67.
Connection and dependence, essential to the relation of cause and effect U. 46 necessary of
antecedents and consequents ; does not prevent the success of means 137.
Conscience — a natural sense II. 132. ¦
•jinscience, natural- in what it consists; disposition to approve or disapprove of the moral treat
ment between us and others, from a determination of the mind to be easy or uneasy, in a con.
scinusness of our being consistent oi- inconsistent with ourselves, and the sense of desert II.
287— and will, extend to all virtue and. vice in a mind that does not- confine itself to a private
sphere, and how 288 — though it implies no such thing as actual benevolence to being in gene
ral, or delight in such a principle, yet God has established it, that it should approve or cnndemn
the same things as are approved or condemned by a spirilnal sense or virtuous taste 289, 302 —
implanted in all men to be in God's stead, an internal judge or rule to all whereby to distinguish
right and wrong 297— consists chiefly in a sense nf desert nr the natural agreement between si..
and -niscry 298— the moral sense common to mankind in, cannot be said to be a sentiment
a'l-itrarily given by the Creator without any relatih ; to the necessary nature of thines 302
INDEX. 655
CoNSCiENTions — no other principles -jf which human nature .1 «nder the influence, will make men
so, but fear or love UI. 56.
Consciousness — identity of, depends whollv on a law of nature aiia so on the sovereign will and
agency of God 11,487,
Consequential end — what II, 197.
Consideration — want of, cannot be that in which all moral evil consists II, 116.
Constraint — nppnsed to liberty in common speech II. IS.
Continent — the old, has had honor put upon il by God in the purchase of redemption ; not un
likely he may do so to the new in the most glorious application of the same Ul. 314 — reasons
for supposing this 316.
Contingence, Contingency — sometimes used for manner of event 11,1.5 — as opposed to all neces
sity belongs to the Arminian notion of liberty 181, 182 — inconsislent with the Arminiau notion
of self-determination 25,82 — an efficient nolhing, effectual no cause 28,29,37 Note — under
stood as opposite not only to all constraint but to all necessity 46 — absolute used for without
any cause, any manner \ r reason of existence, or for any dependence upon or connection with
God's fnreknowledge of 'hem 80 — used lo mean without any cause at all 82 — inconsislent with
75 — of evenis without al necessity, inconsistent with necessity of certainty of connection and
consequence 137 — implies or infers that events may come into existence nr begin to be without
dependence on any thing foregoing as their cause, ground or reason 169 — what is its meaning as
applie<l to the will 514 — as held by some contradicted by themselves, if they hold to fore
knowledge of God 515,
Contingent — when a thing is said to be so ; when connection with causes is not discovered ; without
our foreknowledge or design ; no fixed and certain connection 11. Vi — things so, in existence
when uncaused 28, 33 ; when there is an equal possibility of their being or not being 513.
Controversy — the point of that at Northampton with Mr, fidwards I. 198, 199 — no objection that
Mr. Edwards's doctrine was beside it 199,
Conversion — a work done at once, not gradually ; evident from instances recorded in Scripture ;
because compared to a work of creation II. 591 ; to a resurrection 592 — error in notions of a
clear work of^ III. 45 — comfort of many in false, comes after what manner 81 — Scripture rep
resentations of, imply a change of nature 156 — does not root out natural temper; yet grace
does much to correct it ; the change a universal one 157 — after they have once obtained what
they call theirs, an end to many persons' seeking 180 — a condition of justification ; why IV.
118 — great distress no certain sign of 457 — no work of the law in the conviction of guilt'a cer
tain sign of 558 ; or having had great convictions of sin ; true submission of the heart to God's
sovereignty is so 459.
Conversion — ol^ children and friends, some doubt if thev pray more for them than for others if it
be right, &c. III. 309.
Conviction — spiritual nf the judgment, what III. 128, 135 — a degree of, of the truth of religion
arises from the common enlightenings of the Spirit of God 135 — of the truth of invisible
things, extraordinary impressions made on the imagination may beget it 13f) — how men judge
of their own 152 — corruption of the heart under legal 242 process of, from the awakenings
nf conscience, &c, 243-245.
Cooper, Mr. — preface of his to Mr. Edwards's Marks «f a work of the True Spirit I. 519— his testi
monv to the work of grace, &c. 520-522 — commends Mr. Edwards and his work 523.
Corollaries — from proof ol God's foreknowledge ofthe voluntary actions of moral agents II. 67-70.
Corruption — of nature, may be resolved into spiritual pride and worldly-mindedness IU. 354.
Counsels — of God, their stability and perpetuity connected with his foreknowledge and so repre
sented in ihe Sciiptures II. 71 — and invitations, manifestations of God's preceptive will 167.
Covenant— form of, by Mr. Edwards I. 60— duty nf God's people publicly to own it 106 ; proved
from Scripture I 7-109— <listinction by saine divines between internal and external, what? UO—
compliance with the external also implies the performance of its inward condition — meaning nf
ownui" the baptismal HI — mere promise of one that he mH beheve in Christ, not to own it 112
outward, what! 113 — draught of offered by Mr. Edwards to his people 201, 202— distinction
external and inte nal no help to Mr. -WiUiams 234.
Creation— God had an end in it I, 565— mankind the principal part of the visible 566— the only
thing wherein m..n differ from the inferior, is in inteUigent perception and action 567.
Creation— of the woild, God's faithfulness or fulfilment of promises to his creatures could not be
his last end in II. 197— God's ultimate end in, means the nriginal ultimate end 198— ultimate
end in, the ulrmate end in all that God does ; and so the ultimate end of the works of Provi
dence is the uaimate end of creation 198, 223— God's end in, properly an affdir nf divine reve
lation 199 w'.dtever attainable by, which is in itself most valuable anil was so originally prior
to worthy -o be God's last end in ; therefore if God himself is capable of being his owr. end
reasonut-'^ 'hat he had respect to himself as his last and highest end in 200— an effect or con-
seo'-r'nce oimplv and absolutely good and valuable in itself is an ultiiniate end nf God's creating
the ",orld 203, 204— last end of God in, that there might be a glorious emanation of his infinite
fulness, and ths disposition to communicate or diffuse his own infinite fulness, -w-as what excited
nim to create the world ; and so the emanation itself was aimed at by him as the last end of
creation 207; objections against the above view considered 211-221— God his own last end in,
proved from Scriplure 222— tbe moral part the end of all the rest of 223— God's last end of.
whatever appears to 'oe his last end in the main works of his providence towards Ihe moral
world 224— ultimate end of but one 252— design, God's in to manifest his glory IV, 556,
Creature^— asGnd's last end, the doctrine of, against God's self-sufficiency and independence 11,214
Damned— nothing that they dn or ever will experience can be any sure sign of grace IV. 4d4.
OEATH— the universal reign of, proves that men come sinful inlo the world U. 372— spoken of in
the Scriptures as the'^chief^ of calamities ; also testimony of God's displeasure 373, 377, 378—
of infants strange on the idea of death as a benefit 375— to suppose it not a calamity but as a
favor in con^c^iiace of idam's sin. contrary to the doctrine of the gospel that the second
656 INDEX.
Adam came to remove and destroy that death which cai.ne by the first Adan. 376— ol infanta
proves their sinfulness 378 — as threatened to Adam, must be undeistood by the nature of tha
life to which it is opposed ; meant as punishment as opposed to that life which was to be the
reward 390- mentioned in the Scriptures as the punishment of sin, what? 391-393 — wliat was
understood by Ihe threatening of-, lo Adam, was a real connection between the sm and punish
ment ; also that he should ^be exposed lo death for one transgression without any other Irial
403 ; the sentence need not be executed in its utmost extent on that day ; and was partly so by
the spiritual death of Adam.
Decrees — of God are no more inconsistent with human liberty on account of the net tssity of the
event, than his foreknowledge II. 76 — Calvinistic doctrine infers no more partiality than follows
the Arminian doctrine of 6od's omniscience and prescience 81 — doctrine of, proves that it was
not possible for Christ to sin and so fail in the work of redemption 89 — observations on 513 —
sucb a relation between all of them as makes most excellent order 514 — all that follows from
absolute, unconditional, irreversible, is that it is impossible but that the thing decreed should be
of our everlasting state not before' our prayers and strivings 515^ — all that is intended, is,
that when God decrees all that comes lo pass, all evenis arc subject to the disposal of Provi
dence, &c. 532 — of sin in the Scriptures argues no insincerity in God's cnmmaiids, invitations,
&c. 532 — God has regard to conditions in, as he has regard to wise order and connection of
-hings 540 — God must be conceived in, as having a consideration of the capabli ness nr aptness
of means to obtain an end before he fixes on the means 541 — of the eternal damnaiion of
he reprobate, not lo be conceived of, as prior to the fall, &c. as the decree of the eternal
glory of the elect is 542 — must be conceivetl of in the same order as antecedent lo and conse
quent on another, as God's acts in the execution of these decrees 543 — objected lo on the ground
that the doctrine implies God may do evil that good may come ; answered, that God may will
that evil should come to pass and permit that it may come, that good may come of it 545,
Dependence — on others for the good 'we need or desire derogales from the freeness nf goodness in
doing good to them from self-love U, 221 — on future lime, the sin and folly of, shown IV. 347;
when men acl thus ; if they set their hearts on the enjoyments of this life ; explained 349;
when proud of their wordly circumstances 350 ; when they envy others ; when ihey rest and
are easy to-day 351 ; when they neglect any thing to be done before Ihey die ; if tliey do that
which must be undone 352; why should vve not do so? no promise of God, that we sliall see
anolher day ; so many ways and means to bring life to an end 353 ; the doctrine improved 354
Depravity of Nature, tntai — doctrine of, supposes no other necessity of sinning than moral neces
sity, no other inability than moral inability II, 177 — cannot be objected to from the greatei
number of innocent and kind actions than crimes 325 — seen not only in that they universally
commit sin who spend any long lime in the world, bul that men are so prone to sm that none
ever fail of immediately transgressing God's law, &c.; proved from the Scriptures 326 — reality
of, appears from this, that he has a prevailing propensity to be continually sinning against God
327 — remaining in the hearts of- Ihe best saints, shown by Scripture 328 — proved by propensity
to fall into idolairy 331-336; by men's disregard of their own eternal interests 337-341 ; ap
pears not in propensity to sin in some degree, but it is so corrupt that Us depravity shows that
men are or tend to make themselves to be of such an evil character as shall' denominate them
wicked according to the covenant of graje 341 ; proved from the Scriptures ; descriptions and
declarations of, not confined to former times 343, 344, 345, 346, 347; Irom ihe great variety of
powerful means used at various periods to restrain the wickedness of men and promote true
religion 348-360 — not necessary to account for sin because Adam sinned, considered 361-363
because free-will is a sufficient cause ; disjproved 364 — proved from dealh and the necessity of
afilictions, &c. 372-374 — original, proved from wickedness being often spoken of in Scriplure
as a thing belonging to the race of mankind, and as if it were a property of the species 405-
413 ; such are the passages which speak nf the wickedness nf the children ofmen ; of the race
of man, sons of men 406 ; of the world 407; as being man's own ; of mankind as wicked from
birth; childhood ; youth, &c. 408-411 — objection againsi from the Arminian notion of the free
dom of the will examined 473-47.5 — how accounted for by the operation of natural principles
whicb were in man in innocence left to themselves 476 — of the heart, in Adam's poslerity, tc
be considered as the first existing of a corrupt disposition in their hearts ; not to be looked on
tree, &l. 483 Note— vario'is objections against, considered and answered 495.508.
Desert — a sense of, essential tn the affections of gratitude and anger II. 281 — of sin, in an awakened
conscience, a sense of its desert of the resentment of God 298.
Desert — of punishment, notion of I. 582-584.
Design — of God, in doing and ordering as he does, the same as purpose or decree II. 179.
Desire— how distinguished from will II. 2— to prevent or excite future acts of the will possible 16—
and endeavors against the exercises ofa fixed habit with which men may be said to be unable tc
avoid these exercises, remote ones; how? as to time; as to nature 103 — and wijlincness foi
inward duties in such as do not perform them, has respect lo ihem only indirectly' and re
motely ; is no willingness, but something else is the object of those volitions and desires 105—
earnest, and longings after salvation no certain sign of grace IV. 462.
Determining, among external objects of choice, not the same with delerminine the choice itself
II, 24. *
Difference — objects without, cannot be different objects of choice II. 148 — onlv constitutes dis
tinction 150— to us, which is of no consideration, may be otherwise with God 153.
DirricULTV— natural, excuses in proportion to its strength 11. 128 — of expressing tlie trulh with
regard tn the Divine undersianding and will, and its operations greater than on the human
mind ; also in conceiving of the operations of our souls 143.
Disagreement— the degree of, from the law of God, to be determined not by t'he degree of distance
INDEX. 857
from it in excess, but also in defect, or not only in positive transgression ot doing what is for.
Oidden, but also in withholding what is required II. 329.
Disappointment — no such thing as real in God II. 618.
Disciples— how u.ied in tlie New Testament I. 101,
Disobedience — what 11,99.
Dispensations — nn part of divinity attended with so much intricacy as to state the precise agree
ment and difference between those of Moses and of Christ 1. 16U,
Disposition— strength of, a vile one, an aggravation of wicked acts II. 134 — or sense of the mind
Wi'iich consists in a determinalion uf llie mind to approve and be pleased with secondary beauty,
considered simply, has nothing of the nature of true virtue 277 — idea of, or tendency, coines to
US, by observing what is constani or general in event, under a great variety of circumstances;
above all, v\.hen the effect or event continues the same through great and various opposition,
much and manifold force and means used to the contrary not prevailinu to hinder the effect
310 — continued exercise of an evil, in repealed actual sins, tends lo strengthen it more and
more 328 — of the mind which is a propensity to act contrary tn reason, a depraved disposition
338 — guilt arising from th* first existing of a depraved one, in Adam's posterity not distinct
from iheir guilt of Adam's first sin 482.
Divinity. — the duly of a Christian to grow in knowledge of IV. 2 ; proved 6-f I — the, or doctrine
which cnmprehends all those truths and rules which concern the great business of religion ; not
learned merely by improvement of natural reason ; a doctrine, rather than an art or science ;
natural, what? defined; the doctrine of living to God by Christ 3 — knowledge of the things of^
speculative and practical or natural and spiritual ; its usefulness and necessity ; no other
means of grace will be of benefit but by knowledge 4 — the excellency of the things of 7.
Doctrines — important, misceUaneous observations on I, 565,
Doddridge, Dr. — -his practice with his students IU. 414.
Drunkard — who is covetous, may in some sort desire the virtue of temperance, but it is no true
desire.
Duties, of worship — distinction in, &c., vvhat? I. 175.
Edw.\rds Rev. Jonathan — birth and parentage I. 5 — remote ancestry 6 Note — education at Yale
College, and preparation and entrance on the ministry 6 tulor at Yale College ; settles at
Northampton 7 — resolutions 7-10 — extracis from his diary written only for private use 10-
16 — account nf his conversion, experience and religious exercises 17 — early awakenings, &c. 18 —
first existence of inward delight, &c. 19 — great sense ol God's majesty and glory, &c. 20—
dedication of himself to God 22 — ill at North Haven 23 — sense of the fulness of Christ, &c.
24 — affecting views of his own sinfulness 25 — general deportment, &c.; frequent in prayer 27 —
abstemiousness; of great application ; uncommon thirst for knowledge; original; thought to
be unsociable 28 — avoids disputes ; conscientious and exact 29 — his conduct as a parent in gov
erning and instructing his children ; an enemy lo Ihe amusements, &c. ; strict regard to jus
tice ; cautious in the choice of friends 29, 30 — very benevolent ; his character as a preacher ;
causes of his eminence ; great pains in composing his sermons ; great acquaintance with the
Bible and vvith divinity 31 — great knowledge nf his own heart, &c. ; appearance in the pulpit,
&c. ; mode of preaching 32 — performance of the public exercises and pastoral duty 33 — suc
cess in revivals of religion and writings on this subject 34 — ^his labors at Northampton, &c. 35
— causes of dissatisfaction 36 ; increased by the question of the terms of communion 37 —
preaches lectures on the subject ; councils called j dismissed 38 — preaches his farewell sermon ;
his trials and conduct under them 40 — greatly tried as to the question of his dismission ; asks
the advice ofa council; results in his dismission 41 — chosen missionary to the Indians at Stock-
oridge 47 — chosen President of New Jersey CoUege 48— his letter in answer to the invitation —
engfTged in preparing the History of the Work of Redemption, &c. 50 — asks the advice nf^ min-
isters as to his duty, who decide Ihat he sbould accept ; his deep emotion 61 — resigns his mission
and proceeds to Princeton ; is inoculated for the small-pox ; his death 52 — his last words ; charac
ter as an author 53 — character as a preacher ; list of his works 64 — his method of preparing his
miscellaneous writings 65 — inscription on his tomb 56 — his fareweU sermon ; circumstances under
which it was preached 59 — Ihe discourse itself 63 — twenty-three years settled with his people 72 —
vindicates himself as having sought to do his duty 75 — result of the councU in his case 81.
Effect — som<-times used for the consequence of another thing which is perhaps rather an occasion
than a cause most properly speaking 11.26 — cannot be more in, than in the causo 28 — every
effect has a necessary connection with its cause 47 — or motive 63 — production of, the causing of
an effect 60 — of the impossibility of an event's failing of existence may prove the impossibility
as much as if it were the cause 77— necessarily follows the efficiency of the cause 115 — an action
the effect of the will 124 — common and steady shows a preponderation, a prevailing liableness
or exposedness, &c. 318 — st-ated, must have a stated cause 319— extent of, very difl-erent from
that permanence which is to show a permanent or fixed influence or propensity 363^an exist
ence vvhich is produced every moment by a new action or exertion of power, must be a new
effect in each momeni ; illustrated by examples of the moon and images in a glass 489, 490
Note — reasoning from, to the cause, according lo common sense 638.
Efficacious grace— remarks on II. 547- the questions related to, between Calvinists and Ar
minians are two, whether the grace of God in giving us saving virtue be determining and de.
cisive ;• and whether saving virtue be decisively given by a supernatural and sovereign operation
of the Spirit of God ; or whether it be only by such divine influence or assistance as is im
planted in the course of Providence, either according to established laws of nature or estab
lished laws of Providence towards mankind ; points of controversy stated, &c. 550— were ?
third person between it and the subject nf the gift of virtue to be the sovereignly determining
cause and efficient of virtue and Goil lo use the means, would it be proper to ascribe ihe mattei
so wholly to God 562, 563— the meaning of this term decisive, immediate, arbitrary, i. e. no
limited to the iaws of nature, principles of supernatural grace infused and the change instanta
neous 567— the grand point of the controversy what? 579— in it, we are not merely passive
Vol. IV 83
658 INDEX
Rod does all and we do all ; God produces all and we act all ; for that is what he prodi'ccs fn
own acts ; not inconsistent wilh freedom 581,
Elect — God has absolutely elected the particular persons that are to be godly II, 521.
Election — if ihere be none, then it is not God that makes men lo differ ; not Irom foresight of worltE
or conditional as depending on the condition of man's wil] 11. 52-7 — follows from God's deter.
mining that Christ's dealh should have success in gathering a church to him ; for he must fii
on the persons beforehand 529 — decrees of, proved from the Scriptures 530-632 — tbe Scrip
tures in leaching it have not imposed on our understanding a doctrine contrary to reason 532 —
the conditional, ofthe Arminans absurdly so called 534 — not of works, laught'in the Scriptures
538 — objection against, that many called elect actually turned apostates, answered 63 — decree
of Cod of the creature's eternal happiness antecedent to foresight of good works m a sense in
which he does not in reprobalion decree the creature's eternal misery antecedent to any fore
sight of sin 540 — redemption, &c. wit) the .Tews If^-n with the nation, and descended lo per
sons ; but with Christians, election, relemption, &c. begin wilh particular persons and ascend
to public societies 565.
End — far which God created the world ; chief and ultimate ; inferior ; subordinate ; defined II. 193
— the same may be both the immediate and ultimate ; illustration : the ultimate is that end
which IS sought* for the sake of itself ; an end may have the nature of an ultimate, also sub
ordinate one : chief differs from ultimate, ihe one most valued ; two different ones may be
ultimate yet not chief: ultimate noi always chief 194 — supreme, when the ultimate is such 196
¦ — originai ; God's last, (n creating the world not his faithfulness ; but after it was created, it
may be the end of many providential disposals, and, in a lower sense, his last ; distinction be
tween a consequential and subordinate end 197 — can be but one nf God's work m the highest
sense ; under what supposition? how several? 198 — God's last in creation, no notion of, which
implies indigence, insufficiency, mutability or dependence on the creature for hapj):ness, is agree
able to reason 200 — question of decisinn as to God's, in creation, by supposed periect third
being, or wisdom, justice, rectitude as a person, &c, 201 — God's ultimate, in creation, whatever
is good, amiable and valuable in itself absolutely and originally 203 — God's ultimale, in c-eating
the world, was tn communicate his own infinite fulness of good ; reasonable 206 — any other
scheme of God's last, in creation, liable to objection 213 — God must have pleasure in it let what
will be his last end 214 — any thing, the last end of some of Gqd's works the result nnt of- this
only, but of his works in general, though not mentioned as their end, bul only of some, we may
infer to be the last, of others also ; and that whicb appears from the Scriptures to be God's
last, in creation, disposal, and moral government of the world is the last ol creation in general
223-— that, which the word of God requires the intelligent and moral part of the world to seek
as their main end, to have respect to, and to regulate their conduct by, as their ultimate and
highest, is the last end for which God made it, and hence the whole world 224 — of the good
ness \if a thing, the end of tlie thing 225 — the last, and highest, of the pious, approved in the
Scriptures, the same as God's last in creation, and so respecting Jesus Christ 225 — God's name in
the Scriptures declared to be his, or object of his regard 236-246 — ultimate, of creation but
one 252.
Ene — great and main one of separating the chUdren of Israel from other nations what? I. 164.
Endeavors — arising from indirect willingness cannot excuse for want of performance of a man's
duty; may have a negatively good influence ; occasions of avoiding evil II. 107.
Enjoyments — spiritual, in what respect they are of a soul-salisfying nature IU. 179.
Enmity— nf men to God, in what respects and how great IV. 36-42; why they are so 42-45;
strictness of God's law a principal cause; reasons that it is not perceived is, 'that it is partly
exercised in unbelief of God's being ; do not realize there is such a being 46; think of him as
infinitely above them 47; restrained by fear 48; may not have had much trial of the heart and
do not know it 49 — consequences of 58, 59 — causeless, either from what God is or halh done
62 — shows God's wonderful love in giving Christ to die for us 63.
EdUiLiEHiUM— nf the will, perfect, no volition 11, 3— the mind in, as likely to choose one way as
annther ; with respect to crimes 112.
Error — or mistake, may be the occasion of a gracious exercise of a gacious influence of the Sniril
of God IU.61. '^
Errors- in rejecting the revival, not distinguishing the good from the bad, &c. III. 289 — in judg
ment may occur in a work of the Spirit of God 290 — not to be wondered at that there should
be soine 291 — easily accounted for ; how? 293, 294 — to permit many, analogous to God's man
ner of dealing with his people ; not to be wondered at, il^ we consider Satan's hand in ihem 296
— to think we may use the worst of the language, even if the trulh, of each other 356 the
exerciseofatrulygoodaffection may be the occasion of 378 — some that have arisen from before
specified causes 391-396 ; censuring Christians in good standing as unconverted 391 • lav
exhorting 397, ' '
Erskine, Rev. John— his view of President Edwards's writings and advertisement to the History of
Redemption I. 295. ¦'
Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion — remarks on ; its author holds a nr ces
sity of man's actions plainly inconsistent with liberty II. 183; also maintains that man must
have a freedom opposed to moral necessity, yet a liberty lo signify a power of acting without
or against motives, and even in contradiction to all our own desires and aversions *nd printi.
pies of action ; also a necessity inconsislent with some supposable power of arbitrary choice
184; does not distinguish between natural and moral necessity 185; differs from Edw <rds in
his views of blameworthiness, &c. ; also holds that God has so constituted man, that he is
acting under a constant delusion of liberty 186; uses contingence as chaice, and suppcsej
such to be the liberty without necessity of which we have a natural feeling 187 ; attributes al)
the care, labor and industry of mankind tn men's natural delusive sense of the liberty of con
tinsjence 188 ; disproved ; such a liberty of contingence not known 189.
Eternity of hell torments, proved to be iust and real UI. 267-276.
EuBEB'FR— hi."! view of liberty of man's will II. 34.
INDEX. 669
Ei7a..ioi» — aUempted with reference to the application o;' the term samts, &c. I. lOii.
liv-VoioNS oi the argument for the depravity of nature oinsidered 11. 361-371.
bvE — reason to believe, that Adam in giving this name to his wife had relerence to the promise, (o
his poslerity II. 401, 402.
Event — dependent on a cause, must be connected with it ; not necessarily connected with its cause
cnmes to pass without cause 11.46 — contingent in existences without all necessity is wiihout
evidence 74 — so contingent, that it possibly may net be, cannot be foreknown 75 — events in ihe
moral world, proper that they should be ordered by God 161 — necessity nf il, the only way
nf prnving that a thing -will certainly be 168 — every one that is the consequence of any thing
whatsoever, or connected wilh any foregoing circumstance either positive or negative, as the
grnunii or reason of Us existence, must be from God 177.
Evidence — no event can be known without it U. 74.
Etidences, of grace — those exercises and affections which are good ones differ from all that devils
are subject^ of, in foundation ; viz. an apprehension or sense nf supreme boly beauty and come
liness of divine things, as they are in themselves, or in their own nature IV. 468 ; also in their
tendency 470 ; tend to destroy Satan's inlerest, to wound and weaken his cause 471.
Evil. Moral — consists in a certain deformity in the nature of certain dispositions of the heart and
acts of the will II. 120 — God may order and dispose of that event which in the inherent subject
and agent is moral evil and yet his doing so may be no moral evil 161 — coming to pass, may be
an occasion of greater good than that is an evil 520 — if God be Iruly unwilling that there should
be any in the world, why does he not cause less to exist than really does ? 560.
Excommunication — nature of, a punishment; privative IV. 639; cut off from the charity ofthe
church; how? 640; from brotherly society; how? 641,642; from its fellowship of the wor
ship 643 ; from nther privileges of more internal nature ; the posiiive part of it what ? 644 — by
whom is It to be looked on as inflicted ? — whn are its proper subjects? 645 — the end of it 646.
Exercises — of grace, two kinds of ; immanent acts ; and practical or effective exercises 111.204.
Exhibition — that which is essential to a thing to be repressed in an exhibition or declaration of; ap
plied to profession of the Christian religion I. 99.
Existence — mnde of proving our own II. 28 — of men, dependent on acts ofthe will 67, 68 — under
standing and will the highest kind of 216.
Experience — against the Arminian doctrine of the self-determining power, &c. II. 173 Note.
Experiences — that are agreeable to the "Word of God, cannot be otherwise than right 111.32 —
persons may be said lo live upon theirs, when they make a righteousness nf them 57 — lalse
ones commonly raise the affections high, &c. 121 — case of enthusiasts, &c. 122 — diffirence of
persons' under conviction 256 — nf true Christians, things with regard lo inward, by which Ihe
devU has many advantages 381--390 ; mixture Ihere is in them 381-384 ; human or natural affec
tion and passion, considered in reference to various affections, love, &c. 382, also impressions on
the imaginalion ; self--righteousness or spiritual pride 383 ; unheeded defects give ihe devil an
advantage 384-386 ; nnt the defect or imperfection of degree as in all even the most holy in this
life, ill consequences 384 ; talking of divine and heavenly things with laughter or light behavior
385 — how to judge of them ; those that have the least mixture, most spiritual ; those tnat are
least partial or vvhich are proportionable ; those raised to the highest degree 386 — anolher dan
ger in the degenerating of experiences 386-390 ; causes which contribute to this ; mixlure 387 ;
defect ; aiming at that which is beyond the rule of God's word 388— things with regard to the
external effects of, which give Satan an advantage 390, 391 ; secret and unaccountable influence
of custom in respect lo external effects and manifestations of the inward affections of the mind,
&c. 390 ; as the practice, so all the visible marks of distinction and separation it should be
avoided 395,
I'ACULTY — of the -Will II. I — there can be none on the Arminian notions of moral agency 118.
Faith — only special and saving, the condition of the covenant of grace I. UO — saving, the proper
matter of profession, evident from the case of the Eunuch taught by Philip 130.
Faith— what it is, shown from the Scriptures II. 601-606, 613, &c. ; a belief of a testimony;
the proper act of the soul towards God as faithful ; belief of ihe truth from, at least
with a sense of the glory and excellency; from a spiritual taste of what is excellent; its
object the Gnsnel as well as Jesus Christ 601— includes a knowledge of God and Christ;
a beiief of the 'promises ; a receiving of Christ into the heart; true, is accepting the Gospel ;
obeyin""- the Gospel from the heart 602— a trusting in and committing ourselves to .-hrist ;
gladly receiving the Gospel 603— includes being persuaded nf and embracing the promises ;
being' reconciled to God revealing himself by Christ; a sense of our own unworthiness r
is being drawn to Christ 604— arises from or includes love ; is being athiist for (he waters o
life • ^ubmittin" to the righteousness of God 605— justifying, the clearest and most periect defi
nition of, is, t'he soul's entirely embracing the revelation of Jesus Christ as our Saviour ;
explained 606— the essence of the first act as exercised in justifying, is a quitting other hopes
and applying to Christ for salvation, choosing and closing wilh salvation by Him in His way
with a sense of His absolute, glorious, sufficiency and mercy ; hope so essential to it, that it is
the natural and necessary and most immediale fruit of true faith 607— not every receiving ofthe
Gospel, but such as is suitable to its nature and ils relation to us and our circumstances ; rea
sons why it is the most proper word to express a cordial reception of Chrisl 608— jusiilying is
the soul's sens^ and conviction of the real.ty and sufliciency of Jesus Chri.n as a Saviour ; pre
pares the way for Ihe removal of the gu It of conscience 60S, 609^1ifiiculty of defining, that
w« have nn word that clearlv and adequately expresses the whole act of acceptance, or closing
ot the soul or heart with Christ 611— justifying, in the essence of, hope is implied 612 ; good
works also ; praver is the expression of that inward sense or act of which it consists 613— a
saving belief of'th- truth arises from love 617, 619, 625-various expresssions of Scriplure to
eienifv it 620, Sec— the saving nature nf, eighteen queries respecting it Mi, b24— commnn, not
a supernatural th n; anv more tr.an belief in history ; obtained by the same means 633-javing,
irguments to prove thai it differs from common in nature and esseme ; not merely a difference
660 INDEX.
of degree 634-637 ; not difference only in effects 637-641 — that which in -v/ithout spiritual lipht
is not true faith 111.53 — in the view of many persons deceiving themselves, is believing that
, l>hey are in a good stale 64, 126 — one act of, lo commit the keeping of the soul to Christ, lo
keep It from falling 514 — not only the first act of, but subsequent acts of perseverance in
i'ustify the sinner 5t6 — the two ways in which the first act of justifies 517.
1 — by which we are justified, means not the same thing as a course of obedience or righteousness
IV. 64 — as a condition ol salvation ; noi sufliciently clear explanation as condition is ambiguous;
,. as commonly used not the only condition of justification 67 — that qualification in any person that
renders it meet in the sight ol God that he should be looked upon as having Christ's satisfaction
, ', and righteousness ; belonging to him, because it is that which on his part makes up the union
between lum and Christ 70 — it is the Christian's uniting act, done on his part toward this union oi
relation 71 — justifies or gives an interest in Christ's satisfaction and merits and a right to the
benefits procured thereby, as it makes the believer and Christ one in the acceptance of the
Supreme Judge 72. — meaning of divines, when they say that it does not justify as a work
of righleoiisness 73 — juslificalion by the first act of 103 — also necessaiy that it remains —
future looked on by the justifier as virtually implied in the first act of 104 — consequences of
considering future acts of as having no concern wilh our justification 105 — perseverance of ne
cessary to congruity of justification 106— justifying in a Mediator is cnnversant about sin or evi.
to be rejected, and good to be accepted ; the former evangelical repentance 119 — speculative, or
belief of the doctrines of religion, no evidence of good estate 451 — reasons stated, why this,
which is possessed by devils, cannot be so ; without holiness they are not subjects of .even
common grace 461, 452; unreasonable to suppose, that a person's being like a devil is a sign
that he is unlike him 453 ; use of the doctrine ibr instruction, &c. 454.
Fall — of man, the rums of, how manifested? IV. 29,
Faultiness — common idea, what? II. 131.
Fear — cast out by the Spirit of God only by the prevailing of love .III. 56 — great variety as to the
degree of in awakened persons 241.
Fitness — proper that God should act according to the greatest, and he knows what is so ? II. 203 —
of a thing to answer ils end, its goodness 224 — is twofold to a state, one a moral the other
nnlural IV. 72.
/lavel, Mr.— quotations from his works III. 29 Note, 50 Note, 57 Note, 58 Note, 78 Note, 172
Note, 177 Note : his account of a man wonderfully overcome with divine comforts 287.
Flesh, fleshly, &c.— meaning of, in the Scriptures 413-417, 433, 476-478.
Foreknowledge — God's, of man's moral conduct and qualities, &c. proved by cases of Pharaoh,
Peter and many others II. 62,63 — of evenis dependent on moral conduct of persons as in case
of children of Israel going to Egypt, on Joseph's, and many others in Scripture history 63-65 —
of the Messiah, &c. 65, 66 — proof of God's, of the volitions of moral agents from predictions
nf facts cnnsequent nn certain great evenis, as the fall, the deluge, &c. — of God argued from
the fact he must otherwise truly repent of what he has done and wish it were done otherwise
70, and liable to do so continually, changing his mind, &c. ; also in power of man to frustrate
God's designs ; inconsistent with Scripture 71 ; also that God is liable to be disappointed of his
end in creation, redemption, &c. 72 — proves that the knowledge of the things to has had
existence and so necessary, and thus the events themselves necessary 73 — no future event
can be foreknown whose existence is contingent 74 — God's as inconsislent with man's hberly as
his absolute decrees 76 — absolute, may prove an act or event to be necessary and yet not be
that which causes the necessity 77, 78 — God can have none of the fulure moral actions of Intel-
ligent beings on the Arminian scheme 118 — God's of all future events makes him as much the
Author of sin as the doctrine of the moral necessity of men's volitions 156 — absolute of God, as
inconsistent with counsels, &c. as isthe doctrine of necessity 167 — God's admitted by all that
own the being of a God 513 — those who hold lo, contradict contingency 5I5^of God necessarily
infers a decree 522 — contradicts the Arminian notion of liberty as much as a decree 525.
Fortitude — true Christian, in what it consists IU. 162 — how best to judge of it ; how it differs
from pretended, &c. 163.
Freedom — meaning of, in common speech II. 17 — primary notion ; as used by Arminians,' Pelagians,
&c. consists in a self-determining power in the will, contingence 18, 473 — of the will, requisite
to all moral agency, the grand article on which rests the decision of most of the points of th*.
controversy between Calvinists and Arminians 176.
Fulness— of God, the term how used 11.206 Note — communicated by him to his creatures' know
ledge, holiness, happiness, &c. 209.
Fundamental — the same articles are not fundamental to all men, &c. III. 545.
Funeral Sermons IU. 605,616.
Future State — proved from the fact the beasts are made for man I. 572 ; from the 0. T. 574.
Gale, Dr — quotation from his Court of the Gentiles III. 140 Note, 638.
Glas, Mf Joiiw — on evidences quoted I. 203 Note.
Glory— grace, the seed, dawning of in the heart IU. 89— a sight of the divine glory of the gospel
convinces of the truth of Christianity ; removes prejudices ; helps reason 135— a great apprehen
sion of an external in divine ihings no evidence of grace I^V. 462.
Slory- God's, should be seen and known, valued, loved, &c. answerably to its dignity II. 20.5—
emanation of, implies the communicated excellency and happiness of "his creatures 219 proved
from the Scriptures to be an ultimale end of the creation ; the end of God's saints his glory
226— the end in his happiness 227— the ultimate end of the goodness of the moral part of
creation 238 — the ultimate end of moral goodness and righteousness ; and that in which con-
sists the value and end of particular gracjis, and the end of that relio-ion and service of
God which is the end of Christ's redeemini- us 229— to be the hist end of all Christians
and to be their delight in their best frames 210— the highest and last end of Christ 231— the
last end of the work of redemption by Jesus thrift ; proved by his declarations, prayeis the
song of angels, &c. 232, 233 ; hence the glory of God the last end of the creation of tha vvorld
INDEX.
661
834 — meaning ol God s glory in the Scriptures ; glory of God, sometimes means the second per.
son of the Trimly 246— internal glory, sometimes means great hapuniess, prnsperily 247; also
exhibiiion or communication of inlernal glory 248 ; sometimes as applied to Christ the commn
nication of God's fulness 249 — means also a view or knowledge of God's excellency 250 ; also,
praise, joy, also the same ashis name 251 — we may be the iiislruinenls of promoting il 267 not
the author of sin, 476 — shining forth of. would be very imperfect, unless sin and punishmenl had
beta decreed 616 — a sight in the face of Jesus Christ works true suprenic Inve In God IV, 470.
Rod— in the most proper sense, a moral agent; the source of moral agency U. 19— his fore.'inow-
ledge of the voluntary acls of moral agents proved 61-70, 71 — necessarilv holy 84— no dis
honor in this or in the necessary determinalion of his will 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147— not Ihe
author of sin 155— perfectly happy ; free from every thing conlrary to happiness 163 — may dis-
pose and permit or choose moral 'evil lo exist and yet hate it 163, 164, 165 — may have respect
to himself as his last and highest end in creation 200 — most worthy of regard In himself and
to manifest by his word and works 201 — properly the supreme and lust end of all to the uni
verse 202 — supreme judge of fitness and propriety 203 — what he intends may be inferred from
what he does 204 — tit his glorious perlections should be known and their nperatinns seen by
other beings 205 — his fulness of all possible good and every perfection &c. capable nl emana-
tion, it is tit .should be communicated or flow forth, &c. ; disposilion which excited God Ki give
his crealures existence, a communicative disposition 206 — in making certain things supposed
expressions of his perfections bis end, makes himself the end 207 — may h.ive real happiness in
seeing the happy state of his creature, but this canno. properly be said to be what he receives from
his creature ; so the creature's holiness does not argue dependence of Gnd on the creature 212 —
})leasure of, rather a pleasure in diffusing and communicating to the creature, thiin in receiving
'rom the creature 213 — his inlerest cannot be inconsistent with the good and interest of the
whole ; regard to himself inclines him lo seek the good of his crealures 215 — wortliy of hi'ai
to regard and take pleasure in what is excellent and valuable in itself 216 — all his moral per
fections are to be resolved into a supreme and infinite regard for himself; not unworthy of God
In take pleasure in vvhat is fit and amiable even in those infinitely below him 218 — independent,
self-moved in doing good to creatures 221 — his own, the last end in creation proved from the
Scriptures 222, 226-236- — in seeking a peculiar and holy people for bimself to be ior his glory and
honor, has respect to himself 238— internal glory and fulness of, is his infinite knowledge, virtue
or holiness and happiness 253 — his worthiness consists in his greatness and moral goodness 268—
virtue in consists in love lo himsell' 270 — improper to say he decrees a ihijig because ; yet he decrees
all things harmoniously; not unjust for bivn to determine v\ho is certainly to sin and so be
damned, and why 514— cannot be absolutely, perfectiy happy, if any thing is otherwise than he
wiUs it now 515 — nothing can come to pass without the will or pleasure of 519 — power and wis
dom of, prove his decree 521 — distinction between hi^ moral and natural attributes, &c. III. 101 —
the Father or Holy Ghost could not be the mediator and v(hy IV. 136 — greaily glorified in the
way of salvation 139, 149 ; all his attributes are so 140, 141— each person in the Trinity is so
141, 142 ; the way God is glorified in the plan of salvation, as the eflect of divine wisdom 149-
161, on account of there being so great and universal dependence upon him 176, 177 — every man
is as his God is 645 — his different dealing with men ; is said to harden men ; not to be under
stood that it is done by positive efficiency ; no positive act of his ; this would make him the
author of sin ; but by withholding the powerful influences of his Spirit witiiout «hicb their hearts
wUl harden ; and by ordering those things in his providence which through the abuse of their
corruption become the occasion of their hardening 548 ; the foundation of his different dealing,
his sovereign wUl and pleasure, what it implies ; the divine wiU without restraint or constraint
or obligation 549 — distinguished from false gods, as a hearer of prayer 665.
3orLY, or gracious — meaning, as referring to requisite of admission to communion I. 93.
.-Jodly- one that is so, prefers God before any thing else IV. 540 ; that is or might be in heaven 641—
sensible Ihat all creature enjoyments cannot satisfy the soul and that happiness is in God ; prefers
God before all other things on earth 642 — is happy through whatever changes he passes because
God is his portion 544.
TiooD — how used II. 4 — greatest apparent 5,48— strength of sense of, and of evil, influence of 17— any
thins good and valuable, &c. in itself is worthy that God should value foritself, or with an ultimate
value 200 ; and must be regarded as an ultimale end in creation 20'3 — any thing the eflect and
consequence of the creation of the world simply and absolutely good in itself is an ultimate of
God's creating the world 204 — the creature's, viewed by God when he made the world, wilh
respect to its eternal duration 219 — goodness of a thing consists in its filness to answer its end
224— communication of to the creature, proved from the Scriptures to he an ultimate end of God
in creating the world 242-246 — considered with reference to redemption 242, forgiveness of sins
243 government of the world, judgments on the wicked 244, works of creation and providence,
gcc_'245 and evU. moral, whether men's sentiments of are not arbitrary or casual and accidental
303' • or whether the use of these words in a moral sense be not so 304 — sense of, heightened
by t'he sense of evU, both moral and natural 517— two ways in which the mind is convinced that
any thing is so ; what 628— distinction between moral and natural III. 101— attained by salva
tion wonderfuUv various and exceeding great IV. 142. ,.,,..,_,
CJooDNESS- negative' moral, the negation or absence of true moral evil ; this belongs to certam natural
principles and hence they are mistaken for virtues II. 298— more abundant in the giver when he
shows kindness without any excellency in our persons or actions that would move the giver to
love and beneficence : imrease of gi-ace in saints causes them to think their deformity vastly
more than their goodness III. 146— applied to question of justification IV. 90.
Goodwin, Dr.— observation and exposition of certain texts II 249 Note. ..,,..
iospEL— not uninteUigible, &c. II. 359— our experience of the sufficiency of the doctrmes of, to give
oeace of conscience, a rational inward witness to -its truth 609— the conviction of it by internal evi.
dences of it by a sight of its glory, aU to which many can altain III. 132— unreasonalile to suji-
pose that God has provided i;o more than proba'ole evidence of its truth 133— a conviction of bj
662 I27DEX.
such a sight that which most CKristians have obtamed ; variety in the decrees ol .his spintuil
sight, &c. 134.
Srace— efficacious, objection of Arminians to the doctrine, rest on their peculiar views nf freedom
of the wiU and therefore untenable II. 178 -saving, differs from common in nature and kind 565,
691— dispute about its being resistible or irresistible, nonsense 560; the grand pomt of contro.
versy what 579 — of God may appear lovely in two ways how ? III. 106— restrammg, how men
are kept from the highest acts of sin by it IV. 64 ; manner of its exertion by Providence ; by the
ordering of their state ; by particular providences 55 ; difference of God's giving it to his children
in the way of covenant mercy and to others 56— wonderfulness of God's shown by the doctrine
of his justice in the damnation of sinners 252.
' Jrace — the truth of, judged in the Scriptures not principally by the method and steps of the first worfc
but by the fruits in a holy life III. 510.
\tracious person, who is such a one I. 114.
¦jRATiTODE— may be virtuous or vicious II. 282, 2S3— may arise from self-love III. 94 — true to Goii
arises from a foundation laid before of love to God for what he is in himself ; a natural gratitudi
has no such antecedent foundation 96 — in a gracious gratitude men are affected with God's good
ness or free grace not only as they are concerned in it, &c. but as a part of the glory and beauty
of God's nature 97.
iuiLT — arising from the fir.st existing of a depraved disposition in Adam's posterity, not distinct from
their guilt of Adam's first sin II. 482 — of conscience is the sense of the connection between the
sin of the subject and punishment ; by God's law ; and by God's nature and the propriety of the
tiling ; how removed 609 — greatness of, no obstacle to pardon of the returning sinner IV. 422 —
want of a thorough sense of, and desert of punishment, a sign that a person was never converted,
&c. 460— great of those who attend on the ordinances of divine worship yet allow themselves in
known wickedness 529.
rtAEiT — fixed, attended with a peculiar moral inability, by which it is distinguished from occasional
volition II. 102 ; habits and dispositions not virtuous, neither can be their exercise ; applied lo the
Arminian scheme 114.
Happiness— many have wrong notions of God's, as resulting from his absolute self-sufficiency, &c. 212
— God's, nothing that is from the creature adds to or alters, &c. ; il is eternal and always equaUy
present, not in the least dependent on any thing mutable 213 — the most benevolent, generous per
son, in some sense, seeks bis own happiness in doing good to others because he places his happi
ness in their good 220 — salvation of men, an end that Christ ultimately aimed al m his sufferings
from redemption 249 — several hundred opinions on the point wherein man's consisted IV. 24.
Hawley. Joseph Esq. — letter from, regretting his activity in procuring Mr. Edwards's dismission 1.
42-40.
Heart — habitual disposition of, cannot be virtunus or vicious on the Arminian scheme II. 113 — moral
evil consists in a certain deformity in the nature of certain dispositions and acts of the will 120 —
an evil thing's being the choice of the heart essential to the original notion we have of blame
worthiness 174 — praise or blame and virtue belong to it 251 — aU moral qualities, aU principles of
virtue or vice lie in the disposilion of the ; heart of man denied to be corrupt by the enemies to
the doctrine of original sin '309 — tendency of the natural or innate disposition of, that which ap
pears to be its tendency when we consider things as they are in themselves or in their own nature
without the interposition of divine grace 311 — determination of the tendency of man's, and nature
to be looked at to determine whether his nature is good or evil, &c. 323 — depravity of, shown by
the fact that man has not a disposition to gratitude to God for his goodness in proportion to his
disposition to anger towards men for their injuries 332 — inclination or disposition of to dn right
the first moment of existence the same as to be created with an inclination lo right action 385 — a
new, and spirit, the same as regeneration, &c. 469 - our duty and act to make us a new heart, &c.
580 — the mind with regard tothe exercises ofthe faculty ol inclination so caUed III. 3 — hardness,
meaning of 17.
Heaven — we ought to desire it IV. 573 ; to seek it by travelling in the way that leads thither ; how?
675 ; to be growing 'n hohness and thus coming nearer to it ; lo subordinate aU other concerns of
life tn this 576 — the pi.ice alone where our highest good is to he obtained ; the doctrine improved '
to teach moderation m mourning the loss of pious friends 578 — worthy that life should be spent as
a journey towards it ; the way to have deatli comfortable 582 ; those who are wUUng so to spend
life may have heaven, &c. 583.
Hobbes, Mr. — agrees with the Arminians in more things than with Calvinists 142.
Holiness— of God must be conceived of as prior in the order of nature to his happiness II. 143 no
dishonor to him that it is necessary 147 — of God consists in love to himsell" — in man in love lo
Him 217 — kindness and mercy of God belong to his holiness ; the first objective ground of aU
holy affections IU. 102— the sum of sphitual beauty in God 103, 104— its seat in the heart rathei
tlian in the head 280.
Holiness — visible, what I. 98.
Hope— of the glory of God ; ils blessed nature and sure ground IV. 36 — restrains men's enmitv to
God 49. " -'
Hubbard, Mr. John — quotation from his Sermons III. 529.
Humble— the truly so, poor in spirit how, &c. III. 154.
Humiliation— distinction between a legal and evangelical III. 137— true, the most es.sential thino- in
true religion 138— evangelical consists in self renunciation 140— pretended how shown &c. f42
and distinguished from Christian 143 — natural for persons in judging of their own to take theii
measure from that which Ihey exteem their proper height or dignity 150— two things always con
sidered in judging of it ; the real degree of dignity, and the degree of abasement, &c. 151— self.
examination nn the subject nf humility, &c. 153.
Humility— pure Christian, what and how charapterized III. 358— improves even the r'lproaches at
enemies 360— imp.)rtance of to young mimsters 363.
Hutcheson Mr. — his views concerning nioral good and evil quoted II. 382 383.
Hutchinson, Abioail — account of her awakening and experienc-3 UI. 260-265.
INDEX. «53
a/i-3CkiiE — wanting in a .'autious spirit and dread of being deceived ; hus not the KnowliJge of his
own blindness and tne deceitfulness nf his own hcai-t ; devil dots not assault his hope ; has not a
sight of his ovn corruplicns and hence does not doubt Ul. 51 — two sons of, one that are deceived
hy their oulw ard morality and external religion ; the nther with false discoveries and elevations,
caUed the legal and evangelical, the latter more liable lo deceive themselves wilh a false hope
52— difference betwetn his joy and that of the true saint 98 — Ihey keep an eye on ihemselves ;
much affected with impressions on their imaginations ; great lalkcrs about thciiisclves 99 ; talk
nl the discovery rather than the thing discovered, &c. ; their other affections aU fiom self-love
100 — fail grossly in true humiliation 140 — difl'crs froi.. the true Cluistian in being blind In his pride
and quick-sighltd to the shows of humUity ; also discerns more of others' pride Ihan his o« n ; hence
put forth their counterfeit humihty 162— llicir atTcclions wanting in symmetry, fcc. 171, 172, not
only as lo the various kinds but in the same with regard to difl-crcut objects; love to some but not
so extensive as Christian love 173; .so too in their seeming excicii-cs of love lo Ihe same persons ;
are affected with the bad qualities ol others but not with their own defects in proportion ; sure
sign of false if they pretend to come to high allainments but have never arrived at less 174 ; the
same of zeal as of love ; so too as to difl'erent times 175— religious only by fits and starts 176 —
al-^.o different in difi-erent places 177 — profess to seek God, press forward, &c. ; but Ihey long for
discoveries, &c. more for the present comfort of it and the high manifeslation of God's love in it
than for any sanctifying influence of it 181 — entiiely deficient in Christian practice another sign
of graciou.s afl'ections 191 — proof from Scripture 191, 192 — his deficiency in the duty of prayer;
often continue' for a season in ; after having received common illuminations and affections IV.
474 ; after obtaining a hope, and why ; they leave ofl- the practice of the duty 476 ; meaning of this ;
reasons why they do thus 476 : never had the spirit of prayer, &c. ; his -wants supplied in his false
conversion 476, 477; his hope takes ofl- the force of God's command from his conscience ; retains
to sinful practices 478 ; never counted the co^l of perseverance to the end of life in seeking God;
have no interest in God's gracious promises 479.
Ideas — constantly varying II. 38.
Idolatry- of mankind not from sufficient Hght II. 335 — a state of, a corrupt state, and evinces de
pravity of nature 336, 337.
Image of God, (Gen. 1 : 26, 27, and 9: 6) wherein man made II. 19— a twofold in man ; what?
IU. 103.
Imagination — properly used, helpful to the other faculties of the mind I. 531.
Imagination— defined 111.74 — the place where Satan's delusions, &c. are formed 122 — many so de
luded 136 — impressions made on, &c. 258, 259.
Immutaiility of God's purposes, proves his foreknowledge of luture evenis, volitions, &c. II. 70, 71.
Impossibility — meaning of, negative necessity II. 12- natural excuses from aU blame 127.
Impossiele— meaning of II. 9, 10, 12, 15, often used to signify natural impossibility.
Impressions, made on the imagination or imaginary ideas of God and Christ, &c. have nothing in them
that is spiritual or of the nature of true grace; explained III. 74; their manner of origin, &c.
77, 78.
Impulses— persons that foUow them suppose that they foUow God's word because the impression is
made with a text, &c. ; mistake, &c. III. 366 ; manner in which such expose themselves to be led
away by the devU 369, 370.
Imputation— of Adam's first sin— the liableness or exposedness of Adam's posterity, in the judgment,
to partake of the punishment of that sm II. 309— doctrine stated 481- objections against its rea
sonableness consiciercd 483-49'3 — view of partial considered 494, 495.
Imputation— of Christ's righteousness, its me'aning ; that the righteousness of Christ is accepted for
us, instead of that inherent righteousness, that ought to be in ourselves ; applied to the doctrine
of justification by faUh IV. 91— the opposers ofthe doctrine pronounce it absurd; answered;
proof of the doctrine 92-101 ; inconsistent with the doctrine of our being justified by our own
virtue or sincere obedience 101.
Impute, reckoned, &c.— how used in the Scriptures II. 501. IV. 92.
[kaiiuty- meaning of II. 12— extensive sense of in some wrhers 13— natural and moral, distinguished
15— in common use, relates to wiU, supposable and insuflicient lo bring to pass 16, 17— moral that
attends fixed habits, so caUcd 17— arguments againsi inabUity of the unregenerate on account of
nece.ssity nf moral actions, vain and inconsistent 81— that inabihty only excuses which consists
in want of connection between those exercises of the mind required as effects of the wiU and the
vviU 104. . „ .
Inability, Moral- meaning of, opposition or want of inchnation II. lo, 101 ; instances given ; general
and habitual or uarticular and occasional 16, 102— moral inability that attends fixed habits caUed
inabiUty 17— very diverse from original import of inabihty ; imphed m the wiU's opposition, &c
100— as real as any inability can be ; degrees of inabUity; IUustration 102-not properly called
inabUity-cannot excuse for disobedience 103— a degree of inability in the case of every flxed bias
on the mind 112. . . , ,. ^ ,, „ . i •
InabUilv, Natural-meaning of II. 15-alone properly caUed inability, wholly excuses ; aU natural ma-
bility that excuses may be resolved into want of natural capacity and strength 104.
Incarnation of Christ— nolhing imuossible or absurd in IU. 539.
iBCLiNATiOK-what ; when caUed the wiU ; exercise of, what ; the more vigorous and sensible exer.
cises of, called the affections UI. 3. ^ . v .„ j ,i „ i
iKDiFFERENCE-belongs lo Arminian notion of liberty II. U -case of m the vviU examined and real
Doint stated 35. 36-of the wUl, is the mind's choosing, without choosmg; case of two eggs
point stated 35, 36-of the wUl, is the mind's choosmg, w. noul cnoosmg; case o. iwo egga
exacUy ahke, &c.-question respecting the mind's, not kept distinct y m view 38 ; pternal ac
tions, is touch, &c. may not be indifferent ; distinction between general and particular indiflerence
39— as essential to liberty of the wiU, examined ; a distinction claimed between indiflerence of
the soul as to its power an'd ability nf wiUing and 'he soul^ indifference as to preferen^
664 INDEX.
only virtuous act on Arminian principles 110; aU that is done ailervaids worthy of neither blam
nor praise Ul.
IsFANTS— death of, strange if death is designed only as a benefit, &c. II. 375 — not .vlnless proved by
their death 378 — meant by those who have r.ot sinned after the similitude of Alam's transgres.
sion (Rom. 6; 14) 456-458— view tliat they are hable to temporal dealh or annihilation, or to 9
future state not worse than non-existence, from imputation of Adam's sin, considered 494, 495.
Inferior principles — in man iu i mocence called uatural ; if left to themselves called flesh II. 476.
Inferior end— .'^poosite to chief end II. 193, 194.
Infinity - (i"<\% not a distinct good, but expresses tbe degree of good there is in him II. 264.
Inspiration- distinction between things written by immediate, of the Holy Spirit and those commit
ted to writing by direction of the Holy Spirit III. 544.
Instincts- of nature, in what respects they do not resemble "iclue II. 291 ; do not arise from a prin.
ciple of virtue ; have no tendency to produce general benevolence 292 ; applied to mutual affec.
tion between the sexes ; to pity 293 — this may consist with malevolence 294.
Interest — unfits one to be an arbiter, no otherwise than being interested tends to blind and mislead or
incline him to act contrary to his judgment ; applied to the case of God and last end II. 205—
private may be inconsistent with the public good; God's cannot 216.
Irresistible — meaning of II. 9, 10, 15, 128, 178.
Jews — tiue religion first received from them of the Gentiles, &c. III. 314.
Jones, Mr. — quotation from III. 158.
Joseph -his great temptation and deliverance considered ; things worthy to be noted in the eircunr>
stances, &c. IV. 585.
Judge — God the supreme, ofthe world by right III. 203 ; in fact ; he acts so toward men at death 204.
Judgment, Christian — meaningof I. 91 — founded on some positive appearance of visibility, &c. which
rendeis the thing probable ; one in which men exercise reason 92 -nothing but appearing reason,
the ground of a rational one 97.
Judgment— end and design of the, what II. 499— wiU manifest the state each man is in with respect
to the grand distinction of mankind into the righteous and wicked ; also degree wherein the
righteous or the wicked differ from each other in the same general state 500.
Judgment — of the soul at death, how understood IV. 205— doctrine of a general, not sufficiently dis
coverable by the light of nature ; one of the peculiar doctrines of revelation ; entirely agreeable
to reason ; the light of nature teaches that aU mankind shall be judged of God ; reasons of a pub.
lie judgment 205-207 — the account of considered in various particulars 210-210 ; how n righteous
ness ; the things that foUow 217 ; the uses of the doctrine, for instruction, show the reasons of
God's providence in the world, &c. 219 ; applied to various characters of men 222-224 ; improve
ment to be made of the subject 224, 225.
Justice- God's vindictive, not to be considered as an ultimate but as a means to that end II- 542—
of God in the damnation of sinners ; shown from man's sinfulness and God's sovereignty IV. 227
— also shown in the fact that they bring forth no fruit to God 307.
Justification- conditions of, repentance and faith II. 6C8— perseverance, in what sense a con
dition of IU. 510— in the act of, God has respect to perseverance as being virtually in the first
acts of faith; perseverance necessary to the congruity of 516 — benefits consequent on, peace
with God, present happiness and hope of glory IV. 36-respects a man as ungodly 64— by faith
alnne 65 ; its meaning ; what it is ; a person is justified, when approved of God as free from the
guilt of sin and deserved punishment, and having that righteousness belonging to him that entitles
to the reward of life 66 — how is it by faith— difficulty as lo the import and force of by 67 ¦ it is
not the inseparable condition with justification that the Holy Ghost would signify or that is'natu.
rally signified, but some particular influence that faith has in the affair, or some certain depen
dence, that that effect has on its influence 68 — meaning is, that faith is that by which we are ren
dered approvable, fitly so, and indeed, as the case stands, proper subjects of this benefit— how
is it by laith alone, without any manner of virtue or goodness of our own ; by the latter is meant
that it is not out of respect to the exceUency or goodness of any qualiflcations or acts in us what.
soever that God judges it meet this benefit of Christ should be ours, but purely from the relation
faith has as it unites to the Mediator 69 — faith the only condition of, as peculiar, because faith
includes the whole act of unition to Christ as a Saviour 73- the doctrine proved 73— from reason
and the nature of things 73-78 ; from the Scripture 79-89 ; some assert that the Apostle Paul
-when he excludes the works of the law, means the ceremonial law ; also that it is by faith in the
act only that they are admitted, and by obedience Ihey are continued in a justified state 78— some
that by'llie law is meant the Mosaic dispensation; considered 88 — also that to suppose we are justified
by our own sincere obedience derogates from gospel grace 89-91 ; and derogates from the honor
of the Mediator ; puts man in Christ's stead ; makes him his own saviour 91— the term a foren-
sic one 94— how Christ's obedience avails 92-101— what is the relation to it of the Christian's
evangelical obedience 102; merely as expression of faith 103 — conurruity of dependence on peC
severance, and manifestation of, in the conscience arises more from after acts than the first act of
faith 106— by failh alone lays the foundation of flrst acceptance with God and all actual salva.
tion consequent upon it whoUy in Christ and his righteousness, and thus vastly different from the
scheme of those who oppose it 114— twofold : either the approbation and acceptance of the judo-e. or
the manifestation of it by sentence of the judge 125 ; the ApostJe James uses justify in the sense of
the latter kind 126 — the importance of the doctrine of, proved from Scripture 128- because the
adverse scheme lays another foundation of man's salvation than God hath laid ; that in it lies the
mosf essential difference between the covenant of grace and the first covenant 129 • is the main
thing that fallen men stand in need of divine revelation for ; the contrary scheme derogates frora
the honor of God and the Mediator 130, and leads men to trust in their own righteousness whicb
is fatal to the soul 131.
'tiSTiN Martyr — his view of liberty of soul quoted II. 34.
Kingdom, of Heaven or God — meaning ofl. 427.
KiscHJiKYER. J. C. — concernirg fundamental articles, quotation from III. 545.
INDEX.
666
|kMOWLEDnE--of the being of God, how derived (Rom. i. 20) II. 27 — no certainty of knowledge
without necessity 78 — God's immulabilily of, proves the necessity ol known eveiilo 80 — divine
one purl of that fulness which he communicates lo his creatures 209 — the object of it God's
perfections or glory 210 — of God and a sense of his love, that in which the huppiness ofthe
creature consists 51 7 — increase ol, in asaint, how doesit make hisloveappear less in compaiison
to what is known III. 145 — true spiritual, the more one has of it, the' I'nore sensible ol his own
ignorance 149' — of Christ, an evidence of being blessed ; in case ol Peter, above what flesh and
blood can reveal IV. 438 — a twofold, of good that God has made the mind oi man capable of
speculative, and in the heart 442 — no degree ol speculative, ol the things of religion any
sign nf saving grace 454 — the devil has great speculative, of many divine thmgs IV. 463 — sensf
of God's majesty, of his attributes, natural and moral 464.
L.iHGUAGE, deficient m terms to express operalions ofthe mind II. 143.
Law — It was needlul that it should be obeyed by that nalure to which it was given I. 396—
God's revealed, and Ihe law of nalure agree 11.225 — of God, the rule of right, also the mea
sure of virtue and sin 329T-by it the aposlle intends the moral law when speaking of justificatioD
by the works ofthe law Ul. 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 66, 87, 88, 89.
Lay exhorting — in what respecls should it be restrained III. 400.
Laymf.n — exhorting by, not unlawful or improper ; disliiiction between such and the teaching &c. ol
minisiers; not with like aulhorily Ul. 397 ; may be invaded either in matter or manner; what
IS 11 10 stt up for a public teacher ? 398 ; the rule does not extend to heads of famUies in their
own families 399.
Learnin — ohuman, not to be despised I. .559.
Letter — to a minister ofthe Church of Scotland II. 183.
Liberty — meaning of, in common speech II. 17, 18, 175 — cannot be ascribed to any being or thing
but that has laculty, power or properly called will 18 — as belonging to the will itself, not goocl
sense 18 — Arminian notion of, that the free acts of the will are contingent, uncaused 25 — con
sists in doing what we will 33 — ofthe will as consisting in indifference; examined and refuted
40, 41 ; absurd and inconsistent 42. 43 ; evasion considered 43 ; another evasion 44 — as consisting
in a power to suspend the act ofthe will and keep il in indifference till an opportunity for con
sideration ; examined 44 ; contradictory 44, 45 — Mr. Chubb's scheme exposed 63, 64-61 — of self-
delerminmg power of the will void of all necessity, impossible even to be consistent with the
influence of motives in volition 61 — Arminian notion of, inconsistent with God ; foreknowledge
of the volition of moral agents 80-525 — utrumlibet, said by some to be necessary to a state oi
trial 91, 92 — according to the Arminian view of, men cannot be subjects of command or govern
ment 108— of indifference implies that any good action must be perlormed with a heart indiffer
ent UO; destroys the different degrees of vice and crime Ul— if invincible motives destroy it,
then in the same proportion different degrees of slTcngth of rastive hinder it, and 'be more
forcible motives are, so much the less virtue &c. 116.
Life — the true Christian's, a journey towards heaven IV. 573.
Light- used in the Scriptures, lo represent knowledge, holiness and happiness II. 255— there is
such a thing as spiritual and divine immedialely imparted to the soul by God ofa different
nature from any that is obtained by natural means ; what it is not ; not those convictions natural
men have oftheir sin and misery ; a clear apprehension of things spiritual so calleil IU. 7o—
difference between that which is given bv the common influences ol the Spirit of God and that
saving instruction which is given to Ihe' sainls 115, IV. 439— in the work of ttie Holy Ghost
those things are wrought in the soul that are above nature ; the Spirit of God acls in a diflerent
manner m the one case from what it does in the other ; it does not consist in any impression on
the imagination 440 ; not the suggesting of any new truths or propositions not contamed in the
word of God ; not everv affecting view men have of the things of religion ; but it is, a true
sen.=e ofthe excellency of the things revealed in the word of God and a conviction of the truth
and reality ol them thence arising 441— the conviction arises, by removal ol prejudii-es ; by the
help ofre"ason442-this light, how immediately given by God and not obtamed by natural
- at the natural faculties are not made use of in it 443-or that outward means
have no concern in the affair ; but that it is given by God vvithout making use of any me— ¦ -
-n power of natural force 444— truth of the doclrine proved scriptu
means ; not that the natural faculties are not made use oi m n iio— ui u.ai uulw^.u .i,ca..=
have no concern in the affair ; but that it is given by God vvithout making use of any means that
operate by their own power of natural force 444-lruth of the doctrine proved scriptural 444,
44.5— rational 446-448— reason to influence to seek this light or knowledge 449,
Literists and Vowelists— men so called who adhered to the Scriplure 1. 037.
LorRE^sf^M^-lSltionTlhlwilVil.l-ex^ -remark on the will's determining itself, the sourc-e f "'"f^/O-ass tion that men have suffi.
cient capacity to come to a knowledge ofthe true God, quoted 33D-his views of men disregard
ing their eternal welfare, quoted 337. T„oio,„o„t T loa
LoRD^meaning of this compeLtion applied to ChrisMn ^ ^e New T ment 1.^124.^ ^^^.^^^^ ^^_^^^
LovE — God's, or benevolence, as it respecls tne creature may lc la j,-„,;.„„uheH m God as in
mir i!;f :rv'n^orcii\h^e^t:^of^Xt s^-t^at'^dLr^^^^
volence and love <>' '=°">Pl^«rf«' f efi»ed 263_ev,dence ^^^ b^,^ coincidence oi
rhTelrds'rof^our'L're^ftnr'mprcrd^rld measure, with the.maniie; in which God
himself exercises lo
to God, but litile o:
love to God, Ihe sup
'^'"1 9^— '¦'¦0"" "?e npiu.uM >.!.... .»¦-¦ -- -^ ^ . ¦^^^ ^ jgi ht in his holiness 1
t tllV: e'lllmrif sTt ?sVer;iitt're'Lllpariso^n to what it ought to be, why « 146.
Vol. IV S*
666 INDEX.
Love, brotheriy-.wh.M &c 1.142.
Lowman, Mr. — his exp.isilion of Revelation referred to III. 475-480, Ncte 482-484.
Luther — quota.tion Irom IU. 144.
M.\CARius — his view of freedom of the will II. 34.
Man— bv nature inactive oiher than as inflamed by some affection III. 6 — great pari jf his priacipn
business should be lo improve his understanding by acquiring knowledge IV. 6.
Mankind — special end for which God made them superior to the ends of the inferior creation I. 570;
not any other parts of the visible creation ; they must be fitted to that end proved 571.
Mankind — are in .'Uch a state as is allended without faU with this consequence, that they universally
run ihemselves into that which is in effect their own utter, eternal perdition ; proved from Scrip
ture, by showing, that all mankind come into the world in such a state as without fail comes to
this issue, or that every one who comes to act in the world as amoral agcmt is in a grnater or less
degree guUly of sin II. 313, 314, 315 — the Scriptures represent all mankind as having immense
guUt 32.5— prone to sin 326 — conduct of, with respect to their eternal interests contrary to that
common piudence they use in their temporal affairs 338, 339, 340 — history of, through different
periods proves them to be wicked and depraved by nature 345-347 — wickedness, agreeable to the
nature of, in its present state, proved from experience 347 — state of, that it should be so wicked
strange, if men are in their nature innocent, harmless, undepraved and perfectly free from all evil pro-
pensities ; proof is stiU stronger of the state of corrupdon if the various means used to restrain
are considered 348-358 — general continued wickedness nf, proves that the cause is fixed, internal
in man's nature, and very powerful, from the fact that the effect is so abiding, Ihrough so many
changes ; bec-ause the circumstances are so various, and the means overcome have been sp great
363 — corruption of cannot be owing merely to bad example ; for this accounts for a thing by itsi'f;
and the history of the world shows the children of pious parents degenerating, &c. 366, 368 ; the
world also has had an example of virtue in Jesus Christ, which but for depravity of nature would have
influence on them who live under the Gospel 367 — general prevalence of wickedness of, cannot be ac
counted for by saying that our senses grow up first and the animal passions get the start of reason ;
for il is liable to the same objections against God's ordering, &c., as that men are brought into
being without a prevailing propensity to sin 368, 369, 370 ; nor because a stale of trial makes it fit
that virtue should have opposition and temptation to overcome, not only from without but also
from within 370— sinfulness of, when they come into the world, proved from the universal reign of
death 372.
Manton, Dr. — mode in which he reconciles the Apostles Paul and James II. 630.
Matter — two particles of, precisely alike, considered in reference to creating and placing them II.
149, 150.
Means — ^their successfulness or unsuccessfulness, in what it consists — successful ones of other things
are the connected antecedents of them II. 137 — can have effect either through natural tendency or
influence to prepare or dispose the mind, or putting persons in the way of the bestowment of the
benefit, and neither on the Arminian scneme 138 — the use of so various, great and continual ones,
to resirain men and promote virtue and religion and yet insufficient, proves the native corruf-
tion of mankind 348 — viewed with reference to different periods of the world from Adam to preset
time 349-360.
Memorial — sent from Scotland to America proposing method of union in prayer III. 434, 437.
Men — may be given over of God to sin II. 95 — cannot be excused from obedience except for some de-
feet or obstacle not in the will itself but extrinsic to it 104 — cannot sincerely desire and choose
those spiritual duties of love, &c. consisting in the exercise of the will itself, and yet not be able
to perform them 105 — not mere machines 140 — naturaUy God's enemies IV. 36 — proved, and in
wliat respect they are 37-42 ; in their judgiyients ; in the natural relish of their souls 37, 38 ; ii
their wills ; their affections 39; also how great is their enmity ; without any love ; every faculty
under its dominion ; insuperable by finite power 40 ; greater than to any otner being 42 : sinful
are entirely corrupt 230.
Merit — hou- used by Edwards I. 595.
Merit — of congruity, what IV. 69.
Metaphysics — the true meaning and i.iportance of II. 172.
Methods — ^to be taken to promote the work of God's Spirit ; some things noticed at which offence
has been taken without ground or just cause III. 334.
Mind — state of, renders an object agreeable or otherwise II. 7 — ^being a designing cause, wiU not enable
it to be the designing cause of all its own designs 32.
Ministers — blamed for addressing themselves to the affections rather than the understanding of
their hearers III. 334 ; wrongfuUy 336 ; also for preaching terror, &c. 337 ; on account of out
cries, faUings down, &c. 343; for keeping persons together under great affections 344 — censured
as cold and lifeless, &c. 394-— sinful to invade the office of, in his peculiar teaching 397 — only
ought to follow teaching and exhorting as a caUing 399 — to be consulted in introducing new things
into public praise, &c. 403 — their duty with respect to revivals 411,412.
Ministers of the Gospel — must meet their people at Christ's tribunal, &c. (a farewell sermon) I. 63 ;
the manner of this meeting 64; different from that of all the vvorld 65; for what purposes; to
give an account 68 ; to be judged, to receive sentence 69 ; reasons why God may be supposed to
have ordered such a meeting 70 ; application of the discourse 71 — to act as public officers and not
for themselves in admitting to the church 92 — the watclimen of men's souls, not oftheir bodies, to be
divines, not physicians 28] — true exceUency of UI. 580 — Christ's design in their appointment that
they might be lights to the souls of men 583 ; meaning of this 585 ; what is their being shining
lights? 586 ; their exceUency consists in being such, shown 587 ; application of the doctrine 689
— how tbey may be burning and shining lights 591 — should follow thf example of Christ ; in emi
Bent holiness of Ufe ; in the manner in which they seek the salvation of souls 595 ; fervent pravers
o96 ; diligence ; readiness ; gentleness 697 ; reasons why they should do so, he is their Lord , ka. ;
they are called tn the same office 598 ; his example most worthy, &c. 599.
Misrepresentations — Mr. Williams's, corrected I. 197.
Moral agents — future actions of foretold by God II. 62, 63-65 - made, and the world for ihem fot
L<*DEX. 667
ihe sake oi some moral good in them 223, 224 — create! to be active in answering their end
Gol's name's sake 238 — they are good, whose temper of niind or propensity of heart is agreeablt
to the end for which God made moral agents 270.
Moral evil — meaning of UI. 121,
Moral EXCELLENCE — of God •ousists in the disposition of his heart 11.201 — of divine ihings what
III. 100 — of an intelligent voluntary, being seated in the heart or will ; when real is holiness 101 —
the excellency of natural excellencies 102.
Moral GOOD — us meaning, distinction between it and natural good UI. 101.
Moral government, God's, proved I. 566 ; God must care how ihings proceed among men
566 ; evident from the necessity of order in families, &c. 567 ; withoui it, the preservation o," the
species but imperfectly provided for ; he has a right to exercise his power nf Moral Governor
568 ; man capable of being under it, &c. 569 ; capable also of opposing God's desires ; special
end of the being of mankind something he has to do with his Creator 570 — we infer from it. a
future stale ; a divine revelation and why ? 672-574.
Moral governmenl — God's, of the world, the last end in, God's glory II. 234 — end of, God's name's
sake 238 — consists in giving laws and judging IV. 203.
AloRAL SENSE — Same as nalural conscience, nllen confounded wilh a spiritual sense or virtuous taste
and how U. 289 ; consequence of such a view ; remorse the same as repentance, &c, 290 —
chiefiy governs Ihe use of language .;.Tiong mankind, in reference to the terms bv which things of
a moral nature are signified ; how then can virtue and vice be anv oiher than arbitrary ? an
swered 303.
Moral world — God '> last end respecting the, last end of creation ; 3specially as regards that pari oi
the nioral world which are good II. 224.
Moses — the fruits of his unbelief^ what ? HI. 362.
Motive — strongest and weaker, what strength of II. 4 — indissoluble connection of with act of will
and difiicurty of going against 14, 16 — there must be one to excite every act of tlie will 52, 1 18 —
cause of the act ofthe will ; whatever is done by influence of motives is the effect of them ; mo
tives operate by biassing the will and giving inclinalion or preponderance one way 53 — strength of
motives to choice, diverse previous to choice 56 ; mind acts wiihout motive, if it prefers that which
appears inferior in comparison 57 — cause of an act of the will 60 — insufficiency of motive will
not excuse men, unless the insufficiency arises not from the moral state ofthe wiU, but from the
state ofthe undersianding 104 — can have no influence in moral actions on the Arminian scheme
116 — may be so set before the mind as to be rendered invincible ; there can be no virtue in choos
ing without motive 116. . I ¦ V
Mysteries of Scripture — truths now involved in mystery and darkness will hereafter be clear in the
bright light of heaven lU.5-37 — the symbol of Pythagoras expressed the view of the heathen as
to them 538 — many things of fact and experience if they had been exhibited only m a revelation
of Ihings in an unseen slate would be considered such; nothing impossible or absurd in the incar
nation of Christ ; those who deny the Trinity hold mysteries in respect to the Deity harder to be
explained 539 ; to reject every thing, but what we can flrst see to be agreeable to our reason
tends to bring every thing relating not only to revealed but to natural religion into doubt 540;
one method to explode any difficulty in religion is lo ridicule all distinctions in religion 541 ; for
any thing to be revealed and yet mysterious not a contradiction and why 642 — meaning ol the
term — constitute the interior of divine revelation 644. , r i.- r
Name— God's, his end or the object of his regard ; proved from the Scriptures— end of his aets ol
goodness towards the good part of the moral world and of his mercy and salvation II. 236— God s
people have their existence as such for his name's sake 237.
Names — given to things as most obvious, wiihout reflection II. 15.
Narrative OF SURPRISING CONVERSIONS IU. 231. , . r . tt aii'
Natur.^l and SUPERNATURAL— how used in answering objection agamst depravity of nature 11. 477,
Note.
Natural EVIL, meaning of III. 101. ..»,-¦ .v -
Nature of things, shows the people of Christ should openly profess proper respect to him in theu
hearts as well as a true notion of himin their heads 1. 119. , , . v.
Sature— often used as opposed to choice II. 14 ; origin ofthis lo-^-particular, of existence, however
diverse from others, can lay no foundation for a thing's cnming into existence witnout a cause
29— of disposition or volition, that in yhich virtuousness or viciousness consists, not m llieii cause
or origin 1 19-prior to all acts of will 134-law of, and the revealed law of God agree 224-God
has so constiuned it that the presenting ofthe inferior beauty (secondary) especially m those
k.nds that have the greatest resemblance of the primary (spirilual) beauty, have a tendency to
.:sist virtuous hearts" 273-foundation laid in, for kind alfeclions between the sexes, truly diverse
from all inclinations to sensitive pleasure and 'lo "otpropeHy a;;se from^^such a_,ni,c^^^^^^^^
—man
sin, thedepriman
Stat*
guil 329-that
fofby'Xrblete oTpoluivrgJod pnnciples, withholdm^
=i,^d^^:d:^t=^^seui^s,i:d';;;di;i:^^i^^^^
anless it is abidi.ig IU. 156.
668 INDEX.
NeckssakY — when a thin^ .s said to be su, defined II. 9 — things in their own nature ; s^nstquehtialiy
II — a thing is so whose existence is infallibly and indissolubly connected with something' whicn
already has existence 73 ; necessary effects according to the Arminian view cannot be virtuous
or vicious U3 — often used' to signify natural necessity 128.
Necessity — in common or vulgar use, implies supposable opposition II. 9 — of consequence belongs
to acts ofthe will 12,46, 128, 130— negative the same as impossibility 12— of moral obligation—
or infallible connection of subject and predicate divided into natural and moral 13— difference
between nalural and moral, imporlant ; lies not so much in nature of connection as in the terms
connected, effect and cause both moral 14 — as moral, not according to originai meaning 15— of
connection and consequence not inconsistent with man's liberty 76— connected with foreknow
ledge 77 — inconsistent with action according'to Arminians 123 — whence supposed to be incon
sistent with volition 126 — difference of from moral illustrated by case ol rebel 134 — of the
determination of God's will to what is good and best establishes his moral character 168— sucL
as attends the acls of men's wills, more properly called certainty 185 — meaning of, in Ephes. u.
3,430,431.
:^ecessity, Metaphysical or Philosophical — not different from certainly; how; false definition of
10 -how used; not inconsislent with liberty II — general or particular 12 — what common with
it and other kinds of necessity 129 — meaning as used 279, 280.
Necessity, Mnial— how used II. 13— may be absolute; sure and perfect connection between moral
causes and effects; nature of things concerned in it 14— certainty of the will and inclination
itself 15 — a species of philosophical necessity ; supposed by men that it may be against men's
will and sincere endeavors, and hence they cannot reconcile it to reason Ihat they should be
blamed for acts thus necessary ; reasons of such supposition 130 — asserted by -Arminians to be
against the use of means, considered 137 — does not lead persons voluntarily to nfeglect means for
their own happiness 139 — of God's will not inconsistent with God's sovereignty 144; butlhecon-
trary 145, 146, 147— of God's will does not derogate from the riches of his grace— does not tend
to athi'ism and licentiousness as is charged 169, 170 — is owing to the power and government of
the inclination of the heart, eiiher habitual or occasional, excited by motive 187 — perfectly con
sistent with moral government 190.
Necessity, Natur. il — ineaning of II. 13— distinguished from moral, mere nature concerned, without
choice 14 — wholly inconsistent wilh just praise and blame 127.
New England — Lharacter of people 111.231- — an uncommon influence upon the people of, evident,
what ? 296 ; great change in them 297 ; multitudes brought to a conviction of^the truth, &c. 298.
New things to be introduced in moderation, &c. ; the example of Christ and his apostles III. 376.
Nicolas, the deacon — founder of the sect of the Nicolaitans I. 636.
Noah— his undertaking in. building the ark, considered IV. 368, 369.
Obedience, what II. 99 — the testimony ofthe respect of our hearts to God 330 — universal, of rnen
necessary IU. 182 ; and a man's obedience must not only' consist of negatives, but he must be
universal in the positives of religion ; religion must be the business of their lives 183 — persevere
through trials 184 — of Christ, the manner in which it avails for our justification IV. 91-101 — in
what sense evangelical obedience ofthe Christian is concerned in the affair of juslificalion 102.
Object — of volition direct and immediate or remote II. 5; man's own actions 8 — mind's view of
— how becomes agreeable ; apparent nature, &c. manner of view 6.
Objection — to the rule of admitting only those who are visibly holy to the church, with respect to
persons professing to believe the doctrine which is according to godliness, and whose lives dn not
furnish evidence against them, which is all that is contended for I. 97 — that it is unreasonable to
suppose any gracious respect intended in the profession of the congregation in the wilderness
when we have reason to thmk so few of them to be gracious; answered 114 — that there is not
time enough to say so much in public profession, in the first conversion of multitudes to Christ,
as to be any credible exhibition of godliness to the church ; answered 129 — that the eunuch in his
reply to Philip meant more than assent to the doctrine that Jesus Christ is the Son of God ; an
swered 131 — that it does not follow from their address, &c. to members of churches that a pro
fession or appearance of being gracious was looked upon by the apostles as a requisite qualifica
tion Ur admission into the visible church ; answered 138— "that the apostle directs members of
the church of Corinth to examine themselves whether they be not disqualified for the Lord's
supper by scandal, &c. ; ans'wered 147— that as the Scripture calls the members of the visible
church, disciples, &c. the church is thus ihe school of Christ, into which persons are admitted to
learn, Stc; so no other than common faith and moral sincerity are requisite; answered 149 ;
it does not follow that certain good attainments are not prerequisite for obtaining a place in that
school ; common faith and moral sincerity not sufficient ibr subjecting themselves to its laws and
orders, &c. 150 ; its duties ; the question not what seems convenient to human wisdom, but wiiat
is actually established by Christ's infinite wisdom — because Israel were called God's people,
therefore visible saintship cannot be such as has been supposed and insisted on by Edwards 151 ;
answered; the argument proves too much; as it lies as much against the objector 162 — that
Genl-ile Christians are visible Christians according to tbe New Testament notion of visible saint
ship in the same manner as the whole Jewish nation wer« till they were broken off by their
rejection of Messiah, &c. ; answered 156 — that those m Israel who made no profession of piety
partook of the passover, &c. ; answered; attended wilh the same difficulty for obj'eaors and
how 157,158; difficulties supposed, obviated 159,160; the qualifications for the sacraments ol
the Old Testament dispensation nothing to the purpose to determine about the same for the
Christian dispensation 160; no occasion to search among the types, &c. of the Old Testament
to find out whether matters of fact in the New Testameut be true, &c. ; nothing can be alleged
t'rom the Holy Scriptures which'wiU prove that a profession of godliness was not a qualification
ror the passover, why? a pubhc profession probable, &c. 161; the change for a new dispensa
tion foretold and seen from the nature of the two disiwnsations 162— that it is not reasonable to
Euppose that the multitudes whom John the Baptist baptized made a profession of saving grace
or had any such vis.bihty of true piety as is msisted on ; answsred, some kind of repentance waa
%
INDEX. 669
professed, it. 163 — tnat Jol;.i could not have time to be informed whelher the profession of
;o<i!iness of those he baptized was credible or no ; answertd ; equally against the objevlor — Ihal
Jhrist says many are called, &c. ; answered 164; the called, means those who have Ihe gospel
offer aud not those who belong to the society of visible saints 166 — ihat the parable of the tares
shows we should not make a distinction between true saints anil apparent in this world, &c ;
answered ; that it does not refer to introduction but continuance, &c. ; instead of an ob
jection against the doctrine of Christ, it is evidence for it ; brought in unawares ; the tares at first
have a visibility of wheal, &c. 166 — that Christ adminisiered Ihe Lord's supper lo Judas whom
he knew lo be graceless, which is evidence that grace is not in ilself a rt-quisile qualification,
&c. ; answered; Jud.is not present ; if there, the consequence does not follow ; objection as
strong against the objector's schemes 167 — that God would have given some certain rule whereby
those vvho are to admit persons might know whether they have suth grace 168 ; answered, in
what the force ofthe objection consists — that no man may i-orne to the Lord's table but he that
knows he has such grace ; answered, if so, no unconverted persons may come unless they know
such is the mind nf God 169 ; also that men are as liable to iloubt nf their moral sincerity as of
saving grace ; or allowing the supposition ol the necessity of sanctifying grace, the conclusion
slated does not follow 172 — that the doctrine brings multitudes nf persons nf lender conscience
into great perplexities ; answtTed ; applies to the objector's doctrine of moral sincerity, &c. ; if al
lowed it would show that these perplexities are effects owing lothe revelations of God's word 173;
more likely to have a happy tendency — ^that we might as well say that unsauciified persons may
not attend any duly of divine command if not the supper ; answered ; this depends on the pro
position, that to be qualified for admission to one is to be qualified for admission to all, &c. 174
— thai the Lord's supper has a tendency to awaken sinners, &c. ; answered, that unless what it
has a tendency to promote, it was appointed to promote, the objection is without force ; this is not
so in fact ; to assert scandalous persons are expressly forbid gives up the argument and begs the
question 176 — that members of the visible church, &c. are commanded lo perform all external
covenant duties; answered; no force but by begging the question, 177 ; things supposed which
should be proved ; that those who have externally entered into God's covenant are only obliged
to external duties; that God does not require of men to be converted, which is not of their
natural power 178; that God does not command man to do those things which are not to be
done nil something else within reach of nalural ability is done ; man has naturally a legal power
to be converted, &c. — that it is not unlawful for unsanctified persons to carry ihemselves as
sainls 179 ; answered — that true saints will be kept nut of the church ; answered ; betier so than
to open so wide a door on the other scheme 180 — thai it keeps the church small, &c. 181 Note
— that when all is said and done hypocrites cannot be kept out, &c. ; answered— that it will
favor presumption and wickedness and keep back those who have tenderness of conscience ;
answered 182 ; rules that have a good tendency are accounted notwithst.inding bad consequences
in some instances; applied as m'uch to the objectors and how? 183 — that it is unreasonable to
suppose that God has made mere opinion of themselves and profession of it the term of ad
mission, &c. ; answered — that this will render the same necessary to have children baptized on
account of the parents, and what multitudes of unbaptized persons will there be! IS4 ; an
swered ; to reproach the children is unreasonable and savors of stupidity 185 ; Chrisl can best
judge of the tendency of his own institutions 186 ; the tendency to excite parents to become
really godly, &c.; the tendency of the contrary practice most pernicious, as it establishes the
stupi'dily and irreligion of children, &c. 187— some ministers have become greatly blessed m that
other way of proceeding, and some men have been converted at the Lord s supper ; answered ;
not God's providence but his word to be our governing rule 188— Mr. -Whision's objections
againsi the doctrine of endless punishment stated 612— that virtue, consisting in benevolence,
must have our fellow-creatures and not God as the proper objeci of our benevoK-nce, as we can
not be profitable to God; answered U. 267— weakness of, to the argument for a fixed propensity
to sin from the constancy and universality of the event ; taken lo Ihe case of Adam sinning witiiout
fixed propensity 319— against the force of the argument to prove that men in general have more
sm than righteousness because they do not come halfway to that degree of love to God which
is their duty— that it proves too much ; since it proves that good men have more sin than holi
ness, hence that sin is the prevalent principle in good men ; answered ; they may love God iiiore
than other things and vet there may not be so much love as there is want of due love, &c. 333 ;
the covenant of grace ilso the Christian's reliance 334— that to suppose the threatening to Adam
to include his posterity was inconsistent with his having any ; answered ; that the threateiiiug did
not imply immediate executinn ; nnr did God limit himself as to time 403— againsi the doctrine
of originai sin, that as it ife natural lo us, then necessary, and so we are lot to blame for it, &c.
considered 473-476— against native corruption, that it niakes God the author of^sin 476— againsi
the reasonableness ofthe constitution by which Adam and his posterity are looked upon as one;
considered 483-495-other objections examined 496-508-that the nature of the subject will no
allow that things be as God would have them 521-agamst election, that many called e et: urned
apostates, answered 639-also that it supposes partiality in God and so dishonorable to him 640
--to definitibns of faith, answered 61 1, 639— made against frequent meetings, &c. Ill.340--no
real desire for the gW of God m 341-of frequent preaching 342-against singmg so much ,n
reli-b'us meetings 347-against the infinite evil of sin ; answered IV. 74, 7o-lo iinputalion of
Ch rs 's riXoulness in j-ustification 47-to the doctrine of justification by faith alone; tha
prom ses of eternal life and salvation are made to our own virtue and obedience ; answered ;
Sis merelv implies a connection between these things and evangehcal obedience 107 ; promisee
may be made to signs and evidences of faith and,.yet the thing promised "ot be on account of Ihe
sign bul the -hing signified 108— that our own
tion for heaVL.i, and therefore doubtless what n
necessity no pioof that we are accepted to a r
irealcs of bestowin" eternal blessings as the rewarus oi guou uccua , ^..o...,,^.. -.-.- ,...._.„ „_
Smifjustiration and only forthe sake of Christ 110 lU-to doctnne ol justification bv
670 INDEX.
failh alone ; that Scripture speaks af an interest in Christ being given out of respect tn moral Di
ness ; answer 116 — also that repor tance is spoken of as the condition of the remission nf sins,
answered 119— also that drawn froti2d chapter of James, whieh speaks of justification by works;
examined 123-127— that this doctrine encourages licentiousness ; not true 128 — made againsi
infinite punishment of sin, not sincere as proved by the conduct of the objectors 229 — that God
might Ie.ive it to man's free will to determine whether to sin or no ; answered 23 l^against God's
justice in the damnaiion of sinners — inability and God-s inercy to others considered 244, 250 — to
the eternilv of punishment, that God will not fulfil his threatening, &c. ; answered 275 — objec
tion tn the 'fact that devils have a great .sense of divine things, proves such a sense no evidence
of grace — on account of difference of circumstances ; answered 465.
Objection of Arminians — against the inability of fallen man to exert failh, &c. from the sinceriiy of
God's counsels, &c. without force II. 105 — of Arminians, against moral necessity from use of
means examined 137: and tiiat it makes men mere machines ; answered 139,14(5 — to necessary
holiness in God 142 ; examined ; the force of the objection lies in supposing there is some dig
nity or privilege in acting without moral necessity 143; no imperfection or inconsistency with
absolute sovereignty 144— against necessary determination of tiie Divine will, that it derogates
from freeness of God's grace, &c. in choosing the objects of his favor, &c. answered 153 — that
the doctrine nf necessity ofin-;n's volitions mik.'S God the author of sin 155 — against Calvinistic
principles with God's moral perfections and government, answered 16.5 — against the doctrin- of
necessity, &c. as tending to atheism 169; and licentiousness 170 — against the reasoning by
which Calvinistic doctrines are supported as metaphysical and abstruse 171 — against the Calvin
istic doctrine of total depravity obviated 177 — against the doctrine of efficacious grace and oi
decrees 178 — against the view of God's List end, the communications of himself; as inconsistent
with his absolute independence and immutability 211 ; answered 212, 213 ; again objected to as
dishonorable to him, and implies that he does every tiling from a selfish spirit 214; answered
215; also objected to as unworthy ; nothing but show of argument in this; answered 216,217.
also that it derogates from the freeness of his goodness in his beneficence to his creatures and
from their obligations to gratitude 218 ; answered ; God and the creature, in the emanation of the
Divine fulness not set in opposition ; nor God's glory and the creature's good to be spoken of as
distinct, &C.2I9 ; nothing in manner of seeking good ofthe creature, lo derogate from its excellenct
-or the creature's obligation ; or .iiminish freeness of his beneficence 220.
Observations — on John 3: 6 in proof of depravity of nature from Scripture explained and defended II
413-419 — on Romans 3; 9-24 explained and defended 409-424— on Rom. 5 : 6-10 explained and view
established 426-429 — on Ephes. 2; 3 explained and defended 429-434 — on Rom 5 ; 12 ; examined
Dr. Taylnr's explanations refuted and the doctrine of depravity by np ture proved 434-4 "1 ; and ye'
more fully proved by various considerations 451-461.
Occasions of confusion in the mind respecting the indifference ofthe will II. 38, 39.
Oneness — or identity of Adam with his poslerity II. 481, 484— tlie aUeged difficulties of the doctrine
maintained considered 48.5 — created or oneiiess with past existence depends on the sovereign consti.
tution and lavv of God 486-490 — various kinds of 491.
Opinion — respecting doctrin^, no reason why r,ather than friendship or respect of heart should be pro
fessed that the former is more easily discerned I. 121.
Order — one of the most necessary of all external means of spiritual good of God's church, &c. III.
379 — notion nf the worthlessness of, leads some to act as if judging and censuring should not be
reserved in the hands of particular persons, &c., but left to any one, &c. 379, 380 ; other conse
quences and dangers 380.
Ordinances, divine — nature and design of; show religion to consist in holy affections IU. 15 — mean
ing of; how they are holy ; conversant about God ; end nf holy ; have the sanction of divine au
thority IV. 530 — attended in his name ; are dreadfuUy profaned by those who attend on, and yet
allow themselves in ways of wickedness ; how ; great irreverence and contempt shown them 531 ;
mock God 532 ; put to a profane use ; self-examination of the subject called for 634.
Ordination — sermons preached at III. 5.59, 580, 693.
OiiiGEN- bis view nf Hberty quoted II. 34 — view of prescience of God quoted 77 — his idea of blame 94
Original Sin — as most commonly used by divines, means the innate, sinful depravity of the
heart ; as vulgarly used also includes not only depravity of nalure but the imputation ot Adam's
first sin II. 309— said to be unnecessary to account forthe sin in the world as Adam sinned without
a sinful nature 361— doctrine nf, clnsely cnnnected with the doctrine of Original Righteousness 381
— proved from the Redemption of Christ 461, 465; also by the apphcation of Redemption 466— it
does not belong to nor foUow from the doctrine of, that nature must be corrupted by some positive
influence, something infused into human nature, some quality or other not from the choice of our
minds, but like a taint, tincture, or infection, altering the nalural constitution, faculties and dispo
sitions of nur snuls, &c. 476.
Original Righteousness— argument against the doctrine of, considered 381-384; proved from the
Scriptures 385-390.
Original ultimite end of creation, gives occasion for consequential ends, &c. II. 198.
Owen Dr. on the Spirit, quotation from III. 98 Note, 176 Note.
Pain — no such thing truly as, or of grief, in God II. 518.
Pascommuck— a remarkaiile religious concern at III. 233.
Passover — probable qualification for participation in I. 161.
Patron — meaning, as used by Edwards I. 695.
Peace -which Christ gives his people IV. 429 ; his peace ; true peace 431 ; how ? 432, 43.1 ; this
legacy of Christ very diverse from aU that men leave their childre i ; reasonable peace 434 : vi<-
tuous and holy, exquisitely sweet, and why ? 435 ; unfaiUng and eternal 436.
Pelagian notion of Liberty, that it consists in a self-determining power, &c. II. 18.
People — vluties of to their minister, &c. III. 591
People of God— we should not part with them IV. 413 ; reasons why ; their God is a glorious God &c ;
they are an exceUent and happy people 414 ; oui deavir g tc them depends on our resolution and
choice 416 ; apphcation ofthe doctrine 417.
INDEX. e-j]
pEBrECTioH — as a term of commnaion falsely ascribed lo Mr. Edwards I. 209 Note
PiRitiNS, Mr — quotation from hi. n UI. 41 Note.
Permitting— God-s, of evil, is forbearing to act or prevent II. 519.
Persecution — necessity of sufi'ering, in order to being a true Christian, has been carried to a: ritien.e
and how? UI. 374.
Perseverance nf the Saints — objection against the doctrine obviated II. 179.
perseverance of- the Saints III. 509-532 — certainty of-, does not render endeavors less necessary 509-^
in one sense ihe condition of justification ; passages of Sciipture which declare the fatal conse.
quences of luruing away do not argue tliai there is not un essential differeuce belween liic nght.
eousness of those who persevere and those who fall away — reasons why il is ].'Vnmisi>d in the cove
nant of grace 510-614 ; God would net leave the work of redemption so incomplete as In leave the
wnrk of redemption in the creature's h.inds 510 ; Christ came lo do whal man failed of 512 ; obo-
diencc, or the righteousness by which they have justification, has already been imjiuted lo the saint.s
513 ; to suppose righl to life suspended on our perseverance is to deprive the belicvpr of the com
fort, &c. ot Milvalion, &c. 514— acknowledged by Calvinists necessary to salvation ; as a sinequa
non; how? 516; also to congrui'y of salvation 622; mode of interpreting certain passages of
Scripture supposed to teach that the righteous may fall away, &c. 524 — doclrine ol, not so fully
revealed in the times of the proph. ' s 625 ; tendency of the doctrine of faUing away ; real difference
between those who fall and those who persevere 526, 5-32 ; objection answered 527 ; cases men
tioned in Scripture ; grace did not utterly cease in them 529 — objection against the doctrine of,
irom Scriplure cautious against it 630 ; that vve are required to take care, to pray, &c. ; inquiry
-tt'helher an absolute promise of perseverance consists with counsels, &c. ; answered 531.
Persons — blamed for being so earnest, &c. III. 345.
Pharaoh — Ins moral conduct Ibretold, and therefore foreknown of God II. 62, 167 — also ordered oi
God 157.
Positive — the word how used I. 202.
Posterity — threatening to Adam must have been understood by him to refer to his posterity 400-
402 — of Adam, born without holiness and with a depr-aved nature by au established course ol
nalure 479 — and by the just judgment of God 480 — of Adam, viewed by God as one with him;
no double guilt, one of Adam's sin, the other of a corrupt heart, belonging to them when they
come into the world 481-484 — the oneness of them wuh Adam as constituted by God nnl injurious
to them 485 — nor improper as implying falsehood 486.
Power — man has in his, auy thing in his choice; want of, or of will, distinguished II. 17, 103 —
or principles when spoken of as acting, kc. means the agents that have the jiower &c. do so 21
— when exerted, sufficient to produce -an effect at oue time, ihese things all concurring wUl pro
duce llie same effect at all times, and vice versa 47.
Practice, Christian — the great evidence of saving grace III. 182-193; manifestation of sincerity tc
others 193-202- also to one's own conscience' 202-208— how it is to be taken when represented
as a sure sign to our consciences 202 — that which is visible to our consciences 205 ; evidence
that it is so 206 ; from reason 206 ; Scripture iOS ; grace said to be made perfect in it 210 ; the
evidence insisted on in Scripture 212 — the grand evidence to be made use of at Ihe judgment
215 — the great evidence which confirms and crowns all other signs ; the proper proof of the
true and saving knowledge of God ; of repentance, and saving lailli 217 — ol true coming lo
Christ and trusting in Him for salvation 218 — of gracious love ; of humility, fear of God 219 ;
of thankfulness ; of gracious desires ; of holy joy and of Christian fortitude 220 ; nbjectinn,
answered, that pr.. lessors shnuld judge of iheir slate chiefly by their experience; Christian
experience and practice not two diff'erent Ihings 221 ; most properiy called experimental religion
222 : objection that the doctrine is a legal one ; not so, and why 224.
Praise— Go'l the highest object of 11. 8.5— God's represented as the end of God's work, &c. 241.
Prayer- hvpocrites deficient in the duty of IV. 474— neglect of the duly, inconsistent with supreme
love lo'Gori ; with fear of him : with a holy life ; shows a good will to neglect his worship 4S0-—
perseverance in a duty ; insisted on in the Scriptures; motives to il 482, 483— care and watch
fulness necessary 10 It 484 ; we aJways need help of God 485; its benefits and tendency 486-—
what IS meant by God's hearing it? his accepting the supplications of those who pray to hun 561 ;
and aclnig agreeably to his acceptance ; how ? proof of the fact that he does hear prayer 06..-
565— lalse gods cannot hear praver 565— why does God require it ? not that he may be inlorned
of our desires 566 ; not to dispose or incline him lo mercy ; but as a sensible acknowledgment
of cur dcpende-nce on him to his glory, and because it tends to prepare us for the receipt ol
mercy 567— why is he so ready to hear the prayers of men ? 667, 668 ; objections stated and
answered, and doctrine applied 669-671 ; excuses considered 571,072. r >, .t ki
Prediction— God's, nf the voluntary acts of moral agents proves his foreknovvledge ol the II. bl.
PnE-EXiSTEKCE-of Christ's human soul, reasons against Dr. Walls's notion nl Ul. o33-53b.
Preference and equilibrium never co-exist II. 172. „ , . , ... .,, r > ;„
Pressing into the kingdom of God IV. 381 ; the manner of salvation denoted by it ; strength of uesire
382 ; firmness nf resolution ; greatness of endeavor ; engagedness and earneslness directly about
that business 383 ; breaking through opposition 384 ; why should the kingdom be so sought , the
extreme necessity we are in of gettmg m 38.5-uncertamty of opportunity ; the V'TTmA^^
./btainmg ; its great excellency ; such a manner tn prepare [or it 386 ; applicalmn ol the doctrin"
ind objections answered 3s7-_3Sdj^ '1L7<:."™^J"'™.^^„^;?^«„., oifi-Note 218.
..-¦ their humilily UI. 150; .ts
I 353 — God's people should be
J^ekTo°uVoVlhemsX°s7s'rerpec'is ¦;?354^disc"erned by its effects ; apt to suspect others ss.;.^55
-speaks of others harshly &c. 356-disposes to irregularity in external appearance S.C.... /-to
affect separation,-aistance'from others, &c. 358-takes great notice of "PP"/* ''°",»"^ 'y,^;'" ?,^S'
-mode of defence of such conduct 360-hasan unsuitable «"* ""I^^f "^"«4^'^3gSl^<l'„^^^^^^^^^
361-it IS assuming 361-warnings against, in case oi Moses and others 362, 363-exposes Ir
legeaerating of experiences 387.
ind objections answered 387-389 ; directions given ii»»-J»-!-
Pi».-:-Tos, Dr.— quotation from III. 176— Note 190— Note 213--.Note 216—
Pb' IE, spiritual— an infallible sign of, persons are apt to think highly ol I
iharacter and effects 353-364— danger of, in a revival of religion 353
672 INDEX.
Principle— of nature, used for that which is laid in nature either old or new for any particular maa
ner or kind of exercise ofthe faculties ofthe soul, &c.,5o that lo exert his faculties in thai kind
of exercise may be said lo be his nature III. 71— the Spirit of God in all his operalions oi. the
minds of natural men gives no new spirilual principle, but only moves or in some way acts oo
natural ones 72. ^ . ¦ j j r
Prior, anu posterior, in God's decrees, not the order of time, but one thing is decreed out ol respect
lo anothtr, a sort of ground of another II. 540.
Priority, in the order ol nature, means that a thing is some way the cause or reason of the thing,
with respect to which it is said to be prior II. 25.
Private, system of beings— its meaning 11.268 Note— iRterest, tha. which consists in those pleasure's
or pains ihat are personal 279.
Procrastination — the sin of, in the things of religion IV. 347. r ¦ <•
Profession— made i-n words that are eithir equivocal or general, &». , is not a profession of any of
the several things I. 220— of Christianity, what? must be of all that is essential to it IU. 197
must be mode understandingly 199 ; advantage of account of experience in it 200 ; insisting nn
particular account of distinct met4iod of conversion, &c. unnecessary 201; no external manliest..
tions visible lo the world are infallible evidences of grace 202.
Professing — what it is I. 99.
Professors of religion, in a revival, compared to blossoms in the spring IU. 59.
Promises — the malting of, in covenanting with God, implies a profession of true piety I. 116— nc
one under the power of a carnal mind can without great deceit or absurdity make them 116—
God's, necessity oftheir fulfilment 592— of God, of and to the Messiah proves that his acls were
necessarily holy, yet rewardable 86-94 — God has made none of salvation, &c. to any desires,
prayers. Sic. ol those who have no Irue holiness of heart 109 — of God, prove his election of per
sons to salvation 629 — spirilual application of God's, to the souls ofmen ; the nature of, wholly
misunderstood by many III. 83.
Propensity, natural — renders an action less praise or blameworthy 11. 128-133 — moral does not ;
stronger to good the more virtuous the action, &c. 133 — of God to diffuse himself may be consi
dered a propensity to himself diffused, &c. 208 — benevolent, not only seeks to promote but
rejoices in the happiness of the being towards whom it is exercised 267 — any one is judged to
belong to nature by the effects appearing to be the same in all changes of lime and place
and under all varieties of circumstances 320 — truly esteemed to belong to the nature of any being
or to be inherent in it, that is the necessary consequence of Us nalure, considered together with
its proper situation in the universal system of existence 321 — of nature, by which men are so
prone to sinning at first, has no tendency in itself to diminution ; but rather to an increase 328 —
of man's nature to stupid idolatry 334 — fixed or permanent influence not proved from an effect's
happening once 362.
Property — unjust usurpingof oui neighbor's, withouthis consent, forbidden by God's commandment
IV. 601 — this IS done two ways ; by withholding what is his; how? unfaithfulness in lulfllling
engagements ; neglecting to pay debts 602 — also by unjustly taking it from him ; by negligence
603 — taking away by fraud ; by violence, either by using force or some advantage 604 — steal
ing so called 605 — the doctrine applied 609-613.
Prophecies— of destruction of Jerusalem &c. absolute II. 63 ; yet dependent on moral conduct of
men 64 — of the anti-Christian apostasy, &c., proof that God foreknows the future actions ol
moral agents 65 — of Old Testament, confirmed by the oath of (rod 66.
Prophets — school of, began in Samuel's lime and continued on I. 345.
Providence — an universal and determining, infers such a necessity of all events as implies an
infallible previous fixedness of the futurity ofthe event II. 177 — ultimate end nf God in, his last
end in creaiion 223 — dispensations of, with their reasons, too little understood by us to be our rule
instead of God's word ; a voice of, that may be understood and interpreted, and how III. 377.
Punishment, endless, concerning — objections urged against it stated I. 612 — evidences of the doc
lrine of; c-ase of Judas 613 ; consequence of supposing the pains of hell are purifying pains 614
— unreasonable to suppose the damned to be in a state of trial 615 — supposition of the wicked
being in a state of trial ; consequences that will follow 619-630 — evidence to the contrary from
Scripture 622, 629— if the damned are saved they nre saved without Christ 623 ; argument, that
eternal does not mean endless, considered &c. 638 -that forever is applied to the world, &c. 640
Punisnment, eternal — ofthe wicked, not conlrary to the Divine perfections IV. 266— proved 267, 258
— required by those perfections proved 268, 269— not annihilation, proved from Scripture and
reason 269-271 ; absolutely eternal 271 — proved by expressions nf Scripture, &c. 272-27.5 obio
linns stated and answered 275, 276 — the doctrine applied 276, 277 ; and improved 278 temporal
judgments but foretastes of 283— wicked men flatter Ihemselves with the hope of escapin"' it,
till It comes upon them 322. roi
Purposes, of God— liable to be broken continually, ifhe cannot foreknow the future acts of moral
agents, and of events, &c. II. 71— no new ones, from all eternity, or he would not be omniscient,
and would be mutable 518.
«iO.UJFiCATi0NS— distinction between requisite ones to ecclesiastical privileges in /oro ecclesiiE and
those which are a prope- foundation for a man's own conduct in offering himself; also bet'weer
what brings obligation i either case I. 91— question respecting, for admission into the church
does not consider and deiermine what the nature of Christian piety is 93 — Scriplure of admission
mto the church, not visibility of moral sincerity but of regeneration, &c. proved from prophecy
104— the doctrine evident from passages of Scripture 123— also from representations of the
church in parables and discourses of Christ 123-126 ; also from facts in the manner and circum
stances ofadmissionintotlw primitive church, &c. 132; because the visible are represented as
united by the bond ol Christian brotherly love 142— durable, necessary for durable orivileee 237
Qualities — the properties of persons, noi f properties II. 18.
Question — begging of, what I. 263.
R.ABPIF.S, Jevpibh— their opinions on certain texts ofthe Scriptures II 505-508 Note
INDEX. 673
Reasoh— may resist insufficiently present acts of the will U. 7 — what are its dai o-i as to God's
last end in creation ; not agreeable to, suppose any last end in creaiion which implii's indigence,
insufficiency, mutability or dependence of God on crealures for perfection or happiness 200-201 —
disposition to act contrary to, a depraved disposilion 338 — vain wiihout a knowledge of divine
things IV.5 — and learning but of little avail against the extreme blindness of the human mind 24.
Rectitude, moral — of God, m whal it must consist 11.201.
Redeemer, requisites of— divine, infinitely holy, of infinite dignity, power, wisdom, beloved, one tha
could act in his own right, of infinite mercy und love ; Christ all this and the only fit person IV
IS.'i — ^lie must be substituted for the sinner, and how ? difficulties to be overcome 136. 137.
Redemption, by Christ — ihe Scripture account of, implies that all whom he came to reneem are
sinners, &c ; applied in proof of the doctrine of original sin II. 461 — also that it is a redemption
from deserved destruction 462 — the application of it as declared in the Scripture, also teaches
the doctrine of original sin 466 — God's aim in il that man should not glory in himself but alone
in God, and how this end is obtained by man's absolute dependence on God for all their good
III. 169.
tliuEMPTiON — plan ofthe book called the Work of Redemption ; outlines of it preached at North
ampton in 1739, I. 296— the doctrine that carries it on from the fall of man to the end of the
world 298; explanation of the lerms — the word how understood 299 — what is meant by its being
carried on frnm the fall of man to the end of the world ; negative ; positive 300 — we must dis
tinguish between parts nf, itself, and of the work by which it is wrought out — how the wnrk of is
carried on as above ; with respeci to effect wrought on the souls ofthe redeemed, &c. 301 ; with
respect to the grand design ; what is the design of this great work, &c. 302 ; to put God's ene
mies under his feet, and that God's goodness should appear triumphing over all evil ; to restore
the ruins of the fall as concerns the elect by his Son, &c. 303; to gather together all things in
Chrisl ; to perfect and complete the glory of the elect by Christ ; lo accomplish the glory ol
the blessed Trinity to an exceeding degree — the time ofthe, divided into three periods, 304 ; from
the fall to the incarnation 305 — from the fall to the flood 306-317; as soon as man fell Christ
entered ou his mediatorial work 306 — the Gospel presently revealed on earth 308; the custom
of sacrificing appointed to be a standing type of the sacrifice of Christ 309; probably instituted
immediately after the covenantof grace to Adam andEve; coats of skin 310 ; this a great thing
towards preparing the way for Christ's coming, &c. ; God soon after tbe fall aclually began to
save souls through Christ's redemption 311 ; a remarkable outpouring of the Spirit in the days
of Enos 313 ; Enoch eminently holy and a prophet, spoke of Christ's coming 314 ; his translation
to heaven 315 ; the upholding of the church of God amid general defection 316 ; from the flood
to the calling of Abraham ; work of redemption in, how exhibited 317-322 : the flood a work of
God that belonged to this great affair, and tended to promote it 318; by God's so wonderfuUy
preserving Noah and his family, &c. ; the new grant of the earth made to Noah and his family
319; renewal ofthe covenant with Noah and his sons 320; his disappointing the 'ouilders of Babel •
dispersion of the nations and dividing of the earth, &c. 321 ; from the calling of Abraham tc
Moses 322-332 ; in separating Abraham frnm the rest nf the world, and why 322 ; preserving
the true religion in the line from which Christ was to proceed, &c. 323; a more full revelation
and conflrmatilon ofthe covenant of grace 324; instances specified 325,326; preserving the
patriarchs so long among the wicked in Canaan and other enemies ; wickedness of Canaan here
shown 327; instances of preservation; remarkable; the awful destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah 328 ; renewal of the covenant to Isaac and Jacob 329 ; where ; preservation of the
family through Joseph 330 ; prophecy of Christ bv Jacob blessing Judah ; preserving the children
of Israel in Egypt aiid upholding his church 331 — the fourth period from Moses lo David ;
how the work of redemption was carried on 332-347; by the redemption ofthe church of God
out of Egypt; who was the Redeemer 332; rejecting all other people ; llie time of universal
apostasy of Gentile nations cannot be precisely determined 334 ; the giving of the moral law on
Sinai 335 ; giving the typical law, &c ; giving the first written word ever enjoyed by God's
a further prediction of the Redeemer given 339 ; remarkable outpouring of the Spirit on the young
340; proof of their piety 341 ; leading on to Canaan and settling by Joshua 342; selling up
stated worship among his people ; preserving them when they went three tunes a year to where
the ark was 343; preserving his church from being wholly extinct in tho frequent apostasies,
also preserving from destruction by their enemies ; Christ appeared in the form of that nature
he took upon him at the incarnation 344; the beginningof a succession of prophets, and erecting
a school of the prophets in Samuel's time 445 ; the fifth period from David to the Babylonish
captivity 348-367 ; God's anointing David 348 ; preserving his life till Saul's death 349 ; addition
to the vvritten word by Samuel 3.50 ; inspiring David to show forth Christ and redemption in
divine songs, &c. 351 ; actually exalting David to the Ihrone 352; choosing out a particular
citv &c • renewing the covenant of grace wilh David 353 ; giving the people of Israel pos-
session ofthe whole promised land 354; perfecting the Jewish worship by the adding ol several
new institutions 356 ; adding to the canon of Scriplure ; continuing the kingdom of his visible
people m the line of Christ's legal ancestors so long as they remained an independent kingdom
357 359 • the building of the temple 369; the Jewish Church in Solomon's reign raised In the
hiehest external glory 360 ; gradually declined more and more till Christ came 361 ; how God
oreDared thus the wav for the coming of Christ ; made way for the introduction of the more
»eign
Vol IV
674 LNDEX.
from the Babylonish captivity to the coming of Christ 367-395 ; though we have no account ot a
great part in Scripture history, the subject of frequent prophecies ; why the Scriptures give us no
such account 368 ; this period remarkably distinguished for great revolutions, &c. 369-372 — the
church wonderfully preserved in all these : among the things of this last period in vvhich the
work of redemption was carried on were, the captivity of the Jews i"'o Babylon 372 ; how r
cured them of their itch after idolatry ; took away many things in which consisted U.-. glory of
the Jew^ish dispensation ; what? 373, the dispersion ofthe Jews through the greater part of
the known world 374 ; how this prepared for Christ's coming 375, 376 ; Ihe addition of the prte
phecies of Ezekiel and Daniel to the canon of Scripture ; Christ appeared lo each of tliesj
prophets 377 ; the destruction of Babylon, &c. by Cyrus, the return of the Jews, and rsbuilding ol
the temple 378 ; how remaikable 379 ; the addition to the canon by Haggai and Zechariah ; the-
oulpouring ofthe Spirit that accompanied the ministry of Ezra 380; his additions to the cannn ;
also collecting and disposing in proper order the holy books; the multiplying greatly tho
eopies ofthe law, and the constant reading of them in all the cities m synagogues 381 — ]ireserva-
tion of the church and nation ofthe Jews from Haman ; additions to the canon by Nehemiah, &c. ;
the completion and sealing ofthe Old Testament by Malac'hi ; the ceasing of the Spirit of pro
phecy till the time of the New Testament 382 ; the destruction of the Persian empire, &c. by
Alexan.ler 383; the translation of the Old Testament into the language ofthe Gentiles 384; pre
servation of the church when threatened and persecuted under the Grecian empire 385 ; the destruc
tion of the Grecian and setting up of the Roman empire 386 ; philosophy and learning at their
greatest height in the heathen world; the Roman also at Us' highest and at peace 387; the
foregoing improved; Jesus Christ is indeed the Saviour of the world ; the admirable harmony
of the books of Ihe Old Testament proves their divine authority 389 ; weak to object against
some parts of the Old Testament as containing civil history, &c. 389 ; much of the wisdom ot
God to be seen in their composition 39] ; how ? 392 ; Christ and redemption the great su'DJect oi
the whole Bible ; the usefulness and excellency of the Old Testament 393; persons greaily lo
blame for an inattentive and unobservant way of reading the Scriptures ; the greatness of the
person of Jesus Christ and the greatness ofthe errand on which he came; so much dorie to
prepare his way 394 ; from '.he time of Christ's humiliation to his resurrection 39.5-423 ; things
done hy Christ to purchase redemption 396 ; the incarnation itself ;' conception ; birlh ; the time
of accomplishment; why most ht ? 397, 398; its greatness; remarkable circumstauces and
concomitants ; return of the Spirit ; the great notice taken of it m heaven and on earth 399 ; his
first coming into the temple 400; the sceptre departing from Judah in the death of Herod the
Great; what, is meant by Christ's purchasing redemption 401; his satisfaction for sin and
meriting happiness by his righteousness carried on during his humUiation ; by the same he satisfied
justice and purchased eternal happiness 403 ; threefold distribution nf his righteousness 404-406
obedience of the law 404 — how performed? with respect to the different parts of his life
406-409 ; remarkable things in his public ministry, &c. 407-409 : as regards the virtues he exercised
and manifested in the acts by which he purchased redemption 410-412 ; the satisfaction he made fni
sin 412-4)6; the subject improved 416; reproof of 417-422; encourage.nent to burdened souls
422,423 ; the lime of, from the end of Christ's humiliation to the end of the world occupied in
carrying on the work of redemption by bringing about the great success of his purchase 423 ;
how these times arc represented in Scripture 424-427 ; called latter days 424 ; the end of the
world 425 ; the state of things attained ; a new heaven and a new earth 426 ; also the kingdom of
God.&c. ; setting up of this by four great successive dispensations of Providence 427; each of these
but steps toward the accomplishment of oue event ; each one advancing a degree 429 ; the things
by which Chrisl was put into a ca;)acity for accomplishing the end of his purchase 431 ; resurrec
tion 431 ; ascension 432 ; how the success was accomplished ; consists in grac^ or glory ; Ihings
by which the means of success were established after the resurrection; of grace 433-437 : dis.
pensalions of Providence 433; abolishing of the Jewish dispensation 433; appointment o'f the
Christian Sabbath ; appointment of the Gospel ministry, &c. 434 ; enduing of the apostles with
miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost; revealing so gloriously doctrines formerly obscure;
appointment of deacons; calling and qualifiying Paul the apostle ; the institution of ecclestas-
tic-al councils; commitling the New Testament to writing 436; continuing of success under
means of grace 437 ; in the church's suffering state 438 ; to the destruction of Jerusalem 439-442 •
success Itself among the .Tews 439,440; the Samaritans 441 ; the Gentiles called, opposition
made lo it 442 ; judgments executed on Christ's enemies the Jews 443 ; from the de-truction of
Jerusalem till tbe destruction of the heathen empire by Constantine, &c. 445-449; opposition of
the Roman empire, persecutions 445, 446 ; success ofthe gospel 449 ; peculiar circumstances of tri-
bulationjust before Constantine 448 ; great revolution in the days of Constantine, how like Christ's
coming ; the church delivered from persecution ; terrible judgments on her enemies 449 ; heathenism
,. V , ', , ,, ,. — ¦- -: 1 by Luther &c. 456-461 ; how Satan erects
his kingdoms, papal and Mahometan &c. 457-4.59 ; how the church was upheld 459 ; Waldenses
460 ; Wickliff, &c. 461 ; from the Reformation to the destruction of Antichrist 461 ; the Ueforn,
ation Itself 361 ; vials of God's wrath poured out 462- opposition made ; councU of Trent ; plots
and conspiracies 463 ; open wars and invasions; cruel persecutions 464, 465 ; corrupt opinions ;
Anabaptists; enthusiasts; Socmians 466; Arminians; Arians; Deism'; success of the gospel m
Muscovy 467— success in the propagation of the gospel among the hSathen in America 468-
arnong the heathen of Muscovy; in the East Indies; the revivals of religion; in Saxony.
through Professor Frank 469 ; m New England ; state of things, how altered for the worse since
'.-^ Reformation ; reformed church diminished ; prevalence of licentious npinions and practice
470 ; less of the power of godliness; how for the better; less persecution ; great increase of
lenming 471 ; application ; we see the truth of the Christian religion ; from violent oppoi^ition o'
vhe world 473 ; the upholding of the chlirch 476 ; the fulfilment of tht prophecies ; in pr-seiving
EVDEX.
C75
Ws church from ruin ; the coraing of Antichrist 477 ; we see the spirit of true Christians ; a spirit
of suffering 479 ; we have reason assuredly to expect further fulhlment of other things foretold
in the Scriptures; how the success of Christ's redemption will be curried on till the fall of Ami-
Christ and the destruction of Satan's visible kingdom 480 ; reason to conclude that it will be a
dark time wilh respect to religion just belore the work of God begins ; that it will be wrought,
though very swiftly, yet gradually, by means 481 ; how it will be accomplished ; by the pour
ing out of the Spirit of God 482 ; represented bythe great battle, &c. ; the seventh viul poured
out 484; consequent on this Satan's visible kingdom shall be destroyed 485 ; in what Satan's
overthrowwUl consist; heresy, &c. ; kingdom of Antichrist ; Mahometan 486 ; Jewish infidelily ;
his heathenish kingdom 487; extent of the overthrow 488 ; more like the last coming of Christ
to judgment than any preceding dispensations; more universal; a great spiritujl resurrection;
terrible judgments on God's enemies ; it shall put an end to the church's suffering stale '489;
puts an eud to the former stale of the world ; how the success of redemption will be carried on in
the prosperity of the Christian church on earlh ; the fulfilment of the prophecy of the latter
times; great light aTid knowledge 491; great holiness; religion uppermost in the world 492;
great peace and love ; of order ; the church uf Christ beautiful and glorious 493 ; great temporal
prosperity ; great rejoicing ; its duration 494 ; the great apostasy at the close, &c , 495, calls for
Christ's appearance to judgment 496 ; the great success of Christ's purchase ; how it appears
497; how the success of Christ's purchase is accomplished ; Christ will appear with glory, &c.
498 ; the last trumpet shall sound, &c. 499 ; saints caught up to God and the wicked arraigned,
&c. 500; the righteousness of the church shall be manifested, and the wickedness of enemies
brought to light 502 ; sentence pronounced, &c. 503 ; the church shall enter into heaven 604:
improveraent of the whole ; we may learn how great a work redemption is ; by the greatness and
number of events, &c. by which it i's accomplished, &c. 507 ; the glorious issue of the affair, &c.
508 ; how God is the Alpha and Omega, &c. of all things 509; we see how Chrisl has in all thing-s
the pre-eminence 510 ; also thatthe Scriptures are the word nfGod 511 ; intelligent beings should
know something of God's scheme, &c. 512 ; the glorious majesty of God in the works of redemp
tion 513 ; stability of God's mercy and faithfulness to his people 514 ; we may learn how happy
a society the church of Christ is ; and wicked men may see their exceeding misery 515.
(Ieformation — the threatened destruction of Antichrist began in the, II I. 478.
Reformers — treated with contempt for teaching and maintaining Calvinistic doctrineo II. 180.
Regeneration — the same as repentance and conversion II. 466 ; as circumcision of heart 467, 468 ;
as spiritual resurrection 468 ; as a new heart and a new spirit ; as putting off the old man and
patting on the new man 469 ; as being created anew, made new creatures 471 — being new crea
tures, &c. does not mean in the New Testament, merely persons being brought into the state and
privileges of professing Christians 563 — a personal thing, and therefore not called simply an en
tering into the new creation, but putting off the old man and putting on the new 565.
rtEPENT.\NCE— when spoken of in Scriplure as the condition of pardon, not meant any particular grace
or act distinct from faith that has parallel influence with it in justification, &c. IV. IIS.
Respect — of natural men to God, hypocrisy ; much of it owing to education III. 50, or forced, or
from hope of gain 51 — worthiness of to a being, in proportion to the subject's value or excellency ;
applied in answer to objection against infinite evil of sin 74.
Restraint — in common speech opposed to liberty II. 18 — of natural men, not owing to nature but
to fjod's restraining grace III. 53.
Resurrection — on 1 Cor. xv. 21, does not mean of the just and unjust II. 445.
EiVElation — given hy God to man, has taught men to use their reason II. 198 — idea of immediate
ofthe good estate of others, &c. exposed III. 60 — none of secret facts by immediate suggestion
is any thing spiritual and divine in that sense wherein gracious operalions are so 84-^nolhing in
the nature of the idea so excited that is divinely excellent ; the extraordinary manner proves
nolhing more than in the case of Balaam, &c. 8.5 — necessity of, shown by man's blindness in the
Ihings of religion IV. 30.
Revtvals — of religion, mentioned in various places in Massachusetts and Connecticut III. 236-239 ;
character of the work ; manner in which people were wrought upon 240 — thoughts on the revival
of religion in N'ew England 273 ; occasion ofthe treatise 274— error of judging of; m judging of
uyriori 277— do not take the Holy Scriptures, as a whole, as a sufficient rule to judge by; but
make philosophy 279 ; judge by those things the Scripture does not give as signs 281— also by
.*iistory and former observation instead of Scripture 285— instances of great effects in several
places during one 286-289.
Eevival-^f religion, a glorious work of God's Spirit UI. 308, 309— duty of all to acknowledge and
rejoice in 310 — when the devil cannot keep men quiet and secure, he drives them to excesses, in
enthusiasm ; superstition ; and severity towards opposers, his three extremes 350 — men in dan
ger in, by want of watchfulness over themselves 351 — causes against the errors that attend one
m, arise from spiritual pride 353-361 ; wrong; principles 364-381 ; notion that it is God's manner
to guide his saints by inspiration and revelation 364; this error great hinderance to the revival
366 — mention of introducing things in, that by their novelty have a tendency to shock and sur
prise Deople 375 ; also wrong notion that they have an attestation ol divine Providence, &c. 376 ;
another wrong principle, an occasion of mischief, &c., is that external order in matters and
means of grace is to be litile regarded 379; another erroneous prmciple is that ministers riiav
assume the same style, and speak as with the same authority as Jesus Christ, &c. 381— the third
cause of error in, is being ignorant or unobservant of some particular things by which the devil
Ilas especial advantage 381-390 ; some of these specified ; censurmg Christians in good standing
¦ as .unconverted 391— ministers sometimes thus to blame 392 ; nothing gained by it ; danger of it
293-practices censurable in 397-403— the devi! in driving things in, to extremes, has a twofold
aiischiefin view; with regard to those who are cold and those who are zealous 404— Ihinp
which should be done to proraote; to remove stumbling-blocks 405-408; confess faults 40o;
practise meekness and forbearance 406 ; things to be directly don- ; each one to look into his
' own heart, &c. 40S; applied to the aged 410 ; to ministers 411 ij^»' f ''Z^,?'''"''"" "."^"''fJ]!
410 . ,„r,vl.,A .„ -„i|pjer4M ¦ 'r 'av-r-a rrea' men rich men. Sic 116 . duties of fasting aod
676 INDEX.
).rayer 416-420 — ^public worship 420 — a.msgiving 422 — great revival predicted 43!», 440— leman
able ones in different places 461, 462.
Righteous — meaning of the term, as applied to persons in the Scriptures III. 527.
Righteousness— Christ's, how distributed, threefold [. 404.
Rawlin, on Justification — quoted I. 601.
Sabbath— the perpetuity and change of IV. 615 ; sorae deny any other observation than of the Jew.
ish 616 — it is clearly the mind of God that one day in the week should be devoted to rest and
religious exercises, consonant lo human reason ; one proportion is better and fitter than another
for this purpose 618— God's resting on the seventh day was to be of general use in determining
this matter ; his mind clearly revealed in the fourih commandment 619 ; question if that commana
is perpetual, and how ? 620 ;' God lays great weight on the precept concerning the Sabbath in his
word ; it is foretold that this command should be observed in gospel limes, &c. 621 — under the
gospel dispensation, God's wiU is that the first day of the week should be so observed, for the words
of the fourth commandment offer no objection to this view 622 ; could not be known by the Israelites
when the particular day would have fallen ; the Christian as much the sliventh day as the Jewish
623 ; that the ancient church was commanded to keep a seventh day in commemoration of crea
tion is an argument for keeping a weekly Sabbalh to commemorate redemption 624 ; the gospel
state spoken of as a renewed state of things ; a paraUel made of resting from the work of redemp
tion with that of creation, &c. ; we are expressly told, the Subbath in commemoration of the old
creation should not be kept in gospel times 625, 626 — the abolition of the Jewish intimated by
Christ's lying buried that day 628 ; by the peculiar honor conferred on the first day of the week ;
the day of public worship, caUed the Lord's day, and why ? 629 ; the tradition of Ihe church con
firmatory 630 — motives to excite to the duty of keeping it holy 632-634 ; manner of doing so
63.5-637.
Saikt — how used in the New Testament I. 94-100— those admitted to the church not on a profession of
sainlship, not professing saints 100 — asserted by some to be used in the Scripture four ways ; dis
proved 101 — visible who are not truly pious repiesented in the Scriptures as counterfeits, &c. 121.
Saints - the souls of the departed go to dwell with Christ, and how ? III. 625 ; have communion with
him and in what respects ; partake of his delights 630 ; of his glory 631 ; in glorifying the Fa
ther 635.
Saintship — supposed to be of moral sincerity, &c. ; answered I. 100 — the kind of that Christians in
apostolic days had a visibUity and profession of 137 — evidence of insisted by Mr. E. was proba
bUity 200.
Salvation — God's ordinary manner in working, for the souls of men III. 39 — conditions of, mistake
about, the reason why the doctrines of revealed rehgion are considered by many of little import
ance 542 — adaptation of the plan lo man's needs IV. 142, 143, 144, 146 — how angels are ben
efitted by the salvation of men 146-149 — the manner in which it should be sought 368— a work or
business on which men must enter in order to their salvation ; what ? 370 — why needful 371 the
undertaking is a great one 372 ; of great labor and care ; constant ; of great expense ; sometimes
with long fear and trouble 373 ; of many difficullies and cares ; never ends tiU life ends 374 ; rea
sons why men should be wiUing to engage in it 374-376 — application of the doctrine and answei
to objections 376-380.
Satan — cannot awaken men's consciences, &c. I. 541.
Satan — nolhing beyond his power to bring texts of Scripture to the mind, and misapply others III. 33
— can counterleit saving operations and graces of the Spirit, and also those operations that are
preparatory to grace 42 — also their order 43— not above his power lo suggest thoughts or ideas to
men, &c. 77— cannot affect the soul except through the imagination 122— this the reason melan.
choly persons are subject In his attacks, &c. 12^temptations to persons under conviction 270.
8atisf.\ction — doctrine of I. 682— Christ's a rational thing 692 ; proved from Scripture 593 ; not un.
reasonable that favor should be showed out of respect to his relation to another ; in such the merit
of another imputed to him 595 ; the greater the dignity the more reason 598, 599 ; mode of trial
of the measure of love or regard to the interest of annther 600 ; the unien must be mutual 601 ;
needful that the Mediator be united to both parties 602 ; how Christ suffered God's wrath 603 :
how Christ was sanctified in his last sufferings 606 ; Chrisl suffered the fuU punishment of sin im'
puled to him 607 — reasonableness of the doctrine ; satisfaction of Christ to lie distinguished from
his merit 609.
S.ivED — a common appeUation given to all visible Christians I. 128.
Scandal — the nature of, in the members ofa church, in what it much consists I. 144, 148.
Scriptures — proof of their div'inity, that they teach doctrines rejected as absurd and unreasonable
which when examined agreeable to reason II. 182 — mysteries of III. 537 observations on panic'
ular passages 547-563.
Seeking God — one of the most distinguishing characters of the saints III. 180.
Self-denial— in what the duty consists III. 139.
Self-determining power of the will — belongs to Arminian and Pelagian notion of liberty II IS
123, 168, 523— considered and disproved; contradictory and absurd, 21, 22, 524 ; evasions considered '¦
that the soul determines its own acts in the use of the power of the wUl, without previous acl &c'
22, 23— answer to an objection against, 30, 31, 32— question in the case, not so much wh'y aii
active spirit cnmes to act, as why it exerts such an act and not another ; or why it acts with such
a particular determination 30— inconsistent with supposing the different circumstances of the wiU to
be the determining cau.ses ofthe acts ofthe will 31 — asserted to be proved by experience • exam
ined 34— a power in the soul to determine as it chooses or wiUs 140 meaning one of three
things 524.
Seif-examination- as a preparation for the sacramental supper, what does the apostle mean bv it'
I. 149; assurance not to be obtained so much by, as by action III. 64 — mode of to discover whe
ther we do noi uve in sin IV. 509— take pains to be informed in what relates to our particular
cases 510— questions as to neglect of duties, &c. 514-528 — called for frbm those who attend on
the ordinances 534 — as to the desire of going to heaven, why ? 545 ; as to thie preference of God
above aU tbings else 545 ; modes of determining 547.
INDEX. 677
Belfibhness- its meaning, a disposition in any being to regard himself II. 215; being govei-ned by a
regard to his own private interest, independent of regard to the public good 268.
Self-love— confined, opposite to benevolence, properly caUed selfishness II. 220— doing good to others
from, when we are dependent on them for the good we need or desire ; derogates from freeness nf
goodness 221 — good-wiU in, confined to one person only 268— generaUy defined, a man's .inve ol
his own happiness ; ambiguous 277— may be takenfor one's loving whatever is gratefu. oi nif-asing
to him ; this cannot be the ground of our love lo each particular objeci of love to (.ithers'278 — as
used in common speech most commonly signifies a man's regard to his confined private self, or
love to himself with respect to his private interest 279— love to some others may truly be the cff-ect
of 279 — some other principle than, said to be concerned in exciting the passions of gratitude and
anger, else why not excited towards inanimate Ihings, answered 280 — may be the source of affec
•ions to such as are near to us by the lies of nature ; love to qualities as weU as persons may arise
from self-love 283 — mistaken by no one for virtue, and why 2^6— not useless, but exceeding neces
sary to society 297-299 ; yet not true virtue, but the source nf all the wickedness in the world 299
not Ihe foundation of true love to God ; the consnquence.s of supposing so IU. 92 ; there is a
kind of love persons may have for persons and things f-cm self-love, what, &c 93— may be the
foundation of great affections towards God and Christ, without seeing any thing of the beauty and
glory of Ihe divine nature 94 — prejudices meu who have entered on an iU practice lo conlinue in it
IV. 507.
Sense- inward, or frame of mind given by God, whereoy the mind is disposed to delight in the idea or
view of true virtue, not given arbitrarUy II. 301 — a new spirilual one in regeneration ; how under
stood III. 71— its effects, &c. 112, 113, 114 — of the divine glory, &c. of things exhibited in the
Gospel, how it has a tendency to convince the mind oftheir divinity 129-132.
Shepherd, W. — Quotations from his works III. 29 note, 40 note, 44, 45 note, 52, 53 note, 58 note, 82
note, 83 note, 84 note, 90 note, 93 note, 96 note, 104 note, 143, 164 note, 156 note, 158 note, 164
note, 168 note, 177 note, 178 note, 191 note, 193 note, 206 note, 209 note.
Sherlock, Dr. — extracts from his discourse on faith II. 625, 626.
SiBBS, Dr.— quotations frora III. 210 note.
Signs — ofa work ofthe True Spirit, negative 526-537 — what are so 538.
Sui — God not us author II. 156, 470, 478 — in what sense he is so 157 — God permits and orders that it
come to pass, proved from the Scriptures 157-169, 161 — to permit or order its certain existence
very different from being the actor or author by positive agency or efficiency 160, 161 — men do will
sin as sin and so are its authors ; God permitting, sin wil) come to pass, for the sake ofthe con
trary good 163— first entrance of into the world equaUy difficult for Ihe Arminians to account for as
for the Calvinists 165, 166 — aU has its source from selfishness or from self-love not subordinate to
regard to being in general 298 — original defined 309- — against God , heinousness of 324 ; IV. 227 — none
exempt from II. 326, 327 — reason God wills sin — to permit sin for the greaterpromotion of hohness
in the universality of things, including all things and aU times, the same thmg as to say that he wiUs
it rather than alter the nature of free agents 516— of crucifying Christ, the head sin, oeing foreor
dained of God, hence a clear argument that the sins of men are foreordained 617 — the futurilion
of, or that sm should be future, not an evil thing 519 — of the heart, placed by the Scriptures in
hardness of heart HI. 16 — radically consists in what is negative or privative having its root and
fbundation in a privation or want of holiness 17 — an infinite evil, proved ; evil and demerit in pro
portion to obligation violated 587, 688 ; IV. 74 ; yet one may be more heinous than another ;
case of cylinder, &c. 76, 227, 228, 229— of rejecting a Saviour, heinousness of, appears from the
greatness of the benefits and the wonderfulness of the way in whi ch they were procured and offered
246— God hath set a certain measure to the sin of every wicked man ; while men continue in sin
they are filling this measure ; when fiUed up, wrath will come upon them to the uttermost 281 —
heinousness of the sin of unbelief, why 366 — gieatness of, no impediment to pardon, if we truly come
to God 422 ; proved 423-425 ; use of the doctrinej objections considered 425-427— aU persons should
be much concerned to know whether they do nnt live in some way of ; in a state of 503 ; reasons 504 ;
proneness to sin great 506 ; many not sensible that they Uve in ways of sin, and why ; from its de
ceitful nature 605 ; self-love prejudices them to continue 507 ; not sensible of it because stupified
by custom and example of others ; great danger from not considering duty in its fuU extent SOS-
self-examination whether we live in sin 509-528— not aU sins, which one know,s nnt with a certain
knowledge to be sinful are justly called sins of ignorance ; vain to pretend they are so which per
sons have often heard testified against from the word of God ; in the practice of which they would
not proceed if they knew thatthe soul was to be immediately required of them 637 — in its tenden-
cy infinitely dreadliU 588 — how we may know what things lead or expose to sin, rules stated 692-595.
Sincere endeavors— great deceit arises from the ambiguity ofthe phrase II. 108, 553; no promises
of truly divine and saving blessings except to such as arise from true love to duty ; even if other
wise tliey must be made to an undetermined condition, and so be no promises 553 — question, what
kind 'and dcree of sincerity constitutes the condition of the promises 554, 556, 566 ; Gel's sove
reignty must deterraine the condition, and so the whole sliU depend on God's determining grace 666.
Sincerity— meaning ofthe term— moral not the qualification which gives a right to the sacraments I.
234— of God in counsels, &c. nn objection against the inability of faUen men to exert faith in
Christ &c li. 105 no virtue, unless m a thing virtuous ; makes not desire or willingness better
107— a's the word is sometimes used signifies no more than reality of wiU and endeavor ; or it n;eans
not merely reaUty of wiU or endeavor', but virtuous sincerity 108 ; the former opposed to pretence
or show of the p'articular thing to be done or exhibited ; the latter to show of virtue in merely
doing matier of duty 109— of God in counseUing, inviting men, &c. no more against the doctrine
of necessitv than of foreknowledge of God 167— of God not impaired by God's absolute decrees
resoectin" the unbeliefof sinners and their rejection ofthe gospel 517— of God in invitations or com-
mknds no°t impaired by his decrees 532-of professing Christian, manifested to his neighbors and
brethren bv holy life and Christian practice UI. 193 ; proved from the Scriptures 194 ; also from
reason 195— every notion of, wherein true virtue consists, a reason why doctrines are thought to
!torBi--bj"dec™eingTn action as, not the same as decreeing an action so that it should be sinful ¦
678 INDEX.
but decreeing it fos the sake of the sinfulness of the action II. 51S — it rf our ^.uty tc ivoid things
that are themselves so, and also those things that iJiay lead or expose to sin IV . 586 ; reasons :
587-592 ; th.e doctrine applied 595-600.
Singing— in public worship, &c. how to be performed; in public companies in the streets, suggestions,
respecting Ihis III. 40'1, 402, 403.
Sinners — does not mean only Gentiles in Rom. 5 : 6-10 II. 425-429— daranation of, is just, and why
IV. 232— agreeable to the sinners' treatraent of God, should he cast them off forever 235-241, ; alsc
agreeable to their treatment of Christ 241-247 — not wiUing to have Christ for a Saviou:24I;
proved 242-244 — objections of inabUity to be wiUing, &c, 244 ; also agreeable to their trei tment
of others 247— whal is meant by God's undertaking, to deal with the irapenitent 254-257 ; they
sliaU not avoid due punishment proved 267 ; cannot be overlooketi or escape ; nor b^ar their pun
ishment 258-260 — what wUl become of them 260, 261 — reason of the obsti;iacy of, in the time
of Christ, that they might fiU up the measure of their sins 280— vain self-flatteries considered 322 ;
the fact proved 323 — some of the ways it is done 323-326 ; application of the doctrine 326-329 — in
Zion, who are they, and how fearfulness wUl surprise them 489 ; the greatness, suddenness and
time of their fear ; at death 490 ; fearful of what is to come 492, at the judgment 493 ; reasons
why they will be so 494-496 ; sin against greater light, such professions and vowS; and so much
greater mercy 497.
Smith, Mr. John- remarkable for his discourse on the shortness of a Pharisaic righteousness III. 79
note.
Sodom — why we should not look back when fleeing from IV. 404-407 ; application and use of the doc
lrine, derived from the more dreadful destruction of the wicked 408 — the case of others de
stroyed for looking back, &c. 409, 410, 411.
Soul — it's activity may enable it to be the cause of effects II. 30 — not according to its nature to love
an object unknown IV. 5. -tTC^
Sovereign grace — glorious work of in case of a young woman^S4.
Sovereignty of God — in what does it consist II. 144 — extends to all events in the moral world 161 —
appears in the election of the man Jesus, how 536 — sermons on, blessed in a time of revival III.
245 — absolute in the salvation of sinners, inferred from the fact that men are naturaUy God's ene
mies IV. 62 — God under no obligation to keep men from sinning 230 — ^liis absolute independent
right of disposing of aU creatures according to his own pleasure 649 — in the salvation of men ;
implies, that God can either be.stow salvation on any of the chUdren of men or refuse it without
any prejudice to the glory of any of his attributes, except where he has been pleased to declare
that lie wiU or will not bestow it ; cases excepted above, what 560 — why he raay so save men ;
without prejudice to his holiness, to the honor of his majesty 561 ; consistently with his justice'
with his truth ; he raay so refuse salvation also without injury to his righteousness 55^ ; or to his
goodness or faithfulness; how he exercises his sovereignty in men's salvation, with proofof the
fact ; in caUing one nation and giving them the means of grace and leaving others without them
653 ; in the advantages he bestows on particular persons, &c. 555 ; reasons why he does thus
exercise his sovereignty, &c. to manifest his glory, &c. 566-657 — application of the above ; we
learn our dependence ; humbly adore God's awful sovereignty, give to hira praise of salvation ;
admire his grace ; guard against presumption and discouragement 557-560.
Speculative points — respecting God, &c. importance of IU. 541.
Spheres or Globes — question respecting two exactly alike, except numericaUy, with reference to the
determination of God's wiU m creating and placing ihem considered II. lol, 152.
Spirit, the True — marks of a work of I. 525 ; negative signs ; unusual and extraordinary way of the
work's being carried on 626 ; effects on the bodies of men 627 ; objection of answered that we have
no instances of like things in the Scriptures 628 ; occasions a great deal of noise about religion ;
great impressions on the imaginalion 530 ; that example is a great means of it, scriptural 532 ;
no objection that many are guilty of great imprudences and iriegularities 534 ; or that many errors
and delusions of Satan are intermixed 636 ; or that some faU into scandalous practices 636 ; that
ministers insist much on the terrors ofthe law 537 — what are true marks or evidences of the work
of 538 ; esteem of Jesus Christ 539 ; when the spirit at work operates against the interests of Sa
tan's kingdom 540 ; when the spirit causes a greater regard fbr God's word 641 ; if it leads men
to truth 642 ; practical inferences ; the laie extraordinary influence undoubtedly the work of the
Spirit of God 548 ; character ofthe work, &c. 548 ; manner persons have been wrought upon 649—
impressions different from the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit nn the heart 556-vgracious
leading of, in what it consists IU. 118 — very different from what many call so, and how 120— no
restraint on God's, as to what he shall reveal to a prophet for the benefit of his church, &c. 149—
raanner the Holy Spirit gives saving grace, &c. to be a principle of nalure 157.
Spirit of God— truly gracious infiuences of, consistent with a considerable degree of corruption and
also errors in judgment, &c. III. 290 — end of his infiuences not to increase men's natural capaci.
ties 295— work of, shows God's great favor and mercy to sinners ; may be a prelude to a great
worjc 313 — dangerous for God's people to be in such a work 316, 317 — work of, raay be opposed
besides directly 332— when are 'bodUy effects evidences that persons are under the uifinences oi
343 — things to be avoided or corrected in proraoting the work of 349 — assistance of in pr.iyin" &c.
misunderstood, what is it? 368 ; things necessary in order to show a just influence from "supp'osed'
assistance of 379; how God may by ordinary gracious influences give his saints special reason to
hope for the bestowment of favors 371— the chief of the blessings the subject raatter ol Christian
prayers 432.
Spiritual— persons, as opposed to natural, haw understood III. 66— the great difference lies in two
things ; t-ne-Spirit of God is given to true saints to dweU in thera and to influence their hearts as
a principle of new nature, or as a divine supernal spring of life and action 67 the Spirit of God
dwelling as a vital principle in their souls produces Ihose effects wherein he exerts am communi
cates himself in his own proper nature 69 — discoveries, raanner in which persons deceive thero.
selves as to them 1'5. 76 ; suggesting passages of Scripture to the mind, has nothing soiritual ini'i,
and why ? 79, 80 — apphcation of thr, word of God above the devil's power 83.
SilBDAHD- some general one for the i se ( f terms whereby to exaress moral good and evU II. 304
INDEX. 679
Staffer- his remarks on Imputation quoted II. 483, 484 Note- quotation from his works on the opin
ions of the Jewish Rabbies 606, 607, 508 Note — his definition of mystery, &c. 1 II. 544, 645, 546.
Stealing — is a designed taking of our neighbor's goods from him without his consent or knowledge
IV 606 — excuses that nersons offer for so doing 607.
Stebbing, Pr. — his view ot inabUity and grace II. 98— aUows that God has foretold there shall oe
some good men 532— his view of grace given to every one who prays for il 561 — supposes fnen to
have a good and honest heart before they l),ave faith, &c. 581 — his views quoted 688, 589.
Stoddard, "Mr.— his Appeal to the Learned, quoted I. 86, 95, 96, 97, 104, 121, 126, 129, 141, 142, 145.
157, 177 — his opinion respecting excommunicated persons 90 — considers that circumcisinn of lieart
means the spiritual renewal of the heart 105 — his notion of visibility of saintship, &c. 120 — con.
siders the parable of the wedding as a represeutalion of the day of judgment ; incorrect J26 — in
sists that if grace be requisite in the Lord's supper it would have been as much so in tho passover,
and why ? 168 — ever taught such doctrme from whence it will unavoidably follow that no uncon
verted person can know he has a warrant to come to the Lord's supper 170 — taught that assurance
is attainable, &c. 174 — distinguishes between instituted and nalural acts of religion 176 — his ari^ii
raents concerning the subjects of Christian sacraments, being members of the visible and not invis
ible church, &c. considered 188 — bad effects of his scheme 190 — quotations from him III. 34 note
35 note, 37 note, 41 note, 42 note, 43 note, 45 note, 50 note, 54, 55 note, 57 note, 82 note, 84 note]
87 note, 33-3 note— a very successful minister 23-3.
Stoddard, Hon. John— sermon on occasion of the death of UI. 605 — his character 610-614.
Stoic doctrine of fate — asserted to be the same as the Calvinistic doctrine of necessity II. 140 — what
was it 141 — Stoics agree with Arrainians in more Ihings than with Calvinists 142.
Strength — bodily, may be overcome by a true sense ofthe excellency of Christ I. 528.
Strength of motive — how had II. 4 — of sense of good and evil, influence of 7 — of motive relation tc
acts of the wUl 56, 57 — of difficulty of avoiding sin must, according to the Arminian view, excuse
in the same proportion because bias takes away liberty 96 — of vile nalural dispositions an agg.-a-
vation of wicketi acts that come from them 134.
Strong, Mr. Job— letter of his respecting Mr. Brainerd's labors among the Indians I. 666.
Stupidity — ofthe minds ofmen by nature instanced by idolatry II. 334, 3-36, 336 ; by the great dis.
regard of their own eternal interests 337.
Subject — certainty of connection of, wilh predicate, three kinds stated II. 11.
Subordinate end— opposed to ultimate end ; one may be subordinate to another subordinate end II.
193, 194 — l\ever valued more than that ultimate end to which it is subordinate, but some other ul
timate independent end ; iUustration ; never superior to its ultimate end ; illustration 195— -rarely
valued equaUy ivith the last end 196 — distinction between and consequential 197,
Sufficiency —for any act or work no further valuable than the work or effect is valuable II. 204.
Supernatural— meaning of, when it is said gracious affections are from those influences that are
supernatural III. 70, 71.
Supper, the Lord's — asserted by some to be a converting ordinance ; requisite qualification for coming
to It I. 98 — those who partake of it should judge themselves truly and cordiaUy to accept of Christ ;
for this is what the actions they perform are a profession of 145 — a declarative covenanting supposea
to precede it 146 — not a matter of mere claim or privUege but a duty and obligation 172 — conse
quences of raaintaining it to be a converting ordinance, &c. 231-234.
Supreme end — what? II. 196.
Sw-eahing— to or into, &c. the Lord, equivalent I. 107 — two ways of swearing Jehovah liveth Ul.
System — that part of the, is not good whichis not good inits place in the system, &c. II. 321.
Ta5te and judgment different, and how? — divine given and maintained by God in ills sainls ; its use
&c. III. 119.
Taylor Dr. — author of " The Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin proposed to free and candid Examina
tion," and " Key to the Apostolic Writings, with a Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistle to the
Romans" II. 307 — denies doctrine of, that the heart of man is naturaUy of a corrupt and evil disposi
tion 309 ; or corruption and moral evil are prevalent in the world 310— argues from the state which
men are in by divine grace, and yet makes no aUowance for this, and draws conclusions against ihe
deplorable and ruined stale of mankind by the faU, quoted 312 ; his arguments and conclusions
stated 313 — his remarks on the strictness of the law and the transgression of it b", aU mankind
quoted 315, 316 — the things he asserts, his expressions and words iraply that aU mankind have a
propensity to ruin theraselves by sin, that is invincible, and which amounts to a fixed, constant and
unfailing necessity, quoted 319— objects strongly against the poUution ot' the soul as derived from
a poUutedbody, quote! 321, 322— aUows that no considerable time passes after men are capable
ofacting for themselves as subjects of God's law before they are guilty of sin 327— holds, that it
is difficult if not impracticable to recover ourselves when under the government of appetites by
which we are drawn into sin 328— maintains that men come into the world wholly free from sinfiil
propensities 329— ad mils the idolatry of the generality of mankind 400 years after the flood ; as
serts the capacity of raan to know the true God from the light of nature 33.5— his view nf what
belongs essentially to the character of those who are accepted as righteous, quoted 341 , 342— objects
that we are no judges of the viciousness of men's characters 342— admits the wickedness of men
since the establishment of Christianity to be great ; and since Adam's transgression 347— supposes
aU the sorrow, &c., the consequence of Adam's sin, to have been from God in favor, &c. 348- his
languao-e with reference to the Gospel as a means, &c., quoted 356- says that Adam sinned with-
out a sinful nature; therefore the doctrine of original sin unnecessary to account for sm in the
worid, quoted 361— alleges that raan's free will is a sufficient cause of man's depravity without
supposiie any of nature, quoted 364— also hints that the anihial passions of men are suflicieut to
account for the general prevalence of wickedness without depravity by nature 369— his theory of
the necessity of virtue to be tried ; quoted ; dilemma that the state of temptation supposed, either
amounts to a prevailing tendency to wickedness, ruin, or not 370, 371— call to notice, that in Scrip-
ture, calamity and suffering are caUed by such names as sin, iniquity, being guUty, &c. 3 12 -speaks
ol- death and affliction as great benefits ¦374-hints that death of infants is designerU.s correction
U) parents 375— represcj.'.; death as chastiseraent 379— opposes tho doctrme of original righi
880 INDEX.
eousness, quoted 381, 382— his notion of virtye, that the essence of it lies 'n good aflection, or 1ot»!
383 — according to his scheme it was not possible that Adam should have any such thing as right
eousness 384 — his view of the death threatened to Adam 390 — says ihe '.hreateniiig Lo Adam does
not mention his posterity; inconsistent with himself, quoted 395, 39G — as he allows the sentence
pronounced to be a judicial one of conde mua tion 396, 397 — asserts that by Adam^s sin, the possible
existence of his posterity fell into the hands of the judge to bo disposed of as he should tninU fit
397 — objects against Adam's being federal head for his poeterity, that it gives him greater honor
than Christ, as it supposes all his posterity would have nad eternal life if he had stood, and so a
greater number saved ; answered 404 — his mode of explahiing texts supposed to teach depravity of
nature 408-41 1 ; and his objectiou to them — his interpretation of John 3: 6 in connection with other
passages414-4l6;ofRom.3: 9-24, &c. 420-424 ; of Rom. 5:6-10425,428; of Ephes. 2: 3,430,432
433; of Horn. 5: 12 considered in full 434-451 — his method of explaining the words, judgment, con-
demnation, justification, very unreasonable 442, 443, 444, 448 ; also his interpretation of the word
sin, sinned, &c. absurd 450, 451 ; also of the phrase, similitude of Adam's transgression 456 — his
scheme does not consist with the Scripture account of Christ's redemption 46] ; as by it redemp
tion would be needless 463 ; and does no good 465 — inconsistent in handling his objection against
the doctrine of original sin from the freedom of the will 474 — objects that the doctrine of native
depravity makes God the author of sin 476 — his own doctrine attended with the same result which
he charges on others 478, 480 — objects against a constituted oneness of Adam with his posterity
483 — examined 484-493 — also objects, that according to the doctrine of depravity ot nalure, God
pronounced equal or greater blessings on Noah after the flood than on Adam at creation, answered
495-497 — also that it disparages the divine goodness in giving us being 497 ; reply 498 — aiso from
the process at the judgment 499 — answered 500 — that action imputed, reckoned, &c. means in
Scripture only one's own act and deed 501 — alleges that little children are made in Scripture patterns
of humility, &c. ; also that the doctrine pours contempt on human nature 502 — begets in us an ill
opinion of our fellow-creatures, &c. ; tends to hinder comfort and joy ; encourages in sin 503 ; that
it would be unlawful to beget children ; that thfere are few texts in the Bible that have the least
appearance of teaching it 504 — his idea of regeneration, that persons are brought into the state and
privileges of professing Christians ; to make out this, he supposes being born of God means two
things, &c. 563.
Teacher — office of, in the church implies the being invested with the authority and being called to the
business ofa teacher III. 399.
TEairER, Christian — a spirit of holiness appearing in some particular graces maybe more especially so
called III. 159 — considered as exercised in forgiving, &c. 164 ; in loving, being merciful, 166 — the
true Christian justiy denominated from it ; it is his character 166.
TE^DENCY — ofthe natural or innate disposition of man's heart, defined ; universal, unfailing tendency
to moral evil, must be looked upon as an evil tendency or propensity IL 311 — meaning of, a pre
vailing liableness or exposedness lo such or such an event 318 ; some stated prevalenct; or prepon
deration in the nature or state of causes or occasions that ia followed by, ancf so proves to be ef
fectual lo, a stated prevalence or commonness of any particular kind of effect ; or some
thing in the permanent stale of things, concerned in bringing a sort c\f event to pass which, is the
foundation for the constancy or strongly prevailing probability of such an event— notion of a fixed
propensity not obtained by observing a single event 318 evidence of, not altered whether the sub
ject ofthe constant event be an individual, or a nature and kind; Ulustration by trees, family 319 —
to sin and ruin of mankind said by some to Ue not in nature, but in the general constitution and
frame of this world into which men are born 320 ; considered and exposed 321 — effectual, universal,
of mankind to sin and ruin in this world where God has placed them, to be looked upon as a perni
cious tendency belonging to their nature 321— of man to fall into stupid idolatry, proves the depravity
of his nature 334, 335 — none in men to make their hearts better till they begin to repent of the
badness of their hearts ; applied to the inability of man to convert himself 569.
Terms— ideas of, from common sense ; liability to transfer them to terms of art II. 10 — also to the
operations ofthe mind 128— often not used by philosophers, &c., in aclear and fixed sense ; change
of signification, insensible from the fact that the things signified in some generals agree 129 ; and
this is the great cause of prejudice and error 135 — the use of, govferned by general or common
use 354.
Thawsforts — high and extraordinary of some persons III. 300.
Treatise or Discourse on Original Sin— object of the work and plan II. 307.
Trials — meaning of III. 184 ; object of God in using them 209.
Trinity — those who deny, hold more difficult views respecting God III. 539 — many things about the
nature of our souls as mysterious 544.
Trust — God represents himself in his word as truiting the profession of his people I. 122.
Truth — one case only in which it should be withheld from sinners in distress of conscience III. 337.
TuRNbULL, Dr. — an enemy to necessity, but allows the connection of the will with the unders'anding.
quoted II. 48-rasserts that good preponderates in the worid, and virtue has the ascendnnt, quoted
310— insists that the forces of the affections naturaUy in man are well proportioned, disproved :
pleads for the natural disposition to anger for injuries as being good or useful cS2 — admits that the
tendency ofmen to fall into idolatry could not arise from want ofa sufficient capacity, quoted 335
— his view of the character of a good man referred to 342 Note — insists on an experimental method
of reasoning in moral matters 347 Note — accounts for general prevalence of wickedness, that in
the course of nature our senses grow first, and the animal passions get the start of reason 368 — his
explanation of Phil. 2: 12, 13, 547 — his words with reference to the necessity of general settled laws.
fixed certain laws, qiioted 568 — quotation from III. 641.
FuRRETiNE — quotation from III. 133 Note.
Jltibiate end— opposite to subordinate eud II. 193, 194, 196 — always superior to its ultimate end 195
— called also last end 195, 196— if there be but one, thesupreme end ; more valued than any of
the particular means ; may be one thing or many things ; but can be but one last end in the actions
and operations of an agent 196 — two sorts of, original and ind.'iendent ; consequential and de-
pendent, when and how ? 197 — origmal, God's in creation 198 — Goti'sj in creating the world the
INDEX. 68)
conimuuication ot himself, intended from all eternity 210— of God in providence, his last end ir
creation 223— of God in creation, proved from the Scriptures lo be his own glory 226-236— that
whith supports the agent m any difficult work he undertakes, his ultimate and supreme end- of
creation out one 262.
Unable — meaning of II. 9, 10, 12, 128— used somewhat improperly when applied to the wUl 17 — s
man cannot be said to be unable to do a thing, when he can if he now pleases, or whenever he has
a proper, direct, and immediate desire for it 103.
Ckeeueveks — contemn the glory and exceUency of Christ III. 361 ; how ? they set nothing by the
e-\ceUency of his person ; by his work and office 362 ; evidences of the truth of the doclrine ; nevei
give him honor, or love, on account of it 363 ; no complacency in him or desires after enjoyment
of him, do not seek conformity to him 364 ; the fact teaches the heinousness of the sin ol unbelief.
and greatness of guUt 365.
Understanding — used for faculty of perception, not reason or judgment II. 8— a spiritual, supernatural
of divine things, which is peculiar to the sauits, consists in the sensations of a new spiritual sense
III. Ul, 112— distinction between a mere notional and a sense of ihe heart 112— spirilual, consists
primarily of taste of the moral beauty of divine ihings ; and all that discerning and knowledge ol
the things of reUgion which depend upon and flow from' such a sense ; things understood by, inen-
joned 113 — from this sense arises alltrue experimental knowledge of religion 114 — does not consist
in any new doctrinal knowledge or suggestions, &c. 116 — difference between spiritual, and all
kinds and forms of enthusiasm, &c. ; they consist of impressions inthe head, kc. 121.
Union- -of a mmister wilh Christ's people ; an espousal to the church III. 562 — innhat respects 563-565
its ooject is their umon to Christ ; and its nature 565-572 — lo Christ of his people, variously repre-
sented IV. 69, 70 ; the ground of their right to his benefits 70 — not given by God in reward for
faith, but because faith is itself the very act of unition on their part 71— to Christ by a natiural fit
ness, how ? 72.
Union in Prayer, &c.— the duty of God s people III. 429 ; foretold in prophecy 430 — proposal of, in
a memorial sent frjin Scotland to Am-Jrica 434, 437 ; historical account of it 435 ; use 436 — mo
tives to urge to B c .inpliancs 439, 45S.
Unresolvedness, of iT.My in religion IV. 339 ; the fact shown 339, 340 ; its unreasonableness proved ;
from the high ir.l ,i<;st of the things of religion, we are capable of rationaUy determining for our.
selves 341 ; wr have opportunity; the things of choice are but few ; God has given aU needed
helps 342 ; no / ason to expect better advantages ; if we do not, God wUl deternjine for us ; we
know not now Moa the opportunity wiU be past 343 ; the truth appUed 344-346.
Use — general or c-^nmon, governs in the use of terms II. 304.
Useful — only two ways in which man can be useiul, either in acting or being acted upon IV. 301 — can
be actively so only by actively glorifying God and bringing forth fruit to him 302 — if they do not
so, can only be passively useiul by being destroyed 304.
Vice — hateful for its nalure II. 121.
7iKTaE — IC God, not rewardable ; reason U.S.5 — there can be none, if choice for no good end, or
in'.er.iion 116 — can be promoted by God oirly by physical operation on the heart, or morally by
aiciivas exhibited, or by giving will opporl'urily to, determine itself; applied to the Arminian
rjhcme 117 — placed by certain philosophers in public aifection or general benevolence 217 — and
religion, the end of God's name's sake 238 — wherein its true essence consists ; meaning ; some-
thing beautiful ; some kind of beauty or excellence ; not all beauty of mankind or of the mind
called virtue ; but it is the beauty ol those qualities and acts of the mind that are of a moral
nalure, i.e., such as are attended with a desert of praise or blame 261 — trine, consists in bene
volence to Being in general ; essentially consists in love 262 — cannot consfst iq complacence or
in any benevolence that has beauty ot us object as its foundation ; nor in gratitude ; but in a
propensity and union of heart lo Being simply considered 264— degree of aniiableness or valu
ableness of, is in a proportion compounded of the degree of Being and the degree of benevolence
265 — consists in love to God 266 — of the divine mmd must consist in love to himself; manner in
which virtuous love m created beings one to another is dependent on and derived from love tc
God 270 — nolhing ofthe nalure ol true, in which God is not thefirst and last 271 — resolved by Mr
Wollaston into an agreement of inclinations, volitions and aclions with truth 276 — nothing of the
nature of true, m that disposition or sense of the niind which tonsisls m a determination to
approve or be pleased w.th secondary beauty simply 277 — supposition that il consisls in public
benevolence as some hold ; in^tances ; pirates and robbers 282 — in what respects do the instincts
of nature resemble it 291 — reasons why things which have not the essence ol', have been mis
taken for virtue 295-300— some ai^pearance of benevolence in many of them ; applied to the
affections of anger, gialilude, mutual afftction between the sexes, pity, &c. 295 — essentially
defective, because prirale m their nalure 296 — nalural principles may resemble it in both its
primary and secondary operalions 297 — they have loo the same effect, lend mostly to the good
of mankind ; restrain vice and prevent wickedness 299 — in what respects founded on sentiment,
and what on reason 300-304 — tendency of, to treat evtry thing as it is, and according lo its
nature 332 — iho nature of being a positive thing, it can proceed from nothing but God's inime
diale influence, and must take ns rise from creation or infusion by God ; applied to the doctrine
of efficacious grace 569 — impossible to come by it on Arminian principles 581-583.
Virtue— mistake about the naiure of, the cause why many look on the doctrines of revealed religion
of little importance III. 542.
(TrHTUES — there are some that more especially agree with the Gospel constilution, what, &c. IU. 160.
Virtuous — there are qualities, sensations, propensities and affections ofthe mind, principles cai.ej
so, and supposed by manv to have the nature of true virtue, which are entirely distinct, and have
nothing of the kind II. 271 — of the .same denomination with the inferior affections, and hence
these are often accounted virtuous 299.
Virtuousness — of disposition or of acts of the will, consisls not in acts of the will, but whol.'y la
their origin or cause, according to the Arminians, absurd; its essence in their nature II. 119
120— the way men come to adopt such a view by transferring thi use of language respectine
external actions to internal exercises or actions 121.
86
682 INDEX
visible — meaning ofthe term ss applied to tJie church, piembers, &o. I. 90— not all such members
ofa church to be believed goifly persons 92 — saints, the same as converted persons 9o — and
real, how related to each other 96^-that may be so fo God's people which is not to angels, &c.
97 — importance and benefit of a visiljle profession, &c. ISs-lSO.
VisiBiLiTV — to ihd eyeof Christian judgment, the rule ofthe charch proceeding in admission I. 91—
not private judgment 92— :of holjne* Ulustrated by disregard, &c. 93 — the same as manifeslation
or appearance to our view, &c. 95— relative 96 — that which Cnristians had in ^few Testament
not of morality but of saving grace 102 103 — of saintship supposed by some not to God's honor:
120 — what is not a credible one'i 231.
Voution— what II. 3— as greatest present apparent good b, 7 — object of direct, &c. 5— power of
belongs to man or the soul, not to the power of vniition.18 — act of, is. the mind's drawing up a
conclusion or coming to a choice between two or more things proposed to it 24 — has no cjiuse of
existence in the supposed Arminian notion 25 — if contingent events so, that tlieir being or manner
is not fixed or determined by any cause or any thing antecedent, would, not serve to establish
the Arminian notion of freedom ofthe will 32— can it come to pass not only without necessity
of constraint or oo-actioo, but also without infallible connection with any thing foregoing? 46—
volitions the effects oftheir motives and necessarily connected with them 53 — follows the strongest
motive 56— a comparative act 57 — future of moral agents necessary if forelinowu 73 — occasional,
that which endeavors lo avoid volitions agreeable to a fixed habil, most frequently vain 102 —
must be self-caused, according to the; Arminians 123 — errors respecting, from transferring lan
guage applied lo external actions to internal ones 126.
Warnings — of God's word, more fitted to bring men to repentance than the rising of one fromthe dead
IV. 330 — why? 331 — God knows better whal belongs to the punishment of sinners than departed
souls; we have the trulh on surer grounds from. God's testimony 332; his warnings have Ihe
advantage on account of his majesty ; God's concern in the affair shows its importance more 333
— its tendency greater as he is our judge and is infinitely wise 334 — sinners deceive themselves in
their suppositions, comparing the warnings of God to them with other things 335.
Watts, Dr. — his notion ofthe pre-existence of Christ's hiuran soul refuted III. 533-536 — his scheme
makes the Son of God no distinct divine person from the Falher.
Weddino garment — means true piety I. 126, 127.
Vhitby, Dr. — opposes Calvinistic opiiiioii of liberty as agreeing with Mr. Hobbes ; his own notion the
same, quoted U. 33 — also claims a liberty of willing wiihout necessity ; considered 34 — makes a dis
tinclion of different kinds of freedom as applied to God and to men ; asserts indifference to be re
quisite to the latter 40 note — allows the will to follow the understanding's apprehension or view ol
the greatest good, &c. quoted 48, 49 — ^his riewof the acts of the will as not necessary in this connec
tion, considered 50-.-refutes himself 51 — supposes a great difference between God's foreknowledge
and his decrees with regard to the necessity of fulure events, quoted 76— quotes Origen, Le
Blane 77 — maintains freedom from all necessity requisite that actions may be worthy of blame
or praise, yet allows God is withoui this freedom 84^also that the same freedom is requisite to
a person's being the subject of a law, &c. and a state of trial ; his view disproved by instance o.
Jesus Christ 86 — represents promises as motives to a person lo do his duty, to be inconsistent
with a liberty not utrumlibet, but necessarily determined 91 — what he considers necessary for a
stale of trial 94 — asserts his view of freedom from necessity essential to sin or a thing being
culpable 94, 97 — denies that men are ever given up of God so that their will should be necessarily
determined to evil; yet allows bent or inclination to sin very great ; inconsistent 95 — asserts that
fallen man is not able to perform perfect obedience ; inconsistent 97 — allows concerning the will
of God, angels, &c. to be with necessity ; inconsislent with Imb view of virtuous or vicious
actions 112 — supposes such actions are not rewardable 113— .asserts the agreement of Stoics
with Calvinists, yet alleges their agreement with Arminians 141 — objects that the docl/ine of the
necessity of men's volitions makes God the author of sin 155 — the objection lies equally against
his own views 156 — makes the word election signify two different things, one election to a com
mon faith of Christianity ; another a conditional election to salvation 533— holds we cannot pray
in faith for things decreed beforehand, nor for the salvation of others, if we do not know that
Christ died intentionally for their solvation 534 — according to his notion ofthe assistance of the
Spirit, .the Spirit of God does nothing in the hearts or minds ofmen beyond the power of the devil ;
for he supposes that all that the Spirit of God does is to bring moral motives and inducements
to mind, and set them before the understanding, &c. 547-557 — inconsistency, specimen of his 559,
Wicked — meaning of in Scripture I. 117 — the misery ofthe, in hell will be eternal IV. 266 — useful in
their destruction only 300 — not bringing forth fruit for God, are not fit for heaven 30.5 ; may be
and are useful in tbeir destruction, and how? 304 307 — nothing keeps them from hell but the mere
pleasure of God, shown because no want.of power in God 313; they deserve it; under sentence
of condemnation ; objects of God's anger ; tie devil ready to seize upon them 314 — have hellish
principles in their souls ; no security, because no visible means of deatli at hand; their natural
prudence of no avaU 316; God has laid himself under no obligation lokeep them out of hell 316 ;
application ofthe truths 3;7.
Will — nature of, defined II. I— Mr. Locke's definition, examined 2, 5 — distinguished from desire 2
— how determined ; equilibrium perfect, no volition 3 — by strongest motive 8, 16, 101, 116— act of
directand immediate object of 5 — kind of necessity of its acls 12— follows last dictate of under
standing ; how 8, 140— same individual will lo oppose itself in its present act absurd 15, 16— may
be against future acts of will or volition 15 — reason may in vain resist present acts of 17 — as a
faculty, &c. must belong to any being or thing that has liberty ; not an agent that has a will 18
— determining ilself, an improper phrase, and why 20 ; the notion of the self-determining power
disproved ; contradictory and impossible 21, 624 — the first act not free, no others can be 22—
idea that the exertion of an act of, is the determination ofthe act, considered and disproved 21
— free acts of, contingent according to the Arminian notion of libertv 25 — acts of, must have a
cause; absurd otherwise 29^to determine a thing, the same as for the soul to determine a
thing by willing 32 — question of choosing between two things perfectly equal or indifferent
supposition inconsistent and self-destructive 35, 37 — cannot be indifferent in any of its acts 36-
INDEX.
683
.the soul cannot exert an act of choice while the will Is in a state ol fierfect equilibrium 42— acts
of, never contingent 46, 47, 178— all its acts connected with the understanding, and- as the
greatest apparent good 48— cannot be determined by the understanding, nor necessarily con
nected with the understanding, il the Arminian notion of liberty without necessity be maintained
42— every act excited by some motive, or the will can have no end or aim, and so no inclinalion
or preference 52— biased and inclined by motives 53 — its acts necessary 73, 81, 116, 178— acts oi
eannotbe free according to Arminian notion of freedom unless determined by ihe will, anj so
necessary 82- will itself, not only those actions which are its etfecls is the proper obiect of
precept or cominand ; the being ofa good will, is the mosi proper, direct, and immediale sub-
¦ect ol command 99, 103, 104— the opposition or defect of the will itself m that act which is ils
original and determing act in the case, lo a thing proposed or commanded, implies a moral
mability to that thing 100— when under the influence of the opposite leading act is not able to
exert itself lo the conlrary to make an alteration ; and therefore cannot be determined by any
foregoing act 101 ; the objection answered, that it may forbear to proceed to action 101, IIO,
his will respecting the event and existence of sin, as the allwise Determiner of all evenis 163,
164— God's works m creating and govern'ng the world properly, fruits of his wUl 214— God's, as
lawgiver and creator agree 2^2.5 — contingence of, whal, when called sovereignty ofthe will 514
— God's, of command aud of decree taken in two senses; in both cases, his inclination 516 —
God cannot be crossed in his 518 — when is the inclination so called ; the affections not essen
tially different from, only in liveliness and sensibleness of exercise UI. 3, 280.
WiU — to will that aU things should be. is to decree them II. 513.
Williams, Mr. Solomon — charges Mr. Edwards with indecent and injurious treatment of Mr. Stod
dard — the weakness of his scheme the object of exposure I. 195 — method of reply lo hun,
adopted 196 — his misrepresentations corrected 197 — of the principles and tenets of the book he
ittempts to answer; quoted 200-208— an examination of bis scheme 209-249 — his concessions
209-211 — misrepresents Mr. Stoddard 210 note — consequences of his concessions ; quoted 211-216
— inconsistence of his before-mentioned concessions with the lawfulness of unsanctified persons
coming to the Lord's supper, and their rights to sacraments in the sight of God 216-219— his
notion of a public profession of godliness in terms of an indeterminate and double signification
219-223 — inconsislent with Mr, Stoddard and himself in supposing that unsanctified men may
profess such things as he allows may be professed and yet be true 223-229 — his sermons on Christ
as King and a Witness, quoted 224— consequences of Mr. Stoddard and his views respecting visi
bility wiihout probability 229-231 — his views of the Lord's Supper as a (onverting ordinance
dxamined 231-234 — his view of moral sincerity as a qualification for communion, &c. examined
234-241^calls the sacramenta covenant privileges 235 — what he says concerning the public
covenanting of professors, &c. 241-249 ; case of the Israelites and Jewish Christians 244 — re
marks on his way of reasoning in support of his scheme, &c. 249-292 — misrepresents Mr. Edwards,
and then disputes against the views he imputes to him 250-253 — misrepresents others as if in
favor of himself; Mr, Stoddard ; Mr, Hudson 253, 254 — pretends to oppose and answer argu
ments by saying things which have no reference to them, &c. 254-258 — advances new and extra
ordinary notions, not only contrary to the truth, but to common and received principles of the
Christian Church 258-260— uses confident assertions and great exclamations instead of arguments
260, 261 — overlooks arguments, &c. 261-263^charges Mr. Edwards, wiihout cause, with begging
the questio i 263-266 — begs the question himself, and how ? 266-268 — inconsistent with himsell
in answering Mr, Edwards's argument from the Acts and the Epistles 268-272 — unreasonable
and inconsistent in answering Mr. Edwards's argument respecting the Weddine Garment and
Brotherly Love, &c. 272274 — impertinence of what he says concerning the notion of l.srael's
being the people of God, &c. 274-277 — his views concerning the .Tewish Sacraments; the Passover
and circumcision considered 277-279 — also concerning Judas partaking of the Lord's supper
279, 280 — argument as lo those born in the Church, &c, 281-285 — his defence of the ninth objec
tion, &c. examined 285-288 — also of the tenth objection. Sec. 288-290 ; the moral sincerity he
speaks of, a most indeterminate thing 289 — his defence of the thirteenth objection 290-292.
Williams, Rev. Mr. — Sermon on his death III, 615 — his character 619.
Willing— is the doing, when II. 17— the same as choosing 33.
WiL-LiNGNESs — indirect to have a better wiU, confounded 'oy men with the willing the thing that is the
duty required II. 130 — great difference between a wUfingness not to be damned and a being wUlin|;
to receive Christ for a Saviour IV. 24] .
Wisdom, Gocl's — in the plan of salvation ; why called manifold wisdom IV. 133 — it is far above the
wisdom of angels 134, 159 ; shown in the choice of the Mediator ; how 135 ; in knowing his fitness
and the way, overcoming difficulties, &c. 136, 137; also in the circumstances of his life, in his
work and business, his death 138 ; his exaltation 139— manifested in the manner and circumstance
of obtaining the good intended 151-156,
Witness of the Spirit — what many caU, &c, nothing in it spiritual and divine III, 86— what is so
caUed in the New Testament is also called the seal, &c. ; so evidently far from the common kind ;
the word is what misleads many 87— mischiefs from a false and delusive notion of, great 91— whal
IS il ? 223,
Witnesses— time ofthe two foretold in Revelations 111,472, 476-481,
Wollaston, Mr, — his idea of virtue II, 276,
Women— community of, how the idea might have arisen III. 388,
Words— declare or profess nothing otherwise than hy their signification— vain when used by a v.ti.
without any discriminating signs by which to know what he means — profession made in words nt
double meaning by a man destitute of qualification, &c. ; dreadful equivocation 1 120.
iVoBLD— we ou^ht not to rest in it and its enjoyments IV. 573 : reasons ; it is not our abiding pboc
the futtue world designed to be our settled and everlasting abode, kc. 577, 578.
684 INDEX,
Wrath of God — ^how wiU it eome upon wicked men to the uttermost ; without restrain' withoui
mercy IV. 282 ; utterly to undo its subject, eternal, the uttermost of what is threatened 283— as
executed on the wicked wiU be seen by the glorified saints ; no occasion nf grief to them 289 ,
why negatively ; not because they are subjects of iU disposition, &c. 290 — also positively 291, 292 ;
objection removed 293.
Zeal— true Christian, mistakes ofmen respecting it ; what it is III. 164 — persons infiueaced byindis
creet iu too much haste, &c. Ill, 376— without order, wiUdo but little, ke. 379.
INDEX OF TEXTS
REFERRED TO AND ILLUSTRATED.
BKBI3SIS. .-iii., ,2,3,
. 2.
¦2i,
i. 22,
,24,.26, ¦ 27,
.28,
.29,
li.,
ii. 3,
u. 10, 19,
iii., iu. 1,
iii, 4,
in. 13,
iii, 15-20
iu. 15,
iii. 18,
iii. 19,
iii. 20,
ui, 22,
iv, 1,
iv, 4,
iv. 14-16,
iv. 14, 16,
iv, 23, 24,
v. 25,
iv, 26,
v.3,v.6,V, 9,
v. 24,
V. 29,
vi 1,2,
fi 3,
vi, 4,
vi. 5, 6,
vl, 6,
vi. 12,
vi, 19,
vi. 22,
vii. 16,
vii 21, 23,
vi 23,
vi.. 1,
viii. 20-22,
viii. 21,
Ix. 1-3
U.S,
b.6,Ut. 7,9 10
ii. 381
iv. 32
1.308
ii. 402
ii. 400
ii. 402
li. 19, ii, 395 ui. 535
u. 19
ii. 402, ii. 395, i, 320
iv, 309
u, 395, iv. 309
ii. 381
iii. 547
iii, 496
ii, 402
ii, 381
iv. 156, 455
i. 610
1.413
ii. 403
i, 303, i. 310, i. 303
ii. 67, iu. 454, i. 504
1.310
ii. 395, 399, 436, 438
u. 402
iii. 535
i. 312
i. 309
i. 316
iv. 644
ill. 547
i. 312
i. 313, iii. 547
ii. 457
iii. 363
ii. 246
i. 315
u. 401, 402, 496
i. 317
ii 345, i. 618, iv, 368
iv. 378, 400
i. 317
ii, 345
ii, 70
ii, 345
ii. 402
iv. 368
iv. 378
iv. 375
ii. 402
ii. 402
i. 320
ii. 408, 409, 506
i, 320
i. 310
li, 19
i.320
Genesis. ix, 25-27,
ix, 26,
X, 10-12,
xi. 4,
xi. 7,
xi. 31,
xii. 2,
xii, 3,
xii. 10,
xiii, 14,
xiii, 16,
xiv. 4-7,
xiv. 14,
xiv. 19, 20,
xiv, 21-24,
XV.,XV. 1-7,
XV. 5,
XV. 5, 6.
XV. 12, 13,
XV. 13,
XV, 13, 14,
ii, 400
in, 548
i. 326
il. 252
iii, 535
i 245
i, 325, iv, 113
iii, 439, iv. 113
iv, 407
i, 325
iv, 113
i, 326
iii, 207
i, 326
iii. 423
i. 326
iv, 113
u. 445
1.325
ui, 39
iu. 482
n. 63
10,
XV. 16, u, 63, i. 327, iv. 281
XV. 18,
xvi. 12,
xvii. xvii. 5, 9
xvii. 20,
xviu, 1(),
xviu, 18,
xviii, 19.
xviU. 23, 25,
xix, 4,
xix, 12-14,
xix. 14,
xix. 22,
xix. 23,
xix. 24, 25,
xix. 28, 29,
XX. 4,
xx. 6, 7,
XX. 13,
xxi. 8, 9,
xxi. 23, seq.,
xxii. 1,
xxii. 2
xxii. 12,
xxii. 14,
xxii. 16- 18,
xxii. 18,
xxii, 17,
xxii. 21,
xxiii. 4,
xxiii. 7,
xxiv. 15,
xxiv, 18-20, 25, 31,
ill, 499, i. 355
ii. 400
iv. 113
i, 325
ii. 400
iv, 113
iu, 439, iv. 113
i. 187
ii. 378
ii. 409
iv. 404
iv. 406
u. 379
iv, 406
iv. 405
iv. 406
ii. 374, 379, iii. 527
iii, 86
iii, 535
iii. 322
1, 106
iii. 208
i. 360
iv, 127
i. 360
38, i. 325
iv. 113
iii, 439
ill. 434
i. 334
iv, 573
iU, 155
i. 327
ill. 578
Genesis, xxiv, 63,
xxv. 1, 2,
xxvi. 3, 4,
XKvi, 4,
xxvl, 28, seq,,
xxvii, 13,
xxvii. 29,
xxviii, 14,
xxix, 20,
xxxi. 1,
xxxi. 24,
xxxi, 39,
xxxi. 44-53,
xxxi. 53,
xxxii. 28,
xxxiii. 3,
xxxiii. 19,
xxxiv. 30, &c.
xxxv. 5,
xxxv. 7,
xxxv. 10,
xxxix. 9,
xxxix, 12,
xii. 15, 16,
xii. 56, 57,
xiv.xiv, 5, 7, 8,
xiv. 13,
xiv. 22,
xlvi. 34,
xlvii. 9,
xlviii. 16,
xlix. 8,
xlix. 9,
xlix. 10.
xlix. 18,
xlix. 22, &c.
xlix. 24,
1.20,
KXODUS. li. 6,
ii. 23,
iii 2, 3,
iii. 7,
iii. 8,
ui.ll,
ui. 14,
iii. 18, 19,.
iu. 12
iv. 2i,
V. 21-23,
iv. 22,
v.2, V. 19,
vu. l-f,
vii. 4.
lii. 177
i. 334
1. 329
lu, 439
i, 106
i. 594
i. 329
i. 330, iii. 439
iii. 548
ii. 247
iii, 86
ii. 447
i. 106
i, 245, 322
iv. 565
iii. 155
11. 538
i. 3-^8
1.328
iii. 535
i, 328, 330
iv. 228
iv. 585
ii. 549
ii. 350
iu, 548
u. 157
U. 247
iii. 314
ii. 409
iv. 573
iii. 547
i. 331, i. 339
iv. 180
i. 424, 1. 331
ii. 620, ill. 451
iii. 314
i. 342
ii, 161, i. 330
ii, 408
iii, 38, 456
i. 3.«
iii, 456
u. 247
iii. 143
I. 514, u. 71
ih 167, 533
il. 62
ii 157
u 633
ii, 471
v. 38, 238
iii, 39
ii, 633
u, 63
686
INDEX OF TEXTS.
KXODUS,
Exodus.
vii, 2, 5,
ii. 157
xxx. 11-16,
ii. 314
vii. 5,
ii. 239
xxxi. 13,
u. 239
vu. 16,
ii. 167
xxxi. -16, 17,
iv. 634
Vii. 17,
ii, 239
xxj;ii, 4,
iii. 535
vui. 1, 2,
ii 167
xxxii, 9,
iv, 565
viU. 10,
u. 239
xxxii. 32,
i. 593
viu. 20, 21,
u. 167
xxxii. 34,
Iv. 3'93
viii. 25,
iu, 192
xxxiii. 18, 19
ii.
249, 251
ix. 1-5,13-1.'
ii, 167
xxxiu. 19,
ii. 25i
ix. 12,
u, 157
xxxiv. 5-7,
li, 24S
, 345
in. 14,
u, 351
xxxiv, 6,
ix. 14-17,
i. 641
xxxiv. 7, iv
150, 257, i, 602
ix. 15, 16,
iv. 306
xxxiv, '8,
iii, 170
ix. 16, iii. 107
.ii
238, 239
xxxv, '20, 29,
iii, 330
ix. 27,
ii
,35, 42
xxxvii, 17-24
iu, 190
ix. 27, 28,
iu. 192
xl. 34, 35,
ii. 249
ix. 30,
ii. 62
X. 1, 2,
U, 157
Leviticus
r\
X 2,
ii, 239
i.4.
i. 594
x. 3. 6,
u. 167
V.7,vi. 13,
i, 399
<. 8-10,
iU. 192
i, 374
X. 9,
ii.i408 ii,f404
ix, 24,
1,374
s. 17,
X. 1, 2,
u. 373
X. 24,
iu. 193
x.3.
M. 230, i. 602
si. 9,
ii. 62
X. 6,
u. 372
xu. U, .
iii, 184
X. 10,
i, 191
xii. 12,
i, 333
xi. 13,
iv, 222
xii. 27,
i. 161
xii. 8,
iv. 186
xiv. 4,
ii. 157
xiii. 45,
iii. 39
xiv. 13,
iv. 628
xvi, 2,
i, 374
xiv. 17, u
235
, iv, 306
xvi. 21,
iv. 120
xiv. 18, ii.
235
, iu. 107
xvi. 21,22,26,
28,.
i. 594
XV. 3,
iv, 149
xvii. 3, 4,
ii. 501
XV. 6, i.
514, iv, 292
xvii. 7,
i, 279
XV. 16,
iu. 107
Xviu. 5,
ii. 393
iii. 524
XV. 25,
iii. 208
xvui, 4, 13, 21
iu. 524
XV. 27,
iu. 292
xix. 17,
iv, 519
xvi. 4,
iii. 208
xix. 32,
iu. 364
xvi, 7,
u. 247
XX. 8,
ii. 570
xvi, 12,
u. 249
xxii. 9,
u. 373
xvi. 20,
ill. 387
xxiii. l5, 16,
iv. 629
xvi. 23, 25, 26,
iv, 622
xxiii. 32,
iv. 514
xvi. 28,
ii, 354
xxv. 9,
i. 482
xvu. 14-16,
in 319
xxv, 14,
iv.
222, 604
xix.
iv. 80
xxvi. 11,
i. 343
xix. 8,
ui. 199
xxvi. 21,
iv. 40
xix. 9,
ii. 354
xxvi. 39,
ii, 493
XIX. 16,
u.
246, 533
xxvi. 40-42,
iv 123
XX.
iv. 80
xxvi. 41,
u. 467
XX. 2, 3,
ui. 535
xxvi. 42
i, 155
x-x. 5, 6,
i. 284
XX. 15,
iv, 601
Numbers.
XX. 24,
iv. 633
1.53,
ii. 372
xxi.
ii. 90
iu., iv.,
1.356
xxi. 32,
i. 414
vi. 27,
iv, 330,
iii. 547
xxu. 5,
iv. 603
ix,.
i. 278
xxu. 28,
iv. 549
X, 29,
iv, 120,
ill. 409
xxiii. 7, u.
379
iii. 527
xi. 5,
iv. 408
xxiu. 2.5,
ii. 401
xi. 29,
1,435
xxiii. 31, iii
4''9 , 355 1
xii, 3,
iii. 359
xxiv. 9-11,
.. 345
xii, 8,
1,344
xxiv. 16, 17, 23,
ii. 249
xiv. U &o..
iv. 565
xxiv. 24,
1.343
xiv. 20-23,
ii. 235
xxiv. 3, 7,
Ui. 199
xiv, 21, ii. 250, 351,
ui, 107
xxv. 31, seq.,
iu, 190
iv, 255
xxvii. 21,
iv. 272
xiv. 21-23,
iv, 311
xxviii. 2,
ii, 247
xiv. 22, 23,
iv.410.
iv, 601
Kxviii. 3,
iv. 438
xiv, 24,
iii, 182
x-xviii. 8,
ii. 227
xiv 31, i. 115, 339,
iv. 50i
xxviii. 32, 34,
iu. 191
xiv. 39, 40,
iu, 35
xxviii. 40,
ii. 247
xvi, 3,
ui. 530
XX viu 43 &c., u.
373
iv 272
xvi. 5,
ii. 535
xxix. 22, 26, 33,
iu. 191
xvl, 37,
¦ 1.248
xxix. 43,
ii. 252
xvi, 38,
i. 248,
iii. 530
xxix. 44-46,
u. 239
xvii, 5,
ii. 535
1^ VMUEba.
xviii. 22,
il. 373
XX. 10-13,
iii, 549
xxi. 5,
ii, 247
xxi, 9,
ii. 620
xxiii, 8,
iv, 432
xxiii, 9,
in. 486
xxiu. 9, 10,
iii, 35
xxiii 19,
ii, 70
y.Yi'i. 23,
iv. 432
xxi f. 2,
iu. 67
xxiv. 16, 17,
iii. 77
xxiv. 16-19,
i. 339
xxiv. 17,
iv. 193
XXV.,
ii. 350
xxvii, 4,
iii. 547
xxxi. 17,
ii. 380
xxxii. 11, 12
iii. 182
Deuteronomy.
i. 7,
iu. 499
i. 36,
iii. 182
i. 39,
i, 115
ii. 16,
iii, 410
ii. 3C,
ii, 157
iv. 2,
iii. 377
iv, 3,
i, 188
iv, 3, 4,
ii. 366
iv. 4,
i, 115
iv. 9, 15, 16,
iv
504, 588
iv. 29,
ii. 570
iv, 32,
ii. 388
iv, 32-34,
i, 332, ii, 354
iv. 33,
1.335
iv. 34, 35,
ii 239
V. 15,
iv, 624,
626 027
V. 27-29,
iii: 207
V. 28, 29,
i. 114
V. 29,
iu. 184
iii. 527
vi,4.
iii. 535
vi 4, 6,
iii. 5
vi.6
i. 116
Vi. 6-9,
iv. 517
vi, 13,
i. 106
ui. 199
vi, 17,
iv. 604
Vii. 3, 4,
iv, 591
vii 7,8,
ii. 244
, iv. 554
vu. 5,
iv. 630
vu. 9,
1.284
vii. 10, iv.
61, 255,
257, 270
vii. 14,
iv 630
viii, 2,
Ul
208, 38
via. 2, 3,
i. 341
viii. 4,
iii. 548
^;u, 15,
i.
341,115
viii. 16,1.115
409, iii
208, 38
ix, 4,
11.549
ix, 4-6,
iv. 84
ix 6,
iv. 554
ix. 14,
iii 547
X. 12,
iii. 5
X, 16,
ii. 467
X. 17,
iv. 217
X. 20, i.
106, 110
iii. 199
xi. 18,
ii, 40S.
xi. 24.
i, 355
iu. 499
xii, 5^7,
i. 355
xii. 1 1,
ii. 252
xii 30,
iv. 683
xui, I,
m. 78
xiii, 3,
ii. 604
iii. 20£
xiu. 6, &e..
iv. 591
xiu. n,
iv. 646
XV. 7, 8, &c.
iv. 519
xvi, 20,
iv. 222
xvii. 16, 17.
iii. 379
INDEX OF TEXTS.
087
Obdtbronomv.
Joshua.
1 S.IMUEI.
xvui. 18 &c.,
1 339
xiv. 6, 8 9 14,
iii. 182
X. 5.
i. 346
xxl. 5
xxii. 8,
ii. 535
XV, 63 ¦
xviii. 1, i
i. 353
X. 10,
lii. 67
iv. 592
343, iii. 331
xi. 6,'
iii. 67
xxiii. 1,
1. 123
xxii. 2, i
. 115, ii. 366
xii. 2,
ii. 409
xxiii. 3, 4,
iu, 319
xxii. 5,
iv, 588
xii. 20,
. i3C
iv. 25?
xxiu. 24,
iv. 611
xxii 11, &c.,
i. 115
xii. 22,
ii. 236
xxv. 1,
li. 379
iii. 527
xxii. 24, 25,
i. 185
xii, 24,
1. 130
xxv. 7,
iii. 547
xxii. 25,
i. 186,261
xiii. 13
ii. 530
xxvi. B-10,
i. 292
xxiii. 8, i. 115
, 341, U. 366
xiv. 35,
1.313
x.xvi. i6. 17
1.116
xxiii. 14,
1.480
XV. 3,
.:. 380
iii. 319
.xxvi. 16 18
in. 199
xxiv. 2, i
322, iv. 21
XV, 11, 2v
ii. 70
xxvi 17, 18
i. 113
xxiv, f, 4,
iv. 21
xvi. 7.
i. 112,
iu. 57
xxvi. 19,
u. 252
xxiv, 14, i. -,(.79 u
,346, iv. 21
xvi. 7-10
U 51')
xxvii. i6,
iv. 525
xxiv. 19, 1.
593, iu. 636
xvi. 13,
i. 351
xxviii, 16, 17
n. 401
x.xiv. 31,
i. 115
xvi. 14,
ui. 67
xxviii. 53-57,
ii. 380
xvii. 26, 36,
i. 107
xxviii, 63,
ii. 242
Judges.
xviii. 1,
ii. 40e
xxix.
i. 342
u. 7,
ii. 366
xviii. 23,
u. 247
xxix. 4,
ii. 571
ii. 17, 22, i.
115, u. 366
xix. 20,
i. 346
xxix. 5, 6,
ii. 239
ii. 21, 22,
iii. 208
XX. 3,
ii. 377
xxix. 12, 14,
i. 106
iu, 1,4.
iii. 208
XX. 16, 17 42.
i. 106
xxix. 18, 19,
iv. 323
iii. 27, 28,
iu. 310
xxii.,
Ji. 63
xxix. 24,
ii. 373
v. 2, 9,
ui. 323
xxiv. 16,
iv. -53
xxx, 2-6,
11. 570
v.9.
iii. 326
xxiv. 16, .7,
iii
35, 42
xxx, 6
ii. 467
iii. 5
V. 14,
iu. 326, 331
xxiv, 21,
iii. 547
xxx. 15, 19,
ii. 392
v. 14-18,
iii. 323
.xxv. 16-19,
iu. 48
x.xx. 19,
iv. 342
v. 19-21,
iii. 320
xxv, 24, 28,
1.593
xxxi. 24-26,
i. 337
V. 23, I
555, iii. 320
xxv, 26, 32-34
iv. 56
xxxii.,
i. 352
v.24,
iii. 323
xxvi, 1, &c..
iv, 53
xxxii. 2,
iii. 548
V. 55,
iii. 326
xxvi. 21,
iii. 35,
42, 48
xxxii, 4,
iv 217
vii. 2,
iii. 30
xxxii. 5,
i. 122
vii. 12,
ii. 351
2 Samdel.
xxxii. 6-19,
ii. 375
vii. 23, 24,
iu. 321
u,,
i. 154
xxxii 8,
i. 322
viii..
iii. 321
iv. 11,
ii. 379
xxxii 18-20,
ui. 184
viii. 10,
u. 351
v.|
i. 353
xxxii. 20-23,
iii. 319
viii. 35,
iii. 614
vi. 1,
iii. 325
xxxii. 21, i.
34.J, 443, ii. 65
ix.4.
u. 247
vi. 6, 7,
iv. 533
xxxU 21-25,
ii 380
ix. 13,
iv. 300
vi. 18, 19.
iii. 321
xxxii. 22,
i. 504
iv. 375
ix. 15-20,
il. 63
vi. 22,
iU. 415
xxxii. 29,
iv. 347
ix. 15 23,
u. 617
vii. 9,
u. 252
xxxii. 30,
ii. 373
X. 14,
iv. 238
vu. 10, 11,
iu. 519
xxxii. 32, 33,
iv. 41
xiii. 5, 7, 8,
u. 408
vii. 14, 15,
u. 377
iii. 529
xxxii. 35,
IV. 255,
313, 406
xiii. 17-21,
i. 345
vii. 16,
i. 353
xxxii, 36,
1. 344
xiii. 24,
ii. 408
vii. 18,
i. 354,
ul. 37
xxxii. 36, 37
iu. 38
xiv. 14,
iv. 191
vii. 23,
ii. 237
xxxii. 39,
iv. 558
XV 18, 19,
iv. 564
vii. 26,
ii. 238
xxxii. 40-42,
i. 631
iv, 61
xvi. 10, 13,
iii. 207
viii. 3,
i. 355,
iii. 499
xxxii. 41,
iv. 257
xviii. 24,
iv. 43
xii. 11,
ii. 513
xxxii. 43,
iv. 286
xii. 11, 12,
u. 63
xxxiii. 2,
i. 594
Ruth.
xii. 13,
iv. 104
xxxiii. 5,
i.340
i. 10, 14, 16,
iv. 412
xii. 27, 28,
iii. 497
xxxiii. 8,
iii, 549
i. 16,
ii 617
xiii,
iii. 549
xxxiii. 8-11
i. 70
u. U, 12,
iv. 413
xiv. 9,
i. 594
xx.xiil. 13,
in. 314
ii. 12,
ii. 617
xiv. 26,
u. 246
xxxiii. 26,
ii. 244
iv.5.
iii. 547
XV. 7. 8,
iu. 1549
xxxiii. 29,
i. 515
1 Samuel,
xvi 10,
xvi. 10, 11,
iv. 549
ii. 1.59
Joshua.
i. 13,
iv. 562, 565
xviii. 11,
ii. 227
i. 3, 4,
i. 356
i. 22, 24, 25, 17,
u. 403
xviii. 18,
iii. 547
i. 4,
iii. 499
ii..
ii. 63
xviii. 33,
i. 593
i. 8,
iv. 517
u. 2,
iii. 106
xix. 7,
ii'. 409
u. 12 &c
i. 106
ii. 23-25,
iv. 525
xix. 43,
U. 247
ii. 19,
i. 593
ii. 25,
iv. 228
xxiii. 1,
i. 152
iii. 10,
i. 107
ii, 27,
i. 345
xxiii. 5, i. 3
51 4ZC
ii. 8H
iv. 23, 24
u. 351
iii.,
ii. 63
30, 606
v.9,
ii. 346
ui.l,
i. 345
V. 13-15
i 345,
iii. 310
iii. 12,
iv. 525
1 Kings.
vi. 19,
ii. 229
iii. 13,
iv. 613
i. 37,
1. 462
Vi. 21,
ii. 409
iv. 8,
iii. 536
ii. 32, 33 37
i. 593
vi. 25,
iv. 127
iv. 11,
iii. 527
u. 37,
u. 404
vii 8, 9
ii. 237
iv. 21,
ii. 408
ii. 44,
i. 593
ix. 20.
ii. 372
V. 11,'
ii 373
iii. 4, 5,
i. 162
t. 14,
iv. 566
vi. 19,
iv 638
iu. 7,
ii. 408
xl. 4,
i. 343
Viii. 7. 6.
ii 346
ill. 12, 13.
iv. 564
xi. 2(
u. 158
X. 2, 3,
iii. 85
iv. 20,
1.360
688
INDEX OP TEXTS.
I Kings.
2 Kings,
2 Chronicles
iv. 21,
iii, 499
xix. 4,
i. 107
xxiu. 13,
1.356
iv. 24,
i. 355
xix. 14-16,
iv. 564
xxiv. 18,
ii. 372
iv. 25,
iii, 608
xix. 16,
i, 107
xxvi. 22,
i. 366
iv. 34,
u. 351
xix. 19, ii
239, iv. 564
xxvii. 13,
ii. 372
vi, 18,
ui. 190
xix, 29-31,
i. 365
xxix. 30,
i. 352
vi. 29,
iii, 296
XX. 3,
iii, 48
xxx. 8,
i. 109
vu. 18, 19
iu. 191
XX. 5,
iu, 316
xxxi. 20, 21,
i. 130
liii. 9,
i, 373
XX, 17-19,
ii. 63
xxxii. 25,
u, 372, iii. 220
viii, 13,
iii. 325
xxi. 13,
ii. 355
xxxiv. 31,
i. 116
viii. 23,
i. 130
xxii..
ii. 63
x.xxv. 24, 26,
iii. 609
viii. 39,
i 560
xxii, 8, &c,,
i, 364
xxxvi, 13,
iu. 16
viii. 41-43,
ii. 351
xxii, 14,
i. 346
xxxvi. 21,
u. 64
viu. 43,
iv, 630
xxii. 19,
Ui. 17
xxxvl. 22, 23.
ii. 62
viii. 44,
1. 107
xxiu. 3, i. 109,
116, iii. 199
vui. 46,
ii, 314, iv. 526
xxiv. 20,
ii. 153
Ezra.
viii. 56,
1,356
i. 1-4,
ii. 62
viii. 59, 60,
ii. 239
1 Chronicles,
i. 2, 3,
u. 352
viu. 60,
u. 351
iu. 17, &c.,
i. 381
i.4,
1.379
ix. 8,
ii. 373
xii. 13, 22, 32, '
iii. 324
ii..
i. 173
ix. 20-22,
1.355
xiu. 1,
iii. 325
ii. 55,
i 355
X.2,
ii. 243
xiii. 2, 5,
iii. 321
ii. 63,
i. 374
X. 8, 9,
ui. 608
XV. 2,
iu, 328, 400
iv..
i. 379
X.24,
ii. 351
XV, 11, 12,
iii, 328
iv. 20,
i. 355, iii 499
X. 27,
iii, 60S
XV. 13;
i, 551
¦'•J
1.379
xi. 11-13,
u. 63
xv, 25,
iii, 325
vi..
i. 379
xi.l3,
i. 364
XV, 23,
iii. 321
vii.,
i. 378, 379
xi. 17,
u, 408
xvi 2, 3,
ul. 321
vii. 23,
u. 372
xi. 32, 36,
i. 364
xvi. 8,
ii. 239
viii. 21, &c.,
ui. 457
xu. 4,
ill. 6'^8
xvi. 10,
ii. 619
ix.4.
iii. 27, 169
xii. 11,
ii. 246
XVL 11,
iv 483
X ,
i, 380
xiii. 1-6, 32
ii. 62
xvi. 15, 16,
i. 106
x. 3.,
ui. 169
xiv..
ii. 63
xvi. 23, 24,
u, 239
x.4,
iu. 564
xiv. 8,
i. 130
xvi. 28, 29,
u, 230
X. 19.
i, 109
XV. 4,
i. 358
xviii. 1,
i. 355
XV. 27, &c.,
u. 63
xviu. 3,
iii, 499
Neh5:miah,
xvi. 1, 7,
i. 366
xxii. 5,
u. 351
i. 4, seq ,
ui. 457
xvi, 1,9, 13,
20, ii. 63
xxiii. 26,
i. 357
ii. 1
ii. 20,
i. 379
xviii. 4,
1.346
xxiv. 10,
1. 356
iii. 325
xxiii. 21,
iv, 338
xxviii. 9, i.
560, iii. 184
iii..
iii, 324
xviii. 27,
iv. 565
xxviii. U, 12, 19,
1.357
iii. 5.
iii, 331
xviii. 28,
iv. 19
xxix. 29,
i, 351, 357
ui. 9,
iii. 326
xviii, 32,
i. 107
iii. 12,
iii. 326, 331
xix,,
ui. 39
2 Chronicles.
ui. 14-16, 19,
ui. 326
xix, 11, 12,
iu. 462
iii. I,
i, 360
iii. 26, 31 32,
iii. 331
xix. 12, 13,
lii. 170
V. 2, 4,
iii. 325
iii. 32,
iii. 416
xix, 18,
iv. 338
v. 12-14,
iii. 550
iv. 3,
iv. 247
xix, 19, 20,
iii, 550
vi. 5, 6,
i. 553
iv. 4, 5,
iU. 457
xxi. 20-22,
ii. 62
Vi. 20,
iv. 633
iv,.5;
iii. 323
xxi. 27,
iii 35, 153
vi. 33,
ii. 379
vi. 11,
iv. 587
xxi. 27, 28,
iv. 572
vii. 1,
1.374
viii.,
i. 109, 380
xxii. 22,
iii, 78
vu. 14,
iv. 630
viii. 9-12,
iii. 333
ix. 29,
j.363
viii. 10,
iv. 616
V Kings.
xi. 13, 16,
i. 364
viii, 16, 17,
iii. 323
ii-15,
i. 346
xii 1-12,
1.364
viii. 17,
i. 162
ii. 23,
ii. 408
xii. 13,
1.353
ix., i. 109, 380.
u. 498, iii. 457
iv. 38,
i. 346
xii. 15,
i. 363, 366
ix. 2,
lii. 198
V. 14,
u, 408, iii. 169
xiii. 3-5,
i. 364
ix. 8,
i. 297
V. 15, &c..
iii, 35
xiu. 5, 6,
ii. 62
ix, 10,
ii. 238
vi. I, 2,
i. 346
xiii. 12,
i. 364
ix, 14,
iv. 023
vi. 14,
ii. 246
xiii. 14, 15,
u 621
ix. 17,
u. 242
vii,
ui. 323
xiii. 13,
u. 62, 621
ix, 18,
Ui. 636
vii 9,
u, 447
xlil. 22,
i. 36b'
ix. 27,
iii. 609
vui. 12,
u. 62
xiv. 9, &c.,
iv. 564
ix. 31,
ii. 244
.viii. 12, 13,
iv, 43
xiv. 9, 11,
i. 364
ix. 33, 36
iii. 198
X.9,
iii, 527
XV. 12,
i. 116
X. 28, 29,
iu. 199
X. 16,
ui, 35
XV. 12-14,
iu. 199
xi, 1,
iv. 630
X. 31,
i. 130
XV. 12, 14, 15,
i. 106
xi. 3,
i. 355
X. 32,
i. 362
xviu. 22,
iv. 549
xiii. 18.
il. 372
xi. 4,
i. 106
xix. 2, 10,
ii. 372
xiii. 19,
iv. 514
XV. 29,
i. 362
XX., i
365, ii. 352
xvU 18,
i. 364
XX. 20,
ii. 602
Esther.
xvu. 18, 19,
u. 355
XX. 25, 26,
iii. 283
iU. 8,
1. 375
xvii. 22, 23.
ui. 35
XX, 34,
i.366
iu. 13,
ii. 405
xvu. 26, 27!
xvRi. 17,
i. 160
XXI. 7,
i. 358
iv. 1,
lii. 285
ii, 246
xxii. 9,
i. 130
V, 11,
ii 247
INDEX OP TEXTS.
689
GoTHKn. vi. 15,
viu. IC,
ix. 19-22
Job. i.8, i. 7, Ac,
i, 9, 10,
ii, 3,
lii, 3-5,
I ii. 4,
ii 23-25,
ill. 19,
iv. 7,
iv. 7-9,
V. 1,
v,8,V. 11, &c.,
V. 17, 18,
V, 19-24,
vi. 14,
vii. 1,
vii. 20,
viii. 34,
ix. 2, 3,
ix.4,
IX. 8,
IX, 10,
x.9,X. 14,
xi, 8,
xi. 12,
xii. 11,
xiii. 2,
xiv. 1,
xiv. 5,
xiv. 12,
xiv. 14,
xiv, 21,
XV. 4,
XV 7-10,
XV. 14,
XV. 14-16,
XV. 16,
XV, 17-35,
XV. 24,
XV. 32, 33,
xvi. 9-11,
xvii, 9,
xvii. 2-4, 8-
xviii. 5-21,
xviii. 17
xviii. 18,
xix. 9,
xix. 25, &c.,
xix. 26,
xix 29,
XX. 4,
XX. 4-9,
XX. 6-8,
XX. 7,
XX. 12,
IX. 12, 13,
xxi,,xxi, 15,
xxi, 18,
xxi. 19, 20,
xxi. 23,
xxi. 29- J2,
xxi. 41,
xxii. 2,
xxii, 15, 16,
xxiii. 10,
xxiii. 13,
Kxiii, 13, 14,
iii, 474
ii. 255
iv. 416
iii, 220
iv, 247
ill. 93
ill. 220
iv, 247
i. 310
i. 560
iv. 350
ii, 379
U. 440
ii, 379
ii. 621
i. 463, iu, 475
i. 632
iv. 437
iii. 389
ii. 528
i. 602
iv. 54
ii, 314
iv, 204
i, 409, iv. 187
iv. 528
ii. 377
i. 602
iv. 181
ii. 549.
iii. 118
iii. 169
ii. 411
ii. 528
iii. 60: iv. 577
ii- 411
i. 680
iv. 176, 481
ii. 379
ii. 411
ii. 410
ii. 407
ii. 440
iv. 490
ii. 379
iii. 294
iii. 176
10, iii. 294
u. 440
iii. 647
i. 630, ii. 265
ii. 247
iii. 48
iv, 156
ii, 439
ii. 388
ii. 440
i. 682
i. 630
iv, 43
iii. 192
iv. 220
iv. 38
i. 629
iv. 270
iv. 353
ii 439
iv. 265
Iv, 311
ii. 379
iii. 208, 209
ii. 518
ii. 71 I
Job. xxiv. 19, 20, 24,
xxv. 4,
xxv. 6
xxvii. 8-10, 1.
xxvii. 10,
xxvii, 20,
xxviii. 7,
xxviii. 28, ii. 573,
xxxi. 18,
xxxiii. 16,
xxxiii. 22-24,
xxxiii, 25,
xxxiii. 27,28,
xxxiii. 28,
xxxiv. 3,
xxxiv, 6,
xxxiv. 10, U,
xxxiv. 11,
xxxiv. 22,
xxxv. 5,
xxxv. 6, 7,
xxxvi, 7, 9,
xxxvii. 6, 7,
xxxviii. 4-7,
xxxviii. 7,
xxxviii, 8,
xxxix. 11,
xxxix. 16,
xiii, 2,
xiii. 6,
Psalms. i.4,i. 3-6,
i. 6,
i.21,
ii., u. 1, 2,
ii. 1-6,
ii.4,il. 6-8,
ii. 6,
ii.6, 7,
ii. 7, 8,
ii. 10-12,
ii. 11,
ii. 12,
iii. 5, 6,
iv. 2,
iv. 3,
V. 4,
vi. 1-5,
vi. 4,
vii. 6,
vii, 8-11,
vu. 9-11,
vii. 11-13,
vii. 12,
vii. 34, 36,
viii. 1,
viii. 1, 2,
viu, 1, 9,
ix. 1,
ix, 10,
ix. 11, 14,
X, 2-^,
x.3,
x.4, x.7,xi. 1,
xi. 3,
xi. 4,
xi. 6,
xi. 6, 7,
ii. 439
ii. 411
U. 255
238, iii. 192
iv. 474
iv. 379
in, 587
ui, 214, 217
ii, 409
ii, 376
U, 377
ii, 408
iv. 123
ii, 376
i, 149
ii. 439
1. 602
iii, 215
iii, 207
i. 629
iv. 486
ii. 376
ii. 240
iv. 455
i. 400
iv, 376
ii. 625
iii, 17
ii, 71
iii. 139
i. 629
i. 580
iv. 503
iv. 323, 459
ii. 91
ii. .64
iv. 367
i. 551
ill. 440
ii. 639
iii. 325
ii. 87
iii. 325
iu. 169, 171, 361
ii. 603, iv. 285
iv. 437
ii. 406
iv. 143
iv. 305
ii. 377
ii. 244
iii. 408
iv. 125
1.3601.361
IV. 406
iv. 25
ii. 235, 251
u. 241
ii. 238
i. 130, ii. 239
ii. 615, iu. Ill
iv. 456, 469
U. 239
i. 113
iv. 26
iv. 33
i. 113
i. 112
iii. 607
U. 604
iv. 407
i. 602
PSALHS. xi. 7,
xii. 1.
xui. 3,
xiv. 1,
xiv. 2, 3,
xiv. 3,
xiv. 4,
xiv. 7,
xvi. 3,
xvl. 5, 6,
xvi. 11,
xvii. 8,
xvii. 9,
xvii. 13, 14,
xviii. 25, 26,
xviii. 27,
xviii, 46,
xix,,xix, 1,
xix. 4-7,
xix. 7-10,
xiv, 8,
xix. 12,
xxi 1-6,
xxi. 1,
xxi. 4,
xxi. 6,
xxi. 8,
xxii.,
xxii, 6,
xxii, 6, 7,
.xxii, "
i. 112
ii. 343
ii. 377
iv 41, 324
ii, 355, 400
iv. 503
ii, 410, iv, 34
iii, 451
iv, 414
iv, 344
iii, 630
a. 617
ii, 373
1,636
iv. 235
iii. 154
i. 107, 112
ii. 240
ii, 239
iii, 316
iii, 103, 105
ii, 255
iii. 354, iv. 506
iv. 433
iii 23
iv. 168
iii. 630
iv. 60
ii. 64
iv. 137
il. 64
u 616, 621, iii, 46
xxii. 14, i. 416, iv. 189
xxU. 21, 22, ii. 240
xxU. 21-23, u. 228
xxii. 23, ii. 251
xxu, 26, ii. 616, 619
xxii. 27, ui. 441
xxii. 30, ii. 539
xxiii. 6, iii. 283
xxui. 13, ii. 326
xxiii. 24, iii. 529
xxiv. 3, 4, iii. 214
xxiv. 6, i. 298
xxiv. 6, 6, ii. 619
xxiv. 6, iii. 180, 431
xxiv. 8, iv. 149
xxiv. 8,' 10, i. 395
xxv. 2, 5, I ii. 620
xxv. 7, ii. 243, iv, 422
xxv. 9, iii, 353
xxv, 11, il, 237, 243, iv. 422
xxv. 14, iv. 446
xxv. 18, iv. 422
X.XV. 21, u, 620
xxvi., i. 560
xxvi. 1, 2, iv. 224
xxvi. 4, 5, i. 181, iv. 52C
xxvi. 7, ii. 239
xxvi. 9, i. 577
xxvii. 4. iii. 8, 46, 220, 507
iv. 383, 643
xxvii. 13, 14, ii. 620
xxviii. 6, i. 523
xxix. 1, 2. u. 230
xxix. 2, iii. 103
xxx. 2. 3, 5, &c. ii, 377
xxx. 9, u. 239, 211, 377
87
XXX. 12,
xxxi. 3,
xxxi. 16,
xxxi. 23,
xxxi. 24,
xxxii., xxxii. 1 Ac,
u, 251
ii. 236
ii. 244
ii. 343
lii. 8
iv, 134, 120
iv, 89
i590
INDE C OP TEXTS.
Psalms. xxxii. 3, 4,
xxxii. 6,
xxxii, 6, 7
xxxii. 9,
xxxiii. 1,
xxxiii. 2,
xxxiii. 10, 11,
xxxiii. 18,
xxxiv. 3,
x.xxiv. 6,
xxxiv. 10,
xxxiv. 11,
xxxiv. II &c.
xxxiv. 18,
xxxiv. 21,
xxxv. 4, 6,
xxxv. 23,
xxxvi. 1,
xxxvi 2,
xxxvi. 6, 6,
xxxvi. 7,
xxxvi. 3, 9,
xxxvi. 10,
xxxvii. 3,
xxxvii. 4,
xxxvii. 6,
xxxvii. 7,
xxxvii. 9,
xxxvii. 9-11,
xxxvii. 10,
i, 529
iv. 123
iv. 437
iv, 342
ui. 9
ii. 251
u. 71
iu. 8, 171
iv. 644
ii.6I6
il. 619
iii. 219
iii, 214, 222
iu. 8
ii. 392
iU. 476
iu. 408
iii. 220, iv. 481
iv. 322
i. 514
u. 617
iii. 69, 569, 631
1,298
u. 620
ui, 9
ii. 616, 620, 621
iii. 514
ii. 620
iii. 407
i. 319
iii. 161
xxxvii. II, iii. 161,406, 634
xxxvii. 20,
xxxvii. 21, 26
.xxxvii. 37, 38,
xxxviii. 4,
xxxviii 10,
xxxix, 1, 2,
xxxix. 12,
xl. 6, Ac,
xl. 6, 7,
xl. 6-8,
xl. 7, 8,
xl. 16,
xUi, 1,
xiii, 1, 2,
xlli. 4,
xHii. 3, 4,
xliv. 23,
xliv, 26
xiv, 3,
xiv. 3, 4,
xiv. 7,
xiv, 10,
xiv, 11,
xiv. 12,
xiv. 13,
xiv. 13,14,
xiv 15,
Vlvi. 1, 2,
xlvi. 9,
xlvi. 10,
xlvii. 1 1,
xlviii. 2,
xlviii. 4,
xlix. 2,
xlix, 6-20,
xli.x. 10,
xUx. 10-12,
xlix. 11,
xlix 11, Ac,
xUx. 16, 17,
xlix. 17, 18,
xlix. 19 20
1.6.
61
iu.9, 165
i. 577
ii. 246
ui. 27
iv. 591
iv. 573
i. ei3
ii. 93
ii. 90, iv. 98
iu. 697
u. 619
ii. 410, iii, 27
iii. 3, iv. 543
iu. 403
iu, 109
iii. 403
ii. 244
iv. ISj
ii. 87, iii 360, 406
ii. 93
u. 471, iv. 412
iii. 563
1.493
iii. 630
i. 127-, ii. 471 .
iu. 569
iv. 432
1.493
ui. 107
iii. 8
ui. 443
iv. 580
iii. 9
i. 680
i. 577
i. 579
iv. 324
u. 339
ii, 247
iv. 323
i. 579
I. 116
Psalms. 1. 5-12,
1. 6-16,
1.6,7,
1.14,1. 16, 17.
I. 16-20,
1. 16, 19,
1. 21, ,
1.22,1. 23,
11.4.
li.6, 11.6,
11. 10,
11. 11,
U. 14,
li. 17,
liii. 2, 3, 5.
Iv. 11-14, ¦
Iv. 12-14,
Iv. 17,
Ivil. 1,
Ivu. 4,
Ivu. 5,
Iviii. 1, Ac.
Ivui. 3,
Ivui. 4,
Iviii. 3, 4,
lix. 1,
lix. 4,
lix. 13,
Ixii. 7. 8,
ixiii. 1,
Ixiii. 1, 2,
Ixiii. 3-7,
Ixiii. 5, 6,
Ixiu. 7,
Ixiii. 8,
Ixiil. 11,
Ixv. 2, iii
Ixv, 4,
Ixv. 5,
Ixv. 7,
Ixv. 8,
Ixvi, 1, 2,
ixvi, 3, ii:
Ixvi. 10, II,
Ixvij. 6,
Ixvii. 7,
Ixvui. 1, 3,
Ixviii. 3,
Ixviii. 3,
Ixviii. 13,
Ixviii. 14,
Ixvui. 17,
Ixvul. 18-24,
Ixviii 20,
Ixviii. 21,
Ixviii. 23,
Ixviii. 27,
Ixvui. 31,
Ixviii. 36, 37
Ixix.,
Ixix. 1-4,
Ixix. 4,
Ixix. 4-9,
Ixix. 5,
Ixix. 6, ii.
Ixix. 7, 8,
Ixix. 8,
Ixix. 9,
Ixix. 17,
lxix.l9, 20,
Ixix. 22, 25.
i. 607
i. 109
iii. 433
iii. 220
i. 119
i. 117
i. 118
i. 654, iv. 25
1. 118, ui. 220
ii. 229, 251
iv. 229
ii.41I, 506, 626
i. 112, 122, 234
ii.471, iu, 525
iii. 526
i. 298
iu. 9, 138
ii, 406
i. 561
iu, 59
ui. 46
ii. 617
ii, 406
li. 230
u, 406
u, 409
iii. 536
i. 118, iv. 41
iii. 400
iii. 408
iv. 35
u. 620
iu. 26
iii. 8, 220, 431
iii. 23
iu. 177
u. 617
iu.220, 431
iii. 199
433, 440, iv. 561
ii. 530
lii. 441
iv. 187
iii. 441
ii. 251, iv, 543
1. 35, 107, iv, 61
237, 363
iii. 203
iii. 446
iu. 441
iii. 321
iii. 23
iii. 525
iu. 161, 321
i. 116, u. 366
1. 694
iU. 321
i. 409
iv, 61
i. 631
ill. 326
ii. 616
i. 114
ii. 64
iv. 623
ii. 64
ii. 377
i. 607 I
£15, iu. 180, 548
ii. 230
ii. 64
iv. 628
iv. 159
ii. 64
iv. 628
PSALMB.
lxix.,?8.
il. 392, 405
Ixix. 29,
iii. -ISO
l.xix. 32, n. 615
ui. ISO. 131
Ixix. 34, 35,
iu.45I
Ixix. 35, 36,
i. 28^
Ixx. 4, ii. 616
Ixxi. 1, 3.
619, ill. >8i
ii. 620
Ixxi. 5, 6. 17, 18,
ii. 4P£
Ixxi. 13, ¦
ii. 2;i9
Ixxi. 23,
iii. ?3
Ixxu.,
u. 529
Ixxii. 5,
iv. 34
Ixxii. 6,
iii. 39
Ixxii. 7,
iii. 634
Ixxii. 8,
i. 356
Ixxu. 11, 17, ii
, 67, iii. 439
Ixxii. 18, 19,
ii, 230
Ixxiii.,
iv. 220
Ixxiii. 4,
iu. 560
Ixxiu. 18, 19,
iv. 313
Ixxui. 19,
iv. 406
Ixxiii. 20,
iii. 408
Ixxiii, 23,
iu. 528
Ixxiii. 25,
ill.' 3, 431
Ixxiii. 25, 26,
iv. 540
Ixxiv. 7,
ii. 262
Ixxiv 8,
i. 162, 382
Ixxiv. 12-14,
i. 333
Ixxiv, 14,
1.409
Ixxiv. 19,
iu. 161
Ixxv, 1,
iii. 461
Ixxv. 9,
ii 239
' Ixxvi 1,
ii 238, 239
Ixxvi. 8, 9,
iii, 360
Ixxvi. 9.
iii. 406
Ixxvi. 10,
ii, 528
Ixxviii. 7, ii, 620,
iii. 184, 220
Ixxviii, 8,
iv. 4ti4
IxxviU. 8, 10 U,
iii. 184
Ixxviii, 21, 22,
ii. 603
Ixxviii. 22,
ii. 619'
Ixxviii. 34-37,
i. 249
Ixxviii. 35-37
ill. 184
Ixxviii 37-39,
i. 631
Ixxviii. 38, 39,
ii, 377
Ixxviii. 41, 42, 56,
Ac, iii, 184
Ixxviii. 57,
i. 121
Ixxviii. 67-72,
ii, 635
Ixxviu. 70, 71,
i.353
Ixxix. 9, ii. 234, 'ilT, 251
Ixxix. 13,
ii. 239
Ixxx. 3, &c.
ill. 604
Ixxx. 3, 14,
iv. 500
Ixxxi. 12,
ii. 96
Ixxxii. 1, 2,
iii. 434
Ixxxii. 5,
ui. 607
Ixxxii. 6,
iii. 606
Ixxxji. 8,
iii. 650
Ixxxiii. 17, 13,
iv. 35
Ixxxiv. 1, 2,
ill. 3
Ixxxiv. 1, 2, Ac.
iu. 46
Ixxxiv. 1-3,
iv 643
Ixxxiv. 2,
iii. 26, 2"
Ixxxiv. 10,
iv. 54i
Ixxxv. 10,
V 150, 185
Ixxxvi. 5,
iv. 564
Ixxxvi. 12,
i. 130
Ixxxvui. 9-11.
ii. 377
Ixxxviii, 10,
<¦ ii, 241
l.xxxviii 15,
¦ u. 377
Ixxxvui, 13, 19,
ii 238
.xxxix. 3, 4,
ii. 8P
iXxxix. 3, ,
ii. 531
Ixxxix. 8, 9,
iv. 187
Ixxxix, 15.
iii, 45, 44i;
INDEX OP TEXTS.
691
Pbaiks. Ixxxix. 15, 16,
Ixxxix, 19,
Ixxxix, 20,
Ixxxix. 30-35,
Ixxxix. 34-36,
xc, 3, Ac.
xc. 10,
xc. 12,
xci. 1,
xci. 2,
xci. 14,
XCI., 7,
xcii. 12,
xciv. 6, 7,
xciv. fr-11,
xciv. 12,
XCV. 7-10,
xcv. 10, 11,
xcvi '<:, 3,
xcvi. 4, 5,
xcvi 9,
xcvi. 11, 12,
xcvi. C3,
xcvii. 10,
XCVU. 11,
xcvii. 11, 12,
xcvii. 12.
xcviii, 1,'
xcviii, 3,
xcviii. 7, 9,
xclx. 2, 3, 5, 8,
c. 2,
ci.lci. 5,
ci. 6,
cii.,cii. 13, 14,
cii. 13-17,
cii. 13-22,
cii. 16,
CU.25, 26,
cii, 26, 27,
cii. 28,
ciii. 3,
cui. 8,
CIU. 9, 14, 15,
ciii, 17, 18,
ciii, 19-22,
civ. 4,
civ. 15,
civ. 31,
CV, 3,
CV. 12,
CV. 16,
IV. 17,
CV. 26,
cvi. 3,
cvi. 8,
cvi. 12,
cvi. 12-15
cvi. 23,
cvi. 32, 33
cvi. 34,
cvii, 22,
cvii. 29,
CVU. 41,
cix. 21,
ex. 1,
ex. 1, 2,
ex. 2,
ex. 3, iii.
ex. 4,
ex. 7,
cxi. I
9,
Iii. ii. i.
iii. ii, ii. i.
iv.
i 226, ii,ii,
iii. i.
iii.iv. iv. i.
iii. iv. ii.
ii.
iii.
iii. iv.
iii.
iii.ill. iii.
iii.iii. iii.
iii. iv. ii.
iii. ii.
. 554, iii.
iii. iii. ii. i.
iv. i. i.
ii. ii. i.
ii.
in.
iii. ii.
ii. i.
iii. ii. ii.
iii. ii.
iii.
iii. ii.
iii. 290, i.
ii.
i. 408, iv.
iii. ii.
ii, 91, iu.
i. 432, iv. i.
ii. 673, iv.
103, 186, iv,
ii. 87, iii. iii.
24
535349529 83
374
338347617620480621292324 16
632 16
34
239251 103
461205 8
584 106 9
105
441461 iOS.
530239 154343
6794614.55453 251
509 273
284409 242 377
284242 587
668 236
619 328 86
157
513 184
237 35
1&4
535
362
344 239 187
480236325 61
441 367
242 403
520 130
Psalms. cxii. 2,
cxii. 4, Ac.
cxii 6, 9,
CXl I. 7,
cxii, 9, 10,
cxiii. 3,
cxv. 1,
cxv. 3,
cxv. 4-8,
cxv. 5-9,
cxv. 7, 8,
cxv, 16,
cxv, 17, 18,
cxvi. 1,
cxvi. 4,
cxvi. 12,
cxvi. 24,
cxviii, 17,
cxviii. 17, 18
cxviii. 22,
cxviii. 22-24,
cxviii. 24,
cxix.,
cxix. 1, 2, 3,
cxlv. 1, 6,
cxix 2,
cxix. 6,
cxix. 10,
cxix. 14,
i.28.
iU. 423
iii. 165
iii. 175
ill. 476
iii. 441
i. 24, li. 230, iv 1'78
iv. 558
ii. 337
iv. 565
iv. 666
iv. 309
u. 241
iii, 97
iii. 270
iii, 220
11,620ii. 239
ii, 377
ii. 65, iv, 361
iv. 623
i, 432, iv, 632
iu. 105
iv. 526
iii. 214
1.130
iii. 203
1.130
iii. 9
cxix 13, i. 394, iu. 117, iv. 445
cxix. 20,
cxix. 28,
cxix. 34,
cxix. 35, 36,
cxix. 63,
cxix, 57,
cxix, 67,
cxix. 69,
cxix. 71, 75,
cxix. 81
cxix. 96,
cxix. 97,
cxix. 99, 100
cxix. 100,
cxix. 104,
cxix. 105,
cxix. 106,
cxix. 118,
cxix. 119,
cxix, 120,
cxix. 126,
cxix. 127,
cxix. 123,
cxix. 130,
cxix. 131,
cxix. 136,
cxix, 138, 140,»
14, iu. i, 20
i. 130
ii. 573
iii. 23, 235
iu. 199
ii, 377
i, 130
u. 377
iii. 27
iv. 10
iii. 23
iii. 149
iv. 15
iii. 8, 176
ii. 255, iv. 510
iii. 199
iii. 526
i. 629
iii. 27, 169
iii. 461
iii. 8
iii. 103, 176
ii. 2.56
iii. 27, 283
iii. 23, 285
iu. 103
cxix. 166; ¦ il. 619, lii. 220
cxix. 172, iii. 103
CXXU. 3, i. 493, iii. 463
cxxii. 6, ill. 45S
cxxii. 8, iu. 667, 629, iv. 198
cxxiu. 1,2, u. 621
CXXV. 4, 5, UL 184, iv. 484
iii. 215
CXXV. 5,
cxxix. 1, 2,
cxxx. 4,
CXXX. 6,
cxxxi.,
cx'xxi. 1,
cxxxi. 2,
cxxxii. 13, 14,
cxxxii. 13-16,
cxx.xiii. 1, 2,
cxxxiv. 18,
ii. 409
iv. 120
iu. 8, iv. 543
ii. 604
iu 154
ii. 502
iii, 567
i. 154
iii. 161, 191
ui. 138
Psalms. cxxxv. 3,
cxxxv. 4,
cxxxv, 13,
cxxxv. 15-18
cxxxvi.,
cxxx.vi. 4, 5-9
cxxxvi. 10
cxxxvii. 2,
cxxxvii. 6,
cxxxvii. 9,
cxxxviii, 6,
cxxxix, 14, 15,
cxxxix. 19,
iii. 4.5
iii. 567
ii. 238
il. 337
i. 51-4
ii. 245
15, 17 20, u, 244
iii. 496
iU. 451
u. 380. iii. 324
ill, 138
iii. 44
U. 392
cxxxix. 21, ui. 8
cxxxix. 21, 21, iu. 23, iv. 641
cxxxix. 23, 24, iv. 224, 502
cxl. 3,
cxlili. 2
cxiui, 6,
cxUii. 7,
cxlv. 6-10,
cxlv. 6, 11, 12,
cxlv. 16,
cxlv, 18,
cxlv. 18, 19,
cxlvi. 4,
cxlvi. 5,
cxlvi. 8,
cxlvii. 1,
cxlvii. 6,
cxlvii. 9,
cxlvii. 11,
cxlvii. 19, 20,
cxiviu.,cxlviii. 13,
c.xlix. 5, seq.
Proverbs, i. 16,
i.l7,i. 18,
i. 20,
i. 24, Ac,
i. 25, 26, &c.,
i, 26-33,
i.27, i. 31, 32,
11,6,ii. 10,
U, 11,
il. 17,
11. 21, 22,
iu. 2,
iu. 3,
ill. 4,
iii. 6,
ill. 7,
ul. 8,
iu, 9,
iii. 13-18
iii. 16,
iii. 21-26, 32,
iii. 34,
iii. 35,
iv. 4,
iv. 5-13,
iv. 14-19,
iv. 18,
; iv. 22,
iv. 23,,
V. 5, 6,
V. 11-13,
V. 14,
V. 19,
V. 21,
1. 118
ii. 314, 423
ui. 431
ii. 377
u. 24?
ii. 239
iv. 572
u. 613
iv, 477
iv. 356
ii 620. iii. 7
1,409
iii. 45
iu. 161, 361
iv. 572
iu. 171
iv. 654
ii. 242
ii. 236, 238, 252
iii. 635
i. 118
iv. 328
ii. 340
iii. 336
iv. 238
iv. 320
i. 632
iv. 490
i. 575
11.673, iv. 15
iv. 13
i. 575
iv. 523
i. 576
i. 675
ii. 408
i. 575
1. 131, iv. 36
iii 149, 219
i. 575
iu. 603
i. 675
i. 680
i. 675
iii. 138
i. 575
i. 576
i. 575
i. 118
lii. 14,- iv. 576
i. 575
iv. 604
. li. 392
iv. 463
iv. 635
iii. 408
iv, 221
'«>..«> ajou3(Na)vnT<-aDOO-.i<-it-r-u3coco-*9> cocJ^coc^^vna3colftoo^1-Ht^knCTJOOr-Tfa^:e^o^-ooJt-oow9tf-CJ^-(o-•»aDcot-tooln>J^^D£;___f-o--^-^^
i'CmDt^coa^c-»t--HOCOTroDo*t^Minco(N t^^-<^^^CTJa^f-"^-^-l•-ooc^. i^^-^-t^acIJ^~r^^-¦^^-l--aJ^Tl^^--^-l^^-o^-G5C^Tt'c>ot^t^(~-t--gJOt-m
kOt-^— -vn irscoin •^'¦^¦-hi— «(Mcomi— 'Nui mc^tDiocoiOcommininxo mmin»nmmcomc^in'W*nco^^^^^'^^cococo'T— •inm^inco-<;rCMmiou5cococo'~<tDco
?'"'° " „- m- «>"
(XI
s
in
irT
TT I. ^ "J." -'^*co¦'c*^ " ^ -^CD „ knoJiOj' - "'^" " intD«> - -«-
^-cf ;i2: s 28 s g " ^-2 2 G i 2 Si „-j. C.-S ,ri 0O-3 2"" <i <"'- "::" '^r" ^ ^ f- J^ " i^ i^ '^':^>: '^ ^ "^'-f ° ^ H-a ^f
'' ^,.t.t > > > > >"> '> X '? '> "> "> *? *? ¦? '> ¦? ¦> ¦> > -^ -2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 x x x
. - -<j<wa»«o--tDocoocDCJOiOC*^c^o>-HCjCTJC^o^coajo^-ocooDTt*toCTJC*)inininoo(DincDOooc^>nCTJincstif3coint--»no5iocoao TfC^ co t- to co g*
tD^-c^I'^l^-.(OCTla^f^co^^col— it^oc'icot-c^tcocoTiHxnwc'iO^coo^'— It'-'— •QO•-«c^lc-^'=*'•--<CTJC>*t^OlnOl-HOJt^to^»
I . — ¦ txj %u u^ 1.'^ i*-x txi U.J U.J fc^j U.J LU t'j i<*< "sj' uj ^^ ^^ U3 ^p ^^ L'J kxj t'j t'rf \^r t'j t'J v^ t'j ^^ uj ^^j tM ^J uj ^^ ^J^ uj t'J uj ^^^ uj ^ri uj ^^ uj iij ^ir '•¦^ **^ **¦.' *^' * - "'J "^^ *»^ ^^ **«' **¦' ¦** ' — ¦ ' — ¦ * .* •^ "*^ •**
' -J^ .S "^ .si -^ "^ "^ -^ '•'^ "^ -^ ""* '^ '¦^ '*¦' "^ '-^ ¦-* "^ .^ -3 •« *" -^ .2 -^ .£ •" .si 2f ""^ -^ ^ *s' "^^ "^ ^ ^'^''^ ^ :3 "^ ¦— ¦- :3 CD > _> -^ ;« :s "* > > > "^ > :d ^> "¦ jS "^ ^> :- td :s" . j" .£ :s ^ ^
lOCDOiflincooJomTfOO^-¦m>— 'W3iniocoe4mmmkOiQincoc<Tpm^-«^-«in'5i'— <comco coto cocotocot-Hinco _(N Miin^-'^mcomi— "knT3iincoio»n'<^coir5knincoifiifsc^^mu5ws i— «^h coc^koho
tl . . .^ CO c4 in . _r
g g««c^-^-coaD"22^S
,-r*^ -co"i-r - - .. „ _ ® .^--.r«r -co'cot^cTtN'w'*? -C^Oc-fCTj'cn —.-•-J'c^'"*o-.rNcrt-
W P! CO M *r.-r— -_"^ ^:?^m^(Ncoco-<*ttD^c>*Nco"^"=^' . . .— — -^w-r - -r^^ £2 2 1): S — '^ "^ <» -^ ^^yj^Tw-nc^cv ^ c^cm _ , ..^.-; .:s
' (N -v OD -H ;:5 "- c5 ^ • • _: • • _: _; . ¦ ^ • • .--— . . ..^.^ ig
:,^.-: j.^ .- .^ .^ d :=:=:=:= 5 9 9 := a iS IS >.£;.£.>.>; .£.5: > >"^'>>>V.>>
liXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
o -2 -^ > > > > > > > t^ '?*>">'>¦>'>¦?¦> 'S 'S 'S ¦>*>'>*>'> .2 .2 .2 .2 X M x x x x x x x 'x "x "x X X X X X « X X X X X X K K X i^ « K X W « >^ K ?<: W « « « « i»5 fN ^ w
gxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
£^QO-<#CD^^)'-«coaDC*to^OCTJU^^-vno¦^ocolln^o^o«>^n^n¦^c^^a^CD^~^^cOlnMco(^i^-ovnoDg;'^u^OknCTsCTJOCTicoc^i--c^t'<j«i~-oococO"ert^'^eoc^r-CJC^CTJ»^TSit-o3<-<t-i-Hf-HCTjr^oDr-i-H(>i--<^ i— "ODt^CTJ
coco^H"^(NvncO"^cocoTi<c*cocoifimifltooiin^-«coo4iO'^mco^Hcouakn^Hm t— «roinknio^Hi-Hi-Hco^^mmi— icoincOi-'W3cocoui--m •^comcoiQiO'^mKncoioio c^inco
;S > :3 :a :3 > > ::: :s :3 "^^T'S .Si "^ "^ '-^ -^ •« "^* -S^ -^ -3 "^ '^ ^" -^ '^ ^' "^ ^ "^ "^ .£ '"* -^ ¦'^" '"" "^ "^ •" "" '^ '" "^'^ "^ '^ '" ^"^ "^ '^ :S -^ "^ '"^ cT > :3 •« :s "^ ^s; "^ "^ j> :3 3 •" :^ .> '"^ '^ :a
"^ "^ i-H (M "^ "^ "^ .."" . .« .^ .^ •'^ m N .in" "~'
§ S >¦?'?'?'>¦?¦?¦?'>'? ?'>'?¦?¦? 'P '? 'S ¦?¦»¦? .2 .2 .2 .2 K K > K K K K K H ?! M " « M >1 K 'S M 'S 'C '5 '3 '5 'S '3 'S 'H '3 'S 'K 'C 'E 'S K K 'S '5 '5 'K '5 "R 'S E 'S 'E 'S kVC'S
INDEX OP TEXTS.
693
GocLxsiAsni
Ibaiah.
Ibaiaii
xi, S,
iii. 44, iv. (62
ii. 12-15, 17,
iii, 330
xxi. lu,
ii, 247, 628
xi.8-iD,
i. 378
ii. 17,
iii. 278
xxii. 4,
ui, 285
xii. 1,
iv. 347
ii. 17, 18,
i. 460
xxii. 21,
xxiii, 10,
ii. 227
xu. 13, 14,
1. 675, 678, 619
ii. 18
1. 373, 488
11,227
su. 14,
iii
216, iv. 205
ii. 19,
iii. 430
xxiii, 18,
i. 492, iii. 446
ii. 19, 21,
iu, 107
xxiv. 1,
i. 36?
Sol. S;ng.
iii. 10, 11,
iv, 286
xxiv. 16,
ii. 228
i.3,
iii, 113, 668
iu. 24,
U, 227
xxiv. 16,
iii. 315
i.4.
iii.
220, 568, 569
iv.3.
i. 162
xxiv. 23,
i. 491, ii. 248,
iii, 445, 588
1,5.u. i,
iii. 161
iv.5.
iii. 480
i. 19, iv. 193
IV. 6,
ii. 617
xxv. 3,
ii. 228
ii.2,
iv. 333
V. 1, &c.,
iv. 300
xxv. 4,
ii. 617
ii,3.
ii
617, iv. 193
V. 1-8,
iu. 190
xxv. 5,
iu, 317
ii. 5,
i.
529, iii. 27
v.2.
ui. 604
xxv. 7,™, i.
491, 558, iii, 445
11.7,
iii. 408
V. 13,
iii. 495
x.tv.s,!;
Ui. 432, 508
ii. U, 12,
ui. 59
v. 21,
iii. 149
XXV. 9,
iu. 453, 458
ii. 14, iu.
161
569, iv. 562
vi. 1,
1.367,111. 170
xxv. 23,
i. 558
ii. 14, seq.
iii. 456
vi. 1-3,
ii. 231, 248
xxvi, 5,
i. 48S,iv.436
11. 15,
iv. 300
vi. 3, U.
236, 250, iii. 105
xxvi. 8,
iii. 8, 432, 458
ii. 16, iii
668
569, iv. 143
vi.6.
iv. 33
xxvi, 9,
ui. 432, 463
ii. 17,
iii. 461
vi 9, 10.
iv. 160
xxvi. 10,
iii. 192
iii. 1, 2,
ii. 8, iv. 543
vi. 9-11,
ii. 64
xxvi. 10, 11,
iu 313
lii. 5;
iii. 408
vi. 10, iii
339, iv. 33, 549
xxvi. 12, 13,
6, seq. iii. 453
iii. 11,
iii.
44, 501, 669
vii. 6, 14,
1.359
xxvi. 15,
ii. 574
iv. 1,
iu. 161
vll. 16,
ii. 408
xxvi. 16, 17,
iu. 454
iv. 8,
ii. 616
viii. 4,
ii. 408
xxvl 17,
i. 490
iv. 9, 10,
iii. 563
viii. 14, 15,
iii, 311
xxvii. 1,
i. 485
iv, 11,
iii. 669
viii. 14-16,
ii. 64
xxvii. 2, 3,
ui. 190
iv. 16,
iii. 456. 669
viii. 14-17,
i. 152
xxvu. 4,
iv. 59, 221
v. 1, iii
433,569, iv;200
viii. 17,
ui. 432, 451
xxvii. 5,
u. 614, 616
v.2,
i
413, iu. 161
viii. 19,20,
i. 542
xxvii. 8,
i. 631
V. 6, 8,
iv. 643
viii. 20,
ii. 255
xxvii. 10,
iv. 34
v.8.
i
529, iii. 27
ix.2,
ii. 255
xxvu. 13,
i. 482, iii. 337
V. 8, 9,
i. 533
ix. 6, iii.
534, iv. 193, 431
xxvui. 7,
iii. 78
v. 16,
iu. 569
ix. 6, 7,
ii. 88
xxviii. 9,
ui. 322
vi. 1,'
1.533
x. 3, 10,
ii.247
xxviU. 16, ii
90, 619, iii. 311
Vi. 3,
in. 568
X.6,
i. 114, iv. 497
xxviii. 24-26,
iu. 373
vi. 8,'
iii. 8
X. 19,
u. 408
xxix. 9, 14,
iii. 312
vi.9.
iu. 463, 667
x.22.
i. 440
xxix. 13,
1.309
vi. 9, 12,
iii. 161
xi..
u. 571
xxix. 14,
i. 552
vii. 2,
ui. 191
xi. 1,
i. 349
xxix. 18,
ii. 255
yii. 7,
i-447
xi. 1-6,
u. 83
xxix. 19,
iii. 406
vii. 7, 9,
iii. 292
xi. 3,
iii. 57
xxix. 20, 21,
iii. 350
vii. 9,
iii. 346
xi. 4
u. 392, iii. 360
xxix, 24,
iu. 393
vii. 10,
iii. 568
xi.6,
li. 408
xxx. 9,
i. 121
vii. 11, 12,
iii. 177
xi. 6-9,
iii. 167, 634
xxx, 18,
iii. 407
Pii 13,
ui. 669
xi. 6-10,
i. 493
xxx. 18, 19,
iii. 456
vin. 1,
ui
661, iv. 198
xi. 6-11,
ii. 572
xxx 20, 21,
ul. 576
till. 4,
iii. 408
xi. 9, i. 488
iii. 441, iv. 32
xxx. 23, 24,
iii. 446
viii. 5,
ii. 621
xi. 10,
iv. 433
xxx. 27,
ii. 246
viii. 6,
iii. 88
xi U, 15, 16,
iii. 457
xxx. 29,
iii. 402
'iii, 11, li,
viu. 14,
iii. 190
xi. 16, 16,
iii, 498
xxxi. 2,
ii. 615
iii. 461
xl. 17,
i. 121
xxxi. 4,
iv. 197
xii. 3,
i. 494
xxxi. 6,
iu. 456
ie-4iAH.
xiii. 4,
ii. 238
xxxii..
ul. 40
i. 2,
iv. 333
xiii.,
ii. 64
xxxii. 2, i, 2J
, ii. 246, iv. 432
1.2-4,
ii. 375
xiv.
U. 64
xxxii. 3, 4,
i. 491, iii. 445
i. 3. 4,
iv. 34
xiv. 4-6, 12,
ii. 159
xxxii. 5, 8,
i. 493, ill. 424
i. 10,
i. 12-15,
i. 152
xiv. 9, 10,
iv. 239
xxxii. 6,
iii. 181
iii. 46
xiv. 22,
ii. 604, iii. 547
xxxU. 15,
iii. 315
1 12-19,
i. 16,
iu. 421
xiv. 23,
iii. 440
xxxii. 17,
iii. 446, iv. 360
iv. 221
xiv. 23, 24,
iu. 199
xxxii. 18,
1. 493, iii. 446
1. 16, &e.,
i. 18.
iii. 226
xiv. 27,
ii. 71
xxxiii. 2,
iu. 453
ui. 76
XV. 6, 7,
• iu. 495
xxxiii. 6-19,
iv. 488
22
i. 121
xvi. 6,
iii. 536
xxxiu. 13,
iv. 489
ii,, '
i. 321
xvi. 14,
ii. 528, 574
xxxiii. 12-14,
iv. 320
ii 2
iii. 440
xvii. 3, 4,
u. 247
xxxiii. 14,
i. 121, iv. 270
tl. A.,
ii 3 4 i
353,
440, iii. 430
xvii. 3-5,
ii. 574
xxxiu. 16,
iii. 480, 495
11. U, ^, 1.
11.4,
493, iii. 634
-xvii. 7, 8,
i. 580, ii. 616
xxxiii. 20. 21
24, iii. 446
u. 5,
iii. 445, 568
xvii. 11,
u. 373
xxxiii. ?J,
iii. 430
ii 6-9,
iii. 431
xvii, 16, 17, 22, 24, ii, 574
xxxiv. 16,
Iv. 9
ii. 10,
ii 12 Ac
iii
107, iv. 464
xviii. 3,
iii. 310
xxxv. 1, 6, 7,
i. 488
i. 372
xix, 4, Ac,
ui. 497, 502
xxxv 8, iU.
192, 215, iv. 481
il.' 12,' 13,
a. 13-17,
iii. 430
xix. 18,
i. 108, ill. 199
xxxv. 10,
i.494
iii. 30
xix, 24,
iii 430
xxxvi. 2,
ii. 246
X X X xxx x_x_xx_x,x x>i>ix_x X_XX X >ix_x_>ix X X X x_x_x_^iiix_x_x_^
If???'? <?•?¦<< <<5-5\5-pi5;Spp=:Ss:£pEgppis^F?|F,= 5 3 5 2 S S
gSiS}3i=- - - - " S J^- -"'- -~ - -"• - i5S w.^-
?-• r* r- r* r' r' ?• r- r- r- ?• ^' ^' ^' -"' ^' ^' *¦"' 1 - ... ' . L^ .- .« m .^ a^i" V' rf^
o
.50
ing 2 3.°
I'.'Sr
-JJi^JO_'—
to
CO
(-•C: 5"
*o ¦ "^^
t:
§§
J" 00 to
j^S^S^
t^' H-. e:: ^" -5 ^ S- ^- < ^'00 p-^ E^' ti- E^: ^* t^- s: e-. w. ^: < ^' --• P- ?-• p- 00 p- S- r-"- ;"¦ r* r* r* r- 1-- r* t"* r*j~^i" ^' r* ^' r" r" r" t^" r* ?" r* r"*-""* r- p- r" ^- r* ^- i" r*i-* f r" P' i^-
rf».''cna^>— 'cn i— .oti— < ct^ otco 4i.>— >i£fcOTa^ji.i&.kC^io ot OT»'-OJtoioOT~4>fe'ai.i&.rf».' ot OTtorfa.rfi.>oto»OOTOTtoto t--i— ji. tc*». i— '¦-- »&.
Ji.tOtOCAJtOCx:CDJJ>.aDtOtO'3JOQOCD-JtO^I^t.OCT^COCTl^O^OOTOTtDCD•-4CTJCOtO>^>— ¦I^OT'-JCO'-OUIW
S CO*--i C0OtDmrfi'GDrf^C0>*^--*-^a^CTJ¦^OTt0^03OrfiCTJ--^4^-Jt0tDrfi.-•^•-^^^tDO^0^0t0M'-Ot0¦--^0^&¦t0^^
rf^ tb. 0^ to i£k.
-^ C?» to *»¦ vC*- OT
Oto to CTJ CTJ CTJ
CO
& ^ -°° -°° ::« wi^-^QOOTo^wior I - i - - ---t^-j^^^piocoiow^ w--- c- •?: 5:-**— '"-"-*^- .- S
- — toco>t^oi-
__ ^. ,-n _i .r.. >.i _* rrrrs-'-^j"-' v'^ inlou^i c — -' ' "
V- I— .o c_ o>^ w
S" g" x^x_x X X X X X X X X X X X X X -X X X X X X ^¦^¦^¦^•^-i,<_<,<,<,<,£,i,^,<,<_<,<^
_°D ^. _ fr- -"^ to » - ^- "^ ' Pot
-. ^ rf^ J*^ j" '^ »fi " w ^"'
r- t-' to r^- S * - -^ OT
IO ?- .-. t^- CD p: ti: ^ Ei:
CTi ^to ^- r* c: f- r- .^^ r' P- p- r- ^. »-• — ?"
w k: W' *5 '^ ^^ ?'^ '^ "• ti- s: ^- '^ co to to »-" C: it fn to !-« - 2!
-^ c: w4 cji to tb. CO to r r-" !^" r- '— rf^ j^. ji. ¦< r" „ o «^ ot co oi.
M"s:'-',''OGotot^-to rfi.aoQo ¦ U. K: ooffirf*. coot
rfi.p-" *^ _ " - ' "* J^cott-co- - - '^ •-¦ ^ K-. w N-. ¦ .— ^' m — C" ^' H-. . «. h-. ^- - " N-. .:.. w^ i«.
K: £: 5' S to H S: "^ s: 0- c: S; Bi^io yDoop: p: p: ?-. ^. ^" pi < B: ?-. S: <' k-. k-. ^ <' p- S: E: p- H: B: <' <* pt to B:o\ p: h-. p; us p: ^ h-. h-. -5 -. p: w. *-•¦ p: p- < p: p: p; <' <* <' p: p: «. p: p: <' p: -;"
,. i_ rfi. (JJ CO-»C»- OT '4^ tCi-OT ¦**¦ *^ OT-tt>- OTOTOT^O^0*'J'>¦ tC*. rfi.rfi.rfa.COi— 'OT 0J''0>-»^ lU^ti. »fc>.COCO»t».tti.'— 'OTtUi— 'K>O^>--C0tOtO>-'CTl>— ¦i&.i— 'ib'tOrfi.tOOTOT rf:>.)t!i.v^tOrf:>.»UOTrf>.OTi^>N
ISAIAB. ¦ 1x1.8,Ixi, 10,
1x1, 11,
ixii. I,
ixii, 1, 6,
Ixu. 4, 5,
Ixii. 5,
Ixii. 6 7 Jii,
Ixii. 7,
Ixii. 8,
Ixii. 10,
Ixu. 11,
ixiu. 3,
Ixiii. 4,
Ixiu. 6, 7,
Ixiii. 8-10,
Ixiii. 9,
l.\iii. 11-13,
Ixiii. 11, seq.
Ixiii. 12,
ixiil. 15,
Ixiii. 17,
Ixui. 17, 18,
Ixiv,,Ixiv, 1, 2,
Ixiv. 1-4,
Ixiv. 3,
Ixiv, 4,
Ixiv, 5, iii.
Ixiv. 12,
Ixv. I,
Ixv. 6,
Ixv. 6, 7,
Ixv. 13, 14,
Ixv. 15, 16,
ixv. 17,
Ixv, 17, 18,
IXV. 19,
Ixv. 20, i.
1. 626, il.
i. 490,
i. 490, iii. iv.
iii.iu. ii.
417, 452, iviv. ii.
iii. 405, iii.
i. 631, iv,
iii. iv. i.
iii.lit.ill. ii.
iii.
ill. iii. iii.
ii. 239, iii.
iii.
ii. 625, iii.
184, 220, iv.
iu. i.
iu. 143, ii.
iv. 286, ui. i.
i. 426, iii. iv.
iii. 568,
492, Ui, M^
ixv. 21, 1.
Ixv. 22, U. 616, ui. 430,
IXV. 24, iii. 453, 456, iv,
Ixv. 25, iii. 167,
Ixvi. 1, 2, iu.
Ixvi. 2, ui. 9, 27,
Ixvi. 3, ii.
Ixvi. 5, iii. 27, 47,
Ixti. 7, 8, iv.
IxviIxvi.ixviIxvi.Ixvi. 12;
Ixvi. 14,
Ixvi. 15,
Ixvi. 16
Ixvi. 19
Ixvi. 21
Ixvl. 22,
IxTi. 23,
Ixvi, 24,
5,7,8,7-9, i.
8, i.
8, 10, 12, iii,
11, i. 494,u. 247, iii.
u. 247, iu.
i. 515, iii. iv. ii.
ii. 228, iii.
i. 426, iv.
iii, 440, iv.
u. 392, iv. 276,
572493 292 135
342
559 243572483 89
498 336320
449 563 122
616457454 237 104 17
444 454240 457 318286433318
443 153 64
295, 199
303 317
624 670430
445
494. 443
446 563456 138169
501 169
394 433527429565 317
409 319392239
561624
321 306321
l£IIEMIAH. i-,
!-5. i.6,
i. 18, 19,
Ii. 1-7,
ii.2, U. 2, 3,
ii. 64
ii. 410
iu. 143
ii. 64
in. 421
iii. 336
i. 115, 340, ii. 366
ui. 410
INDEX OF TEXTS.
Jebemiah.
u. 10, '1, i. 450
u. 12, i3, ii. 335
ii. 13, 18, iii. 495
11. 21, i. 115, ii. 366, iv. 300
693
11. 23,
iii. 10,
iii, 13,
ill. 15,
iii. 17,
iii. 19,
iii. 21,
iii. 22,
iii. 23-25,
iii. 24, 25,
iv. 1,
iv. 1-4,
iv. 390
i. 112
iv. 123
ii. 672, iii. 576
iii. 440
iii. 523
iii. 453, 604
iU. 433
ui. 39
ii. 409
ii. 64
ii. 467
iv. 2, i. 107, 111, 112, ul. 199
iv. 19,
iv. 22,
iv. 22, 23,
V. 1,
V. 2, 3,
V. 2, 7,
V.7,V. 20-22,
V. 21. 23,
V. 35, 33,
vi. 10, 1 1,
vi. 13, 20,
vl. 23-30,
vi. 29,
vi. 30,
vii. 1-7,
vii. 2,
vii. 2-4,
vU. 10,
vll. II,
vu 13, 25,
vii. 25-27,
vii. 27-29,
viii 7,
i.x. 1,
x.6,
X. 11,
X. 11, 15,
X. 23,
xi. 1-6,
xi. 6,
xi. 17-21,
xi. 20,
xii., xii 6,
xi'.. 9,
xii. 16,
xiu. 9, il,
ill. 285
iv. 34
iv. 31, 624
11- 64
i. Ul
i. 107
iii. 199
iv. 34
ii. 346
i. 323
iii. 345, 410
ui. 421
1-629i. 75
i. 121
ii. 64
ill. 336
i. 121
iv. 530
iii. 39
iv. 9
ii. 346
ii. 64
ii. 340
iii. 285
iv. 566
i. 350, 438
iu. 442
u. 572
ii. 64
iii. 336
iu. 525
iv. 125
iv. 220
1.480
i. 474
i. 107, iii. 199
ii. 227
xiii. 11, 11. 237, 240, 251, 252
xiii. 15, 16, u. 228
xiii. 17, iu. 177, 285
xiv. 7, ii. 237
xiv. 8, ii. 620
xiv. 17, iii- 285
xiv. 21, ii. 252
XV. 4, ii- 493
XV. 19, i.l91
xvi. 14, 15, i. 107, Iv. 626
xvii. 5, u. 407, 618, 622
xvii. 6, iv. 398
xvii. 7, ii. 618, 620, ui. 7, 176
xvii. 8, iii. 176, 495
xvii. 9, ii. 407, iii. 205, iv. 508
xvii. 10, iii. 205, 215
xvii 13, ii. 620, lu. 184, 495
xvii. 14, ii. 572
xvii. 24-27, u. 64
xviu, 7, 8, iv. 275
Jebemiah, xix. 2,
xxii, 8, 9,
xxii. 15, 16,
xxii. 16,
xxiii. 4,
xxiii. 5,
xxiii. 5-8,
.xxiii. 6, ;
xxiii. 7, 8,
xxiii. 28, 2S,
xxiv. 7,
xxv, 1-7,
xxv. 3,
xxv. 9,
xxv. 11, 12,
xxv. 11, 12, 14,
xxv. 15-27,
xxv. 29,
xxvi. 1-9,
xxvii. 4-6,
xxvii. 5,
xxix, 10-14,11.64
xxix. 26, 27, 32,
xxx. 11,
xxx. 19,
xxxi. 2, 3,
xxxi. 8, 9,
xxxi. 12, 13,
xxxi. 12-14,
xxxi. 18,
xxxi. 18, 19,
xxxi. 18-31,
xxxi. 27,
xxxi, 29-31,
xxxi. 30,
xxxi, 31, 32,
xxxi. 32,
xxxi. 32-35,
xxxi. 34,
xxxi. 35-40,
xxxii. 6-15,
xxxii. 30,
xxxii. 30, 31,
xxxU. 39,
iii. 336
ii. 373
Ul. 214, 221
ii. 572, ill. 165
Ui. 576
i. 349, 11. 87
i. 108
)i.87, iv. 174'
1. 107
iv. 447
1.130 ii. 64
i. 72
il. 156
iii. 482, 491
ii. 64
i. 369
iv. 630
11. 64
' u. 158
ii. 383
ii. 431 457
iii. 329
1.631
u. 574
i. 115
ii. 64
i.494
iii. 430
ii. 569, 572
ii. 547
U. 64
iii. 345
ii. 493
u, 392
i. 626
Hi. 551
ii. 572
i. 492, iii. 445
U. 6-.
ii. 64
u. 409
ii. 346
i. 486, ii. 572
iii. 446, 525
xxxii. 40, i. 626, 11. 572
iii. 625, iv. 479
xxxii. 41-44, U- 64
xxxiii. 2, ii. 572
xxxiii. 3, iii. 454
xxxiii. 6, iu. 634
xxxiii. 8, ii. 241, 572
xxxiii. 9, i. 494, U. 241, 252
x.xxiii. 15, i. 349, ii. 38
xxxiii 17-22, iii. 549
xxxiU. 20, 21, 25, 26, ii. 88
xxxiii. 24-26, ii. 64
xxxvi. 2, iv. 179
xxxvi. 24-29, iii. 525
xxxviii. 17, IS, ii. 64
.xUu. 10, II, ii. 158
xliv. 26, i. 107, ii. 95
xliv. 26, 27, ii. 64
xlvi. 28, i. 631
xlviii. 11, i. 370, ii. 409
1., u. 159
1 4, 5, ii- 64, iii. 457
I. 10, ii. 239
1. 37, 38, 111. 496
11. 5, iii. 536
li. 11, ui. 494
11. 15, iii; 496
li. 20, Ac, 11, 159
li. 23, 31, 32, 36, Ui 494
11.39,57, II 64
696
INDEX OP TEXTS.
LAHEHTyiriOIIrS iii. "25, 26,
iii. 2.5,
iii 28,
iu. 33,
iu. 37,
ii. 39, 40,
iv. 2,7,
iv. 20,
v.7,V. 21,
Ezekiel. i. 22, 26-28,
i. 26,
ii. 28,
ii. 3, 4,
iii. 7,
iU. 18, 19, 20,
iii. 20,
iii. 21,
iv. 6,
iv. 14,
v. 5-10,
v.ll,V. 13,
vi. 8-10,
vi.ll,vii. 16,
viii. 1, 2,
viU. 18,
ix. I-IO,
ix. 4,
x. 4,
X. 5, 6,
xi. 18, 20,
xi. 19,
xi. 19, 20,
xi. 29,
xiii. 7.
xiv. 4, 7, 8,
xiv. 22,23,
XV., XV. 2-4,
xvi. 1-8,
ii. 620
ii. 377
iii. 163
ii. 242
168, 628
ii. 377
iii. 560
iii. 609
ii. 493
u. 547
ii. 244
i. 377
u. 248
ii. 346
ii. 64, iii. 16
ii. 392
iii. 184
u. 392
ii. 64
ii. 409
u. 356
iv. 222
ii. 242
ii. 64
iii. 336
il. 64
i. 377
iv. 22 ., 295, 320
ii. 380
ui. 83
11. 243
i. 377
ii. 572
ii. 469
iv. 434
iii. 17
iii. 73
iv. 261
U. 64
iii. 604
iv. 300
u. 543
xvi. 2, 3, Ae. 45, 46 &c. i. 152
xvi. 46, 47, Ac,
xvi. 46. 47, 51,
xvi. 47, 48, Ac,
xvi. 49,
xvi. 56,
xvi. 59,
xvi. 60, seq.
xvi. 61-63,
xvi. 62,
xvi. 63,
xvii. 6,
xvii. 16,
'xvii, 23,
xviii. 1-20,
iv. 539
ii. 335
ii. 356
iv. 407
iu, 153
i, 106
iii. 170
ui. 172
ii. 240
. 660, Ul. 139, 141
iv. 253
ui. 604
i. 106
ii. 617
ii. 493
xviii. 4,9, 13,17-21, 24, 26,28
ii. 392
xvui. 13, iii. 626
xviii. 24, iii. 134, 610, 524
xvni. 31, 32,
xviii. 32,
xix. 10, 12,
XX. 6-8,
XX. 7, 8,
XX 8,
XX. 9,
XX 10, 12
x> ".2, 20
IX. 14, 22
itx. 34-38
iv. 342
ii, 242
iii. 604
1. 331, 340
u. 346
i. 279
ii. 237
iv. 623
ii. 239
ii. 237
a. 239
ii.
Ezekiel. XX. 37, 38,
XX. 39,
XX. 38-40,
XX. 41, 42,
XX. 42, 43,
XX. 42, 44,
XX. 43, 44,
xxl. 17,
xxi. 26,
xxi. 27,
xxii. 14,
xxii. 18,
xxu. 21, 22
xxii. 26,
xxiii. 3, 8,
xxiii. 8,
xxiii. 11,
xxiii. 27,
xxiv.,xxiv. 13, 14,
xxiv. 27,
xxviii. 22,
xxviii. 26, 26,
xxi.x. 21,
xxx. 24-26,
xxxi. 6,
xxxii. 18,
xxxiii. 6,
xxxiii. 8, 9,
xxxiU. II,
xxxiii. 12, 13, ii.
xxxiii. 13,
xxxiii. 14, 18, 19,
xxxiii. 18, 19,
xxxiii. 20,
xxxiii. 31,
xxxiii. 31, 32,
xxxiii. 37-39,
xxxiv. 22-29,
xxxiv. 23, 24,
xxxiv. 27,
xxxvi. 11,
xxxvi. 20,
xxxvi. 21-23.
xxxvl. 26, 26.
xxxvi. 25-27,
xxxvi. 26,
xxxvi. 26, 27, 31,
xxxvi. 27,
xxxvi. 28-30,
xxxvi. 36, 37,
xxxvi. 37,
xxxvi. 38,
xxxvii. 2 11, 12,
xxxvii. 6-13,
xxxvii. 26,
xxxix. 13,
xxxix. 21-23,
xxxix. 25,
xxxix. 28. 29,
xxxix, 29,
xl. 3, 4,
xliii. 2,
xliv. 6-8,
xliv. 6-9,
xlvU., xlvii. 8,
xlvU, 9-11,
xlvii. 20,
i. 482,
i. 162
iv. 346
i. 152
iii. 139
iii. 172
ii. 239
u. 64
iv. 264
i.373
i.370
iv. 254, 399
i.629
iv. 270
i. 191
i. 279
. 331, ii. 346
iv. 308
i. 279
ii. 365
ii. 64
ii. 239
ii. 230, 235
ii. 240
ii. 240
ii. 158
u. 617
;. 121
i. 70
ii. 392
242. iv. 342
403, iii. 184
iu, 163, 527
ii. 392
ui. 524
iu. 215
i. 114
lii. 46
iv. 529
ui. 430
i, 348
u. 240
u. 240
ii. 161
ii. 237
ii. 472
ii. 469
ill. 17
iii. 139
in. 417
iii. 430
iv. 567
iii. 452
ii. 240
iu. 430
ii. 240
i. 626
ii. 235
ii.251 u. 237
u. 240
i 482
i. 104
u. 243
i. 191
i. 104
iii. 316, 493
iii. 442
iv. 420
iii. 446
21,
Daniel. ii., i. 370, 383, iii. 440
11. 3, 4, i. 482
u. 25 Ac, u. 549
ii. 40, i. 386
Daniel. ii. 44,
iii. 6,
iii. 25,.
iii. 29-30,
iu. 38,
iv. 1-3,
iv. 8, 9, 18,
iv. 11,
iv 13, 17, 23
iv. 17,
iv. 34, 35,
iv, 34, 35, 37
v.5,v.ll,
V. 20,
V. 23,
V. 27,
V. 30,
vi. 23,
vi. 26, Ac,
vi. 25-27,
vi. 26,
i 371, 427
iii 488
i 377
iii. 48
ii. 616
iii. 48, 107
iii. 636
ii. 6i(
ill. 103
ii. 239
iv. 558
iii. 48, 107
iii. 488
ii. 256, iii. 636
iii. 494
ii. 223
ii. 247
i. 378
ii. 619
iii. 107
iU. 48
.107
vii., i. 370, J83, 428, ii. 571
vii. 7, i. 386
vii. 8, i. 478. iii. 475
vu. 10, 13, 14, i. 314
vii. 11, 13, 14, i. 489
vu. 13, i4, i. 427, 429, iu. 631
vii. 19, I. 386
vii. 20, 21, i. 465, 478
vu. 21, in. 477
vU. 23, i. 386, iu. 441
vii. 25, iu. 484, 49l
vii, 26, 27, ui. 492
vii. 27, i. 426,433, 488, 49'--
iii. 441, 63
vui., i. 37C
viii. 9-25, i. 385
viii. 9, 14, ii. 62
viii. 13, 14, iii. 432
viU. 21, • i. 383
viii. 23, ii. 62, 356
viii. 23, 25, ui. 475
viii. 32-35, ii, 62
ix., ii. 498, iii. 457
ix.2, ii. 64
ix. 15, 19, u. 237
ix. 16, i. 298
Ix. 18. 19, iv. 630
ix. 20^24, iv. 563
ix. 24, j. 378
ix. 27, I. 407
X., iii. 39
X. 6-9. iii. 283
X. 8, iii. 26
xi., i. 370, ii 62
xi. 3, 4, i. 383
xi. 31-38, i. 335
xi, 32, 45, i. 386
xii, 1, ii. 380
xil. 2, iii. 575, Iv. 419
xU. 3, i. 69, ill. 575, 689, 601
xii. 4,
xii. 6-9,
xii. 6,
xii. 7,
xii. 10.
xu. 11,
Hosea. i.2,i. 10,
i.U,
ii. 14,
ii. 16
i. 472, Ui. 483
iii. 484
i. 438
iii. 489, 491
': 233, iu. 191, 208
1.482
i.366
iii. 31.5
i 487
i. 341, iii. 457
iu. 467, iv. 621
INDEX OF TE.XTS.
69-
Hobea. .
Nahum.
Malachi.
ii. 19, 20,
ill. 576
ii.9,
ii. 247
i. 11,
iii. 441
t. 21, 22,
iii. 430
i. 13
iii. 185
I 2o,
iii. 345
Habaxkuk.
i. 14,
iv. 61C
Iv. 6,
i. 151
i. 13,
i. 585
ii.7.
iii. 397
iv. 15,
1 107, iu. 199
ii. 2-4,
iii. 552
ui. 1,
i, 400, lii, 502
''¦¦ ^^¦o
iii. 432, 453
ii.3.
ill.
608
iv. 563
iii. 2,
iv. 224
vi. 1-3.
iii 453
ii. 4. ii.
604,
iii.
133, 508
iii. 3, 4,
11. 573
vi.6,
iii. 10, 166
ii. 6-12,
ii. 169
iii. 6,
ii. 71
vi 7,
u. 407, 457
ii. 5-20.
ii. 64
iii. 10,
iii. 233
vii. C",
iii, 172
iii. 16,
ii
,26
27, 233
iii. 15,
iv. 26
ni. 16,
i, 121
iii. 16,
iv.213
viu. 2,
ii, 124
Zephakiah.
iii. 17,
iv. 114
ix. 10,
1. 115, ii. 366
i.5.
i. 107
iv. 1,
iv. 224
ix. 11,
ii. 247
iii . 4,
ii. 247
iv, 1-3,
iii. 409
X. 1,
Iv. 3(S. '?03
iii. 9,
1.313
iv.2.
iii 449, iv. 193
x.4.
ih 09
ni. 15,
i. 490
iv. 2-4,
i. 382
x.7.
iv. 436
iii. 17,
ii.
243
iii. 663
iv.6,
i. 493
xi. I,
ii. 366, 408
iu. 20,
ii.
252
iii. 430
xii, 4,
iv. 565
Matthew.
xiii. 1,
iu. 143, 169
Haggai.
i-i
i. 399
xiii, 2,
iv. 51
i. 8,
H. 235
1.21.
ii. 10,
ii. 461
xiii. 5,
i. 341
u. 6, 7,
i.
370, 594
iii. .584
xiii. 15,
iii. 495
ii. 7, i. 374
, 400, 488, U: 605
u. 19,
i. 401
xiv,.
i. 654
ii. 21-23,
i. 370
ill. 5, 6,
i. 163, 164
xiv. 2, sefl
iii. 453
ii. 23,
i. 380
Ui. 6-10,
iii. 198
xiv 9.
iii. 192
Zechabiah.
lu. 8,
iv. 41, 382
iii. 217
loEL.
ii.8-11.
iii. 536
iu. 9,
iv. 328
ii. 12,
i. 130
iii. 1, 2,
iii. 631
ill. 9-11,
iii. 409
ii. 28, 29,
i. 435
ill. 17,
iii. 447
iii. 10, i. 630,
iii. 190, iv. 311
ii. 32,
ii. 613, iv. 477
iv. 2,
iii. 534
iii. 11,
il. 467, ui. 585
ill. 17,
ii. 240
iv. 6, 7,
i. 482
iii. 12, i. 630
iii. 198, iv. 312
ui. 18,
iii. 447
iv. 7,
ui. 551
Ui. 13-15,
i. 405
iv. 8, 9, 11,
iU. 536
iii. 16, 17,
i.408
Amos.
iv. 16,
iv. 114
iv.2.
i. 413
ii. 11,
ui. 560
vi. 12, 13,
i. 104
iv. 5, 6,
i. 407
iii. 2,
i. 240
vii..
i. 375
iv.8,
u. 247
iv. 1, 2,
iv. 605
vii, 1-10,
iu. 421
iv. 17,
iv. 381
iv. 12,
iv. 59
vii. 6,
iv. 52
iv. 18-22,
ii. 591,ul. 183
iv. 13,
i 409, iv. 183
vii. 5, 6,
iv. 308
iv. 19,
ii. 574
V. 4, 6, 8,
ii. 616
vii. 12,
u. 372
V. 1,
iii. 524
V. 21, Ac,
iii. 421
viii. 6,
ui. 551
v.3.
iu. 138
vu. 14, 16,
1.347
viii. 20-22,
iii. 429
V.4,
ui. 9, 173
viii. 6,
iv. 604
viii. 23,
iv. 415
v.5.
ui. 159, 634
viii. 5, 14.
i. 107
ix. 9,
iii. 24
v.6j
iii. 3
ix. 7, 8, Ac
i. 162
ix. 9-11,
iii. 312
v.7.
iii. 159, 166
ix. 11,
i. 399
ix. 16, 16,
ui. 344
V. 8,
iu. 627, iv. 143
ix. 13,
i.494
ix. 15-17,
iii. 346
v.9.
iii. 159, 406
ix. 16,
iu. 446
x.3.
iii. 329
V, 12,
iu.9, 23
x.6,
iu. 453
v, 13,
ii. 564
Ubadiah.
X. 8, 9,
iii. 344
V. 14,
iu. 599
i. 21,
iii. 661, 598
X. 10, 11,
iu. 457
V. 14-16,
iii. 586
X. 10-12,
iii. 498
V. 16, 16,
ui. 190
Jonah. •
xi. 8,
iv. 58
V. 16, 1. 632
, u. 228, iii. 194
i.2,
iii. 336
xii. 2, 3,
i. 477
V.I8,
i. 588, iv. 215
u. 4,
u. 616
xii. 7;
iu. 273
V, 21, 22,
iv. 602
iii. 8 9,
iv. 386
xii. 8, i
492
iii.
328, 446
V.22,
iv. 270
iv-2.
a 242
xii. 10,
313, 487,
Ui. 417,
V. 25. 26,
i. 621
453
V. 26,
iv. 221, 273
Micah.
'
xii. 10-14,
ii. 573
V. 28,
iv. 593
iu. 11,
ii. 621
xu. 12-14,
iu. 177
V. 27, 28,
iv. Ii02
iv. 1-3,
iii. 429
xiii. 4,
iii, 153
V. 29, 30, ill.
182, 139, iv. 526
iv. 3,
iu. 634
xui. 5,
ii.
409
, iii. 365
5110
TV. 4,
i.494
xiii. 6,
iii. 351
V. 30, 33,
iii. 524
Iv. 6,
i. 107
xiii. 9,
iii.
208, 453
V. IC,
iv. 351
-.1,
ii. 64
xiv. 4,
iii. 651
V. 45, 46,
iii. 173
'.2:
iii. 534
xiv. 6, 7,
1.491
V. 46,
iii. 94
ri. 7, 8,
iii. 421
xiv. 7,
in. 444
vi. 5,
iii. 402
vi.9.
iii. 9, 138, 219
xiv. 9,
i.
486
, ui, 446
vi. 5, 6,
iU. in, 420
vii. 7, li.
6 6, 620, iii. 503
xiv. 16-19,
iii. 317
vl. 6,
iv. 478
vii. IJ.
n. 242
xiv. 20, 21,
iii. 446
vi. 10
u. 574
vU. 19 .0,
ii. 67
xiv. 21,
i. 162
vi. 12, 14, 15,
vi. 14,
U. 506, iii. 164
IV. 107
tiAHVH,
Malachi.
vi. 14, 16,
iv. 03
» 1.
iv 257
i.2 3.
f\
iv. 564
vi. Id, 17,
iii. 153
88
SiQ
NDEX 0^" TEXTS.
M ITI lAW
A. U IS
vi. 24,
fi. 25-34
vi. 26, ¦
VI, Z3,
vii.,
vii. I, 2,
vii. 2,
vii. 3,
vii. 7,
vii. !7-10,
vii, 11, ii
vii. 13, 14,
vii. 14,
vii. 15,
vii. 1'6, 20,
vll. 18,
vii. 19,
vii. 19, 20,
vii. 19-29,
vii. 22,
vii. 23,
viu. 2,
viii. 3,
viu, 4,
viii. 5-13,
viu. 10-12,
vui. 13,
viii 19-22,
viu. 20,
viii. 25, 26,
viii. 26,
viii, 29,
ix, 2,
ix, 8,
ix. 9,
ix. 9-13,
ix. 12,
ix, 13, iu. 10,
ix. 15,
ix. 16, 17,
ix. 21,
ix. 21, 28, 29,
ix. 28,
ix. 36,
X. 5, 6,
X. 7,
X, 13, 14,
X. 14, 15,
X. 15;
X. 16,
X. 16, 17,
X, 16-18, 21. "ii,
X. 19,
X. 22,
X. 23,
X. 28,
X. 32,
X. 34-36,
X. 37-39,
iii. 420
111. 189, iv. 43
ii. 623
iv. 144
iv. 573
i. 212, 255
iv, 225
iv. 223
iv. 135
ii. 570
ii. 613
tr, 506, iv. 175
ii. 343
, . iv. 386
ill. 197
iU. 193
ii. 559
i. 630
iii, 203
1. 123
iv. 522
iii. 528
u, 605
.( 409, ii, 592
iii. 144
U. 426
ii. 65
ui. 488
iii. 189
I. 413, iii. 210
iii. 39
ii. 603, 605
iv. 218
, ii. 605
iii. 47
U. 591
ii. 426
ii. 505, iv. 425
fl,iv. 118,425 iv. 629
. 562
u. 601
ii. 605
1.409
Ui. 14
iu. 694
iv. 381
1.240
t), 616, 11. 426
jv. 409
iii. 373
ii. 348, 506
ii. 65
ui. 488
ill (84, iv. 484
iv. 687
il. 392
i. 539
ii. 65
I .'36, iii. 189,
iv. 116
X. 39, a, 435, iii. 219
X. 40, 41, i. 69
X. 41, 42, i. 142
X, 42, iU. 162, iv. 109
xi. 6, u. 604, 612
xi, 7-14, iii. 582
xi. 11, i. 407, iv. 381
-i 12, i. 164, iv. 382, 416
xi. 19-24, ii. 426
xi, 20-27, ii. 530
xi. 21, 22, i. 616
xi. 25, 26, iv. 558
xi. 25-27, ii. 521, 574, iv. 444
xi. 27, i. 411, il. 244, iii. 11 1
Matthew. xi. 27,
xi. 23-30,
xi. 29,
xi. 31-33,
xu, 7,
xii. 18,
xu.,21,
xii. 25, 26,
xii. 30,
xil. 31, 32,
xii. 33,
xii. 36,
xii. 37,
xu. 39,
xii. 40,
xii. 43-45,
xii. 45, '
xU. 47,
xii. 49, 50,
xii. 50,
xui.,xiii. 4-8,
xiii, 3,
xiii. 12,
xiu. 14,
xiii. 14, 16,
xiii. 14-16,
xiU. 17,
xiii. 19,
xiii. 19-23,
xiii. 20,
xiii. 23,
xiii. 26,
xiii. 28-30,
xiii. 30,
xUi. 31-33,
xui. 33,
xiii. 38, i
xiii. 40-42,
xiii. 43,
xiii. 44,
xiii. 44-46,
xiii. 48,
xiv, 12,
xiv. 14,
xiv. 26,
xiv. 27,
xiv. 30, 31,
XV. 3, Ac,
XV. 9,
XV. 15-17,
XV. 21-28,
XV. 22,
XV. 22, Ac,
XV. 26-28,
XV. 27, 28,
XV. 31,
XV. 3?,
xvi. 8,
xvi. 15-17,
xvi. 16,
xvi. 17,
xvi. 18,
xvi. 21,
xvi. 23,
xvi. 24-26,
xvi. 27, ui
xvi. 23,
xvii. 3,
xvii, 5,
xvii. 27,
xviu.,xviii. 3,
111
iv. 456
i. 423, iv. 196
ill. 160, iv. 182
ill. 682
iii. 10, 421, iv. 616
ii. 86
ii. 620
1.522,541
1. 630, ill.. 311, 552
. i. 622
ii. 638
iv. 12, 213, 257
iv. 214
i. 276, iv. 125
iv. 628
iii. 185, Iv. 409
i. 239, 276,- ii, 65
,u_ i, 557
ui. 44
.-iv. 412
i. 166
Ui. 134
ui..l90
- ui. 527
Ui 339
i. 291, 443
iii. 324
i, 421
iv. 452
ui. 184
ill. 35
iii. 190
iu. 60
i. 560
iU. 190, iv. 311
1. 482, iii. 493
ui. 440
. 117, iu. 190, 337
iV. 452
iv. 311
i. 119
iv. 541
i. 236, iii. 189
1. 629
ui. 615
iii. 14, 616
i. 529
iii. 627
u. 605, 623
ui. 421
i. 177
iii. 125
ii. 426
iu. 38
ii. ,605
iu. i39, iv. 121
ii. 604
iU. 47
iu. 14, 616
ii. 603
ii. 635
i. 131, iii. 128
ui. 128, iv. 438
i. 453
ii. 65
. 113, u. 407, 506
ui. 189
215, iv. 156, 210
i. 427
ii. 502
ii. 93
i. 413
ii. 590
i. 24, ii. 467, 505
iii. 138, 162
AT. 'HEW.
xviii. 4, iii. 138. 148
xviii. 6, ill 162, jv. 2f>i. .'m
xviii. 7,
xviii. 8, 9,
xvill. 10,
xvui. 11,
xvill. 14,
xviii. 17,
xviii. 18,
xviii 19,
xviii. 20,
xvill. 21,
xvUi. 21-35,
xviii. 22. seq.,
»-idi. 23-25,
A-vii,'. 31 seq.,-
xviii. 34,
xviii. 35,
xix, 4,
Jiix. 14.
xix. 16, Ac,
xix. 21, 27-29,
xix. 26,
xix. 27, 28
ii. 15t!
iii. 189
iii. 625, ui. 162
ii. 505
iii. 152, 529
iv. 641, .643
iv. 645
iii. 42a, 464
iv. 833
ii. 624
ii. 325, 606
,, ui. 164
iv, 63
iii. 2If
iii. 14
11. 506
ii. 386
iii. 161, iv.dS)
iii. 210
ui. 189
, i. ii. 590
ill. .528
xix. 23, i. 519, ii. 539, iii.' 634
xix. 29,
XX., XX. 8-15,
XX. 12-16,
XX. 15,
XX. 16,
XX. 17-19,
XX. 19,
XX. 21-23,
XX. 23,
XX. 27, 28,
XX. 28,
XX. 30, Ac
XX. 39
xxi. 4, 5,
xxi. 5,
xxi, 8-10,
xxi, 15, 16,
xxi. 16,
xxi. 18,
xxi. 19,
xxi. 21, 22,
xxi. 24,
xxi. 28-32,
xxi. 31,
xxi. 32,
xxi. 33, 34,
xxi. 33-42,
xxi. 37,
xxi. 41-43,
xxi. 44,
xxii. 1-10,
xxii. 3, 4,
xj.ii. 4,
xxii. ^,
xxii. 8, 3,
xxii. 11,
xxii. 12,
xxii. 11-13,
xxii. 13,
ii. 23S ,:i. S34
1. ;si
iu, 21S
ii. 65
'iv.260
i. 164, il. 630, 532
ii. 65
iii £43
ii 538
i 65
, 111. 594
i. 593, iii. 593
ii. 592
ui. 61.6
iv. 183
ui. 160 .
i. i395
ui. 34F
u. 241
1.413 i. 121
ii.613
iv. 283
u. 426
iv. 556
iv. 118, 122
ul. 190
i. 65
iv. 333
ii. 65
iv. 259
u. 65, 426
i. 165
j.423
II. 65
i. 165
i. 126. 272. iv. 45?
1. 126, 267, iv. 4.59
ui, 215
1, 73
xxii. 14, i. 164, 165, ii. 630
xxii. 30, U. 445, ui. 625, 'v. 454
xxii. 37, 39,
xxii. 37-40,
xxii. 39, 40,
xxiii. 1-33,
xxiii. 6,7,
xxiii. 13,
xxiii. 14,
xxiii. 17,
1,-. 601
in. 10
iii. 212
i. 70
iii. 14J'
in. 328, iv 243
iii 4i!l
iv. 101
INDEX OP TEXTS.
Hattiigw. xxiii. 23,
xxiii. 25 34,
xxiii. 29-31,
xxlli. 31, 32,
xxiii. 34,
xxiii. 34-39,
li. 639, iii. iii. ii.
iv. i.
, ii.
xxiii 37, ui. 596, iv. 41,
sxiv., i.427,
xxiv. 2, i.
xxiv. 4, 6, 9, ii.
xxiv. 10-12, U.
xxiv. 12, 13, ui. 34,
xxiv, 15, Ac, iv.
xxiv. 20, iv.
xxiv. 21,1.444, ii. 380, iv.
xxiv. 22, ii.
xxiv. 24, i. 546, ii.
x.xiv. 30, 31, i.
xxiv. 31, i. 428, 442, ii.
iv.
xxiv. 35, 11.
xxiv. 36, iii. 625, .v.
xxiv. 42-44, iv.
XXV., i. 94, 617, iii. i.
ill.
iii. iv.
iv.
iii.
iii. iv. iii.
iii. iii. iv. i.
iv.
iii.
xxv. 1-13,
xxv. 8,
xxv. 10,
xxv. 11,
xxv. 13,
xxv. 19-30,
xxv. 21, 23,
xxv. 22, 23,
xxv. 26, 30,
xxv. 29,
xxv. 31,
xxv. 31-33,
xxv. 34,
xxv. 35,
xxv. 35. seq.
xxv. 41, 46,
xxv. 42, Ac,
xxv. 46,
xxvi. 8-16,
xxvi. 21-25,
xxvi. 23,
xxvi. 24,
xxvi. 28,
xxvi. 29,
xxvi. 31,
xxvi. 31-35,
xxvi. 38,
xxvi. 39,
xxvi. 41, iv. 278, 504, 590
xxvi. 42, iii. 596, iv
.xxvi. 44,
xxvi. 64,
xxvi. 64, 65,
xxvi. 75,
xxvii. 24, 25,
xxvii. 34, 38,
xxvii, 34, 48,
xxvii. 35, 43,
xxvii. 43,
xxvui. 3,
x.xviii. 8,
xxviii. 9,
xxviii. 18, 19,
xxviii. 19, 20
IV.
iv. 216, 266, i.
ii. i.
ii. 530, iv.
i. 234, ii.
ui. 631, iv. u.ii.
ii.
iv.
ii. 167, iii.
i.
iv. i.
iii. i
i. 607, 11.
iv. ii.
iv.
iv.
iii. 23. ili; ii. i.
9
421421280443 65
166
298429445 65 66
184
403621 230
416530 119
532211 70
379359 166125184
569379359215
630419 184
527 103
212 300 113
215 329
214273 163 63
167
27046-4200 65
167
373 185 26
592 13)
613 209
602 163
594 64
628 64
185
211 172139
244
434
Mabk, i. 1,
i 4,
i. 15
lii. 582
iii. '98, iv. 123
ii. 466, b'Ol, iv. 122
Mabk.
i. 16, 20,
1.35, i. 35-39,
1. 42,
ii. 12,
ii. 17,
ii. 27,
ii. 28,
Ui. 5,
iii. 20, 21.
lii. 28, 29;
iv. 25,
iv. 26-28, i. 482,
iv. 33,
iv. 40,
V. 19,
vi. 3,
vl. 20,
vi. 34,
vi. 34, &c,
vii. 18-20,
viU. 38, i.
ix. 1,
ix, 24,
ix. 26,
ix. 34,
ix, 41,
ix. 43, 44,
ix. 44,
15,
u.
iu, iii. ii.
iii. U,
iv. ii,
iii. 13,ui. i,
iu,
561, iu.
ill, il.
iii.
x. 17,
X. 46-48,-
X. 52,
xi, 23, 24,
xi. 26, 26,
xii. 26,
xiii. 9,
xiii, 32,
xiii. 32, Ac,
xiv. 3-6,
xiv. 4-11,
xiv. 20,
xiv. 21,
xiv. 49,
xiv. 65,
xiv, 72,
XV. 23,
iu. 139
111.
iu. 14,
ill. iv.
616, iii. i.
ii. i.
iii. i.
iv.iv.
I, 162, iv.
237, iv.iu. ii.
xvi. 15, 16
xvi. 16,
Luke 1. 10,
1. 16, 17,
i. 17,
i. 25,
i.32,
i. 33,
i. 35,
i. 36, &c.,
i. 38,
i. 41, 46, Ac
i. 45,
1.53, i. 54, 55, 72,
i. 74, 76,
i. 76-79,
i. 77,
i. 77-79,
1,79,ii, I,
ii.7, ii.9,
u. 14, u.
, ii. 24,
i. 607,
II.
ui. iv.
iii. i.
i.
ii. ii. i.
iii.
ii. 64, iv.
i. 129, iv. i.
674695596692 47
462
632244 16
597622527261376
614 616412 46
595 174
390 103
441
632 549 179142
495 273 178
371346592613 164
625 65
625 359341 163167
530 33
414 153
628 131
425 109
iv. 569
i. 164
iv. 381
iii. 458
i. 349,
i. 506
iu, 281, iv. 136
iv. 433
ui. 458
i. 399
ii. 89
iii. 181
73,
11.
i. 333
iii. 581
ui. 582
iv. 31
iii. 584
i.386
i. 412
i. 399. ii. 243
231, 233, iii. 553,
i. 399, iv. 186
Luke.
ii.
25,
i
U,
27,
ii.
36,
11.
38,
ii.
42,
U.
51
iu
3,
i.
iii
4,
iii
6,
ui
8,
Ui
16-
14,
ui
12,
14,
iii
21,
22
Iv
15,
V.
5-7,
V.
10,
V.
13,
V.
26,
V.
27, 28,
V.
33,
vi
1
vi
12,
vi
16
vi.
23,
vi.
24
vi.
32,
vi.
35,
vl.
44,
vi.
47,
v'i
.fr^E
,
vi
, 13,
vi:
.16,
vll
.13,
vii
.21,
vii
. 29
30,
vu
.30,
35,
vii
.37-
50,
vi
. 37,
Ac
099
i. 399,11. 91 111.451
ui, 45
i. 399
ii. 91
1.407
1,406
i. 163, ii. 467, iv. 123
ui. 422
ii. 416
ii. 573
iii. 422
iv. 382
iu. 457, 602
iii. 47
iii. 283
ii. 574
ii. 592
iu. 47
iii. 189, 218
Ui. 451
iU. 94
ill. 595
ili. 582
iii. 23
i. 636
iu. 93, iv. 467
iv. 63
iii. 194
i. 124, iii. 170
ii. 604, iv. 121
iii. 14, 616
iU. 47
ii. 229
Ui. 488
i. 164
ii. 603
ii. 426
iii. 139
vii. 37, 38, 50, ii. 604, iv. 121
vii.\66. viii.,
viii. 2, 3,
viii. 13,
viii. 18,
viii. 28,
viii. 43, 44,
viU. 44,
ix. 22,
ix. 23,
ix. 55,
ix. 57, 58.
ix. 58,
ix. 62,
x.3,X. 17,
X. 21,
X. 21, 22,
X. 23, 24,
X. 28,
X. 29, &c ,
X. 42,
X. 59,
xi. 4,
xi. 5, Ac,
xi. 8,
xi. 9,
xi. 9-13,
xi. 13,
xi.21,xi. 21, 22,
xl. 24, Ac,
xi. 27, 28,
xi. 36,
xi. 49-51,
xi. 50,
ui. 324
i. 131
Ui, 423
iii. 208
iii. .523
iv.52, 271
iii. 38
ii. 692
u, 65
iv. 373
iU. 159
1.236
iv. 429
iii. 184
11. 65, iii, 161
ul, 575
i. 24, iv. 433
u. 635, ill. 128
i. 519, iv. 14
ii. 392
ii. 426
ui. 139, iv. 383
iv. 273
ii. 500
• iv. 562
iv. 283
u. 613
ii. 561
iii. 452, iv. 175, 572
iv. 140, 314
li. 571, iv. 173
i, 164
1.557
iv, 688
ii, 66
iv. 288
5!
, „ JS S '^ "^ S^ t^ t
r
XXXXXXXXX xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx^
••¦^^f<<<<<<<fff<?ff' ~- ?¦' r ¦ S: -: 5: -: £: S: 5: £1 Hi Si £1 £: c: =: ci 5: P r' ?¦ £• r- r- ?• ."¦ F r- f • "' S
O_C0 OJJI^ OT OT CTJ Oj CTJ O;
S ^ ^ ^i" wcockl^o^o^^^oto^^to^^iH-l-.^o^oloo^-> '^SE^S^m
CTJO^rfk- - 44. OJ to CO 00 ro OJ OT OT Sii=^ CO OT to- - - - I .:^S'^^S^^.
CO to to
M
•¦<i < < :^:t^:r-:< < < < < < < <j «• i
T H-COOT
1 00 ito- lO Oj
IJ CJl rf^ OT CO
OT tOrf
OJtOCCO-4 C
k, CO H^ OJ rf^ CTJ
3 00 I— ' to H- oo CO
¦JOOOCTJGOCTJOT
I— COi-
OOODCD C
i—i— toe
- OTt-*!— ¦
JtO>UH-3 to 00 00
to to rf».03
to lb. H^ 1^
to -^ CTJOO
OT »-••— «.
.1^ OT CO C
rfi.O<Xn-
¦„*»¦ ^'-J^ r- p- r* !
rf4. w ,
fJ to CO CD CTJ ¦
1 CTJrfi- tc OT<
: --. < _co E
. f— OJOT
. rfi.— toe
i CO CTJ CTJ c:
" p: < i-i. H-. < p- <* S: J=> ^-j**- <' £: ¦«
OOH^>-*COCOOJOTCOi>->tCbH^OTrf
f^-^^tOtOOD.*.. — tOi— tOCTJi— -oc
l-JtOrf^CTJCTJOOOJtOrffcO-JCDO^C
:'0D=:< c:c::C:< Ci:C:< i
i^CDCO
I— > CTJ tCk, t^ CO >-^
00 to corooi^o
to 00 )^ CO OT to to
<<<<<^<<<::
CO _^ rf^H- ^
c: ~^ •::• -^ -3* -^
p:_co < ^co ;<s — ¦
i-iOT CTIOTOT
CO -» --J O OT to
OOO •—to rf*. rf>.
OJ ^ to tOCD
OOT CO Cn CD
i^ >-- to COCTJOT
CD ?— rf^-J OCO
ro o-^ o>rf».OT
h_. tO^ I— C7JOT
to 00 CT» to O to
O O CO I— ' CTJ CTl
»-.rf^Ui
ro H- to
OJCO to
5H- ro.i**'
OTa»totpCO I&
OT"--COOTOto
'1^ rf*.00
TH-ro OT
3 CO CO to
OT rf^ CO 4^ »t^ rf^ H- rf^k OT CO CO*
otoaDO*»'Oia^'--roCT)OJcoCTjtoi--'. — u^^w. .w«>-i
rf^OOOtOOJOTOTCOOOOTOMOTCTJCOCOOT-^tOOTOTOTtO
OT tn
to CTS
toco
SS^ f t^ f^ 1^ f^ 1^ f^ f ^ f^ f^ ^ f
1 Ka _> k." »«*'rf»¦^t^»^•^cococoto^^^^»^^^^^ WNatoton-H-.
,'Za ^ ^tOWtO COoiH-i
S E: i^ too<:o I— tcDio
."* "^ :^ r^ < <" <" <' < <' <' <' < < 5' <¦ <' <¦ =! S: 5: Hi S: B: S: Hi
jito to J^^^^-^'^" •*»'"" w5S toco w,o to ?-'H-.tocoto oototo
ss s
-j_CO rf». JO_OT OTi^jf^i^j'^^J-' J'^-JS • to OJ
OO C^J l\J ^- ?-* f— „'-"^"^"^l— '
OJO OJ to tOjJO CD ^J31 »^ to )— '
O) m OT CO w H- £g rfS IS S
^ »L — t -
-. h-. ^ ^. c
^-. «. h-. ^^ *j i^ ^. «. „.
" < < t:: -v» f— jD E. < to <;
C: _to
OT OT
tr: »o
¦ 00
ot"^. CO
B:j^ ¦«' <" p; <¦ p: <* 2 p: <" p: p:
»-> CO
;:.5C:p:s:p:s:=i^.£:::^.o5^.5
.. -.. K* "¦ "¦ s; -->
;: S. s: <! < - - -
OTrfi.OTOT^.-^ tor*
CO rfk*
;• C; Et ^ h-. ^ — S: ». *o
. , , , - .. . — -^ - - - - • • - -^ ^^ ^^ . ^ '^^ ^ -^ -^^ »** ^«* ^-» «^ ^-" f— ¦ ^" ^ »«* ^M. ^-^ ^d. UU ^^* ^- ^* ^.^ ^< ^* ^ ^ ,^, £^
CtOT i^ CTJOT OT tOtOOTi-"-*^ tUOTtOOJOTCJifc^-OTiSrOTiU. OTrf*.OT^-i— 'rffciUrffcH-mit*- OOOTOT"-* i— 'i— oOCJiOJi^CTJOi"— 'rfk.tO OTt^OTOTOTOJOTCO CTjH^i-<hrf
gwOT6o-^H-rf*.'-j-.jOTH--qroJ^'--oooQocoojo^>— ocoOTcoaotoJ»co^oCTJ^^i^te--:CJ-4to-^^o^^J^^¦^coaoroo^
«)-*^a•^lc^c»^l— o-^-^^— coa^^ocDOt^^a^•^toaotD»cfcoa»cntocON-CTJOTOJl--•-4rf^.^3-4«lcoc?s>to.o^co^?— <— H-j!k.4s.^
INDEX OF TEXTb.
701
John
vi. 29 30. 35-37, ii. 624
vi. 35-40, iv. 71
vi. 37, ii. 574, 688, iv. 244, 425
vi, 37-46, ii. 630
vi. 39, U. 445, 583, iii, 529
iv, 209
vi. 40, i. 636, Ii. 445, 624
iu. 14, 51, Ul, 128, iv. 209
469
vi. 44, i. 636, ii. 674, 633
624, 635
vi. 45, ii. 624, 635, iii. 109
vi, 47, ii, 624, ui. 14
vi. 4>), 50, ii, 436
vi. 50, h. 392, iii. 14, 522
vi. 50-68, ii 624
vi. 51, 1. 298, iii. 14, 522
vi. 64, i. 636, ii, 435, 445
iu. 14
ii. 435, iii. 14
ii. 597, 616, iii, 523
iii. 528
vi. 58,
vi. 64,
vi. 65,
vi. 68, 69,
vi. 70,
vi. 71,
vii, 7,
vii. 17,
vii. 13,
vii. 19,
vii. 20,
vii. 23,
vii. 37,
vii. 37, 39,
vii. 37-39,
iu. 125
li. 597, iii. 528
ii. 697
u. 407, 503
iv. 15
ii. 231
iv. 94
i.413
iv. 94
iii. 336
iii. 408
iii. 89, 454
VU.38, 39, iu. 68, 168, iv. 176
viii. 12, u. 604, iu. 689
viii. 15, i. 625
viii. 23. ii. 407, 506, iv. 314
viii. 28' ii, 65
Tiii. 30, 31, i. 94, 101, iii. 184
vill. 31, i. 150, iu. 214, 528
iv. 484
viii. 33, iv. 325
viii. 33-44, ii. 426
viii. 39, iv. 326
viii. 44, ii. 408, iv. 42, 462
viii. 47, ii. 631
vui. 48, i. 413
viii. 51, ii. 392
viii. 56, i. 327
ix. 4, 1. 618
ix. 22, L 413
ix. 39, iii. 339
ix. 40, iii. 51
ix. 41, iv. 497
ix. 50, 51, iv. 432
X. 3, 4, ii. 630
X. 9, Iv. 683
X. 11,14-17, ii. 530
X. 16, ii. 65, 574, 575, iii. 561
17, 18
X. 18,
X. 20,
X. 24; 25,
X. 25,
1.26,X. 26-29,
X. 27,
X. 28,
xi. 25,
xi. 26,
xi. 33, 35,
xii 4,
zii. 4, 5, Ac,
xii. 8,
ii. 93, iv. 98
ii.91,iv. 194
i.413
iv. 339
iii. 83
ii. 531, 604
ii. 674
ii. 575, 604, lii. 623
iii. 523, 529
ii. 435, iii. 169
il. 392, 435
iii. 617
11. 248
iii. 341
i. 168
JSHN. xii.
xii.xu.
xU. xii.
xii. xii.
xii.xii.xii.xii.
xU. xii. xii.
xii.xii.xii.xii.xii.xii.xii.xii.xiii.xiiixiii. xiii.
xiii.xiii. xui.
xiii xiii.
18, 19,
19-21,
23, 24,
23-32,
24, 27, 28,
27, 31, 32,
28-32, 31, 32,
32, 39, 40,
37-41, 39-41,
40,42,
45, 44-46, 46-43,
47, 49
49, 50,
2,
3,4, 15, 16,
17,
27-30, 31, 32,
33,
iii. i.
ii. 209, 232, iii.
ii. 243, i.
11.
iii. 449, ii. i.
ii. 580, iii. 1.
ii. i.
iii. u.
ii. 615,
iii. Ul, iv.iv. ii. i.
iv. ii.
Ul. iii. i.
i. 304, ii.
iii.
. 34, i. 142, ui. 165,
35, i. 150, u. 244, iii.
xiii. 36,
xiu. 38,
xiv.,
xiv. 1,
xiv. 2,
i. 409, u. 91, iii
il. 619, iv.
iu. 205, 213, iv.
XIV.xiv.
xiv. xiv.
xiv.xiv. xiv.
xiv.xiv.xiv. xiv.xiv.
xiv.XV.XV.XV.
XV.XV.
6, iv.
12, ii.
13, 14, ii.
15, iv,
16, 17, ii. 419, ui. 68,
17, ii. 407, 506, iii.
18, i.
19, ui. Ill, iv.
21, ui. 165, 196, iv.
23, 24, iii. 213, iv.
28, ¦ i.
30, i.
, 31 ii. 91, iv.
i, 409, iii.
1, 2, i. 5, 6, 3, iii,
4-7, iii.
5, ' u.
6, i. 629, ill. 184, iv.
XV. 7, ii. 613, iii. 184,
iv. 103,
XV. 8, i. 94, 101, 1.50, ii.
iii. 184,
XV. 9, 10, iii. 523, iv.
XV. 10, ii. 91, 93, iii. 184,
587, iv.
XV. 11, Ui. 48, 569,
iv. 429,
XV. 12, i. 406, ui. 165,
XV. 12-14, iu.
XV. 13, iii.
XV. 13-15, i.
XV. 14, i. 409, iii. 182,
XV. 15, iii. 567,
XV. 16, iii.
25
376574
449249453231
574574 453442291531367 17
602029 34
445605625 531913 168
608693217 167
233 162
205 165
206 65
167
.89 431
343641683574613 190
448 70
440444 216
627431
440 606 184 39
190
623
689 103
311
516431
228
587 103
205 134
631
431694 205
694 142
687629 184
John. XV. 17, IU.
XV, 18, 19, ii, 407,
XV. 18-21, ii,
XV, 19, U,
XV. 23, 24, 11.
XV. 24, i.
XV. 25, i. 607, ii. 04, iv.
XV. 26,
xvl.,xvl, 1-4,
xvi. 2,
xvl, 7,
xvi. 8,
xvi. 9,
xvi. 12, 13,
xvi. 13,
xvl. 13, 14,
xvi. 15,
xvi, 20, 21,
xvi, 23, 24,
xvi. 27,
xvl. 32,
xvi. 33,
xvi. 40,
xvii., xvii. 1,
xvii. 1, 2.
xvii, 1-3,
ili. 513,
i. 409, iu. ii.
iv.
iu. 448, 635, iv.
i. 453, ii.
iv.
i. 436, ui. iii.
iii.
iii. i.
11.
iv.
ii. 65,
iii. 43, Iv.
iv.ili,
iii. i.
ii.
xvU, 2, 11. 244, 416, iii,
xvii, 3, u, 602, Ui. Ill,
iv. 444,
xvii. 4, 5,
xvii. 6-8,
xvii. 6-20,
xvii. 7,
xvii. 8,
xvii. 9,
xvii. 10,
xvii II,
xvu. 13,
xvii. 14,
xvii. 19,
xvii. 20,
xvii. 20-23,
xvii. 21,
xvii. 22,
xvii. 22-24,
xvii. 23,
xvii. 24,
xvii. 25,
xvii. 26,
xvii, 27,
xviii. I, 2,
xviii. 3, 9,
xviii, 11,
xvill. 31,
xvill. 36,
xix. 9,
xix. 24,
xix. 28-30,
xix. 29,
xix. 30,
xix 44,
XX. 16, 17,
XX. 17, iii, 630, iv 54,
XX, 19, i.
XX, 21, Ui.
XX. 22, iii.
XX. 23, TV
XX. 26, 1.
iu. 125, 128,
iv. 445, 11.
i. 286, ili.
U. 601, Ui. il. ii.
iii.
ili. 69, 669,
iv. 199,
i. 633, ii.
i. 605, ii.
i. 142,
iv. 201, iv.
Ul.
ili. 631, iv. iv.
ii. 211, iv.
iii. i.
ii. 240, ui.69,
iv. 200, 431, 11. i,
iii. ill. i.
1.
iU. n. i.
il, 64, iv. i,
iv.
iii
16S
506 65
543
619 124
431628535 3965
639431
606 365
376 48
535518438614200 167
431445596636424574529 545
456232 522
469 530631 127
407 228522
631430
407 243
633 154 69
430 199
200
627633631
434247413522 98
401427 76
64
607628416 393
629200641434 594 161
605434
S.S,S,t.S.S±S,S.p.i l^r* <<<:'r>< ?<<<<'<?<'<'-<'B~pB\BBi~-r'-F-r'- Pr-r-r-F-r-r'F-r'-r'-r'r'-FF"-- E: •- f- r- r r- .- r- r- g x « « x g M g
t* r" r" r'' • ¦ ^ ^ ^* , CA3 t-" **^=*3t*5i?tOrfa.K-„(v,,*'^''**' *"' ' ifi'^^rfi.*^ *^COCOCOtOCOtOCOtOt0^3K3*— *— H-(-i "* J5l^'~' '¦'J'* "^ ?'^ W CA 2. 2. 2. 2. . ^ S
"i"*"'^'^ cooo -T^co to ^~"^"'>u i::Sw ooto »— --. cc ot" " ^^
4
Oto
toi^ ^M "' -^^ i" ^. -°° i- „- -~* r- ?=--'^-'° i=i^ M
ot w „o- k- ;^ J2
r'-^ e: r* «. — . S ^. *^ to I^ C* to
GO
¦ • * ^ c;^ ¦ -• c*i ¦ r- ¦ ¦ " ¦ to-- i" •-- ^ r- • to ^*
too "-^ OT oj-^^too- co=;- ot2 K'^ --^ C:
OJ--^ ^OT_^ - CO- J-J- "00 - • w - ^ OT i^- to- ^
— — . «. >;;• h- rf*. to S: „. >-• c: "T- ^' "r* *^ *r- ^- S: E" *¦ E: E* >— "• oo to >— n.. h-. (^ _ ?-¦ -j ^. ». ^.*^^.rn
< < e: pi^rf^j-i T" p* p: r* ."^ 5 ."* -~^ r- r^ p* ^ r* p= J^ p- P= ^ r':}^J^ r- -* .** T^ — -¦ f^ j-^ p- -• E- p- «¦ o < e: t=: ^ S: e: S ^
COOTCOtt^tOOTCTJCl — CTJk— '1— •>^OT^^ •— 'COCTJH^COCOi— 'f— 't— '^ OT0O(tf»--^— 'rf!k.i— • — OT"— 'h-CO •— 'OTCTJrf^rf^OOrf^CTJCjJCTJ .f> ki .iv j. .i^. ...
tOCO-J^hCOT — •— tO'-'aoro>C*.OOOOShb.OTOStOtOOTOfOOTtOO>&.--lrf!.. rf*.tO<D *>-rOtOtOtO-.Jrf:*.rotDOOtO— -jJoootO-iitOCDt^SmOTSS
coojo;CTJOJ:^-j-4oo^tDtDOO>J^4--^to^cDO--cototoou^OTOotooa30ocoto*-OOTtoroooI^astoto*:roOTrom
en ^^ OT CO t^ 00
. ?-. «. M- to -: E; ^- —• — h-. _. «¦
C: < -3 ^co o — ¦ -¦ p- ^.jo ^. p: p: -. <; *- <
oil— -tOO^ COCO)— 1— rffc6»tOOTtO>— COCOOOOT OTOJOTifc.OJOTt-trfi.^— K-^CO_lOOTOTrf*.OJ4^0J CTJ>U»-'0O>— COOTrfi-OTit*- OTrf*.tfi.rf*.rf*.OTit*.Cftrf*.fiii— Ji.L.'f.i'r-«(vL.!t.."i..U.' *
Ciro(OOcowrfi.ajcji ^o js- co ro to o — rf^ ^^oo to.--'Oo wojro to ^o to ro toto coroojcoro -^co to tohocD ^ rf^ w hi to ^ot to to cyjro coS^
^l-J^^ro~^-^tocncoto^oo^ow^;ro^o^^i--^K-coooJtororf>^totoro^-<XlC^J^tDroo*.CTJ*'^*'CO-^co^^oto^oco£.K
-• "-¦ r-i' ^-l• ^- ^. M. B-. J-. B-. h-. — . --. H— M. »-¦ w. »-. M. »>-¦—¦ b— M * . * .*,',¦.". ?" • ' 2 X X X X X X
.iKaLiL3L.!--^[-H-i--L-.^H-L-h-.to-3Mi fn*.r.iLL-Kwi5'^t<5w*^»^*^M»^'-' — wwto-oOTK->? 2 2 2 2 2 2
g^J^oSS^SI^^^wwww o-"^-^-"" -""- f r- -*^r--«^--^J^i"-^^ W-"-r- o to j^ a^io- -^ - Tb ;3. S. g. £. :S. < 5. 5. 5. 5. S. 5. <¦ <- =: p:- ^ . -
*¦'"'¦''* Jo" •*'¦'- I " " OS •—CO fo M h-i ¦ -^M p:c."p:p:-"" r r . .• ' • • ,„. .coco
ocor^OcnEtO tr; - rj^^ W?!l'iotOto rf*..'^ CD
» 1
xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
<^<<<<^%^% i% b.a.b.£.a.£.a.s.2.e.«.h X
5 "£2 5;
•::? to ?r*
to" CO
o>S>t*- ::;•'-' ii "--rf^ rof"';?'^ ro — r* — ^^ k-. coojro-j
J- S w :^ w ^ OT c: g ^ ^ rf. 30 r* :„ r- to p. *. ;^ jo ot
J" to CTJ ro — P' — f^ K-. cooj ro-ii -5 — 15 ot „
•^ rf». CO r* r'* ^ J— rf^ to OT • • ^ CO •
----- - - - - to O' -COOD • -it.-- ^.1 OO-
K — rr: — — oo — -; — --¦ — ^. „. — — ,„. ^ «. — - co- — — ^. — to ot to- w. t:- to ^' — ^ — -¦ ^ ctj — — '-• ro -. -. — ^. ^. >-. ^. — ^. "
p: p: p: p. < _-- <: =: -; c: < p: -- < ¦< r-r" r* r" r^ P'i° =^: ."^ r^- P* p- p* f^ i^^i^^i" P= -= :^ -• p-i~* tr: < p; «3 r:: < p; p: p: ^. ^. ?-- p: e: < i^:=i < — < c: £;: < < :=: c: ::: Si — :r: Bi w S: S:
1^** >-• _tOCOit*-_ t^^tOtOi— tO*^* tOCTJti^ rf*.rOOOCO»^ t— irfihtOi— 'COI— 'OTCTJrf».tOi— 'to »Ei.rf*.rffcCOtO0Ot— 'OTi— 'CTJ CnOTCAaenOien b^ita.*.*! i.-' '
?oCTjc*3CT»coporo*-coOT — cocotoroOTrf* >r>. ^o — ot »- w--iiuCTj.£^-xjoocn'w-.jtoos^^cjjooowcooo<oOT woo •ft''t.^5tS — ^OTto— ¦hl*cjSSSfo22:SCTJoomSi-.-.^^-r:;^
rf*.•oco~^^co.-.v3H-toOTOTOtf-^coco-JO-^OTtootD-^co^oorf.OTroOh-OT^^^crto«^-^*'*^co* otoooo •*^co>-waDcrjOT--»fi)-^iiirf*.SOT6^-^OOT*:oDroOTomlow
INDE C OP TEXTS.
703
RouAira.
RUMANS,
Romans.
lii. 3, 6,
ii. 601
U. 229, 443
Viii 14, ii 413,416,433, iv. 40
X. 3, ii. 605, iv 84, 89, 132
ill. 7,
vii. 18,
ii, 413, 417, 433
X. 4, ii.
538, 634, iv.. 215
ui. 9,
u. 427, 429
1 iv, 230
X. 5, ii.
393, 538, iii, 524
iii. 9-19,
iv. 226
vii. 20-22,
iv, 310
X. 5, 6.
iv. 88
ill. 9-20,
iv. 81
vii. 22,
ii. 470
X. 6-10,
ii. 602
lii. 9-24,
u. 419
vii. 23,
11. 312
X. 8-13,
11.616
iu. 10-12,
ii. 406
vii. 23, 24,
u. 433
X. 9, 10,
i. 108, 131, 271
iii. 15,
i, 118
vii. 25,
iu. 66, 553
X. 10,
ii. 629
lii. 19, ii.
314
iii, 245, iv. 49.
viii..
ii. 537
X. 11,
ii. 619
iii. 20, ii.
314
, 416, iv. 82, 129
viii. 1, ii. 413, 443, iii. 66
X. 11-14,
li. 613
510
iv. 103. 481
X. 12,
iv. 664
iii. 22,
U. 634
viii. 3, ii.
315, 433, 415, 443
X. 12-14,
u. 611
ill. 23,
il, 247, iv. 81
viii. 3, 4,
iu. 519, iv. 100
X. 13, 14,
ii. 624
iii. 24,
iv. 87, 129
viii. 4-9,
ii. 413, iii. 66
X. 14,
iu. 598, iv. 5
iu. 25, 26,
ii.
240, iv, 185, 251
viii. 6,
iii. 67
X. 16,
ui 397
424, 562
viii. 6-9,
ii. 560
X. 16,
u. 602
iii. 26,
U, 423, iv, 217
viii. 7,
11.417, 594
X. 16, 17,
ii. 601
iii. 26-28,
iv. 83
wii. 8,
ii. 417, iv. 609
X. 13,
iii. 316 336
Ul. 27, i.
404, ii. 587, iv. 73
viii. 9, ii. 664, 593, iU: 67, 161
X. 19,
i. 340, ii. 65
iii. 28,
ii. 423
vui, 9-il,
iii, 70
X. 20,
i. 340, 367
iv.,
iv. 104
viu. 10,
iu. 69
X. 20, 21,
ii. 64
iv. 1, 2,
iu, 164
viii, 11,
ii. 445
xi. 1-11,
u. 531
lv.2,
iv. 73
viii. 12, 13,
iu. 66
xl. 1, 2,
iii. 529
iv.3.
ui, 616, 517
vUi, 13,
11. 391
xi. 4-6,
11. 587
iv.4,
iv, 87, 94
viii, 14,
iii. 117
xi. 4-7,
il. 574
Iv. 5-8,
u. 423,iv. 64
viii. 16,
i. 133, 137
xl. 6, 6,
u. 533
iv.6.
iv. 92
viii. 15-18,
iii. 224
xi. 5-7,
u. 586
IV. 6-8,
iv. 88
vui. 16,
1.137,111.87, 90
xl.6.
iv. 80, 87, 130
iv. 11,
i. 325
vUi. 17,
u, 93, iii, 630, 633
xi. 7, ii
527, iv. 33, 161
iv. 13,
iii. 440
viii, 13,
11, 247
xi. 9, 10,
i. 607, iv. 628
iv. 13 15
ii. 455
vui. 19,
i. 371, Ui. 652
xi, 12-15,
i. 437
iv. 13-16,
iv. 82
viii. 19-22,
iu. 450
xi. 12, 13,
ii. 433
V. 14,
ii. 315
viii. 20, 22,
iv. 304
xi. 12, 16,
iu.442
V. 15,
ii. 440
viii. 22,
1.371, iii. 90
xi, 15, 17, 19-23, ii. 531
iv. 16, ii
636, iv. 87, 90, 129
viii. 23,
¦ i.'i. 652, iv. 209
xi. 17,
i. 156, iv. 554
iv 18
i. 326, ii. 446
vlU. 24,
iii. 3, 53
xi. 17-25,
ii. 433
i-.2C,
ii. 229
vui. 26, ui. 27, iv, 136, 479
xi. 17, 22,
ii. 586
iv. 21,
ii. 605
viii 27,
u. 415
. xi. 19,
ii, 574
iv. 25,
i. 431 iv. 67, 96
viii. 28-30,
ii. 591
xi. 20, iu.
169, 616, iv. 106
v..
ii. 451
viii. 29,
ii. 70, iii. 160
xi. 21, 24,
ii. 430
V. 1, 2,
iii. 67
viii. 30,
1.301
xi. 22, Ui. 184, 409, 51,5, 623
v.2 i
137, ii. 247 ul. 224
viii. 31,
iv. 432
iv. 183
v.3.
Ui. 12, 224
viii. 31-39,
iU. 529
xi. 25,
ul. 442
v. 6-10,
U. 425, iv. 36
viii, 32,
iv. 167
xi. 25-27,
ii. 575
V. 10,
iii. 521, iv. 189
viii. 34,
iv. 67
xi. 26, 27,
ii. 570
V. 12-14,
ii. 457
viii. 34, 33,
39, iv. 432
xi. 28. 29,
i. 153, 262
V. 12,
iu. 514
ix. 1-3,
iv. 293
xi. 28,' 30, 31
ii, 433
V. 12-21,
ii, 434
ix. 2,
iu. 12
xi. 30-32,
i, 334, iii. 442
V. 13,
iv. 92
'x.3.
i. 593
xi. 32.
ii. 462, 531
V. 14^
ii. 94
.X 3-6,
i. 153, 262
xi. 33,
i. 509, iv. 169
X. 16, 18,
ii. 444
ix. 5,
i. 155, 11. 71
xi. 35, 36,
ii. 536
V. 18, 19,
ii. 461, iv. 97
ix. 6-8, U-
14, U. 531
xi. 36, i. 509,
ii. 222, 226, 230
V. 19,
ii. 91, 397
ix. 11,
11. 533
531, iv. 175
V. 20, ii. 313,
315, 320, iv. 161
ix. 11-27,
ii. 536
xii, ,1, 2,
iii. 158
426
ix. 14,
iii, 367
xii. 2,
iu. 118, 367
vi. 2,
ii. 564
ix. 15, ,
ii. 674
xii. 3-5, 7, 8,
Ul. 399
vi 3,
i 139
ix. 15, 16,
il. 527
xii. 4, 5, &c.,
ii. 246
vi. 3-6,
ii 468
ix. 17,
ii. 533
xii. 4-8,
ill. 379
vi. 3-8,
iii. 189
ix. 16-19,
ii. 531
xii. '7,
iU. 361
vi. 4-6,
ii. 470, 472
ix. 13, u. 613, -i. 17, iv. 543
xii. 10,
i. 142
vi. 4-7,
iii. 522
ix, 19,
il. 527
xU, U,
iii. 5
vi. 9,
1. 431
ix. 20,
iv. 240
xU. 12,
iv. 433
>.i. li,
i. 94, ii. 468
ix. 21-24,
u. .531
xu. 16,
lii. 169
vi. 9, 10,
14.
ill. 622
ix. 22, iv
60, 306, 320, 464
xii. 16,
ui. 149, iv. 470
vi. 14, 17,
18
i. 103
439
xii. 18,
iii. 373
vi. 17, 18,
i.
131, 133, ii. 602
ix. 22, 23,
ii. 235, 239, 244
xii. 27,
iv. 609
vi. 22,
i. 103
249, iv. 276, 307
xiii. 1, 2,
iv, 630
vl. 23,
ii. 391
ix. 23,
11. 247
XiU. 7,
i. 630, Ui, 155
vii. 4,
ii. 596
ix. 23, 24,
1.133
xiii. 8-10,
ii, 245, iii. 188
vii. 4-6,
i. 133
ix. 27,
i. 440, ii. 633
xiii. 8, 10,
ui. 10, 213
vii. 4-13,
ii. 427
ix.27, 29,
ii. 531
xiii. 12, 13,
iv. 599
vii. 5.
ii. 391, 433
ix. 31, 32,
ii. 624,iv 13.
xiii. 12-14,
iv. 600
vii. 6,
ii. 315
ix. 33, i
.64,531,614,611
xiii. 14,
ui. 161
Vll. 7,
iv.36, 39, 82
iii. 311
xiv. 3, 4,
ii. 443
rii. 13.
li.
316, 438, iv, 83
x.2,
iii 35, 94,iv. 1?
xiv, 4, i, 560, iii.3S3, iv. 22fi
704
INDEX OF TEXTS.
loMAHS.
1 CoHINTHIANfl.
] COBINTHIANE
lii. 379
Xiv, 6,
iii. 61, 291
ill. 8,
iv. 109
xii. 14, seq.
iv. 116
liv. 6-8,
i. 133
iU. 9,
i
104, ui. 190
xii. 18,
u. 246
.«v. 7, 8,
i. 139
iii. U, 12,
iii. 376
xii. 25-31,
ui 169
xiv. 9,
i.43i
iU. 13,
j. 147
xii. 26,
iv. 10
.xiv. 11,
i
. 103, iii. 199
iii. 15,
i. 104
xii. 28,
xii. 29,
xiii., i
iii. 400
xiv. 12,
xiv. 10. 13
iv. 213
ii. 443
iii. 16,
iii. 17,
iu. 68
iv, 633
556, 11. 24fi', 593
iu. 71, iv. 672
iii. 368
xiv. is; 15, 20, 21, iv, 690
iii. 18,
iv, 15, 35
xiii. 1,
xiii. 1-3,
xlU. 2, u. 615
xiv, 16,
iii. 374
iii. 21,
1.615
iii! 67
iu 86, 116,367 iU. 154
xiv. 17, 18,
xiv. 19,
iv. 472
ill. 373
Ui. 21, 22,
i:i. 21-23,
i
iv. 290, 431
134, ill. 632
xiv. 22,
xiv. 22, 23,
iv. 631
ii. 443
iii. 22, 23,
iv.3.
ii. 246
iv, 480
xiu. 4,
xiii. 4, 5,
xiii. 6,
xiii. 7,
xiii. 8,
i. 544, iii'. 169
iii. 220
u. 604, iii. 620
iii. 367
iu. 14
1.558
XV. 1,2,
XV. 3,
XV. 6, 6,
iii. 373
i. 607,ji. 64
i. 143, ii. 228
iv.5,i. 67,560,111. 62, iv. 222
iv, 6, ii- 575
iv. 10, i- 527
XV, 8,
XV. 9,
ii. 38
i. 539
iv. 15,'
i. 75
, 134, U. 430
iv. 633
xiii. 8-12,
xui. 8, 11,12,
XV. 12,
ii.
572, 619, 603
616
iv. 16,
iv. 18,
i. 532
iv. 542
XiU. 10, 11, lu. i/'J
xiii. 12, ili. 027, iv. 143, 444
XV. 13,
XV. 1,4,
ii.
672, 576, 619
i. 133
iv. 20,
v.5.
iii. 186
ii. 415
xUi. 13,
xiv. 2-10,
111. /
iv. 4
i. 220
ui. 363
XV. 15, 16,
u. 433
V. 6-8,
i. 239
xiv. 7;
XV. 26,
iv. 615
v.7.
ii
664, iv. 188
xiv. 14, 26,
XV. 32.
iii. 564
v.ll,
iv. 638
xiv. 20,
ii. 502, iii. 162
xvi. 17,
iv. 641, 646
vl. 1-3,
i. 102
xiv. 24, 25,
iv. 647
xvi. 17, 18,
i. 545
vi. 2, i. 94, iv. 297, 397, 399
xiv. 29-31,
iii. 347
xvl. 20,
i. 602
vi. 3
1. 134,
601, iv. 158
xiv. 31-33,
iii. 372, 378
xvl. 25,
1.435
vi. 6,'
iv. 138
xiv. 33,
i. 138, iv. 305
xvi. 27,
ii. 230
vi. 6, 8,
iv. 133i,
xiv. 37, 38,
ili. 352
Corinthians
.
vi. 9, 10,
vi. 10,
iu. 214
iv. 559*-
XV.,XV. 2,
• i. 521
iii 523
i. 2, i.
136
, ii, 575, 624
vi. 11, 12,
i. 134
\v. 10. i.
436, 11 527, 557
i. 2, 3,
iv. 562
vi. 16, 19,
i. loai.
XV. 13,
iv. 484
i. 4,
i
133, iv. 11
vi. 17,
iii
160, iv. 144
XV. 17,
1. 137, 594
i.5.
ii.
593, iv. 11
vi 20,
ii. 229
XV. 20-28,
1.633
i. 5-7,
i. 143
vii. 6,
iv. 176
XV. 21, ?•:.
ii. 445
i.7,
i. 137
vu. 20,
iii. 400
XV. 22, ii. 376, 596, iv. 93
.. 7-9,
i. 138
vii. 30,
iv. 35(k,
XV. 24, 25,
iv. 209
i. 6, 9, i. 133
1 "
596, iu. 70
VU.31,
iv. 436
XV. 24,
i. 506, 635
i, 10,"
i. 143
.vUi. 1,
iv. 15
XV. 25,
i. 303
i, 16, 17,
ui. 397
viii. 2,
iii.
149, iv. 35.
XV. 25, 26,
ii. 376
i,18
i
128, iv. 161
viii. 4,
iv. 66r
XV. 27,
il. 497
1. 19, 20,
ii. 182
viii. 9,
iv. 590
XV. 41,
ii. 248
i. 19-21,
i. 387
viu. 21,
iv. 174
XV. 43,
iii. 26
i. 20, 21,
iii. 459
ix. 19-23,
ui. 373
XV. ii, 44,
iv. 212
i. 21,
i. 335
ix. 20-23,
i. 562
XV. 45,
u. 94
i. 21-28,
i. 453
ix. 22,
iu.
598, iv. 202
XV. 45-49,
ii. 445
i.22,
ii
693, iv. 202
ix. 25, 26,
iu. 22U
XV. 47-49,
ili. 160
i.23.
i
445, iv. 162
Ix 26,
ui. 50, 65
XV. 49,
i. 134
i. 24,
iv. 362
ix. 27,
iii. 530
XV. 50,
i. 427, ill. 26
i.25,
iv. 138, 153
X. 1, 2,
i, 333
XV. 61, 62,
u. 592, iv. 212
i. 26, 27,
iv. 449
x.9.
iii. 649
XV. 51-53,
1.500
i. 26-28,
ii
575, iv. 555
X. 11,
i. 338, 425
XV, 52,
iv. 211
i. 27, 28,
iv. 167
X. 12,
iv. 484, 688
XV. 54,
i. 633
i. 27-29,
ii
182, lii. 30
X. li;
i. 148
XV, 55,
iv. 432
i.28,
iv. 131
X. 17;
ii. 445
XV. 56,
u. 391
1.29,
ii. 416
X. 20,
iv. 565
xvi. 1, 2,
i. 434, iv. 615
i. 29-31, ii.
549
iv. 130, 169
X.22,
iv. 59, 258
xvi. 2,
i. 148
558
X. 27,
iv. 643
xvi. 20,
1. !43
1.30,
i
134, iv. 70
X. 30,
ii. 230
xvi. 22,
i. 113, ii. 329
11.4,
iu. 186, 231
X. 32, 33,
iii. 373
ii. 6-12,
il. 694
xi.l.
i. 532
2 COBINTHIANS
U. 7,
il. 89, 247
xi. 7,
ii, 209
i. 8-10,
iii. 39
ii.9,
ii
625, iii. 286
xi. 14,
U. 430
1.12,
iii. 12, 91, 222
ii. 12,
iii. 60
xi. 15,
Hi, 139
i, 14, I
, 40, 63, iii 564
u. 13-15,
Ui. 66
xi, 19,
H. 1.59
i. 7, 14, 15,
i. 134
ii. 14, il. 594
635,Ui. 67, 72
xl. 28, 1.
147, 174, 213, 251
1.19,
iii, 62
111, iv. 466
272
i. 20,
ii, 235
ii. 14, 15,
ii. 418
xi. 29,
1. 143, 158
i. 22, iii
. 70, 87, 89, 179
ui. 1,
ii
594, iu. 163
xi. 30-32,
11, 376
iv. 175
ili. 1, 2,
i. 558
xii. 2,
ii. 433, 636
i.24.
ui. 16, 572, 584
jii. 3,
ii. 407
xii. 3,
1,131
, 639, ii. 601
ii. 3,
iii. 665
iii. 3, 4
11.416
xii. 5,
u. 445
11.4,
iii. 12
Ui. 3. 6-9,
U. 575
xii. 12,
U
246, iv. 289
ii.6,
Ui. 600, 'v. 639
INDEX OF TEXTS.
705
2 t>r/lINTHrAN8. '¦ 6-1', ill.
11. 8, 1.
ii. 14, IU. 12,
II. 15, iv.
iii. 3, 4, i.
iii. 5, 6, ii
iii 6, 7, 9, ii,
iii. 6-3; 1.
iii. 7, ii. 249,
ill. 9, u.
iii. 10, i.
Ui. 11, I.
ui. 12, i.
lii. 12, 13, i.
il. 14, iv.
iii. 16, i.
ill. 13, i. 134, 140, 435, ii.
554, ili. 53, 112, 156,
iv. 144, 449,
iv. I, ii.
iv. 3, i.
iv. 3, 4, i. 560, 634, 11.
iii. Ul, iv. 33,
iv. 3-6, Ul.
'V.4, ii. 248, iv.
Iv. 5, 6, iii.
iv. 6, 11. 248, 676, lii. 11 1,
iv.
iv. 7, u. 549, 576, iii. 30, iv.
iv. U, 1. 94, ii.
if. 11-14, 16, 18, iii.
W. 13, iii.
iv. 14, 1,5,
iv. 15,
iv. 16,
iv. 17,
iv. 13,
V. 1, 3,
u. 246, ii.ii.
iii.
ii. 552, iii. iii.
Ul.
u. 471, 696, iv.
iii.
V. 5, iu. 70, 179, 224, iv.
V. 6, iv.
V. 7, iii. 53,
V. 10, i. 616, ui.
V. 14, u. 463, ill.
V. 14, 15, iu.
V 14-13, ii.
V. 16, 17,
V. 17,
V. 18-20,
V. 18-21, ii.
V. 20, IU. 571, iv. 298,
V, 21, iv. 153,
vi. I, iii. 593, iv.
vi. 2, i. 607, iii.
vi. 4-7, iii.
vi. 10, 11, iii.
vi. 16, iii.
vi. 17, 18, iii.
vii. 4, 7, 9, 13, 16, Ui.
vii. 11, seq., iii.
vu. 13,
lU.
iii. 155, 1.
ui. 203,
1. 147, iU. 166, iii.
vii. 15,
viii. 1-7,
viii. 2,
viii. 3,
viii. 16,
vill. 16, 17, u. 676,
viii. 19, 11.
ix. 13 i.
ix 14, i.
X. 4, i- 177,
X. 5, i. 321,ui
X. 16, 17, u.
Ii. 2, ui. 561, 572, iv.
291 144 113
165 134
549 315519391 3153W
C>.6 i67
435 33
487 243 160
470552
630 636469128444 53
591445591 171
402 125
222234
251470247 53
125
624 175
469 222?15222 12
575 ii4 172
397
604 631 174
531
409 222 12
68
530 12
291665 169
532
220208 12
581229 98
143
321 186
549506
2 COBINTHIANS. Xi 2, 3,
xl. 4,
xi. 8,
xi. 13, 14,
xi. 29
xi. 31,
xii.,xii. 2,
xii. 2--4,
xii. 6,
xii. 7,
xii. 9,
xii. 15,
xii. 15, 16,
xii. 19,
xiii ,
xui. 5, 1. 121,
xiii. 11,
xiii. 12,
xiU. 14,
XV.,
ui. 12
ii. 602
iv. 506
i. 545
ui. 565
ii- 71
iii. 355
iii. 625
iii. 626
iii. 223
1.556
Ui. 30
iii. 597
ill. 374
ill. 12
i. 132
147, iii. 49
iv. 603
1. 79, 140
i. 79, 143
U. 595
1. 625
Galatians. i. 4, 5,
1. 6,
i. 6, 7,
i. 6-9,
ii. i.
iv.iv.ui.
iii.
iii.
iv. 445, 469, ii. i.
iv. i.
iv.
ii. 427,
ii. 314, 416, 423, iv. u,
li. 19, 20, ii.
ii. 20, ii. 243, 557, iii. 49,
189,222, 521, iv.
i. 418, u. 315, iv.iii.
iv. ii.
ii. 314, iv.
iv. 92.
1. 14,
i. 14-16,
i. 15, 16,
ii.4,ii. 10,
u. 11-13,
li.l2,
ii. 15,
u. 16,
11. 17,
n. IS,
ii. 21,
iii. 3,
iii. 6,
iu. 8.
iii. 10,
ui. 10-13,
ui. 10, 11,
iii. 12,
iii. 13, iu. 89, iv. 84, 141
ul. 14. iii. 89, 448, iv. 141,
¦ -. 1.5,' 16,
230 132 130128
525 35
128
576 141
615534
643 430427 119
602576 68
107
464 130
387105 88
Hi
100
il. 423
ii. -193, Ul. ;:i
1
124 175
iii. 17
IV.iv.iv.
iv. iv.
iv.
iv. iv.
iv. iv.
iv.
17-19,
19,
21,
22, 26,1,2,
4-6,
4-7,
. 106, :v. il.
il.ii.
1). 315, 1.
ii. i. i,
iv. 154, iii.
, 134, iii.
11. 430,
10,11, 15,
13,
14,
17, 18, i
19, iii. 44, 454, 561
89
i. 132, lii. 24, i.
iu. 571,
455 444
464 462 140
471 30S397
200630 161
433615 3572
602
545574
Galatians.
iv. 20,
i. 132
iv 23, Men.,
iii. 322
Iv. 26, :,
103,
139, lii. 565
iv. 26, 28, 29
i. 134
V. 2-4,
iv. 131
v.4,
iv. 101, 130
v.5
ii. 602
v.9,
iv 595
V. 14, 11. 245
ui.
10, lo8, 212
v. 16,
ii
415,111.594
V. 16, seq..
iii. 66
V. 17,
ii
417, ii. 594
V, 18, ii
593,
ui. 117, 367
V, 19,
U. 415
V. 20, 21,
il. 416
V. 21,
ui. 9
V, 22,
ii. 593
V. 22-25,
iv. 462
V. 22, 23,
ii.
576, iii. 159
V. 24,
ii
416, iv. 339
V. 25,
ii. 594
vl. 1, 1. 134, U.
416, Ui. 67
vi. 3, 4,
i. 147
vi. 4,
ill,, 203
vi. 7, iii.
207,
214, iv. 539
vi. 8,
li. 594
vl. 9,
iii. 135
vi. 14,
ill. 139
Ephesians.
iii. 464
1. I,
iii. 158
1. 3,
iii. 66
i. 3-6,
U. 537
1. 3, &c.,
ii. 233
i. 4, 11. 70, 243, 539, iii. 190
i. 4, 5, ii. 39
i. 5, 6, ii. 228
i.6, ii. 241, 251, iv. 70, UO
135
i. 7, ii. 249
1. 10, iU. 627, iv. 148
i. 12, 14, 11,241,251
i. 12, 13, ii. 432, 603
1. 13, i. 134, lii. 87, 89, 44S
iv 175
i. 14, 1 134, 493, ii, .592
iii. 70, 89, 179, iv. 96, 175
i. 16, seq., iii. 158
i. 17-20, Ui. 30
i. 13, i. 94, ii. 243, 636, Ui. 553
!. 13-20, ii. 576, 579
i. 18-21, i,i. 522
1. 19, iv. 172, M. 636, ui. 26
281
i. 19, 20,
i. 20-22,
i. 20-23,
ii. 1,
ii. 1-10,
ii. 2,
11.3, ii. 4-7,
11. 6, 6,
11.6,
U. 7,
U. 551, 573
i. 433, iv. 14V
ii. 244
i. 134
ii. 552, 676
i. 485, ii 617
u. 429, 432, iii. 553
ii. 210
Ui. 521, 630, iv. 434
i. 433, iii. 553, iv. 96
ii. 249, 548
U.S, ii. 557, iv.30, 83. 170
ii. 8-10, ii. 635
ii. 9, ii. 575, 537, iv. 73, 80, S3
ii. 10. iii. 139, 553, iv. 172
u. u; 12, U. 432
ii. 14, 15,20, 1. 434
ii. 15, ii. 470
ii. 19, i. 103, 159
11.20, i. 347, 54'
7oe
INDEX OF TEXTS.
[i^FHXSIANS.
Philippians.
Colossians.
ii. 30, 21,
I. 104
ii. 1,
in. 12
u. 2,
ui. 133
iii.,
i. 139, U. 577
U.s;
iii. 143, iv. 170
ii.9.
i. 545, ii. 416
iii 3-5,
i. 435, iv. 13;
ii. 6,
iv. 182
11. 10,
iv. 147
iii. 6,
U. 433, iii. 448
ii. 6-8,
iv. 152
ii. 11, 12,
i. 105, ii. 468. 470
ill. 7, 11
551, ii). 26, 231
ii. 6-11,
il. 233
ii. 12,
ii. 635
iii. 8-10,
U. 240, iv. 133
u. 7,
iii. 12
ii. 12, 13,
11. 463, 552, iU. 521
iU. 9-11,
ii. 39
ii. 7-9,
ii. 93, iv. 100
iv. 172
iii. 9-12
1.510
ii. 8,
ii. 91, 373, iv. 184
ii. 13,
ii. 433, 577
iU. U,
ii. 70
ii. 8, 9,
i. 131, iv. 190
ii. 14, 15,
iv. 167, 19'
iii. 12,
u. 613, 6a2
ii. 8-12,
iv. 208
il. 15,
iv. 14C
iii. 14, 15,
iii, 626
ii. 10,
i. 103, Ui. 199, 440
ii. 16-23,
1. 546
iii. 14, 16, 17
U. 576
il. 11,
1. 539, Ui. 199, 440
U. 18, i.
546, u. 415, iii. 66
iii. 15,
i. 103
ii. 12,
ii. 547, Ui. 12, 177
ii. 23,
1. 546, ui. 15
Ul. 16.
ii. 249
Iv. 371
ill. 1,
iU. 521
iii. 17, 13,
i. 94
ii. 13,
ii. 527, 547, 659, 579
iii. 1-4, 7
i. 135
iii. 17-19,
iii. 69
ii. 17,
iii. 597
iii. 3,
ii. 664
iii. 18, 19,
iv. 472
ii. 21, 22,
iii. 194
Ui. 3, 4,
i. 56b
ii. 19-22,
i. 107
in. 1,
i. 140, Ui. 9
Ui. 4,
ii. 245, 446, iii. 522
iji. 20,
u. 576, iii. 36
Ul. 3, i
. 105, iii. 12, iv. 477
iii. 7, 3,
iu. 167
lii. 21,
U. 230
iii, 6,
iU. 35, iv. 556
ili. 9, 10,
ii. 471
iv. 3-6,
iii. 463
iii. 7, 8,
iii. 222
iii. 10,
ii. 577, iii. 109, 160
iv. 4,
iii. 161
iii. 8,
iU. Ul, iv. 456, 543
ill. U,
i. 456, iv. 161
iv. 5,
Ui. 374
iii. 8, 9,
ii. 596, iv. 106
lii. 12,
Ui. 9, 139
iv. 4-7,
iv. 115
iii. 9,
iv. 103
Ui. 12, 13,
iu. 159
iv. 8, &c..
Ui. 618
iii. 10.
Ui. 111,521
iii. 14,
i. 144, iv. 522, 640
iv. 9, 10,
iii. 625
Ui. 11, 11.
445, iii. 521, iv. 385
Ui. 16,
i. 352
iv. 11, 12,
iu. 16, iv. 10
iii. 13,
iU. 183, iv. 370, 576
iii. 17,
iv. 107, UO, 531
iv. 11-13,
1.557
581
iii. 18,
iv. 524
iv. 13,
iii. 87
iii. 14,
iv. 10, 576
iv.2,
iv. 522
iv. 14,
i. 645
Ui. 13-16
iU. 179
iv. 10,
i. 436
iv. 15, i.
144, ii. 246, 601
Ui. 15,
Ui. 406
iv. 14,
i. 437
iv. 16, i.
144, ii. 246, 551
ui. 17,
1.532
iii. 16, 463
iii. 20,
ui. 525
1 Thessalonians.
iv. 17,
ii. 433
Ui. 21
ii. 651, iv. 212
il,
ill. 62
iv. 22,
iv.i507
iv. 1,
iii. 12, 523
i 2-10,
ii. 577
iv. 22, 23,
1. 141
iv.2.
1. 143
i. 3-7,
i. 135
iv. 22-24, ii.
470, 472, ui. 158
iv. 4,
i. 140, iii. 9
1.3,
iii. 220
iv. 24,
iv. 172
iv. 6,
ui. 406
1.5.
iu. 186
iv. 30.
i. 493, ii. 446
iv. 6, 7,
ii. 623
1. 5, 6, 9,
ii. 433
iv. 31;
ill. 358
iv.6,
iv. 563
1.7,
i. 532
v. 3-5,
iv. 595
iv. 7,
Iv. 435
i. 7, 8,
i 533
V. 5, 6,
ui. 214
iv. 8,
iv. 599
1. 10,
i. 137
V. 12,
iv. 234
iv. 9,
iii. 109
11. 2,
iii. 222
V. 13, i. 542, u. 255, Ui. 584
iv. 10,
ill. 12
ii.4.
1.147
V. 15,
iv. .504
iv. 14,
iii. 565
ii.6,
iii. 164
V. 13,
iii. 346
iv. 19,
ii. 249
u. 7, 8,
iii. 12
V. 19,
i. 352
iv. 20,
U. 230
U.S- 10,
ui. 222
V. 20,
iii. 281
ii. 13, 14,
ii. 677
V. 21,
iu. 143
Colossians.
ii. 13-16,
ii. 433
V. 22,
iv. 524
i. 3-6,
1.135
ii. 16,
iv. 230
V. 25, u.
219, 243, Iv. 523
i. 3, 4,
ii. 577
ii. 19,
iii. 575
V. 25, 26,
ui. 593
i.4.
i. 143
ii. 19, 20,
i. 69
V. 28, 29,
iv. 523
i.8,
i. 135
iii. 8,
iii. 523
V. 30,
i. 102, iv. 144
1.9,
iii. 67, Ul
iii. 9.
ui. 12
V. 30-32,
iii. 566
1. 9, 10,
il. 571
iii. 9, 10,
12, 13, ii. 677
vi. 5,
iu. 15.5, 169
i. 9-13,
ii. 577
iv. 9,
i. 143
vi. 6-3,
i. 9
i.U,
ii. 576, iii. 281
iv. 10,
ii. 577
vi. 12,
iv. 452, 455
i. 12-14,
i. 135
iv. 11,
iii. 400
vi. 18,
iv. 478
i. 13,
i. 543
iv. 13,
i. 137
vi. 18, 19,
iv. 493
1.15,
i. 307
iv. 14,
iv. 212
vi. 24,
iii. 35
i. 15-18,
i. 510
iv. 16,
i. 499, iv. 211
i. 16,
ii. 222, lY. 133
iv. 16, 17
i, 500, iv.213
Philippians.
i. 16, 17,
iU. 534, iv. 135
V. l-U,
i. 140
i. 1-7,
i. 135
i. 18,
ii. 408, 573
.•• X
iv. 326, 379
i. 4, 8,
ui. 12
i. 20.
iii; 626
V. 5-8,
iv. 599
i.5,
ii. 578
i. 2i;
u. 604, iv. 37
v.8.
in. 3
i.6.
i. 139
i. 21-23,
iii. 515
V.9;
ii. 531
i.7.
ii. 539
i. 22, 23,
Ui. 184
V. 16,
i. 140, ui. 9
1.9
ii. 617, iv. U
1.23,
iv. 425
V. 17,
iv. 483
i. lb,
ii. 228, 577, 617
1.24,
Ui.597, iv. 112
V. 23, 24,
11 577, 591 iv. 179
i. U, ii, 228,
241, 251, iv. 472
1.26,
i. 435
V. 26,
i 143
1.20,
iii. 12
i 27,
ii. 218, 433
i. 21,
iii. 49
i. 29,
ui. 222
2 TheesaI
reiANs.
i. 22, 23,
iii. 524
i.34.
in. 12
1. 1,
m. 62
i. 25, 26,
1. 136, 137
u. 1,
u. 4ia iu. 12
i.3
i 135 ii. B77
INDEX OP TEXTS.
707
2 TmSBALOllIAIIS.
i.4.
ii. 577, iii. 12
i.5,
iv. 114
i. 5-9,
i. 617
i.7.
i. 135, U. 446
i. 8-10,
1.626
i. 9, 10,
ii. 235, iv. 272
i. 10,
i. 94, U. 601
i. 10-12,
ii. 228
i.U,
ii. 635, ui. 231
i. 11,12,
ii. 576
ii.3.
i. 457, 477
ii.4,
i. 153, 458, 477
ii. 7, i.
457, 477, U. 357
ii, 8,
1.489
ii.9,
i.478
ii. 10,
il. 605, 638
ii. 12,
ii. 605, 618
ii. 13,
i. 135
ii. 17, 18,
u. 577
iii. 3-5,
U. 577
iu. 6,
iv. 639, 641
ui. 9,
i. 532
iii. 14,
iv. 641, 646
iii. 14, 15,
iv. 642
Timothy.
i.4.
iii. 292
i. 5, ii.
636, iii. 10, 545
i. 6, 7,
i. 545
i. 13,
iv. 425
i. 14, 15,
ii. 602
i. 16,
ii. 154, 462
.. 16,
ii. 154, 543
i. 17,
i. 19
¦A. 1-3,
iv. 572
li.8.
ii.613
•i. 9,
iii. 155
li. 9, 10,
i. 98
u. 9, 11, 12,
iu. 361, 399
u. 12,
lii. 397
11. 15,
iii. 615
ill. 2,
iii. 364
ill. 4, 5,
ui. 16
iii. 6,
iv. 470
iu. 16,
i. 104
Ul. 16, ili. 645
„iv. 66, 147, 160
iv. 3,
1.479
iv. 7,
iii. 292
IV. 10,
112, 11. 603
iv. 11,
ui. 537
iv. 12,
i. 532
iv. 16,
iii. 561, .598
V. 5, 6,
iii. 181
v.8.
U. 613
vi. 3-5,
1.545
vi. 16,
u. 71
vi. 17,
i. 112
Timothy.
1.3,
ii. 577
1. 2, 4,
iii. 12
i-5
ii. 60.5, 636
i. 7, ii. 679, Ui. 6, 26, 281
i. 9, i. 123,
ii. 70, 627, 538
i. 10,
1.316
i. 12, ii. 603,
605, ul. 49, 125
219, 514
11. 3-6,
iii. 220
ii.9,
ii. 675, 678
ii. 19,
ii. 246
ii. U 12,
ii. 93
ii. 12,
iii. 634
ii. 14-18,
i. 545
ii. 1.5,
ili. 134
ii. IG.
iii. 292
2 Timothy.il. 19,
ii. 20,
u. 24, 25.
ii. 24-26,
ii. 25,
ill 6,
ui. 6, 7,
ui. 13,
iii. 16,
iv 4-8,
iv. 6, 7,
iv. 7, 8,
iv. 8, ii.
iv. U,
iv. 16,
iv. 18,
V. 23,
vi. 4, 5,
TlTUI. i. 1
1.2,
i.4,1. IC
1.14,
1.16, ii.7,
ii. 8,
ii. 13,
ui. 529
i 104, iv. 305
iii. 364
i. 562, ill. 374
iv. 119, 122, 386
ui. 5. 186
iv! 345
iv. 365
iv. 611
iii. 184
1. 446, iii. 222
ui. 49, 515, 523
446, ill. 461, iv. 225
i. 437
U. 501
ii. 230
iii. 292
iii. 292
iii. 127, iv. 457
ii. 70, 90
1.128 1.545
iii. 19-2
i. 114, 545, ill. 217
i. 532, 555, iii. 587
i. 655, Ui. 351
iv. 225
il. 14, ii. 529, iii. 10, 133, 189
593
iii. 3, u. 429
iii. 3-6, ii. 472
iii. 3-7, iv. 85
iii. 3, &c. iu. 167
iii. 5, ii. 467, 469, 575, iv. 371
iii. 9, iU. 292
iii. 10, iv. 640
Philemon. 1.5,
i. 5, 7, 12, 20,
i. 18,
i.24,
Hebeews. i. 1, &c.,
1.2,i.3.
i. 143
ili. 12
iv. 92
1.437
i. 14, i
ii. 3,
ii.4,
ii 7,
il. 8,
ii. 9-14,
11. 10,
ii. 12,
ii. 13,
il. 1.5,
ii. 16,
11. IS,
iii. 3,
iii. 6, i
iii. 3, 12,
ill. 12,
iii. 13,
iii. 14,
ili. 14, 19,
iv.,
iv. 1,
iv. 4, I€
IV. 3
iU. 440
ii. 248, lii. 653
iv. 182
. 300, ii. 246, ii:. 600
i. 3.3,422, iv. 246
iii. 88
ii. 497
ui. 440, 534
ii. 92
1. 606, ii. 222
ii. 64, 240
iv. 431
iv. 165
iU. 567
ii. 94
1. 104, ii. 250
. 104, ii. 624, iii. 125
184, 515, iv. 106
13, iii. 17
11. 618, 622, 626
ili. 184, iv. 484, 507
iv. 34, 484, 507
iii. 184, 516, iv. 106
434
I, 19, iii. 515
lii. 530
iu. 615, iv. 434
iv. 625
Hebeews. iv. 8,
iv. 9-U,
iv. U,
iv. 14, 16,
iv. 15,
V. 6, 6, 7,
1.342
iv. 632
iii. 615
iv. 662
ii. 94
iU 418, 596
V. 3, i. 424, ii. 91, 93, Iv. 100
v.9, 1.421,606,11.93,629
V. 11, ui. 375. iv. 1
V. 12, iu. 516, iv. 1
V. 14, i. 149
vl., i. 536, 557, iii. 194
vi. 1, &c., iv. U
vi. 4, ill. 515
vl. 4-6, 1. 621, iu. 67
vi. 4, 5, 9, iii. 31
vi. 7, 8, iii. 190, iv. 311, 400488
VI. 8,
vi. 9.
vi. 9, 10,
vi. 10,
vl. U, 12,
vl. 12,
vl. 13, &c.,
vi. 17, 13,
vi. 13,
vi. 19,
vi. 20
vii. II, 12, 15-19,
vii. 19,
vii. 25,
vii. 27,
viii.,viii. 2,
viii. 6,
viii. 6-13,
viii. 7-13,
viii. 7, 3, U,
ix. 9,
Ix. 10,
ix. U,
ix. 12,
ix. 13, 14,
ix. 15,
ix. 15, &c.
ix. 1^, 16,
ix. 17,
ix 26,
ix 27, 28,
iv. 28,
X. 1, 2,
X. 5-9,
X. 17, &c.,
X. 19, 22,
X. 21,
X. 22,
X. 23,
X. 25, 27,
X. 26, 27,
X. 27, &c.,
X. 29,
X. 31,
X. 3i",
X 35, &c.,
X. 37,
i. 630, iv. 184
i. 135, ii 533
i. 137, Ui. 201
i. 297
iii. 184, 515
i. 532, iv. 106
U. 83, iv. 559
11. 88, iii. 49
ii. 605, 620, iii. 40
lii. 8
iv. 96
iii. 519
i. 626
i. -£33, 11. 623
iv. 173
i. 624
iii. 593
i. 234
i. 626
ui. 518
i. 163
u. 525, iii. 49
1. 162
ii. 553
i. 433
iii 530
U. 591
ii. 462
iv. 430
iv. 431
i.425, iv. 173
i.624
. 497, 594
ii. 625
ii. 90
iv. 568
ii.613 i. !04
ui. 133
ii. 624
i. 444
1.624
iii. 531
lii. 530
iv. 60
iv. 374
iii. 184
i. 640, iii. 552
X. 33, 39, Ui. 615, iv. 107, 483
xi., ii. 602, iii. 125
xi.l, :i. 620, 111.53, 65, 134
xi. 3, iii. 55
xi. 4, i. 310
xi. 5, i. 315
xi. 7, Ui. 517, iv. 368, 377
xi. 8, iu. 53, iv. 106
xi. 3, 9, iu, 219
708
INDEX OF TEXTS.
tiEBBEWS.
James.
1 Pbteb.
xi. 10,
ii. 615
Ui. 14-17,
iii. 159
iv. 7, in
351 Iv. 483, 485
xi. 11, 12,
i. 326
Ul. 15, 17,
iii. 67
iv.8.
i. 143
xi. 12,
ii. 90
lii. 17, 13,
ii. 578
iv. U,
U. 228, 23C
xi. 13, ii. 604, 639, iii. 53
iii. 17,
iv. 462
iv. 12,
Ui. 208, iv. 53.>
xi. 13, 14,
iv. 573
iv.3.
iv 669
iv. 13,
11. 93, 249
xl. 13, &c.,
iv. 541
iv. 4,
iv. 43
iv. 16-18,
i. 94, 102
xi. 17,
ii. 53, iv. 127
iv. 5,
ii. 407
Iv. 17,
i. 104, 11. 60.
xi. 17-19,
i. 317
iv. U
iv. 225
iv. 17, 18,
ii. 377
xi. 23,
l332, ill. 219
iv. 12;
i. 660, iii. 395
v.3.
iii. 587
xi. 27, 29,
iii. 53
iv. 13-16,
iv. 349
v.4.
ii. 446
xi. 32,
iv. 127
V. 11,
1.393
v.5.
iii. 143, 358, 364
xi. 33, 34,
ii. 619
V, 15,
ii. 613, iv. 477
v.6.
i. 13i
xi. 36,
iii. 208
V. 16-13,
iv. 486
V. 7,
ii. 623,iv. 144
xl. 36-38,
1.385
X. 17, 18,
iv. 564
v.8,
ili. 351, iv. 506
xi. 40,
i. 626
V. 12,
iU. 62
xu.,
ii. 377
1 Peteh.
V. 13,
i. 136
xii. 1, iu
.134
, 184, iv. 575
i. 1, 2,
i. 133
V. 14,
i. 143
xii. 1, 2,
U. 92
i. 1-5,
i. 136
vi. 6-8,
ii. 619
xii. 1-3,
ii. 93
1.2,
ii. 70
xU. 2,
ii
. 578, iv. 184
i. 2-5,
ii. 578
3 Pbteb.
xii. 6-8,
ii. 328
i 3, i. 137, 432
, u. 468, iii. 8
i ,
i. 138, ii. 63ft
xii. 8,
1. 142
i. .3-5,
ii. 576, 620
1.2,
iii. 63
xii. 10, Ui. 69, iv. 174, 472
i.4,
iii. 626
i- 2, 3,
ii. 602
xii. 14,
iv. 481
i. 4, 5,
ii. 651
i. 4, ii.
430, 694, ui. 69
xii. 12, 15,
iv. 646
i. 5, Ui. 515, 623, 529, iv. 173
iv. 174, 472
xii. 15, 16,
1. 36
i. 6, i. 137
ii. 364, iii. 208
1.5,
iv. U, 547
KU. 16, 17,
iv. 358
i. 7, i. 147
11. 636, iii. 208
i. 5-8,
iii. 49
xii. 22,
1. 135
< 568
1. 6-U,
iii. 65
xii. 22, 23,
i. 103
i. 8, ii. 248
, iu. 1, 668, 627
i. 12, 13,
iii. 16
xii. 24-26,
i. 593
i. 8, 9,
i. 136
i. 16, ui. 134
iv. 188,211, 446
.;ii. 2.5-29,
i. 626
i. 10, U,
1.347
i. 17, ii.
248, iv. 188, 211
xii. 26-23,
iii. 519
i. 10-12,
i. 420, iv. 7
i. 16-13,
iii. 130
xii. 26, 27,
iv. 272
i. U, 12,
iv. 160
i. 19,
iv. 30
xii. 23,
¦il. 523
i. 12, i. 400,
421, iv. 13, 147
ii. 3,
iv. 406
xiii. 1,
i. 143
159
ii.4,
iv. 287
xiii. 5, 6,
1. 1.35
1.13,
ii. 446, 620
ii. 13,
i. 121
xiii. 9,
Ul 175
i. 13, 14,
iii. 220
ii. 17,
i. 545, ill. 28
xiii. 14,
ii. 564
i. 17;
iU. 215
ii. 20,
1.239
.(..ii. 17,
i. 68
i. 18-25,
i. 136
u. 21,
i. 240
xiii. 20, ii.
675
578, iii. 531
i. 19, 20,
ii. 89
iu. 1,
i. 136
xUi. 21,
ii. 230, 575. 578
1. 21, 22,
U. 620
iii. 3,
1.431
iv. UO
i.22,
i. 142
iii. 3, 4.
i. 486
i. 22, 23,
ii. 472
iii. 5-7;
iv. 379
James.
il. 2,
lii. 565, iv. 576
iii. 7,
i. 503, iv. 213
i. 2. 3,
iii. 208
ii. 2, 3,
iu. 113, 565
iii. 9,
ii. 242,iv. 118
1.3,
i. 147
ii. 4, ii.
65, 535, iv. 40
iii. 10,
iv. 495
1. 5,
iv. 15, 35, 572
11.5,
i. 104, iv. UO
iii. 10, 12,
i. 504, iv. 218
;. 5, 6,
ii
613, iv. 564
ii. 5-9,
i. 136
iii. 13,
1. 304
1. 5-3,
ii. 573
ii. 6-8,
iii. 311
iii. 16,
iu. 33
i. 6-8,
i
131, iv. 345
ii.7,
ii. 65, 605
iii. 17,
iv. 485
1.9,
iv. 341
ii. 8,
ii. 528, 531
iii. IS,
li. 230
i. 12,
Ul. 208
ii.9,
i. 139, ii. 238
i. 15, u. 3S1
, iii.
211, iv. 593
ii. 12,
ii. 228
1 John.
i. 17,
iii. 533
ii. 16,
iv. 380
i.3.
iu. 69, iv. 472
i. 18, i. 13
5, ii
573, iu. 567
ii. 17,
iii. 364
i. 3-7,
ii. 596
1. 19,
iU. 143, 362
ii.l7, 18,
ill. 155
i. 5, u.
578, ill. 583, 588
i 25.
iii. 184
li. 19, 20,
ii. 93
iv. 31
i. 27, ui
166,
214 iv. 615
ii. 20-24,
iv. 184
i. 6, ii
573. ui. 70, 214
ii. a.
iv. 131
ii. 23,
iv. 135
iv. 471
ii. 7-26,
«i. 421
ii. 24,
i. 594
i. 7, ui
70, iv. 424, 471
ii. 8,
U. 245
iU. I,
i. 532
i. 7-10,
ii. 314
H. 13,
i. 641
iii. 2, iU. 155, 169, 361 1
i. 8-10,
li. 327
U 13-16,
iii. 166
iU. 4, i.561.
U. 470, iu. 568
1.9,
i. 297, iv. 123
ii. 14, 13
Ui. 195
iii. 8,
i. 43
ii. 3, u. 663
Hi. 50, 202, 205
ii. 13, ¦ ii.
636.
633, lii. 197
iii. 10, 11,
i. 79
421
11. 19, ii.
636,
iv. 213, 451
ili. 15, u. 620, iii. 155, 169 I
ii. 3, 4,
iii. 214, iv. 471
u. 19. 20,
iv. 471
361, 364
ii. 4, 5,
iii. 211, 214
ii. 20-24, 26,
ui. 217
iu. 18,
ii.4G2, iv. 66
iUB, '
u. 596, iii. 50
ii 22,
Ui. 210
iii. 19, ii. 440, iv. 271, 377 I
ii. 7, 8,
1. 143
ii. 21, 24, 25.
iv. 124
ui.20, 1.618,
U. 440, iv. 369
ii. 7-11,
iii. 205
iii. 1, 2,
11.
314, iu. 143
378
ii 9, 10,
iii. 165
iii. 2,
i. 14, ii. 323
iii. 20, 21,
i. 319
ii. 12,
i. 136, ii. 237
5!1. 7,
U.430
iv.2.
ii. 407
u. 12-14,
i 139
iU. 13,
iii. 375
iv.3.
ii. 429
ii. 12-15,
ii.' 564
iv 45?
lii. 14, 15,
ii.
415, lu. 215
iv. 4,
i. 133
u. 13,
INDEX OF TEXTS.
709
, JCSH. li. 15, 16, i. 640, iv. 43
ii. 17, , iv. 436
U. 19, " i. 102, ill. 68
ii. 20, i. 136, ui. 113, 161
U. 21, i. 136, 139
li. 22-24, il. 619
ii. 24, Ul. 523
11. 24-23, iii. 515
u. 27, i. 136, ii. 596, ui. 161
ii. 28, iv. 103
ii. 29, ii. 472, 563
iU. 1, 1. 136, ii. 472, 564
iii. 2, ii 446, 472, iv. 143
iii. 3, H. 563, iii. 220, iv. 431
Ui. 3, ijic., iii. 182
iii. 6, ill. 111,530, iv. 444
ui. 8, i. 117, 303, ii. 563
iv. 452
iii. 6-10, iii. 214
Ui. 9, ii. 564, 592, iii. 70
Ui. 10, i. 117, iU. 337
ul. 12, iv. 452
iii. 13, ii. 407
iii. 14, u. 391, 563, iU. 50, 165
iii. 14, (fcc, lii. 212
iii. 15, iU. 14
iii. 16, iii. 594
ui. 17, 18, Ui. 211
iii. 18, 19, iU. 165, 202, 423
iv. 471
iii. 19, iU. 50
iii. 19-21, ui. 91
iii. 21, iii. 69
iii. 23 i. 143, ii. 639
iii. 23, 24, ii. 416, iii. 165
iii. 24, u. 593, 596, iu. 50
iv. 1, i. 625
iv. 2, 3, i. 539
iv. 4, i. 136, 540, ii. 571
iv. 5, 1. 540, 11. 407
iv.6, i. 541.11. 531
iv. 6-21, i. 543, 544
iv. 7, iu. 109, 165
iv. 8, ii. 563, iii. 165
iv. 9, 10, U. 242, 462
iv. 12, ii. 563, ui. 211, 69
iv. 12, 13, u. 416, ui. 165
iv. 13, ii. 593, 596, iii. 50, 70
iv. 13-16, Ul. 125
iv. 14, i.286, Ui. 134
iv. 15, 1. 132, 271, 539, ii. 619
ill. 69, 127
iv. 16, i. 236, ili. 69, 165, 533
iv. 472
iv 18, iu. 56, 90
iv. 18, 19, Ui. 211
iv. 19, ui. 97
2 John.
i. 5, 6,
iii. 205
1.6,
ui. 214, 222
i.8,
iv. 485
3 John.i. 3, iii. 218
i. 3-6, iii. 195
i. 7, ii. 23]?
i. 10, iii. 19.5, iv. 639
1. U. iii. IU, 195, iv. 444
JurB. i. 1. iii. 529
i. i, i. 141, u. 631, ill. 28, 66
168
1.6, i. 612, 61G.536, iv. 218
Jude. 1. 7, i. 329, 637, il. 37S, iv. 405
i. 12, i. 121, 545, iii. 28
i. 12, 13, Ui. 176
i. 14, 15, 1. 314
1. 16, 11. 418
i. 17, 13, i. 481
i. 19, U. 418, Ui. 66, 68, iv. 440
i 20, ii. 539
i. 20, 21, i. 136
1. 23, iv. 593
i. 24, Ui. 529
1. 25, ii. 230
Revelation. i., i. 377, lii. 39
i. 3, iv. 9
i. 5, 11. 463, 573
1. 5, 6, ii. 230, iv. 155
i.7, 1.498, It. 211, 220, 464
i. 3, 10, II, i. 509
1.10, i.434, iv. 629
i U, ii. 222
i. 13, &c., iv. 211
i. 16, iii. 487, 583
i 17, ii. 222, iU. 27, 629
1. 18, i. 431, iU. 522, 629
i. 20, iii. 533
u. 1, iii. 563
ii. 3, ii. 238
U. 6, 1. 536
11. 7, iii. 496, iv. 193
11. 10, Ui. 184, 208, iv. 484
U. U, ii. 391, iv. 271
U. 13, Ul. 184, 224
ii. 15, i. 536
11.17, i. 561, Ui. 62, 87, 177
224
il. 22, 23, 1. 560
u. 23, i. 137, 111. 205, 215
iv. 214
ii. 26, 27, iii. 635
U. 36, iii. 184
iii. 1, i. 102, iii. 58
ui.4, iv. 109. 113
iii. 5, 1. 103
iii. 7, iii. 104
Ui. 8, ii. 531, 596
iii. 10, ui. 208, 360, 488
ili. 11, iv. 484
iii. 12, Ui. 191, 630
iii. 15, 16, 1.240, Ui.l 0,iv. 346
iii. 17, i. 137, iv. 326
iii. 17, IS, ui. 209
Ui. 19, ii. 377, iii. 10
iii. 20, iii. 226, 268, 568
iv. 196
iii. 21, il. 92, ui. 226, 631
iv. 397, 430
iv. 4, ill. 575
iv. 8, ui. 105, 636
iv. 9, 10, iv. 273
iv. 9, U, ii. 231
v. 5, 6, 111.629, iv. 179
V. 8, 1. 94
V 8-12, ii. 93
V. 9, iv. 97, 307
V. 10, i. 438, 492, iii. 634
iv. 307
V. U, 12 iv. 147, 366
V. U-14, 11.231
V. 14, iv. 273
vi,, i. 450
vi. 9, 10, i. 449
vl 9-17, !. 428
vi. 10, i. 438, 481
Hevelation. vi. 12, siiq. Ui. 4.87
vi. 15-17, iv. 458
vii. 1, 2, i. 433
Vll. 1-3, iv 397
vii. 3, iii 88
vii. 3-8 Ui. 500
vii. 12, u. 231
vii. 16, .7, iv. 579
vii. 17, iii. 629, iv. 192,290
viii., i. 465
vUi, 1, &o., ili. 45C
viii. 3, ui. 458, iv. 5S8
viii. 4, i. 94, iv. 568
viii. 13, 1. 370
ix., 1. 486
ix. 3, i. 459
ix. 4, lii. 500
ix. 12, 14, 1.370
ix. 14, iii. 499
ix. 15, iii. 488
ii. 15, &c., i. 459
X. 6, iv. 273
xi. 1, 1. 103
xi. 2. 3, iii. 489
xi. 3, Ui. 433
xi. 7, i. 480, iii. 476
xi. 8, 1. 430, uj. 319, 490
iv. 113
xi. 7-10, Ui. 472
xi. 8, 9, i. 105
xi. 10, 13, iii. 433
xi. 13, ii. 228
xi. 15, ill. 635
xl. 15-17, ill. 455
xi. 17, 19, Ui. 483
xi. 13, 1. 94
xi. 19, iii. 445
xii. 1, i. 360, 438, ni. 451, 5S3
xii. 1, &e., iii. 313 iv. 412
xii. 2, i. 371, 433, iii. 235, 454
xii. 6, 1. 460, iii. 494
xii. 7, i. 447, iii. 477, 495
xii. 9, i. 489, iii. 487
xil. 9, &c., i. 451
xii. 10, lii. 635
xii. 14, i. 460, iii. 434, 491
xiii. 1, 2, iii. 489
xiii. 1, 3, iii. 486
xiii. 3, 1. 457, 478
xiii. 6, 7, 1. 458
xiii. 5, 7, i. 478
xii.i. 7, i. 465, Ui. 489
xiii 3, i. 103
xiii. 10, 1. 94
xiii. 13, 14, i. 473
xiii. 14, Ui 486
xiii. 17, 1. 479
xiv. 1, iv. 192
xiv. 3, 4, ii. 407
xiv. 4, 11. 406, iii. 160, 567
iv. 415
xiv. 4, 5, i. 461
xiv 6, ii. 228, iii 441, 563
xiv. 7, ii. 223, iii. 483
xiv 6-8, i. 482
xiv. 9-11, 1. 635
xiv. 10, 1. 632, 6i0, iii. 113
IV. 221, 276, 306, 495
xiv. U, •;. 632, 640, iv. 272 493
xiv. 12, i. 94
xiv. 13, iv. 103, 679
xiv. 14-15, iii. 317
xiv. 19, 20, i. 439, 631
XV. 2, 3, iii. 638
710 Revelation XV. 3,
XV. 4,
KV. 7,
xvi.,xvi. 5, 6,
xvi. 5-7,
xvi. 6,
xvi. 9,
xvi. 10,
xvi. 12,
xvi. 12-15,
xvi. 12-16,
xvi. 13, seq
xvi. 14, 17
xvi. 15,
xvi, 16,
xvl. 17, 13,
xvi. 19, 20,
xvi. 21,
xvl. 24,
xvii. 4,
-xvii. 6,
xvii. 9,
xvii. 10, 11,
xvii. 12,
xvii. 12, 13,
xvii. 14,
xvii. 16,
xvii. 17,
xvii. 18,
xviii.,X1.1U. 1,
xviii. 2, 4,
xviii. 6, 7,
xviii. 7,
xviii. 9-11
xviii. 10,
xvUi. 12, 13,
xviii. 17-23,
xvui. 17. 19
INDEX OF TEXTS.
iu. 319
iii. 105
iv. 273
i. 430
iv. 306
iv. 290, 292
iv. 238
11. 228
i. 462, iii. 475
1. 483, Ui. 497
iii. 502
Ui. 494
ui. 476
&c., ill. 44.3
iv. 53
i. 484, Ui. 320
1. 439
i. 485
i. 489
iv. 238
1. 479
i. 464, 478
i. 478, ill. 489
Ul. 435
Ui. 483
15, 1. 478
iii. 477
i. 486, Ul. 500
ii. 159
ill. 439
1.436
ii. 248
iv. 404
i. 489
1. 479
iii. 492
iii. 488
.% i. 479
iii. 492
iii. 488
Revelation. „ .„,
xvUi. 20, 1. 481, 490, 631
ill. 447, 626, G35, iv. 287
xviii. 24,
XIX
xix. 1, 2,
. xix. 1-6,
xix. 1-8,
xix. 1-9,
xix. 2,
xix. 3,
xix. 4,
xix. 6-9,
xi.x. 7, i
xix. 3,
xix. 9,
xix. 10,
xix. U, &.C.,
xix. U, seq.,
xix. 14,
xix. 15,
xix. 16,
xix. 17,
xix. 17-19,
xix. 20,
xix. 20, 21,
XX.,XX. 1-3,
XX. 3
i. 464
a. 490, 506
iv. 206, 306
iv. 292
Ui. 635
ui. 447
i. 631, iv. 289
1. 640, iv. 287, 289
iii. 550
lii. 570
i. 127, 494, ii. 471
ili. 449, iv. 213
i. 94, 127
i. 494. iii. 575
i. 347, 366
i. 434, iii. 320
iii 476, 495
iii. 324, 635
i. 542, 631, iii. 487
iv. 319, 495
i. 485
Ui. 443
i. 484
i. 489
Ui. 492
i. 428
1. 489
i. 490, 495
XX. 4, i. 489, 492, 494, iii. 634 '
XX. 6, ii. 73, 391
XX. 7-9, i. 495
XX. 8, 9, i. 313
XX. 10, i. 616, iv. 271, 272
XX. U, iv. 192
XX. 11-16 i. 505
XX. 12, iii. 215, iv. 213
XX. 13, iii. 21.5, iv. 212
XX. .2, 16, 1. m, ii. 631
Revelation. . .
XX. 14, u. 391, IV.
XX. 16, '".•
XX. 16, '•
xxi. 1, 1. 304, 426, 506, ¦"•
xxi. 2, i. 505, Ui. 104,
xxi. 3, iii-
xxi. 4, IV.
xxi. 6, 1. 509, 635, ii. 222,
iii. 8, 89, 226, 318,
xxl. 7, i. 630, ill. 226, iv.
xxi. 8, i. 630, 635, 11. 391, iv.
xxi. 9, iii.
xxi. 10, U, ill.
xxi. 10-12, i.
xxi. U, ii.
xxi. 14, i. 409,
xxi. 18, 21, ul.
xxi. 23,1. 303, ii. 248, iii.
xxi. 24, i. 156, iii.
xxi. 25, iii.
xxi. 27, i. 103, 156, Ul.
xxu.xxii.xxii.
-xxii.xxii.
xxii xxii.
xxii.xxii.
xxii xxii.
xxii.xxii. xxii.
1, iu. 89, 104, iv.
1, 2, iii.
3, ill. 104,
5, i. 640, iv.
10-12, i. 637,
12, i. 509, iii.
13, i. 509, iii.
14, 15, 1. 113, iii.
16, i. 349, iv 193,
17, i 533, iii 89,
408, iv. 196,
18. lU.
19, 1.
20. iii. 454, iv.
271406635
.317 570318
290605
408290
614 271
570 104
626
246434 104
621 321
552 104
215505 175
496636 273
64C21522i630
226 196
318
420377 193
225
YALE UNIVERSITY
a39002 00226iil3iib
|i
PHP ' «'. ..' •• ¦' • ',•^¦.-1'
fWii
• ?j-'
r J*?
¦I ¦* » •* '^
.y?;vj;i
'=^«"-
»'¦ .- i