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THE
WHOLE WORKS
OF THE
REV. JOHN HOWE, M.A,
WITH
A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
IN EIGHT VOLUMES.
1. THE LOVE OF GOD AND OUR
BROTHER, IN SEVENTEEN SER
MONS, ON 1 JOHN 4. 20.
VOL. VI.
CONTAINING
II. THIRTEEN SERMONS ON VARIOUS
III. THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORA
CLES OF GOD. PART I.
EDITED BY THE
REV. JOHN HUNT, OF CHICHESTER.
Eontton:
PUBLISHED BY
F. WESTLEY, 10, STATIONERS' COURT AND AVE-MARIA LANE:
AND SOLD BY WAUGH AND INNES, EDINBURGH; AND
CHALMERS AND COLLINS, GLASGOW.
1822
. rnsley, Bolt Court, Fleet Siren.
THE LOVE OF
GOD AND OUR BROTHER,
CONSIDERED IN
.
SEVENTEEN SERMONS,
On 1. John 4. 20.
PREACHED AT A WEEKLY MORNING LECTURE,
8t CorDtoatnets'
In the Year 1676.
VL. VI.
SERMON I.*
1 Jehn iv. 20.
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is
liar : for he that lovclh not his brother whom he hath
seen ; how can he love God whom
he hath not seen.
"JVTY purpose at present is not to speak from these words
either of love to God, or our brother, absolutely and
singly : but comparatively only, according to that connexion
which they have one with another; and the difference of the
one from the other respecting their objects, as the object of the
one is somewhat visible, and of the other somewhat invisible.
There is one thing necessary to be premised to this intended
discourse concerning the acceptation of love here, and it is this;
that the apostle in this little tractate of love, as this epistle
may for the most part be called, doth not design to treat of love
as a philosopher, that is, to give us a precise formal notion of
it ; but to speak of it with a latitude of sense ; not so indeed as
to exclude the formal notion of love as it is seated in the inner
man, but so as to comprehend in it such apt expressions and
actings of it, as according to the common sense of men were
most agreeable and natural to it. And therefore speaking of
love to God in 2 chapter, ver. 5. he tells us, that " Whoso
keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected :"
* Preached May 24, l6;
4 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (sER. I.
that is, the very perfection of the love of God stands in this, in
keeping his word. So in chapter 5, ver. 3. "This (saith he) is
the love of God, that we keep his commandments." And speak
ing of the other branch of this love in chapter 3. ver. 17. he
saith, " Whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother
have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him,
how dwelleth the love of God in him ?" The apostle calls this
the love of God also ; it being one and the same divine princi
ple of love implanted by God himself, which spreads itself to
several objects all under one and the same communication, as
havinjfmore or less of the divine beauty and loveliness appear
ing in them.
So that if any one should go about here to play the sophister,
and say, " Love is a thing, which hath its whole nature, and
residence in the inner man. Define it never so accurately, you
will find it to be wholly, and entirely seated there. Now
therefore, since nothing can be denied of itself, let it be con
fined and shut up there never so closely, admit that no expres
sion be made of it one way or another, yet I need not be so
licitous on this account : for let me walk and do as 1 list, the
love of God may be in me for all that ; since love is such a thing,
wherever it is, as must have its whole nature within one." To
this the apostle would reply, No, I do not speak of love in so
strict a sense. Love, as I intend it, is not to be taken so:
or if it were, it must however be supposed to have that strength
and vigour with it, as to enable it to be the governing principle
of a man's life; to affect and influence his own soul; and so to run
through the whole course of his daily practice. I speak of love
according to what it virtually comprehends in it ; namely, con
formity to the will of God, and obedience to his laws whereby
that will is made known. And thus love is elsewhere taken in
Scripture also. Our Saviour you know gathers up our duty into
love. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour
as thyself; upon 'these two commandments hang all the law
and the prophets."M att. xxii .37. 40.The apostle also tells us, that
"love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. 13. 1O. Therefore love
to God and our brother, in this place, must be taken for the
summary or abridgement of our whole duty ; an epitome of the
two tables ; a virtual comprehension of all we owe either to
God or man, that is, universal holiness, and an entire obedi
ence to the divine will. But still in this system or collection
of duties, love, strictly and formally taken, is to be considered
as the primary and principal thing; as seated and enthroned in
the heart and soul ; and as the original principle, upon which
all other duties do depend, and from whence they must pro-
SKR. I.) AND OUR BROTHER. 5
ceed. The acceptation of love being thus settled, there are
three things that I chiefly intend to shew from this scripture.
FIRST. That there is a greaterdifficulty of living in the exercise
of love to God than towards man, upon this account, that he is
nor the object of sight, as man is ; and consequently, that the
duties of the second table are, according to this our present state
of dependence on external sense, more easy and familiar to us
than the duties of the first. Hence proceeds that general pro
pensity, which it greatly concerns^ us to be aware of; to ac
quiesce and take up our rest in a 'fair, civil deportment among
men, without ever being concerned to have our souls possessed
with holy, lively, and powerful affections towards God.
SECONDLY. I shall shew, that this impossibility of seeing
God, doth not however excuse us from exercising love to him
in this our present state. It is indeed one reason why he is ac
tually so little loved in the world, but it is no sufficient excuse.
For the impossibility of seeing God doth not render it impossi
ble to love him, and to live in his love, while we are here in
this world, dwelling in the flesh. And this also is plainly ground
ed in the text; for this vehement expostulation of the apostle, "If
any man do not love his brother whom he hath seen, how can
he love God whom he hath not seen ?" plainly supposes it to be
an intolerable thing not to love God. And therefore hence he
takes the advantage of enforcing the duty of loving our brother,
because otherwise we should be convicted, and proved to be no
lovers of God ; taking it for granted, that this would be esteem
ed a most horrid thing, even at the very first sight. Otherwise
his exhortation would have no force, nor pungency in it ; but
would be flat, and insignificant. Therefore he plainly supposes
here, that though God's not being the object of sight doth ren
der the exercise of love to him, upon that account, more
difficult ; yet it doth not render it impossible, or the neglect of
it at all excusable ; but considers it as a thing to which men
are most indispensably obliged. This therefore will be my se
cond head to discourse upon from this scripture. And then in
the
THIRD place, my design is to shew you the absurdity of their
profession of love to God, who do not love their brother also ;
and how false and fulsome a thing it is for men to pretend to
any thing of sanctity and religion, while they neglect the du
ties of the second table. Of these we shall speak in order, and
begin now with the
FIRST observation, that the impossibility of seeing God ren
ders the exercise of our love to him more difficult, than the
exercise of it towards man whom we do see. In this doctrine
there are two branches, which are to be distinctly congidercd.
C ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. I.
I. That it is more difficult to love God than our brother.
II. That one great reason of it is, that we cannot see God,
as we do our brother.
I. As to the former of these, that there is a greater diffi
culty in the exercise of love lo God than to men, we may col
lect from the common observation of the world. For it is very
plain and evident, that the common course and practice of men
shews what is more easy to them, and what less ; it plainly dis
covers which way they are most inclined. This is the thing,
which I understand here by difficulty ; and it answers the in
tent and force of the apostle's expression, " How can he that
loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, love God whom he
hath not seen ?" This plainly must be understood in a relative
sense, and have respect to some agent, and here must have
reference to ourselves. It is less easy to us, that is, it is a
thing which our nature in our present state doth less incline us
to, actually to live in the exercise of love towards God, than
towards men. And, I say, what men are more or less inclined '
to, is to be seen in their common course ; and from the com
mon observation of the state and posture of the world we may
gather, that men in general are less inclined to love God, than
one another. And though it be very true, there is too little of
love, kindness, and mutual affection among men, and a great
neglect of justice, common honesty, and the other duties of
the second table, which love must be understood to compre
hend ; yet certainly the instances are not so rare of persons that
are kind, courteous, affectionate, and well-humoured one to
another, as of persons well-affected towards God. This is a
thing which commands our assent even at the very first sight.
Nay further, though it is also no less true, that men are too
much lovers of themselves, to the exclusion not only of God,
but of men too ; yet certainly there is more of love to men,
than to God, prevailing in the world. And to make this out
let us go to the usual evidences and expressions of love ; such
as mindfulncss of others, trust in them, a readiness to be
concerned for their interest, a studious care to please them,
loving to converse with them, or seeking and being pleased
with it, and the like. If we descend, I say, to the considera
tion of such evidences of love as these are, we shall find that
man is generally better beloved, than God is. And that this
may gain the greater possession of our souls, let us a little con
sider these particular evidences of love ; and then see whether
men are not generally more beloved by one another, than God
is by them ; hereby we shall plainly see, what is most agreea
ble to their temper, and what not. And,
1. Mindf illness, or a kind remembrance of others, is a
SER. I.) AND OUR BROTHER. 7
most natural evidence of love. But what ! are men who trans
act affairs one jvith another, so apt to forget each other, as
they are to forget God ? It is given us as a common distinctive
character of a wicked man, that he is one that hath not God
in all his thoughts. For thus saith the Psalmist, "The wick
ed in the pride of his countenance," that is, his heart express
ing itself in the 'haughtiness of his countenance, and his super
cilious looks, " will not seek after God ; God is not in all his
thoughts." Ps. 10. 4. And by the same divine penman a wicked
man, and a forgetter of God, are used as exegetical expressions.
Ps. 9. 17 But there is many a wicked man that will kindly
remember his friends, his relations, even his very companions in.
wickedness. And if we demand an account of ourselves, do we
not find it more easy and familiar to us to entertain thoughts
concerning our friends, and relations, from day to day, than we
do to think of God ? Are we not also more inclined to love them
than God ? What we love we are not apt to forget. " The
desire of our soul is to thee, and to the remembrance of thy
name." Isa. 26. 8. Our love to thee, which naturally works
by desire, will not let us forget thee ; it is too deeply impressed
and rooted in us ever to lose the remembrance of the object of
our love. This is one thing that sheweth, that God is a
great deal less loved by men, than they are by one another.
Again,
2. To be apt to trust in one another, is a very natural evi
dence and expression of love. Whom we hate, we cannot
trust ; whom we love entirely, we Jknow not how to distrust.
One of the characters of love is this, " It hopeth all things,
it believeth all things:" (I Cor. 13. 70 it abhors to entertain a
jealous surmise of the person, who is the object of it. Now
let the matter be tried by this also, and how much more ready
are men to trust to one another, than they are to trust to God ?
What is there so vain, so uncertain, so unstable, which they
are not more forward to repose their trust in, than in him ?
Therefore, saith the apostle to Timothy, "Charge them that
are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded ; nor
trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God." 1 Tim. 6'. 1 7-
Which charge implies the propensity of men's minds, rather
to trust in the most fugitive, uncertain, vanishing shadows,
than in God himself. This is an argument, that he hath but
little love among men ; that he cannot be trusted ; and that
few will give him credit. But how safely and quietly do men
repose a trust and confidence in one another ? And indeed if
faith and trust were not natural to men, there would be no
such thing as commerce, which is the bond of human society.
The world must dissolve and break up ; all must live apart in
ft ON THE LOVE OF COB (ER. I.
dens, and caves, and wildernesses, and have nothing to do
one with another, if they could not trust one another. With
out mutual confidence, there would be an end of all traffic.
But to this, human society shews there is a disposition ; and
you can easily find out persons, in whom you would as safely
repose your trust and confidence, as in your own hearts. You
can say, " I would put my life in such a man's hands, or what
ever is most dear to me." And if that person should but pro
mise to undertake an affair, saying, " I will do such a thing
for you, irust me with it, leave it upon me ;" you would be
as quiet, as if you saw the business done and already effected.
But ho\v unapt are the hearts of men to trust in God ! and
this it is, that holds off the world from him. He hath sent
the gospel of peace and reconciliation to mankind, and therein
declares the good tidings, how willing he is that the contro
versies should be taken up between men and himself; yet none
will believe it, none think him in earnest, till he is pleased
himself to draw them. "Who hath believed," saith the prophet,
"our report ? or, to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"
Isaiah 53. 1. Plainly intimating, that the arm of God must
go forth to make a man believe him, and take his word. A
strong argument, that he hath but little love among men,
when he cannot be trusted j or, at least, when so few will give
him credit !
3. A readiness to be concerned for one another's interest
and reputation, is also a natural evidence of love. And we
know how easily men are drawn in for one another, and take
part with a neighbour, or a friend, when they are traduced,
and evil spoken of ; and especially when they see indignities
and affronts put upon them. There is usually a great siding
among persons upon such occasions. " Such a one has spoken
ill of rny friend, I must stand up for him to the uttermost.
Another has injured him, purloined from him that which was
his, and the like ; I must right him." Should we not reckon
him a base fellow, who should behold an act of stealing com
mitted upon the estate of another, and not make a discovery of
it, or endeavour to have him righted ? But how little generally
are men concerned for God, and his affairs ! What robberies
are every where committed against him, and yet how few do
lay it to heart ! How evil is he spoken of many times, and his
truth, and his ways ! But how few can say, "The reproaches
wherewith they have reproached thee, have fallen upon me ?"
Ps. 69. 9. It is true, this is the sense of David, when he
cries out, " As with a sword in my bones mine enemies re
proach me, while they say unto me daily, Where is thy God ?"
Ps. 42. 10. It is to me as if one was forcing a sword into my
SER. I.) AND OUR BROTHER. 9
bones, even into ray marrow. ; a most intolerable torment to
be upbraided in respect to my God : that he is either impotent,
and cannot help me ; or that he is false to me, and answereth
not the trust I have reposed in him. But how few are there of
David's mind, in this case ? How many oaths and blasphemies
can, they hear, wherein the sacred name of God is rent and
torn, and yet their hearts are not pierced at all ! Further,
4. An earnest study to please men is a natural expression
of love. Now let the matter be estimated by this, how much
less . God is loved in the world than men. It is an ordinary
thing with them to study to please one another, to humour
one another. tf Such and such things I do, and such I omit,
lest I should displease a relation, a friend, or one that 1 have
frequent occasion to converse with." But how few are the
persons, who can say, "This I do purposely to please my
God ?" or with Joseph, " How can I do this great wickedness,
and sin against God !" Gen. 39. 9. A man will oftentime cross
his own will, to comply with that of another ; and reckon it a
great piece of civility to recede from his own inclination in or
der to gratify another person, when he can do it without any
great inconvenience. But how rare a thing is this with respect
to God! To be able to say, "In such a thing [ displease myself,
that I may please God ; 1 cross my own will, to comply with
his." Among men there is especially one sort, that we are
more concerned and obliged to please, so far as we can ; and
that is, such as rule over us. We are bound to please our su
periors ; and to obey them, that we may do so. And there is
no obedience either to God or man, that is right in its own
kind, but what proceeds from love, and is an evidence as well
as an effect of it. "If ye love me," saith Christ, "keep my com
mandments." John 14. 15. "And this is the love of God,"
saith St. John, "that we keep his word." 1 John 5. 3. More
over the duties of the second table, which we owe to men, par
ticularly that of obedience to superiors, are summed up all in
love. The apostle having, in the 13 chapter of his epistle to
the Romans, pressed subjection to the higher powers, in that
they are of God, adds in the 10th verse, that "to love one
another is the fulfilling of the law." "Render," saith he, in
the same discourse, "to all their dues : tribute, to whom tri
bute is due ; custom, to whom custom; fear, to whom fear; honour,
to whom honour." Rom. 13. 7? 8. Yet observe, all is wrapt
up in love ; for the command is immediately after, "to owe no
man any thing, but to love one another:" and in short there is
nothing which love doth riot comprehend, or to which it doth
not incline us.
VOL. vi. c
10 ON THK T.OVE OF GOD (sfcR. 1.
But however, though such obedience be due to our human
superiors as proceedeth from love ; yet how apparent is the
case, that herein is greater love shewn to men, than to God,
though too little to both ? There is indeed too little regard to
laws both human and divine, in the most important matters 5
yet surely a great deal less to the latter, than to the former.
The thing speaks itself as to common observation : and we daily
see how much more human Ltws do influence men's practice,
than those which are divine; and personsthat are a great deal more
prone to be precisely observant of them about matters, which
they themselves do otherwise count indifferent, than of the laws
of God, which are about the most necessary matters, and which
also are acknowledged as such. Thus it hath long apparently
been in the Christian world. A greater account hath been made
of this and that arbitrary circumstance, than of the substance
of religion itself. More stress hath been put upon the cream,
the salt, and the oil, and such additional of human invention,
than on the great obligations of the baptismal covenant. And
if it were not so, it could never have been desired by any, that
we should rather be all infidels, than not be Christians
after their fashion, and in their way. For that it hath been
evidently so, may be seen in this ; that this whole nation itself
hath at once suffered under the interdict of excommunication
in former days. All the doors of our churches and chapels
have been shut up, only for some non-compliance, with this
or that human addition ; thus they chose we should rather be
no Christians at all, than not have Christianity with those ad
ditions. This shews a greater disposition in the minds of men
to obey human laws, in circumstantial matters ; than di
vine laws, in those points which are most necessary and impor
tant.
What then is more apparent, than that God is less loved in
the world than men are ; since persons are more forward to
shew respect to them, than to him? Not but that we arc
bound to shew respect to them too, especially to those who
represent him, and as his vicegerents rule over us. But sure
ly it was never intended, that when we are to obey men for
God's sake, we should regard him less ; we should rather do it
so much the more on this very account.
In a wordf, love ought to be an ingredient in every act of
obedience ; even to human government, as I have said before,
as well as to that which is divine. What love is expressed in
that great canon of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! "What
soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to
them;" (Matt. 7.12.) that is, you ought to judge the case
SRR. I.) AND OUR BROTHER. 11
thus ; "What would I wish to be done to me in such a man's
circumstances? Would not I expect to be obeyed and reveren*
ced, if I were a magistrate ? My love to myself would incline
me to expect it. Therefore my own love to myself, being the
measure of that love which I owe to another, should oblige me
to shew the same respect to him in his circumstances, that I
would wish to- be shewn to me in the like circumstances."
But here is the iniquity of the case : those whom we should
honour and love in the Lord for his sake, men are apt to put
the supreme respect upon ; which is to dethrone the supreme
Lord of all, and to set up his creature in his place. And as
to other persons, who are not invested with power and authority
over us ; how many are there of those, who will not wrong
men, or do them any injustice ! How many that are most
highly civil, and candid in their converse with them, and
strictly careful not to disoblige them by their behaviour ! But
who sticks at disobliging God, or makes a difficulty of disobey
ing him ? Again,
5. Towards men there is a disposition deeply to regret any
offence we unwarily have given them. When we, though
undesignedly, have done another an injury ; if, for instance,
we but casually tread on his foot, or some such like matter, we
presently say, " I am afraid I have hurt you, I am sorry for
it." Common civility would oblige one to express such a re
gret. And if we by any rash word or weak action have trespas
sed upon another, we are reckoned almost unfit for society, if
we do not shew a sense of our having offended such a person.
Men that are not very ill-natured indeed, are apt to make
apologies, and desire to be forgiven in cases where they have
offended through inadvertency. But how much is it other
wise with men towards God, who trespass upon him every day,
and never cry to him for mercy ! who wear away their lives,
from one month, year, and day, to another, in continual de
viations from him, and rebellions against him, without its
ever coming into their thoughts to say, " Lord forgive me,
that I have lived so long in the world, as it were, without
thee ! that I have carried it to thee as if I owed thee no duty
nor service ! Lord, I have offended, I desire to put an end
to this course, and to do so no more." Finally,
6. A love of converse or delight in each other's company,
is another expression of that regard which men have for one
another. Man is naturally a sociable creature ; and how few do
you know, or ever have known, who do not affect company ?
Some few instances there are of persons, that are of a gloomy
retired temper ; but generally men seek to converse with one
12 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. I.
another, and take pleasure in it. But alas, how little do
they care to converse with God ! They had rather be any
where, than in his presence. Many, otherwise ingenious per
sons, men of good dispositions and of facetious tempers, who,
as they delight in converse themselves, so their conversation
proves delightful to others ; yet care not at what distance they
keep themselves from God. How many, I say, of such in
genious persons do we know ; who yet neglect to pray to God ;
take no pleasure in having any thing to do with him ; take his
holy name in vain ; and set themselves at a distance from him,
by their own evil practices ? It may be they will come to the
solemnities of public worship for the sake of order, and to ex
press their respect to others ; so that even in those things
which are peculiarly appropriated to him, they shew more res
pect to men, than God. And how sociable soever their temper
is, one with another; yet with the Almighty they care not to
converse at all, but say to him, "Depart from us, for we desire
not the knowledge of thy ways." Job 21. 14. From whence we
may conclude, that to man in his present state, it is even na
tural to wish the great God out of being. "The fool hath said
in his heart there is no God." Ps. H.I. "I would there
were no God, my vote shall go for it, that there were none ;
I could wish him out of the universe."* But you never heard
of such a monster among men, as to wish there was no man
beside himself. You never heard of such a hater of mankind,
as to wish the whole human race into nothing.
Now all these things concur to evidence or prove to us, that
God is much less beloved in the world, than men are by one
another. And it must be allowed that the common practice
of men sheweth their inclination. This is discovered by con
stant experience and observation, and the very aspect of men's
deportment doth represent this as the true state of things.
And, as I observed before, men may find something of it by
the experience they have of themselves ; even those who have
applied themselves to the business of religion, seriously and
in good earnest. They find they can presently set their love on
* For it is in the Hebrew text, itD'-n^X T 1SW bi 1DN that is,
The fool hath said in his heart, NO GOD. And so it may as well
be understood to signify the fool's wish, as his judgment. And
this is the more likely to be the meaning ; inasmuch as it is
manifest, that this is not the speech of some particular persons, or
of some rare instances of most monstrous horrid wickedness 5 but
it is spoken of apostate man in general, concerning wbom it is said
in ver. 3. They are all gone aside, they are altogether become
filthy 5 there is none that doeth good, no not one.
SKR. I.) AND OUR BROTHER. IS
*
work towards this or that creature ; but how long an exercise
of the thoughts doth it require, and how great is the difficulty
and toil, before the heart can be wrought up into a frame ac
tually loving God !
So that the former branch of this truth, that men are more
inclinable to love one another, than they are to love God, is
abundantly clear. The latter is, that it proceeds in a great
measure from this cause, that God is not seen by us, as we
are by one another j but this must be reserved for another
discourse.
14 ftN THE LOVE OF GOD (sER. II,
-
SERMON II.
TN my Former Discourse I told you, that my design from this
scripture was not to handle singly and apart either the
love of God, or of our brother : but to speak of them compa
ratively, with respect to the greater or less facility attending
the exercise of the one or the other, according to their different
objects ; the object of the one being visible, and of the other>
invisible.
The First Observation raised from the words, after settling the
acceptation of love, was this : That it is more difficult to live
in the exercise of love to God, than towards men ; because he
is not the object of sight as we are one to another. In which
doctrine, as we observed, there are two things to be consi
dered.
I. That it is more difficult to love God, than our brother.
This has been proved from experience, and the common
observation of the world, in several particulars. The,
II. Branch contained in this proposition, which we are novr
to speak to is this ; that one great reason of this difficulty is,
that men cannot see God, whereas they do see one another.
In the prosecuting of this part of my subject it will be more ne
cessary to insist on the explication, than on the proof of it ;
and still more upon the application than on either of the
former. Something I shall endeavour to say to all, as the time
shall allow.
* Preached May 31, 16/6
SER. II.) AND OUR BROTHER. \$
1 . For the explication of this matter : namely, How we are
to understand, that the not seeing God as we do men, is a
cause of its being more difficult to love him than it is to love
them, take these few propositions, As,
(1.) That it is not an impossible thing in itself to love the
tinseen God : for if the not seeing him, did make it impossi
ble to love him,- he could never be loved by any one ; because
he is seen by none with the bodily eye, as we see one another.
But it is plainly implied in our text, that there are some that
love God, notwithstanding his invisibility. And the apostle
therefore endeavours only to evince the absurdity and guilt of
not loving our brother, because from thence a man may be
convicted of being no lover of God, which he accounts as a
most intolerable thing. The not seeing him therefore doth
not make it impossible to love God, but only renders it less
easy. That is, it is not simply impossible, and therefore he
who can do all possible things, can make the nature of man to
love him ; he, 1 say, can form the nature of man to the love of
himself.
(2.) The not seeing of God cannot be understood to be a
necessary cause of this sad thing. It is not such a cause as
doth necessitate this evil, and horrid effect. For that would
be to reflect upon God, as if he had made a reasonable and in
telligent creature, that was by the necessity of his nature pre
vented from loving him. This would be to suppose, that the
seeing of God with the bodily eye, were necessary to the lov
ing of him ; which would make it altogether impossible that
he should be loved by any of us at all, since he is visible to
none. Nay, we might say further, he was never to be loved
by any being, no not by himself, on the same grounds. The
cause therefore of this difficulty is such as doth not necessitate
the thing caused : for that indeed would imply that the nature
of man is such as would never admit of his loring God, and sa
there would be a/contradiction in men's *ery nature ; to wit,
that they should be capable of being blessed in him only,
whom at the same time they are not capable of loving. For
experience sheweth, that there is nothing else in which we
can be blessed ; nothing below, or besides God. Therefore
this would infer, that man must be a creature made on purpose
for misery ; for it is evident he can be happy in no creature ;
neither in God could he be happy, if it were simply impossible
he should ever love him, which is to cast the whole matter
upon God himself. For if this were the case, then a man
might say, " God hath given me such a nature as renders it
impossible for me even to exercise love towards him." But
far be it from us that we should entertain such a thought of
|g ax THE LOVE OF GOD (SBR. If*
God ! that he should make man, a creature indued with an
intellectual mind, and yet not capable of loving h.m, who is
the Author and Original of his life and being ! This it were
even horrid to think of. And again,
(3.) Nor hath this always been the cause of such an effect ;
for there are some that are actually brought to love God,
though they never saw him in the sense we speak of, to wit,
with the bodily eye. It was not so with man from the begin
ning, that because he could not see God, therefore he loved
him not, or was'for that reason the less inclined to love him.
He was formed at first for the lore of his Maker, so as to take
the highest complacency in him, and to make him his supreme
delight. Man, I say, was made thus upright ; but he hath since
been trying inventions, to see if he could be hapvy any other
way, or upon other terms. And therefore since this is not
the necessary, nor the constant cause of such an effect as this,
we must add,
(4.) That it cannot be a cause of itself alone, but must needs
be a cause in conjunction with some other cause ; by the in
tervention of some other thing, by the concurrence of which
thia sad effect is brought about. For if it be true, that there
have been men who have loved God, though they never s.aw
him with the bodily eye, there must be some other ceuse of
the want of love to God in those persons who love him not,
besides his invisibility. Because otherwise, since God was
always invisible, and never seen with the bodily eye, it would
necessarily follow that he could never have been loved at all*
And hence again we may observe,
(5.) That the other cause therefore, which is considerable
in this case, must needs be the degeneracy of man's nature.
It is not to be imagined, that man in a state of integrity should
be incapable of loving God further than he could see him : or
that the sight of his eye should be the conductor of his affec
tions, and of the motions of his soul, which is a reasonable in
telligent spirit. But the nature of man is not now, what it
was. Certainly the case was better with him formerly, than
it is now in this lapsed state, in which we must confess him to
be; since there is so great an alteration in his very nature.
This even the heathens themselves have seen, confessed, and
lamented. I remember Plato brings in Socrates, somewhere
speaking to this sense, upon a supposition of the pre-existence
of his soul : " There was a time, says he, when I could have
seen, and did see the first beauty, the highest and most per
fect comeliness, and loveliness ; but now being subject to the
body, all that impression is vanished and gone." And divers
ethers have complained of that great darkness and ignorance,
SDR. II.) AND OUR BROTHER. 17
which was in them; and of the bonds and chains that held
their souls fast, so that they could not tell how to exercise the
powers of them towards invisible things. It cannot be then,
but the matter must be resolved into this ; that if our not
seeing God is the reason why he is so little loved, it is because
our nature is grown so corrupt and degenerate, that what
we see, takes with us most. And again,
(6.) We may add hereupon, that this degeneracy of the
nature of man must needs stand very much in the depression
of the mind, or intellectual powers, and the exaltation of sense.
For the mind and. the understanding, by the light which God
had placed there, were to guide and govern the man ; instead
of which, sense usurped the throne and took the government
of him into its own hands. During the distraction and inter
ruption of that order, which God had originally set between
the superior and inferior powers of man's soul, sense, I say,
usurped the throne, and took the government into its own
hands, and man has ever since basely yielded, and subjected
himself to its dominion, so that nothing moves him now but
what is sensible. In this therefore the degeneracy of man very
much consists, that sense dictates, and is become the govern
ing principle of his life. And,
(70 We add further, for of this more will be said when we
come to the use or application, that the not seeing God can be
only a temporary cause of our not loving him ; inasmuch as
it is only a cause, with the intervention or concurrence of
another cause, I mean, the disturbance of that primitive
order, which God had settled between one faculty and another,
belonging to the nature of man. Our not seeing God could
never have prevented us from loving him, if things had not
been so deplorably out of course with us, or if this confusion of
order had never been brought in among us. Therefore this
cause is only temporary, that is, so long as this great deprava
tion of our nature doth pre'vail. But there are those, with
whom it either doth not, or shall not prevail always. There
are some, blessed be God, in whom this distemper and disor
der of the soul of man is cured. For God hath sent his Son,
the Redeemer, into the world on purpose to undertake this
cure, and to rectify and set things right in men's spirits. And
" Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from
all iniquity/'* and therefore surely from this monstrous kind
of iniquity, the most horrid of all the rest, to wit, that most
unrighteous unequal thing, that man should not love his own
Original, and the Author of his life and being. Therefore it
* Tit. 2. 14.
VOL, VI. D
18 ON THE LOVE OP GOD (sBK. H
was the resolution of the Redeemer, " I will die, but I will
remedy this matter. I will give myself, I will sacrifice all that
I have, but I will bring this matter to rights again." I say
then it is only a temporary cause, which has been assigned of
men's not loving God, subsisting only so long as man's nature
continues depraved : which is not only curable, but in part
is actually cured, when the work of regeneration is set on foot,
and the Spirit of the Redeemer has begun to obtain in the soul;
and it is completely cured, when the new creature becomes
mature, and is risen up to its full growth and perfection. But
in the mean time, so long as this distemper in the nature of
man continues, our not seeing God is one great reason why we
love him not. For that way of apprehending God, which
should be the same with respect to invisible objects, that sight
is with respect to those which are visible, is wanting. And
this apprehension will still be wanting, that must supply the
room of sight, so long as this degeneracy remains in us. While
it is thus with us, that we are subject to the power of .sense
which has usurped the throne, the soul is destitute of those
clear conceptions, those lively and vivid apprehensions, that
issue in love to God. And so the great neglects of God, and
the intolerable disrespect and affronts that are put upon him
in the world, are, in a great measure, according to the present
degenerate state of man to be resolved into this cause, name
ly, that he is not seen. Hence it is, that so many persons
neither love, nor regard him at all.
2. Having thus explained the point we are upon, I now
proceed to evince this truth, that one great reason, why men
are not so apt to love God as they are one another, is because
he is not the object of sight as we are. And this I shall do
from the following considerations, namely, that the object is
such as would certainly command our love, if it could be ap
prehended aright ; and if it be not so, it must proceed from
some defect in ourselves.
(I.) That the object is such as would certainly command our
love, if it were rightly apprehended. For he is most amiable
in himself; and has infinitely more obliged man, than thev can,
ever oblige one another.
God, I say, is most amiable In himself, who is chiefly to be
loved by all, though he is not actually so ; as he is confessed
to be the Supreme Object of our understanding, while in reality
he is least known. " God is light,"* says the apostle in one
place of his epistle; and "God is love,"f as he affirms in
two others ; a Being of pure light, and glorious love. Would
* 1 John l. 5 \ 4. 16..
SER. II.)' AND tf R BROTHER. 19
he not be loved therefore, if apprehended aright ? " Who is
like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods !" as we find Moses
speaking with admiration, " Who is like thee, glorious
in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?"* God is a
Being wherein the most perfect wisdom, goodness, power,
truth and righteousness, make so admirable a temperature,
that it is not possible he should not be loved, if he were but
known.
Besides, he has infinitely more obliged men, than they ever
have or can oblige one another. Take any man whatsoever,
whose soul you may suppose to be utterly destitute of the love
of God, how low and abject soever be his state, yet you may
say, " Thou impious wretch ! thou hast not the love of God in
thee ; though he hath done more for thee, than all the men in
the world whatever could do, even though they should all join
together to oblige thee. For is he not the Author of thy life,
and being ? Could the invention of all the men in the world
have formed such a creature as thou art out of nothing ? Is he
not a continual Spring of life to thee ? Thou livest and movest,
and hast thy being in him every moment. And it i* with this
design, that God doth continue to thee thy breath and being,
that thou mightest feel after him, though thou canst not see
him, and also labour to find him, though he be not far from
every one of us. Thou art his offspring as even heathen poets
tell us :f no creature could ever have made thee. No man is
always doing thee good every moment, and at all times ; but
thou art continually sustained by the divine hand. The great
God who made thee, feeds thee with breath from moment to
moment, and is always exercising towards thee sparing and
sustaining mercy ; for his patience and bounty always concur
together, in every moment's addition to thy breath." It were
altogether impossible then but that God should be loved,
more than all other beings, if he were but known. And
then,
(2.) Since an object so excellent in himself, and beneficent
towards us, must have been loved by us, if there were not
some defect in ourselves, therefore it plainly appears that
there is a defect ; and it is owing to this, that sense has got
dominion over us, and the ruling sway within us. For if he be
not loved by any one, it must proceed from hence, that those
lively apprehensions are wanting, which sense is the instru
ment of with reference to visible objects. This is in itself most
plain, that such an object as the blessed God i, could not but
attract our love, if there were not some great defect in our-
* Exod. 15. 11. f See Acts 17. 27, 28.
20 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (sBR.lt.
selves, or if sense had not the power and dominion over us.
And that it has such power and dominion, may be seen by
comparing these two things together : to wit, that generally
the objects of sense do make great impressions upon us;
but the things that fall not within the reach thereof, or ex
ceed its sphere, usually make little or none at all.
[1.] The things of sense, I say, do usually make a great
impression upon us, and are the things that have the deep
est influence and operation upon the minds of men, so long as
they are destitute of the grace of God. Hence it is, that
men, who are yet in an unregenerate state, are said to be
" in the flesh."* And a wicked man is spoken of as one, that
is lost in the flesh ; so that there is nothing comes near him,
nothing affects the soul, nothing reacheth his heart, but what
some way or other doth slide in upon him, through the media
tion of his external senses. It is true, sense is the instrument
of conveying to us the knowledge of many things that are not
the objects thereof. But when any are spoken of under this '
character, of being in the flesh, it bespeaks the degeneracy of
man while unrenewed to be so great, that he is a creature so
wrapt up in the flesh, as that nothing can come at him, but
what is sensible. And therefore of such persons it is said,
" They savour the things of the ftesh."f While this is the
state and case of any man, it is no wonder that things, which
are not the objects of sight, should move his heart but little.
It is evident to all that make any observations upon themselves,
how mighty a power sensible things have upon them. A dan
ger that we see, how do we start at it ! Without using any in
tervening thoughts, as soon as we sec it we dread it. How
apt are we also to be amused, by the variety of sensible ob
jects ! How apt to be ensnared and enticed by them ! There
fore such as have a due care of themselves, what a watch and
guard do they set upon their sense ! For this purpose holy Job
is said to " make a covenant with his eyes." And we also
read of a heathen philosopher, that would outdo Job, by put
ting out his eyes, that he might be able to contemplate the bet
ter ; acting herein agreeable to this Arabian proverb, shut the
windows, that the house may be light. Thus it is evident
how great a power sense has over us, to draw us this way and
that. And,
[2.] On the other hand, it is also obvious to experience, how
little power, in general, those things have usually over us which
fall not under the senses. Not only the objects of our love,
but of our other affections signify nothing, make no impres-
* Rom. 7. 5. f Rom. 8. 5. Job. 31. 1.
SKtt. II.) AND OUR BROTHER. 2i
sion if they be invisible. Therefore it is spoken of as a cha-
racteristical note of the saints, that " they look not at the things
which are seen, which are but temporal, but at the things which
are not seen, and are eternal."* We read particularly of
Noah, who " being warned of God of things not seen as yet,
moved with fear, and through faith prepared an ark for the
saving of his house."f Do but consider ; here was one
man, and only one in a whole world, that was actually mov
ed by the discovery and report of things not seen as yet, who
when he was warned by God of such and such things coming,
though unseen at present, admitted into his soul a pious pre
venting fear. I say there seems to have been but one such
man in a whole world, and he is thereupon recorded with ho
nour in the book of God for it. So rare a thing is it that a man
should be influenced by things not subject to sight, that if
there be but one Noah, any one such person in the world, Re
cord him for it (saith God) to future ages, for his excellency in
this, that he took notice of the monition, or warning from
God, as to things not seen as yet, so as to do what was agree
able to the exigence of the case. Accordingly he stands at
this day as an eminent example to all succeeding ages. And
you find, that it is the same faith which distinguished! those
who belong to God, and is the principal rule of their life ; to
wit, " the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of
things not seen."! Plain therefore and visible it is to us, and
so it must be to all the world, that most persons are governed by
their senses ; while things not sensible never move, nor signi
fy any thing with us. How plainly doth experience every day
speak in this case ! When we tell men of a judgment to come,
a dreadful tribunal where they must all appear, and an endless
state of things, that is before them ; we are to them as men
that mock. They cry out, f< Surely, you are but in jest ; you
mean not as you say, when you tell us of such dreadful things;
we see nothing like it, nothing tending that way." Thus in
like manner it is said, that when the inhabitants of Sodom
were admonished by Lot, that fire and brimstone were ready
to come down upon their heads to punish the most flagitious
enormities of that people, " he was to them as one that mock
ed.'^ So we are told this will be the language of scoffers in
the latter days, " Where is the promise of his coming ?"j| As
much as to say, " You have told us often of the great and ter
rible day, when the sign of the Son of Man shall be seen in the
heavens, and that there shall be most terrible concomitants of
2 Cor. 4. 18. t Heb, 11.7- J Heb. 11.1. Gen. 19. 14.
|| 2 Peter 3. 4.
22 ON THE LOVE OF COD (SER. II.
his appearance ; but we see nothing like it, no token of its ap
proach, "all things continue as they were from the beginning
of the creation." Thus the judgment of sinners is framed
only by what is seen ; and what is not seen, is not at all mind
ed; not regarded by them. So David says, "Because they have
no changes, therefore they fear not God."* They say, "All
things are as they were. There is no alteration fallen out so
important, as seems to portend such dreadful things, as you
talk of. The sun runs its course as it has been wont, and there
is the same succession of day and night, summer and winter,
as in former times. Who therefore can make us believe, that
there is such a dav coming as that, which is so much talked
of?"
Now, since we find, that God is such a one as you have
heard ; namely, most amiable in himself, and beneficent
towards us, and consequently that he would most certainly be
beloved, if there were not some great defect in us which
hinders so blessed an effect ; and since we find, that there is
such a defect, that we have promoted sense to be the ruler in
us, and that sensible things make a deep impression on us,
while things that are not subject to the senses have little, or
no regard from us ; we have all the reason in the world to con
clude, that the great reason why men love not God is, because
they do not see him. He is out of sight, and they regard him
not.
I THOUGHT to have insisted on many things by way of use, as
I proposed, after having explained, and evinced, this second
branch of my first proposition ; but i shall now only hint at
some things, which I propose to speak more largely to in the
next discourse.
IN the first place, we may infer and gather from hence,
that the apostacy and degeneracy in which this woild has been,
and is still involved, is very dreadful ; in that it hath destroyed
man's right disposition towards God. If it had wrought only
so far as to deface men's limbs, and turn them into monstrous
shapes, it had not been by many degrees so tremendous ; but
it hath deformed the mind, and spoiled the temper of the spirit
as it hath reference to God most of all, which is a thing never
enough to be deplored.
Again secondly, we may further infer, that there is a necessity
for something or other to supply the room of our not seeing God,
as man did in the state of innocence ; inasmuch as he is not
seen by us now in this lapsed state, so as to furnish us with
such apprehensions of him as to engage us to love him. There
Psalm 55, 19,
SBR. II.) AND OUR BROTHER. 23
must be something analogous to sight, some communications
of God's grace, that must influence our hearts to love him ;
without which it is impossible.
Moreover thirdly, I would observe, It is a wonderful mercy
that God hath not wholly concealed himself from men : that
though he cannot be seen by the bodily eye, yet he hath vouch
safed to shew us, how we may attain to the knowledge of him.
No man, saith John the Baptist, hath seen God at any time ;
the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
he hath declared him.* How then ought divine grace to be
admired for this !
We may hereupon, fourthly, see the great necessity of much
gospel-preaching, and that very lively and serious too. There are
a great many that are apt to say, "What needs such ado ? why
must we have sefmons so often ?" Surely the exigence of the
state of man is but little considered by them that say so. Do
not we need to be often put in mind of the invisible God, when
men love him not, because they 'see him not ? If they should
hear of him neither, what would become of them ? Certainly
they misunderstand the state of things among us, who think
every little in this kind is too much.
Finally : We may see how little reason we have to be in love
with this state of dependence upon sense, which amuseth our
souls, usurpeth the power over them, and so disturbs and mud
dles our minds as to divert them from their true objects.
How little reason have we to be fond of living in, and walk
ing after the flesh ; which is to live the life of a creature, as it
were, buried alive. Surely, I say, we have no reason to be
fond of such a life.
* John 1. If.
24 ON THE LOVE OF COD (SER. III.
SERMON III.*
TIAVlNOtold you in the introduction to the First Discourse,
that love to God and man, is the summary of our whole
duty, I proposed to insist on these three things.
FIRST, that there is a greater difficulty of living in the exer
cise of love towards God than towards men on this account,
that he is not the object of sight, as man is : or, in other words,
men are much more disposed to love one another, rather than
God, inasmuch as they can see each other.
SECONDLY, that although this is one great reason why men
in reality love God so little, yet it is no excuse.
THIRDLY, I proposed also to shew you the manifest falsehood
and absurdity of any one's pretending to love God, who does
* Preached September 6, 1676.
N. B. The author begins the third sermon on the subject after
the following manner :
" It will be necessary, after so long an interval, to be somewhat
larger than usual, in the recollection of what has been said from this
scripture." And accordingly he proceeds to give a large recapitula
tion of the two former discourses, which he had preached about
three months before ; of which this is only an abstract.
There is a like interval or chasm, with respect to time, between
the VIII. and IX. of those posthumous sermons, published by Dr.
Evans ; and there are several more of the like nature in the manu
script volumes, out of which these discourses are selected.
SEtt. 111.^ AND OUR BROTHER. 25
not love his brother also. The FIRST of these we have made
some progress in, and, in the handling of it, told you, that it
contained these two parts :
I. That it is more difficult to love God than our brother.
II. That one great reason of it is, that we cannot see God
as we do one another.
As to the former of these, we have shewn you in several par
ticulars, that how much soever mutual love is wanting in the
world ; yet it is not so hard a matter to find out instances of
kind, goodnatured men, who are friendly and fair in their de
portment one to another, as it is to find persons who are kindly
affected towards God. In the prosecution of this matter the
usual expressions, or evidences of human love were considered.
Such as mindfulness, or a kind remembrance of one another ;
mutual trust ; a readiness to be concerned for each other's in
terest, and reputation ; an earnest study to please, and oblige ;
and a disposition deeply to regret an offence, though given
unwarily ; and finally, a love of converse, or delighting in
each other's society, is another expression, as we observed, of
that regard, which several persons have for one another. In
all which respects it appears from constant observation and
experience, that men are more disposed to shew love and res
pect to one another, than to God.
As to the latter of these propositions, that all this proceeds
for the most part from this cause, namely, that God is not
seen by men as they are seen by one another, several proposi
tions were first laid down for the explication of this point ; and
then two considerations for the eviction of it, tending to shew,
that it must necessarily be from some great defect in the nature
of man, that the most excellent and most amiable objects of all
others, should not be generally loved by us. After which,
two or three hints by way of use were given you, and so we
concluded the last exercise on this subject.
3. I now proceed to a larger and more close application of
this important truth.
( I .) Hence we infer, that man is in a very lovr and lapsed,
state. The present state of man, 1 say, is a lapsed state. He
is fallen, and fallen very low indeed, when this is the case
with him, that he is less apt to love God than man ; and only
for this reason, because he cannot see God. It argues, I say,
man to be sunk very low, and greatly fallen. And can we
hereupon think otherwise ? For what ! can it ever enter into
the imagination of any of us, that God did ever create such a
thing as the reasonable intelligent spirit of man, his own off
spring, image, and glory, with an original indisposition to the
VOL, VI. X,
26 ON THE LOVE OP GOD (SER. Ill
love of himself ? Do we think that God gave such a nature to
man at first, as was capable of being employed about spiritual
objects, and yet with this strange defect or flaw in k, that it
should be impossible to this nature of man to love the Author
of itself, and the Original of its own life and being ? This can
not be. It can never be, that a reasonable spirit, the immedi
ate issue of the great Father of spirits, should be so alienated
from its own Father ; and that it should be so dependent upon
sense, as not to be able to love him from whom it came, or
anything which is above the sphere of that base principle,
which now presumes to give laws to the immortal mind. It
is not to be supposed, that God ever created man so, as that
his invisibility, which is the excellency of his own being,
should be the reason why man should not love him. For he is
therefore invisible, because he is excellent. And to think that
the nature of man at first was so formed, that the excellency of
things should be the reason why they should not be loved, and
his own excellence a reason for his creature not to love him, is
too absurd for any rational person to imagine. It is there
fore plain, that the present state of man is a very lapsed
state.
Some of the heathen, as we observed before, have acknow
ledged and lamented this. We find one of them complaining,
that the darkness of ignorance clouded his mind, and that this
body and flesh was but as a living sepulchre to the man.
Another complains of certain bonds and chains, that tied down
tire mind of man to the body, and the things of sense. And a
third speaking of the excellent state of man at first, sa^s, that
he then lived in a sort of familiarity and converse with God,
but that now it was become quite otherwise with him. Such
things as these we find in the writings of divers of the heathen.
And how incongruous a thing is it for us who have all the con
cerns of our souls, and what relates to our being, so expressly
discovered and made known to us ; how incongruous a tiling
is it, I say, that such a malady as this should be so little mind
ed as it is by us ! Many have very slight notions of the dege
neracy of man, and make a little matter of it, and the most
have a much slighter sense thereof in practice. How few are
there, who carry it as those who apprehend themselves fallen,
and cast down from great excellencies ! fallen short, very far
short, of the glory of God ! we live as if we apprehended no
such malady, as if we knew not that there was a disease or
distemper inwrought into our natures. Oh, how little is there
of the sense of this to be found in the bulk of mankind ! And
hecce I would farther infer,
SER. III.) AN'D OUR BROTHER. 27
(2.) That this depravity or lapsedness of the nature of man
consists greatly, in the depression and declination of his mind,
and intellectual powers, as to the particular work and ofl'ice of
guiding his passions, his affections, and practical inclinations.
This was just mentioned before in the last discourse,* but shall
now be more largely considered. I do not say, with some,
that this is all that is meant by the corrupt state of man ; but
certainly it stands very much in this, that his mind and ra
tional powers are become unfit for their proper business ; and,
that sense hath got the throne, usurped the reins, and governs
his passions and affections. Herein I say, consists, in very
great part, the corruption and depravedness of man's present
state. And do not we find it to be so ? Do not we see, as to
the objects that draw men's affections daily into a certain course
that it is not the mind, but sense which prescribes? Sense dic
tates and says, " Love here," and they do accordingly : "Love
not there," and they obey. " Let that be the object of your
love,, which sense tells you is amiable and lovely ; and that
which sense says no such thing about, you may slight, neglect,
and take no further notice of." Thus men are dictated to, and
they do accordingly. It is plain then, that the depravedness
of man's state stands chiefly in this, that sense takes upon it
self to do the business of the mind and intellectual powers,
and we consent it should be so.
But is not this a dismal thing ? more dismal that it is not
laid to heart ! Is it not a dismal thing, I say, that the first rank
and order of creatures in this sublunary world should be sunk
into that low bestial life, so as to be governed by no higher a
principle than what is common to them with brutes ; and tlaat
the incongruity of this should not be reflected upon, and more
deeply considered ? That men should so seldom consider with
themselves the unfitness of their course, or labour to shake off
the usurped dominion over them ? This, I say, is most sad
and doleful to think on, that matters should have gone on thus
from age to age, and from generation to generation, in so many
successions to this day, and we have heard of so few in all that
time, who have regretted to be so imposed upon, and forborne
to live the life of beasts and brute creatures through so many
ages ! One would think it should some time or other have come
into the mind of man, to think thus witli himself. "What! is
it a becoming thing for me, a reasonable and intelligent crea
ture, one formed after the image and likeness of God, one of
those creatures made at first for his immediate service and fel-
* See Prop. (<5.) p. 17.
28 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (sER. III.
lowship, that T must now be imposed upon, and dictated to by
sense ? that vile and base principle of sense, so as to love no
thing but whatthat counts lovely, and neglect every thing which
that takes no cognizance or notice of?" It is an amazing thing,
that there should not be so much apprehensiveness left among
men, as to remember, that they were men, in their original,
once at least that they were men, " Remember," saith the
prophet in a like case, u and shew yourselves men." Isa. 46.
8. But alas, how little is there left of a sense of this degeneracy
among us ! how little resentment of the vile indignity that is
done to the whole kind, and which the whole species of men
have suffered to come upon them ! to be degraded and brought
down into an inferior rank and order ! to do, to act and live,
as if they were also made to die like the beasts that perish!
There are indeed many, in the mean time, who proudly ar
rogate and give to man that which belongs not to him in his
present condition, and which this state does not admit of. ,
They say him to be that which he is not, but in the mean time
really see not, nor lament that he is neither what he was, nor
what he should or ought to be. And to how little purpose is it
to magnify human power, when it is manifest how forlorn the
present state of man is ? He is fallen very low ! And what are
these men intent upon, who make it their business now to
magnify the nature and power of man in this condition ? those
parasites of mankind, as I may call them, what mean they by
it ? When he is become a lost perishing creature, they adorn
him with shadows, and think they make up the matter by at
tiring him with magnificent titles and attributes. As if when
a person is condemned to suffer the execution of the sentence
of death passed upon him, one should clothe him with a ma
jestic robe, and bestow great compliments upon him. This
is to add scorn to his ruin, and is only insulting over the
wretchedness and calamity of the man's condition. And yet
this is the course of them that go about to persuade man, that
although the case is thus with him, he can recover his
own excellence that he hath lost ; that he can anew create him
self, or repair the ruins of his decayed and shattered state.
This is the way to add incurableness to his misery, by tempting
him to neglect the only means of taking it off, and so make
him miserable without remedy. But that persons out of a deep
concern for the honour and gloiy of man as the top of the crea
tion, should go about to make him believe himself now in an
honourable state, and that he can even now do great things ;
now unsuitable and insignificant is this, as well as inconsistent
with truth ! And again,.
SER. III.) AND OUR BROTHER. 29
(3.) We infer hence, that man is most especially prejudiced
and impaired by his lapse or fall, in respect to his disposition
and inclinations towards God. The wound is principally in
his mind, and consists in the depression and enfeebling of its
powers ; but the mind itself is most especially hurt and im
paired in respect of those inclinations by which it should be
guided towards God. For in the state in which he is at pre
sent he is indisposed to the love of God ; and for this mean rea
son, because he cannot see him. And that he is not able to
love what he cannot see, shews him to be a very mean abject
creature, and that his powers are mightily impaired. Surely
the time was, that he could have loved what he could not have
seen with his bodily eye ; and how comes it to pass that be
cause he cannot see God, therefore he cannot love him ? This
shews that his mind is impaired, that he is hurt chiefly in
what respects his Creator ; and that his propensity, the bent
and bias of his spirit towards God is lost.
This is the sad and dismal thing that is befallen the nature of
man, because God is far beyond the reach of his sight, and he
himself is sunk into flesh, lost in earth, and always imposed
upon by sense, he cannot see him, cannot lift up the dull heavy
eye of his mind to his God, which is the eye he must be seen
with by his creatuies. So that, as the apostle Paul expresses
it, he is become alienated from the life of God, and without
God in the world. Eph. 2. 12. And how much is this to be
lamented, that man is so fallen off from God ! that his original
propensity to him is lost and dropped from his nature ! If we
had heard but of one man since the creation of the world with
whom this was the case, it would deserve to be very much la
mented. But that this should come upon the whole kind, that
it should be thus, as I may speak, with the whole race of men ;
methinks the sense of it should never wear off from our hearts.
Strange ! that it should be the course and fashion of this world
all over the earth, to live in an oblivion of him that made us,
and with hearts devoid of his love, and only because he is so
excellent as not to be seen by us with the bodily eye ! It was
reckoned a sad and terrible day, when a tribe was cut off from
Israel ; but if we consider what man was made for, what were
the design and end of his creation, we see as it were a whole
race of beings lost from the creation of God. For what can we
think man was made for but to love, admire, triumph, and
glory in his great Maker ? But to all this he is lost, and ab
stracting what is done in order to the recovering him again, it
had been as well if there had been no men at all, and for
themselves unspeakably better. How strange then is it, that
30 N THE LOVE OF GOD (sER. III.
such a matter as this is, should ever escape our thoughts ! If
we speak of the corruption and depravedness of human nature,
they are words of course that drop from us now and then, and
some slight notions of the matter hover in our minds; but
how few are there to whom it is a familiar thing to roll them
selves in the dust before the Lord, in the sense of that vile and
abject state, which man in common now is in ? How few la
ment that they are by the fall cut off from God; and spoiled as
to all their capacities, whereby they were suited to the divine
love, service and communion ! And yet the most tragical cala
mities that could possibly have fallen out in the world, or of
which we could form any imagination, had been nothing in
comparison of this. Nay if all mankind, as to shape, or im
possibility of external enjoyments, were the most monstrous
and most miserable creatures living, it were nothing when
compared to the mischief and misery, which are the fruits of
man's apostacy from his Maker.
(4.) We further infer hence, that man upon all these accounts
must necessarily be at a very great distance from true blessed
ness. Whoever understands, or considers the connexion be
tween blessedness and love, will soon perceive the reasonable
ness of this inference. It is impossible to be blessed without
love ; and it is necessary to every one's satisfaction, that it be
a full and sufficient good that is the object of his love. If
either of these be wanting, it is impossible it should be satisfy
ing, or a suitable good to me. Or if on the other hand, there
be a good never so self-sufficient or all-sufficient, yet if I can
not love it, if my heart be averse to it, this also is a sufficient
bar to my happiness. The things that are seen, though a man
love them never so much, can never satisfy, because they are
not sufficient. The infinite incomprehended good is all-suf
ficient, and fit for every purpose ; but this cannot make him
happy, because he doth not love it. In the creature therefore
man cannot be happy, in God he will not. He cannot in the
creature, because that hath not in itself to give ; in God he
will not, because his heart is disinclined to him, and will not
be brought to a closure with him by love.
Consider man according to this state of his case, and you
must look upon him as one, who by his very constitution and
present temper of his soul, is formed for misery ; I say so long
as he continues in his present situation. His heart inclines
him truly to visible things, and to love the objects of sense,
which can never make him happy. The good that is unseen
hath enough in it to make him blessed, but then he will not
love it. He will not apply himself to love God, merely be-
SER. III.) AND OUR BROTHER. 31
cause he is out of sight. You must needs think then that it
is a great thing that must work the cure of man, who is thus
involved in so great an abyss of depravedness and misery. And
therefore I must add,
(5.) That there is a very great necessity of much gospel-
preaching in order to persuade men to the love of God. For
what is the design of the gospel, but to render God amiable to
men ? What is it but a method of rendering God lovely, and
of restoring men's love to God ? And since his loveliness is
not the object of sight, there needs such a supplemental re
presentation of himself, to supply the want of vision. And
since the things that court our senses are obvious, and occur to
us every day, yea every hour of the day, it is needful that we
should be frequently put in mind of God $ and that those dis
coveries of him which tend to beget the love of him in our
hearts, should be very much urged and inculcated upon us.
For otherwise what should countervail sense, or what shall
we set against the sight of our own eyes ? " No man hath seen
God, at any time." What is it then that must supply that
defect, and be in the stead of the sight of God to us ? Why,
"the only begotten Son of God, he hath declared him.'* John
1. 18. So that we have now a revelation of God himself.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, who lay in his bosom, and came
from thence to declare the Father to the world, has ordained
that this revelation, of which he is the prime Author, shall be
held out before us from time to time, by the use of inferior and
subservient instruments.
I have often considered the strange prevarication, and sophis
try, which some men use in stating things that are necessary
to salvation ; and the use they make of that state. That is,
because they can make a shift to gather up the main principles
of religion into a little compass, as they may very easily, they
say, "Here is all that is necessary to salvation. And therefore
since in that way, or in that church all things necessary to
salvation are taught, what need is there of any more ? why
should not we come over thither ? or why should we separate
from it ?" Methinks it were an obvious easy thing to most
people to detect the fallacy. They state what is objectively
necessary to salvation, without considering the condition of the
subject, and what is necessary for that subject. That is, they
state what is necessary to be known and believed in order to
our being saved, but consider not what is necessary to bring
men to this knowledge and belief of these necessary things, so
as to make a due impression of them upon their hearts. Jf, for
instance, you were to prescribe to a sick languishing person a
32 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SJER. Ill,
remedy for the taking off his distemper ; would you only tell
him of such and such good substantial food that you would have
him eat ? and would you then think you had done the business?
Alas ! the poor man is sick ; he desires nothing, can take no
thing, can digest nothing, and casts up all you give him.
Why then do you talk to him of such things as will make
wholesome and substantial food, when he can neither receive
nor retain it ! So in like manner in the present case and exigence
of man, considered as a fallen creature, if the bare proposal of
the sundry heads of religion, necessary to be known and believed
were sufficient ; then to have a sermon once in a man's life
time might do the business ; or a mere system of the principal
parts of the Christian religion would do what it is urged for, and
answer the exigence of the case. This, I say, were a thing
easily to be granted, if it were really so with men, that a doc
trine would be understood as soon as proposed, and received
when understood, and so beget its due and proper impression,
upon the hearts of men. But truly the case is manifestly
otherwise, since man is fallen into so depraved a state. And
to talk thus, is to speak of a scheme of divinity suitable only
to innocent men in paradise ; when no more was needful to be
done than barely to propound things with respect to the clear
ness of the understanding, the rectitude of the will, the agreea-
bleness of the powers one to another, together with the truth
and goodness of their objects. But to say that this is all that
is requisite, that there is enough held forth or laid before men,
the knowledge and belief of which is sufficient to save them,
is just as if one should say, that such and such things proposed
to a sick man would do him good if lie were not sick. So in
like manner this way of propounding the gospel would serve
the turn for men, if they were such as when they were at first
created. Indeed it were no gospel, if it were only enough to
save men from sin, who as yet were no sinners. The very no
tion implies a contradiction. For doth not the same sin which
makes them stand in need of a gospel for the reconciling them
to God, disaffect at the same time their hearts unto God, and
make them unwilling to close with him ? Therefore they need
to have precept upon precept, and line upon line ; here a lit
tle, and there a little. And they that preach the gospel to
men, are urged " to be instant in season and out of season, to
admonish, exhort, reprove: (2 Tim. 4. 2.) and all little enough,
indeed all too little.
Surely then there is somewhat else to be considered in the
matter. When we consider what is objectively necessary, it
is also to be considered what will bring men to believe these
8ER. III.) AND OUR BROTHER. 33
necessary things. And in order to that there is need of their
being frequently inculcated, inasmuch as things that are seen
are more the objects of our love, than the things which are
not seen ; and what we ought to set our hearts most upon, are
out of sight. God himself is the great Object men are to be
directed to, and to whom they must be united, or they are
lost. He is invisible, and they are apt, as you have heard
again and again, to mind nothing but what is seen. There
fore it is a strange unapprehensiveness of the real state and
condition of mankind, which those .are guilty of, who decry
preaching as a needless thing. Surely they that do so, have
little studied the nature of man ! There are several other
things that remain to be spoken to, which I cannot insist upon
at this time.
VOL. n.
34 WN THE XOVE OF Ot> (SEtt. IV.
SERMON IV.*
have gone through the first part of my design from these
words, which was to shew, that men are less apt or dis
posed to the exercise of love to God than to one another. And
we have made some progress in the application, by way of in
ference ; and therein have endeavoured to shew, that the in
disposition of man to the love of God is a proof of his being in
a lapsed and very degenerate condition that this degeneracy
must consist principally in the depression of the mind and its
intellectual powers that more especially man is prejudiced by
the lapse or fall with respect to his inclinations towards God
that in consequence of this, he must needs be at a great dis
tance from true blessedness, which is inseparably connected
with the love of God and in the next place, it was further
inferred, that there is great occasion for frequent gospel-preach
ing, which is the method instituted by Christ for restoring and
reviving love to God in the soul* of men. But though this is
necessary, yet we are also to know that it is net sufficient ; for
all the preaching in the world cannot alone make the sensual
heart of men to love God. And therefore we proceed to infer
further,
(6.) That since men arc so very unapt to love God, and for
* Preached September 13,
SER. IV.) AND OUR BROTHER. S5
this reason, because they see him not ; there is great need of
the communication and influence of that glorious and mighty
Spirit of life to relieve him in this sad extremity and distress.
For surely it is a very distressed case, that man cannot love
his own Maker, the Author of his life and being, him in whom.
is his eternal hope, and all because he cannot see him. It is
a case that calls. for a very great and powerful hand to redress ;
and no other hand is proportionable to the exigence thereof.
Though he works by means, and even by that of the gospel-re
velation, yet it doth not follow that the means will do the busi
ness alone ; but the contrary follows, that because they are
means, therefore there must be an agent, and an efficient, to
use them, and one proportionable to the work of forming and
disposing the spirits of men towards God, that they may be ca
pable of his love, and admit it into their hearts so as to rule and
govern there. And what can do this but the Spirit of God ?
What else is it that can awaken and rouse the dull, sluggish,
drowsy spirits of men ? What else, I say, can quicken, puri
fy, and refine spirits lost in pleasure and sense ? The way of
bringing any soul to love God, is to give it the spirit of love.
There is no other way of doing it. Now the apostle says, that
*' God hath given to us not the spirit of fear ; but of power,
and of love, and of a sound mind."* One and the same Spirit
is all these at once. And till that Spirit is given us, there is
nothing but enmity and disaffection towards God; there is
nothing but feebleness and impotence, as to any thing that is
good ; there is nothing but distemperature and diseasedness in
man, which have pierced him to the very heart. This Spirit
therefore, in reference to these several exigencies, is a Spirit
of love, of power, and of a sound mind. That same Spirit that
makes the soul capable now of doing things that require power;
that same Spirit that rectifies the mind, and heals it of those
distempers under which it was wasting and consuming before,
is a SPIRIT OF LOVE. It is said to be a Spirit given, a Spirit
superadded to our own, a Spirit that we had not before. In
deed it must be some other spirit than ours, which must ren
der us capable of loving God.
You know, that the apostle recounting the several fruits of
the Spirit, (as he had done those of the flesh before) sets this
of love in the front of them. "The fruit of the Spirit is love
joy, &c."f And after telling us, that " eye hath not seen, nor
car heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the
things which God hath prepared for them that love him ;" he
* 2 Tim. 1. 7. f Gal. 5. 22. 1 Cor. 2. Q.
36 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. IV.
tells us also of a Spirit different from that of the world, the
Spirit which is of God, which such as they had received. "We
have received," says he, " not the spirit of the world, but the
Sp'rit which is of God."* And in this same chapter, wherein
is uur text, you have the apostle John speaking to this very
case, to wit, the impossibility of our seeing God : " No man
hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwell
ed) in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we
that we dwell in him and he in us, because he hath given us of
his Spirit. "f Love to one another as Christians or saints, is
also a fruit of that same blessed Spirit. And if there be such
a principle of love within us, it plainly speaks that God dwells
in us, and we in him, and that he hath planted his own love
in our souls, which is perfecting there. It is manifest now
that he hath taken possession of us, and drawn us into union
with himself, so as to become the great Fountain of that princi
ple of love in us, whereby we are capable of loving him, and
loving such as are his, for his sake.
And because the act of the heart in loving supposes some
foregoing act of the mind by which the object is perceived to
be lovely, therefore this same Spirit is elsewhere called "A Spirit
of wisdom, and revelation, in the knowledge of him, whom we
are to love."^ The apostle is there praying earnestly on be
half of the Ephesians, that this Spirit might be given them, by
which they might be capable of knowing, and knowing practi
cally, as the word miywffts signifies, and of coming into union
with that blessed One that is known. And on this union love
hath a great influence. St. John says, " We know the Son
of God is come, and hath given us an understanding that we
may know him that is true ; and we are in him that is true,
even in his Son Jesus Christ. That is the true God and eter
nal life." The understanding here spoken of is said to be given
by which we so come to know God in Christ, as to be brought
into union with him by love : it is, I say, a given thing, men
have it not of themselves.
It is very requisite, and therefore i so long insist upon it,
that we understand how necessary it is, that there be another
and a better Spirit than our own, to render us capable of loving
God, whom we have not seen ; for otherwise we shall never
love beyond the sight of our own eye. And it is very strange,
that this necessity, since the case speaks itself, and the Holy
Scriptures so often declare it, should be no more understood.
Jf there be no such necessity, what is the reason we are taught
* \ Cor. 2. 12. f 1 John 4. 12, IS. } Ephcs. 1. 17. 1 John5. 20.
IV.) AND OUR BROTHER. 3/
to " pray for the Spirit,";}: as starving children do for bread?
That we are bid to " live in the Spirit,"* " to walk in the
Spirit,"f and "by the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the
flesh ?'' And are we not told, that we must u be born of the
Spirit, or else we shall never enter into the kingdom of God?"
John 3. 3. All this is plain language one would think, and
easy enough to be understood by those that have a mind to it.
But it is very observable, that those notions which tend to make
as little as possible of the depravity and corruption of man's na
ture, to magnify beyond measure the power of man in his fallen
state, to depress preaching, and to make light of the operations
of the Holy Ghost upon the minds of men, are all of a sort, ail
of a piece. These are notions that hang upon one thread, and
when we see wherein they issue and terminate, we may easily
discern the danger of them ; and into how great hazard they
bring the eternal concerns of the souls of those men, who suf
fer themselves to be tainted with them. We again farther in-
fer,
(7.) That the work of regeneration must needs stand in very
great part in the implanting and seating in the souls of men such
principles, as may directly tend to control the dictates of sense,
and in opposition to it rule and govern in men. The infirmity
and distemper of man's nature easily shew, wherein this cure
and renovation must consist. This is at present the great dis
temper of his soul, it cannot love but where it can see. It is
the sight of the eye that carries the heart, and draweth it this
way and that way. A most dreadful distemper this ! But as
we know the distemper, we know wherein the cure must con
gist. Regeneration is that which restores the man to his right
mind, and sets things to rights again with him. Though his
former state is expressed by being in the flesh, he is now said to
be in the Spirit, from the spiritual frame created in him by the
great work of regeneration. Thus, says the apostle, "Ye are
not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you." Rom. 8. 9. And the thing produced in
the work of regeneration is called spirit. " That which is bom
of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
John 3. 6. While man is in flesh he is capable of loving no
thing but what is seen, nothing but what to his senses appears
amiable and lovely. Herein therefore stands the work of re
generation, to take a poor sensual creature, a mere lump of
flesh, and to make him spiritual ; and then it is he becomes ca
pable of loving God. There must be a new creation : and
jMatt. 7. 9, 10, 11. * Gal. 5. 25. | Rom. 8. 1. yer: 13
3 ON TUB tOVE OF GOD (sER. IV
right principles planted in the mind, to influence the heart,
and to direct and determine souls towards God, from whom
they were cut off and so dreadfully alienated. Again in the
(8.) Place, we further infer, that the power by which it comes
to pass that there are any lovers of God in the world is highly to
be adored and magnified. You see it is far more difficult to love
God, whom we see not, than our brother whom we do see. How
then can this difficulty be overcome, unless divine power im
plant this principle of love ? We ought therefore to make the
representation of that power, that hath wrought this work in
us, appear very glorious in our own eyes, that so with reference
to this matter our hearts may be put in an adoring posture.
Let us then bless and adore that glorious Being, who hath done
such a thing as this ; who hath made a stupid sensual heart,
which could never rise beyond the sphere of flesh, ascend and
enlarge itself, and fix and terminate its love upon the blessed
God. " How great is the power" (should one say that finds
it thus) " which hath done this in me ! to make a clod of earth,
a lump of clay to love God ! This is as great a thing as out of
tones to raise up children unto Abraham." In reality we
ought not to think little, or meanly of this. And again,
(9.) We may further infer, that the life of Christians in this
world cannot but be a conflicting life. The life of a Christian
as such must be influenced throughout by the love of God. He
is to act according to the direction of St. Jude, " Keep your
selves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord
Jesus Christ unto eternal life." John 3. 21. Is this the busi
ness of a Christian, and what mut be his very life to live in the
love of God all along ? then he must indeed live a conflicting
life all his days. That is, there must be a continual conflict
kept up against imperious sense, and its dictates, which always
is crying to the heart of man, "Love what is seen, what you
perceive to be lovely :" there must, I say, be a continual
striving in the heart of a Christian against this ; since he must
keep up a continual love to him whom he cannot see, to him
who is far above out of sight.
This sheweth, that they who know not what a continual
striving against sense, its dictates, and inclinations means, are
yet to learn what the business of the Christian life is. How can
a man love God whom he seeth not ? When there is a continu
al difficulty, there must be a continual striving and vigorous
endeavours always used. Loving God is not swimming down
with the stream of nature, it is quite another thing. And
agreeable to this, what a strife is represented all along, through
out the seventh chapter of the epistle to the Romans, between
. IV.) AND OUR BROTHER. $9
the " law of the flesh," and the. " law of the mind ;" the in
clinations of sensual nature, and the spiritual dictates and pre
scriptions which are by the apostle called "the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus;"* which doth as it were repeal, and abro
gate the law of sin and death ; and so far as it obtains, delivers
a man from its impositions, arid imperious commands, which
lead to death.
It is highly needful for us to state our own case to ourselves,
and to consider what we are like to meet with in our Christian
course ; and if we mean to persevere, we must resolve upon a
striving conflicting life all our days, for thus it must be. How
much then are they beside the Christian course, who know not
what it is to strive against any inclination of their own, nor to
oppose the earthly tendencies of their own spirits ; who can
never find occasion to contend with themselves; who espy no
fault in the temper of their own spirits, but carry the matter to
themselves as if all were well ; who can pass a whole day with
no rebukes nor checks, when their hearts have run after their
eyes only ! These persons perhaps have never minded, never
loved any thing better than what came within the reach of their
senses, or could be seen with the eye ; and yet they are inno
cent creatures in their imagination, and think they have no
cause to blame themselves. But let us not be deceived, who
see that the life of a Christian mus.t be a continual running
counter to a man's own eyes, and the dictates of sense ; since
these prescribe to a man to love only what he sees, whereas
certainly he is no Christian who liveth not in the love of God
whom he doth not see. In the
(10.) Place, we further infer, that the proneness of men to
acquiesce in a civil deportment, and to rest in the mere forma
lities of religion, hath one fixed common cause, and that is, the
want of the great principle of love. In this respect it is fit that
we should consider what the case of man is. Men are very apt
to satisfy themselves with a fair and unexceptionable carriage to
others, or at most with a little formality in the duties of religion,
and never look further ; which certainly must proceed from one
and the same cause, namely, the want of love to God. This, I
say, in the
[1 ] Place, is the reason why persons are so prone to acqui
esce in a fair and civil deportment towards men. It is necessa
ry for us to know this, that so the danger of it may be more care
fully avoided and deeply dreaded. What is it that is really the
principle of duty even towards men ? Certainly it is love. This
is easy, as the text supposes, towards men, in comparison of
what it is towards God ; men therefore are apt to take up with
what they find most easy.
* Rom, 8. 2.
>40 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SBR. IVY
The state of the case lieth thus. There are characters of the
ancient law, which God at the creation impressed upon the spi
rit of man ; Lex non scripta sed nata ! the law not written,
but born with us, as one heathen writer expresses it, or the
M/AOJ- Qvtnxos, natural law, as another heathen writer calls it.
There are, I say, still some broken parts, some scattered frag
ments, some dispersed characters of this law, which was by
our Maker put into our very frame, which lie discomposed and
dispersed here and there in men, whereof some refer to our
duty towards God, and others to our duty towards men. Those
relating to men are more legible, are oftener read, and come
more frequently under view. For how much more prevalent is
this sense in the minds of men, " My neighbour is not to be
wronged or disobliged," than this, " God is not to be forgot
ten, neglected, disobeyed?" Why, the matter being so, that
the characters representing our duty to men are oftener in view,
and so more frequently furbished as it were and brightened,
than those which express our duty to God ; being, I say, more
frequently reflected upon, they are more put into practice. And
therefore here men are apt to take up, saying, "' I do that which
is just, honest, and fair before men, and there are none that
can charge me with the contrary." And so they think their case
is good.
Indeed there are several things concurring to make such prin
ciples, as point out to us the duties we owe to man, more in
fluential upon practice. As for instance, men have sensible
kindnesses from one another, which work upon ingenuity, and
so influence to a suitable behaviour to them that shew such
kindnesses. When they receive a kindness from the hand of a
man, it is from a visible hand. They see who doth them good.
Though there is a thousand times more good done them by
the invisible God, but his invisible hand they take no notice
of.
Again, they are sensible continually of their need of men.
All persons sensibly find they need some other, for they cannot
live alone. They are not only obliged to a mutual dependence
upon one another, but they are very sensible of it ; and there
fore are very apt to carry it so much the more fairly to men, as
those who stand in need of one another.
Besides, men find a sensible advantage from the reputation
of a fair, just, and honest carriage to others. " If 1 have not
the repute of being a person kind, goodnatured and well-hum
oured, I shall have no friend ; no body will converse with me,
but be shy of me. If I have not the reputation of being a just
man, honest and square in all my dealings, I shall have no trade,
3ER. IV.) AND OUR BROTHER. 41
no one will trust me, every one will be afraid to hare to do with
me." These considerations dispose us to good behaviour
towards one another.
Finally, men are frequently sensible of hurt or some great
inconveniencies accruing to them, if at any time they misbe
have themselves to others. They that are morose and churlish
do often fall upon tempers as cress-grained and perverse as
their own, and so meet with such measure as they bring. If
they be quarrelsome, it falls out sometimes that there are those
who will quarrel with them, and will not take an affront at
their hands. And though there are some that scorn the tutor
age and instruction of fear, which should govern them in the
conduct of their affairs ; yet many others are more prudent,
and are not apt to follow the hurry of their own pride and in
clinations. They consider how much it concerns them, not
to provoke those who will right themselves, nor to injure those
who will be sure to meet with them one time or other. Yea,
those who are more considerate will be very cautious how they
make any man their enemy, even the meanest ; for no man is
so mean but it may be sometime or other in his power to do
him a shrewd turn.
Such inducements there are, I say, as theSe unto a fair and
unexceptionable deportment towards men, whom we see and
converse with every day. And with this men are inclined to
take up their rest ; contenting and satisfying themselves with
this, that they carry it to others, so as that none have any great
reason to find fault with them, and thereupon think that God
will find none neither.
[2.] There is also a proneness in mankind, as we observed,
to take up with formality in the matters of religion. For what
besides formality can there be in the religion of those who love
not God? If I pretend to worship him and not love him, though
I spend all my days upon my knees will it signify any thing as
to real religion ? But because this is more easy^ that is, bodily
exercise than that of love, or an inclination of mind and heart
to God, it is natural to take up with it for that reason, and to
rest there.
The pharisees among the Jews, one would think should not
have been to seek where religion really lay ; but, alas ! where
did they place their's ? In ceremonial sanctity, in washing their
hands before they did eat bread, in cleansing their cups and
platters, and in frequent purifications of themselves; all which
they made to be as significant things, as the instituted rites of
worship by God himself. Moreover they were very exact in
tithing mint, rue, and all manner of herbs, while in the mean
VOL. vi. a
42 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (sER. IV.
time they "passed over judgment and the love or God.*'
Luke li. 42. What a strange oversight was this! that the
pharisees, those devout men, those zealous pretenders to the
greatest strictness in the observance of the law of God, as well
as to the profoundest knowledge of it, even beyond all other
men, should be guilty of such an oversight as to pass over the
sum and substance of it, to wit, the love of God ! And yet our
Saviour speaks of it as their common character. If then the
pharisees, those knowing and strict men, as they would be
thought to be, were in such an error as this so commonly, we
may well conclude that the spirits of men are generally prone
to acquiesce in the mere externals of religion, and to take up
with the outside thereof without ever going any further. They
think their case is well enough with God if now and then
they bow the knee, compliment him in duty, and put on some
face and shew of devotion ; while in the mean time the love of
God is an unthought-of thing. So that how many must say,
if they would speak as their case truly is, "I never thought
that the love of God must go into my worship.'* Since then
the proneness of mankind to acquiesce in a fair and civil de
portment, and in the mere formalities of religion proceeds from
one common, fixed cause, to wit, the want of this divine prin
ciple of love, it is necessary that we consider the matter, lest
we ourselves be thus dreadfully imposed upon.
And now to conclude the First Part of our subject, it appears
that temptations to atheism must needs find great advantages
in the temper of men's spirits, while they are so depressed and
overborne by sense. For its essence, particularly of practical
atheism, consists in the alienation of the heart from God.
And how easy a step is it from hence to speculative atheism,
when a man has lived so long "without God(0<>/, the apostle's
phrase is.) in the world !" Eph. 2. 12. For if he do not love
God whom he hath not seen, for the same reason he will not
fear him ; neither hope nor rejoice in him as his chief good.
How obvious is it for such a man to entertain such a thought
as this ? " Is it not as good to say, there is no God, or I will
own none ; as to say there is no one that I will love or fear,
nor any one with the thoughts of whom my heart is at any time
atfected ?"
Let us therefore hence take occasion to admire the patience
and much more the bounty of God towards his revolted crea-
IUITS in this world. How wonderful is it that he spares and
maintains them also ! that he should make constant provision
for such as put the highest affronts and indignities upon him,
by loving and preferring his own dust, before him who formed
SER. IV.) AND OUR BROTHER. 43
it into what it is ; by exalting the work of his hands ahove
him ; and finally, by profusely bestowing their affections on
the creature, but none upon God the great Creator of all ! Do
not we think this is a thing not to be endured ? and do not
we wonder that it is actually endured and that men are
permitted from age to age, to continue in this course, and
are suffered by vengeance to live, when the whole business of
their lives is to express how much more they value despicable
nothings, creatures like themselves, than the great, the bles
sed, and glorious Lord of heaven and earth ! Certainly it should
be often our business to set ourselves to admire the sparing
and sustaining mercy which God exerciseth towards this
world while this is the state of things between him and apostate
men.
44 ON THE LOVJB OP GOB
SERMON V.*
have hitherto been shewing you from these words,
That men are less apt to love God than one another,
principally for this reason, because God is not the object of
sight as men are. We are now to go on to the
SECOND thing observed from them, namely, That we are
most indispensably obliged to the exercise of this duty though
we see him not, and therefore notwithstanding this excuse, it
is a most intolerable thing not to love God.
This hath its manifest ground in the text, and doth funda
mentally belong to the apostle's reasoning in this place. For
the argument or medium which he reasons from is this, that if
we do not love our brother whom we have seen, then we can
not so much as love God whom we have not seen. By which
he endeavours to represent how grievous a thing it would be, if
Christians should continue in a mutual neglect of one another.
Now all this would fall to the ground, and signify nothing, if
they were disengaged from loving God upon the account of his
invisibility. But the apostle takes it for granted, that all men
must esteem it a most horrid thing to be convicted of not lov
ing God ; otherwise his argument would be altogether to no
purpose. For it might have been replied to him, " Though
we be convicted of this, that we do not love God, inasmuch
* Preached September 20,
ER4 V.) AND OUR BROTHER. 45
as we do not love one another, yet what is the inconvenience of
such a neglect ? We grant the whole, but what are the ill con
sequences that follow upon it ?" Now the apostle doubts not
but they would see the consequences, and that every man must
needs take it to be an intolerably hateful thing to pass for one
that is no lover of God. This therefore is supposed by the
apostle as a fundamental circumstance in his discourse that
not to love God, though we see him not, is a most horrid hate
ful thing, as well as absolutely inexcusable.
Now as this is plainly to be collected, so it is very necessary
to be insisted upon. For as it is apparent, that as men com
monly do not love God, or at least are less disposed to it, be
cause they see him not ; so they are very apt to excuse and
exempt themselves from guilt upon this account. " Why
should I look upon it, says one, as so abominable a thing not
to live in the exercise of love to God ? He is out of sight, sure
he expects no such thing from us who cannot see him, and who
live at so great a distance from him !" What multitudes are
there who can wear out the whole time of life, and never
charge themselves with any fault all their days for not having
lived in the love of God ? As if the old heathenish maxim were
their settled notion, Quce supra nos, nihil ad nos : we have
nothing to do with what is so far above us.
And besides, this is not only the latent sense of most, or
that which lies closely wrapt up even in the very inwards of
their souls, to wit, that they have little to do with God, and
need not concern themselves about him ; but it is also what
many have the confidence to speak out, and to declare in
plain express words. It is very notorious that there are sun
dry persons in the world, not of one denomination or party
only among the professors of the Christian name, who are not
afraid to avow this very sense. Those who have made it their
concern to look into the doctrines that have been handed about
in the Christian world, do well know whose casuistical divinity
this is, "That we are not obliged to love God, unless it be
once or twice a year." Or as some have presumed to say,
" If it be only once in a man's life-time it may serve the turn,"
as a worthy person, now removed from us, hath largely
shewn ; as also what the morals and practical divinity of that
sort of men are. And another * of quite a different strain,
who hath disciples more than a good many in our time, in his
discourse of the human nature, would slily insinuate, that we
are not obliged at all to formal direct acts of love to God, from
* Hobbes.
46 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (sER. V.
this very passage of Scripture in the next chapter of this e-
pistle, This is the love of God, that we keep his command-
mentsf. As if because the apostle would there include all the
external effects virtually in the principle, it was therefore fit
to exclude the principle itself by the external effects. Nor
indeed was there ever any time or age wherein the heart and life
of practical religion and godliness were so openly struck at
as in our days, by the perverse notions of some, and the scorn
of others : as if it were thought a very feasible thing to jeer
religion out of the world ; and that men ought to be ashamed to
profess love to God, because they can have the impudence
and be so daring as to laugh at this and such like things.
We are therefore so much the more concerned to bestir our
selves, and to look more narrowly into the very grounds and
bottom of our own practice in the ways of religion. We are
to consider whether indeed we have a reason to oblige us to be
godly, yea or no; and especially is it incumbent upon us to
defend this great principle and summary of all godliness, The
love of God. For certainly if we must yield to the extinction
of this principle, if a love to God may be banished from among
us, we turn all our religion into nothing else, but a mere piece
of pageantry. How vain and foolish, how absurd and ridicu
lous things were the forms of religion, which we keep up from
time to time, supposing this great radical principle was to have
no place nor exercise among us ! To come together, and make
a shew of devotion to him whom we do not love, nor think our
selves obliged to love, is nothing but inconsistency and con
tradiction. And those who come on such terms, as oft as they
undertake to worship God, must needs offer nothing but the
sacrifices of fools. But it is our business to defend this prin
ciple ; to vindicate it against every thing that can be alleged
against it by those who would excuse themselves from the ob
ligation to this duty, from their not seeing God. And that we
may the more fitly prosecute the present design, we shall en
deavour to do these two things.
I. To shew the vanity and impertinence of this excuse for
not loving God, to wit, our not seeing him.
II. To demonstrate the intolerable heinousness of this sin
notwithstanding, and to shew its horrid nature though God is
not visible to us. Because persons are apt upon this ground or
reason either totally to excuse themselves, as if there were no
iniquity at all in it ; as there are multitudes of people who can
pass over their days one after another, without any emotion of
f 1 John 5. 3,
SER. V.) AND OUR BROTHER. 4/
heart to love towards God at all : or else because if they cannot
obtain of themselves against the clearest light to believe it is
no sin ; yet they would fain have it to he only a peccadillo, or a
very little one. " God, say they, cannot expect much bove
from those, who cannot see him ! or that such beings to whom
he is invisible should mind him much, or concern themselves
with him from day to day !" Therefore, I say, we shall en
deavour both to shew, how most impertinently this is alleged
as an excuse for not loving God, or how unreasonable it is to
infer from his invisibility, that we are under no such obligation,
and after that, to represent to you the hateful nature of the sin ;
or to shew, that if we love not God, it is not only a sin not
withstanding this pretence, but a most prodigious and horrid
one too.
1. That we may evince to you the vanity of this excuse, or
the impertinency of alleging that we are not obliged to love God,
because we see him not, there are these two things that we
charge this excuse with, and shall labour to make out concern
ing it; to wit, that it is both invalid and absurd. It is in
valid, because it hath nothing in it which a valid excuse ought
to have. And it is monstrously absurd, and draws most in
tolerable ill consequences after it, if such an excuse should be
admitted in such a case.
1. I shall shew the insufficiency of this excuse, or that it is
vain and hath nothing in it which a valid excuse should have.
tf We do not see God, therefore we are not concerned to love
him." This will easily be made out to you thus. Whenever
any thing is charged upon us by a law, and the exception lies
not against the authority of the lawgiver, but only the matter of
the law as applied to us, no excuse can be valid in that case,
but where the matter brought in excuse shall be able to prove
one of these two things: either that what is enjoined, is in it
self impossible to us, or at least that it is unfit and unreasona
ble to be expected from us. But our not seeing God can
never infer either of these. It neither renders our loving him
impossible ; nor unfit and unreasonable, supposing it to be pos
sible.
(1.) Our not seeing God doth not render our loving him
impossible. This it is needful for us rightly to understand be
fore we proceed any further. The thing that we intend to
make out to you is, not that it is possible to us to love God by
our own natural power. You have heard already enough to the
contrary. He can never be truly loved by us, till the Spirit of
love is given us ; which is also at the same time a Spirit of
power, aiid of a sound mind. Till then, I say, it is impos-
48 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. f.
sible that any should love God. But when he implants this
principle in us, he doth not therefore render himself visible to
our bodily eye, which is the seeing here meant, for we must un-
derstandthe word in the same sense in both parts of the test. All
that we have to evince then is, that our not seeing God as we
do our brother, does not make it impossible for us to love him.
So that our present inquiry is not concerning the power, that
gives the principle of love ; but only concerning the means
that should be made use of, in order to the begetting or plant
ing that principle. Which being understood, the several con
siderations following will plainly evince to us, that our not
seeing God doth not render it impossible for us to love
him,
[1 .] Consider that the sight of our eye is not the immediate
cause, or inducement of love to any thing, but only a means
to beget an apprehension in our minds of the loveliness of the
object. And then it is, that is, upon the perception of this
loveliness, that we are brought to love the object itself. For
after the sight of the eye there must pass in the mind an act of
the judgment upon the object, before we can be brought to
love it ; otherwise we should love or hate every thing that we
see promiscuously, and not distinguish objects of love, from
objects of hatred. It is only the apprehension of the mind,
even in reference to objects of sight, that brings us to love
them. If there be any other means of begetting an apprehen
sion in our mind concerning such and such objects, that they
are lovely and fit to be loved, it is not necessary that we should
see them with our eyes. To this we add,
[2.] There are other sufficient means to possess our minds
with an apprehension of the loveliness of an object, and
more especially those objects that are never liable to the sight
of our eye. We do not need to insist much on so plain a case.
It is plain that there are sundry ways, by which the apprehen
sion of the loveliness even of an invisible object, may come to
have place in us ; invisible at least so far as to be out of the
reach of our eye. To be a little particular here :
There is, for instance, with respect to the unseen God natu
rally a divine impression upon the minds of men, by which, when
they are put upon reflection, they must needs own that he is
not only a lovely, but the most lovely and amiable Object, and
has the best right to claim their love. Whosoever they are that
do acknowledge a God,* must also read such attributes and
* As Epicurus himself confrsseth this to be a proleptic notion,
that prevents every man's reason, so as that he needs not argue the
matter with himself, but if he will but read what is written in his
own soul, must read that there is a God. See mere of this iu the
Author's Living Temple, Part 1. Chap. 2."
. V.) AND OtJR BROTHER. 49
properties of the being of God engraven there, importing that
he is the first and supreme Object of our love. No one that ac-
knowledgeth a God but presently acknowledged! too, that he is
good ; that lie is true ; that he is holy ; that he is wise ; and
the like. And then his own heart must tell him, whether he
will or no, that he ought to be loved above all.
Again, our own-reasonings from the manifest visible effects
and characters of divine wisdom, and power, and goodness, that
are to be seen every where, may also beget an apprehension or
judgment in us that he should and ought to be loved. Do we
live in a world full of the divine glory, that arrayeth and cloth-
cth every thing we can cast our eyes upon ; and do we want
ground ^o perceive, that this is the lovely Object that ought to
captivate all hearts, and draw into a closure with itself the will
of every intelligent creature ? Moreover,
The express testimony of the gospel is another means more
apt still to beget this apprehension within us, that God is one
we should love, and whose excellencies do every way entitle
him, with a most indisputable right, to the highest degree and
supremacy of our love. " No man hath seen God at any time.'*
What then ? Is it therefore impossible that he should be loved ?
Hath not (e his only begotten Son, who was in the bosom
of the Father, declared or revealed him ? " John 1, 18.
Surely he hath made such a declaration of him, given such
a prospect and view of him to the world, as that every one
who will believe a God, and receive his report, must confess
him to be the most amiable and excellent Being. Here all
hearts ought to meet and unite ; and this ought to be the uni
versal centre of love. " He is in Christ reconciling the world
to himself ;" (2 Cor. 5. 19.) giving mankind a lovely prospect
of himself. And in him, who is the Emmanuel, God with us,
he is ready to communicate himself, and to draw souls into uni
on with him, and to a participation of his own likeness and fe
licity. Wbo then is there but must acknowledge, that upon
this representation he lays a just claim to our highest love ?
Finally,
There is also the inward revelation of the Holy Ghost, by
which the want of seeing God is abundantly supplied. It is
true, this Spirit of wisdom and revelation, by which we come to
the practical knowledge of God so as to love him, is but the
portion of a few. But it is in the mean time the great fault and
wickedness of every one who seeks it not, values it not, and
makes it not his business, with an earnest and restless impor
tunity to sue for it till it is obtained. God hath given no man
any cause to despair j but if he seek that Spiri^, by which he
VOL. VI. H
50 ON THE LOVE O9 GOD (sER. Y.
may be so known as to be certainly loved, he hath given him
ground to hope that he shall have that knowledge of him,
which shall be efficacious of that love. God has given no
ground to any to despair, or fear that they shall seek in vain ;
but as our Saviour says in this very case, If they seek, they
shall find, for he is more ready to give the Holy Spirit, than
parents are to give bread rather than a stone to their children,
Matt. 7, 7 11. And now that there are so many ways for con
veying the apprehension into the mind, which is to be the im
mediate parent of love, to wit, that this Object is most amiable;
it is most evident, that the not seeing God, doth not render it
impossible for him to be loved. And we may further consider
to this purpose,
[3.] That in sundry cases besides, other means than sight,
do suffice to convey such apprehensions into the mind, as to
excite and raise proportionable affections in the soul. Then
why should it not be so in this case ? For what can any man
say why he ouglit not to be moved by such apprehensions con
cerning God, as are by other means brought into his i>*indthan
by sight ? What ! do you love nothing ? do you never find your
hearts taken with any thing but that which your eyes have seen?
Is it an impossible thing, or what your ears never heard of, for
a person to love only upon report, as being informed of si/ch,
and such excellencies and perfections in the object? Have not
many been taken with the description of a country they have
not seen ? Or do we think it impossible for a blind man t
love his children, his wife, his friend ? Do we imagine that
such persons, because they can see nothing, can therefore love
nothing ? Do you not love your life ? You cannot see that,
but only in the effects ; and in the effects also you may see
the blessed God himself, who is the life of your life. And who
can deny, that they have notions in their OWH minds of things
that are altogether unliable to sight : which, if they will but
ask themselves the question, they must acknowledge to be
lovely, and which many are actually brought to love. For in
stance: the notions of truth ; the abstract ideas of this, and
that, and the other virtue; things that are never discoverable
by the eye ; who that considers, but must acknowledge a love
liness in them ? And how many in fact are brought into a real
and hearty love with such fair and orderly contextures of truth,
when they see things do well cohere and hang together ? The
ideas of justice, fortitude, humility, patience, temperance ;
how many are there that do really love and admire these virtues
though they only perceive the beauty and usefulness of them
by the mind, and in their effects ?
SER. V.) AND OUR BROTHER. 51
So then it is no impossible thing that there may be that ap
prehension in the mind concerning God, upon which he shall
be confessed to be lovely, and that be ought to be loved though
he is never to be seen. The case is the same as to other affec
tions, and there is a parity of reason between them. If it were
impossible to love any thing but what one sees, we are pro-
portionably incapable of fearing, hating, or admiring any thing
but what we see. But let any one ask himself the question,
whether he is not many times offended at the mention of things
lie doth not see : and whether his heart is not really afraid of
things as yet invisible ; or whether he hath not been many
times raised into an admiration of sundry things, of which
he has only heard the report. And again, I add in the next
place,
[4.] That many persons have lived in this world in bodies
of flesh as we do, exercising a holy love to God, notwithstand
ing they never saw him. Therefore it is no impossible thing;
for Quod fieri potuit, potest, what has been, maybe: accord
ing to the old maxim. Do we think that there have been no
lovers of God in the world, who have lived in bodies and de
pended on sense as we do ? God knows there have been but
few, in any time or age of the world ; yet have there not been
some who have loved him, and have not loved their lives unto
the death for his sake ? What professions of love, what rap
tures of phrase and expression do we find many times in Scrip
ture from those whose hearts were full of, and overflowed with
love ? When the fire burned within, it could not be withheld
from flaming out. " I will love thee, O Lord my strength,"
says David j and again, " 1 love the Lord," that is from my
very bowels, "because he hath heard my voice and my suppli
cations."* How full are the psalms of these expressions! and
we must suppose the Psalmist to be full of an answerable sense.
" As the hart panteth for the water brooks, so panteth my
soul after thee, O God ! My soul fainteth for God, for the liv
ing God ; when shall I come and appear before God ? |* How
amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts ?| One thing
have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to be
hold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.
For whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon
earth that I desire beside thee."|f
Such expressions as these verbal ones, and some significantly
real actions and sufferings on the account of love to God,will not
.*Psalaa 18. 1. 116.1. f42. 1, 2. J84. 1. 27.4. 1173.25.
52 ON THE tOVB Of *OD (SER. V
suffer us to doubt but that there have been true lovers of God,
whatever there are in our days. And it is to be hoped, that
there is some even now. However it is to be feared, that there
are persons in the world who are heartily grieved, and vexed
at the very heart, that there should be such expressions as
these now mentioned, in those writings which they think it
convenient to acknowledge as divine. For if they did not
think thus, how loudly and clamourously would David and
those who speak such words, have been cried out upon ; and
perhaps be charged with being fanatics and enthusiasts, as
much as any in our days !
And that an unseen God should be loved, and an unseen
Christ, who is also out of sight, is spoken of in Scripture not
only as the true character, but the high glory of Christian be
lievers. " Whom having not seen/' says St. Peter, "ye love ; in
whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory."* This is not barely affirm
ed, concerning these primitive Christians, but spoken of them
as their high praise and encomium ; as being a discovery of the
refinedness, excellency, and greatness of their spirits, who
could so far lift up themselves above sense and sensible things,
as to place their highest and most vigorous love upon an un
seen Object. That was glorious joy, and glorious love, placed
upon what was not seen ; a deserving Object, at least believed
to be such, though not seen.
And so it is we know that the blessed God becomes visible.
"By faith Moses endured, as seeing him who is invisible/'f
The word of God is a representation of himself, and makes re
port of all the glorious excellencies belonging to him. Among
the rest this is his peculiar and distinguishing attribute, " that
he cannot lie."^ His truth is one of those excellencies ;
therefore it is impossible that he should misrepresent himself,
or say that he is other than he is. " For," as the apostle says,
" what man kaoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of
man which is in him ? even so the things of God knoweth no
man, but the Spirit of God." He sure can best tell what
an excellent and glorious Being he is, and as he has told us
he is such a one (which it was impossible he should do if he
were not really possessed of those excellencies) then there is
all the reason in the world to acknowledge, that he ought to be
loved infinitely above all. And this hath been the sense of
many, whose practice also hath been answerable to it ; who
have been in this world, living in tabernacles of clay and
* 1 Pet. 1. 8. f Heb. 11. 27. J Heb. 6. 18. 1 Cor. 2. 11.
SfiR. V.) AND OUR BROTHER. 5$
earth as we do. Therefore it follows, that it is no impossible
thing that God should be loved, though he be not seen. And
supposing it not impossible, then
In the next place it is easy to be proved also, that it is not
unfit to love God, for that reason. Sundry suggestions
might be used to enforce this, and afterwards the absurdities
of this excuse might also be brought in view. Indeed I have
had it most in my eye, to expose this absurd principle, that
men have no need to concern themselves with things unseen j
I would fain, I say, drive it out of the world. And if men
would but examine it thoroughly, it would appear to them
monstrously absurd. To do this therefore, and set it before
their eyes, would be worth our time, and shall accordingly
be done hereafter.
54 ON THE LOVE Of GOD (SBR. VI.
SERMON VI.*
TTPON the latter part of the text lies the main weight of the
discourse we have in hand. " How can he love God
whom he hath not seen ?" In which it is plainly implied, that
we are still perpetually bound to love God, notwithstanding his
being invisible. And the vehemence of the apostle's expostu
lation here, implies it to be a most intolerable thing not to do
so. And therefore we have observed,
That not to love God is a sin most horrid and heinous,
notwithstanding the excuse that we see him not. Here we
proposed in the
J. Place to shew the vanity and impertinence of this excuse 5
and then,
II. To demonstrate the heinous ness of this sin, and its hor
rid nature.
In order to evince the impertinence of this excuse, there
were two things which it was charged with ; to wit, that it has
nothing which a valid excuse should have; and if it could be
admitted, it would draw the worst consequences after it.
1. It is insufficient, as we have observed, to allege this as
an excuse for not loving God, that we see him not j because it
* Preached September 2/, 1676.
SER. VI.) AND OUR BROTHER. 55
Is not for this reason impossible, nor unfit, that God should re
quire this by a law.*
(1 .) It is not impossible. For the sight of our eye is not the
immediate cause of our loving any thing, but only the medium
by which the mind discerns the loveliness of the object. For
there are other means besides this of sight, to possess our
minds with the love of certain things. And since there are
such in the present case, which lead us to the love ef God,
and have actually led others to it, it is therefore possible to be
done, and is by no means an improper thing to be the matter
of a law. We now proceed
(2.) To shew tlwt it is not an unreasonable law ; or^ that it
cannot with any colour be pretended, that it was an unfit thing
that God should lay a law upon men, dwelling in flesh as we do,
obliging them to love an invisible being. We shall here first
examine what can be pretended from God's invisibility, to
make it unfit to oblige men by a law to love him : and then
lay down some considerations to evince, that it is most reasona
ble and fit that men should, notwithstanding, be under this ob
ligation.
[I.] Let us examine what may be thought of as a pretence to
the contrary, or alleged against the obligation of this law.
Perhaps some may object against it after this manner : " The
admitting what hath been proved, that it is no impossible thing
that God should be loved by men who see him not ; yet it doth
not therefore follow that it is the fit matter of a law. Many
things are possible, yet very unfit to be enjoined, especially
those things which are unsuitable to the common inclination of
a people. The wisdom of law-givers teacheth them to study
the temper of their subjects, and to suit their laws to them ;
and it would be thought very unfit and improper to make laws,
that should cross the common genius of the people ; and to
urge the observance of them. But now the dependance that
* Here we shewed that if any thing be brought in excuse for not
obeying the law, and the exception is not against the authority of
the law-giver, but to the matter of the law, that which is alleged
as a valid excuse, must he able to evince one of these two things :
either that the thing enjoined by this law, is impossible to them on
whom it is enjoined ; or that at least though possible, yet it is unfit,
and therefore unreasonable to he imposed. Neither of which will
be admitted. It is indeed impossible to men considered under the
reigning power of sin, and while they remain so. It is so only by a
compound impossibility j as there is a compound necessity, by which
a thing is said necessarily to be, while it is. But to love God though
we see him not, is not a simple impossibility ; for then it were im
possible, that he should he loved by any one at all.
56 ON THE LOVE OP GOD (sER. VI.
we have upon sense, cannot but infer a disinclination to the
love of such things as sight cannot reach, nor come within the
sphere and cognizance of our senses. To apply this to the
present case. Every man, by consulting himself, may find a
disinclination in his own heart to the exercise of love to God.
"And what !" hereupon may the sensualist say, " must I be
obliged to a perpetual war with myself ? to run counter to all
my most natural inclinations ? to neglect the things which my
own eyes tell me are lovely ; and labour to love an invisible be
ing, of whom I have none but cloudy thoughts, a very faint
and shadowy idea ? Who can imagine that I should be put into
this sensible world, with such senses suitable thereunto, as 1 find
about me ; and that it must be expected from me that I must
even renounce my senses, run counter to my very eyes, aban
don the things which so presently court my love, and tell me
so feelingly that they are delightful ? In short, that I must re
tire from substantial good which I know, to seek after what
appears to me as a dark shadow ? and which whether there be
any thing substantial in it, I know not ?" Thus may the man
devoted to sense pretend on such grounds, that God is not to
be loved by such as we who dwell in bodies of flesh, and have
so much dependence upon the things of sense. Well ! let us
examine this pretence a little, and see whether there is any
thine in it to make the duty of loving God unfit to be imposed
upon us in this our present state. And there are several things
here to be considered in reference to this matter. As,
First. If we would have this inclination to signify any thing
with relation to the fitness or unfitness of a law to be imposed
upon us, we ought surely to examine whether that inclination
be good or bad, and so judge. But can there be a worse incli
nation in any creature than to iiisaffect the Author and Origi
nal of its own being ? And by how much the stronger the in
clination is to evil, by so much the greater is the wickedness
likely to prove. For do not we think every one more wick
ed as he is the more wickedly inclined, especially when he in
dulges his wicked inclinations ? Doth not his evil inclination,
I say, when indulged, add to, and not detract from his wick
edness ? If one be found to have killed another, the great thing
inquired into, is the inclination indulged, the intention ;
whether or no it was through malice prepense. If he did the
thing without the design of ill to the party, without inclination
or propensity to such an action, he is looked upon as innocent.
An unintended fact is not punishable as a crime. Therefore
to allege inclination in this case, is but to excuse one wicked-
Bess by another.
SBR. VI/> AND OUR BROTHER. 5?
Secondly. Consider what would become of this world, if
men were to be ruled only by their own inclination, or if that
were to be the only rule by which all laws relating to them
were to be measured. What a dreadful state would you be in,
if it were permitted to any man to rob, murder, rifle away your
goods and destroy your lives, only because he is inclined to it }
if every one might take from you what he would, and do any
imaginable mischief to you or yours, merely because he hath a
mind to it !
And whereas the disaffection to God is very common, and
rooted and confirmed in men by their being disused to converse
with things above the reach of their senses (which might tend
to invite their hearts and attract their affections) how horrid a
thing were it if such a vicious custom were to obtain the force
of a law ! or, if men were to be allowed to do so and so wick
edly, only because they have been wont so to do ! if the oftener
the swearer, the drunkard, the fornicator and the murderer, have
indulged their respective vices, the more lawful it should be
for them to continue such practices ! if men, in a word, should
be so far a law to themselves, as to be permitted to do whatso
ever they have been used to do ! or, as Seneca says, if a reason
able creature should go like a sheep, not the way he ought, but
that which he has been used to ; what, I say, can be mqre un
reasonable and unfit than this ?
Thirdly. It must be considered, that though it is the wis
dom of a ruler to regard the inclinations of *a people in making
laws, yet sure there must be a distinction made between things
indifferent and things necessary. But is there any thing of
higher and more absolute necessity than the love of God,
though we see him not ? Doth not our experience tell us, that
we stand in need of somewhat that we do not see, in order
to the continuance of our being ? much more in order to our
happiness. If you had nothing but what you see to maintain
life, do you think it were possible for you to live another mo
ment ? I would appeal to the considerate reason of any man,
whether he were not to be thought a madman that should say,
(S I will be alive the next hour ?" Man ! there is somewhat in
visible and unseen that is the continual Sustainer of thy life ;
" in whom we all live, and move, and have our being." Acts
17. 28. Our own experience must convince us of this, that there
is an invisible Being which hath dominion over our lives, other
wise every man could measure his own time. But do not we
find men die before they are willing, and when they would fain
live longer ? Why, it is somewhat unseen that imposes this ne
cessity upon them, " Here thou must expire !" No man hath
vot. vi. i
53 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. VI.
power over the spirit to retain it, neither hath he power in the
day of death. Eccles. 8. 8.
And again, is it at all necessary to us to be happy ? Our own
experience tells us that we are not as yet happy and satisfied.
And common experience tells all the world, that all the things
they can see and set their eyes upon, can never make them
liappy in this world. And if we expect to he happy in ano
ther, when will our eyes lead us to heaven ? when will sense,
inclination, and following the customs of this world bring us to
blessedness ? It were a dreadful thing, if in a matter of so ab
solute necessity, custom or inclination were to be the measure
of the law which must govern us. And again,
Fourthly. 1 add in the next place, that it is true indeed that
rulers do consider the tempers and inclinations of a people
under their legislature. And there is good reason they should
do so, and not impose unnecessarily upon the people, things of
mere indifferency, and so run the hazard of urging them into
tumults about matters of very little consequence. But sure
there is no such need or reason that the great Author and Lord
of all things should so much concern himself what the incli
nations of those are whom he is to govern. If they dislike his
laws, and have an inclination to tumultuate or rebel against him
let their dislike and inclination be as strong as it will, He that
sitteth in the heavens will laugh, and have them in derision;
when they say, Let us break his bands asunder, and cast away
his cords from us. Psalm 2. 3, 4.
Fifthly. There is a very great difference in the consideration
of laws already made, and of laws to be made. This law was
made for man when he was no way disinclined to the love of
God. It is a law as ancient as his being. He had it as soon
as he had the nature of man. It is therefore a, part of the law
of nature, and one of the most deeply fundamental things in
that law ; for it is made the summary, and wraps up all laws
whatsoever in itself; for all is fulfilled in love. And what !
was it reasonable or fit that this law, so suitable at first to the
nature of man, should be then repealed, when he thought fit
to break and violate it ? That were a strange way of superseding
the obligation of a law, that as soon as it is transgressed, it
should oblige no longer! Then may any subject be a sovereign;
since there would be no need of any thing more to make a law
cease to oblige him, than for him to disobey it.
Sixthly. Consider that our not seeing God is so far from
having a necessary tendency to preclude the love of him, that
if things were with men as. they should be, and as they have
been with some in the world, it would very much promote our
SRR. VI.) AND OUR BROTHER. 59
loving him. For though we cannot see him, yet we see many
things that are great arguments, and should be powerful in
ducements to us to love him. It is true we do not see God
with our hodily eyes, but we see the effects of his wisdom, his
goodness, his mercy and patience every where ; and of his
mighty power over all, especially over those who are for God
and lovers of him,
If we take a view, as we can do with these eyes, of the
beautiful and glorious works of his creation, we continually be
hold in the visible things that are made, the invisible power
and Godhead, (Rom. 1. 20.) which we are called upon to
adore and love. And in the works of his providence and the
ways of his dispensations towards men great arguments of love
do daily occur. And into what raptures of affection do we find
holy souls transported even by the help of their own eyes ! the
things seen, representing to them the great unseen Object of
love. In what an extasy do we find David, upon the view of
the beauty and glory of this creation ! " How excellent is thy
name in all the earth, O Lord our Lord, who hast set thy
glory above the heavens !" What put him into this ra]rture ?
The sight of his own eyes. He beheld " the heavens the work
of God's hands, the moon and stars which he had ordained ;"
and therefore as he begins, so he ends the psalm in a transport;
" How excellent is thy name in all the earth !" Psalm 8. And
thus our own eyes may serve to be our instructors, and prompt
us to the love of him the great Author and Original of all that
glory, which we find every where diffused in this world.
The viewing God also in the ways of his providence, how
hath it excited the love of holy men sometimes ! When Moses
and the children of Israel had seen that marvellous work of the
sea divided, themselves conducted and brought safe through it,
the waters made a wall on the right hand and on the left, and
their enemies dead on the sea-shore, how did this set love on
work in them ! how is the blessed God adored and admired
upon the account of what their eyes had seen of him ! " Who,
say they, is a God like unto thee ? Who is like to thee among
the gods, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing won
ders ?" Exod. 15, 11. And after the people of God had seen
that great salvation wrought that we find recorded in the fourth
chapter of Judges, what a mighty raisedness of heart do we
find in the next chapter, all shut up in this. " So let all thine
enemies perish, O Lord, but let them that love him be as the
sun when he goeth forth in his might." Judges 5, 31. Here
was love set on work and raised to the height, so as even to pour
out blessings upon all the lovers of God. What a phrase of
CO ON THE LOVE OP GOD (SER. VI.
benediction is that, "Let all that love him be as the sun when
he goeth forth in his might !" which proceeded from the view
of his excellent greatness.
So that this pretence, that God is not seen, doth not make
it unreasonable or unfit that the duty of love to him should be
imposed upon men by his law. They are not for this reason
necessarily disinclined to love him, and therefore this excuse
for not loving him is neither reasonable nor fit, nor can ex
empt men from the obligation, as the objection supposes. Let
us then see,
[2.] What can be alleged to prove, that the love of God is
most fit and reasonable to be the matter of a standing and in
dispensable law. And to this purpose, in order to shew how
reasonable this is, we shall only note in general, that if any
should object against the fitness of loving God on this ground,
because he is not seen, and affirm that for this reason men
should not be required to love him ; what they have to say in
this case, if it signifies any thing to the purpose, must be as
strong an objection in all cases of like consideration, and must
at last come to this; that it is unreasonable and unfit that men
should be affected with any thing they cannot see. But the fals-
hood hereof, and the reasonableness of this injunction upon men
may be gathered from this fourfold consideration ; to wit, that
we may be as sure of the objects of the mind, as we can be of
the objects of our sight ; that those of the former sort are ge
nerally more excellent ; that we are concerned in them, as
much at least, and in many of them infinitely more, than in
the others ; and finally, that what can only be the object of the
mind may be more intimately present with us, than those
things which are the objects of sense. And if we can make
out all these, which I hope we may, then it must be con
cluded that God is so much the more to be loved, yea infinite
ly more than any tiling our eye can see or make a discovery
of.
First. We may be as sure of the real existence of the ob
jects of our mind, as we can be of any objects of our sight ;
or in other words, we may be as certain of the existence of in
visible beings, as of visible ones. We may frame a notion of
their existence with as much assurance ; and form certain con
clusions concerning their nature, though they are invisible to
the bodily eye. We may especially be most sure of the exist
ence of God, though we cannot see him ; more indeed than we
can be generally of the existence of visible things.
Sometimes the objects of our mind and sight meet in one,
there is somewhat visible and somewhat invisible. As for in-
SBR. VI.) AND OUR BROTHER. Gl
stance, in actions that are capable of moral consideration,
there is the action itself, and there is also the rectitude or ir-
rectitude of that action. Now here is at once an object of my
sight and of my mind ; and I may be as certain of the one, as
of the other, in many instances. As, suppose I see one strike,
wound, or kill an innocent person ; or, suppose I see one af
front a magistrate," injuriously or barbarously ; here I have the
object of my eye and mind at once. That the action was done
I am certain, for I saw the stroke ; and I am no less sure of
the affront, though that be an object of the mind. As soon as
I see such an action done, do not I apprehend it to be ill done ?
Is not the thing which my mind apprehends, as real as that
which my eyes see ? Am I not as sure that it was ill done, as
that the action was done at all? though the one falls under my
eye, and the other only under the cognizance of the mind.
Again, if we look no further than ourselves, our own frame
and composition, we may be as certain of the existence of
what we see not, as of what we do see. We have a body. We
are sure we have a body, for we can see it. It is many ways
the object of our senses, or the external organs that are planted
there. But we cannot see our minds, yet I hope we are never
theless sure that we have minds. We are as certain that we
have somewhat about us that can think, can understand, as
we are that we may be seen and felt. I go not about to deter
mine now what it is that thinks whether material or not,
mortal or not ; but every man that will consider, is as sure
that he has a mind which he cannot see, as that he has a body
which he can see.
To bring this matter home to our present purpose concerning
the supreme invisible Being, the blessed God. It is most ap
parent that we may be as certain of his existence as of any
thing ; and unspeakably more certain of his constant existence,
than we can be of any being whatsoever. There is no man that
will use his understanding, but must allow this. For, suppose
an object of sight before me, 1 am certain that it doth exist ;
for I see it. Now the following conclusion may be as certain
to any one that considers, to wit, something is, therefore
something hath ever been. I will appeal to any understanding
man, whether this be not as certain as the other. For if we
should suppose a time when nothing ever was, when nothing
existed, any man's understanding must tell him, it was impos
sible that any thing should ever have been, Suppose a season
when nothing was, and then was it possible any thing of itself
should arise out of that nothing, when there was nothing at all
conceivable ? that a thing should be before it was, and do some
thing when it was nothing ? Therefore it is hence most ne-
.
T
62 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. VI.
cessarily consequent, that there must needs be some original,
eternal Being, subsisting of itself, that was always and never
began to be ; and therefore was necessarily, and so can never
cease to be.*
Let this be but weighed, and let any sober understanding
judge, whether this conclusion be not as certain as the former.
That is, compare these two conclusions together, I see some
thing, therefore something is ; and this also, something is,
therefore something hath ever been, some original Being that
always was of itself, and could not but be. A man, I say, feels
as great a certainty in his own mind concerning this, as con
cerning the other. He must renounce his understanding as
much in one case, as his eyes in the other, if he will not grant
this to be certain, that as some beings now exist, there has been
always an original, self-existing Being.
And then supposing the existence of the thing already, I may
form as certain conclusions concerning the attributes of what I
cannot see, as of that which I can see. To apply this also to
the invisible, eternal Being: look to any visible thing, and your
eyes can tell what are its visible accidents. I look upon the
wall, and see it is white. I know it is so, because I see it is so.
Cannot I as certainly conclude concerningthis original, eternal
Being, that he is wise, holy, just and powerful ? I know that
there is such a thing as wisdom, and justice, goodness, and
power in the world. I know that these things are not nothing,
and that they did not come out of nothing ; therefore they must
needs originally belong to the original Being. Is not this as
certain, and as plain, as any visible accident of any thing is to
a man's eye ? Must not these attributes necessarily first be in
God, as in their original Seat and proper Subject? yea, a great
deal more certainly, than any kind of quality we can suppose to
be lovely in the creature can agree to it : because as for the ori
ginal Being, that existed of itself ; and therefore is necessarily
and by consequence eternally, and invariably whatever it is.
Therefore since these perfections are originally in God himself,
or derivations from him, what should rationally keep a man in
suspense, when by the intervention of his mind he sees such
an invisible object, but that he should fall in love with that, as
well as with any visible object, that commends itself as lovely
to the sight. And I should next add,
Secondly, That invisible excellency is infinitely greater than
* This argument is urged at large, with great force and strength in
the Author's admirable Treatise, entitled the Living Temple. Part
1, Chap. 2.
SER. VI.) AND OUR BROTHER. 63
any visible excellency can be. As there is a reality in unseen
things, and especially in this invisible Object, as much as in
any thing we see with our eyes j so there is generally a higher
excellency in invisible objects, than in those that are visible,
and infinitely more in this than in other invisible objects.
But this and the other considerations I cannot reach to now.
SERMON VII.*
Y
7T1HE SECOND head of discourse which we are still upon Is
this, That men are not released from the obligation to love
God though he be invisible ; and that it is not only an evil,
but a most horrid and intolerable one too, not to love him,
notwithstanding the excuse that we cannot see him. And this,
as we observed, you have from the plain words of the text ;
inasmuch as all the force of the apostle's reasoning depends
upon it. For he is endeavouring to evince how unreasonable
it is we should not love one another, because upon this would
ensue that infernal thing our not loving God; rather than ad
mit which, it is supposed that men would admit any thing. For
the prosecution of this truth we proposed to evince, in the first
place, that this is a very vain excuse :f and have already shewn
from many considerations, that it is not impossible to love God
in these bodies of flesh, wherein we have such a dependence on
the senses ; neither is it unreasonable, or unfit that it should
be enjoined as a duty. Against the contrary principle we have
* Preached October 4, 1676. f See
64 ON THE LOVE OF C0 (SER. VI f.
designed to insist on sundry considerations, and have observed
already in the
First place, that we may be as sure of the existence of many
invisible beings, especially of God, as we are of any that are vi
sible. This we have shewn, and also that it is as easy to form
conclusions respecting the nature of the former, as it is of the
latter. Both these we laboured to evince from several instan
ces : and concluded with observing to this effect, that since all
perfections are originally in God, which we may discern by the
intervention of the understanding, therefore it is as reasona
ble to love him, as any visible object how lovely soever ; and
more so indeed, because he is eternally and invariably the same.
For, to add something further on this head,
I see and converse often with such or such a person, who
because of certain amiable qualities that I discern in him, hath
attracted and drawn my love : but I am never sure those
qualities will remain in him always. I know not whether they
be of that kind, yea or no, that they will remain. But I most
certainly know, that he will not always remain with me the con
versable object of my love. And therefore if sense, if the sight
of what is lovely in him be the only ground of my love to him,
I could never have loved him longer than my eye could see
him. For as soon as he is gone out of my sight, I know not
but he is gone out of being, out of the world, and so the object
of my love may be quite lost. But I know that the eternal
Being doth exist necessarily, and always. It is impossible that
God should ever not exist, or ever be other than he was : and
therefore if loveliness and amiableness were found there at any
time, it is to be found there at all times ; without variableness
and shadow of change, yesterday, and to-day the same, and for
ever.
And now upon all this, since it is very plain and evident,
that we may be as certain concerning what we see not, as con
cerning what we do see ; as sure of the existence of invisible,
as of visible being ; and more especially about the nature and
existence, (as far as concerns us) of the blessed invisible God ;
it is plain that there our love ought to have its exercise, as
much as any where else, supposing such excellencies to be
found in the invisible things, as may equally recommend the
object to our love. Therefore we add,
Secondly : That, invisible things are really of far higher ex
cellency, than those which are visible. As the things that we
cannot see have as certain a reality as those that we can see ;
so, I say, they are of higher excellency : and this blessed
invisible Object infinitely more excellent, as we must acknow-
SBR. VII.) AND OUR BROTHER. 65
ledge, while we acknowledge him to be God. If we speak of
such things as lie within the compass of our being, how plain
is the case and how evident the inference ! Sure the invisible
world must needs be of incomparably greater excellency and
glory, than the visible world. And if you reduce all kinds of
being in the whole universe to these two ranks and orders, vi
sible and invisible; certainly the latter must be unspeakably
more excellent.
We who are for our parts set in the confines of both worlds,
visible and invisible ; we in whose very nature both meet,
unite, and touch one another, and are as it were comparted to
gether ; we who are of a nature partly visible, partly invisible,
partly flesh and partly spirit, or as the language of Plato's
school was, NJ jy, mind and dust united into one compound ;
surely we should not be partial in our judgment of this case.
Who should be impartial if we are not, who are set as a mid
dle sort of creatures between the two worlds, and so are capable
of looking into, and surveying the one and the other ?
And if we contemplate both, even in ourselves, methinks it
should be no difficult thing with us to determine which is of
greater excellency, this bulk of flesh, or this spirit which in
habits it, and keeps it from being a dead lump, an useless, rot
ten, putrid carcass. Yea, if we should suppose the body of a
man to be animated by some inferior vital principle to that of
a reasonable spirit, yet this would be the more excellent part.
It is true, we should then have before our eyes a certain sort of
human brute, of which kind there are but too many in our age,
at least that live and carry it as such. We should in short, to
speak plainly, have somewhat before our eyes that wore the
mere shape of a man, and could hear, and see, and smell, and
taste, and move to and fro this way or that, and must ere long,
after a few turns are fetched about, turn to dust, to rottenness,
and corruption. But suppose we a spirit separately, such as
is wont to animate a human body : here we have to contem
plate something that can think, reason, and understand ; that
can form abstract notions of things, or compare one thing with
another; something that can reflect upon itself, which our
eye cannot do ; that can control and correct the errors of
sense ; that can run through the vast compass of known things;
is capable of solving problems and difficult questions ; of lay
ing down principles and maxims of truth, after having weighed
and found them firm, so as that they may pass current : for
such there are which pass unquestionably every where for
undoubted principles. In a word, we have here a kind
of being to contemplate, that is capable of taking up what
lies within the compass of philosophy, policy, and the whole
YOL. YJ. K
G ON THE LOVE OF GOf) (sER. VIt.
human orb of learning ; of being instructed in all the great
mysteries of mechanical skill of every kind ; and in short,
that can turn itself every way ; and is of a nature unperishable
and immortal, not liable to, nor capable of corruption, but
must last for ever and always endure. Who now would make
any difficulty of owning, that this is a far more excellent thing
than the other ? this spirit, than that shape of a man which
merely lives ? But yet even this more excellent creature which
we have been supposing, is somewhat diminished, and falls
beneath a brighter order of beings, by its being proportioned
to a human body. And upon this account man is said to be
a little lower than the angels,* at least this is one account
that may be given of this passage ; for it is a diminution of
the spirit of a man, that it is proportioned to its habitation,
the body. But then consider those purely intellectual creatures,
of whom we know not how to form a notion, which shall be
more expressive than to call them INTELLIGENCES ; inasmuch
as they are, as far as we can apprehend them, beings of know
ledge and light, and also of goodness and love proportioned
to that light of theirs ; what can match the excellency of
such creatures as these, among the whole sphere of visible
beings ?
But let us further consider how vastly numerous that order
of creatures is, as we may very well suppose, and partly col
lect from intimations of Scripture, where they are said to be
innumerable. " The innumerable company of angels, and the
spirits of just men made perfect/'f How much of glory and
excellency must then be in the invisible world, beyond what we
can possibly conceive of in this lower visible region ! If we do
but bethink ourselves and consider what a mere punctilio, a
little point, this earth is in which we dwell, in comparison of
that vast expanse that doth surround and encompass it about j
how unspeakably, how inconceivably more numerous must we
suppose the inhabitants to be, that replenish those vast su
perior regions quite out of sight, than those which inhabit and
replenish this point of earth ? How vast, I say, must we sup
pose the invisible world to be, if we consider the number of its
inhabitants who are parts of God's creation, whom we have
reason to think do competently replenish all those vast regions
that are, when our eye has gone as far as it can, far more ex
ceeding the reach of our thoughts. What limits can we set to
the creation of God in our most enlarged thoughts ? Finite we
must suppose it to be, but alas, we are never capable of mea-
* Psalm 8, 5. f Heb. 12, 22.
SER. VII.) AND OUR BROTHER.
suring the bounds ! And we have reason to believe it is every
where replenished with such glorious invisible creatures as we
speak of, in comparison of whom all the inhabitants of the
earth, that ever where or shall be, are but an inconsiderable
handful. Are we not then to think that the invisible world is
far more excellent than that which is visible ?
But then if we ascend to the great Author of all things, the
blessed invisible Object that we are concerned to speak about,
that vast profound abyss of all excellencies, perfection, and
glory, how much more must we conclude there is of excellency
in that sort of being in general which is invisible, than in that
which is visible ! If we consider him inhabiting his own eter
nity, if we consider his immensity who was before all time,
whom " heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain,"*
every where existing, and never not existing ; in whom there
is an infinite fulness, a rich fountain of being, life, wisdom,
power, goodness and holiness, and whatsoever we can conceive
under the notion of excellency and perfection : to think of such
a Being that was every where before all time was, and continu
ing to be the same when time shall be no more, where no
worlds are, and where never any shall be, replenishing all the
space that we can imagine, and that we cannot imagine, all,
every where, 'and eternally full of being, life and glory ! what
an object have we now to contemplate, and think of in the
invisible order of beings ! And what ? would we confine all ex
cellency as well as reality to this little, minute, inconsiderable
earth ! the things that sense can reach unto ! As if our senses
were to be the measure of all excellency, perfection and reality,
and it was the same thing for any thing to be nothing, or at
least worth nothing, as to be out of our sight.
How unreasonable were such an imagination as this ! And
indeed well might we be ashamed, and count it a reflection
upon our profession of the Christian name, that we may so of
ten read Pagans discoursing in transports of the INTELLKCTUAL
PULCHRITUDE, of the beauty and excellency of mental and
invisible things ; while our hearts, in the mean time, are
taken with nothing but what our eyes can reach to see, or our
senses judge of. With what raptures do some of them speak
of the first pulchritude, and the self-pulchritude, or that
which is lovely of itself. Plato in particular calls him, "The
Being that is with itself, always agreeing to itself always exist
ing uniformly, never varying from itself, and lasting always."
Thus he speaks of the first ORIGINAL BEAUTY, meaning the
* 1 Kings 3. 27,
ON THE LOVE OF GOD (sER. VII.
great Object that we now speak of, to wit, the invisible God. But
what a degeneracy is it to measure the objects of our love by the
sight of the eye! whereas there is nothing fair or good, as philo
sophers speak, but what bath its derivation from the first pul-
chrirude ; or as it hath a kind of precarious beauty and comeli
ness derived to it from him, who is the first and original Beau
ty. If then we seriously bethink ourselves of this, we cannot
but acknowledge that the prime Object of our lovelies among
the invisible things. If we will but use our thoughts, we must
say thus : this, I say, must be the conclusion, if we will not
profess brutality, and renounce our humanity ; that is, deny
that we are human and reasonable creatures.
But because here it may possibly be said, " That admit
ting there be so great excellency and glory in the invisible
sort of beings, yet we are to love where we are concerned ; we
are to place our love among things with which we have to do,
and upon which we have dependence; but how little can we
have to do with things invisible, and out of our sight ?"
Therefore 1 add,
Thirdly : We are a great deal more concerned about invisi
ble, than visible things. They are of much more importance
to us, as well as of greater excellency considered in themselves.
It will certainly be found one day, that faith, holiness, humili
ty, meekness, mortifiedness to this world, a mastery over inso
lent and brutish passions, tranquillity, peace, and composure of
spirit, those great ornaments of the hidden man of the heart,
are of unspeakably more concernment, than all the things of
the visible world besides. These are of greater importance to
our present comfort, and to our future and eternal well-being,
than whatsoever our senses can bring to our notice. But the
invisible God is so most of all, who is infinitely beyond and
above all.
And what ! will any pretend, that they have no concern with
God, because they cannot see him ? no concern with him, "in
whom we live, and move, and have our being, and in whose hand
our breath is," without whom we cannot move a hand or lift a
foot, or think a thought, or live a moment ? Have we no con
cern with him ? none in this present state ? Or are we the less
concerned with God, because we see him not ? May we not be
convinced, if we will allow ourselves to think, that it is some
what invisible, which our life and being depend upon ? For we
know ourselves to be depending beings. We do know and
feel, yea our own thoughts and hearts must instruct us in this,
that we are not self-subsistent. We have not in our own
liands the measure of our time, nor the command of our owa
SER. VII.) AND OUR BROTHER. G9
concernments. We find ourselves controled and over-ruled
in many things every day. There are many thousands of things
that we would have otherwise, if we could tell how. There is
something invisible to which we owe our breath, and that hath
dominion over us, whether we mind it or not. And have we
no concern with that Being, which hath such immediate power
over our lives, and all our comforts, in this present state and
world ? But what talk we of measuring our concernments by
this present state ? Have not our own souls a secret conscious
ness in them, that they are made for eternity ? for a world
\vhere they are to be perpetual inhabitants, after a little short
time is over ? And have we not therefore now in this life, most
to do with invisible things, especially with the great invisible
Lord, both of the visible and invisible creation ?
We should soon know ourselves to be most concerned with
what is invisible, and most of all with God, if we would but
understand the state of our case. We know ourselves to be
creatures. We did not come into this world of our own choice,
or by our own contrivance. We made not ourselves, neither
was it the object of our choice, whether we would be of this or
that rank or order of creatures ; but were put into that rank of
beings wherein we are, by a superior and higher hand. Yea con
sidering what sort of being it is we have, and what a nature the
great Author and Parent of all nature hath furnished us with, it
is easy for us by a little reflection to come to this knowledge, that
we are not what he made us ; that we are fallen creatures as well
as reasonable ones; that we have incurred the displeasure of
him that made us; that we are absolutely at his mercy; that there
is such a darkness and blindness upon our minds and understand
ings, and such a stupidity and death possessing our very souls,
that can never be supposed to have been in the first formation
of such a creature by the hands of God. Lastly, we may find,
that we are become impure and corrupt ; that there are per
verse sinful inclinations and affections, which we ourselves can-?
not but disapprove of, and disallow upon reflection : and that
hereby we are under a very egregious guilt, and so subject to
wrath and eternal punishment. If we would but allow our
selves to consider this as our state, we should soon know that
we have more to do with the invisible God, than with all the
world of visible things. Yea further, how amiable would he
appear in our eyes, if we did but understand purselves ! if we
would but take notice what dark, blind creatures we are, how
would it recommend him to us, who is represented as the light
of our eyes, and the life of our hearts ! In a word, if we would
* *
?0 ON THE LOVE OF GOD. (sER. VII,
but consider what deformed creatures we are, how impure, and
alluding to the expression in Job,* so plunged in the ditch,
that our own clothes might abhor us, Oh how delectable would
the thoughts of him be ! how lovely would he be in our eyes
that brings such overtures of purification to us ! 1 will sprinkle
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your fil-
thiness ; and from all your idols will I cleanse you.f And he
that offers this, will certainly effect it in all those, who are de
signed for a blessed commerce with him for ever, in order to
make them perfect in his own comeliness.
Then again, if we consider ho\v liable we are to his wrath,
how fast bound with the cords of our own guilt, how amiable
would that notion and name of God be to us, which was pro
claimed to Moses, " The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and
gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression,
and sin.";]: But we measure things by the sight of our own eye,
because we will not allow ourselves to take any cognizance of
the true state of our own case. Whereas if we did but consi
der the matter, and give ourselves leave to think and inquire,
we should know there are things which concern us unspeakably
more, that are out of sight, than what come under our view
day by day ; and that especially we are most concerned with
him who is least in our sight, and most remote from the view
of our external eye. And then add to all this,
Fourthly : That invisible things are a great deal more capa-
hle of being intimate to us, or we may be infinitely more con
versant with them, than it is possible for us to be with things
that are seen. We love a friend whom we have often seen ;
and it may be, the oftener we have seen him the more we love
him. But we cannot be with this friend always. The dearest
friends must part. We cannot have him perpetually in our
bosom to converse with in a friendly manner. A great many
things must concur to the entertainment of our friends with de
light, and to converse with them with pleasure. For instance,
they must be in a pleasant humour, and at leisure for converse.
We many times wait for visits, and they are not given ; or we
design them, but are disappointed. Messengers may be sent
to this or that place, one after another ; and yet two friends,
that would converse, cannot be brought together. Besides,
when we are conversing with such lower objects of our love,
we must make use of speech, and are fain to employ words,
those necessary but imperfect instruments, or media of con
versation. But we cannot convey by words our full and clear
* Job 9. 31. f Ezek. 36. 25. f Exod. 34. 6. ?.
9ER. VII.) AND OtfR BROTHER.
apprehensions to others, so as to let them know all that we
would have them know. And most of the controversies in the
world, about matters of opinion in religion, do arise from hence,
that men cannot be brought to understand one another. I
cannot tell how to make another master of my thoughts, but
one way or other tlje notion will be misrepresented, and so not
lie so distinctly clear in another's mind, as it doth in his that
would propagate it. But if we could this way infuse into them
a full and clear knowledge of what we ourselves do intend, yet
we cannot thereby infuse a living sense, nor convey the affec
tions that are in our own bosoms to another by words.
But how intimately conversant may we be with the invisible
God, and that blessed Spirit that understands not only our
words, but our sighs and groans, and the living sense thereof
that is unutterable. God can also be conversant with us
whithersoever we go, wheresoever we are, so that as soon as
we are minded to retire, we find him with us. As soon as we
retire into ourselves with a design to converse inwardly with
the living God, he is immediately present with us, and it is as
easy to converse with him as with our own thoughts. As soon
as we think, so soon are we with God, and as soon is he with
us. In the twinkling of an eye we find him. We look unto him
and are lightened. Thus with a cast of the eye the soul is fil
led; it finds itself replenished with a divine and vital light, that
ditfu-seth the sweetest and most pleasant influences and sa
vours through the soul.
Surely then, what is invisible, and most of all the blessed
God, is most fit for our converse : an omnipresent God, who
is every where present with us in the very first instant : so that
there are no bodies, or other circumscribing circumstances to
withhold and divert that commerce between him and us ; but
he is with us in our walking in the way, in our sitting down in
our houses, in our lying down in our beds, in any wilderness,
in any den or desert. Certainly it can be no way unfit, that he
should be chosen for our converse, and for the great Object of
our love, though we cannot see him. Our not being able to
see him detracts nothing from the reasonableness of placing our
love there, upon all these accounts. Therefore the pretence
for our not loving God because he is invisible, is altogether in
sufficient, and carries nothing in it that a valid excuse should
have to make it so. I should now proceed to shew the intoler
able absurdities of not loving God because he is invisible j but
the time doth not give me leave to speak to them.
72 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. VIII.
SERMON VIII.*
iLTAVING in the three last discourses shewn the invalidity
*^ of the excuse for not loving God, drawn from his invisi
bility, we now proceed in the
2. Place, to evjnce more fully the obligation we are under
to this duty, and to shew the intolerable absurdity of this ex
cuse, that is, of pleading that we do not love God, only because
we cannot see him.f For
(1.) It would infer, that we are to be affected or moved with
no invisible thing whatsoever ; or that nothing but what can
strike our senses, ought to touch our hearts. For if this be a
good reason in the present case, we do not love God because
we cannot see him, wheresoever the case is alike, the reason
will be so too ; and so we are to be moved by nothing at all,
but what is to be seen. No threatening danger then is to be
feared or provided against, and no distant good to be cared for;
and so our greatest concernments that should urge us more
than all others, must be quite thrown aside. Our business for
eternity and another world, the apprehensions of which, men
cannot quite abolish out of their minds, must all stand still ;
nd we live at such a rate that no man will be able to give a
tolerable account what he liveth for, or what his business in
this world is. For it is altogether inconceivable for what pur-
* Preached October 11, 1676. f See Sermon V. p. 47.
SER. VIII.) AND OUR BROTHER. 73
pose such a creature as man is, should be here in this world,
furnished with so much higher and nobler faculties than the
brute beasts, and yet to do no other business but what they
might do as well as we.
(2.) It would hence be consequent, that the blessed God
would be everlastingly excluded our love, or that he could
never be loved by his reasonable intelligent creature, for an
eternal reason ; because he can never be seen, as we see our
brother with eyes of flesh. None of us in this sense can ever
behold God ; and if this reason be .conclusive, to all eternity
he must be excluded our love. And so it may be affirmed even
of his reasonable creatures, "None do love him, nor ever
shall." And again,
(3.) According to this way of reasoning, God would lose
his interest in our love by the excellency of his nature. And
how monstrously absurd is it, that by how much the more ex
cellent an object is, so much the less it should be loved ! For
it is owing to the excellency of his nature and being, that God
cannot be seen. And is it not a horrid consequence, that be
cause he is so excellent as he is, therefore he is not to be loved?
Nothing is more manifest, than that by how much the more
excellent any thing is, so much the more it is remote from our
sight. And shall this be admitted as a principle, that by how
much the more excellent any thing is, the less it shall be lov
ed ? Shall God lose his interest in our love, merely because he
is so excellent and perfect as he is ? or shall he for this reason
be less loved than visible objects are ? Again,
(4.) Al! commerce would hereupon cease, or rather never
be, between the blessed God and his intelligent creature, at
least all intellectual commerce suitable to such a creature.
For if this were a good reason, He is not to be seen, therefore
he is not to be loved, it would also follow, that he is not to be
trusted, feared or obeyed. All which would infer, that God
hath made an intelligent being with whom he can converse no
way suitable to its nature, than which nothing can be thought
more absurd. Further,
(5.) All differences of moral good and evil, in such a case,
would be quite taken away, or all apprehensions of them, from
among men. For the rectitude or irrectitude of actions is not
to be judged of, nor discerned by the sight of our eye. We
cannot by this means alone, tell whether this or that thing be
right or wrong. And this by consequence would necessarily
render mankind incapable of being governed by laws ; because
the reason why a law should oblige, doth not fall under any
man's sight. The decency and fitness of a thing the eye does
VOL. VI. L
74 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. VII I-
not reach ; for to discern this is the husiness of the mind.
And so it would be left altogether impossible for any one to
assign a reason, why it should be more congruous to equity
and justice for one to embrace his friend, than to murder him j
why a man should relieve the poor who cannot help themselves,
rather than oppress them ; or why a man should not as well,
and with as great reason and equity, affront a ruler, as obey
him and be subject to his authority ? So that in short you take
away the foundation of converse with man, at the same time
you take away the foundation of religious converse with God
and invisible things. By this kind of argument you not only
overturn the practice of godliness and piety, which is a great
part of that love to God we ought to be exercised in, but you
do as effectually by the same means destroy all civil commerce
between man and man, howsoever related ; and leave no foun
dation for human society, considering the members of it in re
lation to governors or rulers, and to one another. And
(6.) It would hence follow, that the original constitution of
man's nature was made up of inconsistencies ; nothing else but
a piece of self-contradiction. That is, it would be necessary to
do a thing, and yet at the same time impossible. It is neces
sary by the constitution of the human nature that man do love
a known good, and therefore most of all the Supreme Good,
which may be certainly known to be what it is, the absolutely
best, the highest and most excellent Good, as hath been already
shewn ; and yet by this argument it would be impossible to do
this. So absurd is this maxim or pretence, that we are not to
be affected with invisible things, and are under no obligation
to love God, because we see him not ! In the last place,
(7-) It would also be consequent from hence, that man must
be a creature from the very first, made only to be miserable.
For it is impossible that sense should ever afford him relief a-
gainst internal evils, or ever supply him with suitable and sa
tisfying good. How then can he be otherwise than miserable?
Sense cannot afford him relief against internal evils, and no
man can exempt himself from them, nor give himself any se
curity that he shall never be invaded by such. Let there be
never so great a calm, and according to his present apprehen
sion let all things be never so well now; yet no man can assure
himself, that he shall never meet with any inward pangs ; that
he shall never have cause to complain of the terrors of the Al
mighty besetting and overwhelming his soul, even ready to cut
him off. These things have invaded as fortified breasts as any our
age can afford ; and no man knows when he is secure from them*
SER. VIII. ^ AND OUR BROTHER. 75
And suppose they do invade a man, and conscience molested
by known and often repeated wickedness does at length awake,
and grow furious; pray where shall relief be had ? Will the
things of sense afford it ? Will they ease such pangs, or work
off agonies of this nature? In such a state of mind, for a man
to feast himself with the objects of sense, or with that which
pleases the eye, w.ould be as impertinent as music to a broken
leg, or fine clothes for the cure of a fever or an ulcerous body.
Nor can sense be the inlet to a man of any suitable or satis
fying good. Let experience witness. To those who have
all sensible enjoyments to the full, I would say, "Are you hap
py ? Can you pretend to want any thing that sense can pos
sibly supply you with to give pleasure to your spirits ? Have
you not what you would have ? and yet can you say, All is full
and well ? " Undoubtedly what was the wise man's experi
ence, would be every man's that were at leisure to consider
the case ; The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled
with hearing. Eccles : 1 . 8. Sense, let it be gratified never so
much, will still live unsatisfied, will be always craving and never
contented. And therefore by this supposition it must needs be
consequent, that man could be created for no other state, than
a state of misery. But how absurd were it to suppose, that
the God of all goodness had made a creature, whom it should
be impossible, even to himself, to make happy ! (for it is im
possible to his nature ever to make himself visible to an eye of
flesh) and that it should be only possible to terrify and torment
his creature, but not to satisfy it and do it good! All these
things do plainly evince that this excuse, to wit, we cannot love
God, because we see him not, is not only insufficient, but
also most absurd. Then, say we, it ought not to be admitted as
an excuse at all, and men are still under an indispensable obli
gation to the love of God notwithstanding.
But here it may possibly be suggested to the thoughts of
some, " Admit it to be a duty to love God, although we cannot
see him. We acknowledge that his invisibility renders it not
impossible nor unreasonable to love him ; and therefore we see
the excuse is insufficient, and that many inconveniencies and
absurdities would ensue upon making it. But though it will
be no entire excuse, yet it will sure be a great alleviation. And
methinks the love of God in this world should not be so strictly
urged ; or though we should not live in the exercise of this
duty, it should not be represented as so very great a crime."
Therefore in answer to this we are to evince to you according to
what was proposed:*
See page 54.
76 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. Vlll.
II. The greatness and heinousness of the sin of not lov
ing God, notwithstanding this excuse that we do not see
him : that it not only leaves it a sin still, but a most horrid
one. And this will appear if we consider sundry things that I
have to mention to you, which will shew it to he injurious to
ourselves and others, but chiefly to the blessed God himself,
the great Author of our being.
1. It cannot but be a most horrid thing, inasmucli as it is a
most injurious distortion of our natural faculties. And therein
it is injurious even to ourselves, to our own nature, and to God
the great Author and Parent of all nature, at once. For what
do we think he has given us such faculties for, as we find the
nature of man to be enriched with ? Why hath he given us a
mind, originally capable of knowing him, and that could once
retain God in his knowledge ; or a will that could then em
brace him by love ? It must needs be u very injurious perver
sion of our own faculties, to withhold and divert them from the
prime, the best and highest use, whereof they were originally
capable. And it is a very unaccountable thing that it should
be thus, that man should have a power given him, originally
ordained by the very designation of the God of nature to such
and such purposes, and that it should never be applied there
unto. Not to love God is to set those faculties one against the
other, and both of them against him.
2. It is a most vile debasing of ourselves, and a sordid depres
sion of our own souls. By love we most strictly join ourselves
to that which is the object of our love, and enter into the
closest and most inward union with it. And what is it that we
love, while we love not God ? Are not the things which our
love terminates upon, such as we should even be ashamed to
think of separately and apart from him ? What is there that
is not base, when severed from God, or if we do not eye and
consider him in it ? We cannot conceive of any creature what
soever, not even of the best and most noble, but as of a most
horrid idol, if made the terminative object. of our love, taken
apart from God, and not considered or regarded in subordina
tion to him who is supreme. And as to the mind and spirit of
a man, there is nothing that so defiles it, that renders it so im
pure as spiritual idolatry does. A vile and filthy thing, that the
spirit of a man should be alienated from God, and prostituted
to an idol ! For we make any thing so, that we make the su
preme object of our love. And so in effect we join ourselves to
vanity, as idols are wont to be called; to that which is not
only vain, but by this means made odious and loathsome.
And how deep a resentment should this be to us, that so ex-
. VIII.) AND OUR BROTHER. 77
cellent a thing as the spirit of man, God's own offspring, should
suffer so vile a dejection ! that it should he depressed and de
based unto such meanness as to join itself to vanity and dirt,
when it might be united with the God of glory, with the ful
ness and excellency of the Deity ; yea, and when it is apparent,
that by the original designation of that nature he hath given us,
we were at first made capable thereof! For how came we by
that love which we find in our nature ? We plainly see we
can love somewhere ? While we love not God there is some
thing or other that we do love ; yea and <it is altogether im
possible to our nature, not to love something or other. And
Jiath he " planted a vineyard and shall he not eat of the
fruit thereof?" I Cor. 9. 7. He hath planted that love in our
natures which we have made vile, by .alienating it from him,
and which may yet be made a sacred thing by being sanctified
and turned upon God again. For it is the object^ and a suita
bleness thereunto, wherein consists the sanctification of the af
fections. And again,
3. Not to love "God is a most merciless self-destruction. It
is a divulsion of ourselves from him who is our life. It is to
rend our souls from the Supreme Good, and so abandon our
selves by our own choice unto misery. How infamous among
men is the name of afelo de .sr, one that hath done violence
to his own life, and perisheth by his own hands! Though the
nature of the thing doth exempt him from personal punishment
in this world ; yet you know that human laws do very severely
animadvert upon, and punish the crime as far as the matte*
can admit. Juries are impanelled, a strict inquiry is made
into the nature of the case. " What did he do it voluntarily?
was he compos sui f did he understand himself when he did
it?" And if this be found to be the case ; his goods are con
fiscated, and his memory branded with all the infamy that can
be devised. And there is a great deal of reason for it. For
the wrong that is done does not terminate upon himself, or his
own relatives ; but the prince is wronged, being robbed of a
subject; and the community is wronged also, being de
prived of one that otherwise might have been a useful mem
ber.
No man, as 1 remember Cicero somewhere speaks, Nemo
slbinascitur, is born for himself. Many claim a part in us
besides ourselves, to wit, our prince, our country, and our
friends. And when one destroys himself, many are injured by
that self-destruction. And though some heathens have spoken
of self-destruction as a very noble and generous act, yet Plato
who had more light (speaking, as I remember, to this very
case) says, " We are here in the body like soldiers in a gani-
78 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (sEtt. VIM.
son, who are not to stir out without the general's order and di
rection ; no more may any one dare to go out of the body, till
the great Ruler of the world, who hath placed him there," gives
him leave, or a call." And he appeals to men themselves.
" If you" (saith he) " had a slave that should kill himself,
would you not say he had wronged you, as well as himself, who
had an interest in him and his service ?" And what ! do we
think all this while that God's dominion is less over our spiri
tual and eternal heing ? over these souls of ours that are capa
ble of being employed in his love and praise eternally ? And is
not this injurious to him, that men, who are naturally capable
of all this, should yet throw themselves off from God, and cast
themselves among a crew of damned spirits, whose business
will be always to curse their Maker ? Is not this, I say, an in
jury to the blessed God himself, who is the Author of that be
ing and capacity to serve him, which we find ourselves posses
sed of ? Moreover,
4. By not loving God we render ourselves altogether incapa
ble of doing him any faithful service, upon which our great
comfort and advantage, and his honour and glory do at once
depend. For God is glorified only by our voluntary action and
devotedness to him, And is it not also more pleasant to serve
God cheerfully than otherwise ? but can we do that without
loving him ? And doth it not cast a most intolerable calumny
upon him, that we should serve such a master unpleasantly,
and with uncheerful service ? Further,
5. We should, in breaking of this one law of love to God,
break all. It is a breach of all the law at once, and so makes
us incapable of doing God any service at all. For we can never
serve him while we obey him not, and we can never obey him
without love. We find that the whole law is summed up in it.
Therefore we break the whole law of love to God in epitome,
when we do not love him. All the law is fulfilled and compre
hended in the one word Love. And though it is plain that
the Apostle when he says (Rom. 13. 8. 10.) "Love is the fulfil
ling of the law/' speaks there with a more direct reference to
love to men, or one another ; yet it is plain too that both
branches may be reduced to one ; for no man loves his brother
or neighbour truly, if he do not love him for God's sake, and
vipon his account. That great law against murder in the book of
Genesis (9. 6 ) is founded upon this reason, *< For in the image
of God made he man ;" so that it is God who is principally
struck at, when one man murders another. Thus our Saviour
made the summary of the law twofold, when he said, (to the
lawyer, who had asked him, which was the great command-
SER. Vlll.) AND OUR BROTHER. 19
ment,) "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind ; and thy
neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all
the law and the prophets." Matt. 22. 37 10.
The whole of our duty therefore centers in this one thing,
love to God. This is the radical principle whence all is to pro
ceed ; and every command doth bind us with this reduplication,
" Do this and love God, and do that as a lover of God," other
wise what we do is no more the same thing which the law en
joins, than the carcass of a man is the man. That which is the
soul of the duty is wanting, and that is love. What signify,
think you, those prayers to God, which are put up by one that
does not love him ? or of what avail is any other act of worship
that is performed by such a one ? And if we do any part of our
duty which respects man, and that duty be not animated by the
love of God, the love that one man can have to another in this
case is nothing else but a sort of friendly intercourse among
rebels, that have cut off themselves from their supreme Ruler;
and take no more notice of his interest which he hath in com
mon in them, but as they are confederated, and join in a con
spiracy against him. Love among men, why do we talk of
that ? To love such men as have quite cut off themselves from
God, as well as we ourselves have done, is only such a love as
is among rebels, that treat one another kindly in a state of
rebellion. To proceed,
6. It is a violation of the most merciful indulgent law, en
joining us a duty most agreeable to our own necessities, and
the least toilsome and expensive of all others. How intolera
ble then is it to affront God, and even to do it with no pretence
of advantage to ourselves, but greatly to our own disadvan
tage and loss ! How merciful is the law of love ! how direct a
provision is there made in it for the necessity of man ! Pray
what shall we do, nay what can we do with ourselves, if we
place not our love upon God ? It may be we do not find
our present need of him, as long as we find objects of sense
courting and flattering us in our way ; but do not we know that
this world must break up, and this frame of earth and flesh in
which we dwell, dissolve! What then will become of him at
last that will be found to have been no lover of God? How
dreadful a thing is it for a soul to be stripped naked and to have
nothing to enjoy ! It cannot enjoy God, because it never loved
him. For sure, what we love not, we can never enjoy.
Therefore it was a most merciful law that said unto us,
w Love the Lord your God with all your heart, vyith all your
soul, and with all your strength." It is a law teaching us to be
80 ON THE LOVE OF COD (SER. VIIf
happy, and to solace ourselves in the rich plenitude of divine
goodness. Our necessity doth at once urge us, and the divine
goodness invite us here to place our love. This is the true so
lution of Plato's riddle, " That Love is the daughter of Pluto
and Penia." For it plainly appears that the rich plenty of di
vine goodness, and the poverty and indigence of the poor crea
ture that cannot otherwise dispose of itself, are the true parents
of love.
This is a thing also that will cost us nothing. To love God
therefore is the most unexceptionable thing in the world. It is
what we are capahle of in the worst external circumstances. If
a man he never so poor he may yet love God. If he be sick
and infirm, if lie be never so mean, if he have no estate, no in
terest, or be never so little in repute, he is yet capable of loving
God. This he can do any where, in any place, in any desert,
or cave, or upon the most afflictive bed of languishing. There
is no pretence against loving God, let a man's case be what it
will, or supposed to be. it is therefore a most intolerable
thing to offend against a law that provides so directly for our hap
piness and most urgent necessities. It is such a law, an obedi
ence to which will cost us nothing, neither can there be the
least pretence of gaining any thing by the neglect of it. The sin
is therefore the more horrid: and foul and shameful it is to dis
obey in a case wherein we have nothing to say for ourselves.
And again,
7- It is a direct contradiction to our own light, and the com
mon sentiments of mankind. For this is no disputable thing,
whether we are to love God yea or no. There are many things
in religion, and many things more that are affixed to it, that
make much matter of disputation, and great ventilating of ar
guments, there is pro and con, this way and that; but pray who
can tell how to form an argument against the love of God ? To
deny this is to affront our own light, and that of the world in
common ; for there is no man that will profess himself to be no
lover of God. Did you ever meet with any one that would pro
fess enmity to him ? And the soul of man cannot be indiffer
ent in this case. It must either be a friend or an enemy, must
cither love or hate. God is not indifferent, or a mere nothing
to us, and how should we be affected to him, if not by love ?
And we further add,
8. It is a most unnatural wickedness to the Parent of that
being which we are each of us furnished with, to disaffect our
own Original. That men should disaffect him from whom they
immediately sprang, and whose image they expressly bear, is,-
1 say, a most unnatural crime. Suppose there were a son to be
SER.VUI.) AND OUR BROTHER. 81
found that never could love his father, and always hated the
womb that bare him ; what a strange prodigy in nature would
he be thought ! But is not this infinitely more prodigious to
disaffect the entire and supreme Author of our own life and be
ing, of which parents are but partial, or at most but subordi
nate authors. An4 in the
9. And last place, not to add more, it is blasphemy against
the divine goodness. It is a practical blasphemy. It is the
most emphatical way of denying God. For as the man that
does not believe him, denieth his truth and makes him a liar,
so by manifest parity, he that doth not love him denieth his
goodness, a great deal more significantly than can be done by
words. For men many times earnestly speak what is not their
settled judgment, and what they are afterwards ready to retract.
But how horrid a thing is this, that a man by a continued course
and series of practice should discover this to be the fixed sense
of his soul, that God is not worthy of his love ! that a race of
reasonable creatures should bear their joint testimony against
the great and blessed God, the common Author and Cause of
all being, that he is not worthy the love of any of them ! For
we practically say so while we live in the neglect of this duty.
What do we talk of words in this case, when deeds and our
constant practice do more significantly and directly speak?
and vvhat doth the course of a man speak, who loves not God,
but this, that he is not to be loved ? Therefore sure, not to love
God, though we see him not, is not only a sin, but a most mon
strous and horrid one.
We should go on to make some practical inferences from all
that has been said on this part of our subject, that we might
thereby the more closely apply all; but of this hereafter.
YOL. VI t
S2 ON THE LOVE OP GOD (SBR.
SERMON
TN speaking to the second part of our subject we have largely
insisted in shewing you, that our not seeing God is no ex
cuse for our not loving him. We have shewn particularly,
that it is insufficient, and also very absurd to be alleged as an
excuse ; and that it i& not only a sinful omission, but a most
horrid wickedness, not to live in the exercise of love to God,
notwithstanding this excuse that we cannot see him.
It now remains, as we promised in our last, to deduce from
the whole some practical inferences, by which (if God will
so direct his word) all may be applied, and brought home
with the greater pungency to our own hearts. And,
1. We may henee take notice of the insolent wickedness of
the world, that they so generally agree to confine the little
love that is left in it to one another, and to exclude the Blessed
God. That men do not love God speaks them very wicked :
that they continue in the neglect of this duty, without any ex
cuse, speaks the insolency of their wickedness. While they
.have not a cloak left them, not a colourable pretence, nor any
thing to say for themselves that is so much as plausible, yet
they continue their course of excluding God out of their hearts,
* Preached October 11, 1676.
SRR. IX.) AND OUR BROTHER. 83
and live as if they owed him nothing, and had no concern at
all with him.
That men do not love God is a thing that cannot be excused,
as you have heard; and it is as little capable of denial, as of
excuse. The matter is open and manifest. The general face
and aspect of this world sheweth, how little there is of the love
of God in it. The very shew of its countenance speaks it
plainly. Men do in this matter even declare their sin as So
dom. They openly testify to one another that they are God's
enemies. So that every man that runs, may read how the mat
ter commonly is with men in this respect.
Alas, how little doth God's interest signify in this world !
this shews how little he is beloved. How little is his interest
valued, in comparison of that which is merely secular, and hu
man ! We have instanced to you already in this and many other
things, for the eviction of the matter of fact in this case. As
for the matter of right and wrong in the case, you have fully
seen, from the demonstration which hath been given you, that
our not seeing, excuseth us not from loving God. Nothing can
be more plain, than (as we noted heretofore) that although
too little respect be paid in the most important matters to hu
man laws, yet there is a great deal less paid to divine. Men
are more prone to be observant of the laws of men than of God.
But there is no true obedience to the one or the other which
doth not proceed from love, so far as it is true. We are to owe
nothing to any man but love, or what may spring from thence.
It was the complaint you know of old, " The statutes of Omri
are kept." Micah 6. 16. A very scrupulous care, as is intimat
ed and complained of, there was to observe them ; while the
statutes of God were neglected, or not so much respected
among those that professed his name.
Yea, and which Is more than that; how much more frequent
are the instances that may be assigned of laws made directly
against God's interest, and the precepts of the first table, than
against those of the second ! The world in the several succes
sive ages of it, hath been full of instances of laws made for po
lytheism, infidelity, idolatry, the worshipping of false gods, and
the abolishing, or very much depraving the worship of the true.
But when did you ever hear of laws made for theft, false witness
bearing, and the like? so as to oblige men under certain penal
ties to invade each other's interests, as they generally make bold
with God. We have heard and read very frequently of men
persecuted even to the death by laws, for not burning incense
to idols, for not denying of Christ, and the like ; but when did
you ever hear of a man exposed to such penalties for not steal-
$4 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. IX.
ing, for not cozening, not defrauding this, or that, or the other
man ? So apparent is it, that men can express somewhat of
tenderness one to another, in respect of their own private and
secular interest ; when, in the mean time, there is no concern
at all for the common interest of the Lord of all this world. So
that what interest is in the world is shut up almost entirely a-
mong men themselves. And though there is too little regard ,
to that interest ; yet they confine what there is among one ano
ther, excluding the hlessed God from having any part or share ,
in their love at all.
And truly, sirs, I fear we are too little concerned about this
sad case. We do not consider this matter as it deserves, nor
with that solemnity that it challenges. We are not so affected
about the rights and interest of him, whom we call our God,
as we ought to be. It doth not pain us to the heart as it should,
to think how little God is made of in his own creation, and
among the works of his own hands. We sometimts, when
we hear the matter spoken of, say it is a sad case, but we know
not how to help it, and so pass it very slightly over. But do
not we indeed know how to help it r And should not this affect
us ten thousand times more, when it is a case, that we can
only lament ? Sure methinks, at least we should do that if we
can do no more. But how prone are we to alleviate the mat
ter by considering it as a common case. " Oh ! this is a mat
ter of observation every day. It may be seen in every place,
that there is little of the love of God to be found among men."
And is it a common case ? Is it not then a thousand times more
horrid that it should be so common ? If there had been but
one apostate creature from God in all the world, one person
of whom it might be said, " He doth not love God," how
shocking and horrid would this man look in our eye ! But is
it not inconceivably worse and more horrid, that there should be
so general a revolt from God ? and that the hearts and love of
his poor creatures are so averted without cause, and wickedly
alienated from him all the world over ?
2. We further collect hence, that the conviction of the un
reconciled part of the world must needs be very clear and easy
in the great day. When this shall be the common case
brought into trial (as indeed it will be with every man) "Was
he a lover of God, or was he not ?" how easy and clear, I say,
must the conviction needs be, since, as you have heard, it is a
matter that admits of no excuse ? If this be a matter not defen
sible at our own bar, among ourselves, when we controvert the
matter one with another ; how easily and gloriously will divine
justice triumph in the eviction of his right, and of the wrong,
IX.) AND OUR BROTHER. 85
that hath been done him by his creatures in the matter? Be
hold a whole race of creatures, originally capable of his love and
communion, gone off from him with one consent ! alienated ia
heart and spirit, from the life and love of God! transmitting
their enmity and disloyalty from age to age, from generation
to generation ! and, in a word, emboldening themselves in
wickedness against him, because they see him not ; and as
they vainly think, because he sees not them.
And yet in the mean time it is very plain, that men might
know him if they would ; for they live, and move, and have
their whole subsistence in, and by him. He is not far from
any one of them. He supplies them with breath from moment
to moment. They entirely owe themselves, their being, and
preservation, to an every where present, and apprehensible
.Deity. Yet they do not, neither will they know him ; and ia
this voluntary ignorance they sufficiently shew, that they love
him not. How glorious then will the triumphs of justice be,
when this case comes to be stated ! when this shall be the
charge brought against men, be they who they will, or what
soever they have been in other respects, that they have been
no lovers of God.
3. We are hence to note, and admire the wonderful patience,,
and bounty of God to this wretched world. How admirable are
the riches of his goodness, and his sparing and sustaining mer
cy ! that the treasures of wrath are shut up, and the treasures
of bounty opened to a world, where he hath, upon the matter,
but little or no love ! One would wonder that this world should
not have been in flames many an age ago, considering how en
mity against God hath been transmitted from age to age. But
how much more reason have we to wonder, that he so concerns
himself about, and takes such care for a company of wretched
miscreants, among whom he is not valued ! Still his treasures
are opened to us ; his sun shines, his rain falls, and in ways of
grace and mercy he leaves not himself without witness, in that
he is continually doing us good, " Giving rain from heaven and
fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness ;"
(Acts 14, 17) though in the mean time men will not know who
feeds them, and maintains their life ; and parcels out their
breath to them, every moment, from time to time.
Surely it becomes us deeply to adore that patience and boun
ty, that are so continually exercised towards such creatures, who
are here shut up in the dark, as it were, from one day to ano
ther. God appears not to them ; they see him not, and in the
mean time agree in this, that they will have no thoughts of him,
Imt have him in perpetual oblivion. Yet all the while they
S<3 OX THE LOVE OF GOD (sER. IX.
have natural powers and faculties, which if employed in the in
quiry, might easily inform them, that they did not make them
selves ; that they have not their life in their own hands, neither
can they prolong it at their own pleasure, inasmuch as all of
us " live, and move, and have our heing in God." Acts 17. 28.
However, they content themselves with their ignorance of him;
and yet he hath sustained the world, and upheld the pillars of
it, when sometimes it hath been ready to dissolve, and burst a-
sunder, with that weight of wickedness that hath overwhelmed
it fora time.
We ought surely in the contemplation of this to say, "How far
are his ways above our ways, and his thoughts above our
thoughts !" Men sometimes when they receive but a petty in
jury, and an apparent wrong from another, are presently won
dering, that the earth doth not swallow up the man that hath
done them this palpable wrong; that vengeance spares him ; or
that God suffers such a one to live. Oh ! why do not we turn
all our wonder this way ; that God spares those that are per
petually affronting him ! making it as it were the whole business
of their life to testify to all the world, how little they care for
him that made them ! We ought then to consider with great
admiration that vast and immense goodness, which is so in
dulgent to men all this while. Again,
4. We may hence learn too, the absolute necessity, and
proper business of the Redeemer ; how great need there was of
a Redeemer, and what work and business he has to do on the
behalf of sinful men. We may learn, I say, how great need
there was of such a one. For who can stand under the weight
of this charge, to have lived days, and months, and years in
this world, destitute of the love of God ? Any man that appre
hends the horror of the thing, and knows how inexcusable a
wickedness it is, and how horrid, notwithstanding any pretence
of excuse, cannot but be greatly affected by it ; methinks pale
ness must possess his face, and pining his heart, to be subject
to so heavy a charge, and also liable to be convicted of not lov
ing God. And then, one would think, it should be easy to
understand what need there was of a Redeemer. The creation
would not be able to sustain this burden, to have creatures in
it that loved not God, and were disaffected to their own Origi
nal. If this guilt were to be parceled out among the creation,
how soon would it make all tilings fly asunder ! and how im
possible would it be for things to subsist and hold together !
How great then was the need of a Redeemer in this case !
And we may see what his business hereupon must be also ;
that is, both to expiate the guilt of such as have not loved God,
SJER. IX.) AND OUR BROTHER. 8?
and to procure that they may do so for the time to come. And
these two we are to consider not as separate and apart from one
another. We are not to fancy or imagine, that Christ hath
only this to do, namely, to procure pardon for our not having
loved God. Sure he is to procure grace also, that we may, and
effectually shall do so for the future, or else he will profit u*
but little. If we have to do with Christ at all, if ever we re
ceive any benefit at all by him, it must be this double benefit in
conjunction ; not the one separate from the other.
The imagination runs in common among men, as if Christ's
business as mediator was only to reconcile God to man, and not
man to God. But how expressly doth the Scripture speak of
this part too ! You that were sometime alienated, and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.
Col. 1, 21. He must reconcile us to God. And therefore the
apostle again saith, that God was in Christ reconciling the
world to himself. 2. Cor. 5, 19. To take out of the hearts of
men the enmity that is reigning every where against God, and
bring them into love with him, is the very business of the gos-
pel.
There did not need a gospel to be preached to heaven, to in
cline God to man ; but there was a necessity of dispensing one
on earth to men, to incline them to God. If the business had
only been to reconcile God to man, there had been no need of
a gospel at all. The affair of our redemption might have been
transacted between the Father, and the Son, in God's eternal
counsel. Christ might have died as he did, and the ends of his
dying be never known to us, were it not that this was the
means, that the Spirit of Christ was to work by, in order to
overcome men's hearts, and slay the enmity in them, not to be
done by any other way. And shall any of us think, that Christ
came into the world to procure the salvation of those, that
loved not God ? This were to think, that he came into the
world to banish the love of God out of it.
Therefore we must know, that if ever we be the better for
Christ it must be both in his expiating our guilt, for not loving
God ; and in removing our enmity, that our love may be set
upon him, our hearts joined with him, and engaged in com
munion and fellowship with him, in our future course. For
this is the business of a Mediator between God and man : to
salve the breach on both sides ; to make a mutual agreement
between both parties ; to vindicate God's right, and so to act
the part of a just Redeemer, and to procure man's righteous
ness, which is the part of a merciful Redeemer. This was his
thought : " This case must be either redressed in men by
68 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. IT,
working a change in them, or else vindicated upon them."
This he is obliged to as Redeemer. The Father hath given all
judgment into his hand; and as it were, deposited his rights
there, to be vindicated by him, or restored. John 5. 22.
5. Learn hence the generous nature of divine love in men.
The love that we owe, and that good souls do live in the exer
cise of, and actually bear to God, of how noble and generous
a nature I say, is it ? Their love is of so refined and solid a na
ture, that it breaks through the whole sphere of sense, and
flies above all visible things, and pitcheth upon an invisible ob
ject. There it terminates, and takes up its residence. It ne
ver rests till it has flown up thither, and seeks no excuse from
the duty of love to God, merely because he is invisible. It
despiseth to be so excused, and neglects, and disregards the
dictates of sense in the case. This is the genius of divine love
and the inward spiritual sense of the new creature, whereof
this love is the heart, and life, and soul. " What ! shall ex
ternal sense impose upon me, and tell me what is fit for me to
love, and what not ? What ! shall I love no higher than so ?
no higher than* a brute?" Therefore, how much more noble
and excellent a spirit is that of the truly good man, than the
men of this world are of ! and how excellent is the spirit of di
vine love, which is in the saints, above that which is earthly
and sensual ! Let us believe this therefore, and be .convinced,
that the spirit that is peculiar to godly men is quite another
thing, from a vulgar and mundane spirit ; and its strain and
genius different, from that of the men of this world. These
love only what they see, and think they are excused from lov
ing any but sensible objects. But says the good man, (f When
I have seen, and viewed all the good, and all the excellency that
this sensible creation can offer to my view, I must have some
thing unseen for my love to pitch 'upon which is beyond all
this." Therefore a gracious spirit is an excellent spirit. It
cannot grovel upon this earth. It must ascend above all visible
things, and get up to that God who is invisible.
6. Since we are so strictly obliged to the love of God though
we cannot see him ; what reason have we to charge and con
demn ourselves, and even loathe and abhor ourselves that we have
loved him so little, and that so small a part of our life can be
said to have been spent in this divine exercise ! It is high time
for us to understand the state of our case, and to consider it in
this respect : though it is very much to be feared that it is but
little considered ; for alas, how generally do people carry it as if
they thought themselves innocent in this point ! After all the
injury that has been done to God by our not loving him, this
SBR. IX.) AND OUR BROTHER. 89
is the most intolerable aggravation that we should think our
selves innocent therein, and maintain that temper of spirit
as if we apprehended all was well. And how plain is it that it
will not enter into the souls of men, that they are guilty crea
tures before the Lord on this account, that they have not loved
him ?
If a man had secretly and privily been guilty of the death
of another on such a day, and the matter was closely covered
up and no body knew it ; yet how would his own thoughts dog
him and accuse him at night ! The blood of that man would so
cry in his conscience, that certainly he would have but a hard
matter of it to compose himself to quiet peaceful repose.
Why, men in not loving God are guilty of deicide, as much as
they can be, or as far as their power extends. It is an attempt
against God. It is saying in their hearts, "No God!" For
it is a plain denial of his goodness, and therefore of his being.
It is as much a denial of his goodness, as infidelity is of his
truth. What a strange thing is it, that men can be so much
at peace with themselves, can pass over whole days one after
another, yet no such thing as the love of God to be found
among them ! and at night can sleep and rest, and their hearts
never smite them for it.
Methinks it is strange that men can make so slight a mat
ter of breaking all laws at once, as you have heard this is of
not loving God ; of subverting the whole frame of the divine
government over us. For how do we obey it in any thing, who
comport not with the first principle of obedience, namely love
to God ? Oh that men should be guilty of a more horrid fact,
than it would be, if it were in their power, to turn all things
out of order, and yet not only be able to rest but even to think
themselves innocent all the while !
These things, in my apprehension, do make a most won
derful conjuncture, where they happen to meet together ; these
four things especially, that it should be so plain to every man
that he ought to love God, that it should be so plainly demon
strable, as to the most, that they do not love God; that it should
be so confessedly a foul and horrid thing not to love him, even
by every man's acknowledgement ; and yet, that so many can
be guilty of this horrid crime all their lives, and yet live as if
all was well, and they were innocent all the while. All these
things make, 1 say, an amazing conjuncture. I appeal to you if
they do not.
But that none of us may be so stupid under such guilt as
this, let us since we cannot excuse it, freely condemn ourselves.
For who is there among us but must be forced to acknowledge,
that the love of God is too little exercised, or is very faint and
VOL. VI. N
90 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (sER. IX.
languid among us ? Methinks we should hate ourselves for this,
that we do not love God. It ought to be looked upon as a
frightful thing, a monstrous indisposition in us. We should
then in our own thoughts, commune with ourselves, and rea
son thus. " Why, what a creature am I ! what a strange
creature am I ! of how amazing a composition ! I have an un
derstanding ahout me. I know that which is good and what is
best. I know the Author of all goodness and excellency, must
needs be the highest excellency and goodness himself. I have
also love in my nature, which I can employ upon inferior
things, and which I confess to be of unspeakably less, and of
diminutive goodness. How monstrously strange is it then that
I cannot feel daily emotions of love in my heart to God ! that I
cannot find my heart to beat for him ! that every thought of
him is not pleasant to me ! How amazing and wonderful is
this !" Why sure it is a very befitting posture, that we should
be covered with shame and confusion before the Lord ; and be
even wallowing in our own tears, lamenting that there should be
so stupid and cool an ascent in our hearts towards him : that we
can spend whole days without him ; give him no visits, and re
ceive none that are of concernment to us ; and in a word, lead
our life as it were without God in the world.
It should make us ashamed to read that precept of an hea
then emperor,* who expresses himself to this effect, and, "You
must lead your lives with God. Then," says he, " you will
be said to lead your life with God, when you approve yourselves
well pleased with every thing that he dispenseth to you, and
take all kindly at his hands ; and when also you obey that leader
and ruler," (he can mean nothing but the conscience that is in
man) " which he has set to be the guide of your actions. So
shall you lead your lives with God, and have daily converse
with him." And now to have daily our conversation in the
world without God, and yet have no scruple about it, nor re
morse upon it, is a marvellous thing ; especially among us,
who hear of him and from him so often, and know that we
must be happy in him at last, or else eternally miserable.
In the
Last place, Since our not seeing God cannot excuse us from
loving him, how much we are concerned to see to it that it be
no hindrance or impediment to this our duty of loving God.
And that it may not, it is very necessary that it be some way
or other supplied. Since it is impossible for us to see God,
we ought to consider seriously with ourselves, whether there
* Antoninus.
SER. X.j AND OUR BROTHER. 91
be not something or other that may serve us instead of the
sight of God, and be a means of our living in his love. And
here I had several things in my thoughts to have hinted to you,
and intended to have gone through them at this time ; but I
must leave them to the next opportunity.
SERMON X.*
CINCE it is necessary, that our not seeing God should be so
supplied, as that we may be capable of loving him, not
withstanding ; I now proceed to give some directions, which I
hope will be of use to us in this great and important matter.
As,
1 . Let us fix the apprehension deep in our souls, of his cer
tain necessary existence, and supreme excellence. Our sight
doth not serve us to the loving of any thing, otherwise than as
it is a means to beget an apprehension in our minds of the love
liness of it. Sight is in no case the immediate inducement of
love, but only as it is ministerial and subservient to the nobler
powers of the mind. And if by any other means than by see
ing, we can come to apprehend so much concerning the bles
sed God, to wit, his most necessary existence, and supreme
excellency, we shall not be at a loss then for an apt medium,
by which our love is to be excited in us towards him.
These two things are the same in effect with those that the
* Preached October 5, 16/6.
'$2 ON THE LOVE OF GO (3ER. X.
apostle tells us we ought to be assured of, in order to our com
ing to God with acceptance, namely, that he is, and that he is
a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Heb. 11.6. We
may easily understand how he is a rewarder, if we compare this
passage with what is said to Abraham, I am thy exceeding great
reward. Gen. 15. 1. God is at once both a rewarder, and a re
ward to those whose hearts are towards him. He is a rewarder
by communicating himself, and not by giving rewards alien
and diverse from himself. And it is necessary that we be as
sured, that he both is, and that he is in this sense a rewarder,
as being in himself the highest excellency, or the supreme and
best Good. For without a persuasion concerning both these, it
is intimated, that we cannot come unto him in an acceptable
manner.
Now loving him is one way of coming to him. It is that by
which the soul moveth to him in desire, and then rests in him
in delight. There can be no such motion in the soul towards
God, without this double persuasion concerning him ; namely,
of his certain existence, and highest excellency, as our termi-
native good. And you have heard that we may be as sure of
both these, as of any thing that we see with our eyes. For if
our eyes tell us, that any thing is in being, our minds tell us as
certainly, that there is an original Being. And if we can be
any way sure, that there is such a thing as goodness, and ex
cellency in the world ; we may be as sure, that there is an ori
ginal excellency, an original good, which must needs be the
supreme good, and can be no where, but in the original su
preme Being. For goodness and excellency are not nothing,
and therefore cannot come out of nothing, but must proceed
from the same fountain, from whence all being comes. We
are not more sure of any thing that our eyes inform us of, than
we shall be of this, if we do but consider, and use our under
standing in the case.
So that we should endeavour once to fix the apprehension of
these things, as being most certainly true ; and from our very
souls should bless God, that we are at a certainty in these
things ; that we do not feel the ground loose under us, but are
in this respect on firm ground, when we affirm that God most
necessarily is, and is the highest and most excellent Good.
And being once sure of this, it would be very unreasonable to
be recalling tliis matter into doubt, or to be perpetually moving
questions and disputes concerning it in our minds. It is what
we may be as sure of, as that there is a world in being, or that
any thing is, that we ourselves are, who being nearest to our
selves, umy be surest of our own being.
SER. X.) AND OUR BROTHER. 93
And it would make strange confused work In the world, if
in reference to all the actions of man, they should be ever
moving disputes about them, whether they really are or are
not. As if a man could not tell how to eat, but he must fall a
doubting presently, "Is this real food before me, or is it not J
or am 1 awake to eat it, yea or no ?" Or as if he could not telt
how to converse with any one, about never so important a bu
siness, but he must fall a disputing, " Is this a real man, OF
but a spectre ? may it not be only the umbra of a man ?" In-
short, what could be done, what business transacted in the
world, if about such plain matters, doubts must be perpetually
raised ?
Every man that hath understanding, as hath been said, may
be at as great certainty concerning the existence of the supreme
and first Being, as of any thing whatever. Nay, a great deal-
more, because his existence is supremely necessary. So that
if I confine certainty to the eye, then I am sure of nothing but
what I see. But I am certain that God always was of himself,
and therefore is necessarily ; and so, not to be, must to him
be simply impossible. This, therefore would be one great
supply to our not seeing him, once to make the matter plain
and clear, that he exists, and that he is the most excellent and
supreme Good. Which would be a great deal in our way,
towards the exercise of love to God, though we do not see
him.
2. It will concern us much to use our thoughts in being con
versant with other invisible objects. For certainly, minds and
hearts that are continually busied about things of sense only,
will be but in a very defective capacity, at all times, to converse
with the invisible God. It needs a very refined temper of mind
to behold him with the intellectual eye, and thereupon to love
and embrace the blessed glorious God. And as while we con
verse with things that are vain, our minds are vain ; while with
things that are earthly, our minds are earthly, and bear the
impress and image of those things with which we have most
to do ; so, if we did but converse with spiritual things, or
those which are above the reach of sense, it would be a means
to make our minds and hearts grow more spiritual, and conse
quently more fit for the love, and converse of the eternal, siu-
preme, invisible Spirit.
It is a mean base thing, since God hath furnished our natures
with a thinking power, to use our thoughts only about those
things that lie in common to us with brute creatures. Can I,
have I, a power to mind higher and nobler objects, and will
I so vilely debase myself as not to mind them ! to mind
)4 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (sER. X.
only things that are earthy, drossy, and terrene ! By this means
I shall always keep myself in an incapacity to have to do with
God."
We should therefore consider with ourselves, that as we have
faculties by which we are rendered capable of conversing with
men and visible things ; so we have faculties too in our natures,
whereby we are capable of conversing with things that are not
visible, and that are of a higher nature. It is easy to turn all
the things of this visible state into a dusky shadow to ourselves.
We can clothe all the world with darkness, in a moment, only
by shutting our eyes. And therefore as our eyes would signify
nothing to visible things, if we did not use them ; so nor will
our thoughts signify any thing in reference to the invisible
world, unless we employ them upon their more proper, and
peculiar objects.
We should also recollect with ourselves, that there is such a
thing as an invisible world, which is the best and noblest part
of the creation of God. We ourselves, as to the better part of
our natures, belong to it. Therefore we should not behave as
strangers, and unrelated to that world. We should consider
how glorious the invisible world is, and recount who are its In
habitants, what are the affairs and pleasures, the excellencies
and ornaments of those inhabitants. Let us think with our
selves, what vast numberless myriads there are of glorious
spirits, creatures of God, that are composed all of mind and
love, whose perpetual business and employment is to behold,
and adore the great Father of spirits, the PATERNAL MIND, or
RKASON, as the Heathen have called him, the original intel
lect, that is every where and ALL IN ALL.
We should think with ourselves, that the affairs of those in
numerable multitudes of glorious spirits, and their pleasures
and delights, are the same. Their business is to be always
beholding the divine glory ; and by adoration and praise to re
turn it to him, reflecting it back again to its own Original. We
should think with ourselves, what the lovely ornaments and ex
cellencies are of those blessed inhabitants : we should consider
their vast knowledge, their mighty power, their pure holiness,
their profound humility, the benignity, love, and sereni
ty, that are every where to be found among those happy be
ings.
And when we have thought and considered all this, then let
us ask ourselves, "Why am I a stranger to this invisible world ?"
For indeed we are strangers to it, while we are unrelated to
God, and his Christ. But this is not our necessity, but our
great folly, that we continue in so distant and unrelated a state.
SER. X.) AND OUR BROTHER. 95
We are naturally aliens, strangers, foreigners ; but there are
overtures made to us by Christ, to become of the household
and family of God. Eph. 2.19. And his family is made up
of heavenly ones, though part be in heaven, and part on earth.
Our Lord Jesus Christ himself, besides his natural, hath an
acquired dominion and lordship over the whole of it. By him
were all things made, both visible and invisible ; and even
besides that, by the blood of his cross, he is become the Head
over all principalities, and powers, and thrones, and domi
nions ; whether they be in heaven, or earth, or under the
arth. Col. 1. 1621.
So that if we be of those who profess themselves to be chris-
tians, and are united to him, we are come to an innumerable
company of angels, and the spirits of the just made perfect.
Heb. 12. 22, 23. We are actually joined as members of that
body,which is all but one community of glorious creatures above,
and holy ones here below, in whom the beginnings and first
principles of the new creature, and the work of sanetification
are to be found. So that we may again demand of ourselves
and ask, " Why do we estrange ourselves and carry it as if we
were unrelated to those invisible creatures ?" Those blessed
spirits are continually mingling with us, if we will believe the
divine testimony concerning them. The angel of the Lord
encampeth about them that fear him, and delivereth them,
Ps. 34. 7- And what are all the angels ? But ministering
spirits sent forth for the good and service of them who are heirs
of salvation. Heb. I. 14. They are conversant in our as
semblies, as some understand that passage in the first epistle
to the Corinthians, where the woman is directed to have power
over her head, that is, a vail, in token of her subjection to
power, " because of the angels ;" (1 Cor. 11. 10.) though
some understand this passage otherwise. And again, more ex
pressly it is said, that unto powers and principalities in hea
venly places is known by the church the manifold wisdom of
God. Eph. 3. 10.
Therefore in that we do not entertain more frequent thoughts^
and exercise our minds more about what the Scriptures reveal
in this matter, we are certainly injurious to ourselves. We
keep back our minds from being clarified from earth and sensi
ble things, by which they might be raised up to the honour and
advantage of being employed about the blessed God himself.
For if we were filled, all the day long, with becoming thoughts
ef the state and condition of the affairs of the inhabitants of the
96 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. t.
invisible world, how easy were it to fix upon God the great
Ruler of all, the Father of spirits.
And being of the same community, making but one society
with those blessed creatures, as being under 4he same Head
with them, we make a great schism in the body if we break
off ourselves from them, and their employments and affairs,
and involve ourselves with things that are visible, and the ob
jects of sense. Of all men in the world the sensualist is the
greatest schismatic. He breaks himself off from all the affairs
and concernments of the invisible world ; and wraps himself in,
this narrow sphere, as one quite cut off from God, and all that
are more immediately conversant with him. We, I say, quite
rend ourselves from that body, that happy society, if we do not
apply ourselves more to mind the concernments of that other;
world, and to have our spirits, thoughts and affections, exer
cised and carried up thither. And again,
3. It is necessary in order to supply our not seeing God, that
we most firmly believe the report and testimony that is given of
him in the gospel of his Son. What we cannot know by our own
eyes, we must be beholden for the knowledge of to the report
of others. And it is the business of the gospel to make a re=-
port of God to us, and the errand of his Son into the world was
to bring us this report. He who best knew him, and from
eternity was in his bosom, " hath declared him ;" and that on
purpose for our relief in this case, because " no man hath seen
God at any time." Since therefore God is invisible, and we are
creatures that depend so much upon sense, he " hath spoken
to us by his Son, the express image of his person." Heb. 1. 3.
So that it is by no mean one that he hath sent us an account of
himself, though we cannot see him.
All reports signify as they are believed. They signify no
thing where no credit is given to them. But what should in
duce us to doubt, whether the revelation which Christ hath
made to us of God, in his word, be true or no ? What should
jriake us imagine, that God should misrepresent himself?
What ! Doth he need to beguile us, his creatures, whom he
hath entirely in his power? the works of his hands, whom he
can wink and beckon into nothing ? Do you think he means to
beguile us with specious representations of himself, other
wise than the matter really is ?
Therefore we should thus consider with ourselves. " We
have not indeed seen God, nor is he liable to so mean a thing
as human sight. But we have an express discovery of him
l>y his own Son, who came upon this very errand : and what
fee has said was not casually, and on the by, as words droppei
SEH. X.) AND OUR BROTHER. 97
by chance ; but he came for this very end, that he might ac
quaint the world what God is, and give to men an account of
him, since he is not to be seen with eyes of flesh." And sure,
upon the account we have of this blessed and glorious Object,
he must be acknowledged to be the most lovely Object. We
are not then at a loss for an object of our love, if we will but
believe the record, and testimony of the blessed God in his
own word ; and take it as a revelation from heaven with so
merciful a design. How awful an acquiescence therefore doth
that challenge and command ! So that our hearts should rea
dily suggest to us, that it is the greatest profaneness, if
we do not with reverence, and veneration admit that testi-
jnony.
In what honour and veneration had those poor deluded crea
tures the image that was said to have come down from Jupiter!
Acts 19. 35. Why, God's own word is his own lively image,
a true representation of himself, which certainly came down,
from himself. He hath sent many on this message ; his own.
Son, his prophets, and apostles, on purpose to draw men into
communion and fellowship with himself. These things, saith
St. John, are written, that we might have fellowship with the
Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 1. 3. And
then he goes on in his epistle to tell them, that the message
which the apostles heard of him and declared unto them, was
this that God is light, and God is love. 1 John 1. 5. &c.
Surely then such a Being is the most worthy of our esteem and
love ; and the message sent to men is most worthy of their ac
ceptance, to wit, that such a God is offered to them for their
God. Thus men are acquainted with him by the revelation
they have of him in the gospel, that so they may be drawn into
a communion and fellowship with him, the life and soul of
which is love.
4. It is necessary, that we bend ourselves much to contem
plate and study the nature of God, according to the discovery
we have of him in his revelation. That which we do know
and believe, makes an impression upon us only as it is im
proved by our thoughts ; as it is considered or not considered.
A great many things lie asleep in our souls, and signify no
thing to us, for want of actual thought. At certain times and
seasons, therefore, we should say to ourselves ; " Well ! I will
now go on purpose, and sit down, and meditate upon God.
This shall be the business of the present hour." For surely
nothing can with higher right lay claim to our entire thoughts,
than the Author of all. And it is a strange piece of negligence,
that he, with whom we have such great concerns, and who is
VOL. vi.
DS ON THE LOVE OF GOD (sBK. X.
our All in all, should be so seldom the Subject of our solemn,
designed, purposed meditation; that the thoughts of God
should be casualties with us ; that we should think of him only
now and then by chance, and never find a time, wherein we
may say to ourselves, " I will now on set purpose think of
God."
How doth this correspond with the practice of the saints,
who had communion with him of old ? as we find the Psalmist
intimating, that he thought of God on his bed, and medi
tated on him in the night-watches. Ps. 63. 6. I would not
here propound to you the indulging, or gratify ing of a vain curi
osity, inquiring into the unrevealed things of God ; but would
recommend to you the study of those plain intelligible attributes
of his, that are obvious to the understandings of the generality
of men, because the Divine Being is not capable of a strict
and rigid definition. These are enough to suggest such a no
tion of him, as renders him an Object worthy of our love and
worship ; while a multitude of things may be supposed con
cerning God, which it is not necessary for us to be acquainted
with.
Consider then his wisdom, power, goodness, holiness, and
the like, which are his communicable attributes ; and add to
these the incommunicable properties of his eternity, his im
mensity, his self-sufficiency, his self-subsistence, his neces
sary existence, and so we have an account of God. And then
how excellent and glorious an Object both of love and worship
have we before us ! a Being of himself originally perfect; who
is essential wisdom, goodness, love, truth, righteousness, and
holiness. In what a transport should we be upon such a re
presentation of God ! We have his name often in our mouths,
when it is with us but as an empty sound ; as if that great, and
venerable name signified nothing. He is near in our mouths,
and ears, but far from our hearts ; and then no wonder he is
so little loved all the while. But would we once admit to have
our souls possessed with the apprehension of the import of that
mighty and venerable name, which was given to Moses ; how
would it engage us to bow our heads and worship him, who is
" the Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious, long- suffer
ing, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thou
sands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will
by no means clear the guilty." Exod. 34. 6, 7- Our Lord
told the Samaritan woman, " Ye worship ye know not what."
John 4. 22. So do they, who make his worship nothing else
but a ceremonious compliment ; the mere bowing of the knee,
and the honouring him with the lip. But if it be the worship
SBR. X.) AND OUR BROTHER. 99
of love, it is impossible then that we should worship we know
not what. For the interior faculties of the soul, as to love and
desire, cannot be wrought upon by a shadow. They must be
moved by something substantial, and set on work by some
thing on purpose which really exists. When therefore we
hear the name of God spoken, how should it make us stoop
and bow before him ! and into what an awful and pleasing
commotion should it put all the powers of our souls at once !
But to go a whole day, and forget God ; and to let many days
pass, without ever choosing a time to think of him, is a great
iniquity. And while that iniquity abounds, the love of such
must needs grow cold. And then again,
5, We must take heed, that we entertain no horrid and dis
mal thoughts of God, and that we believe nothing that is con
trary to his own revelation of himself. Take heed lest the be
lief of a God suggest only a guilty enslaving fear. I mean not
the fear of reverence, which the angels owe and pay ; but that
fear of horror, which is most proper to devils, and is the pro
duct of a diabolical faith. " The devils believe and tremble."
Ja. 2. 19. They believe and are full of horror, as the word
Qficnrov/Ti signifies. Do even shiver with the belief they have con
cerning God. As Cf perfect love casteth out fear," so such
fear will always put out love. For a fear proceeding from gross
and horrid mis-persuasions concerning God, must needs stifle
all dutiful, ingenuous, loyal affection to God.
It is the great art of the devil to possess men with the ap
prehension, if it be possible, that their case is the same with
his own, that so thereby they may make it their own. If the
devils can once persuade men, that God is as unreconcilable
to them, as he is to themselves, who sinned with open eyes,
without a tempter, and all at once in their own proper persons ;
if they can, I say, but make men believe this, then it is a most
easy thing to keep the love of God from ever having any en
trance into the soul. It is natural to hate those, whom we fear
or dread; therefore, 1 say, the fallen angels believe and tremble,
believe, and are full of horror.
But, do you believe, and bless God ? Believe him actually
reconciled, if you find your hearts do yield to him, Believe
him willing to be at peace. Believe him when he testifies,
that whosoever cometh to him shall in no wise be cast out.
John 6. 1^. Believe him saying, "Though thou hast for
gotten me, and hast set up thyself to be thine own idol, and
hast been perpetually affronting me ; yet do thou but accept my
Son, and of pardon in and through him, and I will make thee
my friend, my associate and my son." Do but believe this,
loo
ON THE LOVE OF GOD
(SER. X.
and try if it be in your power not to love him. This faith will
certainly work by love. But take heed of believing what God
hath never said ; and what the destroyer of souls would make
you believe he hath said. For whatsoever thoughts tend to
the making him unlovely, or not amiable in your eyes, have
them far from you. And
6. Make him your own by an entire, and cheerful choice,
and acceptance of him for your Lord and your God. How
mightily doth relation, interest, and property command love !
You cannot see him it is true, but you may choose and appre
hend him for your God ; which relation, once understood, will
happily supply the want of seeing him. Surely you would love
your own child, your own father, your own husband, or wife,
though you were born bli.nd and could never see them. How
many are apt to say, when they observe any thing lovely, in
such or such a relation in another family ; for instance, a duti
ful, ingenuous child, "Oh had I such a one, how should 1 love
him I" Why, you have an amiable description of your God ;
and do not your hearts say within you, " If he were my God,
how should I love him ?" And why is he not your God ? he of
fers himself to be yours, and has put no harder terms upon you,
than that you receive him for your God. Comply then with
his righteous law, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me."
Exod, 20. 3. Say therefore, " Thou shalt be my God wholly
and alone." As every covenant is made up by a mutual sti
pulation, so his willingness and yours make the bargain. He
hath declared his own willingness, do you but make out yours,
and the matter is effected, so as that none can tear you asun
der.
And how pleasant a thing is it to have such a God your own
to glory in, and to walk in his name ! to be able to say,
" God, even my God shall bless me ! I need no other/' How
high matter of triumph was this to the Psalmist ! Let it be
told to the generations following, This God is our God for
ever and ever ; he will be our guide even unto death. Ps. 48.
13, 14. As if he had said, We are willing that this should be
known, in the present, and succeeding ages, Let it be trans
mitted to posterity. Let there be a perpetual everlasting mo
nument of this, that we have had the Lord for our God. Thus
a certain noble person would have an inscription put upon his
tomb, without any further enlargement, to this effect, That
he had been a servant to queen Elizabeth, counsellor to king
James, and friend to sir Philip Sidney. By this it appears
he would have all ages know whose servant, counsellor, and
ER. X.) AND OUR BROTHER. 101
friend be had been.* In like manner should every good and
pious soul declare to the present, and all future ages, that
THE LORD is HIS God.
7. Let your souls be rilled with this apprehension, that God
is always and every where present. 1:1 ow sweetly moving are
those thoughts of God's omnipresence in the 139 Psalm ! They
were so to the Psalmist and are so to all the saints. " Whither
shall I go from thy Spirit ? or whither shall I flee from thy
presence ? If 1 ascend up into heaven, thou art there ; if I
make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the
wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the
sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand
shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me ;
even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkless
hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day ; the
darkness, and the light, are both alike to thee." And
when the royal Psalmist considered, how God insinuated
himself into every bone of his flesh, and particle of his
frame, saying, "Thou hast possessed my reins, thou hast
covered me in my mother's womb;" he breaks out at last in
to these words, " How precious also are thy thoughts unto
me, O God ! how great is the sum of them !"
Let us then but habituate ourselves to the apprehension of
an every where present Deity, conceiving all things filled with
the divine fulness, and this will supply the defect, or the want
of seeing God. Let every creature, every place, every provi
dence, put us in mind of God. Thus begins, and ends the
eighth psalm, the design of which is to contemplate God in these
things, regarding them all as the works of his hands ; " How
excellent is thy name, O God, in all the earth, who hast set
thy glory above the heavens !" And what an ecstasy do we
find Moses in, while he is celebrating a particular providence i
" Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods ? who is
like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing won
ders ?" Exod. 15. 11. If then we did but labour to make this
thought familiar to ourselves, that whithersoever we go, or
* The noble personage here alluded to, is Fulke Grevill, Lord
Brooke ; whose funeral monument is yet remaining in St. Mary's.
Church in Warwick, and has on it this inscription
FVLKE GREVILL
SERVANT TO QVEENE ELIZABETH
CONCELLER TO KING IAMES
AND FREND TO SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.
102 ON THE LOVE OF COD (sER. X.
wherever we are, we have a God to behold ; that there are
footsteps of God, everywhere, for us to take notice of, or im
pressions, and prints of his glory ; this would habituate us to
his converse, and make the motions and exercises of love, easy
and familiar to us. This effect it had on the Psalmist in the
104 Psalm, who. after a glorious description of God, thus
closeth it up ; " My meditation of him shall be sweet, I will
be glad in the Lord." Ps. 104. 34. He had been viewing
God, as he was to be seen in the works of his hands ; and his
spirit was now drenched deeply in the thoughts of God's
active power and providence, every where diffused in the
world.
We, in like manner, should always have such thoughts in
jected into us, if we would but consider with ourselves, that
wherever we are, still we live, and move and have our being
in God. The whole earth is full of his glory. By him all
things consist. We can set a foot no where but still we tread
upon his ground, and are in his dominion. We cannot live,
but by a vital influence derived from him, How much would
this contribute to the facilitating the exercises of love ! By con
verse love insinuates itself into persons, they are captivated
before they are aware. And there is no man of so morose, sour,
churlish a nature, but wijl have a sort of kindness for such,
whom he converseth frequently with. Assiduous converse
wins hearts. How much more, when we have such an amiable
object, should we associate with him ! It will then ensue of
course, that we shall be taken with him, and drawn by the
cords of love into the happy bonds.
8. And lastly: Let us pray much and earnestly for the Spirit
of life and love, which is his own gift. Among the many ex
cellent fruitsof the Spirit you see love leads the van. Gal. 5. 22.
It is of considerable moment to state the case to ourselves thus ;
"The love of God is one of the fruits of his own Spirit." How in
tent then should we be upon this, that he who claims to be the
Object of our love, is pleased to be the Author of it ? even of
that pure, refined love, that is fit to be set upon so glorious
an Object. Whereas such a carnalized, impure, drossy love
as ours, can never turn itself unto God ; will always decline,
nnd shun that blessed Object. He must form our love for him
self, or it will never do.
As he therefore makes our love the sum of his law, and of
all his precepts, so we should make it the sum of all our re
quests. For it is at once indeed both our privilege, and our
duty. Both what we are to do, and what we are to enjoy, are
SER. X.) AND OUR BROTHER. 10S
all summed up In love. And if we make this the sum of
our desires, how much of ingenuity would there be in this
prayer, when we come to the Lord and say, " Lord if I
should cast all my desires into one request, it is love ! Love
is the only thing. I beg only a heart to love thee." How
much ingenuity is there, I say, in such a prayer ! and how
great also is the necessity of it ! For we can as soon pluck
down a star, or create a new sun, as plant in our own souls
this principle of love to God, without his aid. Every good
and perfect gift is from him ; and certainly this is good,
and a matter of high excellency, to have the heart possessed
with his love. We can never understand the love of God to
us, till our souls are, as it were, trans-elemated into a love to
him. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in
God and God in him. 1 John 4. 16.
And now, after all this would we be excused from the duty
of loving God ? that is, from being happy, from living a life of
pleasure, from solacing ourselves with the immense Good? We
should methinks as little wish to be excused, as a poor indi
gent man from having all his wants supplied ; or a sick lan
guishing person, from returning to health and strength ; or a
hungry fainting person, from receiving convenient food j or
a weary person, from receiving refreshing ease and rest. Would
we be excused from having God for our portion, our health and
strength, our rest and all in all ? We cannot indeed see God ;
but will that excuse us, when so many things present us with
an idea and image of him ? or when we have the privilege of
addressing ourselves to him by prayer ? The Scriptures do not
speak to us in this matter with any intention or design to ex
cuse us from this duty. There it is intimated, that all the good,
which concerns a man's present state, comes from love to
God. All, says the Apostle, shall work together for good, to
them that love GOG. Rom. 8. 28. And with respect to the
other world, it is said that, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive,
what God hath laid up for them that love him. 1 Cor.
2. 9.
And if we would but consider the matter, it is plain we can
not excuse our conduct, to ourselves ; much less to God. For
do not our consciences tell us, that nothing is so easy, no
thing so ready ? And it is likewise to be considered, what will
be made of this one day. I make little doubt but one very
great part of the torture of hell, will lie in a too late repen
tance ; that we never loved what our convicted consciences
must needs have told us was most congruous, and fit to be
104 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. X.
loved. When an awakened soul shall make reflection, and
consider, what infinite reason there was for the loving of God,
and yet it could never be brought to it ; we can conceive no
sort of mental torture to be more tormenting than this. So
that they, who live destitute of the love of God, and content
themselves with so doing, are busily preparing their own hell
all their days. Oh, how tormenting will be the reflection !
" I lived a life's time in the world, and knew how reasonable
a thing it was, how just and righteous to love God, and yet
I never did love him !" This will be a most amazing sub
ject for thought to feed upon, and to find torment by, through
out an eternal state. And therefore we are the more con
cerned to be restless in our spirits, till we feel the fire so to
burn within us, and can make our appeal to God, saying,
Thou knowest all things, Lord ! thou knowest that I love
thee. John 21. 17.
SKR. XI.)
AND OUR BROTHER.
105
SERMON XL*
"1\7"E have endeavoured from these words to evince to yon
the indispensable obligation there is upon us to the con
tinued exercise of love to God, notwithstanding that we can
not see him. This hath been doctrinally discoursed of, and
also insisted upon by way of use, and particular application of
that doctrine ; but before we pass from it, it will be requisite
to add somewhat further of a casuistical import.
It is very plain, that though there are not many sincere
lovers of God, in this world ; yet there are but few, who
pretend not to be so. They are apt to please themselves with
the conceit that they love God, and so take the matter for
granted, though there be nothing of any such affection in their
hearts at all. Others there are, who are apt to suspect that
they do not love him in sincerity, and are too forward to con
clude, that they have none of this divine affection, because
they do not perceive it to work towards God, as their love does
towards other objects. Finally, there are others again, who
are very prone to censure those that speak of more passionate
workings of affection to God, as mere hypocrites for this pre
tension. For since they experience nothing of such workings
* Preaehed November 1, 1676.
VOl,. VI.
106
ON THE LOVB OF GOD
(SEK. XI.
on their own hearts, they think it impossible there should be
any such thing at all in the world. There are therefore three
sorts of persons that our present discourse must have reference
unto.
I. Such ignorant and careless souls as do, at random and
without ever considering the matter, pronounce concerning
themselves, that they are lovers of God ; though if the mat
ter be strictly looked into, they have no such thing as a motion
of love in their heart to God at all.
II. Those that are prone to suspect, and conclude them
selves to have no love to God at all, because they do not find
this affection to work with that fervour and constancy, that
they think it should, and which they perceive on other occa
sions.
HI. Such as are very apt to suspect, and accuse others of
hypocrisy or folly, who seem to express the most passionate
and fervent love to God, and think that such an affection to
wards him cannot have place in a human breast. What there
fore is pretended to be of a spiritual and holy kind, must be
resolved, they imagine, wholly into enthusiasm ; or be attri
buted to the power of fancy, or imagination ; or to the temper,
and disposition of the bodily humours, and the various struc
ture and fabric even of the inferior parts of the body itself.
To each of these sorts, reference must be had in what is now
to be discoursed upon at this time.
I. As to those who confidently give out themselves to be
lovers of God, though they never felt any motion of love to
him at all in their hearts, such things as these it would be very
fit for them to consider.
1. That it is a very rash and unreasonable, as well as dan
gerous presumption, for them to conclude there is that in them
which they have never perceived at all. For what might not
one imagine, or fancy upon such a pretence ? Supposing it
possible, must I believe every thing to be true which is barely
possible to be true ? How many absurd things should 1 then
believe ! For there are many things that possibly may be,
which yet it would be a very great absurdity to believe are in
reality. It is a known rule, that of things that appear not,
nor exist, the same esteem is to be had. If then it no way ap
pears, or however appears not to me, that I am a lover of
God ; with what confidence can I pretend to it, or say that I
am so?
2. It is to be considered that it is a most natural thing to
men to be very indulgent to themselves, and to think that of
themselves, which none would think or imagine but themselves.
SEB. XI.) AND OUR BROTHER. 107
It is natural to every wicked man to " flatter himself in his
own eyes, until his wickedness be found out to be hateful."
Ps. 36'. 2. Thus says the Psalmist, "The transgression of
the wicked saith within my heart," that is, suggests to me,
" that there is no fear of God before his eyes." Ps. 36. 1 .
And truly this does as effectually speak or declare, that he hath
not the love of God in him ; yet at the same time he flatters
himself, as it there follows, in his own eyes, till the matter
comes to be plainly observable to every eye. Hence it may be
very well understood, how it comes to pass that men are so apt
to judge themselves any thing, which it would be horrid for
them not to be thought to be, only from the kindness they
have to themselves. For how horrid is it for any man to ad
mit himself to be no lover of God ! Therefore he must needs
think himself such, or affirm that as true, which it were a
horrid thing to confess and avow to be false. And so, up
on the matter, their love to God depends upon, and runs
into nothing else, but a partial and fond love to them
selves.
3. They should consider how obvious the mistake is, to
take a conviction of conscience in this case for an affection of
the .heart. That is, because they are convinced that it is a
very reasonable and fit thing to love God, therefore they con
clude, that they do love him. But how most irrational is the
conclusion ! They may as well conclude their approbation of
any thing else, to be the possession of the thing itself. For
instance, that they are rich, because they approve of riches ;
or that they are in very good health, because they approve of a
sound habit of body. It is plain that this is all which the most
can say, as to the bottom of their pretence. They have no
thing at all in them, like the love of God, but only this con
viction of conscience, that it is fit he should be loved. Of this
there is a necessary and unavoidable approbation imposed upon
their judgment, from the evidence of the thing itself. And
as all men are convinced, that the obligation is indispensable,
therefore they are willing to take it for granted, that they have
the love of God in them.
4. It follows, as another thing to be considered, that if the
love of God in itself be really a distinct thing, and different
from such a conviction, then their love to him is reduced to
nothing : for it is really nothing, distinguished from such a
conviction, or apprehension in their own minds. And under a
notion of its being an affection of a finer kind and nature than
to be obvious to common observation, they have refined it
quite away, even into a mere nothing. For doth not every
10S ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. XI.
man's own sense tell him, that the love of tins or that
thing, is quite another thing than a mental approbation of it ?
Or may not I be convinced in my judgment of the excellencies
of one,' TO whom I have yet a settled aversion in my heart?
How many cannot endure such persons, of whom upon con
viction they cannot say they are not excellent men ? And cer
tainly it will put every sober considerer of this state of the case
upon qiiite new thoughts, when we shall find he is not able to
tell, what the thing Is, that he calls love to God, if it must
be distinguished from the mere conviction of the reasonableness
of it.
5. It is also to be considered, that since love to God, if it
he any where, is to be discerned and felt, and must be a ruling
principle ; it is then a most absurd imagination, that such a
principle should be in men, of which they have no perception.
For is it not absurd, that a principle, which is to have the
conduct of a man's life, and so very great power in and over
him in his whole course, should yet be neither discernible, nor
felt ? Indeed there are many thoughts and motions that stir
in our minds, of which we take very little notice ; nor can we
in a little time say positively, whether we have such a thought
or no. But that a principle, which runs through the univer
sal course of a man's life, and which of all things should most
frequently come under his notice, should yet be neither felt
nor perceived by him, is the most unimaginable of all things
we can conceive of. Therefore those who have so hastily pro-,
nounced themselves to be lovers of God, and yet never felt any
thing by which this love is to be discerned, are besought to think
again, to allow the cause a rehearing, to take it into new
consideration, and not run away with a groundless conceit
that they are what it so much concerns them actually to be,
while they are only so in their own fancies and imagina
tions.
II. I now come to the next sort, namely, those who are apt
to judge themselves wholly destitute of sincere love to God,
because they do not find those passionate motions of it towards
him, as they do towards many inferior objects. And there
are sundry considerations, which will be very requisite to be
weighed in this ease too. As,
1 . That certainly the actual exercise of love towards Go(J
may be often intermitted, when an habitual propension of heart
towards him doth remain. The soul may frequently be put
beside the direct acts, and exercke of this duty ; and yet that
virtue and principle, which hath touched their hearts, and by
gracious vouchsafement is seated there, may still habitually
SER. XI.) AND OUR BROTHER. 109
incline them the same way. As the needle touched with the
load-stone, is frequently diverted from its direct tendency
towards the north ; for being moved it shakes and quivers, and
hath its various vibrations this way and that, yet there is a vir
tue in it that will bring and reduce it to the right point again.
Therefore it is not this, or that act of love towards God, that
gives the denomination ; but the habitual propension, and
bent of the heart. A man then is to be esteemed a lover of
God, according as his heart stands habitually propense to him.
But if the denomination depend upon this, or the other act ;
then a man would cease to be a lover of God, as often as he
loveth, or thinketh of any one else, or is diverted from it
by this or that though never so necessary an occasion. And
again,
2. It is very necessary, that we consider the act and the
passion of love as very distinguishable, or different things.
The act of love in a reasonable intelligent creature, is nothing'
else but the complacential motion of the will towards this or
that object, that is apprehended amiable, or worthy to be lov
ed. The passion of love is the impression made by an object,
upon the animal and vital spirits of the brain and heart, which,
being sensible, are reflected upon, and by many are taken no
tice of (through a great mistake) as if the very notion and being
of love was placed there. Whereas the whole entire nature of
divine love is separable from that passion, and may be without
it; otherwise if passion were of the essence of love, it were
altogether impossible, that the separate soul should be capa
ble of loving God, or any thing else. This is a mere accident
to our love, and a result that depends upon our present union
with the body ; which body is essentially necessary, neither
to our soul, nor to our love, for both may be without it. And
ladd,
3. That those acts which are performed, as I may call It,
in the upper region of the soul, and which are more pecu
liar to its intellectual nature, are as truly discernible, as the
passions .are which rebound upon, and affect the body. The
acts of the mind, and of the will, are no more imperceptible
than the passions ; and it is as possible for me to be able to
discern and feel the former, as the latter. Cannot I as well
tell that t think such a thought, if I do think it ; that 1 intend
and purpose such a thing, if I do really entertain in my heart
such a resolution, as> that I feel the motions that affect my
outward man ? If therefore a person with a practical judgment
esteems the blessed God to be his highest and best good, and
accordingly chooses him as such, and settles this resolution in
110 ON THE LOVK OF GOD (SER. XI.
his own soul, saying, " This God shall be my God, my best
and supreme Good, here will 1 seek my felicity, and take up
my rest, and to him will I be an entirely devoted one for ever;"
in this person certainly lies the substance and essence of love.
And is not tin's perceptible ? are not such acts as these capa
ble of being reflected on, and taken notice of, if men would
but more frequently turn their eyes inward, and habituate
themselves to converse with themselves ? But I further
add,
4. That most certain it is, that during our abode in the body,
the affections of the soul have more intimately an influence upon
it. Such is the close and mysterious union between these two
natures of flesh arid spirit ; that the influences between the one
and the other are reciprocal. And therefore it is that the very
temper or complexion of our souls doth so naturally, some way
or other, represent itself in the outward man, as that it is very
difficult, almost impossible, to hide and conceal what are the
sentiments of our spirits upon certain occasions. Whence it
hath grown into a maxim, vultus est index animi : that the
face is the. character of the mind. Heii, guam difficile est
crimen non prodere vultu ! How hard is it for a man not
to betray guilt in his countenance, if he has the sense
of it in his own mind and heart ! And therefore we should
consider with ourselves, how our affections work towards God ;
even according to the usual way, wherein human affections are
wont to shew and discover themselves. For I add,
5. That even spiritual, holy affections, such as respect the
invisible God, and other invisible objects, do frequently so work
in those pious souls in whom they are, as to make very great
and deep impressions upon the body, and are accompanied
with such passionate expressions, as are discernible, even to
the inferior senses which belong to the animal nature. Let pas
sages of Scripture to this purpose be looked into. How was
the Psalmist affected and wrought..upon by one affection towards
God, when he tells us, " My flesh trembleth for fear of thee,
and I am afraid of thy judgments." Ps. 119. 120. There is
a proportion between fear and love, in this case. As for love,
the same devout Psalmist says, " My soul thirsteth for thee,
O God ! yea my flesh longeth for thee." Ps. 63. 1 . And again,
"My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." Ps. 84.
2. Now these are not to be understood as mere rhetorical
strains ; for indeed they are not so, but do plainly carry this
signification with them, that though the flesh be more imme
diately incapable of desire, of thirsting, and longing after God,
whereof the soul alone is primarily capable, yet, mediately,.
SRR. XI.) AND OUR BROtHER. Ill
the flesh partakes thereof. That is, the heart and soul did so
much long after God, that the flesh was affected and bore the
impression of that vehement desire, which was in the soul, as
in its original and proper scat. We are therefore to consider,
that even the more passionate workings of love towards God are
very agreeable to that kind of affection, which in respect to
the object, and principle of it, is spiritual and divine. And
therefore,
6. It must further be added, that if persons be very apt to be
passionately affected in other kinds, and towards other objects,
but do always find themselves dull, and insensible of such mo
tions towards God and invisible things, they have a great deal
of reason to suspect themselve.s to be under a very bad distem
per. Indeed, when persons are equally, and alike, unapt to
feel such passionate lesentments in their hearts towards any
kind of objects, the matter is quite otherwise. But if they can,
ordinarily say, "I feel my love to work towards the creature, a
relation, or other amiable objects in this and that passionate
manner ; but 1 can feel no love working towards God," they
are far from being in a good condition . They have, at least,
a good deal of reason to suspect, that a distemper prevails
upon them. Their love languisheth, and needs re-enforcement;
and they ought not to content themselves to have the matter
so, as if it were a case to be approved of, and that needed no
redress. But yet again,
7. We must consider, that tempers are very carefully to be
distinguished. The temper of some men's minds is more
composed, according as the bodily temper is more fixed, and
their natural spirits are less volatile. Hence some are of a
more even deportment to every object, even to the observation
of others, and seldom are seen to be exalted, or depressed,
whatever occurenoes happen to them in the course of their
lives. They are not often seen, it may be, either to weep or
laugh, to be either remarkably sad or cheerful. And grace, or
this holy affection wherever it is in its subject, is somewhat
conform to the natural temper of the person ; as water pour
ed into a vessel, resembleth the form of that vessel. If the
vessel be round, then it resembles a round figure ; if triangu^
lar, then it resembles a triangular figure. So 1 say grace and
holy affections, where they are, resemble their subject, and
receive in some sense a likeness and conformity to it, so as not
to change the natural temper of the mind. Indeed the great
business of the grace of God is to influence men as to morals,
and not as to naturals. Therefore it were an unreasonable
thing for any one to make himself a measure to all other per-
112 03* THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. XJ.
sons, how much soever they differ in temper from him. Or
that any one should make another such a standard to himself,
that however it be with him as to his natural temper, he must
be just such as others are ; which is equally to aim at a thing
both unnecessary and impossible. Further,
8. We must warily distinguish between the exercise of
love upon extraordinary, and sudden occasions, and such as
are common and less surprising. As you know one may con
verse daily among the nearest relatives, and never feel any dis
cernible pang of affection working towards them, as one docs
to an object that suddenly appears. This proceeds from fre
quency and familiarity with them; when possibly the very same
. person would be in a transport upon the sudden and unexpect
ed sight of the face of a friend, whom he had not seen for
many years before. Now this is not inconsiderable as to our
present case. It may be thus with many persons, who do not
feel such a passionate pang of love towards persons, they daily
converse with, as they do towards others, at the sight of whom
they are surprised : yet notwithstanding this their love may be
far dearer, and habitually much more strong to- those relations
whom they daily converse with, as occasions when administer
ed abundantly shew ; that is, they would do more for them,
and be more deeply concerned if they saw them in distress,
pain, and anguish. They would with much more regret en
dure separation from them, or take their deaths much more
impatiently ; which things shew their affections to be habitual
ly much stronger, though upon sudden occasions, or in a cer
tain juncture, they may work much more observably. And
thus it may possibly be with some persons, who walk more
evenly in their spirits before God. They have it may be fewer
transports than others, who are of such uneven spirits, that the
sight of God is often a new thing to them. They have him,
less frequently out of sight, and are daily more conversant
with him, and therefore are not subject to such violent emotions
of mind. And if we compare these together, certainly we can
never think, that there is a greater excellency in that temper
which subjects a man, now and then, to higher transports of
spiritual and divine affection, than in that temper of spirit,
which is more steadily determined to a continual course of
walking with God, in whom there is also an habitual compla
cence.
Lastly, Tin's is further to he considered, that if at any time
one would try the sincerity of one's heart towards God, it is
much more clearly to be evinced by the influence this hath on
a man's life, than by the passionate or sensible impression*
gBR. XI.) AND OUR BROTHER. 1 IS
made upon the body. I say, we have a far surer evidence of
our love to God, from the influence it has to govern and
manage the course of our lives, than from all the passionate
emotions, and resentments we may feel in the inferior parts of
the outward man. Suppose such raptures, and transports, and
ecstatical motions, as are very strange, and not without their de
lectation and pleasure : alas ! these signify hut little towards
the evincing of true sincere love to God, in comparison of a
stable course of living under his government, as persons who
are beyond all things loath to offend and displease him. If you
seek an evidence of the truth of your love to God, take this ;
"If ye love me keep my commandments." John 14. 15. And
again, " This is the love of God, that we keep his command
ments." 1 John 5. 3. Though we must take heed here of
thinking, as was formerly said, that the external effect is suf
ficient without the principle ; or that a course of obedience, in
outward acts, to the rules set before us, will do the business,
though there be nothing of the principle of the love of God in
us. But take these in connexion, the principle with the ef
fect, and they are a great deal more pungent demonstrations of
love, than mere transports of extraordinary affection, now and
then, are. Agreeably to which our Lord says, " He that hath
my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me;
and he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father ; and I will
love him, and manifest myself unto him." John 14. 21.
And again, as it afterwards follows, "If any man love
me, he will keep my words ; and my Father will love him,
and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him/'
ver. 23.
So that we should take heed of putting too much upon the
mere matter of passionate love in this case ; unless, as we
said before, it be manifestly discernable, that we can be pas
sionately affected to any other kind of objects, while we find
a stupidity, and dulness upon us, with respect to those, which
are spiritual and divine. Therefore lay the great stress always
here : " What doth the love, I pretend to, signify as to the
conduct of my life ? Do I live as a lover of God ? as if it
were an ungrateful matter to me, above all things, to displease
him ? as that I study, by all means possible, to maintain an
intercourse of union, and communion between him and me ?
Is it such a love as makes his honour dear to me, so that I am
above all things concerned not to disgrace the name which I
bear, or be a reproach to him to whom I profess a relation ?
Is there such a principle in me as makes distance from God a
wearisome thing ? And would I fain be nearer to him daily,
VOL. VI, Q
H4 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. Xfl.
more acquainted with him, more conformed to him, and
changed into his divine image and likeness ?" If this is the
influence that love to God hath upon our lives, it is the evi
dence, it is the thing, if any thing can be so, that must prove
and demonstrate to ourselves the sincerity of our love.
SERMON XII.*
T/fjTE have already in the preceding discourse offered sundry
considerations to those, who are apt to take it for grant
ed that they are lovers of God, though they never really dis
cerned any motion of love to him in their hearts at all ; or who
fondly imagine that the conviction of their judgment in this
matter, is to be taken for the affection of the heart. We have
also spoken in several particulars to another sort, who suspect
they are no true lovers of God, and are many times ready
to conclude so ; because their love to him is not so fer
vent and passionate as they think it ought to be. And
now
III. We come to the third sort that we have to do with, to,
wit, those who are apt to censure other persons, merely upon
this account ; because they make profession of such a fervent
love to God, as they themselves are altogether strangers to.
All expressions of such a fervent passionate love to God fall
under a suspicious censure, and accusation from these men.
As for instance, they charge all such expressions of love with
hypocrisy, or with enthusiasm : thinking it proceeds from, no
thing else but a fantastic representation of the object they pre-
* Preached November 8,
SER. XII.) AND OUR BROTHER. 115
tend to love ; or else, they resolve it all into the temper of the
body, and say it owes itself to nothing else but to such or such
a crasis, a present habit and temperature, or a freer circula
tion of the blood, and quicker agitation of certain brisk and
agile spirits. And thus they think that a mechanical account
is to be given of all such kind of affections ; and that whoso
ever well understands the structure of the brain, or the
nature of the spleen, and hypochondria, and the various
twistings of the nerves about the veins and arteries, may
very well be able to give a good account of all such kind of
love.
1 . Now as to the first of these, to wit, the charge of hypo
crisy, we must allow (as there will be further occasion to
evince hereafter when we come to the last doctrine) that if
any do pretend to such a love to God, and join with it an im
moral conversation, there is a great deal of reason for the
charge ; and in such a case we must fall in with the accuser
and say the same. But if this charge be fastened upon persons,
whose walk and conversation is sober and just, we have then
everal things to say to it. As
(1 .) It is a most uncharitable censure to say that all pretence
to a more fervent and vehement love to God, is for this very
reason hypocritical. I wonder why so ? Does not this seem
to say, that there can be no such thing as a real, and fervent
love to God ? This is surely a very strange accusation, at once
without warrant, and against the express law of charity, which
requires us to " think no evil." 1 Cor. 13. 5. And it is an
essential character of it to be absolutely disinclined to take up
an evil surmise, or bad thoughts of any one, where there is
not a very manifest and apparent cause.
(2.) The charge is most unreasonable. There is not the
least ground for such a censure, supposing the persons to be
in the main of a sober, just, and unexceptionable deportment
among men. Of such it may most unrighteously be said, that
they are hypocrites, while they pretend to love God. But how
will you prove your charge ? by what medium will you
make it out, that all pretences of love to God, by such
persons, are hypocritical ? And surely that is most un
reasonable censure, for which no reason can be given.
(3.) Such a charge or accusation must needs proceed from
a most idle and pragmatic temper. For these censurers shew
themselves to be vain busy-bodies, who meddle out of their
own province. But what have they to do to judge the hearts of
other men ? That is a province they have nothing at all to do
in. What is it then but a vain pragmatic humour that prompts
116 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SKR. XII,
them to meddle in a sphere wherein they have no concern ?
" Who art thou," saith the Scripture, " that judgest another
man's servant ? to his own master he standeth or falleth". Rom.
14. 4. Nay,
(4.) It is to be guilty of the most insolent presumption; for
it is to encroach upon the prerogative of God, to whom alone
it belongs to search, and judge the heart. Who are they that
take upon them to judge one another? {( We must all appear be
fore the judgment seat of Christ." Rom. 14. 10. Whoever they
are that do judge so, they subject themselves to the judgment
f God. Therefore says our Lord, " Judge not, that ye be
not judged." Matt. / ! That is, in effect, if you judge
so at random, and where you have nothing to do, you
shall know what judging means, when you shall be judged
also.
(5 .) I would further say, by way of question, Pray what
is the thing you find fault with in this case ? Is it this love
itself, or is it the appearance of it ? Sure it will not be said, it
is the love itself. Who would be so impudently profane as to
say, it is a crime to love God ? or that such love is criminal,
when it is warm and vehement ? as if it were possible to love
God too much. Sure this will never be said by those who con
sider that we are required to " love him with all our heart, and
with all our soul, and with all our mind." Matt. 22. 37
And besides, this were to make the accusation t6 contradict
itself; for whensoever the charge of hypocrisy is alleged
against anyone, the thing pretended to is implied to be good
and commendable.
Or is it the appearance of such love that is found fault with?
That is just the same thing as to find fault with the sun for
shining. It is true, all discovery of this or any other excel
lency whatsoever ought to be modest, and sober ; most remote
from any thing of boasting or vain-glorious ostentation, than
which, in such a case as this, nothing in all the world can be
more fulsome. But what ! should a man be ashamed to be
come, and appear an earnest lover of God ? Was the Psalmist
shy of appearing so, when he again and again avowed it with
so much solemnity ? .when he made professions of his love to
God, which he designed, and no doubt knew would be record
ed to all future times ? And the noble personage whom we
spoke of before, was he ashamed to have it recorded, that he
was such a one's friend ? It is so remarkable that we cannot
look over a page in the book of Psalms, but we shall find some
or other expression now made public to the world, of an avow
ed love to God. tc 1 love the Lord," says he, '* because he
SER. XII.) AND OUR BROTHER,
hath heard my voice and my supplications." Ps. 11G. 1. And
again, "I will love thee, O Lord my strength." 18. 1. The
word there used is most emphatically expressive of the most ve
hement, ardent, fervent love. " I will love thee from my very
bowels -" And what ! is this a. thing for a man to be ashamed
of? to profess himself an earnest lover of God, if indeed he
is so. He only has reason to be ashamed of saying he is so,
who is not so in reality. But J say further,
(6.) That this same accusation is hypocritical. It carries
the most palpable hypocrisy in it ; for it is manifest that such
persons do only pretend to be angry at the pretence of love to
God ; when it plainly appears they are angry that the love of
God should really be in any one. And this is easy to be made
out. For do not all men generally profess love to God ? Now
they are not angry with those that profess, but love him not.
But what religion is there without love ? and whoever profes
ses religion, does consequently profess love to God. But let
them make it appear by their practice, that their profession is
but a mockery, that they do but say, "Hail!" and strike at the
divine Majesty at the same time ; let them I say with their
pretence of religion, or love to God, but join some practical
signification that they are not in good earnest, and they please
well enough, no fault is found with them.
So that it is very plain the fault they are bent against is not
hypocrisy, but sincerity. They are angry that there is any
such thing as sincere love to God in the world. Therefore as
Plato said to the Cynic, who trod upon a fine bed of his, and
cried out, " I tread on Plato's pride," that he the Cynic dis
covered greater pride by this action ; so we may say to these
men who accuse professors of love to God, with hypocrisy, that
it is with more hypocrisy. It is not the mere pretence of love
to God, that they intend to accuse, as supposing it false, or
that there is no such thing, but because they really suspect
it is true. They think that such men have that in them, which
they have not, and therefore they pass a kind of judgment upon
them in their own consciences. This they cannot endure ;
and since they would fain malign them in their report, therefore
they would do it as plausible as they can, and are more witty
than to say, they censure them for loving truly, but for pre
tending to it falsely. But then again
2 . The affection of this kind is by some charged with en
thusiasm. " If (say they) there be any such affection, it is
altogether enthusiastic. It owes itself entirely to the fantasti
cal representation of the object, and so can have nothing sin
cere, or genuine belonging to it." To this, I say,
US ON THE LOVB OF GOD (SER. XII
(1 .) Why so ? why must it needs be thought enthusiastical ?
What ! because it is more than ordinarily vehement or fervent ?
as if no sober exercise or expression of love to God could
be so. And we know too, though I lay very little stress upon
it,
(2.) That the name of enthusiasm hath sometimes had a
gentler sound than now it hath ; since the E/*7muro', and
phrases signifying inspiration from God, are so frequently to be
found in the writings of Plato, and others of the philosophers.
And yet they were never twitted as enthusiasts, nor treated as
if that name carried any thing of evil signification, or the im
port of a bad character in it. But
(3.) Why should it be wondered at that there should be ex
pressions of love to God which import great fervour and in-
tenseness ; since we know that such as have been professedly
related and devoted to God heretofore, and of whom Scrip
ture-records give us an account, have been all along very full
of such expressions ? What would they think of such expres
sions as these of David ? "I opened my mouth, and panted ;
for I longed for thy commandments," Ps. 119. 131. "My
soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments
at all times." ver. 20. "Oh how love I thy holy law !" ver. 97.
" As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my
soul after thee, OGod." 42. 1. Yea we find that there have
been such appearances, and expressions obvious to view, of
this divine spiritual affection, that have incurred the censure
of insanity ; and yet they have been reckoned a glory. Thus it
was with David, who when he was censured for dancing be
fore the Lord, answers, " I will play before the Lord, 1 will
yet be more vile, &c." 2 Sam 6. 21. 22. And says the apostle,
" Whether we be besides ourselves it is to God ; or whether
we be sober it is for your cause : for the love of Christ con-
straineth us." 2 Cor. 5. 13, 14. It is very likely he speaks
here with reference to the censure of those false teachers, with
whom you find him conflicting in that very chapter; as very
frequently he does in both the epistles to the Corinthians, and
also in others. They perhaps went about to represent him as
a wild enthusiast ; as one that was acted by an enthusiastical
fury. Therefore he speaks according to their sense. Admit
it, be it so; If I be really besides myself as they talk; it is the
love of Christ which constrains me ! He thinks himself not at
all disparaged in the case. But I further say,
(4 ) I make little doubt but many do attribute too much to
rapture, and ecstatic motions and transports of otherwise pious
love. 1 refer therefore to what was said under a foregoing head,
SBR. XII.) AND OUR BROTHER.
especially to that distinction which was given you of the act,
and of the passion of love, which are not only distinguish
able, but sometimes plainly separable things. There may be
very intense love, very strong and mighty love, where there
is nothing of passion felt. This is a thing altogether acciden
tal to the nature of love, which may be diverse and dis
tinct from passion ; otherwise there would be no such thing
as loving God at all in any other way. And we must further
say,
(5.) That no doubt it is a very great fault to frame repre
sentations and ideas of God, and of divine things in our minds
by the use of a liberty indulged to our own fancy and imagina
tion, if therein we go beyond, or besides the warrant of his
own revelation. And even there too we must be very careful,
when we find God representing himself, or other matters of a
divine and spiritual nature under borrowed expressions or si
militudes, that we mind the thing that is to be represented,
and held forth to us, and that we drain and defecate it from all
the dregs of materiality, which belong to the metaphor; other
wise we may be greatly injurious, more than we are aware of,
both to the divine honour, and to ourselves.
Too many do greatly gratify the luxury of their fancies in
such cases. We read of one, but very likely there may be
rnore instances than one, I say we read of one, a popish female
saint, who pretended in vision to such a communion with our
Saviour, that forsooth she took upon her to describe him ;
what sort of eyes he had, and what kind of features ; and pre
tended to be most passionately enamoured of him. And per
haps there are too many over-prone to frame imaginations con
cerning the Deity, altogether unworthy of, and disagreeable
to that glorious and ever-blessed Being ; and having thereup
on formed such and such ideas of him in their own minds,
are variously affected according to the import of the idea about
him. For instance, those of very melancholy tempers are apt
to frame ideas altogether unlike God, and such as render him
in their eyes a dreadful, and hateful object. Or if the idea be
such as imports loveliness ; yet if it be fantastical, and an af
fection of love be raised thereupon, it is most plain and evi
dent that such a person is all the while but hugging his owa
shadow, and entertaining himself with an empty cloud, or an
idol of his own forming. And 1 do not know wherein he is,
less guilty, than in falling down before an image. When we-
do in our own fancies create a God to ourselves, and an ex-i
traordinary motion of affection is working towards it, in one
kind er another, it is our own creature that we are all this
120 ON THE LOVE OF COD (sER. XII.
while entertaining ourselves with, and not God. Therefore
we ought to take heed that our apprehensions of things be
scriptural and regular ; such as that light which shines in
God's word, or that clear flame which reason, when it argues
according to the word of God, doth give us. Otherwise we
are mere idolaters, while we imagine that we have only com
placency in doing homage to God. But I add,
Lastly, That the most regular, true, and rational appre
hensions of God, do give ground for the most fervent and ve
hement love of him that is possible. And therefore it is a very
foolish, idle thing, to charge love to God with being enthusi-
astical merely because it is fervent. For though it be such as
answers truly, it can never answer fully such apprehensions of
the object, as are agreeable to God, and such as God's own
revelation gives ground and warrant for. Certainly there is no
warrant to say that there is any thing of enthusiasm in such a
pretence as this. There is no need that any such exorbitant
digressions and excursions should be made to by-ways of re
presenting God to ourselves, that so he may be amiable and
lovely in our eyes. A true, and right apprehension of him,
that is most agreeable to the Object itself, and his revelation,
s the best and truest ground of the strongest and most ve
hement love. And certainly to a sober Christian, a fantas
tical representation of a divine object will rather greatly
cool and check his love, than contribute to the heat of it.
But
3. Such an affection, as we are speaking of, is by others
resolved into the temper and disposition of the bodily humours ;
or the various structure of our frame, and the freer motion of
the blood and animal spirits. And to this also it is,
(1.) To be acknowledged that there is undoubtedly verv
much truth in the matter so far as that the affection may be the
more intense, and exercised with a more sensible vigour, ac
cording as the body is so and so disposed, or as the habit of it
is at that time.
(2.) Do not we also know that there are pious men of all
tempers and constitutions of body ? and is not every man the
more pious, by how much the more he is a lover of God ?
And
(3.) Admit that bodily tempers signify any thing in this
matter, that is, in the present exercise of the affections in ge
neral, what is to be inferred ? Will it follow, that such an
affection as this, in which the blood and spirits may be so and
so concerned, hath therefore nothing spiritual and divine in
it ? which way should that follow ? Why is it not as apprehen-
SER. XII.) AND OUR BROTHER. 121
sible, that divine and spiritual love may run in the same
natural channel, and follow the same common course of
operations with other love, as that wine and water may al
ternately flow through the same conduit pipes ? Or why
should it be more unreasonable and absurd, that divine and
spiritual love should exert itself by the same corporeal or
gans with love of another kind, as having the same seat and
subject, the faculties of the soul ? 1 hope it is not one faculty
in the soul that common love hath its seat in, and another fa
culty that divine love hath its seat in. Why should it be ne
cessary there should be other internal organs for divine than,
for common love, more than other external ones ? Why may
not divine love run the same course with common love in the
respect that hath been mentioned ? And why may not that be
promoted, in its bent and exertions, by a brisk and quick agi
tation of the vital and animal spirits ? What great inconveni
ence is there in this ? Or what greater necessity is there for it
to be otherwise, than there is for a man to have one pair of
hands to do his common business, and another to lift up to God
in prayer ? May not a man speak of God or of divine things,
and of other matters with the same tongue ? and may not the
same eyes which serve to read the Bible, serve to read any
other book ? But this carries more of folly, and foolery
at the bottom, than to deserve more words to be said about
it.
Therefore to wind up all, Will we severally resolve, upon
all that hat!) been at so many times discoursed to you upon this
subject, namely, the love of an unseen God, are we I say
resolved to apply ourselves in good earnest to the exercise and
practice of it ? It is a very dismal thing, if all our hearing at
such times and occasions as these are, must be for nothing else,
hut only to give the ear a present pleasure. Or that we must
take such an opportunity as this to meet together, only to see
one another's faces, without ever minding to lay up a stock,
and to add to a treasure of that light and grace, that may ac
tually influence our future course. Certainly we should be
most inexcusable persons, if after all this we should make as
little conscience of the actual frequent exercise of love to God
as heretofore. If any that have heard so much of this matter,
shall go hereafter from day to day, and have reason to say,
''This clay I have not loved God at all, I do not know there
has ever been a pleasant thought of him," and so indulge
themselves in the liberty of running on in this course, it will
not admit of being said all this hath been to no purpose. For
it will certainly be found to have been to some purpose, but to
a sad and dismal one, when the day comes, that every one
VOL. vi. R
122 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. XII.
must be judged according to the light they had. And the word
that hath been spoken to those that live under the Gospel is
that by which they must be. judged.
Let us bethink ourselves, What is our life, if love run not
tli rough it ? if a vein of love to God be not carried through the
course of it ? Alas, without this, life is but a dream, and all
our religion but a fancy ! What do such assemblies as these
signify ! What a cold pitiful business is it, for so many of us
to come together, if no love to God stir among us ! We pre
tend to come to a God, whom we do not love. What a pitiful
account can we give of our coming together, if this be all !
The shew, and shadow of a duty ! a holy flourish ! and that
is all. This, I say is all, if the love of God do not animate
our worship.
We cannot pretend to doubt whether God ought to be loved
or no. It is a plain indisputable case. There are a great many
things in religion, that are matter of doubt and disputation,
and many things are made so more than need. And truly I
take this occasion to say, it is no wonder there is so little love
of God, and of true, living religion \ because there is so much
unnecessary disputing about the formalities of religion. It is
a very sad and dreadful contemplation to think of, that so many
persons can make the matters of religion a topic barely to please
themselves with. If they can but toss an argument, cavil, and
contend about this or that matter, then they are enamoured
with, and highly applaud themselves, as if they could do some
great thing in the business of religion ; but all this while, and
even by these very means, the love of God, and all practical
religion vanishes. These things have exhausted, and wasted the
strength, spirits, and vigour of religion itself, and made it
look so languidly, and become so pitiful a thing as it is grown
to be in our days ; so that professors are now but the spectres,
and umbrae of christians, mere skeletons. They are so in
comparison of what christians were in former days, when every
one might discern that in their behaviour, which might justly
make them cry out, Aye ! these are heavenly persons indeed !
Heaven was seen in their converse, and all savoured of love to
God. The Lord knoweth to what degree our religion is dege
nerated, and what it is like to come to at last !
And let us consider with ourselves, that we fill up our days
tvith calamities, and make our souls desolate, and forlorn ; we
involve ourselves in all manner of miseries by estranging our
selves from God, and not living in the actual exercise of love to
him.
Moreover let us consider that we are not always to live in
SER. XII.} AND OUR BROTHER. 123
this world. A dying hour doth expect us. We are hovering
upon the brink of the grave. And what ! is it a good prepara
tion for death to live strangers to God, as long as we live in
this world ? Oh ! with what horror must that thought strike a
man in a dying hour, when his own heart shall tell him, "Thou
hast not lived in the love of God !" Dare we, can we think,
have we, I say, the conHdence to think of going to God at
length ! to one that we have never loved, and to whom we
have lived strangers all our days. But, oh blessed preparation
for death ! when a man shall be able, under the expectation of
expiring his last breath, to reflect and say, that his life hath
been a continual walk with God. How easy a death must that
man die ! Death conveys him to no stranger, to no unknown
presence ; to die, in regard to him, is but to know that Being
better, whom he knew before ; and to love him better whom
he loved before ; and to have those enjoyments improved in
degree, with the nature and kind of which he had a former ac
quaintance.
Let us then be serious, and in good earnest in this business ;
and know, we can never do any thing to purpose in it, if we
labour not to have our spirits more entirely abstracted from the
world. Alas ! do we think we can serve two masters, God
and the world ? If we love the one, we shall despise the other ;
for as our Lord tells us,* we cannot love both. How often
should these monitory, these weighty and wounding words be
thought of, by them, whom they more especially concern ?
"If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
him." I John 2. 15. Therefore saith the apostle, "Love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world." And
is not this a cutting word of our Saviour's to the Jews, "I know
you, that you have not the love of God in yourf And would
we be branded for such ? We had need then to watch the more
strictly over ourselves, when we have to do with the affairs of
this world, that our spirits be not ruffled, nor suffer a discom
posure by the amusements of sensible things, or the variety of
occurrences and affairs that we meet with in this our earthly
pilgrimage.
* Matt. 6. 24. f JohnS. 42. See a moving discourse on these
words by the Author in Vol. II. p. 481. entitled, A Sermon
directing what we are to do, after a strict inquiry, whether or no
we truly love God ? It is only one single discourse out of seven or
eight upon the same subject ; and seems to have been published
without his full consent, on account of the great impressions it had
made upon the audience.
124 ON THE LOVE OF COD (SER. XII.
Constant watchfulness, and much dependance upon God,
and having him still before our eyes, would he a great help to
us in this matter. It might make you wonder to hear, what
some have professed to have attained unto, who were not of
your religion. For instance, we are told of a nobleman of a
foreign country, a romanist, who professed to have had such
times, that when he passed along the streets of Paris, where
continual diversions might easily have disturbed him, and could
scarce be imagined to do otherwise, his soul was so taken up
with God as to be no more moved, than if he had been in a
desert. And Seneca himself, a pagan, writing a letter to his
friend says to this purpose ; for I remember not the very words,
nor have lately seen the book. " You write to me to give you
an account how I passed yesterday. Truly you have a very
good opinion of me, to think I so pass a day as to be able to
give you an account of what took it up. But since you desire
it I will tell you. My window opens to the theatre, where
are all the shews, and the noise and clamour that you well
know the theatrical sports carry with them. Why (saith he)
all these things (so much have 1 been taken up with divine
matters) have no more moved me, than the whistling of the
wind among the leaves of the trees in a wood &c."
These things that I mention should be upbraiding to us,
that we so little mind our spirits, and inward man, with the
operative motions, and reflections thereof, and never look after
a composed spirit, that is employed in minding God and taken
up with the exercise of his love, through the worldly affairs and
occurrences we meet with here. If we would do any thing to
purpose in the exercise of love to God ; if we would not be as
those, that busy themselves about trifles ; like the pharisaical
hypocrites whom our Saviour speaks of, who were so zealous
in tithing of mint, anise, and cummin, that in the mean while
they forgot judgment, and mercy and the love of God ; I say,
if we would not be like them, but would do any thing to pur
pose, there must be times set apart for us to quit the world,
with the torturing and distracting thoughts thereof, and let us
labour to do it so totally as to forget that there is any thing in it
but God, and misery.
SER. xni.)
AND OUR BROTHER.
125
SERMON XIIL*
E have largely insisted upon a twofold truth from these
words, and told you,
FIRST, That there is a greater difficulty of living in the ex
ercise of love to God than towards man, upon this account,
that he is not the object of sight as man is. And
SECONDLY, That our obligation to the love of God is most
indispensable, notwithstanding that we see him not ; or, that
the impossibility of seeing God, is no excuse for our not loving
him. There is yet another point which remains to be consider
ed, and which was at first proposed with the former ; and
that is
THIRDLY, That they do most falsely, and absurdly pretend
to the love of an unseen God, who love not their brother whom
they do see. This point is full and direct in the eye of the
text.
It is manifest the apostle speaks here upon the notice he had
taken, that there were some persons of very high pretensions
to religion, and the love of God, who were yet manifestly and
notoriously defective in the exercise and expression of love
towards men, and even towards their fcllow-christians. And
* Preached November 15, l(5/6\
126 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. XIII.
lie counts it therefore necessary to cast a slur upon that empty
kind of profession, and to give a dash unto that spacious fancy
and gilded nothing of a pretence to the love of God, disjoined
or severed from that other branch of love, namely, that towards
men. In speaking to this it will be requisite to do these
three things, in order to the rendering this truth more capable
of belief.
I. To shew in what extent, or with what limitations, we are
to understand this form of speech here in the text, the loving
our brother.
II. To shew whence it comes to pass, that any should take
upon them to pretend love to God, who yet have no love to their
brother. And
III. To shew the absurdity and falsehood of that pretence.
Upon which the use will ensue.
I. It will be needful to consider a little in what extent, or
with what limitation this form of speech is to be understood,
namely the love of our brother : that is, how we are to under
stand the expression, our brother ; and what is meant by love,
as it refers to him in this and other such like passages. 4
I conceive we may very warrantably extend the meaning of
this expression, as was formerly hinted to you in the first open
ing of the words, to such a latitude as to understand by it the
duties of the second table; as love to God includes all the duties
of the first. So our Saviour hath taught us to understand both
these, in the answer which he gave to that querist, who asked
him which was the great commandment of the law. The
answer was this ; (i Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This
is the first and great commandment. And the second is like
unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matt. 22.
37. And the apostle you know also tells us, that " Love is
the fulfilling of the law." Rom. 13. 10. All is summoned up
in this one word Love.
And the same apostle in the very epistle from whence my
text is taken, in insisting so much upon love to our brethren,
as he doth throughout this epistle, guides us to his own drift
and scope ; and particularly when he tells us, that, " This is
the love of God that we keep his commandments/' 1 John 5.
3. It is manifest, that sometimes in this epistle he intends
by this expression, the love of God, not merely that love which
terminates upon him as the Object of it, but that love which is
from God, as the Author of it, divine love. And he speaks
of this divine love indefinitely, and says it is the keeping of
SER. XIII.) AND OUR BROTHER. 127
God's commandments ; and of these commandments too we
are to understand him speaking universally, and intimating
that to love God is to keep all his commandments. It is love
which runs forth in obedience to all his laws, which you know
are divided into these two tables : the one is a comprehension
of the precepts touching such things as relate to himself; the
other of those which concern man. Therefore I doubt not but
the word, brother, here in the text, may be taken in the same
latitude, that neighbour is taken in, when it expresseth and
signifieth to us the duties of a Christian to his neighbour, as in
that place before mentioned, " Thou shall love thy neighbour
as thyself," that is, any man. So that the duties that we owe
to men, as men, are all to be collected and gathered up in this,
as that great summary, namely, love, to our brother.
It is very true indeed, brother is a title that many times in
Scripture doth distinctly, and with some limitation hold forth
to us a community and fraternity in religion ; a brotherhood,
who are in a state of subjection and devotedness to God, and
are really his servants and children, as we shall have occasion
further to speak by and by. But it is plain also, that it is some
times used in Scripture in a far more extensive sense ; as Adam
in a, more extensive sense is said to be the son of God. You
find it vvas part of the accusation against Job, (injurious enough
no doubt, but that is nothing to our purpose) that he did take
away the pledge from his brother, and made the poor naked,
and sent them away unclothed. Job 22. 6. And so you know
Paul bespeaks all that great assembly before whom he was
convened, and with whom he vvas disputing, after this manner,
t( men and brethren ;" though they were far from being all
Christians as he was. Acts 23. 1.
And I wish that there were not too much need to insist upon
this business of love to our brother according to this latitude :
that those were not many in our days, who make a very great
shew of piety towards God, and hold forth an appearance of re
ligion even in a more eminent degree; and yet indulge in them
selves a very great liberty ^most injuriously assumed God
knows) as to their dispositions and deportment towards men as
men, with whom they are cast into human society. Yea, and
there hath been a way found out to make little of all matters of
this nature : a way to depreciate and speak diminish togty of
whatever is of that import, by affixing characters upon persons
which it is intended should lessen them; as such a one is a good
moral man, and the like. Truly, if it were only to assign to
each man his proper place, or to determine that to be of less
value and account which really is so, this were tolerable and
very fitj but it is too manifest that very cften reliir" n is profes-
128 ON THE LOVJB OF GOD (SBR. Xlll.
sedly magnified, not to the lessening only, but even the nulli
fying and exclusion of what is called morality. As if the tables
were again to be broken, by being dashed one against another :
or as if there were such incompatible things in the laws of God,
that it is altogether impossible that a man should carry it as does
become him towards men with whom he lias to do, but he must
intrench upon, and offer violence to the duty he owes to God ;
or, as if on the other hand, the duty which immediately termi
nates upon God, must quite shut out the world, and whatso
ever relates to men as men.
Though yet by the way too, it is to be noted, there is all the
while a very great mistake and misapplication in the use of the
term morality. And I wonder whence we or any of us have
learned to appropriate moral to the duties of the second table ;
as if the duties of the first table were not as much moral, as
those of the second, and in a higher and more eminent sense so.
Certainly he is but a person of bad morality that does not love
God, and whose heart is not set upon him as the best, the su
preme Good. It is a great injury to take the term moral, and
affix it only or chiefly to the duties of the second table. I hope
there is such a thing, which ought to obtain in our notion and
practice, as being well-mannered unto God, or behaving our
selves well and fitly towards him. And that is the meaning of
morality, when a man is in general well-mannered. Therefore
he that behaves himself ill to God, doth very ill deserve the
character of a moral man.
But the thing is, men intend civil by the term moral, and
so mistake morality for civility. Civility indeed is only be
tween men and men, as they are cast into societies one with
another ; but morality must needs run through the whole law
of God. Every commandment of his law, which he hajth dis
tinguished from all other laws by vouchsafing himself to speak
it by an audible voice, in ten words, to a vast assembly of men,
we ouojht surely to account moral; and not elevate the autho
rity or obligation of one part, by using terms with an intention
to lessen or diminish another part of the same law.
But as to the thing itself, waving the name, (as it is pity
there should be so much logomachy, or contention about the
use or misapplication of bare words) it is 1 say the thing
itself, wherein the religion of Christians hath been so very
deficient, and by which it hath been so much slured, that a
great many have learned in their practice, not to care what
their deportments are to men, so they can but keep up a con
tinual profcssivtnof, and course of pretence to, sanctity, piety,
and devotion towards God. And therefore the exigence of the
SJBR. XIII.) AND OUR BROTHER. 12
case so much requiring it, and the text so plainly inviting to it
also, it will be very fit to say somewhat of the duty of loving
our brother in this latitude, as comprehensive of all the duty we
owe to men as men. Though what I shall say at present will
be in general. What is particular I shall refer to lie enlarged
upon in the use or application. And here I must hint to you
that a twofold extreme is carefully to be avoided, that when we
speak in this latitude of loving our brother we do not,
1. By that love to our brother so intend the inward princi
ple of that love, as to cut off the external acts of it : Nor
2. So confine the notion of this love to the external duties of
the second table, as to exclude or shut out the internal princi
ple. These are two extremes which men are very prepense
to run into, either into the one or the. other of them. On the
one hand,
1 . Some are very apt to satisfy themselves that they are
blameless, and not liable to exception, if their external de
portment be fair and candid, just and equal, and also charita
ble now and then as occasion offers j though, in the mean time
there be no such thing as the inward root and principle of this
love in their hearts. It would be as great an absurdity for any
one to say, that this love doth virtually include and comprehend
in it all the external duties that flow from such a principle, as
it would be to state those duties so abstractly, as to exclude the
principle itself whence they are to proceed. They no way
answer the intention and design of the Holy Ghost in this mat
ter who only comply with the external part and letter of these
laws, when, in the mean time, the spring and fountain- of all
these duties hath no place in the soul, namely love itself. For
the external acts may proceed from another principle. A man
may carry himself justly to others, for the sake of his reputation ;
and from the same motive may do many acts that carry in them
mercy, pity and compassion to those that are in distress : but
the principle from whence all this proceeds is self-love, and
not love to his brother. Thus a man may do such and such aa
act of justice, such and such charitable actions, as the occasions
of them are administered, merely because he would gain the
reputation of beinga most unexceptionable just man, a good-na
tured man, a charitable man. And many apprehend that they
are greatly concerned to do so upon the account of prudence,
out of a prudential respect, I say, to their own interest and ad
vantage ; such especially whose way of living in the world de
pends upon trade and commerce with men. They know, if they
do not obtain and preserve the reputation of justice, none will
have to do with them j every one will shun them ; they will be
VOL. vi. s
130 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SBR. XIII.
thought unfit for any kind of commerce whatsoever. This is one
extreme therefore that is carefully to be avoided in this matter.
When we say that love to our brother includes all the duties of
the second table, yet we must not say it excludes the inward
principle whence those external duties flow ; that is, such a
love to our neighbour, as that which we bear, and owe unto
ourselves, aa we know our Lord resolves it, in the foremention-
ed scripture. The other extreme is,
2. That we lay not the whole stress of the business upon the
internal principle, without the external acts and expressions :
that is, that none should content themselves with the imagina
tion and conceit, that they have in their own hearts and bosoms
the principle of love to their brother ; but in the mean while
never express it nor let it be seen. No, that must be a great
secret to themselves, and kept close in their own consciences ;
they have love in their breasts, but they can find no time or
occasion to let it be seen : that is, they can, it may be, give
him a good word, or as the apostle James expresses it, say to
one in distress that wants food, or raiment, "Depart in peace,
be you warmed and filled," but give them nothing for the body.
They say that they pity such and such persons ; and perhaps
there may be some low degree of pity, but not such as exerts
itself and commands the consonant act which is agreeable to
compassion, and should be consequent or ought to follow there
upon.
But we must understand this duty of loving our brother so
as to comprehend the internal principle, and external expres
sions of it tpgether. It is necessary that there be a sincere love
in the heart, and that it demonstrate its own sincerity by such
expressions and discoveries, from time to time, as the provi
dence of God gives us opportunity. As occasions offer we
should, as the apostle exhorts, do good to all men, but es
pecially to them who are of the household of faith. Gal. 6.
10.
And if love to man is to be taken in such a latitude as hath
been said, if it gather within the compass of it both the prin
ciple and all the actions that properly belong to it, we are not
then to think we have a mean, low, ignoble object for our love.
There is an image of God that man as man doth bear upon him.
It is true, there is an image that hath been lost, but there is
o:ie still that is not capable of being so. The spiritual super
natural image wherein man did resemble God in holiness was
banished from the nature of man universally, till he was pleas
ed to renew it, and make us his own workmanship created in
Christ Jesus unto good works. But there is besides that a na-
SER. XIII.) AND OUR BROTHER. 131
tural image of God, which man still bears, inasmuch as he
partakes of a spiritual, intellectual nature, resembling that of
God. So that it is a noble object of love we have. We are to
love men, even as God's own offspring, his sons, as he is the
Father of spirits. There is in every man a spiritual nature, of
which God owns himself to be the great Parent and common
Father. Therefore to have a heart universally inspired with
love to men as men, which flows even as far as the nature of
man reaches and extends itself, even to all mankind, this, I
say, we must understand to be the sum of the duty given us in
charge under the expression of love to our brother.
We are to be lovers of mankind under one common notion ;
that is, to love upon a universal reason, which reaches to man
as man, and so consequently to every man. " This is one of
my own species whom I am required to love ; of that rank and
order in which God hath set me in the creation, and who all of
us bear the image of the common Lord upon us." And you know
it is the thing we find superadded, as the enforcement of one
of the great precepts of the second table, namely "Thou shalt
not kill ;" and a reason why the breach and violation of it
should be punished, that " in the image of God created he
man." Gen. 9. 6. Certainly the reason is the same as to all
the other laws of that table. And besides what is appropriated
to the conditions of some men by the very terms of this law it
self, yet men as men, under that common notion, and for that
very reason, are the objects of that required duty. As when
we are forbidden to kill, is not every man whatever the object
of that prohibition ? When we are commanded not to steal,
or bear false witness, are we not equally barred up from doing
that injury to all mankind ? When we are inhibited the co^
veting another man's property, is it not every man's property
which we are thereby forbidden to covet ? But then
It must also be understood that there is a stricter notion of
loving our brother, to which we are to have a more particular
reference, without excluding that more common extensive no
tion (as there is no quarrel at all between things that are in
subordination to one another) that is, we ought upon the
Christian account, in a special distinguishing manner, to love
those who under that notion are to be esteemed or reputed
brethren : I mean Christians, in the truest and strictest sense,
as far as they appear so to us ; that is, those who are the re
generate sons of God, who are the children of one and the same
Father, and therefore are brethren to one another, on that ac
count.
And you find that tne apostle hath his eye to these brethren
132 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. X1I1.
liere, as It is manifest by many passages in this and the next
epistles. If you consult the beginning of the next chapter, you
will see who are to esteem one another as brethren in the most
special sense. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is
horn of God ; and every one that loveth him that begat, loveth
him also that is begotten. 1 John 5. 1. You see those are to
be principally esteemed as brethren, who can look upon them
selves and one another as related, upon the account of re
generation, unto the holy, blessed God as their common Fa
ther. So the notion of sons is manifestly taken in the third
chapter of this epistle at the beginning; Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be
called the sons of God ! 1 John 3. 1 . Those, who are God's
own sons by gratuitous adoption, are to be accounted by us as
brethren, if we have any reason to look upon ourselves as of
that character. Those who are sons by adoption, and there
upon are entitled to the inheritance of sons, and are designed
to that blessed state of the vision of God, and participation of
his likeness, are characterized more eminently as his sons; which
plainly tells us who are brethren to one another, and should, I
say, be eyed and respected under that notion.
But here we must take heed of narrowing and limiting the
object any further. This is limiting and restraining it enough,
we need not do it any more. Many will allow this measure,
that we ought to love a godly man, or one that bears God's
image as such ; but they will after this be the measurers of their
own measure, or they will cut God's measure according to the
square of their own fancies. And when they have said they
ought to love a godly man as such, that is every good man, they
will have him to be of their own opinion in the smallest matters,
one of their own persuasion and party, one of their own tem
per and humour. So that in short, upon the whole matter, that
same Christian love, that ought to flow to all good men, to all
Christians as such, is confounded with that which ought to be
called the love of friendship.
There is a vast difference between the love, which does, and
ought to lie in common, between Christians and Christians, and
that which should be particular, as between friends and friends.
It is indeed true, if I were to design and choose out myself a
friend, au intimate, one whom I would trust, and with him de
posit my secrets and the like, I might warrantably enough
make choice of one with those qualifications before-mentioned;
that is, as near my own temper as possible, or of such a lovely,
amiable temper as would render his friendship acceptable to
me. I might choose one of as much prudence as I could, of
SER. XIII.) AND OUR BROTHER.
my own rank and condition, whose ends, interests, and designs
Jay very much the same way with my own. But it were a most
unjust thing to think, that Christian love ought to be so con-
lined. That must run to all Christians as such, and under
that very notion. So that it is not merely one of such a rank
in the world, of such a temper and humour, of such or such a
party, holding certain opinions in smaller and more disputa
ble matters, that is the character of one who is to be loved as
a Christian.
Though indeed that has all along been in all times, and
among all sorts of 'persons pretending to religion, a very usual
practice, to fix the church, and set the boundaries of God's
house, just according to the measure of their own fancy, and
of their own persuasion. So the romanists will pretend to
have the church only among those of their communion. And
so we know there are others also, who would so confine the
pale of the church. Besides, of others among ourselves there
are not a few, who will allow none to be of the church but
\vho will bear such external badges. One may as truly judge
of a man by his clothes and garb of what profession or calling
he is, and we may as well confine all human love and com-r
merce to persons of such and such a complexion, as Christian
love and converse to men distinguished only by certain exter
nal adjuncts. But I shall not here insist further on the ex
tent and limitation of this form of speech, loving our brother.
When we come to the use there will be occasion to say more
on this head.
II. We are next to inquire, whence it is that any should
pretend love to God, and yet be destitute of Christian, or even-
human love to their brethren. We have formerly shewed you,
that the exercise of love to God is a thing of far higher difficulty
than that which terminates on men. Love to an unseen God is
unspeakably more difficult in the exercise of it than towards men
that we see, and have occasion to converse with daily. Now
though this be most true and apparent, yet the pretence of love
to God is much more easy than the real exercise of love to our,
brother. It is a far more difficult thing to love God, than our
brother ; but withal it is a far more easy thing to pretend love
to God, than really to exert it to our brother. We have in,
the one the real exercise of love, and in the other case only the
pretence to it. And there are two things particularly that do
much more facilitate this business of men's making a shew, and
putting on the pretence of love to God, rather than really ex,-!
ercising it to men.
1 . That it is more cheap, and less expensive. And
131- ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. XIII.
2. It is more glorious, and makes a more glittering shew
than the other does ; therefore men are a great deal more apt,
and more easily induced to it.
1. It is more cheap to pretend love to God, than really to
exercise love to our brother. It will cost them less. The
things by which men acquire to themselves a reputation of love
to God, may stand them in little ; only to be at some small
pains to get notions into their minds, by which they may be
furnished with talk upon such and such subjects. They are
not one straw the poorer for this, it costs them nothing. Their
keeping up the external duties of religion, going from time to
time to Christian assemblies, waiting as much as they can upon
the ordinances of God ; all this may be done, and they be at
no expence. There may be little or no cost in all this. But
really to exercise love to our brother, will many times prove a
costly thing, A man must deny himself, his own interest,
gain, and advantage very often, that so he may be just or mer
ciful as the circumstances of the case may be.
And it is plain, the great temptations that men have to en
croach upon the rights of other men, and intrench upon the
businesses that come within this summary of love to our neigh
bour, are principally from self-love, and self-interest. Men
would be just if they did not find or imagine, that they should
gain by this or that trick, by putting this and that cheat and
fraud upon their neighbours with whom they have to do.
They would be charitable if it did not cost them much, if they
were to expend nothing. And thus to pretend love to God is a
cheap thing : but to exercise real love to our neighbour ac
cording as various occasions may be, to draw forth the princi
ple into act and exercise, may frequently prove very costly and
expensive.
2. There is also more of glory in the shew, and glittering in
the appearance of religion (in sometimes more than others, and
it may be in our times as much as any) than there is in the dis
charge of the duties of justice and charity to men. He that
acquires to himself the reputation of a godly man, by an abili
ty to discourse of godly matters, having gotten a great stock of
notional knowledge, gains thereby also the reputation of a man
of a very refined inind. As the gnosticks in their age, an age
of errors, were men of much pretence ; had very high and
sublime notions ; but as to their morals they were as bad men
as ever the world knew, if you will take the testimony concern
ing them, not from their professed enemies the Christians, who
opposed themselves to them, but even from a heathen who
characterized! them at large. (Plotinus) There were not a
SRR. XIII.) AND OUR BROTHER. 133
viler sort of men, as to matters concerning the duties of the
second table, and what lay between man and man. But they
were men of high speculative knowledge, had very airy, and
sublime notions, wherewith they did seduce and captivate not
a few A great reputation was acquired by them of that kind,
when they could recommend themselves as persons, who had
made it their business to separate from the rest of the world,
to give themselves up to the study of all wisdom as the wise
man's expression is. Eccles. 7. 25.
And as those men looked big and talked high in those former
ages upon this account, I mean the reputation they had acquir
ed for their knowledge and wisdom, which they boasted of ;
so many do now, and think to make a glitter in the places
where they live, as men of high, notional knowledge in mat
ters of religion : but in comparison of this they think that to do
good in a place where a man lives, to be a useful member of a
civil, or a Christian society, to observe the strict rules of jus
tice, charity, and compassion, are mean things and very low
matters, compared with that glorious shew and glitter, which
the appearance of a great measure of notional, speculative
knowledge casts upon men in their own eyes, and the eyes of
them that are about them. Thus knowledge puffeth up, while
true love would edify. But in the mean time that which so
puffeth up makes a better shew, than that which does substan
tially, and solidly edify the soul.
It is too apparent a truth, which hath been hinted to you
thus far, that there are persons, who upon such accounts as
these, are easily induced to pretend to religion, and to make
a shew of love, and devotedness to God, who are strangers to
the effects of love to their brother. But from this so very ap
parent truth men are apt to induce as manifest and gross a
falsehood ; that is, because there are those who pretend love to
God, that are found manifestly peccant as to the exercise of
that duty which love to man would command, and ought to
be the spring and principle of, that therefore all pretences to
stricter religion than ordinary are hypocritical. No man who
makes a more strict profession than his neighbours, and is more
frequently conversant in the exercises of religion than they are,
but he must needs be apharisee and a mere pretender, only be
cause some such persons are manifestly capable of being con
vinced as such. But this is no more reasonable, than because
there is some counterfeit coin in the world, that therefore all
is to be rejected as false, and not current; or because spec
tres and ghosts have been seen to walk in human shape, there
fore there axe no true men ; or as if, because some do hypo-
136 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (ER. XIII.
critically pretend loyalty and devotedness to the government,
while they carry on conspiracies against their rulers, that
therefore there is no way for others to approve themselves
blameless, but presently to turn open and contemptuous rebels.
This is strange kind of logic !
And in truth, none are honest men in their account, but such
as will swear, and drink, and run into all wickedness and ex
cess of riot with them. Of such a one they will be ready to say,
" A very honest gentleman !" and then all the talk flies against
such and such persons that addict themselves to a course of re
ligion. And if some who are the notorious scandals of it have
shewn themselves to be what they are, then those who make
it their business to keep up a course of strictness in piety and
religion, have the common infamous brand of hypocrites put
upon them.
Now at this rate we must certainly quite turn the tables.
Virtue must be called vice, and vice be called virtue, and the
names of things be utterly altered. And we must account, that
God's children and the devil's are to change families, fathers,
and states one with another. For we shall have none left to be
called honest men, or the children of God, but such as are no
better than good -fellows : and all serious fearers and sincere
lovers of God must be abandoned for none of his, only because
some false brethren creep in among them.
And yet it very greatly concerneth those, who are actually
and truly of the family and household, or the church of God
by faith in Jesus Christ, though men do never so causelesly and
injuriously scandalize the whole fraternity, upon the delinquen
cies of some false pretenders, to learn instruction by it, and to
be abundantly more wary in all manner of conversation,
upon the account of their calling him Father. All therefore
that I shall by way of use leave with you at this time is the ad
monition of the apostle, If ye call upon the Father, who with
out respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work,
pass the time of your sojourning in fear. J Pet. 1.17.
SER. XIV.)
SERMON XIV.*
are endeavouring to shew you, that their pretence to
the love of God is both untrue and absurd, who love
not their brother. And as to this we proposed to shew in,
the
I. Place, how we are to understand the duty of loving our
brother ; that is, in what extent and latitude, and also with
what restriction and limitation.
II. Whence it is that persons pretend to the love of God,
who never loved their brother. We now proceed,
III. To shew the falsehood and absurdity of that pretence;
or to evince to you, that the pretence of love to God, where
there is no love to our brother, is both false and absurd. That
it is false is expressly enough said in this very verse, and we
need go no further for the proof of it. " If a man say he loveth
God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar." What need we
more to prove this pretence false ? That it is also absurd, is to
be evinced to you from the considerations we shall give you for
that purpose, which are especially two : namely, the neces
sary connexion that there is between the love of God, and the
love of our brother, in the nature of things j and the greater
VOL. VI.
* Pralied November 22,,
T
138 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. XIV.
difficulty of loving God whom we have not seen, than our bro
ther whom we have seen. So that it is absurd for a man to
pretend, that he has mastered the greater difficulty, who has
not overcome the less.
1 . The absurdity of this pretence may be evinced from the
necessary strict connexion there is between the love of God,
and the love of our brother, even in the nature of the things
themselves. And here we shall shew you that there is a four
fold connexion between them they are connected in respect
of their object in respect of their root and principle in res
pect of their rule, and of their end.
(1.) They are connected in respect of their object. Love
to God and love to our brother, will be found to have in some
sort the same object. I would not go about to prove any great
affinity between the things themselves, but it is plain, I say,
they have in some sort the same formal object. That is, our
love to our brother if it be right and true, falls in with our love
of God ; so as that our love of God must be the very formal rea
son of our loving our brother, whom we can never truly love,
if we do not love him for God's sake and because we primarily
love God.
The truth is, whatever specimens of beauty or excellence we
find any where in the creature, we are then only said to love
them duly, when our love is pitched upon them as so many
rays and beams from the first and supreme Good. And so it is
the original primary Goodness which we rightfully love, even
in this or that creature. It is true indeed, goodness in its ori
ginal, and in its descent and derivation are not univocally the
same. Nothing can be univocally common to God and the
creature. But they are analogically the same. Goodness is
primarily in God, and so descends, and is imparted to this or
that creature. But it is only there by dependance upon him,
from whom and in whom it originally is. And our love to our
brother, in the strictest sense of that expression, is exerted,
when it meets with that goodness, which is the most express
and vivid image of God's own. We there love the represen
tation of God in that subject wherein he has proposed him
self to us as our pattern, even the excellency and glory of his
holiness.
They that are in the strictest sense our brethren, as you
have heard, are God's own regenerate sons ; and because
v>e are to love him that begat, we are to love them that
are begotten of him. I John 5. 1. And it is therefore to
be observed, that elsewhere in this epistle, our states God-
ward are to be measured by this one thing, namely, our love
to the brethren. " We know that we have passed from death
. XIV.J AND OUR BROTHER. 139
unto life, because we love the brethren." 1 John 3. 14. So
that if we compare place with place, it is very plain that the
measure here is but mcnsura mensurata ; that is, it is itself
to be measured by a supreme measure, namely, our love to God.
It is a mark or character, which itself is tried by a higher mark.
" By this," says the apostle, u we know that we love the
children of God, when we love God and keep his command
ments." 1 John 5. 2. So that no man may depend further
upon this as a mark and trial of his state with respect to God,
that he loves such and such his children, than as he is able to
evince the love of them to be for God's own sake, and as
they bear his image and likeness. And so the trial finally and
ultimately resolves in this, " Am I a lover of God, yea or
no ?"
It is very true, that I may first and more sensibly have the
perception perhaps of my love to this or that particular man.
But I must run the matter higher, and particularly inquire,
what is the reason I love this man ? Is it because he is a good
man ? taking goodness in the strictest and most noble sense.
Is it because he hath participated of the divine goodness ? and
is a follower, imitator, representer of God's moral goodness,
which is his holiness ? We must be capable of concluding our
selves lovers of our brethren, as they are holy ones, as they
bear, or appear to us to bear, the image of God. And hereby,
and not otherwise, can we conclude our love to our brother to
be of the right kind, by our being able to evince that we love
God primarily and above him, that is, that we love him for
God's sake. And whatever is to be said of any thing for such
a reason, and only upon that account, is much more to be said
of that reason itself. We do not therefore love our brother
aright, if God be not loved much more ; our love to God
being the very reason, why we truly and aright do love our
brother.
Thus they stand connected in their object. You see they
cannot be severed ; and that a man cannot possibly love his
brother aright, if he love not God : therefore the love of
God must needs draw in the love of our biother, as a thing in
separably connected with it.
(2.) They are connected also in the root and principle, which
in both is one and the same ; namely, that very spirit of love,
which is mentioned by Paul to Timothy, and which God has
given us,as well as that of power, and of a sound mind. 2Tim. 1.
7 We must know that love to our brother is a fruit of the Spirit
as well as love to God. We have an enumeration of the several
fruits of the Spirit in the epistle to the Galatians, "and love is
HO ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. XIV.
set in the front of them all." Gal. 5. 22. Now if you consider
what fruits of the ftesh those of the Spirit do stand in opposition
to, you will find yourselves necessitated to admit and conclude,
that love there, is not meant of love to God alone, but of that
love which diffuses and spreads itself duly according as the ob
jects are presented or do invite ; in which the divine goodness
is found, in himself primarily, and derived to this or that crea
ture, and especially to such as bear, as was said, the more
lively image and representation of his goodness.
We are not therefore to think, that love to God is one gra
cious principle, and love to our brother is another gracious
principle : but we must know, that it is one and the same gra
cious principle of holy love which works towards this or that
object, according to the excellency and amiableness thereof ;
that is, proportionably to what I see of divine goodness in it,
which is the formal reason of my love. Holy love is the af
fection of love sanctified ; which affection is not many but one,
but yet turns itself towards this or that object according as the
object claims and requires.
And therefore we find expressly that love to our brethren is
resolved into the spirit of holiness, as its original cause, which
is the thing that I would mainly, and principally inculcate, that
so it may not be looked upon as a thing of an inferior nature j
since we are too apt to look with a diminishing eye upon this
duty of love to our brethren. It is really one of the fruits of
the Spirit of holiness, a part of its production in renewed
souls. See how expressly the apostle Peter speaks to this pur
pose. (i Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the
truth through the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren ;
see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently." 1
Pet. 1. 22. So again we are told, that f( the end of the com
mandment is charity (or love, for it is the same word that is
rendered sometimes one way and sometimes another) out of a
pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned."
1 Tim. 1. 5. By the end of the commandment is meant the
perfection, the top, the sum of it ; or that which does virtually
include all that lieth within the whole compass of the command
ment. And what we are to understand by the word com
mandment, which is expressed indefinitely, we may see in
what follows ; namely, that it is the same thing with the law,
" The law," says the apostle, " is not made for a righteous
man ; but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and
for sinners, for the unholy and profane, &c." ver. 9. which
supposes the commandment and law here to be meant of the
law in its extent, as it comprehends both tables ; not only our
SER. XIV.) AND OUR BROTHER. 141
duty to God, but to our brother also. And therefore that love
which is the coronis and very sum of it, goes to both. Now
it is said concerning this love, taken thus extensively, that it
must proceed out of a pure heart, and faith unfeigned. It must
proceed from that faith, which is peculiar to the regenerate sons
of God. "They that believe are born of God." 1 John 5. 1.
" And as many as received him to them gave he power to be
come the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name ;
which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God." John 1. 12, 13. Now this
same faith is the immediate production of the Spirit in the work
of regeneration. It works out into love, and even into that
love, which exercises itself upon our brother. Love to him, I
say, must proceed from faith unfeigned. Therefore when the
exercise of love was required by our Saviour, in forgiving an
offending brother ; and the question was put, how often they
should forgive ? and he replies, " unto seventy times seven ;"
presently the disciples, as knowing the great need and exigen-^
cy of the case, said, " Lord increase our faith." Luke I7t
5. There needs much faith in order to the exercise of such,
love.
Wherefore this love is in most necessary connexion with
what is intimate to the new creature, and what most essentially
belongs unto the constitution of it. It is part of the work of
regeneration, and of that holy creature, which is, when pro
duced, called the new creature. You find therefore in that
scripture, 2 Pet. 1. 5, 6, 7 where several graces of the
Spirit are mentioned together, that brotherly kindness comes
among the rest, in conjunction with faith, patience, and the
like.
Yea, and to evince this a little further, you find that in this very
epistle in which is our text, love to our brother, even an indi
gent brother, is called by the name of love to God ; that is, not
with reference to him considered as the object (though in some
respects, as was said before, God may be considered as the ob
ject too) but in reference to him as the Original and Author of
this love. " He that hath this world's good," saitli the apostle,
" and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels
of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ?"
1 John 3. 17. It is as if he had said, it is plain, that this di-r
vine love, which God is the Author of, and of which this poor
indigent brother is an object, is not in him, if he has no bowels
of compassion towards him at such a time, when the exigency
of his case calls for relief.
The apostle Paul tells the Thessalonian Christians, that con-
142 ON THK LOVK OK GOD (SER. XIV.
cerning brotherly love they needed not that he should write un
to them, " for (saith he) you yourselves are taught of God to
love one another." 1 Thess. 4. 9. Sure we are not strangers
to the import of that expression in Scripture, or what it is to
be taught of God. The expression is paralleled by those which
represent men as drawn by him, efficaciously moved, and act
ed by his almighty Spirit. " Every one," saith our Saviour,
" that hath heard and learned of the Father, cometh unto me."
John 6. 45. That hearing and learning of the Father, is ex
pounded by that of being drawn, or powerfully attracted by the
Father. Therefore the meaning of this expression, " You have
been taught of God," is this; your hearts have been powerfully
drawn by God into the exercise of this love to one another.
" You need not that I write to you concerning this matter,
for ye are taught of God." As in another case it is said, (the
passage is taken from the prophet Jeremiah, 31, 34.) " They
shall not teach every man his neighbour and every man his
brother, saying, Know the Lord ; for all shall know me from
the least to the greatest." Heb. 8. 1 1. The same form of ex
pression you see is used here, and must be taken in the same
sense.
In the second chapter of the same epistle of John, ver. 20.
we read of an unction of the Holy Ghost, by which the spirits
of those who belong to God are so seasoned, and tinctured,
that they are even connaturalized unto the truth ; and this is
the way of God's teaching, even to love, as well as any thing
else. It is a mighty, potent work of that Spirit of holiness, by
which men are taught to love. He teaches so as none besides
does. His way of teaching is by working in us the things that
we are taught. And therefore they who think that whatsoever
is required of goodness and holiness, may be the product only
of human endeavour and acquisition, are to understand that we
cannot do so much as this, without being taught so to do by
the mighty power and Spirit of God ; not so much, I say, as
truly to love men as such, upon whom the stamp and impres
sion of God's holy image is to be found. And indeed, they
who think that all may be the effect of our own endeavour
which is herein required of us, or of moral suasion, might learn
better Christianity even from some heathens of Plato's school.
A heathen philosopher, I remember, in one of his dialogues
discusses this question, Whether virtue is to be taught or not ?
And he undertakes to demonstrate, that it is not a thing to be
taught, but is infused, or inspired by God himself. Particu
larly he says as to this virtue of love, love to good men, that it
is a divine thing infused by God. And he gives the reason of
SER. XIV.) AND OUR BROTHER. 143
this general assertion, namely, that whatsoever virtue any do
partake of, it is not taught by men, but infused from heaven
above : " For, (saith he,) if it were a thing to be got by mere
human teaching, then certainly good men might easily teach
others to be good and virtuous ; and only they must do it, be
cause they alone have virtue, and so are alone capable of teach
ing it. But if they were capable of teaching it to others, no
thing could hinder it but their envy and ill-nature ; or unwil
lingness that any should fare as well as themselves. But a good
man cannot be envious. Therefore (he concludes upon the
whole) virtue is a thing not to be taught, a thing that cannot
be got by teaching." We see then how it is to be understood,
when love, which is so great a part of it, is said to be taught
of God. So that love to God and the brethren agree in their
root and principle. They have there a firm connexion ; so as
that it is impossible they should be severed, or that a man can
be a lover of God who is not a lover of his brother.
(3.) They are connected also in their rule, which is one and
the same law : for indeed the whole law of God is summed up
in love. "Love is the fulfilling of the law/'as we had occasion to
shew formerly. Rom. 13. 10. And you see what the apostle
means there by law, from the occasion of this discourse. "And
this commandment have we from him, that he that loveth God,
should love his brother also." 1 John 4. 21. He hath laid
this law upon us, that we should thus dispense our love ; that
if we pretend to exercise our love to him, we must do it to our
brother too. He will never otherwise take us into the census,
or account, of lovers of himself.
And when the apostle James insists upon it, that " Whoso
ever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he
is guilty of all," pray look back there, and see upon what occa
sion, and with what reference he says this. *' If ye fulfil the
royal law, according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself, ye do well. But if ye have respect to per
sons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as trans
gressors." James 2. 8. 10. You find he has reference to this
very thing, our love to our brother ; which is what he calls
the royal law. The law enjoined us is this, "Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself." And if we be found peccant as to
this, and obey it not, nor comply with the authority of the law
and the Lawgiver in this instance, we make ourselves rebels
throughout ; we break the whole law, and all that we do be
sides signifies nothing. Therefore he gives an instance. The
same law that hath said, " Do not commit adultery, said also,
Do not kill." ver. 1 L. The law doth equally and alike forbid
144 ON 1 THE LOVE OF GOO (sER. Xlf*
inordinate love and unjust hatred : inordinate lust and impure
love, as that which offends against one command ; and inordi
nate hatred and ill-nature which equally offends against the other,
as it is the root of murder. In opposition to which this law
stands, as the summary of all that duty, which we must under
stand to be implicitly enjoined in that law.
(4.) Love to God, and our brother concentre and agree in
one end ; that is, the glory of God, and our own felicity :
which two, you know, do make up the end of man. We ought
to love God, in order to our glorifying him ; and we ought al
so to love our brother, for the same reason. So we ought to love
God in order to our enjoying him, and being happy and blessed
in him ; and in like manner ought we to love our brother, in
order to our enjoying God, and being happy and blessed in
him.
The glory of God first depends upon our loving him, but it
also as truly depends upon our loving our brother. Yea this
glory of God which is the end, and some way ought to be the
effect of our actions, shines a great deal more, sometimes, in the
exercise of love to men. Thus saith David, "My Goodness ex-
tendeth not unto thee, but unto the saints, that are upon the
earth, in whom is all my delight. 3 ' Ps. 16. 2. 3. As if he had
said, Thou art never the better for it, but they may be. Here
it is that we make the glory of God to shine forth in our course
and practice when we do visibly exemplify the goodness of his
nature in our own goodness, that is, in doing good ; in those
continual fruits and acts of goodness, which issue and flow from
the principle of divine love (with which our souls are posses
sed) to those that are related unto God, according as their re
lation to him is larger or more special, as we have formerly
shewed.
It is by our doing good that we shew to , whom we belong,
though that goodness of ours can reach only to men and saints.
"The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness:" (Eph. 5. 9.) namely,
that goodness which can flow and diffuse itself according as \ve
have objects here below, upon which it may be continually
pouring itself forth, and spreading itself. Herein we bear tes
timony to God, that we are the very children of his love. We
do, as it were, herein justify and honour our great Father.
We own our Father, and own ourselves his children. " Love,
that ye may be the children of God, says our Saviour, who
doth good both to the evil and the good ;" that is, that ye
may appear to be his children. Matt. 5. 44. 45. And again,
" By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love
one another." John 13. 35. This refers to that more special
SCR. XIV.) AND OUR BROTHER. 145
love which we ought to settle upon nobody but those, who are
particularly related and united to Christ. "You will own me in
the world, and your relation to me ; and I shall be owned and
honoured among men by you, if ye love one another/' And this
was the character of Christians in the primitive times of the
Christian church, " See how these Christians love one ano
ther, and refuse not to die for one another."
Yea, and again, our own felicity is promoted (which is ano
ther part of our end) by the love of our brother. For though
God himself be the supreme felicitating object, yet he intends
to be enjoyed by his in a community. He gathers them all
unto himself in one body, of which body love is the common,
bond, the unitive thing which as it were embodies and holds
the members together j being the same bond of perfectness
the apostle speaks of, or the most perfect bond which, says he,
is charity. Col. 3. 14.
And the case is plain and manifest, that where there is a
languor and deficiency of Christian or brotherly love, the way
of access to God is obstructed and barred up. Such persons
have no free converse with God. A spirit that is full of ran
cour, under a distemper, filled with animosity though but to
this or that one particular person, knows not how to goto God.
The new creature is starved and famished this way. The soul
cannot heartily enjoy God, hath no liberty towards God.
Therefore our Saviour considering the state of the case gives
this general law and rule : "If thou bring thy gift to the altar (he
speaks in the phrase and language of the Jews under the Old
Testament administration, designing the instruction of chris-
tians under the New) and there rememberest that thy brother
hath ought against thee ; leave there thy gift before the altar,
and go thy way (thou hast nothing to do at the altar, there can
be no commerce between God and thee except thou go) and
be reconciled first to thy brother, and then come and offer thy
gift." Matt. 5. 23, 24. Love must flow, and have a free
course between thy brother and thee, or it can have none be
tween God and thee. And if it were possible how monstrous
would it be, if in a man's natural body all the nutriment should
bedra vn to one side! Would any one think fit to feed and
cherish but one side of himself ? Especially, would the new crea
ture cherish only a love to God, and at the same time famish
what may be called the other side, a love to his brother ?
He attempts a thing impossible to be done ; and it were
extremely monstrous if it could be done, or should ever take
place.
Thus far you see then, that by an iaseparable connexion
.. vi. u
146 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (sH.
which there Is, in these four respects, hetween love to God
and love to our brother, it must needs be an absurd pretence
that men make of love to God, who exercise not love to their
brother also.
2. I proceed to speak briefly (and so shall shut up for the
present) to a further consideration, whence the absurdity of
such a pretence ariseth ; which is drawn from the greater dif
ficulty of loving God vviiom we have not seen, than our brother
whom we have seen. It must needs be an absurd thing for
a man to pretend that he hath mastered the greater diffi
culty, who hath not overcome the less. Which you see is
the plain and full sense and meaning of the apostle's reasoning
here.
But here it may perhaps be said, that " These two consi
derations do seem to contradict one another, or that the latter
is repugnant to the former. For if love to God and to our
brother be so connected as hath been shewn, then how can it
be that love to our brother should be less difficult than love to
God ? Yea and if there be such a connexion, as it appears
there is, it may rather be said that love to our brother seems
more difficult : for we can never truly love him, till we have
first been brought to love God ; and so we love our brother se
condarily, that is, upon his account and for his sake." For
the clearing of this 1 shall briefly say two or three things to
you.
(I.) That when we say, love to God is more difficult than
love to our brother, we speak not (as- formerly you may have
taken notice) of implanting the principle of this love; but we
speak of the exercise of it. It is God that implants the prin
ciple, and all things are equally easy to him ; but it is we that
are to exercise it.
(2.) Whereas we cannot exercise it neither wrthout his con
currence, we are to consider that concurrence of his with re
ference not to his absolute, but to his ordinary power. Not,
I say, according to the extraordinary, but the ordinary work
ings of the power of God. And though it be true, that accord
ing to the extraordinary working of his power he can make it
equally facile to love himself and any creature in which his-
image shines, and more facile or easy many times ; yet ac
cording to his ordinary working, his people find by their own
sad experience, that they have more to do in getting their
hearts to act that way, than towards the creature, according
to that degree of divine goodness which they can take no-
SEtt. XrV.) AND OUR BROTHER.
tice of. But though this be clear enough, yet we answer fur
ther.
(3.) There are many persons, who in some degree love
Christians and good men upon lower and less sufficient mo
tives ; and not upon the account of what peculiarly rejspects
godly men as such. And we are principally to understand the
apostle as speaking to such persons, as pretended to love their
brethren, professed Christians, upon these lower motives. As
if he had said, " You are not yet arrived so far as to love your
brother upon motives sufficient to establish your love, though
you see him as one,' with whom you have sensible converse.
Are you then got so high as to love God ? Is it a credible thing
you should be able to love an unseen God ?" So that the pre
tence carries the same absurdity with it, as if one should pre
tend this or that more difficult thing to be easy and facile, when
many things that are unspeakably more easy he cannot do or
effect. As if a man should pretend it easy to fly to the stars,
who cannot walk upright on his feet. Or as if another were
vaunting to be able to outface the sun, whose eyes are per
petually dazzled witli the light of a candle. A likely thing you
should love God, whom you have not seen ; who cannot so
much as love your brother, whom you have seen, but upon
the lowest motives 1 Wherefore these things have a connexion,
and it appears from these considerations, that true love to our
brother must be inseparable from the love of God. And so we
have sufficiently seen the falsehood, and absurdity of such a
pretence as this is.
The Use of all remains ; and for the present it concerns us
to bethink ourselves and reflect, that whereas all of us profess
and pretend to love God (I presume there are none here but
will avow themselves to be lovers of God, for to profess any re
ligion is virtually to profess love to God ; I say, we are con
cerned to bethink) whether our want of love to our brother
carries not in it a conviction of the falsehood of that pretence.
The languishing of this love shews a deficiency of the exercise
of that noble principle of love to God. Love to God cannot
be fervent, xvhen love to Christians is so cool and feeble. And
we have not only reason to complain that love is cold, but that
envy and hatred are flagrant and burning hot. So far from
loving one another are Christians now-a-clays, that they cannot
endure one another, nor tell how to live by one another ! *
143
ON THE LOVE OF GOD
(SER. XV.
SERMON XV;
truth which we have in hand from these words, I mean
the last of those which have been proposed from them, is
to this purpose ; That their pretence to the love of God is
both false and absurd, who join not therewith love to their bro
ther. And here
I. We have already shewn, in speaking to this proposition,
how we are to understand love to our brother ; with what lati
tude, and with what limitations.
II. We have shewn you whence it is that some may pretend
to love God, who do not love their brother. And
III. We have shewn both the falsehood and absurdity of such
a pretence : the former from plain words of Scripture ; and the
latter from such considerations, as do plainly demonstrate it
to be a most unreasonable pretence, and therefore such as car
ries the most manifest absurdity with it.
The Use doth yet remain. And that which I more princi
pally intend is to put you upon reflection : to engage you to
reflect upon yourselves, and the common practice, but more
especially upon your o\vn ; to consider how disagreeable it is to
that love, which we owe to our brother ; that so we may la-
* Pleached November 29, 1(3/6*.
SER. X\O AND OTJR BROTHER. 149
merit the great miscarriage that is to be seen in the common
practice of the world, and reform it in ourselves.
And consider as to both, since we all of us profess love to
God (as all implicitly do who profess any thing of religion, of
which love to God is the very life and soul) whether want of
love to our brother doth not too generally carry with it a plain
confutation of that profession. And that I may the more dis
tinctly pursue this use, and more comprehensively, as to the
cases and persons concerned, I shall, according to the double
notion of the duty in the text, take notice how little love there
is to be seen towards men as men, or towards Christians as
Christians.
First, Towards men as men : whom we may consider either
universally, that is all men in general ; or indefinitely, that is
any man in particular with whom we have to do, or have oc
casion to converse withal.
I. How little love is there to be seen towards men universal
ly considered ! To love men as men, is to love them upon a
universal reason, that extendeth or should make our love ex
tend unto all men. As you know all the commandments of
the second table are all founded in love, resolved into that
duty, and gathered up into that one sum. And we find that
this or that particular command being reduced thither doth
oblige us to duty even to men as men, and that upon a uni
versal reason common to all men. As we instanced before in
that one negative precept, " Thou shall not kill," enforced by
that universal reason, ** For in the image of God made he
man." The obligation of this in reference to the object, ex
tends as far even as that natural image of God does ; which
as an ancient speaks, " every man bears whether he will or no,
and can no more part with it than with himself." It is indeed
his very nature. But how little of such love is there to be found
among us ! How few true lovers are there even of their own
species, who have a real and fervent affection (such as the ob
ject claims and challenges) for such as partake of the human
nature with themselves ! For I pray consider
1. How little is our resentment of the common calamities of
the world, whether in reference to their eternal, or temporal
concernments ! How few regret it, or take it deeply to heart,
that men are so generally without God in the world, arid with
out Christ ! That the knowledge is so imperfect among men of
their own original, and of the end of their being ; of him who
made them, and what they were made for ! That the know
ledge of a Redeemer (the sweet savour of which the apostle tells
as it was so much his ambition to have manifested in every place*
150 ON THE LOVE OF COD (SER. XV.
2 Cor. 2. 14.) is yet so little among men! Who regrets or lays
it to heart, that the world is so filled with violence, barbarism
and blood ? that a deluge and inundation of misery is with sin
spread over the world, and transmitted and propagated from
age to age, and from generation to generation ? When we
hear of wars and devastations, and garments rolled in blood
here and there, how few are there who concern themselves for
it, as long as they are quiet and at peace in their own habita
tions ! And again,
2. How cold and faint arc our supplications on the behalf of
men so generally considered ! though we are expressly di*
rected by the exhortation of the apostle to make prayer and
supplication for all men. 1 Tim. 2. 1. How little compre
hensive are our spirits to take in the common concerns of the
world with seriousness as the case requires ! How little do we
imitate the blessed God in this ! for a general philanthro
py, or kindness to men is even a most godlike quality, and
that wherein he hath represented himself as a pattern to us.
And
II. We may consider men indefinitely, that is, any whom
we have to do or converse with. And though there may be,
as there ought to be the inward workings of love towards
men considered under that formal and extensive notion, yet
there may not be so much as the external expressions and exer
cises of love to men considered this latter way. This external
exercise of love requires a present object, determined by such
circumstances, and such particular occurrences and occasions as
render it liable to the exercise of our love. So the apostle li
mits particularly our benefaction ; "As we have opportunity let
us do good unto all men, but especially to those who are of the
household of faith. Gal. 6. 10. The poor, says our Saviour, ye
have always with you, but me you have not." John 12. 8. A pre
sent object so circumstanced, is required for the exercise of such
love as goes forth into external acts. We cannot ourselves ac
tually do good unto all. We cannot reach all, for our sphere is
not so large. The most we can do in that kind is by prayer to
our utmost to engage a universal agent, who can adapt himself
to every one's case and exigence. But within our sphere; I say,
and in reference to those we have to do with and where we have
opportunity, how little does there appear of love to men !
The rule according to which we are to exercise our love, is
that royal law, as the apostle James calls it, to love our neigh-*
bour as ourselves, jam. 11.8. Or as our Saviour elsewhere
expresses it, " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to
you, do ye so to them. " Matu 7- 12. A rule that hath been very
3ER. XV.) AND OUR BROTHER. 151
highly magnified even among some of the heathen ; and the
Author of it also, our Lord Jesus Christ himself, upon the ac
count of it. That is a known thing of the emperor Alexander
Severus, who caused it to be inscribed up and down in the most
noted places of his palace ; and professed to bear so high
an honour unto Christ, upon the account of his being the Au
thor of so good a rule, as to desire to have him placed among
the other deities. This indeed was designed before, but provi
dence ordered it so as that it should not be said he came into so
mean a copartnership for a Deity.
And that rule it is" plain doth oblige us in reference to men
indefinitely, or to any man whatsoever. For we would not on
ly wish that this or that good man should deal well with us, or
regret he should deal ill, but that any. man whatsoever should
do so. We take it ill to be traduced, detracted, oppressed by
any man. And so we have the object of our love in that extent
plainly pointed out to us. Now we might here shew you, how
this royal law is violated : namely, by such carriages and dis
positions as are directly repugnant to love ; or else by such a
temper, disposition, and behaviour, which (though it doth not
carry in it repugnancy to love, but would consist very well with
it) proceeds from other principles, and not from a genuine, and
pure principle of love. And here
1. We shall animadvert upon some things which are more di
rectly repugnant to this love. As
(1.) A morose unconversable frame and temper. When men
are become unsociable, and nobody knows how to deal
with them ; such sons of Belial (as was said concerning Na-
bal) that one knows not how to speak to them. Such as, al
though it has been a proverb that every man hath two handles,
have themselves never a one that one can tell how to take hold
of them by. It is impossible to, know how to converse with
them, so as not to give them offence ; always sour, captious,
snarling, supercilious, and tractable on no terms. And this
is a great deal more odious when religion is pretended for it ;
and when because they would be taken for persons more strict
ly and severally godly, they must needs therefore in their great
zeal for such a reputation shew themselves uncivil and hu-
moursome. As if religion, which beyond all things else tends to
cultivate men's minds and manners, must quite destroy hu
manity out of the world, and render men incapable of civil
converse.
If we did but read and consider such passages of Scripture,
where we are enjoined to be courteous, and kindly affected to
men ; or consider such instances and examples as that of Abra-
152 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. XV*
ham treating with the sons of Heth, o'r that of the apostle
Paul's deportment towards Felix, Festus, or Agrippa : we
should soon see that much acquaintance with God is no way at
all inconsistent with the most comely, fair, and even genteel
deportment unto men ; and that there is no inconsistency at
all between religion, even at the very highest pitch, and a
civil and ingenuous behaviour to them with whom we have to
do.
(2.) We may instance in what is still worse, namely, an
unmerciful temper and disposition, and a practice suitable to
it. There is a heart that is hard as a stone, which hath no
bowels, no compassion, even towards the most moving objects,
which do from day to day occur. And this the apostle in this
rcry epistle tells us very plainly doth argue the love of God not
to have place in us. And again
(3.) Injustice, or unrighteousness is fitly reducible hither
also as a violation of that royal law of love, inasmuch as love
ought to be the principle of all the duties of righteousness.
Else how can the duties of the second table be gathered up in
that sum, as you heard before, of love to our neighbour as
ourselves.
And here comes in all falsehood, the violations of men's
words and promises, so that one does not know whom to trust;
which is the thing that directly tends to break up all human
society. For every thing of commerce between man and man
depends upon human faith, as commerce with God depends
upon a divine faith. A man that cannot trust in God can have
no fellowship with him ; and when there is no such thing as
trust in men, there is no place for commerce between man and
man. For if that should be once banished out of the universe,
the world must disband, all human societies must break up ;
men must resolve to live as beasts, retired in cells and caves
and wildernesses.
All that oppression also, extortion, and fraudulent commerce
that are among men, belong to this head. If men did but
love others as themselves, or if they would but do to others as
they would be done unto, (which is the great measure of the
exercise of love) none of this would be.
(-1.) We may addasanother instance, furious passions, rash an
ger, and precipitous choler, and the contentions and strife which
are so frequent, and so hotly maintained among men. And we
may add to these, fretting, envy, secret repining in men's spirits
when others are better, or do better than themselves. This is a
disaffection of soul, which, as some heathens have noted, speaks.
a direct quarrel with God, and a righting with him. Because a
SfiR. XV.) AND OUR BROTHER* 15$
wise providence sees fit to favour such and such persons, there
fore we will be sure to be none of their friends. And most of
all repugnant to this duty of love are hatred, malice, revenge-
fulness, a continual watching, and waiting for opportunities
to do others an ill turn, from whom we conceive ourselves to
have received one. And I instance,
Lastly, In that from whence almost all this doth proceed*
namely, inordinate self-love which hath set all the world at
variance. This is what the apostle means by lust j an affec
tation of drawing all to ourselves, by an inordinate and extra
vagant affection to which we indulge ourselves and our own in
terest, each minding his own things. And so, whereas we should
each of us fill up the sphere we converse in with love, that so
dwelling in love we might dwell in God who is love, most men
shrink their sphere into one point. They make themselves
the only object of their love j all is confined there, and termi-
nateth there.*
And therefore, because men's private interests do interfere
and clash with one another, hence it cornes to pass that the
world is filled with all those strifes, quarrels, contentions, wars,
and blood, with which it is afflicted from day to day, and age
to age. Whence are all these but from lusts ? and what are
those lusts all gathered up into one, but inordinate self-love,
that knows no regulation, and will be confined by no just mea
sures ? It is a most apt and elegant expression of the Roman
* There is an excellent passage to this purpose, which I beg
leave to transcribe verbatim from one of the author's discourses on
self-denial, never yet published.
" Consider the great incongruity, yea the monstrous incongruity
of his self-addictedness, that a creature should be addicted to itself j
a creature I say, be it as good and great as it will ! For what is the
creature itself, the whole collection of all creatures together, but a
mere drop unto the ocean, the drop of a bucket? Such a minute
thing, a little inconsiderable thing that sprung up out of nothing
into something but the other day, now to set up for itself ! Mon
strous incongruity, horrid absurdity ! most of all for that self, that
most addict themselves to serve, fleshly self. A fit thing to be a
Deity! a thing whose wants and cravings continually might con
vince one, that it is not nor can be alone. How does it hug, and
cleave, and cling to a sojourning soul for a merely borrowed life 1
feeling itself going when the soul is going. Is this a fit thing to
subsist alone ; by itself and of itself r" And so the author goes on
to shew,, that " to set up for ourselves as if we were born for our
selves alone, or as if we owed nothing to our brother, nor had any
dependance upon God, cuts us off from him and forfeits all interest
in his common car."
VOL. VI. X
1 54 ON THE LOVE O* COtf (sfiR. kV.
emperor Marcus Antioninus to this purpose, who says, " Such
an inordinate self-love is like an ulcer, or imposthumated part,
that draweth all to itself, and starveth the body to which it be
longs." But there may be also
2. A violation of this royal law of love to others, not only
where things directly repugnant to it are indulged, but also
where there are external carriages which would well comport
with it, while they proceed not from a principle of love to one
another, as the root and fountain of them. As in the opening
of the doctrine we observed to you, that so waywardly are the
spirits of men alfected, that sometimes they will make the prin
ciple exclude the external acts and expressions, and sometimes
the contrary. Men may carry it fairly and without exceptiona-
bleness to others, but it proceeds not from the principle of love,
but some other principle.
As for instance, with respect to acts of charity, some express
their compassion to those who are in distress, by relieving them
in their exigencies ; but it is out of vain- glory, and to procure
themselves a name. They sound a trumpet before them and
proclaim that they give alms, as our Saviour speaks of the pha-
risees. So a man will be just and square in his dealings, but
it proceeds not from love to his neighbour, such as we owe to
ourselves, but only from prudence ; for if they do not carry
it fair, they shall undo themselves as to their name and com
merce in the world. Or it may proceed from fear ; "I will not
wrong or injure such a one for fear he should right himself upon
me, and prove too hard for me at the long run." It may also
proceed from deceit, and a treacherous disposition. They will
carry it with all kindness to such till they can have an oppor
tunity as it were to smite them under the fifth rib, as Joab did
Abner, while lie spoke to him peaceably. 2 Sam. 3. 27.
These are manifest violations of this great and royal law ;
that is, they may be manifest to the persons themselves who
are guilty, if they would but allow themselves the liberty to re
flect, and take a view of the temper of their own spirits. In
the exercise of this kind of love, a^xim awn-oK^/ror, an unhypo-
critical love is required, love without dissimulation. Rom. 12.
9.
Now concerning all these things many are apt to think them
but little matters. " They are but offences against men, say
they, such as ourselves." Conscience as to these is little sen
sible or smitten in most men, because it is stupid, and cannot
feel by reflections of this kind. But indeed these are very far
from being light matters in themselves. They are things of
dreadful import, if we consider what it is they argue or prove ;
SKR. XV.) AND OUR BROTHER. J55
that is, they argue little or no love to an unseen God. For thi
ther it is that the apostle's argumentation directs us to run up
the business. If it appear by these instances that there is no
love to our brother, whom we have seen ; how can there be
any love to God, whom we have not seen ? These things argue
the little respect men bear to an invisible God, to an unseen
Ruler and Lord. They argue how low the interest of the bles
sed God is among men, how little his authority and law do sig
nify with them, and that men are sunk into a deep oblivion of
him that made them.
These miscarriages where they are more common, prevail
ing, and customary with men, are all rooted in atheism. Where
there is but little respect to the duty between man and man,
it is an argument there is a much less. respect to that which we
owe to the unseen God, the Lord both of them and us. It
argueth that when he hath settled an order in this world among
his creatures, designed and appointed such a thing as human
society, and directed that human love should be the common
bond of that society ; it argues, I say, a great want of respect
unto God that men should make a rupture of that sacred bond,
and so at once break themselves off from one another and from
him..
This is a matter of dreadful consequence if we do but run it
up to its original, and lay the stress and the weight of the mat
ter where it ought to lie. As was said of a certain country,
* c The fear of God is not in this place," (Gen. 20. 11.) where
it was apprehended there was a danger of suffering violence in
reference to property ; so it may equally be said, there is no
love of God in that place j that is, in that heart and soul where
so many manifest violations are continually offered (habitually
and without regret) unto a law upon which he lays such weight ;
a law which God has made so fundamental, and built the frame
of so great a part of all our other duty upon it.
And it may be now upon all this, some will be ready to say j
ff Truly it is a very sad thing there should be so little love
among men as such, and highly reasonable it is that such love
should obtain more than it does." But they withal think it
very reasonable that they should be dispensed with, especially
in two cases ; that is, where men are very wicked, or where
they are enemies to them. In the former case they would be
dispensed with upon the account of their pretended respect to
God, who is injured by men's wickedness ; and they would
fain be excused in the latter case, upon a real but very undue
respect to themselves, whom they apprehend to be injured by
such and such persons.
156 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (SER. XV.
Therefore I would say somewhat more particularly (before I
leave this head of love to men as men) to these two cases ;
that is, to evince to you how great iniquity it is that such limi
tations should be admitted of as these ; namely, that we would
extend our love to men in general, except the more wicked
sort of men, and also such as are particular enemies to our
selves.
I, As to the former, the pretence is more plausible ; they
cannot apprehend how they should be bound to love a wicked
man. And yet I shall shew you briefly what exercise love ought
to have in that case, and upon what considerations ; what place
there is, and what room for love to those who are profligately
wicked, whom we are thus urged to love.
(1.) It is plain, negatively, that we ought not to love a man
the better because he is a wicked man, and yet it is plain that
most men do so. It is as ill to love a wicked man for his ini
quity, as to hate a good man for his goodness ; as Cain did his
brother Abel, which is noted also in this epistle. For there
are persons, " Who (knowing the judgment of God that they
which commit such things are worthy of death) not only do the
same, but have pleasure in them that do them." Rom. 1. 32.
But this is very remote from the temper of a gracious spirit.
The Psalmist makes his solemn appeal to God concerning this
case j " Do not I hate them that hate thee, O Lord ? 1 hate
them with a perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies."
Ps. 139. 21, 22. That is, barely considered as wicked, or
upon the account of their wickedness and enmity to God ;
which is the thing upon which this professed, avowed hatred
is founded. But notwithstanding,
(2.) There is room still for the exercise of love to such per
sons several ways. As
[1.] Love ought to be exercised in assuaging and repressing
of undue and inordinate passions, which are apt to tumultuate,
even in reference to cases of that nature. A fretting corrod
ing spirit, when we find wickedness and a prosperous state in
conjunction, is most expressly forbidden. "Fret not thyself
because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man
who bringeth wicked devices to pass." Ps. 37. 7- And again,
*< Let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of
the Lord all the day long." Prov. 23. 17. The daily and assi
duous fear of God will be a check able to restrain such an
ebullition of spirit where it doth prevail.
In like manner a vindictive temper of spirit as to such is not
allowed. There arc those, many times, who cannot have pa
tience till providence has run its course, when they see wick- ;
SER. XV.) AND OUR BROTHER.
edness prosperously triumphing and lifting up the head, but
with impatient heat they are presently for calling down fire
from heaven to destroy such. As it was with those over zeal
ous disciples of our Lord, when entertainment and lodging
were refused by the Samaritans. But see how our Saviour re
sents it, who rebuked and said unto them, "Ye know not what
manner of spirit ye are of." Luke 9. 55. There ought to
be the exercise of love to the mitigation, and depression of
the inordinate workings of the heart in such cases. And
also
[2.] In serious and affectionate compassion, from the con
sideration of the tendency of their course, and of what these
poor wretches are doing against themselves. The same com
passion, I say, that we would have towards a distracted man,
who we fear every moment will suffer by his own violent hands ;
and of whom we apprehend extreme peril, if he should be left
a quarter of an hour to himself. These are persons that are
likely to undo themselves, and in danger finally of piercing their
own souls as they are wounding them every moment. The
true spirit of Christian love to men as men, considered as
never so wicked, ought to be exercised towards these persons
upon that account, and because they are so. We reckon it as
a very unnatural inhuman thing not to have great motions of
pity and compassion, upon the hearing of towns, villages, and
cities, in which pestilential diseases are raging, and tumbling-
thousands daily into the dust. But how much more dreadful
is this case ! and therefore how much more pitiful, compas
sionate love doth it require and challenge ! And again,
[3.] Love should have its exercise in offering up very earnest
prayers for them. It is a very sad case when the hearts and
consciences of too many may witness and testify, that they could
tell how to rage against such persons as they have observed to
be wicked, and find their hearts ready to storm, at them ; but
never can find, from time to time, an occasion to put up a
prayer to God for them, who have no disposition themselves to
eek for mercy to their poor souls. And
[4.] In prudent and kind admonitions too, and rebukes,
when providence administers the occasion 5 which is to be
judged of by more rules and circumstances, than our present
design will suffer us to mention. But besides what hath been
said, as to the particulars in which this love is to be exercised
in such cases, the considerations to move us to the exercise of
it are manifold. As for instance,
We ought to consider that such have human nature and rea
sonable immortal spirits, capable of service to Gud as much as
153 ON THE LOVE OP COD (SER. XV.
ourselves, and also of being in God as well as we are. And
what ! is there no place for love to them, who are bone of our
bone, and flesh of our flesh, and even of the same reasonable
nature with ourselves ?
We should also consider that we have a corrupt nature a*
well as they have, even the same corrupt nature. And if it has
not broke forth into as ill practices, we owe it not to ourselves
but to that mercy which distinguisheth persons, and doth ex
ercise itself as it will. And it may be even as to practice too,
euch we have been in times past, as the apostle speaks of some
of the Corinthian Christians. 1 Cor. 6. 11. Therefore the
wickedness of such is separable from their nature, otherwise
if we think the case better with us, how came it separable from
curs ?
Finally. Let it be considered, that God expresses a common
love and kindness and indulgence to such. He does good to
the evil and the unthankful, to the just and the unjust ; and
makes his sun to shine, and his rain to fall upon the one and
the other. Matt. 5. 45. Yea and his particular love hath fall
en upon many such, and doth mostly fall upon such, where it
does fall. For herein " God commendeth his love towards us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5.
8. If God did not know how to love sinners, not indeed for
their wickedness, but notwithstanding it j where were we, and
what would have become of us !
MR. XVI.)
AND OUR BROTHER.
159
SERMON XVI.*
have already shewn from these words, that their pre*
tence to the love of God is hoth false and absurd, who do
not join wi f h it love to their brother. And by way of use or
application ve have animadverted upon the common temper
and frame, so very unsuitable to what this scripture plainly re
quires and call 3 for ; namely, the little love that appears among
Christians in our days. And after we had pressed and recom
mended love to men universally considered, and shewn also
that we are obliged in our carriage and practice to shew our
love to men considered indefinitely, that is, every one with
whom we have anything to do ; it was observed, that some
would fain indulge themselves in the neglect of this duty, and
particularly in two cases think that they may challenge a dis
pensation. We therefore proposed to consider them severally.
1 . The case of those who think themselves to be under no
obligation to love wicked men, especially such as are persons of
profligate wickedness. In speaking to which we have briefly
shewn what sort of exercise, love ought to have in this case.
The
2. Case is that of those who think they may be dispensed
* Preached December 6,
160 ON THE LOVE OF GO15 (SER. XVI.
with or excused from loving those that are their enemies, which
we now proceed to consider. In the former case, as we have
observed, persons are prone to think they may be dispensed
with out of respect to God, or on his account ; in the latter case
out of respect to themselves. A great piece of hardship many
think it to be compelled to love them who they know are no
friends of theirs, but are continually contriving mischievous de
signs against them. What room or place there can be for the
exercise of love in such a case, we shall here briefly shew you,
and then upon what considerations it ought to be vigorously
exercised.
(1.) For the former of these, on which I shall not insist very
largely.
[1.] There ought to be the exercise of love, even to enemies,
in calming and subduing whatever is contrary thereunto in our
selves. All opposite passions, and the workings of them must
be restrained j every thing of anger, wrath, malignity, bitter
ness of spirit, revenge or vindictiveness more especially. Thus
ought love to be exercised in the maintaining of a calm in our
own minds and hearts, that there may be no tumultuations of
any undue or forbidden passion upon any such account. Yea
and again,
[2.] There ought to be love exercised in a more positive way ;
in forgiving or passing by whatever trespasses are done against
us, as we expect to be forgiven ourselves. Love ought to be
exercised to such even in doing them good; which is yet more
possitive. " Do good," says our Saviour, " to them that hate
you, and pray for them that despitefully use you." Matt. 5. 44.
We should do them what good we can ourselves, and pray for
them that they may have that good which we cannot procure
for them. The order and gradation of this precept is very ob
servable. We are lirst in general enjoined to love our enemies,
to bless them that curse us ; and then we are enjoined to do
them good, and to pray for them. As if our Lord had said,
*' First do all the good you can to them yourselves ; but when
you are gone as far as you can, then engage and set on work
an almighty agent by prayer. Pray that God would do them
good when you can do them none."
We should take heed of looking on this as a Platonical ehi-
msera ; as a thing that can only have place in the imagination,
or as a matter altogether impracticable. Christ has enjoined
us no impracticable things. And there have been great exam
ples in the world, that of his own and others, who have beeri
so influenced by the grace of God as to give demonstration that
this was 110 impracticable matter. And have we never heard
*R. XVI.) AND OUR BROTHER. 161
of any that have" rendered themselves remarkable on this ac
count ? of those of whom it hath been said, " No man could
take a readier course to make such a one his friend, than by
doing him an injury?" I believe some of us have heard of such
instances even in these lower dregs of time. This we should
then fix with ourselves as our resolutions. ts Doth any man
make it his business and design to trouble and molest me ?
Is he from time to time seeking occasions to vex me ? The
next opportunity that occurs to me of doing that man a good
turn, I will be sure to lay hold upon it. I will be even with
him that way. If I can do him good, I will. This I would fix
upon my heart as a law."
(2.) I will now proceed to give you some considerations that
vince to us the reasonableness of such an exercise of love to
our enemies j to such as bear us ill will, and are ready to do us
an ill turn. As
[1.] Consider it is the law and glory of Christianity to do so.
That it is the Christian law is plain, and you have heard it al
ready. You see how in the sermon on the mount, our Saviour
reflects upon that mean, sordid, narrow principle of the Jews,
which mostly in those times did possess and steer that people.
" You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your
enemies, &c." Matt. 5. 43. He then plainly, as to the mat
ter of the exercise of love, takes away the distinction between
neighbour and enemy. Our Saviour will allow no such dis
tinction. And it is very plain, that by neighbour and brother
he means the same thing in that fifth chapter of St. Matthew's
gospel, where expounding the sixth commandment, " Thou
shalt not kill," according to its spiritual sense and meaning,
he makes the object of that law to be our brother ; plainly in
tending by brother all those, whom it was unlawful to kill.
" I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother with
out a cause shall be in danger of the judgment." It is plain he
means anger and killing with respect to the same object. We
are therefore to love our enemies under that common no
tion of brother. This, I say then, is most clear that pur Lord
Christ hath made this law with respect to enemies. Love them,
bless them, pray for them, and do good to them, are his ex
press precepts.
And it is the particular glory of Christianity, that such a con
stitution as this is, is to be found in it as a law. This must be
acknowledged to be peculiar to Christianity. " To love friends,
that is common to all men ; to love enemies, that is proper to
Christians j" as said an ancient in the Christian church long
VOL. vi, y
162 ON THE LOVE Of <SO <R.
ago. It is true indeed such a temper as this hath been well
spoken of among the heathen : but a great deal more praised,
than practiced ; more applauded, than imitated. I remember
one of them says, that " It is to imitate God himself not to
hate any one at all, and more especially to terminate the ex
ercise of our most fervent and complacential love upon the
best." And we have heard of some who in lower things have
done somewhat like this. As a great man of Athens, when on a
certain night one followed him all along the street, reviling him
and calling him most injurious and contumelious names, as soon
is he came to his own house, he only commanded his servants
to light the man home again. And every man must acknowledge
it an amiable and lovely thing, when but a specimen has ap
peared, though never so faint, of such a kind of practice.
But I say it is the peculiar glory of Christianity to form and
habituate the spirits of those who are sincere unto this temper;
that so the instances of this nature may not be rare, and that
love may be exemplified in men's course and behaviour, ac
cording as the occasions of human life do require. And who
can but reckon it a glory ? For is not every creature upon that
account the more excellent as his spirit is more conformed unto
God ? It is with this enforcement that this law is given by our
Saviour, in the verse immediately after the precepts before
mentioned ; " That ye may be the children of your Father
who is in heaven, for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil
and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
As if he had said, Love your enemies, and do good to them
that use you ill, that you may hold forth a visible resemblance
of God 5 that his image in this kind may appear and shine in
you ; and that it may thereupon be made known to all whose
children you are, and by whom you are begotten ; that it may
be seen, that there is a nature truly divine conveyed and trans
mitted into you, and so inwrought into your temper as demon
strate you to be the children of God. Certainly it is the glory
of a creature to resemble its Maker ; and by how much the
more :t does so, by so much the more glorious is that crea
ture, for what is the glory or excellency found in the creature,
but the reflection and impress of the divine excellency and
glory ? And again, in the
[2.] Place, let it be considered, that by this exercise of love
to our enemies we make ourselves superior to them, according
to the injunction which is laid upon us by the apostle : " Be
Hot ye overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Rom.
12. 21. The latter part of the verse we may take notice of by
and by. All the while that a man can continue and keep up a
spirit of kindness, and benignity, and goodness to bis eueuaics/
*R. XVI.) AND OUR BROTHER.
it is plain he is not overcome ; he is upon the upper ground,
and hath unspeakably the better of them. And it is the easiest
and surest defeat of malice that can be imagined or thought of.
For it is certain where an ill-minded, mischievous person doth
bend and set himself against such a one as you, he will not
only set himself to hurt you but to vex you. It is not only
your hurt that he aims at, but he would disquiet you, and put
your mind to torture. So then it is plain, let a man have
never so much hard usage from another, if there are manifest
evidences that his spirit sinks not, but rather that he maintains
a great spirit under all, it retorts the vexation upon him who
designed it, and he himself alone is vexed who aimed at that
design. Therefore he still keeps the superiority in this case,
the temper of whose spirit remains within him placid, calm, and
undisturbed ; free from any unmanly, and most of all unchris
tian passions.
And it is love which hath that dominion, that it will not let
such impure and unbecoming things as envy, hatred, or malice
come into that state, which is all made up of goodness, kind"
ness, and love. The strength of that gracious principle, work
ing with its due vigour, expels and keeps them from coming
into the soul, or making inroads there. And all this while
there can be no vexation, no disquietude in the spirit of such
a one. It is fortified, and so strengthened as to shut out what
ever would disturb and break the peace within. And so he
that hath set himself against you hath not his design, because,
you are not overcome by him.
And to be sure whatever hand the devil hath in such attempts
he is defeated ; for he only desires you should sin against God,
which certainly you do when you admit of any breach of chari
ty. He does not care whether it be well or ill with you in ex
ternal respects, only as it is a means to induce you to commit
sin. So that if he stirs up a quarrel between any one and you
his design is to transfer it between God and you ; and having
put it into the heart of any one to be your enemy, he would fain
excite enmity in your heart Jigainst him, so as to render you
God's enemy. This is the design he wholly aims at. Now he
is defeated thereof, when your spirit remains conform to the
law of God in this case j and you are not conscious of any evil
temper of spirit towards them, who are in the mean time, work
ing you all the mischief that they can.
[3.] This temper of spirit carries in it, and a suitable deport
ment expresses, a holy, great, and generous independency upon
external things. For any man's ill will to you, and what
soever effects there can be of it, are all to you external things.
1G4 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (sER. XVI.
Such a temper of spirit then, I say, shews your independency
upon all outward things, and a superiority unto all external
good and evil ; that you do not take yourself to be greatly con
cerned in matters that are so foreign to you as such a man's
ill will, or any ill effects thereof. For whither can they reach
if you do not betray yourself, or be false to yourself ? " Fear
not them that can kill the body only, and after that have no
more that they can do." Luke xii. 4. We are addressed to there
as if we were hardly to reckon the concernments of the body
any part of our own concerns.
So indeed some heathens have been wont magnificently to
speak, reckoning up such things wherein good and evil may be
said to consist ; and upon stating the notions of the one, and
the other, all the good and evil things of the body are cast out
of the account. " For/' says one, "do you think 1 take my
body to be MB, and this flesh to be myself?" And so another,
" They can kill me, but they cannot hurt me." So when one
was to be beaten to death with hammers and axes, he cried out,
Si Strike on ! thou mayest break in pieces this vessel of Anax-
archus, but him himself thou canst not touch." And another
discoursing upon that question, An injuria sit referenda f
denies it peremptorily, and reasons against it most strongly.
* C A good man, says he, is neither capable of being affected with
injury, nor of affecting any one with it. Injuries can properly
have place only among ill men, who are upon that account of
fenders and breakers of laws. But among good men there is
no one that can do an injury because he hath that virtue that
will not let him ; and he cannot suffer injury neither, because
his virtue keeps it off, so as that it cannot have access to his
spirit. It cannot invade or disturb his inward man. There
is nothing to be detracted or taken from him by such an injury.
For as to external good he doth not reckon it his, he cares not
for it, and so parts with it without loss.''
Thus many of them have talked at a high rate, but it is the
great concern of Christians that they may feel in themselves
what may answer the import of such expressions ; and as one
said, "Live rather than talk great things. " And certainly it is
a great thing when the temper of a man's spirit is such, as that
in all his course he shall discover an independency upon exter
nals ; so as to hold it forth that he is little concerned with, or
moved by any kind of good and evil as can only reach the out
ward man, which ends with his life, and will shortly be as if it
had never been.
Such a temper of spirit as this is -will soon keep a man out
ER. XVI.) AND OUR BROTHER.
of the reach of this lower, and more troublesome sphere. He
is above, liveth in another world, in another region. His iniud
and spirit are not within the reach of storms and tempests, but
above that region which is liable to the stroke of such things ;
and so he continually keeps the possession of his own soul. It
js a dominion over himself, a dominion in himself, the peace and
tranquillity of reason that such a man enjoys. Thus says our
Saviour, " In your patience possess ye your souls." That is a,
thing not very remote and alien from that temper of spirit that
\ve are speaking of.. For what think we patience is ? It is not
a mere sturdiness of spirit, a stoutness by which we are able to
endure whatever comes ; but it is that sweet and pleasant trau-
quillity, that repose of rest and spirit, by which it remains un
disturbed whatever evils fall out to be our lot in this evil world.
Jt is not merely to be able to bear, but to bear well ; to bear be
comingly and with a composed and quiet temper of mind, which
admits no ill impression or resentments under what it happens
to be our lot to bear.
So it falls in with love, and is animated by it. Love is the
life and soul of it. Patience towards him by whom I suffer evil,
is influenced by love to him ; and then that evil which I suffer
by him signifies nothing. And it is by this I possess my own
soul ; otherwise, I am not master of myself, but am an impo
tent slave to this or that passion, raised and stirred up in me by
this or that outward affliction. And thus I betray myself to an,
injury, which otherwise could not hurt or touch me. And a-
gain
[4.] It is further to be considered that the person that ma
ligns me, or suppose them to be many that do so, they may yet
have many excellencies, and on other accounts may be very
worthy persons. And it would be a useful consideration, to
keep and preserve a good temper of spirit in us, and to quicken
love to its due exercise, if we would turn off our eye from that
one particular thing, the ill will they bear to us, and look upon,
the many things that are good and commendable besides. And
whatever, real goodness there is, that doth certainly challenge
love. For what ! do we think love is to have its exercise no
where, but where there is perfect goodness ? Then are we to
love no creature at all.
What if in that respect we apprehend such a man to be evi
or to do evil, who bears ill will to us or to our way, and those
who bear our character upon them ; yet may they not have
very good things in them besides ? Such may be sober, prudent,
learned persons, and useful men in the world. And what ! must;
all that good be lost and buried, only because they have some
1 66 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (sER. XVI.
particular animosity and ill will to us ? It is too much to take
our measure of what is to be loved, and what not , by ourselves
and by our own interest ; and it would argue a very private and
narrrow spirit, that we should judge of what is lovely and com
mendable, only by what has reference to us. We have no rea
sonable warrant to do so.
And perhaps it is a disputable thing that such and we differ
in ; and it is not altogether impossible, that they may be in
the right, and we in the wrong. And it becomes such persons
as we are, conscious to ourselves of human frailty, not to be
too confident that every man is in the wrong who opposeth him
self unto us. At least, it would become the modesty of chris-
tians to search so much the more, and inquire the more
diligently into the matter, that they do not a double injury by
being opposite to such persons > wrongfully at first,and then
persevering in it ; and letting an unworthy, unsuitable temper
of spirit obtain thereupon, and take place in them.
[5]. Suppose we be unjustly maligned by certain persons,
then we have certainly God on our side j and consequently have
a very good cause if we do not spoil it. If such and such bear
us ill will, and we on our parts maintain the law of love invio
late, we are well as to the matter we suffer for, and we shall be
tolerably well as to the manner of suffering too. Suppose we
suffer hard things through their ill will, this is not so much, so
we do but quietly bear our wrong ; but if we miscarry here, we
perfectly spoil a good cause. Whereas before we were right as
to the matter, now as to the manner of our suffering under any
one's displeasure, we have involved ourselves in guilt, and con
sequently have done so much to disoblige God from interesting
himself for us. And certainly then we have done very ill for
ourselves.
[6.] If we do suffer the displeasure and ill will of any un
justly with the effects thereof, and yet keep up love in our own
hearts, those persons who injure us, do first a great deal more
injure God. Therefore we have all the reason in the world to
turn private, selfish anger upon that account, into a resent-
mentof the indignity and offence done tothe common Ruler and
Lord of all. And certainly by how much more the exercise of
our spirits worketh out towards him, his interests and concern
ments ; so much the less shall we find ourselves prejudiced in
our own spirits, by what does more directly tend to us, and
hath an aspect that way. We shall less consider that he hath
injured us, and so be less tempted to render ill for ill, and
hatred for hatred. He hath injured him that made him as wel}
as us, which is a superior thing and a greater crime. Anil
3*R. XVI.) AND OUR BROTHER. Ifijf
therefore that anger which turned the other way before, ought
to turn against the dishonour that is done thereby to God, and
into pity of the offender, upon the account of the anger of
God incurred thereupon. And it ought to be considered fur
ther,
[7-] That if any such do never so unjustly malign us, and
therein wrong us, they wrong themselves much more. That
would be a great allay to our passion to consider they slightly
hurt us, but greatly hurt themselves. They are more injurious
to themselves, than to those they design hurt unto. They do
us but some external injury, but they wound themselves to the
heart and soul. Sure then there ought to be that love in us,
which should work pity in us upon that account. Nay fur
ther,
[8.] We ought to consider that if they have wronged us,
we have at one time and in one way or other wronged ourselves
worse. We have done ourselves more wrong, than all the men
in the world or the devils in hell could ever have effected against
us, with their combined powers. If we have long lived in this
world strangers to God, wandering from him who is our life : if
we have lived in impenitence, disobedience, and rebellion to
him, and strangers to his converse ; we have then infinitely
more wronged ourselves, I say, than men or devils can pos
sibly do. And yet we can tell how to love ourselves for all that.
Why then shall we not know how to love them who do us un
speakably less wrong, and are in no possibility of being so pre
judicial to us as we are to ourselves ? We can be indulgent to
ourselves, who have done more wrong and hurt ; why not to
them, who have done us less ?
[9,] We shall do ourselves a great deal more wrong than it
is possible for them to do us, if we requite them with ill will,
and do not maintain the law of love inviolate to them. We
shall do ourselves a greater injury than they can make us suffer,
though it were in their power to do as much as one creature can
do to another. For they can but hurt us externally, unless it
be our own fault ; but we hurt ourselves internally, if there be
any unbecoming passion working or raging within. And what
reason is there, because one giveth me a light scratch, that
I must therefore give myself a mortal stab ? And yet further
consider,
[10.] That whatsoever exercise our love shall have in thi*
kind it will rebound upon ourselves, and turn to our o vn great
advantage. For, in the first place, we shall have present peace
aud tranquillity within, which is a great reward j and we shall
bN THE LOVE OF GOB (SER. XVI.
be also entitled unto that reward which is future, as all sincere
obedience is, by the law of God and the Redeemer.
First. There is a great reward in this temper of spirit which
it carries in itself. For do but consider what it is plain the law
of Christ requires in this case. tc Bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you, pray for them that despitefully
iise you, and persecute you." Matt. 5. 44. Let us allow our
selves to pause here a little. What advantage is there in this
temper of spirit, whereby a man without forcing, or straining
the habitual frame thereof, desires the fulness of all good to
them, who perhaps rashly or injuriously wish all harm to him !
Certainly the very sense of those words, ff Bless them that curse
you," if they were but transferred into and impressed upon our
souls, is of unspeakably more worth than all the wealth of both
the Indies. For a man to bear that temper of soul in himself,
and to be able on reflection to conclude, though he be assaulted
on all sides by the unjust displeasure of men, that there are yet
no other but good propcnsions of kindness and mercy, tender
ness and compassion, and a readiness to do them all the good
lie can, as soon as ever he has an opportunity ; the pleasantness
of such a temper, if known and experienced, no one would
change for the greatest advantage this world could afford him.
How happy is it to be able to say with the apostle, " Being
reviled, we bless ; being persecuted, we suffer it ; being de
famed, we intreat." 1 Cor. 4. 12, 13. As if he had said,
" He that looks into our ways, nay into our breasts, shall be
able to discern nothing but calmness there ; even an undisturb
ed composure of spirit, and benignity towards them who are
full of malignity to us." And
Secondly. This is that temper of spirit also to which the blessed
God hath particularly promised a reward. " If thine enemy be
hungry, give him bread to eat ; and if he be thirsty, give him
water to drink : for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head,
and the Lord shall reward thee." Prov. xxv. 21, 22. Rom. xii.
20. It may be the person himself will not reward thee for so
much good done to him. Concern not thyself for that ; if he
will not, God will. The Lord will reward thee for all that good
which thou hast done, in lieu of the evil which he has done to
thee. And I add,
Lastly, In this way you may quite conquer him at last, to
whom you exercise love to that height. And how glorious a
conquest is this ! The apostle says in the forementioned place,
which is quoted from the Proverbs, that you shall by this means,
(by returning good for evil) " heap coals of fire upon his head."
1 know there is a controversy about these words ; some under-
9KR. XVIiY AND OUR BROTHER. 169
stand them in a good, others in an evil sense. Some say there
by is meant, that you shall engage God on your side, and his
wrath and vengeance shall vindicate your quarrel. Others think
that we may understand by coals of tire, the melting warmth of
love ; which will dissolve and mollify the obdurate, malicious
spirit of the unjust adversary. And I for my part make Rule
doubt but that is the meaning, and I am the more induced to
believe it from what we find conjoined in both these scriptures.
It is in the Proverbs, " The Lord shall reward thee," as one
that hast been a subordinate benefactor to himself ; who doth
good to those, who carry it very ill towards him. But to this
passage quoted by the apostle is subjoined this exhortation ; '-Be
not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good." Your
goodness makes you glorious conquerors, and will melt down
your enemy, and subdue him to you at the long run.
And there is no way wherein we can contribute so much to
the accomplishment of God's promise, to wit, " If a man's
ways please the Lord, he will make his enemies to be at peace
with him." Prov. 16. 7- And we have the most reason
(though we are not to limit God as to the time or method of
working things) to promise ourselves a happy issue and suc
cess this way, that is, to make our enemies at peace with us ;
when we in our whole deportment express and hold forth no
thing but benignity, kindness, and sweetness to them, how
ever harsh in their words and actions they are to us.
And we ought to bethink ourselves too (with which I shall
conclude) that let us be put to forgive them never so much,
God has forgiven us more. It is impossible they should ever
offend us so much as we have transgressed against him. There
fore let us not grudge to extend our love to our enemies, for if
God had not done so to us, what had become of us ? Misera
ble creatures had we been ! " When we were enemies Christ died
for us." It was for enemies he laid down his life, and exposed
himself to those cruel sufferings which he underwent. And
when we expect eternal life by him, who hath done so much
for enemies will we not at his word, and upon the obligation,
of his own law, conform our spirits and practice to our utmost
herein ? For it is impossible we can have any enemies so in
jurious to us, as we have been to Christ ; all which injury and
wrong he is yet willing to bury in everlasting oblivion.
YL.
(&ER. XVIJ.
SERMON XVII.*
HE truth which we have more lately handled from these
words is this : That their pretence to the love of God is
hoth false and absurd, who do not conjoin with it love to their*
brother.
We have insisted a little upon this doctrine, and have made
some progress in the use, which was mainly intended to be
this : namely, To animadvert upon the common practice of the
world ; and especially to put us upon animadverting on our
own practice, wherein it is contrary to the law of that love,
which we are required to exercise towards our brethren,
considered as men, and as Christians. We have already in
the
first place, shewn and complained that there is but little of
that love which ought to be exercised to men, as men, and we
have particularly spoken to two cases, wherein many would
plead an exemption ; namely, the case of those who are profli
gately wicked, and of those who are their particular enemies :
And we have shewed you how reasonable and necessary it is
that love should be exercised to them as men, notwithstanding
either of these circumstances. We are now to speak
* Preached December J3 f 1676.
*'
SS&. XVII.) AND OUR BROTHER. 1?1
/Secondly, According to the other and more restrained no
tion of brother, to that love which we should have for one ano
ther as Christians ; or which should be generally exercised by
us upon a Christian account. And is it not worth our while to
take notice, how the law of such love is most commonly vio
lated among them who bear the Christian name, and to give
instances hereof ? We will do this in two kinds. That is,
we shall give you both private and positive instances, and let
you see by both, how the law of love is too frequently broken
and intrenched upon, even as if it were not a sacred thing.
I. We shall give you some private instances of this, wherein
persons appear not to do what the law of love doth require.
As
1. When the object of this love is mistaken ; that is, either
stated with too much latitude, or else is too much narrowed
and limited.
(1.) I say when it is stated too largely, and men do give ex
orbitant measures of Christianity. There is a love to be exer
cised to all, as you have heard before ; but there is, many times,
a very unwarrantable extension of the notion of Christianity.
There is so manifestly, when persons think the very assumed
name itself a criterion enough of a Christian, and so would
stretch that which is peculiarly Christian love to a proportiona
ble latitude. As very often the Christian name is assumed, and
taken on by such persons as understand not, nor believe any
more of the Christian religion than mere pagans. As to them
it is by mere hap that ever that name comes upon them. As
if it were enough to make a Christian, only to live on such or
such a turf; or as if because they think it fit and convenient
to call themselves Christians, therefore they must be account
ed as such ; and under that consideration be owned, respected,
and loved as such without any difference, though all their prac
tices hold forth nothing less than a perpetual avowed hostility
unto Christ, as it is with too many others.
I would indeed allow to that profession as much of respect as
can, with any appearance of justice, be understood duly to be
long to a name ; and such are to be loved suitably to the state
and condition they are in. But totally to mistake their state
and condition, and then to exercise love to them without dis
crimination according to that mistake, certainly there is a great
injury done in this case : especially where the case is so very
apparent that persons more significantly shew themselves what
they are by what they do, than can be known by what they are
called. And then,
(2.) When the notion of Christianity is too much narrowed
172 ON THE LOVE OF GOD (sBR. XVtf.'
and restrained, or of those whom we are to account and love
as, Christians. The whole Christian fraternity is confined by
some to those of tht- ir own party, or particular way and per
suasion in respect of some little things, altogether extra-essen
tial and circumstantial only to religion. And so Christian love
comes to be confined to, and is exercised only within this lit
tle circle. This is a very great injury on the other hand ; and
the same thing in effect as to say, Lo, here is Christ, and there
he is, yea, it is to say exclusively Here he is, and no where else !
And it is as great a fault to say he is not where indeed he is, as
to say he is where he is not. Love to Christians, as Christians,
surely ought to run a larger course. And again,
2. When the principle of love doth languish. Suppose the
object of it to be stated never so rightly, without any error or
mistake, the languor and decay of the principle does every
whit as much intrench upon the law of love, and is a more
injurious violation of it, than a mistaking the object. When
love so exceedingly fails among Christians, as such, that
upon reflection it is hardly to be known whether any such
thing be alive or at work or no ; when, I say, our love so
waxes cold, it is, as our Saviour intimates, a time of great
iniquity. And it is plain he means it of that love that ought
to have its exercise to Christians, fellow-christians, and not
merely of love to himself. For in the context you will find
him speaking of persons betraying one another ; and hating one
another; and then he adds, " Because iniquity shall abound,
the love of many shall wax cold." Matt. 24. 12. And indeed
the cause is very manifest and obvious to be from thence, from
the abounding of iniquity.
He that loveth a Christian as a chiistian, must be under
stood to love Christianity itself proportionably more. That
which makes a thing such, is more such ; that which makes a
person lovely, is more lovely. To love Christians as Christians,
is to love their religion. But now, when once the iniquities
of the times abound, many who loved professors before grow
cool in their love It was taken up for their conveniency, and
it is laid down for their conveniency, according as may best
serve their turn.
Now this coldness of love among Christians considered as
such is a dreadful token, how little and slight an account so
ever is made of it. The law of love doth not only say, Love
your brother or one another; but with a pure heart fervently."
I Pet. 1. 29-. And it is not a little that is contributed to the
life and vigour of religion itself, by the vigour and lively ex
ercise of this love. Therefore this great duty is recommended
SER. XVII.) AND OUR BROTHER. 1*3
upon the very account, and with this design that our hearts
may be established in holiness. " The Lord make you to in
crease and abound in love one towards another, and towards
all men, even as we do towards you ; to the end he may es
tablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God even
our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all hie
gaints." 1 Thes. 3. 12, 13.
3. An unaptness to take care of avoiding offences among
Christians is another breach of this same law of love. Too
many lay no restraints upon their spirits in this matter at all,
or have no consideration of the case ; never saying, " Shall I
offend by this or that, or shall I not ?" And others are as faul
ty in being apt to take offence, where the matter carries none
in it. They are testy, froward, and. captious, so that no one
knoweth how to converse with them, or careth to have to do
with them, or to be of their society. And again,
4. That I may hasten through many things, which I would
at this time say to you in the close of all this long discourse, a
very great difficulty either to give or receive satisfaction, is very
unsuitable to the love of our brother.
To give satisfaction : how are the spirits of many straitened
and bound up in this case, by their own pride and self-conceit,
and the great opinion which they have of themselves ! As if it
were a far greater reflection to say, " Sir, I have done wrong ;"
than it is to do another wrong. Or that men must needs give
out themselves to be of something above a mortal human race,
that it is impossible they should ever have offended, or ever
do amiss. How great mischiefs would one such word as this
sometimes prevent, among those with whom we have a fami
liar converse, " Sir, I confess I have not done well in such a
thing, pray pass it by !" That great precept of confessing our
faults to one another, and praying for others, (Jam. 5. 16.)
how is it quite thrown out of doors now-a-days ! how rare in
stances are there of any such kind of practice.
And there is as great an unaptness on the other hand to re
ceive satisfaction. Persons insist highly upon the wrong, and
cannot abate so much as one punctilio. Such things as for
bearance and forgiveness, where there is an offence and wrong
done, how little do they obtain in common practice in our time 1
And it is amazing to think that the moving enforcements which
we have in Scripture of that one thing, should signify so little a-
mong us. Forgive ye one another the trespasses that ye com
mit one against another, even as God for Christ's sake freely
forgave us. Oh what ! should not such a consideration as that
is prevail with Christian hearts to forgive, when it is considered
1/4 ON TEE LOVE OF GOD (SER. XVII.
how freely God for Christ's sake is said to forgive us ? " Be
ye kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another,
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Eph 4. 32.
Col. 3. 12. 13. And again,
5. A mutual shyness and strangeness to one another, without
a sufficient cause, is also unsuitable to this Brotherly love. Many
Christian friends grow of a sudden strangers to one another,
and no one can tell how or whence it should be. It may be the
person that is passive in the case is altogether at a loss to ac
count for it. For a long while he observes such a one to grow
a stranger to him, and he cannot devise what should be the rea
son, or whence it should proceed, but upon a surmise. As if
it were so great a difficulty to ask a person the question, Is it
so ? or if so, were it well ? But instead of this, alienation
must be the next thing, the first thing done without any more
ado.
How intolerable is this among Christians ! And surely if we
should live to see a day wherein the Christian community should
be scattered, and we tossed and driven to and fro, it may be it
would be a grateful sight to meet such a man, to see such a face
in a wilderness or upon the tops of mountains, whom formerly
we could not endure. Cordial then perhaps would be the em
braces among those persons, who almost mortally hated one
another before. We have reason to pray to God that such dis
tempers of mind among us be not thought fit to be cured by
such means.
6. Another instance is neglect of mutual admonition and ex
hortation among Christians concerning known sins or manifest
neglects of duties. We know that this is frequently pressed in
Scripture, and the charge and weight of it is laid upon our love.
Yea to neglect this is an interpretative hatred. "Thou shalt
not hate thy brother in thine heart, thou shalt in any wise re
buke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him." Levit. 19. 17.
How often are we called upon to exhort and admonish one ano
ther ? " Exhort one another daily while it is called, To-day; lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Heb.
3, 13. And how strange a thing is it, that any should take
upon them to pass over such commands as these, as if they
were reversed, as if they were repealed, as if such laws were
abolished ! Do we take upon ourselves arbitrarily, and at our
own pleasure to abolish the Bible ? or to abandon in our practice
things as plainly pressed upon us, as any thing in the world can
be ? And how little is it considered how great a share such per
sons as neglect this duty of admonition, hath in the miscar
riages of such as they converse with ? How much do they par-
SEE. XVII.) AND OUR BROTHER. \
take of their sins ! " Such a man would have been a more re
formed man, less passionate, more orderly in his family, not
so light and vain, if I had but, when occasion was offered to
me, dropped a seasonable word to him." And so instead of
having the benefit of Christian society, and partaking the fruits
of one another's graces, we partake of one another's sins, and
share the guilt with them. That is a sad part of Christian
community !
And there is many times as much fault in the undue manner
of reproving, as in the neglect of the thing itself ; when it is
done in so proud, and imperious, and passionate a way, as if
the design was not to correct such a man's faults, but only to
vent my own passion. Or while I pretend to mend the faults
of another, I myself shall commit a greater. For it may be,
the fault in the manner of reproving, is greater than the mat
ter which I take upon me to reprove. But when this duty is
sues from love, and is so managed as that it may plainly be
seen to be the product of love, then as . it is in itself a great
duty, so a great blessing doth often accompany and go along
with it.
7. The neglect of doing good and kind offices for one ano
ther, as occasion doth require and call for, is altogether un
suitable to this law of love. For you know how we are charg
ed and required, as we have opportunity, to do good to all, but
especially to those who are of the household of faith. Gal. 6.
10. And undoubtedly the apostle, using expressions of such
import as he does there, is not to be understood as if he meant
that this kindness, or doing good, was to be confined to the
poor and indigent only, or to necessitous persons ; though that
is one great part of the sense : it is then to be referred to those
good offices we should do to all who stand in need of our help,
though it may be they are not indigent ; but notwithstanding
are the objects of our love, in such or such a particular case,
wherein they may possibly receive assistance from us. But
when persons are bound up in themselves, and^so are little ca
pable of minding any one's interest but their own, how greatly
is love hereby suppressed, and stifled in the exercise of it ! But
besides these prirative instances,
II. We shall give some positive instances too of the violation
of this law of love, and so hasten to a close. And
1. Hard thoughts and rash censures of one another do very
little comport with the love that should be exercised towards
brethren. With respect to their particular actions, words or
expressions, we are many times guilty of great injustice, and
Wrong is done to this law of love. That is, when upon this or
4N fHB LOVE OF GOD (sER. XVII*
that action that we see done by such or such a one, it may
be against our inclination or judgment, we put the worst con
struction upon it that we possibly can devise. So in like man
ner we are faulty when we torture the words of another, and
wiredraw them, that we may if possible make them speak a bad
sense, when it may be a much better might be put upon them.
Persons also are guilty in this regard, when they are prone to
load the differing opinions of others in some smaller matters with
the most odious, and many times with the most ill-grounded
consequences ; putting them as it were into bears and wolves
skins (as some did the Christians in the primitive times) that
they may be the more exquisitely worried, and torn all to
But the matter rises many times much higher than this ; and
men proceed, upon some small matters of difference, to pass
censures concerning such and such persons, as to their states
Godward. They sit in judgment upon their souls, and pass
determinations concerning them in reference to their very life
or death. And yet it many times so happens, that such as con
tend for that small matter of difference are hypocrites, and they
that are against it are hypocrites also. The one party is cen
sured and judged as formal, superstitious hypocrites; and the
other as phantastical, self-conceited, perverse hypocrites : and
nothing less than the charge of hypocrisy will serve the turn,
in this case, on the one hand or the other. So persons arro
gate to themselves the peculiar business of the Almighty. But
" Who art thou that judgest another man's servant ? (This is
spoken of such smaller matters as we are speaking of) Why dost
thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy bro
ther? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ:"
Rom. 14. 4, 10. " Let us therefore (as it is afterwards in
culcated and urged) follow after the things which make for
peace, and things wherewith one may edify another." ver. ] 9.
2. Rash anger is another positive violation of this law of love:
or tumultuous and insolent passions, that suddenly rise and
storm and rage in Christian breasts one against another; many
times on very small and little provocations, but to that height
as no provocation can justify. How little is it considered that
our Saviour, in the interpretation which he gives of the law in
his sermon on the mount, does so interpret the sixth command
ment, "Thou shalt not kill," as to make anger against our bro
ther a kind of murder, and to bring it within the compass of
that prohibition ! Moreover,
3. Which is a great deal worse, inveterate grudges are also
inconsistent with that love which we owe to our Christian bro-
SJSR. XVII.) AND OUR BROTHER. 177
ther. These strike at the very root of love, and tend to the
starving and famishing the principle itself. Thus persons lay
up something in their minds against this or that fellow Christian,
and there it shall lie, corrode, work and fret, till it is the occa
sion of their doing him hurt ; but it is much more mischievous
to themselves, and turns to their own far greater hurt and da
mage. " Grudge not one against another," says the apos
tle, "the Judge is at the door." Jam 5. 9. An intimation that
this is a matter that will be brought before the Judge. Here
now is work for the Judge when he comes, that such and such
have allowed themselves to harbour grudges in their hearts, till
they are grown old and turned into rankling and festered sores
within.
And certainly to a truly Christian spirit that is itself, and in
a right frame, nothing will be more agreeable than to say, "I
would not for all this world know or experience any thing as a
settled grudge in my heart to any one who or whatsoever he be;
so as to wish that his finger should ache, or that he should have
the least harm or hurt upon my account, or for any disaffection
he may bear or express to me." This now is a truly Christian
spirit. But to allow myself to treasure up such things ; to let
them remain (alta mente reposita, as it were) against such
a man, is very much against this law of love. He has offended
you ; it may be you are as prone to offend him, or to offend
another.
It is little considered what is the true, the proper and right
notion of the Christian church, or the churches of Christ in
general. They are hospitals, or rather one great hospital
wherein there are persons of all sorts under cure. There is
none that is sound, none that is not diseased, none that hath
not wounds and sores about him. Now how insufferable inso
lence were it, that in an hospital of maimed and diseased per
sons, one sick or wounded man should say ; " Such a man's
sores are so noisome to me, that I am not able to endure the
being neighbour to him ?" Is it fit to talk thus in an hospital
"where all are sick ? Cannot sore, and wounded men endure one
another, when they are all there for cure ? Indeed if a person
is stark dead, apparently stark dead, it is not fit he should
remain there to be an annoyance to the rest. But further,
4. A secret delight taken in the harm of another is yet worse
than the former. When those that call themselves Christians,
or to whom that name may belong, secretly please themselves
to see inconveniencies befall this or that person, this, I say, is a
horrid violation of the law of love. It is a most unnatural thing
to rejoice in the harm of another. In the body, as the apostle
intimates, (I Cor .12. 26.) when one member is suffering, all
YOL. VI. A 2
OX THE LOVE OF GOD (SER< XVJI,
the menibers suffer with it. And to delight in the harm of
others is as contrary to the spiritual nature, which is diffused
in the true body of Christ, as if the header any other mem
ber should rejoice that the hand or foot is put to pain. And
5. Directly opposite to this, but no less inconsistent with this
duty of loving our Christian brother, is envy at the good of
another. When I behold the good of another with an invidi
ous, displeased eye, because such a man is better than I am ;
or is better reputed, or reported of ; or has better gifts, or parts;
or there is more appearance of his grace ; and he doth more
good, has more to do good with : these are most insufferable
things, most directly contrary to love.
6. Most of all inconsistent with this duty is hatred. This
is directly contrary to it, and, in the tendency of it, aims at no
less than the destruction of the person himself. And how fre
quently is the case so even among some Christians, that no
thing can satisfy thern but the destruction of those who differ
from them ! Nothing less than their destruction will serve
their turn. This is a thing so common and manifest, as if it
were quite forgotten that ever there was such a portion of
scripture in the Bible as this ; " Whosoever hateth his brother
is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life
abiding in him." 1 John 3. 15. And it is yet worse, when
the very reason of that hatred is because such and such persons
are better than themselves ; as it is with many profane persons
that go under the name of Christians, and yet hate Christians
all the while for Christianity's sake ; for living the Christian
life, and observing the precepts of their common Lord : as
Cain did his brother Abel, because his works were evil, and
his brother's righteous. To shut up all,
7. Another positive instance of the violation of this law of
love to our Christian brother (in the last place) is bearing hard
ly on one another's consciences in matters of external form re
lating to religion. I speak this with respect to private persons,
for such I suppose my hearers to be. That is, when they do in
their own minds wish, or any way within their own compass or
capacity endeavour that the consciences of such who differ from
them may be hardly borne upon.
It is very true indeed that the pretence of conscience, for ap
parent flagitious crimes, is a most wicked and blasphemous
pretence. For that is to entitle God to my wickedness, or to
charge him with it ; inasmuch as I cannot allege conscience
for any thing, but I must in that case look upon it, and refer to
it as God's substitute and vicegerent, and as doing his part
within me. Therefore to pretend conscience for any thing that
SER. XVII.) AND OUR BROTHER. 179
is in its own nature wicked and flagitious, is to cast all upon
God ; and to pretend that he hath enjoined me to do such or
such a wicked thing. But when the difference is about small
matters, which are (as we said before) extraessential to religion,
even by common consent ; it is a great violation of love for
Christians in this case to affect and desire to have those who dis
sent from them hardly dealt withal, and their consciences griev
ously imposed upon on this pretence, that they must be, in such
forms and external modes of religious worship, just as them
selves, or they are not to be endured.
We do not count it necessary that it should be so as to the
natural body. For I look upon matters of external form in the
church, as I do upon the external vestments or coverings of
our bodies. Now we do not think it necessary, that every mem
ber of the natural body, should have a covering of the same
shape, size, and colour. And if this case were but considered
as it should be, and Christian love did but do its part (abstract
ing from what necessity there may be by an authoritative sanc
tion) we should not think it more necessary, that every mem
ber in such a Christian community should be clothed in
external form alike, than that every part of the body should have
the same sort of garment ; or, that for conformity's sake, a
man should wear a cap on his foot as well as on his head.
Love, if it might be allowed its place and exercise, would
consider the necessities of the several members. Love to our
selves, in the natural body, teaches us to do so. Sometimes it
may be I .have a sore toe or a hurt finger, that will not endure
a pinching shoe or a strait glove : yet I do not think it ne
cessary to cut off that finger or toe, or to let it go naked ; but
I provide a covering for it that it will bear, and that is suitable
to it. Certainly, Christian love would lead us to act in like
mannner to the members of the Christian body, if it had
but the place and exercise that belongs to it and which it
claims.
Therefore now to conclude, let it be seriously considered by
us how happy a world, and how happy a church it would make,
if we could but learn according to what we have heard, to ex
ercise this love to men as men, and to Christians as Christians.
There would then be no contention in the world, or the church,
but only a striving who should do the most good, and who should
be most good and kind to others.
And it is a vain thing to hope, until the spirit of love revives
ever to see good days. It is no external thing that will do the
business. To be brought under the same form in every punc
tilio, in every minute circumstance, what would that do ? What
180 ON THE LOVE OP GOD &C. SER. XVII.
I say would this do if love be wanting, whic,h is the life and
soul of all communities, especially of the Christian community ?
Without this, the body would hang-together but as a rope of sand.
Love then alone is the unitive, living cement, that joineth
part and part and all to the head. It is this that must make
Christianity to flourish, and the Christian church a lovely and
a lively thing ; a thing full of loveliness, life and vigour. And
happy will it be when hearts are knit together in love, and all
aim at the edification of one another, and also at the good of
the whole ; bearing with one another in tolerable things, and
labouring to redress what is intolerable and not to be borne.
Therefore as we are to direct our prayers this way, so let us di
rect our practice also amongst ourselves, and all those with
whom we converse. And so I have done with this scripture,
THIRTEEN
VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
SERMON I.*
Acts 1. 7.
And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times
and the seasons, which the Father hath put
in his own power*
HPHESE words are part of our Saviour's reply unto an im-
pertinent question that was put to him by his disciples ;
after he had some time conversed with them since his resur
rection, and immediately before he ascended, and went up into
glory from them. They inquire of him, saying in the 6th.
verse, " Lord wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to
Israel ?" He answers, "It is not for you to know the times or
the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. But
ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon,
you ; and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part
of the earth." And then it follows, "when he had spoken these
things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received
him out of their sight."
It is obvious to the observation of any, that read the Evan
gelical history, what it was that the minds, even of Christ's
more immediate followers, were intent upon, during the time
* Preached at Mr. Case's, March 3,
1S4 TIMES AND SEASONS RESERVE!* (SER. I.
of his abode in the flesh among them ; and great was the ex
pectation they had of a time when the Roman yoke should be
shaken off, and when Israel, that had wow been tributary long
to that power, should be restored to its liberty. And when they
found that they had now got among them one that manifestly
appeared to be an extraordinary person, who could heal the
sick, raise the dead, and do all other wonders with a word, they
little doubted but now was the time of this great turn and re
volution, which they so much hoped for. He that could feed
multitudes as with miracles, they doubted not could easily
maintain an army strong enough to do the business, upon very
easy and unexpensive terms.
But see at length now what this great expectation of theirs
came to ! Which expectation, you must know too, had a pri
vate aspect even towards themselves, and their own concern
ments ; for they doubted not if their Head and Lord became s6
great, they that were immediately related to him, must share
proportionably in his greatness : and some of them, as the gos
pel tells you, thought of nothing less than sitting' at his right
hand, and left hand, in this his temporal kingdom which they
thought he was about to set up. But see, I say, what this ex
pectation came to ! Him, whom they expected to be a potent
glorious king, they had seen apprehended, and haled to judg
ment, and to death, as a most ignominious malefactor. They
had beheld the end of him, and seen him expire, and die upon
a bloody reproachful cross ; and now all these great hopes
of theirs were vanished. " We trusted," say they, " that this
was he that should have redeemed Israel." Great hopes we
had, that the so long expected work would now, without any
possibility of frustration or disappointment, have received its
accomplishment and be brought to a glorious period. But they
saw their hope laid in the dust ; and now they reckon there
was nothing more to be looked for from him ; there was an
end of him, and all their expectations from him. We hoped
this was he ; but we are fain now to think we know not what,
or to think other thoughts of him.
Well, but at length he revives, and rises again ; and now
their hopes revive, and rise too. But their hopes are still
of the same carnal, and low alloy; still their minds run
the same way they had done, and they take up the matter
afresh where they had left it. " Come Lord, what sayest
thou now to this great business ? Wilt thou now at this time
restore the kingdom to Israel ? Now that thou hast con
quered this same death that hath befallen thee, what canst thou
not conquer? Shall the business be yet done ?" See what he
tells them in this reply of his j ** It is not for you to know tbe
SER. i.) IN THE FATHER'S OWN POWER. 185
times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own
power." What kindness (as if he had said) God hath for Israel,
in that respect you intimate, it belongs not to you to know ; it
becomes you not to inquire. In the mean time there is ano
ther work for you to do. " You shall receive power, when the
Holy Ghost is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to
me in Jerusalem," &c. He answers them first with a rebuke,
and then with a promise. With a rebuke of that curiosity and
carnality, which they betrayed in their question. As if he had
said, "You meddle .with things that concern you not ; you too
busily pry, and with an eye too daring and adventurous, into
matters which God hath purposed to reserve and hide from you."
But unto this mild rebuke he adds also a gracious promise.
"There is a work for you to do that is properly yours, and which
you have been designed to, and you shall be fitted and qualified
for it ; and pray let that content you, and serve your turn.
Your work and business must be to be witness bearers to me,
to my name and truth ; to be my agents to carry on the busi
ness and design of that spiritual kingdom, which I am intent
to establish, and promote, and spread through the whole
world. And in order thereunto, you shall have a power come
upon you which you shall little understand till you feel it, and
which shall furnish you for this great work. " You shall re
ceive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you : and
ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the
earth."
You see then the occasion and drift of the words, which I have
designed at present to speak to ; and these two things, (that
we may not lose more time in any thing previous) we may ob
serve from them,
I. That there are times and seasons respecting the church
of God in the world, which the Father doth reserve and con
ceal in his own hand and power from men. And
II. That they are not concerned to be solicitous or make in
quiry touching those times and seasons, but are to be patient
of ignorance in reference thereunto. These 1 shall briefly
open, and assert severally. And then,
III. Apply them jointly together.
I. That there are such times and seasons, that have reference
to the state of the church of God upon earth, which the Father
doth reserve and hide from men, in his own power. Now
here concerning this we are to inquire, what these times and
seasons are ; and then what the hiding of them in God's own
power doth import, which will serve for the explication of this
VOL, VI. B 2.
18(5 TIMES AND SEASONS RESERVED (SER, I.
truth. And then we shall let you see upon what accounts the
blessed God is thus reserved towards men in this matter, hiding
the events of such times and seasons in his own hand and pow
er ; and therein you may have some account of the reasons of
what is asserted in this point.
As to the explication of it, two things are to be spoken to,
namely, what these times and seasons are ; and, what the hid
ing of them in God's hand and power is, or the putting them
there, as it is here expressed. As to the former :
! . The times and seasons which he doth so hide, we may
say concerning them that he doth conceal, first the final and
concluding season of time, the period and upshot of time 3 and
then, of each man's own particular time. He hides
(1.) The period of all time from men. We know not when
the season shall be, that shall shut up time. It is a thing de
termined, that there shall be such a season, beyond which time
shall be no more. As that great Angel is brought in swearing
by him that liveth for ever and ever, " that there should be
time no longer." Rev. 10. 6. But we are elsewhere told, that
" of that day knoweth no man, no, not the Son" (as man
we must understand it) *' but the Father." Matth. 24. 36'.
And,
(2.) The period of our own times also he hides, and keeps
in reserve, as a thing put in his own power, and not into
ours. " No man hath power over the spirit, to retain the spirit,
nor hath he power in death ; and there is no discharge in that
war." Eccles. 8. 8. The measure of our own days he hath
not put in our power. If any would hold the spirit in that day,
or detain the soul in the body in which they live, they cannot
do it. No man hath power over the spirit, to retain the spirit ;
he must resign it when God commands it away ; and that time
is a thing he hath kept in his own power. You have that ex
pression of Isaac remarkable to this purpose ; "I am old, and
know not the day of my death." Gen 27 2. Though he was
grown a very old man, and very near to death, yet he could not
know the time : though it were so very near that he might be
sure it could not be very far off, yet he professeth ignorance
concerning the time still. " My times are in thy hand," saith
David. And into his hands he commits his spirit, as you
have in the fifth verse of the same psalm. That life which he
knew he could not command, he very willingly commits ; he
is well pleased that the measuring of it should be in the hands
wherein it was. As if he had said, " I desire not to have it in
mine own hand ; I commit my spirit into thy hand ; let it
lodge here in this tabernacle as long as thou wilt, and let it go
SER. I.) IN THE FATHER'S OJCN POWER. IS?
forth when thou wilt ; this power is better lodged in thy hands
than mine." Moreover,
There are contained within this compass of time in general,
or of our own time, the seasons of good or evil unto the church
in general, and the especial members of it in particular; which
are for the most part unknown, and reserved in the hand and
power of God.
The good seasons seem to be more especially referred to
here ; for it was a certain good to the church of God that the
apostles were inquisitive about. " It is not for you to know
the times." God hath his set time, an appointed time, where
in to favour Zion, that may seem instant and at hand now and
then; as they speak in the 102 psalm (we may well suppose
as they would have it) The time to favour Zion, yea the set
time is come. Ps. 102. 13. Methinks it should be come ;
why should not the full time be accomplished ? If one may
make an estimate from the affections of the well-wishers of
Zion, it should be come. " Thy servants take pleasure in her
stones, and favour the dust thereof." But this could not be
peremptorily said ; he had stated the time of it with himself;
the appointment of it was a matter in his own hand and power.
And by consequence
The ill times, the more afflictive times of the people of God
are hid, and put in his own hand and power too. For supposing
that a good season be determined by him, a calm, and more
serene, or halcyon season, it must be by consequence in his
hand and power too to measure all the intervals : how long the
intervening ill seasons shall last, how long it shall be that his
people shall feed upon the bread of affliction, and have their
own tears for drink, and have men riding over their heads, and
they be themselves even as the street to them that pass over.
All that time must come under the same mensuration, the
mensuration of the same hand. So that to determine when
the church of God shall enjoy better days, and how long worse
times shall last, this they were to account and reckon upon
that he had put it into his own hand and power. It is that
which we have an interdict upon us to know. "It concerns
not you to know, trouble not yourselves to inquire, the
matter is in good hands." But then we are to consider
too,
2. What its being in the power of God and being put there
doth signify ; which last we are to consider chiefly as leading
to the other. The force and emphasis of the expression, seems
to set forth more, than that it should barely import they are in
his power ; the phrase signifieth withal a positive act that is
185 TIMES AND SEASONS RESERVED (sER. I.
put forth in reference to their being so ; that is, an act of the
divine will which hath determined with itself that it will have
the matter so, that such times and seasons shall remain in his
own hand and power. As for those expressions in Scripture
(hand and power) they explain one another. The hand of God
is nothing else, but his power; his active power by which he
ruleth the world, and changeth times and seasons, as to
him seemeth good. But if you inquire for a more distinct ex
plication of this matter, How this power and hand of God
exerts itself, in reference to such times and seasons ? Why, it
doth so, in reference to the existence of them, and to the dis
covery of them.
(1.) In reference to their existence : his power doth effect,
and bring it to pass, that there should be such times and sea
sons, as he hath stated and determined with himself. And so
more particularly his power orders, or effects such things
as these, in reference to the existence of the times and seasons.
As,
[I.] The commencement of them : that is, when such a
State of things, good or evil, shall take its beginning ; when
such a cloud shall first begin to arise and spread itself over the
horizon ; when it shall scatter and be dispersed, and a bright
and cheerful light spring up ; "the day-spring from on high" to
visit the desolate. This, his hand or power hath determined.
And then,
[2.] How long such or such a state of things shall continue.
The duration of it, its bounds and limits, are the work of his
hand and power. So long my people shall be afflicted ; as he
did determine concerning the people of Israel, from the time
that he spoke to Abraham about that matter, namely, four
hundred and thirty years \ and then ensued that blessed peace
ful calm, and the glorious and wonderful works of providence,
which did make way for that and introduce it, whereof the his
tory afterwards gives an account. And again,
[3.] His own hand or power exactly measures all the degrees
of good and evil, that shall be within such a compass of time ;
so as that there shall be nothing, more or less, than what his
power orders. For we are not to take times and seasons here
abstractedly ; but so as to take in the events of such times and
seasons : all those events which such times and seasons go
pregnant with. All the births of those times, of what kind
soever they be ; his power orders every one so to come forth,
even as it doth come forth. He works all things according to
the counsel of his own will. Dan. 4. 35. And,
[4.] That hand or power doth order all the occasions and
SBR. i) IN THE FATHER'S OWN POWER. 189
methods by which such and such seasons, with all that they
are laden and burdened with, shall be brought about. No
thing comes to pass but as that hand or power doth direct and
order : not only the effects, the things that are produced ; but
all their causes, or whatsoever is productive of them. And we
may add,
[5.] That the hand or power of God doth also order all
the consequences and dependencies, of any such times and
seasons. For there is still a concatenation in providences ;
and nothing falls out in the world but somewhat else depends
upon it : this and that is done which is preparatory, and leads
the way to something else that is to be done, till the end and
the folding up of all things ; till that season come, when it is
determined, that time shall be no more. But,
(2.) This hand or power of the Father hath its exercise not
only in reference to the existence, but also to the discovery
and notification of those times and seasons which he hath re
served in his own power. That is, either to make them known
before-hand or not, as he pleaseth; or else to make them
known more or less clearly as he pleaseth, with greater or less
degrees of obscurity or perspicuity, according as seems to him
good. This is that he hath in his own hand and power, either
to reveal or not reveal them, what seasons shall be as seerneth
him good ; or if he let any light break out before-hand into the
heads or hearts of those that are in covenant with him, then to
let out so much and no more as seemeth him good.
And this may suffice for the explication of the first point.
And would you now have some reason of it, why he doth thus
put future times and seasons in his own power, and keep them
there ; why it is always his will and pleasure, while such things
remain hid and reserved, that it should be so j the reasons will
partly respect him, partly ourselves.
[1 .] Respecting him there is a great reason for it on his part ;
that is, this twofold reason : it is his right, and it is his
glory.
First. It is his right to have futurity thus in his own hand
and power, it belongs to him as he is Ruler of the world, the
great Disposer and Orderer of all things. For is it not incon
sistent with sovereignty, to be accountable for every thing one
means to do ? should there be no arcana imperil, nothing kept
hid and secret ? It cannot stand with the absoluteness, at
least, of his dominion, and that power which rightfully be
longs to him over the whole creation, that there should be no
thing determined or done, but there must be previous notice
of it given to his creatures. He gives no account of any of hit
Blatters unto any. And then,
190 TIMBS AND SEASONS RESERVED (sER. I.
Secondly : It is his glory, and his honour : it is the peculiar
honour of his Godhead, to have the prospect of all his works in
view, even from the beginning to the end. A glory that he can
not share nor communicate. It is the glory of God to conceal
a thing, to hide things, to have his way in the dark, so as that
his footsteps shall not be known ; and so to steer the course,
and manage the whole administration of his government, that
none shall be able to trace him, or know what he will do next ;
neither make any certain collection from what is done, what
jhall be done. As the wise man says, " He hath made every
thing beautiful in its time," (hath ordered all things in the apt-
est and fittest seasons for the same,) "also he hath set
the world in their hearts, so that no man can find the work
that God maketh from the beginning to the end." He hath
set the world in their hearts, so as that the very world itself, that
is, the stage on which are acted so many successive parts, doth
become a blind to them, that they cannot see his way ; nor
from the beginning or former things conjecture, or make any
collection what will ensue. As, you know, the eye that sees
all things, sees not itself. He hath set the world in their heart,
the seat of prudence, understanding, wisdom and knowledge ;
but the object is so close to the faculty that it cannot see. They
cannot see what is done in the world so near them, so as to be
able to discern and make inferences from any former things, to
any future things yet to be done, at leastwise as to the timing
of them, which our text refereth chiefly to. " Such a thing was
done such a time, therefore such a thing will be done such a
time."
This then is his peculiar and singular glory, that he can out
do apprehension ; and counterwork the conjectures and guesses
even of all men. Sometimes such a state of things according
to all visible human appearances seems instant ; it may be no
thing but gloominess, darkness and horror is to be looked for at
such a time, according to all the prognostics we can have ; and
lo ! by a quick turn of providence, most unexpectedly a bright
lightsome season is brought forth in view. Sometimes, on the
other hand, external appearances are fair and pleasing ; men
are ready to cry nothing but peace, peace ; and then a sudden
cloud arises, and spreads itself over all, out of which nothing
but storms and tempests ensue. And so doth the providence
of God, as was aptly expressed by the poet, seem to sport with
men ; ludere in humanis rebus. God doth, as it were, glory
over men in this kind, by giving them to see, how by letting
such appearances come into view he can raise fears and scatter
them ) or excite such and such probabilities to make persons
SKR. i.) IK THE FATHER'S OWN POWER. 191
full of hopes, and presently dash them, that men may know the
Ix>rd omnipotent reigneth. There is no searching his under
standing ', he is not capable of being prescribed unto. None
can direct the Spirit of the Lord ; it runs the most unthought-
of ways in its disposal and management of things. This then is
reason enough as to God ; it is his right to have the disposal of
limes and seasons ; and then it is his glory wherein his excel
lency doth shine and discover itself, and shews how far he trans
cends all the thoughts and apprehensions of men : how far his
thoughts are above our thoughts, and his ways above our ways.
And
[2.] There is reason too, in reference to his people, why it
should be so ; that is, it is their great advantage that thus it
should be. As
First, That they may not be diverted from their proper work
and business, the work they have to do from day to day, and
from hour to hour ; which certainly they would be, if they had
the range of all future times open to them. They would be ta
ken off from minding their present business ; and spend their
time in continual profitless ranges, to and fro, in the futurities
that should lie open, and present a vast prospect to them. And
again,
Secondly, That they may not be disquieted ; for certainly
it would be a very great disquietment to the mind of a good
man, if he did know all things that should fall out in the
compass of time, even his own time. But I hasten to the
other thing, and therefore enlarge not further here.
II. The second point was this ; We are not concerned, and
therefore should not be solicitous to inquire, or know much of
these reserved times and seasons, which he hath so put and hid
in his own hand and power : " It is not for you to know the
times, &c." And here we may reckon it is not for us,
1. As being none of our right, it belongs not unto us ; we
can claim no such thing. And,
2. As being no way for our advantage. It can profit us no
thing. What should we get by it ? It is therefore not for us.
God hath so disposed the state of things, and the way of his dis
pensation towards us men, over whom he is Governor, as not t
please and gratify our humour ; but to do, in reference to his
own, what may make for their real advantage. But what shall
we be the better for knowing what God will do, what times
or seasons shall come either of good or evil ? I add fur
ther,
3. It would be our great disadvantage, and a prejudice to us.
For,
1D2 TIMES AND SEASONS RESERVED (sER. I.
(1.) It would multiply our troubles. Fordo not we know
how apt we are to forecast troubles to ourselves ? When we
are not sure they will come, yet our minds will not be with
held from a most tormenting anticipation of evil, and possible
troubles ; (we do not know they are certainly future, but we
apprehend them possible) and so that which God would have
us suffer but once, we suffer a thousand times. We ought to
admire here the divine wisdom and mercy in conjunction, upon
this occasion ; that he doth not let us have any more know
ledge than what will suit with our power in such things. What
a dreadful concurrence would it be in us between infinite know
ledge and finite power ! Could we know all things, and yet do
but this or that ; if a man should have the knowledge of such
and such things to come, but no power to prevent it (as alas !
what can our impotency do ?) how dreadful, I say would this
be!
There is a great deal of compassion in this : that since it
belongs to our state as creatures to be able to do but little, to
be mere dependencies,impotentthings,that therefore we should
not have a fore-knowledge of what it would be afflictive to us to
foreknow. We are therefore put under a restriction that comes
so close to us, as to stand betwixt us and to-morrow. " Take
no thought for the morrow; sufficient for the day is the evil
thereof." We are not to range with afflicting thoughts so far
as to the next day. Thou wilt have enough in this day to
trouble thee with, never let thy solicitude be conversant about
the accessions of time. We foolish creatures should fetch the
troubles of all our days into every day, if we could foreknow
what is to come. Take then no thought for to-morrow ! it is
enough for you that you have One to think of you, and care for
you. And it will make most for your advantage to be looked
npon by him every day ; who will make your strength to be suf
ficient for each day when it comes. And then,
(2.) As it would be a prejudice to us in the multiplication of
afflictions, so in the diminution of mercies. For there is a
great accent of pleasure and delightfulness certainly added to
them by the surpiisingness of them, when they come most un
expectedly. How grateful is a bright, warm, refreshing sun,
shining all on a sudden out of a thick dismal cloud ! Memora
ble things have been done for the church of God that they looked
not for : such things as eye had not seen, nor ear heard, neither
had it entered into their hearts to conceive, or which they could
form no conception of before-hand. "Who would have look
ed, said they, for such a day as this is ?" How sweet is a.mer-
cy that comes unknown, unlocked for ! " When the Lord
, i.) IN THE FATHER'S OWN POV/BH.
turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that
dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our
tongue with singing." Ps. 126. 1,2. God so provides in this
matter, that nothing of the gust and sweetness of mercy shall
be lost to his people ; they shall have it with the best and high
est set off or advantage. Now,
III. To make some brief use of all that we have observed,
taken together ; we may learn hence,
1. That there is an aptness in the spirits of men, even of
good men, to be very inquisitively prying into futurity, beyond
what God hath thought fit to reveal and put out of his own
hand and power, as to the discovery thereof. " Lord wilt thou,"
(say his disciples,) " at this time restore the kingdom to Is
rael ?" wilt thou do it now ? It would not, it seems, satisfy them
or serve their turn, to have some understanding, such as they
might collect from the prophets, whom they had in their hands,
that God had a kind thought towards Israel, had not utterly cast
off his people : they cannot be content to know only so much ;
but, Lord ! shall it be now ? Wilt thou now restore the king
dom to Israel ?
That disposition of spirit, since it is so natural, ought to be
watched and repressed ; and as we find any hankering in our
own spirits this way, we should see to it that they meet with
their seasonable, and due rebukes, even from our own animad
versions. We are, when a suffering time is upon us, very im
patiently set upon it to know when it shall be over. If we have
any expectation of a good time, oh ! bu* when shall it be ? Thus
we would bring God to our punctilio, and to our very now. Up
on such niceties would we be with him, so apt are we to dodge
with the great Lord of heaven and earth. " That which I would
have, shall it be now ? or when shall it be ? This is that I
would be rid or freed of, but when ? How long must I bear ?
how long must I wait ?" This now is undutiful, and stands not
with that creaturely submission, that is belonging and proper
to our state : much less with the spirit of a child ; that tract-
ableness, resignation, yielding in all things to the Father's plra-
sure and wisdom, which is most agreeable to that relation. And
again,
2. We may learn hence, that times or seasons whether they
be good or evil to a people, fall not out to them casually, or by
chance ; but they remain in the hand and power of God. We
are too apt to let our spirits work many times as if we thought
such and such things came to pass by casualty. For if any ill
state of things come upon us, how apt are we to aggravate the
evil of it to ourselves, saying ; " Had it not been for such a
VOL. VI. C 2
194 TIMES AND SEASONS RESERVE!* (sEH. f.
thing, this had not come ; this might have been kept off: if it
had not been for the miscarriage of this instrument, our case
had not beeri so bad. If it were not for this or that unhappy
accident, all had been well enough." Alas ! we forget, these
things are in his hand and power that over-rules and orders all,
that it is not blind chance that regulates the world, but the
counsel and wisdom of God, that run through the compass of
all events, and hath the conduct of all things.
3. We may also learn, that men have it not in their hand
and power to order times and seasons of good and evil, to God's
people, as they please. We may sometimes seem to have that
apprehension ourselves ; and if we have not, some may have an
apprehension, that it is in their hand and power to dispose and
measure out good and evil, to the children of God, as they will.
No, God hath not let the reins go yet, he hath the times and
seasons in his own power. Say they sometimes, " We will pur
sue, we will overtake, and we will divide the spoil, we shall
have our will over them,' 7 when God hath not said so : and
his will and work shall stand against and above theirs. And
take we heed of our attributing too much to creatures, that
what men have a mind to, shall be ; or what they have no mind
to, shall not be. There is a God in heaven that ehangeth the
times and seasons, as he seeth good. And, for the shutting up
of all, let us in reference to this matter, and upon what hath
been spoken to you, take in the close these few counsels.
( I .) Let us labour to trust in him, who hath all the times and
seasons which concern us, and his people, and the world, in his
own hand and power. Have we not reason enough to do so,
and encouragement enough ? And so though we be blind and
cannot see the product of to-morrow ; know not what a day
will bring forth ; we shall have him to be eyes to us. He wilj
he eyes to the bHnd, if they will but trust in him, As when a
blind person is led by another he useth tfeat person's eyes, who
leads him. Let him lead us on from day to day, time to time y
season to season. We cannot see with our own eyes, but is it
not better for us that we have better eyes to see with ? Fer we
have one to see for us, who seeth infinitely better than we. We
know not the product of the next day, or week ; but is it not
enough that he knovveth the event of all future times, and that
he orders all things with exact judgment. " He is the rock his
work is perfect, all his ways are judgment," (Deut. 32. 4.) or
reason : the most exquisite reason, that is, the result of deliber
ation, and the most concocted thoughts. Deliberation, it is true,
can have no place with him, who is the most absolutely perfect
; but that which is equivalent is intended to be signified
JSER. i.) IN THE FATHER'S OWN POWER 195
by the applying it to him. He sees with one view all the con
nexions of things ; and so is able to outdo them who reason but
by degrees, and by recollecting of things after things, so as to
make a judgment at last. " Our God is a God of judgment :
blessed are all they that wait for him." Isai. 30. 18. To every
thing there is time and judgment. He doth particularly state
the time and season, and applieth to every thing its proper time
when it is most fit it should fall out ; and then it will so do to
the best purpose. Trust in him, 1 say, who hath all future times
and seasons in his own hand and power. The Father hath put
them all in his own hand and power. Father ! that is an ex
pression of love, tenderness, compassion, and care. Is he not
fit to be trusted then ?
(2.) Submit to him, who hath all things and seasons in his
power ; resign, I say, and yield the matter to him. Subdue an
unquiet, turbulent heart ; beat down all wayward and perverse
reasonings. Father is a name of authority, as well as love. The
Father hath put all things in his hand and power ; he who is
the Head of the family, that great family, which is made up of
heaven and earth. And are you children of that family, and will
you not allow that he orders the timing of things as to him
seemeth meet.
(3.) Since you cannot know his times and seasons, pray la
bour to know your own. Since you cannot know the times and
seasons which he hath put in his own hand and power, know
those that he hath appointed to you. Though he hath hid from
you those seasons of future events, in the contingencies of the
world, yet he hath not hid from you the duty of all seasons and
events. This is our time. " Your time is alway ready," saith
Christ ; (John 7 6.) that is, the present time is ours, that he
hath put as a prize into our hands ; the present time for pre
sent work, if we have wisdom and hearts to make use of it.
It is a dreadful thing not to know our own time. (f For
man," says the preacher, "also knoweth not his time." Eccles.
9. 12. That was the miserable state of Jerusalem; they knew
not the time of their visitation. For our Saviour beheld the
city, and wept over it, considering what was coming upon it.
Enemies should begirt it round about, such and such ruins
should befall it, and all because they did not know in their day
the things that did belong to their peace ; but now they were
hid from their eyes. Thou hadst a good time, as if he had
said, if thou wouldst have known it. We are barred up as to
future time; but we are bid to know the present time, and
what God calls for at our hands therein. We may know when
196 TIMES AND SEASONS RESERVED (sER. I.
it is a time to mourn, and when to rejoice ; when to weep,
and when to he merry and pleasant.
He points out to us our more extraordinary praying seasons,
if we would but ohserve the finger of providence, and take no
tice of his indications. It is a lamentable case, when we can
not understand the time of such a thing; when we cannot
know this is a time for such work, and this for such work.
The present time points out such and such work that we should
be intent upon We cannot indeed know these reserved times
and seasons ; let us then know the times, that are left open to
our view. As now this present time is come, but do we know
what ought to be the work of this time ? God hath ordered for
us this time, this season to be waiting for him, humbling our
selves before him. The season tells us what the working of
our souls should be now at this time ; what there should be of
humiliation; what of striving and wrestling with God; what
endeavours to take hold of him, that we may yet keep him
with us, while we have him. It is a happy thing to be able
to know a praying day, when it comes ; to know it so as to an
swer it by a suitable frame and temper of spirit.
So also you are expecting shortly another good time, a sea
son of drawing nigh unto God, and to converse with him and
with your great Redeemer, even at his own table. If God do
order for you that season, that will tell you what disposition of
spirit there must be ; and you ought to be forecasting, that
you may have a temper and disposition of spirit, suitable to
such a season, and the work of it. If you have the season, it
will then prove a blessed season ; and if you should be de
prived of it, yet all these sweet gracious workings of spirit will
not be lost, they will be a rich advantage to you even in refer
ence to a future holy course. Oh then if you cannot know
God's time, labour to know your own ! the present time for
present work, that he seems to call you to. And then I add in
the
(4.) And last place ; Since you cannot look far into future
time, look more into eternity, over and beyond all time. For
it is only future time that God hath shut up from you, while
he leaves eternity open to you. He would have you look over
time into a vast and boundless eternity. Look then not to the
things that are seen and temporal, (things measured by time)
but to the things unseen and eternal ! And doing so, this will
be your great advantage and gain ; you will find that though
the outward man should perish (as there will come a crash
upon all our earthly tabernacles, and down they musO the in
ward man will be renewed day by day. If then, the outward
. i.) IN THE FATHER'S OWN POWER. 197
man will perish, let it perish; if it will go down, let it go ;
there is somewhat we shall gain by that loss. In the mean
while we shall in our souls be renewing strength day by day, if
we keep our eye open to eternity; to that unseen state of things
within the vail, whither he hath led the way, who is our great
Forerunner to the glory that is to be revealed ; with which glory
the sufferings of the present time, this now, are not to be com
pared ; not to be named in the same day, with that felicity
which accrues to us hereafter. In a word, what we now suf
fer, within the compass of time, cannot bear any parallel with
that glory and blessedness, which is to come after time is
done. Let us therefore in the mean while seriously mind these
things.
198 BELIEVERS TROUBLED, (sER, II.
SERMON II.*
2 Cor. 4. 8.
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed.
T SHALL detain you very little about the context. In the
foregoing verse the apostle speaks of a certain treasure which
was committed to earthen vessels, with this design, that the
excellency of the power might be of God ; that is, might ap
pear to be of God, and not of men. What this treasure was
you may collect from the 6th verse. " God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the
face of Jesus Christ." Now "this treasure," saith he, "we
have in earthen vessels ;" that is, the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God, shining in the face of Jesus Christ : con
veyed in and through a Mediator, and discovered in the gospel.
It is a treasure of light whereof he speaks, a treasure of glorious
light. And this is that, which he said was put into earthen ves
sels 3 intrusted to the ministerial disposition of very mean, and
'* Preached at Haberdasher's Ha^L, February 2/, 1675.
ER. II.) YET NOT DISTRESSED. 199
very weak and fragile instruments. And that upon this account,
that all might see that the excellency of the power was of God,
and not of them ; that there was somewhat more than human in
the matter, that such effects, as he had spoken of in the close
of the foregoing chapter, should follow that dispensation they
were intrusted with. Where also it is by the way intimated,
that this same treasure is not a treasure of mere light ; feehle,
ineffectual notions, that were apt only to reach the mind oif
a man, and stay there as the matter of contemplation only ;
but it is a certain vital, vigorous light whereof he speaks, a
light that carries power, efficacy, and a transforming influence
along with it. The light of that glory which being beheld,
changeth souls into the same likeness, from glory to glory.
This light we have, this treasure of glorious light, in earthen
vessels ; that so the excellency of that power, which accom-
panieth this light, may appear to be of God and not of men :
that all who observe it may be convinced, and constrained to
confess something divine in it, when such things are discovered
and held forth to men, as work at the rate, which the Gospel
dispensation was designed to do, and did actually do.
And then in the words that we are to speak unto, and those that
follow, he giveth a proof and demonstration of the excellency
of the power, that did accompany and go with the Gospel light
wherever it reached its end, and did the work to which it was
designed ; and to which it was also in its own nature adapted,
and made suitable. Let this be a proof to you (as if he had
said) that there is a certain excellency of power accompanying
that light, which we are appointed to convey to the world ;
namely, that we, who are thus intrusted, though we are but
a company of earthen vessels, are not for ail that presently
knocked asunder by being on every side struck at, and dashed
against. " We are indeed troubled on every side, yet not dis
tressed ; we are perplexed, but not in despair ; persecuted, but
not forsaken ; cast down, but not destroyed." Certainly there
was somewhat more than ordinary in this matter, that a little
light should so preserve vessels of earth, that they could not
be broken. There was an excellency of power went along with
it. And this is brought for a proof of it, that their spirits were
sustained and upheld in defiance of surrounding troubles. Our
spirits are not broken, we are still where we were, whatever
assaults are made upon us from without This is that which the
apostle says here, and is manifestly the design and scope of
the words.
And in these and the following words we have the apostle
T ery curiously criticising about the degree of the afflictions,
200 BELIEVERS TROUBLED, (ER, 1J,
which he, and others in his circumstances were exposed to,
or the extent and limits of them ; that they reached so far, to
a certain point or degree, but no further. And he makes, as
you see, a fourfold distinction between trouble on every side,
and distress ; perplexity, and despair ; persecution, and de
sertion ; dejection, and destruction : yielding the former as to
each of these, but denying the latter.
And as to the passage which we have chosen to speak unto,
** We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed :" we are
to consider the subject, that is common to this, and all the
rest ; and then what is said about it by way of affirmation, and
by way of negation.
It is very true, this apostle doth more directly speak here of
a particular subject ; that is, of such persons as were intrusted
with the ministry and dispensation of the gospel : " WE have
this treasure in earthen vessels, WE are troubled on every side,"
&c. But yet the same persons were considerable too in a capa
city, that was common to them with all other Christians. And
he speaks in that guise before, of something that must be un
derstood as common to Christians in general ; and not appro
priated to ministers only : and that is, the having the light to
shine into their hearts ; that " light of the knowledge of the glory
of God, in the face of Jesus Christ." This was not peculiar
unto them alone. It having shone first into the minds and
hearts of the apostles ; from thence, as its instrument, this
light was further conveyed, and transmitted unto others. We
take "we" therefore in that more exclusive sense, or as it holds
forth to us a larger subject; namely, Christians as such,
who are so in sincerity and truth 5 and I would observe to
you,
That it is very possible to be encompassed with surrounding
troubles, and yet at the same time not to be in distress. Or,
if we take it with application to the subject ; sincere Christians,
even then, when they are surrounded with troubles on every
side, may yet be exempted from distress ; may be troubled on
every side, yet not distressed. And that this may be more dis
tinctly spoken to, we are to consider,
I. Of whom this is said.
II. What it is that is said of them.
III. Upon what grounds.
IV. Make some use of the whole.
I. We are to consider of whom this is said. I have already
in general told you, that we may justly extend it to all Christians
that are sincere ; that is, who are entirely such, and who faith
fully persevere.
SER. II.) YET NOT DISTRESSED. 201
1. To those, who are entirely such, or are Christians through
out : who do not content themselves with this, or that piece of
religion : but have gotten the whole and entire frame of it. It
is very possible, that the whole of religion may not, by these
troubles on every side, be struck at all at once. But if a man
be an entire Christian, by the concurrence of all the integral
parts which belong to such a character, it is likely that he will
some Hme or other find himself troubled on every side ; and yet
may find himself also exempted from distress. The apostle
tells us, that " All .that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall
suffer persecution." 2 Tim. 3. 12. It was possible to be a
sober man, and a pious man (as piety went in the pagan world)
and yet not be persecuted. But if a man would be a godly
man in Jesus Christ ; if he would add Christianity, in that
state of things, and at that time, to his profession of piety ;
then, as if the apostle had said, let him look to it, he will be
persecuted ; and then he had need to look to this also, that he
be not distressed.
2. The true Christian of whom we speak is also one that
faithfully perseveres. Having been once an entire Christian,
by the concurrence of all that was requisite to make him so, he
continues to be what once he was. Otherwise, by laying aside
this or that piece of religion, when that comes to expose him
to danger, the case would be altered. He neither would be
exposed to affliction, nor so much need the support. If I did
preach circumcision, says the apostle, when the doing of that
was so great a salvo to a man, why should I then suffer perse
cution ? I should then be liable to no trouble, the offence of
the cross being ceased. Gal. 5.11. "It were" (as if he had said)
"an easy matter for me to avoid the stroke, if I could wave such
a particular piece of Christian truth, and such a part of Chris
tian duty ; as this very juncture of time did challenge my own
ing and asserting even to the utmost hazard. I were well
enough if I could dispense in this matter : but because I cannot,
the offence of the cross is not likely to cease j 1 shall have that
in my way if I were apt to stumble at it."
II. We are next to consider what it is that is here said of
these persons. Something is said affirmatively, to shew the
extent of the present affliction ; and something negatively, to
shew the limitation of it.
1. That which is said by way of affirmation, and to shew
how far the present affliction did extend is this ; " We are
troubled on every side." It reached so far as to give trouble
on every side. Here we are to consider what sort f trouble
VOL, VI. B 2
202 BELIEVERS TROUBLED, .(sER. II.
that is, in respect of the nature of it ; then in respect of the de
gree of it.
( I .) In respect of the nature of it, it is plain it was external
trouble. The very word there used, $A</3Veyo/, signifieth dash
ing a thing from without. As the beating and allision of the
waves against a rock make no trouble in the rock, no commo
tion there ; but a great deal of noise, clamour and tumult
round about it. That is the sort of trouble which that word in
its primary signification holds forth to us ; and which the
circumstances of the text declare to be the signification
of the thing here meant. And then we have next to consi
der,
(2.) The degree of this same trouble ; or what is intimated
concerning it in the expression "on every side." It is very true
indeed we are not necessitated, by the literal import of the ex
pression, (JTAITI) there used, to read it thus. We may as well
read it, troubled in all things, troubled in all kinds, or at all
times. The universal expression is capable of any of these ad
ditions, whereof there is none expressed in the text. It may
therefore mean a great variety of those external troubles that
we are liable to : such as we find the apostle making a distinct
enumeration of pretty frequently ; as in the 2 Cor. 11. 22. and
onward, and so elsewhere. And also the expression may im
port the continuedness of such troubles running along with us
in our course. We are always troubled, surrounded with trou
ble, always filled with it. " In every city, bonds and afflictions
abide me," says St. Paul. This is said by way of affirmation,
to shew the extent of this affliction. And then,
2. By way of negation, to shew the limitations of this affliction,
it is said that it did not arrive to distress. That is the thing
denied of this subject. While trouble on every side is con
fessed, the apostle, I say, denies their being actually distressed
on this account. And there the word used (yEvoj^fou/xEvo/.) sig
nifieth such a kind of straitening as doth infer a difficulty of draw
ing breath ; that a man is so compressed that he cannot tell
how to breathe : that is the native import of the word. As if
he had said, We are not reduced to that extremity, by all the
troubles that surround us ; but we can breathe well enough for
all that. Properly there are meant, by this thing denied, two
degrees or steps of inward trouble. As
( 1 .) That it is trouble that doth not reach the heart. For
that is a distressing trouble which does so, which cuts and
wounds the heart. But it does not touch there, as is the im
port of that expression in the 32 Psalm, " In the floods of
great waters they shall not come nigh unto him." Psal. 32. 6.
That is strange that floods of waters should not come nigh un-
SBR. II.) YET NOT DISTRESSED. 203
to him, when he is in the midst of them. No, they do not so
invade his spirit as to affect that, they do not afflict his heart.
And
(2.) Here is denied (supposing such afflictions do reach the
heart) that they so overwhelm as t constrain them to acknow
ledge, that they are distressed. If the waters should so flow
in upon a man's soul that he could not breathe, that were a
distress indeed. But the matter is not so. Either it is a trou
ble that reacheth not the heart ; or if it doth, it does not op
press or overwhelm it. But now,
III. We are to inquire concerning the grounds of this affir
mation and negation ; or how it comes to pass that such are
troubled on every side, and yet not distressed.
1. Let us inquire how it comes to pass, that true, sincere chris-
tians are troubled on every side; to keep to the expression in our
translation. It is to be observed, that besides the permissive and
disposing providence of the great Ruler of the church and the
world, who for wise and holy ends permits, and orders such a
state of things sometimes ; besides this, I say, there are those
proper inclinations in the persons immediately concerned,which
directly reach the case. That is, there is somewhat in the dis
position or temper of those, who are agents in this matter, or
immediately work this surrounding trouble ; and also in the
patients, by which they are exposed, or do expose themselves to
trouble on every side.
As to the former, there needs no other account be given of
it, but only the hate, the malignity of a wicked heart ; that
will be as mischievous to any more visible appearances of God,
and his interest, as is possible. Therefore wicked men will
create trouble on every side, because they are so wickedly
bent.
But then on the part of the patients, or suffering Christians, why
are they so exposed ? or why do they expose themselves, since
the trouble that is on every side, upon the account of religion,
might be avoided ? To this we answer, that as the reason why
others will create this trouble is from the corrupt malignity of
their natures, so the reason why these do expose themselves to
sucli trouble is from that new nature, that holy gracious na
ture, which is put into them, and superadded to what they na
turally were before. We are to consider their religion aS a
thing, which is vitally united with them ; that is, as it were,
incorporated, and wrought into them, so as to make another
sort of person in them from what there was before. For what
a difference is there between the religion of one, who is not
thorough, and in good earnest, in the business of Christianity,
204 BELIEVERS TROUBLED, (SER. IT,
and one who is a Christian indeed ! To the former sort, religion
is but as a sort of cloak. A man can easily lay aside his cloak
if he finds it inconvenient, or a burden to him. It has no living
union with himself; therefore it puts him to no pain or trouble
at all to throw it away, if he finds thereby any inconvenience.
But the religion of one that is truly and sincerely a Christian, is
a vital thing, and part of himself. And though a man can,
easily part with his cloak, yet he cannot so easily part with
his skin. That has a vital union with himself to which the
spirit of life gives an animating power. And this is the case
here. One that is only an overly outside professor hath
put on a cloak of Christianity. If he finds that any preju
dice is iike to accrue to him upon this account, it is, I say, the
easiest thing in the world for him to throw off his cloak. But
one, who is a Christian indeed, cannot do so. He cannot part
with his religion. It is not as a cloak to him, but it is a piece
of himself, and therefore he must be exposed. What will di
rectly strike at such a man as he is, cannot be helped ; for he
annot cease to be what he is. It is his very nature : that is,
a new nature is put into him, which he cannot alter, or change
and vary as he will j and therefore he must take what comes.
But then again,
2. We are to consider the ground of the negation ; why such,
though troubled on every side, are not distressed. And they
are not so, partly upon the account of that gracious presence
that is afforded to them ; and partly because of those principles
which are in them, that necessarily carry matter of solace and
relief, so as to keep them from distress, notwithstanding
their being surrounded with external troubles. There is, I
say,
(1.) A gracious presence afforded upon promise. " When
thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; and
through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned ; neither shall
the flame kindle upon thee." Isa. 43. 2. This is promised
and made good, more or less, in a higner or lower degree, as
to the divine wisdom and goodness seems most meet. He will
never leave nor forsake such, whose hearts he hath determined
to himself, and who adhere and cleave to him. He will not
cast away the upright man. Such a one then is not like to be
in distress when he hath God so present to him. It is but
turning himself to him, and he hath him at hand. And,
(2.) In subordination to the former, the very native tenden
cy of the principles, which God has implanted in a holy soul,
and which incline and dispose it towards him, are its great re
lief against every thing that tend^to distress, or works that way.
JBR. II.) YET NOT DISTRESSED. 205
As for instance ; faith, which adjoins the soul to God, interests
it in his infinite fulness ; when the soul must be far remote
from straits or distress. Love too, is another principle by which
the soul comes to have the actual fruition of that fulness, ac
cording to its measure ; and what God doth now see meet, or
fit, and suitable for it. There is patience also, by which the soul
is composed; and brought into a perfect mastery and dominion
over itself, so far as this gracious principle obtains. "By your pa
tience possess ye your souls." You are outed of yourselves, if you
be not patient ; but if you be patient you enjoy yourselves. So
that let the storm be never so great and boisterous without, there
will be peace and calmness within. Patience is an ability to-
suffer. It is passive fortitude. He that can suffer, who is fur
nished with this ability, is in peace and quiet ; is in no distress.
He considers the case thus : " Such and such can afflict, and
I can suffer; I am therefore in this respect on even terms with
all the world. They can indeed lay upon me such and such
things, and I can bear them through grace that helps me."
If such be the temper of a Christian that he cannot suffer, he
must be a slave. Every such person must be subject to the
power of those that can hurt him, or do him an ill turn ;
only because he can suffer nothing. He cannot suffer, there
fore he must serve ; or yield to every one's beck that hath any
power to hurt him. But he that can suffer, hath the mastery
over himself, and remains in self-possession. The other is outed
of himself; and must resign his will, his judgment, his consci
ence, and every thing to the pleasure of another. Again, the
principle of a good conscience also keeps a person from distress.
When a man's own heart doth not reproach him, what can be
distressing unto him ? As Job said his should never do so,
though he suffered, you know, very hard and grievous things.
fe My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live, till I die I
will not remove my integrity from me." Job 27. 5, 6. Where
such a disposition of spirit remains there can be no distress ; no
distress can ever fall there.
IV. And now to make some brief use of this subject, we
learn,
1 . How happy a good man is when no external trouble
though it compass him on every side, is yet able to bring him
into distress. Is not this man a happy man that can defy the
world ? that can stand in the face of storms unhurt, untouched,
unshaken? The matter deserves our serious thoughts, that there
should be such a privilege as this communicated unto mortality;
unto a poor creature dwelling in mortal flesh. It gives us to
see, that there is somewhat that greatens the spirit of such a
2t)6 BELIEVERS TROUBLED, (SER. II.
one to that degree, as to make it too big for all this world.
For what else is the reason, why such a one cannot be distress
ed ? only because things apt to distress in their own nature, and
in a subject more liable to it, are not able to compass, and en
tirely comprehend within themselves that spirit, which they
would aim to distress. The spirit of a good man, as such, is
too big for all this world ; and if it have that grace in exercise,
that is suitable to such a case, it is too big for this world entire
ly to compass. You cannot compress and straiten that which
you cannot grasp. This world cannot grasp such a spirit. It
is, 1 say, too big to be held within this narrow sphere. It looks
above all sensible things. It is of too great a prospect to be
confined in its apprehension of things, to time; it looks into a
vast and boundless eternity. Therefore such a person cannot
be distressed in his spirit. It surmounts the world, and is too
great to be straitened by all the powers thereof, which can never
reach unto it. Or if it should be brought into some very great
trouble, it looks beyond this present troublous state of things.
It looks into eternity, and says j " If it be not well now, it shall
be. Things at present are not as I could wish, but they shall
be as well as ever I could wish hereafter." In short you cannot
confine the eye of such a one, but it will have a look at some
thing beyond what is present and liable to common view.
Therefore there is no way entirely to cut off relief from the spi
rit of a good man ; for though it be troubled on every side, it is
yet exempt from distress.
2. Hence we see also the vast difference that there is between
such a one, and a wicked, carnal man that knows not God ;
who is unacquainted with, and unrelated to him. Such per
sons, when external trouble comes upon them, are presently
distressed, or are very liable to be so upon every occasion. They
have not the way of escaping the pressure thereof, that holy
gracious persons have. A person is not distressed so long as
he hath some way of escape or other left. This is intimated by
St. Paul himself, when he says ; " There hath no temptation
taken you, but such as is common to man : but God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able ;
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ve
may be able to bear it." 1 Cor. 10. 13. It is no strange thing
that an affliction or trial should be borne, when there is a way of
escape.
But it may be said, Why is there any talk of bearing what I
shall escape ? I answer, it is plain that it is not escaping to suf
fer, that is there meant ? but real hurt or damage by that suffer
ing, so as to be not at all the worse for it, or prejudiced by it, at
. ) TET NOT DISTRESSED.
least in our spiritual concerns. It is such an escape as that,
which our Saviour means in these words : l ' Watch and pray
always, that ye may be counted worthy to escape the things that
shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man." Luke
21. 36. Not that they should escape suffering for he had been
telling them before, what grievous things they should have to
suffer; but that they should receive no hurt from their sufferings:
that isjUpon the whole matter they should have no cause to reck
on themselves sufferers, inasmuch as no damage should accrue
to them from thence.
Now when a man hath a way of escape, he is not distressed ;
his state, I say, is not to be called a real distress. There is, at
least upward, always a way of escape. David was sore distressed
in Ziklag, after the Amalekites had invaded, and burnt it with
fire and taken his people captive ; yet it is said, that " he en
couraged himself in his God." 1 Sam. 30. 6. He looked up
ward, and had a way of escape or deliverance open to him from
above.
But it is however said there, that he " was greatly distres
sed." I answer it is very true, and so any good man may be in
a great degree distressed, as well as David. Thus the apostle
Paul speaking of the impossibility of working any separation be
tween him and Christ, and intimating that nothing could force
him out of the arms of his love ; not even persecution, or tri
bulation, nor famine nor the sword ; mentions distress also as
the supposed lot of good men. Rom. 8. 35. But we must un
derstand however only by this, that something may befall a
good man which is apt to distress; but is not actually distressing,
at least to that degree as to allow no way of escape. Then in
deed a man would be in real distress, if that were true of him,
which his enemies said of David ; "Many there be which say
of my soul, there is no help for him in God." Psalm 3. 2.
But this is not the case ; there is no state in which a good
man may be, wherein there remains no help for him in God.
It was indeed a distressing case, which you find Saul was in,
when he had caused Samuel, or somewhat that appeared like
to him, to be called up ; who said unto him, " Why hast thou
disquieted me, to bring me up ?" To whom Saul answered, I
am sore distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and
God is departed from me, and answereth me no more. 1 Sam.
28.15. This was a grievous distress indeed: there was great
trouble from without, and God was gone. Here then is the
vastly different state of a wicked wretch, from that of a godly
man under affliction in a time of trouble, and when distress is
n every side ; God is gone ! God is afar off ! Besides such a
208 BELIEVERS TROUBLED, (sBR. If.
one has no disposition to take the way that leads to God. Thus
Elihu speaking of such distressed wicked men, says; " By rea
son of the multitude of oppressions they cry; they cry out by
reason of the arm of the mighty. But none saith, Where is
God my maker, who giveth songs in the night ?" Job 35. 9. 10.
They lie groveling, and groaning, ready to expire away under
their burden ; but it never comes into their mind, to inquire
after God, saying, Where is our God ? This is a thing unthought
of, and therefore theirs is a most distressed state and condition ;
having no shift left them, nor knowing what to do. But there
is always this shift left to a pious soul, if there be nothing else,
namely, to look up. "We know not what to do," says Jehosha-
phat,"but our eyes are up to thee." 2 Chron. 20. J 2. But when
a man hath simply nothing to do, no prospect of relief, then the
case is very forlorn ; and this, at length, will be the case of all
wicked men. We may easily guess, that they have nothing
left to do, who cry to rocks and mountains to fall upon them.
This speaks plain desperateness ; and yet this will be the case
one day with those, who find not out in due season, the way of
being exempted from distress. Then there will be a great deal
of trouble on every side, when the world will be all in flames ;
and then it must certainly be distress. There will be, as our
Lord informs us, (Luke 21.25, &c.) distress of nations with
perplexity ; the seas and the waves roaring ; men's hearts fail
ing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are
coming upon the earth : for the powers of the heavens shall
be shaken, when we shall see the Son of man coming in a
cloud, with power and great glory ; and when the cry shall go
forth, " Lo ' he is come, behold his sign in the heavens !" Con-,
sider then how we are concerned to make sure of his favour, and
to hasten to get into that state ; wherein, though for a while we
may not be exempted from trouble, yet we shall from distress :
I mean from that distress for which there is no remedy, which
can admit of no relief.
I thought to have propounded something by way of counsel,
in order to such a course as this. As,
(1.) Labour to be disengaged from all terrene things, the
things of this world. If there our life is bound up, if we are
troubled there on every side, we cannot but be distressed.
But if the world be crucified to us, and we to the world, there
can be no distress ; the troubles of it cannot be distressing to
us. Dead things cannot feel, cannot afflict one another. Let
us say then, " The world is dead to me, and I am dead to it ;
we are crucified one to another." The dead can lie quietly one
by another, without giving mutual wounds. And then too >
SER. II.) YET NOT DISTRESSED. 209
(2.) Draw nigh to God, that large and boundless good, in
whom all fulness is. Of them that fear him it is said, " their
souls shall dwell at ease." Ps. 25. 13. The expression in the
original, is, " Their souls shall lodge, or rest in goodness ;"
for the word there aptly signifies the quiet rest of the night.
We must then draw nigh to God ; and stick close to him in
trust, confidence, love, obedience, subjection, and by a con
tinual daily course of prayer. For they who are given much to
pray will feel little of distress, in comparison of what they are
else liable to. The. Psalmist speaks of enemies, who were
continually designing evil to him. " For my love," says he,
they are mine adversaries, but 1 give myself unto prayer." Ps.
109. 4. If there be any design against me, if my enemies are ^S
aiming at me, " 1 prayer ;" for so the expression is in the He
brew text : that is, I betake myself to prayer, my known and
usual resort, and then I fare well. Thus, in so doing, you
will find your soul to dwell at ease, and rest in the goodness of
God. A wicked man, in the midst of his sufficiency is full
of straits ; you, in the midst of straits will be in the fountain
of all-sufficiency, and have the all-flowing goodness streaming
on every side. And in such a course you may come to ex
perience what is here said by the apostle, so as no longer to
look upon this as a paradox, but as that which your hearts can
witness to j namely, that though trouble be on every side, yet
thanks be to God, we find no distress.
VOL. VI.
210 WHEREIN AFFLICTIONS ARE (SER. III.
SERMON III.*
James 1. '.'.
My Brethren, count it all joy ivhen ye fall into di
vers temptations*
T TAKE It for granted that by temptations here, we are to
understand afflictions ; such as are, for trial's sake, laid
upon the people of God. And whereas such, namely, those
to whom the compellation of brethren is agreeable, are enjoined
to count such afflictions matter of all joy; this plainly implies,
that to such persons they are so. For they are not surely en
joined to judge otherwise of the matter than it really is, nor
directed to make a false judgment of things. Therefore the
truth I have to insist upon you may take briefly thus j
That the afflictions laid upon Christians, for the sake of trial,
are to a right and spiritual judgment the matter of joy; even
of all joy, as you have it here expressed.
Now that this truth may be capable of use (which is the main
thing I design upon it) it is necessary that I do these two things
in the general ; namely,
I. That I state this truth : and then,,
II. Give you the grounds of it.
* Preached at Haberdashers' Hall, March 29, 10/7.
SJER. III.) TO BE ACCOUNTED JOYFUL. 211
I. I shall state this truth, or shew you how it is to be taken
and understood. And here we have two things to open to you;
namely, the object of that judgment, which is here directed to
be made, and then the nature of it. The opening of these two
things concerning the judgment we are to make of afflictions,
which good men are exercised withall, will take up the whole
of the business that is needful by way of explication ; so
as that you may have the distinct state of the matter before
you.
I. I shall consider the object of the judgment here to be
made; that is, the truth of this proposition, that afflictions laid
upon us for the sake of trial are matter of joy. And this is the
thing to be judged ; as indeed in any proper act of judgment,
a proposition is still the object ; wherein one thing is affirmed,
or denied of another. And the truth of this proposition is the
thing to be judged ; that afflictions, such afflictions or tempta
tions as the apostle speaks of, are really matter of joy. There
fore it is necessary that we open to you this proposition as the
object of the judgment here to be made. Particularly that
we, consider what is supposed here to be matter of joy;
namely, afflictions, for the sake of trial : then we shall open
to you that which is affirmed, or supposed, concerning temp
tations ; namely, that they are matter of joy : and .then
the manner of the agreement of the one of these, to the
other.
(1.) Let us consider what it is that is supposed by the apos
tle to be matter of joy ; namely, temptations, or afflictions for
trial's sake. Not any man's afflictions, but those that befall a
Christian ; not any afflictions of a Christian neither, but those
which are laid upon him for the sake of trial, as the word
(Kiipxa-pois,) used in the text doth plainly import. For t one
very well known, and very useful and necessary distinction of
afflictions, that they are either corrective, even unto the peo
ple of God ; or else tentative. This is not a distinction ot af
flictions considered in their natures, but taken from the end
thereof : for in their natures they may be the very same, as the
afflictions of good men and bad men may be.
Divers temptations are mentioned : which implieth not only
multitude, as to number ; but variety, as to kind. There may
be the same kinds of them inflicted, for either the one or other
of those ends. So that the distinction I mention to you is not
of their natures, but it is taken from something extrinsical ; as
the end of any thing is extrinsical to the thing itself. God
doth sometimes lay on afflictions to try, and sometimes to cor
rect or chastise his people. The principle of those afflictions,
212 WHEREIN AFFLICTIONS ARE (sER. Ill;
that are for the sake of correction, is displeasure and paternal
justice ; which God doth exercise upon his own family, and
among his own children. And they have been wont, as indeed
they ought, so to understand the matter. Thus says the prophet
Micah, in the name of the people; " I will bear the indigna
tion of the Lord, because 1 have sinned against him." Micah
7. 9. And his anger is sometimes said to smoke, and con
tinue long to do so ; as several expressions in Scripture, that
I might turn to, import. But when the afflictions are to try,
the principle thereof is not displeasure ; but wisdom, and so
vereign good pleasure. In this case, I say, they are to be re
solved into wise and holy sovereignty ; not anger, as their prin
ciple.
Now it is concerning afflictions so designed, or directed to
this end, namely, for trial, that the attribute here in the text
must be understood ; that is, that they are matter of all joy, and
are to be so accounted. And because we must take the state of
the subject, so as to understand the apostle speaking not of
punitive, but tentative afflictions, as such ; therefore we are a
little more concerned to inquire in every case, how we may be
able to discern when any affliction, or series of afflictions, are
brought upon the people of God, or upon a particular person,
for the sake of trial. For the stress of the whole business lies
upon the right understanding of this matter, and is the main
thing we have to do in stating of the truth before us.
In order to it therefore, you must know that though these two
notions of afflictions, to wit, corrective and tentative, are very
distinct ; yet we are not to suppose that they are always to be
separated. It is very possible that an affliction, or a state of afflic
tion, may come upon a good man for both these ends at once; but
it is impossible that both these ends should, at any time, be prin
cipal. When both these ends do fall in together, so that afflictions
are sent both to correct and also to try; yet still one of them only
is the principal end, and it is from thence that the denomination
is to be taken. As for instance; that affliction is to be called ten
tative, or that state of affliction is to bear the name of tempta
tion or trial, when this appears to be the chief end, which God
designed and aimed at, in ordering such a state of things to be
the lot of his people, or of this or that person. But when the
principal end appears to be their chastisement, then they are to
be accounted corrective afflictive ; or punishments, and judg
ments, as these expressions are also used with respect to the
people of God. But yet it may be said, " How shall we know
which end is principal, when an afflictive condition comes to be
the lot of any of God's people ?"
SER. 111.) TO BE ACCOUNTED JOYFUL. 213
This case cannot be very distinctly and particularly spoken
to now, for that would take up all our time. I shall only say
this one thing to it at present, which is very plain and clear;
and I doubt not satisfactory to every one, that seriously attends
to it. When the people of God, who are in a state of afflic
tion, have been and still are in a declension, as to matters of re
ligion ; or when this and that person can reflect, that they have
been guilty of some very great enormity, some more notable
transgression, and an affliction befalls them : why, truly, in
this case they have all the reason in the world to look upon
this affliction as punitive ; that is, as principally designed for
correction. But if the state of the church otGod,when such an
afflicted condition falls out to be their lot, is spiritually good ;
that is, if they have been for some time in a better condition
than ordinary, or under no very observable delinquency and de
cay in their spiritual state ; then the course of afflictions, which
they at such a time fall under, is chiefly tentative ; or to be
reckoned as sent principally for the sake of trial.
And truly if we look into the afflictions which befell the peo
ple of God in common, at different ages, you will find, by what
you have recorded in the Old Testament, concerning the church
in those days (which consisted of the Jews for the most part)
that miseries always befell them, when they were in a state of
apostacy from God, or some more notable defection ; which
therefore constantly passed under the notion of corrections, or
chastisements and punishments, upon that account. But as to
what we find recorded of the sufferings of the church of God in
the NewTestament(which you know gives us an account only
of a small space of time) those afflictions and sufferings befell good
men, at a time when the church of God was in its best state ;
and when there was most of the vigour, the power and spirit of
religion, that ever was known. Therefore we have most reason
to look upon the afflictions, that befell them, as designedly ten
tative ; whereupon it is that you have afflictions more usually
spoken of, in the New Testament, under the notion of trials
and temptations.
So that this is a short and summary account that I give you
of this matter : afflictions befall persons for correction, when
they are in their worst state ; for trial, when they are in their
best. And now you have the state of the subject (as far as it
is necessary) cleared up to you. But concerning afflictions it
is said, when it is discernible that they are principally tenta
tive, that they are to be accounted matter of all joy. And
(2.) This is the thing spoken of this subject, which we are
now to speak to ; we are to reckon these afflictions joy, all joy.
214 WHEREIN AFFLICTIONS ARE (SEA. III.
We shall need to say but little here. This joy, if we take in
the term all with it especially, includeth these two things j to
wit complacency, and gloriation: a being well pleased with
these afflictions, and also a visible glorying upon such an ac
count. It is true indeed these things are wont to be expressed
by two different words, (X^a, and Ayaxx/ao-/?) whereas we
have but one in the text. You have them put together by our
Saviour when he pronounces blessedness on them who suffer
persecution for righteousness sake ; " Rejoice" (says he) "and
be exceeding glad." Matt. 5. 10, 11, 12. There is inward
pleasure, an inward sense of pleasure, and a certain kind of tri
umph, that appear and shew forth themselves in conjunction.
And when it is said, that we are to account it all joy when we
fall into such temptations, it implies, that we are to com
prehend both these together in the sense of the expression. In
which expression, we are indeed to understand joy objectively,
as is usual, and so very obvious that I need not hint it to you ;
not, I say, the act, but the matter of joy, as we before ex
plained it to you.
(3.) We have further to consider, concerning this proposi
tion, the agreement of the object, with the subject of it. How
comes it to be truly said of afflictions that they are matter of
all joy ? How do these agree together ? It is very plain it is not
a natural agreement ; it is no agreement arising from any af
finity that these afflictions have, in their own nature, unto joy.
Nothing more remote than affliction, and joy. Affliction " for
the present is not joyous, but grievous." Therefore that which
connects them must be something extrinsical ; somewhat
which God puts in the case, so as wholly to alter it from what
it would else be in its natural state. But this we shall have
occasion to shew by and by, when we speak to the grounds of
it, which we are to come to presently.
2. Having considered the object, we are now to consider
the nature of this judgment. The apostle bids us so to account
such affliction, as we have considered, all joy, as that this may
be a fixed kind of judgment with us ; for so the word i<y!<ro-6i,
signifies. I shall particularly say but these two things about
it:
(I.) That it must be a judgment spiritually enlightened: a
judgment that is irradiated by a divine light shining upon it, by
which the truth of the thing might be discerned ; which other
wise would go for a paradox, and that the most incredible one
that ever was heard of. It must be a heavenly divine light,
which must inform that judgment that shall be able to discern
the truth here asserted, that these trying afflictions are matter
f joy. And
SER. 1H.) TO BE ACCOUNTED JOYFUL. 215
(2.) It must be a judgment spiritually actuated and enlivened
that so it may become a practical judgment. By the former
means it comes to be a clear judgment, when divine light once
shines in the mind, so as that the truth of this matter appears very
clear ; by the latter means it comes to be a practical judgment,
that is, such as is impressive of a proportionable correspondent
frame of heart, which is that which the apostle chiefly intends
here. For it would do persons but little good, to have such a
notion only hovering in their minds concerning afflictions, that
they are matter of joy; this would be but a cold business. The
word count here in the text, is taken from the word vyt^/Wi
from whence that phrase is taken, which is expressive of the
leading faculty and power of the soul. But there is nothing
leading, where nothing follows j the one implies the other.
It is therefore implied here, that this must be such a judgment
as commands what is duly and properly the subject of it, and
what ought to be commanded; namely, the heart, and will,
and affections of the soul. It implies that a person willingly
bear a temper of spirit, proportionable to this judgment ; that
is, maintain a holy cheerfulness and vigour, and liveliness of spi
rit, through the whole course of such an afflicted state, as may
happen to be his lot. Such a judgment it is that being enlight
ened from above is in some measure clear, and does not suffer
us to be always in the dark, puzzled and entangled in our
thoughts about the matter. In a word, it is a judgment that
being actuated by a divine power ought to be practical, propor
tionable and conformable to itself ; that so we may carry our
selves in a state of affliction, as though we judged in this case,
that it is matter of great joy that we are brought into such a
condition as this.
Thus now you have the state of the truth in reference to the
things propounded to be opened, concerningthe subject spoken
of; and particularly the nature of the judgment that is to be
made concerning the afflictions that be-fall good men : which
as I have shewn, must be spiritually enlightened, and so
spiritually enlightened as to be a practical principle in the
soul.
II. 1 now proceed to the next genera! head to be spoken to,
after having stated this truth ; and that is to give you the
grounds of it. What should be the ground of this, that to a
true judgment such afflictions as these are should be matter of
joy ? I can but just touch at what requires to be largely insist
ed upon. In general, if this be our case, that we are Christians
exercised witli tentative afflictions, we are to count them all
joy, if we would judge rationally and prudently ; both upon
God's account, and our own
216 WHEREIN AFFLICTIONS ARE (SER. III.
1. On God's account ; and you have no reason to think it
strange, that this should be alleged as a ground of a Christian's
rejoicing in temptations. For God and good men are no such
strangers to one another, but that wherein his interest is con
cerned and advantaged, they have real matter of joy. both upon
the account of their relation to him, and the determination of
their spirits towards him, and his interest. Now his interest is
manifestly concerned to great advantage in this case ; and by
this means it 'hath always been promoted, and his glory hath
shone forth illustriously through the trials that have befallen
his people.
If we speak of the glory of God, which is capable of being
given to him ; which cannot be the glory that is essential to
his being, but his extrinsical, or adventitious glory, it may be
said to lie in these two things : namely, in the display thereof,
and in the agnition and acknowledgement of his glory upon
that display. That is all we can make of glorifying God, and
of his being glorified in the world : that there is a lustre shi-
neth forth, or a visible glorious representation of him made ;
and then, that this be acknowledged, or taken notice of, arid
he be confessed hereupon to be glorious. Why both these are
concerned, whenever it falls out to be the lot of his people to
be exercised with tentative afflictions.
(1.) There is a most visible display of his glory in this case ;
to wit, the glory of his power, of his wisdom, of his goodness,
of his faithfulness and truth, both in sustaining and delivering
his afflicted ones. There is a spirit of glory resting upon them
in such a time and state as that is. " If ye be reproached for
the name of Christ, happy are ye." 1 Pet. 4. 14. Men cast
upon you reproach, God puts a glory upon you ; for, as St.
Peter expresses it, " the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon
you:" it stays and abides with you, and hath a fixed settled
residence upon you. Agreeable hereunto is the tenor of that
prayer of St. Paul for the Colossians : " That ye might be
strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power,
unto all patience, and long-suffering, with joyfulness; giving
thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be par
takers of the inheritance of the saints in light." Colos. 1.11,
12. Here is a very great display of the divine glory in this
case. And,
(2.) The agnition or acknowledgement thereof is wont to
ensue, which is the other thing considerable in God's being
glorified. Such as feel supports from God in their afflictions,
do highly magnify him in their spirits ; yea and many times
his glory is acknowledged by afflicting enemies themselves.
ER. III.) TO BB ACCOUNTED JOYFUL. 21?
They are made to confess that they have to do with somewhat
they cannot master, a spirit that is too hard for them, even an
invincible spirit. They are made to own and confess that
greater is he that is in the sufferers, than he that is in this
world.
I have sometimes taken notice in the histories of formertimes,
concerning the persecutions that befell the people of God more
than once, that this expression hath been used in those cases,
" The devil is in them ;" that is, a more than an ordinary spirit.
They could not but . believe it was somewhat more than the
spirit of a man, that supported them ; but if they called it by
any other name they must have reproached themselves, and
acknowledged that they were fighters against God. However
they could not but have a secret conviction, (and it appears
sometimes they had so) that it was an almighty Spirit they
were fighting against, when they were dealing with the people
of God in this kind.
This then is the ground of joy to the patients themselves,
that though they suffer, yet God is glorified. His glory shin-
eth through all the clouds and darkness that involve them, and
wherein they are inwrapt. The apostle speaks as if he did not
care what became of him, so that Christ might be but magni
fied by him, living or dying. Phil. 1. 20.
2. I now come to shew that good men, exercised with such
afflictions as the apostle speaks of, ought to rejoice in them on
their own account; not only because of the glory that redounds
to God thereby, but also because of the advantage that accrues
to themselves ; which is twofold, namely reputative, and
real.
(1.) A reputative advantage accrues to them from hence:
for it is an honour and dignity put upon them to be called to
suffer on this account, that is, for the sake of trial. As I re
member, a heathen moralist says, " A soldier who is one of
the number selected or picked out to go upon some very hazard
ous enterprize, if he be one of true fortitude and real valour,
he will not say " Imperator de me male nteruit, sed bene ju~
dicavit. My general discovers a good opinion of me, and so
he puts the honour of such a service upon me." So when God
thinks fit to exercise his people in a way of trial, he puts an
honour upon them, saying ; " Come forth, now you shall be my
champions, you shall be the butts and marks against which
all the power and malice of devils and men shall be directed,
and yet I will make you stand." A poor bruised reed, God is
able to make to stand, as in another case is said concerning a
VOL. VI. F2
218 WHEREIN AFFLICTIONS ARE (SER. Ill,
weak Christian. A reed that is bruised, and hangs its head, is
capable of being made to stand against all the storms and rage
of earth and hell. "You," as if he had said, "are some of my
instruments, which I will make use of to baffle hell and all the
powers of darkness. I will make them, even by you confess
themselves outdone."
Here then is a great reputative advantage, an honour and
dignity put upon good men, to come forth as God's own cham
pions ; to contend on his behalf against every adversary and
power in a way of affliction : that so they may overcome them
by the blood of Jesus and the word of his testimony, not loving
their lives even to the death. This is some of the honour of
these saints of God. And if it had not been accounted so in
former days, we should not have had, among the writings of
some of the antients, consolations writ purposely to them who
missed of martyrdom ; whose lot it was to be delivered,
and not to fall as martyrs, in the common day of trial. And
then,
(2.) There is a real advantage accruing from afflictions or
temptations of this nature, both present and eternal. They
that are exercised with them get great advantage by them at
present, and foresee that they are like to do so hereafter ; as is
instanced in one particular in the words immediately following
my text. " My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into di
vers temptations ; knowing that the trying of your faith worketh
patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may
be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." James 1. 2, 3, 4.
So that at the long run they tend to their consummation and
perfection. But first it is said, "knowing that the trial of
your faith worketh patience ;" which carries this intimation
along with it, that this one single advantage or gain by the trial
of faith, even the grace of patience, countervails all evils what
ever which such trials can bring upon them.
And certainly it is so, if it be considered what a heaven pa
tience carrieth in it ; namely, that meekness, that subjection
to the Father of spirits, that complacency in his will, that holy
fortitude and greatness of mind, which, I say, patience carries
in itself. So that if a man had lost all that ever he had in the
world, and got patience, he is a great gainer. Such a one is
refined, and purged, and shines so much the more gloriously,
as a star in the higher region, or the upper firmament. But
this is only a leading thing to the universal gain, which they,
who are spiritual, have in other respects ; for upon this im
provement of patience the whole inward man partakes of so
much more strength, vigour, sprightliness and activity. Spi-
BR. III.) TO BE ACCOUNTED JOYFUL. 219
ritual strength and soundness are thereby throughout promot
ed ; so that they have great reason to glory with respect to
the present gain and advantage, accruing from their afflic
tions.
And then with respect to hereafter, what matter of joy and
glory to think how all will be compensated to them in the other
world ! The " light afflictions, which are but for a moment,
work out for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory." If we suffer with Christ, we shall be also glorified to
gether ; " for I reckon," says the apostle, (this is the compu
tation I make) "that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed."
These are things not to be mentioned the same day, one" with
the other, for there is no comparison between them.
Therefore you see how it is that this same joy doth guide it
self, and which way the eye of the soul is directed to the ex
ercise of it : not to pore upon afflictions alone, but to consi
der them as subservient to glory. Thus says the apostle, " We
rejoice in hope of the glory of God." And then it presently
follows too, " We rejoice in tribulations also ;" that is, con
sidered with and in their subserviency to future glory. And
this it is that makes them the matter of the highest joy.
But I would say something by Way of Use, though the time
hath almost overslipt me. Sundry things might be inferred
from hence, which 1 shall but name to you.
1. Since this judgment, and the temper of spirit agreeable
thereto, are peculiar to the case of trials or tentative affliction,
they must be necessarily otherwise where afflictions are visibly
punitive, and principally of a chastising nature. As this judg
ment, namely to count them all joy, answers the one case ; so
truly deep humiliation cannot but answer the other ; even very
deep humiliation, abasing one's self and lying low, and owning
that the holy, righteous, jealous God is punishing them for
the evil they have done. For in this case he is dealing with his
children another way ; he is not arraying them with glory, but
clothing them with shame, before all the world. And there
fore it is a season for them to be deeply humbled whenever that
appears to be their stated case. Though to such persons there
may be a mixture of pleasure, arising from the hope that God
will bring such a state out of it (out of their sin and suffering)
as shall turn into matter of joy afterwards. But the occasion of
joy in such a case is more occult, and remote ; and is wrapt up
in a great deal more visible matter of sorrow, shame and hu
miliation, when it appears that an afflicted state is brought
'upon them purposely for punishment and rebuke. And again,
220 WHEREIN AFFLICTIONS ARE (sER.
2. We may infer hence, that mere patience is not enough
for christians under trying afflictions. It is not sufficient to be
merely patient ; they are to account their condition all joy.
Therefore the apostle prays that more patience might be grant
ed to the Colossians, in the place mentioned before ; that they
might suffer with joyfulness, and give thanks to him who had
made them meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. Col. I. 10 14. He writes there to such as were
likely to meet with, or to have very little of any earthly inheri
tance ; rather to lose what they had, for the sake of Christ :
and he intimates that it was not enough for them to be merely
content, or patient under such a loss, but it was suitable to their
state to be in a high triumph and exultation of spirit upon this
account ; because God was thereby making them meet for ano
ther inheritance with the saints in light. Those christians do
not quit themselves well, nor as becomes them, who do only not
murmur or repine that they are tried by afflictions : for the
thing to be aimed at, in the-midst of all such exercises, is to
thank God, and rejoice in the thoughts of what they are to en
joy ; namely, an inheritance with the saints in their pure,
lightsome, peaceful, blissful regions. " What an inheritance
have I above ! Blessed be God, though I lose all I have in
this world,while he is making me meet for such an inheritance ;
and makes it evident he hath such a design in hand as this
upon me !"
3. We learn too, that to be impatient and repining upon the
account of afflictions, is greatly intolerable. To be patient
merely, is not enough ; to be impatient, is simplicity, folly,
and sin. It is intolerable that we should think we are ill dealt
with, when we are exercised with such afflictions as are design
ed only for the sake of trial. But I cannot stay on this head.
4. We learn, that joy is most exceedingly connatural to true
living religion. There cannot be a greater demonstration of it
than this, that there can be no state, externally so bad, that can
make their joy unseasonable ; or that can make it an incongru
ous, or unfitting thing for them to rejoice. To have a disposition
unto spiritual and heavenly joy is a thing very intimate to the
constitution of a true Christian. That must needs be a very
strong, predominant, prevailing principle in any thing, which
converts and turns that which is of an opposite nature into nu
triment to itself; such is the joy as can even feed upon, and
maintain itself out of afflictions. God's people can rejoice, not
only notwithstanding they are afflicted, but because they are so
afflicted. The divers Temptations they are exercised \vith are
SER. HI.) TO BE ACCOUNTED JOYFUL. 221
counted the matter of their joy. And we may yet further Infer
hence,
5. That there is something very peculiar in living true Chris
tianity. For how odd a sound doth this carry to an unchristian
ear, and how uncouth a taste to an unchristian heart, that af
flictions are to be made, and accounted matter of joy. But it is
past all doubt that there is a real truth in the matter. We find
that it hath been so ; and that this is not a mere notion that
hovers in the air, but is a practical thing, and has been a tried
case. Do not we read of the apostles' rejoicing that they were
counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ ? Acts
5. 41. This was not only so in their account, but was really so.
So we are told of the believing Hebrews, that they took joyfully
the spoiling of their goods. Heb. 10* 34. What ! for a man
to rejoice to be undone ? A strange paradox that any, who was
not seriously a Christian, should count this matter of joy !
Therefore true Christianity hath somewhat peculiar to itself be
longing to it. It is a very extraordinary thing, which lies
without the compass and comprehension of all, who do not ex
perimentally know it.
Before I close, there are two things I would say to you by
way -of counsel.
1. Labour to fix this judgment in general upon your minds.
Let it not seem to you as an uncouth incredible thing. It is a
most certain truth, that afflictions in some cases may most rea
sonably be matter of joy. It is a sad thing when we cannot ob
tain so much of ourselves as to receive this notion, and to be
lieve the truth of what is here implied. For when we are bid
to count so, it is implied thai it is really so; that is, that af
flictions in such a case, namely, for the sake of trial, are mat
ter of joy. But our spirits boggle at this; we cannot tell hovr
to receive, or entertain it. And then,
2. Endeavour that it may be your judgment with application
to yourselves and your own state and case. And we must here
take notice to you of what is in itself most obvious, that when
we are directed to count it all joy when we fall into divers temp
tations, we are also directed to do whatever is necessarily pre
supposed hereunto. It is never to be imagined or thought, that
one who lives in sin ; who is a secure, carnal, earthly-minded
creature, and a stranger to God and heaven, if any affliction
should come upon him, that he must off-hand count it a mat
ter of joy. No there is something must intervene. What then
is it we should apply ourselves to ? Why to endeavour to get
into a safe state of soul, and that things may be so with us God-
ward, that if eve;; it come to be our case to be afflicted we may
222 WHEREIN AFFLICTIONS ARE (sER. III.
be able to pass tbis judgment, so clear and satisfied as to im
press the heart, that afflictions are to be counted all joy and in
such a case may actually ourselves rejoice.
I Thought to have insisted on sundry things here, but have
not time. Yet I must observe, that to get our states clear with
respect to God, and to keep and maintain our consciences both
clean and quiet, are necessary to such a happy state as to be
able to rejoice in adversity. Then we shall suffer without grudg
ing, and with rejoicing for the sake of Christ. How impossible
is it ever to rejoice in an afflicted condition, till we have hearts
brought under the power of a self-denying spirit ; till we are
mortified to this world, and our spirits loosened and disengaged
from every thing terrene ! The man whose heart cleaveth to
this earth ; who is taken with an ample estate, an opulent trade,
a neat habitation, all desirable comforts and accommodation :
the man, I say, who is so taken up with these things that his
life his bound up in them, cannot endure the thought, upon
any terms, of suffering in these kinds j it is death to him to
think of it. But if a man's spirit be once divested of an earthly
frame, and can tell how to digest the thoughts of being undone,
he may rejoice, and say ; " What am I, that I may not be un
done ? have not many as good as I been undone ? who had as
good an estate, lived in as good credit in the world ? Why may
not 1 be poor, come into straits, be destitute of friends, and ex
posed to wants as well as others ?" When a man by fami
liar converse with these objects hath reconciled his spirits to
them, so that he can digest these things, then he is in a way to
rejoice in such a case, when it comes to be his, and is able to
say ; t( Blessed be God that I had an estate to sacrifice for
Christ ! that I had liberty, and have still a life to sacrifice for
him, whenever he calls for it." If we did but thus labour be
forehand to inure ourselves to such thoughts as these ; if we
did but put the case frequently and make the supposition fa
miliar to ourselves, " What if we were to live in a wilderness ?
dwell in a cave of the earth ? What if we were to go up and
down helpless, living upon providence for daily bread?" When
we had, I say, used ourselves to think thus, and made the matter
familiar to ourselves we might if it should come to be really our
case, or God should put us upon the trial, turn it into a matter
of triumph and great joy.
Aftd so likewise it is highly necessary to live much in heaven,
and to realize that state to ourselves ; not to make it as a
strange country, but this state rather in which we are. To
a man that is abroad in some foreign country, which is full of
SER. HI.) TO BE ACCOUNTED JOYFUL. 223
war, trouble, and blood, it is some comfort to him (if he be
certain of a way of return) to think, " Well ! I am not to stay
here long in this troublesome country ; I know how to get
home, to mine own house in a peaceful country ; I shall find
all quiet there." How pleasant a thought I say is this, espe
cially if a man is sure of a return ! In this case he may be sure,
and a Christian may say, " My own country is a quiet country ;
there will be nothing but peace, rest, pleasures and delights to
people of God. Here indeed I do not intend to abide. I do
not expect to stay long here this is not my country." Oh, to be
here as in a strange country, and to look upon that other, name
ly heaven, as our own ; will make it possible to us not only to
despise, but even to rejoice in what we meet withall that is
troublesome in this world, because it is part of our way home.
It is indeed a dirty way, but it is our way notwithstanding to
our better country.
I would enforce all that has been said by a consideration or
two, and so conclude.
1. Think with yourselves how pleasant it is to have spirits
got into this frame and posture, that we can really count it mat
ter of joy to fall into afflictions. Oh think, I say, how plea
sant it is ! For how happy are those persons, who when they
have a prospect of great evils before them, are yet not afraid of
them ? and certainly we shall not be afraid of that, which we
have an actual disposition to rejoice in. In such a case we
shall be under the pressure of no very tormenting fear. " They
that hearken to me" (saith Wisdom) " shall dwell safely, and
shall be quiet from the fear of evil." Prov. 1. 33. He that
has got to this pitch, who can count it all joy to fall into divers
temptations, is arrived already to a safe dwelling : he hath so
hid himself in the divine presence, that he is secure from
the fear of evil. No evil can ever reach him. And consider
again,
2. That this is the only way we have to make any good or
advantage of a matter, that is bad in itself and in its own nature.
For let us a little recount ourselves. I believe there are few
among us, if any, that have not some prospect, more or less,
of troublesome days a coming ; a very afflictive condition.
Pray what shall we do in this case, if we will not do those
things that tend to bring us into a capacity of making this judg
ment our own, in reference to our own concernments ? What
have we else to do ? Would we busy our thoughts how any such
condition shall be prevented ? Shall that be our concern ? Shall
we try if we can stop the sun, or alter the cpurse of the stars ?
224 WHEREIN AFFLICTrONS ARE (slR.
Do we think to change the external posture of the world ? That
is, alas ! a hopeless thought, a vain attempt.
But we have a nearer and a possible thing to do, namely, to
get the temper of our own spirits altered ; brought off from
this world ; pitched upon another, and a better world. We
have no other course to take. Let us then drive the nail that
will go. We have hopes that we may alter our spirits if we
will employ our power so to do, but we cannot change the
times and the seasons. That is our province and business. We
have work to do here. We have a superintendency over our
own spirits ; here we are authorized ; God puts us upon it to
see to our own spirits, that if they be earthly, we may endea
vour to get them made heavenly ; if impure, holy ; if dead,
lively ; if vain, serious. This is our own proper business. So
that as our case is, our circumstances are. We cannot hope
to avoid suffering, our business therefore is to avoid suffering
uncomfortably ; this, I say, is our great business. To avoid
suffering we cannot reasonably hope, though we should resolve
to make shipwreck of faith, and a good conscience. For do we
think, that all such persons that do so are secure from suffer
ing ? It is a remarkable passage from Scripture we have in St.
Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians. u There hath no temp
tation befallen you, but such as is common to men." That is
one consideration. Another is, " But God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted, above what you are able, &c."
1. Cor. 10. 13. It is the former t would now speak to: " No
temptation hath befallen you, but such as is common to men."
As if he had said : You are liable to afflictions as you are men,
not merely as you are Christians : so that you cannot certainly
save yourselves from them, though you should abjure your
Christianity. For what can a man be safe from, that is com
mon to man ? These afflictions follow humanity. Are chris-
tians the only men that are poor? that are crossed ? or in a pri
son r If a man be a man (reckon only so) he is liable on that
account to these things. Therefore, I say, since we have n
way in the world to secure us from suffering, our great concern
is to labour that we may suffer in the most comfortable way we
can : so as that when it comes to be our lot, we may be capa
ble of counting it all joy. And then we are a thousand times
upon better terms, than if we were sure never to feel affliction :
for that is only an external good ; but the other is a spiritual
good. And these are to be estimated according to the capacity
and condition of the subject. I hope my flesh, my body, is not
capable of so much hurt, as my spirit is of good. To be freed
from afflictions, it is true, would be the advantage of the out-
. HI.)
TO BE ACCOUNTED JOYFUL.
225
ward man ; but to be able to bear them rejoicingly is an ad
vantage to the soul ; a thing capable of greater good, than my
outward man is capable of.
Therefore this is the great thing that lies upon us to do ; to
take heed, since we cannot be sure we shall not suffer, that we
do not suffer as evil doers ; neither in respect of the cause, nor
of the temper of our spirits : to take heed that we suffer not
so, as that it shall be the effect of a controversy between God
and us ; or the affliction be regarded as his coming upon us
with anger and displeasure. We are to see to it that we have
no rebuke nor anger to reflect upon ; (these tend to shame,
these are humbling things) that we may regard his sovereignty
and divine pleasure as things in which we may rejoice and
triumph ; which sovereign pleasure we may rejoicingly comply
with, when once we can make it out, that the affliction of our
lot is principally of a tentative nature, to try our loyalty to God,
and fidelity to las interest.
226 f HE IM PROVEMBNT O* (BR.W.
SERMON IV.*
1 Peter 5. 10.
But the God of all grace, ivho hath catted us into his eternal
glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered
awhile, make you perfect, stablish,
strengthen, settle you.
T SHALL spend none of your time at all in looking upon the
context. And although there are many great truths, which
lie within the compass of this verse, as any of you may easily ap
prehend at first sight ; I shall only pitch upon that one which
I intend to insist upon, and which it may be hoped will be
equally suitable to the time and to our case, as it is to the text.
You may without further preface take it thus ;
That to a right and well-disposed judgment, spiritual im
provements and advantages by sufferings, are more desirable,
than a freedom from those sufferings themselves.
That the ground may be clear, I shall present you with a
supposition or two, before I proceed to make out the truth it
self. As
First : We will suppose these expressions, to wit, "make yon
perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you," do all of them hold
* Preached at i'luisUmV Hall, Ftbruary 28>
Sfifc. IV.) AFFLICTIONS DESIRED. 227
forth to us spiritual improvement and gain. I apprehend that
none of you will doubt, but the apostle by these expressions in
tended the better state of those, to whom he wrote, in spiritual
respects. We may suppose not of each person considered ab
solutely, and singly; but all considered in common, that they
might be brought into a better state with reference to their
spiritual concernments and affairs ; which indeed the word
xtxTxpTiarxi doth more especially seem to hint to us. It signi
fies the setting in joint, what was unjointed before, and quite
out of frame ; and so rather imports a relation to a community,
than to a single person alone. But take all together, and no
doubt the expressions do intend spiritual improvement and ad
vantage. And then again,
Secondly: We may lay down this further supposition, that
the order of the sufferings here mentioned is not merely that of
precedency in time, but of subserviency to some kind of cause
that has an instrumental influence to their spiritual advantage.
ft After that ye have suffered awhile, or you having suffered a lit
tle" (as the words may be read, for the word "after" is not in
the Greek text) " May the God of all grace make you perfect,"
&c. But it would be very unreasonable to suppose, that these
sufferings should only precede, and no more ; or have only an
idle priority in respect of time ; for that were to suppose, that
God, as it were, was consenting to it, that they should suffer
for nothing, or to no purpose. And therefore we must con
clude that the apostle intended to insinuate, that this precedent
state of suffering would conduce, and contribute much to their
spiritual improvement ; which he had principally in his eye,
on their behalf. These things being supposed, I shall endeav
our very briefly to evince to you.
I. That a well-informed judgment will reckon, and does
reckon and account, as you have heard, namely, that spiritual
improvements and advantages by sufferings are more de
sirable, than a freedom from those sufferings themselves.
And,
II. Shew you what reason and ground it has so to judge.
And this I shall do only from the text, and with all possible
brevity, that I may hasten,
III. To the use, which I chiefly intend.
I. That a well-informed judgment doth reckon spiritual im
provements by sufferings to be more desirable, than a freedom
from those sufferings themselves. We need no further light
than what the text affords us to make this point clear, if we
will but admit this twofold consideration ;
It That this great apostle was undoubtedly furnished with
228 THE IMPROVEMENT OF (SER. IV.
wisdom enough to understand what was really best for these
scattered strangers, to whom he writes here. There can be
no room for a doubt concerning this. And,
2. That he was prompted by that love, which would certain
ly engage him to pray for that which was best for them, ac
cording to his judgment. We can, I say, doubt of neither of
these, if we will but consider that this prayer of his was in
dited by the Spirit of all wisdom, and love. We cannot there
fore doubt but that he both understood that to be best for them,
which really was so ; and that he thereupon prayed for that, in
great kindness of heart to this poor people, which he so under
stood to be best. No more need be said to evince that a well-
informed judgment will determine thus, that spiritual improve
ment by sufferings is better, than a freedom from them, and
more desirable. I proceed to shew
II. That there is a sufficient reason for such a judgment,
which we may also see in the text ; that is, that it is more de
sirable to have sufferings improved, that to have them present
ly removed from us. And this appears most suitable to that
grace by which Christians are called j and also to that glory
unto which they are called.
Observe the connexion of the request, which the apostle
makes on the behalf of these scattered Jews ; ^as we have most
reason to suppose them Jews converted to Christianity) do but
observe, I say, the connexion of the request, with the preface
to it : " The God of all grace, who hath called you to his
eternal glory by Jesus Christ, make you perfect," &c. It is
to be supposed, that the preface in this prayer (as it is usually
intended in all such prayers) should carry somewhat or other
in it, agreeable to the matter afterwards prayed for. And so
it really is here. For the apostle does not pray, that these ""}
Christians might not suffer ; but that upon, or by the means of J
their sufferings, they might receive that great and spiritual ad
vantage, of being brought into a more perfect and better state,
than they were in before ; and gain more strength, more
stability, more fixedness than ever. And to pray thus, I say,
is,
1 . Most suitable to that grace by which they had been
called j or most suitable to God, as he is the God of all
grace.
But it may be said, <( Is that suitable to the gracious nature
of God, to let his own peculiar people be abused by a vile,
wicked world ? to expose that sort of persons (who of all others
do alone love him, and are true to him among men) unto vio
lent and injurious usae;e from the rest of mankind ?" Yes cer-
SER. IV.) AFFLICTIONS DESIRED. 229
tainly; if we consider the matter well, it is most suitable. God
is, it is true, a Father to that select people ; but consider where
the relation falls, and where it terminates. He is said in con
tradistinction to the fathers of our flesh, to be the Father of our
spirits. Heb. 12. 9. It is certainly most suitable to the love
of God to let his own people suffer, if you will allow his love to
be correspondent to the relation. He is indeed related to them
as a Father, but to what of them ? To their spirits principally,
and especially to that spiritual product, or new nature, of which
he is the immediate Author. There the relation terminates, to
that he is chiefly related as a Father, and there his care and
love goes with the relation, " Let it be well with their spirits,
and it matters not much how it goes with them any where else.
1 am the Father of their spirits; I am to take care it may go well "*&
with them upon spiritual accounts. Therefore if their flesh
feel pain, if it suffer want, if it be pinched and straitened, if it
languish and complain, it agrees very well with my relation to
their spirits, as a Father to them. Let it then be so, let suffer
ings come upon them, if all this shall prove to the greater ad
vantage of their spirits ; if they shall thereby come to have so
much more thriving and prosperous souls ; if by this means
they grow more refined ; more freed from terrene dross ; be
more fitted for my fellowship ; rendered more capable of do
ing me duty in their respective places ; and of tasting, and re
lishing the pleasure thereof ; if this be the case, 1 think I
deal with them but as a Father, whose relation is to their spi
rits."
The apostle speaks of this with a great deal of complacency,
and as one that is highly well pleased. " Though (says he)
our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by
day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, work-
eth for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ;
while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the
things which are not seen : for the things which are seen, are
temporal ; but the things which are not seen, are eternal."
2 Cor. 4. .16, 17, 18. He does not speak this with any kind
of regret that he found the outward man so struck as to be con
tinually liable to perish.
" No," saith he, "let it perish daily; I matter it not. Though
it does perish, that signifies nothing to me, so that the inward
man be but renewed day by day." And,
2. It is more suitable to that state of glory, whereunto we
are called; as well as to that grace, by which we are called, -~v
It is very necessary, to our being introduced into that glorious,
blessed state, that we be prepared, and made some way fit for
23(5 THE IMPROVEMENT OF (sER. IV.
it, before we reach it. And the great concernment and neces
sity of this makes the apostle Paul bless God, with a great deal
of triumph, on the behalf of those Christian Colossians to whom
he wrote; and he puts them upon blessing of God, that though
they were suffering to that degree as that they stood in need of
all patience, yet that all this while he was making them meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Col.
1. 11, 12. He speaks of it as the proper matter of thanksgiv
ing, that though they suffered so much as to require their being
strengthened with all might, according to the glorious power of
God ; yet it was all well enough : they were so far from hav
ing cause to complain, that they had a great deal of reason ra
ther to give thanks to God. As if he had said, " It is a pure,
a bright, and lightsome region that you are going to, and you
need a great deal of refining before you come there, that you
may be fit to be received. You need to have your spirits cla
rified, and freed from all impure dross, even while you are suf
fering so as that all patience is requisite unto it. You have
therefore reason to give thanks, if God by this means is making
you meet to partake of the inheritance of the saints, in their
state of life, purity and perfection."
This is also intimated in that place before mentioned. "I do
not care," as if he had said, "though the outward man perish-
eth, while the inward is renewed day by day." And how is it re
newed ? Why thus, the "light affliction, which is but for a mo
ment, works out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory/' But how do afflictions work out a state of glory for
us ? In answer to this, we are to consider what notion we ought
to have of the glory, whereof the saints are to be partakers here
after ; and by which they are to be made happy and blessed.
Now it is not merely an objective glory that can make me happy,
and be the satisfaction of my soul ; that is, to have only some
glorious sights to behold and look upon, and no more. For I
can be happy by nothing, which is not united to me ; and it
is impossible any one should be blessed by a distant good, se
vered from themselves. And therefore we are told how we are
to conceive of this glory, by St. Paul, who tells us it is a glory
that is to be revealed in us. Rom. 8. IS. It is a glory most
intimate to the subjects, and by which they are made glorious ;
not merely to be seen, but what they themselves are to bear :
and therefore the apostle says it is us v^zs, to be revealed in, or
into us. It is that impress of the divine glory, which is impart
ed and communicated from God to the soul, upon the vision of
his blessed face ; by which it is transformed perfectly now in
to the same likeness, as much as a creature can be like to him.
KR. IV.) AFFLICTIONS DESIRED. 23!
Here is the glory, by which souls are made happy and hlessed
at last ', and into the stated participation of which they are
now actually called by Jesus Christ.
Now consider this glory so, as here explained, and it is very
apprehensible how the light afflictions, that are but for a mo
ment, do work it out for us. For they gradually refine the
soul after the image of the divine nature, make it more and
more conformed to God ; and according to the degree of the
progress to which this refining work is carried on by such means
while we are in this world, is our participation of the divine
glory hereafter. According to the capacity of the vessel, which
God hath designed to he a vessel of glory and honour, is the
measure of that glory which is to be put into it in the other
state. But certainly by this refinement, to which afflictions
are so subservient and useful in this world, the soul is made
more and more capable and receptive ; it is refined, and enlarg
ed at once. And thus it is more suitable to that state of glory
to which we are called, which was to be proved, in order to
Shew that it is more desirable to have sufferings improved, than
to be freed from those sufferings themselves.
III. Therefore now to apply this, as the time will allow j-
and,
J. For Instruction.
(1.) We may learn hence, that we have another interest to
Concern ourselves about, besides that of our flesh or outward
man. For otherwise it could never be understood how that,
which is really an offence and prejudice to the outward man,
should be an advantage to us in any other respect. As chas
tising afflictions by a paternal rod are natural evils, but yet
inflicted on us for spiritual good. It is plain then, I say,
we have another interest about which we ought to be concern
ed.
(2.) We may further collect; that these two interests, as they
are very distinct, so they are ordinarily too, very opposite to
one another. That may make for the advantage of the spirit
or inward man, which is greatly to the hurt and prejudice of
of the outward ; and that which contributes to the gratification
and pleasure of the outward man, may be very prejudicial to the
inward. These are opposite interests, and we should consider
them as such ; and it would be of very great advantage to us,
through our whole course, to carry this as a fixed thought with
us, " That the interests of my flesh, and of my spirit, are of
ten stated in such an actual opposition to one another, that
what makes for the advantage of the one, is frequently hurt
ful and prejudicial to the other." For if we would but allow
t
232 THJ5 IMPROVEMENT OF sKR. IV.
ourselves to consider this, dnd admit it as a fixed thought, then
it would not, upon every occasion that occurs to us, be our
first concern and care ; namely, " What shall I do to save my
flesh and outward man ? how shall I order matters that all
may go well with that ?" especially as there is another interest
in myself, which may be provided for by the methods of pro
vidence, that cast a severe and threatening aspect upon the
other. And,
(3.) We may hence further learn, that the interest of the
inward man is much more considerable than that of the flesh ;
which is the subject of the supposed sufferings, of which the
apostle speaks, who puts up a very solemn request for spiritual
advantage by such sufferings. He that loved them so well does
not pray, that they might not suffer at all ; but only that after
they had suffered a little, they might be perfected and esta
blished. Certainly our spiritual interest is more considerable^
than our outward interest ; and we should be willing that the
interest and advantage of the flesh, should be sacrificed to the
interest of the soul : and that which I am willing to part with
for another, must certainly be less considerable than the other.
Bur,
(4.) We may also learn, that sufferings are not novelties
among the people of God in this world ; neither are they to be
looked upon as novel, even the sharpest and severest of them.
The apostle directs those, to whom he writes, in the same
chapter, that they should look with another kind of eye upon
an afflicted state, than to suppose it a new thing, or as if no
thing like it was known before. In the verse before my text,
he intimates that they only suffered such afflictions as were
common to others in the world, and such as many good men
-had endured, who were gone before them. And in another
place of this epistle he admonishes them not to think strange
even of the fiery trial (" which," says he, " is to try you")
as if some strange thing had happened to them ; assuring them:
that after they had suffered awhile, the Spirit of glory and of
God should rest upon them. That they should surfer was
reckoned upon, taken for granted ; and therefore it speaks a
very strange spirit among us, if the thoughts of any sufferings
shoultj presently startle us. What ! are we grown so soft and
delicate, that we must meet with no afflictions in the world ?
as if it were a more wonderful thing that we should suffer, than
others who have gone before us in former days. Wherein are
we better than they ?
2. I pass on to another use, which may be for conviction to
15, who seem to be so EQuch of another judgment from the
SER. IV.) AFFLICTIONS DESIRED. 233
apostle, in this important case. And there are two or three
things which I would here premise. As
(1.) That there is no present question depending whether
we should simply desire to be freed from affliction, yea or no ;
or whether, considering the matter simply in itself, we may
not judge it desirable to be free from affliction. This is not the
thing concerned in the present discourse, nor any part of it.
It will be easily acknowledged, that the sufferings we speak of
are natural evils ; and eviJ as such, or in itself, cannot be eli-
gible to a reasonable nature. But the thing we speak of is,
that when these two matters are compared; to wit, freedom
from afflictions, and spiritual advantage by them, we should
not prefer the former : not but that a freedom from suffering,
simply in itself and alone, is a desirable thing ; but compared
with the spiritual advantages arising from thence, is not to be
preferred or desired by us. And,
(2.) 1 again premise, that by judgment here I do pot intend
a mere notional, but a practical judgment. For I make no
question but we are all of the apostle's mind without any more
ado ; and agree with him that it is better to have spiritual ad
vantage by affliction, than to be free from it. But when we
speak of a practical judgment, here it is that our error lies, and
wherein we are to be rectified. The practical judgment is that,
to which the temper of a man's soul doth correspond : that
which is of such power and prevalency with a man, as to im
press its own likeness, or somewhat correspondent to itself up
on his own heart, upon his will, his choice, and affections ;
and so consequently influence the course of his walking, and
conversation. The thing therefore I complain of, in this case,
is, that the temper of our spirits is so unsuitable ; so unlike
the apostle's judgment in this case, that spiritual improvement
by suffering is more desirable than freedom from it. These
things being premised, 1 shall evince, that there is a failure
among us in these things, particularly that we are not like-
minded with the apostle in this matter, and then, shew you
the great evil of it, that is, of our error in this regard.
[1.] 1 am to evince that there is a great failure or mistake in
our judgment, if we are not of the same mind with the apostle
as to this point. And this I would do by putting a few queries
to you, by which you may be able to convict yourselves where
in the matter does require, and will admit. As
First. Whether are we move sensible of the external cala
mities which befall us, than of inward spiritual distempers? Sup
pose a person by some surprising providence lose all he had in
the world, is reduced to the utmost distress and necessity, whe-
VOL, VI. H 2
234 THE IMPROVEMENT Of (SER. 1V
ther is not this more grievous, or more sensibly felt than in
ward spiritual evils ? " Do I so cry and bemoan myself because
of the body of sin and death, as I do when I have lost my friend,
my husband, my wife, my child, my house, my estate, my plea
sant delectable things in this world ?" In such cases we cry
out as undone persons ; we mourn and refuse to be comfort
ed. " But 1 have an earthly, vain heart ; a heart that will not
be brought to live in love, and communion with God ; unapt
to prayer, to meditation, to spiritual commerce with heaven."
Do we so sensibly complain upon these accounts, I say, as men
are apt to do under the sharp and acute sense of external evils ?
This shews which way the poize of our spirits inclines, and
we may plainly discern it by urging ourselves with this ques
tion.
Secondly. Whether do we more dread and fear the continu
ance, and increase of inward distempers, or external sufferings ?
which, I say, is more the matter of our dread ? I have a near
evil that hath pressed me, and is like to do so still ; a carnal,
stupid, terrene, and corrupt heart ; whether do I dread the con
tinuance of this, or the increase of it ; more than I do the con
tinuance, or increase of any external sufferings that are upon
me, or may threaten me ? If you should be told, that there is
danger of being devoured in all your external concerns by a
formidable enemy ; or that you are in danger of fire, of great
losses, of coming into a decayed state in respect of your Trade
and traffic ; which things would you think of with the most
dread ? Should not we dread more the thoughts of being turn
ed out of all, driven from house and home, of going to seek our
bread in desolate places, of wandering in wildernesses and de
serts, lurking in dens and holes of the earth ? Should we not,
I say, think of these things with more dread, than we ordinari
ly do of that close, latent enemy, that lies lurking at our very
hearts and souls ? namely, infidelity within, and disaffection
to God ? a proneness to depart from him, and a heart bent
to backslide ? Which sort of evils are we most apt to dread ?
Thirdly. Which should we consider with more complacency,
an external state of things just agreeable to such an idea as we
could form to ourselves in our own minds ; or an inward frame
of holiness, agreeable to the idea which the blessed God hath
set before us in the word of truth ? which, I say, should we
think of with more delight ? Suppose we should have the pros
pect set before us of such a state of things in outward respects
as we could wish ; garners yielding all kind of store, nothing
but prosperity, pleasure and peace in our dwellings ; all the li
berty our hearts could desire, to do and walk according to our
SER. IV.) AFFLICTIONS DESIRED. 235
own inclinations : and frame again the prospect of an enlight
ened, lively mind and spirit ; full of God, full of heaven, full
of divine love, full of spiritual strength, vigour, activity and fer
vour in all holy exercises whatsoever ; and which, I pray, of
these seerneth the more grateful prospect to us ? Or which is
the more taking thing with our hearts, upon the view of the one
and the other ? to have in outward respects, all the opulence
and prosperity our hearts could wish on the one hand ; and on
the other, to have hearts disentangled and freed from sin, so as
that we may go to God upon all occasions with freedom, or
without restraint, and always converse with him with delight ?
Such questions as these closely urged may convince some, as
the case may require, how much they differ from this apostle ;
and are of a different sense and estimate from him, in reference
to what we are speaking of. And if there be such a disagree
ing judgment in this case, then we are to consider,
[2.] The great evil of it. And this I might represent to you
very largely ; but, at present, take some account of it only iu
these few particulars.
First. It speaks great injudiciousness in the matter of dis
cerning between things that differ, and which doth more excel.
It is .one great part of the work and business of judgment to
distinguish between things, that are of different value from one
another ; and he is a very injudicious man, who is not able to
prefer those things that are more excellent, which when com
pared and judged of do vastly differ : as it would argue very great
injudiciousness indeed if I could not tell which of the two to
prefer ; a gay feather, or a rich diamond. The odds is so vastly
great here, that it must needs argue a great want of discern
ing the just value of things : and so it must in like manner if
we cannot tell which is to be rather chosen ; a little freedom
from pain and affliction, or that which is a great advantage and
gain to the inward man.
Secondly. It argues very great unbelief of the truth of God's
word in reference to this very case. It is expressly said, AH
things shall work together for good, to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. Rom. 8. 28.
But we do not believe this ; for it is plain that if we did be
lieve it, it were then altogether impossible we should reject or
less value that, which at the same time we believe to be the
greater good. For it is spiritual good that is there meant,which
is to be wrought out by external natural evils. And can we to
lerate in ourselves an habitual indisposition to take God's word?
Sure, methinks, we should look upon this as a most intolera
ble thing.
.
236 THE IMPROVEMENT OF (sER. IV.
Thirdly. It argues a very low and mean temper of spirit,
when we do not know how to value and favour most our best
and most excellent good. It shews that we have a very vile
esteem of our own souls, when we are more concerned about a
clod of clay, a lump of flesh, than we are about them, or their
benefit and advantage. And
Fourthly. It argues most unworthy thoughts of the wisdom
and goodness of the providence of God, with respect to those
sufferings and afflictions we speak of. It looks as if we did not
really believe, that they are brought upon us for some greater
good, than any we can lose, or be indamaged in, by them ; or
that we thought that neither wisdom, or goodness, conducted
the course of affairs towards us. What account can we give, or
what reasons produce, why the course of divine providence
should run so and so (as it many times has done in the
world) as to cast smiling fair aspects on the worst sort of men,
and frowning severe aspects on the better sort ? Hence men
have been apt to make very sinister interpretations, and ap
plications. Thus the prophet Malachi charges some in his
time : " Ye have wearied the Lord with your words : yet ye
say, Wherein have we wearied him ? when ye say, every one
that doeth evil, is good in the sight of the Lord, and he de-
lighteth in them ; or, where is the God of judgment ?" Mai.
2. 17. And truly, though we have explicit formed thoughts
otherwise, yet the sense of our hearts will seem to be agreeable
to such thoughts as these, if we tolerate in ourselves the error
which 1 am detecting, and representing the evil of; that is, of
supposing that it were better to be freed from afflictions, than
to have them improved to our gain and advantage. Either we
must think, that afflictions come upon the people of God by
chance, and so that God has no design at all by such an order
ing of things ; or else, that he afflicts his people out of hatred
and perfect ill-will : both which are monstrous, and horrid
thoughts. It were altogether an unaccountable thing, upon
the whole matter, why the course of the dispensations of God's
providence should be as it ordinarily is, that the saints should
be exposed to sufferings and afflictions, while the wicked live
in ease, prosperity and pleasure ; I say, this were unaccounta
ble, if it could not be said that there is some greater good to be
wrought out by these sufferings which shall abundantly com
pensate and countervail them. But if we persist in the error I
speak of, we lose the only way of solving this difficulty of pro
vidence.
Fifthly. To represent the evil of this error yet more, I
would observe, that it argues much impatience and weakness
of spirit : for patience is passive power, fortitude, or ability to
SER. IV.) AFFLICTIONS DESIRED. 237
suffer. It argues very great weakness when we had a great deal
rather not he good, than suffer affliction. Sure it is a sign that
we can suffer nothing. And if there he such a disposition to
faint in the day of adversity, our strength is small ; as saith
the wise man : and this is not only our great infelicity hut
our sin. Prov. 24. 10.
Sixthly. It is a tacit choosing of sin, rather than affliction ;
and certainly that is a very had thing. It is manifestly so, if
we consider and look upon the case as it is. <l Let me be im
pure still, drossy and terrene still, unlike to God still ; so my
flesh may but escape, my sense be gratified and indulged, and
incur no prejudice."
Seventhly. It argues a great deal of pride ; and also insen-
sibleness both of what we deserve, and what we need. If any
can by no means bring their spirits to "think of suffering, there
commonly lies at the bottom an insensibility of what they are ;
what wretched hearts, and untoward natures they have. It is
little apprehended what we deserve, and what we need, when
we look upon such an aspect of providence as unsuitable ; which
threatens us with suffering, and is like to prove afflictive. This
should be the sense of our hearts : " Alas ! whatever I suffer,
it is much less than my iniquity deserves ! Yea, if I suffer ne
ver so severely, it is but what the exigency of my case requires.
My heart is very sleepy and dead, and needeth rousing ; it is
very drossy and needs a hot furnace." And we should think
so if we thought of ourselves aright, and if too good an opinion
of ourselves did not blind our eyes. I might mention several
things more, but the time permits not. 1 shall only design,
hereupon in the close, to recommend two things ;
i. That we should fix this judgment of the apostle in our
selves, as the standard and measure of our own. I judge thus,
as the apostle Paul says ; " I reckon that the sufferings of the
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that
shall be revealed in us." Rom. 8. 18. As if he had said, " This
is my logic, I compute so upon the whole matter ; and this is
the result I come to, having considered it thoroughly, and
viewed it on every side." Let us settle our judgment of this in
like manner, and record it : "This was my mind at such a
time, and I came then to be convinced of the truth of it. I
will never alter it, till I see better reason (which I suppose
I never shall) for laying it down, than I had to take it up."
And,
ii. Agreeably hereunto let us direct the scope, current, and
end of our prayers, on such days as these, as the apostle here
doth his. It is necessary our hearts should be brought to an
agreement with our judgments. What is the good I should
238 THE IMPROVEMENT OF &C. (sER IT.
most desire, and wish, and seek for my soul this day ? If this
be a right judgment which we have now heard of, it will be
very good for us, at such times as these, and even at all times
in our prayers to say : " I pray not that I may be freed from
suffering ; that is not the great thing I request. As to that I
refer myself to the divine pleasure, and acquiesce in the deter
mination of providence. But, O Lord ! I have another re
quest to make unto thee, that whatsoever shall befall me, I
may have more of thine image; more life and strength; vigour
and heavenliness ; fitted for holiness in this world, and bles
sedness in the other. And then let my sufferings be what they
will, so they be but subservient to this great design, of procur
ing my spiritual advantage/'
And we pray upon pretty sure grounds when we pray thus.
We do not need to doubt whether this be agreeable to the
divine will or no. We are upon a certainty. If I should insist
peremptorily in prayer upon this, and that temporal good for
myself, or the community I belong unto, it may be said ;
" Where is the promise ? and thereupon, where is the faith of
being heard in such a prayer?" But I am sure I pray agreeably
to his own will,when I pray, that I may be brought into spiritual
prosperity. 1 am sure therein to suit with what he himself
doth command. This will be acceptable, and well-pleasing to
God ; and turn to my ineffable good and advantage, both here
and hereafter.
SERMON V.*
Isaiah 63. 10.
ut they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit : therefore
he was turned to be their enemy, and he
fought against them*
TN the forgoing part of this chapter you have a representation,
as it is generally agreed, of our Lord Christ in triumph ;
returning as a conqueror from his victories, with garments dis
coloured with the blood of the slain. " Who is this that com-
eth from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah ? this that
is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his
strength ? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save,"
The enemies, whom the Messiah is supposed to have engaged
against, are represented and set forth by Edom, and the me
tropolis thereof, Bozrah ; because they were the next enemies
to the church of God, mostly confined within Palestine, upon
which Idumea bordered, and who were continually vexatious,
and afflictive to them : by these, I say, are the spiritual ene
mies represented, which our Lord Jesus Christ was to set him
self against. And so I have taken notice of a certain author
* Preached at Haberdashers' Hall, June I, 16/7.
240 THE SIN AND CONSEQUENCE (SER. V.
(though I profess not to like all his allegories) who allegorical-
ly speaks of the carnal part, under the name of Edom. "The
mind or spirit ought to follow God unweariedly, without devi
ating or turning aside, lest he come into Edom :" alluding
no doubt to the word itself edom or earth, as the name of
Adarn comes from the same root. Against these spiritual ene
mies, that readily fall in with our carnal, earthly part, did our
Lord Jesus Christ use his prowess, unto a glorious victory and
triumph. This heing represented, how ready the Redeemer
was to undertake on the behalf of them, who were to be de
fended, and saved by him ; a reflection is made upon God's
former dealings on the behalf of this people, and their unequal
carriage and deportment towards him, in the seventh, eighth,
and ninth verses. But I cannot go distinctly over them. Unto
which this complaint is subjoined ; " But they rebelled, and
vexed his holy Spirit; therefore he was turned to be their enemy,
and he fought against them."
There are two things, which present themselves to our view,
and consideration, from these words : namely, that the rebel
lions of a people professing the name of God, are very vexatious
to his Spirit; and that such vexations engage him against them
as their enemy. To speak to both these together, for the sake
of dispatch, I shall do only these two things.
I. Inquire concerning the evil done; that is, vexing the Spi
rit of God, by rebelling against him. And,
II. Concerning the evil suffered ; and that is his turning
against them, so as to become their enemy. Upon which,
III. The use of all will ensue.
I. As to the evil done, we are to inquire in the first place con
cerning the nature of it ; and then in the next place, the cause
thereof.
1. Let us consider the nature of the evil done, namely, the
vexing of the Spirit of God. We are not to understand it as if
the blessed Spirit of God was capable of such vexation, as we
are in ourselves ; that is, of real perturbation or passion. That,
common reason will tell us, the divine nature is not capable of.
But yet notwithstanding, this doth not signify nothing ; there
is some great thing lies under this expression, which we may
conceive of in these two particulars.
(I.) His will is really crossed; somewhat is done, that is,
against his will. I mean his will concerning our duty, not his
will concerning the event ; against his preceptive will and con
sequently against that good, which he wills to us upon the sup
position of our compliance with his just and righteous will.
He really wills many things in reference to men, which he doth
SIR. V.) OP VEXING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 241
not will effectually to procure that they shall be done. He wills
our obedience and duty ; and, as this is connected with it, he
wills also our felicity and happiness. The will of God in the
former part, is expressed by his precepts ; in the latter, by his
promises, so far as they are of a general tenor. But there is a
will of his in reference to the event, of which it may be truly ^-7
said, "Who hath resisted his will ?" Rom. 9. 19. When
the commands of God are disobeyed, and persons by their diso
bedience rush upon vengeance, and put themselves under the
effects of divine displeasure ; then is that done, which is averse
to the legislative will of God, as it is signified to us by his word.
And this is implied in the expression in the text of his being
vexed ; namely, that there is a matter or object lying before
him, at which he may take offence, or- resent.
(2.) It is implied also, that he doth apprehend and resent
this matter ; though without any commotion, or perturbation.
He resents it so as not to look upon it as a matter of indiffer
ence. It does not escape his notice, as profane, atheistical spi
rits are apt to fancy ; who say, " The Lord shall not see, nei
ther will the God of Jacob regard it." Psal. 94. 7 No, there
is no such thing to be imagined. God takes notice of the mat
ter, and resents the wrong done to him ; yet so calm is the re
sentment, as every way agrees with the felicity of the divine
nature. It is this which he lays up in store, as it is empha
tically expressed by Moses, and seals up among his treasures.
Deut. 32. 34. This he keeps by him as the just matter of a
controversy, which he will manage ; and will animadvert up
on it in his own time, and when a fit and proper season shall
come. So much then are we to conceive as spoken of God,
or of the Spirit of God, under the expression of its being vex
ed.
2. We are now to inquire concerning the cause of this vex
ation ; or shew, what it is that thus vexes the Spirit of God.
We may well understand in the general that sin does so ; be
ing in its own nature a direct contrariety to his good, and holy,
and acceptable will. But especially rebellion against the Spirit
of God is vexatious, which is a higher pitch of sin ; and im
plies a continued course of disobedience. Rebellion speaks a
prevalent, and continued malignity of sin. " They rebelled,
and vexed his Spirit."
But to be more particular here ; we may understand what
sin is more especially vexing to the Spirit of God, if we allow
ourselves to consider what the titles and attributes of this Spirit
in Scripture are. By these we shall know what is the tenden
cy of the office and operations of the blessed Spirit of God ; and
VOL. vi. 2 I
242 THE SIX AND CONSEQUENCE (sBR. V.
so more easily conceive what tends to vex, and to grieve it, as
you know the expression is elsewhere. " Grieve not the holy
Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemp
tion." Ephes. -1. 30.
(1.) The Spirit of God is styled the Spirit of truth. John 14.
17. It is therefore very grievous, and vexing to this Spirit, to
have a light esteem of divine truth ; to be indifferently affected
towards it ; to have a loose adherence to it ; an easiness to part
with it; and much more a proneness to oppose it, and run away
from it. This, I say, must needs be vexing to the Spirit of God.
And because I foresee I shall be able to speak but little to the
use, I desire you as we go along to make reflections on each
head ; and to consider how far you may suppose yourselves
guilty, and how far this age (professing the truth of God)
is guilty of vexing the Spirit in this, and other respects.
Again,
(2.) It is mentioned in Scripture under the name of the Spirit
of grace. Heb. 10. 29. It is therefore very vexing to this
blessed Spirit when that grace, of which it is the author, and
which it is its office and business to convey and apply, or ef
fectually to reveal, is rejected ; when in that gospel under
which we live, and which is the ministration of the Spirit,
grace is offered and despised ; when there are few that
express any regard to, or any desire or value of the Spirit of
God : this is a most vexing thing to this Spirit.
(3.) It is called the Spirit of faith. 2 Cor. 4. 13. Infidelity
therefore must needs be reckoned a most vexing thing to this
Spirit. When persons continue under the gospel in obstinate
unbelief ; and the great things, there revealed and discovered
to us, are but as a tale that is told ; or regarded no more than
we would regard the word of a child ; a most vexing thing
to the Spirit of God this must be understood to be. More
over,
(4.) It is a Spirit of contrition and repentance. This is an
effect that is attributed to this Spirit as the author of it. The
Spirit of grace and supplication shall be poured forth, as it is
promised in Zechariah, and then it is that souls shall mourn
over him whom they have pierced, and be in bitterness for him
as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. Zech. 12. 10. Aa
impenitent hard heart, a heart that cannot repent, is a most
vexatious thing to the Spirit of God. We cannot conceive a
greater vexation to him, than to find hearts hard as rocks
and stones, under the dispensation of the everlasting gos
pel.
.(5.) It is stiled the Spirit of love ; which is the great prin-
SER: v.) OP VEXING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 243
ciple, that disposes and inclines the soul towards God. He
hath given us the Spirit of love, (2 Tim. 1. 70 that principle
which influenceth, and is the life and soul of all the commu
nion there is, between the blessed God, and those that do be
long to him ; which itself therefore is called "the communion
of the Holy Ghost." 2 Cor. 13. 14. A cold heart then to
wards God, a heart that is disaffected to him, that keeps at a
distance from him, that will not be engaged in sweet com
munion with him through love, is a most vexing thing to his
Spirit. Again it is in the
(6.) Place, called a Spirit of power and of life. It is the
Spirit that quickeneth, says our Lord. John G. 63. And
again St. Paul tells us, God hath given to us the Spirit of power.
2 Tim. 1.7- It is a very vexatious thing to this Spirit, when
any indulge themselves in deadness of heart ; when they allow
themselves to be formal, lukewarm, and indifferent ; neither
cold nor hot, as it was said of the Laodicean church, whom,
our Lord threatens therefore to spue out of his mouth ; a strong
expression of his being vexed, and of his resenting the matter
with very high displeasure. Rev. 3. 15, 16.
(7.) It is stiled the Spirit of holiness. Rom. 1. 4. And
here in our text it is said, They rebelled and vexed his holy
Spirit. This is a most vexing thing, when persons professing
the Christian name indulge themselves in a liberty to walk at
random ; are impatient of restraints ; affect libertinism ; have
not refrained their feet but have loved to wander : therefore
the Lord doth not accept them ; he will now remember their
iniquity, and visit their sins. Jer. 14. 10. When no bonds
can be endured ; when the yoke and burden of our Lord Jesus
Christ are apprehended uneasy, grievous, and intolerable ; and
the resolution is come to this, " Let us cast away his cords, let
us throw off his bonds from us, he shall not reign over us;"
when the law of sin and death contesteth to that height against
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, as to engage us to
comply with the lustings of the flesh ; this is a most vexatious
thing to the Spirit of our purity and holiness.
(8.) It is a heavenly Spirit ; and the design of all its gra
cious operations upon souls is to fit them for heaven. "He
that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing, is God, who also
hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." 2 Cor. 5. 5. And
again says the apostle, " We have received, not the spirit of
the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know
the things which are freely given us of God :" even those
things which " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath pre-
244 THE SIN AND CONSEQUENCE (SEE. V.
pafed for them that loVe him." 1 Cor. 2. 12, 9. A worldly
heart therefore is a vexation to this Spirit ; that is, when we
mingle with, and suffer ourselves to be swallowed up of the
spirit of this world : the inclinations and tendencies of
which spirit are earthly, and running downwards ; while the
Spirit of God is aiming to lift us up towards God and heaven.
Again,
(9.) It is a Spirit of prayer. So it is called in Scripture, the
Spirit of supplication. Zech. 12. 10 It is the great business
of this Spirit to act souls, and to raise them to God, in the way
of prayer. It is a very great vexation therefore to the holy Spi
rit, when persons grow to a prayerless disposition ; do not
care to converse with God in this duty; are slow in the
business of pi ayer ; either not minding it, or doing it as though
they did it not : this, I say, is a very vexing thing. So he in
terprets it, and speaks of it with resentment : " Thou hast
not called upon me, O Jacob ; thou art weary of me, O Israel."
Isai. 43. 22. When persons, who formerly loved prayer, are
now grown out of love with it ; when those, that have taken
pleasure in being in their closets, and shut up in corners, are
now grown strange to him, and care not to come nigh him in
that way ; this is especially to provoke and grieve the Spirit.
The very bent and tendency of such a soul runs now directly
counter to his proper design and business ; which is to en
gage the souls of men with God in that great duty, wherein
they may enjoy continually a fruitful and useful commerce
with him. But they decline^ and will not be brought to it
by this means. This is also a very bitter vexation. And
again,
(10.) It is a Spirit of sincerity and uprightness ; and wher
ever it obtains, it makes men upright and sincere. Thus it is
called the Spirit of a sound mind. 2 Tim. 1. 7 Hypocrisy
therefore, or a deceitful dealing with the blessed God in mat
ters of religion, is a most vexatious thing to his Spirit. When
there is only a shew and appearance of love, and devotedness to
him ; and this only made a cover to a false disloyal heart : this
is an abomination unto God. He loves truth in the inward
parts, and his countenance beholdeth the upright ; giving them
pleasant, smiling, complacential looks, which are plain indi
cations of his approving, and being well pleased with them.
So again, he cannot but frown with displeasure, where there is
falsehood and deceit ; where there is an unsound heart ; a la
tent hypocrisy, as if we designed to impose upon him by a
cheat and shew ; to deceive and mock him, who cannot be de
ceived, neither will be mocked.
SBB. V.) OP VEXING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 245
(11.) It is a Spirit of union, peace, and meekness, among
them that belong to God. It is designed to form the hearts of
believers to these things ; and so far as his Spirit is given, one
heart and one way are also given ; as we may see from Ezekiel
11. 19. compared with other scriptures. Animosities among
the people of God ; heart-burnings, whether they be upon a
common, or a particular, personal account ; are the most vex
ing things imaginable to the Spirit of God, which is the Spirit
of union, peace, and concord, and the very soul of the mysti
cal body. It is a very vexatious thing when one member of
this body goes to fight with another ; and it may be some
against the common interest of the whole. And it is in
the
Last place, A Spirit of sobriety and temperance, in opposi
tion to grossly sensual lusts. It is a very vexatious thing to the
Spirit of God, when among a people that profess his name,
there is a general profusion, and running into vile sensual lusts.
Some are sensual, not having the Spirit. Jude 19. The con
nection is very observable. Whereas God gives his Spirit, to
form a people to that purity, that they may be different from
the rest of the world ; they allow themselves to run into the
same excess of riot. And I believe there are few of us that ever
heard, or read of an age, in which there were more gross in
stances of impurity among professors, than the present. How
many instances do we hear of this kind ! It must needs be very
vexatious to the holy Spirit, whose design it is to form a peo
ple unto God, to bear up his name in opposition to a common
ly dissolute, and debauched age.
You see then as to the evil done, what it is, and what is the
cause of it j namely, sin, and more especially rebellion in those
instances, wherein the designs of the Spirit (as represented to
us by various titles and attributes in Scripture) are most oppos
ed. We are therefore now,
II. To inquire concerning the evil suffered hereupon ;
or which we may expect will be inflicted on persons on this ac
count : namely, his turning against them so as to become their
enemy. Here we should speak distinctly,
1. Concerning the nature of this evil; and,
2. Concerning the issue of it, and how justly it does ensue
in this case.
1. Let us consider the nature of this evil, and shew what is
imported in it. And here something is expressed, and some
thing is implied in the words of my text ; " therefore he turned
to be their enemy, and he fought against them." It is implied,
that he shall cease doing for such a people as he hath done. If
246 THE SIN AND CONSEQUENCE (sER. V.
he was wont formerly to be a bountiful, liberal benefactor, he
shall stop his hand. And especially it is to be expected, that
we should be so dealt with in that very respect, wherein we
have been vexatious : that is, Have we vexed the Spirit of
God ? then it is natural to expect that the Spirit of God will
retire. This is certainly implied in his becoming an enemy to
us. If he become an enemy, it is not likely he should hold
that friendly commerce, which sometimes he hath done. If
God become our enemy, his Spirit shall withdraw from us ;
shall not strive, nor wrestle with us. And then also these words
express some positive evils against such persons ; which t
might instance in many particulars, but cannot now mention
them.
2. I am to consider how justly this penal evil does ensue
in this case ; namely, that God should turn against those, who
rebel and vex his Spirit. This is to be collected from the
greatness of the evil done. Consider therefore how just cause
and matter of provocation, this injurious dealing with the Spirit
of God doth carry in it. Particularly,
(1.) Consider that this is very despiteful dealing, to do
that which will vex his very Spirit. Sinners of this kind are
expressly said to do " despite unto the Spirit of grace." Heb.
10, 29 And surely to do that, which must directly contradict
the very business and design of the Spirit, is a most spiteful
kind of wickedness.
(2.) Consider that this is a wickedness, wherein the most im
mediate kind of affront is offered unto God. He deals with
men in a more distant way when he deals with them in his pro
vidence, or the outward manifestation of his will in his word.
But when he comes to deal with the spirits of men, and to have
his work within them, and their spirits resist and oppose him ;
there is then a most immediate contest between the blessed
God and them. And we cannot but think this is a high pro
vocation unto God, and reckon upon this issue, that he must
hereupon become our enemy. And,
(3.) It is to be considered that sinning so as more directly to
vex the Spirit of God, does carry with it a withstanding of the
Spirit in that which is its proper office ; which is a great ag
gravation of the wickedness. It is one thing when I withstand
a person in a thing, which he does casually and by the by ;
and another when I withstand him in that, which is his stated
business. It is, you know, reckoned a high affront among
men to be resisted, and withstood in an office. To oppose an
ordinary, private person, is but a small matter in comparison of
affronting an officer, in the execution of his office. The Spirit
SER. V.) OF VEXING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 247
of God, when it is about the work of diffusing gospel light and
grace, is in the work of its own office. And when persons do
such things as are vexatious in this respect ; that is, oppose
and withstand the holy Spirit in its proper stated business, this
must needs be highly provoking. It is a bold and insolent af
front done to the blessed God ; and therefore may well infer
upon such a people that dreadful thing that God should turn
against them, and become their enemy.
III. Now as to the use (though these matters have been more
lightly touched and considered, than the matter required for
want of time) we may' infer the following things.
1 . We may infer hence, that among a people professing the
name of God, the Spirit of God is wont to be at work ; and
where it is not doing any work, we cannot suppose it to be thus
vexatiously resisted, and contended against. It was the testi
mony that Stephen bore against this people, even dying, that
they constantly rebelled, and vexed the Holy Spirit. " Ye do
all ways resist the Holy Ghost : as your fathers did so do ye."
Acts j. 51. Now what doth this imply ? Inasmuch as it is
said expressly that there was a war kept up against the Spirit of
God, from age to age, and from generation to generation ; it
implies, that as they were from age to age a professing people,
so from age to age the Spirit of God was still, more or less,
striving with them : or else how could they be said always to
resist ? Where there is no striving, there is no resisting. We
ought therefore to consider this, that ordinarily where the gos
pel is professed; there the Spirit of God is at work, more or
less ; though not always so, as to prevail. It is a free Spirit ;
and works, as the wind blows, where it listeth, and to what
degree also. But I conceive, that in all those who live under
the gospel, the Spirit of God moves at some times, in one
degree or another. For it is hardly to be imagined, that any
should wear out a life's time under the gospel, and not, one
time or other, have the injection of some good thought, some
check or rebuke, as to their evil course ; and some inclination,
at least, to return, and alter their course. And I doubt not
but there is a parity between these two cabes ; that is, as in mat
ters of consolation the Spirit of God co-operates with our spirits,
so he doth in matters of conviction, whether it ever becomes
effectual or no. So that I reckon it most safe, and most hon
ourable to God, when any injection of that kind is made in the
conscience of any man, that lives under the gospel, to ascribe
it to the Spirit in its common operations.
2. We are hereupon to reflect and consider, whether this
may not be much our case and the case of the generality at
548 THE SIN AND CONSEQUENCE (ER. V,
this time, even thus like the Jews to have vexed the holy
Spirit of God, which hath been for a long season dealing with
us. Recount with yourselves the particulars mentioned; and
think whether there has not been a great deal of vexation given
the Spirit of God in those several ways. But I cannot stand
now to remind you of them.
3. Let us be hereupon persuaded to hasten the taking up
this controversy (for it is a dreadful thing to have it depending)
by humbling, and abasing ourselves in the dust, before the
Lord ; for ourselves on our own account, and on the behalf of
the generality of those among whom we dwell. Surely this
ought to be much the business of such a day as this, even deep
ly to humble ourselves before the Lord, for the vexation given
to his Spirit ; and that our temper, course, and spirits run sp
directly counter to him. We should not want matter of hu
miliation for many such days, if we did but seriously consider
this case ; though every day should be kept a fast, and as a day
of humiliation on this account. And indeed it is sad, when
the matter of humiliation is so very great and manifest, there
should be any appearance of declining these occasions, or of
shyness in closing with them. We desire to bless God for it,
that it is in the hearts of any to join us, but yet it cannot but
be observed that there is too great a coolness ; and many per
sons are easily diverted, it is to be feared, from closing with
such occasions as these. And methinks it is more especially to
be observed, that but few masters of families do appear before
God, at such times and on such occasions ; who might repre
sent their families, and in the name of them come and lie pros
trate at the foot of the throne of grace.
Give me leave but to reflect upon a passage, which is not un
worthy of our notice upon this occasion. They are the words
of those idolatrous women that burned incense to the queen of
heaven, who said to the prophet Jeremiah ; " When we burnt
incense to the queen of heaven* and poured out drink-offerings
unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out
drink-offerings unto her without our men ?" Jer. 44. 19. 'Did
not they come and fall in with us ?* It is a sad case, if the men
of our times cannot be as forward to fall in with the ways and
methods of atoning God, and pacifying his displeasure against
us, as they were in those days in ways pf so high provoca
tion !
4. Let us apply ourselves particularly and with great ear
nestness to supplicate the continuance of the Spirit, where it
remains breathing in us ; and the restoring it, where it had
been in any measure restrained. O, how loud and impor-
SBR. V.) OF VEXING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 249
tunate should our cries be upon this account ! It is a fearful
thing to lie under the guilt of continual vexation to the Spirit of
God. You know there is a particular accent put upon such wick
edness. You know there is such a thing as the sin against the
Holy Ghost, in an eminent sense; and we had need to take heed
of every gradual approach unto it. I do not think that every sin
against the Spirit of God, is that sin against the Holy Ghost ;
but we had need, I say, to look to ourselves as to any gradual
approach to it. For how great is the censure laid upon that
sin ! It is therefore a fearful thing to have our heart and way
bent against the way and course, the tendencies and motions of
the Holy Ghost.
And when we consider the matter in this light, what reason
have we to cry out, as we find the Psalmist does ! " Cast me
not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from
me." Ps. 51. 11. It is a great matter God hath against us,
when he hath this to charge us with, namely the vexing of his
Spirit. It is a part of the charge against Sodom, that they
vexed Lot's righteous spirit. 2 Peter 2. S. It is mentioned
as a high aggravation of their wickedness that they vexed
the spirit of a righteous man. But how much more heinous
a thing is it to vex the Spirit of God ! Is it (says the prophet
Isaiah) a small thing to weary men, but wili ye weary my
God also ? Jsai. 7- 13. And the mpre we apprehend the
heinousness of this matter, the louder should our cry be,
" Take not away thy holy Spirit from us, that Spirit, which
we have vexed, grieved, and done so much to quench."
And to this purpose consider, before I conclude, these two
things.
(1.) The exigence of the case, and the necessity of having this
Spirit. Alas ! what will become of us when this Spirit is gone,
quite gone and breathes no more ? What do we conceive of
ourselves, we that carry about with us bodies of flesh, animated
by a living soul ? What becomes of us when that spirit retires,
and is gone ? into what noisome putrid carcasses do we turn in
a short time ! and what a miserable carcass will that church
become, out of which the Spirit of God is gone ! a body with
out a soul ! an unmoving breathless thing ! If God should leave
us the gospel, and the external frame of ordinances, what
will that avail us when the Spirit is gone ? The matter would
be with us, as with some noble stately mansion-house, that is
deserted of its great inhabitant. There you may come in, and
walk from room to room, and find no body, where there was
once great resort, and a great deal of splendour, pomp, and joy,
but now, nothing but desolation ! Such a thing will that church
be, out of which the Spirit of God, the great Inhabitant, is
VOL. vi. 2 K
250 THE SIN AND CONSEQUENCE (sER. Y.
gone. You might have gone to that ordinance and the other,
and have met with life ; but now no such thing ; there are the
empty rooms inhabited by no one.
We should therefore so apprehend the exigence of the case,
that our spirits may be awakened and stirred up, even with the
utmost importunity, to obviate and avert, as much as in us lies,
so great a calamity as this, and so great a death. The presence
and influence of the Spirit would stand us in the stead of a
great deal of mercy of other kinds. It was supposed, that to
have ministers and teachers in the church would overbalance
a great calamity, where it is said ; "Though the Lord give you
the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not
thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes
shall see thy teachers." Isai. 30. 20. But how much external
misery would it outweigh, to have this Spirit (so teaching as
none does) remaining among us ! So that it may well become
us still to be praying ; " Lord whatever thou doest, withdraw
not thy Spirit from us ! Rather tear our flesh, pour our blood
like water upon the ground, than cease to be pouring out thy
Spirit among us !" We should make this much the design of
all our prayers on such a day as this.
It may be, many are come before the Lord this day, to try
to deprecate and avert that wrath, which threatens us with ex
ternal calamities ; or that they may do something for the sav
ing their estates, and their pleasant delectable things : but
this is a low design. Rather say, " Let all these things go, if
thou wilt Lord, but let thy Spirit remain ! let that breathe, and
work in us still ; and do with us, in all external respects, what
thou wilt."
Let us labour thus, I say, to apprehend the necessity of our
case. It is not necessary that we should be rich, or in quiet,
or at liberty ; it is not necessary we should have such, and such
external accommodations; but it is necessary we should have the
Spirit : for they that have not the Spirit of Christ are none of
his. Rom. 8. 9. And again,
(2.) Apprehend too (wherewith I close) the possibility of suc
ceeding well, in our strivings and wrestlings with God, yet to
obtain more of his Spirit. It is itself a Spirit of grace, and
supplication ; and according as it is complied with in that, which
is its proper business and office, so we may expect more and
more plentiful effusions of it. We are therefore to look upon
this -as a hopeful case, if we set ourselves to strive with God
for his Spirit, that it shall not withdraw. But if it be an in
different matter with us, then are we lost before we are aware.
We feel death creeping upon us by degrees, and we re
gret it not ; death drawing near our vitals, but we mind it
not.
iR. V.) OP VEXING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 251
This is a sad case ; but if we, feeling a decay and languish-
ment, cry with importunity to God, the case is not hopeless.
He hath said, that he will give the Spirit to them that ask for
it ; and that he will pour out his Spirit upon us. Christ re
presents it as given to a child, as a boon from the Father ;
and that this gift is comprehensive of all good things. Matt.
7. 11. compared with Luke 11. 13. Nay, that the Spirit is to
us, as bread to a child ; for we can no more live without the
Spirit, than a child can without bread.
If we would therefore set ourselves a craving in good earnest,
and represent our case to the Father of spirits and mercies, his
bowels would work towards us ; and he would not long with
hold his Spirit from them, whom he sees to want it, and ask for
it. Therefore beg of God thus : " O Lord, behold a poor
company of creatures gasping for life ! thy Spirit is vital breath;
we are ready to die, if thy Spirit breathe not. Pity thine own
offspring, thou Father of mercies, and of all spirits I" Surely
then this Spirit will return ; for why should not we rest upon
his promise, who has said, that God will give his holy Spirit to
them that ask him ?
And we may the more boldly ask, because we may suppose
ourselves to be nearer those days, wherein there shall be a more
general pouring out of the Spirit ? And we might argue that
those days are nearer indeed, if there was a more general, and
importunate, and loud cry for this Spirit. This would import
that a great measure of it is already come, and that far greater
measures are coming. It would be an argument, that it would
be a Spirit of consolation and joy, life and vigour ; which would
make religion a glorious thing, and Christians shine and live,
both at once.
25 1 OBEDIENCE TO BE UNITEB (sKR. VI.
SERMON VI.*
James 1. 22.
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, de
ceivingyour ownselves.
limits of my time, since I intend to discourse to you
only this hour upon this scripture, will not allow me to re
flect much upon the context ; which is all suitable, and of the
same piece with the words of the text itself. We have at the
eighteenth verse a very high eulogy given us of the word of
God, as that which is the divine seed and principle of the new
birth j and out of which God's great and glorious work of the
new creation doth result. "Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his
creatures." Whereupon the exhortation, f( Be swift to hear,"
(ver. 19.) is grounded ; that is, be very covetous of all seasons
to wait upon the dispensations of this word. And then, at least,
we come to this caution here in the text ; " But be ye doers of
the word, and not hearers only." Though hearing the word is
the appointed means of this new creation ; and is that, which
* Preached at Haberdashers' Hall, September 16, 1677.
SER. VI.) WITH HEARING THE WORD. 253
by divine designation is able to save the soul of a man, by vir
tue of that efficacy which many times accompanies it from God ;
yet this is not to be understood, as if it should do any such
work upon them, who only give it the hearing, and no more.
And therefore the apostle thinks it seasonable, and necessary
to give this intimation by the way, upon what terms we might
expect so glorious an effect to be wrought by it : that is, sup
posing that we apply ourselves to attend upon it, with that
earnest intention of the mind, as those who have a design to
comply with, and to guide and govern their practice by the
word they hear ; otherwise all will come to nothing. " Be ye
doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own-
selves/'
We might recommend to you several propositions of di
vine truth from this scripture ; but we shall choose to col
lect, and gather up all as much as we can into one, for the sake
of greater dispatch, which you may take thus.
That it is a miserable self-deception for any to be hearers of
the word only, and not doers of it. And herein we shall speak
to these three things, as previous to the improvement of
it.
I. Shew what it is to be a doer of the word.
II. What to be a hearer only. And
III. Wherein those, of the latter sort, do so miserably de
ceive themselves.
I. We are to shew what it is to be a doer of the word. The
expression plainly imports a habit; according as we denomi
nate every person that is of such or such a calling or trade, from
the course and way of life which he follows. A doer of the word,
(voiYirat,} is not one that doth some single act, now and then,
which the word enjoins or directs ; but one whose wonted course^
and the business of whose life it is to obey the dictates of this
word, and who governs his life and the tenour of his actions by
it. Just as we find the phrase of a worker of iniquity is, in the
Old and New Testament, made use of to represent and hold
forth to us the course of those persons, who trade in sin.
They are said to be sin-makers, as the expression KXHOVOIUVTSS doth
emphatically note : their business is to work sin ; and they do
often exert their strength, and power that way. So we are to
understand in general, a doer of the word of God ; that is, one
whose business of his life it is to do it in a continual course.
And this supposes, and includes in it many things, which I shall
briefly hint to you.
1. It doth suppose a design, a formed fixed design, that this
shall be my course. Accordingly we have the Psalmist speak-
254 OBEDIENCE TO Bfi UNITED (sKR. VI*
Ins; to this purpose ; 'I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I
will keep thy righteous judgments : I have inclined mine heart
to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end." Ps. 1 19.
10. 112. As if he had said, " I purpose and intend so to do ;
and this is an intention I resolve to pursue, throughout my
whole course, from which nothing shall divert me." So in like
manner when we attend upon the dispensation of the word, it
^hould be with a settled design in our hearts, and a sincere
purpose to learn somewhat in order to practice j to apply and
accommodate to practice the truths we hear, and that are ca
pable of being applied to this purpose.
2. It carries with it a very serious applying of our minds to
understand what is the mind and will of God, which is held
forth to us in his word : that we content not ourselves to have
heard such and such things propounded to us ; but that we
distinctly apprehend the scope and drift of what we hear, and
what is the great thing aimed at in it. For we can never be
doers of the word and will of God blindly, and in the dark. It
is necessary that we understand and know it first. It is a way
we are to walk in with open eyes. A good understanding (says
the Psalmist) have all they, that do his commandments. Ps.
111. rO. He supposes a good understanding as necessary to
the doing the commandments of God. We cannot do them,
without having a right understanding of them. These words
do also imply (which seems to be the particular sense of them)
that a good understanding will certainly incline a man to keep
his commandments ; and that the keeping his commandments
will argue him to have a good understanding. And indeed he
is the wise man that understands this to be his interest, and
accordingly makes it his business to know, and practice the
mind and will of God.
3. It implies the use of our judgment in hearing the word,
in order to distinguish what is divine, and what is human. For
God hath thought fit that it should be so dispensed in the
world, by such hands and instruments as may too possibly ad
mit somewhat that is human into the dispensation of it. It is
so sometimes merely as to the manner of the dispensation.
There is nothing of this treasure that is conveyed to us by such
vessels, but it will, some way or other, taste of the vessel : and
that which we are principally to attend and mind, is t
close with that which is most substantial, as supposing it to be
altogether divine. It is also true sometimes that there may be
some error as to the matter, as well as the manner. And there
our desire ought to be of the sincere milk of the word, that we
may grow thereby, even as new-born babes. 1 Pet. 2. 2. New*
SER. VI.) WITH HEARING THE WORD. 255
born babes have a kind of discerning if the milk he pure, or if
there be any thing ill tasted or unsavoury in it. And there is a
certain kind of taste and relish, which belongs to the new crea
ture. (( Cannot my taste (says Job) discern perverse things r"
Job 6. 30. And this was the great commendation of the Be-
jeans, That they searched the Scriptures in order to know, whe
ther the things spoken to them by the apostles,were of God or no.
Acts 17. 11. And it was noted to be a piece of generosity in
them. They were more noble than they of Thessalonica, upon
this account. We are to make use of our judgment: as the
apostle prays for the Philippians, that they might abound in
judgment and all sense, spiritual sense ; that so they might
discern the things that differ, or approve those, which are more
excellent. Phil. 1. 9, 10.
4. It requires a great deal of reverence to be used in hearing
the word. So to hear it as that we may be doers, requires a
very reverential attendance upon it ; as considering, that this is a
revelation that comes from heaven, some part of which is now
to be held forth to us. It is a divine light, which, through such
a medium, is to shine forth to us. And there is certainly alto
gether a fault in this respect, among a great many professors of
religion ; that the reverence is wanting, which is due to those
sacred records that go under the name of God's word, and
which he claims and appropriates to himself, as his word. I
have wondered, I confess, to see how among scholars, and
learned men, there should be so great a veneration for some or
other notable pieces of antiquity, any aged volume, any old re
cord ; and how high a price and value have been- put upon
them. Now there is no such piece of antiquity as this in all the
world that we know of. The holy Scriptures, at least a great
part, are the most ancient writings in all the world. And it
should challenge a mighty reverence and veneration, to have a
word brought down, and transmitted to us, through so many
successive ages. But to consider it as a divine word, a reve
lation come from heaven, doth much more claim our re
verence. How strange a veneration did those Ephesians ex
press for that image, which, they were made to believe, fell
from heaven ! All Ephesus, as it is expressed, is a worshipper
of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down
from Jupiter : (Acts 19. 35.) as if all the city were of a piece, all
heart and soul upon that one tiling, which they believed to be
of heavenly descent. Now this word we are sure is a divine-
breathed thing ; for all Scripture is given by the inspiration of
God. 2 Tim. 3. 16.
Then it is that the word is like to be done, when it is receiv-
256 OBEDIENCE TO BE UNITED (SER, VI.
ed with reverence, not as the word of man, but of God : when we
in our own thoughts prefix that preface to every part of that
truth, which he himself hath prefixed to many parts and por
tions of it ; namely, " Thus saith the Lord," who is the Lord
of heaven and earth. It is his word, who made and sustains all
things by the word of his power. When therefore we look up
on this word as carrying the stamp of the majesty of God upon
it, then it is like to command the heart j but it will signify little,
till this is done.
5. To be a doer of the word supposes that we believe it, or
that our hearing of it be mingled with faith. It profits not
where it is not so j and signifies nothing, if there be not that
mixture. The word of God, says the apostle, works effectually
in them that believe. I Thess. 2. 13. But, as it is in ano
ther place, " The word preached did not profit them, not being
mixed with faith in them that heard it.*' Heb. 4. 2. And it is
never likely that men should practice that word, which they re
gard no more, than the word of a child. If any one, whose
truth you suspect, tell you this or that, it will signify little to
determine your practice, or to guide and influence any design
you have in hand. Now. to receive this word with faith, is to
rely upon the authority of the Speaker, or him from whom it
originally comes. <( This is the word of God. There is no
more doubt to be made of it, than whether the things be, or ex
ist which I see with my own eyes." For it is faith that sup
plies the room of sight, in reference to things that fall not un
der our eye. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen. Heb. 11. 1. "God hath said this ;
and therefore it is as sure, as if my own eyes saw it all." The
gospel is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that
believes ; but to them that believe not, it signifies nothing, it
has no power with them. Again,
6. It requires love ; a great exercise of love that the heart
may close with it. It is said of some, that they received not
the love of the truth that they might be saved. 2 Thess. 2. 10.
They had pleasure in unrighteousness. They had so much love
to wickedness, that they had none for truth. Therefore they
were left under strong delusions to believe lies, that they
might be damned. So you find things are connected there.
The love that is required here, is such as works out in sincere
desire of the milk of the word, that so we may grow thereby.
1 Pet. 2. 2. Also in delight ; for the soul hath a sweet and
savoury relish in it. "O how love 1 thy law !" (Ps. 119. 97)
says David : which was the name of that revelation of the mind
and will of God then extant ; and was sweeter to him, than
SKR. VI.) WITH HEARING THE WORD. 257
honey to his taste. Ps. 119. 103. Thy words (saith Jeremiah)
were found, and I did eat them ; and thy word was unto me
the joy, and rejoicing of my heart. Jerem. 15.16. The word
of God is then like to be done, when there is so dear a love to
it ; and the soul so taketh complacency in it, and unites to it,
that it becomes as it were consubstantiate with the soul itself.
And again,
7 It requires subjection ; an obediential subjection to it, and
compliance of heart with it. Receive with meekness (as it is
in this contest) the ingrafted word, which is able to save your
souls. James. 1. 21. There are many hearts of men so op
posite to the word of God, that when they meet with that in,
and from it, which is cross and adverse to their corrupt incli
nations, their spirits swell, and storni and tumultuate ; and
they are ready to say with those in the prophet, The word of
the Lord, which thou hast spoken to us, we will not hear. Je
rem. 44. 16. You must then receive it with meekness; that
is, so as to yield to it, how cross soever it may be to any pre
sent disposition of yours. The word has been so received by
gracious hearts, when it hath spoken terrible things. When
dreadful things were foretold by the prophet to Hezekiah, he
said; "Good is the word of the Lord, which thou hast spoken."
Isai. 39 8. Again,
8. It requires a previous transformation of the heart by it,
so as that the proper stamp and impress of it be upon the soul.
For the word can never be done by the hearer, but from a vi
tal principle ; of which it is itself to be the productive means.
So it is said to be in the eighteenth verse of this chapter, in,
which is my text ; "of his own will begat he us with the word
of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures."
If the new creature be not wrought by it in the soul, there
will never be that doing of the word, which is expected and
required. There must be an exemplar copied out from the
word upon our hearts ; and then we are to practice, and do
according to that exemplar: still comparing it with the first
idea, to be seen in the rule, or word itself. You obeyed (says
the apostle) from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered you. Rom. 6. 17- Or, as the words are capable
of being read, into which ye were delivered. That is, you
were cast into the very mould of the word ; and have re
ceived the stamp and impress of it upon your souls, and so
have obeyed it from the heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ in his
kingdom (in that part of it which is more appropriate and pe
culiar) rules over a willing people and is not a king of slaves.
He is obeyed with an inward inclination and propensity of
VOL, VI. 2 L
258 OBEDIENCE TO BE UNITED (SEE. VI.
heart. His power hath made his subjects willing ; that is, by
Writing his law in their hearts, which is the great promise of
the evangelical covenant. When souls are made the epistle of
Christ, having his mind transcribed, and written out upon their
hearts ; then it is they obey, and do the word, and never till
then. And then it requires also,
9. A faithful remembrance of it ; that is, of its rules accom-
modable to particular occasions as they occur. The apostle
subjoins here in the words following my text a representation
of the man that hears, without a design of doing the word ; who
says he, is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a
glass : for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and
straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. Jam. 1.
23. 24. If we apply the apostle's similitude fully unto the
purpose for which he brings it, it must not only have reference
to such an idea, as we have exhibited to us in the word ; or the
representation of what we now actually are, but also of what we
should be, both together. Looking into the word as into a
glass we have a representation made to us there, of the new
creature in all the lively lineaments of it ; and so we see what we
should be : and comparing ourselves therewith, we see what
we are; and wherein there is a deflexion, and disagreement
from our pattern. They that do only throw a transient eye up
on the glass, go away and forget what they see ; the image
vanisheth presently out of their thought. Therefore there
must be a perpetual image kept up before our eyes, by a faith
ful and continual remembrance of what the word of God repre-
senteth to us; to wit, of the true complexion of a Christian,
and wherein our own disagreeth ; that so upon all occasions we
may be able to correct thereby what is amiss ; and to direct
our way and course according thereunto. And then there must
be in the
Last place, an actual application of all such rules in the
word, to present cases, as they occur. Thy word I have kept
in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psal. Hi). II.
It is laid up in that repository and treasury for this purpose, to
be used as there is need and occasion. Therefore so skilful
ought we to be in the word of righteousnes, which hath enough
in it to make the man of God perfect, and thoroughly furnish
ed for every good work ; that upon all occasions, and whatever
work we go about, we may have our rule still in readiness to
apply, and actually may apply it to our case ; so as neither
on the one hand to walk dubiously, nor carelessly on the other.
For those are extremes to be avoided. A continual scrupulosity
is provided against by a continual acquaintance with the word,
SBR. VI.) WITH HEARING THE WORD. 259
and having rules always in readiness to measure particular ca
ses by as they occur ; and, on the other hand, carelessness is
inexcusable. For many walk without having any regard to
their own spirits, and matter it not whether they are right or
wrong. To have this word, as the measure of our lives, to ap
ply to upon occasion, is necessary in order to avoid these ex
orbitances ; the one whereof is so very uncomfortable, and
the other so very dangerous, and destructive. But then we
are,
II. To speak to the other thing a little ; namely, what is it
to be a hearer only ? By being a hearer only, we must not un
derstand every thing to be excluded, besides the bare external
act of hearing ; as if no more were intended by it, than the
outward act common to man with the brute creatures : for, un
doubtedly, there may be included in it many acts of the under
standing, and of the outward man. So to be a hearer only, is.
in the general to hear without any design of doing at all. For
when it is required that we should be doers, the meaning of it
is, not that we must be doers of all that is bidden and directed
by the word, just while we are hearing. Therefore that which
is required over and besides hearing, is a design to be doing the
word ; while, to be hearers only, is to hear without any previous
design of acting according to what they do hear. Some other
motives and considerations there are, which bring persons to
liear ; but as for the business of practice they intend it not.
It never came into their minds to look upon that as the true and,
proper end of hearing that they should do and practice what
they hear.
Now truth is but one, error is manifold. If there be but
one right end, that end is to be aimed at, which is practice.
And that we may be capable of this, but one entire frame and
right disposition of soul is required. But various are the ends,
and many are the ill principles and dispositions, which may
have place in the spirit of a man in reference to this matter,
It is, therefore, a manifold character, which I might give, if the
time would allow, of the hearer only. For as there is a mani
fold end ; and many indispositions, in the spirit of a man, to
the true end : so manifold are the characters of such as are
hearers only. Therefore we are not to suppose, that they all
belong to one and the same person j but some to one, and some
to another. There is,
I. The inattentive hearer; that taketh very little heed to
what he heareth. We ought (says the apostle to the Hebrews)
to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. He!). 2. 1 .
And set your hearts (says Moses) unto all the words which I
260 OBEDIENCE TO BE UNITED (sER. VI.
testify among you this day. Deut. 32. 46. He that never
intends to be a doer of what he hears, will very probably little
regard what he hears.
2. There is the inconsiderate hearer ; that never ponders
what he hears, nor compares one thing with another. I can
but name particulars to you, which might well be enlarged up
on. There is again,
3. The injudicious hearer; that never makes any judgment
upon what he hears, whether it be true or false. All things
come alike to him, he matters them not. Consideration is in
order to judgment, and judgment follows upon it. We deliberate
first, and then judge upon that deliberation. The inconsiderate
hearer, therefore, will be an injudicious one. There is also,
4. The unapprehensive hearer : who hears all his days, but
is never the wiser. Ever learning, but never comes to the
knowledge of the truth. No light comes in to him, and he
remains as ignorant after twenty years living under the gospel,
as he was at the h'rst.
5. The stupid, unaffected hearer ; that is as a rock and a
stone under the word. Nothing ever enters or gets within the
stony ground. Things are heard sometimes that even rend
hearts all to pieces, if rightly disposed ; things full of terror,
amazement, astonishment, and of dread ; but they are heard
by these without any trembling. Rocks and mountains may
shake and shiver sooner than they. Again,
6. There are your prejudiced, disaffected hearers ; who hear
with dislike, especially those things which relate to practice :
and with the greater dislike it may be, by how much the more
what they hear, relates to the proper end of hearing. They
cannot endure such things as aim at the heart, and con
cern the business and work of religion. And there are
again,
7. Your fantastical, voluptuous hearers ; that hear only to
please their fancy or imaginations. So they come on purpose
to try if they can hrar a pretty sentence, any fine jingle, some
flashes of wit. For it may be they have found some, who have
to do with this sacred word, that will allow themselves to be so
vain, as to gratify them in such things, when they come with
such an expectation. Of which temper I remember an an
cient saying, Dissoluti est pectoris in rebus seriis guaerere
voluptatem : it is a dismal token upon a person to seek for
the gratification of his fancy in serious matters. As if one
would bring music to another, that lay under the torture of a
broken leg ; how very incongruous would this be ! And such
we are to consider is the state of souls, all shattered, broken,
VI.) WITH HEARING THE WORD,
diseased, and maimed. This is the common case of those we
have to do with.* There are again,
S. Your notional hearers ; that are of somewhat a higher form
and sect than the others : who do not aim merely to have their
fancies and imaginations gratified by something light and flashy
but their understandings also. But it must be by some fine
notion, which they have not met with before. And so they
always come to learn some kind of novelty ; and if they cannot
meet with some new thing, which they have not met with be
fore, they go away with a great deal of dislike, and distaste, at
those they hear. With these, (and they are for the most part
of the same sort, and therefore we may join them together)
you may put,
9. Those talkative persons ; who only come to hear that they
may furnish themselves with notions for the sake of discourse :
or that, when they come into company, they may have some
thing just to talk of afterwards. Upon which a heathen mo
ralist reflects with a great deal of ingenuity. "That is (saith.
he) when they hear such moral precepts as the philosopher*
use to deliver, and press in the schools ; as all came into them
in words, so, with them, all go out in words. Which is just
the same thing, as if the sheep, when they have been grazing
all day, should come at night to the shepherd; and cast up the
grass they swallowed, to shew how much they had eaten.
Grass it came in, and grass it goes out again. The shepherd
does not expect this, but expects that of the grass they had
eaten that day, there should come milk and wool from the con
coction, and digestion of what they had eaten." It is much
that we have need to learn such documents as these from a
* The word here atxpoxratt, hearers only may remind one (says
the author) of an ancient word that is of affinity with it, namely,
tix.poaifji.ae.Tx ; of which this is the sense. It was the name of certain
songs and sonnets, joined with vocal and instrumental music, which
were wont to be used in the conclusion of stage-plays, wherewith
the hearers were entertained at the'r going out of the theatres. They
were also very frequently used in the close of banquets. Why ! the
word of God is looked upon as such an ax^oa/^at. and the things
contained in it as axpoa/^ara, so these [axpoara/] kind of bearers.
" Thou art," (says the Almighty to the prophet Ez< kiel) " unto
them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and
can play well on an instrument ; for they hear thy words but do
them not." Ezek. 83. 32. Such hearers there are who come only
to have their imaginations and fancies gratified with somewhat, that
may be delicious to them; and that is all that they aim at. These
sure are hearers only !
562 OBEDIENCE TO BE UNITED (SER. VI*
heathen. What ! because all we hear comes to us in words,
should it all come out in words again ? No, the end is surely
that it should be so digested, and concocted, as to yield work
and fruit, agreeable to what we hear. And then there are
again,
1 0. The censorious and critical hearers ; who come on pur
pose not as doers of the law, but as judges. They come to
see what they may carp at, and so to pass their verdict. " Were
such and such things rightly methodized ? such and such words
well placed ? was there an exact concinnity in what was said?'*
.and the like. This now is all the design they have in hearing
the word. And then there is another sort too, and we have
some experience, I am afraid, of too many such, in the age
and day wherein we now live, and that is,
Lastly, Malicious hearers ; that come on purpose to seek an
advantage against those, they come to hear, particularly from
what they preach. By this sort, you know, our Saviour was
often pestered : who came to hear him ; and to put questions
to him ; and so gave him occasion to speak, only to entrap
and insnare him. To which maybe added your raging exas
perated hearers, such as Stephen's were at his last sermon; who
gnashed upon him with their teeth, and could not forbear vio
lence to his precious life, upon their hearing him. Thus you
ee the characters of those that are hearers only, which are va
rious and manifold. I shall only touch upon the
III. Thing, namely, to speak to the self-dec'eption of such
persons. And here I shall shew, wherein such are deceived;
,and the grossness of the deception itself.
1. Wherein such are deceived. And they are certainly so,
(1.) In their work. For they commonly think they have
done well ; and they find no fault with themselves, that they
have been hearers only. And then
(2.) As to their reward they are also deceived. They get
nothing by it all this time. That, and their labour are lost.
" Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continu-
eth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the
word, this man shall be blessed in his deed" Jam. 1. 25. But
they never go away with a blessing ; most certainly they miss
of it, who are hearers only.
2. For the grossness of this deception, it will appear to be
very great, if we consider,
(1.) That they are deceived in so plain a case. For it
is the plainest thing in the world, that the gospel is sent
in order to practice. Now how strange is it, that men should
fee deceived in a thing so plain ! What can the gospel be sent
SEE. VI.) WITH HEARING THE WORD.
for but only In order to practice ? What other aim, or end, can
it possibly have ? As might be shewn in many particulars, if
time gave leave. And,
(2.) It is self-deception ; for they are said to deceive them
selves ; which is a far other thing, than when the matter is
Wont to be expressed passively only, and in softer terms. As
to say to a person, " Sir, you are mistaken ; you are deceived
and imposed upon." This, I say, is much gentler, than to
say of a man, that he deceiveth and imposeth upon himself. For
this carries in it an intimation, that men do use some industry
in the matter ; that they industriously deceive themselves, as
indeed it must be so in this case. For if men did not use some
art or contrivance, they could never have hid these things from
their own eyes ; particularly, that this word is sent to be the
guide of men's practice. And to overlook such a thing as this
all their days, ^as those men must be supposed to do who are
hearers only) is miserable deception. It is their trade, and a
poor trade the Lord knows ! And they must be supposed to
have used a great deal of artifice with themselves, to veil so
plain a case as this from their own eyes and view ; so as not
to understand, that the gospel is sent to be their rule of
practice, in order to their attainment of a happy state at
last.
And now, to shut up all with a little application we may
learn hence,
1. That persons are apt to overlook the main of their duty,
and take up with some lesser parts.
2. That in the very business of hearing the word, there is
great danger of self-deception, if persons do not carefully watch
against it. And again,
3. We may learn, that the whole business of the gospel hath
a designed reference unto practice. Be not hearers only, but
doers of the word. As if he had said, Do not satisfy yourselves
with merely hearing the word of God, as if there was nothing
in it conducing, or referable to practice, as generally the
things contained in it manifestly have ; for this alone is
not sufficient to answer the end and design of the gospel.
Again,
4. We may learn, that it is a duty of very great concern
ment to attend upon the word preached or to be a hearer
of it ; for the whole business of our practice is to be consequent
thereupon. It is then of great consequence to be a hearer of
the word ; and as much as this duty is neglected by many, the
whole stress lies upon it of the design and end, for which the
gospel comes into the world. The gospel signifies nothing
2C4 OBEDIENCE TO BE tJNlTED (sER. VI 4
unless it be believed, and this " faith cometh by hearing."
Rom. 10. 17. There are many persons that humour and please
themselves in talking against so much hearing, and so much
preaching ; and think it a vain, and needless thing. But that
is certainly because they have little considered what hearing,
and preaching are for. If it were only for the minister to teach,
and the hearers to learn some new thing not known before,
truly all necessary truth, by attentive diligent inquirers, might
be learnt in a little while. But it is rather to urge and incul
cate things, which were known before. Therefore when the
apostle had said, that it is by the word of truth that we are be
gotten of God, to be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures, he
presently adds, " Be swift to hear." Jam. 1. 18, ID. As if
he had said, these things ought to be often urged, and incul
cated upon you ; that so the product thereof, to wit, the new
creature may be sure in you. If this be not done at one time,
it may at another ; some time or other it may be effected.
Therefore be swift to hear, your life lies upon it. But
then,
5. And lastly, You see of what consequence it is to add do
ing, to the hearing the word. And for that I need to give no
other encouragement than that of our Lord at the close of his
sermon on the mount. "Whosoever heareth these sayings of
mine, and doeth them ; I will liken him unto a wise man which
built his house upon a rock : and the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house ;
and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. But, (says he,)
Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them
not ; shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house
upon the sand : and the rain descended, and the floods came,
and the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell, and
great was the fall of it." Matt. 7. 24 27- And I cannot upon
consideration of this but apprehend, that, as the stability of
many (I hope) hath been promoted by the much preaching^
and hearing of our times ; so there are many (I am afraid) near
to a very dreadful fall, who have been hearers only of Christ's
sayings, but never minded to be doers of them.
And I must needs think it strange, if we have not among us
a general apprehension of the danger of losing our opportuni
ties of hearing the word of God. We have these upon such
terms, that we should, methinks, reckon ourselves always in
danger. And if we have any cause for that apprehension,
what in all the world can we imagine more provoking, and
likely to infer such a doom and judgment upon us, as the pe
nury of the word of God, than to be hearers only, without any
SER. VI.) WITH HEARING THE WORD. 265
design to be doers of it ? Whereas if we did but set ourselves,
with a more earnest design, to apply, and turn all that we
hear, into fruit and practice ; it may be this might prevent
such a stroke as we are not without reason to dread, nor with
out grounds to fear. But if we should not prevent it, yet it
would be a very comfortable thing however in a cloudy, dark
and gloomy time, to be able to make such a reflection as this ;
" Blessed be God, while I had such seasons, I laboured to im
prove them as well as I could. I laboured to take all oppor
tunities that I could,- to hear with a design to do, to quicken
and help me to move onward in Christian practice." It will,
I say, be very comfortable to be able to make such a reflection
in a time of gloominess and darkness which it is possible we
may see, and how soon we know not. And if in such a season
we should be able to make this reflection, it would be a hap
py provision for us against it. It would suppose us to have
gotten some stock, some treasure within us, which we might
draw forth. We should then have the word within us, which
when we should lie down, rise up, or walk, might commune
within us j and so we be capable of being preachers to our-
ielves.
In a word, if ever we should come to such a state of things,
that we should never see the face, nor hear the voice of a mi
nister of God's word, where our lot is cast ; if we should wear
out our days in a wilderness, a desert, or a cave ; it would be
comfortable to have this word a companion to us, and ingrafted
into us, which is able to save our souls : it would be comfort
able, I say, to have a stock of divine truth to live upon, when
we should, as to the external dispensation of it, be in penury
and want. Let these things, therefore, move us to a more
earnest endeavour to be doers of the word, and not hearers
only.
VOL, VI. 2 M
266 THE PARABLE OJf (sER. VII,
Luke 18. 18.
And he spake a par able unto them to this end, that men
ought always to pray, and not to faint ; saying, There was
in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded
man : And there was a widow in that city ; and she came unto
him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would
not for a while : but afterward he said within himself,
Though I fear not God, nor regard man ; yet because this
widoiv troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual
coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the
unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect
which cry day and night unto him t though he bear long with
them?
"Y purpose is not to give you a particular explication of
this parable. The design of it is sufficiently seen in the
application of it, which our Saviour here makes. All that I
shall at present do shall be to shew you, with all possible bre
vity, the strength of the reasoning which our Saviour here useth,
from the importunity and success of this widow; in order to
'* Preached at Mr. Case's, September 29, 1676.
SKR. VII.) THE UNJUST JUDGE,
encourage our addresses to God, and a continuance therein
without fainting. And his argument to this purpose may be
seen to be very strong and cogent if we consider these two
things in the general.
I. The parity of reason between the case heargueth from, and
that which he argueth to.
II. The superiority of reason, which is in the latter case,
above the former. For so we must understand him to argue,
partly apriori, and partly a fortiori. And the strength of
the argument both ways we shall endeavour to make out unto
you.
III. We shall make application of the whole.
I. I am to consider the parity of reason between these two
cases ; which you may conceive especially in these four
things.
1. That here was distress in the one case, and there is dis
tress in the other. This widow comes to this judge in a very
distressed case, as it should seem, though it be not particularly
expressed ; only it appears she was very much grieved, and that
there was a great deal of wrong done her. And so in the
other case, the elect of God are always very much injured; and
they sustain a great deal of wrong from this evil world, in which
they are. And surely if this unjust judge was moved with the
distress of this suppliant, there is a great deal of reason to sup
pose, that distress will be moving in this case also ; and that
the elect will be heard, when they make their cries to heaven,
urged by their own distresses.
2. There appears to have been justice in the one case, as we
are sure there is justice in the other. This widow's did appear
to be a just cause. She comes with this request to the judge,
that he would avenge her of her adversary. The word E^x^oy,
there used, signifies, Right me of my adversary. She came to
petition a matter of right, and all that she desired was to
have right done her. And there is a great deal of right in
the other case also. " It is a righteous thing with God (says
the apostle) to recompense tribulation to them that trouble
you ; and to you, who are troubled, rest with us, when the
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty an
gels." 2Thes. 1. 6', 7- And again,
3. There was importunity in the one cas-% and there is im
portunity in the other. Why then should not success be hoped
to correspond in this case, as well as that ? This widow was so
urgent, that the judge was sensible of a grievance in it ; and
found a necessity upon himself to do her right, lest he should
he wearied by her importunity. The elect too are represented.
268 THE PARABLE OP (SER. VII.
as crying night and day ; that is, the loud voice of their pray
ers is not by fits, only now and then, but is continued, and in
cessant ; as night and day take in the whole complex of time.
And do you think then, saith our Saviour, that God will not
hear their cry ? Besides,
4. There is an obligation by office to do right, both in the
one case, and in the other. The person, to whom this woman,
applied herself, was a judge in the city. Now it is known,
that in several of the more eminent cities of Israel, there were
constituted stated judges, to whom all persons might have re
course, and bring their grievances, in order to their being re
dressed. So that this woman doth not come to a person ,un-
concerned. She does not request, that an occasional kindness
might be done her ; as one might request such a thing of any
one, when in necessity : but she comes to an appointed person,
to one who by his office was obliged to right her. And God
hath been pleased to take upon himself such an office, and to
make himself known by the name of the Judge of all the earth ;
that all might know whither to apply, and to whom they may
appeal and address themselves. And why is not right to be
expected in this case, as well as in the other ? So far this
parable gives us ground to argue from a parity of reason.
But,
II. It gives us ground also for arguing from a superiority of
reason too, in sundry respects. As, In respect of the sup
plicants in the one case, and the other : in respect of the per
sons supplicated in the one case, and the other : and- in re
spect of the supplication itself in the former case, and the lat
ter compared.
1. There is very prevailing and much stronger reason in the
latter case, than in the former ; if we consider the supplicants
in both, and compare them. In the former case you have a
poor woman ; and here we are to consider,
(1.) That she was a single woman, only one person who
comes to make her complaint to this judge : but in the other
case you have a community, the whole body of the elect. How
vast is the disproportion here! This great body joining in one
cry, surely that must needs be unspeakably more prevailing !
And,
(2.) (For we can but speak shortly to so many things as are
before us) This was but an ordinary woman, of an inferior rank,
by any thing that appears ; that is, she is not mentioned here
under any remarkable particular character, that might add
weight to her cause and suit : but this community is a choice
community ; the elect ; a community of very peculiar persons,
SER.YII.) THE UNJUST JUDGE. 269
that are severed from the rest of men, a">d distinguished by
God's own special seal set upon them. As when God's por
tion in the several tribes was spoken of, there were sealed of
such a tribe, so many thousands ; and of such a tribe, so many
thousands. Rev. 7- 4. &c. All God's elect ones, are sealed
ones ; they carry a mark of honour upon them. " The founda
tion of Godstandeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knowetb,
them that are his." 2 Tim. 2. 19. And,
(3.) The supplicant was unrelated to him, to whom she
makes her supplication. We do not find, that she pretended
to any relation to him at all ; only comes to him as the judge
of her city. But in the other case, the supplicants are God's
elect ; his own peculiar people that he had taken, and made
nigh unto himself: "called, and chosen, and faithful," as you
have those expressions put together in Scripture. Rev. 17- 14.
And do not we think then, that a more especial regard will be
had here ? Besides,
2. There is a great superiority of reason in arguing from the
one case to the other, if we consider the persons supplicated j
or to whom the addresses are made in each case. In the ge
neral, in one case it is man ; in the other, it is God. And
particularly,
(1.) In the former case it was a wicked profane person, to
whom the address was made ; one that did neither fear God,
nor regard man : good to no one, neither to God nor man ; a
vile wretched creature, wrapt up within himself; who studied,
and consulted nothing but his own ease, and peace ; having no
fear of God before his eyes, nor any regard to man. But in
the other case, you have the holy God addressed to ; whose na
tural, essential holiness, is a perpetual law and obligation to
him, to do always that which is best. His essential rectitude
cannot but do such things, as have an agreeable rectitude in
them to his own very nature.
(2.) In the one case it was a merciless man, that was ap
plied to; in the other, a merciful God. How much stronger
is the reason ! This judge was a man who had no mercy, no
pity to any one, but to himself. He took some pity of himself in
deed, that he might not be wearied out with continual clamours
and cries ; otherwise, it seems, his heart knew no pity, there
were no bowels of compassion rolling, or working in him. But
in the other case, it is the Father of mercies who is addressed,
and appealed to. It is he with whom there is so abundant pi
ty, and kindness ; so strong a propension and inclination to do
good to the necessitous and miserable, only because his will in
clines and leads him thereunto : the Spring and Fountain of all
70 THE PARABLE OF (SER. Til.
that pity and mercy, that is any where to be found, diffused
among his creatures. If parents pity their children ; if there
lie bowels gathering in any towards the afflicted and distressed ;
from what spring, from what fountain did all this proceed ? All
must come from some original or other ; and they can be de
rived from no higher, neither are they to be derived from any
lower, than this great Father of mercies. And what ! shall not
he hear his elect ? And again,
(3.) It was, in the former case, an unjust man that was sup
plicated ; here it is the just and righteous God. As his holi
ness doth oblige him in general to do that, which is right and
,fit to be done ; his justice, as a particular attribute in his ge
neral character, inclines him in this case to administer, and
execute justice. As he hath been pleased mercifully himself to
lay down a rule and law of mercy, in reference to those that
are his (though it be impossible that God can injure a man in
any thing, yet it is possible that men can injure one another ;
and very certain also that those are the worst used by the world,
who have such a near relation to him, and whom he hath chosen
and gathered out of the world) so here in this case, when there
is a proper object of vindictive justice, shall not the Judge of
all the earth do right, to whom righteousness belongs as part
of his peculiar glory ? And then again,
3. There is, in respect of the supplication on the one hand,
and on the other, a great superiority, and triumphant prevalen-
cy of reason. For, in the former case, consider,
(1.) The matter of the petition of this widow; and that was
only a private good, that she sought for herself: and consider
also the petition of the elect of God. They have all one com
mon concernment, wherein the interest of God is involved
with theirs. So that whatsoever they supplicate for, as the
-elect of God, must needs be a matter that is so far public ; that
is, wherein they all agree, and in which their hearts and de
sires do meet, and concur. It is one thing for a particular
person to desire to be gratified in some particular, private con
cernments ; and another thing to insist upon such matters as
are common to us, with all the elect of God. And this it is to
be supposed is the matter of the supplications of the elect unto
God in this case. It is that, wherein all the elect do concea-
tre and wherein all their desires do meet.
(2) Look to the manner, and style of the supplication ; on
the one part, and on the other. This woman comes in her
own name, but the supplications of the elect of God run in
another style ; they come all in the name of the great Media
tor, and Intercessor. And is there not unspeakably more rea-
SER. VII.) THE UNJUST JUDGE.
son, that we should expect their supplications to prevail ? They
come in the name of him, who is most nearly related to the
Judge, and to them. " We have an Advocate with the Fa
ther, Jesus Christ the righteous. 1 John 2. 1. It is said in
definitely, with the Father : not of his, or our Father ; but
the common Father of him, and us, as we are to understand it.
And since with him we have such an Advocate, shall we not
hope to prevail ? Again,
(3.) Consider the principle of the one's supplication, and
that of the other. We must suppose this woman's supplication
to be dictated by her own sense of the urgency, and necessity
of her case ; and the unrelievableness of it by any other way
than that of addressing herself to the known judge. In short,
it was her own private spirit that dictated her supplication ;
for she alone knew her own need, felt her own necessity. But
the prayers of all the elect of God have another principle.
When they know not what to pray for, they are furnished with
matter, and with sighs and groans at once. Rom. 8. 26. There
is a spirit appointed on purpose, known by the name of the
" Spirit of grace and supplications j" whose business it is to
indite requests for the elect of God, and to strive and to wres
tle with him : which is strongly moving at the same time in
their own breasts ', so as that their hearts, and the heart of
God, as it were, are united, and joined by that Spirit. Shall
they not then hope to prevail ? They may say, when they are
putting up such prayers as are the common sense of all the
elect of God ; " Lord, I do not speak of myself now. Thou
hast taught me to pray. This prompts me to it, and puts me
upon it ; and 1 had never prayed so, nor uttered such cries :
and such desires had not entered into my heart, if thou hadst
not put them there." And shall not God hear his own elect
offering up petitions of his own bespeaking ? And desires of his
own creating shall not he answer ? Doth he stir up desires on
purpose to disappoint them ? or, will he make his people re
fuse to pray, by denying their petitions, and casting their pray
ers back upon their hands ? And then,
(4.) Consider the end of one's supplication, and thftt of the
other. The end that this woman aimed at, was nothing but
self-advantage, to be relieved herself ; but the end of the
elect of God in their supplications, is somewhat wherein their
interest is jointly concerned with his in reference to those great
concernments, which belong to the whole body. They know
he hath a concern twisted with theirs ; and so can speak it,
with Daniel, as the real sense of their hearts, " Do, defer not,
for thine own sake, O my God : for thy city, and thy people
272 THE PARABLE OF (SJ5R. Vlf
are called by thy name." Dan. 9. 19. This is the common
sense of all the people of God : " Thou hast not been ashamed
to be called our God. Thou hast taken us into a near relation
unto thee. It is a grievous thing to be twitted with our God.
It is as a sword in our bones to have it said to us, Where is
your God ? Thy concernments and ours are one ; do therefore,
and defer not for thine own name's sake." In this strain do all
the supplications of the elect run. So that in all these respects
you see there is a great superiority of reason, if such a widow
should succeed well in her private request to such a judge, why
all the elect of God should much more succeed in the requests,
which they are day and night making to the great Lord of hea
ven and earth. And therefore,
III. Briefly to apply all this, we learn ;
1 . How great a privilege it is to have this matter clear to us,
that we are of the elect of God ; and how much therefore we
are concerned to make our calling, and election sure ; for then
we find ourselves to belong to a community, that are continually
praying prayers which shall be sure to prevail. And how great
a privilege, how blessed a thing is this ! Methinks when we un
derstand how certainly the elect of God shall be heard, who
are crying to him night and day ; we should be at this work,
night and day, poring into our hearts, till we are certain of this,
that we are the elect of God. Then we shall be sure to put up
all prosperous and acceptable prayers, when they are all of the
same sense, and run in the same channel, as theirs are wont
to do. And again,
2. We are to collect hence, that the elect of God, as long as
they continue in this world, are to bear the character of pray
ing ones. To be acted by a spirit of prayer, and to have con
tinually a praying disposition, is characteristical of the elect of
God, who are gathered in from among the common refuse of a
sinful world. Therefore we had need to look well to ourselves
concerning this thing. How stand our hearts Godward ? Are
they formed unto prayers ? Is it become even a spiritually na
tural thing to us to pray ? As natural as breathing is to a living
man, sooiatural a thing is praying to the new creature, and as
agreeable. The elect are supplicants day and night. The great
business of their lives is prayer. Thi's is that, to which the
heart of an elect person doth impel him ; so far as he is himself,
and hath the true genius and spirit working in him, which is
common to all the elect of God, and also peculiar to them.
And again, we are to learn hence,
3. In how wretched a case they must needs be, who are the
stated, aud habitual enemies of the church of God in the worldr
SER. VII.) THE UNJUST JUDGE. 273
It is a fearful condition that such men are in, to have all the
elect of God crying against them, night and day. What will
become of this matter at last? Who, that considers the case,
would not dread to be found in such a condition as these are
in ? to be one against whom all the elect of God are joining
their requests, night and day, and exhibiting complaints ! For
they do in common pray against the enemies of the name, and
interest of God : and so every one is involved, and the cry of
this whole community goes against each individual ; that is,
supposing them to persevere in a course of enmity to the in
terest of our Lord, and his Christ. So that this might make
any heart to tremble, to think what this is like to come to, and
what it must needs infer. What fearful storms of wrath and
vengeance will be plucked down at length upon their heads,
against whom all the elect of God are continually joining their
requests ! And, in the last place,
4. We see hence, how unreasonable a thing it is to be des
pondent in prayer, or to faint in this duty, supposing that the
things we mainly insist upon are the common concernments of
the elect of God. This being supposed we pray securely. In
deed if we vainly and unwarrantably set our hearts upon this or
that particular thing, that would gratify ourselves ; and nothing
will serve our turn, but that we be so and so gratified ; we may
pray, and pray, and all to little purpose : for there can be no
acceptable prayer that is not the prayer of faith ; and that can
be no prayer of faith, which goeth beyond the bounds of the
promise. Therefore, if I pray for that, which was never pro
mised, I may thank myself if I succeed not.
There are some things that cannot be the matter of a uni
versal, absolute promise ; being things which are in themselves
of an uncertain, and variable nature : as all such things as have
no intrinsic goodness of their own, but may sometimes be good
to particular persons, and sometimes not. For circumstances
may so vary the case, that the good that is in them may be pre
ponderated by afar greater evil, if they should at that timebe giv
en. And whatsoever is a good of tin's nature ; that is, good or not
good, according as circumstances are, which often vary ; it is
apparent cannot be the matter of an absolute promise : for sup
posing circumstances so to vary, as that this should become an
evil, you would then have evil to be the matter of a promise,
which is contradictious and absurd. But since it is possible,
that external or worldly good things, yea, and some alsothatmay
be externally subservient to religion, may in some circumstances
do more hurt to the people of (God, who does with a gracious
care preside over their actions, and all things that have any re-
VOL. YI. 2 N
274 THE PARABLE OF (SER. Vlf.
sped to them, and who is best able to judge ; they cannot,
therefore, be the matter of his absolute promise. These things
may be more hurtful, than gainful, in such and such circum
stances ; and he sees how to do them more good by the want of
such things, than by the having of them. A less good, when
compared with a greater, is then to pass under the notion of
evil ; and it would, I say, be unreasonable to suppose evil to be
the matter of a promise. And where any thing of that nature
is not promised absolutely, but with a reserved latitude to the
wisdom, and goodness of our great Lord, and Ruler j our faith
can be exercised no otherwise about them, than according to
the tenour of such promises : that is, we may believe we shall
have such and such things, if God seeth good ; but if he seeth
not good, he will deny, or withhold them, even in mere good
ness and faithfulness to us.
But then in such things as are absolutely promised to all the
elect of God, there we may give room and scope to our 'faith.
And it is an unreasonable thing to be at all despondirig con
cerning the matter of such prayers : as it is, with respect ta
others also, no less unreasonable to admit the least doubt, that
we shall have such things if they be best for us; and what God
in his unerring wisdom discerns will be for our advantage.
Therefore let us settle this apprehension with ourselves, of how
great concernment it is to us in prayer, to insist on such things,
as are properly of common concern to the whole fraternity of
the elect; and therein to take heed of any diffidence, or dis
trust.
Great and glorious things are promised to be the portion of
God's elect in this world, at his own appointed time and sea
son ; but he hath not told us when that shall be. However we
may, with this peremptory faith, go unto God in prayer, that
he will make the kingdoms of the earth, the kingdoms of our
Lord, and his Christ, who shall reign for ever and ever ; that
the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established, above
all the mountains ; that there shall be new heavens, and a new
earth, wherein shall dwell righteousness. But we make all this
matter a private business, if we go and cry ; " Oh let it be so
now ! let it be in my time, that mine eyes may see it \" es
pecially if we- peremptorily insist upon it ; without reservation:
or submission to the supreme wisdom and will. Whereas if we
pray in general, that such things may be ; our hearts should be
full of hope, faith, and joy, in the apprehension that thus it
shall be ; and we cannot be without success, since it is the com-
Inon sense of all the elect of God.
And in matters, which respect the particular concernments
SER. VII.) THE UNJUST JUDGE. 275
of our souls, see that they be things of absolute necessity, and
that fall within the consent of all the community. Let us pray
against the body of sin and death ; that we may have grace kept
alive, and maintained and improved ; that we may grow, and be
carried on from strength to strength, till we reach "the measure
of a perfect man in Christ Jesus." This is the common sense of
all the elect ; and our prayers fall in with theirs, who have been,
wont to cry out against the body of sin and death, as the great
and most violent enemy they would be rid of. We may then be
sure that our prayers shall have effect, and not be lost ; and
that God will certainly hear them.
If we are praying for the divine presence ; he hath promised
that he will never leave, nor forsake those that cleave to him.
Heb. 13. 5. Whatever he may do to people in common, he will
never break the bond between himself, and that soul which is
one of his elect ; and when they cry, "Lord never leave me,
nor forsake me !" they shall be sure to be heard. When we
pray for the divine presence to be afforded more especially to
us, in reference to some special case, or season of trouble and
trial, this is what God will not fail to do. If his presence be
desired, 1 say, as to any special duty ; so it will be, and God
will hear us.
I hope you are desirous, and earnest in your prayers to God,
for his more immediate presence, in reference to that special
season of your approaching to the Lord's table. Sure all the
elect of God have been wont to do so, praying and striving that
they might at such times and seasons meet with God ; that
there might be a real intercourse, between their souls and him
(whom they love) to such a degree as to him seems best. Why,
God will hear all these cries, that are common to us, with all
the people of God ; and such prayers being directed to him,
shall not be in vain. Therefore we should take heed, upon
these accounts, that we faint not.
We must know that fainting may be either when faith lan-
guisheth, or desire. It is faint praying, when we pray as if
we cared not whether we prayed or no. The word Exxaxs/v here
rendered faint, in our text, is the same with that, which else
where is rendered weary. Let us not, txxxKuis.iv, be weary in
well-doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not:
(Gal. 6. 9.) that is, if ye be not sluggish in the course of well
doing. Take heed therefore of praying the sluggard's prayer,
or at the sluggard's rate. "The desire of the slothful kills him,
because his hands refuse to labour." Prov. 21. 25. His own
desires carry no life in them ; they are even death to his very
heart ; cold things that strike death into the soul, and put no
life into it.
276 THE PARABLE OF &C. SEE. VIT.
And then too when faith languisheth, it is faint praying.
" Let not that man," (says St. James) that is, the man who
wavers like a wave of the sea, and is driven of the wind and toss
ed ; " think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord." Jam.
1. 7> What ! come to God, as if we did not expect to get any
thing by God! and as if we agreed in the same sense with those
profane atheists, and symbolized with them who say, " What
profit is it that we have prayed to him or kept his ordinances ?"
go heartlessly into the divine presence ; give way to a cold, dull
spirit, in the very performance of the duty ; and never look
after the success of it when it is over. Such had as good ne
ver pray at all, who pray only to keep up a custom, and to
make a shew ; and that they may be able to say when all is
over, " The duty is done." Let not such think they shall re
ceive any thing at the hands of God ; such especially as come
to him with no expectation, and pray to him as to one that can
not save.
It is to cast infamy upon the great Object of our worship ; as
if we were only blessing an idol, when we pray to the true, liv
ing God, as if he were such a one as the idols of the Gentiles
are said to be, that have eyes but see not, ears but hear not,
and can neither do good nor hurt. It is no wonder if such pray
ing signify nothing ; for it carries an affront in itself. Every
such prayer is an indignity, and an insolent affront put upon
the great God : as if the injunction of this duty upon the chil
dren of men, was either unreasonable and to no purpose, and
so a reflection upon the wisdom of his law, who has command
ed us to pray j (inasmuch as that is always unwisely enjoined
that hath no end) or, as if there were no power in him to ac
complish what we come to him about, though we come accord
ing to his own direction. It cannot, I say, but be an affront
to God, either way, to come to him with desponding hearts.
In the former case, if our desires languish, we are worse than
the importunate widow ; in the latter case, if faith languish,
we make God worse than the unjust judge.
SERMON VIII.*
Rom. & 5.
Hope maketh not ashamed<~
TT will not be impertinent or unuseful to say something,
from this scripture, concerning this property of the Chris
tian's hope ; namely, that it maketh not ashamed. But let us
first, briefly consider the scope and series of the apostle's dis
course here, and see how this passage depends and is intro
duced.
We have here, after a long discourse touching our justifica
tion by faith in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, some ac
count of the privileges of a justified state in the beginning of
this chapter. As first, peace with God. "Being justified by
faith we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ/*
Ver. 1. And secondly, free access unto God, and the liberty
of his presence. " By whom also we have access by faith into
this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory
of God." Ver. 2. In which words we have also the patient,
joyful expectation of the glorious state, that was designed for
the people of God hereafter. And finally, cheerfulness in a pre-
* Preached at Jewin-Street, March 15. l6?5.
278 THE INFLUENCE (sER. VIII.
sent afflicted condition, is represented by the apostle as ano
ther privilege. And not only so, but we glory in tribulation
also. Ver. 3. It was no such strange thing, that they should
be found exulting in the expectation of so glorious a state, as
that which Christians look for hereafter ; but we have this also
to say (saith the apostle) concerning our case, that we can
glory in tribulation too, and triumph over all the difficulties
that accompany an afflicted condition. And of this, as having
something of a paradox in it, and appearing more strange he
gtveth the particular grounds and reasons. As
First : The knowledge of this truth, that tribulation work-
Cth patience. Ver. .3. We are, as if he had said, well pleased,
yea, and do even glory in our present afflicted condition upon
this ground, that we know, by this means, that patience will be
wrought out, We look upon it as a thing of very high value,
that the mere hope of so much gain should make per
sons glory in such tribulations, which seemingly otll for
other affections. Tribulation is not a pleasant thing to be glo
ried in of itself ; why then, or upon what account is it to be
gloried in r Why, upon this account, as that out of it the gain
of patience shall accrue, and result to us. By this we shall
have our spirits composed to a peaceful acquiescence in the
divine will, and the waywardness of our own wills shall be sub
dued and brought down. There is a future heaven to be en
joyed, a glorious he'aven ; and we rejoice in the hope of the
glory of that state : yea, and there is a present heaven too in
volved, and wrapt up in patience. When once the heart comes
tp be resigned, and rest quietly and peacefully in the divine
will, this is a present heaven ; and bears a great resemblance to
that which is future, and expected.
Secondly : The apostle adds, that of this patience there will
'be a further gain, to wit, of experience. Ver. 4. As patience
comes to be more and more exercised experience will grow.
And,
Thirdly : Of that experience shall spring hope, (ver. 4.) that
shall reach and touch the other heaven ; hope, as he had said
before, of the glory of God : (ver. 2.) even such hope as will
not make ashamed ; and that for this reason, because (saith
he) the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given unto us. Ver. 5. While we find, by
the Holy Ghost that is given to us, an effusion of the divine
love into our souls ; while we find this love shed abroad in our
hearts, and then testifying itself, as if there was an immediate
assurance of heaven ; this puts us out of all doubt that God
will never let our hope be disappointed nor end in shame.
SEE* VIII*) OF HOPE.
This is the order and contexture of the preceding discourses.
And as to this passage that we have chosen to insist upon, we
need not go about to vary the words, which you see are short
and plain ; " Hope maketh not ashamed :" only it is needful
to inquire,
I. Of what this is spoken. And then consider,
II. This particular property of it.
1. Let us inquire of what this is spoken, or what it is that
doth not make ashamed. It is here indefinitely said to be hope.
But though it is so generally expressed, yet, it is plain, it is
not meant of all hope. The circumstances of the text are suf
ficiently limiting, and teach us of what hope this is to be prin
cipally understood. It is hope of the glory of God j it is hope
that groweth out of experience ; it is hope that is maintained
by the love of God, shed abroad in the soul, through the Holy
Ghost given to it. It is in short then undoubtedly the Chris
tian hope that is here meant j and whereof we find this is ex
pressed, that it maketh not ashamed.
If you would have a more distinct account of this hope,,
take it thus : It is that sanctified affection of a renewed soul, by/
which it is carried continually to expect what God hath pro
mised, concerning its own welfare and blessedness here, and es
pecially hereafter; notwithstanding whatever difficulties do oc
cur in the pursuit, and expectation of those things hoped for.
And if you would know what it superadds to common hope, or
what there is in this Christian hope of a distinguishing, peculiar
nature ; it superadds,
1. Sanctity. A true Christian hope, is a pure and holy hope.
It engages them that have it, to purify themselves even as
God is pure. 1 John 3. 3. And again it superadds,
2. Solidity. That which a Christian hopes for, is some so
lid substantial good thing. He hopes not for shadows and ly
ing vanities. They who lived in the exercise of this hope, to
whom the author of the epistle to the Hebrews speaks, had
before them the prospect of a better and enduring substance in
heaven ; (Heb. 10. 34.) a substance that would never fail their
hope. There is a kind of hope that runs all in the chase of
trifles, for the most part. Men hope for things, which they
cannot have ; and if they had, were to very little purpose.
It superadds,
3. Certainty. Men that hope at the common rate, do but
hope conjecturally; and therefore their hope often maketh
ashamed. Even at present they frequently outlive their hopes,
they being pitched mostly upon things that are temporary.
They hope for that, which is swept away like a spider's web.
280 THE INFLUENCE (SER. VIII
It is a most vanishing, uncertain hope. But if they should
cast their eyes on futurity, that future happy state of things
beyond time, they have no real ground to entertain any hope
of it; or if their hope relate to present things, it is merely
conjectural, and self-founded. God hath given them no
ground for this hope. He hath not promised them, that they
shall be rich ; live a long life, and spend all their days in pros
perity here. There is that strange kind of monstrousness in
the common hope of men ; that whereas a Christian hopes, be
cause God in his word hath promised, who cannot lie ; they
hope, even with reference to these their greatest concernments,
because they think he will lie. For if they believed that he
would not lie, but that all was true that he had promised and
spoken; they would be in despair: they would with respect to
these concerns, have no hope at all, but the horror of despair.
Besides,
4. Which is another distinguishing circumstance of the
Christian's hope, every such person hath a community belong
ing to it. The Christian hope is common to them that are
Christians, in which they all unite and meet : whereas in re
ference to the hope of other men, there is no such thing as a
centre in which their hopes may unite and meet ; and so they
lie scattered, according as their own inclinations, and appe
tites carry them. Falsity is various, and manifold ; truth can
he but one. And therefore says the apostle, concerning the
hope of Christians, " There is one body, and one Spirit, even
as ye are called in one hope of your calling." Eph. 4. 4. All
the hearts of Christians do run into one hope ; they meet in ont
and the same hope, the ground of which is that they are called
to one, and the same state ; and this call will warrant their
hope, and justify it. " Why should not I hope to reach the
state to which I am called ? and why should not I attend to the
affairs relating to that state ? May not a man be warranted in
things relating to his calling ? This is my calling (saith the
Christian) and I hope for, and expect success." He can an
swer it to all the world, be the things never so great and high
of which he is in expectation. They are very great things we
hope for, but however to such things we are called. God hath
called us to his eternal kingdom and glory by Christ Jesus.
1 Thes. 2. 12. This calling is not peculiar, or particular
to persons severally; but the same unto all that are called,
whose hope is one. There is a community, whose hearts as
they run one way in desire, so do their hope and expectation ;
and their faith too being one common principle among them,
they must needs have one common hope of the glory of God;
SER. VIII.) OFHOPB. 281
Now concerning this hope which is proper to the Christian
community it is said, that it rnaketh not ashamed ; which we
are now to speak to in the
II. Place, And as to this property of the Christian hope,
which we now proceed to consider, we have only two things to
do;
1. To open the import of it : and,
2. To demonstrate the truth of the assertion ; or to shew
how necessarily this property doth agree to the Christian hope,
namely, that it maketh not ashamed.
1 . We are to open the import of this property of the hope of
Christians, which maketh not ashamed. Not making ashamed,
is a negative expression denoting, that those who admit or give
place to this hope, and in whose hearts it lives, and is fixed, are
not liable to be made ashamed on this account. Now to make
out this, there must be a concurrence of several things, which
we must understand to be denied by this same negation : or
that do not belong to the hope of Christians. As,
(1.) Shame, as it refers to the foregoing hope implies disap
pointment. There may be shame upon many other accounts,
but as it refers to hope it implies a disappointment. They
were confounded (as the expression is in Job) because they
had hoped ; they came thither, and were ashamed. Job 6. 20.
Job is speaking there allusively to a troop of travellers, or mer
chant men, passing through desolate countries, and expecting
relief of which they fail, and meet not with. They were
ashamed because of their hope; that is, because they had hoped,
and were disappointed ; they met not with what they hoped
for.
(2.) It supposes hereupon disgrace and reproach. For shame
is properly the resentment of any thing under the notion of its
being ignominious, or that carries matter of reproach in it to us.
We find therefore these in conjunction sometimes in Scrip
ture; to wit, reproach, shame, and dishonour ; Psal. 69. 19.
and elsewhere. Now in this present case ; to have hoped, so
as to suffer disappointment, is an argument of weakness, and so
is apt to spread a shame over a man's face, and even to clothe
him with confusion. A man reckons it a reproachful thing to
him to have betrayed his impotence, want of foresight, an apt
ness to be gulled and imposed upon in this respect ; and very
shameful that he should hope with no more security. When a
person has cause, and apprehends that others have also of cen
suring him, concerning the hope that he had, there it is that
shame takes place. But this we must understand to be denied
VOL. VI. 2O
282 THE INFLUENCE (SER, VIII,
here. This hope, which the apostle speaks of, shall never
meet with a disappointment ; and consequently no reproach, nor
disgrace, shall attend the hoper. He shall never have cause
to call himself fool, because of his hope; nor shall any one else
have cause or ground to call him so for ever.
(3.) Shame doth also imply our own reflection upon that re
proach ; or else there is no actual , occasion of shame, if we do
not consider in our minds, or view the reproachful thing we
are to take shame for. Therefore when the matter is such as
only in vulgar estimate is shameful, hut is not so indeed ; to
fortify one's self against shame in that case, is to overlook it,
or look another way. So it is said of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that he " endured the cross, despising the shame." Heb. 12.
2. Because it was to him no shame, he overlooked it, and
looked upon it with contempt. "This will be counted a shame
ful thing, but I mind it not." He looked another way, having
his eye set upon glory. If any thing be really matter of shame,
it is by reflecting on it that shame ensues. But this is denied
here. In this case there shall be no occasion to pore and look
on, so as that from thence matter of reproach may accrue to
you that have hoped for the glory of God. Let not your hearts
misgive you ; you shall have no uncomfortable reflection for
what you have done in this matter. As there shall be no re
proach, so you shall imagine none. And
(4.) Shame includes in it a heart-dejecting resentment
hereupon. That is, a resentment seizes the heart upon this
reflection, and sinks into the soul so as to depress it, and bring
it low. Shame is grief; only distinguished from other grief by
this particular distinction in the object, that it is grief for a
thing under the notion of its being uncomely and ignominious.
But that is denied here. Hope maketh not ashamed. You
shall never grieve for this hope. You shall never suffer heart-
displeasure on tl.is account. Your hope shall never leave your
heart to sink, because it fails and comes to nothing.
This now is the negative import of this property of the Chris
tian hope ; it maketh not ashamed. But then there is some
what positive implied under this too. We may fitly under
stand a meiosis, as they call the figure, in this expression ;
that is, when less is said than is intended or meant. Your
hope, Christians, shall not make you ashamed. No, it shall
make you exult ; it shall make you triumph, and glory; it
shall raise, and heighten your spirits, so far shall it be from oc
casioning in you a sinking or dejection of soul. This is very
common, in Scripture, for negative expressions to be put with
SEB. VIII.) OF HOPE. 283
an accent, to signify some very great positive thing. Thus it
is said of the Messiah, that " he shall not break the bruised
reed, nor quench the smoking flax;" (Isai. 42. 3.) that is, he
shall cherish and support it. Again, (f his commandments are
not grievous," 1 John 5. 3. Here also a great deal less is
said, than meant j for they are glorious, consolatory, and re
freshing. " Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her
paths are paths of peace." Prov. 3. 17. This then must be
understood ,to be the property of the Christian's hope, that it is
so far from making ashamed, or exposing him to ignominy, that
it ennobles his spirit ; and that it does according to the nature
and degree of the thing hoped for.
It is obvious to observe how the hopes of persons, by de
grees, greaten their spirits from their childhood. There is in
some an aptness to mind greater things, and to live at a greater
rate than others. And this we call generosity, it being not a
name from the descent, but from the temper of the mind. It
not only shews itself by men's being descended from noble and
generous parents and ancestors (though there may be some
thing in that too) but when such persons as are born to greater
things come to understand their capacity, and what they are
born to, their hopes do heighten or raise their spirits, and lift
them up above the common pitch. So that the proper spirit
of a nobleman, a prince, or a king, is greater than that of a
common, and inferior man. And the reason is, because as he
comes to understand his quality, his spirit grows with his hopes
of what he shall come to ; his very hopes greaten his spirit,
ennoble and raise him, and make him think of living like one
that expects to be in such a state, as that to which he is born.
Therefore if a prince should be reduced in his infancy to that
condition as to be brought up in a beggar's shed, and under
stand nothing of his birth ; it is likely he would mind such
things, as children of peasants use to do: but if he afterward
come to understand the truth of his own original and descent,
and what he was really born to ; and withal what his capacity
is, and the ground of his hope that he shall one day inherit
such and such grandeur and honours ] with this hope his spirit
will swell, and rise, and greaten.
And such is the property of the Christian's hope. It not only
makes him not ashamed ; but it heightens, enlarges and great-
ens the Christian's spirit, so as to make him aspire high, and
to look for great things. Hence it is given as the description
of them, to whom God will give eternal life, on that day when
he shall give to every one according to his deeds ; that they are
such as, *' by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for hon-
284 THE INFLUENCE (SER. VIII.
our, glory, and immortality." Rom. 2. 6. 7- To these he
will give eternal life ; but to those that are contentious, against
the plain truth of the gospel which should rule and govern
them, wll he give " tribulation and anguish, indignation and
wrath." The former sort, wlio shall have eternal life for their
portion, are such, whose minds, hearts, and hopes are car
ried after great things ; who seek for honour, glory and im
mortality ; who disdain and scorn this earth, and all sub
lunary things, and can say, " non est mortale quod opto ; I
have something above, better than, and beyond all that this
earth can afford."
In a word, a true Christian is one that seeks that better, even
the heavenly country (Heb. 11. 1G.) so as not to stoop to this
world thougli there were never such opportunity for gaining it :
he would not go back, though he had the opportunity of going
into Egypt. And all this is by reason of the hope of coming
to a better country. The Christian would not go back into the
world, being called out of it ; though he should have opportu
nities for it as good as other men : no, because he is seeking
a better country ; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called
his God. "Such are of a great, a noble, and generous spirit,
'like my children;" saith God. t( Such are in some measure
worthy of me. They discover something of an excellent spirit,
heightened proportionably to those great hopes which I have
set before them." And now,
2. We proceed to demonstrate this to be the true property
of this same subject ; which will be soon done, though we
have but little time, if we do but consider these things about
this hope.
(1.) Consider the Parent and Author of it. It is a divine
thing, it is part of the new creature, it owes its rise immediate
ly to the Holy Ghost ; as the apostle intimates, when he says,
" Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in be
lieving, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the
Holy Ghost." Rom. 15. 13. Far be it from us to think, that
God should beget a hope in his, that should end in disappoint
ment and shame !
(2.) Consider the object of this hope. Christians do not
hope for creeping shadows ; they have no reason to be ashamed
of such great things, as they hope for. They hope for the glory
of God, for a kingdom that shall not be shaken, for the unseen
things of the other world. Their hope entereth into that with
in the vail, whither the forerunner is for us entered, even
Jesus. Heb. 6. 19, 20. A man that hath only pitched his
hopes upon mean, base, low things, hath cause to be ashamed
SBR. VIII.) OP HOPE. 285
that he was such a fool to hope so; but the Christian's hope
will never make him ashamed.
(3.) Consider the ground of their hope. They hope in God
upon the encouragement of his truth and promise. Uphold
me according to thy word, that I may live ; and let me not be
ashamed of my hope, saith the Psalmist. Psal. 119. 11G.
Thy word is that which I ground my hopes upon ; shall I be
ashamed ? 1 hope in thee, thy truth, thy power, and goodness ;
let me not be ashamed. That prayer is as much as a promise,
that he should not be ashamed. Prayer, by divine inspiration
is as good as a promise. The prayer is, Let none that wait on
thee be ashamed. Psal. 25. 3. The promise is expressly, They
shall not be ashamed that wait for me. Isai. 49. 23. It is
true, indeed, if there were not a proportionable ground for one's
hope, a man might be ashamed of his hope ; as well because
it is too big, as because it is too little. But if there be a real
ground for it, a word of promise from that God who cannot
lie ; then there is no cause to suspect the matter. There is no
reason why any should be ashamed, let his hope be never so
high, when he hopes only for what God has promised.
Now to make some brief use of what has been said.
1 . See the highly privileged state of Christians ; though in
this present condition of little and low enjoyments, yet their
case is so good as that they shall not be ashamed. They shall
have heightened spirits, their minds shall be greatened by their
hopes, even while it is little that they can enjoy in one kind or
another.
2. Hence consider and contemplate the different state of
other men. It is not said, concerning their hope, it shall
never make them ashamed. There is no body that warrants
their hope to them. The Christian's hope hath a very good
warrant. I warrant you for your hope, that it shall never make
you ashamed ; but what have other men to warrant their hope?
they have no one that undertakes to guarantee it, and therefore
they are left liable to a shameful disappointment, and bitter
disgrace upon that account. Yea, they are not only liable
thereunto, but it is a sure and certain matter that it will end so ;
for " Their hope shall be as the giving up the ghost." Job. 11.
20. We commonly say, "As long as there is life there is hope;"
but their hope comes at length to the giving up the ghost,
and then the man is gone. A wicked man's hope quite
vanishes away ; it does not remain weak, and feeble, and in
firm only, but it is absolutely gone, and become nothing at all :
as we have no hope at all concerning a person, when he hath
once given up the ghost. Let the object of their hope be what
286 THE INFLUENCE ($ER. VIII.
it will, either such do hope for vain things, which are gone
when they expire ; or if their hope lies towards better things,
it is a vain hope. If they hope not for vain things, yet they
hope for these better things vainly, having no ground nor rea
son for their hope ; and so still it perishes, and, as the giving
up the ghost, comes to nothing. Or it makes them ashamed,
md despised ; sinks them into horror, amazement and conster
nation, and so much the more, by how much the stronger was
their hope. Such a disappointment is a most confounding
thing ; when a person expects it should go well with him,
-yet he perishes, and all his hope turns on a sudden into hor
ror !
3. We learn hence also, that hope must needs be a very
great thing in the life of a Christian ; and a most intimate, es
sential part of his Christianity. It is that which holds his soul
in life. This property of hope, that maketh not ashamed, as
Was said before, is not to be understood as merely negative :
It is that which establishes the heart ; invigorates, and gives
life to the soul. Indeed you would make a poor thing of Chris
tianity, if you abstract and separate this hope from it. " If in
<this life only (says St. Paul) we have hope in Christ, we are
of all men most miserable." 1 Cor. 15. 19. The most pecu
liar and distinguishing things in the hope of a Christian, objec
tively taken, are things beyond time. But if all we were to
get by Christ were to be compassed within time, then we were
very miserable creatures indeed ; we should make a bad bargain
of it, if we had no more by Christ, than what time can hold,
and deal very poorly by ourselves.
A Christian lives by hope all along, from first to last. He is
born to hope, begotten of a lively hope,* is saved by it ;f as
if it had been said, he were lost if it were not for this hope.
This then is the great, the momentous thing in the life of a
Christian ; for if it were not for this, we should sink and perish.
So that if 1 am a Christian indeed, if I am a new creature,!
must live by hope all my days. And that I may shut up all,
I shall only leave with you a word or two of counsel, and cau
tion.
(1.) Of counsel. Labour to establish in your hearts this
hope, and maintain it ; and live by, and upon it. But I can
not enlarge upon this. And then,
(2.) By way of caution, 1 add ; be sure that your hope be
the truly Christian hope only : that hope, whereunto you can
entitle the Holy Ghost as the Author, so as that hereupon we
* Pet. 1. 3. f Rom. 8. 24.
SBR. VIII.) OF HOPK. 287
may say, we are begotten by him to that hope. And also see
to it, that it be just commensurate with Scripture grounds.
That is genuine Christian hope, that measures with the Scrip
ture, and the word of promise. " Remember (says David) thy
word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to
hope." Ps. 119. 49. Then you will hope for nothing, but
what God has promised j and in the way, and according to the
tenour of his promise. And you need to hope for no more, for.
he hath promised to give grace and glory, and to withhold no
good thing from them that love him. Ps. 84. II. And what
would you have more ? what need your hope to range beyond
that, or without the compass of this promise ? But then it must
be accbrding to the tenour of his promise ; for if you hope ab
solutely for that which is a matter only-of a limited promise,
then your hope would be beside its ground, and so be liable to
disappointments.
And you must know there are things which lie within,
the promise, that cannot be the matter of an absolute hope ;
because God's promise, concerning them, is not absolute. As.
to temporal good things ; outward prosperity to ourselves, or
the church of God in common ; there is no absolute promise
of these : therefore if we hope for them absolutely, we deceive
ourselves, and it is our own fault if we be made ashamed. Who
bid us hope so ? who bid us let our hopes run that way, other
wise than as God commands, or beyond what he has promised ?
We may hope absolutely for things, that are of an immutable
goodness ; but some things are not so, and are only to be esti
mated according to their end. Sometimes they will serve the end
that God designed them for, and sometimes not ; and when they
do not, they are not good, but evil. External prosperity to the
church of God, or ourselves, will not always be serviceable to-
the end, for which it is designed by God ; to wit, to make our
spirits better, and more of the temper which he looks for, and
approves : and he always knoweth whether it will be best for
that end or no. Now if we suppose an absolute promise for
any variable good things, which are sometimes good and some
times not ; then take the time when they are not good, and can
they be the matter of a promise ? No sure ; the promise would
in that case, be turned into a threatening.
This then shews the reason, why it is altogether impossible
that promises, concerning external good things, can ever be
universal and absolute. They are not always good, but only as
circumstances are. But from the nature of the thing promised
we may be at a certainty how the promise is to be understood ;
that is, in reference to divine wisdom. Such things as do ap-
288 THE INFLUENCE, &C. (SER. VIIi;
pear good for us, to that unerring wisdom, in certain circum
stances, shall be bestowed upon us j and if we so order our
hopes, they will never fail us, for no good thing will God with
hold from them that love him. But when there is a doubt in
the case, whether it be good or no, there is all the reason in
the world he should decide the doubt, and we should yield a
matter of dubious consequence to him. But if our hearts be
so set upon any temporary good thing, as that such savour
more with us, than those things which run into an eternal
state ; this we ought to guard ourselves against. As suppose
it should be more consolatory to me, to be assured of present
deliverance or prosperity, than to be told of being at the resur
rection brought within the compass of his sheep, whatever trou
bles 1 meet with here : this is certainly a great distemper of
soul, that I cannot taste the best, the sweetest, the most satis
fying, and fullest good, more than present ease ; but that any
thing of earth would be more tasteful, and grateful. And this,
I say, we should always take hee^ of j that we do not indulge
ourselves in any thing, which is in itself of so very dangerous^
and dreadful a consequence.
SERMON IX.*
1 Thes. 5. 6.
Therefore let us not sleep, as do others*
T CAN spend no time in giving you a view of the context,
which is very suitable to the words now read. They are a
caution against security, and contain in them these two things.
To wit, in the first place, a monitory prohibition of it ; " Let us
not sleep." And, secondly, a specification of the prohibited
evil ; " as do others :" which words plainly intimate that
others sleeping is no warrant to us to do so. Common exam
ple indeed is apt to have that pernicious influence : but we are
taught that it cannot justify us in sleeping, that others so ge
nerally, and as it were industriously, compose themselves to it.
Moreover, these words signify, that others sleeping ought the
more effectually to warn us not to do so. Examples that carry
much of terror in them ought to strike our hearts with dread,
and to possess us with a cautious prudent fear, lest we fall into
the same dangerous and desperate state. It is as if he had
said j " Come, let me shew you a fearful sight. Take a view
* Preached at Haberdashers' Hall, May, 2, 16/8.
*VOL, VI. 2 P
290 CHRISTIANS EXHORTED NOT (SEE. IX.
of the world, cast your eyes round about on every side ; be
hold the generality of men all asleep, asleep under wrath, care
less and at ease, securely slumbering while their judgment
lingereth not, and while their destruction doth not slumber:
be warned by so dreadful an example not to do, as they
do."
The words do not need much of literal explication. Sleep
is wont to be variously taken. You know what it means in the
proper sense. In the borrowed sense it sometimes signifies,
natural death ; sometimes a quiet composure, and rest of the
spirit : (( I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep ; for the
Lord only maketh me dwell in safety." Ps. 4. 8. 127. 2
Again, that is, in a moral sense, it signifies the state of sin :
" Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead ; and
Christ shall give thee light." Eph. 5 14. It denotes espe
cially the security of such a state, with reference to the wrath
and judgment of God, whether temporal or eternal; which
sleep is always sinful, and in some cases penal too in some de
gree : for we read of a pouring forth a spirit of slumber, and a
deep sleep. Isa. 29. 10. Rom. 11. 8. But we must know
that the word Kaflet/Sw/^y, here used in the text, signifies a deep
er or a more intense sleep. It is the word that is used by the
Septuagint to signify the sleep of death. " Many that sleep in
the dust of the earth shall awake." Dan. 12. 2. And they
use the same word to express that fast sleep of the prophet
Jonah, out of which all the storms and perils of the sea were
not sufficient to awaken him. As for the words us, and others;
the former plainly means true sincere Christians, and the lat
ter the rest of the world : the refuse, as the word AO<TT>< em
phatically signifies ; or the reprobate, and worst of men.
Two things offer themselves to us from the words, namely that
these others, the refuse who are the most of men do sleep :
and that God's own people by no means ought to do so. I
shall speak to these two things : And,
I. Shew you, that these others, here referred to by the apos
tle, do sleep : And,
II. Upon what accounts it so very ill becomes the people of
God to do so too. And then,
III. I shall make the use of both together.
I. I am to shew that the others, whom the text means, do
sleep. And herein I must premise to you, before we come to
evince this point, that by sleeping is not merely meant, that
they do actually for the present sleep only ; as if the apostle
supposed them to be but in some present temporary slumber :
but we are to understand him as speaking of them as habitual
SJBtt. IX.) TO SLEEP, AS DO OTHERS. 291
sleepers ; or that they are under such a sort of sleeping disease,
as is resembled by a lethargy ; or a caros, which is reckoned a
more intense degree of that disease ; a veternum, or dead sleep.
How physicians distinguish these things, or critics, I need not
stay to tell you. But the thing that is plainly meant hereby is
to represent this as the common state of the world, that it is
an habitual drowsiness, such as tbat kind of disease serves to
resemble.
Now that this is the common state of most of the world, we
may evince to you by such things, as are usually incident to
sleep j or are symptoms of a sleepy, sluggish disposition.
As,
1. Forgetful ness, which has most proper reference to things
past. Sleepy persons are very oblivious. So is the common
case of the world. Men are forgetful of things they are most
concerned to remember, and most forgetful of them. They
have generally forgot that they are creatures ; have forgot that
with the rest of men they are lapsed, and revolted from their
Creator, and become sinners ; forgot that they sprung from an
apostate race, and that they were children of wrath, one as well
as another. Thus their strange forgetfulness of things, which
one would think should continually urge them, shews that they
are continually asleep.
2. Insensibleness, or stupidity, which hath reference to
what is present. Persons that are in a more intense and deep
sleep, you cannot make them feel without dificulty. Such as
are in a caros, prick them and they do not feel. Sleep is a bind
ing of the senses, and such a deep sleep strongly binds them.
So the common case is with the world. It is a wonder of di
vine power if at any time their hearts are made to feel ; and a
thing to be recorded (as you find it is in the Acts of the Apos-
tk's, chap. 2. 37.) if any are ever pricked in their heart,
though never so pungent things are spoken to them.
3. Security; or unapprehensiveness of any future threaten
ing danger. Why, so you know the case is with persons
asleep. Let the danger be never so near, as well as dreadful ;
if the house be on fire, if the murderer be by the bed-side, if
the sword be at the breast, the knife at the throat, yet they are
void of all fear. And do not we know this to be the common
case with the world ? Destruction from the Almighty is no ter
ror to them. They rush with all violence upon every danger,
as a horse into the battle : or are like persons in their noc
turnals ; who, if not hindered, would come upon rocks, pre
cipices, or rivers, or fall into dangers that would certainly des
troy them. Another thing incident to sleep is,
92 CHRISTIANS EXHORTED NOT (SER, IX,
4. Misapprehension of all things past, present, or to come.
For you know in sleep persons use to dream, and then how
strangely do they misapprehend things ? their heads are full of
false images, or false conceptions of those things which are
true. The case is so with the world too in their sleep. They
can tell how to dis-imagine all the greatest realities, and turn
them into shadows. God and Christ, heaven and hell, and
the eternal judgment, which must determine them to the one
or the other of these, are all fancies with them. But the pomp
and grandeur of this world, which is called fancy;* the busi
ness and turmoils of it, which are all walking in a vain shew ;
outward prosperity, which is but as a dream when one awakes :
these things are great realities, and with them these are the
main things, and the most important. Riches and poverty,
prosperity and adversity, which will be all thought fancies in a
little while, are great things with these men $ so aptly do they
misapprehend in their dreams !
5. There is also (which is near a-kin to the last) a great un-
aptness to reflect upon any thing as absurd, though never so
truly so, which occurs to them in this dreaming sleepy state.
It is so with persons, you know, in dreams. Let things occur
to them never so absurd, they never take notice of the absurdi
ty. Let them dream themselves to be in never such odd, an
tic postures, all is well ; they find no fault with any thing they
do, or is done to them, while they are in their slumbers. And
so is the case with the world too. The most absurd things
imaginable, are no absurdities to them. To live in this world
of God's making, while he feeds them with breath from mo
ment to moment, yet as " without God in the world j" to be
concerned a great deal more to please themselves than him, as
if his favour were of no importance, and signified nothing ; to
study more the satisfaction of their flesh, than the saving of
their souls ; busying themselves all their days about mere tri
fles : these, I say, the most absurd things that ever could enter
into any human imagination so much as to think of, are yet no
absurdities to them. They find no fault with this ; think all
is well, though this be their continued course, which plainly
shews they are asleep. Those things, for which persons when
awake are ready to tear their flesh, and do abhor and loath
themselves for, they indulge themselves even for a life's time,
Baking no displeasing reflections upon them all their days;
never at least till they awake, which shews what their state was
before.
* Agrippa and Bernie* came/*ET iiXkr>s $ wreurtac . Acts. 25. 23.
SER. IX.) TO SLEEP, AS DO OTHERS. 298
6. It is especially incident to a deeper sleep to be awakened
with very great difficulty. The difficulty of bringing them to
a right mind, to the exercise of their understanding, and to ap
ply themselves to do according as a rectified understanding
would dictate, shews them to be very much under the power of
sleep, since there is so much ado to awaken them. And yet
nothing will serve some, who are called upon by the word of
God from heaven, even all their time, and yet never awake ;
roused by strange thunders of providence, many times, yet awake
not.
7. Sloth fulness is manifestly ascribed to such a sleepy dis
temper, or a listlessness to business. So it is with the world
too. That which is the proper business of men, in this world,
they will not be got to it j they are altogether indisposed there
unto. You know how Solomon represents the sluggard whose
hands refuse to labour and indulges himself in sleep and slum
bers. Prov. 6.9,10. 21.25. 24.303-1. Again,
8. They are apt to shew great displeasure, and forwardness
towards those, who attempt to awaken them. So it is with
very drowsy persons, who soon grow peevish and angry if you
offer to awaken them. They are ready to quarrel even with the
very light itself, if it shine in their faces. Thus it is with the
sleepy world too. This very light itself is as the shadow of
death, and whatsoever it is that tends to awaken them.
9. And lastly, there is a constant proneness to fall asleep
again, if at any time they are startled a little. Thus it is with
the world. You may have here and there persons who are
roused to bestir themselves a little, but presently they drop
asleep again. They can hold their eyes open but a little
while. And thus I have shewn what is the common state of
the world, these (e others j" they are generally asleep. I now
come to shew,
II. That it ill becomes those who are God's own children,
that is, true sincere Christians, to sleep as do others ; namely
the refuse of the world. This will appear upon a threefold ac
count : it holds no agreement, either with their principles, or
with their state, or with their design and end.
1, It is very unsuitable to their principles that they should
sleep as do others ; to the constituent principles of the new
creature. As for instance,
(I.) Light is amain ingredient principle in that holy frame
of the new creation. New creatures are all the children of
God, as God is the Father of lights. They are born light, of
light. It is true, light signifies holiness ; not directly and for
mally, but consequentially, as being potently influential and
294 CHRISflANS EXPORTED NOT (sER. IX*
efficacious. It derives, or makes an impression upon the heart
which is correspondent, and agreeable to itself. The apostle
tells these Thessalonians, that they are the children of the light
and of the day. 1 Thess. 5. 5. It is day with them. It is not
only day round about them (so it is wherever the gospel is afford
ed to men) but God hath made it day within ; or, as the apostle
expresses it, hath shined in our hearts. 2 Cor. 4. 6. A day-
star is risen there ; and to lie sleeping under the light of such a
day, is a very unsuitable thing. They have light whereby to
discern, both the mysteries of grace, and the methods of provi
dence ; and very unsuitable it is in both respects that they
should sleep. They have light to discern the mysteries of
grace ; those strange and wonderful things unfolded in the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which should always hold the
soul in an admiring posture, for it is a marvellous light they are
brought into, 1. Pet. 2. 9. or an amazing light as the word sig
nifies. fixvi/Mfov $us.} And they have light more than other men
to discern the methods of divine providence. The Lord's voice
crieth to the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name.
Micah G. 9. There is that wisdom which is of heavenly des
cent, wisdom from above, by which they know what is the na
ture of God, and what are the ways of God, which are highly
conformable to his nature, in his government of the world.
It is not likely these should be asleep, when comparing things
together ; especially when they expect God will be doing some
strange matter on the earth : though, at some times, the ap
pearances thereof are greater than at others, and things seem
near even at the door. If they be so, they who have not inter
nal light cannot apprehend it : but those who have enlightened
eyes may, especially at some times, see that the providence of
God is bringing it to pass. It is unreasonable then such should
be asleep, who are not in darkness, lest the day should overtake
them as a thief; as the expression is in the fifth chapter of this
epistle and the fourth verse. And again,
(2.) It is unsuitable to the principle of life and power
in the new creature. They are made to live by the most agile
and noble kind of life that is in the world, and to which
sleepiness is most disagreeable. They are made to give them
selves unto God : as those that are alive unto him, and gotten
out of death, wherein they were sleeping before. They are to
reckon themselves indeed dead to sin, but alive to God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 6. 11. I might also men
tion those three eminent principles of faith, love and hope, all
directed to action ; but the lime will not permit.
2 For sincere Christians to sleep as do others is very unsuit-
TO SLEEF, AS DO OTHERS. 295
able to their state. As in the ninth verse of this chapter the
apostle observes, that God hath not appointed us to wrath, but
to obtain salvation by our LoVd Jesus Christ. By which
he intimates, that the refuse part of the world have the to
kens on them of persons appointed unto wrath ; while those,
who are true and sincere are appointed to obtain salvation*
And,
3. It is unsuitable to their designs and ends. They who
have so great things to do, as to serve and glorify God all their
time in this world, and to save their own immortal souls, and
to gain an immortal state of life and glory ; methinks should
have no time to sleep. It would be altogether unsuitable to
their business to allow themselves so to do. But I cannot insist
further here, and shall pass on,
III. To the use of this subject. And sundry things these
truths taken together would yield us by way of inference, for
our improvement. As,
1 . That God's own people, and the men of this world, are
two distinct sorts of people. They are alii, atque alii. " Let
not us sleep, as do others." It would be a very useful con^ider-
ation to us many times to think seriously of this matter, that
there are two sorts of people in the world; and then to think
seriously also to which I must annumeiate myself, or to which
sort I belong.
2. The people of God are a select and a saved people, the
rest are a refuse people. This is plainly too held forth to us.
Christians are a faithful, chosen generation, and possession j
the others are not so, but are of a vile and abject sort. All in
deed were naturally alike ; but they who are taken out and se
lected, are made a very peculiar sort of people, in their habi
tual frame, and in respect of the permanent fixed excellencies
that are in them, above and beyond what are to be found in
other men.
3. The people of God are not to imitate the rest of the world.
"Let not us sleep as do others." They are a peculiar and a dif
ferent people from these (t others ;" and therefore must do other
kind of things. " What do ye more than others?" said our
Lord to his disciples, upon a supposition, that they should only
do so and so ; or content themselves with going no further than
the Scribes and Pharisees : but this absurdity is implied at the
bottom, that for them to do no more than others were a most
intolerable thing. Our Saviour there reasons ex absurdo, and
supposes it very absurd that his disciples should do no more
than others. They are not to be conformed to this world ; not
to run with others into the same excess of riot, though they
296 CHRISTIANS EXHORTED NOT (sER. it.'
speak never so ill of them for their singularity. 1 Pet, 4. 4.
We may further learn,
4. That it is not enough for the people of God to abstain
from the positive evils of these others, but they must beware
also of their neglects. Many think that they do fairly well,
that they are not guilty of those gross commissions that many
other men are j but do not tax themselves for being guilty of
-their neglects, carelessness, sleepiness, sloth and security
"But alas ! we are not to sleep with others, to be emissive with
them of what is incumbent upon us to do.
Well, that 1 may hasten to a close, this truth ought to be
-awakening to us all, and should put us upon rousing ourselves.
What ! is the world asleep about us ? and do we profess to be
,of another sort from them, and yet sleep with them ? Surely
it highly becomes us to bestir ourselves, and to shake off this
drowsy temper. If I had time I would shew in some particu
lars, how pernicious and mischievous a drowsy sluggish tem
per of spirit is to a Christian. While he sleeps, corruption
'grows. " I went by (says Solomon) the field of the sluggard,
.and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding (the
sleepy person is a fool and a witless person) and it was all
grown over with thorns." Prov. 24. 30. Temptation prevails $
* ( Watch and pray therefore, that ye enter not into tempta
tion." Mat. 26. 41. Where there is no watching, but con
tinual sleeping, temptation carrieth all before it. Grace lan-
guishetb, and cannot but do so hereupon. Comforts fail, we
cannot so much as taste them ; much less can we fetch them
from the proper objects which would afford them. While we
sleep providences are unobserved. A great deal of instruction
is to be got out of them, and much duty lies upon us in refer
ence to them. But while we sleep, we take no notice of what
ever God does in the world. The breathings of the Spirit also
are neglected ; for they do not always quite awaken, though
they do in a degree. It looks to be complied, and comported
with by our stirring up ourselves to meet with it. The divine
presence is hereupon withdrawn ! Christ is gone ! How many
good times are lost when our doors are knocked at, and we
asleep ! Is it not often so ? Duties stand for little ! all most
slumberingly performed ! in a slight, listless, heartless man
ner ; as we do every thing, when we are between sleeping and
waking. Either there is no calling upon God, or it is to no
purpose. It is a dreadful thing to sleep upon the knee. There
must be a stirring up of ourselves to take hold upon God, and
a watching unto prayer. With what wakeful, lively spirits
thould we attend at the Lord's table ! but if we indulge our-
R. IX*) TO SLEEP, AS DO OTHERS. 297
selves in this sleepy distemper, so it will be even there too.
Our eternal states are hazarded ! Are we sure we have done all
that is requisite, in order to the securing of them ? If we had
done ever so much, we should be less for sleeping. While the
bridegroom tarried, all slumbered and slept ; the wise as well as
the foolish virgins j but the wise had their oil, and their lamps
ready trimmed ; but the foolish had not. He comes, and then
the door was shut, and they were shut out. Tney were not rea
dy, they had slept away their time. Matt. 25. 1 13. We
make ourselves by this means liable to the surprisal of judg
ments. And is not that terrible to our thoughts, to think of be
ing caught asleep, when God comes to plead in his displeasure
with the inhabitants of the earth ? I am afraid this would be
the too common case among those who bear the name of chris-
tians, and is so now while God's judgments are abroad in the
world. And I wish it may not be the case of many of those,
who go for stricter professors among us, to be so surprised as
the old world was. But certainly it will be inexcusable in us to
do so who have had such warnings. We do not know that the
old world had from Noah more express warnings than we have
had. It is recorded as one part of his encomium, that " By faith
he being warned of God, moved with fear, prepared the ark."
Heb. 11. 7- We have been warned, I do not know how we
have been moved. But sure we are very much without excuse,
if we are without fear and care upon such warnings as we have
had. For what ! would we expect voices from heaven ? or
must God send prophets among us, or else we will regard no
thing ? Needs it be proclaimed, that within so many days, we
and our city shall be destroyed ? Surely we have so much un
derstanding as to compare the way of God's dispensation in
former times, when the case has been as it is with us ; and to
make a comparison between the former, and the present case,
in respect of wickedness and provocation ! we may then see
how we are to make the comparison, in respect of God's judg
ments.
I know there are pretences for security ; and things do very
obviously suggest themselves to the thoughts of many, by which
,they put off" or prevent what there is of an awakening tendency
in the judgments of God. And perhaps it may be said: " Why,
to what purpose would it be for us to be so wakeful, and ap
prehensive of such and such fearful things coming on ? we can
not prevent them by that." But that is more than you know.
You do not know but that most serious importunate seeking of
the face of God, jointly and separately, in congregations, and
families, and closets 5 being much upon the knee, much with
VOJL. VI. 2 Q
293 CHRISTIANS EXHORTED NOT (sER. IX,
God in private ; may prevent a great deal : ^you do not know
how much it may prevent of the divine displeasure. But if you
do not by this means prevent the common calamity, is it not
much to save your own soul ? And though you be not hid in
the common calamity, is it not a desirable thing to die accepted
with God ?
But if you still say, To what purpose is it ? I answer, Not
to that purpose, that we should torment ourselves with the
forethought. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. Matt.
6. 34. This is not the meaning of God in requiring us to be
watchful ; nor that we should put ourselves upon the trial or
use of any undue means, for the securing ourselves from exter
nal calamity. It is not, I say, to that purpose neither. But,
positively, we have a great deal to do and a great deal we
might do if we be awake, if we be not found asleep, when any
wasting desolating judgment comes. We may be drawing
near to God. Is it not better that judgments take us near to God,
than afar off ? We may be entering into our chambers ; we
may be making our calling, and election sure ; clearing up our
title to the eternal inheritance ; labouring to get such graces in
actual exercise, as are suitable unto such a time, and such a state
of things : to be prompt and ready to know how to use our
faith and patience and not to be as those who know not how
to use their hands, when the time for action cometh.
Finally. We may be contemplating the heavenly state ; re
counting with ourselves, that it is happy for us we are sure of
happiness above : endeavouring to frame our hearts to an in-
differency, as to all sublunary things and enjoyments, ready
to lose all and be undone. These are things we know not
how to digest, without preparation. And to have these things
snatched away, before our hearts are loosened from them, will
be the way to pluck our hearts away too. But we should be
crucified to the world, and have the world crucified to us.
Then we are unconcerned with one another. Dead men He
quietly one by another, give one another no more wounds.
And certainly it is better to be taken in such a posture as
this, when judgment comes, than to be found in all these
respects altogether unprepared.
And whereas it may he said: "But why should we so concern
ourselves ; why should not we rest in peace and quietness ?
We have apprehended danger a great many times before to be
very near us, but God has kept it off. He is able to keep us
still." And this I am most troubled at of all, that this should
be used as a kind of religious pretence for security, tf God is
able to keep off any threatening danger."
SER. IX.) TO SLEEP, AS DO OTHERS. 299
The doctrine is true, but grossly misapplied. Did never any
storm befall the church of God yet ? and what ! was not God
as able to have kept it oft* then ? We should consider with our
selves. Is it, according to the aspects of providence, and
God's ordinary methods before, likely that it should be kept
off? How can we but think there is a day coming of God's
reckoning with a people of such provocations as we are? What I
are we more innocent than our neighbours, weltering in blood,
and in great desolation, round about us ? Nor do I think our
danger is so much from incensed enemies abroad (for we hear
of wars, and rumours of wars among our neighbours) as from
the security of our own hearts. We have not so much rea
son to fear their arms, as we have a slumbering spirit in our
own bosoms.
But if these threatened evils be yet kept off, what are we the
worse for being prepared ? We lose no labour. It is worth
our labour to lie prepared to live or die, for good days and bad.
We have been only doing, what is our duty at all times. We
should be always watching ; for we know not when our
Lord will come and call us. Therefore we have no reasonable
pretence why we should indulge ourselves to sloth, and say ;
" Yet a little more sleep, and yet a little more." No, no ; there
has been a great deal too much already.
SCO JERUSALEM REBUILT (SEE, X,
SERMON X.*
Daniel 9. 25i
The street shall be built again, and the wall, even
in troublous times.
HPHAT we may the better discern the reference of these
words, we shall give you a^very general and brief account
of the contents of the chapter, which consists more especially of
two parts ; a prayer, and an answer thereunto.
We have first, the prayer made by Daniel on the behalf of
ruined Jerusalem, and captive Judah. The occasion of which
we have an account of, premised in the first and second verses
of the chapter ; to wit, that at such a time as is there mentioned,
* Preached at Haberdashers' Hall, September 2, 1678.
* It plainly appears, that tbis sermon was preached on occasion
of tbe fire of the city of London, (which began September 2, 1666)
and its restoration again to its former splendour, in a few years time.
Jn order to illustrate some parts of tbis discourse, some account
will be given of tbis affair, towards tbe conclusion of it, in a mar
ginal note.
SSR. X.) IN TROUBLOUS TIMES. 301
Daniel did understand by the books (that is, no doubt, by
consulting the writings of Jeremiah) how long the desolations
of Jerusalem were to continue, and that God meant to accom
plish seventy years in those desolations. Hereupon he knew
that the time was near expiring. There was a way opened very
far, for the restitution and deliverance of this people. The
feign of Nebuchadnezzar was finished ; and those of Evil-me-
rodach, and Belsha2zar past ; Cyrus had succeeded ; and hav
ing taken Babylon, transferred the monarchy (which had con
tinued for many years among the Assyrians*) unto the Medes
and Persians. This Cyrus is called the servant, or the anoint-,
ed of the Lord, (Isa. 45. 1.) by whom he meant to make way
for the deliverance and restitution of his people ; and by that
Darius also, who is mentioned in the beginning of this chapter,
and who, as some conceive, was at this time a viceroy under
Cyrus.f Hereupon he applies himself to serious seeking of
God's face ; and makes that prayer, which you find continued
unto the twentieth verse of the chapter. From thence, unto
the end of it,
Is secondly, The answer to this prayer by the angel Gabriel,
sent while Daniel was yet a praying. In which he acquaints the
prophet with the measure and compass of that time, wherein the
great things were to be done ; which he now not only immedi
ately prayed for, but which he further had a commission to ac
quaint him with ; namely, that seventy weeks were determined
for the bringing these things to pass (manifestly weeks of years,
as is the Scripture way of computation sometimes) all which
amount to four hundred and ninety years. Within the first
seven of those weeks, that is, forty-nine years, the angel gives
him to understand, that Jerusalem should be rebuilt : namely,
the street, that is, all the inward part, or the houses of the city ;
and the wall that should encompass it about ; that after the
expiration of sixty -two weeks, added to those seven, the Mes-
* I suppose the author means the Babylonians. For the Assy-s
rian Monarchy was dissolved, on the death of Sardanapalus, after
it had stood above 130O years, by Arbaces and Belesis. The latter
of whom, who is also called Nabonasser, founded the Babylonish
empire, which continued only 210 years; that is, to the time of
Cyrus' taking the capital, who laid the foundation of the Persian
Monarchy.
f The opinion of those, whom the author alludes to, seems to
be wrong. Darius, the Mede, was uncle to Cyrus, and without
doubt is the same with Cyaxares in Xenophon ; who both engaged,
according to that author, in the war against the Babylonians. But
Cyrus, who was general of the Persian army, commanded at th
302 JERUSALEM REBUILT (sER. X^
slab, should come ; * and that in the last week, even in the
middle of it, he should be cut off. A prophecy to which after
wards the event did so very punctually correspond, that a very
noted philosopher speaking of it was wont to say ; that surely
that prophecy (as it was called) must have been written after
the things were done.
But the words that we are to consider concern what wa*
done within the first seven weeks, or forty nine years ; for at
the beginning of that time did the command go forth for the
rebuilding of the temple and Jerusalem, as it was said it soon
should. But the work was very soon after intermitted, as i
reckoned for about three years ; and then dispatched in the
forty-six years that followed. Unto which the Jews have re
ference, more particularly speaking of the temple, " Forty and
six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it ur>
in three days ?" John 2. 20. As it was not a total destruction
which it suffered afterwards ; so it was not a rebuilding from
the ground, but a restoration, which it had by Herod.
This is that which is, in short, foretold to Daniel here, in
reference to Jerusalem : that though it would be a troublous
time, in which such a work should be attempted and carried
on j yet the work should be carried on, and completed not
withstanding. And therefore what the words do more obvi
ously present us with and offer to our observation, is ;
That God takes care for the rebuilding of his Jerusa
lem, so as to effect it notwithstanding the troubles of the
times.
But that we may consider this matter with the more use and
profit to ourselves, it is requisite that we understand, that Je
rusalem was capable of being considered under a twofold notion:
cither as spiritual, or as civil. In the former sense, by the
name of Jerusalem is usually in Scripture signified the church
seige of Babylon ; and took that city by a remarkable stratagem, of
which Dean Prideaux gives an account, both from Herodotus, and
the eighth book of the Cyropsedia of Xenophon. The city being
taken, the whole Babylonian empire fell into the hands oi Cyrus ;
who, as long as his uncle Darius, otherwise Cyaxares, lived, allow
ed him a joint title with himself in the empire ; and out of deferenc*
to him, made him not merely a viceroy, but yielded him the first
place of honour in it. Nine years are generally allotted by chrono-
logers to the reign of Cyrus; the two first of which he reigned in
conjunction with his uncle, and the seven following (Darius being
dead) he reigned as the sovereign, and supreme head of the
mpire.
* The Author undoubtedly means, in his public character.
BSR. X.) IN TROUBLOUS TIMES*
of God ; and we are not to think that this sense was unintend
ed in this colloquy, as I may call it, or interlocution about Je
rusalem between Daniel, and the great God by his angel.
Neither had Daniel a reference to it in his prayer, nor God in
his answer by the angel, only considered upon a civil account ;
that is, as it had been a great, and an opulent, and a famous
city, of much account in the world. It was not, I say, upon
this civil consideration, merely, that either Daniel was so con
cerned : or that the great God did seem so directly, and with
so special a care and providence, to concern himself about it :
but as it was the seat of the divine presence, and worship ; and
had been the throne of his glory, though he had suffered it to
be disgraced to a very great degree. And therefore both
Daniel in his prayer, and the angel in his answer, speak of it
under the name of the holy city, as you may see in the sixteenth,
nineteenth, and twenty-fourth verses of this chapter ; in which
they do, as it were, mutually and certatim interest one ano
ther. And so the thing we have to observe and consider is
this;
That the great God doth mercifully provide and take care,
that the building of his church should go on, even in troublous
times.
It will be worth our while to consider this point a little. The
people of God are by the apostle Paul called his building.
" Ye are God's husbandry, ye are his building." 1 Cor. 3. 9*
The conversion of souls is the building the church. The
growth and improvement of the converted, is the building up or
edification of particular souls. Such building work as this
the blessed God takes care should go on ; should not be laid
aside altogether, even in times of difficulty and trouble, but
should go on notwithstanding. For the power is greater by
which God doth manage such work, than that by which he cart
be resisted in it ; and the mercy is greater with which he is in
tent upon it, than to be diverted from it. If he have such work
to do, who shall let it ? If he will work, who shall hin
der him ? And if his merciful inclination hath once made him
intent upon it, he will never suffer any thing to divert it. His
power, I say, is too great to be resisted ; and so is his goodness,
to be diverted from such a work.
Yea, and he not only takes care that it should be carried on,
notwithstanding the troubles of the time; but also that it shall
be carried on in some measure by them, or that they shall be in
some sort subservient thereunto. For lie so orders it, as that
even by the troubles of the times,
First: His under-agents, his instruments or builders whoru
REBUILT (sER. X.
he employs, have their diligence so much the more quickened.
Those that were employed in the building of Jerusalem, ap
peared so much the more eager and intent upon the work ; by
how much the more Tobias, Sanballat, and some others did
bend and set themselves against them in it. Yea, and
Secondly : By the means of such troubles too are particular
souls, many times, stirred up, and made more serious and impres
sible ; more apt to prize, and more ready to improve all good
seasons, which tend to spiritual edification, as they do occur.
When the word of the Lord is more precious, when it is en
joyed upon very uncertain terms, it ought to be always so;
and sometimes it is so, by God's gracious disposition. Then
it is usually most savoury ! then it is most operative, and
doth most good ! And so this work of building the church of
God is carried on, not only notwithstanding, but even in some
measure by the troubles of the times. Some brief use we shall
make of this, and so pass on.
1 . We should learn from it not to account and reckon, that
in times of trouble and difficulty there is nothing to be done,
but to sit still ; no further endeavours to be used, for the car
rying on of God's spiritual building. Far be it from us to
think so ! For our own parts we have reason thankfully to ac
knowledge, that it is somewhat a quiet time with us hitherto j
but it is a troublous time in the world round about us ; and too
prone we are to stand at a gaze, as amazed persons wistly look
ing round about us ; and having our eyes in the ends of the
earth (as Solomon says concerning the fool) and in the mean
time to neglect our own proper work. We mind what others
are doing, in their busy hurries up and down in the world ; and
do but little consider what we should be doing. Our own work
lies still too much neglected, as if we had no such thing to do
as the building up ourselves in our most holy faith ; as if we
had finished our work, and had nothing more remaining, nothing
left us to do. And,
2. We should take heed too of mistaking our work in a time
when there is so much of hurry and confusion in the world ;
and when things are so blundered, that it is not very easy to
discern what is to be done, and what not; or what way
is to be taken, and what not. There are many who are
so very intent upon this or that little mean design, in re
ference to this building, that it very much disturbs those,
who are serious and in good earnest in reference to the main of
the work itself. And there are those, who think there can be
no such building at all, unless it be all according to their own
model ; and that the building of Jerusalem is nothing else, but
SKR. X.) IN TROUBLOUS TIMES. 305
the building up of their own party ; that they are all the church,
and that none have a share and part in it but themselves. But
the main things, which belong to the constitution of the church
of God, must be in our eye, while we are promoting the build
ing thereof according to our capacities, and in our several sta
tions ; and whatever tends to promote real and substantial truth
and holiness, is what we should be most intent upon in this
work. But then again,
Jerusalem was to be considered too under a civil notion ; as
it was a great and a femous city, very much favoured by provi
dence, and which flourished under the benign influence of it,
through a long tract of time. And so we may by analogy en
large our observation ; and render the truth we observe appli
cable unto other cities and places, which are considerable, in
some respects in the same circumstances, with Jerusalem. And
the thing we have to observe, is,
That a city, or place, being ruined by its own wickedness,
when it is restored, the restitution of it is owing to the fixed
purpose, and active providence of God, who brings it about
notwithstanding whatsoever difficulties.
All this we have exemplified in Jerusalem, and it is applica
ble to other places. Jerusalem you know, was reduced from
the height of its prosperity and flourishing state, into a misera
ble ruin ; and it continued in that desolate state according to
the measure of time which God had appointed it. It was at
length restored, repaired, rebuilt, and in a very troublous time.
Jf you read over the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which give
us the history of that affair, which the prophecy in our text
refers to, you will find it was a very troublous time ; an d that
the troubles of the time were directed in most express opposi
tion to this work, the rebuilding of Jerusalem. There were
those that bore ill will to that city, who sometimes mocked the
builders of it, sometimes threatened them, sometimes stirred
up the Persian princes against them, to hinder the work ; repre
senting to them that, that city was anciently "a lebellious city
and hurtful to kings/* Ezra 4. 15. And though by this means
they sometimes prevailed to have the work intermitted, yet by
the favour of those very princes, some or other of them, God
orders it that it is carried on, and brought to a perfect issue at
last. The rebuilding of Jerusalem is enacted by a law, and
enforced by other additional laws. You have Cyrus his decree ;
you have Darius his decree ; you have Artaxerxes his decree,
in the seventh year, and again in the twentieth year of his
yeign ; if it was the same person, which I dispute not. So
that by decree, upon decree, is the carrying on of this work
VOL. VI* 2 EC
306 JERUSALEM REBUILT (SER, X.
reinforced ; and all by the favour of the princes of that empire,
the power whereof was endeavouredto be engaged against it; and
sometimes it was, in some degree, upon the solicitation of its
enemies. And solemn acknowledgements hereupon are made
to the great God, that he did put it into the heart of the king,
to ordain and decree so and so, in reference to this affair, as
you find in sacred history.
Now consider, and compare the words of the text with the
event, and the matter is plain ; that it was by fixed purpose,
and active providence, that the affair was brought to pass.
The text says expressly, that " the street shall be built again,
and the wall even in troublous times." As if it was said, Let
not the more formidable aspects of the times discourage you,
as to the belief of this ; the thing shall be done notwithstanding.
And it was done.
This also affords and challenges too an application ; and
there are several things which by way of inference we may col
lect, and gather for our own use. As,
1. We have this implied, that a place or city long favoured
by God, may be reduced to a very ruinous condition by its own
wickedness. The rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the prediction
here that it should be built again as it is expressed, does sup
pose such a ruin. "The street shall be built again, and the
wall." What ! of Jerusalem ? is there a mention of building
that city again ? This plainly implies then, that Jerusalem was
in desolation. And so it was ; and we are told plainly enough
how it came to be so. Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and be
fore them Jeremiah, in their solemn confessions and lamenta
tions, do own the cause. They had sinned, they had deeply
revolted, and therefore God had brought upon them all the
evils that were written in the law of Moses. So they came into
that desolate state. Their city was burnt with fire, and all re
duced even into an utter ruin.
And it is our business this day to consider a like case to this.
You know this has been the case of your city too. The men
tion of the rebuilding of Jerusalem bespeaks it to have been
ruined before. And you can have no occasion to consider the
rebuilding of London, but it will lead you to consider the
foregoing ruin of it. That is our direct business, which
lies in our way to consider ; but especially the causes of
it.
The ruin itself is first to be considered, that dreadful ruin!
In reference to the ruin of Jerusalem we find the prophet, in
the name of the people of God ; or we find the people of God,
whom he represents, laying it as a charge upon their own souls,
SER. X.) IN TROUBLOUS TIMES. 307
to remember the misery, and the affliction, the wormwood and
the gall, and to have their souls humbled within them. And
what ! can a dozen, or fourteen years abolish in us the memory
of such a ruin, as that of London was ? Can it be forgot how
the lofty city was brought low; and how the more lofty flames
triumphed over the riches, the pride, and the glory of it ? The
thing itself surely deserves, and claims to be long remembered,
and deeply considered and thought of.
But especially the cause of this desolation deserves to be
considered : namely, the provoking, and the punishing cause ;
the wickedness of London, and the divine wrath which was
engaged thereby against it. The very fury of those flames, those
flames themselves were the indications and issues of the greater
and more furious heat of lust, and the more intense and hot
ter fervour of divine displeasure. And if it be considered, me-
thinks it should even yet melt hearts to think, that there was
wickedness more outrageous, and wrath hotter, unspeakably
hotter, than those flames !
And we should have no reason to think that there was a dis
proportion in the deserving, to the punishing cause ; if the
particulars of those evils I allude to were to be recounted and
reflected on. But I am afraid we are very apt to deal by the
judgments of God, as we are too commonly wont to do with
sermons. We hear them, and they move us (it may be, if at
all) a little only for the present ; and all the impression of
them is soon lost an^ vanisheth, as if we had never heard them
at all. The judgments of God are audible sermons. They
have a voice. The Lord's voice crieth to the city, "Hear the
rod and him who hath appointed it !" Micah 6. 9. Divine
judgments are loudly audible, they have a crying voice ; and
it is strange that the voice of such a cry should be forgotten !
that so dreadful an event of providence should be but as a nine-
days wonder ! that though the wound be healed, the scars should
be worn out, and no remembrance left of it ; but all returning
to their former course, as if no such thing had been done
among us !
But the consideration, as was said, of the thing that was
done, would receive a great deal of weight by considering the
doers; namely, God and ourselves. That the inhabitants of
London, should be, as it were in a conspiracy to destroy Lon
don seems very strange. And yet was not that the case ? How
full have men's minds been of severity towards such, as they
have thought, or suspected, to have been the designing instru
ments ; but how merciful in the mean time to themselves !
Every one added something to the burning ; and especially
30S JERUSALEM REBUILT (SER. X.
every one that allowed himself in the ways of such sins, as we
cannot but know are very provoking to his jealous eyes, and
which God will least of all spare for, when they are found
among them who profess his name.
And that it should be God's doing is never to be forgotten.
That God should have such a controversy with a people, who
had so long borne his name ; and with a city, wherein he had
so long dwelt ! And yet, " shall there be evil in a city, and the
Lord hath not done it ?" Amos 3. 6. Are not we to acknow
ledge his own doing in the case ? He is said to do, whatsoever
creatures do; whatsoever second, or subordinate causes do,
while he has them in his hand, or in his power : either to re
strain, or let loose their inclinations and natural tendencies, as
he pleaseth ; though he do not prompt them to this, or that
thing. And again,
2. We may collect hence for our further use, that such a
desolation and ruin, followed by such a restitution and recovery
is to be looked upon, as an argument of the divine displeasure
not prevailing so far as unto a total rejection ; and abandoning
of such a people, or such a city. There was great displeasure
against Jerusalem, and the breaking out of that displeasure in
to such a judgment and vengeance, as came upon it, was in
deed very formidable, if you consider that alone. But if you
consider the promise, that "the street and the wall shall be built
again", and that notwithstanding the greatest difficulties that
troublous times may lay in the way of such a work ; this shews
it was not a displeasure, to a total abandoning that city. And
we for our parts have reason to acknowledge the divine good
ness in this, and that mercy has been remembered in judg
ment : that there has not been upon the ruin of this city such a
curse or malediction, as was that of Jericho; "Cursed be the
man before the Lord that riseth up, and buildeth this city Je
richo ! he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and
in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it." Josh. 6. 26.
We have reason, I say to bless God that he has not so cursed us.
And,
3. We may collect further, that much less is such a ruin,
(when by the divine favour it is followed with such a restitu
tion) to be looked upon as an argument against our religion j
against the religion of our people, and our nation. Some
might perhaps be too apt to make such an invidious interpreta
tion and comment upon such a piece of providence ; but the
following issue of things is some refutation, a refutation good
enough for such an argument. And it was the occasion of saint
Augustine's writing those twenty- two books (as he himself tes-
IN TROUBLOUS TIMES'.
SOO
SER. X.)
tifies) concerning the city of God ; that there were, in his
time, such conceits and apprehensions, upon such a like event
that happened to a famous city. For the Goths having inva
ded Rome and sacked and ruined that city; the pagan enemies,
of that time, had an apprehension among them, and talked it
commonly, that this ruin was fallen upon Rome, upon the ac
count of its having become so much Christian, as it was at that
time. It was the design, I say, of all those books to contend
against the folly of such an opinion as that ; at least this was
the occasion of Augustine's writing them, and that design is
carried on very much throughout them. And again we may
note,
4. That it argues a very favourable divine providence, when
God does so fixedly purpose, and effectually bring it about,
that a city so desolated should be restored and raised again,
God's hand ought to be acknowledged in the raising, as well as
in the ruin of such a city. Both were indeed alike strange as
to our case. Before that desolating judgment came, in whose
thoughts was it ? who suspected such an event ? As before that
judgment came upon Jerusalem, that calamitous state and de
solate judgment which befel that city, you find it said, "Who
would have believed, that ever an enemy should have entered
within the walls of Jerusalem ?" So who would have believed
that such a calamity was approaching as that of London's fire
before it came ? that all the power of this city should not be
able to withstand the fire at first ; but that it should diffuse, and
spread so universally, so irresistibly ; who, I say would have
thought it ? And who would have thought that it should have
been so soon raised up again ? and how much besides, and be
yond expectation was it ?* As in reference to Jerusalem, who
* For the illustration of this and some other parts of this discourse
it may not be improper to give the reader a short account of what
the author here alludes to ; I mean, the ruin of the city of London
by fire, and its sudden and wonderful resurrection again from its
ashes. Of which surprising events many of our historians have
given us a very pathetic account ; though possibly some of my read
ers are not much acquainted with them, and consequently will not
be able to read this sermon with equal pleasure and advantage.
The dreadful fire, so often alluded to, began on September 2, 166G;
near the place where the monument now stands j by which one of
the noblest, and most magnificent cities in the world, was turned into
ashes in a few days. A raging east wind we are told fomented it to
an incredible degree : which in a moment raised the fire from the
bottom to the tops of the houses, and scattered prodigious flakes iu
all places, which were mounted so vastly high into the air, as if
JERUSALEM REBUILT (sER. X.
of those, who beheld it in its ruins, would have thought or
hoped that they should again with so much joy behold Zion the
city of their solemnities, and see Jerusalem as before, a peace
able habitation ? When God doth things not looked for, they
ought to make the greater, and deeper impression. When he
bestows unexpected mercies, he expects impressions of deep
and lasting gratitude ; such impressions as are not to be worn
out. For whatj will we refer all these things to chance ? or
to mere human industry ? Is it by a casual concurrence of ac
cidents that such a thing as this is brought about ? With re
spect to a particular house it is said, "Except the Lord build
the house, they labour in vain that build it." Psal. 127. 1-
And will we disinterest God in so momentous a work as this is,
the restitution of such a city ? And again,
5, Take both the ruin and the restoration together, and we
heaven and earth were threatened with the same conflagration. The
fury, as an English historian observes, soon became insupportable
against all the arts of men and power of engines ; and besides the
dreadful scenes of flames, ruins, and desolation, there appeared the
most killing sight under the sun, the distracted looks of so many ci
tizens, the waitings of miserable women, and the cries of poor
children, and decrepit old people with all the marks of confusion
and despair.
The inscription on the famous pillar or monument, erected by
that celebrated architect Sir Christopher Wren, in memory of this
calamity, tells us ; ' The fire with incredible noise and fury des
troyed eighty-nine churches, among which was the cathedral of St-
Paul; many public hospitals, schools, libraries, a vast number of
stately edifices, thirteen thousand two hundred dwelling houses, four
hundred streets &c. The destruction was sudden ; for in a short
time the same city, which was seen in a flourishing condition, was
reduced to nothing : and after three days when the fatal fire had in
appearance overcome all means of resistance and human counsels :
by the will of heaven it stopped, and was extinguished." This was
a sight, as Dr. Calamy observes, that might have given any man a
lively sense of the vanity of this world, and all the wealth and glory
of it, and of the future conflagration of the world itself.* I shall
only add, without inquiring into the causes of this dreadful calamity
which the author has hinted at, in one part of his discourse ; that
all persons, as Echard tells us, were indefatigable in the great work
of rebuilding, and making provision for the resurrection of this city :
and that Sir Jonas Moore having raised Fleet-street, according to the
model appointed; from that beginning the city grew so hastily to
wards a general perfection, that within the compass of a few years
it far transcended its former splendour.
* Abridgment of Baxter's life, vol. 1. p. 314.
SER. X.) IN TROUBLOUS TIMES. 31 1
have mighty incentives, and strong obligations to study more
the pleasing of that God, and keeping of his gracious presence,
who must be our keeper; the keeper of you, and your ciry.
We read of a certain city in Italy, whose inhabitants chained
the statues of their gods to their particular stations ; upon the
apprehension they had of how great concern it was to the weal
of their city to keep their deities among them, or that they
should not be deserted, and forsaken by them. I need not
trouble you with the particular occasion of it, But,
God is only to be held and kept among us by bands of his
own making ; by his own covenant and his own promises, by
which he is most strongly held, if we do not make a violent
rupture ourselves, and break off ourselves from him. But it
is much to be feared the divine presence is little coveted, or
desired ; and it little appears that God hath a dwelling in many
of the new built houses of this city, where men little concern
themselves whether they have God with them or no. How
many families are there, who, after so monitory a judgment,
and after so obliging a mercy, yet call not upon the name of
the Lord ! or wherein that wickedness dwells, which will not
permit him a dwelling there ! Is this just dealing ? that when
he provides you houses, you will not permit him a dwelling
there ? He furnisheth your habitations, and you spoil his.
We find mention made of a people, who say unto God, " De
part from us ; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways:"
(Job, 21. 14.) and yet he filled their houses with good things.
Ungrateful, and unworthy wretches ! He tills their houses with
good things, and they bid him begone. But as it follows there,
"the counsel of the wicked is far from me''. Job 21. 16. Let it
be far from you also. That vile temper, that wretched dispo
sition of heart far be it from me ! Let not my soul enter into
their secret ; into the secret of those, who have the heart so to
requite the Lord ! I only add, in the
6. And last place, that such a ruin, and consequent restitu
tion, are no assurance to such a place or city that it should
never be ruined again. Let us so far improve the instance of
Jerusalem here. Upon such a prayer so solemn, and many
a prayer besides offered up by spirits wrestling and deeply
engaged about this business, here comes a gracious prediction
and promise ; to wit, "I will favour Jerusalem, the street shall
be built again, and the wall, and the work shall be carried on,
let the difficulty be never so great, and the contentions against
it never so high and earnest." Why, one would have thought
divine favour had been now so fixed to Jerusalem, that it
should never have been off more. But how much otherwise
812
JERUSALEM REBUILT &C.
was the case ! Jerusalem suffered many a distress after this re
building. For after this it was harassed much by the Gre
cians, Syrians, Parthians, and the Romans ; and by some of
these several times. And last of all it was taken, and so
dreadfully ruined, (I mean the destruction brought upon it
by Titus) that ever since one may go (as once was said of
another place) and seek Jerusalem, in Jerusalem, and all in
vain. But G"d forbid that this should be the issue as to
London ! God grant that it may never be so ! that the prevail
ing and growing wickedness of this city (for it seems to be
growing) may never bring things to that pass, as that one may
as vainly go to seek London, in London.
SERMON XI.*
Pialm 67. 2, 8.
That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health
among all nations. Let the people praise thee t O
God; let all the people praise thee.
T TAKE it for granted, it is generally known that it is by
public authority recommended to us, this day, to celebrate
* Preached September 8, 16Q5.
* This sermon, it appears, was preached on September 8, 1 6Q5 }
being the day appointed by public authority for a general thanksgiv
ing, particularly for taking the strong town, and citadel of Namur,
in Flanders, by king William : which place as bishop Burnet tells
us, was so happily situated, so well fortified, and so well furnished
and commanded, that it made the attempt seem bold and doubtful.
Namur had been taken by the French about three years before, in
the view of a great army 5 which was looked upon as one of the
greatest actions of that long reign. But though the fortifications,
both in strength, and in the extent of the outworks, were double to
what they had been, when the French took the place ; yet king
William, after a short seige, retook that important town and fortress,
in the view of a hundred thousand French, commanded by the famous
Mareschal Villeroy : which, as the forementioned historian says,
was reckoned one of the greatest actions of the king's life ; and in
deed, one of the greatest in the whole history of war.
VOL, VI. 2 S
314 DAVID'S IRAYER, THAT THE WAT (SBR. xi.
the praises of God, for the preservation and success, vouchsafed
to his majesty's person, and forces abroad : and particularly,
that God hath protected and guarded so precious a life, amidst
all the dangers and deaths, that threatened it in the seige of
Najnur ; and given success to the design of [taking that for
tress.
And whereas the proclamation by the lords-justices appoint
ing a thanksgiving on this day in reference to these great things,
takes notice : that this protection of the king's life, and the suc
cess of his forces in that great undertaking, is justly to be looked
upon as an answer to piayer, especially the prayers of that day
of fast, that was appointed and observed in the beginning of the
summer, with relation to this year's expedition : t do accord
ingly, at this time, intend to consider the second verse of this
psalm, in connexion with the third ; as I did on that fast-day
consider it, in connexion with the first.
The words of the proclamation are to this purpose ; fe That
whereas they did appoint a general fast to be kept through this
kingdom, for imploring the blessing and protection of Almigh
ty God in the preservation of his majesty's sacred person,
and prosperity to his arms, both at land and sea, which hath
been observed accordingly; and forasmuch as it hath pleased
Almighty God, of his infinite goodness, in answer to the
prayers numbly and devoutly offered up to him, to grant to the
forces of his majesty, and his allies, so great success in the
taking of the town and castle of Namur : they do therefore
adoring the divine goodness, appoint this day &c."
Now, according to the observation that is justly made here,
that God hath made the event to correspond so far unto prayer,
I have, as hath been already said, determined to insist upon the
second verse in connexion with the following, which run thus ;
tf That thy name may be known upon earth, thy saving health
among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God ! let all
the people praise thee." Whereas on that day of public fast, I
considered the second verse, in connexion with the first ; the
words of which are these : *' God be merciful to us, and bless
us, and cause his face to shine upon us ; that thy name may be
known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations."
It was with this design that such mercy was petitioned for ;
or that God would be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause
his face to shine upon us. Which expressions, relating to a
community of people, and their public affairs, import favour
able aspects of providence upon such a people, and such af
fairs ; and that such requests were made, and such mercy sup
plicated for from heaven, with this design, that God's way
ER. XI.) OP GOD MAY BE KNOWN UPON EARTH. 3 1 5
may be known upon earth, his saving health among all nations-
As this was the end and design of prayer, so the prospect, the
expectation, and hope hereof, is made the great inducement, as
well as the spring and source of praise. And what we aim at
or seek for, is, that all people may every where praise God :
that all nations may be glad and sing for joy because he will
"judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon
earth/'
By the way of God we are to understand, the course of his
economy in governing the world ; but especially fas the expres
sions connected^ with it shew ) as it refers to the salvation
of men. What our translation reads in two words, "saving
health;'* is but one in the hebrewtext, salvation. And we know
that from the same word comes that name Jesus, given to the
great and eminent Saviour j who by a known and elegant me
tonymy, is hereupon again and again in Scripture called God's
salvation. And judicious expositors understand this to be the
highest intendment, and ultimate meaning of these very words ;
that Christ, and God's design of saving sinners in and by him,
may be more known in the world. And therefore, taking the
foregoing supplication as I now state it, connected with the
resolved duty of praising God, and the invitation of all to a ge
neral concurrence herein ; and we have a sufficient ground for
that observation, which I shall now recommend to you as the
theme and subject of our present discourse,
That our souls should be greatly enlarged, and highly raised
in praising God for successes, and for favourable aspects as to
our public affairs, from the hope, that thereby divine know
ledge may more generally be diffused, and spread in the world.
I shall, in speaking to this,
I. Briefly shew you what I mean by divine knowledge.
II. Shew you, that such means as are here intimated ; to
wit, the successes and favourable aspects of providence, with re
lation to the public affairs of such as profess the name of God,
and design to serve his interest in the world, have a ten
dency to the spreading of such divine knowledge among men.
And,
III. I shall shew, that the hope and expectation hereof is a
very proper, and should be the principal spring of our praises
for such successes, and favourable aspects upon our com
mon affairs. And so
IV. Make application of all, as time will allow.
1. I shall briefly shew you, what is here intended by divine
knowledge. That is truly called such knowledge, whose ob
ject, and whose author, and whose nature are divine. And
316 DAVID'S PRAYER, THAT THE WAY (sfiR. xi.
such I mean that to be, which I now speak of ; and shall open
to you in the terms of the text.
1. For the object of it ; namely, God's way, and his salva
tion. The way of God, as I told you, is his economy, or course
of dispensations in governing the world. And that takes in
both religion and righteousness together, objectively consider
ed ; the knowledge of the true religion, and of all that men do
mutually owe to one another. And we find that both are in
tended here in this context. That the general spreading of
religion and righteousness is designed, and amied at (with the
desire and expectation of which the Psalmist's heart is so much
taken up) you may see from the seventh verse, which concludes
the psalm. " God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth
shall fear him." This shall be the consequence of his saving
us ; his giving us success, or his making his face to shine upon
us : that is, that as he blesseth us, men shall more and more
be induced to bless him. That expression, "the fear of God"
is, you know, a paraphrase of true religion : not only religion in
general towards God, but even such religion as bath its foun
dation in Christ, the Saviour and Mediator between God and
man. And this seems to be here intended in the words of the
text, " That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving
health among all nations." There can be no such thing as re
ligion in the world at all, which is not founded in the hope of
mercy, as the spring and fountain ; and of final felicity, as the
end, that all shall result into at last. There could be no more
religion upon earth, than in hell, if there were no hope of sal
vation. Men would but have the religion of devils, or fear
God with a fear of horror. For the devils are said to believe
there is one God, and tremble ; (p^iyo-so-i,) that is, gnash their
teeth for horror. James 2. 19. They tremble to think there
is a power superior to them, which they cannot overcome ; and
that will take a just, and eternal revenge upon them, for their
insolent rebellion and wickedness.
It is then the knowledge of God's salvation, that giveth a
rise and spring to religion ; and without this, there can be no
such thing as true religion in the world. But then also, that
righteousness is comprehended within the compass of the ob
ject of this knowledge, as well as religion, appears from the
same context; " Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for
thou shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations
upon earth." ver. 4. As God, by the dispensation of the
everlasting gospel, requires and teacheth us to live righteously,
as well as godly ; so doth that knowledge, which he ingener-
ates and worketh in the minds of men (wherever that teach-
SSR. XI.) OP GOD MAY BE KNOWN UPON EARTH. 317
ing is efficacious) produce righteousness towards one another
as well as religion towards God. Both these I take therefore to
be comprehended together, in the object of this knowledge ;
and so far it is divine. And,
2. It is divine also with respect to the author of this know
ledge. The promise in the new covenant, which God said he
would make with his people, and which is the connective bond
of all that are his people indeed, is this; that they should be
all taught of God. The passage is quoted from Jeremiah,
chap. 31. 33, 34. by the apostle to the Hebrews; chap. 8.
JO. 11. " For this" is the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord ; I will put my
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, and I
will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every
man his brother, saying, Know the Lord ; for all shall know
me from the least to the greatest." And indeed if that were
not designed and meant, we could not give a reasonable ac
count, why this should be made the matter of request and sup
plication to him, that his way might be known upon earth, his
salvation among all nations. But though this is a knowledge
to be taught and given by God himself, yet he useth means in
order thereto. But by how much the more overpowering his
influences are, and by how much the brighter and more pene
trating his light is, in begetting this knowledge, so much the
less doth the instrumentality of the means appear herein, and
God is seen in it so much the more. And then,
3. The nature of this knowledge, as well as the object, and
the author of it, must be understood to be divine too ; inas
much as it is plainly intimated to be efficacious and transforming
knowledge, so as to make the subject like the object ; that is,
so as to make men appear like so many representations of God
himself in this world; with respect to theirholinesstowardshim-
self and mutual love, equity, and righteousness one towards ano
ther. This is the meaning of his writing his law on their heart.
For whereas his law is all gathered up (as it is by our Lord him
self) into this double summary of loving God with all our hearts
and souls, our minds and strength, and loving our neighbours as
ourselves ; to have this divine knowledge, in truth and reality,
is to have it so efficaciously operative, as to transform the very
soul into this twofold love ; and so accordingly to frame this
world and the minds of men every where into compositions of
love towards God, as the supreme good, and towards one ano
ther, in obedience and subordination to him. And this is that
divine knowledge, which the text and context do manifestly in
tend. But,
318 DAVID'S PRAYER, THAT THE WAY (SEE. XI.
II. We are to shew you how successes, and the favourable
aspects of providence, relating to the public affairs of those who
profess his name and espouse his interest, tend to propagate
such knowledge as this in the world : that is, according to the
^expression in the text, to make it universal, so as that God's
way may be known in all the earth, and his salvation unto all
nations ; and that true religion, and the fear of God may take
place unto the utmost ends of the earth, according to the con
clusion of the psalm. Arid when we hehold God in such fa
vourable aspects and appearances, how much does the hope re
vive, and rise in our souls, that this shall be the final issue of
things ! namely, that God shall be thus known in all the earth
.so as to be every where worshipped, and subdue the nations of
the world to his equal, mild and merciful government. I shall
proceed here by these two steps. I shall take notice to you,
that we have a great deal of reason to hope for this end : and
that we may observe an aptitude in such means to subserve
it.
1. We have a great deal of reason to hope for this end ; as
a thing, which God ultimately has in design, and will effect.
We find several unaccomplished, prophetical scriptures of this
import, as that "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord, as the waters cover the seas." Isai. 11. J). And so
operative will be this knowledge, that besides the impressions
of religion which it shall make upon the souls of men Godward
it shall also impress a universal peaceableness, and righteous
ness upon men's minds, towards one another ; so as that men
shall generally agree to t( beat their swords into plough-shares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks : nation shall not lift up
sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
Isai. 2. 4. Such will be the powerful efficacy of this di
vine knowledge, that it shall transform the world into love
and kindness, benignity, and goodness ; as God himself is
love, and the supreme, and all-comprehending goodness.
And we see also a passage in the prophecy of Isaiah, which
hath a more particular reference unto Christ: "Behold my ser
vant whom I uphold ; mine elect in whom my soul delighteth :
I have put my Spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his
voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not
break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench; he shall
bring forth judgment unto truth" (unto victory it is read in the
New Testament. Math. 12. 20.) " He shall not fail, nor be
discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth ; and the
isles shall wait for his law." Isai. 42. 1 5. How far we are
. XI.) OF GOD MAY BE KNOWN UPON EARTH. 319
concerned in that, I shall not insist to shew ; though many have
made their observation upon that expression of the isles wait
ing for his law, and applied it to these islands that lie so near
to one another, and wherein we are so much concerned. This
however was a thing to be gradually done, but withal it was to
be certainly and surely done ; namely, that judgment should
at length be set by him in the earth. This expression plainly
imports the universality of the effect, and not as if it were this
or that single spot, to which such an effect was to be confined ;
though, in strictness" of speech, if it were any where known in
the world it would be known or set in the earth. But that
cannot be the design of the expression as it is generally ex
plained ; but that the earth in general is to be the subject of
this great effect : and the expressions, though they are wont
to be applied to the case of particular souls, yet they have a
more diffusive applicableness, which is not to be overlooked.
" A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall
he not quench." Ameiosis is acknowledged in these words: the
meaning of which is, that he shall be so far from bruising the
reed, that he shall strengthen it; he shall be so far from quench
ing, that he shall more and more inflame the smoking flax.
This, I say, besides its being particularly applicable to the case
of individual persons, must be understood also to have a general
reference to the state of the Christian interest. That though
it be low and languishing and many times like a bruised reed,
or a little smoking flax, where the fire is ready to expire and go
out, yet it shall not be. That bruised reed shall grow stronger,
and that smoking flax shall be blown up into a flame ; and so
will go further and further on, till the effect shall measure with
the earth and have no other confines and limits than that ; till
he shall set judgment in the earth, and have wrought that gene
ral transformation in the world, that all eyes shall see the salva
tion of God.
And when we are told in the book of Daniel (chap. 2. 45.)
of the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, that should
become a mountain and fill the earth ; 1 think there is no
thing, in any time or age hitherto past, that can answer the
import of such a saying as that is. This is a work yet to be
done, and therefore yet in great part to be hoped for; that,
that stone Christ, Christianity, his religion diffused, and spread
among all nations of the earth, by an almighty Spirit poured
forth upon all, shall be so great a mountain, as to measure
with the world, and to fill all the earth. But I know nothing
as'yet done, that answers the import of so great a word of pro
phecy, as this is.
520 DAVID'S PRAYER, THAT THE WAY (SER. xi,
Moreover we are told that upon the sounding of the seventh
trumpet (which most agree hath not been sounded yet) all the
kingdoms of this world are to be the kingdoms of our Lord and
of his Christ. Rev. 11. 15. And this will be in answer to what was
predicted long before, in the second psalm. "Ask of me, and 1
will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utter
most parts of the earth for thy possession." Psa. 2. 8. So that
as to the end we have a great deal of reason to hope for it,
which I proposed to represent to you in the first place.
2. We may also discern an aptitude in such means, as we speak
of, to serve this end : that is, when there are favourable aspects
of providence upon those that espouse the interest of God in
the world ; in opposition to the irreligion, the anti-christianity,
and the unrighteousness, that obtain therein, and too general
ly take place. By the consideration of several things that con
cur, you may discern a happiness in such means to serve this
end. As consider,
(1.) That the minds of men do naturally sink into atheism,
or irreligion and a deep oblivion of God, when things run on in
one course and tenor, with a still, uninterrupted stream. No
thing is plainer or more obvious. Because from the creation
of the world to this day, the course of nature hath been so
constant, steady and uniform ; therefore men have been apt to
say, "Where is the promise of his coming ?" 2 Pet. 3, 4. And
so when the series of providence is generally equal to itself, or
because men have no changes, therefore they fear not God.
Psal. 55. 19.
(2.) God hath himself declared, that in such a case as this,
he will be known by the judgments which he executes. Psal.
9. 16. And when they are judgments of such a kind, as to en
snare men in the works of their own hands (to use the following
words) and when men's violent doings are turned upon their
own pates, the Lord is then known by the judgments which he
executes. "I know not the Lord, (said Pharaoh, Exod. 5. 2.)
neither will I obey his voice j" but by judgment upon judg
ment, and plague upon plague, he made him know him before
he had done with him. He could at length say, "The Lord
righteth for Israel, against the Egyptians." Exod. 14. 25.
(3.) Men are the more confirmed in their atheism, or in
undue thoughts of God (which comes upon the matter all to
one) when the course of providence seems to favour unrighte
ousness , or to run counter to a righteous cause. Then it is
that th^y say, " God hath forsaken the earth ; and if there be
any God at all, he is surely a God that taketh pleasure hi wick
edness; he liketh our violence, our injurious, and wrongful
SER. XI.) OF GOD MAY BE KNOWN UPON EARTH. 32l
dealing to mankind ; and even to them, who call themselves
after his name." Thus because judgment, upon men's works
of that kind, is not speedily executed, therefore are the hearts
of the sons of men fully set in them to do evil. Eccles. 8. II.
For they say, " Tush ! God seeth not, neither is there any
knowledge in the Most High ;" as such men are brought in,
speaking in the tenth, and ninety-fourth psalms : that is, this
is represented as the sense of their hearts, which to him, who
reads the sense, immediately impressed upon the mind, is
equal to speaking j for he doth not need that they should
put it into words. God reads it as it lieth there. But
then,
(4.) When the course and tenour of providence in these res
pects alter, it tends both to revive, and rectify the notions of
God, in the minds of men ; I mean, when it alters so as to
animadvert upon manifest, and palpable unrighteousness and
iniquity in the world, and to favour a righteous cause.
This, I say, tends to revive the notions of God in the minds
of men ; for every body, in his distress, is apt to think of God.
There are certain semina, certain principles of natural religion
in the minds of all ; which, though some take a great deal of
pains quite to eradicate, yet they can never quite do it : nature
is too hard for them : but those principles that they cannot ex
tinguish, they make a shift to lay asleep. Lust is too strong
for light. A propension to, and a resolution of being wicked,
are for the most part victorious, generally governing in the
minds of men ; so as that the truths they hold, they hold in
unrighteousness. Rom. 1. 18. But affliction, and the cross
rencounters of providence, revive the sleeping principles of re
ligion ', which are bound up in a torpid, and stupifying state.
Men begin to bethink themselves, when they find themselves
in perplexity and distress. And when the wise man in Ecclesi-
astes (chap. 7- 14.) bids us in the day of adversity to consider,
he speaks according to the natural tendency of the thing ; be
cause there will be a greater aptitude in the minds of men to
consider, when things are adverse to them, and run quite con
trary to their inclination. And,
The notion of a God is not only hereby revived, but in some
measure rectified too. They, who before thought God did coun
tenance their way, now find, that this was a weak, infirm argu
ment, and that it proves no such thing. They cannot now any
further satisfy themselves that, that Deity (which they cannot
altogether disimagine) is favourable to unrighteousness ; but
that if there be a God, he is such a one, to whom right and
VOL. vi. 2 T
322 DAVID'S PRAYER, THAT THE WAY (SER. xi.
wrong are not indifferent things. They begin, I say, to appre
hend so now.
An ungodly frame and disposition of spirit had obtained, to a
very great degree, among Joseph's brethren ; but when they
meet with a series of cross providences, these remind them of
their unrighteous dealing with their brother : the thoughts of
which had slept with them long, but now they revive ; and
they now begin to return to a right mind concerning that very
matter. But what comes nearer our case is that Assyrian ty
rant,* who had been so long the plague and pest of the world,
and wrought such a destruction among the people of God.
When providence came to animadvert upon him, and he lay
under God's rebukes and frowns, he fancied himself a beast ;
and became like one, by the power of his own imagination, (as
that is most likely to be understood) till he was capable of un
derstanding, that the Most High did rule in the kingdoms of
men, and give and dispose of them as he thought fit, Dan. 4.
I 7 And as I noted to you before, Pharaoh would not know
God, neither obey his voice to let Israel go, after a series of
cross providences following one another ; till at length he saw
himself surrounded with waters, that gave a safe passage to the
Israelites, but a continual threatening and terror to him and his
army; but when he found their chariot-wheels taken off, he
cried out : tf Now we must all fly, God is fighting for the Is
raelites." Then he bethought himself of a God, who did not
like such a course as his was of oppression and tyranny, over a
people more righteous than himself.
Not that we are to think, that successes and favourable as
pects of providence are themselves, and considered apart, a
measure of right and wrong, in the world. That can by no
means agree with what we have supposed already; There are
the greatest variations of providence imaginable, but there
cannot be variations of what is right and wrong : for what is
right, always will be right ; and what is wrong, will always
be wrong. But supposing that a cause be in itself manifest
ly righteous on the one hand, and unrighteous on the other ;
(which maybe known by other measures) then providence
falling in with that which in itself is apparently right revives
and strengthens the apprehension of such a Deity, as ap
proves of that which is right and equal, and disapproves the
contrary. And so it tends at once, as I proposed to shew,
both to revive, and rectify the thoughts of God. And here
upon,
(5,) The great commotions of nations, when the world hath
* Nebuchadnezzar*
SER. XI. OP GOD MAY BE KNOWN UPON EARTH. 323
been long before in a deep dream, and a drowsy sleep, taking
no notice of God that rules the world, and governs the king
doms of men : when, I say, there are great agitations ; col
lusions of interests, and concussions of nations ; nation
dashing against nation ; if in this case an apparently righteous
cause receives countenance, and is under favourable aspects
from heaven, God comes to be a great deal more thought
of in the world than he was. He is then also thought to
be such, as indeed he is ; a God who takes not pleasure
in wickedness, nor approves of unjust, or unrighteous prac
tices, though he may have forborne, and spared those for
a time that used them. But further, when hereupon the
thoughts of God are revived, and rectified in any measure in
the minds of men, they become so much the more susceptible
of superadded revelation from him ; such as that, which is con
tained in the Scripture. For it is to no purpose, when the
world is generally atheistical, and have either buried the no
tion of a God, or perverted it, so as that to think there is a God
or that there is none, is all one with them ; it is, I say, to little
or no purpose for men to go up and down among such persons,
in such a state of things, with a Bible ; for they disbelieve such
a kind of Deity, as that book reveals. But if the thoughts of
God be recovered, and rectified in the minds of men, they are
a great deal more susceptible of superadded revelation from
heaven. And especially,
(6.) If that revelation be, as that of the gospel is, a reve
lation of grace. For when God hath discovered himself by
terrible things; being displeased with the wickedness, the
atheism, the irreligion, the unrighteousness of men in this
world : if then there be a discovery of his reconcileableness,
of his willingness, or readiness to beat peace with the world ;
in what a preparation may the minds of men be supposed to be
to receive such a doctrine, as that of the Christian religion ?
a discovery of God in Christ reconciling the world to himself.
Do but observe, therefore, that method of representing the
great Christian doctrine of the gospel, of free justification by
faith in Jesus Christ, which the apostle takes in the epistle to
the Romans. He begins it with the discovery of the general
wickedness of the Gentile world, and afterwards of the Jews. As
to the former he saith, The wrath of God is revealed from hea
ven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men, who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. Rom. 1. 18. And what
is all this for ? It is all to prepare and make way for the reve
lation of grace. We have proved, saith he, both Jew and Gen
tile to be under sin ; and therefore that there can be no such
324 DAVID'S PRAYER, THAT THE WAY (5ER. XI.
thing as reconciliation to God, and acceptance with him, but
it must be by the intervening righteousness of another. And
so nothing, in the way of means, doth so dispose the minds of
men to receive the gospel, as when God, in the methods and
course of his providence, doth appear terrible against wicked
ness, the impiety and the injustice of men : nothing, I say, in
point of means can be a greater preparation for the diffusion of
the grace and light of the gospel, and the more ready and suc
cessful spread thereof. And I add,
(7.) That by such favourable aspects of providence upon
them that espouse God's interest in the world, the great ob-
structors of the progress of the gospel come to be debilitated,
and that power of theirs weakened, and retrenched ; by which
they opposed to the utmost the diffusing of religion, and the
spreading of the knowledge of God ; making it their business as
much as possible to extirpate that religion, which godly souls do
BO much desire to see spread in the earth. When the providence
of God doth animadvert on such, as make it their business to
destroy true religion out of the earth ; so as that instead of its
being known in all nations it shall not be known any longer in
their own, as far as it is in their power to extirminate it :* when
such, I say, are animadverted upon, every eye seeth how this
tends to prepare, and make way for, the freer diffusion of the
gospel-light, and knowledge, among men. For they that
would do such a thing as root out true religion out of their own
nation, to be sure would be far from letting it spread in the rest
of the world; and, if it were in their own power, there should
be no such thing in the world at all. Thus it appears that fa
vourable events to those, who espouse God's interest, tend to
remove obstacles out of the way to the diffusion of true reli
gion ; and to promote the propagation of it, in the earth. I
therefore come now to shew, in the
III. Place, That the hope of this issue and end should ani
mate mightily our praises, and be the principal ground of
thanksgiving unto God for such successes and favourable as
pects of providence upon them, who espouse his interest in the
world. This might be many ways made out, and indeed by
such means as are most evident in reason, and most intimate
to the very essence of religion. For in plain common reason it
appears, that the creature is not to be his own end ; much less
are we to suppose, that God doth such and such things for the
* The author alludes, I suppose, to the late French king's re
peal of the edict of Nantz a few years before., and the terrible perse
cution of the Protestants in his kingdom.
SER. XI.) OF GOD MAY BE KNOWN UPON EARTH. 325
creature as his end. He that is the first, must be the last in
all things. He that is the author of all things must be the end
of all things. All this is plain to common reason. And if you
go into the deeper inwards of religion, which are nearly allied
to genuine, and rectified reason, nothing is plainer, than that
this is grounded in those great things of religion, which are
most essential to it. Self-denial, for instance : I do not pray
to, nor praise God upon my own account, so much as upon his.
For if I be a Christian, if I be a disciple of Christ, I am taught
to abandon myself, to nullify myself, and all interests and de
signs of mine, further than as they fall in with his, and are sub
servient thereunto. It is that which best agreeth with that
great essential principle of all religion, the love of God, which
is the noblest of all. By how much the more I love God, by
so much the more is my heart raised in praises, when I find
events to happen tbat have any tendency to promote his glory ;
and to make him more known, feared, loved, and honoured in
the world. And, to speak summarily unto this matter, do
but consider these two things ; which we may superadd to all
the rest.
1. That we ought to praise God for mercies, for the same
reason that we pray for them. But we are not to pray for them
ultimately for ourselves, but for God ; that they may serve the
interest of his glory, and be the means of diffusing the know
ledge of him in the earth. It is not a real glory that can be
wrought out for him ; but it is manifestative glory ; which
stands in his being known and acknowledged by his creatures,
the works of his hands, and so much the more by how much
the more general it is. I have said we are to give thanks for
mercies, upon the same terms that we are to pray for them.
And how we are to do that, we are taught by that method of
prayer which our Lord himself directed ; in which the first
thing petitioned for, is, "Hallowed be thy nanne." Math. 6. 9.
And that God may be glorified, is the thing which is to be first
in our eye and design. It ought to be so in our seeking mer
cies from him ; and consequently it ought to be so in our ren
dering acknowledgements and praises to him, for his kindness
and mercies. And again,
2. We ought to praise God for mercies, for the same reason
for which we are to apprehend he bestoweth them. But it is
plain he bestoweth them not for our sakes, but his own, "Not
for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto
you : be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O
house of Israel." Ezek. 36. 32. "I do not do these things on
your account, but for my own name's sake : that my name may
326 BA VIE'S PRAYER, THAT THE WAT (SKR. si
te known among the heathen, and that the world may more
generally acknowledge me to be God."
And according as things have this tendency and design, so
let our praises be directed, this day, upon the same inducement,
and from this same spring ; namely, the hope that God's ways
shall be known upon earth, and his salvation unto all nations :
and that the present favourable aspects of providence will some
way contribute hereunto, as they have this tendency and de
sign. If we do not consider the matter so, we disparage our
own victories, when we should give thanks for them ; we make
them little and inconsiderable, and upon the whole matter to
have nothing in them. For abstracted from the subserviency
in such providences to the interest of God, and religion, and
righteousness in the world, I pray what have they in them ?
All goeth for nothing, and will be as nothing in a few years.
We cannot say, that any thing is truly and rationally valuable,
that runs not into eternity ; that hath not a look towards an
everlasting state of things, and the interest of that kingdom
that shall never end. When the world passeth away, and all
the lusts thereof, they who do the will of God abide for ever.
1 John 2. 17. It signifieth very little to particular persons
whether they be rich, or poor, for a few days, here in this
world. And it signifieth as little to nations, whether their con
dition be opulent or indigent ; whether they be under oppression,
or in a state of liberty : it signifieth little, I say, when it is con
sidered, that these are replenished with inhabitants made for
eternity, and an everlasting state of things, and who must short
ly pass into that eternal state. Nothing is really, or upon ra
tional accounts valuable with them, but what carries with it a
signification of good, in reference to eternity. So it is to a
person, so it is to a nation, and so it is to this world and all the
inhabitants of the earth.
Therefore, while we praise God for the favourable aspects of
his providence, which have such a tendency as this, generally
and indefinitely considered, let us bring down this to the parti
cular case before us. If we apprehend much is not done to
ward this great end, by this particular instance of a favourable
providence, yet consider this as a part, and as a step to more.
And in order to excite our praises the more, to heighten them,
and raise our spirits in this duty of praising God, let us, I pray,
represent to ourselves the contrary state of the case, even as to
this particular thing that we praise God for ; namely, his pre
serving the life of our king. What, if we had been to mourn
for the loss of him ! A strong hold hath also been taken, which
a potent army came to relieve, Suppose the armies had fought j
6ER. XI.) OP GOD MAY BE KNOWN UPON EARTH. 327
suppose the army that came to the relief of Namur had been
victorious ; and suppose there had been a total destruction of
our own : think what the dreadful consequences would have
been! when, instead of having the knowledge of God to spread
further in the world, we should have had violence, and tyranny
in the height thereof deluging Europe ! and threatening a deluge
as general, as such power could extend unto! What hope
could we have left to our posterity, that they should long enjoy
that gospel, which we enjoy ; or profess that religion in peace
which we profess in peace and tranquillity? I say, do but turn
the tables ; and consider what our case had been, if it were stat
ed in a direct contrariety to what it is. There are many more
things which I might have said,
IV. By way of particular use of this subject ; but at present
let us call upon God for a blessing upon what hath been now
spoken.
325 THE SIN AND DANGER (sR.
SERMON XII.*
Joshua 24. 20.
Jf ye forsake the Lard, and serve strange gods, then he
will turn and do you hurt ; and consume you,
after that he hath done you good.
COME few things I shall offer to your notice, by way of in-
troduction to what I intend from this portion of Scripture.
As, in the first place,
That the good which God had done this people, he was con
fessedly the Author of it. He not only was really, and indeed
so ; but he was owned, and acknowledged to be so. There
was not a doubt in the case. It was a thing taken for granted,
and which every one would own ; that all the good which had
been done to them, proceeded only from him, who is the Au
thor of all good. And again,
That the good which he did for this people was very peculiar,
such as he had then done for no people beside. He gave his
* Preached at Silver-Street, November 5, 1695.
SBR. XII.) OF FORSAKING THE LORD. 322
testimonies unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Is
rael : he had not done so to any people. Ps. 147. 19> 20.
More *r,
That the peculiarity of his favourable dispensation towards
them was resolvable only into good pleasure. No other ac
count could be given of it, why he should be so particularly
favourable to that people above other people, than, as our Lord
says in another case, " Even so Father, for so it seemed good
in thy sight." Mat. 11. 26. A 'd lastly,
That though the destruction reatened unto one people, so
and so offending against goodness and mercy, doth not import
the certainty of such an event, in reference to another people,
offending in the like manner j yet it imports the case of such
a people to be very insecure, and that they are liable to the
same destructive severities and consuming judgments, as if
they had been the people immediately and directly threatened.
I say they are liable, and cannot reckon themselves entitled to
an immunity from such destructive judgments.
These things being premised, the ground of our present dis
course will lie thus : That the good which God hath, of mere
good pleasure, and in a peculiar distinguishing way, done for
a nation ; leaveth them liable to consuming judgments, if they
grossly offend God, and generally revolt from him. In speak
ing to this, 1 shall,
I. Give you the state of this truth, generally, and indefi
nitely considered. And then,
II. Speak unto it with special application to our own case^
jand the state of things among ourselves.
I. I shall give you the state of this truth, as considered
Hiore indefinitely. And therein, shall consider that good,
which God may be supposed to do a people ; of his own good,
pleasure, and in a peculiar way : and their liableness unto his
consuming wrath, upon the supposition here put ; that is, if
they should grossly offend, and generally revolt from God, or
rebel against him.
1. Let us consider the good, which God may be supposed to do
such, or such a people, out of mere good pleasure. And here
we shall consider, in what respects he may be supposed to do
a nation good, and also upon what accounts.
(1.) In what respects. And for this we shall take our mea
sure from what we find, even in this very chapter, in reference
to the people of Israel. The chapter you see, begins with a
large narrative and rehearsal of what God hath done for them ;
and it is well worth your notice, and observation. You must
consider, that the time of Joshua's leaving them was now at
VOL. vi. 2 u
THE SIN AND DANGER (sBR. XII.
hand. He was apprehensive of it, and therefore gathers the
princes, and heads of the tribes to him on purpose to take a
solemn leave. They had been under his conduct by divine ap
pointment ; and, as their general, he had led them into that
good land, which God, by promise and oatli to their forefathers
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had entitled them to as their seed,
and now conferred upon them. He was apprehensive of the
state of their case, after his departure ; knowing well the terms,
upon which God had put himself under such bonds and obli
gations to them. Therefore he gathers the tribes of Israel to
Shechem, and called for their elders, their judges and officerSj
who presented themselves before God. Upon which he begins
his narrative of what God had done for them ; and in what par
ticular respects he had favoured them, and done them good*
" Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the
other side the flood in old time, even Terah the father of Abra
ham, and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.
And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the
flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and mul
tiplied his seed and gave him Isaac."
Joshua here begins with that, which was the most observable
thing, and was first in the divine eye and intention ; namely,
his making this people a plantation of religion, when the worid
was generally over-run with idolatry and wickedness. He puts
them in mind how God did select, and sever the head of this
people, from the rest of the idolatrous world. As elsewhere
the history acquaints us with his calling him out of his idolatrous
family, saying : " Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will
shew thee/' Gen. 12. 1. And we are told, that "By faith Abra
ham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should
after receive for an inheritance, obeyed ; and he went out, not
knowing whither he went." Heb. 11.8. This is the fit posture
of a devoted soul, and so inwardly had God touched his spirit
that he should upon his call readily answer him, and not dispute
the matter, nor say, " Lord, must I go 1 know not whither ?
and into that state, and in that way I know not ?" No, faith
formed his spirit, not for disputation, but obedience. He obey
ed, and went. " Here am I, thy ready prepared instrument ;
do with me what thou wilt." And that which God designed
to do, was to make him the head of a religious people ', among
whom he would be known, when so gross and general darkness
liad spread itself over the rest of the world. This was the main
and principal thing in God's design ; and with this Joshua begins 1
SER. XII.) OF FORSAKING THE LORD.
this narrative : and then continues it in shewing in \vhat ways,
and by what gradations, God pursued the design which he had
so graciously laid in favour of this people ; out of whose line
the promised seed was to arise, in which, at length all the na
tions of the earth were to be blessed.
But in the mean time, the more special notices of God were to
be confined much within the limits of this people, or them that
should be proselyted unto them. " In Judah was God known,
and his name was great in Israel/' Psal. 76'. 1. And whereas this
was finally a design of grace, the rest of the narrative sheweth,
how providence did work in subserviency to that design ; to
multiply this people, to keep them entire, and unmingled with
other nations : till that seed should spring out of them, in,
the appointed season, in and by which there was to be so uni
versal a diffusion of blessings through all nations.
Therefore, the workings of providence are recounted after
wards, in subserviency to this design of grace, till he conies to
shew how by a succession of wonderful works, in a continued
series, God had conducted them from Egypt (where they
were oppressed, and multiplied at once) through a wilderness,
where they were under his more immediate care : till at last,
according to promise, they were planted in Canaan ; the type
of that heaven, into which the antitypical Joshua, our blessed
Jesus was to introduce all that should be adjoined to him
as the great Captain and Prince of their salvation.
(2.) As we have seen in what respects, God did thus do good
to his people; so we may also see upon what account. And this
matter is capable of being resolved into nothing else, but the
divine good pleasure. It was upon such terms, that this peo
ple were formed at h'rst. The Lord did not set his love upon
you, (said Moses) because ye were more in number than any
other people; for ye were the fewest of all people : but because
the Lord loved you. Deut. 7- 7 8. And why did he love them ?
why did he so peculiarly favour them ? The matter resolves it
self; he sets his love upon you, because he loved you. Divine
love, which is the original love of him who is the Fountain of
goodness is its own reason ; for there can be nothing former
to, or higher than the first. And the same thing Samuel takes
notice of after they were become a formed people. The Lord
will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake ; because
it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. 1 Sam. 12.
22. How came you to be made his people ? Nothing can it
be referred to, but that he was so pleased whose people you are.
And that he makes the ground why he would never forsake
them, in respect of their external constitution, otherwise than
332 THE SIN AND DANCER (SER. XII.
upon such terms as he himself did express before, even
when he took them to be his people. Of which more hereaf
ter.
And when their state was to be restored, after its being lost
in great measure through their defection and revolts from him,
it is still upon the same terms. He would indeed gather them
again, re-collect them out of the several nations into which for
their defection they had been scattered. But why ? Thus saith
the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel ;
but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among
the heathen whither ye went. Ezek. 36. 22. So that still
the matter is resolved into divine pleasure and goodness itself,
the prime import of his name, as he himself proclaimed it to
Moses ; The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Exod.
34. 6'. And so much concerning the good, which God may
be supposed to do for such a people indefinitely consider
ed.
2. We are next to consider the liableness of such a people,
notwithstanding, to more severe, and terrible, and even con
suming judgments in case of their general revolt from him, and
rebellion against him. This we see plainly exemplified, in the
course of God's dispensation towards this people. And we are
here to consider, that whatever good he did for this people, it
was but according to free promise ; and that such promise was
made, with a reserved liberty to make use of his own right
to vindicate himself, when, by injurious wickedness, the design
of all that goodness is frustrated, and perverted, as much as in
them lies.
(1.) It is plain, that whatever good he did for this people,
was according to free promise. But that is more than can be
said of other people. They had such promised peculiar favours,
as no other people ever had. That is, they had that good and
rich country, which they possessed, given them by immediate
grant from heaven, which no people under heaven ever had the
like besides ; and a promise ratified and sealed by solemn oath,
over and over, unto their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Ja
cob, whose God he declared himself to be, and the God of their
seed ; by which he obliged himself to do them good in this
respect, by planting them, as a distinct people, in a rich coun
try j where they should have all the accommodations that were
needful for answering the ends, for which he would have such
a peculiar people in this world. And though what he did for
them was thus according to promise, yet
(2.) In the very tenour of that promise he reserved to himself
SER.XI1.) OP FORSAKING THE LORD. S33
the liberty of animadverting upon their wickedness ; and of
making a way (as he sometimes expressed! himself) for his
wrath to break in upon them, till at length it came upon them
to the uttermost. 1 Thes. 216. So that when any such des
tructive judgments should befall them, they could not pretend
to be surprised ; it was nothing but what they might expect and
look for, even by the express tenour of that very grant, by which
they held what they did before enjoy. And thus they were fore
told it should be, as you may see if you look into the course of
God's treating and stipulating with them. "It shall come to
pass, if you shall hearken diligently unto my commandments,
which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and
to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul ; that
1 will give you the rain of your land in his due season," &c.
Deut. 11. 13. All suitable blessings are, upon that sup
position, promised to them. But it follows ; " Take heed to
yourselves that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside,
and serve other gods, and worship them : and then the Lord's
wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven that
there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit, and lest
ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth
you." Deut. 11. 16, 17.
Now according to the tenour of this word of his, which you
may meet with in multitudes of other places, was the course of
his actual dispensations towards them. For see how things
were, between God and them, after Joshua's decease. He
had seen them planted, and settled in that good land. And
we are told that " when Joshua had let the people go, the chil
dren of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess
the land : And the people of Israel served the Lord all the days
of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua ;
who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for
Israel." Judg. 2. 6, 7 But now, Joshua being dead, we
find soon after, that " Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,
and served Baalim. And they forsook the Lord God of their
fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and
followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round
about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked
the Lord to anger. And the anger of the Lord was hot against
Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that
spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies
round about, so that they could not any longer stand before
their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the
Lord was against them for evil as the Lord had said, and as the
Lord had sworn unto them j and they were greatly distressed."
334 THE SIN AND DANGER (sfiR. XII.
Judg. 2. 11 16. And afterwards, in the residue of this se
cond chapter of Judges, is the summary given us of their de
portment towards God ; and of God's procedure towards them,
under all the several succeeding judges, that governed them,
till the time they had a king set over them by their own choice.
Whereas before, their government was designed to have been
an immediate Theocracy ; that is, they were to have lived in
all points, under the immediate direction of God himself. But
they affected to be like their neighbours, both in civil and re
ligious respects and so God, having, in his first grant of spe
cial favour to them, reserved a power of doing himself right
upon them, managed the course of his dispensation towards
them accordingly.
And this we may take for an account of the state of this case,
more indefinitely considered ; forming our idea from what we
iind exemplified in this people. Great things were in a pecu
liar way of favour done for them ; yet we find all this did not
exempt them from the terrible severities of vindictive justice
upon their revolts from God, and rebellions against him. I
come now,
II. To consider all this with application to our own case,
and the state of our affairs ; in which application, two things
must be considered.
1. A commemoration, with great thankfulness and gratitude,
of the good, which God hath done for our nation ; in a con
tinued series, and course of dispensations, through a long tract
of time. And,
2. A representation, notwithstanding, how vain an imagi
nation it would be that we are thereby exempt from a liableness
to vindictive and consuming judgments, in case of a gross and
and general revolt from God, and rebellion against him. Of
these two parts this application shall consist.
1. We are to make a thankful commemoration of the great
good, which God hath done for our nation even in a long con
tinued course ; as he did for that people, who have given us
the ground of our present instruction. And here we are con
cerned to say as we find the prophet speaking : " I will men
tion the loving-kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the
Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us ; and
the great goodness towards the house of Israel (we may say
towards our England) which he hath bestowed on them, ac
cording to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his
loving-kindnesses." Isa. 63. 7*
And here we may go back a great deal further than Joshua
could, at this time, in recounting God's favours towards Israel,
8KB. XII.) OF FORSAKING THE LORD.
They were not then of that antiquity. He had not so long a
tract of time, as we have, to reflect and look back upon from
their beginning to be a people ; that is, the time when God
took Abraham out of his father Terah's idolatrous family, to
make him the head of a people, among whom there should be
a plantation and nursery of true religion, from age to age, till
the fulness of time. It was but a few hundreds of years, of
which Joshua puts them upon the review ; when he calls upon
them to reflect upon, and look back to the years of former
times. We have a far longer time to reflect and look back upon.
Ours is a country severed and distanced, as you know from the
rest of the world ;
JLtpenitus toto divisos orbe Britannos,*
and we are at so remote a distance, that it is to be reckoned
among the miracles of providence, that the gospel and Chris
tianity should visit our island so soon.
It is true, the history of so early times is so much the more
uncertain ; but such as it is, it makes Britain to begin to be
christianized even in the first century, and as some have re
ported by the ministry of Joseph of Arimathea, who had been
under the ministry of our Lord himself, as the Teacher come
forth from God. John. 3. 2, And though afterwards this
island of ours was invaded, first by one pagan, then by another ;
still Christianity kept its footing, so as never to be extinct.
And when at last the romish apostacy and corruption had spread
itself, here did more ancient primitive Christianity contend
long against it ; and with that steadfastness, and earnestness,
that they found it impossible to make proselytes without making
martyrs, even in those early days, And after a more general
night of popish darkness had spread itself over this land of ours
(then unhappy indeed, as the greatest part of the Christian world
was) the dawnings of renewed light were earlier with us, than
with a great part of the rest of Europe, where the reformation
has obtained. We may count above three hundred years back
ward, wherein there was most express opposition among us,
by the bright light which then shone against the worst
of the popish abominations. And when that light was grown
brighter and brighter, unto a more perfect day ; by what won
ders of providence has our day been prolonged and the light of
it extended for so long a space ! With how indulgent an eye
has heaven watched over us to prevent the return of that en
chanted night and darkness, out of which we had escaped ! what
designs have there been prevented from time to time, to bring
* Virgil Eel. 1.67.
330 THE SIN AND DANGER (sER. XII.
us back again under both a darkness and a bondage worse than
Egyptian !
And it is admirable to see and take notice, how providence
hath signalized the very seasons of our deliverance from those
dark and horrid designs, which have been set on foot against
us ; that he should also twice put such marks upon such a year,
and such a day ; upon the year eighty-eight in one century af
ter another, and twice upon the fifth of November in the same
century ; and at length draw two ancient mercies to meet to
gether, as it were, upon one day, and in eighty-eight. This
seems to be an artifice in wise providence to accommodate itself
to our unapprehensive, and less retentive minds; that he
should so mark out for us times and seasons, that when such
a year, and such a day reverted, we might recollect ourselves
and consider, and also those that shall come after us : t( Oh,
how hath God signalized these days, by special favours and
kindnesses to England ! and all aiming at one mark, that is, to
keep us safe from that popish delusion and all the abomina
tions which it sheltered, that he had before delivered us from ;
that we might not be brought back again, and return into so
dismal, so gloomy, and so imbondaged a state.
And it concerns us to bethink ourselves as to this our last de
liverance, now seven years ago the fifth of November 1688 ; in
what a state of things we then were, and how our matters
stood when a divine hand was reached forth towards us, to
pluck us out of the gulph into which we were sinking. We
are to consider in how prepared a posture all things were for
our destruction, as to our most principal concerns ; those espe
cially of our religion, than which we are to count nothing more
So. The providence of God ordered us the view of our danger ;
not that it might overtake, or oppress us, or end in our ruin,
but that it might excite in us so much higher gratitude when
he should deliver us. That is, in the course of providence he
let it come to pass, that we should be under the power of a
popish prince ; intent to promote his own religion : that things
should proceed so far, as that we should see mass-houses set
up, even in the very metropolis of England; in this very city,
Jesuits' schools opened ; colleges in our universities seized, to
serve the same purpose ; and an Irish army brought into our
bowels, easily to be assisted, if there should be occasion, by a
French one ; even when we knew how strict the confederacy
was between those two princes, and by what methods the latter,
to wit, the king of France, had been labouring to reduce all
that were under his government to one religion, namely that of
popery.
And where are they now that dispute whether a providence
SEE. XII.) OP FORSAKING THE LORD.
governs this world ? Is there no specimen, no appearance of a
divine hand in this ? That all the while that mighty French
monarch was gradually springing up, until at length he should
appear on the public stage with so aspiring a mind, as to think
himself capahle of giving law and a religion to all the world
beside ; as if he was not only greater, and more potent, but
wiser too than all the rest of mankind, and a better judge of
religion : I say, that while he was gradually springing up to
this pitch, God should be forming his own instrument to ap
pear upon the stage too, when it should be most seasonable ?
A prince, in such circumstances, and with such inclinations
too ! formed, and fitted, and placed on the stage, on purpose
to give check (and we hope mate too) to that ambitious one,
who made it his business, and doth still 'make it his business,
to enslave, not only the bodies, but the minds and consciences
too of all, to whom his power can reach and extend itself! is
there, I say, nothing of a divine hand in all this ? We know
indeed what extraordinary, unlimited power could otherwise
have done ; but God uses to work by ordinary means. And if
he had not marked out this way, if he had not raised up such a
one, if he had not had this in his councils ; to wit, " While
that prince is gradually springing up, whom I design to be a just
scourge to a wicked European people, I will have one that shall
spring up by degrees at the same time, that shall prevent his
being more than a scourge, that though he shall chastise yet he
shall not destroy." I say if God had not done so, by way of op
position to those horrid designs that were on foot ; we might
suppose it as probable a means for any of us to repel the inun
dation of the sea by our breath, as by any other means in view
to have prevented a universal deluge of the greatest calamities
and miseries, all Europe over, that could be thought of or ima
gined.
And if there be a divine hand eminently appearing in all this,
and in a way of favour, if God hath been doing us, and the
nations about us good ; all this ought to be acknowledged with
the most grateful mention, and with hearts full of thanksgiving.
For, consider, What if this had not been ? Then had there ne-
thing been in view to prevent our case, long before this day,
from being like theirs, who professed the Protestant religion
in France, and in Peidmont. We might come nearer home,
even to Ireland ; which though we look upon it as a firebrand
plucked out of the fire, yet we should consider that, and our
selves as firebrands, not plucked out, but consuming in the
fire, till we, and our religion, should have been reduced to
nothing. If we would urge our own souls to a grateful com-
VOL. vi. 2x
538 THE SIN AND DANGER (SER. XII.
memoration of the goodness God hath shewn, and the great
things lie hath done for us ; we should, I say, state the case
so as it would have heen, if these things had not been wrought,
and done for us.
Think then, what would have been our case ! to be dragoon
ed out of our habitations, our estates, and our families j out
of our religion, our consciences, and eternal hopes, if we had
not patiently comported with the former, to save the latter 1
And whereas the case of our brethren in France was such, that
they had some refuges, some retreats, and knew whither to go ;
yet if the overflowing calamity had deluged all, us as well
as them, whither should we have fled ? what retreat should we
have had ?
Think we with ourselves, how many peaceful years have
gone over our heads ! Think too by what miracles of providence
our state hath been preserved these several successive years !
seven years past, and how much more than seven might we
look back upon ! One valuable life indeed (most valuable ! and
of precious savour) hath been plucked away from the throne ;*
but the other is preserved : and by how slender a thread doth
so great a weight hang, and depend, as our visible All ! How
strangely is that life preserved from year to year ! so as that
after every campaign, we have, as it were, a king given us
anew, as by a resurrection from the dead. Through so many
surrounding deaths is he kept, and still from time to time re
turned, and brought safe back again to us ; whereas the con
tinuation of such a thread by moments, hath so great a weight
hanging upon it, that if there had been an intercision, as there
might have been in a moment, it is inexpressible, yea incon
ceivable, what miseries might have come upon us. Though,
as was said before, we are not to measure or circumscribe om
nipotence, but we are to speak and judge of things according
to the appearance, which they carry to our view j who are not
expected to judge with the judgment of God, but with the
judgment of men, of what is obvious to our notice. And upon
all these accounts we have cause to own even with the most
sincere gratitude, that God hath all this while been doing
us good, and has done it of his own good pleasure, and in
very peculiar kinds and respects. But then, 1 must come to
the
2. Pait too, that I may be just to the truth and to you, to
shew how vain a thing it would be (though we are obliged to
* Queen Mary, who died universally lamented, December 23,
lGc,4 ; ia the 33d year of her age.
5ER. XII.) OF FORSAKING THE LORD. 339
acknowledge, and indeed to own it with the greatest gratitude,
that God hath been all this while doing us good ; yet, 1 say,
how vain it would be) thence to conclude ourselves secure from
destroying judgments, and consuming wrath ; if still we gross
ly revolt from God, and generally offend against that goodness
itself. And to this purpose let us,
(1.) Cast an impartial eye upon our own provocations ; and
see what matter for divine displeasure, there is to be found
among us. Certainly there is what may equal that of this peo
ple, who are our present exemplar. It may be some may say,
" We are not for serving strange gods, as they did." But pray,
how many are there who are for worshipping no God at all !
Set the atheism of the one, against the idolatry of the other.
And were the Israelites for worshipping strange and false gods ?
O, what multitudes among us are there, who cannot be sup
posed to be less guilty for their slight and careless and trifling
worship of the true God ; while they acknowledge and own him
in all the perfections and excellencies of his being, which ex
alt him far above all blessing and praise ! who come to wor
shipping assemblies with as slight minds, as others carry with
them to the play-house ! O, what provocation is there in this !
How provoking is their wickedness, who deny the Lord that
bought them ! who contend even against his Deity itself, his
All ; who is to us our All in all, and upon whom our eternal
hopes depend ! How horrid is it to consider the gross immor
alities that shelter themselves among us under the abused, and
usurped Christian name ! So that the justice, the honesty, the
temperance, the veracity, which were to be found among pa
gans should be, from time to time, produceable to rebuke and
shame us for their contraries, which we allow ourselves in,
while we call ourselves Christians ! Are not these high and
great provocations ? And then, let us hereupon consider,
(2.) What pretence have we to think ourselves secure from
vindictive severities, or that wrath should not come upon us,
even until it consume us, after God hath done us so much
good? Is his doing us good, or his having done us good,
any security ? Pray let us weigh some considerations with re
ference to this.
[I.] How was it any security to the Jews ? Do not we find,
notwithstanding all the good which God had done for them,
that yet there were times and seasons when their armies were
routed, that they could not stand before their enemies ? When
their ark, in which they gloried (that peculiar symbol of the
divine presence) was made a captive to their enemies, and ra
vished away from them by paganish hands ? Was there net a
340 THE SIN AND DANGER (SER. XII.
time, when notwithstanding all the good which God had done
them, the Assyrian power sacked and enslaved their country,
and they were carried away even beyond Babylon ? Did all the
good, which God had formerly done them, protect their coun
try from invasion ; their great city, which was the glory and
praise of the earth, from being plundered and ravaged; their
temple, one of the wonders of the world, from being turned
into a ruinous heap ? Again let us consider,
[2.] Can we pretend any antecedent right to any of those
favours, by which our state is distinguished from others, who
have been most miserable round about us ? Can we pretend any
better right than the Jews had ? They had a right by promise,
we have not a right so much as by promise. Did God ever
promise us that we should have peace in our own bowels, when
the nations round about us should be involved in blood and
ruin, and this for seven years together ? This people had what
they enjoyed by promise ; but so conditional, so limited, as
not to be a bar against such vindictive judgments, as did ac
tually befall them : but we have not so much to say as that.
We have no such prior right to our enjoyments, as that we can
say, if such and such judgments should befall us, God would
do us wrong ; that if he should let our houses be burnt, our
goods rifled, and ourselves come under oppression, bonds, ty
ranny, slavery, we should be injured, and wrong would be
done to us by the common Ruler of the world. Dare any of us
be so hardy as to say so ? If we should, that alone would be
provocation enough to bring the utmost of divine severities upon
us ; for we can claim no such right without invading his, who
is the common Lord of all. And again,
[3.] Let it be considered, whether it is not very apparent
that God hath done us all that good, all the while, which we
have been the continual subjects of. Was it not all from him?
Is it not he that protected our peace and religion hitherto ; and
kept off from us calamities and miseries, wherein others are
involved ? If we should deny that God hath done all this for
us, even that itself were enough to give him matter of most
terrible controversy against us. But,
[4.] If we do grant, that God hath done all this for us (ex
empted us all this while from miseries and ruins, put us under
his protection, and that shadow, which his wings have spread
over us ; if we will grant, I say, that God vouchsafes us the
mercy of all these years, which we have enjoyed) then let us
consider, whether we must not apprehend him to have had
some end, in such peculiar vouchsafements of favour to us. Is
ke indeed most infinitely wise, and in all respects the most ab-
SBR. XII.) OF FORSAKING THE LORD. 311
solutely perfect ? And what ! can he act without design ? Can
he in so distinguishing a way have shewn favour to us, and not
to others, as it were by casualty ? or without saying, " So I
will do. When I suffer such and such miseries to fall upon a
people, professing my name, in France, in Hungary, in Pied
mont, in Ireland, and elsewhere ; yet I will cover and shelter
those who profess my name in England ?" Do we think this was
without design or end ?
[5.] If there be a design, if God aims at some end in all this,
let it be considered^ whether it is not an end worthy of him
self ; an end that was suitable to the wisdom, the excellency,
and greatness of a God ? And if so, then
fG.] Consider, whether we can suppose it to be an end wor
thy of God, and suitable unto his universal perfection, only to
gratify our inclination, by keeping off such and such miseries
and calamities from us ; when he hath not done it from others,
round about us. Why was it more worthy of God to gratify
the desires, and inclinations in this kind, of an Englishman,
than of a Frenchman, or an Hungarian, and the like? Was his
end only, that he might not disturb and disquiet a people un
willing to be disturbed, and not patient of molestation ? Was
this his end ? But
[7-] If his end was higher and more Godlike, that is, that we
might have a peaceful opportunity of enjoying the gospel,
and improving it through such a tract of time ; then let us con
sider, whether we have answered this end. Where are our
advances ? where is our profit ? wherein is it to be seen that
such apeople have, for seven years together, lived under a peace
ful state, and dispensation of the truth, and ordinances of the
everlasting gospel ; which with others have been discontinued,
and with many actually broken off? Pray, where is the diffe
rence ? wherein are we better after all than they ? We have
experienced God's great goodness ; and may still, if we con
tinue in his goodness, and be attempered and suited thereto, in
the disposition of our spirits, but if there is no such thing,
what comes next but severity ? Behold (saith the apostle) the
goodness and severity of God ! which are conjoined upon the
distinct suppositions which are there put in the context Rom.
11. 22. And in the next place,
[S.] Let us but consider, whether. we dare, any of us, lay a
claim as matter of right, unto any of those private temporal
mercies that we severally enjoy j namely, the health, the
strength, the competent provisions which we find, and the re
putation we have in the world, or with one another. Can any
f us lay a claim to any of these good things, considered in a
342 THE SIN AND DANCER (sER. Xlti
private, or a personal, regard ? If we cannot, then the good
state of a people, which results from the particular enjoyments,
accommodations, and comforts, of the several individuals, is ow
ing entirely to the goodness and mercy of God. And who of
us can say, " Because I have health this hour, therefore I shall
certainly have it the next ; I have health to-day, therefore I
shall have it the next ?" and so on. Can any of us say, "If we
have peace this month, or this year, that we shall have it the
next month, or year ? Or, as we have now free opportunities of
worshipping God, so shall we have in all future time ?" Hovr
absurd reasoning would all this be ! But then consider, fur
ther,
[9.] That greater miseries, than can be comprehended with
in the compass of time, are due to every impenitent sinner 5 to
every one who is not converted, or turned effectually unto God
in Christ. What do we talk of their not being liable unto the
troubles, the calamities, and miseries, that lie within the mea
sure of time ; who, in the mean while, are liable unto eternal
miseries ? that they are not liable to have their houses, or their
city burnt, who are liable to that fire, which can never be
quenched ? and to have it said to them, " Depart ye cursed in
to everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Mat.
25. 41. And consider,
[10.] That they who live under the gospel, and obey it not,
nor comply with the gracious design of it are every way liable to
greater severities, than ungospelized nations ever were. Would
you think it a hard saying, if one should positively determine,
that London is generally liable to more terrible things, than
Sodom was, or Gomorrah ? Hath not our Lord himself told us,
that the people among whom he conversed, of Chorazin, Beth-
saida, Capernaum, were exposed to worse calamities, than So
dom and Gomorrah, or than Tyre and Sidon ? Mat. 1 1 . 21 25
We should consider this, not only with conviction but with
consternation, to think what we are on this account liable to ;
as having still such matter of provocation, as you have heard
found among us.
And therefore now, since it cannot with the least modesty be
pretended that we are not liable, because God hath done us so
much good, to the suffering of such grievous evils, as have been
mentioned ; as we have in view before us, even in ancient and
in modern example: if this, I say, cannot with modesty be
pretended, the most fruitful inquiry will be, how we shall de
mean ourselves agreeable to the state of our case, as being ex
posed to the terrible severities of consuming vengeance. Is it
plain ? doth the thing speak itself, that we are liable to very
SBR. XII.) OF FORSAKING THE LORD. 343
severe consuming judgments ? What shall we do hereupon ?
how shall we demean ourselves, or what shall be our deport
ment in this case ? I shall shut up this discourse with a few
words in answer to this.
First, Let us not hereupon cease from the most grateful
acknowledgements of God's great goodness to us, in lengthen
ing out our tranquillity so far, as he hath been pleased to do.
For wherein he hath done us good, even freely, and from mere
good pleasure ; certainly the most grateful acknowledgements
are due. We are to. give thanks with the most serious grati
tude for all that good, which we could never claim ; and to which
we could not pretend that we had any right. But,
Secondly : Though we are to rejoice in the remembrance,
and continual observation of God's great goodness, yet we are
to mingle trembling with rejoicing (" Rejoice with trembling")
that is, we are to take heed of being secure. Our hearts should
not be secure, when our state is not. It is unbecoming a pru
dent and considering Christian (our state being stated as you
have heard) to admit such a thing as a drowsy slumbering secu
rity, to enwrap, and stupify his heart ! or that we should be of
them, that cry peace, peace to themselves, when sudden des
truction may be at the door. " Therefore let us not sleep as do
others," lest such a day of calamity should overtake us as a
thief. It is very unbecoming a wise man to be liable to a sur
prise, while our case is so stated, standing in view as it doth be
fore us.
Thirdly : We should have also inwrought into the temper of
our spirits, a firm persuasion that God is to be justified, even
upon the supposition that the most destructive, and consuming
calamities should befall us. Let this be inlaid deeply as a prin
ciple with us, if any thing should fall out, or whenever calami
ties or judgments befall us, that it is our business the first thing
we do, and shall be continually upon that supposition, to
say, "Righteous art thou O Lord" ! Jerem. 12. 1. While we
have no right to be indemnified, he hath a right to punish.
Again,
Fourthly: We should also labour to keep our hearts loose
from all our temporal enjoyments, and good things ; that they
may not be torn away from us by violence, but by an impli
cit, previous consent. "Lord, I have made over my All to
thee. I have resigned all into thy hands. If it shall make for the
honour of thy justice, and the dignity of thy government, for
me to be involved in calamities and ruins (as no one can pre
tend to claim an exemption) I submit to it ; and lay myself,
and all at thy foot. I desire that my heart may cleave to no-
344 THE SIN AND DANGER &C. SER. XII.
thing against thee, nor against any determination of thine. I
live in my house, as having no right to it. I go out, as having
no certainty, or assurance to return. I lie down in it, as if I
expected to arise in the midst of flames." And so in reference
to all the temporal good things we enjoy, we should lie before
him as so many convicted creatures, ready to receive our judg
ment from his hand. For even his Moseses and his Aarons,
while he vcuchsafeth them mercy, and a pardon, with respect to
their eternal concernments ; yet, in reference to their temporal
concerns, he may take vengeance upon their inventions. Psal.
99. 8. And in the
Last place : Make sure your interest in eternal good things,
by corning to a covenant closure with God in Christ. Then
shall your hearts not be afraid of the desolation of the wicked
when it cometh. Then will you be able to apply to yourselves
that sentence of the divine wisdom, the Son of God (for so we
are to understand it, the supreme, archetypical, and eternal
wisdom) " He that hearkeneth to me shall dwell safely, and
shall be quiet from the fear of evil'*; (Prov. 1. 38,) and so shall
we have a calm, a quiet, a serenity in our own spirits ; not
from presuming, or because we conclude we shall not sufter,
but upon a supposition that we shall : as was said to the church
of Smyrna. " Fear noneof those things which thou shall suffer."
Revel. 2. 10. This is the way not to be in an astonishment,
or confusion at such a time ; having our hearts possessed with
the faith of such a saying as this, which is surer and more sta
ble, than the foundations of heaven and earth : When the
world passeth away, and the lust thereof, he that doeth the will
of God abideth for ever. 1 John 2. 17 Such a one may say,
"I shall be unconcerned in the common ruin, when that day of
the Lord cometh, which shall burn as an oven. When the
whole hemisphere shall be like one fiery vault burning as an
oven, I shall not be concerned in this destruction. All that
have vital union with the Son of God shall be caught up
to meet their Redeemer in the air, and be for ever with the
Lord. I can see all this world consumed, and think myself to
have lost nothing. My good lieth not here. My treasure is
in heaven, and my principal interest is there."
Let this matter be once put out of doubt ; and then with how
cheerful, with how childlike, with how submissive spirits, may
we expect and wait for the most dismal, and the most dreadful
things, that can fall out within the compass of time !
HpHE following serious and pathetic discourse was preached by
* the author, at Brixham in Devonshire, when he was about
twenty-eight years of age ; but upon what occasion is not certainly
known.* It was communicated to the editor by a worthy gentle
man in the West of England, who after mature deliberation has re
solved to give it a place in this collection ; not only because it is well
calculated to make serious impressions on every reader, but also as
it is a specimen of the excellent author's manner of preaching in his
youtb. There is, he thinks, no reason to doubt its being genuine j
since(to use Dr. Evans's 'expression) it plainly carries in it the marks,
which to a person of taste always distinguish his performances.
The following extracts from a few letters, sent to the editor by
the gentleman, to whom the world is obliged for this excellent di*
Course, will be sufficient to give an account of it.
The Sermon (says he) bears date January, 1 658; which, I be-,
lieve, must be 58-9- For though it is not impossible but Mr. Howa
might have been at Brixham, in January, 58 ; yet as the protector
(Oliver) kept him much at Whitehall, it is not so likely to be
preached then, as the year after : about which time he returned into
the West.f For though he continued a little while in the same re
lation to the protector Richard, that he did to his father ; yet Dr,
"* It is entitled in the manuscript, "A Sermon preached at Brixham the 23d.
day of January, 1658 ; by Mr. John Howe, a faithful minister of the gospel
pf Jesus Christ "
t Meaning to Torrington, in Devonshire.
VOL. vi. 2v
ADVERTISEMENT.
Calamy tells us, he cannot find that he continued longer at court,
than October, 58.
The copy was transcribed in the year 59. It is exceeding fair,
and perfect. The spirit and language of it (the discourse) plainly
evince it to be the production of that masterly hand. The writer,
who took it after him, does not seem to have dropped any thing,
whereby the sense is any way maimed ; and has religiously copied it
out, as appears from the repetitions, which were made for the relief
of the hearers' memory.*
Though Mr. Howe has something to the same purpose with part
of the contents of this sermon, in his treatise on Delighting in God,
Part II. page 389 3 95, folio edition, f as one might reasonably ex
pect j yet, though there are some of the thoughts, he has not only
pursued the subject much farther, but in a very different manner : in
somuch that there can be no room for saying it is publishing the
same thing over again, which is an injury some eminent authors
have suffered after their death. Besides the forementioned place
there can be no other, where he has any thing so near to the pur
pose.
That which brought our author on this side our country (for his
charge lay 50 miles distant, to which he was lately returned) was
his being related to the Upton family, of Lupton j which lies in the
parish of Brixham, where, " the vanity of man as mortal," took its
birth.
It is very probable, that it was preached at oncej and I have
calculated on what day of the week, January 23, 1658-9, fell. And
as D was the dominical letter for that year, the 23d. was a Friday ;
hut if it was preached in 57-8, as the dominical letter was E, it was
on a Thursday. So that as it could not be preached en a Lord's day,
it was therefore most likely preached at once.J To all which the
gentleman adds the following general remark j the latter part of
which, at least, is very just.
Though his style is not so smooth as some, yet it is as intelligible
as any. And a person has this for his encouragement, that he is
always sure to find something in Mr. Howe, that is well worth his
pains.
* This discourse indeed abounds with repetitions, more by far than any
other the editor has seen of Mr. Howe's in manuscript; most of which be
omitted in his transcript of it designed for the press, and he hopes without the
least injury to the whole. The sense is entire, and delivered throughout in
the author's own words.
t There sterns to be no resemblance, scarcely, in the whole sermon, to
any thing in the pages here referred lo ; except in page 390: where the text
is indeed mentioned, and briefly descanted upon, and that is all *
It is very p*obable it vras preached on a fast-day ; either a private one
or one of those public fast-days, which were frequently solemnised by autho
rity before the restoration.
* VicU vol 2. p. 188, of this edition.
SERMON XIII.*
Psalm V. 17.
Th wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations
that forget God.
T CANNOT spend time in opening to you the connexion of
these words, with those that go before. In the words
themselves you have these two things more especially remark
able j to wit, the description, and the doom of wicked men.
Their description you have in these words, that they are such
as do forget God ; and their doom is, that they shall be turned
into hell. So that accordingly there are two observations that
offer themselves to our view from this scripture.
FIRST, That it is the property of wicked men to forget God.
And,
SECONDLY, That it shall be the portion of wicked men, who
forget God, to be turned into hell. These two I intend to
handle together in this order.
I. I shall shew you what we are here to understand by the
wicked.
II. What by forgetting God. And then,
III. I shall evince unto you, that they are wicked persons,
who do forget God. And then,
IV. That such wicked persons shall be turned into hell.
And so,
V. Make use and application of the whole together.
* Preached atBrixbam January 23. lGS8.
348
THE WICKED
(SEE.
I. I shall briefly shew you what we are to understand by
these wicked, that the text speaks of. In the
1. Place, negatively, we are not to understand by the wicked
here, all persons that have sin in them. There are a sort of
men in the world, that will confess themselves sinners ; who
yet dare to acquit themselves of wickedness. Thus David
speaks ; " I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not
wickedly departed from my God." Psal. 18.21. Every man,
that hath sin in him, is not presently a wicked person.
2. We are not to understand it neither of only gross sinners.
As we are not to extend the signification of the word, so as to
take in the former, so nor must we so much narrow it, as to
take in only the latter. We are not to think that they are only
spoken of as wicked ones, who live in gross, and profane w iek-
edness ; so as that every one may characterize and point at
them as wicked persons. No, there are wicked ones that pass
under the notion of honest, and good men, according to com
mon estimation ; and there is such a thing as heart-wickedness,
which is hidden and concealed from the eyes of the world, so
as that others cannot take notice of it.
And therefore, affirmatively, by the wicked here we must un
derstand un regenerate persons ; whoever they are, that are in
a state of unregeneracy. Whether they be open and gross
isinners, or secret sinners only, it is all one for that: if they
be such as the work of renovation hath not yet passed upon,
they are those whom this scripture doth here intend by wicked
pnes.
II. In the second place we are to inquire what is meant by
forgetting of God. The character, by which these wicked
persons in the text are described, is, that they are such as forget
God. Wherein then does this forgetting God consist ? That
is what we are next to consider. And in order to find out what
we are to understand by it, our most direct course will be to
consider, what is to be stated in opposition hereunto. And it fs
obvious at first sight, that it is thinking of God ; as not to
think of God, is to forget him. But here we must a little more
particularly inquire, What is this thinking of God, to which the
forgetting him must be understood to be opposed here ? And,
negatively,
1 . We are not to understand by it a continual thinking of
God ; that is, always, every moment, and without ceasing.
This you may easily imagine to be impossible, and I need say
no more of it.
2. Yet, on the other hand, we are not to understand
by it neither a thinking of God slightly and seldom. Su
perficial, and overly thoughts of God now and then, may well
JSR&. XIII.) TURNED INTO HELL. 319
enough consist with that forgetting of God which is here spo
ken of.
And therefore, affirmatively, this forgetting of God stands ia
opposition to frequent and ordinary, serious and heart-affecting
thoughts of God. That person is here spoken of as a wicked
man that forgets God, who does not think of him frequently
and with affection ; with fear, and delight, and those affections
that are suitable to serious thoughts of God. "How precious
(says the Psalmist) are thy thoughts unto me O God ! how
great is the sum of tjiem ! If I should count them they are more
in number than the sand : when I awake I am still with
thee." Psal. 139. 17, IS. These thoughts of God, of which
the Psalmist speaks, are such as God is the object of; as plain
ly appears from what is added by way- of antithesis, " When I
awake I am still with thee." My thoughts are ever working
towards thee, as soon as ever I awake. Now here is this two
fold character of such thoughts ; to wit, that they are precious,
and they are numerous.
(1.) They are precious thoughts; such as affect a man's
heart, and ravish the soul. Now in opposition to this, per
sons that forget God have no such thoughts of him ; that is,
they have no joyous, pleasant, and delightful thoughts con
cerning God, such as the Psalmist speaks of ; who also says,
" My meditation of him shall be sweet, I will be glad in the
Lord." Psal. 104. 34. So that it is such a forgetfulness
of God, which is here spoken of, that stands in opposition
to such a remembrance of him as reaches the heart, takes
the soul, and turns all that is within a man towards God. And
then,
(2.) They are numerous thoughts, as well as precious ones.
They are not only sweet and pleasant, but they are frequent
also. u If I should count them (says the Psalmist) they are
more in number than the sand." Such are my thoughts of
God, so frequent and numerous, and they so flow into my soul,
and so often recur again and again ; that if I go to count them,
1 may as well attempt to count the sands on the sea-shore :
how great is the sum of them ! Now it is in opposition to such
thoughts of God that this forgetfulness must be understood.
They are forgetful of God; the wicked persons, whom the text
speaks of, who have not such thoughts of God frequently re
curring upon their spirits, so as to affect and ravish them, as
you heard before. And thus you see what this forgetfulness of
God is, which the Psalmist speaks of. The next thing that is
now to be done is,
III. To shew you the connexion between these two things,
350 THK WICKED (SER. XIII.
which have been opened to you ; or to evince, that those who
have no such thoughts of God, as these which we speak of, are
wicked persons. So you see the text plainly represents the
matter ; ( ' The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the na
tions that forget God." Why, to forget God, and to be a wicked
person, is all one. And these two things will abundantly evince
the truth of this assertion : namely, that this forgetfulness of
God excludes the prime and main essentials of religion ; and
also includes in it the highest and most heinous pieces of wick
edness and therefore must needs denominate the subject, a
wicked person.
1. Forgetfulness of God excludes the chief and main essen
tials of all religion. I shall instance in a few which you will
easily discern, at first sight, a forgetfulness of God must ne
cessarily exclude, As,
(I.) It excludes the esteem and love of God, as our highest
happiness, and chief good. It is a plain case, that this is a most
essential part of religion ; and you will easily acknowledge,
that he must needs be a wicked man with a witness that doth
not esteem God, nor love him as his chief good. To esteem
God as our highest happiness is to take him for our God j and
the man that doth not this, disowns God as none of his. For
when you say, " God is our God, and we are his people," what
do you mean by it ? Do ^ou mean only the name of God, with
out any relation to him as your chief and highest good ? is that
all ? Why, if there be any thing beyond a bare name, where or
what is it ? You must say it is this ; ' God is my portion, hap
piness and delight ; he it is whom I esteem, and love, beyond
all the things of this world." Nothing else can be a taking, or
owning God to be your God. This is the very sum of all that God
doth require from any people that would be related to him and own
him for theirGod. "And now Israel what doth the Lord thy God
require of thee ? but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his
ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all
thy heart and with all thy soul." Deut. x. 12. "Otherwise,'' as if
he had said, you disown all relation to me. " If it be not thus,
you are never to reckon me as your God. If your hearts and
souls and strength do not run out in love to me, you are none
of mine, and I am none of yours." And God is again on the
same terms with his people. " Hear O my people, and I will
testify against thee ; O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me :
there shall no strange god be in thee, neither shalt thou wor
ship any strange god. I am the Lord thy God, which brought
thee out of the land of Egypt." Psal. Ixxxi. 8, 9, 10. The plain
tenourof this scripture is this. "If you will have any thing at all
SER. XIII.) TURNED INTO HELL. 35 1
to do with me, if you pretend any obedience or affection to me,
you must take me alone to be your God; you must not entertain
any strange god ; there must be no god that must be higher in
your thoughts tl an I, or adored and loved more than myself.
If it be not so, I there are such among you as will not thus
hearken to me, I have nothing to do with you." Thus it is evi
dent, that it must needs be an essential thing in religion for a
man to love, and esteem God above all things ; he must esteem
him as his highest, chiefest, and most excellent good : for it is
such a valuing of God that can alone denominate a man reli
gious.
And now do but a little consider. Do you think it possible
for such an estimation or love of God, as the highest and chief
est good, to consist with a forgetting of God ? Can a man for
get God from day to day, in the sense of the text, and yet es
teem and love this God as his highest happiness, and chief
good ? Is this possible ? Can you apprehend it to be possible,
that a man should place the top of his felicity in God ; and
love God above all things else in the world ; and yet pass from
day to day and never think of him with delight and pleasure ?
Is this, think you, consistent with the esteem of God, as your
chief good? You cannot be so vain as to think so. That man
would be hissed at as a ridiculous person, that will say; "What
I love above all things in the world, I never use to think of. I
love God better than any thing, but he hath no place in my
thoughts; I never think of him ; I can pass on from day to day,
and never have a serious thought of him." Is this possible ?
You see what the love of God in the soul doth carry in it,
namely a remembrance of him, in the twenty-sixth chapter of
Isaiah.(ver. 8.) "The desire of our soul is unto thee, and to the
remembrance of thy name." That person would be scorned as
a most absurd wretch, that would ever offer to pretend such
a thing unto God, as to say, te Lord I desire to love thee above
all things in the world, and yet I never think of thee; it is very
seldom that thou hast any place at all in my thoughts." This
is the most absurd, self-conceited speech that can be imagined.
None, that have any wit at all, but know that if they have any
understanding of God, their souls do earnestly and vehemently
flow forth in love and desires to God. Our Lord says, " Lay
up for yourselves treasure in heaven for where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also." Matth. 6*. 20, 21. Lay up
your treasure in heaven, that is, in God; let God be your trea
sure. You know what a man counts his treasure : why it is
that, which is most dear and precious to him ; most valued by
bini, and loved above all things else. A man will count no-
352 THK WICKE1> (SER. XIII."
thing his treasure, but what he holds in great esteem. Let
your treasure then, says Christ, be in heaven : that is, let
God who is in heaven, who there makes known his glorious
presence, that is enjoyed by saints and angels, and which we
expect to enjoy ; let him be your treasure. And where our
treasure is, there will our hearts be. What you esteem and
love beyond all things, your hearts will be continually working
to, and your spirits flow that way. Jt is a mere absurd vanity
to talk of having a treasure in God, if a man's heart be not with
him. As she said to Samson, "How canst thousay, I love thee,
when thine heart is not with me." Judg. xvi. 15 ( . So the soul
is apt to say it loves God, and counts him its treasure, and
highest happiness, when, alas ! the heart is not with him. We
find that a light esteeming of God, is the same thing with for
getting him, and those expressions are used as synonymous by
Moses. "Jeshurun forsook God that made him, and he lightly
esteemed the rock of his salvation !" And then presently it fol-
lows,"Of the rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast
forgotten God that formed~thee." Deut. 32. 15, 18. Thus to
make alight account of God is the same thing, as to forget him;
and therefore that person has never yet set one foot towards
religion, who hath not yet made God his chief happiness, the
only joy and delight of his soul. Therefore this is one thing,
that forgetfulness of God doth exclude the estimation and love
of God, as our portion and chief good.
(2.) Forgetfulness of God excludes dependance on God as
our strength, and the life and stay of our souls ; which is alsa
a most essential piece of religion. That man knows nothing
at all practically in matters of religion, that does not live in a
continual dependance upon God as the life, and strength, and
support of the soul. They are spoken of as persons who can
not possibly obtain salvation, while in their present state, who
are not yet come to that believing in God, which carries the
whole heart to acquiesce, and rest and centre in God. " Who
soever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. But
how shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed ?"
Rom. 10. 13, 14. Calling upon God is a thing essentially
necessary unto salvation, and believing in him is indispensably
necessary unto calling upon him. It is put for the whole wor
ship of God: and it is impossible for a soul ever thus to call
upon God ; that is, to worship him, to live subject to him, and
be devoted and given up to him, who doth not believe in him.
And this believing in God respects him as the stay, and strength
of a man's soul. It plainly implies a sensibleness of its being'
utterly impossible that I should subsist or live without God 3
SEE. XIII.) TURNED INTO HLL. 353
and supposes a constant reliance upon him as my God, who is
my very life and strength. And therefore you find 'how those,
who do not so, are derided by the Psalmist. " The righteous
shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him : Lo ! this is the
man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abun
dance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wicked
ness. But I am like a green olive-tree, in the house of God ;
I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever/' Psal. 52. 6,
7j 8. The soul that is truly religious is by trust so planted into
the very mercy of God, as I may speak; that there it is rooted,
and sprouts as a tree doth, in the soul that bears it. But they
are outcasts, and a company of profane irreligious wretches,
that do not thus trust in God, and make him the stay, and sup
port of their souls. "Lo, this is the man that made not God
his strength 1" It is remarkable to see in how ludicrous a way
such persons are spoken of, as if they were to be hissed out of
the creation. " Lo, there is a man that lives without God! a
person not fit to be numbered among men ! Away with him as
a most ridiculous wretch, who thinks to live without staying
upon God!"
Trust in God then is essential to religion. And do you think
that this can possibly consist with forgetting of God ? Can a
man trust in God, as the stay and support of his life, of whom
he is unmindful? who can pass one day after another, and
never vouchsafe him a serious thought ? Trust in God is a
continual thing. I do not mean that it is to be exercised with
out intermission, but that it is an habitual dependance. And
therefore it is said, "The just shall live by faith." Heb. 10. 38.
We live by breathing, and it will not serve our turn to breathe
to-day, and live by that breath many days hereafter. No, that
which we live by is a continual thing. And thus the just shall
live by a continual reliance and dependance on God ; which
implies a mindfulness of him. When the Psalmist speaks of
that trust, which he reposed in God, he speaks of it in this
language; " I have set the Lord always before me, because he is
at my right hand I shall not be moved." Psal. 16. 8. Here was
a continual minding of God. What is it to have God always
before us, but to have him the prime, and the principal object
of our thoughts ? so as that there is nothing, on which our eye
doth so much fix, as it doth on God. And this stands with
that conjunction, or that dependance which the soul hath on
God. So again : "Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord, for he
shall pluck my feet out of the net/' 25. 15. That is, My reliance
is upon God ; mine eye is continually towards him, and I have
him ever in my thoughts. It is he in whom I live, and from
VOL. vi. 2 a
354 THE ^ICKED (SER. XIII.
whom I have all my expectation. Thus it is impossible, that a
man should be in this sense a religious person who is forgetful
of God ; since he who thinks not upon him, cannot be suppos
ed to depend upon him as the life and strength of his soul.
(3.) Forgetfulness of God excludes also the fear of God; and
that awful subjection unto his laws and commands, as our rule,
wherein the soul should continually live : and this is too an es
sential part of religion, as is well known to all that understand
any thing of religion. Can he ever be said to be a religious
man, that doth not live in the fear of God? Why, it is so essen
tial a piece of religion, that the Scripture doth often call all reli
gion by that very thing, the fear of God. And hence it is also,
that you find all wickedness summed up in this very expression ;
" There is no fear of God before their eyes." Rom. 3. 18. The
apostle had been describing a wicked man at large, out of some
of the psalms, (14. 53, &c.) and this is that which he gathers
up as the whole of that wickedness he had been pointing out ;
to wit, there is no fear of God before their eyes. They are
wicked persons with a witness that do not fear God, that live
without having any fear of God before their eyes. And must
not forgetfulness of God necessarily exclude the fear of God ?
What! Can any man be said to fear him, whom he thinks not
of? to fear God when he minds him not, when he hath him not
in all his thoughts ? Do but observe the connexion between
this passage and the eleventh verse of the same chapter, quoted
out of the psalms. "There is none that understandeth, there is
none that seeketh after God." It follows " There is no fear
of God before their eyes/' Indeed it is impossible it should ; if
they have no thoughts of God, if their minds and understand
ings be not bent towards him, it is impossible they should fear
him. What ! fear an unthought-of God ? a God that a man
does not think of, from day to day ? why, it is an absurd thing
ever to be imagined. And therefore this is a further thing that
the forgetfulness of God excludes ; namely, that fear of God,
and that reverential subjection, that we owe to his laws and
commands, as the rule of our lives. And then again,
(4.) It excludes the intention of the honour and glory of
God, as our end. That man hath no more religion in him, than
there is in a beast ; who doth not in the ordinary course of his
life design, arid aim at the glory of God, as the supreme and
ultimate end of his actions. You know it is that, which is re
quired and called for from us in every thing we do. "Whether
ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
1. Cor. 10. 31. This is a truth obvious to the understanding
of every one, that every person who i$ religious, intends and
SER. XIII.) TURNED INTO HELL. 355
designs the honOur and glory of the great God, as the ultimate
and chief end of the ordinary actions of his life. So as if a man
should come and ask him, " For what is it that you are going
about this business, and those affairs j and what end have you
in what you do ?" he will say, " That I may honour and glorify
God in so doing." This is religion. So then it is not enough
to bespeak a man religious, to do things that are in their own
nature honest and just, and not liable to exception ; but to do
them designedly for the honour and glory of the great God,
as his end. Now. do but consider. Can a man do so, and
not think of God ? Can it ever be rationally said of any one
of you, that you live from day to day in the service of the great
God, and to the honour and glory of his great name, as the
chief and principal thing you design in your whole life ; when
you do not, from day to day, think of God ? do not from morn
ing to night take up one serious thought of God ? Why, your
own hearts will tell you it is utterly impossible : and a man is
nothing in religion, who does not come up to this ; who does
not make the glory of God the ultimate end of his affairs, and
the actions of his life.
Thus you see that forgetfulness of God excludes the princi
pal, and essential parts of religion. It implies, that a man doth
neither esteem, nor value, the all-sufficiency and holiness of
God, as his happiness and portion ; nor doth he trust in the
power and omnipotence of God, as his strength and support ;
nor doth he fear him, nor live in subjection to his laws and
commands, as his rule ; nor doth he aim at the glory of God,
as his end : therefore every one who thus forgets God, must
certainly be a wicked person.
2. Consider also what is included in this forgetfulness of
God. As it excludes the main essentials of religion, why so
truly it does include the most horrid and heinous pieces of
wickedness that you can think of. I shall instance, very briefly,
in a few.
(1.) It includes worldliness and earthly-mindedness. The
soul, though forgetful of God, is not idle. If God be not the
object of a man's thoughts and affections, something else is.
They do not want an object. They find something else to em
ploy themselves about, when they thus forget God and shut
him out of their thoughts. For much is evidently implied in
this scripture : " Many walk of whom I have told you often,
and now tell you even weeping ; that they are the enemies of
the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is
their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things." Observe those very persons who are here spoken of as
356 THE WICKED (SEE XIII.
minding earthly things, are also said to be such as have chosen
to themselves another god. Their god is their belly. This we
are not to understand strictly, but in a large sense ; to wit, their
sensual appetite. Their belly is their god ; and accordingly
they mind earthly things, and their hearts are quite taken off
from God. And do not think this is a light piece of wicked
ness, to live a whole life's time in this manner ; especially
under the gospel, and the profession of the Christian name.
The apostle as it were weeps over it. It is a thing, saith he,
that I cannot think of without passion and tears ; to see a com
pany of wretches that call themselves Christians, and profess
themselves to be so, who yet are the enemies of the cross of
Christ : they are apparently such, for they mind earthly things.
This then is one thing that forgetfulness of God includes, name
ly, earthly-mindedness ; which is the most horrid wickedness
you can think of, for it stands in most direct opposition to God :
and therefore covetousness is called idolatry, or a taking ano
ther god. And then again,
(2.) It includes enmity against God. It is a plain case : if
men from day to day forget God, it is because they hate him,
and cannot endure the thoughts of him. It is expressly spo
ken of some, that " they liked not to retain God in their
knowledge." Rom. 1. 28. What is it to retain God in our
knowledge, but to have frequent actual thoughts about him ?
such as I have already spoken of, numerous and affecting
thoughts. This is to retain God in our knowledge. But can
they be said to do so, who do not think of God i who have
no actual thoughts of God, from day to day? Arid why is this ?
Because they do not like them. The thoughts of God are
grating, grievous, and annoying to their spirits ; and therefore
it is they do not think of him, because they do not love to think
of him. This must needs be so, especially considering the
case of such persons under the gospel. God is ever before
their eyes, they cannot look any way but they must see God
shining upon them. He is shining upon them in his creatures,
in his providences, but especially in the ordinances of the gos
pel of his Son ; and yet these persons will not now mind God,
nor take notice of him. What is the reason of it? They do
not, because they will not : or because their hearts cannot
bear it. " Oh ! take away God from rny thoughts ! take him
away from my soul ! It is a burden, a pressure on my spirit !
I cannot bear the thoughts of God." Thus says the apostle ;
"They that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh;
but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For
to be carnally-minded is death, but to be spiritually-minded is
SBR. XIII.) TURNED INTO HELL. Sf>7
life and peace. The carnal mind is enmity against God."
Rom. S. 5, 6, 7 Do but observe here : he tells us that they
who are after the flesh, or carnally-minded, will not mind any
of the things of the Spirit of God ; and that it is to be resolved
into this, namely, that a carnal mind is enmity against God.
And it is a plain case that such a one is an enemy to him.
Therefore it is, that he minds the things of the earth and of
flesh; and will not look after God, nor spend any thoughts about
him. No, he will rather choose to live upon dirt, and feed upon
trash ; and to spend thoughts and affections, upon things that are
as vile as earth and dung. And if such persons would but con
sult their hearts they would find it so. For, alas ! when you
are alone, and retired, have nothing else to do but to think of
God (as upon such a day as this especially, when you have no
other business but to think upon him *\ pray consider, Which
way do your thoughts run ? can you say, it is God that is the
object of your thoughts and affections ? that upon such a day
as this, they are from morning to night taken up about nothing
else but God? You have nothing else to do but to think of
God; and if your thoughts decline, and turn aside after co-
vetousness and the things of this world, what is this but a plain
enmity against him ? And this is what the hearts of men say ;
they rather choose the most despicable, base objects to spend,
their thoughts upon, than about God. And is it, think you, a
light piece of wickedness for a man to have such an enmity in
his heart against God ? And then again,
(3.) In the third place, forgetfulness of God includes in it
plainly a contempt of him ; or implies that we have a base,
low, dishonourable esteem of God. It is said (in the psalm
next to that in which is my text) of the wicked man, that " God
is not in all his thoughts." Psal. 1.0. 4. The wicked wretch
passes from day to day, and never affords God a serious thought
nor allows him a place there. And what is the reason of it ?
Why the Psalmist puts it plainly upon an open manifest con
tempt of God. " Wherefore (saith he) doth the wicked con
temn God ?" Ver. 13. He speaks, as indeed the interroga
tion imports, with a kind of passion. Oh ! wherefore is it ?
what heart can think of a reason, why any man should contemn
God ? In short, their taking low base things into their thoughts
while they shut out God, plainly proceeds from a contempt
of him, and because they despise him in their own hearts.
And,
* This passage makes it very probable, that this sermon was
preached on one of those Fast-days, which were frequently solem
nized before the restoration, by public authority.
35S 'JHE WICKED (SER.
(4.) To add no more, forgctfulness of God implies atheism ;
which involves in it all wickedness, as being the root and bot
tom of all. Persons who forget God, plainly deny in their
own hearts, that there is such a one ; who ought to be the
highest supreme object of their thoughts and affections. This
evidently appears from the connexion of the beginning of the
fourteenth psalm, with the following verses. " The fool hath
said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, they
Lave done abominable works. The Lord looked down from
lieaven, upon the children of men to see if there were any that
did understand and seek God." And the report you have is
this: "They are all gone aside; they are altogether become
filthy ; there is none that doeth good, no not one." There is
not a person to be found among all these wretches that under
stands, or seeks after God ; or hath any serious thoughts or con
sideration about him. And what is the reason of all this ?
Why, like fools as they are, they have said in their hearts, that
there is no God : and hence it is that their minds and under
standings have quite forgotten, and given over to look towards
him ; whereas " he that comes to God must believe that he is,
and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him.'*
Heb. 11.6. They are corrupted within themselves, and then
surmise that there is no such Being to whom they are account
able ; and therefore they live securely, neglecting and forget
ting him, from day to day, through their whole life. There is
also a like connexion in the fiftieth psalm, towards the latter
end. " These things hast thou done (having summed up a
great many kinds of wickedness before in the preceding verses)
and-rl kept silence. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such a one, as thyself; but I will reprove thee and set them in
order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget
God !" To deny any of God's essential attributes, is to take
away his being. To say, that he is not so holy, as to hate sin ;
that he is not so just, as to revenge and punish sinners ; is to
say, that he is not.
Well ! this you see is connected with forgetting of God.
But this God whom you slight, and make so little reckoning
f ; this God, I say, will reprove you. And [ pray, consider ye
that forget God, who have all this while looked upon him, as if
he was like the idols of this world, that the time is coming when
he will set your sins in order before your faces.
And thus I have evinced to you this truth, that they are
wicked persons who forget God ; which is evidenced thus : to
wit, forgetfulness of God excludes all religion, and also in
cludes all wickedness ; and what would you have more ? It
SER. XIII.) TURNED INTO HELL.
must needs then denominate such a person, who lives in the
guilt of it, a wicked person with a witness ; since it grasps
within its compass all wickedness and shuts out all religi
on. *
IV. The fourth thing propounded to be spoken to, was this ;
namely, That these wicked persons, who thus live in a forgetful-
ness of God, must be turned into hell. I shall touch briefly
upon it, and so close with a few words of application. As it is
the property of the wicked man to forget God, so it must be his
portion to be turned, into hell. The eviction of this will be
easily evident from considering these three things only it is
most consonant to the justice of God that thus it should be
it is most agreeable to his law : and it is most serviceable to
feis honour and glory.
1 . The justice of God doth require this j that those persons,
who live in this world forgetful of God, should at last be turned
into hell. If God be just he must deal in this manner with a
company of rebels ; who never take notice of him all their days,
and shut him out of their hearts and thoughts. What ! Can
the highest God, the eternal Majesty suffer such an affront as
this from base dirt and earth, and never take vengeance ? Is
God unrighteous who taketh vengeance ? (Rom. 3. 5.) as the
apostle speaks in this case. No, undoubtedly. But I cannot
stand now to insist on particulars.
2. It is agreeable to his law that God should thus punish the
wicked. It is one and the self-same law that is a rule of duty
to us, and which by the divine appointment is a rule of judg
ment unto him. And this righteous law hath determined, that
they who thus sin, must be thus punished. For this we need
go no further than the text itself. "The wicked shall be turned
into hell, and all the nations that forget God/' The law of God
hath expressly provided in this case ; so that if any man should
now think to put in his exception against this determination of
God, alas ! it must be said to him : "Vain wretch, it is now too
late ! This law was made long ago j before thou wert born, or
heard of in the world, and ever since the world was. And dost
thou think a law shall be repealed in a way of favour to a most
rebellious wretch, which the sovereign eternal God had esta
blished before the ages of the world ; that it might be a funda
mental and invariable rule of God's proceedings even to the end
of it ? Alas ! it cannot be." God hath decreed many thou
sand years ago this law ; that they who do forget him, shall be
* If any should find this discourse to he too long to be read at
*uce, particularly in families, here is a proper resting-place.
860 THE WICKEli (SER XIII.
turned into hell without mercy. And if this be their continual
state and frame without a change, it must needs be thus with
them. There is no alteration in this case ; for " God is not a
man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should re
pent, (heathen Balaam knew so much of God as that came to)
hath he said and shall he not do it ? or hath he spoken, and
shall he not make it good ?" Numb. 23. 19.
3. And again in the third place, it is most serviceable to his
glory and honour, that thus it should be ; I mean, that those
who persist, and go on to the last in a forgetfulness of God,
should be turned into hell. For what glory hath he otherwise
of them ? "The Lord hath made all things for himself; yea,
even the wicked for the day of evil." Prov. 16'. 4. He will
punish them in the day of judgment, because they are the most
perverse creatures that ever came out of his hands. He hath
made them for the day of wrath, as the wise man speaks and
there is no other way for the Lord to have his honour and glory
of those persons. * See to this purpose what is spoken in the
words immediately before the text ; " The Lord is known by
* The learned author seems, almost every where, to quote texts of
Scripture with great propiiety, and is generally very happy and judi
cious in his descants upon them ; of which all his posthumous dis
courses (as well as those published by himself) are an abundant tes
timony : notwithstanding the liberty he allowed himself, and the fa
miliar freedom with which he delivered them, without written notes.
But the editor is apprehensive, that some may look upon the quota
tion of this passage from Solomon, as an exception. It must be ac
knowledged, that these words have often been made use of in favour
of a very discouraging doctrine : which, above all others tends to
enervate the force of all the motives and arguments, that can be
made use of, to engage persons to attend to the exhortations to a
holy and religious life. And because some may imagine the author
from his comment on the passage, understood it in the sense here
alluded to; which is evidently contrary to the general strain, and
tenour of his sentiments, in all his writings ; it may not be improper
to endeavour to set it in its true point of light, and to shew in what
sense the author may be understood.
It is very true, the glory of God's justice requires (as the author
bad observed) that wicked men be punished. For to suppose that
God will make those happy, who live iu a criminal forgetfulness of
him, is a kind of outraging all his perfections : and no more to be
imagined tb an that he will make an innocent being, for instance an
angel that never fell, eternally miserable out of mere sovereignty and
pleasure. Neither reason, nor revelation represent the Almighty as
so terrible to the innocent, or so easy to the guilty. But to assert
tliat wicked men, persisting in forgetfulness of God and a course of
SER. XIII.) TURNED INTO HELL. 361
the judgment which he executeth :" and then it follows, " The
wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget
God." And why must this be ? Because God will never else
be known by them. Here they live so many years in the world,
and God shows himself by his creatures, by his providences,
and by his ordinances ; and they will take no notice of him :
they spend away their days, and allow God none of their
thoughts. " I cannot be regarded by these creatures (saith
God) they do not regard, nor take notice of me. Well ! I shall
take my leave of them. When they come to be turned into
hell, and to fall under the pressures of everlasting wrath and
misery, then they will not forget God ; then they will know
the God, they never knew before ; then they will remember
him, though now they never think of him. Let them now try
(saith God) whether they will forget me, now that I have them
under my wrath and vengeance. While they are in this world,
they banish me out of their hearts, and thoughts : I cannot get
one spare thought from them from one day to another ; but
when they come to feel me, and the power of my anger, they
will then know that, which they would never know before."
Thus you see, that God's justice, his law, and his glory require,
that those wicked persons who forget God should be turned
into hell.
V. I shall close all with some few words of application,
1. We may hence learn, that religion consisting of mere ex
ternals will never save any man. A person may be a wicked
man, and liable to be turned into hell, notwithstanding any
religion that lies in mere outside shew. You see this plainly,
ain, will be punished in the day of wrath 3 is to assert a very great
and awful truth, and very probably is all that the author meant by
this passage. But however, as the learned bishop Patrick observes,
the sense of the place seems to be this ; that God makes use of
wicked men, as well as all things else, to answer the ends of his
providence in this world. As for instance ; by the ambition of ty
rants he inflicts those calamities, which he designs upon a wicked
nation or people. But the sense after all needs not to be so con
fined. God has made all things for himself ; or, as the words may
be rendered, he has made all things to correspond, or answer to each,
other : yea even the wicked for the day of evil. That is, not only to
be his scourge or instrument of bringing calamities upon others in this
life, but has suited and proportioned the punishment of evil men to
their deserts ; or has settled the connexion between vice, and misery
in the world to come : just as he has fixed the relation of virtue, to
future happiness ; or, as it is elegantly expressed, made righteous
ness and peace to kiss each other.
VOL. VI 3 A
362 THE WICKED (SER. XIII.
that men are liable to be turned into hell for their forgetfulness
of God. Why, a man may forget God, and yet live tinder or
dinances, and under the gospel. A man may forget God, and
yet may be a moral man ; and just and righteous in his deal
ings among men. And therefore, it is nothing that lies in
mere externals, that will either denominate a man religious,
or that will save him from perishing. A man may go to the
utmost extent of all outside religion, and yet forget God ; be
wicked all the while, and so turned into hell at last. And
therefore, it is a vanity for men to deceive themselves into a
hope, that all is well with them ; and that all shall go well with
them at last, because they are professors, and enjoy gospel
privileges ; or that because no man can challenge them with
fraud, injury, or wrong done to their neighbours. It is a
vain thing for them to think that therefore they are safe, and
in no danger. They are all the while forgetters of God, and
that is enough to bespeak them wicked ; let them in other
respects, be what they will. And therefore you are to know,
that it is not taking up a profession, or this and that form of
religion, that will entitle a soul to glory and salvation at last ;
but it must be the having of such a work done upon the heart, as
will turn the stream of a man's soul towards God, and carry
his thoughts and affections after him. It is this or nothing, that
must make you Christians, and save you from hell.
It is but too common a vanity in these days, wherein we
live, for men of carnal hearts and corrupt minds ; that could
never endure to be at the pains and expence to wait upon God
in the way of his ordinances, in order to have their hearts thus
changed and turned unto God : it is, I say, a common vanity
with such persons to think that all their business, in order to
secure themselves and provide for their own safety and welfare,
is to take up a certain form of worshipping and serving God.
Alas ! a man may perish, and go to hell, whatever form he is
of, if he has a carnal heart ; a heart that doth not delight in
God : this will be sufficient to damn a man at last, let him
take what course, or be of what religion he will. And it is a
plain case, it speaks an unsound, shifting heart, which cannot
endure that such a work as this should be done, but slinks away
from it. Such are pinching and galling ways; and therefore
they seek for ease and rest, some other way, and for a cheaper
method of getting to heaven ; as if going into such a party
would save a man. Why, alas ! it will not do it. It must be
a change wrought upon the heart and soul, that will take it off
from this world, and pitch it upon God ; if we would have an
interest in him, or live in his blessedness another day. There
8SR. XIII.) TCRNED INTO HELL. 3C3
are those, who are like the persons saint Paul speaks of to
Timothy. "The time (says he) will come, when they will not
endure sound doctrine ; but after their own lusts shall they heap
to themselves teachers, having itching ears ; and they shall
turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto
fables. 2 Tim. 4, 3, 4. Thus it is with many wretched souls
in the ways of God : while they have been walking in them, it
may be they have been barren and unfruitful, through their car
nal hearts, which cannot endure to have any tiling done to the
purpose; therefore they desire to find an easier way than this.
They run to other teachers, having itching ears ; and think of
going to heaven upon other terms, by only taking up other
forms, and changing the way of their religion. This speaks a
heart to be unsound ; as it is a sign of an unsound body, that
can rest itself in no posture, but lies tumbling and tossing in
the bed. It hath rest no where j when it hath rolled one way
to another, it must come back to the same pitch and posture, it
was in before. Why, the man is not well ! alas ! the fault is
not in the bed, but the body ; it is because the body is not well,
but unsound and unhealthy, that it cannot rest. And so men
under the ordinances of the gospel dispensation cannot find rest
to themselves. They cannot indeed find fault with them ; but
they have fleshly carnal hearts, that cannot endure any thing
should be done to change, and turn them unto God ; and there
fore they seek out new ways, that they may get to heaven in a
cheaper, and easier manner. And if such souls have a mind to
go in those ways, that were never known or heard of before, for
so many years, they will not find what they seek. For, alas !
a carnal heart will carry its own pest, and trouble about it,
wherever it goes : and they will be forced either to say at last,
the old way of real religion is best; or else they will cast off all
religion, and there will be the end, as experience in this case
doth abundantly witness.
2. As this plainly instructs us, that religion, lying in exter
nals only, will never save a man ; so it informs us also, that
wickedness, lying in the heart and thoughts, will abundantly
suffice to damn a man. And this is no strange doctrine ; at
least it should not seem to any that have ever read the Bible,
and know what belongs to true religion. Do not you know,
that the heart and the thoughts are the prime and principal
spring of that wickedness that ruins souls and turns them into
hell for ever ? " Out of the heart (says Christ) proceed evil
thoughts ; (Matth. 15. 19.) and these speak a man defiled, make
him wicked, and turn him into hell at last." Observe also
this scripture : " O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wick
edness, that thou mayest be saved : how long shall thy vain
364 THE WICKED (sER. Xllf.
thoughts lodge within thee?" Jerem. 4. 14. Wickedness and
vain thoughts here are parallel expressions, which expound one
another. That wickedness, of which the prophet speaks, con
sists in the vanity of the thoughts : and those are a man's vain
est and most wicked thoughts, that run beside God j and have
not him for their object, nor terminate upon him. Therefore
wash thine heart from this wickedness, for certainly else there
will be no salvation for thee. Alas ! thou art a damned man, a
lost creature, if thine heart be not washed from this wickedness
of the thoughts. " Repent therefore of this thy wickedness,
and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be for
given thee." Acts 8. 22. In short, to exclude God, out of our
thoughts, and not to let him have a place there ; not to mind,
nor think upon God ; is the greatest wickedness of the thoughts
that can be. And therefore, though you cannot say of such a
one, he will be drunk ; or he will swear, cozen, or oppress ;
yet if you can say he will forget God, or that he lives all his
days, never minding nor thinking upon God ; you say enough
to speak him under wrath, and to turn him into hell without
remedy.
3. If they are wicked persons, who do not think of God, and
shall for that reason be turned into hell, then all thoughts are
not free ; that is, men are not at liberty, as they vainly imagine
to dispose of their thoughts as they will. Alas ! the case is
quite otherwise than what many poor wretches imagine. They
go up and down in the world, never minding God from day to
day, and they think this is no sin ; saying, " Why, what is
this ? It is but the disposing my thoughts ; and surely I may
do what I will with my thoughts. What matter is it what be
comes of them ?" But saith God ; " What is there else that I
value more, or set a greater price upon, than the thoughts and
affections of the soul ? I must have them or nothing. So, be
what thou wilt in profession and pretence; yet if I be not in
thy thoughts, if I be forgotten by thee, I will look upon thee
as a wicked person, as one that shall be turned into hell."
Truly, if the case be so, you must learn to correct that foolish
imagination, that your thoughts are free ; or that you may use
them as you please : and know, that if men will give him no
place there, this is a desperate, horrid, wickedness, that the
great God will be avenged upon one day.
4. Since the case is thus, that wicked men, and all those
who forget God, shall be turned into hell ; we may learn
hence, that there are but few that shall be saved. Do but
weigh the case seriously, and consider with yourselves, how
BER. XIII.) TURNED INTO HEtL, 365
few there are that so live, or in the face of whose conversations
it appears, that their hearts are set upon God ! whose minds
are taken up about him, walking up and down the world from
morning to night, rejoicing and delighting themselves in God!
Oh, how few such there are ; and consequently how few that
are not wicked, and shall not be turned into hell at last ! My
friends, God doth not dally with us in such scriptures as these.
They are plain words which are here spoken, and we may turn
off the edge of them from rending and cutting our hearts if we
will ; but one day w.e shall hear what we are told, and read also,
that, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations
that forget God." We may therefore easily learn from hence,
that going to heaven is not so common a thing as most men
take it to be. Alas ! it is not, if the word of God be true. It
will be found, that going to hell will be much more ordinary
among men {hat live under the gospel, than going to heaven.
For it is said, they shall he turned into hell that forget God.
Now, are not these plain words ? Do they not evince and de
monstrate that a great part (alas ! the greatest part) are hurry
ing into hell apace ? And is it not sad and miserable to think,
that poor souls should thus spend all their life-time, under a
gospel of grace ? and that so much light and love should shine
from heaven in vain ? It should not be thought of, without pain
and agony, that men should thus perish ; that there should be
so few saved from hell and destruction, notwithstanding they
are under a gospel of light and salvation ! The truth I am
upon is intimated in part of the message to the church of Sar-
dis. " 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." Rev. 3. 4. Alas ! how few are there,
how few amongst a whole assembly and congregation of people
that keep themselves from pollution through lusts ? How few
names are there to be found in an assembly, who come under
the character of persons that have not defiled their garments?
or, of those who have numerous thoughts of God from day to
day ? How few are there, that do not come under the charac
ter in the text, of being forgetters of God ; and so of such
as must be turned into hell ? It concerns us all to be serious in
thinking upon this matter. God hath been serious in revealing
this truth to us ; and his Spirit is poured out for the confirming,
establishing, and pressing it upon your hearts and spirits, who
ever you are ; and therefore think well of it, and consider se
riously how few good men there are, who shall finally be
saved.
366 THE WICKED (sER. XIII.
5. You may hence learn also, that God hath an inspection
into, and a full knowledge of, the hearts and thoughts of men.
This is evident, for you see he makes his judgment upon what
lies within the inward man ; and his judgment at last will pro
ceed upon the same ground. " I must have those turned into
hell (saith the Almighty) who never think of, nor remember
their God : they must undergo my wrath that have thus for
gotten me." Now if God's judgments must be thus deter
mined upon what is in the heart of man, then he knows your
hearts ; and also what you do with your thoughts from day to
day. His eye is upon your souls and spirits; and sees all the
day long which way your affections lie, and which way they are
carried: and it is by this, he must guide his judgment at the
last day. Thus says the Psalmist ; " He that planteth the ear
shall not he hear ? He that formed the eye shall not he see ? He
that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? He that
teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know ? The Lord know-
eth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity." Psal. 94. 9,
10, 11. He knows well all the vanity of your spirits,
though you may not observe it. His eyes are observing us
all the day long, especially on such a day as this ; and ac
cording to the observation he makes, he must judge us at
the last day. And therefore he must be supposed to have a
full, and perfect understanding of all things ; so as to be
able in that day to lay out before a man the wickedness of his
whole life ; to spread before him the vain and wicked, the
sensual and earthly thoughts, which he was perpetually ex
ercised in; and of which his carnal heart was the continual
tomb. And this cannot be a -more difficult than it is a ne
cessary thing to him, who must search the hearts, and try the
reins, that he may judge accordingly at the last day. And
then,
6. And lastly, we may learn hence, that it is not an impossi
ble nor difficult thing for wicked men to know themselves to be
such; and to make a judgment of their own estates Godward.
For you see, they have a plain rule to judge by; namely, this
truth : He that forgets God is a wicked man ; and he is a
wicked man that thus forgets God : and he that forgets God
must be turned into hell, I pray now do but consider, and
think with yourselves. Is it so difficult or impossible for a
man to know, what is the ordinary course of his own thoughts ?
You may easily know if you will, at least the generality of you
may know, what the current of your thoughts is ; and so far
make a judgment of your estate accordingly. This we must
needs acknowledge. For those men who are carnal and earth-
SRR. XIII.) TURNED INTO HELL.
ly, their hearts tell them they have not a thought of God, from
day to day, from week to week, from year to year. Such per
sons cannot be so brutish and absurd, but they may know it, if
they will, especially if they will take God's word. If not, let
them see whether they can have any surer rule that cannot de
ceive. But if they will take God's word, they cannot but see
that they are those persons who are wicked, as they are forgetful
of God : and upon that account must be turned into hell at last.
My friends ! if we do not study wilfully to ruin ourselves, is it so
hard a matter for a man, a reasonable man, to sit down at night
and consider, " Whither have my thoughts been this day ?
Who hath had my thoughts most ? What have I taken most
pleasure in this day ? Is it in God ? hath he been so delightful
and so pleasant, and the remembrance of him in my heart and
soul, as the pleasures and comforts of this life have been to me?
Have I taken so much delight to-day in the law of God, as I
have in my friends, my riches, and my relations ? And have I
had that fear of God in my heart, lest I should sin against him,
as I have had about my business and affairs, lest they should
miscarry ?" Is it impossible, I say, for a reasonable man thus
to consider, from day to day, whither hath been the course of
his heart and thoughts ? And if he find it is thus with him ;
that he lives without having a thought of God, that may stay
his heart, and ravish his soul ; how obvious then is it, that he
is a wicked wretch ! that the wrath of God pursues him ! and
that he must be turned into hell, without remedy, if this con
tinues to be the state and condition of his soul ! Consider this,
and give me leave to close up all, with one word of counsel and
advice, to such persons as these : and may it be acceptable to
your hearts !
(1 .) Own your state and condition. If the case be thus, as
you see it is, that they are wicked persons who forget God, and
that such shall be turned into hell ; why, look into your own
hearts, and see whether they are not forgetful of God. And
when you find that it is thus with you, let your judgment pass
upon your souls and say ; "My wretched and undone soul !
thou art that soul whom this law condemns ; whom this judg
ment convinceth as guilty of this wickedness against God, and
liable to his vengeance upon this account !" Therefore I say
own your estate. It is no difficult thing for you to know it.
Say then, " 1 am the person whom the word of God condemns :
I am under the curse as a person that has forgotten God, and
must be turned into hell upon this account, if it thus continue
with me." But this is not all. I would not leave a soul in
THE WICKEff (sER. XII?*
this case miserably perishing, and despairing of all possibility
of being saved ; but however know that you cannot be saved
while it is thus with you, and while your hearts are thus fram
ed and turned from God. Therefore,
(2.) Labour forthwith to have the course and stream of your
spirits turned towards God : otherwise, all your hopes of being
saved are quite t?V.en away. There is no possibility of your
salvation, till your carnal earthly hearts be changed. Consider
and believe it, there are but these two things ; either a change
of heart, or ruin. And therefore labour, I say, to have the
course of your thoughts turned about, and directed forthwith
towards God, without any more delay.
And in order to this, you must in the first place endeavour to
get a right and distinct knowledge of God; otherwise you can ne
ver think rightly of him. Study his word; labour to know what is
there discovered of his justice, righteousness, holiness, and
power ; of his goodness, and his love. Take in the whole com
pass of the discovery of God, to make up the object of your
thoughts ; otherwise you do nothing ; your thoughts will pitch
upon some other thing, besides God. If you take in but part
of the attributes of God, that is not God. Jt will be some idle
fancy that you take in, and not God, if your thoughts are
not so comprehensive as to take in the whole discovery of
God in those several attributes, by which he makes himself
known.
And then in the next place you must labour to have a work
of sanctification, and regeneration, wrought upon your own
hearts. As there must be a right stating of the object, so there
must be a right framing of the subject too ; otherwise it will
be to no purpose. If there be not a change wrought in the
very inward of your souls, so as that your hearts be turned to
wards God ; to love, and delight in him, with all your soul,
and strength; alas! your thoughts of God will not be voluntary,
but forced : they will never be free, pleasant, and delightful.
And therefore you must often go to God, and cry to him, and
say ; " Lord, I see my thoughts run from thee! I cannot think
of God at any time with pleasantness. Sanctify this heart !
turn it to thyself ! else I am lost, and shall be turned into
hell." Cry thus unto God mightily, and incessantly, till you
find such a work done upon your souls ; for that is the only
thing that will procure a freedom, and facility of thoughts,
towards God : those holy, pleasant and delightful thoughts
of which a sanctified heart will be a continual spring and foun
tain.
And to press all this, I will deal plainly with you. If the
SER. XIII.) TURNED INTO HELL. 369
case be thus; if your hearts are not turned, and changed,
that you may have such thoughts of God as we have been
speaking of, there is no avoiding the misery threatened in the
text ; but there must of necessity be an expectation shortly of
being turned into hell. That must certainly be the portion of
those persons that forget God. And is that a thing easy and
tolerable to your thoughts ? Ts it easy and tolerable to you to
think of being sent into that place of torment, without remedy,
and without hope ? merely upon this account, because you
would needs live without God in the world ; and would never
have your hearts brought towards him ? Many deceive them
selves with the opinion of a tolerable hell; and therefore, such
a consideration hath no force upon their spirits in the least.
But think upon it a little, think what liell is ! Why, it is that
place of torment, that God himself hath ordained for the pun
ishment of wickedness and transgression against him. He
himself is the Author of that state, and of that torment that doth
belong unto it. It proceeds from almighty power, omnipotent
wrath and justice. And is that, think you, a tolerable thing ?
That " Tophet (the hell which the text speaks of) is ordained
of old the pile thereof is fire and much wood ; the breath of
the Lord, like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it." Isai. 30.
33. Is this, think you then, a slight matter, for a man thus to
hurry and throw away his soul ? thus to suffer himself to run
into this hell and destruction, and merely because he would
live without God ; slight, despise, and turn God out of his heart
and soul, while he is here in the world ? Hell is appointed and
prepared by God, in order to that just revenge that he must
take ; and will take upon all those wicked transgressors, that
have their hearts thus hardened, and shut up against him.
Alas ! that is a dreadful thing to think of. Revenge ! the re
venge of a God ! that the eternal and almighty God should
design such a thing, as the avenging of himself in such a way
upon wicked men ! O what heart, that is not made of stone or
a rock, can choose but tremble ? To think, " I shall shortly be
subject unto the wrath of God, because I have forgotten him,
and have lived without him in the world ; unless my heart be
wrought upon, and turned to him as the God of my life ;" how
dreadful is this ! Let me then recommend to you, in the close,
that one scripture, partly touched on before, which is at the
end of the fiftieth psalm. " Now consider this, ye that forget
God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver."
Psal. 5T). 22. What ! are those who forget God, wicked per
sons ? must wicked persons be turned into hell ? is this hell,
VOL. vi. 3 B
370 THE WICKED TURNED INTO HELL. SER. XIII.
and is this place appointed for the torment of such wretches, by
the eternal and almighty God ; that he may take his revenge
upon them, for their slighting and neglecting of him, or for
what they have done in this world? Why then consider this, all
ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be
none to deliver you. And so much shall suffice to be spoken
to this text.
THE PRINCIPLES
OP
THE ORACLES OF GOD,
NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED
PART I.
CONTAINING
I. AN INTRODUCTION, PROVING THE NECESSITY OP THKIR
BEING TAUGHT, IN TWO LECTURES, ON HfcB. 5. 12.
II. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, MANIFEST FROM THE CREATION,
IN FOUR LECTURES, ON ROMANS I. 20.
III. THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURES, IN FIVE
LECTURES, ON 2. TlMOTHY 3. 16.
IV. THE UNITY OF THE GODHEAD, IN TWO LECTURES, ON
JAMES 2. 19.
V. THE TRINITY OF PERSONS IN THE DIVINE ESSENCE, IN FOUR
LECTURES, ON JOHN 5. 7
VI. THE ATTRIBUTES AND PERFECTIONS OF THE DIVINE BE
ING, IN NINE LECTURES, ON MATTHEW 5. 48.
ADVERTISEMENT.
VifHEN the Editor first announced a new edition of the Works
of the Rev. John Howe, he promised one volume, at least,
from unpublished manuscripts. The sources whence these are de
rived, are stated in his preface to the First Volume. His original in
tention, was to have published the sermons which he obtained from
the late Rev. S. Palmer, of Hackney, with a selection only of such,
from Dr. Williains's library, as might appear most worthy of publi
cation. But, on lurther examination, he found these manuscripts
to consist chiefly, of a regular course of Lectures on " The principles
of the oracles of God," which were delivered weekly, and com
menced in the year 16QO. He therefore determined to publish the
whole ; a determination which he has no doubt, the religious pub
lic will approve.
The Author had, doubtless, intended a complete system of Theo
logy, though the design does not seem to have been carried fully into
effect. He has, however, continued a regular course, as far as to
the consideration of "The general and special grace of God in order
to the recovery of apostate souls." There are, in the whole, seventv
Lectures : and about fifty Sermons on the most interesting and im"-
portant subjects. Of their authenticity, the Editor is convinced
there will be no doubt entertained by the public, when they are in
formed, that in. addition to the evidence derived from their preserva
tion ia a public library, as the works of Howe, some of the lec
tures and sermons are in his own hand writing, (a fac simile of which
will be given,) as appears from comparing them with the letters of a
correspondence between him and the Rev. Mr. Baxter, which are pre
served in the library. To those acquainted with his former works,
the internal evidence of these lectures will be conspicuous. The Edi
tor thinks it not too much to say, they bear all the marks of Howe's
comprehensive, peculiar, and extraordinary mind. So strikingly is
this the fact, that had he found them on a desert he conceives he
could not possibly have mistaken their " image and superscription."
Chichester, August 16. 1815.
LECTURE I.<
Heb. 5. 12.
"Ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first
principles of the oracles of God ;
TV/TY design is to open unto you the principles of Christian re
ligion, and for an introduction hereunto, I have pitched on
this passage ; without any intention to accuse (much less to
upbraid) any in particular, with ignorance of those principles :
but only in the general and indefinitely to shew the necessity of
their being taught. And considering the matter abstractly,
without reference to this or that people, or to this or that age,
whether they be Jewish or Hebrew Christians that did need to
be so taught; or whether they be English or London Christians
in particular ; my design is only in general to assert, the ne
cessity of being taught such principles ; that some time or other
they be taught and we be instructed in them. And if they
have been taught, that they be taught again (as the apostle's ex
pression here is) that you be taught again, taught over and over,
for these are things that we cannot too thoroughly have learn
ed, or be too much versed in.
For the expressions here used, "the oracles of God" and
" the first principles" of those oracles there is not much of
obscurity in them. The word rendered oracles, doth by univer
sal consent (as well in pagan, as Christian and sacred writers,)
* Preached November 7j 1690.
376 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOIf.
signify divine revelations. It was the word among pagans by
which it was usual for them to express the responses of their
gods, or those they took to be such. It generally signifies what
is divinely revealed, or understood, or taken to be so, nor is
therefore the addition " of God," needless or useless. Such
pleonasms are ornative of speech, especially when they ren
der the same tiling more emphatically so, than if there were not
that pleonastical addition. And besides, inasmuch as there are
many (as the apostle speaks) that are called gods, and are wor
shipped as gods, the oracles of God are taken to be from God.
And when he saith " the oracles of God," (as the article may
be well held, and often is to be understood emphatically,) it may
be understood, the oracles of the God. He that is really so
called, or to be called, and so it is an expression of latitude
enough to take in what is of natural revelation, and what is of
supernatural revelation ; for what is of natural revelation is as
truly from God as the other. All truth is from the first truth,
there is no beam of light but what proceeds from the Father of
lights, in whatsoever way it comes.
And then for the word here rendered principles, that is wont
to be mentioned in as great latitude as can be supposed : it sig
nifies all sorts of principles, whether of nature, or of art, or sci
ence whatsoever : and whereas, the apostle speaks here (as we
render it) of thejirst principles : literally, it is the principles of
the beginning, and that imports to us, that he did intend those
principles in a very great latitude, all from first to last that can
come under that notion, or within that compass. There is a chain
or subordination of principles, even in principles themselves, as
we shall have occasion, more hereafter, to take notice of: there
are former, and there are latter principles. First principles do
suppose within this compass, that there may be latter and last
principles, but plain it is, that the apostle doth here intend prin
ciples of religion, and chiefly of Christian religion, but not
solely. That is, principles of Christian religion, partly where
of it doth consist, and that are peculiar and appropriate to it :
and partly, such as it doth suppose, such as it doth necessarily
pre-suppose, that may be common with it, either to the Jew
ish religion while it was to stand, and that still (as being com
mon to that religion with Christianity) are to stand ; as what
soever is common with the Jewish religion, with Christianity
must be perpetual; or which is common with natural religion,
which we must understand in nature to be before Jewish or
Christian. And even in time too, as to positive instruction?,
that which was natural did precede the other.
That therefore which I intend to ground upon this passage,
tsc. i. What they are. 377
you may take briefly thus That there are principles of religion
that need to be taught And in pursuance of this I shall
here,
I. Say somewhat more generally of these principles.
If. Shew the necessity of their being taught.
III. Speak something of the way of teaching them : and then
IV. Make application.
I Of these principles themselves : I shall shew there are
such and what they are and of what kind.
1. That there are such, is a thing without all doubt. There
is nothing, no created thing but hath its principles : princi
ples of being there are belonging to it. Every complete sub
stance that exists in the world, and is a created one, must be
supposed to have such principles 5 and- hath such generative and
effective principles, and constructive principles : the princi
ples from which it did proceed, and the principles of which it
doth exist. There are also principles of knowledge as well as
being. There is no piece of knowledge, no sort of science, but
hath its principles as you all know. And therefore religion,
Christian religion, theology, Christian theology must have it's
principles too. It is a science, a practical one and of most
absolute and universal necessity, and its principles must there
fore be supposed of the most absolute and universal necessity
too. Every piece of knowledge is not every one's business; but
this is every one's business, to know God, to know how he
may be saved, how it may be well with him to eternity.
2. But what are these principles? It is my present business to
tell you of what sort they are. What they are particularly, that
we must do by degrees as we come to them. Now you may
judge of what sort they are by what the apostle mentioneth in
this context ; and by the reference this passage, in the begin
ning of the 6th chapter, hath to that we are upon, we must sup
pose him to be still speaking of the tirst principles of the ora
cles of God. It may be thought strange that he should men
tion here things so small in their own nature as baptisms (not
baptism but baptisms) and the laying on of hands, as if they
were to come into the number of the first principles : not of
principles only, but of the first principles.
To this 1 shall only say, I cannot think that was at all meant
by the apostle, that they should be so taken for aoy of those
principles. You are to consider to whom the apostle writes
this epistle, namely to the Jews. These two, baptisms and the
laying on of hands were anciently and (as we know) originally
Jewish rites, transferred into the Christian church afterwards.
And so the meaning of the apostle is only this 3 " I will not
YOU VI t 3 C
5/8 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
stand to lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works,
and of faith towards God, especially not to you who have been
instructed in these things all along so distinctly, they being
nothing else but the doctrine of baptisms, and the laying on of
hands ;" and then goes on to the other two : that baptisms and
laying on of hands did continually instruct them (as usages that
did obtain among themselves) as to repentance from dead works
and faith towards God, as it is here expressed. And so these
words are very fitly to be rendered by way of parenthetical op
position to those that do immediately go before, that is, " not
laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and
faith towards God, (being the doctrines of baptisms and laying
on of hands, or the things which baptisms and the laying on of
hands, heretofore so frequently used among you, did signify) or
the resurrection of the dead or of eternal judgment." So there
are but four mentioned of the first principles of the oracles of
God. Against this way of reading this passage I meet but with
one objection, and that is, the want of the greek article, before
doctrine here, but that is so little an objection, if we consider
how many greater ellipsis there are, that are frequent in Scrip
ture, that it seems too light to be put into the balance against
the weighty reason that is to be given for the other read
ing.
But it may be said then, What ! Are there but four principles,
as such, which have reference to the whole business of Chris
tianity, which the apostle's discourse here must have final and
determinate reference unto ? *' Repentance from dead works,
faith towards God, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal
judgment j" are there no more than these ?
Yes undoubtedly there are, but it was none of the apostle's
design to give an enumeration of those principles, but to give
an instance of such as he did not now intend to insist upon,
but to wave and pass by. He only tells us this was not his prin
cipal business and design to deliver such principles, and he
tells at the same time, what he thought fit to wave, while his
discourse is moving forward to the information he would give
them concerning the Melchesidekian priesthood of Christ :
to which (after some warm discourse in the greater part of
the 5th chapter) he comes in the close of that, and pursues in
the seventh chapter.
3. But that I may shew more distinctly what kind of princi
ples the apostle here hath reference to, take these considera
tions :
(1.) It is plain that they must be meant of doctrinal princi
ples, principles of doctrine that are to be received into the
use. I. What they are. 379
mind and understanding. There are those that are doctrinal,
and there are those that are practical principles. It is true in
deed, all principles of the Christian religion are remotely prac
tical, because the main end of Christianity is practice. But
the difference between a doctrinal principle and a practical, lies
here, that supposing a doctrinal principle to have reference to
practice, to serve towards it at a distance, yet a practical prin
ciple is that from which action doth immediately proceed. As
now, if we speak to the very heads themselves that the apos
tle speaks of, " repentance from dead works, and faith towards
God," the doctrine concerning these makes one sort of princi
ple, and the habit another j the habit of faith, and the habit of
repentance, that is a principle in the soul from which the acts
of these immediately proceed. But the more essential doctrine
concerning both these, must make the doctrinal principle con
cerning them ; as there may be doctrinal principles about the
most practical things, and those are the doctrinal principles, as
such, that are here intended and which are to be the matter of
teaching : which are to be taught, as the apostle speaks. It is
very true that the papists do very industriously make it their
business to overthrow that distinction of fundamental and extra-
fundamental doctrines ; of those that are essential and those
that are extra- essential ; such as are of absolute necessity, and
such as are not necessary, or not so necessary. And they
mightily insist and urge to have a catalogue particularly of
those which we would have to go under the notion of funda
mentals : because they think they could cavil and contend
about any such catalogue that should be given, and look upon it
as impossible there should be any so unexceptionably given,
that nothing should be said against it, why this, or that, is
taken in, or why such and such things should be left out.
Therefore they would conclude there ought to be no such dis
tinction ; which is the most absurd thing that can be imagined]
for to take away the distinction of fundamental and extra-fun
damental is to suppose one of these two things. Either it must
suppose that there is nothing necessary in Christian religion,
which is a very strange supposition that there should be any such
religion wherein nothing should be necessary ; or it must sup
pose all things equally necessary, all necessary alike : and so
that it were equally necessary that we know Sa&thiel to be the
son of Neri, as to know that Jesus is the Son of God. But there
needs no more to be said at present to this, than that whatsoever
is necessary in point of doctrine to the soul's acting of "repent
ance from dead works, and faith towards God", (for the two
580 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
things that follow are no matter of our exercise. The raisitig 1
of the dead and the eternal judgment are no part of our duty ;
but our duty is summed up in these two, repentance and faith !)
whatsoever, I say, is necessary in point of doctrine to the
soul's being exercised in one or other of these with the under
standing and judgment of a reasonable creature, so much is ne
cessary to make a doctrinal principle : whatever leads the soul
into the exercise of repentance and faith, so much must be
necessary under the head of doctrinal principles concerning our
duty. It is true we must know the other things too as motives
to it, but these are to have the immediate influence upon things
to be done. And I might more shortly say, whatever is
necessary to bring the soul into union with God through Christ,
all that knowledge that is necessarily antecedent to this, so
much comes within the compass of what is fundamental in our
religion, and indeed nothing comes within that compass but
what is one way or other reducible to this, that must not one
way or other have influence upon repentance and faith. And I
add,
(2.) That as concerning these, some may be more deeply fun
damental than others are, even of those that are of equal ne
cessity. That is, there are principles that in reference to things
depending on them have that notion of principles and are to be
so considered, that yet may be consequential to other things
on which they do depend. As in the building of a house
(which is the metaphor the apostle, in this context, makes use
of) there may be some parts that may be both fundamental to
what is upon them, and superstructive in reference to what lies
under them. And,
(3.) These principles may be partly of natural and partly of
supernatural revelation. Of natural^ that there is a God. Of
supernatural, that Jesus is the Son of God. Though what is
of natural revelation doth not comprehend what is of superna
tural, yet all that is of supernatural takes in and includes all
that is natural too. The same thing may be supernaturally re
vealed, and naturally ; as the same conclusion may be both be
lieved and known. And again,
(4.) They are generally the plainest things that are to go for
such principles. God hath so graciously ordered it, that that
which is most necessary should be most plain. Indeed some
may object themselves here, the doctrine of the Trinity, but
as concerning that, I hope when we come to it, it will appear
that what God hath said about that is very plain ; though what
men have said and devised about it, is obscure and intricate
JLEC. i. Necessity oflheir being taught. 3S1
enough, even what they mean for the explication of it. And I
only add this, for the present, concerning these principles,
(5.) They must be supposed to be but few. The first princi
ples, or the great principles of religion, do lie in a very little com
pass : as that which goes amongst us in the name of the apos
tles' creed (you know) is very short. And (if antiquity deceive
us not) was much shorter than it is. Though it is true that the
variety of apprehensions and sentiments, and the great dissen-
tions and manifold errors, that have in after-times sprung up
in the Christian church have occasioned the enlargements of
creeds and multiplying of articles of faith ; varying them this
way or that, to meet with this or that wrong sentiment as they
have been apprehended ; yet the things that are in themselves
necessary, must needs be but few. And if the Christian reli
gion ever return to itself, and be what at first it was, simple,
pure, plain, and unmixed, undoubtedly the sum and substance
of it will be found to lie in very little compass. It hath sadly
degenerated in point of efficacy, and vigour, and power, as it
hath been increased and augmented in point of necessary doc
trines : men rendering such doctrines necessary, or bestowing
that notion upon them arbitrarily as they have thought fit.
And indeed the state of Christian religion hath never been flou
rishing since (as one very accurately observes in the last age)
it became Res Ingeniosa fore Christianum: a thing of wit
to be a Christian. So much at present for the kinds and sorts
of these principles. But now,
II. For the necessity of their being taught; as to that, little
needs to be said.
1. That the things themselves are necessary is out of ques
tion. If any religion be necessary, it's principles must be much
more so, especially if first principles. And
2. This doth plainly infer therefore the necessity of their
being taught : else how should we come by them ? And though
there is somewhat pre-supposed to our religion that is natural,
it is but pre-supposed as fundamental to all that was necessary
to be super-added, for there is not enough within the compass
of nature to lead men to blessedness, if there be not great super-
additions. And what we have not by nature, how should we
come by it, if we are not taught it? if we do not learn it ? We
read of great promises in Scripture of being taught of God.
" Every one that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh
unto me," as it is in that, John 6. 45. quoted from the prophet
Isaiah 54. 13. " Thy children shall be all taught of the Lord."
And "It is written in the prophets, they shall be taught of God:"
n4 then it followeth, " Every one that hath heard and learned
382 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
of the Father cometh unto me." And so we read, Jeremiah S 1 .
34. as that which is foretold to be the great blessing of a
time then future (and for ought I see, yet future) that there
should be no saying " Know the Lord." They should not need
to teach one another saying, "Know the Lord : for theyshall all
know me from the least to the greatest :" quoted by the apostle
Heb. 8. 11. But even such teaching is teaching still. He
is the great Teacher: and whoteacheth like him ? But as to su
bordinate teaching or human teaching there is nothing in all
these promises that can exclude it. And when it is said "They
shall all be taught of God :" and that they shall not need any
to teach them, the meaning is, that there shall be a greater
inclination in men's spirits to learn. Not that they shall know
it without teaching, but that an aptitude to learn, shall be given
them more generally than had been given, and (so far as we caa
observe) than is yet given. Men shall not need to be urged
and pressed to know the Lord. No, there shall be a greater
promptitude in men's minds to learn, and to use, and improve
the means of knowing him, than had been before. But that
there shall always, to the end of time, be use of human teaching,
our Lord's own words just before his ascension plainly enough
speak. Mat. 28. and the close : " I am with you to the end of
the world." In this work it must be, "to assist you in this teach
ing through all successions of time, to the very end of the
world." But if there should be any such time or state of things
on earth, wherein men should no way at all need to be taught
the knowledge of God, supervening and coming ; that is not yet
come, we are sure we see no such time : and jf any such time
should come, and we should see it, I verily believe there are
none of those that now are intent upon the business of teaching,
but would be glad in those times to resign their office. And
in the mean time nothing is plainer than so it is, and indeed
nothing is plainer than so it will be to the end of the world ;
that there is and will be need and use of human subordinate
teachers, to teach and instruct men in the principles, even the
tirst principles of faith in Christ. But,
III. I would say somewhat concerning the way of this teach
ing. And there be several ways about which we might dis
tinguish and speak to you in distinct heads : there is private
teaching and public teaching ; and teaching from house to
house, and teaching in public assemblies : there is teaching
by continued discourse, and teaching in a way of interlo
cution, by way of question and answer, that to which the
name of catechising is now generally appropriated, though
indeed without ground from the word itself, or the pro
per significancy of the word. And this is indeed, in the ac-
use. I. Methods of teaching them. 383
count of many, a very formidable and frightful work, the work
of catechising. 1 do not know why it should be so formid
able a thing for one person to converse with another, to put
questions and return answers ; for is not this the usual way of
common conversation ? And why should it be more formidable
to us to converse thus about the things of God, than about other
things, that we count necessary, and about many things that we
cannot so much as count so ? But there can be surely nothing
more necessary than religion and the things that concern it.
I am for my part very far from that imperious and terrifying
way of managing such a work as this, to affright people and
make them afraid of it. And indeed were I engaged in such
work, 1 should as leave they should catechise me as I them, if
questions could be so judiciously put as to draw forth a full ex
plication of the matter proposed. It would be all one to me,
who were the questionist and who the answerer, supposing the
question be aptly put so as to draw forth the explication most
fully. I should like well it should be said, Pray how is such
a thing understood, or what help may be given to understand
that point more distinctly and more clearly ?
And some considerations I shall give you, at present, about this
way of teaching by familiar interlocution ; and which indeed
the exigency of the case doth require to be in a public assem
bly, where many meet and are convened together for that very
purpose and upon that account. I would not insist upon the
word, though it is a very significant word, that serves the pur
pose for which it is used well enough, but we find divers pas
sages in Scripture where this word is used that fully refers to
that way of teaching. And
1. Let that be considered, Gal. 6. 6. u Let him that is taught
in the word, communicate to him that teacheth." The word there
is catechised. Let him that is catechised in the word commu
nicate to him that catechiseth : this implies it to be a stated
business, that there must be continued catechising, and being
catechised. The apostle, in 1 Cor. 14. 19. useth the same
word when he tells us " I had rather speak five words with my
understanding, that by my voice I may teach others also, (the
word is catechised and he speaks of doing it in the church)
than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue/'
2. That though another sort of word be used in that other lan
guage, when Abraham is so highly commended for instructing
his household, (in Genesis 18) yet we are to consider what his
household was, an household out of which he could draw forth
(as we find upon occasion) three hundred fighting men. How
vastly numerous must that family be ? And when they met to-
3$4 THE PRINCIPLES OP THE ORACLES OF GOB.
gather for the worship of God, that must he a greater assembly
than our's usually are : and his instructing was so that they
should be all brought to know God and the principles of reli
gion ; which must be supposed and (as the thing speaks) must
mostly be when he had them together, though there might be
occasion for private instruction and admonition too.
3. There ought certainly to be a very great deference given
to usages in the Christian church in the purer and primitive
times of it, when Christianity was most of all itself; and we
find very ancient records, even of teaching by this way of in
terlocution, and in public too. Origen lived very early, and it
is matter notorious that he was eminent under the notion of a
catechist in his time, whose business it was to teach and in
struct in a catechetical way, and we are informed of divers ca-
techists that they had in the church of Alexandria at the same
time, that being, it is true, a numerous, great church, and re
quiring the help of many to that purpose. And all along, in
the best times of the Christian church, (before popery v/as born
into it) we find hereupon that there were these two distinct or
ders of Christians, the catechumini and the Jidelos : those that
were catechetically instructed and those that having been for a
competent time so instructed, were found fit to be admitted into
full communion : and hereupon there were particular places
appointed them in the assemblies, wherein they were to stand
apart by themselves in a sort of inclosure, but in the view of the
jest of the assembly. And the nature of the thing doth speak,
that there must always be these two orders within the compass
of the Christian church, those that are under instruction arc
catechumini, and those that as they are fit, are taken out of
them and received into full communion. A thing that na
ture and common prudence will so much dictate, that long^
before the Christian name was ever heard of in the world, we
read that Pythagoras's school had the same orders, where the
business was principally to teach and instruct in virtue. There
were those that were Extra- syndonem and those that were
Intra-syndonem ; there was a septum or inclosure that did re
ceive those that were looked upon to be thoroughly virtuous.
His school indeed was like a church, upon that account, and
commonly there were kept seven years expectants without the*
inclosure, not to be received (as it were) into full communion
till they were very well confirmed in virtue and goodness. And
thereupon, if any of those that had been received within the in
closure should afterwards degenerate and be guilty of any
crimes, there was as solemn an excommunication of them as
we read of any among Christians, and a funeral besides held for
LEC. I. Methods of teaching them. 385
such a person ; that is, a coffin was brought into the auditorium
and lamentation made over it as over one dead, dead from
among them ; and so such were to be humbled that way and
wrought upon. And there can be no such thing as the continu
ance of Christianity in the world, on other terms than that there
must be two such orders. And I add,
4. That it is very apparent that our Saviour's way of teach
ing when he was here on earth was very much in a way of in
terlocution, and that often in great public assemblies, as it is
obvious for yourselves to take notice in evangelical history.
And,
5. That Christians generally are under an express charge
to be ready to give an account of the reason of their hope and
faith, to any one that shall ask it, with .meekness and fear : as
in that, 1 Pet. 3. 15. And if they were to do it (as that direc
tion hath more especial reference) even to enemies, to persecu
tors, and when it was to cost them their lives, much more to in
structors and teachers, when they desire it, only in order to
their own help and to the promoting and furtherance of know
ledge among men. And,
6. It is very plain that they who by office are to make it their
work and business to instruct others, are obliged to use all the
most apt and likely means that may be most profitable and
most conducing to that end and purpose. How solemn
a charge is that the apostle lays on Timothy ! 2 Tim. 4.
1,2. "I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Je
sus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his
appearing and his kingdom ; preach the word, be instant in
season, and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all
long-suffering and doctrine." With all doctrine, (as it is refer
red undoubtedly to both the things that go before and that fol
low the long-suffering) must in all reason intend, not merely the
matter of doctrine, but the manner also, for there may be mat
ters of doctrine materially to be considered, that are not so ne
cessary to be so very much inculcated and urged. But that same
all-doctrine is every way a teaching that is likely, or by which
it may be more probable that good may be ddne ; and if there
be such an obligation upon teachers, there is a correspondent
obligation upon hearers to attend thereto : yea, and that not
only implied, but expressly required : " Obey them that have
the rule over you." Heb. 13. 17 Hereupon no doubt they
are obliged to comply with, and to concur to, set on foot all such
means and methods of instruction as may be most conducible
to this end. And that this is a means proper to this end may
be manifest upon several considerations. As,
YOJfc. VI 3D
386 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
(1 .) That it most evidently tends to engage the minds of them
that are immediately dealt with in this way, to be intent on the
matter in hand, as when a question is put to me I am bound
under a kind of necessity to consider it, that I may know how to
make one answer or another as it is particularly and personally
directed to me. There are many things that pass us by in a
continued and transient discourse, that a wandering mind takes
little notice of, gives little heed to ; but when it is called by a
particular question to this particular point, it ca'nnot but make
the mind intent upon it. As when the apOstle, in the midst of
Tiis apologetical discourse before king Agrippa, applied particu
larly to him with that question, " King Agrippa, believest thou
the prophets?" the king thought himself obliged to consider his
question, and you see what kind of answer he gives, so as he
never else would have thought, if that question had not been di
rected to himself. Such an impression did that question make
on his mind.
(2.) It tends manifestly very much to engage the attention of
all that hear, at such an exercise as that we are now speaking
of. Every body presently gives his ear when there is a question
put, "Come what will be answered to this question ?" and if it
need explication," What will be said in this case?" It makes men
exert their minds, and engage their spirits a great deal more,
as every one's reason and experience must tell him.
(.}.) It tends very much to fix things and make them continue
with those that hear and do attend on such a kind of exercise,
for that very reason, because it hath set the animadversive fa
culties so much the more on work ; and if the matter be con
sidered, nothing is plainer, than that people do many times
blame their memories very causlessly, when it is really the ani-
maclversive faculty is not used; for things that once are ear
nestly attended to are much more likely to be remembered,
but people find fault with their memories because they do not
mind what they hear at first. If they earnestly minded what
they heard, and considered things, and took them to heart, it
would contribute a great deal towards the fixing of them in
their memories, towards their retention of them. I believe, for
the much greater part, when the badness of the memory is com
plained of, the fault lies elsewhere, that they did not seriously
attend at the first, for things will be retained longer that have
been well considered at first.
(4.) Hereupon, through the blessing of God, much more may
be done towards the conversion of souls by the gospel dispensa
tion, when the things needful to be understood in order hereto,
are well understood for it; for while they are not so, we speak
in the dark and people hear in the dark, and what we say t*
LEC. i. Advantages of their being taught. 387
them hath an uncertain sound, as the apostle speaks. 1 Cor. 14.
17. They cannot tell what we mean when we speak of the
weightiest and most important things belonging to the kingdom
of God, but if such things be well understood at first (as it is
to be hoped they will be in this way) then there is one great
step made, one main difficulty is got over : and so it obtains in
discourses that have more directly that design, to make men
intend this business, and impress things upon men's hearts to
the utmost, which had passed through their minds before or
were received clearly and distinctly there before. Again
(5.) It is likewise, by consequence, likely to be the means of
introducing a much more fruitful Christianity among us, for
undoubtedly, religion is more lively by how much the more it is
well grounded : they that do believe this or that doctrine with
out a ground, they commonly believe it too without fruit. If
it have not a good ground it is proportionably inefficacious, and
a languid thing ; as seed that is sown and hath no depth of
earth, (as our Saviour speaks) brings not forth fruit unto per
fection. Therefore is that charge given unto the Colossian
Christians : "As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk
ye in him." Col. 2. 6. One notion under which we are said to
receive him is as a teacher, and to receive him (though that be
not all) is to receive his truths, his doctrines. "As ye have re
ceived Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built,
up in him, and established in the faith as ye have been taught,
abounding therein with thanksgiving." And therefore, so ra
tionally doth the apostle pray for them in that chapter, that
they might be " fruitful in every good work, increasing in the
knowledge of God." And in 1 Phil. 9. 10, 11. those Christians
are there prayed for after the same method, that they might
abound in judgment and in all knowledge, (that they might
become knowing and judicious Christians) and then, that they
might abound in all the fruits of righteousness that would
be through Christ, to the praise and glory of God. And,
(6.) This would be a very great and likely means to bring
Christians generally to a great deal more of seriousness in the
temper of their minds and spirits, that is, to exclude and shut
out vanity, replenishing their minds with great and weighty
things, things that deeply concern them : for in this way, un
doubtedly, such things would come to be more inwrought into
their hearts and to have a more settled abode and residence
there. Then it would be as ordinary a thing when Christians
did meet, to catechise one another about the things of God and
about the eternal kingdom (if I may use that phrase) as to ca
techise one another about news, or about the state of the times :
388 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
what is doing now in the country, or in the court, or in this or
in any other nation or kingdom : the kingdom of heaven surely
would look as great as any earthly kingdom or country, or greater,
if we were more taken up about the things that relate thereun
to. And so might the ancient Christianity come to be restored
in some measure among us, wherein (as antiquity tells us) it was
so ordinary a thing when Christians did meet, presently to fall
upon the matters of their religion : and it was usual in their
families, even all the day long, when people were about their af
fairs either in the shop or at the distaff, to mention the great
things of the Christian religion, from morning to night mingling
discourses of that kind with all their affairs, as they could ad
mit of their being mingled. This was primitive Christianity,
and it was in these early days that this course that I now speak
of did obtain, even when such familiar interlocutions for the in
struction of candidates to Christianity were carried on in their
assemblies. And,
(70 It were much to be hoped that by this means, that faulty
shyness would be overcome which doth appear too generally of
discoursing at all about the things of God and the matters of
religion, and what men find in their own spirits of savour and
impression of such things. It is very strange and unaccount
able that there should be so peculiar a shyness in reference to
the matters of religion, to take discourse of them, especially as
to one's own sentiments about them, what one apprehends and
what one feels in himself, in one's own breast. There is not
such a shyness in reference to things of any other concerns be
sides, as there is in reference to those concernments that relate
to men's souls and their state Godward and for eternity. No-
Lody is shy to speak of his own or other's ails, for the most part,
nobody is shy to speak of an aching head, or an aching tooth :
but what a shyness is there to speak of spiritual maladies, a bad
heart, a blind mind, and the like ? If discourses were in this
way more frequently introduced, so as to become familiar, this
shyness would be gradually overcome. We find in public as
semblies it is usual to give an account of things that are of
another concernment, of a most inferior concernment ; as in
courts of judicature, where persons of the meanest capacity are
called frequently to speak their knowledge, to tell what they
know about such and such a matter that doth concern meum and
tuum, this or that man's right; or concerning a question depend
ing between the government and any particular person concern
ing a criminal matter. Nothing more ordinary than to have
persons catechised about such things as these in public assem
blies, and it is not thought strange. And why should there be
a particular shyness, strangeness, and aversion to give an ac-
use. r. Advantages of their being taught. 330
count of things relating to the kingdom of God ? As if it were
a criminal thing to have one's mind engaged and taken up about
matters of that nature, or as if persons were afraid to be thought
guilty of religion, as if it were a dreadful thing, a thing to be
dreaded, to be thought guilty of minding God, and the con~
cernments of another world. And
(8.) It would surely be a very likely means to prevent aposta-
cy, especially in a difficult and trying time: indeed there is con
tinual danger of apostacy : there is much danger from daily
conversation with this world, there is much danger especially
in a prosperous state and condition in it, least there should be
heart apostacy, a heart secretly departing from the love of
God. And there is great danger in times of persecution for
religion's sake, for Christ's sake, and for the gospel's sake. But
there is nothing (in point of means and in subordination to the
grace and Spirit of Christ) likely to be a better security against
it, than in such a way as this, to be once thoroughly instructed
in the great "principles of the oracles of God." to have them well
inlaid. They that are so instructed at first are not like to be as
"children, tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine," or en
tangled by the cunning craftiness of them that lie in wait to de
ceive. Some are withdrawn by seduction, some by perse-
cnon : there will be the same fence against both in such
a way us this. " Nay," will such a one say " I have (through
the goodness of God) understood the grounds of my religion
well : I did not trifle when I took up this profession ;" as the
apostle speaks concerning his trust in God, " I know whom I
have believed and I am persuaded he is able to keep that which
I have committed unto him until that day." So for a Christian
to say, "I know what I have believed, and I mean to abide by it
through the grace of God," this will preserve him under suf
fering. It is a very uncomfortable thing in point of suffering
to be called to suffer for that I never understood and which I
never savoured or relished. To suffer for what 1 never had any
clear understanding of, and to suffer for what I never had any
taste or relish of in my own soul, though it is possible to suffer
upon such an account, yet it is uncomfortable. A man may "give
his body to be burned" without love, but it is very uncomforta
ble so to suffer. And the one of these things is the way to the
other ; I am likely to savour what I understand in those things
that have a real bottom and are in themselves substantial.
There are some things indeed that have so little in them, that
the more I understand them the less I shall mind them; the
more I understand them the more I shall despise them, but it
390 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOB.
is not so in the great things of God and that do relate to his
kingdom. And,
(9.) It is that which will certainly be a great ornament to the
Christian church, and an honour to it, when there is a succes
sion coming up, a rising generation of them that do under
stand themselves and appear to do so, make it evident that they
do understand themselves in the great things of religion ; that
they receive them and take them in. As it was the reproach
of the Christian church (as it was still called) when that bar
barous age was upon it, and so great and gross darkness and ig
norance did cover the face of it, so will the contrary be it's
honour. And when times of greater knowledge do come, then
in one sense (though these words have more meaning than
that) it may be said to Zion "Arise, shine; for thy light is come ;
and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." Isaiah 60. 1.
Light signifies holiness too, and a prosperous state, but it
signifies knowledge as that which is inchoative of all the rest.
And,
(10.) Lastly. It is one of the most comfortable presages that
can be, when once the spirits of those that are to be learners
(as it were) in the school of Christ, come to be engaged and
intent upon getting in the knowledge of Christ, and have their
souls impressed thereunto. I say it is one of the most com
fortable presages of the approach 6f that time and that season
drawing on, when one shall say to another, and even people
to people,"Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,,
and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will shew us
of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. 1 ' Micah 4. 2. It is
a comfortable pre-signification of the approach of that time
when tf many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be in
creased :" when there shall be very much of inquiry and con
cern to know God and the things of God, then the time will be
drawing on, when the knowledge of the Lord shall abound and
cover the earth as the waters cover the seas. Isaiah 11. 9.
IV. But to make some brief use of all this. There are prin
ciples of religion, or of the oracles of God, which are needful
to be taught. Then here,
1. Let us consider and adore the goodness of God towards a
wicked and apostate world. How strange a sound should such a
word carry with it to us. "The oracles of God!" How transport
ing a sound, for the oracles of God to be mentioned and spoken
in such a world as ours is ! when it would be thought that it's
so universal revolt from God, should everlastingly have cut off
all intercourse between him and it, that he should never
have regard for this world any more ; not more than for the
JLEC. i. Reflections. $91
angels that fell and kept not their first station. Do we hear of
any oracles of God sent down into those infernal regions ? Oh !
how great thing then is it, that there should be among us the
oracles of God ! Indeed it argues very great stupidity, if there
be not a mighty sense of this upon our spirits. Pagans have
had the most grateful sense that could be imagined but of a
mock pretence hereunto, the very notion of oracles carries a
sacredness and venerableness in it; any thing that is divine, any
thing that is of heavenly descent, and so such things, though
but feignedly such-, have been reckoned of among pagans.
Oh ! what veneration had those poor Ephesian idolaters for
that thing (we read it image, but there is no such thing in the
greek) that dropped down from Jupiter, how mighty a zeal was
there among that people, so as that the city, is said to be a
whole neochoron; "All Ephesus is a worshipper ;" so it is expres
sed^, as if that mighty city were but one worshipper of the great
goddess Diana. So great was their zeal, so high their venera
tion for a thing that their deluding priests made them believe
dropped down from heaven. And we know how high their value
was, of how much they did magnify themselves for the diabo
lical oracles they had among them in former days before Christ's
time ; and how mighty a concern there was among them when
these were silent at his coming. So as that some of their
wisest men (Plutarch for instance) was fain to write discourse
upon discourse to qualify their minds thereupon. Two treatises
we read of, written by that author, one why they ceased, which
he wrote in verse : the other why they did so totally cease as
upon the matter they did.
And when the privilege of having the oracles of God, was a
more confined and limited thing, Oh ! how did the Jews (to
whom they were so great a treasure) magnify themselves upon
them, how did they glory in it ! And it was acknowledged
that they had a mighty advantage, "What advantage had the
Jews ? Much every way, chiefly as that to them were com
mitted the oracles of God," Rom. 3. beginning. Oh ! we do
not enough consider the kindness of heaven towards our world !
that there should be any beams of divine light (whether by na
tural or super-natural revelation) shining in it. We do not
enough consider that we are quite cut off from God. He doth
hereby shew he hath yet a desire to the work of his own hands,
in that he will have his oracles known to men upon earth j as
elsewhere it is said of his tabernacle : " the tabernacles of God
are with men ;" and in what a transport doth Solomon break
forth(l Kings 8.) in that seraphical triumph of joy: "Will God
indeed dwell upon earth ?" Oh ! that there should be any abode
31)2 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
of the divine presence upon earth ; and these arc some of thJ
most expressive tokens of such a visible presence vouchsafed ;
his placing these oracles among us and diffusing the most im
pressive light that reveals him, and that reveals the great things
that relate to his kingdom. And,
2. We may collect lience, that it is a very apt method and
accommodated unto intelligent creatures, that God doth make
use of, in conveying to them the necessary knowledge of the
doctrine of Christ ; for there are principles that are to be begun
with ; (first principles as you see) you had need to be taught
which are the first principles of the oracles of God. There are
.the oracles of God, there are principles of these oracles, and
the first of those principles. God doth apply himself to us
suitable to our nature, he aims to draw us by the " cords of a man
and by the bands of love," to make reason and love, engineers
by which he would take hold of us, sanctify the one principle
and the other, that we may be brought nigh to him and held
in with him.
And it ought deeply to be considered that there are (as you see)
principles wherewith we are to begin, and by which we are to be
led on (as the apostle's expression here is) towards perfection.
Principles of truth, principles of doctrine, such as a " form of
sound words," wholesome words may be expressive of. Though
(by the way) 1 am against being tied to a form of words ; in mat
ters of this nature I would have words used for helps, not for
bonds. And if 1 were to inquire how any have profited in the
things of God, even in this very respect ; in respect of their
knowledge relating thereto, if they could express a sound and
good understanding about these things, in their own words, in
words of their own choosing, and not which they found in this
or that book, I should like it a great deal better. It would ar
gue them so much the more understanding and knowing chris-
tians, and likely to prove more stable ones. As I said before, I
would have you to make use of other men's words (as you may
any good book you read or sermon you hear) for helps but
not for bonds j to help your understandings, not to limit them.
Again,
3. This lets us see the presumptuous and preposterous rash
ness of such persons as do at random, at all adventures take up
the Christian profession, when they never as yet understood the
principles of Christianity, and so they really profess they know
not what : as if the name Christian were a name of nothing,
a name that had no signification, a name that did import no real
thing. Those that can give no account of their knowledge of
principles, and yet will be Christians, call themselves Christians,
what an usurpation is this ! How groundlessly and presump-
1EC, J. Reflections. 393
tuously do they usurp a glorious name ! a title that carries with
it a great deal of glory ! and I would have you understand it
so. A Christian is a glorious title, and they will be made to
understand it to be so another day, who have usurped it they
know not why, who have prophanedit, and could never justify
the pretence. It is a far greater presumption than for any man
to call himself king or emperor, who is a mean peasant, an
ordinary fellow and can have no such pretence. " I will bring
them to worship at thy feet (it is spoken to the Philadelphian
church Rev. 3. 9.) who say they are Jews and are not, but do
lie." For a man to take up a profession that is a mere lie,
what a presumption is it ! a man to call himself a Christian !
but he lies, and must do so upon one account, if he live in
the continual violation of the Christian precepts, and upon
another, if he understand nothing of the Christian principles.
It is a lie : it is to suppose that Christian is a name without a
meaning, a name that means nothing. And,
4. We may collect hence, that it is very stupid folly for men
to live all their days under this profession, without ever con
cerning themselves to understand the principles of Christianity.
It is very presumptuous rashness to take up that profession,
when a man will commence Christian all of a sudden without
ever having understood its principles. But it is far more stu
pid folly if a man will all his days, live under the Christian pro
fession in continued ignorance of the principles of the Christian
religion. How ridiculous doth that man make himself that
will all his time go under the name of a merchant, and yet
never understand any thing of merchandize ? or if a man will
be called a philosopher, when every one that knows him, know*
that he understands not any of the principles of philosophy 2
But,
5. It is of so great importance to understand well the prin
ciples of Christian religion, that they need to be taught. Is
there so great weight laid upon the teaching of them ? are they
hereby represented to us to be matters of absolute necessity ?
then by the importance of the principles judge of the excellen
cy of the end of the Christian religion. And so consider, Hath
God thus brought it about that we should be all of us in one
degree or other under the Christian institution ? W|iat is it for ?
That which hath so very important principles must have a pro
portionable end. Then let us see what that is. Religion is a
thing that terminates upon eternity, that runs into another
world : they therefore that are under the Christian institution
(as we all are to be in the church of God while we are here in
the world) are to look upon themselves as so many candidates
VOL. VI. 3 K
394 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORAC1E3 OF GOD.
for the blessed eternity. Here in this world we are training up
for heaven, for everlasting glory ; and hereupon are the princi
ples of religion, of the Oracles of God, represented as the most
important things, that have their final and determinate reference
to another world, the glories of the heavenly and eternal state.
This were a great thought for us to carry about with us, when
soever we are under gospel teaching, to think that God hath
provided and taken care that I should be trained up for heaven
and fitted for the eternal kingdom, and for an everlasting abode
in that blessed glorious state. And when you are training up
your child, Oh ! how great a thing is it to be training it up in
the knowledge of God ! for there are some steps that must be
taken with it, to make it meet for partaking " of the inheritance
of the saints in light." You know there is great care taken
about the education of great heirs. The very children of the
church are God's children. He calls them so, (Ezekiel 16. 20,
21.) " Is this a small matter that thou hast slain my children ?"
speaking of Jewish parents making their children pass through
the fire to Moloch. In the degenerate state of that church and
people, he calls them his children : now I say, great care is wont
to be taken in the education of great heirs. Those that are the
children of God and are really so, if children they are also heirs;
and they are begotten to a lively hope, to an inheritance that is
incorruptible and undefiled. And they are, by "the sincere milk
of the word" which they receive from time to time, to grow
up to a fitness and capacity to partake of that inheritance. We
should never think of the principles of the Christian religion,
but it should put us in mind of the end of it, and what it re
fers to. And yet again,
6. We may further learn from hence, that since there is such
need that such principles should be taught, men should take
heed of neglecting, and much more of opposing any fit methods
wherein they may be taught. And why do they so ? Why they
think themselves too wise to learn, they understand too much
already to need being taught. But while they account them
selves so very wise, see how the Spirit of God counts them,
what notion they pass under with him; " fools despise instruc
tion." Prov. 1. 7- And that is certainly a very ill character,
that the contempt of instruction brings upon persons : they think
themselves wise, and God thinks them fools; and certainly
his judgment is the most discerning and true: and as it draws
on a bad character, so it is very likely to draw on a bad end and
issue. To hate instruction is to hate knowledge : and he is
aaid to love knowledge that loves instruction. Prov. 12. 1.
But to be brought in under the notion of a hater of knowledge,
1.BC. I. Reflections. 395
divine knowledge, Oh ! how dreadful a thing is that ! " They
shall call but I will not answer, they shall seek me early but
they shall not find me." Why what is the matter ? what is all
that resolved into which you read to that purpose in the 1.
Prov ? Why in the 29th. verse it is said, Because they hated
knowledge and would not choose the fear of the Lord ; there
fore he would be deaf to all their cries and importunities, when
destruction was coining upon them as a whirlwind. Why is
God so inexorable towards them ? Because they hated know
ledge, they would not endeavour to learn. And
7. Lastly. If there be so absolute a necessity of being taught
Such principles of religion or such " Oracles of God/' there
surely ought to be a very peculiar temper and disposition of
spirit in order to learning. And that 1 would have you to take
an account of in a few heads which I shall only name. We are
all to be learners here in this world, we must learn as long as we
live. And if it be of so absolute necessity that we learn such
things we should,
(1.) Apply ourselves to them with very great reverence, for
they are "the Oracles of God" that we have to do with : it is
something sacred and divine, that we are conversant and taken
tip about. When any thing of these oracles was to be first given
in writing, though it was but a little, to a peculiar and select
people of his, we see what an awful business was made of it.
God comes down ; manifests his glorious presence in the moun
tain that he had selected for that purpose, the people are there
assembled and cast about the foot of the mountain; the moun^
tain is enclosed, and they are forbidden, on pain of death, to ap
proach the borders ; " Touch not the borders ; for whosoever
toucheth them shall die." Exod. 19. 20, 21. In that assembly
of that people, on purpose to hear the divine oracles that were
to be preached among them, there was a glorious revelation that
came from heaven. And do we think the gospel revelation
that we have is less glorious ? No, saith the apcstle fl The
glory wherewith the law was given upon Mount Sinai, was
no glory in comparison with this glory that so much excels. 1 '
Oh ! we should be learners with the greatest reverence ima
ginable, as having from time to time the divine oracles to
be opened among us. Here is the most glorious appear
ance of God. When there was comparatively an unspeakably
less appearance even than that on Mount Sinai, that is, when
some of the divine glory shone in one bush, it is charged
upon Moses (to strike his mind with a due awe) present
ly to put off his shoes. This was to be significant to us t
with what great and profound reverence we are to have our
souls impressed and possessed upon an appearance of God; and
396 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
these are the brightest and most glorious appearances, in the
kind, that we know above any besides.
(2.) We should apply ourselves to learn the things of the
kingdom of God with very deep humility ; with a most humble
sense of our own ignorance, and that we know so little. " He
that thinks he knows any thing knows nothing as he ought to
know/' saith the apostle. And nothing was a more ignomi
nious brand upon a sort of men that did start up early in the
Christian church, that affected to be called by the name of
gnostick, than that they so much valued themselves upon that
knowledge to which they pretended, and but pretended ; as that
name did signify. Whether they were so soon called by that
name, as some imagine, is a matter of doubt, but the genius and
spirit of the men undoubtedly appeared early ; and many pas
sages in the epistles of the apostles have a direct reference
thereunto, as particularly that (ICor. 8. 2.) " Knowledge putf-
eth up, but love edifieth." But (I say) it was the ignominy
and reproach of that sort of men that they did so highly glory
in an airy kind of knowledge,, that they were never the better
for, nay, that made them undoubtedly upon the whole matter
much worse men : it doth always so where there is not great
humility, which doth accompany and go with knowledge.
That is, they who are learners ought to consider themselves as
such, as we must all of us always be while we are here in this
world, such as "know but in part." Here we are to have very
self-diminishing thoughts of our own knowledge. Surely it is
but little that we know, as we find Agur speaks concerning
himself; k( 1 am more brutish than any man, and have not the
understanding of a man." And so the Psalmist speaks of him
self (73. Psalm) " So foolish was I and ignorant ; I was as a
beast before thee." Such diminishing thoughts it becomes
us to have of ourselves, as to look upon ourselves, under such a
self-despising notion, (as I may so speak) that while we are here
we are but in a state of learners, and must be so as long as we
are in this earthly state. But then,
(3.) We should be learners still with fervent desire of learn
ing more and more ; and this agrees well with a humble
sense of our yet knowing so very little. It hath always been
mentioned concerning one eminent heathen, as an honour
able character he went under, that he was known by that
motto, " Hoc tantum scin, me nihil scire :" this only I know ,
that I know nothing: though he was one of the greatest
and most learned men of his age. If there be a sincere de
sire of increasing knowledge, nothing better agrees with it than
such a sense as this, Alas ! it is little I know and I am to be
LKC. I. Reflections. 39?
still aiming to know more and more, in reference to things
wherein I am so much concerned . " I opened my mouth
and panted," saith the psalmist, " for I longed for thy com
mandments." Psalm 119.131. We are to be continually
desiring that which is to be the means of our growth in know
ledge. " As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the
word that ye may grow thereby :" and these principles are
called u milk," as you see in the close of this 5th, chap, of the
epistle to the Hebrews, where the text is.
(4.) It ought to b.e with a continued pleasant savour and re
lish of divine knowledge, that we should be driving the design
to increase : to increase and grow in it. " Grow in the grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ;"
la,bour to have a continual intermixture of grace with know
ledge that may give it a pleasant savour. There is very little
delight in dry notions that never influence a man's heart,
" When wisdom enters into the heart and knowledge is plea
sant unto the soul" (saith the wise man) u then understanding
shall preserve thee, discretion shall lead thee." Knowledge
doth its office effectually, to guide and lead us in our way when
once it becomes of a grateful taste and relish to our souls ; if it
be taken and digested, and we relish a sweetness and pleasant
ness in it, then it will have power to do it's work, that is, to
be our guide and director in our way and course, as you have it
Prov. 2. 10. And then,
(5.) It ought to be with continual gratitude, adoring and
blessing God that he makes any of his light to shine in this
dark world ; especially that it should shine to any of us ; that
we have this "sure word of prophecy" put into our hands that
makes up the "Oracles of God" in an eminent sense ; "till the
day dawn and the day star arise in our hearts." And
(6.) Lastly. It must be (or else we do nothing) with a serious
design of getting a holy impression in our hearts by the truth
we know, or else all is lost. There are too many, (the Lord
knows) that if they take pleasure in knowing, and increasing
knowledge, they do yet know but for the knowledge' sake, and
aim no further. It is a fine thing to know much, to understand
more than one's neighbour, more than such and such ; and
so be able superciliously to look down upon them as com
paratively very ignorant. But to know on purpose, that I may
be accordingly and do accordingly, is the true end of Christian
knowledge. " I desire to know more that I may have a better
heart, and that I may be able to love God more, that 1 may
be more like God, more fitted to serve him, and walk with him
in this world and enjoy him in the next:" if this be not the de-
we drive at, in aiming to know, in all our desire of knowing
398 THE PRINCIPLES OP THE ORACLES OF GOD.
much of the things of God, and Christian religion we do but la
bour for the wind and shall at length reap the whirlwind. In
what a transport is the apostle (in that 3. Phil:) in the thoughts
and estimates that he expresseth there of the knowledge of
Christ, " I count all things loss and dross and dung for the ex
cellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord !" Well
but what sort of knowledge was it he aimed at ? See what it
was in what follows, such a knowledge as by which he might
be transformed into his likeness, whereby he might be confor
mable to his death and to his resurrection, such a knowledge
as to have the image impressed by it of a crucified and glorified
Jesus. And no other knowledge would serve his turn, "I
count all things but loss and dross and dung in comparison
of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord," so to "know him"
as to " be found in him," as to have " the fellowship of hi
sufferings and the power of his death," and to attain with him
the resurrection from the dead.
And 1 desire in the close of this discourse to leave this with
you. It is a dreadful thing to trifle with sacred matters. If at
any time we open this book, or any thing out of it be opened
to us, and we have not that serious design before our eyes and
upon our hearts, that we would know more of divine things,
that we may be made more like God, and be more fitted for hi*
service and communion both here and hereafter, we shall be
found guilty of trifling with that which is sacred : and though
in this world the punishment may not be so visibly severe, yet
the guilt is undoubtedly great with, (and indeed incomparably
greater than,) what Uzzah lay under when he rashly laid hold
on the ark, and the Bethshemites when they opened and would
be curiously prying into it. And what ! do we therefore make
light of God, and the sacred things of God, because in the
gospel-days there are not so terrible examples set in view before
our eyes ? But if we look into the great mysteries of the divine
kingdom, with a slight mind and a vain heart, without any se
rious design of the same thing that these discoveries, these
truths, these doctrines that are brought to our knowledge are
designed for, we are all that while deserving that, which will
be worse in the issue and end, than to have the name put upon
the place " Perez- Uzzah, the breach that Uzzah made," and
it will be a more dreadful thing than if he did signalize the place
by a terrible stroke from heaven upon us. When a man med-
dleth with the great things of God and can give no account for
what, but only to satisfy his own curiosity, and the idle fancy
of a vain mind ; this will have a sad issue. But let it be for
this, and my heart bear me record that it is for this, that I may
become a -serious, holy, knowing Christian, a useful Christian ;
use. I. Reflections* S99
that I may live up to Christianity through the whole of my
course while I am here upon earth, and then shall I be fitted at
length for the heavenly inheritance with the saints in light, who
shall possess that glorious inheritance.
Our next great work will be to fall upon the first principle,
the very first of these principles, that which is the principal of
principles ; and that is concerning the Deity j the deepest foun
dation of all our religion.
400
LECTURE III.*
Kom. 1.
invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even liis eternal power and God
head} so that they are without excuse.
business (as we have proposed you know) is, with
God's gracious assistance, to open to you the principles
of religion. Christian religion (which we finally .intend) is
founded in natural : and the principles of the former must be
understood, therefore, to comprehend the latter, as things at
least necessarily pre-supposed unto the doctrine of Christ. Now
it being our design, in the general, to open to you the princi
ples that do any way belong to that doctrine, we choose (as it
is most fit) to begin with HIM who is the beginning of all, the
principle that is most firstly first, primo primum, as they use
to speak. Such is the Deity whether we speak of principles of
being or of knowledge : for there is no being that depends not
upon the Divine Being, and no knowledge, rightly so called,
which some way or other depends not upon divine knowledge.
He is not only the first being, but the first and primary known,
the primum esse and iheprimum cognoscible, as he is justly to
be reckoned.
* Preached December 5. 1PX). The preceding discourse was,
doubtless, preached in two Lectures : but the division, and the time
when the 2nd was delivered are not noticed in the manuscript. Edit.
JLEC. in. The perfections of God seen in creation. 401
Now this text shews us the true method of arriving to the
knowledge of him, the unmade Being, by the things that
are made ; and not only to the certainty of his existence, but
of the excellency of his nature ; both discoverable by the same
light, by the same evidencing mediums, which that you may see,
let us view the contents of this text briefly. We have in it
First, What is revealed concerning God, expressed first of
all more indefinitely, " the invisible things of him." This
must not be understood distinctively, as if some things of God
were visible and some invisible ; that is, of things belonging to
the divine nature; but it must be understood adversatively,
that is, though they are invisible, and notwithstanding their in
visibility, they are yet clearly demonstrable by the things that
are made. And then, secondly, they are declared to us more ex
pressly, first, in one great instance of his eternal power, the ef
fects whereof we see (as is here said) in the tilings that are made.
But the cause itself is still invisible. And this is most fitly in
stanced in reference to the creature and the creation, which is
said to be demonstrative thereof. All this vast creation, with
that great variety of creatures that do compose and make it up,
having lain in that, as in the pregnant womb thereof, from all
eternity ; out of which it is at length produced by it as its
mighty creative cause. And then, secondly, besides this in
stance of one peculiar excellency of the Divine Being, (his eter
nal power) to save a long and a particular enumeration, all the
rest of the divine excellencies, are summed up in that one ex
pression, " Godhead :" his eternal power and Godhead, com
prehending all his other excellencies and perfections be
sides. This is the first thing we have to note to you from the
text what is revealed concerning God, even the invisible
things of him, particularly his eternal power, the immediate
cause of all things, and his Godhead which comprehends all
his excellencies together. And,
Secondly : We have to consider here the revelation hereof,
these things " are clearly seen," seen, and clearly seen. This
indeed looks like a riddle; invisible things seen! and clearly
seen ! things seen that are invisible, or that cannot be seen !
But the next words solve it, " being understood by the things
that are made." Seen ! How are they seen ? Not occularly,
but intellectually, they are seen as being understood. They are
seen by the eye of the mind, though they cannot be seen by the
bodily .eye. God, and every thing belonging to the nature of
God, being in that respect by the excellency thereof invisible.
But it may be said, How are they so seen and clearly seen by the
VOL. vi. -H F
402 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
minds and understandings of men? when the complaint is con
cerning men generally, even in the very context, " their fool
ish hearts are darkened," and " the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehendeth it not ;" as it is in the begin
ning of John's gospel. How then are they intellectually seen?
Why nothing is more usual than to express a matter of right
(where that right is most evident) by matter of fact, and by such
forms of speech as signify the fact. "No man liveth to himself:"
that is, no man should. It is so plain a case that no man should
live to himself, that when the design is to speak the reason of
the thing, this is the expression of it, " no man liveth'to him
self," that is, is allowed to do so ; and indeed in common lan
guage it is usual to express the passive future by the present
or the preterit, as we say, vir spectatus, for vir spectabilis, or
spectandus; one that is very much regarded^ov one that ought
to be or deserves to be so. And a thing that we say is indubi-
tate fidei, of undoubted faith and certainty : we mean by it
indubitande, that ought not to be doubted, or that there is no
reason why it should be doubted. So " clearly seen" here, is
clearly to be seen and understood, that is, such as might be
understood, that ought to be understood, and there is no reason,
why they are not understood, but because men will not under
stand; shut their eyes and are willingly blind and ignorant,
"not liking" (as it is afterwards expressed in the context) "to
retain God in their knowledge." Or, there are here things so
clearly to be understood, that they are manifestly left (as the
close of this verse is) without all excuse who understand them
not. And upon that account, in the words presently following,
4 'that which may be known :" (so we read it) the expression is,
that which is known of God ; but the meaning is, that which
may be known of God, as we translate it. Then,
Thirdly : We are to consider the evidencing medium in the
text, " by the things that are made :" the made things that are
visible, are clearly demonstrative of their unmade Cause, of
the excellency of the power and Godhead of that invisible Be
ing, who is the unmade Maker of them. And
Fourthly : You have the constancy and continuedness of this
concealment and revelation, "from the creation of the world."
It is not sx. out of, but atvtfrom ; and notes the term of time
and not casualty, which is expressed in the other phrase of
speech, we noted to you before, " the things that are made."
But all along, ever since the world began, ever since there was
a world in being, the invisible things of God, his eternal
power and Godhead : they have been concealed and reveal
ed : concealed in one respect 5 that is, they have been in-
LE0. in. The perfections of God seen in creation. 403
visible to mortal eyes : and revealed in another respect ; that is,
have been visible to mortal minds. And then you have
Fifthly : In the last place, (which will be fit to be considered
as the use of all,) the inexcusableness of those that receive not
this revelation ; so that they are without excuse, that do not
acknowledge and adore the invisible Godhead, so demonstrating
himself by the things that are made.
As to what we intend, you may take the ground of the whole
discourse from this scripture thus,
That the sundry, excellencies of the Divine Being, all-com
prehending Godhead, are clearly demonstrable by the things
that are made. And you may take in (as that which gives the
greater lustre to the truth) that which is put adversatively, if
you please, notwithstanding their invisibility in themselves.
In speaking to this, these two things are principally to be in
sisted on :
I. They shew you what the Godhead comprehends, as far
as is needful or possible unto us, or what are the excellencies
that belong to the nature of God. And then,
II. To shew how these are demonstrable of him by the things
that are made.
I shall not dispute the reasonableness of that method in
Speaking to other subjects, first to inquire about the an sit,
and then about the quod sit or rather the quid sit ; to inquire
first whether such a thing be, and then to inquire what it
is. There may, indeed, as to some confused knowledge of a
thing, be an inquiry concerning it's existence, and afterwards
a descent made to inquire more particularly into its precise
nature. But simply speaking, it would be the most absurd
thing in the world to inquire first whether this or that be, be
fore there is any apprehension at all what it is : for then we
inquire about a shadow ; and neither he that demonstrates, nor
he to whom the demonstration is made, can do other than beat
the air ; the one understands not himself, nor can the other
understand what he goes about. But it would be much more
absurd in this case, to follow such a method as that, because
by universal consent, the divine nature includes existence in it,
which some therefore rely upon as sufficient demonstration of
the existence of God, that is, that his very idea doth include
existence, so that it is impossible to conceive of the Divine
Being, but we must conceive of it as existing, inasmuch as
the very idea and notion of it is inclusive of all perfections,
whereof existence cannot be but one. and a very fundamental
one too to all the rest. And therefore it must be a manifest
404 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
contradiction, so much as but to suppose, that the most per
fect Being must not exist, because a possibility of not existing
is a very great and manifest imperfection.
But that is not the method of demonstration which I choose,
but that which the text lays before us, that is,, to demonstrate
by that which is made, both the certainty of God's existence,
and the excellency of his nature. But the latter we must have
some understanding of first, otherwise neither do I nor you
know what we are doing, if we have no apprehension among
us, who or what a one he is, whose existence we speak of.
I. This therefore comes to be considered and inquired into,
what excellencies we must suppose the Godhead or divine na
ture (which is all one) doth comprehend. And here it must
be acknowledged, we enter into a vast and most profound
abyss ; and you and I have all of us great reason to apprehend
our need of much forgiveness, that after so great opportunity as
we have had to learn better, we understand and know little yet
of what we are to speak and hear of; and we have great need
to supplicate and look up, that we may be enabled to speak
and hear worthily concerning the blessed and eternal God, and
to speak things of him fit to be spoken, and to hear them as it
is fit to hear such things.
Why, in general it is certain the name of God doth import
a Being absolutely perfect, a Being comprehensive of all per
fections.
And now here it may be said, This throws us into a sort of
despair; for certainly a Being comprehensive of all perfections,
must be to us altogether incomprehensible; we can never com
prehend what doth itself comprehend all things.
I answer, Very true indeed : and yet there is a knowledge of
this incomprehensible and all-comprehending Being, which
is necessary as our first step, not only in what we are now
about, but in reference to whatsoever else we have to go about
to do, or to enjoy in all time, or in all eternity. But to relieve
our thoughts here a little, you must know that we are not to
treat of this incomprehensible and all-comprehending Being,
in the way of metaphysicians and philosophers, who must have
notions of things, ideas of them (it is that which they profess
and pretend to) adequate to the things themselves whereof they
treat; but our business is to speak of this ever-blessed Being
as persons professing religion ; not as philosophers, but as re
ligionists ; and so we are to consider him as the Object of our
religion, the first thing to be considered in all religion ; and
so the name of our inquiry comes to this : Have we an object
for our religion, yea or no ? And if we cannot reach to com-
LEC. in. The perfections of God seen in creation 405
prehend (as it is impossible we should) all that doth belong to
the Godhead, if yet we can reach to apprehend, so much as
will represent and recommend him to us, as a worthy, deserving
Object of our religion, our business is done : that is what we
design, and we may know so much concerning him as to know
him to he a fit Object, or worthy of religion, without knowing
all of him, which is impossible : and if it were possible it would
undeify him. He could not be God if we could comprehend
him. He could not be a Deity if a finite mind were compre
hensive of him.
And that you may a little understand the reasonableness of
what I now say, do but consider what knowledge of man it is
necessary for you to have in order to your conversing with men.
Is it not possible for one man to converse with another, with
out having a full and entire knowledge of the full and entire
guidity(as I may so speak) of human nature ? must a man know
all the properties and attributes of human nature, or he
cannot converse with men ? I hope there are many men con
verse one with another besides philosophers. And so, I say,
it is equally possible for you to converse with God, without
knowing every thing belonging to his nature. It is enough in
order hereunto, and that so you may be in a possibility of con
versing with him by religion, as the great Object of your re
ligion : the only Object of your religion, that you know him
to be more perfect than any thing else, or all things else,
though you do not fully know how excellent or perfect he is,.
or ever can. But this our conception of him in the general,
that he is a Being absolutely perfect, or universally perfect,
must comprehend all that can be thought, and all that can be
said concerning him. Yet, in the mean time, this is too general
to denote to us the Object of our religion. We must have
more particular and more distinct thoughts of him whom we
are to worship, to whom we are to pay all duty, and from whom
we are to expect all felicity, than only this one general notion
doth furnish us with. That is, that he is one that is universally
or absolutely perfect ; we must necessarily descend and come
down to particulars ; and think what particulars are necessary
to constitute and make up for us the object of our worship and
religion. And so you may take this more particular (though
yet short) account.
When we inquire, What doth the idea or notion of God in
clude ?. what are we to conceive of the nature of God, as he is
the Object of our religion? we must have such a representation
of him as this in our minds ; that he is an eternal, self-subsist
ing Being, himself unmade, and the intelligent and free Author
406 THE PRINCIPLES OP THE ORACLES OF GOD.
and Original of every thing that is made. Conceive him so,
and you have before you the Object of your worship, the Ob
ject of religion, one that claims by a natural right that you fall
down and adore him. This is some answer to the former of
these inquiries, What we are to conceive by that name of God
as represented and held forth to us under that name, or what
is it that the Godhead doth comprehend, so far as is answer
able to our purpose, that is, of stating before you an object of
religion.
11. And now the second thing we have to do, is to demon
strate all this concerning God, by the things that are made :
which is that method of demonstration that the text furnishes
us with, and directs us unto. If such a Being as this doth ex
ist in reality, have actual existence in such a Being, or he doth
exist such and as such, then we can be in no further doubt,
whether we have an object of worship, an object of religion
yea or no. But now the demonstration of the existence of
such a Being, by things that are made, must be done by parts,
according as there are parts, that this representation of the ob
ject of religion is made up of, and so we shall proceed gra
dually part by part. As
1 We have this to demonstrate to you, that there is existing
an ETERNAL BEING, that was of itself, depending upon nothing
for its being or existence ; and this we have to demonstrate to
you by the things that arc made; that is thus; though that eter
nal Being is invisible ; you see him not with your eyes ; it is a
Being of too high an excellency ever to be seen of mortal eyes,
or by the eyes of the flesh, or by external sense; yet there are
things in being that are visible, and of the existence whereof
you can be sure. You are sure that yourselves are, and that
you are some of the things that are made ; for you very well
know, that you began to be, that you have not been always,
and that you have been but a little while; then I say, from that
which you may be sure of, that it is a being, you may be like
wise sure, there is an eternal Being that was from everlasting
of itself. And I would not have you herein to debase your own
minds and understandings, as if they could not be at a certain
ty about such a thing as this, though the matter falls not under
the sight of the eye. As to what is to be inferred, to be col
lected and concluded, it would be too great a debasement of hu
man nature and the mind and spirit of a man, to suppose or
imagine that this mind and spirit cannot be as certain of its ob
ject, as external sense can be of its object. You think you are
very sure of what you see with your eyes, and you have reason
to think you are so : and you are so. But I would have you to
I.EC. in. The perfections of God seen in creation. 407
apprehend too, that you may be as sure of something that you
only know with your mind as you can be of any thing that
you see with your eyes : and you wrong your own understand
ings if you will not think the one sort of things to be as certain
as the other sort. You think (for instance) we are all very sure
that we see one another, and are here present together at this
time: you see me and I see you. No man but will think this
a very absolute certainty of what falls under sight. But let
me appeal to you now, whether you cannot be certain of some
thing that only falls under the view of your mind, and not un
der your sight at all. Are you not as sure that two and two
make four, as you are that you and I see one another? the one
as an object of the mind only, the other as an object of sense.
And pray is not the one of these as certain as the other ? Am I
not as certain that two and two make four, as that we see one
another ? Have you not as much satisfaction of the truth of the
one as of the truth of the other? Well, that being now laid, I
doubt not but if you will use your understandings, you will see
and confess that you are as certain, that an eternal Being is,
which you see not, as you are that any being is, that you do see.
Why ! How can we be as certain ? you will say.
Why, plainly and shortly thus, from this consequence, If
any thing is, something hath always been. Do but consider
and weigh in your own minds the clearness of this conse
quence. If you can be sure that something now is, you may
be as sure that something hath ever been, been from eternity,
or (which is all one) that there is an eternal Being. Well but
how will this consequence be made out? Why, plainly, by tak
ing the reverse of it. Do but suppose with yourselves, nothing
more is ; then the manifest consequence will be, that to eterni
ty nothing can ever be, and of this (if you will think) you may
be as sure, as you can of this, that two and two make four.
That is, do but lay down this, and suppose it : there is no
thing now in being no where, or any where ; whatsoever there
was, there is now nothing of one sort or another in being; you
then may. be sure, that to all eternity nothing can ever happen
to be : for nothing can spring, or start up out of nothing into
being of itself. Can you be surer of any thing than of this, that
if you could suppose the whole universe of being not to be, or
that from eternity it was not, to all eternity it would never be,
it could never be. Then how plain a consequence is this, if
something now is, something hath always been : if there be
any being, there is an eternal Being. For if there had been
any time, or any moment, in all conceivable eternity wherein
there was nothing in being, nothing had ever come into being.
408 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES Otf GOD.
or could possibly have done so. This then is the first step,
there is an ETERNAL BEING, and nothing can be plainer. But
now,
LECT. IV.*
2. We come in the next place to prove to you the self -ex
istence of such a Being. There is such a Being first, and now
secondly, that eternal Being must be of itself, could no other
way be, but of and from itself. Now here you must conjoin
these two things in your own thoughts, that so (as you will see
in the sequel) every thing that is thus proved, may be found to
be proved of one and the same being. Now then it is evident,
that this eternal Being is the first of all beings, there can be
nothing before it, and therefore it cannot have its existence
from another, there being nothing before it, from whence it
could have its existence, and therefore it must have its existence
from itself: not by once beginning to exist, for we have shewn
already, it is impossible, that if there were nothing in being,
any thing should of itself rise up out of nothing into being.
And therefore this is such a Being, as must be understood by
the excellency of its own nature, to have been always in being
without beginning, and so it will appear to be an eternal Being,
arid to be a self-existing Being both at once : or (which is all
one)a necessary Being, a Being that doth not depend upon will
and pleasure, as all made things do. All made things depend
upon will and pleasure ; " for thy pleasure they are, and were
created." But the unmade Being must needs be self-existent,
no way depending upon the pleasure of another, there being
nothing before it, and so (which is the same thing) itself ne
cessarily existing, as that excellency, that peculiar excellency
of its own nature, to which it was simply repugnant not to ex
ist. And so for the same reason if there have been an eternal
self-subsisting Being, there must be still an eternal self-subsist
ing Being, for it is upon these terms, and for that reason for
which it was impossible to it ever not to be. And so that na
ture which he is pleased to assume to himself is most admira
bly expressive of this peculiarity of his nature, "I AM THAT I
AM," or simply ft i AM."Exod.3. 14. All beings besides, being
but (as it were) shadows of being in comparison of this. And
We are further to conceive and to prove concerning
this Being, its causation of all things else, this is an attribute of
the Divine Being as it is itself without cause, so to be the Cause
of every thing. Itself unmade, but the Maker of all things that
are made. A thing the blessed God doth justly and often glory
* Preached Dec. 12.1690.
LEC. iv. The perfections of God seen in creation. 409
in, in sundry parts of Scripture : " The Maker of heaven and
earth." The first as well as the last. He of whom and from
whom all things are ; and we are told again and again how, in
the beginning of Genesis, and the beginning of the gospel of
John and elsewhere, to wit, by a word's speaking. He spake
and they were made. He commanded and they stood forth.
That there are made things is a proof to us that he was their
Maker. A made thing and a maker are relatives one to ano
ther, and there can be no maker of that which was of itself.
Whence should that which was made not of itself come, but
from that Being that was of itself?
4. We must conceive and may clearly prove from what is
made, the vastpotver of the Eternal Being. The things that are
made prove that he is a Being of the greatest conceivable power,
the greatest that we can conceive,and indeed unspeakably great
er than we can conceive. This appears in that, first, he hath
made all things out of nothing : as nothing can of itself arise
out of nothing, so it is the greatest power that is conceivable to
bring any thing out of nothing: if all the contrivance and all the
power of this world were put together to bring the least thing out
of nothing, you would easily apprehend it impossible to all. If
all the force that is in this whole earth, and even in the whole
creation, should be exerted together to bring a grain of sand out
of nothing, you would easily apprehend it would never be, and
therefore how vast is that power of this Eternal Being ! he to
whom the eternal Godhead belongs, (as the text speaks) to
bring things into being that were not ; that were nothing im
mediately before. But then, secondly, consider also the vast-
ness of the creation. To bring the least thing out of nothing
must require the greatest power, but to bring so great a creation
as this out of nothing, is that which doth render the power of
the Creator, both perspicuous and admirable at once. To have
such a frame of things as we behold with our eyes "from day to
day made to rise up out of nothing, and only by a word speak
ing, how perspicuous and admirable doth it evidence his infi
nite power ! But
5. We are to apprehend, and may prove the admirable bene
ficence of him that made them. If we cast our eye through
the universe, and consider, that the first order of creatures that
have life are made capable of pleasure; some kind of satisfaction
to themselves, that is, that are capable of the meaner life, the
sensitive life ; and that the creatures beneath them are made
to afford the matter of that pleasure, when it was very easily
possible for a Being of vast, immense power to have made crea
tures only for self-torment j upon this account it appears that
VOL. vi. 3 F
410 THE PRINCIPLES OP THE ORACLES OF GOD.
the whole earth, the whole creation is full of his goodness. St>
that rising a little from the meanest sort and order of creatures,
you immediately ascend to such a sort and order of creatures as
hath, every one, its suitable delectation. That all the repasts
of that life that are given to the several orders of creatures, are
mingled and sweetened with so much delight, speaks all to be
full of his goodness. Whatsoever is necessary for the support
of it, is generally taken in with delight and complacency. If
this Being who is the Author and Spring of all other beings,
were not a being of admirable goodness and beneficence it had
been as easy a thing to him, that what should have been neces
sary for the support of inferior beings should always have been
accompanied with torture as well as pleasure. That whereas
we and the creatures beneath us find it needful in order to the
support of life to eat and drink, he might have ordered it so
that there never should have been eating and drinking without
torment : now we find it is with continued pleasure, for the
greater part, with all sorts of creatures whose case doth require
it. And again,
6. We must understand from the things that are made, this
Eternal Being to have been their intelligent and designing
Maker. We are to prove this intellectuality from the things
that are made ; that he is an intellectual Being, that he did not
give rise to this creation by an effort of vast and resistless pow
er alone ; but by a power that was guided and governed by
wisdom, so as to know and design all his work throughout.
And (as I have told you) it being our business in speaking to
this head, to evince and make out to you an object of religion,
to give you a plain and satisfactory answer to this first question,
Have we an object of religion yea or no ? this is most abso
lutely necessary to the resolution of it. We have not an object
of religion without this, that is, without the supposition of an
intellectual designing Maker of all things. If we should sup
pose only an Almighty Maker of things, who made them with
out wisdom, without design, intending no such thing; if the
effort of such a power as we could not resist, and it could not
of itself withhold, had thrown up such a creation as this is, out
of nothing into what it is, if that had been possible, here had
been no object of worship, no object of religion, that is, there
would have been nothing that would either deserve or could
receive religious homage from us : nothing that could deserve
it, because the thing was altogether (upon this supposition)
without design. If a mighty violent storm had thrown in upon
the coast some vessel full of rich treasure, and I was passing by
it, and (it being without an owner, no one laying claim to it) it
LBC. iv. The perfections of God seen in creation. 4 1 1
were thrown into my lap, would I fall down and worship the
storm ? though I might him that guided and directed it. Nor
indeed as an undesigning cause of all things could not deserve
religious homage, so neither could he receive it. It would
be an absurd thing to pay a religious homage where there could
be no reception of it, where no notice could be taken of it.
But nothing is more evident from the things that are made,
than that the Maker of them hath done all with most profound
and wise counsel; he hath therein displayed an infinite under
standing and thereby made known that his understanding is in
finite. By wisdom are. the heavens stretched forth and the
earth established and founded. Which appears several ways :
(1.) In the order which is every way observable in the crea
tion of God. Wisdom only is the parent of order, and order
the product of wisdom. It cannot be, that there should be ac
curate and continued order by chance. When the letters of
the alphabet are put into such an order as to express such and
such sense, will any man say this was by chance, and this was
without design ? especially when this is continued, when they
are repeated over and over again, in such order as to make
a volume : the very thing (1 remember) that the pagan, Cice
ro takes notice of and urgeth for the proving of a Deity ; the
creating of the world by a wise and designing cause, against
the epicureans who would have it arise only out of the fortui
tous jumble of several particles of matter, called atoms. " You
might as well (satth he) suppose that the letters of the alpha
bet in great numbers shaken together in confusion, and thrown
out, should fall into the order ofEnnius's poems, so as of them
selves without design to compose such a history as his, all in
verse." When we consider the order that is between things and
things, how exact a course and motion, the sun, moon, and
planets and other stars do hold, so as that a man of weak under
standing can tell you at what hour, in such a month and sucli
a day of the month, the sun will rise and set, and so of the
moon ; and so (those that do observe them) of the planets and
other stars besides; and then to see the constant succession of
summer and winter, spring and autumn, day and night amongst
us: whence comes all this order ? What! from no designing
cause ? And again,
(2.) Consider the aptitude of things to their end, the several
ends they are appointed to serve for, #s, who can comprehend
that such a thing as our eye was made for any thing else but
to see with, and our foot but to walk with, and our hand but to
work with, and such a thing as the ear was made for any thing
else but to hear with ? Who can comprehend that there should
be that strange and exact aptitude in every thing for the ends and
412 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OP GOD.
purposes that they do serve for, without a design that they should
serve those purposes ? And this would be a great deal more
convictive, if it were so obvious to every one to take notice of,
and observe many things that are more latent, and lie out of
common view : to think how the several veins and arteries do-
receive and distribute and return back again the blood from its
fountain, the heart, so as continually to renew strength and vi
gour in the body as the matter doth require : to think of the
admirable variety and suitableness of those things that we have
in ur bodies, called muscles, and all the several sorts of motion
that are to be performed ; about six (as is observed) belonging
to the eye itself, without which it were impossible it should
move in the several ways it doth : and about four hundred and
thirty of these in one human body. If any man did by chance
see a watch, who had never seen one before ; but he finds upon
observation, what uses and purposes it serves for in the gene
ral, and what purposes the several parts it was composed of do
serve for, in order to that general end, will he not with the
greatest confidence imaginable pronounce, "this was made with
a design:" or would a man blame him for his confidence ? Or if
a man take upon him to pretend to such an excessive measure
of wit as to say, " these things serve to such a purpose, for this
general end, the measuring of time ; and the several parts serve
for several ends, this and that motion by which the whole is
made useful to that common end : but this was never made
by any human art or with a design, but the several parts of
which it is composed being agitated variously by the wind, or
motion of the air were thrown by mere chance into this figure,
and so there resulted out of the whole such a little engine as
this, that now you see serves these purposes ;" who would not
think that man with his pretences to wit, a madman that should
give such an account as this, how a watch came to be made,
when he sees what it serves for, and what its several parts do
serve for, in subserviency and reference to the common end ?
And which way would you judge and pronounce with confi
dence that such a thing was made with a design, but by hav
ing so manifest characters upon it of a designing cause ? so as
that every one but a madman would presently say, this was
done with a design and for such a purpose. But there is no
one that hath given himself but to look a little into the compo
sition of a human body but could see a hundred times more cu
riosity in so many hundreds of things that go to the composition
of it. As I have told you, in eacli several muscle of a human
body there is as much curiosity as can be taken notice of in a
watch, and much more in the fabric and structure of the eye
and of the ear. So that nothing can be imagined a greater ab-
LEG. iv. The perfections of God seen in creation. 4 13
surdity than to suppose such things as those that we see are
made, were made without design or otherwise than with design,
and by a wise cause that was first productive of them and con
tinues to be productive of them in the stated way that he hath
set for them. And,
(3.) We may conclude an intellectual designing cause of the
things that are made, from very many of the things themselves,
that not only have characters of a design upon them, and so
thence appear to be made with design, but are made capable
of design themselves ; that is, the whole order of intelligent
reasonable creatures. We are all of us convinced that we are
not of ourselves, that we are made things, that our minds and
spirits which we carry about with us are made things by one un
made. It is but a little while ago that they were not. But
besides, they are things themselves capable of design : you
know we lay our designs this way and that, we have our con
trivance what we will do to-day and to-morrow and (it may be)
the third day. And whence should a designing effect proceed
but from a designing cause ? If there be such a thing as wisdom
among the things that are made, there must certainly be a wise
maker ; otherwise that wisdom being itself a made thing, was
made by that which had nothing in it, out of which it could
arise. But (as I told you before) it is altogether impossible for
something to arise out of nothing itself. Therefore wisdom
being somewhat and a made thing, it doth not arise of itself
out of nothing, or that is of late beginning. A little while ago
they were not, how comes wisdom into such a created kind of
being ? Why it shews the wisdom of an uncreated Being from
whence it came. And,
7. We may further hence collect the spirituality of this
Being, that this Being is a Spirit, an eternal Spirit, an eternal
mind ; otherwise it were not capable of design. There are but
two sorts of beings in general that we can so much as conceive
of. These are mind and matter. Since we have proved to
you, this Being is a designing Being, a wise intelligent Being,
that proves it to be a mind, and spiritual Being, because mat
ter is capable of no such thing as design : some indeed may ap
prehend that though gross matter cannot design, (a clod of clay
we know can design nothing,) yet perhaps some finer sort of
matter, pure and defected matter may. But I would have it
considered what nearer approach to wisdom and reason there is
in a flame of fire, than in a clod of clay. Can any man con
ceive that there is any greater disposition to reason or the exer
cise of wisdom in a blast of wind or a flame of fire than in a
piece of dirt ? Therefore we are here to attribute to the Deity '
that, that God is pleased to attribute to himself ; to wit, that
414 THE PRINCIPLES OP THE ORACLES OP GOD.
he is a Spirit, which further represents him to us as the Object
of worship, and of suitable worship, forasmuch as he is to be wor
shipped, and worshipped in spirit and in truth. John 4. 24.
And indeed, otherwise it had been altogether impossible that
this world should be made by a cause that were not purely
mental, in its own being a mental and spiritual thing: for
most manifest it is ; matter as such is altogether inactive ; and
if you could suppose never so vast a collection of mere matter
it would always remain a mere dead lump, as even the light of
more intelligent and considering heathens could dictate to
them : Mens agigat malem; it is the mind that doth actuate,
and did at first this mighty moles of matter, so as to bring
things out of it, appearing in such an order as we do behold,
and that we may not go on further in particular enumerations,
which we see the apostle, in the text, cuts much shorter, sum
ming up all in the word Godhead,
8. In the last place we may collect from the things that
are made that this Being is absolutely perfect, or such as
wherein all excellencies do concur in their highest perfection
whether they be natural, intellectual, or moral, or those that
we may conceive under these distinct notions.
(1.) Natural, as life, original self-sprung life in the highest
perfection of it, as it imports both a self-active and self-fruitive
principle. And again, pure simplicity and uncompoundedness;
the necessary exclusion of all composition that may import any
thing of diminution or debasement, to that Being we are speak
ing of. And again, most absolute immutability and unchange-
ableness, as that mentioned name ; "i AM THAT i AM" imports.
Arid again, immensity, unconfinedness to any space whatsoever;
so that "heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain"
this Being. These are natural perfections that we must un
derstand do belong to him. And then,
(2.) All sorts of intellectual perfection that are truly such ;
as perfect knowledge of all things, even of minds and spirits
themselves ; and of future things that no eye can look into,
but the divine eye. Most exact wisdom in all things else, as
well as what appears in the making of this world, there is also
requisite what doth appear in the continual government of it
in changing the times and seasons, ordering things so as that
they shall hit into their proper juncture, and meet in all their
necessary circumstances that were needful to concur for such
and such purposes. And then,
(3.) Those that are" called moral excellencies, such as truth
and righteousness, and holiness and the like : these must be un
derstood, upon the same grounds, all of them to meet and con-
LEC. iv. The perfections of God seen in creation. 41
cur in their highest perfection in this Being. And the demon
stration whereof is still too, from the things that are made,
because there are ideas, images, vestiges of these things to be
found up and down in the creation among the things that are
made. We find that some things are more fickle than others,
and some things more steady. And we find (as I said before)
there is such a thing as wisdom, as knowledge, as holiness, as
righteousness, to be found among the creatures ; and this
shews all these things must be in the highest perfection in the
unmade Being.
And I might add hereupon (as that which will be most ne
cessarily consequent) that this Being must be infinite in all
these perfections, because there is nothing in being, and no
thing supposable ever to come into being, that doth not result
and proceed from it. And that which comprehends all being and
all perfection and all excellency, actual and possible, cannot be
less than infinite ; for there can be nothing more than all : but
it is altogether impossible that there should be any thing, either
that is in actual being now, or that can hereafter come into
being, that comes not from this radical Being. This Being;
therefore, which must virtually comprehend all that is actual
and all that is possible, within the compass of its own power,
cannot be less than infinite, because there can be nothing more
than all, nothing beyond all.
And for the same reason it will be most evident that this Be
ing can be but one. But that I shall not now insist upon : it
will fall into the discourse most suitably when we come to
shew, though it be essentially but one, it is personally three,
and that is only to be shewn from the Scripture. The unity of
the Deity is indeed demonstrable from reason, but that there
should be a trinity in it, is only to be known from his saying
so who best knows his own nature. As " the things of a man' r
are only to be known by " the spirit of a man that is in him,"
so the things of God, and what is in his holy nature (otherwise
not revealed) can only be known by the Spirit of God, as he
shall think fit to reveal and make it known to us. But first, it
will be needful to lay the foundation thereof in revealed reli
gion, which is the great superstructure that is raised upon na
tural religion, or the natural notices of God, to wit, to evince
to you that the Scriptures are of divine revelation which will
fee the next work we have to do.
416* THE PRINCIPLES OB 1 THE ORACLES OF G(XD.
LEC.V.*
Before we come to evince to you the authority of the Scrip
tures, I reckon nothing can be of greater importance than to
enlarge somewhat in the USB of that we have been upon : for if
we let what God is pleased to make known concerning himself,
his own nature and existence, slightly pass without improvement,
and lose that, we lose all. All our time is lost, and all our la
bour is lost if we can let so great a thing slide away without
some proportionable improvement and impression : and here
in lies the proper improvement of it. The state of things is
sad among us, upon this account, that there is so little know
ledge of God in the land : for this it hath cause to mourn, and
1 doubt will be made to do so : but if we had ten thousand times
more of the knowledge of God than we have, if it be not a
lively and impressed knowledge, it is all to no purpose : the
increase of our knowledge would be but the increase of our
sorrow, as it is said upon another account. You have heard
from this scripture, that the existence and nature of God (though
invisible) are clearly demonstrated by the things he hath made.
The improvement I desire you to make of it, will be partly by
way of information in some particular truths that may be de
duced from it : partly by way of expostulation, touching sins
repugnant hereunto: and partly by way of exhortation to agree
able duties.
I. For truths that may be collected and inferred hence for
our information, you may take such as these :
1 . That the mind of man is capable of arriving by way of
argument unto the knowledge of God ; it is capable of attain
ing in a way of argumentation to the knowledge of God's exist
ence and in great measure of his nature too. For we are told,
the eternal power and Godhead are to be clearly seen by the
things that are made. Things in themselves invisible, and
while they are in themselves invisible, if we are to come to the
knowledge of them by the things that are made, how can that
be but by way of argument ? In themselves they are said to be
invisible : those visible things that are beheld are not the eter
nal power and Godhead themselves, therefore we can come to
the knowledge of the former by the latter no way but by inter
vening arguments, not immediately, for the things that are
made are the medium. Therefore it is by way of argumentation
formed from this medium, that we come to this knowledge of
God's eternal power and Godhead, and this is that which con-
* Preached Dec. 19. 1690.
LEC. v. Use to be made of the knowledge of God. 417
cerns us very deeply to consider, that if in such a way as this
we are to arrive at the knowledge of God, then it is of much
importance to us to make a reflection upon ourselves, and un
derstand that from hence, much is to be learned of our own
nature. If in this way we are to understand any thing of God's
nature, we must by consequence understand so much of our
own nature : that is, that it is a reasonable nature, that it is an
intelligent nature, that it is a nature capable of improving it
self in point of knowledge, by ratiocination and discourse ; and
even of knowledge concerning the highest and greatest, and
first knowable, that is God and the very nature of God. Indeed
here the foundation lies of all obligation that can be upon us
to be religious, to be obedient, to be subject, to the common
Ruler of this world; that is, that God hath given us a nature
capable of knowing him, and of arriving to this knowledge of
him by this way of ratiocination, as the text implies : that is, to
collect that there is an eternal power, and an essential Deity,
from things that are made and extant to view. If we are to
come by it, so we are to come by it in a reasoning way, and it
is impossible for us to receive conviction concerning our own
duty towards God, if we have not a right apprehension of our
own natures, and what they are susceptible and capable of.
God will deal with us at the last day, according to the nature
that he hath given us; and therefore we ought to consider our
selves too accordingtothat nature. There will be a judgment-
day for men, when there will not for brutes ; and if God will
difference us in the final judgment, and doth difference us in the
way of his present government, from inferior brute creatures,
it concerns us to understand the difference too, and to know
that we have natures capable of being so dealt with, and as God
will finally deal with us ; that he doth not deal with us unsuit-
nbly to the natures he hath first given us. " There is a spirit
in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty hath given him
understanding." And if so, then he is to be dealt with accord
ingly; not like a stock or a stone, or a brute creature. It is a
great signification to us of the capacity of the nature of man,
that it should be said here, to all those that will use their un
derstandings, the eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen,
by the things he hath made. And that is one thing we have
therefore to collect and infer for our own information, that the
mind and understandinsare capable of arriving by ratiocination
and arguments to the knowledge of God. Indeed it would be a
strange kind of perverseness to hesitate at the reception of
this, because it is plain, that even lower tilings than our mental
capacity are subservient to our reception of divine know-
VOL. VI. 3 G
413 TUB PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
ledge ; for faith (that hath to do with the same kind of ob
jects) comes by hearing : and if external sense is to be sub
servient to our reception of the knowledge of divine things,
then certainly much more our understanding, which is a thing
far nobler than our external sense, and therefore it is a high
er and greater talent that we are to be accountable for. We
are to be accountable for all our faculties, as so many talents
that God hath intrusted us with ; the faculty of seeing, the
faculty of hearing, the faculty of remembering and the like.
And what do we think, among the rest, the faculty of under
standing in so plain and important a case as this, is to be ex
empted and left out ? that God should have distinguished us
by this in so great a measure from the beasts that perish, and
we take no notice of the difference and not think ourselves ac
countable for it ? No, if we are in this way capable of coming
to the knowledge of God's eternal power and Godhead, certain
ly this ability of coming this way to this knowledge, is that
which must be strictly accounted for another day; that we have
such a power and use it not, such a capacity and endowment
belonging to our natures and never use it, let It lie asleep, ne
ver exert and put it forth to so high and to so great a purpose
as this is. But,
2. We may further learn hence, that none who have the
use of their understandings can ever be Innocently ignorant of
God. No, saith the text, there is so cleat a representation of
the eternal power and Godhead in the things that are made,
that if men will not yet know God they are left without excuse,
without apology, the case admits of no apology. That there
should be so clear a representation to an apprehensive creature,
and he will not know God; there is nothing to be said for it.
There is nothing to be sa;d why they do not know him, why they
do not live in the eternal adoration of him. The matter will be
resolved entirely and only into this at the last, they have not
known, because they have not liked to retain God in their
knowledge, as it follows after, in the 20th. verse ; and into that
which we see in that of Ephes. 4. 18. that men are " alien
ated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them
and the blindness of their hearts. " Pray what kind of blindness
is the blindness of the heart? That can be no blindness but vol
untary blindness, Affected blindness, chosen blindness; that men
are blind because they will be blind, because they will not see.
A blindness of ihe mere speculative understanding is quite ano
ther thing, but such a blindness as is referred to the heart, as
having its seat and subject there, must mean a blindness that
men voluntarily do continue themselves in, as he that stifly and
resolvedly winks that he may act see the light.
LEC. v. Use to be made of the knowledge of God. 4 1 9
3. We may further infer hence, that the clearest rational
knowledge of God is by no means so acquiesced in, as if that
would serve the turn, and be answerable to the saving purposes
and necessities of our souls. The rational knowledge of God;
it may be had and it must be had, but it must not be rested in j
for even this knowledge that doth in the means, the objective
representation, lie so fairly compassable, (for the discovery is
clear) is supposed to be clear ; the invisible things of God, his
eternal power and Godhead, are clearly seen, clearly to be seen,
and there may be a reception in some measure, and propor
tionable to the representation of the object. Besides the objec
tive representation, there may be a subjective reception; it is a
supposable thing, and it is frequent (though not universal) that
these things here spoken of under the notion of invisibles, are
not only clearly to be seen, but seen : and yet, though this
knowledge do lie so fairly compassable and may be actually
obtained and received, men, for all that, may be left without
excuse, for the reason referred to in the verse next but one
foregoing, that is, that the truth that is received is held in un
righteousness. " The wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold
the truth in unrighteousness." And by this truth (it is plain by
what follows) is principally and chiefly meant the truth con
cerning the existence and nature of God, u that which may be
known of God" (so it immediately follows) " is manifest in
them : for God hath shewed it unto them :" for the invisible
things, such truths as these, may not only be represented but
received; and being so, yet held in unrighteousness, defeated
of their proper design ; so that such are left without excuse ; it
not attaining the end that such a representation doth finally aim
at. Indeed God would never be angry without a cause, there
fore if they be under wrath, if the wrath of God be revealed
from heaven, and flame against a wicked, atheistical world, it
is plain they are without excuse.
But now, will that knowledge of God serve our turn that will
only leave us inexcusable ? will that answer the purposes and
necessities of our souls ? It is a supposable thing that the
clearest merely rational knowledge of God, may but leave men
without excuse, therefore somewhat more is necessary, another
sort of knowledge. That which is rational, may be had and
ought to be had, and we shall most dearly answer for it, if we
have it not : but then when we have it, that is not enough, it
is necessary, but not sufficient.
But then it may be said, What more is there wanting than to
know clearly the invisible things of God, his eternal power and
Godhead ? Why I shall tell you in one word : To have that
clear knowledge made vital. It is not the mere clearness, but
420 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
the vitality, of the knowledge of God that must do the needful
work in our souls, in order to our present serving of God,
and walking and conversing with him in this world, and
our final felicity and blessedness with him in the other world.
Light there must be, but it must be the light of life, other
wise we shall never be the better for it. A light that is
not vital will serve to condemn, but only a light that is vital
will serve to save. There is, it is true, a light universally shin
ing in every intelligent mind, in every conscience of man, but
it is a light so little profitable to the necessity of an immortal
soul, that that light is said to be but darkness, as in that 6 Mat,.
23. " If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that
darkness!" That is, serves for the advantage of souls (if they
do acquiesce and take up their rest there) no more than mere
darkness would have done. It is but equal to darkness, as to any
thing of fruit, emolument and profit to them. And therefore,
that light which is truly salutary and finally saving, is the light
of life, such is the light which comes by Christ : " He that
follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light
of life." John 8. 12.
But you will say, What is the difference ? One man knows
God, that is, he is well assured and able rationally to prove and
demonstrate to another man, the existence of God and many
particular things concerning his nature ; and perhaps can
speak more rationally to such a purpose than many another
man that carries the reputation of a pious man, whilst perhaps
this man is not so: Pray what is the difference?
Why truly, this is a thing (because I must not insist in such
a course as I am in, upon particulars) that may (I should think)
be easily understood by any one. One, he knows the kind or na
ture of this or that food, or this or that drink, he is able to dis
course rationally of it, and give an accurate description of the
kind and properties of this or that sort of meat, or drink : ano
ther, he eats and drinks of it. Let the former, discourse as long
as he will and never so understandingly and knowingly, and not
eat or drink, he will be famished for all his knowledge : the
other, he knows this is good meat, and this is good drink : and
he eats and drinks heartily and is refreshed, and lives by
it. Is not here a plain difference r Why here is the very
difference as to the knowledge of God. One, he can dis
course rationally and learnedly about many invisible things
of God, his eternal power and Godhead, but he never closeth
with them, his soul never inwardly unites with him as his
best good, never subjects to him as his highest Lord, never
fears him, never loves him, never trusts in him, nor delights in
him as the other doth. Do you not begin to apprehend, here
LEC. v. Use to be made of the knowledge of God. 421
is a vast difference between knowledge and knowledge ; one
sort of the knowledge of God and another? How plain is it
that with many men, the clearest and truest notions of God are
only dead notions ; lie dead in their minds, operate nothing
there, make them no other sort of men than they would be,
if they knew no such thing; or if they thought or believ
ed quite the contrary ? Take out all those notions of God
which some men have in their minds, and put in the room
of them quite contrary notions ; a scheme of mere atheism,
and the men are found not at all to differ. That man whose
head before, was full of theism, is just the same man as
when his head was full of atheism. There is knowledge, but
no vitality : all his notions of God lie dead, and so are as if
they were not. But here is the great- difference when the light
of life concerning God and the invisible things of God comes
into the soul of a man, when these vital beams strike into the
very centre of a man's heart, that the man not only hath light
about these things, but is light. A wicked man hath light,
but it is said of a good man, a regenerate man, he is light.
" Ye were darkness but now ye are light in the Lord :" it hath
quite altered his temper, begot a new frame and habit in his
soul : that is, the knowledge of God hath begot an impression
of godliness ; and this is that you are to be driving at, and not
to take up with any knowledge of God short of this. " He hath
given us an understanding to know him that is true, and we are
in him that is true." I John 5. 20. We know him, and by
that knowledge are wrought into a vital union. " We are in
him, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and
eternal life."
But it may be said, If such a further super-added knowledge
of God be so necessary, what is the former rational knowledge
worth ? what doth it signify ? and what doth it serve for?
Why let me bring you back to the former illustration that I
gave you before, about the knowledge of meat and drink. You
see a plain difference between barely knowing that this is good
and useful food, that would be proper and suitable drink ; and
knowing the same thing by taste and reception in order to nu
trition : there is a very plain difference. But what ! is the for
mer knowledge therefore useless ? that is, to know that this is
good meat and drink, is it useless ? Is it not a very necessary
knowledge that a man should know what is fit to be eaten and
drank and what not ? If you had not so much knowledge of
the former sort as to be able to say, " this is good food which,
being duly received, may do me good ; and that is poison ; if I
meddle with it, it will destroy me j" you could not distinguisk
422 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOB.
bread and a stone : you could make no distinction. In what a
case were that man in, that did not know bread and a stone
asunder ? So here, without such a rational knowledge of God,
you cannot understand why one ought to be worshipped more
than another, why more to be trusted, more to be loved than
another. If you had not that former knowledge of God you
would not be able to distinguish between a proper object of
adoration But what can be plainer than this, that many
things may be necessary for such and such a purpose, that yet
are not sufficient for that purpose ? We must distinguish be
tween necessity and sufficiency. A rational knowledge of God
is necessary, it doth not therefore follow that it is sufficient.
If one of you did design, incoming hither, to come to the seat
where you use to sit, it is necessary that in order to your com
ing to the seat, that you come to the door. But is therefore
coming to the door sufficient ? No, you cannot come to your
seat unless you come to the door, but it doth not therefore fol
low that you had nothing more to do when you come hither to
hear a sermon than only just to come to the door. Pray ap
prehend this, that many things are necessary that are not
enough. It is necessary that you have this rational knowledge
of God as the door, as an intermission into that vital unitive
knowledge of him which is also necessary and which only is
sufficient. And if the former of these be aimed at, with a de
sign for the latter, with a humble dependance and sense of
our own nothingness, blessing God that he is pleased, in that
natural way, to reveal so much of himself, but also humbly
craving, " Lord do not leave me here, let this vital light shine
into my dark soul :" where his further communications are not
despised, they will be had; where they are valued, where they
are sought, an inquiring soul will not be left destitute. If in
deed you think that your case is well already, and that you
need no more of God, and that all is well enough, you may sit
still and perish till you sink into perdition. But know that the
benignity of his nature, and the methods he hath set on foot for
the recovery and saving of lost sinners, will not let him throw
away any soul that doth cry after him ; will not hide himself
from them that value the vital efficacious transforming know
ledge of him as life itself, and beyond this natural life, which is
the true sense of every sincere soul.
4. We may collect hence, that the objection against the ac
knowledgment of a Deity, from his invisibility, must be most
absurd, and contemptibly weak and silly. Nothing can be more
so; "for the invisible things of him are clearly seen by the
things that are made." Therefore^ nothing can be more fool-
tBC. V. Use to be made of the knowledge of God. 42S
ish than for one to say "I will believe there is no God, because
I sc'e him not : I see not the brightness of the appearance of
his glory that should make me apprehend such a Being perfect,
superior to, and more excellent than, all other that I have had,
the knowledge of :" nothing can be more childish than this, for
it is very plain that if God could be seen, he could not be God.
The thing carries a repugnancy in itself; so mean a nature as
can be visible cannot be the divine nature. As a heathen said,
We are not to ascribe unto God, body or colour or quantity, or
any such thing that belongs to objects that fall under our sense.
" If we know (saitli he) that there is a corporeal nature, and if
we know that there is an incorporeal nature, in which of these
shall we place the Divine Being ? Certainly (saith he) in the
incorporeal nature, which is higher and more excellent than to
be seen with eyes, or to be heard with ears, or felt with hands,
or expressed with human voice." It was the saying of Maxi-
mus Tyrius, the heathen philosopher. And I pray you, why
should we be so averse to the entertainment and reception of
invisibles in our minds ? For which is nearer a kin to our
minds, invisible things, or visible ? Are not our minds invisi
ble ? He thinks with himself, "I am not to acknowledge a Deity
unless I see him," Pray what is it in you that thinks so, that is
so sensible : and capable of thinking at all ? Did you ever see
your own souls ? Did you ever see your own minds ? Are not
we, as to the most noble and excellent part of ourselves, ra
ther to be accounted ourselves among invisibles than among vi-
sibles ? It was the saying of a poor pagan, when the season of
his dying approached, and his friends about him were discours
ing of his burial : {C Bury me" saith he "Do you talk of bu
rying me ? what do you think this body is to me ? Do with it
when I am gone what you please : if you can catch me, bury
me, but you shall never do that, for do you think this body is
me ?" And pray will you think so basely of yourselves as that this
body is you? If it be not, it is a mind, a spirit, a soul in you,
that is you : and is not that nearer of kin to invisible things
than visible ? That there should be an averseness and shyness
to entertain in our minds invisible things because they are in
visible, when our minds themselves are invisible, nothing can
be more unaccountable and unreasonable than this. It shews
us to be very low sunk, that the minds and spirits of men are
become strangely degenerate things, when any thing because
it is invisible is therefore reckoned unsuitable to them, for a
reason for which they should be reckoned most of all suitable.
And alas ! how little things are we capable of comprehending
by our sight, in comparison of the things that we cannot see ?
THE PRINCIPLES OF TflE ORACLES OF GOB.
Is our sight fit to be the measure of all realities ? How small
a part of this universe can we measure with our eye ! and must
all the rest because we see it not, go for just nothing ? Surely
there are unspeakably greater things which we see not, than
there are that we see. Therefore, a thing should not be reckon
ed less real, or less considerable, 01 less excellent, because it is
invisible to us, that is, to the eye of our flesh : but unspeaka
bly the more excellent and great for that very reason, for its not
being seen.
5. We may hence learn the unjust and mad presumption
that is in sin. When the invisible things of God, his eternal
power and Godhead are clearly seen in the things that are
made, that is, they are clearly to be seen by the things that are
made, that they have an invisible Maker, and the eternal pow
er and Godhead of this their Maker is clearly to be seen, then
how unjust and mad a presumption is it to sin ! For is not
that an affront to thy Maker ? What doth sin signify but un-
governableness to him that hath power to govern me ? And
who hath a right to govern you, if not he that made you out of
nothing? Are not you one of the things that were made ? and
tvho therefore shews the eternal power and Godhead of your
Maker? How unjust a presumption then is it to sin ! But how
mad a presumption is it besides ! That is, to consider a world
of sinful creatures in an apostacy from God and a rebellion
against him : from whom have they revolted ? against whom
have they rebelled ? They are things that are made, that have
rebelled against him that made them. An amazing thing, to
consider the inhabitants of this world, the intelligent inhabi
tants of it ! They are a company of made things, and this world
that they inhabit is a made thing. A made thing ! what doth
that signify ? Why a thing depending upon will and pleasure :
a thing that may be, or not be; a thing that may continue in be
ing or be thrown into nothing, thrown into destruction the next
moment. Why here is a company of creatures, that have taken
upon them to revolt from their Maker, to rebel against him
that made them. A strange thing ! they have not (as the ex
pression is) a footing for their feet ; they are made things, and
this world a made thing ; all which may be swept away with a
breath. For men to take upon them to rise up against the au
thority of him that made them, when they cannot command a
breath, not so much as a breath : for that which hath been
made, how presently can he unmake it ! That which hath
been matle by him can be unmade by him in a moment : all
this world gone in a moment : how easily may that be done by
him! Therefore sin, considered in its general nature, is the most
unjust and mad presumption that ever could enter into the
LEC. V. Use to be made of the knowledge of God. 425
mind of a rational creature ; unjust towards God, and mad as
to ourselves. Oh ! think whither we are sunk, and what a sort
of creatures we are become, and how admirable the divine pa
tience is, that lets such a sort of creatures as we are, live in
this world : a world which we did not furnish, which we did
not make, and which he can in a breath blow away into nothing,
as he raised it up out of nothing, by a breath the other way.
6. See here the admirable greatness of God. Oh ! how we
should hence apprehend and adore the divine greatness ! The
things that are made clearly demonstrate his invisible power
and Godhead : and do but consider these two things the
greatness of the things that are made and how little they yet
represent God. And then see what cause we have from hence
to admire his most adorable greatness.
(1.) How great the things are that are made. Alas, what a
spot, a point is this earth of ours in comparison of the universe !
If our thoughts should go no further than our own vortex, in
which the sun and moon and planets have their course, how
much more unmeasurable to our thoughts is that vortex than
this earth of ours ! This earth, in comparison of that vor
tex, is no more than a spot to the universe. Jt is a far less
considerable point to the whole universe than this earth is to
our vortex, or that circle that doth immediately encompass it.
And then to think of the vastness of this universe ; all which,
and all that it contains are but things that are made. How
mighty a One then is their Maker, their invisible Maker ! The
greatness of the creation gives us a great representation of the
greatness of the Creator. But it adds unspeakably more if,
(2.) We consider, that yet all which creation can represent
unto us of the Divine Being, is a mere nothing in comparison of
what it represents not : for there is a whole infinitude of being
besides, that was from eternity, everlasting of itself. And it is
but a minute effort of the divine eternal power that is seen in
this universe : for all the universe is but a finite thing, as great
as it can be supposed to be, it is still but a finite thing : but
then, there is an infinity of being besides, that is from all eter
nity, the being of the invisible God. Take this whole created
universe and it is but a shadow in comparison of " i AM."
That Being that claims to itself the name of " i AM," and there
is nothing besides ME ; nothing fit to be called being besides
my own : for all made being is but at will and pleasure, raised
up by a. breath and capable of being reduced to nothing by a
breath. The whole creation, the whole universe but a bubble
created by the breath of the Almighty ; and may be let to sink
again, if he please, by the retraction or withdrawing of that
VOfc. VI. ' 3 H
426 I'HB PRINCIPLES OP THE ORACLES OF GO#.
breath. If then the things made, clearly demonstrate the iff-*
visible things ; even the eternal power and Godhead of thei?
Maker, how great a one is HE, first, that could make so great
a world as this, and yet, secondly, when that is done, it can
represent so little of him ! There is yet an infinitude of being
appropriate to himself. Besides, how little a portion do we
take up of him, as it is said, Job 26. 5 14. when we view Ins
ways, take notice of such and such things in the course of na
ture, (as he there speaks of) how " hell is naked before him,
and destruction hath no covering ;" how " he stretcheth the
north over the empty place," how " he collects the waters into
the clouds, and the clouds are not rent under them : these
(saith he) are part of his ways, but how little a portion is heard
of him ?" Oh ! how great a thing were it, if we did but once
learn to apprehend the difference between beings unmade
and made, between made beings and the eternal unmade Being,
And again,
7. We may learn hence the impudency of the tempter, the
deceiver and the destroyer (as much as in him lies) of the souls
of men ; that he should ever go about to make any one believe
that there is not a God. How strange impudency is it, that he
should ever presume he can make an intelligent mind appre
hend that there is not a God, when the invisible things of God
even his eternal power and Godhead are so clearly seen in the
things that are made ! Think of this if any of you are vexed at
any time (as perhaps many of you may) with malicious injec
tions from that wicked one, that would fain make you believe
there is no God ; why turn upon him with disdain : "Thou im
pudent liar, wouldest thou make me believe against my own
eyes, against the clear apprehensions of my own mind ? What
doth not every thing I see, doth not every thing I hear, pro
claim the Godhead to me, could there be any thing of being,
any thing of motion, any thing of life through this whole crea
tion, if there were not an original Author of all this ? Doth not
every being speak a first being, and all wisdom speak the first
wisdom, and all love the first love, and all goodness s-peak the
first goodness ? Can any thing of itself come out of nothing >
Nothing is more obvious to a considering mind (as hath been
urged before) than that we can be surer of nothing than we
are of this that suppose nothing at all were in being, to eter
nity nothing could ever be in being. But something is in be
ing now: and if that be the account that is to be given, how
there comes to be any thing in being ; that is, that there hath
been something eternally in being, then that which was eter
nally in being is the cause of all things that are in being. The
LEC. v. Use to he made of the knowledge of God. 42*J
cause that was eternally in being, must bear proportion to the
effect. If wisdom and goodness are to be found amongst made
things, they are not nothing, you cannot say that wisdom is
nothing, and knowledge nothing, justice nothing, for then
there would be no difference between a wise man and a fool.
If they are something, they could not of themselves come out
of nothing ; therefore there must have been eternal goodness,
wisdom and life ; that, that in itself lived, and lives to all
eternity : for you see there are such things as these among
what is made. Why then it is fit to retort upon the tempter
with disdain, " Dost thou go about to make me believe, against
the clear light of my own mind, that there is not a God, when
it is clearly seen from the things that are made ?" If there were
nothing else, this proves the eternal Being, that there must be
an eternal Cause that hath in it something proportionable to the
visible effects that are to be seen, impressed even upon the
things that are made. Characters appearing in the effect must
have something correspondent to them in their cause, otherwise
something must come of itself out of nothing, which is simply
the most impossible thing that can be thought. I would only
add this in the last place,
8. Whosoever they are that do terminate their thoughts up
on this visible world, and look no further, they resist (nay as
much as in them is) defeat and destroy the very design of the
creation. Why hath God made such a world as this, and set
such creatures as we in it ? It is, that this world may be an ex
tant, continual standing representation to us, an evidence, a
proof of his invisible eternal power and Godhead who made it.
We have our concerns and business lying here, within this visi
ble world from day to day ; here we are too apt to take up
our thoughts, our desires, our designs ; they terminate upon
this visible world. If we let them do so, if we tolerate our
selves in such a course as this, it is (as much as in us is) to de
feat and destroy the design of the creation. God hath design
ed this visible frame of things to be to us a continual monu
ment and representation of himself, but we look to the things
that are made, and there we let our eyes stay and terminate, and
never look through them to that which is unmade. This would
be a like case, as if one should have a very curious per
spective put into his hands, that was very much adorned and
beautified with every thing of external ornature that art could
confer upon it, and holds it in his hand, turns it this way and
that, and views it on every side for a long time together, and
then lays it aside, never looks through it : he would see a vast
country that now appears to him nothing else but a dark shadow;
428 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
just so men deal with this visible creation and frame of things ;
they look upon it, take notice of the variety of creatures that are
in it, they look on every side of this visible world, as it doth ap
ply itself to them and as they have opportunity to view the
things therein : but whereas it was intended as a perspective,
that they might look through it into the invisible eternal pow
er and Godhead of him that made all : this never comes into
their minds. How preposterous a course is this ! It is little
apprehended how guilty we make ourselves in this kind, every
day, when we let our minds stay upon any creature of God, this
or that man or woman, or house or star, (if we should go so
high) and never think of God ; while they are all made things,
that tend to represent to us their Maker. Oh ! how little is
the end answered and considered, why we have such a frame of
things set in view and kept in view continually before us, that
we might look through them and adore, look up and adore, that
we might through all, view and behold the great Author of all,
and bow our heads before him. When we eat and drink, and
never think of God, commend the food and drink, and never
think of God; here we take up with the creature, the made thing,
and never consider the unmade Maker of it and of us. The
end is defeated and lost, for which this world was made and we
placed in it, while we look not through things visible and made,
vnto him that is invisible and unmade.
LECTURE VL*
II. There are hereupon most apparent and very blamable
things, about which it is needful that we should be expostulated
with, and that we do expostulate with ourselves concerning
them : otherwise it would be in vain that another should reprove
us, if we be not brought by it to reprove ourselves ; or that
another should expostulate with our own souls. And this we
should do upon that which hath been opened and improved in
respect of such things as these : as
1. Why are we yet so much in doubt concerning what is so
clearly demonstrable ? the invisible things of God, his eternal
power and Godhead, which are things so clearly seen (though
they are in themselves invisible) by visible effects, by things
that are made. Why are our minds yet pendulous and in sus
pense about so very plain and demonstrable things ? For what,
can it enter into our minds to think this world rose up out of it
self, without a Maker, out of nothing? Who of us can endure (if
* Preached December 26,
IEC. vi. Use to be made of the knowledge of God. 429
he consider) the gross absurdity of such a thought ? And since
we may so easily be at a certainty, why are we not at certainty in
so plain a case ? why do not our minds come to a settlement?
why are they so off and on ? why do we hover and halt between
two opinions, as we did not know whether God be God yea or
no ? or whether he were to be stuck to as such ? as the prophet
deals with that people so much divided in opinion between God
and Baal. But indeed ours would be a worse division and more
absurd for if we are divided in our own minds in this case it must
be between a God and no God. There was no question among
them, but there was and must be some God or other, but only the
question was, whether that God the people owned, or another
were the God ; that was all the doubt, but this is a much wider
case, when the question is between a God and no God ; and
nothing can be more evident than the things that are made,
must have had some maker and author ; it is a comfortable
thing to ourselves to feel the ground firm under us as to this
first and deepest fundamental ; a very comfortable thing for us
to feel that it shakes not. But know withal, it is a very dutiful
thing towards our Maker to be at a point, and not to be always
disputing, or to have perpetual disceptations within ourselves
about that which is prerequisite to our duty ; for that suspend*
all duty, and lays a restraint upon every thing of duty towards
him ; while we waver and hover in our spirits about so plain
a thing as this. Let us be all at a certainty, when we may be
so easily at a certainty 5 as certain (as I have urged to you)
about this as we can be of any thing whatsoever : for we can
not be more certain of any thing than we can be of this, that
we ourselves are made things ; for whatsoever is unmade must
have been from everlasting, inasmuch as nothing that is made
but it hath received a beginning of being. Whatsoever i
unmade must have no beginning of being, must have been
from everlasting. But can you be surer of any thing than that
you have not been from everlasting ? You know you have not
been from everlasting, therefore you are made things. And
again ; you cannot be surer of any thing than you are of this,
that you are such a sort of made things as can think, as have a
power of thought : you are not more sure that you can see, than
you are that you can think, and therefore you do know and are
sure, that you have minds and spirits about you ; for you are
sure that flesh and blood and bones cannot think : you cannot
be surer of any thing than you are of this, that this bulk of a
body of yours, cannot exercise a thought. Well then, if you be
a made sort of thing, and you find you have a power of thought
belonging to you, and therefore that you have a mind and spirit
4St) THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OP GOD.
belonging to you, you must then have proceeded from an unmade
mind and Spirit, an unmade self- subsisting mind and Spirit :
and this is God, and can be nothing but God, this is all as plain
as any thing is that we see with our eyes, therefore do not pre
tend to be uncertain in a matter whrrein it is so easy to you to
be at a certainty, when so much also doth depend upon it.
And blame yourselves for this, if you have been pendulous in so
plain a case hitherto. Why am I in doubt when I should have
been loving, serving, fearing, and adoring this invisible Deity
all this while ? Why have I suffered doubts to hang on my
mind in so plain a case ? And,
2. Let us expostulate with ourselves about this, that our ap
prehensions of the eternal God are so feeble and languid and
ineffectual as they have been hitherto, and for the most part
(the Lord knows) yet are : that our minds have not only been
in a dubious uncertainty, but that the apprehensions we have
had, have had so little of vitality and efficacy and power in
them, to form our spirits and govern our way and course agree
ably thereunto. For (as was told you by way of inference)
there needs not only clear knowledge, but vital knowledge of
the Deity. And now let me a little further insist upon it, that
is, that there is something more requisite, than certainty, some
what besides a certainty of apprehension and knowledge about
it. Such things as there are to be superadded thereto ; that is
efficacy, energy, and operative power. I may be certain of those-
things that do concern me Godward, or that do concern me in
reference to my soul, and yet feel little of efficacy and power in
the most certain and undoubting thoughts that I can have
about such things : that is, though I may have as great a certain
ty about the objects of my mind as I can have about the ob
jects of sense ; yet the objects of sense do always strike with
more efficacy than the objects of the mind do. Experience
speaks this plainly, and I need but appeal to every one's expe
rience about it. I might illustrate it to you by a very plain
and obvious instance or two, how much more the things that
fall under present sense do affect us, than the things do that
fall not under sense. Though we are not more certain about
the one than we are about the other. As in reference to these
bodies of ours, we are not more certain that we do at present
feel any thing whether it be grateful or ungrateful to our sense
than we are certain that at one time or other we shall die. But
is there any one that doth sensibly fear death, and set himself
thereupon to prepare for it, as he doth feel pain when that is
upon him? Therefore I say, we do need something to be super-
added to our certainty to enliven our apprehensions, a power
ic. YI. Use to be made of the knowledge of Got/. -iJl
and energy is needful to be superadded to them. As I told
you before, we are as certain we can think, as we are certain
we can see ; we are not more sure we can see with our eye
than we are sure that we can think with our minds: yet the
things we do see with our eyes, do affrct us more than the
things we only apprehend with our minds : therefore do we
need to have a great deal of efficacy and power superadded to
the apprehensions of our minds concerning the invisible things
of God, his eternal power and Godhead. And since it is plain
we do need it, that is, that such apprehensions often lie in our
minds, and work nothing ; but the case is with us as if we had
them not, as if our minds were vacant of such apprehensions;
surely we should not lie still patient in such a case as this ;
when these apprehensions of God are -the most important that
can have place in our minds. Why are we so pleased with
ourselves and so much at ease concerning this thing, that
our apprehensions of the Godhead should have so little efficacy
with them as they have to command our spirits ? It is a reliev-
able case as well as there is a necessity there should be relief
sought and had in it. If he is pleased to shine into our minds
himself, then there will be efficacy go with our certainty; when
lie is pleased to strike through the consistent darkness that doth
inwrap our hearts, and to shine into our hearts by giving us the
light of the knowledge of his own glory, then there will be
power in our apprehensions of the invisible God, and then in his
light we shall see light, as in that Psalm 36. 9. Therefore, for
this should we supplicate every day more earnestly than we do
for daily bread ; (i I need thy delivering influence, O Lord, to
quicken dead notions of things that lie in my mind, that they
may have power and be operative in me, as much as I need
daily bread, and momently breath." This should be our sense,
and with waiting and craving eyes should we be looking up
daily and continually : for it is dutiful, that this should be the
posture of made spirits towards the unmade Spirit, of produced
spirits towards their great Parent, the original universal Spirit
that is the Parent of all ; that they may be continually main
tained and held in life by vital communications from him?
self, this he would take well : it is childlike, it is filial deport
ment towards the supreme, original, eternal Spirit, whose off
spring their spirits are. A parent is pleased to have a child ex
press and own his dependance upon him. When we cut off
these spirits of ours that are made from the unmade eternal
Spirit, this is apostacy, disloyalty ; this is to set up ourselves
and for ourselves, and no wonder if we languish and perish
by it. And,
3. We should expostulate with ourselves about our so frequent
432 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
unmindfulness of the invisible eternal God, when we have sd>
much occasion to mind him every hour ; for the things that
are made, reveal him to us continually : we cannot open our
eyes, but we must see something or other that should put us in
mind of God : we shall behold some of the made things, that
should be still putting us in mind of their Maker, theirs and
ours. And,
4. Why are we so little conversant with God, so unconver
sable towards him, when he is continually surrounding us,
compassing us about before and behind, in all the made things
which do encompass us ? God is in them, or they are all in
him, all living, and moving, and having their being in him.
This conversableness with God, or a disposition of spirit to con
verse with him, it imports more than bare minding of him,
thinking of him ; it carries in it an application of faith towards
him. It is a thing that involves complacency in the nature of
it, as you can any of you easily apprehend. I converse elec-
tively with whom or what I converse with, out of choice, and
for a complacential inclination of my own mind. Oh ! why is
there no more of this with us towards God, the unmade and
eternal Being, while he continually besets us in the things that
are made, and who is nearer to us than we are to ourselves! He
is in us if we would but look in, and meet with him, and ap
ply ourselves to him. It was first the saying of a heathen,
(taken up since and improved by many in the Christian church,
both ancient and modern writers) "God is more inward to us,
than we are to ourselves, and yet we will not converse with him."
It was Plato's saying first. But will we not converse with him?
How inexcusable a thing is this, his own creature to be a stran
ger to him; a creature that he made ! "I that have made thee,
(may he say) and made thee as thou art, given thee a reasona
ble, intelligent, apprehensive, immortal mind and spirit, and
wilt thou not know me ? wilt thou not converse with me ? wilt
thou not acquaint thyself with me ? wilt thou not lead thy
life with me ?" What have we to say to this ?
5. Why do we not more frequently do him homage, when
we dwell in a world that is all his ? Every thing that we can use
and enjoy in it, are all made things, and made by him, and
this world that contains and inwraps them all, itself a made
thing, and we are made things; why are we not more frequently
doing him homage ? We can take up nothing, we can use no
thing, we can enjoy nothing in all this whole world hut what
he hath made. And what ! not do him homage, deep, in
ward, profound homage, how inexcusable is this ! We know we
did not make or furnish this world,, we were brought into it,
LEC. vi. Use to be made of the knowledge of God. 433
placed in it, and we find ourselves supplied with all things ne
cessary for our support and for our accommodation, suitable to
that sort of being that God hath given us. And shall we not
do him frequent homage ? Suppose a man should rush into
one of your houses and set himself by your fire-side, and
make use of such and such provisions of your house, as he can
lay his hands on, and take no notice of you, would you lone; bear
so barbarous a usage as this ? And is not this the very case ?
You come here into this world that God hath made, and not
you ; and every thing is his that you can lay your hands upon,
or make any use of, and to take up and use this and the other
thing, and never look up, or not often look up to him ; or not
look up with a more delightful sense of your obligation to him,
than (God knows) is too common with us ; how can we defend
ourselves against our own thoughts, against our own reason
ings in this case ? And further,
6. Why do we drive designs here in this world, apart from
him, without reference to him ? This, and that, and the other
thing I do to please myself, or to advance myself without any
thoughts of God, without any referring to him. I lay my de
signs without him ; I will go to such and such a place, I will
abide there so long, I will there do so and so, I will " buy and
cell and get gain," when we " ought to say, If the Lord will,
I will do so and so." He that is the Author and Lord of all
this made world, what ! do you think to move to and fro in it
without reference to him, and drive designs for yourselves apart
from him ? Sure, the forming of a design should always be ac
companied with an act of worship, there should still be a de
dicating of our designs to him, as well as of ourselves : for
what is plainer, than that he that is the Alpha, must be the
Omega too ? Hath he not made himself known to us by those
conjunct titles, the first and the last ? " Of him, and by him,
and to him are all things," that he alone might have the glory.
There should be a tribute of glory paid him, in every thing we
design, and more especially in reference to his design. When
we come to take notice of that great design of his, Oh ! how
it might make our hearts shake within us, to think what sort
of acknowledgments God hath in this world, even in that part
of the world that is called Christian, in reference to some of
the great things, and even the greatest thing that ever was done
since there was such a world in being. That is, that extraor
dinary descent of God into the world, in the person of his own
Son, taking upon him human flesh, becoming the Emmanuel,
the divine nature, the invisible Godhead, in the second person,
VOL. VI. 3 I
434 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOI),
uniting itself with the manhood. Here are acknowledgments
of this made amongst us ; but it might make our hearts shake
within us, to think of what kind. That is, according to the
usage of too many, the descent of our blessed Lord, the eter
nal Word in human flesh, they seem to think (that their prac
tice expresseth) that the nativity of our Lord is not to be cele
brated fitly, but by a debauch ; they cannot fitly celebrate the
nativity of Christ, but by being drunk. Monstrous wicked
ness ! To think that the great God is to be worshipped so un
suitably to himself ; when he is to be made the end of all
things. The Former of all things ; how is he made the end,
otherwise than as he is glorified ? But to glorify him, to pre
tend to glorify him by breaking his laws, by violating his known
and most sacred precepts ! By breaking the law, dishonourest
thou God ? Rom. 2. 23. That was bad enough : but it is much
worse, by breaking the law, to dishonour God under the pre
tence of doing him honour, to think that [ honour him by so
palpably dishonouring him. And,
7- Why are we so prone to blame and censure the methods
of his government over this world, which he hath made, and
when by it, and the things in it that he hath made, he is pro
claiming to us his eternal power and Godhead ? Is he not able
wisely and well to govern his own creation ? Could he bring
such a world as this out of nothing into being, and doth he
not know what to do with it, now he hath made it, and how to
order the concerns of it ? Oh ! how little is God reverenced as
the Creator and Former of all things, when we take upon us to
censure, and blame, and tax his doings ? Why do we strive
with him, when he gives not account of any of his matters ?
Job 33. 13. He is far above it. And like it, is that 40. 2,
*/ Shall he that contends with the Almighty, instruct him ? He
that reproves God let him answer it." What ! for man to
take upon him to reprove God, to say he might have ordered
things better, so and so, things might have been brought about
in a fitter season, might have been done sooner, they might
have been compassed by fitter methods, by more suitable in
struments, and the like. Sure we forget ourselves when we
consider not, that " the invisible things of God, his eternal
power and Godhead," are ail testified by the things that are
made. And what ! cannot "the invisible things of God, his
eternal power and Godhead," guide and manage things more
wisely than we? "Woe to him that strives with his Maker! Let
the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth." Isaiah
45. 9. Let them choose their match. And those many ex-
LEC. vi. Use to be made of the knowledge of God. 435
pressions we have from himself in the latter end of the book of
Job ; "Canst thou do so and so?" doth intimate this all along
to them and to us, that unless we could do such and such things,
unless we could lay the foundation of such a world as this 5 un
less we could stretch out such another heaven, and form and
establish such another earth, unless we could span the heavens
with our hands, and measure the dust of the earth, and gather
the winds in our fists, and set bounds and limits to the sea as
we please, " You are not my match (saith God) unless you can
do such and such tljings. And if you are not my match, why
will you strive with me ? why will you contend with me ? why
should your wisdom vie with mine, and your will with mine,
and your interest with mine ?" And again,
8. Why do we so little covet him for our portion, who is plain
ly proved by the things that are made to comprehend, in himself
virtually, all the perfections of this world, and formally, infi
nitely more ? For there must be infinitely more in himself than
is laid out on creation. Do you think he did exhaust himself
in making such a world as this ? The world when all is done
is but a finite thing, all that is made is but finite, but that which
is unmade is still infinite. He that comprehends in himself all
excellency, all goodness, all perfection, created and uncreated,
must certainly be a sufficient portion for us. The absolutely
perfect Being, or (which is all one in Scripture) God all-suf
ficient, must be a competent satisfying portion (one would
think) for any one. Why then do we not covet him more for
our portion ? why is this not more the sense of our souls,
"Whom have I in heaven but thee? and who is there on earth
that can come in comparison with thee?" " When heaven and
earth are all made things and made by thee, there must be in
thee infinitely more than in both." But when we take up
with so mean and little things in our thoughts, '.inasmuch as
we know it belongs to the Deity to be the portion and blessed
ness of a soul) let us hereupon think with ourselves, what an
affront we put upon the infinite eternal Godhead, to think it
possible for any creature to fill up his room. It is a most inso
lent affront to the infinite eternal God, to think that any crea
ture can be to you instead of God : an affront that you can ne
ver expiate with your blood. This is to undcify him. Him,
whom in all your thoughts you should deify, you nullify, for
make him any thing less than God and you make him nothing.
And,
*). Why do we no more fear him as an enemy, when he hath
demonstrated his eternal power and Godhead by the things
that are made ? and all the invisible things that belong to his
,
436 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
nature besides, are all demonstrated by the things that are
made ? Why do we not more fear to have such a one for our
enemy ? " Fear ye not me (saith the Lord) who hath bound
ed the sea that it cannot pass : and though the waves there
of toss themselves they cannot go over," (giving that one
instance when he could have given thousands as great in
that 5 Jeremiah) " what stupid creatures are you that you
will not fear me, when ye have such an instance as this and
thousands more always in view before you, of my invisible eter
nal Godhead, that hath in time displayed and shewed itself
forth ? And,
10. Lastly: Why are we so prone to fear men, the creatures
of God, while we so little fear and stand in awe of him ? It is
still a wrong to our Maker, a wrong done to God, considered
under the notion of Creator. Look to that Isaiah 51,12 "Who
art thou, that art afraid of a man that shall die, and the son of
man that shall be as grass ? and forgettest the Lord thy Maker,
who stretched forth the heavens ?" inasmuch as he is the Maker
and Lord of all. This shews that it is an insolency against
him and the rights of his Godhead, to place your supreme fear
on any thing besides him. Therefore the form of speech there
is very remarkable, " Who art thou, that art afraid of a man ?'*
The form of speech is reprehensive and expostulatory, " Who
art thou?" When people find themselves seized with any im
moderate fears, they are wont to pity themselves, and to look
upon it as an infelicity : but they forget it is a crime ; and
those words represent it as a crime, " who art thou that art
afraid who art thou ?" what doth that signify ? Why it sig
nifies thus much, Thou takest too much upon thee, while thou
thinkest thcu art only to be pitied, thou dost little consider
how faulty thou art, thou dost transpose the government, thou
deposest the Lord thy Maker, and settest up a mortal thing up
on his throne. W 7 ho art thou that takest upon thee at this
rate, to undeify God and deify the creature, a mortal worm ?
Who art thou that turnest all things upside down, to depress
the Maker and to exalt a little piece of animated clay into his
place ? This is very deeply to be considered, that to have our
spirits more liable to be awed by a man, a mortal thing, than
by the eternal immortal God. is a doing violence and a wrong
to, and encroaching upon, the rights of the eternal Godhead.
Well now, about such things as these we should expostulate
with ourselves.
III. I shall shut up all with some particulars of most ap
parent duty, to which we need to be exhorted in reference to
what hath been hitherto said. As,
LEC. vi. Use to be made of the knowledge of God. 437
1. Since "the invisible things of God, his eternal power and
Godhead/' are so clearly demonstrable by the things that are
made, let us learn more to contemplate these invisible things
of God, in the visible things that we have before our eyes : and
know that it is an argument of very great spirituality so to do.
Let the examples we have in Scripture engage our minds more
this way. To look over such psalms as psalm the 8th. the
104th. and the 148th. all full of admiration of the works of God:
and a great many more, with multitudes of passages of Scrip
ture besides in othflr places ; shewing how much the spirits of
the saints of old have been exercised and taken up in admiring 1
God upon those conspicuous appearances, that have been of
his glory in the creation. I doubt there is altogether a fault
among us that we so little apply our minds this way. But
know it is our duty to be exercised in it, to take times on pur
pose to contemplate God in the creature, to behold and view the
invisible things of God, his eternal power and Godhead, in the
things that are made. And,
2. Hereupon joyfully acknowledge this God for your God;
considering the case of the blinded besotted pagans, who
worship stocks and stones for deities, or the sun, moon, and
stars j who pray to a god that cannot save : the generality of
the more besotted of them ; though it be true indeed, among
pagans there have been those that have been much wiser and of
more refined minds. But since it hath pleased God more ex
pressly to manifest himself to you, joyfully acknowledge it, as
his people of old have been wont to do. " Their gods are
idols, the works of men's hands ; but our God made the hea
vens/' And as it is in that Jer. 10. 11. "The gods that
have not made the heavens and the earth, they shall perish from
the earth, and from under these heavens." When there are such
multitudes of fictitious deities under a doom to perish, all the
idols of this world, and this world itself, that great idol, that is
most set up and exalted against God ; Oh ! do you joyfully ac
knowledge this God for your God, that you are sure is the only
living and true God. Our God that made the heavens ; own
your relation to him, walk in his name, as " all people will do,
every one in the name of his God."
3. Resign and devote yourselves absolutely to him, for you
are made things, and he is your Maker. And can one have a
greater right in any thing than that which he hath made, and
made out of nothing ? not given it an external accidental form
only, but given it its whole being. And so is the matter be-
tvve'cn him and you. Wherefore it is to God you must give
438
THE PRINCIPLES OP THE ORACLES OF GOD.
yourselves : give him your whole being, body and soul and all
that you have : for it is all but made, and it is the right and
property of him that made you.
4. Trust in him with all your hearts, commit yourselves en
tirely and cheerfully to him. Who would scruple to do so to so
kind and benign a Maker? for was it not in his choice and
power once, whether he would have made you or not ? was it
not determinate by him? by his pleasure, whether you should
be or not be ? If you have devoted yourselves to him, so as to
be his by choice and consent, as well as by natural right, know
then that you have all the encouragement in the world to in
trust and commit yourselves to \\\m as to a faithful Creator;
as the expression is 1 Pet. 4. 19. This is a thing not enough
understood, the obligation that lies upon us to own God more
frequently and solemnly, under the notion of our Creator, We
think the notion wherein we should own him, more to be that
of a Father, and as in Christ he hath been a Redeemer to us :
but these things are not to exclude one another by any means.
It is very true indeed, that all the interest we had in him as
Creator, was lost and forfeited by the apostacy : but that mat
ter being, by the Redeemer, made up between him and all those
that, in the Redeemer, accept him and take him for their God,
we are not now to think his Creatorship is to be absorbed and
swallowed up in any other supervening notion, by any means.
We are now, by redeeming grace and mercy, brought to that
state and pass, that we may own him comfortably as a Creator
again. So that whereas, we had lost all right and interest in
him, as such, by our apostacy : a restitution being made, now
we are to commit ourselves to him, as a faithful Creator.
Faithfulness hath reference to a promise, and a covenant. W T e
are to commit ourselves now to him as a Creator, under obliga
tion. There was a covenant made at first, between himself
and his innocent creature ; that covenant was broken by the
apostacy ; so that he could be challenged upon faithfulness no
longer. But now, that matter being composed and made up by
the Redeemer, by a Mediator, there is a new covenant made,
and now faithfulness hath place in reference to him as a Crea
tor, and we are to own him as such, and trust in him, and
commit ourselves to him as such. And,
5. You should hereupon, cease from solicitude about the
issue of things in reference to yourselves, or in reference to the
whole community that you profess to be of, even that people
that he hath in this world. Solicitude should cease about pri
vate and more public concerns ; you should reckon that your
selves and all things, are in the best hands in which they could
vi. Use to be made of the knowledge of God. 439
lie, or into which they could be put. In reference to things
devoted yourselves, intrusted yourselves to him upon invitation ;
not presumptuously, but as being warranted and encouraged by
himself. Then it is a wrong to him to be anxious what he will
that relate to yourselves, you have committed yourselves to him,
do with you. What! will he not shew mercy to the soul he
hath made? Indeed, his having made it, if there be no expi
ation of sin, would have availed nothing ; for there is a case
when " he that made them would not have mercy on them,
and he that formed. them will shew them no favour :" Isaiah
27. 11. That is, when they are in rebellion against him and
will not be reconciled to him; but when a reconciliation is
brought about, and you have surrendered to him the soul that
he hath made, it is a great iniquity and wrong to him to sup
pose, that he will not now deal with you as a faithful Creator.
Therefore, though now you know your soul is lodged in flesh,
and within a little while this mortal frame must drop in pieces
and fall into the dust, yet never be solicitous what he will do
with your soul, or what will become of it after all : you do betrust,
you have committed it to him, who is the most absolutely per
fect God, and the most absolutely perfect Being. All things
that he hath made demonstrate him to be so : and who would
be afraid to let his soul rest in the midst of infinite, immense
goodness ? " Hrs soul shall dwell at ease:" (as it is said of
one that fears God) but very faintly, and beneath the signifi-
cancy of that expression it is rendered, Psalm 25. 13. " His
soul shall dwell in goodness (that is the expression) who fear-
eth God," shall take up its rest, sweet and pleasant rest as men
are wont to do at night. Who would be solicitous when he is
to commit and put his soul into the midst of immense and
boundless goodness, as his must be who is the Author of all
made things ? for they all spring from goodness, goodness that
would diffuse itself and flow arbitrarily and freely in such a cre
ation as this. And,
6. Live more adoring lives. Let us labour to habituafe
ourselves, our spirits more to adoration, seeing the invisible
things of God, his eternal power and Godhead are continually
seen in things that are made. Let that sentence be engraven
as a motto upon each of our hearts and inwrought into our
souls : u Come let us worship and bow down, and kneel before
the Lord our Maker." Let every thing that serves to put us
in mind of him, prompt us immediately to worship, and bow
down the head before him, upon such apprehensions of God,
such demonstrations of his love, of his power, and goodness and
440 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
greatness as offer themselves to our view. Let us presently
bow and worship, take notice and adore.
7. Let us subject ourselves most absolutely to his govern
ment, both legal and providential. Doth it not belong to him
to give laws to his creatures that are capable of government
by law, that have been entirely and wholly made by him ?
Should not he give laws, even to our minds and to our spirits,
and lay them under the obligation of his laws ? This is sure the
most reasonable thing in the world. Why should he not pre
scribe to my mind, who is himself an unmade mind, while
mine is but a made mind ? Why should not he prescribe to me
how my spirit should work this way or that, while he is an eter
nal Spirit and Mind. My spirit that sprung from him, why
should not he direct it, even by a law, how to think, how to dis
pose of my thoughts this way and that, when he hath given me
a power to think ? Why should 1 not use my apprehensive
power and knowledge for him from whom 1 received it ? He
that knows my mould and frame, and hath given me that in
telligent spirit that I have, shall I not keep it in perpetual sub
jection to him, receive laws from his mouth, never think my
self at liberty, and in an indifferency to use my thoughts as I
will, and let out my affections as I will; but all under his law ?
And then, as to his providential government, shall not he do
what he will with his creatures, with the thing that he hath
made ? How reasonable is it, how just towards him and how
good for itself to be subject to him ? Then I am quiet if I can
live under his government, to be disposed of by him as he
pleaseth : otherwise there is a continual war between him and
me: and so a continual war between me and myself; affection
against conscience, passion against judgment : for there will al
ways be something in me as long as I live, as long as I have a
reasonable intelligent being, that will take the part of God
against unreasonable rebellious passions, and I shall be a self-
judged creature before him in his sight. And,
8. Lastly : Let us always propound him to ourselves as the
Object of our religion : and take pleasure in the thought of
this, that we have found out an object of religion, which we
have revealed to us, that he hath himself, revealed to us him
self as the great and only Object of religion : the one indis
putable One, so as no controversy remains now concerning it.
And whereas, it is the business of all religion, to pay all duty to
God and expect and seek all relief and felicity from him, let
us demean ourselves towards him accordingly. And consider
with ourselves, that in making his mind known to us, giving
LEC. vi. Use to be made of the knowledge of God. 441
us to know himself, he hath given us to know ourselves also,
so as to understand that being creatures, made things, we are
made for another. That which cannot he by itself, must not
be for itself: what more reasonable thing in all the world?
Therefore, our business must be with him as the final, ulti>
mate, animative Object of our religion ; and that designing
duty to him and felicity to ourselves, we have to do with him
as the Object of religion under that twofold notion, as one that
\ve are to glorify, and as one whom we are to enjoy for ever.
And this now shews us much of ourselves. That is, shewing
us what our nature and state are, it shews us what our end of
business must be, and that is a very great thing. And this is,
we must understand, what we were made for. And this be
ing the first head of Christian religion, (indeed of all religion)
it resolves the first question that every one is concerned to
make to himself: What was I made for? What is the chief
end of man ? To glorify God and to enjoy him : to pay all
duty to him and to expect all felicity and blessedness from
him ; and to seek it. It is thus only that you can come to know
what you are here in this world for : and it were a lamentable
case, to know the several powers and faculties that belong to
our natures, and not to know what all these are for. To know
I am such a creature, of such a mould and frame, and not to
know what these are made for ! This would be a very sad consi
deration to a serious and considering mind, if it were not to be
collected and found out what they were made for. As if one
that never saw a watch in his life before he finds it by casual
ty and chance, and sees a great deal of curiosity in the work
manship, yet cannot imagine what it is intended for, what it
was made for ; it stands still and he knows not how to set it
going, or if he did, he doth not understand the use of it. Here
is the case with an intelligent creature, a man if he should con
template himself, and not contemplate his Maker, his end.
Here 1 have a strange kind of being, I have a body and 1 have a
soul inhabiting that body; but I do not know why such a crea
ture as I came to have a place in the world, why I have such a
being, what I am to do, and what I was made for. But now by
this you come to know what it is you were made for. If you know
you have a Maker, you must know you were made for him, to
glorify him and to enjoy him for ever : and it is a great thing
to have made this step ; when we have taken notice of our own
faculties and powers, and what our structure and frame are.
Now to know whose we are, what satisfaction is it to the mind
VOL' VI. 3 K
442 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
of man ! to know this, that I am made to glorify and enjoy hira
that made me. But when you come to he at a loss, (as all in
the fallen state are) " what course shall 1 take to glorify and
enjoy God?" Why, we that are here wandering in such a
wilderness as we are in, and so benighted, so bemisted as
we are : if we have no instruction, no guidance, no rule, we
are at a sad loss. Therefore it is the greatest joy in the
world to a considering mind to have it plainly evidenced to
him, that there is a discovery come forth from God, suit
able to the forlorn state of the creature, a word from heaven,
a written word that he himself hath delivered down to us, to
teach us how we are to glorify him, and how we are to enjoy
him which will be the next thing we shall come unto.
J.EC. vii. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 443
LECTURE VII.*
2 Tim. 3. 16.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.
have had an Object of religion ; the only competent
and deserving Object (I hope) with some efficacy present
ed to you ; an absolute perfect Being, an eternal infinite Mind
or Spirit, self-existing and unmade j demonstrating himself to
be so, by the things that are made. And now the business of
that religion that is to be exercised towards such an Object
(the glorious and blessed God) is continually to render to him
a due homage, and to expect from him blessedness for our own.
souls. Religion stands in serious endeavours (as the learners
among us are taught to speak and understand) ki to glorify God
und enjoy him for ever." Under this twofold notion, we are
to go and act towards him as our chief end : as one to whom
we owe all the duty we are capable of performing, and by per
forming whereof we glorify him; and from whom only we must
expect all the felicity we are capable of partaking of, and in,
the participation whereof we enjoy him ; so we are to con
sider and move towards God as our end, in such a motion of
heart and spirit. This is present religion, that is, the reli
gion of our present state. The religion of the way (as it is cal
led) or the religion ofviatores ; those that are travelling, and
yet short of their final perfection. And therefore is the whole
* Preached January 9, lo'9l.
444 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
of that religion, to wit, the religion of the present state in con-
tra-distinction to that of the eternal state, expressed by a term
that denotes continual motion ; that is, a coming to God. "He
that cometh to God must believe that lie is." We are to be
continually in this motion all the while we are in this world ;
coming to God. In order whereto that great fundamental is to
be forelaid the belief that God is; as that which is prerequi
site, upon which we have been insisting already. " He that
cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a re-
warder of them that diligently seek him." But now, whoso
ever have it in design thus to come to God, and move towards
him, they will find that they need a rule to guide those motions
by which they may direct and steer their course : there is no
coming to God but as he is pleased to render himself accessible,
but as he will be approached; and therefore our religion which
consists in this motion, in this coming to God, cannot be a
self-devised thing, or an invention of our own ; we cannot come
to God as we please, but as he pleases, as he will have us come :
we can never glorify him, but by doing his will, nor can we ever
come to enjoy him but by compliance therewith. Therefore, this
must of course be the next inquiry, with any considering person,
any one that doth seriously design to do any thing in the busi
ness of religion: " What course shall I take to know God's will,
concerning my approach, my coming, my tending towards him
through the whole course of my life in this world ?" It is a
very rational inquiry, and that which the exigency of the case
must urge every one to, that doth intend seriously and in good
earnest to be religious. For admit, that there be internal prin
ciples, from the very reason and nature of things, truth and false
hood, good and evil, right and wrong, yet besides that such
as are needful are taken into the constitution, or among the
determinations of the divine will, so there are other things su
per-added with respect to the varied state of our case : and it
is the divine will that doth determine and constitute what we
shall do in this course of our motion towards him, and conse
quently what shall be required of us to believe and know that
we may so do, and so we do need a signification of his will con
cerning our faith, and concerning our practice. Though it is
true, that the determinations of his will are riot (as to the most
principal things that do concern us) arbitrary, but they are de
terminations of his will, according to most excellent wisdom,
most perfect judgment, and counsel, for he " worketh all
things according to the counsel of his own will ;" and so doth
will such things concerning us, and in reference to us, as the
state of our case doth require and need, and without which
use. vii. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, 4-15
there could be no commerce restored, and brought about be
tween him and us. And now, whatsoever will express and sig
nify to us the divine will about such things as will be our fit
and useful rule to guide our motion towards God as our end,
we are to seek after. And concerning this, the inquiry must
needs be made by every serious person ; " What is there that I
may look upon, as such a sufficient signification to me, of the
divine will touching my great concerqments with him ? " Now
we have a book among us, that calls itself, and is commonly
styled THE WORD OF GOD. This very book, if it be not the
word of God, truly, to call it so, and to attempt and endeavour
to spread it as such, is one of the boldest cheats that ever was
attempted to be put upon the sons of men. But if really and
truly it be so, then it doth our business : you find it doth so,
by looking into it, for this is the business it doth profess, and
the intent which it doth own and avow, to acquaint us with the
divine will and pleasure in order to our serving arid glorifying
him, and being finally happy and blessed with him. If it be
his will indeed, it will most undoubtedly serve for this end
and purpose ; that being all the end that professedly it hath to
serve. Nothing can so well serve this purpose as his word, if there
be such a word: for who can so well tell us what God's will is,
as he himself ? Sure he best knows his own mind, and what
judgment he hath made of things, and which (after him) he
will have us to make, in order to our practice.
I might (indeed) have driven the inquiry a great deal further
into the principles of religion, upon a merely rational ground,
or according to the ducture of natural light ; as it was neces
sary to be done, upon what hath been clone already, in repre
senting and evidencing to you an object of religion : which was
necessary first to be proved, before we could with any colour
of reason go about to assert the divine authority of this book.
It would have been a very absmd thing to go about to prove
from this book, the authority of it, that there was such a thing
when he which should give that authority, and from whom that
authority should be derived, should be unknown to us ; or it
should be a matter of doubt with any, whether there was such
a one, yea or no. But that being once proved and out of ques
tion, now it comes in the proper and natural method, and
next of course to be considered : Is there such a revelation
from this God, as this book doth pretend to ? hath it really
that divine stamp upon it from him, which by those who do
profess and own themselves Christians, it is apprehended to
have ? And if that can be found, it supercedes any need of fol
lowing the line of natural light (as such) further; because
44& THi; PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
there is nothing more now to be discovered that way, which Is
not more clearly and fully contained in this hook. And there
fore all other things that might he referred thither, I shall ra
ther satisfy myself to deduce and insist upon as they come in
our way from thence. In order whereto, our first business must
be to assert the authority of them. And for that purpose it is,
I have pitched upon this passage of Scripture, " All Scripture
is given hy inspiration of God." All Scripture is Qtmevros. It
is only that one word that is said of it, God-breathed. All
Scripture is (as it were) the breath of God. That indeed is
the very literal sense of the word here used, breathed from
God.
And so the words are a formed proposition to our hands, we
need not vary them in any other phrase, but take them as they
lie. Our business must be to assert, from them, The Divine
Authority of the Scriptures. Jn order whereto, 1 shall pre
mise,
First : That I design not herein to meddle with divers lesser
collateral questions, as touching the Hebrew points, and He
brew translations, the various readings, etymological and other
differences, which are things much fitter for the schools than
for the pulpit. And therefore,
Secondly: My main design must be to evince to you, that
this book doth contain it; it a sufficient revelation of the divine
mind and will, touching what we are to believe and do in or
der to our glorifying God as our supreme Lord, and our en
joying him, and being happy in him as our best and only satis
fying good. And in order hereunto, the course that will be
fittest to take, will in short be this To state the subject to you
that is spoken of under the name of Scriptures, with its uni
versality, " all Scripture :" and then To prove to you from
that subject, the thing affirmed of it, that it is God-breathed,
that it is inspired from God, or (which is all one) that it is of
divine authority, and that God is the Author of it.
I. For the stating of the subject here spcken of, Scripture,
with a universal term, "// Scripture;" that universal term can
not he absolutely universal, (as you may be sure) cannot signify
all writing. Every writing cannot be pretended to be God-
breathed, or of divine inspiration ; therefore the limitation of
this universal term is to be taken from the immediately forego
ing words," From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures."
It is therefore holy Scripture that is here spoken of. All holy
Scripture, the whole of that which is called holy Scripture; it
is of divine inspiration. Well, what is that, that is here called
LEC. vii. Divine authority -of (he Holy Scriptures. 447
holy Scripture? Undoubtedly it must he that which in those
days was immediately known by the name of the Scripture, and
many times the Scriptures : nothing was more familiar with
our Saviour, when he was conversant here on earth, than to
speak of this book by the name of Scripture, and sometimes the
Scriptures as being so in the most famous and eminent sense,
according to the account that went of that part of them, among
the Jews, of whom he was one, and among whom he convers
ed. Every one knew none could be ignorant what was meant
by the Scriptures at that time, or in those days : " Search the
Scriptures, for in 'them ye think ye have eternal life:" (saith
our Saviour, John 5. JJW.) And this and that was done (as you
often find in the evangelist historians) that the Scripture
might be fulfilled. And the Scripture cannot he broken, saitlt
our Lord, in one of his contests with the Jews. John 10. 35.
Now it is very evident here,
1. Therefore, by the Scriptures, that is, holy Scriptures (a?
the apostle's words in this place do expound themselves) must
be meant the books of the Old Testament. That (1 say) in ihe
first place must be meant by it, which then by universal con
sent among that people, went under the name or notion of the
Scriptures. That is, those books of the Old Testament which go
with us at this day under that notion, and come into that censure
and account, without the apocryphal books which never came
into that account among the Jews, and therefore are justly left
out of that account with us. They never took them. The an
cient christians did not take them into that account at all, nor
the Jews before our Saviour's time, or at any time : they were not
written in the Hebrew tongue (unless some little parts) as the
books of the Old Testament were ; and have many things very
fabulous in them, that shew them to have proceeded from hu
man authority ; though clivers of them (some of those books at
least) proceeded from very pious writers. After that, the full
compute of these books of the Old Testament was gathered up
and digested by Ezra since the captivity. It was very plain the
Jews never took any writing into the account of canonical
Scriptures from the time they took in the prophecy of Malachi;
never after that, did they add any thing to the sacred canon, and
so much we find Josephns against Appion most expressly to
tell us. And therefore the apocryphal writings could be none
of the books that went under the name of the Scriptures here,
when the apostle saith, " all scripture is given by inspiration
of God:" nor indeed, did they come into that account in the
Christian church in the purest times. The account that is
given us of the Scriptures by Origen and Athanasius leaves
448 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF COD.
these books quite excluded : though we have an account too in
ancient records of some use made of them as certain ecclesias
tical books, but not as the holy Scriptures; they were not ac
counted the holy books. That then is part of this subject here
to be spoken of, when it is said, " all scripture is given by
inspiration of God," that is, the books of the Old Testament,
which was the Scripture in the eminent sense at that time.
But,
2. There comes within the compass of this subject too, the
books of the New Testament. For we must consider about
what time this was written by the apostle to Timothy ; this
was the second epistle you see ; and that was most certainly
written a considerable time after the greatest part of the New
Testament was written. You. may take notice in the next
chapter, (2 Tim. 4. 6.) that he speaks of the time of his de
parture being near at hand. He had once appeared before
Nero already, and we are told that this was written near about
the time of his appearance before Nero the second time: so we
have it in the conclusion of this epistle, that is, in the adjunct
to it. And though those subjoined adjuncts to the epistles, are
not always of unquestionable authority, yet the matter of this
epistle leading so much thereto, it puts this thing out,of doubt
that this was written very near the close of the apostle's life, u I
am ready to be offered," saith he, " and the time of my depar
ture is at hand." Now it is evident that all the gospels were
written a considerable time before this. The last of them, un
doubtedly, was the gospel of John, and that he is supposed to
have wrote about the eighth year of Nero, whereas the apostle
suffered (as we are told by history) in the last year of Nero
about seven years afterwards. So that in all likelihood this was
the last, or the last save one, that he wrote of his epistles ; Paul
here speaking of the time of his departure as near at hand :
and we find that what was written by him, is elsewhere referred
to, under the name of Scripture : as by the apostle Peter (2 Pet.
3. 15. 1G.) where he speaks of his " beloved brother Paul" who
had " many things in him hard to be understood, which," saith
he, "ignorant and unstable minds wrest, as they do other scrip
tures to their own destruction," ami we find the apostle James
in his 4 chap. 5 ver. refers, under the name of Scripture, to ano
ther passage of his " the spirit in us" (as saith the Scripture)
*'lustethto envy." You find nothing any where to answer
this but that Gal. 5. 17 There, having spoken of envy, parti
cularly before, he addeth, "thefk-sh lusteth against the spi
rit." And whatsoever was to come within that character and
sacred stamp must come within the compass of this subject too.
LEC. vi r. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 449
Tlie book of the revelation plainly shews it was written by the
apostle John when he was in Patmos : and after his return from
thence, history informs us, that upon the request of the Asiatic
churches, he did collect and gather together and put into order
all the books of the New Testament, and so (as it were) did
seal up the canon. And a considerable time after that, we are
informed of his taking a journey to * on purpose to
collect the Sacred Writings he found among the churches
there, with whom, he conversed : and he there found the
books punctually as we have them, and in the same order
wherein they now stand in our Bibles. And in the fourth cen
tury, they were all recognised by the council of the Laodiceans;
therefore at this time, when this epistle to Timothy was written,
there must be understood to be a reference had to all the books
of the New Testament already written, and any to be written
by inspiration of the same Spirit. And so this makes up toge
ther, the subject here spoken of, when it is said "all Scrip
ture," all holy Scripture "is given by inspiration of God." All
God-breathed, (as it were) breathed from heaven, the issue of
divine breath, for those great and glorious purposes that it was
to serve in this world. And now,
II. We come to prove the thing affirmed concerning this
subject that these Scriptures were inspired from heaven, by
God himself, or are of divine authority ; which is the import of
this assertion, as to the way of God's communicating his mind
to those that delivered them. The expression is large and ex
tensive enough to comprehend any, wherein there might be a
certain signification of the divine will, whether he did com
municate it by voice, (as he did divers things we find upon re
cord in Scripture) or whether it was by dream, or by vision, to
the penman, that is, asleep or waking: or whether it were (as
the Jews distinguish) by immediate irradiation of the intellect,
the understanding faculty : or whether it were by impression
or signature upon the imagination or fancy, as a thing interven
ing between the divine mind and the intellect; which way so
ever it was, the expression will reach it. It was of divine authori
ty ; it proceeded from him, be it one or the other of these ways.
And in order to the evincing of this by argumentation, I' shall
briefly say somewhat to justify the undertaking, of proving the
divine authority of these Scriptures by that argumentative way :
* This is blank in the manuscript: and after examining eveiy do
cument to which he could gain access, the editor has not been able
to ascertain the place alluded to, nor the authority on which the au
thor states this circumstance. The fact, it must be admitted, is ex
tremely doubtful.
VOL. VI. 3 L
450 THE PRINCIPLES OV THE ORACLES OF GOD.
and then shall proceed to the proof thereof, in that way which
the case itself doth best admit of.
1. Something may be needful to be said to justify the un
dertaking to prove the divine authority of these writings, in a
way of argumentation. In order to it, do but note these two
things.
(I.) That undoubtedly there can be no effectual believing
of the things contained in the Scriptures, unto salvation, without
the special operation of the divine Spirit. It is only the Spirit
that makes the sanctifying impression of these Scriptures upon
the soul. The apostle expresses his great thankfulness to God,
on the behalf of the Thessalonian churches (2 Thes. 2. 13)
that " God had chosen them to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth." There is no sanctifying
belief of that truth but by the divine Spirit ; that is out of all
question : " Sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is truth :"
John 17. 17. "Do thou sanctify them by it : the sanctifying
them by this truth, or by the truth of this word of thine, must
be thine own work.'' There is that vicious prejudice in the minds
of men, against the design and tendency of all sacred truth, and
that power of corrupt inclination, to comply and comport there
with, that it must be a great power that must overcome ; and
none is great enough that is inferior to the power of the Al
mighty Spirit. It is by a certain spirit of faith in the soul that
men do believe to the saving of their souls. " We, having the
same spirit of faith, believe and therefore speak." There is none
can arrive to this belief, a divine belief of the Scriptures, without
the operation of that Spirit. This very notion, in general, that
the Scriptures are the word of God, is a dead and insipid and
ineffectual thing : as all other notions of truth comprehended
in that general are also. But,
(2.) I must add, that the operations of the divine Spirit are
not necessary to bring men under an obligation, or to make it
become their duty to believe the Scriptures to be God's word,
or of divine authority: which therefore certainly doth infer, that
there is a way of proving this by argument, that these Scriptures
are of divine authority, so as to hold men under an obligation
to believe them to be God's word ; that it becomes their duty
to believe them so, so that they are culpable if they do not, if
that light that may shine into. them that way about this matter
be not received and comported with accordingly. And to evi
dence this briefly to you, do but consider these things :
[1.] If there be not enough to be said by way of argument
to prove the divine authority of this sacred book, without the
special immediate operation of the divine Spirit, then every
one that hath not the operation of the divine Spirit, would be
LEC. vir. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 451
innocently an unbeliever under the gospel. Then it would he
an innocent thing to he an infidel under the gospel, notwith
standing the clearest light that can be supposed to shine amongst
us, supposing only the absence of the special influence of the
divine Spirit : and then the mere retraction or withholding of
that influence, would be enough to justify the infidel and to
make him therefore not guilty of a crime in his infidelity, bare
ly because he hath not that Spirit; than which, nothing can be
supposed more absurd or more prejudicial to the Christian cause
and interest.
[2.] This is to be considered too, (to the same purpose) that
if the special operations of the Spirit, were necessary to make
it become a man's duty to believe these Scriptures to be the
word of God, then they must be necessary in reference to
every particular thing which he shall be bound to believe.
But you know, the whole is made up of all the parts : and when
we speak especially of the necessary parts, it is plain, that if the
operation of the Holy Ghost be necessary to make it a man's
duty to believe these Scriptures, it must be necessary in order
to his believing every more principal part, every sentence that
doth more immediately and directly, concern the salvation of
his soul ; and then upon that supposition, every person that
should be under an obligation to believe these Scriptures to
be the word of God, must himself be an inspired person or a
prophet. And then, ihis would be the consequence, that these
Scriptures would be of no use at all, one way or another ;
not to them that have the Spirit of faith to enable them to
believe them ; because every thing that is contained in them,
and necessary for the end for which they are written, must be
supposed to be suggested and dictated to them by that Spirit,
and therefore the believer would have no need of the Scripture ;
and to the unbeliever they would be no use at all, because while
the Spirit doth not give his influence to make them believe,
they (upon this supposition) never could believe. And there
fore, consequently, the Scriptures would be of no use, do no
good, either to believer or unbeliever. And therefore, as I
have asserted in the first place, that there can be no effectual
believing of these Scriptures unto salvation, without the sancti
fying influence of the divine Spirit, so I further do assert, that
such an influence of the divine Spirit, is not necessary to make
it become a man's duty to believe these Scriptures ; but it
will be his duty to believe them upon such light about this mat
ter, as may in an argumentative way be supplied and furnished
unto any that will make it their business attentively to consider.
And now,
2. In the second place, I shall proceed to tell you in what
452 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
way this proof must be attempted and undertaken, that Is, inas
much as the subject here, Scripture, all Scripture, is so com
plete as you have heard : that is, is made up of the books of the
Old Testament and the New. The method that is reasonable
to be taken, is to endeavour to evince these two things to you,
that there were Scriptures in our Saviour's and the apostles'
lime, and many of them a great while before, which were cer
tainly of divine authority : and that the books which we now
have among us, in our time and in our hands, are the self-same
books, in substance, (without any material corruption or altera
tion) that those were, which went for the holy Scriptures, of di
vine authority at that time. These are the two things that are
to be evinced and made out to you, and with such evidence as
may leave little ground or pretence of cavil to the understand
ing and honest Christian : which 1 doubt not (through the bles
sing of God) may be done.
LEG. VIII.*
(1.) Now to prove that these books in the days of our Sa
viour and his apostles, even unto the last of them, went into the
account of those Scriptures that were of divine authority: and
within this compass, must come the books of the Old and New
Testament. We shall give some considerations in reference to
this ; and shall afterwards in the close of all, (having spoken to
the latter proposition too) give you some additional considera
tions concerning this book as now we find it.
[1.] For the divine authority of the books of the Old Testa
ment, 1 shall not trouble you here with the various divisions
that the Jews made of these books. And here, whereas, they
reckon no more of them, than there were letters of their alpha
bet,, two and twenty, which most apparently excludes the apo
cryphal books. It would be tedious and trifling to trouble you
with the account how they did severally refer all those to the
several letters ; only it is plain that the minor prophets they
made all but one book. But this division only will serve our
turn (though they did not strictly hold to it, but varied from
it commonly, making a third member which we find no men'-
tion made of in the evangelists, or the writings of the New
Testament,) that is, the division of the books of the Old Tes
tament into those of Moses and the prophets. The Jews in
deed made the Hagiographia, or third class, that is, account
ing none prophetic, but those which were sent by special
mission from God. And so all those books (besides the five
books of Moses, and those written by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Eze-
kiel, and the minor prophets,) they called Hagiographia, that
is, other holy writings, sacred writings; such as the historical
* Preached January \G, 169 1 "
LBC. viiii Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 453
parts of Scripture, the books of Job, Proverbs, Canticles, Ec-
clesiastes and the like. But our Saviour comprehends all un
der the name of the law and the prophets, or sometimes, Moses
and the prophets : (Mat. 22. 40.) " On these two hang all the
law and the prophets :" and that other place (Luke 16. 29.)
"they have Moses and the prophets." Now take here the books
of Moses first, and there can be no doubt at all but he was an
inspired person, and that his books were written by very peculiar
inspiration. If you do but admit the truth of the historical re
lation, as to him, and that people he had the conduct of, I say,
supposing that there can be no doubt of his having written those
books by special inspiration of God, for (admitting the truth
of the history) you find how familiarly conversant he was with
God, from time to time ; that he did nothing of any concern
ment in reference to that people, but always by divine moni
tion. Nothing then is more unsupposable than that he should
do so great a thing as this, digest such records, and stamp them
with the name of sacred and divine, and call them the word
of the Lord, and the law of the Lord ; and all this, without spe
cial instinct from God. Do but think how manifest and observa
ble and adorable a divine presence, shewed himself to that per
son. How peculiarly God took him nigh to himself, sustained
him forty days and forty nights together, (whether once or twice
I will not here dispute) in the sacred mount, by miracle ; sup
porting him by his own glory, speaking to him from time to time,
giving him free recourse to him, directing him to consult him,
and take his responses from him, upon all occasions. And that
the history that relates to him, as to the matter of fact, must
be true beyond all exception is evident if you consider, such
things as these :
First. The very honourable mention that is made of this
Moses, and some of the most remarkable things relating to that
people (the Jews) whom he had the conduct of, by some of the
most ancient and celebrated pagan writers, magnifying him as
a most wise and prudent legislator, and a very great man ; and
remarking very considerable things with reference to this peo
ple. 1 heed not trouble you with them ; it is known to scho
lars, what of this kind is written by Diodorus Siculus and others.
And,
Secondly. That which is above all demonstration : it is no
torious to all the world that the people of the Jews were under
the government of a Theocracy for several centuries of years
successively, which puts the matter out of all doubt, that the
history of that fact must be unquestionable upon which they
became so. They were continually directed by God himself j
454 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OP GOD.
their laws were made by God himself. He appointed the means
of being consulted in every place, and it was through a long
continued series of time : and so these records in all that time
were known to be sacred things, having a divine stamp all
along upon them. And again,
Thirdly. It is to be considered that the very matter of the
history itself (considered in its circumstances) doth speak its
own truth : considered, I say, in its circumstances, that is,
the bringing of the people of Israel out of Egypt, and bringing
them out by so strong a hand, inflicting so many miraculous
plagues upon that Egyptian people and their prince, till they
were forced to a manumission of them : the dividing of the red
sea, the most stupendous way of giving the law upon mount
Sinai, which (with the additional precepts that were given to
Moses in the mount itself) make up (you know) the most con
siderable parts of the Pentateuch. The very matter of itself
speaks, (if you consider it clothed with its circumstances) that
there could be no fiction as to these things ; for there is nobody
but must grant, upon an ordinary view and judgment of those
characters that do appear of Moses, that he was a prudent
man at least, a very prudent man. But certainly he must
needs be a madman that would report a fiction of things said
to be done by, and before six hundred thousand men. When
men do feign and forge things, they do it with the greatest pri
vacy imaginable. As the portentous stories about Mahomet,
there are no witnesses quoted, but all goes upon the credit of
his word. It is not said, there were such and such thousands
that saw such and such things, for then, if it were false, it were
the easiest thing in the world to be disproved. Now when
the law is said to be given from such a mount, clothed with so
terrible and august a glory at that time, and the voice heard
uttering those ten words, as they are called, by six hundred
thousand men, at once, besides women and children, (for these
words are said to be heard spoken from the mount, by all the
people ; whereupon they could not bear that God should speak
to them any longer. "We die," say they to Moses, "if God speak
to us any more, but do thou speak and we will hear,") no man
that hath but the ordinary understanding of a man, can think,
that one of common prudence would inform of things that he
saith were done in view of so many thousands of witnesses, if
they were not done; if there were any design in saying so, that
design were presently blasted, and lost out of hand ; especially
if it be considered that among those ten words there are so ex
press precepts against idolatry ; and that people had so marvel
lous propensions to idolatry, as their frequent relapses into it,
LEC. viii. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 4&5
and their running into it, even in Moses' absence, when God
ceased to speak with an audible voice, do testify, It had given
them the most gladsome opportunity they could have wished for,
could they have detected a fraud in the case. When it is said
there were such and such, and so many thousand witnesses,
they could have said, there was no such thing. Could not this
have been transmitted to posterity for a notorious cheat ? by a
people so prone to idolatry as they were. And when they were
urged by the prophets (in a time of great degeneracy) with the
authority of the div-ine law, how easily could they have replied,
"No, there was no such law, it was a fiction, and what is said to
be given by God's voice ; and our fathers are said to be quoted
as witnesses to, they all renounced it, said there was no such
thing?" And then,
Fourthly. That holy men succeeding this time, (and unto
whose inspiration it hath been sufficiently attested, as we shall
see afterwards,) did attest unto Moses, still calling that law
written by him, the law of the Lord, and the word of the Lord,
and the testimonies and statutes of the Lord. With what re
verence and with what delight and complacency do you find
them so mentioned in the book of Psalms, in multitudes of
places, when there was little else of Scriptures yet extant, be
sides those books of Moses ? Would such a man as David, with
adoration have called these writings, the law of the Lord, and
the word, and statutes and judgments and testimonies of the
Lord, if they had not been most certainly so ? And would he
have expressed so high delight in them, and veneration for them
as such, counting them more precious than thousands of gold
and silver, and expressing the heart-breakings and longings of
his soul after them from time to time upon all occasions ? And
then, for what was written by him (David) and other holy men,
(besides the prophets) though it is not known who wrote every
book, yet there is no doubt but all may (as our Saviour did de
sign they should) be comprehended under the name of the pro
phets ; Moses and the prophets. And for the prophets, that
they were reckoned prophets speaks their inspiration ; the
distinguishing character of true prophets and false, being so
well known among that people. And for the things them
selves that they prophesied, the accomplished events did from
time to time prove the inspiration of the prophets.
But then take the whole Old Testament together, and that
hath received its confirmation abundantly from the New : so
that if the New can be proved to be of divine authority, all our
business is done, the matter is out of question. The whole
Old Testament, it is most expressly owned and proved by the
New. For,
456 THE PRFNCIFLBS OF THE ORACLIvS OF GO17.
What is the New Testament, but a commentary upon the
Old ? it is an application of the religion of the Old Testament.
The Old was nothing but a veiled gospel. The New is no
thing else but the same gospel unveiled. And again,
It is plain, that our Lord himself doth frequently and ex
pressly confirm to us the whole Old Testament, taken together
under the name of Scripture, or the Scriptures, Moses and the
prophets, and the law and the prophets. As when he saith "I
am not come to destroy the law : no, I am not come to des
troy but to fulfil:" (Matth. 5. 17) and in the next verse " Hea
ven and earth shall pass away before one jot or one tittle of the
law pass" so that he hath confirmed the whole Old Testa
ment to a tittle, to a very tittle, not one tittle but is sacred, it
cannot be lost, cannot pass away, it is a more stable thing than
heaven itself, and therefore now,
[2.] We pass to the books of the New Testament. And
how will it appear that there were such books written by di
vine inspiration, so as we ought to reckon the authority of
them is stampt thereon by God himself? Why,
First. Much of what we find in tiiese writings was deliver
ed by our Lord himself. The most material things contained
in the gospels, that is, the doctrinal parts, were his own words
still from time to time, upon all occasions.
Secondly. It is very plain that he did inspire his apostles,
that were to be witnesses of him, and whose business it must
be to be planters and propagators of the Christian faith after
wards in the world. He did purposely inspire and direct and
authorise them to publish those very things that make up the
substance of those books ; and therefore, no doubt, did direct
them to write those very books themselves ; for who can sup
pose, he having a design that the Christian religion should ob
tain and take place in all succeeding times to the end of time,
but that he should intend that it should be wrote, it should be
put into writing, and therefore when he laid that charge upon
his apostles, upon whom he breathed at parting, or a little
before, saying " Receive ye the Holy Ghost/' and to whom
he gave this charge, " Go and teach all nations this doctrine ;"
certainly within the compass of that charge must be compre
hended the charge of writing these things, as -one means of pub
lishing them to all nations, and so necessary a means, as that
all besides (as to succeeding ages) must be ineffectual. And
then,
Thirdly. For the authority of what was contained in these
books, or the divinity thereof, he did endow those he made use
of, as his apostles and first planters of the Christian faith after
IEC. nil. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 45?
him, (even their very inspiration itself, their very mission as well
as the several parts of that message upon which they were
sent) with a power of working stupendous miraculous works :
that it might be seen by all men, that a divine power did at
test to divine truth, as it was published by those men. And
upon this you find that mighty stress laid, that these first pro
pagators of the Christian faith, " preached the gospel with the
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven/' And the same Holy
Ghost that did assist them in preaching, did prompt too, to
write the whole New Testament. And that it was the Holy
Ghost that did actuate them in all this, was shewn by that pow
er of working miraculous works, which God gave at the same
time ; because the Holy Ghost is entitled to those works by our
Saviour himself, saying, "If I by the Spirit of God cast out devils,
then is the kingdom of God come unto you," then is that re
ligion true, and it is the kingdom of God that I am here setting
up among you, and hereupon is that great weight laid upon
this matter, (Heb. 2. 2. 3. 4.) " If the word spoken by angels
was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience receiv
ed a just recompense of reward ; how shall we escape, if we
neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken
by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders,
and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to
his own will?" This was the divine seal, the seal of heaven af
fixed to these writings and what was contained in them : that
is, that when men should come abroad upon such an er
rand, into strarige countries .and other nations besides their
own, and speak things that such and such people had never
heard of before, hereupon, suppose it should be inquired of
them, " What shall induce us to believe, that what you say is
true and comes from God ?" Why immediately they do such
and such works that could only be done by divine power, and
so they testify to men, that this was a divine truth that they ut
tered to them. They preached such a gospel, and at the same
time they healed the sick, by the speaking of a word, and
sometimes raised the dead to life, as our Saviour himself did,
who had so confirmed the truth before, by that and other most
wonderful things that referred to his own person, by his death
especially, and by his resurrection. Here was the greatest
question among the Jews : he gave himself out to be the Christ,
the Messiah, the Son of God; all the question was, "Is this the
Christ, or is he a deceiver or impostor?" He must be one of the
two : either the Christ as he said he was, or one of the most no
torious impostors that ever was upon the face of the earth : all the
VOL. vi. 3 M
458 THE PRINCIPLES OF TUB ORACLES OF GOD.
dispute rested upon this one thing : " Whereas, he gave himself
out to be the Son of God, is he the Son of God or no ?" The
means hy which many were wrought upon before his death, to
believe in him, were his most miraculous works ; but I say they
were but the means : and to bring any effectually to believe in
Christ, there must be something more than external means.
When he preached to the multitude, he confirmed his word,
sometimes by feedingthousands by very improportionable means ;
by healing the sick, by opening the ears of the deaf and the eyes
of the blind, loosening the tongues of the dumb, and raising
up the dead to life and the like : and when at length he came to
die, you know with what circumstances his death was accom
panied; all the powers of heaven and earth were shaken, the sun
withdrew his head, the veil of the temple was rent, the dead
arose ; and a poor pagan centurion, (who was appointed to
guard the execution) upon sight of these things gives up the
cause ; "Verily this was the Son of God, I see he was in the
right, the Jews persecuted him wrongfully," (for here was
the question between them, Was he the Son of God or no r)
" They crucified him for a blasphemer, in saying he was the Son
of God, which they denied him to be, but now I see he was
the Son of God." And he was afterwards " declared to be the
Son of God with power, by the Spirit of holiness by which he
was raised from the dead." Now his apostles' going forth, in the
authority of this divine Person, to testify nothing but what they
saw with their eyes, and what they heard with their ears, and be
ing appointed by him to be witnesses of what they saw and
heard, and to preach the doctrine which he had preached and
delivered to them before ; and they themselves working so mi
raculous works to prove the truth of what he did assert; this
proves the matter out of all question, that what was written
concerning all this, must be by divine inspiration. And further
too,
Fourthly. It manifestly appears how the prophecies of the
Old Testament (the greatest and most important of them) did
receive their confirmation that they were divine, by the events
that fell out in the time wherein the books of the New Testa
ment were written, and which came to be reflected on after
wards, by the wisest and most considering, the ablest and most
competent judges the world had in those days. Many of them
tvere hereupon converted to the Christian faith : and some
others that were not so, merely as wanting that opportunity to
be informed of matters of fact which the others had had, who
yet did acknowledge the convictivenessoftheMediator: as for in
stance, those prophecies concerning Christ,and that one express
LEC. viii. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 459
one, among the rest, of Daniel, about the seventy weeks : that
great pagan, (and one of the most considerable enemies for rea
son and learning that ever the Christian cause had in the world)
Porphiry, having opportunity to view over this prophecy said,
it must needs have been written after the event, it was so very
punctual. So that he only wanted an opportunity to know,
that this prophecy had been written above five hundred years
before his time, and was four hundred and twenty years before
its accomplishment, in the. hands of the Jews, and kept so safe
that it was impossible to be a fallacious thing. And therefore,
that being his case, (he being a heathen and not a jew and not
having opportunity to know) that must (by his own confession)
be the only reason of his not being a believer, upon that one
single prophecy, so punctually accomplished by the coming of
our Lord; and his being cut off at such a time as the prophecy
did say concerning the coming of the Messiah, the Prince, and
that he was to be cut off at such a time. Well, upon all this
there is little doubt to be made as to the first proposition, that
is, that those books that went under the name of Scripture, or
the Scriptures, in our Saviour's and the apostles' time, to the
last survivor of them, were certainly of divine authority.
(2.) But now to the second proposition that this book that
we have now in our hands, containing such and such writings
in it, is the same, or those Scriptures are the very same tbat
were so owned and acknowledged for the Scripture, in those
days. It may be said, and no doubt will be, by any that shall
consider, that if this IDC out of question, the whole business is
out of question : for nobody can think, if all that hath been
said be true, about these books of the Old and New Testament,
(said to be extant together at least within the time of the evan
gelist John) as to matter of fact, as Was reported, but these books
must unquestionably be of divine authority. But how should
we do to know that we have the matter of fact rightly deduced
and drawn down to us, and so that we have reason to believe the
books that we now have are the same ? If we could be sure they
are the same, it would be unquestionable: now as to that, there
is one thing that I must premise to you, and it carries its own
evidence with it. That is, that that knowledge that men may
"have of any thing by ordinary means, we are never to expect
should be given us by extraordinary. Pray do but take this,
and weigh it well, as a thing needful here to be forelaid. What
soever may be sufiicientiy evidenced by ordinary means, it is
very unreasonable to expect, that God should afford extraordi
nary means for the evidencing of that thing. If you do but ob
serve the constancy of his methods of government, over this
460 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
world, how sparing lie hath been of doing extraordinary things,
that ought to come by just account into the class of mira
cles, of miraculous works, you would see, that the divine wis
dom and power have been always very sparing of doing such
things, unless where the exigency of the case did require it, and
where the end was not otherwise attainable. But it is foolish,
to think that the wisdom of God and the power of God should
be exerted upon no necessity : what is it for? only to please cu
riosity? That which is done not to answer necessity, can only be
supposed to be done to please and gratify curiosity. Now to
think that the wisdom of God, should make infinite power, ever
and anon, to stoop to do miraculous works, only to please and
gratify a vain and curious humour, without any need, this were
the most unworthy of God of any thing we could suppose : and
therefore, this is never to be looked for. Jf then there be suf
ficient ordinary means to beget a certainty concerning this, it
would be a very foolish thing to expect that miracles should be
wrought to prove it to us at this day, that these books we now
have are, for substance, the same that those were, which were
owned for divine, in Christ's and the apostles' days. For if
any one would assert, that it was needful a miracle should be
wrought to this purpose, to assure us that these books were the
same they were in former times ; I would know who it is that
should have opportunity of seeing this miracle ? Must every
one that should be obliged to believe these books to be the
same, see such a miracle wrought himself? That were to make
miracles more necessary than ever they were, for even in Christ's
and his apostles' days, it was never thought necessary that every
person should have the sight of a miracle himself, but it was
enough that it was notoriously known that such and such mira
cles were done. But if it were not thought necessary in Christ's
and his apostles' days, that miracles should be wrought in the
sight of every person, that every one for his own satisfaction
should hare the sight of uch a miracle himself, then the
testimony of such persons must be relied upon in this case,
as it would be supposed could have no inclination or design
to deceive others, by misrepresenting things to them : and
that is such a testimony as upon which all matters among men
do depend. <e It is said in your law, (saith our Saviour to the
Jews) the testimony of two witnesses is true;" that is, is
credible, is not to be doubted : the whole frame of government
depends upon witnesses. There would be no law, no justice,
no society kept on foot in the world, if the testimony of credi
ble witnesses were not to be respected and attended to. Now
if in this way, there must be reliance on credible witnesses
LEC. vin. T>ivine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 461
somewhere, that is, if some few should in our own time see a
miracle done, and they make report of it, and their testimony
is to be believed, why may we not believe as well the credible
testimony of former times, as believe the credible testimony of
persons in our own time ? If the sober reason of men be yield
ed to in this case, no man can imagine what reason of differ
ence is assignable, but that we may as well rely upon the testi
mony of our forefathers, concerning matters of fact, as upon the
testimony of those that live in the same age with us j but have
seen with their own eyes, what we have not seen with ours.
And do not we know that most of the estates in which persons
do claim property, do depend upon the testimony of witnesses
that are dead a hundred years ago ? Certainly, men would have
very bad titles to their estates, if the testimony of witnesses,
dead many scores of years or some hundreds of years ago, were
Hot to be relied on even now. This is plain, that we have the
same rational way and method of knowing these books to be
the same they were, that is, by such testimony as is the very
means of setting on foot all property, and all the administra
tion of law and justice, in civilized nations, all the world over.
And we have the same means to know this, as by which we come
to know, that any other writings are theirs whose names they
bear : such as the writings of Seneca, Aristotle and the like.
We have the same means to know this by, as we have for other
things that are of greatest importance to mankind in this world,
and by which we come to know, other men's works that we
have now in our hands, are the same which were written so
many hundred years ago. And if so, then it were the most un
reasonable thing, that miracles should now be reckoned neces
sary to be wrought to prove this thing to us, and if a miracle
were now to be wrought, there must be a relying upon pre
sent witnesses, upon the testimony of this present age; and
why might we not as well rely upon witnesses of the former
age, as on witnesses of the present age ? No reason can be as
signed. Therefore, it would be absurd to expect God should
extraordinarily prove this to ns, when it could be sufficiently
proved otherwise. That is the first thing to be forelaid.
And being forelaid, this one general consideration will prove,
that these books are the same that they were in Christ's and his
apostles' time, and cannot be otherwise ; that is, that material
alterations of them were altogether impossible. When I say
material alterations, I only mean this, that there may have been
some very minute undesigned alteration in transcribing of co
pies j a word may have been mistaken, or a letter may have
been mistaken, somewhat here or there left out. But this can
462 THE TRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
be no material or hurtful alteration, because they had always
other copies to correct such mistakes by, but there could be no
material alteration with design, that is the thing I deny to be
possible, and assert to he impossible. There could be no de
signed alteration either of the books of the Old Testament, or
of the books of the New Testament, since the time of Christ
and his apostles. And,
[1 .] Not of the books of the Old Testament.
First. It is impossible they can have been altered, since it
is plain they were preserved before, and for a considerable time
afterwards, with the greatest care imaginable. And that it is
.one of the great wonders of providence that God, for the pre
servation of these books, should make use of that scrupulous, and
1 might say, almost superstitious care that was among those Jews,
whose office it was to keep the books of the Old Testament.
As,
It was known, they used to count all the letters of the Old
Testament, that they might be sure never to miss a letter.
Again,
In transcribing copies, (which was frequent) every copy was
always examined by an appointed number of their wise men, as
they termed them. Further,
If any copy should have been found, upon examination, to
have four or five faults in it, in one copy of the whole Old
Testament, that book was presently adjudged to be buried in
the grave of one or other of their wise men. And lastly,
For those books that, upon examination, were found to be
punctually true, it was very plain from the history tif those
times, that there was the greatest reverence paid to them im
aginable. They never used to touch those perfect copies (tak
ing them into their hands) without kissing them solemnly; nor
to lay them down again without solemn kissing of them. They
were never used to sit upon the place where one of those books
were wont to be laid. If one of them by casualty fell to the
ground, they appointed a solemn fast to be kept for it, as an
ill-boding thing, that such a thing should happen. So that it
is most plain that these keepers of the books of the Old Testa
ment could never have it in design to corrupt any of them ;
but it was that which they did abhor above all things. And
it was a principle (as Philo tells us, and Josephus much to the
same purpose) instilled into the youth of that nation, and even
those of the best quality, that they should run the utmost haz
ard and incur a thousand deaths, rather than they should suf
fer, to the utmost of their power, any alteration or diminution
ef any of those books : or that any of them should be lost ant
LEC. vin. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 463
other way. And then, besides all this scrupulous care of the
keepers of the books of the Old Testament, (with which a de
sign of corrupting would no wajTconsist) we may add,
Secondly, That the thing itself was afterwards impossible,
simply impossible. If they would before, when it was in their
own hands, they could; but afterwards, if they would, they could
not ; because that in Christ's, and his apostles' days, a great
number of them were (you know) converted to the Christian
faith, who knew all the books of the Old Testament as well
as themselves. Therefore, it was impossible now, for the in
fidel Jews, those that were not converted, to make any alter
ation, but it must be presently spied and exclaimed against :
therefore it was a vain thing for any to aitempt it, after so
many were converted to the Christian religion. And there
upon we may further add,
Thirdly. That the testimonies that were contained in these
books against themselves, and with which contained in them,
they are transmitted to us, do shew that they never went about to
corrupt them* The many testimonies against idolatry, con
tained in these books, whereby their forefathers from age to
age, for many ages, were witnessed against, would have in
duced them to expunge all things that were therein contained
against idolatry, (so tender were they of their reputation) if
there had not been a great awe upon their minds, never to at
tempt the corrupting or the alteration of any thing in those books.
The wickedness of their forefathers was, in these books, so
highly remonstrated against, in respect of the testimonies they
so often give against their idolatry, and yet these books we find
in their own hands, with these testimonies in them, against
the Jews and their forefathers, for many foregoing ages through
sundry times and divers intervals ; though we do not find after
the second temple, that people relapsed into that crime. And
then, there is the fullest testimony against their infidelity in these
books that can be. Who would not wonder that these books
should come out of the hands of the Jews, with these testimo
nies, in the great controversy between the Christians and them?
that is, of Christ being the Messiah, in which you have so
punctual assertions against them, that nothing can be more.
Those many testimonies that do concern the Messiah, particu
larly that famous prophecy, that the sceptre should not depart
from Judah till Shilo should come : and those numerous pre
sages in many of the latter prophets, (Isaiah especially and sun
dry others,) make it one of the greatest wonders of providence,
that such a book should come, with these things in it, out of these
men's hands, against whom they are a continual remonstrance.
But however, this proves that they did never design any alter-
tion : either they saw it impossible for one while, and before
464 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OP GOD.
that, they had no inclination or inducement that would he pre
vailing with them to go about it, that is, that there should be
an alteration with design. And then,
[2.] For the books of the New Testament ; that they cannot
have been corrupted is most evident too. It is impossible they
can, for you must consider in what time they were written:
they must be written in Christ's time and the apostles'; now
within the compass of that time, things were brought to that
state, that such a corruption was impossible upon two accounts,
upon account of the distance of places into which the gospel
was spread, and upon account of the divisions that were so early
fallen out among Christians.
First. Upon account of the distance of places whereinto, in
the first century of years, the gospel was spread. That is, into
a vast part of Asia, and some considerable parts of Africa and
Europe ; some think into Britain itself, into our land. There
are not very improbable grounds of conjecture, that it was so,
even within the compass of Paul's own age. That made it im
possible there could be any designed corruption or alteration in
the writings of the New Testament ; so considerable a number
of men at such a distance from one another, could not agree to
make such an alteration ; and if they could not agree in it, one
part rast remonstrate against the other. And,
Secondly. The divisions that so early appeared in the Chris
tian church made it likewise impossible. That passage of the
apostle (it may be) is not greatly enough pondered according to
the vveightiness of the expression, that there must be heresies,
there should be heresies, there must be heresies. This great
use that hath been of the divisions in Christian churches is not
(it may be) considered as it should be by many. But nothing
can carry a clearer evidence and demonstration with it, than
that, because of those divisions, any depravation of the said
records, (that is, any material, general, sucessful, continu
ed depravation,) is altogether impossible : because the one par
ty would be continually declaiming and crying out against the
other : and then how soon would it be espied ? So for that par
ticular instance, 1 John 5. 7 "There are three thatbear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and
these three are one." It is true it hath been found to be want
ing in some few copies ; and what an outcry was against it in
the Christian church? So that if that alteration was made by
the design of the arians, (and if it were by any design at all, it
must be by their design) the very supposal of it brings the
greatest blot upon them and their cause, that could be imagined;
it being very plain that it was to be found in equally ancient
LEC. vin. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 465
copies. But it seems more likely, it was never left out by de
sign at all. But because the matter at the beginning of the
8th verse, was just the same with that of the beginning of the
7th verse, a more negligent transcriber, having his eye on the
beginning of the 8th verse, might write on and slip over merely
casually the whole 7th verse. This being more likely that a
verse, beginning as the following verse does, and ending like it,
should be left out, than that a verse more than ought, should
be put in. And thus, the design of making such an alteration
would be defeated upon the attempt ; so that upon that con
sideration it is altogether impossible, that there should be any
alteration at all. And therefore that this be stuck to, that
there is no designed alteration in these books, and so can have
been no material alteration in them..
It is true that in translations, persons have laboured to serve
their own purposes, by translating this way and that, as they
thought fit. But for alteration of copies, that is what never
entered into the mind of any body to attempt ; which is a thing
so easily spied out, that nothing is more so; and so must needs
blast and disserve the cause and interest of that party it was de
signed to serve, and therefore could never be. And the im
possibility of any such alteration, it is easy for any man that
useth his understanding, to apprehend from a familiar instance.
As thus, do but take any one people that are under the same
government, and that have their laws by which they are go
verned, digested into some system or other ; as for instance,
our statute book; why suppose any ill-minded men in the na
tion should have a design to corrupt and alter the statute book ;
every one would see it to be impossible. Which way should they
go to work to impose a false statute book upon a nation, where
in every man's right and property is concerned ? And if any
such should have such a design, they would soon give it up, as
finding it impossible, and a thing not to be done, and therefore a
vain thing to attempt. But the difficulty is a thousand times
greater, of making any designed alteration of these sacred books
and records, that are spread so unspeakably further than a na
tion, and wherein the concernments of all that have them in
their hands are recorded, not temporal only, but eternal. Here
is their all for eternity, and another world : so that it must be
altogether impossible that there could have been such a thing
effected ; and therefore it is the most unlikely thing, that such
a matter should ever be attempted. And then, I say, if there
be that plain evidence, that for that reason, these books must
be the same, that they cannot have been altered with design,
and consequently not materially, then it were the most unrea-
VOL. vi. 3 N
466 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
sonable thing in all the world, to expect, that God should con
firm it to us otherwise than he hath done, or that the nature of
the thing doth admit of : because otherwise, there must have
been miracles wrought for every one to see, and take notice of;
nay, that would altogether lose the usefulness and significan-
cy of miracles themselves, because it would make miracles so
common in such a case. If every man must have a miracle to
prove to him, this is God's book, it would take off that par
ticular thing for which they are only significant with men., that
is, because they are rare and extraordinary things : and then they
would cease to be so. It might as well be expected that every
man should have a Bible reached him down by an invisible
hand from heaven, as that there should be a miracle wrought
to prove to him, that this was the same book that was so and
so confirmed and sealed in our Saviour's, and his apostles'
time. And therefore I reckon, that upon the grounds that have
been laid, it is very plain, both that these books, that were
extant, under the name of the Scripture, in our Saviour's and
his apostles' time, were of divine authority : and that the books
that we now have in our hands, are the same with those books,
and therefore are of divine authority.
LEC. IX.*
Now what we shall further say, as to the two things laid
down before, will be to answer an objection which possibly may
arise in the minds of some : to wit,
That this way of being ascertained of the divinity first, and
then secondly, concerning the identity and sameness still of
these books, doth seem to resolve our faith, at length, into a hu
man testimony and so, at length, to make only a human faith.
That is, that all rests upon this that we have been truly told,
and by such as lived before us in the world, that there were such
books in their time, and we are led by testimony in follow
ing ages, to collect, that these are the same books. Is not this
(may some say) to resolve our faith into a human testimony, and
so to make it only a human faith ? In answer to this I have se
veral things to say.
I. That it is very plain, that a human testimony must be
depended upon aliquatenns, some way or oilier, in reference
to all the concernments of religion. That is a point out of
doubt, some dependance there must be upon human testimony.
* Trcacbed January 23,
LEC. ix. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 46?
Suppose a preacher came among a company of illiterate men,
men that could never so much as read ; or if any of them were
so, (which is a thing not unusual in Christian congregations)
and he takes a text and produces (it may be) many more paral
lel ones out of the Bible for the doctrine which he preacheth ;
how can these men know that this is a Bible he preacheth out
of, but by a human testimony ? And even for thos.e that can read,
they must depend upon a human testimony, that what they
read is a true translation : supposing them not to be learned
themselves in, or not having opportunity to consult the origi
nals, they must depend upon the testimony of the learned, who
have viewed those books in the originals, such as lexicogra
phers, and the like, for the true signification and translation of
the words they read. This therefore is plain and out of ques
tion, that some use there must be of a human testimony in re
ference to the concernments of religion. And I add,
2. It is no more strange that God should state our case, so
as to oblige us to some dependance upon human testimony,
than that he should state it so as we must have a necessary de
pendance upon our own sense. We are told that " faith comes
by hearing;" we can have no ordinary way to come to the know
ledge of the things contained in these books, but by the use
of our eyes, and the use of our ears. And I could fain know
why there should be a greater sacredness in these organs of
our own, than in those of other men. Why should mine eye
or ear be thought a more sacred thing than the voice or tongue
of another man ? And again,
3. It is one thing to use a human testimony, in a case where
in God hath ordained and appointed to do it, and another thing
to do it besides, or against his ordination and appointment.
Here we are to distinguish between matters of fact, and mat
ters of right. We are to make use of the testimony of men,
even by God's own appointment, in reference to matters of fact;
to inform us only of mere matter of fact. This is an institution
of God. " It is written in your law (saith our Saviour) that
the testimony of two or three witnesses is true." " I come unto
you in the mouth of two or more witnesses," saith the apostle,
" and in the mouth of two or three witnesses, shall every word
be established." This is a divine ordination : it is not an ar
bitrary thing taken up by men at random, and of their own
choice and pleasure ; but it is God's stated medium and way,
wherein he hath appointed, that persons are to be informed con
cerning matters of fact, which they are concerned to know,
and of which they have not the immediate knowledge them
selves. " It is written in your law (saith Christ to the Jews)
468 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF 6OD.
that the testimony of two men is true." What law was that ?
It was the divine law. God hath enacted, that the testimony of
a competent number of witnesses should be relied upon, to as
sure us of the truth of those matters of fact, that they do tes
tify, and you do well know, that upon this ground (so ma
terial a thing this is) depends all the administration of justice
throughout the world. Otherwise, no judge would determine
in reference to any case, which came not under the sight of
his own eye, or whereof he was not an ear-witness. And so
this would subvert the very foundations of all human society.
There eould be no such thing as human society in the world,
upon these terms, and therefore we must look upon this as a
holy, wise constitution of the great Ruler of this world, who
hath ordained and appointed, that in reference to such matters
of fact, as we are concerned to have the knowledge of, and
have not the immediate knowledge of ourselves, we are to de
pend upon the testimony of others. And this is not an arbitrary
thing that we take up of ourselves, but a thing that the wisdom
of heaven -hath constituted and set for the preserving of com
mon order here, among men in this world. And
4. The difference is unspeakably great, between relying
upon men's testimony, as to mere matters of fact; and relying
upon it, as to matters of right. We may have a difference upon
the authority of one or two credible witnesses, reporting to
us such matters of fact, when as to which is right and wrong,
we will have no dependance upon them at all. As now sup
pose any of you receive a letter from some person of very great
authority and quality, and for whom you have great defer
ence and duty, this letter "comes to you by the hands of a foot
man ; do you pay a deference to the man, in believing what is
contained in the letter? No, all the belief of what is contain
ed in the letter, is resolved into the authority of him that wrote
it, and from whom it comes. Only you may look upon this
as a fit medium to convey it to you ; and you rely (if there be
occasion to do so much) no more upon the footman, as to matter
of fact, but that he received this letter from his lord or master
to deliver to you ; but his testimony hath no influence upon the
contents of the letter, one way or other.
And this therefore, leads you sufficiently to understand how
to answer yourselves, if any should further inquire Pray how
doth this differ from the notion that runs among them of the
Romish church, that is, that we are beholden to their tradition
for the Scriptures we have, and for our Christianity, and
for all that we have any knowledge of in the things of God and
religion ? Why it differs the most that can be. For,
LEC. ix. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 4G9
( 1 .) The papists do not only claim to be witnesses in the case,
but they claim to be the only witnesses : which they most pre-
tencelessly and injuriously assume to themselves : for we do not
rely upon them as the sole witnesses, nor as witnesses at
all, but only as they join and fall in with the concurrent tes
timony of the rest of the Christian churches, that have the same
books among them that we have. We are no more beholden
to them, than we are to other Christians. Nor,-
(2.) Do we rely barely upon the testimony of Christian church
es, as to the matters of fact contained in these books, but we re
ly upon the concurrent testimony of the rest of the world, Jews
and pagans themselves, as to the truth of matters of fact, which
we need to be informed about, in the matters of our religion.
The papists do engross to themselves to be the only witnesses,
most falsely, and without the least colour of pretence. But
we reckon the testimony of an enemy, an avowed, professed
enemy is of the greatest strength in such a case imagina
ble. That is the testimony we have from the Jews, and the
testimony we have from the pagans, of matters of fact, when
the matter of fact is against, plainly against them. This we
think we have a great deal of reason to lay much stress and
weight upon. Now it is very plain as to mere matters of fact,
pagans themselves have owned the truth of those matters of fact,
upon which the Christian doth depend : to wit, the wonderful
works wrought by our Saviour and his apostles to prove the
doctrines that they preached, and that are contained in these
books. Pagans do not deny these matters of fact, we have them
in divers of their own writings. For as to those miracles
wrought by Christ, in his own time, to prove the truth of
Christianity, (which was done on purpose that they might know
that Jesus was the Son of God : that men might believe this and
that by believing it, might have life through his name,) Celsus,
that great enemy of the Christian religion, never goes about to
deny the matter of fact : he knew that would be vain. All the
world knew the truth of the matter of fact ; only he takes a
great deal of pains to shew how it was possible that such
things might be done by other invisible powers. Just the same
conceit that the Jews had among themselves, when they tell our
Saviour, that he cast out devils by Beelzebub the prince of the
devils. That is, they did suppose the devil to have fallen out
with himself, and that all his business was industriously to
destroy his own kingdom. Indeed, the greatest and most mo
mentous matters of fact, by which Christianity was confirmed
at first, nre freely granted by the most considerable pagans.
We find in their writings, an acknowledgement of those things
THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
that filled the world with so much wonder, and they labour
partly to turn off all by referring the great wonders to other
causes and agents ; and partly by pretending, that as strange
things have been wrought by their own hands : as the setting
up of Apollonius Tyanseus, that great magician ; whereas,
the disparity is so great that nothing is more so, nor can be to
any, who consider, that those tricks wrought by him, were
easily detected of fraud and imposture, and were pretended to
be wrought to no considerable purpose. But the others were
frequent and often repeated, and in common sight, and with
out any design of hiding ; so as that when men that have been
concerned have canvassed and searched as much as possible, to
know whether they were true or no, the light hath shone into
their faces, and they have been forced to yield and own that a
great and notable work hath been done, " and we cannot deny
it." And with great dread and consternation they beheld the
world running after Christ and his apostles, these works car
rying so great a light in them, that were wrought for that de
sign. And,
(3.) There is this difference besides, in what the papists do
arrogate to themselves about this matter of testifying, from
what we admit and assert ; that is, that they assume to them
selves the making of doctrines that shall be of equal authority
with these books. And one of their greatest men among them,
is known to have used that blasphemous saying, that this book
hath no more of authority than ^Esop's fables, other than what
it hath derived from their church. And if it were not for the
authority it fetcheth from their church it were no more to be
regarded than ^Esop's fables : which is so great an insolence
that indeed one would wonder, (but that divine patience will
magnify itself till the time of taking vengeance upon that apos
tate church come,) that a thunderbolt from heaven should not
have vindicated such a blasphemy, with all things else that are
of the same piece among them, and carry the same import and
signification : for we know they take upon them to say and un
say, to do and undo, to maim and mangle this book, and set up
contrary institutions to it ; as is particularly known in that
great ordinance of the sacrament of the Lord's supper. And
then,
(4.) As to the business of being mere witnesses of matter of
fact, there they have proved themselves false and unfaithful;
that is, in foisting in the apocryphal books into the canon of the
Scripture, against the authority both of the Jewish church and
the ancient church, as the world may judge at this day that read
them.
LEC. ix. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 47!
So that there is no parity at all in these two cases, the relying
by God's institution and appointment upon a human testimo
ny, but as a medium to convey and transmit to us our know
ledge of bare matter of fact, and their assuming to themselves
to be the only one to be relied upon, not only as to matter of
fact, but as to the authority by which right and wrong, and
the truth and falsehood of doctrine are to be finally decided
and judged of. And thus far then we think, that the way of
proving the sameness of these books with those that bore the
character of sacred- books, or books of divine authority, is alto
gether unexceptionable, and so strong, as that there can lie no
thing against it to the common reason and understanding
of men, when we have such a way of being assured of this
matter, as must be convictive to any "that do allow themselves
the liberty and use of their understandings. And it would be
a very foolish expectation, to think that God should gratify the
fanciful curiosities of men, by working wonders among them
continually and repeatedly to no purpose.
Upon all this I shall superadd some considerations that may
give strength to all that hath been said before. As,
1. By common consent of all mankind, some divine revela
tion or other is necessary to the ends of religion, besides mere
natural light. We do not find or read of any sort of people
under heaven that have pretended to any thing of religion, but
have likewise also pretended to somewhat or other of divine re
velation, besides what wa~ natural and common to men as men,
as necessary for the conduct of the affairs of religion, or for
which such a thing as religion was to be kept on foot in the
world. Look back amongst any sort of people as to the most
ancient accounts we have in the world of any thing of religion
and we shall find it so : as for instance, if we go to the Egyp
tians of old, the Phoenicians, the Assyrians, the Persians, the
Grecians, the Romans, the ancient Gauls and Britons ; nay,
if we carry it as far as China : for such accounts as we have
of their religion and what it hath been for some hundreds
of years past, nay, and some thousands of years backwards.
All these people have pretended to somewhat of divine re
velation, over and besides natural light, none of them but
have had those among them whom they always took to be
inspired persons. I am not considering now, whether their
pretensions be right or wrong, true or false, but all have agreed
in this sentiment, that there did need some other revelation
besides the light of nature , in order to the ends and pur
poses of religion. They always had some sacred persons among
them. Their priests, their magi, gymnosophists, their brah-
472 THE PRINCIPLES OP THE ORACLES OF GOI>.
mins, their bards, their druids, whom they always took for
inspired persons ; and received dictates and directions from-
them still in reference to matters of religion : yea, and in re
ference to other matters too, as so many inspired persons : thus
still by their own confession, owning mere natural light insuf
ficient for the purposes of religion. Famous it is, (besides all
that hath been intimated before,) concerning those several sorts
of sacred persons, that the several nations had amongst them,
that when Numa began to settle religion at Rome, in the first
forming of that people he pretended to have all his directions'
from his goddess Egeria whom he conversed and met with in
the woods, and consulted of those affairs from time to time.
And the people of the Chinese are reckoned to have all their
methods of religion and all their notions of it from that Con-
-fucius for whom they have the greatest veneration, that ever any
people could be supposed to have of one as an inspired person,
so as that deference was never paid by the Turks to their Maho
met, which is paid by these Chinese, to their Confucius whom
they had their religion from, at least one thousand years before
ever the other was known in the world.
Now this, to me, is a very great thing, that by the common
consent of mankind in all the known and noted nations of
which we have any record or notices among us ; they should pre
tend constantly to somewhat or other of divine revelation, in
reference to the affairs of religion ; thereby giving us, as the
common sentiment of mankind, that mere natural light was
not enough, but some divine revelation was further to be super-
added, for the conduct and management of the affairs of reli
gion in the world. And to that is to be added,
2. That as this would be argumentum ad hominem, (it be
ing the common sentiment of mankind,) so it is very apparent
from the nature of the thing, that really and truly it is a matter
of plain necessity in itself, that there be some superadded reve
lation to the mere light of nature. For notwithstanding the
pretence of ir, (that pretence of it to be sure, can never do
the business or answer the end for which the thing itself is ne
cessary) yet it is plain, that the very thing, that is, a real and
divine revelation is necessary over and besides mere natural
light, as that lies now so much corrupted, depraved and ob
scured, among the sons of men, if you do but consider into how
miserable delusions, men have generally fallen, where such a
real divine revelation was wanting, in reference to the greatest
and most important things of religion. As what can we sup
pose greater or of more importance to religion than these two,
the object of it, and the end of it ? The Object of it is the God
LEG. ix. Divine authority of the Huty Scriptures. 473
we are to worship, and the end of it is the felicity that we are to
design and aim at in all the exercises of that worship, and in
the whole course of our religion. Where there is not a real di
vine revelation, what monstrous conceits have heen taken up
concerning the object of religion ! The polytheism of the
gentile and pagan world, is a plain and pregnant proof what a
necessity there was, that over and besides the mere light of na
ture, God should reveal himself as the peculiar and sole Object
of religion, according to what he is in himself. For though it
be true indeed, that many of the wisest philosophers among the
pagans, have had right sentiments of the one Deity, the supreme
Numen, God; yet for the generality of the people how much
otherwise hath it been ? And with whom those wiser men have
been forced to comply and fall in, temporising with them
whose own wicked and gross conceptions have led them to wor
ship for deities, the sun, moon and stars ; or heroes, the souls
of men departed from among them, and sometimes to come so
low as to worship dogs and cats, weasels, apes, serpents, onions,
leeks and garlic, fountains and rivers and the like, for gods. So
apparent need was there for a divine revelation to inform men
about the object of their worship, above that light that is com
mon to men as men. And then as concerning the end of reli
gion, felicity, the great diversity of opinions among the pagans,
(and even the wiser of them) no less than two hundred, eighty
and eight, about the summum bonum, chief good, shews how
great need there is of a particular divine direction, as to what
that is which we are to design for ourselves as our final and
eternal felicity. To these I add,
3. That supposing the necessity of a divine revelation about
matters that relate to religion and our future blessedness, it
must some time or other have become necessary that it should
be a written revelation, put into writing upon record. Some
time I say, I do not say always necessary. It is plain it must
be less necessary in former ages of the world, when by reason
of the vast longevity and length of life, about three or four
persons might see through two thousand years and upwards,
and so give an account but by three or four hands, of the most
material and important things, that were of common concern
ment for men, as such, to know about the beginning of the
world and the like. And no doubt there was great care taken
to preserve the memory of what was necessary to be known, by
monuments and the like, as Seth's pillars were, of which Jo-
sephus gives a particular account in his time. But 1 suppose
there were only oral traditions, for that time, passing from hand
to hand ; and that of things of so apparent, common impor-
VOL. vi. 3 o
474 THE PR INCT FILES OF THE ORACLES OF GO17.
tance and necessity, that none can imagine but if the person?
were persons of tolerable prudence, (and we have no reason but
to apprehend they were persons of great prudence, some at least
that were more especially concerned, as Adam himself, Enoch 7
Noah and Shem,) there couM not but have been very distinct ac
counts transmitted from such hands, of what was necessary to
be known concerning the original of the world, and what the
pleasure of him that made it was, concerning the affairs of his
worship in those days. And we may easily apprehend our
selves if, in any family among us, any thing of great concern
ment to the nation, (mush more to all mankind,) should have
come to the notice of an ancestor of ours ; as, suppose any of
you could say, "My grandfather or my great grandfather had
certain notices, some way or other, conveyed to him of such and
such matters of fact, of the greatest importance imaginable to
the whole nation," Do you think that that would be forgotten in
three or four ages in that family ? And as little supposable is
it, that in three or four ages of so long a duration, all that con
cerned the original of the world, and revealed will of its Cre
ator, how men ought toHve^ and order their course in the world y
would be forgotten.
But afterwards, when the lives of men grew shorter, it is most
apparent, there was a necessity that such things as were most re
quisite to be known, and were of most common use, should be
digested into records in writing. And so we find first, the books
of Moses written; and afterwards, there was an addition of more
and more made, as God thought fit, in following ages, till the
fulness of time, when we have the clearest light of an entire
gospel revelation handed to us from our Lord himself, who
came from the bosom of his* Father to reveal and make him
known, and his whole mind and will to men. And indeed, for
them that would substitute tradition, and particularly that of oral
tradition rn the room of this sacred written rule,- they do it with
the greatest absurdity that can be imagined : and indeed with
the greatest immodesty, in them that now a-days pretend to it.
It is true, we read the apostle did take order with Timothy
that some particular things which he had seen and taken notice
of, and heard from him, he should commit to faithful men that
might be able to teach and instruct others. There were many
useful things that were not presently pat into writing. But as
for these men, under the notion of faithful witnesses, they have
the least reason of any men in the world to lay claim to that
office and dignity, of being the conveyancers to us of the things
that concern us, in reference to our salvation and our eternal
well-being r for when they take upon them to be authors, they
JLEC. ix. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures.
cannot be looked upon to have done the part of faithful witness
es. How strangely have they innovated upon that religion
which they hoast to have been the conveyers of o us ! How
much another thing have they made it, to what it was, in doc-
trinals and worship, and even in reference to the affairs of com
mon conversation itself? So that we may see, even by the inso-
lency of this pretence of theirs, enough to assure us of the neces
sity of such a written rule to resort unto. And indeed, in what
case had the Christian religion been at this day and the profes
sors of it in the world, if we had not had this written rule in our
hands, to correct and discover plainly wherein they have prevari
cated and corrupted the Christian religion ? So that we may seek
Christianity in the Christian world, as was said of old concern
ing the City of Samium, it was so .altered that Samium was
to be sought in Samium itself; so we would still be to seek
Christianity among Christians, if we had not these records to
set us right, and let us know what Christian religion was at
first.
And upon the whole matter, as to those that would so of
ficiously substitute their traditions in the room of the clear
light of this written word, it is much a like case as if any of
you should fall in with one travelling on the way, and he of
fers himself to be your companion and guide, and tells you
that you have eyes that you make use of in choosing your way,
but these eyes are only troublesome to you, they represent to
you diversities of objects that draw this way and that, so
that you cannot mind your path. " And pray (saith he) let me
put out those eyes of yours and submit yourself to my conduct ;"
and all that he may guide you into a pit. Or a like case it would
be, as if you should have writings in your hands, any of you,
that were ancient, and did concern the title to an estate of yours
from ages past, and one should say to you " These writings
have a great deal of obscurity in them, pray let me have these
writings and dispose of them as I see good, and you need not
doubt but that there will be witnesses enough to prove your
title if there be occasion ; and you do not need to question but
1 will take care to defend you and make out your title ;" and to
think to rob you of them by such a fraudulent artifice. Just
thus would they deal with us about the sacred records, in which
our all for eternal life do lie. But very plain it is upon all
these grounds, that it was necessary there should be some
what of divine revelation supcradded to mere natural light ;
and was also necessary, some time, that it should be a written
ne.
4. Supposing this, that it is necessary there should be a
476 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
written revelation of the mind of God, about matters that do
concern OUT present religion and future felicity, then we have
none at all extant in the world that can come in any plausible
competition with this book, unless you will bring the Maho
metan Alcoran into competition with it. Nothing else doth pre
tend to be a rule of faith and light to men. And for that Alco
ran, (besides what it hath borrowed, or stolen, rather from the
Bible) it is a book full of so gross absurdities, that they who have
but common sense, would soon discern the difference between
them; and how little of pretence there could be to bring that in
to competition with this, much less to carry it against this upon
such a comparison. There are things in it so manifestly con
trary to the common light and reason of men, as there would
be ground enough for a most contemptuous rejection of it upon
that score : such as its asserting the corporeity of the divine
nature ; and that the felicity of the future state in the other
world doth consist only in bodily pleasures and the like ; things
manifestly refutable by common natural light. And besides
the contradiction that there is to the common reason of men
in so great things as these, it is made up of contradictions and
repugnancies to itself. For it doth say even that concerning
him, upon whom, you know our great hopes depend, which
it doth, in the most substantial things, afterwards gainsay and
contradict, for it owns him to be a great and a holy prophet,
sent by God into this world. But if their religion should be
true, he must be the falsest prophet (one of them) that ever
was upon the face of the earth, or that ever pretended to pro
phesy ; for did not he avow and give himself out to be the Son
of God ? If he were a true prophet he did truly say this, that
he was the Son of God, and that he and his Father were one :
and if he were a true prophet he did truly say this also, that the
religion he taught and the professors of it, should continue, and
he with them, to the end of the world ; and then the Maho
metan religion was never to subvert and root out the Chris
tian.
It is plain therefore, that nothing under the name of a divine
revelation can with any, the least plausibleness be brought into
competition with this book. And therefore, if a divine revela
tion were necessary, and a written revelation were necessary,
this must be it and there can be no other. It is true indeed, some
enthusiastical persons have pretended to inspiration as to this
or that particular thing : but none have undertaken to pretend,
that they are so inspired of God as to give a full, particular,
perfect system and model, of all that is to be believed and done,
in reference to worship and religion. So that this book hath
really no plausible pretender or competitor against it.
LBC. ix. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 477
5. Whereas, it doth pretend and avow itself to be divine, and
of divine original ; it hath those inimitable characters of divinity
upon it, which most plainly justify that pretence: I shall, be
fore I instance, only forelay this That we must consider, when
we would make a judgment upon this thing, whether this thing
be a godlike thing, yea or no, and carries visible characters of
divinity stamped upon it, we are, in making our judgment about
this matter, to consider, not barely what is spoken or contained
in this book, but also to whom such things are spoken, whose
use this book was designed to serve, and what use it was intend
ed for. We are not to consider, in this case, how God should
speak if he were to publish an edict, or make an oration from
the throne of glory to the innumerable company of angels,
those glorious creatures that surrou-nd him above. That is none
of the case that we are to consider. But we are to consider
how we would expect him to speak, or how he would direct
things to be written, that were intended for all sorts of men,
here in this world, from the highest to the lowest, of all capa
cities and of all conditions, that have any exercise of reason and
understanding. We are not to expect that one sort of Bible
should have been written for learned men, and another for un
learned ; or that one sort of Bible was written for citizens and
another for country people ; but we are to suppose that there
was to be a book written that should suit the capacities of all
sorts of persons from the highest to the lowest. And what
could have been more Godlike, more suitable to his wisdom
and goodness, and more agreeable to the capacity and necessity
of men in general, than what we have here in this book ? And
consider the use that it was to serve, what it was indeed to be
written for. It was for the saving of miserable creatures that
were in a lost perishing state. It was never intended that such
a book should be written, only to please men's fancies or grati
fy their humours, or tickle their ears. It was intended for sav
ing lost miserable souls, from perishing for ever; and those of
all sorts, of all capacities, from the highest to the lowest : and
so nothing could have been imagined more worthy of God, than
the composure of this Book, for such persons and for such
uses. And now to particularize a little, as to such divine cha
racters which are conspicuous in it, and which I call inimit
able, that could have proceeded from none but a divine Author.
rAS,
(1.) The majesty of the style: How great, how august and
Godlike it is ! in the whole of it : take it entirely in the whole
frame, and nothing could appear, in respect to the style, more
majestic or more worthy of God. Though the case must be
THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OP GOD.
considered with a diversity, that is, that he did make u*e of
human penmen, and it is never to be supposed, that he should
direct every word and every phrase, by an extraordinary imme
diate inspiration : for then it were impossible there should have
been a diversity of style, but all the parts must have been in
one and the same style. But there was that influx of the divine
Spirit that did most certainly guide the writers, as to all the
substance, of what was to be written and recorded by them;
which did attemper itself to the natural genius of those that
were made use of as the penmen, so that the communication
of the Holy Ghost, received by such and such men, of such and
such a constitution, temper and genius, comes to be diversified
in that manner, as if one come to pour a quantity of water in
to such and such a particular vessel, the water in its form
will resemble the figure of the vessel: if the vessel be
round, the water falls into a round figure ; if the vessel be
square, the water is formed into that figure unavoidably. And
so the same communication of the Holy Ghost, being poured
into such a vessel as this or that man was, comes to be accord
ingly diversified. That very communication to such a one as
Isaiah, for instance, receives one sort of figure there, and a
communication to such a one as Micah, receives another fi
gure there ; when yet all these communications are from one
and the same Fountain, and serve for one and the same com
mon purpose. And indeed upon the whole, it doth appear,
that the greatness of the way of speaking it, doth so suit the
majesty of God as nothing could do more, when men have come
forth and spoken and written in the name of the Lord ; and
have from time to time pronounced, " Thus saith the Lord ;"
and when they have been directed to personate God, " I am
the Lord ; do so and so, I am the Lord," this is so becom
ing the greatness, the grandeur of the Author of this book, that
it is not asupposable thing that there should be any, that would
assume the confidence, in reference to things of this nature, to
take upon them at such a rate ; that is, comparing the confi
dence of such a pretence with the matter that is spoken of; and
nothing is more evident than that this is agreeable to God only,
or to one immediately directed by God only, and none else.
And upon what was noted to you concerning the difference of
styles, for such parts of this book wherein God is represented to
be the immediate Speaker, himself making this use of man, it
is evident in such cases, when he hath appeared more imme
diately as the Author of what was said, nothing beneath God
can be supposed to have spoken like him. As now to instance,
there is that song called the song of Moses in the 32. of Deur
teronomy ; God doth give immediate directions to publish tfce
tEC. ix. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures.
words of such a song to this people, and to keep it as a re*
cord among them. It seems most likely that every word there,
was dictated immediately by God himself. And who did ever
read any thing so great and so august as the words of that song
are? And so when we find God immediately speaking to Job,
in some of the latter chapters of that book, Who can imi
tate the majesty of what is said ? which is there spoken unto
him, when God speaketh to him himself out of the whirlwind.
And,
(2.) Consider the sublimity of the matter ". How mighty, great
things are contained in this book ! As in that Hosea 8. 12. ** I
have written unto them the great things of my law." To
take such a summary as that, 1 Tim. 3. 16. " Without contro
versy, great is the mystery of godliness : God was manifest in.
the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto
the gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glo
ry." How mighty things are these, of how sublime a nature !
And these make the principal contents of this book. And
then,
(3.) Do but consider again, the comprehensiveness of this Sa
cred Volume, of how vast extent it is. And what mind, but the
mind of God could have comprehended and collected together
so great a variety of things as we find in this book ? So as that
nothing can be pretended to be wanting ; not one thing can be
so much as alleged is wanting that is requisite to be put into
such a book, to serve the end it pretends to serve, and that it
avows itself to be designed for. Things that suit all states of
men from the highest to the lowest, all ages and each sex.
Things we have that make up the system of what we are to be
lieve, and things that compose and make up the system of what
we are to do, and what makes up the system for us of what we
are to desire. Do but look to the crtdenda, and the agenda
and the petenda or speranda : where we may have the col
lected digesta of the one kind and the other, and who can
pretend any thing to be wanting here ? The comprehen
siveness of this book speaks the divinity of it, having that in
it which suits every case and every purpose for which such a
book can be desirable, or can be pretended to be so. And
then,
(4.) Consider too, its correspondency to the spirit of man,
which it was designed to rectify and set right, and be a mea
sure unto, if you look upon the spirit of man under a threefold
capacity. That is, look upon it as merely rational, or look up
on it as corrupt and depraved, or look upon it as regenerate and
renewed ; and the contents of this book do most admirably suit
480 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
it every way, Look upon it as merely rational, and nothing s
adequate to the mind and reason of a man ; so as that, though
things in it there are indeed, that the reason of man could not
have found out j there is nothing in it which the reason of man
would not approve, being represented and laid before it. If we
consider the condition of man as corrupt, what delineations
have we of the corrupt frame and temper of the spirit of man in
this state ? And nothing, to me, is a greater argument of the
truth of our religion in general, than to find such exact de
scriptions of the state of man, suiting the temper in which he is
now to be found upon the original depravation in all his condi
tions in this world. So that just such a thing as a carnal man
was, and was represented to have been five thousand years ago,
just such a one he is now ; all the imaginations of the thoughts
of the heart of man are evil, and continually so. And when
God looks down from heaven upon man, to understand who it
is that seeks after God, there is none that is found doing good,
no not one ; none seeking after God ; for that good must be
chiefly meant : as if all the world did agree in rhat one com
mon sense, to say unto God " Depart from us, we desire not
the knowledge of thy ways : let not God molest or disturb us
in our course." Just so is the degenerate spirit and temper of
man represented, and how true a representation is it ! And
then look upon the spirit of man as renewed, and how lively a
description is there of the regenerate man, the renewed man !
just so desiring after God, the living God, as this book doth
express; there placing its sole felicity and highest delight,
there reposing its treasure, there placing the study of the
heart, to be sincere and upright in his sight : who but God
could have made such a representation of man ? And that I
take to be a further consideration which shews the divinity of
this book, even those most inimitable characters of its divine
Author that are most conspicuous to every discerning eye. But
ladd,
(5.) The wonderful efficacy this word hath had upon the souls
of men, from age to age. It hath shewn itself to be " the pow
er of God, through faith unto salvation." What multitudes
has it subdued ! This sword of the Spirit, and arrows taken from
hence, how "sharp have they been in the hearts of the King's
enemies," by which multitudes have been thrown down and
made subject ! what conquests hath it made ! Though indeed
there have been sad dark intervals : but no more but what have
been foretold long ago, wherein the progress of the Christian
interest and religion should be slow and little : no other was to
be expected, according to what was long ago foretold of. But
LEC. ix. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 481
if you consider the vast increases that were within the first and
second centuries, so that some of the ancients have taken no
tice, and one particularly, by way of apology, to the emperor
that then was, "we grow so numerous" (saith he) "that were
it not for the peaceableness of our spirits and principles, you
could not subsist in opposition to us. It were easy for us to
overturn the empire : and were it possible for us to retire and
draw from the world, the world would wonder at its own emp
tiness." And Pliny writing to Trojan, another of their empe
rors, tells him, that rigorous and severe practices against the
Christians were now altogether impracticable and might be dan
gerous : for he tells him, every where the way to the temples
was overgrown with grass, and there were none to buy up their
sacrifices, and there was no way in the world to keep peace in
the empire, but to be very benign to the Christians. And he did
procure by that epistle, a great suspension of the rage, and ces
sation of the persecution that was at that time. And then, all
this was done, not by the power of arms, (as the mahometan
religion hath spread itself in the world,) but only by the pow
er of this very word, the doctrine of Christ ; whereby it appears
to be " the wisdom of God and the power of God." I have
discoursed to you at large before, of the strong and irrefragable
evidence that is given to the truth of this book by the prophe
cies, and by the miracles we find recorded in it ; the punctual
predictions of the former, and the obsignations given to divine
truth, given by divine power in the latter. But this seal, set
upon the souls of men by the sanctifying Spirit, (whereof this
word hath been continually the instrument) carries to seeing
and discerning persons, the greatest evidence imaginable in it.
It was the saying of Plato, that "the world is God's epistle to
men; the characters of his invisible power and goodness being
so visible upon it." And how raised would his thoughts have
been, and how much transported would he have been beyond
the transport in which he was on this occasion, if he had but
known and viewed this divine and sacred book ! But then, to
find it again, copied out and transcribed in men's hearts ! " You
are," saith the apostle, "the epistle of Christ ministered by us,
written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not
in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart. 2 Cor.
3. 3. What a demonstration is here of the divine Author that
hath made work, even by his word, upon the hearts and souls of
men ? So as that the same apostle speaks in that, 2 Cor. 13. 3.
"Do you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-
ward is not weak, but mighty in you ?" " Examine yourselves
whether ye be in the faith/' " Do you seek a proof of Christ
VOL, VI. 3 P
482 THE PRINCIPLES OFTHE ORACLES OF SOI?.
speaking by me ?" See him in this book, and look into your
selves, such of you as have been converted and turned by my
ministry ; see if you be not Christ's epistle ? See if he hath not
written out the greatest and most necessary things about him
and his religion, out of this book into your own hearts. And I
add,
(6.) That the high complacency that the best men take in
this book, must needs prove it to be divine to their own sense.
It is true, that there wants not rational evidence to demonstrate
the divine authority or divinity of this book, to any that shall
at leisure impartially consider the thing. But it is a far more
lively proof that any one hath of this in himself and in his own
soul, when he is made to taste, in the word, how gracious the
Lord is, when he hath the pleasant relish of it in his own spi
rit : when he can say by his own experience, " Oh, how sweet
are thy words to my mouth, yea sweeter than honey to my
taste !" when it is to him a recreation to retire and set himself
to think and consider and study upon these great and deep
things of God ; when once he comes to experience this, that
the law of God is his delight, and that therein he can exercise
himself night and day. So it was, when much less was writ
ten of this book than what we now have. If David had seen
all the writings of the New Testament, and of the prophets that
succeeded himself, and had had the complete, entire volume in
his hands that we have, with what transports would he have
spoken of the ravishing pleasures of this book ! how delectable a
study must it have been to his soul ! I hope (though it is much
to be lamented indeed that there are no more) there are many
at this day that find it thus : " We approve it ourselves, in our
own hearts; this must be, this cannot but be the divine word,
it is so delectable, so refreshing to our souls." And,
(7.) Lastly. Take this by way of addition, the plain and ma
nifest design it hath to make men holy and good ; and conse
quently to make them blessed and happy at length, proves it to
l)e divine. It hath manifestly this design ; and can have no
other. This is a thing that speaks itself to every conscience of
man that doth consider, that is, that this book in the general
composure of it hath a design to make men good and holy ;
and consequently to make them blessed and happy ; and can
have no other design. Every one must suppose that such a
book as this, came not by chance into the world ; if not by
chance, then it came by design ; and if it came by design, then
something or other must lie designed in it. It doth serve this
end manifestly, aims at this, to make men holy and pure, and fit
them for heaven and a blessed eternity ; and it hath no other
LEC. x. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 485
design, it aims at nothing else. This then must be of God ;
this must either have been a divine revelation from God him
self, (as it avows itself to be,)or it must be one of the most hor
rid forgeries that ever was contrived under heaven, ever since the
creation of the world. But I would appeal to any man's con
science, whether it is likely any one would be guilty of so au
dacious a wickedness, to entitle the holy God to be the Author
of an imposture, for no other end than to make men holy and
good ? would men be so wicked as this, for no other end but to
make the world good ? Their own fact would fly in their faces.
Here is a design to make the world holy and happy ; and if the
world were thus, as this book would make it, if it were suitable
to it and the contents of it, if there were that love to God and
Christ and our neighbours, that holiness, that righteousness up
on earth that are expressed in, and designed to be promoted by
this book, what a blessed world were this ! The very image and
idea of heaven itself. But to think that men should be guilty
of the greatest wickedness that ever was done under the sun,
with so good a design, is the most inconsistent and unimagin
able thing that can be.
These considerations, superadded to what was largely spoken
to before, 1 reckon will prove the matter out of doubt, (with all
that impartially consider and weigh things,) that these Scrip
tures are of divine authority.
LEC. X.*
That which we have further yet to do upon this subject, is
only to say somewhat by way of answer to an objection or two ;
and then to conclude and shut up all in some use.
Objection 1 . Some such thought may possibly arise in the
minds of some, that if these books be indeed of divine revela
tion in order to the salvation of souls, as you have heard they
are, it may seem strange that they have been confined to so
little a part of the world, to so small a portion of mankind. As
for the books of the Old Testament, while they only were in
being, that they should be shut up in so narrow limits as Pales
tine, a very little, inconsiderable spot, compared with the rest
of the world. In Judah, it was said God was known, as being
unknown to the rest of the world. Psalm 76. 1. And he
gave his word to Jacob, and his statutes and judgments, to Is
rael; and did not so to any nation. Psalm 147. 19- 20. To
the Jews were committed the oracles of God, as the apostle
Preached February 20. 1 691.
484 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
speaks. Rom. 3. 2. And afterwards, when Christianity came,
in the fulness of time, to obtain in the world, how little a way,
in comparison, did the Christian records reach, or have reach
ed hitherto ? According to common computation, the world be
ing divided into thirty parts, nineteen do yet remain totally pa
ganish in the grossest sense, and the other eleven, between ma-
hometans and Christians, and not above a sixth part of the
world that are so much as Christians in name, and of them how
great a part have the Bible reserved and locked up from them,
they not being permitted the use and knowledge of it ? All this
may seem very strange, if we consider these Scriptures as a di
vine revelation purposely vouchsafed in order to the salvation
of the souls of men.
Why in reference to this I shall offer you some considera
tions that I hope may net be unuseful. As,
1 . Suppose that there had been no saving design at all, set
on foot in reference to the apostate sons of men, but that they
had been left under the same remediless condition with the
apostate angels, what wrong had there been clone ? who could
have had whereof to accuse the righteous Lord and sovereign
Ruler of all this world ? Why might not he have left all to sink
without remedy or hope, into so deserved, yea, and a self pro
cured ruin ? It is therefore apparently, not a matter of right,
but of free favour, if God afford any apt and suitable means in
order to the saving of any. And what is not matter of right
may surely be withheld without wrong. But,
2. When upon the fall of Adam it pleased God so graciously
to reveal to him his saving design and the means of it by that
eminent seed of the woman, whereof (though those words do
carry but an obscure intimation, yet) undoubtedly, he did not
leave Adam ignorant of the meaning and intendment of them.
And it is as little to be doubted, but that Adam did transmit
the knowledge of what he knew himself, in so important a mat
ter, to his more immediate posterity. If then they had not
been wanting to themselves and their posterity, it must neces
sarily have been, that there would have been some sufficient
knowledge of a Saviour diffused all the world over, wheresoever
his posterity had spread itself. But if men have herein been
wanting to themselves, is the holy merciful God to be charged
with this ? If some very bountiful person should confer some
great estate, and settle it upon some particular family, and they
embezzle and lose it, is this to be charged upon the bountiful
benefactor ? And again,
3. Men did not only by their voluntary neglect, lose the no
tices that were first thus given to Adam, concerning a Saviour,
LEC. x. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 485
but they lost the very notions of God himself. So that by their
own negligence and malignity, they gradually and universally
sunk, even into the grossest idolatry, and so by this means, not
only lost the opportunity that they had of knowing somewhat
how man might have been saved out of his lost and lapsed es
tate, but they provoked divine displeasure against them in the
highest degree. And so their negligence herein, is not only
the natural means of their being without such knowledge as
they otherwise would have had, but the provoking cause of
God's deserting the world in so great a measure, and so gene
rally as he hath deserted it. And thus doth the apostle plain
ly state the case, that because they have not been true to that
light that was natural and common to them, did not follow the
conduct, even of the notices of God that they had, therefore
they have been abandoned and given up : " The wrath of God
hath been revealed from heaven against the ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteous
ness." What truth was that ? or what men were these ? It
was natural truth, the natural knowledge of God, that men had
as men ; and this was the pagan world that was here chiefly
spoken of. And for that very reason, because that which was to
be known of God in them was so manifest to them, even the
invisible things of God from the creation of the world, his eter
nal power and Godhead, sufficiently to leave them without ex
cuse : yet (as it after follows) they liking not to retain God in
their knowledge, therefore he gave them up ; as we see Rom.
1. 18, 28. Here is nothing but Nemesis, just punishment, and
so no cause at all to complain of any injury done to men. But,
4. When yet it pleased God, in order to the revival of the
lost state of religion in the world, to form a peculiar people to
himself, and there to set up an eminent light, (as it were,) upon
a candlestick, to vouchsafe an express revelation of himself to
that people, and to commit to them his oracles, they were so
committed to them, not to be confined and hid, but preserved
and kept : and that thence, light might be transmitted all
round about, which accordingly must of course (if men had
not been wanting to themselves) have spread further and fur
ther. It was not from any divine appointment ; but from the
ill spirit that ruled amongst that ill people, and from the pre
judice and negligence of their neighbours, that the light they
had, did not spread and extend further and further and still fur
ther and further, to circulate from nation to nation. It pro
ceeded (I say) from the ill spirit that was among the Jews who
did envy to the rest of the world the knowledge of God, which
ow, for the present, was peculiar to them : and to the negli-
4S<5 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF COD.
gence and prejudice of the rest, that they looked after no suck
things. Of that ill spirit that ruled among the Jews, that is a sad
instance, (which I have upon some other occasion told you of)
that when there was one translation of the Old Testament by
the seventy elders, enjoined to be made by Ptolemy and they
could not tell how to hinder it, they appointed a solemn fast
universally wherever they had any thing at all to do, to lament
that the knowledge of God should be so diffused amongst
others; and go beyond their own bounds. Wherein, as they
were guilty, no doubt, so the rest of the world were accessary
too, by their negligence and disaffection to the true knowledge
of God, to their own continuing ignorance. And further,
5. That when the Christian records, the books of the Nevr
Testament came to be added to those of the Old, how should
it come to pass but only through the general ill temper of men,
that Christian knowledge might not be as far extended as com
merce was between nation and nation, kingdom and kingdom >
Why might not that commodity have been carried as far as gold
and silver and precious stones ? the price whereof is far above
all these, " more precious than rubies," or thousands of gold
and silver. And (as I told you formerly) it was never to be ex
pected, God should do that by extraordinary means, that might
have been done by ordinary. And this being the case, it is
little to be expected that God (when men might so easily have
transmitted such notices from nation to nation, and those that
were of a greater distance, and might have heard, more ob
scurely, of such and such things might have inquired and sent
and laboured to inform themselves) should give remedy to such
an evil as this, by an extraordinary course ; that when in an or
dinary way such knowledge might have been conveyed from
country to country, he should have sent an angel from kingdom
to kingdom, and from nation to nation to carry them Bibles.
It might have been as well expected that, in Christian coun
tries, where the Bible is come, but a great many persons being
illiterate, and can make no use of it, an angel should be sent
from house to house to teach their children to read. Again,
6. Where there hath been both a loss of that Christian
knowledge that once did obtain, and those very records do (it
may be") cease from some parts of the world where they have
been, this is still to be imputed to the same cause, the careless
ness and negligence of men about their own concernments,
even about their greatest concernments, as we are told. It is
true, that of latter days, in some parts of the world, where
there have been thirty Christians for one pagan, there are now
nearly thirty mahometans for one Christian. Whence is
LBC. x. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 48*
but from the wilful degeneracy and revolt of those, amongst
whom the Christian name was sometime professed ? It would
not have been imposed upon any, whether they would or no,
to forego their religion, and to let these sacred records cease
from among them, and substitute a foetid, fulsome, ridiculous
Alcoran in the room of them. We are not to charge upon
God these gross negligences and wickednesses of men. And
again,
7. Where these holy books are shut up from people, (as they
are generally in the romish church,) to what is that to be im
puted, but to their own carelessness and indifferency and cold
ness in the concerns of their own souls and of the future state ?
This is a punishment, a just punishment upon stupid besotted
princes and people, that they would be so imposed upon ; so
absurdly and without pretence ; that their priests must lock up
all from them, that so they might have the leading of them, the
blind leading the blind into the ditch. We are to consider a
penal hand in this, as is expressed, 2 Thes. 2. 11. that where
the truth is not received in the love of it, there God, in judg
ment, should " send strong delusions that they should believe
a lie that they all might be damned." This is righteous and
holy displeasure, and the act and effort of punitive justice for
very gross and most provoking wickedness, that a greater value
hath not been had and expressed of things so sacred, so pre
cious and of such, concernment to men's souls; that the greater
part of the Christian world should suffer itself to be so grossly
imposed upon, and cheated out of the very things wherein their
very salvation is concerned. Their wickedness in this, did
punish itself. And God hath most righteously permitted it to
be so. And then,
8. That according to human measures, and even amongst
ourselves, the government is not concerned when laws are made,
to provide that every particular person should have the parti
cular knowledge of them. Such laws as are of common con
cernment men are obliged, under penalties, to observe : they
are to look after them themselves. The government is not to
take care that every particular person, or family, or parish, or
town, or country hath this or that particular act of parliament
sent to them, or a statute book lodged in every such place. That
is not their care, but it is expected, people should so far con
cern themselves and mind their interests as to acquaint them
selves with things, upon which the safety of their lives as well
as the common peace doth depend. And yet further,
9. Where ignorance of those great things that are contained
in the Holy Scriptures is altogether invincible ; and wheie it
was impossible, in a natural way, that such knowledge should
48S THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
come, undoubtedly God will deal with men accordingly. He
will only proceed with them according to that light they had ;
lie will never punish them for not having that light which they
never had, nor could have. " As many as sin without the lavr
shall perish without the law : and as many as have sinned
with the law shall perish by the law:" as Romans 2. 12.
And,
10. In the last place, if any such were any where to be
found, that did to their utmost improve the light and means of
knowledge which they had, (supposing them never to have had
what we have from these holy writings,) we do not know what
God would have done for their further help in that case. But
I doubt instances will not be found of such as have improved
the light they had to the uttermost. How far are we from im
proving as we should and might, that greater light which we
have ? But God hath his ways open to him. We do not know
how he did convey light of old to those that had it before the
Scriptures were written : how Job came by his knowledge, and
how his friends came by theirs, we do not know. But this is
undoubtedly the ordinary, stated means of knowledge where it
is vouchsafed ; where God doth afford it. If God doth not af
ford it, he proceeds then by other measures of his own which
we know nothing of. But certainly he will always walk punc
tually according to that rule, that " whosoever hath, to them
shall be given, and they shall have more abundantly ;" that is,
whosoever hath so as to improve what he hath, that useth and
enjoys what he hath, and God is pleased to trust him with, God
will never be wanting to such. He will always be before- hand
with them, as he is never behind- hand with any, according to
that known and generally approved saying of that ancient :
Homini facienti quod in se est, Dem non deest : God is ne
ver wanting to them that do improve what they possess.
Though he owes them nothing, and whatsoever he doth for
them is of grace, he is never wanting to those that with serious
diligence trade with, and improve their present talents. And I
think more needs not to be said to that objection.
Objection 2. And it is of less concernment, what might be
further objected in the second place. That is, it may seem
somewhat more desirable (at least) that these Scriptures had
contained things that are of necessity to salvation in a more
distinct method, that we might have had (as it were) all the
several heads belonging to religion, reduced as in a common
place book, to such and such distinct topics, that every one
might know whither to go presently for all things that do be
long to such and such a head. But,
LEC. x. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 489
1. 1 answer; It is enough to those that consider things modest
ly, and with that subjection and resignation of spirit that we
ought to have, to take notice only that God hath thought ano
ther course fitter. And that is surely best which he thinks
best. So submissive and resigned ought our minds and un
derstandings to be to the divine mind. But,
2. Supposing the most accurate method that could be ima
gined were used in all things, as was suggested, yet however,
there would have been a continual use and need of a stated of
fice, to be continued through all the successions of time, pur
posely for the explaining and for the enforcing of things upon,
the dull and sluggish minds of men. The state of this apos
tate world doth most manifestly require it, yea and even with
the best, those that are upon recovery, who are in some mea
sure restored out of the common apostasy, they do still need to
be continually administered unto. And that being supposed, it
is the business of them who are invested with such an office, to
be continually searching for others, and labouring diligently to
explain things to them, and to lay things together, and to apply
them to particular uses and purposes as the variety of cases
should need and require. And to add no more,
3. Whereas the bounty and goodness of God hath provided
for the inhabitants of this earth, that the bowels of it should be
replenished with things of very great usefulness and very great
value, as gold, silver, precious stones and the like that are dug
out of the earth, it might as reasonably be said, Why did not
God so order the matter, that upon turning up of the earth, one
might have found vessels of gold, flagons and dishes of silver
ready made and formed ? and why have we not our rubies and
diamonds ready cut and polished, as they are taken out of the
earth? These Scriptures do contain all needful truths in the ore,
from whence they are to be beaten out. And what ! is no
thing to be left to the industry and diligence of those that are
to be employed here a lifetime, in reference to the concern
ments of their salvation and the affairs of another world ? must
every one expect that food of this kind should drop into his
mouth when, even in reference to the support of this perishing
life, it seemed a just and equal law to the universal Lawgiver,
that he that would not labour should not eat ?
And therefore, now to make some brief Use of what hath been
said upon this subject. It may be improved several ways.
1 . It may very reasonably put us upon reflection, what our
temper and what our practice hath been and is, in reference to
these sacred writings. And,
VOJU VI. 3
490 THE PRINCIPLES OF TP1E ORACLES OF GOD.
(1.) Let us reflect, and bethink ourselves: Are they used, ara
they perused as so sacred, so important and necessary things
do require to be ? Pray let us reflect, Are they much in our
hands in our closets ? do we lay it as a charge upon ourselves to
search the Scriptures ? You see it is given as a charge by our
Lord himself, " Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye
have eternal life." John 5. 39. Is the reading of them in our
families a common practice? You do best know. There is
such a thing as family instruction charged upon family masters.
They are to be accountable for those under their charge in this
very thing. And certainly they that do but use a very ordinary
understanding, would soon and easily apprehend, that 1 who am
to maintain the lives of so many persons in my family under
my care, by providing food for them for their natural lives, that
I who am not to suffer a child or a servant to starve under
my roof, must not surely let their sours starve : I must not
let the necessary means of spiritual and eternal life be withheld
from them. Let it be considered, Is such a course kept up? If
there must be family instruction, this word must be the ground
of it, it must be all fetched from hence. And how sad, how
unaccountable a case is it, when it shall be more ordinary and
familiar to have a news-book (not to say a play-book) in men r
hands,and under their eye than this holy book. But we are to
inquire too,
(2.) Not only concerning the reading and perusing of these
writings, but concerning the gust, the savour and relish where
with we do it. With what complacency do we look into and re
solve in our hearts those great and deep things of God that are
contained and unfolded to us in this book ? I would fain know,
who of us can assign a reason why David should have a pleasanter
relish of the word of God than we? Is it not of as great import
ance to us, as k could have been to any saint heretofore, to take
these sacred truths and doctrines that are contained in this
book for our meat and drink ? " I found thy words and did
eat them," saith the prophet, "and they were to me the joy and
rejoicing of my heart." We have it given us as the common
character of a good man, a fearer of the Lord of old, that the law
of God was his delight, and therein he did meditate, day and
night. Psal. 1. 2. Let us but consider, if there be a failure
and decay generally among us as to one thing, that is, the want
of a savouring and relishing the word of God, the things con
tained in the sacred writings, whether there be not a matter of
threatening abode and import to us in it, for then all our religion
is proportionably languishing, and the languishment of it is a
continual tendency to its being lost, and continual sickness and
LEC. x. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 491
Languishing is a tendency to deatli ; and in such reflections as
these, we should compare present time with former time, so far
as it any way comes within the compass of our knowledge, ei
ther of what we could either of us have observed ourselves, or
what is recorded to us by others. Sure the time was, that the
word of God hath been a thing of much higher esteem (I
doubt) than at present. I am very apt to think and do pret
ty certainly know, that the reading of the Bible in London
was a much more common usage than now it is in families and
closets. And truly, if there be symptoms of decay upon us
in respect of so very important a thing as this is, it looks
very threateningly: we may be sure if our esteem grow less
of this book, God's esteem doth not grow less of it : he doth
not measure by us : and if he hav.e the same estimate and
value for it that ever he had, we may fear that he will some
time or other (and we know not how soon} very terribly vindi
cate the neglect, contempt and disregard of these sacred re
cords. If he do come to plead his own cause, in this regard,
with an untoward generation, I fear it will be a very terrible
day : I know not who will live when God doth this. But,
2. This should exhort us to several things. As,
(1.) That we do with serious gratitude acknowledge and
adore the goodness of God, in entrusting us with such a treasure
as these Oracles of his are. I am afraid this is a thing wherein
there is a very general neglect and defect. We do not often
enough put it into our express thanksgivings, that God hath
vouchsafed the great blessing of a Bible among us. I doubt
we do not explicitly enough take notice of this, as a matter of
gratitude to God, nor so often as we should that he hath put
this book into our hands. And,
(2.) It should exhort us to more frequent and diligent read
ing of the Scriptures. For what have we them for? And indeed
we do but mock God when we give thanks for them, if we use
them not. It should be more a business with us'; time should
be chosen and reserved for it on purpose. We should contrive
how to spare time from our common affairs for the perusal of
this book. I am afraid that partly between the over-much bu
siness of the shop and the exchange, and partly through the
no-business of the coftee house and tavern, little or no time is
allowed for this important work, the reading and perusing dili
gently these holy writings.
(3.) And we should be exhorted next, to endeavour to get them
written over again in our hearts : that this word may be to us
an ingrafted word: that we may have this word of Christ dwel
ling richly in us : that we may be the epistles of Christ, written
492 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OP GOD.
not with ink on paper, but with the Spirit of the living God on
the fleshly tables of our hearts : otherwise this word cannot
but be a witness against us. If there be not a correspondent
word within, if there be not an internal correspondent word,
the external word must be a standing witness against the frame
of our spirits and against our habitual inclination. We then
have the word of Christ dwelling richly in us, when it transforms
and changes us, and when we are like it, when there is some
thing within us answerable to it, as face answers to face in the
water. And,
(4.) It ought, in order to this, further to exhort us to endea
vour distinctly to understand it; especially in those great
things that do concern the vitals and essentials of religion.
And this knowledge will be easy to them that concern them
selves to understand. Wisdom is easy to him that hath un
derstanding, that is, that sets his mind to understand, that doth
aim at understanding. It must be a design driven and pursued
accordingly, that we may get our minds enriched with that
knowledge that is wrapt up in these holy writings. And we
have greater advantages in ordei to it, yea much greater than
our forefathers have had, though they have expressed that love
to this book, which I am afraid is too little common in our time.
How dear was a leaf of the Bible to some of the poor suffering
martyrs ! But, I say, we have much greater advantage to help
us to a distinct understanding of it. How many very useful
commentaries upon the Bible, are there published among us in
the English tongue, which were not in the former time? As
particularly the Dutch annotations, and Diodati's annotations,
and those that are called the Assembly's annotations and Mr.
Poole's, in two volumes, and that lesser and very useful one of
Mr. Clarke, single. So that they must owe it to their own great
neglect and unconcernedness, who are not furnished with help
at hand whereby they may in some measure understand the
Bible distinctly as they read it, and know how to refer things
to their use from day to day as they go on in that course. And
then,
(5.) Lastly, apply it to the several uses it was written for and
was designed to serve. You see here in the context, what uses
it was intended to serve, and it is said to be profitable for : "All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous
ness :" use it to these several purposes, as the case doth from
time to time require. And we may add hereunto, what we find
in another place, (Rom. 15. 4.) that the things that were writ
ten, were written for our learning, that we through patience and
LEG. x. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 495
comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Oh ! how many a
sweet cordial is there in this book ! Certainly they cannot be in
an uncomfortable state, without a fault, that have such matter
of consolation just at hand, and take no notice of it. They that
go from day to day in darkness, and complain of their own
doubts and fears ; and will not be at the pains to consider what
there is in this book suitable to the state of their case, and
which by faithful application would undoubtedly in time 1 satis
fy all unreasonable doubts, and dismiss all causeless fears and
make them vanis.li, must needs be wanting to their own com
fort and peace. It is in that respect a light, not only upon ac
count of its instructiveness, but upon account of the pleasant
ness and consolations thereof. The Scriptures were written
that we through patience and comfort of them might have
hope. We that are following the conduct of God, and the
ducture of that light which shines in this sacred word of his,
towards an eternal state of glory, with what erect and raised
hearts, with hearts how lifted up in the ways of God should we
hold on our course, as the redeemed ones of him, having that
life and immortality in view which are brought to light before
our eyes in this gospel.
And a little to enforce all this, it may not be altogether use
less, nay, I think it may be worth our while to tell you a short
passage which was not long ago told me by a person, (whose
name is well known in London and I hope savory in it yet,
doctor Thomas Goodwin,) at such time as he was president
of Magdalen college in Oxford : there I had the passage from
him. He told me that being himself in the time of his youth,
a student at Cambridge, and having heard much of Mr. Rogers
of Dedham in Essex, purposely he took a journey from Cam
bridge to Dedham, to hear him preach on his lecture day, a
lecture then so strangely thronged and frequented that to those
that came not very early, there was no possibility of getting
room in that very spacious large church. Mr. Rogers was (as
he told me) at that time he heard him, on the subject of dis
course .which hath been for some time the subject of mine, the
Scriptures. And in that sermon he falls into an expostulation
with the people about their neglect of the Bible : (1 am afraid it
is more neglected in our days:) he personates God to the peo
ple, telling them, ff Well 1 have trusted you so long with my
Bible : you have slighted it, it lies in such and such houses all co
vered with dust and cobwebs : you care not to look, into it. Do
you use my Bible so ? well you shall have my Bible no longer."
And he takes up the Bible from his cushion, and seemed as if
be were going away with it and carrying it from them ; but
41)4 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
immediately turns again and personates the people to God,
falls down on his knees, crys and pleads most earnestly, "Lord
whatsoever thou dost to us, take not thy Bible from us : kill
our children, burn our houses, destroy our goods ; only spare us
thy Bible, only take not away thy Bible." And then he per
sonates God again to the people; " Say you so? well I will try
you a while longer ; and here is my Bible for you, I will see
how you will use it, whether you will love it more, whether you
will value it more, whether you will observe it more, whether you
will practice it more, and live more according to it." But by
these actions (as the doctor told me) he put all the congrega
tion into so strarfge a posture that he never saw any congrega
tion in his life; the place was a mere Bochim, the people ge
nerally (as it were) deluged with their own tears, and he told
me that he himself, when he got out and was to take horse again
to be gone, he was fain to hang a quarter of an hour upon the
neck of his horse weeping, before he had power to mount ; so
strange an impression was there upon him and generally upon
the people, npon having been thus expostulated with for the
neglect of the Bible.
And sure, if our neglect of it in our days have not been less,
it is a very sad case, if our affliction and resentment of such
an evil as this should be apparently and discernably less.
And nothing will signify our regardlessness of this holy book
more, than if we do not strictly regulate ourselves by it as to our
thoughts, and as to all our deportment. For pray, under what
notion do we own this book, but as a rule to guide us to our
end ? how to glorify God and how to enjoy him for ever ? It
will be a plain testimony against us that this book hath not the
esteem which is due to it, when it hath not the use made of it
that it was purposely designed for. And oh ! let that be but
considered, its use is to be a rule, for us. Bethink we ourselves
thereupon, whether we do really regulate our thoughts, our
hearts, our affections and our passions by it. "I dare not allow
such and such thoughts, 1 dare not allow such and such mo
tions of spirit within myself, for the Bible is against them." Let
us but consider, whether we use to lay this rule to our minds
and spirits and to our walkings and actions, so as to conform
all to it. If not, it is impossible we can value it according to
its true worth, for it is valuable but under the notion as it is a
rule, and it can never regulate our external conversation as it
should, if it do not regulate our spirit first. We must consider
that is the great difference between the government of God and
any human government whatsoever. His government is pri
marily mental, it is a government first exercised about minds ;
LEC. x. Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. 495
and this word is the instrument of his government as to them.
This word of his " is quick and powerful, and sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart." And if we do not la
bour to get our spirits, our inward man, habitually subject
ed to the governing power of this word, it doth nothing up
on us to any purpose ; it is lost upon us, as to all the great
purposes for which it should serve us. But is not this too ap-"
parently our common case, that if there be a strong inclination
to this or that thing or way ; or if there be a passion up that
we have a mind to indulge, this shall signify more with us, to
carry us this way or that, than a thousand texts of Scripture ?
You may as well, many times, oppose your breath to the
Thames to turn the course of it, as to oppose the word of God
to these inclinations.. But is this to make use of the Scrip
ture as our rule, when the plain design of it lies against such
and such habitual inclination or against indulgence to such
and such a passion, and we never apply it to such a purpose ?
If we did but get the authority of the great God (whose word
this is) to be (as it were) enthroned within us, so as that
our souls might stand in continual awe of him, the remem
brance of a text of Scripture would presently allay passion, go
vern appetite, and check inclination, and so would come, with
ease and pleasure, to be to us a governing rule of all the affairs
and actions of our lives.
And so I have done, as to this great subject of the Scriptures,
which was proper next, after we had asserted to you the exist
ence of a Deity, that is, of an intelligent Ruler and Maker of
this world, to whom such a word as this might certainly be as
cribed as his word ; that then we might come from this word
of his to have more distinct apprehensions concerning him.
It was necessary first, to know that there was one intelligent,
perfect, all-comprehending, eternal Mind, the Original and
Author of all things, without which it would have been a vain
thing to speak of the word of God. We must know first,
whence such a word was to proceed, and that being once un
derstood and known, then we may look back again upon him,
and such things through the light of the word come more
clearly to be revealed to us concerning him, than we can other
wise, by mere light of nature search or find out. And so to
such. things we shall go on, in our intended course, as the Lord
shall enable and direct.
49G
THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD,
LECTURE XI.
James 2. 19.
Thou believest that there is one God ; thou d&est well:
the devils also believe, and tremble.
TN pursuance of that design we have had in hand, of explain
ing and asserting to you the principal heads and doctrines of
our religion, we have (you know) already been discoursing to
you about the Object of it, the eternal, ever-blessed God : and
concerning the measure and rule of it, the holy Scriptures, which
we have proved to be the word of God : and that method it
was necessary to follow, of evincing the being or existence of
God to you first, before we could reasonably go about to prove
the Scriptures to be his word. For of nothing there are no
predicates ; nothing can be affirmed of nothing. It were
vain to allege the authority of this or that prince's edict to one
that should not believe that there was ever such a prince : but
having evinced to you the existence of God, and that these
Scriptures are his word, purposely written to reveal him more
fully to us, his nature and his mind and will concerning what
we are to believe and practice, in order to our pleasing and our
enjoying of him, it is now highly reasonable to expect from
these Scriptures, the discovery of such things further, concern
ing him, and our duty towards him and expectations from him,
as we could not otherwise have known, as whereof we could
Preached March 6. 1691.
LEC. xi. The unity of the Godhead. 497
not by other means have had, as to some things ; and as to
other things not so distinct or certain knowledge : for other
wise these Scriptures should not answer their avowed end, and
must indeed be supposed to be written in vain. There are
things that do concern even God himself, which is of great im
portance to us to be acquainted with, that either we should have
had no knowledge at all of, without these Scriptures, or should
not have known so clearly or not so easily : some of us (it mav
be) not at all : such as were less capable, or less inclined, or
less willing to use -their own reason in thought, and to discern
a train of consequences and the force of them, and how to
make things that are in themselves evidencable, evident to
ourselves in an argumentative way. It is a great matter of
advantage to have more of necessary things made known to us,
and to have those things which it is necessary we should know,
made known in an easy and less laborious way, without our
more toilsome search : or to have it said, on the authority of the
great God, this and this you are to believe, and this and this
you are to do; to have that which is to be the food of our souls,
not to be hunted for, but even brought to our hands ; this is a
very great advantage.
Now among some of those things that do concern God him
self, and which it is of absolute necessity to be acquainted with,
and in order whereto, we are to have a rlcar light, and for the
most, their whole light from the Scriptures, there are especial
ly two which I shall instance in, and insist upon. That is, the
unity of the Godhead, and the trinity therein. And for the
former of these, the unity of the Godhead, we may very fitly in
sist upon that, as far as is needful, from this scripture. In
which there are two parts. The first, approving and justifying
the believing of this great truth, that God is but ONE : " Thou
believest there is one God, thou doest well :" the other, re
proving and condemning the ineffectual belief of it : " the
devils also believe and tremble."
I. I shall insist on the former of these That the Godhead
is but ON~E, or there is but ONE GOD. " This (saith the apostle)
thou believest, thou doest well in it. Thou believest truly and
as the matter is." I do not propound this to you as a Scripture
doctrine, upon that account, as if it were not at all demonstra
ble in a rational way ; but shall first, let you see how very ex
pressly the Scripture doth testify to us this truth touching the
unity of the Godhead. And then secondly, shall shew what
rational evidence it admits of besides.
1. As to the Scripture testimony about this, it could be in
nothing more express. " Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is
VOL, vi, 3 R
498 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF COD.
one Lord :" (Deut. G. 4.) a passage quoted in the gospel as
you find, Mark 12. in several verses of that chapter, in which it
is enlarged upon. One of the scribes (verse 28) came to our
Lord ; and perceiving there were reasonings between him and
some others, he asks, " Which is the first commandment ?"
Jesus answered him, <c The first commandment is, Hear O Is
rael ; the Lord thy God is one Lord : and thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart." The scribe said unto him,
" Well master, thou hath said the truth, for there is but one
God, and there is none other but he ; and to love him with all
the heart, with all the understanding and with all the soul and
with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is
more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." When Jesus
saw that he answered discreetly; like a man that had a mind, (as
the word signifies) had apresentness of mind, an understanding,
a good sound understanding about him, he highly approves of
what he said, and saith, te Thou art not far from the kingdom
of God." There are many expressions very great and august,
spoken like a God about this matter, in the prophecy of Isaiah,
in several chapters of it. If you look to the 43. chapter, " Ye
are my witnesses saith the Lord, and my servants whom I have
chosen, that ye may know and believe me, and that ye may
understand that I am he ; before me there was no God formed,
neither shall there be after me. I, even I am the Lord ; and
besides me there is no Saviour." Verses 10, 11. And in the
44th chap.ver. 8. "Fear ye not, neither be afraid ; have 1 not
told thee from that time, and have declared it ? ye are my
witnesses, is there a God besides me ? yea there is no God, I
know not any." '* I that can transmit the beams of mine eye
through this vast and boundless inane, and look round about
me every where, can see nothing like another God in view : I
know no such, and I know you cannot know more than I." So
you have the same thing inculcated in the 45th chapter, m
sundry verses of it, " I am God, and there is none else; and the
Saviour, and there is none beside me:" most pleasantly conjoin
ing the notion of God and Saviour together, over and over, that
when we know this one God, we may know him too under the
pleasant notion of a Saviour. No discovery of him could be
more suitable, or more grateful to poor creatures sunk and lost
in misery as we are. And so you know, the apostle puts both
these together, the " One God and one Mediator," revealing
to us this truth the unity of the Godhead in conjunction with
what is most apposite and suitable with the state of our case in
that 1 Cor. 8. (>. "To us there is but one God, the Father, and
ne Lord Jesus Christ. And 1 Tim. 2. 5. " There is one God
JLEC. xi. The unity of the Godhead. 499
and one mediator, the man Christ Jesus." And that place is
famous, 1 John 5. 7. " There are three that bear record in hea
ven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these
three are one." That oneness can mean nothing there, but in
the Deity, in the Godhead.
2. But this matter is very capable of very clear rational evi
dence too ; which because it is not obvious to every one at first
sight, I would only help you herein a little, not doubting but
you will apprehend things to be very plain to you, when you
hear them, which might have been out of your thoughts or
sight before : both what hath been already proved, and what is
otherwise evident concerning God, will prove to us the unity
of the Godhead, and also what is obvious to our common notice
concerning the state of the creation; It is by the creation we
come to have the first notices of the Creator, as you have heard.
That is, of the invisible power and Godhead by the things that
are made. Now whether you look to the Maker, the Creator
of all made things; or whether you look to the state of those
things themselves, you will find clear rational evidence that
the Godhead is but one, or that God can be but one.
(1.) Consider what hath been made plain, or is otherwise
evident, concerning God himself, the very notion of God :
thence it will appear, that the Deity admits not of multiplica
tion, or that there can be more Gods than one. As,
[1.] It hath been proved, and is in itself evident, that God
is a self-original, a self-existing Being. He is such a Being
as that he doth not owe it to another, that he is, but only to
himself. He only is in being, because such is the peculiar
excellency of his being, as to which, it is altogether repugnant
and impossible ever not to be. He exists, necessarily of and
from himself only. Now necessary self-existing, un-caused
being can be but one, for whatsoever is un-caused is unlimited,
all limitation proceeding from a cause ; and of unlimited being
there can be no more than one, for if there were two, one must
limit the other : and so neither would be unlimited. And,
[2.] It belongs to the notion of God, considered in refer- (~j
ence to other things, to be the very first in himself. He is
uncaused towards the creature : he is the first Cause. Now
nothing is plainer than that there can be but one first.
[3.] To whom it belongs to be the first of all things, to him
it belongs also to be the last, and it is as evident tbere can be
but one last : and as to these things that are so plain, I do not
need to insist, but just lay them before you. Therefore,
[4.] It belongs to the notion of God, as he is God, to be the
best of all beings, But there can be but one best good, in the J
500 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
eminent and transcendent sense ; and so there can be but one
God, as the matter is in itself obvious, and is taken up by our
Saviour, in that 18 Luke 19. "None is good but one, that is
God," or saving God. Again,
[5.] It belongs to the very being of God to be omnipotent,
almighty, and it is most evident, that there can be but one
omnipotent ; for supposing another omnipotent, that could do
all things, then he could cause that other not to be able to do
any thing, otherwise he were not omnipotent. And if he could
do that, then the former were not omnipotent, but plainly
impotent, absolutely impotent; that is, not able to do any
thing.
[6.] And lastly, that which sums up all ; it belongs to the
notion of God to be the absolutely universal, perfect Being ;
to comprehend in himself all perfection : that is, either for
mally, that which is his own, or appropriate to his own being ;
or eminently, that which is to be found any where throughout
the'creation. Now universal perfection, or all perfection can
have ^ut one seat. For there can be but one all ; there can
not be more than all ; and all perfection is comprised in the
divine Being. The very notion of God, imports all perfection,
signifies him to be the Fountain of whatsoever can come under
the notion of perfection ; and which is perpetually springing
from himself, and (when it is his pleasure to communicate)
communicating from himself thereof to his creatures. And,
(2,) If you look upon the state of things in the creation, you
will find that most plainly to signify to us the unity of the God
head. As,
[1.] In the natural world ; the order that is every where to
be observed and seen ; that speaks the unity, oneness, and
one-liness of the Agent, that had the forming and continual
management of the affairs of all this creation. It was impos
sible there could be that order which is every where to be ob
served in the natural world, the heaven and earth, sun, moon
and stars, with the constant succession of day and night, sum
mer and winter ; and that variety of creatures, with the due
order still preserved in that great variety even here upon earth.
I say it Is impossible this could be, if that mighty Agent that
made, and that over-rules all, were not one, and only one :
as the Psalmist takes notice, psal. 119. 9/. Having spoken of
heaven and earth before, he saith " They continue to this day
according to thy ordinance, for all are thy servants." " They
are all in a stated subserviency to thee, as the only one that dost
moderate, and dispose, and order all things, according to thine
LBC. xi. The unity of the Gcdhead. 561
own pleasure ; and so they remain stedfast and settled for
ever.'* And,
[2.] Even in the intellectual world, the intelligent world :
consider the state of things there. Indeed there, there might
be an objection, or from thence; which objection will be easily
improved into an argument to the purpose I am speaking to :
that is, that in the intellectual world, there is so great disor
der, as we see, such confusions among men, and proceeding
from that which we find to have been in a higher order ofmtcl-
ligent creatures, the angels that fell. But this, 1 say, is im
provable into an argument, in that they fell, and are in a fal
len state, those angels, and the generality of men, it shews,
that all this disorder and confusion, hath come from their re
ceding from the one God. They therefore came into that dis
order and confusion, (which is the sad object of our daily con
templation, whenever we use our thoughts about such a thing,)
having broken off themselves from the one God : from thence
doth this disorder proceed ; and, considering these two sorts
of intelligent creatures, that lie under our notice, (to confine
our eyes to the children of men,) they are either such as are
in a state of apostasy still ; or they -re such as are in their re
turn, and upon recovery, coming bacjc to God in Christ. For
those that are in a state' of apostasy still, as they remain apos
tate and off from God, they make this^ world that they inhabit,
a hell of confusion to themselves, which shews, that the dis
order is by their breaking themselves from the one God, the
centre of all virtue, and of all order thereupon. But for those,
that are returning, that are coming back to God, under the
conduct of Christ, that are in the exercise of repentance to
wards God, according as their minds are changed, according
as that great work of renovation obtains, and takes place in them,
so it becomes more and more their habitual sense, to own,
even from their very hearts and souls, the ONE GOD. Then
this is their sense, " One thing have I desired of the Lord, and
that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord." To dwell with God as my only one, (as in that, 27
psalm 4. And as in the 73 psalm 25,) " Whom have I in hea
ven but thee? and whom on earth do I desire besides thee ?"
It is very true indeed, that in the apostate part of the world,
very great multitudes are quite wrong in their notions about
this thing, as the polytheism of the pagan world, (of the most
ignorant and sottish part of it, though the wiser part, even of
that too, have always acknowledged one supreme God, looking
upon the rest as so many ministering gods, meaning, no doubt,
the same thing that we do by angels,) doth shew. But where
502 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
once the light and grace of the gospel do obtain, in conjunc
tion, there is not only a rectitude of motion about this matter,
but there is a correspondent sense of heart. *' One thing have
I desired, 1 can dwell no where, but with God, with any con
tent : and whom have I in heaven, but thee?" All renewed
senses, do presently return to this one, all are gathered back
to one centre in one, in this one they all meet ; they no soon
er begin to live, but all their desires, and all their aims, and
all their tendencies are directed the same way, to this one cen
tre. And therefore now to make some Use of this.
1. We learn from it, the insupportable misery of those that
have no relation to, nor interest in, this one God. God is but
one. Oh ! then," may every such wretched soul say, " what
shall become of me, who have no part in him, no portion in
him ?" There is but one God to save thee, and thou hast no
thing to do with him : but one God to satisfy thee, and thou
hast nothing to do with him : but one to save thee, and if he
will destroy thee, who will save thee ? If there be but one, and
he be set against thee, if he be thine enemy ; if this be the state
of thy case, that thou liest open to the destructive wrath of this
one God, who shall save thee ? There is but one Lawgiver,
who is able to save and to destroy ; (as it comes in after, James
4. 12.) and there is but one to satisfy thee : thou was lost
for want of being satisfied, by a suitable good : if thou wert ne
ver so safe from any external, any vindictive evil. There is but
one good, that is God ; no proportionable good, nor adequate
good besides, no good that can fill up the capacity of the soul.
How may such a creature go, bemoaning itself in so sad a state
of its case ! "There is but one good, throughout the whole uni
verse of being, and I have nothing to do with that one ; I have
jio part there."
2. As the misery of such, is insupportable, so truly, their
sin is as inexcusable : for there is but one God that claims obe
dience and duty from thee. The case is in this easy way to be
understood. Let it be considered, you have not one to com
mand, and another to countermand ; one to bid, and another
to forbid. There is one God : you know there is but one : you
believe there is but one. No man '.it is true) can serve two
masters, who should both lay claim to supreme power over him.
No one can serve two, but sure one may serve one, when there
is but one, and his mind is express and plain; therefore the
sin of such is altogether inexcusable. Thou hast but one God
to worship ; and what ! not worship him. But one God' to love,
but one to fear, but one to trust : but one object for thy ador
ation, one object for thy expectation : and thou art to do him
IEC. xi. The unity of the Godhead. 503
homage every day, in both together ; both in adoring him and
expecting from him. And what ! to rob this one God of the
glory, the service which he claims, and which thou mightest
pay, and render to him ! There is no exception against it, no
counter claim, against this claim of his.
3. We further learn hence, how high and great is the privi
lege of those, that do belong to God, in that he is but one :
they do not need to be divided among many, and to have their
hearts distracted within them, " Whither shall 1 go ? to whom
shall I betake myself ?" Their privilege is great, upon this ac
count, with respect both to their knowledge of this one God,
and their application to him, the former whereof, leads to the
latter.
(1.) In respect to their knowledge of him ; it is a very great
privilege, that the eye of their mind and soul is called to one,
directed to one : here is eternal life summed up (as it were) in
one glance. "This is life eternal, to know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent ;" to know him
as he is revealed, and as he is to be conversed with, through
his Son : and in what a transport, do we find the disciples, up
on this account, it being the great business and design of our
blessed Lord to reveal the Father to poor souls. " Shew
us the Father and it sufficeth," say they. Saith he, " You
do know the Father, in that you have known me," in that 14
John. Then saith one of them, Judas, not Iscariot, (no not
he, I warrant you, he had not a heart to savour any such thing,)
" How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not unto
the world ?" Oh ! how lamentable is it to think (as if they had
said) of the sad state of the blinded world, how little they know,
how obscure and dark their notices are and how corrupted
and depraved about the one Godhead. But Christ tells them,
that in manifesting himself he manifested the Father too. And
" Oh ! (say they) whence is this to us, that we should have this
manifestation when it is not afforded to the world, is not made
common to the universality of men ? And,
(2.)' In respect of application to him ; Oh, how great is the
privilege not to be put to worship stocks and stones for dei
ties and to pray to a god that cannot save. When we think of
the inanimate, senseless gods which the blind nations do trust
in and worship, we have then just cause to think with our
selves, " Oh, how unlike to them is the portion of Jacob !
He is the Former of all things. Our God hath made the
heavens, and doth whatsoever he will, there above and here be
low."
4. We hence sec what obligation is upon us to singleneis
504 THE FR1NCIFLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
of heart. The Deity wherewith we have most of all to do, fi
nally, terminatively to do, is single, is but one. How to be
abhorred a thing, hereupon, must a double heart be, a heart
and a heart! For a single God, how suitable is a single heart!
There is not for us a God and a God. And what should we
do then for a heart and a heart ? The whole must go to the
whole, one to one. When our Saviour had been telling us,
(Matt. 6. 24.) " No man can serve two masters,*' he points
us back to what we find there in the same context : that if the
eye be single, the whole body will be full of light. But if the
eye be evil, (which implies that a double heart is an evil heart,)
then all is in darkness. And saith he, " If the very light that
is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness ?" When
our eye looks with one direct and undivided view towards the
one God, here the soul is all replenished with light, clear, and
vital light, that is transfused through it. But multiplicity and
darkness come all to one. If we do not look with a single eye
to that one single Being, where all glory and all blessedness for
poor souls reside ; but are looking to other things, and depart
ing from this one, we are presently lost in multiplicity, and see
many things under that notion, as if our good lay here, or as if
the prime duty lay here, it is all one as seeing nothing, as good
to know nothing of any God at all, as to know many gods,
or to consider many under that notion. And again,
5. We see hereupon how possible the most entire and inti
mate union with God is with sincere souls. To those that are
sincere, if he be but one, how entire and intimate may the
union be between one and one ? When we bring to him a sin
gle soul, a soul full of simplicity, uprightness and sincerity,
which points only at him as the one God, he being but one, and
we but one in the intention and aim of our souls, how entire
and intimate may this union be ! That which some pagans
have expressed by that nearest and closest and most intimate
touch of the centre ; centre to centre, so (have some of them
said) are souls to apply themselves inwardly to God ; the one
God joining centre with them. And it is a mighty so
lace to think of it : that whereas the felicity of a soul doth so
absolutely depend upon the most near and intimate union with
God, that which is so necessary is so possible. It is necessary
to me, in order to my happiness and well being, that I be most
intimately and entirely united with God ; and since he is but
one, if I be one in the intent and bent of my soul towards him,
it is not more necessary than possible. Fur observe how the
scribe, that puts that question to our Lord in that foremention-
ed Mark 12. understands this conjunction, when our Lord
LEC. xi. The unity of the Godhead. 505
answered him, what was the first and great commandment ;
namely, " the first and great commandment is, that God is
but one, and that there is no other God but he, and that there
fore we should love him, with all the heart," he replies,
" Master thou hast said well, for there is hut one God :" and
our Lord, it is said, observed, that he answered like a man of
sense, like a man of understanding, like an intelligent man.
There lies the connexion, (f therefore thou shalt love the Lord
thy God, with all thy heart, because the Lord our God, is
one God, and there is none other but he." And,
6'. We may hence collect the mighty obligation there is up
on Christians, to unity with one another ; to be united one
with another. Those several unities you read of, Ephes. 4. are
all directed to this one purpose, and this is the prime and most
fundamental of all the rest, " There is but one God ;" and
therefore are all those related to him, and that bear his name,
to be but one. It cannot be said, one Christian hath one God,
and another hath another God : but all have but one God ;
so that it is impossible there can be any so great reasons
for disunion among Christians, those that are sincere, that
have vital union with God in Christ, as there are for their
union. Whatsoever pretence there can be for disunion, or
for distinct communion, the reason is unspeakably greater for
union. By how much doth God outweigh all things else, in
finite reason is there for oneness in communion throughout, as
he, with whom they have all a common union is infinite. But
the things, wherein they differ from one another, are most
minutely finite, and even as nothing, in comparison of this
one thing, wherein they must all (whether they will or not)
agree. And thereupon indeed, there cannot be a greater ini
quity in the Christian church (which is the community of liv
ing Christians') than when they do usually make distinct com
munions. This I must tell you, is the very heart and centre
of all anti-christianism, the first remarkable thing in the apos
tasy of the Christian church, when it began to degenerate, that
is, the making of distinct communions, or making of other terms
of communion, than Christ had made by the evangelical law.
This was the very heart of all anti-christianity, when men
would take upon them to make distinct boundaries and terms
of communion, which should be larger than Christ would have
made, or narrower than Christ had made : to admit men upon
such terms as his rules would admit none ; and exclude men
on such terms as his rules would exclude none ; this is the
first thing, the summary and most comprehensive thing, in all
anti-christianity. Then the Christian church, first began to be
anti-christian, when it came to this, to make other terms of
VOL. vi. 3 T
506 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
communion, than Christ had made, by his own law. And in
deed, the iniquity of it, is intolerable, if it be considered ;
for under what notion, are any to be received into the commu
nity of Christians, but under the notion of persons visibly
united to God in Christ, and so instated into the blessings of
the gospel, and so entitled to everlasting blessedness in God,
procured for them by the general Redeemer ? Whereupon, to
make new terms of communion, larger or narrower than Christ
made, is to make a new covenant, to make a new gospel : it rs
to make new terms of everlasting life and death ; and so to
overturn and overthrow all things, that are most essential to a
Christian church, or to the Christian religion, or any thing of
religion in the world. It would strike at all, if men may shape
their communion, according to their own fancy, when they are
to shape it according to the evangelical law. Those that we
believe to have vital union with God in Christ, or whom we
ought to beHeve have so ; we that with a sincere mind, look
upon persons by gospel measures, and consider them as those
who have visible characters of true vivid Christianity upon them
ought to run into communion with them as such, and only
such. This is Christ's measure, and Christ's rule, and so com
munion can be but one, and to offer to make it diverse and
distinct, is to make a new gospel, and a new Christ, and a
new religion throughout. Indeed it is a bold thing ; for it is
to make new terms of life and death. It is presumptuous
enough to put the divine stamp upon this or that truth of ours,
or this or that duty (as we count it) of our own ; it is a great
presumption : but unspeakably greater, to make new terms of
life and death : for every truth, or every duty, are not parts of
the terms of life and death. There is many a truth that is not
necessary for a man to believe, under pain of damnation ; and
many a duty a man may be ignorant of, and so not bound to
do, upon pain of damnation^ But the terms upon which
Christians are to hold communion one with another, are such,
to which we are bound under that penalty, or which are to be
looked upon, as entitling them to be interested in salvation, or
exempted from damnation: and so to make new terms of com
munion, is to make new terms of life and death. But blessed
be God, though this hath been too little considered for above
forty years past, God is awakening his people, to consider it
now. And 1 look upon that to be the first step towards the
restitution of the Christian church, and the recovering of it,
out of the terrible apostasy in which it hath Iain for a thousand
years, and upwards. Tin's, I say, is the first step towards it, to
make those the terms of union, and communion in the Chris-
LEC. xi. The unity of the Godhead. 507
t'ian church, which God in Christ hath made. And when that
once comes to ohtain generally, then we shall find the spirit of
the body, (for there is but one body and one spirit) diffusing
and influencing itself through the body, and making it lively,
a kind of resurrection from the dead. It may further,
7 Be collected, that our encouragement is great, as to what
expectation we may have, concerning the issue of things, since
God is but one. That is, concerning the issue which things
shall drive to here in this world, and concerning their ultimate
and final issue in. the other world, it cannot but be good and
happy ; for God is hut one, who in his Christ is the universal
and only Ruler of all this world. If the kingdom of God in
Christ were divided, it would come to nothing ; but it is not
divided, it is all in one hand, who- hath the ordering and dis
posing of the times and seasons, as seems good to him, and he
doth every thing with that profound wisdom that cannot err,
and that mighty power, that cannot be withstood. And since
the most perfect wisdom, and most absolute power, do belong
to that one ; and all affairs do lie in one hand, the issue will
certainly be good. I cannot say it will be good to us, accord
ing to our fancy and our sense of things, but it must be, in it
self, good. The kingdom is not divided, there is but one God,
and one Christ, who governs this apostate world, by his own
right, as God, and by a right, that he hath devolved upon him,
as the Mediator. And therefore, never doubt concerning the
issue of things, let them look never so horridly, and with ne
ver so confused an aspect ; all will do well, for all is in the
hand of one God.
And then, as to the final state, what transports should we
be in, to think, when all that belongs to this one God, shall
meet in this one God, the many sons brought to glory together,
when God shall be all in all, one in all, one diffusing a vital,
satisfying, beatifying influence through all, through the whole
community, that relates to him, and is united to him, all (as
it were) losing themselves in the one God, not in the natural
sense, .hut in the moral; as morality comprehends duty arid
felicity both together, and the very Scripture expressions that
speak of God's being all in all, doth imply this distinction, for
otherwise he could not be all in all, if there were not a created
all which he replenished), with his own fulness. "All in all,"
is not as if all being were to be reserved and swallowed up
again into the fountain Being, and that the blessed should lose
their individuality ; no, no such thing, the very words and the
nature of the thing, are repugnant to that, but when that all
of holy ones shall be gathered about the central.good, and be
replenished continually, perpetually, fully and everlastingly
50S THE PRINCIPLES OF THE OIIACLES OF GOD.
from thence, Oh ! how satisfyingly then shall we experience
the truth and sweetness of this thing, that the Godhead is but
one.
And this is enough as to the first thing which we have to
consider in the text, "thou believest there is one God, thou
doest well." The belief of this is approved and justified.
LEC. XII.*
II. But then the ineffectual believing of it is reproved and
condemned ; to believe it with such a kind of notional faith as
the devils believe it with. The former was the main thing for
which 1 pitched upon this scripture, but this latter I shall not
overlook ; it having so great an aptitude with it to help and en
force the right improvement of the former. That is, the in
effectual belief of the Unity of the Godhead, which the apos
tle dotii, in this expression, designedly animadvert upon, may
be easily collected from this present scope, which is to shew
what kind of faith that is which must justify us; not a notion
al dead faith, such as lets the soul wherein it is, remain un
changed, such as works not within, such as leaves the soul
just as it was. You may see his scope fully represented to
this purpose in the 14th verse, " What doth it profit, my
brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works ?
can faith save him ?" can that idle faith, that unworking
faith that effects nothing, can that save him? "I appeal to
you, (as if he had said) whether it can." He doth not say
it cannot, but he doth appeal to them whether it can or no :
and it is true, that manner of interrogation doth deny that
it can, more pungently : that is always the intent of questions
or interrogatories, put in the room of affirmations or negations,
to deny or affirm more smartly or with more pungency than a
bare affirmation or negation would have done. It is an appeal
to the common light and conscience of the person spoken to.
Can such a faith save? And then he comes at length, in prose
cution of this scope, to this particular truth. I may not now
run over with you the whole thread of this discourse ; but im
mediately before the words of the text, he urgeth this, " A
man may say, Thou hast faith and I have works : shew me thy
faith without thy works ;" that is, if thou canst shew me any
tiling that is worth that name. But I for my part " will shew
thee my faith by my works," as knowing it can never signifi
cantly or to purpose be shewn otherwise. And then he comes
to this particular case, " Thou believest there is one God,
thou doest well ; the devils also believe and tremble." If thou
* Preached March, 20. 1691.
LEC. xri. Unity of the Godhead ineffectual belief of . 509
hast no other faith, in this point of the one God's existence,
but the devils' faith ; nay if thine fall short of such a faith ;
dost thou think it will save thee ? This is the meaning pursu-
antly to the present scope. His great question is, what faith
will finally save, and for resolving of it, his great business is
to evince and make out, that there must be some intervening
effects in order to that final salvation for which the faith that
will save must have a proportionable efficacy. If it did not
work those intervening intermediate effects, it would not bring
about the end, salvation. And so the truth that now re
mains, to be spoken to from this latter part of the verse,
you have it plainly in view thus That the ineffectual belief of
the one God's existence, or such a belief of it as doth not be
get in the soul proportionable dispositions towards God, will
no more save a stupid man than a trembling devil And
to speak briefly and usefully (as much as is possible) to this,
it will be requisite to shew what effects or dispositions our
faith of the one God's existence, should work in men to
open to you what it doth work in the devils, and to shew,
that if it do not its proper work upon men, it will no more,
save men, than devils.
1 . What it ought to work, what impressions the faith of the
one God's existence, should make upon men. The impres
sions it ought to make upon men, must be measured and judg
ed of, by the state of their case, wherein it is different, and
represented to them as different from that of the devils. That
is, that though they have been in an apostasy from God, their
sovereign and rightful Lord, as the devils have been, yet he is
reconcileable to men, when he is not to the devils : and where
the gospel comes, it shews distinctly how, and in what way,'
and upon what terms he is reconcileable. The belief then of
the one God's existence, you may easily apprehend what it
effects upon this supposal of the case. There is but one to
whom I owe obedience as my Sovereign, to him I must subject
myself. There is but one, from whom I can expect blessed
ness : . a portion and interest in him, I must seek. I have
hitherto Keen in an apostasy from him, I have hereby violated
the bounds of my duty to him, and forfeited all interest in him :
but I find there is a remedy to be given to this case, and through
the Redeemer, God is reconcileable : he recalls me to my duty,
he offers to restore me to my interest. It is plain then, what
impressions should be made, to wit, of " repentance towards
God and (upon discovery made of him) faith in our Lord Jesus
Christ :" a disposition to come back to God, through Christ,
with a heart full of wonder, full of gratitude, full of love, rea
dy to be devoted, and subject again : and so to do all, that can
f>10 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OP GOI>.
be done on our part, or to comply, with all that is required from
us, in order to the reinstating of things, between God and us,
and setting all right again. But,
2. What impression is there made on devils, by the belief of
the one God's existence ? That one word " tremble" tells us
most significantly. They " believe and tremble/' Their belief
strikes them so, that they are shaken by it : just as the sea with
a violent wind, that tosses the waves this way and that. The
frernitus marts is that which this word doth express, the tu-
multuation of the sea, as tossed by violent winds. Such an im
pression doth the belief of the one God's existence, make and
leave upon devils : that is, it stirs those violent passions in
them, which we must suppose the view of the one God, in his
terrible majesty and glory, is apt to raise in his creatures, in
their state who are apostatized, and revolted from him, and
know there is no redeemer for them, that God will not be re
conciled to them, and they themselves have no disposition to
seek reconciliation with him ; that is, such passions as these ;
the passion of hatred : every view they have of the one God
in his majesty and glory, stirs up their enmity, and the oftenef
they view it, the more they hate it, and especially considered
under the notion of just and holy. It cannot but stir the pas
sion of envy, looking on him under the notion of happy: it
cannot hut move their dread and horror concerning him, under
the notion of almighty, not to be resisted, not to be withstood.
And then it stirs up the passion of despair too, considering
themselves as none of his match, and that they are never to ex
pect that he will yield to them as they know they can never
conquer him. But,
3. Why is a stupid man no more to expect salvation from the
ineffectual faith of the one God's existence, than a forlorn
trembling devil ? That men have been in an apostasy from
God, as well as devils, is plain to us all. That death, that is,
eternal death is the proper wages of that sin by which they have
apostatized, that is plain to us all too : why should not an apos
tate man therefore, lie under the just wrath of God, as well
as an apostate devil ? All that can be said in the case is, that
Christ hath died for men and not for devils : here is all that can
be alleged. And so we need do no more for the clearing of
this matter further, than only to consider what alteration this
makes in the case, and in order thereto, I will lay down sundry
things that I reckon very plain, and such as do carry their
own evidence with them.
(I.) As, that there is no natural connexion between the
death of Christ and the salvation of a sinner. These two things
LEC. xii. Unity of the Godhead ineffectual belief of. 511
are not naturally connected, the death of Christ and the salva
tion of a sinful man. It is plain and obvious in itself, that there
is no natural connexion ; these things do not naturally touch
one another.
(2.) Therefore there can be no connexion at all, between
them but such as shall be ordinate or made, there cannot be
any connexion, without its being made, between the death of
Christ and the salvation of any man.
(3.) There can be no pretence of any such made connexion,
but such as the gospel constitution makes, that is, made be
tween the death of Christ and the salvation of any man, but
what the gospel hath made by its constitution.
(4.) The gospel doth make no connexion between the death
of Christ and the salvation of any sinner, without intervening
faith. " God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son ; that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but
have everlasting life." The gospel makes no other connexion
between that death to which he gave up his own Son, and our
having, any of us, everlasting life, but upon the supposal of an
intervening faith.
(5.) That faith which the gospel requires for this purpose,
it describes and tells us what it is, it describes it by distinguish
ing characters ; it tells us, it is such a faith as overcomes the
world. 1 John 5. 4. It tells us it is such a faith as by which
the hearts of men are turned to the Lord; "many believed and
turned to the Lord." Acts 11. 21. It tells us, it is such a faith,
as " is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of
things not seen;" (Heb. 11. 1.) that faith that conquers one
world, and reveals another. That faith (I say) which the
gospel requires for this purpose, to wit, of the salvation of
sinners, by the Redeemer, it doth also describe, and tells us
what it is. Whereupon,
(6.) Not to have that faith which the gospel doth so describe
is, in the gospel estimate, to have no faith. He that hath not
this faith is an unbeliever, still an unbeliever. As when we
speak of having any thing (whatsoever it be) that is necessary
for this or that end or purpose, it is not the name of that thing,
the misapplied name of that thing, that will serve the end or
purpose, but it is plain, only the tiling itself will do it. It is
true, you may call painted bread by the name of bread ; you may
call the picture of a loaf, a loaf, but it is not painted bread
that will nourish you, nor is it the notion of gospel faith, or the
name of that faith misapplied that will save you. They who
have not the faith which the gospel requires, have no faith
quoad hoc, that will serve this purpose, because that faith
512 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
which is so and so descrihed, it requires as necessary for this
purpose of saving. And therefore,
(7.) Lastly; They which have not this faith, being thereupon
still unbelievers, that is, they are unbelievers in reference to
this faith ; they have none of that faith that the gospel requires
in order to salvation, they must accordingly have the unbeliev
er's portion, and the portion of unbelievers and devils is all one.
Compare Luke 12. 46. with Matt. 25. 41. In the first it is,
" Let such a one have his portion with unbelievers :" and then
consider that they who fall under such a doom and condemna
tion at last, arc condemned to that "fire which is prepared for
the devil and his angels," as it is in the latter place. So that
let a man believe never so much this one thing, (which among
the rest it is needful he should believe in order to salvation,) to
wit, the one God's existence ; but it doth not work upon his
soul, impresseth him not ; altereth him not, it can no more save
him than it will save the devil.
Yea, and it might be added, that the gospel constitution,
in this case, making such a faith necessary, doth not only
speak the pleasure of the Legislator, but it speaks most con
sentaneously to the reason of the thing and with the greatest
advantage. Here is reconciliation offered to sinful men ; but
there is none offered to the devil: in this respect then (though I
do not say absolutely in all respects) their guilt is greatest.
That one who is no way suitably affected with that discovery
which is made to him of God. considered with reference to the
state of his case, and the gospel dispensation under which he
is, such a one as doth in this respect remain unchanged, his
heart unaltered, not won, not turned to God ; lies under
greater guilt than the devils themselves do lie.
Therefore now to make some brief Use of this. Hence,
1. We learn, that it is a supposable thing, that persons liv
ing under the gospel, professed Christians, (for the apostle speaks
to such here,) may be no more duly and suitably affected with
the discovery that is made to them of the one God, than the
very devils. This is not an unsupposable thing, that man may
have the representation of God which the gospel affords, super-
added to all that is natural, and be no more suitably affected
therewith than a mere devil, this is a truly supposable case.
And that it is a case to be supposed, a thing that may be, should
strike all our hearts with just solicitude hereupon. May it be ?
And what ! Is it not so with me? Have I not lived all this
while amidst that light that reveals the one God, unaltered, un
changed, unimpressed, just as I should have been, if there had
been no such light, no such discovery ? And again,
tac. xir. "Unity of the Godhead ineffectual belief of '. 513
2. We may infer, that persons may be in a very great mea
sure like the devil that do very seldom think of him : nay (it
may be) do think there is no such creature. It is very likely
that this sort of persons whom the apostle here speaks to, with
such smartness and acrimony, might very little think of the de
vil till they met with this epistle, till they were so put in mind.
This may very well be. Persons may be very much akin to
the devil in the temper and complexion of their minds, when
they very little think of him, or of any such matter. And they
are most of all like him that are most positive in their disbelief
of any such sort of creatures as devils are. That piece of re
vived modern sadduceistn goes now, with many, for a great piece
of wit and learning. And a very strange thing it is, that we
should have had among us a clearer light than the greatest part
of the world have had, to make us more ignorant and unappre
hensive of things that are of very great concern to us ; clearer
than the pagan world have had, and yet how many things do
we find discoursed concerning the devil, among their poets and
philosophers, that there are such a sort of middle creatures be
tween the gods (the supreme God at least) and men : and
that these are distinguished into two orders of good and bad.
Nothing more frequent in the writings of pagans than that there
are the good genii and cacodcemones : some of them seem not
to have been ignorant, however they came by the knowledge, of
the apostasy of the devils, and of their being thrown down from
their happy state above, into very great darkness and misery.
But it seems, our having of clearer light, and more express
discoveries of things relating to an invisible world, than pagans
had, hath served only to make a great many of us a great deal
more ignorant, and less apprehensive of these things and more
insolent in the belief of them than they. But it is strange that
they who are so very like the devil, should be of all others most
unapt to own or apprehend that there are any such creatures,
or any such sort of creatures. But,
3. We may infer, that it is not strange, when the cause is so
very Itke between men and devils, that their doom should be so
like also: that we cannot think it strange, that we should remain
and be left under that doom and condemnation which sin did
in itself subject them to : who when God hath made overtures
to them, to distinguish them from these evil spirits, will not be
distinguished, but rather choose to sort themselves with devils
than with returning souls, souls that are willing to return to
God through Christ.
We see the terrible estate of devils, that they cannot own
the one God's existence without trembling. A frightful thought
VOL. vi. 3 T
514 THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD.
it is to them, to have the eternal Being always in view, that is,
what he is necessarily, without variableness or shadow of turn
ing: they cannot nullify his being, they cannot shake his throne,
they cannot alter his nature : the glorious, bright, majestic Ob
ject is always in view, and they can never look towards it with
out dread and astonishment. Whatsoever little respite they may
have, which those words imply, " Art thou come to torment us
before our time?" it doth yet signify, that any thought of God
was dreadful to them, as importing that state of torment that was
approaching, was drawing on, wherein it will be let forth on
them, wherein wrath will come upon them (as it must upon
unreconciled men) to the uttermost. But,.
5. How wonderful is the grace of God towards poor sinful
men, that their case doth admit, and may admit of their own
ing and believing the one God's existence, with another sort of
impression than the case of the devils doth admit of. For that
is plainly implied here, and therefore I make this inference and
collection, that it is expected that men should be otherwise
impressed by this belief of the one God's existence than the de
vils may or can. It is expected the faith of this should make
other kind of work in the heart of a man that entertains this be
lief, 1 than it can do in the heart of a devil. And that very inti
mation signifies peculiar favour and special good-will, special, if
compared with them, though it be yet more special, if you com
pare men with one another. Such good-will is the import of
those words, " Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace,
good-will towards men." " He took not on him the nature of an
gels," or (as those words may admit to be read) "he took not
hold of angels to save them ; but took on him the seed of Abra
ham." His desig-n herein spoke itself, (as in that2Heb. 14.)
* 'Inasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he
himself did partake of the same." Saith he, "Those that I came
to save, are such as have flesh and blood in them, not devils."
And because they had flesh and blood in them, he likewise took
flesh and biood that he might save such ; that is, that he might
die, that he might have somewhat mortal about him, somewhat
that could die, that was capable of dying, and that dying he
might overcome "him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil ; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage."
6. We may learn hence, that there is not too great a stress
to be laid upon the mere business of orthodoxy, or a rectitude
of notions and sentiments, though about the greatest and most
important things, things never so great : and you may suppose
none greater than this, the existence of the one God, the cer-
LBC. xii* Unity of the Godhead ineffectual belief of. r> 1 5
tain existence of the unity of the Godhead. But yet, I say, a
rectitude of notions or sentiments, even about so great things,
or that which we generally call orthodoxy, ought not to have too
great a stress laid upon them. I doubt not but that there is
entire orthodoxy in hell, there is very little error in hell,
very little of untrue notions, the truth of things is very clear
ly apprehended there, even the most terrible things ; false doc
trine doth not obtain there about such matters as this, to be
sure : and therefore, let no man value himself too much upon
this, that he understands aright, that he thinks right thoughts,
doth believe that there is one God, one, and but one. He
may do no more in this, than the devils do, they may be as or
thodox as he ; and he may therein know no more truth than
they know. But we may yet further infer,
7 That it is a very dismal thing, and ought accordingly to
be deplored much, that such things as we have revealed to us,
concerning God, should be from time to time propounded and
explained, and inculcated, and yet have no more effect upon us,
than upon devils. How many a man is there, that lives under the
gospel of Christ, unreconciled to God all his days ? Oh, if there
be any such a one 'in this assembly, How often hast thou been
striven with to turn and live ? how often invited back to God
in Christ ? But it hath signified as little to preach to thee all
this while, as if one had preached to a devil. Oh, wretched
creature, that thou wilt make thyself a devil, when God doth,
not make thee such ! that thou wilt sort with the devils, when.
God would deal with thee, on very distinct terms from them !
He would have thee come to him : he doth not invite devils
back; he saith to thee, t( Return, return :" he saith not so to
them. Here is the blood of a Redeemer spilt for thee, it was
not for them. And if we consider this matter generally; Oh,
how dismal it is to think, that the revelation of the doctrine of
the very one God's existence, should have made no more impres
sion than it hath, to advantage the world of mankind; that the
state of things should be so very much upon earth, as it is in
hell ! as if there were no difference in the cases of men and de
vils; that there should be such enmity against God, amongst
men upon earth, such rage, such contempt, such blasphemy
against this one existing Deity. And indeed, in this, men are
worse than the devils, for the devils do hate God, but they do
not despise him : here on earth he is hated and despised too :
the devils hate him, but they cannot contemn him : men hate
and contemn him both together. "Wherefore do the wick
ed contemn God t" Psal. 10. 13. But lastl),
8. We further learn hence, what this doctrine is likely to ef-
516 THE PRINCIPLES OP THE ORACLES OF GOD, &C.
feet, if ever it come generally and to purpose, to be believed in
the world, even this faith of the one God's existence. What
a blessed change will that infer and make generally among
men ; when the one God shall be represented and under
stood and known with effect generally ! if ever there shall be
such a time. That is, there shall be a world of reasonable
creatures, all centering in this one, all conspiring in the ado
ration and love of this one God ; all bowing to him and kneel
ing before him : and no contention amongst men but who shall
express most of love and duty to their universal, sovereign Maker
and Lord. And therefore, men are only miserable in the mean
time by not having real truth impressed and inwrought into
the temper of their spirits, they are only by this miserable, that
they are fallen from the one God, and apprehend him not, ap
prehend not the unity of the Godhead in whom they all are to
unite. If men were all united in God, in the fear of him, in
the love of him, in subjectedness and devotedness to him, this
could not but infer universal order, peace and felicity, all the
world over. Men are only miserable, only unhappy, by hold
ing the truth in unrighteousness, and such truth; for the apos
tle speaks of such. This is the true ground, on which "the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness,
and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrigh
teousness, because that which may be known of God, is ma
nifest in them, for God hath shewed it unto them." Rom. 1.
17. 18. But I shall not insist further upon this.
The next thing that comes in course, to be handled, will be
the doctrine of the Trinity. Having opened the Unity of the
Godhead, a Trinity therein also, will next come under OUT
consideration.
KNJB OF TUB SIXTH VOLUME.
Mason, Printer, Chichestcr.
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