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          Title: Several Discourses Concerning the Terms of Acceptance with God.
     Creator(s): Hoadly, Benjamin (1676-1761)
    Print Basis: London: John and Paul Knapton, 1754
         Rights: Public Domain
  CCEL Subjects: All;
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  SEVERAL

                                   DISCOURSES

  Concerning the

                              Terms of Acceptance

  WITH

                                      GOD

   IN WHICH

   I. The Terms themselves are distinctly laid down; as they are proposed
   to Christians in the New Testament. And

   II. Several false Notions of the Conditions of Salvation are
   considered.

   PARTICULARLY,

   Of being saved by Faith.

   Of trusting to External Performances.

   Of the Power of Charity to cover Sins.

   Of relying upon the Merits of Christ.

   Of Man's Weakness, and God's Grace,

   Of Repentance.

   Of the Example of the Thief on the Cross.

   Of trusting to a Death-bed Sorrow.

   Of the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard.

   Of depending upon Amendment in time to come.
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   By BENJAMIN HOADLY, M. A. Rector of St.
   Peter's Poor (now Lord Bishop of Winchester
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   The SIXTH EDITION,
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   LONDON,

   Printed for JOHN and PAUL KNAPTON, at the
   Crown in Ludgate Street. MDCCLIV.
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   Concerning the Terms of Acceptance, &c.

SERMON I.

   LUKE x. The latter part of the 25th Verse.

   Master, What shall I do to inherit eternal Life?

   THIS is the Enquiry of one of the Students and Interpreters of the Law
   of Moses: who, hearing of our Lord's Behaviour, and Pretentions to so
   great a Character as that of the Messiah sent by God to instruct
   Mankind in the right way to Happiness, came, amongst others, either out
   of Curiosity, or some worse Principle, to try what Answer he would give
   to so important a Question as this in the Text, What shall I do to
   inherit eternal Life? i.e. What are the great Points of Practice which
   can recommend me, who am a Jew, and adhere to the Law of Moses, to the
   Favour of God? For by our Lord's Answer it is plain, that this Question
   related to the chief practical Duties of Religion; and that it was not
   our Lord's Design to give the Enquirer a particular Account of the
   Conditions of Justification, and Terms of Acceptance, which He, and his
   Apostles, were in due time to lay open to the World. He appeals, We
   see, to the Enquirer himself, what the great Precepts of the Law were;
   and afterwards declares that an exact observance of those two
   comprehensive Duties, of loving God, and our Neighbour, would entitle
   him to eternal Life Duties; so comprehensive indeed, that to them may
   be reduced all that is good in any Religion in the World, and all that
   can possibly render us acceptable to God. But though this summary
   Declaration answered well our blessed Lord's Purpose at that time, as
   it was a sufficient Reply to the present Enquirer: yet it was the great
   Business of his Divine Mission to enter more particularly into this
   grand Debate; to promulgate to the World more expressly, and more
   fully, those Terms and Conditions, upon which Almighty God, for the
   sake of what he undertook to do and suffer in this World, will accept
   Mankind, and make those happy, who cannot pretend to a sinless and
   perfect Obedience to his Laws, but stand conscious to themselves of
   many past Transgressions of them. Since therefore, this was the
   professed Business of Him, in whom we believe: it becomes us all, if we
   have any thoughts of Happiness, to address ourselves to the same
   Person, with a very serious Curiosity; and to enquire what it is that
   expected at our Hands, in order to our Justification, and final
   Acquittance from the guilt of our Sins, at the great Day. This is the
   Enquiry which is of the: utmost importance to us.

   BUT it will be proper here to observe; that, with respect to such as
   have been educated in any other false Religion, or Worship, and have
   contracted the guilt of many Sins, the first part of the Enquiry; and
   of the Answer to it, will be somewhat different from what it must be,
   with respect to such as have been educated in the knowledge and belief
   of Christianity, and taken the Profession of it upon themselves; and
   after that contracted the guilt of wilful Sins: as may appear to any
   who seriously consult the New Testament. For the first Enquiry there
   made by such as were at any time touched to the Heart, and uneasy under
   the consciousness of their former Sins, was, how they should be saved
   from this guilt which they had already contracted; or what they should
   do to be acquitted from these Sins committed in their former State. And
   the Answer we find was, that their receiving Christ for their Master;
   their first Faith, and believing in him, should have that Efficacy with
   Almighty God, that all their past Sins, committed before this Faith,
   should be cancelled; and they looked upon as just persons, with respect
   to all that was past.

   THIS matter of the Heathen and Jewish World being justified, or
   acquitted from all past guilt, by their Faith, or belief in Jesus
   Christ, having been strenuously asserted, and fully expressed by the
   Apostles, and especially St Paul; many weak and unstable Men have built
   such Notions upon this, as have been, and may be, of pernicious
   consequence to Christians, under the Gospel-State, and after they have
   receiv'd and professed this Faith in Christ: arguing as if a Faith or
   Confidence in Jesus Christ, and his Merits, would do all; acquit from
   all Sins; and render the wicked Christian spotless at last; and present
   him blameless before the Throne of God. Whereas it is manifest that,
   after this first Justification, and acquittance, was obtained by means
   of believing in Jesus Christ; this very believing, or Faith, brought
   the Believer under the most strict Obligations imaginable; more in
   Number, and severer in their Nature, than the Man was under before; and
   these bound upon him under the penalty of God's eternal Displeasure.
   This is as plain in the New Testament, as Words can make it. But of
   this Justification which professed Christians expect at any time to be
   wrought for them by Faith, or Confidence only, I, shall have occasion
   to speak more the farther prosecution of my present Design. At present
   I will only observe to you that, when it is enquired in the New
   Testament, What shall we do to be saved? and when it is answered to the
   Enquirers, or laid down, that to believe and to be baptised; or that
   Faith will save them, or the like, it is only meant, that they who do
   not believe already shall be acquitted from their past Sins, or saved
   from the Guilt of them, by believing, and coming into the Terms
   required by the Gospel; or that the first step to their Salvation, and
   that which will put them into a safe way, is Faith, or taking Christ
   for their Master, and being entered into his Religion. Or else, Faith
   is taken for the whole Gospel-method; for the whole of what is required
   in that: and so, it is the intent of these Expressions to signify that
   it is this method which only can save them; not the Law of Moses, or
   the Institutions of the Heathen World, in which they had before been
   educated. And it is plain that all this related to such only as had not
   before professed, or taken upon themselves, the belief of the Gospel;
   and toucheth not the Case in which we are concerned, who have been
   educated in this belief, or long professed it. Christians of later Ages
   are generally of this sort: and it is their own case and condition, not
   that of others, about which their Enquiry ought to be; and which it
   concerns the Ministers of the Gospel principally to consider.

   THIS is my Design and what I propose to do as fully as I can: as well
   by laying down positively what is the true answer to this Enquiry; as
   by considering and refuting those false Answers which Men have framed
   to themselves, from their own vain Wishes, fortified with some mistaken
   and misapplied Passages in the Word of God. But, before I come to the
   main Design, it is very expedient,

   I. To propose distinctly what the great Question, and Enquiry is, which
   concerns Us, who have taken upon ourselves the profession of the
   Christian Religion; and continue in that Profession: that so the Answer
   to it may be the better understood.

   II. To consider the great importance of this Enquiry; and the hazard of
   mistaking in it: that we may be the more sollicitious to find out the
   only true account of this matter; and the more guarded against any
   Deceit, and Delusion in a business of such moment.

   III. To shew the method of coming to a true Resolution of this
   Question; and where it is that we may expect such an account of this
   Affair, as we may safely, and securely, depend upon. Now,

   I. THE great Enquiry, in which we are concerned, is this, What it is
   that the Gospel requires of Men, who believe in Jesus Christ, and
   profess his Faith, and own him for their Master; in order to their
   acquittance from the punishment of any wilful Sins, which they have at
   any time committed, during their profession of his Religion; and to
   their final Justification before God at the Day of Judgment; and to
   their eternal Happiness after this.

   THAT many Christians do fall into great and wilful Sins after their
   Baptism; after their knowledge of the Truth; and after they have taken
   upon themselves the profession of their most holy Religion; is matter
   of daily Observation, and of daily. Experience. That the very best have
   not, in every part of their past Lives, done exactly what they know
   they ought to have done; that, in some past Instances or other, of
   Thought, Word, or Deed, they have had experience of some sudden
   Passion, or some latent Weakness, which by a greater degree of constant
   Watchfulness, might have been prevented; is likewise evident: and by
   themselves always made matter of Confession and Humiliation. That there
   is a method of Reconciliation proposed in the Gospel to both these
   sorts of Christians; and Terms laid down in it, on which Christian
   Sinners, if I may so speak, shall be accepted and acquitted, is plain
   from many Exhortations in the New Testament to such Christians as had
   sinned; and from the Behaviour of the Apostles with respect to such; as
   well as from the Absurdities following from the contrary Supposition;
   which would render the Gospel a most ineffectual Institution, debarring
   every individual professor of it, upon one single, sudden, wilful
   Transgression, from all future Hopes of Happiness; (and who then can be
   saved?) or a most pernicious Institution, turning every Christian into
   a desperate Sinner, by allowing no Hopes of any benefit from his
   recovering himself.

   BUT whatever Terms, or Conditions are allowed us, after relapse into
   Sin, or continuance in it, we know they are granted for the sake of
   Jesus Christ; in consideration of what he did and suffered for this
   very purpose, that these Terms and Conditions might be granted to
   Christians. This therefore, I say, is the Question about which our
   greatest Concern is to be employed, What those Terms and Conditions
   are, on which, for the sake of Jesus Christ, God will acquit us of our
   Sins, and at last make us eternally happy. For tho' it be for the sake
   of Christ, that he will do this at all; yet he expects something at our
   own Hands: And it is upon such and such Conditions only, that for his
   sake He will accept us; without the performance of which He leaves us
   no room to hope for any Benefit from the Merits of Christ. All that
   Christ has done, and suffered, for our sakes, was only in order to the
   settling these Conditions: but what We are to do, according to this
   Treaty and Compact, in which he is the Mediator; This belongs to us
   chiefly to enquire after.

   II. The importance of this Enquiry plainly appears from the account of
   it, which I have now given. Our acceptance with God; our Justification;
   our acquittance from the guilt of our Sins; our final and eternal
   Happiness, depend entirely upon our due Apprehensions, and effectual
   Sense, of this matter. If we employ our Minds seriously about it; and
   come to settle in them true Notions, and a just account of it: it will
   be the Fountain of all Happiness to us; by being the Foundation of such
   a Practice, and such a Conduct of our Lives, as will end in Glory, and
   Peace for ever. And the importance of it is enlarged, and heighten'd,
   when we consider the vast and unspeakable Danger of mistaking in this
   grand Enquiry; that if we do, through Prejudice; or Passion, or love to
   this World, or fondness for carnal Pleasure, entertain wrong Notions of
   this Affair, they will lead us into a wrong method of Action, and
   conclude us at last under inexpressible Misery: the Misery, not only of
   deprivation, or being debarr'd from the Happiness of Heaven, and the
   Communication's of God's Favour; but that of enduring positive
   Torments, the Wrath of God, and the Punishments threatened by his Son
   in the Gospel. The Consideration of this made our Lord so earnest to
   free the Minds of Men from all false Surmises about the great business
   upon which he came into the World; that neither Unbelievers, nor
   Believers, might mistake his Errand. The consideration of this made the
   Apostles, and particularly St Paul, so frequent in their Warnings
   against all Inclination to be deceived in this matter: well knowing
   that Christians, even in those first Days, were in great danger, from
   the inward Motions of their own Lusts and Passions, and the outward
   Hardships of Persecution, to be misled by such false Apostles, and
   false Teachers, as would sooth their present Inclinations, and flatter
   them into vain and delusive Hopes.

   LET not therefore anything either within us, or without us; let not any
   thing of this World; (Profit, or Honour, or Pleasure,) lay a Biass upon
   our Minds in this Enquiry. Neither Profit, nor Honour, nor Pleasure
   can, in the least avail us, when we have made the fatal mistake: nor
   can any present Gratification countervail the loss of all Happiness to
   all Eternity. What therefore can induce us to be so careless, or so
   weak, as to be willingly imposed upon in a Question, upon the just
   Resolution of which Eternity depends; and the false account of which,
   once permitted to enter into our Minds, must draw after it more Misery,
   and Unhappiness than we can now conceive? Since therefore it is an
   Enquiry of such vast, and unspeakable importance; let us

   III. CONSIDER the true Method of coming to a Resolution of this grand
   Question; and where it is that we may expect such an Account of this
   Affair, as we may safely and securely depend upon. Now it being a
   Matter of infinite Grace and Mercy that Almighty God will enter into
   any Treaty at all with a sinful World; or come to any Terms with his
   rebellious Subjects: it is very evident that the Persons immediately
   commission'd by him, or by the Person whom he sent into this World upon
   so good an Account, are those only, on whom we can safely and with
   Honour rely in this Affair. It depended on his Will, to make the
   Conditions what he should think agreeable to his own unalterable
   Perfections, and to the eternal and unvariable Nature of Just and
   Right. To promulgate these Conditions, and to give an Account of these
   Terms, He sent Jesus Christ into the World: who in his Life-time did
   it, as fully as was requisite to his present Design; and, for the same
   End, immediately commission'd his Apostles to preach the glad Tidings
   to the whole World, and to lay open more fully these Terms; and
   conducted them by an infallible Spirit, to secure them from all Error
   in this Matter. Whither then should we go but to him? for he hath the
   Words of eternal Life; and to his Apostles? for they were the immediate
   Embassadors of Christ, beseeching us to be reconcil'd to God, and
   preaching the Conditions of this Reconciliation. It is in the
   Preachings of Christ himself, and in the Writings of these Apostles,
   that we can securely hope to find the only Account of this Enquiry that
   will avail us any thing.

   As for our selves, and all others, who succeed in teaching, and feeding
   the Flock of Christ; we cannot pretend to any new Revelations. It is
   our Business only to explain the old; to convince Men of any Errors
   disagreeable to the written Word of God; and to lay before them, in the
   best manner possible, what is contained, and proposed in it. We cannot
   make the Terms of Salvation what we, or many others, may wish. They are
   fix'd by those who only had Authority to fix them, from God, and his
   Holy Spirit: and we must not vary from those who have declar'd long ago
   the whole Will of God. Other Churches may pretend to be themselves,
   (consider'd distinctly from the Apostles and their Doctrine,) the
   Ground and Pillar of Truth; and not only the Keepers, and Guardians of
   the lively Oracles of God: but our Church declareth the contrary, and
   professeth to be only the Medium, and Interpreter, by which the Will of
   God already settled may be made known to the People; and openly
   proclaims that the Articles and Terms of Salvation are long ago fix'd
   and determin'd, in such sort, that it is an invading the Province of
   God himself to pretend to make new ones, or to alter them into what
   they were not, at the Beginning of the Gospel. Let that Unchristian
   Church, therefore, answer for it, that debars the People from
   consulting those Books which alone are able to make them wise unto
   Salvation; and imposeth upon them Traditions and Customs, and Doctrines
   of her own, which make void the Will of God, and render ineffectual all
   his gracious Offers of Salvation to the World; that hides the true Word
   of God from all Communication with the Light; and teacheth those who
   depend upon her, to seek Salvation, and to learn the Terms of it, from
   such as impose what they please instead of them. But let any Church
   upon Earth, or any Ministers of the Gospel, pretend to what they
   please: whether they speak Truth or Falshood; whether they lighten or
   increase the burthen of these Conditions, or fix them where they ought
   to be; the New Testament is the Standard to which all must be brought
   to be tried; and by which it is the Duty of all to examine, whether
   they be truly directed, or invited aside into paths of Darkness and
   Error.

   THE great Lines of the Gospel, and those parts of it which declare the
   Terms of Salvation, have no obscurity in them, but lie level to all who
   have capacity to understand what God, and Salvation, and Happiness,
   mean. It will not therefore, in this grand Affair, be a sufficient
   Apology for any, at the great Day of Accounts, to say that they
   followed their Leaders; that they depended upon their Doctrine; and
   swallowed whatever they told them about the Will of God: because the
   New Testament hath been transmitted down for their Use; to teach all
   Christians what is their Duty, as well as to guide others in their
   Doctrine concerning it. The greatest part of it was preached, and
   written, to the Laity: from whence it appears, That they were thought
   Judges of what so much concerned them; and that it was their business
   to take their Notions of the Gospel, from Those who were immediately
   sent by God, and Christ, to propose it to the World. The utmost that
   can be said for depending on any other, since that time, is, that it is
   probable, or to be hoped, that they will not deceive or mislead us. But
   how weak an Excuse will this prove, when we know that our Eternity
   depends upon it; that there are Writings which cannot deceive us; and
   that, if we seriously and constantly advise with them, no human Error,
   which doth not arise from any wilful Crime in ourselves, shall be
   charged upon us? Could you not have consulted these Scriptures, and
   seen whether these things were so, as your Church, or your Leaders
   taught you? will be a very sufficient Reply to all who think to find
   Refuge, at last, in depending upon any other Authority in so weighty a
   matter. And were it not out of regard to some secular or By-end; from
   want of Desire to know the Truth, or an affected unwillingness to alter
   the accustomed methods of Action: no one could be so senseless as to
   depend upon the Word of any modern Authority; when it was in his Power
   to go himself to the original Covenant. No Man acts in this manner, in
   the Case of his worldly Concerns: or in any Point which may affect his
   Body, or his Estate, in this transitory World; and this will serve to
   condemn All who are guilty of so great a neglect, in a concern
   infinitely more weighty and important.

   AND if it will not avail any at last, that they have depended upon the
   Word of any Church, or Churchman, upon Earth: much less will it avail
   them, that they have consulted with Flesh and Blood; and can plead the
   Dictates of them against the Dictates of God himself. And yet it is to
   be feared, that many Men, in this Question, upon which their eternal
   State depends, instead of consulting our Lord, and his Apostles, what
   is truly required of them in order to Justification and Salvation, turn
   their Thoughts another way: and consult their own Lusts and Passions,
   and Tempers, and Designs in this World, what will be the most
   consistent with them; and how far they will let them go towards a
   Resolution of this Enquiry. But this is even to advise with Satan
   himself, and with all the Enemies of God, and of a Man's own Happiness,
   what it is that Almighty God requires; and what it is that will bring
   him to that Happiness, which it is their Desire, he should never arrive
   at.

   THUS have I gone over the three principal Points of which I thought it
   proper to speak, before we enter upon the Debate it self. There are
   some other Particulars, which are consequences from these: and which it
   is likewise highly useful for us to consider, in order to make our
   Enquiry the more effectual, and successful. But these I must reserve
   for another opportunity.
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   Concerning the Terms of Acceptance, &c.

SERMON II.

   LUKE x. The latter part of the 25th Verse.

   Master, What shall I do to inherit eternal Life?

   IN my former Discourse I observed to you, that this was the curious
   Enquiry of a Student of the Law of Moses, in order to try what Answer
   would be given to so important a Question, by our blessed Lord, who
   appeared in the World with the Character of the Messiah, sent by God
   into it, to instruct Mankind in the right way to Happiness; though not
   received or acknowledged as such by the Person who made this Enquiry:
   and that it was our Duty, and becoming our Professions, who believe in
   Jesus Christ, as one sent on so gracious an Errand, to make the same
   Enquiry, with all the serious Sollicitude which a Business of so vast
   importance requires. And, in order to proceed successfully in the
   Enquiry,

   I. I LAID down carefully and distinctly the great Question, as it
   concerns us of later Ages; who are generally educated in the Knowledge,
   and continue long in the profession of the Christian Religion: viz.
   What are those Terms and Conditions, which are required on our Parts;
   and upon which, God Almighty will, for the sake of Jesus Christ, and of
   what he did and suffered to that End, forgive us our Sins, committed
   during this profession of the Christian Religion, and finally justify
   or acquit us at the great Day, and make us afterwards eternally Happy?
   This, I told you, is the Enquiry in which we are concerned: which it is
   of infinitely more importance to us to regard than any other thing in
   the World.

   2. I URGED some Considerations proper to make us sensible of the great
   importance of this Enquiry; and the great hazard of being misled, and
   mistaken in it: and this in order to make us truly serious, and truly
   sollicitious not to be imposed upon, in this grand Affair.

   3. I SHEWED you that the only secure Method of proceeding, and the only
   safe way of coming to a Resolution of this Question, is to consult the
   New Testament our selves; in which we have a plain and full Account of
   what our blessed Lord himself, and they who were immediately
   commissioned by Him, declared concerning this Matter; and that all
   other ways and methods are unsuccessful, and full of Danger. But I then
   told you likewise, that, in order to our arriving at a true account of
   the important Question now before us, there were some other particulars
   that deserve to be carefully observed: and though these be indeed but
   so many consequences from the forementioned Heads; yet, I cannot but
   think it very well worth our while distinctly to propose, and consider
   them. As

   1. THAT the Terms of Salvation, and Acceptance with God, are what He
   hath made them; and of so inflexible a Nature, that it is not in our
   Power to bend, or alter them, as we please, into what Shape, or Nature,
   we think fit. And this is plain; because it did not belong to us to
   contrive or frame them; but to the Supreme Lord of all things. It is
   He, to whom it belongs to propose a method of Reconciliation to his
   Creatures; and He alone, whose Office it is to fix the Conditions of
   this Reconciliation: because He alone knows what is in all respects
   fitting, and agreeable to the eternal Laws of Reason, and Wisdom; of
   which we our selves could not be proper and impartial Judges. He hath,
   by Virtue of his Wisdom, Goodness, and Power, an undoubted Right to
   give us new Laws; and to lay upon us the Conditions of a Second
   Covenant, as well as of a First: But we have no Right, either from
   Wisdom, or Power, to give Laws to Him; or to fix the Terms proper for
   him to accept.

   IF therefore he hath offered any particular Terms and Conditions, upon
   which he will accept us; if He hath sent his Son, and his Apostles to
   lay open these Terms: here we must rest, and remember that it is not
   our Business to attempt any alteration of these Terms; and that it is
   the most fruitless as well as arrogant Imagination to think of doing
   it. In vain doth any Mortal wish or desire them to be other than what
   they are determin'd to be in his Will: and in vain will it be for the
   greatest or wisest of us all to attempt to accommodate and bend them to
   our Schemes, or our Inclinations. The System of Christianity was long
   ago fram'd, and the Scheme of Salvation laid, in the Breast of the
   Almighty, as it was design'd in Time to appear: and this System hath
   long ago been written by the Evangelists and Apostles; and this Scheme
   hath long ago been proposed in the New Testament, for the Benefit of
   all who are in a Frame and Disposition of Mind capable of receiving
   Benefit. God hath there shewn us, which is the Way to the Salvation He
   promiseth. If, therefore, we will arrive at his Salvation; it must be
   in the Path which he hath mark'd out: and we must, indeed, either not
   think of going to Heaven; or we must go to it, in his Way, and not in
   our own.

   IT is necessary to observe this, because the Generality of professed
   Christians, tho' they have Desire enough of being happy hereafter; yet
   it must be in their own Way: and they will not depart from their own
   Schemes, and their own Wishes. Nay, they seem to think it much more fit
   that God Almighty should come down to their Terms, than that themselves
   should go up to his. The Young Man, in the Gospel, was not far from the
   Kingdom of God, as our Lord thought: because he came to Him with some
   Disposition, and some Desire after Happiness. He was willing enough to
   be his Disciple, and to be saved by him; if the Terms of his
   Discipleship and Salvation should appear such as he could comply with.
   But when he found that the Circumstances of his professing the Gospel
   at that Time were such, that he must divest himself of his large
   Possessions; and follow our Lord with an entire Dependance upon him for
   the common Necessaries of Life; and share in common with him the Wants
   and Necessities to which he exposed himself: he went away sorrowful;
   griev'd to hear that he could not be made happy by Him at less expence,
   end that the Terms of his Salvation were so uneasy to be comply'd with.
   Thus it is with many Professors of Christianity in later Ages. They
   are, in this Sense, not far from the Kingdom of God, that they desire
   the Happiness of Christians, and of such as belong to that Kingdom: but
   then they are sorrowful to hear of the Terms plainly required; if they
   don't suit their present Inclinations, and Designs. And so they either
   depart from our Lord; and give up all Pretences to his Favour, and his
   Salvation: or else they lay hold of one Pretext or other, or alter
   those Terms; and amuse themselves with some sort of present Peace and
   Tranquillity, by making them consist and comply with their own Desires
   and Wishes. Let this therefore be always remembered, that our Fancies,
   or Tempers, or Desires, cannot make the Terms of our Acceptance other
   than what they are already; fix'd and determin'd by the Father of our
   Lord Jesus Christ, with whom there is no Variableness, nor shadow of
   turning: who, after having view'd all Things relating to our Nature,
   and his own upon the Principles of unerring Wisdom, appointed the
   Bounds of his own Mercy, and the Conditions of our Happiness; neither
   of which it is in our Power either to enlarge or diminish.

   NOR is it any other than egregious Folly for us to imagine that He
   himself will at last vary from his own Terms; and, after He hath
   declared and promulgated Rules, by which he assures us He will be
   govern'd in the Distribution of his Love and Favour, to flatter
   ourselves that he will depart from these Rules, for our Sakes, who
   would not depart from our own unreasonable Practices either for his
   Sake, or our own; and that he will adapt his Proceedings at last to our
   Practice, in Pity to us, who would not adapt our Practice to his Laws.
   And yet I know of but this one Way in which any Alteration or
   Abatement, or new Modification, of the Covenant of Grace can be hop'd
   for; viz. that God himself will at last new model it, and alter it into
   some other Form: The Weakness of which Imagination I shall have
   occasion hereafter more fully to lay open. At present I make this
   Observation, that the Terms of Acceptance are establish'd and
   unalterable; as God himself hath fixed them in the Gospel: because,
   unless we be persuaded of this, all our Enquiries after them will be
   only so many Speculations, and fruitless Searches; rather serving to
   satisfy Curiosity, than to direct Practice. For if we entertain a
   Thought, that those Terms, tho' solemnly settled, and solemnly
   promulgated, by the Son of God and his Apostles, may be again altered,
   and changed into something more agreeable to us, and more consistent
   with our Ways? the Gospel can have but little, very little, effect upon
   our Minds, under the powerful Assaults of any considerable Temptation.
   Pleasure, Honour, and Profit, will work strongly upon a Mind
   fluctuating in uncertainty about the Consequences of things or made
   unstable by the flattering Hope that the Consequences at last may not
   be found so terrible as they are represented in the Gospel. But if we
   be possess'd beforehand that such are the Terms of Acceptance, as the
   plain Declarations of the New Testament make them; and that such they
   will be found at last: then our serious Enquiries after them will have
   a great and powerful Influence upon our Conduct; and be of more force
   than the Efforts of Flesh and Blood, or the Insinuations of this
   transitory World. But,

   2. ANOTHER very necessary Rule to be observed in this important
   Enquiry, is, that all preconceived Notions of our own; all the
   Impressions of Education; all the Inclinations of Sense; all the
   Influences of Temporal Interest, and every thing that may cast a Cloud
   before our Eyes, or prevent our seeing or receiving the Truth, must be
   disregarded, in comparison of any one plain Declaration of the New
   Testament upon this Head. This is so necessary, that it is in vain to
   search after any Truth; unless all Prejudices, and evil Habits of
   Thinking, or Acting, inconsistent with it, be laid aside, and for the
   present disregarded. And much more necessary is it in this most
   Important Enquiry, that our Minds should lay aside every weight which
   will incline them against Truth, and weigh up the contrary Balance in
   which that inestimable Jewel is tryed; that we should be perfectly
   willing to find that True, which is True, whether we find it or no;
   that we should be as free as possible from the Bias impress'd upon the
   Soul, by former Schemes received upon the Authority of others, or by
   Evil Habits built upon our own Sin and Folly; that we should go to
   those Books in which the Account of this is laid before us, with Hearts
   disposed to Truth; and indifferent whether this Account shall be found
   to contradict our former Notions, and Practices, or not.

   THE force of Passion, and Prejudice, against Truth is so great, that
   Men tolerably well skill'd in that sort of Learning, may sometimes be
   hindred from seeing even the plain Truth of a Mathematical
   Demonstration, by some private Resentment, and secret Pique against
   others: in which Science there is no complaint of indeterminate Ideas,
   or obscure Expression. In like manner, set a Man about the Enquiry we
   are now speaking of, who hath been used to a way of thinking at second
   hand; and is in love with the Notions received from others, tho' never
   so false; his Labours shall be found to tend to little, unless it be to
   strain the obscure Passages into a Sense agreeable to his own Notions:
   whilst the plain ones are neglected. Or, set a Man about this Enquiry,
   immersed in this World; embarrass'd with a sordid love of Gain, or
   Honour; or captivated by Lust and sensual Pleasure; and how hardly will
   He, if at all, receive any thing, as the Will of God, inconsistent with
   his present Views? What a Bias will his own Wishes, and his perverted
   Will, clap upon his understanding? and how many Ways will He find, if
   He have any Thoughts of Religion at all, to reconcile the plainest
   contrary Declarations of God's Will to his own State, and his own
   Hopes? This makes me say that, if we would make the Enquiry with
   Success, we must be willing to find that true which is so; and that we
   must renounce to all our own Wishes, or Hopes, or Desires, whether
   founded upon former Notions infused into us by others; or upon former
   Practices indulged by ourselves.

   NAY, how weak; how unreasonable; how injurious and pernicious a thing
   is it to be otherwise disposed? For we make not Truth: but it is what
   it is, and what it ever will be, whether we receive it, or not; and,
   when plainly propos'd to us, it is our Condemnation, if we reject it,
   or prefer any thing before it. And if we have been engag'd in such a
   Habit of Sin as may incline us to one side more than another: the
   farther we go in this Way, by establishing this Habit of Evil Practice
   by an Error fixed in the Understanding, we are so much the more deeply
   engaged in a Course of Ruin; and so much the more irrecoverably lost.
   For by this means we go not in the Dark; but do as it were light and
   direct ourselves all along the Paths of Misery. We go securely perhaps
   for the present, but at last the Sight and Sense of our wilful Error
   will be the most painful Horror, and insupportable Burthen. This should
   engage Sinners, that have any Thoughts of finding Mercy, to break off
   their evil Habits: because the longer they proceed in them, the more
   effectually will they blind their Eyes, and the more certainly will
   they indispose them, either to see the Truth of God's Covenant, tho'
   written in never so plain Characters; or to receive it to any purpose,
   if they should not avoid the seeing it. For nothing unqualifies Men for
   Divine Truths, of Importance to Happiness, so much as the Habit of Sin:
   nothing makes Men more afraid of, or unfit for, the Light, than their
   having exercised themselves in the Works of Darkness.

   3. ANOTHER Particular I must mention, of great use in this Enquiry, is,
   that we must take all the Declarations of the New Testament upon this
   Head, into the Account; and not some only: and then that, if there be
   any seeming Variety in any of them; the more obscure must be
   interpreted so as to be agreeable to the most plain and repeated
   Declarations. This it is but reasonable to require: because neither our
   Saviour nor his Apostles, have in any one single Portion of the New
   Testament, laid down the several Branches of the New Covenant; but
   spoken of them, as distinct Occasions gave them Ground to do: sometimes
   of one, sometimes of another. Now all things, equally declar'd by Them
   to be Conditions of our pardon, or salvation, are with equal
   Willingness, and equal Regard, to be received by us. And this Rule will
   prevent all those Mistakes in us, which others have fatally run into,
   by attending to some single Declarations upon this Subject; to the
   Neglect and. Contradiction of others, perhaps more plain and
   intelligible. This will teach us that, if one Place of Scripture
   attributes Happiness to one Virtue, or one Act of the Mind; and another
   as plainly to another; and a third to a third: and a fourth to the
   Performance of the whole Will of God, without mentioning Particulars: I
   say, This will teach us not to overlook one Passage for the sake of
   another, not more plain, or more intelligible; when all have the same
   Stamp of Divine Authority; and when, without regarding all, we cannot
   pretend to know the whole of what Almighty God hath declared concerning
   this Affair. The acting contrary to this, is just as if the rebellious
   Subjects of a Prince, now to be restored to his Favour upon such and
   such Conditions, should attend only to one or two of these Conditions;
   and pass over all the rest, as if they were not of equal Importance,
   and had not the Sanction of the same Authority.

   AND then, supposing there should be some Obscurity in one or more
   Passages relating to this Affair; there can be no Danger to Us, but in
   pretending to understand these, and at the same time understanding them
   so, as to invalidate the Design of the more plain and express
   Declarations: and this out of a Desire to reconcile our own Practices
   to the Hopes of Happiness. For it is no Crime in any Christian, not to
   understand an obscure or dubious Passage; provided he hath nothing
   wilful to accuse himself of, in this want of Understanding: But the
   Crime is, to resolve to understand it in such a Sense, as may best
   consist with his false Hopes; tho' it consists not at all with those
   plainer Texts, about the Meaning of which there can be no Doubt.

   LET us, therefore, but take into the Account the Whole of what is, in
   several Places of the New Testament, made necessary to our obtaining
   God's Favour, and Eternal Happiness. And, if we meet with any thing
   which we do not perfectly understand upon this Head, let us but attend
   to the plain and repeated Declarations; and not presume to neglect them
   for the sake of those which are not so; or to interpret those which are
   not so, after such a manner as to contradict those which are so: and I
   dare say, we need not fear any Error in this great Enquiry. For the
   Terms absolutely required are plainly, and frequently, expressed: and
   what is so, is, in every sort of Writing, allowed to explain what is
   not so: but what is not so is never allowed to be interpreted so as to
   contradict what is so. And therefore it will be unjustifiable and
   inexcusable in any one, to lay hold on any part of the New Testament,
   or any Text in it, which is in any respect obscure; and to oppose this
   to the plainest and most repeated: in order to build a Doctrine, or a
   Scheme, upon it, not to be reconciled to these; or perhaps absolutely
   inconsistent with them. This is not to consult the Honour of God: nor
   is it the way to find out the Terms of our own Happiness.

   THESE Rules, and Observations, which I have now laid down, are in order
   to your careful and exact Examination of what I design to say, when I
   come to lay before you the Terms of our Acceptance and Salvation, as
   they appear to me in the New Testament: to which I cannot now proceed
   for want of Time; but before which, it was necessary to commend to your
   Thoughts the Considerations before-mentioned; which will, I hope, be of
   great use in all your future Enquiries after the Way to Eternal Life.
   And all but little enough, or rather, I fear, too little, to make the
   Generality of Christians as sincere in their Enquiries, and as ready to
   embrace the true Answer to them, as they ought to be.

   AND indeed I have mentioned, and insisted upon, all these Precautions;
   because it is Eternal Life we are enquiring after; and the Favour of
   that God, whose Favour is better than Life, and whose Displeasure is
   infinitely worse than Death. Were they the Concerns of this Life, that
   fleeth away like a Shadow, and is not to be stopp'd by all the Art, or
   all the Power of Man, about which we are enquiring; it would be of no
   such vast Importance to be sollicitious about the Matter. Let Passion,
   or Pride, or Covetousness direct us; Let Ambition, or Lust; blind our
   Eyes; an End would quickly come, when this World could have no part in
   us. But yet, behold the Perverseness of Mankind. Were the Enquiry after
   the Pleasures, or Riches; or Honours, of this World; had there any
   Person of great Sagacity, or uncommon Penetration; appeared in it, to
   direct them in the sure way to these Riches, or Pleasures, or Honours,
   that must end with this Temporal Life: how few Mistakes should we find
   made even by the weakest of Men? The Covetous would easily understand,
   and make themselves perfect Masters of the Way to Wealth; the
   Voluptuous would never miss the Path of Pleasure; nor the Ambitious,
   the Road to Preferment, and Honour, and Titles. None of them would
   trust any Direction at second hand, when they could consult the Oracle
   it self. None of them would be diverted from their Enquiry by any
   Impulse contrary to that by which they professed to be directed. None
   of them would hazard the Disappointment of their main end, by relying
   on any thing but what was plainly proposed by their Guide. And all of
   them would be Proof against every Attempt that could be used, either to
   deceive their Understandings, or to influence their Wills to contrary
   Ways:

   BUT let it not always be said, that the Children of this World are
   wiser, in their Generation; wiser in their Pursuits and Enquiries after
   Trifles and Misery and Ruin; less capable of being imposed upon; more
   guarded and secure in their Way, than the Children of Light, who
   profess to have nobler Things in View; a State of unchangeable
   Happiness, Eternal in the Heavens, after this poor, uncertain State is
   at an End. If we be the Children of Light; if we have Eternal Life
   truly in View, and be truly inquisitive after the Way that leads to it;
   let us consider what Eternal Life is; how much it outweighs all that
   this Life can offer us; how much it exceeds all our present Conceptions
   which are formed upon very imperfect Ideas; how vastly it will
   recompense all the Pains, and Care, and Caution of the strictest
   Enquirer; how unconceivable an Happiness must be contained in the
   Favour of God, the Supreme and Original Father of all Things: and we
   shall think no Precaution too much to secure us from Mistake, whilst we
   are seeking our Way to it; no Care superfluous to defend us from the
   great Enemies of this Enquiry; no Pains, or Study, too great on our
   Parts, in order to be fully satisfied, What we must do to inherit
   Eternal Life.

   To the Resolution of which grand Question I design to proceed the next
   Opportunity.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Concerning the Terms of Acceptance, &c.

SERMON III.

   LUKE x. The latter part of the 25th Verse.

   Master, What shall I do to inherit eternal Life?

   THE Enquiry which I told you, these Words gave me Occasion to propose,
   as of Importance to Persons educated, and continuing, in the Profession
   of the Faith of Christ, (in which Number, we, and all of later Ages,
   generally are) is this: What it is that the Gospel requires of Men, who
   believe in Jesus Christ, and have been baptized into his Religion, and
   acknowledge Him for their Master, in order to their Acquittance from
   any Sins they have at any time been wilfully guilty of, during their
   Christian Profession; and to their final Justification at the Day of
   Judgment; and to their Eternal Happiness after this. And, having in two
   several Discourses endeavoured to engage your Attention, and to raise
   your Sollicitude after Truth, in a matter of such unspeakable Moment;
   as well as to point out to you the true Method of your coming to
   well-grounded Satisfaction, (viz your examining whatsoever is at any
   time laid before you on this Head by all the plain, and intelligible
   Texts in the New Testament concerning it, carefully laid together, and
   sincerely compared;) I come now to a particular Resolution of the
   Question proposed which I think may be comprized under the four
   following Heads.

   1. IT is required of a Christian, who hath been a wilful Sinner, that
   he renounce, and forsake, his Sins.

   II. IT is required of him, that he sincerely and with Perseverance,
   practise the contrary Virtues. And tho' to these Two all other Terms
   may be reduced; yet it is very proper particularly to mention two more,
   viz.

   III. IT is not sufficient that the Sinner forsake the Sins of which he
   stands guilty before God, and amend his outward Life; but he must
   entirely forgive the Offences, and Trespasses, of others against
   himself: which is so necessary a Condition, that without it even those
   Sins which he hath forsaken shall never be forgiven him.

   IV. IN the Case of Injustice, or Fraud, or Oppression; it is required
   of the Sinner, if he ever hope for Pardon, and Acceptance, not only
   that he leave off Injustice for the future, and act justly, and
   honestly; (which alone is not sufficient;) but also that he make
   Restitution, in whatsoever instances, he hath by any ways or means,
   injured any one in the World.

   THESE are the four particular Terms, or Conditions, upon which
   Christians, who have been wilful Sinners, may hope for Acceptance; and
   without which the Gospel gives them not the least Ground for such Hope.
   They may be all comprized in one general Proposition, viz. That it is
   required of Christians, who have the Guilt of any Sins upon them, to
   endeavour heartily, and sincerely, for the future, to practise the
   whole Will of God, revealed in the Book of Nature, and the Gospel of
   Jesus Christ: and that without this honest, sincere, and universal
   Obedience, they cannot hope to be accepted, for the Sake, and upon the
   Terms, of Jesus Christ. But it is fit to be more particular; and
   therefore I have chosen to speak of this Matter under the forementioned
   Heads: every one of which I design distinctly to consider, first,
   shewing that they are most plainly required; and then, shewing the
   Fitness and Reasonableness of them. And after we are fully satisfied
   concerning these, they will be so many infallible Directions to us; and
   prevent all fatal Mistakes, which otherwise may be occasioned by a too
   great Readiness to lay hold on any obscure, or misinterpreted, Passage
   of Scripture, for the Support of any other Notions concerning this
   important Matter.

   THESE are the Points, I say, which I design particularly to handle. But
   the Enquiry now before us, relating, as you see; to the Case of such
   professed Christians as have been wilful Sinners, and so have need of
   other Conditions to be offered them, than that of a perfect and
   unspotted Holiness; it will not be an useless, or improper Digression;
   before I come to the particular handling of the Points now laid down,
   to consider, who they are that may be called wilful Sinners; and the
   several Sorts, and Degrees of such as are so: that so, we may be all
   sensible that the very best of us may have need of some or other of
   these Terms of Condescension offered us thro' Jesus Christ, and, for
   his Sake only, made Terms of Acceptance with God. And here, it being
   manifest that all Those may justly be called wilful Sinners, who sin,
   either first, against sufficient Light; or secondly, against the
   Dictates of their own Consciences to the contrary: it will be proper to
   shew who they are that may be said thus to sin, either against the one,
   or the other. Now,

   1. ALL those may be said to act against sufficient Light, and
   sufficient Evidence to the contrary, who have fair Opportunities and
   Abilities of knowing their Duty; who profess a Religion, and live in
   any particular Place, or at any particular Time, in which their Duty is
   laid plainly before them. And here I must remark that not only those
   Sinners who have attended to this Evidence, and been sensible of the
   Directions of this Light, may be said to sin against it; but such also,
   as have wilfully refused to give any Attention to it, and have rejected
   the offers of its Direction, may equally be said to sin against it;
   because they wilfully refuse to pay any Respect, or Attention to it:
   and not only upon this account; but because they act against the Maxims
   which that is perpetually offering to their View, and which they might,
   if they pleased, be very well acquainted with. For no Ignorance that is
   wilful, and affected; or that proceeds from a Resolution to guard
   against better Information, and is founded upon an ill-disposed Mind;
   can avail a Sinner any thing, or distinguish him at all from the most
   wilful of Sinners. And this ought to be remarked, because many Persons
   seem to be so weak, as to chuse voluntarily not to be better inform' d,
   because they are pretty well resolved not to alter their bad Courses;
   and then to imagine that their Ignorance will be a sort of an Excuse
   for their Vices. Whereas this sort of Ignorance gives the Man all the
   Essence, and Guilt, of a wilful Sinner; nay, and makes Him a Sinner
   against that very Light and Evidence, to which he wilfully refuseth to
   attend. So that, with respect to persons who have professed to believe
   in Jesus Christ, and to receive Him for their Master, (of whom we are
   now particularly speaking) it may be affirmed that, not only They sin
   against the Light of his Gospel, who, at the very time of their
   committing Sin, know, and are sensible, that the Action they are going
   about is condemned by his Gospel; but also They who, after having
   professed Faith in Him, are wilfully careless and negligent in their
   enquiries after his Will; and chuse, upon very bad Principles, rather
   not to know, than to know, the Rules which He hath laith down. For
   this, I say, is manifestly sinning against the Light of that Gospel,
   which they wilfully refuse to consult, or attend to, upon a Suspicion
   that it may disturb them in their present Course, and consequently,
   upon a Resolution of continuing in it without that Disturbance.

   THESE Two sorts of Christians therefore are wilful Sinners: such, as
   sin against the Rules of the Gospel, knowing that they condemn their
   Practice at the very time of their sinning; and such likewise, as sin
   against those same Rules, with an Ignorance which proceeds from a
   perverse and deliberate Desire of being undisturbed in their Course: an
   Ignorance, in which they wilfully entrench themselves, as some sort of
   Security against the Guilt of Sin; but which, in truth, is as great an
   Aggravation of it, as can well be imagined. The Difference between
   these Two, is only such a Difference as may be supposed between Two
   disobedient Sons of the same Father: the one of which listens to his
   Will, and hears his Commands, and afterwards transgresseth them; and
   the other, whenever his Father is going to declare his Will to Him,
   stops his Ears, and refuseth to hear his Voice, merely because he is
   resolved to go on in his own Way, without any Regard to his Will. And
   which of these Two is the moth criminal, it is hard to determine: only
   that there seems more Resolution of Disobedience in the latter. Such
   Persons as I have been now describing, must not expect to be reckoned
   by our Saviour amongst those Servants who know not their Master's Will,
   and so shall be beaten with fewer stripes than others: for the Servants
   meant in that Saying of our Lord's, are such as have not the
   Opportunity of knowing their Master's Will so fully as others have; not
   such as have the Opportunity and wilfully refuse to make use of it.

   2. As there are Two sorts of Sinners, who may be said to sin against
   sufficient Light: so likewise, there are Two sorts of Sinners, who may
   be said to sin against their own Judgments and Consciences; and
   consequently, to be wilful Sinners. First, such as, at the very time of
   their sinning, perceive within themselves something which forbids that
   Action, and represents the Unreasonableness of it, and the Anger of God
   consequent upon it: and secondly, such as, tho' they have by a Custom
   of sinning worn off all sense of their Duty so far as to sin without
   any present Disturbance, and Uneasiness of Mind, at the very time of
   sinning; yet, before this habitual Practice of Vice, have often owned
   and acknowledged, or, during the continuance of it, do upon many
   Occasions, and in their most serious Intervals, judge and determine
   that the contrary Course of Action is truly their Duty, and what alone
   can entitle them to the Favour of God. Concerning the former of these,
   no one will doubt but that they sin against their Consciences because
   they are warned, and made uneasy, by them at the very time of sinning.
   And, as to the latter, I think it equally certain that they likewise do
   the same. For they sin against that Judgment which they have heretofore
   often made, before an Habit of Sin had made them insensible; they sin
   against their own Determinations in their most serious moments; they
   sin against a former Judgment of their Minds, which their Reason and
   Consideration hath never yet reversed, or ever determined to be false
   or groundless; they sin against that which was the Voice of their
   Conscience, when they had any awake in their Minds: and consequently,
   They may be truly said to sin against their Judgments, and Consciences;
   tho', at the very time of their sinning; they have no present Alarm and
   Disturbance from them.

   ALL the Difference between the Two sorts of Sinners I have now
   mentioned, is the same that may be supposed between Two Servants of the
   same Master: the One of which having not shewn his Disobedience so
   often, the Master still attends upon him, and directs him in his
   Actions, hoping to keep him, by this means, from all bad and pernicious
   Practices, which nevertheless he sometimes ventures upon, even under
   his Master's Eye; and the Other having shewn the same Disobedience,
   under his Master's immediate Direction, more frequently, the Master
   thinks it useless any longer to attend upon Him, or to warn him against
   any particular Action. But yet, this Servant, tho' He offends not
   against his Master's, present express Warning to the contrary; He
   wilfully offends against all his past Rules, and all those Directions
   which He hath heretofore given him. So that his Case is worse than that
   of the Former, in this, that the Former hath not sinned beyond the
   Patience of his Master: or so as to forfeit his constant Attendance
   upon him: which He hath done; and still persists in that Disobedience.
   Just thus is with the Two sorts of Sinners now mentioned. Before an
   Habit of Sin hath made it otherwise; the Man hath generally the
   Remonstrances of his Conscience, whilst He is thinking to venture upon
   any Vice. But Conscience may at last be supposed to be weary of that
   good Office; and to find it fruitless to give so particular an
   Attendance upon the Sinner. Yet the Sinner nevertheless sins against
   it, because He continues to sin against all it's former Remonstrances;
   against that Judgment and Determination which He himself hath formerly
   acknowledged to be just and reasonable; and which He cannot think, or
   prove to be otherwise, even in the Heighth of his Wickedness. So that
   it is manifest that He sins against his own Judgment and Conscience,
   whose Conscience hath heretofore sufficiently warned Him against the
   Course He pursues, and sufficiently recommended the contrary to Him; as
   well as He whose Conscience still continues to do that good Office: and
   consequently, that both have equally the Guilt of wilful Sinners.

   THOSE professed Christians, therefore, who do, in any single Action, or
   in any Course of Actions, transgress those Rules which they know to be
   laid down in the Gospel; and they also, who wilfully refuse to know
   those Rules, merely that they may the more quietly practise what
   themselves think fit; Both willfully act against sufficient Light, and
   Evidence: and therefore are both certainly wilful Sinners. So likewise,
   they who do, either in any particular Action, or in any Course of
   Actions, sin against the present Checks and Warnings of their own
   Consciences; and they also, who sin against the past Determination of
   their own Judgments, and the serious Result of their own best Reason,
   tho' wholly unmindful of it just at the time of sinning; both wilfuly
   sin against their Consciences: and therefore are both certainly wilful
   Sinners. And now, from what has been said upon this Subject, it will
   not be improper to observe more particularly the several Degrees, and
   Ranks, of those who may justly be stiled wilful Sinners. As

   1. IT is plain that in the lowest degree of wilful Sinners are such
   Persons as have a sincere Desire of avoiding all Sin; such as keep up
   in their Minds a warm Sense of the Guilt of it and do, in the main
   Tenour of their Lives, demonstrate the Sincerity of their outward
   Profession of Christianity, by observing its Laws, behaving themselves
   according to its Rules, and resisting great and frequent Temptations to
   sin: but nevertheless are sometimes, through the Violence of some
   particular Temptations, hurried into such a Behaviour, and such
   Actions, as they know to be condemned by the Gospel they profess, and
   to be displeasing to Almighty God. But in this State they do not
   continue, or glory; but lament and abhor their Condition; and by
   Amendment raise themselves as soon as possible from it. These are
   wilful Sinners, in this particular Behaviour: because they do the thing
   which their Consciences condemn; and because they wilfully act in this
   Particular, against the Light of that Gospel which they enjoy. But it
   is hard to call such Persons by the Name justly bestowed on those whose
   main Course of Living is directed and governed by a quite contrary
   Principle: For as they are no denominated good and virtuous, from one
   or two particular good and virtuous Actions; whilst the greatest art of
   their Lives is filled up with the contrary Practices: so neither can
   the others justly be denominated wicked Men, from one or two particular
   Commissions of Sin, whilst the main of their Lives hath been dedicated
   to Virtue; provided that, by their Amendment in those particular
   Instances, they have given sufficient Proof of their Repentance. But
   what I observe at present is this, that such Persons, are in these
   Actions, wilful Sinners, for the Reasons before given; and that they
   certainly stand in need of an Act of Grace, from Almighty God, in order
   to be assured of Pardon and Forgiveness; because they have done what
   they themselves acknowledge they ought not to have done; and have
   wilfully committed what deserveth Punishment: what they cannot justify,
   but are forced to condemn themselves for.

   2. IN the next Degree of wilful Sinners, may be placed such Persons as
   have some Sense of Religion, and same sort of Resolution of practising
   the Duties of it: but yet, when any considerable Temptation offers it
   self, yield up themselves to the power of it; and at that time, when
   only they can experience the Sincerity of their own Minds, viz. in the
   Day of Trial, do very often wilfully fall into grievous and deliberate
   Sins. I do not suppose these Persons to be so bad as to seek out
   Opportunities of sinning; or to harbour in their Minds before-hand any
   Designs of laying hold on such Opportunities; but thro' same great
   Defect, or Negligence in themselves, to be surpriz'd, by almost every
   Trial, into Sin; and to give themselves Proofs of little, thro' their
   whole Behaviour, besides the Weakness of their own Resolutions, and the
   ineffectual Sense they have of the Truths Religion. Of those, mentioned
   under the foregoing Head, it may be said that they are sincere, and
   settled in the Ground-work of Religion; because they resist many
   Temptations, and govern the main part of their Lives by the Rules of
   it: but of these, I fear, it can hardly be said that they do both truly
   understand, and heartily believe, the Nature, and Importance of what
   they profess; because whenever any considerable Trial offers itself,
   (which alone can prove whether a Man deceiveth himself in this Matter,
   or not,) they find no Strength, no Assistance, in those Principles
   which they suppose or profess themselves to have; but always renounce
   them for the sake of some present Profit or Pleasure in sinning. When
   none, or very little, Fruit is seen to proceed from the good Seed sown;
   it is a certain Sign that there is some Fault in the Ground in which it
   is lodged. But,

   3. Is the highest Order of wilful Sinners, are to be placed those who
   are come to such a Pitch in Wickedness, as to contrive and design Evil
   before-hand; to lay Scenes of Sin, and to invite, or seek out;
   Temptations and Opportunities for it, with a Resolution of complying,
   and yielding to them. I cannot conceive any Degree of Sinners beyond
   this: and it will make but a small Difference in those of this Order,
   that some of them meet with much fewer Opportunities successful to
   their Wishes than others do. For in time Eye of God, and of Natural
   Justice, He hath all the Guilt of Sin, who deliberates and resolves
   upon the Action, whenever a fair Opportunity shall offer itself to him;
   and is always prepared for more and more Sins, as more and more
   Occasions present themselves. That He doth not always meet with these
   Opportunities, may be happy to others: but is no Alteration of his own
   inward Guilt. For the Guilt of Sins lies where the Wilfulness of it
   lies; and that is in the inward Design and deliberate Resolution; the
   longer Time any Person hath for the deliberating part, enhancing and
   encreasing the Wilfulness of the Action.

   THUS, in the Account of the Gospel, Murthers; Adulteries, Fornications,
   and all Sins, are condemned, as in the Heart; and proceeding out of the
   Heart: that is, as designed, and resolved upon, within. In the Eye of
   our Lord, He is an Adulterer, who hath deliberately resolved upon the
   committing Adultery; whether the Opportunity doing it ever present
   itself, or not: And so He is a Murtherer, that is, He hath the Guilt of
   Murder before God, who hath resolved and decreed within himself to take
   away his Neighbour's Life unjustly; whether He ever meet with a
   favourable Opportunity, or not.

   AND tho' Human Governours cannot teach the Mind, or discover the secret
   Intention, but by the outward Act; and so cannot reasonably judge of
   Guilt but by the outward Act: yet there is all the Reason in the World
   that Almighty God should always judge of Guilt by the inward Act and
   Design; because it always lies there, and because He knows the inward
   Act of the mind in it self, much more perfectly than We can know it
   from any outward, or open Act. Nay, we ourselves never condemn the
   outward Action, but when it appears, at least, to have proceeded from a
   bad Design within. Who ever blamed a Machine, or Engine, or thought
   that guilty of Murther; because Men's Lives have been taken away by the
   Violence of it? Or who ever thought a Brute guilty, in the Sense in
   which a reasonable Creature is so, for having been the Occasion of a
   Man's Death? Nay, who ever condemned a Man as deserving Punishment, if,
   through unavoidable Inadvertance, or designing Good and Kindness, he
   hath proved the Interment of Death to a Person, to whom he is known to
   have meant no Evil? Yet in all these Cases there is the material Action
   which is in all Murthers; a taking away the Life of a Man:
   notwithstanding which, Guilt is not supposed to belong to it, because
   there wants the Design, the Deliberation, and the Resolution, knowingly
   to do the Action. All this shows plainly that it is in these that the
   Evil of Sin lies: and that by these, the Men who have but few
   Opportunities of bringing their inward Resolutions to outward Acts, may
   be made equal in Guilt to those who have many more Opportunities of
   carrying their designed Wickedness into Action; that is, if they have
   an equal Number of the same evil Designs within, and wicked deliberate
   Resolutions. We may, indeed, suppose an accidental Difference in this,
   that one Man's Heart may relent and alter, when the Opportunity offers
   it self; and another's may not. But of this God alone can judge: and
   therefore, to Him alone it belongs to do it. These are all the several
   Orders, and Degrees, of willful Sinners, which I can think of: and to
   one or other of these, All that come under that Name may be reduced.

   I SHALL only observe farther the Difference between these Three sorts
   of wilful Sinners, with respect to the Habit of sinning. For though it
   be impossible to define exactly what Number of wiful Sins shall
   constitute an habitual Sinner; as it is, in any Case, what particular
   Number of Actions are necessary to constitute an Habit, or Custom: yet
   it is manifest that the first sort of Sinners cannot be called habitual
   Sinners, because the main Tenour of their Lives is governed by the
   Moral Rules of the Gospel; and it is only in some few particular
   Instances of Temptation that they have been overcome, and transported
   from the general Bent and Bias of their Lives, in the Course of which
   they have triumphed over many mote of the same sort of Trials, and
   Difficulties. It is manifest, in the next place, that the two other
   sorts of wilful Sinners may justly be called habitual: because even the
   better sort of them give themselves up to the Power of all considerable
   Temptations; suffering themselves to be carried by them into Sin; and
   much more frequently yielding to the Strength of the Trials they meet
   with, than using all the Force of their Souls to resist and overcome
   them. But with this remarkable Difference, that the one of them do not
   design or resolve upon Sin before-hand; or please themselves with the
   Thought and Deliberation concerning it: whereas the other sort have
   given up themselves to contrive their own Sins; to be their own
   Tempters, and to yield to their own Temptations.

   BUT though there be this very great Difference between these Three
   sorts of wilful Sinners; yet they agree in this, that they have all,
   (the lowest as well as the highest Degree of them,) done what they
   ought not to have done; that they may all justly fear a Punishment from
   God, proportionable to their several Estates; that they all stand in
   need of an Act of Grace, and Favour, from the great Judge of the World;
   of Terms of Condescension, below those of exact and rigorous Justice:
   in order to their Reconciliation with an offended God; and to
   well-grounded Peace, and Satisfaction within themselves.

   THE Terms of which Reconciliation and Favour, I laid down at the
   beginning of this Discourse: and shall distinctly prosecute, one after
   another; in my following Sermons.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Concerning the Terms of Acceptance, &c.

SERMON IV.

   LUKE x. The latter part of the 25th Verse.

   Master, What shall I do to inherit eternal Life?

   THE Enquiry we are now upon, is this, What it is that the Gospel
   requires of Men, who believe in Jesus Christ, and have been baptized
   into his Religion, and acknowledge him for their Master; in order to
   their Acquittance from any Sins which they have at any Time been
   wilfully guilty of, during their Christian Profession; and to their
   final Justification at the Day of Judgment; and to their Eternal
   Happiness after this. The Answer to this Enquiry, in my last Discourse,
   I laid down in four Particulars. And I observed to you, that all four
   might be comprized in this one general Proposition, viz. That it is
   required of Christians who have been wilful Sinners, sincerely to
   endeavour for the future to practise the whole Will of God, any ways
   made known to them, and that without this Amendment, and sincere,
   universal Obedience, the Gospel gives them no Ground for Hopes of
   Pardon and Acceptance, and Eternal Life: but that it would be more
   useful to discourse upon this Subject, under fore-mentioned
   Particulars. In order likewise to our knowing our own Condition, and
   the need we all have of some or other of these Terms, offered to such
   as have been wilful Sinners, I laid before you an Account of the Nature
   of wilful Sin; what it is that makes a Man a wilful Sinner; and what
   are the several Differences, and Degrees, of such as are wilful
   Sinners. And after having done this; I now come distinctly to consider,
   in their Order, every one of the four Propositions, laid down in my
   last Discourse: and this, first, with respect to their Truth; and
   secondly, with regard to their Fitness, and Reasonableness. The first
   Proposition is this:

   I. IT is required, in the Gospel-Dispensation, of every Christian, who
   hath been in any sort, or any degree, a wilful Sinner, that He
   renounce, and forsake his Sins.

   I. THE Truth of this will plainly appear from the following Proofs. In
   general, The Grace of God, i. e. his Mercy in the Gospel is declared by
   St. Paul, Titus ii. 12, 13. to have appeared unto all Men, teaching
   them to deny Ungodliness; and worldly Lusts; i.e. to renounce and have
   no Communication with them for the future. And at ver. 14. Christ is
   said to have given himself for us Christians; that he might first
   redeem us from all Iniquity, in order to redeem us at last from the
   Punishment of it. It is a faithful Saying, and worthy of all
   Acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners,
   saith the same Apostle, 1 Tim. i. 15. But then immediately mentioning
   himself, as an Example and Instance of this Truth, by the Name of the
   Chief of Sinners, on account of his having bitterly persecuted the
   Church of Christ; he plainly lets us know what sort of Sinners they are
   to whom this Salvation is given, viz. such as have left their Sins: as
   He had entirely, and with the utmost Abhorrence, that great one of
   persecuting his Fellow-Creatures on the account of their differing from
   Him in their Religion, and Worship of God.

   IN Pursuance of this main Design of Christianity, all that name the
   name of Christ are commanded to depart from Iniquity, 2 Tim. ii. 19. to
   have no Fellowship with the unfruitful Works of Darkness, Eph. v. 11.
   which cannot be avoided without forsaking them; to abhor that which is
   evil, Rom. xii. 9. to abstain from all appearance, or, as the Words
   signify, every sort Evil, 1 Thess. v. 22. to mortify their Members
   which are upon Earth, under which Expression all Sin is contained, Col.
   iii 5. Particularly, He that hath stolen, is required to steal no more,
   Eph. iv. 28: Agreeably to this, the same St. Paul, describing the
   Acceptance or Justification, purchased by Christ, expresseth himself
   thus, Rom. viii. 1. There is now no Condemnation to them which are in
   Christ Jesus, (i. e. which believe in him; and profess in his Religion)
   adding these Words, who walk not after the Flesh. And ver. 12. we,
   Christians, are Debtors, not to the Flesh, to live after the Flesh: And
   v. 13. For if ye live after the Flesh, ye shall die, i. e. eternally:
   but if ye, through the Spirit, mortify the Deeds of the Body, (which is
   a Scripture Expression for renouncing and forsaking all Sin,) ye shall
   live; that is, enjoy the Favour of God eternally. In another place,
   after having reckoned up the Promises of God thro' Jesus Christ, he
   infers, Having therefore these Promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse
   our selves from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit. 2 Cor. vii. 1. that
   is, let us, who are Christians, if we hope to obtain the Promises of
   God, cleanse our selves from all sin. Timothy is commanded to turn away
   from, or disown, all such Christians as having the Form of Godliness,
   deny the Power thereof, 2. Tim. iii. 5. And lest all this should not be
   sufficient; continual Warnings are given to such as are professed
   Christians, of the Danger and Eternal Punishment of Sin. They are
   assured over and over again by St. Paul, that it is for their Sins that
   the Wrath of God will come upon them, Col. iii. 6. He appeals to
   Christians themselves, 1 Cor. vi. 9. Know ye not that the Unrighteous
   shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. Be not deceived, neither
   Fornicators, nor Idolaters, nor other Sinners, there counted up, shall
   inherit the Kingdom of God, Gal. v. 19, 20, 21; the Works of the Flesh
   are enumerated to Christians, that is, all the principal Sins, of the
   which the Apostle tells them, as He saith He had before, that they
   which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God: And at ver.
   24. They that are truly Christ's, i.e. who will have any Benefit by
   him, are such as have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and
   Lusts, Chap. vi. v. 7, 8. the Galatians are called upon again not to be
   deceived; and assured that God is not mocked: but that he that soweth
   to the Flesh, i. e. who doth the Works of the Flesh, shall of the Flesh
   reap Corruption. The Ephesian Christians are likewise called upon, not
   to be deceived with vain Words, Eph. v. 6. and assured that because of
   these things, i. e. the Sins before counted up, the Wrath of God cometh
   upon the children of Disobedience; and that no such Sinners as are
   there mentioned, have any Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of
   God, ver. 5.

   ALL which, as it was the immediate Instruction of God, to his Apostles;
   so was it agreeable to the open Declarations of Christ, when He was
   upon Earth. In his own Account of his Proceedings at the great Day, He
   brings in such as professed themselves his Disciples, and had many
   Gifts to boast of; to whom yet he declares He will then say, I know you
   not, depart from me, ye Workers of Iniquity, Matth. vii. 22. In the
   Parable of the Tares growing up with the Wheat, (by which must be meant
   unfruitful Professors of his Gospel) the Tares are ordered at last to
   be gathered for burning, Mat. xiii. 30. And at the 41^st and 42^d
   Verses, they which do Iniquity are to be gathered out of his Kingdom
   (to which they professed themselves to belong;) and to be cast into a
   Furnace of Fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of Teeth. The
   Angels are to sever the Wicked from the Just, and to cast the Wicked
   into the Furnace of Fire, v. 47. The Man in the Parable, found without
   a Wedding Garment, Matth. xxii. 13. and the unprofitable Servant, who
   had not improved the Talent entrusted to him, that is, the Light, and
   Strength afforded him in the Gospel, Matt. xxv. 30. are both ordered to
   be cast into outer Darkness, there shall be wailing, and gnashing of
   Teeth.

   I THOUGHT it fitting to make this Matter so exceeding evident, that
   there might remain no Doubt of it: and these Texts are so plain, that
   there can be no Thought of mistaking their Meaning; tho' they be not so
   many in Number as might easily be alledged from the same Sacred
   Writings. And can any Christians hear all this, and not argue certainly
   from hence, that there is a Necessity of forsaking their Sins, in order
   to any Hopes of Pardon and Acceptance at last? For, if it were the
   Design of the Gospel to teach, and influence Men to deny all
   Ungodliness; if Christians be commanded, upon Pain of God's Eternal
   Displeasure, to forsake all Sin; if it be declared, both by Christ and
   his Apostles, that all Workers of Iniquity shall certainly be excluded
   the Kingdom of Heaven: then it is most evident, that unless they
   forsake their Sins, and are changed from being Workers of Iniquity,
   they are got truly, and fully, Christians; nor shall ever be admitted
   to the Favour of God, or the Rewards of Heaven.

   FROM hence therefore appears most evidently the Truth of the first
   Proposition, viz. That it is required, in the Gospel-Dispensation, of
   every Christian, who hath been, in any sort, or any Degree, a wilful
   Sinner, that He renounce and forsake his Sins. Let us now proceed to
   the second; which will still more confirm the Truth of the first: viz.

   II. IT is required likewise of Him, that He sincerely, and with
   Perseverance, practise Holiness, and Virtue.

   THIS is almost always, in the New Testament, joined to the forsaking of
   Sin. The Grace of God is declared to have appeared, in the
   Gospel-Dispensation, teaching Men, not only to deny Ungodliness and
   worldly Lusts, but also to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this
   World, Tit. ii. 12, 13. And at the 14^th verse, Christ is said to have
   given himself for us, not only to redeem us from all Iniquity, but to
   purify to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works. Agreeably to
   this, Christians are commanded not only to abhor that which is evil,
   but also to cleave to that which is good, Rom. xii. 9. not only to
   cleanse themselves from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit, but also to
   perfect Holiness in the Fear of God, 2 Cor. vii. 1. They are told, that
   there is but one way of running in the Christian Race, so as to obtain
   the Prize, 1. Cor. x. 24; that nothing avails in Christ Jesus, that is,
   in the Christian Dispensation, but a New Creature, or an Alteration of
   every thing that is bad, Gal. vi. 15, or, in other Words, that nothing
   avails, but Faith which worketh by Love, ch. v. 6. They are assured
   that Faith, or their believing in Christ Jesus, is made perfect by good
   Works; and is dead without them, and of no account before God. Jam. ii.
   26; that whosoever shall keep all other parts of God's Law, and
   wilfully and habitually offend in one Point, is guilty of all, v. 10;
   that without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord, Heb. xii. 14. And
   indeed a great part of St. Paul's Epistles is generally spent in
   inculcating the Moral Precepts of Religion. It is for them only, who,
   by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for Glory and Immortality,
   that Eternal Life is reserved; Rom. ii. 7. Nay, it is declared to be so
   far from being an Advantage to a wicked Man, that he professeth
   Christianity, that it had been better for such an one not to have known
   the way of Righteousness, 2 Pet. ii. 21. As our Lord himself saith, The
   Servant who knew his Master's Will, and did it not, shall be beaten
   with many Stripes, Luke xii. 47.

   I MIGHT multiply plain, unexceptionable Passages, without Number,
   declaring that the Rewards of God belong only to Righteousness; that
   Christians are called to Holiness; that unless they sow to the Spirit,
   and bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, they must not expect Life
   everlasting; that, according to what they have done in this Life, so
   shall be their Doom; and the like. But they would all, as indeed they
   are, be only Repetitions, and Enforcements of that most plain and
   express Declaration of our Lord himself, who best knew the Terms of
   that Acceptance, which he himself purchased; viz. Matt. vii. 21. Not
   every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom
   of Heaven; but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven;
   which utterly precludes all professed Christians from any Benefit from
   their Religion, unless they conscientiously practise that good, and
   perfect Will of God, which they know, to contain their Duty.

   AND this being the declared Nature and Design of the Gospel; this being
   thus evidently required of Christians, as necessary to Salvation, in
   many plain Passages, uncapable of any other Sense: no Christian can
   think any thing of Force enough to induce him to doubt of the Truth of
   what I have now laid down in the Two first Propositions, viz. that it
   is absolutely necessary for any Christian, who hath been in any respect
   a wilful Sinner, in order to his Acceptance, and Eternal Happiness, to
   forsake his Sins; and with Perseverance to practise all Virtue and
   Holiness, whilst He hath Opportunity allowed him: and that unless He do
   this so as to make it his own voluntary Act and Deed, (which must be
   before a Death-bed makes it impossible;) and so, as to be deservedly
   denominated, holy, righteous, spiritual, and the like; He cannot have a
   Title to those Rewards, which in the Gospel are promised to none but
   such as are truly so.

   AND thus having established the Truth of these Two first Propositions,
   upon such plain Texts as cannot be shaken by any thing dubious, or
   obscure; I proceed

   2. SECONDLY, to consider, as I proposed, those Marks of Justice,
   Reason, and Wisdom, which we ourselves may see to belong to these Two
   Terms of the Covenant of Grace, thus explained.

   AND here I think I may affirm, That, supposing the Nature of Almighty
   God to be such as it is; at an infinite Distance from all Sin and
   Iniquity, as well as kindly and tenderly disposed towards his rational
   Creatures; we cannot imagine any possible Conditions of the Acceptance
   of Sinners to his Favour, so free from all Exception, as those now laid
   down in the Two foregoing Propositions. For if God will at all accept
   Sinners to Mercy for the Sake of Jesus Christ; it must be supposed
   either, 1. That He will accept them, for his Sake, let their inward
   Sentiments, and their outward Behaviour, continue what they please;
   that is, that He requires nothing at all on their part towards it: Or,
   2. That He will, for the Sake of Jesus Christ, accept them, without any
   Alteration in their outward Conduct and Behaviour; provided they do but
   conceive and express a great Sorrow and Concern that they have
   transgressed his Laws: Or, 3 That He will, for the sake of Christ, once
   pardon to them all their former Transgressions; or that he will forgive
   such a particular Number of Transgressions: after which the Sinner
   should have no Hope of Pardon, if He should relapse into the Commission
   of any wilful Sin: or else, 4. and lastly, That, for the sake of Jesus
   Christ, the Sinner shall be pardoned who doth, at any time, so forsake
   his Sins, as to bring forth, in the whole Course and Tenour of his
   Life, the contrary Virtues, and do the whole Will of God. These are all
   the Suppositions that, I believe, can be thought of, concerning the
   Terms of Acceptance of any who have been wilful Sinners. Now,

   1. LET us examine the first Supposition, which puts the Case, as if it
   were declared that Sinners should be accepted, for the sake of Christ,
   whether they regarded his Laws, or not; whether they altered their
   Notions, and Behaviour, or not. And what can we imagine a greater
   Repugnancy to all those Conceptions we have of the holy Nature of God,
   and of the great Law of Reason, and uncorrupted Nature? For what
   plainer Declaration could Almighty God make, to lead Men to think that
   there was no Difference between Moral Good and Moral Evil; that Virtue
   was of no account in his Eyes; and that the Distinction between that
   and Vice, was not worthy to be regarded by rational Creatures? This
   would be to make this World an Hell of Wickedness and Misery; and
   Heaven, at last, the Attendant upon Vice, which would by this means
   prevail over the Face of the Earth, and not upon Virtue, which would by
   this means cease from amongst the Children of Men. This is to suppose
   Almighty God descending in Offers of Mercy; in order to encourage Men,
   indeed, to continue in Sin; and causing his Son to be born into the
   World, I will not say, to no Purpose; but to the worst of all Purposes,
   that is, to the utter Confusion, and Disgrace of the Cause of Virtue.
   It is to suppose, either that He hath given no Moral Laws to be
   observed, which we know to be false; or that He hath left it
   indifferent whether Men will observe them, or no; nay, that he hath
   sent his Son to assure Men that this is an indifferent Matter; highly
   absurd. It is to suppose such an extraordinary Person coming into the
   World in so extraordinary a manner, for nothing but to speak Comfort to
   the worst part of Mankind, even while they continue the worst; and not
   to leave them the least effectual Motive to engage them to make
   themselves better: which is the highest Affront we can offer to
   Almighty God; who cannot be supposed, without the greatest Indignity,
   to visit his Creatures after so extraordinary a manner, in order to
   carry on a Design opposite to his own Nature. In fine, it is to suppose
   the Cause of Virtue left entirely unguarded; and the main
   Encouragements of the Gospel to lie on the side of Vice: which having
   the Inclinations and Customs of most Men on its side, wants nothing but
   such a collateral Assistance as this, to enable it to overwhelm the
   World with an irresistible Torrent.

   IF any ask, Who are they that ever could think thus of the Terms of
   Acceptance with God? I may answer, All such as. (tho' they do not say
   it, and speak it aloud, in so many Words, yet,) think and speak, in
   such a manner, of the Merits of Christ's Sufferings, and the Imputation
   of his personal Holiness to Believers, as to make his Moral Laws of
   none effect, and to render all Virtue in Christians, a poor
   insignificant, unnecessary Matter; unless it be the great Virtue of
   applying the Merits of Christ to our selves: a Virtue, which They who
   have most Spirits, are the most frequently observed to be Masters of:
   and which hath been too often seen to be founded upon the greatest
   degree of Confidence, and the greatest degree of Guilt, mix'd and
   temper'd together by a strong Fancy, and Imagination. And would not
   this be the greatest Reflection upon Almighty God, to imagine that He
   should propose the Kingdom of Heaven to suffer such Violence; not to be
   taken by the Force of an holy and exemplary Life, but by the Force of a
   groundless Assurance, and a confident Application of his Promises?

   2. IF this be not a tolerable Supposition, let us examine the next
   Supposition, I spake of, concerning the Terms of Acceptance, viz. That
   all manner of past Sins shall be wholly pardoned for the sake of Jesus
   Christ, provided that the Sinner do sometimes, and especially in his
   last Moments, conceive and express a very great Sorrow, and deep
   Concern for them. And here, let any one of the meanest Capacity judge,
   whether this be a tolerable Supposition concerning Almighty God, that
   He requires our Grief, or our Sorrow, for the sake of it self, whilst
   nothing good results from it: which is an Absurdity plainly implied in
   this Imagination. For all Sorrow is, for the present, Misery and
   Uneasiness, in its own Nature: and Almighty God cannot, in a State of
   Trial, be supposed to require, or expect, the least Uneasiness in his
   Creatures, considered as Uneasiness; but merely with respect to their
   better State, and greater Happiness for the Time to come. Not doth He
   ever require our Sorrow, but as the beginning of Amendment, and the
   first Step to Reformation. But of this I shall have occasion to speak
   more largely, under the Second Branch of my present Design: when I come
   examine more at length the false Hopes, and dangerous Mistakes of Men,
   in this Affair. I shall only therefore at present observe farther, that
   the Supposition we are now considering, is encompassed with the same
   insuperable Absurdities, under which the former laboured: viz. That
   Christ Jesus descended from Heaven to teach Men to grieve, and shed
   Tears; that He hath left Virtue unaccompanied with Encouragements, and
   hath bestowed his Favours upon that which is not so much as the Shadow
   of Virtue; upon a Practice depending more upon a peculiar Temper and
   Constitution of Body, than upon any thing truly good and virtuous in
   the Mind. It is to suppose Almighty God to accept, instead of Service,
   what no Father, no Master upon Earth, would accept; and, in one word,
   it is to suppose God himself to invalidate and render vain, every
   Precept of Virtue, and every Moral Law, from one End of the New
   Testament to the other: which who can believe, unless one that can
   believe any thing of the Judge of the whole Earth? Let us therefore,

   3. EXAMINE the Third Supposition, viz. That Almighty God declares He is
   willing to pardon a Sinner just to such a particular Term of Life, or
   such a particular Number of Sins: but that if, after that, He shall sin
   wilfully; He shall be absolutely unpardonable. This looks like a very
   great Discouragement to Sin: but yet at the End inevitably leads to it.
   For what would be the Issue, suppose any one, after his final Pardon,
   should, through the Violence of a Temptation, be ensnared into a wilful
   Sin? What would He think within himself, when He was once sure that He
   was in a desperate Condition? Would He not certainly find a sort of a
   present Refuge, in being more resolute than ever in his wicked Courses,
   since He could hope for no Good in breaking them off? Considering,
   therefore, the present Frailty and Weakness of Man, this would be a
   vast Disadvantage, in the End, to the Cause of Holiness and Virtue. For
   the promising Pardon to such a particular Number of Transgressions, or
   to a Course of Sin of such a particular Duration, would almost fatally
   influence Men, who were not of a sort of Angelical Nature, to venture
   so far, in some Instance or other, without Fear, or Suspicion of
   Danger: and all that Time the Cause of Vice would be wholly
   unrestrained. And then their own Weakness, and the Strength of their
   evil Habits, would, without all doubt, in, some Case or other, carry
   them so much farther, as that they must come to an hopeless State: and
   that State of Despair of future Mercy must make them violent and
   resolved in their Wickedness. Thus we see that even this Supposition,
   which seems to take most Care of the Cause of Virtue, leaves it, not
   only in a naked, and unguarded, but in a very desperate Condition.

   NAY, let us suppose that it was declared only in general, that there
   was a certain Number of Sins, or a certain Period of Time, beyond which
   God would not pardon; and not any particular Number, or Time, specified
   to the World: yet still most Men, it is too justly to be feared, would
   first be led by Hope to commit many Sins, with a flattering Persuasion
   that they should not come up to that Number, or arrive at that Period;
   and then, when the Habit was become strong, would be fixed by Despair
   in this Opinion, that being probably got past that Number, and Period,
   they had e'en as good continue in their Sins, as their Inclination
   powerfully directs them.

   THUS it appears that we our selves can discover great and considerable
   Inconveniencies in any other Proposal of Terms of Reconciliation
   between God, and Sinners, except that which I mentioned in the last
   place, and have before proved to be the Truth of the Matter; viz.

   4. THAT, for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Sinner shall be pardoned,
   who doth, at any time, so forsake his Sins, as to bring forth, in the
   Course and Tenour of his Life, the contrary Virtues, and sincerely
   perform the whole Will of God. In which Proposal, you may see, that
   when it is said that all wilful Sinners, amending their Lives, shall be
   accepted, there is all the Encouragement possible given to the Practice
   of Virtue, without making its Cause desperate, even to those who have
   very much neglected it for the Time past: and that when it is said that
   no wilful Sinners, without such actual Amendment of their Ways, shall
   be accepted, there is all the Discouragement given to Vice that can be,
   without throwing the Sinner into such a desperate Condition; as to
   tempt him to have recourse to his very Sins for Comfort.

   I AM not insensible that there is this Inconvenience attending the
   Promulgation of Pardon and Favour, even upon these Terms; viz. That Men
   of evil Dispositions, and strong Propensions to Sin, but yet not void
   of all regard to future Happiness, are led from hence to the basest
   Return to so much: Mercy; to imagine, because all wilful Sinners are
   pardonable upon these Conditions, that therefore all is well, if one
   time or other they take care to come up to them: and so, with the
   Possibility of this, they rather encourage themselves to go on for the
   present in the Commission of Sin, than immediately to forsake it. We
   find that there were some such ungrateful Persons, in the very first
   Ages of the Gospel, who barely encouraged themselves to continue in
   their Sins, as if it would magnify the Honour of God's Favour, to have
   more to pardon than they had already committed. St Paul speaks with the
   utmost Abhorrence of this way of arguing, Rom. vi. 1. What shall we say
   then? Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound? That is, in order
   to give the Mercy of God an Opportunity of shewing it self yet more?
   God forbid! God forbid, indeed, that any should be of so unworthy a
   Temper, as wilfully before-hand to encourage themselves to affront
   their Maker, because He hath been so merciful, beyond their Deservings,
   as to declare that He will accept them whenever they truly turn to him.

   I MENTION not this, in order to argue at this time with such Persons as
   these, who seem to be in the very next Degree to desperate and
   unpardonable; (which one would think sufficient to alarm any Men in
   their Senses;) but in order to obviate an Objection which may arise
   from the seeming Imprudence of openly proposing Favour upon such
   Conditions, viz. That wicked Men may be led to abuse them to other
   Purposes, and to their own Destruction: In order, I say, to obviate
   such an Objection by observing that nothing of this Nature can be
   framed, but what they may so abuse; that it is fit and reasonable that,
   in so great a Matter, form thing should be left to the Application of
   Men themselves, and to the Sincerity of their own Minds; and therefore
   that this rather shews the Wisdom of the Dispensation than destroys it;
   that if our Gospel be ineffectual on this Account, it is so only to
   those who are lost, that is, to men lost to all Sense of Virtue, or
   common Gratitude; lost to all that is good and tolerable, and totally
   given up to worldly or bestial Enjoyments; and that men of such Tempers
   deserve to fall into such a snare, and appear resolved upon Sin,
   whatever Terms of Acceptance could have been offered them.
   Notwithstanding therefore, that this Inconvenience may attend this
   peculiar Method of Acceptance: yet since it is excellently fitted for
   the Happiness of all who are truly honest and sincere; since it hath
   been shewn that much greater Inconveniencies must attend all others
   that can well be thought of; and it is plain that this ariseth from an
   invincible Perversity of Mind; this is sufficient to justify the
   excellent Contrivance of this Method, above all others. For infinite
   Wisdom itself can do no more than chuse that particular Method which is
   the best of all that are possible; and hath the fewest real
   Inconveniencies attending it; and is most agreeable to the Nature of
   God, the Condition of Man, and the End proposed in it.

   I SHALL only add that, from what hath been said, we may learn to adore
   the Goodness of God in condescending to grant any Terms to wilful
   Sinners; and to admire his Wisdom, in doing this after such a manner as
   at once to shew the strictest Regard to Virtue; and the tenderest
   Compassion to his Creatures that have erred from the Paths of it. And
   God grant that we may be of the Number of those happy Christians, who
   embrace these Terms, and upon them only, seek for Happiness and Eternal
   Life! Amen!
     __________________________________________________________________

   Concerning the Terms of Acceptance, &c.

SERMON V.

   LUKE X. The latter part of the 25th Verse.

   Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal Life?

   IN answer to the Enquiry which I proposed from these Words, viz. What
   it is, that is required in the Gospel, of a Christian, who hath been in
   any sort, or degree, a wilful Sinner, in order to his Acquittance, and
   Eternal Happiness, thro' Jesus Christ; I laid down the four following
   Propositions.

   I. IT is required of such an one, that he renounce and forsake his
   Sins.

   II. IT is required that He sincerely, and with Perseverance, practise
   Holiness, and Virtue.

   III. IN order to his Acceptance, it is required not only that he
   forsake his own Sins, and amend his Life in other Instances; but
   likewise that He entirely forgive the Offences and Trespasses of others
   against himself. And,

   IV. IN the Case of Injustice, it is not sufficient that the Sinner
   leaves off Injustice for the future, so far as to do Wrong to no more
   Persons than those He hath already injured: but He must also, as ever
   he hopes for Mercy and Acceptance with God, make Restitution of what He
   hath at any time wronged any one of; and all possible Reparation for
   the Injuries which he hath heretofore been guilty of.

   THE Two first of these I considered in my last Discourse, first,
   shewing the Truth of them from plain, unexceptionable Texts of the New
   Testament, incapable of any other Meaning; and secondly, the
   Reasonableness, and Fitness of the Terms of Salvation laid down in
   them, considering the Nature of God and Man, above any other, which we
   could possibly suppose. I come now to consider the Third Proposition
   laid down; viz.

   III. THAT it is required of a Christian, who hath been a wilful Sinner,
   not only to forsake his own Sins, and amend his Life; but likewise
   entirely to forgive the Offences, and Trespasses of others, against
   himself.

   THIS Condition of Acceptance, as I hinted to you once before, might
   justly have been reduced to the Two foregoing Propositions: because,
   Forgiveness being a part of Evangelical Duty, and Implacability and
   Revenge sinful and criminal in their own Natures, it is impossible that
   a Man should forsake his Sins, which according to the first Proposition
   is absolutely required, without forsaking his Resolutions, and
   Disposition to Revenge, and Retaliation; or that He should practise all
   Holiness and Virtue according to the Second Proposition, without
   practising Forgiveness, and demonstrating himself to be of a yielding
   and placable Temper. But since the Evidence of this Virtue hath been so
   much over-clouded by the Passions of Men; nay, since it hath passed, in
   many Cases, almost for a Vice; since our Lord, and his Apostles, added
   to their general Exhortations concerning Repentance, and Amendment, the
   most particular Injunctions about this Point; since, even under the
   Light of the Gospel there are too many, who will hardly be persuaded to
   put their high Resentments, and Purposes of Retaliation, amongst their
   Vices, which they are obliged, upon Pain of Damnation, to relinquish,
   and forsake; and lastly, since there is so much said in the Gospel of
   the peculiar Necessity of this forgiving Temper towards our own
   Forgiveness, and of its peculiar Efficacy towards our Justification, it
   very deservedly claims a particular Place in our Consideration, when we
   are enquiring after the Terms of our Eternal Happiness: as will appear,
   I do not doubt, fro m what I have to offer concerning it. And for your
   Satisfaction in this Instance, I propose,

   1. To shew you, from the plainest Passages of the New Testament, that
   this Forgiveness of others is indispensably required at our Hands, in
   order to our own Forgiveness.

   2. To prevent Mistakes, I design to shew you the true Meaning of what
   is declared in any of these Texts concerning the peculiar Efficacy of
   this Virtue upon Almighty God towards our Acceptance with him. And,

   3. I shew you the great Reasonableness, and Fitness, of God's requiring
   this of us; and of our practising it, in its utmost Extent, and
   Comprehension.

   1. I SAY, I design to prove the Truth of the Proposition laid down; and
   to shew you, that the Forgiveness of the Offences and Trespasses of
   others against our selves is indispensably required at our Hands, in
   order to our own Forgiveness, and Justification.

   THE first Proof we meet with of this, is in the Sixth Chapter of St.
   Matthew, part of that Divine Discourse upon the Mount, in which our
   Lord designed to let his Disciples into the Knowledge of the Nature of
   his Blessings, and of his Doctrine. At the 7th Verse we find him
   teaching them a most comprehensive Form of Prayer: one Petition of
   which, ver. 12. is this, Forgive us our Debts, as we forgive our
   Debtors. The Debts, by which we have become obnoxious to Almighty God,
   are our Sins, and Offences against his Law. Accordingly, in St. Luke,
   this Petition is expressed thus, ch. xi. v. 4: Forgive us our Sins: for
   we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. This is the greatest
   Proof our blessed Lord could have given of the Importance, and
   Necessity, of this forgiving Temper in us; that He hath put it into
   this very short Form, in which He could not express all things
   particularly; and commanded his Disciples to ask Forgiveness of God on
   no other Terms, but their forgiving the Offences of others against
   themselves. Forgive us, as we forgive others; i. e. as far as we do the
   same to our Fellow-Creatures; and no farther; or, as it is in St. Luke,
   Forgive us, for we forgive all others: as if we ought not to approach
   God; and could not, upon the Gospel-Covenant, apply to Him for
   Forgiveness, unless at the same time we could appeal to our own Hearts,
   and declare that we were entirely disposed to forgive all others.

   BUT because this was, to the corrupted State of Mankind, a new
   Doctrine, tho' eternally reasonable, and good; our Lord, for the
   farther Declarations and Explication of his Mind, Matth. vi. 14, 15.
   immediately adds the following Words, For if ye forgive Men their
   Trespasses (that is the meaning of Debts, ver. 12.) your Heavenly
   Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not Men their
   Trespasses; neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses. As if He
   had said, Be not surprized that I put such a Petition into the Prayer,
   which I have recommended to you; so seemingly new, upon the Principles
   commonly received in the World: for I tell you that this is one main
   part of my Doctrine, and one great Condition of that Forgiveness, which
   I am to preach, and which Sinners are seeking after, that ye forgive
   one another and that without it God will never forgive you. Agreeably
   to this, Mark xi. 25, 26. He tells his Disciples plainly, that this
   Forgiveness is so necessary and requisite, that they had as good not
   pray to God for Forgiveness at all, as to pray to him without this
   forgiving Disposition. And when ye stand praying, (or, when ye are
   praying to God) forgive if ye have ought against any: that your Father
   which is in Heaven may forgive you your Trespasses. But if ye do not
   forgive, neither will your Father which is in Heaven forgive your
   Trespasses. It is in vain for you to expect, it is impudent for you to
   ask, of God, Forgiveness on your own Behalf; if you refuse to entertain
   this forgiving Temper with respect to others.

   THE same thing, this plainly expressed, is very significantly set
   forth, Matth. xviii. 23. in the Parable of a Servant, or Slave, who
   owed his Master Ten Thousand Talents, which his Master, upon his
   earnest Request, forgave him. But He, little moved with the Compassion
   of his Master, went and found one of his Fellow-Servants, who owed him
   an hundred Pence: whom, notwithstanding all his Entreaties, He cast
   into prison, and reduced to extreme Misery, on this Account. But when
   his Lord heard it, He did not reckon that it was fit to let his former
   Forgiveness stand good: but gave him up to Misery, and Punishment, till
   He could satisfy for his old Debt. Of which, for fear Christians should
   not willingly make the Application themselves, our Lord doth it in
   plain Words, ver. 35. So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto
   you, if ye, from your Hearts, forgive not, every one his Brother their
   Trespasses: that is, He shall rigorously exact of us a due
   Satisfaction, and Punishment for every Sin we have been guilty of
   towards him; if we be so rigorous as to take Vengeance of our
   Fellow-Creatures for the Offences they have been guilty of towards our
   selves. This Parable concerning an unconfined Forgiveness, was spoken,
   upon occasion of St. Peter's Question to our Lord, ver. 21. He had
   naturally a great deal of Warmth in his Temper, and an abundance of
   Heat and Passion, before the Christian Spirit had quelled, and tamed
   it. This Temper made him willing to hope that, if any Forgiveness was
   necessary, yet perhaps not a Forgiveness unlimited, and unrestrained;
   but only a Forgiveness of so many particular Affronts, or Injuries,
   after which Revenge (for the Sweetness of which some Men would even be
   content with receiving Injuries) might again become lawful. Then came
   Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my Brother sin against me,
   and I forgive him? Till seven Times? He was willing, you see, to allow
   what we esteem a good Number of Affronts, provided there might be any
   Hope left of coming afterwards to Revenge again. But Jesus saith unto
   him, ver. 22. I say not unto thee, until seven times, but until seventy
   times seven: which Answer, according to the usual way of speaking, (i.
   e. putting a definite large Number for an indefinite one) manifestly
   was designed to teach him, and, in him, all Men of the like natural
   Heat and Fire, that his Doctrine was not designed to fix any Bounds to
   Forgiveness but that, as we must have Forgiveness at the Hands of God,
   not for Seven Offences, but for Seventy times Seven; not for any
   particular Number of our Sins, but for all, without Exception, before
   we can be happy; so, we must forgive our Fellow-Creatures, not Seven
   times only, but Seventy times Seven, if there be occasion; even all,
   and every of their Offences against us.

   THE same thing, in the xviith Chapter of St. Luke, ver. 4. is expressed
   by our Brother's sinning against us Seven times in one Day; where that
   Number is put for an indefinite Number, because it is not well possible
   to suppose that any one should be guilty, in one Day, of so many
   Injuries towards another, as Seven. If He trespass against thee seven
   times in a Day, and seven times in a Day turn again to thee, saying, I
   repent; thou shalt forgive him. Here indeed it is put upon the
   injurious Man's repenting; and coming to us; and begging Pardon; and
   declaring his Sense of his Crime. But it is manifest that we are
   required to forgive not only when He doth this; but likewise when He
   doth not; because, as I have before observed, we are not to beg Pardon
   of God any farther than we pardon others; and we are never to pray for
   Forgiveness, without declaring that we do forgive others; or without
   feeling within our selves that we have the Disposition and Resolution
   to do it. The same St. Luke, ch. vi. ver. 7. records these plain Words
   of our Lord, Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; and ver. 38. For with
   the same Measure that ye mete (or measure) withal, it shall be measured
   to you again: that is, if ye do not forgive others, but are rigorous
   upon them; Almighty God will certainly be as rigorous upon you, in the
   requiring Satisfaction and Punishment for every Sin that you have at
   any time committed against him.

   AGREEABLY to this plain Doctrine of their Master, the Apostles preached
   the same universal Love, and unconfined Spirit of Forgiveness. St. Paul
   calls upon the Romans to lay aside all Thoughts of Revenge, upon any
   Provocation, or Injury, Ch. xii. ver. 19. Dearly beloved avenge not
   your selves. And ver. 21. Be not overcome of Evil, so far as to return,
   and retaliate, Injuries; but overcome Evil, by returning Good for it:
   which cannot be done without a forgiving Temper. I omit many such like
   Passages in the Gospels, against Revenge, and Retaliation; because I
   would confine my self to those Texts which expresly touch the Point in
   hand. The same St. Paul calls upon the Ephesians, Be ye kind, one to
   another; tender-hearted; forgiving one another, even as God for
   Christ's sake hath forgiven you, ch. iv. 32. And addresses himself to
   the Colossians, ch. iii. 12, 13. after this pathetical manner; Put on
   therefore, as the Elect of God, holy and beloved, (for so Christians
   are called in the New Testament) Bowels of Mercies, Kindness,
   Long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if
   any Men have a Quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also
   do ye. I have now said what is fully sufficient to satisfy you that
   this Forgiveness of others is indispensably required at our Hands, in
   order to our own Forgiveness; and that without this we ought not so
   much as to ask Forgiveness of God. I shall now,

   2. JUST observe to you the true Meaning of what is declared concerning
   the Efficacy of this Forgiveness of others, upon Almighty God, towards
   our own Forgiveness, and Acceptance; which is in short this, That,
   without this Forgiveness of others on our part, He will never finally
   acquit us from the Guilt of any of our Sins: that it is not sufficient
   for any Sinner to forsake his Drunkenness, or Uncleanness, or Swearing,
   or any other Vice; but He must likewise forgive others their Trespasses
   and Injuries against himself: and that otherwise, God will be as severe
   upon him, and require an Account of every Sin, which he hath at any
   time been guilty of, through his own life.

   I HAVE before shewn you, from the plainest Texts, that it is absolutely
   required that Men forsake all other Vices; and become holy, and
   virtuous, in order to their final Pardon, and Happiness. It is
   impossible, therefore, that what is said concerning the Efficacy of
   this Forgiveness of others, should invalidate what is said of the
   Necessity of a good Life in other Respects. I have now shewn you that
   it is as plainly said as Words can express it, that if we forgive, we
   shall be forgiven. The Meaning therefore can be only this, that those
   Sins which we have forsaken, and utterly renounced, shall be forgiven
   to us; if we will forgive those Sins which others have committed
   against us: But if we will not, that our Heavenly Father will upon no
   Terms forgive us our past Sins; not even tho' we have forsaken them.
   Thus, you see the several Passages about these distinct Terms are very
   easily reconcileable. God will not forgive us, and make us happy,
   unless we forsake our own Sins :nor will He then forgive us, unless to
   this Amendment, in other Instances, we add a placable forgiving Temper
   with respect to Neighbours; and readily and heartily remit to our
   Fellow-Creatures, so as not to take Vengeance on them, their Offences
   against ourselves. This I just take notice of here: but I shall have
   another Opportunity distinctly and fully to handle it, when I come, in
   due Place and Time, to examine those Pretences which Men have built
   upon mistaken and misapplied Texts of Scripture: amongst which will
   come in the Pretence of Men, to get rid of the Necessity of a good Life
   in other respects, founded upon the Promise of God made to this
   Forgiveness of other Men's Trespasses, taken distinctly by itself, and
   separated from the other Rules of the Gospel.

   3. I PROPOSED, in the third place, to shew you the great
   Reasonableness, and Fitness, that this forgiving Disposition should be
   required by God, and heartily practised by us as it hath been now
   explained. A very few Words will satisfy us of this: for,

   1. IF this were so required, as to stand in the stead of other Duties,
   and atone for the continued Neglect of them: then farewel all Hopes of
   any Virtue, except this, in the World: of which I cannot determine,
   whether it would then be a Virtue, or no. In vain are all the Promises
   of God made to Righteousness; in vain are all his Terrors displayed
   against all manner of Sin; in vain are all the Moral Precepts
   inculcated from the beginning to the end of the New Testament; if this
   single Virtue may at last make Atonement for a Life of wilful, and
   habitual Sin. This shews us the Unreasonableness of supposing that God
   can attribute such an Efficacy to this, as to make all his other Laws
   entirely of none Effect and to give a Loose to almost all manner of
   Vice, and Wickedness in the World. Nor could any thing be a greater
   Encouragement particularly to the mutual doing of Injuries, than this.
   It is highly reasonable, therefore, that this Forgiveness should be
   required, and favoured, no otherwise than as in Conjunction with all
   other Virtues. And,

   2. THERE cannot be a more equitable and unexceptionable Condition,
   proposed to us than this, that we should not expect that Mercy at the
   Hands of God, which we will not shew to our Fellow-Creatures. Who that
   considers the Obligations He hath received from Almighty God; the
   infinite Distance between Him and his Creatures; the Guilt and
   Heinousness of the least Sin, and the least Neglect, where so much is,
   on so many Accounts, owing: who that hath common Modesty, or the least
   degree of Consideration, would not think it fit, to forgive the
   greatest Offences of others against himself, (little and
   inconsiderable, in comparison of the least Offences of a Creature
   against God,) and even voluntarily to do this, in order to dispose his
   Judge to be merciful to him? Or, can any one think it proper to come
   into the Presence of God, and ask or expect Pardon for his own Sins;
   and in the same Breath to tell Almighty God, He never can forgive his
   Brother? Forgive us our Trespasses, O Lord; tho' we never will forgive
   those commited by frail Men against our selves. Thus doth every one in
   effect pray, who comes before God with an heart full of Revenge and
   Retaliation? or void of Forgiveness, and Mercy. And how absurd this is,
   I need not say. Would any Earthly Master, as our Lord intimates in the
   Parable, forgive a Servant who should openly refuse to forgive his
   Fellow Servant? or remit his Punishment for Crimes against himself,
   when he saw him exercising Barbarity and Cruelty, in revenging himself
   upon his Fellow Servants for the least Affronts and Injuries? Nay, what
   Servant would not gladly comply, and think it great Condescension, if
   his Master should offer him to forgive him all his Debts, or Offences,
   on Condition that he would do the same, with regard to his poor
   Fellow-Servants? And certainly, there can be no Christian, or Man, of
   so embittered a Temper, as not to think this a most reasonable
   Condition of his own Forgiveness; or to expect that God should forgive
   Him, whilst He breathes nothing but Revenge, and Punishment, for every
   Offence of his Fellow-Creatures. But enough of this. I must now speak a
   little upon the last of the four Propositions laid down: which is this:

   IV. IN the Case of Injustice, it is not sufficient that the Sinner
   leave off Injustice, for the future, so far as not to do the least
   wrong to any Persons, thro' the remaining part of his life: but He must
   also, as ever He hopes for Mercy and Acceptance with God, make
   Restitution of what he hath at any time wronged any one of; and
   Reparation for the Injuries which He hath at any time heretofore, by
   Word, or Deed, committed against his Neighbour.

   HERE some one may ask, Where is the plain Text of the New Testament,
   which requires this Restitution? To which I answer, that indeed there
   is none which in so many Words doth say this; but that the reason of
   this is manifestly because this is a part of Common Justice; of the
   Obligation to which there was ever an open Acknowledgment in all
   Nations, as of what was no more than one of the lowest Degrees of
   Virtue. We have an Instance in the Gospel, I mean that of Zaccheus,
   who, when he once came to think of making his Peace with God, declared
   openly his Resolution to restore more than what he had wronged any man
   of, if any such wrong could be proved upon him. We have it declared by
   St. Paul, that neither Thieves, nor Covetous, nor Extortioners, shall
   inherit the Kingdom of God, 1 Cor. 6. 10. And Eph. v. 5. the Covetous
   are reckoned up amongst such as have no Inheritance in the Kingdom of
   God, and of Christ. In the Tenth Commandment, recognized and
   reinforced, in the Gospel, we are absolutely forbid to covet any thing
   that is our Neighbours. Now whoever doth, after an injurious
   Acquirement, or, indeed an Acquirement of any sort, detain what He
   knows to belong to another, is most certainly a Thief, in the Sense of
   the Word truly criminal; a covetous Man and an Extortioner, who
   flourishes upon the Spoils of his Neighbour and therefore must expect
   to be excluded the Kingdom of Heaven, as such. For who is there that
   can more properly be said to covet what is his Neighbour's, than the
   Man who, by Fraud, or Force, retains in his Possession what He knows
   another to have a Right to? Common Honesty, and Justice, are what the
   very Heathens, and even the most Ignorant of them, have ever
   acknowledged to be Duties. And as surely as the highest Crimes will be
   punished by Almighty God; so surely the Dishonest, and Unjust, will
   have a particular Share in his Wrath. The Design of the Gospel was to
   make Christians somewhat more than honest Men: but if They, who have
   the Light of the Gospel, will not be so much as good Heathens, they
   will be certain to inherit the Punishment of the worst of Christians,
   and of such as have refused to practise the very lowest degree of
   Virtue.

   RESTITUTION, and Reparation, I say, are Instances of Justice, strictly
   due. The continued Refusal of them is a continued Act of Injustice; a
   continued Theft; a continued Extortion; an Habit of the grossest Vice.
   And consequently if Injustice it self can never be pardoned, till it be
   forsaken; this complicated, and continued, wilful Injustice will raise
   the Account of a Sinner to an unpardonable Heighth. How then can They
   hope for Mercy, who cannot so much as pretend to common Honesty, and
   Justice; but every Minute of their Lives are treasuring up Wrath, and
   increasing their first Guilt, by approving their own Injustice; and
   acting it anew by refusing to undo it by Restitution, and Reparation?
   Certainly, He that can think to go to Heaven without being an honest
   Man, and whilst he robs his Neighbour every Moment that He lives
   without Restitution, must take it to be the Reward of Villainy, and the
   Receptacle of such Knaves as Human Society would not bear, could they
   be fairly detected, and prosecuted.

   THIS I have said, because many People seem to think Restitution to be
   somewhat distinct from common Justice, and Honesty: when truly it is
   only a Branch of it; and the contrary Vice nothing but a complicated
   Knavery, and an Injustice, the Guilt of which increaseth every Moment;
   and consequently, the Continuance in it, utterly irreconcileable to all
   Hopes of Happiness, according to the Gospel-Dispensation. I might have
   added more upon this Head: but it is not my present Design to enter
   into the Nature of this, or any other, particular Virtue; but only to
   shew that this is indispensably required in order to the Justification,
   and Happiness, of such Christians as have sinned against the plain Law
   of Justice and Honesty.

   I HAVE now gone over the four general Propositions which I laid down,
   in answer to the important Enquiry after the Way to Life and Eternal
   Happiness. We see, from the plainest Proofs, that there remain no Hopes
   of Acceptance for Sinners, according to the Gospel, unless they forsake
   their Sins, and practise Virtue; unless they heartily forgive the
   Trespasses of their Neighbours; and make Restitution of what they have
   wronged any Man of, according to the utmost of their Power. From hence
   appear the Vanity and Folly of building any Hopes of Mercy upon any
   thing besides these, so clearly, as to need no other Proof. But because
   the Imaginations of Men have been various in framing other Terms of
   Acceptance; and pressing even the New Testament it self into their
   Service: it is another Branch, therefore, of the Design I have now in
   View, to examine particularly into their Pretences; and to endeavour to
   shew such Persons their miserable Delusion. In the mean time, If we
   know these Things; happy only are we if we do them: Which God grant, &
   c.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Concerning the Terms of Acceptance, & c.

SERMON VI.

   St. JAMES ii. 10.

   For whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one Point, he
   is guilty of all.

   HAVING in several Discourses endeavoured plainly and particularly to
   propose the Terms, or Conditions, on which alone Christians, who have
   been in any sense, or any degree, wilful Sinners, may hope to be
   acquitted, justified, accepted, and made eternally happy, by Almighty
   God; it may not be improper now to handle this important Subject after
   a manner, which, tho' something different, may yet be of farther use to
   us in our serious Enquiry after the Way to Happiness, and Eternal Life.
   In order to this, I could think of no Passage of Scripture, more
   comprehensive; or more proper, than this taken out of St. James, in
   which He declares that whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet
   offend in one Point; he is guilty of all: and I design, therefore,

   I. To explain to you, as well as I can, the true Meaning of the Words.

   II. To propose to you the Doctrine plainly taught in them: and to prove
   the Justice and Reasonableness of it.

   III. To answer some Questions, and Doubts, which may arise upon this
   Subject. And

   IV. To draw such Observations, and Inferences, from the whole, as may
   be of great use in order to our successful Endeavours after Eternal
   Life.

   I. IT is very proper to explain to you, as well as I can, the true
   Meaning of this Passage: which, as to the manner of Expression, is not
   without some Difficulty. And,

   1. THE Meaning of it cannot be this, that whosoever transgresseth in
   one single Instance, is as bad a Man; as great a Sinner; as guilty an
   Offender; as he that transgresseth in every Instance possible: that he
   who covets his Neighbour's Goods, for Example, is as bad a Man, and as
   great a Sinner, as he who not only covets his Neighbour's Goods, but
   also commits Adultery, Murder, and Theft; profanes the Name of God;
   dishonours his Father and Mother; and breaks every Law that he can
   possibly, in Contempt of God, and his Authority. This cannot be the
   meaning of the Passage: because it is absurd, at first hearing, thus to
   take away all Distinction between the degrees of Sin, and Sinners; and
   to make all Transgressors, tho' differing in the Instances, and Number,
   of their several Transgressions, equal in their Crimes, and in their
   Guilt. Nor consequently,

   2. CAN it be understood to imply in it, that God will punish all such
   Persons equally; that the Man who offends only in one Instance, shall
   be made equal, in the degree of Punishment, to him who hath offended in
   that, and in many more: because the Punishment of Offenders is without
   doubt to be proportioned to their several Offences; and because he who
   offends in many Cases, is guilty of a more repeated and settled
   Contempt of the Authority of the Law-giver, than the other, and
   therefore must reasonably expect a greater degree of Punishment. But,

   3. HE who offends against the known Law of God, in any one Instance,
   may, on other Accounts, tho' not on these above-mentioned, he said to
   be guilty with respect to all his Laws.

   IN the first place, as he sins manifestly against that Divine Authority
   which enacted that part of the Law which he transgresseth, as well as
   those others which he thinks fit to observe. For Sin, tho' committed
   but in one Instance, is a sort of a Denial of that Authority by which
   it is forbidden: and this, tho' applied by the Sinner himself to one
   Instance only, yet affects all others; because Almighty God hath the
   same Authority to command, or forbid one thing, that he hath to command
   or forbid another. Now if we, by our Practice, deny, in effect, his
   Right to govern us in one Instance; we do, in effect deny it in all;
   because He hath as much Right to do it in this, as in others; and no
   more in others than in this. In this respect therefore; whosoever
   offends wilfully in one Point; may be said to be guilty of all; that
   his wilful offending in this Point, is a Rebellion against the
   Authority of God: which toucheth all his other Laws, as well as this
   one which he transgresseth: And thus St. James himself seems to explain
   his own Meaning in the Verse immediately following the Text, For He
   that said, Do not commit Adultery, said also, Do not kill. If therefore
   thou commit no Adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a
   Transgressor of the Law. As if he had expressed himself thus. The
   meaning of my charging a Man who sins in one Instance, with being
   guilty of all, is this, that the same God who forbids the other Sins;
   forbids this one also. Therefore, if thou dost abstain from the other
   Sins, and yet wilfully sinnest in this one point; Thou art a Sinner
   with respect to the other Points as well as this: because God claims no
   greater Authority in those other Points than He doth in this: and Thou,
   by wilfully offending in this one Point, callest in question his whole
   Authority, and the Validity of his whole Law, which hath no more to
   uphold it in other Instances, than what it hath in this which thou
   neglectest. And this certainly must aggravate and increase the Guilt of
   one, who wilfully sins in any one Instance only, that it reflects
   highly upon the whole Law; and that, by calling in question, or
   refusing to obey, the Authority of God in this one Point, the Sinner
   effectually calls in question his whole Authority, which is just the
   same with respect to others. In this Sense therefore, it may be true,
   that a Man's Guilt will not be proportionable to the intrinsic Evil of
   the single Sin which He indulges himself in; but aggravated by
   considering this Sin, as forbidden by the Authority of God; and as
   having a very bad Influence upon that Authority in other respects;
   tending as much to weaken and destroy it in other Instances, as it Both
   in effect call it in question, and contemn it in this.

   AGAIN, the Guilt of a Man who offends wilfully in one Point of God's
   Law, must likewise be supposed to extend, in some degree, to all the
   rest, because it is certain that the same Disposition of Mind which
   engageth, or permits him to transgress one Law, when Inclination or
   Interest, Pleasure or Profit, invite him, would likewise prevail with
   him to transgress any of the others likewise, supposing him under the
   Influence of the same Inclination or Interests, Pleasure or Profit. For
   the Occasion of his wilful Commission of one Sin, is that He hath some
   Temptation to it, which He has shewn to be too hard for his Faith, and
   his Sense Of God's Authority, to conquer. If therefore, he had the same
   Temptation to another Vice; if it were accompanied with the same
   Circumstances, equally grateful to his Sensuality, or Covetuousness, or
   Ambition; is it not plain that He would equally permit himself to be
   carried away with the Temptation to it? So that his Innocence in other
   Respects is not owing to his Virtue, or Faith, or Sense of God's
   Authority but to Necessity; to his want of the same Inclination, and
   the same Temptation to these, which He hath, with respect to that which
   He wilfully commits. For if he had that Faith, or Sense of God's
   Authority, which is sufficient to set him above the same degree of
   Temptation to other Vices; this would as certainly set him above the
   Power of the Temptation He hath to this one. And consequently, He must
   be guilty, in some degree, with respect to all: because He is so
   disposed, as that his Religion, were it to undergo an equal Tryal in
   Other Respects, would most certainly yield to it in them, as it doth in
   this Instance, in which it pleaseth God in a particular manner to try
   his Faith, and Sense of his Authority. I do not say that Almighty God
   will actually punish such Man as much in degree, as if He had been
   tried in all other Instances, and wilfully sinned in all: but I know
   not whether in strict Justice He might not. And this I say, that a
   Man's Guilt must be in Proportion to his inward Disposition; which, it
   is manifest (all Circumstances of Inclination and Temptation being
   supposed equal) would produce the same Behaviour and Practice in all
   Cases, which it doth in one. Whosoever therefore offends in one Point
   only, is guilty of all, in this Sense; because He would as certainly
   yield in all, as He doth in this, were He to undergo a Tryal, equal in
   every respect, in all other Cases,

   AGAIN, the same may be proved, and explained, by the Case of such as
   wilfully transgress any Humane Law. Would not any Master think his
   Authority, with respect to all his Commands, called in question, by a
   Servant, who should chuse which He would obey, and which He would not,
   merely by his own Humour, or Inclination, or Profit; and wilfully
   refuse to obey such a particular just and lawful Command, because He
   had no mind to it; or could get more present Advantage by disobeying
   it? And would not that Master think that the same Disposition of Mind
   in such a Servant would carry him to injure and affront him in all
   other Instances likewise, could He propose to himself the same
   Pleasure, or Interest, by so doing? Nay, Would not he speak of him, or,
   treat him, as a Person to whom he was obliged for no Service performed
   out of a Sense of his Authority, or any farther than his own present
   Interest directed him? The same may be said of any Lawful Supreme
   Powers, and the Subjects under them; who, if they wilfully offend
   against any one of their just Laws, are in some Sense guilty of all: as
   they rebel against the Authority which is the same in this Law, as it
   is in all others; and as they would certainly offend against all
   others, were they not sensible, they could not do it, with the same
   Pleasure or Profit, the same Secrecy or Impunity. And who will reckon
   the material Act of Obedience, in any respect, a Virtue: when it is so
   certain from other Instances, that it had been Disobedience, had the
   same inviting Circumstances attended it?

   IF therefore, any Persons do allow themselves in any one wilful Sin;
   they may be certain that their Guilt reaches beyond, this one Sin, as
   it includes in it a Contempt of that Authority by which other Sins, as
   well as this, are forbidden; and a Disposition which would end in the
   Commission of all other Sins, were the same Tryals offered them in all
   respects. Whosoever therefore keepeth the whole Law besides, and yet
   offends in one Point, is, in this Sense, guilty of all. For He that
   said, Do not commit Adultery, said also, Do not steal. Now if thou
   commit no Adultery, yet if thou steal, thou art become a Transgressor
   of the Law.

   IT seems there were in those Days certain unreasonable Persons, amongst
   the Christians, who were very ready to obey the Law of God in such
   Instances as were agreeable to their Inclination or their Interest. But
   then they desired leave to hope that they might, for the sake of this
   Obedience, be excused from observing it in some other particular
   Instance: which to be sure They would chuse out for themselves,
   according to their own Inclination, and Temper. Thus they would
   willingly retain a darling Sin; and compound for this, by serving God,
   and obeying his Law, in other Instances, in which they did not find so
   much Difficulty. And this, I am persuaded, is the Case of many
   Christians now a-days, who think, if they observe the Laws of Christ in
   most Instances, especially if they be not guilty of open, and notorious
   Sins, they may indulge themselves in one Vice, which they hope will be
   atoned for by their Observance of the other Evangelical Laws. This Vice
   they chuse for themselves: not being able to find any Allowance made by
   God to one, more than to another. But, in opposition to this
   unchristian Humour, and fatal Mistake, this Affirmation of St. James in
   the Text, was designed which I have explained to you; and shall now
   proceed, as I proposed, in the second place,

   II. TO lay down the Doctrine plainly taught, or implied, in these Words
   of St. James: and to prove the Justice, And Reasonableness of it. Now,

   1. THE least that can be implied in them is this, that it is not enough
   for any Man to obey all the other Laws of God, with a silent reserve of
   so much as one Case, in which he allows himself wilfully to transgress;
   that the Authority of God equally extends to all his Laws; and that
   refusal of Obedience in one single Instance is a Rebellion against that
   Authority that it is an Universal Obedience which God requires, to all
   his Commands equally, and without Partiality; that Obedience in all
   Particulars except one shall not atone for the wilful Neglect of that
   one; but that whosoever doth allow himself in one wilful Sin, under
   this Pretence, will find himself miserably mistaken, and will be judged
   and punished at last, as a Contemner of the Authority of God. This is
   the least, I say, that can be implied in this Declaration of St. James:
   and is no more than what our Lord himself declared, Matth. vii. 21.
   where He openly warns all his Disciples, that nothing can entitle them
   to an Entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, but the doing the Will of
   his Father which is in Heaven. But whosoever wilfully transgresseth in
   any one Point, certainly cannot be said to do the Will of God, in that
   Instance, tho' He doth it in all others. Besides, his Will is his whole
   Will, taken all together: and this being a part of it; whoever
   transgresseth this part of it, doth not do the Will, or the whole Will,
   of God. That Man therefore, cannot, upon the Gospel Terms, hope for an
   Admittance into Heaven, who allows himself in the habitual Commission
   of any one known Sin; or in any one wilful Transgression of the Will of
   God. Our Lord himself hath in those Words put our Title to Heaven upon
   our sincere Regard to the Whole Will of God in all its parts: as his
   Apostle in the Text, hath utterly precluded all who pretend to observe
   some parts of God's Law, whilst they wilfully continue in the Neglect
   of others, from any Hopes of God's Favour.

   2. THE Justice and Reasonableness of God's requiring this Universal
   Obedience without any Exception to any one Law, or any one part of his
   Will more than another, is so apparent, that every one can see it in
   the Case of others, tho' He may be so weak as fondly to hope for an
   Exemption in his own Case. Put it to the covetous Man, whether the
   Condemnation threatned against the more expensive Vices be not just and
   fitting; who more ready to join in it than himself? Put it to the
   Voluptuary, whether it be not highly reasonable that the Wrath of God
   should be reveled, and executed, against so vile a Crime as
   Covetousness; and you need not doubt of his Approbation of it. So will
   the dishonest Man condemn the Uncleanness of another; and the unclean
   condemn the dishonest: every one thinking (if they think at all of such
   Matters) that any particular Transgression of God's Law must in reason
   be punished by God; so it be not that of which they know themselves to
   be guilty, and for which they have their own peculiar Temper,
   Inclination, or Interest to plead. This indeed they will inwardly
   except; out of a Self-Love and an Aversion to Misery: but yet even this
   they do, only with some faint Hope; not with any fixed Judgment, that
   it will not be highly fitting even for this particular Sin to receive
   its just Reward. But suppose this were their fixed Judgment in their
   own Case; we know their Judgment is bias'd when themselves are
   concerned; and much more free when it is the Case of others about which
   they are to judge.

   LET, therefore, but the Judgment of Christians be enquired into, about
   the Case of others living but in one known Sin, for which themselves
   have no Fondness, or Inclination; and you will find them all allowing
   that this continued Course of one particular Sin is a most high
   Provocation to God; a continued Affront to his Authority; and what
   justly deserves to be punished at last, when He shall come to judge all
   Men for their Offences against him.

   BUT, farther, if this Universal Obedience were not the Condition of
   Eternal Happiness; what would Men have to do, but to chuse out the Vice
   for which they find the greatest Fondness in themselves, and that which
   will be most agreeable to them; and give themselves all that Loose in
   this, which can be consistent with the Observation of the other Laws of
   the Gospel? Nay, where would be the Harm, upon this Supposition, if
   each Man chose to himself Two or Three Darlings out of the whole
   Catalogue of Sins, to love, and pursue? If God can be supposed to pass
   over the continued wilful Violation of his Laws in one Instance, for
   the sake of Obedience in others; why not in Two Instances, if the same
   Excuse of Inclination, and Temptation, can be pleaded? Thus every Man
   may have his Idol, set up in the same Heart in which God places his
   Temple: and which do you think will have the greatest Share of
   Adoration, and Service in this Competition? Why, it is plain that God
   Almighty can have only that Service which the Idol can spare; no more
   Love, or Obedience, than what is consistent with the Prosecution of
   this particular Vice now supposed to be connived at by God. And can any
   one think it tolerable to entertain such an Opinion of Almighty God, as
   makes his Will to truckle to a beloved Sin; and to accept of so much
   Service only as that can spare; without being neglected it self? Can
   any one think it pardonable in himself to think thus of the wise, and
   holy God, that He can give a Licence after such a manner to any one
   Vice: much more to think that He can give such Allowance to all Vices?

   FOR I must observe farther, that this Supposition would not only be an
   Allowance to any one particular Vice; but in general to all, and every
   one. For if Almighty God be supposed to overlook the Covetousness of
   one Man, for the sake of any other Virtues; He must, by the same
   Reason, be supposed to connive at the Dishonesty of another; at the
   Uncleanness of a third; at the Drunkenness of a fourth; and so
   consequently, at the particular Vice to which any particular Person
   hath addicted himself. For by the same Right that we chuse our own
   Vice, which we think to except from his Anger and Condemnation; by the
   same Right, I say, another chuses another Vice, agreeable to his
   Temper, Inclination, and Opportunities. And by this means not only our
   darling Vice is excepted; but the darling Vice of every one in
   particular: which brings in an Encouragement to universal Debauchery;
   and to every Instance of Folly, and Wickedness. The Adulterers,
   Fornicators, Drunkards, Swearers, Extortioners, Covetous, Malicious,
   Revengeful, Backbiters, Envious, Murtherers; all who are expressly
   excluded the Kingdom of Heaven in the New Testament, may at this rate
   entertain Hopes of getting into it by this Artifice: if they can but
   plead an Observance of God's Law in other respects; and a strong
   Inclination, and Temptation, to that particular Vice, in which they
   have indulged themselves. As unreasonable then, as it is to suppose
   Almighty God to leave room for Hopes of Indulgence, or Pardon, to all
   manner of Vices, so they meet not in one Person; so reasonable is it,
   to believe that an Universal Obedience, without Partiality, to all his
   Laws, is the only Obedience to which He hath annexed the Promise of our
   inheriting Eternal Life.

   AGAIN, if this be not the one only Rule for us to go by, in this
   Affair; we must suppose our selves left to our own Government and
   Guidance, much more than is really consistent with supposing God to be
   our Lord and our Legislator. For, according to this Supposition, it
   doth not depend upon Almighty God, what Laws shall be obligatory to us;
   but upon our selves, and our own Humour, or Inclination; our Pleasure,
   or Profit. For we are to pick and chuse out of all the Laws, He hath
   given us, which is our Pleasure to neglect; and to except out of all
   the Sins, which He hath in general condemned, that particular Sin which
   we have a mind to indulge. And tho' God hath declared, it, amongst
   others, to be a damning Sin; yet at this rate we have it in our Power
   to reverse this Decree, and to alter the Nature of it: that so, what
   God hath declared pernicious, and fruitful of Misery, shall become, by
   our own favour to it, of an harmless and innocent Nature; only an
   Instance of our Frailty, and a Subject for his future Mercy to exercise
   it self upon. He, hath told us, that if we be not Doers of his Will we
   must expect his Wrath, and Eternal Displeasure: and if this be not so,
   then we are our own Directors, and in great Part out of his
   Jurisdiction; I mean, if we can frame another Rule for our selves, and
   oppose it to his. He commands obedience to all his Laws. We claim a
   Right to except one, He forbids every Vice. We pretend a Privilege to
   retain one: and promise him we will be as careful as can be in other
   Instances, if He will overlook this. After this manner, I say, we take
   our selves from under his Government; and assume a Dominion over
   ourselves in some Instances, equal to what we pretend to allow to him
   in others: But nothing can be more absurd than this: and consequently,
   without universal, impartial Obedience, we can have no Hopes to inherit
   his Rewards, or escape his Punishments.

   BUT, last of all, the Supposition of his accepting of an Observance of
   some parts of his Will, from Men who continue in known Neglect, and
   wilful Violation of others, is directly contrary to the Design
   Christianity; and destructive of the main End of the Gospel. For it was
   a Regard to universal Holiness; to a more perfect Obedience to the Laws
   of Righteousness, and a more perfect Freedom from all Sin, that engaged
   God to send his Son into the World and that influenced our Lord to
   undertake his great Work. He appeared to put away and destroy, not one,
   or two, but all the Works of the Devil. His Grace was reveled to teach
   Men to deny Ungodliness, and worldly Lusts; without Exception, and
   without any Reserve to what might be the peculiar Favourite of any Man.
   And it a contradicting this Design; frustrating this End; if he hath
   left any Hopes of the Mercy which he purchased, to Those who allow
   themselves in any one of the Works of the Devil or continue in any sort
   of Ungodliness; or in any one wordly Lust.

   BESIDES, the Case of the Generality, or Bulk, of Mankind being
   manifestly this, that it is one particular darling Sin that enslaves
   the Man; that he is devoted to this, and for this often neglects other
   Sins, as well as his Duty: it was without doubt to engage Men to leave
   the Sin which doth so easily beset them; to disengage them from that
   Bondage which This kept them in, that the Son of God appeared in the
   Flesh, and instituted his holy Religion. I know, there are Men who
   seem, without Distinction, to be under the Government and Influence of
   a whole Body of Sin: to be as covetous, for Instance, as is consistent
   with their other Vices; and as vicious in other respects as is
   consistent with their Covetousness, and worldly Designs. But the Case
   of Multitudes is, that it is one Vice which generally enslaves them so
   much, that they can willingly sacrifice other Vices, as well as their
   Virtue, to it. And now put the Case, that our Lord can be supposed to
   give any Ground for hope of Favour to such Persons, continuing in this
   State, upon Condition they do, in other Points, observe his Laws: and
   what Good could his coming into the World be supposed to do, if He
   brings along with Him any such Indulgence as gives Encouragement, and
   Strength to the darling Vice of every Man, who believes in him? Where
   would be any Endeavours after the Perfection, talked of in the Gospel,
   and becoming Humane Nature? Where would be the Truth of that
   Proposition, that Christ came to call Sinners to Repentance, and
   Amendment? How vain must his professed Design be, and how unworthy of
   an holy, and wise God; if He be supposed to appear so partially in the
   Cause of Virtue? How might the Heathen Philosophers themselves have
   boasted that their own Schemes were more worthy of the Deity? and have
   drawn an unanswerable Argument against the Divine Authority of an
   Institution, in which Allowance was given, in effect, to any Sin or
   Wickedness Men would particularly give themselves up to? But I have
   said enough upon the present Head.

   THE remaining part of what I proposed upon this Subject, I must reserve
   to another opportunity. But from what hath been said it is evident
   that, if we would not fix the highest Absurdities upon Almighty God,
   and our Saviour, and his Gospel; we must be firmly persuaded that it is
   an universal Obedience to all his Commands equally, which God requires
   in order to our Happiness: and that the continued Allowance of our
   selves in any one wilful Sin, is inconsistent with all Hopes of his
   Mercy, as far as it is revealed and promised in his Gospel.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Concerning the Terms of Acceptance, &c.

SERMON VII.

   St. JAMES ii. 10.

   For whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one Point, he
   is guilty of all.

   IN last Discourse I proposed,

   I. To shew you the true meaning of these Words.

   II. To lay down the Doctrine certainly taught, or implied, in them.

   III. To answer some Questions which may arise upon this Subject.

   IV. To draw such Observations and Inferences, from the whole, as may be
   of use, in order to our successful Endeavours after Eternal Life.

   As to the first of these; I then shewed you that one who allows himself
   in the wilful Neglect of any known Duty, or in the wilful Commission of
   any known Sin, may justly be said to be guilty, with respect to the
   other parts of God's Law, as well as this particular Instance, as he
   sins against that Divine Authority by which the whole was enacted; and
   as the sinning against that Authority in one Instance doth imply in it
   a Neglect and Contempt of it in all others also, in which it is of no
   greater force or account, than it is in this Particular: and likewise,
   as the Disposition of Mind which permits or induceth the Sinner
   wilfully to transgress in one Instance, would inevitably produce the
   same Effect, in other Instances, supposing all the Circumstances of
   Inclination, and Temptation, to be equal.

   AS to the second Head; I shewed you that the main Design of the Passage
   was to assure Men of the Folly of imagining that they could atone for
   the wilful Violation, and continued Transgression, of any one Law of
   God, by the Observation of others: and therefore, that the least that
   could be intended by St. James in it was this, that it is an universal
   Obedience to all his Laws which God expects of Christians; that if they
   think to except any part of his Will from their Observation, and that
   He will excuse this for the Sake of Obedience to other parts of it,
   they will find themselves miserably deluded; and that nothing can
   recommend them to his Favour at last, but a sincere, constant, and
   universal Obedience to all his Commands, without Partiality, and
   without Exception; and that upon the Condition of such an Obedience,
   for the Time to come, any Christian who hath been a Sinner, may hope
   for his Mercy, thro' Jesus Christ: but not without it; as far as we
   know of his Will declared in the Gospel. This I shewed you to be plain
   from these Words of St: James, as well as others of our Lord himself:
   and likewise from the many Absurdities following from the contrary
   Supposition. I come now,

   III. To consider some Questions, and Doubts, which may arise upon this
   Subject.

   Now there are Two which presently offer themselves to our Thoughts. The
   first is this, Whether it doth not follow from what hath been said that
   Almighty God requires of us a perfect, sinless, Obedience. To which I
   answer,

   1. IT is certain that God requires an Obedience to all, and every of
   his Commands; at all Times, and in all Places equally: and likewise
   that there is no one Sin, or Transgression of his Law, in any one
   Instance, but what He disapproves of, and absolutely forbids. And
   therefore, if our Practice were directed, without Variation, by his
   Rules; it would be a perfect and sinless Obedience. In this Sense
   therefore, it may justly be said that He requires a perfect, sinless
   Obedience at our Hands, free from all wilful Sin. And wilful Sin being
   that which we could have avoided, if we would; it is certain, He may
   justly forbid, and condemn it in every Instance. Nay, this we might be
   certain of, without any express Revelation, that the supreme infallible
   Understanding, the most wise and holy God, could not but will that
   every Law of Reason should be strictly and constantly observed by
   reasonable Creatures: and could not but condemn all wilful
   Transgressions of it, as the most unreasonable and absurd Practices.
   But now, since this is such an Obedience as was never yet actually
   performed by any Mortal; every Man in the World having found himself
   surrounded with Infirmities, and misled by Temptations and Trials, in
   some Instance or other, to as that He cannot but confess himself guilty
   of some wilful Deviation, in some Point or other, from the Rule of
   right Reason, and the Will of God; it remains to enquire what
   Condescension, is shewn by Almighty God, in the Gospel, thro' i.

   2: THEREFORE, it is certain, from the Gospel, that every wilful
   Transgression of his Law is not unpardonable: for the Design of it, was
   to offer Pardon upon some Conditions to wilful Sinners. This is very
   consistent with the former Proposition: For, as a Father may command
   such and such Particulars; and yet admit his Son to Reconciliation,
   upon some Terms, after he hath transgressed any of these Commands: so
   likewise may Almighty God require Obedience to every one of his
   Commands, at all Times, And in all Places and yet, after any have been
   so unhappy as wilfully to transgress any of his Commands, He may
   forgive them these Transgressions, upon some certain Terms and
   Conditions. It is, therefore, certain that Almighty God forbids every
   Sin always, and enjoins the Practice of every Virtue at all
   Opportunities; and in this Sense may be said to require a sinless
   Obedience: and it is as certain that there is room left by his open
   Declarations, for Favour and Mercy to such as have wilfully committed
   Sin. It appears, therefore,

   3. THAT the Perfection, which is so required of Christians, as that
   they shall not be made happy at last without it, is Amendment and
   Reformation in those Instances in which they have wilfully failed; and
   a constant Progress in Virtue and well-doing, This State of the Case at
   once guards against that comfortless Doctrine, on the one hand, that
   God will insist at last upon that spotless and absolute Perfection
   which never was yet known in a Mortal: and against that fatal Mistake,
   on the other hand, that He will accept Sinners to Mercy, for the. Sake
   of Christ, tho' they have no Signs in their Lives and Behaviour, of
   their hearty Repentance, and Detestation of Sin.

   THE Perfection required of Man, in a State of Trial and Probation,
   cannot, be a State uncapable of Improvement: because this seems not
   attainable in such a State by such a Creature; or, at least, never was
   actually attained by any. And who, according to this Rule, supposing
   this to be required, could come to any well-grounded Hopes of
   Happiness? For who in his Senses can think himself at any time so good,
   so perfectly free from every thing evil, as He might possibly be? But
   it must consist in a daily Progress, and sincere Endeavour, after
   Perfection; in an increasing Conquest over what is evil in us; and in a
   daily acquiring more and more of those good Qualities, in which we can
   think our selves defective. This progressive Motion in the Paths of
   Virtue, and this increasing Conquest over Sin, will sufficiently
   demonstrate the sincere Repentance of a Sinner; and will be a good
   Foundation in his breast, for Hope and Comfort.

   IN this Sense therefore, God requires universal Obedience to all his
   Commands equally; and insists upon it as a Condition without which we
   shall not be happy at last, that in what Instances soever we have in
   Time past offended, in these He expects us for the future to amend;
   that in what Points soever of the Law of Righteousness we are
   defective, He absolutely requires an Improvement in them; a Progress,
   or growing, in all that is good; a Departure, or flying, from every
   thing that we know to be evil. He will bestow no Happiness upon those
   who go on to allow themselves in any one known Transgression of his
   Law: till Death overtakes them; nor doth He in the Gospel give us
   Ground to entertain any Hopes, that they than ever experience his
   Favour, or be put upon the Level with such as by patient Continuance in
   well-doing seek after Glory and Immortality.

   THIS, therefore, is a sufficient Answer to the first Question,
   concerning the Obedience required to all God's Commands; that it cannot
   be so understood, as if He would not make any happy who had not arrived
   in this World at a State of absolute Perfection and Freedom from every
   degree of Sin, or moral Evil: but must be understood thus, that He doth
   absolutely require of all who know themselves to have been in any
   respect wilful Sinners, that they do sincerely set about the Work of
   Amendment; and demonstrate their Sincerity by getting Ground of their
   Vices: by proceeding to greater degrees of Virtue; and by going still
   more and more towards the Perfection of rational Creatures; at least
   till they are out of the Power and Dominion of any known Sin; and till
   they are in such measure possessed of the contrary Virtue, as to be
   justly denominated virtuous in that Instance in which they know they
   have been vicious. This is a State of Perfection to which the meanest
   Christian may arrive; if He knows but what Virtue and Vice mean. This
   is that Condition of our Acceptance, that Law of the Gospel, which will
   admit of no Abatements at the great Day. And it is an invaluable Mercy,
   that God will accept of this Progress, and Improvement in Virtue,
   instead of State of blameless Perfection.

   THE second Question which offers itself, now we have been speaking of
   the Terms of Favour proposed in the Gospel, and the Conditions of our
   Acceptance at last, is this, How we shall be able to form good Judgment
   concerning our own Condition; or to know when we are in such
   Circumstances, as to be able to have a well-grounded Hope unto Eternal
   Life.

   WHAT I have said concerning the last Question will help us in the
   resolving this to our own Satisfaction: but I shall not refer to that;
   but be a little more particular. I am sensible, indeed, that many
   desire to know exactly what is barely enough for their Happiness, for
   fear they should do too much for themselves, not out of any Love to
   Virtue; but indeed out of Love to Vice, which they would gladly retain
   something of, if they could with any Safety. This, believe, is
   impossible to be defined exactly, so as to suit all Cases: God having
   never declared what is the lowest Pitch of Holiness that He will accept
   of at last. And I cannot but think it wisely concealed from Men; that
   so Sincerity may be encouraged, and a Love to Virtue, which, seems
   impossible to consist with the Notions of such Inquirers that so the
   more may depend upon Men's own Integrity; and lest the general Progress
   in the Paths of Virtue, should be more stinted than it is already: it
   being too probable that most Men would be content to place themselves
   just out of Danger, rather than to make any large Progress in the Ways
   of Righteousness. For there is a great deal of difference between the
   Love of future Happiness, and the Fear of future Misery; and much more
   in the latter that moves the Actions of most Men, than in the former;
   and Ground enough for Suspicion, that if Men could but secure
   themselves from Punishment in the Life to come, they would stop just at
   that Pitch which they knew would do that, and not greedily aspire after
   such Degrees of Virtue as would carry them to great Heights of
   Happiness. But tho' it be impossible to satisfy all the Inquiries of
   such Persons, as these; who indeed cannot be in a safe way, whilst they
   are of a Temper so little a-kin to Sincerity, and a serious Love of
   Religion: yet it may be possible to offer such Considerations as may
   help other more truly sincere Christians to judge whether have Ground
   to hope that they themselves are so disposed, and so free from Sin, as
   to be within the Covenant of Grace and Mercy, the Conditions of which I
   have, in some former Discourses, been representing and: explaining to
   you.

   HE, therefore, who makes no other use of the gracious Proposals of the
   Gospel, but to encourage himself to recover from any Sin, of which He
   knows he hath wilfuly been guilty; and is so affected by any Instance
   of his past Weakness, as to keep a greater and stricter Watch over
   himself for the Time to come; He, who at any time finds, upon a review
   of himself, that, tho' He be not absolutely perfect, yet He gets Ground
   of his Imperfections, and proceeds, by a daily Course, farther and
   farther, in the Paths of Virtue; He, who carefully avoids the
   Opportunities and Temptations, by which He knows He hath formerly
   fallen, may reasonably conclude that He is truly sensible of the
   Importance of Holiness, and of the Necessity or forsaking his Vices,
   and sincerely disposed to practise the one, and relinquish the other.
   He, who, when He unavoidably, and without any Fault of his own, meets
   with the same Trials, and Temptations, which have formerly vanquished
   him, finds his Belief of a future State and Sense of his Duty strong
   enough to vanquish them, and resist all their Arts and Force, hath good
   ground to Hope that He is in a Way acceptable to God.

   IN some Cases, the Rule for this Judgment is so manifest that it cannot
   be mistaken. He who hath robb'd or cheated his Neighbour after any
   manner; whether by the Smiles of a Friend, or the Force of an Enemy;
   cannot but know whether He hath, or hath not, made Restitution, to the
   uttermost of his Power, of whatsoever He hath thus obtained by Fraud or
   Force. This is what removes the Guilt of that Injustice: and without
   this it is impossible He can think that He comes up to the Terms of
   Acceptance, or is in a safe Way to Happiness. So likewise, in all other
   sorts of personal Injuries, whether respecting the Reputation, or
   Quiet, of our Neighbour; He who doth to his utmost make Amends for the
   Damage received, comes up to the Terms of Acceptance, as far as this
   Crime is concerned. So that in this Case it is too easy to judge, for
   Men to pretend an Evasion. In fine, He is certainly in a safe Way, who,
   in this State, which, as I said, is not a State of absolute but of
   increasing Perfection in Virtue, is ever studying what He hath to
   subdue in himself, and is always subduing it by the Power of Religion.

   ON the contrary; He, who takes Encouragement before sinning from the
   Doctrine of Acceptance and Reconciliation, delivered in the Gospel, to
   venture still farther in the Paths of Sin, with a foolish Hope of
   coming up to the Terms of that Acceptance some time or other, is as yet
   in a very unsafe Condition without any the least Ground of Hope from
   those Terms of Favour which He thus abuses to his own vile Purposes.
   He, who finds himself led by his sinning at any time, rather to love
   the Sin than to detest and guard against it; rather, to run to the
   Temptation, than to fly from it, hath too much Reason to suspect his
   own Case. He, who finds his Sense of the Importance of Morality and
   Virtue diminishing, and the Power 0f the World, or the Flesh,
   increasing over him, so far that he is still every Day carried by their
   Allurements, or Affrightments, into the Practice of Sin, may be sure
   that he is rather laying up for himself the Matter of a terrible
   Repentance to come, than truly repenting at this time of any thing
   past. He, who keeps Possession of what he hath unjustly obtained; or
   refuses to do right, or make Restitution, to his Neighbour whom he hath
   injured; how deep soever his Sorrow, how many soever his Tears may be,
   is far from the Way of God, or any well-grounded Hopes of Salvation,
   upon the Gospel-Terms. In a word, He, who finds within himself that his
   Virtue grows less, and his Passions increase in Strength; that he is so
   far from getting Ground of them, that they get ground of him every Day,
   is in the worst Condition we can well imagine. And He, who finds that
   he is a Captive to any one wilful Sin; that he has not yet made any
   successful Warfare against it; that he hath not yet got out of its
   Power; that his Faith in God, his Sense of Religion, his Belief of a
   future State, are not sufficient to disengage him from it; but that it
   keeps its Ground, and is too hard for the Resistance of his Virtue, may
   be sure that He is not yet in such a Condition, as that He may at all
   depend upon the Favour of God, promised in the Gospel to returning
   Sinners; having not yet made himself any more obedient to his whole
   Will than He hath been in Time past.

   THESE Particulars I have laid down briefly: but hope the Consciences of
   all, who are any ways concerned, will apply what has been said to their
   own particular Cases; without any such foolish Partiality as may
   endanger their own Eternal Salvation. But if they will not act
   sincerely with themselves, when themselves only are concerned, and when
   Almighty God hath shewn such a tender Regard to their Interest; but, on
   the contrary, will endeavour, and labour hard, to put a Cheat upon
   their own Souls: how wonderfully strange is this? and how little Thanks
   will they owe themselves, when they come to feel the Effect of so
   wilful a Delusion! After having spoken to these Two Questions, I come
   now, in the last place, as I proposed,

   IV. To draw such Observations and Inferences from the whole, as maybe
   of use to us in our successful Endeavours after Eternal Life. These are
   such as our Thoughts, I hope, have been naturally led into already by
   my part Discourses; and will often run into, when we come to retire,
   and to consider of our true and eternal Interest. The Time will now
   permit me to mention but Two or Three. As,

   1. FROM the very Words of St. James in the Text, and the lowest Sense
   in which they can be understood, as well as from the Absurdity which I
   have shewn in the contrary Supposition, it is evident that, upon the
   Gospel Terms, there is no such thing as atoning for the Neglect of one
   Virtue by the Performance of others; nay, nor by the Performance of
   every other Virtue.

   2. FROM what hath been said let every one observe, that it is not
   Inclination, or Custom, that can excuse or bear them out in the
   continued Commission of Sin, or in the repeated Neglect of any known
   Duty. For God excepts no Sin from his Condemnation; no Duty out of his
   Commands. He requires all equally, as we have seen: and to pretend to
   exempt our selves, is to put our selves out of his Jurisdiction, and
   Government; and to set our Humour and Inclination above his Law, and
   Authority. Yet how many Men do we meet with, who are apt to think their
   own Sin, to which they are most inclined, and most easily seduced, to
   be out of the Number of the condemned Vices; or else to hope that God
   will depart from his settled Rules, on purpose to release their
   Punishment. They will pray, and hear; and perhaps receive the
   Sacrament; and do several good Actions, to the end that their
   Inclination may be allowed of by God Almighty: and as long as they do
   what they have no great Temptation to allure them from doing; or omit
   that Sin to which they are under no strong Bias: they foolishly imagine
   that their Inclination and Bias to another Sin will be Excuse enough
   for their Darling and Bosom Vice. But, if St. James says true, they who
   are; in one Instance, Transgressors, are Sinners against all the Law;
   and the whole Authority by which it was enacted.

   3. LET the very best of us be led, by what hath been said, to look
   narrowly into our selves, and to see whether there be not some latent
   Root of Vice in us: some secret and less observed Instance, in which we
   transgress the Will of God. The Christian World is come to pass, that
   He who is not guilty of open Acts of notorious Sin, Drunkenness,
   Adultery, Blasphemy, Revenge, or the like, passeth for a good
   Christian: and many think it well with them, because they cannot accuse
   themselves of such Sins. And so far indeed it is well. But alas! Though
   they be not thus openly lewd, and profligate: yet perhaps, there
   remains something in them that requires, and is worthy of, a Cure. They
   are not Swearers, or Drunkards, or Unclean, or Profane: but perhaps, a
   silent Discontent eats thro' their Hearts; a secret grudging and
   repining discomposeth their Nights and Days; Envy gnaws upon them; or
   some Passion or other torments, and holds them Captive. Some
   Imperfection or other we may find, if we tarn our Eyes more to what we
   have of Evil in us, than to what we have not. And here lies the
   Business of every Christian, to conquer his own proper Enemy. If we
   have no very great ones; if we be out of the Reach and Power of the
   most formidable: the more Shame and Ignominy, to be led captive and
   spoiled by those of less Strength, and less Account. Let us not think
   it beneath us to exert ourselves against the least of God's Enemies,
   and our own. Since 'tis a Progress towards Perfection that is required
   of us; let us think and act, as if we thought it our Duty to make this
   Progress.

   IF thro' the Happiness of a good Disposition, and careful Education, we
   have escaped those Pollutions under which so many in the World groan;
   let us thank God: and let us remember that it is from hence, that we
   are to begin our Race: that we have not those Impediments which others
   have created to themselves by a long Course of wilful Sin; and that we
   have Incitements, and Encouragements from hence, as well as Obligation,
   to attempt the greater Heights of Religion and Virtue. By Religion here
   I do not mean Devotion, and Prayer; which yet are of admirable Use, and
   of great Necessity but the greater Degrees of all that is good; the
   more sure Conquest over all our Passions; the more quiet Possession of
   our Souls in Patience; the more profound Submission to God's Will, and
   to all the Dispensations of his Providence; the more composed
   Resignation of our selves to his good Pleasure, the bringing down every
   Imagination which raiseth it self against him; the subduing every undue
   Tendency in us towards worldly Ambition, Honour, or Riches; the
   quieting every turbulent Motion in our Breath; the taking off more and
   more the Edge of the Mind from all sensual enjoyments; the Discovery,
   and gradual Amendment, of the least Dislocations, the least irregular
   Movements, the most secret Disorders of our Wills and Affections. This
   is the Task of a Christian, who is past the Danger of being immersed in
   open Vice and Profaneness: to go on from Strength to Strength; from one
   Degree to another; from one Branch of Perfection to another; till He is
   called for by God into a State of greater Perfection. And whoever will
   seriously look into themselves, will find Instances enough of
   Imperfection; in the amending of which they will shew sincere Intention
   to please God, and give themselves a greater Hope of his Mercy than
   they could otherwise have.

   BUT last of all, let none of us increase our own Misery by such a
   Baseness of Temper, as ungratefully to abuse the Mercy of God, offered
   us upon the Terms of the Gospel, to the Purposes of Sin and Wickedness.
   This is a Sin of a deep Hue; and what will indeed be the greatest
   Aggravation of our continuing in our Vices. God offers us, for the sake
   of his Son, to receive us to Favour, returning to him; and sincerely
   practising his whole Will for the future, without any Partiality, or
   Neglect of any part of it. It is a servile and ignominious Disposition,
   for which no Name is bad enough, to take occasion from the Offer of
   Mercy to which universal Amendment and Holiness is at any time
   entitled, to defer our Amendment and Holiness. The only generous Way;
   the only secure Way for our own Interest, (which we pretend to be so
   dear to us;) is immediately and without Delay to endeavour to came up
   to his Terms, that we may obtain his Promises; to work out our
   Salvation while the Day lasteth: because the Night cometh (we know not
   how soon) when no Man can work. Thus shall we find the Way to Eternal
   Life, before it be hid from our Eyes: which God grant we may! & c.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Concerning the terms of Acceptance, &c.

SERMON VIII.

   HEBREWS x. 26, 27.

   For if we sin wilfully, after that we have received the Knowledge of
   the Truth, there remained, no more Sacrifice for Sin: but a certain
   fearful looking for of Judgment, and fiery Indignation, which shall
   devour the Adversaries.

   I HAVE, in several Discourses, shewn you, from plain and uncontestible
   Passages of the New Testament, what those Terms and Conditions are,
   upon which Almighty God will finally pardon, accept, and justify, those
   professed Christians, who have been, in any Sense, or any Degree,
   wilful Sinners: and in my last Discourse I summ'd them up in that one
   Condition of sincere, universal, and impartial Obedience to all the
   Laws of God, without Exception; or a real and sensible Amendment of
   their Lives and Tempers, in all those Instances, in which they know
   themselves to have transgressed any of his Commandments. In order still
   more to confirm the Truth of what hath been said upon this Subject,
   design to consider particularly those several Schemes, and various
   Hopes, which the Imaginations of Men have framed to themselves, more
   agreeable to their own Humours, and Inclinations; in Opposition to
   these settled Conditions of God's Favour.

   BUT, before I set about this, it will be very proper to take notice of
   another sort of Mistake in this important Affair, equally contradictory
   to what I have already laid down; equally fatal to ill-disposed Minds;
   and very troublesome and afflictive to many well-meaning and honest
   Christians: and that is, the Opinion that their Case, as well as the
   Case of all professed Christians who have been at any time wilful
   Sinners, it so sad and desperate, that it is in vain for them to hope
   for Pardon and Reconciliation, upon any Terms; even tho' they should
   heartily endeavour to come up to the Conditions I have heretofore laid
   down. These are of a differing sort, and of a differing Temper, from
   the most of their Neighbours. And their Opinion is pretended to be
   founded upon some Texts of the New Testament, which seem to speak of
   the Irremissibleness of some Sins, which perhaps they fancy themselves
   to have been guilty of; and particularly upon this Passage, now read to
   you: which, taken by it self, and separated from the Context and
   manifest Scope of the Writer of this Epistle, seems to conclude, in
   general, against all Hope of Pardon to such as have sinned wilfully
   after the receiving and professing the Christian Religion.

   IN Opposition to such Imaginations, (which render all that I have
   before advanced of none effect) I shall not confine my View to this one
   Text of the New Testament: but I shall have regard to several others,
   which have been in the same manner, mistaken and misapplied; as well as
   to some Considerations taken from the Nature of God, and the End of the
   Gospel; designing

   I. To shew the great Absurdity of fixing upon Almighty God or: the
   Christian Religion, any such Opinion as that all Hope of Pardon is cut
   off in the Gospel, from Any Christians who have been wilful Sinners.
   And

   II. To consider particularly the Intent of those mistaken Texts; and
   the Impossibility of fairly fixing upon them any such Opinion as this.

   AND these Points I think it very useful to explain. For tho' the
   Generality of professed Christians are more apt to presume upon the
   Goodness and Mercy of God; and to interpret all Texts of Scripture
   concerning that, so much in their own Favour as to receive some Support
   from them, even whilst they wilfully continue in their Sins: yet, fence
   there are, on one hand, some others, who may, from a pretended Despair
   of God's Mercy, go on to increase the Number of their Transgressions;
   and, on the other hand, some weak, tho' honest, Christians, who have
   been brought to the melancholy Condition of thinking themselves,
   without any Ground, to be such sort of Sinners as have forfeited all
   Title to God's future Mercy; it is very necessary to consider this
   Point, that so the Uneasiness of the latter, which is only their
   present Unhappiness; and the Despair of the former, which is their
   Crime (as it is founded upon their Desire to continue in their Sins;)
   may be removed; and some Stop put to such destructive Imaginations. Nor
   can it be amiss for us to descend, as near as we can, to the Wants and
   Occasions of all sorts of Persons; to consider the Scruples of some, as
   well as the Presumption of others; and to accommodate our Teaching
   sometimes to the more rare and secret Cases, as well as at other times
   to the more known and common. Nay, it is indeed necessary, in order to
   place beyond all reasonable Doubt what I have heretofore laid down, to
   handle this Subject: that so it may appear, not only that the Terms of
   God's Favour which I have pointed out, are the only Terms upon which He
   hath promised Acceptance; but that there is reason to think but that
   all professed Christians may be sure of Acceptance, upon coming up to
   those Terms, whatsoever their former Condition hath been. To return,

   I. I SHALL now endeavour to shew the great Absurdity of fixing upon
   Almighty God, and the Christian Religion, any such Opinion, as that
   before mentioned.

   1. IT is extremely absurd to suppose that Almighty God, in
   condescending to make Terms with his Creatures, in the Christian
   Dispensation, should not propose some Method of Reconciliation to all
   those who sin after they have received that Religion, as well as to
   those who had been Sinners before their believing: because no Man, tho'
   never so hearty and sincere in his Profession of that Religion, is
   thereby made so infallible, that nothing shall ever impose upon his
   Judgment; or so well-guarded and resolute as that nothing shall be able
   to surprize, or entice, his Will into a Consent to Sin, in any possible
   Instance. It may be true that a Christian hath such a Power, and so
   much Strength, and that He is so free from an absolute Necessity of
   committing any one single wilful Sin, that He may possibly, by
   Watchfulness, and Consideration, and a perpetual Care over himself,
   prevent this. But it is true likewise that this is so very difficult,
   that the Experience and Confession of all the best Men, in all Ages,
   have demonstrated that this sinless Obedience was never performed in
   Fact.

   THERE is indeed a vast difference, and in the Opinion of the World a
   greater sometimes than is just, between Sins: which hath induced some
   Men perhaps to think themselves more free from Sin than they really
   are. Some are apt to imagine, because they do not permit themselves to
   be guilty of Drunkenness, or Adultery, or Fornication, or Murther, or
   Covetousness, or Dishonesty in their Dealings, that therefore they are
   clean. But they often forget the Thoughts of Pride and Haughtiness; of
   Revenge and Implacability; of Severity and Ill-nature; of Envy end
   Malice; of Anger and Passion; of Ambition and worldly Grandeur; the
   frequent Mispence of their precious Time, and the like: in one, or
   more, of which, they have, some time or other, in some degree or other,
   too certainly, indulged themselves more than they can answer for at the
   Bar of Justice. Too certainly, I say: for, Is there a perfect Man upon
   Earth? Is there one, who hath not one weak Side? who hath been ways so
   strictly upon his Guard as that He .can say, He hath resisted all
   Temptations to every sort, and every degree of Sin? It hath been often
   observed to you, that Men are too apt to pass over the Consideration of
   that particular Vice to which they have found themselves inclined;
   especially, if it be not of the Number of those which are called
   scandalous and notorious Crimes: Whereas some of these I have now
   mentioned, do in truth defile the Soul; hinder the Perfection of
   Virtue; render the Man as truly obnoxious to the Divine Anger; and as
   truly oppose the Design of Christianity, as some of the former sort;
   and therefore ought to be esteemed as Sins, and acknowledged as such by
   all Christians.

   I BELIEVE, therefore, it may be truly affirmed that there neither is,
   nor ever was, a Christian who hath not, in some Instance or other,
   suffered himself to be carried beyond the Bounds of strict Religion,
   particularly of the Christian Institution; so as that He must
   acknowledge himself, to the great Judge of the World, and Knower of
   Hearts, to be, in some degree or other, a wilful Sinner after the
   Reception of Christianity. St. Paul indeed, after his Conversion to the
   Christian Religion, and his Labours in the Work of the Gospel, doth
   say, that He is conscious to himself of nothing for which He can
   condemn himself, 1 Cor. iv. 4. for that is the meaning of those Words,
   I know nothing by myself. But He doth not mean this in any other Sense,
   to be sure, but this, that in the main He had performed his Office
   after such a manner, as that He had good Ground to hope for the Favour
   of God, and the Rewards of Heaven: which Assurance, others likewise may
   arrive at. That He could intend by this to signify that, in any single
   Instance either of Thought, Word, or Deed; either consider'd as an
   Apostle, or as a private Christian; He had nothing to accuse himself
   of; is a Supposition without all Ground, For He doth not appear to have
   had such an Opinion of himself: and particularly seems to have
   acknowledged himself in an hasty and indecent Passion before the
   High-priest, Acts xxiii. 3. for the Words cannot be understood to mean
   less than that. Nor indeed doth He extend the Expression, 1 Cor. iv. 4.
   to himself in all Capacities: but is there considering himself
   particularly as called to, and executing, the Work of an Apostle. St.
   Peter once thought it absolutely impossible that any worldly
   Consideration could bring him to a Denial of his Master, after all the
   convincing Evidences, to which He had been witness, of his being the
   true Messiah: and yet, the same Night in which He shewed this
   Confidence, He shewed his Weakness also.

   THIS, therefore, being undoubtedly true, that no Christian, since the
   first preaching of the Gospel, hath actually so fulfilled the Law of
   Christ, as to be entirely free from all Sin either of Omission, or
   Commission; either in Thought, or Word, or Deed: I say, It is absurd to
   suppose that Almighty God would leave no room in such a Dispensation,
   for the Recovery and Reconciliation of wilful Sinners, after their
   believing the Gospel, without which there could be no Salvation
   obtained. This would be to bring Men into such a Dispensation as must
   only affright and terrify some, and throw others into a more profligate
   Course of Sin than they were in, before their believing in Christ. This
   is to suppose Almighty God calling the World solemnly to the Knowledge
   of the Gospel; descending to treat with his Creatures, in order to
   bestow his Mercy upon them after an extraordinary manner: and that the
   Effect of this Condescension is, that the sincerest Believer that ever
   embraced his Call to the Christian Faith, cannot have any Hopes of
   Pardon, if He hath once after that wilfully transgressed any of his
   Laws. And what is this but to publish a Religion to the World, which
   hath no Effect towards making any of the Sons of Men happy; but indeed,
   upon this Supposition, makes them all much more miserable, in the End,
   than they would have been without it.

   SOME Men have made it a great Objection against the Wisdom and Goodness
   of God, that he should promulgate, after such a manner, such a Religion
   as that of Jesus Christ; when He foresaw that so many, who have it in
   their Power to do otherwise, would live so unworthily of it, in the
   Practice of gross, and notorious Sins. But the Love of God, in answer
   to this Objection, is sufficiently seen in the unspeakable Benefit
   which the better sort receive from this Institution and in the Proof
   which that affords is that others might receive the same, were they not
   extremely wanting to themselves. But the present Supposition takes away
   all Hopes, even from the most sincere Believer, of acquitting himself
   so as to obtain God's Favour at last. For the Weakness of all
   Christians, in some Instance or other, proving such a Difficulty of
   absolute Perfection, as no Christian ever yet conquered; this
   Supposition represents Almighty God as instituting a Religion entirely
   fruitless and ineffectual. Which is so great an Absurdity, that from
   hence it may certainly be concluded that there is a Method of Pardon
   and Reconciliation for those who have wilfully sinned after their
   receiving the Christian Religion. And this with respect to all sorts of
   wilful Sinners in that Religion: because, as it is absurd to suppose
   that God should not mean and speak Consolation to the better sort of
   Christians; so, on the other hand, it is equally absurd to suppose that
   He should, by cutting off all Hopes of Favour on any Terms, urge and
   force the worse sort of Christians into a more resolute and
   uninterrupted Prosecution of their Vices. And this brings me to another
   Consideration, viz.

   2. THAT, as the contrary Opinion, is, in it self, absurd and shocking:
   so, it is expresly contrary to the declared Design of the Gospel: which
   is, that all Sinners should be called and invited to Repentance and
   Reformation; and that Virtue should have an Encouragement annexed to
   it, sufficient to work upon Men to forsake Vice, and return to the
   Practice of their Duty. But now, this End could not possibly be
   answered, if it were certain that, if once men arrived to such a Pitch
   of Wickedness, they should never be accepted by Almighty God, even tho'
   they should forsake it for the Time to come. For, as I observed in a
   former Discourse, the Certainty of this, nay, the probable Suspicion of
   this, would incline all Sinners, especially habitual Sinners, to
   strengthen themselves in their Sins and to take Courage from their
   Despair of Mercy, or of any other sort of Happiness, to take as much as
   they possibly could of the Pleasures of a Course of all manner of Sin;
   and so to engage themselves, more inextricably than ever, in a vicious
   Habit of Life.

   BUT because some have built so pernicious an Opinion, not upon the
   Reasonableness of the thing it self; or upon the main End and Design of
   Christianity; but upon some particular Texts and Passages of the New
   Testament; and argued from them, against the Acceptance of some
   Sinners, who are professed Christians, upon any Terms whatsoever: I
   shall now therefore, in order to remedy the Mischief of such a Mistake,

   II. ENDEAVOUR to shew that these Passages of the New Testament prove
   not the Point, for which they are alledged. And of these Passages I
   shall take particular Notice of Three; upon which the whole of the
   present Debate entirely depends.

   1. THE first is that Passage, recorded the Gospels, in which our
   Saviour speaks of sinning against the Holy Ghost; and declares it
   unpardonable; particularly, Matth. xii. 31, 32. which some well-meaning
   Christians have been so unkind to themselves, as in their desponding
   Minutes, to apply to their own Case. The particular handling all the
   Circumstances of this important Passage would require a long Discourse
   on purpose. But all that is necessary to my present Design is to shew
   that the Sin there spoken of, is a Sin in which such Persons as we are
   now speaking of, cannot possibly be concerned. For whatever it was that
   was there intended by our Lord; this is manifest, that He speaks to,
   and of, such Persons as themselves saw the Course and Series of his
   wonderful Works; and did, out of mere Malice, and an incorrigible
   Disposition of Mind, ascribe all that He did to the Power of evil
   Spirits: tho' there was not the least Sign of that, but manifest
   Demonstration that He was acting directly against the Interest of all
   evil Spirits. It is upon this Occasion, and of such sort of Sinners,
   that He there speaks. And from hence it appears that, whatever the
   Nature and Malignity of that Sin was, it cannot be a Sin which it is
   possible for any Persons to commit, who profess Faith in Jesus Christ,
   and believe Him to have been sent into the World by God; nay, nor for
   any who did not themselves see with their own Eyes his mighty Works,
   and, out of mere Malice and Perverseness, ascribe them to the Devil. It
   follows, therefore, that, supposing the Sin against the Holy Ghost
   (whatever be the full Nature of it) to be unpardonable; (which probably
   must arise from the perverse Disposition of Mind from which it
   proceeds, uncapable of Alteration for the better, and not from any
   Resolution of Almighty God never to pardon it upon such Alteration for
   the better;) supposing, I say, this Sin unpardonable: yet it follows
   from what hath been said, that, notwithstanding this, the wilful Sins
   of all who profess Faith in Jesus Christ may be pardoned, upon some
   Terms; and that they may be capable of coming up to those Terms. For it
   appears that no professed Christian, or sincere Believer in Jesus
   Christ, is capable of being guilty of this Sin: and it is of
   Christians, who have been, or are, wilful Sinners, that we are now
   discoursing. This is fully sufficient for our present Purpose,
   concerning this Passage about sinning against the Holy Ghost, viz. That
   professed Christians are not, and cannot be, concerned in it.

   2. THE second Passage I shall mention, is that in the Sixth Chapter of
   the Epistle to the Hebrews, from ver. 4, to ver. 7. For it is
   impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the
   heavenly Gift, and were made Partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have
   tasted the good Word of God, and the Powers of the World to come, if
   they shall fall away, to renew them again to Repentance: seeing they
   crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open
   Shame; concerning which Passage, have the following Observations to
   offer.

   1. THIS is spoken only of a wilful and open Apostacy from the Faith of
   Christ, and a public Denial of Jesus Christ, persisted in for some
   Time: and this Apostacy is the Apostacy of such Persons as had tasted
   and, been endowed with some of the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost,
   seen in those first Days; and had been witnesses to the great and
   wonderful Gifts which others in the Church likewise enjoyed, and to all
   the Wonders of the Gospel-Age, called here by a Jewish Phrase, the
   World, or Age, to come. These are the Persons, and this is the falling
   away, here spoken of: and such a falling away it is, as may justly be
   said to be, in effect, an Acquittance of those who crucified our Lord:
   and a joining with the Infidel World in bringing a publick Shame upon
   Him, and his Religion. This then is vastly different from the Case of
   any who are still professed Christians; and cannot possibly be applied
   to any, who have not, by open Apostacy, fallen from a State of such
   Gifts, and such Powers, and Each Illuminations.

   2. THE Impossibility of the Acceptance of such Persons is not here
   fixed upon any Resolution, on the part of Almighty God, not to accept
   them; should they again sincerely turn to Him and come up to his Terms:
   but it is declared to arise from the Impossibility of such Persons ever
   recovering themselves, so as to come up to the Terms of the Gospel. It
   is said to be impossible to renew them to Repentance: not to be
   impossible for them to be pardoned and accepted, supposing them to come
   to true Repentance. But we are now speaking of the Pardon of such
   professed Christians, tho' never so notorious Sinners, as may, and do,
   come up to the Terms required: and this Passage, you see, cannot be
   meant of Sinners, during their Christian Profession; or of Sinners of
   any sort, who do at any time come up to the Terms offered in the
   Gospel. But then,

   3. THE Impossibility here spoken of, is not a natural or absolute
   Impossibility: but only a very great Difficulty; which in the ordinary
   way of speaking, is often said to be impossible; and represented by
   Similitudes taken from natural Impossibilities. At this Day, we our
   selves often call a difficult Matter, an impossible thing without
   meaning it in the strict and accurate Sense of the Word: and in the
   Eastern Nations, their Ways of speaking were much more exorbitant, and
   their Figures of Speech more strange, than those amongst us. Can the
   Ethiopian change his Skin, or the Leopard his Spots? saith the Prophet,
   Jer. xiii. 23. then shall ye also who are accustomed to do evil, learn
   to do well. If one were here to follow the Letter of the Expression,
   one would think that the Prophet was representing it to be as
   impossible, in the nature of the thing, for the habitual Sinner to turn
   to the Practice of Virtue, as it is for the Blackmoor to alter the
   Colour of his Body. Whereas it is manifest that this could not be
   intended, because it was the same Prophet's Business and Design, (as it
   was that of others also) to persuade those very Sinners to whom He
   speaks, to reform their Ways: which certainly was the absurdest Thing
   imaginable, supposing it a Matter which He knew, and represented to
   them, to be absolutely impossible.

   THUS our Saviour himself represents the Difficulty of a Rich Man's
   embracing the Gospel, and arriving safe at the Place of future Rewards,
   (a Difficulty arising from the strong Temptations there are in the
   Possession of Riches, to Covetousness, or Pride, or Luxury;) by a
   Similitude taken from a thing absolutely impossible: and goeth so high,
   in the figurative way of speaking, as to say, It is easier for a Camel
   to go through the Eye of a Needle, than for a rich Man to enter into
   the Kingdom of Heaven, Math. xix. 24. And yet his great Design was to
   call these rich Men themselves to such an use of their Riches, as that
   they might prove the Occasion of their greater Reward hereafter, Which
   shews that it was not his Intent, in those Words, to speak literally;
   or to signify any more than his Sense of the very great Difficulty of
   rich Men's behaving themselves so here, as to attain Eternal Happiness
   hereafter.

   FROM all this it appears that Things are, in Scripture, said, or
   represented, to be impossible, by an usual manner of speaking, which
   are only extremely difficult: and consequently, that the Word
   impossible, in the Passage now under Consideration, (taking into the
   Account likewise the nature of thething spoken of, doth not signify any
   more and that the Apostle's Design in that Passage was no other than to
   signify the extreme Difficulty of the true Repentance of such as do
   totally renounce the Christian Faith, and publickly disown their
   Master, Jesus Christ, after they have received themselves, and seen in
   others, the greatest and most miraculous Proofs that he is the true
   Messiah.

   AND thus We see that, whether we consider the Persons concerned in this
   Passage; or the thing affirmed of them in it; it hath no reference to
   the Sins of professed Christians, continuing such; and doth not prove
   any thing of the Impossibility of their Repentance, and Acceptance:

   3. THE third and last Passage of the New Testament which I shall
   mention, as quoted, and applied, by some, to the same purpose, is that
   which I read to you, at the Entrance of this Discourse, out of the same
   Epistle to the Hebrews, ch, x. ver. 26, 27. For if we sin wilfully
   after that we have received the Knowledge of the Truth, there remains
   no more Sacrifice for Sin, but a certain fearful looking for of
   Judgment, and fiery Indignation, which shall devour the Adversaries.
   Now,

   1. To put such an Interpretation upon this Passage, as to take away all
   Hopes of Pardon, from such professed Christians as have been, in any
   degree, wilful. Sinners, even supposing them to return and amend; is to
   contradict the main Design and Tenour of the Gospel: as I have just now
   shewed. And whatever contradicts the main Design of the Gospel, cannot
   possibly be the true meaning of any particular Passage in it: whether
   we be able to find out the exact; meaning of the Passage, or not. The
   Form of Expression, upon which the Supposition is founded, equally
   precludes from Mercy the sincerest repenting Christian, who hath once
   wilfully transgressed God's Law, and the vilest Sinner who is hardened
   in his Iniquities. So that, if it excludes any Sinner from Pardon; it
   excludes all who ever once sinned. And who can put such a Sense upon
   this Passage, as will render vain the whole Christian Dispensation; and
   debarr every one, who ever named the Name of Christ, from all Title to
   any Benefit from Him? This is impossible to conceive, or embrace, as
   the Intent of the Apostle. And as for the true Intent of it,

   2. IT will be obvious, I believe, to every one's Observation, upon the
   reading the whole Context, that this sinning wilfully, in ver. 26, is
   the total and open forsaking the Christian Assemblies, in the Verse
   before: which was accounted a renouncing and being ashamed of the
   Christian Faith, in Compliance with the Infidel World about them. And
   that this sinning wilfully, here spoken of is to be understood of a
   publick Renunciation of Christianity, and Apostacy from the Gospel,
   seems plain from the 29th Verse in which the wilful Sinner, mentioned
   here, is opposed to one amongst the Jews that despised Moses's Law, and
   professedly opposed it; and is farther described to be one who hath
   trodden under Foot the Son of God, and hath counted the Blood of the
   Covenant, wherewith He was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done
   Despite unto the Spirit of Grace: Phrases, very like to those by which
   the Author of this Epistle describes an open Apostacy from the
   Christian Faith, in the Passage which I last considered; and which
   cannot agree so well to any other sort of wilful Sins, as to that of a
   Departure from the Profession of Christianity, and, as much as in Men
   lies, giving an open Affront to that Dispensation, and bringing a
   publick Disgrace upon it. So that the wilful Sinners, here spoken of,
   are not the wilful Sinners, of whom we are now treating; viz. those who
   are so, at any time, during their Profession of Christianity.

   3. WHAT is affirmed of these Sinners, in the Passage now before us, is
   that there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sin: that is, either that
   the Force of Christ's Sacrifice signifieth nothing to such as have
   renounced his Religion: or that there is no other Sacrifice of any
   Force, besides that which they have renounced; which cannot profit
   them, whilst it is publickly renounced by them. But certainly this is
   said of them, considered as continuing in their Apostacy; and not as
   returning sincerely again to their former Profession. And this indeed
   may be said of any wilful habitual Sinners, continuing such, that the
   Sacrifice of Christ will profit them nothing: but this, without taking
   from them the Hope of the Favor of God, upon the Alteration of their
   Lives, and their coming up to his Terms.

   IT appears, therefore, I think, very plainly, that the Persons here
   spoken of, are not wilful Sinners, who are such, during their open
   Profession of Christianity; and that, supposing the thing here
   affirmed, to be affirmed of all wilful Sinners in general, it is not an
   utter Exclusion of any of them from all Hopes, but as remaining in
   their Sins: and consequently, that this Passage proves nothing against
   the Possibility of wilful Sinners, of all Degrees, amongst such as
   profess Christianity, obtaining the Favour of God; upon the Terms
   appointed by Himself in the Gospel: viz. the forsaking what is evil;
   and the sincere, universal Amendment of their Lives, in all those
   Instances, in which they can discover themselves to have been formerly
   sinful, or defective.

   AND it being so evident, from what I have heretofore discoursed, that
   these are the only Conditions of their final Justification, and
   Acceptance; and so plain from what I have now said, that, upon their
   coming up to these Conditions, they need not doubt of that
   Justification and Acceptance; what remains but that we all shake off
   every Pretence of Despair and Despondency, on the one hand; and every
   vain Hope and fruitless Expectation, on the other; and heartily set our
   selves to amend whatever is amiss in our Tempers, or Practice; to run
   our Christian Race in that Path which Christ himself hath marked out to
   us; and, by patient continuance in well-doing, to seek after Glory and
   Immortality? Which God grant we may all obtain, for the Sake of his Son
   Jesus Christ, our Lord!
     __________________________________________________________________

   The Mistake, of relying upon Faith, considered, &c.

SERMON IX.

   EPHESIANS ii. 8.

   For by Grace, are you saved, through Faith; and that not of your
   selves: it is the Gift of God.

   I Now come to the Second part of that Design, which I have, for some
   Time, had in View; viz. to examine particularly the principal of those
   false Pretences, and mistaken Notions, concerning the Terms of our
   Acceptance with God, by which Men support themselves in their
   Continuance in their beloved Vices; and endeavour to elude the Force,
   and arm themselves against the Power, of those plain Texts of
   Scripture, and those convincing Arguments, by which I have already
   proved that that Method laid down in the Christian Religion, by which
   Sinners may hope to be reconciled to God, thro' Jesus Christ, is the
   actual Amendment of their Lives and Tempers in all such Instances as
   they know to be contrary, in any respect, to the Law of God; and that
   this is indispensably required of them in order to their final
   Justification at the great Day of the Lord.

   THE first of these Mistakes which I shall take notice of, and examine,
   is the Mistake of those Men who appear to be induced, by some Texts of
   the New Testament, to rely upon Faith, or their believing in Jesus
   Christ, and confident Application of his Merits to themselves; and to
   expect Salvation from this, considered as distinct, and separate, from
   Obedience to the Moral Lawn of the Gospel. And amongst the rest, the
   Text which I have now read to you, hath been often heretofore, and is
   very likely to be often again, alledged to this Purpose, by Men who are
   thus disposed to lay hold on any thing rather than heartily to set
   about the uneasy Task of reforming what is amiss in themselves. In the
   Examination of this great and fatal Mistake, I design

   I. To lay before you the plain meaning of St. Paul in the Text.

   II. To shew that no such Pretence as this can fairly be built upon
   these, or any the like Words in the New Testament.

   III. To observe that St. Paul, doth, in this very Epistle, as well as
   in many other Places, sufficiently declare against any such Pretence:
   as our blessed Lord did likewise before Him in the plainest Words.

   IV. To shew you in what Sense, Faith, or believing the Gospel, is said
   to save us.

   I. IT will be very proper to lay before you the plain meaning of St.
   Paul in the Text.

   AND, if you look into the Chapter, you will find that He is there
   speaking of the former Condition in which the Ephesians were, before
   their Conversion from a State of Heathenism, to the Belief of the
   Gospel; and magnifying God's Mercy, and the exceeding Riches of his
   Grace, or Favour, towards them, from the first Verse to the eighth: in
   which He therefore goes on to make them sensible of their Obligation to
   that God who had thus quicken'd them who were dead in sins. For by
   Grace are ye saved: that is, For it is very fit you should know and
   consider that it is by the mere Grace and Favour, or Mercy of God (as
   the Word signifies) that ye are saved through Faith; that ye, are put
   into a Method, and State of Safety and Salvation, by means of your
   receiving the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is his own Act, his mere
   Mercy, that you have Terms of Acceptance offered you, upon your
   believing in Christ. The being saved in this Method is by the Grace or
   Mercy of God, I say; not of your selves, that is, no Contrivance, or
   Appointment of your own; not owing to your selves: but it is the Gift,
   the free Contrivance, and Offer of God to you, that you should be put
   into this happy State by the Gospel. This is the meaning of the
   Expression, and that not of your selves; not, as it may found in our
   Translation, and that Faith or believing, not of your selves, but
   entirely the Gift of God; (for the Word That in the Greek is of the
   Neuter Gender, and so cannot so easily be supposed to relate to the
   Word Faith going before:) but, that, or this whole Matter, this your
   being saved by Faith; this being called into a State of Salvation by
   the Gospel, is not of your selves but the Gift, the Favour, the Offer
   of God; previous to all Design, and Thought of your own. Then follow
   these Words, ver. 9. Not of Works, lest any Man should boast, i. e. And
   as the Proposal of this gracious Method of Salvation was not owing to
   your selves, and your Contrivance: so neither was such a Favour merited
   at the Hands of God by any part Perfection, by any good Behaviour of
   your own, preceding it. For, as I told you already, v. 1. and 5. you
   were dead in Trespasses and Sins, when you were called to the Knowledge
   of this merciful Dispensation. And this I add, lest any of you should
   boast, as if you had deserved of the Hands of Almighty God, by your
   past good Behaviour, so merciful a Dispensation, so gracious a
   Proposal, as is made to you in the Gospel. Then he goes on to assure
   them farther that their happy Condition is owing entirely to God, who
   had, without any Contrivance or Desert of theirs, ordered Affairs so by
   his good Providence, that they were now Believers in Jesus Christ; and
   had the Offers of Salvation, upon the Terms of the Gospel, brought home
   to them.

   THIS, therefore, is the manifest Design of the Apostle in the Text, to
   raise the Gratitude of the Ephesians to Almighty God; and to inspire
   them with all possible Regard to Him; by putting them in mind that they
   were formerly in an helpless and miserable Condition, dead in Sins;
   void of the true Life of reasonable Creatures; that they find no
   Thought themselves of such Salvation as had been offered them by the
   Christian Religion; that they had no Merit to engage God Almighty to
   make them such an Offer, and preach such a State of Reconciliation and
   Salvation to them; that it was of his Grace, or Favour, that they were
   saved from their former evil Condition of Sin and, Ignorance, by
   believing and receiving the Gospel: for which they were obliged
   therefore to magnify the exceeding Riches of God's Mercy towards them
   in Christ; and not to attribute this Happiness to themselves, who were
   before this void of everything that could be pleasing to Almighty God,
   or influence him to shew them so great and remarkable a Kindness. It is
   by Grace that ye are delivered from your former miserable Condition; it
   is an Act of Grace that ye are saved thro' Faith, or put into a State
   of Salvation by believing the Gospel: and this being saved in this
   Method, and by means of this believing, is not of your selves; but
   wholly owing to the good Will of God, whose free Offer, and Gift it is.
   This being so manifestly the Intent of the Apostle in this Place; it
   appears from hence what I proposed in the second place, viz.

   II. THAT no such Pretence as that which makes Faith alone, separated
   from a good Life and Conversation, the Condition on which we shall be
   accepted at last; that no such Pretence as this, I say, can be built
   upon this Passage of the New Testament: which will lead us likewise to
   the farther Consideration of this Mistake; and to give a true Account
   of what St. James and St. Paul, upon other Occasions, have affirmed
   upon this Subject.

   As for the Passage now before us; we have seen already that by our
   being saved by, or thro' Faith, is meant our being put into the true
   Way of Salvation by believing in Jesus Christ: and therefore that it
   cannot be laid upon any such Expression as this, that it is this Faith
   or believing taken by it self, and considered without any Influence
   upon our Lives, that will at last be accepted by God; if we had
   Opportunity of practising Righteousness, and have refused to do it.
   Besides, every thing necessary to Salvation must be represented as the
   Method that leads to it and because Faith in Christ, believing in Him,
   and receiving Him for our Master, is one and the first Requisite;
   therefore we may be said to be saved by Faith, without any such meaning
   as that other Things may not be as necessary, and as indispensable, as
   that.

   BUT here it may be said, Doth not St. Paul expresly in another place
   attribute Justification to Faith without the Works of the Law? Gal.
   iii. 6, 11. To which I answer, Doth not St. James In his Epistle, ch.
   ii. 14. expresly combat that Opinion which some Men may falsly build
   upon this, viz. that Faith, without Moral Works consequent upon it, is
   sufficient to Salvation? And is not St. James's Epistle of Authority
   with Christians, as well as St. Paul's? And is not this a Demonstration
   to all who acknowledge this, that St. Paul could not intend any such
   thing as some have fathered upon Him? But this is not all that is to be
   said. For it is manifest that St. Paul is there speaking of such Works
   of the Law, as Circumcision; and arguing, that such are not necessary,
   from Abraham's being justified by the eminent Faith which He had before
   Circumcision: and this against some Persons who would still pretend
   that the Observation of such Things was necessary to the Favour of God.
   Add to this, that St. Paul uses the Word Faith for the
   Gospel-Dispensation preached by Jesus Christ; and is only arguing that
   That is sufficient without the Observation of thee Mosaical Ceremonies.
   But He is never arguing with design to make Men believe that a mere
   empty Faith, void of good Works, the Works of Righteousness, can save
   any Man at last: but saith much to the contrary in all his Epistles.
   But with respect to what is said both by Him and St. James, concerning
   the Faith And Justification of Abraham and of Christians; it may be
   proper to observe as follows:

   1. St. Paul saith that Abraham was justified without, and before, such
   Works as Circumcision. St. James saith that Abraham was not justified
   by an empty Faith without Works of Obedience; and would never have been
   excepted of God, unless He had shewn the reality of his Faith by
   Obedience to the Call and Command of God. Here is no Contradiction
   between them. So likewise Christians will be justified by means of
   believing the Gospel-Dispensation, without any such Works as
   Circumcision, or any other Works of the Ceremonial Law; as St. Paul
   argued: But they will never be justified, and finally acquitted by any
   Belief in Christ, without bringing forth, as they have Opportunity,
   such good Fruits, and walking in such good Works, as the Gospel of
   Christ directs, and commands them to practise; as St. James saith.
   Again,

   2. ABRAHAM was, for one signal Act of Faith and Trust in God, called by
   Him righteous; taken for such, and reputed as a Person free from the
   Guilt of his past Sins: as saith St. Paul. But it is manifest, saith.
   St. James, that this Faith of Abraham was not such an empty Faith as
   some Christians pretend to rely upon: nay, that He would not have been
   justified finally by God, unless He had, when He was tried by God,
   shewn by the Obedience of his Life, that his Faith was real, and
   sincere. Neither in this is there any Contradiction between them. So
   likewise it is true that a Christian, upon his first believing the
   Gospel, and receiving Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Saviour of the
   World, is acquitted from the Guilt of his past Sins; and reputed at
   this time, and for the sake of this Faith, as a just and righteous
   Person, clear from all past Guilt: as St. Paul always taught the first
   Christians, who were converted at ripe Years from a Life of Infidelity
   and Sin. And so likewise it is true that no Christian who hath
   Opportunity, after his Conversion, to practise Holiness, and yet
   continues unfruitful, or wicked; that no such Christian, I say, shall
   be finally justified and acquitted, at the last Day, for the sake of
   his believing in Christ; as St. James teacheth: but that the final
   justification of such Christians depends upon their shewing their Faith
   by their Works, as St. James expresseth it; and upon their bringing
   forth good Fruit in their Lives and Conversations.

   THUS may it easily be seen that these Two Apostles perfectly agree
   concerning the Necessity of a good Life, and of every Branch of the Law
   of Virtue. But St. Paul had to deal with a sort of Jewish Christians,
   who retained an Affection for the Works of the Law, and Circumcision
   particularly: and therefore found occasion to tell him that their
   Father Abraham himself was justified without such Works; that his
   eminent Faith was one time counted to him for Righteousness, or
   Justification; that for the sake of that Faith He was esteemed by God
   free from all the Guilt He had contracted by Sin before that Time; and
   that therefore it was nothing but what was agreeable to that great
   Example which they pretended to love and honour; that God should accept
   such as believed in his Son Jesus Christ, without their adhering to
   such Works as Circumcision; and for the sake of that Faith in Reward,
   and for Encouragement, of it; should acquit them from the Guilt of all
   their Sins committed before that Time. But St. James found that some
   misunderstood and perverted such Doctrine as this: and that some
   Christians began to pretend that no Works at all, not those of Piety,
   and Charity, were necessary to their Justification at the Great Day;
   and that their believing in Christ would acquit them from the Guilt of
   all their Sins that they should commit after this Belief, and during
   the Time of their Christian Profession. And therefore He found it
   necessary to tell them, that Abraham shewed his Obedience to God's Will
   in the highest Instances, and trusted not in an empty Faith; but, tho'
   He had been once acquitted from past Sins by an eminent Degree of it,
   yet that he did not expect to continue in Favour with God, unless by
   obeying all his Commands, and shewing himself ready to fulfil his whole
   will; and so likewise that Christians cannot expect to continue in the
   Favour of God, or that State of Justification and Acceptance which
   their first believing put them into, without imitating Abraham's
   Obedience, and following his Steps in good Works, as well as in Faith;
   or rather, that there can be no such thing as true Faith without good
   Works, any more than there can be a good Tree without good Fruit.

   THESE were the different Reasons for the different, tho' not
   contradictory, Positions of these Two Apostles; and for their different
   manner of handling this Point. And in this Matter great Account is to
   be had of the following Distinction; that believing in Jesus Christ
   acquits from Guilt of Sins committed before such Belief; and this
   merely in order to a better Life for the future; which was St. Paul's
   frequent Affirmation: but that believing in Jesus Christ doth not
   acquit from the Guilt of any Sins continued in, after this Belief, and
   during our Christian Profession, but indeed add to it extremely, and as
   St. James in effect affirms; and as St. Paul often taught. Which will
   appear more plainly from what will be said under the Third Proposition,
   viz.

   3. THAT St. Paul doth, in this very Epistle, as well as in many other
   places, sufficiently declare against any such Pretence as that which I
   have been now examining: and this in Imitation of his great Master who
   did the same before him. Our Lord, you cannot but remember, set himself
   against this very Deceit, by which He foresaw that many of his
   professed Disciples would endeavour to elude the great Design of his
   coming into the World. The Words you have often had in your Ears, Not
   every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom
   of Heaven: but He that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven: a
   Declaration which, in other Words, expresseth this very thing, that it
   is not believing in Him, or acknowledging him for our Master, or
   applying his Comforts to our selves, that shall avail us at last; but
   the doing the Will of his Father; or a constant universal Obedience to
   the Commands laid upon us in his Gospel. This I repeat to you, under
   this Head, because it is so express a Declaration against Men's relying
   on Faith only for Salvation, or final Justification; that a more
   express one could no have been made in Words.

   AFTER having remarked this, I come to shew that St. Paul himself guards
   against the same fatal Mistake in this very Epistle, in which He
   declares that We are saved through Faith. He doth indeed profess to the
   Ephesians, ch. i. ver. 9. that their being in so happy a State came not
   of their Works: but that is meant of their Works before their
   Conversion; that they had no Merit to invite or induce Almighty God to
   offer them such Salvation. But in the very next Words, ver. 10. He
   declares that we Christians are God's Workmanship, created in Christ
   Jesus unto good Works; that we are, by Conversion to Christianity, as
   it were a-new created by the Will of God, calling us to it; and created
   for this End, that we may perform good Works. So that you see He
   immediately guards against any such Notion, as they might weakly
   entertain, of his attributing our final Salvation to Faith separated
   from good Works, in the Gospel Sense of good Works. And indeed, tho' in
   some Places St. Paul doth vilify the Merits of the World and their
   Behaviour, before the coming of the Gospel; and tho' in others He
   vilifies the Works of the Law of Moses, with which some would have
   burthened the Evangelical Profession: yet no one can shew any one Text,
   or any one single Passage, in which He vilifies, and sets at nought,
   the Works of Evangelical Righteousness, or Obedience to the Moral Laws
   of Virtue.

   To vilify and decry the Behaviour and Works both of Jew and Gentile,
   before the Faith of Christ prevailed, was not to set at nought good
   Works, but bad ones; and only to observe the corrupt and sad Estate of
   Mankind. To vilify the Ceremonial Law, after the coming in of
   Justification by Faith (or the Gospel) was not to vilify such Works as
   we are speaking of: but indeed to take Men's Minds off from Shadows and
   Ceremonies; and to fix them upon good Works that are more substantial.
   Nay, when He ever toucheth upon the Moral Duties; with how much
   Vehemence doth He recommend them? When He speaks of the Ephesians; or
   other Christians, having improved in Virtue, since their Conversion to
   Christianity; what Commendations doth He give them? And with how much
   Joy doth He offer up his Thanks to God for it? But we never find him
   depressing that sort of Works; or setting up Faith against them; or
   taking off the bent of Men's minds from them: but pressing them into
   the love and practice of them with all the Earnestness possible. And
   then, if He mentions the Sins of any professed Christians; doth He do
   it, as if He thought their Faith would avail them? Or rather; doth He
   not do it with such a Spirit and Zeal against them, as if no Words were
   bad enough for them? And yet they had an easy Reply to make to Him, had
   He taught them any such Doctrine, as that a strong Faith would save
   them at last, tho' separate from good Works.

   BUT particularly, in this Epistle, how many Moral Duties and good Works
   doth He press upon the Ephesians? and how solemnly doth He assure them,
   ch. v. 5, 6, that the Immoralities there mentioned will exclude all,
   who are guilty of them, from Heaven? And adds, Let no Man deceive you
   with vain Words: for because of these Things the Wrath of God cometh
   upon the Children of Disobedience. He puts them in mind, ver. 8. that
   they were sometimes Darkness; but now Light in the Lord: walk as
   Children of the Light. For the Fruit of the Spirit is in all Goodness,
   and Righteousness, and Truth, ver. 9. and so on. Doth all this, and an
   hundred times more of the same sort, that might be urged from his
   Writings: Doth all this look like the Doctrine of a Man who aught them
   that Faith, without Goodness and Virtue, would save them at last? Or
   rather, Is not all this plainly inconsistent with that Supposition? And
   doth it not all shew that it is impossible He should intend to teach
   any such Doctrine; however his Words may sound at first hearing.

   I MENTION not here, what I have often mentioned upon the like Occasion,
   that it is contradictory to the declared Design of the Christian
   Religion to suppose any such thing as this. For if the mere believing
   in Christ shall save us at last; tho' during that Belief we have
   wilfully persisted in Disobedience to his Commands: then is it not true
   that He came to call Sinners to Repentance; then is it not true that
   the Grace of God hath appeared to Men in the Gospel, teaching us to
   deny Ungodliness and worldly Lusts, and to live soberly, righteously,
   and godly, in this present World; then is it not true that our Lord
   expects us to bring forth Fruit; or to be prepared for his coming by
   good Works; or that He will judge us according to what we have done,
   whether it be good or evil. But on the contrary, these Things are true;
   and most expresly, and positively asserted in the New Testament: and
   consequently it cannot be true that Faith, without good Works, will
   save us at last: nor can any thing be true, that takes away the
   absolute Necessity of an holy, and virtuous Conversation.

   BUT now, after I have thus guarded against that bad and pernicious
   Sense in which any Christians may understand some Expressions of Holy
   Scripture concerning our being saved by, or through, Faith; it is time,

   4. To consider, a little in what Sense it is that Christians may be
   said to be saved by Faith, or by believing in Jesus Christ; And

   1. THIS may be well said of Them, because it is their Faith, or
   believing, which saves them from the Guilt of all their Sins committed
   before this Faith: a Privilege which peculiarly belonged to the first
   Christians converted, at Years of Discretion, from a Life of Sin and
   Impurity. And therefore, this first Justification is often spoken of by
   St. Paul in his Epistles, and attributed to Faith. But this doth not
   concern those who have been educated, and instructed, in the Knowledge
   of the Christian Religion. The guilty Sinner in those Days knew not
   whither to fly from the Guilt of his Sins, till his Belief entitled him
   to this Favour; which God had annexed to it, and the Apostles always
   promised in his name.

   2. WE may be well said to be saved through Faith, because it is by
   believing in Jesus Christ, that we come to know and embrace those Terms
   which are offered by God for our Salvation and Happiness. He came to
   save us; and by closing in with his Proposals we must be saved: and
   this we cannot do, without believing Him to be sent of God, and
   receiving him as such. This, therefore, being absolutely necessary; we
   may well find Salvation attributed to this, which is the first moving
   Principle towards it; and without which we should not go one Step
   forward in that Way to Salvation which He came to point out to us. He
   is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; and without knowing him, and
   believing in him, how should we know the Way; or the Path, to that
   Eternal Life which He came to unfold to us; who otherwise might have
   wandered; every one after the peculiar Imagination, or Inclination, or
   Humour, of our own Hearts? as Salvation therefore, comes in the Method
   proposed by Christ: so may it well be attributed to believing in Him;
   because that alone can put us into the Method proposed by Him.

   3. CHRISTIANS are saved by Faith, because it is the Foundation of their
   Obedience, and of all their good Actions. It is the Tree which bears
   good Fruit; without which good Fruit there could be no Salvation: and
   consequently, what is so necessary, and so useful, to the Production of
   good Works, is it self entitled to those Rewards, and happy
   Consequences, which follow good Works. This is what St. James seems to
   think, that the only way of proving that we have Faith, is by our good
   Actions, Ch. ii. 15. Will any one, saith He, believe that you wish them
   well, or that you are willing to relieve them, if, when you see
   Distress, you only tell them so; and at the same time deny them what
   you can afford them towards their Relief? From hence He argues, As
   there is no true Sign of this charitable Disposition, but the Fruit of
   Beneficence which it produceth; and as one who is always hard-hearted
   hath no Pretence to it: so, is there no Proof of a real Faith, but the
   Works it produceth: of which Works, therefore a sincere Faith is never
   destitute. Thus will even He allow that Faith may save us, by
   influencing our Actions; but no otherwise.

   LET any one likewise turn to the xith chap. to the Hebrews, there
   indeed he will find an Account of the Excellencies and Advantages of
   Faith; of its Acceptableness to God, and its Efficacy towards our own
   Happiness: but He will find that the Argument must be resolved into
   this at last, that without Faith it is impossible to please God,
   because without Faith it is impossible to live a Life of Virtue, or to
   do such Actions as are there recorded: and that by Faith is meant a
   vital active Principle, moving us to behave our selves agreeably to our
   Faith. And therefore, with respect to Christians, Faith must be an
   active Principle, influencing and strongly moving them to such a
   Behaviour, and Conduct; such a Life and Conversation, as their
   believing in such a Master naturally directs to. If we believe in God
   truly; we cannot but love and honour him above all things. If we
   believe in Christ sincerely; we cannot but endeavour to obey his
   Commands; observe his Precepts; and follow his Example. And thus shall
   we be saved thro' Faith or believing in Him; because this Faith, if it
   be sincere, will be the Foundation of such an universal Obedience as He
   requires of us.

   IN these Senses, therefore, and on these Accounts, great Things might
   well be said of Faith in the New Testament; and Salvation attributed to
   it. But the great Point, in which we are concerned, is, not to be
   deceived in a Matter of such Importance; and to that End, not to
   interpret any one Expression of the New Testament so as to contradict
   the plainest and most repeated Declarations of it. Let the Conclusion
   of the present Subject, therefore, be to this effect, Faith is an Act
   of the Mind most acceptable to God. Faith in his Son saves us, as it
   puts us into the secure Way to Salvation, if we be sincere; and as it
   is the Foundation of all our Christian Practice, and of all our best
   and most Godlike Behaviour. This Faith alone, that is, the Method
   proposed in the Gospel, without the Works of the Ceremonial Law of
   Moses, is sufficient to secure to us our future Happiness: but Faith
   alone, that is, a Belief in Christ, without Obedience to his Laws; an
   empty, unfruitful Faith, accompanied with an ungodly Life, will condemn
   us at last. We are saved thro' Faith; or by believing in Christ; no
   otherwise than by being influenced by it: for Faith is required in
   order to Practice. Faith is indispensably necessary in order to
   Salvation: and so likewise is a good Life indispensably necessary in
   order to Salvation. Or, in other Words, a Faith working by Love, and
   manifesting it self by good Works, is that alone which will be of any
   Account to us, at last. For as the Body without the Spirit is dead; so
   Faith without Works is dead also. Now to God, & c.
     __________________________________________________________________

   The Mistake of relying upon external Performances considered.

SERMON X.

   ROMANS x. 13.

   For whosoever shalt call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.

   I HAVE frequently observed to you that when Men are resolved to retain
   their Sins, and go on in their evil Practices; and yet not to cast away
   all Hopes of future Happiness; they are ready to lay hold on my
   obscure, or mistaken, Text of the New Testament: and to draw it to
   their own Purpose; Without considering the Purpose of the Writer, or
   laying the whole Tenour of the Gospel together. One of this sort of
   Passages, relating to Faith, I considered in my last Discourse; and
   endeavoured to shew that no Encouragement could be designed in it for
   any to rely on a bare Belief of the Gospel, without the bringing forth
   those good Fruits, and practising those Moral Duties, which the Gospel
   it self recommends.

   ANOTHER of the like sort, is That which I have now read to you; which
   some Men of weak Understandings, or strong Passions, may be apt to
   separate from the rest of this Epistle, and consider it so much by it
   self, as to imagine that it was the Apostle's Design in it to make the
   Calling upon the Name of God, or of our Lord Jesus Christ, the whole of
   the Gospel-Covenant; and to affix Salvation to the mere outward joining
   in the public Acts of Christian Profession, and Worship. This is a very
   great Error: and must prove at last a very fatal Mistake. And tho' it
   be indeed such a Mistake as one would think no one who considers the
   Nature of God, or all his Declarations in the Gospel, could permit
   himself to be guilty of; yet we find by Experience that many professed
   Christians do at least seek for Ease this way; and find as much as any
   such poor Pretence can give to the Conscience of such a Creature as Man
   is.

   IT cannot therefore be accounted unnecessary or improper; to consider
   the Case of such professed Christians as allow themselves in the
   Commission of known Sins: and yet receive Comfort, and entertain Hopes
   of future Happiness, from their devout, and repeated Performance of
   some outward Acts of Christian Profession, and Worship. They know that
   they continue in the Practice of Sin. But because they feel a Warmth of
   what they imagine to be Devotion in the Worship of God; because they
   frequent the public Prayers, or Sacrament of the Lord's Supper; because
   they hear his Word with some Attention and Zeal; upon such Accounts as
   these, they hope for his Favour at last, and perceive some Satisfaction
   and Rest in that Hope for the present: imagining, perhaps, that St.
   Paul is on their side, and hath given it as his Judgment, that
   whosoever should call upon the Name of the Lord, as they do, should be
   saved.

   ONLY, before I some to speak particularly to the Case of such
   Christians, I must give you a true Account of St. Paul's Design in this
   part of this Epistle; which will at the same time lead you to the true
   meaning of the Words of the Text: viz. that He is here disputing
   against Two Errors of the Jews. The one is, their seeking Justification
   by the Law of Moses; and rejecting the Faith of Jesus Christ, and the
   Gospel preached to them as the only Method of Justification: and the
   other is, their imagining that the Messiah, whom they had been taught
   to expect, was to be of Benefit only to themselves; and that the
   Gentiles were to have no part in his Blessings. There two Errors, you
   may see, gave St. Paul no occasion of speaking particularly in this
   place of the Necessity which professed Christians lay under, to
   practise all Virtue; or any otherwise than in general Terms, of the
   Christian Faith, in Opposition to these Mistakes. It was enough for his
   Purpose to put them in mind that, according to the Law it self, they
   must seek for Justification in another Method, distinct from that of
   the Works of the Law of Moses; that this Justification had been
   declared by their own Prophets to be of such a nature, as that it must
   be effected by means of Faith; and that the same Prophets had enlarged
   the Bounds of the Kingdom of the Messiah, and had promised this
   Blessing to all true Believers wheresoever dispersed thro' the World.

   THE first of these He doth, ver. 4. For Christ is the End of the Law;
   that is, the Law it self leads to Justification by the Gospel: because,
   as it follows, ver. 5. Moses himself proposeth Justification by the Law
   upon no other Terms, but that of a perfect fulfilling the whole Law in
   every Tittle; Now, none of you can pretend to this: and therefore you
   ought to be willingly led to seek for Justification, or Acquittance
   from your past Sins and Failings, by believing and embracing the
   Gospel.

   As to the second; He puts them in mind, ver. 11. that Isaiah himself,
   one of their own Prophets, speaking of the Messiah, had declared long
   ago, that the true Method of obtaining the Assurance of God's Favour
   was by believing in Him, when He should appear; and by entering into
   his Religion, And then He argues, from the Latitude of this
   Declaration, that whosoever, whether Jew or Greek, takes this Method,
   shall be saved; alledging another of their Prophets, who had likewise,
   in speaking of the Kingdom of the Messiah; declared that whosoever,
   without any Exception of Gentile more than Jew, shall call upon the
   Name of the Lord, that is, truly receive his Religion, let him be of
   what Nation or Family soever, shall be saved; shall be saved by this
   from the Guilt of his past Sins; and, if He be sincere in this
   Profession, will infallibly be put hereby into a State of Salvation,
   and obtain it most certainly at the great Day of Accounts.

   IT very plainly, therefore, appears that St. Paul's Design was not to
   fix the Terms of final Salvation; or to tell Christians exactly what
   was required of them: but, in general, to tell the Jews that it was the
   Voice of their Law, and their Prophets, that Justification could not be
   by their Law; and that the true Method in which they must come to be
   acquitted from the Guilt of their past Sins; and made happy at last, is
   the believing in Jesus Christ, and seeking this Happiness in the Ways
   proposed in the Gospel; and that in this Method the Gentiles had as
   real a Right to God's Mercy, as themselves.

   HAVING thus given you a View of the Apostle's Design in this part of
   his Epistle to the Romans; I shall now consider the Pretence of such as
   are led by this, or any other like Passage in the New Testament, or by
   any false Motive, to place their Confidence in the external Parts of
   Religion, whilst they manifestly refuse to permit it to have any vital
   Influence upon their Minds; and openly allow themselves in an habitual
   Course of Sin. And,

   1. FROM what hath been said already; it cannot but appear absurd to
   take a general Expression of St Paul's, used upon quite another
   Occasion; and to apply it to what was not then in his Thoughts, or in
   his Design. He doth say, indeed, that the true Way to Salvation is the
   believing in Jesus Christ: and the external Profession of that Belief:
   in Opposition to such as sought for Justification by Moses's Law. But
   it is very unfair to argue from hence, that therefore whosoever doth
   call upon the Name of the Lord Jesus, tho' He live in constant
   Rebellion to his Laws, shall at last be made happy by Him; and that
   nothing but this external Act of Religion is required of Christians. So
   that St. Paul's manifest Design forbids us to apply his Words to what
   was not at all his Intent in this place.

   2. IF the plain Drift of his Argument did not suppose this; that it
   would be the highest Absurdity to deduce any such Consequence from his
   general Declaration of God's Favour to such as should come in to the
   Profession of the Christian Religion. For suppose a Person should be
   commissioned to assure a Company of Rebels, that whosoever of them
   should resign themselves up to the Mercy of their rightful Prince; and
   own him publickly; and call upon his Name in their Petitions, and
   Submissions; should be saved from Punishment: would it not be the most
   unfair and absurd Conclusion, if they should argue from hence, that
   Prince required nothing from them but this external Act of Submission;
   and that this would be for ever sufficient to secure his Favour; tho'
   they should after this reassume their former Behaviour; openly violate
   his just Commands; and affront his Government? Who would not join in
   condemning such an hypocritical Submission as this? And who would not
   think it just, that their Punishment should be doubled upon them, even
   for the sake of this pretended Submission? And yet, Are the Dealings of
   many Men with God Almighty's Declarations, in the least degree, better,
   or more justifiable? He sends his Son to entreat those who are Rebels
   against Him, to be reconciled to Him: and he declareth by Him that
   whosoever comes in to Him, and believes, and calls upon him, shall be
   in a safe Condition, and kindly received by him. And they argue from
   hence, that this external Act of Submission, or Homage, is enough; and
   that they may safely rebel against Him for the future: so they do but
   in Words acknowledge Him. Whereas the Submission required, is a
   sincere, and hearty Submission: which it cannot be, if it be
   accompanied with Dishonour, Disrespect, and Disobedience, in Actions.
   In this Case, Men should be convinced by their own Maxims, and
   Principles. For if they abhor the Man who pretends Friendship, or
   Submission, whilst he neglects all Opportunities of doing them Service;
   or perhaps employs his Time in affronting and injuring them: how can
   they possibly imagine that any such general Declaration of God's Favour
   to such as call upon his Name, or perform any outward Acts of Religion,
   was intended to make Men easy under a Course of Sin; or to be applied
   to any Performances but what proceeded from a sincere and upright Mind,
   full of a true Sense of Religion, and bringing forth such Fruits as
   Sincerity cannot be void of? So that were this Declaration in the Text
   separated from the Design of the Apostle; and taken entirely by it
   self: it is contrary to all the Maxims, and all the Rules of proceeding
   amongst Men, to interpret it so, as to take Courage from it to affront
   Almighty God by the Disobedience of our Lives; and to hope in his Mercy
   merely on Account of some external Performances of religious Worship.
   But, to proceed to other Considerations.

   3. THIS Pretence, which I am now examining, doth really debase the
   Value of Virtue, in the Eyes of God, under the Gospel-Dispensation,
   below what it was under the Influence of the Ceremonial Law it self.
   When that Law was in force, one would have thought, that Men might
   then, if ever, have trusted to make themselves acceptable to God by the
   Externals of Religion; by Rivers Oil, and Thousands of Rams: yet we
   find even then, the Question asked, What doth the Lord require of thee,
   but to do justly; and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with thy God?
   The Moral Virtues were the Things, even then, insisted on, when the
   Assistances, and Motives to them were not so great, or not so apparent;
   and when the Minds of the Jews could not but be more amused, and
   diverted from them, by their numerous and costly Services. And can any
   one believe that, under the Gospel, in which God hath declared a Day of
   Judgment to come, and pronounced his Wrath more openly, than ever,
   against Sin; and in which He hath promulgated the greatest Motives and
   most powerful Assistances; that, under this Gospel, I say, God should
   put such a Value upon the external Performances of Religion, as to make
   insignificant the more weighty Matters of it? That He, who said under
   the Law, What doth the Lord require of thee, but to practise the Moral
   Duties? should, under the Gospel, say, What doth the Lord require of
   thee, but to call upon his Name, or to hear his Word? That He, who laid
   such Stress upon Holiness, and Virtue, even when He had consulted Pomp
   and Ceremony in the Jewish Religion, should now in effect disengage Men
   from all strict Obligation to that Holiness and Virtue; and turn all
   their Thoughts upon external Acts of Devotion, and Religion, when He
   hath called the World to a Spiritual Religion, void, of all that
   unnecessary Pomp, and Ceremony? Who can believe this? Or who can fix so
   great an Absurdity upon the Christian Religion? And if we cannot in
   Words fix such an Absurdity upon it; let us not entertain, even in our
   most retired Imaginations, any such Opinion, or Notion, as doth
   effectually lay this Scandal upon the most holy Religion that ever yet
   appeared in the World.

   4. GIVE me leave to put you in mind of those many plain,
   unexceptionable, Texts of the New Testament, by which I so fully
   proved, in the former part of my present Design, that the actual
   Amendment of our bad Lives, and the Practice of all Holiness and
   Virtue, was indispensably required of us in the Gospel-Dispensation;
   and to argue from thence that it cannot be the Intent of any Passage,
   in the same New Testament, to fix Salvation upon any external Acts of
   Religion unaccompanied with Holiness; or paid to Almighty God in order
   to appease him for our Continuance in our Sins. Remember particularly
   Two Passages: the one of our blessed Lord himself; the other of St.
   Paul, the same Apostle who applies to Christians this general
   Declaration in the Text.

   THE first is that in Matth. vii. 22, 23. Verses: where, after our Lord
   hath declared that it is not the calling upon his Name, without doing
   his Father's Will, that can save us at last; He goes on farther, Many
   will say to me in that Day, Have we not prophesied in thy Name and in
   thy Name have cast out Devils; and in thy Name done many wonderful
   Works? and then will I profess unto them, never knew you. Depart from
   me, ye that work Iniquity. So that, supposing Persons can even plead at
   last that they have not only professed his Religion; but done many
   Things, beyond the Common Pitch of Believers, by the Power of his Name:
   yet they are in a desperate Condition, if they be found to be Workers
   of Iniquity. And if it shall fare thus with Professors of so
   extraordinary a Rank: what shall we say to Those who trust to be
   accepted at last for the sake of much more inconsiderable Performances?
   Must not they expect as certainly to hear the same Sentence; Depart
   from me, ye that work Iniquity?

   THE other Passage is in St. Paul's Second Epistle to Timothy, in the
   Second Chapter, the 19th Verse: Let every one that nameth the Name of
   Christ, depart from Iniquity: from whence it is evident that this
   Apostle could not be of that Opinion that naming the Name of Christ, or
   calling upon the Name of the Lord, in the Words of the Text, was
   sufficient for Salvation, without departing from Iniquity. For if He
   had taught any such Doctrine, it might have been easily retorted upon
   him by any professed Christian, who had a Resolution of continuing in
   his Sins. What necessity is there for departing from Iniquity, when it
   is declared that whosoever calleth upon the Name of the Lord, or nameth
   the Name of Christ, shall be saved, without this Departure from
   Iniquity?

   MULTITUDES of other Passages might be alleged from the same St. Paul,
   for the Necessity of Holiness; and the Condemnation of Sinners at last:
   which all contradict the Pretence of such as would fix the contrary
   upon some of his Expressions. But I must not be always repeating them.
   Yet it is worth while to remember that these are the professed
   Christians, of whom He forewarns Timothy, ch. iii. ver. 5. under the
   Character of those who have a Form of Godliness, but deny the Power
   thereof: whom he esteems no better than Scandals to the Christian
   Profession; Enemies to the Truth; Men of corrupt Minds; and reprobate
   concerning the Faith, ver. 8.

   .5. IF we consider the Nature, Tendency, and Design, of all those
   external Acts of Religion and Worship, in which some Christians are
   inclined to place so great a Confidence; we shall find it a great
   affront to Almighty God; and the most gross Abuse and utter Perversion
   of their Design,. to rest in them; to place our Hopes in them; and to
   make the Performance of them the Ground of our Expectation of the
   Favour of God, whilst we continue in the Practice of known Sins. For
   the great End of the Christian Religion is not that Men should pay
   external Homage to Almighty God, but that their internal Tempers, and
   the whole Course of their Lives, should be regulated by a deep and
   constant Sense of God, and of a Judgement to come. To keep up this
   Sense, and render it effectual; and to encourage others to profess, and
   carry forward, the same End; public Assemblies of Christians were
   instituted, and appointed, for the united Acknowledgment of God, and
   their Saviour; for the more solemn Obligation of themselves to the
   Duties of their Religion; for the praying to God, the hearing his Word,
   and the partaking of the Lord's Supper.

   Now what is Prayer to God, if it be not a sincere Acknowledgment of his
   Sovereignty, and our Dependency; of his Authority, and our Duty? And
   what is this, but an Affront, if we know, and own, our Obligations to
   serve and obey him; and yet continue wilfully to disobey and dishonour
   him? Or, if we imagine to put a Cheat upon him, and to satisfy him with
   the Fruit of our Lips, whilst our Hearts are far from him, and entirely
   indisposed to render him that Service which our Mouths own to be due to
   him? What is this Prayer, unless it influence us to Obedience? And why
   can we be supposed so ask of God his Assistance, and Holy Spirit; if we
   be resolved not to make use of it, and continue to stand out against
   all its Motives and Offers?

   AGAIN, what can we conceive that hearing God's Word could be intended
   for; unless for the Practice of what we hear? Now, suppose that a
   Servant of an Earthly Master should run with Zeal every Day to receive
   his Commands, and hear his Will; eagerly attending to it, and seeming
   to imbibe it greedily; whilst all the time He is resolved, not to
   perform it, or constantly goes away to his former Course of Negligence
   and Disobedience: would not this be justly esteemed the highest
   Affront, and greatest Indignity, to his Master; and the utter Abuse of
   his Master's Design in Calling upon him to hear his Duty? And thus it
   must be in Religion. Hearing can be only in order to our knowing our
   Duty; and knowing our Duty can be for no other End, but the doing it:
   and in all Cases, both of them are so far from excusing any who neglect
   it, that they are ever esteemed by Men the great Aggravations of that
   Neglect. To whom much is given, of Him much will be required. He that
   knows his Master's Will, and doth it not, shall be beaten with many
   Stripes: proportionable to his Knowledge, shall be his Punishment. How
   contrary to some of his Disciples, who pretend to screen themselves
   with their Knowledge? They hear greedily, and know a great deal: and
   from hence argue that they are what He approves; and that this their
   Zeal in hearing, than cover their Crime in not doing his Will:

   THIS is what St. James warns all Christians against; the resting in the
   external Action of hearing. Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers
   only, deceiving your own selves, James i. ver. 22. and he goes on to
   compare a Man, who comes to hear his Duty, and goes away and neglects
   it, to a Man that looks into a Glass; and presently goes away, and
   forgets his own Countenance, The Man can consult the Glass with no
   other Design, but to see something relating to his own Face; which he
   presently forgets, as much as if he had not consulted it. The Christian
   can hear the Word for no other End, but to know his Duty: and yet, his
   Behaviour shews that he goes away and immediately forgets it. And thus
   the End of hearing; the only End to which it can serve; is totally
   neglected and perverted.

   OF such Hearers as these, remember what our Lord himself pronounces,
   Matth. vii. 26. at the end of the longest Discourse, He is recorded to
   have made; and that, in which it was plainly his Design to preach
   Morality, and rescue Virtue from the Cloud which had been cast over it.
   Every one, saith He, 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.
   Such is the Man, we see, who builds his Hope of Salvation upon his bare
   hearing the Word of God with Greediness, without a conscientious
   Practice of what he hears. The Woman in the Gospel who heard with
   Delight the Words of Life, as they proceeded out of our Lord's own
   Mouth, lift up her Voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the Womb that
   bare thee. But he said, Yea rather, Blessed are they that hear the Word
   of God, and keep it, Luke xi. 27, 28. So ready was He to lay hold on
   every Opportunity of assuring his Disciples, that their Happiness
   depended upon their doing what they heard, and knew, to be their Duty.

   THE like may be said of partaking of the Lord's Supper: which was
   intended for the united Profession of our Faith in Christ; and the open
   Acknowledgment of our Obligations to live as becomes his Disciples. And
   what then can it be, to rely for Salvation upon the outward Act of
   communicating; or the present Fit of Devotion in which we find our
   selves, separated from, and void of, Influence upon our Lives, and
   Practice: what can this be, I say, but to mock our blessed Saviour; to
   celebrate his Sufferings, and join in afflicting him; to own our selves
   his Disciples, and behave out selves as his Enemies; to contradict the
   Design of the Duty; and to fly to that Religious Rite for Refuge from
   the Punishment of Sin, which was instituted for a perpetual Memorial
   against Sin; and designed as one of the greatest Motives against the
   Dominion and Power of it?

   NOTHING, I think, can be plainer than that thus to depend upon the
   external Acts of Devotion and Religion, for Salvation; without that
   Holiness Life which they were designed to further and promote; is one
   of the greatest Instances of Ingratitude and Presumption that can well
   be thought of? a formal Mockery of Almighty god and our blessed
   Saviour; a Contradiction to the End and Design of the external Duties
   themselves; and a fatal Delusion and Deceit upon our own Souls: it
   being certain that our Performance of these external Duties is so far
   from being an Excuse; that it will be the greatest Aggravation of a
   wicked Life.

   AND now, if these Things be so; what must we say of some sort of
   Christians? They come to these external Parts of Religion for Comfort.
   With Hands, and Eyes lifted up, and an Air of the highest Devotion,
   they will call upon the Name of the Lord, perform the publick Acts of
   Worship; hear his Word with Greediness; and perhaps partake of his
   Table. But here they rest. The same unmortified Lusts and Passions
   which they bring with them, they carry back again: and return, day
   after day, to take their Rounds of what they call Religion; in order to
   flatter themselves, the more plausibly, into a Fancy that they are not
   wholly devoted to Sin, and the World. And if they be a little easy
   themselves in this Method; they are apt to think that Almighty God is
   easy with them likewise. But it is high time to awake out of this
   Dream. It is the Paradise of Madmen; and a State of the deepest Folly
   and Misery. It is high time to consider what Religion is: that it is
   not the being professed Christians; or Members of the best Church in
   the World; or Frequenters of the public Worship; or attentive Hearers
   of God's Word, that can at last avail us; without living as becomes
   Christians; without adorning the Church we boast of, by an exemplary
   Holiness; without manifesting a deep Sense of God in all our
   Conversation; and without doing that Will of our heavenly Father, which
   we pretend to hear with so much readiness.

   AND God grant that all of us may consider these Things, as to let them
   have their due Influence upon all our future Behaviour, through Jesus
   Christ our Lord! Amen!
     __________________________________________________________________

   The Power of Charity to cover Sins, considered.

SERMON XI.

   1 PETER iv. 8.

   And above all things have fervent Charity among your selves: for
   Charity shall cover the multitude of Sins.

   THE Design which I am now prosecuting, obligeth me to take notice of
   such Passages of Scripture as any professed Christians may, on any
   Account, be apt to interpret to a very bad Purpose: that is, to the
   giving themselves Encouragement to hope for God's future Mercy; for the
   Sake of his Son: even whilst they continue in the habitual Practice of
   known Sins. And the Words which I have now read to you, as well as some
   others in the New Testament to the same purpose, seem at first reading,
   and taken by themselves, to be as likely to be abused this way, as any
   we can well pick out: which, therefore, I now design carefully to
   consider; in order to prevent any such fatal-practical Mistake as may
   endanger the Salvation of those who profess the Faith of Jesus Christ.

   THE Apostle is, in this Verse, after the most earnest manner, pressing
   upon the Christians to whom he writes, the most fervent and unconfined
   Love towards one another, Above all things, have fervent Charity among
   your selves: as his great, Master had frequently, in the most pathetic
   manner, exhorted his Followers to love one another. From which Words,
   Charity among your selves; it is evident that He is not in this place,
   pressing upon them Love in the most comprehensive Sense possible; or
   the Love of God, which is a distinct part of the Law of Christ; but
   particularly the Love of one another.

   NOR is it any Objection against this (which is indeed plain from the
   very Words) that the form of Expression, with which the Apostle
   introduceth them, seems too much for this. For the Phrase, above all
   things, in the common use of it, is not designed to be understood, as
   making the thing spoken of, of greater Importance than every other
   Point whatsoever: but only to signify that the Matter is of great
   Importance; and that there was great Occasion, perhaps from some
   manifest Failure amongst the Persons spoken to, to press upon them this
   Particular, at this time, above all others. Thus, to .give one plain.
   Instance, St. James, in the fifth Chapter of his Epistle, at the 12th
   ver. brings in the Prohibition of Swearing, after the same manner, But
   above all things, my Brethren, swear not. Not that any one can imagine
   but that other Crimes, condemned by the Gospel, were full as much to be
   avoided by Christians, or were of a less heinous nature than this: but
   that He had some more than ordinary present Occasion to remind them of
   their Duty in this Particular; and in an especial manner to charge them
   not to be guilty of this Vice. So likewise, in the Case before us,
   there may be supposed very good Reason for St. Peter, at that time, to
   press upon Christians to whom He wrote, the Love of one another, above
   all things; because they either had offended particularly against this
   Law, or were most likely to do so; without putting such a Sense upon
   this common Form of Expression, as if He must mean by it any thing
   more, and greater, than what this own Words profess; viz. fervent
   Charity among themselves.

   THIS might suffice to account for the manner of his introducing this
   Duty: but it is fit likewise to consider that the Love of one another,
   considered as a Duty distinct from the Love of God and all other
   Duties; the Forgiveness of one another; the bearing with, and tenderly
   regarding one another, is so peculiar a Branch of Christianity: is so
   much insisted on by Christ himself, as the indispensable Condition of
   our Happiness, and that which He came down from Heaven in an especial
   manner to implant, and encourage in the Minds and Manners of Men; that
   an Apostle, and Preacher of the same Gospel, might well, in speaking to
   Christians, put them in mind, in a very particular manner, to regard
   this peculiar Branch of their Profession; that Love of one another, by
   which all Men were to know they were Christ's Disciples, and to see
   them distinguished from the rest of an unfriendly, and selfish World
   about them.

   IT is, therefore, without doubt, as the Words themselves shew, Love to
   one another, peculiarly so called, or a fervent Charity among
   themselves, that St. Peter is pressing upon them with such Vehemence:
   and which he urgeth farther by this Consideration; for Charity, i. e.
   this Charity to one another, of which He is speaking, shall cover the
   multitude of Sins. With respect to which words, all my present Design
   is to guard against any fatal practical Mistake, by considering in what
   Senses they may possibly, or probably, be understood; and shewing that
   no Encouragement can be drawn from these or the like Words, taken in
   any Sense of which they are capable, to induce Christians to hope for
   Salvation on account of their loving one another, or forgiving one
   another, without forsaking their own Sins, and entering upon an holy
   Course of. Life in other respects.

   INDEED, it is very observable that there are none less likely to stand
   in need of the Abuse of this Text than such as are truly charitable;
   and sincerely love their Neighbours; and are heartily disposed to
   forgive their Offenses against themselves: that none have fewer Faults
   to cover, than such as these; or are less likely to take Refuge in
   their Charity, to indulge themselves in any thing evil. For, Did any of
   us ever know one truly charitable Man; I mean, charitable in a regular
   and stated Course, and in an eminent Degree; who willingly allowed
   himself in the habitual Practice of any known Vice; or in any sort of
   Transgression of God's Law? On the contrary, tho' we may have known a
   very vicious Man do particular Acts of Liberality, and shew an uncommon
   Generosity upon some uncommon Occasion; perhaps out of an ill-gotten
   Stock; and to support a great Temporal Interest: yet, did we ever know
   any Man, who continued in a course of a multitude of known Sins, to be
   regularly charitable in a great degree; and always disposed and ready
   to forgive and overlook all Offenses against himself? But yet it is
   fitting sometimes to do more than may be strictly necessary, in order
   to take away all Pretext from such Men, as may fancy themselves
   possessed of a Charity which they have not; and take Courage from
   thence to presume upon the Mercy of God. To return, therefore, to what
   I proposed,

   1. IT is not at all improbable that the Apostle, when He declares that
   our Charity shall cover, or covers, the multitude of Sins, means that
   it will, or doth, cover the Sins of others; and not our own: which
   Interpretation at once cuts off the Ground of the Mistake, supposed to
   be founded upon this Declaration. And supposing him to speak of the
   Sins of others; it may be, as it hath been by several Interpreters,
   understood two ways.

   1. IT may signify that our Charity and Love to others will incline us
   to cover, that is, to hide so as to forgive, and not to revenge or
   punish, all the Offences of others against our selves. So that the
   Apostle may exhort the Christians to have a fervent inward Affection
   for one another, on this Account; because this fervent Love of one
   another will incline them to overlook and forgive all the Offences of
   others against themselves: which is so main a part of the Evangelical
   Law, and so acceptable in the Eyes of God. Against this Interpretation
   there may be Two Objections raised.

   1. THE first is, that the Phrase, which is rendered to cover Sins, is
   always in other places used with respect to God's covering our Sins,
   and not to our covering the Offences of others against our selves. But
   this will not be of great force, because, tho' this may possibly be
   found true, yet is to be looked upon as a Matter purely accidental; and
   not arising from any Impropriety in applying the Word to the Sins of
   others: it being of that nature, that it is full as apt to express our
   covering, so as to pardon the Offences of others, as it is to denote
   God Almighty's covering, so as to pardon our Offences. Just as the Word
   Forgive is used both of God's forgiving our Sins, and of our forgiving
   one another: So may the Word Cover be, in it self, equally proper in
   both cases; and the Circumstances or Words of any particular Passage of
   Scripture be reasonably left to determine to which it is designed by
   the Writter to belong. If the Word which is translated Forgive, had
   happened to have been generally used in speaking of God's forgiving us;
   this would not have been a Proof that it might not have been used, in
   one or two places, where our Forgiveness of one another was spoken of:
   and the same may be said with respect to the Word Cover; which is
   equally applicable to both Cases. From whence it follows, that no
   Argument can be drawn from hence to prove that it may not as properly
   and justly be said that Charity covers the Offences of others against
   us, as that it covers our Offences against God. Indeed, if there were
   any thing peculiar in the Word, which made it absurd to apply it to any
   thing but our own Sins against God; a critical Argument might be drawn
   from hence against this Sense. But when the Word is frequently used in
   many other Cases, and applied to many other Things; nay, is only in a
   metaphorical Sense used for Forgiveness, or taking no notice of, Sins;
   nothing can be urged from hence against using it in all Cases, in which
   it is equally proper. Besides, as I hope to make out by and by, this
   very Word and Phrase is used by St. James, with respect to the Sins of
   others.

   2. IT may seem to some a little absurd to make the Apostle press
   Christians with so much Vehemence to mutual Love; not by declaring the
   future Reward of it, but by laying before them, one main Effect and
   Branch of it, as a Motive to engage them to endeavour after that Love.
   But if we consider what a Stress the Gospel layeth upon our
   Placability, and Forgiveness of one another; we shall not much wonder
   to find an Apostle, earnestly pressing Christians to labour after that
   inward Disposition, which will produce such an Effect; so necessary to
   their own Happiness. Let us labour after a fervent Charity, or Love,
   for one another; for this will dispose us readily to cover, to pass by,
   overlook, and forgive, the greatest Number of Offences of others
   against our selves: This, I say, is no small Argument to Christians,
   who know that this is the way to their own Forgiveness, and Happiness;
   and a Condition, without which they cannot hope to have their own past
   Sins covered by Almighty God. The like way of speaking is used by St.
   Paul, Rom. xiii. 8. where He exhorts the Christians to love one
   another, because He that loveth another may be said to have fulfilled
   the Law: that is, because, if we truly love one another, this will
   induce us to do no Mischief, but all possible Good, to our Neighbour;
   and so to come up to what is required of us by God, with respect to our
   Neighbour, which must be a great and substantial Motive to any
   Christian to endeavour after such a Love, and Charity.

   2. THE second way, in which the Words of the Text may be interpreted,
   with respect to the Sins of others, is this; that, if we have a fervent
   Charity for others, this will engage us to seek after the Conversion of
   such as are Sinners, and so our Love to the Souls of Men, shewing it
   self by turning many to Righteousness, will be the Occasion of God's
   covering, or pardoning, their Sins, who are so turned from a Life of
   Sin, to all holy Conversation; and Godliness. This is, indeed, a safe
   Sense of the Words. But, I cannot think it so probable that the Apostle
   could mean this; because it is unlikely that the Christians to whom He
   wrote should so understand him: since He doth not make the least
   mention, or give the least hint, of that Conversion of Sinners, upon
   which this Interpretation wholly depends. If this had been the thing in
   his View; it is hardly possible to suppose but that He would have once
   mentioned what He principally intended.

   I GRANT, indeed, that there is a Passage at the latter end of St.
   James's Epistle; which in Words is parallel to this in St. Peter: about
   which it is now fit to say something. The very last Words of that
   Epistle are these, Let him know that He who converts a Sinner from the
   Error of his way, shall save a Soul from Death, and shall cover a
   multitude of Sins, the very Words used by St. Peter. Where indeed it is
   very natural to interpret the Words to signify, that by converting a:
   Sinner to Righteousness we save a Soul from Death; and are the Occasion
   of God's not punishing those many Sins, which if they had been
   continued in, must have laid the Sinner open to the Divine Vengeance:
   which is a Consideration enough to move any sincere Christian to that
   Work. Nor is it any Objection against this Interpretation, that saving
   a Soul from Death, and covering a multitude of Sins in this Sense, are
   the same thing, in other Words; when the Apostles seems to propound
   them as two distinct Motives: because there are numberless Instances,
   in sacred and profane Writers of the best Rank, of the like Tautology
   to this; viz. the expressing the present Sentiment of their Minds, at
   the same time, after several ways, and yet still to the same Purpose.

   BUT here, we see, when St James meant particularly to signify to
   Christians that it was by Conversion of Sinners that they might be
   Instruments of covering a multitude of Sins, which was a great and
   God-like Work; that He doth not speak of Charity in general: but very
   particularly and plainly points out to them that particular Branch of
   it, by which a multitude of Sins might be covered. And this is an
   Argument why St. Peter probably had not this in his View: because, if
   He had, there is no reason to think but that He would have said so, as
   plainly as St. James did; or, at least, that He would have given some
   Hint, sufficient to have led us to understand Him to the same Purpose.
   Nor is the use of the same expression sufficient to shew that they both
   meant the same thing: it being full as proper for St. Peter to tell
   Christians that their Love to one another would engage them to forgive
   one another's Offences, without resenting or punishing them; as for St.
   James to tell other Christians that their converting a Sinner would be
   the means of his past Sins being covered, so as to be forgiven by God.
   This shews us that, as the Word Cover is applied to several other
   things as well as Sins; so, may the Expression of covering Sins, or a
   multitude of Sins, be used with respect to very different Cases, and
   with very different Views.

   THIS, therefore, is the first general Proposition I lay down, that
   these Words may be so interpreted, at least one way, very probably, as
   to respect only the covering the Sins of others from Punishment; and
   not our own. And if this be the Intent of the Apostle in this place;
   the Inference is plain, that all Ground is removed of building upon it
   any such Opinion, as that any degree of any sort of Charity will cover
   our own Sins: since, according to this Interpretation, all that is here
   said, is that our Charity will cover, and overlook, the Failings and
   Offenses of others. Nay, if this be but a possible Interpretation of
   the Words; as long as it is free from all Hazard; who would be so weak
   as to venture his Eternity, and Salvation, upon the Possibility of any
   other Sense, not so certainly safe, and secure? But lest any Sinner
   should think himself too hardly dealt with; and not indulged and
   soothed, so much as he may imagine this Passage to have indulged him:
   let us proceed farther, and, in the second place,

   II. LET us suppose that the Apostle intended in the Text to exhort and
   allure Christians to Charity amongst one another, by telling them that
   Charity would cover the multitude of their own Sins: and yet we shall
   find, upon a due Examination, how small a Consolation this, or any the
   like Assertion, rightly understood, can afford to any Christian who
   continues in his Sins. And, under this Head, it is my Design to take
   notice of three or four several Passages, which may give unstable Men
   occasion of imposing upon themselves.

   As to the Words of the Text; supposing it be affirmed by St. Peter that
   Charity shall cover the multitude of our own Sins; I say,

   1. IT is highly unreasonable to interpret this, as if He meant that it
   should atone for the wilful Sins in which we still continue: because to
   say this of any thing, is to contradict, as I have often observed, the
   whole Tenour of the Gospel, in which the Wrath of God is revealed,
   without Exception, against all Unrighteousness. This therefore, cannot
   be fixed upon any obscure Words of the first Preachers of the Gospel:
   whose Business it was to declare this Wrath of God: it being one
   certain Rule to go by, not to fix a Sense upon any particular Passage,
   contrary to the main Design, and Tenour, of the whole.

   2. IT is contrary to St. Peter's own Declarations, and most earnest
   Exhortations, in this very Epistle: who beseecheth the Christians to
   whom He wrote, to be holy in all manner of Conversation, as He that
   called them is holy, ch. i. 15. And to abstain from fleshly Lusts which
   war against the Soul, Ch. ii. ver. 11. and the like. Now in vain did He
   do this; and to no purpose were all his Exhortations: if He can be
   supposed tell them after all, that tho' they should not be holy in all
   manner of Conversation; tho' they should not abstain from fleshly
   Lusts; yet they might be secure of the Favour of God; that, if they did
   but take care to love one another, that would cover all. So that if we
   would not make St. Peter contradict and destroy his own Design; we must
   not make him speak after this manner.

   BUT if any should say that St. Peter means it of a most comprehensive
   and extensive Love of God, and Man: I answer, that He saith himself, He
   means it of Charity among themselves; and that St. James hath used the
   very same Words of one single Branch of brotherly-Love, which are
   supposed, by those who alledge this, to be exactly parallel in meaning
   to these in St. Peter. This wholly takes away the Benefit of this
   Observation; and affixeth Salvation to one single Branch of Charity,
   distinct from other Virtues.

   AND here, having mentioned the Passage in St. James again; I must
   observe of that likewise, that, supposing the Apostle to mean by it,
   that a Christian by converting a Sinner doth cover, or make an
   Atonement, for his own Sins; yet, it cannot there be understood of the
   Sins he continues in; but only of those which He hath forsaken because
   the particular Branch of Charity spoken of there, supposeth the
   Necessity of all Sinners being converted, in order to the saving their
   Souls. If therefore, I convert a Sinner; yet, if I my self remain a
   wilful Sinner against God's Laws in other respects; there is the same
   Necessity of my being converted, in order to the saving my Soul, that
   there was for the Conversion of the other, about whom I have been
   labouring. But if it were sufficient to convert another; though the
   Converter himself remain a wilful habitual Sinner; supposing that
   another should afterwards convert this Man himself from his Sins; it
   cannot be said, as this Passage affirms, that He saves a Soul from
   Death, because it was saved before by his having converted another: and
   then likewise, all the Business any Man hath to do, is to endeavour to
   chuse out some Sinner, and by all means to labour his Conversion upon
   which He may be sure of God's Favour, let his own Life be what it will.
   But what then signifieth the Gospel of Jesus Christ? and the Terrors of
   the Lord displayed in it against Sinners.; if such a Sense can be fixed
   upon any part of it? It remains, therefore,

   3. THAT, if St. Peter meant the Words of the Text with respect to our
   own Sins, all his Intention was to say that our loving one another; our
   kind Regards; our Placability and good Nature; our Forgiveness and
   Forbearance of one another, would engage Almighty God to forbear the
   Punishment of us, or to forgive to us our selves those manifold Sins,
   which we have ever been guilty of towards Him, in Time past: not those
   which we indulge our selves in; but those which we have forsaken. For I
   must observe to you that this is the Peculiarity belonging to that
   great Virtue of loving one another, so as to be ready to forbear, and
   forgive; viz. that, for the sake of that, God will forgive us the Sins
   which we have forsaken: but that, without it, (that is, unless we
   forgive others, our Neighbours and Brethren;) even those Sins which we
   have formerly been guilty of; tho' we have forsaken them, and tho' God
   had, upon that, heretofore forgiven them; shall be remembred against
   us, solely on the Account of our implacable and unforgiving Temper of
   Mind.

   IF St. Peter, therefore, speaks of our own Sins, as covered by our Love
   to others; I take him to say what our Lord himself affirmed, Matth. vi.
   14. If ye forgive Men their Trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
   forgive you: to the right Interpretation of which Words, what I have
   already said will lead all Christians who are not resolved to impose
   upon themselves. The Interpretation which I mean is this, that, if they
   forgive the Trespasses of others, God will likewise forgive them the
   Sins which they have forsaken, and amended: but, if they do not forgive
   others, that even those Sins which God had formerly remitted to them,
   on Account of their first Faith, or Amendment, shall be again accounted
   for, and severely punished upon them in the other World. And thus
   Christ himself seems to have explained it in the Parable, Matth. xviii.
   3. in which the Lord punisheth his Servant for the Debt which He had
   once forgiven him, only because afterwards He would not forgive the
   small Debt of one of his Fellow-Servants.

   To draw towards a Conclusion; If our Lord, in his Account of the great
   Day, speaks of Alms-giving only; we see, by the forementioned Text, and
   multitudes of others, that it was not his Design there to speak of
   every thing necessary; but only to shew the great Acceptableness of
   that Branch of Charity to God Almighty; and what strict Enquiry there
   would be made, at the great Day, into the Practice of this Virtue: but
   that we must not so interpret it, as to render void his other plain
   Declarations about the absolute Necessity of all the other Instances of
   Goodness and Holiness.

   IF, in any other Places of Scripture, or in the Apocryphal pious
   Writers, Alms-giving, or any sort of Charity, be spoken of as an
   Atonement for Sins; or particularly, in any of the first Christian
   Writers: it is evident how a Christian must understand such
   Expressions. Every thing that is commendable; Every singular Act of
   Piety, or Charity, may be, by a Figure of speech, called a Sacrifice,
   as it is offered to the Honour and Service of God by those who perform
   it rightly: or an Atonement, as it may be said to make some Amends for
   a past Life of contrary or Vicious Actions; just as a present Regard
   and Friendship, and the serving any Man in a very remarkable Matter of
   Importance, may be called an Atonement for a past State of Disservice
   and Disrespect; without supposing any such single Actions to be any
   Satisfaction, or Atonement, for multitudes of Affronts which we
   continue, upon many more Occasions, still to offer Him.

   IF any Writers, of good Authority, have parallell'd the Atonement of
   Mercy with that of Baptism; this shews still farther that they could
   mean it with respect to nothing but past Sins, forsaken and abandoned.
   For, as Baptism atones not for any Sins, but such as were committed
   before it, and are utterly renounced in it; not at all for such as the
   baptized Person continues in, after his Baptism; so, in like manner,
   cannot Mercy, or Charity, by any one who useth this Similitude, be
   thought, or said, to atone for any Sins, but what are forsaken by the
   merciful Person: not at all for such as He still continues to be guilty
   of.

   FROM all which there cannot be any Consolation, or hope of Salvation,
   drawn to any such Christians, as still go on to allow themselves in the
   wilful Violation of any of the Laws of Christ: but, on the contrary,
   this Consolation of making some sort of amends to God Almighty, by
   signal Acts of Charity, belongs only to such as, tho' Sinners in Time
   past, yet have now actually reformed their Lives.

   THIS, therefore, is the Christian Doctrine about Charity or rather,
   about that Part of it which consists in Forgiveness of others: that, on
   account of this, for the sake of Jesus Christ, God will cover and
   forgive our Sins, which we have forsaken and not without it. And this
   is so far from releasing us from the Obligation of forsaking them; that
   it supposeth it done, and adds to it the Obligation of our imitating
   God Almighty in forgiving one another: which God grant we may all do, &
   c.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Of relying upon the Merits of Christ, for Salvation.

SERMON XII.

   First Epistle of St JOHN, Ch. II. part of the 1st and 2d Verses.

   If any Man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
   righteous: and he is the Propitiation for our Sins.

   IN this Passage; the Apostle declares that it is for the sake of Jesus
   Christ, and on account of his sufferings, that the Sins committed by
   his Disciples will be forgiven by Almighty God. Now from this, and the
   like Declarations in the New Testament, many professed Christians have
   taken occasion to frame to themselves such Notions concerning the
   Merits of Christ, and the Sacrifice of his Death; and his Intercession
   with the Father, founded upon these; as may comfort themselves in their
   Continuance in Sin, and take off from their Minds all that Uneasiness
   which might otherwise arise from the Reflexion on their own wilful
   Demerits, and Unworthiness. Which fatal Proceeding of Christians
   addicted to their Lusts and Passions, makes it necessary particularly
   to consider this Point; in order to rectify so pernicious a Mistake.
   And to this End, I propose at this time

   I. To lay down the Doctrine of the New Testament, concerning the Merits
   of Christ, or the Effect of his Sufferings, with respect to the Pardon
   of our Sins, and our future Happiness.

   II. To take more particular notice of that unworthy Abuse of this
   Doctrine, of which Christians, in these later Ages especially, have
   been, and are guilty.

   III. To shew the Baseness and Absurdity of this Abuse. And,

   1V. To point out to you the true, and good Uses that Christians, ought
   to make of this Doctrine.

   I. THE Doctrine it self, concerning the Merits of Christ, or the Effect
   of his Sufferings towards the Pardon of our Sins, and our eternal
   Happiness, I have heretofore in effect proposed: when, under the former
   part of my present Design, I shewed you that, in order to our
   Acceptance and final Justification, thro' Jesus Christ, it is
   absolutely required of us in the Gospel, that we forsake those Sins
   which we have been guilty of; and practise sincerely an universal
   Obedience to the whole Will of God, any ways made known to us. This
   having been plainly made out from the most express Declarations in the
   New Testament; it is enough to observe from hence, that, in the Words
   of the Text, Jesus Christ is the Propitiation for those Sins, which we
   carefully and conscientiously endeavour to avoid, and forsake; not for
   those which we wilfully continue in: that the Merits of Christ, so much
   talked of by some, are so great, that, for the sake of his Sufferings,
   God will accept to his Favour and Mercy, such as lay hold on the Terms
   offered by the same Jesus Christ; such Christians as relinquish and
   abandon their Vices; and come up to that Condition of universal
   Holiness required by Him; but not such as still continue,
   notwithstanding all his Calls, and all his Denunciations, to prosecute
   their own vile Lusts, and to oppose and contradict the Will Of God.

   THIS, I say, most manifestly follows from the plain Proofs formerly
   given, out of the New Testament, concerning the indispensable Necessity
   lying upon Christians to forsake their Sins, in order to their Pardon;
   and to practise all Virtue, in order to their Happiness. For if these
   Conditions be plainly and expresly required in the Gospel-Covenant;
   then it is apparent, beyond Contradiction, that, upon the
   Gospel-:Covenant, sealed by the Blood of Christ, and entered into for
   the sake of his Merits, there can be no Pardon, nor Salvation,
   demanded, or hoped for, but by such as forsake their Sins, and obey the
   Moral Laws of the Gospel; and, in other Words, that the Sufferings of
   Christ have actually procured these Conditions to be granted by
   Almighty God; that so those Sinners who have forsaken their Sins, and
   entered on a new Course of Action, may obtain Justification from the
   Guilt of their former Sins, and Eternal Happiness in the Kingdom of
   Heaven.

   AND who will not say that this is sufficient Satisfaction to any
   well-disposed Mind, to be assured, in such a way, that He is accepted
   by God, and hath a Title to Happiness? without which Assurance, the
   Mind of a considering Person must be perpetually disturbed with Fears
   and Jealousies. And who will not own that this is all that could be
   expected, or reasonably wished for, from a God of Holiness, and Wisdom,
   well as of Mercy; to offer Pardon and Salvation upon these Conditions
   only? since by this Method He gives all the Comfort to Sinners that is
   possible, without encouraging them to continue in their Sins; and all
   the Discouragement possible to Vice, without making every Instance of
   it absolutely unpardonable.

   IF any reply to this, that the Merits of so divine, and spotless a
   Being as Jesus Christ are infinite; and therefore every thing may be
   hoped for from them: I answer, that the Question is not, what the
   Merits of Christ are in themselves; or what they might possibly have
   procured; but what the Gospel declareth that they have actually
   procured for all sincere Believers. Let them be what they will in
   themselves; They can be no more to us, than what God Almighty thinks
   fit to make them, agreeably to the eternal Laws of Reason, and Wisdom.
   The Mercy of God is, in a good Sense, infinite: that is, it is bounded
   by nothing but his own perfect Wisdom, and Holiness: against the Laws
   of which Wisdom and Holiness it cannot act; and beyond which, it would
   not be a Perfection, but a Weakness. So likewise, supposing the Merits
   and Value of Christ's Sufferings to be unbounded, and infinite,
   considered without supposing the Gospel-Covenant actually made: yet,
   when it pleased God to be moved to make a Covenant by these Sufferings;
   the Merit of these Sufferings, with respect to such as God enters into
   this Covenant with, must be bounded, by the plain Terms and Conditions
   of this Covenant. It depends upon God's Will, and his Wisdom, what
   these Conditions shall be: and consequently what is procured for us by
   these Sufferings can be no more than what God sees fit; and what He
   declareth, they shall procure for us. And therefore, I say, let the
   Merits of Christ be never so unbounded, before this Covenant is
   supposed; let the Value of his Propitiation be infinite; yet it is
   plain they are bounded, as to us, as soon as God declares what He will
   do, and what He will not do, for the sake of these Sufferings: which is
   the Business of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

   NOW, when it declared by this very Person, whose Merits are so much
   pleaded by some, that God will accept returning Sinners, upon their
   Amendment; and that such as continue in their Sins shall be excluded
   from his Kingdom: I say, when He himself declareth this; He doth in
   effect declare to Christians, in other words, that He hath no Merits
   available for any who are not reformed according to his Moral Laws;
   that, tho' He be the Propitiation for their Sins, yet it is for their
   past, and forsaken Sins; that the Extent and Effect of his Merits, with
   respect to his Disciples is this, that, for the sake of his Sufferings,
   G6d will forgive the Sins of such as do at any time so turn to him as
   heartily to abhor and forsake them; and make happy all such as do
   sincerely set themselves to the Practice of Righteousness, and make an
   actual Progress in the Ways of his Commandments. Let any one but read
   the New Testament with a well-disposed Mind; and He will find that This
   is the whole Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, concerning the Merits
   and Value Of his Sufferings, and their Efficacy towards the Pardon and
   Salvation of his Followers. But though this be so manifest, yet,

   II. IT is as manifest, that there have been, especially in there later
   Ages, and still are, (in a very vicious Generation of Men) Multitudes
   of Christians, who are not content with this, that God should pardon
   the Sins which they have forsaken, for the sake of the Merits of
   Christ: but profess to believe that He will pardon all the Sins which
   they can possibly continue in, till Death overtakes them; if so be they
   can but have Time to declare their Trust in Christ's Merits to this
   Purpose; or, in the usual Phrase, to apply to themselves, with
   abundance of Confidence, the Merits of their Saviour, or the Promises
   of God made to Christians for the sake of his Son Jesus Christ. They
   seem to think that Christ's Merit excuseth them from attempting to have
   any Merit in themselves: nay, that it would derogate from, and
   disparage his Merits, if they should pretend to have any thing in
   themselves so much as agreeable to the Will of God; that it would be a
   piece of unpardonable Presumption in them, to pretend to imitate the
   Moral Perfections of God, tho' they are called to be holy, as He is
   holy.

   SOMETIMES they urge that there is nothing perfect here; and no Man but
   what sins: and that, if they themselves stand in need of the Merits of
   Christ to screen them from the Divine Vengeance; so do their Neighbours
   likewise. As if, because the Value of Christ's Sufferings will atone
   for the Failings, and the forsaken Sins, of a sincere Christian;
   therefore, they must needs atone for the wilful and continued
   Transgressions of such as go on to disgrace that holy Name by which
   they are called, by a most unholy Life, and are every Day wilfully
   affronting their God and Saviour. How unaccountable is this? And yet
   there is hardly any thing more common, than for the most notorious and
   wicked Christians to profane his Merits, and his Sufferings, by openly
   professing their Trust, and entire Confidence in them. And, what is
   very remarkable, the more unchristian and profligate Men have been in
   their Lives, the more strong and confident shall you often find them in
   that which they call Faith, and in their foolish Trust in that which
   belongs not to them, So that whilst many good Christians, thro' Excess
   of Modesty and Humility, or thro' bodily Indisposition, are almost sunk
   with the Imagination that they have not done enough to give their
   Hearts Ground for Confidence in the Merits of God: you shall frequently
   find many of those, who have stood out against all the Calls of God to
   Repentance and Amendment, and persevered to the End in Vice and
   Immorality, as secure of his Favour at last, and as satisfied with
   their Prospect into another State, by the help of their groundless
   Confidence in Christ's Merits, as if the Gospel had been calculated,
   not to engage Men to deny Ungodliness and worldly Lusts, and to live
   soberly, righteously, and godly; but merely to speak Peace, and Quiet,
   and Comfort, to the Minds of the most notorious Sinners, even whilst
   they know themselves not to be amended in any respect.

   But how great must the Power of the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, be
   upon the Hearts of Men, when they can influence them to believe, (as it
   hath happened to some) that the way to glorify the Grace and Mercy of
   God is to multiply their Sins and Vices; that the way most largely and
   effectually to partake in the Merits of Christ, is to add Sin to Sin,
   that there may be the more to be pardoned, and the more Thanks due to
   him who pardons? These, and the like Absurdities, contrary to the whole
   Tenour of the Gospel, hath a Love to Sin imposed upon some Men; as a
   Refuge from the Reproaches, and Forebodings, of a guilty Conscience;
   and these are often found to be fixed, without the least Ground, upon
   such general Declarations of the Value of the propitiatory Sacrifice of
   Christ, and the Merits of his Sufferings, as that in the Text

   BECAUSE He is declared to be a Propitiation for our Sins; to be our
   Advocate, by virtue of that Propitiation, with the Father; to have
   purged our Sins upon the Cross; and to have died for us Sinners;
   because, in consequence of these Declarations; it lath been delivered
   and taught by the Churches of Christ, that, by his one Oblation of
   himself upon the Cross once offered, He hath made a full, perfect, and
   sufficient Sacrifice, and Satisfaction, for the Sins of the whole
   World: therefore, they argue that their Sins cannot be too many for
   such a Sacrifice to atone for; therefore they plead that these Sins,
   thus atoned for, are of all sorts; as well those which they indulge
   themselves in, to the last Period of their Lives, as those which have
   been forsaken, and abandoned; abusing the Mercy of God, and the Merits
   of their Saviour, to their own eternal Perdition; as will appear, if we
   consider seriously,

   III. THE great Unreasonableness, Baseness, and Absurdity, of this
   Abuse. That Christians should so far forget the nature of their
   Religion, which hath, in the plainest Words, made an universal Holiness
   indispensably necessary; that they should be so far from being led by
   the Goodness of God to Repentance and Amendment, that they should
   rather take occasion from his Love to treasure up for themselves Wrath
   against the Day of Wrath; that those very Sufferings of Christ, which
   were designed as the greatest Argument to affright them from all Sin,
   should be made as it were the Incentive and Motive to them to continue
   in Sin; that the greatest. Instance of Love ever displayed before the
   Eyes of Men should be returned in Affronts, and Disobedience to God,
   and to his Son: These are such astonishing Marks of absurd Confidence,
   and Baseness of Temper, as cannot be parallell'd.

   THE Nature, and End of Christian Religion, plainly established, must
   direct us in all our Interpretations of any of its general
   Declarations. And this Religion being holy, pure, and spotless;
   revealed by the Son of God from Heaven for the Conversion and Amendment
   of the World, and to teach us to forsake all Sin, and to live in all
   holy Obedience to God; the Wrath of God being often declared in it
   against all Unrighteousness of Men: it is impossible that any Comfort
   should be administred in it to such as continue in Sin; because this
   would be to destroy its own main Design, and to frustrate its own great
   End. From hence therefore it follows, that it is the highest Absurdity
   to argue from its general Declarations concerning a Sacrifice for Sins,
   and a Propitiation of invaluable Merit, that this Sacrifice will be
   available for those Sins of Christians in which they still wilfully
   continue: because this is to contradict the great End of their
   Religion: to make all Virtue unnecessary; and to turn all Christianity
   into a confident Appeal to the Merits of Christ.

   AGAIN, It is the most absurd and unreasonable thing in the World, to
   fix such a thing as this upon Almighty God: or to suppose that He
   should send a Person from Heaven to live and dye here on Earth, and to
   teach Mankind an excellent Doctrine; and at the same time declare, that
   it is no great Matter, whether they imitate his Example, or obey his
   Precepts, if so be they do but trust in his Merits, rely upon his
   Sacrifice and put their Confidence in the infinite Value of his
   Sufferings; that this shall be their Comfort here, and their Reward
   hereafter. Who can believe this possible, I say, that knows and
   considers what God is; an holy, and wise Being; at an infinite distance
   from all Sin and Iniquity? From what would this be, but to reveal a
   Religion from Heaven, with the greatest solemnity, on purpose to assure
   Men that Virtue is of no great Importance; and on purpose to encourage
   Vice, and Immorality in the World? I say this because, in truth, such
   Pretences of Christians do manifestly, and effectually, tend to nothing
   else, but to render vain all the moral Precepts of the Gospel; and to
   bring a Contempt upon all that is substantially good in Religion.

   AND if this be so absurd in any reasonable Creature, to fix such an
   Absurdity upon God, how much more absurd and intolerable must it be in
   a Christian, after this Revelation is made, in which the Nature of God,
   and his Hatred of Sin, are made known to him, to affront Almighty God
   with a Supposition which a very Heathen would be afraid to make? Nay,
   it receives a great Aggravation, when it is considered that it is by
   the Declaration of the Gospel only that we can know what the Merits of
   Christ's Sufferings are to us; and that in this they are so plainly
   limited, as to the Extent, and End of them, that a sincere Mind cannot
   mistake. I have already observed to you what is declared there; and,
   with how much Plainness all who continue in their Sins, are debarr'd in
   that from any Benefit from the Sufferings of Christ, nay, how plainly
   they are assured that this very Gospel, and the Sufferings of Christ,
   shall be an aggravation to their Punishment hereafter. And if,
   notwithstanding all the Limitations which God himself hath set to his
   Mercy, and to the Merits of his Son; these Persons will make a new
   Covenant, and a new Compact, for themselves: what must we think of such
   an egregious and groundless piece of Folly and Absurdity?

   BESIDES, how base and ungrateful a Temper must this proceed from; to
   make use of the Goodness of God, and those Sufferings which were the
   highest Instance of Christ's Love to them, as an Encouragement to
   themselves to take part with the great Enemy of God and of Christ? How
   would it sound in the Ears of any Man of the meanest Capacity, to hear
   Christians speaking thus; God so loved the World that He sent his only
   begotten Son; and this Son of God hath declared his Love in dying for
   Sinners, after an unparallell'd manner; therefore, let us affront him,
   and join our selves to his greatest Adversary; still trusting that his
   Merits, and Sufferings, will make him look upon us, and treat us as his
   Friends? Yet, after this manner doth every Sinner argue, who resolvedly
   continues a Sinner; and yet pretends to trust in the Merits of his
   Saviour, for Pardon, and Salvation.

   To make the matter yet more plain; put the Case that any Prince should
   send his own Son to a Company of professed Rebels; and for the sake of
   what He should do and suffer amongst them, offer to be reconciled to
   such of them as should be influenced by this Method to repent, and
   return to their Obedience: what greater Affront, or Indignity, can one
   well imagine, than, if these Person, professing to lay hold on his
   Offers, should yet continue to affront him, and disobey all his just
   Commands, as much as ever; and yet all the time plead before him the
   Sufferings of his Son, and argue that his Merit must screen them from
   Punishment, which was designed merely to make their future Obedience
   accepted; and which greatly increaseth the Guilt of their continuing
   such Affronts and Injuries? Would not this Appeal to those Merits
   appear only a piece of formal Mockery; and justify to all the World the
   severest Punishment of those who should have nothing else to plead? Let
   us therefore,

   IV. LASTLY, from what hath been said, learn the true and good Uses
   which Christians ought to make of the Merits of Jesus Christ, and of
   Value of his Sufferings.

   1. IN the first place, we may lawfully and justly plead before God the
   Merits of his Son, and his invaluable Sacrifice, as what He been
   pleased to declare that He accepts, as an Atonement for those Sins
   which we forsake, and abandon: and for the sake of this, we may beg,
   with a well-grounded Assurance, that He will pardon all our past
   Offences, and whatever is amiss in our whole Frame; and accept of our
   sincere Endeavours after an universal Conformity to his Will in all
   Things. This is a sort of Trust; and indeed the only Trust in the
   Merits of Christ, which we can justify, or from which we can reap any
   Comfort, or Advantage: because indeed this is the only Trust agreeable
   to the Nature and Design of the Gospel and to the many plain
   Declarations of the New Testament.

   THERE is nothing in that sacred Book, of the great Efficacy of applying
   the Merits of Christ to our selves, in all Circumstances, with an
   undaunted Confidence. This is a new and modern Addition to the Gospel
   of Christ. But if we look into any Page of it, we cannot but learn from
   thence, that we have no Encouragement to apply these Merits to our
   selves, nor any just Ground of Satisfaction from them, unless we find
   in our selves a persevering Resolution to forsake all Vice; and a
   constant Endeavour to perfect Holiness, whilst we have Opportunity: and
   that it is the uniform Doctrine of the same New Testament, that those
   who have wilfully continued Sinners to the last, have no part in the
   revealed Promise of God; nor consequently the least Right in the World
   to apply the Merits of Christ to themselves in particular, which are
   declared to belong only to such as have forsaken, and renounced their
   Sins. And if this be not true; then it must be true that the gospel
   makes no difference between a virtuous, and vicious Life; but makes
   Eternity depend upon such a Confidence as the best Christians often
   want, and the worst generally have most of.

   2. IN the next place, we ought all to draw a strong Argument against
   all Sin, and for all holy Obedience, from those very Merits, and
   Sufferings of Jesus Christ, under which some Christians would hide
   their continued Iniquities. For if Christ be the Propitiation for our
   Sins; then what must Sin be to Almighty God, who took so severe a
   Method to be reconciled to Sinners? and what ought it to be to
   Christians, who know this? How hateful, and how abominable? If God so
   loved the World, that He sent his only begotten Son; if this Son
   voluntarily humbled himself to the vilest Death for us: how ought we to
   study to do every thing pleasing to him; and to avoid every thing which
   He hates and abhors? If so invaluable a Price were paid; that we might
   be reconciled to God upon any Terms: how ought we to be moved, by the
   Greatness of this Price, to come up to all his Terms, and Conditions
   and not to think so long upon the Price, as to forget the End for which
   it was paid?

   Ye are bought with a Price; therefore glorify God in your Body, and in
   your Spirit; which are God's: saith St. Paul, 1 Cor. vi. 20. The Price
   paid by Christ to buy Us into his Service, is, in his Account, the
   greatest Motive why we should serve such a Master faithfully. Pass the
   Time of your Sojourning here in Fear, saith St. Peter, forasmuch as ye
   know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible Things, as Silver, and
   Gold, but with the precious Blood of Christ, 1 Peter i. 17, 18, 19.
   This is the Use, which the Apostles earnestly direct Christians to
   make, of the Merits of their Saviour; but they never once advise, or
   command, or so much as permit, them to think that they shall be saved
   by these merits, after a Life spent in continual Disobedience to his
   Moral Laws.

   LET this Doctrine, therefore, be fixed in our Minds. The Merits of
   Christ's Sufferings are so great, that they will atone for the longest
   Course of Sins; provided we have forsaken, and utterly abandoned them:
   but of such a nature, as terribly to aggravate the Guilt and Punishment
   of those Christians, who take occasion to continue in their Sins,
   because Christ is declared to be the Propitiation for them.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Mistakes about Man's Inability, and Gods Grace, considered.

SERMON XIII.

   2. COR. iii. 5.

   Not that we are sufficient of our selves, to think any things as of our
   selves: but our Sufficiency is of God.

   THE Apostle, in this Epistle, was led, by the cunning Management of
   some evil-minded Persons amongst the Corinthians, to asset his own
   Apostleship; and his own Right to be their Director and Instructor, as
   He had been the Founder of their Church, and of their Faith. But lest
   they should think that He boasted of himself above measure; as if from
   Him, considered by Himself, came all their Good, and all their
   Happiness of being made Partakers of the Gospel; He thinks fit in this
   Verse to obviate this Insinuation, and to assure them, that by what He
   had now, or any time before, said to that purpose, He did not design to
   arrogate to himself the Glory of being the chief and principal Agent in
   this Matter; but that it was to the great Original of all Things, even
   to God himself, that they were obliged for so great and unspeakable a
   Blessing. Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think .any thing
   as of our selves: but our Sufficiency is of God. That is, Not that We
   Apostles, of our selves, did or could lay this Scheme of Salvation: not
   that it is to us that the Contrivance, and Administration of this, is
   to be ascribed. But our Sufficiency; our being able thus to contribute
   to your Happiness, and thus successfully to minister to your good, by
   preaching the Gospel, is owing to God.

   THAT this is the meaning of the Apostle, in these Words, will be
   evident to any one who will be at the Pains to lay together what goes
   before, and what follows after this Verse. For whoever doth that, will
   find that the Apostle is not here speaking, or thinking of the Duty
   ordinarily required of Christians, in order to their final Acceptance;
   but of a Subject entirely different from this; viz. of the Work of an
   Apostle; of the first Original of that Scheme of Salvation which the
   Apostles preached to the World; and of that Knowledge and Sufficiency
   which the first Preachers of the Gospel had in order to the Performance
   of their great Work. But tho' this be so plainly the meaning of the
   Words; yet many Christians, of later Ages, have been led from this
   Text, and others of the like Sound, into such Errors, as tend, in their
   own natures, to obstruct and hinder the great Design of the Gospel; and
   to make Men easy and careless about the Performance of those Terms of
   Acceptance, Holiness and universal Righteousness, which are so plainly
   required in the Gospel.

   IT is, therefore, of great Importance, to examine, and confute such
   pernicious Mistakes; and to shew that there is nothing in the New
   Testament to favour them. The Mistakes at which I now particularly
   point, are such as are founded upon a very fatal Notion of the
   Weakness, and Inability of Man; and of the part which Almighty God is
   to act in the Business of Reformation, and Holiness. For many Persons
   have not been content with saying that their Natures are weak and
   frail; too easily carried away by the Force of that multitude of Trials
   which surround them in this State; that the Flesh is weak, and their
   Inclinations directed with a strong Bias towards Sin and Wickedness;
   but are likewise pleased with representing themselves in such a State
   of Inability, and Insufficiency, as that all Motives, and all Calls to
   Repentance are in vain; in such a State, as that it is impossible for
   them, by any Act of their own Mind, either to pray effectually to God;
   or successfully to bear any part, in the great Work of their Salvation,
   themselves.

   So likewise, with, respect to Almighty God; they are not content with
   acknowledging that the great Design of their Happiness is owing
   originally to Him, and is his Work; or that all their Powers and
   Faculties come from Him, who made them what they are; or that He is
   ready to assist their Endeavours, whenever they exert them; to answer
   their sincere Prayers; and to impart to them whatever is necessary to
   their successful running the Race that is set before them: but they
   take a sort of Delight in thinking, and speaking, as if Almighty God
   were to do all for them; as if He, in his own Time, will irresistibly
   move them to do his Will; and as if, unless he thus interposeth, they
   have Power, or Strength, to do any thing towards forsaking those Sins
   to which they have made themselves captive.

   IN these Senses do they think it for their Purpose, to understand the
   Words of this Text, and some other Expressions of the New Testament,
   concerning the Insufficiency, and Weakness of Man; and the Sufficiency,
   and Power of God, in the Matter of Salvation. In order, therefore, to
   put a Stop to such Notions as these, which naturally tend to render Men
   indisposed to all Attempts and Endeavours to do their Duty; I have the
   following Observations to make:

   1. ST. Paul himself builds no such Doctrine upon that great and strong
   Notion. He had of his own Insufficiency; and of the Sufficiency of God.
   This Insufficiency, I have shewn already, had reference to the Work of
   his Apostleship; and to his successful Performance of it; that is, to
   his publishing and enforcing, the Terms of Salvation, amidst a Thousand
   Difficulties, and a World of Hazards. But because this great Work of
   Redemption was originally the sole Design and Contrivance of Heaven;
   because his being an Apostle was owing immediately to God; and the
   Success of his Labours, and his own Courage and Conduct in his Office,
   depended upon the Providence, and the Favour of God: He doth not
   presently infer that nothing was to be done by Himself, considered as
   distinct from his great Patron. But, in this very Epistle, He
   represents Himself, and the other Apostles, as Workers together with
   God, ch. vi. 1. and often speaks of his indefatigable Endeavours to
   answer the Ends of his Office. And if He were a Worker together with
   God; He had certainly a part of his own distinct from that of Almighty
   God, in this great Affair. And consequently, as He had God Almighty's
   Sufficiency to support Him, and make up his Deficiencies; so He had
   likewise some Strength and Ability of his own, for his own part. And as
   God was the Architect; the chief Builder, Director, and Encourager of
   the whole; so likewise was the Apostle, a Worker, under and together
   with, Him.

   IF, therefore, in that great Work of the Apostleship, encompassed at
   that time with so many Difficulties and Hazards, St. Paul did not mean
   by such Expressions to signify that he himself had no part to act, but
   as forced, and impelled irresistibly, by God Almighty; but left a part
   for himself, as well as gave to God the chief Part, and Glory, in it
   all: much less will it follow, that he meant these and the like
   Expressions, to signify that, in the Business of every ordinary
   Christian, so much less difficult than that in which he was engaged,
   God Almighty was to do all, without the Concurrence of the Man himself;
   and without his having Strength and Power to bear any part in his own
   Happiness. If the Apostle had such Power, as to be a Worker together
   with God, in that vast and boundless Office; much more many Christians,
   in their ordinary Spheres of Action, be supposed to have Ability to
   bear some part in the carrying forward their own Perfection here, and
   Salvation hereafter.

   2. BUT supposing that St. Paul had referred the whole to Almighty God,
   in the literal and strict Sense of the Word; and left himself nothing
   but a passive Character; and represented himself as irresistibly moved
   by his Almighty Arm: this having been said by him merely with respect
   to so great, and difficult a Task, as was that of an Apostle, in those
   first Days; it will not at all follow from hence, that the same is
   true, with respect to an Office, or Business, not so difficult, and
   hazardous. It will not so much as follow, that the same is true with
   respect to succeeding Ministers, and Pastors of the Church, in the
   ordinary Course of God's Providence; much less will it follow, with
   respect to the Body of Christians, whose Task doth not take in so great
   a Compass. It doth not follow that because Almighty God takes the whole
   upon himself in a great and immense Difficulty; therefore, He likewise
   takes the whole upon himself, in a Matter of much less Difficulty; and
   of a much more confined Importance.

   3. THE Assistance which God affords to Christians, and the part which
   He bears in the Work of their Salvation, is so far from being a Proof
   that they can do nothing towards it themselves; that it is a most
   powerful Argument, and made use of in the New Testament, to engage them
   to do something for themselves. Work out your own Salvation, saith the
   same St. Paul, with Fear, and Trembling: for it is God that worketh in
   you both to will, and to do, Phil. ii. 12, 13. On this very account,
   use your own Strength and Power, in the Affair of Religion; because God
   himself, in the Christian Dispensation, affords you his Influences, and
   his Assistances. And indeed, what more powerful Motive can there be
   thought of, to engage us to hearty and uninterrupted Labour in our
   Christian Warfare, than this, that we are carrying forward a Work, in
   which God himself is engaged; that if it fail at last, the Gracious
   Design of God will fail thro' our Negligence; that we have so powerful
   an Assistant and Patron, that the Difficulty of our Work need not
   discourage us from attempting it, or persevering in it; that we are
   Fellow-workers together with God; and therefore should be animated to
   exert our selves, as all are incited to do under the Eye and
   Encouragement of their Superiors; and to do even more Work, and with
   more sollicitious Concern, than we could do, if we had not such a
   Patron, and such an Assistant?

   To take away the Despair of Success, is so far from Encouraging the
   Idleness or Neglect of any Person engaged in an Enterprize, that it is
   absolutely necessary towards their having any Heart, and Courage, for
   the Execution of it. This God Almighty takes from us, by representing
   himself as our Director, and Assister: and it is this which should fill
   us with more Concern lest the Enterprize should fail; and animate us
   with a stronger Resolution to use all our Endeavours. It is because we
   have such Hope of good Success, under the Patronage of so much Wisdom;
   and so much Power, that we should be much more vigorous, and resolute,
   than if we had not such an Encouragement as is included in God's
   working in us both to will, and to do. And,

   4. How weak soever we may be; since it is plain from what I have
   already said, that the Gospel doth not suppose us in a State of utter
   Inability to bear any part in our own Happiness; I say, our Weakness,
   or Inability to perform the whole, our selves, is no Argument why we
   should leave the whole to Almighty God and not think our selves obliged
   to work together with Him. And yet this seems to have been the Ground
   of Mistake in this Case, that the Evangelical Dispensation, and
   consequently the Salvation of Men, is represented as the sole
   Contrivance and Work of God, in which we bear no part, and were
   uncapable of bearing any. This, without doubt, is true; that we could
   not have thought of, or entered into, such a Scheme for our own
   Happiness. But it doth not follow that, when He offers this Happiness
   to us, He offers it to Beings, as uncapable of laying hold on it, as
   the very Stocks and Stones. It doth not follow, because our great
   Benefactor prevents us with his Kindness, and voluntarily offers us his
   Benevolence, and his helping Hand to free us from the greatest of
   Evils, and enstate us in the most complete Happiness; that therefore we
   are unable to accept this Kindness, and to help forward so good, and
   merciful a Design. No, let us acknowledge, as much as we please, our
   own Insufficiency, and Inability, for so God-like a Work as that of
   recovering us from Misery to Happiness; to the Glory of Him who is the
   Author, and Finisher of our Salvation: but let us not sooth ourselves
   in Vice, under the Pretext of a false Humility; and look upon our
   selves as too weak to do the least thing towards our own Pardon, and
   Salvation. For our Inability to do some Things, doth not infer our
   Inability to do others; nor doth our being incapable of the whole,
   taken all together, prove that we are incapable of any part.

   BUT, in return to what hath been said under these two last Heads, I am
   sensible that some other Expressions of the New Testament, may be
   objected. As,

   I. IT may be said that the whole of this great Work of Repentance, and
   Salvation, seems, in some Expressions, to be ascribed to God: and He to
   be represented as the sole Agent in it. In answer to this I have all
   ready observed that the Contrivance, and Scheme, of the whole
   Dispensation in which we have Salvation offered us, and the making and
   proclaiming the Terms of it, are wholly owing to Him, and to his
   Goodness; previous to any Work, or Merit, of ours: and consequently, it
   is no Wonder that this is wholly attributed to Him, which is, indeed,
   literally speaking, solely, and wholly, his Work. When any such
   Expressions, therefore, come in our way, we should consider whether the
   Writer be not speaking of this Christian Dispensation, as the Work of
   God: And if he be, we may be sure that this signifieth nothing to the
   present Question. For God might be the sole Author of this Offer, and
   this whole Scheme: and yet we may have Strength and Ability to do
   something towards the laying hold on the Terms of it; towards the
   complying sincerely with his Offers; and towards the finding out, and
   Performance, of his Will.

   BUT if such Expressions should be used, concerning Almighty God, with
   respect to our receiving Benefit from this Dispensation, and the like;
   it is to be considered farther, that there is nothing more common in
   all sorts of Writers, than to speak of the chief Leader, Directer, and
   Performer, of any Work, as if no other deserved to be mentioned. Thus
   God Almighty's Favour and Holy Spirit, being the great Support and
   Strength of Christians; it is no wonder if, according to the general
   Custom of speaking, the great Affair of Salvation be spoken of, as all
   owing to that. Just as any great Action, tho' executed by a great many
   in Conjunction, is yet frequently said to be owing to Him particularly,
   who was the great Disposer of all Things concurring to it; and had the
   chief Hand in it: so may it be in this Case, without inferring that,
   strictly speaking, no one besides him hath any Concern in it. It is
   because, comparatively speaking, He bears the chief part; and because
   without his favourable Concurrence nothing could successfully be done,
   that He may well, agreeably to the Rules of speaking, be sometimes
   represented as the Doer of the whole. But it doth not at all follow,
   from such customary Forms of speaking, that He neither expects, nor
   requires, the Concurrence, and hearty Endeavours, and Pains, of those
   to whom He is so good.

   AGAIN, It is proper to consider that whatever Powers, and Capacities,
   we have, are originally his Gift; and therefore all the good Effects of
   them may justly be ascribed to Him, as to the first and original Author
   of all that we have, and all that we can do; that it is to the
   Concurrence of his daily. Providence, and to the Disposition of all
   Circumstances, which is his Work, that we are indebted for every thing.
   Without this, we could not have the Opportunity, or Possibility, of
   knowing the Terms of Christian Salvation; or of complying with them.
   And therefore, it may justly be ascribed to Him, whatsoever is done
   towards our Happiness, even .by our selves. And, in this Sense, without
   Him, we could neither think, nor act, to any purpose, in our great and
   most important Concerns. But all this is very consistent with our being
   moved, after the manner of free Agents, by the Motives he proposeth;
   and by the Circumstances in which he is pleased to put us.

   AND then, in all those parts of our Christian Duty, and in all those
   Cases, in which his Interposition is requisite to our Success, He hath
   promised his Holy Spirit to them that ask it, and make use of it: a
   Spirit, which, as it was to be the Support of his Apostles in their
   greater Work; so is it, in proportion, to be the Guide, and Assister of
   all Christians, who are sincerely desirous to follow it. But this
   implies in it that we are able, at least, to ask for this unspeakable
   Gift of God: because otherwise it would be but mocking us to promise it
   to our Prayers, it implies indeed that this Spirit is the great Agent;
   the great Help to Perfection; and to a Renovation of the Mind of
   Sinners, and a Reformation of their Practices; so that great things may
   be spoken of it: but it doth not imply that those to whom it is given
   are only the mechanical Instruments of it, or any thing to that effect;
   any more than the Assistance of one Man granted to another, in any
   Affair, in which without it he could not succeed, supposeth that this
   other must do nothing himself, and make no Steps, as a voluntary Agent,
   towards the accomplishing his own Ends.

   WHATEVER, therefore, is said, in the New Testament, or supposed to be
   said, of Almighty God, as the sole Author of all relating to our
   Salvation, may, we see, very justly be accounted for, by the common
   Usage of speaking, without drawing so strange and absurd a Consequence
   from it, as divests Men of all Pretence to any part in it: especially
   considering, in the last Place, that in the same New Testament, the
   greatest Care is taken, when any parts of it are addressed to
   Christians themselves, to urge, and press, and incite them, as free
   Agents, to the performance of their Duty; to deal with them as if on
   themselves, and on their own Endeavours, depended their Happiness; to
   charge them not to be so ungrateful to God, as to think of leaving all
   to Him to do: and to threaten them with eternal Damnation, if they
   neglect to do what is required of them. This likewise will help us,

   2. TO answer the Objection which may be made to what I have said
   concerning the part of Christians themselves in the Affair of
   Salvation: viz. That the New Testament seems to represent them in a
   dead and lifeless Condition; unable to help themselves; and the like.
   For, supposing this, yet, that these, and the like, Expressions were
   not designed to be understood in any Sense contrary to what I have
   said, is plain from those multitudes of Addresses, and Appeals, to
   Christians themselves; and from those many earnest Entreaties, Motives,
   Promises, Threatnings, in the same New Testament: all contrived to make
   them exert themselves; all such as are inconsistent with the
   Supposition that God will help them without their own Help; or that
   they are not able to do that part, which God requireth, and inciteth,
   them to do.

   BUT I must remark farther, that, if you consider those Passages which
   have this Appearance, you will find that they are chiefly, if not
   always, such as respect only the State of Mankind, both Jews and
   Gentiles, before the Light of the Gospel brake in upon them; and before
   the Offers of Salvation were made, or accepted. Before that, the World
   was universally dead in Trespasses and Sins: and the Motives, to induce
   them to arise from this Death, came solely from God; not from
   themselves. But yet the very offering them. Spiritual Life, supposed
   them capable of accepting it; the very pressing, and inciting, them to
   revive from that Death of Sin, supposeth that they could do what they
   were so incited to. Almighty God quickened them by these Motives, and
   Offers; but then, even in this, their accepting and complying with them
   must be, in part, their own Work; or it could never be made their
   Reward. As a Man that is stupid and insensible, in some considerable
   worldly Concerns, may be said to be dead, and lifeless; and as the
   Motives, and Arguments, and Persuasives, of Men can quicken and put
   Life into him, actuating him into good Resolutions, and setting his
   Zeal on fire and yet the Man himself not supposed to be unable to do
   any thing for himself, but the contrary: so, in the Case before us, a
   Man may be called dead in Trespasses and Sins; and the Wrath of God, or
   the Joys of Heaven, and all the Offers of the Gospel, may quicken him;
   and to these may the thing be ascribed; yet, all this while, without
   supposing him dead, in a literal Sense, or uncapable of bearing any
   part in the accepting these Offers, in the regarding these Motives; and
   in helping forward his own Happiness. This is a figurative Expression,
   applied to the State of Sinners: who, as they are said to be quickened
   by God and his Gospel; so are they very frequently called upon to
   consider their Ways; to rouze themselves out of their supine, and
   slothful state; to forsake that which is evil, and practise that which
   is good. Neither, therefore, is the great Part which Almighty God bears
   in our Salvation, an Argument that He will do all, without Us: nor is
   our Weakness, and Inability, a total Incapacity to join with Him, in
   our hearty Endeavours and Labours. But as his Hand is necessary; so is
   our own. As his Arm is powerful to save; so is our own requisite to our
   Happiness. As our Weakness is nothing without his Strength; so his
   Strength will be nothing to us without our Weakness. As he is the great
   Contriver, and Disposer, of the whole Scheme of our Salvation, and is
   ready to give the Sufficiency of his Spirit to all who sincerely ask
   it; so we are required, and consequently, are able, both to ask it
   heartily, and to join our own Endeavours with it on which, together
   with God's Assistance, our Holiness now, and Happiness hereafter, most
   certainly depend.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Mistakes about Man's Inability, and God's Grace, considered.

SERMON XIV.

   2 COR. iii. 5.

   Not that we are sufficient of our selves, to think any thing as of our
   selves: but our Sufficiency is of God.

   IN my former Discourse upon these Words, I shewed you that it was the
   sole Design of St. Paul in them, to declare, that, in the setting
   about, and executing, the difficult and laborious Work of an Apostle,
   He did not arrogate to himself the Power, and Ability, and Success,
   which he had: but that he ascribed his Sufficiency for this great Work,
   as well as his being designed to it, to God himself, who was the great
   Contriver of the whole Scheme of Christianity; who miraculously called
   the Apostles to the carrying forward his Design in it; and who endowed
   them with Powers from above for the Execution of it. This being laid
   down, as the true meaning of the Apostle's Words; I did from hence take
   occasion to examine and confute the Mistakes of such Christians, as
   have pretended to be led, by this and such like Expressions in the New
   Testament, into such Notions of their own Weakness and Inability to
   perform the Will of God; and of the part God Almighty is to bear in
   their Reformation and Amendment as induce them to indulge their vicious
   Inclinations, and retain their evil Habits, under the Pretext of
   waiting for the Interposition of Heaven, and the irresistible Motions
   of God's Spirit without which, they think, they can do nothing towards
   their Salvation; and for the obtaining of which, they imagine that
   nothing can be done on their Parts.

   I HOPE, I then made it appear that what was said by St. Paul with
   respect to the Work of an Apostle in those Days, in which almost
   insuperable Difficulties attended it, ought not to be applied to the
   common Duty of all Christians, in the ordinary Course of God's
   Providence; that St. Paul himself never spake of the Obedience of
   Christians to the Moral Commands of the Gospel, after such a manner as
   to give Encouragement to any such Opinion, as that of some who are not
   content with the Help of God, but would willingly have all irresistibly
   done by Him; and that the Assistance afforded God to all the honest
   Endeavours of sincere Christians, in the Gospel-Dispensation, is so far
   from being an Inducement to them to leave all to be effected by that,
   that it is the most powerful Argument possible to them to exert
   themselves to the utmost for their own Good; and made use of to this
   Purpose by the Apostles themselves, and particularly by St. Paul.

   AFTER this, I answered more particularly to Two Objections: for the
   present, supposing that in the New Testament there are some Expressions
   which ascribe the whole Work of Salvation to God, and represent Men as
   dead and unactive in it. And I shewed, either that those Expressions
   were designed solely to give to God the Glory of designing and
   contriving the Dispensation of the Gospel, and the Work of Redemption;
   and to describe the State of the World before the Gospel, buried in
   Sin, and without any Prospect of Help, or any Possibility of such a
   Relief unless it had come first from Him: or, if any high Expressions
   of this sort be used concerning the ordinary Task of the Body of
   Christians, that they may be justly interpreted, by all the Rules of
   speaking, without recurring to so great an Absurdity, so destructive to
   the Cause of Virtue; and particularly that they must be explained by
   the Tenour of plainer Texts, which all represent a great deal to depend
   upon the Endeavours of Christians themselves, as well as upon the Aids
   of God's Spirit; and are constantly pressing the labouring part upon
   all who pretend to be in Pursuit of Happiness.

   THERE is one more Objection which deserves a very serious Consideration
   in this Debate: and which, therefore, I design particularly to answer
   before I proceed; and that is this, that it is more for the Glory of
   God, that the whole Work of our Amendment, and Reformation, and
   Salvation, should be left to Him, than that any part of it should be
   claimed by our selves; and that upon this Account it seems more
   probable that it all depends upon his irresistible Arm; and more pious
   and humble for Men passively to permit it to do so. But all this is
   founded upon Two Errors; first, the not judging rightly what is the
   true Glory of Almighty God; and secondly, the imagining that to suppose
   Man capable of acting together with God in this great Work, is to
   exclude God from being the Original Fountain of every thing: and
   therefore, may be fully answered by some Observations, relating to
   these two Points. And,

   1. THE Glory of God is to be measured by his Nature, and Attributes;
   and by the Declarations of his Word. If we consider his Attributes; we
   must fix nothing upon him but what is perfectly consistent with the
   united Harmony of them all. He is perfectly wise; perfectly just; and
   perfectly holy. Now it is a greater Glory to his Wisdom, to make
   Creatures capable of Freedom in their Actions, than to make only
   Clockwork, and Machines, to be moved by the immediate and constant
   Interposition of the Artificer. It is a greater Glory to his Holiness,
   (that Attribute by which He is represented as a Lover of Virtue, and
   Hater of Vice,) to assist Men in their Endeavours after Perfection;
   than to force them to be perfect, whether they will or no. Nay, the
   contrary seems utterly inconsistent with the Supposition of his loving
   Virtue more than Vice. For if Virtue be not something, in some degree
   depending upon our selves; there is no reason why he should love it, as
   it is in us, more than the contrary. For Justice requires that every
   one should be valued, and rewarded, according to what is in himself
   good, or evil. Now, if Virtue be nothing but the irresistible Operation
   of God upon us; there can be no Reason in the World assigned why he
   should hate and punish a wicked Man, and love and reward another:
   because, as to themselves, they are exactly alike.

   THE only difference here supposed is this, that God is pleased, after
   an arbitrary manner, to work upon one: and wholly to pass by the other.
   If any Parent should heap his Favours upon one Child, and then shew the
   greatest Fondness to him, merely because those Favours have been heaped
   upon him; and absolutely refuse to bestow the least degree of the same
   upon another of his Children, and yet hate and punish him, because he
   had not what he could not have without his Will; would not all the
   World condemn such a Parent of the most partial Fondness, and of the
   most arbitrary Proceeding; and attribute it to nothing but Weakness of
   Understanding; or Strength of Passion? And yet this is what we are not
   afraid to lay upon Almighty God, when we represent Him as doing all for
   some, with in irresistible Arm; and then loving them for what they have
   no part in: and, on the other side, as passing by others, and refusing
   them that same Strength, without which they cannot move; and yet hating
   and condemning them for not being what they cannot be, and not doing
   what they cannot do. If we could not think of this in any Earthly
   Parent, without calling in question his Wisdom; or his true Regard to
   what is praise-worthy: how can we fix it upon Almighty God? It is
   indeed to call in question his Wisdom; or his Impartiality; or his Love
   to what is truly lovely; or his Aversion to that only which is truly
   the Object of it. But if a Father hath an equal Regard to all his
   Children; and is ready to assist them all in their honest Endeavours;
   to put them in the way of pleasing him; to encourage them to do it; to
   deter them from the contrary; and to reward, or punish them, according
   as they have voluntarily chosen to make use of, or to abuse, his
   Favours: This we account Wisdom, and Equity; and a true Notion of
   Virtue; and a true Love to what is Praise-worthy; and a true
   Abhorrence: of what deserves Hatred and Discouragement.

   WE cannot help; having such Notions of Wisdom, Justice, and Holiness;
   and if, whilst we have such, we can fix any thing upon. God contrary to
   these; we certainly rob Him of the Glory of what we constantly account
   Perfections; and of what we ever esteem to belong to Wisdom, Equity,
   and Holiness. Let any one therefore think, whether it can be a Glory to
   God, to represent Him as acting a Part amongst his Children, and
   Creatures, which we should severely blame in any Earthly Parent? If I
   be a Father, saith Almighty God, upon a different Occasion, where is
   mine Honour? It may be said, if God be a Father, and so thought by us;
   where is the Regard to Him under this Notion, when that Conduct is
   attributed to Him, which would not be seen in an earthly Father,
   without great Detestation, and Abhorrence? If we think, therefore, of
   God, as of a Being vested with all Perfection of Wisdom, Equity, and
   Holiness; we shall find it greater Glory to such a Being, to suppose
   Him assisting his Creatures in the Way to Happiness; joining his
   Strength to their Endeavours; and expecting their sincere Endeavours to
   be joined to his Strength; than to represent Him as doing all
   Irresistibly for them; and then loving them and rewarding them, for
   what was forced upon them whether they would or no: and, on the other
   hand, as neglecting many others, who could not stir one step without
   the same irresistible Arm to work for them; and, after this, hating and
   condemning them for lying in a State, in which they could not but lie,
   unless He himself forced them out of it. The one is the Glory of an
   equitable Distributor of Favours, and Frowns; of Rewards, and
   Punishments: the other is the Glory of a Tyrannick and Arbitrary Mind,
   which raiseth to it self Favourites out of Humour; and loves and hates
   entirely at the Influence of Prejudice, and without Regard to any
   thing, but what is in itself base and unreasonable.

   AND, as we should not fail to judge thus in the Case of any Earthly
   Parent; so we cannot help it in the much higher Case now before us:
   nay, we must lose all Notions of good, and equal, and wise; and leave
   off to speak of God at all, if we can think otherwise. If, therefore,
   we have any Regard to the Glory of God; the Glory due unto his Name;
   the Glory of his real and unalterable Perfections: let us not, under
   Pretence of making Him great and powerful, divest Him of Wisdom, and
   Equity; let us not, under Pretence of making Him the sole Actor in the
   great Affair of Salvation, rob Him of the Glory which is much greater;
   the Glory of regarding, and loving, and rewarding, his reasonable
   Creatures, (not according to mere Will and Power; but) according to
   what degrees of good, and sincere, are in them; and according to what
   depends, in some measure, upon themselves. What we call Virtue, if it
   be necessarily produced by an Agent distinct from ourselves, is not
   Virtue, nor commendable, nor rewardable, in us; nor any more to us,
   then that Vice which is supposed as necessary in another. And if so, we
   cannot be loved, or rewarded by a wise and holy God, for what doth no
   more deserve Love in us, than the contrary. But Almighty God is wise,
   and holy, and equal; and certainly loves, and regards Virtue; as a
   thing Praise-worthy in us. From whence it follows that it is not so
   wholly his Work in us, but that He expects Labour from our selves; and
   looks upon it as depending in some degree, upon our selves: tho' always
   under the Influences of his good Spirit; which is ever ready to attend
   upon our sincere Endeavours.

   AND thus, indeed, is He represented in holy Scripture; as delighting in
   the Man that doth his Will, and walks in the Paths of Virtue; and as
   abhorring the Man who acts a contrary Part: neither of which could he
   do, were it equally impossible to both sorts to be virtuous; and were
   He himself the sole Mover, and irresistable Worker, of al that is good.
   But,

   2. THE other Consideration I mentioned was this, That the Objection I
   am now answering, is founded upon the Imagination that the giving to
   Man any part in his own Amendment, and Salvation, implies in it that it
   is not owing to Almighty God: which seems to derogate from his Glory.
   Whereas, as I have before observed to you, Almighty God is not at all
   excluded by this Supposition. For Man, having no Powers, and being
   possessed of no Faculties, but what are originally owing to this great
   Creator; he can arrive at no Happiness, but what He in must acknowledge
   to be owing to that first Original of all his Powers, and all his
   Faculties.

   To say, therefore, that Men can bear an active, and a voluntary Part,
   in their own Reformation, and Happiness, is not to derogate from God;
   because it is no more than to say that God hath so made them, and
   endow'd them with such Powers, as that they are able to do something
   for themselves. It is not to detract from their Obligations to their
   great Creator, and Redeemer; but it is only to shew what He hath made
   them capable of doing: and still, the making of them so, is entirely
   his Work; and all the happy Result of it, his Glory. Their Use of these
   Faculties is indeed made, in some measure, their own Work; and
   voluntary Part; that so it may make them the Subjects of Reward: but
   the Grant of these Faculties is the creating Work of God; ascribed to
   him; and a perpetual Fountain of such a Glory as He delights in, when
   they are used well, and as he requires them to be used; and this a more
   rational Glory, and a more worthy Honour, than if He had made them only
   as Machines to be Instances of his Power, and Arguments merely of his
   Greatness. And besides, I am far from contending that, in the present
   Degeneracy of Human Nature, these Faculties can do all. For I maintain
   the Necessity of God's gracious Concurrence. I am only arguing that
   they can act together with God's holy Spirit; and that our Holiness
   depends upon our own Labour, together with the Assistance of That.

   THUS much may suffice to shew the Weakness of this Objection, which
   pretends to sacrifice Virtue it self to the Glory of God; and to prove
   the Truth of this Proposition, that it is the truest Glory to such a
   Being as we are taught, by Reason and Revelation, to esteem Almighty
   God to be, to have made Men capable, in some degree, of a voluntary
   Motion towards Heaven andHappiness; and to love and reward him for
   something which depends upon himself, as well as upon the friendly
   Assistance of God; which is still made equally necessary to his
   Attainment of Christian Perfection.

   BUT because the Perverseness of habitual Sinners is such, that they are
   not only glad to lay hold on such Pretences, as I have already
   examined, to fortify themselves in Sin, which they love, and embrace,
   as the Effect of their unavoidable Weakness; but to argue from some
   other Passages of the Scripture, relating even to good Men; from which
   they hope for Comfort, and endeavour, to flatter themselves that their
   present deplorable Condition is no worse a State of Weakness than what
   some in a very safe Condition have been in: I shall, therefore, before
   I conclude, take notice of Two, or Three, of these abused and perverted
   Passages.

   1. THE first I shall mention, is That in Prov. xxiv. at the 16th ver.
   For a just Man falleth seven times. It is almost a Shame, indeed, to
   mention it: but that some have been so extremely weak as to lay hold on
   it, to administer Comfort to themselves in their falling into Sin. Nay,
   they generally cite it thus, The just Man falleth seven times a Day:
   whereas there is no such Word as the last, either in the Original, or
   in any Translation. I need only direct any one of the most ordinary
   Capacity to the Passage, as it lies in that Chapter: For whoever turns
   to it will presently find that the falling, there spoken of, is falling
   into Trouble, and Affliction, and Misfortune; and not into Sin. For the
   whole. Verse is thus: For a just Man falleth seven times, and riseth up
   again: but the Wicked shall fall into Mischief. The Verse before is
   Advice to the Wicked: Lay not wait, O wicked Man, against the Dwelling
   of the Righteous; spoil not his Resting-place. For a just Man falleth
   seven times, & c. It is designed plainly to represent to us; that God
   preserveth the good Man from the Attempts of the Wicked; and that the
   Wicked often fall into that Mischief, which they design against the
   Righteous. The Verses following do likewise go on to speak wholly of
   Temporal Evils; and of falling into Affliction. The whole Ground,
   therefore, of this Pretence is taken away. For here is nothing said of
   the wilful Sins of good Men; but of their being frequently afflicted;
   and frequently supported in, and raised out of, their Troubles.

   BUT, supposing it were said, that even good Men are frequently, or
   sometimes, surprized into Failings: this can be nothing to those
   wretched Persons who indulge themselves in an Habit of sinning. For
   whatever Failings a truly sincere Christian may have been surprized
   into; they always render him much more careful, and more arm'd against
   them, for the Time to come: whereas the Sinner is confirmed and settled
   more and more, in his wicked Course, by every Step he takes in the
   paths of Sin. Nay, He aggravates the Guilt of his sinful Course, by
   making those Failings of good Men, which are their Grief, and the
   Arguments of the greatest Care and Caution to themselves, to be the
   Ground of Encouragement to him, in a careless, and supine Neglect of
   God's Laws. But,

   2. ANOTHER as weak Pretence is founded upon that passage in the Acts of
   the Apostles, ch. xiv, the 15th verse, where Paul and Barnabas say to
   the Lycaonians, We also are Men of like Passions with your selves: from
   whence some have concluded themselves to be in as safe a Condition as
   some of the best of Men; even whilst their Passions and Lusts were in
   full Power. Whereas, this Passage hath no relation to the Distinction
   between good and bad; passionate, and well-temper'd Men: but between
   Men and God; between Human Nature, and the Divine. It was spoken to
   deter the Laycaonians from offering Sacrifice to Paul, and Barnabas, as
   if they were Gods. The Words in the Greek signify, We are Beings liable
   to the same Imperfections the same Sufferings; and particularly to
   Death it self; as you are. We are weak, and mortal; even Men, as well
   as your selves: and therefore, do not pay what you account Divine
   Honour, to us. Then follows immediately, who preach unto you that you
   should turn from these Vanities unto the living God. This again shews
   that the Apostles did not level themselves with these Sinners: for it
   would have been to no purpose to have endeavoured to convert them, if,
   at the same time, they acknowledged themselves to be in the same
   Condition of vicious Passion and indulged Sin.

   So that, whether, we consider the Words themselves; they were designed
   to signify nothing but that the Apostles were mortal Men, and not Gods:
   or the Circumstances of the Place; they shew us that the Apostles were
   at the very time preaching to the Lycaonians the absolute Necessity of
   forsaking their Sins. How unjust, therefore, is it for a Sinner to lay
   hold on so foolish a Mistake; and to chuse to fix the greatest Blot and
   Absurdity upon the Apostles themselves, rather than become truly good
   and virtuous.

   3. ONE Passage more I shall just mention; and that is, St. Paul's
   calling himself, the chief of Sinners. 1 Tim. i. 15. Christ Jesus came
   into the World to save Sinners; of whom I am chief. Now whoever turns
   to the 13th Verse, will find that he speaks there of himself, not in
   his present Condition; but, before his receiving of the Gospel. For
   there he describes himself, (the Sinner on whom Christ had Mercy,) as
   one who was before a Blasphemer, and a Persecutor, and injurious: not
   that he was such an one at that time he spake this; but before he was a
   Christian. So that this can administer no Comfort, but to one who hath
   left that sad Condition; and is become what St. Paul at that time was:
   who was be an Instance of God's Readiness to forgive the greatest
   Enemy, upon hearty Amendment; but not whilst he remains in that State
   of Enmity.

   BESIDES, St. Paul speaks not this with relation sinful and vicious
   acting against the Dictates of his Conscience: but solely with regard
   to his having been a Persecutor, and Blasphemer, of the Christian
   Religion. As for other Parts of his Conduct, he often declareth that he
   was an exact Observer of that Law of which he was then a professed
   Disciple; and therefore this is not to be interpreted of that which we
   commonly call Vice and Immorality, in profess'd. Christians. But the
   Influence St. Paul's Example should have upon Christians, should all be
   taken from what he was after he was a Christian. And thence let all
   Sinners learn their Shame. For they will find him describing himself,
   as an Example to all to whom he addressed himself, and they will see
   Him to have been as great an Instance of Labour, Humility, Meekness,
   Charity, Piety, and every Virtue, as ever blessed the Church of Christ.
   His State, as he was a Christian, is what Christians should regard: and
   in this, they will find him so perfect, that they will have but little
   Encouragement from hence to flatter themselves in those Vices which he
   abhorred; or in that foolish Notion of their Weakness, of which his
   Example, as well as Precepts, is the greatest Confutation possible. If
   Men be Heathens, and Infidels indeed, they may learn from St. Paul's
   Example, that God will make allowances for their Prejudices; and accept
   them, whenever they sincerely comply with the Offers of his Gospel: but
   if they be Christians, they can learn nothing from his Example, but a
   continual Watching, and Care, lest they become Cast-aways; and an
   Assurance, that they have Strength enough to be Fellow-workers together
   with God, in order to all things required for their Happiness, and
   Salvation.

   BUT how unwilling do we find Men to think themselves able to bear any
   Part in what is good? In the Paths of Vice; in the Projects of
   Iniquity; in the Execution of what is evil; their Feet are swift, and
   their Hands strong; and their Heads able: but when God's Will is to be
   performed; nothing is so weak, so impotent, so unable as they. Thus, if
   you ask a worldly-minded Man for a Gift of Charity, or true Generosity;
   he often pretends Inability, and Incapacity; whilst he hath enough to
   lay out upon any Trifle, or useless piece of Vanity; or a great deal
   laid up, a Sacrifice to Covetousness, and Uselessness. The voluptuous
   Man hath Power and Spirit to encounter Difficulties without Number; to
   watch incessantly; to labour without Intermission; to deny himself in
   many Instances, in order to come to some imaginary Pleasure: but if you
   speak of self-denial for the sake of Religion, or Virtue; presently the
   Weakness of Human Nature is pleaded, and the Impossibility of
   undergoing the least part of the same Labour, for the sake of the
   greatest Good possible. If ever they think of Amendment, they desire to
   wait God's Time.; till his irresistible Arm moves them, against their
   Will. As for themselves; they are dead; and without Life: unless it be
   to offend God, and provoke his Anger. Foolish and unwise! to think that
   such Excuses can ever pass upon the Searcher of all Hearts! to think
   that their own wilful Habits will be an Apology for their continuing in
   them! No, The more difficult we find it, the more immediately must we
   set about the Work: considering that the Difficulty hath been created
   by our own Folly, and Wilfulness.

   LET us not, therefore, pretend Weakness and Inability, in a Case which
   should fire and animate us to do Wonders. Let us pray to God, in
   Sincerity, for his holy Spirit; and heartily labour, our selves, under
   its Directions, and Influences. Let us not think that a vicious
   Inclination is a better Excuse on one side, than the Dictate of a good
   Conscience is an Argument on the other. Let us not be so ungrateful to
   that God who is our Maker, as to think he frames and fits us for
   nothing but Sin; and leaves all that is good intirely out of our
   Composition. Let us not be so base, and ingrateful to our Redeemer, as
   to take occasion, from the Assistances offered us in the Gospel, to
   continue in Sin; and so blasphemous, as to neglect to do our Duty,
   under Pretence of consulting the Glory of God. But let us remember that
   our acting our Parts well, is his greatest Glory; and that the gracious
   Aids of his Spirit are the greatest Encouragement to us to work out,
   together with Him, our own Salvation: Which God grant we may all do, &
   c.
     __________________________________________________________________

   The true, and false, Notions of Repentance, considered.

SERMON XV.

   ACTS iii. part of the 19th Verse.

   Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your Sins say be blotted
   out.

   THE great Concern of all Christians is, so to pass through Things
   Temporal, that they finally lose not the Things Eternal: And the most
   important Enquiry in order to this, is that which leads us to the
   certain Knowledge of those Terms upon which God will pardon, and accept
   us. But though this be a Point of infinitely the greatest Importance of
   any that can some within the Thoughts of a Christian: yet there is no
   Point, in which Christians act a more careless, and surprizing, Part
   than in this; and none in which they more willingly contribute to their
   own Deceit, and Ruin. Nor in any thing is this more visible, than in
   those false Notions which many give themselves leave to entertain
   concerning the Nature of that Repentance, to which they find the
   Promise of Forgiveness to be annexed in the Gospel. As it is our Duty,
   therefore, to put a Stop, as much as we are able, to such mistaken
   Apprehensions; as may endanger the Eternal Happiness of Men; so, I
   shall now endeavour it, in this Particular, in Pursuance of what I
   have, in some former Discourses attempted, in order to establish in our
   Minds the true Notion of those Terms which are required of us, in order
   to our final Acceptance with God. And,

   I. I shall endeavour to shew you the true Nature of that Repentance,
   which is of Force for Remission of Sins. And,

   II. FROM hence, I shall make appear the great Weakness of those
   mistaken Notions of it, by which many Christians have been deceived,

   I. IN order to shew the true Nature of that Repentance which is spoken
   of in the New Testament, I shall premise Two or Three Observations,
   Viz:

   1. THAT our blessed Lord, and his Apostles, preaching to a World of
   Men, grown up in Heathen Impieties, and arrived at full Age, without
   such bright Light and Conviction, as the Gospel brought along with it,
   constantly speak of Repentance in their discourses to them; as the
   first Step towards their Acceptance with God. This We may see in the
   Gospels, and all thro' the Acts of the Apostles; that, when Heathens,
   or wicked Jews, are spoken to, and instructed what to do, in order to
   Salvation, the first Word generally is; Repent: is here, in the Text,
   St. Peter calls upon the Jews who had hitherto rejected the Lord of
   Life, to repent; and that in order to their Being converted; as it
   follows. For the first Step that a vicious Man can take towards a
   Change of his Life, is to be truly sensible of the Unreasonableness of
   that Course of Sin and Iniquity, in which he hath formerly lived; and
   to have due Sentiments of his past Behaviour: because, without this due
   inward Sense of it; He can never heartily consent to forsake; and amend
   it; or, in the Expression used in the Text, to be converted, or turned,
   from it Thus in the Second Chapter of the Acts, the same St. Peter
   exhorts the unbelieving Jews, Repent and be baptized. Repentance is the
   first Step: because, as I have already observed, without a Sense of the
   Unreasonableness and Wickedness of their former State, they could not
   possibly, with Sincerity, think it worth their while to believe in
   Jesus Christ; and to be baptized, and entered, into his Religion, so
   different from their former Condition.

   AND this being the first Step that could be taken by an unbelieving, or
   wicked Man; no wonder that this is pointed out as the first, in order
   to Salvation, or Remission of Sins. Upon this first Repentance of
   Unbelievers, they were baptized, and by Baptism put into a State of
   Salvation; and a Capacity of being happy upon the Conditions of Jesus
   Christ: and therefore this may well be spoken of; as the Road to
   Salvation, and Happiness; because without it there could be no entering
   into the Christian Dispensation. This, then, is that Condition of
   Acceptance; which is chiefly spoken of thro' the Gospels, and the Acts
   of the Apostles; which give us an account of what was said to
   Unbelievers, and wicked Jews, or Gentiles. But,

   2. THE next Observation I have to make is, that, as soon as this first
   Condition was complied with, and Men were persuaded by the Apostle's
   Preaching into a due Sense of their past evil Courses, and into a
   thorough Renunciation of them; that, as soon as they were, in
   consequence of this, entered into the Christian Religion by Baptism,
   and were professed Members of Christ's body, the Church: that then, I
   say, all the Exhortations of the Apostles, and all their Persuasions,
   ran perpetually upon Newness of Life; upon working out their own
   Salvation with Fear and Trembling; upon the Danger of falling back into
   their former State; and upon the Perfection of Virtue required of them.
   This is plain from the Epistles, written by the Apostles to professed
   Christians: which are full of the most pathetic Exhortations to all
   Virtue; and of the most severe Reprehensions of all Vice; and of the
   plainest Condemnations of Christians, who am wilful Sinners, to the
   greatest Degrees of God's Displeasure.

   SO that from your Observation of what you read in the Acts of the
   Apostles; and of what you find in their Epistles; you cannot but make
   these Two Conclusions: That Repentance is the Subject of their Sermons,
   when they are preaching to unbelieving, or wicked, Jews and Gentiles;
   in order to persuade them to leave off their former Behaviour, and come
   over to the Christian Religion: and that, after they are Christians,
   they are with the same Earnestness pressing upon them the absolute,
   indispensable, Necessity of Holiness and Virtue; as they were before
   inculcating the Necessity of their renouncing their former State of
   Infidelity, and Vice. The frequent mention of Repentance is made to
   those who were not already Christians: but to Christians, the Practice
   of all Virtue, and the positive Improvement in all that is good and
   Praise-worthy, is vehemently recommended. But,

   3. THO' this be so in fact; as will appear to any one who will compare
   the Preaching of the Apostles to Unbelievers, with the Moral Rules and
   Instructions given to Believers; yet I must observe that there was
   place found for Repentance, in favour of such professed Christians as
   wilfull sinned, upon their giving evident Tokens of the Sincerity of
   it. But then, there was no other Token of it supposed to be sincere but
   actual Amendment, and Reformation; without which it is evident, from
   the Tenor of all the Apostles Declarations, in their Epistles, that
   there was no Hope of Acquittance at the last Day of Accounts. Thus the
   sinful Corinthian was restored to Peace; not till He was in danger of
   being swallowed up with over-much sorrow, 2 Cor. ii. 7; and after much
   more Difficulty, and Severity of Discipline, than was used in admitting
   the Repentance of one who had not before professed himself a Christian.
   If any one who was called a Brother, i. e. a Christian, was a habitual
   Sinner; His Company was to be avoided by other Christians, as one whom
   they were not to own for a Christian, in those Days when it could be
   done, 1 Cor. v. 11But this was upon Supposition of the Person's not
   amending his Life: for it is evident that, upon the Tokens of a sincere
   Amendment, He was admitted again to Hopes of Happiness. Let him that
   stole steal no more,. was the Method which St. Paul prescribed in the
   Case of the Sin of Theft: Ephes. iv. 28. which implies in it, that
   Amendment is the Sum of the Repentance of a Christian, and that upon
   that Amendment, He is in a safe Condition.

   I COULD give more Evidence of this from the first Records of
   Christianity: but this one Argument is sufficient, which I have
   heretofore enlarged upon; viz. that the Gospel would in vain profess to
   bring Salvation to mortal Men, if every wilful Deviation from the Rules
   of Virtue were so unpardonable, that no future Amendment were
   sufficient to entitle the Sinner to the Forgiveness of what was past.
   For, as to forgive Sinners without actual Amendment and Reformation,
   would be to encourage them to continue in Sin: so, absolutely to deny
   Forgiveness to every wilful Sin, tho' sincerely repented of, and
   forsaken, would be to drive Men by Despair into the same State of Sin;
   and to defeat the Designs of the Gospel. And therefore, we may be sure
   that, as nothing but Amendment, and future Holiness, can entitle a
   Christian to Forgiveness of his past Sins; so these most certainly will
   do it.

   THUS then the Case stands. The unbelieving World of Jews and Gentiles,
   were supposed by the Apostles to be great and wilful Sinners: and
   therefore, Repentance was the first thing spoken of, to them.
   Believers, or Christians, entered into, and solemnly engaged in, the
   holiest of all Institutions, were not supposed by them to be Wilful
   Sinners; or to continue in those Sins which they had renounced at
   Baptism: as the Apostle himself argues, Rom. vi. And therefore little
   mention is made to them expresly of Repentance; but much of living
   worthy of their Profession, and of fulfilling all the Laws of Morality,
   and Virtue, in the highest degree possible. But if any of them were
   overcome by Sin, and tempted to transgress the Rules of their
   Institution; Amendment was required and accepted, for the sake of that
   Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

   WHAT, therefore, remains for us, who are professed Christians, to do,
   in this Matter? Certainly, We are to look merely to that which was
   recommended to Jews and Gentiles, as the first Step only towards
   Happiness: but to those Injunctions laid upon such as became professed
   Christians; and to the Methods prescribed to Them. And then, we can
   never mistake in this great and Important Affair: because we can never
   think out selves at liberty to dispense with that Holiness, and
   Perfection of Virtue, which is constantly press'd upon Christians. If
   therefore, we take in the whole of this Matter; and consider
   Repentance; with relation to professed Christians, who have been
   Sinners; as something which will entitle them to God's Favour; it must
   certainly equally suppose and imply in it these following Parts:

   1. AN hearty Sorrow and deep Concern, for all past Transgressions of
   the Laws of God.

   2. AN unfeigned Disposition of Mind, opposite to that of Sin and
   Wickedness, and tending to fulfil his Will. And,

   3. AN actual avoiding, or resisting, those Temptations, by which they
   have been formerly over-powered; and an actual Practice of the contrary
   Virtues.

   1. WITH respect to the first of these, all are willing enough to admit
   that Repentance must suppose and imply it; because a little Sorrow, and
   a short-liv'd Passion, will cost them little Pains, and Trouble. The
   lowest Notion of Repentance takes in that of being sorrowful; and
   having a tender Disposition of Mind, for the present, whilst that
   Sorrow lasts. About this, therefore there needs no Debate, because this
   is the part of Repentance which the weak side of Human Nature is the
   most pleased with. But,

   2. THERE must be a Change of Disposition within. The Word used in the
   New Testament signifieth an Alteration of the Purpose, and Frame,
   within.

   ST. Paul reckons not Sorrow a part of Repentance; but Repentance an
   Effect of Sorrow: 2 Cor. vii. 10. For godly Sorrow, (and that is the
   Sorrow, we are now speaking of) worketh Repentance to Salvation, not to
   be repented of. It worketh such a Disposition of Mind, as manifestly
   shews what it is that produceth it. If any Person be concerned, and
   sorrowful at any thing that hath pass'd him; it never fails to work in
   Him a Disposition leading to the contrary for the Time to come. And, if
   you consult the Movements of your own Minds, you must find that a true
   Concern within, at any past part of your Conduct, is never without a
   firm Thought, and Disposition, contrary to that which hath caused that
   Regret, and Concern, in you. If this be so, in all other Cases; we may
   depend upon it, it is the same in this now before us. If we be truly
   sorrowful, and heartily concerned, that we have offended God, and
   sinned against his Laws; this will certainly be accompanied with as
   sincere, and as hearty, a Disposition to please Him, and obey his whole
   Will for the Time to come. And it cannot be supposed to be a sincere
   Sorrow without this. Now is this all; for,

   3. THIS Sorrow, and this Change of Mind, if they be sincere, must
   unavoidably produce a Course of Behaviour contrary to that which caused
   this Sorrow, and this Disposition: and if this be not the Effect of
   them, they are of no Account; unless it be to increase the Condemnation
   of those who pretend to them. Thus St. Paul, in the forecited Seventh
   Chapter of his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, Verse 10. declareth,
   that godly Sorrow worketh Repentance to Salvation, a Repentance not to
   be repented of: perhaps the Words more properly signify, such a
   Repentance as implies in it no occasion for Repentance, afterwards;
   such a Repentance as implies in it a Conduct and Behaviour, of which
   there is no reason to repent. And He goes on, in the next Verse, to
   prove their Sorrow for having offended to be sincere, and genuine; not
   from their Words., but from their Actions and Behaviour: by which only
   it was that He judged that they sorrowed after a godly sort.

   BUT what need I appeal to Him? We our selves are Judges of this Matter,
   if we be not foolishly partial to our selves, by our intimate
   Acquaintance with the Springs, and Frame, of Human Nature. There are
   none of us all, who, in the Case of other Persons, do not constantly
   judge of the Bent of their inward Thoughts, and the Sincerity of their
   outward Professions, by their Actions and Behaviour; and by these only.
   In any Matters that concern our selves, we never take the Professions
   of others concerning their inward Dispositions towards us, to be the
   true Representations of them, unless we see the Fruits and Effects,
   which, in such Cases we cannot help judging, would follow upon such
   Dispositions of Mind. How then can we possibly think our selves sincere
   in our Sorrow, and inward Repentance towards God; whilst we see them
   void of those good Effects, by which only they are as certainly known
   amongst Men themselves, as a good Tree is known by the Fruit it
   produceth?

   AND if we proceed in our Enquiries; and examine farther into the
   Constitution of our own Natures; we shall find that all the Powers and
   Faculties of our Minds were given us for no other Purpose, but to
   regulate our Behaviour, and Conduct; and that they are all of no
   account; but as tending, and employed, that way. We never think any
   Persons arrived at the use of their inward Faculties, till they are fit
   to act, and shew themselves in the World: and we never judge any to be
   prudent, or imprudent; mad, or sober within; but by their outward
   Conduct and Demeanor. What signify all our inward Powers? Of what
   Importance is it, to judge and determine, within our own Minds; to
   reflect and censure our own Actions; unless it be in order to have an
   Influence upon them? As sure, therefore, as it is, that any Person hath
   a Power within, to judge which way of Action is best: so sure is it,
   that this Power could be given for nothing, but to determine his
   Actions the best Way. As sure as it is that have, all of us, a
   Conscience, or Reason, to direct us before we act, and to applaud, or
   condemn us afterwards: so sure is it, that this hath solely a respect
   to our Actions, and Behaviour. If, therefore; we cannot but reflect
   with Sorrow, and Concern, upon some part of our Behaviour; which we
   find contradictory to the Laws of Reason, and of God: it is certain
   that this very Power of Reflexion was designed to influence our
   Behaviour for the Time to come. For, to be sorry for any part of our
   Behaviour, implies in it that it was unbecoming, or sinful; and to
   account it unbecoming, or sinful, implies in it that it ought never to
   be practised again: and so it cannot be, but that this inward Affection
   must be designed for the Alteration of what is amiss in us.

   AND if to this we add a Consideration, or Two, upon the Nature of
   Almighty God; we shall find it yet more certain. For, his Nature being
   all Perfection; there cannot be an higher Indignity offered to Him,
   than to suppose that our Sorrow, or Grief, which is, in the degree of
   it, Misery it self, is for its own sake acceptable to Him. No, If we
   think rightly of Him; we cannot but think that bare Sorrow is what He
   rather dislikes, than likes: but that it is that godly Sorrow only,
   which worketh Amendment, and Alteration, that is approved of by Him.
   Can our Grief, or Sorrow, advantage Him? Or, can any thing of ours
   affect Him? No, But it is only, as our Grief may advantage our selves;
   and as our Sorrow may lead us to avoid all Occasions of such Sorrow for
   the Time to come; that it can be well-pleasing in his Eyes.

   WILL you then judge from the Nature of Man? You see, all, the inward
   Movements of his Mind are calculated for nothing but to influence and
   govern his Behaviour: and so, a Sorrow without an Effect of it upon his
   Life, must be as insignificant, in his own Account, as the Faculty of
   Reasoning itself, separated from all Effect upon his Conduct, and
   Behaviour. Or, will you judge of this Matter from the Nature of God
   Almighty? cannot take any Pleasure in our Sorrow; but as it tends to
   our real Joy and Happiness. It can be of no account in his Eyes; but as
   it makes us better, and wiser, for the future;

   OR lastly, will you judge of it from the great Design of Christianity?
   How unworthy must you think it of God, to send his Son into the World,
   to live, and dye, in order to lead Men to a bare, pretended, Sorrow,
   and Grief for their Sins? Is it not the doing his Father's Will, which
   He presseth upon his Disciples? Is it not declared that the Grace of
   God appeared to Men in the Gospel, to teach them to deny Ungodliness
   and worldly Lusts; and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this
   World? And is it not to contradict all this, in the most flagrant
   manner, to imagine that the End of Christ's coming could be, to lead
   Men only to a little vain empty Sorrow? That is, to lead Men to what
   doth, in its own nature, aggravate their Guilt, if they stop at it,
   without proceeding any farther. Aggravate their Guilt, I say: for when
   we are sorrowful on Account of our Sins: this Sorrow supposeth in it
   that we ought not to commit them; and that there is a foul Evil, and
   Guilt in them: and this tacit Acknowledgment that their Nature is foul,
   and evil, and makes us guilty before God, cannot but help to condemn us
   for returning to what we our selves think so Blame-worthy. So that when
   we have Opportunity to do better, and do not; but return again to the
   same Sins that we think deserve, and call for, our Sorrow; we are
   self-condemned. The Sorrow, by which we hope to cover them, must help
   to make them the more meritorious of Punishment: as it implies in it
   Self-condemnation, and an Acknowledgment of Guilt. But when it leads to
   Amendment, and a gradual Increase in Virtue; then only is it the Parent
   of good Fruit, lovely in the Eyes of God, and pleasing, in the
   Reflexion of the Man himself. How plain, therefore, is it, if we will
   but consider Things, as they truly are, in their Nature, and
   Consequences, that the Repentance of Christians, who have been Sinners,
   necessarily implies in it, an actual forsaking of their Sins, and an
   actual Progress in all Virtue, and Godliness of living.

   II. HAVING thus given as true, and as plain, an Account, as I could, of
   the Repentance which alone can avail any professed Christians; I shall
   now only make Two or Three short Inferences from what I have laid down,
   with respect to those mistaken Notions, by which many Christians
   deceive themselves in this Affair. And,

   1. FROM what hath been said we see the Vanity, and Misery, of those who
   place their Hopes of Acceptance with God, upon the Sorrow, and Grief,
   which they sometimes conceive for their Sins; and call by the Name of
   Repentance, because, in our Language, when we are sorry for any past
   part of our Conduct, we are said to repent of it. If a Man, proposing
   to Himself to travel to a Place at some distance from his present
   Station, should conclude himself to be arrived at it, when He had set
   but one step out of his own Home; and there make a full Stop,
   contented, and satisfied that this would be sufficient: would you not
   think such a Person distempered in his Brain? Why, just thus it is in
   the Case we are considering. We pretend to be travelling towards
   Happiness: and Repentance, in all its Parts, is the Road to this
   Happiness. The first Step, in this Road, is Sorrow for our Sins. He
   that stops at this Sorrow, therefore, and rests himself contented with
   it, stops at the first Step in his Journey: and how likely He is to
   arrive at his Journeys End, you may easily judge.

   2. THUS again, if the second Step be a good Disposition of Mind to go
   forwards; He that stops, without putting in Execution this Disposition,
   is still as unlikely to arrive at the End proposed. This is another
   Mistake of Men in this Affair, that a present good Disposition, and
   Resolution of Mind, is sufficient for their Purpose. But certainly, it
   is not going one Step, or two Steps, that will bring us to the End of
   our spiritual Journey; but the proceeding as far as Time, and Strength,
   give leave.

   3. FROM what hath been said, we are led not to place any Hopes in what
   we call a Death-bed Repentance: For this Repentance, extorted from us
   by the Prospect of Death, can be only a Sorrow for Sin perhaps rendered
   more passionate by our present Fears. And this being only Sorrow, and
   Compunction, and perhaps a good Resolution; it is plain that still
   these are only the first Steps in the Repentance of a Sinner; and not
   complete Repentance, in all its parts. I confess these are not ill
   Signs: but it ought plainly to be declared that Sorrow, and good Words,
   are not the End of the Gospel Institution; but an holy Life and
   Conversation. Indeed, where a Person hath had no Calls to Repentance
   and Amendment before; but been inevitably blinded by unhappy
   Circumstances of Education, and hardly known what the Gospel pretends
   to: if such a Person be awakened by his Danger into serious Enquiries,
   and an hearty Conviction of the Truth of the Gospel; and a great
   Detestation of his former Courses; one might reasonably hope good
   Things. But in the Case of most professed Christians, who are called,
   day after day, to Amendment, and have all the Arguments imaginable
   represented to them; and yet, day after day, shut their Ears; spend all
   that time and Health, which God allows them, in Vice and Iniquity; and
   then at last are sorry for this, when God thinks fit to try them no
   longer: In such Case, I say, all that can be said is, that they are
   sorrowful for their Sins; and that if that Sorrow be sincere, they are
   got one Step towards Happiness. But to give greater Hopes; or to say
   that they are the Christians whom God hath declared, He will accept, in
   his Gospel, is to render vain all the Threatnings of his Son; to place
   the Sinner and the Saint upon equal Terms; to put all upon a Man's
   having a little longer Sickness than his Neighbour: and to undo the
   great Design of reforming Men's Lives, the only End worthy of the Son
   of God's Incarnation.

   THE Result of the whole, is this. Since Almighty God hath plainly
   declared, in his Gospel, what it is He expects of those who have been
   Sinners; I need not tell you, how great a Weakness, and how extreme a
   Folly, it is, to have recourse to vain, and flattering Hopes of our
   own. Since we are Christians, and have a Gospel open to us, to have
   recourse to, upon this Occasion; it is the greatest Weakness imaginable
   to consult our own Passions and our own Lusts, what it is fit for us to
   hope for, at the Hands of God. And yet, I am persuaded this is the
   Case. Were not Men inwardly captivated to some Vice; Covetuousness, or
   Ambition, or Sensuality; there would not be any thing, in the nature of
   Things, more evident to themselves, than that Almighty God cannot be
   supposed to accept any Thing at our Hands, without a sincere Amendment
   of what we know, and acknowledge, to be amiss in our selves. And yet,
   such is the Effect of our own evil Habits, and the Prevalence of our
   beloved Vices; that we first desire, and at last come really to hope,
   to be accepted for some superficial Circumstance, without a real
   Reformation of our Lives.

   BUT how long will Men thus deceive themselves, in a Case in which all
   Deceit is the Ruin of Soul and Body for ever; and in which they can
   impose upon none but themselves? Behold, what doth the Lord thy God
   require of thee, but to do justly, to love Mercy, and to walk humbly
   with they God? This was plain under the Law. How much more plain under
   the Gospel? As we are Christians, we are not so much as supposed to be
   Sinners. But if, we have transgressed against the plainest Light; God
   is so merciful as to allow a Place for Reconciliation to his Favour,
   upon our Amendment. Is this so hard a Condition? Is this so great an
   Injury to us, that we should turn against it, and abuse the Gospel to
   our own Destruction? Shall the Goodness, and Long-suffering of God,
   instead of leading us to true Repentance, only lead us to a false Image
   of it; and to treasure up Wrath to our selves against the Day of Wrath?
   Shall we continue in Sin; and pretend that Sorrow for it is sufficient?
   God forbid! How shall we, Christians, who, by our Profession, are dead
   to Sin, live any longer therein? Let not such an Use be made of our
   great Lord's indulgent Kindness to us in the Gospel: but let all who
   know what Repentance is, and what it implies in it, live worthy of that
   Repentance, by which they hope for Salvation; and of that Vocation
   wherewith they are called.

   IN a word: If you will have your Sins blotted out; you must repent, and
   be converted, in the Words of the Text: that is, actually turned from
   them. If you have been wilful, habitual Sinners; and think of being
   saved by Repentance; here is the Line marked out. The first Step is
   Sorrow for your Sins: but it is but the first. The second is a
   Disposition to amend your Lives. But there is no stopping here. You
   cannot think this Sorrow, and this Disposition, sincere, unless they
   shew themselves in good Effects. There must be an actual amendment; an
   actual entring upon, and Progress in a virtuous and holy Life; whilst
   God gives Opportunity. Without this, there is not the least Security of
   Happiness: and, if you trust to any other Methods, you rely upon other
   Terms than what are proposed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
     __________________________________________________________________

   The Example of the Thief upon the Cross, considered.

SERMON XVI.

   LUKE xxiii. 42, 43.

   And He said unto Jesus, Lord,. Remember me when Thou comest into thy
   Kingdom.

   And Jesus said unto Him, Verily, I say unto thee, To day halt thou be
   with me in Paradise.

   THESE Words contain in them an Account of the happy Ending of the Life
   of one of those Malefactors, who were crucified with our blessed Lord.
   For; tho' we read, in Two other of the Evangelists, that the Thieves
   which were crucified with Him, reviled Him; yet, that we are not
   necessarily to understand this of both the Malefactors, is evident from
   the like Form of Speech used by the same Writers, concerning any
   Matter, the minute Circumstances of which they do not undertake exactly
   to relate. Thus, in the same Gospels, that is sometimes said to be
   spoken by the Disciples, to Jesus, which was spoken by one of them
   only: because it was not thought necessary to be more particular. And
   the Plural Number is often thus used for the Singular, either, when the
   Story related is so known, as that no Mistake can proceed from thence;
   or, when the Matter spoken of, is of that nature as not to admit a
   literal Interpretation without a gross Absurdity; or, when the
   Historian, as I have said, doth not undertake to relate every
   particular Circumstance of a Story, especially of one generally and
   universally known at the Time of his writing. On these Accounts, this
   Way and Figure of speaking hath been allowed and practised.

   BUT St. Luke, designing, in this part of his History, to be more
   particular, hath transmitted it down to us that what the other
   Evangelists record concerning the Malefactors, is to be understood only
   of one of them; and that the other was of a much better Disposition;
   that He reproved his Fellow-Sufferer for his rude and unjust reviling;
   and laid hold on that Opportunity to confess a great Degree of Faith in
   a crucified Saviour.

   THE favourable Reception which this penitent Believer met with, in his
   last Moments; and the comfortable Answer which He received from our
   Lord, seems to have had an Effect, quite contrary to what our Lord
   intended, and wished, upon many Christians of later Ages. And
   therefore, this past of the Evangelical History deserveth our
   particular Consideration: that We may judge truly what is to be
   concluded from it: and avoid any Mistake that may prove fatal to our
   Eternal Interest. And, after having, in my last Discourse, laid down
   the true Notion of Repentance; I cannot do any thing better than to
   endeavour to obviate, or refute, the common Error, received and
   embraced by too many, viz. that the Acceptance of this Malefactor is an
   Encouragement to any Christians to place their Hopes of Salvation, upon
   a Death-bed Sorrow, which they mis-call by the Name of Repentance. In
   order to this End,

   I. I SHALL endeavour briefly to give a true and just Account of the
   Case of this Malefactor, who was thus mercifully received by our
   Saviour, in his last Moments.

   II. I DESIGN to shew that this was not an extraordinary Act of Favour,
   out of the General Rule; nor any thing depending on the secret Will and
   Intention of Almighty God: but perfectly agreeable to the professed and
   declared Tenour of the Gospel-Covenant; and what any Person, in the
   same Circumstances, may claim, upon the express Terms of the Gospel.

   III. IN order the more effectually to prevent all Mistake, I shall
   point out to you, and describe, the Persons who are in the same
   Circumstances; and may be as certain of Favour as this believing
   Malefactor. And,

   IV. I SHALL endeavour plainly to shew, the extreme Unreasonableness,
   and great Danger, of the common Mistakes about this Instance of God's
   Mercy and the Vanity of those Pretences which are built by some Men,
   upon this Example.

   I. I SHALL endeavour briefly to give you a true and just Account of the
   Case of this Malefactor, who was so graciously received by our blessed
   Saviour, in his last Moments.

   AND here, there is no reason to doubt but that He was a Person who had
   never enjoyed, before this, a fair opportunity of hearing a just
   Account of our blessed Lord, and his Actions, and Pretensions: it being
   much more likely that a Person of his sort of Life should firm hear and
   consider, the Character, and Works, and Behaviour of our Lord, during
   his Imprisonment, than at any time before, whilst He was following his
   wicked Trade of Robbery. It is manifest from his own Words, as well as
   to his Fellow-Sufferer, as to our Lord himself, that He had gotten some
   Knowledge, both of our Lord's Personal Character; and of his professing
   himself a King. Now, the Way of Life which he followed, before his
   Imprisonment, engaged him to keep as much out of the Cities and Places
   of ordinary Conversation; as much out of the Eyes and Observation of
   the World, as He could possibly do; and consequently must necessarily
   be supposed to have hindered him of all fair Opportunities of knowing
   the Truth concerning our blessed Lord. But, just before his
   Crucifixion, He could not well avoid hearing the Rumours spread about
   concerning Him, and learning the true Character, and Pretensions of our
   Lord. And He seems to have weighed all that He heard, before his
   Crucifixion, so well, as to bring with Him to his Cross, a Resolution
   to profess himself his Disciple; and a sincere Disposition to shew
   himself such, in all respects possible, in that small Remainder of his
   Time.

   FROM such a Resolution as this, such a Person as He might well have
   been removed by the Behaviour of his Fellow-Sufferer; and by that
   Current of Affronts, which at that time ran so violently against our
   Lord, now seemingly destitute of all Help from God, and condemned and
   outraged, as an Impostor, by Men. Or, at least, He might have been led
   to have contented himself, with entreating our Lord, tho' somewhat more
   seriously than others, to come down from the Cross, and to save
   himself, and his Fellow-Sufferers. But He appears to have understood a
   great deal, in a very little Time, concerning the true Nature of
   Christ's Kingdom: and so, acknowledging the Heinousness of his own
   Sins, and the Justice of God in his Punishment of them; all that He
   desires of our Lord, is, that He would remember Him, when He should
   come into his Kingdom.

   THIS Malefactor, therefore, you see, cannot be supposed, in the former
   Course of his Life, when his evil Designs kept him out of the City and
   out of Society, to have had any Opportunity of enquiring, or hearing,
   concerning our .blessed Lord. But after his Imprisonment, it is very
   possible, and very probable, that He came to a Knowledge of our
   Saviour, and of his Offers to Mankind. It is certain, from the express
   Words of the Evangelist, that, on Cross, He gave Testimony to the
   unspotted Character of our Lord; and Proof of believing the Truth of
   his Pretensions. And laying these Things together, his Words to our
   Saviour may reasonably be supposed to imply in them as much, as if he
   had said thus: " I believe that thou art truly the Messiah, and Saviour
   of the World; as thou professest thy self to be: And, notwithstanding
   this thy ignominious Death upon the Cross, that thou hast a glorious
   and happy Kingdom to enter upon; though not of this World. I take this
   Opportunity of professing my self thy Disciple: which is the first I
   have enjoyed. This I do, amidst the Reproaches of thy Enemies, and the
   Insults of my Fellow-Sufferer. And, therefore, I beg that I may have
   the Benefit of this my Profession; and may be accepted by Thee, as thou
   hast promised to accept all such as do sincerely believe in Thee, and
   to acquit them from the Guilt of all their former Sins for the sake of
   this Belief." This, I say, may most reasonably be supposed to be
   implied in the Words of this Malefactor to our Lord: it being certain
   from the History that He had enquired both after the Character, and
   after the Proposals, of our Lord; and found the former to be unspotted;
   and the latter to be Offers of Mercy, and Happiness, in his Kingdom, to
   his Disciples.

   IT appears, therefore, that He was one, who was called to the Knowledge
   of Jesus Christ, in the last Hours, and had no Opportunity of
   professing his Belief in Him, but in the last Minutes, of his Life;
   when the Night of Death was just coming upon Him, in which no Man can
   Work: one, who believed, as soon as He possibly could hear a true
   Account of our Lord; and courageously professed his Belief, as soon as
   He had Opportunity to do it; and this at a time when all about him were
   reviling Him. In short, He did whatever it was in his Power to do,
   during that Space of Time, which He had left, after He was called to
   the Knowledge of the Gospel: and therefore, was accepted to Favour by
   our blessed Lord; and a Promise was made Him, hat he should immediately
   upon his Death, be in an happy Place with Him. And here, you will
   easily observe that this gracious Acceptance of him was not merely or
   chiefly, on the account of his Sorrow for his past Sins; but for the
   sake of his believing in Jesus Christ, as soon as he could; and of his
   taking this first Opportunity of professing himself his Disciple; that
   is, for the sake of his doing all he could to manifest the Sincerity of
   his Faith, from the Time of his believing, to the End of his Life. And
   this leads me to the second thing which I undertook to shew; viz.

   II. THAT this was not an extraordinary Act of Favour, out of the
   general Rule; nor any thing depending upon the secret Will, or
   unrevealed Pleasure, of Almighty God: but perfectly agreeable to the
   professed, and declared, Tenour of the Gospel; and any Person, in the
   same Circumstances, may claim, upon the Promises of God, sufficiently
   promulgated in the Gospel. This I would willingly spake as plain as
   possible, because this Instance of the Thief on the Cross hath been
   generally interpreted as an Instance of Almighty God's professed
   Acceptance of the Sorrow of a Sinner at his Death, instead of the
   Practice of Holiness, and Virtue, during his Life: and, under this
   Notion, hath been so recommended to the guilty Consciences of the most
   habitual Sinners, as to give them as strong an Assurance of God's
   Favour, on their Death-beds, as the best of Christians can in reason
   possess; and so applied to themselves, by wilful Sinners, in the Time
   of their Health, as to encourage them to place all their Hopes in the
   bitter Sorrow of their last Moments, instead of rectifying the
   Disorders, and Wickedness; of their Lives. But that this all proceeds
   from a mistaken Notion of this Matter, will appear to you, by proving,
   as I design under this second Head, these Two Particulars; viz.

   1. THAT it is highly absurd to imagine that Almighty God should, by any
   such publick Instance as this, profess to the World that He doth, on
   any account, or in Mercy to any Person, depart from those Measures
   which He hath, as publickly, fixed, and promulgated. And,

   2. THAT this Instance, as I have before represented it, is perfectly
   agreeable to the Terms of the Gospel, offered equally to all who hear
   of it; and plainly laid down by Christ, and his Apostles.

   1. I SAY, it is highly absurd to imagine that Almighty God should, by
   any such publick Instance, as this of the Thief on the Cross, profess
   to the World that H doth, on any Account, or in Mercy to any Person,
   depart from those Measures, which He hath, as publickly, fixed and
   promulgated.

   WHETHER any Being be obliged, in the nature of the thing, to execute
   his Threatnings in their utmost Rigour, as he is to perform his
   Promises to the utmost; is another Question. Nay, whether it may not be
   actually so, in fact, at last, that Almighty God will remit of that
   Punishment he hath threatned; and not execute the utmost of that Wrath
   which He has declared by his Son against harden'd impenitent Sinners,
   is a Point wholly distinct from that before us. I must own that the
   affirmative side of this Question seems to derogate from the Sincerity
   of the Divine Revelation; and not well to consist with the Nature of
   the highest Simplicity: it being a much worthier Supposition concerning
   Almighty God; that he should declare the exact Truth of the Matter; and
   leave it to work upon the Minds of Men as far as it could; than that he
   should declare what will never come to pass, and so endeavour to work
   upon them by a false Persuasion, which hath nothing in Nature to answer
   it. But I say that it is not so absurd to maintain that so it may
   possibly, or probably, be found at last; as to say that Almighty God
   hath declared, by any public Instance, that he doth, in the Case of
   some of the most notorious Sinners, depart from the measures which he
   hath openly declared he will stand to.

   To come to the Case before us; Almighty God declareth, as plainly as
   Words can declare any thing, that without Holiness no Man shall se the
   Lord: that his Wrath shall be upon all the Workers, of Iniquity;
   especially upon such as profess his Gospel, and yet live in an open
   Violation of the Laws of it, and an open Neglect of these Declarations
   in it. And yet, this Instance, of the Thief on the Cross, hath been
   sometimes so interpreted, as to make Almighty God declare by it to the
   World, that he will accept of the Death-bed Sorrow of a Sinner; though
   he hath had sufficient Warning through his Life, though he hath been a
   professed Christian, and hath had the fairest Opportunities of knowing
   the true Terms of Christian Justification. Now this, I say, it is
   absurd to imagine concerning Almighty God: because this is publickly to
   destroy the Effect, and Design, of his other Declarations; and to give
   as public an Encouragement as possible, to Men, to continue in their
   Sins.

   FOR, when once a Man hath entertained this Notion, that the Case of
   this Malefactor is thus to be interpreted; how easy is the Passage of
   his Thoughts from this, to the Imagination, that his own Sorrow on his
   Death-bed shall, after the same manner, be accepted, instead of a
   religious and virtuous Life? For, why should he not think so? Or, what
   should hinder? Almighty God must not be supposed an arbitrary Being; a
   Power acting by Humour, and not guided by just and equitable Maxims:
   but equal in his Regards to all, in Circumstances exactly equal. And if
   so, his Proceedings, upon those Maxims, must be the same with all in
   the same Condition. He hath no respect to the Persons of Men: nor can
   there be any Reason in the World assigned, why he should deal, in the
   Distribution of his Eternal Rewards or Punishments, more favourable
   with one, than with another, who is not under the Circumstances of
   greater Guilt, at his Departure out of this State. And, therefore, if
   he hath shewn such Favour to one of the vilest of Sinners, on account
   of a pungent Sorrow, at the Hour of Death, contrary to the seeming
   Tendency of all his Declarations; so will he likewise to me, may the
   vilest of Men still say. And what can be the Consequence of this, but
   an Impenitent Life, and profligate Manners, in the Time of Health?

   AND thus far, indeed, I agree with such Persons, that whatever the Case
   of this Malefactor was; all who are exactly in the same, or a like,
   Case, may reasonably expect, and will certainly experience, the same
   Favour which he did. But the Supposition, that Christians, who have
   Repentance and Amendment, day after day, inculcated upon them; who
   stand out against all Calls to Reformation; and rely at last upon the
   Sorrow of a sick Bed, are in the same Case with this Malefactor; or
   that he, considered as in the same Case with them, is declared in the
   New Testament, to have found Favour with God, and to have been entitled
   to the Happiness of Heaven: This Supposition, I say, will be ever
   incredible to us, till We can come to suppose Almighty God declaring
   against his own plainest Declarations; and ruining his own Design of
   the World's Reformation; or else acting after an arbitrary and
   humoursome manner; accepting of one Man to Eternal Life, and condemning
   another to Eternal Death, who is, as to himself, in the same
   Circumstances; and hath been led, by this Example, to expect the same
   Acceptance. But who can suppose this of the God of Mercy, Truth, and
   Equity? Or, of that God, who hath revealed Wrath against all the
   Workers of Iniquity? But,

   2. As those Absurdities should affrighten us from fixing such a
   Procedure upon Almighty God; and make us rather willing to suppose our
   selves wholly mistaken in our Interpretation of this Dealing of his
   with the Thief on the Cross, than to suppose any such Inconsistencies
   in his Ways: so, I must observe that there is another very good Account
   to be given of this Matter, perfectly agreeable to the Tenour of the
   Gospel, as the Terms of it were plainly preached by our Lord and his
   Apostles; and vastly distant from any such Interpretation, as that
   which I have now been mentioning.

   IN order to make this evident, I must observe to you that it is the
   declared Tenour of the Gospel, that God would justify all who sincerely
   comply with the Offers of it, and heartily profess Faith in Jesus
   Christ; that all, I say, who do thus, upon good Motives, shall be
   released from the Guilt of their former Sins, and accepted by God, and
   dealt with as just Persons, for this very believing sincerely in his
   Son Jesus Christ: and this, whether they live a short, or a long, Time
   after their first Belief and Profession; provided they shew the Reality
   of their Faith in that Time, and do not relapse into a Course of
   Infidelity, or Wickedness. Thus, we find, our Lord, in the Gospels,
   receiving to his Favour, all who embrace his Offers; and accepting
   them, upon their first Acceptance of his Religion, and his Terms. And
   we find, more evidently, the Apostles instructed by the Holy Ghost to
   preach the Doctrine of Acceptance, and Remission of all their former
   Sins, to all who should lay hold on the Opportunity offered them, and
   embrace the Faith of Jesus Christ, and enter themselves into his
   Service. Upon this Faith, and Profession of it, Proselytes were
   baptized; and they were baptized for the Remission of their Sins; and
   Justification before God was openly promised, and declared, to them,
   upon this their first sincere, and undissembled Faith.

   NOW, supposing any of these Persons to be taken away immediately: their
   former Sins being once pardoned, the Force of this Pardon must remain;
   and they must be finally acquitted and justified before God. But
   supposing any of these Proselytes to live, and afterwards to relapse
   into their former Course of Sin: They not only, by the Tenour of the
   Gospel, lose all the Benefit of this first Justification; but can have
   no Ground for Hope of a final Justification, at the great Day, without
   the actual Amendment and Reformation of their Lives. On the other hand,
   if they go on, in living as becomes Christians; they are entitled to a
   final Acquittance, and to great Degrees of Happiness in the World to
   come.

   THERE are, therefore, Two sorts of Persons, considered as acquitted in
   the Gospel. 1. Such as hear the Gospel; and sincerely receive, and
   heartily accept it; and openly profess it: who yet have no Time allowed
   them, by the Providence of God, to bring forth the Fruits of a
   continued Course of Righteousness; though they certainly have such a
   Faith as would bring forth these Fruits. And, 2. Such Persons as
   sincerely receive it; and close in with the Terms of it; and, having
   Time allowed them, live, and act, in he general Course of their Lives,
   by the Rules of Righteousness, laid down in it. As there are, likewise,
   Two sorts of Persons condemned, in the same Gospel. 1. Such, as having
   Opportunity to hear it proposed to them, either revile and persecute
   it; or refuse to attend to it, and receive it. And, 2. Such as, having
   heard it, receive and profess it; and enter themselves into the Bonds
   of it: but afterwards relapse into a Habit of Sin, in which they
   continue till Death overtake them.

   THERE being, therefore, Two sorts of Persons, to whom Acquittance, or
   Justification, is openly promised in the Gospel; we may be sure, no one
   shall be denied that Favour, who belongs to either of the Two. And that
   the Malefactor on the Cross, certainly belonged to the former sort; and
   consequently, was accepted by Christ, not by any arbitrary, or
   extraordinary Act of Favour, but upon the ordinary Terms of his
   Dispensation, is, I think, very evident. For it appears that He was a
   Person, who, when He had a fair Opportunity, did seriously consider the
   Character, and Pretensions of our Lord; who, upon that Consideration,
   believed in Him, and received him, as the Messiah; and who took the
   first Opportunity He had, to declare and profess this: though He had no
   Hopes of any Benefit from hence, unless in a future State; and was
   rather discouraged from it, than incited to it, by the Tempers, and
   Behaviour, of all about Him. We was called to the Knowledge of the
   Gospel: He obeyed that Call; and He did whatever was in his Power,
   during the short Time God afforded him, to demonstrate the Sincerity of
   his Faith. What should hinder, therefore, but that he should be
   received by our Lord, who came to offer Acquittance, and Justification,
   to all who should believe him to be the Messiah; and should act
   agreeably to the Faith, and Practice enjoyned by him, during the
   remainder of their Lives, whether long, or short?

   I CANNOT, therefore, but think it plain from hence, that there is
   nothing extraordinary, or new, in this Instance of the Justification of
   the Thief on the Cross: that he was not declared to be accepted by God
   on the account of his Sorrow, or because he was dying, and at that time
   expressed a Sense of his Sins; but because he laid hold on the first
   fair Opportunity, which offered it self, of believing in Christ; of
   professing himself his Disciple, and of owning Him for his Master; and,
   consequently, that he was accepted to Favour, upon the ordinary Terms
   of the Gospel, declared in other Places of the New Testament, upon
   which any other sincere Believer, would likewise have been accepted and
   justified; and upon which, all Christians inherit the same
   Justification, and reap the Fruit of it, if they do not, by falling
   again into a Course of Sin, and continuing in it, forfeit their Title
   to so great a Blessing.

   WHAT hath been said may likewise serve to give us some Account why the
   other Evangelists might not think it necessary to be minute, and
   particular, in the Relation of the Behaviour, and happy End, of the
   better of the Two Malefactors: viz. because nothing material could be
   learnt or drawn, from it, but what might be learnt from other plain
   Parts of the Gospel; that whoever should believe in Jesus Christ, and
   make use of the Opportunities He enjoys to profess and shew himself to
   be sincerely his Disciple, should, upon that Belief, and Profession, be
   acquitted from the Guilt of all his past Sins; and be put into a State
   of Favour, and Acceptance, with God; whether He should live a long, or
   a short Time, after his embracing the Christian Faith. And now, what
   hath been already laid down will easily guide us to determine what I
   proposed in the third place: viz.

   III. WHO those Persons are, that may safely argue, to their own
   Comfort, from this Example of the Thief on the Cross; and may be as
   secure of God's Favour, as He was. And it is plain, they must be such,
   as are in his Circumstances. I do not mean, such as are leaving this
   World: for that was but an accidental Matter; and had no Weight towards
   his Acceptance; which I have shewn, must have been the same, upon the
   Gospel Terms, whether He had then been dying, or not. But I mean, such
   Persons, as do not resist the Evidence of the Gospel of Christ; but
   receive it upon due Consideration; and take the Opportunity, offered
   them by the Providence of God, to profess their Faith in Jesus Christ,
   and to acknowledge themselves his Disciples. They must be Persons, who
   being come to Years of Discretion, have a fair Opportunity offered them
   of hearing the Evidence, and knowing the Nature of the Christian
   Religion. They must be Persons who, upon hearing and weighing this
   Evidence, do sincerely accept it as the Will of God; who openly and
   heartily, profess this; and who, during the rest of their Time, behave
   themselves agreeably to their Profession:

   AND we cannot but observe from hence, of how small Concern, the
   Instance now before us is to Persons bred up in the Knowledge of the
   Christian Religion; called upon, day after day, to regard the Nature
   and Obligations of it; to Persons who have always professed themselves
   Christians, and yet live on, in an Habit of Sin condemned by their own
   Profession, in hopes that the Sorrow of their latest Moments shall
   atone for the Vices of their past Lives.

   IF, therefore, any one would entertain himself with any just Hopes,
   drawn from God's Mercy to this crucified Malefactor; He must first, in
   all reason, consider, whether He himself be in the like Circumstances:
   for otherwise, what Comfort can any Man, in his Senses, draw from
   thence? And no one, I think, can, by any means, be said to be in the
   like Circumstances, who is come to Years of Judgment, and Discretion,
   in a Country of professed Christians; and hath, either in his Mind, or
   in his Manners, dishonoured, or neglected, the Christian Religion. But
   this will more naturally come under the next Head of my present Design:
   which I have not now Time to prosecute.

   I SHALL only, therefore, add at present, that for us, who are called
   betimes to the Knowledge of Christianity; who have Opportunities of
   knowing our Duty and profess our selves, from the beginning of our
   Lives, the Disciples of Jesus Christ; for us, I say, to have recourse
   to any such Instance as this, in order to defer our Repentance and
   Amendment, is the Extremity of Folly, and Weakness. Whatever it is,
   that makes us easy in the habitual Practice of any of the Vices
   condemned in the Gospel, is certainly a Cheat and Imposition upon our
   selves: a false and groundless Amusement. And, therefore, from
   whencesoever it is, that we may have drawn any such Notions; we may
   assure ourselves, (and it is our Eternal Interest to be assured of it,)
   that we are greatly mistaken in them. Almighty God doth, as certainly
   and as plainly, require of us the Practice of all Righteousness, as He
   promiseth us all Happiness. No Man ever was uneasy at the Review of
   such a Practice: but many a Man hath been rendered miserable on his
   Death-bed here; and will be eternally undone hereafter; by trusting, in
   the Time of his Health, to any other false and faithless Methods. And
   God grant that We may consider these Things, before they be hid from
   our Eyes! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

   The Example of the Thief upon the Cross, considered.

SERMON XVII.

   LUKE xxiii. 42, 43.

   And He said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember me when Thou comest into thy
   Kingdom.

   And Jesus said unto Him, Verily, I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be
   with me in Paradise.

   IN my last Discourse, (which was upon the Account given us, in these
   Words, of the happy Ending of the Life of one of the Malefactors
   crucified with our blessed Lord,) I proposed four Heads: three of which
   I them went over; and shall now proceed to the fourth, after I have
   made way for it, by reminding you of what I then, as I hope, very
   evidently proved.

   IN discoursing on the first, I shewed you, that this Malefactor was one
   who, as soon as He had a fair Opportunity of knowing the Truth
   concerning the Character of our blessed Lord, and of hearing the
   Evidence of his Pretensions, did sincerely lay hold on it; and profess
   himself his Disciple: and behave himself as such, amidst the Calumnies
   and Reproaches of all about him: and that for this Belief, and
   Profession; not merely, or chiefly, on account of his Sense of his past
   Sins; He was accepted, by our Lord, to Mercy.

   UNDER the second Head, I went on to shew you, that it was one professed
   part of the Gospel, preached both by Christ and his Apostles, that
   whosoever should lay hold on the Opportunity offered by the Providence
   of God; and should accept of the Terms proposed in the Gospel; and
   believe in Jesus Christ with an honest and sincere Heart; and make open
   Profession of this Belief: that every such Person,I say, should be
   accepted to Favour; and effectually acquitted from the Guilt of his
   past Sins, whether He should live a short, or a long, Time after this
   Profession; supposing Him to behave himself, during that Time,
   agreeably to it. And, in consequence of this, I proved to you that this
   Thief on the Cross, having sincerely laid hold on the Opportunity
   offered to Him by Providence; having come to the Knowledge of our
   Lord's Character, and of the Evidence he gave of the Truth of his
   Divine Mission; and having, upon this, professed himself his Disciple,
   and shewn his Sincerity by behaving himself, in all respects, as became
   such an one, during that short Time which was allowed him, after He was
   called to the Knowledge and Faith of Christ; that this Malefactor, I
   say, having acted thus, was accepted upon the ordinary, known, Terms of
   the Gospel; not upon the secret and hidden Will of Almighty God
   deviating from, or going beyond, the common Rules of the Christian
   Institution, and that, therefore, this is no Instance of Almighty God's
   Acceptance of the Sorrow of a dying Man, instead of the Practice of
   Virtue during his Life; much less, an Instance of his Acceptance of
   those, on the Account of their Death-bed Sorrow, who have known and
   professed the Christian Religion through their whole Lives, and have
   wilfully and habitually lived in express Contradiction to its Design,
   and its Precepts, during the Time of that Profession.

   UNDER the third Head, I shewed you that those Persons only are in the
   Case of this Malefactor, so as to argue to their own Satisfaction, from
   his Example, upon any reasonable Grounds, who, whether living, or
   dying; whether in perfect Health, or within the Prospect of Death; lay
   hold on the first fair Opportunity offered them; and seriously consider
   the Evidence them is for the Christian Religion; and sincerely receive
   it upon that Evidence; and openly profess themselves the Disciples of
   Jesus Christ; and behave themselves, as becomes his Disciples, through
   the remaining part of their Lives, whether long, or short. And such
   Persons as these, I need not observe to you, would have been entitled
   to the Justification, and Favour, promised in the Gospel, upon the
   plain and express Words of our Lord and his Apostles; whether there had
   been any such Instance, as this of the believing and penitent
   Malefactor, recorded in the Gospel, or not.

   HAVING thus recalled to your Minds what I have already advanced, I may
   with the more Advantage proceed to the fourth thing which I proposed,
   viz.

   IV. To shew plainly the Extreme Unreasonableness, and great Danger, of
   the common Mistakes about this Instance of God's Mercy; and the Vanity
   of those Pretences which some Men have built upon this Example. And
   here I shall mention particularly the Mistakes of Two sorts of Persons:
   viz. The Mistake of those who misapply this Instance to their own Ruin;
   and the Mistake of those who take occasion from it to implant in others
   very wrong, and very pernicious, Notions, concerning Despair, and
   Presumption.

   I. FROM what hath been said, it manifestly appears how great, as well
   as fatal a Mistake that is, which some Persons have persuaded
   themselves to entertain, from this Instance of the crucified Thief:
   that God will accept them at last, for the sake of a Death-bed Sorrow
   and Concern for their past Sins; though they have been, all through
   their Lives, professed Christians, and have neglected to obey those
   Laws, which they knew to be imposed upon them by the Christian
   Religion, as the Rules of their Actions, The Weakness and extreme Folly
   of arguing at this rate, from this Instance, will appear plainly to any
   one, who will seriously consider the Case of such professed Christians;
   and compare it with what hath been before said concerning the Case of
   that Malefactor, and the Conditions of Acceptance laid down in the
   Gospel.

   FOR it is evident, from the Account which I have given of both these,
   that His Case was such as comes within the professed Terms of the
   Gospel: upon which all who lay hold on the Opportunity given them; and
   hear, and receive, and profess, the Christian Religion sincerely; are
   accepted immediately to Favour, and released from the Guilt of their
   former Sins. Whereas the Case of such professed Christians as I have
   been now speaking of, is a condemned Case, upon the professed Terms of
   the same Gospel. For if the Gospel saith any thing at all, it plainly
   affirms this, that those Persons, who after they have received the
   Faith of Jesus Christ, and been made Partakers of this first
   Justification, do relapse into a Course, or Habit, of those Sins which
   are condemned in the Gospel; and continue in that Course till Death
   overtake them: that those Persons, I say, who do this, shall be
   excluded the Kingdom of Heaven; and instead of God's Favour, shall feel
   his Wrath, and suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire. Now, as Almighty
   God did, in forgiving and accepting the believing Malefactor, keep
   exactly to the Terms, which our blessed Lord had, in his Name,
   promulgated: so, there is all the reason in the World to conclude that,
   in condemning and punishing that other sort of Persons, who have
   contradicted and scandalized his Gospel, by their Behaviour during
   their Christian Profession, He will likewise keep close to the Terms
   which He hath, in the Gospel, set before the Eyes of the World. And in
   this Gospel, there is another Law promulgated, as the Rule of Judgment
   in the Case of such Persons. They are called to the Knowledge of
   Christianity; they have time allowed them to live in the Practice of
   its Precepts, and by that means to secure, and encrease, their future
   Happiness: and yet they transgress its Commands; and, to all their
   repeated Affronts to God and his Laws, they add the Assurance of
   imagining, and expecting, that He will deal with them, as He deals with
   Men, who sincerely receive, and profess the Christian Religion; and do
   whatever they can, in that shorter Time which is allowed them, to
   demonstrate the Sincerity of their inward Belief, and outward
   Profession.

   ALMIGHTY God doth all his Works with the most exact Proportion: nor can
   it easily be imagined that perfect Wisdom, and perfect Power, can do
   otherwise. And there is no doubt, therefore, but that He will dispense
   his Rewards and Punishments, with the greatest Equity, and
   Impartiality. Now can it be consistent with any Rules of Equity and
   Proportion, to make those equal in a State of Retribution, whose Cases,
   and Behaviour, have been vastly different, in a State of Tryal? But,
   besides this it is sufficiently declared to us, in the Name of Almighty
   God, that He will very much consider, what Light hath been afforded;
   what Powers Persons have enjoyed; what Time hath been al, lowed them;
   what Improvement they have made of this Light; what use they have made
   of these Powers; and how they have spent this Time; that they have had
   granted to them. And though He will very favourably deal with those who
   enjoy lesser Degrees of Light, and Power; and no happy Opportunities of
   Improvement; as Equity requires: yet this is far from Chewing that He
   will be equally favourable to those who have enjoyed greater
   Advantages, and happier Opportunities; and have made no other use of
   them, but to affront and dishonour both God, and Religion, the more, On
   the contrary, the only Ground of his Favour to the former sort, being
   their want of Light, and Opportunity; this rather implies in it, that
   where he hath afforded Light, and Opportunity, there He may justly, and
   will certainly, require a strict and severe Account of the Use and
   Improvement that have been made of them.

   INDEED, in the Parable of the Labourers hired, at several Hours, into
   the Vineyard, Matth. xx. 1. some have been apt to think that the Method
   of Proceeding is such, as to encourage Christians to depend upon what
   they shall be able to do in their last Moments; and to hope, on the
   account of that, to be made equal, in the Favour of God, to those who
   have served Him faithfully, through their whole Lives; and so, to
   conclude that it is no great Matter, how long soever they defer their
   Repentance. This Parable I shall, therefore, in my next Discourse,
   distinctly and fully consider. At present, I shall only observe, that
   it was chiefly intended to signify to the Jews, that Almighty God would
   make the Gentiles equal to them, in all Privileges, if they did, in the
   last Age of the World (as the Gospel-Age is called) accept the
   Invitation given them; and believe, and obey, the Doctrine of the
   Gospel: which Interpretation wholly takes away the Ground of the
   Objection. And, as far as it can be supposed to concern particular
   Persons, I must observe, that it can only signify that God will reward
   all such with his Favours, as do, whenever they are called to the
   Knowledge of the Gospel, heartily embrace it, and readily obey the
   Precepts of it, how little Time soever be allowed them for so doing.

   BUT can any one, though never so willing to be imposed upon, in this
   Case, find out, I will not say in this Parable, but in the whole New
   Testament, any Reward for those who are called to the Knowledge of the
   Gospel in the beginning of their Lives, in the first Hours of their
   Day; and yet either refuse to come in, upon so gracious an Invitation;
   or else, professing to obey that Call, and entering themselves into his
   Religion, and pretending to accept the Terms offered by our blessed
   Lord, not only prove useless and negligent of their Lord's Honour and
   Service: but even spend that Time which is due, upon their own
   Contract, to the Service of their Master, in ruining his good Designs;
   in dishonouring his Name; in abusing their Fellow-Servants; or in some
   other sort of Practice, detrimental to their Matter's true Interest, or
   inconsistent with the Office which they have taken upon themselves?
   Where do we read of any such Servants as these, rewarded and honoured,
   at last, by their Master? Whenever we meet with the mention of any such
   in the Gospel; it is with a very sad Conclusion, at the End of their
   Story: and this merely for not improving the Talents committed to them;
   for the neglecting to do God positive Service in their Stations; for
   not using the Opportunities, and Abilities, put into their Hands by
   Providence, for their own Eternal Interest, and the Honour of their
   great Master? How much more shall this heavy Sentence be pronounced
   upon such as not only have not improved the Time, and Abilities, and
   Advantages, put into their Hands; but have likewise used this Time, and
   these Abilities, and Advantages, which God in mercy hath afforded them,
   to the Disservice of Himself, and the Disgrace of his holy Religion;
   doing very great Mischief by their Example and Influence; affronting
   God, and making his Enemies to blaspheme? Where do we read, all through
   the Gospel, of any such Person, after a Continuance of Affronts and
   Indignities offered to Almighty God, during his Christian Profession,
   accepted at last to Mercy, on Account of the Sorrow of his dying Hour?
   That which hath, most of all, inclined Men to be deceived in this Case,
   is the Instance of the crucified Malefactor; and this Instance, we have
   now evidently seen, to be at the greatest distance from any Likeness to
   the Case of such as are professed Christians, and live on, in a Course
   of Sin, under the Influence of so groundless an Expectation. How great,
   therefore, as well as fatal, must the Mistake of those be, who being
   Christians, and having many and continued Opportunities of living
   worthy of that Name, still continue wilfully in their Sins; and argue
   themselves into a fond Expectation of God's Mercy at last, from an
   Instance which bears no manner of relation to the Condition, and
   Circumstances, in which They are?

   2. I SHALL now mention another Mistake, which is usually founded upon
   the Instance of the crucified Malefactor: and that is, the Mistake of
   those, who do not, indeed, make any ill use of it in the Conduct of
   their own Lives; but yet make use of it, to encourage the Presumption,
   and prevent the Despair, of dying Sinners, who have lived all their
   Lives long, in the Profession of Christianity, and in the Violation of
   its Laws; and this, to the great Prejudice of other Christians who
   survive them. This Mistake, I confess, as far as it is founded upon
   this Instance, is so much the same, with the former, in the Ground of
   it, that it can hardly be reckoned as distinct from it: and it hath
   been sufficiently confuted, under this View, by what I have said, upon
   the former, to shew that this Instance toucheth not the Case of such
   professed Christians. But, as it is applied to another Purpose; and as
   it is not only founded upon this Example of the crucified Malefactor,
   but upon very wrong, and groundless, Notions concerning Presumption and
   Despair it seems to deserve a particular, and distinct place, in the
   present Debate, as it will give occasion for the settling the true
   Nature of those Two Dispositions of Mind: the misunderstanding of which
   hath certainly been the reason of representing what is generally called
   Despair, as the greatest of Sins; and of making what is truly a
   criminal Presumption, to be a necessary Duty.

   Now here I shall lay down one Proposition, which is sufficient to
   determine this Matter: viz. That these Two Dispositions of Mind must be
   judged of, by the professed Terms of the Gospel: and not by any
   supposed Possibilities. And, according to these, I think it is evident
   that for One who hath, against all the Calls of God's Spirit, and all
   the Checks of his own Conscience, continued to live in a constant
   Course of Sin; for such an one, I say, to hope, with any sort of
   Assurance, that God will bring himto the Happiness, promised in the
   Gospel only to Holiness and Righteousness, is not a virtuous Hope;
   because it is an Hope without any Ground, or solid Foundation: but is a
   vain, and groundless Presumption; and such a Presumption, as seems, in
   truth, to affront Almighty God, by supposing that He will depart, for
   this Man's Sake, from his own declared and professed Terms. And, on the
   contrary, for such an one to Despair; that is, to think that He, having
   continued through the Time of his Health, and Conversation in the
   World, an habitual Sinner; and being that wicked Man, whom the Gospel
   constantly, and in multitudes of Passages, condemns; that He, I say,
   being such an one, shall be condemned at the great Day, as the Gospel
   saith: This is indeed his Misery; but is so far from being his Sin,
   that I do not see, if He believeth the Gospel, how He can possibly
   avoid thinking so. But, as if it were of no Importance to be guided by
   the Declarations of the Gospel it self, in this great Affair; dying
   Christians have lived a Life of habitual and wilful Wickedness; have
   been led into such Notions of these Two Things, that they have come to
   think this groundless Presumption their Duty: and, what is of worse
   consequence, many By-standers have been fatally corrupted into a
   Security in sinning, by the same Expectations from this unreasonable
   Confidence in God. Whereas there is nothing in this Confidence that can
   alter, or affect, the Nature of Things: nor is there any Passage in the
   whole New Testament, which recommends such a Confidence, in such
   Circumstances; or which implieth in it, that it is the Duty of such
   Persons, or any Advantage to them in the Eyes of God, to be confident
   of those Mercies, of which, in truth, He hath solemnly declared they
   shall never partake.

   IT is true; that many of the best sort of Christians may, in a low and
   afflicted Condition, entertain an unreasonable and groundless
   Despondency, or Despair. They may imagine that they have not been those
   Christians, who shall be rewarded at last; and be filled with very
   melancholy Apprehensions concerning their future Condition. But this
   Imagination of theirs cannot affect their future State: which will be
   determined by that God who knows all things as they are; and will deal
   with them, according to what they really have been; not according to
   what they imagine themselves to have been. And this Imagination,
   proceeding from an Excess of Humility, or from bodily Disorder, is only
   their present Unhappiness; not their Sin: and is removed far from them,
   as soon as they themselves are removed out of this State. Whereas the
   Despondency of those professed Christians, who have resolutely
   continued wicked to the last, is truly well grounded upon the
   Gospel-Declarations; and, as it is so, is likewise part of their
   Punishment, begun in this World, in the inward Torment of their own
   Minds: which, if it might be removed from them, upon any Promise, or
   Declaration of God, I should most willingly do it. But who would dare
   to incite them to assure themselves of the Favour of that God, who hath
   so plainly declared, that, They shall not see his face; and that He
   will be to such Sinners a consuming Fire.

   NAY, is it not to bring a lasting Disgrace upon the Cause of Virtue, to
   teach that the confident Assurance of the most profligate Sinner, when
   He comes to die, (perhaps, a more confident Assurance than the best of
   Christians commonly have,) shall set him as much out of the reach of
   God's Displeasure; and in as secure a Condition; as that of the most
   virtuous Persons, who have spent their whole Lives in the
   Contemplation, and Practice, of the Laws of Christianity. The Gospel is
   far from saying any such thing: and, therefore, the Preachers of the
   Gospel must likewise be far from entertaining the Consciences of
   Christians with any such Fancies; who, if they have any Sense
   themselves, will not easily swallow such unreasonable Doctrines.

   I GRANT, indeed, that the best thing which the most wicked of
   Christians can do, when they come within View of Death; and what all
   about them ought to encourage them to do; is to make themselves as
   sensible, as they possibly can, of the Evil of their past Ways; to move
   themselves, upon the best Considerations, to abhor and detest them: and
   solemnly to warn all about them from the Paths, in which themselves
   have walked. But, after all this, who could say that these Persons have
   come up, in any tolerable degree, to the Terms of the Gospel? Or, who
   could encourage any such notorious Sinners to assure themselves of the
   Mercy of God, unless a plain Text of Scripture, or Law of Reason, could
   be found, suitable to their Case, or promising them Happiness? They
   must still be left (as far as the Gospel hath concerned it self) in the
   State, in which That pronounceth wilful and habitual Sinners to be. The
   utmost that can be said is, that they must be left to the uncovenanted
   Mercies of God: and the highest degree of hope which they can have,
   must be founded upon this, that Almighty God may possibly depart from
   his settled Method; and recede from the Terms which He hath openly
   professed, for the sake of those, who have lived, Year after Year, in
   an open Violation of his Laws; against all the Checks of their
   Consciences, and all the Calls of his Gospel. Which let them believe,
   who can swallow, and embrace, any Absurdities, rather than forsake
   their Sins.

   HAVING, as I hope; very evidently shewn that there is nothing, in this
   Instance of the believing and penitent Malefactor, which can, with the
   least Colour of Reason, encourage any, who have been, through many
   Years, professed Christians, and habitual Sinners, to depend upon the
   Sorrow of their Death-beds, for Acceptance with God; and having thus
   finished what I proposed to discourse of from this Example: I shall now
   take occasion to enquire whether, in the nature of the thing it self;
   there be any greater Ground for Hope, than We have seen, there is in
   the Instance We have been considering. And this, I think, will be very
   proper, not only because the Subject naturally enough leads us to it;
   but because it is very observable, that one great Support of such
   unhappy Persons, as go on in a Course of Sin, and yet retain some Sense
   of Religion, and make Profession of Christianity, is the Hope which
   they have placed in the Sorrow of their Death-beds, as if there were
   some peculiar Charm, and Efficacy, in that, above any other Sorrow,
   (which they falsly call Repentance,) conceived, or expressed, in any
   other Part of their Lives.

   Now, in what is it that this last Sorrow hath the Advantage over any
   other? in what it agrees with the Sorrow, and Regret, which a Man hath
   felt in the Time of his Health, it cannot be preferred before it:
   because it differs not from it. And in what it really differs from it,
   I fear, it will be found to have the Disadvantage on its side. For, it
   seems to me that it is much less likely to be sincere, or such as
   would, upon Trial, prove effectual, than the other: it being probably
   rather extorted by the Prospect and Fear of Death, than by the
   Persuasion of Reason; and frequently accompanied with such Terrors, as
   make it rather a Distraction, than a rational Grief; or a conscientious
   Sorrow. Whereas, a Regret and Concern for past Sins, in Time of Health,
   and whilst a Man hath not so near a Prospect of a State of Retribution,
   may be supposed more sincere, and more likely to influence Him: because
   it may justly be thought to be more the Result of Reason, and Judgment;
   and rather proceeding from a well-grounded Persuasion of the Man's own
   Mind, and the just Consideration of the Nature of Things, than from the
   terrible Dread of immediate Punishment.

   AND yet how is this last Sorrow usually preferred; and accounted of a
   more excellent Nature than any of the former? One would think, merely
   because it is the last. Whereas that can make no difference in the Eyes
   of God: who always judgeth truly from the nature of the Thing; and not
   from the Time, or any of those inconsiderable Circumstances, which
   often hide the true nature of things from mortal, Eyes, and finite
   Understandings. Nay, we our selves cannot judge whether our own present
   Sorrow, and Compunction, be of that nature as that they would work in
   us true Repentance and Amendment; were we entrusted with more
   Opportunities of making the Trial. And this is another Reason why we
   should build nothing upon it, either in our own Case, or that of
   others; because, even supposing that it would be sincere, and effectual
   in its Influences, were more Time allowed; yet this is a Matter wholly
   out of the reach of our Knowledge, and wholly impossible for us to
   judge of.

   BUT, indeed, it is a very material Observation, that wicked Men have
   much less reason to think this last Sorrow thoroughly and undoubtedly
   sincere, than they have heretofore had to think any of their former
   Sorrows so; which yet, they know, have ended in nothing considerable.
   There are few professed Christians, even amongst the wickedest of them,
   who have not, one time or other, had some just and concerning Thoughts
   about that Course of Sin, and those wilful Vices, in which they have
   indulged themselves; who have not, one time or other, detested and
   resolved to forsake them, in the Days of their Health and Prosperity;
   when they had nothing to move them but the Nature of the thing, and the
   great Reasonableness of receiving, and obeying the Gospel. If,
   therefore, they have found that Regret, and Concern, which they have
   had, in the best Season, and which had so good Ground for it, to come
   to nothing; to vanish into Air; and leave no good Influence, nor shew
   any Power, upon their Lives and Actions: upon what Accounts can they
   think, That Sorrow would have any better, or more lasting Effect, were
   the Trial made, which for aught they know, is wholly owing to the
   present Fear of Death, and the near Prospect of a future Punishment;
   and consequently will most probably vanish, when that Fear, and that
   Prospect, are removed from them?

   THEY will, I dare say, acknowledge no such Sorrow of a sick Bed, to be
   of any Effect, if they recover, and relapse to their former Sins. And
   how many such Instances have they seen in others? And how often have
   they themselves relapsed, after a better, and more reasonable, Sorrow,
   than this can be esteemed? And how then can they so flatter themselves,
   as to imagine that this last and unproved, Sorrow; is truly sincere;
   and would be truly effectual, were Opportunity given it to shew its
   Power, and display its Influences: when they have not one probable
   Argument on their side, to give Ground for such an Imagination; but
   great Presumptions, and much Experience, against it. So that there is
   no Foundation for such a Supposition: and yet, without it, there is not
   the least Shadow of Hope, to support them. How miserably deluded,
   therefore, must they be, who thus rely upon a Reed; who thus build all
   their Hopes, and all their Expectations of Happiness, upon that which
   is of a weaker nature, than what, they have experienced, to have
   deceived them already; who would fain escape Misery, and attain to
   Happiness, and yet will take none but a desperate Method, and such an
   one, as will too certainly disappoint and cheat them at last!

   AND that they, who indulge themselves in the Habit of any sort of Sin,
   may be the more effectually sensible of this, I would ask them, whether
   They believe that Almighty God will punish any sort of Persons in
   another State; or whether there are any Men in this World now, who
   shall be condemned, at the great Day, to that miserable State which is
   threatned in the Gospel. If they pretend not to believe any such thing
   as this; why are they in such Fears, and in so great Concern, about it?
   Why do the Terrors of the Lord oppress them? And why do they betray so
   much Uneasiness, at the Thoughts of appearing before Him? But if they
   do believe that thus it shall be with some sort of Persons, (as they
   appear to do by their Presages, and Apprehensions;) I would then ask,
   Who, they think, they are, that than inherit most of the Anger of God
   in that future State. Surely, They, who, upon the account of their
   whole Lives, do most deserve it. And who are they that most deserve it?
   It must be either the Wilful Sinners of the unbelieving World; or the
   Wilful Sinners, who are professed Christians, and enjoy the Light, and
   Assistance, of Christ's Gospel. And which of these Two do most deserve
   it, is too evident to need many Words. For who can be so unreasonable
   as to think that They who sin not against so clear Light, and so
   evident a Divine Authority to the contrary, are in a more desperate
   Condition, than those who are, or may be, fully acquainted with God's
   Will; who agree to the Reasonableness of it; who profess to fulfil it;
   and yet live, through their whole Lives, in express Contradiction to
   it? No, certainly, if our Saviour speak Truth; or if the Rule of Equity
   be consulted; They shall be beaten with most Stripes, who have known
   their Master's Will, and have not done it; They, who have had all fair
   Opportunities for Reformation, and the Practice of Virtue; and have
   abused them all to the Purposes of Vice.

   IF, therefore, They shall be most miserable in another State, who have
   most deserved it, as without doubt they shall: tell me, I beseech you,
   who can deserve it more than the Christian, who hath the greatest
   Favours, and Obligations, bestowed upon Him; the holiest Law to govern
   Him; the brightest Light to direct Him; the most powerful Assistance to
   strengthen Him; and yet goes on to sin, against all the Obligations,
   and all the Engagements, and all the Motives, to the contrary, which
   are contained in his Profession. And consequently, unless you will
   suppose, and maintain, that there shall be no such thing as Punishment
   in another World; but that all shall equally, either sink into nothing,
   or be made happy; you must be persuaded of this, as of a certain Truth,
   that the wicked Christian, who continues a wilful Sinner, under the
   Cloke of his holy Profession, is the Person, who, because He most of
   all deserves this Punishment, shall therefore most undoubtedly inherit
   it. Nor can his Grief, when He comes within View of it, alter the Case:
   for Grief is not Holiness, nor Virtue; nor probably would it end in the
   Practice of them: and these are the Things required of Christians, in
   the Time of their Health, and during their Conversation in this World.
   But I need not, I hope, add any more Words in order to represent to you
   the Vanity and Weakness of that fatal Mistake of some wilful Sinners,
   that the Sorrows which they reserve to be expressed upon their
   Death-beds, will atone for the profligate, and unchristian, conduct of
   their whole past Lives.

   AND now, Christians, what shall we say to these Things? Shall not all
   that hath been urged to shew the Unreasonableness of those Hopes which
   are built upon any such Pretence, as I have now been examining,
   separated from a Life of Righteousness, and true Goodness: shall it
   not, I say, move us all to lay hold on the present Opportunity; and to
   work out our Salvation, whilst the Day lasts; because the Night cometh,
   (the Night of Sickness, and of Death,) when no Man can work? How happy
   would it be for us, would we be induced to live as becomes Christians;
   and worthy of that holy Name by which we are called; and of that Divine
   Master, to whom We have given up our selves? This is the Thing required
   of Us, who have Time allowed us to shew the Sincerity of our Faith and
   Profession: and this alone it is, that can entitle us to the Favour of
   God, and the Rewards of Heaven. If we be in earnest seeking after
   Happiness; let us not take the Road which leads to certain Misery: but
   that good Path which our Lord himself hath marked out to us, both by
   his Example, and his Precepts; which, will infallibly bring us to his
   Heavenly Kingdom. Amen!
     __________________________________________________________________

   The Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard, considered.

SERMON XVIII.

   MATTHEW xx. 1, & c.

   For the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Man that is an Housholder,
   which went out early in the Morning to hire Labourers into his
   Vineyard, & c.

   IN my last Discourse, I observed to you, that some Persons had mistaken
   and perverted the Parable in this Chapter; vainly arguing, from one
   Part of it, that the last Hour, or even the last Minute, of Life, may
   be sufficient for the Work of Repentance, and turning to God. In that,
   1 only proposed one or two Considerations in general: but I now design
   to handle this Matter more particularly that it may the more clearly be
   seen, not only that this Parable gives not the least Encouragement to
   any such Thought; but that it really proves to all, who profess
   Christianity, the absolute Necessity of Holiness and Virtue, before the
   last Sickness, and Death, approach. In order to this, it will be
   necessary,

   I. TO lay before you an Account of the Parable it self.

   II. To shew you, what was intended to be signified by it.

   III. To prove that there is no Foundation in it, for any such
   Imagination, as that before-mentioned: but an actual Declaration of the
   contrary.

   I. As for the Parable it self; it sets forth to us an Housholder going
   forth into the Market-place, to hire Men to come and work for Him, in
   his Vineyard; that He met with some sooner than He did with others;
   that those whom He hired latest, came as soon as He called and invited
   them; and laboured heartily for the Time that they were in his
   Vineyard; and, at the End of their Day, were by his Favour rewarded,
   for that sincere and hearty, though short, Labour, with the same Reward
   which He had agreed to bestow upon those whom, He hired much sooner.
   This is the Sum of the Parable; as far as it concerns my present
   Design: for it is not of Importance to relate every particular
   Circumstance of it. The main Matter here to be considered, is the
   Reward bestowed upon Those who came so late into the Vineyard.

   II. I MUST therefore, now shew you what was intended by this Parable.
   And it is plain that it was designed to represent the Method of God in
   dispensing his Favours and Rewards to the World. The Kingdom of Heaven,
   or the Method of God's dealing with Mankind in the Revelation of his
   Will, and the calling of them to himself, was to be set forth in it.
   But, to be more particular.

   1. IT is most probable, and, I believe, certain, that the main, if not
   the whole, Design of it, was to account for that Stumbling-block, as it
   was indeed, to the ill-natured. Jews; viz. God's calling in the
   Gentiles to Himself, after the Jews; and making them equal to These, in
   Privileges and Favours, upon their sincere Acceptance of his
   Invitation. In the last Verse of the preceeding Chapter; our Lord
   declareth that many that are first shall be last, and the last first:
   that is, that in those first called to the Knowledge of God, viz, the
   Jews, and those to be called after them, viz, the Gentiles, God would
   make no difference; provided He found a sincere Disposition to obey his
   Call, and serve Him truly. Then immediately, at the first Verse of the
   xxth Chapter, our Lord goes on to illustrate what He had there said;
   and to discover the Equity of it.

   IN this Sense, then, of the Parable, Almighty God is represented as
   calling Mankind at several Ages of the World: the Jews, and their
   Forefathers, in the first Ages; and, in the last Age, viz. that of the
   Gospel, as calling the Gentile World to the Knowledge of himself; and
   admitting them to equal Privileges with the Jews, who thought
   themselves his peculiar People; and rewarding them after the same
   manner, upon their sincere Compliance with his Terms, and Acceptance of
   his Invitation. The Gentile World are represented as coming into his
   Gospel, upon his Call; and living worthy of it after their coming into
   it: and our Lord is represented, at the End of the Day of this Life, as
   rewarding Them, as much as the Jews themselves, who were called to the
   Knowledge of God, in a so much earlier Age.

   THAT which makes it mot probable that this was the true Intent of our
   Lord, in this Parable, is, that this calling of the Gentiles to equal
   Privileges with the Jews, was certainly a Matter which was to be opened
   by due Degrees, even to the best-temper'd amongst them; who were averse
   enough to all Thoughts of it: and likewise, that there is express
   mention made in it, of the murmuring of those who were hired first,
   against the Master of the House, for rewarding the last equally with
   them. For this agrees very well with the unconquered Prejudices of the
   Jewish Nation; and that Selfishness of Mind, by which they had set
   themselves apart from the rest of the World, and could not bear to
   think of any who might be equal Sharers with themselves in the Favour
   of God, whose People they had so long been. But it doth not seem so
   well to agree with a good Christian's Temper; to repine, and murmur,
   that any other sincere Persons are made as happy, by the Favour of
   Almighty God, as Himself is. It rather adds to such an one's Happiness,
   to see others happy, than sowrs and spoils it. But,

   2. LET us suppose that the Parable was intended to signify to us the
   Method of God's dealing with particular Persons, in the great Affair of
   their Happiness, and Salvation. And then, what is set forth in it, is
   this, that Almighty God, doth, in his Providence, call and invite some
   Persons to the Christian Religion sooner than others; and that those
   who come latest to the Knowledge of his Will, if they readily lay hold
   on his Invitation; if they accept his Offer; (nor doth the Parable go
   any farther than the first Offer;) and comply with his Terms; and enter
   in his Church; and labour in it; working out their own Salvation, and
   producing all manner of good Fruits, during that Season of Life which
   is allowed them after this Call, and Invitation: that those, I say, who
   are thus called, and do thus behave themselves upon such Call, shall,
   for that hearty Sincerity, be equalled in reward, by Almighty God, to
   those whom they would have certainly equalled in their Labours, if they
   had been as soon called and invited into his Church.

   III. HAVING thus laid down what was certainly, or might possibly be,
   intended by this Parable: it will be the easier to shew that there is
   no Foundation in it for any such Imagination, as that the late Sorrow,
   falsely called Repentance, of any Christian who hath been a wilful
   habitual Sinner through the whole Course of his Life and Health, will
   atone at last, for his Sins; and make him the Object of God's Favour:
   For,

   I. IF we take the first Account now given of the meaning of this
   Parable, which is certainly the true one; then there is nothing
   contained in it, but that the: Gentile World, though called to the
   Knowledge of God much latter than the Jews, yet, upon their acceptance
   of that Call, and their hearty application of themselves to Christian
   good Works, shall be accepted to equal Privileges, with the Jews, who
   had so long before them, been the peculiar People of God. This,
   therefore, cannot possibly bear any relation to the Case of such
   particular Christians, as have been long called to the Knowledge of
   God, and have wilfully neglected to do the Works of him that called
   them. No two Matters can be more distant from one another, than these
   two are: And, therefore, there can be no imaginable Argument drawn,
   from on to the other. But,

   2. SUPPOSING that the Second interpretation be pitch'd upon: yet even
   upon this Supposition, the Parable sets forth all of them that are
   hired, as Labourers. The Housholder went out to hire Labourers into his
   Vineyard: not such as professed only to labour; but such as would
   actually do it. So that it is to none but such, that he agrees to give
   any Reward. And when the Persons hired are spoken of, they are all
   described as truly setting themselves to labour, as soon as they are
   invited, and called in. All the difference, is, that some met with
   earlier; and some later; but as soon as they are spoken to, they all
   immediately leave their former Station; and apply themselves to work.
   There is mention, indeed, of some standing idle: but it was in the
   Market-place; and it was only because they had met with no body to hire
   them, to work. But as soon as they are hired, there is no mention of
   their Idleness in the Vineyard: but there they work'd immediately, as
   soon as they enter'd; and continued to do so, as long as the Day
   lasted.

   WHAT is there then for a Christian to learn from hence? Why, If this
   Parable .touch his particular Case; what He must learn, is this, viz.
   that the Supreme Housholder, when He calls him into his Vineyard, the
   Church, hires him as a Labourer; and, under that Notion only, agrees
   with Him for a Reward; that, as soon as He is called to the Knowledge
   of the Gospel, his time is come for beginning to work; that, as long as
   He lives a Professor of the Gospel, so long doth the Day last in which
   He is to work; that, if He entred into this Religion in his young and
   early Days, He must in his young and early Days labour in the Works of
   it; that, if He were old before He came to the Knowledge of it, and had
   Christianity proposed to him, He must immediately lay hold on the
   Proposal; He must heartily profess himself a Disciple of the Master who
   invites him; He must immediately set himself to his Work, and continue
   to approve himself a faithful Servant to Him, as long as his State of
   Probation lasts. This is what this Parable plainly sets forth. For
   there is not one of those mention'd, who did not come into the
   Vineyard, and work in it, as soon as He was called; not one, who was
   idle. unless out of necessity before He was hired; not one who
   continued idle afterwards, or did not heartily work in the Vineyard;
   not one who delayed his coming in, or used any pretence to avoid
   working, while the time for Working lasted: And therefore, we find
   that, their Sincerity being, equal, which is the Ground of all, their
   Lord made their Rewards equal.

   IF, therefore We will apply this to the State of particular Persons in
   Christ's Vineyard, the Church; there can be no hopes of Reward,
   according to this Parable, but to such carefully and conscientious set
   themselves to work in their State of Trial; to such as come in, when
   God calls them; and make use of all their Time afterwards, to promote
   his Honour, and work out their own Salvation. The Person, who is called
   last, and yet hath a Reward, is one who hath not heard of the Gospel
   till Age is come upon him; but, as soon as He doth hear of it, embraces
   it; enters into the Service of it, and shews himself, in the time He
   hath to live after this, a true and sincere Disciple of it, by the
   amendment and reformation of his Life.

   HAD it been so indeed, that our Lord had represented the Housholder, as
   calling Men into his Vineyard; and, after they had enter'd into it, and
   professed to work, and yet spent their time in it idly, or
   mischievously; either in doing nothing, or in ruining his Interest; as
   rewarding such Persons equally with those who had labour'd hard; and
   this merely for their expressing a Sorrow at Night, for the wilful
   Faults of the whole Day: something then might have been urged; and
   there might be some colour from hence, for hoping that Almighty God
   will at last reward Christians, who profess his Service, and enter his
   Vineyard as Labourers, and live useless, wicked, and profligate Lives;
   merely for their sorrowful Concern for their Sins, at the end of their
   Day of Trial. But, as the Case is; and as the Parable is expressed:
   what is there, I beseech you, in it, that can possibly encourage any
   such Hope? Nay, what is there in it, but what forcibly shews the
   necessity of Christian good Works, for the Justification of all who are
   called into Christ's Vineyard; whether early or late; whether at the
   beginning, or towards the end, of their Days?

   WE, for our parts, generally speaking, are called into God's Vineyard,
   at the very first Hour of the Day, at the dawning of our Lives;
   educated in the Christian Religion; called upon, day after day, to live
   worthy of that Holy Vocation wherewith we are called, and of that
   Profession which we make. We are not, therefore, of the Number of those
   who stood Idle in the Market-place, .merely because no one would hire
   them; and so were but late called into the Vineyard. But we have been
   long ago hired by God himself; and invited into his Service by the
   promise of the most immense: and unspeakable Rewards. If, therefore, we
   stand Idle; it is in his Vineyard, in which we undertook to do him
   Service. And if it be asked, why stand you here all the day Idle? We
   cannot have that to urge, because no Body hath hired us: for God
   Almighty is our Master; and we are his professed Servants. And we can
   have nothing to expect but the Punishment due to such Servants, as
   hypocritically pretend to serve, while they dishonour and disobey,
   their Master. Little will it avail us to take Refuge at last in Sorrow;
   when, at the Evening, or at Night, our Work is to be examined; and the
   Enquiry to be made, what we have done in that Service which we have
   undertaken. If we appeal to this Parable; that shews forth no Reward,
   but for such as have actually worked in the Service of their Master,
   from the time of their admission into the Vineyard, to the time of
   their being removed out of it; and this will administer but little
   Comfort to any, who have spent the time due to their Master, in the
   Service of his greatest Enemy. And the mere pretending to be his
   Disciple, or Servant, will be so far from lessening, that it must
   increase, the Guilt.

   IN the Chapter following This which I am now considering, at the 28th
   Verse, our Lord proposeth the following Case to the Jews. A certain Man
   bad two Sons, and He came to the first and said, Son, go work to day in
   my Vineyard. He answered and said, I will not. But afterward He
   repented, and went. And He came to the second, and said likewise. And
   He answered and said, I go, Sir, and went not. Whether of them twain
   did the Will of his Father? They say unto Him, the First. He proposeth
   this, to let them know that it was not the Profession of being his
   Children, and his People; not the calling Him, Lord, Lord, that would
   satisfy Almighty God; but the doing his Will; and that the professing
   to do it, did but aggravate the Fault of not sincerely answering that
   Profession. He goes on to tell them, that those very Harlots and
   Publicans, who, though before at a distance from all pretences to serve
   God, yet repented, and were converted by the Preaching of John the
   Baptist, would go into the Kingdom of God, and be accepted to his
   Favour, long before such as They were; who, making great Professions of
   belonging to God, and being his People, yet, were scandalously
   deficient in performing his Will, and constantly employed in provoking
   Him by their Disobedience. This is the meaning of those Words; and what
   follow. Verily, 1 say unto you, that the Publicans, and the Harlots, go
   into the Kingdom of God before you. Not that any, continuing such
   Sinners, could ever arrive at Happiness: but, as it follows, that such
   Sinners, repenting at the Preaching of John the Baptist, and reforming
   their Lives; even the vile Publicans, so much detested by the Jews,
   should be vastly preferred before them, with all their Professions, and
   all their Protestations.

   THE Vineyard, therefore, is not a place of Ostentation; but of Work:
   not framed to feed and support the Idle; but to employ the Diligent:
   not made to adorn, and defend, all those that enter it; but to be
   adorned, and defended; by those who pretend to come into it. The very
   Notion of it is, that it wants their Help, and Cultivation. This is
   what the great Master of it expects. This is what he hires his
   Labourers for. If, therefore, the Reward be so great, and so certain,
   for all, who enter as soon as they are invited; and sincerely labour as
   soon as they are entered: how great, and how certain, must be the
   Punishment of those who act the Reverse of this; who enter indeed, with
   Profession of working, but basely desert the Cause, and prostitute the
   Honour, and disregard the Commands of that great Master who called and
   invited them to his Service.

   So that from this Parable it is impossible to collect any thing to
   sooth professed Christians in their hopes of being accepted without a
   Life of Holiness and Virtue: nay, it is impossible, one would think,
   not to see that the very design and intent of it, supposing it to
   respect particular Persons, must be to shew that it is indispensably
   required of all, at what time soever they are called to the Knowledge
   of God and his Gospel, to obey that Call; and conscientiously to employ
   the time allowed them, after this, in the good Works which God hath
   marked out to them in his Law. Far be it, therefore, from any
   Christian, who hath long ago entered into God's Vineyard, to argue
   himself, from this part of the Gospel, into any shadow of Hope, whilst
   He is in a state of supine Neglect of his Duty, or wilful Disobedience
   to God.

   AND if we look into any other of those Parables, by which our Lord
   represents the Proceedings of. Almighty God with his Servants; we shall
   find the plainest Discouragement to all such Hopes. When He represents
   Him as a Master, intrusting several sorts of Talents to several
   Servants, Matth. xxv. 14. we find that He certainly expects an actual
   Improvement of those Talents; not only, that they should not be made
   use of against his Honour and Interest, but that they should not be
   buried, and rendred useless: And accordingly, that, when one of those
   Servants appears to his Lord to have buried what was intrusted to Him,
   that He Might be sure to restore it whole at his return; the Sentence
   is, Cast ye the unprofitable Servant into outer Darkness: there shall
   be weeping and gnashing of teeth. See from hence what Almighty God
   certainly expects from those who are called to his Knowledge, and his
   Service. Nor could all the Sorrow of that Servant, at his Master's
   return, atone, or compensate, for past ill Conduct.

   IN the xxist Chapter God is represented as letting out his Vineyard to
   Husbandmen, who abused his Mercy; and, at last destroying them, and
   letting out his Vineyard to others who should render him the Fruits in
   their Seasons. In another Parable, chap. xviii. at the end, He is
   represented, as delivering over to the Tormenters, a Servant, only for
   being unmerciful, and implacable, towards his Fellow-Servant. Doth all
   this look, as if he would accept of any thing; at last, at the Hands of
   those who are called into his Service, instead of an hearty and sincere
   Obedience; or, as if He did not lay a Duty, an indispensable Duty, upon
   them: the Duty of reforming whatever is amiss in themselves: and of
   flourishing in all those good Fruits, and good Works, which are well
   pleasing in his Eyes?

   AND thus have I done what I designed: And, as I hope, have, in this,
   and several other Discourses, effectually shewn the great Weakness, and
   Folly, of a Christian's relying upon any thing for Salvation, but the
   actual Reformation, and Amendment, of what he knows to be sinful in
   himself.

   I CAN at present think but of one thing more that remains to be touched
   upon, before we leave this Subject. There are some Christians, I am
   sensible, who are truly convinced that this is a just Account of the
   Matter; that their only Hopes must be in the actual amendment of their
   Lives, and practice of Virtue, whilst God gives them opportunity; and
   that all other Hopes are vain and deluding: and are therefore resolved
   to reform what is bad in themselves. But then, they deferr this great
   Work; they are unwilling to do it immediately: but hope that what they
   Design may be as well performed some time hereafter. They place not
   their Hopes in any thing but Amendment: but they put off this Amendment
   till another Season. A few Considerations, will shew us the extreme
   Hazard, and Folly, of such a Proceeding. For,

   1. SUPPOSING that, they are taken away before they have put this
   Resolution into effect; they are, by their own Confession, in a most
   deplorable, inexcusable, Condition: being removed from hence, in a
   State, which they themselves account to be a State condemned by God in
   his Gospel. It is the Amendment of their Lives which, they know, He
   requires; and the resolution of Amendment, is not Amendment. Nay,
   indeed, it will be so far from helping them, upon this Supposition;
   that it will aggravate their Guilt and their Punishment, that they have
   not actually done what they knew to be their indispensable Duty to do.
   And who knows when his last Hour may come? Is this State a State of
   Certainty, and Duration? In the midst of Life, are we not in Death? Do
   we not see, every day, Persons as likely, nay, more likely, than
   ourselves, to continue here, called to give account of their Lives?
   What is it then we can hope for? or how can we think it consistent with
   the lowest Degree of Prudence, to delay that which we know not whether
   we can ever have an opportunity too perform, unless we lay hold on the
   present? But,

   2. WHAT is it that can induce Men to delay this great, and necessary
   Work? Is it the Difficulty of it at present? Alas! that will be so far
   from being diminished, that it will be increased, by time. Every Step
   we take, in most of the Vices, renders the attempt of Reformation so
   much the more difficult. As we grow old, evil Habits grow old upon us.
   Custom becomes like Nature it self; not to be put off, or broken
   through, but with a difficulty which we become willing at last to think
   insuperable. This made the Prophet cry out, Can the Ethiopian change
   his Skin, or the Leopard his Spots? then shall ye also, that are
   accustomed to do evil, learn to do well. He thought it such a
   difficulty, as, in the figurative Style, might be represented by
   Matters utterly impossible. Certainly, to delay an important Matter; a
   Business necessary to be performed, because it is difficult; when every
   Moment that it is delayed, will add to the difficulty of it; is to put
   it more out of our Power than it is at present: It is to render our
   Work more difficult, because it is difficult already; which is the most
   inexcusable Weakness.

   OR, Is it that Men hope that Time, and Years, will naturally wear out
   their Inclinations to Sin; and that then they shall find it a much more
   easy Matter to live as they ought? Alas! Time, and Years, bring an
   Inclination to some Vices along with them, against which we shall find
   enough to do to guard our selves; and present us with Evils, under
   which alone we shall have enough to do to support our selves: and to
   some former Vices they add a Strength, and Force, which they had not
   before. Nay, What one ill Temper, or bad Inclination or Passion, is
   ever known to be removed, or totally cured, by Years; after an
   Indulgence hath been given to it through the former Course of Life? It
   is the Mind, that is the Seat of Vice: and if that remain corrupt and
   vitiated, the Man is still corrupt and vicious in the Eyes of God; how
   much soever his outward Appearance may be altered in other respects.

   BUT could it be so, that Age and Years would certainly remove all that
   Viciousness, which Custom had been breeding: yet how little likelihood,
   as I observed before, is there of arriving at such a Term of Years? And
   how much more likelihood is there of the contrary? And if we should;
   and that should be the Case: yet how would all the Beauty and Reward of
   Virtue be gone; What a Return would it be to Almighty God, for all his
   Long-suffering, to present him at last with a Heart dead to all the
   Purposes of Life; rendered useless, and insignificant by old Age? What
   an Affront to Him, to have spent all the best part of Life in the
   Service of his Enemy; and then to come and offer Him a Service that
   hath nothing in it: or, to profess to serve Him, when we are past the
   time in which it can be acceptable to Him? Is it Virtue, for Creatures
   in a State of Probation, to leave off Vices, which they cannot retain?
   to forsake Customs, which they cannot follow? To pretend to relinquish
   Habits, which have relinquished them? For, in truth, this is the Case,
   upon the present Supposition. They design to serve God with the Dregs
   of Life; They leave not their Vices, but their Vices leave them; They
   abandon not their Sins, but their Sins have abandoned them.

   TRY, therefore, how such an Offer, and such, a Dedication of your
   selves to God, after a multitude of Years spent in the hearty Service
   of his Adversary, will sound, Suppose your selves in his Presence,
   addressing to Him in this manner. " Lord! We have indeed spent the
   Vigour of our whole Life, in the Service of Sin; in dishonouring Thee;
   and in neglecting thy Religion. The time is now come when we can sin no
   longer, when our Vices have abandoned us; and Human Society hath as it
   were excluded us. Behold! now, that we cannot well do any thing else we
   offer to Thee our Services, which are without Vigour or Force; and
   present to Thee the Dregs of Life, and the Refute of all our Years."
   [1] This is what every Man must in effect say, that puts off his
   Amendment till Old-age; upon supposition that He shall arrive at it;
   and that then He shall be able, and willing, to sin no longer. And if
   there cannot be a greater Affront imagined, than such an Offer; and if
   it be the greatest Shame even to think of such a Return to God as this:
   let not any Consideration in the World move any of us to defer so
   indispensable a Duty to a time so improper, and so utterly unfit for it

   LET us consider what hath been said; that our Days are uncertain; and,
   therefore, that 'tis Madness to put off, even for one Day, that Work
   which is certainly necessary; that if we should have more time allowed
   us, yet our Business of Amendment would grow more and more difficult
   every Day; that the present time is that in which it is most easy, and
   most likely, to be effected; and that if we could suppose any such time
   to be coming to us in this State, in which our Vices will forsake us
   whether we will or no, we must not expect that this shall be accounted
   our Virtue, and reckoned to us for Reward, any more than our ceasing to
   sin, when we are laid in our Graves: or that God will accept the
   Present of our Service, when all our past Health and Life have been
   wilfully spent in the Prosecution of our Lusts; and we now offer it to
   Him, because we know not what else to do with it.

   WHAT remains, therefore, but that we immediately set about that Work,
   which cannot be too soon begun; nor too soon finished? A Work so
   necessary, that it is impossible to be happy without it? That nothing
   delude us into a Delay, in a Case in which the least Delay may be our
   Ruine? That no Pretence, of what sort soever, divert us from the
   entring into the Paths of that Holiness, without which no Man shall see
   the Lord? Nothing but this can give us Peace of Conscience here:
   nothing but this can assure us of the least Degree of Happiness
   hereafter. And God grant that this may be the Effect of what hath been
   said; for Jesus Christ's sake our Lord! To whom, with the Father, and
   Holy Spirit, be all Glory now, and for evermore. Amen!

FINIS
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1] See Archbishop Tillotson's Sermon concerning the Advantages of
   Early Piety.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

                                    Indexes
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Scripture References

   Proverbs

   [1]24:16

   Jeremiah

   [2]13:13

   Matthew

   [3]6:7   [4]6:12   [5]6:12   [6]6:14   [7]6:14-15   [8]7:21   [9]7:21
   [10]7:22   [11]7:22-23   [12]7:26   [13]7:47   [14]12:31-32
   [15]13:30   [16]18:3   [17]18:21   [18]18:22   [19]18:23
   [20]18:23-35   [21]18:35   [22]18:41-42   [23]19:24   [24]19:30
   [25]20:1   [26]20:1   [27]20:1   [28]21:28   [29]21:33-40   [30]22:13
   [31]25:14   [32]25:30

   Mark

   [33]11:25-26

   Luke

   [34]6:7   [35]6:38   [36]10:25   [37]10:25   [38]10:25   [39]10:25
   [40]10:25   [41]11:4   [42]11:27   [43]11:28   [44]12:47   [45]17:4
   [46]23:42-43   [47]23:42-43

   Acts

   [48]2:38   [49]3:19   [50]14:15   [51]23:3

   Romans

   [52]2:7   [53]6:1   [54]6:1-23   [55]8:1   [56]8:12   [57]8:13
   [58]10:4   [59]10:5   [60]10:11   [61]10:13   [62]12:9   [63]12:9
   [64]12:19   [65]12:21   [66]13:8

   1 Corinthians

   [67]4:4   [68]4:4   [69]5:11   [70]6:9   [71]6:10   [72]6:20
   [73]10:24

   2 Corinthians

   [74]2:7   [75]3:5   [76]3:5   [77]6:1   [78]7:1   [79]7:1   [80]7:10
   [81]7:10

   Galatians

   [82]3:6   [83]3:11   [84]5:6   [85]5:19   [86]5:20   [87]5:21
   [88]5:24   [89]6:7-8   [90]6:15

   Ephesians

   [91]1:9   [92]1:10   [93]2:1   [94]2:1-8   [95]2:5   [96]2:8
   [97]2:9   [98]4:28   [99]4:28   [100]4:32   [101]5:5   [102]5:5
   [103]5:5-6   [104]5:6   [105]5:8   [106]5:9   [107]5:11

   Philippians

   [108]2:12   [109]2:13

   Colossians

   [110]3:5   [111]3:6   [112]3:12-13

   1 Thessalonians

   [113]5:22

   1 Timothy

   [114]1:13   [115]1:15   [116]1:15

   2 Timothy

   [117]2:19   [118]2:19   [119]3:5   [120]3:5   [121]3:8

   Titus

   [122]2:12   [123]2:12-13   [124]2:13   [125]2:14   [126]2:14

   Hebrews

   [127]6:4-7   [128]10:26   [129]10:26-27   [130]10:26-27   [131]10:29
   [132]12:14

   James

   [133]1:22   [134]2:10   [135]2:10   [136]2:10   [137]2:14   [138]2:15
   [139]2:26   [140]5:12

   1 Peter

   [141]1:15   [142]1:17   [143]1:18   [144]1:19   [145]2:11   [146]4:8

   1 John

   [147]2:1-2
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   [574]427  [575]428  [576]429  [577]430  [578]431
     __________________________________________________________________

            This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal
               Library at Calvin College, http://www.ccel.org,
                   generated on demand from ThML source.

References

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   2. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=13&scrV=13#ii.viii-p23.1
   3. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=6&scrV=7#ii.v-p16.1
   4. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=6&scrV=12#ii.v-p16.2
   5. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=6&scrV=12#ii.v-p17.2
   6. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=6&scrV=14#ii.xi-p25.1
   7. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=6&scrV=14#ii.v-p17.1
   8. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=7&scrV=21#ii.iv-p13.1
   9. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=7&scrV=21#ii.vi-p19.1
  10. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=7&scrV=22#ii.iv-p8.1
  11. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=7&scrV=22#ii.x-p16.1
  12. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=7&scrV=26#ii.x-p23.1
  13. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=7&scrV=47#ii.iv-p8.4
  14. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=12&scrV=31#ii.viii-p19.1
  15. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=13&scrV=30#ii.iv-p8.2
  16. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=18&scrV=3#ii.xi-p25.2
  17. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=18&scrV=21#ii.v-p18.3
  18. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=18&scrV=22#ii.v-p18.4
  19. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=18&scrV=23#ii.v-p18.1
  20. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=18&scrV=23#ii.xviii-p25.2
  21. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=18&scrV=35#ii.v-p18.2
  22. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=18&scrV=41#ii.iv-p8.3
  23. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=19&scrV=24#ii.viii-p24.1
  24. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=19&scrV=30#ii.xviii-p10.1
  25. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=20&scrV=1#ii.xvii-p14.1
  26. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=20&scrV=1#ii.xviii-p2.1
  27. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=20&scrV=1#ii.xviii-p10.2
  28. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=21&scrV=28#ii.xviii-p21.1
  29. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=21&scrV=33#ii.xviii-p25.1
  30. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=22&scrV=13#ii.iv-p8.5
  31. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=25&scrV=14#ii.xviii-p24.1
  32. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=25&scrV=30#ii.iv-p8.6
  33. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=11&scrV=25#ii.v-p17.3
  34. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=6&scrV=7#ii.v-p19.2
  35. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=6&scrV=38#ii.v-p19.3
  36. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=10&scrV=25#ii.i-p2.1
  37. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=10&scrV=25#ii.ii-p2.1
  38. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=10&scrV=25#ii.iii-p2.1
  39. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=10&scrV=25#ii.iv-p2.1
  40. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=10&scrV=25#ii.v-p2.1
  41. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=11&scrV=4#ii.v-p16.3
  42. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=11&scrV=27#ii.x-p23.2
  43. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=11&scrV=28#ii.x-p23.3
  44. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=12&scrV=47#ii.iv-p12.13
  45. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=17&scrV=4#ii.v-p19.1
  46. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=23&scrV=42#ii.xvi-p2.1
  47. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=23&scrV=42#ii.xvii-p2.1
  48. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=2&scrV=38#ii.xv-p8.1
  49. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=3&scrV=19#ii.xv-p2.1
  50. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=14&scrV=15#ii.xiv-p19.1
  51. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=23&scrV=3#ii.viii-p13.2
  52. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=2&scrV=7#ii.iv-p12.12
  53. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=6&scrV=1#ii.iv-p25.1
  54. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=6&scrV=1#ii.xv-p14.1
  55. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=1#ii.iv-p7.7
  56. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=12#ii.iv-p7.8
  57. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=13#ii.iv-p7.9
  58. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=10&scrV=4#ii.x-p8.1
  59. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=10&scrV=5#ii.x-p8.2
  60. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=10&scrV=11#ii.x-p9.1
  61. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=10&scrV=13#ii.x-p2.1
  62. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=12&scrV=9#ii.iv-p7.3
  63. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=12&scrV=9#ii.iv-p12.4
  64. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=12&scrV=19#ii.v-p20.1
  65. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=12&scrV=21#ii.v-p20.2
  66. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=13&scrV=8#ii.xi-p13.1
  67. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=4&scrV=4#ii.viii-p13.1
  68. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=4&scrV=4#ii.viii-p13.3
  69. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=11#ii.xv-p12.2
  70. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=9#ii.iv-p7.13
  71. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=10#ii.v-p27.1
  72. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=20#ii.xii-p28.1
  73. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=24#ii.iv-p12.6
  74. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=2&scrV=7#ii.xv-p12.1
  75. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=5#ii.xiii-p2.1
  76. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=5#ii.xiv-p2.1
  77. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=1#ii.xiii-p9.1
  78. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=1#ii.iv-p7.10
  79. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=1#ii.iv-p12.5
  80. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=10#ii.xv-p21.1
  81. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=10#ii.xv-p22.1
  82. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=6#ii.ix-p15.1
  83. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=11#ii.ix-p15.1
  84. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=5&scrV=6#ii.iv-p12.8
  85. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=5&scrV=19#ii.iv-p7.14
  86. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=5&scrV=20#ii.iv-p7.15
  87. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=5&scrV=21#ii.iv-p7.16
  88. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=5&scrV=24#ii.iv-p7.17
  89. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=6&scrV=7#ii.iv-p7.18
  90. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=6&scrV=15#ii.iv-p12.7
  91. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=1&scrV=9#ii.ix-p21.1
  92. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=1&scrV=10#ii.ix-p21.2
  93. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=2&scrV=1#ii.ix-p11.3
  94. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=2&scrV=1#ii.ix-p11.1
  95. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=2&scrV=5#ii.ix-p11.3
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  98. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=4&scrV=28#ii.iv-p7.6
  99. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=4&scrV=28#ii.xv-p12.3
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 101. file:///ccel/h/hoadly/acceptance/cache/acceptance.html3?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=5&scrV=5#ii.iv-p7.20
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