Forty Sermons, Sermon 11
The Eleventh SERMON, Preached at CHRIST-CHURCH IN OXFORD, Novemb. 8. 1665. Being the Monthly Fast-day for the Plague.
LUKE XVI. 30, 31.
Nay Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.—
And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.
THAT God who purchas'd for us the possibilities of Repentance with the Son of his Bosom, and requires nothing more in exchange of the Blood and Life of Christ, but some unfeigned tears and reformation of our lives, that He should be contriving methods to bring men to Repentance is nothing strange; for this is but to take care that all that ever he hath done for them be not in vain and lost: But that in Hell, a place which nothing but Repentance can destroy; there should be such designs seems stange, yet not if we consider the condition of the place, whose Torments are not onelyonly of so dire a nature, that he that is condemned to them wou… be alone in them, but were made so dire on purpose that they mig… be preservatives against themselves; nothing being judged more effectual to terrifie men from those pains, than the exceeding greatness of those pains, which he that feels thinks the relation alone will do; for he said, Nay Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent, &c.
The words do willingly suggest occasion for several Inquiries, and some of those of the nicer and more curious kind, but truly I shall not attend to those suggestions, but shall chuse to handle some few of the most obvious and popular Considerations that the words break into, and they are three.
First, The Rich man's Charity to his Brethren, his unsatisfied desire and care that they may be brought to Repentance, expressed in these words, Nay Father Abraham, though they have Moses and Prophets, yet let them have one method more.
Secondly, We have here his choice of that method, that which he thought would do though nothing else would; in these words, If one went unto them from the dead they will repent. In the handling of which, we shall examine what the grounds were upon which this Rich man was so confident that that would work upon them; and here we find he chose with several advantages.
First, One from the dead;
Secondly, That one Lazarus; and he
First, One out of Abraham's Bosom:
Secondly, One that had seen him also in his Torments and could testifie of them, v. 27.
Thirdly, We have here these fancied hopes all dash'd in Abraham's answer, And he said unto him, if they believe not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead.
First of the first, the Charitable, careful contrivances this Rich man in Hell had for his Brethren upon Earth: Nay Father Abraham, &c.
It is commonly reported of men who know themselves infected by the Plague, that they desire to infect as many others as they can; they contrive to spread the Contagion, and love society of Ruin; and we are sure it is so in that Plague of the Soul, Sin. This humour did not content it self to debauch Heaven, and unpeople Paradise, but all the Ages of the World make up its Triumph, and every sin that ever was, and misery that shall be, is its issue. Lucifer's pride would have a train of Angels and Mankind to wait upon him in Destruction: And in such an attendance, though to his everlasting cost, he does still pride himself; he feeds upon that Envy that devours him, and chears himself with adding fewel to his flames that do torment him; and upon this account enjoyes his own Agonies and God's Indignation: And then it is no wonder if his Agents upon Earth enjoy the sport; and if the Devil does not more please himself to see his Dominions enlarg'd and the business of Hell go forward, than wicked men do in having others become like themselves; as if they did derive to themselves, and possess the pleasure, as they do the guilt of those whom they draw in; and the delight like the sin, were all in all, and all in every part of the whole Company that joyn in wickedness. But it should seem 'tis otherwise with the Sinners in Hell. Our Rich man here when he saw his own estate remediless, so vast a gulf betwixt him an… …e Bosom of Comfort, that not the least drop of refreshment, no … hopes nor wishes of it could pass thence to him; but Torment sealed upon him by an irreversible Decree; he begins then to contrive for his Brethren, how their falling into the like estate with him might be prevented, ver. 27, 28. Nor satisfied with this, when Abraham replies, they are provided well enough, they have Moses and the Prophets, the one Preaching the Law to them, whose Rules they have made as familiar to them as their dress, they put on daily Gods Commandments, and their duty; make his Precepts their frontlets and their wristbands. And the other the Prophets, are Commissioned from God to lay before their eyes the issue of transgressions, give them a vision of the Judgments that await their sins, and come to them burdned with the foreknowledg of the Sinners expectations; so that except they will resolve to chuse destruction wilfully to assault their own perdition, there is no fear they should come thither; those tell them as much as any from the dead can do: Ah! but thinks he, all those methods I had, yet I am here; and then let them have one other; for as now after this little tast of Torments were I to live again, I should most certainly avoid this place, and lead another kind of life than that which does expire into this Tophet; So if one went to tell them how it is with me, sure then they would repent and not come hither; therefore I pray thee send; Nay Father Abraham, &c.
I cannot here assent to Cardinal Cajetan's account that all this earnestness was onelyonly pride in our Rich man, and a desire to have the glory of his Family advanc'd; which as he laboured to raise here by Wealth, so now finding by sad experience that was but a weak foundation to build a lasting House upon, and that all the shine of it was but false treacherous light, such as did end in flame with him; and having made discovery of other greater glories, that Abraham and Lazarus possess'd, he would have his Family as high and bright as they; and this their Repentance, which he took such care for, was but in order to that exaltation.
If it were so, truly it is the first pride I ever read of that would content it self with no meaner a dress than the Robes of Immortality, and was ambitious of the Throne of Glory. I have heard I confess of a proud lowliness, where the humility is but the manage and the art of being lofty, is onelyonly assum'd condesc…ntion whereby men but descend to be extol'd, and stoop to take advantage for their mount: But never heard of any pride that aimed to raise it self by the humiliations of Repentance, that laid its groundwork in that dust and ashes, cloath'd it self in the sackcloth and neglected rudenesses of a pious penitent sorrow: The prides of this side Hell are of a different garb I'm sure, if theirs be such; if they design by those just means to settle the inheritance of Heaven in their Families, sure the vices of Hell may be fit patterns for our Religious performances, and 'twere to be desired that all Christians had this mans ardencies and flames in their affections to their Houses.
Yet neither can I from this one particular instance draw any general proposition concerning the kindness of that place to Sinners upon Earth, although all those that make this History not Parable would give me colour for it: But waving that, since Christ hath so framed the foreign, (which is a relation of such words as they would have spoke, had they spoke on this occasion) I shall take that as ground enough to apply it to the conviction of those who are so far from these Charitable designs to the Souls of others, that they contrive nothing more than how to have the company of their Friends in those ways that lead to this place of Torment; prevail with them to join in sinning, and shew a Vice how to insinuate into them.
The kindnesses of our man here in the flames were divine God like Charities compared to these. Our Saviour says, Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you that in Heaven their Angels do always behold the Face of my Father which is in Heaven, Matth. xviii. 10. Which one expounds, if we neglect to do what is in our power to preserve the meanest Christians from Vice, and sleight their sinning, their Tutelary Angels that have continual recourse to God, and are high in his favour, will make complaints of us in their behalf, at least they will if we offend them, and any action of ours prove an occasion of their sins. And if a favourite of Heaven shall accuse us to the Lord for that, Then how will he complain of us when we tempt? when he shall have to say against us, that we have ensnared and drawn such a Soul into a Custom that will ruin it eternally; and when he shall bring against us an instance out of Hell here, and the kindnesses of one among the Devils shall come in Judgment against us; where we see the Rich Man thought not of his own condemnation so much he thought of the averting that of his Brethren. We might suppose a man in his condition could not consider any thing but his own Tortures. O yes, to preserve others from them; yet, when the man in Hell does so, the men on Earth do think of nothing more than to entice others into them. And is it not a strange Age then, when to tempt is the onelyonly mode of kindness, and men do scarcely know how to express themselves civil to their Friends but by pressing them to sin and so be sick with them? as if this were the gentile use of Societies, to season Youth into good Company, and bring the Fashionable Vices into their acquaintance.
And 'tis well if they stay there; it happens so that Parts and Wit, Faculties and Acquisitions do ingratiate men into these treacherous kindnesses, and qualifie them for the desires and friendships of such persons as entertain them by softning them into loosness and then into prophaneness; debauch their manners, and then their Principles; teach them to sport themselves with Vice, and then with Holy things, and after with Religion it self; which is a greater Luxury than that their Riots treat their Appetites withal, the Luxury of Wit. And thus they educate them into Atheism, and these familiar Devils are call'd Acquaintances and Friends: And indeed the Companions in sin a man would think should be dear Friends, such as pour an heart into one another in their common Cups, shed Souls in their Lusts, are friends to one another even in ruin, and love to their own Condemnation, are kind beyond the Altar-flames, even to those everlasting fires; such communications certainly cement affections so that nothing can divide them: And let them do so, but Lord send me the kindness of Hell rather, one that will be a friend like this man in his Torments, that with unsatisfied cares minded the reformation of his Friends, Nay Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent; which brings me to the Choice, the second thing.
If a Ghost should indeed appear to any of us in the midst of our Commissions, it would certainly hurry us from our Enjoyments; and there are no such ties & unions by which the advantages of sin do hold us fix'd and jointed to them, but the shake and tremble we should then be in, would loosen and dissolve them all, and make us uncling from them, if we may believe discourses that tell us such a sight is able to startle a man however he be fix'd by his most close Devotions; for what the Jews were wont to say, we shall die because we have seen an Angel of the Lord from Heaven, most men do fear if they should see the Spirit of a dead man from the Earth. Indeed the affrights which men do usually conceive at the meer apprehension of such an Apparition, do probably arise from a surprise, in being minded hastily of such a state for which they are not then prepared so as they would wish or hope to be, to which they think that is a Call, for we shall die said the Jews.
But not to ask the reason of this now, but find the reason why our Rich Man thinks when Moses and the Prophets cannot make a man repent, such a Ghost should: We have it in ver. 28, they do but discourse to us, but one from the dead could testifie, he could bear witness that it is so as they say, speak his own sight and knowledg, and therefore though they hear not Moses and the Prophets, yet if one went unto them from the dead they will repent. For
First, One from the Dead could testifie that when we die we do not cease to be; and he would make appear that our departing hence is not annihilation, and so would dash the hopes of Epicures; such as I was, and I may fear they are; who as they live like Beasts do think to die so too: and who are rational in this alone that they desire to be but Animal. And all the rest of men whether worldly or sensual, that enclose their desires and enjoyments within this life, and above all the Atheist that dares not look beyond it, all these would be convinc'd by such an evidence. Indeed this would take away the main encouragement of all ungodliness, which upon little reasonings how thin soever, that there's no life after this does quicken and secure it self, Wisd. 2. and therefore every Sect of men that did prescribe Morality did teach an after life, nothing was more believ'd among the Heathen; Their Tribunal below, where three most severe Judges were appointed, meant the same thing with our last Assize, and their Elizian fields were but Poetical Paradise, their Phlegethon, River of Fire, was set to express our stream of Brimstone flame: Thus Resurrection in fable made them vertuous; the guess at it made Socrates die chearful, and though his hopes had faint weak Principles they had Heroick almost Martyr resolutions.
And on the other side, of those that among them deny'd an after life, though we are told that Epicurus was a vertuous man, yet his Sect did give name to Vice; and is still the expression for it, and all that did espouse the Tenents of it,foreign did the Vices too; the Sadduces among the Jews are call'd Epicures, not onelyonly for Opinions sake, because they did make God a body, and totally denyed his Providence, as Zakuth says, but Epicures also for their practice sake;Joseph de Bell. Jud. l. 2. c. 12. For they used to scoff at the Pharisees for afflicting themselves by Fasting and Austerities in this life,Edit. Basil. foreign when there is nothing at all of recompence for them in any life to come. Yea and Josephus says of them they were the worst of all Sects,foreign living like savage Beasts towards one another, and uncourteous to their own Sect as to strangers; and this, says he, was but a natural effect of their Opinion, which wholly denied the Immortality of the Soul, and all Rewards and Punishments after this Life; which Principle one coming from the dead would rectifie, and so contribute to Repentance. Especially if
Secondly, That one were Lazarus, if he that at the Supper of the Lamb sits next the Father of the faithful, and the friend of God, in one of the higher Seats of Paradise, in Abraham's Bosom; if he would go and speak his knowledg of the Pleasures of that Bosom which he tasts, and of the glories of that Place, and but compare them with the little gayeties of my Fathers House; shew them the difference betwixt their Structures and that Foundation whose builder and maker God is, betwixt the entertainments of their riotous Palats, and the Festivals of the Blessed Trinity, then sure they would disrellish those, and catch at these, which do exceed them by a whole Infinity, and will out-live them an Eternity. And here should I attempt, what he would have had Lazarus perform, to dash out the blessedness of that place, making the first draught of them with notions of delight, not such as the Understanding cannot apprehend, but such as seize the heart with pleasure in this Life, and that give it the strongest agitations here; and sweetning that by those transcendencies which I could fill it up with, and should I raise it then with shadow, evince that reason, though it cannot fathom, can yet by sure Discourse conclude the greatness of those Glories, which I would leave for your expectations to loose themselves into; should I attempt all this I were an insolent undertaker. Yet were it very easie to describe them so as that viewing them with the things below, these would vanish in the comparison. And to do so much was the utmost that our Rich Man could design by sending Lazarus, who if he could have been believ'd might probably have done the work; for if Faith did but do what Lazarus did, look into Abraham's Bosom, were it but turn'd into a little Vision, and but as clear an evidence of things not seen as eye-sight hath of its temptations, had the spiritual Object but that advantage the carnal hath of being present, (now it is the work of Faith to give it that advantage) sure it would be impossible for the sensitive Objects, the pleasures or the Profits of this World, which ae so far inferiour to the other in desireableness, and onelyonly make advantage of their being present, when the other is so far off, 'twould be impossible for them to gain our wills consent at any time; and therefore when those glories shall be present to the Soul, 'twill be impossible for any other Object to steal, or ravish, any way to engage one thought away from them: In Heaven they cannot wish to sin. Nay the flash alone of that glory fascinates the heart; Peter, and James, and John, saw but a glimpse of it, and that transfigur'd too, (onelyonly the other way that Moses and Elias were, for the glory suffered an exinanition) and they but wak'd into the sight of it, so that 'twas but an apparition of Heaven; and yet they never would have left the place which it once lightned, Master it is good for us to be here, let us go down no more, never converse with any thing beneath Mount Tabor, but let us build three Booths, such Tents would be like that which He hath spread, and such Booths be some of the many Mansions of his House, who spreadeth out the Heavens for a Tent for himself to dwell in. But the truth is while men do onelyonly hear of Joys above, and have but thin neglected notions of them, and on the other side a sense of present profits, pleasures, honours which the World affords, they will not be affected with the future dry hopes of those as with all these in present, will nor have as effectual a tast of the Supper of the Lamb, as of their own delicious daily fare, nor be as much wrought upon by the Promises of being Cloath'd upon with the white Robe of Immortality, and by the mentions of a Crown, although of Glory, as they are pleas'd with their own Royal Purples, they have much surer Conviction of the delights of present things, than of those far removed futurities; but now if Lazarus would go from Abraham's Bosom, he might Convince them from his own Experience, and then they would Repent. Especially
Thirdly, because Lazarus hath seen me in my Torments, and can give account of them, wherefore I pray thee Father Abraham send him, for if such an one went unto them from the Dead, one that could testifie of this place, he would tell them such sad stories of my condition here, how in lieu of all my sumptuous fare I have nothing now but gnashing of teeth, streams indeed of Brimstone, and a lake of fire, but everlasting feaver of thirst for my delicious intemperate Palate; my short-liv'd sins turn'd to eternal Agonies; sure this would prevail with them to cut off their sins by Repentance, before Death cut off their sin and them together; and so they might prevent the coming hither. And very probably it might have taken; for upon such Conviction 'tis hard not to resolve to change, for who is he that can resolve thus with himself, well I will now content my self with everlasting Condemnation and this sin, for I see they are consequent, now this I cannot leave therefore let the other come; they that were once affected with the apprehensions of the greatness and the certainty of that Damnation cannot resolve thus, and therefore we see fewer men adventure to transgress Man's Law, whose Punishment is near and most assur'd, than God's Commandments. And when their fears of the Lords Judgments stare them in the face, they quickly tremble into the terrours and the agonies of Penitence. For who dares sin, and who does not repent upon his Death-bed? he sinks at the remembrance of his former draughts, when he does apprehend his next is like to be in the Infernal Lake, he hath the frost of the Grave on him when he but thinks of his lascivious heats, and does think too that his hot lustful Bed will turn him off straight into Tophet: And then if Lazarus could raise these apprehensions in them, sure they would repent. 'Tis plain these were the grounds our Rich Man built this his request upon, I do not lay them as infallible, I make no question but that men are able to defie their knowledg, and charge through their own belief to sin and to destruction; but commonly men do not lay things deep enough to their heart to be throughly convinc'd in earnest, and thus he believed; for had Abraham granted his desire, and sent Lazarus to testifie the Glories he had tasted in himself, and the Torments he had seen their Brother in, all he could hope from this was but to make them more believe the one and other; therefore he thought for want of this they would miscarry, and this alone would do it; so that w… may conclude, that in the judgment of one that dy'd without Repentance, having resisted all God's Methods, and knew upon what score he did it, and suffered the deserved pains of so doing; the reason why men do not repent, is because they are not sufficiently convinc'd of the next Life, and of its two Eternities of Joy and Torment, they do not credit them, but notwithstanding all that God hath done his truths want witnessing, for if one went unto them from the Dead, one that could testifie, they would Repent.
I should now make reflections on this and our selves together, and truly all this would bespatter fouly such as go on in a Vice, for it does conclude concerning them that they do not believe Gods Truths, but in the midst of their professions of Religion are Infidels; 'tis plain they are so in the aknowledgments of one of their own Tribe, who in the anguish of his Torments does confess this of them from his own experience: But worse things will appear when we have seen that God hath done all this to us with more advantage than this man in Hell did think sufficient, or indeed desire; which was my next undertaking, and I shall manage it in the same order.
First, If one went unto them from the dead, says he, they will Repent. And now to answer that, Christ is come from the dead; an Article this is that made its way through all the Swords, and all the Racks, and torturing Engines that the powerful witty malice of a whole World could find out and execute: And shall it find its death among the softs and glories of its own victorious profession? when it was instant Ruine to ackowledg the belief of it, then Myriads ran into the flames, at once to own and to partake Christs Resurrection: but now they that profess it are so well here in this Life, that in defiance of their own profession, they will not think there is another Life.
It is not out of Principle they doubt (as it were easie to demonstrate) but out of improbity; They have an aversion to severe Piety, and are uneasie under any thing that does engage to it, and must therefore work themselves out; and here they storm; Unkind men to themselves! not onelyonly in imprudence, who adventure all upon such hazards; but in disparaging themselves, who being men of reason, and that set it up to such an height as to make it contend with God, and dispute out his Power of raising them again, yet can think such a reasoning Soul was given them for no other end but to procure for, and to animate the Organs of their sensuality. But this is dash'd if Christ be risen, because His Resurrection did make Faith that he would Judg the World in Righteousness, on purpose to make them Repent; Acts xvii, 20, 21. So that this his first expectation is most fully answered to us.
But Secondly, if Lazarus would go, one out of Abraham's Bosom then they would Repent. And hath there not a greater than Lazarus been with us? one not out of Abraham's but Gods Bosom? even the Son of his Bosom, one that himself prepar'd those Joys for them that would believe him and obey him: one that from all Eternity enjoy'd them in the Bosom of the Divinity. And who could better reveal them to us than the Author and the God of them? who knew them more than he that did create them and possess them? Yea when this Son of God would be Incarnate and take Flesh, and was to carry it through all the Miseries that Sin deserv'd and God's Wrath could inflict, he thought these Joys encouragement enough to do it willingly, these Pleasures were worth Agonies which none but a God could suffer, Heb. xii. 2. Now sure he that prepar'd these Joys did understand them, and he that is the Word of God knew best how to reveal them too. And now how poor a wish was that of our Rich Man? Let Lazarus go tell them: why a Person of the Trinity hath told us; indeed how could God do more than come himself to reveal the truth of them, and himself die for them to reveal the greatness of them? Good God! that no body could serve thy turn to tell us of the pleasures of thy Bosom but the Son of thy Bosom! that thou shouldst think it worth an Incarnation to reveal them, and we not think it worth a little Reformation to have them; that he should part with Blood and give his Life for those Joys, and we not be content to forsake a Custom, to give away the pleasures of a Lust, the neither pleasures nor profits of an Oath, the sick delights of an Excess, nor the vexations of a Passion in exchange for them! what will Hell say to us when one there said, if Lazarus will go they will repent? If
Lazarus, Thirdly, one that saw me in Hell, and so can testifie the Torments of this place, yet God hath out done this too. Our Creed will tell us who descended into Hell, and the Psalmish saying concerning him, God should not leave his Soul in Hell. S. Austin asks, Quis ergo nisi infidelis negaverit fuisse Christum apud inferos? 'Twere easie for me to produce enough besides that say so. Clem. Alex, Origen, Hier. Greg. Naz. Fulgent. Euseb. Emissenus. Caesarius. Anastas. Jobius. Dam…scenus. Oecumenius, &c. But because we are not agreed what he did there, I'll take a surer medium. That no Lazarus can decipher the condition of a Sinner after the pleasures of his iniquity have left him to the recompences of it, so well as Christ who not onelyonly did prepare the Plagues, and therefore can describe them, but also himself bore the pains, and found a few hours bearing them to be too heavy for him, is most evident. His Agonies will give you a relation beyond the skill of Lazarus that saw the Torments, or of all that suffer them. Look but into the Garden, and see if you do not behold there a more dismal Landshape than that which Lazarus had beyond the Gulf, and was desir'd to give account of? there you shall find Christ at the first approaches saying, my Soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death, Matth. xxvi. 38. As if the onelyonly apprehension of his sufferings had inflicted them, and he could not live under the thoughts of them: and then he went a little farther and fell upon his face and prays, saying, O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me. And what was there in this Cup which so empoyson'd it as to make it dreadful to the Son of God? Oh 'tis the Sinners potion that he must swill to everlastingness, and when he was in this condition there appeared an Angel from Heaven strengthning him, Luke xxii. 43. yet v. the 44. we find him still in an Agony. Angels cannot comfort one that is sensible of the guilt of sin upon him; and he prays more earnestly in that same place, Abha Father all things are possible with thee, take away this Cup from me. He does not leave an Attribute unattempted, he does adore the Majesty, for he falls upon his Face and Prays: A Person of the Trinity prostrated in the dust to deprecate those pains; he wooes him to it, Abba Father, canst thou deny thy well beloved, onelyonly begotten Son, thy Son that is thy self, when he comes to thee with such tender compellations of kindness? with words of so much bowels? Abba Father: he takes hold too of his Omnipotence, all things are possible with thee; and he does it with all the earnestness possible to such a Person: for saith St. Luke there, he does it more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great drops of Blood falling to the ground, and what Agony is there in the Torment, when there is Agony in the deprecation of them? such a Passion could not be prayed against with earnestness enough, but that that very earnestness will prove a Passion: Yea and he goes again the third time and prays the same words, as if, if nothing else, importunity should prevail, and when we shall consider that the Person doing this is the Son of God, to whom nothing could be truly insupportable, yet that he should not be able to bear sin; the weight of that we see makes him cry out My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? as if God could forsake that Person in whom the Godhead was of his Person: Or indeed as if the condition did even separate between him and himself.
And now could any from the dead have given such a frighting account? is there not as much warning in this prospect, as if our selves had tasted all of it? for is it not more that these Torments should be so terrible to him than that they should be insupportable to us? Blessed Saviour! if the first apprehensions did assault thee with such killing fury, can we resolve to stand the storm? if we do not resolve that, then if all this will not scare us, but notwithstanding all these fears we will have our delightful, yea and our tormenting sins, what other method will be able to recl…im us? they that hear not Moses and the Prophets, nor yet Christ, neither will they be perswaded sure though any other come unto them from the dead. And so I fall on my last part in these words.
If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead. Here the expression should be first taken notice of: For that is chang'd, it should go regularly thus, as in the proposal, Nay Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent, so in his answer, if they repent not for Moses and the Prophets, neither will they repent though one rose from the dead. But here 'tis otherwise; as if to repent and be perswaded, yea and to hear Moses and the Prophets were the same things. And if it were our Age had got a fair pretence for bringing all Religion to the Ear; but sure Repentance costs the eyes and heart more than it does that part, and yet the Scripture useth oft the like expression: So in 1 Tim. iv. 16. it is said of Timothy, that by continuing in his Doctrine he should save them that hear him. So also 1 Cor. xv. 2. by which ye are sav'd if ye keep in memory the things which I have Preach'd unto you. 'Tis pity when the Ear and Memory are so priviledg'd, that the Tongue hath not the like advantage; but not every one that saith Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; yet to know hath as great, for this is Life eternal to know thee the onelyonly true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent, John xvii. 3. Which Life Eternal, and the being sav'd, or justified, we may not think are so attributed to these, as if to hear, or to remember, or to be perswaded, that is to believe or know, any or all of these alone, shall be rewarded so; or that these necessarily do produce all the rest that is necessary to attain those ends: But onelyonly that it is so reasonable that they should produce them, that the Scripture does presume they will; and therefore affirms, He that says he knows God and keeps not his Commandments is a Lyar. 1 John ii. 4. and he that sinneth hath not seen him neither known him, 1 Joh. iii. 6. Nor heard of him it seems by the Text here: For it is so irrational that they who have had notice of the advantages of serving God, and the sad issues of Iniquity, should not reform; that the Scripture does not suppose them guilty of it, but does chuse to word it thus, they hear not: A sharp rebuke for them all whose Religion is much hearing without doing; the men whose Soul dwells in their Ear, and that dwells by the Pulpit, that these should be adjudged as men that never heard; and so they shall in every respect indeed, but in the innocence of not having heard, that they do hear so much shall aggravate their Sentence: and yet their Crime is that they hear not Moses and the Prophets, and then neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead.
Where I note Secondly, that our Saviour does not intend here to commit Prophecy and Miracles, and set them one against the other, to shew which were most efficacious in begetting Faith: for Predictions being Gods exerting of his Omniscience, as raising from dead is the exerting of his Omnipotence, the one a miracle of Knowledg, as the other is of Power, Prophecy therefore is not to be oppos'd to Miracle, because it works meerly as one; indeed it is a miracle in Expectation, or at distance, and the other present: Nor are they to be made to vie, since both conspire, and both are best in different cases: Besides our Saviour is not talking here of begetting Faith, but making men repent, and the whole meaning of the words is briefly this. Thy Brethren being Jews have Moses and the Prophets, those contain all the motives of Repentance, Gods Commands, his Promises, and Threats; even Heaven and Hell as themselves confess, all these have been confirm'd already by great Miracles, and as such have been long since received by the whole Jewish Church, with so immovable an Opinion of the truth of them, that there needs no new Miracle to give accession of credit to them. And then what can one coming from the dead perswade? new motives he can bring them none; Man's nature is not capable of any other kinds, for he can act but from his affections, or his Reason; all which are baited to the height by those motives they have; the Understanding and the Appetite whether it love, or hate, or hope, or fear, (which set on work whatever we perform) all these I say Heaven and Hell are Object for even to the utmost possibility of motion; If he can bring no new ones, those they have when they are once truly believ'd then they have all the vigour they can have; belief being the application of those active motives to their work, but all the strength to act being in those motives themselves; all I mean in opposition to the miracle. I know that there are other strengths of Grace, but those do help as well the Miracle as Motive; those have influence on the believing too, by their exciting and assisting: (But this strength which may be common to both is not to be considered when one vies with the other:) What therefore shall he go for who can give no new motives nor strength to those they have? If any should not be confirm'd enough in that which Moses and the Prophets say, how shall they be convinc'd that this Ghost is of more credit than they were? but if he should be so far heeded, as to add new Confirmation to them, yet if improbity hath been able to dead the force of the activity of all that Moses says, although acknowledged, with that veneration which the Jews receive Moses with, whose credit they themselves do say no Miracle can be wrought so great as to be able to add to, or diminish from: why then that same improbity within a while will with more ease work off the force of this new Confirmation, so that it will be vain. Indeed 'tis possible that the surprize of such a Miracle just as any other sudden and amazing accident may make a man consider, what though he did afore believe, yet he did not mind nor lay to heart; yet when the astonishment of that is over, the motives then are left to their own strength, and can work onelyonly by their own activity, which we see hath been able to do nothing; so that a Miracle at most can be but a more awful remembrancer.
Now sure to bring this to our selves, we want none such, nor do they prove much useful: Occasions of astonishment and such fatal remembrancers have come and taken up their habitation in our Land, and make approaches towards, hover over every place. Long Bills of mortality, and sad knells, and dreadful passing bells, these are all messengers from the dead, that come posting to us swift as Gods Arrows: And one would think we should take notice of their message, hear them when they pass so near us, when they seem to call out to our selves, when a thousand do fall besides us, and ten thousand at our right hand; wherefore should not an Army of such Carcasses become as moving as one Ghost? should Lazarus come forth with all his sores, they would not be so terrible as these carbuncles and ulcers of the Plague: And the destroying Angel out of Heaven with his Sword drawn, one would expect, should be as efficacious as a Preacher out of Abrahams Bosom. And yet men do not seem to hearken any more to these than they do to us, when we either Preach, or which they think much less, when we read Scripture to them, that is, when they hear Moses and the Prophets. Men have the same security as to their sins which they had in the freest times, whatever fears possess them, they are not the fears of God, those that make men depart from evil, none of those that fright into Repentance; we have no Religious cares upon us now more than at other times, but Vice as if that also had a Sanctuary under the Lords wings, and might retire under his feathers to be safe, dreads no Terrours of the Night, nor Arrows of the Day, but walks as open and as unconcern'd as ever. And now should we behold a mad man on his deathbed spending his onelyonly one remaining minute in execrations; the paleness of a shrowd upon his face, but Bloud and crimson Sins upon his tongue; the frost of the Grave over all his parts, but a lascivious heat in his discourse; in fine, one that had nothing left alive of him but his Iniquity; would not an horrour seize you at that sight? and the same frost possess you but to hear him? and yet his madness is his excuse, and his disease his Innocence. Should we see one that had no other madness, no other sickness but his sin do thus, would it not be more horrid? and is it not the same to see a Nation as it were upon its Death-bed, visited with all the treasures of Gods Plagues, his tokens on it, and every place and man in fearful expectations, and yet no allay of Vice? Wickedness as outragious as ever? while it is thus, with what face can we beg of God to keep from us this Plague and grievous sickness? when we do onelyonly mean to make this use of such indulgence, to cherish another Plague in our own hearts? What can we say to prove it would not be a mercy to us to be suddenly cut off, even in the midst of our iniquity? when by our going on in sin in the midst of Destruction, we make appear if he should let us live, yet we would only live to finish our iniquities: And longer time would have no other use but to fill up a greater measure of sin. What answer do we make to all these Messengers of Death that come so thick about us? what do we that may justifie Gods care in sending us so many warnings? But 'tis no Wonder if the onelyonly neighbourhood of Death have not been able to prevail upon us; have you not seen one whom his own iniquity, or Gods immediate Hand, hath by a Sickness, or by some sad Accident cast to the very brink of Death, so as the Grave seemed to begin to take possession of him? and all his hopes sickned and di'd? so that recovery from that condition may be well, as 'tis in Scripture often called a Rising? have you not seen him in that state, when he supposed that sinning was now done with him, and the next thing was Judgment, when God's Tribunal seemed to be within his view, and Hell to gape for him as wide as the Grave, both opening to receive their parts of him at the same time, and himself ready to divide himself into those two sad Habitations? With what effectual Sermon will he then Preach to himself against his sins? and that you may be sure shall work upon him; he instantly resolves against his Vices, he will not carry them along with him out of this Life, but cast them off as too sad dangerous Company, nor yet if God shall lend him life will he retain them, but it shall be a New Life which he will lead: And yet when God hath rais'd him up, after a while he returns to his Vomit, his Sins recover with his Body▪ he owes his Innocence but to his Weakness, nor is it more long-liv'd; his holy purposes decay as his strength grows, and die as soon as setled health does come: And he who never would commit the Sin again when he was Dying, mends into it again: And then what hopes is there in this mistaken Method? when we see men come themselves from the Deadunto themselves, yet cannot make themselves Repent. But if we are not all concerned in this, take a more spreading and more visible experiment. If ever one came from the Dead, this Church and State came thence: And by as great a Miracle of Resurrection. But where is the Repentance such a Miracle may have flattered our Expectations with, as I am confident the resolutions of it did in that sad dying state? are not some men as violent in those wicked practices that merited our former Ruin? and others in those cursed Principles that did inflict it, as they ever were? 'tis said by many that have evil will at Sion (and it is our concern to take a care they speak not truth) that in the Church some that are risen up again have still the silence of the Grave upon them, and are as dumb, as if their mouth were yet full of their monument Earth: And yet as if it were not full of Earth, nor had been satisfied with it in the Sepulchre, they gape still like the Grave that never can be satisfied. And we see others who as if this Resurrection were but a start out of a sleep, or lucid interval of former madness, have their hands ready not onelyonly to tear off the hair, the unessential accessary beauties of the Body of the Church and State, but to scratch the Face, pull out the Eyes, and tear open those Wounds which their last fit of Fury did inflict, so to let life out again. And as for the Community of the Nation, 'tis true we are as it were risen from the Grave, but have we not brought up with us the Plague sores? are not the Spots upon us still? the Venom, Ulcer, and infection about us? Yea more contracted Stench and Putrefaction? such as Death and the Grave do add? and coming from the dead we will not yet part with these, but dress our selves in those infected and defiled grave-cloaths, and rise into corruption, and so confute Gods Method of a Resurrection. 'Twere happier if we would so far confute the Text, that coming our selves from the dead, we would renounce communion with all Deaths adherencies; begin the incorruptible, which shall be consummated when we shall rise again a Church triumphant: when Death shall be swallowed up in Victory, and neither Sin nor Repentance shall be any more, but Holiness, and Life, and Glory too shall be Immortal and unchangeable.
To Which, &c.