Two Discourses, Sermon 1 · Motives
MOTIVES.
1. Consider the disingenuity of this Enmity.
There is no necessity thou shouldest be his Enemy, it will not be Honourable to thee to stand out. Peter denied Christ, when his own Life was in danger; and thou hatest God, who would put the life of thy Soul out of danger. 'Tis against all the obligations of Nature and Grace, to be an Enemy to him to whom thou owest thy Being, thy preservation from Hell, and recovery from Misery, but for thy own Fault. Do we not voluntarily subject our selves to Men, whom we esteem good, though the loveliness of their Persons, and the goodness of their Nature be infinitely short of God, and are as much below him in alluring Qualities, as they are in Greatness and Majesty? What Benefits can Men bestow upon their Servants, like those God doth recompence his sincere Adorers with? Men may love their Friends more than they can help them; but the loving-kindness of God is attended with a Power as infinite as it self.
1. God hath been good to us.
He is Love,1 Joh. 4.8. and we are out of love with Love it self. Is he not our Father? why should we not Honour him? Is he not our Master? why should we not Obey him? Is he not our Benefactor? why should we not Affect him? Whence have we our Mercies, but from his Hand? Who besides him maintains our Breath this moment? Would he call for our Spirits this instant, they must depart from us to attend his Command? What shall his Benefits be made Weapons of Unrighteousness, and the Devils Arms against him? Christ died for us while we were Enemies, and shall we stand out as Enemies still? It will be the least thou canst do to love him at the very time he shows Mercy to thee, and that is every minute. There is not a moment wherein thou canst with any ingenuity be an enemy to him, because there is not a moment wherein he is not thy Guardian, wherein thou dost not tast of his Bounty. God hath let thee have thy swing all this time, thou hast had thy Rendezvouz at thy Pleasure, and he never laid wait for thee but in kindness. He might have dealt with us, as we do with Venomous Creatures, and destroyed such a generation of Vipers, and crushed the Cockatrice in the Egg. What a disgraceful thing is it to put off the Nature of Men for that of Devils, to hate God under Mercy, as much as the Devils do under wrathful Anger? Is not God our greatest Benefactor, and shall he have nothing but disdains from us for all his Benefits? The Psalmist cries out, What shall I render to the Lord for all his Benefits towards me? But it is the Language of our Heart, What ill turns shall we render to God for all his Mercies unto us? 'Tis his Mercy we are not consumed, and shall we spend this Mercy upon our Lusts? He was Compassionate in sparing us, and shall we be Ungrateful in hating him? 'Tis the highest Disingenuity.
2dly. God hath been importunate in intreaties of us.
God offers not only Truce, but a Peace, and hath been most active in urging a Reconciliation. Can he manifest his willingness in clearer Methods, than that of sending his Son to reconcile the World to Himself? Can he evidence more sincerity than by his repeated and reiterated pressing of our Souls to the acceptance of Him? God knocks at our Hearts, and we are deaf to him; He thunders in our Ears, and we regard him not; He waits upon us for our acceptance of his Love, and we grow more mad against him; He beseecheth us, and we ungratefully and proudly reject him; He opens his bosome, and we turn our backs; He offers us his pearls, and we tread them under our feet; He would cloath us with pure linnen, but we would still wear our foul rags; He would give us Angels bread, and we feed on husks with Swine. The wisdom of God shines upon us, and we account it foolishness. The infinite kindness of God courts us, and we refuse it, as if it were the greatest cruelty. Christ calls and begs, and we will not hear him either commanding or intreating. To love God is our privilege, and though it be our indispensable duty, yet it had been a presumption in us to aspire so high as to think the casting our earthly affections upon so transcendent an object should be dear to him, had he not authorised it by his command, and encouraged it by his acceptance. But 'tis strange that God should court us by such varieties of kindness to that, wherein not his happiness, but our perfection doth consist; and much stranger, that such pieces of Earth and Clay should turn their Backs upon so adorable an Object, and be Enemies to him, who displays himself in so many Allurements to their Souls, and fix their hatred upon that tender God who sues for their Affections. If you consider that
1. God is our Superior. An Inferior should seek to a Superior, not a Superior to one below him. There is an Equality between Man and Man, but an infinite Inequality between God and us.
2. God is the party wronged, and yet offers a Parley.
3. When he could as well Damn us, as Court us; he wants not Power to rid his hands of us, but he would rather show his Almightiness in the triumph of his Mercy, than the Trophies of his Justice; He had rather be a refreshing Light, than a consuming Fire.
The Second Motive.
2. This Enmity to God, 'tis the greatest Folly and Madness.
The Scripture tells us, that Sin is Folly and Madness; And certainly had Man a clear prospect of this Truth, which in his first Apostacy he fell from, so that he could examine all his Speculations, Desires, Motions, and Actions by that Rule, they would appear to him to be acts of a craz'd and Frantick Mind. Therefore, when upon our return to God we have but a glimpse of this Truth, how much asham'd is Man of the deformity of his Actions from that Rule; as a Man that hath been Mad, is of those pranks he plaid in his Phrenzy, after he is brought to his right Wits. Hence Repentance, which is always accompanied with a Shame, is called foreign, a return to our right Wits.
1. This Enmity to God, 'tis in it self Irrational; because,
1. God is the most lovely Object.
He hath in his own nature, as well as in his Operations the highest right to our Love: for the more of Entity and Being any thing hath, the more of Perfection, and the more lovely it is in it self, and the more to be belov'd by us. Now God hath the most of Being, because other Beings were eminently contained in his immense Essence, and produced by his infinite Power, and were the Manifestations of himself, and lines drawn from him, and by him; and therefore He is the most amiable Object, because the Creature hath nothing lovely but only what it hath from God, which is more eminently treasur'd up in him, and may in him be seen and enjoyed with a greater advantage. The Creatures are but Pictures, and can no more represent to the full the true amiableness of God, than a few Colours, tho' never so well suited together, can the Moral or Intellectual Loveliness of the Soul of Man. As God had all the Idea's of his Creatures in his Mind, so he had all the virtues of them in his Essence. Therefore to love any Creature above God, and so to hate him, is the highest piece of unreasonableness.
2dly. God is the chiefest Good, and the Fountain of all Goodness.
'Tis unreasonable to look upon that, which comes from the Fountain of Goodness, to be destructive to our true Pleasure; yet Men have such hard thoughts of Religion and Divine Commands, as if they were designed for their utter ruin, when they are the effluxes of infinite Goodness. All hatred doth arise from an apprehension of the inconsistency of the thing we hate, with something we esteem a part of our happiness; and Sinners being possessed with the thoughts of the Justice and Holiness of God, as inconsistent with their Darling Sin, hate him for being of a Nature so contrary to that which they love; whereas none of God's perfections are repugnant to our Being, or Well-being in themselves: For would we have a God unjust, what comfort could we then take in him; we hate him for being against that which is most against us? We hate him for hating of that which would destroy our Souls, and imbitter our Beings to us to all Eternity: We hate him for hating that, which if it were possible would disquiet his Felicity, and destroy his Being. What an unreasonable thing is it, to quarrel with that Law of God, which obligeth you to nothing but what conduceth to the benefit of your Souls, and the order of the World? What doth it bound and restrain you from, but that which would bring destruction upon you? Is it not a greater advantage to be carried fetter'd to Heaven, than to run at liberty to Hell? who but a Madman would prefer the Devil's before God's Yoke, and be the Captive of a hellish Tyrant, rather than the Subject of a Gracious Soveraign? What an unreasonable thing is it to love any Sin, a privation better than the best of Beings? Can we expect to get as much advantage from him, by being his Enemies, as by being his Friends, since he is of so Merciful a Disposition?
3dly. God cannot possibly do us Wrong.
All right Hatred is from a real Wrong, sense of Wrong, or fear of Wrong; either of those is an unjust imputation upon God, who cannot possibly do wrong to his Creatures, because he cannot be unrighteous. Rom. 3.5. Is God unrighteous who takes vengeance, foreign. For God is so far from being injurious in the least to us, that he doth cast about, and contrive our Happiness in his Laws, more than we can our selves, or are willing he should do for us. Men cannot, if they consult but the sparks of Reason, but confess the reasonableness of Gods Commands, and be satisfied in the righteousness of the Duties enjoined, and the profitableness of the Counsels set out in the Gospel, and must needs look upon the Felicity promised, to be excellent and desirable, and therefore cannot upon any reasonable account charge God with doing them any Wrong. Or let me argue thus; Either God hath Wrong'd us, or not; if not, it is unreasonable to disaffect him; if he hath, why should we hate him, seeing if God could do any injustice, he would not have the being of a God? For if it were possible, as soon as ever he should cease to be Just and Righteous, he would cease to be God, and destroy his own Nature: For as every Man in doing an Unjust Act, is less than a Man, and loses the end of his own Reason; so God by doing any Injustice, would be less than a God. Nay our hating him as Judge, is highly irrational, because of his Equity, and Righteousness in all his proceedings. And because it is our own act in forcing him to that by our Evil Practises, which he is not willing to do but according to his own Righteous Nature, and for the Vindication of his Holiness in his Law, cannot but do, upon our final Impenitency, and persisting in our Transgressions.
4thly. God cannot be hurt by us.
'Tis a folly among Men to show their Enmity where they cannot hurt. What an unreasonable Boldness is it for a man to think he can grapple with Omnipotency, and enter the Lists with the Fountain of all Strength and Power? What is thy Enmity, but a small wrigling against God? What disadvantage can accrue to him by thy opposing him? Just as much as the Moon receives by the Dog's barking at it, which neither stands still, nor alters its Course, nor is frighted at the noise. Foolish man! that will not discover an Enmity against a Superior, but rakes it up in the Ashes, and muzzles his Anger till he be able to bite; and yet proclaims a War openly against Heaven, as if he were too strong for God, and God too weak for him. As the Light of God's Face is too dazling to be seen, so the Arm of his Power is too mighty to be oppress'd by us. His Almightiness is above the reach of our potsherd Strength, as his Infiniteness is above the Capacity of our purblind Understandings. His Happiness is too firm to be disturb'd by us, as well as his Essence too glorious to be comprehended. What force canst thou have to resist the Presence of him, before whom the Rocks melt, and the Heavens at length will be shrivell'd up as Parchment by the last fire?
5thly. But though thou canst not hurt God, yet thou dost mightily wrong thy self.
Senseless Sinner! God is out of thy Gunshot; thy Arrows are too short for that Mark, but his are long enough for thee; thy Shot will fall before it reach him, but his Arrows will both reach thy Heart, and stick in it. Hatred in the World is attended sometimes with outward advantage; but what gain canst thou expect by this Enmity? What refreshment is there by thy endeavouring to dry up the Fountain? What good by labouring to destroy the Original of Goodness it self? What harm is it to the Sun to shoot up Arrows against it? Do they pierce its Light, or shatter any of the Sparks of it? No, but they fall down upon the Archer's head. The Opposition of a wicked Man against God is much like a man's running his head against a Rock, to be reveng'd on it for splitting his Ship; whereby he bruiseth not the Rock, but dasheth out his own Brains, and pays his Life for a price of his folly. Poor man is like a Potsherd, that justles with a Rock, and bursts it self! and is not this the highest piece of Madness? Isa. 45.9. Wo unto him that strives with his Maker: let the potsheard strive with the potsherds of the earth. Dost thou fight against the Rock of Ages? it will rather blunt thy Weapon than be hurt by thy Arm; it will make thy Sword fly back in pieces upon thy own Face. Every wicked Man is a greater Enemy to himself than the Devil is, and wrongs himself more than the Devil can do; because he nourisheth that Sin in him which wars against his Soul.
3dly. The Third Motive, Consider the Misery of such a state.
Thou wilt be miserable with a witness, 1 Cor. 16.22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema. Let all the Curses in Heaven and Earth light upon him. Let the Mercy, Wisdom, Power, Strength of God appear against him; let him not have an Advocate to make any Plea for him. Angels, Men, Devils will all appear against such a person.
1. Thou canst not possibly escape Vengeance.
The Sodomites, whose Sins had so long dar'd God's Justice, might have better escap'd than thou canst: But, alas! what force hath a Puppy or Worm in a Lion's paw? Thou art no more in his hand than a Fly between a Gyant's fingers.
Go foolish self-deluding Creature, recollect thy self. Can such a Bubble, Dust, Chaff, Stubble, worse than nothing and Vanity, wrestle with God? Ah poor Worm! Wilt thou set thy self in a strutting Array against Omnipotency, far less in God's hands than a Chicken new stript of its Shell in the Talons of an Eagle. Jacob, a holy Man, wrestled with him upon a holy account, and broke his Thigh; take heed in thy wrestling with him upon a sinful account, thou dost not break thy Neck. If he be thy friend, none can hurt thee; but if thy enemy, none can relieve thee. He is the best friend when Men will love him, but as terrible an enemy as consuming fire, when Men will hate him. Thou must be subject to him whether thou wilt or no, there is no remedy; if submission to his Mercy be not free, subjection to his Justice must be forc'd. We must be under his Power whether we will or no; we cannot wrest our selves out of the compass of his Arm; if we go down to Hell, he is there; if we dive to the bottom of the Deep, thence his Hand will fetch us out. We always have been, are still, and for ever must be within the reach of his Almighty Power. Whither wilt thou go? Is there any Garison to defend thee? any Sanctuary to secure thee? any Champion to stand for thee? If all the Angels in Heaven, and Devils in Hell, should rouze up themselves to be thy Protectors, thou wouldest be just as happy, as if thou hadst the shelter of the Dust of the Balance, or a drop of a Bucket. Can we blind his Eye that he should not see, or deafen his Ear that he should not hear, or bind his Arm that he should not strike? Can we remove his Jealousy by increasing it? Can we mitigate Everlasting Burnings by adding Oil to them? Can our Sins stand out against his Judgments, or our Persons successfully combat with his Wrath? Before any of those can be done, the Creator must descend into our Impotency. What man will confess he is able to do any of those, and yet he will walk in a Path of Enmity? Wrath will come, though it be slow in coming; 'Tis slow, but sure; the longer it is preparing, the bitterer will it be in enduring. Let all Devils and Sinners in the World join together, how soon is God able to overthrow them, and turn their Babel-Fort to their own Confusion, and bury them in the Ruins of their own Works! Prov. 11.21. Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunish'd. How would he fling them all into Hell, as one of us can a Bag of Dust or Sand into the Sea?
2dly. Thou dost even force God to destroy thee for his own content, and as it were provoke him to damn thee for his own Ease; if thou wilt not lay down thy Arms, thou dost wrest Wrath out of his hands, Zech. 6.8. Have quieted my spirit. He speaks of the Angels which he had sent out against Babylon, those black Horses which noted Death and Destruction; and those Angels doing their work and duty, are said by himself to quiet his Spirit; so that God can have no Rest in his own Spirit but by thy submission or destruction. And the longer thou dost stand out, the more thou dost provoke God to take some course for the easing of himself: for Punishment in another place he calls his Ease, Isa. 1.24. I will ease me of my adversaries; and the latter words explain it, I will avenge me of my enemies. Is not the Honour of God concern'd in his Laws? and would he not make himself ridiculous to the Sons of Men, if he did not severely punish their Violations of them?
3dly. God cannot save thee without disturbing the happiness of those that love him, and are loved by him.
Thou wilt but make a disturbance in Heaven by thy contrary disposition, and hinder that exact Harmony; Thy jarring Principles could never agree with that Consort; thy Enmity and Division with that Union; The Repose of the Saints would be disquieted, and their Pleasure cool'd: for if they cared not for thy Company in the World, when they had many reliques of Enmity in themselves, and an imperfect holiness, they can less endure it in Heaven, where their holiness is fully ripe, and their hatred against impiety perfectly strong; And God will not bring thee thither with that cursed nature thou hast, to damp their joy, and spoil the order of Heaven.
A state of Wrath must necessarily succeed a state of Enmity: for Heaven can never be a place suitable to you, it will be as little agreeable to you, as your being there will be to God.
4ly. Thou hast the beginnings of Hell in thee already.
Enmity is a hellish Disposition. As the perfection of Love in Heaven is a part of Heaven's Happiness, so the perfection of Enmity in Hell is a part of the damned's Misery. The sight of God in Heaven enflames Love in Saints, so the absence of God from Hell enrageth Enmity in the Devils and damned Spirits.
5ly. All thy Enmity will certainly be charged upon thee one day.
There is a time when all thy acts of Enmity shall be set in order before thee, Psal. 50.21. I will set them in order before thee. This is to be understood more Militari, when sin shall be set in rank and file, in bloody array against thy Soul. Or more Forensi, when they shall be set in order as so many Inditements for thy Rebellion and Treason. What sadness will seize upon thee at the last, when God shall fix upon thee out of the Croud, and point at thee, Luk. 19.27. But those my Enemies which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. How solemnly will he execute every Enemy at the last! they shall be brought out shackled one by one, and Christ will sit and behold it. Lo here is one of my Enemies, I have found him out for all his fair hopes of escape. When Men and Angels shall say, Lo this is the man that made not God his Strength; this is the Man that set up other Gods in his heart; that was such a fool as to think his Pleasure, Riches, Strength, Honour, to be his God. Ah fool with a witness, to think that a God could be of thy own making!