knowledgeth of himself, while he oppofed the truth of Christianity, he was mad against all that were of that way.

VIII. And lastly, to mention no more, infidelity and oppofition to the truth is ufually attended with bloody and inhuman perfecution, a certain argument of a weak caufe, and which wants better means of conviction. Thus the Jews treated our Saviour; when they could not deal with him by reafon, they perfecuted him, and fought to kill him, John v. 16. and chap. viii. 59. When our Saviour had answered all their objections, and they had nothing to reply upon him, They took up ftones to caft at him; a fign their reafons were fpent, and that their argu ments were at an end. Thus infidelity and error betrays its own weaknefs and wanting of reafon on its fide, by making ufe of fuch brutifh and unreafonable weapons in its own defence. Our bleffed Saviour and his Apoftles never thought of propagating their religion by these inhuman and barbarous ways. These methods are proper to the destroyer; but not to the Lamb of God, and Saviour of men. The Son of man came not to destroy mens lives, but to fave them; to do good to the bodies and to the fouls of men ; and not to deftroy their bodies, no, not in order to the faving of their fouls. All the means that he or his Apoftles ufed, were teaching and perfuading, and that with great meeknefs: Learn of me, for I am meek, faith our Lord: and the Apostles every where command the teachers of this religion, to shew all gentleness to all men, and in meekness to inftruct thofe that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth. They did not go about to convert men by armed force, and ways of violence and cruelty. It is a fign that reafon runs very low with that religion, which had no better arguments to perfuade men to it than dragoons and the gallies; thefe are carnal, and therefore not Chriftian weapons. So St. Paul tells us, The weapons of our warfare are not carnal; and yet they were mighty through God to fubdue a great part of the world to the belief and obedience of the ChriVOL. X.

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ftian religion. Thus I have done with the fourth particular in the text, the unreasonableness of infidelity, and oppofition to the truth. The two remaining ones I fhall difpatch in a few words.

Fifthly, therefore, I obferved the true reafon and account of mens oppofition to the truth, and rejection of it; Men loved darkness rather than light, becaufe their deeds were evil. And indeed darkness is more fuitable to a wicked and vicious life, because the deformity of it is not fo easily discovered as in the light; this makes the evil of mens actions more manifeft, and their faults more inexcufable. Men may pretend other reafons for their infidelity and oppofition of the truth, and may feem to argue against the principles of religion in good earnest, and against the reasonableness and truth of Chriftianity, from a real contrary perfuafion : but no man that hath these things fairly propofed to him, and with all the advantages they are capable of, and hath the patience to confider the true nature and defign of the Chriftian doctrine, but muft acknowledge it, not only to be the most reasonable, but the most divine, moft likely to come from God, and to make men like to God, of any religion that ever yet appeared in the world. If any man reject it, it is not because he hath good and fufficient reafons against it; but because he is fwayed by fome unreasonable prejudice and paffion, or biaffed by fome luft or intereft, which he is ftrongly addicted to, and loth to part with, and yet he must part with it, if he entertain this religion, and fubmit himself to the terms and rules of it. This is that. which commonly lies at the bottom of infidelity, and is the true reafon of their oppofition to the truth, that their deeds are evil. And it is natural for every man to defend himself, and juftify his doings as well as he can; and if religion be clearly against him, to fet himself with all the defpite and malice he can against religion; and to hate, and with all his might to oppofe that which contradicts that course which he is in love with, and is refolved to continue in: for as our Saviour reasons in a like cafe, No man can serve two masters; but either he will hate the one, and love

the

the other; or he will cleave to the one and quit the other. Men cannot entertain the truth, and retain their lufts; and therefore, as our Saviour tells us immediately after the text, Every one that doth evil hateth the light, neither cometh he to the light, left his deeds fhould be reproved. The light of truth is as grievous to a bad man, as the light of the fun is to fore eyes; because it lays open and discovers the faults and vices of men, and if they entertain it, will urge them, and put them upon a neceffity of reforming their wicked lives, and because they have no mind to this, therefore they refift the light and endeavour to keep it out. The vices and lufts of men are fo many difeafes; and men naturally loath phyfick, and put it off as long as they can and this makes many inconfiderate and wilful men to favour their disease, and take part with it against all counfel and advice; and when the great Phyfician of fouls comes and offers them a remedy, they flight and reject him, and will rather perifh than follow his prefcriptions.

And this was the true reafon why the Jews rejected the gofpel: they were vicious in their lives, and loth to undergo the feverity of a cure; they were not willing to be faved by fo fharp and upleafant a remedy. And this is ftill the true reafon at this day, of mens enmity and oppofition to religion, because it declares against their evil deeds, and proclaims open war against thofe vices and lufts which they love, and are refolved to live in; fo that they have no other way to justify themselves and their actions, but by condemning and rejecting that which reproves and finds fault with them.

And here I might fhew more particularly, that there are two accounts to be given why bad men are fo apt to refift and reject divine truth, even when it is revealed and propofed to them in the fairest manner, and with the cleareft evidence.

1. Because their minds are not fo rightly prepared and difpofed for their receiving of divine truth. And,

2. Because they have an intereft against it, their defigns and deeds are evil, they have fome worldly

intereft

intereft to carry on, or they are in love with fome vice or luft which they cannot reconcile with the truths of God and religion. But this I have done, at large elfewhere. [See Serm. 87, 88, 89.] I proceed therefore to the

Sixth and laft particular in the text, namely, the great guilt of those who reject the doctrine of the gofpel. By this very act of theirs they are condemned, nay, they condemn themselves; because they reject the only means of their falvation. This is the condemnation, this very thing argues the height of their folly and guilt, that when light is come, they prefer darknefs before it. If any thing will condemn men, this will; and if any thing will aggravate their condemnation, and make it above meafure heavy and intolerable, this will. If it were in a doubtful matter that men made fo ill and foolish a choice, the thing would admit of fome excufe: but the difpute is between light and darknefs. If the Chriftian religion had not fo plainly the advantage of any other inftitution that ever was; if that holiness which the gofpel commands, and that happiness which it promifeth, were not infinitely to be preferred before the ways of fin and death, the unbeliever and the difobedient might have fomething to fay for themselves; but the cafe is plainly otherwife, fo that whoever having the Chriftian religion fairly and fully propofed to him, doth not believe it, or profelling to believe it, doth not live according to it, hath no cloak for his fin; neither the one for his infidelity, nor the other for his difobedience and if any thing will aggravate the condemnation of men, this will; for the greater light men fin againft, the greater is their guilt and the greater any man's guilt is, the heavier will be his doom. The Heathen world that lived for many ages in darkness and the shadow of death, fhall be condemned for finning against that imperfect knowledge of their duty, which they had from the glimmering of natural light; but they fhall be beaten with few ftripes, their punishment fhall be gentle in comparifon: but what punishment can be fevere enough for thofe obftinate infidels that reject the light, and prefer darkness before it; for thofe impu

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dent

125 dent offenders, who admit the light of the gofpel, and yet rebel against it; who do the works of dark nefs in the midst of this light, at noon-day, and inthe face of the fun! This confideration the fcripture frequently urgeth upon those who enjoy the light of the gospel. I fay unto you, it shall be more tolerables for Tyre and Sidon, for Sodom and Gomorrah, the very worst and wickedeft of the Heathen, than for you. How shall we efcape, if we neglect fo great falvation? If either we reject the knowledge of the truth, or fin wilfully after we have received it, that is, apoftatife either to infidelity, or impiety of life, there remains no more facrifice for fin, nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, to confume the adverfary, that is, fuch implacable enemies of God and his truth; in fo doing, we refift and reject our laft remedy; and after God hath fent and facrificed his only Son for our falvation, we cannot in reafon think there remains any more facrifice for fin. I have gone over the feveral particulars in the text: I shall only make two or three infer

ences.

First, If the great defign of the Son of God was to enlighten the world with the knowledge of divine truth, what fhall we think of thofe who make it their great endeavour to stifle and fupprefs this light, and to hinder the free communication of it? who conceal the word of life from the people, and lock up the knowledge of falvation, contained in the holy fcriptures, in an unknown tongue ?

Secondly, Having reprefented the unreafonableness of infidelity, and the evil concomitants of it in the Jews, Let us take heed left there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God, and left any of us fall after the fame example of infidelity. Let us not reject the principles of religion, because they are inconfiftent with our evil practices, but let us rather endeavour to reconcile our lives to the rules of religion, and refolve to reform those faults which religion reproves, and which the reafon of our own minds, if we would attend to it, re-, proves as much as religion; a clear evidence that