SERM. but now they have both feen and hated, both me and my Father. And to the Cities, wherein most of his mighty Works were~~ done; Matt. xi. 21; Wo unto thee, Chorazin; Wo unto thee, Bethfaida, For if the mighty Works which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in Sackcloth and Ashes: But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto Heaven, shalt be brought down to Hell; For if the mighty Works which have been done in Thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this Day; But I say unto you, that it skall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgement, than for you. And upon the fame Ground it is, that the Apostle in like manner so highly aggravates the Sin of rejecting the Gofpel; Heb. xii. 25; See that ye refuse not bim that speaketh: For if They escaped not, who refused him that spake on Earth; much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from HcaAnd ch. ii. 2; If the Word Spoken by Angels, Ven. ( SERM. Angels, was stedfast; and every tranfgrefI. fion and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great Salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him: God alfo bearing them witness, both with Signs and Wonders, and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own Will. A careful Consideration of the Sense of these Passages, will lead us to the true meaning of the like, but more difficult, and seemingly more fevere Expressions in the Text. For, if the great Aggravation of Sin, be the Knowledge of our Duty; and the Condemnation of the World, be the Light that is come into it; and the Guilt of the Jews was proportionably greater than that of other men, for this reason, because our Saviour did among them the Works which no other man did elsewhere; and those particular Cities of the Jews, wherein most of our Lord's mighty Works were done, were condemned with a more particularly fevere judgment; and in general, every Sin against the Word Spoken by our Lord himself himself from Heaven, and confirmed with SER M. of SERM. of the particular Crimes they were guil I. ty of; but by rejecting the preaching of ~Righteous Noah, which was the last Call God vouchsafed them to Repentance: For he resolved, that whosoever blafphemed the preaching of Noah, should never be forgiven, but be destroyed by the Flood. The Inhabitants of Sodom finned unpardonably; not by any of their particular Wickednesses, which yet were extremely heinous; but by refusing to hear Lot's Exhortations to Repentance; who was the last Monitor God intended to fend them; and he determined judicially, that whosoever blafphemed the preaching of Lot, it should never be forgiven him, but he should be destroyed in the Desolation by Fire. The Pharisees in our Saviour's Time, sinned likewise unpardonably; not by any of the particular Iniquities, with which they are charged in the Gospel; (For the whole Design of our Lord's preaching, was to exhort them to repent of these, that they might be forgiven:) But they finned unpardonably, by opprobrioufly rejecting our Lord's Invitation to repentance; and by scornfully reviling ; reviling the greatest and the last Miracles, SER M. which he intended to work in that Place I. amongst them; And therefore, after This, ~~ God refolved to leave them to themselves, to live and die in their Sins without further conviction, and never to be forgiven, or to have any New Means of Pardon offered them, either in this World or in the World to come. Verily I say unto you, All manner of Sin and Blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, shall not be forgiven unto men : And whosoever Speaketh a Word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him neither in this World neither in the World to come. The Words are the severest Words in the whole New Teftament; and therefore ought very carefully to be confidered and explained, in their true and proper meaning; that neither melancholy pious perfons may, on the one hand, be terrified with Fears of what they have not the least reason to apply to themselves; nor wilful and incorrigible Sinners, pre sumptuoufsly |