VeR. 3.j SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 153-
Use 4. To press us to seek salvation in no other but in God throuj2;h Christ. Come to Christ ; you are in need of salvation, and there is no other way : Acts iv, 12, ' Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby Ave must be saved.' Christ is an all-sufficient Saviour, ' able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God through him,' Heb. vii. 25 ; a blaster broad enough for every scire. Do you cast yourselves upon liim ; see if he will refuse you : John vi. 37, ' He that cometh unto< me, I will in no wise cast off.'
Now I shall come to the particulars that are to be known concerning God and Christ.
First, Concerning God,
Doct. 1. That there is a God, This is the supreme truth, and first to be known : Heb. xi. (>, ' They that come to God must believe that he is.' The discussion is not needless. Though it be impossible to deface those impressions of the deity which are engraven upon our hearts, yet the drift of our desires and thoughts goeth this way, as if there were no God : Ps. x. 4, ' The wicked, through the pride of his coun- tenance, will not seek after God ; God is not in all his thoughts.' All his thoughts are. There is no God : Ps. xiv. 1, ' The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.' Though he durst not speak it out, yet he saith it in his heart, he entertaineth some such suspicious thoughts and desires about this matter. Those that are guilty of treason would fain destroy the court-rolls ; so carnal men would destroy all memorials of God. Yea, many of the children of God feel this temptation. Is there a God ? It will not be lost labour to answer the inquiry. I s^all pitch upon such arguments as are every man's money. (^ 1. God is evidenced by his works : —
[1.] Of creation^ The world is a great book and volume, the creatures are letters, the most excellent are capital letters. If you cannot read, the beasts will teach you : Job xii. 7, 8, ' Ask now the beasts, and they will teach thee ; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee. Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee ; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this ? ' The mute fishes, that can hardly make any sound, have voice enough to proclaim their creator. The apostle tells us, Kom. i. 20, ' The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead.' Like Phidias, who in his image carved his own name, there is God engraven upon every creature. But how doth the world show that there is a God ? There must be some supreme and infinite cause, for nothing can be cause to itself; then it would be before it is, Aristotle acknowledged TrpcoTov alnov, a first cause. Every house must have a builder, and this curious fabric an infinitely wise architect. Thou that deniest God, or doubtest of his being, look upon the heavens : Ps. xix. 1, ' The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showetb his handiwork.' His glory shineth in the sun, and sparkles in the stars. The sun is a representative of God in the brightness of his beams, ex- tent of his influence, indefatigableness of his motion. All the motions of the creatures are so many pulses, by which we may feel after God.
154 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVIi. [SeU. III.
[2.] By works of providence. The world is made np of tilings of difierenT "and destructive natures, and all that we now sec would .soon run into disorder and confusion were it not poised and tempered with a wise hand ; and when we are stupid, and do not mind these things, providence discovereth itself in judgments and unwonted operations: Ps. Iviii. 11, 'So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous ; verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.'
2. From the confession and common consent of all natio^s^even those that have been most rude~and barharous, there is none without some worship. The pagan mariners, Jonah i. 5, ' were afraid, and cried every man unto his god.' Those that were most estranged from human society, those that lived in the wilderness without law and government, have been touched with a sense of a deity and god- head ; which must arise from natural instinct. It cannot be any deceit, or imposition of fancy, by custom and tradition, falsehood usually not being so universal and long-lived. Men do what they can to blot out these notions and instincts of conscience. An invention so con- trary to nature would have been long ere this worn out.
3. From our own consciences, that appal the stoutest sinner after the commitment of any gross evil. The heathens, that had but a little light, feared death : Kom. i. 32, ' They, knowing tiie judgment of God, that they that do such things are worthy of death,' &c. ; and ' they had thoughts excusing and accusing one another,' Eom. ii. 14, 1.5. As letters written with the juice of a lemon, hold them to the fire, they may be read. What terrors are in the hearts of wicked men after the commitment of sins against light, as incest, murder, promiscuous lusts, contemptuous speaking of God or his worship ! Though their sins were secret, hidden under a covert of darkness and secrecy, and not liable to any human cognisance, yet they still feared an avenging hand : their hearts have been upon them. Yea, atheists smitten with horror, what they deny in the day, they acknowledge in the darkness of the night, especially in distress. Diagoras, troubled with the strangury, acknowledged a deity. Or a little before death, their hearts are filled with trembling and horror.