is to come, while it is yet to come, before it overtake you, and there be no efcaping. And let it not be grievous to us, to be put in mind of thefe terrible things. How much eafier is it now to hear of them, while they may be avoided, than to endure them hereafter, when they will be both unavoidable and intolerable? And look upon them as the best and most faithful friends, who deal plainly with you in these matters, and acquaint you with the true ftate of things, and tell you nothing but what you will certainly find true, if you perfift in this dangerous courfe of offending God; who reprefent things to you as they are, and forewarn you of fo great and certain a danger. It is no pleafure to any man to fpeak of fuch dreadful and tragical things; it can be no delight to fright men, and to grate upon their ears with fuch harfh and unwelcome words: but it is neceffary to the greatest part of finners, to fet their danger before them in the most terrible and frightful manner; and all this little enough to tawaken the greatest part of mankind to a due confideration of their ways. Soft words, and fober reafon,and calm arguing will work upon fome perfons; fome finners are more yielding, and may be taken in upon parley: but others are fo obftinate and refolved, that they are not to be carried but by ftorm; and in this cafe, violence is the greatest act of friendfhip and kindness. Our Saviour when he fpake these terrible words to his difciples, and gave them this warning, does infinuate, that it proceeded from a moft fincere and hearty friendship to them: And I fay unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do; but I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear, &c. SER 207 SERM ON CCLII. The efficacy of prayer, for obtaining the LUKE XI. 13. How much more shall your heavenly Father give the T The firft fermon on this text. HE great advantages which we have by the our lives. 1. A more perfect rule for the direction of 2. A more powerful affiftance to enable us to the performance of our duty. And, 3. The affurance of a glorious and an eternal reward. And all these are contained in that excellent fermon of our bleffed Saviour upon the mount of which this paffage in St. Luke is a part, although it was fpoken here by our Saviour upon another occafion, and at another time. Our Saviour begins that fermon with the laft of thefe, as being the great motive and encouragement to our duty, the promife of bleffednefs, and of a great reward in heaven. And then he lays down the rule which was the fubftance of thofe moral duties, which are contained in the Law and the Prophets; only he explains and fupplies whatever was obfcure and defective before, and thereby brings our duty to a greater cer tainty, and clearnefs, and perfection than it had be fore. 1 But because this would have fignified little to us, if we be ftill unable to perform our duty, and to obey that law which God hath given us, and to the obedience whereof he hath promised fo great a reward; therefore that nothing might be wanting to excite and encourage our obedience, our bleffed Saviour, after he had made our duty as ftrict as poffible, left we should faint and be difcouraged under an apprehenfion of the impoffibility, or extreme difficulty of performing what he requires of us, is pleafed to promife an affiftance equal to the difficulty of our duty, and our inability of ourselves to perform it; knowing that we are without ftrength, and that nothing is a greater difcouragement to men from attempting any thing, than an apprehenfion that they have not fufficient ftrength to go through with it, not being able of themfelves alone to do it, and defpairing of affiftance from any other. And this is the great difcouragement that most men ly under, as to the bufinefs of religion; they are confcious to themfelves of their own weakness, and not fufficiently perfuaded of the divine affiftance; like the lame man in the gofpel, that lay at the pool of Bethesda to be healed; he was not able to go in himself, and none took that pity on him as to help him in. Hence it comes to pafs, that a great many are disheartened from engaging in the ways of religion, because fome fpies, thofe who have only taken a fuperficial view of religion, have brought up an evil report upon that good land, which they pretend to have fearched, faying, as they of old did, when they returned from fearching the land of Canaan, Numb. xiii. 31, 32, 33. We be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we : And they brought up an evil report upon the land which they had searched, unto the children of Ifrael, faying, The land through which we have gone to fearch it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, and all the people that we faw in it, are men of a great ftature. And there we saw the giants, the fons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own fight as grafhoppers, and fo we were in their fight. Juft thus we are apt to mifreprefent religion to ourselves, as if the difficulties of it were infupportable, and the enemies which we are to encounter, were infinitely too ftrong for us; not confidering that the Lord is with us, and notwithftanding our own impotency and weaknefs, yet by his ftrength we may be (as St. Paul expreffeth it) more than conquerors. Therefore to remove this difcouragement, and to put life into the endeavours of men, our bleffed Saviour affures us, that God is ready to affift us, and to fupply our weakness and want of ftrength by a power from above, even by giving us his Holy Spirit, which is a Spirit of might and of power, and of the fear of the Lord, as he is called by the Prophet; and he is ready to beftow fo great a gift upon us on the eafieft terms and conditions imaginable; if we will but ask this bleffing of him, How much more fhall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? How much more? Which words are an argument from the lefs to the greater, by which our Saviour from the confidence which children naturally have in the goodness of their earthly parents, that they will not deny them things neceffary and convenient for them, if they earnestly beg them at their hands, argues Chriftians into a great confidence of the good will of their heavenly Father, and of his readiness to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him. The force of which argument depends upon a double comparifon, of the quality of the perfons giving, and of the nature of the gift.. 1. The quality of the perfons giving. Fathers upon earth, and our heavenly Father. If earthly fathers be naturally difpofed to give good things to their children, how much more may we believe this. of our heavenly Father? if they who are but men; have fo much goodnefs; how much more confidently may we prefume it of God, who excells in all perfections, and whofe goodness excells all his other perfections? If they who are evil, that is ma S. 3: ny ny times envious, and ill natured, and at the beft, but imperfectly good; how much more God, who is infinitely good, and even goodnefs itfelf? If they who are many times indigent, or but meanly provided of the good things they beftow, and if they give them to their children, muft want them themfelves; how much more God, who is not the lefs rich and full for the overflowings of his bounty, and can never impair his eftate, nor impoverish himdelf by conferring of his bleffings and benefits upon others? 2. If we compare the nature of the gifts. If earthly parents that are evil, be ready to bestow good things upon their children, things neceffary and convenient only for their bodies and this life; how much more confidently may we believe the good God inclined to bestow upon his children the best things, things neceffary for their fouls, and conducing to their eternal life and happiness So that in the handling of these words, I fhall, First, Endeavour to fhew what is comprehended in this gift of the Holy Spirit, and how great a bleffing and benefit it is. Secondly, What kind of asking is here required. Thirdly, To confirm and illuftrate the truth of this propofition, that God is very ready to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. Fourthly, To remove a confiderable objection to which this difcourfe may feem liable. And, Fifthly, To make fome practical application of it to ourselves. First, I fhall fhew what is comprehended in this gift of the Holy Spirit, and how great a bleffing and Benefit it is. St. Matthew exprefleth this fomewhat differently, chap. vii. 11 How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Which compared with the. expreffion here in St. Luke. doth intimate to us, that the Spirit of God is the chief of bleffings, or rather the fum of all good things. The promife here in the text is not expreft fo generally as it is in St. Matthew; but our Evangelift inftanceth in the greatest gift that Gad сад |