Serm. CXIX. The Danger of Impenitence, &C. >io5 would have brought Tyre andSidon to Repentance. And that which would have effeled a thing, cannot be denyed to be fufficient ; fo that unlefs ourSaviour bere 'peaksofa mere External Repentance, either the outward Means of Repentance, as Preaching and Miracles muff be granted to be fufficient tobring men to Repen- tance, without the inward Operation of Gods Grace upon theMinds of Men ; or elfea fufficient degree ofGod's Grace mutt be acknowledged to accompany the outward Means ofRepentance. Again, if an irrefiftible degree of Grace be ne- ceffary to true Repentance, it is plain, Chorazin and 13ethfaida had it not, becaufe they didnot repent ; and yet without this Tyreand Sidoncould not have fincere- ly repented ; therefore our Saviour here muff fpeak of a mere External Repen- tance. Thus fome argue, as they do likewife concerning the Repentance of Ni- niveh, making that alfo to be merely External, becaufe they are loth to allow true Repentance to Heathens. But it feems very plain, that our Saviour does fpeak of an inwardand true and fincere Repentance ; and therefore theDo&rines that will not admit this, are not true. For our Saviour fpeaks of the fame kind of Repentance, that he up- braided themwith the want of, in the Verfe before the Text. Then began he to upbraid the Cities wherein moll of his mighty Works were done; becaufe.they repented not; that is, becaufe they were not brought to a frncere Repentance by his preach- ing, which was confirmed by fuch great.Miracles. 'Tis true indeed, he menti- ons the outward Signs and Expreffionsof Repentance, when he fays, They would have repented infackcloth and afhes; but not as excluding inward and real Repen- tance, but fuppofing it, as isevident from what is Paid in the next Verfe, It ¡Ball be more tolerablefor Tyre and Sydon at the day ofjudgment, than for you: for tho an external and hypocritical Repentance mayprevail withGod toput off tempo- ral Judgments, yet furely it will be but a very fmall, ifany mitigationofour Con- demnation at the day of Judgment : fo that the Repentance here fpoken of can- not, without great violence to the fcope and defign of our Saviour's Argument, be underftood onlyof an external Phew and appearance of Repentance. IL The next Difficulty to be cleared is, in what Senfe it is here faid, thatif the mighty Works which were done by our Saviour among the Yews, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, theywould have repented. Someto avoid the inconvenience which theyapprehend to be in the more arid and literal Senfe of the words, look upon them as Hyperbolical, as we fay, Such a thing would move a Stone, or the like, when we would exprefs fomething to be very fad andgrievous; fo here to aggravate the Impenitence of the Yews, our Saviour Pays, that they refitted thofeMeans ofRepentance, which one would think fhould almo(f have prevailed upon the greateff and molt obdurate Sinners that ever were; but not intending to affirm any fuch thing. But there is no colour for this, if we confider that our Saviour reafons from the Suppofirion of fuch a thing, that therefore the Cafe of Tyre andSidon would real- ly bemore tolerable at the dayof judgment than theirs ; becaufe they would have re- pented, but the Jews did not. Others perhaps underftand the words too (frilly, as ifour Saviour had fpoken according to what he certainly foreknew would have happen'd to the People of Tjreand Sidon, iffuch Miracles had been wrought amongthem. And no doubt but in that Cafe Goddid certainly know what they would have done : but yet I thould rather chufe to underftand the words as fpoken popularly, according to what in all humane appearance and probability would have hapned, if fuch External Means of Repentance, accompaniedwith an ordinary Grace of God, had been afforded to themof Tyre and Sidon. And thus the old Latin Interpreter feems to have underftood the next words, If the mighty Works which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, C aìvav áv, forte manfiffent, it would perhapshave remain- ed to this day, in all likelyhood it had continued till now. Much the fame with that paffage of the Prophet, Ezek. 3. 5, 6. Thou art not font to a People of a firauge Speech, and of a hard Language, but to the Houfe of Ifrael : Surely had I feet thee to them, they would have hearkned unto thee ; that is, in all probability they would, there is little doubt tobe made of the contrary. And this is fufficient Foundation for our Saviour's reafoning afterwards, that it [ball be more tolerablefor P Tyre
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=