SERMON 395 CXIV. Practice in religion necessary, in proportion to our knowledge. LUKE Xii. 47. 48. And that fervant which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, fhall be beaten with many stripes: But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of ftripes, fhall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will afk the more. IN 'N profecution of the argument which I handled in in my laft difcourfe, namely, That the knowledge of our duty, without the practice of it, will not bring us to happiness, I fhall proceed to fhew, that if our practice be not answerable to our knowledge, this will be a great aggravation both of our fin and nishment. pu And to this purpose I have pitched upon these words of our Lord, which are the application of two parables, which he had delivered before, to ftir up men to a diligent and careful practice of their duty, that fo they may be in a continual readiness and preparation for the coming of their Lord. The firft pa. rable is more general, and concerns all men, who are reprefented as fo many fervants in a great family, from which the lord is abfent, and they being uncertain of the time of his return, fhould always be in a condition and pofture to receive him. Upon the hearing of this parable, Peter inquires of our Saviour, Whether he intended this only for his difciples, or for all? To which question our Saviour returns an anfwer in another parable, which more particularly concerned them; who because they were to be the chief rulers and governors of his church, are reprefented by the ftewards of a great family: ver. 42. Who then is that faithful and wife fteward, whom his lord fhall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due feafon? if he difcharge his duty, bleffed is he; but if he fhall take occafion in his lord's abfence to domineer over his fellow-fervants, and riotoufly to wafte his lord's goods, his lord, when he comes, will punish him after a more fevere and exemplary manner. And then follows the application of the whole, in the words of the text: And that fervant which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. As if he had faid, and well may fuch a fervant deferve fo fevere a punishment, who having fuch a trust committed to him, and knowing his lord's will fo much better, yet does contrary to it: upon which our Saviour takes occafion to compare the fault and punishment of those who have greater advantages and opportunities of knowing their duty, with those who are ignorant of it: That fervant which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to it, fhall be beaten with many tripes: But he that knew not, but did commit things worthy of ftripes, fhall be beaten with few stripes. And then he adds the reafon and equity of this proceeding: For unto whomsoever much is given, of him fhall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will afk the more. The words in general do allude to that law of the Jews mentioned Deut. xxv. 2. where the judge is required to fee the malefactor punished according to his fault, by a certain number of ftripes; in relation to which known law among the Jews, our Saviour here fays, that those who knew their lord's will, and did it not, fhould be beaten with many ftripes: But those who knew it not, fhould be beaten with few stripes. So that there are two obfervations lie plainly before us in the words. 1. That the greater advantages and opportunities any man hath of knowing his duty, if he do it not, the the greater will be his condemnation: The fervant which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to it, fhall be beaten with many Stripes. 2. That ignorance is a great excufe of mens faults, and will leffen their punishment: But he that knew not, but did commit things worthy of Stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. I fhall begin with the latter of these first, because it will make way for the other, viz. That ignorance is a great excufe of mens faults, and will leffen their punishment: He that knew not, but did commit things worthy of fripes, fhall be beaten with few stripes. For the clearing of this, it will be requifite to confider what ignorance it is which our Saviour here fpeaks of; and this is neceffary to be inquired into, because it is certain that there is fome fort of ignorance which doth wholly excufe and clear from all manner of guilt; and there is another fort, which doth either not at all, or very little extenuate the faults of men; fo that it must be a third fort different from both thefe, which our Saviour here means. 1. There is an ignorance which doth wholly excufe and clear from all manner of guilt, and that is an abfolute and invincible ignorance, when a perfon is wholly ignorant of the thing, which if he knew, he fhould be bound to do, but neither can nor could have helped it, that he is ignorant of it; that is, he either had not the capacity, or wanted the means and opportunity of knowing it. In this cafe a perfon is in no fault, if he did not do what he never knew, nor could know, to be his duty. For God measures the faults of men by their wills; and if there be no defect there, there can be no guilt; for no man is guilty, but he that is confcious to himfelf that he would not do what he knew he ought to do, or would do what he knew he ought not to do. Now if a man be fimply and invincibly ignorant of his duty, his neglect of it is altogether involuntary; for the will hath nothing to do, where the understanding doth not firft direct. And this is the cafe of children who VOL. V. L1 are are not yet come to the ufe of reafon; for though they may do that which is materially a fault, yet it is none in them, because, by reafon of their incapacity, they are at prefent invincibly ignorant of what they ought to do. And this is the cafe likewife of idiots, who are under a natural incapacity of knowledge, and fo far as they are fo, nothing that they do is imputed to them as a fault. The fame may be faid of distracted perfons, who are deprived either wholly, or at fome times, of the use of their undertandings: fo far, and fo long as they are thus depri ved, they are free from all guilt; and to perfons who have the free and perfect ufe of their reafon, no ne glect of any duty is imputed, of which they are abfoJutely and invincibly ignorant. For inftance, it is a duty incumbent upon all mankind, to believe on the Son of God, where he is fufficiently manifefted and revealed to them; but those who never heard of him, nor had any opportunity of coming to the knowledge of him, fhall not be condemned for this infidelity, becaufe it is impoffible they fhould believe on him of whom they never heard. They may indeed be condemned upon other accounts, for finning against the light of nature, and for not obeying the law which was written in their hearts; for what the Apoftle fays of the revelation of the law, is as true of any other revelation of God, As many as have finned without law, shall alfo perifh without law; and as many as have finned under the law, fhall be judged by the law, Rom, ii. 12. In like manner, thofe who have finned without the gofpel, (that is, who never had the knowledge of it), fhall not be condemned for any offence againft. that revelation which was never made to them, but for their violation of the law of nature; only they that have finned under the gospel, fhall be judged by it. 2. There is likewife another fort of ignorance, which either does not at all, or very little, extenuate the faults of men, when men are not only ignorant, but chufe to be fo; that is, when they wilfully neglect thofe means and opportunities of knowledge which are afforded to them; fuch as Job fpeaks of, Job xxi, 14. Who say unto God, Depart from us, for we we defire not the knowledge of thy ways. And this fort of ignorance many among the Jews were guilty of, when our Saviour came and preached to them; but they would not be inftructed by him: The light came among them, but they loved darkness rather than light, as he himself fays of them; and as he fays elsewhere of the Pharifees, they rejected the counsel of God against themfelves; they wilfully that their eyes against that light which offered itfelf to them; they would not fee with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts, that they might be converted and healed. Now, an ignorance in this degree wilful, can hardly be imagined to carry any excufe at all in it. He that knew not his Lord's will; because he would not know it, because he wilfully rejected the means of coming to the knowledge of it, deferves to be beaten with as many fripes as if he had known it; becaufe he might have known it, and would not. He that will not take notice of the king's proclamation, or will ftop his ears when it is read, and afterwards offends againft it, does equally deferve punishment with those who have read it, and beard it, and difobeyed it; because he was as grofsly faulty in not knowing it; and there is no reason that any man's grofs fault frould be his excufe. So that it is neither of these forts of ignorance that our Saviour means, neither abfolute and invincible ignorance, nor that which is grofsly wilful and affected. For the firft, men deferve not to be beaten at all, because they cannot help it; for the latter, they deferve not to be excufed, becaufe they might have helped their ignorance, and would not. But our Saviour here fpeaks of fuch an ignorancè as does in a good degree extenuate the fault, and yet not wholly excufe it; for he fays of them, that they knew not their lord's will, and yet that this ignorance did not wholly excuse them from blame, nor exempt them from punishment: But they Should be beaten with few ftripes. In the 3. Third place then, there is an ignorance which is in fome degree faulty, and yet does in a great measure excufe the faults which proceed from it; and this is |