I.

The First Ground did not Re­ceive it: Because 'twas totally Neg­lected, and continually Trampled under Foot. The Husbandmen were Idle, and never offer'd to Cultivate it: The Passengers were ever busie, to and fro, and made it too hard for any Seed to Enter. And this is the common Case of many People's Hearts: 1. They take no Care to Prepare them: 2. They spare no Pains to Har­den them.

1. They take no Care to Pre­pare their Hearts for the Recep­tion of the Word of God. They never make it any Considerable part of their Business, to be well acquainted with it. If they read it, or hear it, 'tis either Curiosity [Page 11]or Custom, 'tis not Inclination, that prompts them to it: And, when all is done, they seldom or never seriously Consider it. For want of a free acquaintance with it, they never know how lovely it is in it self: And for want of loving it, as it deserves, they give it a very cold reception in their Minds, and none at all in their Hearts. The Word of God is in their Ears, when they hear it; in their Minds, when they think of it; but never is in their Hearts, till they Love it. Hatred indeed belongs to the Heart, as well as Love: But Hatred ba­nishes and drives it away; 'tis only Love receives it, and embra­ces it. And how should they Love it, without knowing the Value of it? Or how should they rightly Understand it, without Conver­sing freely and familiarly with it?

As partial as we are in favour of our selves, we cannot reason­ably expect that our Salvation should cost us nothing; and that [Page 12]God should either force our Hap­piness upon us, whether we will or no, or let us find it by chance, without enquiring after it. 'Tis enough that he is always ready to help us; and that, because he takes delight in Crowning and Rewarding our Labors, therefore he will always have us take some pains to help our selves. He bids us seek: He tells us, we shall find: And, if we do not think the find­ing worth our seeking, whose fault is it but our own? Such Sinners as we are, have little reason to complain, that God deals hardly with us, because he does not speak more plainly to us. 'Tis true, our Knowledge of Heavenly things is so Mysterious and Obscure, that St. Peter Compares it to a Light that shines in a Dark place: But however, the least Degree of Knowledge is more than is due to those who deserve Eternal Dark­ness: And besides, 'tis better for us that it should be so. Obscuri­ty is an Advantage to the Good. [Page 13]It Exercises their Faith; Encrea­ses their hearty Desires of Know­ing more and more in this World; and Enflames their fervent Pray­ers, for the Happiness of Seeing All in the next. 'Tis then that we are truly Happy, when all the Desires of our Heart are fully and securely Satisfied: And since our Hearts expect to be so well Re­warded there, it is but just they should be put upon their Trial, and do something to deserve it here. The Obscurity of our Faith is the great Trial of our Hearts. If God had pleas'd to let so strong a Light break in upon our Minds, as might Convince us evidently, and force us to See clearly what now we only Believe, our Heart would have lost its Liberty of Chusing, and could not have de­serv'd any Thanks for taking the right side. The worst of Hearts, as well as the best, would have equally submitted to the Conquer­ing Power of Evidence: And, [Page 14]tho' God's Mercy might, perhaps, appear, his Justice could not shew it self, either in punishing Sinners, or in the more delightful part of it, the just Rewarding of Saints: Whereas, according to the present Course of Providence, his Justice is as glorious as his Mercy. He Mercifully gives us Light and Strength sufficient to See and Do what he Commands: He Recon­ciles our Liberty with his Decrees: He sets before us Good and Evil, and puts it in our own free Power to make what Choice we please. All this is infinitely Merciful, and more than we deserve. His Light is always ready to Direct our Steps: There's nothing wan­ting on our part, but that we O­pen our Eyes to see it. A good and honest Heart is always willing and prepar'd to See and Do its Duty. But a Perverse and Wick­ed One, that frowardly and wil­fully Refuses to See its Duty, be­cause it has no mind to Do it: [Page 15]A Heart that will not apply the Mind to an impartial and sincere consideration of its Choice, but blindly follows where its inclina­tion leads: A Heart, I say, which thus Neglects and Slights God's Mercy, very well deserves to fall into the Hands of his Severest Ju­stice, and be given over to the Power of Darkness, which it is so fond of.

We read in the Gospel, That when many People were gather'd to­gether, and made haste out of the Cities to come to Jesus, he spoke to them by a Parable. The Eternal Word is made Flesh: His Doctrine is deliver'd in Parables: The one and the other are both of them partly Manifested to us, and part­ly Hidden from us; not that they may not be found by us, but that we may seek for a more perfect Knowledge of them, and seeking it, we may deserve to find it. We read, moreover, That when he had said these things, he cried, He [Page 16]that has Ears to Hear, let him Hear: That is, He that Hears, let him take Care to Ʋnderstand. They had all of them Ears to Hear: But alas! it is not sufficient to Hear with our Ears; our Minds and Hearts must be Attentive to what we hear, or else we hear in vain. Whereupon his Disciples as­ked him, What this Parable might be? And he said, Ʋnto you it is given to know the Mystery of the Kingdom of God, but to others in Parables. The reason was, be­cause altho' these others had Cu­riosity enough to gather together, and make haste out of the Cities to See and Hear him, yet when they had Seen and Heard him, they were so Unconcern'd and Careless, that Seeing they did not care to See, and Hearing they did not de­sire to Ʋnderstand. But the Di­sciples were more hearty and sin­cere, and therefore unto them it was given to know the Mystery of the Kingdom of God. The Parable [Page 17]gave them some little Light. This little excited a great desire of more. They sought for it, and they found it: They ask'd for it, and they had it for asking.

2. It commonly happens, that they who take no Care for the re­ception of the Word of God, are otherwise very busie, and spare no pains to Harden their Hearts a­gainst it. A Heart that lyes in common, open to all that comes or goes, a constant thorough-fare of idle, vain, impertinent Amuse­ments, is hardned like the beaten Road, the best Counsels make lit­tle or no Impression upon it, 'tis insensible of the sharpest Reproof, and impenetrable to all good Ad­vice. Whatever Seed falls there, it takes no Root; but is imme­diately Trodden down, or presently devour'd. We read in the Gospel, That when they hear the Word, the Devil comes, and takes the Word out of their Hearts. He leaves it in their Minds; but at the same [Page 18]time fills their Heads with Crowds of other Thoughts, which Tram­ple it under Foot, and make their Hearts too hard to receive it. He leaves it in their Minds, not to Direct them, but to Self-condemn them; and takes it out of their Hearts, for fear lest they should Be­lieve and be Saved. He fears they would love it, if they began to like it: He fears they would be­lieve it firmly, and hold fast to it, if they loved it: And there­fore is afraid they would be Saved, if they Believ'd it. For this rea­son, he is ever busie in contriving Ways and Means to Secure their Hearts to himself. He manages all manner of Temptations with his utmost Skill, to enslave them to the Pleasures of this Life: He never fails, in time and season, to Suggest such Thoughts as he ima­gines may Create a Prejudice a­gainst their Duty, and the Dif­ficulties of it: He pushes them on from one Folly to another, and [Page 19]drives them into a perpetual Cir­cle of Diversions and Employ­ments, which leave no room for Reading, Meditating, Praying, and Endeavouring to Save their Souls: And thus, at length, he Corrupts them to such a Degree, that they cannot endure to Hear the Word of God, because they cannot abide to Believe it. They are so far from caring for the Light of Faith, that they take all Care imaginable to avoid it. They despise and hate it, because it only Discovers to them a Heaven, which they do not Relish, and Disturbs them with unwelcome Thoughts of a Hell, which makes them Tremble. Their Hearts are wilfully Blind, and obstinately Deaf: And there­fore they seeing, see not; and hear­ing, hear not. Our Saviour thus describes them in the Thirteenth of S. Matthew; Their Heart is gross, their Ears are dull of hear­ing, and they shut their Eyes, for fear lest at any time they should See, [Page 20]and Ʋnderstand with their Heart, and should be Converted, and I should Heal them. They are not so much afraid of Ʋnderstanding with their Mind; because the Mind only Preaches, 'tis the Heart that Practises. Their great fear is, lest at any time they should Ʋnderstand with their Heart. They have not patience to think of any real and effectual Change of Life; and therefore are afraid of changing their Foolish Hearts, and bringing them to a better Ʋnderstanding of the Word of God, lest at any time they should begin to Love it, take Delight in it, and Practise it. The Devil is always watchful to take the Word out of their Hearts: And they are no less Careful to keep it always out. He takes it out, for fear lest they should Believe and be Saved: They keep it out, for the same reason, lest at any time they should be Converted and Heal'd. The Devil fears nothing more, than that they should Believe it, [Page 21] so as to be Saved: And they are so much of his Mind, so fully in his Power, and so led Captive by him at his pleasure, that the De­vil himself is not more afraid of it than they are.

II.

When the Heart of Man is thus doubly hardned, from without, and from within, 'tis no great wonder, that it does not receive the Word of God. No wonder, I say, that the Seed, which falls by the way, is trodden down, and pre­sently devour'd. But the Second sort of Ground is something bet­ter than the First. Though it be Stony underneath, yet it is cover'd over with some little Earth, which readily receives the Seed, and helps it to spring up, although it does not keep it, nor allow it any Root.

S. Luke says, It wither'd away, because it wanted Moisture. And in­deed there are some certain Tears of hearty and sincere Repentance, [Page 22]which are apt to mollifie the har­dest Heart, and soften all the Stony places in it. They are, as it were, the Dew of Heaven, that Heavenly Moisture which Nouri­shes the Love of God, and of his Holy Word, and helping the Seed to Enter Deeply, hinders it from being Scorch'd and Wither'd.

In the Thirteenth of S. Matthew we read, that the Seed which fell upon stony places, sprung up imme­diately, because it had no deepness of Earth; and presently Wither'd a­way, because it had no Root. It was soon up, for want of Depth; and soon down, for want of Root. The Love of this World, in the Heart of many Christians, who prefer it before God, and do not know they do so, is like a Rock under Ground. The Soil seems good; and, so much as there is, it really is so; but because there is no more of it, 'tis little better than none at all. It is not Deep enough to be fruitful. The Seed [Page 23]immediately Enters; but being little Cover'd, and less Rooted, is presently Wither'd with the first heat that Scorches it.

The generality of Mankind are strangely in love with this foolish World, and violently fond of tran­sitory things, belonging to this present Life. Their Worldly Ho­nour, Wealth, and Pleasure, are dearer to them, than their Lives; and this Life dearer to them, than the next. When they hear of the next, and are awaken'd with a lively Apprehension of a future State, where Everlasting Happi­ness attends them, if they please; they receive the Word with joy, and are very glad to understand that, when they have done being Hap­py here, they may, perhaps, begin to be so there. They are not very much Charm'd with what they hear of Heaven; they know not how to relish those Spiritual Plea­sures, which are too refin'd for Sensual and Carnal Souls; but [Page 24]however, they presume, that God, who cannot but be infinitely Hap­py in himself, must needs know how to make them Happy when he takes them to him; and there­fore when their own Felicity is spent, which they desire may last as long as possible, they then are willing to try what Heaven is, and see if it can make amends for what they leave behind them. Upon these Terms, they seem to love God pretty well; but 'tis too plain, they love themselves a great deal better. And the more we consider the matter, the plainer 'twill appear, that it is not so much the Love of God which Leads them, as it is the Fear of Hell which Drives them, into a Desire of Heaven.

Fear is a troublesome Passion: And Hell is a thing so terrible, that even those who have no mind to believe it, are not easie in them­selves, when they admit a serious thought of it. It soures all World­ly [Page 25]Comforts, and Embitters the En­joyments of this Life. And there­fore for their own dear sakes, that they may Love the World Securely, and Enjoy it▪ with an undisturb'd and quiet Mind, they are willing to come to a Composition, and to com­ply with all the Exterior Duties of Religion, provided they may keep their Heart to themselves, and be­stow it where they please, without being oblig'd to Wean it from the World, and Disengage it from the Treacherous Endearments of it. For this reason they are very exact in all their Parish-Devotions, punctual in their times of Morning and Even­ing Prayer, diligent in Hearing Ser­mons, chearful in giving Alms, and charitable in comforting the Affli­cted. All this they are ready to do, and any thing else, whatever it is, that does not hinder them from lo­ving and enjoying Themselves, the World, and their own Humour, as much as ever. And all this they are the more willing to do, because [Page 26]it pacifies the troublesom Remorses of their Conscience; it cheats them into a belief that they are better than they are; it makes them hope they love God better than they do; and that they are not so very fond of any Worldly Satisfactions, as not to leave them all for God's sake, when occasion requires.

The out-side of their Piety Amu­ses them, but the in-side of their Heart is always Hidden from them. They take no Pains to Search the Bottom of it, and to discover the wretched Corruption of their mis­plac'd Affections; because there are some certain things in which they are fully determin'd never to pra­ctise any Self-denial; they will not hear of any reason to the contrary; but in spite of all the Reason in the World, they are resolved upon the Point, that such things must and shall be reasonable, because they have a mind they should be so. In o­ther matters, where their strongest Passions are not much concern'd, [Page 27]they can comply with ease. They can Read, and Pray, and Hear the Word of God with Joy; they can Conceive some good Desires; they can be very much pleas'd with a lit­tle sensible Devotion for the present: But when these Pious thoughts be­gin to sink a little deeper in their Hearts, and to contrive a real and effectual Reformation of their Lives; when the Seed begins to take Root: 'Tis then it meets with great and unexpected Resistance, and finds under a tender Surface, nothing but the hardness of a Rock. Their World­ly Honour, their Estate, their Ease, are things which must not, upon any Terms, be call'd in question. They are hardned in a Selfish, Proud, and Sullen Resolution, of never parting with them: And, till the time of Trial comes, they do not know how hard their Obstinacy is. When all goes prosperously on, and Danger looks upon them at a di­stance, almost out of sight, they then can make a shift, in a kind fit, [Page 26] [...] [Page 27] [...] [Page 28]to offer all these things to the Al­mighty, and address his Infinite Ma­jesty with the usual Complement, of being ready, upon all Occasions, to stand by him with their Lives and Fortunes. But notwithstanding all this, the Gospel assures us, that these dutiful Expressions of their Mind have no Root in their Heart: These Loyalists endure but for a time: And afterward, when any Persecution or Affliction arises, they find, in time of Temptation, how much they were mistaken in themselves; immediate­ly they fall away.

III.

The third sort of Ground receives the Seed, and keeps it. It keeps it warm and deep, and helps it to take Root. But because the Thorns take deeper Root, spread farther, and rise higher, therefore the Seed is choked, and brings no Fruit. These Thorns, according to the Gospel, are the Cares of this Life. As for the Life to come, we cannot be too [Page 29] Careful of it; we cannot love God too much; we cannot have too great a Passion for the Joys of Hea­ven. But as for this poor Earth, this Dirt, which only fouls and cloggs our Feet, this Clay, in which we often stick so fast, alass! this mi­serable World has nothing in it that deserves our Care, except it be get well out of it, and make it a safe Passage to a better. Whatever may be useful to this End, we may be careful of it. But as for any thing else, belonging to this wretch­ed Life, the Gospel gives us warn­ing, to avoid the Danger of such Needless and Pernicious Cares, which hinder the Word of God from being fruitful in our Hearts.

The Danger is the greater, because these Cares are of an earlier Growth; the Roots of them come into the World with us: They take Possessi­on of our Hearts, for several Years, before the use of Reason has prepar'd us for the Word of God. We read, that the Seed fell among Thorns; [Page 30]which plainly supposes, that the Thorns were first Possessors of the Ground. But yet, if they had been extirpated before the Seed was sown, it might have sprung up safely by it self, there would have been no Thorns to spring up with it, and choke it.

The Thorns have great Advan­tage over the Seed. Not only their Growth is earlier, but quicker, and more natural. The Corruption of our Heart is like the Rankness of a Soil, to which they easily take, and where they thrive at a strange rate. There needs no planting, watering, or taking any Care of them. 'Tis but letting them alone; they grow apace, and spring up of themselves. But it is not so with Piety and Vertue. There must be Sowing, Planting, Cultivating: No Pains must be spared to keep them in good order; and all that we can do is little enough to make them bring forth Fruit, altho' there were no Thorns to hinder them.

I tremble when I think how sad­ly true this is. Experience teaches it; the Gospel it self confirms it; and our Conscience cannot deny it. We daily see how careful most Men are of this World, and how careless of the next. They lay up Riches, and provide for Pleasures. These are their principal Cares, which our Saviour mentions in the Gospel. They are very highly concern'd for living long, with all their Plenty and their Ease about them: But as for living well, and laying in Pro­vision for a happy Eternity; they entertain these Thoughts with Cold­ness and Indifference. The least Prospect of Danger, attending their Worldly Riches, or their Pleasures, is enough to break their Sleep. The very Apprehension of a Momenta­ry Poverty or Misery, tho' at a di­stance, is enough to put their Minds upon the Rack, and torture the very Souls of them: But as for Eternal Riches, and Heavenly Pleasures, tho' these are perhaps in greater Danger, [Page 32]they can sleep securely: All the Cruel Poverty and Everlasting Mise­ry of Hell it self, tho' they are loud­ly threatned with its being nearer than they are aware of, all this will not Rouze them, and Awaken them into a true Sense of their Duty. So Stupid and Insensible our Nature is in all things, which regard the other World, and yet so Vigorous, so Active, and so Busie in the Cares of this.

The Consequence is natural and plain. There's no Excuse can be admitted in the Case. We must consider, on the one Hand, the Dan­ger, and on the other, the Folly of these Worldly Cares: We must go to work with both our Hands, and labour with all our Strength, to pull them up by the Roots. Without this, all our other Labours are in vain. We may Confess our Sins; we may be Sorry for them; we may purpose to Amend: But all these Pious Endeavours will be fruitless, and without effect; we [Page 33]shall immediately relapse again; our Sorrow and our Purposes will never be Victorious, whilst our Worldly Cares are stronger, and more preva­lent. We must therefore lay this Matter seriously to Heart. Eternity depends upon it. The more we consider it, the more we shall be sensible of the Importance of it. 'Tis a common thing to meet with Peo­ple, who wonder strangely at their own Frailty, and cannot, without Horror and Amazement, reflect how long they have continued in a Sinful Course; in spite of all the Pains which they have often taken to a­mend their Lives. But yet, for my part, I can never wonder that Peo­ple lose their Labour, when they go the wrong way to work. If they will not take Advice, when God himself is pleas'd to give it them, I know not how to help it. He tells them plainly, that whilst they sow among Thorns, the Seed will never bring forth Fruit. And this is a fair Warning to them, to begin the A­mendment [Page 34]of their Lives, by labour­ing all they can, to root out all these Thorns, all Worldly Passions and Af­fections whatsoever, from whence those Cares arise, which choke the Seed, obstruct the Word of God, and hinder it from being Fruitful in their Hearts.

I do not descend to Particulars, because the Case is general, and with­out the least Exception. No Love of any Creature whatsoever must ever dare to stand in Competition with the Love of our Creator. All o­ther Loves must be resign'd and moderate; submissive to God's Holy Will, contented with his Ap­pointments, always Calm, Serene, and Undisturb'd. When Worldly Cares are thus restrain'd, they are no more than Duties: But when they pass these Limits, then it is that they are Thorns; which not only prick our Feet, but pierce the very Hearts of us: They wound our Feet, I mean those Pious Affe­ctions of our Soul, which are the [Page 35]only Feet by which we move to­wards Heaven, and pierce our Con­science with a terrible Remorse of loving this World too much, and for ought we know, a great deal more than the next.

'Tis possible, you'll say, to love the World to a very great degree, and yet love God a little better; which if we do, we love him above all things, and that's enough to save us. But surely you are not in good earnest. Your whole Heart is due to him: And can you think you do him Ju­stice, by allowing him a little more than half? Your whole Heart ought to be a House of Prayer: And is it just, to make almost one half of it a Den of Thieves? Your whole Heart ought to be the Temple of God: And dare you offer to defile it, by ma­king a Partition in it, and erecting Altars to his Mortal Enemies, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil?

A true Christian cannot be so false­hearted. If we believe the Gospel, He has the best of Hearts: His Heart [Page 36]is Good and Honest: He's no Trim­mer betwixt God and the World: He hates all double Dealing, and endeavouring to please both Parties: He scorns to do so mean and base a thing, as to divide His Heart, and steal away any part of it from him who has a Right to All. He does not use the World, because He loves it, but because He needs it. He Eats, and Drinks, and Sleeps, that He may live: He does not live, that He may Eat, and Drink, and Sleep. If He takes care of His good Name, it is because it will enable Him to do more Good. If He di­verts himself, 'tis only to refresh His Spirits, and prepare them for a better use. He knows very well, that all the Comforts and Reliefs of our Corrupted, Weak, and Sickly Nature, are very pleasing and de­lightful to it, and are therefore apt to entice our Hearts to love them. But alas! He sees, and grieves at his diseased Condition: And, tho' He gladly uses the Remedies, because [Page 37]His Nature wants them, and His Misery makes it His Duty to apply them; yet He is so far from loving them, that He could wish with all His Heart, He were so Healthy and so Happy, as not to stand in need of them. The Sores of His Morta­lity are grievous to Him, and the itching Pleasure of His Plaisters does not make him such Amends, but that He had much rather be without them. He hears, and He believes, there is a State of Immortality, where Health and Happiness ex­pect Him; where He may be sure to find them; if He please; and where, once found, it is impossible to lose them. The Word of God assures him of it. And this is the Word, which, in a good and honest Heart, he receives joyfully, keeps faithfully, and brings forth Fruit, with Patience, because he is not so much concern'd for any Worldly Matter, as to be impatient about it.

I.

S. Paul, in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, considers the Prehe­minency of the Law of Christ above the Law of Moses: And, that we may better understand the Compa­rison, it will not be amiss to ob­serve the Rise and Progress of the Divine Law, from the first Esta­blishment of it. God in the first Creation gave to Man a Natural Knowledge of his Duty; which [Page 41]Knowledge is the Law of Nature. By this, Abel offer'd Sacrifice, Enoch walkt with God, Abraham paid Tythes to Melchisedec, Lot was ho­spitable to Strangers, Job was Pati­ent, Just, and Humble. In a Word, All the Saints, who lived before the Law of Moses, by the Light of Na­ture, were instructed in their Duty. Mean time, the growing Malice of Corrupted Nature every Day encrea­sed; the Will became more prone to Evil; and the Custom of transgres­sing, being, as it were, a second Na­ture, superinduced a second Law, which the Apostle calls the Law of Sin. The Dictates of this Law of Sin, altho' they were not able to ef­face the Original Impression of the Law of God, yet they obscured and darkned it: The Understanding, which ought to have led the Will, was now misled and blinded by it: And. Vice prevailing almost univer­sally, the Law of God was, in a manner, out of Sight, and out of Mind. When the World was in [Page 42]this desperate Condition, God, of his Infinite Mercy, promulgated the Law of Moses; the Morality of which was formerly well known, tho' now neglected, and almost quite forgotten. Then it was that the Law was written in their Tables, says S. Austin, because they did not read it in their Hearts.

The manner of its Delivery is very remarkable. When the Chil­dren of Israel were gone out of the Land of Egypt, they came into the Wilderness of Sinai, and Camp'd be­fore the Mount; where the Ten Commandments were proclaim'd with Thunder and Lightning; the Earth quaking, and the People trembling at what they saw and heard. The Morality of these Commandments was neither more nor less than the Law of Nature; which, as promulgated by Moses, is called the Old Law; and, as con­firm'd by Jesus Christ, is call'd the New. Not that the Law it self, as to the Moral Part of it, is different [Page 43]from what it was; but that the Cir­cumstances, I mean the Motives and Advantages are New, and infinitely surpassing those of the Old.

In the New Law, the Motives which induce us to observe it, are incomparably greater. The Jews generally fear'd nothing but Tem­poral Punishments; they hoped for nothing but Temporal Rewards; their Self-love aim'd at nothing more than Earthly Happiness; and even God himself, who knew their Hearts were harder than the Stones, on which he Engrav'd their Law, propos'd no better Motives to them. They were to be Train'd up by De­grees to fear and to obey the Au­thor of their Nature, before they could be well prepared to Entertain the Mysteries of Grace and Glory. And thus we read, in the Nineteenth Chapter of Exodus, how God Com­manded Moses, to mind the People of what he had done to the Egypti­ans; and that now, having brought them to himself, if they would obey [Page 44]his Voice, he would take them into his particular Care, above all other People; and, to Encourage them the more, he would have them know, that All the Earth was his. They were to remember the Plagues of Egypt, that they might not forget their Duty, but that their fears might be awaken'd with expecting the like Severity in case of Disobe­dience. And, to maintain their hopes, it was enough that All the Earth was his; for this was All they wish'd for; and therefore, if they Obey'd, he was able to Reward them to the utmost of their Hearts desire. In the Twenty sixth of Le­viticus, he tells them, If you keep my Commandments, I will give you Rain in due Season; and the Land shall yield her increase; you shall eat your Bread to the full; you shall Chase your Enemies, and they shall fall be­fore you; and you shall dwell in your own Land safely. And in the Twen­ty eighth of Deuteronomy, he assures them, All these Blessings shall come [Page 45]upon you, if you will hearken to my Voice: But if you will not hearken to it, Then All the contrary Curses shall be sure to overtake you. Poor Creatures! And was This All! Was This the utmost prospect of their Hopes and Fears! These Little, Earthly, and Transitory Comforts, are they worthy to compare with that inestimable Blessing promised by our Saviour; Come ye Blessed of my Father, Come and possess the great and everlasting Kingdom of Heaven, which was prepared for you from the Foundation of the World? Or are the Curses which deprive us of these Empty and Unsatisfying Pleasures, are they comparable to that final Curse of our Redeemer, Go ye Ac­cursed into Everlasting Fire, which was prepared for the Devil and his Angels? No, no. The Eternal Tor­ments, which no Tongue is able to express; the Everlasting Joys of Hea­ven, which never enter'd into the Heart of Man; and the endearing Charms of God's prodigious Love, by which [Page 46]he sent his Son, not only to teach us these great Truths, but to Assist us with his Conquering Grace, and to Redeem us with his Precious Blood: These, these I say, are new Advan­tages incomparably surpassing All that the Old Law ever could pre­tend to.

'Tis true, there were many Pro­phets, Patriarchs, and Kings amongst them, who were more Enlightned than the rest; and, tho' they had not received these glorious Promises, yet they had some fore-knowledge of them afar off, and languish'd with continual Expectations and Desires to see the Accomplishment of them. And therefore 'tis no wonder that we find it written, in the beginning of this Gospel; Jesus said to his Di­sciples: Blessed are the Eyes which see the things that you see. For I tell you that many Prophets and Kings have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them. We see the [Page 47] Church of Christ Establish'd firmly and securely; Blessed are the Eyes that see it. We hear his Gospel Preach'd, and faithfully Deliver'd to us: Bles­sed are the Ears that hear it. And Blessed indeed we are, if we not on­ly hear the Word of God, but also keep it. Alas! These great Advantages of Christianity will little avail us: They will only serve to rise in Judg­ment against us, and to heap a grea­ter Damnation upon us, if we neg­lect the Duties of it.

II.

We read in the Gospel, how a certain Lawyer stood up, and ask'd our Saviour, What shall I do, to pos­sess Eternal Life? He thought (and with a great deal of reason) that so vast a Purchase, as Eternal Life, was never to be had for nothing: He knew that all this Momentary Life of ours, is nothing to Eternity, which swal­lows up all Time, with a dispropor­tion infinitely greater than a Drop of Water loses it self in the Ocean: [Page 48]And therefore he justly suspected, that perhaps his uttermost endea­vours would fall short of it. What shall I do, says he, to possess Eternal Life? These words of his, express an earnest and a sincere desire, not only to know his Duty, but to do it: And truly, unless we fully and ab­solutely resolve to do it, we had bet­ter never know it. Are we as hear­tily desirous as he seem'd to be? Are we as much in earnest? Are we as sincere? If so; Hear then what's written in the Law. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy Heart, and with all thy Soul, and with all thy Strength, and with all thy Mind, and thy Neighbour as thy self. Consider this well; and then attend to what our Saviour says: Do this, and you shall live: Do but this, and you shall certainly possess Eternal Life.

And is it hard to do so much as this? He is infinitely lovely in him­self, and is it therefore a difficult thing to love him? He infinitely deserves our Love, and therefore we [Page 49]can never Love him so much as he deserves: But must we therefore never Love him as much as we can? Let us do our utmost, we can never Love him so much as he Loves us; and although we had each of us a Thousand Hearts entirely at his Service, we should never be able to make a suitable return: Since there­fore we have only one, Can we for shame refuse him any part of that? 'Tis All of it due; and can we make abatements? 'Tis all of it too lit­tle, and can we think it too much?

There's only one Objection obvi­ous in this Case. If we must Love God with all our Heart, with all our Soul, with all our Strength, with all our Mind, it seems to follow, that we must Love nothing else. Now this is evidently a great Mistake, be­cause the Scripture immediately adds, that we must Love our Neigh­bour as our selves; from whence it follows clearly: 1. That we must Love our selves. 2. That, as we Love our selves, so we must Love [Page 50]our Neighbour also. 'Tis enough therefore, that with all our Mind we principally consider our Duty to our God, with all our Strength endea­vour chiefly to Serve him, and with all our Heart and Soul Embrace him, as the most Transcending Object of our best Affections. 'Tis enough, I say, that we never Love any thing else, but either by his Order, or with his Leave: And that all our Love, of any Creature whatsoever, is al­ways Subordinate to the Love of God, and ready, upon all occasions, to give place to it, without ever offering to stand one Moment in Competition with it. Remember what our Saviour says: Do this, and you shall certainly possess Eternal Life. But at the same time, pray remem­ber, that, unless you Do this, you shall certainly never possess it.

It seems a little strange, that this Lawyer, who was so very skilful in the general Doctrine of the Law, was yet so ignorant in the particular Application of it. He knew that [Page 51]all the Precepts of the Law were comprehended in these Two, of Lo­ving God above all things, and our Neighbour as our selves: And yet he knew not who his Neighbour was, but ask'd our Saviour the Que­stion, Who is my Neighbour? Is it a Friend? A Benefactor? A Relation? An Acquaintance? A Partner? A Fellow-Citizen? A Countrey-Man? Or is it generally any Person United to us in some Common Bond of Humane Society? I am afraid that many Christians are as ignorant as this Pharisee was. They generally Love themselves to that Degree, as not to Care for any Body else, but those who are, some way or other, Instrumental, Useful, or Serviceable, to their Honour, Interest or Pleasure. Without something of this, 'tis no great matter what becomes of them. Whether they Sink of Swim, 'tis all the same. If this were all that is Commanded by the Second Precept of the Law, this part of the way to Heaven would be Broad enough: [Page 52]We then should have no need to fear, that there are few that find it; we might be assured there would be none that miss it. To Love our Neighbour for our own sake, is as easie as it is to Love our selves: But on the contrary, to Love him pure­ly for God's sake, is as hard a Task as 'tis to Love our Maker better than our selves. If we Love God above all things, and consequently above our selves; this Love, when it extends to our Neighbour, will naturally set a greater value upon his Relation to God, than his Con­nexion with us. We shall not then so much consider his Affinity, his Kindness, or his Usefulness; but we shall chiefly regard his being made to the same Divine Image, Redeem­ed by the same Precious Blood, and therefore being capable of the same Grace in this World, and the same Glory in the next. Let a Man be never so much a Stranger to us, nay, let him be our greatest Enemy, yet it is still true, that his Creation, his [Page 53]Redemption, his Capacity of Grace and Glory, are the same as ours: And therefore, if we Love God a­bove all things, and our selves in order to him, we are bound to Love our Neighbour principally upon these Accounts; that is to say, we are o­bliged to Love him, as we Love our selves.

The truth of this Doctrine is plain and clear in our Saviour's Pa­rable of the Samaritan. When he saw a Naked Man lye Bleeding, and Half-dead of his Wounds, 'twas enough to move his Compassion, and to make him overlook all private Considerations of his being not only a Stranger, but perhaps an Enemy to him; for the Jews, in those Days, had such a Mortal Enmity against the Samaritans, that they would not endure either to Eat or Drink with them. But not withstanding all this, He was framed of the same Flesh and Blood, he was made to the Image of the same God, he had a Just Title to the Common Duties [Page 54]of Humanity; and therefore the Sa­maritan went to him, he pour'd Oyl and Wine into his Wounds, he bound them up, he set him upon his own Horse, he brought him to an Inn, and took Care on him. This was not all. When he had brought him thither, another Person would perhaps have thought that he had done enough for one Man's share, and would have left him to the mercy of the Inn, where every Body else was as much oblig'd, as he, to have Com­passion on him. But the Samaritan was not content with doing half his Duty; he was not certain that the People of the Inn were willing to supply the rest; and therefore he not only left Money in the Hands of his Host, but also left Orders to let him want for nothing, assuring him, that if the Money fell short, whatsoever he laid out more, he would faithfully repay every Far­thing. The Samaritan, if he had been so Hard, so Cruel, and so Sel­fish, as we are, he might have al­ledged [Page 55]a Thousand of those cautious pretences which are common in the World: But his Charity was too sincere, to need any Excuse; and too great, to allow it.

Our Saviour not only Preach'd this Doctrine, but also Practis'd it. The Parable is not only His, but He him­self the principal Person represented in it. When Adam Sinned, he went down from Paradise into a Vale of Miseries, where not only He, but his Posterity, are stript of all the O­riginal Robes of Innocence, and fal­len into the Hands of their own dis­orderly Passions, which are worse than Robbers, by whom they are dangerously Wounded, and left Half Dead. Our Saviour Jesus Christ, the true Samaritan, saw our Condition, and took Pity on us. He descended from Heaven, he pour'd his Preci­ous Blood into our Wounds, he Char­ged himself with the Burthen of our Frailties, he brought us into his Church, and there he took such Care of us, that we are certain to be Cu­red, [Page 56]unless we wilfully refuse to ap­ply the Remedies which he provi­ded for us. He look'd upon us as his Neighbours: He Loved us be­cause we are made to the Divine Image, which, tho' defaced by Sin, and possess'd by the Devil, never­theless was still capable of being Ransom'd by the Merit of his Pas­sion, Renew'd by the Power of his Grace, and Perfected by the Bright­ness of his Glory. These are the Rea­sons why our Saviour Loved us, even when we were his Enemies: For the same Reasons we truly and justly Love our selves, in spite of all our Faults: And, tho' our Neighbour hates us, yet these Motives still sub­sist, and very well deserve our Love.

Let us therefore Love God above all things. Let us Love our Neigh­bour as our selves. Love is the fulfil­ling of the Law: Let us only Do this, and we shall live: Let us Do this, and we shall possess Eternal Life. Amen.

I.

If God and the World were both of the same Mind; if they com­manded the same things, by the same Authority, and for the same End; they would not then be two Masters Our Obedience to each of them [Page 60]would be one and the same thing; and, in obeying one, we should obey them both. But this is an impossible Supposition. We all know very well, that God and the World are Ene­mies which never can be reconciled. They command opposite things, by a different Authority, and for con­trary Ends. The Laws of the World are directly Repugnant to the Laws of God: The usurped Authority, by which they are imposed, is derived originally from the Devil: And the Ends, they aim at, are as different as Temporal and Eternal.

'Tis therefore impossible for God and the World, at the same time, to be each of them the Sovereign Master of our Heart. If we Hold to the one, we must Despise the other: If we Love the one, we must Hate the other: And since they are engaged in a Con­tinual War, we cannot List our selves in Service of the one, without Fight­ing against the other. This is the Reason why our Life is said to be a Warfare upon Earth. And this is [Page 61]the War which is described in the Epistle of this Day, betwixt the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of this World, which are always contrary the one to the other. For which Rea­son S. James, in his Epistle, tells us, that the Friendship of this World is Enmity with God; and whosoever will be the World's Friend, is God's Enemy.

And yet although we cannot pos­sibly be Friends to both, we are un­der an absolute necessity of making Friends with one of them. The Reason is natural and evident. We are made to be happy; and indeed, happy we were, when we were First made: But being unfortunately fal­len from the Original Happiness of our First Creation, we feel the want of what we lost; we cannot but be Conscious of our Emptiness; and therefore cannot help desiring and endeavouring to satisfie it. Such is our Nature, that we must and will be happy, one way or other, if we can: And because our Misery and our [Page 62]Corruption are such, that 'tis impo­ssible to find our Happiness at home, 'Tis therefore no wonder that we go abroad to seek it. Now there are only two sorts of Happiness that we can think of; either our present Happiness in this Life, or our future Happiness in the next. God pro­mises the one: The World invites and tempts us to the other.

The one is True and Sincere; the other False and Counterfeit: The one Sensual and Beastly, the other Manly and Rational: The one Un­mixt and Pure, the other Sprinkled with Care and Sorrow: The one Secure and Eternal, the other short­liv'd and always dying, either with us, or before us. One would think that so much difference in the case, were more than enough to Deter­mine our choice. And yet This is not All. Our God is so infinitely Good, so Merciful and Kind, that He not only promises All This here­after, but even here affords us so much Comfort Satisfaction and Pleasure [Page 63]in a Vertuous Life, that the World with all its Charms, can never make a shew of any thing that's able to compare with it. He bestows, at present, more Happiness than the World can offer us; and, for the fu­ture, He promises incomparably, nay infinitely, more than he now gives us: So that we are evidently Guilty of a double Folly, if we do not gladly accept of what we have in Hand, and thankfully submit to give him Credit for the Rest.

Since therefore God has kindly left it to our choice, what Master we please to serve; and since we cannot avoid chusing, let us grate­fully and wisely chuse Himself. Let us serve him, because he made us; let us love him, because he lov'd us; let us live and die for him, be­cause he redeem'd us; let us obey him without reserve, because he re­wards us without Measure. Let us banish the World from our Heart, and leave the whole room to Him, who only deserves to be the Sove­reign [Page 64] Lord and Master of it. The World does not deserve our Love, and therefore we ought to Despise it. On the contrary, it deserves God's hatred, as well as ours; the Max­ims of it are Inconsistent with his Service and our Happiness; 'tis a declared Enemy to him, and a per­nicious Enemy to us; and therefore we have a double Reason to Hate it.

If we Love God above all things, the very Love of him is enough to set our Hearts at liberty: It dis­arms the Power of the World: It makes us generously scorn its Riches, Vanities and Pleasures: It calls home our Thoughts, reclaims our Affecti­ons, calms our Passions, enlightens our Mind, enflames our Heart, and establishes the Kingdom of God with­in us. When once we Love God as we ought, we are led by the Spirit of God: And S. Paul assures us, that the Fruits of this Spirit are, not only Love, but Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meek­ness, Temperance, and all those other [Page 65]Vertues which begin our Heaven up­on Earth.

But it is not so with those who Love this World above the next. They are Slaves to their own Ʋn­cleanness, Covetousness, and Pride: They begin their Hell, before they end their Lives: They wilsully con­demn themselves, to all the Trou­bles, Anguishes, and Torments, which their eager, violent, and furi­ous Passions can invent; and when these Executioners have done their worst, the Devil and his Angels do the rest for ever. They have receiv'd the Spirit of this World, whose Works, according to the same Apostle, are Manifest; not only Adultery, Forni­cation, Ʋncleanness, Lasciviousness, Drunkenness, and Revellings, but al­so Covetousness, which is Idolatry, and Pride, which naturally is attended with Hatred, Variances, Emulations, Anger, Strife, Seditions, Heresies, Envyings, Murders, and such like; concerning which, says he, I fore­tel you, as I have also told you in [Page 66]time past, that they who do such things shall not Inherit the Kingdom of God. No, no: They shall, whether they will or no, Inherit the Slavery of the Devil: But, as for the Kingdom of God, they have no Title to it. Un­less his Will be done, his Kingdom can­not come. Unless we Love him above all things, we cannot be his Subjects, nor can he be our King. Our Heart is the Throne of God: And when we begin to Balance betwixt him and the World, when we refuse to let him Govern our Affections, we Rebel, we take up Arms against him, and call in the Devil to help us to Dethrone him. And can we ex­pect to inherit his Kingdom, if we wil­fully renounce it, and declare against it? Can we be Heirs of his Kingdom hereafter, if we are not Faithful and Loyal Subjects of it here?

II.

I have said enough to shew the im­possibility of serving two Masters, the necessity of serving one, and the Folly of preferring the World before [Page 67]the Maker of it. I shall now consi­der the natural Consequences of this Doctrine. If our present and future Happiness depend entirely upon our Loving God above all things: If our Misery, as well here as hereafter, is the Effect and Punishment of loving the World too much: It fol­lows evidently, that we ought to make it the Chief Business of our whole Life, to improve the Love of God, and to lessen the Love of this World.

'Tis true; the Kingdom of God is never perfect upon Earth: The Empire of Divine Love is never so absolute here, as to exclude all Worldly Affection. The Love of this World is entail'd upon our Cor­rupted Nature: 'Tis an Inseparable Companion of it, and a Mortal Ene­my to it. And this is our unhappy Condition in this Vale of Misery: We are engaged in a Continual War with our selves: Our Heart is the Field of Battel, where we must al­ways Fight, and may always Conquer; [Page 68]but can never Kill our Enemy. We can never quite destroy the Love of this World. Let us do what we can, 'twill never die before us: But as long as we live, 't will still live in us; and whilst it lives, will always struggle with us, and rebel against us. But nevertheless, although we cannot Kill this Love, yet we can Moderate it, we can Weaken it, and keep it under: And this is what we are strictly obliged to, unless we have a mind to Cherish our Danger, and to Perish in it.

This is the Reason why our Savi­our had no sooner said to his Disci­ples, You cannot serve God and Mam­mon, but immediately he concludes, Therefore I say unto you, Be not Solici­tous for this Life. And the Reason is clear: Because when once we Love the World to that Degree, as to be Solicitous for it, we are in very great danger of loving the World too much, and of serving Mammon instead of God. I have already told you, that when Love is grown Solicitous, 'tis certainly [Page 69] great; and that we cannot certainly judge how great it is. It may, for ought we know, be greater than the Love of God: And, if it be only as great, 'tis enough to lose his Favour, and make him leave us to our selves, to seek our Fortune in the Service of this World.

In Matters of little Importance, where our Heart is not much enga­ged, we are not apt to be Solicitous; our Minds are at ease; we expect with a great deal of Patience, and are disappointed with very little Disturbance. But, if our Thoughts are always stirring and busie, our Desires eager and importune; if our Hopes are unquiet and restless, our Fears troublesome and painful; if Delays very much mortifie us, and even the Apprehensions of Dis­appointments very much disturb us; we may be sure that the Love, from whence all this Solicitude pro­ceeds, is very great: And, whether it be Honour, Interest or Pleasure, be it what it will, 'tis certain we are [Page 70] very much in Love with something or other, which Influences all these Motions and Affections of our Mind and Heart; when things are once come to this pass, 'tis time to look about us, and stand upon our Guard. We may hope indeed, that still we Love God better than the World: And I must needs Confess, 'tis pos­sible we may; but I am sure it is not very probable we do. There are great odds against us. For 'tis a certain Truth, that All our Inclina­tions are proportion'd to the Love from whence they proceed: And if our Aversions and Desires, our Hopes and Fears, our Joy and Grief, are stronger and more active in the Con­cerns of this World, than in those of Heaven, we have Reason to be very much afraid, that our Love of this World is greater than the Love of God.

'Tis a gross Mistake to imagine, that because we still Esteem God more, Therefore we Love him better. Alas! This Esteem is only a Compliment [Page 71]of our Mind: And this Compliment may easily pass for Current, al­tho' the strongest Affections of our Heart are otherwise engaged. We know too well by sad Experience, that there is a certain thing call'd Humour, which often over-rules our Reason, and steals away our Heart to doat upon those very Follies, which, in our Serious Thoughts, we cannot but despise. A Man who is Solicitous for this World, may easily deceive himself in this Matter. He may Esteem God a great deal more, and yet Love him a great deal less. The Disciples had a great Esteem of our Saviour, and thought they loved him better than their Lives: They All declared they would rather die with him, than deny him: And yet, immediately after, the Chief of them denied him, and all the rest for­sook him. When they look'd upon the time of Trial at a distance, they had a great Opinion of their Strength: But when the Occasion was present, they soon discover'd [Page 72]their Weakness. This was once their Case: And God only knows how often it has been ours.

Their Case, you'll say, was diffe­rent; because they were Guilty of a great Presumption. But pray con­sider a little. Are not we as guilty as they? Do we not presume as much? Are we not as confident of our own Strength? We know very well, that the Love of this World is a Mortal Enemy to the Love of God: And therefore, if we do not daily watch the Motions of this E­nemy, oppose its Progress, and cut off all Communications which may any way Fortifie it; if on the con­trary, we daily furnish it with all Provisions, Ammunitions, and Arms, against us; if we thus despise the Strength of our Enemy; is it not Visible, that we too much confide in in our own? And if we commonly neglect those daily Considerations, Exercises and Endeavours, which are necessary to Encrease and Fortifie the Love of God; is not this a down­right [Page 73] Presumption in our own Suffi­ciency, as if we already loved him enough?

Remember the Fall of the Apo­stles. Remember how grievously they were mistaken. Remember that not only their Doctrines, but even their Failings, ought to be an Instruction to us. Never let us con­fide in our present Love of God; but let us daily endeavour to Improve it. Never let us despise the Strength of our Worldly Love; but let us dai­ly endeavour to abate it. If we could serve two Masters, we might be Solicitous for both: But since we can only serve One, 'tis a dangerous thing to be Solicitous for any Other. You cannot serve God and Mammon, says our Saviour; therefore I say unto you, Be not Solicitous for this Life.

III.

We have seen how Dangerous it is, to be Solicitous for any thing in this World: The rest of the Gospel shews us, that his Solicitude is altoge­ther [Page 74] needless. If there were any ne­cessity of it, our Saviour would not forbid it. The Words are plain, Be not Solicitous for your Life. And in­deed, if we seek first the Kingdom of God, if the Service of God be truly and sincerely our first and principal Concern, 'tis evidently needless to be Solicitous for our Life. He made us for himself; and for his own sake he takes care of us. Not that he is any way the better for us, but because he naturally takes de­light in doing good to All, who do not wilfully oppose the overflowing of his Goodness. He gave us our Life, that, if we please, we may be Happy, by employing it entirely in his Service: And as long as we serve the Master who gave us this Life, our Self-preservation is in better Hands than our own. All the Ma­lice of Men and Devils put together, can never take away our Life, with­out our Master's order, or his leave: And therefore whensoever, either by his leave, or by his order, the ap­pointed [Page 75]Hour of our Death ap­proaches, we may be assur'd our Master has no more occasion for our Service; and therefore we have no Pretensions to Live longer. There is only One thing Necessary in this World, and that's our Duty to our Master: And, whensoever our Du­ty stands in Competition with our Life, if we are true and faithful Ser­vants, we shall always readily and cheerfully conclude; Our Duty is Ne­cessary, but our Life is not. When things are in this posture, 'tis evi­dent, that the Observance of this Du­ty, is the last Piece of Service which our Master requires at our Hands: And since our Service is the End for which our Life was given us, if we wish to out-live our Service, we are every jot as unreasonable, as if we wish'd to out-live the End of our Life.

You'll tell me perhaps, you are very willing to Die when God plea­ses: But you are afraid of wanting the Necessary Conveniences of Humane Life, and therefore you are justly [Page 76] Solicitous, for fear of being Miserable whilst you Live. And truly you are partly in the right. You have all the Reason in the World to be willing that God should chuse the Hour, and appoint the Moment of your Death; because He only knows what Time is best and fittest for us. But since we are willing to trust him with our Life, why should we not as willingly trust him with all things else belonging to it? He has promis'd to take Care of us. He knows, bet­ter than we do, what is good for us. He loves us better than we love our selves. His Power is boundless, and cannot be obstructed. Is not this enough to secure us? He is infi­nitely Powerful: He is able, says S. Paul, to do exceeding abundantly, a­bove all that we can ask or think. He is infinitely Good: He cannot but Delight in being so, to those that serve him. He is infinitely Wise: He cannot commit the least mistake in our Concerns. In a Word, his Wisdom, his Goodness, and his Power, [Page 77]all concurr to Ensure the Blessings of his Providence, which by a Solemn Promise is engaged for ever, to be favourable to us. Seek first the King­dom of God, and his Righteousness, and All these things shall be added to you▪ 'Tis the Voice of Truth it self: Truth cannot tell a Lie: His Promise can­not fail.

Is it not the First Article of our Creed, to believe in God the Father Al­mighty? Does not the First of all our Petitions begin with these comforta­ble Words, Our Father who art in Heaven? If we believe him to be Our Father, ought we not to believe that he will certainly be careful of his Children? And if we really be­lieve He is always careful of us, what need we at any time be Over­careful and Solicitous for our selves. Therefore I say unto you, says our Saviour, Be not Solicitous for your Life, what you shall eat; nor yet for your Body, what you shall put on. He only forbids our being Solicitous. He does not forbid us to Work and La­bour [Page 78]for an Honest Livelyhood. Our Heavenly Father does not encourage Idleness in his Children. He ex­pects that we should be industrious in doing of our part: And, when we have done that, He's always ready to supply the rest. And to satisfie us concerning this matter, our Saviour is not contented to give us his bare Word for it, but uses se­veral Arguments in order to convince us.

Is not the Life more than Meat, says he, and the Body more than Clothing? He who freely and frankly bestows upon us what is more, will he deny us what is less? Do we not all of us Value our Body more than our Clothing, and our Life more than Meat? And can we think that He, who voluntarily grants these grea­ter Benefits, will grudge us others which are much Inferiour to them? He gave us our Body, and Breath'd Life into it. What mov'd him to be so kind? He might have done as he pleas'd. Before we lived, we could [Page 79]not deserve our Life; nor could we so much as ask it. Since therefore He bestow'd this Great and Funda­mental Blessing upon us, without either deserving or asking it; may we not firmly believe, He will never deny us other lesser Blessings, when we not only ask them, but make it our Chief Business to deserve them, by spending our whole Life in his Service?

Behold the Fowls of the Air, says he, they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into Barns. They are Idle and Careless; they do nothing for themselves; and nevertheless our Heavenly Father feeds them. He is not their Father, and yet be feeds them: And will he refuse to feed us, because he is our Father? Will he not help us when we have done the Duty of good Children, by endea­vouring to help our selves? Will he do all for them, and nothing for us? Have we not Reason to believe, He Loves his better Creatures best? And [Page 80]does he not plainly tell us, we are much better than they?

Which of you, says our Saviour, by taking Care, can add one Cubit to his Stature? No Man ever grew Taller, by wishing to be so: Neither has any Man ever been Happier, by being Solicitous about it. This Compari­son shews plainly, that Solicitude never does good; and that therefore there is never any need of it. When we have done what's fitting, and have taken Care to do as much as we ought, 'tis Vain and Foolish to entertain any further Concern, and be Solicitous for the Event of our Endea­vours. We have planted, we have water'd, we have done our part: The encrease belongs to God; and what have we to do with his Busi­ness? Let him do as he pleases; and let us be Contented with his Holy Will and Pleasure. If we truly Love him above all things, it will not be so hard, to like that most, which he likes best.

After these, and other Arguments, [Page 81]our Saviour concludes, Therefore be not Solicitous, saying, What shall we Eat, or what shall we Drink or where­withal shall we be Clothed? For af­ter all these things do the Gentiles seek. If we were Gentiles; if we were Hea­thens; if we had no Knowledge of God; then indeed it were no won­der, that we seek these things, and are Solicitous about them: But since our Father knows a great deal better than we do, how much, how long, and to what End, we want these things; since we believe in his All-seeing and All-ruling Providence; since we know very well, that all these things are only necessary during Life, and that our Life is necessary no longer than God requires our Ser­vice; since, I say, by Faith we are instructed so much better than the Gentiles; is it not a Scandalous and a Notorious Shame, that all the World is Witness of our seeming e­very jot as Eager and Solicitous as e­ver the Heathens were? If we serve Mammon like Heathens; how can we at the same time serve God like Chri­stians? [Page 82]The Gospel plainly declares in the beginning, we cannot serve two Masters [...] God and the World: And, in the end it assures us, that if we seek first the Kingdom of God, All these things shall be added to us. The only way, to be truly Masters of this World, is to be True and Faithful Servants of God. Let us therefore, in the first place be careful to serve God. All other Care is dangerous, and needless. Let us only serve Him; and He will certainly take Care, that the World shall serve us, and conduct us, easily and safely from his King­dom upon Earth, to his Kingdom in Heaven, which was prepared for us from the Foundation of the World. Amen.

I.

Idolatry is the height of Folly. 'Tis so extravagantly Foolish, that many People can scarce believe there was ever any such thing in the World. They are so incredulous in this Point, that common History will not satisfie them, but we are forced to have Recourse to Scripture, to convince them. For Example. We read in Exodus, how they made a Molten Calf, and worshipt it, and sacrificed unto it. In Deuteronomy we read, they sacrificed to Devils, not to God. In the Prophet Isaiah, we read, how common it was amongst them, for a Carpenter to make a God, and worship it: He burns part of it in the Fire, says the Prophet, and the residue thereof he makes a God: he falls down to it, and Worships it, and Prays to it, and says, Deliver me, for thou art my God. In doing thus, the Scripture assures us, they forgot God their Saviour; they forgot me, saith the Lord, and did not know that I gave them Corn, and Wine, and Oyl, [Page 85]and Multiplied their Silver and Gold which they prepared for Baal. And therefore 'tis clear, they did not di­rect their Worship to God, whom they forgot; but as the Prophet Je­remy tells us, they turn'd their Back to God, and their Face to Idols, say­ing to a Stock, thou art my Father, and to a Stone, thou hast brought me forth. I must confess, all this is so intole­rably silly, that, unless the Word of God asserted it, I could not easily believe it. And yet I am fully per­swaded, that if we Examine well the Depth of Humane Policy, and search the Foundation of it, we shall find it grounded upon as gross Idolatry as this.

Thou shalt have no other Gods before me, says our Lord, in the first Com­mandment. And in the Explicati­on of it, he instances in those parti­cular Gods which then were most in Fashion, Thou shalt not make unto thee any Graven Image, Thou shalt not Bow down thy self to them, nor Worship them. Thus he forbids the [Page 86] Worship of other Gods, both all and some. And now I desire to know whether it be not too true, that all those Worldly Politicians are I­dolaters, who seek first the Kingdom of this World, and expect that the Kingdom of God should be added to them? Do they not change the Truth of God into a Lie, and Worship the Creature more than the Creator? Do they not make to themselves a Gra­ven Image? Do they not frame to themselves an imaginary Happiness? A Happiness which is not to be had in Heaven above, but only in the Earth beneath? And do they not bow down and serve it? How many are there of whom S. Paul makes mention, whose Belly is their God, who Sacrifice themselves to Glutto­ny and Drunkenness, and waste a­way their Lives in Flames of Lust? Their short-liv'd Happiness is part of it dead already, and burnt in its own Fire; and of the residue thereof, they still persist to make a God, and Worship it. How many are there [Page 87]in the World, who are ready at any time to Pawn their Souls for Gold? Do not these Men make a Golden Calf, and Worship it? Those Men who quit their Religion to se­cure their Fortune; who do not think there is a Thousand Pounds a Year difference betwixt the Right and the Wrong; but prefer the short Enjoyment of a little Spot of Terra Firma, before the Everlasting Posses­sion of their Heavenly Inheritance; do not these Men make a God of Mammon? Do they not put more Confidence in their Estate, than in the God of Heaven and Earth? Do they not forget God their Saviour, as if they did not know that he gave them all these things? Do they not turn their Back to God, and their Face to Idols, saying to their Land, thou art our Father, to thee we owe our Lives, and to their Money, thou hast brought us forth, and deliver'd us out of the House of Bondage? How many are there who are such Idolaters of Worldly Honour, that they tram­ple [Page 88]under Foot the Laws of God and Man, the Laws Ecclesiastical and Civil, rather than seem to Tres­pass, in the least punctilio, against the Laws of Hectorism? They pre­fer those Maxims, which the Pride of Lucifer has introudced and settled in the World, before the Precepts of the Most High God, which are reveal'd, confirm'd, and ratified un­to us, by the Gospel, Church, and State. The very Thought of being Laught at, and Despised by some few silly People, for a little while, is much more Terrible to them, than the Loss of God, and all that's Good, for all Eternity. When once the Reputation of their Modish Bravery is call'd in question by the least Af­front or Provocation, they are so bewitch'd, so stupified, so over­power'd, with a Base, Cowardly Fear of losing it, that altho' they are daring enough to Die Eternally for it, they have not true Courage e­nough to live one Moment without it. They Sacrifice to Devils, not to God. [Page 89]They force their way thro' Blood and Ashes, to the Altars of Revenge and Pride. They imprint and grave in their Minds an Image of I know not what, which none but Fools call Honour, and to this they offer up their Vows and Prayers; they fall down to it, and worship it, and in their Hearts they say unto it, De­liver us, for thou art our God.

The Psalmist tells us, that the Fool says, in his Heart, There is no God. And truly, if we well consider the matter, we shall find that all those People, who seek first the Kingdom of this World, the Honours, Riches, and Pleasures of it, are certainly such Fools, as to say, in their Heart, There is no other God but these. 'Tis no wonder therefore that the Apostle says, The Wisdom of this World is Foolishness with God. No wonder that he tells the Politicians of this World, that they are vain in their imaginations; that their foolish Hearts are darkned; and that profes­sing themselves Wise, as really they [Page 90]are, in the management of Worldly Affairs, they become Fools in the mis­government of themselves.

When I talk of Politicians, I do not only mean those great Ones, who sit at the Helm of Government, Ec­clesiastical or Civil; I also Compre­hend all those, who, in the Shades of a Private Life, find warmth enough to nourish Pride and Luxury, as well as Covetousness. Alas! It is not the Palace or the Cottage that makes any great difference in the Case: 'Tis the Heart of Man which is the Temple of these Idols: And the lowest Condition we can think of, does not hinder us from loving our selves above all things, and Ido­lizing such little Deities as our nar­row Capacity can afford us. 'Tis not the Golden or the Wooden Idol that aggravates or lessens the Crime: 'Tis the Worship that makes the Idolater. We know very well, that Villages retain'd their Pagan-Wor­ship, when the greater Cities ba­nish'd it. We certainly know, that [Page 91]altho' Self-love and Pride are bound­less in their vast Pretensions, yet they play at small Game rather than sit out. And therefore 'tis no won­der if the Poor, as well as Rich, are apt to Idolize themselves, and so are give [...]ver to a Reprobate Mind, Proud, Coverous, without Natural Affection, Deceitful, Envious, Ʋnmerciful, in a word, Malicious, and Ʋnjust.

II.

If I did not very well Consider the prodigious Folly of Self-love, I could not believe it capable of so much Malice. Who could have imagin'd, if the Scriptures were not plain, that the Jews who had so long expected the Messiah, could be so Ma­licious against him, when he came? He came from Heaven; and this perhaps was more than they expe­cted. He was True God, as well as Man; and this, I fear, was more than they desired. He came to ful­fil the Law, and to make them Per­fect like their Father in Heaven; and [Page 92]this was a great deal too much, for those who thought themselves al­ready good enough. But yet me­thinks they had no reason to like him so much worse, for being so much better than their wishes. His only fault was, that he was to [...] good for them; and because he was so, therefore they could not abide him. He came to destroy the Works of the Devil; to pull down the Idols which they had set up in their Hearts; and teach them to Adore, the One True God in Spirit and Truth, by taking away the Worship of all Worldly Honours, Wealth and Pleasures. Learn of me, says he, because I am humble of Heart. Learn of me, be­cause Blessed are the Poor in Spirit. Learn of me, because Blessed are they who are Persecuted for Righteousness sake. Learn all this, and always re­member this comfortable Lesson, Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Let this be always the Treasure of your Minds; let it always be the Cordial of your Hearts; remember it was I [Page 93]my self that told you, Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

This was the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ; but this Light did not shine upon them, so as to open their Eyes, because they loved the Darkness they were in: The God of this World had blinded their Minds: And they hated the Light because their Works were Evil. Alas! They did not care for the Kingdom of Heaven. An Earthly Kingdom was the chief thing they desired. They expected the Messiah to Redeem them from the Slavery of their Enemies, to En­rich them with the Spoils of Con­quer'd Nations, and to make the whole World Tributary to them. They loved themselves too well, to care for any thing else; and loved this World too much, to be con­cern'd for any other. Their Busi­ness was to build their Tabernacles here: The great Employment of their Minds was to contrive a Pa­radice on Earth: And their whole Souls were taken up with striving [Page 94]to be Rich and Powerful, that they might purchase and command what­ever Pleasures they desir'd. And therefore when the Messiab came to undeceive them, they were so sur­prized, they could not believe he was the Person whom they had so long expected. They did not imagine, his design was only to Redeem them from the Slavery of Sin, to assist them in the Conquest of their Vices, and to make their Passions Tribu­tary to their Reason. The Objects of these Passions were the Idols, which they had so long Adored, and Worshipt with as furious a Zeal as any of the Heathens round about them; and these they would not part with, upon any Terms: They would not endure to have them Abandon'd, Undervalued and Despised: No, no, say they, We will not have this Man Reign over us. And thus you plain­ly see, 'twas their Idolatry, which made them so blindly Zealous; 'twas their prodigious Folly, which made them so strangely Malicious against him.

We read in our present Gospel, that the Pharisees went and Consulted together, how they might Catch him in his Discourse. His Actions they could not Condemn: He went about, doing good to all: He was in all things a living Example of Good­ness: But however, their Malice made them hope to Catch him, and lay hold of some unwary Words in his Discourse. This was not the first Onset: We read in the forego­ing Chapter, how they sought to lay hands on him, but durst not, because they feared the Multitude, who took him for a Prophet. They durst not meddle with him: And therefore away they went, and Consulted toge­ther how to Catch him another time. We read in S. Luke, how they watch­ed him, and sent forth Spies, to feign themselves Just Men, that they might take hold of his Words, that so they might deliver him to the Power of the Governour.

They feigned themselves Just. They knew well enough the true Chara­cter [Page 96]of Goodness: But the Malice of their Hearts abused the best and clearest Light of their Minds. They knew how to act their part; but could not endure the sincere pra­ctice of it. A wicked Man is always the worse for his Knowledge: The more he has, the more cunning he is in making ill use of it, and im­ploying it against his Neighbour, in­stead of improving it to himself. They knew very well the Qualifica­tions of a Prophet sent by God: Master, say they, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither dost thou care for any Man, for thou regardest not the Per­sons of Men. They appeal'd to his Integrity, to decide the Rights of Caesar and the People. They knew how hard it was to please both Par­ties, and how dangerous to give of­fence to either. They wanted the assistance of the one, or other, to de­stroy him. The Multitude took his part, because they took him for a Pro­phet. The Emperor had nothing to [Page 97]say against him, so long as he did not meddle with the Government. And therefore the only Comfort of their Malice, was the Hope they had to make him chuse one side, that they might make him odious to the other.

There is nothing so Rash and En­terprizing as Vanity. A Man who is possess'd with a greedy desire of Popular Esteem, will stick at no­thing to Purchase it. The Phari­sees by Experience knew the force of it. The Gospel tells us how they loved to do things to be seen by Men. And therefore they cunning­ly endeavour'd to insinuate how much they admir'd their Master al­ready, and that nothing could Crown his Merit with a greater Addition of Glory, than his being bold enough to Declare against Caesar. Tell us therefore, say they, What thinkest thou? Is it Lawful to give Tribute to Caesar, or not? Do but tell us boldly, that we, who are God's People, are free from Tribute, and that it is not [Page 98]Lawful to pay it to Caesar: Tell us only this, and we shall all of us Conclude, That no Man ever gave a greater instance of his Teaching the way of God in Truth, without caring for any Man, and without regarding the Persons of Men.

Thus they maliciously contrive his Ruin, whilst he kindly aims at no­thing but their Good. They flat­ter him, and try to entangle him, whilst he deals sincerely with them, and makes it his business to unde­ceive them. They praise his Gene­rosity, with a wicked intention, to make him Proud and Indiscreet, whilst he discovers their Hypocrisie, with a Charitable Design, to make them Wise and Humble. He per­ceived their Malice, and thus Expo­stulated with them, Why do ye tempt me, ye Hypocrites? Why are you so foolish, as to have other Gods before me, and only feign your selves Just, in presence of him, who, by so many Miracles, has proved, he is the One True God, who sees th [...] Secrets of [Page 99]your Hearts? Why are you so Ma­licious, as to seek the Ruin of a Man, who comes from Heaven to Re­deem you, and to Save you from Eternal Misery? Why are you so Ʋnjust, to God, your Neighbour, and your Selves?

III.

What was it that made the Hea­thens so Malicious against the Pri­mitive Christians? What made them so Ʋnjust in persecuting, as to lay aside all Rules and Forms of Ju­stice? The Principal and Funda­mental reason was, because the Chri­stian Faith opposed the Worship of their Gods. Tertullian in his Apo­logy tells us, That when they were Indicted as Criminals, they were not vouchsafed the Justice of Legal Trials. They were Tortur'd after they Con­fess'd; they were not heard in their own Defence; they were denied all benefit of the Law; and, after all, they were not allow'd to offer their Humble and Dutiful Petitions to [Page 100]their Prince, for any Redress. Such Proceedings as these, were not only contrary to the received Laws of the Empire, but against the Common Liberties of Humanity and Nature, and the Allowance of all Just Go­vernments. In other matters they observed some measures of Equity: But, when their Idols were opposed, their Passion banish'd all manner of Reason, and left no Room for Ju­stice.

This is the common Case of all Self-lovers. They are Ʋnjust to God, whose Worship they give to his Creatures; Ʋnjust to their Neigh­bour, whose Concerns they Sacrifice to their own; and Ʋnjust to them­selves, whose Body and Soul they Damn for all Eternity. We read in Scripture, He that is Evil to himself, to whom will he be Good? He that Loves himself above all things, is as Evil to himself as his Hands and Heart can make him: How then will he be good to any Body else? How will he spare his Neighbour's [Page 101]Blood before the Altar of that Idol, to which he Daily Sacrifices his own Soul, his Heart, and All that is with­in him? When once the Devil has possess'd Mens Fancies with a great Idea of this World, and led them by Degrees to that exceeding height, from whence he shews them all the Happiness, and Glory of it; when once they relish the fond Hopes of all these things, the Honors, Wealth, and Pleasures of this World; when once their Hearts are fixt upon these Idols of their Mind; there is no longer any Justice to be had, no Right to be pleaded, no Law to be acknowledg'd, but the Sovereign Will and Pleasure of Self-love. They may counterfeit Piety, Loyalty, Friendship, Justice, Liberality, and all those Virtues which are Popular and Serviceable to their Politick De­signs; they may possibly have some Degree of Natural Goodness, and may act sincerely in some small Oc­casions, where 'tis no way incon­sistent with the Worship of their [Page 102]Idols; they may feign themselves Just to God, to Caesar, to a Friend or Neighbour, and all these Vertues may perhaps look well enough in the Face; but, wheresoever Self-love Lives and Reigns, it is impossible to have them sound at Heart. These Duties peradventure may obtain some Toleration at a distance; but must never approach the Altar, where Self-love has placed the Gra­ven Image of their Happiness. 'Tis true, the Honours, Riches and Plea­sures here below, are all imaginary things; there's nothing Real and Substantial in them: And, when the parting Hour draws near, when once these drousie Souls are thoroughly awaken'd with a quick and lively Sence of their Eternity, they then see clearly the illusion, and the emptiness of all these silly Dreams. But nevertheless they now are so Amus'd and Charm'd, with an imagination of something or o­ther, in which they place their Hap­piness, that, whatsoe'er it is, they [Page 103] make a God of it, they Adore and Serve it only. All their other Hu­mours, whatsoe'er they are, must all bow down to this: And all the Du­ties of a Christian, of a Subject, of a Friend, or Neighbour, must be Sa­crificed as often as they dare pretend to stand in competition with it.

These are the Natural Effects of Worldly Policy; the necessary Con­sequences of that Wisdom of this World, which, the Apostle says, is Foolishness with God. 'Tis Foolish in it self, Malicious against it oppo­sers, and Ʋnjust to all. And truly we can expect no better, if we con­sider, that the first Principles of it, are an insatiable Self-love, a vain Hope of Self-enjoyment, and a silly Belief, that this miserable World is the only Seat of Happiness.

On the contrary, Christian Pru­dence, the first of Moral Vertues, which Directs and Governs the pra­ctice of them all, is grounded upon the Three Theological Vertues, a true Love of God above all things, a [Page 104]comfortable Hope of Enjoying him for ever, and a lively Faith that no­thing else can make us truly Happy. These are the Fundamental Princi­ples of Christian Prudence, and there­fore there is nothing so truly Wise, so Charitable, and so Just.

1. There is nothing so Wise. Be­cause as Self-preservation is the first Instinct of Nature, so true Self-love is the first Effect of Divine Wisdom; and Christian Prudence teaches us the true Love of our selves. It re­gards our true Interest and Advan­tage; it endeavours to free us from our greatest Evils, and procure our greatest Good; it considers, that inward Peace is better than outward Ease, that our Souls are nobler than our Bodies, that Eternity is infinite­ly more considerable than Time; that the short and light Afflictions of this World, which are but for a Moment, are nothing in comparison of Everlasting and Intolerable Tor­ments, and that all the uneasie Plea­sures of this Life, are nothing to the [Page 105]Heavenly Joys which the Almighty has prepared for those that Love him. Did Esau truly love himself, when for a Morsel of Meat he sold his Birth­right? The present satisfaction of his Humour, was it not soon past? And did not he himself remain a standing Monument of his own Fol­ly? Did he not Repent too late, and found no place of Repentance, tho' he sought it with Tears? And was not he himself a sufficient Witness of his being Fool enough to Love a trifle better than himself? Such Fools as this, and worse, are all Pro­fane Self-lovers. They Love their Humour, not themselves; and to content some silly Humour, for a Moment, they are willing to destroy themselves for ever. If any one will come after me, says our Saviour, let him deny himself, and follow me; let him deny his own unreasonable Humour, and follow my Advice; let him follow me, who am the Way to Truth; let him follow me, who am that very Truth, which is [Page 106]the Way to Everlasting Life; let him not Idolize a foolish Humour, and Love it better than himself; but let him kindly and wisely deny his Humor for a time, that he may Save himself for all Eternity.

2. As there is nothing so Wise for our Selves, so there is nothing so Charitable to our Neighbour. A Man who believes God's Word, and relies upon his Promises, is happy in a comfortable Hope of Enjoying him for ever. The Pleasures of Flesh and Blood are too mean to content him; they are the same which Brutes enjoy, and therefore he de­spises them. He glories in the Pledges of his Hope; his being Made to the Divine Image, his being Redeem'd by the Merits of Christ, and being thus Entitled to Grace here, and Glory hereafter. These are the Rea­sons why he justly Values himself. They are the Excellencies which he is in Love with wheresoe'er he meets them, and therefore Loves his Neigh­bour as he Loves himself. The best [Page 107]Christian is always the best Friend. He is the truest Friend, not only to himself, but to his Neighbour. The World is strangely mistaken in the Notion of true Friendship, as well as in that of Self-love. We com­monly think a Man Loves himself mightily, when he allows himself in all his Humours: But alas! He only Loves his Humour, and at the same time Hates himself. He does not see it, and may be will not believe it, till he's Damn'd for it: But then his Hatred shews it self too late; he Hates and Curses himself for ever. In the same manner, we take him to be our best and faithfulest Friend, who is always most ready to com­ply with us, and take our part in all things. But this is a mistake, as great as the other. If our Neigh­bour's Humours are any way un­reasonable, a true Friend may en­deavour to moderate, but can never find in his Heart to approve them. Nay, tho' their Humours are Law­ful, yet if they are not Expedient, [Page 108]'tis an Argument of true kindness to deny one's Neighbour, in all those Cases, in which one would be glad to have so much Vertue as to deny one's self. For my own part, if ever I have need of a Friend, I only wish and pray I may fall into the Hands of a good Christian; a Friend of God's own Making, Chusing and Appointing. Let him be only able to assist me, I am very sure, the bet­ter Christian he is, the better Friend he'll shew himself: He'll act by No­bler and Diviner Principles, than all the Humane Ties of Gratitude and Kindness: And will be sure to do a great deal more for God's sake, than any Body else will ever do for mine. I grant there are but few of these; but the fewer there are, the more's the pity: And I am very much a­fraid, 'tis partly our own fault, that the World is not good enough to have more of them.

3. As there is nothing so Wise, and Charitable, so there is nothing so Perfectly and Universally Just, as [Page 109] Christian Prudence. Altho' it neces­sarily presupposes Faith, and Hope, yet the chief ground of it is Charity, by which we Love God above all things, and look upon all things else as nothing in Comparison of Him. A Man whose Mind and Heart are throughly Enlightned and Enflam'd with this Coelestial Love, lays up his Treasure in Heaven, where his Heart is: He gives to God what's due to God, he Adores and Serves him only, he renders to him his whole Being, his Soul, his Heart, and all that is within him: He despises all the Treasures upon Earth, where Moth and Rust do Corrupt, and Thieves break through and Steal: Eternity is his great Aim, and therefore he scorns to quarrel about any Tempo­ral Concerns, but easily and readily makes even Reckonings with all the World, by giving to Caesar what is due to Caesar, and to his Friends and Neighbours what is due to all of them. We never are Unjust to Cae­sar, to a Friend or Neighbour, but [Page 110]when we are strongly tempted to it by an eager desire of something or other relating to our Honour, Profit or Pleasure: And these are the very things which a good Chri­stian Undervalues and Despises. When our Saviour said to the Pha­risees, Shew me the Tribute-Money; and when he askt them, Whose is this Image and Superscription? He was not ignorant of either: But was willing to let them understand how little he valued these Money-mat­ters, which were the least part of his Care. A Christian is a Man of ano­ther World; and all the while he is in this, he chiefly minds his way to the next. He knows that his good Actions are the only things which have a Current Value there: And as for the Riches of this World, he does not covet to be loaded with them, but only to have a little about him, as much as may suffice to pay his share by the way. He considers that the way is short, and therefore is easily satisfied with any thing. [Page 111]If he Lodge uneasily, and Fare a lit­tle hardly in his Journey, 'tis only the common Fate of Travellers; he cheerfully makes the best of it; and comforts himself with thinking how plentifully he shall Feast for ever, when he comes to his Eternal Home.

O God, who art the only Refuge of Sinners, the only Strength of the Weak, and only Author of all Piety, incline thy Ears of Pity and Com­passion to the Pious Prayers of thy Church; forgive our past Offences, all our Folly, Malice, and Injustice; direct us in the ways of thy own Wisdom, Charity and Righteous­ness; and never cease to assist us with thy Grace, that what by thy Encouragement we confidently ask, we may effectually obtain: Thro' Christ our Lord. Amen.

I.

'Tis the nature of Charity to make us Humble; and Humility is also a natural Disposition towards being Charitable. If we consider Charity in order to God, we plainly see that a Man, who truly Loves Him above all things, cannot but undervalue all the fading Glories of this World. The Gaudy Scene of all its Vanity makes little or no Impression upon him: He easily discerns how false its Lustre is: He sees quite through it, and sees Eternity beyond it. If we consider the same Charity in order to our Neighbour, whom we Love for God's sake, as being Made to the same Divine Image, Ransom'd by the same Infinite Price, and there­by Entitled to the same Grace here, as well as the same Eternal Glory hereafter: These great and glorious [Page 115]Motives shine so bright, that all those heaps of Honour which the World is able to Accumulate upon us, are no better than so many Dung­hils in comparison of these inesti­mable Jewels. A Man, who chiefly Loves himself and his Neighbour upon these accounts, can have no longing passion for any preference on Earth: He cannot but disdain all these inferiour Excellencies, Digni­ties and Praises; because the Trea­sure of his Mind and Heart is in­finitely greater; and all these Trifles are as much below his Thoughts, as Heaven is above them.

Thus we see how Charity inclines us to be Humble; and 'tis as easie to discover how Humility disposes and prepares us to be Charitable. It removes the Obstacles of Charity: It lessens our inclinations to those things which commonly create Di­vision amongst us: In a word, it banishes that Pride, Ambition, and Vanity, which are the usual subject of our Quarrels; and makes the [Page 116]way plain and easie towards a per­fect and a happy Union of Peace and Love. A Proud Man thinks it a lessening of his Greatness, to make the least step towards any Recon­cilement. He scorns to stoop to his Duty, but expects that every Body else should bow to his Imperious Humour. On the contrary, an Hum­ble Man is asham'd of being so Proud. If his Neighbour happens to be Captious, Envious or Malici­ous, he freely forgives his fault, and pities his fall; and never thinks it below him, to go and seek him out, and even stoop to help him up a­gain.

We read in the beginning of this Gospel, how Jesus went into the House of one of the chief Pharisees, that is to say, of his chief Enemies, to eat Bread. A Proud Man would have scorn'd to eat the Bread of an Enemy; but our Saviour's Humili­ty was too Charitable to need any Invitation, and his Charity too Humble to desire it. There was [Page 117]good to be done; and that was e­nough to Invite him. He knew very well their Pride and Malice: But at the same time he consider'd, that the prouder they were, the more they wanted his assistance; and the more they wanted it, the more willing he was to afford it. He knew they would not come to him to fetch it: And therefore he went into the House to bring it to them, and in a manner force it upon them.

Behold the Example of our hum­ble Redeemer! Are we always rea­dy to follow it? Are we at all times willing to oblige our Enemies? Do not we take quite other Measures? If our Enemy disdains to make the first Step towards us: If he expects that we begin to shew respect and kindness: If he takes upon him a great deal more than he deserves: Do not we behave our selves as if we thought our selves obliged in Honour to be as Proud as he? Do not we sometimes find a secret satis­faction [Page 118]in shewing to the World, how high a Spirit we have? How hear­tily we despise all those that slight us? And is it not a strange Folly, to value so much that very Pride in our selves, which we despise so hear­tily in our Neighbours?

Our Saviour knew very well the Pharisees were his Enemies; he knew they cared not for him; he knew they slighted him; and yet he freely goes into the House, to seek their Company. He knew they al­ways watched him, wheresoe're he went, and whatsoe're he did or said. He knew they watched him, with a Spiteful and Malicious De­sign, to Misinterpret all his Con­versation, Words and Actions. He knew by Consequence how little Probability there was of doing any Good amongst them. But yet there was still some little Appearance; and as long as there was any left, he could not forbear embracing any Opportunities of courting their E­steem, or gaining their good Will. [Page 119]Not that he either valued or wanted their Favour or Affection, but that he might teach them to value what they wanted themselves; and that they might be ready and desirous to receive, and to improve, those truly Valuable Blessings, which his Hands were always full of.

And behold there was a certain Man before him, which had the Dropsie. 'Twas enough that the Man was be­fore him: He could not behold his Misery, without pitying it: He could not see his Want, without desiring to Relieve it. But howe­ver, because he was surrounded by his Enemies, the Pharisees, who carefully observ'd, and watch'd him, with Design to make him Odious to the People: Therefore Jesus an­swering, spoke to the Lawyers, and the Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to Heal on the Sabbath-Day? Our Pride would never have endured to shew so much Civility to those who seek to undermine our Credit, and are not contented to Despise and [Page 120]Hate us, but are Studious and In­dustrious to make us Odious and Contemptible to every Body else. We think it below us to humour such People; we look upon it as an Argument of a mean Spirit, to com­ply with them; we take a great deal of Pleasure, in shewing how Great we are in our own Little Do­minions, and how much we disdain the very seeming to value those who undervalue us. Our Saviour was humbler than we: He did not value the Opinion of the Pharisees, but yet he was humble enough, to give them leave to think he did so. He knew, that the only way to do them Good, was first to please them: And that he could not please them better, than by seeming to consult them. Is it Lawful, says he, to Heal on the Sabbath-Day? If he had gone to School to learn the Law of them, he could not have put the Question in more Humble Terms; but yet they held their Peace. Their Pride would not suffer them [Page 121]to run the Hazard of exposing their Ignorance, by reasoning the Matter with him: They were Conscious, that they had but little Reason on their side; but their Malice made them hope, that, in his Absence, they might afterwards be able to find Fault with him, and colour their Detraction with such Plausi­ble Pretences, as might make him pass, in the Opinion of the People, for a Scandalous Person, who had little or no Regard to the Obser­vance of the Sabbath. Our Saviour knew their Malice, and saw their Pride: But, at the same time, knowing that their stubborn Silence might very civilly be taken for Consent: And having shew'd his Humility, in referring himself to their Judgment, he resolved to de­fer no longer his Charity to the Dropsical Man: He took him, and Heal'd him, and let him go.

This was not all. He was not con­tent, that their Silence was enough to stop their Mouths, and to hin­der [Page 122]them from blaming what they durst not contradict. He did not consider himself so much as them. He had done one Miracle already, but he had yet more Miracles to do: And not only more, but greater. He had cur'd one Body of a Drop­sie; but what was that to so many Souls before him, which were all of them more Dropsical, and much more dangerously Sick? Alas, poor Creatures! They were puffed up with a great Excess of Pride: They were almost ready to burst with Envious and Malicious Hu­mours, and yet they thirsted eager­ly for fresh Occasions, to dilate these Humours, and encrease the Torment of their Minds. They saw the Swelling of the poor Man's Flesh, but did not see the greater Swelling of their own proud Hearts. They pitied his Body, but were too blind to pity their own Souls.

To tell them, in plain Terms, how Blind and Proud they were, would never do them any Good: It [Page 123]would neither Humble them, nor Open their Eyes: It would only serve to Aggravate their Pride, and Blind them so much more. When Pride is the Disease, Humility must be the Cure; and an Humble Per­son must undertake it, or else 'twill never succeed. A Proud Man must be always treated gently, and gain'd by Insensible Degrees. To gain up­on him, we must not offer to At­tack him, as if we design'd a Victo­ry over him; neither must we di­rectly Contradict him. His Max­ims indeed are often Contradicto­ry to one another: But the great Difficulty is, how to go about to make him see it. To take upon us to shew it plainly to him, is as great an Affront, as if we pretend­ed to be clearer-sighted than he. And therefore the best way is to lead him fairly and softly by his own Principles, till we have brought him so near the Matter, that he may easily and clearly see his own Mistake, without our pointing at it. [Page 124]Let him but have the Honour of seeming to find it himself, and then he'll willingly own it. To do all this is no hard Task, unless we are as Proud as he. If we are tru­ly Humble, we shall take Delight in it. The Prouder he is, the great­er is his Fall; and the Humbler we are, the Lower we shall willingly stoop to help him up again.

We have already seen how Hum­ble our Saviour was, in not offer­ing to Cure the Dropsical Man be­fore he had Consulted the Com­pany; and by their Silence, had a just Pretence to take it for granted, that the thing was fitting to be done. Let us now consider, how Humbly he behaved himself after­wards, as soon as he had Heal'd the Man, and let him go. To let them see how far he was from Slighting or Despising their Opinion of him, he Appeals to their own Principles, and by a Familiar Example, lets them understand what Reason he had to judge, they could not possi­bly [Page 125]dislike what he had done. Which of you, says he, shall have an Ass or an Ox fallen into a Pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath-Day? A Proud Man would have gloried in being bold enough, to tell them to their Faces, how Blind, how Covetous, and how Uncharitable they were. Our Saviour teaches us another Lesson: Learn of me, because I am Humble. He does not tell them, they are Proud and Blind, but endeavours to put them in a way of Opening their Eyes, and chuses that Method of discoursing, which was least offen­sive to them. He does not tell them, they are Covetous, but ar­gues from a particular Maxim of their own, which he knew their Covetousness would always help them to approve of.

Their Vanity of being exact, in the Observance of the Sabbath, was greater than their Charity to their Neighbour: And therefore they concluded it was a Transgression of [Page 126]the Law, to Cure a Man upon the Sabbath. But yet their Covetousness was more Predominant than all their Vain Hypocrisie; and therefore, if any of their Goods were endan­ger'd upon the Sabbath, they did not doubt but it was Lawful to secure them. The Life of an Ass or an Ox, provided it were their own, was a great deal more to them than the Life of a Neighbour. To save the Life of a Beast, which was worth Money to them, this was a thing of real Importance, which the Ceremonious Piety of the Sab­bath might very well give Place to. But to save the Life of a Neigh­bour, by whom, perhaps, they were not like to get a Penny, alas! What signified his Life to them? They were never like to be the bet­ter for it: Let him e'en die, say they, and let us keep the Sabbath.

Behold what Blindness we are capable of, when Pride and Passion over-rule our Reason! Let us con­sider it well, and lay it seriously to [Page 127]Heart. Let it be a continual In­struction to us, which may daily Humble us, and make us always Jealous of our selves. We are made of the same Flesh and Blood; we are liable to the same Pride and Passion; and may, for ought we know, be as Extravagantly, and as Proudly Blind, as they. The only way to Open our Eyes, and see that Pride which Blinds us, is to observe the Doctrine and Example of our Humble Saviour. He is the Light of the World: He Enlightens every Man that comes into it: He is the only Light, in which we can truly see, how Proud we are. And is it not a wonderful thing, that Light it self should shine so bright before the Pharisees, and they not see it? The Gospel takes notice, that they could not answer him to these things: But however we do not read that they submitted to him. Their Pride and Passion made them love Darkness ra­ther than Light. And yet our Savi­our took all Care imaginable, to [Page 128]make his Light acceptable and plea­sing to them, for fear, lest they might shut their Eyes against it. Which of you shall have an Ass or an Ox fallen into a Pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath-day? He only proposes, with all Humility, a modest Question, without the least reflecting upon them; and leaves them to their own Discretion, to apply it to themselves. My God! How profoundly Humble is thy In­finite Charity! How infinitely Cha­ritable is thy Profound Humility!

II.

If it be true, that Charity makes us Humble, 'tis no less certain, that Self-Love makes us Proud. When once we lose the Love of God above all things, we turn our Back upon the Light; and being in the Dark, it is no wonder that we blindly doat upon our selves. We have lost the Presence of our God, whose Infinite Goodness was the Boundless Object of our Minds, and fill'd the utmost [Page 129]Stretch of our Unlimited Desires: And, when we lose him, 'tis no wonder if we find our Hearts as Empty as our God is Great. As he is infinitely Great, so we are infi­nitely Empty without him: And all that we can find amongst His Creatures is never Great enough to satisfie us. This is the Reason why we are so fond of Greatness. 'Tis the true Cause why we are so Proud, Ambitious, Vain, and Envious. All our Honours, Dignities and Praises, all our Actions and Pretentions, every thing belonging to us must be Great: And, if we cannot in our selves be Great, according to our Wishes, we make it out, with fan­cying we are greater than our Neigh­bours. We study their Faults, and wink at our own; we study our own Advantages, and wink at theirs; we do what we can to lessen them, and magnifie our selves; and all this Care is taken, only to purchase an Agreeable Mistake of htinking we are greater than they. [Page 130]If this succeeds not, but, in spite of all Self-flattering Arts, we still are Conscious of our Neighbour's Merit being greater than ours; our last Refuge is to have Recourse to the Opinion of others, to make Amends for what's deficient in our own. Al­though we cannot deceive our selves, yet still we hope that they may be deceiv'd in us, and think us Great, in spite of all our Littleness: And 'tis no matter how little we are at home, provided we are great abroad. If our Acquaintance Love us, Ho­nour us, and Praise us, more than any Body else; if they Extol us, Magnifie us, and Cry us up, above all others; we care not what Place we have in our own Thoughts, pro­vided we have the first Place in theirs. The first Place is the thing we always aim at: We cannot en­dure that any Body else should have it: And the more earnestly we en­deavour to exalt our selves, the soon­er we are humbled.

The reason is plain. Because our being thus exalted in the Minds and Hearts of other People, is a priviledge depending entirely upon their courtesie, and a favour not to be obtain'd by force or fear. Esteem and Love are never to be had for asking; much less by laying claim to them, as if we thought them due to us. Mens Thoughts are their own; they are free to think what they please: And will ever do so, without craving our leave for it. They cannot love us, unless they like us: And how can they like us, if we take upon us to oblige them to it? 'Tis a visible Encroachment up­on the liberty of their Thoughts and Inclinations: A liberty which God himself allows them; and a liberty which all the United Strength of Mankind is not able to take from them. Let us do and say what we can, they are absolute Masters at home, and altogether Arbitrary in their own Dominions: We cannot chuse our place in their Affection or [Page 132]Esteem: And the only way to get the best preferment amongst them, is to challenge none at all, but only endeavour to deserve it, and always leave it to their own discretion. To do otherwise, will only serve to make us odious and ridiculous. And therefore our Saviour gives us warn­ing not to chuse the highest place, for fear lest we begin with shame to take the lowest: But, on the contrary, to go and sit down in the lowest place, that we may afterwards go higher, and have so much greater honour in presence of those who sit with us.

And here I cannot but admire our Saviour's Charitable Condescen­sion to us, in making use of our own Principles to instruct us, and in re­ctifying our Frailties, so as to make them serviceable to us. When Pride is predominant in us, we fear no­thing more than being humbled, and hope for nothing more than be­ing exalted: These are our greatest hopes and fears: And, because they are so, therefore our Saviour makes [Page 133]choice of them to Check the unruly motions of our Pride. What is it, but a violent desire of being Exal­ted, that makes us so fierce in chal­lenging Respect, so loud in com­plaining of Neglect, so hot in quar­relling about it, so implacable in re­senting it, so furious and so cruel in revenging it? We think that by these means we may perhaps be able to force our way to Honour, and make a Conquest of the highest place in the Esteem and Love of Men: But alas! We always find our selves most grievously mistaken. Such means as these, if we are Rich and Powerful, may possibly prevail so far upon some few mean Spirits, as to make them fear and flatter us: But 'tis impossible, this way, to make them ever Love us, or Esteem us. And since our strongest hopes and fears are so much bent upon this silly Method of endeavouring to exalt our selves; what stronger Argument could be employed to Curb the impetuous Sallies of our [Page 134]Pride, than to open our Eyes, and let us plainly see, that whilst we are thus hastening to invade the highest place, we are continually posting to the lowest? Because the prouder we seem to be, the more they hate us, and despise us. The more they hate the Injustice of our being so; and the more they despise the Folly of our shewing it.

The Injustice of a Proud Self-lo­ver is so Notorious, that nothing can excuse or palliate it. If he could have it for asking, he would make no scruple to Monopolize the Esteem and Love of all the World. 'Tis All too little for him, and therefore no share of it can content him. If it lay in his power, he would humble every Body else, to make room for his own dear Self. He is unjust both to God and Man. He prefers him­self before both. And if this be not unjust, I know not what to call so. Our God who made us, is he not infinitely better than all his Creatures? And is it not just that [Page 135]we should Love him best? Does not the first and highest place, in all Mens Minds and Hearts, belong to him? How dare we then so inso­lently offer to pretend to it? Our Neighbours, are they not made by the same God, and for the same glorious End? Are they not all In­vited to the same Eternal Happi­ness? He who Invites us, is he not the same who Made us? He Made us what he pleas'd; and does it not therefore belong to him to Assign us what place he pleases? What­ever we are, whatever we have, whatever we imagine greater in our selves than others, we have no just reason to be Proud of it; because 'tis no Property of our own, but a free Gift of our Master, without our first deserving it. We may be hum­bly thankful for it, but have no pre­tence to glory in it; because it does not argue that we are better than others, but only that God is better and kinder to us than he is to them. We did not Make our selves, we did [Page 136]not Invite our selves, and therefore must not Chuse for our selves. We have no Right to our being Made, no Claim to our being Invited, no Title of our own to any Place at all: And since there's no Place due to us, Are we not horribly Unjust, if nothing but the highest Place will satisfie us?

In a word, there's nothing so Un­just and Odious, nothing so Unrea­sonable and Ridiculous, as Pride. And therefore 'tis no wonder if the higher we Aim, the lower we fall. No wonder, I say, if it be always true, that Whosoever Exalts himself, shall certainly be Humbled, by Men, in this World, and by the Devil and his Angels, in the next.

On the other side, there's nothing so Humble, nothing so Divine, as Charity; and, at the same time, no­thing in the World so Charitable, so truly Great and Generous, as true Humility. And therefore 'tis no wonder that our Saviour assures us, He that Humbles himself, shall be Ex­alted. [Page 137]If he Humbles himself exte­riourly in the sight of Men, he will be sure to be Exalted, Lov'd, and Honour'd by them here. And if he Humbles himself sincerely in the sight of God, he cannot fail to be Exalted Everlastingly hereafter.

I.

The first thing we read in the Gospel is, that there was a Marriage, and the Mother of Jesus was there; and not the Mother only, but Jesus also was himself invited to it. They were both invited, and were both of them pleased to be there. They were not contented to come them­selves, to honour this Happy Solem­nity; but, the Disciples being also invited for their Master's sake, He was pleas'd to bring them with him, that they might be Witnesses, how much he honour'd it, and that his Apostles afterwards might preach with greater Assurance this Ortho­dox Doctrine, that Marriage is al­ways Honourable, not only in it self, but in all who rightly engage in it, and observe the Duties of it.

There's nothing raises more the Value of any Commendation, than to have it given by those who are [Page 140]Commendable for being of a diffe­rent Profession. Such a Commenda­tion carries with it a much fairer ap­pearance of being Impartial and Sincere, and therefore is more justly Valuable.

If Marriage were esteem'd and praised only by married People, we should not much admire the Commendations which they so frankly bestow upon their own Con­dition. But when we see Virginity it self do so much Justice to a Marri­ed Life, as to approve it: When we see the two most perfect Patterns of Virginity, the Virgin Son of God, and Virgin Mother, Vouchsafe to Adorn a Wedding with the Glory of their Presence: When we consi­der, that although they both of them preferr'd a Virgin Life so much be­fore it, that the one would not be Born of a Woman unless she were a Virgin, neither was the other con­tented to be his Mother, till she un­derstood, that by a Miracle she might be Fruitful without the least Preju­dice [Page 141]of her Virginity; yet neverthe­less, they both of them were pleased to Accept the Invitation, and be Wit­nesses of the Solemnity: When, I say, we duly consider all these Circumstances, we must needs con­clude, that although Virginity be pre­ferrable as being more perfect, yet the State of Marriage is truly Honourable in it self, and ought to be honour'd by all Mankind, since God himself was pleas'd to Honour it.

Christian Marriage is the Nursery of Christianity, the School where Chil­dren learn the Rudiments of Chri­stian Vertue, and the Academy where they are daily Train'd up to the Ex­ercise of it. Let the Little ones come to me, says Christ in the Gospel: And 'tis the great Duty of Parents to bring their little ones to him. The In­stitution of Christian Marriage, aims at no less Glorious an End, than that for which the Son of God was pleased to come into the World; which is, that the Children of Men may, by his Grace, become the Chil­dren [Page 142]of God. For this Reason he Establish'd his Holy Church upon Earth; He gave Apostles, Bishops, and Pastors, to carry on the Work of the Ministry; and gave a strict Commis­sion to Parents to bring their Chil­dren to him, that they may know his Holy Will, and do it, that they may grow up in him in all things, and that by daily Improvement in the pra­ctice of all Christian Duties, they may replenish the Church Militant here, and the Church Triumphant here­after. If any, says the Apostle, have not Care of their own, and espe­cially of those who are of their own House, their own Family, their own Flesh and Blood, they have de­nied the Faith, and are worse than Infidels.

I must confess, 'tis no small Ho­nour for Married Persons to be con­stituted Coadjutors of Christ in that great Work which brought him down from Heaven: But then a­gain, I cannot deny but that this ve­ry Honour brings along with it so [Page 143]many and such heavy Obligations, that unless the Grace of God sup­port them, it will only serve to crush them with its Weight. A Virgin has only one Soul to save, one Person to please, one Passion to con­quer. This Passion, being taken young, is easily made tame; and, being used to that Subjection which it owes to Reason, grows contented with it. This Person is its own dear Self; one Mind, one Humour with it self; and is not easily pre­vail'd with to displease it self. This Soul is entirely its own; it is not divided betwixt a Neighbour and it self; 'tis the whole Object of its great Concern, the only Necessary one; and being free from all Distra­ction, it has nothing else to do, but to endeavour the Salvation of it self. But it is not so with Married People. They must take great Care to save their Children's Souls, or else they greatly endanger their own. They must instruct them in all their Du­ties; and that's some little Trouble. [Page 144]They must, in all things, give them good Example; and that's a great deal more Troublesome. They must bear patiently whatever Crosses they meet with from their Children; and this is not always easie. They must be as patient, and more, if pos­sible, in bearing with all the Faults and Humours of those whom they have taken for better or worse; and how hard this is, they only know who have tried it. On the one side, I do not easily conceive how Married People can please themselves, with­out pleasing one another: And on the other side, I am very much afraid it is as difficult a thing to please two Persons, as it is to serve two Masters. I know very well, that according to the Institution of Marriage, Man and Wife are but one. They are one in Law; they ought to be one in Incli­nation and Affection; and whilst they are so, they are as happy as Marriage can make them: But when they are two, they are the worst two in the World. There's nothing so [Page 145]soure as Love when it turns. From an Excessive Fondness, which created a Thousand Extravagant Expecta­tions, and a Thousand more Unrea­sonable Jealousies, they often pass to to the other Extreme of hating more than ever they lov'd: And 'tis hard to say, which is the greater Plague of Marriage; too much Love, or too little. A Medium betwixt both is certainly the best: And even then there's enough to be done, and a great deal more to be suffer'd. A­batements of Humour must be made, on the one side as well as the other; there must be mutual Condescenti­ons used; they must have Patience, if not always, at least by turns: And all this little enough to maintain that Peace at home, and Credit abroad, without both which they cannot ex­pect to be easie. For want of this, we see the Ruin of many Families, who are a grievous Scandal to their own Domesticks whilst they live together, and a greater to the whole World when they part. To pre­vent [Page 146]all these Disorders, and to go­vern all their Passions with that Mo­deration and Discretion which is necessary for their present Happiness, and for the future Welfare of them­selves and Children, both in this World and the next, the Grace of God is indispensibly required. Their Frailty and Temptations are greater than ordinary, and therefore their Grace must be so too. They are as Frail and Weak as Water: And no­thing but a Miracle of Grace can change their Water into Wine. This is that Comfortable beginning of Mi­racles which Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, to Manifest his Glory, that all Married Christians may be true Disciples of him, and firmly be­lieve in him, that though without him they are never able to Support the Difficulties of their State, yet by his Presence and Assistance they may make those Duties easie, which are otherwise impossible.

II.

'Tis a great Comfort to Married People, that the State wherein they engage is truly Honourable; and that God himself, his Virgin-Mo­ther, and Disciples, were pleas'd to Honour it with their Presence. 'Tis yet a greater Comfort to Consider, that the things which are Impossible with Men, are Possible with God; and that although sometimes it may be morally Impossible for Humane Na­ture, to endure with Patience the Cares and Crosses which attend a Foolish or Unwary Choice, yet still God's Mercy is so great, that he will rather Work a Miracle in Favour of them, than suffer his Omnipotent Assistance to be wanting to them. But though these Comforts are Pe­culiar to Married Persons, yet the Instructions of the Gospel are more general, and may regard all Chri­stians whatsoever; not only those who are Married, but even those who lead a single Life.

I. There was a Marriage, says the Evangelist, and Jesus was invited. Without this Invitation, He would not have been present: And with­out his Presence, they would have been deprived of his Assistance. This is the Case; not only of Marriage, but of any other Calling or Profes­sion whatsoever. No good Christian dares presume, in any State of Life, to expect the Blessing of Christ, with­out inviting him to give it. He must be present in their Hearts, by a Sincere Desire of serving him, and saving their Souls. Whatever they engage in, they may perhaps have other Honest Motives, but this must always be the Chief. He must be also present in their Minds, by a Sincere Enquiry into his Holy Will and Pleasure, which they consult in every Deliberate Action, and much more in any Solemn Undertaking, which is like to have a greater and more lasting Influence upon their Lives. They invite not only Jesus Christ, but his Disciples also; when in [Page 149]all things they consult those Holy Maxims which He and his Apostles preach'd; and under the secure di­rection of Faith, Hope, and Charity they fix their steady Eye upon the Glories of another Life, and Value this no farther than it is Subservient to that. 'Tis thus they prove them­selves to be true Christians, accord­ing to S. Paul's Description, by de­nying all Ʋngodliness and Worldly Lusts, by living Soberly and Righte­ously in this present World, and by ex­pecting the Glorious Appearance of him, who is their God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 'Tis thus they shew to all the World the Sanctity of their Calling, and make it appear, as the Apostle says, that God has not call'd them to Ʋncleanness, but to Holiness, that every one may know how to Pos­sess their Vessel in Sanctification and Honour, and not in the Lust of Con­cupiscence, like the Heathens, who know not God, and therefore know no Rule but their unruly Appetites. 'Tis thus they Build their whole [Page 150]Morality upon a true Christian Foun­dation: They believe, they hope, they love above all things, that Blest Eter­nity, whose Joys are set before them; and therefore take no Measures but what are suitable to it, and are al­ways Prudent in chusing, Patient in suffering, Just and Temperate in all their doings.

Even those who differ from us in Matters of Faith, are (some of them) of the same Opinion with us in these Important Maxims of Morality. ‘A very Abstemious Life, if it be not required as an Essential Part of Holiness, yet it is necessary as the Means and Instrument of it: Con­formably to that of S. Paul, 1. Cor. ch. 7. Brethren, the time is short; it remaineth that they who have Wives, be as though they had none; and they that Rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; for the Figure of this World passes away. Where we are not only Interdicted unlawful Pleasures, but forbidden to give our selyes up to lawful ones; and [Page 151]commanded to use such Moderation as may become Men fully perswaded of the Shortness and Vanity of this Life, and possessed by the Expecta­tion of a better. The Christian State is a State of Holiness and Pu­rity: 'Tis in one Word, to be Hea­venly-minded: And therefore that Course of Lise, which can best serve to Encrease this Blessed Temper, is the Christian's Duty; and that which Softens and Sensualizes us, is Inconsistent with Christianity. The great End of Temperance, ac­cording to S. Paul, 1 Cor. ch. 9. is the Mastery, or Conquest, over the World and Flesh, whose Lusts and Pleasures War against the Soul. Religion being nothing but the Love of God, and Heavenly things, the Gospel endeavours all it can to wean us from the World and Flesh; it being Impossible to serve Two such contrary Interests. And, when the Soul is striving for the Mastery, is it Sense to Arm the E­nemy, and Feed it into a Fierce and [Page 152]Brutish Courage, by indulging those Enjoyments which are the Food and Fuel to its Lusts? In plainer Words: that Abstinence from Sen­sual Pleasures, which renders the Body Governable and Serviceable to the Soul, which Frees the Mind from its Captivity to Sence, and E­stablishes its Dominion over the Brutish Part, is that Temperance which the Gospel requires: And by Consequence, that Indulgence to Worldly Pleasures, which tends to Pamper and Enrage the Body, to awaken our Passions for this present State, to make the Minds of Men Soft and Feeble, Heavy and Sensual, unable to Suffer, and froward if their Appetite be not satisfied, is flatly Contradictory to the Temperance of the Gospel of Christ.’

II. To obtain this Temperance, this Mastery over our selves, we must ob­serve another great Instruction of our present Gospel. We must not rely upon the length or number of [Page 153]our Prayers; we must Pray much, and Labour a great deal more; we must Pray sometimes, and Labour always; our Praying is only part of our Duty, the whole of it chiefly consists in doing all we can to per­form it. Although we Pray for our selves, although the whole Church offers up her Prayers for us, although not only the Saints on Earth, but all the Saints in Heaven, join their Humble Supplications with ours, all this will never prevail, unless we add our own Endeavours, and do whatever we are able to the utmost of our Power. We read in the Gos­pel, when they wanted Wine, the Mo­ther of Jesus saith unto him, They have no Wine. She Intercedes not with the Authority of a Mother, but with the Humility and Lowliness of a Handmaid. She barely Recom­mends their Want, with that Sim­plicity, and Modesty, and Loving Confidence, which even we Sinners may presume to Imitate. Our Savi­our's answer seems a little Surpri­zing, [Page 154] Woman, what's that to me and thee? He does not so much as call her Mother: He seems to Check the forwardness of her Submissive Re­quest, by telling her, his Hour was not yet come. But at the same time he designed to do as she desir'd: And knew very well, that although the Hour was not yet come, it was not very far off. Her Humble Pray­er was a great Step towards it: And when the Servants had done their Duty, in following her directi­on, and doing whatsoever Jesus said unto them, when they had fill'd the Water-pots with Water, and fill'd them up to the Brim, when they had done what they were bid to do, and whatsoever they were able, when they could not now do more than they had done already, then the Hour was come for Christ himself to do the rest. Deaw now, says he, and present it: And then it was that all the Company were Witnesses, the Hour appointed for the Mi­racle was come, when they plain­ly. [Page 155] Tasted that the Water was made Wine.

If we apply this duly to our selves, the Application will be very In­structive. The Church of God, who is our common Mother, and is to us the Mother of Christ, by forming his Spirit in us, is very sensible of our Want, and daily Recommends us, in her Prayers to Christ the Saviour of his Body, that our decaying Fervour may revive again, and our Devotion, which is grown quite Pall'd and Dead, may be Inspired and Anima­ted with new Life and Vigour. She Prays here upon Earth: She Prays in Heaven also, where her better part is now Triumphant, Secure of their own Happiness, and only Solicitous for ours: And surely if the Fer­vent Prayer of one Righteous Man, as the Apostle says, avails so much, the Prayers of so many Saints, both here and there, must needs be very Pre­valent. But yet we must not lay more stress upon the Matter than 'tis able to bear. Their Praying as [Page 156]much as we please, will never serve our turn, without our doing as much as we can. This we can all of us do: And more than this, we are none of us obliged to: But this, at least, we must always do, or else all Praying is in Vain.

When we fall into Sin, we feel our Weakness: And when we strive to rise, we feel it more. We there­fore Pray to God to help us: The Church Prays for us too: But all this while we do not sufficiently consider that it is not in the Power of God himself to help us, unless we help our selves. To help us, is not to do the Work for us, but to do it with us. And then it is that the Almighty helps us, when we do those Duties with him, which we cannot do without him. Repentance and Amendment are things which are not to be done by Proxy: Another's Repenting does not change our Hearts; another's Mending does not make us better: Such things as these are Per­sonal, which we our selves must do, [Page 157]or else we must All Perish: And hence it follows clearly, that unless we help our selves, it is impossible for God to help us. How unrea­sonable therefore is the common Practice of those People, who take great Care to ask God's help, and take no Care to have it? They Pray all; and do nothing. When they have done their Prayers, they think they have no more to do. They Pray indeed, that they may Serious­ly and Heartily begin a thorough Re­formation of their Lives, but still they let their Duty take its Fortune, without ever beginn [...]g to go about it in good earnest.

'Tis very observable in our present Gospel, that, in order to the Miracu­lous Change of Water into Wine, there was more done than said. The Mother of Jesus said only three or four Words to him: But there was a great deal more to be done. There were no less than Six Water-pots to be fill'd, and great ones too, such as were then in use for the Washing [Page 158]or Purifying of the Jews: Our Savi­our kindly designing to Work a Be­neficial Miracle, which might not only be a Relief of their Poverty at present, but a Provision against it for the Future. 'Tis also worth ob­serving, that the Virgin-Mother's Exhortation to the Servants, was more ample, and more earnest, than her Prayer to her Son; because She knew very well her Petition would never be granted, unless the Servants took great Care to do whatsoever Je­sus said unto them. Neither is it less Remarkable, that he no sooner said unto them, Fill [...] be Water-pots with Water, but they immediately o­bey'd, and fill'd them up to the Brim; and in the very Moment of their doing so, the Miracle was done, the Water was made Wine. If Christ had order'd them to fill the Water­pots with Wine, they might have justly pleaded, it was more than than they could do: But since he only commanded them to fill them up with Water, they had no Ex­cuse [Page 159]left; the Water was near at Hand, they might easily have it for fetching, and a little Labour was enough to do the Work. This puts me in Mind of a Celebrated Sen­tence of S. Austin, God does not com­mand impossible things, but by com­manding gives us warning to do what we can, and to ask what we cannot. Let us only do what we can, and what we cannot we are sure to have for asking. We are sure, I say, to have it granted in Proportion to what we do, and may be, in a grea­ter Measure than we ask. If we consider well the Matter of Fact, we shall find the Quantity of Wine was more than any Body ask'd, but neither one Drop more nor less than what the Servants did in Drawing Water and Filling. Had the Water been less, the Wine had been so too: And had they Drawn no Water, they would have had no Wine at all.

The Wine I speak of, is the Wine of Grace: That Wine which Inebri­ates the Soul with all Celestial De­lights, [Page 160]and makes it so Heavenly­minded, that it Loaths and Hates the Intoxicating Wine of Worldly Pleasures: That Noble, Generous, and All-victorious Grace, which gives us the Mastery we strive for, but never-gives it without our stri­ving for it. This Grace is never granted to the Lazy and Idle Prayers of a Careless Sinner, nor ever denied to the Faithful and Vigorous Endea­vours of an Humble Penitent. A Penitent who labours all he can to Humble himself, and lays aside all Censuring of his Neigbours, that he may the more effectually call home his Serious Thoughts, to Cen­sure and Correct himself: Who spares no Pains to do or suffer any thing that may be requisite or use­ful to reform his Life: Who fre­quently and seriously Reflects upon the Vanity and Emptiness of all Worldly Enjoyments, the Folly and Mischief of doating upon them, the great Advantages and Pleasures of despising them, and being thus [Page 161]deliver'd from the Tyranny and Slavery of all his Arbitrary, Restless and Insatiable Passions: A Penitent, who uses all his Art and Industry to set his Heart at Liberty, and ne­ver leaves off Cuarrelling with this unconstant, silly, miserable World, till he is quite fall'n out with it, and Hates the very Thought of be­ing reconcil'd: A Penitent, I say, who will not endure to hear of any Treaty with his Enemies, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, but know­ing well their Treachery, does what­soever he can, 1. To avoid all those Occasions in which they seek to Sur­pri [...] him, 2. To cut off all Provisi­ons and Succours which may Feed and Reinforce them, 3. To watch their Motions with such Care, that not a single Thought, Imagination, or Delight, can ever advance one step beyond the Lines of their Duty, without being presently observed, and vigorously repuls'd: Such a Pe­nitent as this will certainly succeed, and gain the Grace he strives for. [Page 162]'Tis true, the Endeavours of a Peni­tent who has been long a Sinner, are as Weak as Water. But never­theless, if to the utmost of his Power he struggles with himself, to do all those things whatsoever Jesus says unto him, he will soon, by joyful Ex­perience, find the Weakness of his Water chang'd into the Strength of Wine. Let him but fill up his best Endeavours to the Brim of his Capa­city, (this he can always do, and God requires no more) let him do but this, and he will soon be con­vinc'd, that Miracles are not ceas'd. The World indeed may wonder at his change of Life, and so did the Ruler of the Feast, when he Tasted the Water that was made Wine; he wonder'd, because he knew not whence it was: But the Servants, which drew the Water, knew: And all God's Servants, who have been Sinners heretofore, know very well from whence their Change proceeds: They know 'tis from the Right Hand of the Highest; who will not let us lose the [Page 163]every least part of our Labour, but for little Drop of Water, gives us in Ex­change an equal Share of Wine; and and in Requital of our Weak (but Constant and Sincere) Endea­vours, never fails to Assist our Victo­ry with a Proportionable Grace, and Crown it with Eternal Glory. A­men.

I.

Every Mountain must be brought Low; and therefore our Proud Pre­sumption must be Humbled. We must neither be so Proud of our own Natural Strength, as to think we are able to save our Souls without God's helping us; neither must we pre­sume so much upon God's Goodness, as to expect that he should save us, without our helping our selves.

There are some People in the World, who have so great an Opi­nion of their Natural Strength, as to Imagine they can take Heaven by their own Force, and Storm it when they please: And therefore they do not apprehend the Danger of con­tinuing in a Sinful Course of Life. They know very well, that a Custom of Sinning super-induces a second Na­ture, almost as hard to be expell'd [Page 167]as the first: They are sensible, that the farther they proceed in any Vicious Practice, the more they are confirm'd and settled in it: They feel the Miserable Chains of their Wickedness, and the Sad Slavery of Sin, to which they tamely Submit, and have not the Heart to make any Resolute Attompt for their Liberty. But notwithstanding all this, they still suppose they are their own Ma­sters; they fancy that their Weak­ness is rather want of Will than Power; they perswade themselves, that a High and Mighty Resolution has an Invincible Force, and that therefore they are able to rescue themselves from Sin and the Devil whensoever they please. This was the Pride of all those Heathen Philo­sophers, who placed the Happiness of a Wise Man in being Self-suffici­ent, Independent, and Supreme Disposer of himself in all things re­quisite to make him Good and Happy. 'Twas this made Cicero say, Who ever gave God Thanks for be­ing [Page 168]a Good Man? And this, I fear, makes many Christians say in their Heart, whenever they do any thing that looks like good, Our own High Hand, and not our Lord, has done all this. To prepare the Way of our Lord, this Pride must be Humbled: This Hill must be brought Low: It must be removed out of the Way, by a strong and lively Faith of our Essential Dependency on the Al­mighty Hand that made us. All Sinners, the more they confide in their own Strength, the more they are apt to defer the time of their Repentance: But when once they are throughly convinc'd of being able to do nothing of themselves, 'tis then that they begin to think how Dangerous it is to continue any longer in a Wicked Course, and to make him more and more their E­nemy, without whose Friendly As­sistance they are lost for Ever.

There are others who understand themselves too well, to be so Proud of their own Strength. They are [Page 169]very sensible that in their Daily Prayers, when they say, Thy Will be done, they plainly acknowledge that they cannot do God's Will without his help. But their Misfortune is, that they are strangely mistaken in the Notion of his Mercy; they Presume too much upon his Goodness; and expect that he should help to save them, in spite of all their Faults, and without their helping them­selves. They are wilfully Deluded with Extravagant Idea's of God's Mercy being above all his Works, as if he regarded very little, either what we do, or what himself has done, but only studied how to please himself in being Merciful to Sinners. They Persevere as unconcern'dly in their Sins, as if the Laws of his Ju­stice were made only to be broken, as if the Precepts of his Wisdom were given only to be despised, and as if he took Delight in having them believe, that he is so unjustly and unreasonably Merciful, as to Pardon them upon their own Terms, and [Page 170]let them live Sinners at their Plea­sure, that they may Die Saints at their Leisure. They think 'tis time e­nough to Die to Sin, when Sin Dies to them. When Death draws near to their Bed-side, and stares them in the Face; if they can but cry Peccavi, before they feel the Fatal Stroke; if they have but time to say, Lord save us, or else we Perish; 'tis enough, Our Lord is Merciful; and since they all along relied upon his Mercy, and sinn'd upon that very Score, they Presume he will not now be so Ʋnmerciful, as to de­ceive them in the End.

Thus their Presumption swells, and rises to a most prodigious height; and thus it hinders their Repentance, till their Faith discovers how hollow the Foundation is. But then the Mountain cracks immediately; it falls to pieces in a moment; and sinks as low as the Abyss of its own Emptiness. If we believe God's Word (and surely He knows best how Merciful he is) we soon shall see [Page 171]how Slight and Frivolous all those Pretences are, on which they Build their Foolish Confidence. They would fain contrive some way or o­ther to Reconcile a Wicked Life with a Holy Death. They would willingly allow themselves their Li­berty in all their Vicious. Humours, and be happy their own way here; and when this is done, they are con­tented to leave the rest to God's Dis­cretion, and be happy which way he pleases hereafter. To pacifie their Minds, and calm their Fears, they Magnifie God's Mercy above all his other Attributes, and spare no Pains to Cheat themselves into a Fond Belief, that He is much more Merciful, than he is either Wise or Just. But yet they are terribly a­fraid, that what God cannot do justly and wisely, he cannot do at all: And therefore some little Reason, or at least some little Appearance of it, must be found, that they may seem to justifie their Plea for Pardon, and may have something to say for them­selves, [Page 172]that the Sentence of their own Self-condemnation may not pass up­on them.

1. There are some who seem to pre­sume upon their Greatness, as if the Laws of God were only made for little Folks, and not for those who are the great Law-makers of the Earth. But the Scripture assures us of the contrary. In the Wisdom of Solomon we read, Hear therefore, O ye Kings and Rulers of the Earth: Your Power is given you from the Highest, who shall try your VVorks. The most Sharp Judgment shall be to them that are in High Places; and Mighty Men shall be mightily Tor­mented. For God shall accept no Man's Person, nor stand in awe of any Man's Greatness.

2. Others presume upon their great Prosperity in a Wicked Life. I have sinn'd, say they, and what harm has happen'd to me? But the Scripture bids them have a care of saying so; because although God is patient, yet he will in no wise let them [Page 173]go free from Punishment. His In­dignation, says the Son of Sirach, has an Eye upon Sinners: Therefore be not without fear of adding Sin to Sin. Bind not one Sin upon another; but re­member that thou shalt not be unpu­nished in any one of them.

3. Others presume more foolishly, that in so great a Croud of Crimi­nals, they may perhaps escape: I shall not be discovered, say they, a­mongst so many People; for what is my Soul amongst such an infinity of Creatures? But in the same Eccle­siasticus we read, Number not thy self among the Multitude of Sinners; but remember that his Anger will not tarry long. The longest delay is only till Death; and who knows how short that may prove? Remember also that He, who Numbers all the Hairs of our Head, will as easily Number not only our Persons, but our Faults.

4. Others presume upon their great Donations to the Church. But this pretence is plainly Contradicted [Page 174]in Ecclesiasticus, c. 7. Say not, God will look upon the Multitude of my Oblations, and when I offer to the most High God, he will accept it. No: He will not accept it: He re­ceives no Bribes.

5. Others presume upon their great Faith. But what does it profit, says S. James, if a Man has Faith? If he has not Works of true Repen­tance can his Faith save him? No, no: He that will be saved, must keep all the Commandments, and perse­vere in them to the End.

6. Others presume upon their much Fasting. But as the Prophet observes, In the Day of their Fast, they find Pleasure in seeking their own Will, and in doing their own Ways; and this is not the Fast, which God has chosen, neither is it acceptable to him.

7. Others presume upon their many Prayers. But what signifies Praying without Practising? In the Proverbs we read, He that turns away [Page 175]his Ear from hearing the Law, even his Prayer shall be Abomination.

8. Others presume upon their great Alms; because 'tis written, that Charity covers a Multitude of Sins. But this is chiefly understood of our Neighbour's Sins, not ours. The covering of our own avails us nothing, unless we Repent, Confess, and For­sake them. 'Tis written in the Pro­verbs, that He who covers his Sins, shall not Prosper: But whosoever con­fesses and forsakes them, shall have Mercy.

9. Others presume upon their being Children of the Catholick Church. But as it was in vain for the Jews to say within themselves, we have Abraham for our Father, so like­wise 'tis to little purpose for us Ca­tholicks to say, we have the Church for our Mother. The Gospel assures us, that Every Tree which brings not forth good Fruit, (Fruits worthy of true Repentance) shall be hewed down, and cast into the Fire. So true it is, that there's no Ground at all for [Page 176]our Presumption, no Pardon to be ob­tain'd, no Mercy to be hop'd for, without Sincere Repentance, and a thorough-paced Amendment.

II.

When Faith has once Levell'd these Mountains of Presumption and Pride, the next Affair in Hand, is to prepare the Way of our Lord, by ma­king it Straight. There's nothing so Crooked as Self-Love. It makes us Crooked in all our Ways. It in­vents a Thousand Turnings, Wind­ings, and By-ways, to compass its de­signs: It never engages in any thing abroad, without contriving to bring something home: It begins from it self, it tends to it self, it bends till both ends meet; and what can be more Crooked?

On the contrary, the Love of God is Straight. It directs us in the Way of his Commandments: And leads us in a Straight Line to that Blessed End for which he made us. It pre­pares our Hearts to God, that we may [Page 177] serve him only. It prepares us for the Kingdom of God within us; that every Loyal Heart may be the Throne of his Divine Majesty; that all our Passions, Inclinations, and Hu­mours, may be Faithful Subjects to him, in doing his Will on Earth, as it is done in Heaven; and that his Love may not only Live but Reign in us, and not only now but for ever.

His Love must begin to Live, be­fore it begins to Reign in us. It must First move us to Repent, before the Kingdom of God, which always is at Hand, can be Establisht in our Hearts. Our Penitential Tears will never sufficiently prepare the Way of our Lord, unless the Spirit of Love begin to move the Waters. Our Self-Love may Cry its Eyes out, and almost break its Heart with Grief: Alas! This Crooked Love can never make the Way Straight: There's no­thing but the Love of God, who is all Truth, all Justice, and all Holiness, there's nothing else can make all Straight, by making us truly Repent, [Page 178]and moving us to Detest and Hate all Falshood, all Injustice, and all Wicked­ness.

The Council of Trent, in the 6. ch. of the 6. Session, describing Repentance, such as always was, and now is, Re­quisite, as well before Baptism, as be­fore the Sacrament of Penance, lays the whole Train of Penitential Dis­positions in this Natural Order. It mentions, 1. Our Fear of the Di­vine Justice; 2. Our Hope of Mercy through Christ; 3. Our beginning to Love God as the Fountain of all Righte­ousness; 4. Our being therefore moved with Hatred and Detestation of our Sins; 5. Our purposing to begin a New Life, by keeping the Divine Command­ments. And again in the 4. ch. of the 14. Session, the same Council declares, that all true Repentance includes not only a Cessation from Sin, but also a Beginning of a New Life, and a Hatred of the Old One; according to the Pro­phet, Cast away from you all your Transgressions, and make you a New Heart, and a New Spirit.

Let us now consider a little this Doctrine, and we shall find it so Clear and Rational, as not to need the Authority of a Council to Re­commend it to us.

1. When Sinners Sleep securely, they Dream of nothing but the Sen­sual Satisfactions, and the Transitory Pleasures of this Life. But when they once are rouz'd, and throughly awaken'd with a Strong Belief and Lively Apprehension of a future State, in which God's Justice will Eternally deprive them of these things, and punish them severely with the contrary, there's nothing more Natural, than to be struck with Fear of such a Punishment: And, al­though they see it by a Super-natural Light, they dread it with a Natural Fear. Neither is there any need of quoting Aquinas for this Truth: It being as evidently Natural to to fear the Pain of Sense, as it is to Love the Pleasure of it.

2. The uneasiness of this Fear is [Page 180]Troublesome to us: And when 'tis great, we dare not shake it off, as usually we do our Creditors, whom we refuse to Speak with, when we have no Mind to give them Satisfaction. The Fear of being Ar­refted, and Eternally confin'd from all that ever pleas'd us, when it once looks Big and Terrible up­on us, it soon brings down our Stomachs, and makes us contented now, to think how Merciful God is, and seek for Hope of Comfort in the Merits of his Son.

3. When we are thus considering, how good God is, and how bad we are; how great his Mercy is, and how little we deserve it; how severe his Justice is, and how much we have provok'd it: When we are wavering 'twixt Hope and Fear, and pondering the Reasons on both sides; admiring that Incomprehensible Mer­cy, which moved the most High God to send his only Son for the Re­demption of the World, and being Astonisht at his Inexorable Justice, [Page 181]which would not be aton'd by any other Sacrifice: When we compare the Crookedness of Sin with the Straight Paths of Virtue; the Truth, the Pu­rity, and Equity of God's Laws, with our Hypocrisie, Ʋncleanness, and Iniquity: When we study the Charm­ing Features of his Divine Beauty, and, in his own Light, see our Horrible Deformity: 'Tis then, that we begin to Love him as the Fountain of all Righteousness; and, because we love him, therefore we Detest and Hate our Sins, by which we have offended him: 'Tis then, that we are sensible, what Fools we have been, to forsake our God, the Fountain of Living Waters, and seek our Happiness amongst his Creatures, by hewing out Cisterns, Broken Cis­terns, which can hold no Water: 'Tis then, our Heart is ready to Break with Grief, to think that we have erred from the Straight Ways of Truth, and we tried our selves in the Crooked Ways of Wickedness and Destruction: 'Tis then, I say, we firmly purpose [Page 182]to begin a New Life, because we Hate the Old One: And then, ac­cording to the Prophet, we cast away from us all our Transgressions; because we have now a New Heart, and a New Spirit; we love our God, whom hi­therto we slighted; and, for his sake, we Hate the Vices which for­merly we Loved, and Love the Vir­tues which heretofore we Hated.

By what has been already said, 'tis easie to answer a very Important Question, Whether Sorrow arising from the Fear of Hell alone, may deserve the Name of True Repentance? 'Tis a­greed by all, and declared in Council, That without the Sacrament of Pe­nance it cannot, of it self, justifie a Sinner: The Question is, Whether it sufficiently disposes him, in that Sa­crament, to obtain the Grace of God? To avoid mistakes in a matter of this Moment, we must observe, that in Hell there are Two sorts of Pain, the one of Sense, the other of Losing God: And consequently there must be also admitted Two sorts of Fear [Page 183]and Sorrow, the one proceeding from Self-love, the other from the Love of God.

This Second sort of Sorrow, al­though it falls short of Perfect Con­trition, yet nevertheless it pre-sup­poses a Fear of losing God's Friend­ship in this World, and his Compa­ny in the next, a desire to please him here, and to enjoy him hereafter, an actual Love of him, as our last End, and chiefest Good: And since their Love, Desire, and Fear, may be so great, as to imply a Preference of him be­fore all his Creatures, it follows clear­ly, that the Sorrow, which is ground on this Love, may possibly exclude all Actual Desire of Sinning; which if it does, the Council tell us, That it is an Impulse of the Holy Spirit, not yet dwelling in us, but moving us, by which a Penitent prepares the way for his being justified.

But the First sort of Sorrow is cer­tainly insufficient; and 'tis very fit that we should know it in good time, before we feel it. And that we may [Page 184]discern what ground our Sorrow goes upon, S. Austin thus proposes the Case, in his 19. Sermon, de ver­bis Apostoli; Behold, says he, the Lord your God tries you, as who should say, Do what you will; and whatsoever pleases you, take it for granted that 'tis lawful; I do not Punish it; I do not cast you into Hell for it; only I shall certainly deny you the Sight of my Face for ever. If you were afraid; you Loved. If you are more afraid of this, than any other thing; you Love him above all things. Your Love inspires you with a Noble De­testation of all Sin, a Strong Aversion against it, a Continual Fear of in­curring God's Displeasure by it, and a True Penitential Sorrow for having been Guilty of it. But if you Va­lue not the Loss of God; if you are unconcern'd for all the Joys of his Blest Company; if you neither Care for Him nor his Heaven, provided he allows you all your Pleasures up­on Earth; you may be very well assured, that as long as you Love your [Page 185]Humour, Ease, and Pleasure, above all things, your Fear and Sorrow pro­ceeding purely from this Love, can never of themselves exclude your Actual Desire of Sinning. This very Love is a Capital Sin, which Breeds a Thousand Desires of Sinning: And, according to the eagerness of those Desires, the greater is your Fear, that they will all be Disappointed, and severely Punisht; and the greater is your Sorrow, to think that all God's Penal Laws against these Cri­minal Desires, will certainly be put in Execution for all Eternity. The Fear of Sensible Pain, and the Desire of Sinful Pleasure, grow naturally both upon the same Stock; they are both rooted in the same Self-love: And how then can the one be able, of it self, to pull up the other by the Roots? How can the Fear of Pain extirpate the Love of Pleasure, and exclude the Will, or the Desire, of Sinning? For this Reason, S. Austin, in his Book against the Adversaries of the Law, affirms, That the Desire of [Page 186]doing ill is not excluded, but by a con­trary Desire of doing well. And in his Epistle 144. he says, In vain does he think himself a Conquerour of Sin, who abstains from it only for Fear of Pain: For although he does not out­wardly Accomplish his Wicked Desire, yet this Desire, this Enemy of his, is still within him. He who fears Hell, does not fear Sinning, but Burning. Alas! This Servile and Carnal Fear, as S. Austin calls it, can never change the Heart: It can never alter our Minds: Because as long as we fear nothing but Burning, we are every [...]o [...] as carnally-minded as before; we mind nothing but the Satisfacti­on of our Senses; this we love, this we desire; and by the same Rule are Afraid and Sorry, when we think of Pain and Torment. To be carnally-minded is Death, says the Apostle; but, to be spiritually-minded, is Life and Peace. Our Repentance is not true, unless it change our Hearts, and make us spiritually-minded: It must make to us a New Heart, and a [Page 187]New Spirit: It must make us Love a New Life, and therefore Hate the Old One. Our Hatred of this, is always grounded in the Love of that; and, as S. Austin says in his Epistle 144. So much as we Love the one, so much we Hate the other. O how I Loved thy Law! Says the Psalmist; there­fore I Hated every Evil Way. In a Word, The Love of God must prepare the Way of our Lord, because Self-love is Crooked, and can therefore ne­ver make it Straight.

III.

S. Paul in his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, humbly and hearti­ly begs, that our Lord may direct our Hearts in the Love of God, and in the Patience of Christ. And 'tis a most Excellent Prayer. For when once the Love of God has made the Way Straight, there's nothing wanting but the Patience of Christ to make it Smooth.

1. The Apostle assures us, we have need of Patience to do the Will of God; [Page 188]to Fight, and Conquer, and Main­tain our Conquest to the End. Self-love and Pride, the Mortal Ene­mies of our Eternal Happiness, can never quite Die, as long as we our selves are Living; they lodge in our very Bosoms; we cannot hinder their Living and Moving in us; we cannot prevent the First Rebellious Insurrections of them: But how­ever, we can prevent being Surprized by them, we can always be upon our Guard, we can throw them as fast as they Rise; and we have this great Comfort left, that every Fall Weakens them, and every Victory Encreases our Power over them, till at length they make so Small and Feeble a Resistance, that those very Conflicts, which at first were Pain­ful to us, now become a pleasing Ex­ercise, which seems to be the Sport and Pastime, rather than the Trial, of our Virtue. This Degree of Patience is the surest Mark of true Repentance. 'Tis certain we are not truly Peni­tent, unless we absolutely and fully [Page 189]resolve to Decline from Evil, and to Do Good: And though this Reso­lution may seem Strong and Firm, yet we shall soon discover its Weak­ness; we shall presently Break it, if we have not Patience to keep it. The longer we have liv'd in Sin, the stronger are our Vicious Habits, the harder it is to struggle with them; the more Pains we must take to Ma­ster them, and therefore so much greater Patience is requisite to over­come them. But whatsoever diffi­culties we may meet with by the Way, we must remember, that these Obstacles which give us so much Trouble, are the Work of our own Hands. Our Sinful Habits are the woful Fruit of our own wilful Wickedness. The Crookedness and Roughness of our Nature was Soft and Tender at first: If our Reason had begun betimes to make it Straight and Smooth, it had been done with ease: And whose Fault was it, that we did not rise, and fall to Work, at a more Early Hour? [Page 190]Since therefore the Fault is our own, we have no Reason to Complain, and Grumble at the Hardship of our Labour. If we cannot now per­form our Work without the Sweat­ing of our Brows, and Aking of our Hearts, we may Thank our own Pre­sumption and Self-love, which were the Sad Occasion of such long delays; and therefore we have Reason to have Patience with our selves.

2. We have need of Patience, not only to do the Will of God, but also to suffer it. We need it, not only to do good, but to endure whatever Evils he shall please to appoint us. 'Tis not sufficient to begin a New Life: We must also Hate the Old One, and be willing to undergo the just Punishments of it. There's nothing so effectual, as a true Sense of our Guilt, to make us truly Pati­ent. An Humble Penitent is throughly convinc'd, that all the Sufferings of this Momentary Life, are nothing to what he deserves. He thinks himself unworthy of the Ground he [Page 191]goes upon. He knows that he de­serves to have it Open under him, and Swallow him Alive. He does not look upon himself as Pardon'd, but Repriev'd; and therefore Trem­bles at the Dreadful Apprehension of Unspeakable and Everlasting Mi­sery, which he still fears may be his Doom at last. He fears not them who Kill the Body, and are not able to Kill the Soul; but, from these Words of our Saviour, he learns to fear him only who is able to Destroy both Soul and Body in Hell. The Fear of Hell Sinks deeply in his Mind, as Deep as the Abyss it self, and Swallows up all other little Fears of Momentary Pains. Com­par'd to Hell, they are no more than the least Drop of Water to the Ocean; nor yet so much, because the smallest Drop has still some small Proporti­on with the Sea, whereas those Pains have less Proportion with those, and Time has none at all with our Eternity. And there­fore an Humble Penitent, whatever happens to him, he submits not only [Page 192]willingly, but cheerfully: He Hum­bly Kisses the kind Hand which lays the Cross upon his Shoulders; and thankfully acknowledges the Double Favour of God's Infinite Mercy, who is pleas'd not only to Exchange his Many and Everlasting Torments, for a few Transitory Afflictions, but also to Reward his Little and Short Sufferings, with a far more Exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory.

3. We have need of Patience, not only to Suffer the Will of God in these unusual Trials; but also to Bear one another's Burdens, and to Support the uneasie Humours of our Neigh­bour, in all common Occasions. That Heroick Patience is the proper Character of Confessors and Mar­tyrs: This belongs to all good Chri­stians; it concerns us all, and every one of us. All our Impatience pro­ceeds from Pride and Selfishness, which make us Love our Honour, Interest, and Humour, better than God and our Neighbour. When we are Contradicted, Slighted, or Despised, our Patience has much ado [Page 193]to keep us quiet, our Blood Rises, our Spirits are Ruffled and Discom­posed, our Thoughts are in a Hurry, to lay hold on some Revenge or o­ther, and without the least Consi­deration, catch at any thing that's uppermost or nearest Hand. Is this the Natural Temper of an Humble Mind? Surely, although we stand in our own Light, we are not so much in the Dark, but we can see, or feel at least, that these Resent­ments and Disturbances proceed from Pride, and that they are all Rooted in Self-love. We Love our Honour because we Love our Selves: And, for the self-same Reason, we Love a Thousand other things be­sides our Honour; all those things, I mean, which fall under these two Heads, our Interest and our Pleasure. Our Interest is liable to an Infinity of Various Accidents, which Trou­ble our Temporal Affairs; our Plea­sure is the Object of as many Incon­sistent and unreasonable Humours; and every little Gale of Wind, that [Page 194]blows Cross to the one or other, is enough to raise a Storm, in which our Patience seldom fails to suffer Shipwrack. For this Reason, when­soever I see a Cholerick Person grow Patient, I look upon it as an Excel­lent Sign of his being truly Penitent. When I see him cast away from him all his usual Motions of Impatience, I easily imagine that he has made to himself a New Heart and a New Spi­rit. When I observe him Easie and Cheerful, not withstanding any Slights or Provocations: When I discover a calm and even Temper in him, in Spite of any Crosses or Disap­pointments: When I perceive him as ready to Excuse or Over-look an Injury, as he was before to Aggra­vate it, or Revenge it: Then indeed I have just Reason to conclude, he is no longer govern'd by the Spirit of this World, but that he is renew'd as S. Paul says, in the Spirit of his Mind, and led by the Spirit of God, the Love of God, and Patience of Christ. The very word Repentance, [...]