The First Sermon.

THE Apostle in defence of Christianity, and the Gen­tiles being received into it, who were Strangers and A­liens, rather than the Jews, who were the Children of Abraham, and God's peculiar People, having to justifie this, made use of an Instance of God's free disposing his Favours as he pleases, and such as to the Jews was an unanswer­able President, because upon it all their Priviledges depended, above the rest of the World; the same Children, not of Abraham only, but of Israel, to whose line the promised Seed was confined, before [Page 2]they were either of them born, or were in a capacity to do Good or Evil, yet God declared that Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated, v. 13. and notwithstanding the rights of Primogeniture, yet trans­mitted this his Love and Hatred down even to their Posterities, the Israelites, and the Edomites; upon this he seems to be startled with an Objection, rising up from all this, and looking him fully in the Face; What shall we say then? is their unrighteous­ness with God? God forbid. This is so shrewd an absurdity, that if we must be driven to it, 'tis a demonstration against not only Christianity, which he was defend­ing, but against all Religion: For. if God be not a Being of Righteousness and Ju­stice in what he does, who can expect re­wards for serving him, or need sear punish­ment for any wickedness he commits; Virtue and Vice are but empty names, if he has not an impartial regard to them, and his own words are not to be trusted or credited, if we question his Righteousness and Integrity; if we are not well assured of that in the first place, we can never know but he may deceive us, in whatever he says, or promises to us, nay, all his Revelations may be but like the Heathens deceitful Oracles, to impose upon the cre­dulous, and all his Miracles but tricks of Legerdemain, and slights of an Almighty [Page 3]hand to deceive us more artificially; but God forbid, as the Apostle says, that any such thing should blasphemously be charg­ed upon the great God, or any such No­tions formed of him, from whence it is unavoidable to infer them. Tho we can never get the thoughts of him out of our mind, nor wholly take out the Natural Characters of him, that he has imprinted upon us, yet if we so blur, and deface them, with lines drawn from our own ill Tempers or mistaken Apprehensions, as to represent him instead of his Essential Ex­cellencies, and Moral Perfections, which are the brightest Glory that shines all a­round him, with the black and ugly fea­tures of Almighty Rage and Cruelty, Malignant Spite, or Ill Nature; or which may be the same, Imperious, and Arbitra­ry and Ungoverned Will, conducted by no Principles of Justice, or Goodness, nor acting by any Rules of Right, or Wrong, but as the unaccountable impulses of Fondness or Anger happen to incline him; if we set up such a monstrous Idol in our thoughts with ghastly looks, and terrible visage, instead of the most Perfect, and Righteous, and Blessed God, as we do the greatest dishonour to the Divine Nature, mere than if the Jews had really set up an Asses head, as they were charged to adore, for the God of Israel, so we destroy that [Page 4]inward love and delight, that hearty e­steem and veneration which the thoughts of so excellent and amiable, so great and good, and just a Being should excite in us, and do a great many other the saddest mis­chiefs to True Religion; as I shall shew by and by: We make it a desirable thing e­ven to the best of Men, that there were no such Being i'the World, under whose Ty­ranny, for such is Power without Justice, they may be made miserable, as well as others, and all must groan under his Iron Scepter, and have reason to wish they could wrest it out of his Clutches, but none could kiss it, or be satisfied with it; they might tremble and crouch, and bow before it, offer Prayers, as the Manichees to their evil Principles, or build Temples, as the Romans to the Fever, or the Plague; they may dread him as an irresistable evil, but never Worship, and Honour, and Esteem him as we ought to do an Infinite God, i. e. as an Almighty Goodness, or an Eternal Righteousness.

But alas, who did ever deny that God was Righteous? who was ever so bold as to charge the great Lord and Creator of the World with the least shadow of Un­righteousness? or what pretence, or possi­bility indeed can there be of any such thing? Is not whatever he does therefore righteous, because he does it, let it be what it will? [Page 5]There have been many who have thought he made the greatest part both of Men and Angels to be eternally miserable, and doom­ed them, before they were created, to that wretched State, and that he might have dealt so with all the rest, if he had pleased, and yet allow him to have been very righte­ous; others have thought that he appointed that they should first sin, at least some one of them, and from thence he would take occasion to damn as many of them as he pleased, without any regard to their own actions; and this they thought was a bet­ter way of displaying his Righteousness to us: But who could ever be so foo­lish, as to charge God downright with un­righteousness? He that has none above him, to controul or determine him, to give any Laws, or Rules to him, what­ever he does according to the purpose and pleasure of his own Will is most certainly Righteous.

This is the common and easie, but mista­ken account of God's righteousness, which because the Apostle here does not make use of as he might, and so have given a shorter answer to the supposed Objection, but rather allows that there is some un­righteousness, which is so in its own na­ture, and which therefore could not be charged upon God; for else, to say with such abhorrence, God forbid that there be [Page 6]unrighteousness with him, would be only to say, God forbid that he should not do what he does, or that he should not will what he wills; when if you suppose that to be what you please, yet the supposing him to will and to do it, makes it to be righte­ous, and then there would be no need of such a phrase, [...], as is here used before hand. I shall endeavour therefore at this time,

1. To lay down a better, and a firmer Notion, and account of God's Righte­ousness.

2. To show you the usefulness of it, by the consequences of the other Opinion. And,

3. To vindicate the Righteousness of God according to this true Notion of it, and clear it from what either in this Chap­ter, or any where else may seem to reflect upon it.

1. I shall endeavour to lay down a bet­ter and a firmer Notion of God's Righte­ousness, and that in these Particulars.

1. 'Tis not mere Will and Arbitrary Pleasure that makes God to be Righteous, for that is such a floating and uncertain thing, that it cannot be a fit and stable foundation for Righteousness; mere Power and Will like a violent Wind act always strongly and impetuously, but uncertainly too, sometimes one way, and sometimes [Page 7]the quite contrary, as the vapours happen to rise and move it; It will fall under no certain Rules or Calculation, nor can you tell where to have it the next moment, so variable will be ungoverned Will, and so impetuous, when 'tis assisted with Strength and Power, that only gives it weight and force, but determines it not one way or t'other; and if all the effects, and efforts of this were to be called Right, then the doing quite contrary things may happen to be so; for what should hinder mere arbitrary Will from doing one thing at one time, and the quite contrary at another, unless it have something to regulate it? The de­stroying the Righteous with the Wicked, damning Innocents, and doing all imagina­ble mischief, shall be called righteousness, if done by the Manichean Evil, and Al­mighty Principle, for there can be no diffe­rence between him and the good one, if what both of them will, be therefore righteous. Whilst righteousness is thus founded in Power and Will, be it never so great, yet if it be not bounded by any cer­tain rules of Right and Wrong, what shall keep it steddy to its self, or prevent its do­ing at one time what it dislikes, and is therefore unrighteous at another? Like a mighty Torrent, it will rage, and rowl, and break down all before it, if it have no certain Banks, and Current to keep it in; [Page 8]if Justice and Righteousness be only blind Will, without any Scales in her hands to weigh things by, it will be but the same with blind Chance and Fortune, and never to be distinguished: Did the Divine Nature act by no certain and fixt Rules, it might be called Great and Powerful, but neither Just nor Righteous; there could be no such thing, if there were not some unal­terable Standard of Right and Wrong, and some other fixt measure of those things, be­sides what Arbitrary Will made to it self, according to which the Judge of all the Earth shall do right, Gen. 18.25.

2. 'Tis God's acting by the unalterable rules of Righteousness and Justice, that makes him to be righteous; and the ab­solute impossibility he should act otherwise from the Rectitude and Perfection of his own Nature, there are [...], as Ju­stin Martyr calls them, things eternally just, which are not made, and fictiti­ous things, but are natural and everlast­ing, as are the Eternal Truths and Ve­rities of things which were not made so at such a time, by the command or will of another, but were fixt from Everlast­ing, and were so immutably in their own Nature; and these are the fixt and unal­terable rules of Righteousness which a­rise from the mutual Relations and Re­spects that things have to one another, [Page 9]and are not to be altered even by God himself: As common Notions and Mathe­matical Axioms are founded in the Na­ture of things themselves, that the whole is greater then its part, that Equals ad­ded to Equals, make Equals, which are Everlasting Truths, and can never be made otherwise, no, not by God himself, but are so from the mere [...] and Re­spects of things to one another; so there are also as Eternal and Immutable rules of Righteousness fixt and determined by the Nature of things, and their Relati­ons to one another, as plain and unalte­rable, as any Mathematical Verities, and as necessary Foundations for Morality and Justice, as the others for Science and De­monstration; so that Right and Wrong is in its own Nature, as certain and unchangeable as the Nature of a Circle or a Triangle, and God can no more act contrary to these, than he can make the three Angles of a Triangle not equal to two right ones, or two and two not to be four, or one of the parts of a Contradicti­on not to be false.

3. These Eternal, and Immutable Rules of Right and Wrong, by which God acts, and can no more violate, than the Intel­ligible Natures, or Truths of things, are such as we by our Reason can know, and understand, and make Judgment by, [Page 10]else we must never pretend to form a No­tion of God by them, or ascribe any such thing as Righteousness to him, and when he so often calls himself the God Righ­teous, and Just, who is without any Iniquity Deut. 32.4. and David could say of him, Righteous art thou, O Lord, and thy Judg­ments are Ʋpright, Ps. 119.137. a sup­poses that we have Idea's and concepti­ons of those things, and that they are true, and agreeable to the things them­selves; Nay, when God appeals to us, Ezek. 18.25. to Judge betwixt him and others, whether his ways are equal, or no, 'tis not sure like making a blind man Arbi­trator about colours, or a judge of Beauty; We must be supposed to have Power, and Faculties to make Judgment in the Case, and that the Principles of Right and Wrong that are in our minds are agreeable to the nature of things, and to those that God himself acts by: God indeed says in the Prophet Isa. 55.8. My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor my ways your ways, the mean­ing whereof is not, that what we think to be just, and right, and equal, and ap­pears most plainly so to us, yet is quite otherwise in God, and of a different Na­ture, for this destroys all our Concepti­ons of any Perfection in God; but the plain sense of that place is, that God was not like the Jews, hard to be reconciled and [Page 11]unwilling to forgive injuries, that was spoken as an encouragement to the Com­mand just before, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon, for my thoughts, are not your thoughts, nor my ways your ways. God indeed is infinitely more Wise, more Righ­teous, more Perfect in all things than the best of his Creatures, yet we must apply the same Ideas, and Apprehensions of those things which we have in our minds to him, that we do to those, as we demon­strate alike of a greater or a lesser Circle, or else we lose all notion of his Mercy, Truth, and Righteousness, and when we say, God cannot lie, or do what is evil, or unjust, we mean the very same thing that would be so in men, or else we must mean nothing.

There be many Circumstances indeed, and different cases, and considerations in the Actions of God to his Creatures, and the Creatures to one another, but yet when they are allow'd for, 'tis by the same Scales, as I may say, that God weighs out Right which we also use, only there must some­thing on his side be put into them some­times to make them even, for should they be others unknown to us, we should be wholly at a loss how to weigh, or mea­sure his Actions, or how to account them [Page 12]to be Just and Righteous, or how to pro­nounce that truly of them: But I may say of Righteousness, as Tully says of Reason, that it is common both to Man and God, and the very same Signatures and Marks of things, which are Originally in the Di­vine Mind, are instampt also upon all ra­tional and understanding Beings.

4. God's acting by those Eternal and Immutable Rules of Righteousness, is tru­ly Righteousness in him, tho' he has no superior to give him any Laws and Rules; for Righteousness and all Virtue, the tru­est and the noblest, is what proceeds rather from a Vital Principle, and inward Energy of the mind, than a set and live­less course of Obedience to Laws and Rules prescribed by another; when a great and brave Mind acts by its own wise and generous Principles, follows the Notices and Dictates of its own All-seeing Understanding, and its Will is always re­gulated by its own Essential Perfections, and a Natural Rectitude that is in it self, so that it can no more do an ill or unjust thing, than change it self, and put off its own Nature; this is such a Righteous­ness that has root in it self, and lives, and grows from that innate radical Prin­ciple, and differs as much from the o­ther, as a thing that grew into such a shape from a Plastick and Vital Power in it self, [Page 13]does from that which was cut and car­ved by the hand of another. This is that Original Righteousness springing up in the true Fountain, like light in the Sun, whilst Righteousness in us, tho' it be of the same Nature, is but like that in the Air derived from it, and mixt with a great deal of darkness and a mere ob­servance of Precepts and Rules, as they are prescribed by another, and the acting from a Righteous and Inward Principle in ones own mind, are as different as the Clock-Work Motion, and flying of Regiomonta­nus's Eagle, from some. Wheels and Wires, and the Natural Motion of a living one, from its own Spirits and Muscles, and the force and spring of inward life.

Thus is Righteousness in God truly Righteousness, tho' he has no Superior to move or determine him: And thus I have laid down what I conceive the true Notion and Fountain of Gods Righ­teousness, which tho' it may be too deep for some to see to the bottom, yet it stands upon the firmer ground, and is im­movable.

2. I shall now shew you the usefulness of it, from the mischievous Consequences of the other opinion, That Gods Righ­teousness consists only in Arbitrary and Ungoverned Will.

1. That takes very much off from our Obligation to Right, if there be no such thing in the Divine Nature; by Righte­ousness may be meant a very large and comprehensive Virtue, that contains al­most all others under it, and there must be the same Reason and Foundation of those as of this, and if we can conceive the God we worship to be without those, it will greatly abate our esteem of them and obligation to them; if we conceive that great mind is happy and perfect without those, we have reason to think our own may be so too, for whatever thoughts we have of God, they must be the Standard and Measure to us of all Perfection. It is a very natural Conse­quence which St. John makes, 1 Ep. 2.29. if ye know that he is Righteous, ye know that every one that doeth Righ­teousness is born of him: if Righteousness be founded in the Divine Nature, then whoever is truly Righteous, is both like unto God and beloved by him as a Child of its Parent. God cannot but love and be pleased with what is so agreeble to himself, and bears his Divine Image and Resemblance upon it; for the same Rea­son that he loves himself, and takes infi­nite complacency and satisfaction in his own Perfections he will love also those who are partakers of the same Divine Life [Page 15]and Nature, and are Righteous as he is Righteous, that is, Righteous Men, as he is a Righteous God, for that the Righ­teous Lord should love Righteousness, as the Psalmist speaks, Ps. 11.7. is the re­sult of his own Natural and Essential Per­fections, but there is no reason why he should not love any thing, even the con­trary, if he were not truly Righteous him­self, and his love depended upon mere Arbitrary Will, without regard to any thing else.

2. This has been therefore the ground of all Superstition and undue Worship of God, and of the great mistakes that are in Religion, the conceiving God to be a mere Great and Arbitrary Being, and only Absolute and Almighty Will, with­out the Perfection, and the line of Righ­teousness; from hence Men have hoped to please him, and procure his favour with outward Pomp and Solemnity, with mul­titude of Sacrifices, and great Presents and Oblations, with Bowings, and Cringes, and Prostrations before him, with bended Knees, and empty Words, and a course of External Performances, without any true and inward Righteousness; they have imagined a sort of Religious flattery would take with him, and that it was enough to sooth up his greatness with some offi­cious addresses, and to make their court [Page 16]to him with a set of hollow and affected Complements; by these they thought God was sufficiently obliged, and took great pleasure in them, like some vain and foolish and haughty Mortals: Indeed was God such an one as themselves, or as they i­magine, he might be so, but if he be a Be­ing Essentially Righteous, and Holy him­self, 'tis then not to be hoped, that any thing will commend us to him, or pro­cure his Favour but a Righteous Mind; without that, let Men dispute as long as they please, no Man can be Elected or Justified, or think to be saved by a Righ­teous God; nor can it be worth while to contrive any Tricks or Devices whatso­ever, which has been the great business of false Religion, by which Men would fain please God, and be very Religious, without being truly Righteous; without this neither Pennance nor Absolution; Whipping, or going Bare-foot, Pardons, or Indulgences, Masses, or Pilgrimages will signifie any thing, and whatever we trust or rely on, wherever we ground our Hopes, and make comfortable Reserves and Expectations to our selves, will most certainly deceive us without Righteous­ness.

Those who think God is only infinite Will, acting Arbitrarily, without observing any rules of Righteousness, if their Constitution [Page 17]such that they are apt to have gay and pleasing Ideas and Images of things Re­presented to their Minds; they are incli­ned to think that God will be easily plea­sed with them for very little Matters, and so fall into that sanguine Superstition which I mentioned before, or think perhaps that he has Chosen and Elected them from Eternity, and their names are written in the Book of Life; but if their blood be thick, and their fancy blacker, then they imagine God to be Severe and Revenge­ful, hard to be pleased, and easily provo­ked, and implacable when he is so: and with these sad and dreadful Apprehensi­ons, his Mind is always haunted as with frightful Spectres, and he comes to the Temples, as Plutarch says, as if 'twere to the Dens of Wild Beasts, or the Nests of Dragons, for he conceives that God is as hurtful as any of those Creatures: so there with a scared Countenance and a perplext Mind, the timorous Worshipper offers up his Child perhaps, or the reeking Bowels of some Humane Sacrifice, or sometimes his own Blood to the God he Worships, and thus hopes to appease the cruel Mo­loch and the fierce Cerberus with some Morsel or other, that may satisfy his Ra­venous indignation; all which miserable Superstition, and mistakes in Religion, which were so Notorious in the Heathen [Page 18]World, and not quite got out of the Chri­stian Church, are for ever prevented by this clear and firm Principle, That God is a Being truly Righteous himself, and that he neither loves nor hates others, but as they are, or are not so; for Righ­teousness excludes both partial fondness and unreasonable displeasure.

3. It makes all Religion to be a po­sitive Arbitrary thing, and takes off from its intrinsick Worth and Excellency, as having no Foundation in the real good­ness of what is commanded, nor in the Nature of God, but only in his Arbitrary Will and Pleasure. Whereas this it is, that truly commends Religion to the Minds of considering Men, that it is the obliging us to such Laws as are Eternal­ly and Unalterably Good, from the na­ture of things; which do naturally pro­duce good Effects to our selves and the World, and are the necessary causes of our happiness, and that therefore God has laid them upon us, not as a Yoke he would have us submit to, meerly because we ought to be subject to him, but as they are good in themselves, and the ne­cessary means of our. Happiness: that his Commands are but the Copies of his own Original and wise Reason, the Transcript of his own Eternal Righteousness and Perfections; and that the Righteousness [Page 19]he Commands us, is taken from God him­self, and is a lively Pattern and Exem­plar of his own Nature, and Essential Righteousness.

This does extremely commend Religi­on and Righteousness to us, that 'tis not only founded in the Will, but the Na­ture of God too, and is not only inter­woven with the very make of our Hu­mane Nature, but derived from the Na­tural Perfections of God, as the Fountain of it; that 'tis not an imperious restraint upon us from humoursom and boundless Will, that had no antecedent Reason thus to limit and confine us; but that all the Laws of Righteousness, besides the Stamp and Impress that Heaven has fixt upon them, are of intrinsick Worth and Value, and that their own goodness is the firm­est sanction and the truest reason of their obligation.

4. The having such a Conception of God, is very dishonourable to God, and uncomfortable to our selves, if we con­sider no other effects of it upon our lives; 'tis a robbing him of one of the Noblest Perfections of his Nature, of the richest Jewels of his Crown: and the most re­splendent Justice and Righteousness are the greatest Excellencies of a Governor, of a great and powerful Being, and his power without those will be only a great­er [Page 20]mischief. There is nothing that all Men do more admire and commend than impartial Justice in those who are above them, because 'tis a guard and protecti­on of every Man, a fence set about him and all his Interests, and nothing is more manifest than the influence which Justice has upon the good of the World; so that every body when he thinks on a Cato or an Aristides blesses him in his heart, and speaks well of him with his Lips. And what we think such a Perfection in men and such an object of Esteem there, if we deny it to God, we stop one of the main streams of Honour, that should flow from him, and cut off the brightest Ray of the Divine Lustre: neither can we give that Honour that belongs to him, if we strip him of those Perfections, any more than we can see the Sun, if we disrobe it of its Light, or admire the face that we have mangled and deformed: There must be such a congruity in the Object, like Charms sitted to attract our Passions, and excite our Esteem, or else we can no more love and honour than we can taste with our Eyes, and see with our Palate: and mere Power is no more an object of Love and Honour, but as 'tis an Instrument to do [...] good, than an Earthquake or a Clap of Thunder; it will amaze and affright us, and put us into a Consternation, but [Page 21]never bring us heartily to Honour and Esteem it. We shall dread such a Be­ing as has us under, and can crush us as he pleases, just as a little Bird does the Eagle, when its Claws are upon it; and we shall live in as much terror and con­fusion, and uncertain destractions of mind from such thoughts of God, as a Slave does under his Merciless Patron, who knows not what hardship he shall suffer next, whether he shall be Sold, or Star­ved, or Murdered. If when we know that his Power is Absolute and Irresist­able, and have no security from the good­ness of his Nature, that he shall not use it to rack and torture us, and do us mis­chief unless we do that which Justly de­serves it; we may then be glad if we could with the Epicureans, free our minds from the melancholy thoughts of such a Cruel and Over-ruling Nemesis, and must never hope to come to perfect Ease, and Tranquility, and repose of Mind, till we had got rid of the sears of such an In­visible Mormo. But God forbid that this should be the case of Mankind; no 'tis the most equal and impartial Justice that rules the World, that Administers all af­fairs with the greatest Justice and Righte­ousness, whom we have no reason to dread, unless we do base and wicked things, that disorder and do mischief: then indeed he [Page 22]will severely Chastise and Punish us, but else there is not the severity or injustice or hard usage that we need ever fear from him, no more than a Child from the most indulgent Parent, or a Subject from the best natured Prince and Governor. There was never in all his vast Kingdom and Empire of the World, in all his long and lasting Government, any the least Un­righteousness that could ever be charged upon it, nor has any, the meanest Person, reason to complain of any the least inju­stice done it, nor ever shall have; which is the third and last Particular.

3. To Vindicate the Righteousness of God, according to this true account of it, and clear it from what either in this Chapter, or any where else, may seem to reflect upon it, which will be great ease to our minds, and confirm what has been asserted before: and this I shall do by laying down briefly two or three Prin­ciples, that will meet with almost all ca­ses and all objections about this matter, for I must not descend now to Particu­lars.

1. That Arbitrary and Unlimited good­ness is no instance of Unrighteousness, as if a Prince think fit to show extraordi­nary Favours to some of his Subjects more than others, to raise them to higher Pla­ces and Preserments, or to give them some [Page 23]greater Privileges and Advantages un­der him, he is not to be called un­just or unrighteous if he do no wrong to his other Subjects, tho' they do not taste so largely of his Favour and Bounty: for a Power and Prerogative to do good, is Unlimited, only Justice, like the Angel to Abraham, stops its hand from doing mis­chief. And this was the case in this dif­ficult Chapter, of God's bestowing the Privileges of the Gospel, and Christiani­ty on the Gentiles, rather than the Jews; As the Gentiles, which followed not after Righ­teousness, have attained to Righteousness, e­ven the Righteousness that is of Faith, but Israel, which followed after the Law of Righ­teousness, hath not attained to the Law of Righteousness, v. 30.31. tho that was whol­ly by their own Fault: And this princi­ple the Jews had no reason to disallow, who had before reapt so much benefit by it; it being the only ground why God was more gracious to them, than the rest of the World, and that he still allows some Persons and Countries much greater means of Grace than others, tho' there are none who want what is sufficient for them.

2. That God, as absolute Lord, Pro­prietor and Creator of the World, has so vast a Right over his Creatures, as to put 'em into what condition he pleases, that is not worse than the having no Be­ing, [Page 24]for that is but giving 'em a lesser good. But to put them into such a state as it were desirable rather to be annihi­lated, than to be so miserable; to do this without some fault of theirs that shall de­serve this as a punishment, is against the plainest Axioms and Rules of Right and Justice, and is to take more from a Crea­ture, than he gives it, and so make him­self as it were a debtor to it. There can­not be any such thing as unlimited Right, no, not in God over his Creatures, for all Right supposes some Rules to bound and limit it, the transgressing of which may be supposed, and therefore may be wrong and injury, and here is the [...] of the Predestinarians: but to dis­pose of Kingdoms in this World and tran­fer 'em from the Canaanites to the Jews, to give others an express command to make the Jewels of the Egyptians their own, to command the life of a Child at the hand of its Parents, as a Sacrifice to him that gave it, and the like; this is a right belongs to the absolute Lord, Proprietor, and Crea­tor of the whole World; and as such he may give Jacob a more fruitfull Land and greater Kingdom, and show his love to him rather than to Esau that way.

3. That punishment and severity up­on sinners, which is necessary for pub­lick good, and for the Ends of Go­vernment, is not to be called Unrigh­teous, be it never so great: and I can never believe that God does ever inflict more, no, not in the Eternal torments of Hell, nor has any other end in that, or any other punishment and severity, than to give a sufficient sanction to his Laws; than wisely to Govern, and keep the world in order, and procure with the best Ad­vantage, the Welfare and Happiness of all the Beings that are in it; and what­soever punishments are necessary to that end are upon that account Just and Righ­teous; since that is the only true measure by which a Just proportion can be assign­ed between the fault and the punishment. I know not what they mean who talk of any sort of Vindictive Justice in God different from this, as if there were any re­vengefull Passion in him to be satisfied by the miseries of his Creatures, or he took any other pleasure in the punishment of them, but meerly the pleasure of doing Justice; 'ris this is a further assurance to us of Gods Righteousness, that a Being so great and powerfull and self sufficient, can have no such passions as spring up in weak and impotent minds, nor be tempted to do any injustice because that [Page 26]proceeds always from weakness and im­becillity.

But I must enlarge no further on these particulars, I hope what has been said al­ready will give some satisfaction to our minds, that there is no Unrighteousness in the great God. But he that is infinite­ly Great, is therefore infinitely Just and Righteous, because he can have no Mean and Unrighteous designs, either for him­self, or against others, so that Justice and Righteousness is necessarily joined with Almighty Power, and it must be a thought full of dread and horror that can conceive it possible to have them parted and se­parated; but in Truth, where there is a­ny one infinite Perfection there must be all, and therefore we have the same Evi­dence from reason of Gods being Righ­teous, as of his being Almighty, or of his being at all; and they who from some mi­staken places of Scripture and Revelation endeavour to Represent God under ano­ther Notion and Character, destroy that true natural Notion and Conception of a God, upon which all Revelation is built, and which must be previous and ante­cedent to it; and make Religion, and the thoughts of a God, which is the most cheer­full and comfortable thing in the World, to be an hideously black and melancholy Superstition; and as this may reasonably [Page 27]be the cause of a great many's becoming Atheists, who had rather believe there was no such Being as a God, than that he was such an Unrighteous being as some would represent him, so it would tempt any Man to wish to be so if he could, and if it were in his Power. But what shall we say then, is there Ʋnrighteousness with God? God for­bid.

The Second Sermon.

OUR Blessed Saviour in the foregoing verses, was exhor­ting all Persons to embrace his Religion, who were un­der any load and Burthen, Trouble, and uneasiness of Mind, and he promises to give them ease and refresh­ment. Come unto me allye that Labour and are heavy Laden, and I will give you rest.

This is a great Undertaking and Pro­posal, and very desirable and inviting to Mankind. The Diseases and Disorders and Uneasinesses of the Mind, are a great many more than those of the Body, and [Page 30]it is a more Divine thing and more ow­ing to the Gods as Tully speaks, to find out proper Physick and Remedies to Cure them than the other; Our Saviour pro­poses his Religion and his Example, as the means to do this, Take my Yoke upon you, and learn of me. There were a great many Sects of Philosophers of old, in which the wisest Men always aimed at this Tranquility and ease of Mind, and proposed their Doctrine as the way to attain it, and gave admirable Rules of li­ving up to such heights of Vertue, as should make Men casie and happy in all conditions, even the worst that could befall them; and a great many of them it must be confessed were as great Examples, as Teachers of these, such as Pythagoras, So­crates, Plato, Zeno, and others, who were the natural Prophets and Apostles of the Heathen World, and taught 'em the best Wisdom and Vertue, and the best Directi­ons how to attain the truest and perfect­est happiness, they knew humane Nature to be capable of. Revelation, and especi­ally the Religion of Christ, has done the same with much greater advantage; hath shown us a right Notion of Happiness, and all that conduces to it, and has both enlarged the view and prospect of it in another World, and improved the Me­thod of acquiring and obtaining it, and [Page 31]confirmed that good old Notion, that it lies only in Vertue, that nothing else can make a Man happy, and this alone can do it. Our Saviour as well as most of the Phi­losophers were to all appearance none of the happiest men in the World, they were poor and mean and despised and contem­ned, and had very little or none of those things, in which the World places Hap­piness, Riches and Honours, and Pleasures, which we so fondly admire and esteem and pursue after, as the happiest things that are to be enjoyed, and think those are not in earnest or only envious and ill­natur'd because they cannot attain them, who speak otherwise of them. Our Sa­viour proposes no Worldly advantages to his followers, but rather the quite contrary, and yet he Preaches happiness to them even at present, and joyns the Beatitudes and the Christian Vertues to­gether in his Sermon, as inseparable Com­panions; and tho' he left his Apostles in a World full of afflictions and seeming mi­series, yet he tells them, he leaves his Peace with them, John 14.27. Such a Peace as was proper for him to give and them to receive, not as the World giveth, but such an one as should have this effect upon them, as that their hearts should not be troubled nor be afraid, that no evils should disturb or take away this Peace of [Page 32]mind, that in him they might have Peace, tho' in the World they had tribulation, John 16.33. and that they might always be of good cheer because he had o­vercome the World. 'Tis a great thing which he here offers to Mankind, be they never so weary and oppress'd with cares, and troubles, labour under never so many seeming evils and afflictions here, have never such great loads and oppressions up­on their Minds and Spirits, that make them uneasie to themselves, and very mi­serable within; that if they come to his Religion, and take his Yoke upon them, follow the Rules and precepts of his Doctrine, and become of such a tem­per and spirit as he was, that they shall certainly meet with ease and comfort, relief, and refreshment, And ye shall sind rest to your Souls. This Rest and Tran­quility of Mind is the greatest Happiness in the World; what Philosophy aimed and pursued after, what we should endeavour to attain above every thing, and what if we once perfectly reach, nothing could ever make us the least miserable; what alone is worth seeking after, by all the Rules of Philosophy and Religion, and without which, nothing is worth aiming or seeking after, and lastly what Christ and Christianity propose, and can bring us to.

How and by what ways they do it, or what is the best means to attain it, shall be my chief business to shew; as to what it is, or wherein it consists, that we know better by inward sensation or pre­ception, than by any description or Ideas of it; we feel what ease is both in Mind and Body, and we have a quick Sense of pain and uneasiness in both; Indolency of Body, and Tranquility of Mind, are known by all to be great and desirable things. The pleasures of our compounded nature, and such as have a near Analogy and Resemblance with one another, however we are forced to express and describe one by the other, they are not meer Nega­tives, such as suppose only no Sense of pain or evil, which may belong to one that is asleep or stupified, or to a Stock or a Stone: but a positive Sense of what is agreeble to its Nature and the right use of its powers and faculties, and an Enjoyment or Per­ception of a good or Pleasure, suitable to them, with an intire freedom at the same time from what is contrary and unagree­able, painfull and troublesome and unea­sie. The very absence of what is pain­full and uneasie, brings a great pleasure, because Nature then enjoys it self, and has its own suitable perceptions without any disturbance. What Diseases and Pains and Tortures are to the Body, the same are [Page 34]disorders and troubles to the mind, from tormenting passions and uneasie Thoughts; from Fear, and Guilt, and Sorrow, the apprehension of evil as present, or com­ing upon it; we want words to express what we know and conceive of this: and Peace of mind is opposed to all things that weary and disease, and disquiet and di­sturb it whatever they are, whether the Evils and Troubles and Afflictions of this World, or Passions and Disorders from within, inordinate and irregular Desires and inward Commotions contrary to right Reason, or the more dreadfull terrors and horrors of some greater evil than any in this World. The mind, it is certain, has a quicker and more smart, and cutting sense o [...] Pain by these, than the Body from a­ny Disease. The Diseases and Maladies, Disorders and Pains of the mind, are great­er and harder to be cured, than those of the Body. Wisdom, and Philosophy, Vir­tue and Religion, are the proper Physick, the true Cure and Remedy of them, the only things that can bring the mind to that Good, Sound, and Healthfull State, that it shall be well and rightly disposed in it; due Frame and Crasis, sitted to per­form its proper Operations, and enjoy its agreeable Pleasures; the Pleasure and En­joyment of its self, and its own Wife, and Vertuous, and good Thoughts, the [Page 35]pleasant Hopes and Expectations of Re­ligion, and all the superadded Enjoy­ments from thence, that Revelation as­sures us of; besides what are natural to it from the right Exercise of its own Pow­ers, such as Peace of Conscience upon Pardon of Sin, inward Sense of God's Fa­vour, or his lifting up the light of his Countenance upon us, Joy in the Holy Ghost, and rejoycing in hope of the Glo­ry that shall be revealed: These are such Pleasures and Enjoyments of Mind, as are beyond Nature, but within Christianity, which raise and exalt the Soul to some­thing beyond that Tranquility and Calm­ness, and Serenity of Mind which Philo­sophy so talkt of. This improves it high­er, and raises a more noble structure of Happiness to our Souls, but upon the same Foundation, having the same Bottom to build upon, the inward Ease and Peace and rest of the Mind, which is the greatest thing we can desire, or is worth our attaining.

To be very easy always within, to have Peace and Quiet in our own Breasts, to be disturbed with no uneasie Thoughts, no tumultuous Passions, no Fear, Grief, or Sorrow, no carking Care, or corroding Trouble; to be rufled with no discompo­sure, have no dark Clouds hanging over our Thoughts, no Storms or Tempests ra­ging within our Breasts; this is Tranquility [Page 36]of Mind an inward Calm, and Serenity of Thoughts, contrary to that Temper of mind, Which is like the troubled Sea, which cannot rest, to which the Scripture compares it, Isa. 57.20. neither apt to be much rai­sed or too much depressed, Nec attollens se unquam, nec deprimens, as Seneca speaks, Sed semper aequali, & placido statu, always even and in a placid state, propitius sibi, & sua laetus aspiciens, pleased with its self and its own thoughts, and having nothing to sowre and disorder it self, or infuse a poysonous bitterness into it. This is that good state of Soul, that rest which is a greater Happiness than all the World can afford, which he that has, will be Happy in whatever Circumstances or Con­dition he is, and which we might cer­tainly find by Religion and Christianity, if we lived up to the Principles and Du­ties of it; Take my Yoke upon you, and learn of me, and ye shall find rest to your Souls.

I shall premise a few cautions to prevent any mistake in this matter, and the bet­ter to state and explain it.

Then show how we may by the help and means of Religion, attain to this Rest, Peace, and Tranquility of Mind.

1. First then, I do not pretend that Re­ligion and Virtue, will set Men free from all the evils of this World, and be a protecti­on against any manner of outward Trou­bles [Page 37]or Calamities ever falling upon us; This cannot be, For Man is born to Trouble as the Sparks fly upwards, Job 5.7. They are a great many of them natural and ne­cessary and unavoidable, and God must alter the nature of Things and the na­ture of the World, and work perpetual Miracles to free us always from them; to have our Bodies subject to no Diseases and Indispositions, our Estates subject to no Losses and Casualities, or Children or Friends not subject to Death, or to be taken away from us, this is impossible, and what no good Man must expect; that the Rain or Drought should not sometimes spoil his Corn, the Sea shipwrack his Goods or Vessel, the Fire burn his House as well as anothers: these common misfortunes which happen alike to all, and a great many Losses from the fraud and inju­stice of others, as well as abundance of natural evils arising from the Mechanism of our selves and the World; these the most Virtuous cannot expect to be exempt­ed from, but like Travellers through this World, they must all pass thro' the com­mon Road with others, and sometimes meet with bad and unpleasant way, and now and then with a shower that may fall upon 'em: but the Religious Man is how­ever much better provided against those, against the common and unavoidable e­vils [Page 38]of life, than another who is but e­qually subject to them; his Mind is Arm­ed against all the darts of Fortune, and they shall not enter so deep, nor smart so grievously as to the wicked; he has something within to support him under all the Calami­ties and Afflictions of this World, a good God, a good Conscience, and a good Prospect, and Hopes of Heaven, when a wicked Man has none of those to keep him up, but must wholly sink and fall under them. The one will have the Peace of his Mind, and a Com­fort within, that shall pour Oyl and Balsam into all the Wounds of Fortune and make Afflictions more easie and tolerable; but the other will increase the smart of them, by his wickedness, that will then lie heavier upon him, when his Spirit is oppressed with other troubles, the load of those and of his sins both will be insupportable to him, and when his mind is sore by its inward guilt, every hard thing from without, will more pinch and gall him. A good Man may keep this Peace of Mind under any Worldly afflictions, but a bad Man cannot.

2. Neither will Religion make all things equal as to the outward Happiness of this life, arising from Mens different States and Conditions and unequal Circumstances in this World. It may be allowed that there is a proper and real good, in the Plenty, Riches, and Conveniences of life, and that a good [Page 39]Man is not quite so happy that wants them, as if he had 'em; but they might be an acces­sion, a small Addition to his more true and greater Happiness of Vertue, tho' that be infinitely more Great and Valuable and De­sirable, yet I do not know that Religion takes away or disallows the other; we may therefore both Lawfully Desire and En­deavour to make our outward Circum­stances in this World as good, and easie, and comfortable as we can, within the bounds of Vertue, and 'tis both Natu­ral and Lawful to do it; and it borders, I doubt, upon Hypocrisie or Superstiti­on to pretend the contrary, and is al­ways confuted by a contrary Desire and Practice in those who have talked other­wise. But still a good Man can be con­tented and easie in a very mean and strait Condition, if Providence allots this to him; and he will not Disquiet or Disturb him­self, for what he sees others enjoy, if God sees not sit for him to have them: and tho he can allow a lesser good and a proper use and conveniency, and some small Hap­piness perhaps as to this life, to belong to those outward things in respect of the Wants and Necessities, and the State we are in here, which made Aristotle and the Peripateticks put the Externa Bona into the Ingredients of compleat Happiness; yet he can be very Happy with a few of those [Page 40]as knowing that Man's Life consisteth not in abundance, as Christ says, Luk. 12.15. and that a few things will suffice na­ture; and having Food and Raiment, which is the Apostles, as well as Natures competency, he can be content and make up a Happiness to himself out of the bet­ter and more essential Parts and Ingredi­ents of it, to wit, Vertue and Wisdom, and a good Mind, without those Appen­dages and Ornaments, Trimmings, and Garnishings of it, which we call outward Happiness and Prosperity. I am not for maintaining that Stoical Paradox, That a virtuous Man was thereby Rich, and a King, and every thing that's Great: They might as well have said also, he is always Strong and Healthfull, tho 'tis plain, he may be both Sickly and Poor; and his greatest Virtues may take away neither of those evils, and their contraries may be allowed to be both goods in a lower Sence and so Desir'd by us: but he will be Happi­er a Thousand times without those, than without his Vertue; they can never make him truly Happy without that, but he may be Happy without those, by the Peace and Comfort, the Firmness and Goodness of his own Mind, altho' if he had them too, they might add something to his present Happiness and Good Con­dition, this I will not Cynically deny. Nor yet,

3. That Religion will quite alter his bodily Temper, any more than his World­ly Circumstances, but a good Man may labour under an unhappy Temper, and ill Crasis, and Disposition of Blood and Humours: His Wise and Vertuous Soul may male habitare, be lodged not only in a Deformed, but a Sickly, and Unhealth­full, or otherwise ill-framed Body; A natural Sulphur and Choler may lodge in his Blood, that may be too apt to Fire and heat him, or too much dull and heavy Phlegm, may clog his Spirits, and make them Listless and Unactive, and not rise to Warmth, and fervor in his Religious Duties; the Salts that keep the Humours from putrefying may make them too Sharp or Sowre, and apt to make a Temper too Fretfull and Peevish; or a black melan­choly Humour may be thus produced and become Predominant that will disorder the Spirits, and fill the Head and other Parts with dark Vapours, and irregular Ferments, and draw a Cloud of Darkness and Dis­consolateness over the Brain, and even the Soul it self. Now Religion will not, nor cannot cure this any more than any other Bodily Diseases, and he that is afflict­ed with them, must bear them, as he would the Gout or Stone, or any other Disease that is incident to us; but since these affect the Mind more, and the Mind also by its [Page 42]close Union and Re-action upon the Bo­dy, does in great measure raise and ex­cite, or abate and allay those; therefore it is a great part of Human Vertue, and a proper Work of Religion, to take as much care as can be of those natural Pas­sions, which are caused in [...] those dif­ferent Humours and Temperaments of Body; for all Anger and First, and the other Bodily Passions that are so trouble­some both to our selves and others, arise from them. The Soul is the same in all Men, not more inclined to any of those Passions by its Original make and nature, than the contrary; they all arise from our Body, and our lower Nature, and are the results of that, and therefore they are in Brutes, we often see, as well as Men: but the Soul by being Vitally united to the Body, has a Preception and Sensation of them, and such thoughts are necessa­rily caused in it by them. Now neither the first motions of the Body, nor first thoughts of the Soul upon them are sin­ful, because they are both necessary, but the Soul has a Power within it self, ei­ther to consent, or not consent to these Bodily Motions and Inclinations, which we call Passions; and this Principle of the Soul, we call the Will, I do not mean a power to consent to their first rising, or not rising in us, that is often necessary and [Page 43]unavoidable, and so not within the pow­er of the Soul, but perfectly unvolunta­ry; but then whether it shall continue such a thought, that is excited upon such a Passion, at least continue it so far as to approve and like it, and consent to it, and put it into Act if it can, and actual­ly execute it, and let it produce any out­ward and lasting Effects; this is in the power of the Soul, and herein lies the great Exercise of its Virtues, in govern­ing and subduing the Passions, and mor­tifying the carnal Lusts and Bodily In­clinations; if it yields to those so as to commit any Unlawfull Actions, or any sin in pursuance of them, then it ful­fills the Lusts of the Flesh, and walks af­ter the Flesh, and is carnal, and carnally minded, in St. Paul's phrase, Rom. 8.6. but if thro' the Spirit, and by help of Re­ligion, it does mortify these deeds of the Bo­dy, it shall live, v. 13. If it suffer no sin to reign in its mortal Body, nor give way to those Passions and Lusts, so as to com­mit sin by them, but with the greatest care and pains keep them within the bounds of Reason and Religion, then it does Cru­cisie the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts, Galat. 5.24. not that they must become quite dead and extinct, so that we feel no motions of them: no; they may re­main in the best and most regenerate Man, [Page 44]as to some inward motions of Concupis­cence, but they are not sinfull unless they conceive, i.e. are consented to in the heart and bring forth sin in the life, James 1.15. Now Religion is so to Govern, and keep under all these Passions and bodily inclinations, that they run not into Sin, but it cannot quite cut them up and ex­tirpate them; it is to improve and per­fect Nature by Grace, but not to destroy it: These Passions therefore, caused by those Bodily Humours and Tempers which we are naturally inclined to; these which are one of the greatest causes of the trou­bles and disorders of the mind, and which bring the greatest Uneasiness and Pertur­bation to it, and rob it of that Evenness and Calmness, and Tranquility, which is the great Happiness of it: these Religion cannot so wholly remove and take away as that we should be perfectly free from them, and from all the motions and risings of them; but it will and must so far subdue and conquer them, as that they neither have Sinful and Unlawful Effects upon others, nor so far disorder our selves, as to spoil and destroy the Peace, and Rest, and Quiet of our minds. I do not mean that they should never disturb us, for so they will a little, as often as we feel them; but not to that degree, as to take away the Peace and Tranquillity of our mind, [Page 45]and to destroy the habit and temper of it; if they do, we can never be Happy with them. How Religion cures them, and to what degree, it must overcome them, I shall consider afterwards; at pre­sent I shall only observe that Religion does not wholly destroy and root them up, nor alter our bodily Temper and Consti­tution; but a good Man still lies open to the first motions of Anger, Peevishness, Melancholy, and the like, and may never be quite otherwise, any more than alter his Complexion, or his Stature, and make his Hair White or black: but he may have Peace in his Mind, and Rest in his Soul, notwithstanding that in the ratio­nal Frame, and Habit, and Temper of it, founded upon the Hopes and Principles of Religion, these are troublesome and un­easie to him, and will also affect his Mind, as well as any other bodily Pain and Dis­ease; but yet his Rest and Tranquility, may be consistent with both those: for 'tis a rational intellectual Sense and Per­ception in the Soul, which depends up­on Principles and Rules, and not upon mere Temper and Mechanism of body; for then ill Weather, as well as an ill body would alter and destroy it.

I come now to show how we may attain it, which is the most considera­ble thing of all, and when we have if, we shall better understand it, than by a­ny other account of it; like Health we know what it is, tho' we cannot so well describe it, and like ease and pleasure, we can best Judge of it by feeling it: 'Tis as Tully calls it, sanitas animi, the Health and Soundness and good Temper of the Soul, and when the Soul wants it, it is Sick and under a Disease, in Pain and Disorder. We all know how good and sweet a thing health and ease is both of Body and Mind, so that there need not many words to commend them; how to get it, and pre­serve it, and recover it when it is lost, is the greatest Question.

Our Saviour here tells us we may find rest to our Souls, and obtain this Peace and Tranquility of mind. I shall consi­der what the means are, and by what ways Religion does effect this in the fol­lowing particulars.

1. Religion teaches us that Happiness lies chiefly in our Mind, that that is the proper seat of it, and that it lies not in things without us, but is a Treasure in our own Breasts, something within ourselves, which belongs to our Souls, and consists in the Perfection, Improvement and En­joyment of them; this is in other words [Page 47]called the Salvation of the Soul, restoring it to its lost Happiness, and freeing it from the Miseries and Evils that sin brought upon it. 'Tis the great and proper business of Religion, to save the Soul or make it Happy, which is done by making it Wise and Vertuous, by raising it to its truest Perfection, by improving it with Vertu­ous Habits and Dispositions, and bring­ing it to a Godlike, Heavenly Frame and Disposition, and so cultivating, and fitting it for the greatest Enjoyment of God and Eternal Happiness.

Religion puts us upon this one thing needfull, and its whole Scope and Design is to Cure and Mend, to Perfect and Im­prove the Soul, to Convert and Sancti­fie, and Regenerate and Inlighten the Mind; which are words that import the making it wise and good, because in this lies our true and proper Happiness, in the Moral state and Gracious temper, and Disposition of the Mind, and in such a Perfection and Enjoyment of it, as is at­tained by Religion. They who think Hap­piness lies in bodily Pleasures, or outward Enjoyments, do at the same time, leave Religion, and mistake Happiness. Reli­gion bids us moderate all Carnal and World­ly Enjoyments, and mortifie all the Ex­cesses and Immoderate desires and degrees of them, and takes off as far as may be [Page 48]our natural Love and Affections to them; and will by no means allow us to place our Happiness in them, as being poor and empty, short and transient things, in re­spect of the more true, and greater, and inward Happiness of our own Minds. Re­ligion bids us mind that, and those things in which it consists, take care of our Souls and the means of improving them in Grace and Vertue, and the freeing them from those Vices and ill Tempers, and Habits, that will Destroy, and make them Miseia­ble.

A Mans Happiness or Misery, even his Eternal one, is founded in his own Mind, and depends upon the good or bad Tem­per and Disposition of it: for the Hap­piness of the Soul is like the Health of the Body, something within it self, and consists in the Vigour and right Opera­tions of all its Faculties and its own in­ward Powers, and, as Plutarch observes, a Gouty Foot is not cured by a rich Shoe, nor the Head-ach took off by a Crown or Diadem, nor an ill Mind made Hap­py, by any thing without it; while it is sick and uneasie within, it will be Mi­serable, tho' it hath every thing else; for Happiness lies in our Minds, and within our selves; and Religion, by teaching us this, and being concerned wholly to bet­ter, and improve our Minds, and apply­ing [Page 49]it self wholly to them, is very help­full to bring us to it; for it thereby di­rects us where it lies, and takes us off from all false scents and pursuits of it, and from all vain opinions and imaginations about it. To know the true seat of Hap­piness, and where it lies, in what it is pla­ced, and wherein it consists, is one of the best means to attain it, and necessa­ry to prevent all mistakes and wandring Quests and unprofitable Searches after it, which almost all Men are guilty of, by Imagining it lies in other things, and in things without 'em, and not, as it truly does, in their own Minds, [...] as Plu­tarch says; wherefore since the Fountain of this Rest and Tranquility of Mind, is in our selves, let us take care to keep clean and purifie that.

2. Religion teaches us the truest and best Wisdom, which is the Foundation of this Tranquility of Mind; for 'tis some Folly or other, some weak Thought or Passion, vain Fancy or Opinion, and the want of a true Understanding, and the rightly using our Reason, or making true Judgment of things, that is always the cause of the Disorder and Disturbance, and Indisposition of Mind. Says Tully, The Fountain of all perturbations is a Defection from right Reason, something [Page 50]which does excite turbid motions, con­trary and opposite to Reason; and there­fore in his Excellent Discourse on this Subject he calls Wisdom, Sanitas animi, in­sipientia autem est quasi insanitas quaedam, quae est insania, eademque dementia: Wis­dom is the Health and Sanity of Mind, and Folly is its Unsoundness, and what puts it out of order. And he calls this good state we are speaking of, sanitatem animorum positam in tranquillitate quadam, constantiaque. Now Religion teaches the Mind the truest Wisdom, and cures it of the greatest Follies that are incident to it; it directs it to have right Thoughts, and to make Judgment of things; proposes to it the best end, and the surest means to attain it; shows it what is its chief Hap­piness, and its Principal Interest, and puts a right value and estimate upon things according to their worth and desert, and thereby frees the Mind from all wrong Opinions and Imaginations, which are apt. to make it Vitious as well as Disorderly; for all Vice is founded upon false Reason­ings and want of right Judging of the Na­ture of things, whereby they imagine such Actions to be good and agreeable; and that they shall be Happy in having such Pleasures and Enjoyments, and gra­tifying such Lusts and Desires, but they and themselves Mistaken and Deceived, [Page 51]and therefore vext and troubled, and re­pent of their own Folly one time or o­ther, and so plainly confess and accuse themselves of having done a weak and silly thing, what their wiser thoughts can­not but condemn; and what appears now to be contrary to right Reason, would Men live up to that, which should be the design of a Wise Man, and what his Reason was given him for, and what makes him live above Brutes and Ani­mals of meer Sense, and lower Passions: we should never be uneasie or disturbed or unquiet in our Minds, we should al­ways approve of what we do, and be sa­tisfied from our selves as the Wise Man speaks; we should live by Principles that would always support and bear us up, and let nothing sink or deject us; we should never do a Weak, a Rash or a Foolish thing, that we repented of and were sorry for af­terwards; we should act steadily and con­stantly, by the certain Rules of Wisdom and Vertue, and not be so uncertain and mutable in our Thoughts and Actings, which causes great disquietude and une­venness, and disorder in our Minds. Were we but as wise as Religion would make us, we should have very little to disturb us; Religion is what teaches us the best Wisdom, and if rightly understood, pre­serves us from the greatest follies and [Page 52]weaknesses of humane nature; and true Wisdom is the Foundation of Peace and Tranquility of Mind, which is always lost, and destroyed by some folly or other con­trary to right Reason and true Wisdom.

3. Religion teaches us not to place our Happiness in any outward things of this World, for if we do, we shall find Hap­piness is not in our power, and that we cannot always reach or attain it; for things here will often fall out cross and contra­ry to our desires and wishes, and there are a thousand Accidents to hinder and disappoint us of our Worldly aims; and we must be often very uneasie, and ve­ry miserable, if our meer missing of them makes us so: and if we could attain them, and become masters of them, we should yet find our selves disappointed, and should not meet with that Happiness that we expected from them. Had we all we could wish for or desire in this World, yet we should not find that sa­tisfaction, and compleat Enjoyment we imagined before-hand in any condition; for thus Experience convinces us, and con­vinces all Mankind, that there is still some­thing wanting to make us Happy, what­soever we enjoy of this World; and how much soever we have of it, there is so much emptiness in all the things of it, so much mixture and allay of evil with [Page 53]good; it is so unagreeable to the larger capacities of our Souls, and so short of filling and satisfying them, that Solomon pronounced of all Worldly things that they were Vanity and Vexation of Spirit, Eccles. 1.14. and this is not a Philosophical rant or a discontented Reflection, or an Hy­perbolical saying; but a strict and certain truth, founded upon the best Experience, and the wisest Observation of things; for no Man whoever set his Heart upon the things of this World, found that content­ment and full satisfaction in them that he expected, but met with more cares and troubles in the pursuing them, than they were worth, and pierced himself through with a great many sorrows and anxieties, by being over desirous of them: and if he gained them with all his labour and toil, yet was as far from true Happiness as before; for as the Prophet elegantly ex­presses it, The Bed is shorter than that a Man can stretch himself on it, and the co­vering narrower than that he can wrap him­self in it, Isa. 28.20. Worldly things are too narrow, short, and imperfect, and are no way fitted to make us compleatly hap­py; something will still be wanting that we call good, and some evil will be present and mixed with what we enjoy, that will allay and embitter it. To seek for Happi­ness in this World is to seek for the li­ving [Page 54]among the dead; It is not here, it is risen, it is above; it is only in Heaven and in God, and Religion, and to be en­joyed no where else. Religion raises our Minds to a nobler and truer Happiness than any in this World, and it helps us to as good degrees of it, as we are capa­ble of at present; by taking off our hopes and desires, and expectations of it, as to Worldly things, and curing us of too much concern and anxiety about them, and making us indifferent and casie, and contented whatever our present Circum­stances are in this World. Which is the

4. Fourth thing by which it procures and affords this ease and tranquility of Mind that we are speaking of. Most of the un­easinesses of life, are caused by a sollicitude about Worldly things, proceeding from an immoderate love, and an over great Opi­nion of them, as if our Happiness lay in possessing a great abundance of them. This is the root of that Covetousness and Ambition, which make us inordinately desire Riches and Honours, which two are very restless and uneasy. Vices, and fill our lives with infinite Trouble and Disquie­tude, and make our Minds always Un­easie and Discontented. He is a very Happy Man, who is easie and satisfied in his present Circumstances, and has learnt [Page 55]with St. Paul, in whatsoever state he is there­with to be content, Phil. 4.11. who hath made such true Judgment of Worldly things, that he has no great Opinion of them, nor does admire or think there is very much in them: but having the Conveni­ences, and Accommodations of life, can eat of his own little morsel, and drink out of his own Brook, with as much Plea­sure and Satisfaction as if he were to take from the greatest Heap, or drink of the greatest River, or be Entertained with all the Luxurious Plenty, and Ambitious State of the Rich and Great ones, who with all their Enjoyments have a Thousand times more trouble and uneasinesses than the other in a more moderate condition. For 'tis certain, the way to Contentment and Happiness, is rather to abate our de­sires, than to fill 'em; and the more we raise and heighten these, the more uneasie we shall always be. Vain Opinion and weak Imagination set a false value and estimate upon the outward differences a­mongst Men; but I doubt not but they may be all equally Happy, and that Pre­vidence has distributed good and evil with a more equal and impartial hand than we imagine, and that those of low condition enjoy as much Happiness in this World, as those of the highest: The dif­ference is not made by Circumstances, but [Page 56]by temper of Mind, and by keeping our desires within moderate bounds, and not being anxious, or sollicitous, or uneasie for what we do not enjoy; but in being contented and well pleased with whate­ver Providence allots to us: when we bring our selves to this, we shall be ea­sie and happy and free our selves from those immoderate desires, carking cares and anxious sollicitudes about the things of this World, which pierce us through with a Thousand sorrows, and destroy the Ease and Tranquility of our Minds. Now to do this we must be taught and convinced by Religion, that Happiness lies not in out­ward things, and be cured of the contra­ry weak Fancy and Opinion that makes us so immoderately desire 'em, and be so anxiously concerned about 'em, to the loss even of that Rest and Peace of Mind, that we might otherwise have without them.

5. Religion teaches us to govern our Passions and lower Inclinations, and so to keep them from disturbing us, and break­ing the Peace and Tranquility of our Minds. One of the greatest causes of un­easiness to us, and what is most contra­ry to this Rest and Tranquility we are seeking after, is the Disorder of our Pas­sions, and the Disturbance and Disquiet they give us. Anger ruffles us, and puts [Page 57]us into a storm, and destroys that smooth, calm, and sedate Temper, that meekness puts us in: Envy preys upon it self, and is inwardly corroded with its own sharp and sowre humours: Pride swells its self with its own inward poyson, and is blown up with an inward Vapour that Pains and Distends it, and makes it very un­easie, even whilst 'tis very conceited of its self. Till these inward Diseases and Indispositions and Commotions of Mind are cured in great measure, by the Pre­scriptions and Directions of Religion, a Man can have no ease and quiet in his own Breast: for while he is under the power of any of these, or indeed of any lower, or bodily Inclination, such as Lust, Anger, brutal Rage, or brutal Concupi­scence; and has not mastered those natu­ral Corruptions, nor brought those Boi­sterous and Head-strong Passions under some Government and Subjection to the Laws of Wisdom and Decency, Vertue and Religion; they will run him into a Thousand Mischiefs, Follies, and Incon­veniencies, and he will never have true Peace and Tranquility in his own Mind. 'Tis the great business therefore of Re­ligion, to mortify these bodily Passions and lower Inclinations, to Crucify the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts, to put away all Wrath, and Clamour, and Bitterness, and to [Page 58]take off the Corruptions and Weaknesses of Humane Nature, by the rules of Religion, and the assistances of the Holy Spirit, and to Guard us where sin doth so easily beset us, by the Considerations of Heaven and Eter­nity, and another World, which are only Arguments strong enough to make men con­quer and deny those passions and Inclinati­ons which are in great part natural to them. Religion has a Power in it, if duly applied and attended to, to make the most passion­ate Man Calm and Gentle, the most Lustfull Man Chast, to Sweeten the most Sowre and ill-natured Temper, and Tame the most Outrageous and Violent. This Christianity did of old, as Lactantius, and other Fathers assure us, and boast of its Vertue and Ef­ficacy; and this it no doubt will, and must do, in order to our Eternal Happiness if we come under the full Sense and per­fect Government of it: for no Man can go to Heaven with those irregular and unmortified Passions about him, any more than come to Peace and Tranquility of Mind here; what is required and is neces­sary to the one, is necessary to the other also, and what promotes the one does at the same time promote the other; for the more approaches we make towards Heaven hereafter, the more we make at present, to this Peace and Tranquillity of Mind; and whatever tends to acquire the [Page 59]one, tends also to acquire the other: Re­ligion by the same way leads to both, and the more we grow in one, the more we shall grow in the other; 'tis one of the greatest Perfections Religion is to bring us to, not to Destroy or Extirpate, but Govern and Master our natural Inclina­tions and bodily Passions, and make them always easie to our selves, and subject to Reason, Wisdom and Vertue; and when they are so, then we shall be in this most Pleasant and Happy State, which we call Rest and Tranquility, and Calmness of Mind.

6. Religion, and especially Christianity, removes all Guilt, and all Reason of in­ward Trouble of Mind, and Disquiet of Conscience; nothing is so contrary to this Peace, and Rest, and Tranquility of Soul as an inward Consciousness of a Mans own Guilt, and a dread of what he De­serves upon it; this will always disturb and make him uneasie in whatever out­ward Condition he be; it will be a Wound at his very Heart, and like a Dart struck thro' his Liver; he will feel it like a Prick upon a Nerve, a Pain in the Tenderest, and most Sensible part of his Mind, for such is a Sense of Guilt, and the Fears and Horrors that go along with it. Now what shall Cure this if a Man has faln into it, and what shall best [Page 60]preserve him from it but Religion? Chri­stianity has provided a Remedy for the greatest Guilt, which is the Blood of Christ, and thereby pours in Oyl and Balsam in­to the most wounded Conscience; and by the Privilege of Repentance and New Obedience restores it to Peace and Com­fort and a good State, and frees it from its Dreadfull Fears and Apprehensions; it gives a Man firm Grounds of Hope and Comfort upon his return to his Du­ty, tho' he has not always observed it, and assures him that he shall be well treat­ed by God upon it. This is a great thing which is owing to the Grace of God, in, and thorough Christ; and is the great Grace of the Gospel, and what natural Religion could not Disco­ver or Ensure to us: Christ alone giveth this Rest to those who are weary and heavy Laden, with the Burthen of their Sins; and Guilt is a Load and Burthen too heavy for us to bear; but what he has done takes it off from us upon our Repentance and Amendment, and becom­ing good Men, tho' after we have been otherwise.

Religion will best Guard and Preserve us against all Sin, and keep us from do­ing any thing rashly and inconsiderately, that should afterwards trouble and vex us when we reflect upon it; and will there­fore [Page 61]prevent, as well as cure, the painfull Disorders and Disturbances of a Guilty Conscience and Uneasie Mind, and keep it always in the most Virtuous, and there­fore most Comfortable state: for nothing is such a ground of Peace and inward Comfort, as to live always in a Habit of Virtue and Religion, in the practice of one, and by the principles of the other, and never to act contrary to them, or op­pose them, in any thing we do; this will make a good Man always pleased and sa­tisfied from himself as the Scripture speaks, Prov. 14.14. and give him the closest and the truest Happiness, which is the Peace of his own Mind. What a Comfort a good Con­science is, it is like Health or Pleasure, bet­ter felt than described; 'tis a continual Feast in all Conditions, a perpetual spring of Joy and Comfort, rising up in a Mans own Mind, and overflowing his Heart with unspeakable Pleasure and De­light: What will make a Man bear a­ny Circumstances? Endure any evil? Suf­fer any Affliction? Go through any Cross or Reproach, and be tho' not without Sense, yet without any great Trouble? When his Innocent Mind speaks Cheer­fully to him and Refreshes him from with­in.

A Man can never have true Peace and Tranquility of Mind, without Virtue, and Religion; for none but a good Man conscious to himself of his own Integrity and Sincerity, can have a good Consci­ence: and nothing is so contrary to this Ease and Rest, this Tranquility of Soul, as an evil Conscience, which like the trou­bled Sea, is always Stormy and Boisterous, and casteth up Mire and Dirt, as the Pro­phet speaks, Isa. 57.20. the filth that is at the bottom of it, and is therefore the most directly opposite to the Calm and Serene State and Temper of Mind that we are seeking after. An evil Consci­ence is always full of Fears, and Horrors, of Dread and Disquietude; 'tis a Worm gnawing on a Mans Vitals, a Vultur prey­ing on his Liver, a Snake stinging him to the Heart, a Fury Whipping him, a Devil tormenting him, a Hell kindled in his own Breast. Nothing can be too great and terrible to represent it by, and hardly any thing can come up to the mi­sery of it, when it is in a high degree. Religion by delivering us from that, de­livers us from the greatest trouble and uneasiness of Mind; and whoever is not stupid and senseless, will fall into that some time or other, unless he live Vertuously and Religiously.

7. Religion gives us Cheerfull Hopes as to another World, and so takes off the immoderate fear of Death, which must otherwise all our life make us Subject to Bondage, as the Apostle speaks, Heb. 2.15. and fill us with wretched and servile Fear whenever we think of dying; and we can­not but think of it sometimes when we see the common Fate of Mortality in all others, and have some Warnings and Monitors of it, in our own Bodies: then what a melancholy thing must it be for a Man to think of going down into the place of darkness and forgetfulness, to be­come a cold heavy lump, a stiff dead Corps, to have all his brisk and vigorous Spi­rits put out and extinguish'd, and an end put to all his Pleasures and Enjoyments, if he have not some Hopes of an after Immortality and of a better Life after this: No Man could enjoy himself or be easie in his thoughts, if he thinks at all, who knows he must die in a little time, if he has not the fears of Death took off and moderated by the Hopes and Ex­pectations of Religion. He that con­siders, says Plutarch, [...]. the nature of his Soul, and that Death Translates us into a better State, or at least one that is not at all evil, has made an excellent provi­sion, both for the Happiness of life, and [Page 64]against the fear of death; and he make; this one of the great means of procuring this Tranquility of Mind, thus to over­come the fears of Death; for otherwise that will embitter all our present Enjoy­ments, and spoil all our Mirth and Jollity, and draw a dark Cloud over all our Cheer­fullness and Gaity, to have the thoughts of Death steal in now and then upon us, as they unavoidably will, if we have no­thing to make them less terrible and fright­full, than they will be to a wicked Man; he must be sadly scared and amazed at any such thing, and cannot think, much less look on Death, without sad Misgivings, and Horrors of Mind; and therefore can never have any setled Peace and Tranquility in himself, but it will be all broke by one thought of Mortality, by the hear­ing a Knell, or seeing a Coffin; for let him seem to put on never so much false Courage, and to laugh at these things in the midst of his Company and his Vi­ces, yet he trembles at them when he is alone, and a cold and clammy sweat fei­zes upon him whenever he thinks of dy­ing in earnest: nothing can prevent this Despondency and dying of Mind, and arm even against the natural fear of bo­dily Death, which will often come up­on us, and scatter all our other Comfort­able thoughts; but Religion, which takes [Page 65]out the sting of Death, which lessens and abates its terror, and fortifies us against it by the Christian Hopes of being free from all Guilt and Punishment hereafter, and of having a better Life, and being in another World, when we are to part with this here.

Death must be very terrible to the thoughts either of an Atheist, by Depri­ving him of all Being, and of all Enjoy­ment; or of a wicked Christian by con­signing him to Judgment and Punishment, and Translating him to Eternal Death and Misery: only Religion can take off its Terror, and sweeten the bitter Cup with the Supports, and Comforts, the Aids and Assistances, the Hopes and Ex­pectations it affords to a good Man in his last Agonies and Extremities, and at all other Times when he thinks of dy­ing.

Lastly, Religion infuses inward and un­speakable Comforts into our Minds from its present Privileges and future Hopes, from God and his Spirit, and their secret Com­munications, Operations, and Influences upon our Souls, which are the highest improvement and the highest degrees of Peace and Tranquility of Mind. Nature and Philosophy knew nothing of this, but Revelation, and especially the Christian, give us the Knowledge and Assurance of it, [Page 66]and many a Pious and good Christian has felt the Effects and Comforts of it in his Soul, when he has had a Cheer­full and well grounded Sense that his sins are pardoned in, and through Christ, upon his true Repentance; and that he is justified by the Grace of the Gospel up­on the Terms and Conditions of it; and that he has a Title to Heaven by God's promise upon his own sincerity, and has reason to Hope that he shall partake of all the great and glorious things that be­long to the Christian Salvation; these will raise and inspire him, as it did the A­postles and first Christians, with a more than ordinary Comfort, Peace, and Cheer­fullness of Soul, and make him very Hap­py, tho' in the greatest Sufferings and outward Afflictions. 'Twas this which made the Christians Rejoyce always in the Lord, Rejoyce in Tribulations, Sing, and be Cheerfull in Prisons, and be more than Conquerors over all their Troubles, when they had these inward Comforts to sup­port and raise, and invigorate their Minds: when, tho' their Enemies were implacable and irreconcileable, yet God they knew was reconciled to them, and tho' the World ha­ted thom, yet he loved them; tho' they had Tribulation from without, yet they had Peace in themselves, and Peace in Christ, as he promised them, Mat. 16.32. [Page 67]and tho' all things were very dark and dismal about them, yet they had a clear prospect of Heaven, and, like St. Stephen, could see that opened thro a shower of Stones, and Christ sitting at the right hand of God. One such view of Christ and Heaven, tho' but by the Eye of Faith would give a Man a Pleasure and Cou­rage of Mind above not only the Pains and Torments he endured, but all other Pleasures he ever felt in his Life; A great, but ill Man could say, That the Pleasures and Comforts of Religion, even when they are Mistaken, and Enthusiastick, are great­er than all the Pleasures of Sense and Car­nality. What are they then when they are true and well grounded? how do they not only give Peace to a Mans Mind, but even Rapture? not only Calm and Quiet it, but Transport it? not only give it Rest and Tranquility, but Extasie and Joy? This is called in Scripture the Joy of the Holy Ghost, Rom. 14.17. and the Peace of God, which passeth all Ʋnderstanding, Philip. 4.7. for we do not know how God, who is a Spirit, can Communicate inward Joy and Peace to our Spirits, and convey a secret Sense of his Favour, and Relish of his Kindness, and make us taste, and see how Gracious he is, as the Psalmist speaks Psa. 34.8. and lift up the light of his Countenance upon us. There is more in all [Page 68]this, not only in the extraordinary sup­ports, promised in particular Cases and Cir­cumstances, but in the ordinary Hopes and Comforts of Religion to a good Man, than all the Pleasures of this World, all the Charms and Enjoyments of Flesh and Blood can ever amount to; and as we plainly feel Peace and Ease of Mind to be a greater good than any bodily Pleasure, and know this from Sense and Experience, as well as Religion; so when this is heighten'd by those unspeakable Joys, and that inconceiveable Peace, which is derived from God and Religion, and his Holy Spirit; these give such an improve­ment to this Peace and Tranquility of Mind, as nothing can equal, but the En­joyment of Heaven; and which the wife Heathens and Philosophers knew nothing of in their Discourses on this Subject. Re­ligion and Christianity therefore out-doe these, and Discover new Springs to feed and maintain this, and to raise it higher; and tho' they run into the same Chan­nel, namely, the Happiness of the Mind, yet 'tis with a fuller Current and a stronger Stream: and they do more per­fectly promote that Rest and Peace and Tranquility of Mind, which tho' it be various in degrees, yet is the greatest Hap­piness, Perfection or Pleasure it is capa­ble of in general, either in this or the other World.

Whoever attains to this is the Happy Man, whatever his outward Condition be: for while he is easie within himself, and has an inward Rest, Peace, and Tran­quility in his own Soul, all outward things signifie very little to him. Our Saviour did not Promise his Disciples or Followers any good Circumstances, or Happy outward Condition in this World; but he promised them Peace in him, and Peace in themselves: and that if they fol­lowed his Example, and learnt his Tem­per, and lived up to his Religion, they should find Rest and Ease to their Souls, and be freed from those heavy Loads and Burdens that oppress our Minds, and are the causes of Misery to us. Religion and Christianity are the true cure for the Un­easiness, and Indispositions, and Diseases of the Mind; and if we could live up to its wise Rules, and bring our selves to that Frame and Temper of Mind it would beget in us, we should be always Easy and always Happy; as Happy as we could be in this World, in spite of all the evils of it, and Eternally and Compleat­ly Happy in the next.

The Third Sermon.

OUR Saviour did not think fit to give the World a set Code of Laws, as Moses did the Jews, or a Methodical System of Ethicks, as other Writers have done since; no more did the other wise Teachers of Virtue and Morality, Pythagoras, Socrates, Epictetus, Antoninus, and other Heathens: the Patriarchs of old, who were Preachers of Righteous­ness, [Page 72] Solomon or the Prophets afterwards, but with greater simplicity and inartifi­cial plainness, they dropt their excellent Precepts, and sage Directions without a­ny formal Method; and thus Christ taught us the best and most perfect Rules of Vir­tue, in his occasional Discourses, and Par­ticularly in this his excellent Sermon upon the Mount, which is such a Discourse that it carries an internal Evidence, and a Heavenly Authority along with it, enough to satisfie any Wise and Good Man that the Doctrine is true, and that it comes from God, tho' it had no Miracles, nor other Evidence to prove it; for the Soul, if it be not vitiated, Tastes and Relishes such Congenial truths, that are agreeable and natural to it, as the Palate does its food, and Judges of their inward truth and goodness, by an internal Sensation and Perception and an immediate Congruity to its Faculties.

When our Saviour comes towards the Conclusion of this his Sermon upon the Mount, which was an Epitome of Christi­anity, and the Sum of all those Virtuous Precepts which were to make his Follow­ers the best Men in the World, to make them exceed all the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, and out-doe all the Examples, and all the Characters of Hea­then Vertue; he tells 'em there would be [Page 73]great Difficulty to rise to these Attainments: that Religion and Vertue in such a pitch as he had set them, and as was necessary to make a good Christian, and to fit him for Heaven, were not such slight and easie things; but that they must use great Care and Pains, and Labour, in the Attaining and Performing of them; that it was ve­ry easie to be vitious and wicked, and therefore most Men were so: but that to be Virtuous as a Christian ought to be in all those Instances and Degrees he had taught them, was a more Hard and Dif­ficult matter, and that few would come up to it; but yet this was a thing ab­solutely necessary to their Eternal Hap­piness, and they must either take the Pains to do this, to come up to these strict Terms, or else they must Perish and be undone for ever by falling short of them, Enter ye in at the strait Gate. From which words I shall consider,

I. What are the Difficulties of Religi­on and Vertue, or upon what account they are a strait Gate and a narrow Way, and Vice a wide Gate and a broad Way.

II. Press the Duty and propose the Mo­tives for our entering in at this strait Gate and narrow way, notwithstanding that it is so.

1. What are the Difficulties of Reli­gion and Vertue, &c.

1. Then our Saviour's words might perhaps have some regard to the hard Cir­cumstances, Dangers, and Persecutions that Christianity was exposed to at that time, in those first ages of it, and is lia­ble to afterwards; then indeed it was a strait Gate, when they who enter'd into it, were bound to leave all they had in this World, all their Temporal Interests and Possessions, for Christ's sake and the Gospel's, and all that would live Godly in Christ Jesus must suffer Persecution, 2 Tim. 3.12. then it was hard for a Rich Man who had great Possessions, and was loath to part with them, to follow Christ, tho he had a great Desire and Inclination to do so, as in the Instance of the young Man, Mat. 19.21. so that our Saviour said thereupon, it was easier for a Ca­mel to go thro' the Eye of a Needle, than for a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, i. e. to become a Christian at that time.

Then the way to Heaven was strait and narrow, when it was beset with so many Dangers, fill'd with Crosses and Gibbets, and a Man must venture his Life as well as Estate, whenever he entered into it; but this was but a particular and accidental case, tho [Page 75]every good Christian ought to come to such a Perfection in Religion, as to be prepared and disposed for this, whenever God shall think fit to put this hard Tryal and Difficulty upon him. But,

2. Christianity is thus strait and nar­row upon other accounts. viz. The stand­ing Terms and Conditions of it, as it for­bids every sin and every wilfull wickedness upon the Pain of Damnation: This is very hard indeed to the generality of Men, and makes it a very strait and narrow way, when it leaves no room for any one darling Lust, undue Liberty or beloved Sin to go along with us: for ac­cording to the Gospel, he that will not part with every willful sin, however Plea­sant or Profitable it be to him, must part with Heaven for it; tho' the Temptation to it be never so Great, and the Charms of it never so powerfull, yet if Religion do not conquer and overcome it, we must for the short Pleasures of Sin, be Mise­rable for ever; tho' it conduces never so much to our Interest or Advantage, so that we could gain the World by it, yet it will prove a dear Bargain at the last, and we must lose our Souls for it: for by the irreversible Terms, and unalterable Conditi­ons of the Gospel every willful and habitual sin, destroys our good State, and without a timely Repentance and Amendment ex­cludes [Page 76]us out of Heaven. And however we may think fit to abate of those Terms by our loose Opinions and false Princi­ples, and make other Judgments of our selves, by the wrong measures of a Li­centious Age, or as Mistaken and as Li­centious Doctrines; yet Christianity has so plainly fixt these, that we have no rea­son to believe that God will, or can a­ny way abate of them; and to be sure our Religion does not.

3. There are some particular duties in Christianity that seem very hard and diffi­cult as well as the general Terms of it; such as loving Enemies, not revenging Injuries, self-denial, Mortification, and the like; which tho' they are against the grain of our Na­ture as some Men think, and as impracti­cable as the Rants of Stoical Vertue, yet are made necessary to our Pardon and Sal­vation by the Gospel, Mat. 5.43.6.14, 15. Mark 8.34. Rom. 8.13. and they tru­ly are so in their right Sense and Mean­ing, and ought to be as much performed by us, as any other parts of our Religi­on; we are bound as Christians to love our Enemies, with the general Acts of Charity, due to all mankind, not with the particular Offices of kindnesses due to our Friends; we must not revenge an injury to gratify a mere Private and Outrageous Passion, without regard to pub­lick [Page 77]good; we must deny our selves any Worldly Interest, when it is Inconsistent with our duty; we must mortifie every Na­tural Passion and Sensual Inclination, so as to keep it within the bounds of Vir­tue and Religion: these are all agreeable to Reason and Prudence, and to the Laws of Civil Government, as well as to the Principles of Religion.

4. Religion puts a check and restraint not only upon our Actions, but upon our Words and our very Thoughts, and this is hard, some think, that their Tongues should not be their own, nor their Thoughts neither; but that of every idle Word they must give an account in the day of Judg­ment, and by our Words we shall be Con­demned or Justified, as well as by our Actions, Mat. 12.36, 37. and that our secret Thoughts should be tyed up, so that we must not harbour any wicked­ness even in our Hearts and Thoughts Mark 7.21. Now this, however severe it seems, yet if by idle Words be meant on­ly evil Words, as I doubt not but 'tis, such as those of Slander and Desamation of which our Saviour there particularly spoke; or such Prophane and Lewd Discourse, as tends to affront Heaven, or to Cor­rupt those who hear it, and proceeds from a Malicious, Irreligious, and Corrupt Mind. This gives such a vicious Tincture, even [Page 78]to our Words, that he who cannot bet­ter govern his Tongue, than thus to in­jure his Brother, or let fly at God and Religion, This Man's Religion is vain, as St. James says, Jam. 1.26. if he pretend to any: and he who by his Mouth thus vents the Exulcerated Malice, Pride, and Uncharitableness of his Heart, and from such an Unchristian Temper calls his Bro­ther Fool or Racha, is in danger of Gods Judgment and of Hell-fire, as our Saviour says, Mat. 5.22. 'Tis the Venom and Ma­lignity of the Heart, and inward Dispo­sition, that, like a Corrupt Fountain, Poy­sons and Vitiates those ill streams that flow from it; and this is the true Pla­stick Principle within us, that Forms and Denominates all our Actions, which are but the Fruits growing upon that Root, and, as our Saviour says, A good Tree bring­eth forth good Fruit, and a Corrupt Tree, that which is evil, v. 17, 18. of this Chap­ter. All Moral Good and Evil, is con­ceived and produced from the Heart; and God who sees it there even before it comes into Act, whenever it has the full consent of the Will, does very just­ly Condemn it, and charge it upon us. For, as without this consent of the Will, no Action is Criminal before him, so with it the Crime is both Specified, Committed, and Perfected, tho' it go [Page 79]no further than the Thoughts and the Heart.

5. Religion requires our lives to be use­full, as well as Innocent, and enjoyns us not only to do no ill thing, but to do all the good that we are able; else 'tis but a ne­gative and a useless Vertue, the easiest and the softest side of it, like the old Princi­ple of Privation, without the Matter and Form, that is to give it a Being and a Substance. We read in Scripture, not on­ly of the wicked Servant, who was guil­ty of great Crimes, Misdemeanors, and Injuries against his Lord; but of the Un­profitable one, who did no manner of good, but was idle, and useless in his Service, and for this Reason alone was cast into outer darkness. God will call every one of us to a strict and severe account how we have used and improved all the Ta­lents he committed to us; all the Powers, Abilities and Opportunities of doing good, he hath put into our hands: and if like Loiterers in his Vineyard, we have only Feasted our selves with the Fruits and Delicacies of it, and wasted our idle time in Ease and Luxury, and spent a vain and use­less Life in trifling and impertinent ei­ther Pleasure or Business; and not La­boured at all in the great Work and Bu­siness of Religion, for which we were sent into the World: we must not at the [Page 80]last expect any wages from him, but be punished for our useless idleness, and great omissions, by the Just Distributer of Re­wards and Punishments, who will render to all Men according to their Works; and who expects we should do all the good we can, for the sake of Heaven, as well as abstain from all manner of Evil, for the sake of Hell.

6. Religion requires the Uniform pra­ctice of all Vertues, and the entire Union and Conjunction of all Christian Graces to make and constitute a good Man; where­as any single Vice or willfull Habit of Sin will denominate and make a bad one, so as to make him incapable of Happiness and ob­noxious to Misery. This is an undoubted truth in Religion, which requires tho' not the Perfection of Degrees, yet the Perfecti­on of parts; so that no plain Vertue must be wanting, nor no voluntary sin be allow­ed without the certain danger of being ex­cluded out of Heaven, as St. James says, he that shall keep the whole Law besides, and yet offend in one point, willfully break any part of it, Commit one Act of will­full Treason and Disobedience against Hea­ven, is guilty of all, resists and opposes all that Divine Power and Authority, which gives Force and Sanction to every Law; and becomes liable to the same sort of Punish­ment, tho' not to the same equal degrees of it. The Vertue of the Mind, and Di­vine [Page 81]Life of the Soul, like the Life, Health, or Beauty of the Body must be made up of the regular [...], Disposition and Sym­metry of all the parts; whereas one Fa­tal Wound, or Mortal Disease may kill us, as well as many; and one great and Notorious Deformity will Disfigure a whole Face. Vertue is like a straight line which must be every where even and re­gular, but a crooked and irregular one may be so in a hundred parts. Vice is in­finite and knows no Bounds, but Wan­ders and Roves through all the vast un­limited extent of Evil, but Vertue con­fines us, and keeps us within the narrow compass of what is Good and Righteous, and made our Duty by a Divine Law. These are from Religion, its Terms, Conditions and Constitutions, there are two other Difficulties arising from our selves.

7. A great Reason why Religion and Vertue are so strait and narrow a way, is because our Natural Appetites and In­clinations, which are necessary to our present state, are so many, and so hard to be all governed and kept within the bounds of Vertue and Religion; these re­sult from our Animal Nature, and are a true part of us, as Compounded of Flesh and Blood, and are so much Gods Work­manship and Creation, that we neither [Page 82]can nor ought to destroy them; he al­lows us to gratify 'em within due bounds and did not put those strong Appetites in our Natures, meerly to vex and torture and disatisfie us, but we must Govern them with great care, and not lay loose the Reins upon their Necks, nor let them grow too Masterless and unruly, at any time, for Reason and Religion; they are, I confess, the great Tryal and Instance of Human Vertue, and they may become a snare to us, and the great inlets into sin without due care and watchfullness and managery; we must be therefore always upon our Guard, lest this Flesh and Sense which we carry about us, and are so fond of, become a Traytor to us, and Sin do not some way or other surprize us, and enter at some of those weak places of Hu­mane Nature; we must stop and check the strongest Inclination when it would lead us into Sin, and so far as it is Vi­tious, Immoderate, and Excessive, destroy it, tho' with never so much Pains and Violence; we must pluck out a right Eye and cut off a right hand, and destroy e­very Sinfull Inclination, be it never so Natural to us, and Crucifie the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts, so that we may keep them always within the bounds of Wisdom and Vertue, and suffer no Sin to Reign in our Mortal Bodies, that we should [Page 83]obey it in the Lusts thereof. Romans 6.12.

8. Lastly the Difficulties of Religion, and Vertue arise mainly from the Pre­judices and ill Customs and Habits of Vice which get possession of most Men before they well Understand Religion and the true good and necessity of it; our first years are a life of Sense, before we grow up to Reason and Understanding, and then other things, make the first Impres­sion upon our Minds, and fill them with weak Images and Fancies, and Foolish thoughts; and thus when our Passions are strong and our Reason is weak, Vice gene­rally gets the start of Religion, and without a very Happy and Virtuous Education, we contract a great many Ill Habits and Vitious Customs, that increase and grow up with us, and 'tis very hard to break and alter those, when we grow Wiser by Time and Experience, and come af­terwards to have a better Sense of Re­ligion and better Apprehensions about it; tho' we are then convinced of the Folly and Danger of our Sins, yet we are become such Slaves to 'em by long use, that it is hard to break their Chains, and get loose from them, and here lies the great Difficulty of Religion, and this makes it to be a strait Gate, and a narrow way, especially at the first entrance into it, when [Page 84]old Customs and Habits must be chan­ged and altered, former liberties retrench'd and denied, old Companions must be forsa­ken and former Temptations must be o­vercome, and Repentance, which is the hardest part of Religion, must be the first duty of it, and must cure the old Pre­judices and the long habits of Sin, and in the Scripture phrase bring in a New Nature, a New Soul, and make us New Creatures and New Men; this is a great Difficulty indeed, but it is brought upon our selves by our own fault, and we can­not blame Religion for it any more than we can the Physician, or the Physick that is to cure us of a Disease, that we have let run so long upon us, that 'tis hard now to perform the cure, and it cannot be done without going thro' a long and tedious course, and using a strict Regimen, and very great abstinence from what may be hurtfull to us. The great Argument to perswade us to all this, is that we must die if we do not; if notwithstanding all these Difficulties and hard Things in Religion, we will not comply with it, we must be Mise­rable for ever, we must lose all that life and happiness, those Glorious rewards it promises to us in another World, and we must suffer all the Dreadfull, Amazing punishments it there threatens.

There is no reserve against this, but either by perverting Religion, or by de­nying it, either corrupting its Principles, and by false and mistaken Notions gi­ving our selves hopes of happiness with­out living up to the Terms and Con­ditions of it, or else utterly denying it as a Cheat and a Falshood, the latter is more impudent and daring, and what but few hardned wretches can come up to, the other is more common, and as Pernicious and Destructive. More Souls are lost by false Principles, and the hor­rid corrupting of the Doctrines of Re­ligion, than by downright Atheism and Insidelity, by trusting to a late and Death­bed Repentance, and thinking a little matter will do the business hereafter, as well as a very strict and a very good life, by relying upon the Mercies of God and the Merits of Christ for Salvation with­out Obedience to the Gospel, and perform­ing such things upon which alone those are promised, by thinking to be saved, or justified by Faith alone, without Works or a good Life; and making Faith to lie in a presumptuous Confidence of Gods Favour, or having an Interest in Christ, without regard to the plain Terms, and Conditions of Christianity; or by the o­ther superstitious Doctrines of having sins pardoned by an Absolution or an Indul­gence, [Page 86]and the like; such Doctrines as these, which turn the Grace of God into Wantonness, which make Religion an incouragement to Looseness and Li­centiousness, and give Men hopes to e­scape Misery, tho' they live in their Sins, and come not up to the strict and severe Terms in Religion, but to go to Hea­ven by some other Imaginary and Un­accountable way, and to be saved upon some account or other, by Grace, or Christ, without entering this strait Gate, and go­ing in this narrow way; these deceive Millions of Souls, who tho they believe Religion, yet do not live up to it, but corrupt and pervert it, so as to take off its Force and Influence upon their Lives, and make them never the better by it.

The other reserve, which is a most de­sperate one, is that of Atheism and In­fidelity, or an utter dis-believing all Re­ligion, or at least a comfortable Doubt and Suspicion, that it may not be true, and this I am afraid lies in too many Minds, but then all Mankind have been out of their Wits in believing it, for there have been very few, either in the most Wise or most Barbarous Parts and Ages of the World, but what have done so; unless then we have been all Cheated with Books of Revelation, and Histories [Page 87]of Miracles done by the Prophets of Old, and by Christ, and his Apostles after­wards, which are better attested than a­ny Actions or any Books besides, that e­ver were in the World 1600 Years a­go, so that we may as well call in Questi­on all the Greek and the Roman story, as the Jewish and the Christian, and when we have run into such a Frenzy of Scep­ticism as to do that, and without having any positive proof against Religion, and the Being of God, and another World, for it is impossible to have that, and the greatest Atheist will not pretend to have any Evidence, Certainty, and Demonstration, but that they may be true notwithstanding all his doubts; af­ter all this, the whole Frame of Nature and the Wise contrivance of the World, of the Heavens above, and the Earth, and Animals below, is a standing E­vidence, as great as can be given of the truth of Religion in general; and a Man's Reason must be wretchedly blinded with his Vices, who doth not see it, or who winks so hard that he will not discern it; these wretched Reserves being therefore taken away, I shall proceed to press the duty of entering in at the strait Gate, and narrow way, and propose the mo­tives to engage us to this, notwithstand­ing all the Difficulties I mentioned.

1. Religion is a business of such im­portance, that whatever straits and hardships there be in it, we must not stick at those, but resolve however to go through with it, for our Life, our Hap­piness, our All, our Eternal state lies at stake, and depends upon it; Our Savi­our only tells us strait is the Gate, and nar­row is the way which leadeth unto Life, and wide is the Gate, and broad is the way which leadeth to Destruction: And this is suffi­cient, if Life and Death be set before us; whatever be the way to them, we should look at the great Ends, Issues, and Con­sequences of things, which are the mark a Wise Man always aims at, and whatever means are in our Power, to attain the one and avoid the other, we should make use of, without any long Counsel or De­liberation; for no Man demurrs and con­siders whether he shall choose happiness and escape Misery, Nature, and Instinct prevent our Reason here, and we are made with an inward spring which runs of it self to the one, and flies from the other, whenever we truly apprehend them; and therefore did we consider what that Life is, that Eternal Life of Hap­piness which Vertue leads to, which is to live in the perfect Enjoyment of the greatest good, and the purest Pleasures free from all Alloys and all Approach of [Page 89]the least Evil and Trouble, to live for e­ver with God and Angels in rapturous Bliss, and Heavenly Delights, and Joy unspeakable, to be Possest of a Crown, a Kingdom of substantial Glory, and all such Good and Desirable things, that this World affords but a faint Shadow, and imperfect Resemblance of; we should find this is a Life worth being fond of, and seeking after, compared to which, this our present short life mixt with so much real Care and Trouble, and so little imagina­ry Pleasure, is but a sort of Death, but walking in a vain Shadow, and Dream­ing of Happiness, and hardly worth a Wise Man's choosing, were it not for a better Life, which is only worth the name of Living, where we are born into ano­ther World, and Vertue shall give us a Glorious Immortality; this is a Reward that will sufficiently Recompense our short Labours here, and were Religion never so Difficult, yet the worth, and greatness of that, were our Hopes and Desires of it proportionable to it, would inspire us with new Vigour and Reso­lution, and convey Strength and Power enough to carry us through them all; for what will not a great reward make Men do, whither will they not Travel, where will they not fight, what danger will they Flinch from, what Labour will they Re­fuse, [Page 90]when a certain and great reward is offered to 'em? And had we but as good thoughts of Heaven, as the Soldier has of Honour and Victory, the Merchant of Gold and Gain, and the Husbandman of a good Harvest, we should never think much of all the Pains and Difficulties that are in Religion, were they a great many more than they are; as on the other side, if Men had but a due sense of that De­struction, to which the wide Gate and the broad way of wickedness leads 'em, and the Sad and Dreadfull Condition their Vices will bring 'em to in another World, did they consider what exquisite and amazing Misery, both of Soul and Body, is wrapt up in those Words of Hell and Damnation, no Vice, tho' ne­ver so Charming, would make 'em en­dure it for one day, no Pleasure of Sin for a Season, would make 'em bear it for so long a time as this Life is, and nothing would ever tempt 'em, not only not to suffer it for ever, but to run the hazard and venture of it, were there not a thousand times the reason to fear it that we have by Religion, and were it but meerly probable, or but just possible, which Atheism it self can never deny, yet no Wise man would expose himself to such a Dreadfull and Irretrieva­ble danger for the Poor and Pitifull Temp­tations that are in the greatest Sin. But

2. Besides the Consideration of ano­ther World, Religion with all its strait­ness and hardship, does not abridge us of any Comfortable Enjoyments of this World, nor Deprive us of any of the true Pleasures and good things here, which a Wise Man would Desire, or which our Nature was made for; for they may be all enjoyed within the compass of Ver­tue and allowances of Religion, and that with more Convenience and Advantage than in a Course of Vice and Wicked­ness; Religion does not Deprive us of a­ny good proper to our State and Nature, nor tye us up from any of the Comforts or Pleasures of Life, with a peevish se­verity and moroseness, with a touch not, tast not, handle not, but only restrains us from what would be Evil, and Pernicious to us, if it were allowed us; keeps us from the forbidden Fruit, and from those excesses and extravagancies, that are Destructive to our selves and Mischievous to the World; it does not destroy any of our Natural Pleasures, but refines and purifies them, and draws them off from the filth, and Se­diments which lies always at the bottom of those that are sinfull, and so it makes them clearer and sweeter, and frees them from all that Nauseousness and Bitterness that Vice generally mixes with them; Virtue does neither Decay nor Disease our [Page 92]Bodies, Trouble, or Torment our Minds, Consume or Squander away our Estates, nor Ruin and Shipwrack our Fortunes, nor bring any such Mischiefs upon us in this World, as Mens Sins often do, but as keeping the bounds of it, will lead us to Eternal Life, so it will generally pro­mote and improve the greatest happiness we are capable of in this.

3. Religion is as easie as God could pos­sibly make it, and none of its Straitnes­ses and Severities are Arbitrarily imposed upon us, but from the Reason and Ne­cessity of things, and the absolute Fit­ness, Goodness and Wisdom of whatever it Commands, and its real Tendency to our greatest Perfection and Happiness; for Religion is not an Arbitrary and Posi­tive thing, made so by the mere Will and Pleasure of God, which might have lessened our Burthen and abated of our Duty in many Cases had he pleased, and not imposed such hard Tasks, and such strait and severe Vertues upon us, but have left us more loose and not tyed us up so strictly as he has done; this is a great Mistake, and a wretched Mis-un­derstanding of Religion, for that as to the moral part of it, is founded in the Nature and Perfections of God, which are Eternal and Unalterable, and in the as Eternal and Unalterable Reasons of [Page 93]things, and those Respects and Relations which they necessarily have to one ano­ther; so that as God cannot alter the Na­ture of a Circle or a Triangle, nor make two and two not to be four, so neither can he the Nature of Vice and Vertue, nor make Good to be Evil, or Evil Good. Moral Vertues are as much founded in the Nature of things, as Mathematical Truths, or Metaphysical Verities, and the Properties of them are as certain, and fixt as those of Lines or Numbers. Such Actions are as necessary to the good of the World, and the Happiness of Socie­ties and particular Persons, as such Offices and Operations of the Body, are to main­tain its Life and Health, so that breath­ing is not more necessary to the preser­vation of the one, than Justice, Fidelity, and other Vertues are to the other; and should God have let us loose from any of those Virtues, even the strictest of them, which the Libertines are most apt to com­plain against, such as those which restrain their Natural Passions of Lust and An­ger, he would have let in a Thousand Mischiefs and Evils into the World, and have roade us, as Brutish and Uncivili­zed, and as miserable as the very Beasts themselves, and as uncapable of Society, and the benefits of good Order and Go­verment. But

4. As all the Laws of God are good and as easie as he could make them, so they are made more easie by that Di­vine Grace, and Assistance, whereby he enables us to perform them, and where­by the Difficulties of Religion are much lightened and abated; for every thing is said to be light, or heavy in proporti­on to the strength and power of ano­ther, and according as our strength is en­creased by the Divine Grace and Holy Spirit, so is Religion and Vertue, made more easie to us; so much then of inward strength and power as is conveyed to our Minds by Gods Grace, which is a Phy­sical and Secret Energy like that of in­ward life, Strengthening us mightily, in the inward Man, regenerating, quickning, renew­ing, raising, enlivening us, as the Scripture speaks, so much lighter is the Burden of Re­ligion that God lays upon us; for it is the same thing to take off so much from that or to add so much new strength to him that is to bear it; and therefore however hard and difficult Religion be to the weak­ness and imperfection of Human Nature, to our single power, which would of it self fall and sink under it, yet when we have the Assistance of Heaven, and the Aids and Supplies of Gods Grace to help and cooperate with us, then we can do all things through Christ which strength­ens [Page 95]us, and thro' his Grace, which is suf­ficient for us; and we cannot in reason complain for want of Power when we may have it, and God is ready to give us whatever power we want, even to Conquer the strongest Propensities, and most irresistable Temptations; and this will take greatly off from the badness of the way which leads to Life, when we have the Spirit of God like a good An­gel to lead us thro' it, always to Com­fort, and Help, and Incourage us in it, so that it would be much more tolera­ble tho' it were thro' never so Dark and Unpleasant a Wilderness, when, like the Jews, we have the presence of God and his power to Conduct us all along to the Happy Land.

5. Tho' we are apt to complain of the Difficulties in Religion, yet there is no great End whatever which we can at­tain without as much Pains and Labour, and going thro' as many Difficulties and Hardships as we do in Religion; No Man can arrive to Learning or to any Liberal Art or Science in any Perfection; no Man can rise to Honour and Preser­ment, can get an Estate, or the like, with­out using as much Diligence, as much Care and Watchfullness, as in the busi­ness of Religion, without denying him­self as many Liberties, spending as much [Page 96]Time and keeping himself to as strict Rules and Measures, as are in Religion: Nay, I dare say, many a Man takes more Pains and meets with more Difficulties to get a sorry livelihood in this World, than would ordinarily carry a Man to Heaven, and make him live Happily for ever; what shall we then charge God so Foolishly, as if he had used us hardly in Religion, and make the way to Happiness strait and narrow and difficult, when we as ordinarily and more willingly, take as much Pains and go through as many Dif­ficulties in all other things; 'tis because we have not such a value and Esteem of the Ends and Designs of Religion, as we have of other Worldly ones, that we com­plain of the Hardness and Difficulty of that above the other; did we think Hea­ven as Desirable as an Estate, and Ver­tue as great a Good as Honour, which is but the shadow of it, we should pursue it as vigorously and overlook and contemn all the Difficulties that lie in the way to it, and there is this advantage in seeking and pursuing the Ends and Designs of Religion above any of those in this World, not only as they are far greater, and in­finitely more valuable and important, but that the one is certainly to be attained, if we use our utmost Care and Diligence, whereas we may sail and be Disappoint­ed [Page 97]of the other, after using all means in order to it; we may not be able to gain an Estate, or compass such a Wordly De­sign let us do what we can in it, but no Man shall miss of Heaven, but thro' his own Fault, and by his own Negligence and Carelesness.

6. Many Sinners take more pains and trouble, and run thro' more difficulties to compass their vitious Designs, and com­mit their Sins, than a good Man does in gaining Heaven, and practicing the hardest Vertues and Duties of his Religi­on: For thus, how restless and unwearied, and indefatigable are the Covetous and Ambitious, the Revengeful and Maliti­cious, or the Lustful and Debaucht, to at­tain their Ends, and gratifie their extrava­gant Desires and Inclinations: How do their several Lusts put them upon the hardest Drudgery, and make them Toil and Labour, Watch and Attend, Project and Contrive, and be at more pains and trouble to undo themselves for ever, than would save their Souls, and make 'em Hap­py for ever. The Devil is much the hard­er Master of the two, and puts his Slaves to more vile and uneasie work in the Ser­vitude of Sin, than God does his Children and Servants in the doing the hardest part of their Duty, and many have been great­er Martyrs in the Devil's Service, and [Page 98]gone through more for the sake of their Lusts than other Martyrs have done for heir Religion, and for the sake of Hea­ven.

Tho' Vice seems more Natural, as fal­ling in with some Propensities and In­clinations that are within us, yet how must a man at first, offer great Violence to himself, and to the tender sense of his own Mind, before he can be brought to commit a great Sin? With what Relu­ctancy and Self-denial, as great as any that Vertue puts upon us, does he part with his first Innocence, and enter upon a De­bauch, till by degrees he grows a less Mo­dest, and more Couragious Sinner, and is led on at last to commit it with greedi­ness, and it becomes Natural to him, and 'twould be no great difficulty for him to leave it, but 'tis only the Custom and Ha­bit makes it so, and not any thing in Nature, or in the thing it self? For let the Customs be equal on both sides, and let a Man be as long used to Vertue as he was to Vice, and he shall find that as Na­tural and agreeable and as hard to be o­vercome as the other, so that as the Scrip­ture represents it, it is as hard for him that has been accustomed to do evil, to learn to do good, as for the Aethiopian to change his Skin, or the Leopard his Spots, 'Jer. 13.23. So whosoever is born of [Page 99]God, i. e. a very good Man, doth not com­mit sin, and he cannot sin because he is born of God, 1 John 3.9. But

Lastly, and to conclude, it ought to be no manner of Prejudice to Vertue, that there are but a few that enter the strait Gate, and find the way to Life, and ma­ny that go in at the wide Gate and the broad way, that leadeth to Destruction, as our Saviour says. This ought not to be regarded by us as a Discouragement to Vertue, or as any good reason to be wicked for Company, tho I doubt it is a very common and prevailing one, and draws a great many into the broad way, because they see such great Numbers in it, and they do not care to be singular nor to be Reproached for being so, but are willing to do what they see so ma­ny others do, and hope to escape as well as the rest, and that they run but the same risque and hazard, that they see so ma­ny Thousands do besides, and so they re­solve to venture as well as others, let the Preachers say what they please; Now this, however common and powerfull it be, yet is the most unreasonable thing in the World; for is any man in another case willing to be sick or to die for Company, or for the sake of example? Would any be so Easie or so Complaisant, as to pledge another in a Cup of Poyson, or would [Page 100]he not stop the mad frolick when he saw the rest of the Company drop down Dead before him? Is any Man unwilling to avoid the Plague if he can, because there is ageneral Infection, and because so many of his Neighbours or Acquaintance have died of it? Would any refuse the saving his life, and escaping, if he could, upon a Plank, because the rest of his Company are Sinking and Drowning? Did Men think it as much worth their while to save their Souls as their Lives, how many soever lost them, had they as Just and terrible Apprehensions of their own Damnation, as they have of their Dying the Temptation of Example and Company would be quickly taken off, and signifie nothing? For alas; what Comfort will it be in the Flames of Hell to hear so many others Roaring and Howling in them, their hideous Cries and Tor­tures and Lamentations will rather en­crease, than lessen them, and make it on­ly a more sad and dismal Scene of Ter­ror, like that of a whole City or Coun­try swallowed up by an Earthquake or overflowed with the Eruptions of a burning Mountain, and the liquid streams of Fire and Brimstone: No Man who knows what it is to be Happy but would wish to be so tho he were alone, and no Man who knows that vertue alone is the [Page 101]way to life and happiness, but must chuse to be Vertuous, tho' he saw never so many o­thers wicked, let them Reproach and Laugh at him as long as they please for a Man singular and by himself, let them count his Life Folly, for being so strict and precise (if it be in the great matters of Vertue) for not drinking to the utmost pitch, nor daring to swear the least Oath, nor venturing upon a Debauch, or any Common, or any Modish, or Fashionable Vice (the Reproach and Scandal of which is took off by the great Party and Num­ber it has of its side) but living up strict­ly to the Rules of the Gospel, and the Terms of Salvation there laid down with­out any such abatements, as the loose O­pinions, or loose Practices of others, are willing to put upon them (since God will not alter his Methods or Judgments by any of those) let them I say Condemn on Deride him never so much for this, and call him Precise Fool, or Formal Saint, and the like, yet no Man that knows the good of Vertue, will be Laughed out of it by a Nick-name, or be asham'd of be­ing singular in that any more than in a­ny other Excellency of Learning, Know­ledge, or Wisdom above others; and I suppose none of those who are so much against singularity but would be willing to be Rich, or to be Well, and at Ease, [Page 102]though never so many others were Poor, or Sick, and in Pain, and why then not to be Vertuous and Happy, tho' never so many others are Vitious and Misera­ble.

The Fourth Sermon.

THis most Excellent Sermon of our Blessed Saviour, as in every thing it gives us the highest and the noblest precepts of Vertue, that are above all the Morals of the wisest Hea­then, and far excell the best rules of the [Page 104]greatest Masters in Philosophy, which might have convinced Greece and Athens it self, that he must be, if not, the Son of God, yet some great and extraordina­ry Person sent from above, that without Travel abroad or Education at home, un­less in a poor Trade, should outdo even Socrates, or the more admired Moralists amongst 'em, so he has all along adap­ted 'em to Humane Nature, and our pre­sent State and Circumstances in this World, which was a thing that they were defi­cient in; for as they often were too short in their precepts and much below the things, so at other times they were as much too high and gave precepts that were too big, and not at all fitted to the size and scantling of our present State or the make of Humane Nature; they were not only for wisely Moderating and Governing, but quite rooting all Passions and Affections whatever out of their wise man, which was to make him not a Man, or such a Creature, with such Faculties and Powers, as God thought for wise reasons fit to do, this was not to improve but destroy Human Nature and to set Vertue beyond its pitch and out of its reach, which our Saviour who knew our Frame and our outmost Capacities has never done; they went so far in their rants about the contempt of this World [Page 105]and despising riches as to commend him that foolishly threw them into the Sea, that they might be no hindrance to his deeper Philosophizing. Now this as it be­trayed a great weakness in him that could not otherwise better use 'em, so 'tis Cal­culating Virtue, not for this World, but for some other Eutopian Meridian, the ma­king it not Useful and Comfortable, but Destructive of our present State and Con­dition in this World; and tho our Bles­sed Saviour both by his Life, and his precepts, showed as great contempt of the things of this World, as ever any person did, and has given the best Ar­guments that can be, not to be sollici­tous for outward things, nor take any thought for the Morrow, in the latter part of this Chapter, by trusting in the Divine Providence, and being especially carefull about better things, the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness, yet he has no where told us that these are in­consistent, and that a Man must throw a­way his Estate, and renounce all his worldly goods, as well as the Pomps and Vanities of this World, if he will become a Christian and go to Heaven; this in­deed is said to be the Heresie of Pelagi­us, in which he was not likely to have very many Followers; and tho several places of Scripture tell us how hardly [Page 106]they that have Riches shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, Mark 10.23. and that it is easier for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle, than for a Rich Man is enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, v. 25. which is all meant of them that trust in Riches, v. 24. that we cannot serve God and Mammon, bids us not love the World nor the things that are in the World, for if any Man love the World, the love of the Father is not in him, 1 John 2.15. yet they all import no more, and so will be fairly understood, by this excellent directi­on of our Saviour that I am now to dis­course of, Lay not up for your selves Tru­sures.

Neither is that purely a Negative, an Universal forbidding us to lay up any Treasures upon Earth, for if we do not that in some measure, we are not guilty only of great Imprudence, but even of Infidelity too, If any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own House, he hath denied the Faith, and is worse than an Insidel, 1 Tim. 5.8. not to make provisi­on for ones own Off-spring and Children is to be more Unnatural than the Hea­thens, nay, than the very Fowls, and the most Ravenous Beasts, and not to sup­ply an Aged Helpless Parent, is to be guilty of that which the Heathens coun­ted the most infamous Ingratitude; nay, if [Page 107]by an honest Industry and lawful Profes­sion we do not some way or other, make our selves serviceable to the publick and able to procure some good, to the whole of which we are parts, we are like dead and useless Members, that serve neither for Life nor Motion, nor the conveyance of Blood and Spirits; and as in the Natu­ral body, so also in the civil, 'tis im­possible to maintain either its Life or Strength, unless some greater parts are Replenished with a larger abundance of Blood and Spirits, and there be a general. Circulation and lesser conveyance of 'em to every part. Neither Government nor the World could subsist so long as God intends it, if Men should lay aside all pru­dent care about the things of this World; all would be put into a dead Hand, and that would quickly make a dead Body, if it were not Lawfull for some Men to Trade and grow Rich; the present state of this World makes this to be necessary and is utterly inconsistent with general Vows of Poverty, and as a Man may Lawfully work for his livelihood, (and ac­cording to the Apostles Rule, He that will not work neither should he eat, 2. Thes. 3.10.) without breaking our Savi­our's command, John 6.27. Labour not for the Meat that perisheth, but for the Meat which endureth unto everlasting Life, so he [Page 108]may by prudent and honest ways take care of his Worldly Concerns, and add to his Estate, and grow Rich without any Violation of our Saviour's Rule, Ley not up for your selves Treasures on Earth, for those Treasures on Earth are not of themselves Evil, and may be matter of very great Vertues, such as the rich Men are particularly charged with 1 I'im. 6.17, 18, 19. Charge them that are rich in this World that they do good, that they be Rich in good Works, ready to Distribute, willing to Communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good Foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life, which it seems they may be made the means of attaining; so that by these Ne­gatives, is meant only a comparative com­mand, that we rather lay up to our selves Treasures in Heaven than in Earth, that we be more carefull for the one than the other, not that one is forbidden by the other, but to be preferred before it, as we have the like manner of expression most frequently in Scripture, Prov. 8.10. Receive my Instruction and not Silver, and Knowledge rather than Gold, so Mat. 9.13. I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice, i. e. ra­ther than Sacrifice God did so much value inward and real Righteousness before out­ward Rites and Performances, that he says to the Jews, Hosea 6.6. I desired Mer­cy [Page 109]and not Sacrifice, nay, more expresly, Jerem. 7.22. I spake not unto your Fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the Land of Egypt, concerning burnt-Offerings or Sacrifices, but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, i. e. this was what in the first and chief place I commanded you, and very much pre­ferred and Regarded before the other, so Joel 2.13. Rent your Hearts and not your Garments, i. e. have an inward Sorrow and Humiliation, rather than an outward; and a great many other Phrases, that seem expresly to forbid a thing, in re­spect to something else that may stand in Competition with it, when yet they do not so absolutely, but only diminish and lessen it, in respect of the other and prefer that before it, and so this pre­cept as it lies in my Text, whole and entire, without breaking it into parts, is plainly to be understood and includes in it these several things.

1. That we should much more Value and Esteem Heavenly Treasures in our Thoughts and Affections, than Earth­ly.

2. That whenever there is a Compe­tition between those, and we cannot se­cure both, we part with the Earthly ra­ther than the Heavenly.

3. That we use as much Care and Diligence to obtain the Heavenly as the Earthly.

4. That we so seek the Earthly as to make 'em Means and Instruments to­wards the obtaining the Heavenly.

1. That we should set a greater value upon Heavenly Treasures in our Thoughts and Affections than upon Earthly, that we should account them much more er­cellent and desirable things and place our Happiness and chief good in those, but not in the other; We may allow these outward things such a due place in out Thoughts as they deserve, that they are Comfortable Conveniencies, and Neces­sary Accommodations to our present state, but not such things as are good in them­selves, or that can afford us any true Happiness, but what we see Men as Mi­serable in their fullest Enjoyment of, as those who have the greatest want of 'em, by no means comparable to Wisdom or to Goodness and Vertue, or the least improve­ments of the Understanding and Mind; such as is in some measure proportiona­ble to the wants of Nature and the Cir­cumstances of this Life, a wise Man may count desirable, who is not bound with a Stoical fullenness to think it indiffe­rent whether he be Clothed or Naked whether he Starve or have Food to eat, [Page 111]nor in a Cynical Bravado throw a­way his Earthen Dish because he can drink without it, and despise every thing but his Tub and Sun-shine; no this is a self-denying kind of Haughtiness, that despises every thing because it over-values it self, and contemus not only the World, but the maker of it too, who would ne­ver have placed us in such a well Fur­nished Habitation, if we might not have used the Conveniencies that belong to it, nor have been at all the better for all the rich stores he has laid in for the use of his Creatures; but then indeed we are to account them but as common Uten­sills, that are convenient for our lower and smaller occasions, not as our Trea­sure, and what we account of any great Worth or Value, or make to be a prime ingredient into our true Happiness; tho' they may seem to give some outward Colour and Varnish, yet that must be something within, and if it be not sound underneath, 'twill quickly moulder away and consume for all they can do, that are no more to be thought parts of our Happiness, than our Hair or Nails are parts of a Man, such Excrementitious parts as may outwardly adorn, but be no manner of cause of the true Life, or strength of the Body, such Goods as we may value and desire and purchase [Page 112]too according to that low and moderate rate, which they bear in proportion to the real needs of this present Condition; out to over-prize and esteem them as things equal to Vertue and Goodness or to place our summum bonum, or chief Hap­piness in 'em, and let 'em take up the chiefest place in our Hearts and Affecti­ons, this is to worship Mammon, to set up that for an object of my strongest Passion and Devotion, which ought to have the lowest place in 'em.

Thus to set our Hearts upon Riches, if they do encrease, which the Psalmist for­bids, Ps. 62.10. to trust in 'em, as our Saviour speaks, Mark 10.24. and place our greatest confidence in those, as if we might surely expect Happiness from 'em; this is the Idolatry the Apostle Charges Covetousness with, Col. 3.5. setting up a Golden Calf, to help us in our Distress instead of the God of Israel, and making a Deity of that which would do very well in ear-rings and Bracelets; the ma­king that which would be serviceable in the matters of this Life, to be so high­ly valued and even adored by us, is like the Folly of the Graecians, who bowed down and Worshipped that wooden Sta­tue of Hercules, which Diagoras made a good Fire of, that helpt to dress his Pro­vision, that being a much better use of [Page 113]Wood, than to be made a God of. And he that has a due sense of the meanness, the Uncertainty and Transitoriness of these Earthly Treasures in respect of the Heavenly, their being subject to be cor­rupted by Rust, to be eaten by Moths, Secretly Wasted and Devoured, or vio­lently seiz'd upon by Thieves, and sub­ject to a thousand Casualties, will not be so apt to over-value them or prefer 'em to the other; if we compare and bring 'em together, we shall find a very great difference between 'em upon many ac­counts.

1. These Earthly Treasures are sub­ject to a great many Hazards and Uncer­tainties, which the others are not, Vio­lence and Rapine may force 'em out of our hands, tho' we hold 'em never so fast, fraud may secretly beguile us of 'em, before we are aware, or a Pyrate may Rob and a Storm sink all our For­tunes in an Instant, and if they come safe home, yet they may be lost there, a War may Plunder us of all we have, or a Fire may make a speedier Destruction, and Devour in a moment the fullest Barns, or the richest Ware-houses, and we may sit like Job mourning upon their Allies, the only thing it has left us; so many various Casualties are they subject to, so little are we insured of them, that we [Page 114]hold 'em at the Mercy and Favour of a thousand Contingencies; but the Heaven­ly Treasures are quite out of harms way, and not subject to the Chance or Cour­tesie of Fortune; no Man can steal away our Virtue without our own consent; it's safe in our own Breast, and lock'd up secure­ly in our Minds; the Oppressor that can strip us Naked of every thing else, can­not touch our Innocence, nor take that from us. The Sabaeans could rob Job of his Oxen and his Asses; a Fire could con­sume his Cattle, and the fall of a House bury all his Children in the same Grave, but nothing could remove his Patience and take away his Integrity, that still he retained and held fast, Job 2.3, 9. The Philosopher that lost all in a wreck, yet kept his Philosophy and Wisdom in spite of Fortune, and the Apostles, who left all they had, still preserved their Religion and a good Conscience, which by the decree of the Senate could not be Se­quester'd, nor Confiscate by the Emperor's Edicts; those inward Treasures of the Mind are safe, when things without are never so uncertain, and when they shall bring us to another World, then they secure beyond possibility of the least dan­ger; whatever Storms and Shelves and Rocks we pass thro' here, when we once Land and set Foot upon the shore of E­ternity, [Page 115]we are out of all danger and in a safe harbour, where we shall enjoy the rewards of all our Toil, and be vastly enriched with Treasures of that Happy and Secure place.

2. These Earthly Treasures are fading and Transitory, but the Heavenly are durable and lasting; Riches certainly make themselves Wings and sly away as an Eagle to­wards Heaven, Prov. 23.5. of a sudden we know not how they are got out of sight, and we can never set Eyes on 'em again; they leave their possessor sometimes without much warning; like Tides, they rowl from one Shore to another, from this Man or Family to the other, and leave him perhaps a Beggar to day, who was in the greatest Plenty but a little before, or if they be not so Fickle nor leave the owner on a sudden, yet in a little time he must leave them, Death will strip him naked as he came into the World, and then all his thoughts perish, Ps. 146.4. All his thoughts of being rich or great, or happy in this World, all the mighty Projects and deep Contrivances about worldly things are quite at an end, and a sudden stop is given to the build­ing of bigger Barns or finer Houses, or making greater purchases and laying up more of these Earthly Treasures. The Soul is perhaps taken from him the night [Page 116]before he was resolved to do all this, and then how insignificant are they all, and what is he the better for 'em. Thus Foolish it is to carry on only such short designs, that we must break off very sud­denly and abruptly, and not lay our Thoughts deeper than the Grave, or be­yond this transitory Life, not to have our thoughts and aims upon greater things that must for ever imploy our Minds, that are more lasting and durable, of a more sixt and solid Nature, and that will last as long as our immortal Souls, that we may sit down with, and bid our Souls be for ever at rest, for they have goods laid up, not only for many years, but for ever.

3. These Earthly Treasures are such empty things, that they can never give us such inward Happiness, as the Hea­venly will: We are apt indeed to admite at the brave outside, the appearing gai­ty and finery of the Rich and Great, but all this without Vertue, is but show and pageantry; they have none of that real Happiness, nor enjoy any thing of that fatisfaction we imagine they do; they have a thousand Troubles and Multitudes of cares, caused even by their Riches and Greatness, that lie heavy upon 'em; vast loads of unseen miseries oppress 'em, and inward and secret guilt fills 'em with [Page 117]horror; and vast legions of evil Spirits haunt and disturb those Houses within, that look so stately and beautifully with­out. We make very false measures, and are mightily mistaken if we conclude him to be Happy, that we see has the visits and the Complements, and the greatest Court made to him, alas, we see not into his Mind nor how uneasie he is there, and how little the better for our foolish O­pinion of him; 'tis only his own thought; and his own vertue and good temper of Mind that make him a Happy Man for all this, and without this he may Cheat others, but he can never deceive him­self; these are inward and close to his Mind, and indiscernible to any one but himself, the other are all external and loose, like Scenes and Pictures looking fine at a distance, but if we come near 'em, 'tis all gross daubing, they cannot yield us that Enjoyment and Happiness that we vainly fancy and expect in 'em; and whilst we imagine we embrace what we can wish, it proves but a thin Cloud and Air, and very often what the wise Man found it, who had made as many Experiments about worldly Happiness as any Man did, Vanity and Vexation of Spt­rit, and therefore not worth so much passion and concern to attain 'em, nor fit that we should lay out our Money for that which is not [Page 118]Bread, and our labour for that which satis­sieth not, Isai. 55.2. for windy and em­pty trash, rather than for that solid food, which will nourish and feed and feast 'em to all Eternity.

2. Whenever there is a Competition between those, and we cannot secure both, that we part with the Earthly rather than the Heavenly; when we do an ill thing in order to our worldly interest, when a Bargain will not go off unless it be voucht with a downright lye, nor an E­state be got without open Knavery, or some underhand slight and secret inju­stice, nor a great Place or Preferment be obtained unless we venture upon some thing that is mean, and shamefull, and dishonest, then to scorn to do a base thing for any advantage, and to prefer Honesty and Conscience, before Gain or Great­ness, this is to value the Heavenly more than the Earthly Treasures; this shows we love Vertue, for it self, when we choose that alone, not for its present dow­ry or portion, but for its own sake, and what we may expect hereafter, and will not forsake it for all the offers that the World can make: This indeed, is the true gage of our Affections, the true way to measure our love to these worldly things, and know whether it be too great and immoderate or no; if we will be guilty [Page 119]of the least Sin or Injustice, in order to the getting Money or growing Rich, if we will wrong the Orphan or cheat the Widow, whose Estate is entrusted to us, if we will break our promise and deny our word, when it would be some loss to us to perform it, and avoid a Just debt upon some little trick or legal nice­ty, or do any thing for our Interest that comports not with fair dealing, with e­quity and an honest mind; why, this shews that we have too great a love and value for these Earthly things, when we are taken so with the tempting Charms of 'em, that if we cannot fairly court 'em to our Embraces, we will commit a Rape upon 'em and force 'em some way or other into our possession. When Na­both's Vineyard looks so pleasant and beautifull that Ahab will purchase it, tho' at the hard rate of Perjury and false-Witness; when we had rather part with our Vertue, and violate our Conscience, than let go a present interest, so that when these two are put together in the Ba­lance of our cooler Judgment, Earthly Treasures do much outweigh the Hea­venly in our Thoughts, and though they are much lighter in themselves, yet our affections always cast the Scales on that side; and so likewise in the posses­sion as well as getting of Riches, when [Page 120]we use 'em basely or not at all, and be unwilling to part with 'em upon a good occasion, when a decent opportunity calls for 'em, when our poor Brother stands in need of 'em, when God or the pub­lick require 'em of us, when we can serve the ends of Piety or Charity, or publick good by 'em, then not to be wil­ling to part with 'em, this is a certain sign that we love 'em too well, that we think nothing so good as our Money, and that we count it much more eligible to be Rich, than to be either Good, or Cha­ritable, or Pious, and that we had much rather be one than the other; nay, which is strange, be one than both, so little do we value every thing else, and think no­thing is to be compared to a great heap, and a long inventory, and that what we have in our Chests and our Coffers is much more valuable than what we have in our Souls, or than the Soul it self.

3. This comparative precept supposes that we must use as much care and di­ligence to obtain the Heavenly as the Earthly Treasures, and if Men would once do that, I am sure they would ne­ver miss of the former; if we would as heartily and diligently set about getting Heaven, and making our selves Vertu­ous, as we do about getting a livelihood, and making our selves Rich, we should [Page 121]never sail of the one, tho' we very of­ten do of the other; a thousand Acci­cidents and Contingences hinder us of obtaining our worldly aims, and with all our thoughts and toil, and care, we can never compass our wishes, but when we have tir'd our selves with a hot and ea­ger pursuit of these worldly things, and followed 'em as close as we could thro' a hundred mazes and labyrinths, yet they fly away, and we can never catch or lay hold of them; But in the Heavenly Trea­sures 'tis far otherwise, no Man ever mist 'em that did all he could to obtain 'em, that after he had set himself seri­ously about 'em, used his utmost endea­vour, and persevered in doing so, at last he would most certainly and infallibly get 'em, if he were no way wanting to himself; if he were hearty and resolved in the business, and did not by idleness, or something else, break off his designs too soon, he would never fail of success at the last, which should be a very great encouragement to make us more diligent about those Heavenly Treasures, which have many other considerations to excite our industry and our labour about 'em, their exceeding value and lasting dura­tion, which are the constant motives that put us upon an unwearied care and la­bour after any thing here: What pains [Page 122]do we refuse, what labour do we count too much to get a plentifull Estate, that we may quickly leave, and be but a short time the better for, if it may descend to our Children and Family; how can men deny themselves their ease and their qui­et, nay their meat and their sleep, and drudge and toil very willingly for that; nay, how does a poor man labour and sweat, strain his Nerves and his Muscles to get Bread, and a mean Livelihood: Why, if we think Heaven is worth our while, do we not use as much labour for that, as we are willing to undergo for a lesser matter? If the Heavenly Treasures were but of equal worth, were but at the same rate with the Earthly, yet why do we not put out our utmost strength and vigour, and strive, and run, and con­tend earnestly for that prize? If we be­lieved it to be of such great worth and value, as we generally pretend, why cannot we deny our selves in some lit­tle matters for the sake of Heaven, as we do for to carry on our worldly concerns? Why do we like Children run so long, and sweat and toil our selves after a Painted fly, whilst we Truant and are Lazy, and Neglect our main busi­ness?

4. This comparative duty enjoyns [...] to put the Earthly Treasures to such uses as to make 'em means and instru­ments toward the obtaining the Heaven­ly, so in the parallel place of St. Luke, where he gives an account of this same Sermon of our Saviour, by the very same precept as 'tis there express'd, we are bid sell that we have and give Alms, provide your selves bags which wax not old, a Trea­sure in the Heavens that faileth not, where no Thief approacheth, neither Moth cor­rupteth, Luke, 12.33. So that since these Earthly Treasures are so liable to ha­zards and uncertainties here, so much in danger to be torn from us by the hands of violence, or subject to some other mis­chance or casualty, the best way to in­sure them, and to make the most of 'em, is to employ 'em to Charitable uses, and the relief of our poor Brethren; this is the secure way to make those cor­ruptible things that are so ticklish and uncertain, so apt to slip away from us, to be our own for ever, this will make those transitory and perishing Riches to last for ever; and whereas by keeping 'em very close to our selves, and being unwilling to part with any of 'em, we in a short time must be utterly deprived of 'em, by this way we return 'em to a­nother World, and shall be sure there [Page 124]to enjoy the benefit of 'em, with dou­ble interest; by this means the Silver and Gold that was but a better sort of earth than we tread on, is turned into a Ver­tue and made matter of true Religion, and by this we show our greater value to Heavenly Treasures, than the Earthly, when we are willing to part with them to attain the other, when they are our prime scope and aim, that bear the chief place in our thoughts, the other but the means and instruments to attain it; when we do not account the Earthly Trea­sures goods in themselves, as the Cove­tous generally do, who think it their great Happiness to heap up vast Riches for no other end beyond the comforta­ble satisfaction of being Rich, whilst they are such Idolaters, as the Apostle calls 'em, Eph. 5.5. that terminate their wor­ship upon the very Idols themselves, and look no further; but to make 'em ser­viceable to the ends of Charity and Be­neficence to those who are in want and necessity, this is to value that in the first place, and those chiefly in order to it, and this is the true use that God the Do­nor of 'em expects of us, and this is not only consistent with laying up to our selves Treasures in Heaven, but the most certain way to do it, as I shall briefly show by naming a few considerations to that purpose. As,

1. Whatever we do this way we engage God to reward us either in this or a­nother World. He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord, and that which he hath given will he pay again, Prov. 19.17. God becomes the poor Man's surety to us, and 'tis a very great piece of Infi­delity not to trust his word, for the pay­ment of a little sum hereafter, that we now part with to the poor; nay, it shall be no great while before he will take care to repay it us with great advantage; he very often does it presently in this World, by blessing the rest of our Estate the better, for Dedicating some part of it as a first fruits to his use; he has promi­sed that he which giveth to the poor shall not lack; Prov. 28.27. That the liberal Soul shall be made fat, Prov. 11.25. Eccles. 11.1. Cast thy Bread upon the Waters, for thou shalt find it after many days. Ps. 41.1, 2. Blessed is he that considereth the poor, the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble, the Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon the Earth. All which pla­ces assure us, even of a Temporal Retri­bution, which the Divine Providence will make to the Charitable Man, and this does for the most part, if not always happen, but to be sure God will greatly recompense him at the last day.

2. By thus using our Earthly Treasures, we enrich our Minds with the most ex­cellent Vertue, and the most Christian disposition, and nothing is more Valua­ble and more Heavenly than this kind, and bountifull, and good habit of Mind, by which we are dispos'd, as we have ability and opportunity, to do good to those who stand any way in need of it; this is the very temper of God, to com­municate out of his rich store plentifully to others. Had he been niggardly and kept all to himself, where had we been, and all his Creatures that owe being, and all things to his bounty? Therefore he has commanded no duty so frequently, nor so earnestly as this of Charity and Mercy, so that this often engrosses the sum of the whole Law, and is called Righteousness in general; it is never left out in the Character of good Men in Scripture, but is always made a principal Ingredient in the Composition of that Ver­tue and Goodness that will prepare and qua­lifie the Mind for Heaven and Happiness.

3. We cannot make our Earthly Trea­sures so Beneficial to us any other way, nor turn to so good account, if we would spend 'em to the best purpose; after we have supplied our own wants and just occasions, what is over and above serves only for Vice or Vanity; 'tis but food [Page 127]for our Lusts, nourishment for Pride, or Intemperance, or Sensuality; the best use we can make of the overplus, is to do good with it, to comfort our poor Brother who is ready to starve for want of what we profusely squander away, who would be mightily relieved and suppli­ed by what we spend Vainly, or per­haps Vitiously; thus we may both e­scape the temptations of Riches, and also make the most beneficial use of 'em another way, that which would be quite lost, if laid out upon any thing else, will by this means be more fully our own, than what we have under Lock and Key, the poor will keep it safer for us than Locks and Bars; what is given to him, is better put out, upon a greater Interest and surer Fund, than if we had all the Land upon Earth tyed for it; God is bound, as I told you, and is become our debtor thereby; we have made over our Estate to him, and he is our Trustee for it, which 'twas ve­ry likely we should lose quickly, or be robb'd, or sequester'd of, if 'twere in our own name. This is the best Merchan­dice we can make of our stock, when we are in a Country where 'tis in dan­ger to be seiz'd on, to transmit it to our Country, and return it to him who is in Heaven, and will most certainly re­pay it us when we come thither; this is [Page 128]to make our selves such friends of the Mam­mon of Ʋnrighteousness, that when we fall they may receive us into everlasting Habita­tions, as our Saviour says, Luke 16.9.

4. I shall add but this consideration, and that I think a very strong one to Men that have thoughts of a reckoning hereafter, that when we shall appear be­fore God's Tribunal to give an account of our selves and actions, there will be a most special regard had to the discharge of this duty above all others, that we shall be Examined and Sentenced there, chiefly upon the account of our having relieved the poor Members of Christ. So Mat. 25.41. where our Saviour tells us, how the process shall be in that great day, the most dreadfull Sentence of Goy cursed into everlasting fire, shall be pronoun­ced upon those on the left hand, for this rea­son, for I was Hungry, and ye gave me no Meat; I was Thirsty, and ye gave me no Drink; I was a Stranger, and ye took me not in; Naked, and ye Cloathed me not; Sick and in Pri­son, and ye visited me not. This is the particular Crime, the deepest Charge of that black Indictment, not so much for Injustice, for Adultery, for Murder, any of which shall yet condemn us at that day, as for Unmercifullness and Uncharitable­ness to the poor, which Christ takes the most unkindly and hardly from us, as [Page 129]done to himself; But the blessed Sen­tence shall be to the Bountifull and to the Mercifull, who have been Charita­ble to Christ in his poor Members, to whom he will pronounce these joyfull Words, v. 34. Come ye blessed of my Fa­ther, enter into the Kingdom prepared for you, from the beginning of the World, for I was an Hungred, and ye gave me Meat; I was Thirsty, and ye gave me Drink; I was a Stranger, and ye took me in; I was Naked, and ye Cloathed me; I was Sick, and ye vi­sited me; I was in Prison and ye came unto me. This is singled out rather than any thing else, as more regarded by God, than any other Vertue; and if we would ever hear that Sentence from the mouth of Christ, pronounced to our selves, let us at all times, as we have opportunity, practice this Vertue, and so lay up to our selves Treasures in Heaven, where neither Moth nor Rust doth corrupt, and where Thieves do not break through or steal.

The Fifth Sermon.

THis is part of the Parable concerning the Prodigal Son, and the answer of the Fa­ther to the eldest Son, who had not been a Prodigal, but had served his Father many Years, neither transgressed at any time his Commandments, v. 29. Notwithstanding which, the Fa­ther seem'd to treat his Prodigal and Riotous Son, who had left his House and run away from him, and devoured his li­ving with Harlots, v. 30. and wasted his Time and Estate in Lewd and Vitious [Page 132]courses; to treat him, I say, upon his re­turn, with more expressions of love and kindness and rejoycing than he ever did the other, who had never offended him.

This seemed not a just and a fair usage to the elder Brother, as much failing in Justice to him as exceeding in kind­ness to the other, too little rewarding the constant duty of the one, and too much encouraging the Lewdness and Prodigali­ty of the other; so that not without good reason, he seems to take it ill, and to be angry at this unreasonable dealing of his Father's.

Parables are very good ways of In­struction, and very lively Representations of things, or truths by way of Picture or Scene, and Dramatical History; now tho' all the parts must be suitable and a­greeable to one another, yet there is a main aim, plot, and design that runs thro' the whole, which was chiefly designed by it, and is the great scope of it, and o­ther things are but as the Circumstan­ces and Ornaments, the Dress and Ha­bit, this is the air, the stroke that give life and likeness to the whole.

The Parables of this Chapter concerning the lost Sheep, the lost piece of Silver, and the returning Prodigal, were design­ed to show how acceptable and well [Page 133]pleasing to God the Repentance of a Sinner is, and that he shall certainly be received very kindly upon it, and to re­present this after the manner of men, in a way suitable and affecting to us, God who is said in Scripture to be angry and provoked at Sinners, is here said to Joy and Rejoyce at their Return and Repentance; The joyfull Father kissing and embracing his returning Son, putting the best robe on him, and killing the satted Calf for him, and receiving him with all the ex­pressions of Mirth and Rejoycing, this is to represent the love and kindness of God to a Sinner upon his Repentance; but we must not apply Parables too far, for they touch not in all their parts, but only like Globes here and there in a point.

These Parables seem at first sight to teach and denote, that the Repentance of a great Sinner in some part of his Life, is more pleasing to God than the constant obedience of a good Man all his Life, which undoubtedly can never be true, and therefore the Parable can never mean that, but only by comparative and con­deseending representations to show, that God is very well pleased and will cer­tainly accept a Sinner upon his true Re­pentance; that expression must not be understood strictly and rigorously, There [Page 134]is Joy in Heaven over one sinner that Re­penteth, more than over ninety nine just Per­sons that need no Repentante, v. 7. the An­gels, those lovers of Vertue, cannot but rejoyce as much and more at Mens li­ving always by the Laws of Heaven, as at their sometimes Repenting for break­ing them; and God, like a wise and good Father, cannot but be better pleased, that his Children were always Dutifull and Vertuous and Obedient, than that they were any time otherwise. This is plain and undeniable at first sight; indeed up­on a Vitious Son's being reclaimed, a Pa­rent may have a quicker Passion and Re­sentment, as upon a Child's recovery af­ter a hopeless Sickness, in which he was given over, his being restored to life, as it were, gives a greater Joy to the Parent than if he had been never ill, but this is but the working of Different, Humane, A­nimal Passions in us, and the ebbing and flowing of our Spirits upon apprehension of some good or evil that greatly affects us; None of this is truly in God, but only the several acts of his Wisdom, and Wise resolves of his will, and meant and denoted by them. 'Tis all human and a condescention to the Passions and Humors of men, to rejoyce more at the finding one lost Sheep or one lost piece of Sil­ver, than at a great many that were al­ways [Page 135]safe; so for a lost Chisess [...] ­ing home, than for a great many that co­ver were in danger. This is not to be taken strictly, but only as 'tis to teac [...] and represent this positive truth, that the Return and Repentance of a Sinner is ve­ry acceptable and well pleasing to God, and that he will certainly be received by him; thus in other Parables when Christ, to show the power of earnest and con­stant Prayer, represents it by a Widow's importuning an unjust Judge, Luke 18. Chap. and by a Friend's prevailing to make another rise, and give him what he wants, not because he is his Friend, but because of his importunity, Luke 11.8. this which is usual with Men, must not be strictly applied to God, as if his blessing flowed not so much from his own good­ness as that they were extorted by im­portunity; so in the Parable of the unjust Steward, Luke 16. and in others, there is, not to be [...] nice Application of every part, but only of the main scope and pri­mary design, which is as it were there­slex image representing the thing intend­ed, without those Collatoral rays, that are but adventitious and adhering to it.

Among the many mistakes about Re­pentance, which are not a few, for we have made a shift to corrupt most of the [Page 136]positive parts of our Religion, and were it not for what is Moral and Natural no­thing would secure it from being turn­ed into meer Superstition to serve the Lusts and Looseness, and yet stupifie the fears, and delude the hopes of Men Sin­fully inclined; one, I say, of the great­est mistakes is, to think a constant obe­dience is not to be preferr'd to the tru­est Repentance, or that God will not be more pleased with, and more highly re­ward the one than the other; The con­trary to which is here plainly supposed and asserted, Son thou art always with me, and all that I have is thine. Where plain­ly the Father who Rejoyced so much at the returning Prodigal, yet allows a great difference between him and his Innocent Son, who had always served him, and ne­ver at any time transgressed his Com­mandments. To make out, and illustrate this, I shall offer the following Particu­lars,

1. There are a great many I hope in the World, who, as our Saviour says, need no Repentance, Luke 15.7. i. e. no such Repentance as is to alter their whole state and spiritual Condition, and to change the whole Habit and Temper of their Minds, and from bad men to make them good ones; for they who by means of a good Education have been always brought [Page 137]up Vertuously and Religiously and preser­ved from any great and wilfull Sin, who never erred from the paths of Vertue nor stept into those of Sin and Death, these have a Title to the Character of Zacha­rias and Elizabeth, Luke, 1.6. that they are Righteous before God, walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless, and these who never defiled them­selves need not to be washed and cleansed as those who have made themselves fil­thy and impure; they deserve not the Cha­racter given to the vile and wretched sin­ners in Scripture, nor need such exhorta­tions to Repentance as are given to them, and which some very indiscreetly apply to all alike, even in their Prayers and Con­fessions, without considering the plain dif­ference of the case, such as those spoke to the wicked Jews, and whole Jewish Nation, The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint, from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores, Isai. 1.5, 6. and therefore those were Com­manded to wash themselves, make themselves clean, put away the evil of their doings, v. 16. and they were promised, tho' their sins were as Scarlet, they should be white as Snow, tho' they were red as Crimson, they should be as Wool, v. 18. which is great encouragement to the worst of Sinners [Page 138]to Repent, but God forbid that the sins of all should be of so deep a die or de­serve so black and sad a Character; No, many, I hope a great many, have kept their Innocence and Whiteness, and Pu­rity, and not defil'd themselves with a­ny great Sin, since they came out of the Laver of Regeneration, and these are they who need no Repentance, i. e. not that great Repentance that a willfull sin­ner does.

All stand in need, in daily need of Re­pentance in some sense, and are to pray God to forgive them their Trespasses e­very day, i. e. their lesser Sins of frailty and infirmity, which the best Men are not free from, but this is very different from such willfull great Sins as destroy a Mans good state, and put him into a state of Damnation and exclude him out of Heaven if he live in them; The exhor­tations and advices to Repentance in the New Testament as well as the Old, are given chiefly to very Vile and Lewd Sinners, and in this Sense Christ came not so much to call the Righteous as Sinners, to Repentance. The Jews, even the most Fa­mous amongst them for Sanctity and Pie­ty were guilty of wretched Hypocrisie and horrid Immorality, as our Saviour charges the Scribe; and Pharisees; and the Heathens before they turned Christi­ans, [Page 139]lived in all manner of Impurity and Immorality, Walking according to the course of this World, according to the Prince of the power of the Air, the spirit that now work­eth in the Children of Disobedience, having their Conversation in the Lusts of the Flesh, fullfilling the desires of the Flesh and of the Mind, Ephes. 2.2, 3. who walked some time and lived in Fornication, Ʋncleanness, inordinate Affection, Concupiscence and Co­vetousness, which is Idolatry, Colos. 3.5. who were Adulterers, Idolaters, Effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, Thieves, Covetous, Drunkards, Revilers, Extortioners, as the same Apostle tells them, some of them were 1 Cor. 6.9, 10. In the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, he gives still a worse and more abominable account of them, now even these were Washed, were Sanctified, were Justified, by becoming true Penitents and true Christi­ans, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the spirit of our God, 1 Cor. 6.11. by putting off the old Man, i. e. the old Hea­thenish Sinfull life, and putting on the new Man, i. e. a Christian Conversation, Col. 3.9, 10. they who were once the Ser­vants of sin, being now made free from sin, and become Servants of Righteousness, Rom. 6.18. and they who yielded their members Servants to Ʋncleanness and to Ini­quity unto Iniquity, now yielding their mem­bers [Page 140]Servants to Righteousness unto Holi­ness, v. 19.

Now all this is spoke to those who were vile sinners, and Heathens before they became Christians, and it must be a sad and lamentable case to apply it to any that have been bred up in Christia­nity, their condition must be much worse and more inexcusable, and not so easily remediable as the others, but none of this can or ought in any manner, to be ap­plied to those who have lived Vertuous­ly thro' the general course of their lives, and have, tho' with many failings, ne­ver been sinners in a high sense, for in a low one we have all been so; but many I doubt not, all their lives were not in an ill state, nor committed any sin to put 'em into it, but like Enoch, walked with God all their lives, and like Job were Per­ject and Ʋpright that feared God and eschew­ed evil, Job 1.1. that were always Chil­dren of God and never Children of the Devil, that were never Prodigals, but always served their Father, neither trans­gressed at any time his Command­ments. Now the condition of these is a great deal more Happy and Preferable to that of the most Penitent sinner, they are more in the savour of God, and shall be more highly rewarded by him; Son thou art always with me, and all that I have is thine.

2. The difficulties and hazards and dangers are nothing so great to those, as to penitent Sinners and Prodigals; No­thing is so hard and difficult as to over­come old Vitious Customs and root out old Sinfull Habits that have been a great while growing and prevailing upon us, this is plucking out a right Eye and cutting off a right Hand, for sins grow dear and natural to men by Custom, and very hard to be parted with; like Diseases that are grown Chronical, they are hard to be cured; and tho' with long Courses and many Remedies they may be cured and aba­ted, yet there will be great danger of ha­ving some spices of them, now and then, and of their often returning, and the sin­ner's Relapsing again into them, for there will be a disposition and Inclination to them, and upon every little Temptati­on the Fancy and Imagination will be apt to be turned to them, and put a strong byass upon the Mind, to carry it that way; many a good Man finds it very hard to govern the Passions, the desires and in­clinations he has given way to before he came to such a full sense of Religion, and how must a sinner deny all his old Lusts and Affections that he has indulged so long, and break off the old customs and ways he has been used to, and be always strugling with those Enemies [Page 142]that he has let in, so that they have made many strong holds to themselves, and 'tis now more hard to expell and drive them out, and tho' they are sometimes van­quisht, yet they will often rally again, and a Man must keep a perpetual Watch and Guard against them; Vice, when it has once got possession of a Man, is not easily cast out, but the fancied good and the imagined pleasure sticks and remains in the Thoughts, Fancy, and Memory, and the Appetite is not easily weaned from what it has so long indulged, but the Lust and Inclination is apt to kindle up­on every like Object and Temptation; so hard and so rare it is to recover an old sinner from a long habit of wickedness, that as Experience gives us but few Examples of this, and most of the good Men in the World are such as were never bad, so that the Prophet to show its great diffi­culty compares it to a natural impossibili­ty, Can the Aethiopian change his skin, or the Leopard his spots, then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil, Jer. 13.23. but with God all things are possible, and he is said to give a new Heart and a new Soul, and to make us new Creatures, when he brings us by his Grace to true Re­pentance, and 'tis a kind of creating us again to new works; a raising us from the dead, a quickning, a giving us a new life, [Page 143]in the Scripture phrase, when from bad he makes us good ones, which is some­thing greater than creating us at first, be­cause in the other there is no hindrance and obstacle in the subject, as there is in this.

Many are the hardships and difficul­ties that a sincere Penitent finds in over­coming an unruly Appetite, an irregular Passion, a beloved Lust and Inclination, which were all made so by the strength of Custom and long Habit, and which would have been much easier mastered, had they not been so long indulged and grown upon him. Many a sinner when his reason is convinced, and he sees the e­vil of his sins, and would gladly leave, if a faint wish would do it, yet is such a slave to them by long Custom, that they lead him Captive at their pleasure, and he cannot break the Fetters, and shake off the Chains that he has made himself, and which are very uneasie to him, now all this a Man is free from by an early Religion and a constant Obedience, and being never engaged in the ways of wick­edness, which are so hard to get out of.

3. There cannot be that full comfort and security in the Return and Repen­tance of a sinner as in a constant and un­broken Obedience all a Man's life, for [Page 144]tho' there is certain Pardon promised and assured to such a Penitent, yet no Man can be so sure that he has fully repented of any sin, as that he has once committed it, but there will be some fears and doubts and misgivings still in his Mind, upon the remembrance of it, which he can never be so free from, as if he had never been guil­ty of it; and 'tis fit indeed this should al­ways be, that a Penitent should be always humble and a little afraid, and should not be fully confident, as if he had been always Innocent; Fear is the necessary punishment and consequent of sin and guilt, and the sinner should tremble at the thoughts of God's Judgments, and the desert of his sin, tho' they are not in­flicted upon him, and tho' he has his pardon sealed in the Blood of Christ, yet he ought to look upon it with tears in his Eyes, and a mixture both of Joy and Sor­row; The Gospel declares only a gene­ral pardon to those who Repent, but no Man can see his own name particularly expressed in it, nor is he sure of it a­ny farther than he is of his Repentance, and a man of Fear and Caution, and not of Presumption, will have some doubts that his Repentance is not so full and so perfect as it ought to be; and being once a Malefactor condemn'd both by God and his own Conscience tho' he hath rea­sonable [Page 145]hopes of Pardon, yet will be more afraid to be Judged, than if his Consci­ence had wholly acquitted him, and he could never have charged himself with any great Crime; for that will strike him with more certain fear than he can have certain hopes of his particular pardon.

4. Neither shall such a penitent be so much in God's favour, or so highly re­warded by him, as a Man of more constant and greater Vertues: This is a Rule I think of eternal Justice, and follows from God's rendring to all Men according to their works, as the Scripture speaks, which would not be if there were not a proportion of the reward to the work, as well as a reward in general. God indeed out of his great Grace, will accept a great sinner upon his Repentance, and receive him into his favour, and pass by and forgive his past offences. But 'tis his becoming a good Man qualifies and entitles him to this; for God can love no other; and the more any is a good Man, the more he will be beloved by him, and the more highly rewarded at the last day: 'tis great Mercy and Favour in God, and what Christ has purchased for us, to accept of an imperfect and after goodness, and broken obedience, instead of what is whole and entire, which is his due; and not punish us for our past Sins and Disobedience [Page 146]after we have left them, as he might do in strict Justice; but still 'tis only our Obedience and Goodness which (being after our Disobedience and Sin is called Repentance) is acceptable and pleasing to God, and it would be more so, had it been more constant, unbroken, and un­interrupted; and 'tis only for that as a Qualification and Condition in our selves, for which he will reward us, and the more and greater that is, the greater shall be our reward.

Indeed in case a Penitent is after his sins brought to love much and to obey much, and to be more abundantly Zealous in good works, and doing his duty, to make a­mends as much as he is able for his past fai­lures, and repair the Divine Honour, and express his Gratitude for the Mercy shown him, and so takes care to rise to higher degrees of Vertue, and perform more sig­nal acts of Obedience; so that his fall makes him rise higher, and he redeems his loss with greater gain and improving more in Grace and Goodness afterwards: this shall entitle him to greater rewards, and to God's special favour; not barely because he Repented, but because upon his Repentance, he became a better Man, and went faster, and made more progress in the ways of Vertue, after he had got into them; but he that never wander­ed [Page 147]out of them, nor never stray'd into the ways of Sin, but always kept on in the path of Vertue, which he was early entred into, is a thousand times more like­ly to go farther, and make a greater pro­gress in Vertue, and attain to higher degrees and improvements of it, than the other; and consequently to be more highly rewarded by God, the impartial Judge and distributer of rewards and pu­nishments at the last day. There are several mansions in our Father's house, and several degrees of Glory in the King­dom of Heaven: those who have been more constantly and more highly Virtu­ous and Obedient, or have done or suf­fered more for Christ and his Religion; these shall have Crowns of greater weight and brightness, and shall shine in a higher Orb, among those Stars of Heaven, who differ from one and another in Glory, ac­cording to their different Virtues and At­tainments.

5. This makes us more truly Christi­ans and more the Children of God, and live more answerably to the Ends and Designs of our Religion; for tho' Chri­stianity is to restore and recover lost and undone mankind, and does it chiefly by the benefit of Repentance, which is the great Duty and the great Privilege of the Gospel, which upon the account of [Page 148]Christ and his undertaking for us, puts sinners into a good state, a state of Fa­vour and Reconciliation with God, who were Enemies to him before, and makes those the Children of God, who were the Children of the Devil; for all Men in a state of Sin are the Children of the Devil in the Scriptures account, He that commit­eth Sin is of the Devil, 1 John 3.8. and whosoever is born of God, as every good Christian is, doth not commit Sin, v. 9.

Repentance therefore, which is a pas­sage from a state of Sin and Death, to a state of Vertue and Holiness, is truly and properly rather a duty antecedent and disposing to Christianity, than one under it; and therefore it was Preach'd both to the Jews and Gentiles, by Christ and his Apostles, as previous and preparatory to their becoming Christians, Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, Mat. 4.17. Repent and be Baptized, Acts 2.38. for before Men turned Christians they were supposed to Repent of their past Sins, and to resolve upon a new course of life, to renounce all their former evil ways, to put off the old Man, i. e. all their old acts and habits of Sin, and to put on the new Man, and to put on Christ, and not to walk henceforth as others, who were not Christians walked; for tho' they were accounted as sinners before, yet now they [Page 149]were to be Saints, devoted to a Holy life and wholly abandoning all Vice and Wickedness, according to their Baptis­mal vow. It was far therefore from the design of Christianity to suppose Men to fall into a state of Sin after their Chri­stianity, and to be as bad and as wick­ed as they were before they were Christians; if they were, and fell in­to any great Sins, the Christian Church at first turned them out of its Com­munion as Apostates to their Religion, and Renegado's to their Holy Profession; and would not without great difficulty admit them again to the benefits of Christianity and hopes of Pardon: so that they accounted not those for Christians who were Penitents and who stood in need of Repentance for any great Sin; and in­deed, he is not a Christian who does so, he is fallen off from his Christianity, and has quitted his Baptismal vow, and has for­feited the right of it, and has put him­self out of the Christian state, who is guilty of any mortal Sin, and is in a state of Penance for it; and the Christi­an Church at first would hardly have owned and received him again; no, not in Articulo Mortis: so great a disgrace, and so horrid a reflection they thought it upon Christianity, for a Christian to be guilty of any willfull and notorious [Page 150]Sin: I confess this early Discipline was too severe, never to admit such a Pe­nitent again to Communion, and look­ed as if no Sins were pardonable after Baptism; which is a hard and untrue Doctrine, and therefore the Church alter­ed its first Discipline, and condemned the Novatians who stuck too close to it, and who would allow the Church no pow­er to grant the benefit of Repentance and Communion in that case, whatever God might do; but upon relaxing the Canons too far, and falling afterwards into ano­ther extream, upon the looseness and cor­ruption of Christians, and their degene­rating from the Primitive strictness and genuine design of Christianity, Repentance when it came to be turned into a slight Penance, became a very common and perfunctory and easie matter; and Men began the round of Sinning and Repent­ing, Repenting and Sinning, and of taking it as a sort of standing Physick, to be repeated toties quoties, and took perhaps at some set times, or Spring and Fall; and that this was sufficient, tho' they lived in their Vices and Debaucheries, and un­lawfull Liberties, and never became such good Men and true Christians, as the Gospel was designed to make them. Now this is like a Man's always using Physick, but never to be well, and only to do it [Page 151]that he may keep his Disease, and it may not as he thinks, prove mortal to him (when he is loth to take away the cause of it) by virtue of a present and easie Remedy. Now this is horribly pervert­ing and abusing the Notion and Design of Christian Repentance, which is not a Contrivance to let us be bad Men, and live in our Sins, and yet hope for Par­don and Salvation upon a little sudden Sorrow, miscalled Repentance, now and then for them; but to encourage us whol­ly to leave them upon the hopes and as­surance of Pardon when we do so, and to engage us to the practice of Obedience and a Holy Life ever after, which is the only thing which makes us true Christi­ans, and entitles to the Happiness and Sal­vation of another World. And let no man deceive himself, and think he shall have the benefit of Repentance, who is not made a good Man by it; or think Repenting and Sorrowing at the last will do the business, instead of a good life; or that without actual Holiness and Obedi­ence, he can see God or enter into Heaven: and let none fall into that other mistake, as prejudicial to Religion, to think a man that lives Innocently and Vertuously, and Religiously all his days, and performs a constant unbroken Obedience to God all his life, shall not be more accepted [Page 152]by God, and more highly rewarded by him, than he that has lived wickedly and been a Prodigal, tho' he Returns and Repents in time, and is pardoned and ac­cepted by God; for tho' such an one shall be kindly and graciously received by his Heavenly Father, and with all Demon­strations of Love and Compassion, be Embraced and Treated by him, and own­ed to be his Son, and received again in­to his Family; yet he that never left his Father's house, but was always with him and served him, and never trans­gress'd at any time his commands, he it is of whom it will be said, Son, thou art always with me, and all that I have is thine.

I shall only draw a few inferences from what has been said, and so conclude.

1. This allows all that is due to Re­pentance, and all the Encouragements and Motives to it: Repentance is the great Gospel Medicine, the Cure for our greatest Sins, and the most mortal Dis­eases of the Soul, if it be compounded as it ought and taken in time; if it be made up not only of sorrow for what is past, and good purposes and resolutions for the future, but of actual Amendment and Reformation, Turning away from our wickedness that we have com­mitted, and doing that which is Lawfull and Right afterwards, then 'tis such an [Page 153]effectual and never failing Remedy as by the merits of it, and the Grace of the Gospel will take off the greatest and vilest Sins, that the worst sinner ever fell in­to; but still, tho' the Medicine is Good and Infallible for every Disease, yet 'tis much better to be always well and have an intire and perfect health, than often to need it, or make use of it; for tho' the goodness of it be never so great, yet 'tis but in order to an end, which is to recover health that was lost, and to re­store us to that soundness that we want­ed.

'Tis the great Mercy of God, and the great Grace and Favour of the Gospel, and the great Purchase of Christ's Blood, to have the Privilege of Repentance granted to Sinners, in so large and full a manner, so as to be restored to God's Favour and reconciled to him upon their return, as if they had never offended him; to have all the guilt and punishment of their past Sins wholly taken off, as if they had ne­ver committed them; to be recti in curia, pardoned, and in as good state as if they had been always Innocent: This should mightily encourage and prevail upon Sin­ners to Repent and leave their Sins when they are sure of this, as they are by the Gospel; When tho' their Sins be as Scar­let, they shall be white as Snow; tho they [Page 154]were red like Crimson, they should be as Wool, as the Evangelical Prophet speaks, Isai. 1.18. i. e. tho' they were sins of the deep­est Die, or highest Nature, yet they should be wholly done away and forgiven upon true Repentance, from which no Person is excluded.

How must this encourage the greatest Sinners if they have any sense of Religi­on or another World left upon 'em, to come off from their Sins? how comfort­able must it be to a poor wretch, lying under the sense of his own guilt, and the fears and horrors of his own Conscience, and the dread of God's Judgments, and of Eternal Misery, to have these glad Ty­dings proclaimed to him? how will this revive his desponding Soul, and chear his sunk Spirit, and like a pardon brought to a Condemned Malefactor, in the Cart, or upon the Gibbet, restore him to life and to unspeakable joy and gladness? Now this is offered to every Sinner by the Gospel, if he repent and turn from his Sins however great they have been, and lead a new life, and become a new Man, and a new Creature before he dies; What can be desired more by any reasonable Creature? or what more can God offer? Would any desire to live and go on in his Sins, and yet be forgiven? This is for God to give up his Laws, his Govern­ment, [Page 155]and to grant a Liberty to his Crea­tures to be Rebellious and Disobedient, and have no Check or Controul upon them; 'tis the utmost a good God can grant, or a wicked man can desire, to be par­doned upon his Repentance and Amend­ment: but his Repenting and Amend­ing is with sorrow for what is past, do­ing his duty for the future as he ought always to have done it, performing that Obedience which he ought always to have performed; and now this is the best thing next to the having done it and performed it always, but it can by no means be thought to be so good as that. Repenting is like a Man's setting up again, that was once broke, and compounding with his Creditors, and paying a part he ow­ed them instead of the whole; God is pleased to accept of the broken, and after­obedience of a Sinner for some part of his Life, instead of that entire and un­broken one which is due from him all his life. 'Tis God's great Grace and Mercy to do this, and what he is no way obliged to, for he might have damned us for e­very willfull sin, and never have pardon­ed us tho' we had afterwards Repented of it; this is meer free Grace which we owe to Christ and the Gospel, and God was no way obliged to it, either in Ju­stice or by his natural Goodness, but he [Page 156]might have denied it to mankind as he has done to other of his Creatures, the Devils and the fallen Angels: but still the design of God in granting us this Favour and this mighty privilege by the Gospel is to encourage us to Obedience, to perswade us to leave our Sins and to bring us to true Holiness and Good­ness of Life, when we have been faulty and defective in these before; 'tis not to encourage us in our Sins, or give us any Licence or Dispensation to commit 'em; be­cause we may Repent of them; this is a horrid abuse and perverting the Grace of the Gospel and turning it into Wantonness and Looseness: but the End and Design of all this is to make those good men who have been Sinners, to make those Obedient who have been Disobedient, either in general or any instance. Now therefore 'tis much better to have been always thus, to have been always Good and always Obedient thro' the whole course of our lives; this is the best thing and the very same End more fully and perfectly attained; this is designed by Repentance: As Health is the design of taking Physick, and to be well, and sound, of using Remedies and Medi­cines; and those who are always healthfull, and always sound, and always well, are in a much better condition than those who stand [Page 157]in need of a Cure, tho' it be never so cer­tain and infallible.

2. I speak this all the while of Re­pentance from great and wilfull sins, from a habit of them in our lives, or at least a voluntary practice of them at some time or other; and this Repentance, I hope, there are many that need not, who were never ill persons all their lives, nor e­ver guilty of any such one great and mor­tal sin, as should put them into an ill and damnable state, and exclude them out of Heaven, had they died. I speak not now of the ill state of all mankind by the fall, or by our original Corruption and De­pravation; for that is took off by Christ the second Adam, and we are put into a good state by the Gospel and by our Baptism, so that no Man is in any danger of Dam­nation, but upon his committing some wil­full and known sins, such as the Scripture declares are damnable, and exclude from Heaven: He therefore that has been free from those, tho' not free from all sins, which no man is or can be all his life, no, not in his best state, but some Infir­mity, some Imperfection, some sin of Frail­ty, or Ignorance, or Surprize will beset him; He, I say, that has lived free from all wilfull known sins, and not allowed himself in any voluntary breach of God's Laws, tho' he has not kept them so per­fectly [Page 158]and exactly as he ought to do; but has always had a regard to Religion and his Duty, and never violated them in a­ny great instance; he was always a Child of God and never forfeited that Title, he was never a Prodigal and run away from his Father's house, nor wasted his Sub­stance in Riotous living, but like the du­tifull and elder Son always served his Father, neither at any time transgress'd his Commandments: He never wandered out of the paths of Vertue, nor never let his steps take hold of death; he never de­fil'd his Virgin Innocence, nor sullied and blemish'd his Baptismal Purity; nor fell into, nor wallowed in any great sin, and so needeth not to be washed and clean­sed and purisied as a sinner in a higher sense needeth; and this is the Happy the Blessed Person, whom I prefer to the best Penitent and the truest Convert, as the Parable here does.

3. This shows the good of early Obe­dience and the great Happiness and Ad­vantage of a Vertuous and Religious E­ducation, and the great Obligation there is for Parents to take care of this, and the great thankfullness, which those owe to God, and their Parents, who have had the benefit of it: for nothing makes Vir­tue and Religion so easie or so accepta­ble to us as to have them taught and in­still'd [Page 159]into us in our tender year [...] when like soft Wax, we are capable of any impres­sions, and yet grow hard and retain them afterwards. When the Seeds of Virtue are early Planted in our hearts, before Viti­ous Habits or Inclinations are grown up in them, and a sense of Religion takes the first possession of us, and anticipates and prevents the power of our own Lusts or of evil Examples; then Virtue becomes natural to us, and Custom makes it both very easie to be practis'd and hard to be o­vercome: for let the Habit and Custom be equal, and I doubt not but there is as much difficulty for a Vertuous Person to become Vitious, as for a Vitious Person to be made Vertuous: It must be with great violence and reluctancy that such an one is brought to commit a wilfull Sin, as well as the other to forsake it; and there­fore Scripture represents both the one and the other as if they were morally impos­sible: As they who are accustomed to do Evil, can as hardly learn to do Good, as the Aethiopian can change his Skin or the Leopard his Spots, so he that is born of God cannot Sin, 1 John 3.9. I doubt not therefore but most of the good men that are, or ever were in the World, are such as have been Vertuously and Reli­giously Educated and brought up; and but few of those in proportion who have been [Page 160]otherwise, have been reclaim'd and brought off from the Lewdness and Debauchery they contracted when they were young. Tis a very hard and difficult thing to make a bad Man a good one, the hardest thing in the World, what the powerfull Operation of God's Grace is necessary to, and what it often cannot effect, thro' the stubbornness of the Will, and indisposition of the Sub­ject; hence those complaints and expostu­lations, I would have healed them but they would not be healed, Jerem. 51.9. Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die? Oh, that my people would have hearkned unto me, and of Sinners re­sisting, grieving, and quenching the Holy Ghost, and that God's Spirit shall not always strive with them, and the like; which shows the strength and power of ill habits, and how hard 'tis even by all means to get rid of them; and how much happier it is to be engaged in an early Obedience and de­termined by a Vertuous Education, than to be afterwards struggling with them.

4. This prevents the common and dan­gerous mistakes about Repentance, where­by Men make it a reserve to themselves to excuse them from a Religious and Vertu­ous, and Holy life; and think that by means of that they shall avoid all the mischief of their sins at last, and be as safe and as secure of Heaven and their eternal Sal­vation, tho' they live never so loosely and [Page 161]carelesly, as if their whole lives had been spent in a course of Vertue and Religi­on. 'Tis but Repenting before they die, and that as little before as they can, if they can nick it right, and are not cut off suddenly and unexpectedly, which is but an accident that happens only to few, and the great work and business is done, by a true Sorrow and some sin­cere Resolutions, and an Instantaneous change of mind, as well as by the most intire Vertue and constant Obedience of a Man's whole life. If so, most Men's Sins and Lusts will perswade 'em to in­dulge and gratify 'em the greatest part of their lives; if they cannot wholly bring 'em off from a sense and belief of Religion, they will thus corrupt Religi­on and make it thereby comply with them; and by these false notions of Re­pentance, raise hopes to themselves of e­scaping all the mischief of their Sins and their ill lives, and saving themselves by virtue of this Repentance at the last, without leading a good life, which they will therefore be glad to excuse themselves from, as not absolutely necessary; and so wholly trust and depend and venture up­on the other way. Now this is putting a trick upon God and Religion, and be­ing too hard for 'em upon their own Terms (as they think) tho' it is indeed [Page 162]putting a trick upon themselves and mise­rably deluding themselves into destruction; by thus abusing this privilege of Re­pentance, and making this Grant and Con­cession of the Gospel to destroy the Go­spel it self, and all the design of it, which was to make men live well, and bring them off from their Sins, and not at all en­courage them in 'em; whereas by thus per­verting the Grace of the Gospel, and by wrong notions and wretched mistakes a­bout Repentance, the Obligations to actual Holiness and Obedien [...] are taken off, and a Man may secure Heaven, and his own Salvation without those by another and much shorter and easier way; which is by Repentance at the last, which shall be as safe to our selves, and as acceptable to God, and as well rewarded by him as the other. Now I know but one way of saving a Man's Soul and going to Hea­ven, and that is by a good life and by actual Holiness and Obedience; Repen­tance is the bringing a sinner to these; and if he do not do this, tho' the Sor­row be never so great, it is not true Re­pentance nor will be effectual to his Sal­vation; 'tis the Obedience and Holiness that he performs after his Disobedience and Wickedness, which constitutes and compleats his Repentance and entitles him to the Divine favour and acceptance, and [Page 163]to the rewards of Heaven and another World; and the greater and perfecter and more entire this Obedience hath been, the more it will be accepted, and the more rewarded by a Righteous and Just God, who will be Mercifull to Sin­ners when they Repent and turn to their Duty and Obedience, and will accept and reward their broken and imperfect Obe­dience; but not in so high a degree as the constant and unbroken and early and entire Obedience of Vertuous and Good men all their lives.

Lastly this Notion of an early Virtue and constant Obedience being prefertable to the truest Repentance, stands upon the plainest principles of Religion and secures those evident Doctrines, upon which all Practical Religion and the obligations of it are built; such as these, that God will reward every one at the last day accord­ing to their works, and therefore in pro­portion to them, and therefore those who have sowed plenteously shall reap plente­ously, and that nothing but actual Ho­liness and Obedience can fit us to see God and enter into Heaven, and make us meet, and qualify us for the inheritance of the Saints in light. These are such plain and undeniable principles both from Reason and Scripture, that no Doctrine which or­poses them and is inconsistent with them, [Page 164]can be true; and therefore a late and dy­ing Repentance that brings forth no fruits of Obedience, cannot be sufficient for Sal­vation, as not coming up to those condi­tions which are absolutely requir'd by the Gospel to make us capable of Hea­ven; since none but good Men, who ei­ther always were so, or at least, who become such after they were otherwise, can go to Heaven; and the more good and the more obedient and vertuous any Man hath been in his life, the greater and higher rewards he shall have in another World, for as one Star differeth from ano­ther Star in Glory, so also shall it be at the Resurrection of the dead, as the Apostle speaks, where some shall shine in a high­er Orb, and with greater Lustre, and have Crowns of greater weight and brightness, who have either done or suffer'd more for Christ and God and Religion than o­thers: and therefore they who have been more constantly and more highly Vertu­ous all their lives, shall be more high­ly rewarded by a Just and Righteous God in that Heavenly Kingdom, where Christ tells us are many Mansions, and where no doubt are several degrees of Happi­ness, according to Mens several Actions and Vertues. Tho' the Penitent and the Prodigal shall upon their return be re­ceived into their Father's house, and be [Page 165]kindly embraced and entertain'd by him; yet their Portion shall not be equal to the Son that was always Dutifull and always Obedient, Son thou art always with me, and all that I have is thine. God grant that all good Men may so persevere in Ho­liness and Obedience, and all Sinners may so timely Repent and be brought off from their Sins, that we may all in due time be received into those Mansions of Joy, where all Sin shall be done a­way, and there shall be no more Repen­tance, and all Virtue and Obedience Crown­ed with Glory and Immortality, thro' Je­sus Christ.

The Sixth Sermon.

THis great question is ask'd by one in great trouble and con­cern, when he was affright­ed in the night by a sudden Earth-quake, which shook the Foundations of the House or Prison where he was, v. 27. and so he was a­wakened into a sense of present danger, and this brought him to consider what was future and greater. God does often rowse up Men's sleepy and senseless and Lethargic Minds, by some present Ter­ror, Judgment, or Affliction, which brings them to consider the concerns of their Souls and an another World, when no­thing [Page 168]else will: This shakes off their thought­less security, and alarms their stupid and unthinking Minds, to look about them, and see what a dangerous condition they are in; and fear is a very proper princi­ple for beginning Religion; it's one of the greatest passions that belong to our Na­ture; and then there is a good ground for it, and it only opens our Eyes to let us see a real danger, that so we may a­void it, and keep out of it: It is very use­full and a great branch of that self-pre­servation, which is a principle that lies at the root of our very beings; had we no sense of an Evil coming upon us, we should run into it blindfold, and leap down the precipice we did not see, which would be never the less hurtfull to us; when fear indeed makes a danger where there is none, or represents it greater than it is, when it frights the mind with fan­cied Spectres and imaginary Mormo's, or makes it afraid of its own shadow, it's then a weak, a mean, an unmanly Pas­sion: but when the danger is real and great and likely, it's stupid blindness not to see it, and rash madness for that rea­son to run upon it. The concerns of a­nother World are both certain and im­portant, and he whose Mind has no rea­sonable fear or just dread and apprehen­sion of them, is like Damocles with a na­ked [Page 169]and pointed Sword hanging over his head by a single hair, but he sits secure­ly, and does not see it. The evils and dangers of a future state are very terri­ble, and may be, as far as we know, ve­ry near us; and they are never the less near, nor never the less real for our not believing, or not having a sense of them. It's very happy therefore if our fear awakens us to consider of them, whilst we have means and opportunity to take care to prevent them; that before we feel them we think of them, and do not like Dives, then lift up our Eyes when we are in the midst of Torments: it's then too late to have a sense of them, when we cannot get out of them. A wise man would therefore so consider them before-hand, either out of a just fear or dread of them, or from a wise care and concern for his own Happiness, that whether any extra­ordinary providence startl'd his Mind, or it were more freely left to its own thoughts, yet it should frequently and seriously ask it self this question, what shall I do to be saved? To be saved is strictly to be delivered from a great dan­ger we were likely to fall into, to be snatch'd like a fire-brand out of the fire, and like one that was sinking to be catch'd hold on and preserved; but it also in­cludes in it a positive Salvation as well [Page 170]as a negative, and so comprehends that Happiness which is contrary to the mi­sery we are secured from; he who is saved from death gains life by that means, and he who is saved from Hell gains Hea­ven, and so both are meant and inclu­ded in the word Salvation: I shall con­sider at present the great importance of this question, What shall I do to be saved; and secondly, the true answer and reso­lution to it. First, of the importance of it: and it is certainly the greatest que­stion to us in the World, how we may be delivered from the dangers and evils of the next World, and how we may escape, as the Scripture speaks, the Wrath to come, and so secure to our selves that eternal Good and Happiness, which we call Heaven. We can none of us expect to live always here; there must be a time, and we know not how soon, but we are sure it's not very long, when we must take leave of this World and all that is in it; and it concerns us to think what shall become of us when that fa­tal minute shall come, as it certainly will, that shall make this body of ours a cold lump, and put an end to all our pre­sent Enjoyments; When darkness and the shadow of death shall let down the Cur­tain, and put an end to all these lower Scenes, and to all the Actions of this life, [Page 171]we cannot think there is then an end of our being; hardly any of mankind ever thought so, our own thoughts tell us other­wise, and Revelation assures us to the con­trary, and we have as much Evidence as we can have, till we come thither, as is consi­stent with Faith, and comes not up to Sense. We cannot then but be very sollicitous, what shall become of our naked Souls when they are stript of these fleshly Bodies, and what condition they shall be in in the other world: We know in general how different the state is there; there are Joys unspeakable on the one hand, and Torments intolerable on the other; and according as we believe the greatness and reality of both those, so must we be concerned about this question, How we shall be saved? That is, how we shall obtain the one and avoid the other. We are very carefull here to make a short life that we know will quickly be at an end, as Comfortable and Happy as we can; We toil and drudge and contrive all we can to acquire the few good things that belong to it, and to keep off those evils that are uneasie to us; and yet when we have done all, we can never hope to be per­fectly Happy here, and our utmost at­tainment can be only this that we be but less miserable; we rise early and go to bed late, and eat the bread of carefull­ness rather than suffer want and pover­ty; [Page 172]and we are at infinite pains and trou­ble to gain an Estate that we must quick­ly leave, and whilst we have it, we are not more happy, perhaps less content than we were before; we are very care­full to keep up our crazy Bodies in good repair, tho' we know they must quickly decay and fall into the dust. A Disease alarms us, and we are concerned at the warning of death, and are willing to en­dure almost any thing to prevent it, that its a Suffering a greater Martyrdom for this life than ever Christian did for another: but how much greater reason have we to be concerned for our future state; that life is never to have any end and so we shou'd be more carefull about it; it's to continue to Eternity, and what it once is, it's to be ever the same; if it be happy, it's so unalterably without dan­ger of changing; and if it be miserable, it's irreversibly so without any hopes of relief. Oh, wonderfull state, how is this life a shadow, a dream, a vapour, a bub­ble, a vanishing Nothing in respect of the other! it deserves not a thought, nor is it worth a thousandth part of that care the other is; how foolish are we then to labour so much for a moment of our be­ing, and not be more concerned for an endless duration of it? But the greatness of the thing is as considerable as the con­tinuance; [Page 173]the things we are saved from are the greatest and terriblest evils we can possibly suffer, the utmost torments of Mind and Body, despair and horror and a dreadfull sense of Divine Anger and Vengeance, and all the terrible apprehensi­ons that guilt within and punishment with­out can bring upon a Soul that can have no­thing else to fly to; and that must suf­fer greater torment day and night with­out intermission, than we can have now a­ny conception of. Fire and Brimstone and Chains of darkness, and a never dying worm, are but lesser representations of the unspeakable misery in the other World; and who is it that dreads a nights pain under a tormenting despair, that knows the torments of a troubled mind, or has but tasted the gall and bitterness of a Melancholick humour, who would not be infinitely concern'd, how he may be sav'd from what we mean by Hell and Dam­nation? and what would not the hopes of Heaven, when they are joyned with those fears, make us farther do, when the one is to fright us from the greatest e­vil and the most perfect misery, and the other at the same time holds out and in­vites us to the greatest Happiness, to end­less Pleasures, and Joy unspeakable? Who that does not either secretly dis-believe, or never consider of this, would not think [Page 174]it the greatest Question in the World, what shall I do to be saved? And who would not do all he can, and use all means that are in his power to this purpose? Who would refuse any pains or labour to ac­complish this great End? Who would stick at any difficulty that he was able to overcome and surmount to gain this point, this greatest point of his own E­ternal Salvation? Had God required us to have toiled all our lives in the most weari­som drudgery, and to have spent all our days in the hardest slavery; had he made Religion the greatest burden and uneasi­ness in the World, in order to the at­taining of this, yet what Wise man would not have thought it worth his while to have endured it, and gone through it? Had he commanded us to deny every Ap­petite, to have offered violence to every inclination, to have stifl'd every natural desires and renounced all the Gratifica­tions and Enjoyments of the Animal life; had he obliged us to quit all the com­forts of this World, and to have retir'd into a barren Wilderness, or a Melan­cholick Cloister, and there have worn out our lives in the severest Exercises of Fasting and Mortification, or to have made them one continued station, one constant course of Penance and Devotion; all this would have been much more tolerable than [Page 175]to have endured the far greater Evils and Miseries of another World, tho but for a little time, and for much less than half so long as this life, and therefore a thou­sand times more so, than to suffer a mi­serable Eternity. What shall we think then of God's requiring no such hard things at our hands, nothing but what is far less than any of those, nothing that is extream­ly hard or mighty difficult, or very bur­densome and uneasie to us, nothing but what is truly comfortable and delightfull if we rightly understood it, and what tends to our present Good, Ease and Comfort, Interest and Advantage, even in this life as well as another? God puts no such hard conditions upon us as those I mention'd, but we may be saved hereafter, and yet enjoy at present all the comforts and good things of this World, that a Wise Man would desire; Religion debars us of none of them, so far as they are In­nocent and Lawfull, that is, so far as they are not Evil and Mischievous to us, and plainly Destructive both of our own good and the good of the World. There is no natural good forbidden to us, nor any in­clination to be denied any farther than it is foolish and unreasonable and exceeds the bounds of Wisdom and Virtue; nor has God restrained us from any thing but what like the forbidden fruit is poy­sonous [Page 176]as well as pleasant, and it's not the pleasantness but the poyson is the true reason why it is forbidden: so that our future Happiness is very consistent with our present, and true Godliness may in­herit the promises of this life, as well as of another, as the Scriptures assure us, [...] Tim. 4.8. It is not necessary to part with our present Happiness, in order to the purchasing the Reversion of that in Hea­ven, tho' if it were it would be great gain and advantage to us; there is but one instance in Religion wherein this is to be done, and that is in suffering per­secution for Christ's sake and the Gospels, in quitting all our Worldly Interests for the sake of Conscience and Religion, and rather endure any evils here, than to renounce Christ or any true part of Chri­stianity: this indeed is bearing the Cross, and is the only hard part of Religion, for which there shall be an abundant recom­pense hereafter; and the hopes and ex­pectations of that with the present Com­fort and Satisfaction of Mind, takes off from the burden and uneasiness of it; and tho' without hopes of another life, Chri­stians might be of all Men most misera­ble in this, when they fall under those Circumstances, as the Apostle says, 1 Cor. 15.19. yet with those hopes they are far from being so, but with exception to that [Page 177]particular case which does not often hap­pen. Religion at the same time secures to us the greatest Happiness of this life as well as another, and without losing a­ny one Comfort or true Enjoyment of this World, we may make sure of the next. We may therefore put that questi­on to our selves, which is something like to that which Naaman's Servants put to him 2 Kings 5.13. Had God bid us do some great thing that we might be sa­ved, would we not have done it? how much rather then when he bids us do nothing else in order to this, but what is very reasonable and what tends to our Good here, as well as our Salvation hereaf­ter; We must be therefore very bad judges of our own interest, and very little un­derstand that, and so be very regard­less of our selves, as well as very ungrate­full to the great God, if we do not com­ply with whatever he has Wisely and Graciously appointed us in order to our Salvation. What that is, I shall now brief­ly consider, and so give the true resolu­tion to this question, What shall I do to be sa­ved? And it is not very hard to resolve it, God has not made it any difficult or abstruse thing to understand, but the mean­est Christian may easily comprehend it; it's not a Secret reserved only for the Wife and Learned, but the poorest Soul [Page 178]if it be but sincere and honest, may come to the true knowledge of it, and there is hardly any without it, tho' it may lie less clear and distinct in their thoughts; Natu­ral light teaches all men that such and such Actions are displeasing to God, and that those who commit them shall be punished hereafter. There is no Man who is guilty of any great wickedness but he finds some in­ward apprehensions of this in his own Mind, and his own Conscience directs him in great measure what he must do to be faved; but Revelation has made this so plain and evident, that a Man must use great Art to deceive himself, if he ever mistake it; to believe the Go­spel and live according to it, is so plain a path-way to Heaven, that there is no Christian but must see it: and if he thinks of any other, he cannot but know that he cheats himself, and willfully puts a trick upon his own Soul. St. Paul here told tho Jailor, That he must believe on the Lord Jesu Christ, and he should be saved, v. 31. but this belief which is made the condition and means of Salvation must include all that which is consequent and ought to follow from such a belief; all that Obedience to the Laws of Christ, and that Repentance for past Sins, and Newness and Holiness of life, which is made as plain and in­dispensible a condition of Salvation as [Page 179]Faith it self; and therefore St. Peter in answer to the same question to those who were greatly concern'd and prick'd in heart, and said, Men and Brethren what shall we do? Acts. 2.37. answered, Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the name of Christ for the remission of sins. Believing and embracing Christiani­ty, was the only way for a Jew or a Hea­then to be saved, and to have remission of Sins; and when St. Peter bids them Repent, and St. Paul bids them Believe, they mean the same thing: Faith is the first great Principle and Foundation of Repentance and all Christian Vertues; and therefore as including and containing all those it is made the condition of our be­ing saved by a Metonymy, whereby the cause comprehends also the effect. Faith in Scripture is not taken only for an as­sent to another's Words, or a trust in them; but it denotes a principle that worketh by love, and is manifest by good works, without which the Scripture expresly says it is dead; and then it must be a strange mi­stake to make a bare faith the condition of our Justification and Salvation.

It is to be observed, and I think it may be a little usefull, to clear that mat­ter; that when Faith and Believing is made the only condition of being saved, and nothing else is mention'd, this is [Page 180]always spoken to those who were not yet Christians or Believers, as when Christ says, John 3.15. Whosoever believeth on the Son of Man, shall not perish but have e­verlasting Life: This is spoken to Nico­demus, who then exprest his dis-belief of Christ's words, and was not brought ful­ly to believe in him, tho' he was dis­posed for it? So John 6.40. when Christ saith, This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son and be­lieveth on him, may have everlasting Life: This is spoken to the Jews, who mur­mured at Christ, and were far from believ­ing in him: and so Christ bid the Apostles preach this to the unbelieving World, Whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved, Mark 16.16. i.e. Believing and Professing Christianity puts them into a salvable state, and if they live according to this faith, they shall certainly be sa­ved; as if we should say to a person who desires to know how he may be a Scho­lar, Go to School or to the University; this would put him into a certain way to Learning: but he must not only be entred and enrolled there, but he must study and read, and do such things as belong to a Scholar. When St. Peter bid the Jews, and St. Paul the Jailor to believe, and they should be saved, they were such as yet had not embrac'd Christianity; and Faith was the [Page 181]only means to bring them to that, and so put them into a salvable state, which ordinarily they cou'd not be in without it: but then they must do all those other things which belong to Christians after they are brought to believe, or else they wou'd lose and forfeit this their good state; and therefore when Christ speaks to his Disciples who already believ'd in him, and St. Paul writes to those who were already Christians or Believers, they then tell them not only of Faith which is the first Christian Vertue and the root of all the rest, but of Obedience and all good works, of living as becometh the Go­spel, and of adorning their profession with all manner of Vertues, which they make as necessary to Salvation as Faith it self. Thus if ye keep my Commandments saith Christ, ye shall abide in my love, John 15.10. and Ye are my Friends, if ye do what­soever I command you, v. 14. and Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, or that meerly believeth in me, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that does the will of my Father which is in Heaven, Mat. 7.21. So said St. Paul to the Corinthians Circumcision is nothing, nor Ʋncircumcision, but the keeping the Commandments of God, 1 Cor. 7.19. and to the Galatians, in Christ Jesus, i. e. in the Christian Religion, neither Circumcision availeth any thing, nor Ʋncir­cumcision [Page 182]but a new Creature, chap. 6. v. 15. that is, a new temper of mind and habit of Life, for by the Gospel the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodli­ness and unrighteousness of Men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, Romans 1.19. and, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels, he will take Vengeance on all them that obey not his Gospel, who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord, 2. Thess. 1.8, 9. and those Christians who do a­ny such works of the Flesh as are men­tioned, Gal. 5.19, 21. shall not inherit the Kingdom of God, but for the sake of those the Wrath of God cometh on the Children of disobedience, Colos. 3.6. tho' they do believe in Christ and have made profession of his Religion. It is there­fore as requisite for such to live accord­ing to all the Laws of the Gospel, as it was at first, to believe in Christ that they may be saved: What a Christian there­fore who already believes in Christ and owns his Religion to be true, and what we who all do this, should further do to be saved, and to make sure of Heaven, I shall in one general Advice direct to, and that is this, That we never allow our selves to live in any one known sin; that we never willfully violate any Law of [Page 183]the Gospel, nor suffer our selves in the Custom of any thing that we know is unlawfull; he that does that is in a dan­gerous and desperate condition, and is un­capable of being saved by the Terms of the Gospel: for tho' that allows pardon for every sin we repent of, yet it allows none to any one of those we do not repent of, but live in; and therefore as we value our Sal­vation; let no darling Sin, nor beloved Lust, nor any the most profitable or pleasing Wickedness whatsoever, be indulged or continued in by us; it's as much as our Souls are worth if we do, for every will­full habit of sin does most certainly ex­clude and shut us out of the Kingdom of Heaven, without timely Repentance and Amendment; if we have therefore been ever guilty of any such, and so have forfeited Heaven and our own Souls, and made our selves liable to Eternal Wrath and Damnation; let us endeavour with all speed to recover our selves out of that sad state, and to snatch our Souls out of the Jaws of Hell, and from the very brink of perdition; and let us bless God that he affords us both time and means and power to do this; and when we have Emerged out of that wretched Condi­tion, let us not throw our selves into it again by any new Sins, but let us e­ver after avoid that rock where we were [Page 184]like to have split; and let us spend all the remainder of our lives in perfecting our Repentance, and in bringing forth fruits worthy of it, and in a constant and unbroken, and uninterrupted obedience to all the Laws of Christianity; so shall we approve our selves to God and our own Con­sciences; so shall we have good grounds of Peace and Comfort while we live, and so shall we be certainly saved when we come to die; which God of his infinite mercy grant unto us.

The Seventh Sermon.

THE Fear of the Lord is a phrase often used in Scrip­ture, to express all Religi­on by, and 'tis indeed the true Principle and Founda­tion of it; for whoever has an awfull sense and belief of a Being above him, and a just dread of his Almighty Power upon his Mind, will take care to avoid all those things, that he knows are displeasing to him, and to perform all those duties which shall procure his favour, and be accep­table [Page 186]to him; for all our Happiness de­pends upon his Pleasure, and he can make us miserable when we anger and pro­voke him.

Every one, tho' he may have lost the sense of love, either of God or Religi­on, and the desire of Spiritual and Hea­venly Happiness, and may be sunk into such a state as to have no great relish of those things; yet may have the sense of fear strong upon him, and may be great­ly affected with what he thinks may destroy and ruin and make him misera­ble: and therefore fear is the strongest and most powerfull passion, and the most deeply rooted in humane nature, for it arises from a Natural love of our selves and a care and desire of our own self-pre­servation; and every Man has this in him, tho' he has no higher or nobler princi­ples of Vertue and Religion; and there­fore 'tis the Character of the most deplo­rably wretched and wicked Creatures, that they have no fear of God before their Eyes, Ps. 36.1.

Sometimes the love of God, sometimes the fear of God, sometimes the know­ledge of God, the belief of God is made to express the whole of Religion, and the sum of our duty; because where one of these is, there are all the rest in some de­gree or other, and they cannot be sepa­rated [Page 187]or divided: for he that believes a God, and knows him to be as he is, a Being of infinite Power and of infinite Goodness, must fear him and love him too; his power makes him an object of fear, and keeps us from offending him; and his Goodness makes him an object of love; and so both those do the same thing, and as different causes yet concur to the same effect; and all Vertue and Religion is pro­duced by them, and owes its being and original to them: for without respect to God there can be no such thing as Ver­tue and Religion, and where there is a true fear of him, there they will always be as necessarily conjoin'd as effects are to their causes, and therefore by an usu­al Metonymy the one is put for the o­ther. And this Vertue and Religion which is thus founded in the fear of God, is the greatest and truest Wisdom in the World; he is the Wisest man who is the most Vertuous and Religious; and he is the greatest Fool who lives Vitiously and Irreligiously, and without the fear of God; the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wis­dom, or the first and chief Wisdom, and the Foundation of all other; a good under­standing have all they that do his Commands, i. e. they are the truly wise Men who live Vertuously and Religiously, and they Fools who live Vitiously and Wickedly; [Page 188] Behold the fear of the Lord, that is Wis­dom, and to depart from evil is Ʋnderstand­ing.

There is no greater blemish, contempt, or imputation upon any Man, than that he is a Fool, and that he acts as such in whatever he does; for it supposes the ut­most decay and depravation of his Na­ture, the loss of his Reason, and that he wants that which makes us to be Men, and is the proper perfection of our Be­ing, which is Wisdom and Understand­ing. It will therefore greatly recommend, and be for the honour of Religion, if that appears to be the greatest and only Wis­dom; and it will justly reproach and ex­pose Vice and Wickedness, if that be made out to be nothing else but folly in the highest degree; which I shall therefore en­deavour at this time.

1. First then Religion proposes and attains and secures the greatest End, the chief Good and utmost Happiness that we can desire or are capable of; and this is the truest part of Wisdom, whereas Vice has but low and mean Ends, such as are below the excellency of our Na­ture, and are so far from promoting our Happiness, that they defeat and destroy it: all beings indeed aim at their own Happiness, and have a blind and general de­sign to compass and attain it; self-preser­vation [Page 189]is a principle lies at the root of our Beings, and we cannot chuse open and bare-fac'd misery; but Vice and Wick­edness takes down the poyson that is a little Guilded over, and swallows the fa­tal hook that is baited with an appear­ing pleasure or profit, and Men are led away in the dark, and deluded with a shadow till they are brought into the deep­est misery; Vice proposes either bodily and sensual pleasure, or worldly gain, or some such present End and Design to be its greatest Happiness; but alas, it often loses those, and Vertue and Religion picks up what the other drops, and lets go; and secures those by ends a thousand times bet­ter than Vice does, whilst it looks yet further, and still aims at greater ends, and a more true and compleat Happiness than any of those can yield to it; for what is the most gustfull and luscious sensu­ality of body to an unquiet and uneasie and disturbed Mind? Is not that worm of Conscience, that gnaws it within, and is bred from the filth and putrefaction of its own sins, a greater torment than all the pleasures of sense can make amends for? And what could a Man hope for if by his wickedness he could gain the whole world, which yet many have even lost by it, if thereby he loses his Soul, the peace and quiet of it here, and its Eternal felicity [Page 190]hereafter? All the ends we can aim at, and all the objects we can wish and de­sire, are very little and inconsiderable with­out Religion, and such are all the things and enjoyments of this World; but Religi­on has great and noble aims and designs, to make our Minds as well as our Bodies pleased and easie, and to give a pleasure and satisfaction infinitely above the high­est bodily delights, which the Brutes are capable of as well as we; to perfect and improve and fit our Souls for the greatest pleasure and happiness here, and for that which is endless and unspeakable hereaf­ter; and to see this more particularly, let's consider,

2. Secondly, that all Ends and Designs but those of Religion, are consined on­ly to this World, whereas those of Re­ligion reach beyond this to a never end­ing Eternity; how little and short and narrow are all the poor designs we can have here, when in the compass of a few years, they all cease and perish and come to an end; when but a small time hence they shall be as useless and insignificant as if we had never been, or ne'er had a­ny of them. Death, which we all ex­pect, and which will certainly come in a little time, whether we expect it of no, puts a speedy end and conclusion to all o­ther projects and designs but those of Vir­tue [Page 191]and Religion; it covers all worldly Pomp and Grandeur with a cloud of night and darkness, and draws a sable mantle o­ver all it's glistering and shining vanity; its honours lie here buried in the dust, it's riches take leave of it at the Grave, and all its bodily pleasures are exchanged for stench and noy fomness, and its great­est strength and beauty is turned into weak­ness and gastliness. This mortifying consi­deration should, one would think, make this World, and every thing in it be ve­ry contemptible, and all ends and designs but those of Virtue and Religion, which teach beyond this World, to be very poor and little, and inconfiderable; for like a Dream, they are all quickly past and gone; and when we awake into another World, into a better and more substantial life, all these images and shadows and fancies of happiness will then vanish and disappear, and we shall be no more affected with them than with a last nights dream, or the past vi­sions of slumber and imagination; but then Religion and Vertue will stand us in stead, then they, and a good Conscience will stick by us, and attend and bear us Com­pany into the other World; and there we shall meet with those Ends and Designs which Religion has proposed to us, and our greatest hopes and wishes shall be turned into greater fruition and enjoy­ment; [Page 192]then a long Eternity shall reward and recompense our short Labours here, and we shall never lose or be depriv'd of that great End and compleat Happiness which Religion recommended and direct­ed us to. Vice with all its delights is but for a very little time, and the pleasures of sin are enjoy'd but for a Season, Heb. 11.25. Men not only lose those, and be for ever depriv'd of the End it aimed at, but shall receive its sad and miserable portion laid up for it, and be eternally tormented with unexpressible misery; And what extream Folly will it then be found to have pursued no other End, nor aim­ed at no other Happiness but that of this World, which is so soon gone and at an end, and for the sake of that to have ex­posed it self to a misery that shall ne­ver have end; to have preferr'd a present moment before an endless Eternity, and to gain some poor and little Ends here, which yet are often lost rather than at­tain'd by Mens Vices, to lose Heaven and everlasting Happiness.

3. Religion and Virtue secure the Com­fort and Happiness of this life as well as of another, much better than Vice and Ir­religion; so that here is the extream fol­ly of Wickedness, that whilst its dosigns are confined to this World and [...] aims at the present pleasure [...], [Page 193]and good things of this life, it loses e­ven those, and misses of that present Com­fort and Happiness, which is a thousand times more likely to be met with in the ways of Virtue and Religion, than in a life of Vice and Wickedness: for as the one deprives us of no real pleasure or pro­per enjoyment fit for a wise Man, but rather sweetens them and enhances their relish by keeping them Pure and Inno­cent, and free from the filth and bitterness that Vice mixes with them; so wicked­ness brings a great many evils and mis­chiefs upon it self here, and most Mens Vices make them miserable in this life, as well as in another. Godliness, says Saint Paul, is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, 1 Tim. 4.8. and it was the wise Mans observation long before, that the most desirable blessings of this life belong to Wisdom and Religion, Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour, Prov. 3.16. where­as nothing does more generally shorten Men's days than Vice and Debauchery, and though those Men value nothing so much as life, yet they prodigally squan­der it away, and spend it too fast and con­sume it upon their Lust and their Lewd­ness; and these make shipwrack of their Estates as well as of their Consciences, [Page 194]and bring Poverty and Beggery very of­ten along with them, so that the ruined Fortunes of most Men are owing to their vitious and ill Courses, and they are un­done by their Vices here, as well as here­after; an indelible Character of shame and reproach is hereby fixed to their Name and Memory, which stains and blemish­es their Repute and Credit among Men, and their mind reproaches and smites them from within, and they feel most of the outward and inward evils which are the most grievous and uneasie to us in this life. So that besides the misery in Rever­sion, which is due to them and unavoida­ble, there is a present one which they seldom escape, but generally befalls them; so foolish are they whose fondness to their Sins makes them hug and embrace them, though they at the same time Wound and Poyson them; so infatuated are they, and almost fascinated by them, that they stick to them, though to their manifest ruin and against their plainest interest; and make themselves such Martyrs and Confessors to their Vices, that as they wear their scars always about them, so they will endure any thing for their sakes, and make their way to Hell, through the greatest sufferings and evils that their sins bring upon them here.

4. Roligion is the truest Wisdom, as it best provides against all the Accidents and Contingencies of this uncertain world and against all the infirmities of our pre­sent state and nature. A good man may not be secure here that he shall not come into the same misfortune, and be plagued like other Men, either with some Afflicti­on, or Sickness, or other common Cala­mity, which the greatest Vertue and Re­ligion may be no protection against; but the same chance may happen both to the Sinner and to the Righteous, and with­out respect either to their Vice or to their Virtue: a Disease or a Misfortune, a Loss or a Trouble may come upon either of them, which nothing can keep off or pre­vent, in this uncertain state; but here Re­ligion gives us the best relief, and stands us in the greatest stead, and is the most usefull to us; it takes care, as we may say, of the main chance, and makes the best provision for whatever may or can befall us; it supports and revives our drooping Spirits, under any afflictions of this world with the cheering thoughts of a Heaven above us, and a Providence over us, and the gladsom reflections of a good Consci­ence within us, and a Comfortable trust in a good God without us; whereas when a­ny of the troubles and misfortunes of life fall on a wicked Man, he has nothing to [Page 196]keep up his mind under them, but they sink and crush him into the utmost de­spair and disconsolateness, and he has no whither to fly for ease and comfort; sad and miserable must be his case, who, when his body is sick and uneasie, has his mind so too, and feels as much anguish and anxie­ty in the one, as he does pain in the other; when his body is under the strugglings and agonies of death, has his Mind and Consci­ence under greater; and when he sees death come up behind him, sees Hell open be­fore him, as ready to devour and swal­low him up. Tho' nothing can secure us against one of these, yet Religion does a­gainst the other, which is ten times the greatest; and so in all other the unavoida­ble accidents and misfortunes of this worldly state, Religion does wisely prepare and pro­vide against them, and make the best de­fence and security for us against all the dan­gers that may in this hazardous world come upon us; and without this a man lies always open to every uncertain accident, and shall be miserable at every turn of Fortune, and shall have no Happiness but what shall be at the will and pleasure of outward Contingencies; and shall have no soun­dation or root of Happiness within him­self, which nothing but Religion and Ver­tue can ever give him.

5. Religion makes us wise for our selves and for things of the greatest importance and concern to us; makes us wise unto Salvation, which is the only true Wis­dom, that deserves so to be called or ac­counted: for 'tis a Wisdom salsely so cal­led, and no other than great folly to be wise about all other things, wise in our Notions and Apprehensions and Judg­ments of things, wise in the Managery and Conduct of all our outward Affairs, wise in searching the policies and fatho­ming the most cunning Intrigues, wise in the greatest Mysteries of Knowledge and researches of Learning, so that both our selves and others applaud us for our great Wisdom; and yet be a Fool, in what is more valuable and more concerning to us a thousand times, which is the ever­lasting Salvation of our immortal Souls. He that is not so wise as to take care of that, is with all his other Wisdom the worst of Fools and Mad Men; and more void of common Prudence and Discretion, than he that while he pretends to understand the great secret of being Rich and turn­ing all into Gold, yet is Poor and a Beg­gar; or like him in a Frenzy, who thought himself an Emperor, and to have the great­est Territories and Dominions, when he had only a Chain and a little Straw; or him who while he was viewing the Stars [Page 198]and observing the Heavens above him, did not mind his way, but fell into a Pit.

6. I shall show the Wisdom of Reli­gion from the two causes of sin and wic­kedness, which are only two sorts of fol­ly and weakness of mind.

The first is heedlesness, rashness, and inconsideration; the other is infidelity and ignorance, or inapprehensiveness of the truth of things. All Irreligion is owing to these two Causes; for either Men do not mind and consider as they ought to do, those principles of Religion, which they own and believe, as that there is a Heaven and a Hell, and an Eternal state of Bliss and Misery after this Life, so as to let these have that full, force and in­fluence which they ought to have upon their minds; or else they do not really be­lieve and apprehend those to be true: which are both high degrees of Folly and proceed from a great defect of Understand­ing and want of Wisdom.

As to the first of these, what can be a grosser folly than to act contrary to those principles which we own and allow? to believe that there is a God, and that the Soul is immortal, and yet to live as if there were no God, and as if there were no other Life but this? This is certainly the most desperate folly and madness to run upon the greatest danger that we [Page 199]see evidently before us, and to leap into Hell with our eyes open; when Men do real­ly believe they shall be damn'd for a wicked and ill life, and yet still continue in their sins. 'Tis folly one would think, even to the height of distraction to live thus contra­ry to their belief and let their principles and their actions thus disagree; and to condemn themselves in their acting con­trary to their own knowledge, belief and understanding, in a matter which is of so great moment and concern as they must acknowledge this to be. Of the two, the other, one would think, were more ex­cusable who do not believe these things, tho' that is great ignorance and folly; for 'tis dis-believing that which all mankind have in all Ages believed in some degree or other, and which we have as much rea­son to believe as we can have, if the thing were never so true and certain; and which it is impossible we should ever know, or have any reason to believe to be false; and which if it were only doubtfull and but meerly probable, or indeed possible, yet a wise Man would not run a great hazard or venture upon it, but would take care to save and secure himself against the worst and utmost possibilities that might hap­pen: I shall not now consider the great weakness and folly of infidelity against the clearest reason and evidence, and the [Page 200]utmost demonstration the thing is capa­ble of, and requiring more than a thing of that nature can have; nor how Reli­gion is Wisdom as being established upon the greatest foundations of truth and cer­tainty. 'Tis the other folly that of incon­sideration by which most men perish, by not attending to the power and force of those truths, which they do believe; but rashly and inconsiderately following the career of their Lusts and violence of their Inclinations, against the reason and belief of their Minds, and the conviction of their Judgment and Understanding; for could any Man that seriously consider'd and be­liev'd an everlasting state of rewards and punishments, and let his mind duly at­tend and be affected with those conside­rations, which he really believes to be true; could he be wicked without the great­est folly and madness? and can it appear to be any other than the most foolish and unreasonable thing in the World to be­lieve all those great and important things which Religion teaches us, and yet to live as if we believed none of them? This is such unaccountable folly as wants a name, and can have nothing to palliate or excuse it. Indeed a wicked life is the greatest folly in the World, and appears to all to be so upon reflection and a little serious consideration; no body but repents [Page 201]of it afterwards, and is sorry for it one time or other, tho' perhaps it be too late, and when he cannot retrieve or amend it, unless he be stupified and hardned and have lost the use of his Judgment and Un­derstanding; which is a plain owning it to be Folly and Unadvisedness even up­on Tryal and Experience, and a wishing they had done better, and that they had been much wiser.

No Man Repents of his having done Vertuously and lived Religiously, but is pleased and satisfied in himself upon his reflecting upon it; which shows that he acted wisely and prudently: but the dire­full agonies and sad reflections, and hor­rors, and disquiets that a Man feels in his mind upon his having liv'd wicked­ly, shows the height of his folly, and how he is forc'd to condemn himself for it, and to bewail and lament his extream weakness and madness, and this is truly Hell; when he must do so to all Eternity, then I am sure it will appear, whatever it does now, that Vice and Wickedness is the greatest folly, and that Vertue and Reli­gion are the true and only Wisdom, and that what the Psalmist says, is true; The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.

The Eighth Sermon.

IT is a question with some, whether Christ have added any thing to the law of nature, or requir'd any high­er and more perfect Vertues than are founded in that. As for the Law of Moses, he has taken away the Ritual and Ceremonial part of it; and as to the Moral, he has cleared it from the false glosses and corruptions and errors of the Scribes and Pharisees, who had expound­ed it into a meaning contrary to the true sense and intention of the Law: for that [Page 204]to be sure coming from God cou'd have nothing immoral in it, and therefore what­ever corrections were made by our Sa­viour were only of the perverse and cor­rupt interpretations of others, and not of the Law it self. But whether he has not added any new and more perfect Laws both to the Law of Moses and that of Na­ture, and required higher instances of Ver­tue of us Christians, than of the rest of mankind, is a great question. On the one side it seems more for the honour of Christ and his Religion, in which there are some nobler precepts that excell any that are to be met with in any other Moralist; as against Lust and Revenge, for loving Enemies, and not retaliating injuries, and the like. On the other side, if Christ has added any new Laws not founded in na­ture, they must be meerly positive and alterable, and not have any natural or in­trinsick good in them, but be owing to the mere Arbitrary will of God, and not to the original settlement and constitution of things; for if they have a foundation either in the nature of God, or the na­ture of things, they cannot be new, and so added to those of nature; but I think this Controversie may be thus compound­ed and resolved, that those Laws, though they were founded in nature and had a natural and intrinsick and eternal Good­ness [Page 205]in them, as all moral Vertues have, yet cou'd not be so well known and dis­covered by the dim-light of nature, nor were so fully promulged by the Law of Moses, as they are now by the Gospel or the Christian Revelation. One of the high­est and noblest Virtues of Christianity is that advice, precept, or duty given here in my Text, Be not overcome. Concern­ing which, tho' there be no such thing hardly to be found in the Law of Moses, and the quite contrary to be often met with in the best Heathen Moralists, who reckon'd Revenging an Injury as a part of Justice, and among the number of their Vertues; yet it's certain, if we consider of it, it is very reasonable, and has a na­tural and intrinsick Goodness in it, and tends very much to the peace of our minds and the comfort of our lives among the many Evils, Injuries, and ill usages from others we may probably meet with in this World; the best shelter and security a­gainst which, and the best and most per­fect Vertue a Christian ought to learn, is that of the Text; which tho' it be so much against the practice, and therefore seems to be against the nature of mankind, yet it is not; but is a most excellent duty in it self and what we are always indispen­sibly bound to, both as wise Men and good Christians: Be not overcome of evil [Page 206]but overcome evil with good, from whence I shall first show you what it is to be overcome of evil: Secondly, the good and excellency of not being overcome of evil, but overcoming evil with good; First, what it is to be overcome of evil, i. e. the evil that is done to us by others, not that is done by our selves, for that overcomes us whenever we fall into it but we may suffer a great deal of evil or injuries from others, without being o­vercome by it; for it may be said to o­vercome us only by these several ways, 1. When it so takes away the peace of a Man's mind as to make him sink un­der it: now no evil ought to do this, but the evil of sin and guilt, and the sad Con­sequences of those which are the wrath of God and Eternal Damnation; these are so dreadfull that nothing can bear or stand up against them, and therefore they are not to be born but to be avoided, and wr­ought to take care to escape them by Re­pentance and a good Life, for there is no mastering and overcoming them; they are so great and intolerable that humane na­ture cannot grapple with them or endure them with any degree of courage or pa­tience. But now all the evils of this World may be bravely withstood or overcome, and we can rally up power and resolu­tion sufficient to contend with them and [Page 207]hold out pretty tolerably against them, so as to preserve an inward ease and com­sort, peace and tranquility of mind under all, or any of them; and that strength and vigour, and firmness, and constancy of a Man's mind, may not be broke or dissol­ved by them: and this is true Courage and Bravery, and Greatness of mind, which was most eminently in the first Martyrs and Christians under all their sufferings, wherein they were more than Conquerors thro' Christ, who strengthen­ed them, Rom. 8.37. And many others have bore Sicknesses and Adversity, Re­proach and Calumny, and other misfor­tunes of this World with great evenness and Equanimity and cheerfullness of mind, and have not been sunk or depressed by them; they have not lain down under the burden, but tho' it has been heavy and hard, and they have felt it so, and not been without the sense of it, yet they have born up under it, and with putting forth their strength and patience, made it less than it otherwise would have been, or if they had faln down under it. Ill usage and Injustice from others are not the least of evils, nor the easiest to be born; but when we consider they are no more in our power to prevent than Diseases or a­ny other Accidents that may befall us, the peace of our mind shou'd not be much [Page 208]affected with them; since that ought al­ways to depend upon what is in our own power, and upon our own voluntary choice and actions, or else we can never have a­ny security of it, but it will be at the mer­cy wholly of every chance or accident without us. And secondly, the way not to be overcome by them, is, not to dwell too much upon them in our thoughts, not to chew or ruminate upon them, nor keep them in our thoughts too morosely, for that is to roll the bitterness of them, as it were up and down in our mouths and to taste them over again; whereas to spit them out, to pass them by, to neglect them, and not think of them, is the speediest way to have done with them: if they lie heating and boyling upon our stomachs and the Cholerick and Revengefull hu­mour be fermented and put in agitation by them, it will greatly trouble and an­noy us; but when we check and suppress it at first, we are at ease presently, and have none of those tumultuous and dis­orderly disturbances that are in the breasts of Revengefull and Malitious Men, that can never forget or pass by an injury, but let it like a thorn in the flesh alway pain them, and go in further and deep­er, and cause an Ulcer that shall throb and burn within, and be very troublesome; whereas all might have been cured by [Page 209]plucking it out presently and throwing it away, and not letting it stick long or enter deep into our thoughts. 3. Not to have any thoughts of Revenging it is the best way to overcome it; for this lessens the trouble of it, and puts a quick and speedy end to it, whereas the other puts a Man upon a thousand uneasie thoughts and contrivances, sets his head upon work­ing like the Devil how to do mischief, and like him is all the while tormented with his own mischievous designs, whe­ther they succeed or not; and is always restless and uneasie least they should sail and he should be disappointed: and if he is not, yet he procures no manner of good to himself, but only mischief to another, which is all the Diabolical pleasure of the most successfull Revenge: and he is certainly overcome by an injury who is thus provoked to return and retaliate it, and will give himself a vast deal of trou­ble for no manner of good, but meerly to do ill to another; much good may do these Men with the sweets of their Re­venge, as they call it; the Devils them­selves may be pleased and delighted in the midst of Hell if there be great and true pleasure in this. 4. We are over­come by evil when we are brought to commit the same evil, and do the same thing to others which they did to us; when [Page 210]we are brought to render railing for rail­ing, cursing for cursing, evil speaking for evil speaking, and the like; i. e. when o­thers treat us in this rude manner, and we return them the same again, and give them, as we say, as good as they bring. Mens Tongues are the most ready Instruments of their malice, by which they who are otherwise never so weak and impotent, and like a Serpent, crawling upon their bellies, as malice often does, yet can dart out their stings, even bitter words, and with their forked and poisoned Tongues spit a­bundance of their venom at others which is in themselves; and so plentifully dis­gorge that filthy and corrupted matter of their own exulcerated minds. They consider not that for all these evil and idle words (for it was chiefly of those words of Ca­lumny and Slander our Saviour spoke) they must give account in the day of Judgment, Mat. 12.36. and that they are as answerable for such words, tho they pass away as the wind, as they say, as for the more lasting actions; For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned, v. 37. A Man may be damn'd as well for injurious words as injurious actions and they may often do as much mischief not only to the person himself, whose cre­dit may probably be as dear to him as life, and as great an injustice to take it [Page 211]away: And it may do a much greater mis­chief to Religion, and hinder all the good, or a great part of it, which a Man might be otherwise capable of doing: And all this they are answerable for, who are the causes of it, and not the Innocent Per­son who is thus used. When the Jews slandered our Saviour, as a wine bibber and a drunkard, as a friend of publicans and sinners, as a deceiver and impostor, and so kept others from hearing his Ser­mons and receiving his Doctrine, they were answerable not only for themselves but for the Souls of others, who thus pe­rished by their means; and our Saviour was no way blamable for not doing that good which others hindred, and which he, tho' unsuccessfully, yet heartily en­deavour'd. 5. We are overcome by evil when we are brought by it to neglect any necessary duty, or to do any unfit and unlawfull act that otherwise we should not have done; as they who will neglect Prayer, or coming to Church, or attend­ing upon God's word, because they are offended with some of their Brethren who come there, or with their Minister, up­on which they will fall out it seems with God himself too: they who will give no­thing in Charity, because they who col­lect or distribute it, agree not with them in all things; and so they will revenge [Page 212]the supposed injury of another upon those poor wretches who never cou'd be sup­posed to do or think them any at all [...] they who will show spite to the publick, and oppose the Government, because some are in it they do not like or care for; and so their hatred to them shall make them do all the mischief they can to the whole, and they will Sacrifice the Peace of the Kingdom to the private piques and animosities with some particular Men. If the little injuries of others drive us to this, we are sadly overcome by them; they overcome those greater indispensible obligations we stand in, which nothing can or ought to rescind; and they make us do that which otherwise the sense of our duty and conviction of our mind wou'd perswade us not to do, if we were not thus blinded with passion and hur­ried with rage and anger, and had our understanding darkned and clouded with those storms of passion and resentment, which arise in us. The best way to allay those is to check them at first, and put out the first sparks of the glowing flame, and not suffer it to kindle to any height in our breasts, but to quench and stifle it immediately with wise thoughts and stea­dy resolutions, and with a designed neg­lect and passing by of the supposed in­jury; if we would lessen that or wholly [Page 213]take it away and destroy it, if we would overcome the evil of it, the best way is by doing good for evil, by returning Of­fices of kindness for those of ill will, of Love for those of Hatred, Friendship and Civility for Rudeness and Unmannerli­ness, Blessing for Cursing, speaking well of others for their speaking evil of us, and not rendring railing for railing, nor in­jury for injury, but overcoming evil with good: How excellent a Virtue this is, what advantages and benefits belong to it, I come now to show; nay how ne­cessary a Christian duty it is, without the performance of which, in such measures as are required of us, we forfeit Salvati­on and Pardon of our sins at the hands of God. For no particular Vertue is made so much, and so expresly the condition of our Pardon in the Holy Scripture as this; but how hard is it to perswade our selves or others to it, for want of getting a po­wer over the first risings of passion, and being able to check the Brutish inclina­tions that belong to us with thought and reason; and for want of considering the excellency and perfection, nay, the ease and pleasure of it, and the many obliga­tions we have to perform it. As First, It must be owned that the quiet of our lives, and the peace of our minds very much depend upon it; for it cannot but [Page 214]be supposed that we shall sometimes meet with very ill usage and treatment from other people; the best of men have not been free from it, tho' they no way deserved it; as our Saviour, one of whose suffer­ings it is accounted, that he endur­ed the contradiction of sinners against him­self, Hebrews 12.3. and the Apostles, who often complain of unreasonable and perverse and wicked Men, 2 Thess. 3.2. and the greatest examples of Virtue before and since them, such as Socrates, Cato, Se­neca, and the like, have had the same mea­sure; and it's often the Lot and Portion of the best of Men, and that which has made them so as much as any thing; and God has suffered it for a Tryal and in­crease of their Virtue. Now if a Man must be always uneasie and unhappy, and have a great disturbance and disquiet in his mind, when he meets with this, it will not be in the power of God and Re­ligion, nor of Vertue and a good Con­science to make a man happy, as it cer­tainly is, and to give him ease and satis­faction in himself, however others shall use and wrong him; if every rude and ill natur'd Person, whose Tongues are their own, and who will use them as they please without any regard to Truth, Manners, or Religion, shall task away a Mans peace and quiet; or their unjust and undeser­ved [Page 215]usage shall make a breach upon the steadiness and firmness of a Man's mind, and he shall be disturbed and unhappy, because others are uncivil, humoursome and ignorant; there will be no such thing as inward peace and quiet, nor will our Saviour's words signifie any thing, My peace I leave with you, John 14.27. In pa­tience possess ye your Souls, Luke 21.19. Bles­sed are ye when men shall speak evil of you and hate and reproach you, Luke 6.22. But a Man must mind which way the wind sits or the Weather-cock turns, on which side the Birds fly, or which is as uncer­tain, what is the opinion of unthinking Men to judge of himself by. Indeed the opinion of good and wise Men who are able to judge, is very much to be mind­ed, and is truly credit, which is to be preserved next to Conscience; but he that is not above the little noise and the ig­norant censures, and the brutish Clamours, and the petty injuries of others is a very weak, and will be often a very unhap­py Man. 2. It's one of the greatest and most pleasant Virtues to gain a Victory over our own passions, and to overcome the brutish inclinations of Anger and Re­venge, which are apt to rise in us at first upon the sense of an injury. He that can calm and quiet those, and by wise thoughts subdue the boysterous rage and furiousness [Page 216]of an angry spirit, is a greater Man and a greater Conqueror than he that Conquers whole Countries and Cities, and fenced Places, and overcomes many thousands of Enemies by the Sword, as the Wise man observes, He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spi­rit, than he that taketh a City, Prov. 16.32. This is the true Virtue of a Man that masters the beast, the brutish Appe­tites and Inclinations that are in him; which if he let loose, they will rage and tear and devour him, and hurry him to revenge and madness, and all the dismal effects of them. Nothing is so rash and inconsiderate, and shows so much im­potency and weakness of mind as those passions which are apt to rise up in us; and nothing shows greater Wisdom and more true greatness of mind, than to Command and Conquer them, and bear a provocation and forgive it, instead of being set on fire, and overcome by it; nor can any thing be more pleasant than to gain this Victory o­ver our passions, for they are very trouble­some and uneasie, and all find them so who are under them: but it's the greatest ease and pleasure of mind and body too, to be free from them, and to be in a calm, and gentle, and meek, and undisturbed state. Anger and revenge are the most uneasie, and vexatious, and tormenting passions that [Page 217]belong to human nature, that fire and in­flame the spirits, put the blood into an Unnatural and Venemous Ferment, and the whole Man under the gall of bitter­ness and the greatest uneasiness; so that his mind can enjoy nothing, but is rest­less and tumultuous, and under a thou­sand fearfull and vexatious thoughts how to contrive and how to accomplish it's Mischievous and Revengfull designs up­on others. But to lay all these aside, and to pass by, and forgive an injury, and let our passions be quiet without any great resentment of it, is to be at ease with­in our selves, and has more sweetness and comfort in it than all the revenge in the World. 3. As this is overcoming our selves, so it's overcoming our Enemies too, and the best and the least trouble­som, and the most generous way of Con­quering them; for first it disappoints all their malice and avoids the blow they in­tended to give us, for this puts by the in­jury which was thrust at us; or at least takes off the smart, and the sense of it, which is the greatest evil that they de­signed by it, and they have lost their de­sign if they see us not concerned at it. But further, if we can bring our selves to return kindness for injury, and overcome evil with good, this, if any thing, will overcome an Enemy, by making him be­come [Page 218]a Friend, which is the greatest and perfectest Victory in the World; and sub­due him with such powerfull force and conduct that he cannot but yield to it. A soft answer will turn away his wrath, as the wise man speaks, Prov. 15.1. and showing the kind offices of love and kind­ness and civility to him, will not only heap coals of fire upon his head, if he still con­tinue to injure us, but in all probability melt him into kindness and goodness; for he must be a very barbarous wretch, and void of all sense of humanity, beyond the rate of most Men, who will not be obli­ged by a generous kindness from an E­nemy; and he must be a mere Savage, who is not to be wrought upon by ci­vility and good will. Revenging an in­jury is the way to double and encrease it and to keep up the War and Hostility, with vast trouble and expence; but the other presently procures a Fair and a Com­fortable and an Honourable Peace and Reconciliation. Many think it will draw more injuries upon them if they do not revenge themselves for those past, and make it cost others dear to hurt them, so that it's their Motto, nemo me impune lacesset: but this for the most part fails, and is the worst and longest, and most troublesome way to get rid of them; every Man may indeed preserve his right [Page 219]if it be valuable and not better to part with it than to lose it, and yet keep up fully to this temper of doing any good in his power, to those who would do this evil to him: but to return evil for evil, injury for injury is no more the best way to over­come it, than it's to heal a wound by cutting it deeper and lancing it wider, when otherwise it would quickly close of it self; and love would be like oyl poured in to supple and heal it. 4. The overcoming evil with good is so like to God, who does good every day to us and all man­kind, tho' we injure and provoke him; that our having such usage from him, should teach and learn us it, and incline us to practise it to our Brethren. If God should be presently enraged and resolve to revenge himself upon us for every in­jury we offer to Heaven, i. e. for every sin we commit, how sad and lamentable a case must we be in; we therefore that live by virtue of this good principle, that owe our lives, and all the mercies we en­joy to this virtue in God, whereby he spares us, tho' we provoke him; and is slow to anger tho' we sin against him, and revenges not himself upon us weak and impotent, and yet bold and daring Enemies: How should we feel the good of it to our selves and not practise it to others? Did not God deal otherwise with [Page 220]us, than revenge and anger inclines us to deal with others, how might he con­sume us every moment; and never wait to be gracious, nor let his goodness lead us to repentance, nor never let us enjoy the blessings of his common providence, but shut up the Heavens that they should not rain, and put out the Sun that it should not shine upon such evil and unjust, such sinfull and rebellious Creatures as we are? Nay, had he not been disposed to this Vit­tue, which is the very perfection and ex­cellence of the Divine Nature, he had not shown so much love and done so much good for sinners, as to send his own Son Christ into the World to die for us, even when we were Enemies to him, and to God that made us. We then that had perished for ever had it not been for this Vertue, how should we love and value it and endeavour to imitate it, and deal with our Brethren as God dealt with us! What an example of this our Savl­our has left, appears by his whole life, which was a perpetual suffering of in­juries and doing of good; and especially at his death, when he pray'd for his E­nemies, and being reviled he reviled not again, but as a sheep led to the slaughter he was dumb, and opened not his mouth, unless to pray for those who barbarously used and murdered him: and in this he [Page 221]left us an example that we should follow his steps. But Fifthly and Lastly, This is not a mere Christian perfection and a Noble Heroical degree of Virtue, which it's matter of advice to attain; but it's a necessary Christian duty, without which we shall not go to Heaven, nor be ca­pable of Pardon and Salvation at the hands of God. If we revenge the injuries that are done to us, God will not forgive us the sins we commit against him: he has expresly told us so, Matth. 6.15. Mark 11.26. Luke 6.37. and that with the same measure we mete to others it shall be measured to us again, even by God in another World, who will show him­self mercifull to those that are mercifull and froward to those who are froward; and to those who are revengefull and inexorable to their Brethren, he will be so too, when they stand in more need of mer­cy and forgiveness than any of their Bre­thren can at any time do of them. What are the degrees and measures of exerci­sing this Virtue, I cannot now exactly show you; but in general, to forgive an injury and not return it by another, to overcome it, not with evil but with good, is so much a duty to every Christian, that he shall not come to Heaven who does not in some measure perform it, and who notoriously and plainly acts contrary to it. [Page 222]Let us therefore, for the present Peace of our Lives, for the quiet of our Minds and for the everlasting Peace and Happiness of our Souls, endeavour to learn this Virtue, and not be overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

The Ninth Sermon.

AMongst all the many Argu­ments that there are for Re­ligion, and to perswade men to a good life, there are none so strong and so forcible if well consider'd, as those which are drawn from another World, and from a future state of rewards and punishments: There are indeed a great many that lie near and arise from several other considerations, [Page 224]from the tendency of Religion to make us happy in this World; from the mise­rable effects that most Vices have upon Men's Fortunes and Enjoyments; from the natural and intrinsick Goodness and A­miableness, that is in Virtue and Reli­gion, whereby it recommends it self to our minds, and the abominable filthiness and ugliness that is in Vice, and it's con­trariety to right reason as well as our true interest: by these and many other considerations Religion is strengthened on every side and planted round with such Arguments as are enough to defend it from most of the assaults that Vice and Wickedness can make upon it. But its strongest Hold, its main Fort wherein lies its greatest and impregnable strength, is the thoughts of another World, of a Hea­ven and a Hell hereafter; this will hold out if all the other should fail, and if Vice should be never so Fortunate and Hap­py, as it sometimes is in this World; if Wickedness should have as many Prizes as Virtue in this Lottery of things that is here below: yet there it would be sure to be the loser, and could have no pre­tences to vye and contend with Religion; there the account between 'em appears manifestly and notoriously different, with­out adjusting it by particulars, and making such abatements as we must often in this [Page 225]World. This is a plain and obvious, an universal and undoubted, and one would think, an irresistible Argument for Re­ligion, that depends not upon long rea­sonings and many observations, as some others do, but may be easily understood, and will strongly work upon all mankind; and therefore the Scripture does chiefly make use of it, and every where presses and suggests it to us, as the strongest san­ction of the Divine Law, and that which is the likeliest to prevail upon us, when 'tis fully believed and considered. The Rich Man here in the Parable, thought there was so much strength in it, now that he selt it, that he question'd not, but it would prevail even upon his wicked Brethren, if it were offered with all its advantage to 'em; if one went from the dead and told 'em what he suffered, and what they would certainly do, if they took not care in time, not to come in­to that place of torment: and there­fore he seems to have picht upon the likeliest way for this, when he request­ed Abraham, that a Messenger might be sent from the dead to 'em; if that might be granted by the Laws and Po­lity of the other World, there was no doubt sure but it would attain the effect and bring 'em to Repentance; such a Message as he would send 'em, such an [Page 226]account of things in the other World as he would give them, should surely work strangely upon 'em, and make 'em amend their lives. This he made no question of, for had it been his own case, were he to have lived again, after he knew so much as he did now, he would have been quite another man, and so should his Brethren one would think by such a way as this was; but Abraham tells him the quite contrary, If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be per­swaded, tho' one rise from the dead. This seems very strange, and will do much more so, when we consider particularly what Arguments a Messenger from the dead would bring along with him, to perswade a man to Repentarce; such as it is impossible sure not to be overcome by them; such as if they will not do, nothing else will: I shall offer some of them to you, and then endeavour to give you an account of what Abraham here says, If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be perswaded tho' one rose from the dead. And,

First, let us consider what strong and powerfull Arguments a Messenger from the dead would bring along with him to perswade a wicked man to Repentance; and in the

1. First place, he would satisfie him of the truth and certainty of such a place; that there is really a future state; that there is not an end of us when we go off from this Worldly Stage and Theatre, but that there is another life to suc­ceed this, wherein we shall receive as we have behaved our selves here. That the Soul when it is releas'd from the Bo­dy, and puts on a thinner and a lighter Vehicle, passes to the vast Regions of E­ternity, and there has a very different life from what it had here; when naked of all earthy matter, and not wanting any of the Conveniencies of its mortal state, its thoughts are more vigorous and spright­ly, and it understands more clearly and wills more freely, and acts more nimbly and expeditely and unrestrainedly. He could tell us how it feels it self, when it is first loosed from the Body, and strip'd naked of its fleshly Cloathing; whither it will betake it self next, and to what place it is convey'd; what reception it has at its first coming into the other World, and how it is provided for, when like a stranger it arrives at that unknown place. He would acquaint us how it was brought before the bar of God, and a Divine Judgment immediately pass'd up­on it, and so was Sentenc'd to its sinal state and irreversible doom, according to [Page 228]what it had done in the flesh whether it were good or evil; and therefore in the

2. Second place he would acquaint us with the Happy and Blessed state of good Souls there: If he were Lazarus as was desired here by the rich man, one that lay in Abraham's Bosom, and tasted of the Joys and Pleasures that are at God's right hand, what a ravishing account would he give us of those things, which no Eye upon Earth hath seen, nor Ear heard, neither hath it enter'd into the heart of any Man who hath not enjoy'd 'em to concieve what they are. He that had been an Inhabi­tant of the new Jerusalem, the Glori­ous City and Beautifull Palace of the great God; what a Description would he give of all the Glories of it, of all the Riches and Heavenly Treasures that are there laid up, of all the Crowns that are worn by every Citizen there, of all the man­sions that are there for every Soul; of all that blest Society of Angels and glorisied Spirits, of all the Orders of Cherubims and Seraphims, and all the Armies of Mar­tyrs; of the Glorious Throne of the Hea­venly King, and of the Lamb that sits upon it; of the lustre and brightness that shines in every place, and the Joy and Gladness that dances in every heart, and sparkles in every eye, and appears in e­very [Page 229]face; of the great Complacency and Delight that they have in one another, and the most inflamed Love and Chari­ty, with which they meet their fellow Saints; how they are infinitely Happy in themselves, and double all their Happi­ness by the sweet relish and tast they have of that of others as well as their own; how they live all in Raptures and Ex­tasies of Joy, and have their Souls over­flowed with those Rivers of Pleasure that are at God's right hand, and for ever stream from that Spring and Fountain of all good. In a word, that they enjoy such Pleasures and Delights, that he which selt 'em one moment, would be willing to endure all the Racks and the Tortures of the cruelest Persecutors that he might but once tast of 'em again: That those short afflictions are not worthy to be compared with them; that the great­est Pleasures and Delights in this World, are but saint and empty shadows and poor resemblances of 'em; and that he long, to be enjoying 'em again, and that he is impatient to be so long absent from 'em.

3. A Messenger from the dead would testisie also of the Misery and grievous Torments of Men wicked and sinfull. La­zarus that had seen the slames of Hell, tho' asar off, or Dives that had felt and [Page 230]been in the midst of them, would give a Tragical description of that place of horrors; he would tell us what a Dismal and Discon­solate place is that dark Prison, where they are shut up with hellish Fiends and accur­sed Spirits, who affright and insult over the wretched Soul; how they are there bound hand and foot with chains of darkness, not able to move any way for the least ease, nor call to any Friend to pity or comfort 'em; how they are always sink­ing into a dark and bottomless Pit, and lie for ever scalding in a Furnace of fire, rowling and scorching in a Lake of burn­ing Brunstone; where the raging flames with unexpressible pain enter the tender parts, and pierce through the Soul with their keenness and sharpness; how in the extremity of their Torments, the mise­rable wretches cry out and roar, and gnaw their tongues for pain, and blaspheme the God of Heaven because of their pains, Revel. 16.10, 11. How with Rage and Fury against themselves, cursing their own folly and madness, and swallow'd up with bitter despair, the remembrance of their own Guilt stings their enraged Conscience, and the never dying Worm gnaws and eats at their very hearts; and the anger of an Almighty and Incens'd God lies always heavy upon 'em, and his wrath presses 'em fore, and fills their Souls with all the [Page 231]dreadfull Ideas of sear and despondency: and in the midst of all this anguish there is one thing more terrible than all this, than all they feel, and that is the Appre­hension, that it shall last for ever, that there shall be no end of those Torments that they are not able to bear for one day; This, this is the bitterest and most sad circumstance that confounds the wretch­ed tormented Soul, and sharpens eve­ry pain it feels, and fills it with unexpressible Horror and Despair, that it must en­dure all this to insinite Ages, to a bound­less and never ending Eternity; and that after it has lain many thousand years in that place of Torments, it will still have as many to go through as it had at first. Oh, sad and dreadfull state! how grievous and intolerable does it appear to us, and how would one that had been in it re­present it? How if he had but as much Charity as Dives, would he warn us not to come into that place of Torments? how unwilling would he be to go back to it, how loth to end his message, and how desirous to give us an Eternal account of them, rather than endure 'em?

And now would a wicked Man be a­ble to resist this message? could he stand out against such Arguments as these are? would not these cool the heat of his Lusts, and damp all the Jollity of his most [Page 232]tempting Vices? Would not this spoil all their Charms and sully all their enticing Peauty and Gayety? Would not such a Ghostly Messenger appearing before him make his blood chill, and his joynts trem­ble, and the heart of the most hardy sin­ner be afraid at the sight of him, when he brought the terrible news to his bre­thren in wickedness, from one with whom they had often laugh'd at Religion, and the stories of Hell, and another World; with whom they had been often merry and that with those very things that they now hear the truth of, who thought them if not meer Bugbears and Fables, yet things a great way off and at a great distance, that they should not much trouble them­selves withall; when now they find all these are true, and are put in mind of 'em by such a way as this is, and they so nearly concern them, and are like in a little while to be their own Case? Sure­ly by all these they will be perswaded and brought to Repentance; I believe there is no sinner but thinks he himself should be perswaded by these means, and if God should use such an extraordinary way to convert him, this he questions not, but would do it; tho' now he is of another mind, and has no thoughts of leav­ing his sins, yet that he thinks would cer­tainly work upon him. He I doubt may [Page 233]be as much mistaken of himself, as Dives was of his Brethren, of whom Abraham, assures him, that if they heard not Moses and the Prophets, neither would they be per­swaded, tho' one rose from the dead. And that I may give you some account of the likelihood of this, and of the truth of what Abraham here says, I shall offer you these five considerations.

1. All the Arguments which a Mes­senger from the dead would bring along with him, and which are indeed so strong that when one seriously considers them, one would think it impossible to resist them, these we have already, and they have been offered to us with their full strength and advantage; we have been made acquainted with the immortality of our Souls, and a future state, with the Joys of Heaven, and the torments of Hell, these can be no new discoveries to us, that we never heard of before.

God in the Scripture had laid open the other World before us, and shown us the two vast and different parts of it; he had given a general notice of this to all Men by the light of Nature, by that they could discern that there was ano­ther Country that lay off from this; a­nother state after this life, wherein good men would be happy and wicked men miserable. This was known to all the [Page 234]old unskillfull World, before ever there was any Revelation, any pixis nautica, or any such Map or Chart, as we have now of the other World: they had not only a kind of guess or probable con­jecture of it, like Columbus of America, but something more that made it a re­ceived Article of the Heathen Religion; but this is made plainer to us by the Scriptures and Gospel Revelation, by which Life and Immortality is brought more clearly to light; so that all those Arguments are set before us, and that with the same strength and advantage that they could have been by a Messenger from the dead; He could bring us no more, nor any new ones, but only what we have already; God has informed us of what belongs to another World, so far as it is of any con­cern to us, and so much as is sufficient to make us take care about it; we can­not have better and fairer warning about those things, and we can have no strong­er or more powerful Arguments than we have already.

2. We have so much reason to believe the truth of those things, that they who will not be satisfied with that, neither would they be perswaded tho' they had a particular Messenger to certifie 'em a­bout them; we have a Divine Revelati­on added to natural light, and the univer­sal [Page 235]suffrage of mankind; we have had a number of Miracles and extraordinary Ef­fects of Divine power, to assure us of the truth of that Religion, that delivers us the belief of those things: We have had ma­ny Prophets sent from God, and with sufficient Credentials to satissie us that they were so, to Preach these things to us: We have had one come from Hea­ven, and after he was dead, rise again, and so become even a Messenger from the dead to us, and testisi'd all these things to be true. And if we will be such Scep­ticks as still to entertain doubts and dis­believe all these, we should be the same I fear, tho' we had one come from the dead to us; we should be apt to think it but a Spectre, a meer Image of Air or of Fancy, a Melancholy Mormo, or a waking Dream, and be inclined to think that we were impos'd upon by our own active Imaginations, and the many reports and stories we have heard of such things running in our minds; he that can dis­believe all the undoubted Arguments for the truth of Scripture, and reveal'd Reli­gion may run so far into Scepticism, as to dis-believe his senses, and to think e­very thing that appears to him to be fan­tastick and imaginary.

3. If he did believe it at that time, and were never so much startled and affright­ed at the surprizing apparition, yet in a little time the sense of it might wear off and he be never the better for it; it might put him into a sit of horror and conster­nation, as the hand on the Wall did Bel­shazzer, Dan. 5.6. so that his Countenance should change, and the joints of his loins be loosed and his knees smite one against another; but the sright might work upon his Bo­dy more than his Mind, and when that is over they might both return to their former and natural temper. Is it not u­sual for a great many, who by a dange­rous sit of lickness, are brought so near the other World, that they can almost see into it, and have at that time as firm a belief and as strong a sense of it, as if not only a Messenger from the dead came to them, but they were there themselves; yet these when they rise as it were from the dead, and return from the borders of another World, when they have recover­ed their health and are come into their old Company, their former Circumstan­ces and course of Life, how do they lose the sense of what they had in their sick­ness, tho' it were never so strong, and become the same Men they were before. Like persons in a shipwrack, when the next Wave is likely to be their Sepulchre, [Page 237]and they think themselves every moment sinking into the deep below; then they are greatly concerned, and make a great many Vows and Resolutions, which at that time they question not to keep: but when the storm and the fright is o­ver, they forget all their good Intentions, and their Religious Temper goes off, and they return to their former Temper of Mind. It must be a calm and gentle, a sedate and composed method that gene­rally works upon a Man's mind, and brings by degrees new Thoughts and Dispositi­ons into it, rather than a sudden and hasty fright, that only startles and amazes it; and 'tis that is more agreeable to the na­ture of a free and reasonable Creature, which is to be dealt withal by such a suitable and kindly procedure, rather than that which has nothing in it but force and violence.

4. As God does seldom humour Men by doing any thing that is Miraculous or Ex­traordinary, when they have sufficient or­dinary means, so if he would do it, it would hardly cure their perverse obstina­cy and infidelity; God is not willing to gratifie the wantonness or infidelity of mankind, and prostitute his Almighty pow­er to their Lusts and Follies by doing extraordinary things when there is no need of them: he will not work Mira­cles [Page 238]as fast and as often as the Atheist is pleas'd to call for 'em, when he has gi­ven him other sufficient demonstrations of a Divine power; he will not send an Angel to Preach his Laws over all the Earth, or to speak to men every day with a voice of Thunder, when he has other­wise sufficiently made known his will to them. Our Saviour would not come down from the Cross to satisfie the Cavils and unreasonable Request of an unbeliev­ing Jew, when he had done suffici­ent Miracles before to convince him; he would not give such a sign as was desi­red by an Evil and Adulterous Generati­tion, Mat. 12.39. when they had other signs enough. As this would make his Al­mighty power Cheap and Contempti­ble, to let it be at the pleasure and call of every unreasonable and humour­some person; so if he should exert it never so often, it would not have that effect we imagine upon them: for he, who is so unreasonable an Infidel and so obstinately unsatissied as to shut his Eyes against full Evidence and just Conviction, will never be wrought up­on in all likelihood by any thing that shall be done farther; though Heaven should be at a farther expence and tire it self as it were to do Miracles without End or Number, yet it would be still the same. [Page 239]Of this we have a very great instance in the Old Testament; Pharaoh, who had so many Miracles wrought before him, and as many Plagues as Miracles to make him Obedient to one Command of God, when he saw the Rivers and all the Water in his Country, turn'd into Blood, Exod. 7.19. when all his Land was covered with Frogs, and they came into his presence Chamber; when the dust of the Earth was become Lice, and he could not but confess, that this was the singer of God; when a great many more Miracles, of which he could not but have a very great sense, were done before his Eyes, yet still his obstinacy was too hard for 'em, and a Miracle beyond all the rest. Indeed when he was under the present smart of a Judgment, it would awaken him for a moment, Exod. 8.28. but as soon as it was removed, and he had re­spite, he was immediately hardned. And thus probably would an obstinate and hardned sinner, when a Messenger from the dead was talking with him, he would melt and soften, and cry out as Pharaoh, did, I have sinned, Exod. 9.27. and resolve at that time to let his sins go; but yet in a little time he would harden again and resolve not to part with 'em. Of this there is an instance as great and strange also in the New Testament, and that is not [Page 240]in a single Person, but in a whole Nation. The Jews in our Saviour's time tho they saw him do such works as never man did, such as out-did all that were recorded of any of their own Prophets; tho' they saw him raise the dead, and cure the sick, and were Eye-Witnesses of the daily Miracles he wrought amongst them, yet all this would not cure 'em of their obstinate Infidelity; nor could the Son of God use any reme­dy for their perverseness and wilfull incre­dulity: which plainly shows that men may arrive at such Stubbornness and Infi­delity, that even Miracles and the most extraordinary means will not work upon them. Where there is not such an ob­stinacy of the Will, but only a more in­nocent Ignorance caused by want of the same means that others have enjoyed; there those extraordinary Miracles would have another effect, as if the works which our Saviour did in Galilee had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they had long ago repen­ted in sack-cloath and ashes, as he tells 'em Mat. 11.21. and so if a Messenger had come from the dead to those that had never heard of Moses or the Prophets, or ne­ver had any Revelation or Means of know­ing those things another way, they would probably have been perswaded by him; but when Men have once stood out a­gainst the ordinary means that God has [Page 241]afforded them, there extraordinary ones will seldom prevail upon them, if God should think fit to make use of 'em; and that

5. As another reason why, if they heard not Moses and the Prophets, neither would they be perswaded tho' one rose from the dead; because the mind is so blinded by the love of its sins, and the Will so de­praved and corrupted by them, especial­ly by a long custom and habit continu­ed in against all the ordinary means of Grace, and all the powerfull considerati­ons of Religion, that it becomes utterly incurable. The love of Vice darkens a Mans mind, and blinds his reason and judgment, it bars up his Understanding against the plainest Truths, and makes him resolve not to believe that to be true, which it is his interest should be false; and from hence it is that a great many who would be glad that there were no Heaven or Hell hereafter, are brought to question the truth of them, and pretend not to be satisfi'd with that Account and Evidence that the Scripture gives of them: and if they had more, and the same that they do now require, to see one from the dead; yet the love of wickedness would still make 'em very unwilling to believe it, and their corrupted Wills would be too hard for their understandings; it [Page 242]would be very hard to convince them that that was true, which they had so great an inclination and so great a desire should be false. And from hence it is, that Men's Infidelity springs in matters of Reli­gion, not from want of sufficient Convicti­on to their understandings, but from a corruption, and pravity of their Wills, by which means their understanding has a cloud and a film drawn over it, so that it is quite darkned to the clearest and most evident light; they grow senseless and stupified, and their intellectuals are be­sotted, and their reason depraved and the whole mind sunk into such a miserable state and condition, that they are become such of whom the Scripture speaks, John 12.40. He hath blinded their eyes and hard­ned their hearts, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted so that God should heal them, and that neither with all the ordinary nor the extraordinary methods which he can use towards them. Let us therefore take care not to fall into such a sad state and condition, by indulging our selves in the love or the practice of any wilfull sin; which may by degrees so strangely hard­en and deceive us, so fascinate and be­witch us, that when it has baffled and overcome all the ordinary remedies of the Divine Grace and Providence, it shall be [Page 243]past all cure, and all possible recovery. We see how strangely some Men are en­slaved to their sins, tho' they see the great­est mischiefs that will certainly follow from them, that if they should see Hell it self even open before them, yet it would hardly prevail upon them: but let us consider the great arguments of Re­ligion, contained in Moses and the Pro­phets, Christ and the Apostles. God has given us a standing Canon and Revelati­on of his Will, which we may be sure contains all things in it that are necessary to perswade all Men to Repentance and carry 'em to Heaven; and 'tis this is the most proper and most perfect method that God has thought fit to make use of to that purpose, and much better than send­ing Messengers from the dead to do this, which would signifie nothing, unless they were sent in every particular Age, and to every particular Person: and what that could do, this the Holy Scriptures may do now, if we consider and attend to them. The Papists indeed seem to be something of the rich Man's mind, that the Scriptures are not sufficient, nor the best way to convert Men; and therefore they have taken away those from the people, and instead of them, have put their fabulous Legends, their stories of Purgatory, and of Men coming from the dead into their [Page 244]hands: but a well attested and consirm'd Revelation has infinitely the advantage of all those, and therefore by those and by what is contained in them, let us be per­swaded from a course of wickedness and impiety: Let those powerfull considera­tions of another World, which are there laid before us, prevail upon our hearts; and let us not hope if we neglect those or­dinary and sufficient means, which God has appointed for that purpose, that we shall be made good, or converted by any miraculous or extraordinary methods of Divine Grace; for if we hear not Moses and the Prophets, and much more Christ and his Apostles, neither should we be per­sivaded tho' one rose from the dead.

The Tenth Sermon.

ST. Paul speaks these words to the Ci­tizens of Athens, in their great Court of Judicature, whither he was brought by the Philosophers and Learned Men of that University, v. 19. the Epicureans and the Stoicks, with whom he had been disputing about his Religion, and they were willing to bring him to that publick place, and to those great men that used to be there; not to have him Judged or Accused before them, as Socrates was formerly, for that appears not, and St. Paul had free liberty and went away without any restraint, v. 33. but only to gratify their Curiosity, and [Page 246]to hear of the new Religion and the new God that they suppos'd he Preacht, for the Athenians, as they were desirous of all other news, v. 21. so especially in Religion, being the most forward to admit all fort of Gods they heard of, into their Worship, and the most inclin'd to Reli­gion, such as it was of all the Greeks, [...], as Josephus and Pausanias speak of them. It is thought therefore by some, even Chrysostom and Oe­cumenius, that St. Paul means the same here by [...], and took occasion here to commend 'em, and so the better to insinuate himself, and like a skilfull Orator perswade 'em to the true Religion, and that these words of his were design'd as a Com­pliment to 'em, and may be taken in a good sense; but then he did not continue it, but spoke against the Idolatry that was a­mongst 'em, and their representing the Godhead by gold or silver, or stone graven by art and man's device, v. 29. From the Al­tar indeed that he saw among the other [...] v. 23. or the Images they wor­shipt, with this inscription To the unknown God, he took a fair occasion of Preaching the true God to them, supposing at least that they meant him, and that they ignorant­ly worship'd him that was the Creator, and the Supream, tho' it is hard to conceive how they meant, or knew him to be so, [Page 247]when he was the [...] the unknown to them by their own Confession; How­ever they acknowledged that there was a Deity, which they wanted among those of their City, and that they were at a loss for him; and therefore St. Paul made use of this, and thought it a seasonable oppor­tunity to Preach the true God to them whe­ther they meant him by their Altar or no.

There have been disputes about this a­mong Learned men, but I intend not to con­sider 'em or the particalar superstition of the Athenians, which consisted probably in a Re­ligious and Ignorant forwardness of wor­shipping all manner of Daemons and Dei­ties, that they could hear of; and all the Heathen Polytheism was such a supersti­tion, and arose from that ground: but I intend to discourse to you of superstition in general, and that not of the significa­tion of the word and its Etymology, but of the thing it self, and what is truly meant by it, what is the nature of it, and wherein it consists. Superstition is a word that has made a great noise in the world, and, like other words of ambiguous and uncertain meaning, it has been clapt upon whatever men pleased, and been made a phrase to denote whatever they dislike in a Religion, whether they have reason for it or no; it has stood for a mark of what is to be hated, tho' they cannot tell why; to beget [Page 248]an aversion to a thing and a suspicion of something ill in it, tho' they cannot clear­ly see or understand it. Indeed superstiti­on has been the great Discase of Religi­on, it has like a Canker eat into the heart of it and consumed it, it has put it ge­nerally into a great heat, but often into a Frenzy too, and grows sometimes to a Religions distraction. 'Tis that by which the Devil when he cannot destroy the natural sense of a God and Religion out of Mens minds, yet so darkens and disor­ders it, that it may be of no great use to them, nor do much to destroy his in­terest or Kingdom in the World; it is too apt to grow up in weak, and not seldom in good and pious minds; it sadly over-run all the Heathen World, and too soon crept into the Christian Church; it sticks like a secret Leprosie to many, even holy things, and the Priests themselves do not discern it; and it is as common as any where among those who are the loudest and fiercest in exclaiming against it. But that we may understand what is the true nature of it, I shall endeavour to give you as clear an account of it as I can, in the following method.

1. By giving a general Definition or Description of it, and explaining the parts of that.

2. By considering some particular in­stances of Superstition, and examining o­thers that are accounted so.

3. By enquiring into the true Cau­ses of it, and the right means to avoid it.

I. By giving a general definition, &c. Now I would thus define superstition; 'Tis such a mistaken apprehension of God and Reli­gion, as makes us worship him in an undue manner, and place Religion in those things in which it does not really con­sist.

1. 'Tis an apprehension of God. The superstitious have a great sense upon their minds of a powerfull being above 'em; that there is a God who is the invisible Lord of the World. This is the common belief of the religious and the supersti­tious. The Atheist, who thinks there is no such Being, no spiritual and invisible Powers above him, but that these are all the Spectres of fear and fancy, and the melan­choly Images of our own scared Thoughts and Imaginations, he calls all Religion Su­perstition, and thinks it the best way to free Mens minds from the slavish fears of a Be­ing above them, to deny either him or his Providence, and clear his mind if he can from all the thoughts of Religion, that so horribly oppress it and keep it in bondage.

This is a mad and an extravagant pro­ject, and what he was encourag'd to from the folly and wildness of superstition, and the mischief that it had done in the World, and from laying all the scelerosa, atque im­pia facta, all the Villanies which that had committed, to the charge of Religion. This is very dis-ingenuous and unjust, and the other is a very false extravagance to expell the thoughts of a God, in order to the quiet and ease of our minds. There is no such reason for fear and melan­choly in the belief of a God, if we have true and right Conceptions of him; 'tis matter of the greatest Comfort to us, to think there is an Almighty Being to take care of us, and to do us good; to keep the World orderly, and to govern all things below. We have all reason to rejoyce in our having such a common Fa­ther to provide for us, and such a Go­vernor to protect us, who is wise and good as well as powerfull, which is the No­tion of a God: sad would be our Condi­tion if there were not such a being, and I know no such melancholy considerati­on, as that which the Atheist supposes to be the remedy for all his fears and disquietudes, the believing there is no God; for then we take away all true hope and comfortable trust, and have nothing at all to support our sinking minds, nor to [Page 251]relieve the necessities of mankind; so that tho' superstition believe a God, yet the belief does not make Men superstitious; but,

2. 'Tis a wrong and mistaken appre­hension of this God, the believing him to be a severe and cruel Being, arm'd indeed with irresistible power, but arbitrary and wilfull in the use of it, and that may pro­bably do infinite mischief, and only ruin and destroy his innocent Creatures with it; that may make them only to be the pastime of his rage, and the sport and en­tertainment of his Almighty revenge, and may damn the greatest part of 'em to E­ternal flames, only to show his Groatness and incontrolable Power over them: or if he be not thus Cruel and Tyrannical, yet that he is froward and pettish, hard to be pleased and easily provoked; that it is next to impossible to please him, and utterly so to be reconcil'd to him when be is angry: such thoughts as these of God, may very well produce a supersti­tious and uncomfortable dread of him, and sill the mind with nothing but ter­ror and astonishment, and a dismal un­certainty and perplexity; and in these black colours superstition always draws him with gastly look and terrible visage; with a brow always threatning, and a hand Armed with Thunder, and ready [Page 252]to strike without any regard to the merit or behaviour of those that are un­der him. And were God such a Be­ing as this, without natural Justice or es­sential Righteousness, were not his good­ness as infinite as his power, and were not one as much his nature as the other, then indeed we might live as miserably under the thoughts of him, as the most timorous Slave does under his merciless Patron, or the poorest Prisoner under his insolent Keeper; and what will not such fearfull wretches do to appease the an­ger of such a God, as they think is o­ver them? what is so mean and base, what so foolish and silly, what so cru­el and barbarous, that they will not per­form to satisfie this devouring Moloch? It is very strange that ever Men should think the burning their Children alive, should be an acceptable duty in Religion; or that cut­ting their own throats should please their Gods; but when they have had such dread­full apprehensions of them, no wonder that these cruel things were made the offices of their Religion, which were so suited to the conceptions of their Gods; For in the

3. Third place, these mistaken appre­hensions of God, will put Men upon wor­shipping him in an undue manner; the acts of worship and offices of Religion [Page 253]will be suitable to the conceptions we have of the Divine nature, if we think God is a severe and a cruel being, we shall think he delights in nothing so much as in bloody Sacrifices, and in having his Al­tars reek with Human gore, which was be­come a very general custom, and a common office of the Gentile Religion; and the Devil, without doubt, endeavoured to bring mankind into this abominable su­perstition, by representing God to be such an one as himself, and by making his own Diabolical temper, to be the Image and Character of the Divine nature, by thus setting up himself as the Idol of God; this horrid worship did terminate in him, and what the Gentiles thus offered they Sacrificed to Devils and not to God, 1 Cor. 10.20. But if we have other con­ceptions of God very unsuitable to his nature, if we think he is not a wise and righteous, but a vain being, that will be pleased with little and outward things, with affected Formalities and studied Com­pliments, with officious Addresses and appearing shows, with adorning Images and pompous Processions; then all our Religion quickly runs into those trifling things, and to be sure, it will some way be defe­ctive, if it have not a very right Foun­dation, a true conception of God and his Nature.

4. This will necessarily bring Men to wrong apprehensions of Religion, and to place it in those things in which it does not consist; it will make them think God is pleased with what is no way a­greeable to his nature, or else displeased with what is no way contrary to it: God's Love or Hatred to any thing, is found­ed in his Nature, and if we mistake in that, we shall do so in his Will too, which is always Regulated and Conduct­ed by the essential rectitude and perfe­ctions of his Nature; and this, as 'tis the truest Original, so 'tis the best Inter­preter of the Will of God: but supersti­tion that knows not God aright, as it is afraid of him, as of a Friend in the dark, so in other things it fears where no fear is; and yet thinks to oblige by such pi­tifull things as would hardly please a wise Man, and much less a wise God; it will keep off from some very innocent things, as if all the bane of the seven dead­ly sins were in them, and yet will swal­low down many a Camel, whilst it strains so hard at a single Gnat; it will be as punctual and zealous in some little per­formances as if they were the sum and substance of Christianity, tho' they are perhaps hardly the shell and outside of it: and what is the main and the sub­stantial part of it, that it shall think of [Page 255]little worth, in Comparison to the other; it shall fall short of the plain and moral duties of Religion, and over-do it in the positive ones to make amends or com­mute for the other; it shall seem in some things to be an excess of Religion, as some have defined superstition; but 'tis but as the Rickets is an excess of Nou­rishment in some parts that want it not, whilst the others do consume and pine away; 'tis really the defect of Religion. It shall seem to court God and flatter him, but not love him; for superstition is often a sort of religious flattery that make; more than ordinary pretences, and gives greater shows of kindness to Hea­ven, but yet fails in performing that true and honest service which it ought; it is for offering something of its own, and thinks to please God with its little Inven­tions, whilst it denies him that which he requires of his; but these are but ge­neral Characters and Descriptions of su­perstition. I proceed in the

2. Second place to consider some par­ticular instances of it, and to examine a few of those that are accounted such and are not so. And

1. I account all the Heathen Polytheism, and Worship of many Deities, Heroes and Daemons, and their Inferior Gods to be the first and truest part of superstition, [Page 256]this is [...] in the strictest sence of that word, and was such as the Athenians were greatly guilty of, and charged with it here by St. Paul; for all Idolatry, tho' it be a breach of the second command, yet is truly superstition, which is said to be a breach of the first; it arises from a very mistaken notion of the true God, and from an immoderate fear of all those other beings that it supposes under him; and next to him in power and other per­fection; it thinks them worthy of Di­vine Honour and Veneration, and that they are the Authors of very great bles­sings and favours to mankind; and that they ought to have addresses made to them, to be pray'd to in sickness and in danger, and under any affliction or extre­mity: and so makes it self a Pensioner to them, and lives not only under the fear and awe of those, but under expectati­ons from, and dependencies upon those as well as the supreme and the great God. This was the true ground of the Hea­then Polytheism and Idolatry: They took the inferior Deities to be the Ministers of State and Governors of the World under the Supreme, and they Worshipt them as their immediate and particular Patrons; and as is plain from Maximus Tyrius, they accounted them their Medi­ators, by whom they made their addres­ses [Page 257]to the greatest God; this was thought by them to be an humble deference to him, who was too great to have imme­diate worship or prayers offer'd to him, by persons so much below him, and there­fore they made use of others; and so in time forgot the supreme, and paid no Religi­ous offices to him at all, but gave away that honour and worship that was due only to him, to the meanest, and to the worst of his Creatures, and even to the wicked Angels and to the Devils them­selves: and how sad was the superstition of the Heathen World, and how the know­ledge of the true God was almost quite lost among 'em, before the coming of our Saviour, who came to destroy all false worship and superstition, both the Scrip­tures and the Heathens themselves suffi­ciently inform us.

2. The next instance of superstition to the Heathen Polytheism and very near of kin to it, is that of worshipping Saints and Angels, Images and Reliques, which is too notoriously practis'd in the Church of Rome: This is so rank and open a su­perstition, that it comes up to the truest Etymology of the Greek and Latin word, [...], which if good Beings are Angels, and the Souls that are departed, being the superstites that they suppose now living in Heaven, which agrees with the [Page 258]account that Tully and Lactantius give of it. This worship of Angels was a very ancient superstition of some Heretical Chri­stians, which St. Paul cautions against, Colos. 2.18. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and wor­shipping of Angels. This it seems was sup­posed to be a point of humility upon some account, I suppose upon the prin­ciple of the Gentiles, that they thought it too great a thing to address to the Ma­jesty of God, without the Angels as Me­diators: but besides that, this is an En­croachment upon the Office of Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and Man, 1 Tim. 2.5. to choose other Mediators for our selves: It is the put­ting the Angels upon an Office, they were never appointed to by God, and a superstitious trust and confidence placed in them, without any manner of ground, and intruding into those things which we have not seen, Col. 2.18. and a new sort of worship which the Scripture hath no where Commanded or Countenanc'd, but expresly forbidden, Rev. 19.10. And such is the superstitious reverence given to I­mages and Reliques, as if there were a­ny thing Sacred in them; or any Vertue to be expected by them, or the relation they had to the Person or Prototype were a sufficient ground of giving religious Ho­nour [Page 259]and Worship to them; I know not whether the folly of this superstition, or the sin be greater, 'tis as low in many cases as any almost among the Heathens: and the Egyptians worshipping the spots upon the Apis, the Ibis and the Herbs of their Garden, as thinking a Divine Ver­tue resided in them, is very near as in­nocent and defensible.

3. Another instance of superstition, is to think to please God with greater acts of severity and mortification than he has required, and to place a higher perfection in those things, than in all the other parts of Religion, which God himself has commanded.

This was a very early superstition in the very beginning of Christianity, when some of the Hereticks were not contented with the plain and excellent duties of Faith and Love, and Meekness, and the like; but they must be for something more singular and extraordinary, that made a greater show of more abstinence and se­verity and self-denial, and had, as the A­postle says, a show of wisdom in will worship and humility and neglecting of the body, Col. 2.23. and they would deny themselves all the Lawfull and Innocent pleasures of Life, and would abstain from all man­ner of Wine and Flesh, and use great­er Watchings and Fastings than the o­ther [Page 260]Christians generally did, and forbid all Meats and Marriages, with a touch not, tast not, handle not; so Epiphanius tells us the Gnosticks did, and the Ebionitos, who were every day baptized and carefully abstained from all Flesh, and were so afraid of Wine, that they cele­brated the Eucharist only in Water, and so were called Aquarii: And thus did Marcion and Montanus, and the Mani­chees pretend all to very great abstinencies and severities, and affect something very singular and self-denying that Christiani­ty never requir'd of them; they thought that was too low in those things, and they were therefore for adding to it some purer and higher precepts of strictness, which neither Christ nor his Apostles e­ver requir'd. 'Tis from these Schools of the Hereticks, that our Roman Catho­licks have learnt their rules of Perfecti­on, and have set up their Monkish So­cieties, like those of the Essens and Py­thagoreans, wherein they pretend to greater abstinencies and self-denials, and to a high­er sort of Christianity than what the Go­spel has any where commanded: but sure­ly our Saviour knew as well as these Men wherein the perfection of Religion lay; and he has given us as perfect and sublime Laws and Directions of Vertue, as could be; and however these greater [Page 261]severities look more plausible and more self-denying, yet they are forced and unnatural, a sort of Stoical or Cynical In­stitution, rather than Christian, a taking Men off from doing greater good and be­ing more usefull to the World, a Refle­ction, a Disparagement upon the Gospel as not giving us the best rules and the most perfect precepts, but that we can invent better and higher our selves; and, in a word, a superstitious and unground­ed belief that there is any thing evil or unlawfull in the Natural and Innocent Enjoyments that God has no where for­bidden and restrain'd us from; and that the abstaining from those is a way bet­ter to please God and to recommend our selves to him, than by living up to the plain and honest duties of the Gospel. This part of superstition which lies in a show of greater humility and severity, and abstinence, is mighty apt to cheat the World, and therefore it has been made use of generally by those who would draw people into their Communion and Party; and it has done no little service to the Papists on one side, who tell us of their vows of Poverty and Chastity, their hair shirts, and their other severities; and the Quakers on the other side, who affect a show of humility and singulari­ty in their Garb and their Words, and [Page 262]think that 'tis Religion not to speak or be habited as other people, nor to use the common expressions of Civility and good Manners; but no where has Christ or his Religion Commanded us to be Cynicks, nor did he give us any such example by any affected singularity in his own life; but has bid us live innocently and love one another, and told us that this is the perfection of Christianity, where­by we shall know that we are his Disci­ples, and not by any Monkish severities or superstitious abstinencies and self-deni­als of what is Lawfull and Innocent; We may use those upon account of Pru­dence, or by reason of some particular Circumstances, but to place Religion in doing so, that is superstition.

I might name a great many other in­stances of superstition in the Roman Church, in their Pilgrimages and visit­ing of Shrines, in their whipping them­selves, and going bare-foot, in their Penan­ces, their Masses and Indulgencies; where­by they place Religion in very foolish and ridiculous things of no manner of worth or value, and think to please God and atone for their sins, and reconcile them­selves to Heaven, by such performances as God has no where commanded, and are no way proper for it.

4. A great part of superstition lies in ascribing a Divine Virtue and Power to such things as are meerly natural and have no such Virtue in them; as the ma­king every accident a sign of something, as the Heathens did the flight of Birds, ( [...] in Homer) and some now a Hare's crossing the way; as if these Natural Accidents were Divine Omens, and portended any evil, and that God made them notices of his mind to us, which we have no reason to believe; so the feeding of Chickens, croaking of Ravens, the [...] striking a staff against the ground, to which the Prophet is thought to refer Hosea 4.12. [...], and the other au­spicious signs, as Lightning on the right hand, [...] in Homer, and with us the falling of the Salt, which Suidas calls, [...] to be supersti­tious observers of signs, as if they were made such by a secret Divine significati­on, when they are not: So the observing Ominous and Auspicious days, as if there were any secret Virtue in them, is an old Heathenish superstition, as we may see in Hesiod his [...] one of the oldest Hea­then Poems. And generally 'tis the same natural superstition, and ascribing Occult and Divine Virtues to such things as have no such thing in them, to which God has no way annext any such Virtue or [Page 264]Power, as the using Spells, Charms, Ma­gical knots, and Ligatures, and the like, which St. Austin calls, execranda superstitìo; and the observing dreams and such na­tural things, which proceed only from natural causes, as if there were something Divine in them; this is a great spice of the Heathen superstition.

5. A great part of Superstition lies in pla­cing the main substance of Religion, in some positive and external duties, that are only of lesser value, as the Jews did in their keeping Fasts and Sabbaths, and offer­ing Sacrifices and observing Circumcision, and the other Rites of their Law; which tho' they were commanded by God, yet the placing Religion chiefly in them, and not in inward Goodness and Righteous­ness, was what the Prophets always con­demned and reproved them for, as you may see, Isa. 1.11. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he­goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts? bring no more vain oblations, in­cense is an abomination to me, your new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies I can­not away with, your new moons and appointed feasts my soul hateth; v. 16. Wash you, make [Page 265]you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppres­sed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

6. Superstition may lie in the opinion of indifferent things that are used for or­der and decency in religious worship, as if there were any true sanctity on one side, or any real sin on the other in the use of them. To say that no Indifferencies and Ceremonies must be used in the wor­ship of God, but what he has command­ed, is to condemn the Jewish and the Christian Church, and even all Parties in Religion, who can never worship God without some such; and therefore 'tis true superstition to think there is a sin in those, and that God will be displeased at what is no way sinfull and unlawfull in it self, and is confess'd not to be so before it is imposed, when it is imposed for mere order and decency: so on the other side 'tis superstition to think there is any real sanctity in those, or that they are true parts, and not meerly Circumstances of worship; that there is a real Goodness in the things themselves and that they are a means to please God and procure his favour; and that there is such a Vertue in them to do this meerly for themselves, tho' there were no human authority re­quired them of us; As the Jews thought [Page 266]of the Traditions of their Elders.

But the charge of superstition is brought nearer to us, and laid to our own Church, and it concerns us rather to vindicate our selves than to lay it upon others. We blame the Papists for placing Religion in such things as God has not commanded, and for a superstitious use of several Rites and Ceremonies no where prescribed in the Gospel; but do not we our selves com­mit the same fault in using a great many Rites and Ceremonies in our worship, which are no where commanded of God, and are only human inventions and im­positions, and therefore superstitious? This therefore I design to enquire into, which is a great stumbling block to many who do not well understand superstition, and are superstitiously afraid of it, where there is no such thing; nor are well acquainted with the nature and design of those Rites which are used in the Church of Eng­land, and what it self teaches concerning them.

I shall therefore in this place examine whether to use any thing in the worship of God, which he himself has not com­manded, be superstition; and to vindicate our Rites and Ceremonies from such an imputation, and particularly those bodi­ly acts of worship, which are most su­spected to be so, kneeling at the Sacra­ment, [Page 267]and the like; and that I may do this to the satisfaction of all persons who do not resolve that they will never be satisfied; I shall offer these several things about this matter.

1. If it be superstition to use any thing in the worship of God, which he himself has not commanded, and which is not prescribed by a Divine Law, then the Dis­senters themselves, be they of what Par­ty or Denomination soever, are very guil­ty of superstition; for they all of them use a great many things in their wor­shipping of God, for which there is no Divine Law or Command; as for Exam­ple, where is it Commanded that they shall use a conceived prayer of their own and not pray by a form? Where is it Commanded that they should receive the Sacrament sitting and not kneeling? Where is it Commanded that the Minister shall be cloathed in black, and shall not wear a Surplice when he Officiates? those things that are in use among them are no more Commanded by a Law of God, than those among us.

2. If it be superstitious to use any thing in the worship of God, that God himself has not prescribed, then what shall we think of several things that the Jews used in their worship, which God had not Commanded, and yet, both our Sa­viour [Page 268]and his Apostles complied with them, in 'em; as for Example, in all their Synagogue-worship, whither our Saviour and his Apostles often resorted, and yet they had no Command for it in their Law, but only for their worship at the Tem­ple or Tabernacle; They had no Com­mand in their Law for Reading and Preach­ing Moses there every Sabbath day, as was accustomed, Acts 15.21. nor for that form of Prayer and Liturgy which they used there, and in which, no doubt, but our Saviour and his Apostles joyned with them; Nay, there was no express Law for all their Temple worship, nor for building their Temple, nor for their Pray­ers and their Hymns there, which were a great many of them appointed by Da­vid and their other Governors; there was no precept for their hours of Prayer, which were observed by the Apostles, Acts 3.1. there was no Divine Command for the Feast of the Dedication, at which our Saviour was present, John 10.22. and yet he never in the least reproved those unappointed usages as having any thing of superstition in them; but complied with them and countenanc'd them by his own Example: So in the Passover which is a very considerable rite and part of Jewish worship, our Saviour used the po­sture of lying and discumbency in the eat­ing [Page 269]of it, tho' that was not the posture Commanded in the Law, and at the first institution of it, Exodus 12.11. but taken up afterwards by the Jewish Church, when they were settled with ease and liberty in the Land of Canaan; and the Cup of Charity also, that was not of Di­vine institution, yet this our Saviour u­sed also, after the manner of the Jews, Luke 22.17. and was pleased to conform to many innocent and inoffensive rites of the Jewish Church in their Divine wor­ship, though they were not all of them expresly Commanded or Prescribed by God.

3. The whole Christian Church did use some things in their worship, which were no way Commanded by Christ. The Holy kiss or the kiss of Charity, which is mention'd Romans 16.16. 1 Pet. 5.14. was an outward symbol of Love and Cha­rity, which the Christians used at their meeting at Prayers and the Sacrament; and such were their Love Feasts or Feasts of Charity, which were Celebrated toge­ther with the Lords Supper, 1 Cor. 11. [...]0. Jude 12. These were only such rites, as the Christians, without any Command of Christ, thought fit to join with the most solemn parts of the Christian wor­ship; and yet they were of so indifferent and alterable a nature that the Christian [Page 270]Church has thought it matter of prudence to lay them aside; And whoever is ac­quainted with the state of the Christian Church in its purest times and immedi­ately after the Apostles, knows there were several Ecclesiastical rites appointed by the Governors of it, and several Canons made in their Synods and Councils concern­ing indifferent things; as there was before by the Apostles in the Council of Hierusalem, Acts 15.29. prudential rules and orders con­cerning blood and things strangled, which they then impos'd upon the Gentiles for that time, but yet the obligation of them does not continue: And he that will defend that Doctrine, that nothing is Lawfull in the worship of God, that is not prescribed by himself, must not only condemn all the Reform'd Churches abroad, who both pra­ctice and teach otherwise in all their Con­fessions; but the whole Catholick Church ever since Christ and his Apostles, which has found it necessary to appoint many external rites in their religious service.

4. It is impossible in the nature of the thing to perform Divine worship with­out some rites and usages, that God has now here Commanded; nor is it possible to make Laws concerning these to reach all places, for they must alter according to the several Manners and Customs of different People and Countries. We must [Page 271]worship God with all signs of Ho­nour and Reverence, with respect and decency becoming so great a Majesty; but the marks and outward signs of Ho­nour alter and change according to Cu­stoms, and Places, and People, that 'tis impossible particularly to determine them. As for Example, pulling off the Shoe is a sign of Honour and Reverence in the Eastern Countries, as pulling off the Hat with us; and to this it is thought the precepts of the wise man alludes, Eccles. 5.1. Keep thy foot when thou goest into the house of God, i. e. be carefull to show all manner of Reverence in his presence, as the Jews did, who always went barefoot into God's house, as the Mahometans, I think, do still into their religious places; but this would be a very odd and ir­reverent thing with us. It was no irre­verence among the Jews to have their heads covered in Divine worship, at their Pray­ers and Sacrifices, when the Priests con­stantly wore their Caps and Bonnets, and sometimes Veils and other coverings; and so Plutarch says it was accounted come­ly among the Romans to be covered at their worship, but among the Graecians it was quite otherwise, and at Corinth, where St. Paul declares it to be an act of irreverence, for the Men to Pray or Prophesie, having the head covered, 1. [Page 272] Cor. 11.4. tho' it was otherwise for the Women. And therefore since matter of decency and order depends upon particu­lar Customs and Places, and Circumstan­ces, and is in it self variable and muta­ble; there cannot be a Law given to de­termine it in all places; nor is it possi­ble to have all the little Rites and Cir­cumstances of religious worship be com­prehended in a Divine Law; and there­fore in the

5. Fifth place, God has left those to be determined by particular Churches and Governors, and has only command­ed the substantials of his worship, and given general Rules for all things to be done decently and in order, 1 Cor. 14.40. and for mutual edification; and the lesser circumstances and adjuncts that be­long to Divine worship, those he has lest undetermined and indifferent; and those to whom he has committed the Govern­ment of the Church, they are to settle those for prevention of confusion and dis­order, according to the rules of Prudence and those general measures which God has given in the Gospel. It is plain he has no where Commanded them himself, nor can there be any particular directo­ry for them produced out of the Scrip­tures; and as plain it is that there would be perpetual confusion and disorder in [Page 273]the Church if these were not appointed in several places, by those who are Go­vernors of it: and when they are so they are to be obeyed and observed, when there is nothing in them that is contrary to a Law of God; they cannot be unlawfull, when no Law forbids them, but they may become necessary in their use, when they were in­different in their nature, by a Lawfull Authority 's commanding them; and surely there can be no sin or superstition in them upon that account. Which that I may then clear the particular Ceremonies and Impositions of our Church from, I shall ve­ry freely and openly give you my thoughts in some farther particulars, about the lawfull and the superstitious use of these things in the worship of God.

1. I own that there ought to be no new parts of worship other than what God himself has appointed; there may be new circumstances and adjuncts appoin­ted, but no real and substantial parts of Divine worship: As for Example no hu­man Authority can institute new Sacra­ments, as the Church of Rome does, or more Sacramental parts of worship, than those two which Christ himself has ap­pointed, to wit, Baptism and the Lord's Supper; but whether Baptism shall be per­formed by sprinkling or by dipping, that is but a circumstance which the Church may determine, according to the diffe­rence [Page 274]of the Climate or the strength of the Child, or the season of the year; and is left to every Minister's discretion in his own Church, and so also whether it shall be by single or a trine immersion; this, as not being an essential of Baptism, has been variously determined. So in the o­ther Sacrament none can add or take a­way from an essential part of Christ's own Institution, as the Papists do in de­priving the Laity of the Cup; but whe­ther we shall take this in a posture of sit­ting or kneeling, or (which is very anci­ent) standing, is not essential to it, but what the Church may appoint, as it thinks most becoming so solemn a Duty, and most suiting the Prayers and Devotions that are joyn'd with it, which no doubt kneeling is. So farther to use Adoration and Invocation to God alone, and not to An­gels or Saints, is a necessary duty; but whe­ther we should pray to God with a form or without it, this is not necessary, tho' the former be much more convenient in pub­lick, to prevent the many faults and un­decencies of extemporary effusions: so whe­ther we adore God by bowing, or by prostration, or by kneeling, or by stand­ing, as the ancient Church did between Easter and Pentecost, is only a new man­ner or circumstance of adoration, not a new act or part of it. And this I have the more carefully illustrated, that we [Page 275]may see the difference between parts of worship, and only accidents and appenda­ges and circumstances of worship; The Church of England appoints only the lat­ter, not any substantial worship or any parts of it, but what God himself has ap­pointed, as will appear farther.

2. That which is in it self very Lawfull and Innocent may become superstitious by the opinion which he that uses it, has of it; as if he thinks it is a means to please God, and procure his favour, and that it has such a vertue in it self to do this, as that God would be pleased with us for the doing this, and displeased with us if we should not do it, meerly for it self, tho' there were no human Authori­ty that required it of us; as the Jews thought that their washing of their hands would please God, and that it was a de­filement of their Consciences to eat with unwashen hands, which was the mistake our Saviour reproves them for, Mat. 15.20. their superstitious opinion of that Ceremo­ny, and the Tradition of their Elders to think that it was a piece of Sanctity and Re­ligion to wash their hands, and that it was a sin and real defilement of their Conscien­ces, not to do it; to ascribe a true spiritual Vertue to an outward Ceremony, as that it expiated inward guilt, and was not a meer indifferent matter of decency, which was the true fault of the Jews in that mat­ter. [Page 276]And such a superstitious opinion the Papists have of their Holy Water, that it cleanses them from venial sins, and drives away the Devil; as they also say of the sign of the Cross, that it has a pro­per efficiency against the power of the Devil; and that their Ceremonies have a real efficacy, and produce spiritual ef­fects upon those that use them; that they are operative of Grace, or that they have any proper and real goodness in them, antecedent to the Command of Authori­ty, and their being subservient to meet order and decency, and to the exter­nal solemnity of Religion. This in­deed makes them superstitious, and this the Pharisees thought of their Traditi­ons, and therefore taught for Doctrines the Commandments of Men, Matthew 15.9. i. e. their own commands and im­positions, as if they had had a like Di­vine Authority and Institution, and had had an equal Authority if not superiour to the Laws of God; for they sometimes made void the Law of God by their Tra­ditions. But this the Church of England wholly disclaims, and therefore in the

3. Third place, its own declarations concerning the nature and use, and de­sign of all its Rites and Ceremonies do sufficiently vindicate it, from the least shadow or semblance of superstition. It declares that it looks on the Rites and [Page 277]Ceremonies used in the Liturgy, as things in their own nature indifferent and al­terable, and that changes and altera­tions may be made as seems necessary or expedient to those in Authority; and that every Country is at liberty to use their own Ceremonies, and that it neither con­demns others nor prescribes to them. These are its own words in the Preface to the Common Prayer, and there is most excellent Temper and Wisdom in them; it declares that they are appointed only for order and decency, and not for any virtue or spiritual efficacy; it declares concerning kneeling at the Sacrament, that it is only a decent posture, and that it is not design'd to give any Adoration to the Elements. Concerning the Cross in Baptism it makes it no part of the Sacra­ment, but owns the Child to be Bap­tiz'd without it, and requires it not in private Baptism, and that 'tis only a sign that the Child is become the Disci­ple of the Crucifi'd Jesus, and is not a­sham'd to wear his Badge upon it; it at­tributes no peculiar holiness to its Cere­monies as the Papists do to theirs; it as­cribes no spiritual vertue and efficacy, nor makes them operative of Grace, but declares that they are only for order and decency, and are indifferent in their own nature, even after they are determined, and that they are required only by ver­tue [Page 278]of that general obedience that we owe to lawfull Authority. And he that will think there is any superstition in these, may in time come to the Quakers prin­ciple, and think it superstition to pull off his hat; but so far is the Church of Eng­land from all the superstitions of the Ro­man Church, and so wise and moderate in its whole constitution, that as I be­lieve it in my Conscience to be the best Church in the World, and the farthest from Superstition; so I do not at all doubt but the Papists themselves as well as others have raised and promoted this loud out­cry of superstition against it, as knowing that it is the greatest Enemy to their su­perstitious worship, and that it is impos­sible to bring in their fopperies and super­stitions, till the manly and decent worship of the Church of England be run down and destroyed; which God in his mercy prevent, and which, I hope, our Dissenting Brethren will endeavour to prevent also, if they are truly Enemies to superstition. But in the

4. Fourth place I must plainly tell 'em that they are more guilty of superstition in avoiding the Communion of our Church for the sake of those indifferent Rites and Ceremonies, than that is for imposing 'em; for it is as truly superstition to think God will be offended at little things, and displeased with us for doing what is no way sinfull or unlawfull, as to think [Page 279]he will be pleased with us for what is indifferent, and no way good in its self. Superstition does as often proceed from an anxious and ungrounded fear as from a fond and vain hope; and as he is su­perstitious in the outward things of Re­ligion, who lays a greater stress upon them than they deserve, who thinks Re­ligion lies in them, and that God is plea­sed with them meerly for themselves; so he is as truly so, who thinks there is a great evil or sin in them, and avoids them upon that account and thinks he should displease God, if he should observe 'em. This is not only disobedience to our Governors, and to law­full Authority which is a great sin, when they command nothing that is unlawfull, that is contrary to any law of God; for if we must not obey them in such a case, we must obey them in nothing at all, if we must not obey them in thing; indifferent; and if it be a sin to obey them in such a case, it is a sin that neither God nor Man have made so, but the quite contrary. Besides this I say, and the breach of Christian Unity, and the horrid guilt of Schism and Separation which can never be justified but where things unlawfull and not things in­different are Commanded and made Terms of Communion; besides this, I say, it is truly superstition to think it unlawfull to Com­municate with us, for the sake of indif­ferent Ceremonies; to think God is offend­ed [Page 280]or displeased at what is in it self very innocent, and is confest by themselves to be so in its own nature before it was im­posed.

3. I come now to consider the last and third head of discourse; that is the Cau­ses and the Cure of superstition. And as to the Causes they are as many and the same, as of false Religion or false Worship of God, for that is the notion of super­stition; 'tis a religious sense of the mind mixt with great error and darkness; nay, 'tis not only Religion blind, but crazed and distemper'd too; in some 'tis come to a perfect rage and distraction; as in the bloody and barbarous superstitions of the Heathens, who offer'd up their Slaves and Children as Sacrifices to their Deities, and thought it Religion to murder themselves and sprinkle the Altars with human gore; in others the frenzy is not so high nor does it work so strongly, but puts 'em only upon foolish, and antick, and silly ways of worshipping and pleasing God, and discovers it self in lesser symptoms. It is the design of superstition to please the Deity, but it uses wrong ways, and does something that is very improper in or­der to its Design. It is very forward in Religion, and like the Clown that would be very mannerly and over officious, but knows not how, and so commits a thou­sand [Page 281]rudenesses and indecencies in his awkard deportment; so does the supersti­tious make shows and appearances of courtship to Heaven, but he is out in all of them, and does not what is proper, what is really obliging and acceptable to it.

The Devil not being able to destroy the religious sense that is in our minds, not being able to root out that which Na­ture has planted in every man's breast, a sense of a God and a Divine Being a­bove us; he endeavours to spoil and cor­rupt that as much as he can, and to sow such cockle and tares among the good and natural seed of religion as may quite choke it and make it unfruitfull; as may alter its kind, and make it produce such fruit as is not true and genuine, but quite of another nature, as looks like religion, and like the Apples of Sodom seem more fair outwardly, but is another thing with­in; because he cannot hinder men from being Religious, but there is something within themselves will make them so in spite of all his attempts and designs to the contrary, therefore he will make 'em superstitious; because he cannot stop the religious instinct and inclination of their minds, he will determine and set it wrong; because he cannot dry up that na­tural spring of Religion that rises up in [Page 282]every ones breast, he will poyson and corrupt it; and because Religion is so deeply and strongly rooted in human na­ture, that it can never be wholly pluck'd up by him, therefore he will graft up­on it such false and superstitious princi­ples as shall quite alter it's nature; and tho' they are fed and nourish'd by a re­ligious sense at the bottom, yet this vine shall bring forth Thorns, and this Fig-tree Thistles, and from this sweet Foun­tain shall come forth Salt and bitter Wa­ters: by a superstitious mixture Religi­on shall be changed and perverted, both in its nature and its effects; This is the saddest mischief to true Religion, that it should be thus made to destroy it self, that its force and power should be turn­ed upon its self, and it should be consu­med like some Animals by what grows out of it self: 'Tis thus the Devil most suc­cessfully countermines God, and destroys Religion, by turning it into superstition, which how it is done, and by what means effected, I shall endeavour to show you in three prrticulars.

1. By making Men vitious and wick­ed, for tho' superstition may often grow up in weak and silly minds that may be innocent and far from being guilty of very great and notorious vices; yet I be­lieve the first and most general cause of [Page 283]superstition in the World is Vice and Wickedness; the Devil has first drawn Men to that, and then has led them in­to all manner of errors and falshoods; he has first debauch'd their morals and then their understandings; he has first wrought upon their Wills and Affections by abo­minable Lusts and Vices, and then he has quickly corrupted their Judgments and led 'em into all manner of mistakes in Religion. The superstition of the Hea­then World arose, I doubt not, from that horrible corruption of manners that was among them; they would never have set up such a Religion as they did, made up of nothing almost but obscenity and fil­thiness, cruelty and blood, apishness and folly, had not they been as the Apostle represents the Heathen World, Rom. 1. Vain in their imaginations and fill'd with all manner of unrighteousness, implaca­ble and unmercifull in their own tempers, and given up to the most beastly Lusts and unnatural Lewdnesses; these Vices in themselves naturally lead them to such a false Religion and such superstitious a­bominations as they were guilty of. But as their manners decay'd so did the true Re­ligion and the right worship of God, and as vice got ground so did superstition, and they always grew up and encreased, and like Hippocrates his Twins, lived and di­ed [Page 284]together. What hidden cause thus link­ed them together, and how they came to be such inseparable Companions may seem strange when superstition owns and acknowledges a God, has a great sense of him upon the mind; but if we consi­der that this sense of a God, when it has not had such a due effect as it ought upon it, so as to preserve it vertuous and Innocent, but Lust and Wickedness and the Temptations of the Devil have over­come it; this sense of its own Wicked­ness joyned with the sense of a God, does very naturally and easily bring it to su­perstition. If it had no sense of a God, nor no belief of such a being at all; if it could get rid of that, which it never can, then indeed there would be no ground of superstition, and this way the Atheist would free himself from all superstitious fears: or if it were not vicious and so not sensible of its own horrid guilt and wickedness and its obnoxiousness to this God above, neither then would it be su­perstitious; but when it is thus sensible of a great and just God, which is the aven­ger of such crimes as it knows it has been highly guilty of, this is the first thing that brings it to superstition, be­cause in the

2. Second place this causes a dreadfull fear and terrible apprehension of God up­on it; its own guilt scares and affrights it and draws terrible Ideas and Images of God upon its mind, so that it looks up­on him only as a Malefactor does upon his severe Judge, his Jailor, or his Exe­cutioner: it sees nothing but frowns in his face, and anger in his eyes, and Thun­der and Lightning in his hand, and fan­cies all the Instrumenes of Torture and Punishment ready to be applied to it; And in such a case as this is, what would it not do to pacifie and appease this Dei­ty that it thus dreads? what a dreadfull fright and passion must it be in, when it can think of nothing that will do it? how will it be trying every thing it can think of? Come before his altars and bring thou­sands of rams, and ten thousand rivers of oyl, if it were rich enough, and give its first born for its transgression, and part with the fruit of its own body for the sin of its soul, Micah 6.7. and shed its own blood for to make some expiation for its guilt? Nothing is so mean and servile, nothing so cruel and bloody, so shamefull and scandalous, but a Soul overwhelmed with a superstitious fear, will be attempting and trying, be it never so unagreeable to the Divine Nature, and never so unfit and unsuitable to please him: there is just [Page 286]ground of being afraid of God, when we are sensible of our guilt, and 'tis not this is superstition; but when this fear puts Men upon foolish and undue, and abo­minable ways to appease him, and gives us such a dreadfull Idea and Apprehension of him as quite excludes all the thoughts of his Goodness and Mercy, and puts the mind only into an excessive fright and fit of horror, then it is so. I cannot think that ever mankind would have formed such a conception of God, had not their guilt been the medium, thro' which they beheld him; there is nothing in the Di­vine Nature should cause this superstiti­ous dread of him, nor draw him in such black and ghastly features as these are; but no wonder that God looks very ter­rible to a very wicked and a very guilty mind; especially in the

3. Third place, when it is ignorant of any true and certain way to please or ap­pease God, to procure his favour or avert his anger, which is the other cause of su­perstition; the superstitious are a sort of timerous persons that are always in the dark, where they have frightfull Images always before them, and black and ghast­ly apparitions rise up in their fancies, and they know not which way to turn them­selves, nor how to avoid the furies and spectres of their own thoughts; They [Page 287]cannot tell how to deliver themselves from this sad state, and thus anxious and perplex­ed, they apply themselves to any Saint or any Daemon, be it good or bad, that they are told can help them; they run to the altar, and throw on any thing that may free 'em from punishment: like per­sons in a Tempest, they'll part with their richest goods to save themselves; they'll perform every Rite and go through e­very Mystery, and undergo any kind of Pennance; they'll whip themselves and walk bare-foot, and run to the shrines of any Saint; and whatever superstitious ig­norance shall advise 'em to, this they'll comply withal, and all out of great fear and silly ignorance, and not knowing what it is that will truly recommend 'em to Hea­ven and procure the Divine favour. And therefore as to the Cure of superstition, which is the last thing I am to speak to, I account a right knowledge of Religion, and a true conception of the Divine Na­ture to be the cure and remedy for su­perstition; and by this way our blessed Saviour, who came to destroy all super­stition and false worship out of the World, has most effectually accomplish'd his de­sign, by assuring us that God is a Being of infinite Goodness and Compassion to his Creatures, who is not apt to be an­gry nor provoked with little matters, and [Page 288]who is very placable and willing to be reconciled whenever we have done a great fault that truly offends him; who is not a peevish and angry Master whom it is impossible to please, but a kind and gentle Father whom nothing but will­full disobedience and impudent unduti­fullness will anger and displease; who tho' he is not a soft and easie Being, who is to be flattered with shows, and im­posed upon by little tricks and sorry per­formances; yet we may be sure to oblige him by being honest and sincere and do­ing what lies in our power; who, tho' we have a great many imperfections and a great many frailties, yet will accept whatever we offer him in the integrity of our hearts; and will not be extreme or severe to mark what is done amiss; or take advantage of the unavoidable fai­lures of Human Nature: who is so far from that, that he has provided a certain remedy for our most wilfull miscarriages, and declared himself ready to pardon the most hainous offences of the greatest sin­ners upon the most equitable and graci­ous terms that can be desired. Such a representation of God and the Divine na­ture, as this is which Christianity has given us, is enough to banish all su­perstitious fear and unreasonable dread of him; this will remove all that anxious [Page 289]and perplexing astonishment, which we might otherwise be opprest withal, when we look'd up to an Almighty power a­bove us, and were uncertain how he would deal with us, and would not tell by what ways we should either purchase his good will or avoid his displeasure. Now we know very certainly how we may do that, by living vertuously, and observing the eternal Laws of Goodness and Righ­teousness, by a hearty penitence for all our past faults, and a sincere obedience for the time to come; by living up to the excellent rules of the Gospel, and the ex­cellent Example of our Blessed Master. By a true understanding and an honest pra­ctice of the Christian Religion, we shall be delivered from all the fears and un­certainties, from all the darkness and igno­rance of superstition; and that we may be so, I shall add further two Rules or Advices to this purpose.

1. Let us bring our minds truly to love God: This the superstitious person does not, he is afraid of God and trembles at the thoughts of him, as a Slave does at the sight of his merciless Patron; but he wishes there were no such being as he fansios God to be, and it would be the most joyfull thing in the World if he could get out of his irresistible power. He finds indeed that is impossible; and so he crouches to [Page 290]him, as a Captive does to his Insolent Conqueror, that has him in Chains and leads him in Triumph tyed to his Cha­riot Wheels; but he hates him in his heart even while he prays to him; and when he bows the most submissively be­fore him, his heart within rises up against him, and there he curses him, whilst he flatters him with his lips. Such a black and dismal apprehension the superstitious person has of God, whom he fansies to be a cruel, severe, angry, touchy Being, an Almighty power without goodness; which is to make him an infinite evil, instead of a good, and an Almighty Tyrant, in­stead of a Righteous God. This makes it impossible for him to love him; he may worship him, but 'tis as Plutarch says, some saluted those Tyrants and built Sta­tues to them whom they would have kil­led and dethroned, had it been in their power; he may come to the Temple, but as he says, 'tis as if it were to the nests of Dragons, or the Caves of wild Beasts, for he imagines the God that dwells there to be as hurtfull and mischievous as any of those, only more powerfull, and he has just such a conception of him, as the Indians of the Devil whom yet they wor­ship. I know no greater blasphemy to the Divine Nature, than to conceive thus of it, as the superstitious person doth; nor [Page 291]no worse Idolatry than to set up such an Idol of fear and terror in our Souls, instead of the great and good God. I will not say as some do, that Atheism is better than this, to deny a God than to think thus ill of him; but this is certain that the superstitious would be an Atheist if he durst, and 'tis much against his Will, his Wishes, and his Inclinations, to be­lieve there is a God; and therefore to pre­vent all superstitious and undue fear of God, let us avoid all such false notions and misapprehensions of him, as will make it impossible for us to love him.

2. Let us love and practice Vertue and Goodness, and only by that means hope to commend our selves to God, and fit our selves for Heaven, and so we shall a­void most of the little tricks, the cheats and devices of superstition; the design of those is to supersede honest Vertue and inward Goodness, and by some other ways to think to purchase the Divine Favour and the Happiness of Heaven. 'Tis very hard and difficult to men to be inwardly good and exactly vertuous, to drive out eve­ry known sin, and live in the practice of every duty, which is the plain and the honest path-way to Heaven; and therefore superstition would find out other by-roads and easier passages, and would have Re­ligion lie in more easie and outward per­formances; [Page 292]and would relieve it self a­gainst that strait and narrow way, which the Gospel directs us to, and would have it suffice to be sent to Heaven by an Ab­solution or an Indulgence. Thus by a Pass, as it were, by the Priest or Pope to the o­ther World, by making a short Confession, and being a little contrite and absolved and anointed on the Death-Bed, the work is quickly done, and as well he thinks as if the Man had lived a Saint, or died a Martyr; or if he had been so Religious in his life time, as to tell over his Beads every day, and carry a Cruci­fix always about him, and perform the Pennance of his Confessor, and gone a few Pilgrimages to a few Saints, then he has done such works as are very merito­rious, tho' his Saviour never Command­ed one of them; and he must be thought to be very Religious, tho' 'tis such a Re­ligion as the Gospel is a perfect stranger to. But Superstition is for placing Reli­gion in some other things than the Go­spel does, in some inventions of its own, in some little and easie and trifling performan­ces, in some of the externals and sha­dows of Religion; in a strict observance of some lesser duties, and a zealous con­cern for inconsiderable matters, in being over forward for the little adjuncts and appendages of Religion, but very negli­gent [Page 293]of that, which is the true life and substance of it; and in vainly believing to please God by some other things than by a righteous and good mind, and the practice of universal Holiness. Thus did the Jews think that often washing their Hands would make their Souls clean; that to observe the lesser duties of the Law and the Rites and Traditions of their Elders, was the way to render them ex­traordinary Holy and Religious, though they foully neglected the weightier duties of Judgment, Mercy and Truth. Super­stition will often overdo in some parts of Religion, and therefore puts on the face of greater sanctity, and is a kind of ex­cess in Religion; but 'tis at the bottom a great defect, a want of true and in­ward goodness, and it would supply that defect by other shows and appearances, and a mighty zeal in little things; it would compound as it were with Hea­ven, and commute its sorry and worth­less performances for actions of true and substantial goodness: It always lays too much value upon the little things of Re­ligion, and does but little esteem and not heartily love Morality and inward Good­ness; and therefore the truest principle to free us from all superstitious follies and mistakes in Religion, is this, That nothing will please God, but being truly and in­wardly [Page 294]good; that nothing will commend us to his favour, but a Vertuous Mind and a Holy Life, and the sincere practice of all the moral substantial duties of Re­ligion; and that without those all other little things in Religion will be vain and idle and insignificant, which is the truest principle in the World, and the best pre­servative against Superstition.

The Eleventh Sermon.

THe Resurrection of the dead is an Article of our Faith, of that weight and importance, that as it confirms and strengthens all natural Religion, (for if Mens bodies rise, most undoubtedly there is a future State) so it is the very Basis and Foundation of Christianity, without which our Faith in Christ is, as the Apostle says, vain and ungrounded. It seems not so necessary indeed for the truth of Religion [Page 296]in general, to believe the Resurrection of the flesh or body, since the Soul without that may be capable of Happiness or Mi­sery in another state; and the belief of this alone may be sufficient to the de­signs of Vertue and Religion: But Chri­stianity lays a very great stress upon it, makes the Resurrection of the body as necessary and fundamental an Article up­on some accounts, as the immortality of the soul; and this because of the Resurre­ction of our Blessed Saviour, which as 'tis the great demonstration of the truth of our Religion, so it is an Argument of the Resurrection of all other Humane Bo­dies; for if he be risen again with the same Body, with which he lived, and with that is gone into the Heavens, it's fit we should follow him thither with our bodies too, with our whole Humane Nature, which he was pleased not only to assume upon Earth, but to carry up to be an Inhabitant of the mansions above; if he our head be raised, we his Mem­bers must be raised with him; he the first fruits from the dead, has by his Resur­rection Consecrated our Bodies to Life and Immortality. It would be very strange if he should carry his Humane Body in­to Heaven, were there no others of the same nature to follow him, so that as the Apostle argues, 1 Cor. 15.13. If [Page 297]there be no Resurrection of the dead then is Christ not risen. It does therefore high­ly concern us to maintain and defend this main post, and strongest hold of our Re­ligion, by which our Christianity must either stand or fall; and that the more, be­cause Infidelity and Irreligion is most apt to be making its attempts and assaults up­on it in this place, the weakest as is sup­posed which belongs to it, and to repre­sent this article above all others, as an impossible and incredible thing. There were found not only among the Atheni­ans some of the Sect of Epicurus proba­bly, who when they heard of the Re­surrection mocked at it, Acts 17.32. and Pliny, I remember, reckons it among one of the things that exceed the power of God, revocare defunctos; but even amongst the Jews, there were some known to St. Paul, who thought it a thing unreasona­ble and unfit to be believed, to whom he directs himself in this his defence of Christianity; the Sadduces were a nume­rous and prevailing Sect among them, who say there is no Resurrection, nei­ther Angel nor Spirit, Acts 23.8. There are too many of their mind in our days, who cannot believe or conceive any spi­ritual or immaterial substances; and who cannot think that a body after it has been dead, and lain rotting so many hun­dred [Page 298]or thousand years, and been disper­sed into ten thousand atoms, and scatter­ed into as many different places, and had a thousand other bodies made out of it, that this should be brought together a­gain and rise the same body it was be­fore. Against these modern Sadduces and Unbelievers, these pretenders to Reason and Philosophy, who expose the articles of revealed Religion, and especially this of the Resurrection, I shall endeavour to vin­dicate Christianity, and to make good St. Paul's question to them of old, Why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead; or what that que­stion plainly implys, The Resurrection is not in it self an incredible thing. And this I shall do by these following consi­derations.

1. There are a great many other things which we see and know to be true and have no manner of doubt of, which if we consider and endeavour to give ac­count of them, they seem as puzling and difficult to our reason as the Resurrecti­on.

2. If we take in the almighty power and infinite Wisdom of God, this will re­move all the difficulty and incredibility that seems to be in the Resurrection.

3. We must take in this, the power and wisdom of God, or else we cannot be able to give account not only of the Re­surrection, but not of any the most com­monland ordinary appearance in nature.

4. Our not knowing the particular uses and purposes that our bodies shall serve for after they are raised, should not make the Resurrection incredible to us.

5. If we consider how far the body which is raised, is to be the same with that which is buried and corrupted, we shall not think it so incredible that God should raise the dead.

1. There are a great many other things, &c.

These unbelieving Sadduces and wary Phi­losophers, who dare not let their thoughts go beyond visible nature, nor step any thing far­ther into revelation than reason shall guide and go along with them, may yet find a great many things there as puzling and un­accountable as the Resurrection, and which they would think as incredible too, were they not common and frequent; They cannot imagine how a body when it has been corrupted many years and turned into dust, and all its parts separated and divided, and mixt with a great many o­ther things, should have all those again united and brought together into the same vital frame and lively Compages: and can they imagine how this body of theirs [Page 300]could be formed at first, and have all its various and different parts made out of a principle as unlikely for an humane body to rise out of at first, as out of the dust afterwards? Can they comprehend how the Pullus or Chick should be hatch'd out of the Egg, how the Colliquamentum should be set on moving, and the Cica­tricula begin the first race of life? and what should guide the unthinking mat­ter to draw every vital part without a­ny error? and besides, all other things how Bones, and Claws, and Feathers should grow out of a mere fluid? As well one would think might we conceive a Ship with its Keel, Sails and all its Tack­ling to be made out of the Water, in which it sloats; and the strongest Castles to be built, if not in the air, yet out of it, as all the strong and solid parts of an Ani­mals Body, its Bones, and Muscles, and Cartilages to be formed as they are. Thou who thinkest it incredible for a dead and cor­rupted body to arise again, thou wouldst think it as incredible to have any animals bo­dy formed as it is, if there were not every day a thousand instances of it. Thou who knowest not how that can be done, knowest as little what is the way of the spirit, as the wise man speaks, Eccles. 11.5. or how life is first given to the Embryo, or how the Bone; do grow in the Womb: Nay thou [Page 301]as little knowest the manner how this body of ours can be nourished and re­paired; how that which is in continual flux by perspiration, and has some of its parts dying as it were and departing e­very moment, so that we are not the same in a less time than every seven years; how this should be made new, and the Milky Chyle repair all the wasted parts of the Body, and consequently be turned in­to Bones and Sinews, it's not easie to ac­count even for this daily Resurrection, as it were, and continual restoring of our de­caying bodies. But I need send these doubters and unbelievers of the Resurre­ction, only to that Emblem of it which the Apostle has given, 1 Cor. 15. that of Corn sown or buried in the ground, which seems there first to die and corrupt, and then it passes through abundance of alterations, shoots into a stringy root and grassy top, grows into a stem, a stalk, an ear, and some of the least of Seeds waxes a great Tree, so that the Fowls of the air may lodge in the branches of it; and yet these after they are so altered and quite lost, one would think in the various Meta­morphoses they have passed thro'; have every Seed its own body given it a­gain, as the Apostle expresses it, 1 Cor. 15.37. and rise as it were again the ve­ry same sort and species, tho' it be mixt [Page 302]with a thousand others. This seems al­most as strange, if we reflect upon it, as the Resurrection of our bodies after all their corruptions and alterations; and it might be thought as incredible too, if it were not frequent and familiar to us: As there are a great many appearances in nature, which tho' common and un­regarded; yet to those who are strangers to them, they seem impossible and no way to be believed. The works of God and Nature have so much of wonder in them beyond all humane Conception and Understanding, that if they were not dai­ly before our Eyes, we should think them as incredible as those difficult matters which some complain of in Revelation. But I need offer but one Phaenomenon of Nature, to represent the Resurrecti­on by.

And that is that Revolution of Nature which we call the Spring, which is the general Resurrection as it were of terre­strial nature; in which after it has grown old and hoary in Winter, dead as it were and stiff with cold, and every part of it was shrunk, and crept into its grave, and been lock'd up there as in a cold Sepul­chre, yet how in the spring does it reco­ver life again? how is a vigorous warmth diffused into it? and how on a sudden is all the beauty and gayety, all the strength [Page 303]and vigor, the health and fruitfullness of youth bestowed upon it? every Plant and Herb and Flower, revives and flourishes and puts on as it were a new and glo­rious body, and yet every one its own body. And how this should be, and how every dry tree should bloom and blos­som and have life and say conveyed to its withered branches, and the same juice turned into leaves and buds and fruit of so many kinds; This seems as strange as how dry Bones should live, and how flesh and sinews should again come upon a Ske­leton, Ezek. 37.8. and all we, who dai­ly see these wonderfull things before our Eyes, these constant Miracles of Nature, which if we consider and endeavour to give account of, are as puzling and dif­ficult as the Resurrection; Why should it be thought a thing incredible with us and especially with any curious searcher of Nature, that God should raise the dead?

2. If we take in the almighty Power and Wisdom of God, this will remove all the difficulty and incredibility that seems to be in the thing: So that the very first principle of Religion will make all the difficulty of the Resurrection vanish; the considering that there is an infinite Being who has power sufficient to do every thing that implies not a contradiction, and is not in the nature of the thing utterly [Page 304]impossible or contrary to some standing and fundamental principle of truth and certainty, nor does any way reflect up­on his other perfections of Wisdom, Ju­stice and Goodness; this will make the whole thing very easie to us: for how easie will it be to him who put every part of matter into that regular order that constitutes the Heavens above and earth below, and all Plants and Animals that are upon it, he who founded the Earth by his power and stretched out the Hea­vens by his understanding as the Scrip­ture speaks: He who telleth the number of the Stars, and calleth them all by their names, as the Psalmist expresses it, Ps. 147.4. He who made and moved and knows, and permeates every part of matter that is in the vast Creation, and ranks and orders it in its due place; how cannot he put and bring together all the scattered parts of our dead bodies? He from whom our substance was not hid when we were made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth, Psam. 139.15. whose Eyes did see our substance, yet being unperfect, and in whose Book were all our members written, which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them, v. 16. how cannot he also as easily know and rejoin all the parts and members of our corrupted bo­dies; [Page 305]He by whom the very hairs of our heads are numbred, how easie will it be for him to know the body of eve­ry man, and every part and Member of that body; he who gives life to every little Creature, and to those innumerable Animals that are in the World; who pre­serves so many thousand Essences by a continual influx derived from himself, and has millions of Angels and other Souls, who live and move and have their se­veral beings in him: In a word, he who made and preserves all things by a word of his mouth, and needs nothing but the mere willing of a thing to make it; how great is this our Lord and of great power; his understanding is insinite, Psal. 147.5. and he can do any thing that im­plyes not a contradiction, nor is contrary to the reason and nature of things, nor con­trary to his own other perfections of Wis­dom, Justice and Goodness, as I shall show briefly the Resurrection is not. 1. Then there is no incapacity in the subject, nor no con­tradiction in the nature of the thing to make the Resurrection incredible: A dead body is no more uncapable of life than a body at rest is of motion, or than a torch put out is of being kindled again; and the soul may as well be united to it afterwards, as is was at first. It may be brought into it when raised from the Grave, by the same Laws of the [Page 306]Universe, or the same vital Congruity by which it came into it, when it was first formed; and every soul may as well be directed to its own body then, as it was before: the greatest difficulty in the subject is this, That the parts of the body are so scattered and divided in several places, and made the parts perhaps of o­ther bodies, that its hard to conceive how they should all come together and be united to their proper bodies; but tho' they are scattered they are not lost; e­very Atom, be it never so small, is still to be found in the vast mass of matter: and whatever alterations it may have past thro', yet has its being and subsistence some where in the World, and so may with Power and Wisdom be put together again; like the many little pins and small pieces of a great Machine, tho' they are all taken to pieces and misplaced, yet they may all be set together again by a skilfull hand. Every part of matter is pervaded and fill'd with a spirit that go­verns all its motions and knows the mi­nutest particles of it, and can range and order them as it pleaseth, and there is nothing hid from the power thereof: There is not the least appearance of a contradiction for a thing that was de­stroyed or dispersed to become the same it was before; it seems nothing so hard [Page 307]as for a thing to be that was not before. So that the Resurrection cannot be thought by any so incredible as the Creation, and he that is but a Theist and owns natu­ral Religion, cannot with reason stick or boggle at this Article of Revelation, and he that believes an Almighty Power, could make all things out of nothing, need not doubt his power to make a thing what it was before.

2. Neither is the Resurrection contra­ry to any certain principle of truth, which the God of truth has established in the nature and reason of things; if it were, it could be no object of Divine power, for God's power must not destroy the truth of things; there are certain princi­ples of truth and knowledge which must be kept inviolable, or else we run into boundless Scepticism, and can never know any thing to be true or false: and there­fore we must not call in the Almighty power to destroy those, as the Papists do in Transubstantiation, which must be as certainly false as we can know any thing to be certainly true; so that nei­ther infallibility can uphold it, nor infi­nite power effect it, without destroying those certain principles by which we can know any thing to be true; by de­stroying the nature and properties of a body; by making the whole no greater [Page 308]than a part; by taking away all evidence of sense about its proper objects, and if we remove those we have no way left to know whether any thing be true or false. But the Resurrection is no way liable to any such absurdities, nor is it in the least contrary to any certain and natural principles of truth; for then it would be not only incredible but abso­lutely false, and impossible to be true: no Article of Christian Faith is or can be so, but as we say, tho' it be above our rea­son, yet is not against it. The blessed Trinity in Unity, tho' it be of another nature, of an infinite and incomprehensi­ble being, which may communicate it self in such a manner as we know not; yet however it be too big for our Concepti­on, is not contradictory to any thing we certainly know to be true; and tho' it be an Idea by it self it destroys none of those Idea's we have of other things.

3. That the Resurrection is no way inconsistent with any of the Divine per­fections (which are the bounds also which the Divine power can never violate) is so plain, that it rather seems to follow and be fairly inferred from them; for what more agreeable to Gods goodness than as that he gave us our Souls at first, and put those Souls into curious and well framed bodies, which are the other part [Page 309]of Humane Nature, which makes us to be Men and Beings of such a rank and or­der in the Creation; so that he should continue the same entire nature to us, as long as he is pleased to continue us in being. It wou'd be a charge methinks upon the Wisdom of God, that he should give Man so curious a body above any other Creatures, and yet suffer that to continue and last a much shorter time than the bodies of many other, not only A­nimals, but Plants and Trees do; if he did not design that this noble fabrick should be rebuilt and repaired again af­ter death; and that the Soul should have a longer term of aboad in it after­wards and in reversion, than it enjoys in this present life. It would seem strange if these two Friends should be so closely and intimately united here, but for a few days if they were not to meet again and dwell together for ever; and that God should make us of such a compound nature in this life, and of a quite other nature in the next, this would not be to keep that wise order and regular course of thing, that he does in the whole Sy­stem of the Creation. As to the Divine Justice, that seems to be more exactly an­swered by raising the same bodies, (with­out which, we are hardly the same per­sons) that every one may receive in his [Page 310]body according to that he has done, whe­ther it be good or bad, as the Apostle speaks, 2 Cor. 5.10. that not only the same Souls, but the same Bodies, which have either glorified God by Suffering or any other Vertue, or have been the Instru­ment of any sin, should be glorified or tormented in another World; and that the whole of Humane Nature, and not only a part of it, which the Soul is, should be made capable of the everlasting re­wards and punishments that are proper to it. The Resurrection then is every way consistent with the perfections of the Divine Nature, and is no way contrary to any natural principle of truth, nor implys any contradiction in it; and therefore is a proper object of God's Almighty Pow­er, and, by the help of that, may be easily effected and accounted for.

4. And without this power of God nothing else can be effected in nature; we must take in this, not only to give an account of the Resurrection, but of e­very thing else we see done before us, and of every effect and appearance in the visible World: how we were made at first and how our bodies were formed, is as perfectly unaccountable without taking in the Divine Power and Wisdom, as how we shall rise again; and so is every o­ther Mystery of nature, if we well con­sider [Page 311]it, and follow and trace it thro' all second causes, it will necessarily bring us to the first; and we must resolve all at last into the Power and Wisdom of that. How we move our bodies by the thought of our minds, we know no more than how God shall raise them; what directs the spirits into such Tracts and Muscles, and by what pullies they draw up the heavy parts, is so admirable a Mechanism that it requires the same Divine Wisdom as to raise the dead; how we live, how we think, and how we speak, is to a Phi­losopher as curious and as secret as how we shall rise: every thing indeed is so in the Volume of Nature, which has the plainest Characters of Divine Power and Wisdom every where writ upon it, as being to teach every one that there is a God. To look upward we see the Sun shines, but can we tell what light is, or how it streams from the Sun to our Eye? how such a mass of sire should so long hold together without being quen­ched or lessened? do we know how the Stars are sixt to their Orbs? how those glistering gemms are set and fastned to the fluid firmament? can we imagine what Pillars there are, upon which the Earth is founded, and what it is supports the heavy Globe, and keeps it from sinking? what it is that poizes, and makes it swim [Page 312]in the liquid Aether, and keeps it at so just and exact a distance from the heaven­ly Bodies, so as to be neither frozen nor burnt up? and can we be able to know what it is makes their motions so regu­lar and harmonious, so usefull and ser­viceable to the World? what guides their mighty bodies in such even Tracts? what draws the crooked Zodiac for the Sun or Earth to move in? and keeps the violent and rapid matter from going on in an in­finite streight line, or some other way sal­lying and running out of order? Can any man, who justly considers these things, give any account of them without a wise God and Almighty Intelligence? not on­ly a Sparrow cannot fall to the ground without our Heavenly Father, as our Sa­viour speaks, Matth. 10.29. but not a stone can sall thither, nor a spark fly up­wards, however necessary and natural that be, without, such a frame and such laws of matter and motion as nothing but a wise Being can establish or cause to be observed. Why matter is thus figured and disposed, and why such effects come from it we cannot tell; as why grass is green, blood red, and not the quite contrary: as we cannot of our selves make one hair white or black, as our Saviour saith, so neither can we tell why it is so; but every Phae­nomenon must at last be resolved into [Page 313]the Will and Wisdom of the first cause, and thither all true Philosophy must bring us; and the same Divine Power is requir'd in every the most common effect of Nature, as in the Resurrection. But,

5. Our not fully knowing the uses and designs our bodies shall serve for after they are rais'd, should not make the Resurrection incredible to us: What use, some say will there be of the body in another World when the Soul alone is capable of the rewards of it? I answer who can tell but the body may be of extraordinary use to us in a­nother World? perhaps it is a necessary part of Humane Nature, and we are not our whole selves without it; perhaps the Soul is never to be quite naked and wholly stript of all matter and bodily indowment, and that it is cloathed with a thinner Ve­hicle when it puts off the thicker and grosser flesh: perhaps no Beings in the World but God himself are to be pure spirits, which was a very ancient opini­on of some wise Men; perhaps the An­gels themselves have material vestures of a slaming fire, and a resplendent bright­ness as they used always to appear; and if the Human Souls are not to be un­cloathed but cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven, 2 Cor. 5.2. What more fit than that the materials of this house should be taken out of its former [Page 314]body, tho' greatly improved and advan­ced, as I shall show immediately? who can tell what proper pleasures God shall fit for our bodies, and make them such noble Organs for the Soul as shall be migh­ty useful to it? and who knows whether that can enjoy all that alone without the body as with it, and that there is not some new faculty or satisfaction resulting from its animating and being united to a body, the Scripture representing the happiness of the other state not to be compleat till the general Resurrection? God alone can tell what faculties and powers are fit for his Creatures in any state; and while we are in this, we can know no more what is proper for us in the other, than an Em­bryo not yet born can conceive what it shall need when it comes into the world: were it not absolutely necessary, yet it seems very agreeable to Justice, to have both the body and soul that were part­ners in Sin or Vertue, to be sharers in the rewards of it. And if Christ the Cap­tain of our Salvation is to be perfect Man as well as perfect God in Heaven, and his glorious body is probably to be the visible Shechinah of Heaven it self; the bodies of all good Christians ought to rise and at­tend him, and be partakers with him of the same Glory, that so human Nature even in its weakest and frailest part may eter­nally [Page 315]triumph over death and the grave, and over him who had the power of both.

5. And Lastly, To take off the incredi­bility of the Resurrectionn, let us consi­der how far the body that is raised is to be the same with that which is buried and corrupted. We must not be too ri­gorous and exact in insisting upon the same body; if we be, we cannot be said to have the same body two days toge­ther: Our bodies are always in flow, and several parts of them are always going off by insensible Transpiration, and others come in the place of them; like a River, we call it the same, tho' its Water be al­ways running and passing away, and scarce any drop of it be exactly the same the next Tide: or as we call that the same flame of a Candle all the while it is burn­ing, which yet is wasted every moment and supplied with other new parts of oyl, so we have the same body in our old Age that we had in our Youth. And this ve­ry body of ours that was some time a­nimated by our Souls, that this shall rise again the Scripture is too plain to have it denied, as it is by the Socinians; the very word Resurrection, supposes it to be in some sense the same body; and they which rise again are said to be the same that were asleep, and lay in their graves: so that if we had quite another new bo­dy [Page 316]given us at the day of Judgment, this might be said to be new made or crea­ted, but not to rise again. But yet it is not necessary that every part of matter which made up this Body of ours at our Death, and was buried in the same Grave, should go to the making up of our rai­sed bodies. It is sufficient if this Earth­ly body of ours which we had in this World, be the seed or seminal body as it were of the Resurrection body, out of some part of which it is as truly raised, as the new Corn or Fruit is out of the Corn or Kernell which was set or sowed; so the Apostle gives us an account of the Resur­rection, 1 Cor. 15.36, 37, 38. in answer to that question, How are the dead raised up? or with what bodies do they come? i. e. how are those whose parts have been so variously mixt with other bodies, and turned into the substance perhaps of o­ther men, whose very bodies are again to be raised, how shall every part of these men be raised up; when perhaps several men might have parts of the same body, and therefore in the Resurrection whose body shall it be, since many had some of it to be their body? and with what bo­dy shall every one come, if it must be exactly the same, and yet that is so ve­ry hard, if not some time impossible? To this the Apostle answers, Thou Fool, [Page 317]that which thou sowest, is not quick­ned except it die: and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body which shall be, but bare Grain, it may chance of Wheat or some other Grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body: God does give every Man his own body, but not so ex­actly the same, as not to be at all alter­ed; but as a building is the same which is repaired, tho' with a great many o­ther materials; and as an ear of Corn is the same with its seed, tho' it has taken in a good quantity of the moisture of the Earth, and turned it into its own body. Those who have curiously examined the Anatomy of Plants and Seeds, tell us, that in the little Gemm or Eye of the Seed is con­tained the whole draught and the per­fect Stamina of the Plant, with its bark and leaves, and fruit, and all the lines of it exactly drawn in little, which are after to be fill'd up and extended by the heat of the Sun, and moisture of the Earth. And if so little a seed or kernel can contain all the parts of a large stalk or great tree, who knows how much of our present bodies may be sufficient to raise the same bodies out of again? and how small a part of this corruptible matter may be the Embryo, as it were, of our Heavenly bodies? It is certain these our [Page 318]bodies shall be so much altered, that that which is sown in corruption, shall be raised in in­corruption; and that which is now a natural bo­dy shall be then a spiritual; not that it shall be turned into a spirit, and lose its corporeal nature; but that it shall be refined and made pliable to the Soul and Spirit, and to all its motions, and stand in no need of those things that belong to the animal life. And yet it may still be the same body for all those new modes and qualities, as a Jewel is the same substance of the Earth, which was once a common fluid, and is now turned into an Orient Pearl; and the most clear Crystal Glass is the same matter that was before Sand and Ashes. The best Philosophy tells us there is no specifick difference in matter, but it is the same in substance, tho' its outward figure colour and other accidents be altered, which are but several modifications of the same matter; and I can conceive God as easily to change these our mortal corrup­tible bodies, into immortal and incorrup­tible ones, as he turns the substance that every Animal eats into blood and spi­rits; and the moisture and filth of the Earth that nourishes every flower and fruit into the most beauteous colour and most delicate tast. Cannot he give the Soul a shining and a glorious body even out of this corruptible one, as well as [Page 319]he made the Sun and Stars and all those luminous bodies out of the dark and gloo­my Chaos? Cannot he make our bodies to shine as the Stars of glory, as well as the Stars themselves, which, tho' Hea­venly bodies, yet are of the same sub­stance with Earthly matter? Cannot he make our bodies which are now a clog and burden to the Soul, to be but like so many fiery Chariots to carry us up to Heaven? or like so many Wings to move us nimbly where-ever we please, and fleet us thro' all the Heavenly Regions that are above? Cannot he do this, as well as he has given Wings to the flame, and made that which arises out of smoak and foot to cast forth rays and lustre, and mount upwards? The glorified bodies of Men or Angels are generally in Scrip­ture compared to flame and light, their countenance is then like lightning, and their raiment white as snow, as the An­gel is described, Mat. 28.3. and, as our Saviour, when his body was transfigured his face did shine as the Sun, and his rai­ment was white as the light, Mat. 17.2. and so shall the bodies of good Men after the Resurrection, be turned into such pure and glorious bodies, that they shall raise splendour and beauty all about them; which tho' it be a great transmutation, yet by many the like instances I have gi­ven, [Page 320]is neither impossible nor incredible to conceive. The bodies indeed of wicked Men will be very much altered and lose their animal and mortal nature, but they will be gross and heavy and sink their Souls into the regions of Hell and Dark­ness; they will be like so many dismal and filthy Dungeons to keep the Soul in chains of everlasting Darkness: or, like so many poisoned shirts, like that of Her­cules, that will scorch and inflame and tor­ture them beyond expression, and stick­ing close to them burn them with poi­sonous flames, and fill them with the per­petual stench of sire and brimstone. How the bodies of wicked men may be made the Instruments of torment to their Souls, is easie to imagine from the exquisite pains they often give them here; from whence we may conceive how they may be con­trived to be the dreadfull racks of eter­nal death, where the miserable wretches may be always suffering the pains of death without dying; and on which they may be made to lie for ever, raging and gnawing their Tongues for pain, and blas­pheming the God of Heaven, because of their pains and their sores, to wit, of their bodies, as they are described, Revel. 16.10. And here I could stop, and offer one thought to those who are so fond and tender of their bodies here, who are [Page 321]for indulging them in every Lust and e­very Pleasure, and think Happiness lieth in the mere delights of the body; what they will think of having these pretious parts, these dear bodies thus eternally and exquisitely tormented for the sake of a few paulcry sins which are but for a mo­ment: but having defended and consirm­ed this article of our Christian Faith, the Resurrection of our bodies, I must name but one general use of it, and that is, Let us all of us so live as if we hearti­ly believed it without making any the least doubt in our minds about it; let no mists of. Infidelity overcast this Faith of ours, which as it is certain by Revelati­on, so is far you see from being incredi­ble by reason, which was the point I was to consider and make out. It is a great satisfaction to ease our thoughts from some difficulties about it, and have the under­standing as the eye, see things clearly without a film over it. But these articles of faith are not only for Contemplation and the Entertainment of our reason, but like Principles and Theorems in other Sci­ences, they are to be made use of in pra­ctice, and to be drawn out and impro­ved into use and action; no truth in Re­ligion, no Article of Faith is worth ma­king out or proving, or satisfying our selves about, if it be not some way or [Page 322]other usefull to the practice of Religion, and be not influential to the making us good and vertuous in our lives: but the Resurrection has such a direct and im­mediate tendency to do this, as it carries in it the assurance of a future state both of Soul and Body, that if we fully be­lieve it and are undoubtedly perswaded of it, it will do its own work, and will necessarily promote Vertue and Religion; and be effectual upon all our lives, did not a secret Scepticism and Insidelity, which is the Vice of our Age hinder and defeat the power of it: Let the belief of it there­fore be firm and unshaken upon our minds, and let the efficacy of it be powerfull up­on our Lives and Conversations; there is nothing more incredible in the thing that our bodies should rise hereafter than that they were once formed and born: there may be difficulties perhaps equal in the account of both, but as no Man doubts the one, so he that well considers will have no reason to dis-believe the o­ther, or to think it incredible that God should raise the dead.

Let it raise us to thoughts and to things above, whither Christ is raised and where he sits with his glorious body at God's right hand. Let us often ascend thi­ther in our minds now, whither we hope to ascend hereafter with our bodies as [Page 323]well as our Souls: Let us consider that these Bodies of ours, as well as our Souls, were made for higher designs and bet­ter enjoyments then any here of this World, and that they ought to be the sub­jects of Purity and Vertue now, as they are to be of Happiness hereafter; The Re­surrection will raise our minds to a great many noble thoughts, if we throughly con­sider it and really believe it, and I hope we may be satisfied by what has been said.

The Twelfth Sermon.

THE Author of this Epistle ad­vises in this Chapter, those Jewish Christians he wrote to, to take care that they fell not into that sad state and temper of mind, their forefathers were in in the time of Moses. Not to harden their heart: now as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, v. 8. when tho' they saw the mighty works of God forty years, and had daily Miracles be­fore their Eyes, and were fed and main­tained by them, and lived under a con­stant [Page 326]dispensation of them; yet still a spi­rit of Insidelity and Obstinacy was amongst them, and their hearts were hardned and they would not hearken unto God, nor obey his voice; but were kept out of the good Land, by reason of their monstrous and unreasonable belief: so it was also in the times of our Saviour, when notwithstand­ing all his many Miracles done before their Eyes, they were yet so blinded and hardned by their sins, that they continu­ed Insidels; so that the utmost, and one would think, irresistible evidence could not prevail upon them. Human Nature is still the same it was then, and liable to the same corruptions and depravations, and when it has suffered its Lusts and Vices, and unreasonable Inclinations to grow upon it, and have power over it, they will quickly bring Men to a wretched blindness of mind and hardness of heart; so that the best evidence for Religion, and the strongest arguments and demon­strations for the Truth, or the practice of it shall not prevail upon 'em; but whilst they indulge themselves and continue in their sins, this will corrupt their Minds and deprave their Faculties, darken their Understanding, and spoil their Judgment, bring them to hardness of heart and a reprobate mind, and to gross and unrea­sonable Insidelity, and at last to a total [Page 327]defection and apostacy from all Religion: Take heed therefore, says the Apostle, Lest there be in any of you an evill heart of un­belief in departing from the living God, v. 22. and the way to prevent that, was not to be drawn in by any sin, nor de­ceived by any Vice or Lust that should bring 'em to this; but to take a present and immediate care to free themselves from every such sin, and to perswade one another to keep close to Religion, and not to give way to any Vice or Wicked­ness deluding them at first, or growing afterwards more upon them; Wherefore exhort one another daily while it is called to day, lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin. From these words I shall consider these two things.

• 1. How sin deceives at the beginning.
• 2. How it hardens the mind after­wards.

How it first cheats and horribly im­poses upon us, and then how it brings the mind into a more wretched and de­praved and hardned state.

1. Of the deceitfulness of sin. One would think that either Human Nature were not so rationall as we pretend it is, and that this were not our inseperable pro­perty; or else that Vice were not so fool­ish and unreasonable, so pernicious and destructive as we suppose it to be; when [Page 328]we look into the state of the World and see Vice every where prevailing and a­bounding, and most Men choosing and preferring it before Vertue; as Men are rational Creatures that act as from prin­ciples of Liberty and Judgment, so always from an instinct of self good and self preservation which seems to be a natu­ral principle that prevents all reason, and which we can never with all our choice and freedom act wittingly and willingly against. We can never choose evil as evil, but under the colour and appear­ance of good; but our nature is made with an inward spring that runs of it self from a naked evil, but always pur­sues what we apprehend is good for us, what appears to us, as conducing and tending to our Welfare and Happiness; and therefore we must bring Religion and every thing else to this, if we would have it fall in with Nature, and be last­ingly and surely sixt in our Minds.

But either Vice is not so great an e­vil, so destructive and contrary to the good Welfare and Happiness of Humane Nature; or else our reason must be very much cheated and deluded, and imposed upon, when we are drawn into it; and we must be mightily deceived by some false reasoning or other about it in our own minds: for there is a sort of reason­ing [Page 329]and arguing, judging and concluding however short and quick, and preci­pitate and mistaken this be, in every moral action we do; and some process there is in the mind and thoughts, even when we are led never so much by our senses, and act not upon thoughts or rea­son; else the action would not be Vo­luntary or Criminal, or capable either of guilt or blame, as proceeding from a misuse of our reason and choice, our judg­ment and fieedom.

Our understanding and reason must there­fore judge amiss and be grosly deceived and imposed on, when, contrary to our good and interest, we are drawn into the practice of sin, and seduced by its temptations, and inveigled by the deceit­fullness of it; for tho' it be against our reason in one sense, i. e. against the right use of it, yet it carries our reason along with it at that time we commit it; and our judgment determines for it at that instant, tho' very rashly and unadvisedly, as we find when we come to consider it over again. The deceitfulness of sin lies therefore chiesly in these following things.

1. In having too high an Opin on, Fan­cy, and Imagination of those little Goods, Pleasures, Profits, or whatever present sensual and worldly Enjoyments any of our sins may yield to us, or that we can [Page 330]hope to reap by them. These are the three Lusts the Apostle mentions, Of the Flesh, of the Eye, and the pride of Life, or rather the objects of those; these are the gilded bait, the fair fruit, the alluring charms and inviting temptations that draw in and inveigle every sinner; for no Man would be wicked or serve the Devil for nought, nor commit any sin out of pure malice to God and Religion, and mere hatred to Vertue; at least not till he is arrived to a very high degree of diabolical wickedness. No, 'tis to pur­chase and attain some fancied good and imagined pleasure or advantage; some­thing gratefull and desirable to the senses, Appetites and Inclinations of our nature, that tempts and allures us. Now there being a small natural good in many of those sinfull temptations, for such it must be allowed bodily pleasure and world­ly profit and other enjoyments are, which therefore good men may desire and par­take of within such bounds and limits as are allowed by God and Religion; and those are even the blessings of God's left hand, as the Jews phrased them; and it is an unnatural piece of Stoicism, and an Hypocritical affectation to renounce them wholly, and declaim weakly against them. Riches, and Honours, and Pleasures, are Lawfull objects of our desire in some de­gree, [Page 331]and may have a proper good al­lowed to them suitable to our present state and nature, and their contraries may be called evils; else it would be no Vir­tue to deny them, or forgo them in any case, nor would have any reward at God's hand; but they are not the great goods our nature was made for, nor those that can make us truly and compleatly hap­py, tho' we had never so many of them; nor are comparatively any goods, because nothing so great as Wisdom and Vertue, as Peace of Mind and Tranquility of Soul, as an inward Sense of God's Favour, and chearfull hopes of Heaven; these will make a Man truly and inwardly hap­py without or with a very little of the other, and give him the true perfection and happiness of his nature, and make him eternally blessed, when all others are perished and gone, and signifie no­thing.

'Tis an ignorance of the true nature of good and evil in relation to our selves, as well as to the World, that is the prime and general cause of Mens being deceived into sin; and the first part of its deceitfulness, is by the immoderate and salse Opinion of those little Goods or pre­sent Enjoyments we may obtain by them; Thus when our Fancies and vain Imagi­nations represent Riches and a great E­state, [Page 332]as the greatest Good, as the great­est Security, Credit and Comfort, and what will afford and bring in all other good things of this World; this makes a Man make Riches his God, and put his trust in 'em, and Sacrifice every thing to Mammon, and use any means to attain 'em, because he thinks nothing so evil as to be without them, and nothing else so good as having abundance of them. So another fancies no happiness like that of being Great and above o­thers, of having the knee and the head, and the outward marks and acknowledg­ments of superiority given him, or to ap­pear in State and Grandeur with a rich Train, and splendid Equipage always at­tending him; and he despises poor and contemptible Vertue in respect of all this, and thinks as meanly of the greatest Wisdom without those, as that does of him; and therefore rather than part with those, he will part with his Conscience, and change his Religion rather than his place, and will stick at nothing either to keep or gain his ambitious Ends and Designs. Another who is a Voluptuary, and thinks Pleasure the summum bo­num, the chiefest good he can taste or feel; he hunts after it thro' all the Scents and Paths of Sensuality, Luxury, Lewd­ness and Debauchery, and either Bacchus [Page 333]or Venus is the Deity he worships; and the greatest Good and Enjoyment he fan­cies and imagines, and has an Idea of, is the Wine sparkling in the Glass, or the Charms of Beauty, or the other objects of sensual Pleasure: and by heating his thoughts and inflaming his fancy, his de­sires of those things grow impatient, ex­cessive and ungovernable. Now if a man had used himself to consider serious­ly how little there is in all those things, how very little in respect of the greater pleasures of a wise and ea­sie Mind, a good Conscience, and the hopes of Religion; and that all the true Pleasures of Life, that are desirable to a Wise Man, may be otherwise enjoyed within the bounds of Vertue; and that the going beyond those is an unavoida­ble mischief to himself and to the World; and that all those little sensual and tem­porary goods he is so fond of, are at best but short and transitory, empty and un­satisfying things, but poor trisling satis­factions, and mere gilded decaying Va­nities, that will all quickly perish and pass away, so that our proper happiness can­not lie in them. This would give us such true Opinions and right Apprehensions of all carnal and Worldly things, in which the whole strength and temptations of sin are placed, as would disarm and weak­en [Page 334]it of all its power, strip it of all its fine dress and false attire, wash off all its paint, spoil all its beauty and shining lu­stre, whereby it imposes upon our vain fancies and weak imaginations; and de­ceives us with a false Opinion of those small Goods, Profits, or Pleasures it can afford us.

2. We do not at the same time com­pare with those the great evil that is in them, and so do not judge rightly and impartially on both sides, but determine hastily on one, and so are deceived; where­as to make a true Judgment and Esti­mate, we should set the evil against the good, and so weigh the matter, and set the balance right between them; but, Alass! Men are in too much haste to do this, when they are so hotly and eagerly pursuing their Lusts; when, having the fancied good Pleasure and Enjoyment of their sins only in their Eye, they never think or consider, or take into their ac­counts the much greater and more nu­merous and more certain evils that belong to them, and are inseparably annext to the commission of them; if they did, no Man would swallow the thin bait when he saw the satal hook under it; None would eat the forbidden fruit, tho' never so fair and pleasant to the Eye, if he knew and certainly believed that Death [Page 335]was its bittter sauce, and in the day he eat thereof he should die: No Man would drink the sweetest draught, or take down the most delicious morsel, if he thought it would kill him. Nature without any great deliberation refuses im­mediately, and abhors what it apprehends to be evil, as it is extreamly fond and desirous of what appears good and a­greeable to it; and the fear of the one is perhaps more strong and affecting than the love of the other; as the sense of pain is greater and quicker than that of plea­sure; and therefore did it spy the Snake in the Grass, the Serpent hid under the Bed of Roses and Violets, it would not be invited by all their beauty and sweet­ness to lie down upon them; and it would be quickly frighted and run from the tempter, tho' he appear'd as an An­gel of light, if it saw his Cloven Foot. Vice therefore always uses art to conceal its worst side, hides its deformity and rottenness under a false paint and coun­terfeit colour, and varnishes over its real evil with the fucus of some seeming good; so the unwary sinner is drawn into its deadly embraces with its meritricious Looks and false Charms. The veno­mous sting lies covered under the sweet hony, and the sinner perceives not the Dagger of the Treacherous Assassin, till [Page 336]he is stabb'd with it to the heart. But a little Wisdom and Observation, and look­ing about us, would plainly discern the innumerable evils that sin carries in its bowels, and is big and productive of; which grow out of it, as fruit from its pro­per root, and are inseparably annexed to it as effects to their causes; that can no more be divorced or rescinded from it, than light clipt from the Sun; and are unal­terably setled upon it, by the nature and constitution of things, and the will, and appointment of the first cause and Au­thor of them. How do many not only shipwrack their Consciences, but their Fortunes too by their Vices in this world, where we see abundance of those bro­ken Vessels, who have split themselves upon Laziness or Luxury, Lewdness or Prodigality, or some other wickedness, by which they have ruined themselves here, as well as hereafter? How have o­thers wasted their Bodies by the same courses as they have done their Estates? And have sinn'd particularly against those as the Scripture speaks, as well as against their Souls, and been a kind of Martyrs in the service of the Devil, and their own Lusts, and endured more pains in their bodies to go to Hell, than other Mar­tyrs have done to go to Heaven? How do they whose hopes and designs are on­ly [Page 337]in this Life, and who fear nothing so much as Death, and think nothing so hap­py as to live long; yet shorten their lives by their Vices, and by living as they call it too fast, that is, running on in the full Career of wickedness, and galloping as hard as they can to Hell. How do they, I say, Not live out half their days? and they are sometimes so hasty to die, that their bodies are often rotted before they come into their Graves, and their sins in some measure prevent death. How have others stigmatized their names with their Vices, and brought a lasting re­proach and real infamy upon themselves and families; where yet nothing has been so dear to them as titular Reputation, and the false Image and Idol of Honour? How have they madly Sacrificed their Souls and their Lives to redeem that, which yet they have basely thrown away by a scandalous Life, which has made them base and contemptible to all wise Men? Thus, how plain is it that sin, besides the vast and amazing miseries of ano­ther World, brings most of the evils of this upon us; A blot and reproach to our credit and good names, sickness and diseases to our bodies, and often beggery to our selves and families; and above all spoils and corrupts the Mind, takes a­way the Peace and Improvement of it, [Page 338]fills it with inward discomposure and un­easiness; and often so impairs a Mans reason and understanding as to leave the old and wretched sinner only the shape of a Man, with the nature and qualities of a Beast. Now all these a blinded sinner either sees not, or considers not; either quite forgets, or does not at all mind in the hot pursuit of his Lusts, and the hurry and tumult of his unruly Appetites; he feels not the Wounds that are given him in his hot blood, tho' when he grows cool a little he will be very sensible of them; his thoughts are wholly taken up with the sancied good and pleasure, and he looks to nothing but that, nor considers the much greater e­vils and mischiefs of them; so he pur­sues his Game and follows the Chase, and sees not the pit or the precipice just before him, 'till he is faln into it; he leaps into certain danger without looking into it, and without any fear or foresight, runs upon Death and Destruction, as the horse rushes into the battle, as Scripture re­presents it, Jer. 8.6. An inward heat and ardor spurs him on, and he is wholly driven by other principles than those of his reasonable nature, and the serious thoughts and considerations of things, or observing the consequences of his own Actions. And thus sin deceives him, in the next place,

3. By taking off his Mind from con­sidering and examining things, or reflect­ing upon his own Actions, or using his own Thoughts; it makes him live on­ly by the suggestions of sense, and the propensities of his animal nature and low­er inclinations, without the Exercise or Government of his thoughts or reason, Like brute beasts that have no understanding, as the Scripture compares sinners, Ps. 32.9. His Passions and Lusts, and irregular Appetites, grow masterless and unruly, and get an intire Power and Dominion over him, and his reason has no check or controul over them; his Vices keep him always warm and heated, and never suffer him to cool or grow sober, they ply him close with what shall more in­toxicate and besot him, and keep him from ever coming to himself; so his mind is always dozed, and he lives under a per­petual kind of drunkenness, and loss of his reason: his thoughts are always drow­ned in Hurry, Business, or Company, Drink, Noise, or Diversion; or scatter­ed and dispersed in mad freaks and pranks of extravagance, and with a sort of pra­ctical incoherent nonsense; or else amu­sed with Phantastick Whimsies and Ro­mantick Conceits, and imaginary Repre­sentations of things, as they are drawn by Plays and Poets, contrary to all so­ber [Page 340]thinking, and the right knowledge of the nature of things, as God has con­stituted them in the World. Thus it is with our either dull or witty unthinking Debauchees, who live a rambling, careless, thoughtless Life, without any true prin­ciples, or any serious consideration or re­flection, and examining of things; who care as little as can be to think at all, and therefore avoid themselves as much as may be, and never love to be alone; for nothing is so troublesome and uneasie to them as themselves and their own thoughts, and therefore they keep from them all they can, and would be quite without them if they could: And upon this ac­count we find them often declaiming a­gainst reason and thinking, and extolling the condition of Beasts above Men, which is only another way of commending them­selves, for at the same time they are en­deavouring to be as equal and like to them as may be.

4. To show the deceitfulness of sin, we cannot but observe, that Vertue is much the likelier way to attain most of the present goods of this World, which sin aims at, but generally loses and destroys. Thus Sobriety, Chastity, and Temperance pick up that bodily pleasure which is lost and dropt by Vice and Debauchery, when they are so hastily running after [Page 341]it; the ambitious and covetous miss of­ten their aims, whilst others unexpectedly meet with what they are in vain seeking; and generally most of the good things of this World, are by Nature and Pro­vidence settled upon Vertue, and lost by Vice; the one is a Tree of Life, as the Wiseman speaks, Prov. 3.18. and even literally Health to our Navel and Marrow to the Bones; while the other is a Disease and trouble to the Flesh, and rottenness to the bones. The one is a Crown of honour that circles the head of the Wise and Vertuous, while the other is a foul stain and blemish to a mans Credit and good Name; the one is Peace and Joy and Gladness to the mind, the other is a worm to the Conscience, a tormentor to the Soul, and an inward Hell in a Mans own breast. Wisdom has in her right hand length of days, and in her left hand riches and honour; her ways are ways of plea­santness, and all her paths are peace, as the Wiseman long ago observed, Prov. 3.17. whereas most of the temptations to sin are Vain and Phantastick, Cheating and Delusive, and have only appearan­ces, but no real good in them; like Zeuxis's Grapes, they are only painted artificially, but have no real sweetness; they deceive the eye and the fancy at a distance, but there is nothing of true plea­sure [Page 342]and delight to be tasted in them, but often a real bitterness instead of it, like the vines of Sodom and Gomorrah, Deut. 32.32. their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter, their wine is the poyson of dragons and the cruel venom of Asps.

Men always find themselves deceived and disappointed in their vain expecta­tions of what their sins will afford 'em, and therefore always come off with re­pentance, shame, and remorse; and can never answer it to themselves afterwards, nor find any good account in the reckon­ing when they come to cast it up, and ask themselves seriously the Apostle's question, What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? Rom. 6.21. They have walked after things that do not profit, as the Prophet speaks in another case, Jer. 2.8. after mere Idols and I­mages of good, pleasure and profit, which they have found to be nothing in the World, and to have no reality in them. They have courted and embraced a mere airy empty Cloud instead of Juno, and been led by a mere meteor, an Ignis fa­tuus, a false light and seeming appear­ance, which has bewildred and misguided them in their blind search and dark pur­suit after their own good and happiness. Where they have look'd for and expect­ed any good, they have always missed [Page 343]of it, and found the contrary evil; their sins have been so hard and cruel to them, that when they have ask'd Bread, they have given them a stone, and instead of a fish a serpent; and their own experi­ence, which is the best and only teach­er to them if they would attend to it, would learn 'em above all things the deceitfulness of sin.

5. Sin deceives very much with being customary and fashionable; this draws in a great many by the power of exam­ple, and the having such numbers and so great a party on its side; for thereby the shame and reproach of it is in great mea­sure took of, and the sinner runs, he thinks, but the same risque and venture with so many others, and hopes to fare as well as the rest of his Companions and as others in the crowd. This is a strong delusion and works upon a great many, and is not so easily took off un­less a great Authority, and a great ex­ample brings vertue into fashion, as it easily may by having God and all good Men on its side; and so discounte­rances Vice, and makes it become as infamous and contemptible in the thoughts of others, as it is in it self: and when a mark of infamy is set up­on any thing, even upon the greatest power or the greatest sin, it can never [Page 344]long hold its interest, nor keep its ground. Vertue can never lose its Credit by all the attempts in the World, but will al­ways be honoured, and have a true va­lue and esteem in the hearts of Men; and even those who forsake it, will yet have an inward awe and secret reverence of it: but Vice, tho' it bears a mark like Cain of shame and ignominy upon it, yet when it becomes modish and fa­shionable, grows more bold and impu­dent; and escapes a great deal of that reproach and disgrace that belongs to it, and bears out with some considence and assurance, when otherwise it would sneak and be covered with confusion; then it endeavours as much as it can to run down solitary Vertue as a piece of sin­gularity and affectation, and to change the opinion of Men in those things, and alter if it could the very nature of Vice and Vertue, and the thoughts and sentiments of mankind about them; and make false Names, and counterfeit Terms of honour to it self. But it may as well change the seasons of the year, and turn Summer into Winter, and Day into Night, and pluck up the sundamental Constitution of things, as destroy the fixt and immutable nature of good and evil; and as well pervert our senses, or our perceptions of the mo­tions made upon us by outward objects, [Page 345]as the settled Judgment and Opinion of Mankind, concerning the moral objects of our mind. Nature, and Reason, and Wisdom are stubborn and inflexible things, and will not comply with the modes and humours of a foolish World, and will be always on Vertue's side; and how­ever, the mad men and the vitious may have the majority, yet they will never carry it against the other, nor be able to contend with them in a cause that Hea­ven, and Nature, and Reason have decided and settled by a decree that is irrever­sible. Health will be still health, and is to be preferr'd to Pain and Diseases, tho' in a general Contagion, and when ne­ver so many are sick, and tho' the Dis­eases make them never so frantick and light-headed. Life was a thing very va­luable and comfortable to Noah, when all the World besides perished; and Hea­ven will be never the less desirable, nor Hell never the more tolerable, though there be few, as our Saviour says, that find the one, and many that go into the o­ther: so little is there in this deceitful Temp­tation to sin, that it has numbers on its side, and is customary and fashionable.

6. Sin deceives very often by being counted a little one, but a small trifle and peccadillo in respect of those greater and more scandalous Vices that bear a black­er [Page 346]mark and fouler Character. Thus to drop an Oath now and then, to take a Cup a little too much sometimes, to set off Discourse with a little Profaneness and Obscenity, and to make bold with God and Religion for a Jest and a Witty say­ing, and to go as far in some Liberties as is possible without committing the last act of sin; these and other things are called only innocent freedoms and such as the sociable and well bred, and Per­sons even of Conduct and Prudence can hardly avoid, if they would converse in the World without the charge of too much preciseness and moroseness. But if these, however they are look'd on, are direct breaches of a Divine Law, if they are inconsistent with the known rules of Religion, if they are contrary to the Gospel and the strict commands of Chri­stianity; they are never to be called lit­tle or small sins, but such as a Man must avoid upon the peril of his Salvation, and being excluded out of Heaven: besides, these lesser unregarded sins lead to others, and take off the strict guard and serious watchfulness we ought always to main­tain over our selves; and lay us open ve­ry often to the greatest temptations, by carrying us to the utmost bounds of what is lawfull, and so to the nearest approaches of what is sinfull; and like smaller wounds [Page 347]and lesser illnesses by being over much slighted, and not taken care of, they be­come in time dangerous and mortal.

Lastly, for the deceits of sin are innu­merable, and cannot all be reckoned up, tho' it concerns mankind above all things to know and escape them, and not be cheated in the main things wherein their happiness or misery consists; but the last thing I shall name is this, That many Men are deceived into sin by think­ing it may be easie to get rid of all the evil, and guilt, and punishment of it by the help of Repentance, and the merci­full provision of the Gospel; by which they may quickly be set right again, and be in as good a state as they were be­fore. Now here are too many mistakes to be consider'd at present, I shall only say, that this is to be deceived not only in the nature of sin, but in the nature of Repentance, and the nature of Religion, and to make that rather an incourager, and promoter of sin than a destroyer of it, and to find out a trick, if it will do, even by the help of Religion it self, to be too hard for Heaven upon its own Terms and Concessions; but God is not to be thus mocked or over-reached. No Repentance will do but what brings forth the fruits of obedience and a good life, nor is a sin so easily repented of after it [Page 348]is committed, especially upon such presum­ptuous terms as may justly provoke God to give it up to an harden'd and impenitent heart, and to that wretched state which sin by being continued in will bring it to. Which is the next thing I am to consider,

2. How Men are hardened by their sins, or how sin hardens their minds afterwards, and brings them to the most wretched and depraved state and tem­per. And this I shall show.

• 1. In the gross or in general.
• 2. More particularly how, and to what degrees it hardens them.
• 3. Make some remarks and observati­ons from the whole.

1. How Sin hardens in general. When a Man has given way to it in any great and willfull instances, and it has made a breach upon his purposes and resolutions which were too weak to hold out against it, it will enter with all its force and gain ground daily upon him, and quickly con­quer and overcome him, if he do not repulse it immediately, and drive it out by Repentance: tho' he may a little strug­gle and rally against it, especially at the first beginning, when natural Conscience will strive a while with his carnal Lusts and Inclinations; yet if in this conflict the Sin prevails and is too hard for the Spirit, and he continues to commit it, it will at [Page 349]last wholly master him and bring him into such Bondage and Vassallage, that he shall lose the moral liberty and free­dom of his mind, and be such a slave to it as to be led Captive by it at its will; so that in the same sense he both will not, and cannot get rid of it, for he has then lost the power of his mind, and is brought under the perfect dominion of his Lusts and Vices: so that tho' he sees the plainest mischief of them, and wishes he could leave them, and would do so, if a faint wish and a mere velleity were sufficient; yet he still lives in them to the plainest ruin both of his Body and Soul, to his undoing both in this World and another; and tho' he sees and seels the pernicious consequences and effects of them, yet neither a decayed Body, nor a disordered Mind, nor a shattered Estate, nor Conscience, nor Credit, nor his own Reason, which condemns and reproaches him for them, can ever prevail upon him to forsake and abandon them.

They have taken such strong hold of him, and he is so much under their pow­er, that he cannot for all these strong ar­guments and considerations resist the next temptation or opportunity that invites to them; His Lusts and sensual Inclinations and disorderly Appetites are grown so strong, and his Reason and Religion [Page 350]so weak and unable to resist them, that like a mighty Torrent, they carry all before them; and indeed he himself has broke down all the banks that should withstand them, and he is carried down by the violent stream of his Lusts, till it dryes up of it self, and age, and infirmi­ty abate and sink it, and his sins, as we commonly say, leave him; and even then when he is dead to sin in some sense, yet the Ghosts of his departed Vices still haunt him, and the Phantoms or fan­cies, the Spirits (if I may so call them) of his Lewdness and Debauchery, still hover over the Grave and the Carkass as it were of an old sinner, and will not quite depart from him.

This hardning of a sinner is gradual, and comes not all at once upon him, but by the power of Custom, and the strength of Vitious Habits, he is brought by time and degrees to this hardned state, and by an unaccountable quality in sin it self, whereby the mind is as it were pe­trified by it, and brought to that [...] and [...] which the Platonists often speak of; such a deadness and stupidness of its faculties, and its moral powers as we cannot well express. Every sin har­dens the mind a little, and weakens the first tender sense of good and evil that is natural to it; and the longer it con­tinues [Page 351]in it, it sensibly hardens it the more, tho' by secret and insensible means, as even Stones grow out of the Earth that was at first soft and fluid, but by time and a saline and other qualities they grow hard and rocky. A Sinner at first had great tenderness of mind, and could hardly be brought to commit a willfull Sin; 'till by Custom and many re­peated Acts, he grew more harden'd and embolden'd: So that what he commit­ted at first with reluctancy, he commits afterwards with greediness; the first con­ception and formation of Sin in his mind was by a small seed or principle, and by an unaccountable growth and increase, a wicked thought became at first an In­clination, or rather a natural Inclination produced a Thought, a Thought increa­sed the Inclination, that begot a Delight, a Delight a Consent, a Consent an Act, an Act, by degrees, a Habit, and that becomes stronger and stronger by time; As in the growth of our bodies Anatomists tell us a Gelly becomes a Nerve, a Fibre, a Tendon, a Muscle or a Bone, by strange and imperceptible ways. The Body of Sin, which the Scripture speaks of, is for­med by custom, and grows still more and more, and has no fixt stature set to it, but is harder to be put off the older it is, and gets strength every day, and re­news [Page 352]it by age: The Sin which at first might have been easily withstood and overcome, and like a young Weed rea­dily pluck'd up; afterwards takes such deep root in a Man's mind that 'tis the hardest thing in the World to remove it, and to get rid of a long and confirmed habit, that has been a great while grow­ing upon us.

This hardning of the Mind by Sin I take to proceed from Custom, which has an unaccountable force and power upon us; and does as it were bend the Will that way, and put so strong a byass up­on the Thoughts and Inclinations of the Mind, that it can hardly with all its na­tural Liberty and God's ordinary Grace, get off of it; and when the Will is thus obstinately bent to any Lust or Wicked­ness, it affects and draws in the Under­standing, and corrupts the Judgment; and the mind at the same time, it is thus hardned by its Vices, is blinded also by them: and so the two great powers and faculties of the Soul are corrupted by it both at once; for hardning respects pro­perly the Will, and blinding the Under­standing, and they always go together, and are promiscuously mention'd, the one for the other in Scripture. Mens Lusts and Vices as they harden them, and bring as it were a Callus upon the mind by [Page 353]long use and make it to be past feeling, as Scripture speaks, so they darken and blind the Understanding, which is as it were the Eye of the Soul, and bring a cloud over it, or cast a mist before it, and hinder it from seeing and discern­ing things as it ought to do. These, I confess, are all figurative expressions, whereby we are forc'd to describe and illustrate the Acts and Operations of the Mind, by material and bodily resem­blances, as the Holy Ghost it self does: But there are such real effects in the Mind as answer to them, and about which we can use no other Words or Ideas. Mens Sins at the same time they harden their Wills, and bring them to a senselessness and stupidity about their moral Actions, they blind their Judg­ment also, and bring them to a Repro­bate sense, so as not to see the plainest Truths or greatest Evidence, nor be a­ware of the grossest and most notori­ous Errors, nor be convinced by the strongest Arguments and Demonstrati­ons for the Truth or Practice of Reli­gion.

2. I shall consider a little more par­ticularly in the 2d. place, how, and to what degrees the mind is thus hard­ned and blinded by its Sins.

1. And this is done first of all by breaking thro' natural shame, and the innate modesty of our minds; this is one of the strongest sences which God and Nature have set about Vertue, and the greatest check and restraint against Vice; for it arises from the first quick and discerning sense of the mind, where­by it sees the [...]ness and reasonableness of the one, and the indecency and na­tural turpitude and shame of the other; and when this is once broke thro', the mind is quickly Prostituted and De­bauched to the greatest Lewdness and Villany, and comes to Sin Impudently and with a Wheres forehead: at first in­deed it was modest and reserv'd, and blus [...]'d at the rude offers of Sin, and ran from them; but by coming near­er and making some further approaches to it, it was drawn in to consent; and so having lest its Original innocence and native modesty, it is sooner brought to after-acts of Sin, and wears off by de­grees that shame which was its great guard and preservative at first; and then it lies open to every Temptation, and [...] to every offer and op­portunity that invites [...] and hardly needs to be tempted, but becomes a tempter both to it self and others, and [Page 355]a Pander in time to all Vice and Wick­edness.

2. Sin hardens by stupifying Consci­ence, and deadning the inward and na­tural sense of good and evil on our Minds so as to bring Men by degrees to Sin without struggle, dispute, or reluctancy. It must be a great while be­fore it comes to this, and a man must have gone thro' a long course before he can arrive at this state and perfection of Sinning. No Man can commit a plain and great Sin at first without great strug­gle and remorse of mind, and great reluctance and opposition from his own Conscience; the spirit will strive against the flesh, as the flesh lusteth against the spirit, Gal. 5.17. there being a natural principle of Vertue in us as well as of Vice. And as a good Man must have many conflicts with his lower inclina­tions before he can arrive at a full state of Vertue; so must a bad Man have as great a contest with his Conscience and the natural sense of his own Mind before he can be perfectly wicked. Con­science will check and restrain him at first, and inwardly smite and reprove him for doing amiss, and this is an e­vident proof of the natural difference [Page 356]between good and evil, and an excel­lent Monitor set up by God in every Mans breast to mind him of his duty, and the great security indeed of all Re­ligion; but when Men have, by many acts and long customs of wickedness, wasted and sinned away Conscience, and stifled or stupisied the inward sense of their own minds, so as to sin with greater ease, and without any trouble or opposition from within, without any re­bukes or resistances, or remorses of their own Consciences for whatever they do; then they are become perfect Sinners in­deed, and come to an absolute and full state of Wickedness, to be hardned into an utter insensibility, so as to be past feeling, and to have their Conscience, as it were, seared with a hot iron, as the Scripture speaks, 1 Tim. 4.2. so as to be quite senseless. This senselessness may seem an easier and less painfull state, but it is more mortal and dangerous; and is just such a Disease to the Soul, as an Apo­plexy or a Lethargy is to the body. If this senselessness and stupidity would always last, it were much better in­deed than sharp and actual pain, but the Conscience of a Sinner, tho' it may sleep and slumber a while, yet it will awake one time or other, and like [Page 357]an enraged Lyon tear and devour all a­bout it; Either Death or Sickness, or some Judgment or Affliction will pro­bably rowse it here, and bring the stu­pify'd mind to it self; or to be sure the flames of Hell will make it open its Eyes when it is too late, when it can see nothing but horror and despair be­fore it, and round about it, and where it; Conscience shall always torment it with a Worm that never dieth, and with never ceasing Anguish and Re­morse.

3. A third instance and degree of be­ing thus hardned by Sin, is doubting of the Truth of Religion, and calling into question the principles of it, and at last an utter rejecting and dis-believing of them. No Man ever did this till he was corrupted in his morals, and enga­ged in a vitious course; so that this Scepticism and Infidelity, was plainly the effect and consequent of his Vices; and proceeded from his Will, blinded with his Sins and Lusts, rather than from his Understanding, or from any want of Evidence about those matters. It was first the Sinners wish and desire that there were no God, before he que­stion'd whither there was one or no; [Page 358]and he never doubted of the truth of another World, till it was against his Interest, and he was lost and undone, if there were one, and therefore he was very unwilling to believe it. Men must have very much blinded their Minds, if they do not see the plainest Evidence for Religion, both from Nature and Reason, and from History and Reve­lation; from the make and frame of the World, and from the make of their own bodies, and the inward sense of their own Minds: all which make it as unreasonable almost to doubt of the Being of a God, as to doubt of their own being and existence; and we may as well be Scepticks to the truth of any thing else, as to the truth of Religion.

4. There is a degree yet beyond this, and that is ridiculing Religion, and ex­posing it to Contempt and Laughter; which is not only the utmost and most desperate attempt and affront against God, but the most rude and unmanner­ly, as well as mischievous thing to all Mankind; for all sober and wise Men, and civiliz'd Nations, have always be­lieved there is a God, and 'tis no ve­ry civil thing to call them all Fools or Cheats for doing so; 'tis so much the interest, nay the necessity of man­kind [Page 359]that there should be one, that all Government, all Security, all Society, and living happily in the World, must be lost without it; to laugh therefore at this, as either a Politick Cheat or a Melancholy Delusion, on which so much depends, both as to the benefit of the publick, and the happiness and comfort of all private Men, is only to show the boldest folly and ill-will, both to­gether; and, without any reason in the World, to take upon themselves to per­swade mankind that they are deceived in the most usefull and necessary thing to 'em that can be. 'Tis certainly the highest impudence and rudeness to run down those things, and expose them as ridiculous, which have been the great­est objects of Honour and Reverence to all wise men; and to treat Religion and things Sacred, with jest and drollery, about which all the World has been the most serious and in earnest; and to mock and scoff at that which others bow down to and tremble at. This is only a more mad and daring bravery in wickedness, and one of the highest instances of a cor­rupted and hardned Mind. I shall add but another, which is an effect as it were of this; and that is,

5. An industrious design of being wicked and glorying in it; to make it their business to spread and promote it, and to take pleasure not only in committing Sin themselves, but likewise in those that do it. This is to love Wicked­ness for Wickedness sake, and out of pure opposition to Vertue, and a direct enmi­ty to Religion; When Men make it their Trade and a kind of Profess'd Science to be Debauch'd, and set down rules to themselves and others of being so; When they can boast of their Wickedness, and glory in it; and as­sume perhaps more to themselves than they have been guilty of, and charge themselves with such Sins as they never committed, thereby to Triumph as it were in their mighty deeds and great exploits; and, to endear themselves the more to their Lewd Companions, when they endeavour to out-do one another, and out-vye their fellow Sinners in Oaths, Drinking, and Debauchery; and give greater proofs of their highest pro­ficiency in Wickedness and Lewdness. This is perfectly giving up themselves to the Devil's Service, and to toil and drudge in it, as his greatest Slaves, and as his Disciples to devote themselves to [Page 361]him, and become sworn votaries to Hell and Wickedness, and declare themselves Champions and Defenders of his cause and interest, against God and Religion. 'Tis strange that Human Nature should be depraved and corrupted to these de­grees, but we see too many Examples of it in the World; and we see too what is the cause of it; namely, men's being so strangely hardned and blinded by their Sins, and having their Rea­son and Understanding and all the Fa­culties of their Minds so horribly cor­rupted and depraved by them.

3. From what has been said, I shall make the following Remarks and Ob­servations.

1. I observe from hence, That our pro­per and truest happiness lies in the Per­fection and Improvement of of our Minds; and therefore we ought to take the great­est care of them.

2. That Vice is the greatest Corrup­tion and Depravation of the Mind; and therefore we should not suffer that to grow upon us.

3. I shall enquire into the Scripture-notion of God's hardning Men, and whether that be any thing more than our Sins hardning us.

4. From hence we may conceive and understand the misery and wretched state of the Devils and damn'd Souls, who are come to the highest degree of this hardning.

1. I observe that our proper and tru­est happiness lies in the Perfection and Improvement of our Minds.

The happiness of any Being must be suited and adapted to its Capacity and Faculties; for otherwise it has no root to grow upon, and the more those Ca­pacities are enlarged and extended, and have agreeable objects to fill and en­tertain 'em, the greater is the happi­ness of it. The lowest Creatures that have sense, have very small Capacities, and their Enjoyments are very little; the more we rise in the scale of Beings, the Capacities are greater till we come to the All-perfect Being; We have be­dily Capacities, the same with the Brutes, which can partake of such bodily plea­sures as they do; but these are very [Page 363]little and narrow, and confined to few things, and a short time. We have much higher Capacities even like God himself, whereby we take in all the truth that can be known, and all the good that can be enjoyed; and hoard up these immortal Treasures in our Minds, and in the fullest measure of those con­sists our proper happiness as we are Men, and Rational, and Immortal Beings. 'Tis in our Souls, those noblest parts of us, that our Happiness lies and will lie for ever; Our bodies are poor dying de­caying matter, that can afford very lit­tle Enjoyments, and for a very little while; the capacities of the mind are great and large, and comprehensive, and can reach not only to all things that are made, but even to the God that made them, and partake of a proper happiness from all of them; for the more it increases its knowledge, and grows up to a more perfect Understanding, and to a more free choice and entire willing of what is good; and the more good it enjoys, and the more its faculties are enlarged and filled up with their proper objects, the more Happiness and Perfection, Sa­tisfaction and Enjoyment it must have; and this will be its Eternal Heaven when we shall be as like God as we can be, [Page 364]and equal to the Angels in the proper perfections of our rational nature ad­vanced to the highest degrees, and the most unspeakable Enjoyments and Sa­tisfactions.

2. Vice is the greatest Corruption and Depravation of the Mind, and therefore is our greatest misery; it sinks and im­pairs the Faculties, decays and weakens the Mind, as a Disease does the body, and fills it generally like that with pain and uneasiness; as being contrary to its natural frame, and to its proper and regular Operations. Vertue is the Vigor and Health, the Soundness and right Constitution of the Soul, the Spi­ritual life which Religion and God's Grace would advance it to; but Vice and Wickedness are the Spiritual death of it, both in the Language of the Scripture, and of the best Philosophers of Old; their manner and custom of setting a Coffin in the place of him that had left the Schools and Precepts of Ver­tue, was speaking the same thing in emblem and figure with the Scripture expression of being dead in trespasses and sins; The loss of the Soul is just­ly accounted so great an one, as the gain of the whole World will not [Page 365]compensate; What shall it profit a Man, says our Saviour, to gain the whole world and lose his own Soul? Matth. 16.26. Now the Soul can never be so lost as to lose its Being or its Power of think­ing. Happy would it be for a great many if it could so lose it self, and va­nish into air or nothing: but 'tis the loss of its proper Life and Happiness of the right use of its noble Powers and Faculties, and of those Operations and Enjoyments it was made for; and suf­fering the Misery and Anguish which its own thoughts bring upon it; This is the unvaluable loss of the Soul, and a great part of its Hell, as I shall show immediately.

Sin indeed brings the Mind to this lost and wretched condition by degrees; it darkens and blinds the Mind, and spoils its powers of rightly Judging and Understanding; not in an instant, but as darkness comes upon the Earth by gradual approaches. 'Tis hard perhaps to give a full Account how it does this; but it employs the thoughts upon wrong and undue objects; it immerses and sinks 'em in carnal Fancies and sensual Ideas; it perverts and distorts the Judg­ment, and gives it undue representati­ons [Page 366]of things; or it takes it off from thinking and considering at all; by such means it brings it to this pass, tho' it have eyes to see, yet it sees not, tho' it have Under­standing, that is, the natural power of it, yet it understands not, Mat. 13.14. so tho' it have its power of willing, yet it wills only evil, and has no moral ability to will good from the strong prevalency of its own evil desires and affections. This is losing the Soul, and the right powers of it, and making it like an ab­sorpt Star, lose its proper light, center, and motion, tho' it be still a Star but fallen, dark and wandring.

3. And this I take in the third place to be the Scripture-notion of hardning, when Men's sins bring 'em to this state; and when God is said to harden them, 'tis not by any positive influx or poy­sonous infusion; nor yet perhaps by withdrawing his ordinary Grace, and the means of conversion from them: this he did not from Pharaoh or the Jews, or any other Sinners that we know of. 'Tis only Sin that hardens them, and their own Lusts and Vices that blind them; and when God is said to do it, 'tis generally by doing such things as are the occasion, not the cause of it; [Page 367]which are in themselves proper means of working quite other effects upon them, not of hardning and blinding, but rather of converting and convincing them: Such were all the Miracles God wrought and all the Methods he used, both with the Jews and with Pharaoh, where he tried all ways to bring them off from their Obstinacy and Infidelity, and continued so to do, notwithstand­ing their abuse of them. God strikes no Man spiritually blind, nor takes a­way that light which is necessary for him to see by; or that strength and as­sistance which is necessary to convert him. 'Tis the Clouds only darken the Earth, and not the Sun; 'tis the inter­posal of the dark body of the one, and not the withdrawing the beams of the o­ther, which properly brings night up­on it. I very much question whether there be any other judicial hardness and blindness, especially in this Life, than what Mens sins bring upon them; their being left to the malignant Power and efficacy of those, is without any o­ther influence or causality, the entire reason of their hardness and blindness; and God is said to leave them and give them up to hardness of heart, just as a Physician leaves his Patient to the [Page 368]incurable malignity of his Distemper, without either giving him any thing to encrease it, or without withdraw­ing the Application of any proper Re­medies that might help to cure it.

4. Fourthly and Lastly, By this we may conceive and understand the mi­sery and wretched state of the Devils and damned Souls, who are under the utmost and irreversible state of this hard­ned and depraved temper of Soul; which will naturally and necessarily make them miserable. Those accursed Spirits were once capable of noble plea­sures and improvements of mind; but Sin and Disobedience to God, has spoil'd, and sunk, and corrupted them, and brought them to this wretched condi­tion, where their thoughts are filled on­ly with rage and malice against God, and with an extream horror and dread of him, joyned with as great rage and vexation against themselves. 'Tis a ter­rible thing for a poor Creature willful­ly to offend and sin against its Great God; impudently to affront and defie its Maker, and trample upon his Laws and Government; which is setting up its own Will, Thoughts, and Reason, against his. This will bring it to dread­full [Page 396]Thoughts and Resentments one day, whatever we think of it, or however we slight it now. Sin would not have had a Hell and Eternal torments pre­pared for it by a good God, had it not been an opposition to the Will and Coun­sels of Heaven, to all God's designs in making Us, and making the World; and contrary to all the measures of God's Wisdom and Government, and to the Good and Welfare of the whole System of Beings. Vice therefore by the order of things, throws Men into this miserable state; and a lower spi­rit by having its Thoughts, its Will, and Understanding, so contrary and op­posite to the highest spirit, and by not having due regards and observances to him, must necessarily fall into this state of Misery, as well as of his utmost Wrath and Displeasure. It's Vices have depraved and corrupted its mind, gi­ven it wrong Thoughts of God, and of every thing else; and sunk it into the love of evil, and of every thing contrary to God and Goodness; made it delight in mischief, and in doing such things as are directly contrary to the good of its fellow Creatures, if it were but a little gratifying to it self. And now that false pleasure is gone off, and [Page 370]it is left wholly to the sting of its Vices, and it therefore reflects with infinite re­morse upon the folly, and the madness, and the mischief of them; but it can­not now redress or amend them, or what injury it has done by them; and therefore it must lie for ever under the insupportable weight and bur­den of them. It cannot now raise up its thoughts to any love or desire of God, whom it has always had a fix'd contempt and neglect of; it cannot now take any delight in him, or the appre­hensions of him whom it seldom or ever thought of, or ever car'd to Worship or Acknowledge before; and there is no­thing now to divert or entertain it, its bodily Pleasures and worldly Enjoy­ments are gone off, and not here to be met with; and it is left wholly to its own uncomfortable thoughts, and to the ex­tream anguish and bitterness of them. It never rightly understood nor loved either God or Goodness; and now there is nothing else to be loved; and there­fore it must hate it self and every thing else: It must now bear the misery of its own ill mind, which it has been spoil­ing and corrupting all its Life, and bringing to this fad state and condition; and now it is desperate and irrecovera­ble, [Page 371]and because it has lost the only op­portunities of improving and sitting it for happiness, it must now necessarily be miserable with it as long as its du­ration lasts, that is for ever.