these Persons have not yet laid up their Treasure in Heaven as our Saviour expresseth it they have not yet so wholly devoted themselves to the Service of God as to make it their Main Business When once they have done that I dare assure them they will find it so far from being a force upon them to think of good things that it will be very natural to them and they will find the greatest Pleasure in the World in so doing Secondly Whoever would keep his Heart always in a good Frame and be able to give a good Account of his Thoughts to God must have an especial care to avoid two things viz. Idleness and loose Company For both of these do strangely unhinge a Man's Mind and disarm it of that Severity which is its best guard and defence against Evil Thoughts and make it become an easie prey to every Temptation that will attack it A wise Man should never be at such a pass as to say I have nothing to do I do not know how to spend my next Hour But should so order the Course of his Life that all the Portions of his Time as much as is possible may be filled with some useful or at least come innocent Imployment It is Idleness and having nothing to do that is the Mother of most of those vain and unprofitable and sinful Fancies in which some Men spend their days And whereas Temptations do now and then come in the way of other Men the Idle Man is forced to seek out Temptations for the shipwrack of his Vertue And therefore no wonder if he that seeks them finds abundance of them And truely Loose and Impertinent Conversation which was the other thing I named though its looks something with a better Grace yet is not much better than Idleness For where-ever it is much used it will so emasculate a Man's Mind and take off the edge and vigour of it as to serious things that he cannot easily get it into a good Frame again Evil Communication saith St. Paul doth corrupt good Manners And therefore those people a great part of whose Life is taken up in gadding up and down in Play in merry Meetings in telling or hearing idle Stories and the like It is impossible but their Thoughts and Inclinations and the whole Frame of their Hearts will be suitable that is to say very frothy very light and foolish not to say profane and wicked and Atheistical too if the Company they much converse with be of that strain Thirdly Another thing of great moment for the keeping our Hearts is to be as attentive as is possible to the first Motions of our Minds and whenever we find that they tend toward something that is forbidden to stop them as soon as we can We cannot as I told you before often prevent irregular Desires or Passions or Inclinations from arising in our Minds upon sundry occasions But this we can do As soon as we are aware of them we can refuse our Consent to them and in that case I hope they will not be imputed to us as Sins Nay not only so but we can refuse their breaking out or shewing themselves in our Words or our Actions For the Motions of our outward Members are all at our Command though the first Motions of our Minds be not Here therefore will ly a main Point in the Art of well governing our Minds and Thoughts You cannot perhaps for instance prevent a sudden Passion of Anger from rising in your Minds upon twenty Accidents But as soon as you feel this Passion you can thus far stifle it you can seal up your Mouth so that the Passion shall not vent it self in unseemly Words And if you will withdraw that Fuel from the new-kindled Fire it will soon be extinguished and die Whereas if you suffer it to break out in bitter Speeches and Expressions it will flame beyond measure Thus again if any undecent impure Fancies or Desires should be excited in you upon any occasion It was not perhaps in your power to keep them from coming into your Minds But it is in your power to withdraw from the Temptation that caused them and to endeavour to direct your Thoughts to some other Object at least not to proceed one step in any outward Action towards the accomplishing of those Desires If you take this Course the Disturbance of your Mind will soon cease and you will return presently to your ordinary Temper And let me tell you this further That by your being thus careful to resist and smother the first beginnings of Sin you will not only preserve in a great measure the Innocency of your Minds under the present Temptation but you will also have this farther advantage that by this means you increase your Power over your Thoughts against the next time that the Temptation returns Every check you give to the first motions of Sin makes the next assault of them the less furious And if you do constantly use your selves thus to Guard and Watch over your Hearts you will in time obtain such a Command over them that you will not be troubled with a quarter of those irregular desires and passions which heretofore upon several Occasions used to be kindled in you By this Method you will strengthen your Faculties and enlarge your Powers and by degrees bring your selves to that happy Temper of Soul that there will be no great War between the Law of your Members and the Law of your Minds But the World and the Flesh will be Crucified to you as you are to them that I may use St. Paul's Expressions But then Fourthly That you may be able not only to keep bad Thoughts out of your Minds but also to have a constant spring of good ones there are some particular Exercises very proper for this purpose to be recommended Such I mean as these Converse with discreet and pious Persons Reading good Books especially the Holy Scriptures taking times of Meditation and Recollection and above all Fervent and Constant Prayer to God It is not to be told how every one of these things doth help to inspire us with good Thoughts and Purposes A little passage now and then though but occasionally dropt in Conversation that is to the business of Vertue and Goodness will supply us some times with matter for good Thoughts for a considerable while after What lasting Impressions then do you think would be left upon our Minds if we made it our constant Exercise every day to read or hear something out of the Bible or some other good Book with a design to grow Better thereby But above all things we must take care to be diligent and serious in our Applications to the Throne of Grace it is Hearty Prayer and Devotion that when all is done will prove the most Effectual Means for the keeping our Hearts steady to that which is Good and securing them from the pollutions of the sensible Earthly Objects that do surround us O therefore
contribute nothing But this I say supposing the vertuous Man in equal circumstances with others supposing him to stand upon the same level and to enjoy the same fortuitous hits and external concurrences that they do and he â—hall by many odds have the advantage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for thriving and improving in â—he World in any condition of life whatsoever So that so far as the getting of Riches depends upon Humane endeavours so far as it is an Art and falls under Precepts and Directions no Man alive can propose a better expedient in order thereto than a serious practice of Religion To make this good let it be considered that as to the means that do in a more direct and immediate manner influence upon the getting or improving an Estate I speak of general means such as are of use in all conditions of life for to meddle with the Mysteries of any Particular Art or Trade is not my purpose as indeed it is beyond my skill as to such means as these I say none can prescribe more effectual than these four 1. Prudence in administring our Affairs 2. Diligence in that Vocation wherein God hath placed us 3. Thrift and good Husbandry 4. Keeping a good Correspondence with those in whose power it is to hinder or promote our Affairs If now it do appear that Godliness doth highly improve a Man in all these four respects if it can be shewed that all these Fruits naturally grow and thrive better in a Religious Soil than any other it will evidently follow that supposing these above named means do indeed contribute to the making of a Fortune and if they do not no Man knows what doth and we strangely abuse our Friends and our Children when upon that account we recommend them to them it follows I say that a life of Godliness is a mighty advantage to a Man for the purposes I am speaking of And first of all it will be easie to shew that Godliness doth above all things tend to make a man wise and prudent skilful and dexterous in the management of his Affairs of what nature soever For it doth very much clear and improve a Mans understanding not only by a certain natural efficacy it hath as I shall shew hereafter to purifie the Blood and Spirits upon which the perfection of our Intellectual Operations doth exceedingly much depend but also by dispelling those adventitious clouds that arise in the discerning faculty from the noisome Fumes of Lust and Passion All Vice in the very nature of it depraves and distorts a mans judgment fills our minds with Prejudices and false Apprehensions of things and no Man that is under the dominion of it can possibly have such a free use of his Reason as otherwise he might for he will commonly see things not as they are in themselves but in those disguises and false colours which his Passion puts upon them Upon which account he cannot avoid but he will be often imposed upon and commit a thousand errours in the management of his Affairs which the vertuous Man whose Reason is pure and untinctur'd is secured from It cannot be imagined that either he should foresee events so clearly or spy opportunities so sagaciously or weigh things so impartially or deliberate so calmly or transact so cautiously as the Man that is free from those manifold prepossessions which his mind is fraught with We see this every day verified in Men of all Ranks and Conditions of all Callings and Employments What a multitude of inconveniences as to matter of dealing between Man and Man doth an intemperate Appetite betray Men to How silly and foolish is the most shrewd Man when Wine hath gotten into his head There is none so simple in his Company but supposing him to be sober and to have designs upon him he shall be able to over-reach him What a World of Advantages doth the Angry Man give to him he deals with by the hastiness and impatience of his Spirit How often doth a Man do that in the fury and expectancies of a Lust for which when his Ardours are over he is ready to bite his Nails for very vexation It is thus more or less with all kind of Vices they craze a Man's head and cast a mist before his Eyes and make him often lose himself in those very ways wherein he pretends to be most skilful So that it cannot be denied that Vertue is of a singular use in all matters wherein we have occasion to make use of our Reason and doth secure us from a multitude of indiscretions which without it we should unavoidably commit But secondly Godliness is also an excellent means to secure a man's diligence in the discharge of his Calling and Employment which is also a matter of very great consequence in order to our thriving in the World for it is the diligent hand that maketh rich and the man that is diligent in his business that shall stand before Kings as Solomon tells us Now the Obligations that Religion layeth upon us to be careful in this point are far stronger than what can arise from any other respect or consideration soever for it obligeth us to mind our Business not only for our own but for God's sake It chargeth the matter upon our Consciences and represents it to us as a part of that service we owe to our Creator and upon the due performance of which no loss than the everlasting welfare of our Souls doth depend for it assures us that he that will call us to account for every idle Word will much more do so for the idle expence of our Time and the abuse and not improvement of those Talents that he hath entrusted us with So that though we had no worldly inducement to make us diligent in our Callings though we were sure we should suffer no prejudice in our Temporal Affairs by Idleness and the neglect of our Business the fear of which yet is the only principle that puts Worldly Men upon action nevertheless we were infinitely concerned not to be slack or negligent in this matter in regard it is a point that will be so severely exacted of us in the other World I know but one Objection that can be made against this Discourse and it is this that what engagements soever Religion lays upon us to the careful spending of our time yet it s own Exercises Prayer and Reading and Meditation take up so great a portion of it which might be spent in the works of our ordinary Employment that in effect it rather hinders our attendance on our Business than promotes it But to this it is easily answered that there is no Man so engaged in the World but may if he please make both his Business and his Devotions consist together without prejudicing of either They have very false Apprehensions of Religion that think it obliges us to be always upon our Knees or always poring upon some good Book No we do as truly serve God and perform acts
III. PREACHED AT BOW-CHURCH On the 17th of February 1680. Eccles iij. 10. I know that there is no good in them but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his Life THIS Book of Ecclesiastes gives us an Account of the several Experiments that Solomon had made in order to the finding out wherein the Happiness of Man in this World doth consist And these Words are one of the Conclusions he drew from those Experiments No Man had ever greater Opportunities of Trying all the Ways wherein Men generally seek for Contentment than he had and no Man did ever more industriously apply himself to or took a greater Liberty in enjoying those Good Things that are commonly most admired than he did And yet after all his Labour and all his Enjoyments he found nothing but Emptiness and Dissatisfaction He thought to become Happy by Philosophy giving his Heart as he tells us Eccl. 1.13 to seek and search out all the things that come to pass under the Sun Yet upon Trial he found all this to be Vanity and Vexation of Spirit He apply'd his Mind to Political Wisdom and other sorts of Knowledge and his Attainments in that kind were greater than of any that were before him Yet he experienced at last Ver. 18. that in Wisdom was much Grief and he that increaseth Knowledge increaseth Sorrow He proved his Heart as he tells us with Mirth and Wine Chap. 2. Ver. 1 3. and all sorts of Sensual Pleasures to find if these were good for the Sons of Men And yet so far was he from his desir'd Satisfaction in these things that he was forced to say of Laughter Ver. 2. that it was mad and of Mirth What Good doth it He turned himself to Works of Pomp and Magnificence He built him stately Houses and made him Gardens and Vineyards Ver. 4. and Orchards and Fountains He increased his Possessions Ver. 8. and gathered Silver and Gold and the precious Treasures of Kings and of the Provinces He got him a vast Retinue and kept the most splendid Court that ever any Prince of that Country did Yet as he tells us when he came to look upon all the Works that his hands had wrought Ver. 11. and on the Labour that he had laboured to do behold all was Vanity and Vexation of Spirit and there was no Profit under the Sun But wherein then is there any Profit if not in these things What is that Good that the Sons of Men are to apply themselves to in order to their living as comfortably as the state of things here will allow This Question after an Intimation of the Uncertainty and Perplexedness of all Humane Events but withall of the Exactness of the Providence of God who hath made every thing beautiful in its Season he thus resolves in the Words of the Text I know saith he that there is no good in them but for a Man to rejoice and do good in his Life That is to say I have found by long Experience that all the Happiness that is to be had in the Good Things of this Life doth arise from these two Things Rejoicing in the Enjoyment of them and Doing Good to others with them while we live Take away these two Uses and there is no good in them Or if you please we may interpret the first part of his Proposition not of Things but of Men thus I know there is no good in them i. e. I am convinced that there is nothing so good for the Sons of Men or nothing that more contributes to their Happiness in this World than that every Man should rejoice and do good in his Life And to this purpose the Words are render'd by several Interpreters But it is no matter which of the Senses we pitch upon since in effect they come both to one thing Two Things then Solomon here recommends to every one that would live comfortably in this World Rejoicing and Doing Good And I do not know what can be more proper and seasonable to be recommended and insisted on to you at this time and on this occasion than these two things for the putting them in practice makes up the whole Design of this Meeting We are here so many Brethren met together to Rejoice and to do Good To Rejoice together in the Sense and Acknowledgment of God's Mercies and Blessings to us and in the Enjoyment of Society one with another And to do Good not only by increasing our Friendship and mutual Correspondence but by joining together in a chearful Contribution to those our Country-men that need our Charity To entertain you therefore upon these two Points seems to be my proper Business But in treating of them I shall make bold to invert the Order in which they are put in the Text and shall first speak of doing Good though it be last named and shall afterwards treat of Rejoicing The truth is Doing Good in the Order of Nature goes before Rejoicing for it is the Foundation of it There can be no true Joy in the Possession or Use of any Worldly Blessings unless we can satisfie our selves we have done some Good with them It is the doing Good that sanctifies our other Enjoyments and makes them Matter of Rejoicing Now in treating of this Argument I shall briefly endeavour these Three Things First I shall earnestly recommend to you the Practice of doing Good upon several Considerations Secondly I shall represent the Practicableness of it by shewing the several Ways which every Person though in the meanest Circumstances is capable of doing Good Thirdly I shall make two or three Inferences by way of Application I begin with the First Thing Seriously to recommend the Practice of doing Good But where shall I begin to speak either of the Obligations that lie upon us or of the Benefits and Advantages that do accrue to us by doing Good in our Lives Or having begun where shall I make an end The Subject is so copious that the Study of a whole Life cannot exhaust it The more we consider it still the more and the weightier Arguments will present themselves to us to engage us in the practice of it and the more we practise it still the more shall we desire so to do and the more happy and blessed shall we find our selves to be For to do Good is nothing else but to act according to the Frame and Make of our Beings It is to gratifie those Inclinations and Appetites that are most strongly rooted in our Natures such as Love and Natural Affection Pity and Compassion a Desire of Friends and a Propensity to knot our selves into Companies and Societies What are all these but so many Stimuli so many powerful Incitements of Nature to put us upon doing good Offices one to another To do Good is the End of all those Acquisitions of all those Talents of all those Favours and Advantages that God has bless'd us with it is the proper Use we
blessed us with in opposition to a pinching and penurious way of living This I say seems to be the notion of Rejoycing that the Text speaks of as appears by the following verse Solomon having told us in the Text that there is nothing better for a man than to rejoyce and do Good he adds by way of explication of what he meant by rejoycing these words that every Man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labours for it is the gift of God And frequently in this Book of Ecclesiastes doth he persuade to this kind of rejoycing Thus in Chap. 2. ver 24. there is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and that he should make his soul enjoy Good in his labour this also I saw it was from the hand of God And in Chap. 5. ver 18. Behold that which I have seen it is good and comely for one to eat and drink and to enjoy the good of all his labours that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life which God giveth him for it is his portion And in Chap. 6. ver 1 2. he represents it as a great evil that he hath seen under the sun and yet such an evil as is common among men that a man to whom God hath given riches and wealth and honour so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof but a stranger eateth it this saith he is vanity and an evil disease And there is certainly great reason in what he saith For to have a plentiful portion of the good things of this life and not to have the heart to make use of them for the enjoyment of our selves and friends for the refreshing us under the toil that this life doth expose us to for the promoting Acquaintance and Society and the rendering our condition as easie as may be is as unaccountable a folly as we can be guilty of and makes us really as poor and necessitous as those that want bread but only not so pityable Taking now this to be the sense of rejoycing in the Text as I believe it is we have from hence a good warrant for this day's Meeting for we come together to rejoyce in Solomon's sense that is to eat and drink and to enjoy the good of our labours it being the gift of God so to do And this practice of ours is not only reasonable in it self but is commended to us by the example of God's people both under the Law and the Gospel The Jews by the appointment of God himself were to meet every year three times at Jerusalem the Capital City of the Nation See Deut. 16. to feast and to rejoyce before the Lord as we have it in the express words of Moses And the Christians for near 200 years after our Saviours had their Agapae their Feasts of charity wherein they met together both poor and rich to enjoy and make merry one with another It is true these Feasts were at length left off by common consent because there grew abuses in them they became occasions of Luxury and excess and so matters of scandal to our Religion But this was not an ill reflexion upon the thing it self which was innocent and commendable but upon the abuse of the thing A good and laudable institution was perverted to evil purposes However this very consideration ought to make us very careful of our carriage and behaviour in these our Meetings lest we fall under the same inconveniencies which that we may prevent Two things are especially needful to be taken care of by us First That we do not exceed the bounds of rejoycing prescribed to Christians that is that we avoid all excess and use the Creatures of God soberly and temperately so as to give offence to none nor to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof And Secondly That we take care to perform and make good the ends and designs of these Feasts of rejoycing which ends if we will take our measures from those Laws that God gave to his own People in the Old Testament and which the modern Jews themselves in their Commentaries take notice of and which are so reasonable in themselves that without any Authority they do recommend themselves to us are these four following First That we Rejoyce before the Lord that is that we make our humble acknowledgments and return our due praises and thanks to him for all the good things he hath blessed us with in our lives confessing that all we have is from his free bounty and goodness and that our Meeting together is to praise his name upon that account And this was the thing that was meant by those solemn Sacrifices that the Jews were bound to offer at Jerusalem at their Annual Feasts The second end of these Feasts is to take occasion from hence to learn our duty to be instructed in all the branches of that obedience we owe unto God For as Maimonides observes that was one of the principal reasons of God's calling together all the people of the Jews to appear at the Feast of Tabernacles to wit that they might hear the Law read unto them and this design is I suppose pursued by us in our chusing this Place to Assemble in A third end of these Feasts as the same Maimonides tells us and is manifest from Scripture is to promote acquaintance and Friendship and brotherly love one with another And this is a very noble end and serves many excellent purposes and nothing can be beyond it except The fourth and last end of these Meetings which is to do Good to exercise our Charity towards our poor indigent Brethren No man at the Solemn Feasts of the Jews was to appear before the Lord empty Exod. 23.15 He was to bring his offering not only to God by way of recognition and acknowledgement to him but for the poor also that they might rejoyce as well as he This is well observed by Maimonides from Deut. 16.14 where it is thus said Thou shalt rejoyce in thy feast thou and thy son and thy daughter thy man-servant and thy maid-servant the Levite and the stranger the fatherless and the widow that are within thy gates This then is the great end of our Assembly that not only we but the Fatherless and the widow all of our Country that need our Charity may rejoyce with us and for us And this is that which Solomon joyns with rejoycing in the Text There is no good in them but for a man to rejoyce and do Good and what that Man who by the sentence of God was declared the wisest of all men hath thus joyned together let none of us presume to put asunder These are the Rules and these are the ends that we are to observe in this our Feast and let us all for the Honour of Christ's Religion and for the credit of our particular Country Charge