whole Body and drive out the Venom and Leprosie of Vice which hath so long defiled and deformed it After Hypocrisie Enthusiasm Immorality Impiety and Contempt of all Religion Superstition and Idolatry successively we are in hopes to see a serious enlightned and judicious Piety and Virtue which shall not so much frighten as shame and reason Men out of Vice And if together with this Virtue and Sobriety were always among others the Distinguishing Condition as they ought to be of Honour and all other Secular Advantages a great work would soon be in great measure done For I think Vice never yet had so much esteem as to have one small Martyr for it But 2. We are not to follow bad Examples when given They can but tempt us not force us when the Text tells us That evil Comunications corrupt good Manners the meaning is That they have always a natural tendency to it but not that they always effect it We may prevent and defeat their Influence by Precepts of Wisdom by Vigilancy and Resolution We may learn receive and possess our Minds with right and just Opinions with good and wholsome Instructions and Documents with generous Passions and Purposes We may soon attain to the Capacity of looking upon Examples to be only Representations not Reasons of our Manners to help our Imaginations but not Arguments to determine our Judgments We need not be either surprized or overborn by them We may we ought to discover examine confront and compare them with others receive or reject them if we please If we find them foolish mean impious or bad we are not to be drawn away by their Greatness Number Impunity nay Encouragement too For we need not be advised of a thing so common that the Companions and Ministers of Vice may be cherished honoured and rewarded when Religion and Virtue are neglected and slighted as troublesome uneasie and ill Company Thus we may behave our selves and not only secure our selves but many others from the Infection and Contagion of foolish and wicked Examples But it may be otherwise too and we are always in very great danger of them And truly generally as the state of the World now goes they reach us and have their mischievous and pernicious effects more or less upon us which ought not to dismay us but still to encrease our Caution Courage and Resolution Indeed we have had too long an Experience of it and have felt its Influence so deep and almost universal that it is not like in a long time yet to be worked and worn out by the most operative and powerfull Remedies that can be applied We seem to have great need of a Confederacy here too and all too weak and insufficient without the Conjunction of the Supream Power to head and conduct it which we may promise our selves Never can Authority and Power be employed in a better Cause in which they shall certainly have God on their side his Assistance Favour Blessing and Reward the Hands and Hearts of the best Men and the Consciences of all even of the very worst As for our particular Let us list our selves under this Confederacy and augment the number of Heaven's Forces against the Armies of Hell and Vice and even by Multitude oppress them if we can But if not that at least let us by Courage and Conduct make good our Ground and keep our selves entire not only receiving the boldest Attacks of Vice and Folly unmoved but sometimes charging through the most resolute of their Troops And may the God of all Power and Victory who is not an unconcern'd Spectator of the Endeavours and Prayers of his Faithfull Servants multiply their Number encrease their Zeal Courage and Constancy and in some measure grant them here present Success However we are abundantly assured that he will hereafter signally own their Service and crown it with a glorious Reward SERMON II. 1 PET. IV. 4. Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same Excess of Riot speaking evil of you WHEN first Christian Religion was introduced and Societies which made Publick profession of it were formed there never appeared a greater contrariety of Manners in the World than there was between the Christians and all the rest of Mankind The former were eminently pure spiritually-minded humble just and in all instances charitable the latter most impure proud malicious envious cruel The Gentiles except here and there a Philosopher or a good Natur'd-man were as much corrupted in their manners and lives as inhabiting together upon this Earth could well bear Their very Religion was the worst part of their condition teaching them Beastliness and Cruelty to such excess that it was necessary to be corrected by the light of Nature and the supreme civil Power as the Bacchanalia among the Romans Some of the Fathers justly reproach them that their Religion taught them nothing of Morality as the Christian Religion did but only childish superstitious or beastly Rites and Ceremonies And the Holy Scripture in several places gives us abundantly to understand the most lamentable condition of the Gentile World when the Gospel or Christian Institution came first among them particularly the Epistles Rom. 1. Ephes 2. 4. to the Romans and the Ephesians As for the Jews though their Religion was good and wisely instituted in that place which it had of the whole Divine Oeconomy and Providence over all Mankind from beginning to end and although they had excellent Books of Morality of which I reckon Piety and Devotion the principal part in their hands yet both their inward manners and outward practice generally were little better than that of the Heathens except in one point of Idolatry They living every where promiscuously with the Gentiles and under their Dominion soon grew like them retaining only what they could of the Rites of their Religion and some true opinions concerning the Deity to distinguish them St. Paul chargeth them with an universal Defection and Corruption in his Epistle to the Romans Chap. 2. 3. and their own Writers are witnesses how wicked they were And the Talmudists particularly had a Tradition that just before the coming of the Messias Impudence in wickedness should abound as some think it will before his second Coming This was a deplorable State of humane Race but considering the Ignorance and Darkness which had so long covered the face of the Earth where they rarely heard or but suspected any thing better it was not so much to be wondered at But strange it was when they heard the Doctrine of the Gospel or did but see the contrary manners and practisers of its Professors that they were not all of them startled and yet stranger that they should wonder at the Christians that they would not live as they did And yet so it was then with the Heathens towards the Christians and so it is still with bad Christians little more such than in Name and infinitely the most Numerous towards the Good
with what is false and light 'T is also probity of mind they want who being licentiously given and no great friends to any Religion or Truth either which may lay any restraint upon them in their opinions or practices gladly take any advantages against them That men look upon all professing Religion and Conscience to be Ignorant Superstitious or Cunning so that their Example or Reason are of no Authority with them Neither doth this humour stop among this sort of men but it is soon conveyed into the vulgar too who soon learn to contemn Religion and the Priest especially in times of liberty Wherefore it is to be advised and sincerely Religious men wise and honest who heartily desire the Advancement of true Religion will so do that we be first assured of the truth of our belief and opinions in Religion and be now carefull and just to appear for nothing but what is so and for that reason And when we cannot fairly maintain any thing to be such tho' it appear never so much for the honour and interest of Religion as many very false and forged things have let it rest and go as it is till time may further discover And as for the vulgar it is surely their safest way to rely upon the Conduct of such wise and honest Men though they may be even exhorted to see with their own Eyes too if they can For it is much more easie for them to know who are such than to judge themselves of the truth and falshood Universal conveniencies and inconveniencâ—es of things to know who are the best Guides than to guide themselves This plain dealing without fraud or force will surely much advance the just Esteem of Religion and its Ministers and consequently its influence and efficacy We have but too much proof of this Cause of Infidelity from experience We have seen some Men and that of the first rank who have taught us such a God and that out of his own Books which others judge to be an absolute impossibility And yet after all they will be the only Orthodox and reprobate all those who will not be of their opinion Many also are those who have made the Holy Scriptures the most excellent Collection of Writings which were ever extant to speak such things which hath caused others not brooking their Interpretations nor being sufficient to find out better themselves to have mean and injurious thoughts of them And yet if any pious Man with the sincerest intentions and endeavours to preserve and vindicate their due honour by salving difficulties which seem to check Reason do advance any thing inconsistent with their settled Opinions and Systems he is presently irreligious and a severe Atheist too severe Censures whatever their mistakes may be But they are much more numerous still who have made up such an Hotch-potch in Religion by their Additions to the Holy Scriptures from pretended or enthusiastical Revelations forged or false Miracles Traditions Ecclesiastical Authority and Infallibility as first to turn men's Stomachs against it and at last to cause a great many quite to discharge themselves of it altogether But of these and such like I shall say no more at present But go on to the next general Head 2ly To propose some remedies proper to prevent or repress the influences of these Causes of Infidelity whereof some are more general some more particularly relating to some Causes and Circumstances The first of these is 1st To advise and assist Men to improve and advance their Knowledge to the highest Degree they are capable of For it seems just to deal so uprightly and plainly with the World as not to make use of mere Authority instead of understanding and reason where men are truly capable and honest though where they are ignorant but yet conceited self-willed or dishonest in things of importance and consequence Authority must be allowed to interpose for their own and the publick good which otherwise would greatly suffer Let therefore Men know as much as they can and examine these great verities with the greatest severity Assuredly the more they know the more reason they will see to believe them seriously and resolutely to live according to them Search the Scriptures saith our Saviour to the unbelieving Jews John 5. 39. to convince them that he was the promised Messias and the Person to whom all his Characters there did agree So say we Search the Scriptures Nature it self and Reason too for they bear witness of all these great Truths But then search them throughly examine them to the bottom see clearly reason carefully and justly weigh all things with indifferency and impartiality which will be presently a direction by it self Otherwise as the Jews did erroneously interpret the Holy Scriptures and conclude from them So may Men here through want of patience and attention and apprehension err and mistake in their Conclusion concerning the great Truths of Morality and all Religions We heartily desire that men's Faith and Belief may be the effect of a plain serious and deliberate Conviction more than of Custom where it may be And truly then as well as when it is wrought in the heart by the grace of God which is another Cause mentioned in the Scripture great is its Power and forcible its Operation and life it self is at its devotion and service Such was the effect of it in all the Apostles and particularly such is the Faith in Jesus Christ mentioned of Saint Thomas and Saint Peter when one cries out my Lord and my God and the other Lord whither should we go thou hast the word of Eternal Life Let that then be the first remedy against Infidelity viz. the utmost improvement and best exercise of our knowledge and reason 2ly Possess we our minds with a sincere and zealous Honesty and Probity By which I mean a strong habitual propension and inclination to that which is right and just This will have three Effects very proper to beget or confirm a right belief of the Truth and to preserve us in it The First A fervent love of the Truth The Second A free and ingenuous acknowledgment of it where-ever we discover it be it for us or be it against us Thirdly A desire to act suitable and live according to it I say a sincere and resolute Probity hath these effects For surely never any honest man doubted whether it was material more fit and just of better effect for a good man who will make good use of his knowledge to be knowing rather than ignorant or to believe the truth rather than a lye in order to direct him in all his inward Motions and outward Actions Without the first we shall not trouble our selves to search or find the truth Without the second when we know it we shall either not believe or deny it if possible or if by the clearness and evidence we cannot do that yet we shall turn our minds away from it Finally without the third we shall little esteem or
usually signifies amongst us between God and the best of Men or the most excellent Angel is to give a very false Idea of the Case For to merit from any one is first to profit or advantage him some way and then it is to impart some-what of his own and lastly he that receives the Benefit is bound to requite it by some Law without and superiour to himself Now there is nothing of all this between God and his Creature For can a Man profit his Maker A Master indeed may be benefited by the labour and service of his Servant Next the strength industry and fidelity of the Servant is his own in respect of his Master he never had any of this from him But what have we which we have not received from God Our very Being Faculties Liberty all kind of Ability and Capacity are they not the free gifts of our great and good Creatour Finally what Law is there superiour to God's own Nature and Will to oblige him to any Action who can or ought to say to him What dost thou not so much in respect of his irresistible Power for there is no Tyranny in Heaven as his all comprehending Wisdom his immutable Righteousness and essential Goodness It is true there is such a thing as just and right eternal and unchangeable But it is therefore so because God is so It was eternally a property of the Divine Will if I may so speak as truth was of the Divine Understanding It is his own immutable Nature to do that which is right and fit That which we call right fit just is a due Relation or Habitude of all Will Action Power to its Object which Object is bonum good and that the greatest too in respect of intention extension and duration and there can be no more respects This is the ultimate due End and Object I say of all Will Action and Power whatsoever But this Relation or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is therefore eternal and immutable only because God is so It could never have existed without a Subject and that Subject the Divine Will exists necessarily The very Being or Existence therefore of any such thing depends upon the Existence of the Divine Will Besides this Relation which we call Right and Just is something wherefore it as all other somethings must have the Will of God or active Power or his Nature for its Cause But though Right and Just depend upon the Divine Will for its eternal Existence yet we cannot conceive it ever separated from them or without them We cannot but conceive it a pure perfection and therefore cannot but attribute it to God an All-perfect Being For an instance or application we say that the Object of God's will is always the Universal good the good of all Beings the greatest good either fit or possible and in order to this he wills benè bonis malè malis he justifies the Righteous and condemns the Wicked He orders and distributes respective recompences of rewards and punishments to the good and bad the quantity quality time and other Circumstances are to be left to the Divine Wisdom But this proceeds from no Cause without the Divine Will it self We cannot but conceive the Divine Will thus to act There is no Power or Will to determine or constrain it God's Nature is such that we cannot but conceive him to will and do that which is just and right for the greatest good of all reasonable Beings and yet most freely because it is his own immutable Nature for what can be more free than what is natural Liberty in God is not an indifferency for that would be an imperfection but that infinite force and delight with which he acts I have no better words to express my meaning by Liberty and Necessity therefore in God are not only consistent but inseparable It is right and just for God to reward the good who keep his Commandments and observe his Laws which are the infallible Rules and Instances of what is right and just but we must not say God is bound to it or that those who are good merit it from him in a strict and most received Sense and common Usage because that imports as if he must do it whether he would or no and there were some Law or Person without or superiour to himself We may and ought to say that God most certainly will do so because it is his own immutable Nature to do it The Righteous Lord loveth Righteousness and his Countenance beholdeth the upright 'T is true to put an end to this not useless or very impertinent Digression that worthy Qualities and Actions i. e. such as do effect or but tend to the common good that are usefull or beneficial to the World do justly entitle any Person to a Reward such as Honour Power Wealth or pleasurable Life because those same Qualities and Actions are thereby maintained increased and propagated and consequently the best and happiest State of the World furthered and advanced Every one in his place and according to his Ability is bound to this but especially all sorts of Governours And such qualities have and may with good reason obtain the Name of Merits amongst Men and in respect of them in its most common and received sense For they are the property of those who possess them they never received them from other Men they are beneficial and usefull to Men and there is a superiour Law and Power to oblige and compell Men to reward them none of which can be said in respect to God Though it being a congruous and reasonable thing as is above mentioned God always doth and always will necessarily from his own Nature will and act in such manner And if there be no more meant by meriting than that we may safely in such a sense be said to merit from God too And in this sense it is that St. Paul saith that God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love Heb. 6. 9. And benceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4. 8. i. e. It is a congruous and fitting thing of best effect certainly in God's Government of the World that good Men should be so used by him I have been some-what the longer in this Digression because I believe the whole Controversie about Merit between the Jews and St. Paul with his Christians and between the Pontificians and the Protestants may by the little that hath been here said be easily cleared and decided At last we conclude then with St. Paul and the Gospel-doctrine against the Jewish Doctors and the legal Doctrine which they taught viz. That we sinners are justified by God and more particularly upon our repentance and perseverance in Holiness of heart and life pardoned and saved not by Works of Righteousness which we have done not by any
is to be honoured but then Wisdom and Goodness which are to direct and determine that Power deserve it much more It is true Wisdom and Goodness without Power are moveless and ineffectual things but then Power without them may be most mischievous Goodness without Power if it can do no good yet it can do no harm But power without goodness may be used to make miserable if it be managed by Cunning Pride Malice and Ill-nature But above all is that Person honourable and amiable where Greatness Wisdom and Goodness are in Conjunction as it is in God with Infinity The Examples of such work marvellous Effects in their Sphere and carry all before them They have great force to change the very inward Springs and Principles of Men's Actions their Opinions and Inclinations at least they outwardly bind them to their good Behaviour And oh that Heaven as it hath begun among us would go on to bless the World with such an Happiness and refresh the Souls of Righteous men grieved and tired with wicked Generations by so beautifull and lovely a Sight And here we cannot miss to make the Observation how much greater obligations the Great are under to look at their Conduct and Example than others and how much larger their Account will be for the Evil they have and the Good they might have done and what can be said by those for themselves who because they are great already will be greater than God himself who made them so and take that liberty which he never used 3. A third Cause of the greater influence of bad Examples is their Confidence Promptness and Fierceness Good men more generally unless they be very happy in the Gifts of Eloquence quick Apprehension and Courage all together converse with Caution and consequently are more sparing in their Speech and Actions more modest in their Affirmations more tender of the Reputation of their Conduct more carefull of their own peace and satisfaction more sollicitous concerning the influence of their Examples Now the confidence and boldness of bad Examples is usually accompanied with some Wit and Freedom of Speech and Carriage and some Passion always with more vigour and life Which things are more discernible and acceptable to most Company than good Sense and Reason and often make so great an impression as almost to force themselves upon those who assuredly know much better There is also in such Confidence a certain heedlesness and negligence which carries the Air and Appearance and is some ingredient of Generosity and Courage which first much commends the Persons and then their Discourse and Actions especially to those who are their Equals or Inferiours and are no wiser than themselves though in other Circumstances where it may seem excessive or unseasonable to understanding Men it is usually as offensive Finally the confidence of bad Examples to the greatest part of Spectators is a sign of assurance of Truth and Reason in what they say and do at least of no great harm or folly but where the former inclinations to imitation are back'd by appearing Reason its force is irresistible On the contrary Calmness and Reservedness seem lifeless dubious cowardly and even when they are thought to be the Effect of Wisdom and Judgment yet they are gratefull but to very few of the same temper and the Examples of such reach the Generality with no force or with very little impression Whence good Men may be advised that there is place and reason sometimes for Freedom and a handsome Confidence in conversation though many very wise may want that faculty managed with a regard to the Measure Seasonableness and other Circumstances and with a Design to convey as opportunity may serve some good sentiment and instruction It is a laudable and usefull Dexterity in conversation to communicate wise and vertuous things with advantage and to convey it acceptably and particularly with a seeming heedlesness of what one is doing when indeed it is the main Design to do it well like as the discreet Physician may seem to his ungovernable Patient to be doing nothing of consequence when he designs the administration of some effectual Remedy for his Disease 4. The last Cause we shall name is the most general Corruption of Humane Nature consisting principally in prevailing Inclinations to other Objects above those to Religion Vertue and Wisdom The depravation and vitiosity of our active Powers is this that those Appetites and Inclinations which should be moderate governable and subservient are the most violent ungovernable and commanding Though this Cause be very general yet it is not remote but near and immediate This is the reason why supposing good and bad Examples equal in number set before us and recommended alike advantageously we should except here and there one secured by a rare Felicity of Temper or the Grace of God without much deliberation enter our selves into the worst Company This is the reason why if Orations could be made with equal seeming Reason and Eloquence for Vertue and Vice and we were the Moderators perfectly left to our own liberty without the restraint of shame we should soon heartily determine against Vertue This is the Reason at the Bottom why one single Example of one great Man hath more influence than twenty of the prudent and vertuous the wise and the good 'T is because our very opinions as well as our practices are perverted and corrupted We esteem admire and love Power more than Goodness to be great rather than good to do what we list rather than what we ought And then our general Veneration and great Opinion of the Great inclines us to a particular promiscuous Approbation and Imitation of what he is and doth 'T is from this miserable inborn Propension of our Natures to Vice heavy and forcible that if sometimes by the most excellent and celebrated Examples we are a little heaved upwards that 's all and we presently flop down again all at once And sometimes they do not in the least move us and all their beauty and lustre no more affect us than if we were deaf or blind 'T is from hence till it be changed that like the fi lt by Swine we will never learn to be cleanly though in the Midst â—f a verdant Meadow covered with innocent Sheep if there be but one Puddle where we may wallow in the Mire or like some naturally clownish and slovenly People who will never be taught any decent Carriage and Manners though always in the Company of those who are gentile and well-bred Oh the deplorable Pravity and Degeneracy of Mankind desperate and utterly incurable without a mercifull Touch by the Finger of God and the special powerfull Influence of his Grace preventing following assisting our earnest Prayers and serious Endeavours without which the Company of Heaven it self would never mend them They would still retain the Propensions and Inclinations nay the Actions too if they could of Devils and Brutes in the midst of Saints and Angels These
End and not to leave our selves to a tumultuous boonness of spirit and to the fortuitous tides or rushes of our appetites and passions So it hath been said of the Ancient Epicureans that their Exclusion of their Deities from humane Affairs was recommended by them as a comfortable dogm freeing Men from all fear and solicitude to please or displease them 6ly Sometimes in some men infidelity hath proceeded from a sowerness of mind great displeasure conceived and fermented into an impatience against God and his Providence Perhaps their impetuous desires have been crossed their darling designs broken and their jolly hopes frustrated or their sweet enjoyments suddenly swept away from them whence first they have entertained very hard thoughts of God and his Providence and broken out into rude and unmannerly expressions against them Then in revenge proceeded to wish them out of the World and at last have thought it more easie and safe to deny them 7ly In others again an affectation of singularity and despising what is common an humour of contradicting of what is ordinarily believed disposeth to infidelity Because the generality of men do believe those great truths so often mentioned therefore they will not They would seem more searching or fortunate or bold in their discoveries and opinions than all the World besides They would appear to know or at least dare to say that which the generality of Men have been ignorant of or that which if some few of the more curious and inquisitive and penetrating have thought as well as themselves yet they had not the courage to publish it Now these men are under a far more dangerous prejudice from affectation of singularity and novelty than the generality of men whom they usually despise are from Antiquity Custom and Example If we consider both these abstractedly it is far safer to follow common received opinions of many Countries and Ages especially if believed of great importance than the new inventions of one or some few Though both may be false yet if no other reasons be considered the old is much more likely to be true than the new And I believe it is the experience of those who impartially examine things that generally the common and well near universally received opinion of all places and ages especially if thought of great consequence whether true or false are at last found in the main part of them to be true And it is one of the best Employments of men of great Wit and more than ordinary sagacity and capacity to conceive and deliver them more clearly and distinctly and to pare off and separate some absurdities and falshoods which may in some tract of time by passing through many unskilfull hands have been fastned to them But of this more will be said when we come to the remedies of infidelity 8. To add no more at present Envy against the Professors but of Ingenuity Philosophy and Sobriety much more of Religion and Piety especially if attended with any thing of Dignity Reputation and Revenue hath been the Cause I doubt in many ill-tempered and ill-living Men of this Infidelity Some of these at first out of this ill-humour and quality feign to themselves and then industriously bring themselves to believe it that the things are frivolous or false for which Men of Learning and Religion have been thought worthy of their Rewards of Esteem Honour and Revenue And what 's the Cause or Reason No other but that their Eye is evil and they would not have them to enjoy them They do not well abide it to see them in possession of that which either they would have themselves whether deservedly or not or at least no body else Others again speak meanly or disgracefully of their Doctrine Opinion and Profession because they spoil the Reputation of their manner of life and are inconsistent with that licentiousness and liberty which they profess practise and delight in Hence it is they give them the bad and contemptible names of Pedantries uncertainties or falshoods Here we may take in another sort of men which are but servants and attendants to the former those viz. who get their livelihood and sometimes more by the excesses contentions quarrels perjuries and other wickednesses of the Age. These two as far as their Wit and Interest will go help on and promote the disbelief of all sober vertuous and religious Principles These and others which may be still added are the inward Causes and inherent in our selves of unbelief and disbelief and which are most in our own Power to prevent or remove There are also some others external and occasional such as the Example of witty and acceptable Company Hypocrisie in Religion both revealed and natural so taken and seeming at least especially in the Teachers of them when men profess they believe their grand Truths but do not live in any sort as if they did Which accusation is partly false for the generality of men though they do not indeed live near up to their Faith yet they would be much worse without it Partly it is to be put to another Cause viz. heedlesness and want of application of their belief to their practice But perhaps few things have been more an occasion of the Infidelity of some men than the over-zealous and blind Credulity of others Some men's believing too much and otherwise than they ought and yet fiercely imposing it hath been the Cause of others believing too little and sometimes they who have most complained of Scepticism and Infidelity Unbelief and Disbelief which are different things have contributed much to it themselves The introducing of many Opinions of neither light or use or very little either way uncertain or trivial nay sometimes not only justly suspicious but manifestly false and then the imposing them under what Penalties men have in their own Power the least of which is commonly the Censures and Reproaches of Enemies or Indifferents in Religion Hereticks Atheists Infidels I say these have begotten and extremely nourished Scepticism and Infidelity especially in this knowing and inquisitive Age bold when they dare lurking and doing more mischief oft-times when they dare not shew themselves because they cannot be examined and receive their Answers This is the infirmity of those well-meaning Men who will have every thing believed and imposed too which seems to them to make for the honour and reputation of their Religion not minding what should be in the first place known whether it be true or false But it is the wickedness of those who do it for their own secular interest and care not how much Mankind be abused so that their Domination be advanced and secured at least they connive at it and let it pass This Cause hath its effect principally among the ingenious and witty the great and haughty but not wise and just who want either leisure or patience or capacity or probity to examine and distinguish things They easily throw away the Wheat with the Chaff what is true and solid