directly affected not his Mind which still remained untouched exposed indeed to the ordinary assaults of the Devil which assaults as they were not suspended by God so neither were they assisted by him Which assaults how they are affected by the natural power of the Devil I come next to enquire having first observed to you that although we could not conceive or explain the manner of it we should have no reasonable cause to doubt of it Our own experience will not suffer us to admit such doubts and that the Faculties and Operations of immaterial Beings are imperceptible to us we have the example of our Soul which although it be so nearly related to us we know but very imperfectly the manner and spring of all her Actions The Devil is said to tempt us two ways properly and improperly Innumerable Examples of each may be brought from Scripture The latter is not hard to be conceived and is no more than this that as the Devil was the first Apostate and Rebel against God and still continueth his opposition to him so he is the Captain and Head of all which opposeth God as are the Lusts the Passions and the Sins of Men Which being excited by sublunary Objects by worldly Pleasures whatsoever is done by these in opposition to God is ascribed to him as done after his Example and under his Banner Since his Fall the World is in a manner divided between God and him whatsoever is good and excellent proceeds from God and is done by his Influence Command Direction and Perswasion Whatsoever is bad and repugnant to the Laws of God is done by the example of the Devil by imitating him following his Conduct and entring into his Government For thus all Beings disobedient to God may be said to constitute one Society whereof the Devil is the Head And because this Society busie themselves wholly in the things of this World and are deluded by gross Pleasures he is called the Prince of this World and the Prince of the Air not that he hath or ever had the disposition of things here below the disposal of Kingdoms or distribution of temporal conveniencies or inconveniencies which hath been the mistake of some Such Power never belonged to him He told our Saviour indeed in tempting of him that all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them were his and that he would give them to him if he would fall down and Worship him But he was a Liar from the Beginning it was more than he could perform The Devil is said properly to tempt Men by acting immediately upon their Souls by suggesting wicked thoughts unto them by instigating them to Wickedness and Disobedience And this is that temptation by which we so much suffer which we so much fear and by which he executes his Malice and Hatred upon Mankind There are but two possible ways by which this can easily be supposed to be performed since an extraordinary Derivation of Power from God is rejected The first is by moving the imaginations of Men and producing whatsoever Thoughts and Ideas he thinks fit by moving their Animal Spirits which in Man have so near a Connexion with the thoughts of the Soul that such motions in them will infallibly and unavoidably produce such thoughts in the Soul Now it is not impossible to conceive that the Devils as they are most sagacious Spirits and of long experience may have observed and found to which motions of the Spirits such and such thoughts of the Soul are annexed and accordingly procure those motions as often as they desire to introduce such thoughts For it is highly probable that all immaterial Beings have a natural power of moving matter We find that in our own Soul which is the lowest of all such Beings that moveth our Spirits and by the assistance of those our whole Body It no sooner formeth an Idea but the Spirits attend the Formation of it and are moved according to its Diversity There is no more necessary Connexion between the Thoughts of the Soul and the Motions of the Body than between the latter and the Thoughts of any other immaterial Being So that the Devil may well be supposed to be able to make impressions on our Imagination by the Motion of these Spirits Yet it will not follow from hence that he is able to move or disorder our whole Bodies since to the former is required the consent of our Will which is in our own Power and doth not necessarily follow any Motion of the Spirits To the latter is required a Power transcending the ordinary Laws of Nature whereby the Causes and Effects of Health and Strength are settled and preserved which are not in the least violated by such Motions in the Brain as produce a bare Idea or naked Conception of any thing This way of impressing Thoughts in our Mind is possible But it is more probable that all immaterial Beings can communicate Thoughts and make impressions on each other Without this it not be imagined how a Society of Angels or Devils can consist and yet that there are a Society of each the Scripture assures us If one Man cannot immediately impress a Thought in the Soul of another it is no wonder We are here inchained in a Body in which state no approaches can be made to us but by the Organs of the Body Nature hath provided another way for Men to communicate their Thoughts which when it shall cease by putting off the Body we have just ground to believe that we shall obtain that Priviledge common to other imaterial Beings of communicating our Thoughts to each other by immediate influence At least it is most certain that Angels and Devils have that Priviledge because they have formed Societies which they could not have done without it And if they can impress any Thoughts upon each other that is upon Beings of equal Dignity they are surely much more able to do it upon those of an inferiour Rank and Capacity such as are the Souls of Men. Both these ways are possible but that the Devils do tempt us by either of these Methods I dare not determine It is sufficient to shew that what we believe concerning the Temptation of evil Spirits is possible and agreeable to Reason And this I have spoken to you as Persons desiring satisfaction in the Truth of this Article of Christianity I will now return and speak to you as Christians firmly perswaded of this Truth that the Devils do tempt us From what hath been said you may take a just Estimate of the efficacy of the Devil's Temptations and our Ability to resist him He can proceed indeed no farther than to suggest the first Cogitations of any Object and if Man also stopped here he would never forfeit his Innocence the Devil would never obtain his desired End He can do no more indeed yet this he improves to great advantage and with that success which we all lament He knoweth the Constitutions of all Men and
were poured out upon the Apostles in so illustrious a manner as the Jews could not but take notice of the exact Completion of his Promise of sending the Comforter not many days after his Ascension in such a manner as drew the eyes of all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem both Jews and Strangers upon them and tended no less to demonstrate the Power than the Truth of Christ. The second Prediction indeed that of his Resurrection was fulfilled fifty days before but became not an Argument of Conviction to the Jews till now as being not till now publickly attested by the Apostles who were the Witnesses of it The Report of his Resurrection had been indeed rumoured in Jerusalem which put the Sanhedrim upon that shameful Device of corrupting the Soldiers who guarded his Sepulchre but the certain and publick Knowledge of it was not delivered till the Apostles were enabled and enboldened to proclaim and testifie it to the whole World by those Gifts which they received upon this day After the exact Completion of these Prophesies and the authentick attestation of them no excuse remained to the Jews whereby to extenuate their unbelief according to the Rules laid down by Moses they were now obliged to acknowledge Christ to have been a true Prophet and the true Messias and were convinced of their hainous Sin before commited by them in the Rejection of his Doctrine and Crucifixion of his Person the horror of which Sin might induce them the more readily to believe in Christ and lay hold of his Merits that so they might obtain Remission of it Otherwise they were to expect the most severe Execution of Divine Vengeance for their wilful obstinacy and disbelief as Moses had assured them in the same place Deut. XVIII 19. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him This Sentence and therein the Prophesie of Christ was in a most eminent manner executed and fulfilled in the Destruction and intire Desolation of the whole Nation of the Jews about forty years after the Ascension of our Lord whereby the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord then alive acted by the Holy Ghost were farther enabled invincibly to plead his Cause against the opposition of the unbelieving World both Jews and Gentiles For however the Mission of the Holy Ghost and the Consequences of it did more especially convince of Sin the Jews who were then alive and had been guilty either of rejecting the Preaching or contriving the Death of our Lord yet it contributed no less effectually to manifest the Unreasonableness of all both Jews and Gentiles who either in that or in all Ages to come should reject the Faith of Christ when proposed to them For the Belief of him was to be proposed to all Creatures under Heaven and confirmed by Arguments drawn from hence which were so rational and convictive so clear and demonstrative that they could not be rejected without the most extream Perverseness and if rejected the Holy Ghost should hereby plead the cause of Christ against them and convince the whole World and their own Consciences also if rightly judging that in rejecting the Gospel they had sinned against their own Souls and that nothing remained to them but a certain fearful Expectation of the fiery Judgment to be most justly inflicted on them The second point of which the Comforter was to reprove or convince the World was of Righteousness the reason of which is assigned in the 10th Verse Because I go to my Father and ye see me no more The Justice of God had to the eyes of Men been clouded when he permitted his only begotten Son to be delivered up and crucified by wicked Men when he abandoned him to the Rage of his Enemies and rescued him not from the Insults of the Jews by an extraordinary Interposition from Heaven The Majesty of the Deity seemed then to be eclipsed and suffer diminution when subjected to the Contradiction and Affronts of unreasonable Men. Men naturally expect that God should even in this World declare in behalf of oppressed Innocence either by rescuing it from the Malice of its Enemies or taking a severe Revenge upon the Oppressors of it And even Christians who have a better and more certain Knowledge of the Methods of Providence cannot but expect and are allowed so to do that if no Discrimination be made between the Good and the Bad in this life yet at least that it shall be in the next when Innocence shall be crowned with Rewards which shall be enhanced by Patience in Sufferings and Violence chastised with Punishments which shall be so much the sharper if reserved intire to another World if no part of them be inflicted in this This a faithful Christian expects from the Justice of God and this the Scripture assureth them Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest 2 Thess. I. 6. And God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour Heb. VI. 10. If then this Justice may be securely hoped for from God by all the Members of Mankind how much more by the Son of God whose Person was of infinite Dignity his Sufferings fraught with the highest Aggravations of Misery and his Persecutors guilty of the most enormous Wickedness That the Justice of God might be therefore vindicated herein that Sin might no longer triumph and Innocence pass unregarded God exalted his Son to his own right hand seated him in the Heavens gave him Dominion over all things crowned him with glory and worship The knowledge of this was published to the World by the Mission of the Holy Ghost by whose Direction and Assistance the Apostles openly testified the Ascension of their Lord and by which all might be convinced what Place and Power Christ now obtained in Heaven who could showre down such glorious Gifts and Priviledges upon his Followers on Earth These were so many undeniable Testimonies that the Malice of his Enemies was defeated that our Lord was yet alive set above their reach and Insults and not only so but invested with supreme Majesty and Dominion able to protect his Church and punish his Enemies that his former Sufferings had not been then more calamitous than his present State was now glorious that if God had for a time withdrawn in appearance his Favour and Protection from his Humane Nature he had now in recompence exalted it to an eternal Throne in Heaven The last thing of which the Comforter was to reprove or convince the World was of Judgment and that for this reason Ver. 11. Because the prince of this world is judged It is a Principle even of Natural Religion that God is the supreme Judge of the World and that of invisible as well as visible Beings The Devil who is frequently in Scripture called the prince of this world had now for many Ages exercised an
could be no part of a finite Soul It hath its bounds and sphere of Activity fixed to it which if it exceeds it cannot judge without danger of Error and Illusion If we desire to extend our Knowledge to all Things and Objects the desire is unreasonable if we pretend to it the pretence is foolish The limitation of our Nature hath excluded all such Hopes which can be obtained no otherwise than by altering our Nature and raising us from the condition of Finite to Infinite Beings It becomes us to receive with grateful Acknowledgements those Perfections which God hath bestowed on us not to repine that he gave us not better much less be angry that they are not infinite since it is impossible that any Creature should have an infinite Understanding Further the Imperfection of our Knowledge is manifest from Experience The greatest part of Mankind are detained in miserable Ignorance even of plain and sensible Matters A barbarous Indian could never be perswaded of the Truth of many things which by their frequency are not in the least admir'd by us The fabrick of a Watch or the mutual Communication of Thoughts by Writing is no less inconceivable to him than the Mysteries of the Trinity are to us And yet we shou'd by no means allow his Conclusion if he should peremptorily deny the Existence of such things because he cannot conceive them Among us Men who have not improved their Reason by Thought and Study are far more unable to conceive those things which are certainly known by more Learned Men than the latter are to conceive the greatest Mysteries of the Deity And even in these the same Imperfection of Understanding may be discovered For however they may flatter themselves with knowing the Nature of Finite Beings and Causes of visible Effects which indeed are the proper and suitable Objects of Human Understanding yet they must acknowledge their Ignorance in many other things of the same kind and what they do pretend to know in Natural Philosophy others oft-times no less Learned will deny and if themselves now fancy that they know the Truth yet they must confess that they once knew it not or perhaps had different Conceptions of it And then that very improvement of their Knowledge is an undeniable Argument of the Imperfection of it So that if Men should always deny the truth of what they cannot conceive even all natural knowledge would be destroy'd and things most certain would be denied to exist And then surely we cannot but allow a greater distance to be between the infinite Knowledge of God and that of the most learned Man which how far soever improved yet still continueth to be finite than between the most perfect and most imperfect Understandings of any two Men living Secondly The Excellency of the Object may be such that it can never be fully conceived by the understanding of any created Being And such is God of whose Existence altho' we be most certain yet we have no other than an imperfect Idea of his Essence We conceive him indeed to be a most perfect Being but his Perfections we cannot comprehend in one single Idea we are forced to consider them apart and even then obtain the knowledge of them rather by removing all Imperfections from him then by conceiving the Nature of the Perfections themselves And after all many Attributes of God which none deny to be his Attributes and without which the Divine Nature cannot subsist include no less Difficulties than the Doctrine of the Trinity I will instance only in two his independent Existence and his Omnipresence For the first nothing can exist without a cause and since there can be no external cause to God the cause of his Existence must be sought for in himself and that is the infinity of his Nature Now altho' all Men firmly believe that God never received his Existence from any external Cause nor needed to do it since the infinity of his own Nature was a necessary Cause of independent Existence Yet cannot the Soul of Man conceive how any thing should be the cause of it self without being involved in inextricable darkness Again no Man can deny God to be Omnipresent who grants his Existence yet can we not conceive the Presence of God in all places without conceiving at the same time an Extension of parts altho' we be assured that God is an immaterial Being and as such can have no Extention of parts Further not only the infinity of the Subject may exceed our Apprehension but the Spirituality of it altho' finite may confound us in this Life wherein we are so much inured to judge by the report of our Senses that few or none can form a distinct Conception of an immaterial Being All allow the Soul of Man to be such yet the greatest part of Mankind are not able to form any Conception of an immaterial Being and even those who can yet have no other than a very confused Idea of it which consists rather in a Negative Conception of it to wit that it is not material than in any positive Notion of its Immateriality If then things which are on all sides allowed continue to be inconceiveable if we cannot solve the Difficulties arising from many Attributes in God which yet we cannot deny to be in him without denying his Existence at the same time if we be so much at a loss in the Conception of any immaterial Being we ought not to be astonished or scandalized that the Doctrine of the Trinity cannot be fully conceived by us So then since humane Reason cannot by its own Conceptions alone find out and determine all which may relate to the Nature of God the Second Consideration proposed will take place namely That in judging the truth of these Matters we must not consider their Internal Probability so much as their external Motives of Credibility For since we cannot perfectly comprehend the Nature of God many Properties may be in it which we could never discover by the light of Reason nor yet when discovered to us fully conceive them But what we cannot conceive we cannot judge of from internal Arguments which are to be drawn from the Nature and Essence of the subject the perfect knowledge of which being denied to us we cannot form any Arguments from thence It remains therefore that we respect only the external Arguments of its truth and those can be no other than external Revelation We cannot doubt that God fully knoweth his own Nature and that as he is most wise he is most veracious that as he cannot be deceived himself so he cannot deceive us If then we be sufficiently assured that God hath revealed this all scruples ought to cease which is the Apostles Argument in this Case It must be indeed acknowledged that we may be deceived in our belief of a Divine Revelation and that since God cannot affirm any thing which is false it is an invincible Argument against any pretended Revelation this Matter is false
thy Mind can affright thee from performing what is displeasing to it if thou darest not resist its Commands and quietly submitest to it how much more art thou obliged to revere the Omnipotence of God where Power and Goodness are sweetly joyned together where no Limitations can be found nothing excluded from the reach of it no Cessation to be expected If thou pretendest not to know this Power consider the Nature of God and judge whether Omnipotence be not a necessary Attribute of a most perfect Being If thou appealest to Sense view the Fabrick of the World pass through Heaven and Earth thou shalt discover the Footsteps of Omnipotence in every part of it If thou pretendest yet not to see what is most evident reflect upon the Faculties of thy own Soul and say who gave them to thee consider the Fabrick of thy Body who formed it for thee These are undeniable Marks of thy Subjection to an Almighty Power which even if thou dost deny it is by Faculties of Soul and Body created by him that thou canst deny it Thus we perceive that the Power of God is uncontroulable and infinite that he is able to inflict whatsoever Punishment he pleaseth on his disobedient Creatures And then lest we should vainly imagine this Power to be useless in respect of us and like antiquated Laws never put in execution we are told in the next place that God is excellent in Judgment also that he will most certainly judge Manking and punish them for the Omission of their Duty For so Judgment doth almost every where signifie in Scripture the infliction of Punishment upon Delinquents This is the chief Mark of the Divine Government of the World to take a Survey of the Actions of Men and punish them for the Violation of those publick Laws which are fixed to Mankind and prescribed for their direction Nothing but the most extreme stupidity can defeat the Success of this Argument of Divine Worship since this equally affects both the Wife and Foolish by striking their Imaginations with the fear of Misery A Fear which will affect the Mind of Man when no other Argument can prevail The Perfections of God may be slighted the Infinity of his Nature may be neglected his Power may be derided when not put in execution but the belief of Judgment to be inflicted upon Sinners will awaken the Consciences and affright the Thoughts of Men And that even altho' the manner of the Execution of this Judgment should be unknown to them as in natural Religion For let the Punishments be uncertain as to their quality let the time of their Execution be hid from Sinners yet this they cannot but know that God is the Supreme Governour of the World that as such he will exercise Judgment and that as his Power exceeds that of the most formidable Judicature on Earth so his Punishments will be correspondent exceeding what Man can inflict And herein appears the excellence of this Judgment mentioned in the Text. Humane Judicatures can take hold only of the external Actions of Men and even these may sometimes be hid from them the Power of the Offender may set him above the reach of Punishments they may be evaded by crafty Defences may be hindred by the Interposition of some greater Power may be avoided by Death and will certainly be finished by it But in the Execution of the Divine Judgment it is far otherwise There the most secret Actions of Men are call'd in question even their Thoughts cannot escape discovery The Judge cannot be blinded by crafty Insinuations nor diverted from his Resolution by extraneous Causes Nothing can rescue us out of his hands not even Death it self his Dominion extends beyond the Grave reaches the Soul of Man and surmounts the resistance of all created Beings If then Fear can affect Men if Punishments can deter them if Power can awe them if the certainty of all these can convince them they do all combine to secure the Worship of God and continue Religion in Mankind But then lest we should seem Slaves to God and Servants through Fear only he dispenseth Rewards as well as Punishments to Men. He is excellent in plenty of Justice in the words of the Text. He rewards the Obedience of Men to his Precepts not because any Reward was due to them but because he delighteth in dispensing his Benefits and then his Justice will require that he dispense them to the most worthy We are not ignorant how powerful an Argument Interest is in moving the Hearts of Men. What draweth Attendants to Princes or Servants to Great Men but the Power of rewarding them and the prospect of Preferment to be attain'd by their Favours This seldom fails to secure to them those Duties which are due from Dependants Honour and Service And if we would but raise our Souls from the Earth and carry them beyond the Objects of Sense it would no less effectually secure what is due to God from us Adoration of his Majesty and Obedience to his Laws The Rewards to be attained are far greater such as the Donor will not and such as all the other Powers of the World cannot take away from us such as shall not be determined by Time nor restrained by any Limitation The assurance also of obtaining them is far more certain being founded on the Promise of him who can give what he pleaseth and will give what he Promiseth whereas the Favours expected from Men may be defeated by Forgetfulness by Unfaithfulness may be intercepted by others may become impossible to be bestowed If then God by his Infinite and most certain Rewards cannot procure what Men obtain by their Petty and uncertain Favours Fear and Reverence we must deplore the Ingratitude and obstinate Perverseness of Men who refusing to hearken to the Arguments of obedience propos'd by God yield to those proposed by Men which yet affect the same Passion that of Desire but in a much lower Degree Lastly to secure in our Minds such Thoughts of God as are befitting his Majesty and Holiness lest our Adoration of him should be corrupted with any Suspicions of Injustice entertained at the same time it is added in the end of the Verse He will not afflict In this Life the Rules and Method whereby God dispenseth his Rewards and Punishments may be very obscure to us He may suffer the righteous to be afflicted he may permit the wicked to Prosper he may in appearance cut off the Hopes of good Men by present Miseries and encourage the Disobedience of bad Men by temporal Felicity His ways may be unsearchable and his judgments past finding out But from hence we must not conceive any Opinion of Injustice in God or Imperfection in the Administration of his Government Although the Secrets of Providence be unknown to us this we are assured of that he is infinitely Just and Holy and that being such he will not afflict The Mysterious Obscurity of Providence herein was the occasion of the
presumptuous Opinion of a peculiar unaccountable Love of God dispensing with the Necessities of these Conditions in any one or indulging to him more than to another Such are the Presumptions indeed and such is the ordinary Success of Favorites on Earth where Favour is often distributed not according to the Merits but the Fancies of Men. But with God it is otherwise the Reasons of whose Favour are certain fixed and universal Equally distributed to all who shall perform the Conditions of it bestowed on none who shall not qualifie himself by performance of these Conditions May we all therefore upon a full Conviction of the impartiality of God in the distribution of his Favours seriously apply our selves to the acquisition of 'em by the ordinary and certain Means Then shall we not doubt to obtain our Desires the assurance of which our Lord giveth to us in this blessed Sacrament that as surely as we here eat his Flesh and drink his Blood so surely will he compleat his Promises to us of Happiness hereafter The Sixth SERMON PART I. Preach'd on the 1st of Sept. 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL 1 Pet. V. 8 9. Your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour Whom resist stedfast in the Faith IT is not the least Benefit of the Christian Religion that it makes known to Men the Causes and Occasions of that depravity of Nature and proneness to Sin that aversion to their Duty and readiness of complying with unlawful Suggestions which all discover in themselves All cannot but take notice that it is not without Labour and Difficulty without assiduous Care and Vigilancy that any habits of Piety or Vertue can be formed that it cannot be without strugling against the natural Desires and over-ruling the Propensity of the Soul when negligence alone or letting loose the Reins to the natural Appetite will produce an habit of Vice Whereas if we consider the nature and the end of Man we might rather hope the contrary since the performance of his Duty is no more than the end of his Creation and all things naturally tend to the acquisition of their end And Vice being a deviation from that end doth thereby become unnatural Yet the Experience of that Depravation of the Will of Man which we complain of is so undeniable that it hath put Men in all Ages upon enquiring into the Causes of it Some resolved it into Fate others into the contexture of the Body some into the malign Influences of the heavenly Bodies and not a few into the innate Principles of the Soul But as all these Conceptions were gross in themselves they could give no satisfaction to the Mind of Man and the matter would have still continued to have been Unaccountable without the assistance of Revelation Nor doth all Revelation clear this Doubt In the Jewish Religion little light was added to it it is Christianity alone which fully manifests the Causes and Occasions of this Unhappiness and as the discovery of Diseases facilitates the Cure of them thereby enables us to avoid or at least overcome the Contagion of it The Occasions manifested by Revelation only are two the Corruption of our Nature succeeding the fall of Adam or Original Sin and the temptation of evil Spirits or Devils The knowledge of both is of great concernment to us that so we may be able to apply fit Remedies to them yet the nature of both is little known by the ordinary Sort and frequently mistaken by the more knowing Sort of Christians I intend at this time to discourse of the latter taking occasion from the words of the Apostle who enforceth his Exhortation of Sobriety and Vigilance from the consideration of the constant Danger whereto Christians are exposed by the perpetual Snares and Temptations of the Devil who as their Adversary walketh about seeking their Destruction from the violence of Rage and Force wherewith he assaults the Faithful denoted by comparing him to the most terrible of Wild Beasts when enraged as a roaring Lion and from the miserable Consequence of being seduced by him which is to be devoured by him as utterly deprived of spiritual Life and Happiness as that Man is of natural Life who is devoured by a Wild Beast For Your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour Whom resist stedfast in the Faith Which Words will oblige me to treat of I. The manner and method of the Temptations of the Devil II. Our Duty Ability and Means of resisting him First then Altho' the manner whereby the Devil tempteth us be very obscure as are all the Actions of immaterial Beings and altho' it becomes us not to determine rashly what we do not certainly know yet our enquiries herein will be Lawful while guided by Reason and useful because teaching us a Matter which doth so nearly concern us rectifying our Mistakes which may be fatal to us and convincing the opposition of unbelieving Men who mock at this Article of our Belief And here it is not my present purpose to prove the Existence of such evil Spirits For altho ' the common and constant Opinion of Mankind herein produced by their visible Effects doth render it highly probable altho' the nature of Things and the Existence of other immaterial Beings differing only in accidental Qualities prove it to be possible and altho' Divine Revelation added to all these hath put it beyond all Doubt yet it is not my design to improve and urge these Arguments since we enquire not after the Existence of Devils but the Manner of their Operation It will however be necessary to speak somewhat of their Nature and the Motives which induce them to busie themselves in tempting Men. Their Nature is the same with that of the blessed Angels from whom they differ no otherwise than as bad from good Men save that as the Purity of Angels exceedeth that of the best Men So the Wickedness of Devils exceedeth that of the worst Men They were once at their first Creation of the same Order with Angels endued with the same Faculties and enjoyed the same Happiness but when through Pride and Ambition they rebelled against God disobeyed his Commands forsook that Station wherein he had placed them and aimed at higher Dignities they were deprived of their former Happiness and thrown down from Heaven That whereas before they were infinitely happy in reflecting upon the Purity of their own Nature the Favour of God and that perpetual Communication of Light and Joy which the Angels may be supposed to receive from God in extraordinary Emanations they having now debased their Nature by violating the end of their Creation drew upon themselves the displeasure of God and being deprived of the Fruition of any Divine Illuminations were reduced into that State of Darkness which the Scripture describeth The thoughts of this Loss could not but infinitely disquiet them as soon as they perceived the Disappointment of their ambitious Designs and as they
the Aids and Difficulties of Christianity to be equal I wish I could add that the Effects were also equal And as we admire the Wisdom of God herein so must we acknowledge his Justice also It may perhaps seem too severe that Salvation the supreme Happiness of Man should be rendred thus difficult to him that God should invite us to it and then by so many Difficulties exclude us from it To this it is easie to reply that Salvation is purely the Gift of God which as such he might bestow upon whatsoever Conditions himself pleased Nor in requiring so many such laborious and difficult Duties of us hath he raised the Price I mean the Conditions above the worth of it It is the supreme end of Man the utmost Improvement of his Felicity Now look into the Writings of all Philosophers consult the common Voice of Mankind they do all confess that the supreme end of Man not only ought to be his chief Design but also can be obtained at no less Expence than his utmost Diligence the constant and most exquisite Operations of all the Faculties of his Mind that it must be the business of his whole Life Look into your own Actions and daily Experience and see whether any thing desirable in this Life even as your selves value it be not attended with a proportionable Difficulty And then Confess that God hath done no more than what the Nature of things required when he annexed so many Difficulties to the Acquisition of Salvation The second Part of my proposed Design I mean the Consequence raised in the Text If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear is so evident that I need say little to it For if after the Conquest of so many Difficulties so many Afflictions endured and Labours employed a righteous Man doth but very hardly obtain Salvation surely no hopes can be left for him who affrighted by these Difficulties gives himself to the Conduct of his own unruly Lusts to the practice of Vices directly contrary to the means proposed to obtain this ultimate Happiness This Reason assureth and the common Notions of the Divine Justice confirmeth to us not only that the ungodly and the Sinner shall miss of that excellent Reward which shall be rendred to the Labour and Diligence of the Righteous but also shall draw upon himself the Wrath of God and the consequence of it extreme Misery in Punishment of his Sin Which is more clearly expressed in the Proverbs XI 31. from whence these words of St. Peter are word for word taken according to the Septuagint Translation But in the Original according to our Translation they run thus Behold the righteous shall be recompenced in the earth much more the wicked and the sinner That is since God suffers not the failings of the Righteous to pass unpunished but corrects and chastiseth them in this World with sensible Afflictions much more hath he reserved the extremity of Torment for the wicked and the sinner As in this place of St. Peter God thought fit to chastise the former Sins of the convert Christians with a fierce and terrible Persecution from whence the Apostle draweth a like Consequence in the 17th Verse And if judgment first begin at the house of God what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God And as the Doctrine so the Examples also of the Old and New Testament agree herein Wherein we find that God inflicted temporal Calamities upon his most beloved Servants in Punishment of their Sins even of inadvertency that he might teach us not to expect any Pardon for a wilful obstinacy and continuance in Impiety Thus Moses who had this Testimony from God himself that he was faithful in all his house yet for some slight appearance only of distrust of the Divine Power in bringing forth waters out of the Rock was excluded the Enjoyment of the Promised Land altho' an ancient Writer aggravates the sin of Moses from hence that in all that frequent and familiar Converse which he afterwards had with God he is never found to have begged Pardon for his Sin But however that be we must all Confess that the best of us have far exceeded Moses both in the number and the weight of our sins and ought therefore much more to fear the Execution of the Divine Justice Afterwards we read that God proposed to David the Man after his own heart the choice of three Signal Calamities only in Punishment of a light Vain-Glory manifested in his Design of numbring his Subjects For the same failure he threatned good King Hezekiah with the deprivation and carrying away of his Treasures and sent the great Apostle St. Paul a thorn in the flesh some bodily Infirmity the Messenger of Satan to buffet him And if God excused not these great and excellent Persons from Punishment for such small Offences with what reason can we promise Impunity to our selves Do we Fancy our selves more dear to God or more righteous than they were Surely no. Rather if they were not saved without some Difficulty we shall not without the most extreme hazard and this altho' we did with earnest Study and sincere Endeavours apply our selves to attain Salvation altho' we were worthy which be it far from us to arrogate to our selves to be ranged among those who in the Text are call'd Righteous But of the ungodly and the sinners what shall I say But that if the Righteous scarcely be admitted to Mercy they are wholly excluded from it To them as the Author to the Hebrews saith Chapter X. 27. There remaineth only a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation Yet we find that the most profligate Christians do flatter themselves with the hopes of Salvation and upon Confidence of it proceed securely in a vicious Course of Life For I am perswaded that there are very few Christians who are not convinced of the truth of the Religion they profess whensoever they give their Minds leave to reflect upon it Only they put the Thoughts of it far from them and whensoever either the workings of their own Minds or the admonition of others represent to them the Obligation of it they render both unsuccessful through a vain Hope which they took up upon they know not what Reasons that they are in the number of the saved To this foolish Perswasion many Causes may contribute a constant and happy Success in the World too great an Opinion of the Endowments either of Body or Mind or whatsoever may raise in Man a Conceit of his own worth a strong Imagination a false Notion of the Mercy and the Justice of God or an unhappy illusion derived from the Teachers of absolute Predestination All these and many other Causes may contribute to this fatal Error notwithstanding the Scripture hath particularly provided against it notwithstanding the meanest Capacity cannot but conclude that if God taketh so severe an account of the Actions of the
their secret Malice assigning the Cause of all to be their Love of Justice of their Religion or of their Countrey And such is the Credulity of Mankind that these Pretences seldom want Success covering the Malice and Rancor of a canker'd Soul and giving the most easie and secure Opportunities of Revenge All are apt to censure and condemn Revenge when proceeding from the Principle of false Honour which was before mentioned because the Motive of it is not and cannot be dissembled yet in Truth this sort of Revenge is infinitely less Criminal than the former arising from Hatred and Malice however dissembled and assuming to it self more specious Names This is formed by a violent Commotion of Mind which lasteth not many hours but that by an hardned Malice which worketh secretly for many years together This is commonly effected in the heat of Blood when the Soul hath scarce time to recollect it self or command the unruly Passions of the Body but that is raised and carried on by deliberate thought and resolution which is the utmost Aggravation that any sin can receive This may sometime fall even upon a good Man who through the heat of Passion and from a violent Indignation of receiving unworthy Injuries may suddenly be betrayed to the Desire or the Execution of Revenge but of the other a good Man can never be guilty since it is impossible that Hatred and Malice which are habitual sins should consist with the least degree of Goodness In all habitual sins the Mind cannot but many times reflect upon its own Diseases and be as often convinced of the unlawfulness of those Vices which it nourisheth The Divine Prohibition of those sins often recurs to the Memory and the Soul cannot but be conscious of her own Diseases yet in spight of all these Considerations the Man resolveth to retain his Hatred and Malice towards others And in this Resolution is encouraged from the Consideration that these sins being close and secret will consist with the pretence of Sanctity and may be serviceable to him in his base Designs against his Neighbours And of this sort are all the sins of Hypocrites fixed and determinate Resolutions of persevering in opposition to the Laws of God and still making use of his glorious Name to carry on private Designs No wonder then that in Scripture the most severe Punishments are still denounced against Hypocrites since theirs are all deliberate sins such as Oppression Covetousness Injustice Lying Slandering Perfidiousness Hatred and Malice all sins of the most enormous Guilt and heightened by this farther Consideration that the specious pretences of Piety Religion and Zeal are made use of to execute the several Designs of them Particularly in the Case of malicious Revenge nothing is more ordinary than to pretend a zealous Concern for the Punishment of Evil doers as if they would supply the defect of the Divine Justice or of the Laws of their Countrey and punish the Guilt of sins for which God hath ordinarily provided no Punishment in this Life reserving it to another Yet oftentimes the sins of others which these Men would pretend to punish are indeed nothing else but opposition to their Humours Fancies and Designs it being in the account of some Men an unpardonable Crime to be of a contrary or another Party to have crossed or opposed a Design of the others altho' never so unreasonable or perhaps to have once performed their Duty without Partiality and corrupt Favour to others when the Laws of their Countrey did require it Certainly if the Guilt of sins is to be measured from the Evil Consequences of them such malicious Revenge will be found the greatest of all sins Being the Cause and occasion of publick Calamites over-turning the Peace and Prosperity of whole Nations and bringing them to Destruction Great and numerous Societies of Men such as this Nation is cannot easily be dissolved without intestine Divisions and such are always the effect of malicious Revenge In this manner we shall find almost all the great Societies of the World to have been broken when they have divided into two or more Parties and those continually practising upon each other under Pretence of preserving the religious or civil Rights of the Countrey against the Invasion of the other and as each prevail employing their Interest and Power not to the upholding of the Religion or Laws but to the ruin or vexation of the others I will not apply this to our own Nation or bring any Instance from our Times least I should be thought to engage in any Party But if we call to mind the History of the Jews we shall find many Examples of such malicious Revenge covered under such specious pretences Thus when the Jewish Magistrates resolved to take away our Saviour's Life they put on a mighty shew of Zeal for the publick Service and accused him to the Roman Governour as an Enemy unto Cesar Although themselves indeed cared so little for Cesar that they had at that very time formed the design of a general Rebellion against him as appeared shortly after And when this Rebellion broke out and the People unanimously attempted to cast off the Roman Yoke and recover their ancient Liberty the most bloody and wicked part of them took upon them the name of Zealots and under pretence of extraordinary Concern for the publick Interest and punishing the secret Favourers and Friends of the Romans murdered or robbed every Man his private Enemy and by this Division made way to the Arms of the Romans who without this advantage could not easily have overcome that populous and resolute Nation These Considerations ought to divert Men from a resolved Prosecution of Revenge and much more those Arguments which might be drawn from the Scope or Design of the Christian Religion might produce this Effect if we could perswade our selves that Men did in earnest believe the Truth of it and submit to it But when almost every Man pleads an Exemption from the Obligation of it in all Commands which oppose his peculiar Passions when little beside the Pretence of it is left among us and even that pretence continued not out of any Reverence to Religion but because it is serviceable to Secular and mean Designs we cannot but despair of prevailing with the greater part of Men therein However we must declare that nothing is more contrary to the Spirit and Design of Christianity than to study Revenge to continue Hatred and Animosity without end and never to forget and forgive an Injury Such a Conduct is directly opposite to the Doctrine and Example of our Lord and however covered with specious Colours of wonderful Zeal or Purity or Affection to any Party will be no less damnable in a Christian than Idolatry in a Heathen Lastly If neither the Reason of the thing nor the Divine Prohibition nor the regard of publick Security concerned therein nor the direct opposition of Christianity to it can draw Men from the Love of Revenge yet at
his Justice and at the same time to defraud oppress and injure to own his Goodness and at the same time to deny Compassion to his Creatures made in his own Image to intercede with him for new Benefits and employ those already granted in opposing his Authority to acknowledge the having received Life and Being from him and not to yield him any Service for it to confess his unlimited Knowledge and Presence and therewith retain secret Resolutions of sinning All these are as hainous Provocations as the Soul of Man can possibly form all yet are the necessary Consequence of Praying with impure Hearts and Minds and all yet receive this farther aggravation that they are performed in the immediate Presence of God that is in Prayer Such are the universal Reasons of lifting up holy hands in Prayer but to those who profess Belief in Christ there is a peculiar Reason no less weighty than the former Namely that the Efficacy of our Prayers consists in our Relation to Christ and are granted merely for his Sake and through his Merits which is acknowledged in the Conclusion of all Christian Prayers and if our selves should not acknowledge it yet the Scripture would abundantly inform us that he is our only Mediator and that in him and through him all good things are derived from God to us No Christian therefore hath any other Title to the Favour of God than his Relation to his Lord and Master the Son of God which Relation cannot consist without intire Obedience to his Laws and Doctrines which are all directed to promote Purity Justice and Holiness The want of these Conditions breaks off the Relation between Christ and Man who then in vain supplicates in the name of Christ when by disobedience he ceaseth to be his Disciple He may plead the Merits of the Death of Christ to be All-sufficient but himself hath no share in them he may fly to the Mercy Seat but will find no High Priest to intercede for him who by his Sins hath cast off the Yoke of Christ and even Crucified him afresh and put him to an open Shame II. The Second Condition of Prayer is that it be offered up without wrath that is without Malice or Hatred which is no other than Anger grown inveterate The Passion of Anger is indeed no less unlawful to those that apply themselves to Prayer but that is not so much respected by the Apostle in this place because it is scarce credible that while the heat of that Passion continueth any one should be disposed to Pray While that Commotion of the Spirits which attendeth Anger lasteth the Mind can attend to nothing else and cannot direct its thoughts and desires to God in Prayer so that during that time it is not only impious but unnatural to undertake it In Prayer the Soul ought to engage its whole strength and intention and offer them up to God which it cannot do when the Affections of it are divided between Prayer and Anger It ought at the same time to compose it self in a sedate and quiet Disposition to receive the Communications of the Divine Presence and Favour which it cannot do while disordered by any Passion Which Reason will also make Prayer unbefitting and Devotion in Prayer impossible not only in the heat of Anger but also in such an Hatred as by Reason of the violence of it continually employeth the Passions of the Mind especially where the person hated is present to it and alloweth to it no intervals of Calm and Quiet until it be either satisfied with Revenge or expireth with long time Such a degree of Hatred is a constant uninterrupted Anger which for the former Reason excludeth all possibility of Prayer during the continuance of it But such a Degree is monstrous the most ordinary Case of Hatred alloweth frequent Intervals of Serenity to the Mind frets not the thoughts continually and hath this immediate effect only that whensoever the Memory of it doth return or the Causes upon which it was first founded are recalled to Mind either Resolutions or Desires of Revenge are conceived and a Purpose formed of not forgiving Even this moderate and most ordinary Case of Hatred rendereth the Soul unfit for Prayer and always defeateth the Success of it For in Prayer if directed and conceived aright Man is supposed to resign up his Affections and Faculties intirely to the Disposition of God to acknowledge him to be the supreme Judge of the World and Lord of all But he who nourisheth Hatred in his Mind on the contrary neither resigneth up himself nor confesseth the Dominion of God For that very Affection he retaineth in opposition to his Will and by seeking or desiring Revenge he maketh himself a Judge of the Merits of other Men and the measure of the Punishment due to the Malice of their supposed Injuries and thereby invades the Office and usurps the Authority of God who if he be indeed the supreme Lord and Judge of all hath the only right to exercise such a Judgment This Confession therefore of Subjection and Self-resignation which is so necessary in Prayer cannot consist with Hatred And indeed the Sense of a Prayer joyned with Hatred can be no other than this Lord I resign up my self to thy disposal but will not commit my Cause to thy Decision I devote my Affections and Faculties to thy Service but will not quit my hatred for thy command I acknowledge thee to be the Sovereign Lord and Judge of all Mankind but reserve to my self a right to judge and punish by Revenge my Enemy who yet is my equal and thy subject So absurd incongruous and repugnant are the thoughts and Petitions of a malicious Soul compared together as do not only justly defeat the Success of the Petition but also deserveth an eminent Punishment for daring thus to collude with God But the chief Reason of the inconsistency of Hatred with Prayer is yet behind Namely the institution of God who may justly affix whatsoever Condition himself pleaseth to his own Favours And to the assurance of Success in Prayer he hath above all other Qualifications pre-required Freedom from Envy Hatred and Malice and forgiveness of Injuries This he hath commanded to be done before any Act of Worship and especially that solemn one of Prayer be paid to himself as in Matth. V. 23. If thou bring thy Gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee Leave there thy Gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift He hath made this the indispensable Condition of Pardon to Mankind Forgive that ye may be forgiven For if ye forgive Men their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you But if not neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses Matth. VI. 14. He hath inserted this Condition into that Prayer which he hath given both as a Form and as a Pattern to all Christians Forgive us our
God if no vain Glory or desire of humane Praise were intermixed therewith but the sole Design was the Advancement and Vindication of the Divine Glory For far be it from us to censure or condemn of Rashness all those noble ancient Martyrs who without any Force confessed the Faith of Christ at the Heathen Tribunals and thereby drew upon themselves Torments and Death that they might give an Example of Constancy to less couragious Christians who could not otherwise withstand the force of Persecution It was found by Experience that such generous Examples did more effectually raise the Courage of other Christians labouring under Persecution than the Sense of their Duty or the hope of all those glorious Rewards proposed by Christ to those who should suffer for his Name And to justifie this proceeding in such extraordinary Cases St Paul himself as we read Acts XXI had resolved to go up to Jerusalem and continued his Resolution although it was foretold to him by Agabus and other Prophets and himself knew by the Spirit that Bonds and Imprisonment did abide him that he should there suffer a grievous Persecution Nor is this the only Case wherein it may be lawful or commendable to perform good Works publickly and with this Design that they may be seen of Men. Many other such Cases may be found I will instance but in two Pennance and Charity As for the first the Practice of publick Pennance it must be confessed by all who know the State of the ancient and present times of Christianity that the use of it was then the great Preserver of unfeigned Piety among Christians and that the Discontinuance of it now is the chief Cause of the want and coldness of Religion in our times They very well knew formerly as well as we do now that God chiefly regardeth inward Repentance the Contrition of the Soul That Admonition of our Saviour was then as well as now contained in the Gospel But thou when thou fastest anoint thy Head and wash thy Face that thou appear not unto Men to fast but unto thy Father which is in Heaven where what is said of Fasting may be applied to all other Acts and Indications of Repentance Yet the infinite Benefit which the Church received from the publick performance of Pennance required the Institution and the great Advancement of the Glory of God which arose from thence justified the Practice of it Then was Religion and Piety maintained in its full Vigour when Persons guilty of any scandalous Crimes however eminent by Birth or Station were put to open Pennance secluded from the rest of the Faithful placed by themselves in a separate part of the Church and there appearing in Sackcloath or other penitential Dress begged the Pardon of God with Tears and desired Reconciliation and this not only for many days but oftimes for many years together Such Discipline could not but produce in the Minds of all Christians who beheld it an exceeding dread of Sin and Caution in abstaining from such Scandals as would certainly draw upon them either a total Separation from the Church and the Hopes of Salvation or the necessity of undergoing the same Severities The sight of those Penitents was more instructive to ordinary Christians than all the most elaborate Invectives against Sin or Exhortations to Repentance representing to them at once the Guilt the Horror the Shame and the Punishment of Sin Nor was their Repentance to be accounted less real or internal because attended with such outward Professions rather these gave an evident Argument of the reality and sincerity of their Repentance since to take away the Guilt and remove the Scandal of their Sin and reconcile themselves to God and his Church they refused not to undergo the long and strict Severities of publick Pennance and which of all things is most repugnant to the Inclinations of humane Nature to put themselves to open Shame In like manner however ordinarily speaking Charity ought to be done in secret and our Lord hath largely warned us To take heed lest we do our Alms before Men to be seen of them that is for this only Reason that we may be seen and praised by them yet if we do our Alms before Men that they may see them and by seeing them may be excited either to glorifie God or to practice the like Charity then it is not only lawful not only secureth the Rewards promised to Charity but also becometh of excellent advantage to the Church and the Honour of God and entitleth to the Rewards due to the Propagation of Religion and the Divine Glory However it might be in ancient Times or former Ages when almost all Christians exercised Charity even to profuseness certainly in our Age which is chiefly deficient in the practice of this Duty it would be a noble Undertaking in any to restore the Practice of it by the Lustre of any eminent and publick Example And although very great Rewards be promised to secret Charity it is not to be doubted but that to publick Charity exercised in such Cases much greater are reserved if it be not corrupted with any mixture of vain Glory or ignoble Designs because such hath not only all the Effects of secret Charity in relieving the Wants of others but farther also contributeth very much to the Honour of God the common good of the Church and the Edification of other Men. In all these and other like Cases the advantage produced thereby to the Church consists not so much in exciting others by the force of Example to the Imitation and Practice of the same good Works although that be very great as in the Conviction of the truth of Christianity which it invincibly formeth in the Minds of Men. To Persons of ordinary Capacities and Knowledge such as constitute the far greater part of the Church there can be no more certain Argument of the Truth of that Religion which they profess than that the same is professed by so great a number of eminent and excellent Persons If they believe the Profession of others to be sincere and real themselves will Assent without any Scruple if they suspect their reality themselves will be tempted to Infidelity Now the publick and eminent performance of good Works give the only evident Demonstration of the sincerity of the perswasion of other Men since in a Countrey where any Religion prevails by Custom and Education a verbal Profession of it may be only the effect of either and not to contradict it may be due only to common Civility But whoever publickly performeth good Works giveth an undeniable Testimony that he doth in earnest believe the Truth of what he professeth and thereby disposing others to the same belief increaseth the number of the Faithful and advanceth the Glory of God performeth the Duty enjoyned in my Text and shall receive the Reward of it Thus much of the End to which exemplary Piety ought to be directed the Glory of God and that this End will really be