STILL VOICE And as we are not fit to attend upon God nor to enjoy Him so likewise not to enjoy our selves In such a Temper we have not the free Use of our Reason nor any true Content For what is all the World to a troubled and discomposed Mind Therefore give me Serenity of Mind Calmness of Thought For these are better Enjoyments than any thing without us Therefore for these Things will I daily praise God For upholding the Foundation of Reason and Understanding which are so much in Danger by the Distemper of the Mind For continuing me in the Priviledge of Liberty and Freedom for hereby I can present God with a Free-will-Offering and bring unto him the Consent of my Mind * And for giving me Power of Self-enjoyment and of taking Content in my self One may have much in the World as to Right and Title and yet have nothing as to Power of Self-enjoyment * For in the Case of Misgovernment by Lust Passion and Self-will we dispossess our selves of our selves and all that we may call OURS 'T is a sinful Temper to be hard to Please and ready to take Offence It is grievous to those about us And we shall soon suffer for it For Men will soon withdraw from unquiet and turbulent Spirits Solomon hath observed that he that would have a Friend must behave himself Friendly But these Men are unacceptable every-where especially to those that are under them for as for Equals and Superiors they will soon withdraw But every good Man will take Care of those that are under him And upon this Head I shall observe Three or Four Things First That we ought to make the Lives of all those that live with us as happy and comfortable as we can and their Burthens as easie as may be Let our Advantages be never so much above theirs and our Power over them never so great yet we should equally consider Things and do as we would be done unto if in their Circumstances Consider * also that Things may as well be done with Gentleness and by fair Means as otherwise And that Things that are so done are done with Pleasure and Satisfaction and will better hold For Things that are done by Force and with Offence will no longer last than that Force continues There is more Care to please when Men are not Captious Peevish Froward or easie to take Offence Men that are often Angry and for every Triffle in a little time will be little regarded and so loose the Advantage of giving grave Reproof They will say 'T is the Manner of the Person and no one can help it And so these Persons will be less considered when they reprove with Reason Displeasure when there is weighty Reason for it may prove to the Offender a Principle of Reformation and Amendment But hasty and passionate Men are not considered Their Fury is looked upon as a Clap of Thunder And no one will much regard it Take notice what Care God hath taken for the Welfare and Happiness of those that are Inferiors and under the Power of others The Parent must not provoke his Children to wrath Parents that have all Authority over their Children must take Care how they use it The Husband must not be bitter against his Wife He must give her no harsh Language but give Honour to her as the weaker Vessel Masters must render to their Servants that which is Just and Equal Forbearing Threatnings Knowing that they have a Master in Heaven Then for those that labour for us that are but for a Day and are gone again God hath required that their Wages be payed them Otherwise their Cry will come up into the Ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth Then for Strangers that are without Friends Relations or Acquaintance What Care doth God take for them Be not forgetful to entertain Strangers Then for the Widow and the Fatherless Persons that are most helpless What Care hath God taken for them So great that He will be revenged on those that wrong them and on the contrary will reckon those to have pure Religion and undefiled that shall visit the Widows and Fatherless in their Affliction This is the RULE The lower any ones Condition is in the World by so much the more he his pitiable and so much the greater Care should we take to ease him He having Burthen enough upon him without any other Addition to his Misery I will conclude this Discourse with Three Rules Whosoever will do his Work with fair Words I would not have him chid into it I would never blame any one for common Incidencies such as might befal my self or any one else * Nor ever blame any one for not doing that wherein he had not particular Direction You will say these are LOW Things to be spoken in a Pulpit But let them be as Low as they will the Disorder of our Minds many times is occasioned for want of them And great Disquietness is occasioned in many Families for want of that peaceable Temper which my Text speaks of SERMON VI. PSALM XVIII 21 22 23. For I have kept the Ways of the Lord And have not wickedly departed from my God For all his Judgments were before me And I did not put away his Statutes from me I was also upright before him And I kept my self from mine Iniquity I Am now to give you an Account of the Effect and Demonstration of RELIGION in the Subject If we would not be imposed upon let us take just Measures The Text tells us what Judgment we are to make of Religion and Religious Persons * And by it we may learn how to guide our selves with Judgment in a Matter of the highest Nature * viz. if we proceed by the Rule which in the Schools we call a Demonstration by the Effect which I take to be the best As for instance if you come to prove there is a God the best Account is from the Effect Prove the Cause from the Effect Prove the Being of a GOD from the World that he hath made and is his Work so prove RELIGION from its Operation a Religious Person from what he does And this is the Way which our Saviour hath taught us A good Tree bringeth forth good Fruit c. For we are in great Danger of making false Judgment both concerning Persons and Things This we often find that the World esteems a Person of a pleasant Humour and that hath a good * Assurance a good Put-off and value for himself especially if he be a Man of a ready Wit * and that such a Man shall meet with Respect and Reputation much above what there is Ground for and more a great deal than those that are of far greater Worth of higher Improvements and better Spirits Thus are Men esteemed not so much from Integrity and Simplicity not from Pureness of Mind and exact Walking according to the Difference of Good and Evil but as they comply
Beniamin Whichcot S. S. T. Professor Select Sermons OF D r WHICHCOT In TWO PARTS MAT. XI 15. He that hath Ears to hear let him hear LONDON Printed for Awnsham and John Churchill at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row MDCXCVIII THE PREFACE AMongst those many Things which are made Publick it may be thought perhaps of Sermons that they are of any other the least wanted and for the future least likely to be found wanting since to that rich and inexhaustible Store with which the Learned and Orthodox Divines of England have already furnished us there is daily fresh addition from worthy and able Hands Neither have we cause to fear a Cessation in this kind or that so great a Blessing is likely to fail us for the future having such security not only from the unwearied Zeal of present Divines of whom we may always hope a worthy Succession but from the just esteem which the Publick never fails to shew for such pious Discourses Upon which account we find that many of these are every day made Publick and as it were forced into the World notwithstanding the great Modesty of their Authors whose Humble Thoughts and devoutly resigned Affections lead them not towards Eminence and Advancement in the World It may seem strange therefore that in such an Age as this any one should be so officious as to search after and publish the Sermons of a Man long since dead who himself never meant to Publish any or thought so highly of himself as that he could benefit the World by such a Publication It is certain that we must not ever imagine nor can it enter into a Mind truly Christian that because we see not an apparent Change for the better in the Lives of Christian Professors that therefore all Preaching is ineffectual or that here in England the Labours of the most Eminent Divines that perhaps the World ever afforded have been of no use at all It might be said with the same reason tho' very prophanely and wickedly that because the Christians are not reported to exceed the other Nations of the World in Probity and Good Living but are said to be rather inferior in this respect to the Civilized People whether Pagan or Mahometan lying round them that therefore the Christian Religion is of no effect at all nor any ways operative upon the Lives of its Professors But if we consider this as becomes us and not perversely as many do it will be found that we are even in this sense the most highly indebted to Christianity and should look upon It as the greatest Blessing imaginable not only for its spiritual Advantages which are Unspeakable but for its Temporal Benefits and Securities inasmuch as that Mankind being so inclinable to Ill we should have a Religion so full of all good Precepts and so enforcing with respect to all the Duties of Morality and Justice So that our Amazement ought rather to be how Men with such a Religion should lead such Lives and how Malice Hatred or Division should have place in such Societies as these which we might expect to see distinguished from all others rather by a perfect Harmony and Agreement than by the fiercest Quarrels Contentions and Animosities And indeed when we consider the Nature of Preaching how excellent an Order and Establishment it is how highly raised and magnified in the Christian World When we consider Numbers of Holy Men set apart for this great Work having all advantages given them the better to set forth those Glorious Truths of Revelation and to create a Reverence of Religion in the Minds of Men when we consider the Solemnity of a Church-Assembly and the awful Presence and Authority of the Christian Orator we may be apt to wonder perhaps why we see not greater and more happy Effects hereof in the World However we must of Necessity conclude That this Institution being undoubtedly so powerful a support of our Religion if such Assemblies as these were not upheld if such Authority as this did not subsist the consequence would be that as in a little time there would be no more Christianity left in the World so neither any Morality since notwithstanding all the Helps of Preaching and the Assistance and Support which Virtue receives from hence the Lives of Men are still so far from being Reform'd and the World so little Improved in these latter Ages But how reverently soever we have cause to think concerning this Institution and the undoubted good Effects of it upon Mankind and whatever high Opinion and Esteem we may justly have of their Performance in whose Hands this Power is placed it seems not wholly impossible but that there may be some Defect in this great Affair and that the Causes of ill Success may not lye altogether in the Depravity Perverseness or Stupidity of Mankind who are the Hearers and Readers of these Doctrines In some Countries and amongst some sorts of Christians we have seen that the Whole of this Institution has not been appropriated to Spirituals but that a great part of those Divine Exhortations have had something in common with the Policies of the World and the Affairs of Government And of whatsoever Benefit this may have been to Mankind or to the Peace of the Christian World it must be own'd that Preaching it self will be so much the less apt to make any happy Revolution in Manners as it has at any time been serviceable to Revolutions in State or to the support of any other Interest than that of Christ's Kingdom Nor do we find since the Arts of Government and Mysteries of Religion have been thus suited together that either has been much advantag'd by the Union it having never yet appear'd that Divinity has been greatly better'd by Policy or that Policy has been any where mended by Divinity Amongst those Writers who have been forward in making this Unprosperous Alliance and Building a Political Christianity there has been * one of our Nation in the Time wherein our Author liv'd who whether he may have been serviceable any way to the Civil Government or Christian Church it may be concluded at least that he has done but very ill Service in the Moral World And however other parts of Philosophy may be obliged to him Ethicks will appear to have no great share in the Obligation He has indeed with great Zeal and Learning been oppos'd by all the eminent and worthy Divines of the Church of England And had the same Industry been applied to the Correction of his Moral Principles as has been bestow'd in refuting some other of his Errours it might perhaps have been of more Service to Religion in the Main This is He who reckoning up the Passions or Affections by which Men are held together in Society live in Peace or have any Correspondence one with another forgot to mention Kindness Friendship Sociableness Love of Company and Converse Natural Affection or any thing of this kind I say Forgot because I can scarcely think so
our Author has appear'd so signally Whatsoever says he some have said Man's Nature is not so untoward a Thing unless it be abused but that there is a secret Sympathy in Human Nature with Vertue and Honesty which gives a Man an Interest even in bad Men. God in infinite Wisdom has so contrived that if an Intellectual Being sink it self into Sensuality or any way defile and pollute it self then Miseries and Torments should befall it in this State VERTUE and VICE says he are the Foundations of Peace and Happiness or Sorrow and Misery There is inherent Punishment belonging to all Vice and no Power can divide or separate them For tho' God should not in a positive Way inflict Punishment or any Instrument of God punish a Sinner yet he would punish Himself his Misery and Unhappiness would arise from Himself Thus speaks our excellent Divine and truly Christian Philosopher whom for his appearing thus in Defence of Natural Goodness we may call the Preacher of Good-nature This is what he insists on every-where and to make this evident is in a Manner the Scope of all his Discourses And in conclusion of all this 't is hop'd that what has been here suggested may be sufficient to justifie the Printing of these Sermons As for our Author himself what his Life was how great an Example of that happy Temper and God-like Disposition which he labour'd to inspire how much he was for the Excellency of his Life and admirable Temper esteem'd and belov'd of all and even in the worst of Times when Feuds and Animosities on the Account of Religion were highest during the Time of the late great Troubles how his Character and Behaviour drew to him the Respect of all Parties so as to make him be remarkably distinguished how much in Esteem he was with the greatest Men and how many constant Hearers he had of the best Rank and greatest Note even of the most eminent Divines themselves this is sufficiently known And the Testimony which the late Arch-bishop Tillotson has given of him tho' it be in a Funeral Sermon is known to be in nothing superiour to his Desert The Sermons whieh are here Printed have been selected out of Numbers of others less perfect there being not any of our Author 's extant but such as were written after him at Church He having used no other than very short Notes not very legible Tho' these have been of great Use to the Publisher in whose Hands they have been The unpolish'd Style and Phrase of our Author who drew more from a College than a Court and who was more used to School-Learning and the Language of an University than to the Conversation of the fashionable World may possibly but ill recommend his Sense to the Generality of Readers And since none of these Discourses were ever design'd for the World in any other Manner than as he once for all pronounc'd them from the Pulpit they must of Necessity appear to have a Roughness in them which is not found in other Sermons more accurately penn'd by their Authors For tho' the Publisher has sometimes supplied him out of himself by transferring to a defective Place that which he found in some other Discourse where the same Subject was treated yet so great a Regard was had to the very Text and Letter of his Author that he would not offer to alter the least Word And wheresoever he has added any Thing to correct the most apparent Omission or Fault of the Pen-man he has taken Care to have it mark'd in different Characters That nothing might appear as our Author 's own which was not perfectly His. Tho' some others in the World have been very far from this Caution Since of late some things have been set out in our Author's Name which his best Friends disown to be his and which any one who studies him in his Genuine Works will easily know to be unworthy of him And now when these Disadvantages which have been mentioned are considered since they are no more than what sensible People will easily make Allowance for 't is presum'd there may be in the World some Persons who will notwithstanding think these Sermons to be of Worth and may perhaps discover in them some peculiar Beauties such as are not to be despised for want of that Ornament which might have accompany'd them I know that there are now growing up in the World too many who are prejudic'd against all Pulpit-Discourses and who in this prophane Age are led to think not only the Institution of Preaching but even the Gospel it self and our Holy Religion to be a Fraud But notwithstanding all the Prejudice of this kind 't is to be hop'd that even some of these Persons if they have any Candour left may be induced to applaud some Things that they may meet with here So as from hence perhaps to like Christianity the better This we may with Assurance say that were there besides ours any Religion Ancient or Modern that had so Divine a Man as this to shew these very Men would admire and reverence him and tho' a Priest of that Religion and bound to comply with establish'd Superstition would praise his Vertue and perhaps be the forwardest to extol his Sentences and Works in Opposition to our Sacred Religion But this is hard that even Heathen Religion and Paganism can be more mildly treated and cause less Aversion than Christianity To such Men as these I can say nothing further But if they who are thus set against Christianity cannot be won over by any Thing that they may find here yet we may assure our selves at least of this good Effect from hence that the excellent Spirit which is shewn here and that Vein of Goodness and Humanity which appears throughout these Discourses will make such as are already Christians to prize and value Christianity the more And the Fairness Ingenuity and Impartiality which they may learn from hence will be a Security to them against the contrary Temper of those other irreconcileable Enemies to our Holy Faith NOTE THAT whatever has been added by way of Suppliment to any defective Place whether it be one single Word or Particle is mark'd in different Characters with this Mark * prefix'd The Sermons are divided into Two Parts In the First Part the Foundations of Natural and Reveal'd Religion are laid and Christianity proved These being Sermons which properly succeed one another in this Order and were thus preach'd The Second Part contains several Sermons preach'd at several Times without Relation one to another on different Subjects of Religion and Morality ERRATA PAge 53. line 14. read sets us at p. 61. l. 10. r. Spiritual p. 92. l. 29. r. all but. p. 196. l. 13. r. Wariness p. 211. l. 14. r. hard p. 226. in the Margin r. John 18. p. 247. l. 21. r. Temper p. 271. l. 18. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 278. l. 19. r. Sheepishness p. 324. l. 4. r. disable p. 325. in
God in his just Indignation high Displeasure at Man's foolish Affectation and wilful Choice in so unequal a Competition doth not hinder unless he please but saith Then let it be according to Hearts Lusts and be filled with thy own ways Wherefore let no Man say when he is tempted He is tempted of God but drawn aside by his own Lust. Then let us be careful and cautious how we attribute Evil to God or entail Sins of Men upon him We cannot dishonour God more than by so doing since his moral Endowments of Holiness Righteousness and Goodness are his prime Perfections His Will and Power are always in Conjunction with them and guided by them Even when he punishes Impenitency and Contumacy in Sin it is an Act of Goodness As it is Goodness to pardon Penitents so it is Goodness by Chastisements to reduce the Lawless and Rebellious There is a good Intention in Chastisements For notwithstanding our great Boasts of our Free-will we should be too great Strangers to Duties of Piety and Vertue unless God should now and then exercise us with Sicknesses and Afflictions as a Counterpoise to our Propensions to follow the Lusts and Pleasure of Life and the ordinary Allurements of the World Now since we impute not Murthers and Robberies committed under a well-established Government which rules by Laws and punishes such Offences much less ought we to impute the Miscarriages of Men to God Since Men sin at their own Peril God gave no such Power to Men For Power is concluded within Bounds of Reason and Right Lawless and exorbitant Acts are Impotencies and Deformities If we attribute Evil to God these Mischiefs are likely to follow We shall think of God contrary to what he is worse than he deserves of us So shall less love him The Fountain of Good is highly lovely But not the Author of Evil. We shall not think aright of Evil * nor hate Evil as we ought For what harm is there in that which God doth We shall excuse our selves more than there is Cause for and shall abate in our selves Sence of our own Faultiness We shall think our selves but God's Instruments We shall take but little care to repent Who will trouble himself about that which he thinks is the Will of God Who can resist his Will Why should we expose our selves to Temptations by attributing external Evils to God more than we have Assurance of It is not true that God doth whatsoever Evil befals us * Or that all the Evils which befal us are the Punishment of some Sins as was the Deluge the Destruction of Sodom the Death of Nadab and Abihu of Ananias and Saphira Some Evils do fall out from the State of the World Some we bring upon our selves by Neglect or Abuse of our selves as Diseases which follow upon Intemperance Hurts upon violent Motion Some are Effects of malicious Causes for which God will challenge accountable Agents RECEIVING IN THEMSELVES THAT RECOMPENCE OF THEIR ERROR WHICH WAS MEET This gives us great Advantage to pursue this Truth that God is not to be charged with the Creatures Sin Or with the Creatures Misery For whosoever is punished doth but receive within himself the Recompence of his Error Whoever says otherwise of God that he is either the Cause of his Creatures Sin or of his Creatures Misery doth not say so well of God as a Man would think it fit to speak of a Man of common Honesty and Uprightness The greatest Suffering that is is not by any positive Infliction of God it is not God's Creation For God did not make Hell but it is the natural Issue of Creatures Miscarriage being wanting to themselves and contradicting the Principles of God's Creation And if this be true this is a sufficient Defence for God's Goodness Righteousness and Holiness And I have said enough to justifie all the Principles of Religion There is a Foundation laid of Self-condemnation to all evil doers It is a Form of Words that when I well considered them I could not overlook them that Sinners do receive in or FROM themselves the Recompence of their Error No one that fails or miscarries comes to Misery by any Soveraignty any Pleasure any thing that is Arbitrary any thing that is in it self unavoidable But Misery arises from within The Sinner destroys himself But I am well aware that it hath been the Practice of old to charge God with the ill fare of Men * that they might excuse themselves and lay the Fault upon God Where Men are voluntary as to the Antecedent in doing amiss they charge God with that which is the natural Consequent the Punishment that follows For this is most certain that the greatest Punishment of Sin is inherent in it self For tho' Almighty Power let the Sinner alone he will be his own Destroyer In this Case it may be said Let God be justified as the Lover of his Creatures as the Friend of Souls and every one that perishes be accounted the Author of his own Misery So it is in the Prophet O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Our greatest Hurt is within us from our selves Whosoever is hurt is hurt by himself INORDINATE APPETITE IS A PUNISHMENT TO IT SELF As will appear by an Account of three of the greatest Evils that we are capable of and that we lie under Guilt in Conscience Malignity and Naughtiness in the Mind A sickly diseased distemper'd Body Let any name an Evil that may befal Human Nature that is equal to these I st Guilt in Conscience This hath driven Men to cruel Practices upon themselves put them upon Despair and hurried them by their own Hands into external Hell to avoid internal Hell We are not sure of the Reason of our own Minds for own Preservation * Nor can we depend on this which is our greatest Security under God * either when our Reason is not satisfied in our Religion which makes a very uneasie Condition * or when our Practice is not justified by our Reason and Religion Now Guilt in Conscience is only consequent upon knowing and voluntary Acts when they are irregular unnatural monstrous contrary to the Order of Reason contrary to the Nature of Man For no Foreign Power whatsoever not the Almighty Power of God nor the Power of Angels nor the Power of all the Men in the World can make any Person in the World Guilty unless he doth consent to an evil Action No Man can be guilty but by his own knowing and voluntary Act For if we consent not it is not our Act. Guilt befals only moral Acts. Guilt in a Man's Conscience is his own Production 2 dly Malignity and Naughtiness of Disposition is a second Misery of Man This hath made Mens Conditions very tedious and uneasie to themselves as not having Power and Government of their Minds so having no true Self-enjoyment which can abide Reflection and after Consideration As also * this hath made them Pests and Plagues to
to fall upon the Just and the Unjust He giveth us Rain from Heaven and fruitful Seasons Wherefore to have God in our sight and to have right Apprehensions of him and a Sense of his Love and Goodness this above all Things tends to the Nobleness Amplitude Freedom and Liberty of our Spirits Secondly I propose something in respect of our selves That is Be not in a worldly Spirit Be not in love with bodily Ease Give not your selves up to the Pleasures of Sense Be not eagerly bent upon Gain But be loose to it For this you may observe Sensuality and Covetousness do narrow the Soul and limit and confine its Reaches and Desires For Sensuality marrs the Understanding And he that hath mean Thoughts hath but poor Performances And Covetousness doth contract to a little and very narrow point So that there can be no Motion in any large Sphere of Action God and Religion and the Concernments thereof are nothing where either a selfish Spirit hath place or a covetous Humour reigns That Rule that is common Every Man for himself and God for us all It is the Effect of the lowest the shallowest the meanest sorriest Spirit that is in the whole Creation of God And that Frame and Temper of Mind doth make a Man uncapable of Self-enjoyment In all Competition of Actions or Objects Man shou'd always prefer that that will do him Good and bring him to Perfection according to his inward Man For a Man is more by his Soul Ten thousand times than he is by his Body Thirdly I propose something in respect of others Suspect no Body before-hand till you have Ground and Cause from some Experience Take up against no Body upon bare report Impute no Evil to any of whom you do not know some And further Make fair Application in an honest Cause to any Person therein concern'd with a Confidence and Expectation that he will do what is fit And let him perceive your good Opinion of him If any thing in the World engage a Man this pre-conceiv'd Opinion and right Supposition will * engage and oblige him But observe the seasonable Time of Speaking And allow to every Man for his Pre-possession for his Anticipation Pre-conception and his Temper This is Christian Prudence and honest Policy And this will gain Advantage and increase Good-will And I dare say both Reason and Religion will allow this Respect of Persons There is another kind of Respect of Persons which we disallow But this Respect of Persons there is good Cause for and it may be used It is a great Piece of Prudence to apply handsomely to Men and to avoid the darker Part of Men and take them at the best And some are very good at it These are the Proposals I make which tend to the enlarging a Man's Soul and amplifying him and qualifying him to be an Instrument to advance and promote the Good of the World * Lastly This is a Challenge to the Corrupt Guise of this World and the degenerate Practice that is in it Do we profess our selves to be Christians Do we do LOVELY Things How is the World apostatized from the Divine Nature and degenerate into the Devilish Nature For commonly our Parts are employed and our Time spent in studying and contriving Defiances one against another In the Creation God made the Second in order to the First And if we answer the Order of our Creation we shou'd be so much the more provided for by how many more there are in the World It should be one Man a God to another But we through our Degeneracy make it to be every Man a Wolf to another For we see Men glory in their Cunning and their Craft And a cunning and crafty Man he is called a wise Man But This is no true Wisdom Whatsoever Things are of GOOD REPORT Things may be of good Report two Ways There are Majora Insigniora Jura The greater the higher more universal famous Rights And there are Minutiora Leviora The lesser more particular and obscurer Rights And there is difference between these two both in respect of the Matter and of the Evidence The former need no external Report no foreign Determination they are above it Loquuntur Res The Things speak themselves And the Voice and Language of Things is more certain and infallible then Sense of Persons liable to Prejudice who may be incompetent to make Report through Impotency or Partiality But the Voice of Things is uniform constant and what cannot be practised upon All Men acknowledge Piety Devotion towards God Justice Righteousness amongst Men Sobriety Temperance as every Man's Measure conducible to his Health conservative of his Life And we may take that to be the Sense of Human Nature wherein all Men agree Who commends not Modesty before Impudency Faithfulness before Treachery Charity before selfishness Mercifulness before Cruelty Moderation before Insolency and Usurpation Sobriety before Intemperance Love and Good-will before Malice and Envy As for the Latter Rights In these the Reason of the Thing is less evident and the Right of the Case * is of more hazardous and uncertain Determination because of Change or Variety of Circumstances There is some what a different account in this Case in respect of the Liberty of the interior Man in Foro interno as we speak and of the exterior Man in foro externo In the former no Creature hath Cognizance therefore doth not intermeddle As concerning the Acts of the external Man not only the Sense of one's private Judgment is to be taken into Consideration but in the Use of our Liberty a just Regard is to be had to others to Government and Authority to the Sense of other People to the maintaining of Charity For Universal Charity is a Thing final in Religion Wherefore the maintaining and enlarging Love and Good-will Order and Peace are to be preferr'd before the Use of Externals in particular Cases Modesty Humility Meekness Charity and such Vertues do sanctifie by their Presence and Operations Which cannot be affirm'd of those Things which belong to the Instrumental part of Religion as Prayer Hearing of Sermons Receiving the Sacraments all which are esteem'd from their Respect to an End and are then crown'd when they attain their Purpose For Scripture tells us * as to those who are immoral that the Prayers of Persons in such Circumstances may be Abomination I put these * Things in Competition with the other not to prejudice these but to prefer the other These are the Means the other the End Our Saviour justifies this Distinction between the greater and lesser Rights Judgment Mercy Faith the weightier Matters these ought ye to have done Tithe of Mint Annise Cummin these ought ye not to have left undone So far as Conscience may be concern'd there is Certainty enough in Things We may have sufficient Assurance from the Reason of Things themselves or their Reference to the End from the clear Report of so
this is the Effect of Christ and his Business God gave him to bless us How by turning us away from Iniquity It is not Christianity to use the name of Christ as a Charm or Spell or Badge of Profession only as they do who use it unintelligibly irrationally unaccountably insignificantly Christ denotes as * in one sence a Person engaged for us in a way we well understand and give account of so a Nature in us which we very well feel and can express They therefore hold forth Christ who declare him one way or other to either of these Effects or Purposes SERMON V. ROMANS I. 26 27. For this Cause God gave them up to vile Affections c. Receiving in themselves that Recompence of their Error which was meet HAVING given an Account of the dreadful Miscarriage of Apostates who held the Truth of God in Unrighteousness and did not love to retain God in their Knowledge but affected to be Atheists that they might be Arbitrary Lawless and live without Fear or Controul and other Characters of them having been given I now proceed to the Second Part that is their PUNISHMENT You have had an Account of Man's Behaviour towards God Now take an Account of God's He gives them up to their own Hearts Lusts. To vile Affections To a reprobate Mind To do things which are not convenient And to have God justified They did but receive the Recompence of their Error To vindicate God from having any hand in the Miscarriages of Men or being * the Cause of it I will shew that neither the Evil of Sin nor the Evil of Punishment can be attributed to God For if God be the first and chiefest Good then Evil is not from him it is not that which he hath designed decreed or appointed But it is Consequential Necessary Fatal and by Consequence Inseparable from the Miscarriages of Sinners In the Sixth of Isaiah v. 10. it is said Make the Heart of this People fat and make their Ears heavy and shut their Eyes least they see with their Eyes and hear with their Ears and understand with their Heart and convert and be healed Which place is referr'd to six times in the New Testament And the Scripture never represents the forlorn State of Sinners but it refers to this place It is not that God hath such an Intention or that God will have it so But it is Consequential so it comes to pass so it falls out This is the natural Issue of not dealing ingenuously with Truth they are the worse for their Knowledge if Practice be not answerable * Now to give you an Account that Evil is not to be attributed to God Tho' we find Scripture doth frequently * seem to attribute it to him You must understand that the Scripture-Notion is this Because God is the first and general Cause of all things therefore the Scripture doth attribute all things to God but with great Difference and Distinction Some things as his Efficience such as he doth by himself immediately Some things which he doth by commissioning others i. e. by second Causes And some things by his Permission With this Difference we must understand Scripture attributing things to God For certainly we must resolve that God is no Cause of Evil. For nothing is more certain than that Holiness and Righteousness are the Divine Endowments And Holiness and Righteousness make it altogether repugnant and morally impossible for God to have a Hand in Evil such Evil where-to Iniquity and Deformity is annexed Wherefore we will conclude that whatsoever God doth by himself immediately or in Conjunction with any second Cause it is in it self Good and worthy the first and chiefest Goodness And if that be not true let any one give an Account of these places Is there Unrighteousness in God God forbid If he be unrighteous how can he judge the World Can the Judge of all the World do an unrighteous Act God is holy in all his ways c. He will judge the World in Righteousness Not by an Arbitrary Will But he will proceed according to Rule Can God by Power or Priviledge pervert Right Wherefore there is no Principle true from whence this may follow that God is the Author of Evil. * It is most certainly true of God in relation to his Creatures that he doth fully answer the Relation he stands in to his Creation and whatsoever he hath made Isa. 49. 15. Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have Compassion on the Son of her Womb yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee He certainly doth what is requisite and due in pursuance of all the Principles of his Creation He is not vain as foolish Mortals are to have Beginnings frustrate He doth whatever becomes infinite Goodness He doth all Good upon the highest fullest and clearest Account of Goodness So that is a most real Truth thy Destruction is of thy self But in me is thy Help Nothing is more injuriously spoken of God than that God is the Cause of the Creatures Sin or of the Sinners Misery by the Absoluteness and Arbitrariness of his Will As if save for God's Will a Sinner might well enjoy himself be at Peace within himself be Happy Whereas Vertue hath Reward arising out of it self So Sin and Wickedness hath Punishment Nothing in the World so draws on another thing as Guilt doth Mischief and Punishment Wickedness is contrary to the Nature of Man Therefore cannot but be vexatious and tormenting No Wounds of Body equal the Torments of the Mind Antecedently to the Being of Evil God doth that which infinite Wisdom doth direct for the preventing of it to wit he doth warn he doth admonish he doth declare against it tho' he doth not absoly hinder by his Almighty Power Subsequentially to the Being of Evil when Evil is done by a defective and malicious Cause God if he pleases turns it into Good when he pleases and as he pleases And in this Sense St. Austin It is very happy that a proud arrogant self-conceited Man fall into a Sin that he may see himself That is if God make such a Sin as shames a Man a Means to humble him Else it is expected that God should resist the Proud and that the Back-slider in Heart be filled with his own Ways This is the Goodness of God when he will bring Good out of Evil and turn that which is a Man's Sin and great Fault to tend to his Advancement * But God is not challengable upon any Account for his not hindring For he would counter-work the Design of his Creation For Man by his Make is a free Agent is both intelligent and voluntary Positus in aequilibrio else could not sin Counterpois'd one way by that which is Honest the other way by Profit and Pleasure The Delightfulness of Sense is corrival to that which is in its Nature just and holy
the Places where they live as being Disturbers of the Quiet of Persons with whom they have their Habitation For their internal Rancour and Naughtiness of Mind still puts them upon plotting and contriving Mischief and makes them greedy of Opportunity to practise it * Now This Malignity and Naughtiness of Disposition is moral Pravity Deformity and Privation And therefore it cannot be natural but must be acquired For this is a certain Rule nothing Moral can be by Generation but must be by Acts Use Custom and Practice Nothing but what is purely natural can be in a Man by Traduction and Propagation We are not born with Habits but born only with Faculties This is so far true that any bodily Disposition or Inclination which is not acquired tho' it be to Good or to Evil it is neither a Vice if it be a Tendency to Evil nor a Vertue if it be a Tendency to Good For nothing is Vertue but what is the Product of a Mind actually considering and a Man's Choice upon Deliberation and Consideration And so nothing amounts unto the Degree of Vice * but in the same manner Only a Man may be wicked by Failure and Neglect Because a Man is to use the Principles of God's Creation he is to consider and he is to make use of his Reason and that is first to be set on work to discover the Way and to discern the Difference of Things It is most true in respect of every Man 's internal State every Man hath himself for Temper for Disposition for Complexion and Constitution of Soul according as he hath considered examined and used himself Now if a Man hath himself as he uses himself then whosoever is in Perverseness and Malignity of Mind he hath brought himself into it by abuse of himself Whosoever is in a naughty and malignant Disposition of Mind there is no Creature under Heaven nor nothing that is in being that brought him into that Temper but either his gross Self-neglect or voluntary Self-abuse And if there be gross Self-neglect he hath not acted according to his Principles That which is not of a Man's self it may be his Burden but never his Fault nor never is charged upon him on a moral Account 3 dly A sickly and distemper'd Body * This hath made work for the Physician and uncouth Remedies and hath prevented the natural Pleasure of temperate Eating Drinking Sleeping For in Nature's Way only is Health and Strength * Now I grant a Man may have a weak Body and unhappy Constitution without his own Fault whence some die so soon and others are so sickly But there are things which are in our Power that are mischievous to the Body I shall instance in three kinds of Vices in respect of which we may say with the Apostle These Men sin against their own Bodies 1 st Pride Envy and Malice These * carry Discontent which doth macerate the Body and melancholize the Blood Now * as the World is a very uncertain and unequal thing so * it affords frequent Matter of Offence to this * Temper If a Man will be offended he shall be offended every day The Proud and Conceited Man never hath Respect enough he is not valued by others according as he esteems himself No Man thinks so well of him as he thinks of himself And therefore he is necessarily agrieved at every Man and he lives in Discontent He is seldom satisfied but apt to interpret every Man's Carriage towards him Neglect at least if not Affront You have all this verified in the Temper of Haman to Mordecai who is dispossest of all his Enjoyments because Mordecai offends him so is in perpetual Discontent And if a Man is in Discontent he doth not only marr the Temper of his Mind but hurts his Body The Envious and Malicious are agrieved at every Body's Good They cannot enjoy the Comforts they might enjoy because others have the same Now whosoever he is that leads a grumbling repining Life as all envious Men do his very Life is a lingring pining Death Envy is the Rottenness of the Bones But the sound Heart is the Life of the Flesh. One * in whom Principles that are solid and sincere do govern he that is in the Use of sober Reason and Understanding this Man is of a sound Heart We have not more Sense of any thing in this World than that to live in Love and Good Will is to live at Hearts-ease * What great Content have they that live in Universal Love In Reconciliation with God and his whole Creation They are offended at no Body they rejoyce at any thing that happens well to any Creature whatsoever What should bear the Infirmities of the Body but the Courage and Resolution of the Mind If Men thro' Pride Envy and Malice do their Bodies Mischief is it to be imputed to God No But to themselves 2 dly Intemperance and Wantonness These bring our Bodies to noisom filthy loathsom Diseases sometimes even to Rottenness while our Souls inform them Those that live in these Vices sin against their own Bodies Dishonour themselves Make themselves vile and their Bodies unfit Tabernacles for their Souls to dwell in They alienate their Bodies from their proper Use. For what is the proper Use of the Body but to be * as the Tool and Instrument of our Mind in the Engagement * and Service of Vertue The Poet livelily describes the Effect of Drunkenness Aches in the Head Nauseousness in the Stomach Drought in the Throat Langour in the Parts Folly and Fury in the Mind a Feaver in the whole Now all these are avoided where there is due Self-government and where Men take upon them to order their Affairs according to the Dictates of true and sober Reason But if Men lay Reason aside and give themselves up to absurd Compliance if once they transgress the Principles of Reason and abuse the Principles of their Minds they abuse and spoil their Bodies 3 dly By Idleness and Sloth which are also our Bodies Enemies they come to putrifie as Water in Ponds by Stagnancy The Security of the natural State and Perfection of every thing is by Motion and Action By Lasiness and Sloth our Bodies come to be vitiated For they are deprived of their great Security And Nature's Remedy the All-preserving insensible Transpiration is advanced and maintained by Motion Whereas on the other side Vertue which is the Mind 's due Complexion is Soveraign to the Body And all the genuine and kindly Operations of Vertue and Religion are benign and favourable to our Bodies and * are our great Security Length of Days are secured by complying with the Principles of Religion Sobriety Reason and Understanding But in every Deviation from and Contradiction to Reason the contrary viz. Short Life and Diseases are founded and our Bodies spoiled and marred Thus you see God is not to be charged with that which we our selves are the sole Cause of We bring upon our selves the great
Evils We and We alone cause Guilt in our Consciences We and We alone do deform and deprave our Minds We and We alone are the Causes of Diseases and the marring of our Bodies when * we are intemperate Further to prove that MISERY IS OF OUR SELVES I shall take Two Grounds from the Apostle 1 st Man is a Law to himself That is the Effect and Purport of the Law is written in his Heart So that Man is felfcondemned if he transgress he himself being Judge And Self-condemnation is the Life of Hell What the Apostle saith of the Word of Faith of After-Revelation We need not ask who shall ascend c. But the Word of Faith which we preach is nigh thee even in thy Heart the same also may we say of the Principles of God's Creation in us which belongs to our very Make. For Man by Vertue of his Nature and Principles is as sufficient and proportionable to Acts of Reason and Understanding as any inferiour Nature is to Acts Homogenial and Con-natural And we observe that inferiour Nature fails not if it meets not with Foreign Disturbance and Impediment Man therefore out of the Way of right Reason is a Monster a Prodigy in a State of Delinquency and Deformity and he returns not to himself but by Revocation of what is unduly done and renewal by Repentance Otherwise he remains under Self-condemnation So cannot but be miserable 2 dly Great Sinners leave natural Use. Now the Propensions and Inclinations of the Powers and Faculties of our Natures are not controuled without great Violence to our selves and Affront given to God As to instance it is horrid monstrous degenerate and unnatural to live without God in the World because Mind and Understanding are God's peculiar Reserve in Man given to be employed about him So that it is Alienation and Sacriledge to divert them from him It is unnatural to be Intemperate The Desires of Nature are Modest and within Bounds and Compass And all Excess is burthensome It is Devilish to be Spiteful and Revengeful For Man by Nature is Sociable and wishes well to them in whose Company he takes delight This must be understood of Nature before it be abused by unnatural Acts ill Use Custom and Practice For the better any thing is in its Constitution and Integrity the worse it is in its Degeneracy and Depravation I infer Four Things from * hence 1. If Man's Misery be from within * and from Man's self then no Imputation lies upon God of hard Usage of his Creatures Let us therefore resolve with Elihu to give all Honour to our Maker and ascribe Righteousness to him and not entertain such Thoughts and Apprehensions of God as will not recommend him to us nor encourage our Applications to him For it is the leading Point in Religion to have in our Minds right Suppositions of God 2. If this were duly considered Men would not allow themselves to be Lawless Arbitrary Licentious Exorbitant tho' they might avoid the Danger of Divine and Human Laws For Misery arising from within Sinners would be miserable and unhappy tho' God and Man should let them alone 3. If this were duly considered Men would not be agrieved at the Shews and Appearances of this vain World so as to envy the Condition of the Fond and Foolish who intoxicate themselves with Fancies and are Self-flatterers The seeming Prosperity of the Wicked hath been a Stumbling-block to good Men in * all Ages to David Job Jeremiah till they have bethought themselves examin'd and considered But that is well which ends well The Tempter abuses credulous Persons suggesting the Day of Vengeance to be a long time hence Whereas the Sins of Men do not stay for all their Punishment till the Day of Judgment But whether external Punishment be sooner or later Wickedness carries Misery in its own Bowels Were we but at times to see the Torture and Anguish that Guiltiness gives occasion to the Unquietness of naughty malicious Minds the Perplexities and Vexations of the Envious a Man of Poverty if of Innocency and Integrity would not change Conditions with them notwithstanding their worldly Accommodations and gay Out-sides 4. This effectually recommends to us Principles of Reason and Religion as things fit to rule and govern in the Life of Man as things Soveraign to Nature * as the Law of Mens Apprehensions and the Rule of Mens Actions They moderate Mens Passions compose Mens Spirits quiet Mens Minds keep Men in their Wits suffer no abuse to their Bodies A discomposed Mind doth disaffect the Body and a distemper'd Body doth disturb the Mind There is more Satisfaction in good SELF-GOVERNMENT than in all the forced Jollities and Pleasures in the World * Therefore to obtain this Composedness of Spirit and in order to this great Work of Self-Government First I propose that we do not attempt to compound and make things stand together that are of a contrary Nature and Quality as Worldly Policy and Divine Wisdom These two things are as distinct as any things in the World the one is for compassing Ends by all Ways and Arts the other is for all Ways of Righteousness Peaceableness and Universal Good-will * Thus for a Man to resolve to get an Estate by any Ways or Means to haste to be rich and with this to retain Innocency Uprightness and Integrity than which nothing is more impossible For a Man to compound inordinate Self-love with the Love of God and his Neighbour For a Man to make * it the Employment of Mind and Understanding to gratifie Sense and serve Brutish Lusts and yet think that he may * be acted and guided by the good Spirit of God These * things will not consist together Secondly I propose that in all the Variety Difficulties and Uncertainties of this World which is subject to so many and various Changes a Man resolve to be himself as to the great things of Humane Life Let him be the same in respect of his End both intermediate and ultimate the next and the last that is let his immediate End be warrantable and lawful and the ultimate End be that which is universally good as the Observance of God and his own Happiness For these are the same and concur together Let him be the same in respect of his Aims Designs and Intentions Let these be always worthy and let him hold to them Let him be the same in respect of his Rule and Principle of Living and of Acting Tho' he fail in a particular Action yet let him hold to his Rule and as soon as he can recover himself to his Rule and Law Let him be the same in respect of his Contentment and Satisfaction Let not a Man take up and applaud himself in any Attainment or Acquisition that is short of that which will finally accomplish a Man and make him happy Let a Man always be himself in respect of his Engagements and Undertakings Let a Man conjoin with his Natural Powers