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
their Knowledge imprison the Truth of God and hold it in Unrighteousness In the Language of Scripture none are nominated Sinners but such as now we are representing The Scripture doth never fasten the Title or Denomination upon them that mean well but are in something mistaken who now and then are under an Error having Failings Imperfections and Shortnesses that miscarry upon a violent Temptation or sudden Surprizal You never find these Men are call'd Sinners Neither are the Infirmities of the Regenerate call'd Sin Tho' these are Sins that require God's Forgiveness and are a true Cause for us to be Humble and Modest and to depend upon God But they do not break our Peace with God neither do they havock Conscience or denominate a Person a Sinner The Scripture tells us That those that are born of God do not commit Sin that is in this Sence no one that is regenerate doth pass into the contrary Nature It is unnatural They may have Shortnesses Failings Imperfections But voluntarily to consent to known Iniquity or wilfully to controul the settled Laws of Heaven of Piety to God Justice to Men and Sobriety to our selves this is unnatural These Persons have the Guilt of evil Practice lying upon their Minds They have their own internal Sence reproving them challenging them condemning them For the Cause of all Creatures Misery is rational and accountable and Men do dishonour God and misrepresent him when they say that any Creature falls into Misery by the Use of God's Sovereignty It doth really arise from within us And there is no Danger in respect of God notwithstanding his great Priviledge if Men be innocent and not self-condemn'd Misery and Harm do not proceed from abroad but do arise from within If Omnipotence it self should load me with all Burthens If I am innocent within I shall be able to bear it But if I am guilty I have a Wound within and have nothing within me true to my self All Misery arises out of our selves It is a most gross Mistake and Men are of dull and stupid Spirits who think that that State which we call Hell is an incommodious place only and that God by his Sovereignty throws Men therein For Hell arises out of a Man's self And Hell's Fewel is the Guilt of a Man's Conscience And it is impossible that any should be so miserable as Hell makes a Man and as there a Man is miserable but by his own condemning himself And on the other side when they think that Heaven arises from any Place or any nearness to God or Angels This is not principally * so but * it lies in a refin'd Temper in an internal Reconciliation to the Nature of God and to the Rule of Righteousness So that both Hell and Heaven have their Foundation within Men. Evil knowingly admitted is our Burthen For all Evil is forcible violent and unnatural And a Sinner wrongs his own Principles This might be made appear in respect of God in respect of one another in respect of our selves 1 st In respect of God For consider him as the Father of our Beings and that we are derivatively from him or that our State is Dependency or that we are sinful or that we are under his Love or that he is to be our Judge all these will cause Acts of Piety So that all Acts of Impiety are contrary to the Light of our Reason And whosoever is impious in any Degree or Particular whatsoever he doth hold the Truth in Unrighteousness he confounds his Principles acts contrary to his Nature and contradicts the Principle of God within him * For this is Fundamental to all Religion that Man in the Use of his Reason by Force of Mind and Understanding may as well know that there is a God that governs the World as he may know by the Use of his Eyes there is a Sun For are we not made to know there is a God If we were not made to know that he is we could never know For this we can never be taught For upon whose Credit shall we believe it It is not Divine Faith unless it be grounded on Divine Authority All else is either Reason or Human Perswasion Credulity or Experience We are not capable of Faith unless we know there is a God For if there be Faith in God we must suppose that He is For Faith is a receiving something upon Divine Authority * And if there be not a Natural Knowledge that God is there is no Possibility of any Faith Men know by the Use of their Reason that there is a God And then when a Man receives any Proposition from God's Authority that is Faith Natural Knowledge you see is anticedent and Fundamental to Faith It is as natural and proper for Mind and Understanding to tend towards God as for heavy Things to tend towards their Center For God is the Center of immortal Souls All Understandings seek after God and have a Sence and Feeling of God If Reason did not apprehend God Religion could not be learn'd For there would be nothing in Nature to graft it on Besides we know in Reason that first Principles are self-evident must be seen in their own Light and are perceived by an inward Power of Nature For as we say out of nothing comes nothing so grant nothing and nothing can be proved Wherefore it must be within the Reach of Reason to find that there is a God For upon God's Authority supposing his Being and Veracity we admit and receive all the Results of his Will If God had not made Man to know there is a God there is nothing that God could have demanded of him nothing wherein he might have challenged him nor nothing that he could have expected Man should have received from him Therefore the Make of Man the natural Use of Mind and Understanding this is enough to satisfie any one concerning the Being of God and his essential Perfections And if so whosoever is impious to God whosoever is not subject to all his Commands this Man doth certainly sin against his Conscience and doth practise against his Light and is guilty of holding the Truth in Unrighteousness Thus every one that is Impious Ungodly Prophane or a Despiser of Deity is self-condemn'd sins against his Light and goes against his Conscience goes against his very Make and doth that which is violent horrid and unnatural The second Species of Sin is Unrighteousness Now Righteousness refers to the Duties we mutually owe one another To do as we would be done by To do equally and justly not arbitrarily How doth Violence and Fraud perplex and interrupt Humane Affairs How settledly do Men live where Love and Justice do take place in comparison of Places Arbitrary and Lawless There is a secret Harmony in the Soul with the Rule of Righteousness there is no Displacency Offence or Reluctancy And there is an Antipathy arising at the Appearance of Evil as unnatural to it But a Complacency in Good as the
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
of Reason and Righteousness But certainly the Ways of God are most accountable of any thing to Rules of Righteousness These are injurious Apprehensions of God and dishonourable to him and are discaimed by him every where in Scripture and God owns no such Power neither doth he look upon it as a Priviledge nor doth he cloath himself with such a Prerogative Here is the Truth of the Case Misery doth arise out of our selves and Misery and Iniquity have the same Foundation Hell for the main of it is our Guiltiness and Conscience of it So that a Sinner is in a self-condemned State without Relief These two are the Ingredients of the Hellish State Self-condemnation from the Guilt of a Man's Conscience that is not removed by Repentance and God's Refusal upon a righteous Cause because the Sinner would not come within the Latitude of a Compassionate Case SERMON III. ROMANS I. 18. For the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness TO proceed to the Declaration of this great and horrid Sin which gives God that high Offence alienates us from him exposes us to his Displeasure * and against which he doth thus declare This holding Truth in Unrighteousness it doth admit of several degrees 1 st Where Knowledge doth not go forth into Act Where * it doth not attain the Effect of Goodness For bare Knowledge doth not sanctifie No Man is renew'd by his Knowledge only It is said of the degenerate Spirits the Devils that they know and tremble The Effect is Fear and Astonishment because there is not the Product of Goodness 2 dly Not attaining due Growth For there will be Growth where there is not Violence or some ill Accident Where Nature begins it goes on towards Perfection and it is in the State of Increase till it come to the State of Consistency Growth in Bulk or Maturity as in Nature so in Grace The Apostle tells us of the Measure of the Stature of the Fulness of Christ. 3 dly Eluding one 's own Judgment By an Evasion unsound Distinction pretending to Difference when there is none doing that under one notion which a Man 's own Judgment will not let him do under another when the Case is much the same * Thus when things are under a disguise when Intemperance is called Good-fellowship or when any Man is Conceited or of a Turbulent Spirit in Religion for him to please himself with a notion of Zeal for Truth We should be very careful and exact to observe the Difference of Moral Good and Evil. Herein we should be severe and impartial not giving our selves leave to comply with our * own Humours for as to the great Notices of Reason and Nature the Measures of Vertue and Vice the Grand Instances of Morality there can be no Allowance no Variation because they are Matters unalterable unchangeable indispensible Laws of themselves without Sanction by Will but by the Reason of the thing In the great Matters of Righteousness there is no Variation but in Positives and Institutes there is a Latitude of Sense Interpretation Time and Observance Instistitutes were never intended to be in Compensation or Recompence for Failure in Morals but for their better Security 4 thly Not following Truth fully but as Herod He heard John gladly c. Our Saviour doth mightily accuse the Pharises because they did pick and chuse singling out one Precept and in the Observance of that being exact and this to make a Compensation for the rest Zealous in one thing loose in others they are charg'd therefore with Hypocrisie Not following Truth fully is when all Worldly things do not vail to Religion but Worldly Conveniencies are unduly consider'd for Truth is so noble and generous a thing that it will not submit to a Compremise with its opposite 5 thly The high degree of Sin To go against a Man's own Judgment and Conscience by violent and unnatural Practice to contract Reprobacy of Mind Seardness of Conscience Hardness of Heart This Men will do when Lust is strong and high Persons of unsubdu'd and unmortified Affections they are exposed to such horrid and unnatural use of themselves and so come to be prodigiously naught For no Man is suddenly most desperately wicked but no Man knows when he is a going how far he shall go For the breaking in of Sin is as the Inundation of Water This by way of Explication Two Observations from these words the Wrath of God is reveal'd 1. Men have wrong and injurious Apprehensions of God 2. All those that are condemn'd for Sinners are first self-condemn'd For every one that in Scripture-Sense is a Sinner is self-condemn'd 1 st The wrong Apprehensions that Men have of God that Sinners have no Warning that they are surprized by God's Judgments and taken unawares This is without all ground since the Wrath of God is declared by his Word and by his Works besides the Sense of Mens Minds the Guilt of their Consciences and their own Heart misgiving them for no Man is true to himself if he be ill employ'd for he that is employ'd in an Evil Work is always possess'd with Fear and he is not certain that he shall be true to himself Wherefore let the Declaration of God in Scripture be acknowledg'd as true Thy Destruction is of thy self Why will ye die O ye Sinners Righteous art thou O Lord and true are all thy Judgments For God of his great Goodness and Compassion to Men doth graciously begin but we often find Men wilful obstinate and rebellious God is ready to pursue his Good Beginning and if they answer his Call further to carry them on for you have an express Promise To him that hath shall be given All Grace is help and where God is there is Strength Therefore cannot any one say his Miscarriage is of God It is not want on God's part but failure on ours It is not that God fails in what is becoming him in the relation he stands to us as Creatures but we are wanting to our selves What is all the Misery that befalls Sinners in their most forlorn Condition but the Fruit of their own Sins Not any thing that proceeds from God's Arbitrary Will and Power But they contract Guiltiness of Conscience Impenitence of Mind Hardness of Heart and an Incapacity to act God-ward or to receive from God 2 dly The Scripture doth suppose that ungodly Men are self-condemn'd For this super-addition Who hold the Truth in unrighteousness is as rendring an Account not making a Distinction As â—endring an Account how it comes to pass notwithstanding all God's Endeavours and Declarations that Men continue ungodly Persons The Reason is Because they offer Violence to Truth go contrary to their Light and neglect the Declarations of God Not as if it distinguish'd between ungodly and unrighteous Persons All that in any Scripture are branded for Sinners they are Men that sin against
and Man All our Expressions must answer our Intentions when we treat one with another We are not in the Truth unless we speak what we mean It is necessary to the Truth of a Treaty that the Materials which make the Case be fully declared For it is no Agreement if any part of the Matter be unknown For a Case is made up of all Circumstances Do but diversify one Circumstance and it is another thing They that treat together are to take care that they understand and mean the same Things and not * make it a Practice for one who is more comprehensive than another to make use of his Wit to over-reach And if they find they did not mean the same things they are to release one another For no Man is obliged further than he did mean What is meant in the Treaty is after to be stood to No After-shifts Men must not after use Wit or practise upon the Doubtfulness and Uncertainty of Words and Phrases thereby to make an escape What we have engaged we must perform unless we can obtain a release from the Party with whom we engage though it prove inconvenient and worse to us than is imagined This is Truth between Man and Man And whosoever faileth in these forfeiteth his Truth And thus I have shewed you wherein a Man may put a Lye upon God upon Himself upon his Neighbour and by this you may understand this Charge of the Apostle Whatsoever Things are True Upon the whole Matter now let us take up a Lamentation For if that which I have said be true how miserable and deform'd is the World That that is the principal Thing Wit Reason and Understanding is made ill use of to serve particular Interests Ends and Purposes How much counterfeit Ware every-where is to be found How much over-reaching in Bargains and Treaties So that now a Man had need to be universally skill'd to have Right in the World Things are generally done for the Vender's Gain only and not for the Buyer's Service Whereas every Profession doth imply a Trust for the Service of the Publick And every Man in the Way of his Profession ought to do things Truly For a Man to be false in his own Trade is a double Iniquity For the Artist's Skill ought to be the Buyer's Security Every Man ought to be ready to render a Reason to any Man as in Christianity so every-where else He that is ignorant may demand the Help of another's Skill And if he makes use of his Skill to his Prejudice he deals falsly It is not competent to any Person to be universally knowing Wherefore are sundry Trades and several Professions but for the Good of Mankind because no Man is more than particularly skill'd This Departure from Simplicity and Sincerity in Profession is a thing unaccountable But this is nothing in Comparison with the Cheats Frauds and Cozenage in Religion What think ye now of Divinity methodized to sink the People down and gain Pomp to the Clergy Religion accommodate to Ends and Purposes The infinite Gain that comes from one Doctrine The Pope's Power to pardon Sin the Priest's Power to absolve Sinners Now these Cheats these Cozenages are of greater Importance because the Consequences are greater * To conclude Truth hath always God to maintain it Truth hath Defence in it self For Great is Truth and it will prevail It may be overborn for a while but it will recover Truth hath Goodness to accompany it Therefore none need fear Shame or Cause to repent Truth hath Liberty consequent to it The Truth shall make you free He that is in the Truth is not thoughtful But a Lyar had need carry about him a good Memory Truth is Con-natural to our Principles For a Man forceth himself when he departs from it Truth is the Foundation of all Order All things will be in Confusion if not order'd united and govern'd by Truth For Falshood puts every thing out of its place Truth is the Ground of Human Converse No Man is sure of another neither knows where to have him if he abide not in the Truth It is the Bond of Union Where Men agree in the Truth they are Friendly meet and harmonize one with another and great Sympathy is between them But out of the Ways of Truth Men run counter cross and contradict one another every-where This we are to know that God's Super-intendency over Human Affairs aims at this that Truth and Righteousness may obtain an universal Empire in the World And this is an Explication of that great Phrase God's doing all for his own Glory For it is an unexplicable Form of Words to say That God doth all for himself particularly as if God were a particular Agent and sought his own particular Interest But * the Sense is that God super-intends the World for this That Truth Righteousness and Goodness might take place every-where in the World And for the Advancement of this every Man in his Sphere of Activity and within his Compass ought to endeavour And this is for us to do to the Glory of God Whatsoever Things are Honest. So the Translation But I rather keep to the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatsoever things are VENERABLE Which Word is put in the Margin Neither do I forsake the Word in the Text without very good Reason because the Word Honest doth not import the Emphasis of the Greek And the very Notion of Honest you have afterwards therefore you are not take it here Now the Greek imports whatsoever things are Honourable Grave Venerable Seemly Comely Things that may raise the Esteem of the Person and gain Reverence and Value to a Man * In this Sense there are Two Things requisite Grave Behaviour and Composure of Spirit Light Carriage and an ungovern'd Spirit render any Man mean vile and contemptible A Man lays himself low in the Esteem of others by Misbehaviour And a Man lays himself open by falling into Passion or running out into immoderate Desires Gallantly doth the Poet tell us Remember to reverence thy self There is much of God in every Man If a Man do justly value himself he will not do that that is base though it be in the Dark though no Body sees him A Man ought not to abuse himself or make himself mean or low since he bears the Image of God But if a Man will neither regard God within nor the Workmanship of God without neither have Reverence for himself he will have Cause to find that he hath been wanting to himself when he falls under other Mens and his own Contempt Sin and Wickedness doth equalize those that are therein engaged There is no Man in the Sense of his Mind or in his Judgment hath a Value or Esteem for any one that is naught No Man reverenceth a wicked Man no not a wicked Man himself He is low and base in Esteem And there is no Remedy But some * there are of so comely and grave Behaviour that they awe
To forgive Injuries and to lay aside all thoughts of Revenge This I represent to you as LOVELY This is contrary to the common Guise of the World for the World doth account it Dulness and Sâ—eepishness to suffer Wrong and for a Man not to do himself Right To do Good for Evil. Not one Man of a hundred thinks he is bound to it For no Humane Law requires it and it is generally thought to be just to return the like to every Man and the Rule of our Saviour's resist not Evil is not reckon'd a Precept but a Counsel and so above Usage Custom and Practice To have Patience invincible in case of Provocation For this is commonly alledged and it is thought a good Justification of a Man if a Man have transgress'd never so much that he was provoked Why did he provoke me And Men think this a sufficient Account Not to give way to Jealousie Suspicion or evil Surmise in Case of Doubtfulness or Uncertainty of another's Meaning in such or such an Action The Rule of Policy is if any thing be doubtful always to suspect the worst But it is the Height of Religion to imagine the best and to make a good Construction It is noble and generous to make a candid Construction where Words and Actions incline to the contrary For this may change the Quality of the Action and oblige the Party And this is a noble Way of overcoming a Man To overbear our Resentment of an injurious Action by the Recollection of former Acts of Kindness and Courtesie It is extream to make an old Friend an Enemy for one Mistake and Miscarriage But this is ordinary For if once he fail if once he deny then you account him an Enemy and account him false And then Never trust him that is false Never trust a false Friend So he is concluded This is hard Measure for a Man to wipe out the Sense of many antecedent Favours and various Expressions of Faithfulness because through some Unhappiness the Person hath been mistaken and hath done an Injury in the Case A Man should rather think in this Case that the Injury now done was occasional and accidental not intentional Because of the former good Offices Many think themselves disobliged for abundance of Favours because of one mistake of latter date Now this is Lovely to let every Man with whom we have to do have this Advantage Let the Experience we have had of his Fidelity and Faithfulness and many good Offices be so minded as to overbear one Failing of latter Date Suppose it was an ill Office a real Injury let him have the Advantage of all his former * Acts of Friendship And let these be consider'd to overbear the Sense of his last Failure or Miscarriage To be meek calm and gentle in the Hands of fierce furious and violent Spirits In one way or other all Men are good for some Purpose Now it is highly Christian yea also Prudent in Converse to draw every one forth according to his better part and to help him to bear that that is his Burden For this is the Rule Bear ye one anothers Burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ. It is even Devilish to provoke a passionate Man If you make Application to a Man at least observe his Temper If he be under the Power of his Complexion he is not fit to be applied to and must be forborn at that time Therefore observe to take him in his good Humour For he is burden'd by his Temper and Constitution and thou art free To be of a pacifying peace-making reconciling Spirit To be of a tender Disposition ready to compassionate and help Men in Misery This was a foul Miscarriage in Job's Friends tho' otherwise good and worthy Men Yet out of a mistaken Zeal they lay heavy upon him And while they thought they had the Cause of God to justifie they gave hard Measure to their Friend To be ready to hinder other Mens Sins and Harms To rejoyce in God's Goodness to others where we have no share nor are our selves concern'd To be a Friend to Goodness Vertue Sobriety Temperance Righteousness where the contrary is in use and applauded To be a Friend upon all Occasions to Vertue upon its own Account To be communicative of Knowledge ready to instruct the Ignorant lead the Weak guide the Feeble in Ways of Religion To keep the Mind immoveable so far as may be and undisturb'd by the casual Contingencies of Life I mean the Things without us and that are not in our Power Now in all Reason these Things should not over-bear us over which we have no Power It is becoming the noble Soul of Man to be above the World loose to the World and independant on it Not to be beholding to the World for its Welfare nor to fear it for its Ill-fare A Man is not to seek himself without himself But how many lose themselves in the World and become Slaves and Drudges Some there are that feed the Beast the luscious Appetite Others there are that follow the childish Part in themselves Their full and adequate Employment is the Business of the Body * Such have no free Enjoyment of themselves And in the last Place To be moderate in Power Humble in Prosperity Modest with great Parts and Gifts for the Apostle tells us Knowledge is apt to puff Men up These Cases I have represented to you wherein if you reach these Rules and comply with these Notions you do that that is truly Noble Generous Honourable that that is in Resemblance and Imitation of God and that doth tend to advance the State of Human Affairs And this is to do that that is LOVELY But you will say If this be a Reality in what way is it attainable Therefore I will propose something in Respect of God between God and us viz. a serious Consideration of what God doth for the Universe Consider the Action of excellent Agents And their Action is the Way to affect our Minds No Force reacheth the Mind of Man No Man's Mind is changed or better'd but by his own particular Consideration If therefore you will bring your selves to this Temper to do Things that are Lovely in the first place consider what God is and what his Actings and Dealings with his Creatures are And if we propose to our selves what God doth in the World and how he carrieth it in his Family this Consideration will promote in us this Disposition and Temper For He is the Universal Father It is He whose Family the whole World is It is He that doth maintain the Universe and doth settle and establish the Order and Government of Things And certainly we cannot write after a better Copy It is the Definition of Religion in us Divine Imitation Godliness is God-likeness Now see what God doth He is universally Good He maketh the Sun to shine without Difference or Distinction on the Righteous and the Unrighteous He maketh his Rain
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
of this will not be sufficient to give us solid Content and Satisfaction at that time nor be a Foundation for our Faith to rest upon Those words that we have read that the Wages of Sin is Death will then run in our Minds and we shall be then ready to say Art thou come to call our Sins to remembrance Tho' Men in a hurry of Business do not now consider yet then assurance of Pardon of Sin will of all things be most satisfactory to our Minds and the want of it will be the most afflicting Consideration imaginable 2 dly Being well-resolv'd and assur'd of the Way that God will pardon Sin let us always have it in our eye and put it in practice Let us be sure that we heartily repent of our Sins turn to God make Application to him and come under the Terms of the Covenant of Grace that so our Faith and Hope may finally rest in God as the Apostle speaks All that is reveal'd to us concerning Christ and the Gospel is for this End and Purpose and there is nothing in the World that is so well secur'd as the Pardon of our Sins and Everlasting Safety in the way of the Faith of the Gospel For upon these Terms it hath Settlement from the Perfection of the Divine Nature who is the first and chiefest Goodness and who cannot fail to commiserate every compassionable Case And I declare to you that the Case of a Creature finite and fallible if he do repent and turn to God is sorry for what he hath done amiss and return to his Duty is compassionable And this we are assur'd of not only from the Nature of God but from the Revelation of his Mind and Will For as is his Nature such are the Resolutions of his Mind and Will That SIN is pardonable is the Foundation of all our Religion and Application to God Fundamental to Faith and to all Affiance Trust and Confidence in God For tho' the Act of a Creature may be aggravated in respect of the Person against whom it is committed yet in themselves they are but Acts of Weakness And I shall shew you that they are so in God's account and esteem and therefore God doth not charge us so deeply for them as he might nor so much aggravate the Affronts against his own Majesty but considers and allows for the Weakness of the Creature So Psalm 103. 14. For he knoweth our Frame and remembereth that we are Dust. Therefore God doth not so highten our Failings and Neglect of him as he might do from the Height and Excellency of his own Majesty but he doth look upon them as the Failings and Miscarriages of weak and frail Creatures So Isa. 57. 16. These places of Scripture show that God doth consider what we are and gives allowance for our Shortness Weakness and Infirmity being the Condition in which we were made He considers that we are but finite and fallible and consist of different Materials a Divine and Heavenly Spirit and a Gross Body He knows that we have a great Government the ruling of sundry Appetites and must subordinate all the Motions of Sense to the Dictates of Reason and Understanding which is the greatest Performance in the World Yet this Humane Nature is put upon and herein we have a greater Province to administer than even the Angels themselves they not having so gross a Body as we have nor expos'd to so much Evil as we are But God he knoweth our FRAME and upon that account is not extream to mark what is done amiss A Creature as a Creature is finite and fallible and yet we are not the most perfect of God's Creation Now for Fallible to fail is no more than for Frail to be broken and for Mortal to die Where there is Finite and Limited Perfection there is not only a Possibility but a Contingency to Fail to Err to be Mistaken not to know and to be deceiv'd And where the Agent is such there is place for Repentance Repentance is that which makes a Finite Being failing capable of Compassion If Repentance did not take effect it would be too hazardous for a Creature to come into Being If upon a Laps an Error or Mistake we should be undone to Eternity without all hope of Recovery Who would willingly enter upon this State These are Matters fit for Consideration and very satisfactory to considerate Minds and to awaken'd Consciences Then 3 dly Let us entertain right Notions and Apprehensions of God and conclude that he is of his own Nature placable and reconcileable It is consequent upon Sin to commit a further Evil to delight in it to love it and to live in it and from hence to fear and hate God who is offended by it For this is certain where Men are affraid they do not love and where they hate for their own Preservation if they could they would dissable such as are Formidable and in a Capacity to do them Harm Now if we look upon God as our Enemy as we shall do if we sin against him and do not repent we shall fear and dread him and so Hate him not Love and Delight in him For this is certain we always suspect that the wrong'd Person will revenge himself and take all advantage to do himself Right unless we make our Peace with him And were God like unto us there were just cause for this Suspicion But we may satisfie our selves from what God hath declar'd that there is no cause to fear in the way of Repentance and Faith for as much as God will perform the Terms of his own Gracious Dispensation which is to pardon all such as sincerely repent and believe the Gospel 4 thly It this be true that we cannot be rid of Sin save only by some Act of God then let us not do that which is so much to our own Prejudice upon such easie Terms as commonly * to offend since it is not in our power to undo it For Sin committed cannot be avoided unless by God's Pardon as well as our Repentance And our Repentance is but our Qualification for Pardon Pardon it self is the Act of God and depends upon the use of his Power God hath Power over his own Right and may abate of it what he pleaseth Now if a Man once sin farewel for ever the Righteousness of Innocency this is that which can never be attain'd for it can never be made that what hath been done was not done or that every sinful Act did not deserve Punishment In this State of Sin we are only made whole recover'd and restor'd and this Relief we have by the Divine Grace So that we cannot in any Reason allow our selves to commit Iniquity for the time to come or to return to Folly for this were to turn the Grace of God into Wantonness and to abuse the Divine Benignity and Compassion and to make void the Effect thereof and to do what in us lyes that the
The WORLD which by the Appointment of God is a Place habitable and fit to live in it turns into a Wilderness of Tygers and Savage Creatures For the Apostle saith Whence come Wars and Fightings Come they not from your Lusts that war in your Numbers If it were not for the Exorbitancy of Mens Spirits and Wickedness of Mens Hearts and Lives it would be the better for every Man by how many the more Men there were in * the World Whereas now many Men are formidable And a Man runs a Hazard to run into Company * Another Consideration is the Unaccountableness of not revoking by Repentance what a Man hath done amiss For this Second Evil is greater than the First For not to repent is to justifie the Evil that hath been done and to stand to it For the first Evil something may be alledged to wit Ignorance Inadvertency Temptation and the like But where Men continue in Evil and do not revoke it by Repentance this tends to settle them in a wicked Mind It is our contracting Guilt and giving God an Offence by our Carelessness and consenting to Iniquity that is the Cause of all that Trouble and Perplexity that befals us There is no Foundation of internal Peace but in a Conscience void of Offence both towards God and Man He that carries Guilt in his Breast hath Tophet burning within him The Conscience not eased by Repentance but under Guilt hath Horrour and Confusion which is a Hell on this side Hell I had almost said the worst of Hell its self For if to this we add the Sense of God's Offence you have the Hell of Hell There is no Pleasure or Satisfaction either in Life or at the Hour of Death but in living according to the Dictates of right Reason For this is the Light of God in Men God's Viceroy or Vicegerent And that which is Fundamental to Conscience So that if we approve our selves therein we shall not give God Offence nor wound our own Spirits And for this I dare refer my self to any Man who hath not contracted Reprobacy of Mind that these Things are so But for such Men they can no more judge of the Reality of a State than Men that are in a Fever can relish Food This in reality may be defended against the whole World that there is nothing Desirable Lasting or Satisfactory but what is HONEST Nothing that is Base or Vile can be Pleasant Good Men who are under the Power of Reason and Religion they are FREE Men and Happy in any Condition whether sick or well at liberty or shut up And Bad Men are SLAVES in the best Condition For they are under the Tyranny of their Lusts which are Tyrants and Usurpers that have no Authority nor any Right to govern The Desires of Nature are moderate But the Cravings of inordinate Appetites are neither to be resisted nor satisfied And hence it comes to pass that VERTUE is antecedent to Happiness and VICE to Misery It is Vice and Wickedness that fills a Man with Uneasiness Disorder Doubtfulness and Irresolution And these put a Man besides himself and out of the true Use of Reason which doth represent God to Man * So that he is * even a mad Man that questions his Being or that dares to give God an Offence by doing any Thing that is Evil For we account that these Two go together To know GOD and the Difference between Good and Evil Right and Wrong And they that have apostatized from Matters of Revelation yet have acknowledged that there is belonging to the Nature of Man an Inclination to and a Perswasion of a Divine Being For most certain it is that the Mind of Man as to God holds the same Sufficiency and Proportion that the EYE of Man holds to Light which if a Man do but open he cannot but see So if a Man do but use Reason he must see and acknowledge God The wise Man tells us That the Spirit of a Man is the Candle of the Lord. A Candle lighted by God and serving to this Purpose to discern and discover God And truly were it not thus wherein would consist the Excellency of Human Nature above the Inferiour Nature What a contemptible Creature were Man if he could not lift up himself above these Worldy Things * Were it not thus Life it self were not greatly valuable Take from Man this Power and Capacity and there is nothing in the World for which a Man would suffer Pain or Cold or break his Sleep For What is there in Worldly Drudgery We often have little more than our Labour for our Travel Now this is my Argument If Nature carry in it Sense of Deity and if to the Nature of Man belong true Notions of the several Perfections that are in God I mean his Moral Perfections As Truth Goodness Purity Holiness and the like and that those who have had no Revelation from God have arrived to a full Satisfaction of the Existence of Deity and have had Sense of Good and Evil Right and Wrong * then they who fall short of these Measures fall under Force and Violence and lay * within themselves the Foundation of Uncertainty and Distraction Because they have a Principle within themselves that doth reprove and challenge countermand and controul For it is a great Matter for a Man to approve himself to himself and to satisfie the Reason of his own Mind How true is that of the Prophet which also is verified by Reason there is no Peace * saith he to the Wicked But they are like the troubled Sea that cannot rest Nothing is more true than * that if a Man be Guilty and vary from the Rule of Right and depart from Reason he wrongs himself goes against his Principle and the Law of his Nature and shakes off his Governour Therefore cannot have Peace or Satisfaction For these Things are in Conjunction and cannot be separated viz. Innocency and Peace And on the contrary these go together Guiltiness and Perplexity of Thoughts And these Things are not as Men will or as they order and chuse but they are conjoyn'd in the Nature of Things themselves And these Things being so RELIGION recommends it self from its Usefulness and is not to be look'd upon as an Imposition or a Burthen laid upon the Nature of Man But ought to be a Matter of our Delight and Choice But then the last Consideration is this That the Perfection and Happiness of Humane Nature consists in the right Use of our Rational Faculties and in the Vigour and Intense Exercise of them about their proper and proportionable Object And what Object can be more proportionable than GOD himself the Original of our Being Him from whom it did flow Who is the Pattern of all Excellency and Goodness If therefore we find not Rest and greater Satisfaction in HIM than in all Worldly Pleasure and Delight it is because we have not exerted our highest and noblest Faculties in that