and the most tormenting Diseases are to the Body Then he can compare the ease of going by one constant Rule of Piety and Honesty in all his ways with the labour of serving divers and contrary Lusts and with the distraction and uncertainty of being still put upon new expedients to serve a present turn Then he can compare the Comforts of a good Conscience with that grief of being told by his own mind that he had done ill which alone is more painful than all the hardships of Religion But he needs not gather how well it is with him at present by reflecting upon his former restless State For those very heights of Christianity which at first troubled him most of all he now finds to be the causes of the greatest satisfaction and delight That Command of forgiving and loving Enemies which once made him almost despair of being a good Christian now that he has subdued his Passions to it gives him a world of ease and makes him feel a tranquility of mind which another man's malice cannot disturb Thus the purity of his desires and thoughts and the altering of his natural temper from what it was makes those good works to be performed with freedom and pleasure which were once tedious and unnatural And yet he was at first strangely discouraged at that obligation which the Law of Christ lays upon our Inclinations and Thoughts Nay that once frightful condition of taking up the Cross now that he is come to a resolution upon it has fixt his tranquility and left him free to enjoy all the reasonable pleasures of prosperity without vain fears of what may happen hereafter which is a Peace that the World can neither give nor take away So that the hardest Duties will give us the most perfect Rest which plainly shews that they are not so terrible as they seem at a distance for if they were we should be sure to find it when we make a through trial of them but then we find that they are a rejoycing to the heart But when all is done what is dry reasoning upon these things to a lively experience of them And how can the Resentments of a good man's Soul be understood without feeling them in our selves They are Comforts too great for common expression Nay the very best of holy men and those with the advantage of Inspiration have been hard put to it to describe them Oh how I love thy law saith the Psalmist it is my meditation all the day I have longed for thy salvation O Lord and thy law is my delight Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them My soul hath kept thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly Thus also St. Paul represents himself and his Brethren under all the trials of their patience to be as sorrowful yet always rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things What are these expressions but the overflowing of a pure and sincere Joy which words cannot reach and of which we can have no just conception till we tast and see how gracious God is till we come to Christ and learn of him and take his yoke upon our selves Then shall we find rest to our souls Little thanks therefore do they deserve from Jesus or from his Disciples who pretend to shew an easier way to Heaven than that of Repentance and New Obedience What need of invention and wit to avoid those Commandments in the keeping of which there is so great reward that labour in which there is so much rest unless by Rest we mean Laziness Why should we at once cheat our selves of that true Rest which Christ promiseth under his Yoke and of that Rest too which remaineth for the people of God in a better Life And there is no coming to the later but by the former We may possibly deceive our selves for a time yet that day and hour is coming that will undeceive us all as our Lord hath forewarned us and that in such plain and pregnant words that if we well mark them they will not suffer us to be deluded with false hopes They are those words wherewith he concluded his Sermon on the Mount and with them I shall conclude also Many shall say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me ye that work iniquity Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doth them I will liken him unto a wise man who built his house upon a rock and the rain descended and the floods came and the wind blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them not but expecteth to be saved another way shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand And the rain descended and the floods came and the wind blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall thereof Thus have I shewn you the old path and the good way That was my part And now it is yours and mine to walk in it And then we shall find rest for our souls Which God grant for the sake of Jesus to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed all honour praise and glory now and for ever Amen The Fifth Sermon A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL ROM VIII 28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God THis saying was at first delivered for the Comfort of those Christians under Persecution to whom St. Paul administers much Consolation in the latter part of this Chapter But it is very proper to be insisted upon at any time for the encouragement of good men and to perswade all others For in so uncertain a World as this what should we desire more than to be certain of this one thing That all things shall work together for good which as the Text says shall happen to them that love God Now to fasten those good thoughts upon our minds which this Text does very readily suggest I will distinctly consider these several particulars contained in them For 1. The universality of the expression is observable viz. that All things shall work together for good And 2. The manner by which good comes from them which is expressed by their working together for good 3. What that good is for which all things work together 4. Who they are for whose good all things work viz. they that love God And 5. The certain assurance we have of all this and that is implied in the first words we know we know that all things work together for good to them that love God Which things cannot be spoken of so distinctly but that they will sometimes run into one another but I shall have a particular
gave them into the hand of the Heathen and upon their Repentance many a time did he deliver them But all would not do they provoked him more and more till Ten Tribes were quite cast away and the other Two sent into Captivity for Seventy years After this indeed they were cured of Idolatry but they presently fell to corrupt the Moral part of Religion and to make the Temple a Sanctuary for ill Manners How can we forbear deploring the wretched folly and unteachableness of man and admiring the infinite Patience of God! At length God sent his Son into the World to bring in the Everlasting Gospel the clear knowledge of God's Will the certain assurance of a life to come and the Doctrine of the Cross to constitute a Society of Believers to unite them by Sacraments and to establish the Faith upon Miracles and Divine Demonstrations This dispensation did indeed produce mighty Effects and so many Heroical Examples of Virtue and Piety in every one of the three first Ages of the Church that perhaps the whole World for about 4000 years before was not in all that time able to shew an equality to any one of those Ages But by degrees the Purity and Virtue of the Christian Communion abated and though the Church has in the worst times brought forth some Sons and Daughters unto God some genuine Children unto our Heavenly Father yet alas for human Nature Christendom has been a Stage of as gross Hypocrisy as scandalous Errors and as great Sins and Miseries arising from those Sins as ever any part of the Heathen World was Time wears off the sense of extraordinary things and we grow to be but indifferently affected with the noble Works that God has done in the days of our Fathers and by our stupidity we constrain Providence to awaken us to consideration by new warnings and to revive that sense of Duty which is so apt to decay while we are let alone All which things being considered we are bound to bless and praise the Infinite Goodness of God who has not left us without a Testimony of himself both in the Light of Nature and the particular Revelations of his Word and the Footsteps of his continued and unwearied Providence over us For if notwithstanding all this if notwithstanding plain Instructions convincing Examples clear Warnings and undeniable Testimonies Mankind is still so apt to forget God and to run into all miscarriages then how insupportable had the Lusts and Vices of the World been if there had been no Revelation no Providence no Faith or Religion no fear of God at all if he had left Mankind to themselves without his checks and restraints his controul and government undoubtedly the Earth had not been able to bear the violence of its Inhabitants our Reason and Free-will had made us but the more dangerous Brutes to one another and the Societies of Mankind had been long since dissolved The sum of what hath been said is this That good and evil are the same in all Ages of the World that the liberty of humane nature and the passions of humane nature are the same too and therefore the causes of good and evil are the same in respect of man That mankind is very apt to forget former instructions and to need the like warnings that their Forefathers had which therefore God in his Wisdom and Goodness repeats unto them So that since we are of the same mould with those that have been before us and with those that are to come after us and there is the same wise providence over all it follows that the like variety of events must still come about again and that which hath been is now and that which is to be already hath been Amongst other good uses that may be made of such Considerations as these this certainly is one That we should always dispose our selves to receive our portion in this World be it better or be it worse with as much moderation and equality of temper as we can If thou art prosperous and thy Affairs succeed according to thy desires do not for this cherish Pride and Self-conceit and vain Opinions of thy self as if thou only were fit to be regarded others have been as fortunate as thy self and yet examples of this World's inconstancy and perhaps too they thought as highly of themselves and were as meanly thought of Art thou in Adversity this also has been a common case and therefore do not repine at Providence evil men have been punished for their sins and good men tried by afflictions We as well as others before us carry the causes and seeds of much trouble in our frame and constitution and we cannot prevent a great deal of evil that comes by the free-will of others nor hinder the operations of Providence which governs all And therefore we should not suffer our Affections violently to run after any of the desirable things of this World but take the World as it is and then make the best on 't according to the wise man's advice in this Chapter who speaking of the turns and vicissitudes of things I know says he there is no good in them but for a man to rejoyce and to do good in his life that is that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labour that no man should deny himself a supply of his reasonable needs and desires whilst he has wherewithal and that upon no pretence whatsoever he should excuse himself from doing good to others whilst it is in his power For this is all the good of this life that is our portion under the Sun to use present comforts wisely and charitably to do good to our selves and others to take reasonable pleasure in the Gifts of God and to admit all reasonable comfort under adversity say and in a word to take in good part our mixture of good and evil as it falls out but at no hand to expect more from the world than it will yield and to lay a greater stress upon it than it has been ever able to bear This undoubtedly is one design of the Wise man in this Book to shew the vanity of this world and thereby to lessen our fondness of it and yet to teach us us how to make a wise and good use of the comforts it affords remembring all along that the greatest good of all is to fear God and keep his Commandments And so I proceed to the second particular That God requireth that which is past that is as 't is exprest in the foregoing verse That men should fear before him for therefore does God in the variety of his Providences bring about the same things because 't is the same end which he designs from first to last viz. to teach us the fear of God and to bring us to Religion and Virtue This he hath required from the beginning of the world and will do so to the end of it and therefore no wonder that from first to
regard to each Consideration under these several Heads And 1. Let us consider the universality of the expression All things shall work together for good Now by all things we may understand 1. All that happens in this life whether it be good or evil which interpretation will be sufficiently justified by what the Apostle says in the two former Verses Likewise also the Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered for he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit c. The meaning of which is this That when we are under any Affliction we know not whether it be best for us to be delivered or to continue as we are but the Spirit of God disposeth our minds to submit to his pleasure and wisdom and whatever our particular desires are to wish in the general what God sees is best for us which we cannot utter in particular because we are ignorant what that is But God knows it and withal he knows our hearts and sees that by his Spirit we are wholly disposed to submit to his choice And then he adds And we know that all things c. i. e. though we do not know in particular what God will chuse for us yet we know that whatever our Lot shall be in this life it shall be for the best So that by all things we are led to understand all those things of which we know not what we should pray for as we ought and thus they take in the prosperous as well as the adverse part of our lives Now because there are dangerous temptations in prosperity which do often prove hurtful to men in their Souls and Bodies too it is therefore no small privilege of a good man that his Piety and sincere Love to God does not only keep him from the harm which may come of a plentiful enjoyment of worldly Blessings but also make them truly serviceable to him and to work for his good and that God will continue him in such a state as long as he sees it is best for him But then 2. Although this meaning is by no means to be excluded yet the principal sense seems to be this That even all those things which we are naturally afraid of and would willingly escape that is all the evils of this mortal life shall work together for good This I say is the principal sense because it was the Apostle's Design in this Chapter to support the minds of the Christians to whom he wrote under the troubles they endured for the sake of Christ And as this meaning was chiefly intended so it represents a truth which would be most desired For 1. Relief is needful only against causes of Fear and Sorrow such as the Evils of this World are and here 't is given The best men commonly have a mixture of good and evil for their portion in this life But we think that the prosperous part will take care of it self and that it is the other only that calls for assistance and comfort And therefore all will grant that this Divine Truth gives security where there is most need of security and administers ease and help in every case that requires it And then 2. because we lie open to innumerable Accidents and the kinds of misfortune to which we are liable are not to be counted particularly the universality of the expression makes our comfort and security equal to our dangers For the number of them cannot dismay us where without exception to any one provision is made a-against All where the remedy will not fail not only if any one but if every one of them should happen to which we are liable And 3. Because all things are not alike grievous to every man because all men have not the same tenderness in every part of their Natures but one thing affects this man with more grief and smart and another is more sensibly wounded by other Adversities therefore the consolation afforded by this Truth is still more desirable inasmuch as it brings remedy in this case also for where all Evils are said the worst is not excepted And lastly Because the affirmation is general it is an equal antidote against the fear of Evil and against the bitterness of Sorrow when it happens it suffers not our present Enjoyments to be killed with the fear of the future and it supplies us with hope and patience when Evil is present So that if we consider the universality of the Expression it is a very rich Promise which is supposed in the Text since as to the occasions upon which a good Christian may need comfort there is nothing wanting in it to satisfy him for all things shall work together for his good 2. We are likewise to consider the manner whereby these Evils of life produces good to them that love God which as I take it is intimated in that expression of working together All things shall work together for good c. For here are these two particulars to be observed 1. That there is a natural tendency in these Evils themselves to procure us some good 2. That nevertheless there must be a concurrence of other Causes to effect it 1. That they themselves do in their own nature tend to do us good and for this reason they are said to work for good not only that good is wrought out from them but that they work it for indeed they are in themselves not improper and unfit means for this end And therefore when God afflicts any good man we may be sure he delights not in the pain which he suffers no nor does he afflict him merely to shew his Soveraignty and Dominion over him nay not always so much as to shew how by his Power and Wisdom he can make things produce Effects contrary to their own nature but because he does in his Wisdom see that the Evils he sends will naturally lead towards a good end And we know it by undeniable experience that an uninterrupted prosperity in this life is that which the weakness of our Nature could bear as little as the other extreme and it would be a great deal worse for us than that mixture of one and the other which is the common portion of Mankind Now therefore because in chusing our Condition God has still a regard to that which is for our good every true Servant of God under distress may not only conclude in general that it is good for him to be afflicted but likewise in particular that that affliction which he is under is more for his good than another would have been that it is the proper means which God hath chosen for his improvement and the procuring of those effects which are most needful for him Therefore also if more burthens than one are upon him at the same time or if one follows upon the neck of another that none of
ELEVEN SERMONS Preached upon Several Occasions AND A PARAPHRASE and NOTES Upon the First Second Third Fourth Fifth Seventh and Eighth Chapters of St. JOHN WITH A Discourse of Church-Vnity AND Directions how in this Divided State of Christendom to keep within the Vnity of the Church By WILLIAM CLAGETT D. D. Late Preacher to the Honourable Society of Grays-Inn IMPRIMATUR April 25. 1693. Geo. Royse R. R. in Christo Patriac Dom. Dom. Johanni Archiep. Cantuar. a Sacris Domest The Second Edition London Printed for William Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's-Church in Fleetstreet 1699. THE CONTENTS SERMON I. Romans 1.17 FOR herein is the Righteousness of God Revealed from Faith to Faith as it is written The Just shall live by Faith SERMON II. III. Heb. 11.6 But without Faith it is impossible to please him For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him SERMON IV. Matth. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest SERMON V. VI. Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for good to them that love God SERMON VII Preached at Court Eccles 3.15 For that which hath been is now and that which is to be already hath been and God requireth that which is past SERMON VIII An Assize Sermon Matth. 5.38 39 40 41. Ye have heard that it hath been said An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth But I say unto you that ye resist not Evil but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek turn to him the other also And if any Man will sue thee at the Law and take away thy Coat let him have thy Cloak also And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile go with him twain SERMON IX An Assize Sermon Matth. 5.34 35 36 37. But I say unto you swear not at all neither by Heaven for it is God's Throne Nor by the Earth for it is his Footstool neither by Jerusalem for it is the City of the great King Neither shalt thou swear by thy Head because thou canst not make one Hair white or black But let your Communication be Yea yea Nay nay for whatsoever is more than this cometh of evil SERMON X. Matth. 7.21 Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is Heaven SERMON XI John 7.17 If any man will do his Will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God A Paraphrase and Notes upon the First Second Third Fourth Fifth Seventh and Eighth Chapters of St. John A Discourse of Church-Unity with Directions how in this Divided State of Christendom to keep within the Unity of the Church The PREFACE IF it may recommend a Book to declare the Author of the Discourses it contains the Reader may be assured that this is another Volume of Dr. Clagett's Works never extant before Some of the following Discourses he Preached at Court and at Assize-times and upon such like Publick Occasions which therefore cost him some pains more than ordinary in the Preparation as likewise did other Sermons in this Collection particularly that about the Nature of Faith His sudden Thoughts upon a Subject were so marvellous good that they seemed to flow from a Fountain of Reason and discovered a great Readiness of Judgment in him but they were very clear and full Discourses which he took any Time and a particular Care to compose The Occasion of his Writing the Paraphrase published in this Volume was this It was intended as I have been informed that a Commentary upon the whole Bible should be set forth by Divines of our Church For such a Work being too big for one or two was to be divided amongst a sufficient Select Number every one of them taking his Part to expound and Dr. Clagett made choice of the Gospel of St. John This was a brave and noble Design which I hope is not quite laid aside For seeing in our Age God hath raised up such Excellent Men in this Church as the Christian World hath scarce any where else so very Eminent and so Celebrated for their Admirable Composures their Writings and Sermons it is great pity methinks that a Church of England-Exposition of Scripture should be wanting all the while forasmuch as this would be altogether as beneficial to the World as any of the great Things our Worthies have done And were there ever abler Men and fitter for the Work of Interpreting Scripture since the time of that Inspiration by which the Scripture was given In the late Reign those Texts of Scripture were examined which the Romanists quote for their Cause and the shewing clearly that Popery hath no Foundation in Scripture did very good Service to the Truth But were a general Exposition of all the Sacred Books of Scripture put forth into the World by the same Men this would rescue perverted and abused Texts out of the hands of all Sectaries and Hereticks whatsoever I need not shew at large how vast would be the Advantage of such a Work to the Church of God both now and in Ages to come Dr. Clagett who exceedingly approved the Design was very forward to prepare his Part in the Work he published his Paraphrase upon the Sixth Chapter first by it self because he saw that was needful to be done at a time when the Papists to make Proselytes boasted much of some Passages in that Chapter as undeniably proving Transubstantiation but his intent was to go through all the rest of the Chapters of St. John and he had finished his Exposition if it had pleased God to continue his Life Here is also added a small Tract concerning Church-Vnity shewing how we are to maintain the Vnity of the Spirit in the midst of Divisions A Discourse that was very seasonable then when it was written and is so still These several Discourses of the Excellent Author I have sent into the World not doubting but they will be found to be of that Use and Benefit to all that read them which was my end in the Publication of them N. C. The First Sermon ROM I. 17. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written The just shall live by faith THESE words are a reason given of what the Apostle said in the former Verse I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for therein is the righteousness of God revealed c. i. e. Because God hath revealed in the Gospel what that Righteousness is which he will accept from us in order to our Salvation The righteousness of God signifies that Righteousness which God requires and which he will accept from man And what this Righteousness is is revealed in the Gospel that is the Gospel plainly represents to us what manner of persons we must be in order to our Justification Now there are two things which
demonstrate the Being of their Maker If it be possible which for ought I know it is to deface the Testimonies of a Deity which are written within us it is not yet possible to blot out those Testimonies of his Being which are left without us Most plain it is that we find our selves in a World contrived into admirable beauty and order and furnished with that marvellous variety of things excellent and ufeful that the whole scheme and fabrick of Nature to the dullest Observer appears to be an effect of great Wisdom and Councel i. e. of an understanding Being Nothing is more plain than that this World could not make it self Nothing is more plain than that a Cause it must have if of any great Effect it be reasonable to require the Cause or at least to affirm that it hath one Whatever the Cause of this World is it could not make it self for that is a perfect Contradiction By inevitable consequence therefore it follows That something there is which is so perfect it needed no cause to produce it i. e. that there is an Infinite Everlasting Being which is God the Maker of all things But to pursue this Argument in a more obvious but equally convincing manner We ordinarily distinguish between the Works of Art and the Works of Nature By the Works of Art we mean those Effects that are produced by the skill of Man by the Works of Nature those Effects which are constantly preserved and performed to our hands Now that those which we call the Works of Nature are the Effects of a Divine Skill as we confess the Works of Art are of Human Skill is demonstrable beyond all reasonable Contradiction If I see a Statue curiously carved a Picture elegantly described or a Monument with an Ingenious Inscription engraven upon it I must so necessarily conclude that the Statuary the Painter and the Graver hath been there that if I should either affirm that these things came by chance or were eternally what they are I should be in danger of being sent to Bedlam But this I will offer at any time to demonstrate That the meanest the most minute the most contemptible Works of Nature have really more beauty and uniformity more variety and to say nothing else more wonder in them than the most exquisite and rich Inventions the most magnificent and ingenious Contrivances of Human Art Bring me the vilest and poorest Insect that flies above the ground or crawls upon it bring me the simplest Flower the most common Plant that is scattered abroad in the Fields I will shew beyond contradiction that the beauty the proportion the parts the growth and the motions of these the most contemptible Works of Nature do infinitely transcend all the Performances of the richest Humane Fancy That the nearer we look into the Works of Art the more unpolished and rude they appear to be as he that would please himself with gazing on a Picture must view it at a distance but if he come too near the ruggedness of the Paint makes it look like an ugly thing and so it is more or less in all the Contrivances of Human Art But as all Philosophers know the more minutely we search into the Works of Nature even those that are most contemptible to see to and which vulgar eyes pass by without observing if they be the Snow that falls on the ground the Wings of the smallest Fly or the meanest Animal that creeps upon the Earth the more advantageously and minutely they are seen the more uniformity smoothness beauty of colour and figure and variety of parts discover themselves in them which plainly shews how much the Works of Nature transcend those of Art Now shall I who confess here is more of Councel Wisdom and Power seen in these most ordinary Works of Nature than in the best effects of Human Skill shall I be ashamed not to confess the Art of Man in these and yet doubt whether those be the Products of a greater Artist What shall I then say of the Earth that bears me and nourishes me of the Air that is extended for me to breath in of the Clouds that drop their fatness upon me of the Heavens that cherish me of the Sun that divideth the Day and Night and gives light and heat to the World and of all the Ornaments of Heaven and Earth and what of my self who am endued with a Body of wonderful contrivance and with those greater privileges of Reason Will and Understanding Are all these things too without an Artist that made them thus No madness is comparable to the but doubting that they are He that does so must either want his Senses or his Soul He must either deny that these things are what he sees them Effects of great Wisdom and Understanding or he must affirm That such Effects there may be without a Cause proportionable to them he must either say that something made it self or that there was no need that these things should be made i.e. he must affirm that which is impossible may be otherwise and hold Contradictions to be true Well then might the Apostle say The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being known by the things which he hath made even his eternal power and Godhead So that when I consider the mighty evidence of those Arguments for the Existence of a Deity which are drawn from the Works of Nature I cannot see wherein they differ from Demonstrations though some there be who are not pleased to call them so and I do not question but he that can be an obstinate Atheist against them would also if it were for for his interest deny that three and three is six or contradict the plainest Proposition in Mathematicks Upon the whole matter when I consider the Works of God I would rather chuse if there were any choice in these matters to believe all the Tales of the Roman Legends as my Lord Bacon observes and I add tho Transubstantiation were cast into the Scale than believe that this great Body is without a Mind that inform'd it And thus at last I have said something more than I intended upon the first Doctrine of Natural Religion That there is a God proving it to be true by natural Reason as indeed 't is only to be proved For we cannot prove it by Revelation to a Gainsayer since to attempt that way is to beg what we should prove viz. That there is a God whose Revelation this is This therefore is the first Principle of Religion without the belief whereof there can be no obligation conceived to Faith and Worship and the practice of Vertue I proceed to show what the next are in which I shall be very brief because the truth of those is very evidently consequent from the demonstration of this 2. It is fundamentally necessary to Religion and Virtue That we believe there is a Providence i. e. that God is the Governor of that World which
them could be well spared but that they work together one for one good end another for another all jointly for his true happiness And if this be true with reference to single persons it must needs be so with respect to the Church or to any Body of Christians adhering to the true faith and obedience of the Gospel since the Providence of God is more watchful for a common than a particular Interest and since this truth was mentioned by the Apostle in behalf of Believers that felt the same troubles So that we are as to all Evils of this World to consider God not as arbitrarily disposing of our Concerns but rather as wisely chusing fit means for our happiness And this consideration will serve to repel all murmuring thoughts against his Providence and to dispose us not only to contentation but even to thankfulness under the Adversities of life and that because it seems they are so far from being ill meant by Providence towards us that they are chosen by God as proper means working for our good not only Adversities in general but those which happen in particular more than others would have done But then 2. There must be a concurrence of other causes to make them effectual for our good I cannot certainly tell whether that be meant by that phrase of working together for I do not know but the Apostle might mean no more in this place than that all things that happen to God's Servants shall work together that is one with another promote that which is best for them in the end But I am sure the thing is true that other causes must be present to work together with these and because the Apostle knew that they would be supposed therefore they are fit to be mentioned And 1. The Grace of God which is necessary to all good effects which his Providence designs to work in and for us that will not be wanting For if any thing that is grievous befals us by his Providence he will not deny us that inward assistance of his Holy Spirit towards a good use of it which is needful because the outward means of doing us good is not of our own chusing but his And this is one reasonable account of that saying of David In very faithfulness thou hast afflicted me For God hath promised to be good and gracious to him And this Promise was so made good by those Troubles that befel him and the supports he had under them and by that Grace of God which disposed him to make a good use of them that he could not but acknowledge the Truth and Fidelity of God upon this account as much as for all the Glories and Prosperities that ever fell to his share But then 2. Something is required of us to convert all Evils that do or may befal us into such advantages as may be made of them They indeed give us the opportunity and God give us the ability but then we must perform our duty They work as Occasions and Means God works as the Supream Director and Mover but it is our part to work as the immediate Instruments of our own good and that by more Consideration and more earnest Prayer and herein lies the tendency of Worldly Crosses to do us good that they do of themselves dispose a good man to those things more than ordinarily And it is in this sense that we are to understand the saying of the Wise-man Sorrow is better than laughter for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better That is to say 1. It is disposed to consider more seriously for it takes away all that levity and ariness of thought which in some degree does almost necessarily attend an unmixed prosperity and it does also suggest many profitable thoughts which seldom come to our minds at another time This very Divine Truth That all things work together c. is not so often thought of when we need not the support of it as when we do nor the Infinite Wisdom and Goodness of the Divine Providence nor the rich Promise of being raised up to everlasting Life There must be the consideration of such things to make all things work for our good otherwise this Text were set here in vain nor need we to have known the truth it holds forth to us if without laying it and other things of the same nature to heart they would work good for us by themselves 2. Fervent Prayers are requisite for the same end for otherwise the Apostle needed not have told us in the foregoing Verse Likewise also the Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what to pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groans that cannot be uttered In which words as I have already intimated the Apostle encouraged his Christians to earnest Prayer assuring them That in their Circumstances the Holy Spirit of God would guide them to pray for things that were good for them though in all their Prayers for temporal things to submit their Desires intirely to the Will and good disposal of the Almighty who would accordingly answer them by doing what was best for them Now frequent and earnest Prayer does wonderfully dispose the mind of a good man to a strong dependance upon God and brings back great Consolations and Strength from him and confirms it in a stedfast and unmoveable resolution of keeping a good Conscience and looking for that Mercy of God unto Eternal Life It is by such Actions of our own that all things work together for good and all Evils of life do themselves work for it by disposing us to these things i.e. to Consideration and Devotion to consider the Soveraignty Wisdom and Goodness of God the Vanity of this World our infinite concerns in a better life more seriously and closely than we have done and to pray to God for all needful things more affectionately and heartily Now where such Dispositions as these are followed there all the good fruits of worldly Evils will grow plentifully which what they are comes next to be considered in the mean time we have gone thus far That there is nothing wanting in them as they are occasions and opportunities of doing good for our selves and that through the Grace of God and our own using them aright and cherishing those good inclinations and dispositions which they beget in our minds they will actually produce the good ends for which they are sent 3. Let us now consider what that good is for which it is said that all things shall work together what kind of good it is and what is the degree of it If we consider the kind it may be truly said in the first place that sometimes it is of the same kind with the evil and that God sends the temporal evil to bring about a temporal good Thus Joseph who was designed by Providence to be so great a Man in Egypt when it was to be the Granary of that part of
persuaded to secure all the good things to our selves we have been considering either by keeping always a good Conscience or by unfeigned Repentance This indeed were a good application and this ought to be the conclusion of the whole matter But time would fail me to insist upon even this Exhortation as the case would bear which I shall therefore reserve to the next opportunity intending then also to pursue some other Points viz. How this Doctrine doth consist with Prayers and Endeavours against Adversity and how far it is a Rule to such Prayers c. How it ought to influence the judgment we make of the happy or wretched estate of man in this life How true and profitable a point of Wisdom it is to reckon upon the uncertainties of this World Why a righteous man only can do it without sollicitude and losing the comfort of present Enjoyments And lastly How seasonably a vehement Exhortaion to Piety may be grounded upon all these Considerations The Sixth Sermon ROM VIII 28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God THE remaining Points are now to be pursued the first whereof was this 1. How this Doctrine doth consist with Prayers and Endeavours against Adversity and how far it is a Rule to such Prayers and Endeavours 1. How it consists with them For if outward pains and troubles work for a good much greater than the evil that belongs to them and if we have so great an assurance of this as we pretend why does the Church pray against all Adversity Why do religious men avoid it as well as they can no less than the rest of the World It should seem more agreeable to their faith in God in general and to their belief of this Principle in particular to force miseries upon themselves or at least to desire God to send them But they as well as others provide for their health and send for the Physician when they are sick for their livelihood and use the Law to secure or recover their Rights for their welfare every way and in all their distresses take counsel and use means for their relief depending all along upon God for success by continual prayers So that none seem to believe in good earnest what we pretend to know unless perhaps something of this may be seen in those who affect poverty renounce all propriety in worldly Goods impair their Health by a sparing and ill Diet and at certain times whip their own Bodies And yet we are apt to think there is more noise than truth in these appearances we are sure there is superstition in the practice and we suspect hypocrisy in the pretence and that men do these things more to amuse the World than to benefit themselves Since therefore we know that evil works for a greater good why do we avoid evil I answer 1. When all things are said to work together for good though Evils are principally meant because the design of the Apostle was to administer comfort under them yet as I shewed at first the good things of this life are by no means excluded And therefore the good that comes of evil can be no reason of running into adversity or pulling it upon our selves unless good could come to us no other way which is contrary to what the Text affirms which says All things shall work together for good 2. One principal Reason why all things work together for good is this Because it is God that out of all things chuses that which he sees is the best for us Now the avoiding of Adversity is so far from being inconsistent with this belief that on the other hand to bring it upon our selves would destroy a main reason of it viz. That it is of God's chusing and not our own If by any wicked way I compass a worldly end the good thing is not properly of God's giving If by my own folly and wilfulness I fall into misery the evil is not properly of God's sending in both cases I have been my own Carver and therefore have no reason to expect good from either I cannot hope for Gods's blessing upon the one or the other since I did not commit the issue of my Affairs to his Providence and Wisdom but was resolved to be my own Chuser So that the Operation and Grace of God being one indispensable cause of the profit which good men make of the evils of this life the good that comes of them can be no reason why they should expose themselves voluntarily to Evils but 't is a very good reason why they should not and that because we cannot expect God's Blessing where we lean to our own Wisdom altogether and will not submit our affairs to the Wisdom of God But now if it be said That by this Arguing a man that contrives for his own welfare and prosperity cannot hope that it will work for his good when he has compassed it because he chuses for himself as absolutely as if he pulled Calamities upon his own head 'T is easily answered That he is not his own chuser in that case as he would be in this for he that brings evil upon himself or neglects what is necessary to prevent it does absolutely chuse it but so does not he chuse the good things of this life that contrives for them within the bounds of Honesty and Religion for he still leaves the issue to Providence This can only be said of them that by ways of Injustice or any kind of sin grasp at worldly Prosperity it is of these truly said that they will be rich and great and make their Fortunes here that they trust not in God but lean to their own Wills that they refer nothing to his Wisdom but will dispose absolutely of themselves And no less true would this be of a man who on the other side should abandon himself to Adversity And as I said before in both cases God's Wisdom being no way acknowledged and submitted to his Grace cannot be expected 3. To both these Considerations let us add that of the natural aversion we find in our selves to pain and want and other evils of the Body and it will be very evident that the Doctrine of the Text infers no obligation to inflict them voluntarily upon our selves but is very well consistent with our Prayers and endeavours to avoid them As to these Evils it could never be required that we should not fear them when we are in danger nor feel them when they are present nor desire to deliver our selves from them because these are the necessary results of our Nature All that could be expected was that we should fear them moderately in proportion to what they are and bear them patiently admitting those comforts under them which they do not exclude and removing them by all such means as will not bring greater mischiefs upon us But let no man think that because Religion does not pretend to extinguish the sense of bodily Good and Evil
of the World they must be in great part the same things that are brought over again Especially since for the most part one of the contraries is inseparable from us we must either want or have enough live in Health or Sickness in Freedom or Servitude c. And therefore when we are in great pain or suffer wrong when a good Husband or a beloved Child dies though we complain and lament as if so sad a case never happened before and perhaps say so too yet these are but words of Passion for there have been the like complaints before and the same reasons of complaint too We are not made in a different Mould and to a different Sense from those that have lived in former times for they were affected with pain and grief as we are and from the same causes too For which reason when Providence either punishes or rewards in this life when it either punishes the wicked and tries the righteous by adversity or rewards the righteous and insnares the wicked with prosperity it goes the same way to work either inflicting that which is equally ungrateful to all men as Pestilence Sword Famine Disappointments Losses and the like or sending the contrary things which are always grateful So that as to the good or the evil which happens in the several Ages of the World There is no now thing under the sun but that which hath been is now and that which is to be hath already been 2. All men have the same natural Passions and Appetites which they either govern or not govern as they ought to do and which according as they are well used or not will perpetually produce the same effects of good or evil The Affections of Envy Pride Ambition Revenge Covetousness and Voluptuousness have reigned amongst evil men in all Ages And injustice still proceeds from the same Covetousness or Partiality Rebellion at home and unjust Invasions from abroad from the same Ambition and Desire of Rule Cruelty from the same Revengefulness or Fear or Anger or Hatred Luxury from the same inordinate Love of Ease and Pleasure and insolent contempt of others from the same Pride and over-weaning Conceit of one's self These Vices have their Root in the ungoverned Passions of humane nature and in the abuse of man's free will And therefore since God has left Mankind to a natural liberty and power over their own actions under the disadvantage of bad inclinations and with the help only of such grace as may be resisted no wonder that there is so great a similitude of Events still returning because so much of the good that happens to us depends upon Wisdom and Virtue and so many of the evils of this life upon Folly and Vice It hath always been seen that Justice and Faithfulness reverence of God and good will to Men Unity and Charity and good Manners have enabled men to do well for themselves But when they degenerate and their Manners are corrupted then their Prosperity begins to be undermined And if they grow from bad to worse God will suffer them to reap the fruit of their own doings and all their Sins to ripen into those Mischiefs which they naturally produce In which also it is not hard to trace the footsteps of a Divine Vengeance Indeed it sometimes happeneth that the race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor yet favour to men of skill but time and chance happeneth to them all i. e. Through the over-ruling Providence of God things do sometimes happen otherwise than by common Rules which though it does not fall out so seldom as to be always new and surprizing yet neither does it happen so often but that the contrary is the ordinary course of things and for the most part a Faithful man shall be trusted a Charitable Man shall be loved a Religious and Virtuous Man shall be honoured an honest and diligent man shall thrive the integrity of the upright shall guide them but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them The wise shall inherit glory but shame shall be the promotion of fools So that not only the good and evil of this life are in all Ages the same but the causes of both are the same too that is to say the Virtues and the Vices the Wisdom and Folly of Mankind and the wise Providence of God superintending all and always governing all for the best And therefore that which hath been is now and that which is to be hath already been 3. This must needs be so because they are but few in comparison that learn to be wise by the Examples and Instructions of former Ages Alas we do not often take warning by the miscarriages of others though we saw their course and their end with our own eyes If we take any notice of their Examples at all it is but to learn how we may play the fool with more discretion to be as bad as they were and to come off better than they did and so we go on as boldly as those that went just before us in the same dangerous way till we are surprized by the same unhappy end and all our Experience comes too late to do us any good But then how much less are we instructed by the Histories of Ages that are long since past and gone And yet it was for our Instruction that God spake at first to the Fathers by the Prophets and at last to the World by his Son And when he took the Wise in their own Craftiness when his Judgments were abroad in the World and he visited men for their Sins These things happened to them for examples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come But now do we every where see that fruit of these observations which might be expected How comes it then to pass that we see so little Righteousness and Fidelity Integrity and Uprightness Unity and Charity so little of the Fear of God and the practice of Virtue in the World As much older as the World is it seems not to be much wiser than it has been but as one Generation passeth away and another cometh that that comes begins as if it were the first and learns little or nothing to the purpose by those which are past away Of all which perverseness the people whom God chose to himself were an instance never enough to be admired When at first he redeemed them from their enemies they believed his words and sang his praise but they soon forgat his works and tempted God in the desart they forgat God their Saviour who had done great things in Egypt they committed Idolatry they murmured and rebelled and they were plagued for it and God lifted up his Hand against them to overthrow them in the Wilderness But for all this when their Posterity came into Canaan they Sacrificed to the Idols there and then God
and therefore to be sure when it brings little or none at all And upon this account it had doubtless been a true saying if it had been said Notevery one that in other things doth the Will of my Father shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that also saith unto me Lord Lord i. e. who doth moreover make an outward profession of being my Disciple This I say had been true but then it had not been so instructing and useful an Admonition as it is in the Text because it is incomparably more certain that he who doth the Will of God in all other things will out wardly profess the truth of the Gospel than that every one who doth profess it will live according to it And therefore our Saviour laid his Caution where the danger was and so I come to the 2d Point That an outward profession of Christianity is not of it self sufficient in order to our Salvation inasmuch as it is moreover necessary that we should do the Will of God i. e. that we should do his Will in all other things and in general that our Affections and Practices should be answerable to the truth we profess which is a thing so plain if we once come seriously to consider it that there is as little need of proof to make it out as one would think there was of this Caution of our Saviour not to trust in outward profession when our hearts and lives are contrary to what we profess What is a professed Christian but one that declares himself to believe That the unrighteous the unmerciful the unclean the ungodly shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven one that declares to the World that his chief business is to be saved and that without holiness no man shall see the Lord And therefore whilst himself lives in ungodliness and is led away by worldly Lusts he is the most absurd person in the World and so much more ridiculous than a man that has skill in any thing but the proper business of his Calling by which he must live as the Concerns of another World are above all our Interests in this For such a man to maintain the hope of Everlasting Life is a contradiction to his own Faith and Profession such a contradiction to his Profession that he exposes himself to have the lie given him by the World such a contradiction to his Faith that his own Conscience one would think should give him the lie too But yet as plain a case as it is that meer profession without doing the Will of God is not enough to save us our Saviour nevertheless thought fit here and elsewhere plainly to admonish us of it that we might not deceive our selves And the Apostle foretold there would be men having a form of godliness and denying the power thereof and therefore it should seem that how plain soever the mistake is of trusting to profession without a practice answerable to it yet men would be very apt to fall into that mistake There are these two things which I shall hereupon take occasion to speak to 1. That Experience has proved the proneness of Mankind to this folly of presuming upon mere profession that God is pleased with them 2. What are the causes and occasions of so wretched a conceit so void of all shadow or pretence to reason 1. As to the proof of it that it has been so I shall need to insist but little upon it because alas the thing is too apparent in our own days and every man that is guilty has a testimony of it from his own Conscience if he will hearken to it too plain to be denied Our Blessed Saviour himself found a great deal of this folly and madness among the Jews especially amongst the Scribes and Pharisees when he came into the World Their Fathers had for 400 years been cured of Idolatry and the fondness of the gods of their Neighbours round about them they had smarted too severely for that ever to return to it again But they soon fell to make the Profession and Worship of God according to the Law a dispensation for Luxury and Injustice and Unmercifulness and wicked living instead of a restraint from it plainly shewing thereby that their Fathers did not like the True Religion because it was too good for them since their Posterity not daring to revolt from the outward profession of it yet soon learned to reconcile it with a licentious practice Nay if we will take St. Paul's word who did not use to reprove without cause they thought that the same sins which they were guilty of with the Gentiles would not have so bad a construction made of them nor be so displeasing to God as they were in the Gentiles For as it appears from Rom. 2. they judged the Gentiles for doing evil things and did them themselves thinking all the while to escape the righteous judgment of God And what was the reason of all this They had the Temple of God amongst them the Promises made to Abraham and to his Posterity God's Service according to the Law of Moses Sacrifices according to the Law and Washings and divers Ordinances in the observation of which they put their trust and believed that no Israelite should go without his portion of happiness in the life to come In this state our Saviour found them they trusted in Moses and said we have Abraham to our Father they built and garnished the Tombs of the Prophets those very Prophets that had been so ill entertained by their Forefathers for declaring against their sins and because they did this external honour to the Monuments of those good men they excused themselves from following their Instructions being full of hypocrisy and iniquity and all uncleanness Now this being so notorious in our Saviour's time and having been so for some Ages before it seemed needful that his Disciples should be warned against the like fatal mistakes into which there was no little reason to be jealous they would fall For by how much a greater Person Jesus was than Moses and his Sacrifice more excellent than the Sacrifices of the Law and his Religion a more rational and perfect Religion than any that had been before so much greater danger there might be least men should trust to their relation to Christ and to the Sacrifice of Christ and to the profession of the Faith of Christ without an holy heart and life If the Jews could say We have Abraham to our Father and this were enough to quiet their guilty fears it was to be feared Christians would say We have Christ Jesus our Lord and Master our Deliverer and Saviour and make the same use of it If they trusted in Moses there was some reason to suspect that others would hereafter lay hold upon Christ and think themselves safe enough by making their boast of him no less than the Jews had done before of Moses and consequently great reason for this earnest admonition Not every one
commandments of God are ever with me We see by experience that men arrive to great skill in the business which they have in liking and esteem because they frequently exercise themselves in it and daily employ their thoughts about it Now that veneration of Divine Truth that value of Christian Knowledge which is implied in a sincere intent to do the will of God is incomparably greater and more operative and effectual than that which is founded either upon desire of praise or preferment or the mere pleasure of speculation only Therefore that esteem which the good man hath for Divine Truth will enforce a more frequent and attentive meditation thereupon and that assiduity will procure a better understanding of it and this again more delight and pleasure in it and if such proficiency and such satisfaction do thus whet one another and if they are not caused but by a great value and esteem of Divine truth then the good man who values it most has a singular advantage in his study and search after it 4. Every prevailing Lust and Passion is in it self an impediment to the knowledge of the Truth For instance the affection of the praise of men is that which frequently perverts a right judgment of things it was our Saviour's own Expostulation with the Jews How can ye believe that receive honour one of another and seek not that honour which cometh of God John 5.44 One would wonder what a strange delusion the Pride of the Pharisees kept them under the Delusion was so great that they could not judge whether they believed or disbelieved what they read in Moses for our Saviour tells them v. 46. Had ye believed Moses ye would also have believed me for he wrote of me Could we or could they themselves have thought that they who trusted in Moses that they who were the great Teachers of the Law of Moses that they who rejected Jesus because they thought his Doctrine overthrew the Law of Moses should be mistaken in their own belief of Moses and yet he adds v. 47. If ye believe not his writings how shall ye believe my words By which we may learn these things 1. If vain glory had not infatuated these men if the conceit of their own wisdom had not kept them from doubting of what they once thought if they had been humble enough to permit the Writings of Moses to convince them they must needs have read there that Jesus was the Christ 2. If one sin be predominant in a man's heart as Pride he may be so deluded by it as not to believe that to be in the Scripture which is plainly there and this too in a matter of great importance and concernment as the case now mentioned plainly shews 3. Much more will the judgments of men be perverted by several Lusts and Vices in conjunction with one another if to Pride and Ambition Covetousness and Envy and Revengefulness be added the fatal influence whereof upon the Understanding is so plainly discernable in the gross mistakes of those men that are engaged to serve a by-Cause and to maintain a Party against all the World Did we not know it by experience we should think it incredible that in these circumstances men of learning and subtilty should not be able to judge of the strength or weakness of Arguments of the true or false interpretation of Scripture of the pertinent or impertinent application of it even where the case is so plain that it requires neither subtilty nor learning to make a judgment of it Could any disinterested man believe that from the saying of Saint John in the conclusion of his Revelation If any man shall add unto the words of the prophecy of this book God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in it that from this Saying the unlawfulness of all Human Forms and Constitutions in Divine Worship might be inferr'd that is to say Because a Curse is threatned to any that shall attempt to corrupt the Bible by making any alteration in the Revelation of St. John therefore nothing is to be done in God's Worship which is not positively required in the Word of God And yet by such applications of Scripture as this the pretence hath been carried on by men of name and authority in the World Would it ever have come into a mans head to suspect that the Power of the Roman Bishop to depose Kings and Emperors might be argued from those words of our Lord to Peter Feed my sheep If Ambition and Covetousness and the serving of a Cause had not interven'd he would think the Sheep of Christ were to be fed with wholsome Doctrine and to be instructed in the duties of Patience and Constancy under Persecution and not with those inhuman Principles which turn them into Wolves and it is plain enough that without any wit and with infinitely greater probability the quite contrary conclusion may be several ways inferred from these words the quite contrary I say to what they of the Church of Rome would infer from them I shall not stand to expose their arguing from those words Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church in behalf of the universal Supremacy of the Roman Bishops and that because of the allusion of Petrus to Petra which if it would hold good for St. Peter's being the Rock how it will serve to make Boniface or Clement the Rock too would be hard to say or if it did that Rock implies Universal Supremacy would not suddenly have been thought of if it had not been to serve a Cause there would be a little more colour in those words and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven were it not plain That when the Keys were given to him as they were not till after the Resurrection of Christ they were given to all the other Apostles as fully and effectually as to him But suppose that had been said of Peter which St. Paul said of himself that the care of all the Churches was upon him which is a Saying more likely to conclude an Universal Pastorship from than the other how many learned Treatises may we think had been written upon it before now But for all that if any man should in earnest offer that place to prove that St. Paul was Christ's Vicar-General on Earth he would be answered no other way than by contempt So foully are the understandings of men overruled by their affections after they have wedded a Cause and resolved to go through with it and to maintain it right or wrong but that which is still worse is this that where the Spirit of Faction prevails and worldly Interest is carried on under the pretext of Religion the understandings of men are frequently disabled from judging right between good and evil otherwise how were it possible for men to believe that Hypocrisy and Lying and Perjury and Murder and Treason are in some cases not only excuseable but laudable that they
should commit such Crimes as these not only without regret and horrour but with a chearful Conscience and the expectation of heaven in reward of their actions Wherefore that I might not lose the use of my understanding in most plain and evident matters that I might not be weaker than a Child or an Idiot I would never engage my self with the Contentious and Factious I would not dare to trust my self with a Party and would not serve a Cause but acknowledge a mistake though it were my Friend and follow truth where-ever it led me For nothing is more evident in the experience of the world than this That when men are led aside by their worldly Interests when their Reputations are engaged and they are made fast to a Party their understandings are so disabled that in a short time they confidently put themselves upon defending things most unjustifiable and believing things that are most incredible and impossible Let us therefore allow St. Peter's direction to lay aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envyings and evil speakings and that for the reason by him given viz. that we may desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may desire and aim at the knowledge of the Truth for where that Assembly of Sins is got together or indeed where any one of them is it is apt to extinguish that very love of Truth the very desire of knowing it To proceed Luxury also and Voluptuousness and an impure course of Life is a very great impediment to the knowledge of the truth sometimes by introducing such Diseases as shatter the understanding and dull the apprehension they that always swim in sensual delights meet with rough and tempestuous Seas sometimes that shake their Bodies and at length Reason lik a drowning Pilot drops off and is drowned in pleasures it often happens that the Epicure grows crazy before his time and when his airy Fancy is evaporated by the heats of Youth and his Wit is grown flat and unweildly he himself becomes contemptible to the younger Debauchees that reign in his stead Temperance and Regular living have a kind influence upon the Intellectual Abilities of men to nourish and preserve them and lengthen them and all the while to make them more fit for their proper imployment but much more are they requisite to qualify us for a good understanding of Divine Truth because it requires a serious consideration diligent attention which the Epicure is a stranger to because she is spiritual and the mind cannot converse with her while it meets with the fumes of sensuality because she is of a purifying nature and not more an Enemy to uncleanness than the Voluptuary is averse from her good reason therefore had St. James when he shewed how we should receive the Word with meekness to exhort us that we lay aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness In a word The bent of the will and affections have such a sway over the understanding that daily experience shews how the same things appears differently to men nay to the same men according to the temper they are in for instance if persons that have lived long friendly together chance to fall out immediately former actions and speeches are remembred and commented upon and an ill construction put upon them though till that time they were taken well enough and yet the things are the same and the understandings of men were as able before as now only there is dislike now instead of the kindness that was before no wonder then if a vicious inclination and a guilty Conscience to obstruct the entrance of truth and sound knowledge into the mind since they must needs create an aversation to it discourse to a greedy worlding of Immortality and laying up treasure in heaven and he can hardly understand what you say 't is as insipid talk to him as a Lecture of Philosophy to a Child that understands nothing but play but fall upon some discourse that tends to getting drop but the hint of a good Bargain he greedily embraces every word and is as apprehensive as heart can wish and guilty men are apt to fortify themselves against all that can be said to disswade them from their beloved sins and that is reason enough why sin doth more or less bar up the understanding against Divine Truth Men love darkeness rather than light because their deeds are evil Now the conclusion from all this is evident on the one side one habitual worldly Lust is enough to hinder the true apprehensive of heavenly things and then how can they who drink iniquity like water who labour to quench the Spirit be fit to receive Divine Truths and to understand the things of the Spirit of God On the other side a sincere intention towards God removes all those impediments which obstruct the force of truth and moreover gives several advantages of its own towards the attainment of sound knowledge therefore it is in it self a fit means for that end A scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not but knowledge is easy to him that understandeth 2. There are many great Promises of Knowledge both in the Old and New Testament peculiar to good men but God hath in Justice threatned and by the same Justice he doth often infatuate the understandings of the wicked Now if goodness doth of it self lead to knowledge if there be a supernatural blessing that goes along with the sincere man to prosper his endeavours after knowledge what greater advantages can we desire in order to this end than those which sincerity towards God intitles us too Thus the very Text hath the force of a Promise If any man will do his will he shall know we have our Saviour's word for it and to be sure he will make it good and it appears by other places that something more is here meant than that knowledge is naturally promoted by goodness in Psal 25.9 it is said The meek he will guide in judgment and immediately again The meek he will teach his way Now certainly here is something promised to the meek that is not common to others and the guidance and teaching which is promised denotes clearly a blessing on their understandings But now if this be promised to meekness we cannot doubt but God will more plentifully fulfil his Promise to those who add to meekness purity and temperance and to that an universal love and fear of God and charity towards man especially considering that this Promise is repeated again to such Persons ver 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant where God's Covenant explains what is meant by his secret and by his way ver 9. That way of God in ver 10. is said to be mercy and truth the Covenant of Mercy revealed by Christ which was a secret in former Ages so that the good man he that sincerely loves truth and intends obedience is here promis'd a signal blessing on his