appetites which every man is endued with which tend to the preservation of life and the propagation of mankind are in themselves the work of God and are designed by him for good ends and we may lawfully gratifie them so far as is requisite for the accomplishment of those ends But this is one of the greatest trials of our prudence and resolution in the government of our lives to understand the true bounds how far we may lawfully indulge the lower faculties and to restthere for if our Reason which should prefide over them once let go the reins by which she should govern and restrain them they easily get the mastery and are not to be reduced to their just measures without great difficulty and reluctancy Now the regulating these desires I conceive to be that which our Saviour recommends to us S. Matt. v. 8. as a means to attain to the beatifical vision of God Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Which blessing though it principally be understood of the blissful sight or knowledge of God in the Kingdom of Heaven yet hath it part of its accomplishment in this life The pure in heart being the best qualified to judge of those divine and spiritual things which God hath made known to us in the Gospel And this will easily appear if we consider how much the contrary Vices tend to the debauching the Understanding in these matters The fumes of Lust and Intemperance are very pernicious to our rational powers they make men dull and of no understanding even in the ordinary affairs of life and then surely if they make men unfit for worldly business they will render them infinitely more uncapable of religious enquiries A man who is led captive by his impure desires will not easily be brought to spend so much time to enquire seriously into the nature of Religion as is necessary for his satisfaction he is afraid he should be convinced of something that would ruffle and discompose his thoughts awaken his conscience and put a check to his Carreer of pleasure and therefore while he can find pretences to defer his enquiry he will But then suppose a man of this temper should for once undertake to peruse the Gospel yet being prepossessed with the love of these sensual delights he would find out many Arguments to defend himself withal many arts and evasions to justifie or at least to palliate and excuse his practice and then withall it is certain he would not have a due relish of the excellency of those precepts which the Gospel gives nor of the rewards it promises they being of a more refined and spiritual nature and of a kind so vastly different from what he is most delighted with So S. Paul tells us 1 Cor. ij 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned To this purity of heart I have been speaking of may be reduced a generous contempt of the World a freedom from all covetous and ambitious desires for he that hath his heart set upon riches or upon the pomps and gallantries of the World is not in any capacity of receiving or understanding the Gospel These two Vices Covetousness and Ambition have even from the Apostles times been noted for the great causes of Infidelity and Heresie The love of Money was that which made the young man in our Saviours time go away sorrowful because he could not be admitted a Disciple of our Saviour without relinquishing his large possessions This was the cause of Demus's Apostasie from the Religion he once embraced because he loved the present World Diotrephes is noted by S. John for his ambition for he withstood the Apostle loving to have the pre-eminence S. Paul also puts these two causes together Pride and Covetousness as the principal reasons of Heresie and false doctrine 1 Tim. vj. 3. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholsom words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godliness he is proud knowing nothing but doting about questions and strifes of words supposing that gain is godliness And indeed it is easie to observe how hard it is to convince any man of what is contrary to his interest or ambitious desires and therefore we cannot but understand that this duty of purity of heart which consists in regulating our worldly and sensual affections highly conduces to the understanding and embracing the Gospel because it takes away those dangerous causes of Errour and Apostasie 3. A third branch of Duty which I proposed to treat of as being a necessary qualification for all Enquirers after divine truth is Humility and the efficacy of this duty to make us capable of divine impressions will appear if we consider these properties of an humble and modest man 1. He that is truly humble and sensible of his many defects and infirmities will readily acknowledge that he is not able to understand all Mysteries He knows the nature of God which is infinite cannot be comprehended by his finite and narrow faculties He knows that no reasonings of ours can give us so true an account of the Nature and Attributes of God and of the various methods of his providence towards men as God himself can and therefore he doth with all reverence submit his understanding to those revelations which God hath made in the Gospel and provided they be there plainly delivered he will not be discouraged from his belief of them by any of those imperfect reasonings wherewith men of corrupt minds may endeavour to shake his Faith 2. A truly humble man will not be too curious and inquisitive in praying into those things which are not clearly revealed much less will he be positive and dogmatical concerning them This vertue of humility will lead him to consider that had the knowledge of such and such controverted doctrines been necessary for him they would have been delivered in Scripture with the same plainness as other things of the greatest importance are he will satisfie himself that God was able to have interpreted his mind to the World as far as he thought convenient and therefore where God hath not used this plainess he thinks it a sufficient check to his curiosity and that he ought not to pry into it According to that of Moses Deut. xxix 29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever 3. An humble man is naturally apt to learn he is willing to be instructed he will easily believe that some other men may have better abilities to understand and judge of truth than himself especially he will have a great deference and regard to his spiritual Guides who are set over him for his instruction in the way of righteousness he will consider that these men are commissioned by God and have a peculiar
advantageth it me to be able to declaim zealously against this or that Vice of the Age I live in or the persons with whom I converse if I cherish in my bosom other impieties which if not so open and notorious may yet be as inconsistent with my salvation as any other If we will take our Saviours judgment in the case the poor Publican though conscious of so many faults and infirmities and already judged and condemned by the Pharisee was yet in a much fairer way to be justified before God than the other who did not seem to apprehend that he needed any repentance Now were men truly humble and conscious of their own manifold defects and miscarriages they would find infinite more reason to turn the edge of their censure upon themselves There is no man who will take pains to search into the secrets of his own soul but may find himself guilty of more faults than he can reasonably suspect or accuse his Neighbour of We see onely the external gesture and behaviour of other men and cannot easily determine from what principle their actions flow we do not know all the circumstances they are engaged in which will much alter the nature of the actions we judge them for We cannot tell what we our selves should do in the like case and how far we may be able to resist the same temptations Whereas we may easily know the true grounds of our own miscarriages that the blame of them is due onely to our selves So that every man hath upon this account much greater reason to think and speak well of other men than of himself But now if notwithstanding this evidence men may have of their own guiltiness above that of their Neighbours they can give themselves the liberty zealously to declaim against the supposed faults of other men this must needs argue an unreasonable degree of self-conceit and proud overlooking those imperfections and follies which may be found at home in their own bosome 2. A further ground of this uncharitable practice is Idleness and a gross neglect of our own necessary affairs The business of our own salvation is of so near and great concern to us that unless we be very negligent of it we cannot find leisure to prie into and condemn the miscarriages of others Our life here is short enough to fit and prepare us for that unalterable state which we are hastning to and can we think it reasonable to spend any of those pretious hours which are never to be recalled in a business of so little concern to us as the faults and follies of other men especially when they may be imployed to so great advantage in furthering our journey and facilitating our admission to that glorious Kingdom which we all pretend to seek after Surely did men seriously consider that their title to an eternal and never-fading inheritance did depend upon the wise management of a few days here that the very best of mankind when they had done all they could were but unprofitable servants and that our future condition would be determined not according to other mens actions but our own they would think it much more reasonable to spend that leisure they had in the search and examination of their own souls while there is room left to repent and amend lest while they are impertinently busie in inquiring into and censuring the actions of other men they themselves should be surprised by the evil day and snatched away unprepared to the great Tribunal Every mans own business therefore being of so great and weighty a concern he that is really mindful of it can have no further leisure to observe the failings and miscarriages of other men than to take occasion from thence to exercise that great part of Christian charity which consists in friendly reproof and admonition where it may be given and when it may not to take heed to himself lest he also be tempted and if any man suffer himself to be transported beyond these bounds to censure and condemn other men he justly deserves the reproof in the Comedy Tantúmne ab re tuâ est otii tibi Aliena ut cures eaque nihil quae ad te attinent 3. A further occasion of uncharitable censures is Interest and Design When men make the disreputation of other men the step to their own advancement in the World and of this the experience is too manifest this being a disease that widely spreads it self among all sorts and conditions of men How seldom do we see any matter of interest decided without many hard speeches and unjust censures of the persons we contend with How apt are men to take advantage of every little circumstance of anothers life that is capable of an ill interpretation when it may suit their interest to disparage him There is a sort of politick and designing men in the World who can converse familiarly and speak friendly to their Neighbour and be lavish in his praises till a competition of Interest happen between them but then all his good deeds had some sinister design blended with them they can then discover many circumstances which are apt to create suspicion and those suspicions are soon spread with so much aggravation as though the suspected faults were real and evident and when they have said the utmost they can to lessen his esteem they can still express a great tenderness for the reputation of the man and that they are loth to say or think the worst of him Besides the greatness of the injury and other bad effects of this way of proceeding which I shall have occasion to insist on more particularly that which I shall at present take notice of to shew the great unreasonableness of it is this that none but bad men and a bad cause can stand in need of it He that pursues his own interest and advancement for no other ends but such as are just and reasonable viz. that he may be able with more freedom to discharge his duty toward God and Man and be in better capacity to do good in the World Such a one will consider that there is no such great need of his advancement in the World but that another man in the same state and condition may discharge the offices of that state as well as he And in the mean time he may satisfie himself that the duties he performs in a lower sphere are as acceptable to God and less distracting to himself than if he were raised higher and then what temptation can such a man have to exalt himself with so great an injury done to another man And this leads me to the second thing propounded to shew the unreasonableness of uncharitable judgment of our brethren from the greatness of the injury we do by it 1. It is an injury against which there is no defence He that assaults a man by open violence may be restrained by the use of our own power against his besides the publick authority of Laws provide for
their endeavours in that affair may justly be esteemed a common enemy to mankind Now I do not understand any way whereby men do more directly undermine the Authority of our holy Faith and hinder the enlargement of it than by defaming the persons to whom the delivery of the Sacred Oracles and the Ministry of Reconciliation is intrusted For though it be a very unsafe and unreasonable way of arguing for any man to disbelieve the truth of Christian Religion and to neglect the practice of it because this or that particular man in Holy Orders is unfaithful to his own soul and lives not up to the purity and perfection which he preacheth to others yet certainly it is an argument which doth extremely prevail in the World and is equally dangerous whether it be grounded on the real or but supposed faults of men whose Office it is to instruct or persuade others to the practice of holiness For to him who believes a false report of his spiritual Guide the occasion of Scandal is as effectual as though the report were true and the censure just and then who can persuade himself that the man who raised the false accusation is not as injurious to the Church as the man whose life is really scandalous What hath been said of the ill effect that redounds to the Publick from the uncharitable censurings of men of this publick capacity will in proportion hold concerning the rash judgments we make of private persons according to the several degrees wherein they may be useful either in the Church or Commonwealth 2. I proceed to a second instance of the ill effects which redound to the publick by our uncharitable judging one another namely that our rash and censorious practice towards others provokes the like usage from them towards our selves and thence arises those many feuds and animosities mutual revilings and bitter envyings so visible among men of all conditions and a feud thus begun commonly spreads it self and all our friends and correspondents are soon made partners in the quarrel and how hard it is to lay aside or allay those animosities which have been thus begun every mans experience may convince him Now I need not use any arguments to shew that divisions and animosities among men are of very dangerous consequence to the publick Society where they live it being a truth attested by the common consent of Mankind and by the experience of all Ages so that we must needs conclude that whatever practices tend to the begetting and increase of strife and contention are very hurtful to the Publick Nor do I know any practice that doth more effectually tend that way than this of uncharitable judging and censuring other men How much the greater the end and design of any Society is so much more dangerous and hurtful those practices are to be esteemed which cause divisions in it The Church of God therefore being a Society whose happiness is not terminated in the temporal peace and tranquillity of this life we must needs conclude that those uncharitable censures which cause divisions among Christians receive from hence a mighty aggravation in that they do not onely hinder their present peace and tranquillity but endanger their falling short of that eternal salvation which is promised to none that do not follow after peace and holiness And from this consideration that we are all members of the Church of Christ I cannot but add a third ill effect which this uncharitable practice of judging and censuring one another brings to the Publick 3. Viz. That it brings reproach upon our Christian Profession and upon that Holy Name whereby we are called For suppose a Jew or a Pagan should peruse the writings of the holy Evangelists and Apostles and should read there the many precepts which require of us the greatest degree of meekness and humility in our opinions and judgments of other men should they read S. Pauls description of Christian Charity that it thinketh no evil that it believeth all things and hopeth all things did they consider the many arguments the Gospel uses to enforce the duty and great reward undispensably depending upon our practice and lastly the example of our Saviour himself who in his conversation among men was the greatest enemy to all uncharitable judgment of others but did himself exercise the greatest candor towards all men scarce ever passing a severe censure upon any but that proud censorious Sect of the Pharisees who made themselves judges of all others should they then descend to compare the practice of Christians with that excellent rule they pretend to and with the example of their Lord and Saviour and see how vast the disproportion is between our Practice and Profession they would easily persuade themselves that the generality of Christians did not seriously believe the Doctrine they vaunt of nor own the authority of their Saviour in giving Laws for the Government of their lives nor expect the accomplishment of those things which he hath foretold They will find it very hard to reconcile how the belief of those things can consist with many uncharitable practices unjust reproaches and mutual enmities which the profest Disciples of the blessed Jesus are so easily tempted to Thus besides the injury we do to particular persons and to the publick Society whereof we should be feeling members we cast a stumbling block in the way of those who might be won over to our most holy Profession did they not see the Professors of it so manifestly contradict in their lives and practices what they plead for with so much zeal and affection I proceed to the third thing propounded to shew the particular force of the argument here used to dissuade from uncharitable judging one another Because the Lord cometh And this will appear 1. From the consideration of his infinite knowledge if compared with our great inability to judge aright This branch of the argument is particularly urged by our Apostle in the words following my Text Judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden works and will make manifest the counsels of the heart and then shall every man have praise of God The good and evil of what men do cannot be determined barely from outward appearances which onely are exposed to the knowledge of men Many actions may proceed from an heart truly pious and devout which may be acceptable to God that knows the heart which yet as to men may be liable to suspicion and mistake On the other side the outward actions of hypocrites may appear to men as instances of great piety and devotion when to God they are an abomination Now should we use the utmost of our discretion in these cases we could have no sufficient ground to judge rightly of these men or their actions So many are the secret windings and private retirements of the heart of man so various his thoughts and intentions and so numerous his pretences to disguise his actions that it
first promulgation of the Gospel it was confirmed from Heaven by such signs and wonders and mighty works which could not have been wrought but by the almighty power of God attesting the truth of what our Saviour and his Apostles taught But the doctrine of the Gospel being once sufficiently confirmed God expects now that man should rest satisfied with that evidence which he then gave and is conveyed down to us by the testimony of those who were witnesses of those miracles and mighty works with which it was then attested Nor is it to be expected that God should now work miracles to convince the obstinate since the evidence he hath already given is sufficient for those who are humble and teachable and will render the obstinate inexcusable Men may therefore if they please dispute themselves out of their Religion upon I know not what vain surmises and set up for Wits and men of more than ordinary reach not to be imposed on by any Historical Narrations though never so well attested but in the end they will find how far this perverse and arrogant humour falls short of true wisdom when for the sake of that they reject the divine and heavenly doctrine which if carefully attended to and obeyed is able to save their souls By what hath been said it is easie to understand how necessary a qualification humility is in order to our enquiry after truth and how effectual it is to make us fit for the reception of it 4. A fourth branch of duty very advantagious to us to make us capable of divine knowledge is calmness of temper and moderation of passions He that comes to enquire after truth must bring with him a quiet and sedate temper he must be willing to hear patiently what can be said on both sides and by no means engage his passion on either part till he hath first satisfied his Reason about it Our passions are then very useful and beneficial to us when they promote our vigour in the prosecution of things that are vertuous and praise-worthy and when they encourage us to make a bold resistance against all things that are wicked and unworthy of us but then that we may be assured that our passion is duely exercised it is necessary that our reason should have first throughly considered of the matter and given in its impartial sentence before we suffer our passions to interpose in our examination of truth For when once our affections are engaged on any side they do certainly biass the judgment and make it admit of every small appearance or shadow of truth which seems to favour the opinion we have a fansie for and to reject with disdain the strongest reasonings when they are opposed to what we desire should be true Men do not then sincerely seek for truth but endeavour to prove that true which they have a mind to and though they happen to be mistaken they will not then endure to be better informed and are impatient of any contradiction And this is accounted one great reason why among so many Writers of Controversie so few have ever changed the opinions they at first maintained or have yielded the cause when they have been fairly and fully answered Alas it is hard for them to renounce those beloved notions which had been impressed on their minds in their younger years and they had rather take hold of any shift or evasion then grant they had been in an errour But if they find their own reason begin to waver being in part convinced by the force of contrary reasons they fly for refuge to the Authority of others and fortifie themselves with this consideration that such and such men are men of noted learning and piety and yet they are all of this opinion and yet doubtless they understood the force of those arguments better than we do and would have yielded to them had they thought them convincing Thus when Reason of it self would yield yet their affection to the cause and the men that maintain it makes them hold out still and though they have a glimpse of truth they dare not they cannot receive it But the passion I intended principally to speak of as being a great hindrance to our receiving the Truth is that of Anger which is a boisterous unruly passion and disorders all the powers of the reasonable soul and makes them wholly unfit for any impressions of truth A man that is angry and impatient will not allow his Adversary leave to speak out half an argument but presently he is provoked and then he is not able to make a reasonable defence though he should have the truth on his side he doth not then consider what is most fit and proper to be said but casts out at random what his passion first suggests to him all his thoughts are then in commotion and like the troubled waves will not receive any perfect image of things and you may as well hope to convince a mad man as him Now this heat of passion as it makes men very unfit to be wrought upon by others so it commonly suggests to us very improper ways of arguing when we endeavour to convince them who differ from us This temper of mind produces those sharp and satyrical Treatises whereby some men endeavour if not to convince yet to shame and silence their Adversaries by exposing their persons and representing them to the World under odious Characters Now certainly what ever these men may hope this method of railing and reviling though the persons they accuse may really deserve all that is said of them yet I say this is not a fit method for the propagation of truth For as the piety of one man ought to be no defence or security for his errour so neither ought it to be any argument against the truth that it is defended by a bad man and therefore all the Arguments that are levelled against the person of our Adversary are wholly besides the purpose they tend onely to the breach of Charity not to the convincing any mans judgement that differs from us And certainly our blessed Savior when he gave us so many precepts of meekness and charity towards all men when he so often requires us not to judge and condemn our brethren over whom we have no jurisdiction when he represents to us the danger of uncharitable speeches S. Matt. v. 22. Whosoever shall say to his brother Raca shall be in danger of the council and whosoever shall say Thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell-fire When our Saviour so often inculcates these and the like precepts requiring so humble and charitable demeanour towards our brethren both in thoughts words he cannot be supposed to give the least permission to his Disciples to endeavour to propagate or defend any part of his doctrine by reproachful and contumelious usage of the persons they contend with Sure I am his own example was infinitely different from what men practise in these days Our Saviour had certainly more
mischief upon the most innocent person in the World they wilfully devote themselves and their posterity to ruine crying out His bloud be upon us and our children O most horrid and dreadful imprecation For who can conceive the infinite horrour of their guilt and the terrible vengeance they called for upon themselves when he considers how pretious and inestimable the value of that bloud was which they was so hasty to spill What remains now but that having extorted from Pilate the most unjust sentence they should now proceed to the execution of it But lest his death too should want any circumstance which might aggravate his grief and their malice they contrived all imaginable ways to heap more indignities upon him Then they stripped him and scourged him and mocked and put on him a Crown of Thorns a Scarlet Robe and a Reed in his hand What should I mention the further mockeries they used towards him the prodigious cruelty of the torments they put him to nailing his tender hands and feet to the Infamous Tree and leaving the whole weight of his Body to be supported even by those wounds In these sad circumstances of disgrace and pain did the HOLY JESUS suffer which though they were the most sharp and bitter which the wit or malice of men could invent had yet a further aggravation which infinitely exceeds all that we can speak or think for besides the extream violence of his bodily pains besides the most barbarous indignities and affronts offered to him there was yet a far greater weight of sorrow hung upon his soul than his enemies could bring upon him the burden of our sins then lay heavy upon him and the weight of our iniquity pressed his soul down and this we may easily conceive was the true cause of that bitter agony and bloudy sweat which he was in before apprehension This was that which while he hung upon the Cross made him cry out in the bitterness of his Spirit My God my God why hast thou for saken me And now let us look unto JESUS under these doleful circumstances and consider if ever sorrow was like unto his sorrow That we may therefore more effectually be moved to an imitation of our Saviour Proceed we now to the second thing proposed to consider after what manner the HOLY JESUS demeaned himself under these Agonies For the joy set before him he endured the Cross despising the shame In which words is expressed the deportment of our Saviour thus much at least that his undergoing these calamities was free and voluntary that he did it out of choice for the joy set before him But what is wanting in the Text may easily be supplyed out of other places in holy Scripture Isaiah liij 7. The Prophet describing the manner of his sufferings tells us He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a Sheep before the Shearers is dumb so he openeth not his mouth Which prediction was so exactly and punctually fulfilled by him as nothing could be more For notwithstanding all the heavy pressures that lay on him who ever heard one murmuring or discontented word one least complaint against the method of Gods dealing with him But in the most bitter circumstances of all though he prayed for a deliverance from the evils he felt and from those he foresaw were ready to ensue yet this was done with the most perfect resignation of himself to his Fathers will Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Our Saviour was not of that sort of men who pretend to be unmoved by any pain or trouble His patience was no stupid insensibility of the things he felt no he was of as tender sense as other men and the pains he felt were such as would have disturbed the evenness of the stoutest Stoick awakened the most resolute But in this the eminency of our Saviours patience appeared that notwithstanding the Agonies he felt were so full of anguish and sorrow he could yet in the midst of these tortures entirely submit himself to his heavenly Fathers will saying Father if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it thy will be done Nor are the instances of our Saviours patience less remarkable which he shewed in his behaviour towards men For notwithstanding those many affronts and indignities which were offered to him from that ungrateful people the Jews notwithstanding all the malice and violence they pursued him with he never uttered one angry or revengeful word against them When he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously Nay so far was he from making any least return to those many injuries he received from them that even in the midst of his affliction in that unconceivable anguish which he felt hanging upon the Cross he omitted not to pray for forgiveness for them saying Father forgive them for they know not what they do After this manner did the HOLY JESUS suffer bearing all reproaches and indignities from men with the greatest meekness answering not a word to all their calumnies bearing the most piercing and violent pains with the greatest patience and submission to his Fathers Will and this he did as S. Peter tells us Leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps Which leads me to the third thing to be considered the Influence of our Saviours Example to engage us in imitation of him and this will appear many ways 1. If we consider the greatness of those sufferings which our Saviour underwent they were such as infinitely exceed all that we can possibly be exposed to as may appear by what hath been already said If therefore God was pleased to lay so great a burden upon his beloved Son in whom he was well-pleased and if the Son of God were willing chearfully to endure such bitter things because he knew it was his heavenly Fathers will and that otherwise the Scriptures could not be fulfilled how unreasonable must it needs be for us to murmur and repine at those lesser afflictions which God may call us to and yet alas how apt are we to complain and murmur at every little accident and disappointment that befalls us here How forward are we to complain of the unequal distribution of humane affairs and to think ourselves hardly dealt with and though possibly we do not make complaint directly against Heaven nor call in question the justice of Gods providence towards us yet the instruments of his providence the men he suffers to afflict us seldom escape our severest censure But now to qualifie our minds in these cases and to restrain our too passionate resentments of the injuries we meet with let us take the Apostles advice and look unto Jesus what he suffered and after what manner Are any of those affronts and indignities that have been
Sufferings that he should give eternal life to as many as his Father had given him and this was that joy set before him expressed in the latter clause of the Verse by his sitting down at the right hand of the throne of God in prospect of which he endured the Cross despising the shame And we have all the reason in the World to believe that he who could endure so much ignominy shame and pain for the obtaining this Reward was both sufficiently certain of the reality of it that it would be made good to him upon the accomplishment of his Sufferings and likewise that this joy set before him was of inestimable value and far exceeding those tribulations and sorrows he undertook in order to it And lastly that he could not deceive his Followers with the promise of an imaginary Joy since he did himself endure such real and unexpressible pains to obtain it for and confirm it to them The sum of this Argument is briefly this Our blessed Saviour endured the Cross despising the shame in full assurance of the certainty of the Joy set before him and of the inestimable value of it above the proportion of his Sufferings and therefore that we also ought to imitate his Patience being well assured by his Example that the light afflictions of this life which endure but a moment are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed and that if we suffer with the HOLY JESUS we shall be also glorified together Thus far have I endeavoured to represent the force of the Apostles Argument from the Sufferings of our Saviour to engage us to imitate his Patience and to suffer with him when Gods calls us to it but we must not confine the influence of our Saviours Sufferings to this single duty The Race set before us mentioned in the former Verse may fairly be understood of the whole Course of a Christian Conversation and our Saviours Sufferings and Death have doubtless a very great efficacy to oblige us not onely to the patient enduring Afflictions and Calamities but to an universal and impartial obedience to the will of God For with what face can we look up unto JESUS and consider the intolerable weight of sorrow which he endured for the sins of men and not be ashamed and blush again to be guilty of any of those sins which put the Son of God to such shame and pain Or how can we call to mind his boundless compassion and love to us in enduring such things for our sake without being effectually moved to render to him all possible demonstration of our thankfulness and love for all his benefits Which we cannot better express than by a sincere and constant obedience to the precepts of the Gospel and by walking before him in all holiness and godliness of living Which that we may all do God of his infinite mercy grant for the sake and merits of our blessed Saviour to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and praise and glory henceforth and for evermore Amen SERM. VI. 1 COR. v. 10. We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad ONe great priviledge and perfection of Mankind whereby they are distinguished from and far excel the Beasts that perish is this that whereas other Creatures are either wholly determined in their actions by outward and necessary causes or at least are led on by those objects onely which are present and work immediately upon their senses without any prospect of or regard to future and remote events Men onely by comparing causes and effects are able to make an estimate and value of future good and evil and accordingly to determine their present actions and choice in proportion to those ends which they propose to themselves and therefore though all men naturally seek after good and are averse to those things which are painful and unpleasant yet if they are well assured that what is now pleasing and delightful to them will be the certain cause of future and more lasting evils than can be recompensed by any present and transitory pleasure This consideration to those that use their reason is sufficient to put a check to and divert them from any present enjoyments which will in the event be dangerous and hurtful On the contrary by the same principle men may be encouraged to undergo many difficulties and hardships if they can be convinced that their present sufferings shall be recompensed with a suitable reward and satisfaction for the time to come And therefore no kind of Arguments are more naturally fitted to persuade men to the practice of Vertue and Goodness and to discourage them from the contrary ways of Sin and Wickedness than a due consideration of those several ends which they lead to and of those Rewards and Punishments which will be the unavoidable events of them And accordingly no kind of persuasions are more frequent in the Gospel than those which are taken from an expectation of a judgment to come and from those incomparable rewards which will then be the portion of the Righteous and the unspeakable miseries which will be the lot of the Wicked and Disobedient And this is that which the Apostle particularly insists on in this place as the ground of his persuasions We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that which is done whether it be good or bad Knowing therefore the terrours of the Lord we persuade men In these words there are many circumstances of great weight and moment worthy of our most serious consideration which I shall briefly represent to you 1. Here is the certainty of a Judgment to come declared in these words We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ 2. Here is the person before whom we must appear it is the Judgment Seat of Christ He who was before our Mediator and Advocate who came to redeem us from our iniquities and to make us capable of being happy in another life will then be our Judge and will actually dispense those rewards he promised to those for whom they are prepared and will also be the severe avenger of those who would not be reclaimed 3. Here are expressed the persons that must appear We we the same men that are now alive in the body though our earthly tabernacles be dissolved though our bodies die and see corruption yet we our selves must again appear The same Almighty power which at first framed us in our Mothers Wombs and curiously fashioned all the parts of our body though they be dissolved into dust and variously scattered over the earth will again restore them to life and we shall again appear the same men that we were before For we must appear and no other 4. Here is expressed the universality of the