been brought to believe that it is a duty incumbent on or rather a privilege belonging to none but great and exemplary Saints to strong and well-grounded Christians that this Sacrament is not food proper for babes and novices for those who often fail in their duty who are still onely wrestling with their lusts but have not yet got the mastery or victory over them that we ought first to be fully assured of our salvation before we come to this holy table that this ordinance serves onely to strengthen and confirm our faith and repentance and all other Christian graces and vertues but not to beget any of them in us Now here thus much must be granted that this Sacrament doth belong onely to those that are within the pale of the visible Church onely to baptised Christians that do publickly own their faith and Christian profession that it is no means of converting Jews or Infidels and that even Christians by notorious evil lives whereby they become scandalous to their brethren and incur the censures of the Church may justly forfeit all their right and title to this Sacrament and farther that it is a bold prophanation of our Saviour's institution for any wicked person resolved to continue such to presume to bless God for that mercy and love of a Redeemer which he doth not in the least value Thus far we are on all hands agreed but not now to engage in any matter of controversie I shall onely say that I can see no reason why to one that is really sensible of his sins and miscarriages contrary to his baptismal vow and profession and maketh some kind of resolution to forsake them why I say this Sacrament as well as prayer or any other duties of Religion may not be reckoned as a means of begetting true repentance in him of turning him from sin to righteousness from the power of Satan to God and for this I shall offer onely this one plain argument which is obvious to every man that if the death of Christ it self his bitter passion his whole gratious undertaking for us was amongst other reasons designed by God also to convince us of the evil and danger of sin to bring us out of love with it and to engage us to a new and better life surely then the consideration of the same things represented to us in the Sacrament the commemoration of his death and passion there made may also serve for the same great ends and purposes If Christ died that we should die unto sin certainly then the memory of his death may justly be accounted a proper means of killing sin in us nay what in the nature of the thing can be imagined a more likely instrument to turn us from a life of sin to the practice of holiness than the frequent consideration of what our blessed Lord hath done and suffered for us and if so it cannot be necessary that this change should be completely wrought in us before we ever solemnly commemorate his bloudy passion for that were to suppose it necessary that the end should be obtained before we use the means It is not therefore absolutely necessary that we should be fully assured that we are in a state of grace and in God's favour and have repented enough and truly forsaken all our sins before we venture on this Sacrament it is sufficient that we heartily and sincerely resolve against them that we approach the Lord's table with honest and devout minds that we be really willing and desirous to use all means to become better and if thus disposed we come to the Sacrament I doubt not but we shall find it a most effectual means for the enabling us to leave our sins and to lead a better life It is not our unworthiness but our resolving to continue in that state that makes us unqualified for this Sacrament 4. If therefore by your unworthiness you mean that you live in sin and are resolved to doe so and therefore dare not come to the Sacrament for fear you should farther provoke God almighty I will suppose that in this you act prudently and warily but then I would advise you for the same reason and on the same account to leave off all other duties of Religion as well as this if you would act upon the same grounds you ought to reckon it the safest way never to pray to God any more nor ever again to appear in any religious assemblies nor to join in any part of God's solemn worship for God hath often declared that he doth far more abominate all such formal whining cringing hypocrites and will more severely punish them than the open and bold contemners of his authority and laws The prayer of the wicked man is an abomination to the Lord. He hates the addresses of those who call him father and master and in words acknowledge him but yet continually doe the things that are displeasing in his sight His soul loaths and nauseates all the services of impure worshippers You do but mock God basely fawn upon and impudently flatter him when you present your selves before him as his people and servants and yet secretly hate him and wish him out of the world nay for the same reason for which you forbear the Sacrament e'en lay aside your whole Christian profession openly renounce your Baptism deny your Saviour disown his Religion for that is the safest course whilst you resolve to continue in sin and disobedience for God's wrath shall be in the first place revealed against wicked Christians and better will it be in the last day for Tyre and Sidon for Sodom and Gomorra than for those who were called by Christ's name and yet did not depart from iniquity If this pretence be true that you go out of the Church when the Sacrament is to be administred lest you should farther provoke God by unworthy receiving it by the same reason keep from the Church altogether lest you as highly provoke God by being present at those prayers you do not heartily join in nor ever intend to live according to Or rather to speak yet more fully what is the true consequence of this you now know your selves unworthy and are resolved yet at least for some time to continue such alas what need such as you be afraid of this Text In this case it ought to seem indifferent to you whether you receive or not Damnation here threatned cannot be supposed reasonably to scare him from the Sacrament who runs the constant hazard of it by living in known sin This can be no such terrible word to an habitual and resolved sinner He that can swear and talk prophanely and live intemperately and loosely and without any fear or regret commit mortal sin in vain pretends fear of damnation for not doing that which is indeed his duty for it is a most odd and ridiculous thing to be afraid of doing what our Saviour hath commanded us whilst we are not in the least afraid every day of doing what he
being the best expression of our duty towards God and either formally containing or naturally producing all our duty towards our neighbour whence this is said to be the fulfilling of the whole law It is not enough that we give to every man what is due to him His Religion is but very little and of a narrow compass who is onely just nay he that is rigidly so in all cases hath no Religion at all that I have wronged no man will be a poor plea or apology at the last day for it is not for rapine or injury for pillaging or cousening their neighbours that men at the last day are formally impeached and finally condemned but I was an hungry and ye gave me no meat I was a stranger and ye took me not in you neglected to doe that good which you had power and opportunity to doe Some men are so taken up with their courses of piety and devotion that they have no time to doe much good if they be but temperate and just and come frequently to Church and constantly perform the duties of God's worship this they hope will carry them to Heaven though they are notoriously covetous and uncharitable and hardly ever doe any good office for their neighbours or brethren Some again there are who pretend to be of a more spiritual and refined Religion spend their time in contemplation and talk much of communion with God but look upon this way of serving God by doing good as a lower attainment an inferior dispensation suitable to children and novices in Religion and think that they are excused from these mean duties and yet reade over the life of the best man that ever lived the founder of our Faith and Religion and you cannot but confess what I have already shewn you that the great thing he was most exemplary and illustrious for was his unwearied readiness to help and oblige all men he went about doing good and it is a scandal raised on our Church that we do not hold the necessity of good works in order to salvation but trust wholly to faith for we hold and teach them to be as necessary as Papists themselves can or doe but then we say they are accepted by God onely for the sake of Jesus Christ 6. And Lastly Nothing hath greater rewards annexed to it than doing good and that both in this life and that which is to come I have time now but just to mention to you some few of those benefits and advantages that do either naturally flow from it or by God's gratious promise are annexed to it To doe good with what we enjoy is the most certain way to procure God's blessing upon all we have it doth entitle us to his more especial care and protection Trust in the Lord saith David and be doing good so shalt thou dwell in the Land and verily thou shalt be fed The divine goodness cannot but be mightily pleased to see men so far as they are able imitating it self and following the example of God's benignity For every good office we doe to other men we have some thing to plead with God Almighty to engage him to bestow upon us what we want or desire not by way of merit or desert but God himself graciously becoming our debtour takes what is done to others in such cases as done to himself and by promise obliges himself to full retaliation By this means we provide against an evil day that which will mightily support us under all the troubles and afflictions that may happen to us in this life our good works will attend us and stand by us at the hour of death as I have already hinted to you nay farther our good works will appear and plead for us before God's tribunal and will procure for us for the sake of Jesus Christ at the hands of our mercifull God a glorious recompense at the resurrection of the just for at the last and final reckoning when all mens actions shall be scanned and judged the great King shall pass his sentence according to the good men have done or neglected to doe in this life Nay every way so great is the reward of doing good that even wicked men who yet have been of bountifull tempers and have had generous spirits shall fare the better in the other world for those good acts of mercy and charity they have done here and in this sense it is said with which I end all that Charity doth cover a multitude of sins and to cover sins in the Scripture phrase is to forgive them Now of this saying there are several senses given which I cannot stand now to recite but the words are true in these two senses 1. If he that is thus truly charitable and hath done a great deal of good in his generation be also endued with the other vertues and qualifications required in a Christian then though he may have a great many infirmities and miscarriages to answer for yet these failings shall be overlooked and buried in his good deeds and then they mean the same with that of the Psalmist with the mercifull God will shew himself mercifull he will shew him all favour possible 2. Or else secondly if you understand these words Charity shall cover a multitude of sins as spoken of a person who though vitious in all other respects yet out of principles of common humanity or natural goodness of temper or greatness of Spirit is very apt and inclined to doe generous and great things for the good of the world which is a case that may sometimes happen they mean this that though Charity alone will not be sufficient to make such an one happy in the other world because he is otherwise incapable of it yet it shall be considered so far as to lessen his punishment He shall be in a less intolerable condition though that be sad enough than the cruel and uncharitable or than they who have delighted in doing mischief A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL The Second Sermon 1 COR. XI 29. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lord's Body THE Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which we are now to receive is undoubtedly the most solemn and venerable part of Christian worship a most excellent instrument of Religion an institution of our Saviour's of mighty use and advantage to us if we duly partake thereof and yet there is hardly any part of Religion so little or so ill understood by the generality of Christians amongst us as this duty which sufficiently appears from that great number of those who constantly join with the Church in all other publick offices of divine worship and yet wholly neglect the receiving of this Sacrament or at least communicate so seldom as if they looked upon themselves at liberty to doe it or not doe it as they thought best I speak not now of the prophane contemners of God and Religion who despise this as they do all the other duties
conceptions and apprehensions of things is impossible and no more to be expected in this life than that all mens faces and complexions should be alike As long as there are some places of Scripture hard to be understood several things pertaining to Religion which are not fundamental and therefore not plainly determin'd but remain doubtfull as long as men have different educations tempers constitutions of body inclinations of mind and several interests to serve as long as there are different degrees of knowledge and understanding in men in a word as long as ignorance and confidence continue in the world so long there will be disputes and controversies about matters of Religion even amongst those who yet agree in the same faith and profession Nor hath our Christianity provided any infallible way or means of silencing or putting an end to such differences about less matters and speculative points We have indeed plainly propounded to us whatever is necessary for us to know or practise in order to salvation and for the understanding of this nothing else is requisite but an honest mind and sincere desire of learning As for other things which are not of so great moment and are more obscure it is sufficient that in all cases we be modest and humble teachable and governable that we preserve peace order and charity and I doubt not but God will pardon the errours of those who are upright and well-minded What horrible presumption therefore is it in us to judge despise condemn our brethren for those mistakes if they be so which God will overlook and pass by What devilish pride is this I cannot speak too earnestly in the case to endeavour like the old Tyrant to stretch or cramp up every man to the proportion of my bed to presume that God will judge and count with men just by the rate and measure of my understanding and damn every one that hath either more or less wit than I have for either of these may be the occasion of his differing from me It is the greatest oppression and usurpation imaginable to assault or try to overcome the reason of another by any thing else but reason and this is the uncharitable spirit that so eminently discovers it self in the Roman Church which pretending to infallibility and an unerring authority over Christians condemns and persecutes all who will not submit to her determinations and believe as she doth And with the same spirit many that hate Popery enough are too much leavened I mean those who appropriate the glorious names of the godly people of God orthodox Christians onely to their own paltry Sect or Conventicle and reprobate all that have not arrived to the same skill in their Dutch Divinity with themselves Many divisions and subdivisions there are now amongst us and God onely knows when they will be at an end but if you would know from whence they arise it is easie to tell you in the words of Solomon onely of pride cometh contention or of St. James Whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even from your lusts Self-conceit and self-love whatever is pretended is the great and principal root of all our religious quarrels and debates whilst men too highly value their own private judgments in things doubtfull and indifferent think meanly of the determinations of their superiours and care not though they sacrifice peace and charity to the promoting of any trifling opinion they happen to be fond of I find it quoted as one of the Reverend Hooker's ordinary sayings that the Scriptures were not writ to beget disputations and pride and scruples and opposition to government but charity humility moderation obedience to authority and peace to mankind of which vertues as he always added no man ever repented himself at his death-bed And if ever unity and Christian concord and peace and brotherly love be again recovered and prevail again amongst us it must be by these means and principles It is a vain thing to think to bring all men to one mind but yet one would hope it not impossible to persuade Christians to a mean opinion of themselves that in lowliness of mind each should esteem others before himself to a dutifull subjection to their betters in things under their charge and ordering and to a mutual forbearance and charity where they cannot presently agree and this would doe every whit as well as if we were all of one mind Several expedients have been propounded for the uniting us and reconciling our differences some are for toleration others for comprehension others for the strict execution of penal laws but alas neither these nor any other are likely to have any effect upon us till we learn humility and modesty till pride and self-conceit and all imperious affectation of imposing our own singularities upon others be rooted out of the world till we learn to submit to our betters and in indifferent things not to oppose our private opinions to the publick determinations of the Church This one vertue of humility would go farther towards the putting an end to all our terms of distinction and unchristian Separations than all the Writings or Disputings all the Laws and Proclamations about the Church have hitherto done Whatever is the cause of the errour pride is always the cause of the quarrel that makes the breach and forms the party Let but all amongst us agree together in common to mortify our pride and arrogance and conceited esteem of our selves and base contempt of others and the simple truth will prevail in the world or at least there will be no more of these unchristian Separations and Schisms but peace and unity will be established and secured amongst us To sum up all I have said Be not wise in your own conceits Affect not things above your skill and reach Meddle not with what is beyond your capacity or out of your sphere small abilities and great confidence ordinarily make the most inconsiderable and ridiculous creature in nature Think it no diminution in some things to confess your ignorance in all weighty business to ask for counsel and advice trust not too much to your own judgments and discretions Think that your Governours and Teachers may be wiser and know better what is for the publick good and what is fit and decent than you can possibly do Give other men leave to understand as well as you and make not your selves the standard of wisedom nor take upon your selves to bear down all mankind or to command in all companies nor expect that every one should yield to your humours and deny their own inclinations that they may gratify yours Do not pertinaciously pursue any thing wherein you are singular examine all things even those things you may have long believed to be true with diffidence of your selves and suspicion of your own judgments hear calmly debate soberly and rationally and allow other men their turn to speak and attend to what is said against you with as eager
nor are ever like to be 4. Another rule I would give is this that we should live under the due awe of God's continual presence with us and bear this always in our minds that the pure and holy God the judge of the world before whose impartial tribunal we must all shortly stand is conscious to every secret thought and imagination that passes through our minds and that he knows them altogether that God is in us all Ephes 4.6 One God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all that he is present in the most inward corners and recesses of our hearts and knows every one of those things that come into our minds Now who of us is there but must confess that if his thoughts were all known and open to other men if his parents his friends his neighbours or enemies could have certain cognizance of them he should be infinitely more carefull about them than he is should not allow himself that liberty and freedom which he now takes should be as watchfull that his thoughts should appear to other men orderly rational and vertuous as he is now that his words and actions may be such and while we profess to believe that the transcendent Majesty of Heaven and earth is acquainted with all our private conceits is privy to all our wishes desires and purposes observes and takes notice of all the motions of our minds and that at the last day he will bring every secret thing into judgment are we not ashamed of shewing in his sight such folly of committing such wickedness in his presence should we blush and be confounded to have but a mortal man certainly know all the childish vain wanton lustfull thoughts that possess our minds and is it nothing to us that the great God of Heaven and earth beholds and sees them all Consider this then O vain man who pleasest thy self in thy own foolish conceits with thinking how finely thou dost cheat the world by a mask of Religion and godliness consider I say that there is not an evil thought that ever thou takest any pleasure and delight in not an evil device or imagination of thy heart but what is perfectly naked and open to that God with whom we have to doe That he is with thee in the silent and dark night when no other eye seeth thee when thou thinkest thy self safe from all discovery and that thou mayst then securely indulge thy own wicked appetites and corrupt inclinations for the light and darkness are both alike unto God he compasseth thy path and thy bed he is acquainted with all thy ways And the frequent consideration of these things would certainly produce a mighty awe in us and a suitable care not willingly to entertain or cherish any such thoughts as we should be ashamed to have known to all the world nor ever to suffer any other thoughts to take place or remain in our minds than such as we should not blush to have written in our foreheads 5. For the right government of your thoughts let me recommend to you above all things serious devotion especially humble and hearty prayer to God Almighty Man is compounded of two natures a rational and spiritual and a bodily by our bodies we are joined to the visible corporeal world by our souls we are allied to the immaterial invisible world now as by our outward senses the intercourse and correspondence is maintained between us and the corporeal world so by our devotions chiefly our acquaintance is begot and kept up with the spiritual world when we lay aside all thoughts of this lower world and the concerns of this life and apply our selves to the Father of spirits and make our humble addresses to him we then more especially converse with him as far as this state will admit of and the more frequently and constantly we doe this the more we shall abstract our minds from these inferiour objects which are so apt to entangle our hearts and take up all our thoughts and shall make the things of the other world become more familiar to us for when we betake our selves seriously to our prayers we do then bid adieu to all that is visible and sublunary and for that time endeavour to employ our minds wholly on what relates to another life and therefore consequently the oftner we doe this and the more hearty and serious we are in it the more our minds will be used and accustomed to divine thoughts and pious meditations and weaned from present sensible objects Every devout exercise conscientiously performed will season our spirits and leave a good tincture upon them and dispose us for worthy and excellent thoughts it is like keeping of good company a man is by degrees moulded and fashioned into some likeness unto them and on the other side the intermission neglect or formal and perfunctory performance of our devotion will soon breed in us a forgetfulness of God and heavenly things as omitting to speak of an absent or dead friend or neglecting to call him to our mind by degrees wears him quite out of our thoughts and memory so that you see a due sense of God upon our minds and of those things that belong to our greatest interests is by nothing so well maintained as by our constant devotion this is like seeing our friends often or conversing with them every day it preserves acquaintance with them it cherishes our love and kindness towards them I end all with that excellent Collect of our Church Almighty God unto whom all hearts be open all desires known and from whom no secrets are hid cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy holy spirit that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnifie thy holy name through Christ our Lord. Amen A SERMON Preached at the Anniversary Meeting OF THE GENTLEMEN Educated at St. Paul's SCHOOL The Sixth Sermon 1 COR. XIII 4 5 6 7. Charity suffereth long and is kind charity envieth not charity vaunteth not it self is not puffed up c. THE chief and most laudable design of this and other the like Anniversary Meetings being to promote love kindness and friendship amongst men from the consideration of some particular relations by which over and above what doth belong to us in common with all men and Christians we are more nearly united and linked one to the other I thought I could not entertain you with any thing more proper to this Solemnity than a discourse upon these words wherein I intend I. To describe unto you wherein this amicable friendly temper and mutual love which we are to further amongst our selves this day doth consist And II. To recommend it especially to your care and practice who have had the advantage of a liberal and ingenuous education I. To shew you wherein true and undissembled love doth consist which I shall do onely by paraphrasing or commenting as briefly as I can upon this most excellent description of Charity given us