and where thieves do not break through and steal He knew that where we place our happiness styled our treasure in these words there should we also place our hearts For saith he where your treasure is there will your heart be also Upon which words I shall discourse in this method 1. I shall shew in what manner and in what degree men set their hearts upon that which they judge their chief good whether it be the wealth and honours the ease and pleasures of this World or the Bliss and Glory of the future 2. And then secondly I shall consider the several consequences of the words and draw such conclusions from them as deserve especial consideration 1. And to begin with the former general 1. The first application of mens souls to that which they judge their supreme good is a fixt and earnest desire of it 2. The next to this is a firm design and resolution to apply themselves to the gaining of it 3. And both these in the third place in such degrees that if ever any competition arise between this end and any other this is preferred and still pursued the other neglected and laid aside 1. The first application of mens Souls to that they judge their chief good is a fixt and earnest desire of it which is so rooted in humane nature that no man can ever shake it off wholly extinguish or remove it And the truth is were it not so that God had planted this desire in the very frame of mans nature the World would presently fall asleep the minds of men would drowze and slumber having nothing to quicken and to awake them the Soul itself as busie and active as it is as full of various thoughts and passions would be as unactive in the body as the very body without the Soul Desire is the principle of all action and this desire of being happy the spring of all our other desires this moves and quickens all within us this puts life into all our powers excites our thoughts forms our Counsels lays our designs stirs up and animates all endeavours This holds the eye of the mind open this keeps the Soul it self awake and puts it into continual motion for whatsoever it be we do 't is done in the view and consideration of what we believe to be good for us and some way tending to our happiness remove this out of the eye of a man and the clearest reasons that you can urge will never excite his will to choice much less engage him unto action He cannot act where he cannot hope nor can he hope where he sees nothing to be desired Say you whatsoever you can to move him he will always have this to say for himself the thing you propound no way tends to any advantage it doth not serve any end of mine and therefore why should I undertake it give me that which will do me good let me see how it tends unto my welfare let me know what account I shall find in it prove that I shall be better for it either in this or another World and then you may perswade me to it Nor doth this desire of a mans own happiness contradict or prejudice publick welfare for every wise man understands that his own particular and private good is always involved in publick welfare and every good man makes it a part of his own happiness to serve the advantage of other persons and besides he knows that he shall be rewarded hereafter for it And although we cannot all be wise yet every man may at least be good But after all both the good and evil wise and unwise always desire and chuse that which makes at least the fairest appearance of contributing to their own felicity This is the reason why God himself applies himself to this desire in the whole oeconomy of his providence in all his dealings with mankind When he prescribes his Laws to us he urges obedience to these Laws by promising happiness thereunto which promise yet could have no effect upon us had we no desire of being happy on the same account he threatens misery to the violation of his precepts which yet would be to little purpose could we be contented to be miserable or cease to desire our own felicity 'T is the same method which he uses in all his other addresses to us when he rebukes when he perswades when he expostulates and reasons with us he still accommodates all these things to that desire of being happy which he hath ingrafted in our natures as the first mover in all our actions Sometimes indeed he applies himself unto the natural desire men have of peace and safety in the world And so he did to the Jewish Nation Deut. 30.15 See saith he I have set before thee this day life and good death and evil and after that at the 9. v. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore chuse life that is to say chuse obedience that both thou and thy seed may live But the great applications made unto us in the Gospel are addressed to that desire in man which moves him both to desire to be and to be happy to all eternity This is the promise saith St John that he hath promised us even eternal life 1 John 2.25 And so St Paul Rom. 2.6 7 8 9. where he tell us that God will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life but unto them that are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation tribulation and wrath and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Thus he that made us and knows our nature and all the springs of motion in us in all his applications to us accommodates himself to that desire of being happy which he himself hath planted in us as knowing this to be the way to gain a ready complyance from us On the same account the great deceiver of mankind paints his baits covers his snares gilds his temptations with an appearance of what is good He knows it would be a vain thing to attempt to press us unto the choice of what is evil what is destructive to our selves should it appear in its own likeness and therefore he puts a disguise upon it He boldly told the woman in paradise that if they would eat what God had forbidden their eyes should be opened they should be as Gods knowing good and evil for if as Gods then surely wise and blessed and happy And thus the temptation found success which first brought sin into the World and death as the wages due unto it Nor was it a much different method whereby he applyed himself to Christ for he took him as the Gospel tells us into an exceeding high mountain and shewed him all the Kingdoms
was so far from being terrified either by his bonds or death it self that were it not for their sakes to whom his life might be more useful he should rather desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ He further acquaints them with his design to visit them again in order to their support and settlement if God should rescue him from his bonds In the mean time gives this admonition Only let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or else be absent I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one Spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel and in nothing thing terrified by your adversaries That ye stand fact c. In which words you have an account what are the most effectual means for any Church which God hath blessed with the true Faith of Christianity still to abide and continue in it Firmness of mind in every mans private belief of it close union amongst themselves zeal and diligence in joynt endeavours for its defence and propagation and courage against such oppositions as others may possibly make against it 1. Firmness of mind in every mans private belief of it which is suggested in these words Stand fast that is to say as it there follows in the faith of the Gospel 2. Union amongst themselves Stand fast in one spirit with one mind 3. Zeal and diligence in joynt endeavours for its defence and propagation Stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel 4. Courage against such oppositions as other persons make against it And in nothing terrified by your adversaries These are the methods which our Apostle here propounds for a Church to retain the true Faith that is to continue a true Church 1. The first of which is firmness of mind in every mans private belief of truth For feeing that every particular Church is made up of particular persons so far as particular Members fail in the true Faith so far is that Church they are Members of maimed and mutilated in its parts and the whole in tendency to dissolution Now seeing the firmness of belief depends upon clear and evident proof I might here offer a demonstration of the truth and excellency of Christianity But being this is neither so needful nor yet so seasonable to the occasion of our meeting I shall rather chuse to address my self to what the occasion now requires which is to shew the truth and excellence of Christianity as it is professed in our own Church in opposition to that of Rome which I shall do by comparing theirs and ours together in point of Faith and Worship and Manners 1. And first of all for matter of Faith we firmly believe the holy Scriptures and every thing therein contained to be the infallible Word of God We believe the Scriptures do contain all things necessary to Salvation according as St. John assures us Joh. 20.31 These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name Which we could not have if every thing necessary to Salvation was not written was not contained in this very Gospel of St. John Nay further yet we believe and receive all Creeds that were ever received in the Catholick Church These Creeds are taken into our Liturgy they are repeated in our Churches we signifie our assent to them by standing up when they are repeated and are we still to be judged Hereticks and deficient in the Catholick Faith On the other hand the Roman Church deny the Scriptures to be a compleat Rule of Faith they build their faith upon Tradition a thing uncertain They rely upon Councils which may erre nay upon such as have grosly erred They vary as well from the Primitive Church in many cases as from the holy Scripture it self And last of all they pretend a power of making new Articles of Faith that is such as were not made by our Blessed Lord and his Apostles which being so let reason judge whether they or we be likeliest to erre in point of Faith 2. For matter of Worship in the second place their publick Prayers are made and used in a tongue unknown unto the people ours in a tongue which we all understand And here let St. Paul decide the controversie that is between us I Cor. 14 15 16 c. I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with understanding also I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with understanding also Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest For thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified From whence it appears what edification may be expected from their prayers that is to say none at all And therefore the Apostle further adds I thank God I speak with tongues more than you all yet in the Church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue But to proceed as we make our prayers in a known tongue so in them we invoke the true God and him only We use no other Mediator no other Patron but only Christ whom God hath appointed so to be For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 But they that are of the Church of Rome make their addresses to Saints and Angels as well for patronage and protection as for their prayers to God for them and some of those the Virgin Mary do they invoke in as magnificent and high a stile as they invoke God himself We pay no worship to any Images seeing that God hath expresly said Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them But they bow down and prostrate themselves before the Images of Christ and others And though they affirm that the honour they give unto the Image passes through it to the person whom it represents yet still they acknowledge they worship the Image that this at least is a transient object of their Worship And then again we give the Sacrament of the Lords Supper unto the people as well as the Priests in both kinds So it was instituted by Christ himself so it was given all along for many Ages but others in perfect contradiction to the Institution of our Lord deny the Cup unto the Laity We believe that after Consecration the Bread and Wine set apart and consecrated for the Sacrament do still retain the natural substance of bread and wine And so the Apostle himself believed when he stiled that bread of
is in Heaven He is adorned with an excellent Character in the words immediately following those And I say unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church which priviledge although it was not peculiar unto S. Peter but common to the other Apostles with him yet being first declared of him adds to the Dignity of his Character and yet detracts nothing at all from the power of the rest of Christs Apostles upon whom as upon a sure foundation S. Paul assures us the Church was built Ephe. 2.20 It was built on them together with him whom our Saviour mentions in this place it was most firmly built upon them for so it appears from these words and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it For the better understanding of which words we must 1 consider that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Hell is frequently used in the holy Scriptures as well as prophane Authors to signifie the grave to denote the place and state of the dead so it is used in these words Psal 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption And then further 2 We must consider that the grave or place and State of the dead is sometimes compared unto a house If I wait the grave is mine house Job 17.13 and to a house with gates or dores shut up and locked with bars and locks and hence that saying of Hezekiah Isa 38.10 I said in the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates of the grave Hence mention is made of the bars of the pit Job 17.16 and of the keys of hell and death Revel 1.18 and of the keys of the bottomless pit Revel 9.1 3 Being then that the grave being that the place and state of the dead is compared to a house with gates and doors shut up and fastned with bars and locks from hence likewise it comes to pass that Death or Destruction is described by entering into the gates of the grave for so you find in the words which I have already cited Isaiah 38.10.11 I said in the cutting off of my days when God told me that I should dye I shall go to the gates of the grave am deprived of the residue of my years I said I shall not see the Lord in the land of the living I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world where entering into the gates of the grave plainly signifies death it self or entring into the place of the dead as all the other expressions shew 4. This being so if the Church be taken for Gods people not considered as a Society being together in Communion but as single Members of Christs Body then these words that are before us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church imply no more than that the Members of Christs body shall overcome death and the grave by a Resurrection to Immortality But then if the Church in this place be taken as it usually is and as I judge it ought to be for the general Society of Believers considered as they are a Church living together in Communion in the use of all Christ's Institutions then are the words we have in hand which tell us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church a promise that there shall be a Church professing the true Faith of the Gospel and living in the use of its Institutions in visible Fellowship and Communion till the second Coming of our Lord. Then when it is said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church the meaning will be that the Church shall never enter into those gates which is as much as if it were said that it should never be destroyed Having thus interpreted the words before us I shall proceed in this Method 1. I shall shew what Church this is which is designed in these words 2. And then secondly how far this promise of our Lord made to that Church in these words secures it from errour and defection 1. It is needful to understand what the Church is which is designed in these words where it is promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it And the reason is because the Patrons of the Roman Church have assumed this promise unto themselves with as much confidence and presumption as if it had been expresly said That the Church of Rome should never fail but always continue firm and stable nay absolutely infallible in the Faith in the true Doctrine of Christianity whereas in truth this is as well a great arrogance as a most wide and foul mistake For certain it is that our Saviour here speaks not of any particular Church planted in this or the other place but only of the Universal Church the whole Society of those persons who profess the Doctrine of the Gospel He speaks indefinitely of his Church Vpon the rock will I build my Church and speaking indefinitely of his Church cannot possibly understand any particular part of it the Church of any particular place but the Catholick Universal Church The truth is the Church of any particular place seated in any particular Country may utterly fail and be extinguished How many great and excellent Churches have failed and perished long ago How many others have so decayed that they seem near unto destruction Where are those many famous Churches which once flourished in the Coast of Africks Where are those seven Churches of Asia largely mentioned by St. John in the three first Chapters of the Revelations Where are those many other Churches which formerly flourished in the East How many of them are extinguished utterly ruined and destroyed with the very Cities where they were planted How many others are decayed almost to a total dissolution Be it then concluded that this promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church belongs to the Church Universal only and not to any Society of Christians seated in any particular place not unto any particular Church Which being so I cannot dismiss this point without an Inference and a Caution 1. The Inference is That seeing this promise of our Lord that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church belongs to the Church Universal and not to any particular Church The consequence which the Romanists draw from these words namely that the Church of Rome is indefectible and infallible is most inconsequent and unreasonable This promise belongs to the whole Church of which the present Church of Rome is but a part and a part infected with strange corruptions This promise belongs to the Universal Church of Christ the Church of Rome was never more than only a particular Church that is a member of the universal and is now what it hath long been a most corrupt and unsound member And as that Church hath strangely sunk into heathenish and barbarous Superstitions so may it utterly fail and vanish and disclaim the
not cut off by Gods hand but pardoned upon his deep repentance But this pardon was not the Act of the Law it self but the dispensation of the Law-giver And so indeed were these promises wherein the Prophets proclaimed pardon where the Law expresly death as when they promised remission and pardon to Idolaters themselves if they would repent For such was the rigour of the Law that whensoever it threatned death it did not dispense with the guilty person no not upon repentance it self not upon amendment and reformation This is the meaning of the Apostle when he saith that the Law worketh wrath Rom. 4.15 when he stiled it the ministration of condemnation 2. Cor. 3.9 This is the reason why having opposed it to the Gospel as the letter unto the Spirit he further adds that the letter killeth but that the spirit giveth life vers 6. of the same Chapter this is the reason why Christ is said to have come in the flesh to deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 2.15 For as the Law threatned death to very numerous kinds of sin so it admitted no expiation no sacrifice no repentance unto life where it expresly threatned death and here was the rigour of the Law Now the Gospel on the other hand although it threaten Eternal Death to obstinate and impenitent sinners yet it allows and accepts repentance as a condition of remission in all degrees and kinds of sin wherein the Law did not allow it as to the punishment it threatned And this is the thing which S. Paul suggests Act. 13.38 Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man that is through Christ is preached unto you forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all those things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses There were numerous sins from which the Law did not absolve the offending person The Law did never absolve or justifie where a man had wittingly committed a sin to which that Law threatned excision but left him without any promise of pardon to the Soveraignty of the Law-maker Whereas the Gospel in express words admits repentance and reformation as a condition of forgiveness in all those kinds and degrees of sin no sin so hainous in its nature none so aggravated by repetition none so heightned by long continuance whereunto the Gospel doth not expresly promise pardon upon the sinners return to God Here is that grace that pardons the sensual and impure upon their amendment and reformation here is that grace that pardons the violent and injurious upon repentance and restitution Here is that mercy that forgives the impious and profane if peradventure they shall reform and return to God by true repentance A grace so great and undeserved that it is seldom mentioned in Scripture without expressions of admiration A grace so signal and so eminent that when the Apostle had described it in the fifth Chapter to the Romans he found it needful to spend the sixth in caution against the abuse of it Not that the liberty of the Gospel either in this or the former instance is really such in its own nature as that it gives any reasonable grounds for men to indulge themselves in sin but that they being bribed by their own lusts take encouragement to do this where none is given that is to use the Apostles words use the liberty given in the Gospel for an occasion to the flesh 2. And so I pass to the second part the caution which the Apostle gives against the abuse of that liberty which is allowed us in the Gospel Now as this consists in two instances liberty from the numerous Rites and from the rigour of the penal Sanction of Moses his Law so was there something of abuse of both these parts of Christian liberty in the primitive Ages of Christianity 1. For first as to the former instances some there were who being acquainted with their liberty from the Rites and Injunctions of the Law earlier than many others were used the liberty of their consciences to ensnare the consciences of other men scorned and censured them as weak and ignorant and by their censures and examples engaged them in the neglect of some Laws relating to certain days and meats before they understood their liberty or had due time to understand it And this abuse of Christain liberty is censured in S. Pauls writings both to the Romans and Corinthians 2. Others observing that S. Paul denied the necessity nay in some cases forbad the use of the works of the Law that is of the Rites before mentioned in order unto Justification took liberty as S. James suggests Jam. 3 to absolve themselves from the works and graces of the Gospel from justice mercy and humility from love and patience and veracity from the engagements and obligations not only of the Laws of Christ but even of natural Religion it self An errour which to this very day so infects the Divinity of many persons that it is no wonder to see their Followers ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth 2. But to pass on to the second instance The relaxation of that rigour which was in the penal Sanction of the Law seems to have been no less abused than liberty from its numerous Rites For it should seem that some persons observing that the Gospel promised pardon where the Law of Moses had denied it and judging that the grace of God was highly magnified by that pardon took leave to indulge themselves in sin under pretence of magnifying Gods grace Which is the errour St. Paul censures Rom. 6.12 What shall me say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid God offers no pardon but to the penitent the design of his grace in offering pardon to the penitent is to invite men to repentance and therefore to use that grace as an encouragement to impenitence is to use it just against it self contrary to its own design as well as against a mans own advantage How much of this unthankful folly may yet remain in the Christian world I am not able to determine but sure I am that there is something like unto it in very general use amongst us which is the delay of reformation grounded upon the promise of pardon to every man that forsakes his sins although he have long continued in them a great abuse of the grace of God God promises pardon to prevent despair these abuse that promise to presumption God admits repentance after sin to encourage us to forsake our sins these abuse his grace in that instance to encourge them to continue in them which is to contemn the goodness of God and despise the mercy they should adore And so S. Paul himself suggests Rom. 4.4 Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance Add
God for he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life 1 John 5.12 The Twelfth Sermon Philip. 1.10 That ye may approve things that are excellent ALthough God in his infinite wisdom never enjoined any thing to men but what considering all circumstances of times and places and persons likewise was useful and convenient for them though indifferent in its own nature such were the numerous Rites and Ceremonies of Moses's Law yet are there other instances of Duty which are immutably good in themselves and therefore proper for all Ages So are these two general Duties to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbour as our selves So are the particular Branches of them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in the world And so with very little exception are all the Duties of the Gospel Which impartially tryed and weighed cannot but be approved as good even by them that do not practise them But a general assent of the understanding not applied to particular instances of life and action is far short of the approbation which the Apostle here designs For although the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in the Greek sometimes signifie something less than a bare assent of the understanding that is to try and examine only as where it is required that we prove all things 1 Thess 5.21 yet here it signifies much more Here as also in other places it imports such a clear and setled judgment of what is good as is accompanied with resolution to practise what we judge to be so This appears from what the Apostle joins in the same period with it sincerity and a blameless life and these retain unto the end For so is the tenour of his words That ye may approve things that are excellent that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ The same appears from the Style wherein the Apostle speaks For the words of my Text are part of a Prayer wherein after his usual custom of saluting the persons to whom he writes ver 1. and praying grace and peace for them from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ ver 2. after his thanks rendred to God for their fellowship in the Gospel in the following verses of the eighteenth Chapter he further prays that their love might abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment and that they might approve things that are excellent Being then the Apostle prays this for them as a thing of singular concernment to them and being a cold assent of mind an ineffectual approbation of what is excellent is a thing of no concern at all this cannot possibly be the thing which he so heartily prays for them but what is far more than this such an approbation of the mind as upon a full and clear survey of all the differences of good and evil in their natures issues and effects both in this and the other world ends in a certain determination never to deviate from what is good So then taking this for granted which the Apostle here supposes that the things prescribed to us in the Gospel are things excellent and good for us worthy thy to be commanded by God and reasonable to be practised by us especially upon the powerful motives whereupon the Gospel recommends them the proper subject which these words offer unto our consideration is the approbation of these things that is a clear and stable judgment in the Duties prescribed to us in the Gospel In the handling of which Subject it is most fit that we consider 1. The singular use and advantage of such a judgment in those Duties 2. How it may be gained 3. And lastly How it must be exercised by them that have attained unto it 1. And for the first let it be considered That the judgment which I have now described is of such singular use to us that it is 1. Both an effectual cure of all the Diseases of our minds considered absolutely in themselves and 2. Also a constant Guide and Monitor in every instance of our lives First A Guide to discover our Duties to us and Secondly A Monitor to press the practice of them and steady perseverance in that practice whatsoeever may tempt us to the contrary 1. If we survey the several maladies of our minds the diseases of humane understanding there are First Ignorance Secondly Doubt and Thirdly Vanity Ignorance of what is true and useful or Scepticism and doubt in what is so or Vanity in applying our minds to things impertinent and useless to us though we may have certain knowledge of them First The first Disease of the understanding is ignorance of that which is truly good For as the knowledge of what is so is the proper perfection of the mind because it was made to know this and every thing is perfect in its end so the ignorance of what it was made to know is its greatest malady and imperfection Ignorance is that Disease in the mind which utter blindness is in the eye that imperfection in the understanding which darkness would be in the Sun and Stars 'T is that which Death is unto Life its proper ruine and destruction It hides the face of truth from us it eclipses all the lustre of goodness it puts us under the power of errour which vitiates and perverts our choice and doth not only lead to danger but also reconcile us to it Now just contrary to these effects are those of clear and stable judgment in things pertaining to life and happiness or as the Apostle's expression is of the approbation of things excellent Truth is to the mind as light to the Sun its proper lustre and perfection Besides it powerfully recommends and sets off every thing that 's good it shews it in its native colours and gives it the advantages due unto it so that to use the Apostles words Philip. 4.8 Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise whatsoever there is that deserves our love it is so represented in the mind when the mind is duly informed by truth that it commends itself to choice and gains the possession of our hearts for as we naturally desire and love what our minds recommend unto us as good in itself and for us likewise so the hearty love of what is good is the gaining the very thing we love for there is this remarkable difference between the love of good or evil and that of all other things in the world that we may love these other things and yet fall short of the things themselves but he that loves good or evil is good or evil by so doing The consequence of which discourse is this that the approbation of things excellent a clear and stable
judgment in them is not only the cure of Ignorance the first disease of the understanding but what is more than I said at first a powerful and a sovereign medicine to the distempers of our wills to all our inordinate lusts and passions Secondly Let us now proceed to the second malady of our minds from which it is a like deliverance and that is Scepticism and suspense in things both evident and useful to us for general assurance and general doubt to believe every thing and nothing at all are equal distempers of the mind although of very different kinds the one proceeding from vain confidence the other from the weak suspicions of a shattered and broken understanding There are some men that can make themselves believe any thing even that their senses are deceived though duly applyed to their proper objects and yet pretend the proof of this from a Doctrine which being grounded on miracle the proper object of our senses is grounded upon the truth of sense So do they that believe the Doctrine of Transubstantiation others had rather deceive themselves by the Sophistry of their own wits in nice and uncertain speculations than content or owne themselves to be ignorant in things the knowledge whereof is useless But then as it cannot be denied that this is a levity of understanding to pretend certainty in things uncertain So is it a more unhappy weakness and a greater craziness of understanding to doubt and suspend in those things which are both evident and useful likewise A man may doubt in things impertinent to life and happiness without any danger or fear either because he neither really is nor judges himself concerned in them but if he be doubtful in those things wherein his greatest concernments lie if he question the difference of good and evil if he call Divine Revelation in question if he doubt of the very truth of the Gospel if he scruple what Christ hath brought to light eternal life and immortality if he be under suspense and fear what is the way to life immortal if he question what he shall be hereafter happy or miserable or neither of both that is as the very brute that perishes if he be held in suspense and doubt of such important things as these what reelings and fluctuations of mind what anxieties and pangs of heart what irresolution in life and practice must these uncertainties bring upon him This is part of that very bondage from which our Saviour came to free us who was made partaker of flesh and blood that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 2.15 Which very deliverance Christ hath wrought by the clear discovery and certain proof of life eternal and all the means of attaining to it for so hath he given us a firm foundation of clear and certain and stable judgment both in our duties and rewards and so delivered the minds of men from the bondage of suspense and doubt in their only true and great concernments Thirdly Now for the vanity of the mind in applying itself to useless things the last disease of the understanding this also is effectually cured by the approbation of things excellent that is to say by sound judgment in all our duties and rewards for such a judgment cannot fall to divert our thoughts from needless things from vain speculations from idle subtilties from trivial questions from angry contentions and disputes about impertinent and useless things the itch whereof hath been an epidemical disease in the minds and understandings of men in most ages and professions in the Philosophers among the heathen in the Pharisees among the Jews in the Schoolmen among the Christians to say nothing of the Mahometan imposture which is a trifle from beginning to end multitudes of volumes have been written upon impertinent and trivial subjects multitudes of Libraries hive been filled with troublesome and unuseful rubbish with the ruines of humane understanding for all the vanity we find in books was first of all in the minds of men It was the complaint of one of the greatest of the heathen that all the Philosophers before Socrates imployed their studies in the speculation of those things which were of very small concernment and did not only all that while neglect the culture of life and manners but left the very things they studied in the same obscurity they found them in Socrates indeed made an attempt to transfer knowledge from useless things into the lives and manners of men and certainly the attempt was great but the success was not such but that still many professours of wisdom mispent their studies in useless trifles and obscurities the knowledge whereof made no man better nor ignorance any man ever the worse The same disease hath long reign'd among the Jews those of their writings that are most trifling fable in history and tattle in dispute so is their very Talmud itself are most of all valued amongst them This first began amongst the Pharisees and was so infections in that Nation and so difficult to be removed when it had once seized the mind that several Proselytes to Christianity abused themselves and troubled others with foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law which the Apostle reprehends as unprofitable and vain Tit. 3.9 These are the men whom he describes 1 Tim. 6.4 5. who were proud knowing nothing doting about questions and strifes of words whereof cometh envy strife railings evil surmizings perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth where by the way we may observe that they that made the greatest pretence of striving for truth lost piety nay truth itself while they pretended to strive for it Now I will not say that the same dust hath been raised by the Schoolmen among the Christians that the same vanity and curiosity hath had all the same effects But this I think I may aver that whatsoever wit the Schoolmen shew in the subjects whereupon they treat the choice of many of those subjects demonstrates a strange want of judgment But to what purpose is this discourse To clear the use to shew the necessity of sound judgment in the things the Apostle styles excellent in things pertinent to life and happiness which very judgment is in itself an effectual cure of all this vanity of understanding that diverts the mind from its proper food from solid useful pertinent truth from the knowledge of God and of our selves to trivial disputes and speculations which after all a man's pains and studies leave his mind vain and empty his temper proud and supercilious and his life for any thing gained by them utterly unreform'd and vitious So is not he that stedily approves the things that are excellent for the very excellency of these things throughly digested and approved clears his thoughts and feeds his mind and calms
and glorious Solomon gives of the glory of this World which he pronounces to be no better than vanity and vexation of spirit and that upon long and great experience And let the consideration of this teach us the emptiness and insufficiency of all this world can afford to us And this we could not fail to learn did we often reflect upon our selves and seriously meditate upon our ways and consider how little of satisfaction arises even from lawful pleasures and how much less from those of sin which though they should not be imbittered yet cannot but be much abated by the very sin from whence they flow These thoughts would teach us to understand That God hath formed and designed our souls for pleasures quite of another nature for spiritual and immortal joys For certainly he that hath been so liberal as to provide a proportionable food for all the Creatures below them for the Fowls of the Air for the Beasts of the Field for all things creeping upon the Earth and all things swimming in the Sea hath not been so narrow to the souls of men as not to provide such joys for them as may give them plentiful satisfaction Which leads me to the fourth Particular which the thoughts of our ways may suggest to us in order to our reformation of them which is Fourthly The happiness of that state we enter upon when we cast off and forsake our sins and turn out feet to Gods testimonies Then are our sins remitted to us wilful sins as well as frailties and sinful actions against Gods Laws as well as omissions and neglects and blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not sin Psal 32.1 2. Then we become the Children of God then we become the special concernment of his Providence then are we adopted into his Family and to a title to an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us For if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 Then are we renewed in the Spirit of our minds then born of God and made Partakers of the Divine Nature then do we pass from darkness to light from bondage to liberty from death to life Then are we made meet to be Partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Then delivered by God from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son These and such like are the expressions whereby the Scriptures describe the repentance of a Sinner and the happy change which it makes in him a change so happy in it self and of such concernment to him likewise that it creates a joy in Heaven and makes the Angels themselves rejoyce For saith our Lord there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth Luk. 15.10 and before that at the 7th v. There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance no habitual change of life Suppose we then that recollection of our selves and the consideration of our ways bring all the things I have now mentioned into our thoughts and they are really apt to do it suppose them fixed upon our minds by the cooperation of Gods Spirit which he will not deny to them that ask it might it not reasonably be expected that these thoughts thus fixed upon us should touch our Consciences move our affections and kindle good resolutions in us and provoke us to greater care and diligence in the future Government of our lives If we did fully convince our selves of the infinite hazards and inconveniences that attend a vitious course of life of the vanity and emptiness of all those things for the sake whereof we expose our selves to all those hazards of the peace and happiness of that State whereunto we enter by true repentance I perswade my self we could no more content our selves still to continue in our sins than willingly chuse our own misery which God hath made an impossible thing and that out of very faithfulness to us Nor could we answer it to our selves to deny our selves the great advantages that attend the conversion of a sinner did we represent them to our selves in serious thoughts and meditations These thoughts assisted by that grace which suggests them to us would move us to chuse immortal happiness and the joys that attend the firm and stable hopes of it rather than the very highest pleasures which the wildest and most extravagant minds can possibly fansie to be in evil 2. Having thus given a short account of several things which the thoughts of our ways may suggest to us in order to the reformation of them which was the former of the two generals before propounded I shall now proceed unto the second where I am to shew what the like thoughts may offer to us to perswade us to do it without delay as it appears they did in David who having seriously thought on his ways delayed not to keep Gods Commandments Where in my way to more particular considerations I cannot but note this in general that evil is a most indefensible thing no sooner considered and understood but presently rejected and forsaken I thought on my ways says the Psalmist here and what then and turned my feet unto thy testimonies I made hast and delayed not to keep thy commandments No sooner did he consider his ways and make a discovery of his sins but he quickly retired and fled from them as from the brow of a dangerous precipice where he durst not stand a moment longer Sin will not abide a serious thought it will not endure an impartial trial It is an imposture it is a cheat it is a lie and so is every temptation to it confuted as soon as understood But the more particular meditations which recommend a speedy repentance are the consideration of Gods design in all his patience towards sinners serious reflection upon the uncertainty of our lives in this so corruptible and frail a State and likewise due consideration of the several difficulties and inconveniences that attend the delay of reformation 1. Therefore let it be well considered what is the end of Gods patience and whence it is that he doth not pursue and follow our sins with speedy and destructive punishments but give us time and opportunity to recollect and reform our lives The reason of this is not that the high and lofty one takes no notice of things below that he is indifferent to good and evil and unconcern'd in the sons of men and in what they do and suffer in the World It is not as those scoffers imagined who walking after their own lusts cavilled the delays of Gods judgments and mock'd that patience whereby they lived saying as St Peter hath observed 2 Ep. cap. 3. v. 4. Where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue
as they were from the beginning of the creation but as it follows v. 9. Because God is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance yea even those very persons themselves that injure his patience and long-suffering In the mean time I cannot deny that there is some shadow of an objection against Gods providence in the World to them that measure him by themselves and judge of him by their own model For that he should readily pardon our frailties and long forbear our wilful sins that he should continue those very mercies which men abuse and turn into weapons of unrighteousness feed the mouth that blasphemes his name support the arm that works iniquity preserve that very life and strength which is spent and wasted to his dishonour and patiently wait for a Sinners return while the Sinner abuses that very patience to an encouragement to impenitence is such an example of long-suffering as is no where found but in God only But I consider that Gods thoughts are not as our thoughts nor his ways as our ways that one day as St Peter affirms is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day that he hath appointed and fixed a day wherein he will judge the World in righteousness and therefore firmly still believe that his patience to Sinners in the mean time designs their repentance and reformation and that his mercies in Jesus Christ are so great that he will pardon the hearty Penitent after the greatest provocations And this is that which himself suggests Isai 55.7 8 9. Let the wicked forsake his way and the righteous wan his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon And lest we should disbelieve this as a thing improbable for God to do because unusual amongst men he presently addes in the following words For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord for as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts From whence I conclude That it is not indifferency to good and evil nor want of concernment for mankind which causes God to delay punishment but merely his patience and long-suffering waiting for the Sinners return to him And may not the consideration of this when deeply fixed upon the mind so powerfully affect the hearts of Sinners as to urge them to speedy reformation May it not produce a great indignation against themselves to remember their many misbehaviours and also their long continuance in them under all the patience of God towards them May not the thoughts of that patience where there is any ingenuity left provoke the hearts of men to gratitude and gratitude unto speedy repentance Could any man think it safe or reasonable still to trespass against that patience which he had already long abused and to provoke that very goodness which he had forfeited long ago did he seriously reflect upon these things I hope there are few so void of sense of their own concernments and of love and gratitude towards God whom serious thoughts of their own evils under the patience of God towards them would not move to speedy reformation Saint Paul I am sure represents the contrary as a despight to the mercies of God and a dangerous cruelty to our selves in that severe expostulation Rom. 2.4 5. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God which is so clear a demonstration that the consideration of Gods patience and of his ends and designs in it should perswade to speedy reformation that it would be needless to add any more to this Argument Secondly Proceed we therefore to the second thing which cannot easily escape our thoughts while we reflect upon our ways and the effects and issues of them which is the uncertainty of our lives in this state of frailty and mortality Which is so clear and evident to us both from what we feel within our selves daily decays of natural strength and from what we see in many others short life and sudden death that there is nothing in all the world no not the denial of a God nor the making of one of the Trunk of a Tree reproached in Scripture as a greater folly than a presumption of long life and of ease and joy and pleasure in it Observe how this is represented in the Parable of a certain rich man who having had so plentiful and so large a Harvest that he had not where to bestow his fruits thus deliberates with himself Luke 12.17 18 19. Verses What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits And he said This will I do I will pull down my Barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods And I will say to my soul Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and he merry But what 's the next thing he hears from God Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee The sharpness and bitterness of which rebuke joined with the sudden confutation of this mans promises made to himself represents the folly sin and danger of the like presumptions in other men Let us therefore while we consider our ways the number and nature of our sins with all their several aggravations the ill effects that will attend them unless prevented by repentance the absolute necessity of this Duty for the prevention of those effects let us I say together with these consider the frailty of our lives and in the consideration hereof never defer a necessary Duty to a time uncertain to a day we may never live to see and that not only because long life is a thing uncertain in it self but because the expectation of it especially being generally used as an encouragement to delay repentance may very justly provoke God to blast it with sudden disappointment God doth not only hate the delay of reformation grounded on presumption of long life as a neglect of duty to him but reproaches the very folly of it styles him a fool who so presumed which puts me in mind of that of Solomon Eccles 9.10 Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest Thirdly But now because many men may purpose future amendment although they neglect it at the present and will believe that these purposes shall take effect notwithstanding all that can be said to shew the uncertainty of this event give me leave to add a third Particular which the thoughts of our ways
in any condition or rank of men more than in any other Now being God so plainly threatens death eternal unto the impeitent and disobedient can there be any so great an errour as for these men to presume of pardon and to expect eternal life while they continue so to be The Gospel denounces death upon them they promise life unto themselves and is not then this promise of theirs expresly contrary to the Gospel The Gospel tells them that they must die they say no but we shall live and do they not contradict the Gospel The Gospel saith that they are under Gods displeasure but they presume they are in his favour and where do you think lies the truth in the Gospel or in their presumptions We must believe what the Gospel saith whatsoever it be that they presume and so the Apostle himself believed when he put this truth upon record 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad for what doth he add to these words Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men we labour to instruct the ignorant we labour to convince the obstinate we labour to awake the drowsy we strive to stir up every person to escape from the wrath which is to come by timely repentance and reformation we know the terrour of the Lord we do not guess but we are assured that it will overtake the impenitent when he shall return to judge the World and therefore use our utmost power to perswade repentance and reformation 5. And now because that impenitent persons even those that abide in wilful sin are wont to ground their hopes of pardon and life eternal on the death of Christ and the satisfaction made by him it will he sit in the last place to shew that his death and satisfaction is so far from giving any countenance to this errour that it doth utterly overthrow it nor need we any further argument to convince and perswade us that this is so than that the death of our blessed Lord is always used in the holy Scripture as a mighty motive to obedience For certainly that very same thing can be no motive unto obedience that gives any just and true encouragement for a man to continue in his sins yet so it is the death of Christ is always represented in Scripture as a mighty motive to obedience unto all obedience to the Gospel and so designed by Christ himself He gave himself for us says the Apostle that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 He bare our sins in his own body upon the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness 1 Pet. 2.24 He gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world that is from the lusts and corruptions of it Gal. 1.4 He gave himself for his Church or Body that he might sanctifie and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having a spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Eph. 5.25 c. And that you may see that he was really understood to design this in his dying for us and that his death tends effectually to this purpose with them that understand it aright hear what the Apostle himself speaks upon this point 2 Cor. 5.14 15. The love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again From whence observe that the death of Christ was so apprehended and understood by the primitive followers of our Lord that they took their very greatest motives their strongest arguments to obedience from it so far was it from giving them any grounds or reasons to cherish and indulge their sins If any man ask what then hath the death of Christ done for the remission of our sins My answer is that the satisfaction thereby made hath gained the pardon of all those sins we repent of not of those whereof we do not repent It operates to the remission of sin of all degrees and kinds of sin when we abandon and forsake them not while we cherish and indulge them and thus it becomes not an encouragement to live in them but to abandon and cast them off 3. Having thus shewed that for God to accept men in their sins to pardon them while they live in them is flatly contrary to his nature contrary to his own decree declared and published in the Gospel I may now very justly conclude the thing which I propounded at the first that a presumption of his pardon while a man continues in his sins is a very great and dangerous errour for so of necessity must that be which is so manifest a mistake both of the nature and will of God and that in a matter of no less moment than that of eternal life and happiness Add hereunto that this is an errour which makes men stupid and secure in the midst of the very greatest dangers lulls them asleep under Gods displeasures charms them with the hope of peace while it is far removed from them They speak peace unto themselves the Gospel speaks quite contrary they judge themselves in Gods favour the Gospel pronounces that they are not so they promise themselves remission of sins eternal happiness and Salvation the Gospel threatens death and judgment In the mean time having reconciled the hopes of Heaven to the fruition of their lusts they enjoy themselves they enjoy their sins without any fear of danger from them for such is the nature of this errour that it infatuates the mind it self removes the force and power of Conscience le ts the corruptions of nature loose leaves no restraint leaves no check at all upon them and so exposes them to destruction till it be discovered and removed 3. I have said enough of the propositions which are implyed in the words before us namely 1. that men may presume of Gods favour while they continue in their sins 2 That this presumption of theirs is a very great and dangerous errour and shall now conclude with what is expressed He that doth righteousness is righteous that is to say he that is hearty and sincere in the practice of all the several duties prescribed unto us in the Gospel he is acceptable unto God he is in grace and favour with him nor will God charge him with the guilt of such lapses and inadvertencies as flow from the frailty of humane nature And what is the use we should make of this It is to awake and excite our selves to all diligence to all sincerity in our duties And
weeping that they are enemies to the cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame who mind earthly things And then further many others study to find out easie ways to life eternal and rather chuse to lose their end in the use of false and deceitful means than to attain it by those endeavours that seem more difficult although they be more certain likewise If they can think of any method whereby they may hope to gain a pardon and yet notwithstanding retain their sin if they can find out any arts to reconcile the hopes of heaven to the enjoyment of their lusts if any such method offer it self as promises everlasting happiness and yet permits them in their sins or admits a commutation for them a penance instead of reformation this is the method which they will chuse this is a Religion they will embrace so they chuse their own delusions and study to cheat and deceive themselves Our Lord hath left this caution with us as necessary for our eternal Salvation Matt. 5.29 30. If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell And who would think but that such a caution should firmly settle this belief that every reigning that is every habitual lust excludes a man from the Kingdom of Heaven yet such is the folly of infinite numbers who do profess the Gospel of Christ that they do both permit their lusts to reign in them and hope to attain to life eternal they suffer themselves to be deluded with false and deceitful arts and shifts pretending to be the way to heaven but so do not they that make the World their great end they chuse the means that are true and proper although more difficult in Execution than those that are not so effectual 2. Add hereunto in the second place that they who make this World their end having once concluded of the means that are most proper most effectual for this purpose use no delay in Execution They sleep not over their opportunities of serving their interest and advantage they do not defer that till the morrow which had been better done to day but carefully improve every moment for the gaining of that they have designed But Lord what tedious delays are used by many professing Christianity before they will seriously apply themselves to gain the end of that profession or lead their lives according to it How many trifling arts are used to put of the practice of their duties to secure their darling beloved lusts What mean excuses are pretended to defend and justifie their delays How many resolutions are made and broken how many times are set and put off for this great work this necessary business of reformation How many convictions must they suffer How often must Conscience be awakened what pangs and regrets must it endure what flames must God kindle upon it before they will seriously apply themselves to consider their end and the way unto it shake of their lusts and practise the Duties of Christianity See how our Lord represents this case Luk. 9. at the latter end where when he commands one to follow him his answer is Lord suffer me first to go and bury my Father Another receiving the like command presently returns a like answer I will follow thee but let me first go and bid them farewell which are at home at my house So we even too too many of us being urged to mind our great end to secure our everlasting happiness resolve indeed upon repentance and reformation but delay to practise our resolutions this men put off so oft so long with such oppositions to their own reason such contradiction to their Conscience till at last they utterly lay aside the very design and purpose of it and never think any more of it unless perhaps the arrest of sickness or the sense of approaching near to death revive their former resolutions and then the Minister is called for then the Sacrament then Absolution is desired with what success God only knows I will not undertake to say However thus much I may pronounce that the weakest and most imprudent persons do not manage the affairs of this life with so little prudence and foresight as these the concernments of life eternal 3. As the Children of this World use no delays in the Execution of the means which they judge most proper for their ends so they are not heedless and incogitant but strangely diligent in the execution They do entirely give up themselves to serve the end which they have chosen They mind they pursue this one thing only they do not halt between two opinions but sacrifice every other thing for the service of their main design They will deny their ease and pleasure they will deny their reputation they will bridle their natural lusts and passions they will do any violence to themselves to attain the end they have propounded as the great design and end of life But how do they many of them behave themselves who profess the hope of life eternal and the attaining of that life to be their chief and principal end do they submit all ends to this do they consecrate all their labours to it do they entirely yield themselves to the service of God and their own Souls do they not halt between Christ and Belial is it no part of their design to serve any other end but one do not God and Mamon divide their thoughts hath not Mamon a share with God is there no darling beloved lust that cools their affections checks their endeavours after heaven how shall we answer these questions alas they are answered by our experience experience shews how much the men that make profession of the Gospel and of the hope of life eternal mind and endeavour other ends even more than that one needful thing that chief principal end of all of attaining to eternal happiness For these men while they make profession of serving this design only in the mean time sacrifice to their lusts sacrifice to their ease and pleasure sacrifice to their pride and avarice divide their hearts and share their endeavours between the present and future things and do not so heartily seek for heaven as the Children of this present World seek the advantages of the World 4. Lastly the Children of this World pursue their ends and interests in it without cessation or interruption nothing shall divert nothing interrupt nothing break off their labours after it They do not stand to gaze on trifles to please their eyes to fill their ears with things wherein they are not concern'd but still persist and persevere in steady pursuit of their designs But they that seem they that pretend to seek after the Kingdom of God and his