of God's worship but of those who pretend to the fear of God and care of their souls and yet live at ease in the gross omission of this duty Now amongst the many pleas or excuses with which men satisfy themselves in the neglect or disuse of this holy Communion that which most generally prevails and perhaps with some honest and well-meaning persons is the consideration of the words of my Text He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself So dreadfull is the threatning and punishment here denounced against those who receive this Sacrament unworthily that men are apt to think it much the safer and wifer course never to venture on a duty the wrong performance of which is attended with so great mischief Damnation is so terrible a word and to be guilty of the body and bloud of Christ as it is said v. 27. Whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord is so heinous a crime that it may seem the most prudent course for a man to keep himself at the greatest distance from all possibility of falling into it Better never receive at all than expose ones self to so great hazard by receiving I hope therefore it will not be thought altogether unprofitable to entertain you at this time with a discourse on these words wherein I shall endeavour to give you the full meaning of them with the true and just inferences and consequences that may be drawn from them In order to which I shall shew you I. What is meant here by damnation II. What by eating and drinking unworthily III. How far this Text may reasonably scare and fright people from this Sacrament IV. What is the true consequence from what is here affirmed by the Apostle He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself I. What is meant here by eating and drinking damnation to a man's self The original word which is here translated damnation truly signifies no more than judgment or punishment in general of what kind soever it be temporal or eternal So that there is no necessity of translating it here by the word damnation nay there are two plain reasons why it ought to be understood onely of temporal evils and chastisements 1. Because the judgments that were inflicted on the Corinthians for their prophanation of this holy Sacrament were onely temporal verse 30th For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep 2. Because the reason assigned of these judgments is that they might not be condemned in the other world v. 32. But when we are judged where the same Greek word is used which in my Text is translated damnation we are chastened of the Lord that we might not be condemned with the world That is God inflicted these evils on the Corinthians that being reformed by these stripes in this life they might escape that vengeance which was reserved for the impenitent in another life and therefore it could not be damnation that is eternal damnation that was either threatned or inflicted upon them for their unworthy receiving The sum of what the Apostle means seems to be this that By prophaning this holy Sacrament they would pluck down some remarkable judgment upon their heads Of this saith he you have notorious instances amongst your selves in those various and mortal diseases that have been so rise in your City and this God doth to warn you that you may be awakened to avoid greater and worse judgments that are future and eternal Now this punishment was extraordinary and peculiar to that time for there is no such thing found amongst us at this day namely that God doth suddenly smite all unworthy Communicants with some grievous disease or sudden death Nor indeed are men afraid of any such thing though it is very plain that this is the true meaning of the words of my Text that by such prophaneness they would bring down some remarkable temporal judgment upon themselves But I shall not insist any longer upon this but take the word damnation as we commonly understand it and in that sense to eat and drink damnation to a man's self doth imply that by our unworthy participation of the Sacrament we are so far from receiving any benefit or advantage by it that we do incur God's heaviest displeasure and render our selves liable to eternal misery and so proceed II. To enquire who those are that do run this great danger they who eat and drink unworthily Now this phrase of eating unworthily being onely found here in this Chapter for the understanding of it we are to consider what the faults were with which the Apostle chargeth the Corinthians and we shall find them to be some very heinous disorders that had crept in amongst them occasioned by their Love-feasts at the end of which the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was usually celebrated which disorders therefore were peculiar to those times and are not now to be found amongst us as v. 18. First of all when ye come together in the Church I hear that there be divisions among you they bandied into separate parties and v. 21. In eating every one taketh before another his own supper that is Whereas there was a custome when they came together to commemorate Christ's death to furnish a common table where no man was to pretend any propriety to what he himself brought but was to eat in common with the rest this charitable custome these Corinthians wholly perverted for he that brought a great deal fell to that as if it were at his own house and at his own table and so fed to the full whereas another that was able to bring but a little remained hungry With such irreverence and disorder did they behave themselves at the Lord's Table as if they had been met at a common feast this the Apostle calls not discerning the Lord's body that is they made no difference between that heavenly food and common bread they ate the Sacrament as if it were their ordinary meat What saith he v. 22. have ye not houses to eat and drink in ye may e'en as well stay at home and doe this there is nothing of Religion in this nor is this to celebrate the Sacrament according to Christ's institution whereby we ought to represent his death for the world and to commemorate his love and to devote our selves to him in new and better obedience and not to make it a merry meeting onely to fill our own bellies But this was not all for they were also riotous and intemperate in these Love-feasts They play'd the gluttons and were drunk even when they received the holy Sacrament Now this was so notorious and foul a prophanation of the holy Mystery to make it an instrument of debauchery that we cannot at all wonder that God should so severely threaten and punish such an high affront and violation of his sacred ordinance No
for those Laws which he hath made and by which he will govern and judge the world as wicked men themselves have but should we grant all that can be asked in this case and suppose it very doubtfull whether our souls are immortal and surely no man will pretend to prove it impossible that they should be so nay should we suppose it great odds that there is not a future state yet that man doth nevertheless most notoriously betray his want of prudence and discretion who will not contradict his own brutish inclinations and deny himself some short pleasures and chuse that course of life which our reason no less than our Religion doth recommend to us rather than run the least hazard though it were of an hundred to one of being for ever miserable And thus much concerning being enticed to wicked practices And now I might discourse at large of another sort of enticing which is to erroneous and pernicious doctrines and of such as go about to inveigle and corrupt our judgments and debauch our understandings by seducing us to the belief of opinions no less wicked than false But I shall at present onely crave leave briefly to shew 1. What danger men are in of being seduced by such temptations 2. What is our best armour and security against them 1. What danger we are in of being enticed from that profession and belief which is publickly taught and own'd amongst us which danger arises partly from the earnestness importunity or the arts that subtile men use to bring us off but most especially from the doctrines themselves which they would learn us and instill into us which are such as are most pleasing and gratefull to one who delights in his sins such as cannot but be most acceptable to him as giving him hopes of heaven though he deny himself very little for it such as lay the grounds and foundations of sinning chearfully without any fear or remorse and therefore as long as the greatest part of the world love vice and ease will succeed and be greedily entertained It is no hard matter to persuade men to believe what they before-hand wish were true and there needs no great store of proof or arguments to recommend those opinions to the sensual and prophane which give them leave to fulfill their lusts without any regret of conscience or dread of punishment Is it not a comfortable doctrine and will it not be readily embraced by every resolved sinner that after a long wicked life at the last gasp a bare sorrow for sin out of fear of hell with the Priest's absolution shall at least free him from eternal pains and take away the guilt of his sins so that he need not be afraid of any thing besides a sudden death which happens but seldom When he is at any time disturbed with the sense of his dangerous condition when the forced remembrance of his sins doth gall and fret his mind and fill him with fears and melancholy thoughts what a relief must it needs be to him to be assured that it is but going to a Priest and confessing his sins and undergoing some small penances and he is safe for then he may go on in his full carriere with the greatest security imaginable then he may sin with judgment and commit all manner of wickedness with discretion He who hath no mind to part with his lusts is easily persuaded that they are invincible nor is it very difficult to make him who is loth to take any pains or be at any trouble for keeping of Christ's commands to believe that they are impossible to be kept and that our Saviour fulfilled even his own law in our stead and that we have nothing to doe but to believe that he hath done all and be thankfull In a word where the obscurity of Scripture or the difficulty of the matter or the weakness of our understandings have caused one to mistake multitudes have been drawn aside to the most pernicious errours by their lusts and secular interests and carnal designs and love to gain sloth or sensuality and by this chiefly are the several dissenting parties amongst us maintained and do encrease their numbers to wit by levelling the doctrine of Christianity to mens corrupt inclinations and passions whilst we of the Church of England dare not be so false either to our own trust or the souls of men as to give them hopes of everlasting bliss on any other condition but that of living godlily righteously and soberly in this present world from all which follows 2. That our security against such temptations doth not consist in much reading and great learning in our skill in controversies or cunning in managing a dispute or ability of discerning between good argument and sophistry so much as in an honest mind and humble heart an unfeigned desire of knowing and sincere endeavour of doing the will of God Him who is thus minded God by his infinite goodness is ingaged not to suffer to fall into any errour of mischievous effect and as for other mistakes wherein a good life is not concerned God is ready to overlook and pardon what is the result onely of the imperfection of our present state besides which honesty of mind or love to vertue is in it self and its own nature our best preservative against being infected with any bad opinions I am far from taking upon me to judge or condemn those that were born and bred up and have lived well under any forms of Religion different from what is established amongst us for it is very possible for men to hold opinions very wicked and yet not perceiving nor acknowledging the just consequences of them to live very good lives yet this is true that one that designs nothing so much as pleasing God and saving his soul and is willing to take any pains for it and hath no by-ends to serve will not desire to be excused from the mortification of his lusts subduing his appetites crucifying his flesh and from the severities of an holy life by substituting in the room of them pilgrimages vain oblations bodily austerities or such formal devotions as very bad men may perform and be very bad still Those principles which most advance the honour of God by laying the strictest obligations on men to all manner of goodness he will hearken to and readily believe but if they serve the ends of avarice or ambition if they are apt to make men dissolute or licentious lazie or presumptuous this alone to such an one will be reason sufficient utterly to reject them let them be propounded to him with never so much advantage or subtilty I shall conclude all with this that did I know any constituted Church in the world that did teach a Religion more holy and usefull that delivered doctrines in themselves more reasonable or in their consequences tending more directly to the peace of Societies and the good of every particular person to the promoting of piety and true morality and
I dare not Do I say he shall be saved I cannot What say I then will you free your self from all uncertainty in this matter Repent now whilst you are in health forsake your sins whilst you are able to commit them and then you are sure of pardon There is indeed another Church in the world that can teach men how to be saved on a death-bed even without repentance which hath found out ways to make it not onely possible but very easie for any ungodly wretch to secure himself from Hell at length when he comes to die by less than half an hours work but we have not so learned Christ nor dare we be so false to our trust or to the souls of men as to give them certain assurance of everlasting life on any other terms than a constant habitual obedience to the laws of the Gospel The onely certain way to die well is to live well Nor shall I go about to determine how much of our life must be spent in the practice of righteousness and goodness before we can be said to have lived well since this varies according to the circumstances of men which are infinite this is as if a man should ask how long it will be before a fool can become wise or an unlearned man a scholar which differs according to the capacity of the man his industry and opportunity and God's blessing but onely thus much I think may safely be said that so much time of our life is necessary to be spent in the practice of goodness as that we may from the temper of our minds and the course of our actions be truly denominated holy humble pure meek patient just temperate lovers of God and men for the Gospel promiseth not eternal life and glory to any but to persons so and so qualified and it is undoubted that a few pious wishes prayers and purposes or a good will made at our death will not suffice to denominate us such God doth not just watch how men die but he will judge every man according to his works and the deeds he hath done in the flesh and those dispositions we have nourished loved and delighted in all our life will follow and attend us to another world and an evil nature however loth we are to it or sorry for it will sink us down into the deepest Hell To conclude all the use we are to make of all I have now said is not to judge or censure others whose lives we may have been acquainted with and whose condition according to this doctrine may seem sad and deplorable such we are to pity and pray for and exercise our charity upon and leave to God's mercy but that we should all now resolve not to defer the doing of the least thing that we could wish done in order to the salvation of our souls to a sick or death-bed but that to day even whilst it is called to day we depart from iniquity and not be always beginning to live we ought not to lose so much time as it would take to deliberate about this matter for there is no room for consultation here he would be next to mad that should seriously advise whether he should be for ever happy or for ever miserable Let us all endeavour therefore so to live now as we shall wish we had done when we come to lie upon our death-beds or as we shall then resolve to live in case God should continue our life to us let us pursue those things now which we shall be able to think of and reflect upon with pleasure when we come to die and presently forsake all those things the remembrance of which at that time will be bitter to us let us now whilst we are well and in health cherish the same thoughts and apprehensions of things that we shall have when we are sick and dying let us now despise this world as much and think as ill of sin and as seriously of God and eternity as we shall then do for this is the great commendation of the righteous man that every one desires to die his death that at last all men are of his mind and persuasion and would chuse his condition Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his I end all with those words of the wise Son of Sirach Learn before thou speak and use physick or ever thou be sick before judgment examine thy self and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy Humble thy self before thou be sick and in the time of sins shew repentance Let nothing hinder thee to pay thy vows in due time and defer not untill death to be justified Make no tarrying to turn to the Lord and put it not off from day to day for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord come forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed and perish in the day of vengeance A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL The Eighth Sermon St. MATTH V. 34. But I say unto you Swear not at all FOR our more clearly understanding the sense and extent of this prohibition of our blessed Saviour's Swear not at all these two things must be observed I. That it was a common practice amongst the Jews to swear by some of God's creatures which custome prevailed amongst them from a pretended reverence of God's holy name whenever they would affirm any thing with more than ordinary vehemence and earnestness or beget an assurance of what they said in another they thought it not fit or decent presently to invoke the sovereign God of Heaven and earth and on every slight and trivial occasion to run to the great maker and father of all things but in smaller matters and in ordinary talk they would swear by their Parents by the Heavens by the Earth by Jerusalem the Altar Temple their Head or the like nor did they count such forms of swearing equally obliging with those oaths wherein the name of God was solemnly and expresly called upon to this our Saviour in probability refers in the verse foregoing my Text Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths they thought such onely incurr'd the guilt and penalty of perjury who stood not to those promises they had confirmed by explicit calling the Lord himself to witness but that there was but little evil or danger either in the common use of swearing by creatures or in breaking such oaths Now our Saviour here absolutely forbids not onely swearing by the sacred name of God but also by any of his creatures Swear not at all no not so much as by the Heavens by the Earth or by Jerusalem and the reason he gives is because in all such forms of swearing by creatures though God is not expresly named yet he himself is really referred to and tacitly invoked who is the supreme Lord and maker of all when you swear by the Heavens you
his own conscience will be sure to come off well at last in the final account and judgment then God will confirm and ratify the sentence of his conscience and publickly own and approve of what he hath done and clear and vindicate his innocency and reward his fidelity and constancy before all the world At that day when all our great undertakers and contrivers of mischief all the cunning practisers of guile and hypocrisie shall lie down in shame when their secret arts and base tricks whereby they imposed on the world shall be detected and proclaimed as it were upon the house-top and all their unworthy projects and designs shall be laid open and naked being stript of those specious pretences they here disguised them with when the hidden things of darkness shall be brought to light and the counsels of all mens hearts shall be made manifest as the noon-day at that day I say the upright and righteous man shall stand in great boldness and shall lift up his head with joy and confidence and then it will appear that he was the best politician and the onely person that either understood or regarded his true interest To conclude all Our consciences are either our best friends or our greatest enemies they are either a continual feast or a very hell to us A conscience well resolved and setled is the greatest comfort of our lives the best antidote against all kind of temptations the most pretious treasure that we can lay up against an evil day and our surest and strongest hold to secure us from all dangers which can never be taken unless through our own folly and negligence But an evil clamorous conscience that is continually twitting and reproaching us is a perpetual wrack and torment it wasts our spirits and preys upon our hearts and eats out the sweetness of all our worldly enjoyments and fills us with horrid fears and ghastly apprehensions this is that knawing worm that never dieth the necessary fruit of sin and guilt and the necessary cause of everlasting anguish and vexation A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL The Thirteenth Sermon 2 TIM I. 10. And hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel LIFE and immortality by a figure often used in the holy Scriptures is the same with immortal life which our Saviour hath brought to light that is hath given us undoubted assurance of by the revelation of the Gospel For though all men by the light of nature have some apprehensions of a future state yet their reasonings about it when left to themselves are miserably vain and uncertain and often very wild and extravagant The best discourses of the Heathens about the other life were weak and obscure and the wisest Philosophers spake but doubtfully and conjecturally about it nor even in the books of Moses or writings of the Prophets are there contained any plain express promises of eternal life all the knowledge men had of it before was but like the faint glimmerings of twilight till the sun of righteousness appeared till God was pleased to send one from that invisible world even his own most dear Son to dwell here and converse amongst men to make a full discovery to us of this unknown countrey and to conduct us in the onely true way to this everlasting happiness an happiness so great that we have not words big enough to express it nor faculties large enough to comprehend it but yet so much of it is clearly revealed to us in the Gospel as is most abundantly sufficient to raise our thoughts and incite our sincerest endeavours for the obtaining of it By which plain revelation of this state of immortality First Is most illustriously manifested to us the transcendent goodness and indulgence of our most mercifull Creatour in that he will be pleased to reward such imperfect services such mean performances as the best of ours are with glory so immense as that eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive the greatness of it There is nothing in us nor any thing done by us that bears the least proportion to such an ample recompence Our best actions stand in need of a pardon so far are they from deserving to be crowned All possible duty and obedience we certainly owe to him to whom we owe our beings and should God almighty have exacted it from us onely on the account of his sovereign authority over us as we are his creatures we had been indispensably obliged to all subjection to him but that he should over and above promise to reward our faithfulness to him with eternal life this is a most wonderfull instance of his infinite grace and goodness Secondly By this revelation of immortal life is farther demonstrated the exceeding great love of our ever blessed Saviour who by his death and perfect obedience not onely purchased pardon for all our past rebellions and transgressions not onely redeemed us from hell and destruction to which we had all rendred our selves most justly liable which alone had been an unspeakable favour but also merited an everlasting kingdom of glory for us if with true repentance we return to our duty And this if any thing shews the infinite value and efficacy of our Saviour's appearing on our behalf that by his most powerfull mediation he obtained not onely freedom from punishment but also unexpressibly glorious rewards for us vile and wretched sinners upon easie and most reasonable conditions Thirdly This especially recommends our Christianity to us which contains such glad tidings which propounds such mighty arguments to engage us to our duty such as no other religion ever did or could For since hope and fear are the great hinges of all government and the most prevailing passions of humane nature what better thing can be propounded to our hope than to be as happy both in body and soul as we can be and that for ever what more dreadfull thing to our fear than everlasting misery and this indeed is the utmost that can be said or offered to men in order to the reclaiming them from their sins and recovering them to a conscientious observance of God's laws that God hath appointed a day wherein he will call all men to an account for the deeds they have done in this body and reward the sincere faithfull Christian with immortal glory and punish the disobedient and impenitent with everlasting vengeance and if men can harden themselves against these most powerfull considerations if they are not at all concerned or solicitous about their eternal happiness or misery what other motives are likely to prevail with them or able to make any impression upon them For is there any thing of greater weight and moment that can be propounded to the reasons and understandings of men than what shall become of them in a state which they are very shortly to enter upon and which shall never have an end I humbly therefore beg your patience whilst with all the
atchieved you may find many of them recorded in the famous 11th chapter to the Hebrews where the Apostle for the encouragement of all true believers propounds to us the brave examples of the holy Patriarchs and Prophets of old who through faith subdued kingdoms wrought righteousness out of weakness were made strong were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonments they were stoned they were sawn asunder were slain with the sword wandred about in sheep-skins and goat-skins afflicted destitute and tormented These and many more like these were the exploits of the Saints under the old Testament who had not so clear a revelation of this eternal state as we now have under the Gospel But far greater yet and more stupendious are the triumphs of faith in the holy lives and patient deaths of the blessed Apostles and primitive Martyrs and Confessours who with invincible constancy endured pains and torments to flesh and bloud insupportable onely assisted and upheld by the grace of God and a lively faith in this promise of his son Jesus They clap'd their hands and sang praises in the midst of scorching slames they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods and gave God thanks that they were counted worthy to suffer for his name and without doubt God's grace and the same lively faith would produce in us the very same effects and enable us to doe and to suffer the same things with the same joy and resolution But farther This faith by degrees moulds and transforms the mind into a likeness to these heavenly objects it advances and raises our spirits so that they become truly great and noble and makes us as St. Peter tells us partakers of a divine nature It filleth the soul with constant peace and satisfaction so that in all conditions of life a good man can feast himself with unseen joys and delights which the worldly man neither knows nor can relish This makes him content with any small allowance of this worlds goods and glad if by any hard shift he can rub through this world till he comes to his Kingdom He is but very little concerned about these seemingly grand affairs of this life which so much take up and busie other mens thoughts and time He converseth most with invisible objects and with them finds that solid and lasting comfort which all outward things can neither give nor take away He hath something to uphold and chear his spirit under all worldly calamities and distractions and when he is wearied with the impertinencies of this life or is not pleased with things here below he can retire himself into the other world and there entertain his mind with those ravishing joys that never cloy nor satiate Nay this faith arms a man against the fear of death it strips that King of terrours of all his grim looks for he considers it onely as God's messenger to knock off his fetters to free him from this fleshly prison and to conduct him to that blessed place where he shall be more happy than he can wish or desire to be and that for ever All this and much more than I can now speak will this faith do where it is sincere and hearty It will serve us instead of sight it will afford us a fore-tast of this immortal happiness it will give us present entrance into heaven in part and at last a full and complete fruition of it Oh then let it be most plainly seen by our words by our works by all we doe whereever we are what our faith and hope is Let it appear to all men that we walk by faith not by sight or sense Sense is a mean low narrow principle confin'd to this present time and this lower earth it can reach no higher than these outward visible things nor can it look farther than things present But the just shall live by faith they steer their course and govern their lives not by what they see but by what they believe and hope for looking beyond things temporal for those things that are eternal Let us not be ashamed of this our design and aim-before all men that whatever others think or say of us for it we are resolved to be happy not onely for a few days or years but for ever that we will so use this world as those that must shortly leave it that we will so improve and husband our time as remembring that it will soon be no more but be swallowed up in eternity and did the stupid world know and believe what you doe they would no longer wonder at your being so much moved in a case of such unspeakable and everlasting consequence Blessed be God who hath set such mighty hopes before us who hath given us such glorious promises who hath made such a plain and clear revelation of this eternal life by Jesus Christ and hath by him taught us the true way of obtaining it who himself became to us an example of that holy life he prescribed to us and after he had suffered for our transgressions in our nature entred into the highest heavens to prepare mansions of glory for all the faithfull followers of him To whom therefore with the Father and Holy Ghost one eternal God be ascribed by us and all men all praise thanksgiving and obedience for evermore Amen THE END