we agree with him when God and we draw different ways When he bids us walk in the Light and we walk in Darkness When God bids us do one Thing and we do another When God commands us to live in Love and we maintain and harbour Hatred and ill Will to our fellow Christians when God enjoins us to take to the strait Way and we venture upon the Broad Is this Agreement when he bids us harken to the Motions of his Spirit and we are guided by the Suggestions of the World and the Devil And yet this Agreement will signify little except it be timely and while we are in the Way with him To be sure to delay that which God would have us apply our selves to presently doth not look like Agreement To run those Hazards which God would have us prevent is nothing but Contradiction And what is it that God would have us agree with him in without delay Why it is in all the Vertues and Graces whereof Christ hath shewn us an Example and particularly in agreeing with our Neighbours if we have any Difference with them If we agree with them we agree with him And why should we delay it Have we a Lease of our Lives Do we know how long we shall continue here Do not we see how uncertain every thing is and shall we build upon Uncertainties which in Temporal Concerns we count Folly and can it be Wisdom in the greater concerns of our Souls And is this a suitable return for the Patience God exercises toward us And this calls me to examine the III. Proposition that God deals very gently with us before he lets us feel the heaviest stroke of his Vengeance he not only calls to but give us time for Repentance This is also intimated by these Words Agree with thine Adversary quickly while thou art yet in the way with him i. e. while he allows thee time to come in and agree with him which must necessarily have relation to Gods Patience and the Time he gives for Repentance He might strike the Drunken Man dead in the midst of his Cups and send the Swearer immediately into that Hell by which his Tongue is set on Fire and dispatch the cholerick Man in his Rage and Fury send the Adulterer Fornicator and Lustful even before their Lust is satiated to keep Company with Devils and bid Lucifer arrest the Proud and Covetous as they are going up the Hill But behold he bears with you spares you cuts not down the barren Trees as soon as they appear unfruitful but prunes them digs about them and waters them with the Rain of Heaven and by this Patience he calls to Repentance This we are assured of by the Apostle Rom. vi 4 Thus he hangs out the white Flag the Flag of Peace before the Red or Black be shewn the certain Sign of utter Ruin and Destruction And Oh! the Blindness of poor Sinners that will not understand what this Patience of God means that will not see in it his Endeavour to prevent their Misery To what purpose is your Reason if from Gods forbearing to punish you you do not infer his earnest desire to save you Shall his Patience make you worse or his Forbearance harden you As soon as you begin to cherish any Sin you are Children of Death for the Wages of Sin is Death Rom. vi 23 and these Wages God might immediately pay you But behold what a merciful God you have to deal withal He that might immediately send you to the Place of Execution waits to be gracious He stops the destroying Angel that is drawing out his Sword against you and that 's the reason why you are not consum'd in an instant And will you make that an Argument of Gods Approbation of your Sin which is a most powerful Call to forsake it What Stupidity is this to make such an Interpretation of Gods Goodness Is it possible God can encourage any Man to Sin or to continue in the ways of Death who takes upon him all the Passion and Grief and Sorrow of a disconsolate Father to let us see what a trouble it is to him if we do so And if it be impossible his Silence and Forbearance to punish you must necessarily be an Invitation to wash your Heart from Uncleanness Why will you play with his Patience You play with it when you delay your Repentance and what the Consequence of this delay is The Fourth Proposition will tell us viz. Delay of True Repentance provokes God to proceed to very severe nay to the severest courses of Vengeance For as it is with Men when they will not agree with their Adversaries quickly while they are in the way with them the Adversary delivers them to the Judge the Judge to the Officer and the Officer casts them into a Dungeon So God when this serious Repentance is delay'd and in despight of all his Entreaties and Beseechings put off as a thing neither necessary nor convenient seeing the Sinner incorrigible he orders him without any further delay to be delivered to the Tormentors Though this is spoken particularly with respect to those counterfeit Christians that harbour Wrath and Malice in their Hearts and will not be perswaded to forgive or to be reconciled to those they are at variance with yet it is the Method God takes in all other Sins if Mercy cannot win them Justice must force them into a sense of their Duty if Kindness and Gentleness cannot charm and melt the Wrath of the Living God shall fright and astonish and drive to Despair And O ye Sons of Men Why will ye provoke your Father in Heaven to deal with you as with hardned Malefactors Will you tempt him to send Scorpions and fiery Serpents among you when he designed nothing but Rods to correct you Why will ye pull down that Vengeance upon you which God was willing to lay by and to keep lock'd up in his Magazenes of Thunder The longer you delay your Repentance the more you hasten his Vengeance What 's the Reason that God calls away so many and summons them to Judgment before they have seriously consider'd why they did come hither Is it not because they have abused his Mercy trespassed upon his Patience delay'd their change of Life and no Kindness no Love no Clemency no Compassion will melt them into Remorses Compunctions and the Pangs of Regeneration And how dreadful must their Condition be when called away to give an account of their turning the Grace and Patience of God into Wantonness Who shall plead for those who have slighted Mercy baffled the Entreaties of God stopt their Ears against the Beseechings of the Almighty and hardned their Heart against his endearing Sollicitations O my Soul come not thou into their Secret unto their Assembly mine Honour be not thou united Immediately upon their Death God proceeds to a severe Discipline and now the Torments begin and the Artillery of Heaven is brought forth against them They made God their
15 17 18. But the Sin here aimed at lies in the secret Wishes Will Purposes Lust and Desires after Adultery Fornication Uncleanness and forbidden Mixtures And therefore if the Observation of the Jews be true that Ahab and Zedekiah mentioned Jer. xxix 21. were the Persons who attempted the Chastity of Susanna are charged with downright Adultery because they intended it though they could not compass it as we see Jer. xxix 23 And he that purposes to sollicit a Woman to that which God counts Abomination or wishes to enjoy the dangerous Love of the Person which hath no Matrimonial Relation to him or whose Desires Languish because he cannot gratifie his base Lust which his wicked Mind desires or who feeds himself with impure Imaginations with obscene Pictures and Images of the Person upon whom his Heart is set all these are secret Adulterers and Fornicators and must expect the Wrath of God the Anger the Indignation the Fire the Brimstone and the Portion of Misery designed for Adulterers and Fornicators who are outwardly so 3. That this is a very just Sentence and that he is justly charged with the guilt of Adultery and Fornication and Lewdness who Wills or Wishes or Desires it whatever Notion they are represented under is evident from hence because the Will is the principal Agent in the Action so that if the Will consents the Man consents and it is as much as if he had done the unlawful Act which is only impeded or hindred from being executed by certain Circumstances which fall out cross I very much question whether the outward Acts of Fornication and Adultery would be Sins at all if it were not for the Will It 's this gives the Act the tincture of Hell Before the outward Act the Malice and the Turpitude of the Sin is already compleated though the Act be hindred by accidental Causes from being consummated And this is no new Doctrine the very Heathens saw the reasonableness of it and to this purpose several excellent Sayings might be alledged here out of Aristophanes Seneca Juvenal Ovid and others were it necessary and though humane Laws lay no Penalty upon the Will because they are no competent Judges of it nothing falling under the Cognisance of the publick Magistrate but Overt Actions yet with respect to God who sees the Heart the Sin is the same and he that would or hath a mind to commit Adultery Fornication Lewdness whatever Names he may give his Desires and Lusts is the Person who hath committed all these because all that was in his power to do toward it he hath done i. e. his Will Consent and Desire do concur to the Sin though an Opportunity of finishing the Sin outwardly be wanting And God counts such a Person an Adulterer and Fornicator and lewd Man though his Neighbours at the same time who know nothing of his secret Sins may count him Honest and Sober and Innocent The Romans punish'd a Vestal Virgin who had vow'd perpetual Chastity with Death because she did once merrily in Company say that it was a pretty thing to Marry because by saying so she discover'd her Desire and Will to break her Vow I do not justify that piece of Rigor but only mention it to prove that the very Light of Nature discovered to Heathens and Pagans that the Desire and Will to commit a Sin was a complete Sin so far as the inward Man could make it and consequently deserv'd the same Punishment This leads me to discourse of the III d. Particular viz. Whether notwithstanding all this there be not a very great difference betwixt the internal Consent and the outward Act as to the heinousness of the Sin To this the Answer is that Sins as to the Substance may be the same yet Circumstances may make the Sin more heinous than it would have been without those Circumstances He that hates his Brother is a Murtherer saith St. John 1 John iii. 15 Yet there is no doubt be that besides that Hatred doth actually deprive him of Life is a greater Sinner and the Sin becomes more black and dreadful So it is in Adultery and Fornication and Incest and Carnal self-pollutions and other Lewdnesses He that wishes or wills it or purposes it or feeds himself with filthy Images of any of these Sins commits a Sin of the same Nature and Complexion that he doth who to the inward Formation of it adds the outward Act but still the outward Act aggravates it and gives it a deeper Dye because of the Scandal it gives and the greater hurt it doth in that another Person is made a Partner of the Folly and dragg'd with him into Hell and the Sinner goes as far in it as he can So that though as to the degrees of the Heinousness of the Sin there is a difference betwixt the internal Consent and the outward Act yet the Sin is the same in Substance and therefore must be supposed to participate of the same Punishment which is threatned to Adulterers Fornicators c. though according to the degrees of the blackness of the Crime the Punishments in the other World will be proportionable INFERENCES 1. Here we see how necessary Solomon's Rule is Prov. iv 23 Keep thy Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life The Heart being guarded the whole Man is safe If that be left Defenceless the whole Man lies open to the Devils Power In the Heart or Mind Sin first takes Root and then if not checkt it presently spreads and diffuses it self into the outward Man and brings forth fruit unto Death Keep Sin out of the Heart and you keep it out of the Body for from within from the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Covetousness c. saith our Saviour Marc. vii 21 When Sin first offers it self to the Mind and is rejected as soon as it doth make its first Appearance the purity of the Soul is preserv'd We cannot hinder the Motions and Suggestions of the Devil from approaching or assaulting our Minds and an impure Thought may jog the Mind but if the Mind do immediately oppose the Enemy as soon as it comes before the Gate of the House its Forces are broke and disordered and they can never make head or insinuate into the Affections our Saviour therefore charges us to cleanse the inside of the Dish and Platter that the out-side may be clean also And indeed a Man or Woman cannot be truly said to stand in awe of God that do not watch over their Hearts and resist the first Assaults of Sin and though I will not deny that restraining the outward Act upon the account of it's Odiousness and Danger may be called part of the fear of God yet it is but a very imperfect Fear till the Heart comes to detest the first Suggestions In the Sin of unlawful Lust this is particularly to be observed and he that means to get the Mastery of a lascivious Temptation must be concerned and tremble upon
such as Fasting Severities doing things irksome troublesome and uneasie to the Body great self-denials in Dyet in Apparel in Company in Talking in Mirth and Recreation large Alms doing much good c. These strangely advance a spiritual Life especially if joined with those I call gentler Means and as painful as this may seem to Flesh and Blood at first the Discipline will become sweet and easie when the Soul perceives the glorious Effects of it And O! that you would but try and venture upon this severe Course There are Treasures in it of Joy of Comfort and Satisfaction and you will find how your Sins will abate how your Corruptions will decrease and your evil Inclinations will become less troublesome you 'll find how everything will thrive under it and what a strengthening it will be to your Faith and Hope and Love and Charity and how all these Graces will grow and swell and become large and fruitful Some of you I am confident have been striving against Lust and other Sins you have pray'd you have resolved you have meditated c. Yet you find you fall into the same Sins again Here must be some fault either your Prayers are not fervent or your Resolutions are not strong enough or some more painful Discipline must be used some Austerities whereby the Body is subjugated and made obedient to the Spirit for the more the Body is pinch'd and denied in its Satisfactions the better doth the Soul thrive I grant these Austerities have been abused by Pharisees and by some Votaries of the Church of Rome into Superstition so is Wine and stronger Spirits which make some drunk but are a Cordial to others but a modest and humble use of them cannot but be very beneficial in order to the Life we speak of This is a very tempting Subject and I could dwell upon it a little longer but that I have something more to explain viz. the III. Proposition That to avoid or to be rid of unlawful Lust or adulterous and impure Desires Wishes and Inclinations a Christian must not give the least Encouragement to the Sin by Actions which will feed it nor cherish any thing that will provoke to it And of this Nature is the right Eye in the Text and the right Hand the one by looking the other by touch or contrectation These must be forborn and totally abandoned where they are apt to cause the least disorder in the Mind for these are the Fewel that feed the impure Fire and it stands to reason the Youngster that feeds his Eyes with the charming Looks of the Minion or Idol he adores and puts his Hand into the Bosom of his Mistress may as well hope to cure himself of a Fever by a Draught of cold Water as cure himself of his Lust by that means Though Marriage be the great Remedy against Adultery Fornication and all other unlawful Lusts and Desires of the Flesh and a Remedy prescribed by God himself yet all Persons are not under those Circumstances which may make a Married state fit for them Some though they have not made a Vow yet are resolved or minded to continue in a Virgin State and to imitate the Great Apostle and High Priest of their Profession Christ Jesus as in the Primitive Church thousands of Men and Women made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. that they might attend the Lord without distraction and be able to do more good they denied themselves not only in all sinful Lusts but in Marriage too not out of any ill Opinion of that State but by way of Mortification and voluntary Abstinence and because they thought a single Life spent in the Service of God and in doing good a higher degree of Christian Perfection Others are under the Yoak of Service and tyed by the Law of the Land and their own Indentures and Oaths and Promises not to Marry before the time of their Service be ended Others there are whom Poverty and want of means to maintain a Family keeps from entring into that Condition and others for other Reasons are obliged to abstain from it Now all such Persons may justly be supposed to be liable to Temptations of unlawful Lusts and therefore such may stand in need of Counsel and Advice how to keep themselves Chast and Innocent from the Garment spotted by the Flesh. Nay there is Chastity to be observed in a Married State Adulterous Lusts and Desires are dangerous as the fall of a Thunderbolt and burn into the nethermost Hell And such also fall under the direction of Preservatives These Preservatives are various and they either regard the Mind or the Actions As they have respect to the Mind Consideration I mean that which is serious and attentive must be used and a Christian must take time to ponder and reflect how great how dreadful how heinous how dangerous the Sins of Adultery Fornication Lasciviousness and Uncleanness are for they exclude from the Kingdom of Heaven alienate the Love and Favour of God from the Offender and kindle his Everlasting Wrath and Indignation Galat. v. 19 20 21. Besides he that commits Fornication Sins against his own Body he is injurious to that Body which was purchased and bought for Christ's Service makes a Beth-aven a House of Impiety of that which should be a Bethel a House of God and violates the Sanctity of that Tabernacle which was dedicated to the Worship of him who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity makes the Members of Christ the Members of a Harlot and profanes the Temple of the Holy Ghost for so his Body is and for that use it was intended as we see 1 Cor. vi 17 18. Not to mention how by these Sins of Impurity the Understanding is darken'd the Light of God is obscured and the Life of Religion turned out of doors how Adultery was punish'd with Death by the Law of Moses as much as Murther which shews the heinousness of the Offence and what Judgments have been inflicted on Men and Nations from time to time even in this present Life as fore-runners of greater Plagues in another World such Topicks the Understanding must six upon and except this be done all other Means and Preservatives will be in vain for if these Sins be shun'd it must be upon rational Grounds and its impossible the dread of these Sins should be Rational except the Mind takes these Arguments into Consideration The things that are to be done in order to be rid of these unlawful and forbidden Lusts and joined with these Considerations are these following 1. We know how much Idleness and want of Employment helps to feed these Lusts and therefore this must be watch'd against it was this which precipitated the Inhabitants of Sodom into those Lusts which procured their Ruin and Destruction Ezech. xvi 49 2. Drunkenness and Gluttony and Pampering the Body do manifestly administer Fewel to the Flame and therefore these must be renounced Jer. v. 7 3. Whatsoever feeds the
that hated them and attended those when sick who a little before had plotted against their Lives Acts free from Interest and Design Acts which shew nothing could put us upon them but Religion and Conscience Acts frequent too and continued without weariness of well-doing These even fix the Eyes of the most stupid Creatures upon the Person that performs them and indeed nothing is sooner taken notice of than such Acts as these because there is Divinity in them and such stroaks of the Goodness of Heaven appear in them that Men behold them almost whether they will or not 3. Great Temperance in Cloathing Eating Drinking and Recreations In these most People who are Rich and Great or abound in worldly Goods are very apt to exceed even those who seem to be no ill Christians And therefore where self-denyal appears in all these and a Person who hath both Ability and Opportunity and Temptations to go beyond the Rules of Modesty and Gravity and Sobriety in all or any of these gives Demonstration that something unseen bears the sway within and that he commands his Appetite and keeps under his Body and brings it into Subjection This as it is an Argument of self-Conquest so Men will certainly take notice of it 4. Great Modesty and Sobriety in Discourse when our Speech is always with Grace season'd with Salt when none hears us speak ill of others when no corrupt Communication proceeds out of our Mouths but that which is Good to the use of edifying that it may minister Grace unto the Hearers When nothing drops from our Lips that looks like filthy Talking or foolish and obscene Jesting but on the contrary we take care to let something fall whereby others who are present may be built up in their most Holy Faith this is so remarkable a thing that Men will be sure to take notice of it 5. An unshaken steady and even Piety which changes not with the changes of Conditions and is the same at Sea and on the Shore abroad and at home in the Camp and in the City in a fair and in a cloudy Day in a word which neither the Humour of the Age nor the Example of our Friends nor all the Revolutions of publick Affairs can alter or destroy As all things unusual attract the Eyes of Spectators to the Piety we speak of being a thing out of the common Road there is no question to be made of it but Men will take notice of it 6. Joy in Tribulation To see Men with the Apostles depart from the Council rejoycing because they were counted worthy to suffer Shame for the Name of the Lord Jesus to see them rejoyce when they fall into divers Temptations to see that neither a miserable Life nor a dreadful Death approaching can make them forbear rejoycing in their God and in the hopes of Eternal Life to see them flourish like Palm-trees and that all the weight which Providence lays upon them cannot crush their Hope and Confidence and Rejoycing in him who is altogether lovely This is too bright too shining a Vertue not to be taken notice of by understanding Men. And these are the Noble the Great the Generous Heroick Acts which will make Men take notice of you and say that God is among you indeed Let others be known by their Liveries and Coaches and Pages and Lacquies you who are Christians must be known by such Acts as these I do not deny but most of you do some outward overt Acts of Religion such as coming to Church and kneeling and hearing and joyning with the Congregation but let me tell you that one Act of self-denial will go farther than all these external Services which God knows are too often no more than Formalities Little sprinklings of Devotion mingled with much Rubbish of Sin and Vanity are lost in that Croud and will make no great Impressions on the Eyes and Hearts of those who behold you But such Acts as these shine bright and spread abroad their Lustre and will even force men to confess That the Love of God is shed abroad in your Hearts Indeed this must be the great end in letting the Light of your good Works shine before Men that others may glorifie God which puts us in mind of the fourth Proposition IV. The great end we must propose to our selves in letting the Light of our good Works shine before Men must be this to endear Religion to others and to make those that see them glorifie God That others may see your good Works and glorifie your Father Men glorifie God by seeing our good Works when 1. They are converted by that sight when those good Works work upon them and work their Hearts into consideration of their ways and work so powerfully upon them that they can resist the motives to Repentance and a serious change of Life no longer So it was with those who beheld the good Works of our Saviour John x. 42 John xi 41 And so it was with those Husbands who were won by the chast and meek and quiet Behaviour and Conversation of the female Sex 1 Pet. iii. 2 In this not only appears the wonderful power of God who makes our good Works subservient to the subduing of the Fortresses of Iniquity in others but when those who before dishonoured abused despised and undervalued the Author of their Being and well-being now come to esteem and love and admire him and esteem his Precepts above thousands of Gold and Silver What is this but glorifying God 2. When by our good Works which shine before Men others take occasion to praise and bless God for the Grace they beheld shining in us as the Disciples did when they heard that the Gentiles had receiv'd the Gift of Repentance unto Life Acts xi 18 And as those Strangers did St. Paul speaks of 2 Cor. ix 13 who glorified God for the professed Subjection unto the Gospel of Christ which they beheld in the Corinthian Christians For as it is by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that we do bring forth fruits meet for Repentance so when that Grace which works so powerfully in us produces Praise of Gods Glory in those who behold it it cannot be otherwise but God is glorified by our good Works 3. When others are by what they see in us encouraged to praise God for their own Mercies The good Works which shine in us are not only Treasures which enrich our own Souls but Remembrancers too to put others in mind of what God hath done for them and of the Mercies they enjoy and of the Graces of Gods Spirit which are bestowed on them and animate them to a holy fruitfulness Other Mens Defects and Blemishes such as Blindness Lameness Crookedness Poverty Misery c. are to put us in mind of our Mercies much more the Mercies which others enjoy as well as we And when the spiritual Blessings we enjoy prove a Glass in which others behold the same Blessings Gods bountiful hand hath bestowed on
the progress of Goodness and of the Kingdom of God prompted his Instruments and Agents to blacken the Noble attempt with hard and dreadful Names the most likely way to fright people from submitting to it It was so in the beginning of our Reformation when our Governours and Spiritual Pastors began to look more narrowly into the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome and resolv'd to rectifie what was amiss and contrary to the Word of God All the dreadful Imputations the Church of Rome could invent were made use of to hinder the glorious Work The Reformers were traduced as dealing with the Devil their Doctrine was called New and Strange and Antichristian never heard of in the World before nay styled Blasphemy and Arianism and Manicheism and Mohometanism and what not It is so still even in private Reformations Let a person break loose from the Devil and his evil Companions and by a secret impulse of God's Spirit betake himself to a life Spiritual and conformable to the Rules of the Gospel presently Mens Tongues are let loose against him especially if accidentally he be guilty of some little Imprudencies These are straitway aggravated and his whole design charged with Baseness and Hypocrisy and he is either become a Fanatick or mad or proud or ill-natured or bad Company or something that may render him odious But this must be no discouragement to a person that knows that this hath been an old stratagem of the Devil as old as the Fall of Adam when he put false Interpretations upon God's Prohibitions and accused even God himself of Envy and Ill-nature What! Could God say indeed ye shall not eat of this Tree He knows that that very moment ye eat of it ye will be wise and knowing and omniscient like himself and therefore forbids you this delicate Food He that will be saved must break through all these Cobwebs and esteem the reproach of Christ greater Riches than all the Treasures of the World II. Though the end of the Law and the Gospel are one and the same yet still there are remarkable differences which discover the excellency of the one above the other 1. The Author of the Law is God speaking by Moses the Author of the Gospel is the same God but speaking by his Son 2. The Law of Moses revealed much the Gospel much more especially with respect to the Incarnation and Life and Death and Resurrection of Christ Jesus 3. The Law was the shadow of good things to come the Gospel the truth and substance of them 4. The Law caused Fear the Gospel produces Love and hence arise two different Spirits the Spirit of Fear and that of Adoption 5. The Law promis'd Temporal Blessings the Gospel Eternal and though something of Eternal Life was revealed to those under the Law yet it was truly manifest to those under the Gospel 6. The Law was a Heavy burthen the Gospel an easy Yoke 7. The Law was our Schoolmaster to lead us to Christ The Gospel is the Mark the Law did aim and point at 8. The Law reacht the Jews only the Gospel all Mankind 9. The Law as to the ritual part was Temporary the Gospel Eternal 10. The Law had great Imperfections the Gospel was a most perfect Discipline 11. The Law discover'd the Will of God and help'd to make People sensible of their Sins and Transgressions of Gods Commands the Gospel Administers Grace to perform and do them 12. The Law converted but few the Gospel made innumerable Proselytes Yet after all as I said the Law and the Gospel are the same in Substance both contain the Will of God they have the same Author press the same Duties both Centre in Christ both are intended to make Men Holy and Spiritual and ready unto good Works only the Gospel sets things in a greater Light and ministers stronger Motives and nobler Encouragements so that the Law is not contrary to the Gospel nor doth the Gospel abolish but Establish it The Law especially the Moral contains the same Duties in substance the Gospel doth and therefore is still as obligatory as the Gospel Want of Faith made People careless of the Observance of it and want of Faith hath the same unhappy Effects under the Gospel And therefore the Apostles Exhortation was very seasonable and ought to be taken notice of by every one of us Heb. iv 1 2. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his Rest any of you should seem to come short of it for unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them but the word preached did not profit them not being mixt with Faith in them that heard it III. Christ came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets so must we fulfil the Law of the Gospel for what he did here was for our Example as St. Chrysostom notes As he fulfilled the Law and the Prophets so our business is to fulfil that Gospel which the Law and the Prophets pointed at In a word this is the Law we are to live by He that looks upon the Lives of Men that profess the Gospel would be apt to think that this Law was given only for Formalities sake so little of the Power of it is to be seen in their Conversation If the Behaviour of Men who call themselves Christians were the measure of our Judgment we might conclude the Gospel stands for a Cypher which signifies very little or if it signifies any thing declares rather Gods wishes that things were at a better pass and that we were such Persons as that Law describes than Arguments of Gods peremptory Will that we must and shall be obedient or else be miserable and buried in the Ruins of Eternity Thus things stand and one would think you believe that your Resoluteness not to mind the Injunctions of the Gospel is your Security against the Terrors of its Threatnings But could this lessen the Authority of the Law or make an Alteration in the Obligation or could it prevail with the Law-giver to give over pressing Obedience as a thing that is not to be effected and in vain to urge something might be said for their refusal But these are Dreams and feverish Fancies and you 'll find the woful and wilful mistake when it is too late This Law you are bound to lay before you as much as the Law of the Land nay more than that as it is of greater Concernment In this you are to study Day and Night and by this Law your Thoughts Desires Speeches Actions and your outward and inward Man are to be governed let Men say of you what they will let them commend or discommend you slander or praise you still you are to remember you have to deal with a Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy The Gospel gives ease it's true and frees you from Burthens but it is from the load of the Ceremonial Law not from the Obligations of the Natural Moral and Eternal Law of
all your mournful Accents will open the Kingdom of Heaven to you If you go no farther than these Men by this Rule of Christ you must inevitably be Miserable and all your Wealth and Grandeur and Estates and Relatives cannot help you If you go no farther you sink into a State of Hypocrisie and I need not tell you that the Portion of Hypocrites is a very sad Portion for it is to be cast into outward Darkness where there is Howling and Gnashing of Teeth so saith your Master and mine Matth. xxiv 51 In speaking to You I speak to Christians even to Men who believe that to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven is beyond all the Bliss that this or Ten Thousand Worlds do afford and that not to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven is to be Wretched and Miserable Odious and Contemptible beyond Expression and to Groan in Torments to Eternal Ages This is the Notion You have of these Things as You own Your selves Christians Men Fathers and Brethren do you believe the Prophets Do you believe the Apostles Do you believe the Son of God that came into the World to save Sinners I know you believe and surely this is Motive sufficient to suffer the Word of Exhortation If therefore any of you have hitherto laid the stress of your Devotion upon the External Task and been Strangers to the inward frame of Mind which is in the sight of God of great Price If you have been Zealous for small little inconsiderable Things in Matters of Religion and have wilfully neglected the more Substantial and Self-Denying part of it If you have been Selfish in your Acts of Piety and Righteousness and been Devout and Good for Worldly Ends more than from a Sense of your Duty If you have taken some care to Purifie your outward Man from Clamorous and Scandalous Sins and have been careless of rectifying what is amiss within you even of subduing that immoderate Love of the World and Pride and Revengeful Thoughts and Desires and Anger and wrathful Temper and other secret Sins which do so easily beset you If you have thought it your Duty to observe some of the greater Commandments of the Gospel and made no Conscience of the lesser All this Fabrick must be pulled down undone and unravell'd and you must turn over a new Leaf and apply your selves to a true Gospel Life and Temper else there is no entring into the Kingdom of Heaven Flatter not your selves with the Merits and Sufferings and Death of Christ Jesus for poor Sinners I grant I own this is a very Glorious and comfortable Truth and there is no sincere Believer but confesses to thy Praise and Glory O Blessed Jesu That there is no Name under Heaven given whereby Men may be Saved but thine alone But still it is this exceeding the Scribes and Pharisees in their Righteousness that must give you a Title to the benefits of the Death of Jesus Christ By this the Pardon of your Sins which was purchased by that Death must be sued out and applied and rendred comfortable to your Souls and if the Death of Christ doth not kill in you that Hypocrisie and Partiality which made the Righteousness of the Pharisees defective that Death cannot will not profit you All the Christian World knows that the design of Christ's dying for Sinners was That they which Live should not henceforth Live unto themselves but unto him that Died for them and rose again They are the express Words of the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. v. 15 and it is as certain that you cannot Live unto him that Died for you except your Righteousness be a Righteousness without Guile and therefore beyond that of the Scribes and Pharisees I suppose you are sensible that Christ cannot contradict himself when he spake these Words He knew he was to Die for Sinners yet to these Sinners for whom he was to Die he protests Except your Righteousness shall exceed c. And therefore certainly the Mercies of his Death cannot clash with our Duty and whosoever means to enjoy the Benefits of that Death must Die to the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and a Righteousness more Rational an Evangelical Righteousness must Live in him even that which St. Paul speaks of Phil. iii. 9 And that 's the Life of God as it is called Ephes. iv 18 If we are to exceed these Men in their Righteousness we must do more than they did and if we do more can we do less than what hath been hinted in the preceding Particulars of Sincerity Simplicity Humility Charity and Vniversality of Obedience For these Qualifications rectifie what was amiss in the Righteousness of these Men and set us in the right way from which those Self-Conceited Men deviated and wandred in a Wilderness of Vulgar Errours Should any of you be so Unfortunate what I say here is nothing but a plain and easie Comment upon the Commination of the Text I say should any of you be so unfortunate as to come before the Gate of the Kingdom of Heaven and be denied entrance there how like a Thunder-bolt would this strike you And yet I see not how it is possible to prevent it if these Words of Christ make no impression upon you or do not oblige you to go beyond these Men in their Acts of Devotion and Piety Their Righteousness was an External Mechanical starcht kind of Righteousness it was not Free not Natural and they took no care to reform their Thoughts Desires Lusts Affections and such Things as Human Laws take no notice of and it 's to be feared that this is the Disease of too great a number of Christians Nay Thousands there are which do not come up to so much as the Negative Virtues of the Scribes and Pharisees They were no Drunkards no Swearers no Whoremongers no Adulterers and yet how many that profess themselves Illuminated by the Gospel of Christ are so and worse than so And if even those who do not exceed the Righteousness of these Men shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven how shall those that are not so good as they And but that Unbelief and Stupidity reigns so much in the Hearts of Men certainly here is enough to fright them from the Carnal Life they lead There stands before the Gate of the Kingdom of Heaven an Angel with a Flaming Sword as much as there did before the Gate of Paradise to keep out all those who voluntarily chuse Death before Life and do not you chuse Death before Life when you had rather forfeit your share in the Kingdom of Heaven than exceed the Scribes and Pharisees in their Righteousness Surely it must be a dismal and deplorable Condition when Men have flattered themselves all their Life time with hopes of entring into the Kingdom of Heaven to find themselves at last thrust out and may not this be the condition of some of you And is not the very possibility of it enough to oblige you to Purifie and
The Man went on Cursing and Railing and they still confessing their Faults and begging his Pardon which at last so wrought upon the Cholerick Man that he left his Oxen and his Fields and gave himself up to God and the Severities of Religion 2. Do good to them that hate you This is to do acts of Beneficence to the Enemy to Cloathe him to Feed him to give him Drink to Instruct him to Guide him to Direct him to Relieve him to Assist him in his Necessities when he is in Want or Perplexity or stands in need of our help So did Christ Jesus for he healed the Ear of Malchus who came out against him to apprehend him and what were all the Days of his Ministry among the Jews but so many Instances of doing good to his Enemies even to those who call'd him all to nought So did the Apostles so did the Primitive Believers Their Enemies were the Objects of their Tenderness when they were Sick or wanted their Assistance they watch'd with them they visited them they attended them they ran for them they dressed their Sores even then when they labour'd under the Plague and the Tokens of God's Anger The very Heathens saw that this doing good for Evil was necessary to the Perfection of Humane Nature which made Phocion when unjustly condemn'd by the Athenians being ask'd before his Death whether he had any Command to his Son said Go and tell him that I charge him to forget the Injuries the Athenians have done me But Instances of this Nature were very rare among the Heathens and besides their Principle was nought But among the ancient Christians this was a very common thing and they strove to express their Religion by this Love Eusebius of Samosata an Orthodox Bishop dying of his Wound which a furious Arrian Woman had given him by throwing a great Stone at his Head made it his request to the Magistrate of the Town before he died that the Woman might not suffer nor be any way molested for the Fact Alexander Bishop of Jerusalem a Servant of his having robb'd him of a considerable Summ of Money when that Servant came afterwards to be Sold for a Slave the Bishop hearing of it sent and had him redeem'd and paid down the price of his Ransom In a word abundance of such Instances there are in the Christian Church and therefore Tertullian makes this the proper Vertue of Christians taught by no Religion in the World besides And if this be the Nature of our Religion to do good to them that hate us how do we satisfie our selves without this Ornament of our Profession Why do we stand reasoning and disputing about the hardness of the thing and do not put our Hand to the Plough If this be our Religion why are we loath to put it in practice What! Do we think it enough to be able to say that there is such a Precept in the Pandects of our Religion in the Body of our Divinity and take no farther Care We take our selves to be very much enlighten'd to what former Ages were yet for ought we see the Examples and Instances of doing Good for Evil are not so frequent now as they were in Ages labouring under greater darkness Our Chronicles tell us of Richard I. King of England that when a Soldier one Gourdion had purposely wounded him with an Arrow of which he died soon after the Villain being taken Prisoner the King sent for him desirous to know the reason of his barbarous Attempt who very resolutely told him that the reason was because the King had formerly killed his Father and two of his Brothers which words so mov'd the King that he not only pardon'd and discharg'd him but order'd him a hundred Shillings It was become a Proverb in Bishop Cranmer's Time That if a Man did do him a shrew'd turn he was sure to have him for ever after for his Friend And of St. Lewis the French King we read that when a Woman had revil'd and reproach'd him upon some acts of Government not very pleasing to the People he commanded his Servants to carry her a Reward because she had given him an opportunity of exercising his Patience These Instances I mention not to set off the Discourse but to encourage you to follow them And let 's but consider which of the two is most likely to afford Comfort upon a Death-bed Revenge or doing Good for Evil I appeal to the most Carnal Person here whether he do not think the latter to be the most reviving Cordial A Cordial indeed for this gives Confidence to the dying Man that God will do him good for the Evil he hath done against him it being a standing Rule With what measure ye meet it shall be measured to you again Luke vi 38 3. Pray for them that persecute you and despitefully use you This is to offer up our Supplications to God our earnest Supplications Desires and Repuests that God would reform them and pardon them make them kind to us and turn their Hearts and not lay their Sin to their Charge but make it an opportunity to Convert them to bring them to a sence of their Duty their Danger and the necessity of Holiness Thus our blessed Master pray'd Luk. xxiii 34 Father forgive them for they know not what they do Thus pray'd St. Stephen Acts vii 60 Lord lay not this Sin to their Charge and when he had said so he fell asleep Surely this good Man died in Charity He gives a kiss of Peace to his Enemies and with this Olive-Leaf in her Mouth his Soul flies away to Heaven Shall any of us after all these Motives be loath to pray for his Enemies Shall we plead that such a Man's Malice and Spight and Affronts and the Injuries he hath done us are so full of Venom and carry those Aggravations with them that they are not to be put up Are they greater than those which were offer'd to Christ Jesus or the Proto-Martyr The greatest Injury that can be done to a Man is taking away his Life for Skin for Skin and all that a Man hath he gives for his Life Yet see how thy Saviour pray'd for his Crucifiers for Men that did not only rob him of the comforts of Life but put him to the most painful and most ignominious Death St. Stephen all bruised and torn with Stones Streams of Blood running down from his Head and Face faint and languishing and ready to expire makes yet a shift to get upon his Knees and to pray for his Murtherers Such Prayers God gives solemn Audience to and blesses with Miracles of Mercy and the Enemies remember'd in such Prayers receive considerable benefit That three Thousand Souls were Converted and prick'd at the Heart by St. Peter's Sermon is justly believ'd to have been the effect of Christ's Prayer for his Enemies And the Father 's generally tell us that St. Stephen's Prayer was the cause that St. Paul was Converted from a Persecuter