never yet understood what the Government of his Passions meant 6. A sincere Endeavour to please God in the Duties of his Worship and Service For since God hath appointed such Duties no Man can pretend to depend upon him for his Happiness who is not sincerely willing to please him in doing what he hath appointed for his Service and that in such a manner as himself hath required Under the Law God was very punctual and particular in his Institutions and that as to all the Circumstances of them and then he expected to be obeyed according to his owâ— Appointments and added a severe Sanction to his Law Cursed is every one that continueth not in every thing written in the Law to do it And he required great Diligence and Care in the keeping all his Commandments so that then they could not be righteous over much with respect to the Law of God for all their Care was little enough to perform it Under the Gospel God that hath taken away the rigorous Dispensation and instead thereof he requires a reasonable Service which doth not only consist in the Acts of our Minds but in the most reasonable Duties of Religion in Prayers and Praises and Sacraments which ought to be performed by us with that Diligence and Devotion as requires our greatest Care and in that we cannot exceed 2. And this leads me to consider the Rules and Measures we are to go by in external and positive Duties There are three sorts of Measures to be observed 1. Of strict Obligation and that depends upon a clear and express Declaration of God's Will that it is a Duty incumbent on us to perform as Creatures or as Christians as Prayer for one and celebrating and receiving the Lords Supper for the other As to these such Rules of Conscience are to be observed 1. They must be done so as to be consistent with other Duties of Piety Charity Justice Regard to Health Families and Publick Good 2. They must be done so as to shew our Fear and our Love of God in the doing them i. e. So as not to live in an habitual Neglect of them nor to perform them so as if we had no regard to him that appointed them 2. There are other Measures of Zeal and Devotion which exceed the strict Obligation of Conscience I do not now speak of an accidental Obligation of Conscience by particular Engagements of Oaths or Promises or Vows but of what is Free and Chosen As to which these Rules may be observed 1. The more Persons are freed from Incumbrances of the World the more time they are to set apart for the Worship and Service of God 2. The more Love any have to God and Religion the more frequent they will be in the voluntary Service of God and the greater Delight they will take in it And thus much may serve to clear the Measures of true Religion 2. But there are many Mistakes and false Notions of Religion in the World and by reason of these Men are very prone to exceed their due Bounds And here I shall set down some of the most common and popular which are most apt to deceive 1. That God is pleased with such kind of Service as doth most please our own Fancies This is the Foundation of what the Scripture calls Will-Worship i. e. when Men are not contented with what God hath appointed but set up their own Fancies and imagine that God will be as much pleased with them as with any thing himself hath required Such as the Worshipping of Angels and abstaining from Meats there mentioned If these had been any necessary parts of Religion no doubt Christ and his Apostles would have recommended them to the Christian Church but they are far from it and St. Paul very much dislikes the introducing such things although they had some plausible Pretences for them which he calls a shew of Wisdom But it came at last to this that such a Severity in Diet such Humility in making use of the Mediation of Angels seemed very agreeable to the Fancies of Men and the distance between God and us And from hence they came to the Invocation of Saints as appears from them for their Fancies still ran upon the manner of Earthly Courts and thought things were managed in Heaven accordingly From hence came all the gross Superstitions the frequent Addresses the tedious Pilgrimages in the Church of Rome only to procure the Favours of some particular Saints to intercede with Christ that he might intercede with God for them Whereas the Scripture shews us the plain and direct way of making our Applications to the Father by the Mediation and Intercession of his Son whom he hath appointed the Mediator between him and us So gain in the Worship of Images as directly forbidden as Adultery and Murder are in the ten Commandments yet because Men shew respect to one another in keeping and kissing their Pictures therefore God cannot be displeased with worshipping Images tho' against his Commandments because they intend it for his Honour This among others because the heats of Fancy and Variety of Expressions is pleasing to themselves in Prayer they conclude it is so to God too Whereas the Wise Man takes notice of the multiplying words in Prayer as one of the Vanities of Mankind Be not rash with thy mouth and let not they heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy words be few Some place too much of their Religion in a Zeal for or against some external Ceremonies of Worship and both think what they do is very pleasing to God Whereas at the bottom there may be nothing but Temper and Prejudice and Education in both sorts Some have a natural Averseness confirmed by their manner of breeding to all kind of Ceremonies and others as great an Inclination to them But still God must be pleased with what they are As the warlike People of old worshipped their God's in Armour and the rest according to the peculiar Dresses and Habits of their Countrey 2. That God is pleased with what doth most cross and displease our Inclinations This is another Fountain of Superstition and seems contrary to the former only they think God is more averse to our Inclinations than to our Fancies It is true our Inclinations are too much bent to what is morally Evil and that God abhors But that is not the thing I am speaking of but of such Inclinations which have no real Evil in them but are meerly natural as to a Freedom from Pain and uneasiness And the Point is whether God be pleased with seeing us to vex and Torment our selves and whether that be any acceptable Service to God As to deny our selves natural rest to avoid eating a thing because our Appetite is pleased with it to kneel upon bare Stones to cut our Flesh to whip our Bodies c. for they are all of the same kind Can we
one Point he is guilty of all How is this agreeable with the Equity of the Gospel to make a Breach of one Part to be a violation of the whole Law Since he cannot keep the Law and break it at the same time and so far as he did keep it he could not be guilty of the Breach of it but if he offended but in one Point he must keep all the rest It is not enough to say that the Chain of the whole is broken and the Authority of the Law-giver contemned for there is a great difference between breaking a Chain and breaking it all to Pieces there is no such Contempt in the Breach of one Command as of all and he that keeps all the rest seems to shew more regard to his Authority in keeping the other Parts of the Law than Contempt in that wherein he offends What then is the Apostle's meaning It is that the Gospel doth not allow any wilfull Breach of the Law of God in any one kind or sort whatsoever as appears by the following words For he that said Do not commit Adultery said also Do not kill now if thou commit no Adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a Transgressor of the Law What is before said that he is guilty of all is here explained that he is a Transgressor of the Law This cannot therefore be understood of any sudden Act of Passion and Surprise nor of any Failings as to the Manner of our Duties but of a wilfull deliberate Practice of some one known Sin although the Person may be carefull to avoid many others because this is not consistent with that Integrity of Mind and that sincere Regard to God and his Laws which every good Christian ought to have and so being guilty of the whole Law is to be understood with respect to the Favour of God which can no more be expected where there is a wilfull persisting in any one known Transgression of the Law than if he were guilty of all As to Sins of Omission the words of the Text taken in their full Extent have a very mortifying Consideration in them For it is much easier to know to do good than to practise it It is hard for Men under the plain Precepts of the Gospel not to know how to do good but who is there that can say he doth all the good he knows We all know we ought to love God with all our heart and soul and strength and our Neighbour as our selves yet who can pretend to do it in the utmost latitude and extent of our Duty So that what St. Paul saith of the Law is true of the Text that it concludes all under Sin For as our Apostle saith in many things we offend all And the more we know the more we offend as he tells us in these words To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is fin What Advantage then have we by the Gospel since the more we know of our Duty the worse our Condition is if we do not practise it and we know so much more to be our Duty than we can hope to practise that this Expression seems to leave Mankind in a more deplorable Condition under the Light of the Gospel than if we had never heard of it For if the Sin be aggravated by knowing our Duty and not doing it it must proportionably be lessened by having no Opportunities to know it Therefore for the clearing the Sense of the Apostle in these words and for the right understanding the just Measures of our Duty and the due Aggravation of our Sins it will be necessary to state and clear the Nature and Extent of Sins of Omission Or to shew how far this Rule of the Apostle holds To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is Sin To do good here doth not barely imply something that is lawfull and commendable which it is some way in our Power to do but that to which we are under some Obligation so that it becomes our Duty to do it For a Sin of Omission must suppose an Obligation since every Sin must be a Transgression of the Law But there are several sorts of things that are good and there are different kinds of Obligation and from hence arises the Difficulty of stating the Nature of Sins of Omission which some are too little sensible of and some too much But it is in it self a Subject of so important a Nature and so seldom spoken to that I shall at this time endeavour to clear it And in order thereto we must enquire I. Into that Good which we are obliged to do II. The Nature of the Obligation we are under to do it I. As to the Good which we are obliged to do that may be considered two ways 1. With respect to God and so it implies the Duty we owe on the Account of the Relation we stand in to him 2. With respect to one another and so it implies not meer Duty but something beneficial and advantageous to others which we are in a Capacity to do 1. Our Duty with respect to God is either 1. That of our Minds which lie in internal Acts which we are bound to perform towards him 2. That which consists in external Acts of Duty and Service to him 1. The Duty which we owe to God in our Minds which is not barely to know him but frequently to consider and think of him as our Maker and Benefactor It is a strange Incogitancy in Mankind to live as without God in the World to suffer the Cares and Thoughts and Business of this World to justle God out of our Minds whom we ought in the first Place to regard If we could free our Minds from that Disorder and Confusion they are under by the strong Impressions of sensible Objects and the false Idea's of Imagination they would think of nothing so freely so frequently so delightfully as the Divine Perfections For God being the most perfect Mind other Minds that are created by him do naturally tend towards him as their Centre and are uneasie and restless like the Needle touched with the Load-stone till they are fixed towards him We meet with too many things which divert and draw them another way but it is certainly one of the most necessary Duties lying upon us to call back our Thoughts from too busie and eager a Pursuit of Earthly things and to fix them in the serious Thoughts of God and another World It is the Opinion of Aquinas and the older Casuists that assoon as ever any Person is come to the use of his Reason he is not only bound to think of God but to love him as his chief Good and that it is the most dangerous Sin of Omission not to do it The latter Casuists who think this Doctrine too severe as to the first use of Reason yet cannot deny it to hold assoon as any come to the Knowledge of
it were upon Precipices and therefore had need to look to our standing when we see Persons falling on every side There is no force indeed in our Case because we are in a State of Trial but we live in the midst of Snares and Temptations and Sins which do so easily beset us that we cannot walk one step in our way without Danger and therefore there is continual Reason for Watchfulness But that is not enough For 2. We must add Prayer to our Watchfulness Otherwise our Presumption of our own strength may make us fall God will have us owe our standing to his Assistance which he hath promised to give upon our earnest Prayer to him for it No Duty more proper for us in this State of Temptation no Duty more effectual for obtaining suitable Supplies for our present Necessities where a Man falls by Temptation St. Chrysostom saith it is because he knew not how to Pray For Prayer when duely performed not only diverts and raises and composes the Mind and so breaks the force of a present Temptation but when a close Siege is laid it keeps the Passage open for Supplies from Heaven and brings down those Supports which may enable us so to endure Temptation that when we are tried we may receive the Crown of Life which God hath promised to them that love him SERMON XII Preached at HAMPTON-COURT Before the King and Queen August the 7th 1689. Acts XXVI 8. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the Dead THESE words are part of the Excellent Defence which S. Paul made for himself before King Agrippa and the Roman Governour for embracing the Christian Religion And if it were so desirable a thing to have heard S. Paul Preach as one of the Fathers of the Church thought it when he parallel'd it with seeing Christ in the Flesh it was especially at that time when before so great an Audience and upon so Solemn an occasion he was to give an account of himself touching all the things whereof he was accused of the Jews Ver. 2. There had been a long and implacable Hatred both in the Rulers and People of the Jews against him above any other Apostle having had greater advantages of Education among them and being more remarkably zealous for preaching up that Doctrine which himself had furiously opposed and that upon a Principle of Conscience as he saith Ver. 9. I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth And such a Conscientious Persecutor would not do that which he accounted the work of the Lord negligently as he shews Ver. 10 11. But that the same Person should on a sudden quit all his Hopes and Expectations among the Jews and not only betake himself to a Sect so much hated and despised as that of Christianity was but to be so active in all places for the promoting it was a thing which did both surprize and enrage them Insomuch that when he came up to Jerusalem a popular Tumult was soon raised against him which had like to have cost him his Life if the Roman Officers had not rescued him from their Fury But after he had made several Defences of himself to the People to the Council to the Roman Governour and found their Rage and Malice against him to continue still when Festus would have sent him to Jerusalem to be tried He appeals to Coesar and during this Appeal when Agrippa came to visit Festus hearing of this remarkable Cause and the vehement Prosecution of it he had a Desire to hear what S. Paul had to plead for himself But before I come to the particular Matter of his Plea in these words there are 2 things observable concerning him 1. That although he knew he could not suffer in a better Cause and had a Prospect of his Sufferings before he went to Jerusalem and went thither with a Resolution to undergo any thing for the sake of Christ yet he quitted no advantages which the Law gave him For when the Officer would have scourged him he pleaded his Freedom as a Roman Citizen and all such were exempted from Scourging by the Porcian and Sempronian Laws And when he found the Design was laid to carry him back to Jerusalem and there to make him a Sacrifice to the Rage of the Jews he makes use of the Privilege of the Roman Laws and before Sentence made his Appeal to Coesar So little did he think it inconsistent with the Christian Doctrine of Suffering to make use of Legal Privileges for his own Defence against unjust Violence 2. That in all his Defences he insisted on the Resurrection as the main Point For although the true Ground of the violent Hatred and Malice of the Jews against him was his constant and zealous Preaching Jesus and the Resurrection as he did at Athens and other places yet those who persecute Men for the sake of Truth always pretend some other Reason for it and nothing is more common and plausible than that of breaking the Laws And the Jews now thought they had this Advantage against S. Paul for they charged him with profaning the Temple by carrying a Gentile into it but the Matter of Fact was mistaken however this served for a popular Pretence against him and that was all they sought for Malice working most mischief under a Disguise And this took presently and spread so suddenly That it is said All the City was moved and the People ran together and they took Paul and drew him out of the Temple When Tertullus pleaded against him he faintly urged his going about to profane the Temple but the main of his Accusation was That he was a Ringleader of the Sect of the Nazarens therefore S. Paul in his Answer in short saith to the other things objected That they could not prove them but as to the Way which they câ—lled Heresie i. e. owning the Doctrine of Christ he was so far from denying it that he professed it before them all And as he declared his Faith freely so he did his Hope too And have hope towards God which they themselves also allow that there shall be a Resurrection of the dead both of the just and unjust This was the Point S. Paul reduced all to Touching the Resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day And so here to Agrippa And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the Promise made of God unto our Fathers unto which Promise our twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come for which Hopes sake King Agrippa I am accused of the Jews And then immediately follow the words of the Text Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead Wherein we have the Strength of the Apostles Argument to prove the Truth of this
more valuable than any other Delight whatsoever and he now found impossible to be enjoy'd in a Course of Rebellion against his heavenly Father 3. In the Conviction of his Folly upon due Consideration of what he had done which is Emphatically called Coming to himself having before acted so much below himself and against himself unworthy of the Relation he stands in to God of those Faculties he had bestow'd upon him and of those hopes and expectations he might have had from him either as to this or another World 4. In the Resolution he takes upon this Conviction no longer to delay his purpose of repenting and returning home but to embrace the present opportunity of doing it freely heartily and ingenuously I will arise and go to my Father c. Having formerly in this Place and on a like Occasion considered the prodigal Son 's coming to himself I shall now pursue the Method of his Repentance in the Resolution he here takes to arise and go to his Father c. And therein I shall enquire into these things I. What grounds a Sinner hath to incourage him to repent or to form such a Resolution in his Mind that he will arise and go to his Father when he knows he hath so much provoked and offended him II. How necessary it is in order to true Repentance to form a fixed and steady Resolution to go through with it I will arise and go c. First What grounds a Sinner hath to incourage him to repent or to make Application to his Father in order to Forgiveness since he is convinced he hath so justly offended him For if we consider the Circumstances here mention'd he had no such Reason to hope to be receiv'd into Favour upon such easie Terms as are here expressed For 1. He had wilfully forsaken his Father's House without any just Cause of Complaint of any hard usage there 2. He had embraced such a Course of Life which he knew was displeasing to him living riotously and disorderly in a way contrary to his Will 3. He never thought of returning home till mere Necessity forced him till Hunger and Poverty made him come to himself And what could be more disobliging to a Father than such Circumstances as these 1. His Father never forced him from home nor made his Condition uneasie there Our Saviour here represents Almighty God as dealing with Mankind like a tender and indulgent Father and not like a severe and hard Master his Laws being intended for our Good and not for his own Advantage There is no Duty of ours towards God or our selves or others but is founded on this Relation to God as a Father to Mankind Nothing can be more reasonable in general than that the Father should order and direct his Children and give such Rules which are fitting for them to observe And if we examine the particular Laws of Nature or the Dictates of Reason as to Good and Evil we shall find them very agreeable to God's Paternal Government What is the Duty of Prayer to God but asking daily Blessing of our heavenly Father What is our Thanksgiving but a solemn owning his Paternal Care and Bounty towards us And in these two the main Duties of Natural Religion consist The Neglect whereof is such a disrespect to our heavenly Father as is not consistent with our believing him to be so For as God himself argues in the Prophet A Son honoureth his Father and a Servant his Master If then I be a Father where is mine Honour And if I be a Master where is my Fear God was a Father by the Right of Creation and Providence but he was a Master to the Jews in respect of the Bondage of the Law and as there was a Spirit of Bondage on that account in them which inclined them to a more servile Fear so there ought to have been a natural Spirit of Adoption toward God as their Supreme Creatour and Father which should excite all Men to such a dutifull Love such a reverential Esteem such a Mixture of Awe and Kindness as is in Children towards their Parents Yea it ought to be much greater than that can be supposed because the Distance is Infinite between God and us and our Dependence more immediate and necessary and there is in him a Concurrence of all Perfections which may cause in us the highest Esteem and the humblest Adoration There is an unquestionable Duty owing by Children to their earthly Parents but how much rather saith the Apostle ought we to be in subjection to the Father of Spirits The Fathers of our Flesh may be very Kind but not Wise in their Love or Wise and not so Kind or they may be both Wise and Kind but not able to help their Children They may love and pity and pray for them when they are in Misery or Sickness and Pain but after all they are unable to relieve them For the most indulgent Father when his bowels yearn and his heart is ready to break at the sight of a Child lying under the Agonies of Death is not able to give a Moments Respite to the terrible Pangs which he can neither behold nor abate But our heavenly Father hath not only Infinite Wisdom but Infinite Kindness and Power and where all these are joined together what Honour what Love what Fear is due unto him Although there be defects in their Parents yet Children are still bound to obey them and to shew a mighty Regard and Reverence towards them but here it is so much otherwise that if we could conceive our selves without this Relation to God yet his Perfections are so many so great so infinite as to deserve and require our utmost Veneration The prodigal Son could then have no Reason to complain of the Duty which he owed to his Father And was it not fit for him to appoint the Orders of his Family and to expect that his Children should behave themselves therein as became the Relation they stood in to himself and to one another That they should have a decent Regard to themselves in Sobriety Temperance Command of their Passions and Care of their Words That they should behave themselves towards their Brethren with Sincerity Kindness and Justice which comprehend all the Duties we owe to one another And what now was there in all this that the Prodigal could have any Cause to complain of or that should make his Father's House so uneasie to him But his Father had just Cause to be provoked when his wise Counsels and prudent Care and constant Kindness and righteous Government were so much slighted and despised by a disobedient and ungratefull Son who had so little Sense of his Duty or his Interest as to be weary of being so well at home and therefore impatiently desiring to find out new Methods of living well as he then thought when the best Orders of his Father's Family were become so displeasing to him 2. But what were these new and fine
to his former Practices If we had been to judge of Ahab in the time of his Humiliation and of David in the time of his Impenitency after his Sins of Adultery and Murther we should have thought in common Justice and Charity the latter had been the carnal and the former the spiritual minded Man But it was quite otherwise which shews that we are not to judge of Men's spiritual Condition by sudden and violent Motions whether good or bad but by that Interest which prevails with them in the whole Course of their Lives To give a general Character of a Man from some violent Passion against the Tenour of his Life would be like drawing the Picture of a Man in a Fit of an Epilepsy or a convulsive Motion of his Face And to believe a Man to be a good Man because he hath some good Moods and passionate Fits of Devotion is as if we should take a piece of rotten Wood for a true Phosphorus because it shines sometimes or suppose Judas to be a Saint because he was so much in our Saviour's Company The inward Habits and Dispositions of Men's minds may be cover'd over and disguised a great while but a tempting Occasion lays them open as no doubt Judas did not get his Habit of Covetousness of a sudden but it was still growing and ripening under a fair Appearance and when the proper Season came the secret Malignity brake forth and the Temptation of Thirty Pieces of Silver discover'd the Baseness and Hypocrisie of his Heart Sometimes the Vein of Hypocrisie lies deep and is cover'd over with such a fair out-side that no one can have Reason to mistrust it till it discovers it self and then the Corruption is found so loathsome as to render ordinary Sincerity suspicious But this is a common Fault either to be too easily deceived or too unreasonably mistrustfull there is no certainty in a Deduction from particulars but where the Causes are equal and necessary It is as absurd an Inference that there is no such thing as a spiritul Mind because some who have pretended to it have been found Carnal as that there is no such thing as common Honesty among Men because some who have long born the Name of honest Men have been found great Cheats and Impostors But when a predominant Habit doth discover it self the Person must bear that Title and Denomination which it gives him 3. A Spiritual Mind is known by the general Conformity of Actions to a Divine and Spiritual Rule and so a carnal Mind by following the Bent and Inclinations of the Flesh. And there lies a great Part of the Difference for such who lay no Restraint upon their Natural Inclinations must needs be carnally minded because the Flesh as St. Chrysostom observes is not taken by St. Paul meerly for the Body but for the corrupt Part of our selves as consisting of Soul and Body It is observed by Cicero 3. de Rep. That Mankind came into the World in a very ill Condition with a Body naked frail and infirm with a Mind subject to Troubles dejected with Fears impatient of Labour prone to Lust but in the midst of all this there is a certain Divine Flame of Wit and Understanding which lies as it were buried and overwhelmed but with great Care and Industry may be so preserved and improved as to command our Appetites and governour Passions But alas How little doth the Reason of Mankind signifie to the greatest Part of them It helps them to see their Folly and like a Sea-light to a sinking Ship in a dark Night makes those who are aboard to behold their Misery without helping them out of it If the Frame of human Nature be considered in it self and by way of Speculation we have no Cause to complain of it for as God hath given us inferiour Faculties suitable to the Constitution of our Bodies so he hath likewise Superiour which are capable of controlling and covering them But when Habit and Custom is joyned with a vicious Inclination how little doth human Reason signifie All the Considerations of Natural Order and Decency and Regularity and good Example are easily over-born by the strong Propensities of a corrupt Inclination which hurries Men on to satisfie first their brutal Appetites and leaves Consideration till afterwards So that Reason seems by such an After-game rather given to torment than to reform them Therefore the wise God hath superadded his own Law to inforce that of Reason by a greater Authority that Men may think themselves more concerned to take care of their Actions when they must give an Account of them to one infinitely above them But what can Mankind do in such a wretched Condition For the Law of it self is but like a Toyl to a wild Beast the more he struggles the more he is intangled so that he sees his Misery by it but not his Remedy But such is the Goodness and Mercy of God towards Mankind that he hath never refused to accept those who have sincerely endeavour'd to do his Will according to the Measure of that Assistance which he hath given them Thus we find Characters of Men in all Ages who were said to be Righteous before God just and upright and perfect Men and yet some of the most eminent of these had remarkable failings as Noah Abraham and Job yet they had extraordinary Testimonies of God's approving their Integrity and passing by those Faults which were contrary to the general Design and Tenour of their Lives I confess we meet with two Instances to the contrary in Scripture which deserve our Consideration and those were of extraordinary Persons too eminent for their long and faithfull Service of God and yet upon single Faults committed by them he was very severe with them Which may seem to take much off from this Lenity and Goodness of God towards such who have a general Sincerity of Mind towards him But if we more strictly consider these two Cases we shall find there was something very provoking in the Circumstances of them which made God so much more displeased with the committing them For they were Sins committed by them in their publick Capacities and about such things wherein the Honour of God was more particularly concerned The first is the Case of Moses who was a great Pattern of Wisdom and Meekness and Faithfulness for forty Years together in the Conduct of a very froward People in the Wilderness yet at last he happen'd to fail in some Part of his Duty and God was so angry with him that he would not hear his Prayer for going into Canaan but he cut him off in the Wilderness at last as he did the People for their Unbelief But what was this Sin of Moses which made God so highly displeased with him If we read the Passage as it is related in the History of the Fact it is not so easie to find it out The People murmured for want of Water God upon Moses his
God if the want of knowing him be not through their own Fault Assoon as they know God they confess that they are bound to love him but are they not bound to know him assoon as they are capable What allowance may be made in the Cases of gross Ignorance or natural Stupidity we are not concerhed to enquire but we now speak of those who have all Advantages and Opportunities of knowing God betimes and as to such their Ignorance is so far from being an Excuse that it is their Sin And that can never excuse from a Fault but when it is no Fault to be ignorant But Not to know God when Persons know so many other things in the World besides him is so much greater a Fault because all those other things lead them to the Knowledge of him So that I take it for granted that no Man of Understanding can avoid the Knowledge of God without shutting his Eye against the clearest Light without darkening his Understanding by unreasonable Prejudices without Confusion of Thought and Perplexity of Mind without groundless Imaginations and ridiculous Suppositions and most commonly not without very disorderly Passions and vicious Habits which make the very Thoughts of God uneasie to his Mind But suppose we do own and believe a God are we bound always to be thinking of him Must we spend our time in Contemplation of him and neglect all our Affairs here If not what are the bounds of our Duty which we may not omit without Sin There are two things which are necessary for us to do with respect to God in our Minds 1. To have frequent and serious Thoughts of him without which it will be impossile to keep our Minds in that Temper which they ought to be in For the Thoughts of God keep up a vigorous Sense of Religion inflame our Devotion calm our Passions and are the most powerfull Check against the Force of Temptations And therefore we ought to allow our selves fit Times of Retirement for Recollection and Consideration wherein we draw in our Thoughts from the Business and Impertinencies of this Life and even these go a great way in that which looks like Business that we may converse with God and our own Minds And those who do not sometimes withdraw from the Noise and Hurry the Dust and Confusion of this World must be great Strangers both to God and themselves and mind any thing rather than their chiefest Interest But I am afraid there are too many among us of whom the Psalmist's words are too true God is not in all their thoughts I wish there were not some who would make good another Reading of those words viz. All their thoughts are there is no God But I think not so much their deliberate Thoughts as their Wishes and Desires But those can never alter the Nature of things and therefore the wisest thing they can do is to make the Thoughts of God desirable to them and that can be only by reconciling themselves to him by a hearty and sincere Repentance 2. We are always bound to have an habitual Temper and Disposition of Mind towards God This is that which is commonly called the Love of God and is opposed to the Love of Sin Which doth not consist in sudden and transient Acts of Complacency and Delight in him but in a firm Purpose and Resolution of Mind to obey him The Jews think that the fundamental Precept of the Law as to the Love of God with all their heart and soul and strength goes no farther than that they should do that which the Law requires as to the Worship and Service of God But certainly the Love of God must go deeper and rise higher or else it will never come up to the great Design of Religion which is not only to do those outward Acts of Service which he commands and expects from us but to bring our Souls nearer to him to make him our chief End and to direct the Course of our Lives and the Acts of our Obedience in order to it Now this is a Duty towards God so necessary to our Happiness that we must be always obliged to it and at all times although it be an Affirmative Precept For the true Reason of the Difference of Obligation is from the Nature of the Commands and not from the Manner of Expressing them either Negatively or Affirmatively The Reason of the perpetual Obligation of Negative Precepts is that it can never be lawfull to do what God forbids but it may be sometimes lawfull to omit what he requires because the Circumstances may make it not to be a Duty at that time But when an Affirmative Precept is of that Nature that no Circumstances can alter the Obligation of it then it binds as much as a Negative And so it is as to the Command of true Repentance and turning from the Love of Sin to the Love of God for no Man can be in such Circumstances wherein he is not bound to do it But as to particular Acts of Repentance and of the Love of God supposing that habitual Temper the Obligation of them is according to the proper Seasons and Occasions of them When a Sinner is conscious to himself of fresh Acts of Sin he is bound to renew his Repentance and the Omission of it adds to his Guilt and when God calls Men to Repentance in a more than ordinary Manner by strong Convictions of Conscience or some awakening Providence or by some solemn Times of Fasting he is guilty of a farther Aggravation of his Sin if he neglects those Seasons of performing the proper Acts of Repentance But suppose we do know God and have this habitual Love to him as our chief End doth this come up to all that Mankind owes to God Do we know him and love him and serve him as we ought to do Do we not fail in the Manner and Degree of those very Duties which we in some Measure perform And are not these Failings Omissions And will not these Omissions be charged upon us as Sins How then can Mankind hope to escape the Wrath of God against those who continue in the Practice of Sin To answer this we must distinguish between Omission as a Defect and as a Wilfull Sin We must say as St. James doth In many things we offend all and in all things I am afraid we offend some way or other if God would be exact to mark what is done amiss But here lies the main Point as to this Matter how far God will charge those things upon us as Omissions which in us come rather from want of Power than of Will to do them I do not mean of Natural Faculties for those we have entire but of Moral Power i. e. of such a Measure of Divine Grace as will enable us to do things beyond the Imperfection and Infirmity of our present State which in this fallen Condition is like that of a Man under a Dead-Palsie who hath all the
parity of Reason some things are declared and enforced by the Gospel others left to our own Deductions and Inferences some things are made positive Commands for all Ages others are reported by way of Example but that Example understood by the Church to have the force of a Command now in all these and other like Cases we ought to have the greatest regard to plain positive moral and perpetual Commands but withall to have a due regard to consequential and usefull Duties especially where the Church of God hath always so understood them which is the best Interpreter of such doubtfull Cases where the Sense of it is truly delivered to us 3. As to the Obligation we are under and that is three-fold 1. That of Nature which is to act according to Reason and none can question that but those who question whether there be any such Principle as Reason in Mankind and whosoever do so have Reason to begin at home 2. Of Christianity which supposes and enforces that of Nature and superadds many other Duties which we are bound to perform as Christians 3. Of our several Relations and particular Imployments As to the former we are under great Obligations from God and Nature and Christianity to do the Duties which belong to us in them As to the latter they commonly require a stricter Obligation by Oath to do those things which otherwise we are not bound to do But being entered into it by a voluntary Act of our own we cannot omit such Duties without Sin but where the Circumstances of things do supersede the Obligation Thus I have gone through as clearly and distinctly as I could the most usefull Cases relating to Sins of Omission it remains now that I make some Application to our selves When we reflect on our Lives and Actions our Sins of Commission are apt to terrifie our Consciences and make us very apprehensive of the Wrath of God but how few are any ways concerned for their Sins of Omission viz. For not discharging the Duties of their Places for not doing the Good they might and ought to have done for not serving God with Diligence and exemplary Devotion for not having their Minds so fixed and intent upon him as they ought to have on their Creatour and Preserver and Redeemer In a very corrupt Age not to be remarkable for doing Evil is a kind of Saintship but how few are remarkable for doing Good And yet that is one of the best Characters of Saintship How much time is squandred away in Vanity and Folly And yet how is that grudged which is spent in the Worship of God O what a burthen it is to serve God and spend any time in Devotion How many Excuses and Pretences of Business will such make rather than attend upon religious Duties which themselves would judge very frivolous in other Matters And will God and Conscience be satisfied with such unequal Dealing such notorious Partiality Let us deal faithfully and sincerely with our selves Are we as ready to serve God as to serve our Lusts and Pleasures Have we the same regard to his Worship that we have to any thing we really love and esteem If not there must be something very much amiss in the Temper and Disposition of the Mind and we are highly concerned to look into it I do not speak now of casual and accidental Omissions of some particular Duties at some times but of a general Unconcernedness about Matters of Religion as though they were either too high in the Speculation or too mean and low in the Practice of them or at least that it is no great Matter one way or other whether they mind them or not This I am afraid is too much the Temper of the Age we live in which seems to be sinking into a strange Indifferency about Religion It is possible for Persons to have a Zeal against some corrupt Opinions and Practices in Religion and yet to have no true Zeal or Concernment for Religion it self For they may so much hate being imposed upon by false Pretenders that carry on an Interest and Faction under the Shew of Religion as from thence to suspect all Religion to be nothing else which is as unreasonable as for a Man to conclude that all Merchants and Jewellers are Cheats and that there are no such things nor can be as true Diamonds in the World because he hath fallen into the hands of such as would have cheated him with those which were counterfeit And it is common with such who design to deceive that what they want in Sincerity they make up with Confidence This is a good Argument for caution and looking about us but it is none at all for our indifferency about Matters of Religion For it is not here as in Jewels which are fine things to look upon but the Happiness of Life doth not depend upon them But would any one let alone things necessary to the Support of Life because Poison may be put into them We may take care to prevent it but we must have the Necessaries of Life and it would be great Folly to die for want of Sustenance for fear of being poysoned If we have no true Love to God and Religion we must perish for there is no hopes of Salvation without it And if we go on in a careless Indifferency about God and his Service If we do not do our Endeavours for suppressing Wickedness and Vice if we do not mind Religion our selves nor are incouraging it in others it will shew that we have not that Love of God and Religion which we ought to have Therefore if we regard the Honour of God our own Salvation the Duties of our Places the Interest of the Nation and the Satisfaction of all that are wise and good we must shake off all this Coldness and Indifferency about Religion and apply our selves heartily and sincerely to promote the great Ends of it which are to make Persons good in this World and happy in another Which God of his Mercy grant c. SERMON XI Preached at WHITE-HALL Before the Princess of Denmark February the 11th 1686 7 St. Matth. XXVI 41. Watch and pray that ye enter not into Temptation the Spirit indeed is willing but the Flesh is weak THESE words were spoken by our Saviour to his Disciples at a critical time when they were just entring into Temptation but they were very little apprehensive of it and of their Inability to withstand it Like Jonas they were fallen asleep when the Storm was gathering about them and did not imagine they were so near being cast into a rough and tempestuous Sea It was but a little before Ver. 26. that Christ had entertained them at the proper Banquet of the Messias which the Jews speak so much of but not such a one as they fansied made up of the greatest Delicacies and Varieties of Meats and Drinks but at a Supper of his own appointing where ordinary Bread and Wine were made use of to set
any one Precept of the Law especially such as respected God and his Worship that would make amends for all the rest and this was the true Reason why the Pharisees made long Prayers and yet devoured Widows Houses for they thought the Duties of the first Table would excuse the neglect of the other But S. James saith If a Man keep all the rest of the Law and yet allows himself in the wilful breach of any one Point that implies such a Contempt of the Lawgiver as renders him as obnoxious to Divine Justice as if he had broken the whole But here a great difference is to be made between a single Act committed through the Power of Temptation against a contrary habit of Vertue and the habitual Practice of known Sins It is possible for a sober Man to be surprized into an Act of Intemperance and to be overcome by the strength of Wine but see the difference between such a one and one that hath a habit of Intemperance The one goes on in his Course and hath lost the very Sense of his Sin and the Power of resisting it and by degrees thinks he cannot live without it the other looks with Indignation upon himself for his Folly he repents presently and resolves to avoid all occasions of being guilty of the like Folly And the same holds as to other Sins if Persons do love God and their Souls and be overcome with Temptations they presently repent with great Sincerity and return no more to the Practice of it 3. All Acts of known Sins presumptuously committed are inconsistent with a constant and sincere Endeavour to please God Where there is true Friendship among Men it is not presently broke by every Neglect or sudden Heat and Passion but if a Man sets himself with Study and Deliberation to affront another that is a reasonable Cause to break off any Pretence of Friendship because such an Action was not consistent with the love of a Friend so it is with notorious Sins committed wilfully and deliberately notwithstanding all the Motions to the contrary from God's Honour and Justice and Soveraignty and from the Commands and Threatnings of the Gospel these are inconsistent with being in a State of Friendship with God which is all one with a State of Salvation Not that all who commit them must immediately or necessarily be damned for them but tho' hereby they renounce any Title to Friendship with God and all their hopes as long as they continue in such a State without true and hearty Repentance are vain and groundless And to entertain such hopes notwithstanding such sins is properly the Sin of Presumption which is Confidence of anothers Favour without any Reason for it 2. By these we may now easily understand what those Failings are which the Gospel allows for Infirmities viz. such which are unavoidable by us in this imperfect State notwithstanding a constant and sincere Endeavour to please God by doing his Will God knoweth our frame and remembreth that we are but dust Not meer Dust for then it were to no purpose to take Care to save our Souls but a Mixture and Composition of dull heavy lumpish Matter and a sprightly vigorous active Soul which grows uneasie by being fettred and clogged and distracted in its best and freest Motions by it The Soul can hardly raise it self above this Region of Darkness and Temptation and attempt a Flight towards the State of Serenity and Happiness above but it is pulled down by that weight which hangs upon it and diverted by the various and restless Impertinency of wandring Imaginations The most watchful Mind cannot prevent all the disorders of a roving Fancy in the midst of our more serious Devotions If we set our selves to fix our Minds upon the best Objects and to prevent any wandring thoughts the Success seldom answers our Design and our thoughts are gone before we are aware of it Our Minds are like a Ship tossed upon the rowling Waves but although we cannot hinder their unequal Motion we may steer their Course to the Port we aim at But beside the Extravagancies of Imagination our Desires are hard to be kept within their due Bounds there are many Failings in our best Duties great Coldness and Lukewarmness at least in our Devotions and yet too great Proneness to think well of our selves for them though God knows our Omissions and Neglects are so many and those we do perform are so mean and slight that we have more cause to pray to God to forgive than to hope he will accept our mean Performances But yet I do not say our best Actions are Sins for there is a real difference between Actions imperfectly good and morally evil in these the Substance is bad but in the other the Acts themselves are good but only lessen'd by the manner of doing them And to these Failings in our best Actions we must add the great unevenness in our Tempers the Inconstancy of our Resolutions the uneasiness of our Minds under the Troubles of Life arising from want of due Resignation and Submission to the Will of God the many secret lurking Passions within us which are called the Motions to sin and S. James styles The lust which conceives and brings forth sin and St. Paul The Law in our Members warring against the Law in our Minds which may give a great deal of disturbance where it cannot prevail It is a sad thing to read the Complaints of such Persons as St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Jerom about the inward Motions to sin after an Age spent in Mortifications and when their Bodies were wither'd with Age and broken with Diseases and hard Usage But there is a greater Instance than these of St. Paul himself who after all his Perils by Land and by Sea after all his Watchfulness and Fastings and Prayers yet he was forced to keep under his Body and to bring it in Subjection lest that by any means saith he ' when I have preached to others I my self become a cast-away But still there is a great difference between pursuing the things of the Spirit with the Reluctancy of the Flesh and pursuing the things of the Flesh with the reluctancy of the Spirit the former shews only the Motions of the Flesh which being subdued are but Infirmities but the latter do not cease to be wilful Sins tho' there be inward struggling in the Commission of them and the prevailing Party ought to give the Denomination to the Person whether carnal or spiritual For They that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh but they that are after the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit And according to the great Design and Tenour of our Lives and Actions will be our Character in this World and recompence in another Nothing now remains but to conclude with recommending to you the Duties of Watchâ—ulness and Prayer 1. Watchfulness which is a constant Care of our selves and Actions We walk as