iniquities testifie against thee to thy very face How can there be peace when thy lusts and debaucheries thy impieties to God and thy injuries to men have been so many How can there be peace when thy whole life hath been a continued contempt and provocation of Almighty God and a perpetual violence and affront to the light and reason of thy own mind Therefore whatever temptation there may be in sin at a distance whatever pleasure in the act and commission of it yet remember that it always goes off with trouble and will be bitterness in the end Those words of Solomon have a terrible sting in the conclusion of them Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment This one thought which will very often unavoidably break into our minds that God will bring us into judgment is enough to dash all our contentment and to spoil all the pleasure of a sinful life Never expect to be quiet in thine own mind and to have the true enjoyment of thy self till thou livest a virtuous and religious life And if this discourse be true as I am confident I have every mans conscience on my side I say if this be true let us venture to be wise and happy that is to be Religious Let us resolve to break off our sins by repentance to fear God and keep his Commandments as ever we desire to avoid the unspeakable torments of a guilty mind and would not be perpetually uneasie to our selves Grant we beseech thee Almighty God that we may every one of us know and do in this our day the things that belong to our peace before they be hid from our eyes And the God of peace which brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting Covenant make us perfect in every good work to do his will working in us always that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen A SERMON Preached before the KING Febr. 26 th 1674 5. A SERMON Preached before the KING Febr. 26 th 1674 5. PSAL. CXIX 59 I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies THE two great causes of the ruin of men are Infidelity and want of consideration Some do not believe the principles of Religion or at least have by arguing against them rendered them so doubtful to themselves as to take away the force and efficacy of them But these are but a ve-very small part of mankind in comparison of those who perish for want of considering these things For most men take the principles of Religion for granted That there is a God and a Providence and a State of Rewards and Punishments after this life and never entertained any considerable doubt in their minds to the contrary But for all this they never attended to the proper and natural consequences of these principles nor applyed them to their own case They never seriously considered the notorious inconsistency of their lives with this belief and what manner of persons they ought to be who are verily perswaded of the truth of these things For no man that is convinced that there is a God and considers the necessary and immediate consequences of such a perswasion can think it safe to affront Him by a wicked life No man that believes the infinite happiness and misery of another world and considers withall that one of these shall certainly be his portion according as he demeans himself in this present life can think it indifferent what course he takes Men may thrust away these thoughts and keep them out of their minds for a long time but no man that enters into the serious consideration of these matters can possibly think it a thing indifferent to him whether he be happy or miserable for ever So that a great part of the evils of mens lives would be cured if they would but once lay them to heart would they but seriously consider the consequences of a wicked life they would see so plain reason and so urgent a necessity for the reforming of it that they would not venture to continue any longer in it This course David took here in the Text and he found the happy success of it I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies In which Words there are these two things considerable I. The course which David here took for the reforming of his life I thought on my ways II. The success of this course It produced actual and speedy reformation I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments These are the two heads of my following discourse which when I have spoken to I shall endeavour to perswade my self and you to take the same course which David here did and God grant that it may have the same effect I. We will consider the course which David here took for the reforming of his life I thought on my ways or as the words are rendered in our old Translation I called mine own ways to remembrance And this may either signifie a general survey and examination of his life respecting indifferently the good or bad actions of it Or else which is more probable it may specially refer to the sins and miscarriages of his life I thought on my ways that is I called my sins to remembrance Neither of these senses can be much amiss in order to the effect mentioned in the Text viz. the reformation and amendment of our lives and therefore neither of them can reasonably be excluded though I shall principally insist upon the later 1. This thinking of our ways may signifie a general survey and examination of our lives respecting indifferently our good and bad actions For Way is a Metaphorical word denoting the course of a mans life and actions I thought on my ways that is I examined my life and called my self to a strict account for the actions of it I compared them with the Law of God the rule and measure of my duty and considered how far I had obeyed that Law or offended against it how much evil I had been guilty of and how little good I had done in comparison of what I might and ought to have done That by this means I might come to understand the true state and condition of my soul and discerning how many and great my faults and defects were I might amend whatever was amiss and be more careful of my duty for the future And it must needs be a thing of excellent use for men to set apart some particular times for the examination of themselves that they may know how accounts stand between God and them Pythagoras or
take away his life Whatever he said or did though never so innocent never so excellent had some bad interpretation put upon it and the great and shining Vertues of his life were turned into Crimes and matter of accusation For his casting out of Devils he was called a Magician for his endeavour to reclaim men from their vices a friend of Publicans and Sinners for his free and obliging conversation a wine-bibber and a glutton All the benefits which he did to men and the blessings which he so liberally shed among the people were construed to be a design of Ambition and Popularity and done with an intention to move the people to Sedition and to make himself a King Enough to have discouraged the greatest goodness and have put a damp upon the most generous mind and to make it sick and weary of well-doing For what more grievous than to have all the good one does ill interpreted and the best actions in the world made matter of calumny and reproach And then Lastly If we consider how chearfully notwithstanding all this he persevered and continued in well-doing It was not only his business but his delight I delight says he to do thy will O my God The pleasure which others take in the most natural actions of life in eating and drinking when they are hungry he took in doing good it was his meat and drink to do the will of his Father He plyed this work with so much diligence as if he had been afraid he should have wanted time for it I must work the work of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work And when he was approaching towards the hardest and most unpleasant part of his Service but of all others the most beneficial to us I mean his Death and Sufferings he was not at ease in his mind till it was done How am I straitned says he till it be accomplished And just before his Suffering with what Joy and Triumph does he reflect upon the good he had done in his life Father I have glorified thee upon earth and have finished the work which thou hast given me to do What a blessed Pattern is here of diligence and industry in doing good how fair and lovely a copy for Christians to write after And now that I have set it before you it will be of excellent use to these two purposes To shew us our Defects and to excite us to our Duty I. To shew us our Defects How does this blessed Example upbraid those who live in a direct contradiction to it who instead of going about doing good are perpetually intent upon doing mischief who are wise and active to do evil but to do good have no inclination no understanding And those likewise who though they are far from being so bad yet wholly neglect this blessed work of doing good They think it very fair to do no evil to hurt and injure no man but if Preachers will be so unreasonable as to require more and will never be satisfied till they have persuaded them out of their estate and to give to the poor till they have almost impoverish'd themselves they desire to be excused from this importunity But we are not so unreasonable neither We desire to put them in mind that to be charitable according to our power is an indispensable duty of Religion that we are commanded not only to abstain from evil but to do good and that our Blessed Saviour hath given us the example of both he did not only do no sin but he went about doing good And upon this nice point it was that the young rich man in the Gospel and his Saviour parted He had kept the Commandments from his youth Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not steal he had been very careful of the negative part of Religion But when it came to parting with his Estate and giving to the poor this he thought too hard a condition and upon this he forsook our Saviour and forfeited the Kingdom of heaven And it is very considerable and ought to be often and seriously thought upon that our Saviour describing to us the Day of Judgment represents the great Judg of the world acquitting and condemning men according to the good which they had done or neglected to do in ways of mercy and charity for feeding the hungry and cloathing the naked and visiting the sick or for neglecting to do these things Than which nothing can more plainly and effectually declare to us the necessity of doing good in order to the obtaining of eternal Happiness There are many indeed who do not altogether neglect the doing of this work who yet do in a great measure prevent and hinder themselves from doing it as they ought under a pretence of being employed about other Duties and parts of Religion They are so taken up with the exercises of Piety and Devotion in private and publick with Prayer and reading and hearing Sermons and preparing themselves for the Sacrament that they have scarce any leisure to mind the doing of good and charitable offices to others or if they have they hope God will pardon his servants in this thing and accept of their Piety and Devotion instead of all But they ought to consider that when these two parts of Religion come in competition Devotion is to give way to Charity Mercy being better than Sacrifice that the great End of all the Duties of Religion Prayer and reading and hearing the Word of God and receiving the holy Sacrament is to dispose and excite us to do good to make us more ready and forward to every good work and that it is the greatest mockery in the world upon pretence of using the means of Religion to neglect the end of it and because we are always preparing our selves to do good to think that we are for ever excused from doing any Others are taken up in contending for the Faith and spend all their zeal and heat about some Controversies in Religion and therefore they think it but reasonable that they should be excused from those meaner kind of Duties because they serve God as they imagine in a higher and more excellent way as those who serve the King in his Wars use to be exempted from Taxes and Offices But do those men consider upon what kind of Duties more especially our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles lay the great weight and stress of Religion that it is to the Meek and Merciful and Peaceable that our Saviour pronounceth Blessedness that pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction that the wisdom which is from above is full of mercy and good works These are the great and weighty things of Religion which whatever else we do ought not to be left undone Do they consider that a right Faith is wholly in order to a good Life and is of no value any farther
that we are what we ought to be and do what in reason we ought to do that which best becomes us and which according to the primitive intention of our Being is most natural for whatever is natural is pleasant Now the practice of piety towards God and of every other grace and virtue which Religion teacheth us are things reasonable in themselves and what God when he made us intended we should do And a man is then pleased with himself and his own actions when he doth what he is convinced he ought to do and is then offended with himself when he goes against the light of his own mind by neglecting his duty or doing contrary to it for then his conscience checks him and there is something within him that is uneasie and puts him into disorder As when a man eats or drinks any thing that is unwholsom it offends his stomach and puts his body into an unnatural and a restless state For every thing is then at rest and peace when it is in that state in which Nature intended it to be and being violently forced out of it it is never quiet till it recover it again Now Religion and the practice of its virtues is the natural state of the soul the condition to which God designed it As God made man a Reasonable creature so all the acts of Religion are reasonable and suitable to our nature And our souls are then in health when we are what the Laws of Religion require us to be and do what they command us to do And as we find an unexpressible ease and pleasure when our body is in its perfect state of health and on the contrary every distemper causeth pain and uneasiness so is it with the soul When Religion governs all our inclinations and actions and the temper of our minds and the course of our lives is conformable to the precepts of it all is at peace But when we are otherwise and live in any vitious practice how can there be peace so long as we act unreasonably and do those things whereby we necessarily create trouble and disturbance to our selves How can we hope to be at ease so long as we are in a sick and diseased condition Till the corruption that is in us be wrought out our spirits will be in a perpetual tumult and fermentation and it is as impossible for us to enjoy the peace and serenity of our minds as it is for a sick man to be at ease He may use what arts of diversion he will and change from one place and posture to another but still he is restless because there is that within him which gives him pain and disturbance There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Such men may dissemble their condition and put on the face and appearance of pleasantness and contentment but God who sees all the secrets of mens hearts knows it is far otherwise with them There is no peace saith my God to the wicked 2. Another ground of peace which the religious man hath is That he hath made God his Friend Now Friendship is peace and pleasure both It is mutual love and that is a double pleasure And it is hard to say which is the greatest the pleasure of loving God or of knowing that he loves us Now whoever sincerely endeavours to please God may rest perfectly assured that God hath no displeasure against him for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness and his countenance shall behold the upright that is he will be favourable to such persons As he hates the workers of iniquity so he takes pleasure in them that fear him in such as keep his covenant and remember his commandments to do them And being assured of his favour we are secured against the greatest dangers and the greatest fears and may say with David Return then unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid What can reasonably trouble or discontent that man who hath made his peace with God and is restored to his favour who is the best and most powerful friend and can be the sorest and most dangerous enemy in the whole World 3. By being religious we do most effectually consult our own interest and happiness A great part of Religion consists in moderating our appetites and passions and this naturally tends to the composure of our minds He that lives piously and virtuously acts according to Reason and in so doing maintains the present peace of his own mind and not only so but he lays the foundation of his future happiness to all Eternity For Religion gives a man the hopes of eternal life And all pleasure does not consist in present enjoyment there is a mighty pleasure also in the firm belief and expectation of a future good and if it be a great and a lasting good it will support a man under a great many present evils If Religion be certainly the way to avoid the greatest evils and to bring us to happiness at last we may contentedly bear a great many afflictions for its sake For though all suffering be grievous yet it is pleasant to escape great dangers and to come to the possession of a mighty good though it be with great difficulty and inconvenience to our selves And when we come to heaven if ever we be so happy as to get thither it will be a new and a greater pleasure to us to remember the pains and troubles whereby we were saved and made happy So that all these put together are a firm foundation of peace and comfort to a good man There is a great satisfaction in the very doing of our duty and acting reasonably though there may happen to be some present trouble and inconvenience in it But when we do not only satisfie our selves in so doing but likewise please him whose favour is better than life and whose frowns are more terrible than death when in doing our duty we directly promote our own happiness and in serving God do most effectually serve our own interest what can be imagined to minister more peace and pleasure to the mind of man This is the second thing Religion furnisheth us with all the true causes of peace and tranquillity of mind Thirdly The Reflection upon a religious and virtuous course of life doth afterwards yield a mighty pleasure and satisfaction And what can commend Religion more to us than that the remembrance of any pious and virtuous action gives us so much contentment and delight So that whatever difficulty and reluctancy we may find in the doing of it to be sure there is peace and satisfaction in the looking back upon it No man ever reflected upon himself with regret for having done his duty to God or man for having lived soberly or righteously or godly in this present world Nay on the contrary the conscience
of any duty faithfully discharged the memory of any good we have done does refresh the soul with a strange kind of pleasure and joy Our rejoycing is this saith St. Paul the testimony of our consciences that in all simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world But on the other side the course of a vicious life all acts of impiety to God of malice and injustice to men of intemperance and excess in reference to our selves do certainly leave a sting behind them And whatever pleasure there may be in the present act of them the memory of them is so tormenting that men are glad to use all the arts of diversion to fence off the thoughts of them One of the greatest troubles in the world to a bad man is to look into himself and to remember how he hath lived I appeal to the consciences of men whether this be not true And is not here now a mighty difference between these two courses of life that when we do any thing that is good if there be any trouble in it it is soon over but the pleasure of it is perpetual when we do a wicked action the pleasure of it is short and transient but the trouble and sting of it remains for ever The reflection upon the good we have done gives a lasting satisfaction to our minds but the remembrance of any evil committed by us leaves a perpetual discontent And which is yet more considerable a religious and virtuous course of life does then yield most peace and comfort when we most stand in need of it in times of affliction and at the hour of death When a man falls into any great calamity there is no comfort in the world like to that of a good conscience This makes all calm and serene within when there is nothing but clouds and darkness about him So David observes of the good man Psal 112.4 Vnto the upright there ariseth light in darkness All the pious and virtuous actions that we do are so many seeds of peace and comfort sown in our consciences which will spring up and flourish most in times of outward trouble and distress Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart And at the hour of death The righteous hath hopes in his death saith Solomon And what a seasonable refreshment is it to the mind of man when the pangs of death are ready to take hold of him and he is just stepping into the other world to be able to look back with satisfaction upon a religious and well-spent life Then if ever the comforts of a good man do overflow and a kind of heaven springs up in his mind and he rejoyceth in the hopes of the glory of God And that is a true and solid comfort indeed which will stand by us in the day of adversity and stick close to us when we have most need of it But with the ungodly it is not so His guilt lies in wait for him especially against such times and is never more fierce and raging than in the day of distress so that according as his troubles without are multiplyed so are his stings within And surely affliction is then grievous indeed when it falls upon a galled and uneasie mind Were it not for this outward afflictions might be tolerable the spirit of a man might bear his infirmities but a wounded spirit who can bear But especially at the hour of death How does the guilt of his wicked life then stare him in the face What storms and tempests are raised in his soul which make it like the troubled sea when it cannot rest When Eternity that fearful and amazing sight presents it self to his mind and he feels himself sinking into the regions of darkness and is every moment in a fearful expectation of meeting with the just reward of his deeds with what regret does he then remember the sins of his life and how full of rage and indignation is he against himself for having neglected to know when he had so many opportunities of knowing them the things that belonged to his peace and which because he hath neglected them are now and likely to be for ever hid from his eyes And if this be the true case of the righteous and wicked man I need not multiply words but may leave it to any mans thoughts in which of these conditions he would be And surely the difference between them is so very plain that there can be no difficulty in the choice But now though this discourse be very true yet for the full clearing of this matter it will be but fair to consider what may be said on the other side And the rather because there are several objections which seem to be countenanced from experience which is enough to overthrow the most plausible speculation As 1. That wicked men seem to have a great deal of pleasure and contentment in their vices 2. That Religion imposeth many harsh and grievous things which seem to be inconsistent with that pleasure and satisfaction I have spoken of 3. That those who are religious are many times very disconsolate and full of trouble To the first I deny not that wicked men have some pleasure in their vices but when all things are rightly computed and just abatements made it will amount to very little For it is the lowest and meanest kind of pleasure it is chiefly the pleasure of our bodies and our senses of our worst part the pleasure of the beast and not of the man that which least becomes us and which we were least of all made for Those sensual pleasures which are lawful are much inferiour to the least satisfaction of the mind and when they are unlawful they are always inconsistent with it And what is a man profited if to gain a little sensual pleasure he lose the peace of his soul Can we find in our hearts to call that pleasure which robs us of a far greater and higher satisfaction than it brings The delights of sense are so far from being the chief pleasure for which God designed us that on the contrary he intended we should take our chief pleasure in the restraining and moderating of our sensual appetites and desires and in keeping them within the bounds of Reason and Religion And then It is not a lasting pleasure Those fits of mirth which wicked men have how soon are they over Like a sudden blaze which after a little flash and noise is presently gone It is the comparison of a very great and experienced man in these matters Like the crackling of thorns under a pot saith Solomon so is the laughter of the fool that is the mirth of the wicked man it may be loud but it lasts not But which is most considerable of all the pleasures of sin bear no proportion to that long and black train of miseries and inconveniences which they draw after them Many times poverty and reproach pains and diseases upon our
and outward expressions of it 3. A serious consideration of the evil and unreasonableness of a sinful course That sin is the stain and blemish of our natures the reproach of our reason and understanding the disease and the deformity of our souls the great enemy of our peace the cause of all our fears and troubles That whenever we do a wicked action we go contrary to the clearest dictates of our reason and conscience to our plain and true interest and to the strongest tyes and obligations of duty and gratitude And which renders it yet more unreasonable sin is a voluntary evil which men wilfully bring upon themselves Other evils may be forced upon us whether we will or no a man may be poor or sick by misfortune but no man is wicked and vitious but by his own choice How do we betray our folly and weakness by suffering our selves to be hurried away by every foolish lust and passion to do things which we know to be prejudicial and hurtful to our selves and so base and unworthy in themselves that we are ashamed to do them not only in the presence of a wise man but even of a child or a fool So that if sin were followed with no other punishment besides the guilt of having done a shameful thing a man would not by intemperance make himself a fool and a beast one would not be false and unjust treacherous or unthankful if for no other reason yet out of meer greatness and generosity of mind out of respect to the dignity of his nature and out of very reverence to his own reason and understanding For let Witty men say what they will in defence of their vices there are so many natural acknowledgments of the evil and unreasonableness of sin that the matter is past all denial Men are generally galled and uneasie at the thoughts of an evil action both before and after they have committed it they are ashamed to be taken in a crime and heartily vexed and provoked whenever they are upbraided with it and 't is very observable that though the greater part of the world was always bad and vice hath ever had more servants and followers to cry it up yet never was there any Age so degenerate in which Vice could get the better of Vertue in point of general esteem and reputation Even they whose wills have been most enslaved to sin could never yet so far bribe and corrupt their understandings as to make them give full approbation to it 4. A due sense of the fearful and fatal consequences of a wicked life And these are so sad and dreadful and the danger of them so evident and so perpetually threatning us that no temptation can be sufficient to excuse a man to himself and his own reason for venturing upon them A principal point of wisdom is to look to the End of things not only to consider the present pleasure and advantage of any thing but also the ill consequences of it for the future and to ballance them one against the other Now sin in its own nature tends to make men miserable It certainly causes trouble and disquiet of mind And to a considerate man that knows how to value the ease and satisfaction of his own mind there cannot be a greater argument against sin than to consider that the forsaking of it is the only way to find rest to our souls Besides this every vice is naturally attended with some particular mischief and inconvenience which maketh it even in this life a punishment to it self and commonly the providence of God and his just judgment upon sinners strikes in to heighten the mischievous consequences of a sinful course This we have represented in the Parable of the Prodigal his riotous course of life did naturally and of it self bring him to want but the providence of God likewise concurred to render his condition more miserable at the same time there arose a mighty famine in the land so that he did not only want wherewithall to supply himself but was cut off from all hopes of relief from the abundance and superfluity of others Sin brings many miseries upon us and God many times sends more and greater than sin brings and the further we go on in a sinful course the more miseries and the greater difficulties we involve our selves in But all these are but light and inconsiderable in comparison of the dreadful miseries of another world to the danger whereof every man that lives a wicked life doth every moment expose himself So that if we could conquer shame and had stupidity enough to bear the infamy and reproach of our vices and the upbraidings of our consciences for them and the temporal mischiefs and inconveniences of them though for the present gratifying of our lusts we could brook and dispense with all these yet the consideration of the end and issue of a sinful course is an invincible objection against it and never to be answered though the violence of our sensual appetities and inclinations should be able to bear down all temporal considerations whatsoever yet methinks the interest of our everlasting happiness should lye near our hearts the consideration of another world should mightily amaze and startle us the horrors of eternal darkness and the dismal thought of being miserable for ever should effectually discourage any man from a wicked life And this danger continually threatens the sinner and may if God be not merciful to him happen to surprize him the next moment And can we make too much haste to flye from so great and apparent a danger When will we think of saving our selves if not when for ought we know we are upon the very brink of ruine and just ready to drop into destruction 5. Upon this naturally follows a full conviction of the necessity of quitting this wicked course And necessity is always a powerful and over-ruling argument and doth rather compel than perswade And after it is once evident leaves no place for further deliberation And the greater the necessity is it is still the more cogent argument For whatever is necessary is so in order to some end and the greater the end the greater is the necessity of the means without which that end cannot be obtained Now the chief and last end of all Reasonable creatures is happiness and therefore whatever is necessary in order to that hath the highest degree of rational and moral necessity We are not capable of happiness till we have left our sins for without holiness no man shall see the Lord. But though men are convinced of this necessity yet this doth not always enforce a present change because men hope they may continue in their sins and remedy all at last by repentance But this is so great a hazard in all respects that there is no venturing upon it And in matters of greatest concernment wise men will run no hazards if they can help it David was so sensible of this danger that he would not
Virtue or Vice People take their fashions from you as to the habits of their minds as well as their bodies So that upon you chiefly depends the ruine or reformation of manners our hopes or despair of a better world What way soever you go you are followed by troops If you run any sinful or dangerous course you cannot perish alone in your iniquity but thousands will fall by your side and ten thousands at your right hands And on the contrary 't is very much in your power and I hope in your wills and designs to be the sovereign restorers of piety and virtue to a degenerate Age. It is our part indeed to exhort men to their duty but 't is you that would be the powerful and effectual preachers of righteousness We may endeavour to make men proselytes to vertue but you would infallibly draw disciples after you We may try to perswade but you could certainly prevail either to make men good or to restrain them from being so bad Therefore consider your ways for the sake of others as well as your selves Consider what you have done and then consider what is fit for you to do and if you do it not what will be the end of these things And to help you forward in this work it is not necessary that I should rip up the vices of the Age and set mens sins in order before them It is much better that you your selves should call your own ways to remembrance We have every one a faithful Monitor and Witness in our own breasts who if we will but hearken to him will deal impartially with us and privately tell us the errors of our lives To this Monitor I refer you and to the grace of God to make these admonitions effectual Let us then every one of us in the fear of God search and try our ways and turn unto the Lord. Let us take to our selves words and say to God with those true Penitents in Scripture I have sinned what shall be done unto thee O thou preserver of men Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth I will abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes For surely it is meet to be said unto God I will not offend any more that which I know not teach thou me and if I have done iniquity I will do no more O that there were such an heart in us O that we were wise that we understood this that we would consider our latter end And God of his infinite mercy inspire into every one of our hearts this holy and happy resolution for the sake of our blessed Saviour and Redeemer to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory now and for ever Amen A SERMON Preached before the KING Apr. 18 th 1675. Psal CXIX 60 I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments IN the words immediately going before you have the course which David took for the reforming of his life and the success of that course I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies A serious reflection upon the past errors and miscarriages of his life produced the reformation of it And you have a considerable circumstance added in the words that I have now read to you viz. that this reformation was speedy and without delay I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments Upon due consideration of his former life and a full conviction of the necessity of a change he came to a resolution of a better life and immediately put this resolution in execution and to declare how presently and quickly he did it he expresses it both affirmatively and negatively after the manner of the Hebrews who when they would say a thing with great certainty and emphasis are wont to express it both ways I made haste and delayed not that is I did with all imaginable speed betake my self to a better course And this is the natural effect of Consideration and the true cause why men delay so necessary a work is because they stifle their reason and suffer themselves to be hurried into the embraces of present objects and do not consider their latter end and what will be the sad issue and event of a wicked life For if men would take an impartial view of their lives and but now and then reflect upon themselves and lay to heart the miserable and fatal consequences of a sinful course and think whither it will bring them at last and that the end of these things will be death and misery If the carnal and sensual person would but look about him and consider how many have been ruin'd in the way that he is in how many lye slain and wounded in it that it is the way to hell and leads down to the chambers of death this would certainly give a check to him and stop him in his course For it is not to be imagined but that that man who hath duly considered what sin is the shortness of its pleasures and the eternity of its punishment should resolve immediately to break off his sins and to live another kind of life Would any man be intemperate and walk after the flesh would any man be unjust and defraud or oppress his neighbour be prophane and live in the contempt of God and Religion or allow himself in any wicked course whatsoever that considers and believes a Judgment to come and that because of these things the terrible vengeance of God will one day fall upon the children of disobedience It is not credible that men who apply themselves seriously to the meditation of these matters should venture to continue in so imprudent and dangerous a course or could by any temptation whatsoever be trained on one step farther in a Way that does so certainly and visibly lead to ruin and destruction So that my work at this time shall be to endeavour to convince men of the monstrous folly and unreasonableness of delaying the reformation and amendment of their lives and to perswade us to resolve upon it and having resolved to set about it immediately and without delay in imitation of the good man here in the Text I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments And to this end I shall First Consider the reasons and excuses which men pretend for delaying this necessary work and shew the unreasonableness of them Secondly I shall add some farther Considerations to engage us effectually to set about this work speedily and without delay I. We will consider a little the reasons and excuses which men pretend for delaying this necessary work and not only shew the unreasonableness of them but that they are each of them a strong reason and powerful argument to the contrary 1. Many pretend that they are abundantly convinced of the great necessity of leaving their sins and betaking themselves to a better course and they fully intend to do so only they cannot at present bring themselves
particularly known to us when they are committed and consequently it is impossible that we should particularly repent of them And therefore in this case there can be no doubt but that God doth accept of a general repentance as he did from David when he made that humble confession and prayer to him Psal 19.12 Who can understand his errours cleanse thou me from secret sins 3. They are afraid their obedience is not sincere because it proceeds many times from fear and not always out of pure love to God For answer to this It is plain from Scripture that God propounds to men several motives and arguments to obedience some proper to work upon their fear as the threatnings of punishment some upon their hope as the promises of blessing and reward others upon their love as the mercies and forgiveness of God From whence it is evident he intended they should all work upon us And accordingly the Scripture gives us instances in each kind Noah moved with fear obeyed God in preparing an Ark Moses had respect unto the recompence of reward Mary Magdalen loved much And as it is hard to say so it is not necessary to determine just how much influence and no more each of these hath upon us It is very well if men be reclaimed from their sins and made good by the joint force of all the considerations which God offers to us To be sure Love is the noblest and most generous principle of obedience but fear commonly takes the first and fastest hold of us and in times of violent temptation is perhaps the best argument to keep even the best of men within the bounds of their duty 4. Another cause of doubting in good men is from a sense of their imperfect performance of the duties of Religion and of the abatement of their affections towards God at some times They have many wandring thoughts in prayer and other exercises of devotion and they cannot for their life keep their minds continually intent on what they are about This we should strive against as much as we can and that is the utmost we can do but to cure this wholly is impossible the infirmity of our nature and the frame of our minds will not admit of it And therefore no man ought to question his sincerity because he cannot do that which is impossible for men to do And then for the abatement of our affections to God and Religion at some times this naturally proceeds from the inconstancy of mens tempers by reason of which it is not possible that the best of men should be able always to maintain and keep up the same degree of zeal and fervour towards God But our comfort is that God doth not measure mens sincerity by the Tides of their affections but by the constant bent of their resolutions and the general tenour of their life and actions 5. Another cause of these doubts is that men expect more than ordinary and reasonable assurance of their good condition some particular revelation from God and extraordinary impression upon their minds to that purpose which they think the Scripture means by the testimony and seal and earnest of the Spirit God may give this when and to whom he pleases but I do not find he hath any where promised it And all that the Scripture means by those phrases of the testimony and seal and earnest of the Spirit is to my apprehension no more but this That the Holy Spirit which God bestowed upon Christians in so powerful and sensible a manner was a seal and earnest of their resurrection to eternal life according to that plain Text Rom. 8.11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you But then who they are that have the Spirit of God is only to be known by the real fruits and effects of it If we be led by the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh then the Spirit of Christ dwelleth in us But this is very far from an immediate and extraordinary revelation from the Spirit of God to the minds of good men telling them in particular that they are the children of God I know not what peculiar favour God may shew to some but I know no such thing nor ever yet met with any wise and good man that did affirm it of himself And I fear that in most of those who pretend to it it is either meer fancy or gross delusion 6. As for the case of melancholy it is not a reasonable case and therefore doth not fall under any certain rules and directions They who are under the power of it are seldom fit to take that counsel which alone is fit to be given them and that is not to believe themselves concerning themselves but to trust the judgment of others rather than their own apprehensions In other cases every man knows himself best but a melancholy man is most in the dark as to himself This cause of trouble and doubting is very much to be pitied but hard to be removed unless by physick or by time or by chance One may happen to say something that may hit the humour of a melancholy man and satisfie him for the present but Reason must needs signifie very little to those persons the nature of whose distemper it is to turn every thing that can be said for their comfort into objections against themselves Thirdly But besides those who mistake their condition either by presuming it to be better or fearing it to be worse than it is there are likewise others who upon good grounds are doubtful of their condition and have reason to be afraid of it Those I mean who have some beginnings of goodness which yet are very imperfect They have good resolutions and do many things well but they often fall and are frequently pull'd back by those evil inclinations and habits which are yet in a great measure unsubdued in them These I cannot liken better than to the Borderers between two Countries who live in the marches and confines of two powerful Kingdoms both which have a great influence upon them so that it is hard to say whose subjects they are and to which Prince they belong Thus it is with many in Religion They have pious inclinations and have made some fair attempts towards goodness they have begun to refrain from sin and to resist the occasions and temptations to it but ever and anon they are mastered by their old lusts and carryed off from their best resolutions and perhaps upon a little consideration they repent and recover themselves again and after a while are again entangled and overcome Now the case of these persons is really doubtful both to themselves and others And the proper direction to be given them in order to their peace and settlement is by all means to encourage them
it was long since judiciously noted by Aristotle That moral and proverbial speeches are not to be taken too strictly as if they were universally true and in all cases It is sufficient if they be true for the most part and in several respects which are very considerable And of this nature are most of the Proverbs of Solomon and whosoever shall go about to make out the truth of them in all cases does in my opinion take a very hard task upon himself But which is nearer to my purpose our Saviour himself in the Chapter before my Text and in the moral application of a Parable too namely that of the unjust steward useth a proverbial speech just in the same manner The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light Which is only a wise observation that is generally true and in many respects but not absolutely and universally For some men have been as wise and diligent for the glory of God and interest of their souls as ever any man was for this world and for the advancement of his temporal interest Of the like nature is this saying used by our Saviour probably taken as our Saviour did many other proverbial speeches from the Jews and applied to his own purpose For there are several sayings of the Jewish Masters much to this purpose As Great is the dignity of penitents Great is the vertue of them that repent so that no creature may stand in their rank and order And again The righteous may not stand in the same place with those that have repented These I confess were very high sayings but yet very well designed for the encouragement of repentance And they are not without good reason as will appear if we consider these two things First That the greater the difficulty of vertue is so much the greater is the praise and commendation of it And not only we our selves take the more joy and comfort in it but it is more admirable and delightful to others Now it cannot be denyed to be much more difficult to break off a vicious habit than to go on in a good way which we have been trained up in and always accustomed to Those that have been well educated have great cause to thank God and to acknowledg the care of their Parents and Teachers For piety and goodness are almost infinitely easier to such persons than to those who have wanted this advantage It is happy for them they never tasted of unlawful pleasures if they had they would possibly have drank as deep as others It is well they were never entangled in a sinful course nor enslaved to vicious habits nor hardened through the deceitfulness of sin if they had they might possibly never have been recovered out of the snare of the Devil By the happiness of a good education and the merciful providence of God a great part of many mens vertue consists in their ignorance of vice and their being kept out of the way of great and dangerous temptations rather in the good customs they have been bred up to than in the deliberate choice of their wills and rather in the happy preventions of evil than their resolute constancy in that which is good And God who knows what is in man and sees to the bottom of every man's temper and inclination knows how far this man would have fallen had he had the temptations of other men and how irrecoverably perhaps he would have been plunged in an evil course had he once entered upon it So that repentance is a very great thing and though it be the most just and fit and reasonable thing in the world yet for all that it deserves great commendation because it is for the most part so very hard and difficult And therefore though absolutely speaking innocence is better than repentance yet as the circumstances may be the vertue of some penitents may be greater than of many just and righteous persons Secondly There is this consideration further to recommend repentance that they who are reclaimed from a wicked course are many times more thoroughly and zealously good afterwards Their trouble and remorse for their sins does quicken and spur them on in the ways of vertue and goodness and a lively sense of their past errours is apt to make them more careful and conscientious of their duty more tender and fearful of offending God and desirous if it were possible to redeem their former miscarriages by their good behaviour for the future Their love to God is usually more vehement and burns with a brighter flame for to whomsoever much is forgiven they will love much And they are commonly more zealous for the conversion of others as being more sensible of the danger sinners are in and more apt to commiserate their case remembring that it was once their own condition and with what difficulty they were rescued from so great a danger And for the most part great penitents are more free from pride and contempt of others the consideration of what themselves once were being enough to keep them humble all their days So that penitents are many times more throughly and perfectly good and after their recovery do in several respects outstrip and excel those who were never engaged in a vicious course of life As a broken bone that is well set is sometimes stronger than it was before 2. It will conduce also very much to the extenuating of this difficulty to consider that our Saviour does not here compare repentance with absolute innocence and perfect righteousness but with the imperfect obedience of good men who are guilty of many sins and infirmities but yet upon account of the general course and tenour of their lives are by the mercy and favour of the Gospel esteemed just and righteous persons and for the merits and perfect obedience of our blessed Saviour so accepted by God Now this alters the case very much and brings the penitent and this sort of righteous persons much nearer to one another so that in comparing them together the true penitent may in some cases and in some respects have the advantage of the righteous and deserve upon some accounts to be prefer'd before him 3. Which is principally to be considered for the full clearing of this difficulty this passage of our Saviours is to be understood as spoken very much after the manner of men and suitably to the nature of humane passions and the usual occasions of moving them We are apt to be exceedingly affected with the obtaining of what we did not hope for and much more with the regaining of what we looked upon as lost and desperate Whatever be the reason of it such is the nature of man that we are not so sensibly moved at the continuance of a good which we have long possest as at the recovery of it after it was lost and gone from us And the reasons of a judicious value and esteem of a settled pleasure and contentment are one thing
persons but are rather the effects of Melancholy than any reasonable ground of trouble Some think that every deliberate sin against knowledg and after conviction is the sin against the Holy Ghost This is aknowledged to be a very great aggravation of sin and such as calls for a great and particular repentance but does by no means render a man incapable of forgiveness Others are troubled with blasphemous thoughts and those they think to be the sin against the Holy Ghost But this is generally the meer effect of Melancholy And the persons that are troubled with these black thoughts are no ways consenting to them but they rise in their minds perfectly against their wills and without any approbation of theirs And in this case they are so far from being the unpardonable sin that I hope yea and verily believe they are no sins at all but the meer effects of a bodily distemper and no more imputed to us than the wild and idle ravings of a man in a frenzy or a fever And God forbid that the natural effects of a bodily disease should bring guilt upon our souls So that these persons have reason enough for comfort but the misery is their present distemper renders them incapable of it 2. Secondly The other Use I would make of this discourse is to caution men against the degrees and approaches of this sin For if the sin against the Holy Ghost be of such a high nature and so unpardonable then all approaches to it are very dreadful Such as are profane scoffing at Religion and the Holy Spirit of God which dwells in good men Abuse of the holy Scriptures which were indited by the Spirit of God Perverse Infidelity notwithstanding all the evidence which we have for the Truth of Christianity and sufficient assurance of the Miracles wrought for the confirmation of it brought down to us by credible History though we were not eye-witnesses of them Obstinacy in a sinful and vicious course notwithstanding all the motives and arguments of the Gospel to perswade men to repentance Sinning against the clear conviction of our Consciences and the motions and suggestions of God's Holy Spirit to the contrary Malicious opposing of the Truth when the Arguments for it are very plain and evident to any impartial and unprejudiced mind and when he that opposeth the Truth hath no clear satisfaction in his own mind to the contrary but suffers himself to be furiously and headily carried on in his opposition to it These are all sins of a very high nature and of the nearest affinity with this great and unpardonable sin of any that can easily be instanced in And though God to encourage the repentance of men have not declared them unpardonable yet they are great provocations and if they be long continued in we know not how soon God may withdraw his grace from us and suffer us to be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin Be ready then to entertain the truth of God whenever it is fairly propounded to thee and with such evidence as thou art willing to accept in other matters where thou hast no prejudice nor interest to the contrary Do nothing contrary to thy known duty but be careful in all things to obey the convictions of thine own conscience and to yield to the good motions and suggestions of God's Holy Spirit who works secretly upon the minds of men and inspires us many times gently with good thoughts and inclinations and is griev'd when we do not comply with them and after many repulses will at last withdraw himself from us and leave us to be assaulted by the temptations of the Devil and to be hurried away by our own lusts into ruin and perdition A SERMON OF CHARITY AND ALMES Acts X. 38 Who went about doing good WHen Almighty God designed the Reformation of the World and the restoring of Man to the Image of God the Pattern after which he was first made he did not think it enough to give us the most perfect Laws of holiness and virtue but hath likewise set before us a living Pattern and a familiar Example to excite and encourage us to go before us and shew us the way and as it were to lead us by the hand in the obedience of those Laws Such is the Sovereign Authority of God over men that he might if he had pleased have only given us a Law written with his own hand as he did to the people of Israel from Mount Sinai but such is his Goodness that he hath sent a great Embassadour from Heaven to us God manifested in the flesh to declare and interpret his will and pleasure and not only so but to fulfil that Law himself the observation whereof he requires of us The bare Rules of a good life are a very dead and ineffectual thing in comparison of a living Example which shews us the possibility and practicableness of our Duty both that it may be done and how to do it Religion indeed did always consist in an Imitation of God and in our resemblance of those excellencies which shine forth in the best and most perfect Being but we may imitate him now with much greater ease and advantage since God was pleased to become Man on purpose to shew us how Men may become like to God And this is one great End for which the Son of God came into the world and was made flesh and dwelt among us and conversed so long and familiarly with mankind that in his own Person and Life he might give us the Example of all that holiness and vertue which his Laws require of us And as he was in nothing liker the Son of God than in being and doing good so is he in nothing a fitter Pattern for our imitation than in that excellent character given of him here in the Text that He went about doing good In which words two things offer themselves to our consideration First Our Saviour's great Work and Business in the world which was to do good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who employed himself in being a benefactour to mankind This refers more especially to his healing the bodily diseases and infirmities of men God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil Intimating to us by this instance of his doing good that he who took so much pains to rescue mens Bodies from the power and possession of the Devil would not let their Souls remain under his tyranny But though the Text instanceth only in one particular yet this general expression of doing good comprehends all those several ways whereby he was beneficial to mankind Secondly Here is his Diligence and Industry in this work He went about doing good he made it the great business and constant imployment of his life I shall propound to you the Pattern of our Saviour in both these particulars I. His great Work and Business in the world was to do good
The most pleasant and delightful the most happy and glorious work in the world It is a work of a large extent and of an universal influence and comprehends in it all those ways whereby we may be useful and beneficial to one another And indeed it were pity that so good a thing should be confined within narrow bounds and limits It reacheth to the Souls of men and to their Bodies and is conversant in all those ways and kinds whereby we may serve the Temporal or Spiritual good of our neighbour and promote his present and his future happiness What our Blessed Saviour did in this kind and we in imitation of him ought to do I shall reduce to these two Heads First Doing good to the Souls of men and endeavouring to promote their spiritual and eternal happiness Secondly The procuring of their Temporal good and contributing as much as may be to their happiness in this present life 1. Doing good to the Souls of men and endeavouring to promote their spiritual and eternal happiness by good Instruction and by good Example First By good Instruction And under Instruction I comprehend all the means of bringing men to the knowledg of their duty and exciting them to the practice of it by instructing their Ignorance and removing their Prejudices and rectifying their Mistakes by Persuasion and by Reproof and by making lasting provision for the promoting of these Ends. By instructing mens Ignorance And this is a duty which every man owes to another as he hath opportunity but especially to those who are under our care and charge our Children and Servants and near Relations those over whom we have a special authority and a more immediate influence This our Blessed Saviour made his great work in the world to instruct all sorts of persons in the things which concerned the Kingdom of God and to direct them in the way to eternal happiness by publick teaching and by private conversation and by taking occasion from the common occurrences of humane life and every object that presented it self to him to instil good counsel into men and to raise their minds to the consideration of divine and heavenly things And though this was our Saviour's great Employment and is theirs more particularly whose office it is to teach others yet every man hath private opportunities of instructing others by admonishing them of their duty and by directing them to the best means and helps of knowledg such as are Books of Piety and Religion with which they that are rich may furnish those who are unable to provide them for themselves And then by removing mens Prejudices against the Truth and rectifying their Mistakes This our Saviour found very difficult the generality of those with whom he had to do being strongly prejudiced against Him and his Doctrine by false Principles which they had taken in by education and been trained up to by their Teachers And therefore he used a great deal of meekness in instructing those that opposed themselves and exercised abundance of patience in bearing with the infirmities of men and their dulness and flowness of capacity to receive the Truth And this is great Charity to consider the inveterate Prejudices of men especially those which are rooted in education and which men are confirmed in by the reverence they bear to those that have been their Teachers And great allowance is to be given to men in this case and time to bethink themselves and to consider better For no man that is in an Errour think he is so and therefore if we go violently to rend their Opinions from them they will but hold them so much the faster but if we have patience to unrip them by degrees they will at last fall in pieces of themselves And when this is done the way is open for Counsel and Perswasion And this our Saviour administred in a most powerful and effectual manner by encouraging men to Repentance and by representing to them the infinite advantages of obeying his Laws and the dreadful and dangerous consequences of breaking of them And these are arguments fit to work upon mankind because there is something within us that consents to the equity and reasonableness of God's Laws So that whenever we perswade men to their duty how backward soever they may be to the practice of it being strongly addicted to a contrary course yet we have this certain advantage that we have their Consciences and the most inward sense of their minds on our side bearing witness that what we counsel and perswade them to is for their good And if need be we must add Reproof to Counsel This our Saviour did with great freedom and sometimes with sharpness and severity according to the condition of the persons he had to deal withal But because of his great Authority being a Teacher immediately sent from God and of his intimate knowledg of the hearts of men he is not a pattern to us in all the circumstances of discharging this duty which if any other requires great prudence and discretion if we intend to do good the only end to be aimed at in it For many are fit to be reproved whom yet every man is not fit to reprove and in that case we must get it done by those that are fit and great regard must be had to the time and other circumstances of doing it so as it may most probably have its effect I will mention but one way of Instruction more and that is by making lasting provision for that purpose as by founding Schools of learning especially to teach the poor to read which is the Key of knowledg by building of Churches and endowing them by buying or giving in Impropriations or the like These are large and lasting ways of teaching and instructing others which will continue when we are dead and gone as it is said of Abel that being dead he yet speaks And this our Saviour virtually did by appointing his Apostles after he had left the World to go and teach all Nations and ordering a constant Succession of Teachers in his Church to instruct men in the Christian Religion together with an honourable Maintenance for them This we cannot do in the way that he did who had all power in heaven and earth but we may be subservient to this Design in the ways that I have mentioned Which I humbly commend to the consideration of those whom God hath blessed with great Estates and made capable of effecting such great works of Charity Secondly Another way of doing good to the Souls of men is by good Example And this our Blessed Saviour was in the utmost perfection For he fulfilled all righteousness had no sin neither was guile found in his mouth And this we should endeavour to be as far as the frailty of our nature and imperfection of our present state will suffer For good Example is an unspeakable benefit to mankind and hath a secret power and influence upon those with whom we
then it hath an influence upon it so that whatever other Duties we may be obliged to nothing can excuse us from this How much better is it to do good to be really useful and beneficial to others and how much more clearly and certainly our duty than to quarrel about doubtful and uncertain opinions Were men Christians indeed they would be so much delighted and taken up with this better work more acceptable to God and more profitable to men that they could not find leisure or if they could they could not find in their hearts to employ all their time and zeal about things which are at so great a distance from the life and heart of Religion as most of those Questions are which Christians at this day contend and languish about Were we possessed with the true spirit of Christianity these would be but dry and insipid and tastless things to us in comparison of the blessed employment of doing good in a more real and substantial way If the sincere love of God and our neighbour were but once throughly kindled in our hearts these pure and heavenly flames would in a great measure extinguish the unchristian heats of dispute and contention as Fires here below are ready to languish and go out when the Sun in his full strength shines upon them II. But the hardest part of my task is yet behind and it is strange it should be so And that is to perswade us to the imitation of this Blessed Example Let us go and do likewise let the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus let us tread in the steps of the great God and the best man that ever was our Blessed Saviour who went about doing good Methinks the work it self is of that nature that men should not need to be courted to it by perswasion nor urged by importunity The very proposal of the thing and the Pattern which I have set before you is temptation and allurement enough to a generous and well-disposed mind But yet to inflame you the more to so good a work be pleased to dwell with me a little upon these following Considerations First It is an argument of a great and generous mind to employ our selves in doing good to extend our thoughts and care to the concernments of others and to use our power and endeavours for their benefit and advantage Because it shews an inclination and desire in us to have others happy as well as our selves Those who are of a narrow and envious spirit of a mean and sordid disposition love to contract themselves within themselves and like the hedg-hog to shoot out their quills at every one that comes near them They take care of no body but themselves and foolishly think their own Happiness the greater because they have it alone and to themselves But the noblest and most heavenly dispositions think themselves happiest when others share with them in their happiness Of all Beings God is the farthest removed from Envy and the nearer any creature approacheth to him in blessedness the farther is it off from this hellish quality and disposition It is the temper of the Devil to grudg happiness to others he envied that Man should be in Paradise when He was cast out of Heaven Other Perfections are as one says of a more melancholick and solitary disposition and shine brightest when they are alone or attained to but by a few once make them common and they lose their lustre But it is the nature of Goodness to communicate it self and the farther it spreads the more glorious it is God reckons it as one of his most glorious Titles as the brightest Gem in his Diadem The Lord mighty to save He delights not to shew his Soveraignty in ruining the innocent and destroying helpless creatures but in rescuing them out of the jaws of Hell and destruction To the Devil belongs the Title of The Destroyer Without this quality of Goodness all other Perfections would change their nature and lose their excellency Great Power and Wisdom would be terrible and raise nothing but dread and suspicion in us For Power without Goodness would be Tyranny and Oppression and Wisdom would become Craft and Treachery A Being endued with Knowledg and Power and yet wanting Goodness would be nothing else but an irresistible Evil and an omnipotent Mischief We admire Knowledg and are afraid of Power and suspect Wisdom but we can heartily love nothing but Goodness or such Perfections as are in conjunction with it For Knowledg and Power may be in a nature most contrary to God's the Devil hath these perfections in an excelling degree When all is done nothing argues a great and generous mind but only Goodness which is a propension and disposition to make others happy and a readiness to do them all the good offices we can Secondly To do good is the most pleasant employment in the World It is natural and whatever is so is delightful We do like our selves whenever we relieve the wants and distresses of others And therefore this Vertue among all others hath peculiarly entituled it self to the name of Humanity We answer our own Nature and obey our Reason and shew our selves Men in shewing Mercy to the miserable Whenever we consider the evils and afflictions of others we do with the greatest reason collect our duty from our nature and inclination and make our own wishes and desires and expectations from others a law and rule to our selves And this is pleasant to follow our Nature and to gratifie the importunate dictates of our own Reason So that the benefits we do to others are not more welcom to them that receive them than they are delightful to us that do them We ease our own nature and bowels whenever we help and relieve those who are in want and necessity As on the contrary no man that hath not devested himself of humanity can be cruel and hard-hearted to others without feeling some pain in himself There is no sensual pleasure in the World comparable to the delight and satisfaction that a good man takes in doing good This Cato in Tully boasts of as the great comfort and joy of his old age That nothing was more pleasant to him then the conscience of a well-spent life and the remembrance of many benefits and kindnesses done to others Sensual pleasures are not lasting but presently vanish and expire but that is not the worst of them they leave a sting behind them as the pleasure goes off Succedit frigida cura Sadness and melancholly come in the place of it guilt and trouble and repentance follow it But the pleasure of doing good remains after the thing is done the thoughts of it lie easy in our minds and the reflexion upon it afterwards does for ever minister joy and delight to us In a word that frame of mind which inclines us to do good is the very temper and disposition of Happiness Solomon after all his experience of worldly pleasures pitcheth
at last upon this as the greatest felicity of humane life and the only good use that is to be made of a prosperous and plentiful fortune Eccl. 3.12 I know that there is no good in them but for a man to rejoyce and do good in his life And a greater and a wiser than Solomon hath said that it is more blessed to give than to receive Thirdly To employ our selves in doing good is to imitate the highest Excellency and Perfection It is to be like God who is good and doth good and to be like him in that which he esteems his greatest glory and that is his Goodness It is to be like the Son of God who when he took our nature upon him and lived in the World went about doing good It is to be like the blessed Angels whose great employment it is to be ministring spirits for the good of others To be charitable and helpful and beneficial to others is to be a good Angel and a Saviour and a God to men And the Example of our blessed Saviour more especially is the great Pattern which our Religion propounds to us And we have all the reason in the World to be in love with it because that very Goodness which it propounds to our imitation was so beneficial to our selves when we our selves feel and enjoy the happy effects of that good which he did in the World this should mightily endear the Example to us and make us forward to imitate that love and kindness to which we are indebted for so many blessings and upon which all our hopes of happiness do depend And there is this considerable difference between our Saviour's charity to us and ours to others He did all purely for our sakes and for our benefit whereas all the good we do to others is a greater good done to our selves They indeed are beholden to us for the kindness we do them and we to them for the opportunity of doing it Every ignorant person that comes in our way to be instructed by us every sinner whom we reclaim every poor and necessitous man whom we relieve is a happy opportunity of doing good to our selves and of laying up for our selves a good treasure against the time which is to come that we may lay hold on eternal life By this principle the best and the happiest man that ever was governed his life and actions esteeming it a more blessed thing to give than to receive Fourthly This is one of the greatest and most substantial Duties of Religion and next to the love and honour which we pay to God himself the most acceptable service that we can perform to him It is one half of the Law and next to the first and great Commandment and very like unto it like to it in the excellency of its nature and in the necessity of its obligation For this commandment we have from him that he who loveth God love his brother also The first Commandment excels in the dignity of the object but the Second hath the advantage in the reality of its effects For our righteousness extendeth not to God we can do him no real benefit but our charity to men is really useful and beneficial to them For which reason God is contented in many cases that the external Honour and Worship which by his positive commands he requires of us should give way to that natural duty of Love and Mercy which we owe to one another And to shew how great a value he puts upon Charity he hath made it the great testimony of our Love to himself and for want of it rejects all other professions of love to him as false and insincere If any man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a liar For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Fifthly This is that which will give us the greatest comfort when we come to die It will then be no pleasure to men to reflect upon the great estates they have got and the great places they have been advanced to because they are leaving these things and they will stand them in no stead in the other world Riches profit not in the day of wrath But the conscience of well-doing will refresh our Souls even under the very pangs of death With what contentment does a good man then look upon the good he hath done in his life and with what confidence doth he look over into the other world where he hath provided for himself bags that wax not old a treasure in the heavens that faileth not For though our estates will not follow us into the other world our good works will though we cannot carry our riches along with us yet we may send them before us to make way for our reception into everlasting habitations In short works of Mercy and Charity will comfort us at the hour of death and plead for us at the day of Judgment and procure for us at the hands of a merciful God a glorious recompence at the resurrection of the just Which leads me to the Last consideration I shall offer to you which is the reward of doing good both in this world and the other If we believe God himself he hath made more particular and encouraging promises to this grace and virtue than to any other The advantages of it in This World are many and great It is the way to derive a lasting blessing upon our estate Acts of charity are the best Deeds of Settlement We gain the prayers and blessings of those to whom we extend our charity and it is no small thing to have the blessing of them that are ready to perish to come upon us For God hears the prayers of the destitute and his ear is open to their cry Charity is a great security to us in times of evil and that not only from the special promise and providence of God which are engaged to preserve from want those that relieve the necessities of others but likewise from the nature of the thing which makes way for its own reward in this world He that is charitable to others provides a supply and retreat for himself in the day of distress For he provokes mankind by his example to like tenderness towards him and prudently bespeaks the commiseration of others against it comes to be his turn to stand in need of it Nothing in this World makes a man more and surer friends than charity and bounty and such as will stand by us in the greatest troubles and dangers For a good man says the Apostle one would even dare to die 'T is excellent counsel of the Son of Sirach Lay up thy treasure according to the Commandment of the Most high and it shall bring thee more profit than gold Shut up thy alms in thy store-house and it shall deliver thee from all affliction It shall fight for thee against thine enemies better than a mighty shield and strong spear It hath sometimes happened that the obligation that men have laid upon others by their Charity hath in case of danger and extremity done them more kindness than all the rest of their Estate could do for them and their Alms have literally delivered them from death But what is all this to the endless and unspeakable Happiness of the Next life where the returns of doing good will be vastly great beyond what we can now expect or imagine For God takes all the good we do to others as a debt upon himself and he hath estate and treasure enough to satisfie the greatest obligations we can lay upon him So that we have the Truth and Goodness and Sufficiency of God for our security that what we scatter and sow in this kind will grow up to a plentiful harvest in the other World and that all our pains and expence in doing good for a few days will be recompensed and crowned with the Joys and Glories of Eternity FINIS Bishop Sanderson Juven Vell. Patere Seneca * Tully * Aristides Antonin lib. 10.