this rate every Man will change his Religion according to the Alterations of his Constitution Or rather He will change the Instances of his Impiety for True Religion is always the same Nay not only such and such a Constitution but a vigorous Health and a full Fortune are necessary to the Commission of some Vices and he who in a Consumption of his Body or Estate may pass for a Man of a very good Life may yet when Health and Plenty mortify these vile Affections spending our Zeal and Warmth upon things of infinitely less Consequence it must be concluded that we are not yet Christians in Sincerity Our best Performances at this rate are but as a Sacrifice without a Heart which was always esteem'd as one of the worst of Omens and an Argument of God's great Displeasure Thirdly 'T is a very Ill sign when People pick and choose the Instances of their Obedience to the Christian Law and make a great Shew of and Stir about some Particular Duties which are agreeable to their Natural Temper and which they have no Temptation or it may be Ability to Transgress and all the while Indulge themselves in the Sins they Love and Delight in tho' never so expresly forbidden in the Gospel As if for Instance Because a Man's Constitution inclines him to be Temperate and Chaste he should therefore place the greatest Part of his Religion in Chastity and Temperance and in the mean time allow himself to be Censorious Malicious Covetous Unjust or the like or on the Contrary because he is honest and good natur'd tho' he Whores and Drinks and lives like a Brute yet shall imagine he may fare well enough because he has no Gall in him wishes no body any Harm and is no ones Enemy but his own But this is a Religion of every Man 's own making not that which our Saviour taught the World 't is as various as Mens Tempers and at this rate every Man will change his Religion according to the Alterations of his Constitution Or rather He will change the Instances of his Impiety for True Religion is always the same Nay not only such and such a Constitution but a vigorous Health and a full Fortune are necessary to the Commission of some Vices and he who in a Consumption of his Body or Estate may pass for a Man of a very good Life may yet when Health and Plenty comes be quite another sort of a Creature But now True Religion is an Vniform State of compleat Virtue that is is always the same in Kind tho' not in Degree The sincere Christian whatever he may do by Surprize or Inadvertency will not at any time or in any Circumstances allow himself in the Commission of any known Sinful Action or the Neglect of any known Duty let his Constitution or his Fortune be what it will But is heartily griev'd not only for his Sins but for his Infirmities too and in good earnest endeavours in every thing to preserve a Conscience void of offence both towards God and Man Tho' nevertheless the Degrees of his Virtue may and will vary that is be sometimes more Intense and sometimes more Remiss than usual as long as he continues in this state of Imperfection Let every Man therefore have a care of a Partial Humoursome Religion which will prove in the Conclusion to be very little better than none at all And now having Caution'd Young People against a Feign'd Hypocritical Religion and shewn 'em by what Marks it may be known let me desire 'em to consider the Ill Consequences of it And First as to this World Whatever Advantages a Pretended Religionist may Propose to himself he for the most Fails of them and is at length Detected and found to be what he is After all the Pains he takes to act his Part dextrously and make his Disguise sit natural and easy after all his Fears of being out and letting his Visour fall and the continual Restraint he 's fain to put upon his Natural Temper denying himself many things which otherwise he would and might enjoy After all this which is really more Trouble than he need be at to be a Christian indeed some unlucky Accident or other usually lays open all Vnlucky did I say rather the contrary Prosperous Hipocrisie being the greatest Curse that God can Inflict as confirming the Wretch in it and so sealing him up to Destruction Ill Practices can't long be so conceal'd but thatsome body or other will find 'em out and bad Practices and sanctify'd Pretences agree so very Ill that more Notice than ordinary will be taken of so great a Discord and People have a strange Itch of telling to one and then to another the little Miscarrriages much more the Crimes of such as have the Repute of better Men than their Neighbours To be cheated and it may be ruin'd by one whom we took for a Saint is extremely surprizing and will raise Mens Indignation to an extraordinary heighth and make their Complaints loud and clamorous and so the thing flies and spreads and the Man is discover'd to be a Wolf in Sheeps Cloathing and then there 's an end of his Gaining by his Hypocrisie for none but a Fool will have to do with a known Cheat especially a Religious one So that Men are often ruin'd rather than advanc'd by such Mock-Religion and the Praise that for a little while attended their fair Shews becomes chang'd into lasting Infamy and Contempt But suppose the Cheat is carry'd on so artificially that 't is not discover'd by Men and as to this World the counterfeit Christian has his End The poor Wretches Condition as was hinted but now is then but so much the worse and really next to desperate with respect to the Eternal World which follows this For indeed Sincerity is all in all 't is that when all 's done that must recommend us to the Divine Acceptance for what is there else on our Part that can do it How imperfect is the Religion of both Tables and that even of the best and most truly good Christian upon Earth How full of Ill Ingredients too thro' the Curruption os sinful Nature and the Temptations of the Devil How guilty are we all of Sins innumerable in all our Relations and those not of Surprize only and Infirmity but too often with the Consent of our Wills and that against the Disswasives of our Reason and our Conscience For this in Vertue of Christ's Blood Repentance is the only Remedy But then how imperfect even at the best is that So that unless the Sincerity of our Religion might be accepted instead of the Perfection of it what would become even of the best Man living What have they to trust to then that have no Sincerity who in their Intercourse with God and Man are all over a Trick and a Lye Do they think that God can't see through their Disguise because perhaps Man could not and that they shall pass undiscover'd into Heaven
'em for the Happiness of Heaven when this short Life shall end Thus the Apostle 2 Tit. 11. c. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation to all Men hath appear'd teaching us that denying Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World Looking for that Blessed Hope and the Glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify unto himself a Peculiar People zealous of good Works For this purpose then our Holy Religion was taught us by the Son of God and True Religion no doubt will effectually bring to pass that for which it was design'd And he that is Religious indeed is therefore so that the design'd Effect may throughly be wrought upon him in full perswasion that unless it is so his Pretences to Christianity however warm and forward they may be will signify nothing and he must never expect to be really Happy here or to give a good Account of himself at the day of Judgment And consequently his great Care is to be Master of the Power and Substance of Religion without which the Form of it tho' manag'd with never so much Decency and Constancy and seeming Zeal and Earnestness is really but a Piece of Mimickry a Holy Stage-play an excellent Part Acted by an Ill Man in Masquerade Which tho' perform'd never so much to the Life is still without Reality and therefore indeed puts an Abuse upon Religion and robs God of his Honour defeats all his Gracious Intentions for our Happiness and will be very Tragical in the Conclusion This in General But more particularly in the first Place Let young People have a care of putting on Religion either as a thing of Custom only an Ornamental Dress to recommend them to the Good Esteem of the World and get them Reputation or to bring on Business and Preferment or which is still worse as a Cover to vile Practices which must be disguis'd before they can be put in excution If only the first of these be a Man's End in his Religion Math. 6.2 our Saviour assure us He has his reward a few empty Commendations will be all his Recompence But what a strange Religion is he of who values the Praise of Men more than the Applauses of his own Conscience and the Praise of God! Our Lord's Directions are quite otherwise Thou says he to every one of his Disciples shalt not be as the Hypocrites are whose Character we have Matthew 6. Take heed let Secresie and Sincerity be mingled with all thy Religious Performances which is the Sum of what is there diliver'd in this matter and then Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly But if he further designs it as an Instrument of Wordly Gain and Advancement or a Disguise for those Ill Methods which he intends to take in order to them this is rank Hipocrisie indeed And not only the Pharisees of Old but very many since have ruin'd Kingdoms as well as private Persons by Prayer and Fasting and the Semblance of an extraordinary Devotion In short he whose Religion is not at least as great in secret in his Closet and his Bed when only God can see it as 't is in Publick when in the Eye of Men ought to look upon himself as a Diessmbler in it especially if Gain he his Godliness and Religion only made use of as a Hook to draw it to him Secondly Let the employing our Zeal about the Circumstantials of Religion only be carefully avoided whether in observing or not observing 'em is all one as was touched before when we neglect and it may be violate the Greatest Duties of it For can any Man be so weak as to believe that the observing or not observing such and such Modes of Worship can cleanse the Soul and make it like to God and fit for Heaven They serve indeed for Decency and Order when used with Judgment and Moderation and ought not to be slighted and neglected when enjoyn'd by Lawful Authority but 't is those Duties that will renew us in the Spirit of our Mind and work our Souls into a Divine Frame and Temper which should be a Christian's chief Care to practise in Sincerity of Heart Was it not Gross Hypocrisie in the Pharisees to be more careful and diligent in Titheing Mint and Cummin and Annise in their Washings and Fastings and Attendance at the Publick Offices in the Temple and the like than in performing the weightest matters of the Law Justice Mercy and Fidelity nay indeed to Act quite contrary to them Would not the cleansing themselves from Extortion and Excess have been a much more becoming Employment for them than to be always taken up with washing their Hands and their Garments and Scouring the Cup and the Platter These things ought ye to have done says our Lord and not to have left the other undone Let us beware therefore of Depending too much upon our being of this or that Party for or against such and such Ceremonies going so often to Prayers hearing so many Sermons and the like For 't is not this that will stand us in any stead unless we follow the Example of the Holy Jesus walk as he walkâ— and adorn our Souls with the Graces of his most excellent Religion And if we still are Envious and Malicious Furious and Revengeful Intemperate and Unchaste Unjust and Uncharitable and the like and find our selves very little careful to mortify these vile Affections spending our Zeal and Warmth upon things of infinitely less Consequence it must be concluded that we are not yet Christians in Sincerity Our best Performances at this rate are but as a Sacrifice without a Heart which was always esteem'd as one of the worst of Omens and an Argument of God's great Displeasure Thirdly 'T is a very Ill sign when People pick and choose the Instances of their Obedience to the Christian Law and make a great Shew of and Stir about some Particular Duties which are agreeable to their Natural Temper and which they have no Temptation or it may be Ability to Transgress and all the while Indulge themselves in the Sins they Love and Delight in tho' never so expresly forbidden in the Gospel As if for Instance Because a Man's Constitution inclines him to be Temperate and Chaste he should therefore place the greatest Part of his Religion in Chastity and Temperance and in the mean time allow himself to be Censorious Malicious Covetous Unjust or the like or on the Contrary because he is honest and good natur'd tho' he Whores and Drinks and lives like a Brute yet shall imagine he may fare well enough because he has no Gall in him wishes no body any Harm and is no ones Enemy but his own But this is a Religion of every Man 's own making not that which our Saviour taught the World 't is as various as Mens Tempers and at
are the ways that lead to Misery and Ruin not only in the World to come but ev'n in this too And whoever goes on in 'em without controul and will not be recall'd will at length and very likely before He is aware after all the Misfortunes he has run through here find himself a miserable Inhabitant of the Place prepared for the Devil and his Angels Now by Frequent Self-Examination I mean no less than Daily that every Night when we 're retir'd from the World and the noise and hurry of that day's Stage is over and we have taken up our Lodging to Refresh our selves for the next then as David expresses it Ps 4.4 to commune with our own Hearts in our Chamber and be still That is without Prejudice or Passion to Consider quietly and seriously as in the Presence of God Omniscient Ps 139. who is about our Path and about our Bed and spyeth out all our ways what our behaviour that Day actually hath been and what it should have been and Consequently to which State we have been Travelling to the Kingdom of Life and Glory or to the Regions of Eternal Death And this Daily Scrutiny into our Lives and Conversations is so agreeable to Reason that Heathen Philosophy did particularly Recommend it and 't is one of the Golden Precepts as they are deservedly call'd of the School of Pythagoras Admit not sleep to close your eyes till you have recollected thrice each single Action of the day and ask'd your selves such Questions as these Wherein have I transgressed What have I done What Duty have I omitted Run over these things beginning at the First and then if you have done ill be Troubled if well Rejoyce What can be more excellently said than this What more useful Practice can there be in this our Pilgrimage as the Scripture calls our Life and really it is no other than at the close of every Stage thus to look back upon our Goings observe where we have err'd and wandred at what we stumbled and fell upon what Motives and Temptations that so we may Prevent the next Day the miscarriages of this see our Error before it is too late return before we have wandred too far set a greater value upon our Guides more heedfully observe their Directions and be the more wary and circumspect in our future Journeys for being so easily thrown down deceived and led aside in those that are past How much easier is it to Recollect and Amend the miscarriages of a Day than of Months or Years And Consequently how much safer is it for every Man thus to Consider his ways whilst his Memory can tell Him what they were and whilst 't is in his Power with so much ease to amend them if they are amiss than to go carelesly on till for want of Examining he takes the Wrong way for the Right gets a habit of going astray and so becomes not sensible of his Error till 't is too late to Mend it or at least has wandred so long that the difficulty of Recovering the right way is almost Insuperable No better Office certainly than to direct a Stranger in the Road that He should take to warn Him of Dangers that He may meet with in it and to lead Him back and set Him Right when He has lost his Way Especially when He is in Haste and Night is coming on and the Business he goes about of greatest Consequence Now nothing can be of greater Consquence than the Journey of a Christian through the World He Travels upon Eternal Life and Death His Journey is Great and therefore He had need to lose no Time and the Night with every Man is coming on apace and no Man can tell how soon it may be Night with Him and 't is a long Night too and may be Eternal and will certainly put an end to His Journey whenever it overtakes Him whether it be to Heaven or to Hell And therefore those Considerations that will set us right in our way and expedite our Great Business and help to Conduct us safely to that Happy Place where we all would be are no doubt well employ'd But for all this Young People I 'm afraid will not be very easily Persuaded to put this Advice in Practice and therefore the more need to press it earnestly upon them They look upon it as a very uncomfortable Way of Travelling to be still Doubting whether they are right or no continually Enquiring and list'ning to every melancholly or designing Person that shall pretend to give them better Directions If now and then a misgiving Thought arises 't is smother'd presently by Business or Pleasure and when a Guide of Souls is met with who Faithfully informs them of the way they ought to take tells them they 're in the wrong and must turn back if they would see their wish'd for Journey 's end and that That Path will lead them to their Ruin They look upon this as a Greeting of Course from Men of their Profession and make it their endeavour to Persuade Him to go along with Them rather than think of turning back with Him However let Him take his own Course they are resolv'd still to follow theirs 't is the way they have been us'd to and which offers it self readyest and fairest to them and is smooth and pleasant the Entertainment good and most of their Friends and Acquaintance it may be do bear 'em Company in it so that very loath they are to make too nice Enquiries lest they should be made sensible of the necessity of Performing so ungrateful a Task as with many a weary step to beat the Hoof back again and turn their Feet into a Track they have no Mind to But in short would this be Prudence in our Journeyings here in this World And why should not our Judgment be the same with Respect to the Other We need not be told I suppose that here we are Strangers have no abiding City but seek one to come where when we once Arrive we shall be for ever fix'd as in our proper Place of Abode our Home That other World consists of Two and but two States the one Infinitely Happy the other as Infinitely Miserable To these two States there are two Highways that lead which tho' they meet in a Point at the beginning yet Widen Insensibly and Infinitely and at length become as far distant from each other as Heaven is from Hell And therefore in all Reason as our First Care should be to set out Well so our next immediately to turn Back if we perceive that we have gone amiss For every step that we then take carries us further and further wide from Heaven and nearer to Destruction Well then if this Daily Self-Examination be of such vast Consequence what ever will make us uncapable of it should carefully be avoided Particularly Vnseasonable and Intemperate Drinking How can He close his Day with such a serious Scrutiny as we have now been speaking