the way of God in truth This was that Prophet whom God himself spake of so long before to Moses saying Deut. xviii 18. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him and it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him And what is meant by those words I will require it S. Peter explains Acts iii. 23. where citing this prophecy he tells us and it shall come to pass that every soul that will not hear that Prophet shall be cut off from among the people If therefore we look upon our Saviour onely as that Prophet yet this alone gives sufficient authority and obligation to his Precepts and he might justly pronounce pro Imperio I say unto you love your Enemies 2. We are not to look upon our Saviour onely as a Prophet it is true he was a Prophet mighty in deed and in word but he was withall much more than a Prophet for God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past to the Heb. i. 1 2. Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds Now if the dignity of the Embassadour add any weight or authority to the Message he delivers then surely by how much greater the Son of God is than those other Prophets and Ministers whom God in former Ages sent forth to declare his will to the World so much more inexcusable must those men be who reject the precepts of the Gospel and refuse obedience to those Laws which are revealed to them by the Son of God himself This is the inference S. Paul makes Heb. ii 1. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received its due recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord c. Now if these considerations may seem too remote as having equal influence upon all other duties required in the Gospel we may observe 3. That our Saviours authority ought to have a more particular force to engage us in the practice of this duty of Loving Enemies because the whole course of his life was a continued example of unbounded goodness and love to those who were his enemies and he gave us that example that we should follow his steps Our Saviour in this precept requires nothing more of us than what he practised towards our selves in a most eminent manner And can we then be unwilling for his sake to imitate his practice towards our fellow-Creatures When all flesh had corrupted their ways before God and become enemies to him through wicked works and liable to most severe vengeance then it pleased the Father out of his most tender compassion and love to Mankind to send his Son out of his bosom to proclaim Pardon and Forgiveness to them who would repent and turn from the evil of their ways and would believe and obey that Doctrine which he should teach Then it pleased the Son of God to come down from Heaven the habitation of Glory to take upon him our flesh and to submit to all the miseries and sorrows of humane life and lastly to suffer an accursed ignominious and painful death to redeem us from our iniquities and to free us from the insupportable vengeance which is the wages of them And can we think of so great condescension of the Son of God so boundless a compassion and mighty love without being transported with the most fervent affections of Soul to render to him all possible demonstrations of thankfulness and obedience Surely no obedience on our parts can be too great a testimony of our thankfulness and love to him by whose mercy and goodness we are so deeply obliged Now the duty of Loving Enemies is not onely recommended to our practice by our Saviours authority and example but is further enjoined as a particular mark and character of his Disciples and as the great instance of Charity wherein they should exceed other men S. Luke vi 32. If ye love them which love you what thank have you for sinners also love those that love them And if ye do good to them which do good for you what thank have ye for sinners also do even the same and if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive what thank have ye for sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again But love ye your enemies and do good hoping for nothing again So then by our Saviours argument when we do good to friends onely we do but as other men and mind onely our interest but if our charity extends to Enemies this is pure obedience to the Commands of our Saviour then are we properly called his Disciples To conclude therefore this Argument if the Will of God sufficiently made known to us have any force to oblige our practice if the authority and example of the Son of God can prevail with us if the greatest instance of goodness and love towards our selves can deserve any suitable return from us then our Saviour may and doth upon all these accounts challenge your obedience to this precept of Loving Enemies as the peculiar instance of your duty to him as the best imitation of his charity and truest testimony of your love and gratitude Thus if we consider the quality of the Law-giver he is one who by the justest authority and greatest obligations claims obedience to this precept I say unto you love your Enemies c. 2. Besides the authority of the Law-giver if we consider further the nature of the Law it self it will appear much more unreasonable we should disobey him For however uneasie this may seem at the first sight if we take our measures aright there is no precept that doth more conduce to the quiet contentment of our own minds the peace of the World and the true dignity and perfection of our Nature 1. If we consult onely our present ease and satisfaction this onely would in a great measure oblige us to pass by many injuries and to be kind and curteous towards our Brethren though they have been injurious to us And this will best appear if we consider how burdensom and uneasie those passions are which incline to revenge Anger and Malice and Envy and Jealousie which are the constant Attendants of the revengeful man do raise such boisterous tempests such tumult and disorder in the soul as cannot consist with true peace and serenity So that to give way to them and cherish them in their beginnings is as dangerous to
and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sister yea and his own life also cannot be my Disciple and whosoever doth not bear his cross and follow me cannot be my Disciple Now the hating these things in the literal sense can then onely be our duty when the love of them is inconsistent with our profession of Christianity for otherwise they ought to be most dear to us but this is a case which very seldom happens The taking up the Cross therefore and denying our selves which is required of all Christians must be interpreted of laying aside our irregular lusts and desires which is agreeable to this interpretation called crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts and is expressed in the Text by laying aside every weight nay possibly if it were not beside my present design it would be no difficult task to make it appear that denying our selves and taking up the Cross in this sense I am speaking the mortifying and subduing our fleshly appetites the freeing our minds from evil habits and inclinations and from the darling sins we have delighted in may be a greater trial of our obedience and love to God and our desire to please him than even the laying down our lives for the testimony of the truth of the Gospel Many men can be prodigal of life and die with great bravery and resolution when they would think it a very hard and laborious imployment to endure the severities of mortification and to wean themselves from some long accustomed pleasure and temptation But to return to the business in hand Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us I shall not pretend to give a Catalogue of those particular lusts and desires which by the force of this Exhortation we are to forsake and lay aside The variety of them is infinite according to the several ways of living men are engaged in according to the difference of their temper and constitution and other outward circumstances I shall onely take notice of two general rules in this matter which the Text suggests to us 1. That our care in this affair be universal and impartial that according to our knowledge and ability we lay aside every weight It is not sufficient that we abstain from this or that particular habit of sin if at the same time we wilfully indulge our selves in others Though a man be able to say with the Pharisee and to say truly that he is not an extortioner unjust adulterer nor as this and that particular man whom he may observe in his neighbourhood that is worse than himself yet all this while he may cherish in his bosom other darling lusts and habitual practices which may exclude him from the kingdom of Heaven notwithstanding his caution and abstinence in other things For alas a man may abstain from many kinds of temptation which others are betrayed by and yet be guilty of no great vertue in so doing For not onely Vertue and Vice but even several Vices themselves are at enmity with and mutually destroy one another and therefore it is no vertue in a covetous man that he abstains from profuseness and luxury nor is it praise-worthy in the prodigal that his heart is not set upon riches If the Hypocrite give alms to be seen of men if the ambitious man be courteous and affable though these things be the proper matter of Vertue yet inasmuch as they proceed not from from any principle of obedience or love to God they are no part of that duty and allegiance we owe him nor will they be accepted by him nay certainly he that abstains from some kinds of Vice onely to indulge himself in the contrary extream is so far from laying aside those weights which hinder him in his Christian course that he rather loads himself the heavier and is still more unfit for so great an undertaking and indeed so necessary it is that we should be impartial in this affair that we should lay aside every weight that unless our diligence extend thus far any single habit of evil that we indulge our selves in is sufficient to defeat us of our victory and to bereave us of our Crown and Triumph because in Gods account he who wilfully harbours in his bosome any one habitual lust which he is not willing to forego for Gods sake is as guilty as though he broke all his laws So S. James tells us Chap. 2. v. 10. Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all And he adds the reason of it in the next verse because the same authority of God is equally concerned in all his laws and is therefore equall contemned in the wilful breach of one as of all or any For he that said do not commit adultery said also do not kill and certainly he who picks and chooses the sins he will forbear and what not is determined in his choice not by any respect he bears to the will of God but by his own temper and inclination For if he abstained from any one sin out of pure obedience to the Will of God because God did forbid it this reason would equally hold against all kind of transgression because they are all abominable in the sight of God nor could we have a reason to forbear one more than others Again further unless our care in this business be universal and impartial to lay aside every weight to free our minds from all affections and desires that may hinder us in our duty we are not entirely at our own dispose and are not therefore in a fit capacity to render to God that obedience which is due to him and which he expects from us He who gave us our being and endued our souls with so many excellent perfections and abilities may justly expect and require of us that they be entirely devoted to his service and he hath accordingly declared that he will accept no less Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength But this cannot be done while we cherish in our bosom any inordinate desire any lust or passion which claims an interest in our affections a share in our service Mat. vj. 24. No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other we cannot serve God and Mammon What is there particularly said of the love of riches is as true of any other habitual inclination to evil which we indulge our selves in If we cannot serve God and Mammon neither can we serve God and our Lusts we cannot serve God and our Ambition we cannot serve God and the Devil 2. Besides this universal care exprest here by laying aside every weight we have here in the Text another rule of direction suggested to us which may render us yet
the Law and the Prophets but to fulfil them This he performed partly by doing and suffering all that the Prophets had foretold concerning him and by accomplishing what was fore-shewn by the Types and Shadows of the Law partly by his divine Discourses and Sermons giving new life and authority to those Rules of Good Living they had been taught by Moses adding to and improving them where they were defective and restoring them to their primitive sense and purity where they were either obscurely delivered or by the misinterpretation of their Doctors were generally misunderstood and this he did suitably to the different nature of those Commands which they had received in Moses's Law some whereof consisted of Rites and Ceremonial Observances which were a Shadow of things to come and were upon the accomplishment of those things presently to have an end Others contained the necessary Rules of Good Living and were of an absolute and unchangeable nature Now so it came to pass that the Jews a People infinitely prone to Superstition were very nice and curious in the observance of those outward Circumstances and Ceremonies of the Law even to the neglect of the greater duties of Righteousness Judgment and Mercy which they ought chiefly to have done though not to have left the other undone The blame of this practice is by our Saviour frequently laid upon the Scribes and Pharisees who then were the great pretenders to the Righteousness of the Law yet in truth the greatest corrupters of it by laying the chief stress upon the outward and less material circumstances and evacuating the moral parts of it by too nice and narrow interpretations Our Saviour therefore having declared that he came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets in pursuance of that design at the 20. v. he forewarns his Hearers of this practice and doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees I say unto you Except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven And that they might not be ignorant in what particulars they ought to exceed what the Pharisees taught in the continuance of his Sermon he gives them several instances wherein the Law of Moses partly by its own obscurity partly by their misinterpretations was generally misunderstood Among other parts of the Moral Law which were not well understood by the Jews there was none to which they were greater strangers than this in the Text of Loving Enemies They had received Levit. xix 18. this precept Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Now the Jews understanding the word Neighbour only of the children of their People of men of their own Tribe and Country of men that kept mutual correspondence and agreement with them they took it for granted that as for other men who were strangers and aliens to them they were at full liberty to exercise what revenge they pleased as appears by the Verse before the Text Ye have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy But this latter clause and hate thine Enemy was an additional interpretation no where to be found in the Law and was in truth contrary to the true intent and meaning of the former precept of Loving our Neighbour as appears by our Saviours explication of it Ye have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy but I say unto you love your Enemies c. Having thus far shewn the Connexion of these words with the foregoing and with the design of the whole Chapter I shall now consider them by themselves and shall endeavour to set before you 1. The Nature and Extent of the Duty enjoined 2. Our Obligation to the practice of it I begin with the Nature and Extent of this Duty Love your Enemies c. The word Love is of a very large signification and in the language of holy Scripture is generally used to express the whole duty of man Thus our Saviour useth it in the Summary of Religion which he taught the Lawyer telling him that the whole Law was comprised in these two things the love of God and of our Neighbour Thou shalt love the Lord thy Matth. 22. 37. God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind this is the first and great Commandment and the second is like unto it thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self on these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets By which use of the word it is plain that the love of our Neighbour includes all the Duties and Offices which one man can owe to another and so it is here to be understood when applied to Enemies as appears by the connexion of these words with the former Verse Ye have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy but I say unto you Love your Enemies Where it is plain our Saviour altered not the comprehensive signification of the word only enlarged the object of it viz. that whereas they had been before taught to confine their Love that is the several offices of Justice and Charity onely to their Neighbours that is as they understood it only to their Friends and Countrymen they should now extend the same offices to Enemies likewise as well as to them not onely to Strangers and Aliens but to those also that profest hatred to them and did them injury This he prescribes first generally by the name of Love I say unto you Love your Enemies and then left they should make too narrow an interpretation of the word he further explains it by the most obliging instances can be given of it and that in opposition to the contrary practice of their Enemies Bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you But not to insist upon this large signification of the word I shall now onely take notice of those offices which are peculiarly due to our Enemies as such over and above what can be due to the rest of our Neighbours and those are referred usually to these three general Heads 1. That we do not return those evils upon our Enemy which he hath done us 2. That we forgive him from our hearts 3. That we recompense good to him when he stands in need of our assistance 1. If we are commanded to love our Enemies it is easie to understand that we are hereby forbidden all practices towards him that are inconsistent with Love and Charity and therefore that we must forbear all acts of revenge and hostility towards him all recompensing evil for evil This branch of our duty our Saviour particularly teaches at the 38 39. verses of this Chapter Ye have heard that it hath been said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say
mind or conscience as was the case of the better sort of Heathens or by the Law of Moses as the Jews were in our Saviours time Or lastly by the benefit of a Christian education as the state of those among our selves is who come to examine the truth of the Gospel and to enquire more nearly into the sense of it Suppose we a man already instructed by any of these means in the fundamental rules of practice desirous of further knowledge and satisfaction in the doctrine of the Gospel he must be careful to live up to those principles he is already instructed in resolving also to submit obediently to whatsoever else upon his further enquiry he shall find to be his duty Such a man thus prepared by doing his duty and thus resolved to do the will of God as far as it shall be made known to him such a one is the person to whom this promise of our Savior doth belong If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self I proceed to the second thing propounded to shew the certainty of success to those that seek for knowledge with this preparation and here it will not be amiss to consider briefly in what sense this promise is to be understood before we undertake to prove the certainty of it We are to observe therefore that this promise of our Saviour is not to be understood so universally as though no man who was sincerely resolved to obey God shall fall into any kind of errours in matters of Religion For this is contradicted by the constant experience of all Ages for it would be very uncharitable to suppose that among most of the dissenting parties in Religion who maintain great controversies with one another there should not be some persons truly devout and sincere on both sides We are not therefore to suppose that a man truly religious shall not err at all but that he shall not be led into such errors as are dangerous to or inconsistent with his salvation And indeed the promise in this place is not set down in so general terms as that they should seem to require any larger interpretation than this I am speaking of If any man will do his will saith our Saviour he shall know of the doctrine I now beliver to you whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self Which cannot reasonably be extended beyond these two things 1. He shall receive satisfaction concerning the truth of Christian Religion in general that it is a doctrine truly divine and heavenly and that the author of it came from God and delivered his mind and will 2. He that will do the will of God shall be satisfied also concerning those particular truths which are indispensably necessary for him to know in order to his salvation These two things will be the undoubted effects of a religious frame of mind of a sincere resolution to do the will of God and will certainly be made good to all who seek for knowledge with that preparation and this we have great reason to be assured of whether we consider 1. The natural influence that a religious temper of mind hath upon the understanding to make it fit for the reception of divine truth 2. The peculiar blessing and assistance of Gods good spirit which always accompanies a truly religious man to guide him into all truth which is necessary for him I will begin with the former and shall endeavour to shew that the practice of religious Duties hath a natural efficacy upon the mind to clear its discerning faculties to make it capable of understanding and giving a full assent to the doctrine of the Gospel And this I shall make appear by instancing in some particular duties which are of a natural obligation which no man can be ignorant of each of which singly considered hath a very immediate influence upon the understanding to make it capable of divine knowledge In consideration of which it will also appear that the contrary vices to these are the onely causes of dangerous and damnable errors The Duties I shall particularly insist on are these 1. Simplicity of mind without prejudice 2. Purity of heart and affections 3. Humility 4. Calmness of Temper 5. Prayer to God These are all Duties of a natural obligation and therefore he that comes to examin the truth of the Gospel cannot be presumed ignorant of nor unwilling to practise them if he seek for knowledge with that preparation I have been speaking of 1. He that examines the doctrine of the Gospel with this intention to satisfie his conscience concerning those things that are necessary for him to believe and do resolving by Gods grace to do the will of God as far as it shal be made known to him such a one will bring with him an honest simplicity of mind not biassed by prejudice or preconceived opinions such a one will consider with himself that the truth of things doth not depend upon his own fancy or petty reasonings that a strong imagination cannot make those things Articles of Faith which God hath not revealed and therefore he will bring with him no preconceived opinion which he will not be ready to lay aside upon sufficient evidence to the contrary he will not endeavour to distort and wrest the plain words of Scripture to that sense of things which he formerly had but will readily yield up all his former notions to the authority of divine revelation That we are naturally obliged to this simplicity of judgment in all enquiries after truth is evident because in all manner of disputes this is one of the first things we challenge from our Adversary as our undoubted right that he would hear what we have to say without prejudice and therefore we also ought to bring with us to a religious debate the same free and unprejudiced minds which we expect from others And indeed this temper of mind is highly necessary and very advantageous to prepare us for the reception of truth For certainly the power of prejudice is very great to darken mens minds and to mould them into such apprehensions as are most suitable to it And therefore it is easie to observe how men who are engaged in a Party and prepossessed with the distinguishing opinions of their Sect easily find ways to pervert the plainest places of Scripture to their own sense to make it agree with the Analogy of their Faith that is of their darling Notions When I speak of laying aside prejudice in the search after divine truth I do not understand that we must call in question all kind of preconceptions we have had concerning religious matters Some things there are in Religion of so great certainty and evidence that though an Angel from Heaven should teach us otherwise we ought not to receive him Such are those preconceptions we have concerning the Being and Attributes of God that he is most wise just powerful faithful
appetites which every man is endued with which tend to the preservation of life and the propagation of mankind are in themselves the work of God and are designed by him for good ends and we may lawfully gratifie them so far as is requisite for the accomplishment of those ends But this is one of the greatest trials of our prudence and resolution in the government of our lives to understand the true bounds how far we may lawfully indulge the lower faculties and to restthere for if our Reason which should prefide over them once let go the reins by which she should govern and restrain them they easily get the mastery and are not to be reduced to their just measures without great difficulty and reluctancy Now the regulating these desires I conceive to be that which our Saviour recommends to us S. Matt. v. 8. as a means to attain to the beatifical vision of God Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Which blessing though it principally be understood of the blissful sight or knowledge of God in the Kingdom of Heaven yet hath it part of its accomplishment in this life The pure in heart being the best qualified to judge of those divine and spiritual things which God hath made known to us in the Gospel And this will easily appear if we consider how much the contrary Vices tend to the debauching the Understanding in these matters The fumes of Lust and Intemperance are very pernicious to our rational powers they make men dull and of no understanding even in the ordinary affairs of life and then surely if they make men unfit for worldly business they will render them infinitely more uncapable of religious enquiries A man who is led captive by his impure desires will not easily be brought to spend so much time to enquire seriously into the nature of Religion as is necessary for his satisfaction he is afraid he should be convinced of something that would ruffle and discompose his thoughts awaken his conscience and put a check to his Carreer of pleasure and therefore while he can find pretences to defer his enquiry he will But then suppose a man of this temper should for once undertake to peruse the Gospel yet being prepossessed with the love of these sensual delights he would find out many Arguments to defend himself withal many arts and evasions to justifie or at least to palliate and excuse his practice and then withall it is certain he would not have a due relish of the excellency of those precepts which the Gospel gives nor of the rewards it promises they being of a more refined and spiritual nature and of a kind so vastly different from what he is most delighted with So S. Paul tells us 1 Cor. ij 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned To this purity of heart I have been speaking of may be reduced a generous contempt of the World a freedom from all covetous and ambitious desires for he that hath his heart set upon riches or upon the pomps and gallantries of the World is not in any capacity of receiving or understanding the Gospel These two Vices Covetousness and Ambition have even from the Apostles times been noted for the great causes of Infidelity and Heresie The love of Money was that which made the young man in our Saviours time go away sorrowful because he could not be admitted a Disciple of our Saviour without relinquishing his large possessions This was the cause of Demus's Apostasie from the Religion he once embraced because he loved the present World Diotrephes is noted by S. John for his ambition for he withstood the Apostle loving to have the pre-eminence S. Paul also puts these two causes together Pride and Covetousness as the principal reasons of Heresie and false doctrine 1 Tim. vj. 3. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholsom words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godliness he is proud knowing nothing but doting about questions and strifes of words supposing that gain is godliness And indeed it is easie to observe how hard it is to convince any man of what is contrary to his interest or ambitious desires and therefore we cannot but understand that this duty of purity of heart which consists in regulating our worldly and sensual affections highly conduces to the understanding and embracing the Gospel because it takes away those dangerous causes of Errour and Apostasie 3. A third branch of Duty which I proposed to treat of as being a necessary qualification for all Enquirers after divine truth is Humility and the efficacy of this duty to make us capable of divine impressions will appear if we consider these properties of an humble and modest man 1. He that is truly humble and sensible of his many defects and infirmities will readily acknowledge that he is not able to understand all Mysteries He knows the nature of God which is infinite cannot be comprehended by his finite and narrow faculties He knows that no reasonings of ours can give us so true an account of the Nature and Attributes of God and of the various methods of his providence towards men as God himself can and therefore he doth with all reverence submit his understanding to those revelations which God hath made in the Gospel and provided they be there plainly delivered he will not be discouraged from his belief of them by any of those imperfect reasonings wherewith men of corrupt minds may endeavour to shake his Faith 2. A truly humble man will not be too curious and inquisitive in praying into those things which are not clearly revealed much less will he be positive and dogmatical concerning them This vertue of humility will lead him to consider that had the knowledge of such and such controverted doctrines been necessary for him they would have been delivered in Scripture with the same plainness as other things of the greatest importance are he will satisfie himself that God was able to have interpreted his mind to the World as far as he thought convenient and therefore where God hath not used this plainess he thinks it a sufficient check to his curiosity and that he ought not to pry into it According to that of Moses Deut. xxix 29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever 3. An humble man is naturally apt to learn he is willing to be instructed he will easily believe that some other men may have better abilities to understand and judge of truth than himself especially he will have a great deference and regard to his spiritual Guides who are set over him for his instruction in the way of righteousness he will consider that these men are commissioned by God and have a peculiar
Spirit to continue with his Church to the end of the World to guide it into all necessary truth and to assist and govern every lively member of Christs body in the knowledge and practice of all that is indispensably required of him God himself hath a singular delight and pleasure in good men as the holy Psalmist tells us Psal cxlvij. II. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him and in them that hope in his mercy and our Saviour assures us that God will condescend to dwell and inhabit with such persons which I conceive cannot be understood in any other sense than that there is a very near intercourse between God and good men that God is always ready to assist and succour them in whatsoever they call upon him for John xiv 23. If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him And then surely being blest with the presence of such a Guest they cannot want any measure of knowledge in the ways of God that is necessary for them To conclude then what remains now but if we desire knowledge and satisfaction in the Religion we profess that we apply our selves to seek it in this way which our Saviour hath prescribed viz. with sincere resolutions and endeavours to do the will of God according to our knowledge This is the onely way whereby true knowledge is to be obtained he that seeks in this way shall not miscarry For if any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self SERM. IV. HEB. xij 1. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us IN the former Chapter of this Epistle the Apostle given us a large account of the afflictions and sufferings of those Patriarchs and Prophets and other holy men who lived before the coming of our Saviour and the words I have now read are an inference from their example that we also having before our eyes the glorious things which they did and suffered and calling to mind the mighty power and efficacy of their Faith in overcoming the World and enduring afflictions may from thence be excited to a like vigour and constancy in our Christian profession So that the words contain these two things worthy our consideration An Exhortation and the reason of it The Exhortation in these words Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race which is set before us The reason of the Exhortation in these words Seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses I shall begin with the Exhortation There is nothing more usual in holy Scripture than to represent the duty of a Christian under the similitude of such other imployments as carry with them the greatest difficulties and require the most exact care and vigilance in those who undertake them Sometimes we are compared to Soldiers who must be always upon the Guard sometimes to Travellers and Pilgrims who have a long and hazardous journey to make sometimes to those who strive for Masteries in publick Games Now these several sorts of imployments do all presuppose these two things 1. That those who undertake them do propose to themselves some great and considerable end some reward of their labours 2. That there are great difficulties to be passed through great industry and care and watchfulness to be used for the attainment of it The case is not unlike in our Christian Profession We have a glorious prize of our high Calling set before us we have an exceeding great reward a Crown of Glory laid up for us which God the righteous Judge and just Rewarder of those that diligently seek him will not fail to bestow on such as overcome But then we must not expect this Reward and Crown upon any other condition than that we approve our selves as men who have fought the good fight of Faith manfully and couragiously who have strove lawfully and endured to the end The similitude used in the Text is taken from those Trials of Skill those publick Exercises which were used in the Olympick Games Now for those who run in a Race there are three things necessary to be done if they hope to gain the victory in proportion to which the whole duty of a Christian is expressed in this Exhortation 1. They must free themselves from all unnecessary burdens from all their loose garments which may clog or entangle them in their way they must lay away every weight 2. They must be active and vigorous in the course they must run the race set before them 3. They must continue their vigour and courage to the end of the race This I conceive to be meant by running with patience that is with perseverance and continuance in well-doing Now it is easie to apply these several circumstances to our Christian duty and I shall consider each of them 1. It is easie to understand that what is here metaphorically expressed by laying aside every weight is the same with what S. Paul elsewhere teaches us in plain terms and calls the denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts and what our Saviour means by denying our selves The riches honours and pleasures of the World and the love of them which S. John calls the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life are not unfitly compared to so many clogs and weights that press down the soul and are apt to make it dull and unactive and divert it from the ways of holiness and the laying aside these incumbrances the freeing our minds from these affections and desires and from the love of all things else whatsoever nay of our life it self when it stands in competition with our duty is so necessary a preparation for our running the race set before us that without so doing we are not capable of being Christs Disciples Mat. xvj 24. Jesus said unto his Disciples if any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me S. Mat. x. 38. He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me Now that the renouncing and forsaking our carnal lusts and desires is most generally to be understood by taking up the cross and denying our selves I conceive evident from hence because it is made a necessary qualification of all that will be Christs Disciples not onely those who suffer persecutions but all that will be Christians must in their proportion deny themselves and take up the Cross These and the like expressions are universal not limited to any time or place or other circumstances but equally belong to all Christians Luke xiv 26. If any man come to me