last he useth much what the same variety of methods by which men should learn to fear before him The main thing intended I conceive is this That we should be as far from being displeased with the Duty that God requireth of us as with the circumstances our worldlyly condition in which he hath set us and that upon the same account since as he governs by steddy Rules of Providence so he governs by steddy Rules of Duty and our condition in both respects is very much the same with theirs that have been before us And we cannot be in such circumstances making our Obedience hard to us but others have been in the like To forgive injuries though they be great is no new burden for no man perhaps has lived in the world but has met with great provocations To abstain from unlawful pleasures though our Appetites prompt us never so violently to pursue them is no strange Duty for those that have been before us had the same natural Passions and Inclinations that we have To live by Rules that are contrary to the Customs and Examples of the Age we live in may seem unreasonable to an inconsiderate man but this has been the case of good men in almost all Ages of the World Neither is thy Duty a new thing whatever it be nor the difficulty of performance new whatever that be still God requireth that which is past Let therefore no man think that he would be a good Christian if he had a good Estate that he would be an honest man if it were not the way to die a Beggar that he would be very humble if he were once great and above contempt that he could forgive wrongs if his Enemies were not very spiteful and implacable that he would serve God if he would make a Hedge about all that he had and observe the Rules of Religion if he were not under unusual Temptations to the contrary Say not thou that the Age in which thon livest and the Circumstances in which thou art will not bear the practice of strict Piety and true Virtue Say not thou what is the cause that that the former days are better than these for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this thing For 1. There is no end of these pretences and excuses such things as these may always be said and there will be always more or less occasion to plead them and therefore they are never to be allowed It seldom happens that we conclude truly when we compare our own Circumstances with other mens and conclude to our own disadvantage as if God requir'd easier things of them than he does of us and therefore it is not wisely done to begin with an inquiry which is almost certain to end in a false Judgment especially when we make a false Judgment to excuse an evil practice But then if it were allowable for men thus to argue in excuse for themselves The World is not so good a World as our Fathers found it for my Affairs in it do not succeed so well as another man's and my Temptations are greater than his and therefore I am excusable if I do not come up to the Piety and Integrity of others If this I say were once allowed how hard would it be for God to please man and to keep him to his Duty and that if nothing else were to be said because of the perpetual false Judgments we should make in comparing our selves with others Every man being sensible of his own Temptations and the inconveniencies of the Times in which he lives and of his own Temper and of his proper condition and circumstances in the World would think Providence had been partial against him and that the Duties of Religion pressed harder upon himself than upon any other person A poor man would think his rich Neighbour had more time and greater obligations to serve God than himself The wealthy man would believe that the poor man has more leisure for Prayer and fewer Temptations to earthly-mindedness than he has God would lose the thanks of every man that could fancy another more happy than himself and the Duty and Service of every man that could fancy his own Temptations to be stronger than all other mens and because we feel our own good and evil and do but guess at other mens by their outward appearance we should run into all manner of false judgment in comparing them with one another but that there might be no pretence for this wretched way of arguing God hath not only tied us up all strictly to the same Piety and Duty but is pleased to let us know as the truth is that upon the whole matter there is nothing new under the sun that upon the whole matter he hath made no difference between the present and former Ages between our selves and other Persons Thy Neighbour perhaps has not all those very Temptations thou hast but then he has his own he has perhaps some obligations in one kind which thou hast not but thou hast the advantage of him in another Every condition of life has not only its proper inconveniencies but its proper advantages and what is lost in the difference of our state from others or in the change which we may suffer our selves is made up another way prosperity and success should make us love God better but disappointments on the other side and adversities do very often make it more easy for us to love the world less in a word seek no excuses for neglecting Piety and Virtue from the difference of Times Fortunes Temptations and the like between thy self and those that live in this or that lived in former Ages for thou art likely to make but a foolish judgment and wilt unavoidably run into great mistakes in making the comparison and the reason of thy sin will not bear the judgment of the All-seeing God nor the examination of the last and terrible Day But do thou believe God to be impartial and to have tempered the Seasons and Ages of the World and the different condition of Persons with a wise equality with an unerring judgment And do thou give up thy self to follow and to comply with his wise Providence And though his judgements in respect of others be unsearchable and his ways past finding out yet thou shalt find that all his ways towards thy self are so wise and so good that at last thou shalt not wish there had been the least alteration of them And therefore I proceed farther and in pursuance of what has been said add in the second place 2. Suppose that in some notable respects thy case may differ from another man's yet this difference is not so great as to make any material difference between thine obligation and his to do that which God requires Nor can we be less obliged so to do than our Forefathers were for in every Age it may be said That which hath been is now and in every Age God requireth that which is past and
godly life because there are many men of clear and active thoughts and conversant in the study of Religion that do not live by Faith for as the Faith of such men cannot in reason be thought to be a confused and indeterminate persuasion so it is too plain by experience that some such do retain the Faith but make shipwrack of a good conscience And therefore let us consider the third thing wherein the power of Faith consists viz. 3. The permanence of it upon the mind or a constancy of frequent consideration upon what we believe That is to say let us suppose a man that doth not only believe all matters of Faith that are needful and apprehend them distinctly and particularly and with application to himself but likewise by very much consideration of these things hath made them present and habitual to himself and of such a man I say That he is under the whole power of Faith and he it is that overcomes the world For such a Believer has two advantages which cannot fail to make him a good man 1. His Persuasion or his Faith is present to his mind when he most needs it i.e. upon all occasions of temptation so that he will be ready in the strength of it to say with Joseph How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God But now though one believes all the awakening Doctrines of Religion yet if he does not think of them nor lay them to heart when the Devil the World and the Flesh are busy with him t is all one with him at the time as if he had never heard of the Articles of Christian Faith and for the present he is as much without the Operation of Faith as if he had none at all It is with him as it is with a man in a swooning fit there is indeed life in him but it is without sense and motion and for the time he differs not from one that is dead or rather as there is a principle of sense and motion in the one without any act of either so is there indeed in the other a Principle of Faith but no Act of it and it is therefore as if it were not at all Distinct and particular application of what we believe will do much towards the restraining of a man's lusts and this is properly Faith but then that Faith which once was and now is not can do nothing at present which is the case of too many persons professing Christianity That their belief of Divine Truth is oftner absent than present because they do not think of those things which should govern them and assist them under Temptations but by chance or when they cannot help it their business is to put those things out of their minds and not to fix them there And this is the first advantage of one that is constant in his consideration of the Truths whereof he is convinced that they are present to him when he stands in need of their help and indeed never at any great distance from him The 2d Is this and that is the greatest of all That he hath a true and lively sense of these things as often as they return to his mind and he always believes them as he should do under a vigorous apprehension of his own great concernment in them To believe that there is a God and a Life to come and that the Son of God came to be our Saviour and will come to be our Judge that through the Infinite Mercy of God and through the Death and Passion of our Saviour we may obtain Forgiveness of Sins and Eternal Life to believe these things I say according to their nature and our concernment in them is to have a due sense of them and to be justly affected with them more than with all other interests whatsoever because these indeed are the greatest of all Now it is by a Constancy of Believing i. e. of Considering these things and making them present to us that we come to that Faith which consists in a right apprehension and a just sense of them Nor will any other means do without this and indeed all means of Grace are ineffectual without it and they are then effectual when they bring us to this degree of Faith The Prayers that we make are unprofitable if they do not help to fix our minds upon God and Divine Truth and by their frequent returns make a sense of Religion natural and familiar to us Our reading the Scriptures and hearing good Doctrine and Exhortation and our assembling for the worship of God is unprofitable to Godliness otherwise than by accustoming of us to think as we should do that is to be affected with the Doctrines of our most holy Faith Good education and good examples do no otherwise promote the work of God in our minds than by awakening our consideration of that Truth which is to renew us in the spirit of our minds Afflictions and Judgments the Fears and Apprehensions of Death the amazing Calls of God's Providence cannot of themselves work the reformation of an evil heart and life if they do it it is by beginning to bring men to that Consideration which they continue afterwards till they come to a Faith that answers the nature of the things they believe which consists in a just sense and apprehension of them but this is not to be gained but by a constant Consideration because they are spiritual things or future things after this life which are the main Objects of our Faith If a sick man believes that he shall gain his health by such a method or a poor man that he shall get an estate or a prisoner that he shall recover his liberty or any man that he shall come to his end in this world by such a course of means there is no need of much Consideration to persuade himself to try it because without any pains taken with himself he is naturally possest with a lively persuasion of his concernment in things of this nature But in Religion it is otherwise tho the interest be great nay the greatest of all yet it is not a sensible nor a present interest in comparison and so our Faith must be renewed day by day that we may be affected with it as reasonable creatures ought to be and by much thinking of it i. e. by many Acts of Faith arrive to such a sense of God and our interest in Religion as the nature of the thing deserves And this is that Faith which overcomes the world which purifies the heart and makes a man a new creature I deny not That wicked men believe and do contrary to a sense of their duty and of their obligations to God I acknowledge that they have so much Faith as makes them uneasie under their guilt somewhat loth to commit sin and ashamed and afraid when it is committed I grant that they have Faith truly so called but then they want Faith too that Faith which is properly
untoward accidents of Life as any of them ever were For here is the same Reason Encouragement and Assistance to do what God requires and to be happy therein as there ever was And why should not the same causes still produce the same effects For on the one side those holy Men and Women that are now with God had the same Appetites and Passions to govern that we have they endured the same Temptations and overcome them they had the same natural sence of good and evil that we have and were encompassed with infirmities and yet they walked by Faith and performed their Duty to God not to be admired and courted by men but to be seen and rewarded of God On the other side we have the same God to trust that they had the same holy Word of God to direct us the same Promises to inflame us the same holy Spirit to assist us the same Everlasting Reward to encourage us which they had So that God hath made no difference between them and us And let not us I beseech you make so great a difference between our selves and them as to miss of that peace and satisfaction which they once enjoyed in this World and of that infinite Reward which they have in part attained to in a better A Reward so vast that 't is all one within a trifle whether with or without Tribulation whether with ease or difficulty with pleasure or pain we enter into the Kingdom of Heaven For which God of his Infinite Mercy prepare us by his his holy Word by his gracious Spirit by his wise Providence through our Lord Jesus Christ And now to God Almighty the Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Thanks and Praise for ever and ever Amen The Eight Sermon AN Assize Sermon MATTH V. 38 39 40. Ye have heard that it hath been said An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth But I say unto you That ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek turn to him the other also And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat let him have thy cloak also And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile go with him twain I Am very sensible that the Duty here prescribed is so contrary to the Lusts and Passions of men and to some Principles of Honour and Wisdom which are currant in the World that it will be no very easy matter to persuade most men to practice it We are beholding to them if they will allow it to be a speculation fit for the Pulpit but if we pretend to offer it as a Rule for daily use we must pardon them there for it does not seem by any means to be accommodated to the state of Mankind and 't is pursued without any respect to or regard of the daily Occurrences of life What living would there be for us in the World if we should forgive Injuries and Wrongs as fast as they are done and put up Affronts as often as they are put upon us This would incourage the insolent man that hath done us one injury to offer a greater and by our tameness in bearing the injustice of one man we invite another to deal as ill by us or worse than the former which is the way to be affronted by every Scoundrel and trampled upon at every man's pleasure No but let us make men afraid of presuming to do us any harm by letting them see what others have gotten by it we must make them Examples that dare put any contempt upon us if we would live quietly and maintain our Honour and when others sees how dangerous a thing it is to provoke us we shall be respected and courted by them they will be afraid to offend us and think themselves happy in our friendship But to sit down quietly under Abuses is the way to be scorned and insulted over by every body Tell them of forgiving Injuries that want a Spirit to resent them and have not Courage enough to revenge them this is a Principle fit for none but Cowards or Fools either for those that are so dull as not to understand an Affront or so fearful that they dare not return it but it comes too late for men of Honour and Mettle that know what is their Interest and are able to defend it And there is no reason in the world why they should expose themselves to Injuries and Abuses when they have Strength and Courage enough to guard themselves from them Thus in truth they say in their hearts as they plainly shew by their Actions revenging every little Disrespect or Affront or Injury of any kind by returning an equal or very often a vastly greater mischief upon the wrong-doer and this to secure themselves as they pretend from further wrongs by making all that observe it careful to forbear offending them in like manner as they would be encouraged to do if the present Injury were tamely past by and nothing done to revenge it But in the first place This Objection was well foreseen by our Saviour he knew it would be pretended against the Duty of forgiving Injuries that this would be to pull great inconveniencies upon our selves and invite every body that had any thing to get by it to multiply Injuries against us And therefore he prescribed the Rules of Forgiveness in those very terms that imply he considered the Objection well enough But I say unto you resist not evil resist not the evil or the injurious man but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also The latter words are not to be taken in a literal sense as if I were to offer my self to a second stroke after I had been struck once But in a moral sense i. e. venture a second injury rather than go about to be revenged of the first though it should be never so probable that the wrong-doer would take heart by thy meekness to add another abuse to the former thou shalt not secure thy self by revenge for all that And so if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat let him have thy cloak also Not that I am presently to part with more to him than he has unjustly gotten by a wrong Verdict but that I am to venture another loss rather than be reveng'd for the first And so is the other instance to be understood From whence it is plain that our Blessed Saviour was not unmindful of the Objection that one would be apt to make against his Rule though if this matter had not been so plainly implied one would think a little modesty would serve to acknowledge that God is wiser than man and it is better for us to be governed by his Will than by our own foolish Reasonings at least if we would be thought to be Christians we should not think much to take the Authority of Our Lord and Master for a sufficient Reason to do as he
Conscience rather than that which we are prompted to by our worldly Interest But I add further That if a man be honest and discreet which such Rules as these suppose men to be it is no hard matter to know what Injuries are so small that according to our Saviour's Rule they are totally to be remitted There is a natural sagacity in a good mind to discern between good and evil in these things and by which it can apply general Rules to particular Cases It is not said in Scripture or any Law how much Wine is lawful to be drunk at a time and yet Drunkenness is forbidden nor how many hours in a day are to be spent in honest labour and industry and yet I am not to be idle Nor is it possible that any such particular Rules in these matters should be laid down which can reach the Case of every man in every circumstance So is it in this matter that may be a very great injury to one man that is but a little one to another And that he may be able to discern the difference he must either make use of his own honesty and discretion or of some bodies else The latter way may be very good either when a man is in danger of being partial to his worldly Interest and over-valuing a small Injury or of leaning too much to a scrupulous Conscience and undervaluing a great one It may then be very fit to take advice of a man of known wisdom and integrity who being indifferent is best able to judge in the former and being honest as well as discreet may also judge of the latter case and then to follow his Judgment This is the best way a man can take and God requires no more than the using of the best means we can to apply Rules given in general terms to our own particular Circumstances and he that does accordingly may and ought to be satisfied in his own Conscience that he hath done his Duty But if a man's mind be furnished with the Principles and Reasons of his Duty in the matter of forgiveness of Wrongs if also he be a discreet man in the ordering of his other Affairs there is no reason to fear but he will be likewise able of himself to discern between Injuries that may be altogether born withal and those that may and ought to be redrest But the truth is that which men are chiefly wanting in is a sense of their Duty And therefore what I have further to say shall tend to the awakening of us into such a sense by representing the Reasons and Motives to the meekness and patience which our Saviour requires of us And if these do prevail in our minds there is no great reason to fear on the other hand lest we should be so indiscreet as to suffer great harm without using lawful means to help our selves And therefore First of all Let us consider the Example of God himself towards us whom we have daily provoked by our sins and yet he has born with us hitherto and patiently waited for our repentance If God were so hasty with us as we are apt to be with one another we had been long since consumed in his displeasure It is most certainly true that his forbearance and long-suffering is the ground of mens presumption in going on to offend him If sentence were always speedily executed against an evil work the heart of the sons of men would not be set in them to do evil And yet although he knows that forbearing to punish us when we deserve it very often proves the occasion of multiplying provocations against him he notwithstanding is patient and long-suffering towards us not only forbearing to inflict those punishments which we every day deserve but continuing those blessings to us which we every day forfeit But what a great deal of sin and presumptuous disobedience had been prevented if God had been so ready to take fire against us as an angry man is to prosecute his Neighbour with revenge But then who of us could thus long have stood before him which of us had not long before this perished under the strokes of his angry Justice and who are we that nothing can ease our minds under the sense of any petty wrong but present revenge that we must have immediate satisfaction for every Affront or secure our selves against possible Injuries for the future by making an example of every man that trespasseth upon us What pride and haughtiness what foolish and overweening conceit is there in this one thing If we do but consider that our Maker infinitely great as well as good has been infinitely provoked by us and has yet thus long mercifully spared us If his goodness his forbearance and long-suffering leadeth us to repentance namely to repent of all our other sins much more of this which is so directly contrary to his Example much more I say of a proud malicious and revengeful spirit especially if we consider that he that is for judgment without mercy shall have no mercy that this is the Rule by which God will proceed against us in Judgment That he will not forgive us our trespasses if we from our hearts do not forgive every one his brother their trespasses and therefore unless we will deprive our selves of God's mercy in that day when we shall be most sensible that we need it unless we chuse to be judg'd in rigour and dealt withal according to the extremity of Justice we must lay aside anger malice and revenge and put on bowels of mercies kindness meekness long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us What should I speak of the Example of our Blessed Saviour himself who suffered the greatest indignities who bare the most Contumelious Reproaches who was provoked by the most Outragious Affronts and Injuries who yet when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously who at last underwent the most ignominious death of the Cross and even then when the sense of his pain and reproach was most bitter to him prayed to his Father to forgive his Enemies and excused as well as might be their inexcuseable wickedness by saying They know not what they do It is a great shame for us to make any difficulty of passing by ordinary Wrongs and Trespasses after such an Example or at least to pretend that we are his Disciples and Followers while we are so contrary to him in temper and disposition 2. Neither are we left without all guard against future Injuries if we silently pass over those that are committed against us at first for this is in it self a proper way to secure us against wrongs for the time to come although it is pretended that patience will but expose a man to further Abuses yet generally it is true that revenge exposes him to a great many
seems to be the plainest yet he repeats the substance of this For if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses But then with what face can they pretend to be Christians with what quiet can they think of a Future Judgment who take pleasure in the doing of Injuries and Wrongs who are as forward to trespass against their Brother as they are backward to forgive their Brother's Trespasses If I were to describe what a true Christian is by taking some one point of Christian duty the performance whereof does in all reasonable construction imply all the rest it should be this That he is one who would not for the world do the least injury but can forgive the greatest And God grant that this may be our practice for the rest of our lives The Ninth Sermon AN Assize Sermon MATTH 5.34 35 36 37. But I say unto you Swear not at all neither by heaven for it is God's throne nor by the earth for it is his footstool neither by Jerusalem for it is the City of the great King neither shalt thou swear by thy head because thou canst not make one hair white or black but let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more than this cometh of evil THat Religion and the fear of God and a sense of his Authority are Principles supposed by the Laws of God is from hence evident that in great part the process of our Courts depends upon Testimony given under the obligation of an Oath for though the use of an Oath there is required by Humane Authority yet the peculiar obligation it lays upon us to speak the Truth is antecedent to all Humane Laws being founded originally upon our Duty to God wherefore though an Oath in respect of some use and end of it may be a Civil Act yet in respect of the reason whereby it obligeth it is an Act of Religion for this reason it is highly conducible to the end of Civil Government to maintain a sense of Religion in the minds of men and particularly it must be of great use to make them observe those Laws of God which are plainly designed to secure the reverence which is due to an Oath and to keep men at a wide distance from the danger of Perjury Such is that Law of our Saviour which I have read to you which therefore doth not tend more to the Honour of God than to the Common Good of Mankind and this no man can be ignorant of who considers what a vast influence the use of an Oath hath upon all the Affairs of Humane Life This is that whereby we come to confide in one another about things of the greatest moment to our lives this is that which is so often necessary to secure our Properties to save us from wrong and to make even our Enemy to do us right it is this which all Processes in Courts of Judicature are governed by which is supposed to all Administrations of Justice and gives an end to all Controversies about matters of Fact which will be no otherways decided it is this which must either direct or misguide the wisest Magistrates and make their Sentence it self either right or wrong and by which we are either strongly guarded against Injury or almost inevitably exposed to it of how great consequence therefore must it be to the good of all men to have the reverence of an Oath secured and to make every man tremble at the thought of Perjury since the World cannot be well-governed nor the Administrations of Justice go forward without the use of Oaths and yet we had better be without them in as many cases as there are wherein Men are not afraid to be Forsworn and yet alas it is the daily complaint of our Age that the fear of an Oath is almost banished out of the World And although it be really a thousand times more dreadful to profane the Name of God by calling him to be a witness to our Lies than it would be to play before the Mouth of a Canon while it was Firing yet if we may believe the Reports which are sometimes made from Courts of Judicature there are very few Peasants so pusillanimous but they are hardy enough to Swear to any thing and with equal confidence to contradict one another in the plainest matters and when under an equal obligation to speak the Truth by the Invocation of the dreadful Name of God Now if we would enquire how the sacredness of an Oath is grown into such contempt I do not question but the common and frequent use of Swearing in our ordinary Conversation would be found at least accessary to that dishonour which is done to God and that mischief to men by the so frequent Perjuries of our Age. Oaths are grown so familiar with us that men have forgotten the nature and true use of them and are not sensible that they call the Divine Vengeance upon themselves if their Testimonies be not exactly true they have been prostituted to the meanest Services and profan'd by common use and then no wonder if the Sacred Obligation peculiar to them be forgotten when they are used in those special cases for which they ought to be reserved therefore if we would do any thing to recover the fear of an Oath amongst our Countrey-men we must endeavour to do it by means contrary to those whereby it hath been so generally lost that is by abstaining our selves and not only so but by disswading and restraining others as much as in us lies from that familiar and fashionable Swearing which is one of the great reproaches of our Age to which end I shall endeavour to explain the meaning and reason of these words of our Saviour And in them I shall consider 1. The Law it self Swear not at all but let your communication be yea yea nay nay 2. The sanction and reason of this Law viz. 1. The Authority of our Saviour But I say unto you 2. The nature of the thing it self For whatsoever is more than this cometh of evil In the Law it self we are to consider the Prohibition and the Precept 1. The Prohibition which contains 1. A general Rule Swear not at all 2. Some particular instances whereto the Rule extends Neither by Heaven nor by Earth nor by Hierusalem nor by thy head 3. The Reason why the Rule extends to these Instances not by Heaven for it is God's Throne not by the Earth for it is his Footstool not by Hierusalem for it is the City of the great King not by thy Head for thou canst not make one hair white or black Let us begin with the general Rule Swear not at all from which words the Anabaptists and Quakers have contended that an Oath or an Appeal to God that what we say is true is in no case lawful I shall here shew the contrary and prove that the meaning of the Rule is this That we are not to Swear
commandments of God are ever with me We see by experience that men arrive to great skill in the business which they have in liking and esteem because they frequently exercise themselves in it and daily employ their thoughts about it Now that veneration of Divine Truth that value of Christian Knowledge which is implied in a sincere intent to do the will of God is incomparably greater and more operative and effectual than that which is founded either upon desire of praise or preferment or the mere pleasure of speculation only Therefore that esteem which the good man hath for Divine Truth will enforce a more frequent and attentive meditation thereupon and that assiduity will procure a better understanding of it and this again more delight and pleasure in it and if such proficiency and such satisfaction do thus whet one another and if they are not caused but by a great value and esteem of Divine truth then the good man who values it most has a singular advantage in his study and search after it 4. Every prevailing Lust and Passion is in it self an impediment to the knowledge of the Truth For instance the affection of the praise of men is that which frequently perverts a right judgment of things it was our Saviour's own Expostulation with the Jews How can ye believe that receive honour one of another and seek not that honour which cometh of God John 5.44 One would wonder what a strange delusion the Pride of the Pharisees kept them under the Delusion was so great that they could not judge whether they believed or disbelieved what they read in Moses for our Saviour tells them v. 46. Had ye believed Moses ye would also have believed me for he wrote of me Could we or could they themselves have thought that they who trusted in Moses that they who were the great Teachers of the Law of Moses that they who rejected Jesus because they thought his Doctrine overthrew the Law of Moses should be mistaken in their own belief of Moses and yet he adds v. 47. If ye believe not his writings how shall ye believe my words By which we may learn these things 1. If vain glory had not infatuated these men if the conceit of their own wisdom had not kept them from doubting of what they once thought if they had been humble enough to permit the Writings of Moses to convince them they must needs have read there that Jesus was the Christ 2. If one sin be predominant in a man's heart as Pride he may be so deluded by it as not to believe that to be in the Scripture which is plainly there and this too in a matter of great importance and concernment as the case now mentioned plainly shews 3. Much more will the judgments of men be perverted by several Lusts and Vices in conjunction with one another if to Pride and Ambition Covetousness and Envy and Revengefulness be added the fatal influence whereof upon the Understanding is so plainly discernable in the gross mistakes of those men that are engaged to serve a by-Cause and to maintain a Party against all the World Did we not know it by experience we should think it incredible that in these circumstances men of learning and subtilty should not be able to judge of the strength or weakness of Arguments of the true or false interpretation of Scripture of the pertinent or impertinent application of it even where the case is so plain that it requires neither subtilty nor learning to make a judgment of it Could any disinterested man believe that from the saying of Saint John in the conclusion of his Revelation If any man shall add unto the words of the prophecy of this book God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in it that from this Saying the unlawfulness of all Human Forms and Constitutions in Divine Worship might be inferr'd that is to say Because a Curse is threatned to any that shall attempt to corrupt the Bible by making any alteration in the Revelation of St. John therefore nothing is to be done in God's Worship which is not positively required in the Word of God And yet by such applications of Scripture as this the pretence hath been carried on by men of name and authority in the World Would it ever have come into a mans head to suspect that the Power of the Roman Bishop to depose Kings and Emperors might be argued from those words of our Lord to Peter Feed my sheep If Ambition and Covetousness and the serving of a Cause had not interven'd he would think the Sheep of Christ were to be fed with wholsome Doctrine and to be instructed in the duties of Patience and Constancy under Persecution and not with those inhuman Principles which turn them into Wolves and it is plain enough that without any wit and with infinitely greater probability the quite contrary conclusion may be several ways inferred from these words the quite contrary I say to what they of the Church of Rome would infer from them I shall not stand to expose their arguing from those words Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church in behalf of the universal Supremacy of the Roman Bishops and that because of the allusion of Petrus to Petra which if it would hold good for St. Peter's being the Rock how it will serve to make Boniface or Clement the Rock too would be hard to say or if it did that Rock implies Universal Supremacy would not suddenly have been thought of if it had not been to serve a Cause there would be a little more colour in those words and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven were it not plain That when the Keys were given to him as they were not till after the Resurrection of Christ they were given to all the other Apostles as fully and effectually as to him But suppose that had been said of Peter which St. Paul said of himself that the care of all the Churches was upon him which is a Saying more likely to conclude an Universal Pastorship from than the other how many learned Treatises may we think had been written upon it before now But for all that if any man should in earnest offer that place to prove that St. Paul was Christ's Vicar-General on Earth he would be answered no other way than by contempt So foully are the understandings of men overruled by their affections after they have wedded a Cause and resolved to go through with it and to maintain it right or wrong but that which is still worse is this that where the Spirit of Faction prevails and worldly Interest is carried on under the pretext of Religion the understandings of men are frequently disabled from judging right between good and evil otherwise how were it possible for men to believe that Hypocrisy and Lying and Perjury and Murder and Treason are in some cases not only excuseable but laudable that they
endeavors to know the Covenant of God revealed in the Gospel whether enjoining the Duty he expects from us or promising those benefits and rewards in this or the other life which we may expect from him this very Promise we have again repeated Prov. 3.32 His secret is with the righteous it had been enough if God had passed his but once but since he hath so often repeated it we cannot doubt but that good men shall be blessed with a better apprehension of the things of the Gospel than others In John 8. the like Promises are made and the like Conditions upon which they are made are annexed ver 12. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life shall know all things requisite to Life Eternal ver 32. Ye shall know the truth but 't is upon this condition ver 33. that ye continue in my word and John 14.21 I will love and manifest my self to every one that loveth me and keepeth my Commandments Upon the account of these and the like Promises as well as upon other grounds we may say with the Psalmist Psal 111. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom it is the best most auspicious entrance upon it and they that do thereafter have a good understanding having good security that they cannot fail of it To conclude this particular From all these Promises we may be most assured that every man following the rule of Christ shall not fail of so much knowledge as will secure his Eternal Life and even that is a mighty encouragement to observe this Rule If any of us were sure that some Angel attended us constantly observing all our actions insinuating good counsels and exciting good thoughts when our Passions grow wild and we are on the brink of sin it would infuse a great regard of all we did into us and we should reckon our selves happy men Certainly it is more happy to be under the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God what can be more desirable than to have him who is Wisdom it self opening our ears and sealing Instruction to us blessing our searches into holy things and accompanying our meditations with a ready and prosperous apprehension And this is that we are sure of whilst we are in the way of doing God's will because we are sure he is not slack in his Promises But this advantage will appear so much the greater if we consider that God doth sometimes deliver up wicked men to darkness of understanding and hath threatned that he will do so That he has done so St. Paul shews plainly Rom. 1. by the example of the Gentiles because they detained the truth in unrighteousness ver 19. and did not glorify God with that knowledge which he had given them they first became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned ver 21. So they fell to Idolatry ver 22. and then we find that he gave them up to vile affections and a reprobate i. e. an undiscerning mind which knew no difference between good and evil and that God will deal so with us if we deny him by our works 't is but reasonable to expect tho' he had not said it but he hath given us sufficient warning in the threatning to the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2. Repent and do thy first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of its place their Candlestick is removed and now they are in Turkish darkness and so the burden of Ephesus is fulfilled But why I beseech you should that admonition be so often repeated in the second and third Chapters He that hath ears to hear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the seven Churches but to let us know that the threatnings there denounced belong to the Churches of Europe as well as of Asia and to England as well as to Ephesus And seeing every one has ears to hear and therefore ought to hear therefore every particular man is as liable to the same severity as whole Churches and therefore as by the sins of a Nation God may be provoked to deliver it up to darkness and delusion and to believe lies so for the sins of particular persons he may give them over to a Lying spirit and suffer Seducers to prevail upon them so that they shall not see the plainest truths in Religion nor discern the most gross and monstrous Errors Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie that they might all be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes 2.11 It is not therefore unreasonable to conclude that the contempt of all holy things that reigns amongst many wicked men is from the Judgment of God giving them up to a reprobate mind their habitual Vices have violated their natural Instincts and raised out the sense of good and evil and moreover the vengeance of God's wrath is upon them giving them over to their own vileness permitting them to run on in wickedness without the checks and restraints of his good Spirit and to defy the goodness of God and to laugh at Counsels and Admonitions and to make haste to their own perdition thereby fulfilling that Prophecy of Daniel referring to the Times of the Gospel The wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wiched shall understand Dan. 12.10 Of what hath been said the sum is this If godliness be in it self a fit means to promote the knowledge of truth if it hath moreover a sure word of promise which the unrighteous have not That the righteous shall be assisted in the search of truth and if on the other hand ungodly men are under so many natural impediments that obstruct the knowledge of the truth and moreover lye under such severe threatnings of blindness it must needs follow that supposing the Good and the Bad to be equally endued with natural Abilities of understanding and equally enjoying the external means of knowledge that the former has vast advantages yet above the latter which was the first thing to be shown The Second is That there is some knowledge of Divine things that cannot be attained by the wicked man while he so continues though in other respects he be never so much superior to the righteous and that is the experimental knowledge of Religion which does above all other things confirm the Faith of a good Christian he that doth the will of God understands the power of good Principles to fortify him against temptations to restrain him from sin to keep him to his Duty to render it pleasant and delightful to him to moderate him in his prosperity and to support him in adversity and by all this he understands the great worth and excellency of true Religion incomparably better than any man who can talk learnedly and argue dexterously about it but never felt the