more fit and expedite for the race set before us viz. that we be more particularly careful to arm our selves against those temptations to lay aside those lusts to which we perceive our selves by nature or custom most inclined This I conceive is meant here by the sin which doth so easily beset us Every man who gives himself the leisure to examine his own heart impartially will find that some temptations have a great deal more easie access to him than others and our great adversary the Devil is very diligent and watchful to set before us such objects and lay such snares in our way which are most likely to prevail upon us The sins we are naturally inclined to oft-times creep upon us insensibly and get possession of our hearts before we are well aware of them Sometimes they disguise themselves under the pretence of Piety and seeming holiness and a great zeal against the contrary extream Sometimes they plead Nature and Custom for their continuance that these cannot be overcome sometimes we have ways to extenuate them and make them seem small and venial and if men take time to deliberate about parting with them there is great hazard but they will keep possession So apt are we to be vanquished when we have a mind to it when our Adversaries from without have their correspondents in our own bosom when we have so many treacherous Guests so many deceitful Lusts within us which are ready to betray us and to yield up our hearts to a subtle and powerful enemy Here then is our greatest danger here we must exert our greatest care and vigilance here we must shew our courage and resolution in throwing off these darling and beloved Lusts the sins that do so easily beset us This is that which our Saviour elsewhere requires of us when he bids us cut off our right hands and pluck out our right eyes when they make us to offend And thus much for the first part of the Exhortation Having according to our power laid aside every weight having freed our selves from our evil habits and customs and from our most secret and beloved Lusts we are not to rest here Thus much is required as a preparation to be Christs Disciples but when we are admitted into the number we must then set our selves upon an active obedience to his Laws A negative holiness will not serve our turn We must not onely eschew evil but we must do what good we can in the several places and stations to which God hath called us They who run in a Race when they have stript themselves and laid aside all unnecessary weights and incumbrances have yet the whole Race before them which they must run through if they expect their Crown and Prize and therefore in proportion to what is required of them we also are exhorted in the 2. Second place to run the Race set before us Now the positive duties required of all Christians answer to that part of the similitude and to discharge them faithfully is meant by running the race set before us And this is elsewhere expressed in plainer Exhortations Work out your salvation with fear and trembling giving all diligence add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any praise or if there be any vertue think on and do these things Now these and the like Exhortations and Precepts often repeated in holy Scripture being all in general terms the particular instances of duty required by them must be left to each mans private consideration and they are various according to mens several abilities and opportunities according to their several relations in which God hath placed them God the supream 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath by his wise and good providence allotted every man his course It is not of our choosing but it is a race set before us He hath likewise distributed among men various gifts and abilities whereby they are severally fitted to do good and according to these every man must judge of his duty in particular what it is that the Lord requires of him and no man who doth not want will and resolution to do the will of God can ordinarily be ignorant what he ought to do and therefore I shall not descend to any particular instances of duty only from the similitude here used I shall crave leave to suggest these two things 1. That our obedience to God ought to be vigorous and chearful 2. That it ought to be constant and uninterrupted 1. The similitude of Running imports great vigour and alacrity in the discharge of our duty They who run with hopes of Victory must not be faint-hearted and languish but must be chearful and couragious full of hope and eager expectation of the desired triumph Thus must a Christian behave himself in the race set before him He must go about his duty with chearfulness and freedom as one that doth it with a willing mind and hopes for success by so doing He must always have in his eye the great recompence of reward the joy set before him the Crown of Glory laid up for him and in prospect of that he must chearfully undertake whatever difficulties he meets with in his way And indeed if we have once obeyed the former part of the Exhortation if we have once freed our minds from the low and sordid cares and incumbrances of this life present there can then remain nothing to hinder or retard our motion or to abate our courage in running the Race set before us And this holy David seems to express saying I will run the way of thy commandments when thou hast set my heart at liberty When we are once at liberty from the World and have weaned our affections from things below and placed them on a better and more enduring substance then though we meet with dangers and inconveniences we shall joyfully go on and every days progress in our course of piety will render our task more easie and delightful We shall apprehend our selves every day more and more approaching to the end of our hopes and to the Crown of our labours and out of prospect of so sure a reward so nigh at hand and out of a fore-taste of that happiness shall be able to say of Religion from our own experience that her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths Peace 2. Another thing represented by this similitude of Running is that our course of Piety our religious conversation ought to be constant and uninterrupted He that runs in a Race cannot find leisure to stop and divert himself or salute his friends by the way A little needless ceremony at such a time may hazard the loss of the whole
motives to a like stedfastness in our Holy Calling inasmuch as they bear witness by their Examples that there are no difficulties so great in the ways of Holiness no afflictions so grievous but that by the power of a lively and active faith and by a prospect of the Joy set before us and by the assistance of Gods grace in the discharge of our duty they may be endured with patience and comfort nay further with joy and satisfaction Let us now cast our eyes back on those great Examples of Faith and Patience recorded in the foregoing Chapter let us behold the mighty power and efficacy of their Faith and the bravery of their Vertues in its most afflicted state let us call to mind the chearfulness and joy with which they trampled on and despised the sufferings of this life present that they might obtain a better inheritance Let us add to these the glorious company of Apostles and Evangelists the noble Army of Martyrs and Confessors and innumerable companies of just men made perfect who have departed this life in the Faith of Christ being Witnesses to us of better promises than the Fathers had And lastly let us look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy set before him endured the Cross despised the Shame and is now set down upon the right hand of the Throne of God and then surely if the Apostles Argument was a reasonable motive in his days it will now be much more so since the Cloud of Witnesse is so much increased by the Saints and Martyrs of the Christian Church Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about 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 SERM. V. HEB. xij 2. Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God THere is no kind of Argument more naturally fitted to prevail upon mens minds and to engage their industry and diligence in any enterprise whatsoever than the example of others who have gone before them whose wisdom and vertue they have in reverence who have performed the like undertaking with honour and success The opinion we have of their wisdom and vertue makes us think it not unreasonable for us to follow their steps and imitate their practice and the success of their endeavours takes away all those faint excuses which Sloth and Idleness are apt to suggest to us We cannot then pretend that it is an impossible task we are persuaded to when we see before our eyes the examples of others of like frame with our selves who have already performed it with chearfulness and joy The Apostle therefore well knowing that the Profession of Christianity was to be attended with many difficulties and dangers and that our Saviour had made it a necessary qualification of all that would be his Disciples to take up the Cross and follow him to prepare the minds of his new converted Hebrews against all discouragements whatsoever that might withdraw them from their stedfastness in the Faith they had embraced in the foregoing Chapter of the Epistle he largely represents to them the many examples of the Patriarchs of old whose Seed they were of the holy Prophets whose Writings they had received of all the Worthies recorded in Sacred Story whose Praises they had been instructed in that all these in confidence that God would reward their Obedience and Faith in another life though he suffered them to be evil intreated here had patiently undergone the most barbarous cruelties which the wit or malice of men could exercise upon them Some of them were stoned and sawn in sunder some of them wandered about being destitute afflicted tormented but yet these and many other kinds of calamities they chearfully submitted to not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection And then applying their examples to the state of those first Christians he gives them to understand that if the Fathers before recited by the power of their Faith were enabled to endure such things as these then surely they who had received far better promises ought not to fall short of their patience and resolution and constant perseverance in their holy Profession though they should be exposed to many Trials and Persecutions for it This application he makes in the words before the Text Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us But because the duty of Patience under Sufferings is that which of all others we are naturally most averse to that there might be nothing wanting to confirm their resolution to go on chearfully in the Race set before them he proceeds in the Text to raise their thoughts to the contemplation of a far more eminent and illustrious example whom they ought always to have in their eye as the best pattern of their Obedience and affording the strongest motives and encouragement to it Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God Considering the words with this dependance they are a prevailing argument and motive to engage us to imitate our Saviour as in all other parts of a holy conversation so more particularly in the patient suffering of those afflictions and calamities which befall us in this life Which duty though it have a more peculiar reference to the state of the Primitive Christians who were continually exposed to the most unsupportable calamities for their profession of Christianity yet we are not to persuade our selves that we in these days are wholly exempt from our share in it Though open Persecutions are not now felt among us yet all that will live godly have many Trials and Temptations to oppose themselves against many difficulties and dangers to struggle with many enemies to withstand through the whole course of their pilgrimage who are always active and busie to hinder our progress in our Christian Race and to defeat us of our Reward and Crown Though we are not now brought before Kings and Rulers for the sake of Christ though we cannot now be tempted to a total Apostasie from our Christian Profession to an open denial of the Lord that bought us yet still we are exposed to many temptations which are apt to draw us from our uprightness and to betray us into those evil habits and customs which are inconsistent with the Faith which we outwardly prosess and with the Salvation we hope for We have therefore need of great watchfulness and care and constant resolution if
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
our Saviour plainly intended not to set bounds or limits to our forgiveness but to declare rather that it ought to be unlimited that no transgressions of our Brother how often soever they be repeated ought to exclude him from our forgiveness and charity 2. As to the other part of the Question touching the heinousness of our Brothers offences against us it is plain likewise that no degree of guilt in him can put him out of the reach of our pardon unless we also would be content that God should exclude us from that forgiveness we pray for for so our Saviour hath taught us to pray Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us If we therefore forgive partially if we except any of our Brethrens trespasses from our pardon because forsooth they are too great to be forgiven what can we expect but that God should deal with us according to our prayers and leave us under the weight of our most hainous transgressions and how unsupportable a burden this would be judge ye By what hath been said it is easie to conclude that this precept doth oblige us to an universal Forgiveness and Charity towards our Enemies how many and how great soever their offences have been There remains one case still to be considered viz. the Civil Magistrate is appointed by God a Revenger to execute wrath upon them that do evil not upon those onely who sin immediately against God but upon those also who are injurious to their Neighbours Nor could Civil Society subsist without such a standing power It may therefore be reasonably demanded that if God hath established such a power amongst men for the relief of the injured and punishment of offenders how can it be unlawful to make use of that remedy and then surely all return of evil upon our Adversaries is not forbidden by this precept of loving Enemies Nor would God have appointed his publick Officers for the punishment of Injustice and Wrong if the persons injured might not lawfully implead those who did the wrong and seek that reparation which the Laws of God and Man have provided And indeed if our Saviour did universally oblige us tamely to yield to all kind of injuries without making our just defence or seeking reparation from the Law this would be the direct way to disorder and confusion and would justifie that objection which is wont to be made against this precept that it exposed good men to ruine and poverty and gave security onely to the violent and oppressours But to free our Saviours Doctrine from so undeserved a calumny it is to be considered 1. That this Precept is primarily intended as a Rule for private persons in that capacity that they should by no means make themselves judges in their own cause and assume to themselves the power of taking vengeance and exacting what satisfaction they thought fit for the injuries they received Not but that Injustice and Wrong ought to receive its due punishment even amongst men but because private persons are not to be trusted in their own concern therefore God hath reserved this power to himself and to Magistrates commissionated by him for the punishment of evil-doers and the praise of them that do well And to these all private persons ought to refer the judgment of their cause and reparation of their wrongs and this I take to be the force of S. Pauls reason why we should not avenge our selves Rom. xii 19. Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. Vengeance belongs to God the Magistrate is Gods Revenger therefore private persons must not pretend to any such authority over their adversaries 2. It is to be considered further that there is a wide difference to be made between prosecuting an injurious man and seeking revenge The former of these may be done without any breach of Charity or diminution of our affection towards him nay possibly it may be the cruellest piece of revenge to let men alone in their evil practices or to suffer them to enjoy the fruits of Injustice without calling them to account for it The success of unrighteous actions may by degrees harden them in sin and bring down the severer judgments of God upon them should they escape humane Justice So that to give a timely check to our Neighbour when he deals unjustly by us may possibly be a means of gaining our Brother when private admonitions may not prove effectual So that this is no ways inconsistent with an hearty forgiveness and unfeigned charity toward our Enemy In short then we may lawfully implead those who have done us wrong onely we must observe great care and moderation in it we must not go to Law for every trifling and light occasion we must be careful not to do it with any malicious design against the person we contend with For though our adversary be justly punished yet if we pursue him with intention to gratifie our own passion in his sufferings we can in no wise be found guiltless of the breach of this duty But thus much may suffice for the first thing proposed the Nature and Extent of the Duty enjoined Love your Enemies c. I come now to shew the great obligation that is laid upon us to the practice of this duty which I shall endeavour to enforce 1. From the quality of the Law-giver intimated in these words I say unto you 2. From the nature of the Precept 3. Because our greatest interest doth indispensably depend upon the practice of it As for the quality of the Lawgiver expressed in those words I say unto you c. 1. If we look upon our Saviour only as a Prophet come from God to declare his will to Mankind to make them understand more clearly what it is that the Lord requires of them yet this alone were sufficient to challenge our obedience to this and all his Commands That God whose Creatures we are on whom we depend daily for our subsistence and wel-being from whom we have received life and breath and all things we enjoy and from whom alone we can receive whatever we hope for this God whose natural born Subjects we are hath by our Saviour given us the most clear and perfect revelation of his will and doth accordingly by him require the most entire and universal obedience to it Nor is there any Doctrine he doth more frequently insist on or more earnestly persuade us to obey than this of the Text of Loving Enemies The Will of God whensoever made known to us is a sufficient reason of the obligation of any of his Laws and our blessed Saviour brought with him such undeniable evidences that he came from God and delivered his Doctrine with so great demonstrations of the truth and divine authority of what he spake that he extorted from his very adversaries this confession Matt. 22. 15. Master we know that thou art true and teachest
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
our repose and happiness as though we should nourish a Snake in our bosome which would leave behind it an incurable sting and perpetual anguish Tell me I pray is any man happy that is easily provoked Can he enjoy the same content with other men who leaves it in the power of any one that dares affront him to raise in him those tempestuous passions and to rob him of his repose and quiet Certainly the angry and revengeful man if he hath an enemy gives him the greatest advantages over him that can be For there is no injury so effectual as that which raises disturbance in the mind so that a malicious designer always does the intended mischief when it is directed against a man that indulgeth these passions Whereas on the contrary he that inures himself to patience and forbearance though his adversary seek to do him mischief yet by this temper of mind he frustrates the design of his malice and in spite of all injuries is perfect Master of his own happiness In a word there is no condition of life so happy no enjoyment so full of satisfaction which can give us the least content while the desire of Revenge prevails with us And of this the Hihory of Haman is abundant evidence which we read Esther v. 11. where Haman having called his friends and kindred together and having told them of the greatness of his riches and the multitude of his children and all the things wherein the King had promoted him and how he had advanced him above the Princes and Servants of the King yet saith he v. 13. All this availeth me nothing so long as Morcai the Jew sitteth at the Kings gate So unhappy is the envious and revengeful man amidst the greatest prosperity which this World can afford 2. Next to the peace and quiet of our own minds this duty of forgiving injuries and loving Enemies doth highly conduce to the peace of the World and to the preservation of unity and good will among Christians as being the most generous and likely way to reduce our enemies to peace and friendly agreement with us There is no man so averse from reconciliation who will not in time be wrought upon by kindness and charity Enmity will of it self expire if it be not continued by repeated acts of unkindness how much rather when men find all their injuries repaid with courtesies all their uncharitable dealings with good deeds This Argument is made use of by S. Paul Rom. xii 20. If thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head Which is not to be understood as though by so doing we should design to increase his condemnation before God For though possibly that may be the event if notwithstanding our kindness he continue obstinate in his malice yet to design that in relieving him would indeed be the cruellest piece of revenge and malice The Apostles meaning therefore is that by doing good to our enemy and relieving him in his wants we shall kindle in him that fervour of affection and holy fire of Love to us that he may for the future become our friend and repent and be ashamed of his wickedness This I conceive to be the meaning of heaping coals of fire upon his head and this is confirmed by the following words of the same Apostle Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good Let no mans injuries or malicious practices towards thee deface in thy Soul that divine temper of mind that inclines thee to do good but endeavour rather by repeated acts of charity towards thine enemy to overcome his enmity and bring him to agreement and peace with thee This consideration ought to have great force upon us because there is nothing more desirable in this World than that brethren should live together in unity nor any thing more agreeable to the design of our most holy Religion When our Saviour was born into the World Angels attended his birth with this song Glory be to God on high on earth peace good will towards men Our Saviour is often called the Prince of Peace and when he left the World the last Legacy he bequeathed to his Disciples was Peace My peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you Nor ought any thing to be dearer to us who pretend to be his Disciples than this peace nor ought we to be unwilling to let go much of our right and to forbear many injuries and to forego all desires of revenge so that we may obtain the blessed fruits of peace and live in unity and godly love 3. From what hath been already said it is easie to conclude that the practice of this duty doth highly conduce to the true dignity and perfection of our Nature Those good dispositions of mind that encline us to be merciful and friendly to others are the great perfections of reasonable beings and we are so much more perfect by how much more enlarged and extensive they are and less capable of being removed or changed And therefore he who is so setled in the habit of doing good as not to be withdrawn from it by the injuries and provocations of his enemy hath gained a victory over himself far beyond what he could hope for in pursuance of his revenge and hath attained to as great a degree of perfection as he is capable of For proof of this we may have recourse to the consideration of the divine nature for the great perfection of Man was that he was created after the image of God nor is there any thing whereby we attain a nearer resemblance to the Divine Nature than by this universal and unrestrained charity this desire to good to Enemies as well as Friends That which makes God the most adorable Being in the World is chiefly his infinite and unchangeable goodness This reason is assigned by our Saviour to engage us to the duty of loving Enemies in the following Verse That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven for he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and unjust And at the last Verse concludes his discourse with this advice Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect 3. The last Argument to persuade us to forgive and love our Enemies was this that our greatest interest doth indispensably depend upon this our practice of it We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God and do therefore all of us stand in need of pardon and forgiveness at his hands And can we pray to God for pardon of our own sins if we refuse for his sake to forgive our Brethren Surely this were a very vain thing to hope for For what is there can seem to render our Neighbour uncapable of forgiveness which doth not aggravate our sins against God infinitely beyond his transgressions against us If our Neighbours offences
may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus The Judgment therefore here and elsewhere so frequently forbidden cannot be meant of the Judgment of authority in matter either Civil or Ecclesiastical 2. Neither are we forbidden all kind of judgment of the persons of men from their outward and visible practices though we have no superiority over them we are still allowed the judgment of discretion to distinguish between man and man to know whom to avoid and whom to associate our selves with and it is a great part of Christian prudence so to do The actions of many men are so plain and notorious that they are not capable of a mild and easie interpretation and should we stay till publick authority had set a mark upon such persons before we provide for our own innocence and security by forsaking their acquaintance and conversation we may in time grow partakers in their iniquity and be defiled by them Bad Company and Example do insensibly prevail upon our minds and betray us into evil and unless we were allowed to make a judgment of some persons from the actions we see we could have no reason to stand upon our guard or beware of them Nay further Christian Charity it self which obligeth us against all rash and malicious censures of other men doth in many cases not onely allow but exact of us to make a judgment of and be jealous over them that we be able to afford to them seasonable reproof and admonition before they are confirmed in a habit of sin And to this kind of Judgment if it be exercised with true charity and moderation out of a zealous concern for the soul of our offending Brother there is a reward annexed S. James v. 19. Brethren if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him let him know that he that converteth a sinner from the evil of his way shall save a soul from death and hide a multitude of sins Now we should be excluded both from this duty and blessing if it were not Iawful to judge of men in some measure by what we hear and see 3. We are not forbidden to judge and pass censure upon our selves For this is elsewhere made our duty and prescribed to us as a great means to escape the Judgment of God For this S. Paul tells us 1 Cor. xi 31. If we would judge our selves we should not be judged And the reason is plain For would men find leisure seriously to examine their own lives and actions and to judge impartially of them they would not then so freely indulge themselves in those practices to which they know the judgement of God is due They would think themselves obliged in all times and places to a more strict and circumspect walking with God and when they have through inadvertency and neglect yielded to temptation by a due examination and judging of themselves they would be convinced of the necessity of an hearty and sincere repentance before they go hence and be no more seen The power of Conscience was given us by God for that end that we might be enabled to judge of the good and evil of our actions and be thereby more vigorously engaged to continue in well-doing and eschew evil upon a prospect of a future and more dreadful judgment that would otherwise ensue When therefore S. Paul tells us verse 3. that he judged not his own self This is not to be understood as though he made no judgment at all of his own life and actions and particularly of his discharge of his Apostolick Office mentioned in the former Verses but that he was not finally to rely upon his own judgment but that although he knew nothing of himself as he declares Verse 4. yet he was not thereby justified in as much as he was afterward to be judged by the supreme Judge of all the Earth who knew better how he had behaved himself and would judge more impartially than he himself could and then immediately subjoins the prohibition of the Text Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come These things therefore being excepted from the general prohibition the sin which is here forbidden is the uncharitable practice of censuring and condemning other men without any probable or just grounds when men take occasion from little circumstances and appearances to judge the person of their Neighbour and the inward thoughts and inclinations of his heart When they take up an ill opinion of him from every idle report and stick not to spread and divulge the same to his prejudice When they take all occasions to lessen and detract from the good he doth and aggravate the evil This unchristian practice is capable of many degrees and aggravations which I shall not insist on particularly I shall onely take notice in general that whoever will consider calmly with himself how he would have his Neighbour deal with him in the like matter with what candour and simplicity he would have him judge of the outward circumstances of his life how loth he would be to have the worst interpretation made of all his words and actions and how willing he would have others be to admit his excuses if not to take away yet at least to lessen and alleviate the guilt of any miscarriages such a one cannot but understand what those degrees of uncharitable judgment are which are here forbidden I proceed therefore to the second thing propounded to shew the great unreasonableness of this practice and this will appear from these three considerations 1. From the baseness of its original 2. From the greatness of the injury done to the person we censure unjustly 3. From the mischief which redounds to the Publick by uncharitable judgment of one another 1. For the original of this practice of censuring and reviling one another I think it may ordinarily be resolved into one of these three Principles 1. Secret pride and over-valuing our selves Men who are destitute of real worth and yet have a mighty opinion of themselves have no other means to buoy up themselves in that conceit but to pick faults in the life and actions of other men And this I doubt is the humour of too many pretenders to the strictness of Religion who if they declare a great abhorrence of some particular fault of their Neighbours which is contrary to their own natural inclination or present interest are apt vainly to please themselves with the opinion of their own righteousness and to vaunt it in the language of the Pharisee Luke xviii 10. God I thank thee that I am not as other men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers or even as this Publican Now the unreasonable folly of this method of proceeding no man can be ignorant of that considers the nature and genius of true Religion that it doth not consist in the abstinence from some particular sins which I may apprehend others to be guilty of but in an universal obedience to all the commands of God And therefore what
advantageth it me to be able to declaim zealously against this or that Vice of the Age I live in or the persons with whom I converse if I cherish in my bosom other impieties which if not so open and notorious may yet be as inconsistent with my salvation as any other If we will take our Saviours judgment in the case the poor Publican though conscious of so many faults and infirmities and already judged and condemned by the Pharisee was yet in a much fairer way to be justified before God than the other who did not seem to apprehend that he needed any repentance Now were men truly humble and conscious of their own manifold defects and miscarriages they would find infinite more reason to turn the edge of their censure upon themselves There is no man who will take pains to search into the secrets of his own soul but may find himself guilty of more faults than he can reasonably suspect or accuse his Neighbour of We see onely the external gesture and behaviour of other men and cannot easily determine from what principle their actions flow we do not know all the circumstances they are engaged in which will much alter the nature of the actions we judge them for We cannot tell what we our selves should do in the like case and how far we may be able to resist the same temptations Whereas we may easily know the true grounds of our own miscarriages that the blame of them is due onely to our selves So that every man hath upon this account much greater reason to think and speak well of other men than of himself But now if notwithstanding this evidence men may have of their own guiltiness above that of their Neighbours they can give themselves the liberty zealously to declaim against the supposed faults of other men this must needs argue an unreasonable degree of self-conceit and proud overlooking those imperfections and follies which may be found at home in their own bosome 2. A further ground of this uncharitable practice is Idleness and a gross neglect of our own necessary affairs The business of our own salvation is of so near and great concern to us that unless we be very negligent of it we cannot find leisure to prie into and condemn the miscarriages of others Our life here is short enough to fit and prepare us for that unalterable state which we are hastning to and can we think it reasonable to spend any of those pretious hours which are never to be recalled in a business of so little concern to us as the faults and follies of other men especially when they may be imployed to so great advantage in furthering our journey and facilitating our admission to that glorious Kingdom which we all pretend to seek after Surely did men seriously consider that their title to an eternal and never-fading inheritance did depend upon the wise management of a few days here that the very best of mankind when they had done all they could were but unprofitable servants and that our future condition would be determined not according to other mens actions but our own they would think it much more reasonable to spend that leisure they had in the search and examination of their own souls while there is room left to repent and amend lest while they are impertinently busie in inquiring into and censuring the actions of other men they themselves should be surprised by the evil day and snatched away unprepared to the great Tribunal Every mans own business therefore being of so great and weighty a concern he that is really mindful of it can have no further leisure to observe the failings and miscarriages of other men than to take occasion from thence to exercise that great part of Christian charity which consists in friendly reproof and admonition where it may be given and when it may not to take heed to himself lest he also be tempted and if any man suffer himself to be transported beyond these bounds to censure and condemn other men he justly deserves the reproof in the Comedy Tantúmne ab re tuâ est otii tibi Aliena ut cures eaque nihil quae ad te attinent 3. A further occasion of uncharitable censures is Interest and Design When men make the disreputation of other men the step to their own advancement in the World and of this the experience is too manifest this being a disease that widely spreads it self among all sorts and conditions of men How seldom do we see any matter of interest decided without many hard speeches and unjust censures of the persons we contend with How apt are men to take advantage of every little circumstance of anothers life that is capable of an ill interpretation when it may suit their interest to disparage him There is a sort of politick and designing men in the World who can converse familiarly and speak friendly to their Neighbour and be lavish in his praises till a competition of Interest happen between them but then all his good deeds had some sinister design blended with them they can then discover many circumstances which are apt to create suspicion and those suspicions are soon spread with so much aggravation as though the suspected faults were real and evident and when they have said the utmost they can to lessen his esteem they can still express a great tenderness for the reputation of the man and that they are loth to say or think the worst of him Besides the greatness of the injury and other bad effects of this way of proceeding which I shall have occasion to insist on more particularly that which I shall at present take notice of to shew the great unreasonableness of it is this that none but bad men and a bad cause can stand in need of it He that pursues his own interest and advancement for no other ends but such as are just and reasonable viz. that he may be able with more freedom to discharge his duty toward God and Man and be in better capacity to do good in the World Such a one will consider that there is no such great need of his advancement in the World but that another man in the same state and condition may discharge the offices of that state as well as he And in the mean time he may satisfie himself that the duties he performs in a lower sphere are as acceptable to God and less distracting to himself than if he were raised higher and then what temptation can such a man have to exalt himself with so great an injury done to another man And this leads me to the second thing propounded to shew the unreasonableness of uncharitable judgment of our brethren from the greatness of the injury we do by it 1. It is an injury against which there is no defence He that assaults a man by open violence may be restrained by the use of our own power against his besides the publick authority of Laws provide for
their endeavours in that affair may justly be esteemed a common enemy to mankind Now I do not understand any way whereby men do more directly undermine the Authority of our holy Faith and hinder the enlargement of it than by defaming the persons to whom the delivery of the Sacred Oracles and the Ministry of Reconciliation is intrusted For though it be a very unsafe and unreasonable way of arguing for any man to disbelieve the truth of Christian Religion and to neglect the practice of it because this or that particular man in Holy Orders is unfaithful to his own soul and lives not up to the purity and perfection which he preacheth to others yet certainly it is an argument which doth extremely prevail in the World and is equally dangerous whether it be grounded on the real or but supposed faults of men whose Office it is to instruct or persuade others to the practice of holiness For to him who believes a false report of his spiritual Guide the occasion of Scandal is as effectual as though the report were true and the censure just and then who can persuade himself that the man who raised the false accusation is not as injurious to the Church as the man whose life is really scandalous What hath been said of the ill effect that redounds to the Publick from the uncharitable censurings of men of this publick capacity will in proportion hold concerning the rash judgments we make of private persons according to the several degrees wherein they may be useful either in the Church or Commonwealth 2. I proceed to a second instance of the ill effects which redound to the publick by our uncharitable judging one another namely that our rash and censorious practice towards others provokes the like usage from them towards our selves and thence arises those many feuds and animosities mutual revilings and bitter envyings so visible among men of all conditions and a feud thus begun commonly spreads it self and all our friends and correspondents are soon made partners in the quarrel and how hard it is to lay aside or allay those animosities which have been thus begun every mans experience may convince him Now I need not use any arguments to shew that divisions and animosities among men are of very dangerous consequence to the publick Society where they live it being a truth attested by the common consent of Mankind and by the experience of all Ages so that we must needs conclude that whatever practices tend to the begetting and increase of strife and contention are very hurtful to the Publick Nor do I know any practice that doth more effectually tend that way than this of uncharitable judging and censuring other men How much the greater the end and design of any Society is so much more dangerous and hurtful those practices are to be esteemed which cause divisions in it The Church of God therefore being a Society whose happiness is not terminated in the temporal peace and tranquillity of this life we must needs conclude that those uncharitable censures which cause divisions among Christians receive from hence a mighty aggravation in that they do not onely hinder their present peace and tranquillity but endanger their falling short of that eternal salvation which is promised to none that do not follow after peace and holiness And from this consideration that we are all members of the Church of Christ I cannot but add a third ill effect which this uncharitable practice of judging and censuring one another brings to the Publick 3. Viz. That it brings reproach upon our Christian Profession and upon that Holy Name whereby we are called For suppose a Jew or a Pagan should peruse the writings of the holy Evangelists and Apostles and should read there the many precepts which require of us the greatest degree of meekness and humility in our opinions and judgments of other men should they read S. Pauls description of Christian Charity that it thinketh no evil that it believeth all things and hopeth all things did they consider the many arguments the Gospel uses to enforce the duty and great reward undispensably depending upon our practice and lastly the example of our Saviour himself who in his conversation among men was the greatest enemy to all uncharitable judgment of others but did himself exercise the greatest candor towards all men scarce ever passing a severe censure upon any but that proud censorious Sect of the Pharisees who made themselves judges of all others should they then descend to compare the practice of Christians with that excellent rule they pretend to and with the example of their Lord and Saviour and see how vast the disproportion is between our Practice and Profession they would easily persuade themselves that the generality of Christians did not seriously believe the Doctrine they vaunt of nor own the authority of their Saviour in giving Laws for the Government of their lives nor expect the accomplishment of those things which he hath foretold They will find it very hard to reconcile how the belief of those things can consist with many uncharitable practices unjust reproaches and mutual enmities which the profest Disciples of the blessed Jesus are so easily tempted to Thus besides the injury we do to particular persons and to the publick Society whereof we should be feeling members we cast a stumbling block in the way of those who might be won over to our most holy Profession did they not see the Professors of it so manifestly contradict in their lives and practices what they plead for with so much zeal and affection I proceed to the third thing propounded to shew the particular force of the argument here used to dissuade from uncharitable judging one another Because the Lord cometh And this will appear 1. From the consideration of his infinite knowledge if compared with our great inability to judge aright This branch of the argument is particularly urged by our Apostle in the words following my Text Judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden works and will make manifest the counsels of the heart and then shall every man have praise of God The good and evil of what men do cannot be determined barely from outward appearances which onely are exposed to the knowledge of men Many actions may proceed from an heart truly pious and devout which may be acceptable to God that knows the heart which yet as to men may be liable to suspicion and mistake On the other side the outward actions of hypocrites may appear to men as instances of great piety and devotion when to God they are an abomination Now should we use the utmost of our discretion in these cases we could have no sufficient ground to judge rightly of these men or their actions So many are the secret windings and private retirements of the heart of man so various his thoughts and intentions and so numerous his pretences to disguise his actions that it
his good Spirit to enable us to understand and do those things which are necessary for us and to lead us into all truth For we are not to understand this promise of our Saviour as though God would infuse the knowledge of divine truth by a miracle but that those that will do the will of God shall be blest by him in the diligent use of those ordinary means which he hath appointed for their instruction And therefore in the old Oeconomy the Jews were referred to Moses for their instruction what they ought to do And under the Gospel God hath given some Apostles some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ and to these men and their successors we must have recourse in order to instruction and satisfaction in matters of Religion To these themselves we may have recourse in the Books of the New Testament which they have left behind them as a certain guide to us in all things necessary if we be not wanting to our selves To their Successors we have recourse in our attendance upon the publick Ministry who derive their commission by a continued succession from the Apostles who were impowered by Christ to ordain others for the continuance of their Office to the end of the World And to these persons thus impowered all private Christians ought to apply themselves with humility and diligence for their instruction and in the diligent use of those means of knowledge above-mentioned he that will do the will of God by vertue of this promise of our Saviour shall know of the doctrine 3. This condition if any man will do his will implies further that in our search after divine truth and in our use of those means of knowledge which God hath afforded us we must propose to our selves the doing the will of God as the ultimate end of our knowledge This is that which is more particularly expressed in the Text. Many there are who are very inquisitive after truth but they have oft-times very different and undue ends in their enquiry sometimes they do it to gratifie their curiosity sometimes that they may be able to maintain their Party they are ingaged in with some plausible shew of reason sometimes they do it for ostentation and vain-glory that they may appear wiser and more learned than their neighbours and sometimes they seek for knowledge as other men do their Merchandise that they may make a gain of it and provide for their subsistence in the World Now Now all these several sorts of Enquirers may possibly attain the several ends they propose to themselves they may grow learned and wise in the ordinary account of men they may grow rich and gain esteem and applause among men and in this they have their reward but still they may want the true knowledge and satisfaction which our Saviour here speaks of which is not attainable by any that do not intend and resolve to do the will of God according to their knowledge this alone makes them capable of a full and sensible conviction of the divine authority and excellency of those revelations which are contained in the Gospel For it is not every one that can talk superficially about religious matters or that can give a tolerable account of the rational grounds upon which the truth of the Gospel is conveyed to us not every one that can dispute learnedly about points of Faith and decide Controverfies not every one that is thus accomplished is properly said to know of the doctrine in our Saviours sense No he that is resolved to do the will of God absolutely and entirely such a one shall receive a more full and ample satisfaction concerning those things that are necessary for him than can be gained by the strongest reasonings and most convincing demonstrations He shall find in his soul a lively sense of the excellency of those truths which the Gospel delivers such as shall leave no room for doubtfulness or disputing 4. We must not onely intend and resolve to do the will of God and propose to our selves this as the great end of our enquiry but we must actually endeavour to discharge those duties we already know if we hope to attaim to a sufficient satisfaction in our Religion for he that neglects to do the will of God as far as he already knows he cannot be presumed to have a sincere resolution of submitting to those further instructions which he may find in the Gospel And indeed in this place our Saviour may well be understood to exact this qualification of those who came to hear him that they should practise those duties they already knew if they would be satisfied concerning the truth of his Religion for otherwise it may seem an improper and preposterous way of proceeding to persuade men first to obey the Gospel and then to promise them satisfaction about the truth of it Men are not willing to enter upon a way of living so strict and severe as the Gospel enjoyns without being satisfied before hand of the truth of it that that is truly the will of God which is there required and that it is their great duty and interest to obey it Nay it is manifest by sad experience that many who are convinced of the truth of the Gospel are yet very backward to practise the precepts of it but how much more unwillingly would they undertake this practice if they were not capable of satisfaction about the truth of the Gospel till they had obeyed it So that it is most reasonable to suppose that the doing the will of God here spoken of must in part be understood of those previous instructions in the will of God which those who came to hear our Saviour had before received The Jews to whom our Saviour here directs his discourse had the instructions of Moses and the Prophets from whom they might have understood the principal rules of good living and their obedience to Moses and the Prophets would doubtless have been a great preparation for their reception of the Gospel and then for those Enquirers after truth who have been bred up in a Christian Commonwealth they cannot be supposed to be wholly ignorant of their duty No man can ordinarily grow up in a Christian Society to an age capable of such enquiries but must have been competently instructed in the general rules of good living in the substantial and necessary parts of Religion Those three great branches of Duty which S. Paul teaches us to be the summe of the Gospel the living righteously soberly and godly in the World are in themselves of so evident an obligation that no man who hath come to the use of Reason especially in a Christian Common-wealth can be ignorant that it is his duty to live so Suppose we then a man competently instructed in the general rules of good living whether by the Law of Nature written in his
clear right on his side than any man can now pretend to but was entertained with the greatest contradiction of sinners that can be imagined and if any injury might justly provoke our rage and passion those offered to our Saviour were of the most hainous and provoking nature but yet when he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not he rendered not evil for evil nor railing for railing but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously And now can any man pretend to own the obligation of our Saviours precepts and example and yet contend for the truth of his doctrine with so much bitterness and virulency of speech towards their dissenting brethren as some of our zealous Disputants do in these days S. Jude tells us that Michael the Archangel when he contended with the Devil he durst not bring against him a railing accusation and how then can we presume to do it in our Religious debates with our Christian brethren who for ought we know notwithstanding our misconceptions of them may be in truth the children of God though fallen into errour In a word to conclude this particular he that would learn must be willing to be contradicted and hear with patience what may be said be it never so opposite to his former notions or to his present wishes Otherwise he will be hardly capable to judge aright Again he that would instruct and convince others must do it also with calmness of spirit confuting errour with all the clearness and perspicuity he is able but sparing the persons he endeavours to reform For if by reproach and contumely he provoke their passion whom he should instruct he destroys the force of all his reasoning by discomposing those faculties which should judge of it 5. The fifth point of duty which I proposed to speak of as having great influence upon our understanding and receiving the Gospel is Prayer to God This is a duty of natural obligation as may appear by the many precepts of ancient Philosophers concerning it Pythagoras in particular advises to undertake no work to endeavour nothing without imploring the divine assistance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This he subjoins to many other precepts of Vertue as the complement and perfection of them And surely if the imploring the divine assistance is necessary in all our concerns it is principally to be regarded in our search of divine Truth For to whom shoud we seek for knowledg but to him who is the Fountain of Truth the Father of Lights from whom every good and perfect gift comes And the same Philosopher immediately after his precepts of Vertue and his direction to pray to God to bless and perfect our endeavours he adds this as the first and principal benefit that would redound to us thereby that we should by so doing gain the knowledge both of the divine and humane nature which is not much different from what I have hitherto endeavoured to prove viz. that the practice of Vertue hath in it self a natural efficacy to clear the understanding and make it capable of divine knowledge and surely if Philosophers by the force of natural principles understood the necessity we had of the divine assistance in all our endeavours and that Prayer was the means by which it was to be sought we who have received better means of instruction than they had cannot be ignorant of this point of duty especially the doctrine of the Gospel being so full of precepts of this kind requiring us to pray to God in all our exigencies and assuring us of success by so doing if we be not wanting to our selves Thus particularly Luke xi 9. our Saviour advises us Ask and it shall be given you And then follows v. 13. If ye being evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him And S. James yet more nearly to our present purpose directs us to make our humble addresses to God in order to the attainment of divine knowledge James 1. 5. If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men plenteously and upbraideth not and it shall be given him I have thus far insisted on some particular duties each of which singly considered hath a very great efficacy to enable us to understand those truths which are revealed in the Gospel and to make us capable of satisfaction concerning them From whence the inference will be easie and obvious that if the practice of each of these be very useful and beneficial to us in our search after knowledge then surely where these are all united they cannot ordinarily fail of their desired effect But yet we are to consider further That the condition which our Saviour here requires is not compleated in our observance of those particular duties above-mentioned but in an universal and impartial obedience to the Will of God as far as it is already known to us and in a sincere resolution to obey him in all further revelations of his Will which upon perusal of the Gospel we shall find to be our duty And a man thus qualified besides the natural efficacy of Vertue to make him fit for receiving the Gospel hath moreover a peculiar promise of the divine blessing and assistance to enlighten his mind and to guide him into all necessary truth And this is the second account upon which we may be assured of the truth of our Saviours proposition 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 God who would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth will not be wanting to any who seek for truth with a sincere resolution to submit to it especially to those who have already exercised themselves in doing his will according to their knowledge he will not fail to afford such further means of instruction as is necessary for them according to what our Saviour saith in the parable of the Talents Mat. xxv 29. Vnto every man that hath that is who maketh a due use of what he hath to him shall be given and he shall have abundance Every one who sincerely endeavours to live up to that measure of knowledge he hath God will give to him such further degrees of knowledge as shall be suitable and necessary for him and of this we have a great signal example in Cornelius the good Centurion Acts 10. whose Prayers and Alms while he was a stranger to Christs Religion were so far accepted by God that he was pleased miraculously to direct him to Peter for further instruction what he ought to do Now although we are not to expect that all sincere Enquirers after Truth shall be thus miraculously instructed as Cornelius was yet God hath given us abundant assurance that no such person shall miscarry for want of necessary knowledge For to this end God hath given his Holy
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
Sufferings that he should give eternal life to as many as his Father had given him and this was that joy set before him expressed in the latter clause of the Verse by his sitting down at the right hand of the throne of God in prospect of which he endured the Cross despising the shame And we have all the reason in the World to believe that he who could endure so much ignominy shame and pain for the obtaining this Reward was both sufficiently certain of the reality of it that it would be made good to him upon the accomplishment of his Sufferings and likewise that this joy set before him was of inestimable value and far exceeding those tribulations and sorrows he undertook in order to it And lastly that he could not deceive his Followers with the promise of an imaginary Joy since he did himself endure such real and unexpressible pains to obtain it for and confirm it to them The sum of this Argument is briefly this Our blessed Saviour endured the Cross despising the shame in full assurance of the certainty of the Joy set before him and of the inestimable value of it above the proportion of his Sufferings and therefore that we also ought to imitate his Patience being well assured by his Example that the light afflictions of this life which endure but a moment are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed and that if we suffer with the HOLY JESUS we shall be also glorified together Thus far have I endeavoured to represent the force of the Apostles Argument from the Sufferings of our Saviour to engage us to imitate his Patience and to suffer with him when Gods calls us to it but we must not confine the influence of our Saviours Sufferings to this single duty The Race set before us mentioned in the former Verse may fairly be understood of the whole Course of a Christian Conversation and our Saviours Sufferings and Death have doubtless a very great efficacy to oblige us not onely to the patient enduring Afflictions and Calamities but to an universal and impartial obedience to the will of God For with what face can we look up unto JESUS and consider the intolerable weight of sorrow which he endured for the sins of men and not be ashamed and blush again to be guilty of any of those sins which put the Son of God to such shame and pain Or how can we call to mind his boundless compassion and love to us in enduring such things for our sake without being effectually moved to render to him all possible demonstration of our thankfulness and love for all his benefits Which we cannot better express than by a sincere and constant obedience to the precepts of the Gospel and by walking before him in all holiness and godliness of living Which that we may all do God of his infinite mercy grant for the sake and merits of our blessed Saviour to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and praise and glory henceforth and for evermore Amen SERM. VI. 1 COR. v. 10. We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad ONe great priviledge and perfection of Mankind whereby they are distinguished from and far excel the Beasts that perish is this that whereas other Creatures are either wholly determined in their actions by outward and necessary causes or at least are led on by those objects onely which are present and work immediately upon their senses without any prospect of or regard to future and remote events Men onely by comparing causes and effects are able to make an estimate and value of future good and evil and accordingly to determine their present actions and choice in proportion to those ends which they propose to themselves and therefore though all men naturally seek after good and are averse to those things which are painful and unpleasant yet if they are well assured that what is now pleasing and delightful to them will be the certain cause of future and more lasting evils than can be recompensed by any present and transitory pleasure This consideration to those that use their reason is sufficient to put a check to and divert them from any present enjoyments which will in the event be dangerous and hurtful On the contrary by the same principle men may be encouraged to undergo many difficulties and hardships if they can be convinced that their present sufferings shall be recompensed with a suitable reward and satisfaction for the time to come And therefore no kind of Arguments are more naturally fitted to persuade men to the practice of Vertue and Goodness and to discourage them from the contrary ways of Sin and Wickedness than a due consideration of those several ends which they lead to and of those Rewards and Punishments which will be the unavoidable events of them And accordingly no kind of persuasions are more frequent in the Gospel than those which are taken from an expectation of a judgment to come and from those incomparable rewards which will then be the portion of the Righteous and the unspeakable miseries which will be the lot of the Wicked and Disobedient And this is that which the Apostle particularly insists on in this place as the ground of his persuasions We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that which is done whether it be good or bad Knowing therefore the terrours of the Lord we persuade men In these words there are many circumstances of great weight and moment worthy of our most serious consideration which I shall briefly represent to you 1. Here is the certainty of a Judgment to come declared in these words We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ 2. Here is the person before whom we must appear it is the Judgment Seat of Christ He who was before our Mediator and Advocate who came to redeem us from our iniquities and to make us capable of being happy in another life will then be our Judge and will actually dispense those rewards he promised to those for whom they are prepared and will also be the severe avenger of those who would not be reclaimed 3. Here are expressed the persons that must appear We we the same men that are now alive in the body though our earthly tabernacles be dissolved though our bodies die and see corruption yet we our selves must again appear The same Almighty power which at first framed us in our Mothers Wombs and curiously fashioned all the parts of our body though they be dissolved into dust and variously scattered over the earth will again restore them to life and we shall again appear the same men that we were before For we must appear and no other 4. Here is expressed the universality of the
appearance We must all appear all men that ever lived or shall live upon the Earth high or low rich or poor no order or degree of men excepted we must all then make our appearance 5. There is something considerable in the appearance it self Doctor Hammond interprets the Phrase We must appear onely with analogy to Tribunals of Justice among men that as Prisoners at the Bar are wont to be set in a conspicuous place in order to their Trial so we also must give our appearance before the Judgement Seat of Christ But the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath a more important signification and must be understood not onely of our being actually present at Gods Tribunal but we must appear or be made manifest as the same word is interpreted in the following Verse and then the Apostle means thus much that all our hidden actions and secret designs which are now undiscovered by men shall then at the Judgement Seat of Christ be made manifest and laid open to us before God and all his holy Angels We have now many ways to hide our selves and to disguise our actions from the knowledge of men we can now put on the Mask and Garb of a Righteous man and appear as such to the World when our hearts are full of wickedness and deceit but at the Judgment of the Great Day all these arts will avail us nothing our false pretences will then be discovered our disguise pulled off our hypocrisie made visible and manifest inasmuch as all things are naked and open before him with whom we have to do and we must all appear 6. Here is the method that will be used at the Judgment Seat of Christ Every one shall receive the things done in the body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 7. Here is the use S. Paul makes of all these considerations Knowing therefore these terrours of the Lord and being assured how dreadful this appearance and the event of it will be we persuade men that they would now behave themselves as men that must then appear but to insist particularly on all these circumstances would be too large an Exercise of your Patience I shall therefore confine my Discourse to these three things 1. I shall endeavour to remind you of those grounds and reasons by which we may be assured of a Judgment to come that we must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ 2. I shall consider the method of proceeding at the Day of Judgment Every man shall receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 3. I shall draw some inferences that may be of use to us in the government of our lives First of the truth and certainty of a Judgment to come And this will appear upon these following accounts 1. From the dictates and testimony of our own Conscience 2. From the Nature of God and his Attributes 3. From the concurrent testimony and belief of all Nations 4. From the particular revelation of this truth in holy Scripture 1. If we look into the secrets of our own souls and examine the natural powers we are endued with they will afford us great evidence that there is a Judgment to come when we shall be called to account for our actions here and be rewarded or punished according to them The knowledge of good and evil and the obligation to do one and eschew the other is naturally written in the Soul of Man nor can any man be wicked without violence to his own reason and best faculties Every man bears about with him a secret Monitor in his bosom which upon the temptations to evil doth faithfully forewarn him of it and upon the commission of evil doth afflict his soul with a sense of guilt and with a fearful expectation of punishment due upon it On the contrary there is a secret joy and satisfaction naturally springs up in the soul of a good man which is an exceeding support and comfort to him in the discharge of his duty which enables him to bear many difficulties and oppositions which oft-times attend him in the practice of Vertue his conscience breeding in him a strong confidence and assurance of some future recompence for his good deeds Now that conscience is thus active and busie to forewarn men of the evil which they are about to do and to set before them in order the evils they have done and to support them in doing good every man that gives himself the leisure to attend to the motions of his own mind may be convinced by his own experience Or if we would rather learn from the experience of others it were easie to produce a crowd of Witnesses which give us large descriptions of the unsupportable burden a troubled spirit and the great comfort and security of a conscience void of offence And now would we know the true ground and foundation of those hopes and fears which the conscience naturally suggests to us according to our actions whether good or bad there is no sufficient reason of them can be assigned but this that they are the voice of God and Nature forewarning us of another state after this when all men shall be recompensed according to that they have done here For that the fears and disquiets of a guilty conscience are indeed the effects of Nature and are not grounded upon the apprehension of temporal punishment or of the Laws of men as some vainly suppose is sufficiently evident in that those persons who have been beyond the reach and above the fears of any earthly Tribunal have yet been the greatest examples of this force of conscience The Story of Caligula is in every bodies mouth and is indeed a signal instance of this truth He who was possessed with so unlimited a Soveraignty over a great part of the Known World and exercised his power with so extravagant a cruelty was yet upon every flash of Lightning and clap of Thunder awakened to a sense and fearful apprehension of the power and justice of that God whom at other times he was wont to defie But not to dwell upon a single instance a further evidence that these Fears are the effects of Nature may be gathered from hence that the sting of conscience is most remarkable in those actions which are done in secret and far removed from the knowledge of men For though we seek the darkest retirements where no mortal eye can trace our steps or behold our doings yet there our conscience is as a thousand Witnesses continually upbraiding us with what we have done and afflicting us with terrours which can proceed from nothing else but from a secret conviction of soul that there is a God whose power and knowledge reaches to all places even to our most secret retirements and who will one day bring upon us punishments proportionable to our deservings I will not insist longer upon this Argument than to take notice that S. Paul himself seems
diligence add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly Kindness Charity For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you effectually into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Now these and the like Exhortations would be of no force at all to persuade us if these promises could be attained without the performance of these conditions In a word in all the descriptions of a Judgment to come there is nothing plainer than this that I now plead for that God will reward every one according to what he hath done I shall mention but two places more Rom. ij 6. God will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentiles For there is no respect of persons with God The other place is Mat. xxv where our Saviour having given us a large description of those good Works which shall then be rewarded and having there represented the vanity of those mens excuses who had not wrought them he concludes with this sentence these shall go away into everlasting punishment and the righteous into life eternal There remains onely to draw some inferences from what hath been said that may be of use to us for the government of our lives 1. If there be a Judgment to come wherein men shall receive rewards and punishments according to their actions whether good or bad it is easie then to understand how much those men deceive themselves who hope to be saved by vertue of any absolute and inconditionate decree For if God have from eternity fore-ordained such and such particular persons to eternal life and others to eternal damnation without any consideration of their actions whether good or bad then certainly God cannot proceed in judgment according to the method before described nor could the promises and threatnings of the Gospel have any force of persuasion to engage men in the practice of Vertue or to discourage them from Sin and Wickedness In vain would the Apostle here make use of the terrours of the Lord to persuade men if God have before determined that such a certain number of them shall not escape the wrath to come whatsoever diligence they use on their parts On the contrary the promises of the Gospel cannot have any reasonable force to engage men to obedience if once they knew and believed that their future state was from everlasting unalterably fixed so that they could not fall short of it by any neglect Nay upon this supposition all the various methods of persuasion which God uses in Scripture to bring men to repentance and a better life prove nothing else but illusion and hypocrisie For that God should so often by his holy Prophets and Apostles invite and exhort and beseech all men that they would turn from their evil ways and live when in the mean time he hath excluded many myriads of men from any possibility of salvation by an absolute and irresistible decree which no endeavour of theirs can revoke or cancel this way of proceeding cannot by any means consist with that truth and sincerity and goodness which is inseparable from the divine nature We must therefore conclude that if there be a Judgment to come when all men shall receive rewards and punishments according to what they have done then certainly no man shall ever be excluded from those rewards but by his own fault nor yet any man obtain the same but by a due diligence in working out his salvation and performing those conditions upon which they are promised 2. From what hath been said concerning the method of Gods proceeding at the Judgment of the last Day we may also observe that those men do extreamly mistake the conditions of salvation who talk of being saved by Faith as it is distinguished from good works and obedience who take so much pains to cry down the value of our good works as though they had little or no influence in the justification or salvation of a Christian For surely if we shall be judged according to what we have done Faith alone cannot be the whole condition required on our parts in order to our salvation It is true indeed glorious things are spoken of Faith in holy Scripture but these things must not be understood of a bare assent to the truth of the Gospel which is the proper importance of that word Faith but of such a Faith as is a principle of life and action such a Faith as hath influence upon the whole course of our lives and is not contradicted by our practice and conversation a Faith that worketh by love and is fruitful of good works and obedience Thus it is not to be considered as a single Vertue and separate from the rest but as being the fruitful parent of all other Christian Vertues and including them in it For if we understand Faith in a more strict sense as distinct from an holy conversation it is no more than the Devils themselves may pretend to and yet this is so far from being any relief to them that it is the great aggravation of their misery To know and be assured of the glorious things revealed in the Gospel and to know withal that they themselves are finally excluded from the benefit of them this doubtless is a mighty aggravation of their horrour and we may well conclude as S. James doth that they believe and tremble nay that this belief doth make them tremble 3. If we shall be judged according to what we have done in the body it then follows that all that is to be done by us in the great work of our Salvation must be performed in our life time whilest we are in the body Now must we give all diligence to make our calling and election sure and not leave any thing to be done after our death either by our selves or others This I observe in opposition to that Doctrine of the Church of Rome which supposes that some sins are expiated after death and purged away by the fire of Purgatory and by the Prayers and Sacrifices of those that are left alive But this is not onely a vain and groundless opinion but certainly doth much tend to the hindrance of Piety and lessening mens care of their future state As the Tree falleth so it lieth As a man goeth out of this World such will be his future state and he will be judged according to what he was when he left the body according to what he had done in the body 4. If it be thus certain that we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body this certainly ought to awaken our diligence in the business of our Salvation that to day while it is called to day we break off our sins by a sincere and hearty repentance that knowing the terrours of the Lord we pass the time of our so journing here in fear For surely did men seriously consider that there is a day coming when all the hidden works of darkness shall be made manifest when the secrets of all mens hearts shall be revealed when all the close impieties which had passed here undiscerned should be laid open before God and all the World they would not now so fondly flatter themselves with hopes of secresie or impunity Did men seriously reflect upon the terribleness of that great day when God shall appear with ten thousand of his Saints to take vengeance on them that have not feared his name did they often think upon that dreadful sentence which will then be pronounced against all impenitent sinners Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels this certainly if any thing would put a check to the bold impiety of this Age. Men would not then dare so openly to defie Heaven and blaspheme the Majesty of the great God who will at that day appear so terrible nor would they continue by their hardness and impenitent hearts to treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgment of God On the contrary as the terrours of that day ought to make us sensible of our danger if we continue in disobedience so the glorious reward which shall at that day be given to those that have lived obediently to the will of God ought to be a most effectual motive to persuade us thereunto For what greater encouragement to our duty than the consideration of those great and glorious things which God hath prepared for them that love him Who would not willingly forsake all the flattering joys and transitory pleasures of this life that he may secure to himself such an inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away which God the righteous Judge shall give him at that day Or who would not despise all the sufferings of this life which may possibly attend him in the practice of his duty when he remembers that these light afflictions which endure but for a moment work out for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Now the great God grant us all his grace that we may have the judgment of the last day always present to our minds that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we may live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ that when we come to stand before that great Tribunal we may be presented pure and unblamable in his sight and that not for any merits of our own but through the mediation of our blessed Saviour To whom with the Father and Eternal Spirit be ascribed as is most due all power praise thanksgiving and obedience for evermore FINIS