by it Every Society of Men is a Body made up of Head and Members knit and compacted together by Joints and Bands but all have their several Uses and Functions and while these are duly performed the whole is preserved but if the Feet should mutiny against the other Parts because they bear the Burthen of the whole or the Stomach that it is loaded and oppressed with what serves for the Nourishment of all or the Head that it must direct and contrive and manage all what would the Effect be of such Complaints and Discontents at their own Share but that the whole Body must suffer by them While all the Materials of a Building are kept in their due Place and Order the whole is strengthened and supported but if they start out of their Places and tumble one upon another the whole must fall There are always some who love to carry on their own Ends under Publick Pretences and if those be not attained they matter not what becomes of all other Interests although their own must suffer with the rest These are like the Ivy to a flourishing Tree which seems to embrace it and stick close to it but it is for its own advantage but at the same time it weakens it and hinders its Growth and if it falls it must perish together with it But there are others who by the very Duties of their Places are bound to regard the Publick and the Good of others and when they do it not they are certainly guilty of Sins of Omission in a high Degree For every such place is a Trust from God of which an Account must be given and a Sacred and Solemn Obligation goes along with them so that there can be no Sins of Omission in such Cases without Sins of Commission of as high a Nature as Breach of Trust and of the most solemn Obligations The truth is the World is so humoursome and fantastical a thing that it will hardly endure to be made better so that those who have the greatest Zeal and Resolution to do good are extremely discouraged in it when they find so many Objections and Difficulties such frowardness and Perverseness in some such Remissness and Coldness in others such an Universal Lassitude and Indifferency that it is enough to check the best Inclinations that way and to make them leave the World to be managed as it will And there are some Seasons wherein it is much harder to do Good than in others Such I mean when Wickedness and Vice have corrupted the very Principles of Mens Minds when they Account it a Piece of Wit to be Profane and a higher sort of Breeding to despise Religion and Vertue when some are ready to pervert the best Designs and mix such Mean and Sinister Ends of their own with them and thereby blast them that they come to nothing when others will not endure that Good may be done unless they may have the sole doing of it and endeavour to lessen the Reputation of all who are not altogether such as themselves When all imaginable Arts are used to make Government Contemptible and the best Purposes ineffectual Lastly when any who are bound to carry on the Publick Good account it Wisdom to do little or nothing in their Places and take all possible Care to disoblige no Body by doing their Duties for fear of evil Consequences I say when such Seasons do happen there is a very Melancholy Prospect of Affairs and little Hopes of doing or of seeing Good II. I now proceed to the Good which we are to do with Respect to others of the same Nature and in a worse Condition than our selves and therefore need our Help and Assistance This is so remarkable a Sense of doing Good that it hath almost appropriated the Name to it self as Good Works are generally taken for Works of Charity These are such as all agree that they cannot be wholly omitted without Sin but the difficulty lies in stating the Measure and Seasons of the Obligation to them Concerning which these Rules may be observed 1. That the Measures of Duty in this Case are very different according to the different Circumstances and Conditions of Persons For although the standing General Rules of our Duty are fixed and unalterable yet the particular Obligations depend upon great Variety of Circumstances as to those who are to do and to receive Good If the Easiness of Persons Conditions in the World will afford their laying by a constant Stock of Charity it will be always in readiness for such Occasions when we would be more willing to doe Good if it were in our Power but it is hardly possible to make such Rules which may not give Occasions for trouble to scrupulous Minds when they do not strictly observe them But we are all so far bound to do Good to those in Want that the not doing it according to our Abilities and Opportunities is such a Sin of Omission as is inconsistent with true Christianity but of those every Person is left to judge but so as he must give an Account of it at the Great Day For it is observable that our Saviour speaking of the Proceedings then particularly mentions the Sins of Omission with Respect to the doing Good to others 2. There are particular Seasons when a greater Measure of doing Good is required than at others i. e. When Persons suffer for Religion and a good Conscience When the Necessities of People are more general and pressing When great Objects of Charity are certainly known to our selves and concealed from others When a present Relief puts them into a way of doing Good for themselves When God hath done Good to us after a more remarkable manner than he hath to others When we do the more Good because we have done so much Evil and thereby manifest the Sincerity of our Repentance by bringing forth such Fruits worthy of Amendment of Life When our Calling and Profession is to do Good and we are bound to give the best Examples to others according to our Abilities When our Religion suffers by not doing Good and our Faith is questioned for want of Good Works Lastly When there are no such Natural Drains of Charity as Children and near Relations which need our Assistance in these and many other Instances of a like Nature there is so much greater Obligation to the doing Good that it cannot be Omitted without Sin II. I now come in the last Place to consider the Nature of the Obligation we lie under to do the Good we know And the Reason of considering this is from the Comparison of several Duties with one another for we may be bound to several things at the same time but we cannot perform them together and the Difficulty then is to understand which of these Duties we may Omit without Sin And the Comparison may be three-fold 1. As to the Nature of the Duties 2. As to the Authority which enjoyns them 3. As to the particular Obligation we
are under to do them 1. As to the Nature of our Duties For there are several kinds of things that are Good and we are to have a different Regard to them Some things are Good because they are commanded and some things are commanded because they are Good and even God himself allows us to make a Difference between these when himself saith I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice although he required both but if it happens that both cannot be done then he prefers the former although his own Honour seems more concerned in the latter Our Saviour extends this Rule to Mercy on the Souls of Men and to Mercy on our Bodies even out of the Case of urgent or extreme Necessity which cannot be pleaded in the Apostles Case of Plucking the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath day But from hence we have ground to infer that when two Duties interfere with one another we are bound to prefer the greater and more substantial Duty and then the Omission of the lesser is no Sin 2. As to the Authority which requires them There is no question but when the Authority of God and Man do contradict each other God is to be obeyed rather than Man But the Authority of God's Command is not equally clear in all Cases for some things are required plainly and directly and some things by consequence and parity of Reason some things are declared and enforced by the Gospel others left to our own Deductions and Inferences some things are made positive Commands for all Ages others are reported by way of Example but that Example understood by the Church to have the force of a Command now in all these and other like Cases we ought to have the greatest regard to plain positive moral and perpetual Commands but withall to have a due regard to consequential and usefull Duties especially where the Church of God hath always so understood them which is the best Interpreter of such doubtfull Cases where the Sense of it is truly delivered to us 3. As to the Obligation we are under and that is threefold 1. That of Nature which is to act according to Reason and none can question that but those who question whether there be any such Principle as Reason in Mankind and whosoever do so have Reason to begin at home 2. Of Christianity which supposes and enforces that of Nature and superadds many other Duties which we are bound to perform as Christians 3. Of our Several Relations and particular Imployments As to the former we are under great Obligations from God and Nature and Christianity to doe the Duties which belong to us in them As to the latter they commonly require a stricter Obligation by Oath to doe those things which otherwise we are not bound to doe But being entered into it by a voluntary Act of our own we cannot omit such Duties without Sin but where the Circumstances of things do supersede the Obligation Thus I have gon through as clearly and distinctly as I could the most usefull Cases relating to Sins of Omission It remains now that I make some Application to our selves When we reflect on our Lives and Actions our Sins of Commission are apt to terrifie our Consciences and make us very apprehensive of the Wrath of God but how few are any ways concerned for their Sins of Omission viz. For not discharging the Duties of their Places for not doing the Good they might and ought to have done for not serving God with Diligence and exemplary Devotion for not having their Minds so fixed and intent upon him as they ought to have on their Creatour and Preserver and Redeemer In a very corrupt Age not to be remarkable for doing Evil is a kind of Saintship but how few are remarkable for doing Good and yet that is one of the best Characters of Saintship How much time is squandred away in Vanity and Folly and yet how is that grudged which is spent in the Worship of God O what a burthen it is to serve God and spend any time in Devotion How many Excuses and Pretences of Business will such make rather than attend upon Religous Duties which themselves would judge very frivolous in other Matters And will God and Conscience be satisfied with such unequal Dealing such notorious Partiality Let us deal faithfully and sincerely with our selves Are we as ready to serve God as to serve our Lusts and Pleasures Have we the same regard to his Worship that we have to any thing we really love and esteem If not there must be something very much amiss in the Temper and Disposition of the Mind and we are highly concerned to look into it I do not speak now of casual and accidental Omissions of some particular Duties at some times but of a general Unconcernedness about Matters of Religion as though they were either too high in the Speculation or too mean and low in the Practice of them or at least that it is no great Matter one way or other whether they mind them or not This I am afraid is too much the Temper of the Age we live in which seems to be sinking into a strange Indifferency about Religion It is possible for Persons to have a Zeal against some corrupt Opinions and Practices in Religion and yet to have no true Zeal or Concernment for Religion it self For they may so much hate being imposed upon by false Pretenders that carry on an Interest and Faction under the Shew of Religion as from thence to suspect all Religion to be nothing else which is as unreasonable as for a Man to conclude that all Merchants and Jewellers are Cheats and that there are no such things nor can be as true Diamonds in the World because he hath fallen into the hands of such as would have cheated him with those which were counterfeit And it is common with such who design to deceive that what they want in Sincerity they make up with Confidence This is a good Argument for caution and looking about us but it is none at all for our indifferency about Matters of Religion For it is not here as in Jewels which are fine things to look upon but the Happiness of Life doth not depend upon them But would any one let alone things necessary to the Support of Life because Poison may be put into them We may take care to prevent it but we must have the Necessaries of Life and it would be great Folly to die for want of Sustenance for fear of being Poisoned If we have no true Love to God and Religion we must perish for there is no hopes of Salvation without it And if we go on in a careless Indifferency about God and his Service If we do not do our Endeavours for suppressing Wickedness and Vice If we do not mind Religion our selves nor are incouraging it in others it will shew that we have not that Love of God and Religion which we ought to have Therefore if we
A SERMON CONCERNING Sins of Omission Preached before the King and Queen AT WHITE-HALL ON March 18 th 1693 4. being Midlent-Sunday By the Right Reverend Father in GOD EDWARD Lord Bishop of Worcester Published by Their Majesties Special Command LONDON Printed by I. H. for Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1694. S. JAMES IV. 17. Therefore to him that knoweth to doe good and doth it not to him it is Sin ALthough our Apostle in this Epistle calls the Gospel the Law of Liberty yet to prevent any misconstruction thereof as tho' it allowed a Liberty to sin we no where find more strict and severe passages against it than in this Epistle both with Respect to Sins of Commission and Sins of Omission As to Sins of Commission his Expression seems hardly consistent with the Grace of the Gospel For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one Point he is guilty of all Hath the Law of Moses any thing more apt to terrifie the Consciences of Men if not to drive them into despair than this It is not If one breaks the whole Law then it had been no wonder if he were guilty of all even under the Gospel which doth not take away the force of the Moral Law But If he keeps the whole Law and yet offend in one Point he is guilty of all How is this agreeable with the Equity of the Gospel to make a Breach of one Part to be a violation of the whole Law Since he cannot keep the Law and break it at the same time and so far as he did keep it he could not be guilty of the breach of it but if he offended but in one Point he must keep all the rest It is not enough to say that the Chain of the whole is broken and the Authority of the Law-giver contemned for there is a great difference between breaking a Chain and breaking it all to pieces there is no such Contempt in the Breach of one Command as of all and he that keeps all the rest seems to shew more regard to his Authority in keeping the other Parts of the Law than Contempt in that wherein he offends What then is the Apostles Meaning It is that the Gospel doth not allow any wilfull Breach of the Law of God in any one kind or sort whatsoever as appears by the following words For he that said Do not commit Adultery said also Do not kill now if thou commit no Adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a Transgressor of the Law What is before said that he is guilty of all is here explained that he is a Transgressor of the Law This cannot therefore be understood of any sudden Act of Passion and Surprise nor of any Failings as to the Manner of our Duties but of a wilfull deliberate Practice of some one known Sin although the Person may be carefull to avoid many others Because this is not consistent with that Integrity of Mind and that sincere Regard to God and his Laws which every good Christian ought to have and so being guilty of the whole Law is to be understood with Respect to the Favour of God which can no more be expected where there is a wilfull persisting in any one known Trangression of the Law than if he were guilty of all As to Sins of Omission the words of the Text taken in their full Extent have a very mortifying consideration in them For it is much easier to know to doe good than to practise it It is hard for Men under the plain Precepts of the Gospel not to know how to doe good but who is there that can say he doth all the good he knows We all know we ought to love God with all our heart and soul and strength and our Neighbour as our selves yet who can pretend to doe it in the utmost latitude and extent of our Duty So that what S. Paul saith of the Law is true of the Text that it concludes all under Sin For as our Apostle saith in many things we offend all And the more we know the more we offend as he tells us in these words To him that knoweth to doe good and doth it not to him it is sin What Advantage then have we by the Gospel since the more we know of our Duty the worse our Condition is if we do not practise it And we know so much more to be our Duty than we can hope to practise that this Expression seems to leave Mankind in a more deplorable Condition under the Light of the Gospel than if we had never heard of it For if the Sin be aggravated by knowing our Duty and not doing it it must proportionably be lessened by having no Opportunities to know it Therefore for the Clearing the Sense of the Apostle in these words and for the right understanding the just Measures of our Duty and the due Aggravation of our Sins it will be necessary to state and clear the Nature and Extent of Sins of Omission Or to shew how far this Rule of the Apostle holds To him that knoweth to doe good and doth it not to him it is Sin To doe good here doth not barely imply something that is Lawfull and Commendable which it is some way in our Power to doe but that to which we are under some Obligation so that it becomes our Duty to doe it For a Sin of Omission must suppose an Obligation since every Sin must be a Transgression of the Law But there are several sorts of things that are good and there are different kinds of Obligation and from hence arises the Difficulty of stating the Nature of Sins of Omission which some are too little sensible of and some too much But it is in it self a Subject of so important a Nature and so seldom spoken to that I shall at this time endeavour to clear it And in order thereto we must enquire I. Into that Good which we are obliged to do II. The Nature of the Obligation we are under to do it I. As to the Good which we are obliged to do that may be considered two ways 1. With Respect to God and so it implies the Duty we Owe on the account of the Relation we stand in to Him 2. With Respect to one another and so it implies not mere Duty but something beneficial and advantageous to others which we are in a Capacity to do 1. Our Duty with Respect to God is either 1. That of our Minds which lie in Internal Acts which we are bound to perform towards Him 2. That which consists in External Acts of Duty and Service to Him 1. The Duty which we Owe to God in our Minds which is not barely to Know him but frequently to Consider and Think of him as our Maker and Benefactor It is a strange Incogitancy in Mankind to live as without God in the World to suffer the Cares and Thoughts and Business of this World
to Justle God out of our minds whom we ought in the first place to Regard If we could free our Minds from that Disorder and Confusion they are under by the strong Impressions of Sensible Objects and the false Idea's of Imagination they would think of Nothing so Freely so Frequently so Delightfully as the Divine Perfections For God being the most Perfect Mind other Minds that are created by him do naturally tend towards him as their Centre and are uneasie and restless like the Needle touched with the Loadstone till they are fixed towards him We meet with too many things which divert and draw them another way but it is certainly one of the most Necessary Duties lying upon us to call back our Thoughts from too busie and eager a Pursuit of Earthly things and to fix them in the serious Thoughts of God and another World It is the Opinion of Aquinas and the older Casuists that assoon as ever any Person is come to the use of his Reason he is not only bound to Think of God but to Love him as his Chief Good and that it is the most dangerous Sin of Omission not to doe it The latter Casuists who think this Doctrine too severe as to the first use of Reason yet cannot deny it to hold assoon as any come to the Knowledge of God if the want of knowing him be not through their own Fault Assoon as they know God they confess that they are bound to Love him but are they not bound to Know him assoon as they are capable What allowance may be made in the cases of Gross Ignorance or Natural Stupidity we are not concerned to enquire but we now speak of those who have all Advantages and Opportunities of knowing God betimes and as to such their Ignorance is so far from being an Excuse that it is their Sin And that can never Excuse from a Fault but when it is no Fault to be Ignorant But Not to know God when Persons know so many other things in the World besides him is so much greater a Fault because all those other things lead them to the Knowledge of Him So that I take it for granted that no man of Understanding can avoid the Knowledge of God without shutting his Eye against the Clearest Light without darkening his Understanding by Unreasonable Prejudices without Confusion of Thought and Perplexity of Mind without Groundless Imaginations and Ridiculous Suppositions and most commonly not without very Disorderly Passions and Vicious Habits which make the very Thoughts of God uneasy to his Mind But suppose we do Own and Believe a God are we bound always to be Thinking of Him Must we spend our time in Contemplation of Him and neglect all our Affairs here If not what are the bounds of our Duty which we may not omit without Sin There are two things which are necessary for us to doe with Respect to God in our Minds 1. To have frequent and serious Thoughts of him without which it will be impossible to keep our Minds in that Temper which they ought to be in For the Thoughts of God keep up a vigorous Sense of Religion Inflame our Devotion Calm our Passions and are the most Powerfull Check against the Force of Temptations And therefore we ought to allow our selves fit Times of Retirement for Recollection and Consideration wherein we draw in our Thoughts from the Business and Impertinencies of this Life and even these go a great way in that which looks like Business that we may converse with God and our own Minds And those who do not sometimes withdraw from the Noise and Hurry the Dust and Confusion of this World must be great Strangers both to God and themselves and mind any thing rather than their Chiefest Interest But I am afraid there are too many among us of whom the Psalmist's words are too true God is not in all their thoughts I wish there were not some who would make good another Reading of those words viz. All their thoughts are there is no God But I think not so much their deliberate Thoughts as their Wishes and Desires But those can never alter the Nature of things and therefore the wisest thing they can doe is to make the Thoughts of God desirable to them and that can be only by Reconciling themselves to him by a hearty and sincere Repentance 2. We are always bound to have an habitual Temper and Disposition of Mind towards God This is that which is commonly called the Love of God and is opposed to the Love of Sin Which doth not consist in sudden and transient Acts of Complacency and Delight in him but in a firm Purpose and Resolution of Mind to obey him The Jews think that the Fundamental Precept of the Law as to the Love of God with all their heart and soul and strength goes no farther than that they should doe that which the Law requires as to the Worship and Service of God But certainly the Love of God must go deeper and rise higher or else it will never come up to the great Design of Religion which is not only to doe those outward Acts of Service which he commands and expects from us but to bring our Souls nearer to him to make him our Chief End and to direct the Course of our Lives and the Acts of our Obedience in order to it Now this is a Duty towards God so necessary to our Happiness that we must be always obliged to it and at all times although it be an Affirmative Precept For the true Reason of the Difference of Obligation is from the Nature of the Commands and not from the Manner of Expressing them either Negatively or Affimatively The Reason of the perpetual Obligation of Negative Precepts is that it can never be lawfull to doe what God forbids but it may be sometimes lawfull to omit what he requires because the Circumstances may make it not to be a Duty at that time But when an Affirmative Precept is of that nature that no Circumstances can alter the Obligation of it then it binds as much as a Negative And so it is as to the Command of true Repentance and turning from the Love of Sin to the Love of God for no Man can be in such Circumstances wherein he is not bound to doe it But as to particular Acts of Repentance and of the Love of God supposing that habitual Temper the Obligation of them is according to the proper Seasons and Occasions of them When a Sinner is conscious to himself of fresh Acts of Sin he is bound to renew his Repentance and the Omission of it adds to his Guilt and when God calls Men to Repentance in a more than ordinary manner by strong Convictions of Conscience or some awakening Providence or by some solemn Times of Fasting he is guilty of a farther Aggravation of his Sin if he neglects those Seasons of performing the proper Acts of Repentance But