nay perhaps become even Snares and Temptations to them to draw them aside from it 'T is then a plain case that their condition must be more dangerous than that of ordinary Christians who neither lie under such Engagements nor are exposed to such Temptations And 1st That those to whom God has given these Advantages above other men do thereby become engaged to a more strict and careful discharge of their duty than others For proof whereof I shall need go no farther than that great Evangelical Rule of our Blessed Saviour Luke xii 48. That unto whomsoever much is given of him much shall be required and unto whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more He was speaking in the Verse before of the Difference which God would make in his exactions hereafter according to the different degrees of mens Knowledg and Capacities now That servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes but he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes And the same is the case in all other Advantages whatsoever Whether they be the internal assistances of Grace and Knowledg or else the external Blessings of Honour Riches Authority and the like Whatever the instance be whereby it pleases God to enable us to do more good and make a more plentiful return of Duty and Service to him than other men our Account shall be required in proportion thereunto and to whom God has committed much of him he will ask the more So that now then to prove that there is a greater and more extensive Duty incumbent upon such Persons as these I am now speaking of than upon the ordinary sort of Christians I shall need only to shew that God has given them a greater Capacity of doing Good and that by consequence it must be their own fault if they do not make a return in some measure at least proportionable thereunto 1. And the First Advantage that I shall mention is that of Time And which however I fear at present but little regarded by many of us is yet without question not only a very valuable thing in it self but such a Blessing as whatever we do now yet the hour is coming when we shall All begin to put a just Estimate upon it And when I consider the great business a Christian has to do in this World What Duties to fulfil What Lusts and Passions to overcome How many Difficulties and Temptations to encounter with And then think How short our Life at the best is What Accidents may arrive to throw us the next moment into the Grave How much of our time the Necessities of our Nature deprive us of How much more is stollen from us by the unavoidable Obligations which the Business and Conversation and too often the Ceremonies and Impertinence of the World lay upon us To say nothing now of our very Vanities and Sins Which yet I fear in all of us have their share and in many of us a very large one too to their Service I must confess there is nothing wherein I could sooner chuse to envy the Happiness of those above me than in this one Advantage tho' such as Most of them seem to put the least value of all upon and suffer very little occasion to deprive them of And for the Opportunity which such Persons hereby have the better to improve their Piety and pay a more constant and regular Attendance upon the Offices of Religion it is so very evident that I shall not need to say any thing in proof of it Whilst being freed from those Necessities under which Others labour and the supplying whereof not only fills up the greatest part of their time but too much possesses their very Hearts and Affections too Which being forced to converse so much with the Affairs of this World become thereby not a little indisposed to entertain themselves with the Joys and Blessings of the other They are infinitely more at liberty as well as exceedingly more engaged to lift up their Minds and Desires to Heaven and to bless that God who has so highly favour'd them above the rest of Mankind and to spend that time in the more excellent pursuits of the Glories of their future state which they have no need to do in a solicitous care for the support of their present condition But I must go yet farther For such Persons as these have not only more Time so a greater Opportunity as well as higher Engagements to serve God and work out their Salvation than the ordinary sort of Christians but they have moreover better Capacities and larger Abilities to do Good than other Men. For 2dly If we consider them in themselves and their personal Qualifications only there is often seen another kind of Spirit in them than what we find in the common and vulgar race of Mankind Whether it be that from the begining they are accustomed to a more generous sort of Life and bred up with other Maxims and Notions of things than those of an Inferior Order Or that it pleases God to their greater Opportunities of serving him in all other respects to give a better and more excellent Capacity too to these than to other Men But this is plain that something there is in the very Temper and Disposition of those of a higher Rank more generous and excellent than what we ordinarily meet with in those Below them Their Thoughts are more elevated their Desires more noble their Reason more improv'd And by standing upon a higher Ground they see further than commonly Others do whose very Hearts and Minds are many times as mean and groveling as their Fortunes and their Employments And to all which if we add what such Persons for the most part have the great happiness of a better and more ingenuous Education too It cannot be doubted but as this must needs put a very great difference in all other respects between those of a Higher Quality and the common Crowd of Mankind so does it at the same time exceedingly better fit them for the Service of God and for more high and extraordinary Attainments in the ways of Piety and Religion It is indeed very sad to reflect how small a Sense too many of the Meaner sort of the World seem to have of Religion And one would almost wonder how persons bred up in a Church where the Gospel of Christ is so duly and plainly preach'd to them Where the Holy Scriptures are read to them in their own Tongue and put into their Hands for their own private Use and Meditation should nevertheless so many of them remain as ignorant of the first principles of their Religion as if they had never enjoyed any of these opportunities of being instructed in it But then there is this to be said for it That neither their Parts nor their Education enable them nor will the
necessary affairs of their Lives permit them to have so distinct and thorough a knowledge of the Mysteries of the Gospel Of the Love of God and the Merits and Satisfaction of our Redeemer Of the Terrors of the final judgment And what the glories or miseries of another World import And what mighty obligations all these things lay upon us to live well and to depart from all iniquity And yet even among these we may find many who are zealous for God's service beyond what one could almost have expected from them That improve every Opportunity suffer no Occasion to slip them that they can possibly steal from their present employments to encrease their knowledge and to exercise their piety How much more ought those to whom God has given so many more and better opportunities to do this Whose Souls are more raised Whose Understandings more enlarged Who know the Mysteries of Christ's Kingdom What promises God has made to assist our piety and What blessings he has prepared for ever to reward it to be in an extraordinary manner careful of themselves And not suffer these poor Souls to rise up in the judgment against them and condemn them for that being so much better fitted to discharge their duty and having so much more liberty to do it than they they have nevertheless so grosly neglected their Souls and taken no care to exceed or it may be even to equal them in well-doing But 3dly Such persons as these have not only more Time and a better capacity than those of a lower degree but what is yet more they have in many respects a greater Ability too of Doing Good and of promoting the Interests of Piety and Religion And that especially upon these Three Accounts 1st Of their Riches 2dly Of Their Authority And in the consequence of both these 3dly Of their very Example 1st If we consider them as Persons of larger Fortunes and more plentiful Estates than other Men How many Advantages will this one thing minister unto them for the better advancing the Service of God and the Interests of Christianity What influence will this give them not only over their own Houses but over multitudes abroad who some way or other depend upon them and need only their encouragement to become religious To pass by all other Benefits and offer but one Instance instead of many It cannot be doubted but that the more it has pleased God to dispense to any one of these things the more he not only is able but ought in duty to lay out in the Exercise of that most excellent Vertue of Charity and Beneficence and than which I know not whether there be any more acceptable to God or more advantageous to our Eternal Salvation And though there is scarce any state so mean as to be utterly exempt from all discharge of it yet they are the Rich and Wealthy Those to whom Providence has been free and liberal no less to set them an Example what they ought to do to others than to enable them to Do it whom we are to look upon as the chief Stewards of Heaven and dispensers of its blessings to the poor and needy And therefore S. Paul though he recommends a Christian Charity to all and passes by none in his Exhortations to it yet we may observe that they are such as these whom he bids Timothy in a particular manner call upon not to be wanting in it Charge them that are rich in this world that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life For the next instance 2dly that of Power and Authority I shall not need to say what a mighty Advantage this also gives to such persons of doing more than ordinary Good by obliging Others to become so And indeed I cannot tell whether there be any more truly beneficial but sure I am a more noble and worthy Use there cannot be made of any Power or Authority we may have committed to us than for the promoting the Glory of God the Salvation of Mens Souls and a publick sense of Piety and Religion in the World And how those to whom God has given so glorious an Advantage as this of serving him in a more than Ordinary manner will be able to excuse themselves at the last day if they do not especially employ it to this best of Ends I must confess I do not see Nor can I perswade my self that a private Piety is all God will exact of such persons in whose power it was in some measure to have reformed the Age and if not to have made it Good yet at least to have kept it from being openly and scandalously wicked Nay but 3dly And to close this Point Should those whom we are now speaking of have no such Advantages as these in point either of Riches or Authority which nevertheless I believe but few of them want yet still the very influence of a Great Mans Example is beneficial It not only strikes mens Eyes but for the most part I know not how charms their very Hearts and Affections into a Love first and then into an Imitation of it There is nothing more ordinary in the common practise of the World than for those of an Inferiour Rank to take their measures from such as are above Them 'T is this makes Sin its self become reputable when countenanced by the Examples of the Great and Honourable And the Commands of God and all the Terrors of Eternity are too weak to prevail against the Power of Vice when got into Credit and Custome among such persons How much more might we hope to see Piety and Religion revive among us would the Princes and Nobles of our Israel seriously resolve to set the Example And make Vertue as necessary to a good Esteem and Interest and Reputation with Men as it is to gain the Love of God and the Blessings and Glories of Eternity And thus have I consider'd very briefly a few of those Advantages which oblige Persons of Great Authority and Fortune and Quality in the World to a more strict and careful discharge of their Duty than other men Let us see 2dly What the Effect of all this generally is And whether these very things at the same time that they thus lay a greater Obligation upon such Persons are not apt considering the evil Inclinations of corrupt Nature to be perverted to a quite contrary purpose both to tempt them first and then to enable them to be more highly Criminal than other men In speaking to which Point I presume no One will so far misunderstand me as to think I have any design to make an Apology for the Sins of Great Men by shewing what extraordinary Dangers and Temptations their very condition often times exposes them to For though where there is a sincere desire and an hearty Endeavour to live Well
this Consideration perhaps may and I doubt not shall prevail with God to make greater Allowances for the slips and infirmities of such persons than of those who have not so many Difficulties to encounter with Yet cannot this be any Excuse for those who by this means suffer themselves to be utterly drawn away from their Duty and engaged in a Course and Habit of Sin But on the contrary will aggravate their Guilt the more for that knowing their Danger They nevertheless neglected to look to themselves and to take that due care they ought to have done to preserve their Innocence And 1st For the first Advantage that of Time I have before observed that this is a Benefit which such persons seem to put the least Value of all upon though one of the most considerable and I must now add that being thus neglected by them it proves for the most part a Snare and a Temptation to them And this is one of the chiefest Causes of their Sin and Ruine The man who lives by his Industry and in the sweat of his brow eats his bread he wants indeed the Opportunity of paying that constant Attendance which others may do upon the Solemn Exercises of Piety and Devotion His Thoughts are taken up with the Affairs of this Present Life how to carry on his business and supply his needs And this hinders his Soul from having its Conversation so much in Heaven whilst his concerns after the things of this lower World renders him very often unable I had almost said unfit to contemplate the Joys and Glories of the other But though he cannot therefore be so active in the more immediate Service of God Almighty yet he spends his time in serving the Order of his Creation He is Honest and Innocent And his Business though it hinders him from rising so high in Religious Attainments as those who have Greater Leisure may yet at the same time keeps him from their Temptations too and from falling into any Great and Dangerous Irregularities Whilst those who have more Time for the discharge of their Duty and whose Thoughts and Considerations have no need to be thus employ'd upon an anxious sollicitude after the things of this World are yet oftentimes far enough from raising them up to those of a better They are Idle and Lazy They look upon it to be one part of their Birthright indeed the great Priviledge and Characteristick of their Condition to have nothing to do And then the Tempter never fails to stand ready for them And Experience shews how easie the Transition is from the doing of Nothing or that which is as good as Nothing to the doing Ill. 2. For the Second Benefit that of Quicker Parts and a more ingenuous Education It is indeed an Advantage not so apt to prove a Snare to Men as the other but yet such as may be abused to very wicked purposes And the Church has in all Ages had but too many Instances of this kind to shew how much more capable Men of a brisk Wit and a Comprehensive Knowledge are of being eminently Wicked and doing a great deal of Mischief to Religion than other Men. What is it but this that has given Birth to most of those Satyrs and Pasquils wherein we find not only the Mysteries of Christianity but even the Practice of all Religion exposed to scorn and ridicule I shall not need to send you back to Julian and Porphyry and the like profess'd Enemies to the Christian Faith for Witnesses of this Our own Age and even our own Country has bred up those who at the same time that they have call'd themselves by the sacred Name of Christ have nevertheless bid defiance to his Gospel and esteem'd it a piece of Wit and Gallantry to burlesque Scripture and laugh the greatest Articles of Religion out of Countenance Who have employ'd their Parts only to find out some new Colours for Scepticism and Infidelity To free themselves from the Practice of Religion now and to harden themselves against the Fears of Damnation hereafter But shall not God visit for these things Shall not his Soul be avenged on such Wretches as These Yes the time is coming when he shall turn all their Laughter into Mourning and bring those Evils upon them they now pretend to scoff at the very Name of And give them a sad and Eternal Conviction how much they were mistaken in their Notions when they thought Profaneness to be Sense and to make a mock of Sin and Damnation the only sure and approved Evidence of a Man of Depth and Knowledge And that when all is done what Job so long since observed is indeed the very Truth Behold the Fear of the LORD that is Wisdom and to depart from Evil that is Understanding And when thus even Mens Parts and Education those best Advantages to Vertue and Piety may be turned into a Snare and a Temptation much more 3dly Will those other Benefits yet remaining of Riches and Power and Greatness be found to fall under this Reflection which are both infinitely more Easie to be abused and not at all less able to minister to their greater Guilt and in the consequence of that to their more certain destruction The Truth is whether we consult our Reason or our Experience What Use such persons commonly do make of these things or What without a great deal of Care they will be apt to make of them we shall find but too much cause to conclude what I am now asserting to be most true That if on the one hand Riches and Greatness and Power and Advantages that both enable and engage those who have them to do much more good in their Generation than other Men yet they may and without very great heed will be apt to expose them to many Temptations too And instead of rendering them more excellently Good make them only more exceedingly Wicked than otherwise they either would or could have been And I shall not need to spend the time in a solemn proof of that which our Saviour thought to be so very plain as to make it almost a General Rule a kind of Aphorism in Christianity That a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of God and of which if you please we will take the Instance of our Text for the Application Son remember That thou in thy Life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus Evil things But now He is Comforted and Thou art Tormented And now to conclude this first Point Is it thus evident as we have seen that persons of a greater Quality and higher Station in the world do lie under much greater Obligations and have an higher and more difficult duty to fulfil than other Men And have we so much Reason to believe that those very Advantages which encrease their Obligations are at the same time but too apt to prove their greatest Lets and Hindrances in the fulfilling of them It must then remain that
and Goodness of God Almighty Whilst drawing aside the vail which hung before their eyes it gives us a clear prospect of a state of things beyond the narrow bounds of this present World A State where all these seeming Irregularities shall be set to rights Where the Sinner shall be divested of all his present happiness And the Greatness the Riches the Pleasures he now enjoys expire into the sad result of that Sarcastick Concession which Solomon once made to the wicked in his days Rejoice O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth Walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment Nay but the Text carries us yet farther It not only sets before us the different state of the poor despised Lazarus and the rich Voluptuary in the other world thô that had been sufficient to justifie the Providence of God both for all the Good which the One had received and for all the Evil which the Other had suffer'd here on Earth But seems in great measure to represent to us their several conditions in this Life as the very Ground and Reason of their different Portions in the other Son remember that Thou in thy life-time hast received thy Good things and likewise Lazarus Evil things but now He is comforted and Thou art tormented He does not tell him of the Abuse he had made of his Riches in employing them only upon his Pride and Sensuality He reproaches him not with his Uncharitableness that could let this poor man lie and perish at his Gate and not take so much notice as his very Dogs did of him No he represents to him only the Happiness he sometime enjoyed whilst he was in this World and the Grandeur and Jollity in which he lived in it As if a continued state of Prosperity in the present life were almost incompatible with the Blessings and Glories of the other And however I shall not presume to be so rash as to make a general Rule of this Remark That those who are Great and Rich and Honourable now are not to expect any further Portion hereafter And God be thanked have Instances at this time before my eyes that I am perswaded would be sufficient to confute the uncharitableness of such a Conclusion Yet thus much I may take leave to observe from it That such Persons as these shall of all others the most hardly be saved And therefore that we ought to be so far from censuring God's Providence for dispensing so large a share of these Blessings to them or from envying of them upon any such account that we should rather pity their danger who are beset with so many more and so much greater Temptations than other men And must therefore take a great deal more care and pains be much more watchful over themselves and zealous in their duty or else what we falsly call their Happiness may prove their ruin to all Eternity It was a severe Censure which our Saviour once pass'd upon the Riches and I fear I may extend it to all other the like advantages to the Honours the Power the Pleasures of this world Mat. xix 23. Verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven And again ver 24. I say unto you It is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven And when his Disciples thereupon began with some amazement to ask of him Who then can be sav'd We do not find him at all moderating his Reflection He tells them that it was indeed possible for such a one to be saved But it was like removing a mountain or raising a dead man to life A work to be done only by a Miracle of God's Grace not after the ordinary manner of other men but by that mighty Power which makes nothing impossible to a Divine Agent Jesus said unto them With men this is impossible but with God all things are possible And this is that which I shall now endeavour both from the Remark and the Example of the Text more particularly to represent to you I am sensible that I am now speaking to Persons of a more than ordinary Fortune and Character in the World And I know how much harder it will be without great care for such to be saved than for those of an Inferiour degree And therefore how necessary it is that they should be fully convinced and persuaded of it And I am not in the least apprehensive that I shall at all discourage their Piety by such an Undertaking It is the Honour of Great and Generons minds to be brave and daring The difficulties that would affright others serve only to animate and encourage them the more to overcome them And this Promise they have from God Almighty That as their task is more difficult than other mens so shall his Grace be dispenced to them in a greater and more plentiful Degree So that if they benot wanting to themselves he will not fail to assist their Endeavours He will bless them with an extraordinary measure of his Grace now and will crown them with a more Exceeding and Eternal weight of glory hereafter For the better clearing of all which I shall observe this Method I st I will shew How much more difficult it is for those who are Great and Rich and Powerful to be saved than for other men And upon what Grounds it is that it becomes so II dly I will consider what Influence such a Reflection ought to have upon all sorts of men 1. Upon the One to stir them up to a greater Care of their future Happiness 2. Upon the Other to engage them to a patient Acquiescence even in the meanest Condition And I st I am to shew How much more difficult it is for those who are Great and Rich and Powerful to be saved than for other men And upon what Grounds and for what reason it is that it becomes so Now this will appear from these two Considerations 1st Of that Obligation which those who enjoy these Advantages lie under to a more strict and careful Discharge of their duty than other men And 2dly Of those Temptations which these very things many times bring along with them to the ruining of such persons Whilst instead of ministring to their Piety and so encreasing their Reward they serve rather to expose them the more to danger and in the consequence thereof become oftentimes the greatest Occasion of their Eternal Destruction For if such Persons as these have a larger and more comprehensive Duty to fulfil upon the account of these Advantages than other men And if these very things which thus encrease their duty are also at the same time apt to prove the greatest Lets and Hindrances to them in the performance of it
see they have to support us But are moreover assur'd that their Piety shall receive a proportionable reward They shall as much out shine in us in the Firmament of Glory hereafter as they now exceed us in their Power and Riches and in what is yet more valuable their Ability of doing Good It must certainly be very much their fault and what will doubtless render them exceedingly more inexcusable than Other Men if they be not in some measure as careful of themselves and as zealous in their duty as all these excellent Advantages engage them to be and as for other Mens sakes as well as their own we ought to beseech them that they would become But this is not yet all the Use we are to make of these Reflections Which ought not only to encrease the Piety and inflame the Zeal of those above us But at the same time 2dly To teach us whom it has pleased God to place in a lower but if we knew our own Happiness a no less blessed Estate to be perfectly contented with our Condition though it should chance to be never so low and mean in the World For since this present Life is but a time of Tryal a State in which we are not to continue very long and then whatever our portion here may be if we do but manage our selves as we ought in it we are sure we shall be exceedingly Happy in the other World Wherefore should we murmur or repine against Gods Providence As if Eternal Glory were not a sufficient recompence for a little trouble and misery in the pursuit of it I confess I am not so great a Sceptick as to go about to perswade you that there are not some Advantages in a plentiful portion of the Good things of this present World Or that it is all one whether a man be poor and despised or else Rich and Honourable in it But yet this I may affirm that to him who is accustomed to think and has a quick and lively apprehension of the Happiness of the other Life the wants of this will be very supportable And while we can lookup to Heaven and there see the poor Lazarus in Abraham's bosome we shall be able to find an Argument not only of Contentedness but even of Comfort too in the Reflection though we should chance for the present to lie as he once did at the rich mans door and feed on the Crumbs that fall from his Table And Oh! that it would please God we might all so seriously meditate on these things that whatever our portion now be we may have a blessed reversion in Heaven where alone true Happiness is to be expected by us Consider I beseech you the Time is coming it cannot be far off when we must all lie down in the Grave When the Rich and Mighty shall as certainly die as the Poor and Miserable and carry none of their State and Grandeur along with them When all titles and distinctions shall be forgotten and the greatest Monarch stand with as little Advantage before the Judgment-Seat of Christ as the meanest of his Vassals And what will it then avail any of us that we have been it may be Great or Honourable on Earth if we must be from henceforth Miserable to all Eternity How shall we then begin to envy the Blessed Fortune of those men whom we were wont to despise heretofore We thought their Condition poor and miserable We esteem'd them neglected of God the scorn of Men and out-cast of the people But alas now we see the difference And how much more fortunate a poor Good Man is in the meanest Estate than the Sinner in all the heighth of his most flourishing Condition And may we then every one of us so effectually ponder all these things that whatever temporal Blessings we now enjoy yet our portion may not be in them Nor that be ever objected to us which Abraham here called the Rich Man in our Text to consider Son remember that Thou in thy life-time hast received thy Good things and likewise Lazarus Evil things but now He is comforted and Thou art tormented FINIS Vers. 19. Psal. lxxiii 1 2 3. Job xxi 7. Psal. lxxiii 18 19. 20. Psal. xxxvii 1 2. Prov. xxiv 19 20. Psal. xxxvii 36. 37. Jer xii 1. Eccles. xi 9. Mat. xix 23. 24. 25. 26. Luke xii 48. Verse 47. 1 Tim. vi 17. 18. 19. Gen. iii. 19. Jer. v. 9. Job xxviii 28. Mat. xix 23. 1 Cor. xv 32. Luke xiii 24. Mat. xix 26. 27. 28. 29.