Practical DISCOURSES UPON THE Morality OF THE GOSPEL Printed MDCXCIX TO THE READER MOrality is my Business Morality Improv'd Exalted and Rais'd nearer Heaven by Religion If Controversie ever happens to lye fairly in my way I shall as fairly pass it by without taking any Notice of it I am not at all desirous to Dispute with my Reader but to do him good Which I believe is seldom done by Arguing and Disputing The best thing that Controversie can do is to shew us clearly which is the True Religion And I presume All Parties are Agreed that This is a very Necessary Point or otherwise they would not think it worth their quarrelling so fiercely and so obstinately about it But yet when This is done we are only beginning the Great Work of our Salvation The Best Religion in the World can never Save us without a constant Practice of the Best Morality The Faith and Law of Christ must always go together The Creed and the Commandments must never upon any Terms be parted The First Part will not do without the Second 'T is always defective and wants the other Half to make up a Whole Christian I may therefore boldly say The Subject which I Treat of is the Best I could have chosen I know no Entertainment Better for a Christian than the Morality of the Gospel which is the Law of Christ As for the Style and Method of the following Discourses I leave them to speak for themselves They were the usual Employment of my Morning-Thoughts intended chiefly for my own Private Improvement And tho' I am far from Admiring them yet having found some benefit in the Writing I do not quite despair but that some few may find the like in Reading them My Friends perhaps may wonder to see me again in Print especially after having Publickly Declar'd That I had now done Scribling But however I hope they will not Accuse me of Inconstancy when I assure them that my Judgment and my Inclination are still the same and that 't is only by Advice that I have chang'd my Resolution They may also please to Reflect that having taken some pains to prove in Doubtful Cases the Security of Blind Obedience it would look a little strangely if I durst not venture to Practise it The Contents Discourse I. Of Hearing the Word of God Discourse II. Of the Advantages of Christianity and Duties of a Christian Discourse III. Of the Love of God and the World Discourse IV. Of Worldly Policy and Christian Prudence Discourse V. Of Christian Humility Discourse VI. Of Christian Marriage and the Means to Sanctifie it Discourse VII Of True Repentance Discourse VIII Of the small Number of the Elect. Discourse I. Of Hearing the Word of God WHEN many People were gathered together and made haste out of the Cities to come to Jesus he spoke by a Parable The Sower went out to Sow his Seed and as he Sowed some fell by the way and it was trodden down and the Fowls of the Air devour'd it And some fell upon a Rock and being sprung up it wither'd away because it wanted Moisture And some fell among Thorns and the Thorns springing up with it choked it And the other fell upon good Ground and being sprung up bore Fruit an Hundred-fold And when he had said these things he cried He that has Ears to hear let him hear Whereupon his Disciples ask'd him What this Parable might be And he said Vnto you it is given to know the Mystery of the Kingdom of God but to others in Parables that Seeing they may not See and Hearing they may not Vnderstand Now the Parable is this The Seed is the Word of God Those whose Seed falls by the Way are they that Hear and then comes the Devil and takes the Word out of their Hearts lest they should Believe and be Saved They whose Seed falls upon the Rock are they who when they have Heard Receive the Word with Joy and these have no Root Who for a time Believe and in time of Temptation fall away And that which fell among Thorns are they who have Heard and going forth are choked with Cares and Riches and Pleasures of this Life and bring no Fruit. But that which falls on the good Ground are they who in a good and honest Heart having Heard the Word Keep it and bring forth Fruit with Patience Luk. 8. ver 4 to 16. The Word of God is the Seed of Salvation the Seed of those Vertues by which we save our Souls The Heart of Man is the Ground in which this Seed is Sown And if the Ground be good it will Receive the Seed and Keep it and bring forth Fruit with Patience 'T is no wonder therefore that the Prophet exhorts us to prepare our Hearts to God and Serve him only because we cannot Serve him unless we first prepare our Hearts and fit them for his Service It is not Grace alone that makes the difference 'twixt Saints and Sinners The very same Degree of Grace which is Receiv'd by some is many times Refus'd by others And the Receiving or Refusing of it very much depends upon the preparation of our Hearts The Seed miscarried Three several ways 'T was Devour'd Wither'd and Chok'd Not because there were Three forts of Seed but because the same Seed Fell upon Three sorts of Ground The First did not Receive it the Second did not Keep it the Third brought no Fruit to perfection I. The First Ground did not Receive it Because 't was totally Neglected and continually Trampled under Foot The Husbandmen were Idle and never offer'd to Cultivate it The Passengers were ever busie to and fro and made it too hard for any Seed to Enter And this is the common Case of many People's Hearts 1. They take no Care to Prepare them 2. They spare no Pains to Harden them 1. They take no Care to Prepare their Hearts for the Reception of the Word of God They never make it any Considerable part of their Business to be well acquainted with it If they read it or hear it 't is either Curiosity or Custom 't is not Inclination that prompts them to it And when all is done they seldom or never seriously Consider it For want of a free acquaintance with it they never know how lovely it is in it self And for want of loving it as it deserves they give it a very cold reception in their Minds and none at all in their Hearts The Word of God is in their Ears when they hear it in their Minds when they think of it but never is in their Hearts till they Love it Hatred indeed belongs to the Heart as well as Love But Hatred banishes and drives it away 't is only Love receives it and embraces it And how should they Love it without knowing the Value of it Or how should they rightly Understand it without Conversing freely and familiarly with it As partial as we are in favour of our selves we cannot reasonably
of our Neighbour's Sins not ours The covering of our own avails us nothing unless we Repent Confess and Forsake them 'T is written in the Proverbs that He who covers his Sins shall not Prosper But whosoever confesses and forsakes them shall have Mercy 9. Others presume upon their being Children of the Catholick Church But as it was in vain for the Jews to say within themselves we have Abraham for our Father so likewise 't is to little purpose for us Catholicks to say we have the Church for our Mother The Gospel assures us that Every Tree which brings not forth good Fruit Fruits worthy of true Repentance shall be hewed down and cast into the Fire So true it is that there 's no Ground at all for our Presumption no Pardon to be obtain'd no Mercy to be hop'd for without Sincere Repentance and a thorough-paced Amendment II. When Faith has once Levell'd these Mountains of Presumption and Pride the next Affair in Hand is to prepare the Way of our Lord by making it Straight There 's nothing so Crooked as Self-Love It makes us Crooked in all our Ways It invents a Thousand Turnings Windings and By-ways to compass its designs It never engages in any thing abroad without contriving to bring something home It begins from it self it tends to it self it bends till both ends meet and what can be more Crooked On the contrary the Love of God is Straight It directs us in the Way of his Commandments And leads us in a Straight Line to that Blessed End for which he made us It prepares our Hearts to God that we may serve him only It prepares us for the Kingdom of God within us that every Loyal Heart may be the Throne of his Divine Majesty that all our Passions Inclinations and Humours may be Faithful Subjects to him in doing his Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven and that his Love may not only Live but Reign in us and not only now but for ever His Love must begin to Live before it begins to Reign in us It must First move us to Repent before the Kingdom of God which always is at Hand can be Establisht in our Hearts Our Penitential Tears will never sufficiently prepare the Way of our Lord unless the Spirit of Love begin to move the Waters Our Self-Love may Cry its Eyes out and almost break its Heart with Grief Alas This Crooked Love can never make the Way Straight There 's nothing but the Love of God who is all Truth all Justice and all Holiness there 's nothing else can make all Straight by making us truly Repent and moving us to Detest and Hate all Falshood all Injustice and all Wickedness The Council of Trent in the 6. ch of the 6. Session describing Repentance such as always was and now is Requisite as well before Baptism as before the Sacrament of Penance lays the whole Train of Penitential Dispositions in this Natural Order It mentions 1. Our Fear of the Divine Justice 2. Our Hope of Mercy through Christ 3. Our beginning to Love God as the Fountain of all Righteousness 4. Our being therefore moved with Hatred and Detestation of our Sins 5. Our purposing to begin a New Life by keeping the Divine Commandments And again in the 4. ch of the 14. Session the same Council declares that all true Repentance includes not only a Cessation from Sin but also a Beginning of a New Life and a Hatred of the Old One according to the Prophet Cast away from you all your Transgressions and make you a New Heart and a New Spirit Let us now consider a little this Doctrine and we shall find it so Clear and Rational as not to need the Authority of a Council to Recommend it to us 1. When Sinners Sleep securely they Dream of nothing but the Sensual Satisfactions and the Transitory Pleasures of this Life But when they once are rouz'd and throughly awaken'd with a Strong Belief and Lively Apprehension of a future State in which God's Justice will Eternally deprive them of these things and punish them severely with the contrary there 's nothing more Natural than to be struck with Fear of such a Punishment And although they see it by a Super-natural Light they dread it with a Natural Fear Neither is there any need of quoting Aquinas for this Truth It being as evidently Natural to to fear the Pain of Sense as it is to Love the Pleasure of it 2. The uneasiness of this Fear is Troublesome to us And when 't is great we dare not shake it off as usually we do our Creditors whom we refuse to Speak with when we have no Mind to give them Satisfaction The Fear of being Arrefted and Eternally confin'd from all that ever pleas'd us when it once looks Big and Terrible upon us it soon brings down our Stomachs and makes us contented now to think how Merciful God is and seek for Hope of Comfort in the Merits of his Son 3. When we are thus considering how good God is and how bad we are how great his Mercy is and how little we deserve it how severe his Justice is and how much we have provok'd it When we are wavering 'twixt Hope and Fear and pondering the Reasons on both sides admiring that Incomprehensible Mercy which moved the most High God to send his only Son for the Redemption of the World and being Astonisht at his Inexorable Justice which would not be aton'd by any other Sacrifice When we compare the Crookedness of Sin with the Straight Paths of Virtue the Truth the Purity and Equity of God's Laws with our Hypocrisie Vncleanness and Iniquity When we study the Charming Features of his Divine Beauty and in his own Light see our Horrible Deformity 'T is then that we begin to Love him as the Fountain of all Righteousness and because we love him therefore we Detest and Hate our Sins by which we have offended him 'T is then that we are sensible what Fools we have been to forsake our God the Fountain of Living Waters and seek our Happiness amongst his Creatures by hewing out Cisterns Broken Cisterns which can hold no Water 'T is then our Heart is ready to Break with Grief to think that we have erred from the Straight Ways of Truth and we tried our selves in the Crooked Ways of Wickedness and Destruction 'T is then I say we firmly purpose to begin a New Life because we Hate the Old One And then according to the Prophet we cast away from us all our Transgressions because we have now a New Heart and a New Spirit we love our God whom hitherto we slighted and for his sake we Hate the Vices which formerly we Loved and Love the Virtues which heretofore we Hated By what has been already said 't is easie to answer a very Important Question Whether Sorrow arising from the Fear of Hell alone may deserve the Name of True Repentance 'T is agreed by all and declared
because it only Discovers to them a Heaven which they do not Relish and Disturbs them with unwelcome Thoughts of a Hell which makes them Tremble Their Hearts are wilfully Blind and obstinately Deaf And therefore they seeing see not and hearing hear not Our Saviour thus describes them in the Thirteenth of S. Matthew Their Heart is gross their Ears are dull of hearing and they shut their Eyes for fear lest at any time they should See and Vnderstand with their Heart and should be Converted and I should Heal them They are not so much afraid of Vnderstanding with their Mind because the Mind only Preaches 't is the Heart that Practises Their great fear is lest at any time they should Vnderstand with their Heart They have not patience to think of any real and effectual Change of Life and therefore are afraid of changing their Foolish Hearts and bringing them to a better Vnderstanding of the Word of God lest at any time they should begin to Love it take Delight in it and Practise it The Devil is always watchful to take the Word out of their Hearts And they are no less Careful to keep it always out He takes it out for fear lest they should Believe and be Saved They keep it out for the same reason lest at any time they should be Converted and Heal'd The Devil fears nothing more than that they should Believe it so as to be Saved And they are so much of his Mind so fully in his Power and so led Captive by him at his pleasure that the Devil himself is not more afraid of it than they are II. When the Heart of Man is thus doubly hardned from without and from within 't is no great wonder that it does not receive the Word of God No wonder I say that the Seed which falls by the way is trodden down and presently devour'd But the Second sort of Ground is something better than the First Though it be Stony underneath yet it is cover'd over with some little Earth which readily receives the Seed and helps it to spring up although it does not keep it nor allow it any Root S. Luke says It wither'd away because it wanted Moisture And indeed there are some certain Tears of hearty and sincere Repentance which are apt to mollifie the hardest Heart and soften all the Stony places in it They are as it were the Dew of Heaven that Heavenly Moisture which Nourishes the Love of God and of his Holy Word and helping the Seed to Enter Deeply hinders it from being Scorch'd and Wither'd In the Thirteenth of S. Matthew we read that the Seed which fell upon stony places sprung up immediately because it had no deepness of Earth and presently Wither'd away because it had no Root It was soon up for want of Depth and soon down for want of Root The Love of this World in the Heart of many Christians who prefer it before God and do not know they do so is like a Rock under Ground The Soil seems good and so much as there is it really is so but because there is no more of it 't is little better than none at all It is not Deep enough to be fruitful The Seed immediately Enters but being little Cover'd and less Rooted is presently Wither'd with the first heat that Scorches it The generality of Mankind are strangely in love with this foolish World and violently fond of transitory things belonging to this present Life Their Worldly Honour Wealth and Pleasure are dearer to them than their Lives and this Life dearer to them than the next When they hear of the next and are awaken'd with a lively Apprehension of a future State where Everlasting Happiness attends them if they please they receive the Word with joy and are very glad to understand that when they have done being Happy here they may perhaps begin to be so there They are not very much Charm'd with what they hear of Heaven they know not how to relish those Spiritual Pleasures which are too refin'd for Sensual and Carnal Souls but however they presume that God who cannot but be infinitely Happy in himself must needs know how to make them Happy when he takes them to him and therefore when their own Felicity is spent which they desire may last as long as possible they then are willing to try what Heaven is and see if it can make amends for what they leave behind them Upon these Terms they seem to love God pretty well but 't is too plain they love themselves a great deal better And the more we consider the matter the plainer 't will appear that it is not so much the Love of God which Leads them as it is the Fear of Hell which Drives them into a Desire of Heaven Fear is a troublesome Passion And Hell is a thing so terrible that even those who have no mind to believe it are not easie in themselves when they admit a serious thought of it It soures all Worldly Comforts and Embitters the Enjoyments of this Life And therefore for their own dear sakes that they may Love the World Securely and Enjoy it with an undisturb'd and quiet Mind they are willing to come to a Composition and to comply with all the Exterior Duties of Religion provided they may keep their Heart to themselves and bestow it where they please without being oblig'd to Wean it from the World and Disengage it from the Treacherous Endearments of it For this reason they are very exact in all their Parish-Devotions punctual in their times of Morning and Evening Prayer diligent in Hearing Sermons chearful in giving Alms and charitable in comforting the Afflicted All this they are ready to do and any thing else whatever it is that does not hinder them from loving and enjoying Themselves the World and their own Humour as much as ever And all this they are the more willing to do because it pacifies the troublesom Remorses of their Conscience it cheats them into a belief that they are better than they are it makes them hope they love God better than they do and that they are not so very fond of any Worldly Satisfactions as not to leave them all for God's sake when occasion requires The out-side of their Piety Amuses them but the in-side of their Heart is always Hidden from them They take no Pains to Search the Bottom of it and to discover the wretched Corruption of their misplac'd Affections because there are some certain things in which they are fully determin'd never to practise any Self-denial they will not hear of any reason to the contrary but in spite of all the Reason in the World they are resolved upon the Point that such things must and shall be reasonable because they have a mind they should be so In other matters where their strongest Passions are not much concern'd they can comply with ease They can Read and Pray and Hear the Word of God with Joy they can
Conceive some good Desires they can be very much pleas'd with a little sensible Devotion for the present But when these Pious thoughts begin to sink a little deeper in their Hearts and to contrive a real and effectual Reformation of their Lives when the Seed begins to take Root 'T is then it meets with great and unexpected Resistance and finds under a tender Surface nothing but the hardness of a Rock Their Worldly Honour their Estate their Ease are things which must not upon any Terms be call'd in question They are hardned in a Selfish Proud and Sullen Resolution of never parting with them And till the time of Trial comes they do not know how hard their Obstinacy is When all goes prosperously on and Danger looks upon them at a distance almost out of sight they then can make a shift in a kind fit to offer all these things to the Almighty and address his Infinite Majesty with the usual Complement of being ready upon all Occasions to stand by him with their Lives and Fortunes But notwithstanding all this the Gospel assures us that these dutiful Expressions of their Mind have no Root in their Heart These Loyalists endure but for a time And afterward when any Persecution or Affliction arises they find in time of Temptation how much they were mistaken in themselves immediately they fall away III. The third sort of Ground receives the Seed and keeps it It keeps it warm and deep and helps it to take Root But because the Thorns take deeper Root spread farther and rise higher therefore the Seed is choked and brings no Fruit. These Thorns according to the Gospel are the Cares of this Life As for the Life to come we cannot be too Careful of it we cannot love God too much we cannot have too great a Passion for the Joys of Heaven But as for this poor Earth this Dirt which only fouls and cloggs our Feet this Clay in which we often stick so fast alass this miserable World has nothing in it that deserves our Care except it be get well out of it and make it a safe Passage to a better Whatever may be useful to this End we may be careful of it But as for any thing else belonging to this wretched Life the Gospel gives us warning to avoid the Danger of such Needless and Pernicious Cares which hinder the Word of God from being fruitful in our Hearts The Danger is the greater because these Cares are of an earlier Growth the Roots of them come into the World with us They take Possession of our Hearts for several Years before the use of Reason has prepar'd us for the Word of God We read that the Seed fell among Thorns which plainly supposes that the Thorns were first Possessors of the Ground But yet if they had been extirpated before the Seed was sown it might have sprung up safely by it self there would have been no Thorns to spring up with it and choke it The Thorns have great Advantage over the Seed Not only their Growth is earlier but quicker and more natural The Corruption of our Heart is like the Rankness of a Soil to which they easily take and where they thrive at a strange rate There needs no planting watering or taking any Care of them 'T is but letting them alone they grow apace and spring up of themselves But it is not so with Piety and Vertue There must be Sowing Planting Cultivating No Pains must be spared to keep them in good order and all that we can do is little enough to make them bring forth Fruit altho' there were no Thorns to hinder them I tremble when I think how sadly true this is Experience teaches it the Gospel it self confirms it and our Conscience cannot deny it We daily see how careful most Men are of this World and how careless of the next They lay up Riches and provide for Pleasures These are their principal Cares which our Saviour mentions in the Gospel They are very highly concern'd for living long with all their Plenty and their Ease about them But as for living well and laying in Provision for a happy Eternity they entertain these Thoughts with Coldness and Indifference The least Prospect of Danger attending their Worldly Riches or their Pleasures is enough to break their Sleep The very Apprehension of a Momentary Poverty or Misery tho' at a distance is enough to put their Minds upon the Rack and torture the very Souls of them But as for Eternal Riches and Heavenly Pleasures tho' these are perhaps in greater Danger they can sleep securely All the Cruel Poverty and Everlasting Misery of Hell it self tho' they are loudly threatned with its being nearer than they are aware of all this will not Rouze them and Awaken them into a true Sense of their Duty So Stupid and Insensible our Nature is in all things which regard the other World and yet so Vigorous so Active and so Busie in the Cares of this The Consequence is natural and plain There 's no Excuse can be admitted in the Case We must consider on the one Hand the Danger and on the other the Folly of these Worldly Cares We must go to work with both our Hands and labour with all our Strength to pull them up by the Roots Without this all our other Labours are in vain We may Confess our Sins we may be Sorry for them we may purpose to Amend But all these Pious Endeavours will be fruitless and without effect we shall immediately relapse again our Sorrow and our Purposes will never be Victorious whilst our Worldly Cares are stronger and more prevalent We must therefore lay this Matter seriously to Heart Eternity depends upon it The more we consider it the more we shall be sensible of the Importance of it 'T is a common thing to meet with People who wonder strangely at their own Frailty and cannot without Horror and Amazement reflect how long they have continued in a Sinful Course in spite of all the Pains which they have often taken to amend their Lives But yet for my part I can never wonder that People lose their Labour when they go the wrong way to work If they will not take Advice when God himself is pleas'd to give it them I know not how to help it He tells them plainly that whilst they sow among Thorns the Seed will never bring forth Fruit. And this is a fair Warning to them to begin the Amendment of their Lives by labouring all they can to root out all these Thorns all Worldly Passions and Affections whatsoever from whence those Cares arise which choke the Seed obstruct the Word of God and hinder it from being Fruitful in their Hearts I do not descend to Particulars because the Case is general and without the least Exception No Love of any Creature whatsoever must ever dare to stand in Competition with the Love of our Creator All other Loves must be resign'd and moderate submissive to God's