first are the Words of my Text Above all things my brethren swear not neither by heaven neither by the earth neither by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest you fall into condemnation Consider this Text seriously I think it should be like the Fingers that came forth and wrote upon the Wall that dreadful Sentence that changed the Countenance of a King and made his Knees smite together Above all things that is above all other Vices avoid Swearing but let your yea be yea and your nay nay that is accustom your selves to short and plain Affirmations and Negations lest you fall into condemnation that is lest for these things the Judge of Heaven and Earth should pass a Sentence of Condemnation to Hell upon you O Men dare ye then from henceforth commit such a hainous Sin as Swearing seeing it will bring you under God's Judgment and Condemnation Did you never see a poor Malefactor Tryed at the Assizes and observe how his Face grows pale how his Legs Tremble and how Death displayes his Colours in his Cheeks when Sentence is given upon him But what is that to God's Condemnation What is a Gallows to Hell The other Text is this the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain Now what does God mean when he saith he will not hold him guiltless The meaning is plain that is his Swearings and prophane Oaths shall be reckoned to him and he shall be bound to Answer God for them The last Reason which obliges you to avoid Swearing and prophane Oaths is that the custom of vain and prophane Oaths is as plain a discovery of an unregenerate Soul as any in the World This is a sure sign ye are none of God's Children nor have any thing to do with his Heavenly Promises For by this the Scripture distinguishes the State of Saints and Sinners This Fruit of the Tongue plainly shews what the Tree is that bears it The vile Person saith the Prophet Isaiah will speak of villany and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks Loquere ut te videam speak that I may see what you are What is in the Heart is vented by the Tongue when the Treasures of Grace are in the Hearts then good and Holy Words will be in the Lips The Mouth of the Righteous saith David speaks Wisdom By thy words saith Christ thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be Condemned We use to say such Witnesses Hanged a Man the meaning is the Evidence they gave did Cast and Condemn him If the words do Evidence the State of the Soul what a wofull State these Souls must needs be in whose Mouths overflow with Swearing profane Words and Curses How many Witnesses will be brought in to cast them in the great day Wherefore that ye may not fall into such a misfortune avoid vain Swearing and Profane Oaths whereby God is so highly offended which he has punish'd with both temporal and spiritual Plagues which are a plain discovery of an unregenerate Soul and which God will bring to condemnation And that ye may leave that bad and ugly custom wherein there is neither profit nor pleasure consider that if every idle word that Men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment how much more then for immodest obscene filthy Words profane Oaths and Bloody Blasphemies Before ye speak weigh and ponder your words beg of God to guide your Tongues and every day say with David set a watch O Lord before my mouth and keep thou the door of my lips Labour to get your hearts cleansed and purified make the tree good and then his fruit will be good also A holy heart will produce holy words Consider also that no Man is the better lookt upon for his filthy words and vain bloody profane Oaths but on the contrary loses his esteem among all them that have any sense or virtue and even among them that are wicked and great Swearers too If there was any punishment put in Execution upon them that Swear and take the Sacred Name of God in vain they would certainly forbear that horrid and unprofitable Sin For I observed when I was in Holland that because there was so much Mony to be payed by every one that did Swear I never heard there any Man taking the Name of God in vain though I were several times in the Company of above Forty Men together drinking in Taverns and Coffee-houses And I took notice also in the Ships where I have served that when the Captain ordered the Collar which is a piece of wood of about Fifty Pounds weight to be worn by the Sea-men that were heard Swearing then no Profane Oath was scarce heard that day If a small parcel of Mony to be put in a box and given to the Poor in Holland and if the pain and shame of wearing a Collar in the Ships be able to make Men abstain from Swearing why shall not the punishment of Hell and of an eternal Damnation threatned to them that take God's Name in vain have such a Power over them Certainly they do not believe such a thing For if they were convinced of that Truth or that there is an avenging God or that their Souls are Immortal or that the Holy Scripture was certainly revealed of God and the Threatnings therein contained against Swearers shall be put in Execution in the great and fearful day of Judgment without doubt they would hereafter forbear from Swearing and taking God's Name in vain And that they may be perswaded of these Truths I intend to publish three other Sermons the first to God's Existence the second of the Immortality of our Souls and the third of the certainty of the holy Scriptures for the Reason why Men do continue in their Sins is because they are not utterly and fully convinced of these important and necessary Truths Above all things my Brethren swear not neither by Heaven neither by the Earth neither by any other Oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest you fall into condemnation The End of the Second Sermon Third Sermon against Drunkeness Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess Ephes 5. 16. THE Sparthans brought their Children to loath Wine by shewing them a Drunkard whom they gazed at as a Monster and Tertullian saith of the Primitive Christians they drank no more than was sufficient for temperate Men they did so eat and drink as those that remembred they ought to pray afterwards But now amongst those that profess Christianity how ordinarily is this Sin committed but especially by Sea-men Some of them have gone aboard drunk and laid the foundation of their Voyage in that Sin and though they knew not whether they should ever see again the Land of their Nativity yet this was the farewel they took this was their preparation and so in their return notwithstanding the terrible and astonishing works of the
against God as often as we have thought and desired any thing contrary to his holy Commandments With our Tongues we have offended him as many times as we took his Name in vain or spake ill Words or were Slanderers or false Witnesses against our Neigh Neighbours With our Hands as often as we did strike any body or Rob him of his Goods With our Feet when we went into those places which we knew to be to us an occasion of Sin With our Ears when we took delight in hearing impure and obscene Words And with our Eyes as often as we did read bad Books and look upon a Woman to Lust after her Seeing then we have so many ways sinned against God who is our Father I think it is very reasonable we should Repent And if to Repent is nothing but to weep for our Sins and commit them no more are we not obliged to it since we have sinned against him How cruel it is saith St. Austin to offend such a Father and willingly commit any thing against his Commandments We did fall into such a Cruelty as often as we have sinned against him It is then very necessary we should Repent Therefore let us weep for our Sins and commit them no more Let us begin to day at this very hour and moment and continue all the days of our Lives Let us beg him Forgiveness and kneeling with a contrite Heart let us say as the prodigal Child Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son Let us imitate David St. Peter and Mary Magdalen They have Sinned but they have Repented They bitterly wept for their Trespasses and committed them no more We have followed them in their Sins let us follow them also in their Repentance We are obliged to 't seeing we have offended God who is our Father The second Reason why we are obliged to Repent is because if we do not we shall certainly be unhappy for ever He that is cast into an eternal Fire is Miserable and Unhappy for ever seeing he endures there exceeding immoderate Torments For he undergoes two sorts of Pains one Privative and the other Positive 1. Privative because in that burning Prison he is deprived from the sight of God who is infinitely beautiful good perfect and consequently infinitely worthy to be loved and put out of the Company of Jesus Christ of the Angels and all blessed Souls thereby losing all the Delights Treasures and Honours which are found in the Kingdom of Heaven 2. Positive Because he that is in that fiery Prison is always full of Sorrow Fury Grief and Despair being detained in a place of Tears Sighs Groanings gnashing of Teeth and innumerable other Torments which no Tongue can express Therefore if he that is in an eternal Fire wherein he is suffering all these positive and privative torments which I have just now described unto you be unhappy and miserable for ever it is certain we shall be so unless we repent For except ye repent saith Jesus Christ in the words of my Text ye shall all likewise perish We may believe Jesus Christ the axe saith he is laid unto the root of the Trees therefore every Tree which brings not forth good fruit is hewen down and cast into the fire yes certainly except we repent we shall not escape these eternally burning Prisons we shall undergo all the Torments contained therein we shall be unfortunate and all perish for ever For since God did not forgive his Angels and did cast into Hell the Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah with Dives Judas and several others because they would not forsake their Sins let us be certain if we do not repent we shall receive alike punishment we must either burn or repent saith St. Austin and except ye repent saith Jesus Christ ye shall all likewise perish Are we then willing to escape these eternally tormenting Flames have we a desire that our Sins should not be punish'd of God we must needs punish them our selves whilst we live in this World Wilt thou not have God to punish thy sins saith St. Austin punish them thy self for every iniquity either great or small is to be punisht either by repenting Man or by a revenging God And that we may be the more inclined to repent let us see its utility this is the third part of my Discourse 3. Part. Repentance is useful 1. Because it blots out all our Sins 2. Because thereby we obtain the Grace of God And 3. Because therein consists the Salvation of all Men. Before I make it appear unto you that Repentance blots out all our Sins ye must know that Sin is hurtful for three special Effects 1. Because it kills our Souls The Soul saith Ezekiel that sinneth it shall die 18. 4. But how can Sin kill our Soul since it is immortal The reason is because there is a double life in our Soul one natural and another supernatural As for the former life our Soul does not lose it by Sin but as for the latter which is more excellent than the other and without which natural life is nothing but sorrow misery trouble and grief Sin kills it The Soul that sinneth it shall die Secondly Sin is hurtful because thereby we lose infinite Riches both of Body and Soul we lose saith Laurence Justinian in his Sermon concerning St. John the Evangelist the Whiteness of Innocency the Gown of Immortality the Purity of the Soul the sweetness and delight of Contemplation the liberty of Spirit the Kingdom of Heaven the Society of Angels and the Love of God Thirdly Sin is hurtful because he that Sinneth from the Child of God becomes the Child of the Devil He that commits Sin saith St. John is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the beginning 1 John 3. 8. If Sin be so hurtful as I have made it appear Repentance must needs be very advantageous seeing it blots out all our Sins This Truth is evident by these Words Repent ye and be converted that your sins may â—e blotted out Acts 3. 9. For as the Sun expells Darkness because of the essential Opposition they have one with another likewise Repentance expells Sins It is like unto that Pool whereof it is spoken in the Fifth Chapter of St. John which whosoever first after the troubling of the Water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever Disease he had Witness David and Mary Magdalen David did commit both Adultery and Murther He killed Uriah with the Sword and took away his Wife He Repented of his Sins he begged Pardon unto God and said I have sinned against the Lord 2 Sam. 13. 12. And what then his Sins were blotted out the Lord did forgive him Mary Magdalene whose Sins were many and out of whom went seven Devils Luke 1. She Repented of her Sins for when she knew that Jesus sat at Meat in the Pharisees House brought an Alabaster Box of Oyntment and stood at his Feet with
the free will of Man work so in his mind and heart as to make him forsake and renounce the Object which he loves best and without which he cannot live This is harder to God if I may speak so than to create Heaven and Earth For when God would create all the things that are in this World he only said let there be such a thing and presently it was created But when he will convert a Sinner and will have him to forsake his wickedness what resistance and opposition does he not find notwithstanding the different means he makes use of For Oftentimes God willing to induce a Sinner to repent of his sins cherishes him as a Nurse does her Young sucking Child and as a good Husband his Faithful Wife Sometimes he threatens him as a careful Father threatens his disobedient Son as a good Master his unruled Servant and as a just Judge his guilty Prisoner And yet his cherishings and threatnings do very often prove vain and unprofitable The sinner remains in his Crimes and will not repent of them God according to his ordinary way in the Conversion of a Sinner must give him a preventing Grace and afterwards an assisting one and though these two Graces be sufficient for a true and sincere Conversion yet to pass from Power to Act he must needs give him another Grace which is called effectual This is the difficulty of Repentance considered in respect of God our Creator But it is more hard and difficult if we consider it in respect of the Creature For a Man who got a great store of Goods by an Unjust way is bound to restore them wholly to him they belong to for as saith St. Austin Non remittitur Peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum A Sensual and Carnal Man who wholly devoted himself to worldly Delights and Pleasures is obliged to forsake them for ever What Pain and what Difficulty does he not find when he takes resolution to leave them And this Difficulty is the greater if he be an old Sinner and got a bad Custom For can the Ethiopian change his Skin saith the Prophet Jeremiah or the Leopard his Spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil 13. 23. We see that every day by our own experience especially if a Man be accustomed either to Drunkenness or Impurity For then he will find a great difficulty to subdue and forsake his filthy and dishonest Passion If Grace invites him to abandon his Sins and truly Repent of them Nature presently opposes it self and gives him a quite contrary Mind There is a Fight in that Man between Nature and Grace And to speak otherwise there are two Men in that Man the Man of Grace and the Man of Sin The Man of Grace is willing to forsake his Sins and Repent of them and the Man of Sin is unwilling The Man of Grace speaks thus these many Years I have committed Sins I must now forsake them with all the guilty Pleasures of this World and I must wholly consecrate my self unto God And the Man of Sin saith what wilt thou forsake those Delights Pleasures Sports and Recreations which so many Men sigh after and with so great a Passion as if their soveraign Happiness were truly consisting in them The Man of Grace saith come I will Repent and the Man of Sin replies not yet not now stay a little longer I pray thee To make it short there is a wonderful Battel in this poor Man's Heart and Mind I look upon him as upon a Ship in a great and furious Storm For as this Ship by the violence of Waves goes sometimes as high as the Clouds and presently seems to go down into the bottom of the Sea so this Man Ascends into Heaven by Grace and Descends into Hell by Sin What strange Fight do we see in this poor and miserable Creature What difficulty does he not find when he is willing to forsake his Sins And when he delays from day to day that Difficulty encreases for two Reasons The first is taken from Grace and the Second from Sin The Reason taken from Grace is that being necessary to forsake Sins it goes away and forsakes the Creature that is delaying from day to day The other Reason taken from Sin is because it is compared unto a young Tree which grows every Month stronger and stronger and is hardly pluck'd out if we let it grow several Years For it is easie to a Hedge-hog to thrust out her Youngs before their Bristles be grown strong but if she stays too long she shall rather die then expel them out of their Hole Sin is like unto a Hedge-hog for it is easie to cast it out of our Hearts when it is Young I mean in its beginning but if we stay too long what difficulty shall we not find to pluck it out of them Such as the Ethiopian in changing his Skin and the Leopard his Spots Wherefore we must confess that Repentance is hard and difficult to Men whether considered in respect of the Creator or in respect of the Creature Nevertheless it is necessary unless we will all perish And this I am going to shew you in the second part of my Discourse 2. Part. This Man who was sent from God to bear witness of the Light that all Men through him might believe this Man I mean St. John the Baptist began his Sermons by this necessary Virtue And when Jesus Christ began to Preach he began with these Words Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand These two Examples would be sufficient to convince us of the necessity of Repentance But that I may remove all Doubts from your Minds I will prove that we are obliged to Repent of our Sins for two Reasons First because we have offended God who is our Father and secondly because if we do not Repent we shall all be unhappy for ever That God is our Father all Christians do acknowledge this Truth for as often as they say the Lord's Prayer they confess God to be their Father Yes certainly God is our Father since he made and Created us And to speak properly he only is our Father Call no man Father on earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven Matth. 23. 9. He is more properly our Father than those that brought us into the World because he not only concurs with them in the Production of our Bodies but also because he alone Created our Souls and makes us partakers of his holy Grace whereby we become his Children If then it be true that God is our Father likewise it is certain we have Sinned against him two different ways positively when we have done those things which we ought not to have done and negatively when we have left undone those things which we ought to have done We have offended him in our Hearts in our Understandings by our Tongues by our Hands Feet Ears and Eyes In our Hearts and Understandings we have sinned