autem apud omnes unum est non est erratum sed traditum Had the Churches err'd they would have varied What therefore is one and the same amongst all came not sure by error but tradition Thus Tertullian argues very probably from the consent of the Churches of his time not long after the Apostles and that in matter of opinion much more subject to unobserv'd alteration But that in the frame and substance of the necessary Government of the Church a thing alwayes in use and practice there should be so suddain a change as presently after the Apostles times and so universal as received in all the Churches this is clearly impossible SECT VIII For What universal cause can be assigned or faigned of this universal Apostasie You will not imagine that the Apostles all or any of them made any decree for this change when they were living or left order for it in any Will or Testament when they were dying This were to grant the question to wit That the Apostles being to leave the Government of the Churches themselves and either seeing by experience or foreseeing by the Spirit of God the distractions and disorders which would arise from a multitude of equals substituted Episcopal Government instead of their own General Councels to make a Law for a general change for many ages there was none There was no Christian Emperour no coercive power over the Church to enforce it Or if there had been any we know no force was equal to the courage of the Christians of those times Their lives were then at command for they had not then learnt to fight for Christ but their obedience to any thing against his Law was not to be commanded for they had perfectly learn't to die for him Therefore there was no power then to command this change or if there had been any it had been in vain SECT IX What device then shall we study or to what fountain shall we reduce this strange pretended alteration Can it enter into our hearts to think that all the Presbyters and other Christians then being the Apostles Schollers could be generally ignorant of the Will of Christ touching the necessity of a Presbyterial Government Or dare we adventure to think them so strangely wicked all the World over as against knowledge and conscience to conspire against it Imagine the spirit of Diotrephes had entred into some or a great many of the Presbyters and possessed them with an ambitious desire of a forbidden superiority was it possible they should attempt and atchieve it once without any opposition or contradiction and besides that the contagion of this ambition should spread it self and prevail without stop or controul nay without any noise or notice taken of it through all the Churches in the World all the watchmen in the mean time being so fast asleep and all the dogs so dumb that not so much as one should open his mouth against it SECT X. But let us suppose though it be a horrible untruth that the Presbyters and people then were not so good Christians as the Presbyterians are now that they were generally so negligent to retain the government of Christ's Church commanded by Christ which we now are so zealous to restore yet certainly we must not forget nor deny that they were men as we are And if we look upon them but as meer natural men yet knowing by experience how hard a thing it is even for Policy arm'd with Power by many attempts and contrivances and in along time to gain upon the liberty of any one people undoubtedly we shall never entertain so wild an imagination as that among all the Christian Presbyteries in the World neither conscience of duty nor love of liberty nor aversness from pride and usurpation of others over them should prevail so much with any one as to oppose this pretended universal invasion of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and the liberty of Christians SECT XI When I shall-see therefore all the Fables in the Metamorphosis acted and prove Stories when I shall see all the Democracies and Aristocracies in the World lye down and sleep and awake into Monarchies then will I begin to believe that Presbyterial Government having continued in the Church during the Apostles times should presently after against the Apostles doctrine and the will of Christ be whirl'd about like a scene in a masque and transformed into Episcopacy In the mean time while these things remain thus incredible and in humane reason impossible I hope I shall have leave to conclude thus Episcopal Government is acknowledged to have been universally received in the Church presently after the Apostles times Between the Apostles times and this presently after there was not time enough for nor possibility of so great an alteration And therefore there was no such alteration as is pretended And therefore Episcopacy being confessed to be so Ancient and Catholique must be granted also to be Apostolique Quod erat demonstrandum FINIS NINE SERMONS The First Preached before His MAJESTY King CHARLES the FIRST The other Eight upon special and eminent Occasions BY WILL. CHILLINGWORTH Master of Arts of the UNIVERSITY of OXFORD NOSCE TE IPSVM NE QUID NIMIS LONDON Printed by E. Cotes dwelling in Aldersgate-street Anno Dom. M.DC.LXIV TO THE READER Christian Reader THese Sermons were by the Godly and Learned Author of them fitted to the Congregations to which he was to speak and no doubt intended only for the benefit of Hearers not of Readers Nevertheless it was the desire of many that they might be published upon the hope of good that might be done to the Church of God by them There is need of plain Instructions to incite men to holiness of life as well as accurate Treatises in Points Controverted to discern Truth from Error For which end I dare promise these Sermons will make much where they find an honest and humble Reader It was the Author's greatest care as you may find in the reading of them To handle the Word of God by manifestation of the truth commending himself to every mans conscience in the fight of God as once St. Paul pleaded for himself 2 Cor. 4.2 And if that be the property which they say of an eloquent and good speaker Non ex ore sed ex pectore To speak from his heart rather than his tongue then surely this Author was an excellent Orator one that spake out of sound understanding with true affection How great his parts were and how well improved as may appear by these his Labours so they were fully known and the loss of them sufficiently bewailed by those among whom he lived and conversed Many excellencies there were in him for which his memory remains but this above all was his crown that he unfeignedly sought God's glory and the good of mens souls It remains that these Sermons be read by thee with a care to profit and thanks to God for the benefit thou hast by them sith they are such talents
and so 't is Courtesie It vaunteth not it self and so 't is Modesty It is not puffed up and so 't is Humility It is not easily provok'd and so 't is Lenity It thinketh no evil and so 't is Simplicity It rejoyceth in the Truth and so 't is Verity It beareth all things and so 't is Fortitude It believeth all things and so 't is Faith It hopeth all things and so 't is Confidence It endureth all things and so 't is Patience It never faileth and so 't is Perseverance 36. You see two glorious and divine Vertues namely Faith and Charity though not naturally express'd yet pretty well counterfeited by the Moralist And to make up the Analogy compleat we have the third Royal vertue which is Hope reasonably well shadow'd out in that which they call Intenâ—io Finis which is nothing else but a fore-tasting of the happiness which they propose to themselves as a sufficient reward for all their severe and melancholick endeavours 37. What shall we say my beloved Friends Shall the Heathenish Moralist meerly out of the strength of natural Reason conclude that the knowledg of what is good and fit to be done without a practise of it upon our affections and outward actions to be nothing worth nay ridiculous and contemptible And shall we who have the Oracles of God nay the whole perfect will of God fully set down in the holy Scriptures in every page almost whereof we find this urg'd and press'd upon us That to know our Masters will without performing it is fruitless unto us nay will intend the heat and add vertue and power to the lake of fire and brimstone reserved for such empty unfruitful Christians and shall we I say content our selves any longer with bare hearing and knowing of the Word and no more God forbid Rather let us utterly avoid this holy Temple of God Let us rather cast his Word behind our backs and be as ignorant of his holy Will as ever our fore-fathers were Let us contrive any course to cut off all commerce and entercourse all communion and acquaintance with our God rather then when we profess to know him and willingly to allow him all those glorious Titles and Attributes by which he hath made himself known unto us in his Word in our hearts to deny him in our lives and practises to dishonour him and use him despightfully 38. It were no hard matter I think to perswade any but resolved hardned minds that Fruit is necessary before any admission into heaven only by proposing to your considerations the form and process of that Judgment to which you every man in his own person must submit The Authors word may be taken for the truth of what I shall tell you for the story we receive from his mouth that shall be Judg of all and therefore is likely to know what course and order himself will observe 39. In the General Resurrection when sentence of absolution or condemnation shall be pass'd upon every one according to his deserts Knowledg is on no side mentioned but one because he hath cloathed the naked and fed the hungry and done such like works of Charity he is taken and the rest that have not done so much are refused Will it avail any one then to say Lord we confess we have not done these works but we have spent many an hour in hearing and talking of thy Word nay we have maintain'd to the utmost of our power and to our own great prejudice many Opinions and Tenents Alas we little thought that any spotted imperfect work of ours was requisite we were resolved that for working thou hadst done enough for us to get us to heaven Will any such excuses as these serve the turn Far be it from us to think so 40. If you will turn to Matth. 7.22 you shall find stronger and better excuses then these to no purpose Mat. 7.22 Many shall say unto me saith Christ Lord have not we prophesied in thy Name These were something more then hearers they had spent their time in preaching and converting souls unto Christ which is a work if directed to a right end of the most precious and admirable value that it is possible for a creature to perform And yet whiles they did not practise themselves what they taught others they became Cast-aways Others there were that had cast out Devils and done many miracles And yet so lov'd the unclean spirits that themselves were possess'd withal that they could not endure to part company then and now were never likely 41. But have not I all this while mistaken my Auditory Were not these Instructions fitter for the Universities Had it not been more fit and seasonable for me to have instructed and catechis'd mine hearers rather than to give them cautions and warnings lest they should abuse their knowledg No surely Instructions to make use of knowledg in our practise and conversation and not to content our selves with meer knowing and hearing and talking of the mysteries of our Salvation cannot in the most ignorant Congregation be unseasonable Even the Heathen which were utter strangers from the knowledge of Gods wayes did notwithstanding render themselves inexcusable for deteining some part of the Truth as it were naturally ingrafted in them in unrighteousness So that there is no man in the world but knows much more then he practises every man hides some part at least of his Talent in a Napkin wherefore let every man even the most ignorant that hears me this day search the most inward secret corners of his heart for this treasure of knowledg and let him take it forth and put it into the Usurers hands and trade thriftily with it that he may return his Lord his own with encrease Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Verily I say unto you he shall make him Ruler over all his Household 42. And thus I have gone through one member of my First General namely the consideration wherein the Imprudence of the Fool in my Text doth consist In the prosecution whereof I have discovered unto you how severally Satan plants his Engins for the subversion of the Church In the Primitive times when Religion was more stirring and active and Charity in Fashion He assay'd to corrupt mens understandings with Heresies and there by the way was observ'd his order and method how distinctly beginning in those first times with the first Article he hath orderly succeeded to corrupt the next following and now in these last dayes hee 's got to even the last end of the Creed But since by the mercy and goodness of God we are delivered and stand firm in the Faith once delivered to the Saints he hath raised another Engine against us that stand and that is To work that our Orthodox Opinions do us no good which he performs by snatching the Word out of our Hearts and making it unfruitful in our Lives Now those that are thus enveagl'd and
to think knew well enough that there was a God and that all his love and service was due to him But these were melancholick thoughts and such as would hinder him in the prosecution of his design'd projects and therefore he put them farr from him So that in effect and in Gods account he was utterly ignorant of him did not at all know him Just so shall they be served Christ knows all the world better then any man knows his own heart Yet in that great day he shall prove to be a very stranger utterly ignorant of the greatest part of the world though many of them had been his acquaintance here nay though through faith in his power they had unawares by wonders and miracles brought many to Heaven and had been good helpers to destroy the Infernal Kingdom whereof before they were in Affection and now for ever must indeed be Inhabitants 55. There remains the other main General which is indeed the substance of the whole Text namely the fruit of this folly and that is Atheism not in opinion but practise In the prosecution whereof I shall mainly insist upon this to demonstrate by infallible deductions out of Gods Word that men who profess Religion and a perfect Knowledg of God yet whiles they allow him only the Brain and not what he only desires the Heart and Affections may prove in Gods account very Atheists Or to bring it neerer home I will shew how that many the ordinary courses and the most incontrouled practises of men of this age do utterly contradict and formally destroy the very Foundations and Principles of the glorious Religion which they profess But this will require a much longer time then your patience can allow me Therefore I will only add some few words of Application of what hath been spoken and so conclude 56. That Jewel which our Saviour so magnifies Matth. 13. and so commends the wisdom of the Merchant for selling all even utterly undoing himself to purchase it is the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven Which though it be of most precious and inestimable value worthy the selling of the whole world to buy it yet is every mans money every man has riches enough to adventure upon it so he will but sell all that he has so he will be content to turn bankrupt for it and upon no other terms can he have it 57. That advice which Christ gave the rich young man that had a good mind to follow him viz. that he should sell all that he had and take up his Cross was not any extraordinary unusual tryal but we have all accepted the same offer upon the very same conditions We must of necessity sell all deny and renounce the keeping and possessing of any thing besides this Pearl We must even sell our selves deny and renounce our own souls they are both become Gods own and we are but borrowers of them Now if we be not Masters of our goods nor of our selves neither then may we do our own actions we must not think our own thoughts They were such Fools as this great notorious one in my Text who in Psal 12. say Our tongues are our own we may say what we list We are all bought with a price yea all that we have is bought 58. Yet though we must sell all and deny our own selves yet we need not part with our goods or riches we need not make away our selves For example when our Saviour says He that hateth not Father and Mother and Brethren and Sisters and all the world besides for my Names sake and the Gospels is not worthy of me This speech does not bind me to hate persecute and destroy all the kindred I have no but rather to love and honor them to spend and be spent for them Yet if those persons or if it be possible for ought else to be more dear and precious then they stand in my way to hinder me from coming to Christ then it is time for me to hate them then I must trample them under my feet So that a man is no more bound to sell his Goods that is to throw them away than he is to hate his Parents Only neither of them may by any means offend us or annoy us in our journey to Christ 59. Now to bring this home to our purpose Can any face be so impudent as to profess he hath already sold all himself to boot and is ready to part with them when God shal call for them who contents himself only with knowing and hearing Stories of him and reserves his heart to his own use which is all that God requires Can he with any reason in the world be said to sell all for the Gospel of Christ that sees Christ himself every day almost hungry and does not feed him naked and does not clothe him in prison and does not visit him For in asmuch as they do not these offices of Charity to his beloved little ones they deny them to him Will he be found to be worthy of Christ that for his sake will not renounce one delightful sin which a Heathen would easily have done only for the empty reward of fame That for his sake will not forgive his Brother some small injury received nay perhaps some great kindness offered as a seasonable reproof or loving disswasion from sinning That for his sake will not undergo the least trouble in furthering his own Salvation 60. Far from us beloved Christians be so barren a Profession a Profession having only the vizzard and form of Godliness but denying the power thereof No let us with thankful hearts and tongues recount and consider what God hath done for our souls how he hath given us his Word abundantly sufficient to instruct us How he hath spoke the word and great is the multitude of Preachers Yet withal let us consider that it is in our power to turn these unvaluable Treasures of Gods favors into horrible curses Let us consider how God hath sent out his Word it will not return unto him empty it wil be effectual one way or other it will perform some great work in us God doth but expect what entertainment it finds upon earth and will proportion a reward accordingly on them which detain the truth in unrighteousness he will rain snares fire and brimstone But to such as with meek hearts due reverence receive it into good ground and express the power thereof in their lives there remaineth an exceeding eternal weight of Joy and Glory Let us therefore walk as children of the light and not content our selves with a bare empty Profession of Religion Let him that but nameth the Name of the Lord depart from Iniquity Brethren consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things To God c. The Third Sermon PSALM XIV 1. The Fool hath said in his heart There is no God I Will not be ashamed to be so farr my own Plagiary as for your sakes that
state of Perdition it may well be feared that the Church of Rome doth somewhat incline by her superinducing upon the rest of her errors the Doctrin of her own infallibility whereby her errors are made incurable by her pretending that the Scripture is to be interpreted according to her doctrin and not her doctrin to be judg'd of by Scripture whereby she makes the Scripture uneffectual for her Reformation 20. Ad § 18. I was very glad when I heard you say The Holy Scripture and antient Fathers do assign Separation from the visible Church as a mark of Heresie for I was in good hope that no Christian would so belie the Scripture as to say so of it unless he could have produced some one Text at least wherein this was plainly affirmed or from whence it might be undoubtedly and undeniably collected For assure your self good Sir it is a very hainous crime to say Thus saith the Lord when the Lord doth not say so I expected therefore some Scripture should have been alledged wherein it should have been said Whosoever separates from the Roman Church is an Heretique or the Roman Church is infallible or the Guide of faith or at least There shall be always some visible Church infallible in matters of faith Some such direction as this I hoped for And I pray consider whether I had not reason The Evangelists and Apostles who wrote the new Testament we all suppose were good men and very desirous to direct us the surest and plainest way to heaven we suppose them likewise very sufficiently instructed by the Spirit of God in all the necessary points of the Christian faith and therefore certainly not ignorant of this Unum Necessarium this most necessary point of all others without which as you pretend and teach all faith is no Faith that is that the Church of Rome was designed by God the guide of Faith We suppose them lastly wise men especially being assisted by the spirit of wisdom and such as knew that a doubtful and questionable Guide was for mens direction as good as none at all And after all these suppositions which I presume no good Christian will call into question is it possible that any Christian heart can believe that not One amongst them all should ad rei memoriam write this necessary doctrin plainly so much as once Certainly in all reason they had provided much better for the good of Christians if they had wrote this though they had writ nothing else Me-thinks the Evangelists undertaking to write the Gospel of Christ could not possibly have omitted any one of them this most necessary point of faith had they known it necessary S. Luke especially who plainly professes that his intent was to write all things necessary Me-thinks S. Paul writing to the Romans could not but have congratulated this their Priviledge to them Me-thinks instead of saying Your faith is spoken of all the world over which you have no reason to be very proud of for he says the very same thing to the Thessalonians he could not have fail'd to have told them once at least in plain terms that their Faith was the Rule for all the World for ever But then sure he would have forborn to put them in fear of an impossibility as he doth in his eleventh Chapter that they also nay the whole Church of the Gentiles if they did not look to their standing might fall away to infidelity as the Jews had done Me-thinks in all his other Epistles at least in some at least in one of them he could not have failed to have given the world this direction had he known it to be a true one that all men were to be guided by the Church of Rome and none to separate from it under pain of damnation Me-thinks writing so often of Heretiques and Antichrist he should have given the world this as you pretend only sure preservative from them How was it possible that S. Peter writing two Catholick Epistles mentioning his own departure writing to preserve Christians in the faith should in neither of them commend them to the guidance of his pretended Successours the Bishops of Rome How was it possible that S. James and S. Jude in their Catholique Epistles should not give this Catholique direction Me-thinks S. John instead of saying He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God The force of which direction your glosses do quite enervate and make unavailable to discern who are the sons of God should have said He that adheres to the doctrin of the Roman Church and lives according to it he is a good Christian and by this mark ye shall know him What man not quite out of his wits if he consider as he should the pretended necessity of this doctrin that without the belief hereof no man ordinarily can be saved can possibly force himself to conceive that all these good and holy men so desirous of mens salvation and so well assured of it as it is pretended should be so deeply and affectedly silent in it and not One of them say it plainly so much as once but leave it to be collected from uncertain Principles by many more uncertain Consequences Certainly he that can judge so uncharitably of them it is no marvel if he censure other inferiour servants of Christ as Atheists and Hypocrites and what he pleases Plain places therefore I did and had reason to look for when I heard you say the holy Scripture assigns separation from the visible Church as a Mark of Heresie But instead hereof what have you brought us but meer impertinencies S. John saith of some who pretended to be Christians and were not so and therefore when it was for their advantage forsook their profession They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us Of some who before the decree of the Councel to the contrary were perswaded and accordingly taught that the convert Gentiles were to keep the Law of Moses it is said in the Acts Some who went out from us And again S. Paul in the same book forwarns the Ephesians that out of them should arise men speaking perverse things And from these places which it seems are the plainest you have you collect that separation from the Visible Church is assigned by Scripture as a Mark of Heresie Which is certainly a strange and unheard-of strain of Logick Unless you will say that every Text wherein it is said that some body goes out from some body affords an Argument for this purpose For the first place there is no certainty that it speaks of Heretiques but no Christians of Antichrists of such as denied Jesus to be the Christ See the place and you shall confess as much The second place it is certain you must not say it speaks of Heretiques for it speaks only of some who believed and taught an Error while it was yet a question and not
his heavy judgment upon us for our great sins and our stupid and stupendious security in sinning and to make us instruments of his designed vengeance one upon another peradventure it would be a seasonable and necessary motion to be made to our King and his Nobles To revive this old Proclamation of the King of Nineveh and to send it with authority through His Majesties dominions and to try whether it will produce some good effect Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not Who can tell whether he that hath the hearts of King and People in his hand and turneth them whithersoever he thinketh best may not upon our repentance take our extreamity for his oportunity and at last open our eyes that we may see those things that belong to our peace and shew us the way of Peace which hitherto we have not known but this by the way For my purpose I observe That this Repentance which when the sword of God was drawn and his arm advanced for a blow stayd his hand and sheathed his sword again was not a meer sorrow for their sins and a purpose to leave them nay it was not only laying aside their gallantry and bravery and putting on sackcloth and sitting in ashes and crying mightily unto God of which yet we are come very short but it was also and that chiefly their universal turning from their evil way which above all the rest was prevalent and effectual with God Almighty for so it is written And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented him of the evil that he sayed he would do and he did it not In the Gospel of S. Luke cap. 24. The condition of the new Covenant to which remission of sins is promised is expressed by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name Which place if ye compare with that in the Gospel of S. Matth. Go teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy-Ghost teaching them to observe all whatsoever I shall command you It will be no difficulty to collect that what out Saviour calls in one place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 repentance that he calls in another Observing all that he hath commanded which if repentance were no more but sorrow for sin and intending to leave it certainly he never could nor would have done And as little could S. Paul Act. 20.21 profess that the whole matter of his preaching was nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ It being manifest in his Epistles he preaches and presses every where the necessity of mortification regeneration new and sincere obedience all which are evidently not contained under the head of Faith and therefore it is evident he comprized all these under the name of Repentance In which words moreover it is very considerable as also in another place Heb. 6. where among the fundamentals of Christianity the first place is given to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I say it is very considerable that though the word may not very absolutely be rendred Repentance yet we shall do much right to the places and make them much more clear and intelligible if instead of repentance we should put conversion as it is in some of the best Latin Translations So for example if instead of repentance to God Act. 20. and repentance from dead works in the Epistle to the Heb. which our English tongue will hardly bear we should read conversion to God and conversion from dead works every one sees it would be more perspicuous and more natural whereas on the other side if instead of repentance we should substitute sorrow as every true genuine interpretation may with advantage to the clearness of the sense be put in place of the word interpreted and read the place sorrow towards God and sorrow from dead works it is apparent that this reading would be unnatural and almost ridiculous which is a great argument that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which forgivenes of sins is promised in the Gospel is not only sorrow for sin but conversion from sin And yet if it be not so but that Heaven may be purchased at easier and cheaper rates how comes it to pass that in the New-Testament we are so plainly and so frequently assured that without actual and effectual amendment and newness of life without actual and effectual mortification regeneration sanctification there is no hope no possibility of Salvation Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire So S. John Baptist preaches repentance Matth. 3.9 It is not then the leaves of a fair profession no nor the blossoms of good purposes and intentions but the fruit the fruit only that can save us from the fire neither is it enough not to bear ill fruit unless we bring forth good Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire Not every one that sayeth unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven So our Saviour Matth. 7.21 And again after he had delivered his most divine Precepts in his Sermon on the Mount which Sermon contains the substance of the Gospel of Christ he closeth up all with saying He that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them not and yet these were the hardest sayings that ever he sayed I will liken him to a foolish man which built his house upon the sand that is his hope of Salvation upon a sandy and false ground and when the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that House it fell and great was the fall of it They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts So S. Paul Gal. 5.24 They then that have not done so nor crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts let them be as sorrowful as they please let them intend what they please they as yet are none of Christs and good Lord What a multitude of Christians then are there in the world that do not belong to Christ The works of the flesh Gal. 5.19 20 21. saith the same S. Paul are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murthers Drunkenness Revellings of which I tell you before as I have told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God He doth not say they which have done such things shall not be saved but manifestly to the contrary Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but he says
they were freed from this curse into which the poor ignorant people fell How cunningly have these fooss layed a snare for their own lives 26. Alas What could the poor people think when they heard their Doctors and Magistrates men that were gods to them that sate in Moses Chair condemned of such extream folly and indiscretion What will become of us might they say if the Pharisees from whom all that we know is but a thin thrifty gleaning have so many Woes denounc'd against them for want of spiritual knowledge 27. Certain it was There were many poor souls whom the Pharisees kept out of Heaven for company Our Saviour tells them so much Ye neither go into Heaven your selves nor suffer others to go in But they were such as they had infected with their Leaven Such as made those rotten superstructions which those great Doctors built upon the Word foundations of their Faith and Hope And as certain it is that many there were upon whom God out of his gracious favour and mercy had not bestowed such piercing brains and enquiring heads as to make them acquainted with their dangerous Opinions and Traditions They were such as made better use of that little knowledg they had than to vent it in discourse or in maintaining Opinions and Tenents against the Church They heard the Word with an humble honest heart submitting themselves wholly to it and restored their Faith to its proper seat the Heart and Affections and it was fruitful in their lives and practise The wisdom of Solomon himself as long as he gave himself to Idolarty and Luxury was folly and madness to the discretion and prudence of these poor despised people 28. Thus you see The Fool that in my Text is so madd as to say There is no God may have wit enough to understand more nay in the opinion of the world may make a silly fool of him that has laid up in his heart unvaluable treasures of spiritual wisdom and knowledg And therefore the Latin Translation following St. Paul might more significantly have styled him Imprudens than Insipiens For the wisdom which is according to Godliness doth most exactly answer to that Prudence which moral Philosophers make a general over-ruling Vertue to give bounds and limits to all our Actions and to find out a temper and mean wherein we ought to walk And therefore a most learned Divine of our Church yet alive knew very well what he said when he desin'd our Faith to be A spiritual Prudence Implying that Faith bears the same office and sway in the life and practise of a Christian as Prudence of a moral honest man 29. Now saith Aristotle there may be many intemperate youthful dissolute spirits which may have an admirable piercing discerning judgment in speculative Sciences as the Mathematicks Metaphysicks and the like because the dwelling upon such contemplations does not at all cross or trouble those rude untamed passions and affections of theirs yea they may be cunning in the speculative knowledg of vertues But all this while they are notwithstanding utterly invincibly imprudent because Prudence requires not only a good discerning judgment and apprehension but a serenity and calmness in the passions 30. Therefore the same Philosopher does worthily reprehend some Ancients who called all vertues Sciences and said that each particular vertue was a several Art requiring only an enlightning or informing of the Reason and Understanding which any for a little cost and small pains-taking in frequenting the learned Lectures of Philosophers need not doubt but easily to obtain 31. This conceit of so learned a man does very well deserve our prosecution And it will not be at all swerving from the business in hand Therefore I shall shew you how the Moralist by the force of natural Reason hath framed to himself a Divinity and Religion resembling both in method and many substantial parts the glorious learning of a Christian I told you the fore-named Doctor did very well to call our Faith or Assent to supernatural Mysteries A spiritual Prudence 32. Now besides moral prudence nay before the moralist can make any use thereof or exercise it in the work of any vertue there is required another general Vertue which the Philosopher calls Universal Justice which is nothing else but a sobriety and temper in the affections whereby they are subdued and captiv'd unto well inform'd Reason So that whatsoever it commands to be done there is no rebellion no unwillingness in the Passions but they proceed readily to execution though it be never so distasteful to sense 33. Now how well does this express the nature of Charity for What else is Love but a sweet breathing of the Holy Spirit upon our Passions whereby the Holy Ghost does as it did in the beginning of Genesis incubare aquis move by a cherishing quieting vertue upon the Sea of our Passions Did not the same Spirit come to Eliah in a soft whisper He walks not in Turbine in a strong wind to raise a Tempest in our Affections Now when we have received this ipsissiman Dei particulam as Plato said of the Soul this shred or portion of the Holy Spirit which is Charity how evenly and temperately do we behave our selves to God and all the world besides How willingly and obediently do we submit our selves to the performance of whatsoever Faith out of Gods Word doth enjoyn us 34. But yet the Analogy and proportion between these two is more evident and observable That Universal Justice is no particular singular vertue neither hath it any particular singular object As other vertues have For example Temperance or Abstinence which hath to do with sensual delights and pleasures and none else But when it is determined to and fastens on the object of a particular vertue it is converted into and incorporates with that very vertue for example If I do exercise this general Habit of observing a mean and temper in things that concern diet or sensual pleasures it becomes Abstinence if upon objects of terrour it becomes Fortitude or Magnanimity Just so is it with Charity For 35. Charity is a vertue which never goes alone and is busied in solitary places being reserved and excluded from the society and communion of other Graces But it is that which seasons gives life and efficacy to all the rest without which if it were possible for me to enjoy all the Graces that the bountiful hand of God ever showred upon reasonable Creature yet if St. Paul speak truth I should be nothing worth It is that which fulfils all the Commandements This is evident to all that shall but sleightly and in haste read over 1 Cor. 13. beginning with vers 4. and so onwards 1 Cor. 13.4 c. where we may behold almost all the vertues that can be named enwrapped in one vertue of Charity and Love according to the several Acts thereof chang'd and transform'd into so many several Graces It suffereth long and so 't is Longanimity It is kind
and art afraid of the faces of men thou abhorrest the light And yet darest out-face him whose Eyes are ten thousand times brighter then the Sun Thou wouldest not have the confidence to commit filthiness if thy friend were in company And yet what injury is done to him by it what Commandement of his doest thou transgress in it Or if thou didst What power or authority has he over thee to punish thee Thou wouldest be ashamed to commit such a sin if thy Servant were by one whom thou art so farr from being afraid of that himself his words almost his very thoughts are in thy power Nay if a child were in company thou wouldst not have the face to do it 16. Thou canst not deny but respect to a friend to a servant even to a child will with-hold thee from such practises and yet withall confessest that Almighty God whom thou professest to serve to fear and to love that he all the while looks upon thee and observes thee his Eyes are never removed from thee and which is worse though thou mayest endeavour to forget and blot such actions out of thy remembrance yet it is impossible he should ever forget them He keeps a Register of all thy sins which no time shall ever be able to deface And what will it then profit thee to live a close conceal'd sinner from the world or to gain amongst men the reputation of a devout religious Christian when in the mean time thine own Heart and Conscience shall condemn thee Nay when Almighty God who is greater then thy Heart and knoweth all things when he shall be able to object unto thee all thy close ungodly projects all thy bosome private lusts yea when that conceit wherein thou didst so much please thy self of being able to delude and blind the observation of the World shall nothing avail thee but whatsoever mischiefs thou hast contrived in thy Closet whatsoever abominations thou hast practised in thy Bed all these with each aggravating Circumstance shall be discovered in the presence of all men and Angels and Devils when Satan whom before thou madest an Instrument and Bawd unto thy lusts to whose counsels and suggestions thou before would'st only hearken shall be the most forward and eager to appeach thee 17. When thou art brought to such an exigent as this which without a timely unfeigned repentance as sure as there is a God in Heaven thou shalt at last be brought to what will then they orthodox opinions do thee good what will it then profit thee to say Thou never didst maintain any impious dishonourable Tenents concerning God or any of his glorious Attributes Yea how happy hadst thou been if worse than the most ignorant heathenish Atheist no thought or consideration of God had entred into thy heart For this professing thy self a Christian rightly instructed in the knowledge of God will prove heavier to thee than a thousand milstones hanged about thy neck to sink thee into the bottome of that comfortless Lake of fire and brimstone For for example What a strange plea would it be for a Murderer to say I confess I have committed such or such a murder but all the excuse which I can alledge for my self is that I was well studied in the Laws which forbad murder and I knew that my Judge who tyed me to the observance of this Law upon pain of death was present and observ'd me when I commited the Fact Surely it would be more tolerable for him to say I never heard of any such Law or Judge or if I have been told of such things I gave but little heed to the report I did not at all believe it For though this plea will be very insufficient to acquit the malefactor yet it will be much more advantageous than the former for what were that but to flour the Judge to his face and to pretend a respectful worthy opinion of him for this end that his contempt and negligence in performing his Commandements may be more extream and inexcusable and by consequence without all hope or expectation of pardon I need make no application of the example the Similitude doth sufficiently apply it self 18. Therefore it I were to advise any man who is resolved by his practice to contradict that opinion which he saith he hath of God or that is not resolved to live with that reverence and awfulness due to the Majesty of Almighty God in whose presence he alwaies is I would counsel him not to believe himself when he professes the Omnipresence or Omniscience of God For without all contradiction though by living in a Nation where every one with whom he converses professeth so much he may have learned to say There is a God and that this God is every where present and takes particular notice of whatsoever is done in heaven and earth yet if this Notion were firmly rooted in his soul as a matter of Religion as a business upon which depends the everlasting welfare of his soul and body it is altogether impossible for him to continue in an habitual practice of such things as are evidently repugnant and destructive to such a conceit For tell me Would any man in his right senses when he shall see another drink down a poyson which he knows will suddenly prove mortal unto him I say will any man be so mad as to believe such a one though he should with all the most earnest protestations that can be imagined profess that he is not weary of his life but intends to prolong it as long as God and Nature will give him leave 19. The Case is altogether in each point and circumstance the same For he which saith He believeth or assenteth to any doctrine as a fundamental point of his Religion intends thus much by it that he has bound himself in certain bonds unto Almighty God for so the very name of Religion doth import to expect no benefit at all from him but upon condition of believing such divine Truths as it shall please him to reveal unto him namely as means and helps of a devout religious life and worship of him For God reveals nothing of himself to any man for this end to satisfie his curiosity or to afford him matter of discourse or news but to instruct him how he may behave himself here in this life that he may attain those promises which shall be fulfilled to those who sincerely and devoutly serve and obey him 20. Therefore he that shall say I believe such a Truth revealed by God and yet lives as if he had never heard of such a thing yea as if he had been perswaded of the contrary is as much to be believed as if he should say I will drink a deadly poyson to quench my thirst or will stab my self to the heart for physick to let out superfluous bloud So that that man who is not resolved to break off his wicked courses by repentance and conversion unto God that lives as if the
be erected many fair Mansions to raign in But it is a Kingdom that suffers violence and the violent must take it by force And it is a Building that will exact perchance all the means they have and their whole lives labour to boot Wherefore it is good for them to sit down to send for their friends to counsel to question their hearts whether they have courage and resolution and to examin their incomes whether they will bear the charges to muster Souldiers for the Conquest and Labourers for the Building 6. If they like these large offers and have means enough for the employment and are not unwilling to spare for cost Let them go on in God's Name There is no doubt to be made of an end that shall fully recompence their losses and satisfie their utmost boldest desires and fill the whole capacity of their thoughts But on the other side unless all these conditions concurr He has so much care of their credit that he would wish them not to set one foot further in the employment but to betake themselves home lest if they should fail in the business they should make themselves ridiculous to the world of Scorners to whom it would be meat and drink to see some glorious fresh ruins of a Building left to the fouls and beasts to inhabit or to see a fierce invading Army forc'd to retire them themselves ho me cool'd and content with their former want and poverty Object 7. But might not some poor low-minded sinful hearer reply upon our Saviour and enquire whence these sums must be rais'd and these forces mustred Alas what is a wretched mortal man that he should think of taking Heaven by Composition much more of forcing and invading it What is there on Earth to lay in balance against Heaven Has not the Spirit of God told us that all is vanity nay lighter then vanity through all Eccl-siastes And again that men of low condition are vanity and men of high condition to wit such as because they abound with wealth think that therefore they are in much better esteem and favour with God then their Brethen they are worse than vanity for as it is Psal 62.9 They are a Lye Psal 62.9 that is they are no such things as they take themselves for they are quite contrary to what they seem 8. The answer hereto is not very difficult For 't is true If we consider our own abilities such I mean as our fore-fathers have left us as it is impossible for us by any worth in our power to offer at the purchase of heaven as to make a new one yet such is the mercy of God in Jesus Christ that so glorious a Bargain is already made to our hands the gain whereof will redound unto us upon very reasonable conditions Namely if we can be brought to acknowledg our own beggarly starved estate and thereby evacuating our selves of all manner of worth and desert in our selves and relying only upon his mercy which is infinite submitting likewise our selves to be absolutely at his disposition without any reservation at all 9. So that the same unvaluable precious Jewel which cost the rich Merchant in the Parable all his Estate and had like to have made a young Gentleman in the Gospel turn bankrupt may becomes ours even the poorest and most despised persons amongst us if we will be content to part with our totum nihil all whatsoever we are or have If we can perswade our selves to esteem pleasure and profit as dross and dung when they come in competition with this Pearl If we can readily and affectionately hate our dearest friends and kindred even tread our Parents under our feet when they lye in our way unto Christ If we can perfectly detest even the most dearest closest lusts and affectionate sins Finally if our own souls become contemptible and vile in our own eyes in respect of that glorious Inheritance so dearly purchased for us Then are we rich to purchase this Pearl then are we able and sufficient to go through with this Building and strong enough to conquer this Kingdom 10. Now all this as must be showed in many more particulars is properly to deny our selves which is a condition that our Saviour makes so necessary and inseparable in every one that purposes to be any thing the better for Him that desires to be found in the number of those that have given up their names unto him for saith the Text Jesus said unto them all If any man will come after me let him deny himself Let him 11. These few words are not conveniently capable of a division But taking them in gross as a Precept or Law delivered by Christ and which concerns every man of what state or condtion soever that resolves to accept of him for a Lord and Saviour We will proceed according to the ordinary Method of expounding a Law Namely First we will in general consider the nature meaning and extent of this Law How farr the action here injoyn'd which is a denying or renouncing doth reach and how much is comprehended in the object thereof Our selves Secondly I will restrain this General Duty into several special Cases which may conveniently be reduced to three as namely that by vertue thereof we are bound to evacuate our selves and utterly deny 1. Our own Wisdom or Understanding 2. Our Will and Affections And lastly our own Desert and Righteousness 12. Out of this Commandement then considered in general terms only for so I shall only handle it in this hours Discourse as it is contained in these two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but two such words so full and swelling with expression that our language can scarse at all or but faintly express and render the force and vigour of them in twenty I shall observe unto you this doctrinal position Doctr. namely That it is absolutely and indispensably required of every man that professes Christianity not only utterly to renounce all manner of things that thwart and oppose Gods will and command but also resolutely and without all manner of reservation to purpose and resolve upon the denial of whatsoever is in our selves or any thing else how full of pleasure profit or necessity soever though in themselves indifferent lawful or convenient when they come in competition with what Christ hath enjoyn'd us Which after I have explain'd and confirm'd by comparing this law with many other precepts of the same nature in the holy Scripture I shall apply unto your consciences by two useful inforcements One taken from the extream undeniable reasonableness of the thing here commanded The other from the wonderful love and kindness in the Law-giver that requires not so much at our hands as himself hath already voluntarily perform'd and that for our sakes For thus or to this purpose run the words If any man will come after me let him do as I have done even deny himself take up his indeed my cross daily and so follow me
be it spoken do after the true one Having such advantages even above the blessed Apostles and ancient Martyrs Let us walk as becometh the children of God having our eyes fastened upon the Lord our Salvation and conforming our selves freely and unconstrainedly to whatsoever it shall please him to prescribe unto us Not admitting our own carnal reason and wordly wisdom into counsel about his Worship nor believing any thing which he has propos'd unto us in his Word but for the authority of him that spoke it not accepting the persons of men nor perswading our selves to the belief of horrible and unworthy Opinions of God because men affected by us have so delivered It was a grievous complaint that God made by the Prophet Isaiah Cap. 29. v. 13. Their fear towards me is taught by the Commandements of men Isaith 29.13 39. Again we must subdue our Affections to be ruled and squared according to the good Will of God rejoycing to see our most beloved sins discover'd and rebuk'd and even crucified by the powerful Word and Spirit of God Lastly We must be ready for Christ his sake to root out of our hearts that extravagant immoderate Love of our own selves that private affection as Basil calleth it resolving rather to undergo a shameful horrible death then to maintain any inordinate base desire or to take part with our filthy lusts against our Saviour who hath so dearly redeem'd us 40. Thus have you heard in General tearms largely and I fear tediously delivered the sum and effect of this Doctrin of Self-Denyal for the restraining of it to particular Cases I have reserved to another hour Now I will according to my promise as earnestly as I can inforce this necessary duty upon you from the two Circumstances before-mentioned viz. 1. From the greater reasonableness in the thing commanded And 2. Extream Love and Kindness of the Law-giver that hath in his own person given us a perfect example directing us how we should fulfill his command 41. For the first namely the reasonableness of the thing commanded To omit how all creatures in acknowledgment of that duty which they owe to God their Creator do willingly submit themselves to his disposition denying their own specifical private natures for the general good of the world For example The Elements are subject to alterations and deportations to be destroy'd and revived to be Instruments of Gods favour and again of his wrath Surely Man above all the World beside not excepting that glorious heavenly Host of Angels is by a more indissoluble Adamantine chain oblig'd and bound to his Maker For to which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee 42. Again when a great portion of those glorious Spirits had mutinously rebelled against God and Man following the example of their prevarication had with them plung'd himself irrecoverably into extream unavoidable destruction In that necessity God had no respect to those heavenly Spirits which were by nature much more admirable and perfect then we for he did in no wise saith the Apostle take upon him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham and therein performed the glorious work of our Redemption 43. Surely after this great Love than which I dare not say God cannot but I may well say he will never show a greater we his unworthy creatures are bound to express some greater measure of thankful obedience then we were for our Creation And yet even then the least that could be expected from us was a full perfect resignation of our selves to the disposition of that God that gave us our being Therefore now after a work that has cost God all that pains and study in inventing and contriving and so much sorrow and labour in performing Certainly after all this it is no great thing if the Lord should require our whole selves souls and bodies for a whole burnt-offering a Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving If he should require from us our whole substance whole Rivers of Oyl and all the Cattel feeding on a Thousand Hills 44. Yet now he is content that less thanks shall satisfie then was due before ever he perform'd that glorious work Nay he hath after all this taken off and subducted from that debt which we ow'd him for our Creation For whereas then one actual offence against this Law did necessarily draw along with it inevitable destruction yet now our gracious God perceiving that we are but dust accepts of our imperfect sinful obedience nay sometimes of the inward desire and willingness to perform where there is not power to put it in execution Nothing then can be more reasonable then that a Christian should be commanded not to prefer the fulfilling of his own will before Gods Will nor to suffer that his carnal desires should have greater power and sway with him then the command of such a God or Lastly not to withdraw his Allegiance and Obedience due to his Redeemer and place them upon a creature but equal or may be inferiour to himself 45. Secondly Consider the wonderful love and kindness of the Law-giver that hath already tasted unto us tasted nay hath drunk the dregs of this unpleasant bitter potion He by whom all things were made even the Eternal Almighty Word He which thought it no robbery to be equal with God became his own creature and submitted himself to be trod upon reviled hated despised by the worst of all creatures cruel ungodly and perverse sinners He of whose fulness we have all received did utterly evacuate and empty himself of his Glory and Majesty denying to himself such things which he would not even to the most despised creatures For saith he The Foxes have holes and the Birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man hath not whereon to lay his head 2 Cor. 8.9 Ye know saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 8.9 the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich he became poor that ye through his poverty might be made rich So poor he was that he was forced to borrow Tribute money of a Fish and was fain to strain himself to a Miracle to get the Fish to bring it So poor that he was forc'd to borrow a young Colt of strangers never known to him Say saith he The Lord hath need of him A strange unheard of speech The Lord that created the world and can as easily annihilate it Yet he hath need and hath need of a Colt the Foal of an Ass Time would fail me for I suppose the World it self would not contain the Books that might be written of his dangers his temptations his fastings his travels his disgraces torments and death all perform'd without any end propos'd to himself besides our good and happiness 46. It behoved him saith St. Paul to be made like his Brethren in all things Heb. 2.17 18. that he might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining
Christ as well from being a Judge to condemn the wicked For with as much reason and as great ease he might have given him a Writ of Ease a discharge from that Office as well as the other 55. And now I could wish I had said nothing all this while and likely enough so could you But it grieves me that the portion of time allowed me will not suffer me in any reasonable proportion to contemplate the wonderful mercy and goodness of God who to do us good has given such power to our Nature in Christ to make a new Heaven and a new Earth to restore a new Generation of creatures ten times more glorious and perfect than the first Only now tell me Did not S. Paul with good reason speaking of the Resurrection of Christ give it an advantage and pre-eminence even above his death Is not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my Text the Yea rather verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word of great moment and weight Since the Resurrection of Christ actuates and ripens the fruit of Christs Death which without it would have withered and been of no help to us Is not the Doctrine of Christs Resurrection and exaltation with as good reason made an Article of our Creed and as necessarily if not rather to be lean'd upon as any of the rest Nay hath not S. Paul epitomized the whole Creed into that one Article saying in Rom. 10.9 If thou shalt believe in thine heart Rom. 10.9 that God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead thou shalt be saved 56. And now 't is time to consider who are the persons whom the Death yea rather the Resurrection of Christ will protect and warrant from condemnation In my Text as we find none to condemn so likewise we cannot light upon any to be condemned In the verse immediately before these words the Elect of God are those which are Justified and therefore must not be condemned And to say the truth though we dispute till the worlds end the event will shew that the Elect of God and only they shall reap the harvest of Christ's sufferings and bring their sheaves with them As for the wicked and Reprobates it shall not be so with them but why it shall not be so with them whether because they have wilfully excluded themselves or because God had no mind they should be any thing the better for these things I will not tell you 57. In the verses on both sides of my Text we find that We are those that must not be condemn'd We which we why Paul and the Romans Jews and Gentiles What all Jews and all Gentiles I told you I will not tell Only thus much let me tell you we may boldly maintain S. Paul's phrase nay it is unsafe and dangerous to alter it Why it is all the comfort we have to live by it is our glory and crown of rejoycing that we are those whose salvation Christ did so earnestly and unfeignedly desire and thirst after that to obtain power and authority to bestow it on us he suffered such torments and blasphemies that Never sorrow was like unto his sorrow which was done unto him wherewith the Lord afflicted him in the day of his fierce wrath 58. Wherefore I beseech you Beloved Brethren even by the bowels of this Jesus Christ that you would give me leave to advise you if there be any here fit to be advised by me if there be any in this company as weak and ignorant as my self And though my heart be deceitful above all things yet as far as I understand mine own heart If I speak these words out of partiality or faction let me be excluded from having my part in those merits I say let me desire you or rather let our holy Mother the Church perswade you in the 17. Article to receive Gods promises in such wise as they are generally set forth unto us in holy Scriptures 59. For consider impartially with your selves what an unreasonable horrible thing is it seeing there are so many several frequent expressions of Gods general love and gracious favour unto Mankind inforc'd and strengthned with such protestations and solemn oaths that the cunning'st Linguist of you all cannot with your whole lives study conceive or frame expressions more full and satisfactory I say then Is it not desperate madness for a man to shew such hatred and abomination at these comfortable and gracious professions of God that he can be content to spend almost his whole age in contriving and hunting after Interpretations utterly contradicting and destroying the plain apparent sense of those Scriptures and will be glad and heartily comforted to hear tidings of a New-found-out Gloss to pervert and rack and torment Gods holy word 60. On the other side Far be it from us to think that it is in our power when we list or have a mind to it to put our selves in the number of Gods elect faithful servants Or to imagine that we have God so sure chain'd and fettered to us by his Promises that we may dispense now then for the commission of a delightful gainful crime Or that when we have business for a sin to advantage us in our fortunes we need not be too scrupulous about it seeing God is bound upon our sorrow and contrition to receive us again into favour Thou wretched Fool Darest thou make an advantage of Gods goodness to assist and patronize thy security 'T is true God has promised Remission of sins to a repentant contrite sinner but has he assur'd thee that he will give thee Repentance whensoever thou pleasest to allow thy self leisure to seek it No Know that there is a time and presuming Security like sleep doth hasten and add wings to that time when there will be found no way for Repentance though thou seekest it with tears And thus more than I meant for the persons 61. And now what remains but that we try an experiment That we may know in what a comfortable state Christ hath set us let us consider and look about us to see if we can find any enemies that are likely to do us any harm For which purpose we shall not meet with a more acurate Spy and Intelligencer than S. Paul who in the remainder of his Chapter after my Text hath mustered them together in one Roll. But first there is one if he were our adversary he would be in stead of a thousand enemies unto us and that is GOD. But him we are sure of in the verse before my Text For it is he that Justifies therefore surely he will not condemn Therefore what say you to Tribulation or Distress or Persecution or Famine or Nakedness or Peril or the Sword Why these are not worthy the naming for over all these we are more than conquerours More than conquerours what is that Why they are not only overcome and disarm'd but they are brought over to our faction they war on our side 62. Well in the next
directions than he has thought fit 42. I beseech you therefore my beloved Brethren by all means make use of any advantages which may serve to render you more earnest more eager and resolute in your obedience to those holy and perfect Commandements which he hath enjoyn'd you If you cannot find your selves arriv'd as yet to that height of perfection as that Love and Charity cannot wrest from you sufficient carefulness to obey him Let fear have its operation with you fear and horrour of that terrible issue which shall attend the wilful and habitual transgressours of his Laws And you need not suspect this course as unwarrantable for you shall have St. Paul for your example even that Paul for whose miraculous conversion Christ was pleas'd himself in Person to descend from his Throne of Majesty that Paul who laboured in the Gospe more than all the rest of the Apostles that Paul whose joy and hearts comfort it was to be afflicted for the Name of Christ Lastly that Paul who for a time was ravish'd from the Earth to the third Heaven after a most inexpressable manner and there heard things that cannot be uttered This Paul I say shall be your example who after all these things found it yet a convenient motive and received great encouragement and eagerness to proceed in his most blessed conversation even from this fear Lest whilest he preached to others himself should become a cast-away 43. And when Fear has done its part let Hope come in Hope of that happy Communion which you shall once again have with those friends which may be purchased in this life at so easie a rate Hope of that eternal weight and burden of joy and glory which is reserved in Heaven for you if you hold fast the rejoycing of the Hope stedfast unto the end Heb. 3.6 Let a comfortable meditation of these things encourage and hearten you to proceed from one degree of holiness to another till we all come in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect Man to the measure of the fulness of the stature of Christ And for an example in this take that whole cloud of witnesses mustered together in Heb. 11. Or if they will not serve the turn take an Example above all examples an Example beyond all imaginable exceptions even our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ himself concerning whom the Author of the same Epistle it was St. Paul sure saith Chap. 12. That for the joy which was set before him despised the shame and endured the Cross c. 44. God knows we have need of all manner of encouragements and all little enough for us so sluggish and immoveable so perverse and obstinate are we Therefore for Gods sake upon any terms continue in the service of Christ make use of all manner of advantages and though ye find hope or fear predominate in you these servile affections as they are commonly call'd yet for all that faint not dispair not but rather give thanks to Almighty God and God who sees such good effect of his Promises and Threatnings in you of which all the Scripture is full from one end to the other will in his good time fill your hearts full of his Love even that perfect love which casteth out fear and of that perfect Love which shall have no need of Hope He will perfect that his good work in you unto the end 45. To conclude all Whether ye shall perform this Commandement of Christ or whether ye shall not perform it It cannot be avoided Everlasting habitations shall be your reward Only the difference is Whether ye will have them of your Enemies providing whether ye will be beholding to the Devil and his Angels your ancient mortal Enemies to prepare everlasting dwellings for you And who can dwell in everlasting fire saith the Prophet Who can dwell in continual burnings Or whether ye will expect them from the assistance of those just persons whom you have by your good works eternally oblig'd to you even those blessed and glorious Habitations which God the Father Almighty hath from the beginning of the world provided and furnish'd for you which God the Son by his meritorious Death and Passion hath purchased for you and for the admission whereunto God the Holy Ghost hath sanctified and adorn'd you that in thankfulness and gratitude you your selves may become everlasting Habitations pure and undefiled Temples for him to dwell in for ever and ever Now unto these glorious and everlasting habitations God of his infinite mercy bring us even for Jesus Christ his sake To whom with the Father c. The Seventh Sermon LUKE XIX 8. And if I have defrauded any man by forged cavillation I restore unto him four fold THe Son of man saith our Saviour of Himself in the end of this story is come to seek and to save that which was lost Vers 10. And how careful and solicitous he was in the discharge of this employment and business about which his Father sent him this story of Zacchaeus out of which my Text is taken will evidently and lively discover For here we have a Man that among ten thousand one would think were the most unlikely to become a Disciple of Christs so indispos'd he was for such a change so unqualified in all respects For first he was Rich as the third verse tells us and if that were all his fault yet in our Saviour's judgement which was never uncharitable being so clogg'd and burdened with these impedimenta as even the Heathens could call Riches it would be as hard for him to press through and enter in at the streight gate without uneasing and freeing himself from them as for a Camel to go through the eye of a Needle 2. But secondly these his Riches as it would seem were scarce well and honestly gotten For his trade and course of life was a dangerous trade obnoxious to great almost irresistible temptations A great measure of grace would be requisite to preserve a man incorrupt and undefiled in that course and so ill a name he had gotten himself that all that afterwards saw Christs familiarity with him were much offended and scandaliz'd at it for we read in the 7. verse Vers 7. that when they all saw it they murmured saying that he was gone in to lodge with a sinful man with one famous and notorious for a great oppressour 3. Yet notwithstanding all this such was the unspeakable mercy and goodness of Christ that even of this Stone so scorned and rejected of all the people he raised a son unto Abraham as we find in the 9. verse Vers 9. And to bring this to pass he took occasion even from a vain curiosity of this Zacchaeus an humour of his it may be such a one as afterward possessed Herod though God knows he had not the same success namely to see some strange work performed by Christ of whom he had heard so much talk This opportunity
them to fly away and escape out of the hands of the Purchasers Shall such men because they are not able to restore be concluded in such a desperate estate as before I have mentioned No God forbid If in such circumstances a man shall be unfeignedly sorry for his misdeeds and withal resolve if God shall hereafter bless him with abilities Sol. to make restitution our merciful God will accept of that good inclination of his heart as if he had perfectly satisfi'd and restor'd to each man his due For without all question God will never condemn any man because he is not rich 40. If it shall be again questioned and the supposition made that a man for example Object 3 a Tradesman cannot possibly call to remembrance each particular mans name whom he hath wrong'd as indeed it is almost impossible he should what advice shall he take in such a case I answer that he must in this case consider Sol. that by this sin he hath not only wrong'd his Neighbour but God also therefore since he cannot find out the one let him repay it to the other Let him be so charitable and do that kindness to God as to bestow it in Alms upon his poor servants Or since God himself is grown so poor and needy especially in this Kingdom that he hath not means enough to repair his own Houses nor scarse to make them habitable He may do well to rescue God's Churches from being habitations of Beasts and stables for Cattel Or lastly which more concerns you since God is here grown so much out of purse that he has not means enough to pay his own Servants wages equal to the meanest of your houshold servants let not them any longer be the mocking-stocks of those Canaanites your Enemies that so swarm in your Land Here is a subject fit indeed for your Charity and a miserable case it is God knows that they should be the persons who of all conditions of men should stand in greatest need of your mercy and charity 41. Oh! but will some man say We have found now at what the Preacher aimeth All this ado about Restitution is only to enrich the Clergy If such thoughts and jealousies as these arise in your hearts as I know by experience it is no unlikely thing they should Oh then I beseech you for the mercies of God consider in what a miserable state the Church must needs be when the most likely course to keep the Ministers of God from starving must be your sins When those to whom you have committed your souls in trust as they that must give God an account for them shall through want and penury be rendred so heartless and low-spirited that for fear of your anger and danger of starving they shall not dare to interrupt or hinder you when you run head-long in the paths that lead you to destruction When out of faint-heartedness they shall not dare to take notice no not of the most scandalous sins of their Patrons but which is worst be the most forward officious Parasites to sooth them in their crimes and cry Peace unto them when God and their own Consciences tell them that they are utter strangers from it and neither do nor are ever likely to know the ways of Peace Lastly when these Messengers of God shall be the most ready to tell you that those Possessions and Tithes which have been wrested out of Gods hands are none of Gods due that they are none of the Churches Patrimony that their right is nothing but your voluntary Alms and charitable Benevolence and that they shall think themselves sufficiently and liberally dealt withal if you shall account them worthy to be the companions of the basest meanest of your servants I could almost be silent in this cause did not our Enemies in Gath know of it and if it were not publish'd in the streets of Askalon insomuch that you have given cause to the Enemies of God to blaspheme our glorious and undefiled Religion 42. I will conclude this Doctrin of Restitution most necessary certainly to be prosecuted in these times only with proposing to your considerations two Motives which in all reason ought to perswade you to the practise of it the one shall be that you would do it for your own sakes the other for your childrens sake For the former though I could never be scanted of Arguments sufficient to enforce it though I should make it the subject of my Sermons to my lives end yet because I perceive it is time for me to hasten to your release I will only desire you to remember how much I have told you already that this Doctrin concerns you since it is impossible for any man while he is guilty of the breach of this duty to put in practise even the most necessary and indispensable Precepts of Christian Religion 43. But concerning the second Motive which I desire should induce to the practise of Restitution namely that you should be perswaded to it even for your childrens sake I beseech you take this seriously into your consideration That whereas it may be you may think that by heaping wealth howsoever purchased upon your heirs you shall sufficiently provide for them against all casualties yet that God also hath his treasures in store to countervail yours and to provide so that your Heirs shall take but little content God knows in all their abundance for as it is in Job 20.8 God will lay up the iniquity of sinners for their children i.e. He will not satisfie himself with wreaking vengeance of other mens wrongs upon your heads that have done them but will take care also that your children shall be no gainers by the bargain Therefore as you desire the welfare of those for whose sake especially you dare adventure to hazard even your own souls bequeath not to them for a legacy a canker and moth that will assuredly consume and devour all your Riches Take pitty of those poor souls who are nothing interessed in their own persons in those crimes wherewith their wealth was purchased and leave not unto them a curse from God upon their inheritance But I see I must be forc'd even abruptly to break from this Argument of Restitution I come therefore briefly to my last particular namely the excess and extraordinary measure of Zacchaeus his Restitution which he professeth shall be four-fold to be dispatch'd in one word 44. However I found it something a hard task to clear my first particular of Confession from the danger and neighbourhood of Popery yet Partic. 2 I fear that in most mens opinions it will prove more difficult to do as much for this For here is an Action perform'd by Zacchaeus namely Object Fourfold Restitution without all question good and acceptable to God and yet not enjoyn'd by vertue of any Commandement and What is that but plain Popish Super-erogation For the Judicial Law of restoring fourfold is only in strictness and propriety applicable to plain direct
to the Corinthians And say There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man For certainly we will not imagine that the Church or City of Corinth had any such extraordinary Immunity or Charter granted them whereby they should be exempted from the danger of Temptations above all the Christian world besides Therefore let your memories recollect and examin the time past of your lives and tell me Did there ever any Temptation take hold of you or assault you so powerful and irresistable that there was no way left for you but to be overcome by it Take Temptation now in what sense you please either for a misfortune and Affliction or else for a Suggestion to sin Was there ever any calamity any loss any pain any sickness so violent and impetuous but that still you might perceive your selves notwithstanding though perhaps in your outward man unequally match't by it yet in your spirits and minds strong enough to conquer the malice thereof and to convert it into wholesome Physick Again Was there ever any sinful Temptation so strongly urg'd upon you but that you might by the assistance of that Grace which God had already given you or at the least for the asking would have super-added you might easily have dull'd and diverted the force thereof Did not your Consciences even after you were overcome by such a Temptation tell you that it was meer voluntary cowardize in you to suffer your selves to be overcome by it that you willingly surrendred and betray'd those forces which already God had given you 4. Now though I am perswaded this be so evidently true that there is scarce any one here but his Conscience will assure him as much Yet for all this we must not begin hereupon to fancy in our minds any extraordinary worth or dignity in our selves as though by our own power or holiness we could work such wonders No alas nothing less For take away the assistance and guard of our Auxiliary Forces God's free and undeserved Graces within us and his Divine assistance together with the Guard of his blessed Angels without us and there is no Temptation so weak and despicable which we should not suddenly yield unto Nay we should need no outward Tempters to help us to sin our own wicked hearts would save the Devil that labour For nothing is there so vile and abominable whereunto without God's restraining Grace we should not readily and impetuously hasten unto 5. Therefore let us neither defraud God nor our selves of their dues But as we have spoken of the time past so likewise of that which follows If hereafter we shall overcome any temptation as certainly by Gods help if we have but a mind to it we may Let us bless Almighty God for assisting us so farr let us give the glory and Trophies of the conquest to him But on the contrary side if we shall neglect to make use and advantage of those many helps against sin which Almighty God is ready to supply unto us If notwithstanding those many Promises of assistance so frequently set down in Holy Scripture If notwithstanding those many secret whisperings and inspirations of his Holy Spirit in our souls If notwithstanding God's Voyce which as every day's experience can witness unto us continually calls upon us saying This is the right way walk in it and ye shall find rest to your souls we will yet continue to extinguish those good motions to deafen and drown God's voyce and be ready to hearken unto and obey our own filthy lusts and vile affections Let us lay the fault where it is due even upon our own deceitful wicked Hearts or otherwise the time will come when in Hell we shall be evidently convinc'd thereof when the worm of Conscience which never dyeth shall continually torment and gnaw us Let God be true and faithful in his Promises and every man a Lyar. For as hitherto God has been so merciful to you to preserve you that no temptation should take you but such as is common to man so likewise for the time following though perhaps greater tryals may befal you than hitherto you have had experience of yet of this you may be confident that howsoever they may seem grievous yet the same God continues faithful and righteous to fulfil his Promises He will never suffer you to be tempted above that you are able 6. Temptation is 〈◊〉 thing of its own Nature indifferent and is rendred good or evil from the end and intention of the Tempter especially It is nothing else but making a tryal or experiment If good and assay whether that good which seems to be in a subject be true and firmly grounded or no So God may be said to tempt as he did Abraham c. And this he performs not to satisfie his curiosity but meerly out of a good inclination to the party both thereby to confirm his graces in him and to reward them with a greater measure of Glory If evil Temptation is an assay whether that good which seems to be in a man may not by some means or other be extinguish'd and so the person destroyed so the Devil is most properly called the Tempter And of this nature are the Temptations of my Text Now these we find in Holy Scripture to be twofold For either they are apt to draw us from good by way of Discouragement so all manner of afflictions misfortunes persecutions c. are called Temptations because by these a man is inclinable to be frighted from or at last discountenanced in a holy conversation Or else they allure us by way of invitation or sollicitation to evil so wicked pleasing suggestions are said to be Temptations because these are fit to palliate the unloveliness and deformity of sin and thereby to make it desirable unto us It would be but loss of time to heap together Examples of holy Scripture to make good this distinction since it is an Argument which you daily meet withal discours'd of in Sermons 7. But I confess I find it something difficult to determin whether of these two senses with exclusion of the other be intended by St. Paul in my Text whether when he says God will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able his meaning should be God by his Wisdom and Providence will so contrive businesses for you that though you are not likely to live in a contiual uninterrupted course of happiness and security but that sometimes you shall dash your foot against a stone you shall be disquieted and molested with afflictions of several natures notwithstanding this you may be confident of that let what misfortue will come how grievous and even insupportable soever it may seem unto you it shall never be so violent and out-ragious but that God will provide a way for you to escape from it there will be a dore left open for you to avoid the furiousness and impetuousness of it either God will arm you with Patience to bear it
and then the comfort which your souls may feel in the consideration of what glorious rewards are promised unto your Patience shall make your afflictions even matters of rejoycing unto you in which respect as St. James saith you ought to count it all joy when you fall into divers Temptations Or if those Temptations and Afflictions reach so farr as to the destroying of your Lives yet notwithstanding all this they are so unable to make you miserable unless you will take part with them against your own souls by repining and murmuring under the mighty hand of God that when you shall consider that blessed change which death shall bring unto you when all tears shall be wiped from your eyes all fear and expectation of misery removed nothing but inexpressable and everlasting joys to be expected you shall bless the time that ever you were afflicted and with St. Paul confess That the afflictions of this life are worthy of that joy which shall be revealed This I say is a good Catholique Orthodox sense and which it is very probable that St. Paul might more directly intend in these words of my Text. 8. Notwithstanding I cannot exclude the other sense of the word Temptation from this Text for according to the Analogy of Faith and without any wrong done to the dependance and connexion of these words God will not suffer you to be tempted c. St. Paul's intent in them might be such as if it had been thus spread out more at large though considering the many disadvantages we have in the way of godliness in respect both of our powerful malicions industrious and subtile Enemy the Devil who continually waits upon us to entrap us in respect of our seeming flattering friend the world and vanities thereof alluring us But especially in respect of our own wicked and deceitful Hearts forward and desirous enough to embrace the wicked suggestions and temptations of both nay sufficient to destroy us without the assistance of either I say that though these things considered we may seem to be set in the expression of the Holy Ghost upon slippery places where it is almost impossible for us to keep our footing and to preserve our selves from falling dangerously and dashing our selves in pieces 9. Notwithstanding if our eyes were opened as were the eyes of the Prophet Elisha's servant we should find as well as he that they that be with us are more than they that be against us For God and his Holy Angels who are on our side are both wiser and stronger than the Devil and more willing to do us good than the other can be to hurt us Besides the expectation of those gloriousrewards which are laid up in Heaven for us are sufficient even to any reasonable man to dis-relish unto him the vain unsatisfying pleasures of this world And though our own hearts naturally be never so traiterous and unfaithful yet by the power of that Grace which is plentifully showred down upon every one of us in our Baptism and which is dayly encreased and supplyed unto us they may easily be corrected and renewed So that if the suggestion of any wicked Temptation get the mastery over us let us not impute too much to the valour and strength of our Enemies let us not accuse God of any unwillingness to succour us For never any Temptation hath or ever shall happen unto us but such as is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suitable unto the nature of man such as a reasonable considerate and a circumspect man by the ordinary assistance of God's Grace and careful application of those means wherewith we are abundantly furnished out of Holy Scripture as Prayer Watchfulness Fasting and the like may easily conquer and subdue 10. This sense of these words may with as good reason and probability be suppos'd to be intended by St. Paul in this place as the former And indeed unless we inlarge St. Paul's words to this meaning also we shall receive no extraordinary comfort and encouragement from them For though indeed it is true that it is more than we can deserve at God's hands to obtain a Promise from him to secure us that no Temptations no outward Afflictions of this world shall be so violent and furious upon us as to exceed the strength of Reason and Grace to withstand them Yet since Sin is that only Enemy which is able to withdraw God's favour from us and make him our Enemy unless we can be put in some hope that there is a possible course for us to prevail against sin also and all the dangerous temptations and suggestions thereof we should live but an uncomfortable discontented life we should be continually affrighted with sad melancholick thoughts with disquieting jealousies and fears that however we may now and then please our selves with conceits of Gods favour for the present yet since he has pass'd no promise of securing us for the future it may happen that such a sinful Temptation may come upon us which may be able do what we can to over-whelm us irrecoverably Therefore since this latter sense which I mentioned of these words is more profitable and advantageous to us I will especially at this time insist upon it and labour to demonstrate undeniably to every one of us that God is faithful and will assuredly make good that promise which he hath made unto us all namely not to suffer us to be tempted that is by any sinful temptation above that we are able 11. Now he is said to be tempted above that he is able who do what he can though he strain his natural endowments to the uttermost and though he endeavour heartily to make use of all the outward helps and assistances which he finds prescribed unto him out of Gods Word though he extend that measure of Grace wherewith he is furnished to the extreamest activity thereof to resist such a Temptation yet in the end is forced to yield to the power of it utterly fainting and languishing in the combat So on the contrary that man who being compleatly furnish'd with all requisite weapons both for his own defence and encountring his Adversary and besides having in him both ability of body and courage enough and yet out of a sleepy negligence or obstinate sullenness will not take the pains to lift up his arm or otherways bestir himself to oppose his Enemy such a man if overcome can in no reason be said to be Over-match'd but is a mere Traytour to his own safety and reputation 12. And indeed before I can proceed any further I must either take this for granted That some men though de facto they have been overcome by a Temptation yet might have resisted it by the assistance of that Grace wherewith they were enabled Or truly I know not what to say For if this be a good inference a man is overcome by a Temptation therefore he could not possibly have resisted Adam for all he was seduc'd by the Devil is not so culpable as
loving and careful to do us good And certainly as God is stronger than the Devil so likewise excessive goodness in the Angels will easily prevail against extream malice in the Devil Now it is the nature of Love to be willing to take any pains for the good of the person beloved whereupon St. Paul in that most divine description of the three Cardinal Christian Vertues 1 Thess 1.3 thus expresseth them Remembring your work of Faith and labour of Love and patience of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ I confess it is the nature of Malice too to be very laborious and observant of all advantages against the subject Hated But this must needs be granted that Love will conquer Malice in the same degree 18. Thus you see we are reasonably well befriended and back'd by these our Auxiliary Forces of our Guardian Angels so that we need not be disheartned if we had no more But beyond all these we have Almighty God to our friend whose power is so unlimitted that without any straining of Himself without the bending of his Bow and drawing his Sword only with unclasping his hand Substractione Manutenentiae with meer letting hold go all creatures in Heaven and Earth would return to nothing Psal 84.11 He is in the language of the Psalmist a Sun and a Shield that is in the phrase of another Psalm a Light and Defence a Sun to discover unto us the secret ambushes and practises of our Enemies and a Shield to protect us from their open force and violence 19. I will some man say there is no man can make any question of God's Power Obj. But the difficulty is How we should be sure of his good will If that were but once procured the Battel were as good as at an end Why Sol. for that we must have recourse to Gods Word there it is that we must find upon what terms businesses stand between him and us And there certainly we shall find words which at the first sight to any ordinary reasonable man would seem to make much for us There are Invitations to a League with him desires and requests as passionate as I think ever Poet strain'd for There are Promises which look as if they were serious and unfeigned they are confirm'd with Vows and solemn Oaths of sincerity and all these seemingly directed to every one of us What can we desire any more especially from Almighty God who stands in no need of our favour and therefore is not likely to bespeak our good opinions of him with dissembling and lies 20. Oh Obj. but it is the easiest matter in the world for a man with a School-Subtilty by an Almighty distinction to cut off any mans right of Entail to those Promises to appropriate them only to our own friends to some two or three that he is pleased to favour Sol. I would to God that men would but consider what end what project Almighty God should have in making his poor creatures believe he means well to them when there is no such matter Would any of you saith our Saviour when his Son shall ask him bread give him a stone or instead of a fish to nourish him a serpent to destroy him If then you which are evil know how to give good gifts If you would not have the heart to mock poor children after this manner How much rather would not God For Gods sake therefore let there be but as much sincerity as much good nature in Almighty God I will not say as in your selves for it may be that would be too much for you to grant but as our Saviour confesseth that there were in the Jews that crucified him And then we all of us have right enough to his promises we shall have no reason to doubt of his good intention to help and assist us so far that unless we delight in destruction unless we will turn sugitives unless we will fight on our enemies side All the Devils in Hell shall not be able to prevail against us And thus much of the first squadrons Michael and his Angels opposed to the Devil and his Angels 21. The second enemy which we professed hostility against in our Baptism was the vain temptations of this world And so forcible and prevailing are the temptations thereof that the Devil who for his powerful managing of this weapon is called the God of this world in his Encounter with our Saviour set up his rest upon it as supposing if this would not serve his turn there were no more fighting for him All this will I give thee said he And such a value he set upon this stake that no less than the extremest degree of horrible Idolatry could serve his turn to oppose against it All this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me And when he saw that this proffer would not be accepted he presently quits the field despairing utterly of any success The more dangerous indeed is this enemy I may say more dangerous to us than the Devil himself because we all acknowledge the Devil in person to be our enemy and therefore not one of us will be beholding to him for any thing if he bring us the gift himself a sick man would not be healed by him nor a poor man made rich but scarce one among a thousand has that opinion of the vain pomps and sinful pleasures of the world Our enemy No certainly It is the best and most comforting friend we have in this life all our thoughts are taken up with it it possesseth us at all times we dream of it sleeping and pursue it waking And yet our Saviour saith Ye cannot serve God and Mammon And again How can ye believe who seek honour one of another And again If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him What strength then have we to oppose this enemy 22. Why surely that which would suffice but an ordinary reasonable man and might serve any of us but that we will needs be unreasonable only in things which concern our everlasting welfare And that is the consideration of those unspeakable joyes which shall attend those who can despise the unsatisfying vain pleasures of this life A Philosopher which but reading Plato's Poetical description of the serenity of that life which a vertuous soul delivered from the Prison of the body lives was so far transported with the conceit of it though for ought he knew there was no such thing indeed or if there were perhaps never intended for him that he becomes presently weary of this prison and by a violent death frees himself from it and God only knows what a change he found Whereas we have Gods word for the certainty of that glorious life which his servants shall live yea a great deal of pains he hath taken to make it desirable and amiable unto us by ransacking all the treasures of this world the most costly jewels the most precious metals to embellish
us especially if we be not utter strangers to our selves if we be not ignorant of our own weakness 28. For satisfaction therefore to this discouragement I will now endeavour to demonstrate by proofs drawn from undeniable Reason and experience That there is no sinful Temptation so strong but that an ordinary Christian may by the assistance before mentioned easily conquer it And lest my proceeding herein may lye open to any manner of exception let me choose from among you the weakest most unexperienc'd Christian I dare oppose this man against the sharpest and most furious Temptation and will make him confess that though he be de facto subdued by it yet that that came to pass meerly by his own voluntary and affected unwatchfulness and cowardise and that it was truly in very deed in his power to have resisted it I will make choice to instance in the sin of uncleanness and fornication a sin that generally finds such excuse and patronage in the world because it is supposed to be so naturally born and bred up with us that there is no shaking it off it is a sin so resolved upon to be unconquerable that few men go about to restrain it The ancient Antidotes against this sin Watching and Fasting are grown out of use with us we conclude they will do us little good against this hereditary evil and therefore the best is to give them clean over 29. Yet I say let me suppose an ordinary Christian environed with all the strongest temptations to this so natural and therefore concluded so excusable a sin let him have the most charming beauty that has the most artificial waies of sollicitation together with opportunity and all circumstances which are not fit to be supposed here yet for all this if that man should say he is not able to resist such a tempration he lies against his own soul For if at that instant a sudden message should interrupt him a threatning of Death if he did not free himself from the danger of her filthy embraces would he not do it I desire only that each one of you in his heart would answer for him Then it is clear he is able to resist this pretended irresistable temptation And why should not the consideration of the danger of eternal Torments be as perswasive against any sin as the fear of a momentany death But I will not make my advantage of so frightful an enemy to his pleasure as Death Suppose in all those circumstances before mentioned a good sum of money were but offered him upon condition he would abstain but that time from the execution of his filthy lust I doubt not at all but that upon these terms he would find strength enough to conquer this Temptation Shall Satan then be able to cast out Satan and shall not God much more do it Shall one sin be able to destroy the exercise of another and shall not Grace much rather 30. Besides if we believe that generally it is not in our power to resist any of these temptations How dare you who are Fathers suffer your Daughters after they are come to years to live unmarried How dare you expose their souls to such dangers unless you think that ordinarily any man or woman is able to resist the Temptations of the flesh How dare you who are Menchants for the hope of a llittle gain live in foreign Countreys as if you were divorc'd from your wives if you religiously think that were it not for the benefit of marrige they could not ordinarily be honest 31. Lastly you may remember that our Saviour in his descriptions of Hell seldome leaves out this phrase where the worm dieth not which worm is generall by interpreters moraliz'd into the sting of conscience i.e. a continual vexation of soul in the Reprobates caused by the consideration how it was meerly their own fault their wilful folly which brought them to that misery Now this worm would dye and be quite extinguish'd in them if they were of some mens opinions that the reason why they sinn'd was not because they would sin but because they could not choose but do it because they wanted power to resist all the temptations which were objected to them Such a conceit may serve indeed to vex them but it is in 〈◊〉 possible it should trouble their conscience For by this Reason Corah Dathan and Abiram might with as good reason be tormented in conscience for falling into Hell when the earth opened under them as for their sin of Rebellion against Moses If the Reason why they committed that sin was the subtraction of Divine Grace and assistance without which it was impossible for them not to be Rebels But indeed why should Almighty God withdraw his Grace from any man Because say some by falling Obj. they may experimentally learn their own weakness without his assistance and so be discouraged from trusting or relying upon themselves A strange Reason no doubt Sol. For as long as they have the Grace of God they will not relye upon themselves and when they are destitute of his Grace they cannot relie upon him so that it seems God takes away his Grace from a man for this end that wanting it he may sin and by that means when he has got that grace again he may perceive that when he is destitute of Gods grace he cannot choose but sin which was a thing which he knew at the first without all this adoe But there may be a better Reason given Obj. why God should take away his Grace from a man and that is because he negligently omits to make his best use of it and so deserves that punishment Sol. But this Reason will satisfie as little as the former For suppose for example a man at this instant in the state of Grace and so in the favour of God Upon these grounds it is impossible that this man should ever sin For surely God will not undeservedly take away his Grace from him till he merit that puishment by his Sin and till God take away his Grace from him he cannot sin therefore he must never sin But this discourse though it meerly concern Practise looks so like a Controversie that I am weary of it 32. We are apt enough to slander God with too much mercy sometimes as if he bore us so particular an affection that notwithstanding our never so many sins yet he will still be merciful unto us Oh that we could conceive of his mercy and goodness aright as rather willing to prevent our sins by giving us sufficient preservatives against the commiting them I would to God that in stead of making subtil-scholastical disputes of the power and efficacy of Gods Grace we would magnifie the force thereof by suffering it to exercise its sway in our lives and conversation we should then easily find that we are able do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us Errata's in the Sermons PAg. 4. lin 3. for your mouth read his mouth p. 5. l. 15. f. studiply r. stupidly p. 19. l. 14. f. were r. where p. 2◠l. 12. f. you every r. you and every p. 43. l. 42. f. any r. nay p. 45. l. 43. f. counnance r. conntenance l. 45 46. f. words Christ r. words of Christ p. 49. l. 49. f. much r. must p. 58. l. 8. f. it almost r. it is almost p. 102. l. 41. f. behaviour this r. behaviour in this p. 103. l. 33. f. tha◠r. that A Table of the Texts of the foregoing SERMONS SERMON L. on 2 TIM III. 1 2 3 4 5. THis know also that in the last daies perilous times shall come For men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to Parents unthankful unholy Without natural affection truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good Traitors heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God Having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof Pag. 1. SERMON III. on PSAL. XIV 1 The Fool hath said in his heart There is no God P. 19 35 SERMON IV. on LUKE IX 23. Let him deny himself P. 49 SERMON V. on ROM VIII 34. Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again P. 63 SERMON VI. on LUKE XVI 9. Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when you fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations P. 81 SERMON VII on LUKE XIX 8. And if I have defrauded any man by forged cavillation I restore unto him four fold P. 97 SERMON VIII GAL. V. 5. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of Righteousness by Faith P. 112 SERMON IX on 1 COR. X. 13. God is Faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able P. 137 FINIS