Men and Angels and they continuing to do well shall be Partakers of everlasting Life and Happiness This is the Condition these are the Privileges of every true Christian of every Man who is not grossly wanting to himself and careless of his own manifestly greatest and best Interests The Inferences I would make are these two I. Let us then set an high value upon the Christian Religion in general and in particular on our being Members of that Body of which Christ is the Head Since so many and such inestimable Advantages accrue to us by being parts of this Society let us take the greatest care to preserve our selves in Union with it Let us not as too many in our Days are be indifferent whether we be of this Body or no Let us not needlesly separate our selves from it Do not make slight Account of those Censures which cut us off from the Church for if they be exercised non errante Clave that is upon good ground a just Cause and by a just Authority God confirms in Heaven what his Commissioners do upon Earth Whose Sins they remit or retain are remitted or retained by him also And if there be a Male Administration yet the excommunicated Person is deprived of some Benefits which otherwise he might have Have a great regard for that Body of which whosoever is a Member hath so great Privileges Be careful not to make any unnecessary and unnatural Divisions and Schisms in it or to do any thing that may tend to the dissolution of that most excellent Scociety II. Let us behave our selves as becomes the Members of this excellent Society and let our Lives and Tempers our Devotion towards God our Justice and Charity towards Men our good Government of our selves according to the Rules of Temperance and Moderation let these make it manifest what excellent Advantages we have by being Members of the Christian Church We have Advantages above others let us shew this by living better Lives than others If we be not much better than other Men we must needs be far worse Let us not be so foolish as to neglect the Advantages we have Forsake not the assembling of your selves together as the manner of some is c. Neglect not the Sacraments as too too many do I conclude all by reminding you in short of the Advantages of which I have spoken And desire you 1. To consider Men singly And 2. In Societies And under the First That their Knowledg and Wisdom their Vertue and Goodness their Quiet and Peace their Joy and Pleasure their future and everlasting Happiness are further'd and secured by their being Members of this Society Under the second That this sacred Society is a great Security to and Establishment of that Order which is necessary to all Civil Societies and doth greatly conduce to that Peace and Prosperity i. e. Wealth and Credit which is their End This Society is so far from interfering with the Civil that it is very beneficial to them for it preserves and confirms them All this Good is procured by Mens being incorporated into the Body of Christ as appears First By the first Admission and Entrance into the Church which is done by a publick Profession of the Religion of Christ a being baptized into the Name of Father Son and Holy-Ghost All which must lay a great Engagement on us to live holy and excellent Lives that so we may live answerably to the Profession we have made and the Engagement we have taken upon us Secondly This will also appear hugely beneficial to that excellent Order and Government which is setled and is to be observed in the Church but especially those incomparably good Laws which are given to this Society those especially which are peculiar to it Those of Love and doing good to all in especial manner of Love to one another of forgiving even Enemies of Meekness c. And also that most humane and proper Discipline which is prescribed to be used toward Offenders For this is a Government whose design is the Increase of every Man's Vertue and Happiness And this Government is so excellently contrived that the particular and private Interests of any do never clash or interfere with the publick Interest of the Society in general And tho many Corruptions and Abuses have crept into the Government of the Christian Church yet even in a very Male-Administration of it there are still great Helps to Vertue And those very Formalities and Shadows and Names of some Offices and Things which remain may serve to put us in mind what ought to be and what we should take care to do or to avoid It is in this as in other Governments better to be under bad ones than none at all and more eligible to bear the Corruptions of Men who are at present in place of Power than to attempt a Change of the Constitution or to go about to alter the Government it self Thirdly The Archives and Records of this Society which are contained in the Books of the Old and New Testament which indeed it is possible a Man may have that is not of this Society but by his being of it he is entitled to this Privilege he now hath free access to them And how much these Divine Records tend to enlighten Mens Minds and to purify their Hearts only they know who have used them There we have upon Record the first Original of this excellent Society the gradual Dispensations of God to his Church of all Ages the Examples and Lives of many of the Members of it but especially the Holy Jesus the Acts of Government and Discipline which have been in the first Age after Christ Fourthly The Publick Assemblies for the Exercise of Religion to which they are admitted Where 1. They pray to God publickly for and with each other 2. The Scriptures are read 3. They receive the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper and Infants are baptized Fifthly The Conversation the Counsels and Exhortations and Reproofs and Examples of their Fellow-Members All these tend to make Men vertuous and that brings with it present Peace and future Happiness for God loves and will reward Vertue c. OF LOVING OUR ENEMIES MATTH 5. 44. But I say unto you Love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you c. THese Words are enforced by a very great Authority and it was necessary in the Opinion of some that they should be born up by the Credit of the Law-giver that the repute of his Wisdom and Goodness might take off the Scandal of Folly and Evil in the Command For with many this Text and divers others are contradictory to Reason and opposite to the Nature of Man than which Opinion I know nothing more prejudicial to Christian Religion For if this be granted it is then confess'd that our Religion is false and evil that whosoever believes it believes in Opposition to his Mind and he that obeys
of the whole Earth for in all places where there are Men of this Character and Quality Men of the truly Christian Temper and Spirit Men that obey the Law of Christ and live as he did there are the Members of Christ's Body For Christ is not a Name and a Word nor is Christianity a Profession and a Shew only nor is the Company of the Faithful Men of an external Denomination but Christ is a spiritual Head and Christianity is an inward Principle of Life and Power and Christians are not those who have a Form of Knowledg and Godliness but the Power They are Christians who are inwardly such who have not only wash'd their Flesh in the Sacred Font but who have purified their Hearts who have cleansed their Consciences from dead Works to serve the Living God And where-ever in the World such Men are in what places how remote soever they are of the same Body of which Christ is Head and in whatsoever distant times they lived they were of the same Society For there were alway two great Corporations or Bodies of Men in the World and never more one who obeyed the Laws of God of whom the only begotten of the Father the Eternal Word is the Head the other who cast the Laws of God behind them and follow their own Lusts of these the Devil the Prince of Apostate Angels is the Governour So that the Men of this Christian Temper and Life in whatever Ages or Places of the World they have lived or do or shall live they are of this Society or Church Nay it extends it self further to those in Heaven also the Spirits of just Men made perfect They are indeed the Church Triumphant but they are still of the Church so that of this there shall be no end When we shall put off these corruptible Bodies and leave this Earth and go to Heaven yet even then and there we shall continue in the same Society and be Members of the Body of Christ From this Consideration we may infer What a grand Privilege it is to be of this truly Catholick Church which hath been in all Ages of the World and which will continue for ever which is not only in all places of this Earth but in Heaven also For by our being of the same Body we are engaged and disposed to an universal Love to all holy and good Men as Men of the fame Country or Town are more inclined to love each other rather than Strangers And this is a great Advantage indeed to have our Love directed aright and increased But besides this we communicate with the Saints of all Times and Places and receive many Benefits upon the account of their Prayers and their Holiness How many times hath the infinitely good God transmitted down his Blessings to many Generations for the sakes of his Abrahams and his Davids and the whole World but especially Men of the same Society with them have fared the better because of them This also is considerable That we cannot be separated from this Body by any length of Time or distance of Place where-ever we live or where-ever we are if we be of the Christian Spirit and Temper and live the Life of Christ we are of the Christian Church Nay tho it should happen that we be deprived of the outward Ordinances provided this be not through our own â—ault our Neglect or Contempt of the Divine Institutions we are not in this Case deprived of the Inward and Spiritual Influences which we have by our Union with this Mystical Body For the Prayers of the Vniversal Church bring Blessings upon us and the Spirit of Christ which enlivens and animates all his Members quickens us excites and assists our Endeavours and that care which our great and good Lord hath of all his Disciples reacheth us and we partake of his Protection as well as others that are of his Kingdom Thirdly There is such an excellent Order established in this Christian Polity that there is no clashing nor interfering of opposite interests but on the contrary each part doth assist other and is assisted by it and they all most friendly conspire together in the best manner to promote the welfare of all and every one There are no Confusions and Disorders but every one hath his Work his Business allotted him and that is according to every Man's Gifts and Qualifications and every Man is required to attend and do that Work which he is sitted for Now because Order and consequently Peace cannot be preserv'd without Government Christ hath instituted an excellent Government in his Church a Government that is both gentle and yet sufficiently strict for the attaining its Ends which is the Common Good And herein our Saviour hath shewn that he hath a care of the Body and therefore hath appointed Officers Deacons to see to the necessities of the Saints Men whose Business it should be to receive the charitable Gifts of some and bestow them upon the Indigent But he hath taken especial care of the Soul and therefore hath appointed others Presbyters whose Work this is to teach and instruct to exhort and persuade Men to live well and to administer his Holy Sacraments And he hath set Bishops over them to see that they do their Office and these Superiors are to ingage Men by their own Examples as well as by their Authority There are several Abuses and things which are destructive of Government all which our wise and good Governor the Lord Jesus hath as much as can be by his Institution prevented They are such such as these 1. Vsurpation of Office This will quickly bring in the greatest Disorder imaginable into any state if any Man may thrust himself into what Office he pleaseth for mens Ambition will lead them to desire those things for which they are no way fitted and divers will be aiming at the same which would therefore bring in Everlasting Contentions To prevent this our Saviour hath shewn by his own Example that Men must not take the honour of such Offices to themselves and by his Apostles hath straitly charged that none run before they be sent And therefore they did in the first times of Christianity which hath been continued ever since solemnly Ordaiâ— and set apart Men by Fasting and Prayer and Imposition of Hands 2. But lest they should authorize Men that were not fit for that Employment we have in several places of the inspired Epistles the Qualifications and Characters of those Men who should be commissioned 1 Tim. 3. 2 3. 3. That they may not affect a boundless Absoluteness he hath declared to them and others that he is Supream that they are all subject to him and that therefore we are to call no Man Master on Earth That is own none here to be Absolute and Supream account none to have Dominion ever our Faith They are all under Christ tho they be above us and must be accountable to him Nay they must be owned and obeyed by us
engage us also to do or suffer any thing for them We cannot but draw this easy Conclusion If he so loved us we ought also to love one another I mention only some and those but a few of the Advantages which we may and do receive by the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper for the increase of our Holiness and our Peace And this may suffice at present to the Sixth Particular I now proceed to the Seventh and last Seventhly The wise and good Counsels together with the holy and virtuous Examples of the Members of this Society both those that are on Earth and those that are in Heaven There is no Member of the Christian Church who wants Counsel or deserves Reproof or to whom Exhortation is necessary but lives among those who both can and will as Occasion serves advise and rebuke and persuade him for the Christian is fully instructed in what is good and fit and it is his duty not to suffer Sin upon his Brother but we are to exhort one another daily to the practice of Holiness And if we look into the Remains of the good Men who in former Ages were Members of the Church on Earth we shall find a rich Treasure of most wise and excellent Counsels that will direct our Behaviour in every Condition we can fall into These are extant in the Books of the Scripture and in other Writings of a Christian Spirit and Temper And as for the Examples how many are those that have gone before us in the ways of Holiness and Vertue whose Practice is our sure Guide in the ways that lead to Happiness I need not mention those known and celebrated Names of Abraham Isaac and Jacob of Job and David and the Prophets of the Lord who were all Members of the same Church of which the Eternal Word the only Begotten of the Father is the Head Besides these ancient Worthies we have the Lives of those good Men who were with and since our Saviour who have set us the fairest Copies of Meekness and Humility of an undaunted Courage a firm Patience an Obedience to Superiors a Justice and Honesty in all Dealings an universal Charity and Good-will an exact Temperance a true and an excellent Religion In short they have gone before us in all the ways of Holiness and Goodness But over and above and which is more than all these we have upon sure Record the most admirable Patern of Goodness that ever the World saw in the most excellent Life of our most blessed Lord. There is Holiness in perfection and Vertue in its most exalted state there we see the utmost possibilities of Goodness to which Human Nature can be raised on this Earth This and the rest of those great Examples serve to instruct our Ignorance to quicken our Dulness and to encourage our Faintings and Despondencies Besides these we have Examples of Men now alive which teach us Religion and Vertue and engage us to practise it As bad as the World is there are those who shine as Lights in the midst of the darkness of this Earth There are many whom the Grace of God hath taught to live soberly and righteously and godly who keep their Appetites and Passions under due restraint and good government so that they are harmless in their Conversation and not only so but they live to the good purposes of promoting their own and other Mens good Estate and Welfare I have now briefly touched upon the Privileges Men do or may receive by being Members of the Christian Church but I have not in my Discourse observed the Method which I intended because I would be shorter I shall therefore only mention how it is with them in respect of God and of the Devil And briefly the Case is thus in respect of God That it is a matter of far less difficulty for us who have the Gospel and live tho but in the outward Communion with the Church to repent of our Sins and become good Men and to live holy Lives than it was or is to any others This is now made so practicable so feasible a matter that no Man falls short of it who is not foolishly obstinate unaccountably sottish and unnaturally neglectful of himself and careless of his own Happiness so that whoever fails it must be resolved into his own gross stupidity sottishness and self-neglect for he is now put into a condition and capacity of receiving the greatest Mercies from the Divine Bounty and is in the way in which God usually does communicate them But as many as are recovered out of a state of Sin to a Life of Vertue their past Sins are all pardoned their frequent Infirmities and Shortnesses are also remitted so as they shall not rise up in Judgment to condemn them and they have eternal Life ascertain'd to them by the immutable Promise of that God who cannot lie They are under his Protection and special Providence who orders all things that befall them so as that they turn to their Advantage and are made serviceable to their Vertue and will increase their Happiness Lastly As to the Devil the Prince of the Power of the Air the Spirit that works in the Children of Disobedience They are redeem'd from under his Vassalage he hath now no more Power over them he cannot domineer over their Souls or Bodies as he did before the coming of our Saviour His Oracles are silenced his Power lessened the Light of the glorious Gospel hath scatter'd the Powers of Darkness so that now they creep into the Corners of the Earth Now that Mens Souls are freed from the Ignorance and those Errors under which they were held their Bodies are also free from the Hellish Cruelties of Tyrannical Fiends They are no longer under the Power of Satan now that they are become Subjects of the Kingdom of Christ who hath conquered and triumphed over the Head of the Apostate Spirits and hath the Keys of Hell and Death Thus I have briefly represented the great Benefits which accrue to Men by being Members of the Church of Christ whether we consider them as single Persons or as in Societies with reference to God or the Devil For whether we consider the Greatness and Largeness the vast Extent and long Continuance of the Church or the excellent Wisdom and Goodness of many of its Members whether we look on the Engagement laid upon them in their first Admission into the Church or the admirable Order and Government of it or the incomparably good Laws which are given to all its Members or the proper and wholesom Discipline which is used in it or the Religious Exercises which are used in the Publick Assemblies we must necessarily confess that all these will have a mighty Influence on Men to make them good in themselves and good in all their Relations And if they become good they are then from under the Dominion of the Devil and within the Kingdom and so under the Protection and Care of the Soveraign Lord of
as they account unnatural Precept of our Saviour to disparage his whole Gospel I hope my Discourse has shewn both how reasonable and how natural it is and that it has taken away all the Pretences which weak and inconsiderate or ill-natured Men have for their neglect of it So that I have prevented my self of what I propounded to do next viz. III. To shew the Falseness of those Objections which are offered against it The most considerable I think are these Object 1. It is unnatural to love one that does and intends us Mischief Object 2. It is necessary to hate for our own Defence and Preservation Object 3. Example doth encline us to it Object 4. If we hate our Enemies they will expect and be afraid of this and so will be deterred from being our Enemies In Answer to the First Objection 1. I have shewn in my Explication that we are not required to love any thing that is in it self evil 2. I have in my following Discourse shown that this Evil may be a Cause of much Good unto us here but especially hereafter Or if of no Good to us yet there is so much Good to others as may make our Love prevail above Hatred For the 2d Objection I have made out that Hatred is not the likeliest Method to be rid of this Evil or to prevent it for the future For the 3d Objection I have shew'd that we must not follow Example to do Evil. It may become Apes and Children to be wholly determined by Example and to imitate every thing they see but it is very unworthy of them who have the use of their Reason As for the fourth Objection I answer 1. This is no Method to remove or lessen but to continue and encrease their Hatred It is commonly said Men hate what they fear These two differ very little We hate all Evil and fear that which is absent but Love on the other hand removes this Evil from the Mind and therefore 2. Tends to reform and mend the Offender himself It is a means to free him from his Malice which is not extinguished but rather inflamed by that which increaseth his Fear For notwithstanding that his Intention and Mind is as evil as before Fear not at all abating his desire of doing harm but only cutting short his Opportunity And therefore 3. It will if it increase his Hatred and lessen his Opportunity make him watch every little occasion of doing the Mischief he designs And it is hard for us to keep such a constant and strict Watch as to give no Advantage to one who seeks it If all these Reasons which I have proposed prevail not with us to put in practice this Precept of Loving our Enemies yet let the Authority of our Lord and Saviour persuade us I say unto you I who practised thus my self I whose you are who have Right to you and all Men I who know what is good for you better than you do your selves I say unto you Love your Enemies All the Inference I shall make is That then we must love those who are not our Enemies and still much more our Friends and those that love us If we must love those that intend and practise Evil against us much more those that desire and do us Good If he that loves not his Enemy be short of a Christian he who loves not his Friend is worse than an Infidel and if he be so then the Name of Christ will not save him He that is a Pagan tho he seem a Christian shall fall under the Condemnation of Unbelievers I conclude all with reminding you of my Intention in this Discourse which was to serve the Designs of Love by removing one of the greatest Obstacles of it out of the way Let us all therefore be persuaded to love universally to be pleased with Good where-ever we see it even in our Enemies to procure it where-ever it is wanting and there is any capacity of it Let us be so wise as to serve our selves and Religion of all the Conditions of Life which we are in by making them serviceable to Love and Good-will which assuredly is the best Life we can live that which will make us most acceptable to God most easy and delightful to our selves and most useful and pleasant to others it is the best that Earth or Heaven is capable of God of his infinite Mercy grant unto us the true Spirit of Christ that Spirit whose Fruits are Love and Joy and Peace Meekness Long-suffering Gentleness Patience Goodness Faith and Temperance that no Law may be against us that we may begin to live that Life here which we hope to live hereafter and which glorified Saints and Angels now live in the highest Heavens you the Life which God himself lives who is Love it self to whom he Honour and Glory and Praise for ever and ever Amen OF Calling no Man MASTER MATTH 23. 8 9 10. But be not ye called Rabbi for one is your Master even Christ and all ye are Brethren And call no Man your Father upon Earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven Neither be ye called Masters for one is your Master even Christ IT appears from his Discourse in this Chapter that our Blessed Saviour had conceived a great and just Indignation against the Scribes and Pharisees It was surely a great Anger that moyed the meekest Man upon Earth so freely and sharply to rebuke them The Lamb of God here became a Lion and he who was ordinarily a Man of Consolations is now turned into a Son of Thunder denouncing Woes against them which we cannot construe as the Issue of a hot and hasty Temper for our Saviour's whole Carriage both to his own Disciples who were such as would have sufficiently exercised a great Patience as well as to his deadly Enemies argues his admirable Mildness and that he it was in whom that Prophecy was fulfilled that he should not cry nor lift up nor cause his Voice to be heard in the Streets A bruised Reed he should not break c. We may therefore conclude that there must be some just and reasonable and great Cause of this great Indignation and this we find was an Accumulation of great Wickedness in these Men which received Aggravations 1. From their Pretences to greater Sanctity than others 2. From their having greater Opportunities of being better than others 3. Because they being many of them in in publick place their Practice must have a bad Influence on their Followers For they who pretend Holiness and are wicked they who are wicked tho they have great helps to be good and by being wicked cause others to be so too their Sin is exceeding sinful The Particulars for which our Saviour taxes them were principally these 1. Their great Pride They loved the uppermost Rooms at Feasts and the chief Seats in the Synagogues and Greetings in the Markets and to be called of Men Rabbi Rabbi c. And under that
their most proper and usual Sense imply manifest Contradictions they have been no Friends to the Christian Faith And whatsoever they say the Christians Father will not dertermine his Sons to believe Contradictions But I conclude this second Proposition with this practical Inference If Christians have but one Master one Father then they must own his Authority that is believe his Revelations obey his Commands without any doubt or dispute for his Authority is undeniable his Will uncontroulable no Appeal to be made from his Determination Therefore assent without debate obey without demur If we have a Father give him his Honour and a Master let him have his Feaâ— III. There is no Man upon Earth that is the Christian's Father or Master None by whose Sense he is to be absolutely necessarily determined He needs not to resolve his Obedience into any Mans or Mens Authority Our Religion is so very excellent and wise that it could not be of humane Original Surely this Tree of Life never grew first in an Earthly Paradise but was transplanted from some more excellent Soil and set in this red Earth Besides if we consider the Design of it it is to prepare Men for the Heavenly Life which it doth by begetting in them such Perswasions and Affections and teaching them to act here just as they do there Therefore our Creed and Law must probably be a brief Transcript of some of theirs and none can tell what theirs is but he that made it God Religion like Water will not rise higher than the Spring if it derives its Origine from this Earth only it will not rise and raise us up with it to Heaven But if this be true that we have no Father on Earth how is it that we hear so much of an Infallible Judg either an old Man sitting in a Chair at Rome Or else a Synod of Doctors for the most part packed together by a Faction and designed to drive on some Secular Interest For such have been many Councils tho not all But what mean those Pretenders that they thus take upon them Will they decide all our Controversies end our Debates An excellent Attempt But will they do it indeed Yes effectually and if any doubt of their Decrees they shall be quickly convinced by a light burning Fire They 'l take care to keep those that are under them iniIgnorance they shall not have Knowledg enough to question their Determinations Or if any little Light do break through all the Curtains they have drawn then they afright them with Anathema's and if these will not do neither they shall to the Stake How grievously the Christian World hath been abused by these Practices is too notorious whilst these false Fathers do not at all serve the Designs of Truth and Piety but merely of their own Ambition and Covetousness Notwithstanding what I have said of those Conventions that are politickly and unwarrantably peck'd together by a Party for the holding up of a Faction and serving a carnal Interest I would not be understood to detract in the least from a duly congregated Synod of wise and learned Men their just Authority which yet I must think doth not amount to that of a Father or Rabbi as here explained They are not absolute cannot determine universally But have they no Power in determining What is it Tho this be an Argument fitter for a larger Discourse yet to prevent Mistakes and Abuse of what I have said I shall here speak somewhat of my Mind in two or three Particulars 1. They who cannot be supposed to have any better Reason than the Authority of a Synod should be determined by them in matters both of Faith and Practice That this may be the case of the Vulgar I doubt not Many are in the state of Children who at first must take all on trust and it is best for them in that State so to do tho afterwards they may see how they have been imposed upon and lay aside those infant-Prejudices the common People first believe and obey because a Company of wise and learned Men tell them that what is proposed is true and good but afterwards these Mens Reason may be more improved they may have better Arguments to believe and higher Motives to obey than their Word and may say as the Samaritans we now believe not because of your Words but because we our selves see The ground of this first Position is that Men are to be determined to assent or act by the best Arguments they can have Now I suppose very many in so low a Condition that this is the best they can meet with viz. the Authority of a Synod nay many times the Determination of a single Man This is indeed a pitious Case when in all matters of Good and Evil true and false a Man must relie on anothers Testimony and yet it had not been so sad if Men that had Learning and Knowledg enough had had more of Honesty but they have been so unfaithful to their Trusts that they have very much impair'd their Credit with the World I understand the Popish Councils especially 2. More improved Men where the matter is disputable and somewhat equal and unconcluding Arguments on both sides appear if a Synod interpose their Authority I think should be determin'd by that yet not so far as to exclude all after-Thoughts they must leave room for them For if their Reasons against the Synod's Determinations should prove concluding and afterwards appear evidently so they need not continue under that former Determination In this case a Man must compare his own best Arguments with that of the Testimony of those Men that is he must consider as well as he can not only whether they be wiser than himself which will be granted but also whether they be honest 3. That I may shew whither their Authotity cannot reach I lay down this Position That where the Synod shall determine that to be believed which is and appears repugnant to it self to granted Principles of Reason or plain Scriptures or where they shall enjoyn that to be done which is and appears intrinsecally and eternally evil or which I can certainly conclude is in those Circumstances evil they are not to be believed or obeyed Of this nature I understand Transubstantiation and worshipping Images c. What the Sense of our Church is in this matter appears by the 6th 20th 21st Articles The Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any Man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation And in the 20th It is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing contrary to God's Word written neither may it so expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another Wherefore the Church tho it be a Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ yet as it ought not to decree any thing
those Works to â—â—â—fection which they begin whilst they 〈◊〉 old for most of them are such as reâ—â—â—re a considerable time for the doing them I am sure that is such which we have here mentioned III. That in which the Child must be train'd is his Way so 't is in the Hebrew which we render the Way he should go that is in the course and kind of his Life and Practice in what he should do all the days of his Life let him begin to walk in that way let him be initiated in the Work and Business of his Life let him begin beâ—â—mes what he should always be doing His Way i. e. in that Practice and Life for which he was made in the doing those Works for which his Nature was design'd by his great and wise Creator and for which he is by peculiar Endowments and Abilities Temper and Disposition as well as by his Condition and Circumstances fitted and capacitated This I take to be the true meaning of that Phrase His Way which implies two things 1. The Way that 's common to all Men the Way of Man of every Man every one endow'd with humane Nature and Faculâ—ieâ— 2. That Way which is peculiar to this or that or the other Man that for which by his Genius as we say by his Temper and Inclination or by his external Condition he is most adapted and fit and as it were set apart That is by Divines commonly called our general Calling this our particular That Way which is common to all and is the Way of every Man is the doing those Works which every one that has the Nature of a Man is made and furnished to do I need not mention those of the Body which are common to us with Beasts But the other which are more peculiar to Man and belong as it were to him are Knowledg and Choice and keeping good Order among all our Faculties pursuing the Inclinations we have to our own Perfection and Happiness and to help others to be in as good a condition as our selves are or would be To be devout towards God To be just and honest true and faithful and charitable to Men To do that universally which we think to be fit and right which upon the largest knowledg we can get we judg to be good To do no Evil and to do all the Good we can possibly This is the Way of every Man That which is this or that Man's Way besides is to be employed in this or that Trade according as he is fitted the Husbandry Merchandise Mechanick or Liberal Arts the Study of Physick Law Divinity as his own Inclination and Capacity and the Opportunity he has to attain to any of these shall direct Tho we cannot read it in the Faces of Children yet in their Humour and Carriage we may conjecture what they will be fit for Now whosoever takes a survey of the Nature of Man as he will discover it was the Contrivance and Work of great Wisdom and Goodness so from an Observation of the several Faculties and Capacities Inclinations and Appetites Instinct and Saâ—â—city of Mankind he will conclude which is the Way in which he should go which is the Way of Man the Life that is suitable to such a Nature as ours is For he will be fully resolved in this that it must be the natural Exercise and Perfection of those Powers the filling those Capacities in the Pursuit of those Inclinations the Regulation and Satisfaction of those Appetites the Observance of those Instincts and giving heed to such Presages and Conjectures as the Mind by its Nimbleness and Sagacity makes If these be considered 1. Severally and a part 2. Jointly as they are all united and consisting together they make up the whole human Nature As they consist with and are in subordination to each other they will give us a clear view of the whole Way or Life of Man all that he was made for by his great Creator That which will help us to a more distinct knowledg of this will be to compare our Nature with the Brutish which is below us and the Angelic which is above us We partake of both Natures we have the Faculties and Appetites both of Angels and of Brutes From hence I infer That if we live wholly as either meer Animals or as pure Spirits we live not agreeably to our Nature and State We must on the one hand raise up our selves above the low Life of Sensitives and yet we must not foar so high as the Life of Spirits devested of Flesh and Blood That Way is too low and this too high the Way of Man lies in the middle betwixt these two We must not sink down into and yet we must comply with our earthly fleshly animal State And indeed here is the great Difficulty to see that these two Lifes do not clash and interfere but conspire with and be serviceable and friendly to each other to bring down Heaven to Earth and to advance Earth to Heaven as much as is possible This is the Skill this is Wisdom indeed that the Soul condescend to the Condition and Services of this lower Life of Flesh and Sense and yet not lose not forgo its own spiritual Life To come down from and yet still to be in Heaven whilst we are on Earth To behave our selves like Men in the Flesh and yet at the same time to act as becomes those who are endow'd with spiritual divine Souls this is the way of Man in contradistinction to the way or life of brute Animals Quest But how is this Life to be attained What must we do that we may neither sink below our selves and become Brutes nor yet stretch our selves beyond our Line and live like the Spirits which are not in conjunction with earthly Bodies Answ Let us be in a sincere and constant pursuit of that which is and when we are fittest to judg we think to be best This will be as the Polar Star to direct our Course If we mind this we shall steer safely betwixt the two Rocks we shall neither depress the Soul nor neglect the Body we shall advance Understanding and Liberty and all the rational and higher Faculties And this will be done without prejudice to Sense and the Animal Life and Powers If we constantly aim at doing that which is best which is that to which by our very Natures we are framed we shall then make more account of our Soul than of our Body more account of Understanding and Liberty and Conscience than of Sense and Animality we shall bring the Body into subjection and keep the Animal serviceable to the Mind And when they are once come to this which is the true natural State and tends to the preservation and perfection of them both as well as conduces to that of the World without then the Interests are reconciled they are all one they combine and conspire together the Soul makes much of its good Servant the Body and the
Saviour says of Judas that betray'd him It were good for him if he had not been born It was far more eligible for him never to have been than to have committed so great a Wickedness And is not this the hapless State of many more So that they who are with and under God the Authors or rather Instruments of Life and Being to any do by this make them liable to great Misery as well as capable of great Happiness And indeed those Parents who have done no more for their Children than to bring them into the World and make provision for the Animal Life only I question whether by this they have not done more to bring them into great Misery than they have contributed toward their Happiness 6. This leads me to another forcible Motive to take care of their Education because if we do not we shall be accessory to all the Evil they both do and suffer It will be Trouble enough to think we have those sprung from us who have been the Authors of great Mischief to others and fall into uttermost Ruine themselves tho our selves had no hand in it That those that came from and are as it were parts of us are most justly sentenced to endless Torments this thought is almost unsupportable to a Parent But what will it then be to make this bitter Reflection All this Ill that my Child has done and all the Misery he endures is the Effect of my Negligence it 's through my faulty Carelesness that he was so sinful and is so wretched If the Happiness of Heaven admit of Allays as it does of Degrees the Remembrance that I did not do my utmost to rescue any of my Acquaintance and Friends from Sin will give a great damp to the Joy of that State But that I should be so grosly negligent of mine own Child as not to do all I could to prevent such unsufferable Woes this must pierce the Soul Lastly then Let all Parents consider what account they will be able to give of themselves to their Judg of the Neglect of their Children When they see them doom'd to everlasting Misery for that Wickedness they fell into for want of timely Instruction When God shall say these my Creatures are lost for ever through your Heedlesness and Unfaithfulness because you neglected the Opportunities you had of principling and exercising them to Vertue and Godliness they fell into a vicious Course of Life and must now eat the bitter Fruits of it eternally What will you then answer to your Judges And with what face will you look upon those your neglected Children when they shall say O had you but call'd on us to remember our Creator in the Days of our Youth we had then been kept from Iniquity and now from unconceivable Misery Had you but watched us at first and been careful to engage us to Goodness we had lived good Lives on Earth and now have been happy in Heaven Consider I beseech you how you will be then affected and let this make you wise to prevent that Astonishment and Confusion of Face which must necessarily accompany such a Guilt as this And that you may be able to know how you will be able to abide the Judgment of God I would desire every one of us to summon our own Souls before themselves and see what account they are able to give themselves of this most grievous Omission What will the guilty Offender say to such Questions as this which his awakened Conscience will put to him 1. Why hast thou been so unnatural as not to desire and endeavour thy Child's best State Or why hast thou been so unwise as to slip the fittest if not only Season thou canst ever have to do him the greatest Good How is it that thou didst not go to the brute Creatures and learn this of them who as soon as ever their young Ones are capable fail not to shew them how they must live 2. Again How foolishly hast thou acted and contradicted thy self in providing carefully a vast Estate for a Swine to wallow in for thou hast taken no care to fit him for it to teach him to use it And how careful hast thou been of thy young Dogs that they be made and of thy Horses that that they be managed But only thy Sons and thy Daughters are not regarded 3. And then was it not most fit and equal that thou who hadst brought thy Children into Being shouldst take all possible Care that they may live well and be happy 4. Thou hast done something for them then thou shouldest either have done more or nothing Better it were for them not to have been than to be miserable They had better never have lived than fall short of the End of Life What Answer canst thou make to such Questions as these which thine own Mind will put if thou givest it leave to think Or how art thou satisfied with thy self when such Thoughts as these arise in thy Mind And if thou canst not stand before thine own Conscience how wilt thou appear before the Tribunal of the Great God I conclude this Exhortation What would you say of a Father and Mother that should expose a new-born Infant in a Wilderness full of Salvage Beasts Would you not call this most unnatural Inhumanity It would be so And it is not less but more Inhumanity to leave the Soul of thy Child untaught undisciplin'd to be a Prey to that roaring Lion In the one the bodily Life is in danger in the other the higher Life of the Soul the Spiritual and Eternal is hazarded Thou who takest no care of thy Child's Education exposest him to Eternal Death and Misery How merciless and unnatural would that Mother be thought who should deny her Breasts to the hungry Child who could see it starve without giving it necessary Food She would deserve to be branded for a Monster And what shall we think of those that starve the better and higher Life That hear the Cries of the little Soul after Knowledg and Goodness but turn a deaf Ear to them and never once take care to nourish them up to Eternal Life but suffer them to faint and die the worst of Deaths that of the Soul And if Murderers of the lower Life shall be punish'd so severely if those that when they have wherewith to do it deny to feed the hungry animal Life shall not be able to stand in Judgment before God how then shall the Murderers of Souls be avenged and where shall they appear that have denied the Bread of Life to their own Children It 's an inhuman thing counted not to shew the Way to an ignorant Traveller but O how monstrously unnatural is it when the Soul of thine own Child is calling to thee by its Inclination and its Necessities cry to thee to shew it its Way of Life when it stands gazing and knows not which way to go that thou shouldest not by thy Counsel and Example say to it This
is the Rule our Saviour has given That we should make every Man's Case our own for naturally Man is not so apt to consider another as himself This will both excite us to Diligence and make us charitable But to conclude this Particular If any Man ask me What that is that every one can and must do for all and every Man in the World without exception I answer He may and must pray to God that they may be good Christians in this Life and blessed and happy in the future We must pray that which God hath declared to be his Will All Men may be saved and come to the knowledg of the Truth i. e. that they may be brought to believe and obey the Gospel and so may be made Partakers of everlasting Life and Glory Our Liturgy also teaches us to pray that God would have Mercy upon all Men. But I need not prove that this is our Duty surely there 's none that owns himself a Christian or but a Man that doubts of this I therefore take it for granted and will infer from this Concession 1. That every Man in the World ought to desire that every other Man may be good and vertuous on Earth and everlastingly happy in Heaven If he must pray for this that implies he must desire it and if he do pray to God for it if he be hearty and sincere he does desire it 2. That every Man ought also to do what he can to further every other Man 's present Goodness and thereby his future Happiness If he be a Man that can discourse rationally and movingly he should plainly describe their Duties to the Ignorant and passionately exhort the Lazy and Careless to the performance of them Or if he has a good Pen let him deliver these things to Posterity which are useful for them to know But that which the Unlearned may reach is to live a religious and an honest Life and by this commend the Practice of Holiness to others And who knows how far the Influence of one poor Man's Goodness may reach perhaps to both the Indies and the furthest parts of the World This is the second thing I infer our Endeavour From which follows by way of Corollary that we must take care never to do any thing that interferes with our Endeavour after every other Man's Happiness hereafter and his Goodness here We must never do any thing that 's inconsistent with Mens being good Men in this World and their Happiness in that to come But that 's not all that is implied in our Endeavour that we do nothing to oppose and hinder Men from being good and happy It implies also that we do that which is serviceable to the attaining these Ends and in all dealings with them in all we do to and about them that we help forward their Vertue and Happiness that either by more remote or nearer Methods either by our selves or others we contribute to their present Holiness and their Glory in the Life to come If we do not thus we are inconsistent with our selves and our Actions contradict each other we are acted by contrary Passions and the Principles of our Actions oppose and thwart each other For when we desire Men may be good and vertuous and everlastingly happy this proceeds from Love and Good-will but when we design to punish them in their Bodies or to diminish their Reputations or lessen their Estates unless this be in order to their great Happiness and unless we intend to further that in such ways we do not act from Charity but Hatred except such particular Evils be inâ—licted on them by us for their Amendment and with especial regard to their everlasting Salvation we are not charitable but malicious And if it be so we are at variance with our selves we desire Men may be miserable here and happy hereafter not that thereby they may be so I wish that which I have here said may not be a Sanctuary to Uncharitableness and that Men will say they intend to do Men some greater Good by the Evils they lay on them Landlords oppress their Tenants to make them more diligent Masters will be hard severe and high to their Servants to keep them in their due Observance Fathers austere to their Children to teach them Obedience One Man will eclipse another Man's Reputation that he may not have an opportunity to do so much Mischief as he might if he was unsuspected It 's well if these be not meer Excuses of Passion and ill Nature 't is well if they think as they say and if it be as they think that these be the best ways to secure Men from those Evils But I fear it 's too often Peevishness and a waspish angry Spirit that evaporates and is not employ'd by Religion and under the Conduct of Charity nor designs any Good or if Good be intended I doubt very often some wiser and better Method might be taken for the effecting it The Apostle tells us of overcoming Evil with Good I know the hypocritical proud Pharisees those false-hearted Pretenders were sharply rebuked by our Saviour and I doubt not but there are such in our Days Only let 's be cautious we do not over-hastily condemn Men nor inconsiderately resolve upon the Use of extreme Remedies till the Disease seem incurable by any other When in some of these Ways we do that which tends to bring Men nearer Perfection and Happiness we do them Good But I need not be very particular in this because every Man's Mind will faithfully suggest to him what 's good to and for other Men. No Man that is inclined to do Good to others can easily be ignorant or mistaken All the Danger is in these two Particulars 1. That he should only consider a part and not the whole or the present only without reference to what 's future and so many times may do them Hurt instead of Good I have endeavoured to prevent this Mistake in my Explication where I have determin'd those Actions to be good to others which conduce to the obtaining of their last End which tend to make them perfect and happy 2dly The other is That he only hath regard to one or a few and neglects others and more Now the Text directs us here also and teaches us to do Good to all Men which is a Principle of great Wisdom and Justice and that Man who observes it and hath attain'd to this Disposition to regard Universality to take unto his Thoughts the Concerns of all Men he will govern himself in his Carriage to them discreetly He will be just and impartial in his Dealing he will not out of a too particular respect neglect a more common publick Good will not to serve one or a few disserve and prejudice nay or be mindless of the Concerns of the Community of many He that lives by this Rule so to do Good to one Man as remembring he must do so to all he will neither be guilty of Littleness