tho' it conduces never so much to our Interest or Advantage so that we could gain the World by it yet it will prove a dear Bargain at the last and we must lose our Souls for it for by the irreversible Terms and unalterable Conditions of the Gospel every willful and habitual sin destroys our good State and without a timely Repentance and Amendment excludes us out of Heaven And however we may think fit to abate of those Terms by our loose Opinions and false Principles and make other Judgments of our selves by the wrong measures of a Licentious Age or as Mistaken and as Licentious Doctrines yet Christianity has so plainly fixt these that we have no reason to believe that God will or can any way abate of them and to be sure our Religion does not 3. There are some particular duties in Christianity that seem very hard and difficult as well as the general Terms of it such as loving Enemies not revenging Injuries self-denial Mortification and the like which tho' they are against the grain of our Nature as some Men think and as impracticable as the Rants of Stoical Vertue yet are made necessary to our Pardon and Salvation by the Gospel Mat. 5.43.6.14 15. Mark 8.34 Rom. 8.13 and they truly are so in their right Sense and Meaning and ought to be as much performed by us as any other parts of our Religion we are bound as Christians to love our Enemies with the general Acts of Charity due to all mankind not with the particular Offices of kindnesses due to our Friends we must not revenge an injury to gratify a mere Private and Outrageous Passion without regard to publick good we must deny our selves any Worldly Interest when it is Inconsistent with our duty we must mortifie every Natural Passion and Sensual Inclination so as to keep it within the bounds of Virtue and Religion these are all agreeable to Reason and Prudence and to the Laws of Civil Government as well as to the Principles of Religion 4. Religion puts a check and restraint not only upon our Actions but upon our Words and our very Thoughts and this is hard some think that their Tongues should not be their own nor their Thoughts neither but that of every idle Word they must give an account in the day of Judgment and by our Words we shall be Condemned or Justified as well as by our Actions Mat. 12.36 37. and that our secret Thoughts should be tyed up so that we must not harbour any wickedness even in our Hearts and Thoughts Mark 7.21 Now this however severe it seems yet if by idle Words be meant only evil Words as I doubt not but 't is such as those of Slander and Desamation of which our Saviour there particularly spoke or such Prophane and Lewd Discourse as tends to affront Heaven or to Corrupt those who hear it and proceeds from a Malicious Irreligious and Corrupt Mind This gives such a vicious Tincture even to our Words that he who cannot better govern his Tongue than thus to injure his Brother or let fly at God and Religion This Man's Religion is vain as St. James says Jam. 1.26 if he pretend to any and he who by his Mouth thus vents the Exulcerated Malice Pride and Uncharitableness of his Heart and from such an Unchristian Temper calls his Brother Fool or Racha is in danger of Gods Judgment and of Hell-fire as our Saviour says Mat. 5.22 'T is the Venom and Malignity of the Heart and inward Disposition that like a Corrupt Fountain Poysons and Vitiates those ill streams that flow from it and this is the true Plastick Principle within us that Forms and Denominates all our Actions which are but the Fruits growing upon that Root and as our Saviour says A good Tree bringeth forth good Fruit and a Corrupt Tree that which is evil v. 17 18. of this Chapter All Moral Good and Evil is conceived and produced from the Heart and God who sees it there even before it comes into Act whenever it has the full consent of the Will does very justly Condemn it and charge it upon us For as without this consent of the Will no Action is Criminal before him so with it the Crime is both Specified Committed and Perfected tho' it go no further than the Thoughts and the Heart 5. Religion requires our lives to be usefull as well as Innocent and enjoyns us not only to do no ill thing but to do all the good that we are able else 't is but a negative and a useless Vertue the easiest and the softest side of it like the old Principle of Privation without the Matter and Form that is to give it a Being and a Substance We read in Scripture not only of the wicked Servant who was guilty of great Crimes Misdemeanors and Injuries against his Lord but of the Unprofitable one who did no manner of good but was idle and useless in his Service and for this Reason alone was cast into outer darkness God will call every one of us to a strict and severe account how we have used and improved all the Talents he committed to us all the Powers Abilities and Opportunities of doing good he hath put into our hands and if like Loiterers in his Vineyard we have only Feasted our selves with the Fruits and Delicacies of it and wasted our idle time in Ease and Luxury and spent a vain and useless Life in trifling and impertinent either Pleasure or Business and not Laboured at all in the great Work and Business of Religion for which we were sent into the World we must not at the last expect any wages from him but be punished for our useless idleness and great omissions by the Just Distributer of Rewards and Punishments who will render to all Men according to their Works and who expects we should do all the good we can for the sake of Heaven as well as abstain from all manner of Evil for the sake of Hell 6. Religion requires the Uniform practice of all Vertues and the entire Union and Conjunction of all Christian Graces to make and constitute a good Man whereas any single Vice or willfull Habit of Sin will denominate and make a bad one so as to make him incapable of Happiness and obnoxious to Misery This is an undoubted truth in Religion which requires tho' not the Perfection of Degrees yet the Perfection of parts so that no plain Vertue must be wanting nor no voluntary sin be allowed without the certain danger of being excluded out of Heaven as St. James says he that shall keep the whole Law besides and yet offend in one point willfully break any part of it Commit one Act of willfull Treason and Disobedience against Heaven is guilty of all resists and opposes all that Divine Power and Authority which gives Force and Sanction to every Law and becomes liable to the same sort of Punishment tho' not to the same equal degrees of it The Vertue of
to it we may not be able to gain an Estate or compass such a Wordly Design let us do what we can in it but no Man shall miss of Heaven but thro' his own Fault and by his own Negligence and Carelesness 6. Many Sinners take more pains and trouble and run thro' more difficulties to compass their vitious Designs and commit their Sins than a good Man does in gaining Heaven and practicing the hardest Vertues and Duties of his Religion For thus how restless and unwearied and indefatigable are the Covetous and Ambitious the Revengeful and Maliticious or the Lustful and Debaucht to attain their Ends and gratifie their extravagant Desires and Inclinations How do their several Lusts put them upon the hardest Drudgery and make them Toil and Labour Watch and Attend Project and Contrive and be at more pains and trouble to undo themselves for ever than would save their Souls and make 'em Happy for ever The Devil is much the harder Master of the two and puts his Slaves to more vile and uneasie work in the Servitude of Sin than God does his Children and Servants in the doing the hardest part of their Duty and many have been greater Martyrs in the Devil's Service and gone through more for the sake of their Lusts than other Martyrs have done for heir Religion and for the sake of Heaven Tho' Vice seems more Natural as falling in with some Propensities and Inclinations that are within us yet how must a man at first offer great Violence to himself and to the tender sense of his own Mind before he can be brought to commit a great Sin With what Reluctancy and Self-denial as great as any that Vertue puts upon us does he part with his first Innocence and enter upon a Debauch till by degrees he grows a less Modest and more Couragious Sinner and is led on at last to commit it with greediness and it becomes Natural to him and 't would be no great difficulty for him to leave it but 't is only the Custom and Habit makes it so and not any thing in Nature or in the thing it self For let the Customs be equal on both sides and let a Man be as long used to Vertue as he was to Vice and he shall find that as Natural and agreeable and as hard to be overcome as the other so that as the Scripture represents it it is as hard for him that has been accustomed to do evil to learn to do good as for the Aethiopian to change his Skin or the Leopard his Spots ' Jer. 13.23 So whosoever is born of God i. e. a very good Man doth not commit sin and he cannot sin because he is born of God 1 John 3.9 But Lastly and to conclude it ought to be no manner of Prejudice to Vertue that there are but a few that enter the strait Gate and find the way to Life and many that go in at the wide Gate and the broad way that leadeth to Destruction as our Saviour says This ought not to be regarded by us as a Discouragement to Vertue or as any good reason to be wicked for Company tho I doubt it is a very common and prevailing one and draws a great many into the broad way because they see such great Numbers in it and they do not care to be singular nor to be Reproached for being so but are willing to do what they see so many others do and hope to escape as well as the rest and that they run but the same risque and hazard that they see so many Thousands do besides and so they resolve to venture as well as others let the Preachers say what they please Now this however common and powerfull it be yet is the most unreasonable thing in the World for is any man in another case willing to be sick or to die for Company or for the sake of example Would any be so Easie or so Complaisant as to pledge another in a Cup of Poyson or would he not stop the mad frolick when he saw the rest of the Company drop down Dead before him Is any Man unwilling to avoid the Plague if he can because there is ageneral Infection and because so many of his Neighbours or Acquaintance have died of it Would any refuse the saving his life and escaping if he could upon a Plank because the rest of his Company are Sinking and Drowning Did Men think it as much worth their while to save their Souls as their Lives how many soever lost them had they as Just and terrible Apprehensions of their own Damnation as they have of their Dying the Temptation of Example and Company would be quickly taken off and signifie nothing For alas what Comfort will it be in the Flames of Hell to hear so many others Roaring and Howling in them their hideous Cries and Tortures and Lamentations will rather encrease than lessen them and make it only a more sad and dismal Scene of Terror like that of a whole City or Country swallowed up by an Earthquake or overflowed with the Eruptions of a burning Mountain and the liquid streams of Fire and Brimstone No Man who knows what it is to be Happy but would wish to be so tho he were alone and no Man who knows that vertue alone is the way to life and happiness but must chuse to be Vertuous tho' he saw never so many others wicked let them Reproach and Laugh at him as long as they please for a Man singular and by himself let them count his Life Folly for being so strict and precise if it be in the great matters of Vertue for not drinking to the utmost pitch nor daring to swear the least Oath nor venturing upon a Debauch or any Common or any Modish or Fashionable Vice the Reproach and Scandal of which is took off by the great Party and Number it has of its side but living up strictly to the Rules of the Gospel and the Terms of Salvation there laid down without any such abatements as the loose Opinions or loose Practices of others are willing to put upon them since God will not alter his Methods or Judgments by any of those let them I say Condemn on Deride him never so much for this and call him Precise Fool or Formal Saint and the like yet no Man that knows the good of Vertue will be Laughed out of it by a Nick-name or be asham'd of being singular in that any more than in any other Excellency of Learning Knowledge or Wisdom above others and I suppose none of those who are so much against singularity but would be willing to be Rich or to be Well and at Ease though never so many others were Poor or Sick and in Pain and why then not to be Vertuous and Happy tho' never so many others are Vitious and Miserable The Fourth Sermon MATTH VI. 19 20. Lay not up for your selves Treasures upon Earth where Moth and Rust doth corrupt and where Thieves break
and Irreligion so that here is the extream folly of Wickedness that whilst its dosigns are confined to this World and 〈◊〉 aims at the present pleasure 〈…〉 and good things of this life it loses even those and misses of that present Comfort and Happiness which is a thousand times more likely to be met with in the ways of Virtue and Religion than in a life of Vice and Wickedness for as the one deprives us of no real pleasure or proper enjoyment fit for a wise Man but rather sweetens them and enhances their relish by keeping them Pure and Innocent and free from the filth and bitterness that Vice mixes with them so wickedness brings a great many evils and mischiefs upon it self here and most Mens Vices make them miserable in this life as well as in another Godliness says Saint Paul is profitable unto all things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 and it was the wise Mans observation long before that the most desirable blessings of this life belong to Wisdom and Religion Length of days is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour Prov. 3.16 whereas nothing does more generally shorten Men's days than Vice and Debauchery and though those Men value nothing so much as life yet they prodigally squander it away and spend it too fast and consume it upon their Lust and their Lewdness and these make shipwrack of their Estates as well as of their Consciences and bring Poverty and Beggery very often along with them so that the ruined Fortunes of most Men are owing to their vitious and ill Courses and they are undone by their Vices here as well as hereafter an indelible Character of shame and reproach is hereby fixed to their Name and Memory which stains and blemishes their Repute and Credit among Men and their mind reproaches and smites them from within and they feel most of the outward and inward evils which are the most grievous and uneasie to us in this life So that besides the misery in Reversion which is due to them and unavoidable there is a present one which they seldom escape but generally befalls them so foolish are they whose fondness to their Sins makes them hug and embrace them though they at the same time Wound and Poyson them so infatuated are they and almost fascinated by them that they stick to them though to their manifest ruin and against their plainest interest and make themselves such Martyrs and Confessors to their Vices that as they wear their scars always about them so they will endure any thing for their sakes and make their way to Hell through the greatest sufferings and evils that their sins bring upon them here 4. Roligion is the truest Wisdom as it best provides against all the Accidents and Contingencies of this uncertain world and against all the infirmities of our present state and nature A good man may not be secure here that he shall not come into the same misfortune and be plagued like other Men either with some Affliction or Sickness or other common Calamity which the greatest Vertue and Religion may be no protection against but the same chance may happen both to the Sinner and to the Righteous and without respect either to their Vice or to their Virtue a Disease or a Misfortune a Loss or a Trouble may come upon either of them which nothing can keep off or prevent in this uncertain state but here Religion gives us the best relief and stands us in the greatest stead and is the most usefull to us it takes care as we may say of the main chance and makes the best provision for whatever may or can befall us it supports and revives our drooping Spirits under any afflictions of this world with the cheering thoughts of a Heaven above us and a Providence over us and the gladsom reflections of a good Conscience within us and a Comfortable trust in a good God without us whereas when any of the troubles and misfortunes of life fall on a wicked Man he has nothing to keep up his mind under them but they sink and crush him into the utmost despair and disconsolateness and he has no whither to fly for ease and comfort sad and miserable must be his case who when his body is sick and uneasie has his mind so too and feels as much anguish and anxiety in the one as he does pain in the other when his body is under the strugglings and agonies of death has his Mind and Conscience under greater and when he sees death come up behind him sees Hell open before him as ready to devour and swallow him up Tho' nothing can secure us against one of these yet Religion does against the other which is ten times the greatest and so in all other the unavoidable accidents and misfortunes of this worldly state Religion does wisely prepare and provide against them and make the best defence and security for us against all the dangers that may in this hazardous world come upon us and without this a man lies always open to every uncertain accident and shall be miserable at every turn of Fortune and shall have no Happiness but what shall be at the will and pleasure of outward Contingencies and shall have no soundation or root of Happiness within himself which nothing but Religion and Vertue can ever give him 5. Religion makes us wise for our selves and for things of the greatest importance and concern to us makes us wise unto Salvation which is the only true Wisdom that deserves so to be called or accounted for 't is a Wisdom salsely so called and no other than great folly to be wise about all other things wise in our Notions and Apprehensions and Judgments of things wise in the Managery and Conduct of all our outward Affairs wise in searching the policies and fathoming the most cunning Intrigues wise in the greatest Mysteries of Knowledge and researches of Learning so that both our selves and others applaud us for our great Wisdom and yet be a Fool in what is more valuable and more concerning to us a thousand times which is the everlasting Salvation of our immortal Souls He that is not so wise as to take care of that is with all his other Wisdom the worst of Fools and Mad Men and more void of common Prudence and Discretion than he that while he pretends to understand the great secret of being Rich and turning all into Gold yet is Poor and a Beggar or like him in a Frenzy who thought himself an Emperor and to have the greatest Territories and Dominions when he had only a Chain and a little Straw or him who while he was viewing the Stars and observing the Heavens above him did not mind his way but fell into a Pit 6. I shall show the Wisdom of Religion from the two causes of sin and wickedness which are only two sorts of folly and