extremely in real Value beyond the injury he suffers And I verily think I now speak the unfeigned sense of his own Mind when he sees his Rival groveling in his Bloud when he reflects upon the sad Trophies of his Killing Honour and has surfeited himself with his unnatural Revenge The Occasions of Duelling are observed for the most part to be either too small and bashful or too shameful and reserv'd to appear in a Court of Judicature But let the Calumny be never so foul or publick or so maliciously contrived Nothing stains like Bloud which consideration alone ought to Restrain every man that is tender of his Honour or Salvation from shedding it upon the highest Provocation that can be given him But more than this there are other ways of healing our Reputation and living in brighter Fame than ever in the esteem of the wisest and best Judges of Honour The Law is open let the Parties Implead one another Or if they must be fighting let thy King and thy Country bind the Lawrels of Victory about thy Head or Embalme thy Memory This is certainly more Honourable then to Kill the worst Man upon Earth in a private Quarrel and makes the Case of Duelling extremely different from that of one mans Killing another when he is forst upon it in his own Defence And after all I hope it is no Affront to be reminded that we are Christians nor any diminution of Honour to adhere to the Rules of our Holy Profession Great Spirits as they are better fitted than others for great and excellent things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so as Plato observes they are Subject to great Failings and Errours They have commonly very quick and piercing Apprehensions and are very lively in the management of the greatest and most difficult Affairs but are not always so happy in their Memories if I may so express it as to forget the injuries that are offered them in Imitation of him who forgave his Enemies who forbid the drawing of the Sword in his own Quarrel and expresly told his Disciples that he came not to destroy Mens Lives but to save them And since the Son of God suffered the contradictions of Sinners Luk. 9 56. why should the Disciple aspire to be above his Master I am sure to Act contrary to the Author of our Religion looks as if we were ashamed of being thought his Disciples And if we are not we cannot think it too great a condescension for his sake and our own To consider 1. That the Pretence of Honour in the present Case is apparently contrary to the Honour of our Blessed Lord and Redeemer and the Rules he has given us to live by If we believe him to be the Son of God we cannot deny but his Laws are of much better Authority than any of those Rules of Honour which some Men prescribe to themselves Now our Saviour was so far from allowing men to Kill one another in a Quarrel that he forbids all Quarrelling and Provocation in Word or Action verse 22. of this Ch. and Represents the Danger of those Liberties which men give to their Passions tho' they proceed no farther than to Reproachful Language to be no less than that of Hell-Fire He also requires us to forgive our Brother Mat. 18.22 Ro. 12.19 as often as he Offends And not to revenge our selves but to give place unto wrath and has taught us to Pray for Forgiveness at Gods hand as we forgive them that Trespass against us Unless therefore to Kill be to forgive and to break Christ's Commandments must go for honouring him no Christian can engage with Honour in a single Combat and I cannot Imagine with what Success he can hope to do it while he Fight against Heaven and graples with one who he knew is infinitely stronger than himself 2. This is to fall greatly Short of the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees which our Saviour tells us in the verse immediately before the Text unless we exceed we shall in no Case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven These men as I observed before never denied but that Killing a man either in Hot or Cod Bloud without Publick Authority was a Notorious Violation of God's Commandment Nay to do this in Hot Boud was in their opinion a Crime worthy of Death as is plain in the Case of Barabbas who by their Law was sentenc'd to dy at the time of our Saviour's Crucifixion Mark 15 7. for commiting Murther in the Insurrection And accordingly there was no Dispute between our Saviour and the Jews concerning this meaning of the Law And I heartily wish our fighting Gallants would consider whose Followers they are and whether they also do not prefer Barabbas before Jesus and under pretence of Revenging their own lay his with their own Honour in the Dust 3. For men to stake their Lives in a Duel is to run the most desperate hazard I mean of dying in a Sin which seldom allows a few moments to Repent of it or of Killing another Person it may be their old dear and confident Friend and perhaps eternally by cutting off his time of Repentance and making his Peace with God He that attempts to Kill his Brother whether he Kills him or not mortally hates him for he would be the Death of him if he could and then I fear he Forfeits something more than his Honour that attemps it 1 Joh. 3 15. For St. John tells us He that hateth his Brother is a Murtherer and we know that no Murtherer hath eternall Life abiding in him And this being the Case of Duellers what a dreadful venture is it to stake two precious Lives and two Immortal Souls upon a mere imaginary point of Honour If this be the Honour of Christians whose Religion as St. James describes it is first pure then peaceable Gentle Jam. 3 17. and easy to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without wrangling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and without hypocrisy then let Light and Darkness embrace and the plainest contradictions assume the Names of the brightest Reason and Truth And now I hope it is worthy of a serious thought whether this be not enough to ballance the mighty pretence of Honour I know it is commonly said that a Gentleman and a Man of Honour ought not to put up an Affront when it is in his Power to Revenge it But it is plain that a Christian of the best Rank and Quality ought to do this and that great Men must be Judged by the Gospel whether they will think fit to Live by it or not 2. For the Case of Self-Murther or casting away our own Lives when we are weary of them If we look to the Reason of the Commandment Thou shall not Kill viz. because every man bears the Image of God it is as plain a violation of it to Kill our selves as to Kill any other man And since we are commanded to Love our Neighbour as
the Jews who were not called into the Vineyard till the Heat of the Day was over and were Strangers to the Covenant of Life and Peace many Ages after it was ratified to the Seed of Abraham shall yet enjoy the full benefit of it and assuredly receive the same Reward of Eternal Life which was promised to the Faithful and obedient Israelites And the same reason there is to believe that whenever it shall please God to call in the Unbelieving Jews or any of the Nations that never yet beheld the great light of the Gospel their late entrance into the Vineyard shall not bar them of an equal Reward with those that have finisht their Work and are long since gone to Heaven before them This I take to be the true Meaning and Importance of the Parable and to have in many respects the advanvantage of that which stands in competition with it Which will more fully appear if we try them by the Rules before mentioned and consider 1. The Rise and Occasion of this Parable or the Dependance it hath upon the Words which our Saviour spake immediately before it Chap. 19. ult Many that are First shall be Last and the Last shall be First Whereupon it follows For the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that went out early in the Morning to hire Labourers into his Vineyard Chap. 20. 16. c. And 't is very observable that our Saviour closes his Parable with the same saying which gave occasion to it and then I am sure that can be no Good Interpretation of it which does not square with this saying And certainly the truest if any choice there be is that which salls in most naturally with it Now to put the matter upon this Issue By the Labourers we understand the Jewish and Christian Churches And whereas our Saviour tells that the Last shall be First and the First Last so the Gentiles that were hired last into the Vineyard were the first in the Kingdom of Christ and the Jews who were first called will be the Last being cast off for rejecting the Son Mat. 21.38 whom the Lord of the Vineyard sent to receive the Fruits of it in their Season Rom. 11 25. till the Fulness of the Gentiles be come in And thus our Lord himself interprets this very passage Mat. 8.11 12. Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven But the Children of the Kingdom the Unbelieving Jews that reject the Gospel shall be cast out into outer darkness Thus far there is a manifest congruity between the sense which I have given of this Text and that remarkable Sentence which our Saviour seems to have plac'd at both ends of the Parable purposely to guide us through the meaning of it Let us see now how the Opinion of those that expound it of Dying Penitents will sute with their being in the First Rank of Christians Can they be said to be first in the Kingdom of God unless in the sense that Judas was who are Traytors to him till their last hour Or do they do him better or longer Service than others that defer their Repentance till they can do nothing but ask his Forgiveness for what they have always done in contradiction to him It is to be hoped that there are men that for many years from their Youth to their Dying Day have lived in the sear of God and a constant exercise of Virtue and Piety and shall we say that the best of these come behind those who live as long without God in the World till they come to the very edge and point of Eternity I confess I cannot imagine what construction these men can make of our Saviours Prophecy So the Last shall be First and the First Last unless they will venture to say that the Professors of Christianity who begin not to look towards God and Religion till their last sickness are before others in his Faviour and may therefore expect a greater reward than such as spend their whole lives in his Service Which were it true I grant would be a mighty credit and encouragement to a Death-bed Repentance 2. If we view the Context and follow the Thread of our Saviours Discourse V. 11 12. we shall find that the Labourers that came first into the Vineyard murmured at the Good-man of the House for making the last equal with themselves who had borne the burden and heat of the day Now this is exactly true of the Jews who repined mightily at the Gentiles coming into the Church upon all advantages imaginable being entiteled to the same Rewards without observing the Rites or feeling any of the Burdens which they themselves had so many Ages laboured under Nay this raised their Envy so high that St. Paul speaks of it as the great impediment to their Conversion the main thing that hindred their effectual closing with the Gospel But still there was great reason for what was done supposing the Jews to be the Early and the Gentiles the Late Comers into the Vineyard For tho the World was growing old when the Gentiles were called yet are we generally called as young as the Jews themselves were and may work as long in the Vineyard and perform as much and as faithful Service as they did And therefore our coming after them can be no reason why our Great Master should not reward us as liberally to the full as them He that does a Days-work the last day of the year if he was called to it no sooner deserves a Days-wages as well as he that was hired the first But I hope no man will say there is the same reason why a Death-bed sorrow after ten thousand Calls to Repentance and Newness of Life should be equally rewarded with the longest holy and most religious Life However that our Saviour was not of this mind may appear 3. If we consider the plain scope and meaning of other Parables such as that of the five Foolish Virgins who wanted Oyle in their Lamps at the Bridegrooms coming Mat. 25.10 11 12. and while they went to buy were barred out of his Presence which the Wise were admitted into and when they cryed Lord Lord open to us methinks I hear the Sorowful Death-bed Cry received this Dreadful Answer Verily I say unto you I know you not And as little coherence will be found between a Dying Penitents being equally rewarded with the most Eminent Christians as he must be if we rank him with the Labourers in the Text and the Parable concerning the Talents the Moral of which is apparently this that good men shall be rewarded according to the good they have done and the several advantages they were entrusted with and they that have done none but squandred away their Lives and Opportuities of Grace shall feel the high displeasure of God and with the Unprofitable Servant be cast into outer darkness Let men impartially
and dye in our Sins 't is not material what Church we Live or Dye in Communion with While we are in Bondage to our Lusts all the Absolutions in the World can do us no Good If we study to serve and Please God we need not any Indulgencies from Men And if we do not we shall be never the better for them I must needs say after all that has been said on both sides I cannot see the least Reason we have to Change our Religion To leave the streight Path we are in and to go about by the Saints to our Redeemer and by Purgatory to Heaven to leave the Holy Scriptures which were written for our Instruction and to Turn to Legends and stories of Saints which a serious Man would think were composed only for Merriment and Diversion But tho we have no Reason at all to Change our Religion yet surely there is great Reason for many of us to make Considerable alterations in our Lives to change almost the whole Frame and Tenour of them and to reform our selves who call our selves the Reformed 'T is not only for the Credit of our Profession that our Lives be uniform to it but our Immortal Honour and Interest depend upon it We lose the Crown of Life if we faint in the Race that is set before us and there is no other way to escape everlasting Death than to persist in the way that leadeth to Life Eternal If a man should tempt you to renounce your Faith I verily hope the Danger of it to your eternal Salvation would hinder you from hearkening to him But then there is the same Danger in a Prophane and Vicious Life and therefore the same Reason to forsake every evil way to deny every sinful Appetite and Worldly Lust to be cautious of our steps and having found the Way of Truth to keep a streight and even Course to the Kingdom of Heaven Is it not an Article of our Faith that no unrighteous man shall inherit the Kingdom of God And shall we live in a perpetual Jar and Contradiction to our selves To conclude we had as good pin our Faith upon the sleeves of other men or bestow it upon any body that will take it off our hands as keep it only to rise up in Judgment against us Sermon VI. Of Growth in Grace 2 Pet. 3.18 But Grow in Grace 'T IS hard to name any of the great Rules of Christian Piety without reflecting upon the sensible Decays of it in the present Age an Age much addicted to talk and wrangle about Religion very stout and zealous in opposing and maintaining the Doctrines which divide the Christian World but very cold and careless in the necessary points of Practice without which the best Religion degenerates into Two of the worst things in the World Hypocrisie and Superstition This being our present case it concerns us to look well to our selves and seeing we know these things before as St. Peter speaks immediately before the Text to beware lest we also being led away by the Error of the Wicked the bad Opinions and ill Examples of men fall from our own stedfastness To which he adds this Excellent Advice as a certain Rule to prevent the Danger of so fatal an Apostacy But grow in Grace Grace is a Term of Various Senses and Acceptations in Scripture being frequently taken for Favour and Acceptance with God or Men for the Divine Assistance whereby we are enabled to perform the Will of God and for those Good Dispositions and Habits of the Mind which are the Genuine Effects and Product of it In the latter sense it is the same thing with Vertue and Holiness and is most properly so to be understood whenever as in the Text it is the Matter or Subject of an Exhortation Now in this Exhortation to grow in Grace these two things are plainly implied 1. A Root or Principle of Holiness actually implanted in us We must be in a state of Grace before we can make any progress or proficiency in it There must be a stock before there can be an increase a quickness in the Root before the Branches will sprout or flourish a springing of Grace and Vertue before an abounding in the fruits of Righteousness And this shews to whom the Apostles Exhortation belongs namely to men that are in a state of Holiness and have not received the Grace of God in vain 2. It is here implied That Good Men are nor meerly passive in growing better but may and must do something towards it themselves Nay the Text supposes they must do enough to make it their own Act and that the Work of Sanctification must cease if they refuse their Endeavours to farther and promote it Did the best we can do signifie nothing to the making us better there would be no room for our Endeavours and consequently no Reason for all the Counsels Admonitions and Exhortations of the Gospel to use them The Spirit of God is indeed the Author and Fountain of all Grace But then he has appointed the use of Means both in order to the Birth and Growth of it He knows therefore that by his Assistance which he is always ready to afford us we may attain to such a Growth and Perfection in Grace as is requisite to qualifie us for the highest Degrees of Glory and Happiness And by his Direction it is that we should be frequently moved and excited to use the means he hath prescribed for our improvement in Grace and Piety And this is a plain Argument that our Endeavours are very useful to this End and that as weak and imperfect as they are our proficiency in all Virtue and Goodness depends upon them Now to make this Exhortation as useful and effectual as I can I shall aim at these four things 1. To explain the nature of our Spiritual Growth 2. To shew the Proper and Effectual means to Promote it 3. To warn you of the great Hindrances and Impediments of it 4. To inforce the Apostles Exhortation by shewing what weighty Reasons and Obligations we have to be Growing in Grace 1. To explain the Nature of our Spiritual Growth The work of Grace is neither begun nor carried on by natural Principles without the mighty Aids and Operations of the Holy Spirit of God who Inables us both to will and to do of his good Pleasure Nor does a Christian grow like a Plant merely by the Influences of Heaven But by improving the assistances he Receives from thence and using the means prescribed to him for obtaining new Measures of Grace and Holiness And hence we may discover both the Principles of our growth in Grace and the manner of our growing in it The first mover in it is the good Spirit of God the giver of every goods and perfect gift And subordinate to it is the Spirit or mind of Man disposed in some degree to grow in Grace by the Grace he hath already obtain'd and excited to greater measures by the Spirit of