judgment could be too great or sharp to vindicate our Saviour's most excellent institution from such impious contempt But now this is by no means to be extended to every little failure or omission in this duty or in our preparation for it as if that did render us such unworthy receivers as these Corinthians were or streight consign us over to the same punishment Those scandalous irregularities and excuses are here called eating and drinking unworthily which were heard of onely in the first ages of the Church when the Sacrament was always joined with these Love-feasts which were therefore in process of time wholly abrogated and to prevent that intemperance and abuse they had introduced it generally prevailed to receive this Sacrament fasting But whatever faults may be found now amongst our Communicants yet they cannot be charged with these mentioned in this Chapter The worst of men if they do communicate at all doe it with greater reverence and more suitable deportment than these Corinthians did So that neither the fault here reproved nor the punishment denounced hath place now amongst us What reason then is there why this text of Scripture should fright any people from the Sacrament whenas there is neither the same fault committed nor the same punishment inflicted Though this be the just meaning of the words yet because this plea of unworthiness to receive is often insisted upon to excuse our neglect of this Sacrament I shall farther and more largely consider it by proceeding to the third thing I propounded to discourse of III. How far this danger of receiving unworthily may reasonably scare and fright people from coming to this Sacrament And here I shall offer these few things to the thoughts of all such as are seriously disposed 1. In a strict sense we are none of us all worthy of so great a favour and such an high privilege as to be admitted to this Sacrament or of such excellent benefits as are conferred upon us in it After all our care after all our preparation to make our selves fit yet still we must acknowledge our selves unworthy but to pick up the crums that fall from our master's table much more to sit and feast at it If we are not to receive this Sacrament till we can account our selves really worthy the best of men the more holy and humble they are the more averse would they be from this duty 2. This unworthiness is no bar or hindrance to our receiving this Sacrament We are not worthy of the least mercy either spiritual or temporal which we enjoy must we therefore starve our selves or go naked because we deserve not our food or rayment We are not worthy so much as to cast up our eyes towards heaven the habitation of God's holiness but what then Shall we never make our humble addresses to the throne of God's grace because we are not worthy to ask or to have our petitions heard and granted by him Shall we refuse any favours the kindness of Heaven offers to us because they are beyond our merits or more than we could challenge or expect It is not said here in the Text he that is unworthy to eat and drink of this Sacrament if he doth it eateth and drinketh damnation to himself if it were then indeed we might all be justly afraid of coming to this royal feast but he that eateth and drinketh unworthily now there is a great deal of difference between these two things between a man's being unworthy to receive this Sacrament and his receiving it unworthily which I shall thus illustrate He for example who hath grosly wrong'd malitiously slander'd or without any provocation of mine treated me very ill is as ye will all grant utterly unworthy of any kindness or favour from me But now if notwithstanding this unworthiness I doe him some considerable kindness and offer him some favour his unworthiness is no let or hindrance to his receiving it and if he accepts it with a due sense and a gratefull mind and by it is moved to lay aside all his former enmity and animosity and heartily repents him of his former ill-will against me and studies how to requite this courtesie it is then plain that though he were unworthy of the favour yet he hath now received it worthily that is after a due manner as he ought to have done and that it hath had its right effect upon him So we are all unworthy to partake of this holy banquet but being invited and admitted we may behave our selves as becometh us in such a presence at such a solemnity And if by it we thankfully commemorate the death of our Lord and renounce all our sins and former evil ways and there give up our selves to be governed by him and vow better obedience and are affected with a true sense of his love then though unworthy of so great a favour yet we have worthily that is after a right manner as to God's acceptance received this blessed Sacrament But if now unworthy of so great honour and favour we also receive it unworthily after a prophane disorderly manner not at an minding the end use or design of it without any repentance for sins past or resolutions of amendment for the future and without any gratefull affection of love towards our Saviour dying for us we do by this means indeed highly provoke God Almighty and justly incur his most grievous displeasure 3. Those who are unworthy and are truly sensible of their own unworthiness are the very persons for whom this Sacrament was appointed and for whose benefit it was instituted Were we not all sinners we had no need of such means of grace as Sacraments are nor of such instruments of Religion Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance They that are whole need not the physician but they that are sick Now it is an idle thing for a man to be afraid to receive an aims because he is miserably poor or to be loth to take physick because he is dangerously sick If we are truly sensible of our unworthiness and as we ought to be duly affected with it this is a great argument and motive to engage us not any longer to delay the use of these means but to hasten to the Sacrament there to receive supplies and assistances suitable and proportioned to our wants and necessities the more unworthy we find our selves the more we stand in need of this holy Sacrament whereby our good resolutions may be strengthened and confirmed and divine power and grace communicated to us to enable us by degrees to subdue all our lusts and passions and to resist all temptations and so by often receiving this Sacrament we shall every time become less unworthy to partake of it There hath been a great dispute in the world whether the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper be a converting ordinance or no as prayer and hearing of the word of God read or preached are allowed to be and many there are that have
us It loseth all its grace and acceptableness when it is done grudgingly and as of necessity Nay our Saviour denied not to converse familiarly with Publicans and the greatest Sinners he endeared himself to them by signal condescensions though this also proved matter of reproach and infamy to him as if he countenanced those vices he attempted to cure or it were any disgrace to a Physitian to visit his patients He refused not the civil offer of a Pharisee though his sworn enemy and would go to the houses and eat at the table of those who sought his ruine and whatever ill design they might have in inviting him yet he always improved the occasion for the doing them some considerable good 3. And Lastly He constantly persevered in this notwithstanding the foul ingratitude and malitious opposition his good works met with in the World Never did any one meet with greater discouragements or more unworthy returns than the Son of God when all his acts of beneficence all the good offices he had done amongst them were so far from obliging that they rather tended to exasperate and provoke that untoward generation and the more kindness he expressed toward them the greater hast they made to betray and destroy him This great Patron and Benefactour this generous friend and lover of Mankind was mortally hated and cruelly persecuted as if he had been a publick enemy and had done or designed some notorious mischief They continually laid traps to ensnare him loaded him with malitious slanders greedily watched for an advantage to animate the multitude against him took up stones to throw at him as a reward of his gratious attemt to make them wise and happy put bad constructions and made sinister interpretations of all the good he did as if he designed to caress the people and by such arts to gratify his ambition and make himself popular So that this great and gallant person was looked upon as a dangerous man and the more good he did the more he was feared and suspected yet all this and a thousand times worse usage could not disswade him from persisting in doing good to them He was ready to repay all these injuries with courtesies even his bitterest enemies were partakers of his kindness and he still continued to entreat them to accept of life from him and with tears of true compassion bewailed their infidelity and wilfull folly Nay at last when they laid violent hands upon him and put him to the shamefull death of the Cross yet then did he pray to his Father to forgive them and which is still most wonderfull and is the very perfection of charity he willingly laid down his life for them who so cruelly and treacherously took it from him Thus our Lord went about doing good Let us who are his disciples and followers go now and doe likewise which brings me to the second thing I was to consider in these words viz. II. Our duty in imitation of his most glorious example who went about doing good But we you 'll say are not in a capacity we have not ability or opportunity of doing good in that ample manner in that measure and degree our Lord did We cannot by any means however willing to it or diligent in it come up to the perfection of this noble and heroical example Were such miraculous powers communicated to us as were to our Saviour so that by a word speaking we could heal all manner of sickness and restore sight to the blind and feet to the lame could we instruct the ignorant reprove the propâ—ane admonish the erring with so much ease advantage and authority as our blessed Lord did we should then perhaps be very free and liberal in imparting those great favours and blessings Heaven had so signally bestowed upon us for the good and benefit of others but alas as things now stand with us we have neither power nor skill nor means to doe good at all after that illustrious manner our Saviour did To which all I shall at present reply is that though we cannot after that stupendious manner be beneficial to mankind as our Saviour was yet there are very many things which we are able to doe for the good of others which our blessed Saviour could not doe by reason of his poverty and low estate in this World without the expence of a miracle Few of us but as to our outward circumstances in this life are in a far more plentifull condition than the Son of God himself was whilst here on earth and it is in our power by ordinary ways to relieve and succour oblige and benefit many so as our Lord could not doe without employing his divine power to furnish himself with means for it Be pleased therefore to take notice that it is not doing good just in the same instances or after that same wonderfull manner that this example obligeth us unto but onely to a like willingness and readiness to doe good upon all fit occasions as far as our power and activity reacheth it obligeth us all in our several stations according to those opportunities God hath afforded us and those abilities he hath endued us with and those conditions of life his providence hath placed us in to endeavour as much as in us lieth the welfare and prosperity ease and happiness of all men so that others may bless the divine goodness for us the state of their bodies or minds being bettered by our imparting to them what God hath more abundantly bestowed upon us Contrary to which is a narrow selfish stingy spirit when we are concerned for none but our selves and regard not how it fares with other men so it be but well with us when we follow our own humour and with great pleasure enjoy the accommodations of our own state when we think our own happiness the greater because we have it alone to our selves and no other partakes of it which of all other things is the most directly opposite to that benign and compassionate temper which our Saviour came into the World by his doctrine and example to implant in men I shall not undertake to set before you the several instances of doing good to others since they are so various and infinite and our duty varies according to our circumstances and opportunities which are very different and every one may easily find them out by considering what good he would have other Men doe for him What he should reasonably expect or would take kindly from those he converseth with or is any ways related unto all that he is in like cases to be willing to doe for another so that this doing good is a work of large comprehensive extent and universal influence it reacheth to the souls and bodies of men and takes in all those ways and means whereby we may promote the temporal spiritual or eternal advantage of others And to so happy and noble an employment one would think there should be no need of persuasion However I humbly
then when all our former inordinate pleasures shall prove matter of anguish and torment to us when all the flowers of worldly glory shall be withered when all earthly beauty which now doth so tempt and bewitch us shall be darkned and eclipsed when this world and the fashion of it is vanished and gone when the pangs of death are just taking hold of us and we are ready to step into another world what a seasonable and comfortable refreshment then will it be to look back upon a well-spent life to consider with our selves how faithfully we have improved those talents God hath intrusted us with how well we have husbanded our time estates parts reputation learning authority for the glory of God and the good of other men The time will surely shortly come wherein you shall vastly more rejoice in that little you have laid out or expended for the benefit of others than in all that which by so long toil and drudgery in the world you shall have saved and purchased They are not your great possessions lands or estates nor your dignities and titles of honour nor your eminent places and trusts nor any external advantages you have purchased or acquired that at such a time will yield you any true peace or comfortable hope What use you have made of them and what good you have done with them is that which your conscience will then enquire after and accordingly pronounce its sentence 3. To doe good is the most divine and God-like thing By it we do most especially become like unto God who is good and who doth good and not onely like him but we resemble him in that which is his very nature and essence and which he esteems his greatest glory for such is his goodness which doth as it were deify all his other attributes and perfections There is no quality or disposition whatever by which we can so near approach the divine Majesty as this of beneficence and delight in doing good As for knowledge and power the evil Spirits partake of them in a greater degree than the best men but a man hath nothing of God so much as to doe good By contributing to the contentment of other men and rendring them as happy as lieth in our power we doe God's work are in his place and room perform his office in the world we make up the seeming defects of his providence and one man thereby becomes as it were a God to another Hence this employment must needs be the highest accomplishment and perfection of our beings It is the onely argument of a brave and great soul to extend his care and thoughts for the good of all men and not to doe so is a certain indication of a little narrow spirit contracted within it self and its own paltry concernments 4. This is the very end of all the blessings and several advantages God hath vouchsafed to Men in this life that by them they might become capable of doing good in the World this is the proper use they are to be put to for which they were designed by the authour and donour of them and if they are not employed to such purposes we are false to our trust and the stewardship committed to us and shall be one day severely accountable to God for it For the Almighty and Sovereign Lord and disposer of all things both in Heaven and Earth hath assigned to every man his particular place and station in this World hath given him his part to act on this great theatre hath furnished him with powers and abilities of mind and body fitted for several uses in the due and regular improvement and management of which every one may in some measure be helpfull and serviceable to others This our Saviour illustrates by his excellent parable of the Talents St. Matth. 25. There is no man but God hath put many excellent things into his possession to be used improved and managed by him for the common good and interest for men are made for society and mutual fellowship We are not born for our selves alone but every other man hath some right and interest in us and as no man can live happily in this World without the help and assistance of others so neither is any man exempted or priviledged from being in his place some way beneficial to others It is with men in this World as it is with the parts of the body natural It is St. Paul's comparison 1 Cor. 12. the body consists of divers members which neither have the same dignity and honour nor the same use and office but every part hath its proper use and function whereby it becomes serviceable to the whole body and if any one part fails or is ill affected the whole suffers for it and the meanest part is necessary for the good of the whole so that the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of thee nor again the head to the feet I have no no need of you Thus hath God distributed several gifts amongst the sons of men or they by God's blessing upon their industry acquire particular art skill and experience some in one thing some in another none in all so that it is impossible but that every man must want something for the conveniency of his life for which he must be obliged to others upon which accompt it is most highly reasonable that he also himself should some way oblige and serve others But besides this there are many special favours and advantages which some men enjoy above others which also are designed for the common good and benefit It is plain that there is a very great inequality amongst men both as to the internal endowments of their minds and their external conditions in this life Many more talents are committed to some persons than to others but yet we greatly mistake when we think them given us merely for our own sakes to serve our own turns and for the satisfaction of our own private appetites and desires without any respect to other men No at the best they are but deposited with us in trust the more we enjoy of them the greater charge we have upon our hands and the more plentifull returns God doth justly expect from us for unto whomsoever much is given saith our Saviour of him shall be much required This ought especially to be considered by all those who by reason of the eminency of their qualities and dignities and by their superiority above others have vast authority over them whose sphere is large and influence great who have many dependents who court their favour and whose interest it is to observe and please them what infinite good may such doe in the world especially by their example 5. Doing good is the main and most substantial part of Christian Religion the most acceptable sacrifice we can offer or service we can perform to God and therefore do we so often find in Scripture all Religion summed up as it were in this one thing it
of God's worship but of those who pretend to the fear of God and care of their souls and yet live at ease in the gross omission of this duty Now amongst the many pleas or excuses with which men satisfy themselves in the neglect or disuse of this holy Communion that which most generally prevails and perhaps with some honest and well-meaning persons is the consideration of the words of my Text He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself So dreadfull is the threatning and punishment here denounced against those who receive this Sacrament unworthily that men are apt to think it much the safer and wifer course never to venture on a duty the wrong performance of which is attended with so great mischief Damnation is so terrible a word and to be guilty of the body and bloud of Christ as it is said v. 27. Whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord is so heinous a crime that it may seem the most prudent course for a man to keep himself at the greatest distance from all possibility of falling into it Better never receive at all than expose ones self to so great hazard by receiving I hope therefore it will not be thought altogether unprofitable to entertain you at this time with a discourse on these words wherein I shall endeavour to give you the full meaning of them with the true and just inferences and consequences that may be drawn from them In order to which I shall shew you I. What is meant here by damnation II. What by eating and drinking unworthily III. How far this Text may reasonably scare and fright people from this Sacrament IV. What is the true consequence from what is here affirmed by the Apostle He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself I. What is meant here by eating and drinking damnation to a man's self The original word which is here translated damnation truly signifies no more than judgment or punishment in general of what kind soever it be temporal or eternal So that there is no necessity of translating it here by the word damnation nay there are two plain reasons why it ought to be understood onely of temporal evils and chastisements 1. Because the judgments that were inflicted on the Corinthians for their prophanation of this holy Sacrament were onely temporal verse 30th For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep 2. Because the reason assigned of these judgments is that they might not be condemned in the other world v. 32. But when we are judged where the same Greek word is used which in my Text is translated damnation we are chastened of the Lord that we might not be condemned with the world That is God inflicted these evils on the Corinthians that being reformed by these stripes in this life they might escape that vengeance which was reserved for the impenitent in another life and therefore it could not be damnation that is eternal damnation that was either threatned or inflicted upon them for their unworthy receiving The sum of what the Apostle means seems to be this that By prophaning this holy Sacrament they would pluck down some remarkable judgment upon their heads Of this saith he you have notorious instances amongst your selves in those various and mortal diseases that have been so rise in your City and this God doth to warn you that you may be awakened to avoid greater and worse judgments that are future and eternal Now this punishment was extraordinary and peculiar to that time for there is no such thing found amongst us at this day namely that God doth suddenly smite all unworthy Communicants with some grievous disease or sudden death Nor indeed are men afraid of any such thing though it is very plain that this is the true meaning of the words of my Text that by such prophaneness they would bring down some remarkable temporal judgment upon themselves But I shall not insist any longer upon this but take the word damnation as we commonly understand it and in that sense to eat and drink damnation to a man's self doth imply that by our unworthy participation of the Sacrament we are so far from receiving any benefit or advantage by it that we do incur God's heaviest displeasure and render our selves liable to eternal misery and so proceed II. To enquire who those are that do run this great danger they who eat and drink unworthily Now this phrase of eating unworthily being onely found here in this Chapter for the understanding of it we are to consider what the faults were with which the Apostle chargeth the Corinthians and we shall find them to be some very heinous disorders that had crept in amongst them occasioned by their Love-feasts at the end of which the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was usually celebrated which disorders therefore were peculiar to those times and are not now to be found amongst us as v. 18. First of all when ye come together in the Church I hear that there be divisions among you they bandied into separate parties and v. 21. In eating every one taketh before another his own supper that is Whereas there was a custome when they came together to commemorate Christ's death to furnish a common table where no man was to pretend any propriety to what he himself brought but was to eat in common with the rest this charitable custome these Corinthians wholly perverted for he that brought a great deal fell to that as if it were at his own house and at his own table and so fed to the full whereas another that was able to bring but a little remained hungry With such irreverence and disorder did they behave themselves at the Lord's Table as if they had been met at a common feast this the Apostle calls not discerning the Lord's body that is they made no difference between that heavenly food and common bread they ate the Sacrament as if it were their ordinary meat What saith he v. 22. have ye not houses to eat and drink in ye may e'en as well stay at home and doe this there is nothing of Religion in this nor is this to celebrate the Sacrament according to Christ's institution whereby we ought to represent his death for the world and to commemorate his love and to devote our selves to him in new and better obedience and not to make it a merry meeting onely to fill our own bellies But this was not all for they were also riotous and intemperate in these Love-feasts They play'd the gluttons and were drunk even when they received the holy Sacrament Now this was so notorious and foul a prophanation of the holy Mystery to make it an instrument of debauchery that we cannot at all wonder that God should so severely threaten and punish such an high affront and violation of his sacred ordinance No
omniscience and the like and therefore the whole Idea of an invisible power as one of the most conceited men in our Nation says is feigned onely by the mind or imagined from tales publickly allowed of The Resurrection seems a very unlikely and improbable story How can these things be It is past their finding out why God did not send Christ sooner into the world if there be no salvation to be had without him It seemeth to them very absurd and unworthy that the Son of God should appear here in so mean a condition and dye so shamefull a death They understand not the reason of some of God's Laws and think they themselves could make better They conclude the parts of this visible world might have been much more conveniently ordered and contrived than now they appear to be if all were managed and conducted by an infinite power and wisedom and thus rather than in any case doubt or suspect their own want of understanding they turn Atheists or Scepticks and renounce the most certain and plainest truths God shall not be at all unless he please to be and doe just as his creatures would have him These now are the persons that conceit themselves the onely men of parts and deep reach who will not be born down by a popular faith who search and dive into the very bottom of things and have alone happily smelt out that grand cheat and juggle with which the rest of mankind hath been so long abused I know not one objection or doubt against the being of a Deity and Providence but what is thus raised onely by pride and an arrogant opinion of our own understanding as if nothing could be either true or reasonable but what is perfectly within our own ken and cognisance If such conceited and haughty persons cannot apprehend the usefulness of any part of the creation if any thing happens in the world that seems to them confused and disordered if their wisedoms cannot discern the end benefit and design of every thing that falls out presently they either charge God with folly and ill contrivance or banish him out of the world and impute all to blind fortune or inexorable destiny Whereas indeed it is onely their own ignorance they ought to accuse and others may perchance comprehend what they cavil at nay they themselves may possibly arrive to the complete knowledge of that hereafter which now seems so mysterious to them Let us but suppose God infinitely wiser than we poor mortals are or can be and that he may doe and order many things for good and great reasons which yet we who can see but a little way and consider but of a few things at once are not able as yet to grasp or find out Let us I say but suppose our understandings in this state imperfect and limited and capable of far greater improvement in another and all these scruples of the Atheist presently vanish into nothing Thus you may observe with my Lord Bacon that no great proficients in Philosophy who have really improved their minds and reasons have ever been Atheists but such onely as have had a little smattering of it and being puft up with a small pittance of knowledge became presently ready to conclude they understood all things and being wise in their own conceits did therefore huff against every thing they were not able to render a reason of And if you consult the experience of these days you will find those onely to swagger and hector against Religion who have a lofty opinion of their own learning and parts begot and maintained by a slight and superficial skill in Philosophy by a little dabling in the Mathematicks and Mechanicks and a small share of wit and drollery enough to render themselves the scorn and compassion of all truly wise and good men but who art thou O vain man that thus exaltest thy self against God and settest up thy puisne wit and understanding in competition with his eternal reason 'T is strange that when men find themselves at a loss and utterly to seek about the nature of things visible and sensible about the ordinary appearances of this world when it is easie for a man but of little parts to raise such a mist about the plainest truths and invent such difficulties and objections as shall puzzle the sagest Philosophers handsomly to solve and unriddle when men do and must believe several things the causes of which they can onely guess at nor can ever be certain they are in the right when a Load-stone's drawing of iron the ebbing and flowing of the Sea the striking fire out of a Flint shall find mens wits employment enough nor shall they ever be able perfectly to satisfy themselves or others about them when they are forced in such things as they see daily before their eyes to confess their ignorance and the uncertainty of all their reasonings that yet I say when they come to discourse of such things as are plainly above their reach and capacity being invisible and infinite they will believe nothing but what they can fully comprehend and count all that absurd which they cannot satisfactorily explain This is the first particular instance of that sort of self-conceit which consists in medling with things we do not understand nor do belong to us 2. Then also we meddle with things we do not understand and which do not belong to us when we take upon our selves to give peremptory accounts of God's providential dealings with the sons of men when without controll we pass our rash verdicts upon God's Actions and sit in judgment upon the various occurrences of this world accusing and arraigning God of arbitrary tyrannical government if every thing happen not according to our minds as we had before-hand wished or projected if those we love much thrive not so well or if our enemies prosper more and grow greater in this world than we would have them when we offer to prescribe to Providence and teach God how he should rule the world and dispose of his favours When we dare clamour and mutiny at God's proceedings imagining that he hath not done well or that we our selves could have done better that if the Government of mankind were but committed to our care as the Chariot of the Sun is said once to have been to Phaethon we could order and determine things more wisely and equally and to better advantage This is a most notorious piece of arrogance thus saucily to affix senses and meanings on God's providences where he has given us no rule to judge by and to interpret them according as our own interest prejudice passion or some other vice doth sway us to bring arguments for any way or sect from temporal successes or to condemn any who differ from us by reason of some calamities or unfortunate accidents that may have befallen them This shews us mightily conceited of our selves and our own judgments when we think God so fond of our private and singular sentiments
as that all his Providences must needs serve onely to vindicate and countenance our side and disparage those that are contrary to us This is busily to pry into God's secrets and it is the greatest affront we can put upon him thus unwarrantably to pronounce concerning his Actions as if we were of his Cabinet-council and had particular revelations of all the designs he carrieth on in the world This is to exercise our selves in great matters and such as are too high for us for what man is he that can know the counsel of God or who can think what the will of the Lord is for the thoughts of mortal men are miserable and our devices are but uncertain And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth and with labour do we find the things that are before us but the things that are in heaven who hath searched out and God's counsel who hath known 3. Another instance of this sort of self-conceit may be in private and illiterate persons pretending to expound the most difficult and obscure places of Scripture and to unfold and determine the most nice and curious questions in Theology There is enough in holy Scripture plain and easie to employ the thoughts and lives of private Christians and yet it is too true that these parts of it though they alone contain our necessary duty are quite overlooked at least not near so much studied or regarded as those that are most mysterious and dark and thus even amongst common people you will find not a few that are more positive and dogmatical in their interpretations of Prophecies mystical Speeches and the Book of Revelations than any sober Divine that hath made the Bible his study for many years Whether this ariseth from the encrease or decay of knowledge amongst us I shall not stand now to enquire but so it is that many a zealous Mechanick amongst us sets up for a judge of Orthodoxy and having learnt a great deal of Scripture by rote and a few terms of art shall dictate as magisterially concerning the difficultest points in Divinity as if he had sate all his life long in the infallible Chair And indeed I am apt to think this is peculiar to us in England at least that we are more notorious for it than those who live in other Countries and that not onely now in our days but that we have been so in former times for I find it amongst the observations made by an Italian in Queen Elizabeth's days of glorious memory that the common people of England were wiser or at least thought themselves so than the wisest of other Nations for that here the very women and shopkeepers were able to judge of predestination free-will perseverance and to demonstrate the divine right of a Lay-elder and were better able to raise and answer perplexed cases of conscience than the most learned Colleges in other parts of Europe and he concludes with this serious remark that those persons who were most busie in disputations and controversies and finding out the mistakes of their governours and teachers had always the least of humility mortification or the power of godliness Of all the several kinds of fops that are there is none more impertinent troublesome and justly ridiculous than a gifted brother full of his visions and illuminations who can split an hair and smell out an heresie I know not how far off who thinking that he knoweth all things knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know It is good advice therefore of the wise son of Sirach Be not curious in unnecessary matters for more things are shewed unto thee than men understand 4. This sort of self-conceit which consists in medling with things we do not understand or do not belong to us appeareth in nothing more than in opposing our own prudence and discretion to the constitutions of our governours and the determinations of our superiours in matters relating to publick peace and order and a great many such there are who are never satisfied unless every thing be decreed and appointed just as they themselves think best and most fit Hence they spend most of their time and discourse in canvassing and descanting upon the actions of their superiours of which they are yet most incompetent judges in taxing and inveighing against their proceeding though never so far out of their sphere and capacity in finding fault with their conduct and picking quarrels with their orders and commands What an happy world would there soon be thinks such a grave politician if all things were settled according to that model which he hath framed in his own conceit how well would the State be secured how quietly would the Church be governed how decently would Divine Service be performed how would all interests and parties be pleased how soon would all fears and jealousies vanish if he had but the management of affairs or his counsel might be heard how soon would there be a thorow reformation of all that is amiss would the King but please to think him worthy of such a place of power and authority In short let things be well or ill administred still if his hand be not in it he finds matter of dislike and complaint or if it do chance that he hath nothing at all to object yet he will give you a grave shrug or nodd and shake his empty head as if all were not well and he knew some great matter which he durst not utter Alas what an unhappy thing is it that such a prodigious wise man should be so little taken notice of or regarded Thus every one almost conceited of his own politicks invades the office of a Counsellour of State and acteth a Prince or Bishop and positively determineth what laws are fit to be repealed what new ones to be made what ceremonies in God's worship ought to be retained what to be abrogated and thus we confound and disturb that order and subordination which God hath placed in the world and render the Magistrate's office altogether useless and as it were dethrone and depose those whom God hath set over us It is the office of our governours to take care of the publick peace and safety and to make such laws as shall seem to them most conducing thereto which we are bound to submit to whether we judge them expedient or not for if no laws or constitutions of our governours were to take place but onely such as every one should approve of the authority of the Magistrate would signifie nothing but every man would be his own lord and master which would necessarily introduce the greatest disorder and confusion 5. And lastly Hence it is men are so busie and pragmatical in intermedling and interposing in the concerns and private affairs of their neighbours or any others they have the least knowledge of putting their sickle into every man's corn peeping into every man's house listening at every ones window to furnish themselves with matter for censure and observation and by
aversation and disrespect In a word if you would excell others in point of true worth and excellency endeavour to get your souls possessed with this divine grace of charity which is the onely thing that doth truly ennoble a man that doth exalt and dignify his nature and raise him above the rest of his fellow-creatures A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL The Seventh Sermon NUMB. XXIII 10. Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his I Shall not now trouble you with enquiring into the strict meaning of these words as uttered by the Prophet Balaam but I shall consider them onely as they are commonly understood viz. as containing in them the secret wish and desire of most wicked and ungodly men who though they are loth to be at the pains of living the life yet would fain die the death of the righteous and would gladly that their latter end should be like his As well as men love their sins yet they would not willingly be damned for them They can't endure to think seriously of passing out of this World in an impenitent state For it is what but a very few can arrive unto wholly to shake off or wear out all sense of good and evil of reward and punishment The fears of another World will ever and anon be stirring and erowding themselves in and will fret and gall the Sinner sorely and make his thoughts troublesome to him An uneasie bed a broken sleep a sudden affliction an hand-writing on the wall will sometimes force us whether we will or no to smite upon our breasts and reflect sadly upon our past dishonourable misdeeds and the satal issue of them and very often our own conscience will fly in our face notwithstanding all our arts to divert it or our charms to lull it asleep nor could a wicked man ever be at quiet in his mind but that he is resolved by God's grace when time shall serve to doe something or other he doth not well know what or when whereby he may obtain pardon for all the follies and miscarriages of his life past I am very confident I now represent to you the secret mind of most wicked Christians who at any time think seriously viz. that that which makes them so hardy and stupidly neglectfull of their immortal concerns and so jocund and pleasant whilst they live in plain known sins is this that they promise themselves and depend on God's goodness for time and opportunity of making amends in a lingring sickness or in a declining age They are now young and healthfull strong and lusty their pulse beats evenly their bloud moves briskly their spirits are active and subtile and they feel no symptoms of any approaching sickness Hereafter therefore they think it will be time enough to look after another life when they shall be nigh leaving this when their bodies shall begin to decline and their strength to decay and death shall make its approaches Thus there are as it were two ways propounded to Heaven one and that is counted a very dull tedious and difficult passage by the constant doing of good by living righteously and godlily and soberly in this present world The other which is a shorter cut and a much broader way by repenting at our death of a wicked life and it is not at all hard to guess which way the greatest part of men will chuse And would this doe it were indeed a very fine and subtile management of things for thus we might swallow the bait and never be hurt by the hook we might have both the pleasure of being wicked and the hopes of being saved We might spare our selves all the trouble of Religion and yet not miss of the reward of it We might spend all our days as we list gratify every vain humour and appetite enjoy this world as much as we can deny our selves nothing that our lusts and passions crave live all our life long without God in the world and yet at last die in the Lord. The great enemy of mankind hath not in all his magazine a more deadly engine for the destruction of souls Nor is there any thing I know of that doth so notoriously frustrate and defeat the whole design of our Saviour's coming into the world and render our Christianity so useless to us as this one presumption that the whole of Religion or all that is necessary to salvation may be performed upon a sick or death-bed For if it may be done as well at the last in good truth what need we trouble our selves about it sooner what need we disquiet our selves in vain about the exercises of vertue and piety or forego the sweet pleasures of this life or constantly maintain a painfull and ungratefull conflict with the inclinations and inordinate cravings of our flesh or renounce our secular interests or undertake a sharp and troublesome service whenas it is but at any time lamenting over our sins and trusting to the performances of Jesus Christ and we shall be as secure of Paradise as if we had all our days kept a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards all men and in so doing shall run no other hazard but that of dying suddenly which doth not happen to one man in five hundred Eternal bliss and happiness is a thing of so very great and weighty consideration of such vast moment to us that to put off the thoughts thereof or provision for it but one day after that we are become capable of thinking and acting like men is certainly a very great and unaccountable indiscretion but for a man to give all his days to himself and to his own pleasure and humour and to reserve for God for whose service he was born but one and that the worst and the last This is surely madness beyond all measure The extreme folly and danger of such practices I shall now indeavour to evince by shewing briefly these three things I. How little all that amounts to which can be done by a wicked man in order to the obtaining the pardon of his sins on a sick or death-bed II. How far short all this comes of what the holy Scriptures require as the indispensable conditions of salvation III. What small hopes or encouragement God hath any where given men to believe that he will at all abate or remit of those conditions he hath propounded in the Gospel or accept of any thing less than a good life I. How little all that amounts to which can be done by a wicked man on his sick or death-bed Now some at this time can doe more some less according as God affords them space and ability but ordinarily the whole of a death-bed repentance is no more than a few good words and wishes a superficial confession of sin and wickedness in general some broken prayers and pious expressions to the Minister who then shall be sure to be sent for in all haste however despised by the sinner all his
cometh of evil i. e. whatsoever is more than bare affirming or denying any thing that is still in our communication in our ordinary talk and discourse is from evil from mens so commonly breaking of promises and speaking of falsities from whence that lewd custome of adding oaths proceeds because they cannot be believed without them Now therefore since our Saviour is here directing us how to govern our common discourse and conversation together the prohibition also in the beginning must be restrained to the same matter and so the full sense of the words seems to me to be this In your communication familiari sermone in your common talk use no swearing not so much as by any creature but let it suffice barely to affirm or deny and be always so true to your words that nothing farther need be desired or expected from you all other confirmation in such ordinary affairs is practised onely by such as are used to lie and dissemble and intend to impose upon others 3. That our Saviour did not here forbid all swearing whatever cause there might be for it as a thing in it self unlawfull we are fully satisfied from the example of St. Paul who certainly understood his Master's mind in this particular Now it is a very unreasonable thing to imagine that he should so often swear and that by the name of God too that such his oaths should be recorded in the Scriptures and that there should not be the least intimation of his sinning in so doing if all swearing was utterly prohibited by his Lord and Master I shall propound two or three eminent instances to shew that in serious and great matters of mighty concernment he made no scruple of adding the confirmation of an oath Gal. 1.20 Now the things which I write unto you behold before God I lie not He bears witness to the truth of his writings by an express oath Rom. 1.9 For God is my witness whom I serve that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers It was of great moment that in the beginning of his Epistle he should persuade those to whom he did address himself of his good-will toward them How well therefore he did wish them he calls God to witness which is the formal essence of an oath Thus again to name no more 2 Cor. 11.31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which is blessed for evermore knoweth that I lie not which is a plain appeal to God's testimony So that when the glory of God and the publick good was engaged he thought it not unlawfull to invoke God's holy name and to call his Majesty for a witness of his truth or the avenger of his falshood Thus our blessed Saviour himself when he stood before the High-priest of the Jews did not refuse to answer upon oath Matth. 26.63 The High-priest said unto him I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God which amongst the Jews was the form of giving an oath to which our Saviour answered Thou hast said that is upon my oath it is as thou sayst Nay to make all sure that there is no evil in swearing when it is done gravely and seriously and upon an important occasion that requires it we find that God himself hath been pleased to give us his oath Though it were impossible for him to lye yet that we might have strong consolation and full assurance to shew the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel he confirmed it by an oath and when he could not swear by a greater he swore by himself Heb. 6.13 And therefore it must be very absurd to deny amongst Christians the lawfulness of doing that though upon never so great reason which St. Paul so often did nay which God Almighty who is truth it self did yet vouchsafe out of condescension to our weakness to doe more than once Not now to mention Baptism and the Lord's Supper both of which have in them the nature of oaths and are therefore called Sacraments 4. We are to consider that swearing rightly circumstanced is so far from being a thing in it self evil and so universally forbidden that it is indeed a most eminent part of religious worship and divine adoration by which we do most signally own and recognize God Almighty to be the great Sovereign Lord and Governour of the world the highest and supremest Power to which the last and final appeal is in all cases to be made By it we acknowledge the immensity of his presence his exact knowledge and continual care of humane affairs and all things that happen here below his all-seeing eye that he searcheth into the depth of our hearts and is conscious to our most inward thoughts and secret meanings We do by it avow him as the grand Patron of truth and innocence as the severe punisher and avenger of deceit and perfidiousness And therefore doth God often in holy Scripture appropriate this to himself Him onely shalt thou serve and to him shalt thou cleave and shalt swear by his name And if this be done with that consideration and solemnity which doth become such a special part of devotion upon an occasion that doth deserve and that will in some measure excuse our engaging the divine Majesty as a witness in it I say if it be performed with due awe and reverence with hearty intention for a considerable good we do thus calling upon God when we swear by him honour and glorify his great and holy name as well as by prayer or praises or any other act of religious worship whatever 5. Add to this the necessity of taking oaths in order to civil government publick administration of justice and the maintaining of good order and peace in Societies And therefore the Apostle tells us Heb. 6.16 That an oath for confirmation to men is the end of all strife and that not by particular customs and laws prevailing in some places onely but from the appointment of God the reasonableness and fitness of the thing it self and the constant practice of all the world in all ages for as far and wide as the sense of a Deity hath spread it self hath also the religion of an oath and the final determination of matters in difference by calling to witness the Lord and Maker of all things this being the utmost assurance and the surest pledge any can give of their faith and sincerity For nothing can be imagined sufficient or effectual to engage men to speak truth or to be faithfull and constant to their promises if an oath doth not He must surely renounce all sense and fear of God all conscience of duty or regard to the Almighty's love and favour who can with open face call him to testify to a lye or challenge him to punish him if he speaks not true when yet at that very time he knows he does not This is the greatest security men can give of their honesty and
that they mean as they say And it being necessary for the government of the world in so many cases not proper now to be named that truth should be found out and the greatest certainty of it be given that can possibly and that men should by the strictest ties be obliged to some duties it thence also becomes necessary that oaths should sometimes be required especially when men cannot by other means well assure the sincerity of their intentions or secure the fidelity of their resolutions I confess amongst Christians in the first ages I believe oaths were not so commonly required in such little matters as now sometimes they are but the reason was because truth and honesty then prevailed far more amongst them and lying was then more scandalous than I fear perjury is now but perfidiousness and dissembling and equivocating and fraud encreasing have made the use of oaths more ordinary than otherwise would have been necessary For if Christians did generally observe the laws of their Religion in all other instances men would fly to this greatest security onely in extreme and highest cases and not find it needfull to require it in common and more trivial matters 6. Lastly I onely observe farther that what seems thus to be the doctrine of our Saviour concerning swearing was delivered by the Philosophers of old amongst the Heathens as agreeable to the light of nature and right reason that is to say they advised their Scholars to forbear all oaths as much as possibly they could never to swear but when it was necessary to reverence an oath as Pythagoras express'd it in his golden Verses not easily or lightly or want only to take God's name into their mouths I forbear to trouble you with the Authours or the Sentences themselves and I propound this onely to shew that the wise men of this world did agree with our blessed Saviour in this rule which he hath prescribed to us concerning swearing and I have been the larger in it that you might see what little reason any Enthusiasts amongst us have to stand out so stubbornly against the wholsome laws of our Countrey and the proceedings of the Courts of Judicature who though it were to save the King's life will not give their testimony upon oath because our Saviour hath said Swear not at all The sum of all is Our Saviour absolutely forbids swearing in our communication or ordinary discourse together and about the unlawfulness of this there is no dispute and strange it is that against such express words of our blessed Lord and Master men should so openly allow themselves in such a vile practice and yet have the face to call themselves his disciples and followers This evil of voluntary rash swearing hath prevailed amongst us even almost beyond all hope of cure and remedy That great Oratour St. Chrysostome made no less than twenty Homilies or Sermons against this foolish vice and yet found it too hard for all his reason or Rhetorick till at length he attempted to force his Auditours to leave off that sin if for no better reason yet that he might chuse another subject They are ordinarily men onely of debauched minds and consciences that freely indulge themselves in it and if any such now hear me I cannot expect by those few words I have now to deliver to dissuade them from it I had rather endeavour to offer something to your consideration who are not yet infected by it to persuade you to watch severely against it and resolve never to comply with such an impious senseless custome 1. Consider what an horrid affront it is to the divine Majesty All sin reflects dishonourably upon God but other sins do this by consequence onely this directly flies in his face and immediately impugneth his justice and power Other sins are acts of disobedience but 't is high contempt of God thus to toss about his excellent and glorious name in our unhallowed mouths and to prostitute it to so vile an use as onely to fill up the vacuities of our idle prattle That great and terrible name of God which all the Angels and host of Heaven with the profoundest submission continually adore which rends the mountains and opens the bowels of the deepest rocks which makes hell tremble and is the strength and hope of all the ends of the earth our onely refuge in the day of trouble the very thought whereof should fill all sober persons with a reverential awe and horrour how do men most impudently and rashly almost every minute pollute and tear without fear or sense or observing what they say as if God Almighty the Maker and Judge of us all were the meanest and most despicable Being in the universe What unaccountable boldness and intolerable sauciness is this to dare to invoke the dreadfull Majesty of heaven and earth to witness to every impertinent saying silly story vain fancy almost every five words we utter thus at our pleasure to summon our Omnipotent Creatour as if he were at our beck and a slave to our humour thus to play and dally with him who is a consuming fire and can in the twinkling of an eye make us all as miserable as we have been sinfull How shall we ever be able in the day of our fears to address our selves to the throne of his grace whom every time we speak we thus madly defy with what shame and regret and confusion must we needs appear before his Judgment seat whose honourable name we have thus foully prophaned and used so ignominiously Can they ever think to plead that bloud of our dearest Lord and those wounds made by the spear and nails in his most pretious body for the pardon and expiation of their most grievous sins who thus daily have made a mock of them Can they ever with the least hope of success pray God when they come to die to deliver them from that damnation that they have a thousand times before wished to themselves And yet this sin which argues such slight and abuse of the divine Majesty such rudeness towards him and draws so many dire consequences after it is now adays pardon me if I say it one of the fashionable accomplishments of too many of those that should be precedents of civility or good manners to others but this is so sad a consideration that I cannot endure to dwell longer upon it I proceed to other mischiefs of this vice though none need be named after this for those whom the awe of God and sense of his power and infinite greatness will not keep and restrain from such desperate profanations of his holy name it is not to be imagined that any less arguments should 2. This practice of common swearing must of necessity frequently involve men in the heinous sin of perjury He that swears at every turn in his ordinary discourse how often doth he call God to witness even to what he knows is false and as often forget to doe what before God he hath engaged himself
those who humbly beg it of him to strengthen them in every good work and to join with and second their faithfull endeavours He will never fail an honest mind nay he doth first strive with men prevent and surprize them by his good motions and suggestions He doth not slight any weak attempts but cherisheth the very first beginnings of vertue and goodness He doth not forsake us at our first refusal but still stands at the door knocking waiting our amendment He is always ready at hand to help and succour us under all temptations or discouragements that we may meet with in our Christian course He hath appointed many excellent means of grace and even to this day hath continued his Ministers and Ambassadors in the world to beseech men in his name to be reconciled to God 4. He hath engaged us to the doing of God's will by most glorious rewards even everlasting pleasures and immortal happiness such as eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor could it ever enter into the heart of man to conceive and still farther that no means might be omitted likely to work upon reasonable creatures he hath denounced most severe threatnings against all those who refuse to comply with his gratious offers even eternal flames remediless torments and miseries and that they shall be doomed for ever to the company and partake of the fate of Devils and infernal Fiends Thus our blessed Lord hath propounded the most proper object of fear to keep men from sin and also presented the most desireable object of hope to encourage men to be good And to give us the greatest assurance of all this that we can possibly desire he hath confirmed and established his doctrine not onely by those undoubted miracles which he wrought and sufferings he underwent in attestation to its truth and divinity but also by his own resurrection from the dead and visible ascension into Heaven where in our nature he hath taken possession of that eternal joy which he purchased for us and liveth for ever at God's right hand to intercede for us to protect and rule his Church to distribute his gifts and graces to subdue all our enemies and at last to instate all his true disciples in the same glory and eternal life he is now possessed of and so to become their complete Saviour All this is a very imperfect description of but a little part of what our Saviour hath really done towards the reformation and amendment of sinners for indeed there is nothing that could have been done towards the salvation of men which this Jesus hath not done for us And I believe all the world may be challenged to name any one help motive or encouragement to the love and service of God that is suited to the nature of God of Man and of Religion which is not afforded to us by this appearance of the Son of God in our nature to mediate for us By the Gospel it is therefore that Christ saves sinners which is therefore called Rom. 1.16 the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew first and then to the Greek it being most admirably contrived to the end it was designed for the opening of mens eyes and turning them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God And this the holy Scriptures often declare to us that for this purpose was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil might redeem us from our vain conversation renew our minds and form them over again and purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works And all that our Saviour did and suffered for us towards the procuring of our pardon and peace will signify nothing to us will not be in the least available for our benefit unless he first save us from our sins by washing and cleansing our natures and subduing all our lusts and inordinate passions and making us conformable to his own image in true holiness and righteousness 'T will be no advantage to us that he was born into this world unless he be formed in our minds and we become new creatures such as he requires us to be Now in all this our Saviour deals with men according to their natures as rational governable creatures moves them by hopes and fears draws them with the cords of a man and will have heaven and happiness be the reward of their own vertuous choice and free obedience The short of all is this In the Gospel of Jesus Christ which as at this time he came down from Heaven to reveal to men God Almighty out of his infinite compassion to his degenerate creatures hath prescribed such methods appointed such means given such examples encouragements assistences that nothing can be thought fit and likely to promote the salvation of all men but what his goodness and wisedom have therein most abundantly supply'd us with unless we would have him offer violence to the liberty of our will and force us to be vertuous and happy whether we will or no which would be to alter our natures and make us another sort of creatures but such care is taken such provision is made for our happiness that we have nothing left us but onely the power of being miserable if it be our resolved mind notwithstanding all possible obligations to the contrary to be so If men will stop their ears against the voice of the Charmer though he charm never so wisely if they will chuse court and embrace sin and ruine if the strongest arguments will not prevail if the most forcible engagements will not persuade if neither the most glorious promises nor the severest threatnings nor interest nor self-love nor any of those considerations by which men are swayed in other affairs will at all move them in matters of greatest moment they must perish and that most deservedly and inrecoverably If after all this sinners will die and be damned even as it were in spite of Heaven maugre all that God or Christ hath done for them they must e'en thank themselves for it and are onely to charge it upon their own wilfull and incurable folly and base contempt of such infinite love and kindness Thus I have briefly shewn you how or by what means the Son of God truly became our Jesus or Saviour by saving his people from their sins II. It onely remaineth that in a few words I draw some conclusions from what I have said 1. Hence we may learn that the honour of the Son of God as Saviour of the world is best secured and exalted by an actual obedience to his laws that we ought not to shift off all duty and work from our selves upon him alone leaving it wholly to him to save us if he pleaseth without any care or trouble of ours nor trust to and relie altogether upon his righteousness and obedience without any of our own since as I have shewn you he must save us from the power of our
for us to stand between us and God's justice and by his dismal sufferings and cursed death to expiate our offences so that we have not onely the infinite goodness of the divine nature to trust to but the vertue and efficacy of that sacrifice which the Son of God made of himself to plead for our forgiveness upon our repentance and amendment Nor was our blessed Saviour onely our propitiation to die for us and procure our attonement but he is still our Advocate continually interceding with his Father in the behalf of all true penitents and suing out their pardon for them in the Court of Heaven If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who deprecates anger mitigates wrath and not onely barely intercedes for us but with authority demands the release of his captives redeemed by his bloud by virtue of God's promise and covenant And in order to the sufficient promulgation of this his gratious willingness to forgive us upon our repentance God hath provided and appointed an order of men to last as long as the world doth to propound to men this blessed overture and in God's name to beseech men to be reconciled to him Nay God condescends to prevent the worst of men by manifold blessings and favours daily obliging them by his grace and spirit and several providences towards them moving affecting and awakening the most grievous offenders to a timely consideration of their ways Though highly provoked he yet begins first with us so desirous is he of our welfare He hath not onely outwardly proclaimed pardon to all that will submit and sent his own Son on this message of peace but inwardly by his spirit and grace he solicites men to comply with it even where it is resisted and despised he forsaketh not men at their first denial he giveth them time to bethink and recollect themselves he doth not lie at the catch nor take present advantage against us but with infinite patience waits to be gratious to us hoping at last we shall be of a better mind he doth not soon despair of mens conversion and reformation he yet extends his grace towards those who abuse it and offers his pardon to those who slight it nothing is more highly pleasing and acceptable to him than for a sinner to return from the evil of his ways nay which is more yet he is not onely upon our repentance ready to overlook all that is past but he hath promised to reward our future obedience with eternal life so that we shall not onely upon our repentance be freed from those dismal punishments which we had rendred our selves liable to but likewise receive from God such a glorious recompence as is beyond all our conception or imagination Now if such love and kindness of Heaven towards us will not beget some relentings and remorse in us if such powerfull arguments will not prevail with us to grow wise and considerate it is impossible any should Let us all therefore smite upon our breasts and say O Lord we are highly sensible of our folly of our unworthiness and foul ingratitude for we have sinned against thee and done evil in thy sight and are no more worthy to be called thy children but we have heard that the great King of the World is a most mercifull King that he delights not in the death of sinners but had rather they should repent and live we cannot longer withstand or oppose such unspeakable goodness we are overcome by such wonderfull kindness and condescention we resign up our selves wholly to the conduct of his good spirit and will never withdraw or alienate our selves from him any more we will now become God's true and loyal subjects and continue such as long as we breathe nor shall any thing in the world be able to shake or corrupt our faith and allegiance to him What punishment can be too sore what state black and dismal enough for those who contemn all these offers and kindnesses of Heaven who will not by any means be won to look after and have mercy upon themselves to consult their own interest and welfare what pity can they expect who obstinately chuse to be miserable in despite of all the goodness of God and grace of the Gospel The Lord grant that we may all in this our day know and mind the things that belong to our everlasting peace before they are hid from our eyes The Eleventh Sermon 1 COR. XV. 35. But some man will say how are the dead raised up And with what body do they come THE Apostle having in the beginning of this Chapter most firmly established the truth and reality of our Saviour's resurrection from the dead proceeds to infer from thence the certainty of our own resurrection v. 12 13. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead But if there be no resurrection of the dead then is not Christ risen It cannot now any longer seem an impossible or incredible thing to you that God should raise the dead since you have so plain and undoubted an example of it in the person of our blessed Lord who having been truly dead and buried is now alive and hath appeared unto many with the visible marks of his crucifixion still remaining in his body And to shew of what general concernment his resurrection was the graves were opened as St. Matthew tells us and many bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection and appeared unto many the same power which raised Jesus from the dead is able also to quicken our mortal bodies Now in my Text the Apostle brings in some sceptical person objecting against this doctrine of the resurrection of the dead But some man will say how are the dead raised up and with what body do they come Two questions that every one almost is ready to start especially those who love to cavil at Religion and it hath not a little puzled such as have undertaken to give a rational account of our faith to give a full and satisfactory answer to them How can these things be How is it possible that those bodies should be raised again and joined to the souls which formerly inhabited them which many thousand years ago were either buried in the Earth or swallowed up in the Sea or devoured by fire which have been dissolved into the smallest atoms and those scattered over the face of the earth and dispersed as far asunder as the Heaven is wide nay which have undergone ten thousand several changes and transmutations have fructified the earth become the nourishment of other animals and those the food again of other men and so have been adopted into several other bodies How is it possible that all those little particles which made up suppose the body of Abraham should at the end of the world be again ranged and marshalled together and
for those celestial and glorious mansions which God hath provided for us an earthly sensual mind is so much wedded to bodily pleasures as that it cannot enjoy its self without them and is incapable of tasting or relishing any other though really greater and infinitely to be preferred before them Nay such persons as mind onely the concerns of the body and are wholly led by its motions and inclinations as do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were embody their souls would esteem it a great unhappiness to be cloathed with a spiritual and heavenly body it would be like cloathing a beggar in princely apparel Such glorious bodies would be uneasie to them they would not know how to behave themselves in them they would e'en be glad to retire and put on their rags again But now by denying the solicitations of our flesh and contradicting its lusts and appetites and weaning our selves from bodily pleasures and subduing and mortifying our carnal lusts we fit and dispose our selves for another state and when our souls are thus spiritualized they will soon grow weary of this flesh and long for their departure they will be always ready to take wing and fly away into the other world where at last they will meet with a body suited to their rational and spiritual appetites 2. From hence we may give some account of the different degrees of glory in the other state For though all good men shall have glorious bodies yet the glory of them all shall not be equal they shall all shine as stars and yet one star differeth from another star in glory there is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars so also is the resurrection of the dead Some will have bodies more bright and resplendent than others Those who have done some extraordinary service to their Lord who have suffered bravely and courageously for his name or those who by the constant exercise of severity and mortification have arrived to an higher pitch and attained to a greater measure of purity and holiness than others shall shine as stars of the first magnitude Dan. 12.3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever It is certain that the purest and most spiritual bodies shall be given to those who are most fitted for them to the most heavenly and spiritual souls so that this is no little encouragement to us to make the greatest proficiency we can possibly in the ways of vertue and piety since the more we wean our selves from these present things and sensible objects the more glorious and heavenly will our bodies be at the resurrection 3. Let this consideration engage us patiently to bear those afflictions sicknesses and bodily pains which we are exercised with in this life The time of our redemption draweth nigh let us but hold out awhile longer and all tears shall be wiped from our eyes and we shall never sigh nor sorrow any more And how soon shall we forget all the misery and uneasiness we endured in this earthly tabernacle when once we are cloathed with that house which is from above we are now but in our journey towards the heavenly Canaan are pilgrims and strangers here and therefore must expect to struggle with many straits and difficulties but it will not be long before we shall come to our journeys end and that will make amends for all we shall then be in a quiet and safe harbour out of the reach of those storms and dangers wherewith we are here encompassed we shall then be at home at our Father's house no more exposed to those inconveniences which so long as we abide in this tabernacle of clay we are subject unto And let us not forfeit all this happiness onely for want of a little more patience and constancy but let us hold out to the end and we shall at last receive abundant recompence for all the trouble and uneasiness of our passage and be enstated in perfect endless rest and peace 4. Let this especially arm and fortify us against the fear of death for death is now conquered and disarmed and can doe us no hurt It separates us indeed from this body for a while but it is onely that we may receive it again far more pure and glorious It takes away our old rags and bestows upon us royal robes either therefore let us lay aside the profession of this hope of the resurrection unto life or else let us with more courage expect our own dissolution and with greater patience bear that of our friends and relations Wo is us who are forced still to sojourn in Mesech and to dwell in the tents of Kedar for how can it be well with us so long as we are chained to these earthly carcasses As God therefore said once to Jacob fear not to go down into Egypt for I will go down with thee and I will surely bring thee up again so may I say to you fear not to go down into the house of rottenness fear not to lay down your heads in the dust for God will certainly bring you out again and that after a much more glorious manner Let death pull down this house of clay since God hath undertaken to rear it up again infinitely more splendid and usefull 5. And Lastly Let us all take care to live so here that we may be accounted worthy to obtain the other world and the resurrection from the dead Let us rise in a moral sense from the death of sin to the life of righteousness and then the second death shall have no power over us A renewed and purified mind and soul shall never fail of an heavenly and glorious body in the other world but a sensual and worldly mind as it hath no affection for so can it find no place in those pure regions of light and happiness Since therefore we have this comfortable hope of a glorious resurrection unto life eternal let us purify our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit let us hold fast our profession and stedfastly adhere to our duty whatever we may lose or suffer by it here as knowing we shall reap if we faint not And this is Saint Paul's exhortation with which he concludes his discourse of the resurrection Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. A SERMON Preached before the House of COMMONS The Twelfth Sermon JOB XXVII 5 6. God forbid that I should justify you till I die I will not remove my integrity from me My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live THESE words may be considered as the resolution of a truly honest man whose vertue and goodness depends not upon any outward accidents or
been brought to believe that it is a duty incumbent on or rather a privilege belonging to none but great and exemplary Saints to strong and well-grounded Christians that this Sacrament is not food proper for babes and novices for those who often fail in their duty who are still onely wrestling with their lusts but have not yet got the mastery or victory over them that we ought first to be fully assured of our salvation before we come to this holy table that this ordinance serves onely to strengthen and confirm our faith and repentance and all other Christian graces and vertues but not to beget any of them in us Now here thus much must be granted that this Sacrament doth belong onely to those that are within the pale of the visible Church onely to baptised Christians that do publickly own their faith and Christian profession that it is no means of converting Jews or Infidels and that even Christians by notorious evil lives whereby they become scandalous to their brethren and incur the censures of the Church may justly forfeit all their right and title to this Sacrament and farther that it is a bold prophanation of our Saviour's institution for any wicked person resolved to continue such to presume to bless God for that mercy and love of a Redeemer which he doth not in the least value Thus far we are on all hands agreed but not now to engage in any matter of controversie I shall onely say that I can see no reason why to one that is really sensible of his sins and miscarriages contrary to his baptismal vow and profession and maketh some kind of resolution to forsake them why I say this Sacrament as well as prayer or any other duties of Religion may not be reckoned as a means of begetting true repentance in him of turning him from sin to righteousness from the power of Satan to God and for this I shall offer onely this one plain argument which is obvious to every man that if the death of Christ it self his bitter passion his whole gratious undertaking for us was amongst other reasons designed by God also to convince us of the evil and danger of sin to bring us out of love with it and to engage us to a new and better life surely then the consideration of the same things represented to us in the Sacrament the commemoration of his death and passion there made may also serve for the same great ends and purposes If Christ died that we should die unto sin certainly then the memory of his death may justly be accounted a proper means of killing sin in us nay what in the nature of the thing can be imagined a more likely instrument to turn us from a life of sin to the practice of holiness than the frequent consideration of what our blessed Lord hath done and suffered for us and if so it cannot be necessary that this change should be completely wrought in us before we ever solemnly commemorate his bloudy passion for that were to suppose it necessary that the end should be obtained before we use the means It is not therefore absolutely necessary that we should be fully assured that we are in a state of grace and in God's favour and have repented enough and truly forsaken all our sins before we venture on this Sacrament it is sufficient that we heartily and sincerely resolve against them that we approach the Lord's table with honest and devout minds that we be really willing and desirous to use all means to become better and if thus disposed we come to the Sacrament I doubt not but we shall find it a most effectual means for the enabling us to leave our sins and to lead a better life It is not our unworthiness but our resolving to continue in that state that makes us unqualified for this Sacrament 4. If therefore by your unworthiness you mean that you live in sin and are resolved to doe so and therefore dare not come to the Sacrament for fear you should farther provoke God almighty I will suppose that in this you act prudently and warily but then I would advise you for the same reason and on the same account to leave off all other duties of Religion as well as this if you would act upon the same grounds you ought to reckon it the safest way never to pray to God any more nor ever again to appear in any religious assemblies nor to join in any part of God's solemn worship for God hath often declared that he doth far more abominate all such formal whining cringing hypocrites and will more severely punish them than the open and bold contemners of his authority and laws The prayer of the wicked man is an abomination to the Lord. He hates the addresses of those who call him father and master and in words acknowledge him but yet continually doe the things that are displeasing in his sight His soul loaths and nauseates all the services of impure worshippers You do but mock God basely fawn upon and impudently flatter him when you present your selves before him as his people and servants and yet secretly hate him and wish him out of the world nay for the same reason for which you forbear the Sacrament e'en lay aside your whole Christian profession openly renounce your Baptism deny your Saviour disown his Religion for that is the safest course whilst you resolve to continue in sin and disobedience for God's wrath shall be in the first place revealed against wicked Christians and better will it be in the last day for Tyre and Sidon for Sodom and Gomorra than for those who were called by Christ's name and yet did not depart from iniquity If this pretence be true that you go out of the Church when the Sacrament is to be administred lest you should farther provoke God by unworthy receiving it by the same reason keep from the Church altogether lest you as highly provoke God by being present at those prayers you do not heartily join in nor ever intend to live according to Or rather to speak yet more fully what is the true consequence of this you now know your selves unworthy and are resolved yet at least for some time to continue such alas what need such as you be afraid of this Text In this case it ought to seem indifferent to you whether you receive or not Damnation here threatned cannot be supposed reasonably to scare him from the Sacrament who runs the constant hazard of it by living in known sin This can be no such terrible word to an habitual and resolved sinner He that can swear and talk prophanely and live intemperately and loosely and without any fear or regret commit mortal sin in vain pretends fear of damnation for not doing that which is indeed his duty for it is a most odd and ridiculous thing to be afraid of doing what our Saviour hath commanded us whilst we are not in the least afraid every day of doing what he
I dare not Do I say he shall be saved I cannot What say I then will you free your self from all uncertainty in this matter Repent now whilst you are in health forsake your sins whilst you are able to commit them and then you are sure of pardon There is indeed another Church in the world that can teach men how to be saved on a death-bed even without repentance which hath found out ways to make it not onely possible but very easie for any ungodly wretch to secure himself from Hell at length when he comes to die by less than half an hours work but we have not so learned Christ nor dare we be so false to our trust or to the souls of men as to give them certain assurance of everlasting life on any other terms than a constant habitual obedience to the laws of the Gospel The onely certain way to die well is to live well Nor shall I go about to determine how much of our life must be spent in the practice of righteousness and goodness before we can be said to have lived well since this varies according to the circumstances of men which are infinite this is as if a man should ask how long it will be before a fool can become wise or an unlearned man a scholar which differs according to the capacity of the man his industry and opportunity and God's blessing but onely thus much I think may safely be said that so much time of our life is necessary to be spent in the practice of goodness as that we may from the temper of our minds and the course of our actions be truly denominated holy humble pure meek patient just temperate lovers of God and men for the Gospel promiseth not eternal life and glory to any but to persons so and so qualified and it is undoubted that a few pious wishes prayers and purposes or a good will made at our death will not suffice to denominate us such God doth not just watch how men die but he will judge every man according to his works and the deeds he hath done in the flesh and those dispositions we have nourished loved and delighted in all our life will follow and attend us to another world and an evil nature however loth we are to it or sorry for it will sink us down into the deepest Hell To conclude all the use we are to make of all I have now said is not to judge or censure others whose lives we may have been acquainted with and whose condition according to this doctrine may seem sad and deplorable such we are to pity and pray for and exercise our charity upon and leave to God's mercy but that we should all now resolve not to defer the doing of the least thing that we could wish done in order to the salvation of our souls to a sick or death-bed but that to day even whilst it is called to day we depart from iniquity and not be always beginning to live we ought not to lose so much time as it would take to deliberate about this matter for there is no room for consultation here he would be next to mad that should seriously advise whether he should be for ever happy or for ever miserable Let us all endeavour therefore so to live now as we shall wish we had done when we come to lie upon our death-beds or as we shall then resolve to live in case God should continue our life to us let us pursue those things now which we shall be able to think of and reflect upon with pleasure when we come to die and presently forsake all those things the remembrance of which at that time will be bitter to us let us now whilst we are well and in health cherish the same thoughts and apprehensions of things that we shall have when we are sick and dying let us now despise this world as much and think as ill of sin and as seriously of God and eternity as we shall then do for this is the great commendation of the righteous man that every one desires to die his death that at last all men are of his mind and persuasion and would chuse his condition Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his I end all with those words of the wise Son of Sirach Learn before thou speak and use physick or ever thou be sick before judgment examine thy self and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy Humble thy self before thou be sick and in the time of sins shew repentance Let nothing hinder thee to pay thy vows in due time and defer not untill death to be justified Make no tarrying to turn to the Lord and put it not off from day to day for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord come forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed and perish in the day of vengeance A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL The Eighth Sermon St. MATTH V. 34. But I say unto you Swear not at all FOR our more clearly understanding the sense and extent of this prohibition of our blessed Saviour's Swear not at all these two things must be observed I. That it was a common practice amongst the Jews to swear by some of God's creatures which custome prevailed amongst them from a pretended reverence of God's holy name whenever they would affirm any thing with more than ordinary vehemence and earnestness or beget an assurance of what they said in another they thought it not fit or decent presently to invoke the sovereign God of Heaven and earth and on every slight and trivial occasion to run to the great maker and father of all things but in smaller matters and in ordinary talk they would swear by their Parents by the Heavens by the Earth by Jerusalem the Altar Temple their Head or the like nor did they count such forms of swearing equally obliging with those oaths wherein the name of God was solemnly and expresly called upon to this our Saviour in probability refers in the verse foregoing my Text Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths they thought such onely incurr'd the guilt and penalty of perjury who stood not to those promises they had confirmed by explicit calling the Lord himself to witness but that there was but little evil or danger either in the common use of swearing by creatures or in breaking such oaths Now our Saviour here absolutely forbids not onely swearing by the sacred name of God but also by any of his creatures Swear not at all no not so much as by the Heavens by the Earth or by Jerusalem and the reason he gives is because in all such forms of swearing by creatures though God is not expresly named yet he himself is really referred to and tacitly invoked who is the supreme Lord and maker of all when you swear by the Heavens you
call upon him whose throne is there placed when by the earth you appeal to him whose footstool it is when by Jerusalem you implicitly and by just interpretation swear by him that is the great King thereof This our Saviour as plainly delivers on another occasion Matth. 23.20 Whoso shall swear by the altar sweareth by it and all things thereon and whose shall swear by the Temple sweareth by it and by him that dwelleth therein and he that shall swear by Heaven sweareth by the throne of God and by him that sitteth thereon So that in this case the truth is if in such kind of oaths when men swear by the Heavens the Earth or the like they mean onely the material sensible Heavens and Earth besides the irreligion of vain swearing they are guilty of plain idolatry in giving to the creatures that worship that is due onely to God as supposing those inanimate beings able to hear them and judge their thoughts and witness to the sincerity of their purposes or to punish them for their falseness and hypocrisie but if they do not believe any such thing of those creatures they swear by then must such oaths if they have any sense at all refer to God and his name must be understood to be invoked even though he be not expresly mentioned So that this prohibition of our Saviour may be accounted to extend to all such forms of speech amongst us as are used as oaths and so understood to beget credit to what we say though God be not named in short all manner of oaths whether by the Majesty of God or any of his creatures or any words signs or gestures which by common custome and interpretation are accounted swearing may be understood to be hereby forbidden as well as direct express swearing for a man may swear without ever saying a word if by received usage such a gesture doth signifie our calling God to witness and so the forms and outward modes of swearing are different in several Nations though the reason and sense of them be the same in all places whatever words or signs are used If therefore such phrases as these faith troth and many others which I might name are in ordinary esteem and practice thought to contain something more than an affirmation and are used and understood amongst us as oaths they are here forbidden to Christians under this rule of swearing not at all though such words in themselves have not the force of oaths nor is God immediately appealed to by them II. It is farther here to be observed that though all manner of swearing whether by the name of God or any of his creatures be thus prohibited Swear not at all yet this must be understood onely of arbitrary voluntary swearing in ordinary talk and discourse when there is no great reason no justifiable occasion for it It is to be acknowledged that some of the ancient Fathers from these words did conclude it utterly unlawfull for a Christian at any time to swear some of their sayings to this purpose are quoted by Grotius in his comment upon these words but then it is to be considered 1. That there were but some few of them of this opinion and that against the current doctrine of the greatest part of the primitive Christians and 2. Against the known allowed practice amongst them for we all along find there were many Christians in the armies of the heathen Emperours and they could not have served under them without taking the military oath which they did not use to scruple so they were not put to swear by any of their Genii or Heathen Deities or Fortune or the like 3. Their great argument against taking of oaths was drawn from the invincible faith and truth of Christians who upon no consideration whatever could either be forc'd or won to affirm what they knew to be false or promise what they never intended to perform and this they were so remarkable for that they thought it a diminution or scandalous affront offered to them to be put to their oaths they always had such a regard to their words and it was so sacred a thing at all times to speak truth that they would not be so much distrusted or disparaged as to have the security of an oath required of them the constant tenour of their lives they thought did bear a greater testimony to what the Christians affirmed and render it more credible than the oaths of any other men could what they witnessed But now because in latter days some Sectaries both here and elsewhere have from these words Swear not at all pleaded against the lawfulness of taking of any oaths though thereto required by the Magistrate though it be an oath of Allegiance to their Prince or when they give testimony in a publick cause I shall briefly and plainly make out to you that this prohibition of our Saviour's must admit of some exceptions and must be restrained onely to vain and rash oaths in our ordinary discourse which I shall doe by desiring you to consider 1. That in other general prohibitions it is acknowledged by all that we must make the same or like exceptions Thus though our Saviour hath said a little before these words in this Sermon on the Mount v. 21. Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment yet we all grant that this must be confined to private persons that this forbids not the Magistrate's inflicting capital punishments and then that as to private persons it is meant onely of killing innocent men but that still it is lawfull for us in the preservation of our own lives to kill those who unjustly assault us these cases must be reserved so here Swear not at all that is not of your own motion without any necessary or sufficient cause but this doth not infringe the right which Magistrates have to impose oaths on their subjects and to require the utmost and greatest security for their fidelity and obedience this doth not forbid swearing when it is requisite for the determining of important controversies or distribution of justice when it is for the publick good that our testimony should be credited and made more valid by the solemnity of an oath And that such exceptions as these must be allowed from this general rule will appear 2. If we consider the positive command that is opposed to this prohibition Swear not at all but let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil Let your communication i. e. your speech your ordinary familiar discourse be yea yea nay nay which was a proverbial way of expressing an honest man whom you may believe and trust Justorum etiam est etiam non eorum est non His aye was aye and his no was no. His promises and performances did exactly and constantly agree without any more adoe you may give credit to and relie upon whatever he says Whatever is more than these