PRACTICAL DISCOURSES Upon several Divine Subjects Written by JOHN NORRIS M. A. Rector of Newton St. Loe near Bath and late Fellow of All-Souls College in Oxford Licens'd July 16 1691. Z. Isham LONDON Printed for Samuel Manship at the Black Bull near the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1691. TO THE Right Reverend Father in God RICHARD Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells My Lord THE peculiar Honour I justly have for your Personal Worth concurring with that Reverence I owe to your Episcopal Character and that happy Relation wherein I now stand to you as my Diocesan obliges me to lay these Papers at your Lordship's Feet and that which your Eminent Greatness has made a Debt your no less Illustrious Goodness incourages me to Pay Upon which Two inducements the greatest that can be even in Religious as well as Human Addresses I humbly presume to tender these Plain Discourses to your Lordship's favourable Perusal and Acceptance which as they are wholly designed so I hope are in some measure fitted for the Advantage of the Publick not so much in respect of Notion and Speculation but what is a great deal more wanted in this very Degenerate though otherwise highly Improved Age the promotion of Piety and good Life Which great and excellent end that your Lordship may yet much better promote both by the Prudence of your Government and by the Brightness and Authority of your high Example to the Honour and Interest of our most excellent Church and the Glory of our common Lord and Master shall be the Constant and Zealous Prayer of him whose great Ambition is to be esteemed Your Lordship's Most Humble and Dutiful Servant J. Norris TO THE READER SINCE the Publication of my Discourses upon the Beatitudes having received some Intimations that 't is the earnest desire of several Worthy Persons to see some moré of my Practical Discourses for the gratification of their Pious Curiosity and for the general Advantage of all other well inclined Persons I have been perswaded to make a Scrutiny among my Papers and to pick out a Set of such Discourses as are of the most Practical Composure and most apt to season the Mind of the Reader with a Tincture of Piety and Vertue And these I think are of this Character which I therefore here communicate to the World in the same Matter and Dress for the Main wherein they were first Pen'd and Preach'd only bestowing upon them the advantage of a Review that so they might have that Accuracy and Correctness as might fit them for a Publick Appearance I am not insensible how well furnished the Present Age is with Provisions of this kind so far from that that I think we have in this respect much the Advantage above any Age or Place in the World And I think withal that if there were a Choice Collection made of our English Sermons especially of the Later times it might deserve to wear the Honourable Chain in our Publick Libraries as well as any the best Curiosities we have there and indeed to turn out a great many dull Worm-eaten Authors which fill our Stalls as many Persons do the World Idly and Insignificantly and are not worth the Room they take up And I further think that if the Selectest parts of these our Modern Sermons were ranged under certain Heads and judiciously sorted and disposed in order out of these Materials might be framed far the best Body of Divinity both for the Rational and for the Perswasive part that is in the World And 't is great Pity but that a convenient number of competent Undertakers for I think it would be too great a Task for any one Person would agree together upon the Performance It would I am perswaded be a work of excellent use as well as Curiosity and withal a standing Monument of Shame and Condemnation to those of our Dissenters who are so Silly and so impudent as to make this one of their Pleas for leaving the Church because they have better Preaching in a Conventicle But lest this should be turned as an Objection against the present performance that the Age is so rich in these Provisions I consider withal on the other side how much it stands in need of them Its Supplies indeed are great but its Necessities are as great and greater and till Men come to be perswaded to live better than they now do more like Men and more like Christians I think further Addresses of this nature will be always Seasonable and will be so far from needing an Apology that they will deserve to be incouraged But there is something else that needs it very much and that is the unproficiency of the World under such extraordinary Advantages 'T is indeed a thing of strange Consideration and what I have often admired at that considering what excellent Preaching and Writing there is now in the World the World should be no better than it is that there should be so much good Discoursing and so little good Living that the Instrument of Religion should be so much Improved and Religion it self so much Decayed It must be allowed that the present Age has Advantages of both sorts Preaching and Writing far beyond what former Ages could ever boast of and that Christians now have Assistances almost as much beyond those of the Primitive Christians as theirs were beyond those of the Heathen World and yet which is both strange and lamentable to consider they excelled us as much in Goodness as we do them in Learning and Knowledge and were much better without these Advantages than we are with them No Learning like Modern Learning no Reasoning like Modern Reasoning and yet no Christianity like Primitive Christianity Now indeed Christianity is better understood and better defended and the Rules of it more rationally inforced but then 't was better Practised Now we Discourse better but we live worse What shall we what can we say to these things It is our great Shame and it will be our Condemnation But we must not give over Medicinal Applications though the Disease seems not to yield to them but rather to rage and increase under them for though we are really worse under these great Assistances yet I hope 't is not they that contribute to make us so and if the World be so bad with them 't is to be feared it would be in a much worse Condition without them The Means are therefore to be continued whatever the Event and Success be which is God's concern not ours And I further consider that the badness of the Age under the greatest helps to Goodness is so far from being a reasonable discouragement against endeavours of Reformation that there is great reason to think that God reserves the best Remedies and Assistances against the worst Times that when the Malignity of the Contagion is at strongest it may have a Proportionable Antidote I am not so vain as to think my self interessed in this last Consideration any further than as it may
Temptation to have before them the Charms of Pleasure or the Terrors of Pain or to be pressed with either Hopes of Gain or Fear of Loss in short when they come to have anyother considerable Interest brought into Competition with that which they made their End will they not then suffer a present Interruption of their former Judgment and actually undervalue what they Habitually prefer Will they not enter into a Cloud of Darkness and Obscurity lose the present Light of their former Convictions and so act as Foolishly as those that never had any better Principles or truer Sentiments Will they not prove False to their Cause and to themselves make a Foolish Exchange let go the Substance and catch at the Shadow Will they not refuse to take up the Crown for fear of the Thorns that guard it and chuse rather to lose Heaven than be Translated thither in a Fiery Chariot Yes 't is to be feared that most of them will and that of those many that have proposed Heaven as their End there are but few that would have the Courage to be Martyrs for it Again Secondly The Children of this World as they will spare no Pains so will they lose no Time or Opportunity for the Securing a Temporal Interest They greedily Seize upon the next Minute take Opportunity by the Forelock and make haste to be Rich though by doing so they know they shall not be Innocent They carefully observe every Season lay hold upon the First that comes and will be sure to strike Sail with the very next Wind that will carry them to their Port. They know very well that the present time is the only time they are Masters of and that they may reckon upon as their own and therefore that they will be sure to Improve and not trust to the Uncertainties and Contingencies of Futurity Let but a Question arise about their Title to their Estate and they can't Sleep till it be clear'd up and Confirm'd Let but a Place of Dignity or Profit fall and with what Expedition do these Eagles repair to the Carcase They take the Wings of the Morning perhaps of the Night too and fly as if Running for a Prize or Chased by an Enemy But now are the Children of Light such Prizers of Time and such Improvers of Opportunity 'T were well if they were For what is more common than to see Men not only the professedly Wicked and Profligate but even those who have set their Faces Sion-ward and propose Heaven as their End to procrastinate and adjourn their Repentance from Day to Day from Month to Month from Year to Year to delay their Preparations for Eternity and to Sleep Soundly and Securely in a Doubtful and sometimes in a Damnable and Irreconciled State and all this though they know how short and uncertain their Lives are that 't is but a Breath and a Vapour that soon passes away and we are gone Though they know that there is but this one time of Probation and that there is no Work nor Device nor Knowledge nor Wisdom in the Grave Though they know that Now is the Accepted time that Now is the Day of Salvation Again Thirdly the Children of this World as they will lose no Time so neither will they let slip any other Advantage of advancing their Fortunes and of providing against a Wet Day They twist their own Interest with the Interest of their Friends seek out for all Helps and make use of the Best and take the advantage of every Rising Ground They have also a quick Eye upon all Revolutions Suppose themselves in all Possible Cases and make early Preparations for every Accident They sit like Wary and Watchful Spiders in the Heart of their Webs and there with a quick and perceptive Sense they feel out the least Disturbances that threaten the Security of their little Tenement Nor do they smell out Danger more suddenly than they provide against it Thus the unjust Steward when he foresaw he should quit his Office and in that his Livelyhood and be turned loose to the wide World he presently bethought him of a Plank to Swim upon made an Interest with his Lords Debtors by under-rating their Accounts that so when his Master should Discard him they in Requital of his Kindness might Receive and Harbour him But now are the Children of Light so careful to make use of all Helps and Means that may further them in the Attainment of their Great End Such as the Grace of God Happiness of Temper and Complexion Good Education Well-disposed Circumstances of Life the Good Examples of others Advice of Spiritual Persons and the like Besides are they also so Frugal and Provident so Forecasting and Contriving for the future Are they so careful in the day Grace to lay up in Store against a Spiritual Famine in the days of Peace to Store themselves with Spiritual Armour against the time of Persecution in the time of Life and Health to provide against the Hour of Sickness and Death and by a Wise Dispensation of the Fading and Unrighteous Mammon to procure to themselves everlasting Habitations Are they Every ones Experience and Observation may assure him that they are not Once more the Children of this World as they Catch at all Advantages that may further their Grand Affair so are they withal as careful to avoid all Occasions of Loss and Damage they love to tread upon Firm Ground shun Hazards as well as actual Misfortunes and won't so much as come within the Smell of Danger How Shy is the Man of Interest of lighting among such Company as he thinks will be apt to Borrow Mony of him draw him into Suretyship or betray him into any Expences Does he not fly from these as from the Snares of Death or from the Face of a Serpent But do the Children of Light take the same Care to avoid all Appearances of Evil all Spiritual Dangers and all Occasions and Temptations of Sinning against God and their own Happiness We Pray indeed and our Saviour has taught us to do so that God would not Lead us into Temptation But don't we often lead our Selves into as Bad as the Worst of those we can Pray against We venture oftentimes causelessly and rashly within reach of the Devil's Chain and are not afraid to stir up and awake that Roaring Lion We love to play with Danger to handle Knives and Razors to walk upon Slippery Ground to stand upon Turrets and Battlements and to hazard our Vertue and Innocence by Needless and sometimes Doubtful Trials where if we should Overcome the Victory would scarce attone for the Imprudence So much do the Children of this World exceed the Children of Light in Wisdom Thus it is and to our great shame we must Confess it There is no Doubt or Dispute in the Victory the Contention has been all along very unequal and the Odds very apparent we are utterly Distanc'd in the Race and see the Prize of Wisdom
and things seem otherwise than they are Thus the Affability and free Conversation of our Saviour which was really the effect of his great Humility and condescending Goodness and of his earnest desire to benefit Mankind was hardly Censured by the Maligning Jews and misconstrued as a piece of Levity and Dissoluteness Behold say they a Man Gluttonous and a Wine bibber a Friend of Publicans and Sinners By this means we shall mis-rate both Persons and Things and often deny those our good word who it may be if better known deserve even our Reverence and Admiration By this means private Grudges will be entertain'd and open Quarrels will be broach'd Mens Affections will be groundlesly and unaccountably estranged from one another the Bands of Friendship will be untyed and Men will be jealous and afraid of their dearest well-wishers good Constitutions will suffer for Personal Miscarriages good Churches for unworthy Members good Religions for ill Professors good Counsels and good Causes for their ill Success and lastly that good Reputation which all Men exceedingly value and which some Men have a fair Right to and which the Wisest of Men prefers before great Riches will be wounded by the Roving Shot of every Gossiping Tongue To which I may add in the last place that when Men have once accustomed themselves to hard Censures upon small Appearances they will be apt to inlarge their Court of Judicature and from Censuring the Actions of Men proceed to Question and Condemn the Dispensations of Providence and say with the Impious House of Israel the way of the Lord is not equal It concerns us all therefore to use that Faculty with great Discretion upon the right or wrong use of which so much depends to judge with Caution and Circumspection and Mercy here lest we find Judgment without Mercy hereafter A DISCOURSE CONCERNING Religious Singularity Rom. 12. 2. Be not Conformed to this World ONE of the greatest Supporters of Absurdity in Speculation and of Immorality in Practice is Authority that of Doctrin in the former and that of Example in the latter It misguides and perverts the whole Man puts a false Bias upon the whole motion of the Soul imposes both upon our Understandings and upon our Wills corrupts both our Sentiments and our Practices and leads us out of the way both of Truth and of Vertue But it has a greater and more prevailing influence upon our Actions than upon our Sentiments and our Lives suffer more by it than our Opinions For besides that there are more Examples of ill Living than of ill Thinking and a well-moralized Conversation is a greater Rarity than an Orthodox Head there being not such Temptations and Occasions to Error as there are to Vice there is also this further difference that in our Opinions we more usually follow those Authorities which stand off at a great distance from us and which Antiquity by I know not what Artifice recommends to us as Sacred and Venerable But in our Actions we take a quite contrary measure and are rather apt to conform our selves to the Genius and Mode of the Age we live in which being present shines upon us with a direct and perpendicular Ray and more strongly influences and provokes our Imitation and Compliance And truly this is the greatest Mischief that is derived upon the Minds of Men from Authority and the chiefest Head of Complaint that lies against it were it only a Stop to the advancement of Learning or a Misleader of our Understandings in Speculative Inquiries were it only a Bar to Notional Improvements or a Betrayer of our Orthodoxy it might be thought to have done Pennance enough under the Chastisement of a Satyr or Declamation For the greatest stock of Knowledge which upon the best advantages we can attain to is so inconsiderable that 't is hardly worth while to be very angry and fall out with what stands in our way and hinders our little Progress There is no great Mischief done 't is like spoiling what was spoil'd before and which otherwise would come to little But since 't is the great Enemy to all Righteousness as well as to all Truth since it debauches our Morals as well as our Understandings and spoils the Christian as well as the Philosopher 't is fit it should be arraigned before an higher Court and be Condemned by the Censure of an Apostle And so it is and that upon great and weighty Reasons in the Words of the Text Be not Conform'd to this World In the Words we may consider a Supposition and a Caution The Supposition is two-fold First That the general course of the World is very bad and that Vice has by much the Majority of its side Secondly That we are naturally apt to imitate that which is most prevailing and to conform to the course and way of the World Lastly the Caution is against this Inclination that we should not be Conformed to the modes and usages of this World which I shall first state as to its Measures and Limits and then Justify as to its Equity and Reasonableness and so conclude with some Practical Remarks upon the whole And in the First place 't is here supposed that the general course of the World is very bad and that Vice has by much the Majority of its side This though at first sight it looks like a Common Place a matter of frequent obvious and familiar Consideration is yet a thing that is not often thoroughly considered and there are but few that have a true lively and affectionate Sense of it 'T is not easy for those that are good themselves to imagin how bad others are and how much Wickedness there is in the World and as for evil Men they don't use to trouble their Heads with such serious Reflections So that neither of them are like to have a just sense and resentment of this matter The World we commonly compare to a Theatre and truly for the number of Actors and the variety of Action 't is the most Pompous and Magnificent of any but the Parts that are acted upon it are for the most very Tragical and its Scenes full of Horrour and Confusion For not to mention unjust and causless Wars Massacres Rebellions and Murthers which like Earthquakes make the frame of Nature to tremble and threaten the fall of the Stage upon which they are Acted who can reckon up the open Oppressions and the secret Frauds the Violences and the Deceits the Extortions and the Over-reachings with all the Arts of Falshood and Subtilty which are every where and every day made use of among Men to dispossess one another of their Rights and Fortunes And who is there that can imagine what private Insinuations what fly Contrivances what spiteful Whisperings what treacherous Arts there are daily used even among those that prosess Dearness and Kindness to one another to undermine one anothers Interests and blast one anothers Honours and Reputations I need not go to the Courts of
intermedial advantages of a good Life recommends it only from that which is proper and pecaliar to it For Vice has its Present Pleasures as well as Vertue but herein are they discriminated that 't is Vertue only that ends well I my self says the Psalmist have seen the ungodly in great Power flourishing like a green Bay-Tree There 's the Present Pomp and Triumph of Sin But I went by and lo he was gon I sought him but his place could no where be found There 's the unhappy Close of the Merry Comedy Then it follows as a Practical Remarque from the whole Keep Innocency and take heed to the thing that is Right for that shall bring a Man Peace at the Last The Words are Naturally resolvable into these three Considerations which shall be made the Subject of the following Discourse 1. That Peace at the last is more to be valued than any of the Temporary Pleasures of Sin 2. That a good life which the Psalmist here expresses by keeping Innocency and taking heed to the thing that is right will certainly bring a Man this Peace at the last 3. That therefore it highly concerns every Man to keep Innocency and to take heed to the thing that is Right in one word to Live well The Sum and Force of the whole may be reduced to this practical Syllogism That which will bring a Man Peace at the last is to be chiefly minded and most diligently heeded But a Life of Piety and Vertue will bring a Man Peace at the Last Therefore a Life of Piety and Vertue is to be chiefly minded and most diligently heeded I begin with the first Consideration That Peace at the last is more to be valued than any of the Temporary Pleasures of Sin Now this Term at the last may be taken Two ways either for the last and concluding Period of a Man's Life in this World and then Peace at the last will be all one with Peace at the House of Death or else for the last and unchangeable State of Man in the other World and then Peace at the last will be the same with Everlasting Peace I shall consider the Proposition with respect to both these Senses And First for Peace at the Hour of Death The inestimable value of which though none are so well able to judge of as they who are really and actually concern'd in that dreadful moment yet we may take some measures of it by considering a little what it is to Dye and how miserable is the condition of those who have lived so ill as to want this Peace at the Hour of Death And First let us consider that which I fear we seldom do what it is to Dye Death is a thing of a strange and dreadful consideration dreadful in it self as 't is a Dissolution of Nature the manner of which because we do not know we mightily fear but much more so in its Issue and Consequence which is both great and doubtful for upon this one thing more depends than upon all the things in the World besides Indeed the loss of Life and the Pains and Agonies wherewith it is lost are the least part of Death This indeed is the Whole of it to brute and irrational Creatures they suffer Pain for a while then resign up their Breath and lose both the Sense and the Remembrance of both Pain and Pleasure But to the Dying Man Death appears in another Light and with another Face He is further to consider that he is just now launching out into the fathomless Deep of Eternity that he is entring upon a new strange dark and withal unalterable state of things that he shall be within some few Minutes what at present he has no manner of Notion of and what he must be for ever that he is now about to throw his last and great Cast and to be resolved once for all of his whole Condition that he is now passing from Time to Eternity Eternity of Happiness or Eternity of Misery And what a dreadful moment then must that be which a little precedes this great Transaction when a Man stands upon the very edge and brink of the Precipice just upon the turning off and has the great Gulph of Eternity in view Nothing certainly can be more dreadful than this except that very Point that narrow Horizon that divides Time from Eternity the end of the former and the beginning of the latter and actually determines the business of our Happiness or Damnation And now since to Dye is no less a thing in its consequence than to be either Damned or Saved to be either Eternally Happy or Eternally Miserable it cannot sure but be matter of vast importance to a Man to consider which of these two is like to be his Lot when he is just about to try one of them Nay indeed 't will then nearly concern him to be pretty well assured of the welfare of his After-state then if ever he will rightly understand the inestimable Price of a quiet Conscience of a satisfied Mind and of a Hope full of Glory and Immortality then if ever he will find that that which was always a Continual Feast is now a Sovereign Cordial and the Food of Angels for never certainly is Peace and Comfort more seasonable than at this instant never so much need of it and never so much value to be set upon it never can it more avail us to be satisfied concerning our final condition than when we are just entring upon it never more refreshing to have some few Beams of Light than when we are passing through the dark Valley and shadow of Death Then therefore if ever we shall duly value this rich Pearl a good Conscience and be well content if we had parted with all our Substance for the Purchase of it We shall then be fully convinced O why are we not so now how much it outweighs all the Temporary Pleasures of Sin yea and the Severities of Vertue too and that if our whole Life had been one continued act of Penance and Austerity 't would have been abundantly recompensed by the Satisfaction and Consolation of this one Moment And that 't is worth while to live Rigidly if 't were only upon this one Consideration that we may dye Chearfully And without Question it must needs be an unspeakable Satisfaction to a Dying Man when if he looks backward he sees a Life well spent if forward he has before him a bright Prospect of Light and Glory When he can say with King Hezekiah Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in Truth and with a Perfect Heart and with the great Apostle when within view of his Dissolution I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day I say it must needs be an unspeakable an unconceivable Satisfaction
the one as well as to mean us from the other Nay to speak the truth it will not so much support us under these Evils as take them away and render them slight and inconsiderable For suppose the worst that can be Death and a Painful Death he that has his Conversation in Heaven views the Glory that shall be revealed there and at once sees that the sharpest Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with them no more than the Point of a Circle is with its Circumference He contemplates the Joy that is set before him and so indures the Cross and despises the Shame and the Pain too For a view of Heaven will mitigate any Cross upon Earth and help us to incounter any Affliction as St. Stephen did his Martyrdom He is one of those steddy Men the Psalmist speaks of who are not afraid at any evil Tidings but his Heart stands fixed in the Lord. Much less will he for the dread of any Persecutions or Worldly Losses deny his Religion or by a Trimming and Hypocritical Mode of Behaviour court the Favour of those in Power or by any sinful compliance part with a good Conscience He sees nothing so great or so terrible in this World as to fright him into any such unworthinesses no they that do so have not their Conversation in Heaven but are Earthly Sensual and Devilish and for all their Pretences to Self-denial deny nothing of themselves that I know of but their Understandings He that truly converses in Heaven sees infinitely more there than he can either get or lose here and can therefore never be guilty of such a Foolish Exchange as to gain not the whole but a little of the World and lose his own Soul Thirdly This Dispensation of Life is the best Preparatory for Heaven that can possibly be for besides that the greatness of that Happiness makes him that Contemplates it despise any good or evil that may here stand in competition with it he further considers the Nature and Quality of that Happiness that it is an union of the Soul with her best and last end that it is a clear Vision and an ardent Love of God who cannot be seen by him that Lives much less by him that Lives ill and this must needs put him upon thinking that a Holy and Divine frame of Spirit is absolutely requisite not only as a Condition to our Admission into Heaven but also as a Condition of Enjoyment without which there is no being Happy even when we are there And from this Consideration he naturally passes to fit himself for the enjoyment of his Maker to Purify himself as he is Pure to Purge Refine and Spiritualize his Nature that so he may be qualified for the refined Joys of Heaven The short is there are Two things that must and will be considered by him that has his Conversation in Heaven the Greatness of the Happiness there and the Nature of it and each of these has a particular influence for the preparing him for it The former will make him Temptation-Proof against any present good or evil that shall stand in his way to his great Prize and the latter will contribute to form and fashion the frame of his Mind into a likeness and affinity with the end which he proposes But both together will so strongly influence the Man that he will become perfectly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dead to himself and to all the Luscious Relishes of the Corporeal Life and the Life of God will be triumphantly seated in him so that now he has but one only Will in the World which is to have none at all of his own but to annihilate himself that God may be all in all in him And thus while like Moses he converses with God on this holy Mount his Face shine with a Divine Glory and he is transfigured into the likeness of him whom his Soul loves Fourthly and Lastly This is a dispensation of Life that affords the greatest Pleasure and Satisfaction of any in the World to ascend the top of the Mystical Pisgah and thence to take a survey of the Happy Land to contemplate the infinite Perfection of God and the Happiness of those Blessed Spirits that enjoy him the Order of Angels and that noble and blessed Communion of Saints to contemplate the last and richest Scene of Providence and the Discovery of all the rest that went before when the reason of all difficult and perplexing Appearances shall be made plain and the manifold Wisdom of God set in a clear Light to have our Minds imployed about the greatest and best things to walk with God and keep a constant Communication with Heaven must needs be the sweetest as well as the noblest and most worthy Entertainment on this side of it Intellectual Pleasures are certainly greater than Sensual even by the Confession of the greatest Sensualists as may appear from this single instance in that Men will abstain from the greatest Pleasures of Sense that they may not lose a good Reputation which is an Intellectual good and as Intellectual Pleasures are greater than Sensual so this is the greatest of those that are Intellectual Concerning this the same may be said that is of Wisdom that her Ways are Ways of Pleasantness and that all her Paths are Peace that she is a Tree of Life to them that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her That they who eat of her shall yet be Hungry and they that drink of her shall yet be Thirsty For there is a certain inexhaustible Well of Pleasure a fathomless Abyss of Delight in this Heavenly Conversation which they only who have experimented it can conceive and which even they want Power to describe This I know will be far from satisfying some Voluptuaries who are sunk so low into the contrary Life that of Sense and Carnality that they will think a Man Mad that shall either Talk or Live at this Abstracted rate but to these I have Two things to say First That their having no notion of the Pleasure of this Dispensation is no Objection against it the thing may be true for any thing they know or can say to the contrary for they are not during the quick sensibility and invigoration of the lower Life proper Judges in the case any more than the Sense it self is of an Intellectual Object for these things are spiritually discerned by a certain Divine Tast and Sensation which is a Faculty which these Men want The other thing I shall commend to the Sensualist is this that since he is too scrupulous and sceptical to take our word for it he would endeavour after such a degree at least of Spiritual Purification as to try the Experiment that as the Psalmist speaks he would Tast and See how good and pleasant this Heavenly Conversation is and then I 'm much mistaken if he does not find that all the Madness lay on his side if
he does not confess that there are no Joys like Spiritual Joys and that one Day spent in these Ante-Courts of Heaven is better than a Thousand And now since it appears to be a thing of so much reason and becomingness and of so great use and advantage to have our Conversation in Heaven methinks we should easily be perswaded to enter upon this Heavenly Dispensation of Life The Region we now Converse in is very incommodiously seated and of an unwholsom Complexion such as does not at all agree with the Constitution of the Soul where she is always sickly and out of order full of weaknesses and indispositions why then do we not change our Abode and remove our dwelling into our Native Country where there is a purer Air and a more healthy Climate When we hear or read a Description of a very pleasant Country such as the Bermuda Islands where the Sky is Serene and Clear the Air Temperate and Healthy the Earth Fruitful and Entertaining where there are Walks of Oranges and Woods of Cedar Trees though we have no probable prospect of ever going to dwell there yet we can't chuse but often think and sometimes dream of it and wish our selves the happiness of so pleasant an Abode Why then do not our Thoughts dwell more in Heaven where besides the far greater delightsomness of the Place we have a particular Interest and Concern to invite us thither 'T is the hope of arriving at Heaven at last that supports our Life upon Earth it is not able to support it self One or two turns here gives a Considering Man a full compass of its Enjoyments and he no sooner comes to understand them but he despises them And what shall a Wise Man do what refuge has he after this Discovery but to Converse in Heaven What Expedient is there left but to anticipate those Joys when he can no longer tast these So that there is a necessity of Conversing in Heaven if 't were only to relieve the Vanity of Earth and happy is the Man who has so much of Heaven while he is upon Earth Yea Blessed is the Man whom thou choosest O Lord and receivest unto thee he shall dwell in thy Court and shall be satisfied with the Pleasures of thy House even of thy Holy Temple A DISCOURSE CONCERNING Submission to Divine Providence John 18. 11. The Cup which my Father has given me shall I not Drink it THIS is a Question which our Lord puts to himself and 't is well he did so for had he put it to any body else 't is great odds but that it had been answered in the Negative for the great and general Center of Human Nature whither all the Lines of Appetite tend and where they all meet is Happiness The desire of Happiness is the First and Master-Spring of the Soul as the Pulse of the Heart is in the Body that which sets all the Wheels on work and governs all the under-motions of the Man 'T is that original Weight and Bias which the Soul first received from the Hands of her Creator and which she can never lose so long as she her self is 'T is indeed the strongest and most radical Appetite that we have an Appetite to which God has not set any bounds and to which Man cannot an Appetite that is ungovernable and unconfined it self and that gives Measures and Laws to all the rest and consequently there is nothing which so ill comports with our Nature which so directly crosses the grain of our Constitution as that which threatens or offers the least contradiction to this ruling Inclination of it Hence it is that Evil is the great Antipathy of Human Nature which though it has many particular Aversions yet this is her great and general Abhorrence From this at its first approach the whole Man shrinks in and stands averse and would be removed from it if possible an infinite distance the Animal part of Man is against it and the Reason of Man wonders and disputes how such an uncooth thing came into the World and several Hypotheses have been advanced to account for that strange Appearance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the great knot of antient Morality and the most gravelling Problem of all the Heathen Philosophy and I question whether Reason without the assistance of Revelation can conquer the Difficulty So that considering the Opposition that it carries to the whole Man both to our Appetites and to our Understandings there seems nothing more difficult than to be reconciled to it though it be in order to a greater advantage and we see an excellent glory behind the Cloud 'T is said by Plato that Pleasure and Pain are the two Nails that fasten both the Wings of the Soul down to the Earth and hinder its Ascent upward And the Wise Stoick has most excellently summ'd up the whole difficulty of Vertue into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Abstain and Sustain Indeed Abstinence and Patience are the Two most rough and uneasy Places in all the Stage of Vertue the rest of her ways are ways of Pleasantness and all her other Paths are Peace But here the Traveller meets with Trouble and Discouragement is ingaged in a point of Labour and Contention and though in the Event he perform his Duty and bear forth good Seed yet 't is always with the reluctancy of his lower faculties and as the Psalmist expresses it he goes on his way sorrowing But the chiefest and noblest Scene of Vertue lies in Patience 't is hard to abstain from Pleasure but 't is much harder to indure Misery which is the Reason by the way that the Sanctions of Laws are generally taken rather from Punishments than from Rewards and of all Obedience that which is Passive is most difficult for we hate Pain to an higher degree than we love Pleasure And of this the Infernal Spirit was so sensible one who dwelling with everlasting Burnings is best able to judge of the difficulty of submitting to Misery that he presumed to say concerning that excellent Person whom God had commended for his Integrity in all the instances of Active Obedience and whom he himself knew to be a Miracle of Patience in particular that if God would but put forth his Hand and touch him with some near and cleaving Affliction he would curse him to his Face And to this purpose 't is yet further observable that even the Disciples of the Blessed Jesus whom he had picked and chosen out of the promiseuous Herd of Mankind and who followed this Lamb whithersoever he went and traced him through all the narrow paths of a Vertuous and Religious Life yet when he came to Mount Calvary within view of the Cross they all forsook him and fled stopt short at the foot of the dreadful Hill and left him to tread the Wine-press alone And even he that had most courage and presence of Mind and dared furthest he whom St. Chrysostom calls
strong Argument for it that is consistent with it and these do necessarily infer it Thus his Omnipotence Omnipresence and Omniscience render him abundantly able to sit at the Helm of this great Vessel and his Goodness and Justice ingage him to undertake the Charge He that contemplates the former can no longer question How doth God know can be judge through the dark Cloud Nor he that contemplates the latter suspect that he purposely declines the Office and walks idle and unconcern'd in the Circuit of Heaven Besides the Perfections of God would not appear so conspicuously if there were no Providence 'T is great to Create but 't is more to Govern a World as the Skill of the Artist is more seen in well ordering and artfully touching the Strings of a Musical Instrument than in the first making and framing of it And if it be once granted that there is a Providence 't is an absurd and ridiculous conceit to consine it as some do to the Supralunary Regions for the same Arguments that infer the being of Providence in general conclude also for the Universality of it 'T is most congruous to think that the Providence of God is of equal extent with his Creation for sure that which was not too mean to be Created cannot be too mean to be Governed and that the same loving and Harmonious Spirit that first moved upon the face of the Waters and ranged the most minute particles of Matter into Beauty and Order does still run through the now Organized Mass and preside over and sweetly direct not only the Greater but also the Lesser Motions of this his most exquisite Machine For without this the Harmony of the Universe would be very defective and its parts disproportionate and ill-forted 'T is true Beauty and Order would dwell above but all would be Chaos and Confusion below and the Earth would still be without form and void And thus the irregularity of the Lower World would cast a disparagement upon the whole System of things as the untunableness of one or two Instruments dis-recommends the whole Musical Consort 'T is therefore necessary to affirm that the Providence of God extends to both Worlds as the Sun Beautifies and Inlightens each Hemisphere In this respect also as well as others that Divine Comparison will hold God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all But though nothing be too small or inconsiderable for the Comprehensive reach of the Divine Cognizance yet we may reasonably suppose that he considers the value of his Creatures and proportions his Providential Care according to their different excellencies Now throughout all the order of the Visible Creation Man is the most noble and accomplished Being and consequently the chiefest Object the most peculiar Charge of Providence so peculiar that as the Creation of other Sublunary things carried a particular respect to Man so is their Government too chiefly in subordination to his Interest And indeed 't is no more than what by the Measures of Proportion we are warranted to suppose that he should have a more than ordinary Interest in the care and superintendency of his Creator who was made by an immediate Pattern from himself and with his solemn Counsel and deliberation Nor is this ever waking and broad Eye of Divine Providence open only on Societies and Communities of Men and intent only upon the Revolutions of States and Kingdoms but also watches over the affairs and concerns of every particular Person in the World no Man is too little and despicable for the notice of Providence however he may be overlook'd by his Fellow-Creatures for we are told in Scripture not only of the Guardian Angel of the Jews and the Prince of Persia but that we should take heed how we offend or despise even the meanest of Men because of the interest they have among the Angels of special Presence the Courtiers of Heaven Nay we are told by the same infallible Oracle that even the very Hairs of our Head are all numbred so that not only the Meanest of Men but even the meanest things relating to them their most indifferent and insignificant concerns are under the charge and care of Providence And if the care of Providence be so very punctual and exact even to Grains and Scruples in the most trifling and indifferent Concerns of Man we may with great reason conclude that it is much more so in our more weighty and considerable Interests And since not only our present but future Happiness depends much upon various junctures of Circumstances and States of Life we have consequently reason to conclude that these are more particularly conducted by God's Providential Hand and accordingly that Affliction comes not forth of the Dust neither does Trouble spring out of the Ground but are disposed and ordered by God and Arrest us with a Divine Commission And accordingly the excellent Wisdom of our Church in her Office for the Visitation of the Sick piously orders the Minister to exhort the Sick Person after this Form Dearly beloved know this that Almighty God is the Lord of Life and Death and of all things to them pertaining as Youth Strength Health Age Weakness and Sickness Wherefore whatso ever your Sickness is know you certainly that it is God's Visitation c. As indeed we have reason to think that every other Affliction is as well as Sickness that there is a Chastising as well as Destroying Angel and that all Plagues are from God as well as those of Egypt that no Calamity can either privily steal or violently break in upon us without the Divine notice and particular permission But that every bitter Draught which we take is weighed mingled and reach'd out to us by an invisible Hand by the Dispensation of Providence that 't is a Cup which our Father has given us Our Infinitely Wise Good and Compassionate Father one who knows to chuse for us infinitely better than we can for our selves and whose Infinite Goodness Love and Faithfulness give us all possible assurance that he will use his Wisdom for our best Interest and give good Gifts to his Children Which leads me to consider the Second general Proposition that therefore we ought to submit to every Dispensation with all Patience Meekness Contentedness and Resignation of Spirit Patience and Resignation under all Providential dispensations however difficult in the Practick has yet perhaps more to be said for it in the Theory than any one instance in all Morality but I am obliged by the limits of my Discourse to confine my Thoughts at present to such Arguments and Considerations only as may be afforded by the excellent Nature Attributes and Relation of God For 't was for this reason alone that our Blessed Lord chearfully submitted to the drinking of his Bitter Potion because 't was given him by his Father The Cup which my Father bas given me And that this is a Pillar strong enough for so great a weight a sufficient Argument
World to be Conformable to the Understanding of God those Immutable Ideal Representations which are in the Divine Mind so is it the Perfection of the Moral World to be Conformable to his Will and in both these the Second Person of the Sacred Trinity the Eternal Word seems equally and particularly concerned As to the Natural World St. John tells us that all things were made by him or according to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and without him was not any thing made that was made And St. Paul that by him were all things Created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth and that by him all things consist Again 't is said by whom also he made the Worlds And again Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Works of thy Hands Then as to the perfecting the frame of the Moral World as t was his Meat and Drink to do the Will of his Father himself so was it his principal business and the Main of his Undertaking to repair the Ruins of Morality to inlarge the bounds of his Fathers Kingdom to make others conformable to the Divine Will and Partakers of the Divine Nature which in part has already taken effect and of which as we are told we are yet to expect a further accomplishment under his glorious Millennial Reign when Righteousness shall flourish and be exalted and the Will of God be done on Earth to a very near degree as it is in Heaven To this end serves the great Mystery of Godliness that Grace of God which has appeared to the World teaching us that denying Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godlily in this present World the Covenant of Grace being so ordered and contrived that our Duty is secured as well as our Insirmity and Necessity relieved and our Repentance is only made effectual by the satisfaction of Christ not unnecessary To this End he gave us a new System of Christian Morals which though no addition to the Eternal Law of Nature and right Reason was yet a great Improvement of that of Moses And he took care also to second his excellent Precepts by as excellent an Example that they might appear to be Practicable as well as Reasonable And here because Example has the greater Influence of the Two he not only gave us an absolute one of his own and exhorted us to the imitation of it when he said Learn of me but also remits us to the excellent Example of the Angels those ready Performers of God's Will and winged Ministers of his Pleasure in that he bids us Pray Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven That God's Will is done in Heaven is here supposed we are therefore further concerned only to inquire 1. Of what Will of God our Lord is to be here understood 2. By whom it is done in Heaven 3. After what manner it is there done 4. How far we are concerned to imitate this great Pattern of Obedience 5. How reasonable it is for us to do so And First by Will here our Lord cannot be supposed to mean that which is a Faculty in the Divine Essence or rather the very Essence it self for how may we Pray that that should be done which Eternally and Necessarily is Neither by Will here are we to understand the Act of Willing for this can no more properly be said to be done than the other but that Will for the doing of which we here Pray is the Res Volita or the Object of the Divine Will But then this is Two-fold either the Object of his Will Decreeing or the Object of his Will Commanding or to word it according to the ordinary distinction the Will of his Decrees or the Will of his Commands And 't is generally held that both these are to be here understood But I must confess it does not appear to me how the Will of God's Decrees can be at all here concerned any further than as our Submission to it is a part of the Will of his Commands for not to insist upon the necessary and uncontroulable accomplishinent of God's Decrees and that things necessary and certain are not so proper Objects of Prayer I only observe that this Will of God is here desired to be done in Earth as it is in Heaven which supposes it to be more perfectly performed in the one than in the other the latter being proposed as a Pattern and Precedent to the former But now as God is in all Places equally Almighty so are his Decrees in all Places alike performed in Earth as well as in Heaven according to that of the Psalmist Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in Heaven and in Earth and in the Sea and in all deep Places this therefore cannot be meant of the Will of God's Decrees any further than as 't is a part of the Will of his Commands that we should submit to them and acquiesce in them Neither indeed can this be directly and strictly intended but only by way of Proportion that as the whole Will of God which is capable of being done in Heaven is there done so all that is capable of being done on Earth should in like manner be there done But I say it cannot be directly intended there being no Afflictive Dispensations of Providence incident to those who do God's Will in Heaven and consequently no room for the Exercise of Patience and Submission as will further appear by considering the Second Inquiry namely by whom it is that this Will of God is done in Heaven And this indeed is of no great Difficulty to resolve since the nature of the Will does of it self point out to the Doers of it for it being the Will of God's Commands it can no more be done by God than 't is possible for God to obey himself Nor can it be done by the Celestial Bodies for however these in a large and improper sense are sometimes said to obey God as when the Psalmist says that the Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his Handy-work and that Wind and Storm fulfil his Word and the like Yet being necessary Agents they cannot yield any Moral and Acceptable Obedience much less in such an eminent and exemplary manner as to be a Pattern to us which yet is here supposed And yet they will be every whit as capable of this Obedience as we are if we be not free Agents which by the way leave to be considered by those who deny that Priviledge to Human Nature It remains therefore that the Holy Angels are they that do this Will of God in Heaven none else are capable of doing it and of these the Psalmist says expressly that they fulfil his Commandment and hearken to the Voice of his Word Proceed we therefore to the next Inquiry namely after what manner this Will of God is done by the Holy Angels in
never under an Eclips no not so much as in part but as they always receive equal Illumination from God so do they shine upon their Wills with an equal Light and consequently they must needs stand always equally affected and disposed to what is good as appearing to them always in a Light equally advantagious For the variety and changableness of our Wills proceeds from the variety of our Judgments and were our Thoughts and Apprehensions of things always uniform our Actions would be so too for we always act as for that instant we think This therefore being the happy condition of Angels to have the Eye of their Understanding always equally awake and in full Illumination there must needs be also a constant regularity in their Wills The short is as long as they Contemplate the Divine Essence they cannot divert aside to any thing irregular because of the Superlative Excellence of the Divine Good which fills and wholly ingages their Faculties and for the same reason they cannot chuse but for ever to Contemplate And herein I suppose must be placed that happy Necessity the Holy Angels are under of doing the Will of God and of persevering in it to all Eternity and that this is that which we mean when we say they are Confirmed in good But leaving these Flaming Excellencies a while to their Happy and Noble Employments before we go further let us see how these Speculations may be improved to the benefit of our Practice And First since God has made his Angels such excellent and accomplished Creatures let us make the same use of it that the Psalmist did when he took from hence an occasion of Praise and Thanksgiving Praise the Lord O my Soul says he and then mentioning some Characters of his Greatness he adds He maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flaming Fire Indeed the Angels are the greatest Occasions as well as Instruments of Praise as being the Noblest part of the Divine Workmanship Look upon the Rain-bow and praise him that made it says the Son of Sirach And if God is to be Praised for the Beauty of the Rain-bow caused only by various Reflections and Refractions of the Globules of the Second Element in their passage through a Cloud how much more is he to be adored for these great Master-pieces of his Art these Closet-Draughts of his Beauty Secondly We may take a Caution hence to beware of that Voluntary Humility which the Apostle speaks of and were he now alive would have fresh Occasion given him to Condemn in Worshipping Angels take heed to thy self left when thou liftest up thine Eyes to Heaven and seeft the Sun and the Moon and the Stars even all the Host of Heaven thou shouldest be driven to worship them says Moses to the People of Israel And there is the same and greater danger here when we Contemplate the Glory of this other Heavenly Host for however through Envy or Emulation we usually lessen and disparage one anothers Excellencies yet when we have to do with Creatures of another rank and order we are apt to be guilty of the opposite extream and to exchange Detraction for Idolatry Thirdly We have here a most excellent Antidote against Pride which is a littleness of Mind that arises from our Ignorance of the World about us as well as of our Selves and consequently is best Cured by considering what Excellencies there are above us The young Home-bred Heir that thinks his Father's Mannour a considerable part of the World is sent abroad to see more of it and returns Home Cured by his Travels And would the Man that swells and looks big upon his Parts or Learning but bestow a Thought or Two upon the Perfections of Angels I dare warrant him his Plumes will quickly fall and that he will never find in his Heart to set up for a Wit more For alas what are we to the Angels Hereafter indeed 't is to be hoped that some of us may be made like them but what are we in Comparison now They excel us more than we do the Beasts of the Field and we need nothing else but this one Consideration well thought upon to convince us That Pride was not made for Man Fourthly we may learn hence so to fear the Devil as to look upon him as a considerable Adversary and not to be too secure in our best Condition for he is an Angel still and we know not what he has lost by his Fall besides that Grace and Goodness whereby he might be disposed to help and befriend us And the Apostle tells us that we still wrestle against Principalities and Powers And therefore it concerns us to provide our selves accordingly and as he there advises to take unto us the whole Armour of God Lastly we should endeavour to imitate all the Moral and Imitable Excellencies of the good Angels our Saviour has made them our Pattern in his Prayer and we should make them so in our Lives by endeavouring to perform God's Will in Earth as it is in Heaven Which calls upon me to return to the Fourth Enquiry namely How far we are concerned to imitate this Pattern of Obedience That our Imitation of it is in some Measure or other required is most certain otherwise our Lord would never have taught us to Pray that God's Will should be done on Earth as it is in Heaven but how far is the Question In answer to which I observe that the Obedience of the Angels may be considered either Intensively or Extensively or in other Words either with respect to the Act or with respect to the Object which last may again be meant either of the kinds of Good or of the several degrees in each kind This being premised I answer First That we are not obliged to the Intenseness of Angelical Obedience this I say we are not obliged to because 't is not among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things which are in our Power This indeed will be part of our Reward hereafter but it cannot be our Duty here and therefore though we are to obey God readily and chearfully yet 't is not required we should do it with such a degree of Alacrity as excludes all imperfect motions to the contrary 'T is not required while we are a Compound of Flesh and Spirit that the latter should be wholly free from the Solicitations of the former 't is sufficient if it have the Casting Voice and prevail in the Contention and so much indeed is Duty And therefore says the Psaimist He that now goes on his way weeping and beareth forth good Seed shall doubtless come again with Joy and bring his Sheaves with him He must bear forth good Seed and if he does so it shall be no Prejudice to him that he goes on his way weeping Neither are we obliged to serve God always with equal heights of Devotion and with an uniform fervency of Mind for besides that our Saviour himself who led the most