inexcusable than other sinners whether we know more or less than they If we know more and do as ill our stripes will be multiplied proportionably to the greatness of our Knowledge If we know as little and live as wickedly the greater obligations and opportunities of knowing better will be put upon our accounts The Devils who fell from Heaven fell deepest into Hell and they who fall from Heaven Gates from the greatest advantages of knowing and living well will be next to them in Torments I am sensible what misconstruction may be put upon my honest meaning and that this pressing the Ministry to the regard of purity may by some be interpreted Reproach and Libelling But to this I shall only say that they who have the thousand witnesses to attest the truth of their sincerity may with joy and exultation of spirit turn admonition to Panegyrick And I hope there is a great number of such here who the less they have to reform the more they have for which to rejoyce and to bless God And for those whose hearts smite them may they continue so to do till repentance and amendment follow We must please all men for their edification and for their edification we must displease them too 'T was a good wish that of Bernard's Sic mihi contingat semper beare amicos terrendo salubriter non adulando fallaciter Let us not think that our faults can escape Notice the publickness of our station the nature of our employment will not suffer it We are a Spectacle to Angels and men the eyes of Friends and Enemies are upon us these watch for our halting those eye us as their patterns Let us not become a scorn to the one nor a grief to the other nor lay a stumbling block in the way of either Let us be content to hear out Duties prest upon us by our Friends who do it in love and compassion to our souls or rather let not that content us but let us proceed to extirpate and abandon all our Vices This is the most effectual course we can take to make all men good and to make the hearts of all good men bless God for us to gain our enemies and force them to become our friends God will not faâ—l â—a make that Promise good to us wherein to Christians in general he hath obliged himself If a man's wayes please the Lord he will make his Enemies to be at Peace with him I proceed now to the latter part of my Text the Reason enforcing the Charge here given That they may see your Good Works and Glorifie your Father which is in Heaven That they may see your Good Works We must take heed we stop not there for if our Aims be short of Heaven our Reward will be on this side Heaven too The most specious and glorious works if done only to be seen of men will find a Hell for their Reward in stead of an Heaven But though a Good Naice may not be our last end yet as tis subservient to the Glory of God as it renders us more useful to the World and puts us into a greater Capacity of doing good it is to be accounted one of God's Choicest Blessings to be received with thanks preserved with care and procured by all warrantable means Of all men a Minister ought to be most tender of it since the Credit of his Person credits the Cause he manages and 't is natural for Contempt to pass from the former to the latter If men entertain a low and mean opinion of the Speaker they 'l disesteem the things he speaks slight his Doctrine reject his Counsels scorn his Reproofs never counsult him in Doubtful Cases and to the Hazard of their Souls neglect that necessary assistance that otherwise they might receive from him And therefore Saint Paul thought it no misbecoming thing to wipe off those Aspersions cast on him by the Factious Teachers in the Church of Corinth Indeed 't is sometimes so far from being a fault that it becomes a piece of Necessary Justice that we owe to our selves to vindicate our Names from Slander and Reproach 'T is one way of resisting the Devil whose very name carries Slander in it and one of whose greatest Stratagems to obstruct the progress of Religion is to blast the Reputation of its Ministers and bring both their Persons and Office into disgrace And I could wish they would take notice of this who any wayes contribute to bring a disrepute upon the Clergy that they only promote the interest of Hell lend their assistance to the Devil and help to uphold by this means his otherwise tottering Kingdom But after all a Good Name is best secured by the same Method our Eternal Salvation is That patient continuance in well-doing whereby we seek for Glory Honour Immortality hereafter will secure us such a measure of esteem here as God sees needful for us Let us be but careful to discharge our Duty and for our other concerns deposit them in the same hands in which we trust our Souls And if when we do well we are evil spoken of we may wear the Reproches of men as our Crown Let us not therefore separate what our Saviour hath here united but seek our Credit and Reputation so far only as it is subservient to the further Ends of God's Glory and our Brethrens Edification That men may see our Good Works and glorifie c. What it is for men to glorifie God our Saviour himself can best interpret and he tells us John 15. v. 8. that it is to bear much fruit To have their Souls shining with Divine Graces and their lives beautified with the Works of Holiness that is to be renewed after the Image of God which Renovation is wrought upon them by a hearty belief of the Gospel and sincere endeavours to conform to the precepts of it This then is the Purport of our Saviour's Words in the latter part of the Text By being thus burning and shining Light we may be happy Instruments to make others hearty and serious Christians For by this means they will be brought first to love and liking of the Gospel They will conceive there is in it something more than Humane when it makes men so holy humble and charitable so useful to the World so wholly taken up in promoting the greatest interest of mankind 'T will breed in them an high esteem of the Gospel For as nothing is more injurious to it than an unsutable conversation in those who are the Promulgers of it so nothing more courts the esteem of men to it and recommends it to their approbation than a strict conformity to its Rules And when men once come to conceive High and Honourable thoughts of it the next step will be to submit themselves to the Laws of it to put themselves under its Discipline and try what efficacy it may have upon their own Souls which they see hath wrought such admirable effects in the Souls of others
secular employments have their thoughts often called off from attending the Concerns of Eternity Our very office and employment in this World confines our thoughts to the things of another It is the happy Priviledge of men of our Order that their general calling as Christians and more special as Ministers do in a manner coincidere fall into one at least they hold an intimate correspondence and lend a friendly assistance to each other Those larger portions of time that others are generally obliged to bestow upon employments secular we are engaged to spend in such as promore our own and others salvation And if the want of consideration occasion most mens neglect of the Gospel as 't is certain it does It is but just and reasonable to expect that they whose office obliges them to give themselves wholly to the meditation and practice of divine things who are Juris Evangelici consulti should live most exactly answerable to the Gospel Law Abeunt studia in Mores said the Orator mens studies have an influence upon their morals Both God and men then will expect that they whose sole employment it is to regulate their own and others Lives according to the admirable Rules of Christian Religion should walk suteably to their profession Especially being provided for in temporals almost without their care that they may with less distraction attend the affairs of a higher nature They should endeavour to escape not only Vitia but infirma Naturae the common frailties incident to humanity and approach as near as possible to perfection of Angels whom they so nearly resemble in employment they being ministring spirits sent forth for the good of those who shall be heirs of Salvation What greater indecency can there be than for men that converse frequently with holy things and toss them often in their thoughts to have no sense and relish of them upon their hearts To meditate upon the love of God and Christ to be able to tell affectionate and melting stories of it to others and that possibly with a seeming transport of affection and yet to freez by this fire to have the passage betwixt the head heart so obstructed that not a spark of truth that enlightens the understanding can get into the heart and warm it with such a love as is the spring of obedience is such a Devil's Miracle as vies with that of Almighty God who preserved the three Children from all smell of fire in the midst of a fiery Furnace That men who can discover to others the Reasonableness the Necessity the Beauty of Religion should neither be prevailed upon by the Reason nor constrained by the Necessity nor charmed with the Beaury of it is the most unaccountable thing in the World What will they be able to answer to God to their own Consciences when their own Reasonings Discourses Sermons will rise up in Judgment against them What will they do in the day of Visitation when the great Bishop of their Souls will call them to account for their scandalous and unchristian Lives so dissonant to the Principles of that holy Doctrine they pretend to be the Teachers of 2. The great influence of our Examples in â—tramque partem may be another consideration A little to change my Author's words Eo sumus loco constituti ut bona malaque nostra ad Rempublicam pertineant We can neither go to Heaven nor Hell solitary I mean we cannot go to either of those so distant places but in all probability others will attend as drawn by the Influence of our Examples First Our Holy and Exemplary Lives will render our Labours more succesful add Authority and Veneration to our Persons weight to our words make them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he said of Epectetus effectual prevailing words 'T will put an edge upon our reproofs facilitate their entrance promote their efficacy be a means to drive them home The words of God in our mouths are more likely to become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 living Oracles the Seed of a New Birth Not but that the Seed may prosper what ever the hand be that sows it 'T is God's blessing gives the encrease and that depends not on the qualification of the Instrument But yet 't is most usually found attending upon the endeavours of good men Our Saviour himself I think I may say would not have been thought to have spoke as never man spake if he had not lived as never man lived With what irresistible Authority did he check the sins of others when he ushered in his reproofs of them with his appeal to themselves touching his own innocency Which of you convinces me of sin Christian Religion is admirable in the Divinity of its Author in the Purity of its Precepts in the excellency of its end in the mightiness of its aids but its Beauty is never seen to advantage till it become visible in mens lives Then it most charms the affections of men recommends it self to their esteem and approbation when it subdues Lust and governs Passions and adorns the Conversation When it makes men meek and merciful pure and peaceable humble and resigned watchful to lay hold of and improve all opportunities to do good When to a great measure of knowledge these qualifications unite in the same Person his Doctrine distils as the rain winds it self into the hearts of men insinuates into their affections takes fast hold of their souls Besides the blessing that attends upon a good man that renders his endeavours successful there is a natural aptness in his words to work an Impression on his Hearers His own soul having the stamp of truth upon it being cast into the mold of it and touch'd with a sense of its importance and a tender love and compassion to the Souls of men will oblige himself to press it home with that unaffected gravity and seriousness that his very heart will discover it self in his Language he will give you a raste of his soul in his Discourse His words come from the heart and are most likely to reach the hearts of others they proceed from a living Principle and are most likely to beget life in his Hearers Even Seneca would advise his Friend Lucilius to make use of such Instructors Qui vità docent qui cum dixerint quid faciendum sit faciendo probant qui docent quid vitandum sit nee unquam in eo quod fugiendum dixerint deprehenduntur quos magìs admireris cum videris quam cum audieris A good Life with him was beyond all Topicks of Perswasions Secondly Our ill Examples have a malignant influence and scatter infection far and wide will give Authority to Vice and furnish it with excuse and apology If the Salt of the earth lose its savour rotteuness and putrefaction will cover the face of it Two things make wickedness bold and daring and overflow beyond all measure when 't is either established by a Law or encouraged by leading examples 'T is observable all along that
engagement to service and employment If we let these Treasures lie by and rust the very rust of them will witness against us 2. 'T is the best testimony of our love the greatest proof of our fidelity to our Lord and Master That great lover of Souls hath intrusted many of them to our care and in them the worth of many Worlds is deposited in our hands Whether they shall live Eternal Ages in Joyes too big for Mortal thoughts to conceive or die the Devil's Slaves and partake his torments depends in great measure upon our care in instructing them What value our Saviour puts upon them is best understood by the price he paid for them they were redeemed with the blood of God and by his passionate recommending them to the care of those whom he appointed their Guides and Instructors Simon Son of Jonah lovest thou me Feed my Sheep And again and a third time lovest thou me Feed my Sheep feed my Lambs If we have any affection for that Saviour of ours to whom we owe our present valuable enjoyments and all our future hopes if any compassion for those souls which are the purchase of his blood if any regard of that important trust that must be accounted for with greatest severity we cannot but bend all the Forces and Powers of our Souls to the discharge of it and apply our selves to it with greatest chearfulness and alacrity in testimony of the great honour he hath put upon us For 3. It is the Noblest employment in the World A work of the greatest Charity and Charity is the work of Heaven The greatest object of compassion in the World are the souls of men blinded by Ignorance enslaved to lust in bondage to the Devil and the greatest labour of Love is that that 's undergone to rescue them out of that captivity To cloath naked backs and feed empty bowels and redeem miserable Captives from the thraldom of merciless Tyrants is a charity that God accepts and highly rewards But to cloath the nakedness of mens understandings by making them wise to salvation to feed poor hunger-starved souls with the bread of life to break off the Devil's fetters and redeem them from hellish tyranny is a charity as much more noble as Eternity exceeds Time as the Souls of men are of more worth than their Bodies 'T is a Work that rejoyces Heaven causes Joy amongst the Angels Those Blessed Spirits keep as it were a Festival upon the day of a sinner's New-birth And shall a work applauded by all the Inhabitants of Heaven be managed with coldness and indifferency with faint and languishing endeavours There 's nothing makes men more Godlike than becoming great and publick Benefactors and none are more Eminently so than they that are instrumental to turn many souls to Righteousness He that hath any sense of true Godliness in his heart cannot but think it one of the greatest blessings God can bestow upon him to make him an instrument of deriving blessings upon a Multitude Much more blessings of that importance that do men good for ever blessings that fit and prepare men for Heaven that shall be everlastingly remembred there with eternal Hallelujahs to God the Author and eternal acknowledgments to men the instruments For it is not to be supposed Ingratitude a Vice so detestible on Earth should ever find any place in Heaven 4. This will be a very great evidence of our own sin cericy 'T is the nature the true Indoles of true Piety where-ever it is to spread and dilate it self All good is communicative and the better any thing is the more diffusive Piety enlarges the hearts of men to espouse the Interest of all mankind 't is a dayly prompter to good and worthy actions whereby others may be advantaged an active restless Principle that can no more cease from benefitting all that come within its reach than fire can cease from burning or a spring from streaming forth The love of God and man are the Elements of its Nature Above all it makes men painful and industrious in their Callings faithful in their own places and stations Since then God hath made it our business and employment in the World to communicate the knowledge of himself and his Christ to men to direct them in the Paths that lead to eternal happiness We cannot have a better evidence that we are partakers of the Divine Nature than by imitating the Divine Goodness in employing those Talents he hath bestowed upon us to the use for which he designed them Our own Sonship will be best made out by our resemblance to our Heavenly Father and Almighty goodness is that Character that most readily offers it self to the minds of men when they would srame an Idea of God within themselves 5. The faithful performance of this duty is recompensed with an ample Superlative reward Every Soul that we are instrumental to bring to Heaven will add a new lustre to our Crown Dan. 12.3 They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the Start for ever and ever or if that place be capable of another meaning that of our Saviour will put it out of doubt He that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophet's neward Where if a Prophet's reward did not in port something extraordinary and transcendent there would be nothing of encouragement and enforcement to the duty And if we had not this assurance of a Divine Promise it might be strongly argued from that natural influence the happiness we are instrumental to procure for other will have upon our own To be instrumental to bring Souls to Heaven to add new Members to the Church Triumphant is to provide so many everlasting Monuments of our pious care and pains whose Joys will all unite and center upon us we looking upon them but as our selves divided Children begotten by us to God with whom we travel'd in pain till Christ was formed in them Besides God who in justice punishes the Accessory as well as the Principal in evil deeds will be more inclinable to reward in us that good that others do by our counsel perswasion and direction by how much he is more prone to shew mercy in which he delights than to afflict the children of men which he does unwillingly And what an encouragement is this to labour in the Lord's Harvest to spend our selves for the good of our Flocks when every soul that we are instrumental to save from death will bring such an accumulation to our Joyes and add a new Coronet to our Crown 3. A third thing in this Charge is a Life conformable to the Doctrine of the Gospel Not to mention the obligations common to us with the rest of Christians there are several considerations peculiar to us as Ministers of the Gospel that enforce the strictest conformity to the Laws thereof 1. Whereas other men by the urgency and exigence of their