any of our Betters without saluting them or some way or other testifying our Respect to them tho' they had no way particularly obliged us But if we were beholding to them for our daily Bread to come into their Presence without taking notice of them or their Bounty to us would be intolerable How much more intolerable therefore must it be to pass by God Almighty day after day nay to be in his Presence continually as indeed we always are and yet neither to pay any Homage or Reverence to him as He is our Supreme Lord nor to make any Acknowledgments as He is our daily Preserver and Benefactor If we had any sense of Ingenuity we should blush to think of passing a Day without several times lifting up our Minds and doing our Respects to Almighty God tho' there was no other ill in the Neglect than only the horrible Rudeness and ill Manners that it discovers in us But Secondly The constant Exercise of Prayer is not only recommended to us under the notion of a very decent and reasonable thing but as an indispensable Duty God Almighty hath most strictly charged it upon us and we are Transgressors of his Laws if we do not practise it Nature it self speaks sufficiently plain in this matter And where-ever God hath to the Law of Nature super-added any Revelation of his Will this Duty we are speaking of fails not to make up a considerable part of it It would be endless to mention all that is said upon this Head by our Lord and his Apostles in the new Testament I have told you already that they oblige us to no less than Praying always Praying without ceasing They use likewise abundance of other Expressions to the like purpose They bid us every where to lift up holy hands In every thing to make our Supplications known unto God To pray in the Spirit with all Prayer and Supplication and and to watch thereunto with all perseverance If it be said there is no such express command for Prayer in that Revelation which was made to the Jews I answer It is a great Mistake The Prophets do over and over again injoin it as the Principal Part of the Worship of God And those that live without Praying are by those Inspired Writers rank'd among the Atheists Psalm 53.1.4 And as for the Law of Moses it self it is obvious to observe that the greatest part of it is concerning Sacrifices Now Sacrifices if we will understand them right were nothing else but that Form or Method of putting up Prayers to God that was in those times used in the World So that in truth so far was Prayer from being left as a Matter of Indifferency to the Jews that most of their Religion consisted in it And accordingly all the Devout Men of that Church spent much of their Time in this Exercise David's manner was to pray seven times a Day And Daniel took himself to be so much obliged to the frequent Practice of this Duty that rather than break his Custom of performing his Solemn Devotions three times a day he would expose himself to the Den of Lyons Nay Thirdly So great is our obligation to frequent Prayer that he acts against his Nature whosoever doth not practise it For in truth Prayer is the proper and peculiar Duty of Man as he is a Man That which constitutes the nature of Man and doth formally difference and distinguish him from all other Animals is not so much the power of Reason as the capacity of being Religious There are some Foot-steps of an obscure Reason to be observed in many Creatures besides Man But in none except Him is there found any sense of a Deity or Disposition towards Religion or any thing that looks like it That seems to be the Prerogative of Mankind God endowed them and them only with Spirits capable of Reflecting upon the Author of their Beings and of making acknowledgments and performing Religious Worship to him So that to Worship God to converse with him in the exercise of Devotion to Pray and give Thanks for his Benefits may be truly said to be the proper Office of a Man as Man The natural exercise of those Faculties that distinguish him from brute Creatures And consequently those that live in a continual neglect of this what must be said of them but that they act unsuitably to their Natures and are degenerated into a sort of Brutishness It appears then that our Obligations to this Duty are many and great and such as there is no possibility of evading But here is our unhappiness that those Duties which we are most strictly obliged to are not those that we are always most inclined to practise There may be something in the most indispensable Duties so harsh and unpleasant so disagreeing with our other Appetites or Interests They may be so hard to be performed so Laborious or so Expensive or upon some other account so ungratefull that we shall naturally put our selves upon the finding out Excuses for the ridding our hands of them and easily satisfy our minds for so doing But now which I desire in the Fourth place to be considered There are none of these pretences to be made against this Duty of Prayer none of these Inconveniencies do attend it But it is so naturally so easily performed and so inoffensively to all our other Appetites and Interests That one would think nothing but mere laziness or stupidity could hinder a Man from the daily Exercise of it It requires no great Parts or Learning or Study for the discharging it The meanest Capacity the most un-improved Vnderstanding if there be but an honest Heart may perform it as well as the learnedest Man in the World It requires no Labour or Toil. The feeblest and most dis-spirited Body that can but lift up eyes to Heaven and direct wishes thither doth it as effectually as the most vigorous Constitution It doth not go against the grain of any natural Inclination nor put the body to any pain or hardship Nor doth it contradict any appetite or affection that Nature hath implanted in us No Humour but either the Sottish or the Malicious the Brutish or the Devilish is distasted by it It puts us to no Charge or Expence in the World save that of our Thoughts yet that is the noblest way of spending them And if they be not employed thus it is ten to one but they will be employed much worse It is not at all consumptive of our Time For we may attend this work when we are a doing other business and there is no man so full of business but he hath abundance of vacant spaces which he will not know how to fill up to any good purpose unless he hath learned this Art of saving Time In a word there is no Objection against it it is one of the Easiest Naturalest Inoffensivest Duties in the World Nay so easie it is that the most Selfish Man if he was to make his own Terms with
prosper their Government and direct all their Affairs that all their Subjects might lead quiet and peaceable lives under them in all Godliness and Honesty But when in a Revolution a Prince was advanced to the Throne that they looked upon to be a good Man and an Encourager of the True Religion in that case they did not only readily submit to him but acknowledged it as the great Blessing of God to them that he had raised up such a Man to rule over them This was the Notion and this was the Practice of the Primitive Christians as to this matter I may indeed say of the Christians in all Ages And whatever you may have heard to the contrary I doubt not to say that this is the very Doctrine of the Church of England Let me therefore exhort all of you to be followers of Peace to premote publick Unity and Concord as much as is possible to study to be quiet and mind your own business to be more concerned for your Country and Nation than the Interest of any single Man in it heartily to submit to the Government and not only so but to thank God for the Blessings you enjoy under it and most earnestly to pray for the Continuance of them Lastly Never to espouse any Party or Faction against the Government nor ever to be driven away from the Communion of the Church of which you have always professed your selves Members by any of the pretences which some warm Men may suggest to you This I dare venture to say how uneasie soever some of you now may be in joining with our Prayers you will at last be ten times more uneasie in separating from us For Faction has no bounds and God knows whither it will lead a Man at last Were there nothing else but the Heat and Turbulency the Passion and Peevishness the bitter Zeal and Uncharitableness that the being of a Party doth naturally ingage Men in I say were there nothing else but this No Man that consults the peace of his own mind would for any consideration leave the publick Communion and espouse the cause of a separate Interest But there are worse Consequences than these and I pray God we may never feel them And now I have done with my Exhortation And I have spoke my thoughts very freely to you And I hope you will receive what I have said with the same kindness that I meant it And truly I have no reason to doubt of it after so long an experience as I have had of your Civility and Candor Indeed during all the time I have been among you which hath been now near sixteen Years I have been so kindly treated by you and have received so many Testimonies of your Good-will that I cannot but take this Opportunity of publickly acknowledging my Obligations to you and returning you my Solemn Thanks for Them I cannot indeed say that I have done my Duty as I ought and I heartily beg of God to forgive all my Defects But I have this satisfaction that I have sincerely endeavoured in all my Preaching to instruct you in the true Doctrine of the Gospel and to teach you the right way that leads to Salvation And I am so certain that I have not been mistaken my self nor mis-led you in that matter that I dare with Confidence address my self to you in some of the words of the Apostle which do immediately follow after my Text Viz. Those things which you have learned and received and heard from me do and the God of Peace shall be with you I shall ever bless God for that Providence of his which placed me among you and as I shall always and do earnestly desire all your Prayers for me so I shall always heartily pray for you that God would guide and prosper you that his good Providence would always watch over you for good that he would bestow upon you and your Children after you all sorts of Blessings needful and convenient for you and especially that he would deliver you from every evil work and preserve you to his Heavenly Kingdom This God of his infinite Mercy grant c. SERMON X. Preached before the Lords Spiritual and Temporal IN THE Abbey-Church at Westminster On the 5th of November 1691. Rom. x. 2. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge THese are St. Paul's words and he spoke them of the Jews those unbelieving Jews that were so tenacious of the Traditions of their Fathers and so utterly averse to any Reformation of Religion That though it appeared by undeniable evidence that Christ Jesus was by God sent into to the World for that purpose yet did they to the last stand out in their opposition of him and his Gospel even to the final rejection of their Nation To these People doth St. Paul in this Chapter express a great Compassion heartily wishing and praying for their Conversion Brethren saith he in the first verse my hearty desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved That is that they may come to the knowledge of the Truth in Christ Jesus and by that means obtain everlasting Salvation And one reason why he was thus concerned for them he gives in the words following which are the words I have read unto you For I bear them Record saith he that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge It was a great motive to him to be concerned for their happiness that they were Zealous for Religion though he knew at the same time that the Religion they were then so Zealous of was not the right Religion nor did the Zeal they shewed for it proceed from right Principles According to the account I have now given of this Passage Three things we may take notice of from it viz. I. The Apostles approving and tacitly commending that Zeal which his Country-men expressed for Religion II. His meek and charitable behaviour towards them even when their Zeal for Religion was very faulty and blameable III. His discovery of the faultiness of their Zeal which lay in this that it was not according to knowledge These Three things I shall take for the Heads of my following Discourse upon this Text and shall afterwards make such Application of it as the Business of this Day calls for I. First I desire it may be observed That Zeal of God in general that is a hearty and passionate concernment for Religion The Apostle here finds no fault with On the contrary he approves it as a commendable thing For you see he represents it as a piece of virtue in his Country-men and speaks it to their commendation that they had a zeal of God I bear them record saith he that they have a zeal of God As much as to say that he owned they had that good quality and they were to be commended for it and for that reason he both wisheth them well and affectionately prayeth for them That which
God and his Providence a lively Sense of our own Sinfullness and Weakness and manifold Necessities and an entire humble constant Dependence upon the Divine Goodness for the Supply of them In such a Frame of Soul as this I take That Spirit of Prayer and Supplication mentioned in the Scriptures to consist Secondly To pray always likewise imports that upon every solemn Occasion we should actually address our selves to God seeking help from him in all the straits and difficulties we happen into rendring our acknowledgments for every Good that arrives to us in our lives and imploring his Protection his Guidance his Blessing upon us in every Work of Moment that we go about Thirdly It imports farther that we should at least twice every day either in publick or in private offer up the Sacrifice of Prayer and Praise in a solemn manner unto God Less than this I think this Phrase of Praying always as likewise that other Expression of St. Paul 1 Thess v. 17. that we should pray without ceasing less than this I say they cannot signifie but how much more I now enquire not It is indeed very probable as Interpreters have noted that these Expressions are borrowed from and have respect to the daily Sacrifices among the Jews Every day twice that is to say in the Morning and in the Evening by the Appointment of God was offer'd up a Sacrifice in the Temple to which the Devout People resorted Which Sacrifice is in Scripture called by the Name of the continual Sacrifice the daily Sacrifice the never-ceasing Sacrifice and this in Contra-distinction to the occasional Sacrifices which pious Persons used to bring thither If now this be a true account of these Expressions we cannot be said to pray always to pray without ceasing to pray continually unless we do at least twice every day in the Morning and in the Evening offer up our solemn Sacrifice of Prayer to God But Fourthly To pray always and not to faint Implies great Earnestness and Importunity in our Prayers It imports that we should not faintly Address to God but with Affection and Fervour with a deep Sence of our Sins and of our Wants and a serious and fixed Attention to what we are about and with very ardent desires and hungring and thirsting after that Grace or that Pardon or that Blessing that we pray for And this is that kind of Prayer which St. James Styles the effectual fervent Prayer of a Righteous man which Ch. v. 16. he saith availeth much Lastly To pray always and not to faint imports Continuance and Perseverance in our Prayers That we do not pray by Fits and Starts and then intermit our Devotion but constantly keep up the Fervour of our Minds towards God Not giving over our Prayers Rom. 12.12 tho' we have not a Return of them so soon as we expect But continuing instant in Prayer as the Apostle speaks and watching thereunto with all perseverance Eph. 6.18 These are the chief things which are comprized in this Command of our Saviour Now to recommend the Practice hereof to you and to offer some Arguments to perswade every one thus to pray always and not to faint is that which I design in the remaining part of this Discourse I do not know how it comes to pass that Men have generally so great an Aversion to this Duty of Prayer They are very hardly got to it They are glad of any Pretence in the World to be excused from it And when they do come to perform their Devotions which among many is not oftner than the Laws or Customs of the Countrey oblige them to how soon are they weary of them How little do they attend to the siness they are about As if indeed Prayer was one of the greatest Burdens that God could lay upon Human Nature Whereas in truth if our Lusts and Passions were out of the way and Men could be brought to give themselves the Liberty of considering things equally we should be convinced that there is no Work that a Man can apply himself to no Action that he can perform to which there are greater Invitations greater Motives nay I was going to say greater Temptations of all sorts than to this of Prayer Suppose one would set himself to perswade any of us to the Practice of some particular thing which he hath a Mind to recommend to us what more effectual Method could he take for the carrying of his Point than to lay before us the common Heads of Arguments by which all Mankind are prevailed upon to undertake any Business or Action And then to convince us that the thing he would perswade us to is recommendable upon all these accounts As for instance That it is a thing fit and decent and reasonable to be done Nay 't is a thing we are oblig'd in duty to do even so far oblig'd that we act against our Natures if we do it not Nor have we any just Exception against it It is the most easie thing in the World It will put us to no manner of Trouble or Pains or Self-Denial So far from that that it is very pleasant and delightful And not only so but also highly creditable and honourable And which is the Top of all the Benefits and Advantages we shall receive from it are extremely great in all respects If now I say a Man can make all these things good of the Point he would perswade us to sure all the World must account us out of our Wits if we do not follow his Advice Yet all these things it may be evidently made to appear are true of Prayer and that too in a higher degree than of most things in the World What therefore can be desired in this Exercise to recommend the Practice thereof to us that it hath not And what must be concluded of us if notwithstanding all this we continue obstinate in our Neglects of it Give me leave to speak a little to these several Particulars First of all Doth it recommend any thing to our Practice that it is fit and decent and reasonable to be done Then certainly we must needs think our selves obliged to the constant Practice of this Point we are speaking of For there is nothing that doth more become us nor is any thing more undecent or more unreasonable than the Neglect of it Is it not fit that the Sovereign Lord of us and of the World should be acknowledged by us That we who do continually depend upon him should ever and anon be looking up to him and expressing that Dependence Is it not fit that we who every moment experience a thousand Instances of his Kindness partake of a thousand Mercies and Favours of his and must perish the next Minute unless they be continued to us Is it not highly fit and reasonable I say that we should take notice at least of these things to this our Benefactor We should think it very ill Manners to pass by our Prince or even
rewarded and wicked Men punished to deny the liberty of Humane Actions and to say that all things which we do we do by a fatal necessity and we cannot do otherwise And yet we may every day meet with Men of these Principles nay and that laugh at all those that maintain the contrary But then as for the business of Jesus Christ and that which we call the Christian Religion what a very little do a great many among us make of that To talk of Christ's being sent for the Saviour of the World and that he died to procure the Pardon of our Sins and that we must believe all the Scripture-Doctrines concerning him and worship him as a God why what stuff is this to a great many of the resined Spirits of our Age It is very well if they can so far prevail with themselves as to own the Being of God and to acknowledge their obligation to the Duties of moral Honesty and Justice which natural Religion teacheth But as for Jesus Christ and the Trinity and the Sacraments and all revealed Religion they beg your Pardon for these things they are too nice and subtil for them to meddle with Not but that they are good Christians all the while For they can come to our Churches and to our Sacraments too if there be occasion Because indeed they will always be of the Religion of the Country where they live But at the same time they do this they do no more really believe or expect any Spiritual Benefit in our Religion nor look for any more Salvation from Christ Jesus than they would expect from Mahomet if they should live in Turky But this is not all Even among those that do believe in Jesus Christ and own his Religion yet what little regard have they generally speaking to his Worship and Service It is very well if they now and then afford their presence on Sundays at the publick Religious Assemblies I will not examine with what designs and for what ends they come thither nor how devoutly and religiously their hearts are affected during the time they are there I say it is very well that they are there at all But even of those that do come thither and do once a Week seem to have a sense of publick Religion I say how few are there of them that take any care of worshipping God either in their Families or in their Closets Why if a Man was truly Religious he could not pass a day without solemn Addresses to his Maker and to his Redeemer He would pray in his Closet constantly and if he had a Family he would Pray with them constantly And if he had no Family he would constantly resort to those places where he might pay his Tribute of publick Prayer and Praises to God unless he had urgent business to hinder him But is there any thing of this to be seen among us except in some few Persons here and there Are there not twenty Families for one that live without so much as the shew of any Devotion Without any sort of Prayer or Worship of God in their Houses Nay and I am afraid I may say there are twenty for one even of Private Persons that live without Devotion in their Closets that never call upon God never renew their Vows to their Saviour never pay him any Homage except perhaps once a Week in a formal way when the Custom of the Country obliges them to resort to the Church The truth is so little sense have most of us of Religion and Devotion so little regard of our Duty to God and our depenance upon him and expressing that dependance either in Private or in our Families That were it not for that Happy Institution of the Lord's day on the which we are obliged by the Laws of God and Man to meet together for the Worship of God we should hardly see any Face of Religon among us and in a little time should scarce be distinguished from Heathens But yet this is not the worst of our Case Our gross Immoralities that Horrid Lewdness and Debauchery that is every where to be observed in our days doth still increase our Guilt and cry to Heaven for Judgment upon our Nation It would make a Man's heart ake that has any sense of God or Religion to think of the Riots the Drunkenness the continued course of spending our Time and our Parts and our Substance in Revelling and Gaming and all manner of such excesses that is daily practised among us And yet at the same time the Men that thus live think themselves very honest Men all the while It would really amaze a Man and put him upon admiring God's Patience that he doth not presently confound the World if he did seriously reflect on the many filthy lewd Speeches and Actions the numerous wicked intrigues of Lust the Infamous Whoredoms and Adulteries that are without any sense of shame daily carried on and acted among us and that by Persons too that have the Face to shew themselves at our Holy Assemblies Especially if to these be added the infinite Lyes and Cheats and Perjuries which our Land groans under The Blasphemous Oaths and Imprecations the Damn me 's and Sink me's the Horrid Profanations of the Name of God and all things Sacred that are in every place in every street where we pass belched out in contempt of the Almighty and his Laws by all sorts of Persons of all sorts of Qualities from the Beggar in the street to the Man of Honour and that for no other reason in the World but because it is their Humour or their Custom And lastly to fill up the measure of our iniquities to our other reigning Vices we have added that of Hypocrisie too which one would think should not often be found among so much Profaneness How many of us make a mighty noise with Religion and are zealous even to Bigottry in the defence of it and yet have not one grain of inward sense of what it obligeth them to Nay so far from that that if Religion be but in their Mouths If they do but appear Zealous enough for the Protestant Cause If they can but cry loue enough The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord as the Jews did in the Prophet They matter not how coutradictory their Actions are to the Precepts of that Religion they do Profess Their Zeal for so good a Cause will sanctifie all the other Actions be they never so wicked and unjust But if this be not Hypocrisie there is no such thing in the World Sure I am it was this sort of Carriage that God so often reproves the Jews for by his Prophets and upon account of which they are so often reproached as a Generation of Hypocrites and for which he threatens them with utter destruction O my Brethren what have we to say to these things If the Case be thus with us as I am afraid it is What plea have we to put in for our selves If
God should let loose our Enemies upon us the Enemies of our Nation and of our Religion and should give us over as a Prey unto them what have we to reply Truly nothing that I know of except that of the Psalmist Righteous art thou O Lord and Just are thy Judgments But we trust God's Lenity and Forbearance and Mercy is as great to Publick Societies and Kingdoms as it is to Private Persons And that we may apply those expressions to our Nation which David uttered with reference to himself O Lord if thou shouldst be extream to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it But there is Mercy with thee that thou mayest be feared When the Iniquities of a People are at the full God will not fail to punish them But whether ours be so or no He only knows We hope though they be very grievous and crying they have not yet exceeded the measure of God's Patience and that there is yet left a place for Repentance This is indeed the only Plank we have to trust to that can save us from Shipwrack and therefore we ought to lay hold upon it Let us therefore this day every one of us if we have any kindness for our Native Country If we have any respect to that dear Place where we and our Ancestors and all our Relations and Kindred for many Generations have lived so happily If we have any Zeal for or regard to that excellent Church and that Holy Religion that God did in so extraordinary a manner plant among us and for the preserving of which in our Land His Care and Providence hath so often and so wonderfully appeared If we have any Concernment for many thousands of innocent Souls who without their own fault may deeply suffer for the Nations Sins Lastly If we have any Bowels of Compassion to those dear Children of ours that God hath given us that we may transmit to them and their Children after them that Birth-Right and those Privileges and that excellent Religion we received from our Fathers I say if we have any sense of these things let every one of us this day most sincerely apply our selves to the Service of God in all the ways of a serious Virtue and Piety Or if we have been careless of this matter heretofore or which is worse have been lewd or wicked in our lives yet let us now at last heartily repent of it And with Prayers and Tears and the most solemn Resolutions of Amendment prostrate our selves before the Throne of Grace imploring and beseeching God's Pardon and Forgiveness and if it be possible a lengthning of our Tranquillity O let us not refuse this opportunity of doing the greatest Kindness and the best service to our Country that we possibly can And therefore let us not only heartily bewail our own Sins but the reigning Impieties and Wickedness that our Nation stands accountable for Now is the time if ever that we are all concerned to be importunate with God for our selves and our Country And a fitter Prayer for this purpose cannot be composed for us than that which Daniel put up to God for his Nation and that at such a solemn time as this when as he tells us he had set himself to seek God for his People by Prayer and Supplication with Fasting and Sackcloth and Ashes The Prayer is in the 9th Chapter of his Prophecy and I shall conclude with it and I earnestly beg of you all to join with me in it O Lord the great and dreadful God that keepest the Covenant and shewest mercy to them that love thee and to them that keep thy Commandments We have sinned and done wickedly and have committed Iniquity and have rebelled even by departing from thy Precepts and from thy Judgments O Lord Righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face as at this Day to the Men of Judah and to the Inhabitant of Jerusalem because we have sâ—â—â—red against thee But unto the Lord our God belongeth Mercy and Forgiveness though we have rebelled against him â—â—ither have we 〈…〉 of the Lord our God to walk in his Laws which he set before us O Lord according to all thy Rightâ—â—â—sness we beseech thee let thy anger and thy fury be turned away from thy City Jerusalem thy holy Mountain Because for our sins and the iniquities of our Fathers Jerusalem and thy People are become a reproach to all that are about us Now therefore O God hear the Prayer of thy Servants and cause thy Face to shine upon thy Sanctuary O God incline thine ear and hear Open thine Eyes and behold the City which is called by thy Name O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do Defer not for thy own sake O our God For thy City and thy People are called by thy Name And whilst Daniel was thus praying and confessing his sins and the sins of his People unto the Lord and supplicating for his City Jerusalem Behold the Angel Gabriel was sent unto him from the Lord with the glad tidings that God had heard his Prayer for Jerusalem and that it should be built and the Lord would dwell in it O may we all thus Fast and Pray as Daniel did and may God Almighty give us such a return of our Prayers Amen O God for Jesus Christ his sake to whom c. SERMON X. PREACHED AT St. GILES in the Fields On the 28th of June 1691. Philip. iv 8. Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise think on these things I Have the two last Lord's Days made it my business to treat of this Text in a way that I thought did most tend to the informing your Judgments And to that purpose I have raised several Observations and drawn several inferences from it I mean now to treat of it in another way and apply my self wholly to the pressing you to the practice of it And indeed the Nature of the Sermon I am to make doth call for this from me For I am now to take my leave of you this being the last time in all probability that I shall Preach among you as your Minister And therefore I suppose good Advice and Exhortation will more become me at this time than a close Discourse upon a Text. And yet my Text doth afford matter enough without straining it for such a purpose Nor indeed do I know a Text in the Bible that I could more willingly pitch upon to leave with you as the last Advice I would give you and as the Sum and Conclusion of my Preaching among you than these Words of St. Paul I have now read to you Let me therefore at this time address my self to you all as the Apostle here did at the conclusion of his Epistle to the Philippians Finally Brethren whatsoever things
Religious posture of mind but upon the plain natural frame and temper of your Souls as they constantly stand inclined to Virtue and Goodness A Man that seriously endeavours to live honestly and religiously may come to the Sacrament at an hour's warning and be a Worthy Receiver On the other side a Man that lives a careless or a sensual Life may set apart a whole Week or a whole Month for the exercising Repentance and preparing himself for the Communion and yet not be so worthy a Receiver as the other And yet he may be a worthy Receiver too provided he be really honest and sincere in the matter he goes about and provided that he remember his Vows afterward and do not sink again into his former state of carelesness and sensuality But to return to my point I do verily think that most of the doubts and fears and scruples that are commonly entertained among us about receiving the Sacrament are without ground or reason and that every well disposed Person that hath no other design in that action but to do his Duty to God and to express his belief and hopes in Jesus Christ and his thankfulness to God for him may as safely at any time come to the Lord's Table as he may come to Church to say his Prayers And if the case be so as I believe it is then of what a mighty privilege and benefit do they deprive themselves who when they have so many opportunities do so seldom join in that solemn Institution of our Lord which as I said was designed for no other purpose but to be the means of our growing in Grace and Virtue in Love to God and to all the Word O therefore my Brethren let me beg of you not to be strangers at the Lord's Table But I need not beg it of you for I am sure you will not whensoever it shall please God to put it into your hearts seriously to mind the concernments of your Souls and to be heartily sensible of the need you stand in of the Grace of Christ for the leading a holy and pure Life I have but one thing more in the Sixth place to leave with you and I have done It is not indeed of the nature of those things I have last recommended to you that is a means or instrument of growing more Virtuous But it is a principal Virtue it self And I do therefore recommend it to you because it is at all times useful at all times seasonable but more especially it seems to be so now And that is That you would walk in Love and study Peace and Unity and live in all dutiful subjection to those whom God hath set over you and endeavour in your publick stations to promote the publick Happiness and Tranquillity as much as is possible But by no means upon any pretence whatsoever to disturb the publick Peace or to be any way concerned with them that do by no means ever to ingage in any Party oâ— Faction and least of all any Faction in Religion which is grounded upon a State-point I am sorry the posture of things among us gives me occasion to mention this matter but it is too visible to what a height our animosities and discontents are grown and what the consequences of them may be unless there be a timely stop put to them I tremble to think With Mens differences as to their notions about the Politicks I am not concerned let Men frame what Hypotheses they please about Government though I do not like them yet I do not think my self bound to Preach against them But when these differences are come to that pass that they threaten both the Civil and Ecclesiastical Peace there I think no Minister should be silent Church-Divisions God knows we have and have always had too many but it is very grievous that those who have always declared themselves the Friends of our Church and Enemies to Schism should at this time of Day set a helping hand to promote a Separation And yet it seems to this height are our differences come Some People among us that formerly were very zealous for the Established Worship of the Church are now all of a sudden so distasted with it that they make a scruple of being present at our Service Nay some have proceeded so far as to declare I know not upon what grounds open War against us and set up Separate Congregations in opposition to the Publick What is the meaning of this Hath Schism and Separation from the established Worship which heretofore was branded as so heinous a sin and deservedly too so changed its nature all of a sudden that it is become not only innocent but a Duty Have we not the same Government both in Church and State that we formerly had Have we not the same Articles and Doctrines of Religion publickly owned and professed and taught without the least alteration Have we not the same Liturgy the same Offices and Prayers used every day that have always been What is there then to ground a Separation upon Yes But the names in the Prayers are changed and we cannot Pray for those that are now in Authority as we could for those that were heretofore But how unreasoanble is this when St. Paul has bid us to put up Prayers and Supplications and Intercessions for all Men especially for Kings and all that are in Authority Doth he make any restriction any distinction what Kings or what persons in Authority we are to pray for and what not Doth he not expresly say we must pray for all Men and for all that are in Authority And doth not the the reason of his exhortation imply as much if his words did not Namely that we may lead quiet and peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty But I pray consider what this Doctrine leads to If this Principle be admitted to be good Divinity then farewell all the Obligations to Ecclesiastical Communion among Christians For what Government is there in the World that will not meet with such Subjects as are not satisfied with it And if that dissatisfaction be a just reason to break Communion with the Established Church what Ligaments have we to tye Christians together What will become of holding the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace What is the consequence of this but endless Schisms and Separations But further I wish these Persons would consider what an unaccountable humour it is to make a Rent and Schism in the Church upon a meer point of State Great Revolutions have happened in all Ages and in all Countries and we have frequent instances of them in story But I believe it will not be easily found that ever any Christians separated from the Church upon account of them Still they kept unanimously to their Doctrine and their Worship and never concerned themselves farther in the Turns of State how great soever they were than peaceably to submit to the Powers in being and heartily to pray to God so to
this World so dark and miserable a place that no serious considering man can tolerably enjoy himself in it For here upon the former supposition you are left without Counsel or Advice You have nothing to propose nothing to design in the course of your Lives It is all one how you behave your selves whether honestly or wickedly whether you mind your Business or mind it not for the Even will be the same You are obliged to no body for any Benefits you can complain of no body for any ill usage If you be in ill circumstances you have none to apply to for Remedy and if you be in good ones you may be stript of them without Remedy the next moment for all things are carried on by a whirl of Fate And you are not much better'd by the latter Hypothesis That God hath trusted the Government of the World with Mankind who are endowed with Reason and Understanding For if we consider how Mankind do sometimes use their Reasons it is as good if not better to be exposed to the Hazards of Chance or Necessity as to be subject to their Wills The truth of it is if this Systeme of the World be well consider'd it will appear a more uncomfortable one than the other for it doth not remove from us the Iron Bands of Fate we are still under that Yoke as much as we were before Yet besides these it puts upon us another Yoke the arbitrary Pleasures of those of our own kind which if they be not govern'd by Reason are ten times more unsupportable than the other We are by this Hypothesis as much exposed to Natural Evils as we were before and there is no help for them but over and above we must bear the Indignities and Insolences the Ravages and Cruelty of every one that is stronger than our selves and hath the will to oppress us O hard Lot of Mankind if this was their Constitution better by far were it for them to be Brutes and think of nothing than to be Men upon such Terms as these Happy therefore are the Inhabitants of the Earth happy are the remotest Isles thereof that there is a King that reigns both over Fate and Men. Happy are we that there is a wise and intelligent Being that superintends all our Affairs and so governs both the Powers of Nature and the Powers of Mankind that nothing can be done by either of them but what is designed by and pursuant to his Counsels Upon this Supposition we may live like Men and enjoy our selves with some Comfort in this World We may propose Ends and Designs to our selves and hope that with our diligence and good management they may take effect Upon this Supposition we may and ought to look upon all our good Successes as the Blessings of God to us and particularly that which we are this day met together to thank Him for I mean the wonderful Preservation of His Majesty from all the Dangers to which he hath so often been exposed and his safe Return to us Upon this Supposition we may hope that tho' all things have not succeeded according to our Wishes yet in due time they may since the King of the World hath by the frequent and unexpected Deliverances he hath wrought for us and the strange unusual Providences that have attended our King given us some Encouragement to believe provided we do our parts towards it that He hath reserv'd Vs for better Times and Him for the executing those Glorious Designs which Good Men hope will at last be accomplish'd in the World Lastly Upon this Supposition every Honest Man will find reason enough both to bear contentedly whatever uneasie Circumstances he lyes under and to trust in God's Mercy for the removal of them and in the mean time to possess his own Soul in a cheerful dependance on God's Providence and a hearty Thankfulness for all the innumerable Blessings he hath receiv'd and doth daily receive from his Hands And therefore since the Lord is King let the earth be glad yea let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof Now That the Lord is really thus the King of the World there are all the Arguments to perswade us that can be desir'd It is the Voice of Reason It is the Voice of all Mankind It is the Voice of GOD himself both in His Works and in His Word Give me leave to give you a Specimen in all these ways of Arguing and but a Specimen because it would be rather the Work of a Book than of a Sermon to dilate upon these matters First I say Reason tells us it must be thus For admitting that the World did not make it self but was made by God it will follow that the same God that made it must still govern it For the same Ends and Designs and Motives whatever they were that induced God to make the World at first will oblige Him for ever to take care of it and look after it Unless we suppose God to contrive an act as uncertainly and unstedily and with the same inconstancy and levity of Mind that some of us Mortals here upon Earth do Secondly It is the Voice of all Mankind For otherwise how comes it to pass that among all Nations and in all Ages there has been some Religion or other practised I pray what is the meaning of worshiping God of putting up Prayers and Supplications to Him for the things we need of returning Thanks for the Benefits we have received of appointing Religious Rites and Methods for the expiation of Guilt or the averting of impendent Calamities all which things have been practised in all Nations from the beginning of the World to this day I say what is the meaning of all this unless it was hereby meant to be signified That there is a God which doth concern himself in the Affairs of Mankind and who doth dispense Good or Evil to them as they well or ill behave themselves towards him The Truth is To say that God doth not govern the World is to say that all Religion is a Cheat and that all Mankind except a few debauch'd Wits in the more polite Countries and a few Brutes in the very barbarous ones who are of no Religion at all have been and are a company of credulous Fools For this is certain whatever Argument either Jew or Turk or Pagan or Christian can suggest to himself for the convincing him that it is his Concernment or his Duty to worship God or to be of any Religion at all nay or to make any conscience of any Action he does I say all these Arguments do not only prove but suppose that God both knows and orders the Affairs of the World Thirdly It may likewise be as strongly proved from Effects from the tracks and footsteps of a Divine over-ruling Providence which are to be seen in the Events that happen in the World which is what I call the Voice of God in his Works These are indeed so many and so
is thereby made a Blessing of God which without it perhaps might have been a Cross and an Affliction It is Prayer by which every Thing and every Action is sanctified to Believers I might name several other Benefits and Advantages to be reap'd from the conscientious Practice of this Duty But those that I have mention'd may I think if they be considered be sufficient to recommend it to any Man whatsoever that hath the least Kindness for himself And therefore I will not burthen your Memories with heaping up more Motives Only one thing I desire leave to press a little more earnestly and particularly than I have yet done and that is The Absolute Necessity of Constant Prayer in order to a Holy and Vertuous Life Do any of you here present in good earnest mean to live as you should do Do you really intend or desire to endeavour after such a Pitch of Vertue and Holiness as will be available for the saving your Souls everlastingly If you do not 't is in vain to attempt the perswading you to any thing of this Nature If you do then give me leave to tell you that it is absolutely necessary that you should live in the constant Exercise of Prayer otherwise you will never do your Business And on the other side I dare assure you if you do thus practise you will not fail of attaining the End you aim at These three things I dare lay down for Truth in this Matter First It is impossible for any Man to be good that lives without constant Praying Secondly Whoever is good at the present yet if he disuse himself in this Point he will not continue good long And Lastly Whoever makes a Conscience of Praying frequently and heartily and continues so to do tho' he cannot at present be said to be a good Man yet it is impossible for him long to continue bad he will certainly at last get the Victory over his Lusts and evil Habits So that Prayer is both the Means without which Vertue cannot be attained And the Means that never fails of attaining it And the Security of it when it is attained Of these three things very briefly and I have done First I say No Man can be a vertuous Man that lives without Praying I do not deny that some who make no great Conscience of this Duty but live in an habitual Neglect of it may so far retain the Notions of good and evil and those Notions may to far influence their Actions as that they shall not be notoriously and scandalously vicious It may be they will not lie nor cheat nor oppress any one It may be they do not live in a Course of Lewdness and Debauchery nor will be engag'd in any Design or Action that is apparently base or dishonourable But all this while these Men are far from being vertuous in the Sense we now speak of For we speak of such a Vertue as recommends us to God such a Vertue as will be effectual for our Salvation in the other World Now to such a Vertue as this there goes nothing less than an Universal Care over all our Actions a Serious Endeavour to frame all our Conversation suitably and conformably to the Laws of our Saviour But how can any Man think he takes Care of this that knowingly and willingly lives in a constant Contradiction to one of the principal Duties of our Saviour's Religion Our whole Duty is made up but of Three Things That a Man live soberly with respect to himself righteously with respect to his Neighbour and piously with respect to God Supposing now that a Man take care of the two former that is of doing his Duty to himself and his Neighbour which yet I believe never any Man did that made no Conscience of neglecting his Prayers But suppose a Man could satisfie himself as to these two Points of his Duty yet if he make no Conscience of the third that is of Piety towards God as no Man can make Conscience of that who makes it no matter of Conscience whether he says his Prayers or no in what Sense or Notion can this Man be said to have done his Duty or to lead a vertuous Life Certainly in no Sense at all For as to one third part of his Duty which is indeed as considerable at least if not more than either of the other he is a notorious Transgressour And tho' he be not unjust tho' he be not debauched yet wanting Piety towards God he is Impious And that will as certainly damn him as either of the other Either therefore one of these two things must be made appear that is to say that there may be Vertue such Vertue as will recommend us to God without Piety Or that there may be Piety without ever Praying or worshipping God neither of which I believe will be easily affirmed Or it will follow That where there is no Praying there is no Vertue and consequently no Salvation But besides We all know there is no Possibility of Living a Holy and Vertuous Life such a Life as our Religion requires of us and which alone will stand us in stead in the Day of Judgment without the Grace of God and the Assistances of his Holy Spirit And we all know likewise that these are no way to be come by but by earnest and affectionate and constant Prayer How therefore is it possible that any Man who is not very serious and frequent in the Exercise of Devotion should ever be able to live a Holy Life He may indeed by his own Study and for his own Interest possess himself of such good Qualities as may make a fair Shew in the World and recommend him to all about him But the inward Principle of Goodness and Holiness he cannot have Because he doth not practise the Means of obtaining the Grace and Spirit of God by which alone that Principle is to be wrought in him But Secondly Let a Man at present be in a good State of Soul yet it is impossible to preserve himself in that State without the constant Exercise of Devotion If a Man once begin to neglect his Prayers or to grow more dull and remiss in them or more averse to them it is a certain Argument that he is in a declining Condition as to Vertue and Goodness And as that Neglect or that Dulness or that Aversion increases in the same Degree doth the Goodness of his Condition abate also And when once it is come to that pass with him that the Flame of Devotion is quite extinguished in his Heart so that he can live and enjoy himself without any Converse or Intercourse with God in Prayer He may from that Period date the Loss of his Spiritual Life He is reduced to the State of a sensual natural Man Alive to the World and to his Lusts but perfectly dead to God The plain English is Prayer and Devotion is as necessary a Means to preserve the Union between the Soul and God in which
our Spiritual Life consists as Meat and Drink is to preserve the Union between our Souls and Bodies in which our natural Life consists And we may every whit as reasonably expect to keep our Bodies alive without the constant and daily use of Eating and Drinking As we can expect to keep our Souls alive to God without the constant and daily Exercise of Devotion This may to some appear strange Doctrine But I do believe I may appeal to experience for the Truth of it Nay I dare put the Question to any one that ever took any serious Care of his Soul and sincerely endeavoured to live vertuously and to please God whether he hath not found the Matter to be so as I have represented Have not such always found that so long as they kept up the Fervour and Vigour of their Devotion so long as they were constant and diligent in their Prayers and other Holy Exercises So long nothing could hurt them So long they have always maintained their Post and rather grown better than worse And though they have sometimes been foully overtaken by some Sin that they resolved against yet that Relapse hath done them no Mischief Their Continuance in their Prayers hath been an Antidote against the Malignity of the Sin And they have presently weather'd it out and suffered no ill Consequence by it But it has rather made them more watchful over themselves and more careful of their Actions afterward But on the other side have they not always found that when once they began to abate of the Fervour of their Devotions when once they began to pray seldomer or with more Coldness and Indifference They then began to live more loosely and carelesly to be more dull and sluggish towards every good Work Till perhaps by degrees the true Sense of God and Religion hath been in a great measure worn off from their Spirits and they in a manner have returned to a Worldly and Sensual Life Nay have they not often found that when it has been their Misfortune to break loose from their Duty and sink for some time into a State of Carelesness and Forgetfulness of God and of their own Vows and Resolutions as it hath sometimes hap'ned to very good Men I say Have they not often found that this their going backwards in Goodness was occasioned purely and solely by the Intermission of their Devotions That there was no visible Reason or Account to be given of this their Fall but only that through Sluggishness or some other Cause they have neglected to pray to God so earnestly and so frequently as they used to do I am confident a great many can say this out of their own Experience So that it concerns every Man that is at present in a good Disposition of Mind and hath good Hopes towards God It concerns him as he loves his Soul As he would not lose all the Fruits of his past Labours and Endeavours in the Service of God By all means possible to keep his Heart in a devout Frame And whatever comes of it not to grow cold or languid in his Prayers Or to omit or disuse them either in publick or private upon any pretence whatsoever But Thirdly and Lastly to conclude all there is this farther to be said for the Encouragement of all sorts of Persons to persevere in the Practice of this Duty namely That whoever makes Conscience of Saying his Prayers frequently and heartily and continues so to do tho' he be not good at the present yet it is impossible for him long to continue bad He will at last certainly get the Victory over all his Lusts and evil Habits and attain to the Favour of God and the Salvation of his own Soul This necessarily follows from what hath been said A Course of Prayer and a Course of Sin cannot consist together One will necessarily destroy the other Praying will either make a Man leave Sinning as a pious Man of our own used to say or Sinning will make a Man leave Praying But this is to be understood of Prayer that is put up to God with great Seriousness and Heartiness and out of a Sense of Duty and Conscience For as for those formal Prayers that are made out of Custom or upon the account of Education or for the serving some Worldly Ends of Interest or Reputation or the like God respects them no more than the impertinent Tattle of Fools All those of us therefore that mean and design to be good though we are not so already Let us above all things take care to mind our Prayers Let us pray to God in Private Let us pray to God with our Families And let us join as oft as we can with the Prayers of the Publick Assemblies This I am sure is the best Method we can take for the reforming our Lives and for the gowing in all Vertue and Goodness And the more we practise it the better we shall like it And if we persevere therein we shall find the Comfort of it both in the Grace and Assistance we shall receive from the Holy Spirit for the vanquishing all our Lusts and Corruptions And in the Blessings we shall procure from God both to our Selves and our Families and all our Affairs and Concernments And lastly in the Everlasting Salvation of our Souls in the Day of the Lord Jesus To whom c. FINIS