throw out their Censures at random and speak Evil ex tempore without considering of whom they talk or what or why Men that are for running down every one that comes in their way and are for passing Sentence immediately without any trial or examination nay without so much as the formality of asking Guilty or not Guilty This is certainly a very preposterous headlong method against all sense and good breeding as well as Charity 'T is like the Jews that were all for Crucifying the Lord of Life before they had heard him But this is such a gross piece of Injustice as sufficiently condemns it self all therefore that I shall further say to the Men of this Practice is that he who makes hast to Censure can no more be Innocent than he that makes hast to be Rich and that if we ought to consider before we venture to Commend as Wise Men say we ought then much more ought we before we Condemn Secondly When though we do consider and make some enquiry into the cause and withal find some ground and foundation for an ill Judgment yet we conclude beyond the force of the Premises and give a Peremptory Sentence where there are grounds for no higher an Assent than Opinion or Suspicion This is a certain sign that we are not determined by the Moments of Truth by the strength of Reason and Argument but by some other By-Consideration and partial Inducement For were our Judgments guided and determined by the sole Appearances of Truth 't is impossible that our Assent should be stronger than the Evidence that causes it For the Understanding of it self can be determined no farther than as the Object appears to be either true or false if it be all that overplus of Judgment that exceeds the degrees of Evidence must be produced by some other cause the Evidence alone could cause no more than what was proportionable to it There is indeed a mixture in all such Judgments and the Will has a part in them as well as the Understanding He therefore that concludes worse of another than in Appearance he has reason to do must be supposed in some measure willing to do so that is in other Words to be under some Malice or Prejudice-against him and he that judges upon such Principles can never judge Righteous Judgment Thirdly This we do when we conceive an ill Apprehension of a Person from one or two single instances of his Life without considering the general tenour of his Conversation This is a very unjust way of proceeding and contrary to all Human and Divine Measures The main current of a Man's Life is to be regarded and if this maintain a regular Course 't is not here and there a little straggling Rivulet that should spoil the Character For if the Denomination ought always to be taken from the major part certainly much more so when it lies on the most favourable side To ballance therefore one single wandring Star against a whole Constellation of regular actions is a very ill sort of unrighteous Judgment and such as the best of Men could never be able to abide who must needs all be cast in such a Court as this Such a way of Judging therefore is not to be indured especially considering that the Supream Judge of all does not judge us at this rate but often proceeds by a contrary measure and suffers one single Vertue to cover a multitude of Sins Fourthly and Lastly To give one general Measure for all this we do whenever our ill Opinion of a Man is built upon such poor and slight Appearances as would not be sufficient to gain our Assent in any other indifferent matter wherein we are altogether dis-interessed which way the Scale turns or prevail with us to think the same concerning another Person This is a sure Sign that Prejudice holds the Ballance 't is held so uneven and that we judge what we would willingly have And this is more particularly that judging according to Appearance which our Lord here condemns For thus stood the case our Saviour had perform'd a Cure upon the Sabbath day among those who were Superstitious Observers of it now this carried some Appearance of its Violation whereupon the Jews tax him with Prophaning that holy Rest not at all reflecting either upon Moses's seeming inconsistency in appointing such a troublesome work as Circumcision to be done on that day as often as it happened to be the Eighth or upon themselves for then administring it But the reason was plain they were soundly prejudiced against Christ but not against Moses or themselves Well therefore might our Lord say if a Man on the Sabbath day receive Circumcision that the Law of Moses should not be broken are ye angry at me because I have made a Man every whit whole on the Sabbath day Will you wound upon that day and shall not I heal Judge not according to Appearance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to every slight superficial Appearance such as you your selves would not submit to in another case but judge Righteous Judgment The great Reasonableness and Necessity of which Precept comes now in the last place to be considered It s Equity relies mainly upon this double ground the ill Principle that such superficial Judging proceeds from and the ill Consequences it leads to First It proceeds from an ill Principle it argues First that we are conscious of some inward Baseness in our selves something that is very low and fordid which makes us so prone and easy to suspect the same in others as that is Drunk himself fancies every one else to be so that he meets It argues Secondly that we thirst after Eminency and yet despair of attaining it any other way than by levelling those about us which makes us so ready and willing to discover Spots in the Moon and Flaws in the most Solid and Massy Vertue It argues Thirdly a Mind very disassected to our Neighbour to Human Nature indeed and as much alienated from the true Spirit of Love and Goodness That we are full of Envy Pride Malice and Prejudice that we love to dwell upon Sores and Deformities that we take a secret pleasure in the Follies and infirmities of Mankind and grieve at that whereat the Angels rejoyce namely the wife Behaviour and good order of Men all which is Inhuman and Diabolical fit only for Devils and Evil Spirits but altogether contrary to the unselfish universalized nature of God who rejoyced when he saw all things good and perfect and to Charity whose Character St. Paul tells us is that it rejoices not in Iniquity But Secondly the Consequences of this sort of Judging are as bad as the Principle for Ist He that proceeds to Judgment upon every little Appearance must needs be often mistaken and give Sentence with and Erring Key and so often incur that Woe pronounced by the Prophet against all such as call Evil Good and Good Evil because Falshood often wears the guise of Truth
are only to take care that our Compliance prove not a Snare to us an occasion of falling into Sin that we do not offend God out of Civility towards Men. In all other cases we would do well to consider and follow that of the Apostle I am made all things to all Men And again 1 please all Men in all things Neither again Secondly is this Caution to be so rigorously understood as if we were forbidden to conform to the several indifferent Modes of Ages or of Countries either as to Customs or Ceremonies whether Religious or Civil or Habits or manner of Address or way of Diet or the like For however these may not possibly be ordered according to the best convenience or measure of Discretion yet 't is according to the publick Wisdom of the Place and Nation for the Wisdom of a Nation is seen as much in their Customs as in their Proverbs and therefore the matter of them being supposed indifferent 't is not civil or modest to contradict them And there is this further to be considered that besides the pride and rudeness of such an opposition all the advantage or convenience a Man can get by it will not compensate for the Odium and Censure of Affectation and Singularity And accordingly we find that the Wisest of Men in all Ages have ever thought it Prudence to conform to the Innocent though otherwise not so convenient Customs of the Age and Place wherein they lived And 't is observed concerning our Blessed Saviour himself who was the Wisdom of the Eternal Father that when he condescended to put on Flesh and live among Men he condescended yet further and complied with all the received Customs and manners of the Jewish Nation And indeed he became in all things like unto his Brethren Sin only excepted Innocence was his only Singularity And this in one Word is our measure we may and ought to be conformable as far as the bounds of Innocence usque ad Aras is the measure of our civil Conversation as well as of our Friendship and dearer Intimacies For why should we shew so much disrespect to our Company as to quit the Road they have taken if we may safely travail in it The Conformity therefore which we are here cautioned against is that of Imitating the general Practice of the World as to Actions not of a Civil but of a Moral Nature We must not be Conform'd to the general Morals of this World the Reason and Equity of which Caution I come now to justify And the first Reason why we must not be Conform'd to this World is because this is not such a World as we may safely imitate 't is not a World for us to be Conformed to it never was so even in the Best and Purest times much less is it now in these last and worst days 'T is not safe following the Multitude at any time much less now nor in any thing but least of all in the ordering our Life and Conversation 'T is a very ill Guide in matters of Opinion but much worse in matters of Practice for the World is a meer Theatre of Folly a Stage of Vice and Debauchery one great Aceldama of Blood and Cruelty and to use the Description of St. John the whole World lieth in Wickedness the Words are Emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it has not only fallen into the Gulph of Sin but it lies there contentedly and quietly 'T is not only slightly dipt or stained with the Waters of Impurity but it lies as it were Moated round or rather all over drench'd and soak'd in them like the Earth in the Universal Deluge But this I need persue no further having already made it a distinct Member of my Discourse Again Secondly another Reason why we must not be Conformed to this World is because by so doing we shall confirm and strengthen the cause of Wickedness and give it Settlement Succession and Perpetuity For we shall countenance and imbolden those whom we imitate and cause others to imitate us and they again will be a President to others and so on till Vice pretend to the Right of Custom and Prescription and Iniquity be established by a Law This is one great Reason why the World is so bad now and 't is the best expedient the Devil has to make it yet worse for by this the Vices of the former Ages descend upon the future Sin becomes Hereditary Children transcribe their vicious Parents and actual like Original Sin is intail'd upon Posterity Fill ye up the Measure of your Fathers said our Saviour by way of Prophecy to the Jews implying that they would do so for our Lord very well knew the Temper of those to whom he said it and I question not but that most of the wickedness of that Nation was owing to this that they were so generally possessed with this Superstitious Humour of Conformity and were resolved to do as their Fore-fathers had done before them Again Thirdly another Reason why we Christians must not Conform to this World is because both the Precepts and the Rewards of our Religion require a very different method of Life from what is ordinarily practised the Precepts are strict and severe and the Rewards high and noble such indeed as cannot be conceived for their greatness and they both call for a very excellent and extraordinary way of Conversation for after the common way of Living we shall neither obtain the one nor fulfil the other Indeed our Religion obliges us to great Strictness and Singularity and a Christian cannot be like himself if he be like other Men. To be a Christian indeed is to be a New Creature to be New in Nature and New in Life and Conversation he must not be like his former self much less like the rest of the World The Argument is the Apostle's Ye are all the Children of Light and the Children of the Day that is Christians Professors of an holy and excellent Religion whose Precepts are excellently Good and whose Promises are excellently Great And what then Therefore let us not Sleep as do others but let us Watch and be Sober Again Fourthly and Lastly we Christians have one more peculiar Reason not to be Conformed to this World we have renounced it in our Baptism with all its Pomps and Vanities By which are meant not only the Heathen Games and Spectacles their vain Shews and loose Festivities their lewd Bacchanals and Saturnals which we renounce Absolutely and the Wealth and Glory and Grandeur even of the Christian world as often as they prove inconsistent with the ends of our Holy Institution but also the promiscuous Company the general Practices and the popular Examples of this World which are generally so very corrupt and wicked that we renounce them not upon supposition as in the other instance but at a venture The very first step to a Christian Life is to dye to the World and to its general Usages and Customs
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