them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. He that shall make Conscience of these least Commandements and though the World count them little and inconsiderable and looks upon them as things of no moment shall have and bear an equal respect to these the same he doth to those Commands which are acknowledged to be greatest and shall teach Men to do so not only in his Discourses and Colloquies but in his Practice and Example he shall be truly great greater than this World can make him greater than the greatest here on Earth even great and high and honourable in the Kingdom of Heaven Having thus acquainted you with the Sense I must do what I can to enforce this great and weighty Truth and this I cannot do better than by making the following Addresses to your Souls 1. This Text overthrows and breaks the neck of that loose Principle that in order to Salvation it is sufficient to avoid only gross notorious scandalous Sins How can it be sufficient when Christ protests here Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandements and shall teach Men so shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven It 's a marvellous thing to see what Schemes of Divinity Men erect to themselves that they may with greater Security and Satisfaction wallow in the Mire and please the World and the Flesh. I know not whether the Popish distinction of Sins into Mortal and Venial hath contributed to this Error but sure I am that in abundance of things which are not very agreeable to the Rule of the Gospel which yet Custom and Education and the humour of the Age hath made either necessary or convenient the Expedient Men find out is this that they are trivial little inconsiderable Faults whereby the dreadfulness of them soon disappears and this done they practise and commit them without Terror or Regret or Concernment and their Consciences do not at all boggle at them especially while the fair Weather of their Health and Pleasure and Ease and Strength and Liberty and Plenty lasts And of this Nature are most of the things Christ takes notice of in the Discourse succeeding the Text and whereof we shall have occasion to treat more largely in the sequel Such as secret Envy Hatred Grudges Malice in our Heart against our Neighbour abusive Language calling him by ill Names mincing of Oaths needless Asseverations lascivious Thoughts Desires Words Expressions Passions Affections Touches Kisses Looks Glances keeping ill Company and complying with their Follies neglect of several Acts of Charity and self-denials sinister Ends and Intentions in religious Actions mistrust of Gods Providence Discontentedness loving the World better than God c. That these are Sins is evident because they are forbid yet you cannot but know how they are overlook'd as inconsiderable Failings nor do the generality think they lose their Reputation and Character of good Men by not watching against them or by suffering them to go and come as there is occasion While they commit no Sins that send them to Goals and Prisons or bring them to the Gallows or while they keep free from Sins which the Hectors and Deboshees of the Age do wallow in they take themselves to be tolerable Saints and look upon the other Deformities of their Souls as things of no moment and while they are guilty of no Crimes that make them Infamous and can charge themselves with nothing that 's very bloody they have no melancholy Thoughts about the Garment spotted by the Flesh and may be make matter of Sport and Laughter of that which hath cost considerate Men many Tears and mournful Accents There is no doubt but there are greater and lesser Sins and some have greater Malice in them and are attended with greater bruitishness and stupidity with higher degrees of boldness and insolence and are more immediately level'd against the Nature of God than others But though in this respect some are greater some lesser yet if we consider the tremendous God who is offended by that which we call a little Sin it will appear in other Colours for either it is forbid or it is not if it be not forbid it must be either lawful or indifferent if it be forbid it is forbid as much as Adultery or Blasphemy And can any Sin be little that is an Affront to a Great and Infinite Majesty Can that be little which is injurious to Gods Power makes War with his Mercy and Goodness abuses his Patience diminishes his Glory and wrongs his Perfection and Holiness Can that be little which disfigures the noblest Workmanship of God our immortal Souls fills them as it were with Scabs and fullies their Beauty and Splendor Can that be little which manifestly hinders our progress in a spiritual Life stops the Stream and Current of the Divine Grace and Influence and disposes to Damnation Could we play the fool as they do in the Church of Rome and tell you that these lesser Sins may be purged away by a little Holy Water by the Bishops Blessing by smiting the Breast and the bare saying of a Pater noster by a general Confession c. You might think then there is no great matter in them but if they require a serious Repentance and Reformation as well as other Sins who can make light of them Were there nothing in them but that they dispose the Soul to greater Sins and to a loose careless sort of Religion this would be discouragement enough for all the World knows that no Man grows perfectly wicked on a sudden but by degrees they go on to more dareing Impieties Know ye not that a little Leaven leavens the whole lump Saith the Apostle 1 Cor. v. 6 And Behold how great a matter a little Fire kindles saith St. James Chap. III. 5 And doth not Experience tell us to use the words of a certain Divine how an unchast Thought assented to soon welcomes Delight Delight Consent Consent Action Action Custom Custom Habit Habit Perseverance Perseverance an obduracy of Heart which without God's miraculous Providence interposes leads to final Impenitence A Man may avoid scandalous great and clamorous Sins such as Murther Adultery Cursing Blasphemy Theft Extortion Prophaneness c. and yet all this while have not one grain of true Love to God for all this he may do meerly out of regard to his Ease and temporal Interest and if you consider what St. Paul protests that if any Man love not the Lord Jesus let him be Anathema Maranatha Cursed and for ever Cursed 1 Cor. xvi 22 What satisfaction can that Man enjoy within that notwithstanding his shunning some scandalous Sins hath not any tolerable assurance that he loves God and the Lord Jesus Christ If you love him you must keep his Commandments and if Love obliges you to keep one why not another Do not they all come from the same Law-giver Are not they all deliver'd with the same Seriousness and by the same Authority Who makes
the progress of Goodness and of the Kingdom of God prompted his Instruments and Agents to blacken the Noble attempt with hard and dreadful Names the most likely way to fright people from submitting to it It was so in the beginning of our Reformation when our Governours and Spiritual Pastors began to look more narrowly into the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome and resolv'd to rectifie what was amiss and contrary to the Word of God All the dreadful Imputations the Church of Rome could invent were made use of to hinder the glorious Work The Reformers were traduced as dealing with the Devil their Doctrine was called New and Strange and Antichristian never heard of in the World before nay styled Blasphemy and Arianism and Manicheism and Mohometanism and what not It is so still even in private Reformations Let a person break loose from the Devil and his evil Companions and by a secret impulse of God's Spirit betake himself to a life Spiritual and conformable to the Rules of the Gospel presently Mens Tongues are let loose against him especially if accidentally he be guilty of some little Imprudencies These are straitway aggravated and his whole design charged with Baseness and Hypocrisy and he is either become a Fanatick or mad or proud or ill-natured or bad Company or something that may render him odious But this must be no discouragement to a person that knows that this hath been an old stratagem of the Devil as old as the Fall of Adam when he put false Interpretations upon God's Prohibitions and accused even God himself of Envy and Ill-nature What! Could God say indeed ye shall not eat of this Tree He knows that that very moment ye eat of it ye will be wise and knowing and omniscient like himself and therefore forbids you this delicate Food He that will be saved must break through all these Cobwebs and esteem the reproach of Christ greater Riches than all the Treasures of the World II. Though the end of the Law and the Gospel are one and the same yet still there are remarkable differences which discover the excellency of the one above the other 1. The Author of the Law is God speaking by Moses the Author of the Gospel is the same God but speaking by his Son 2. The Law of Moses revealed much the Gospel much more especially with respect to the Incarnation and Life and Death and Resurrection of Christ Jesus 3. The Law was the shadow of good things to come the Gospel the truth and substance of them 4. The Law caused Fear the Gospel produces Love and hence arise two different Spirits the Spirit of Fear and that of Adoption 5. The Law promis'd Temporal Blessings the Gospel Eternal and though something of Eternal Life was revealed to those under the Law yet it was truly manifest to those under the Gospel 6. The Law was a Heavy burthen the Gospel an easy Yoke 7. The Law was our Schoolmaster to lead us to Christ The Gospel is the Mark the Law did aim and point at 8. The Law reacht the Jews only the Gospel all Mankind 9. The Law as to the ritual part was Temporary the Gospel Eternal 10. The Law had great Imperfections the Gospel was a most perfect Discipline 11. The Law discover'd the Will of God and help'd to make People sensible of their Sins and Transgressions of Gods Commands the Gospel Administers Grace to perform and do them 12. The Law converted but few the Gospel made innumerable Proselytes Yet after all as I said the Law and the Gospel are the same in Substance both contain the Will of God they have the same Author press the same Duties both Centre in Christ both are intended to make Men Holy and Spiritual and ready unto good Works only the Gospel sets things in a greater Light and ministers stronger Motives and nobler Encouragements so that the Law is not contrary to the Gospel nor doth the Gospel abolish but Establish it The Law especially the Moral contains the same Duties in substance the Gospel doth and therefore is still as obligatory as the Gospel Want of Faith made People careless of the Observance of it and want of Faith hath the same unhappy Effects under the Gospel And therefore the Apostles Exhortation was very seasonable and ought to be taken notice of by every one of us Heb. iv 1 2. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his Rest any of you should seem to come short of it for unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them but the word preached did not profit them not being mixt with Faith in them that heard it III. Christ came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets so must we fulfil the Law of the Gospel for what he did here was for our Example as St. Chrysostom notes As he fulfilled the Law and the Prophets so our business is to fulfil that Gospel which the Law and the Prophets pointed at In a word this is the Law we are to live by He that looks upon the Lives of Men that profess the Gospel would be apt to think that this Law was given only for Formalities sake so little of the Power of it is to be seen in their Conversation If the Behaviour of Men who call themselves Christians were the measure of our Judgment we might conclude the Gospel stands for a Cypher which signifies very little or if it signifies any thing declares rather Gods wishes that things were at a better pass and that we were such Persons as that Law describes than Arguments of Gods peremptory Will that we must and shall be obedient or else be miserable and buried in the Ruins of Eternity Thus things stand and one would think you believe that your Resoluteness not to mind the Injunctions of the Gospel is your Security against the Terrors of its Threatnings But could this lessen the Authority of the Law or make an Alteration in the Obligation or could it prevail with the Law-giver to give over pressing Obedience as a thing that is not to be effected and in vain to urge something might be said for their refusal But these are Dreams and feverish Fancies and you 'll find the woful and wilful mistake when it is too late This Law you are bound to lay before you as much as the Law of the Land nay more than that as it is of greater Concernment In this you are to study Day and Night and by this Law your Thoughts Desires Speeches Actions and your outward and inward Man are to be governed let Men say of you what they will let them commend or discommend you slander or praise you still you are to remember you have to deal with a Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy The Gospel gives ease it's true and frees you from Burthens but it is from the load of the Ceremonial Law not from the Obligations of the Natural Moral and Eternal Law of
shalt die Have not Thousands and Thousands hoped so and yet been mistaken Away with these deluding hopes There is Death in the Pot. There is Ruin and Destruction and Plague and Hell and Misery in these Fancies and Imaginations God must be true to his Word and it is not all your Crys at last Lord Lord open to us that will help you or reverse your doom Heaven and Earth shall sooner Perish the Sun shall sooner fall from his Orb and all the Stars of Heaven drop out of their Sockets sooner than God will prove a Lyar. Let the Truth of the living God prevail with you and be persuaded to act like reasonable Creatures Nothing proclaims your unreasonableness more than to think God will save you whether you act according to his Word or no. Therefore whatever the World or your Flesh and Appetite may suggest that God will not be so severe as he hath said he will remember that he who hath conquered Death and Hell hath protested Verily I say unto you till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled Amen SERMON XX. St. Matth. Ch. v. Ver. 19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandements and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven THere is nothing more agreeable to Christianity than Liberty and yet there is nothing more contrary to it If by Liberty be meant a freedom from all sinful Courses from the Power of Corruption from the Bondage of the Devil and after all from those tedious external Washings Purifications Sacrifices and distinctions of Meats and Drinks c. so usual so famous so strictly required of the Jews under the Mosaick Law to this Liberty Christianity is a Friend a Patron and Defender and this is of the very Essence of our Religion But if by Liberty be understood Licentiousness and that which should be a modest Virgin is drawn and represented in the looser habit of a Strumpet and Men fancy they are and cannot be free except they have Elbow-room in Sin and may gratifie their Senses and carnal Desires as they please If this be the notion of Liberty Christianity is a professed Enemy to it and declares an Eternal War against it It is a very wilful and notorious mistake to think Christ came to free us from Obedience or that he descended from Heaven to loose us from the Bonds of our Duty so far from it that he came to require it upon greater Motives and enjoined it with greater Sanctions pressed Observance not only of the greater but lesser Commands and in case of failure declared that we shall find we have a God to deal with who will not be mocked for so it is in the Text Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandements and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least c. To give you the sense of these words 1. By the Commandements here spoken of are meant the Commands and Precepts delivered and laid down by Christ in this Sermon on the Mount both those that go before the Text and those that follow after it and therefore it is emphatically said these Commandements i. e. These I am now delivering to you and which lie so much out of the common road of Practice that few believe they are concerned in them 2. They are called little Commandements and the least not that any Command of God in Scripture is so in it self or in the nature of a Trifle but because they were so in the Opinion of the Scribes and Pharisees and the People of that Age who either called the Commandements of the Ceremonial Law the greatest and those of the Moral the least or if they allowed the Title of great Commands to any part of the Moral Law it was to such Commands as forbid the more scandalous and barbarous Sins i. e. Thou shalt do no Murther This they called a great Commandement but thou shalt not be angry with thy Brother without Cause nor revile him nor abuse him nor give him ill Names and opprobrious Language c. These they called little and the least Commands Counsels rather than Commands the Omission of which they thought would be no way prejudicial to the Eternal Welfare of their Souls 3. To break these little or least Commandements and to teach Men so was the Sin of the Pharisees who not only neglected these Commands of God themselves but taught others too not to discompose themselves about the neglect of them as long as they kept close to the bigger Commands such as Sacrificing Circumcision frequenting the Passover putting on their Phylacteries c. or such as enjoined forbearance of the Overt Acts of some notorious Sins Adultery Fornication Perjury Stealing c. And to break these Commandements is to slight them to disregard them to act contrary to them and wilfully to do what they forbid or wilfully to omit what they do enjoin 4. To be called or to be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven though this Phrase Matth. xi 11 is used to describe a Person that is an Infant a Babe a Novice a young beginner in Christ's Religion who is sensible and knows indeed that Christ's Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom but knows it in a very low degree and is therefore said to be greater in some respect than St. John the Baptist who from the vulgar Error of his Country seem'd to cherish some relicks of that Opinion that the Messiah was to appear with External Pomp and marks of Authority But though this be the meaning of that Phrase there yet what is a Comparison in that Place is a Threatning here and therefore requires another Sense And it being spoken with Allusion to breaking these least Commandements and by way of Retaliation that as they sinn'd in that which was the least so they should be rewarded with being the least in the last day it must necessarily be as much as being excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven Whether by the Kingdom of Heaven we understand the Kingdom of Grace or the Kingdom of Glory And though the Church be sometimes called the Kingdom of Heaven as Matth. xiii Yet even in this Sense the Threatning will appear to be dismal enough for the meaning will be that such a one as breaks these least Commandements will be can be no true no living Member of the Church of Christ and if so he can be no Heir of the Kingdom of Glory And hence it is that St. Chrysostom renders the word least by no body or nothing i. e. He shall be nothing in the Kingdom of Heaven and will be a very despicable contemptible Creature when Christ shall come in Glory 5. And from hence it will be easie to guess what must be the import of the Promise that 's added here But whosoever shall do and teach
them to differ Who told you you may observe one and not another Where are the distinguishing Marks to discern which is to be practised and which is not Doth not the same Spirit run through all In a word if you love God to any purpose you will not only dread crying Sins but even those which looser Men make no great matter of and it 's certain that Soul is not yet truly converted that doth not seriously watch against evil Thoughts Desires Passions Affections c. for these are usually counted lesser Sins as well as against greater Abominations And therefore You may easily perceive that we are not to break a Command of our dear Lord and Master because it seems little or because the World esteems it so What hath the World to do with my Religion Doth God govern himself by the Verdict of the World and sensual Men What if Men who have no right Apprehensions of God make nothing of corrupt Communications must I be guided by their Example Can any Commandment that proceeds out of the Mouth of God be termed little Might not we as well say that God spoke in jest If God commands me to follow Righteousness Faith Charity and Peace with all them that call on him out of a pure Heart and to flee youthful Lusts shall I neglect this Command because the World makes a pish of it Hath the Great God of Heaven and Earth thought fit to send his Son into the World to tell me that private Revenge is unlawful and conforming to the World in their Vanities and Fooleries and Revellings and Extravagancies is displeasing to him and my covetous Thoughts and Desires are offensive to his Holiness and have not I all the reason in the World to stand in awe of his Command though a thousand wicked Men say it 's either needless or impracticable How can a Divine Command be little that concerns Mens Immortal Souls Is there any thing greater in this World than the good and welfare of their precious Souls Doth God tell me such a Sin though it seems never so small in the Eyes of the World will help to kill my Soul and is Ingratitude to him in whom I live and move and have my Being and shall I venture upon it God forbid Yea let God be True but every Man a Lyar as it is written that thou mightest be justified in thy saying and be clear when thou judgest Rom. iii. 4 II. Let none of you wonder at Christ's peremptory Determination here Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven You 'll say What! break but one of these Commandments and one of the least and be damn'd Where then is the Grace of the Gospel What becomes then of the vast Treasures of Mercy which came in with Jesus Christ At this rate our Yoak is heavier than that of the Jews Marvel not my Brethren the greater the Grace is the greater will be the Account the greater the Mercy the greater will be the Reckoning And yet this ought to be no discouragement to any of us for the meaning is not that every surprize or accidental Failing or breaking one of these Commands against our Will or before we are aware or after we have used all possible Watchfulness excludes from the Kingdom of Heaven for then no Flesh could be saved But he that wilfully breaks one and makes a Trade of it knows or hears God's Will in that particular and yet will not be perswaded to do it and teaches others too either by his Discourse or Example neglects such a Command and feels no Remorse knows the Judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of Death and not only doth the same but hath pleasure in them that do them as it is said Rom. i. 32 That 's the Man who shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven And do not you think there is a great deal of Justice in all this What! For a Man first to disregard an express Command of Christ and then that he may not think himself obliged to it to call it little and inconsiderable and so to neglect it and after all prompt others to do so too Is not this a manifest contempt of God's Sovereignty and Mercy and Love and Charity in Christ Jesus Doth not this look like Enmity against God Is not this a sign of a secret Hatred and Indignation against the ways of God Is not this an Argument of Obstinacy and Stubbornness Doth not this infer want of Sense and want of Fear And would you have God save a Man that doth not fear him Would you have him receive Men into the Kingdom of Heaven that do not only not think it worth while to obey him in so small a matter small in their own account and therefore surely the easier but encourage others to do the like Doth not this argue a delight in a sinful sensual Life And what Do you think God will let a Man or Woman in at the Gates of Glory that looks upon the Prophet as mad because he bid him do so small a thing Wash in the River Jordan seven times that he may be clean God measures our Actions by our Hearts and if the Heart be averse from him or from the ways of Righteousness Is such a Person fit to sing with Angels to triumph with Martyrs and to sit and rejoice with Souls that loved God with all their Hearts and with all their Minds Ay but to break one of these least Commandments and to teach another to do so What great Matter is there in that My Friends He that breaks one will break another and is in a Disposition to offend against more He will never stop there one Sin engages him into the Practice of another and if he propagates the Evil too and like a rotten Sheep infects others doth not that one Folly discover a Heart that hath no Desire no Inclination to take Christ's Yoak upon him and loath unwilling backward to entertain Christ upon his own Terms and is this following him in the Regeneration And he that doth not follow him in the Regeneration How shall he be able to sit with him in his Throne And this puts me in mind of another Observation III. That he that lives ill teaches another to live ill too He that shall break one of these least Commandments and teach Men so c. In order to be excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven it is not necessary a Man should get into a Pulpit and there proclaim that it is lawful to lie to cheat to defraud to sing filthy Songs to break obscene Jests to hate our Neighbour or to return Evil for Evil this needs not Thy Actions Christian spread the Poison and teach the next Man thou meetest withal to do as thou doest for in breaking such a known Command of the Gospel and being unconcerned What can thy fellow Christian think
15 17 18. But the Sin here aimed at lies in the secret Wishes Will Purposes Lust and Desires after Adultery Fornication Uncleanness and forbidden Mixtures And therefore if the Observation of the Jews be true that Ahab and Zedekiah mentioned Jer. xxix 21. were the Persons who attempted the Chastity of Susanna are charged with downright Adultery because they intended it though they could not compass it as we see Jer. xxix 23 And he that purposes to sollicit a Woman to that which God counts Abomination or wishes to enjoy the dangerous Love of the Person which hath no Matrimonial Relation to him or whose Desires Languish because he cannot gratifie his base Lust which his wicked Mind desires or who feeds himself with impure Imaginations with obscene Pictures and Images of the Person upon whom his Heart is set all these are secret Adulterers and Fornicators and must expect the Wrath of God the Anger the Indignation the Fire the Brimstone and the Portion of Misery designed for Adulterers and Fornicators who are outwardly so 3. That this is a very just Sentence and that he is justly charged with the guilt of Adultery and Fornication and Lewdness who Wills or Wishes or Desires it whatever Notion they are represented under is evident from hence because the Will is the principal Agent in the Action so that if the Will consents the Man consents and it is as much as if he had done the unlawful Act which is only impeded or hindred from being executed by certain Circumstances which fall out cross I very much question whether the outward Acts of Fornication and Adultery would be Sins at all if it were not for the Will It 's this gives the Act the tincture of Hell Before the outward Act the Malice and the Turpitude of the Sin is already compleated though the Act be hindred by accidental Causes from being consummated And this is no new Doctrine the very Heathens saw the reasonableness of it and to this purpose several excellent Sayings might be alledged here out of Aristophanes Seneca Juvenal Ovid and others were it necessary and though humane Laws lay no Penalty upon the Will because they are no competent Judges of it nothing falling under the Cognisance of the publick Magistrate but Overt Actions yet with respect to God who sees the Heart the Sin is the same and he that would or hath a mind to commit Adultery Fornication Lewdness whatever Names he may give his Desires and Lusts is the Person who hath committed all these because all that was in his power to do toward it he hath done i. e. his Will Consent and Desire do concur to the Sin though an Opportunity of finishing the Sin outwardly be wanting And God counts such a Person an Adulterer and Fornicator and lewd Man though his Neighbours at the same time who know nothing of his secret Sins may count him Honest and Sober and Innocent The Romans punish'd a Vestal Virgin who had vow'd perpetual Chastity with Death because she did once merrily in Company say that it was a pretty thing to Marry because by saying so she discover'd her Desire and Will to break her Vow I do not justify that piece of Rigor but only mention it to prove that the very Light of Nature discovered to Heathens and Pagans that the Desire and Will to commit a Sin was a complete Sin so far as the inward Man could make it and consequently deserv'd the same Punishment This leads me to discourse of the III d. Particular viz. Whether notwithstanding all this there be not a very great difference betwixt the internal Consent and the outward Act as to the heinousness of the Sin To this the Answer is that Sins as to the Substance may be the same yet Circumstances may make the Sin more heinous than it would have been without those Circumstances He that hates his Brother is a Murtherer saith St. John 1 John iii. 15 Yet there is no doubt be that besides that Hatred doth actually deprive him of Life is a greater Sinner and the Sin becomes more black and dreadful So it is in Adultery and Fornication and Incest and Carnal self-pollutions and other Lewdnesses He that wishes or wills it or purposes it or feeds himself with filthy Images of any of these Sins commits a Sin of the same Nature and Complexion that he doth who to the inward Formation of it adds the outward Act but still the outward Act aggravates it and gives it a deeper Dye because of the Scandal it gives and the greater hurt it doth in that another Person is made a Partner of the Folly and dragg'd with him into Hell and the Sinner goes as far in it as he can So that though as to the degrees of the Heinousness of the Sin there is a difference betwixt the internal Consent and the outward Act yet the Sin is the same in Substance and therefore must be supposed to participate of the same Punishment which is threatned to Adulterers Fornicators c. though according to the degrees of the blackness of the Crime the Punishments in the other World will be proportionable INFERENCES 1. Here we see how necessary Solomon's Rule is Prov. iv 23 Keep thy Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life The Heart being guarded the whole Man is safe If that be left Defenceless the whole Man lies open to the Devils Power In the Heart or Mind Sin first takes Root and then if not checkt it presently spreads and diffuses it self into the outward Man and brings forth fruit unto Death Keep Sin out of the Heart and you keep it out of the Body for from within from the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Covetousness c. saith our Saviour Marc. vii 21 When Sin first offers it self to the Mind and is rejected as soon as it doth make its first Appearance the purity of the Soul is preserv'd We cannot hinder the Motions and Suggestions of the Devil from approaching or assaulting our Minds and an impure Thought may jog the Mind but if the Mind do immediately oppose the Enemy as soon as it comes before the Gate of the House its Forces are broke and disordered and they can never make head or insinuate into the Affections our Saviour therefore charges us to cleanse the inside of the Dish and Platter that the out-side may be clean also And indeed a Man or Woman cannot be truly said to stand in awe of God that do not watch over their Hearts and resist the first Assaults of Sin and though I will not deny that restraining the outward Act upon the account of it's Odiousness and Danger may be called part of the fear of God yet it is but a very imperfect Fear till the Heart comes to detest the first Suggestions In the Sin of unlawful Lust this is particularly to be observed and he that means to get the Mastery of a lascivious Temptation must be concerned and tremble upon
the first Insinuations of it and the dangerous Spark as soon as thrown in must be shaken out of their Bosom Lust in some Persons is naturally stronger than it is in others and its Motions more violent in one Man than in another where it is so greater care must be used but still the chief Remedy is to beat off the first Images and Representations of it My Text gives me occasion to speak here of the proper Remedies whereby this Sin may be cured but because the two next Verses treat of these Receipts I shall reserve the Discourse of such Medicines till that Occasion 2. If impure Thoughts are so dangerous what then must be obscene Expressions and filthy Jesting and amorous Songs and talking of things which a modest Person must blush at And yet how fashionable are such Discourses grown And stiled Wit and Salt and ingenious Repartees A true Christian is a very chast Creature and he counts it but a pitiful Piece of Self-Denial to forbear the outward Acts of Adultery or Fornication or Sins of that Nature His Chastity appears in his Words and Expressions too Nay he goes farther than that and will not suffer a Lustful Thought to lodge in his Breast and then how should he allow himself Liberty in Discourses and Speeches which intrench upon the Rules of Gravity and Modesty He that is a stranger to this Watchfulness over his Words may call himself a Christian so we call a Picture a Man but he had need go to School again and learn which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God and among these he 'll find these two necessary Rules Ephes. iv 29 Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your Mouths but that which is good to the use of Edifying that it may minister Grace unto the hearers and Ephes. v. 3 But Fornication and all Vncleanness and Covetousness let it not be once named among you as becomes Saints neither Filthiness nor foolish Talking nor Jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of Thanks 3. Give me leave to Suggest to you that there is a Spiritual Adultery which many of us who perhaps detest Carnal Adultery as they do Toads and Serpents may be very guilty of And this as well as the Sin of the Flesh excludes from the Kingdom of Heaven and it is no other than inordinate Love of the World or such a Love of the World which makes us neglect our Duty to God and to our own Souls To this purpose St. James Jam. iv 4 Ye Adulterers and Adultresses know ye not that the Friendship of the World is emnity with God and whosoever will be a Friend of the World is an Enemy of God We are Married to Christ Jesus He is our Bridegroom and our Husband who bought us with his Blood and made us his own by the dearest thing imaginable by laying down his Life for us And there is none that knows how Love Affection and Fidelity and seeking one anothers Happiness are the indispensable Duties of married Persons but must grant that these Qualifications must necessarily be required of us with respect to our Lord and Master and Husband Christ who hath not failed to do his Part but hath loved us discovered his Faithfulness to us and sought our Happiness even to Astonishment If we make not the same returns or pay that Love and Fidelity to the World to the Riches and Pleasures of this Life which are due to him as our Husband we become Adulterers and Adulteresses and the love of the Father is not in us 1 Joh. xi 16 Carnal Adultery is a crying Sin one of the blacker sort A Sin so heinous that the Primitive Church especially the African would give no Pardon for it no though the Offendour were never so Penitent nor admit him to their Publick Prayers and Communion Such dreadful Apprehensions had they of this Sin if a Person fell into it after Baptism Indeed it is a Violation of the most sacred Institution of God and making a Separation there where God hath commanded the greatest Union It is a manifest Violation of that Faith which was given to each other before God and the elect Angels and the whole Congregation It is an Injustice attended with Profanation of God in whose Name the Parties were joined together there is Theft there is Robbery in it for one of the Parties is not only Robbed of his or her right but of the greatest Jewel which is Peace and content of Mind It is a Profanation of the greatest Mystery of our Religion even the Union of Christ and his Church which is represented by Marriage And if the Conscience in the guilty Person awakes on this side the Grave it will fill the Soul with very great Horrour kindle Hell fire in her Bosom as a presage of the Flames that will shortly if God's Mercy doth not interpose be her Portion in the other World So heinous a Sin is Carnal Adultery And shall we make nothing of Spiritual Adultery Which must necessarily be as dreadful as the Person whom we are tied to is more excellent the Wrong that 's done to him greater and his Arm more powerful to revenge our Treachery In the two standing Sacraments of the Church we own this Marriage and profess we are united to God in a Matrimonial Bond that we are joined to Christ Jesus and that we will be Faithful to him beyond all Persons whatsoever Love nothing like him Honour and Reverence him as our Head and suffer our selves to be guided by him If we neglect all this care not for so great a Person are taken with Trifles more than with his Love and espouse those Sins which his Soul doth hate if we leave him in Adversity forsake him in the time of Danger comply with the World and had rather part with a good Conscience than with our Ease and Profit and Advantages in the World Is this Matrimonial Love Is this being faithful to the Husband of our Souls Is not this breaking the Bond and dissolving the Tie and divorcing our selves from him who loved us and wash'd us with his own Blood And will not this Perfidiousness make him break out in the Language of a disconsolate Husband I am broken with their whorish Heart which hath departed from me Ezech. vi 9 Well a Christian that 's sensible of the Unreasonableness of such Perfidiousness I am sure will take another Course and submit himself heartily and willingly to the Saviour of the Body Christ Jesus and like a loving dutiful Wife be subject to him in the fear of God and that 's the way to share in all his Benefits even in the Benefits mention'd Ephes. v. 25 Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church SERMON XXVI St. Matth. Ch. v. Ver. 29 30. And if thy right Eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy Members should perish and not that thy whole Body should
be cast into Hell And if thy right Hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy Members should perish and not that thy whole Body should be cast into Hell THese Words relate either to all the Precepts that go before or to the Command or Prohibition immediately preceding either to all the Rules and Lessons and Vertues which we have already treated of such as Humility Meekness Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness purity of Heart Peaceableness and Peace-making exceeding the Scribes and Pharisees in Righteousness leading an Exemplary Life c. or to the Law and Command which prohibits harbouring Adulterous and impure Desires Intentions and Lusts even that whosoever tooketh on a Woman to Lust after her hath already committed Adultery with her in his Heart The Words of the Text are Metaphorical or Hyperbolical to be sure cannot be understood in a literal Sense for though it hath happen'd so and Providence sometimes hath so ordered it for reasons great and weighty that some good Men have had their right Eyes pulck'd out by others and their right Hands cut off by Enemies by Tyrants and Persecutors yet to think that Christ would command his Followers to pluck out their own right Eye and cut off their own right Hand be Butchers and Executioners upon themselves practise that Inhumanity upon their own Bodies and go beyond the Priests of Baal who only cut and hackt their Flesh till the Blood gush'd out this seems not at all agreeable with the design of him who came to save that which was lost and hath charged us not to hate our own Flesh but to cherish it as a Servant that the Soul may be the better for those kind Usages shewn to her Minister And therefore the meaning of our Saviour must needs be this If thy right Eye offend thee or if thy right Hand offend thee i. e. If these parts of thy Body administer occasion to Sin if looking upon an Object or touching it causes or is apt to cause evil Thoughts and impure Desires Lusts and Designs within thee pluck out and cut off the Occasions of that Evil. Forbear looking that way as much as if thine Eyes were pluckt out and avoid touching that Object as much as if thy Hands were cut off it is better for thee that thou enter into Life with one Eye or maimed or that one of thy Members should perish i. e. It s better for thee that thou shouldest miss that Satisfaction which thine Eye gave thee and thy Hand prompted thee to than with that Satisfaction to be cast into Hell So that these Words are a Metaphor taken from Surgeons who in a Gangrene cut off a Limb a Hand or Foot or an Arm to preserve the other Parts and cause one to perish that the other may continue whole and untainted This is at least part of our Saviours meaning here But as I told you the Words relate not only to unlawful Lust shewing how that is to be cured but to all the preceding Precepts and Vertues and therefore something more must be intended by them and that you may see the full extent of them I shall comprehend it as near as I can in these three Propositions I. Vertue and Watchfulness against Sin is of that mighty Consequence that if it were not otherwise Attainable it were worth loseing an Eye or a Limb to get it rather than be cast into Hell for want of it II. To attain to a truly Spiritual Life or to root up Habits of Sin if gentler Means will not do a Christian must apply himself to a more painful Discipline III. To avoid or to be rid of unlawful Lust whether Adulterous or other impure Desires a Christian must give not the least Encouragement to the Sin by Actions that feed it nor cherish any thing that provokes to it I. Vertue and Watchfulness against Sin is of that mighty Consequence that if it were not otherwise Attainable it were worth loseing an Eye or a Limb to get it rather than be cast into Hell for want of it This is as little as we can draw from our Saviour's words and there is none so weak but will be able to inferr from them that so much at least is supposed in these Expressions If thy right Eye or thy right Hand offend thee c. Whatever Opinion the World may have of Vertue and Watchfulness against all sorts of Sin God hath other thoughts of it and judges the Attainment so necessary that he holds it Advisable rather to endure any thing and to run any Hazard of the Body than go without it And indeed all wise and good Men who have any lively Apprehensions of the reason of the Thing are and have been of the same Opinion not only Christians but even the Heathen Philosophers had an Insight into this Truth There is a remarkable saying of Seneca to this Purpose Projice quae Cor tuum laniant quae si aliter extrahi nequirent Cor ipsum cum illis evellendum erat i. e. Throw away those base Lusts which war against thy Soul which if there were no other way to cure it were worth pulling out the very Heart with them Nay some of these Philosophers have actually deprived themselves of the use of some considerable Members of their Bodies for the study of Philosophy and its hard if the study of Piety should not deserve as much if it were so that it were to be procured no other way Vertue and Watchfulness against Sins are of infinitely greater Value than all outward Advantages whatsoever and since we ordinarily part with things of a lesser for those of greater worth seems it to you so hard a Bargain to part with an Eye or Limb for a greater Blessing The loss of an Eye or Limb is nothing to the loss of a Soul He that loses either of these if he be Vertuous and Holy and Watchful against Sin may yet enter into Life but he that is destitute of this Watchfulness can never enter in with all his Parts about him The loss of an Eye or Limb cannot hurt the Soul for all that loss the Soul may be Happy and Blessed and Glorious and a Favourite of Heaven and he that loses an Eye or a Limb upon the account of Righteousness shall have that Eye or that Limb restored to him in a more splendid manner in the Resurrection of the Just so that he shall be no loser by it whereas he that is a stranger to this Watchfulness here can never have it restored to him in the last Day for as the Tree falls so it shall lie and he that continues filthy here shall continue so till Dooms-day Add to all this that Hell is so tremendous a Torment that if a Man had any lively Notions of it he would suffer any thing rather the Rack the Gibbet the Wheel and the Bull of Phalaris than venture falling into that Misery I grant very few Men
consider what it means which is the reason why they are frighted with it less than with a Fire in a Chimney but that must be ascribed altogether to the want of thinking which we see makes Men even so brutish here that they venture upon Actions which lead them to the Gallows If Hell be really such a Fire as the Gospel describes it as undoubtedly it is a thinking or considerate Man will dread it infinitely more than cutting off a Limb or pulling out an of Eye the loss of these is Sport to that Fire When Nahash the Ammonite 1 Sam. xi 2 proposed to the Men of Jabesh Gilead that he would take them under his Protection if he might thrust out their right Eyes and lay the Punishment as a Reproach upon Israel the distressed Men if no help had come from above were content to suffer that Pain and Misery to avoid his greater Barbarities and therefore that Man must have no Sense no Reason I am sure no Faith that being in danger of being cast into Hell for want of this Watchfulness should not chuse a lesser Evil before a greater and prefer a momentary Pain before one Endless and Eternal But blessed be God this Watchfulness against Sin is attainable without plucking out the right Eye and cutting off the right Hand in a literal Sense even by great Industry and Courage and striving and taking pains with our selves And yet even this will not take with some of you If this Watchfulness against Sin might be had without Labour without Trouble without searching and trying your ways without Examination without Circumspection without fervent Prayer without meditating on the Love of God and the Charity of our Lord Jesus Christ it s like many of you would be contented to embrace it but these are perfect Impossibilities and Contradictions and when you can hope for a good Crop of Corn from a Field which you never Sowed and look for Fire out of a Flint when you never strike it and expect a rich Return from the Indies when you never ventured any thing In a Word when you can hope for Grapes of Thorns and Figs of Thistles then you may also hope to arrive to this holy Watchfulness without Industry All this I mention to let you see what a Value you are to set upon this Watchfulness against Sin if you do not you will never go about it like Persons concerned for what we do not value we mind not What 's the Reason that so many Thousands rush into Sin as the Horse rushes into the Battle They watch not they have not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Fathers call it that advertency of Mind which is requisite and they have it not because they do not value it Did you value it you would leave no Stone unturn'd to be Masters of it and that which ought to make you value it is this that God in the Text saith it is of that Consequence that its worth plucking out your right Eye and cutting off your right Hand rather than to continue destitute of it But I hasten to consider the II. Proposition viz. That to attain to a truly Spiritual Life or to root up Habits of Sin if gentler Means will not do a Christian must apply himself to a more painful Discipline This is also very plainly intimated in the Text which though it requires not a real plucking out of the Eyes and cutting off the right Hand yet the Expressions here used do import some painful Labour which is to be done in order to arrive to those excellent Vertues and Qualifications which Christ requires in the preceding Verses This was very wholsome Doctrin in the Primitive Ages when Men entertain'd very high Thoughts of a Spiritual Life and the strange Self-Denials they practised the Mortifications they used and their acting contrary to the Humours Customs and Fashions of the World shews their Belief that such a Life was not to be had without such a Discipline In the Age we live in Men have found another way of Mortifying themselves an easier and softer Way and they hope to mortify their Luxury in the midst of all the variety of Dishes which can tempt a lawless Appetite and they hope to mortify their Pride by allowing themselves in all the vain Dresses the World doth invent and to mortify their Anger by resenting the least Affront or Injury that 's offer'd them and to mortify their Wantonness by pampering their Bodies and giving themselves all manner of Liberty in Talking Jesting Fooling and to mortify their Covetousness by grasping as much as they can and their Love to the World by making the vainest Persons their Patterns and they hope after all to arrive to purity of Heart by sitting in Ale-houses and Taverns an admirable way to a truly Spiritual Life St. Paul took a quite different Method for he arrived to it by Weariness by Painfulness by Watchings often by Fasting often by Hunger and Thirst by Cold and Nakedness 2 Cor. xi 27 By keeping under his Body and bringing it into subjection 1 Cor. ix 27 By much Patience in Afflictions in Distresses in Tumults in Imprisonments by Knowledge by Long-suffering by Kindness by the Holy Ghost by going through good Report and evil Report by Honour and Dishonour c. 2 Cor. vi 4 5 6 7. And though all this seems a painful Way yet Love made it easy Love to the Lord Jesus a mighty Love a fervent Love a Love which made him count all things Dross and Dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. To root up a Habit of Sin whether of Anger or Pride or Covetousness or Love of the World or Intemperance c. is not to be done by cold Wishes or a spiritless customary Devotion and to get the Soul refined into the Life of God a Life of Meekness and Patience and Zeal and Courage and rellishing things Spiritual and delighting in them there is required great curbing of Affections and Self-Denials in things which Custom Fashion and a sickly Age counts Harmless and Innocent In Persons who are come up to a Habit of a Spiritual Life the gentler Means such as Prayer Resolution a conscientious use of the means of Grace Meditation Consideration c. may serve to maintain and preserve what with some Labour they have attained to And some excellent Tempers there are which by a secret influence of Gods Spirit are naturally inclin'd to Goodness and in such the gentler Means may do much But such happy Tempers are not very common Some there are so fickle so inconstant and so unsteddy that whatever good Desires they may have the next Temptation carries them off again makes them relapse and their Goodness proves a Morning Dew And such certainly stand in need of stronger Corroboratives And Experience teaches us how Habits of Sin the Effects of Custom and the Practice of many years mock all tender touches and therefore certainly here some more painful Discipline must be used
such as Fasting Severities doing things irksome troublesome and uneasie to the Body great self-denials in Dyet in Apparel in Company in Talking in Mirth and Recreation large Alms doing much good c. These strangely advance a spiritual Life especially if joined with those I call gentler Means and as painful as this may seem to Flesh and Blood at first the Discipline will become sweet and easie when the Soul perceives the glorious Effects of it And O! that you would but try and venture upon this severe Course There are Treasures in it of Joy of Comfort and Satisfaction and you will find how your Sins will abate how your Corruptions will decrease and your evil Inclinations will become less troublesome you 'll find how everything will thrive under it and what a strengthening it will be to your Faith and Hope and Love and Charity and how all these Graces will grow and swell and become large and fruitful Some of you I am confident have been striving against Lust and other Sins you have pray'd you have resolved you have meditated c. Yet you find you fall into the same Sins again Here must be some fault either your Prayers are not fervent or your Resolutions are not strong enough or some more painful Discipline must be used some Austerities whereby the Body is subjugated and made obedient to the Spirit for the more the Body is pinch'd and denied in its Satisfactions the better doth the Soul thrive I grant these Austerities have been abused by Pharisees and by some Votaries of the Church of Rome into Superstition so is Wine and stronger Spirits which make some drunk but are a Cordial to others but a modest and humble use of them cannot but be very beneficial in order to the Life we speak of This is a very tempting Subject and I could dwell upon it a little longer but that I have something more to explain viz. the III. Proposition That to avoid or to be rid of unlawful Lust or adulterous and impure Desires Wishes and Inclinations a Christian must not give the least Encouragement to the Sin by Actions which will feed it nor cherish any thing that will provoke to it And of this Nature is the right Eye in the Text and the right Hand the one by looking the other by touch or contrectation These must be forborn and totally abandoned where they are apt to cause the least disorder in the Mind for these are the Fewel that feed the impure Fire and it stands to reason the Youngster that feeds his Eyes with the charming Looks of the Minion or Idol he adores and puts his Hand into the Bosom of his Mistress may as well hope to cure himself of a Fever by a Draught of cold Water as cure himself of his Lust by that means Though Marriage be the great Remedy against Adultery Fornication and all other unlawful Lusts and Desires of the Flesh and a Remedy prescribed by God himself yet all Persons are not under those Circumstances which may make a Married state fit for them Some though they have not made a Vow yet are resolved or minded to continue in a Virgin State and to imitate the Great Apostle and High Priest of their Profession Christ Jesus as in the Primitive Church thousands of Men and Women made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. that they might attend the Lord without distraction and be able to do more good they denied themselves not only in all sinful Lusts but in Marriage too not out of any ill Opinion of that State but by way of Mortification and voluntary Abstinence and because they thought a single Life spent in the Service of God and in doing good a higher degree of Christian Perfection Others are under the Yoak of Service and tyed by the Law of the Land and their own Indentures and Oaths and Promises not to Marry before the time of their Service be ended Others there are whom Poverty and want of means to maintain a Family keeps from entring into that Condition and others for other Reasons are obliged to abstain from it Now all such Persons may justly be supposed to be liable to Temptations of unlawful Lusts and therefore such may stand in need of Counsel and Advice how to keep themselves Chast and Innocent from the Garment spotted by the Flesh. Nay there is Chastity to be observed in a Married State Adulterous Lusts and Desires are dangerous as the fall of a Thunderbolt and burn into the nethermost Hell And such also fall under the direction of Preservatives These Preservatives are various and they either regard the Mind or the Actions As they have respect to the Mind Consideration I mean that which is serious and attentive must be used and a Christian must take time to ponder and reflect how great how dreadful how heinous how dangerous the Sins of Adultery Fornication Lasciviousness and Uncleanness are for they exclude from the Kingdom of Heaven alienate the Love and Favour of God from the Offender and kindle his Everlasting Wrath and Indignation Galat. v. 19 20 21. Besides he that commits Fornication Sins against his own Body he is injurious to that Body which was purchased and bought for Christ's Service makes a Beth-aven a House of Impiety of that which should be a Bethel a House of God and violates the Sanctity of that Tabernacle which was dedicated to the Worship of him who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity makes the Members of Christ the Members of a Harlot and profanes the Temple of the Holy Ghost for so his Body is and for that use it was intended as we see 1 Cor. vi 17 18. Not to mention how by these Sins of Impurity the Understanding is darken'd the Light of God is obscured and the Life of Religion turned out of doors how Adultery was punish'd with Death by the Law of Moses as much as Murther which shews the heinousness of the Offence and what Judgments have been inflicted on Men and Nations from time to time even in this present Life as fore-runners of greater Plagues in another World such Topicks the Understanding must six upon and except this be done all other Means and Preservatives will be in vain for if these Sins be shun'd it must be upon rational Grounds and its impossible the dread of these Sins should be Rational except the Mind takes these Arguments into Consideration The things that are to be done in order to be rid of these unlawful and forbidden Lusts and joined with these Considerations are these following 1. We know how much Idleness and want of Employment helps to feed these Lusts and therefore this must be watch'd against it was this which precipitated the Inhabitants of Sodom into those Lusts which procured their Ruin and Destruction Ezech. xvi 49 2. Drunkenness and Gluttony and Pampering the Body do manifestly administer Fewel to the Flame and therefore these must be renounced Jer. v. 7 3. Whatsoever feeds the
and partly to intimate that his Doctrine and the Blessings which came along with it required greater Strictness and Severity of Life He proves that the Lawfulness of Divorcements which they extended to Causes and Cases of their own making was to be restrained only to Fornication and Adultery and whoever took greater Liberty in Divorcing himself would involve himself in very great Evils and Mischiefs It hath been said Whosoever shall put away his Wife let him give her a Writing of Divorcement But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his Wife saving in the case of Fornication causes her to commit Adultery and whosoever Marries her which is Divorced commits Adultery This is no Contradiction to the Law of Moses but raising an imperfect into a more perfect Law which became him who was the end of the Law for the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did To treat of these Words to your Edification I shall I. Enquire into the Nature of that Law of Moses concerning Divorcements II. Why Christ forbids and abolishes Divorcements in the Jewish Sense III. Why Fornication or Adultery is a just Cause of Divorcement and whether that be the sole and only cause that justifies such a Separation IV. Whether the Woman hath an equal Right and in case of the Husband's Adultery may Divorce her self from her Husband as well as the Husband from the Wife in case the fault lies in her V. Whether this Divorcement may be made by their own Authority without the Advice and order of the Magistrate VI. Whether after such a Divorce the innocent Party or both Parties may Marry again VII How he that puts away his Wife causes her to commit Adultery VIII How he that Marries her that 's put away commits Adultery And when all these Particulars are explained I shall close up the Discourse with suitable Directions how such Divorces and all Desires after them may be prevented 1. Let 's enquire into the Nature of the Law of Moses concerning these Divorcements It hath been said saith our Saviour Whosoever shall put away his Wife let him give her a Writing of Divorcement I doubt not but the Scribes and Pharisees said so to justify their unlawful Divorcements and what they said it 's like was with respect to this Law of Moses our Saviour in all probability spake it with respect to both This Law concerning Divorcements you have Deut. xxiv 1 2. where we read When a Man hath taken a Wife and Married her and it come to pass that she find no Favour in his Eyes because he hath found some Vncleanness in her then let him write her a Bill of Divorcement and give it in her Hand and send her out of his House and when she is departed out of his House she may go and be another Mans Wife Concerning which Law I observe these following Particulars 1. That Moses did not for the ease of his People invent this Law of his own Head which seems to have been the Opinion of Origen and St. Ambrose for though the Pharisees treating of this very point asked our Great Master Why did Moses Command us to give a Writing of Divorcement Matth. xix 7 Yet since all the Scripture of the Old Testament is of Divine Inspiration 2 Tim. iii. 16 of which Old Testament this Law is part it is evident that Moses being the great Minister of God by whom he deliver'd his Oracles and faithful in all his House did and could and would deliver nothing as a standing Law for the Jewish Church but what God gave him order for or as he was moved by the Holy Ghost as St. Peter saith of all the Writers of the Old Testament 2 Pet. i. 21 And therefore whenever Moses is Quoted in the New Testament the meaning is God speaking by Moses and consequently this Law is derived from God 2. We need not wonder that God should give such a Law concerning Divorces or make them in some cases Lawful for as he is the Author of Matrimony so he might have enlarged the Bounds of it if he had pleased And therefore that he relaxed the Law and Constitution of it in the Cases of Polygamy and Divorce to the Jewish People can be no Disparagement to his Holiness For since it was in his Power to institute the State of Matrimony no doubt he had also Power in certain Cases and for certain Reasons to dispense with the Strictness of it this being none of the fixed and eternal Laws which are in their own nature Immutable and Unchangable but depended upon the Lawgiver's Will and Pleasure not to mention that this was to teach all wise Governours to suit their Laws as far as they can do it with safety to the Temper of their People 3. The course of Divorce allow'd of in the Law is said to be this if the Wife find no favour in her Husbands Eyes because he hath found some Vncleanness in her where by Unlceanness cannot be meant Fornication and Adultery for the Adulteress was to be stoned to Death Deut. xxii 22 compared with Joh. viii Nay if the Husband did upon good Grounds but suspect his Wife guilty of Adultery he had his remedy by obliging her to drink the Waters of Jealousy Numb v. 27 And therefore by this Uncleanness some understand either the Leprosy or the Vice of Drunkenness or Witchcraft or a very quarrelsome Temper or some other incorrigible Vice but the Words in the Original are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as some great immodesty in Words or Actions a Sin less than Adultery and Fornication yet which not stopt might lead to the greater Sins And in this case God gave them leave to dismiss their Wives But such was the vitious humor of that Nation that in progress of time sheltring themselves under this Command they turned off their Wives for trivial Offences and upon very slight Occasions I would name some of them but that they are too Ridiculous to be mention'd And therefore the Pharisees coming to our Saviour about this Question ask him Is it lawful for a Man to put away his Wife for every Cause This was the common Practice though the better and the wiser Men doubted of it 4. Whatever liberty this Law gave the Divorcement was permitted rather than commanded and the Words infer an Impunity rather than a Duty A Jew was not bound to put away his Wife by vertue of this Law but was Connived at if he did it and secured against Punishment from the Magistrate This Law did not hinder the Man from dwelling with his Wife notwithstanding the Faults I have mentioned but if he would not live with her he was to give her a Writing of Divorcement 5. This Writing of Divorcement was a formal Dismission of the Wife under the Husband's Hand and Seal or a full Discharge from the Husband's Power and Authority and Jurisdiction and Obligation to provide for her or to take care of her
Adultery after that all Attemps of reforming the guilty Party prove ineffectual separate and are Divorced one from the other I say it 's fit it should be done before Persons Wise Judicious and in Power that they may judge of the Justice of the Divorce be satisfied in the Reasons of it and be able to give a good Account of it to others and that the Doctrin of our Saviour or our Religion be not Blasphemed or evil soken of And when among the Athenians the Woman who had a mind to be Divorced from her Husband was obliged to appear in Person before the Magistrates and cite the Husband before them we that are Christians ought not to be Inferiour to them in Prudence and Discretion VI. Whether after such Divorcements the innocent Party or both Parties may Marry again Concerning this Question there have been three Opinions for many Ages Some have thought that it is unlawful for either Party to Marry again Some that it is lawful for the Innocent others that it is lawful for both Parties to re-enter into the State of Matrimony It was look'd upon by many Christians as lawful to Marry again after Divorces In Tertullian's Time Origin affirms it was permitted by some Bishops in his Days It was somewhat late indeed before the Councils of Eliberis Arles Orleans and Venice gave way to it but till the Council of Trent there was no considerable body of Men who determin'd against it The Greek Church at this Day consents to the Practice of it I am sensible that all those who are of Opinion that by Adultery the Bond of Matrimony is not dissolved will be against either Parties Marrying again after such a publick Separation and I cannot but say that is better and an argument of Self-Denial Mortification Continence and true Repentance especially for the guilty Party to abstain not only from all unlawful Lusts but from Marriage too and spend the remainder of his Life in Afflicting his Soul for his Scandalous Offences if perhaps he may escape the Damnation of Hell Nor would it be less acceptable to God for the innocent Party to decede from her or his Right and to Consecrate themselves intirely to God and his Service But if the Question be whether in point of Conscience it be not lawful to Marry again I cannot but say that it is for any thing I yet see to the contrary Especially 1. For the innocent Party for this is but the necessary Consequence of what I asserted before that by Adultery the Bond of Matrimony was dissolved and if dissolved and a lawful Divorce follow thereupon the innocent Party at least must be supposed to be at liberty to Marry again for though Christ makes no express mention of it yet since it 's certain he allows of a Divorce in case of Adultery or Fornication and doth not change the notion of Divorce from what the Jews understood by it it must necessarily follow that by it we are to understand such a Divorce as was usual in those Days or in the Days of Moses with the necessary Circumstances and Consequences of it Now a lawful Divorce among the Jews included or imported liberty to Marry again as is evident from the Law of Moses Deut. xxiv 1 2. which I explained in the Premises where it is expressly said that the Woman sent out of the House of her Husband with a Writing of Divorcement may Marry another Man Nor is it just the Guiltless should suffer for the Guilty if the Guilty have been the cause of this Misfortune why should the Innocent be punished for it It 's true our Saviour suffered the just for the unjust and we are to imitate him in the greatest Instances of his Charity but Christ's Suffering the just for the unjust was a thing of another Nature very different from the Case before us and therefore is not applicable to it Besides Christ's Suffering the Innocent for the Guilty was for an universal Good and in this Case a Christian may and ought to follow him and suffer the same Way if it may be for the Good of Mankind but this cannot be said of a forbearance to Marry after Divorce especially if there be danger of burning as the Apostle calls it 1 Cor. vii 9 In this Case the Forbearance seems rather to tend to the hurt and scandal of the Church than to the Glory or Benefit of it Fabiola a Person of Quality at Rome a Lady of noble Extraction being young Married a Gallant of the Times who proving Vicious and living in Adultery by the persuasion of her Friends she sends him a Bill of Separation and Divorces her self from him and soon after Marries another The Second Husband dying and it being her Fortune to converse with some Persons who had a very mean Opinion of second Marriages and took occasion to aggravate to her the Crime of Marrying again while her first though Adulterous Husband was living frighted with the danger they told her she was in she doth Publick Penance for it in the publick Church in the Commendation of which St. Jerom is very Copious and Rhetorical and according to his Account none that ever underwent a publick Penance for Adultery used greater Rigor and Severity upon themselves than she But though I am a great admirer of due Rigours and Severities in Matters of Religion yet to make a Sin of that which the Gospel hath made none and to do Penance for that which the Scripture hath not declared to be against the Will of God provided there were no other Sins mingled with the Action seems to be part of that overmuch Righteousness which Solomon finds fault with Eccles. vii 16 St. Jerom himself who with great Flourishes relates the Story though he was no great Friend to second Marriages yet in this case of Fabiola dares not say that she ought to have left her second Husband after she was divorced from her first because of his notorious Adulteries and though he doth not approve of her second Marriage yet he doth in some Measure excuse it because there was some colour for venturing upon it from the Gospel 2. In the case of Desertion the Apostle gives the Party deserted leave to Marry again 1 Cor. vii 15 But if the Vnbelieving depart let him depart a Brother or a Sister is not under Bondage in such Cases The Dispute was Whether a Woman that was a Christian having a Husband who was a Heathen or Infidel might live with him if she could not convert him The Apostle answers v. 10 11. Let not the Wife depart from her Husband but and if she depart because of some heats betwixt them let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her Husband so far the Apostle gives his Advice if Quarrels did arise betwixt the unbelieving Husband and the believing Wife about Religion if he did abuse or heather or led her an unquiet Life but then if the difference rose higher and the Husband should totally forsake her
suppose go into another Country and take no farther care of her but leave her to shift for her self in that case saith St. Paul a Brother or a Sister is not under Bondage i. e. as very many Interpreters explain it she is not under an Obligation to continue unmarried or she may Marry again Upon this saying of St. Paul it was that the Helvetian Divines grounded their Verdict in the case of the Marquis Galeacie Caraccioli whom they advised to Marry again when his Wife had deserted him or which is all one would not return to him after frequent Intreaties to that purpose And its possible this Conclusion of the Apostle might give occasion to Constantine to enact a Law That if a Woman after her Husband was gone from her did not hear of him in four years she might Marry again To which purpose we have a Law of our own 1 Jac. I. That if a Man or Woman being gone beyond the Seas and one do not hear from the other in seven Years it shall be lawful for the Party that hears nothing of the other to proceed to another Marriage The Reason why I urge this Case of Desertion is this If it be lawful for a Woman deserted by her Husband or for a Man deserted by his Wife upon the account of Religion though there be no Adultery in the Case to Marry again much more must it be lawful for Persons who part upon the account of Adultery and are lawfully divorced at least for the innocent Party to Marry again because Desertion is a less Crime than Adultery Though Hermes an antient Writer saith that Desertion is equal to Adultery yet whatever likeness there may be there appears greater guilt in Adultery than in the other the rather because the Bond of Matrimony is more directly broke in this than in the other It 's true the Constitution of our Church is that if Persons be divorced after Adultery the respective Parties are obliged to enter into Bond before they are actually divorced that neither of them shall Marry again while the other lives but the reason of that is because our Church fears the dangerous Consequences of such Divorces in respect of the Collusion that may be betwixt the two Parties who may be alike weary one of the other and so a Gap might be open'd to great Licentiousness So that I suppose our Church would not be against the innocent Party's Marrying again if such Evils might be easily prevented 3. The greatest difficulty is about the Party guilty of Adultery and who gives occasion to the Divorce whether they may Marry again And here if the same Law were in use among us which Moses gave the Jews that the Adulterer or the Adulteress should be put to Death or stoned And were that Law duely executed by the Magistrates there would be no occasion for such Questions as these However the Bond of Marriage be dissolved by the Adultery as we proved before we cannot say that it is absolutely unlawful even for the guilty after a lawful Divorce to Marry again the Notion of Divorce among the Jews which we do not find our Saviour Reverse importing so much There may be some Reasons which may make it lawful But then 1 st As the Divorce is not to be made without the Knowledge or Approbation or Consent of our Superiors and Governors whether Spiritual or Temporal so if a Divorce be obtained and made the guilty ought not to marry again till he shews sufficient Reasons to the same Governors which may make it necessary for Men are apt to be very partial in their own Cause 2 ly Before Leave or Permission be given him he ought to be exhorted and admonished by those to whom that part belongs to a deep Humiliation for his scandalous Sin and that Humiliation and change of Life and Exemplary Conversation ought first to appear and by long Practice become habitual before Permission be given that the Church of God which hath been scandalized may receive some Satisfaction 3 ly The guilty Party if he will act Conscientiously before he ever thinks of Marrying again ought 1. Earnestly to endeavour to prevent a Divorce by reconciling himself to the Innocent by asking Pardon of the Party wrong'd and by sincere and unfeigned Promises of a future steddy and invincible Chastity 2. If the Innocent Party for weighty Reasons sues out a Divorce and obtains it the guilty ought by Mortification and Prayer and an humble penitent Life labour after the Gift of Continence and spare no Cost no Hardship to attain to it and thus punish himself for his great and crying Sins that he may be deliver'd from the Wrath to come But 3. If after all convenient Ways and Methods and Tryals used he cannot arrive to it this seems to be the only Case that may make his Marrying again lawful according to the general Rule of the Apostle It 's better to Marry than to burn 1 Cor. vii 9 VII How he that puts away his Wife causes her to commit Adultery 1. We must note that Christ here speaks of a Man's putting away his Wife though she hath not been guilty of Adultery for slight and frivolous Causes as the Jews used to do In this Case if the Woman thus put away should be prevailed with to Marry another Man the Husband that put her away without sufficient Cause unjustly is the Cause of her committing Adultery for as she could not by right and ought not to have been put away for such Causes so these Causes for which she is put away do not dissolve the Contract or Bond of Matrimony and consequently by right she is still the Mans Wife who put her away and therefore if through strong and surprizing Temptations she should consent to Marry another Man he that dismissed her is in a great Measure the Cause of that Evil. 2. If a Person thus unjustly put away should not Marry afterward but be tempted to prostitute her self all the Evil she doth and the Adultery she upon this Dismission proves guilty of will a great part of it be charged upon the head of the Person that in a humor put her away it being here as with a Person who should set or place another upon the Brow of a Hill in a dark Night though he do not push or thrust him down yet if he tumbles and breaks his Neck the Party that placed him there may justly be said to be the cause of his Fall and Ruin because he exposed him to apparent Danger as much as David was guilty of murthering Vriah by ordering the General of his Army to set him in the Front of the Battle where without a Miracle he could not escape being killed Even so here the Command being given to Christ's Followers or to Christians if a Christian puts away his Wife for a meaner and lower Cause than Adultery he exposes her to great Temptations and if through the Devils Temptation she falls into Fornication and Adultery himself
be a Fool. 7. An Oath must be taken with great Deliberation being a thing of the greatest Consequence where the safety and welfare and interest of our Immortal Souls are in a special manner concern'd We use this Deliberation in lesser things and therefore must not be omitted in a thing of that Weight and Moment which shews That Children and Madmen and Persons very like them Men in Drink or in a Passion are no fit Persons to take an Oath because they are not capable of mature Deliberation while under these Circumstances and therefore we are injoyn'd and directed to Swear with Judgment Jer. iv 2 8. An Oath taken to Hereticks and Infidels to Enemies to Turks Jews and Heathens even to the worst of Men must inviolably be kept as we see in the Example of the Oath the Israelites took to the Gibeonites Josh. ix 18 I will not charge every Member of the Church of Rome with the contrary Doctrine and Practice especially as it relates to Hereticks and Infidels but certain it is that it was both the Doctrine and Practice of the Council of Constance and the Advice of Martin V. to Alexander Duke of Lithuania whom he exhorted to break his Faith and Oath given to the Bohemian Protestants and of Urban VI. to Wenceslaus to do the like to Persons who differ'd from the Church of Rome If such a Principle were part of Christ's Religion it would not only contradict the Law of natural Justice which Christ came to establish but were enough to render Christianity odious to the sober sort of Mankind who in this Case might justly say as he in the Case of Transubstantiation Let my Soul be with the Philosophers These are some of the principal Rules to be observ'd in taking of an Oath if there be any more they shall be discoursed of in the Prosecution of the Subject Let us go on and enquire III. Why Perjury or Forswearing our selves or not performing unto the Lord our Oath is so strictly forbid and wherein the virulency or heinousness of the Sin consists 1. It is Dishonesty in the highest degree a most base Treachery and Perfidiousness not only to Man but to God He that either Swears falsly or doth not perform unto the Lord his Oath deceives not only Man but doth as much as in him lies to Cheat God if it were possible at least he discovers his good Will to do it tho' he is not able He that Cozens another with counterfeit Wares or gives him a Stone for Bread a Serpent for a Fish is not so great a Cheat as the Perjur'd Creature because the Person he Affronts and seeks to impose upon in this Case is infinitely greater He attempts at the same time to rob Heaven and Earth God and Man of their due which is the performance of his Oath a performance due to the Creator and the Creature by all the Laws of Property and a most solemn Contract He gives both God and his Neighbour Shells for Kernels Husks for Dates and Words for Deeds and Lyes for Truths and deceives his Neighbour particularly in that which all Mankind looks upon as Rational to put the greatest Trust and Confidence in and there cannot be greater Dishonesty 2. It 's playing with God and deriding his Justice and Omniscience for it is as much as granting and denying these Attributes The Swearer in taking an Oath grants that God is the searcher of Hearts and a discerner of his Thoughts and Words and Actions and that he takes notice of them and remembers them and yet by his non-performance acts as if all this were but Fable and Romance Who can read the Passage of the Soldiers without trembling who Crown'd our Saviour with Thorns put a Reed in his Hand bow'd the Knee before him and cryed Hail King of the Jews Such a mocking of God is Perjury the Oath shews that the Perjur'd Man acknowledges all his great Attributes and yet his Behaviour discovers that he was in Jest when he made that Confession and Dionysius when he robb'd Jupiter of his Golden Beard did not mock that fictitious Deity more than such a Man doth the living God He deals with him as if he were some Idiot or Heathen Idol which hath Eyes and sees not Ears and hears not and how great must be this Impiety 3. It 's profanation of the most sacred and the most serious Thing in the World An Oath is one of the highest Acts of Religion It is a most solemn Invocation of his Name a most solemn declaration of his Excellencies and Perfections above all Created Beings and a most solemn Appeal to him from all Creatures whatsoever This Opinion the very Heathens had of it so that Perjury is profaning the most solemn Worship of God and Belshazzar was not guilty of so great Prophaneness in Drinking out of the Hallow'd Vessels of the Temple as the Man who doth not perform unto the Lord his Oath for he profanes not Vessels dedicated to his Service but his glorious Name and prostitutes it to the contempt of Men and Devils 4. It is a Sin next to Atheism for there is very little difference betwixt believing there is no God and believing there is one whose Omnisciencee and revenging Eye deserves no regard at all It is a Sin Man cannot well attain to till he hath stupified his Conscience and saith at least in his Heart or Wishes There is no God And what shall I say more It is a Sin which kills at one stroke It doth not waste the Soul by degrees as other Sins but makes the Sinner a Child of Death presently so that if Death should arrest him immediately upon his Perjury the Man is miserable as Dives unhappy as Judas undone as Corah Dathan and Abiram and must drink the Potion of the Sinners Cup. It is a crying Sin brings a Curse upon the Perjur'd Man and his Family It calls aloud for Vengeance awakens the Divine Justice and will not let it be quiet till it brandishes its Sword against the daring Sinner It makes a Man infamous and odious among Men when it comes to be known It defiles the Land where it goes unpunish'd and helps to hasten the intended Judgment upon a City or Nation It leads to other dreadful and clamorous Sins for God withdraws his Spirit from the Man who Affronts him thus and he tumbles down lower and lower and becomes every Day more and more a Child of Hell and of the Devil It causes mighty Terrors of Conscience even on this side Eternity and God is so concern'd to Revenge the Profanation that very often he stays not till the Sinner drops into the burning Lake but even here the Profane Creature must feel his Vengeance Zedekiah for his Perjury to King Nebuchadnezzar is taken Captive by his Army and hath his Eyes pull'd out Saul for his Perjury to the Gibeonites is the ruine of seven of his nearest Relations Uladislaus for the same Crime loses the Battel at a time when Victory
to subdue the disorderly Motions of the Flesh to stop our Ears against the blandishments of the World If all of you have not taken both these Oaths I mean the Baptismal and the Eucharistical I hope the greater part of you have Now it hath been said by them of old Time God hath said it and Christ hath said it and the Gospel saith it nay Nature says Thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths In the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper your Oath is voluntary you cannot complain it is imposed upon you against your Will and therefore you have no excuse You voluntarily call God to witness and the great Saviour of the World and all the Angels that stand round the Altar to witness and all the Congregation to witness that you will be faithful to the Holy Trinity that God shall be your Governour and Christ your King and the Holy Spirit your Guide that you will resolutely depart from Iniquity that Sin shall not reign in you that Corruption shall no longer have dominion over you that you will serve him who gave his Son to die for you that you will conscientiously obey him who laid down his Life for you and that you will submit to the blessed Breathings and Motions of the Holy Ghost and that as you are bought with an inestimable Price and are not your own so you will behave your selves like Persons who are entirely at God's disposal Search your Hearts my Friends and examine your Lives Are these Oaths observed Are these Engagements kept Are these solemn Promises fulfilled Do you make Conscience of the Stipulation If you do not do you think God sits like an idle Spectator of your Perjuries What can keep you in awe if Oaths cannot How desperate must your Condition be if after this solemn League and Pacification with God you wallow in your former Sins again How shall ye be cured of the Phrensie of Sin if you will not be tyed by this treble Cord where Father Son and Holy Ghost are call'd in as Witnesses and judges of your Treachery How can God trust you again if you make a shift to break through these Fences which one would have thought had been Security enough against the wildest Beasts in Nature I counsel thee that thou keep the King's Commandment and that because of the Oath of God saith Solomon Eccles. viii 2 Christians I counsel you all that you keep the Commandment of the King of Heaven and Earth and that because of the Oath of God Thy Vows are upon me O God I will render Praises unto thee saith David Psal. lvi 12 The Oath of God is upon thee O Christian thou hast Sworn and promised to perform that Oath in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist thy Lips have said or thy Heart hath resolved to keep his Righteous Judgments not to be sloathful in the business of Religion but fervent in Spirit rejoicing in Hope patient in Tribulation continuing Instant in Prayer distributing to the necessity of Saints given to Hospitality to bless them that curse you to pray for them that despitefully use you and to tread in the steps of the Lord Jesus If one Man sin against another the Judge will Judge him but if a Man sin against the Lord who shall entreat for him said Old Eli 1 Sam. ii 28 In breaking your Sacramental Oaths you sin directly against the Lord you profane the Sacrament fling the Holy Bread and Wine as it were upon a Dunghil and cast those Pearls before Swine and who shall entreat for you It 's true there is an Intercessor that sits at the right Hand of God to intercede but for whom doth he do that kind Office Is it not for those that follow and obey him that their imperfect yet sincere Obedience may be accepted Men that despise the Oath of God come not within the compass of those powerful Intercessions till a deep Remorse doth change them I would stand upon Mount Gerizim and dismiss you with a Blessing but the Anger of God against Perjury being so very great to fright you from the very Appearances of it and to oblige you to perform unto the Lord your Oaths I must step over to Mount Ebal and conclude with that Commination denounced against Zedekiah Ezek. xvii 18 19. Seeing he hath despised the Oath by breaking the Covenant when loe be had given his Hand and hath done all these things he shall not escape Therefore thus saith the Lord God as I live surely mine Oath that he hath despised and my Covenant that he hath broken even it will I recompence upon his own Head SERMON XXIX St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 34 35 36. But I say unto you swear not at all neither by Heaven for it is God's Throne nor by the Earth for it is his Footstool neither by Jerusalem for it is the City of the Great King neither shalt thou swear by thy Head because thou canst not make one Hair white or black SO strangely doth corrupt Nature lean toward things forbidden that if by God or by the Stings of Conscience driven from a strong Hold of a certain Sin it will then sculk and hide it self in Holes and Caves and Dens for a while at least till the Storm be gone If Men cannot enjoy the satisfaction of the whole Sin they 'll be content with half of it and if that be denied them too they 'll seek to retain at least some little Portion of it and being driven out of Sodom take shelter in some Zoar in a word do any thing rather than part with all When Pharaoh saw he must of necessity let the Children of Israel go he fell to making Bargains The Men may go but the Flocks and Children and the little ones shall stay behind It is so with an unregenerate Man that hath severe Checks and Convictions of Conscience upon him He is spoiled for an open Sinner but is not made a Saint is sensible he must not Sin and yet hath no Courage to be a true Convert He is content such a dreadful Sin he hath been guilty of should go but so fond is he of the Garment spotted by the Flesh that he will lay hold on the Skirts and the little ones shall stay behind if he cannot have what he would have It was so particularly with the Jews in Christ's time They were sensible that Swearing in their common Discourses directly by the living God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Martial corruptly expresses by Anchialum I say being sensible that Swearing in their ordinary Communications by the living God carryed something of Horrour with it was dreadful and hainous and black and an Insolence Great and Abominable and therefore were content some of them at least to forbear it but their Mouths being used to Swearing something they must have in lieu of it and though they were willing to quit the greater Profanation yet the lesser they thought would do no harm and therefore they
Sin black and to be abhorr'd by all that have any sense of another Life For an Oath relates to God whatever the thing be that 's named in it The change of the Name doth not alter the Nature of it and if it be unlawful to Swear so much as by the Hairs of our Heads how can it be lawful to Swear by something of greater worth than these Excrements As it is in common Swearing so it is with other Sins Because such a Man doth not invent downright lies concerning his Neighbour and so spreads them abroad it doth not follow that he doth not hate him The change of the outward Act doth not make a change in the nature of the Sin and therefore if with delight you speak evil of your Brethren though it be no more than what you have heard and designedly report it to render them Ridiculous or Contemptible or do them no good when their necessities require it or it lies in the power of your hand to do it it is Hatred and Malice and Baseness and Unkindness still whatever alteration there may be in the manner of venting it So you may be guilty of Intemperance by eating and drinking more than Nature requires or becomes a modest Person though you are not Drunk and be notoriously guilty of Luxury by a constant indulging your Fancy Appetite and Love to the World to the tickling and satisfaction of the Flesh though with Dives you are not every day cloath'd in Purple and fare Deliciously every day and guilty of Revenge by Word and Thought though you do not break down your Neighbours Hedge nor Assault him when you meet him with a Sword and guilty of unworthy receiving of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist by continuance in known Sins though with some of the Corinthians you do not come disguised and disordered to this Feast and guilty of Covetousness by being greedy and anxious after the Riches of this World though you are not quite so sordid as some old Usurers and of Fornication by your Lustful Desires and Concupiscences though you do not commit the outward Act where a Sin hath several Branches shooting out of it's Trunk there a Man repents not till all those dangerous Boughs be lopt of nay the Axe be laid to the very Root of the evil Tree and to the sinful inclination II. We see here how want of Consideration is the cause that Men see not or are not sensible of the heinousness of their Sins It was want of thinking that made the Men against whom my Text is level'd fansie there was no harm in their Swearing by Heaven and Earth or by Jerusalem c. whereas a little serious pondering of the thing would have made them know that all the while they Swore by and consequently abused that God in their common Discourses to whom Heaven and Earth had peculiar Relation There are abundance of Sins swallow'd without chewing which were they laid open in their Native Colours would appear big enough to choak the Conscience and be found Morsels which have Death and Eternal Misery in them more dangerous than the wild Herbs in the Pot in the time of Elisha Going to Stage-plays as they are ordered and managed in this corrupt Age seems to be a harmless Recreation at the worst but a tolerable Infirmity but if it be considered that it is making our selves partakers of other Mens Sins that by our presence we encourage an unlawful calling that by going we expose our selves to very dangerous Temptations which in stead of running into we should flee and shun and are apt to laugh at that Profaneness which should make us weep that hereby we harden others in their Impiety and give scandal to weaker Christians that these Theatrical shews are inconsistent with the very design of Christianity which commands us not to conform to the World and requires that filthiness and foolish talking and jesting should not be so much as named among us Eph. v. 3 4. and bids us to be grave and modest and serious and shun the very appearances of Evil that they are contrary to our Vow in Baptism and the Doctrine of the Cross which enjoyns us to mortifie lightness of Behaviour and to abstain from frothy and unsavoury Discourses and allows no delight in sinful sights c. If this were seriously considered in stead of alluring these plays would fright instead of enticing they would discourage us from ever beholding such shews where God is so often affronted and Religion derided and Vertue Ridiculed and Gravity laught at and modesty look'd upon to be a beggarly qualification and Vice represented in amiable colours Neglect of daily Self-examination in the Eye of the World is an inconsiderable fault but if it were considered that by this Neglect our Sins and Defects remain unknown to us our Vertues thrive not our Graces grow not and Blindness seizes upon our Understandings and the greater and weightier matters of the Law are omitted and the Soul sinks into a form of Godliness and contents her self with Shews and Shadows of Devotion I say if this were considered the neglect would appear more heinous I Instance only in these particulars but I would advise you to carry on the Notion to other particular Sins and Neglects you find your selves prone to and in doing so you 'll see an absolute necessity of shuning many things which now you pass by without taking notice of and of restraining your selves in that in which now you allow your selves very great Liberty In a Word most Sins appear little till they come to be examined and viewed by the Word of God and by the concomitant and consequent dangers which attend them not that I would have any one think himself into despair or make every Molehill a Mountain but I would intreat you so to consider your suspicious Words and Actions and Desires that you may get just Apprehensions of your Faults and become more conformable to the Canons of Repentance and the Rule of Righteousness III. We see here since Heaven is said to be the Throne of God with what Reverence we ought to look up to Heaven where God is seated as it were in his Chair of State The Phrase Christ makes use of is borrow'd from Es. lxvi 1 Thus saith the Lord Heaven is my Throne the Earth is my Footstool which imports no confinement of God to a certain place but is only a Metaphorical Expression taken from great and mighty Princes and Potentates who appear in Majesty when sitting on their Thrones with a Footstool under them So that all these Sayings express only God's infinite Greatness and Excellency above all his Creatures In Heaven God gives the most visible and most conspicuous Signs and Marks of his glorious Presence and Love and therefore it is call'd his Throne and because there is a lesser manifestation of his Glory here on Earth it is call'd his Footstool because there is less Art bestow'd on that than on the Throne With what
Except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it Ps. cxxvii 1 2. How much more must this hold in Spiritual And therefore Christian since the Eyes of all do wait upon that God that gives them their Meat in due Season behold the Rock from which thy Water of Life must flow Thy Faith is weak go to him and he will make it mount up with Wings as Eagles Thy hope is faint run to him and he will give it Life and Spirit Thy Love wants Fire address thy self to him and he will enflame it Thy Charity languishes apply thy self to him and he will breathe Vigour and Activity into it Thy resistance of Temptations is feeble follow him with fervent Tears and Prayers and he will make thee bold as a Lyon Happy that Soul that is truly sensible of her weakness this sense will make her breathe and pant after the Living God When I am weak then am I strong saith St. Paul 2 Cor. xii 10 i. e. when I am most sensible of my weakness God follows and blesses me with greater Strength God loves to manifest his Power in our Weakness and the weaker we are I mean so as to be sensible of it and make it a motive to earnest Prayer the fitter we are for God's fortifying Grace For you see your calling Brethren God hath chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the World to confound the things which are mighty c. 1 Cor. i. 26 27 28. Hence arises the Glory of God's Grace and that joyful acknowledgment of St. Paul and all good Men By the Grace of God I am what I am Every true Believer finds this by Experience and joyfully sings with the Royal Prophet as it is Psal. lxxxiv 11 12. The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield the Lord will give Grace and Glory and no good thing will be withhold from those that walk uprightly Blessed be God who is both ready and willing and hath promised over and over to give his enlightning strengthning sanctifying comforting and assisting Grace to the hungry and thirsty Soul that calls upon him in Truth For this Cause as the Apostle did for the Colossians Col. i. 9 10 11. We will not cease to pray for you all and to desire that you may be filled with the Knowledge of his Will in all Wisdom and spiritual Understanding that you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and encreasing in the knowledge of God strengthen'd with all Might according to his glorious Power unto all long-suffering and patience with joyfulness SERMON XXX St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 37. But let your Communication be yea yea and nay nay for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil CHRIST having in the foregoing Verses declar'd all Swearing except it be in Cases of very great Necessity and Weight and Moment altogether unlawful and utterly condemn'd not only Swearing by the supream Being in common Discourses but particularly Swearing by the Creatures as a thing horrid and dreadful and not to be suffered among his Disciples he proceeds and lets us see what decency modesty sincerity and simplicity is to be observed in our Communications and Speeches such especially as relate to Promises and Bargains and the ordinary Affairs of the World And whereas Men might object that they had used themselves to Swearing in their Discourses and therefore could not leave it he passes by that Objection as frivolous and childish and silly and not worth taking notice of supposing that he who hath learned an evil Custom if he will use the proper Means may unlearn it again and to be sure will most heartily abandon it if he be a true Disciple of the Gospel and seriously touch'd with a sense of another Life and the weight and importance of Christ's Doctrine Taking no notice I say of this common Objection he peremptorily declares what he expects of his Followers with respect to their Discourses Speeches Answers and Communications and Colloquies with their fellow Christians But let your Communication be yea yea and nay nay for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil Where we have First A Precept Secondly The Reason of it The Precept But let your Communication be yea yea The Reason For whatsoever is more than these comes of evil We begin with the Precept and that imports three Duties With respect to our Speeches and Discourses Constancy Veracity and Plainness 1. Constancy as it is opposed to Saying and Unsaying in which sense we find the Expression used by St. Paul 2 Cor. i. 17 When I therefore was thus minded did I use lightness or the things that I purpose do I purpose according to the Flesh that with me there should be yea yea and nay nay i. e. yea and nay lightness fickleness inconstancy and unsteddiness in Promises saying one thing this Hour and another the next 2. Veracity as it is opposed to Falshood and Lying and in this place also we find the Apostle uses this Phrase 2 Cor. i. 20 For all the Promises of God are yea and in him Amen unto the Glory of God by us i. e. They are firm immovable not so much as a shadow of Falshood mingles with them and Heaven and Earth shall sooner sink and be dissolv'd than these Promises shall fail 3. Plainness as it is opposed to Oaths and strong Asseverations which is the thing directly aimed at by our Saviour here and hath respect chiefly to our Promises to Men and imports that we are to content our selves with bare Negatives and Affirmatives and such Affirmations and Negations that People may depend upon them as much as if we had confirmed them with an Oath Not but that if the thing be Weighty and of great Moment some Asseveration may be added such as Verily Amen of a Truth I say unto you as we see Christ himself doth in the Gospel where the Souls and the Salvation of Men are concern'd but in ordinary Affairs or things relating to our Business Calling and Employment Bargains and Negotiations in all Discourses and Speeches and Promises of this Nature not only great Veracity but bare Affirmations and Negations are the Things which become us as we are Christians and profess our selves Followers of the best of Masters So that when it is said here Let your Communication be yea yea and nay nay the meaning is not that in our Answers and Discourses we must use no Words whatsoever but only yea and nay according as the Question is which is ask'd us That 's contrary to Christ's Practice and the Apostles Example which are the best Comment on the Text. No doubt we may Discourse with our Neighbours as long as we think fit and say as much as is needful to the purpose But 1. The general intent is to teach us that to avoid greater Sins we are to shun the lesser To avoid Swearing in Discourse we must
allow our selves in nothing that comes to more than bare Affirmations and Negations 2. It is to direct us that in our Discourses we are to be calm not to be moved into a Passion and from thence into Asseverations and impertinent Confirmations of what we say or promise 3. It is to tell us that we are to confine our selves to the Rule of Plainness in all our Speeches and Discourses and keep within the compass of plain Affirmations and Negations and take care that our Discourses what length soever we think fit to allow them be conformable to that Rule without mingling any thing of an Oath or vehement Asseveration with it And this being the chief Subject of the command here given it will be necessary I insist upon it and enquire I. Into the Reasons which make this plainness in our Speeches Answers and Promises expedient and necessary II. Into the Causes which move Men to act contrary to this Rule and the Vanity of them I. As to the Reasons which make this plainness very necessary they are these following 1. This is part of that Universal Simplicity which is to run through all the parts of our Life and Behaviour and Deportment in the World I suppose I need not tell you that when I speak of simplicity here I do not mean simplicity in a bad Sense as it is used for childishness want of understanding or foolishness I grant that even that true Simplicity I am discoursing of may appear folly and want of Wit in the eyes of the World but the best answer to that Cavil is that we must be such Children and Babes if We mean to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and it is a Mans Duty that means to be wise unto Salvation to become a fool in the Opinion of the World 1 Cor. iii. 18 By Simplicity therefore therefore I mean want of Guile and as we call it down-right Honesty a temper without tricks and sinister ends and aims and plain-heartedness or a plain honest endeavour to please God and to do our Duty without Subtil Evasions and Distinctions and cunning Devices to excuse our selves from what is incumbent upon us and without Pomp and Ostentation Now it 's evident that an Universal Simplicity is required of us 2 Cor. i. 12 where it is made the Foundation of our Peace and Joy and Matth. x. 16 particularly a Simplicity in our Dresses 1 Pet. iii. 1 A simplicity in our way of living 1 Tim. vi 8 A simplicity in our Dyet Philip. iii. 19 A simplicity in our Designs and Intentions Matth. vi 22 and if it must be Universal it must be in our Speeches Answers and Promises too If it fail there the Simplicity is not uniform the thred is not spun even and things are not answerable one to another nay the Tongue being the chief Member of our Bodies the best Member we have as the Old Translation of the Psalms renders the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ps. cviii 1 If Simplicity should be wanting there the frame would look ill and be defective in a principal part and consequently deformed And that these bare Affirmations and Negations are Arguments of Simplicity is evident from hence because they are freest from mixture not compounded of things Heterogeneous and therefore simple and plain and like Christianity which is the plainest and the honestest thing in the World 2. If our Speech must be always with grace season'd with Salt according to the known Rule of our Religion Col. iv 6 it 's soon made out that this plainness must be necessary for it hath all the looks of grace What is grace but converting our Souls and Bodies to those Uses for which God hath appointed them and who can deny that these plain Affirmations and Negotiations are the use for which God intended our Tongues and the faculty of Speech since God always intends that which is like to do most good as this plainness certainly doth Grace discovers it self in a holy watchfulness over our outward and inward Man and these plain Affirmations and Negations are an Argument of this Watchfullness and as grace makes a Man stand in awe of God so this plainness is a sign that the Man is over-awed by a Supream being whose Will he hath a greater regard to than the Opinions of Men so that if our Speech must be with grace this plainness must needs be part of that wherein this grace is to be expressed 3. Hereby abundance of Sins are prevented and several excellent vertues are promoted The particular Sins which are prevented by it are lying and equivocating flattering and dissembling cheating and scurrility and foolish jesting pride and wrath loquaciousness and garrulity qualities which do very ill become a Person who names the Name of Christ and is to do nothing that 's childish and mean and impertinent and the Reason why this plainness is the way to prevent these Sins is because they are of a contrary Nature and incompatible with it as Darkness and Light and Fire and Water The Vertues it promotes and preserves are Gravity and Justice Veracity and Modesty Decency and Sobriety Affability Meekness and Steddiness in Goodness for these are the effects of it and this plainness if invincibly maintained runs out naturally into these Vertues so that it becomes necessary upon the account of profit and interest But 4. The Reason Christ urges in the Text is as pregnant as any we have alledged What is more than these comes of evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which relates either to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Evil one the wicked Adversary the Devil or to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Evil Nature or Evil Custom or Sin in General 1. If these strong Asseverations whether Oaths or other solemn Protestations in common Discourses proceed from the Devil who instigates Men and suggests Arguments to use them and who intends to debilitate and weaken their graces by this means they cannot be good It was a rash Question Can any good come out of Galilee But here the Expostulation is more Just Can any good come from him who Sins from the from the Father of Lyes and the Author of all Impiety If it proceed from the Devil it must be naught for he cannot it is not in his Nature to prompt to any thing that 's pleasing to God and if he should it is with an intent to deceive him another way 2. If this were not it proceeds however from an evil Temper of Mind and where Men are so fond of such strong Asseverations in common Discourses it 's a sign their Minds are not season'd with a true sense of Gods Holiness nor have they that love to the Gospel they should have and their Inclinations to Sin are strong though they may have made a shift to part with some things scandalous yet they are not willing to part with all that clashes with the design of the Gospel nor to follow Christ whithersoever he goes which argues a Root of bitterness
made about it it implies no such Contradiction as the Heathens and sensual Men did or may imagine For 1. Let us grant it's hard but the harder the work is the greater is the Reward He that gave this Command understood what Reward was design'd for the Votary No marvel if Heathens thought it strange who had but imperfect and broken and uncertain Notions of another Life If the Reward be proportion'd to the Difficulty we see Men refuse no Pains What is daily practis'd in Martial or Warlike Exploits is a demonstration of it The recompence Christ designed for those who should chearfully obey this Command doth not only equal but infinitely transcend the difficulty of the Task and he that considers what is promised must confess that the work is not worthy to be compared with the grandeur of the Recompence and therefore there is nothing unreasonable in the Injunction 2. Of all Men those who are in love with any Vice have no reason to talk against this Precept for they practise what they condemn and do things as unnatural as loving an Enemy can be supposed to be Were it not for the lapsed Condition of Man and the depravation of our Faculties Sin would be a very unnatural thing to the Soul The blessed Spirits who have left Mortality and Things below and recover'd their primitive Integrity and Innocence have as great an antipathy to Sin as Men here on Earth can have to a Toad which shews that Sin is an Enemy to a rational Soul and as contrary to right Reason as Darkness is to Light or a Chronical Distemper is to Health and that it is agreeable upon no other account than Cinders and Ashes and Chalk are to some Stomachs because of their Corruption So that a vitious Man really loves his Enemy nay his greatest Enemy He loves the Devil that prompts him to it that Devil whom at other times he doth Abjure and at whose Presence he would tremble he loves Damnation and Eternal Death for so we read Prov. viii 36 And therefore of all Men such Persons have no reason to speak against this Rule as unreasonable 3. What is commanded here hath been done as I shall shew in the sequel How and which way and by what means it hath been done how far the Grace of God must concurr what Industry must be used what Impediments are to be removed and how the whole concern is to be managed I do not now enquire but supposing that it hath been done the Inference is Rational that it may be done again It 's true they were Saints and Holy Men who have done it but since it is very possible to be a Saint and to arrive to a state of Holiness it follows this Precept is practicable and far from being impossible Nay 4. It hath been done with respect to some Acts at least by natural Men and upon the account of Temporal Interest either in a Bravado or out of Generosity or to be talk'd of and to have Glory of Men Examples and Passages of this Nature are frequent in History and if it were possible to do it upon a motive of Temporal Interest why should it be thought impossible to be done upon a greater Motive even Mens eternal welfare It is but changing the Principle which is the spring of Motion and the shining Brass may become Gold the Counterfeit a real Vertue and the Shew may turn into Substance And having thus removed the grand Objection that lies against this Precept I now proceed to explain it I. The general Command Love your Enemies II. The Branches or the Particulars of it Bless them c. I. The general Command Love your Enemies And here I must note 1. That Christ doth not speak here of a publick or professed and open Enemy of our Country or Nation that makes War upon us and seeks the destruction of the Community or a subversion of the Government for though there is an Humanity to be shewn even to a Publick Enemy by what the Prophet Elisha did to the Host of Syria when he had enclosed them in Samaria the King of Israel would have dispatch'd them with the Sword No saith the Man of God Set Bread and Water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their Master 2 Kings vi 22 And we know that even Heathen Nations have allow'd decent Burial to a publick Enemy when slain in Battel yet these are not the Persons Christ directly aims at in these words Christ as he came not to reverse the Laws of Government nor prescrib'd a Model or Platform of it but left Governments as he found them supposing them to be agreeable to the Law of Nature and the good of Mankind so by this Precept he did not forbid Christian Kings and Princes entring into a just Defensive War for the Security of their Country nor can it be imagin'd that by this Rule he would oblige Magistrates and Sovereigns so to Love the Publick Enemy as to let him Rage and Ravage and Burn and Plunder without any Opposition This Precept being given to Christians consider'd as they live and converse together we must conclude that by the Enemies who are to be loved are meant Enemies in a more private Capacity such as we meet with in Conversation and in the Places and Stations we are in whether they be High or Low whether Superiors or Equals or Inferiors Nor 2. Must we think that this Precept is given to Magistrates with respect to Malefactors and Publick Offenders as if by Vertue of this Command they were not to punish them This would be manifest Injustice to the Publick Good and we may be very confident Christ would not have us do Evil that Good may come out of it nor obey one Precept at the expence of another Though a Magistrate if he will act Conscientiously ought to behave himself as a Father who loves his Child when he doth Chastise him and therefore Chastiseth him because he loves him so Magistrates are to punish with Pity and Compassion and in private Injuries where their Office is not concern'd they are bound to Forgive and love their Enemies as much as others yet doth not this interfere with the necessary administration of Publick Justice not to mention that it is said in the Text Love your Enemies but a publick Malefactor or Offender is not properly the Magistrates Enemy I mean no Enemy to his Person or Fortune or Relatives but to the Law of the Land and the common Good and therefore if the Magistrate doth punish him he doth not punish him as his Enemy and therefore Sins not against this Precept but as an Enemy of the Common-wealth in general It 's possible the Malefactor may be an Enemy to the Magistrate consider'd in other Circumstances in which case the Magistrate is bound to exercise all the acts of Love here mention'd toward him and notwithstanding these punish him according to Law and the Duty of his Place and Calling So that the
Good and sending his Rain upon the Just and Unjust A Bounty infinite like himself and not to be lookt upon but with admiration and that 1. Upon the account of the Insolencies of the Wicked and Bad and Unjust To see how God is affronted daily by Oaths by Curses by Blasphemies by Lewdness by Perjuries by Profaneness Atheism Hypocrisie and by Sins which a good Man can scarce name without trembling yet on these Wretches whom by right Hell-fire should devour his Sun doth shine and his Rain drops down His Sun warms them and revives them His Rain enriches their Pastures Instead of Sunshine he might bury them in Darkness and instead of Rain to water their Grounds he might rain on them Fire and Brimstone and a burning Tempest even the portion of the Sinners Cup. It 's true he will do all this at last when the measure of their Impenitence is fulfilled but for the present his Light smiles upon them and his Heaven distils gentle Showers to make their Land fruitful and doth not this shew the vastness of his Bounty 2. Upon the account of his Power it were as easie Without all peradventure it were as easie to him to with-hold his Sun and Rain from the wicked as it was to enlighten the Land of Goshen while the Egyptians were frighted with thick Darkness or as it was to dry up the Read-Sea for the Israelites while Pharaoh and his Host were drowned in the Waters or as it was to keep the Flames of the Furnace from burning the three Young-Men in Daniel those very Flames which consumed the other Men who were thrown into the Oven But his Mercy prevails above his Power and that shews the greatness of it We must suppose God hath some farther design in these Providences than meerly to discover the profuseness of his Bounty 1. One reason is to engage them to love him who is so kind to them Love is so natural so rational a return for kindnesses that all who are Munificent to others do expect it And how easie a matter were it even for a wicked Man who is not irrecoverably stupid to reflect when he lies basking in the Sun or lets in the splendor of that glorious Planet into his Rooms or Sees how it makes his Trees and Plants and Flowers grow and how it gilds his Gardens and his Fields how easie I say were it for him to reflect Whence comes this Sun-shine do not these Rays descend from the Father of Lights whose ways I have derided whose Words and Ordinances I have despised and whose Precepts I have laugh'd at What Ingratitude is this Would I use a Friend so And what put these Indignities upon my best and greatest Friend See how his love to me shines in that glorious Sun and shall I return hatred for his Love The like Reflections might easily be made upon the Blessing of the Rain But I proceed 2. It is to lead them to Repentance The Sun which comforts the Evil Man his Body and his Grounds is to put him in mind of his Duty to warm his Soul with serious Considerations till they melt his Heart into Remorse and Compunction And the Rain even the former and the latter Rain is a Remembrancer and points at the shower of Tears he is to weep for his Sins and Offences So that the Sun and Rain are School-masters to lead him to Love and Repentance and that these are the Ends God hath in these Dispensations is evident from Hos. ii 8 Acts xiv 15 16 17. Acts xvii 27 And oh that such of you as have hitherto been careless Observers of these Ends would be perswaded to make this Rain and Sun-shine the Ladder for your Thoughts to rise and your Meditations to ascend and contemplate the infinite Goodness of God who vouchsafes this Sun and Rain and in doing so presents you with a powerful Motive to offer him your reasonable Service that the Sun of Righteousness may shine upon you with healing under his Wings and his warmer Mercies may come down upon you as Showers upon the mown Grass As common as these Blessings are they do not come by chance but are Gifts of the great Soveraign of the World and if they be Gifts the least they deserve is acknowledgement and how do we acknowledge them if we dishonour God by our Sins But this is not all besides these God hath other Ends in vouchsafing his Rain and Sun-shine even to the worst of Men Ends in which the Pious the Serious the Religious are particularly concern'd And 1. It concerns us to admire the infinite Patience of God his Patience to the Stubborn and Obstinate and his Kindness and Charity to them Not only to see and take notice of God in the Providence but to extol his Munificence to praise to adore to magnifie his universal Compassion and to speak of his wonderful Works to sing of his Mercy and to use this very Instance of Sun and Rain as an argument to unconverted Sinners to perswade them to a conscientious walking with God Indeed here is a large Field for our thoughts to expatiate in and to make useful Remarks on his Power Wisdom and Goodness 2. It concerns us to imitate the Patience and Kindness and Charity of that God who makes his Sun rise upon the Good and Bad and sends Rain upon the Just and Unjust This is the principal drift and design of our Saviour in giving these Instances and it is to furnish us with Antidotes against Passion and Revenge and Hatred and Malice and Uncharitableness when we apprehend our selves Wrong'd or Injur'd or unkindly dealt with I say it is to furnish us with Antidotes against Passion and Revenge from the most obvious and familiar Objects and Occurrences So that whenever you are provok'd to uncharitable Thoughts and to a strange Behaviour to those who have wrong'd you you need go no farther than the Sun that shines upon your Heads and the Rain you see distil from the Clouds Think this Sun shines upon the greatest of God's Enemies and does good to their Fields and Persons and shall I feel no Warmth no Fire no Flames of Compassion to my Adversary The Rain that falls here is God's Rain and the Man that Curses him to his Face participates of the Benefits of it and shall I be in a Rage against the Man who hath affronted me and withdraw my Charity from him God doth not and why should I 3. It concerns us seriously to reflect on what God designs to do for his dear Children hereafter and from the Blessings he bestows on the wicked here to argue what Treasures are laid up for Men of a better Temper If God be so kind to his very Enemies what will he be to his Friends If those that hate him enjoy so much of his Bounty what may those look for who love him If his Goodness be so great to his Foes how great must be his kindness to his Favourites Great indeed How excellent is thy loving
kindness O Lord toward them that fear thee and put their trust in thee before the Sons of Men They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy House and thou shalt make them drink of the Rivers of thy pleasure for with thee is the Fountain of Life and in thy Light we shall see Light This must needs be a very comfortable Consideration to all that by patient continuance in Well-doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality Rain and Sun-shine and the common Blessings of this Life are not the proper Rewards God intends you These are Mercies design'd chiefly for his Slaves and meaner Servants They are greater richer and nobler Blessings that are appointed for his Friends and Children Eye hath not seen and Ear hath not heard and Heart cannot conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him Grieve not ye in whom the fruits of the Spirit do appear that God doth not give you the Blessings of his Left-hand the Blessings of Men who have their portion in this Life If he should put you off with these you would be miserable The Joys above the triumphs of Paradise the felicity of Angels the festivals of Heaven the eternal Enjoyments of God the everlasting rest the endless beatitude in your Father's House These are the Portions of his Children This World indeed is inhabited by his Friends but the greater part of those who dwell in the Earth are his Enemies Among these good Men live as Strangers and Pilgrims but they are higher larger and loftier Mansions that are prepared for them and when their Earthly House of this Tabernacle shall be dissolv'd there will fall to their share a building of God a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens SERMON XXXVII St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 46 47. For if you love them which love you what Reward have you Do not even the Publicans the same And if ye salute your Brethren only what do you more than others Do not even the Publicans so LAws are best understood by the Preamble because that gives an account of the occasion to these Words by the preceding Among the Rules of Holy Living prescrib'd by our Saviour to his Disciples in this Chapter that of loving our Enemies blessing them that curse us and doing good to them that hate us and praying for them which despitefully use us is most remarkable He was sensible Flesh and Blood would raise Objections against this Duty and therefore he backs it with Arguments great and powerful to let us see how equitable and reasonable it is In the preceding Verse he sets before us the Example of God who receives greater Affronts and Injuries and Abuses from sinful Men than one Man can possible receive from another And yet as ill as that Supream Being is used he lets his Sun rise upon the Evil and the Good and sends Rain upon the Just and Unjust The next Motive is taken from the nature of the Christian Discipline which transcends all other Religions in the World and whose very design it is to raise Men above the common level of Nature and Education and consequently requires greater degrees of Love and Goodness to Men than natural Men Heathens and Sinners and Publicans usually pay for if ye love them which love you what Reward have ye do not even the Publicans the same and if ye salute your Brethren only what do ye more than others do not even the Publicans so The Publicans here mention'd were Persons that sate at the receipt of Custom or receiv'd the Customs due to the Roman Emperors in Palestinae from Commodities Imported or Exported Such a one was Matthew the Writer of this Gospel Matth. ix 9 and Zachaeus Luk. xix 2 i. e. before they were Converted for though Tertullian will not allow that any Jews were Custom-House Men or would suffer themselves to be employ'd in the receipt of Customs yet that in this Point he is under a very great Mistake is evident from the Examples of Matthew and Zacchaeus who were both Jews and of the Stock of Abraham Mar. ii 14 Luk. xix 9 It 's possible there might not be so many Jews of that Profession as there were Greeks or Romans yet that even the Jews did sometimes court and accept of these Employments and personally discharg'd them what has been alledg'd is as good as Demonstration These Publicans were properly Gatherers or Receivers of the Customs or a kind of Under-farmers For the Roman Government under which the Jews at this Time were used to let the Customs of the several Countries under their Dominion to Farm or to be farmed by the Noblemen Knights and Gentlemen of Rome These undertook to pay the Government a certain Summ for the Customs of such a Country And these Farmers had Officers under them who either farmed the Customs of them again or were at the trouble of Gathering and Receiving them whereby they had great Opportunities and were under very great Temptations to Cheat and Exact upon the Merchants and others they had to deal with and such were the Publicans in the Text. And therefore they were commonly look'd upon as Extortioners Unjust Unrighteous and Oppressors and among the Jews particularly they had so ill a name that they were called Sinners by way of eminency and a Heathen and a Publican were with them convertible Terms Nay the Pharisees seem'd to exclude them from all hopes of Salvation which was one great reason I suppose why many of them I mean of these Publicans did so readily close and join with Christ when he preach'd to them Repentance and offer'd them the Kingdom of Heaven But though they were guilty of great Oppression and Extortion and false Accusation and lived by it and by that means lay expos'd to other Vices as one Sin seldom goes alone yet they were not so bad those who were Jews especially as to neglect the common Duties of Religion or the ordinary Offices of Civility and Humanity which makes our Saviour say and affirm that they loved those who were loving and friendly to them and saluted those who were their Brethren and Acquaintance and were civil to Men of their own Religion This being premised the Observations the Text affords may be reduc'd to these three Propositions I. Even wicked Men do and may perform the common Duties of Religion and Morality II. Those who would be Christians indeed must do more than Carnal Men in Matters of Religion and Morality III. If they do not they have no Reward I begin with the first which imports that even wicked Men do and may perform the common Duties of Religion and Morality a truth plainly intimated in the Text for the Publicans were Men wicked and scandalous who got their Livelihood by Cheating Lying Defrauding False-accusation c. It 's true there lay no necessity upon them to do so for St. John the Baptist told some of them who came to him for Advice that they might continue in their Calling provided they
levell'd against corrupt Nature so to live up to these Rules is to do more than others more than natural Men more than Publicans and Sinners And what I have laid down here ruines that common Plea Why should I do more than others Why As your Circumstances and Conditions are various so they become Motives to do more than others Because thou art a Christian thou ought'st to do more than others Because the Son of God himself hath come and spoke to thee in his Gospel therefore thou ought'st to do more than Heathens and Infidels Because thou enjoyest greater Mercies and thine Eyes have seen greater Deliverances than others thou ought'st to do more than thy Neighbours whose Mercies are less and whose Deliverances are not so astonishing Because thou livest under richer means of Grace than others Because thou hast had stronger and more powerful Motions of God's Spirit than others therefore thou ought'st to do more than others Because thou mak'st a greater Profession of Religion than others thou ought'st to do more than others Nay thou hast obliged thy self in thy Baptism in the Eucharist upon a Sick-Bed and on other occasions to do more than others to be sure more than thy carnal careless Neighbours do that Hear and Pray and have some Vertues mingled with their Vices You that have repented of a very lewd and flagitious Life and been Converted from the Power of Satan unto God ought particularly to do more than others for you have sinn'd more than others you expect more should be forgiven you you have formerly hated God more than others and therefore ought to love him more than others Ye who have more Time more Leisure than others you ought to spend more in Religious Retirements than others Ye to whom God hath given greater Means and Estates than others ought to express your Charity to distressed Christians in greater Instances than others In a word The common Duties of Religion are to be distinguish'd from the greater The common are such as both the Light of Nature and the Gospel command and which Infidels as well as we perform The greater are those which the Gospel doth particularly bind upon the Consciences of Christ's Followers and these are the proper Tasks of Christians Upon a Death-Bed thou cry'st I thank God I have wrong'd no body Do not even Heathens and Philosophers the same Thou rejoycest thou pleasest thy self with this that thou hast been just the honest in all thy Dealings do not even the Brahmines and Indians the same I do not deny but these are good things but what is all this to Christianity which is a higher Discipline and a sublimer Dispensation What is all this to Faith in Christ Jesus which is to purifie your Hearts and to make Christ and his Precepts and Promises and Ordinances and the Benefits of his Death Resurrection and Ascension and Intercession sweet and pleasant and amiable to you We will allow that you pay and endeavour to pay every Man their own that you Lend and Give and are kind to your Friends and who do and are so to you and that you Wrong and Abuse and Injure no Man that let 's you alone but in doing so what do ye more than those who never heard of Christ Hath God given you suitable Encouragements to do more than others and will not Angels and good Men and your own Consciences cry shame upon you in the last Day because ye have not done more than others Nay it were well if many of us did but do so much as others so much as honest Heathens do so much as innocent Barbarians do who love those that love them and are civil to those who are so to them How many of us are there who are ungrateful base inhumane uncivil unthankful to those who love them and express their Love in various acts of kindness to their Souls and Bodies and if the Righteous be scarcely saved where will the Wicked and Sinner appear But if all this will not prevail I must try one Motive more which will lead me to the last Proposition III. If those who would be or think themselves good Christians do not more than Carnal Men in Matters of Religion and Morality they have no Reward For if ye love them which love you what Reward have you I need not tell you that Questions of this Nature are equivalent to Negatives for this is a common way of speaking in all Languages so we ordinarily say If you will not work who will take care of you i. e. No body will When I say we have no Reward if we do not more than others I do not mean a Temporal Reward for this is given even to Hypocrites and we may lawfully conclude that the Temporal Deliverances Protections and Preservations which happen to wicked Men came upon them for some good thing they have done either in Religion or Morality or in promoting the Glory of God which in all probability is the Reason why the Mahometan Religion and particularly the Ottoman Empire hath flourish'd so long because they have destroy'd Idolatry in the World and have done some other Services to God's People It 's the everlasting Reward I treat of here and our Saviour aims at no less If we do not more than others we shall have no greater Reward than others if we do more our Reward will be greater And here for your encouragement to do more than others according to the Rules before laid down more than Carnal Men ordinarily do who mingle some acts of Religion and Morality with their wilful Sins give me leave to propose to you these following Considerations 1. Then would ye be put off with a Temporal Reward What be put off with this when you hear a Pious David pray to be deliver'd from Men who have their portion in this Life Psal. xvii 14 were there no other Life when this is ended no marvel if a Temporal Recompence did content you But when you profess and own an approaching Eternity to make a Temporal Reward only the object of your Hopes and Desires is strangely Irrational What! Content your selves with Corn and Wine and Oyl when an everlasting Kingdom is to be had When you see the Crown of Glory glittering a-far off which the eternal God holds out to you as a Motive What! Content your selves with Trash when Gates of Pearl and a City of Gold is set before you 2. When you come to lie upon a Death-Bed do not you desire an everlasting Reward No doubt ye do your Ministers and your Neighbours hear you say so But how uncomfortable must be that Desire when your Consciences shall fly in your Faces and tell you that your Desires are groundless that this is desiring the End without the Means and the Reward at Night and the Favour of the good Man of the House when you have been loath to bear the heat and burden of the Day 3. If you do not more than others is it not a certain sign that
this mean Spirit of theirs as being contrary to this natural Principle of loving those who love us 3. The same may be said of all Persons who have been signally oblig'd by others and yet can hardly afford a good Word to those from whom they have receiv'd such signal Kindness but carried away by Faction or Interest speak Evil of them and Revile them would to God such Persons were as rare among us as African Monsters are but even of such ungrateful Wretches the Age we live in gives us too many Instances David complained of them long ago Yea mine own familiar Friend in whom I trusted and who did eat of my Bread hath lift up his Heel against me Psal. xxi 9 and could any thing be more base or barbarous than for Herod to go about to kill Christ who had purged his Country of Devils and Diseases Luke xiii 31 And was it not a most Inhumane Attempt for those very Soldiers whose Lives St. Paul preserv'd from Shipwrack to consult to kill him with the rest of the Prisoners Acts xxvii 42 43. And it seems this wicked Generation doth last still And what shall I say more we cannot without Grief behold the many bold Offences which are committed daily against this Principle of Nature even in those Relations the very Name of which speaks mutual and reciprocal Kindnesses such as Husband and Wife Brothers and Sisters Masters and Servants c. who would suspect Unkindness among those Relatives to those especially who study and seek their Good and are more than ordinarily concern'd to express their Love and Respect to them and in whose Mouth is the Law of Kindness yet even in this Grass the Serpent lies and the Snake doth hiss After all the Rich and Great offend against this Law such I mean as are Morose and Proud and Self-conceited and do not think a poor Neighbour their Brother in Christ worthy of a civil Salutation a Civility not denied by Heathens and Publicans to the meanest of their Brethren and of this nature are those false Salutations and pretended Civilities of dissembling and Hypocrital Men such as Joab and others whose Words are softer than Butter but War is in their Hearts who seem indeed to love those who love them but it is from the Teeth outward for they hate them within There needs no Gospel to condemn such bold and daring Sinners The light of Nature will serve to do it though it is confess'd that the Gospel under which they live and which teaches them greater and better things will help to aggravate both their Sin and Punishment And this will justifie our third Enquiry III. How Men come to sink so low so much beneath Heathens and Publicans as to act against this natural Principle And 1. They have very weak dull and dark apprehensions of the worth and nature of Christianity and indeed of any Religion some Religion or other they must profess and since Providence lets them stumble upon the Christian they embrace it but cansider not what it imports how holy its Precepts are how rich its Promises how ample its Advantages how clear its Revelations how great its Excellencies and how justly it requires greater Strictnesses than either Judaism or Heathenism or any other Religion in the World This Consideration would make them dread offending against the Law of Nature and make them asham'd to think that they who are bound to do more than others should not do so much as others These things being no Objects of their Thoughts they have a very low Opinion of the Religion they profess and therefore are not concern'd nor frighted if they fall below the Grandeur of it lower than Heathens and Publicans and consequently do not love those who love them 2. Their Lusts are stronger than their Religion This natural Principle of loving those who love them is agreeable enough to their Reason and Speculation but some predominant Lust either Avarice or Ambition or Pride or Envy or Lasciviousness or Delight in vain Company or something their sickly Desires crave and which they fancy their reciprocal Love would hinder them from some such Lust I say reigning and domineering within it damps and drowns that reciprocal Love they owe to those that love them A Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and enticed saith St. James Ch. i. 14 As natural as it is to be kind to those who are so to us yet if a Man gives way to some violent Lust or Desire and le ts that have the upper-hand it will draw and force the Man away from the most easie and most familiar and most rational Duty whatsoever Not to mention that if the Party who is or hath been kind be defective in one Act if after nineteen Kindnesses he fail to do the twentieth This shall be thought by such Persons an Argument sufficient to justifie their want of reciprocal Love and Affection But this shews the disingenuity of their Temper and that an Evil Spirit hath taken Possession of their Hearts and committed a Rape upon the dictates of their Reason and Understanding And thus Men come to act against Principles which even Heathens and Publicans do observe Inferences I. I observe here That Religion is not intended to make Men Clownish and Uncivil For our Saviour in the Text supposes saluting our Brethren to be not only Lawful but a natural Duty which God expects of Men as Men. Indeed he would have us do more than this comes to and extends it even to Enemies and to Persons who have wrong'd affronted and abus'd us but he doth not deny the lawfulness of it but establishes this lower Duty which even Heathens and Publicans count reasonable And therefore that Sect which places Religion in forbearing all external Salutations sins against a natural Duty The Gospel doth not abolish but exalt all natural Duties and sets them in a brighter Light and that therefore if saluting our Brethren or Fellow Christians be a natural Duty it must be much more a Christian Duty so that the Spirit of the Hat seems rather a Spirit of Pride and Delusion than the Spirit of God which inclines the Soul to Assability Courteousness and Civility and Respect to Superiors Nor must the condescention of Superiors to the meanest Capacity or their Humility make us lay aside the Respect we owe them for this is to give occasion that the way of Truth is Evil spoken of and to bring an Evil report upon the good Land It 's true in Christ we are all equal with respect to the Privileges and Advantages that come by Christ they being promised or tender'd to all but that doth not destroy the external Respect Obeisance and Civility we owe to Persons of different Ranks and Qualities or to Men whom Providence hath raised above the common level in Church or State I grant the Men of this World will call that Clownishness when a good Man will not drink with them nor comply with their Sensualities
but reproves them either for their Oaths or other Sensualities But that Clownishness if it must be call'd so is a Duty Notwithstanding this we may preserve the respect due to their Places and Elevations in the World as we see in St. Paul who though he did not comply with the Sins of Ananias the High-Priest and of Festus the Governour yet paid them the respect their Stations and the Figure they made in the World requir'd II. The Text teaches us how we are to aggravate our Sins in our confessions to God To commit Sins which the very Heathens and Publicans condemn and abhor must needs be very dreadful in a Christian because he Sins against the very Principles of Nature In the same manner to neglect that which Heathens and Publicans by the light of Nature do find and affirm and observe as necessary must make the omission exceeding black in a Christian because he is without excuse And therefore if any of us have been unkind disobliging ill-nanatur'd cross and surly and morose to those who are kind and loving and tender and charitable to us let 's not make light of the Sin which is so much the greater by how much it is condemn'd by Heathens and Publicans Christians the Gospel obliges you to love your Enemies and will not ye love your Friends Not to love your Enemies will bring the Wrath of God upon you how much more your not loving those who love you The neglect of the more difficult Task will make you miserable and will not neglect of the easier cover your Faces with Confusion Intemperance Drunkenness Cheating Defrauding Lying Extortion Profaneness c. are condemn'd by the very Heathens and will you from whom greater Vertues are expected defile your selves with such Sins as these The brighter the Light is the greater is the Sin and therefore a Christian who lives under a higher Dispensation if he neglects that which the lesser was sufficient to instruct him in Sins with a witness for he Sins in the midst of Sun-shine In our Confessions therefore such Sins must be particularly deplor'd as exceeding others in heinousness And O! let the greatness of the Sin fright us for ever from venturing upon the like again and let 's bless God that there is yet hopes of Mercy and Vertue the Efficacy in the Blood of Jesus to wash away Sins which bring more than ordinary Guilt upon the Soul III. Since it is so unnatural and irrational a thing not to love those who love us behold how irrational and unnatural a thing it must be not to love God who loves us and hath loved us into Miracles and Prodigies Hath not he loved us Dares any say he hath not If he hath not loved us what do our Praises signifie Why do we praise him as it is in our Liturgy for our Creation Preservation and all the Blessings of this Life Why do we publickly and privately praise him above all things for the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ for the means of Grace and for the hope of Glory Are not these signs of Love Can there be greater Characters of his Love Do not we own and confess and acknowledge that these are certain marks of Love But why Christian why art thou so unkind to that God who hath loved thee thus He keeps thee he watches over thee he is thy Sun and thy Shield thy Shade on thy right Hand daily and hourly he showers down Blessings upon thee and all the Evils that befall other Men and which thou art preserved from it 's he that preserves thee from them But why so disrespectful to that God who incircles and crowns thee with loving kindnesses and tender Mercies Art not thou unkind to him when thou sin'st against him Art not thou disrespectful to him when thou wilfully do'st that which he protests in his Word is abomination in his Eyes What Iniquity do'st thou find in him that a God so tender and so kind cannot attract or charm thy Heart into reciprocal Love Why wilt thou suffer that Tongue of thine to vent it self in frothy and corrupt Communications which was given thee to sing his Praises Why wilt thou dishonour him with those Creatures which were intended for thy use and refreshment Why wilt thou make those Members of thy Body Instruments of Unrighteousness which were intended to be Instruments of Holiness Why wilt thou make thy Soul a sink and sty of impure and noisome Lusts which was intended to be a Temple of the Holy Ghost Why wilt thou make those Mercies thou enjoyest Weapons to fight against him which were intended as silken Strings to lead thee to his Banqueting-House the Banner whereof is Love He draws thee with Cords of Love was ever greater gentleness used toward a Child and canst thou find in thy Heart to grieve such Bowels of Compassion Behold what manner of love the Father hath shewn to us that we should be called the Children of God and is this your gratitude to make your selves Children of Hell and Heirs of Damnation There is that in the Love of God which would be an Antidote against all Sins whatsoever had'st thou but Courage to remember that Love and to set it before thee in lively Characters Joseph remembred God lov'd him and he resolutely resists the Charms of his Mistress How can I saith he commit this Wickedness and Sin against God Christian were the Love of God seriously remembred and thought of thou could'st not Sin To offend him would go as much against thee as drinking Poyson or a draught of Gall and Wormwood We talk a thousand great Things of Love what Power it hath to charm rational Souls Sirs God hath given you rational Souls and you are sensible there is no Love so great so amazing so wonderful as the Love of God to your Souls and Bodies I beseech you therefore Brethren by the Mercies of God by the Love of God by the Charity of our Lord Jesus Christ that you present your Souls and Bodies living Sacrifices Holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service Amen SERMON XXXIX St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 48. Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect THat no Man may be offended at this Command of Perfection which some think utterly impossible on this side Heaven and others do as vainly boast of as if they were arrived to it Give me leave to tell you that it 's no unusual thing in Scripture to meet with Exhortations of that Nature It was God's Order to Abraham Gen. xvii 1 Walk before me and be thou perfect and it seems it is the design of the Gospel and of the preaching of it that we may present every one perfect in Christ Jesus Coloss. i. 28 And to this purpose was the Prayer of Euphrates for the same Colossians That they might stand perfect and compleat in all the Will of God Col. iv 12 And accordingly St. Paul entreats treats the
have promis'd it even to follow the Lord Jesus but how can this be done except we imitate our Father which is in Heaven Christ himself did so The Son can do nothing but what he sees the Father do for what things soever he doth these also doth the Son likewise John v. 19 He loved as God loved and was merciful as God was merciful In a word he was the express Image of his Person not only of his Nature but of his Perfections too and if this was our Saviour's work we cannot imitate that Saviour except we endeavour to be perfect as our Father which is in Heaven is perfect But I shall press this no farther There are several weighty Inferences which may be drawn from the Premises for our Instruction and I must proceed to acquaint you with them Inferences I. From this Command of being Perfect it doth not follow that on this side Heaven we may arrive to a perfect freedom from all Sin great and small which seems to have been the Doctrine of Pelagius and his Disciple Coelestius and if we may believe St. Austin and Cassian they proceeded to that extravagance as to affirm that all this might be done by the meer strength and force of Nature They do indeed alledge the Examples of Abel of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and how God rewarded them with making them his Friends and gave them great Instances of his Love and Favour But all that can be inferr'd from thence is only this that he encourag'd their Faith by gracious Recompences as a Father doth a Child otherwise faulty enough upon some excellent act of Obedience but not that they were free from all Sin there is not a just Man upon Earth that doth good and sinneth not saith Solomon Eccles. vii 20 and the just Man falls seven times i. e. Sins by surprize very often and rises up again Prov. xxiv 16 we grant very readily what St. John says 1 John iii. 9 That the regenerate cannot Sin because the Seed of God remains in them but if we compare that Passage with other places of Scripture the sence must necessarily be this That committing such Sins as worldly and sensual Men make nothing of is against their Temper and Inclination as Joseph told his Mistress How can I commit this wickedness They cannot sin wilfully or with delight or allow themselves in any known Sin nor sin impenitently It 's true such Men are call'd Perfect because they have a respect to all the Commandments of God and there is nothing remarkable in all the compass of Vertue and Goodness which they do not heartily endeavour after and their Sincerity is called Perfection but still that 's no Argument that therefore they are not subject to accidental Slips and Failings while they live among Men and converse with variety of Persons which they expiate by a renew'd and daily Repentance so that a Man may be a perfect Man as the Sun is a perfect Light yet as that Luminary hath its Spots and is subject to be clouded so Righteous Men may have lesser Faults and be subject to inadvertencies and yet be Perfect still II. It follows from the Premises that both the Saying in the Text and all the other Oracles deliver'd in this Sermon are Precepts not Counsels Duties which every Christian is oblig'd to perform not meer Heroick Actions which the Religious only and those who have entirely dedicated themselves to God's service are oblig'd to mind or to exercise themselves in the Church of Rome by making a distinction betwixt Counsels and Precepts cuts the Sinews of a Christian Life and how pleasing soever this Doctrine may seem to Carnal Men in that it gives them hopes that they may be excused from the severer and weightier Duties of the Law but that this Doctrine is false particularly with respect to the Oracle of the Text and the rest in this Chapter is evident from hence because Christ speaks to all his Disciples and all that call themselves Christians own themselves to be so and therefore all must fall under the Obligation And are not we all fond of being Children of our Father which is in Heaven and if the Children of God are obliged to these Self-denials can any of us excuse our selves from the Duty since there are none of us but what are desirous to be honour'd with that Title I will not deny but there are some Evangelical Counsels which all are not obliged to perform of this nature is Celibacy or a single Life whereof Christ speaks Matth. xix But then these Counsels are so expressed that we may know they are no peremptory Commands to which all are obliged as in the preceding Instance of a single Life Christ says He that is able to receive it let him receive it Matth. xix 12 which differs very much from a commanding Stile and besides the Sayings in this Sermon of Christ are enjoyn'd upon pain of Damnation and those who hear them and neglect to do them whoever they be great or low Clergy-men or Lay-men are called Fools and Miserable and undone for ever III. We see here there is no standing still in Religion but he that will be saved must press on toward Perfection It is very common with some Christians when they are come to such a pitch of Devotion there to rest and grow secure and maintain that Formality and think themselves sufficiently Religious But this must be a Mistake and it 's a sign they do not search their Hearts nor examine their Lives nor compare their Behaviour with the particular Rules of the Gospel which if they did they would find that there is always something to reform to amend to rectifie and to set in order something to remove and something to plant something to meliorate and something to dislodge in a word that some other Vertues besides those they have already are to be Objects of their Love and Delight That Person who contents himself with his being free from scandalous Sins stops there and looks after no greater Perfection most certainly disobeys the words of the Text for how doth he endeavour after Perfection that parts with one Sin and pleases himself with another and with the Pharisee cries I thank thee O God that I am not as other Men Unjust Adulterous c. and all this while allows himself in Pride Arrogance Censoriousness and Selfconceitedness Not to go on in Religion or not to perfect what is begun or not to proceed from Vertue to Vertue is to go backward And he that is at a stand lies expos'd to the Devils Temptations for we are not ignorant of his Devices He that stands still will not be long before he goes backward he is next door to it for this gives the Enemy a fair opportunity to lull him into a Slumber from whence he seldom awakes till God calls upon him in a terrible accent Thou Fool this Night thy Soul shall be taken from thee and whose shall be what thou hast provided IV.