wilful Wickedness The Crookedness and Roughness of our Nature was Soft and Tender at first If our Reason had begun betimes to make it Straight and Smooth it had been done with ease And whose Fault was it that we did not rise and fall to Work at a more Early Hour Since therefore the Fault is our own we have no Reason to Complain and Grumble at the Hardship of our Labour If we cannot now perform our Work without the Sweating of our Brows and Aking of our Hearts we may Thank our own Presumption and Self-love which were the Sad Occasion of such long delays and therefore we have Reason to have Patience with our selves 2. We have need of Patience not only to do the Will of God but also to suffer it We need it not only to do good but to endure whatever Evils he shall please to appoint us 'T is not sufficient to begin a New Life We must also Hate the Old One and be willing to undergo the just Punishments of it There 's nothing so effectual as a true Sense of our Guilt to make us truly Patient An Humble Penitent is throughly convinc'd that all the Sufferings of this Momentary Life are nothing to what he deserves He thinks himself unworthy of the Ground he goes upon He knows that he deserves to have it Open under him and Swallow him Alive He does not look upon himself as Pardon'd but Repriev'd and therefore Trembles at the Dreadful Apprehension of Unspeakable and Everlasting Misery which he still fears may be his Doom at last He fears not them who Kill the Body and are not able to Kill the Soul but from these Words of our Saviour he learns to fear him only who is able to Destroy both Soul and Body in Hell The Fear of Hell Sinks deeply in his Mind as Deep as the Abyss it self and Swallows up all other little Fears of Momentary Pains Compar'd to Hell they are no more than the least Drop of Water to the Ocean nor yet so much because the smallest Drop has still some small Proportion with the Sea whereas those Pains have less Proportion with those and Time has none at all with our Eternity And therefore an Humble Penitent whatever happens to him he submits not only willingly but cheerfully He Humbly Kisses the kind Hand which lays the Cross upon his Shoulders and thankfully acknowledges the Double Favour of God's Infinite Mercy who is pleas'd not only to Exchange his Many and Everlasting Torments for a few Transitory Afflictions but also to Reward his Little and Short Sufferings with a far more Exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory 3. We have need of Patience not only to Suffer the Will of God in these unusual Trials but also to Bear one another's Burdens and to Support the uneasie Humours of our Neighbour in all common Occasions That Heroick Patience is the proper Character of Confessors and Martyrs This belongs to all good Christians it concerns us all and every one of us All our Impatience proceeds from Pride and Selfishness which make us Love our Honour Interest and Humour better than God and our Neighbour When we are Contradicted Slighted or Despised our Patience has much ado to keep us quiet our Blood Rises our Spirits are Ruffled and Discomposed our Thoughts are in a Hurry to lay hold on some Revenge or other and without the least Consideration catch at any thing that 's uppermost or nearest Hand Is this the Natural Temper of an Humble Mind Surely although we stand in our own Light we are not so much in the Dark but we can see or feel at least that these Resentments and Disturbances proceed from Pride and that they are all Rooted in Self-love We Love our Honour because we Love our Selves And for the self-same Reason we Love a Thousand other things besides our Honour all those things I mean which fall under these two Heads our Interest and our Pleasure Our Interest is liable to an Infinity of Various Accidents which Trouble our Temporal Affairs our Pleasure is the Object of as many Inconsistent and unreasonable Humours and every little Gale of Wind that blows Cross to the one or other is enough to raise a Storm in which our Patience seldom fails to suffer Shipwrack For this Reason whensoever I see a Cholerick Person grow Patient I look upon it as an Excellent Sign of his being truly Penitent When I see him cast away from him all his usual Motions of Impatience I easily imagine that he has made to himself a New Heart and a New Spirit When I observe him Easie and Cheerful not withstanding any Slights or Provocations When I discover a calm and even Temper in him in Spite of any Crosses or Disappointments When I perceive him as ready to Excuse or Over-look an Injury as he was before to Aggravate it or Revenge it Then indeed I have just Reason to conclude he is no longer govern'd by the Spirit of this World but that he is renew'd as S. Paul says in the Spirit of his Mind and led by the Spirit of God the Love of God and Patience of Christ The very word Repentance
Conceive some good Desires they can be very much pleas'd with a little sensible Devotion for the present But when these Pious thoughts begin to sink a little deeper in their Hearts and to contrive a real and effectual Reformation of their Lives when the Seed begins to take Root 'T is then it meets with great and unexpected Resistance and finds under a tender Surface nothing but the hardness of a Rock Their Worldly Honour their Estate their Ease are things which must not upon any Terms be call'd in question They are hardned in a Selfish Proud and Sullen Resolution of never parting with them And till the time of Trial comes they do not know how hard their Obstinacy is When all goes prosperously on and Danger looks upon them at a distance almost out of sight they then can make a shift in a kind fit to offer all these things to the Almighty and address his Infinite Majesty with the usual Complement of being ready upon all Occasions to stand by him with their Lives and Fortunes But notwithstanding all this the Gospel assures us that these dutiful Expressions of their Mind have no Root in their Heart These Loyalists endure but for a time And afterward when any Persecution or Affliction arises they find in time of Temptation how much they were mistaken in themselves immediately they fall away III. The third sort of Ground receives the Seed and keeps it It keeps it warm and deep and helps it to take Root But because the Thorns take deeper Root spread farther and rise higher therefore the Seed is choked and brings no Fruit. These Thorns according to the Gospel are the Cares of this Life As for the Life to come we cannot be too Careful of it we cannot love God too much we cannot have too great a Passion for the Joys of Heaven But as for this poor Earth this Dirt which only fouls and cloggs our Feet this Clay in which we often stick so fast alass this miserable World has nothing in it that deserves our Care except it be get well out of it and make it a safe Passage to a better Whatever may be useful to this End we may be careful of it But as for any thing else belonging to this wretched Life the Gospel gives us warning to avoid the Danger of such Needless and Pernicious Cares which hinder the Word of God from being fruitful in our Hearts The Danger is the greater because these Cares are of an earlier Growth the Roots of them come into the World with us They take Possession of our Hearts for several Years before the use of Reason has prepar'd us for the Word of God We read that the Seed fell among Thorns which plainly supposes that the Thorns were first Possessors of the Ground But yet if they had been extirpated before the Seed was sown it might have sprung up safely by it self there would have been no Thorns to spring up with it and choke it The Thorns have great Advantage over the Seed Not only their Growth is earlier but quicker and more natural The Corruption of our Heart is like the Rankness of a Soil to which they easily take and where they thrive at a strange rate There needs no planting watering or taking any Care of them 'T is but letting them alone they grow apace and spring up of themselves But it is not so with Piety and Vertue There must be Sowing Planting Cultivating No Pains must be spared to keep them in good order and all that we can do is little enough to make them bring forth Fruit altho' there were no Thorns to hinder them I tremble when I think how sadly true this is Experience teaches it the Gospel it self confirms it and our Conscience cannot deny it We daily see how careful most Men are of this World and how careless of the next They lay up Riches and provide for Pleasures These are their principal Cares which our Saviour mentions in the Gospel They are very highly concern'd for living long with all their Plenty and their Ease about them But as for living well and laying in Provision for a happy Eternity they entertain these Thoughts with Coldness and Indifference The least Prospect of Danger attending their Worldly Riches or their Pleasures is enough to break their Sleep The very Apprehension of a Momentary Poverty or Misery tho' at a distance is enough to put their Minds upon the Rack and torture the very Souls of them But as for Eternal Riches and Heavenly Pleasures tho' these are perhaps in greater Danger they can sleep securely All the Cruel Poverty and Everlasting Misery of Hell it self tho' they are loudly threatned with its being nearer than they are aware of all this will not Rouze them and Awaken them into a true Sense of their Duty So Stupid and Insensible our Nature is in all things which regard the other World and yet so Vigorous so Active and so Busie in the Cares of this The Consequence is natural and plain There 's no Excuse can be admitted in the Case We must consider on the one Hand the Danger and on the other the Folly of these Worldly Cares We must go to work with both our Hands and labour with all our Strength to pull them up by the Roots Without this all our other Labours are in vain We may Confess our Sins we may be Sorry for them we may purpose to Amend But all these Pious Endeavours will be fruitless and without effect we shall immediately relapse again our Sorrow and our Purposes will never be Victorious whilst our Worldly Cares are stronger and more prevalent We must therefore lay this Matter seriously to Heart Eternity depends upon it The more we consider it the more we shall be sensible of the Importance of it 'T is a common thing to meet with People who wonder strangely at their own Frailty and cannot without Horror and Amazement reflect how long they have continued in a Sinful Course in spite of all the Pains which they have often taken to amend their Lives But yet for my part I can never wonder that People lose their Labour when they go the wrong way to work If they will not take Advice when God himself is pleas'd to give it them I know not how to help it He tells them plainly that whilst they sow among Thorns the Seed will never bring forth Fruit. And this is a fair Warning to them to begin the Amendment of their Lives by labouring all they can to root out all these Thorns all Worldly Passions and Affections whatsoever from whence those Cares arise which choke the Seed obstruct the Word of God and hinder it from being Fruitful in their Hearts I do not descend to Particulars because the Case is general and without the least Exception No Love of any Creature whatsoever must ever dare to stand in Competition with the Love of our Creator All other Loves must be resign'd and moderate submissive to God's
gives us the Mastery we strive for but never-gives it without our striving for it This Grace is never granted to the Lazy and Idle Prayers of a Careless Sinner nor ever denied to the Faithful and Vigorous Endeavours of an Humble Penitent A Penitent who labours all he can to Humble himself and lays aside all Censuring of his Neigbours that he may the more effectually call home his Serious Thoughts to Censure and Correct himself Who spares no Pains to do or suffer any thing that may be requisite or useful to reform his Life Who frequently and seriously Reflects upon the Vanity and Emptiness of all Worldly Enjoyments the Folly and Mischief of doating upon them the great Advantages and Pleasures of despising them and being thus deliver'd from the Tyranny and Slavery of all his Arbitrary Restless and Insatiable Passions A Penitent who uses all his Art and Industry to set his Heart at Liberty and never leaves off Cuarrelling with this unconstant silly miserable World till he is quite fall'n out with it and Hates the very Thought of being reconcil'd A Penitent I say who will not endure to hear of any Treaty with his Enemies the World the Flesh and the Devil but knowing well their Treachery does whatsoever he can 1. To avoid all those Occasions in which they seek to Surpriâ—â— him 2. To cut off all Provisions and Succours which may Feed and Reinforce them 3. To watch their Motions with such Care that not a single Thought Imagination or Delight can ever advance one step beyond the Lines of their Duty without being presently observed and vigorously repuls'd Such a Penitent as this will certainly succeed and gain the Grace he strives for 'T is true the Endeavours of a Penitent who has been long a Sinner are as Weak as Water But nevertheless if to the utmost of his Power he struggles with himself to do all those things whatsoever Jesus says unto him he will soon by joyful Experience find the Weakness of his Water chang'd into the Strength of Wine Let him but fill up his best Endeavours to the Brim of his Capacity this he can always do and God requires no more let him do but this and he will soon be convinc'd that Miracles are not ceas'd The World indeed may wonder at his change of Life and so did the Ruler of the Feast when he Tasted the Water that was made Wine he wonder'd because he knew not whence it was But the Servants which drew the Water knew And all God's Servants who have been Sinners heretofore know very well from whence their Change proceeds They know 't is from the Right Hand of the Highest who will not let us lose the every least part of our Labour but for little Drop of Water gives us in Exchange an equal Share of Wine and and in Requital of our Weak but Constant and Sincere Endeavours never fails to Assist our Victory with a Proportionable Grace and Crown it with Eternal Glory Amen Discourse VII Of True Repentance IN the Fifteenth Year of the Reign of Tiberius Caesar Pontius Pilate being Governor of Judea and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee and his Brother Philip Tetrarch of Iturea and of the Reign of Trachonitis and Lysanias the Tetrarch of Abilene Annas and Caiphas being the High Priests the Word of God came unto John the Son of Zacharias in the Wilderness And he came into all the Country about Jordan Preaching the Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins as it is Written in the Book of the Words of Isaias the Prophet A Voice of one crying in the Wilderness prepare the Way of the Lord make his Paths Straight every Valley shall be Fill'd and every Mountain and Hill shall be brought Low and the Crooked Ways shall be made Straight and the Rough ones shall be made Smooth and all Flesh shall see the Salvation of God Luke 3. v. 1 to 7. We are All Sinners We are therefore All of us Highly concern'd in the Subject of this Gospel There 's no Salvation to be had without Remission of Sin And no Remission to hoped for without True Repentance For this Reason John the Baptist was call'd by God himself and sent to Preach it The Word of God came to him in the Wilderness and he immediately obey'd He came into all the Country about Jordan Preaching Repentance for the Remission of Sins The Evangelist not only tells us the Design and the Authority but also the Time of his Mission And seems by Marking the many Circumstances of it to be more careful in Dating the coming of S. John than of our Lord himself because unless by true Repentance we prepare the Way his coming will be no Advantage to us but only rise in Judgment against us To prepare the Way of our Lord three things are necessary to be done We must make it Level Straight and Smooth And here I will not dispute what difference there is betwixt Repentance and Doing Penance because if we believe the Evangelist the Prophet Isaiah and the Voice of one crying in the Wilderness if I say we believe the Word of God by whom they were all Inspired we cannot doubt but that Repentance if True and Sincere has a great deal to do the doing of which is very Difficult and Mortifying and therefore very well deserves the Name of Doing Penance 1. Every Mountain must be brought Low 2. Every Crooked Way must be made Straight 3. Every Rough Way must be made Smooth I. Every Mountain must be brought Low and therefore our Proud Presumption must be Humbled We must neither be so Proud of our own Natural Strength as to think we are able to save our Souls without God's helping us neither must we presume so much upon God's Goodness as to expect that he should save us without our helping our selves There are some People in the World who have so great an Opinion of their Natural Strength as to Imagine they can take Heaven by their own Force and Storm it when they please And therefore they do not apprehend the Danger of continuing in a Sinful Course of Life They know very well that a Custom of Sinning super-induces a second Nature almost as hard to be expell'd as the first They are sensible that the farther they proceed in any Vicious Practice the more they are confirm'd and settled in it They feel the Miserable Chains of their Wickedness and the Sad Slavery of Sin to which they tamely Submit and have not the Heart to make any Resolute Attompt for their Liberty But notwithstanding all this they still suppose they are their own Masters they fancy that their Weakness is rather want of Will than Power they perswade themselves that a High and Mighty Resolution has an Invincible Force and that therefore they are able to rescue themselves from Sin and the Devil whensoever they please This was the Pride of all those Heathen Philosophers who placed the Happiness of a Wise Man in being Self-sufficient