A SERMON Preached at The Parish-Church OF S. MAGNUS the Martyr In the CITY of LONDON ON Sunday December 24. 1693. By Edward Roberts M. A. then Lecturer Imprimatur Carolus Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. Ã Sacris Feb. 13. 1693 4. LONDON Printed for S. Smith and B. Walford at the Prince's Arms in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1694. A SERMON Preached at the Parish-Church of S. Magnus London c. S. JOHN Ep. III. Vers 2. Beloved I wish above all things that thou mayst prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth THESE are the Words of the Favourite-Apostle of Blessed Saviour who had the Courage and Fidelity to own Him in Extremities to endure the Scandal of the Cross and behold His shameful Crucifixion They are part of this short Epistle which was directed by him to Gaius as is manifest from the Inscription of it Verse 1. About whom the Conjectures of Learned Men are various when they would point him out with more particular Exactness as to his Abode or Residence But the undoubted Account of S. John in the Context makes out what is material to our purpose viz. That Gaius was not only a Proselyte to Christianity so made by him but a generous Assertor of it before an Infidel World a worthy Man who it seems was a Master of Wealth and of a Heart also to employ it aright who made his House the Sanctuary of distress'd Professors shewing a very remarkable Kindness and Hospitality both to the brethren and to strangers who bare witness of his charity before the Church Verse 5 6. In consideration therefore of his extraordinary Usefulness S. John sends him this Epistolary Letter to be a standing Expression of his Concern for his Welfare in the largest Extent of that Word to assure him that he now did and always should wish above all things that he might prosper and be in health even as his soul prospered The Words are so very plain in themselves that there is no need of a Paraphrase to make them plainer they contain an affectionate and devout Petition of the Apostle That God would prosper Gaius in his Body his Fortune and all his outward Concerns as he had already to a high degree improved his spiritual and better part And this is the properest and indeed the only proper Return I can make this Day as to Your worthy Pastor so to You and others the Friends of the Church and mine who without any Law but that of Kindness have continued Your Civilities and Encouragements for many Years This is the great End of our Holy Calling your Furtherance in the Ways of Piety our Prayers our Publick Discourses our private Admonitions all our Endeavours within these Gates and without center here in your Prosperity The Spiritual Part of it is that we most earnestly contend for without which the largest Temporal Portion we are sure must vex and oppress the Owners The Welfare of the Soul we may humbly ask with a well grounded Confidence of being heard for that is a Petition always agreeable to the Divine Will but Prayers for Bodily Satisfactions do often return empty and should be presented to the Throne of Grace with great Indifferency of Mind and an entire submission to Providence The Words of the Text will greatly direct and assist us in our pursuit of this Comprehensive Happiness and shew us the way to reap both the Blessings of God's Right Hand and Left In speaking of which I will insist on the following Heads of Discourse First Shew wherein the Prosperity of the Soul properly consists Secondly Add to this an Account of that Bodily and External Welfare the Desire of which is strongly rooted in human Nature and too often made the great the darling Consideration of our Lives Thirdly Comply with an essential and inseparable Duty of the Ministerial Function by falling in with the Apostle and fervently Wishing that You and all others the Inhabitants of these Two Parishes now united in Law I wish with all my Heart I could say united in Religion and met together in the same Congregation may prosper in both respects I begin with that which lies first in the Order of Nature and Religion tho placed last in the Order of the Text namely To consider Wherein the Prosperity of our Souls does consist And here as a necessary Introduction to all that follows as the Groundwork and Foundation of the whole Discourse I hope it may be taken for granted in a Christian Congregation that we all carry about us such immortal Beings this may fairly be thought the settled Persuasion of all who frequent the Assemblies of Publick Worship that they repair hither under the particular influence of it with a full entire Design to receive the End of their Common Faith even the Salvation of their Souls If indeed we look abroad into the World and view the Temper of the Age with a careless Eye there are to be found too many who decry the Doctrine of Spirits that Branch of it in particular which relates to the Immortality of the Soul But this Design most unworthy of the Reasonable Nature is carried on by such as are in their Practises degenerated into Brutes who stifle as much as they can all Intellectual Operations and maintain a strict Converse with things purely Corporeal And when the Subject of their Morning thoughts and coolest Recollections is no other than the Fulfilling of their Lusts it becomes their Interest to hope that the Higher Principle shall never awake to a future Account but utterly perish with the Body Whereas to the Pious and Unprejudiced the contrary is most apparent When the Mind lies fairly open to its own Notices and Deductions we are taught by it that there is in us a Principle distinct from the Body this is the common Dictate and Result of Reason but the Duration of it must be fetch'd from Divine Revelation This shews its Immortality with the greatest Evidence and Authority God who made our Souls expresly telling us that they are Essences which can never be destroyed by those who have power and malice sufficient to kill the Body and that upon the Dissolution of it they shall pass into a State in which Death shall have no more Dominion over them Wherefore acting consistently with our selves and maintaining a due Regard to the Principles of common Christianity we ought to secure to our Souls the Preeminence These Nobler Beings should be always the peculiar Objects of our Care whose Prosperity must be carried on and perfected by Ways agreeable to their spiritual Nature I will mention Three 1. By our judicious and deliberate Professing of the Truth by the assured Light of which our Souls may have a full view of and be conducted to the Regions of Bliss This was the leading Method by which the mighty Growth of Gaius was happily cultivated even by his Walking in the Truth and resolute Adherence to it stiled here by way of Eminency The Truth and called
before The Doctrine of Christ deliver'd from his own Mouth with admirable Perspicuity to the Apostle and by him with agreeable Integrity to his Christian Convert it being a Truth far more excellent than any which could be learn'd from the Writings of either Jew or Gentile that which is according to Godliness in hope of eternal Life Which frees our Minds from the Thraldom of Sin and Ignorance it being the inseparable Property of this Truth to inform and cleanse to exalt and purifie at once Now this being not the Prerogative of any Man's Nature nor imprinted on the Soul from the Beginning but an After-acquirement and the sole Privilege of the Christian our Care to be acquainted with it should be Early And let us set out in quest of Truth as soon as wecan it will appear that Error has taken the Advantage of the Morning and is set out before us there being but few in every Age who can date their Regeneration from the Font and glory that their Minds were always under the happy Power and Conduct of Truth Some are led into it by the meer Prepossession of the Country and others light upon it by chance as they are wandring in the Vale of Darkness and perhaps little design to be enlighten'd Saul went out to seek his Father's Asses and meeting the Prophet received an Unction from above which made him quite another Man And the Woman of Samaria who went for a Pitcher of Water to Jacob's Well found the Saviour of the World sitting there who made her a moral Instrument to bring many of the Samaritans to the Faith Some have gone forth of their Doors with a peremptory Resolution to affront the Priest and yet have been caught first and afterwards converted by his Doctrine The Sermon has been so pat and seasonable as to pierce the darkest Corners of their Souls curing the Distemper of the Heart causing it to flow with sincere and obstinate Tears when just before it was filled with nothing but profane Laughter and Derision But then these are Extraordinary Events and so not to be depended on Special Cases that can never with any Justice be drawn into Consequence For if we regard the common Methods of Providence the Ordinary Proceedures of Salvation Truth is not to be found but in a Regular Way and within the closest Communion of the Church it being very obvious to any who peruses the Gospel with a sincere and unprejudiced Mind that the great Design of the Blessed Author is never answer'd but by a constant regard thereto who came into the World to erect a Spiritual Kingdom to form Mankind into One Body under Himself and to save them as such not as Stragling Believers but as Persons incorporated into His Church feeding and nourishing their Souls within this Sacred Inclosure And this most Concerning Truth seems to be well understood by You who profess your selves Members of the Established Communion For questionless if any Church upon Earth be effectual to secure and advance the Prosperity of Mens Souls this upon a deliberate Tryal will be found best fitted for that High and Noble End a Church which with inviolable Integrity preserves the Holy Scripture and from that Fountain draws forth a Religion which is most Pure and every way proper to ennoble our Natures and perfect the Common Salvation A Religion which is not excepted against by its greatest Enemies for believing too much or adopting any thing that is false but as believing too little Our Charge is not the rejecting of any Old Article but a declar'd most commendable Averseness to subscribe any that are New It being the peculiar Glory of our First Reformers those Glorious Instruments in the Hands of God that they threw off and cashier'd only Additional Corruptions restoring the Doctrine of our Saviour to its Primitive Simplicity as it stood in the World before the Birth of those Errors which are now comprehended under the Name of Popery Who most readily received all the Untainted all the truly Catholick and Orthodox Truths that were left in the Roman into the Articles Confessions and Homilies of the National Church in which it will be a matter of spiritual Interest to continue always but a particular Crown a Glory to do so in Times of Liberty and Temptation For Men to embrace Truth for its own sake is an Argument of Sincerity to continue Regular Good Christians when there is no external Restraint to make them so much as Good Hypocrites is Conformity upon Choice and Religious Principles and is to be justified from the Abstracted Recommending Excellency of the Church it self which has no By-Ends to serve no Design to drive on but our Redemption from all Captivity the Increasing of our Graces and the Saving of our Souls and in the end They shall Prosper that love it II. The Prosperity of the Better Part consists as in a judicious and settled Profession of the Truth so likewise in the Observance of its Known Rules and Standing Institutions The Truth may be and too often is manifestly held in Unrighteousness Persons may be in the External Communion of the Purest Church and receive no more Honour or Benefit by it than Pontius Pilate does by standing in our Creed they may be plac'd there to their eternal Shame and Condemnation Our Happiness cannot arise from our Relation to it but must flow from an Habitual Conformity with its Laws and Publick Appointments It will be but a slender Support to our Consciences before the Tribunal of God that we have not given his Glory to another nor his Praise to Graven Images if our Lives are spent without Veneration for his Laws and Gratitude for his Benefits Our Zeal against Idols can never be an Attonement for the Contempt of his Worship We may be so far Orthodox as to own the Sacraments of Christ and those only and yet stand Condemned for their Disuse or Profanation The Holy Scripture it self is left in our Hands to no purpose if we only vindicate our Right to read it and cry out against the sacrilegious Detention of it from the People in others and yet slight it our selves or seldom peruse it to the great Ends of Religion to build us up in our most holy Faith to fortifie our Minds against Thriving Errors and Spiritual Enchantments And in these Religious Performances it will be impossible to come on well and Prosper without great Application of Mind The Fervours of Piety so remarkable in the first Disciples had this next to the Grace of God for their Spring and Origine those Heights were owing to their unwearied Constancy to their continuing stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship in Breaking of Bread and in Prayers And mighty are the Effects of it at this Day in the Eastern Christians who preserve a Sense of the Religion of their Saviour within the Dominions of its great Enemy chiefly by this Means by rising early before the Sun to perform their Publick Devotions as previously
necessary to their entering with success on the Labours of their Private Callings Nor is the Efficacy of it contemptible among our selves For we may with Comfort observe in this great City that many Persons of Slow Capacities and in Strait Circumstances by a careful Watching over their Hearts and Ways by an entire Dedication of themselves to God by the signal Advantage of having the Honest and Good Heart together with an habitual Attendance on their Parochial Ministry to arrive to a good Proficiency in Practical Religion and by painful Degrees to be nurs'd up into Excellent Christians Whereas others of far Quicker Parts and more Leisure wanting Probity of Mind Closeness of Attention and a Teachable Humility ramble eternally from one Church to another but without receiving lasting Benefit in any Men of desultory Tempers grow Sceptical they may vouchsafe to try all things but are habitually pleased with nothing Who industriously decry what Solomon recommends as the only sure Method of Thriving in the Concerns of Eternity Eccles 11. 6. In the morning sow thy seed and in the evening withhold not thy hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that or whether they both shall be alike good But the highest Zeal and Constancy in the Holy Offices can be no sufficient Security to venture our Souls upon these are only Means of Christianity and not to be rested in Considering therefore that the most flaming Sacrifice may carry in it destructive and consuming Qualities and that some in all Ages of the Church have set up Devotion to the ruin of Honest Morality Praying long the better to drown the dismal Cries of Widows and Orphans and to build their own Fortunes upon the Graves of their oppress'd Neighbours I must crave leave to carry the Matter higher yet and lay before you The Third The finishing Stroke of this Spiritual Improvement and that is Universal Righteousness which is never to be Concealed where it is and but rarely Counterfeited where it is not It being not a single Virtue but all united in the same Breast a strong Combination of the more Generous Qualities of the Mind which dilate themselves on all proper Occasions into Life and Practice And this was the concluding Argument of S. John by which he demonstrated the Growth of this excellent Christian Namely His Crediting of the Truth by agreeable Practises whose Charity was a real Fruit grafted upon a right Stock even Faith in the Blood of Jesus Now that Religion is most Genuine and Conformable to the Mind of its Blessed Author which is expensive and draws something from us which we highly value and would not part with but for Conscience-sake Instrumental Duties being cheap and easie may be performed by meer Impostors and Hypocritical Pretenders but Good Works are not so easily Counterfeited for Men seldom act a Part in Religion to their Great Cost In this Case the Danger of being imposed upon is far less or none at all Devotional Acts may have base Ends and sinful Mixtures they must be Tryed and Weighed in the Balance and oft-times they are Light and found wanting the Whore in the Proverbs had payed her Vows Whereas a Good Life a bright Charitable Conversation is like the purer sort of Money which passes freely from Hand to Hand and is never questioned in any Payment When the Actions of a Christian testifie for him in the Gates and his Worth is attested before the Church Malice it self is struck dead Nay the Publick-spirited truly Good Man stands intitled to the Blessing of Demetrius in this Epistle and has no Enemy or rather should have none but Satan the common Enemy of Mankind Our being Members of the Church and our using the Means of Grace are fair Arguments of Probability these are likely Signs that we shall but Real Acts of Piety and diffusive Beneficence are certain Evidences of our having by God's help already prospered And yet he that advances thus far on the way to Heaven and makes a full Stand here shall never unless by an extraordinary Mercy arrive thither for Christianity proposeth no fixed determinate Degree of Virtue beyond which there is no advancing The Spiritual Stature is at no Period like the Natural at a full Growth but always growing Our brightest Graces are still capable of Accessions and must shine more and more to the perfect Day For Men to get into a Road of Religion and yet alas how many are more unhappily engaged and upon the broad way to Destruction and to be content with living after the old customary Rate is plainly to deceive themselves They may in such a Case be no Blemishes to their Profession but by the strict Rules of it they ought to press forward and commence Encouraging Examples Visible Patterns of Righteousness which is a Station both of Safety and Honour And as the Voyage is never reckon'd prosperous till the Dangers of the Seas are past the Storms rid out and the Vessel brought safe into Harbour So neither ought we to conclude our selves free from Temptations and foul Relapses till we come to the New Jerusalem Our Felicity grows on this side but is there only in maturity and perfection This is the full Scripture-Nation of Spiritual Prosperity which was the first Point to be settled according to the proposed Method The Second General Head and now falling under Consideration is An Account of that Bodily and External Welfare which is strongly rooted in our Common Nature and too often sought with raving Importunity The Body being of a mean Original is incapable of the forementioned Discipline and Cultivation never to be raised in this World to an higher Character than an Heap of Dust and Ashes and yet overlooking its mean and corruptible Qualities many bestow on it the Greater Care This is an Object of a very distinguishing Passion and no Means are forborn no Cost spared to prop up and adorn it which is the degenerate Folly the reigning Sin of Mankind However God having formed the Body and made it the Mansion of the Soul which always acts by the Mediation of it we have it plainly granted in the Text that the Welfare of it is a Real Philosophick Good and the Object of a Christian Wish which consists mainly in three things I. In the Health of it Grotius in his Comment observes that S. John wishing Corporal Prosperity to Gaius set down Health as the most necessary and excellent Part of it without which his other Satisfactions had been of little Worth This preserves the Organs enables us to judge of Tasts and Sounds and all other sensible Objects it gives due Quickness and Agility and makes us capable of living with any Pleasure to our selves or Profit to our several Generations The want of Health caused the most patient Man to desire Strangling rather than Life A Blessing of that vast Use and Consequence that God reserves it in His own Power and makes it the Reward of Religion which in Scripture is
expresly said to be Health to the Navel and Marrow to the Bones It may be greatly preserved where it is and restored where it is lost by Human Remedies but without His Blessing the Art of Man is vain a meer Empiric Prescription The great Importance of it its giving a true Relish to all outward things makes it the common Form of Salutation in all Countries We still greet our Friends with particular Enquiries about the State of their Health and bid them Adieu under the Influence of an Hearty Concern for it But this is our Unhappiness that this Fundamental Blessing does not make us always grateful to Him that gives it the Value of it is seldom sufficiently acknowledged till we are deprived of it and smitten with Sickness For this Reason some Persons have magnified the Goodness for giving them weak and crazy Bodies which might keep their Souls always waking and upon the Wing An healthful vigorous Constitution which was designed by God as an Instrument of his Service and the Owners eternal Good being too often put to quite contrary Uses to make them Slavs of the accursed Spirit and Servants of Corruption II. Wealth succeeds as an Object of the sensitive Appetite by which ought never to be understood barely what is necessary to keep us from starving but a convenient Portion of outward things such as is suited with the Obligations of the Posts we fill our Characters and Relations in the World That may be convenient Food to one Man which if given to another would but make him the more hungry raise and not satisfie the Appetite That may be too scanty and strait an Allowance for a Person advanced to an high Station which if conferr'd on a Man of less Figure would oppress and run him into Distraction The Doctrines of some relating to the Point in Hand are most Absured and Superstitious who would tie down all but themselves to meer Necessaries and talk of the World with that Air of Contempt as if an Earthly Body could subsist by Intuition and the slender Accommodations of a Cell were sufficient in the midst of the City But such Speculations are plainly confuted by the Words of that Apostle who Preached the Religion of the Cross and we are otherwise instructed by the God of Nature viz. not wholly to extinguish the Desire of Earthly Conveniency but to correct the Keenness of it and keep it Regular Who having made the Pleasant Garden in Eden the Station of Adam at first is so far kind to his Posterity as to make their Bodily Life easie and delightful No Labour is assign'd them that is purely Penal their greatest Toils are mingled with Sweetness and by proper Encouragements turned into Play and Diversion Wealth is made the Subject of His Promise to the Virtuous and is most certainly a Blessing when honestly acquired and managed with Wisdom so as to cause many Thanksgivings unto the Donor It is true indeed the Acquisition of it can never be directed by any certain Rule because it depends upon lucky Seasons and unforeseen Accidents and often flows from hidden Springs But a known visible Instrument of procuring it to any Land is Commerce with Foreign Nations When in the Reign of Solomon Silver and Gold were plenteous as the Stones in the Streets of Jerusalem much of that vast Treasure was the Growth of other Countries it was brought from Ophir by the Navy of Ships which the King had formed in Ezion Geber and by the Merchants that had the knowledge of the Seas This is the great Support of Human Society Merchandizing unites the most distant Nations we are in some measure fed and cloathed by those whom we never saw nor can see This Promotes Industry and make as a suitable Compensation for the various Perils and Difficulties of Mankind But tho all Men are strangely dazled and captivated with the Brightness of Secular Wealth and Grandeur yet there are but few whom God thinks fit to entrust with it nor is it always an Argument of His Favour to be so entrusted Riches may and frequently do flow in upon Righteous and Excellent Men in great Abundance Those who have been most eminent for Piety in their several Ages have been so for their Wealth too But the Want of it is no absolute sign of wrathful Dereliction and that we are shut out of the Care of God's Providence Who can and if there be need will prepare a Table for his Servants in the Wilderness and by infinite Ways beyond the Ken of Reason and to them surprizing reward their Dependence on Himself Who can turn Penury into Fulness and Bondage into a State of Liberty To expect always the Completion of our Wishes and to sail with a full Gale is plainly to mistake our Right to outward things Freedom from Evils is the Happiness of Glorified Saints above Earthly Pilgrims can only depend on Succours proportioned to the Weight of their Sufferings and to be so supported in this World as not to miss of the durable Glories of the next The Third main Attribute of External Welfare is Peace a Blessing necessary to Guard and secure us in the Enjoyment of the Two before mentioned under which Term the Jews were wont to comprehend all Prosperity whatsoever And as the Fullness of time drew on the latter Prophets foretold the undisturbed Possession of Peace as the peculiar Blessing of the Reign of the Messiah as an Honour reserved by God to accompany the Manifestation of his Son Esay 2. 4. And he shall judge among the Nations and shall rebuke many People they shall beat their Swords into Plow shares and their Spears into Pruning-books Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more Which Prophecy receiving no Literal Accomplishment in the Condition of Christian States which are but the more unhappily expert in the Art of War and draw their own Blood without the Assistance of the Heathen is expounded to be praedictio consilii non eventûs With respect to Christ Himself it is read with the Brightness of an after-Relation for as He made his Entrance into the World in a quiet Hour so was the promoting of Peace the whole Endeavour of His Life and the thing it self bequeathed as a common Leagacy to His Disciples at his Death A Blessing of that High and Publick Nature that the Heathens looked upon War to be the most terrible and afflicting of all Temporal Evils and to us Christians surely who by the Favour of Revelation stand in a clearer Light it can have no milder Appearance War when extorted from a Nation in its Common Defence is a sore Judgement to be lamented and not gloried in as a brave and lofty Undertaking Victory it self can scarce hold up its Head for shame when represented as the Purchase of Christian Blood The Evils of it are too much felt to need a Description and God alone knows when the melodious Voice of Peace shall be heard in
our Borders of such as may not foster and invite New Injuries or present us with a Second and more perfect Edition of the Old The firm Possession of the Truth will in strictness compensate the Loss of it Eternal Slavery to Idolatry and Superstition is the greatest Misery which can befal any Nation which is not already enslaved so that to ward off that fatal Blow Wise and Good Men will calmly undergo lesser Hardships and Calamities slight Essays of Misery when compared with the Depredations Ravages and Military Executions of those Countries which are the Seat of War And God who orders nothing in vain much less for destructive Ends does certainly ordain the Suspension of Peace it self for our Good There are frequent Interruptions of it in all Kingdoms for wise Purposes the Peace of the Land of Israel was often shaken and destroyed when the Government of that Nation was Theocratical the longest Period of it which the Scripture mentions is that set down Judges 3. 30. The Land had rest Fourscore Years And without such Intermixtures of Publick Good and Evil Peace would scarce be thought a Blessing did not the Night succeed the Light of the Sun would annoy us and Constant Day would be an insupportable Burthen and were it not for Sicknesses and Poverty Health and Abundance would have no Relish in them This then is a wise Method in the Hands of God to make us sensible of His Favours and from caressing the World and the Body the meaner gratifications of Sense to exalt us to a more Christian Employment to render us more careful in the improving of our Souls which cannot exceptin Negatives be desined by us and must last for ever As long indeed as we are compounded of these different Principles the Animal and the Intellectual it will be an allowed necessary Duty to endeavour the Welfare of both But then abundant care is to be used by us that our Attendance be proportioned to the Dignity of the Object that we keep the worse part under the constant subjection of the better for it looks like a rank Infidelity to spend Six days in the week in providing for the Needs nay too often for the Sins of the One and to grudge God's own Day as too much to promote the Salvation of the other Both indeed are comprehended in the Prayer of the Apostle but still in a distinct Order the one in a perfect Subordination to the other For supposing Gaius to have already prospered in Virtue He thereupon prays for an agreeable external Prosperity And in the very same Order and animated by the like Hopes of You I proceed In the Third and last place To comply with an Essential Duty of the Ministerial Function which is positively express'd in these Words I wish above all things c. It is here most humbly acknowledg'd that God is the Author of all Success and Prosperity which is never to be obtained whilst he is neglected and left out of our counsels and consideration The expression of the Prayer is noble and high and shews it to have been the Language of the Heart and doubtless the Supplication it self was the more prevalent with God because presented by a supreme Officer of his Son Nor was this a strain of Devotion peculiar to S. John but a common pitch equall'd by all the Apostles nay visibly excell'd by S. Paul Rom. 9. 3. When he wished himself accursed from Christ for his Brethren his kinsmen according to the flesh A strange expression of Love An overflowing Charity To be content himself to turn out of the Sheepfold and stand utterly excommunicated if by that means the Jews might come in and be saved And in the Church of Corinth no unkindness that was offered to his Person no disparagement that was cast upon his Doctrine could abate his Zeal for their Salvation and when constrained to execute the severest Censures upon the incestuous Corinthian he urgeth the charity of the End to justifie the severity of that Action by alledging That the flesh was destroyed or punished that the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord. These then are our Patterns and shew us how to demean our selves in the Church of the Living God We are sent out as so many Labourers into His Harvest and whatever be the Reward we shall not fail of Work enough Our Labours are thick and more abundant even such as may bow down the greatest strength and caused him who was divinely Inspired to complain of Insufficiency in the discharge and none of our manifold Labours can succeed well and prosper in our hands without the especial Grace of him that sent us For there is no ground so well prepared as to bring forth nothing but good Wheat Tares will more or less grow up with it and unless the Soil be kindly seasoned our Endeavours are lost The best Counsels must perish in the delivery without attentive Dispositions in the Hearers who are therefore to be weighed rather than numbred by the prudent Messenger of God And when instead of growing better they are but the more refractory and contumacious Sinners under Instructions we have no power to cut down and to destroy to use any force were to betray and abuse our Authority We do preach a Law which is enforced pon mankind with the highest Penalties even under pain of having their Souls and Bodies eternally Tormented but those invisible Terrors are slighted and the most real Torment declared Metaphorical Scandalous Offenders may indeed be debarr'd Communion and denied the Publick Comforts of Religion but that to them is no Punishment Nor are we appointed only to contend with the Infidelity of Mankind but with their Ignorant Mistakes and Prejudices things more to be pitied but often equally difficult to be removed The Profane are without Apology because they outface God Himself and despise His Threatnings And the Careless are never to be excused who expect Virtue should grow up in their Souls without their own Concurrence and be nourished there without Moral Reflections which is a Method of thriving as improper and preposterous in Religion as in Civil Business and yet gainful Opportunities and good Markets must be narrowly watched to drive on the One when no means are held necessary to the obtaining of the Other And among those who subscribe to the Use of Means and frequent the Sanctuary there is much Barrenness to be found also the main end of Publick Instruction is often defeated by the partiality of the Affections which are byass'd and brib'd beforehand so that all is rejected or swallowed in a Lump without the solemnity of Chewing and Examination and not the Doctrine that is recommended but the Person or his Character is chiefly regarded and the Holy Gospel is received as the Word of Men and not as it is really and in it self the Word of God who takes it for so High an Affront to be shut out of his own House and denied so much as a partial