Evidence â—…f them that they are what we cannot â—…onceive and comprehend To believe no farther than Natural â—…eason can conceive and comprehend is â—…o reject the Divine Authority of Reveâ—…tion and to destroy the distinction beâ—…ween Reason and Faith He who will â—…elieve no farther than Natural Reason â—…pproves believes his Reason not the Revelation and is in truth a Natural Philosopher not a Believer He believes â—…he Scriptures as he would believe Plato â—…nd Tully not as inspired Writings but â—…s agreeable to Reason and the result of wise and deep Thoughts and this puts an end to all the Disputes about Faith and Revelation at once For what use is there of Faith What matter whether the Scriptures be divinely inspired or not when we are no farther concerned with them than with other Humane Writings to believe what they teach agreeable to our own Reason Let these Men then either reject Faith and Scripture or confess that Revelation as to all supernatural Truths must serve us instead of Sense and Reason I would gladly know of them whether they would not believe such Supernatural Truths as are not evident to Reason were they sure that God had revealed them I guess they will not be so hardy as to say That they would not believe God himself should he reveal such things as their Reason cannot comprehend and if they would believe God in such matters why will they not believe a Revelation which they themselves acknowledge to be Divine in such matters For is there any difference between believing God and believing a Divine Revelation If God does know and can reveal such Mysteries and is to be believed when he does reveal them and such Doctrines are contained in an undoubted Revelation then the unconceivableness of them can be no Argument against the Truth of the Revelation or that sense of the words which contains such Mysteries Let us then consider the natural consequence of this which is of great moment in this dispute viz. That we must allow of no Objections against Revealed Mysteries which we will not allow to be good Objections against Sense and Reason which is a necessary and unavoidable consequence if Revelation with respect to supernatural Truths stand in the place of Sense and Reason Now no man questions the Truth of what he sees and feels or what he can prove to be true by plain and undeniable Reason meerly because there are unconceivable difficulties in it as there are in every thing even the most certain and familiar things in Nature And if Revealed Truths are not more unconceivable than many natural objects of Sense and Reason why should their being unconceivable be a greater objection against believing a Revelation than it is against believing our Sense and Reason in matters equally unconceivable When God has revealed to us That he has an Eternal and only begotten Son though we cannot comprehend the Mystery of the Eternal Generation why should we not as firmly believe it as we do that Man begets a Son in his own likeness the Philosophy of which we as little understand Nor can we any more conceive the Union of the Soul and Body than we do the Incarnation of the Son of God or the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in one Person And if we own the Authority of Revelation why should we not as well believe what Revelation teaches how unconceivable soever it be as we do what Sense and Reason teaches though it be alike unconceivable All men are sensible that it is very absurd and foolish to deny the Being of any thing which they have certain evidence of because they cannot comprehend the Nature and Reasons of it The Man who rose up and walked before the Philosopher who was disputing subtilly against the possibility of Motion put a scorn upon all his Arguments by shewing him that he could move And therefore we see that all men believe their Senses and Reason against all the difficulties in Nature and will never be perswaded by the subtillest Disputant that that is not which they certainly see and know to be Now for the same reason if Men will allow the Authority of Revelation they must believe what is revealed how unconceivable and incomprehensible soever its nature be for when we know what a thing is and this may be known by Revelation as well as by Sense as those Men must confess who acknowledge a Divine Revelation no difficulties in conceiving it must perswade us to deny that it is This is very plain in it self though few men consider it That to disbelieve what is Revealed for the sake of any difficulties in understanding or conceiving it is to reject the certainty of Revelation For what other account can be given of that difference men make between the Evidence of Sense and Reason and of Revelation but that they allow Sense and Reason to be good and certain proofs of the Being of such things as are evident to Sense and Reason how Mysterious soever their natures are but that mere Revelation is no certain proof of the Being of any thing which is not evident also to Sense and Reason how plainly soever it be revealed that is that Revelation alone can prove nothing for if Revelation it self could prove the certainty of what is revealed the difficulties in Nature and Philosophy could no more disprove a Revelation than confute our Senses Now let any man judge whether this be not unequal usage to expect more from Revelation than they do from Sense and Reason and not to believe Revelation upon the same terms that they believe their Senses Should Men resolve to believe nothing which they see till they could give a Philosophical account of the Reasons and Causes and Natures of all they see as they refuse to believe a Revelation any farther than they can conceive and comprehend the thing revealed they must of necessity be as great-Scepticks as they are Infidels For as for Contradictions it is an easy matter to make or find seeming Contradictions in what we do not understand for when we know not the Philosophical Natures of things nor how they act and yet will be reasoning and guessing at them all our false guesses may be full of Contradictions and Impossibilities because we know not the true Mystery of Nature It is this vain humour of Criticizing upon Nature which makes so many Atheists They go upon the same Principle with Infidels and Hereticks To believe nothing which natural Reason cannot conceive and comprehend now they cannot comprehend the Notion and Idea of a God which they say is made up of Contradictions and Impossibilities and therefore they reject the Being of a God They cannot conceive a Creating Power which can give Being to that which had no Being before which they think a plain Contradiction to make Something of Nothing and therefore they reject the Creation of the World and either assert the Eternity of the World or at least the Eternity of Matter They can
visible to all the World That a Will to do Good is the only thing we want But such a Readiness and Wilâ—…ingness of Mind as is Active and Vigorous as contrives and lays Designs of Charity or embraces such as are offered and takes all wise Opportunities of doing Good this is very acceptaâ—…le to God as being the most Divine and God-like Temper the Image of â—…is own Goodness and the noblest Exercise of our Love to Men inspired with the Love of God Now in Moâ—…al Actions it is the Principle that gives the Value not so much the Gift as the Mind of the Giver and therefore St. Paul tells us That though we give all our goods to feed the poor and have not charity we are nothing 1 Cor. 13. 3. God can feed the poor without us if he so pleases but as for several other wise ends of Providence so he has ordered That the poor shall be always with us for the trial and exercise of our Virtue but the Virtue is not the Gift but the Charity And could we perform all the Acts of Charity without a charitable Mind the World might be better for it but not we our selves 2dly This readiness and forwardness of Mind to do good will observe the just proportions of Charity will give according to what a man hath I observed before That our Saviour in his Gospel hath prescribed no fixt Measures nor Proportions of Charity Nor could he reasonably do this considering the nature of Charity which though it be not so absolutely free that we may chuse whether we will be charitable or no for charitable we must be at the peril of our Souls yet the proportions must be free or it is not Charity but a Poor's rate as all the positive Laws which God gave the Iews for the relief of the Poor were no better and therefore by the wiser Iews were never placed to the account of Charity but of Justice and a Legal Righteousness Which is the very distinction St. Paul makes between a righteous and a good man Rom. 5. 7. But scarcely for a righteous man wiâ—… one die yet peradventure for a good man one would even dare to die A Righteous man is one who is legally Righteous and observes what the Law requires but a Good man is one who is acted by a free unconfined and generous Goodness Now upon this pretence That there 〈◊〉 no proportion assigned to Charity â—…ere are too many who content themâ—…lves with very little indeed with noâ—…ing which can properly be called Chaâ—…ty But I wonder in the mean time â—…hat these men make of all those Comâ—…ands and Exhortations which we find 〈◊〉 the Gospel to Charity which are so â—…any so pressing and importunate and â—…und on us by so many promises of â—…esent and future Rewards and with 〈◊〉 many terrible Threatnings denounâ—…d against the uncharitable that sureâ—… they must mean something and as â—…illing as men are in these Cases to â—…etend Ignorance I believe there are â—…w men living but know in some meaâ—…re what Charity means And though â—…ey may dispute how much they ought â—…o give yet certainly know that they â—…ught to give and that to give noâ—…hing or what is next to nothing all Circumstances considered is not Chaâ—…ity A Charitable Temper and Disposition of Mind is an indispensible Duty and the most Essential Part of the Christian Religion This our Saviour commands and he need command no more for Charity is and will be a Rule and Measure to it self Where this Divine Principle is it will teach us when and how and in what Proportion to give The Sun needs no Rules and Directions how to communicate its Light and Heat Nature is the surest and most infallible Rule and Law to it self and thus it is proportionably in Moral as well as in Natural Agents For what is the immediate effect of Nature and Life can never be taught without its Principle cannot exceed its Principle and cannot fall below it All the Rules in the World can never teach that man Charity who wants the Principle a Charitable Mind needs no Rules but turns naturally on its own Byas which will direct its Motions right There is a great difference indeed between Natural and Moral Agents Natural Agents are necessarily determined to some one End and therefore have but one Principle which uniformly and steddily pursues the Ends of Nature but Moral Agents as they act freely so they have many different Principles Inclinations and Passions which stint and limit each other that none of them can act to their utmost Vigour but as they are mutually poiâ—…ed and ballanced And this is the â—…ork of Reason and Religion to put â—…em into their Natural Order and to â—…t just Bounds to them and that proâ—…ortions the degrees of their Activity â—…d Strength but yet every Principle â—…nless violently oppressed will act acâ—…ording to its Nature as it more or â—…ess prevails And this gives Meaâ—…res and Proportions to all our Actiâ—…ns as to shew you this in our preâ—…ent Case Charity is that Love to Mankind â—…hich makes us pity all their Wants â—…nd Sufferings and inspires us with a â—…reat Zeal and Concernment to Help â—…nd Relieve them If you enquire What the Natural Measure of this Charity is I know no other Natural Measure but its Natural End that is To relieve all that suffer and are in want for that is what Charity would do and what all Charitable Men heartily wish that they could do Well! but this is impossible for there are too many miserable People for any man to Relieve them all This is true and Want of Power must of Necessity set Bounds to our Charity but since we cannot Relieve all we must relieve such as we can and wisely consider where the greatest Necessities and greatest Obligations are Which will give the Preference to Christians before Infidels to Good Men before the Wicked to God's Poor whom the Divine Providence has made Poor to the Poor of their own Making whom Idleness Luxury and Vice have made Poor and Miserable Well! But how far must we Relieve these Poor Must we give as long as we have any thing to give and make our selves the Objects of Charity By no means There are other as Natural Principles as Charity which must set Bounds to it Self-Love is a Natural and Necessary Principle no man is bound to love any man better than himself To love our Neighbour as our selves is all that the Gospel it self makes our necessary Duty though some Great and Generous Friendships and Divine Charities may go further as far as concerns this Life Next to Self-love our Natural Affection for our Wives and Children must take place as ingrafted in it and thought the Best and the Dearest Part of it as being nearest to our selves and what the best â—…en are the most tenderly concerned â—…or And this is the chief thing which â—…mong men of any Principles disputes â—…he Bounds of Charity For as for â—…hose stupid
deplorable must the state of Religion needs be when Self-love prevails which is such a direct contradiction to all Piety and Virtue to the Love of God and Men The Apostle indeed tells us of these Lovers of themselves that they have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power thereof They make a Show of Religious Worship and it may be a very glorious and pompous Show too for this may serve their Interest and give them Reputation with their Prince or with the People but their Religion has no power upon their Lives cannot subdue any one Lust as it is impossible it should while they are acted by Self-love And yet it is much to be desired that such Men would retain a Form of Godliness that they would not publickly affront Religion nor ridicule all that is Sacred but it is in vain to hope for thus much from all of them St. Paul's perillous Times was a very Modest and a very Religious Age to ours wherein men seem to be ashamed to be thought Religious and therefore if they ever think fit to go to Church take great care that no Man who sees them shall suspect that they come thither to worship God But though few Men attain to such an outragious Contempt of Religion as this yet all the Corruptions of Religion are more owing to Self-love than to Innocent Mistakes This secretly influences Mens Faith and forms their Notions and Opinions This invents a Form of Godliness and turns Religion into Show and Pageantry when Men bring Self-love into the Church it quickly turns true Religion out it is Pride and Ambition or Covetousness and a love of sensual Pleasures which makes Men Infidels and Hereticks and occasions all the Schisms which divide the Church For when such Self-lovers cannot cast off all Religion they must fit their Religion to Self-love to serve their Lusts or to give them security in the Enjoyment of them when they cannot raise Self up to the terms of Religion they must bring Religion down to Self It were easie to give undeniable Proofs and infinite Examples of this but I must proceed For having shewn what this vicious Self-love is and what Mischeifs it does in the World both to Mens private Fortunes to publick Societies and to the Church of God it remains 3dly To consider the Folly and Unreasonableness as well as Impiety of this Principle All the Wickedness that is committed in the World and most of the Miseries which Mankind suffer are owing to Self-love and could we convince Men of the Folly and Unreasonableness and Impiety of this it would lay the Axe to the very Root of all Wickedness it would reform the World and heal all the Maladies and Distempers of it And to do this the more effectually I shall distinctly apply what I have to say to the several Notions of Self-love 1. Let us consider Self-love as it signifies the love of Flesh and Sense when we love a part of our selves for the whole and expect our whole entire Happiness from the gratification of some inferior Appetites which at first hearing appears as absurd and impossible as it is to make a Part the Whole The greatest part of Mankind in all Ages have made this Experiment but no Man was ever made happy by it We see infinite Examples of miserable Sinners and the most prosperous always find that that they want something else to make them happy and would Men wisely consider the nature of things they would find that it is impossible it should be otherwise What is Happiness but such a State of Ease and Rest and Self-enjoyment as is agreeable to our Natures and can a reasonable Soul then find its compleat and perfect satisfaction in the Pleasures of sense the perfection and the happiness of our Natures is the same thing and therefore that which perfects our Natures must perfect our Happiness Is Sense then the perfection of a reasonable Nature if not how can it be its perfect Happiness Is not Wisdom and Knowledge the perfection of the Understanding is not the love of the best and most excellent Being the perfection of the Will and is not this the perfection of a Reasonable Soul and is it possible to make a Man happy who feels none of those divine and exalted Pleasures which are proper to a Mind Well! but if the enjoyments of Sense will give a compleat and entire satisfaction that will make the Man happy when he has no relish of any other Pleasures and then we need not dispute which Pleasures are greatest in themselves when the Man has what he likes best and is happy in it which is as much as to say that it makes no difference whether a Man enjoy the happiness of a Man or of a Beast that a Beast is as happy a Creature as a Man a Worm as an Angel because it has what satisfies and wants and desires no more But however let us consider whether the pleasures of Sense can give perfect ease and satisfaction to a reasonable Soul that they do not all Men find and the reason why they cannot do it is very plain The Pleasures of Sense cannot give perfect ease and satisfaction without a full unconfined and undisturbed Enjoyment and without such an Enjoyment as equals the Desire As for the first not to take notice how apt Men are to be disturbed in their Enjoyments from without there is enough within the very Frame and Constitution of a Reasonable Soul do disturb them For they find there a Natural Sense of the difference between Good and Evil a Natural Modesty which makes them blush in secret at some infamous Vices and sours the Pleasures and frequently interrupts the commission of them a natural belief of a God who is the Judge of the World and the Avenger of all wickedness a strong perswasion that they shall live after death and be rewarded and punished according to their works I need not tell you how uneasie such thoughts as these make the enjoyment of all sensual pleasures and an uneasy Happiness is a contradiction that if God intended Man for a Sensual Happiness I must confess he is the worst contrived Creature in the world as if he were made by chance not by a wise Creator for the Principles of his nature disturb and contradict the enjoyment of his natural Happiness Or whether you will call this Nature or Education or what you please there are very few Men with the help of all the Wit and Philosophy of Atheists can deliver themselves from this Belief and from these Fears and much fewer do it than pretend to do so and therefore there are very few who have an easy and undisturb'd Enjoyment of Sensual Pleasures that is who are easy and happy in them unless to sin with Fear with Shame with Guilty Remorse with frightful Presages of judgment be an easy and undisturb'd Enjoyment As for the Second it is very plain that the Enjoyment of Sensual Pleasures can never answer the
difference between Time and Eternity And 2d The difference between Things Temporal and Things Eternal 1st The difference between Time and Eternity You all see and feel what Time is it passeth away swiftly and we pass away with it when we look back it is but like a Dream or a Watch in the Night so soon passeth it away and we are gone Some few Years clear the Stage of this World and bring new busy Actors or idle Spectators on it and by that time we can well turn our selves round we see all new Faces and new Scenes of things and our selves hastening after though we should happen to stay a little behind our Company But who can represent Eternity to live without end a Duration which it is not in the power of Numbers to measure and therefore no Value can be put upon it To form such an Image of this in your Minds as no Words can express make Eternity present to you Suppose this World to be at an End as it will very suddenly be with us all and that we were at this time in an Eternal State of Happiness or Misery either with Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom or with Dives in Hell tormented in endless Flames Whatever the Happiness or Misery of the next State is is it possible for us now to conceive what Passions will accompany this Thought that whether we find our selves happy or miserable we shall be so for ever What is the secure Triumph of a never fading Crown What is the Terror Confusion Amazement of a never dying Worm Thus it will be with us as soon as we remove out of this World and if the Thoughts of Eternal Miseries when we think seriously of them do now astonish us if the Hope of Immortal Life does now transport good Men and give them the Victory over this present World what will it do when they shall see and feel what they now only fear or hope And is this so unreasonable a thing to suppose the other World present which a very few Years it may be a few Days will make present to us When we are so near the Grave can not we look a little beyond it and by an Eye of Faith contemplate the endless Happiness of good Men and the endless Miseries of the Wicked This is what the Apostle means by looking at the things which are not seen to have our Eyes fixt upon the other World as if it were present and there is very great reason for it for though these Eternal Things are not yet present to us yet Eternity is Though we do not yet see that eternal and unchangeable State of Happiness or Misery yet we now know as well what Eternity signifies as ever we shall do and therefore we may contemplate the Nature of Eternity and deeply affect our Minds with the Hope and Fear of it Though our Life in this World is short and perishing yet our Souls are immortal and therefore we are already Immortal Creatures and an Immortal Creature from the first Moment of his Being is in Eternity because he can never wholly die or cease to be So that Eternity as it signifies an endless Duration is as much present to us now as ever it will be though we are not yet in that unchangeable State which shall last for ever And does it not become an Eternal Being to think of Eternity when though we shall not always be what we now are yet we shall always be and a Creature which shall always be ought above all to look at those unseen Things which shall always be An Immortal Creature which must live for ever is very little concerned in a changeable and vanishing State for what do threescore or fourscore years signify when we must live for ever They bear no proportion to Eternity and therefore can challenge but a very little Share and Interest in our Thoughts An Immortal Creature must design nothing less than an Immortal Happiness because nothing less is commensurate to our Being and for the same Reason that we desire to be happy we must desire to be happy as long as we are No time can be too soon for such Thoughts because an Immortal Creature should never live a Day without them Were we to spend Eternity in an endless round of Changes we should be no farther concerned than to make every State of Life as easy and entertaining as we could But when we know this World is the only changeable Scene and that we must pass from hence into an Eternal and Unchangeable State and that we must be either happy or miserable for ever according as we behave our selves in this World not to make Eternal Happiness the commanding and governing Design of our Lives or to run any Hazard of it for the sake of present things is such a Degeneracy of an Immortal Nature that such men very well deserve if not to forfeit Immortal Being yet to forfeit Immortal Happiness But not to dissemble any difficulties I will propose this Case as fairly as any one can desire No Man is so perfectly bruitish as absolutely to prefer Time before Eternity every man had rather live for ever but the difficulty is when we may live threescore or fourscore Years in this World which though it be nothing to Eternity yet is a very long State of Temptation to deny our selves for so long a time the present Pleasures and Satisfactions of Life for the absent and unknown though the endless Happiness of the next Life The pretended Difficulties you see are the present uneasy Restraints which the Practice of Virtue lays upon our sensual Inclinations and that we must deny our selves these present Satisfactions for the long Expectation of an absent and unknown Happiness Now I shall not at present dispute the Point between Vertue and Licentiousness which of them contributes most to the present Ease and Pleasure of Life But to make you sensible how unreasonable an Objection this is I will put you another Case Suppose instead of the Promise of Heaven God had promised Immortal Life in this World to the practice of Virtue that this World should have been a Paradise to all Virtuous Men where they should have lived for ever and that wicked Men should have lived a very little while nay suppose the longest Period of Human Life in this World and then have been cut off by some exemplary Punishment and have perished in the Grave what would you think reasonable in this Case to chuse a Vertuous Immortality or the short and dying Pleasures of Sin You could not pretend in this Case that the Rewards were absent and unknown for they would be present and sensible they would be seen things as all the Happiness of this Life is But the difficulties of Vertue till we had brought our earthly Appetites and Passions under government would be the same that they are now And if you would think it reasonable to be vertuous for an earthly Immortality as I perswade my self most Men