are quick and knowing Spirits they could not but immediately perceive their Unhappiness and make a just Estimate of the Greatness of it The Sense of this indeed could not but make them lament their Folly and repent also if a violent Sorrow only for past miscarriages could be called Repentance For that the Devils have such sorrow cannot be denied since in this consists their Torment but an unsuccessful Sorrow a Sorrow without submission to the just hand of God a Sorrow which God will not accept and which therefore will continue for ever heightened by the greatest Aggravations as being the result of an unspeakable and which is more irrecoverable Loss not to be ended by Death nor diverted by a stupid inconsideration but placed in a knowing active always thinking and immortal Spirit Such a Spirit endued with such active Faculties and tormented with such dismal Thoughts of Unhappiness may well be supposed to conceive the utmost Degree of Rage and Malice The Disappointment of Pride naturally produceth those Effects in Men which Effects could not but be so much the stronger in the fallen Angels by how much their Faculties were more lively and capacious In Men indeed there are many sins which they are not capable of as all those which arise from the inordinate Appetite of the Body as Lust Intemperance and Covetousness but there are others which are purely immaterial and take place only in the Soul as Malice Hatred Envy and Revenge These those unhappy Spirits possess in their full Perfection which they continually exert either aganist God who inflicted that Unhappiness as a Punishment upon them and altho' he might have annihilated them in their first Attempt yet continues their Existence to them and therein their Misery or against Man who by the Favour of God is made capable of attaining that Happiness which they lost and placed in Dignity above them who had endeavoured to set themselves above their fellow Angels and even equal to God himself Inspired with these wicked Thoughts they employ themselves continually in opposition to the Will of God and because this Opposition can take place only in hindring the Happiness of Man designed and desired by God use their utmost Endeavours to effect it The Disposition of all inanimate Bodies and the Course of the material World God hath determined by fixed and certain Laws of Motion which it exceeds their Power to reverse or change but Man being left to the use of his own Free-will and not determined by the Power of God to any certain Actions admits the interposition of evil Spirits It is true they alleviate not their own Torments nor gain any real Advantage hereby yet ought not this to make us believe that they do not busie themselves in tempting of us since it cannot be denied that Man reaps no real Profit by his sins and yet it is too sad a Truth that Men do often sin and that false satisfaction which Men receive from gratifying their Lusts the Devils obtain by serving their Revenge and Envy So then that the Devils should desire to draw us into the same Unhappiness with themselves is no wonder It is only somewhat difficult to conceive how they should effect their Desires and have any influence upon our Wills To satisfie this Difficulty many have entertained false Notions of things which it will be adviseable to remove before I enter into the direct Consideration of the manner whereby evil Spirits tempt us And first It were needless to refute the Errour of the Manichees or Valentinians who gave to the Devil an independent Existence from God and uncontrolable by him nay all the Attributes of God save that of Goodness allowed him an infinite Power whereby he could force the Wills of Men and bind them to the Observation of his wicked Counsels It is not much to be feared that any Christian would at this time be guilty of such an absurd Heresie Yet many perhaps from the frequent Experience of their own yielding to the Temptations of the Devil may be so far corrupted in Judgment as to believe them irresistible or at least plead this in excuse of their Impenitence To such it may not be amiss to observe that it exceeds the Power of any finite Being to force the Will of Man for that were to overthrow the very Essence of Man and thereby change the ordinary Laws of Nature to which all Creatures and amongst them Devils also are subjected Add to this the many Exhortations in Scripture to resist their Temptations which would have been vain if these had been irresistible the Promise of God also that we shall not be tempted above what we are able to bear which would not have taken place if we could not overcome all Temptations and the Experience of good Christians who daily resist and surmount them Even the worst of Men might baffle them if they would use the natural Power of their Souls assisted with that common Grace which is denied to none So that what the Aposte saith of some Men 2 Tim. II. 26. That they are taken captive by him at his Will is not to be understood without their own Consent yielding up themselves to his Conduct and voluntarily following his Suggestions which also appears from the Apostles command to Timothy in the precedent words of instructing them That they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil A second Errour in this Matter is that God giveth to the Devil an extraordinary Power of tempting Men a Mistake which may be observed in many of the ancient and even modern Writers who hence take occasion to magnifie the Grace of God and the Merits of Mans obedience the First in that God hath graciously contrived this impediment of obedience to Man that so his obedience might become the more meritorious and the latter in that Man performs his Duty notwithstanding so great Impediments This opinion altho' received would not in the least clear our doubt since it would still remain to be enquired in what manner the Devils exercise this delegated Power but that it should not be admitted it is enough to say That it is injurious to the Honour of God If it were is God might justly be said to tempt us contrary to what the Apostle teacheth Let no man when he is tempted say that he is tempted of God For God tempteth no man It is impossible that so excellent a Being should be guilty of such double Dealing as to command the Observation of his Laws and at the same time tempt us to the Violation of them to allure and enable us to obey him by Promises by Threats and by the assistance of his Holy Spirit and to divert us from it by the interposition of evil Spirits employed by him This were to ascribe no less Injustice to him than to the Devils themselves Nay to blacken Him and to clear them in the matter of Temptation For if the Devils herein act by the extraordinary Power of God they act
Conviction would be no less unuseful and unsuccessful than are the ordinary means And that will appear either if we reflect on the Reasons which defeat the Success of the ordinary means or the force of those Objections to which both Methods are liable The true Cause which renders the ordinary means unsuccessful is not the want of Evidence but the opposition of it to the Lusts and Passions of Men. It finds no welcome Reception in World because contrary to the Genius the of it it abridgeth the Sensuality the corrupt Desires and inclinations of Mankind A covetous Man will not obey it least he should forgoe the immoderate Love of Riches A carnal Man will not receive it least he be obliged to restrain his admired Enjoyments It forbiddeth Revenge Envy and Malice and therefore Minds possessed with these Vices cannot bear it These are the Impediments which defeat the Efficacy of the Christian Religion they plead more strongly and perswade more effectually than the Arguments which recommend that excellent Religion Few or none who enter into the Consideration of it perceive not the just Motives of its Credibility They acknowledge it reasonable to Assent to it but then comparing the Pleasure of sin forbidden by it with the certainty of those Promises and Threats which are annexed to it they willingly over see and reject the latter that they may not forego the former And while Men act thus against the Dictates of Reason no Evidence of Miracles will be able to reform them If any such were performed for their satisfaction it could have no other Effect than to convince them of the reasonableness and truth of that Religion in Confirmation of which they were wrought and this Conviction is already sufficiently performed by the ordinary means So that in both Cases Reason directs them to embrace and obey this Divine Revelation and if in one Case the direction of reason be rejected it can scarce be hoped that in another it will be admitted For all true Piety and Religion proceeds upon this Principle a Resolution of performing whatsoever Reason shall direct And if this Principle be once violated it is no matter whether the Evidence of Reason be greater or less since the Man is resolved not to obey it any farther than it shall agree with his own Lusts. For Miracles affect the understanding only they reform not the Will of Man They induce him indeed to look up to the Author of them from whom he is to receive direction but remove not those Lusts and Passions which oppose the performance of that Divine Direction The same irregular Desires continue the same Affections possess his Soul and will infallibly render the greatest Evidence of Duty unsuccessful until a firm Resolution be formed by him of performing whatsoever shall appear to be his Duty of submitting to whatsoever Reason shall direct of Assenting to whatsoever it shall recommend And when this Resolution is once formed the ordinary means setled for the Conveyance of Religion will obtain equal Success with any extraordinary methods whatsoever since even in that sufficient Evidence may be found to convince Mankind of the truth of it and therefore Reason directs and requires Obedience and Assent to it No wonder then that the Jews even under the Government of Moses while they enjoyed the sight of frequent Miracles nay for Forty years together were fed by a constant Miracle continued still no less disobedient made frequent Apostacies from God rebelled against his Prophet by whose Ministration those Miracles were performed and could never be brought to any tolerable sense or practice of Religion In departing out of Egypt they had not left their vicious Inclinations behind them but retained the same Sensuality and Perverseness of mind In which Case it was not possible that the clearest Demonstration of Divine Revelation could make any impression on them It was all one whether God wrought one or ten thousand Miracles for their satisfaction since one alone might convince them and all together could do no more as a blind Man receives no more advantage from the light of the Sun than from a single Star Our Lord indeed saith in Matth. XI 21. That if the mighty works which were done in Bethsaida among the Jews had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes But this may well be supposed to have been said rather to exaggerate the Impenitence and Perverseness of the Jews than to declare what would have been the certain Event if those Miracles had really been performed in Tyre and Sidon Besides the Case was infinitely different between the Jews and the Tyrians The former had a standing Rule of Faith whereby to receive the Knowledge of the Will of God in the Writings of Moses and the Prophets the others wanted that advantage The Tradition of the first Patriarchs whence they also descended had been worn out by a long Succession of time and the Notions of natural Religion had been defaced by long disuse so that Miracles were even necessary to supply that defect and restore the Knowledge of true Religion among them and had they seen the mighty works of the blessed Jesus it is not improbable but that they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes Farther if we consider the common Objections to which the ordinary method of conveying Religion long since setled without Miracles and the extraordinary method by Miracles are subject we shall find them equal on both sides The general Objection against the ordinary method is the want of absolute Demonstration and even altho' Miracles should be always continu'd that still would be wanting Men desirous to retain their Vices in Contradiction to the Precepts of Religion would still alledge That those Miracles were no other than Illusions that their Senses deceived them or were imposed on by Tricks and Impostures Particularly that sort of method which the rich Man in the Text desired might be employed for the Conversion of his Brethren would be of all others the most exceptionable I mean the Apparition of the Spirits of deceased Men assuring the living of the reality of another Life It would be impossible to form Rules whereby to distinguish true from imaginary Apparitions the appearance of humane Souls from Illusion of evil Spirits Or if such Rules could be formed Men could never be assured of the Truth of what they should reveal since the Souls of Men put not off their Vices with the Body and may still retain such Sins as may be Exercised without the assistance of corporeal Organs such as Envy Malice Lying and Fraud Or if all these Difficulties were removed the Terror and Affrightment attending such Apparitions would infallibly hinder all clear Perception either of the reality of the Apparition or of the Matters revealed in it If then there be any here as it is a Prejudice common to many Christians who imagines that if he had lived in the time of Christ and his Apostles and had seen with
uncontrouled Tyranny in the World He had withdrawn the far greatest part of Mankind from the worship of the true God and caused the worship of himself to become the publick Religion of all Nations except the Jews Even the Jews he had often seduced to Idolatry and Disobedience to the Divine Commands and had newly instigated them to imbrue their hands in the Blood of their Messias All these enormous Crimes this continued Rebellion against God and particularly the last and greatest the Death of Christ did require from the Judge of all the World a severe Punishment which is therefore called Judgment in the Text because a Sentence proceeding from the Rules of Justice This Sentence was to be executed under the Gospel of Christ as we are told above in the XII 31. Now is the judgment of this world now shall the prince of this world be cast out The Execution of it was to be performed by the Preaching of the Gospel which should destroy the Powers of Hell free Men from the Captivity of Sin and withdraw the World from the Worship of Devils This to those proud Spirits was the sharpest Punishment which could possibly be inflicted and this was begun by the Mission of the Holy Ghost and carried on and compleated by the Gifts and Graces derived down and continued to the Church from his blessed Influence From the Blessings of this day it was that the Apostles received Abilities and Courage to preach the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the Earth to beat down the strong holds of Sin to ruin the power of Satan to turn Men to the Knowledge and Obedience of God From the Continuation of these Blessings the Church hath been always defended from the secret and open Assaults of these infernal Spirits the Governors and Ministers of the Church have been enabled to preach the Truth and discharge their Office successfully and all the Members of the Church have been established in the Faith and supported against all the Temptations of wicked Spirits So eminently did God upon this day exercise Judgment upon the Prince of this World that thenceforward his Kingdom continually decreased his Oracles were silenced his Altars abandoned his Worship relinquished his Disciples diminished until a glorious Church was founded in all parts of the Earth which by a solemn Engagement her Vow in Baptism professeth Enmity unto him Upon all these accounts did the Holy Ghost as a most faithful Advocate at his first Mission plead the Cause of Christ against his Adversaries whether the Devil or the Jews his Persecutors and upon the same accounts doth that blessed Spirit who was promised to remain with the Church till the end of the World and execute the Office of Advocate till the Consummation of all things still continue to plead the Cause of Christ against all his Enemies and that he should do so is highly requisite The Devil still assaults the Church by open Force or secret Temptations and to these the Holy Spirit opposeth his Gifts and Graces Infidels and Hereticks still profess Unbelief to the Doctrines of it and to these he opposeth the same Arguments of Conviction which were before manifested to have proceeded from his Mission All these remain yet in their full force Lastly even in the bosom of the Church among the Professors of Christianity are many to be found against whom it is necessary that the Holy Spirit should still plead the Cause of Christ which they discredit by their Sins and blaspheme by their Lives crucifying afresh the Lord of life and putting him to an open shame In that no less guilty than all those Enemies of Christ which the Holy Ghost at his first Mission was to convince For did the Jews disbelieve the Doctrine of Christ before the undeniable Confirmation added to it in the Mysteries of this day These Men by their Actions proclaim their Unbelief even after the Reception of this Confirmation Did the Spirit of God take so much pains to manifest the unerring Justice of God in the distribution of Rewards and Punishments After all these Men live insensible of either slighting his Rewards and defying his Punishments Did Christ come into the World and die a painful Death Did God exert his Power in so many Miracles Did the Holy Spirit descend as upon this day to put an end to the Empire of the Devil These Men by Perseverance in Sin endeavour to re-establish it in the World and do effectually restore it in their own Souls Justly therefore may this Eternal Advocate implead these Men before the last Tribunal I have conveyed the Knowledge of the true God even to these Sinners I have convinced them of the Truth of the Christian Faith at least they will pretend themselves to have been convinced I have nourished this Knowledge by causing the Holy Scriptures to be writ for their Edification I have endeavoured the Improvement of it by the constant Exhortation of those my Officers which I have settled in the Church I have assisted it by the grant of all necessary Graces as often as desired yet notwithstanding all this they have lived as if they knew not of it much less as if they were convinced of it All my Graces and Sollicitations of them have produced no other effect than to render their Sin the more hainous in that they have wilfully disobeyed my Commands slighted my Directions contemned my Exhortations and stifled my Motions All false Perswasions which might betray them to Sin and Disobedience I have long since corrected If they imagine the Disbelief or which is all one the Neglect of my Doctrines to be no hainous Crime I have long since convinced the World of Sin If they fancy God not to be an unerring and infallible Judge in the Dispensation of Rewards and Punishments I have long ago reproved the World of Righteousness If they pretend the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil to be irresistable I have long since judged the prince of this world taken away his Kingdom and limited his Power These then are the most criminal Enemies of the Name of Christ who being by me convinced of their Duty to obey his Laws refused to perform them who serving under his banner and kindly intreated by him deserted his Service and delivered up themselves to his and their own Enemy from whose Tyranny I had before freed them What then shall we plead in behalf of our selves at that dreadful day Shall we alledge want of Conviction That we pretend not to or if we should the Holy Ghost hath by the Wonders and Benefits of this day effectually confuted that pretence Shall we say that we believed not God to have been in earnest when he allured us with Rewards or threatened us with Punishments That Plea is removed by the Assertion of the Righteousness of God made upon this day Or shall we excuse our selves with want of extraordinary Assistances and Graces of the Holy Spirit enabling us to perform our Duty and overcome
directly affected not his Mind which still remained untouched exposed indeed to the ordinary assaults of the Devil which assaults as they were not suspended by God so neither were they assisted by him Which assaults how they are affected by the natural power of the Devil I come next to enquire having first observed to you that although we could not conceive or explain the manner of it we should have no reasonable cause to doubt of it Our own experience will not suffer us to admit such doubts and that the Faculties and Operations of immaterial Beings are imperceptible to us we have the example of our Soul which although it be so nearly related to us we know but very imperfectly the manner and spring of all her Actions The Devil is said to tempt us two ways properly and improperly Innumerable Examples of each may be brought from Scripture The latter is not hard to be conceived and is no more than this that as the Devil was the first Apostate and Rebel against God and still continueth his opposition to him so he is the Captain and Head of all which opposeth God as are the Lusts the Passions and the Sins of Men Which being excited by sublunary Objects by worldly Pleasures whatsoever is done by these in opposition to God is ascribed to him as done after his Example and under his Banner Since his Fall the World is in a manner divided between God and him whatsoever is good and excellent proceeds from God and is done by his Influence Command Direction and Perswasion Whatsoever is bad and repugnant to the Laws of God is done by the example of the Devil by imitating him following his Conduct and entring into his Government For thus all Beings disobedient to God may be said to constitute one Society whereof the Devil is the Head And because this Society busie themselves wholly in the things of this World and are deluded by gross Pleasures he is called the Prince of this World and the Prince of the Air not that he hath or ever had the disposition of things here below the disposal of Kingdoms or distribution of temporal conveniencies or inconveniencies which hath been the mistake of some Such Power never belonged to him He told our Saviour indeed in tempting of him that all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them were his and that he would give them to him if he would fall down and Worship him But he was a Liar from the Beginning it was more than he could perform The Devil is said properly to tempt Men by acting immediately upon their Souls by suggesting wicked thoughts unto them by instigating them to Wickedness and Disobedience And this is that temptation by which we so much suffer which we so much fear and by which he executes his Malice and Hatred upon Mankind There are but two possible ways by which this can easily be supposed to be performed since an extraordinary Derivation of Power from God is rejected The first is by moving the imaginations of Men and producing whatsoever Thoughts and Ideas he thinks fit by moving their Animal Spirits which in Man have so near a Connexion with the thoughts of the Soul that such motions in them will infallibly and unavoidably produce such thoughts in the Soul Now it is not impossible to conceive that the Devils as they are most sagacious Spirits and of long experience may have observed and found to which motions of the Spirits such and such thoughts of the Soul are annexed and accordingly procure those motions as often as they desire to introduce such thoughts For it is highly probable that all immaterial Beings have a natural power of moving matter We find that in our own Soul which is the lowest of all such Beings that moveth our Spirits and by the assistance of those our whole Body It no sooner formeth an Idea but the Spirits attend the Formation of it and are moved according to its Diversity There is no more necessary Connexion between the Thoughts of the Soul and the Motions of the Body than between the latter and the Thoughts of any other immaterial Being So that the Devil may well be supposed to be able to make impressions on our Imagination by the Motion of these Spirits Yet it will not follow from hence that he is able to move or disorder our whole Bodies since to the former is required the consent of our Will which is in our own Power and doth not necessarily follow any Motion of the Spirits To the latter is required a Power transcending the ordinary Laws of Nature whereby the Causes and Effects of Health and Strength are settled and preserved which are not in the least violated by such Motions in the Brain as produce a bare Idea or naked Conception of any thing This way of impressing Thoughts in our Mind is possible But it is more probable that all immaterial Beings can communicate Thoughts and make impressions on each other Without this it not be imagined how a Society of Angels or Devils can consist and yet that there are a Society of each the Scripture assures us If one Man cannot immediately impress a Thought in the Soul of another it is no wonder We are here inchained in a Body in which state no approaches can be made to us but by the Organs of the Body Nature hath provided another way for Men to communicate their Thoughts which when it shall cease by putting off the Body we have just ground to believe that we shall obtain that Priviledge common to other imaterial Beings of communicating our Thoughts to each other by immediate influence At least it is most certain that Angels and Devils have that Priviledge because they have formed Societies which they could not have done without it And if they can impress any Thoughts upon each other that is upon Beings of equal Dignity they are surely much more able to do it upon those of an inferiour Rank and Capacity such as are the Souls of Men. Both these ways are possible but that the Devils do tempt us by either of these Methods I dare not determine It is sufficient to shew that what we believe concerning the Temptation of evil Spirits is possible and agreeable to Reason And this I have spoken to you as Persons desiring satisfaction in the Truth of this Article of Christianity I will now return and speak to you as Christians firmly perswaded of this Truth that the Devils do tempt us From what hath been said you may take a just Estimate of the efficacy of the Devil's Temptations and our Ability to resist him He can proceed indeed no farther than to suggest the first Cogitations of any Object and if Man also stopped here he would never forfeit his Innocence the Devil would never obtain his desired End He can do no more indeed yet this he improves to great advantage and with that success which we all lament He knoweth the Constitutions of all Men and
to the Soul We believe indeed That our Bodies shall be hereafter invested with Immortality and made Partakers of the Glories of Heaven but then they shall be changed into a spiritual Nature devested of these gross Senses which now accompany us and are the great Instruments of our Worldly and admired Pleasures For then There will be neither eating nor drinking marrying nor giving in marriage but we shall be like the Angels of heaven in the Fruition of purely spiritual Delights Which is an invincible Argument of the Vanity and Vileness of earthly and carnal Enjoyments that we cannot be made happy without the loss of them If they had been indeed of any real worth God would have continued them to us in another Life But since he hath made way to the Consummation of humane Happiness by the Abolishment of all gross and sensual Pleasures and despoils the Body to enrich the Soul We cannot but conclude these transitory Enjoyments are light and trifling incompatible with real Happiness and unworthy the Spirits of just men made perfect I come next to consider the Excellency of those peculiar Perfections and Rewards which the Soul is capable of beyond the Body Those Pleasures of which alone our Body is capable and which we are apt so much to admire here below consist only in the Gratification of our Senses Delights which are so far beneath true Happiness that they are common to Beasts finite short and contemptible The frequent Repetition of them may be thought to increase their worth but then this very Repetition becomes nauseous and is nothing else but the Reiteration of the same thing The desire of them is commonly produced by an irregular Appetite but always by the infirmity of our Nature and when performed they leave no Satisfaction behind them They cloy the Appetite and by their frequency become troublesome and even odious to us are finished in a few moments and then leave nothing grateful behind them But which is chiefly to be considered end with our Life and even in Life may be obstructed by Diseases and Calamities An eminent Instance of this we have in Solomon in whom all the Greatness and â—leasures of the World were joyned He presided over a mighty and powerful People and that in greater Glory than all the Kings before or after him So that if Ambition worldly Honour and Pomp could make him Happy he possessed them all in great abundance If the Fame of Wisdom and a profound Veneration among neighbour Nations could increase this Happiness it was not wanting to him to whom the Queen of Sheba came from the farthest parts of the East to hear the wisdom of his mouth If Riches can confer any thing to this desired Perfection none can put in a better Claim for it than he in whose time Gold was esteemed no more than Iron and Silver as stones for the abundance of it Lastly if the Pleasures of Sense can compleat our Happiness none had greater Advantages than he at whose Command was the most fruitful part of the World and who was Blessed with a profound and uninterrupted Peace all his Life And least we should imagine that he made no use of all these Advantages and supposed means of Happiness he assureth us Eccles. II. 10. That whatsoever his eyes desired he kept not from them nor with-held his heart from any joy Nay by a strange kind of Curiosity that he might leave nothing unattempted he tells us That he gave his heart to know madness and folly Eccles. I. 17. One who had all these Advantages had run thro' all the Scenes of Pleasure and could by his exquisite Wisdom and Knowledge of the Nature of things heighten and refine these Pleasures must be allowed to be a competent Judge of the worth and value of them Yet after all he gives this Verdict of them Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity If then no real Happiness if no solid Pleasure can be had from the Enjoyments of Sense from Riches and the outward Pomp of the World we must recurr to the Faculties of the Mind where we shall find an Happiness truly solid and which is more eternal None but a vast and infinite Good can satisfie the unbounded Desires of our Mind nothing less than Eternity it self can satiate an immortal Being For however our Souls be finite as all other Creatures are yet our Wills have no limits but continually desire somewhat more unless that Good which they already possess can receive no farther Additions This Good is no other than God who alone can fix our restless Wills and by his infinite Perfections ravish them with Wonder and Pleasure at the same time This is a Happiness truly peculiar to spiritual Beings who alone can contemplate the Majesty and inimitable Goodness of their Creator and by so doing secure to themselves an Happiness infinite in it self not inferior to the vast Desires of the Will which surviveth all the changes of Fortune Malice of Men and even Death it self If we cannot or will not believe the Greatness of these spiritual Pleasures their convenience to the Nature of our Souls and the infinite duration of them 't is because we are unacquainted with them immersed in gross and earthly Delights so far that we are neither willing nor perhaps able to receive these greater and more real Enjoyments by attending so much to the things of this World we have even changed the Nature and Nobleness of our Souls and from Guides and Directors made them mere Instruments to our Bodies devested them of all remembrance of their Divine Original degraded them into a servile Condition and were we not sometimes put in mind of the interest of another World should perhaps forget that we were created in a Condition little lower than the Angels Thus far Reason teacheth us That the interests of the Soul are to be preferred to those of the Body Revelation doth the same no less fully This was the great end of the Christian Religion to wean our Affections from worldly Pleasures and fix them upon things above to withdraw us by degrees from the Earth and seat us at last in Heaven To this the whole Genius and Temper of our Religion plainly tends commanding us to be ready at all times to take up the Cross undergo Persecutions embrace Afflictions and even suffer Death when the interest of our Souls requireth us to do it Thus our Saviour tells us He who loveth Father and Mother Wife or Possessions beyond him is not fit to be his Disciple and among other Precepts commands that his Followers should deny themselves that is be ready to part with all the Pleasures of the World and imaginary Delights of Nature when they stand in Competition with the interests of another Life This Duty is so strict that for the Observation of the most minute Precept all Considerations of wordly Profit and Pleasure must be foregone and the whole Body destroyed rather than the Soul in the least be injured Our
eternal Happiness and true Christian Obedience which no change of Fortune can dissolve no unforeseen Calamity can overthrow Therein the Undertaker is only to answer for his Diligence nor is any thing required to compleat his Success but what is intirely in his Power If he be not wanting to himself he may rest secure of the Reward the Nature the Extent the Duration and the Seat of which our Lord hath fully made known unto Man that so he might not any longer be distracted with anxious Thoughts about it and so hath upon that account also as he Promised in the precedent Verses given Rest unto his Soul wearied before with a Fruitless and uncertain Search of Happiness The last Argument which I proposed to speak of is taken from the external Assistance which Christ hath Promised and doth still continue to his Disciples in the Exercise of their Duty Our Lord in imposing his Yoke upon Mankind knew very well the Infirmities of their Nature the Opposition of his Precepts to their ordinary Passions the Tenderness and Clemency which became the Saviour Redeemer and Mediator of Mankind and therefore did not abandon them to the Conduct of their Free-will alone but assisted their Obedience with the Motions of his Holy Spirit with those supernatural Gifts and Graces which he bestows upon all his sincere Disciples which render the imposition of those Precepts which he laid upon them Easie and Pleasant to them To convey this Grace to all the worthy Receivers of it he hath founded a Church a Society of Men professing and publickly declaring Obedience to him in that manner and with those Rites which himself hath instituted He hath made himself the Head of this Body and as such Communicates the influences of his Blessed Spirit to all the Members of it to us who continue in Communion with it If any separate themselves from this Body whereof himself is the Head they cease to have any Relation to him receive none of those supernatural Assistances which are derived from the Head to all parts of the Body At least they cannot receive them by the ordinary method appointed to convey them And if any pretend new Lights and new Ways they are such as have no Promise annexed to them It is not to be admired therefore what may be truly observed That all Hereticks and Schismaticks dividing themselves from the Communion of the Church have in all Ages endeavoured to take away the Obligation of moral Duties and set up the Pretence of greater Lights of a more refined Knowledge to compensate the neglect of Temperance and Meekness of Justice and Charity They having divided themselves from the Body of the Church cut off the ordinary Communication between Christ and them and thereby depriving themselves of the benefit of those Divine Graces and Assistances which are conveyed by that Channel found themselves unable to Practise those Christian Vertues which our Lord requireth of his Disciples and therefore endeavoured to annul the necessity and Obligation of them But this is not to alleviate but to cast off the Yoke of Christ to Claim the Benefits and refuse the Conditions of the Covenant which he made with Mankind and in the mean while to cheat themselves and others with vain Perswasions and arrogant Pretences Our Lord hath Promised the Assistance of his Spirit and therein he will not fail he hath settled the means of conveying it and that he Will not change If we slight the Assistance we are unworthy of it if we forsake the means we are incapable Let us rightly esteem and implore this Assistance to our selves let us hold fast the means whereby we may receive it that is a constant Communion with his Body the Church in all her Holy Offices and Sacraments so shall we Experience that his Commands are not only Excellent in themselves agreeable to our Nature and rendred Pleasant by their Reward but are also made Easie by his Grace and the Influences of his Spirit In the whole we shall be convinced of the Truth of what he affirmed That his Yoke is easie and his Burden light and find assurance of what he Promised Rest to our wearied Souls The Thirteenth SERMON PREACH'D At LAMBETH CHAPEL Rom. XII 19. Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath For it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. THE Apostle having exhorted to the Duty of Charity throughout this whole Chapter and enforced his exhortation with many Arguments at last concludeth his Arguments with these words whereby he proveth that to act in a contrary manner were to encroach upon the Prerogative of God and invade what he claimeth peculiarly to himself And surely no less an Argument than the fear of violating the Majesty and the Power of God could deter Men from the Practice and Prosecution of revenge which at first Sight appears to be so natural a Passion in Man and can plead for it self with more plausible Arguments than any other sin whatsoever As that Nature directeth all Creatures to defend themselves and repel the Assaults of Enemies that for this Purpose all Animals are endued with proportionable Strength and Courage that to pass by one Enemy unrevenged exposeth a Man to the insults of Enemies to the scorn of Friends and to renewed Wrongs that it is no other than Baseness and Cowardize an Argument of a mean and timorous Soul to submit patiently to the Affronts and Wrongs of another Man and that to return evil for evil to punish the Malice of an Offender by procuring Loss or Grief to him is no other than a part of distributive Justice of which every Man may be allowed to be the Administrator that so as the smart of Revenge inflicted may punish the Malice of the Aggressor the Pleasure of inflicting Revenge may make some amends for the undeserved Sufferings of the injured Party Such Arguments Men are wont to plead in behalf of Revenge and such did once introduce an universal Opinion in the World that Revenge was not only a Matter allowed but even a Vertue the Duty of every Noble and Couragious mind Consonant to the intentions of Nature and the Office of every private Man Thus the great Masters of Morality among the Heathens among whom nothing is more frequent than such Expressions as these that Revenge is sweeter than Life it self that Moderation is to be observed in creating but none in revenging Injuries that not to revenge a Wrong is an Argument of Fear and Sloth of an unmanly and degenerous Mind On the contrary we are taught throughout this whole Chapter to bless them which persecute us to recompence to no Man evil for evil to live peaceably with all Men and in the last place which concerns my present Design not to avenge our selves but rather give place unto wrath not to take upon us to inflict the Punishment due to any sin of Injustice committed against us but to leave that to be inflicted by God either by
the far greater part of those to whom he writ For it was written in the Prophet Isaiah Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him So that it is undeniable that the Will of God and the Mysteries of Heaven may be unknown to Men acting by the sole Light of Reason but to Men acquainted with the Divine Revelations concerning them may be certainly known Now this is the case of Christianity For as it followeth in the tenth Verse God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit that is by his Son acting by the Spirit and Commission of God and by his Holy Spirit instructing the Apostles in the knowledge of them and confirming them by Signs following And that such Revelation is infallible none can deny for that it proceedeth from one who infallibly knew the Truth of what he taught even the Spirit of God For the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God And least any one should except to these Revelations and deny assent to them because they are things which he never thought of before and which even when revealed to him he cannot well conceive The Apostle shews us that we have no reason to wonder or stumble at this from the obvious Example of the Soul of Man in the 11th Verse The Nature of which cannot be conceived by any Being inferiour to it nor the Secrets or the secret Thoughts of it found out by any Being equal to it For what Man knoweth the things of a Man save the Spirit of Man which is in him Yet would it be unreasonable for an inferiour Being if it could speak and argue to deny that the Soul of Man is endued with noble Faculties because it cannot conceive the Nature of them or for one Man to deny that there are any secret Thoughts in the Soul of another because he cannot attain to the knowledge of them And if things be so then we must allow the Conclusion drawn in the Text Even so the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God and not unreasonably doubt of the truth of them because we cannot conceive the manner and nature of them So then all Objections drawn from the difficulty of the Conception cease and it remains only to consider whether the alledged Revelation be truly Divine This therefore the Apostle asserts in the 12th Verse declaring his Preaching of it to be founded not upon bare Conjectures and nice Conclusions as were the Systems of Philosophy then received and applauded in the World from which he distinguisheth the Christian Faith by these two Characters that this proceeded from the Revelation of God that from the Invention of Men Now we have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God And that whereas the Gentile Philosophy the Wisdom of this World contributed nothing to promote the Happiness of Man and secure to him the Favour of God The other effected both the end of it being no other than that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God Further these Matters when once Revealed and come to our Knowledge as we propose not to others with Artificial Sophistry and Rhetorick so we judge not of the truth of them by pure Arguments of Natural Reason and Logical Inferences Which things also we speak not in the Words which Man's Wisdom teacheth Ver. 13. But as we teach them with that plainness and simplicity which God directeth and confirm the truth of them with those Miracles which he effecteth so we judge of the truth of them no otherwise than by comparing the Nature of the Things revealed with the general Motives of Christian Faith as it followeth But with the Wisdom which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual Now the necessity of this Method in our Enquiry herein the Apostle demonstrates in the 14th Ver. But the natural Man He who judgeth these Revelations only according to his Preconceived Notions taken up from natural Reason and refuseth to believe any thing which he receiveth not from them who weigheth not the external Motives of Credibility reinforcing these Revelations He receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God believeth not these revealed Truths which surmount the reach of naked reason For which reason also They are foolishness unto him because he considers only the difficulty of them and regardeth not the external Arguments of Revelation by which they are recommended So that while he acteth in this irrational Method he cannot know them it is impossible to be convinced of them because they are spiritually discerned not to be found out by the sole Light of Reason but to be received only upon the account of Divine Revelation Whereas he who understandeth well the Motives of Christian Faith and compareth the weight of them with the difficulty of the things Revealed He that is Spiritual Ver. 15. judgeth all things may safely and without Error pronounce of this Matter And in doing so he is not justly to be over-ruled with the Objections of those who consider the thing absolutely in it self and not compared with its Motives of Credibility Yet he himself is judged of no Man Since plain Reason directeth that if the Motives be found weightier than the Difficulties he should declare in favour of the thing Revealed and not be startled at the Difficulties as concerning a subject exceeding the natural Understanding of Man and to be known no otherwise than by the Revelation of God who best knew the truth of it which Revelation we have as it follows in the last Verse For who hath known the Mind of the Lord that he may Instruct him But we have the Mind of Christ. From all that hath been laid down by the Apostle in the Context thus explained we may form these two Considerations whereby to determine the Truth of this Matter I. That we ought not to reject any Articles of Revelation nor be offended at them meerly because we cannot fully conceive the manner of them II. That in judging of the Truth of these Matters we must not consider their internal Probability so much as their external Motives of Credibility First then we ought not to reject any Articles of Faith nor be scandalized at them because we cannot fully conceive the Nature or manner of them For this we cannot rationally do unless we were assured that we fully knew all things and were able to conceive the nature of all Objects Which that we are not we may be convinced if we consider either the Imperfection of our own Understanding or the excellency of many Objects exceeding the Capacity of it 1. The Imperfection of our Understanding appears both from the Consideration of our Nature and from manifold Experience The nature of the Soul of Man is finite and so must the Faculties of it also be One of these is the Understanding which if it were infinite
his Kingdom Thus far Reason will direct us but then Revelation giveth us greater assurance of the constant and immediate Protection of God even in this Life We have the Promises of this Life and of that which is to come we are told That all things shall work together for good to us That whatsoever we shall ask of God with Faith excluding doubt he will do it and that he will never leave us nor forsake us All these and many more such Arguments include an extraordinary influence of God whereby he Administers the Government of the World satisfies his Justice and declares his Goodness Thus all the Attributes of God naturally lead us to the Worship of him thus we cannot conceive his Nature without adoring it cannot consider his Judgments and Justice without fearing his Displeasure and obeying his Commands thus are we on every side surrounded with Arguments of our Duty May God by his Grace improve the Efficacy of these Arguments to every one of us for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. The Fifth SERMON Preach'd on the 4th of August 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Rom. XII 3. For I say unto you through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think AMONG all the miscarriages of Mankind none are more fatal and at the same time more ordinary than those which proceed from a mistaken Opinion of their own Nature or Merits It is a deplorable misfortune indeed that Man should be subject to Mistakes in a Matter so nearly concerning himself that he who pretends to Fathom Heaven and Earth to discover the Properties of invisible Beings and extend his Knowledge both to precedent and future Times should remain in the dark as to his own Condition and entertain erroneous Opinions of his own either natural or acquired Merits Not to comprehend perfectly the Nature of God is no wonder the infinity of his Essence surpasseth the Capacity of our finite Understandings Not to conceive accurately the Properties of immaterial Beings whether Angels or separate Souls may be excusable immateriality may easily confound an Apprehension inured only to sensible Objects but to be mistaken in the Nature the Dignity the Capacities of our selves might be justly admired if the frequency of such Mistakes did not take off the Admiration of them If they extended no farther than Speculation they might perhaps be pardoned and befit the Consideration of Philosophers only and thinking Men but when they reach to almost all the Actions of the Soul introduce false Principles of Practice which at last become fatal to the real Interest of Mankind it will concern all Men to take notice of them and to acquire more just Conceptions To this purpose Reason invites us the Scripture directs us to enter into the serious Consideration of our selves to contract our Thoughts and not carry them beyond our Merits to form a just Esteem of our Perfections and not in an over-weening Confidence of them enlarge our Pretensions beyond the Rules of Justice and Sobriety Which is the sum of the Exhortation delivered by the Apostle in the words of the Text being directed indeed more particularly to those Christians of his time who upon pretence of extraordinary Gifts whether of Knowledge Miracles or other Graces despised their Fellow Christians who were less gifted became proud and arrogant invaded the Offices of their Superiors and violated the publick Order of the Church but delivered in such general Terms as equally oppose all other Errors of Men concerning the Dignity of their Nature or the Greatness of their Merits recommended by a peculiar Preface of Divine Authority For I say unto you through the Grace given unto me directed to all Christians To every Man that is among you altho' all cannot be supposed to have been guilty of that particular Exorbitance and proposed in such a general Precept as will obviate all the aforementioned Mistakes and Inconveniencies Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think I shall consider it then as such a general Precept and shew I. The Reasonableness of it II. The Usefulness of it I. The Reasonableness of it will appear by comparing the fond and exorbitant Pretensions of Men with the Imperfections of their Nature Man is apt falâ—ly to perswade himself that he is a greater and more noble sort of Being than he really is He pleaseth himself with vast Conceptions of his own Dignity and upon Confidence of them raiseth his Pretensions to Matters beyond his Capacity at least beyond his Merit This was the Original of all the misfortunes of Mankind from hence was derived the Fall of our first Parents to this we are to ascribe our present and future Misery The wicked Angels had led the way who were no sooner created but reflecting on the Excellency of their Nature the Dignity of their Order and the Capacity of their Understandings became Proud and Insolent rebelled against God and attempted an Independency on the Crown of Heaven Man soon followed the Example of those wicked Spirits who reflecting on the Faculties of his own Soul which were then intire and vigorous exalted with the Happiness of his present Condition which was then free from Cares and Crosses entertained a foolish Ambition of improving his Nature to somewhat yet greater even of making himself like to God himself and so being falsely perswaded by the Serpent that the way to Compass his Designs was to eat of the forbidden Fruit he fell from his former Happiness and entailed Misery upon all his Posterity whose Happiness was from thence abated their Faculties enervated and their Perfections lessened Yet could not the dreadful Example of their first Parents nor the Conscience of their much greater Imperfections divert succeeding Mankind from engaging themselves in the same Mistakes They lost the Dignity but retained the Pride of their Forefathers keep up their Pretensions and flatter themselves with an over-great Opinion of their own Perfections For not to mention the Impiety of Atheists who pretend to be wholly independent from God and deny to have received their Existence from him to omit the Profaness of ancient Epicureans and many modern Deists who disown his Government of the World and imagine themselves to be freed absolutely from his Dominion even those who own the Existence of God his Government of the World and their own Dependance on him still continue extravagant Pretences to greater Perfections than were designed for them We commonly imagine our selves to be the top of the Creation and that all other Beings Heaven and Earth Angels and Animals were created merely for our Service Hence we form a lofty Conceit of our own Excellence and look down upon other Creatures with disdain we grow angry if Heaven and Earth do not continually conspire to advance our Interests we think our selves injured if the general Laws of Providence be not violated for the Promotion of our Concerns we project extraordinary Schemes
can cunningly suggest those Sins unto them to which they are most prone He is unwearied in his Nature as well as Malice and so can continually renew his Suggestions He can improve them with the introducing of all those false Arguments which can recommend any Sin He can propose the Pleasures of the World under the most specious appearance is not discouraged by any repulse renews his Sollicitations with the most constant Diligence If Man considers what Pleasures the World can give him he amplifieth to him the Greatness of them If the Commands of God be reflected on he suggesteth their Difficulty If past Sins be recalled to Mind he exaggerates their Enormity and suggests them to be Unpardonable If good Christians through long strugling and Constancy baffle him in all these Attempts by stifling his wicked Impressions in their first rise by withholding their assent and refusing to embrace his Motions he employeth other Methods and exciles wicked Men who seldom resist his Suggestions because always recommended with the apparent shew of Profit or Pleasure or some other Advantage to assist him in his Design by bad Examples or Counsels and if these be not sufficient by Injuries and Persecutions which was the very case St. Peter particularly speaks of in this place Thus we see what a vigilant and powerful Adversary we have to encounter the Conviction of which will oblige us to reflect seriously upon our ability and means of resisting him to enquire the most secure Methods of opposing him and seriously apply our selves to the Acquisition and Successful use of them This I proposed in the second place to treat of which God willing shall be the Subject of another Discourse The Seventh SERMON PART II. Preach'd on the 29th of Sept. 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL 1 Pet. V. 8 9. Your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour Whom resist stedfast in the Faith HAVING represented to you in my former Discourse upon these words the powerful and constant Opposition made to Mankind in the Prosecution of their Duty by the Temptations of evil Spirits it is but necessary to lay open the Means of resistance which are afforded to Men against these violent and continual Assaults lest the Consideration of that Vigour and for the most part Success wherewith the Devil carrieth on his Assaults should discourage you from a resolute resistance What in other Combats is wont to encourage Men may be reduced either to the Concern of some great Interest as Life and Liberty lying then at stake to be recovered or even improved by Victory and forfeited by a defeat or to the apparent Hopes of Success These Arguments we find by daily Experience want not their Effect to move Men to venture their Lives and Fortunes even singly and without the Conjunction of each other The fear of the Loss of all worldly Happiness will induce Men to fight even when there is little probability of Success and the assured Hopes of Success will produce the same Effect altho' no great Interest be decided by it It may be wondred indeed that what is so ordinary in temporal Matters should seldom be discovered in spiritual Concerns where both these Motives are always joyned together and yet both seldom obtain their Effect Here a far greater Interest lieth at stake than is ever the occasion of temporal Quarrels Here greater certainty of Success appears since here to obtain a Victory depends not upon the Faithfulness of Allies the Courage of other Men or the lucky Accidents of Fortune but upon the single Power of every private Man for which every one can become answerable If after all this the resistance made by Men to the Assaults of evil Spirits be feeble and oft-times unsuccessful we must ascribe it not to the want of Evidence in these Arguments or Conviction of it in the minds of Men but to want of Consideration that Men blindly pursue the Objects of Sense raise not their Souls from the Earth and seldom enter into the Consideration of their spiritual Interests enquire not what opposition they are like to meet with in the Prosecution of them or what Abilities are conferred on them whereby they may defeat this Opposition Men indeed are always ready to ascribe this want of Success to any thing else rather than their own default and so they may excuse themselves care not either to vilifie the Divine Justice or depress their own Natures Thus the Marcionites and other Hereticks of old pretended that the Devil was an Almighty Being whose Will could not be resisted And which is much to the same Purpose in relation to Man some others fear not to maintain that God giveth not sufficient Grace to all whereby he may be resisted with Success If things were so in vain would Men endeavour to resist him nay it would be even irrational to undertake a resistance which we were before assured would be unsuccessful We should then have no more to do than to resign up our Wills to the Suggestion of those evil Spirits and submit our selves quietly to that Tyranny which we foresaw could never be shaken off But far from advising this Submission St. Peter exhorts us to resist stedfast in the faith that is with assured Hopes of Success and Deliverance and that after he had described the fierceness and violence of the Assaults made upon us by our Adversary the Devil by comparing him to a roaring Lion and amplified the dreadful Execution which he performs upon conquer'd Men by saying that he doth devour them Notwithstanding all this he exhorts us to resistance and in resisting him assureth us of Success In pursuing the Design and improving the Exhortation of the Apostle I will consider the Means of resisting the Devil which are possible to Men and these are either Internal the result of their own natural Power or Faculties of their Soul or External the supernatural yet ordinary Gift of God Of these in their Order First then Man is enabled to resist the Temptations of the Devil by his own natural Power and by the due Exercise of the internal Faculties of his Soul To understand this fully it will be necessary to take a View of the methods whereby evil Spirits obtain their influence upon the Minds of Men and effect their Temptations This I treated largely of in my former Discourse and shall only repeat the Summ of it unto you The Devil then operates herein as a natural Agent only whose Nature being finite his Operations must be of a limited Power also He cannot violently over-rule the Minds of Men nor forcibly restrain the Exercise of their Free-wills For this were to change the Nature of Man whereas himself as well as all other Creatures cannot exceed the ordinary Laws of Nature fixed by the great Author of it in the first Creation of the World That therefore Men by their natural Power may resist and surmount his Temptations especially since they are not enforced by an extraordinary
Assistance of God who as he giveth no Commission to the Devil to tempt Men so neither doth he give him any Assistance in the tempting of them That only natural Means therefore remain unto him and that this natural Means can be no other than by working upon the Imaginations of Men that this he effects by imprinting Ideas and Conceptions of several Objects therein either by producing such Motions in the Brain which create such Conceptions in the Soul or by immediately Communicating such Conceptions to it or perhaps by some other unknown way but whatsoever the manner of his Operation may be that the effect is and can be no other than the Production of bare Ideas or first Cogitations in the mind of Man For as for his tempting one Man by the Sollicitation or Persecution of another that must be reduced to the same Original since he could induce one Man to tempt another no otherwise than by tempting that first Man in a proper and strict Sense From this short view of the manner of the Devils effecting his Temptations and the Power which attends them we may easily conceive our own Abilities to resist them For the same Power which we have either to approve or reject the first Thoughts of any Object arising in our Minds the same Power we have to repel the Insinuations of evil Spirits since these extend no farther without our own Concurrence The first Thoughts of the Mind are the bare Conception of any Objects before any Judgment be formed of them or the Will be yet inclined on either side in relation to them As if the Mind should conceive the material Act of any sin and even with all the Circumstances of it and run over all the apparent Advantages which may arise from the Reception of it and yet hath not determined whether it shall admit or reject it Such a bare Conception precedes every Operation of the Will The Imagination or Understanding first represents the Object to the Will and then the Will formeth a Judgment of it either consenting to or disapproving the thing proposed The latter the use of the Will is always in our Power and cannot beforced by any Power whether of Men or Devils nay with Reverence be it spoken cannot be over-ruled by God himself For the measure of his Power is his Will and this cannot be supposed to alter the Nature of things which himself hath fixed and if he should by an extraordinary Act of Power constrain the Will of Man the Operation would be neither good nor bad because not free and so capable neither of Reward nor Punishment So that Man is secure on this side his Will always remains untouched the only Approaches which can be made to him are by his Imagination or Faculty of Conception And this is not always in his Power Evil Spirits may impress Ideas in it without his own Concurrence the Presence of Objects will naturally produce them and the secret workings of Memory will recal them In all this the Will is not concerned such Thoughts will enter into the Soul not only without the Consent but even against the Desire of Man He cannot avoid the Conception of those Objects which are presented to him either by evil Spirits or external Objects or the Suggestion of his own Memory But then as Man cannot avoid them so neither is he to answer for them no more than when he hears the Relation of a Sin committed by another or seeth it with his own Eyes in which Case he cannot avoid the Conception of it and yet is not rendred Guilty thereby Which sufficiently confutes the Opinion of some Men who maintain these first Cogitations to be in our own Power and that as such we are answerable for them For whether the Conception be imprinted in the Mindby the Suggestion of evil Spirits or by the Fruitfulness of our own Invention it is of the same Nature and hath no more necessary Effect than that which is produced by the Report of the Senses whether seeing or hearing In which last Cases it cannot be denied that a Conception of the matter related or seen cannot be prevented The Soul is so quick a Being that no sooner doth the Object strike the Organ of sense but it frameth an idea of it If then in such obvious Cases the first Thoughts of the Soul may be absolutely involuntary if the Mind cannot prevent the gross Operations of Sense much less will it be able to exclude the more subtle Impressions of spiritual Beings such as are the Temptations of Devils or the inward Suggestions of Imagination But then as I said before Man is not accountable for these because not within his Power A Man indeed may turn away his Eyes from beholding Sin he may stop his Ears when he heareth pleasing Relations of Sin he may for the most part stifle these Suggestions whether of evil Spirits or a depraved Imagination he may expel them from his Mind and permit them not to Lodge themselves within his Breast This was the Practice of our blessed Saviour whose Example should be our constant Pattern He had framed such a clear Conviction of his Duty and firm Resolution of performing it that in him to master any Temptation was no more than to discover that it was contrary to the Commands of God and his own Duty No sooner did the Devil suggest to him the miraculous Conversion of Stones into bread for the satisfying of his Hunger but he rejected the Proposal because contrary to a due Reliance upon the Divine Promises of Protection When he would have perswaded him to work an unnecessary Miracle in throwing himself off the Pinacle of the Temple he immediately remembred that God had forbidden Men to tempt his Providence and the remembrance of that Prohibition was a sufficient Safeguard against the Suggestion of the Devil When he tempted our Lord to fall down and worship himself by promising him in Reward the Kingdoms of the earth and all the glory of them he opposed to this the Divine Command of worshipping God alone and did not so much as enter into debate whether he should admit the Proposal but with a generous Disdain immediately rejected all Thoughts of it with a Get thee behind me Satan His Resolutions of Obedience to God alone were as quick as his conceptions of what was proposed to him by the subtle Tempter and that because he had firmly rooted this Principle in his Mind that whatsoever was his Duty he would perform whatsoever was unlawful he would reject If we by assiduous Meditation would take care to fix the same Principle in our Minds if we would diligently recall it to mind as often as any Object of choice were presented to us if the same pious Indignation would seize us as often as any thing were proposed to us Derogatory to the Honour of God and our own real Interest it would be no less easie for us to overcome the Temptations of the Devil than it was for
our Lord and Master The manner of Temptation in each Case was not different being in each Case effected by inward Suggestion For we must not suppose that the Devil visibly appeared to our Lord and spake to him face to face to have proposed his alluring Temptations without any disguise would more have prejudiced the Efficacy of them than all the specious Arguments wherewith he recommended them could have enforced them He tempted Christ by insinuating secretly into his mind such Thoughts as these that since he was Conscious to himself of his Power of working Miracles he had better satisfie his Hunger by turning the Stones into Bread than endure it any longer in awaiting the ordinary Providence of God that to leap off the Pinacle of the Temple and to be seen to be carried safe in the Air would contribute very much to raise his Glory and Fame among Men and that if he would employ that Power of Miracles which he had received from God for the Conversion of the World to the Conquest of it it would be no hard Matter in a short time to gain all the Kingdoms of the Earth and the Glory of them Thus the Devil tempted our Lord and thus he continueth to tempt us with this only difference that our Lord by his excellent Wisdom knew that all those Suggestions proceeded from that wicked Spirit and we when we are tempted by him are wont to ascribe those evil Motions which we then find within our selves to any thing rather than the Suggestion of evil Spirits For since these Suggestions are usually specious Arguments of the extraordinary Pleasure or Profit to be found in sin Men are apt to ascribe all this to the Excellency of their Understanding which as they imagine raiseth them beyond the trifling superstition of religious Fools who are content to forfeit the chief Satisfactions of this Life for fear of offending they know not whom and suffering they know not what or to their own extraordinary Sagacity whereby they alone can discern what is the true Happiness of Man or perhaps reconcile all these sins wherein they delight to their Pretences of future Happiness When indeed pious Men know no less than they what are the specious Arguments recommending sinful Pleasures and by what Methods they may be best enhanced but they will not entertain themselves with such Considerations and if suggested to them presently do remove them not only because by Attention to them they are endangered to be allured or betrayed to Consent to them but also because voluntarily to continue such thoughts in the mind and dwell upon them is a sin since this includes a Connivence of the Will not restraining the Imagination from such impure Ideas and is commonly attended with a sort of Complacency which wanteth nothing but a fit occasion to put the pleasing sin in Practice So then the most secure method of eluding the Temptations of the Devil is to decline his suggestions immediately to remove even the first Thoughts of them and divert the Soul to some lawful Object But because the imagination of Man may be so strongly excited by some violent Object or Impression that it shall not be even in the Power of the Soul to suppress it for some considerable time as we see in violent Passions which can no more be allayed by one Act of Dissent in the Will than a tempestuous Sea be calmed in one minute therefore it will be necessary to provide Remedies against such Adventures And the most effectual is that prescribed by our Saviour Matth. V. 29. 30. If thy right Eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee And if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee c. That is if by the Enjoyment of any otherwise indifferent Object thou find thy self often betrayed to an unlawful use of it or to any other sin deprive thy self even of that lawful Pleasure rather than for the sake of that expose thy Soul to the Danger of total Destruction and thereby forfeit not only that apparent but even all real Satisfactions If by any pleasing Objects of sight thou art apt to be tempted to unlawful Desires by a prudent Caution debar thy self even of those otherwise lawful Pleasures which thou mightest receive from that noble Faculty If grateful Objects of touch do often excite such vehement Passions in thee as cannot be satisfied without the Commission of sin renounce even all lawful Pleasures which thou mightest receive from thence If thou canst not look upon a Woman without lusting after her suffer not thy Eyes to gaze upon her If thou canst not engage in Company without being tempted to Drunkenness deny thy self so dangerous a Satisfaction and so in all other Cases A most Divine Counsel and excellently fitted to defeat the Temptations of the Devil or the Propensity of our own Nature to sin Every Man may discover in himself a Proneness to some particular sin beyond others of which evil Spirits make their advantage and most frequently assault Men by inciting them to the Commission of it Here a Man should be chiefly careful and rather than suffer himself to be led into it dread even the Approaches of it suspect even his lawful Enjoyments of that Object to which the sin relates and if all this Circumspection prevents not the returns of his unlawful Passions as oft as the Object is renewed to renounce even all lawful use of it at least until those Passions can be so far allayed that the Soul can again entertain the Object without any Danger of sin But the most frequent Case remaineth yet to be provided for that is when the Idea produced by the Object or by the suggestion of the Devil is so violent that it cannot be removed by a single Dissent of the Will and notwithstanding all the forementioned rules of Caution is either by our own Negligence or by the subtilty of our Adversary or both actually produced Here it is that the Efficacy of Temptations chiefly appears the Devil is vigilant and unwearied in the prosecution of his Designs attacks us on all sides successively if he be repulsed at one Post he assaults us at another and never gives over till he gaineth entrance Here is the chief Conflict of a Christian when the Suggestion of evils Spirits exciteth his Imagination when his Passions are raised by this Conception when his sensual Appetite grows impetuous opposeth the Directions of Reason and requireth blindly to be satisfied The repugnancy of this to the rational Faculties of the Soul giveth the Devil opportunity to assault us and success in it This proceeds no farther than the bare satisfaction of Sense it lyeth grovelling on the Earth looks not up to Heaven nor discerns any future Hopes therein common with Beasts who pursue the Enjoyment of present Objects without any regard to Futurity This continually inciteth a Man to enjoy the Object which is set before him without enquiring whether it be allowed or forbidden
by God considers no further than whether it be grateful and acceptable to the Sense becomes clamorous if denied and can never be wholly rooted out while we carry this Body about with us whose Wants and natural Motions are the Spring of it It is indeed absolutely subject to the command of the rational Faculty if this exerts its self vigorously and maintains a constant Guard but if it grows remiss if those natural Motions either by Negligence or the Impression of evil Spirits be raised into strong Passions the Danger is evident Sin lieth at the doors and if not repelled by a vigorous Opposition will force its entrance This constant Rebellion of the sensual Appetite against the Reason of Man is that unhappiness which St. Paul so much complains of Rom. VII I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into Captivity to the law of sin c. This alone is a constant Temptation to Mankind but then most dangerous when excited and fomented by the impression of evil Spirits which imprint in the Imagination all those Arguments which can enforce the Desires of the sensual Appetite and render them plausible In Opposition to these we should prepare our selves by a frequent Meditation and full Comprehension of all those Arguments which may perswade us to the performance of our Duty to the restrainment of our Lusts to the continuance of our Obedience If by an assiduous Entertainment of these Arguments in our Thoughts they become familiar and as it were habitual to us no sooner shall we be prompted to sin by the Insurrection of our carnal Appetites or the Sollicitation of infernal Spirits but the contrary Arguments will present themselves oppose and defeat the other If it be suggested to us that this sin includeth some considerable Pleasure the mind on the other side will remember that God sent us not into the World to take our Pleasure as we should think most convenient but to perform those immutable Rules of Justice and Sobriety which he hath prescribed and for the sakes of which he bestowed Existence on us that this proposed Pleasure is indeed mean and trifling depriving us of a far greater Pleasure and drawing eternal Misery upon us If the Body or Imagination now affected urgeth vehemently for the Grant of their Desires the Soul will consider that it is better to deny an unnecessary Gratification to it than to destroy both Soul and Body by a soolish Compliance with it If Secrecy and Security in the Commission of this sin be suggested Reason will oppose the all-seeing Eye of God will dread his Majesty and fear his Anger If the smallness of the sin be pleaded a knowing Soul will presently call to mind that every wilful Sin is mortal and an open Rebellion against God If the uncertainty of future Rewards and Punishments be objected Reason silenceth the Objection and appeals to the Evidence of those Arguments from whence by frequent Meditation it hath received a thorough Conviction And thus in all other Arguments of sin suggested either by the sensual Appetite or the Temptation of the Devil if the Soul be prepared with an exact and ready Comprehension of all the Motives of Obedience if it hath fully weighed them thoroughly digested them and firmly retains them it cannot want the proposed end the defeat of Temptations continuance of Innocence and increase of Piety To prepare the mind with such Considerations will indeed successfully baffle the Assaults of our spiritual Enemy and to employ it continually in such would wholly prevent his Attempt But because such continual Attention to spiritual Meditations is I will not say rare but impracticable in this imperfect State of Life instead of that Men should endeavour to employ their Souls continually with some certain Thoughts which if not Pious yet at least may be innocent It is a no less true than common Maxim That Idleness lays men open to the snare of the Devil The reasonableness of which Position plainly appears from what I have already laid down concerning the manner of the Devils Operation in his Temptation For this Being by imprinting the first Thoughts of any Object in the minds of Men he hath no where so easie an entrance as where the Soul lies open on all sides uncultivated unemployed In such a state the mind of Man is capable of any Impressions and ready to receive them and when it hath received them will scarce make any other than a feeble Opposition to the plausible Insinuations of evil Spirits And for this Reason I suppose the Habitation of the Devil is so often in Scripture said to be more particularly in the Wilderness and in Desart Places where Men for want of Business or innocent Society wherewith to entertain the Faculties of the Soul lay open to his Assaults Whereas if the mind busieth it self continually either in pious Meditations lawful Concerns of the Body Knowledge and Prosecution of useful Arts and Sciences in a chast Society or innocent Recreations the Imagination being prepossessed with the Conception of those Objects wherein the mind is employed leaves no room for the Suggestions of the Devil and happily precludes them Man is a thinking Being enjoying an active and immaterial Soul which as such must necessarily be always employed in some Cogitation or other If then Men will take no care to direct and regulate their Thoughts at all times the infallible effect will be that they must blindly follow either the fortuitous Conceptions of a roving Imagination or the impressions of external Objects or the secret insinuations of subtile and wicked Spirits In this Condition Man inconsiderately follows that Idea which first strikes him and then no wonder the Devil makes use of this favourable opportunity to take Possession of his Imagination and turn it to his own Destruction Having thus represented to you the principal and most effectual Methods of resisting our grand Adversary the Devil arising from our own natural Power and Faculties I proceed to consider the external Assistances whereby Man is enabled to carry on the same Design with Success and these are chiefly two the Grace of God and the Assistance of good Spirits And of these briefly in their Order The Grace of God and the Inspirations of his Holy Spirit are never wanting to faithful Christians in this spiritual Combat He hath engaged that he will never suffer us to be tempted above what we are able but will with the temptation also make a way for us to escape And this Promise he observes inviolably by enlightening our minds by directing our Thoughts by influencing our Wills Not that all the aforementioned Faculties of the Soul of Man and Abilities of resisting the Temptations of evil Spirits are less owing to him than these more extraordinary Emanations both equally proceed from his Gift both are to be ascribed to his Liberality But the former are the natural Faculties of Man which cannot be wanting to him while he is
Man which depend not upon the good or bad use of them and are never withdrawn from us nor denied to us The latter are the supernatural Gift of God which Man cannot claim in right of his Nature are conferred only to the worthy receiver and are withdrawn upon the abuse or neglect of them It is no hard matter to conceive how God herein influenceth the Soul of Man after it hath been shewed that even finite Spirits can effect it If they could by long Experince find out what Cogitations of the mind were annexed to such Motions in the Brain He surely who did at first unite them cannot be ignorant of them If evil Spirits by the Priviledge of immaterial Beings can communicate Thoughts to the Soul of Man by immediate influence He certainly who is the supreme Lord of all can do much more He may proceed in other Methods nothing being impossible to him nor himself subject to the Laws of Nature However this we must assuredly believe that God changeth not the Order of Nature herein in violently with-holding our Wills from Consenting to the Sollicitations of the Devil He deals with us as with rational Beings pointeth out the right way to us perswadeth us to enter into it fixeth Rewards at the end of it moveth us gently by his Holy Spirit to embrace it but after all will not forcibly carry us into it And thus he deals with us when tempted by the Devil he giveth us sufficient strength to withstand him enlightens our Souls with a full Prospect of those Arguments which may withdraw the Will from his Sollicitations but after all leaves it at Liberty and awaits the issue Not that this extraordinary Assistance is given to all who are tempted of the Devil but that it is denied to none who rightly seek it He withdraws his Grace if it be not earnestly desired if it be not thankfully received if it be not soberly used if it be not rightly improved as he formerly delivered up the Rebellious Israelites to their own hearts lusts and to follow their own Imaginations and as still by the solemn Censures of the Church when rightly applied wicked Christians are delivered up to Satan to be led captive by him at his Will Another method whereby God assisteth Mankind extraordinarily against the Temptations of the Devil is by restraining his force and limiting his Malice The Devil cannot perform any Act of Temptation without the ordinary permission of God and oft-times he is extraordinarily restrained by his Almighty Power from tempting faithful Men beyond the proportion of their Ability to endure God putteth a Hook in the Nose of this Leviathan and fixeth his bounds unto him how far he shall pass and no farther as in the Case of Job where he determined how far his Power of Temptation should extend and forbad him to proceed any farther than to such a Degree And this is one of the general and most conspicuous Benefits of Christianity that by the Reception and publick Profession of it the Devil that old Dragon in the Revelations is chained up his Power abridged his Malice weakned Before the Promulgation of the Christian Religion he had procured to himself an universal Worship in the World except in the small spot of Judea erected Oracles and daily effected lying wonders Men were from their Infancy trained up in his Service and to be subject to him was the Unhappiness of their Education If any opposed his Worship he was presently decried as an Atheist as an introducer of new Religions obnoxious to severe Punishments by the Laws of the Empire if Men entertained a Suspicion of that irrational Worship which he had formed he could amuse the Minds of his followers by seeming Miracles Fright them into his Obedience by Prodigies keep up the Reputation of Divinity by Sorceries and Predictions All this was then permitted to him till the glorious Light of the Gospel appeared his Power then sensibly decreased untill the open Exercise of it was wholly determined by the publick Profession of Christianity in the World He was then remanded to the bottomless Pit ceased to be the Prince of the Air deprived of the Power of working apparent Miracles at least in Christian Countries confined to secret and dark Operations only and even those in great measure enervated and defeated by that ordinary Grace which is bestowed on all Christians in the publick Sacraments and Offices of the Church It remains that I add somewhat of the Assistance given to us by good Spirits against the Temptations of evil Spirits of which the Solemnity of this day doth particularly require a grateful Acknowledgment which was piously instituted by the Church in Commemoration of those many and eminent Benefits which we receive from the Holy Angels Among these none of the least is what we now treat of their assisting us in resisting the Temptations of evil Spirits For being ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs for Salvation as it is Heb. I. 14. they apply themselves with unwearied Diligence to this Charitable Office attending the Motions of our Minds insinuating good Counsels countermining the Stratagems of the Devil enlightning the Mind moving the Affections promoting the good of the Soul How all this is performed by them we may easily conceive after a clear Comprehension of the method whereby evil Spirits operate in our Souls For whatsoever natural Power these Possess equally belong to the Holy Angels who partake of the same Nature and differ only in the quality of good and bad If they have the Power of moving Matter and so of affecting our Imagination much more these who are the Messengers of God If they can imprint Ideas in our Mind by immediate influence much more these whose pious Designs are blessed and prospered by their Almighty patron If they by long Observation have found out the turnings and windings of the Heart of Man these possess by Nature an equal knowledge and have obtained a much greater by Divine Communication If they have discovered the less defensible places of the Soul of Man where the Attempt may most successfully be made these have discerned the Arguments of Obedience which are most perswasive to every single Man and fail not to apply them fitly If they prosecute their hatred and wicked Designs against Mankind with unwearied Malice these continue their good Offices with no less constant Diligence and Charity If they be rendered vigorous and powerful in all their Actions by their Subtilty Agility long Experience and comprehensive Knowledge these obtain the same Faculties in equal Perfection and with far greater Probability of success in the use of them in as much as therein these act in Obedience to God they in opposition to him these with a constant Complacency and Prospect of reward to be obtained by it those with a perpetual Vexation as knowing the increase of their Punishment doth attend it these assisted and directed by God those restrained and with-holden by him In
Holiness and Submission to the Divine Will and thereby to serve the great Ends of our Creation yet the Promise of an eternal Crown and the Consideration of so vast an Interest might enforce us to Obedience This obviates all the Objections even of worldly Men who must needs Confess that in vain do they Labour for the Attainment of Felicity in this Life if it can never truly be found on this side Heaven A thorough perswasion of the Truth of this would banish all sinful Temptations and extravagant Desires of carnal Pleasures For Men would be the most deplorable and irrational of all Creatures if they preferred a present trifle before a future Treasure and voluntarily quitted the Life of Angels to retain those Pleasures which are common to Beasts And not only doth this Truth hold in quitting the momentany Enjoyments of this Life and suffering our selves to be deprived of them for an exchange of future Glory but even in undergoing the greatest Afflictions of this Life and embracing Death it self upon the same Account This our Saviour chiefly aims at in this place For when in the foregoing Verses he had foretold that bearing the Cross should be inseparable from the Profession of the Christian Religion and that he who endeavoured to decline this Cross and save his Life by a denial of his Faith should thereby incurr a much greater Punishment than is the loss of this temporal Life he subjoyns in the words of my Text For what shall it profit a Man if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul As if he should say That System of Religion which I have instituted and recommended to you is not intended to enlarge or satisfie the Pleasures of the Body but to increase the Dignity of the Soul improve its Faculties and procure to it a Happiness commensurate to the Vastness of its Desire and the Liberality of its Creator Whosoever therefore seriously intends to become my Disciple and partake of the Benefits of my Gospel must prepare himself with a firm Resolution to quit all the Interests and Advantages of the World embrace Afflictions and not decline Death whensoever the Malice of wicked Men and the Obligation of my Commands shall require that Tryal and Testimony of his Obedience And in so doing he shall not only perform his Duty but secure and promote his Interest For those who shall basely renounce their Allegiance to me or violate my Commands to save their own Lives and avoid the Malice of their Enemies shall after this Life undergo a much greater Loss and Punishment than that which they so Cowardly fear'd and ungenerously declin'd On the other side they who shall willingly lay down their Lives and slight all the Terrors of Men and Devils to preserve their Obedience to me intire and retain the Profession of my Gospel shall be certainly Crowned with so great a Reward that the loss of this temporal Life will be inconsiderable in respect of that eternal Life which is attained by it This is your Interest as well as my Command your Profit as well as Duty For it is not only reasonable that every Man should quit that particular share and Portion which he hath in the Pleasures and Possessions of this World to secure thereby his Hopes of a future Happiness but even if all the Riches and Possessions of the World were â—â—aped upon one single Man or could be all obtained by denial of my Religion or Violation of my Laws yet would it not be a sufficient Motive for so great a Crime And he that should prevaricate upon such mean Considerations would find in the end when he casts up his Account that he hath gained nothing To evince illustrate and recommend to you this great Truth is the Design of my present Discourse Which therefore I shall divide into these two Heads I. That the Interests of the Soul are infinitely greater and more considerable than those of the Body II. That this Interest is destroyed and the Soul rendred miserable by disobedience to the Laws of God I. That the Interests of the Soul are infinitely greater and more considerable than those of the Body And this appears if we consider either the Reason and Nature of things or the Revelation and Commands of God Under the first Head may be comprised the Nature and Dignity of the Soul and the Excellency of those peculiar Perfections and Rewards which the Soul is capable of First then the Dignity and Precedence of the Soul was ever acknowledged in all Ages by wife and learned Men of all Sects and Perswasions nay even the more rude and illiterate parts of Mankind did ever firmly believe this as an Opinion planted in them by the first Dictates of Nature and arising from the first Principles of Reason That we have an immortal Soul is a thing which ought to be supposed by all who profess the least shew of Religion and cannot be denied without the total Destruction of it All false Religions were invented by Men and the true Religion proposed by God merely for the Improvement and direction of this noble Being It is this only which distinguisheth us from the Rank and Condition of Beasts which likens us to God and makes us little inferiour to the Angels It is this whereby we contemplate the admirable and wonderful Perfections of God understand the Wisdom of his Government and the Greatness of his Works It is this alone whereby we form Habits of Vertue and do any thing grateful to our Creator whereby we receive the Instructions of God and know his Will And therefore Prov. XX. 27. the Spirit of Man is called the candle of the Lord because by that only we receive the Divine Illuminations and are instructed in the way to Happiness This Dignity and Preference of the Soul beyond the Body might be at large demonstrated from many other Considerations but I will insist only upon three which are plain and obvious to the understanding of all Men. As first by the Soul alone we receive the influence and benefits of God Some Divine Benefits indeed belong also to the Body as Creation and Preservation but those are common to all other Creatures and belong equally to the vilest of all created Beings whereas the Favours granted to the Soul are peculiar to it and to infinitely greater value For to pass by the natural Priviledges of Knowledge Desire and a Capacity of improvement all the superadded Happiness of our Nature is intirely bestowed on it alone All Revelation was given for the Instruction of this noble Being that so it might not be inferiour to the Angels in Happiness to whom it is little inferiour in Dignity To rescue this from the Slavery of Sin and Dominion of the Devil the Son of God descended from Heaven lived an afflicted Life and died a shameful Death Into this as into a capacious Treasure are all the Divine Graces conveyed Graces of which the Body is no more capable than a Stock or
Stone Lastly by the Merits or Guilt of the Soul the Body will be hereafter either saved or condemned If then all the Blessings of Heaven be primarily bestowed upon the Soul if this be the only receptacle of moral Vertues and Divine Graces if the Son of God vouchsafed to do and suffer so much for the Salvation of it if all the future Happiness of the Body depends upon the well-doing of the Soul certainly this Soul deserveth our greatest Regard and Consideration as by which alone we obtain the Favour of God and are made like unto him by imitating his Perfections as far as our finite Nature will permit us in the Practice of Vertue and Holiness of Life In the next place 't is the Excellency of our Souls alone which distinguisheth one Man from another and maketh any Person more excellent than his Neighbour It is a childish mistake of Men to imagine that Riches or Honour or temporal Greatness gives a real Excellency to Mankind or confers a true Dignity upon the Possessors of them since all these outward Advantages are common to the worst and most profligate of Men who as they are most miserable in themselves so they deserve no other than the Slight and Contempt of all who know them Not to say that all these things are frail and momentany of which a Man may be bereaved in an hour either by the inconstancy of Fortune or the Malice of others But we cannot imagine that our Wise Creatour should assign that to be our chief Perfection of which we might either be deprived or defrauded and that our Happiness should be in the Power and at the Mercy of another Man In that Case we should have been more miserable than all the rest of the Creation if it were not in every Man's Power to become Happy So true is it that all the Excellency of Man consists in the great and eminent Endowments of his Soul which the poorest of Men may obtain and when obtained can by no Art or Fraud be taken from him Thus the Scripture giving an account of the eminent Perfections of Daniel the Honour and Reverence paid to him and Dignities conferr'd upon him gives this as the Reason of it Because an excellent Spirit was in him Dan. VI. 3. It was that alone which caused him to surpass the ordinary Rank of Men and made him the Favourite of Heaven Not that a more excellent and perfect Soul was infused at first into him than into the rest of Men for all Souls are created equal and are capable of the same Improvements but that he had adorned it with all the Perfections of Reason and Religion and thereby rendred it worthy the Favour of God and Esteem of Men. And herein clearly appears both the Goodness of God and the Happiness of Men that all these Improvements and Cultivations of the Soul are equally possible to the Poorest as well as the richest Men. Poverty and temporal Calamity cannot exclude us from the utmost Perfection and in that from the greatest Happiness It is in the Power of the meanest Person to be truly more Excellent than his rich Neighbours and to ensure to himself the Favours of Heaven although not the Riches of the Earth Thus God hath in Truth made an equal Distribution to all Men by assigning to all Souls an equal Capacity For as for the Goods of Fortune when put in the Scale with Piety and the interests of Religion they deserve not the least Consideration There are some Endowments of the mind indeed which are not common and cannot be obtained by all Men as Learning and an exquisite Knowledge These may put in a fair Plea for an intrinsick Worth and Excellency as being inseparable from the Soul when once acquired of infinite use in this Life and perhaps greater in the next But then there are disadvantages attending such acquired Knowledge which may justly take off the immoderate Desire of it and make it become no reasonable Object of Envy to a pious unlearned Christian. As that it renders the way to Heaven infinitely more difficult to the Possessors of it exposeth them to many and great Temptations not common to all other Persons but chiefly because more and greater Duties are required of them greater and more severe Punishments attend the neglect of them In the more unlearned sort God requireth no more than a hearty Sincerity Belief and sure Trust in the Merits of a Crucified Saviour and living up to the great Truths of Religion and Principles of common Honesty In them he willingly over-seeth small and trivial Faults and imputes not Errors to them unless they influence and corrupt their Practice But of the more learned sort of Christians he requireth right Notions of Religion and worthy Conceptions of the Divine Majesty employing their knowledge to the good of others the Edification of the Church and after all an exact Observation of the most minute Punctilios of the Divine Laws In them mistakes are dangerous and Pardon not so easie to be obtained If indeed at last they be thought worthy of the Joys of Heaven they will shine there in a more eminent Station and brighter Glory But then even the lowest Degree in Heaven is a greater Happiness than we can either imagine or conceive Thus all the truly desirable Perfections of the Soul are possible to all and debarr'd from none Those are no other than an ardent Love of God an active Zeal to his Service a strict Sobriety in our selves and a fervent Charity to all our Neighbours How far these will advance the Dignity of our Souls appears hence that these only make us capable of the Joys of Heaven that 't is the perfect and uninterrupted Possession of these which maketh Angels and the want of these which maketh Devils Lastly Our Body when considered alone hath nothing excellent beyond other material Creatures nor is capable of any Improvements It is taken out of the same Mass of Matter with other Bodies and after the Separation of the Soul by Death is resolved into the same Corruption becomes Filth and Rottenness and in Truth the most odious of all things Nay even in this Life it would be subject to the same miserable Condition with the Beasts of the Field if it were not actuated by a noble and generous Soul which rescues it from the common Calamity of dull and vile Matter and giveth it the Honour to be joyned to and be the Companion of a most excellent and immortal Spirit And so far is this Body from receiving new Perfections in this Life that it continually decays till it be laid in Ashes and become as the Dung of the Earth None yet with the greatest Care and Diligence could give Beauty to their Bodies or as our Saviour expresseth it add one cubit to their stature None with the greatest Art and Industry can make their Senses more quick and accurate But certainly not any can procure immortality to their Bodies a Priviledge which naturally belongs
Worship that is in the Church All which put it beyond all doubt that St. Paul doth in this place treat of the publick worship of God and of publick Prayer to be used in Churches In the first place then if all Prayer be an Act of Worship publick Prayer is more eminently so The intention of private Prayer is in the first place to obtain Supplies to the wants of the Petitioner and then to worship God Whereas in publick Prayer on the contrary the worship of God is the chief design and the supply of Necessities but a Secondary intention So that to intermit the use of publick Prayer and pray only in private is for Man to worship God only in Subordination to his own designs It cannot be denied that publick Worship and Prayer do far more effectually tend to the Honour and Glory of God when Men do openly and in the hearing of all others confess their Subjection to God magnifie his Benefits deprecate his Anger and acknowledge their own unworthiness This is truly and properly to give Glory to God Whereas he who confineth his Devotion to a Closet may perhaps be allowed to have a just Esteem of the Divine Benefits but seems ashamed to confess so much to other Men that he is the Creature of God as well as others that he equally depends upon him that he hath also violated his Commands and wants his Mercy The Psalmist therefore upon the receiving of great and eminent Benefits is wont to affirm that he will praise God in the Congregation as well knowing that such a publick acknowledgement of them did far more contribute to the Honour of God and was also more pleasing to him It is not enough to say that God receiveth no increase of Honour from our Praises For neither doth he receive any such advantage from private Worship yet it would be impious to say that the worship of God is not the Duty of Man But by publick worship Men do more evidently manifest their gratitude to God and the Sense which they have of his Benefits and their own Obligation than by private Prayer and Adoration And upon this account the former is more acceptable to God who delights in the good of his Creatures which good can be no otherwise procured or maintained but by an exact discharge of their Duty one part of which is a just return of Gratitude and Worship to himself God receiveth not increase of Honour from the Praises of Angels any more than from those of Men. Yet all the Descriptions which we find of Heaven represent them as incessantly singing Praises to their great Creator Who not content to retain a reverent Conception of the Divine Majesty in their own thoughts communicate them to each other and publish them to the whole World And indeed to what purpose can we imagine that God should both under the Old and the New Testament found Churches that is separate Societies of Men united by certain Laws and under one common Form of worship if it be not the Duty of all the Members of those Churches to meet together at certain times and places and adore him by one common Form If God had intended to rest satisfied with private Worship in vain did he contrive and found Churches by wonders of Providence as he hath that both of the Jews and Christians in vain hath he given to them particular Laws and annexed many Priviledges and Promises to the whole Society and to the Members of it as such Under the Old Law he required every Male to appear before him in the publick Place of worship three times in the year and commanded publick Worship to be continually paid to himself in daily Sacrifices Yet as he declared altho' he cared not for ten thousand Bullocks nor for Rivers of Oyl he would not remit the Duty and adjoyned Rewards to it because it publickly declared the Subjection of the devout Sacrificers to himself In these publick Forms of worship in the Jewish Temple our Lord while one Earth constantly gave his Attendance at appointed times After his Ascension and the Gift of the Holy Ghost the Apostles as we find in the III. of the Acts frequented the Temple at the usual hours of Prayer and joyned in the common Forms of Prayer there made use of altho' by the Operation of the Holy Ghost then received by them they could have poured out Extempore far more excellent and devout Prayers than those received in the Temple which were of humane Composition If then God so strictly exacted the Practice of publick Worship in all times if Christ and his Apostles so exactly performed it if for this very Purpose God hath gathered and united a Church under common Laws and the hopes of a common Reward what account can they make who either lay aside all publick Worship as superfluous or decry the daily Sacrifice of prayer and praise to God offered up in the Church or when themselves meet once a week to worship God place the Religion of the day in hearing a Sermon which is properly no part of Worship but only an Exhortation to and direction how to worship God In the next place as the Obligation of publick Prayer is greater than that of private so the Promises made to the one are far greater than to the other Our Lord hath promised That wheresoever two or three shall be gathered together in his name wheresoever there shall be an Assembly of Christians joyned together to offer up Prayer and to worship God he will be in the midst of them He will watch over them with his Providence he will own them as Members of his Body he will excite and render effectual their Devotion by the Operation of his Holy Spirit he will intercede with God for the Grant of their Petitions And how effectual must those Prayers be wherein our Lord himself concurrs Or what doubt can remain of the acceptance of our Worship and the grant of our Desires when he is present with us All the glorious Promises of Assistance Pardon Favour and Protection which were anciently made to the Jews worshipping God at the Temple in Jerusalem are now translated to the Christian Churches The only difference is that whereas among them the publick worship of God was confined to one place in the Christian Religion which was given not to one Family or Nation but to the whole World the same Priviledge is made common to all places of publick Worship in all parts of the World wherever Christianity doth prevail To Worship offered up from publick places alone the Promises of the greater and more illustrious Blessings of God are annexed And no wonder since by this alone the publick Religion of any Nation doth appear by this alone the publick Honour of God is maintained in the World While the Tabernacle made by Moses and afterwards the Temple at Jerusalem stood while daily Sacrifices and Worship were performed therein it was an undeniable Evidence that the Jews worshipped the
his Justice and at the same time to defraud oppress and injure to own his Goodness and at the same time to deny Compassion to his Creatures made in his own Image to intercede with him for new Benefits and employ those already granted in opposing his Authority to acknowledge the having received Life and Being from him and not to yield him any Service for it to confess his unlimited Knowledge and Presence and therewith retain secret Resolutions of sinning All these are as hainous Provocations as the Soul of Man can possibly form all yet are the necessary Consequence of Praying with impure Hearts and Minds and all yet receive this farther aggravation that they are performed in the immediate Presence of God that is in Prayer Such are the universal Reasons of lifting up holy hands in Prayer but to those who profess Belief in Christ there is a peculiar Reason no less weighty than the former Namely that the Efficacy of our Prayers consists in our Relation to Christ and are granted merely for his Sake and through his Merits which is acknowledged in the Conclusion of all Christian Prayers and if our selves should not acknowledge it yet the Scripture would abundantly inform us that he is our only Mediator and that in him and through him all good things are derived from God to us No Christian therefore hath any other Title to the Favour of God than his Relation to his Lord and Master the Son of God which Relation cannot consist without intire Obedience to his Laws and Doctrines which are all directed to promote Purity Justice and Holiness The want of these Conditions breaks off the Relation between Christ and Man who then in vain supplicates in the name of Christ when by disobedience he ceaseth to be his Disciple He may plead the Merits of the Death of Christ to be All-sufficient but himself hath no share in them he may fly to the Mercy Seat but will find no High Priest to intercede for him who by his Sins hath cast off the Yoke of Christ and even Crucified him afresh and put him to an open Shame II. The Second Condition of Prayer is that it be offered up without wrath that is without Malice or Hatred which is no other than Anger grown inveterate The Passion of Anger is indeed no less unlawful to those that apply themselves to Prayer but that is not so much respected by the Apostle in this place because it is scarce credible that while the heat of that Passion continueth any one should be disposed to Pray While that Commotion of the Spirits which attendeth Anger lasteth the Mind can attend to nothing else and cannot direct its thoughts and desires to God in Prayer so that during that time it is not only impious but unnatural to undertake it In Prayer the Soul ought to engage its whole strength and intention and offer them up to God which it cannot do when the Affections of it are divided between Prayer and Anger It ought at the same time to compose it self in a sedate and quiet Disposition to receive the Communications of the Divine Presence and Favour which it cannot do while disordered by any Passion Which Reason will also make Prayer unbefitting and Devotion in Prayer impossible not only in the heat of Anger but also in such an Hatred as by Reason of the violence of it continually employeth the Passions of the Mind especially where the person hated is present to it and alloweth to it no intervals of Calm and Quiet until it be either satisfied with Revenge or expireth with long time Such a degree of Hatred is a constant uninterrupted Anger which for the former Reason excludeth all possibility of Prayer during the continuance of it But such a Degree is monstrous the most ordinary Case of Hatred alloweth frequent Intervals of Serenity to the Mind frets not the thoughts continually and hath this immediate effect only that whensoever the Memory of it doth return or the Causes upon which it was first founded are recalled to Mind either Resolutions or Desires of Revenge are conceived and a Purpose formed of not forgiving Even this moderate and most ordinary Case of Hatred rendereth the Soul unfit for Prayer and always defeateth the Success of it For in Prayer if directed and conceived aright Man is supposed to resign up his Affections and Faculties intirely to the Disposition of God to acknowledge him to be the supreme Judge of the World and Lord of all But he who nourisheth Hatred in his Mind on the contrary neither resigneth up himself nor confesseth the Dominion of God For that very Affection he retaineth in opposition to his Will and by seeking or desiring Revenge he maketh himself a Judge of the Merits of other Men and the measure of the Punishment due to the Malice of their supposed Injuries and thereby invades the Office and usurps the Authority of God who if he be indeed the supreme Lord and Judge of all hath the only right to exercise such a Judgment This Confession therefore of Subjection and Self-resignation which is so necessary in Prayer cannot consist with Hatred And indeed the Sense of a Prayer joyned with Hatred can be no other than this Lord I resign up my self to thy disposal but will not commit my Cause to thy Decision I devote my Affections and Faculties to thy Service but will not quit my hatred for thy command I acknowledge thee to be the Sovereign Lord and Judge of all Mankind but reserve to my self a right to judge and punish by Revenge my Enemy who yet is my equal and thy subject So absurd incongruous and repugnant are the thoughts and Petitions of a malicious Soul compared together as do not only justly defeat the Success of the Petition but also deserveth an eminent Punishment for daring thus to collude with God But the chief Reason of the inconsistency of Hatred with Prayer is yet behind Namely the institution of God who may justly affix whatsoever Condition himself pleaseth to his own Favours And to the assurance of Success in Prayer he hath above all other Qualifications pre-required Freedom from Envy Hatred and Malice and forgiveness of Injuries This he hath commanded to be done before any Act of Worship and especially that solemn one of Prayer be paid to himself as in Matth. V. 23. If thou bring thy Gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee Leave there thy Gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift He hath made this the indispensable Condition of Pardon to Mankind Forgive that ye may be forgiven For if ye forgive Men their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you But if not neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses Matth. VI. 14. He hath inserted this Condition into that Prayer which he hath given both as a Form and as a Pattern to all Christians Forgive us our
Salvation of Men which was to be procured thereby Those excellent Spirits are inclined by their own Goodness and Benignity to wish well to their Fellow-creatures to be concerned at their welfare and rejoyce in it Especially for those who are endued if not with equal yet with like Reason who possess Souls of the same spiritual Nature and alike immortal By these if by any means the number of the heavenly Host formerly diminished by the fall of Lucifer and his Associates was to be repaired All which would not permit them to be unconcerned in the Felicity of Mankind and that although the Divine Dispoposition had not obliged them to have a peculiar regard of it But when by the Order of God They are all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation as we read Hebr. I. 14. there was abundant Reason for this their Exultation since without the Incarnation of Christ their Labour had been wholly vain and the condition of Man not capable of relief But after they saw this at once made both possible and easie in a Rapture of Joy they broke forth into this Hymn of Praise For if there be joy among the Angels of Heaven over one Sinner that repenteth and is saved How much more when the whole Mass of Mankind was redeemed and made capable of Salvation Even the Angels themselves altho' not in the same Degree with Mankind received signal Benefits from the Manifestation of this Mystery And therefore had reason to rejoyce upon the Completion of it Their Happiness consists in contemplating and praising the Nature the Attributes and the Effects of God Their knowledge of all these things is Finite as is their Nature and therefore every addition of Knowledge is an encrease of Happiness and the Manifestation of this great Mystery of Heaven was the greatest Benefit which in their State they could receive Of the Mysteries of the Gospel St. Peter saith 1 Pet. I. 12. that the Angels desired to look into them and that before this they were ignorant of it appears from those words of Christ Matth. XXIV 36. But of that day and hour knoweth no Man no not the Angels of Heaven but my Father only When therefore the Son of God took Flesh upon him and thereby began to complete the wonderful Mystery of Man's Salvation Then clearly appeared to these Blessed Spirits what was before obscure to them the Reasons of the Divine Conduct in relation to Man in all preceding Ages the Mysterious Secrets of his Providence the Signification of Prophesies which went before the purport of the Divine Decrees concerning the future State of other rational Beings This new Knowledge administred to them fresh Reasons of admiring the Goodness and the Wisdom of God and thereby increased their Happiness Thus we find the Angels moved by great Reasons to joyn in the Solemnity of this Day But why they chose to do it audibly so as to be heard of the Shepherds as St. Luke relateth we are still to enquire That Angel which was peculiarly designed to this Office had newly finished his Message of the Birth of Christ and that Happiness which would thence ensue to all Mankind when immediately a multitude of the heavenly Host was present with him and sang this Hymn This without doubt was to convince those who heard it and others who should know by their Relation of the Greatness and importance of the Message of the Excellency of the Benefits to be derived to the World from the Incarnation of Christ of the Dignity of his Person whose Birth was celebrated by the whole Host of Heaven that he could be no other than the Son of God on whom the Angels so attended We find not that the entrance of any Prophet was ushered in by the Ministry of Angels On the other side we read not of the immediate Presence of God on Earth as on Mount Sina to Moses on Mount Horeb to Elias but it was still attended with some other visible Sign as in both those places by extraordinary Commotions in the Air which also represented the severity of the old Law And in this Mystery of the Incarnation of our Lord by which God descended upon Earth was made Flesh and dwelt among us we find it foretold by one Angel proclaimed by another and celebrated 〈◊〉 the whole Host of Heaven This declared his Majesty and was an evident Proof of the Divinity if not of his Person yet at least of his Mission Now least we should imagine our selves unconcerned in the Reasons of the Angels praising God upon this occasion and make no use of what hath been hitherto said I will shew that all those Reasons which might induce the Angels to break forth into this Hymn of Praise are common to Men and ought to be much more perswasive to them If the Angels were affected with the increase of Divine Glory wrought hereby And are not we obliged to magnifie the glorious Attributes of God and the several Emanations of them both as we are his Creatures and as we are endued with rational Souls If the Angels so far rejoyced in the Benefit and Salvation of others how much doth it become us to be thankful who reap the advantage upon whom the Benefit is bestowed If the Angels were glad to see the Salvation of Mankind accomplished much more surely should Men esteem themselves obliged who enjoy it So that upon all Accounts if the Angels had Reason Men have much more to celebrate the Incarnation of Christ with this Hymn Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men. I will consider the several parts of this Hymn singly And first Glory to God in the Highest which is not so much a desire of what hath not as an Approbation of what hath happened towards the Exaltation of the Divine Glory The addition of in the Highest signifieth either in Heaven and so is opposed to what followeth Peace on Earth being a Completion of those Prophesies of Isaiah sing O Heaven and rejoyce O Earth for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob c. or more naturally it is 〈◊〉 rendred Glory to God in the higheâ—â—â—â—gree in which Sense this Phrase is â—ost frequently understood in Scripture as in Psal. XCIII 4. where the same Phrase is used in the Septuagint The Lord is mighty in the Highest that is mighty above all And surely with great Reason we are directed to give the highest Glory to God which can be conceived by reason of the Incarnation of his Son wherein the Perfection of his eternal Attributes is more conspicuous than in any other effect whatsoever and from whence he received the greatest Glory which was ever paid by Mankind to God To pursue this in particular Considerations The Love of God towards Mankind did never appear so eminently as in the completion of this Mystery Truly did St. John say 1 Joh. IV. 9. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent