in Danger when we cannot reasonably promise our selves to receive our own again no man can deny but this is great Charity but then this must be conducted by the measures and proportions of giving what Charity will oblige us to give it will as reasonably oblige us to lend but where the Retuâ—…n is very hazardous it can oblige us to lend no more than what it would become us to â—…e and yet in such Cases lending â—…y be a greater Charity than giving â—…ich is the Second thing proposed â—…ich I can speak but briefly to 2. The Excellency and Advantaâ—…s of this Charity of Lending and â—…w it may be improved to be the best â—…rpose Now if we compare Giving and â—…nding together Lending has much â—…e Advantage of Giving as to â—…e true End and Purposes of Chaâ—…y To lend is a greater Obligation to â—…dustry than to give and there canâ—…ot be a greater Kindness done to the â—…oor next to keeping them from starâ—…ing than to teach them Industry I â—…eed not tell you that there are many â—…oor who will never work while they â—…an meet with charitable People to â—…ive nay who chuse to be sick to â—…e lame to be blind to move Chariâ—…y rather than work to supply their Wants but when Men have nothing â—…o live on but the improvement of lent Money which they know they must repay when it is called for this must make them industrious for it both encourages their Industry and keeps the Rod over them especially were this made a standing Rule to give nothing to those who are able but will not work who have a Stock lent them to trade with and neglect to improve it Thus what we give does but one single Act of Charity for we can give it but once but what we lend may circulate as the Blood does in our Veins and communicate Warmth and Spirits to more parts of the Body than one that is what we lend may be lent again and do a great many successive Charities as great or greater than that one single Charity had been if we had given it And that certainly is one of the greatest and noblest Charities which is most diffusive But yet to make this Charity of â—…ending the more effectual it must be confessed that a Publick Bank of Charity raised out of such free Loans will have many Advantages above any Private Acts of this Nature and I can â—…y no means think this either impractiâ—…able or difficult I doubt not but most of this Hoâ—…ourable Assembly could contrive very Advantageous ways of doing this were Men but Charitably disposed For suppose you should make your Hospitals or your Companies such Publick Banks or if it could be more Publick still the more Useful and the more secure where charitable People may safely deposite their Money without Use or those who cannot spare the whole Interest may abate some part of it and where the running Cash may be lodged which Men expect no Interest for this might easily rise to a very vast Sum which with wise Improvement would make a sure and lasting Fund of Charity And could any thing in the World be more easie than this which no man could feel What would it be to a Rich Man who has many thousands employed in Trade or secured at Interest or if he knows when he has enough has no need to increase it to drop some thousands into such a free Bank to sanctify and prosper his Trade and other ways of Gain and to secure a Blessing to his Posterity How may others are there who could spare a hundred or it may be some hundred pounds out of their Stock and not feel the want of Interest or at least if they could not spare the whole Interest might spare the half or third part of it How many are there who have some hundreds by them useless which they would not and could not with any reason grudge to lay up in a safe Bank How many are there who would easily be perswaded to lend were there such a safe Bank to receive it who are very unwilling to give And were there such a Bank of Charity once setled there would be very little need of giving For I know not any kind of Charity but might be provided for in this way were men but free and liberal in lending It would enlarge your Hospitals clear your Streets of Beggars the great Reproach of this City maintain those who can't work and employ those who can put poor Children to Apprentice provide Stocks for â—…ngenious and Industrious Young Men â—…ho want them redeem Prisoners â—…nd which Justice and Honour requires â—…f you as far as possibly you can may 〈◊〉 some measure provide a Fund for â—…our Orphans This would advance the Glory of â—…his great City it would perpetuate â—…nd consecrate the Memory of such â—…orthy Persons as would begin and â—…romote such a lasting and extensive Charity the Children which are unâ—…orn would rise up and call them blesâ—…ed it would draw a great share of â—…e Charitable Money of the Nation â—…to your hands which would quicken â—…rade and encrease your Riches and â—…bove all it would procure all the great â—…ewards which are promised to Chariâ—…y both in this World and in the â—…ext But whatever becomes of this Proâ—…osal you must always remember that 〈◊〉 is great Charity to lend as well as â—…o give This is what our Saviour exâ—…ects from us this is what he Comâ—…ands To do good and lend hoping for â—…othing again and if out of a greedy desire of gain we will lend nothing freely to the Relief and Encouragement of the Industrious Poor this will make all our other Usury and Increase which is Lawful and Innocent in it self when it neither Oppresses the Poor nor stops our Charity to become sin SERMON VI. â—…reach'd before the Queen at Whitehall Iune 26. 1692. Prov. XVIII 14. â—…he spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear ONE great Objection against Providence is taken from the many Evils and Calamities â—…hich mankind suffer which would â—…e a reasonable Objection were they more than are deserved or more than â—…are necessary for the wise Government of the world But besides other Answers that may be given to it the Wise-man's Observation in my Text furnishes us with Two very plain Answers 1. That the Sufferings of this â—…ife are not disproportioned to our strength to bear them and when Afflictions and Misfortunes are necessary to the wise government of the world it is a sufficient vindication of Providence that God lays no more on us than what the spirit of a man can bear The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmities And 2dly That the only Evils that are intolerable and insupportable are wholly owing to our selves and then we have no reason to quarrel at the Divine Providence when God is more merciful to us than we are to our selves But a wounded spirit who caâ—… bear For the Explication and
Improvement of these Words I shall 1. Enquire what is meant by sustaining Infirmities 2. By what means the spirit of a man can sustain his Infirmities 3. What is meant by a Wounded Spirit 4. How unsupportable a Wounded Spirit is 5. Conclude with some Practical Inferences from the whole 1. What is meant by sustaining Infirmities Now Infirmities in this place being opposed to a Wounded Spirit must signify only external sufferings whatever is grievous and afflicting excepting the disorders and troubles of our own minds And by sustaining Infirmities is not meant that we must â—…ot feel them nor have any afflicting â—…ense of them for the Stoicks themâ—…elves would not say that pain was â—…ot pain for then there would be no need of Patience Non ego dolorem dolorem esse nego cur enâ—…m fortitudo desid raretur sed eum opprimi dico patientia si moâ—…o est aliqua patientia Cicer. â—…o bear it but that Patience â—…f there be any such thing can conquer pain And â—…herefore to sustain Infirmiâ—…ies is to feel but not to sink under the weight of them as that man sustains his burden who can go upright and not stagger at least not fall though he feels the weight of it on his shoulders That is he who can in any measure enjoy himself under suffering does so far sustain it and the more perfectly we can enjoy our selves though the brightness and gaiety of our Spirits may be a little sullied and overcast the more compleat and perfect is our Conquest over all the Calamities of Life 2dly But the great Enquiry is How the spirit of a man can sustain his Infirmities And that is done Three ways 1. By Natural Courage and Strength of Mind 2. By the Powers of Reason 3. By the Diviner Aids and Succours of Religion 1. Natural Courage and Strength of Mind A man of Spirit thinks it a reproach to be easily disturbed and ruffled to be put out of humour by every accident to sink under the common Calamities of life nay to be wholly mastered by the most extraordinary and formidable Events There is an inbred Greatness in human Nature which does not care to confess its own weakness which will not yield or submit or own a Conquest an untaught Courage which supports the rude and illiterate part of mankind even without Reason and Discourse which is improved by a sense of Honour in men of Fortune increases by exercise and discipline by hard labour and difficult trials and is lost by ease and luxury and softness which makes the Mind as tender as the Body to feel all the Vicissitudes of Fortune as a crazy and distempered body does the change of Weather God has put a spirit into man which can bear his Infirmity and if we have it not it is our own fault 2dly The spirit of a man sustains â—…is Infirmities by the Power of Reason which adds to our Natural Courage gives us a more confirmed sense of Deâ—…cency and Honour teaches us the true value of things quiets our Passions undeceives our abused Imaginations convinces us that some fancied evils are none at all others not so great as we thought and that the worst condition has its allays which make it tolerable to a Wise and Good man I am far from thinking That the mere Power of Natural Reason and Moral Arguments is able to support us under all events much less that the Arguments of the Heathen Philosophers though they said a great many wise and good things were sufficient to this purpose but yet it is certain That Reason is the strength of the Mind and it is the Mind which must bear up under external Sufferings and it is as certain that Nature furnishes us with a great many Arguments to bear them easily without fainting As for Instance We must consider the state of the World which is in a continual flux and motion and does not long shew the same face of things that the various Lusts and Passions of men among whom we live will create a great deal of trouble to us and that our mortal bodies are liable to pain and hunger and many Calamities This is the state of all mankind in this world and if after all it be desirable to live to come into and to continue in this world upon these terms we must make the best of our condition and bear our sufferings patiently and not repine if we escape as well as the generality of Mankind In such a state of life we must not promise to our selves a compleat and undisturbed Happiness for then we must be disappointed and be very uneasy and impatient at such a disappointment but we must expect to suffer more or less and that will make us think we escape well when our Sufferings are but light and teach us to arm our selves against those which are greater with courage and patience Thus a Wise man sees through the frightful or flattering Disguises of things and judges by Nature not by Fancy and Opinion and then he finds no mighty reason to be disturbed about many things which are judged and resented as great Calamities by unthinking Men. Reason teaches them that Nature is contented with a little and that poor men enjoy themselves and have their Pleasures and Satisfactions as well as the Rich and therefore Poverty without pressing Wants is not so great an Evil as it is thought by some men and then it can be no intolerable Evil neither to fall from a high and prosperous Fortune to a meaner State Reason teaches them that a good man who is conscious to himself of his own Virtue and Integrity ought not to be concerned for unjust Reproaches which are the effects of Ignorance or Malice That undeserved Honours unjust Praises and Commendations are only the Entertainments of Fools and that unjust Reproaches ought not to put Wise men out of countenance And thus it is in other Cases There is a vast difference between the natures of things and mens Opinions and were our Passions and Resentments governed by Reason and proportioned to the nature of things not to the Opinions of men about them it would make our Condition in this World much more easy and tolerable But I cannot now particularly shew you all the variety of Arguments whereby men may support themselves under several Calamities of Life it is sufficient to my present purpose that Reason gives a new strength and vigour to the spirit of a man to sustain his Infirmities Thirdly But the greatest Supports of all are the Arguments Religion furnishes us with as to name but two at present 1. That whatever we suffer is not the effect of a blind Chance or fatal Necessity but is ordered by a Wise and Good Providence 2. That if we bear our present Sufferings with patience and submission to the Will of God and make a wise use of them to our improvement in Grace and Virtue our very sufferings shall be greatly rewarded in the next World These two Principles
Courtships of the World cannot defend us from our selves we cannot stop our ears against 〈◊〉 we cannot harden our selves against â—…s Terrors it is a domestick Fury â—…hich when it is provoked and awakenâ—…d will be heard and will make us â—…emble will make us judge and conâ—…emn our selves and begin our own â—…orments in frightful Horrors and Agoâ—…es of Mind 2dly Whereas Reason can fortify the â—…ind against all external Calamities â—…hen our Spirits are wounded that â—…ttle Reason we have left proves our â—…ormentor When we are under the â—…ransports of violent and disorderly â—…assions Reason can't be heard or is â—…ibed by Passion to justify its own Exâ—…esses Wise Counsels are lost on such â—…en as much as a Lecture of Philoâ—…phy would be in the Noise and Diâ—…raction of an Alarm or Battel What a sullen and obstinate thing is â—…rief how does it pore on its own â—…isfortune nourish its Disease and â—…espise all Arts of Diversion that it is â—…ommonly above the cure of any thing â—…ut Time which weakens the Impresâ—…on or tires men with their own Comâ—…laints When our Consciences are wounded with Guilt this arms all the Reason we have against us for Reason in such Cases can never be on our side then Reason discovers our Shame and Danger aggravates our Sins and many times drives such awaken'd Sinners into the very Horrors of Dispair disputes against the possibility of their Pardon and blots their Names out of all the Promises of the Gospel how large and universal soever they be The Guides of Souls who are always consulted upon such Occasions how much soever they are despised at other times could tell a great many sad Stories of thiâ—… kind enow to convince Sinners that even Wit and Reason is a very dangerous Enemy when a guilty Conscience turns the edge of it against our selves 3dly When there is no Ease and Comfort within there is no other Remedy but to seek for Support and Comfort from abroad and there are a great many pretty Diversions in the World to entertain Men who are at leisure to attend them but these are no Entertainments to a wounded Spirit When men are galled by their own Passions by Fear Emulation Jealousy Discontent in the very midst of laughter â—…e heart is sorrowful As great as Haâ—…n was all his Riches and Power â—…ailed him nothing while he saw â—…ordecai the Iew sitting at the King 's â—…ate 5. Esth. 13. The good things of this World are â—…ry considerable when there is an eaâ—… and cheerful mind to enjoy them â—…t they cannot make a man easy and â—…ppy whose Mind is disturbed they â—…ay entertain an easy Mind but canâ—…t quiet the Tumults and Disorders of â—…ssions nor give any Ease to a woundâ—… Spirit Much less can external things apâ—…ase the Horrors of a guilty Consciâ—…ce Away all ye vain Delights will â—…ch a man say what have I to do with â—…easure when Torments everlasting â—…orments must be my Portion Why â—…o you tell me of Riches and Honours â—…hen the great God is my Enemy â—…hen I am despised and abhorred of my â—…aker and am thought worthy of no â—…etter Portion than Eternal Flames 〈◊〉 am not at leisure to attend the Flatâ—…ering Courtships of this World my Thoughts are taken up with a more â—…readful Prospect of things to come O Eternity Eternity the never-dying Worm the never-dying Death 4thly Nor can a wounded Spiâ—… find any Support from the Considerations of Religion unless it find its Câ—… there If the Belief of a Divine Providence and another World can cure oâ—… Love to present things it will give uâ—… quiet and easy Passions too but without this a wounded and distemper'â—… Spirit will reproach God as well aâ—… Men and rage against Heaven it self â—… like that wicked King This evil is 〈◊〉 the Lord why should I wait on the Lâ—… any longer As Solomon observes Tâ—… foolishness of Man perverteth his waâ—… and his heart fretteth against the Lord. If the Fear of God and of thoâ—… Punishments He has threatned agaiâ—… Sin makes us true and sincere Peâ—…tents conquers our vicious Habiâ—… and reforms our Lives this is such 〈◊〉 wounded Spirit as God will bind up again such a broken and contrite heaâ—… as God will not despise but the Thoughâ—… of God and of a future Judgment aâ—… very terrible to Impenitent Sinners It is a dreadful Prospect to look intâ—… the other World and to see those Lakes of Fire and Brimstone prepared for the Devil and his Angels And this 〈◊〉 all that Bad men can see in the next â—…orld Thus we see how supportable all â—…ternal Evils and Calamities are how â—…supportable a wounded Spirit is and â—…e comparing these two Cases will â—…ggest some very useful Thoughts to â—…s As First This is a great Vindicatiâ—… of the Providence of God with â—…spect to those Evils and Calamities â—…at are in the World Sufferings are â—…ery necessary in this corrupt and deâ—…enerate State of Mankind but though â—…od sees it necessary to punish Sinners â—…et he has made abundant Provision to â—…pport us under all external Sufferâ—…gs He inflicts nothing on us but â—…hat the Spirit of a Man can sustain â—…d support it self under but our â—…reatest Sufferings are owing to our â—…elves and no more chargeable on the â—…rovidence of God than our Sins are â—…othing that is external can hurt us â—…hile our minds are sound and healthâ—…l but it is only a disordered or guilty â—…ind which gives a Sting to Afflictiâ—…ns God corrects in measure as we â—…re able to bear but we our selves tye the Knots or add the Scorpions to thâ—… Scourge Secondly This greatly recommendâ—… the Divine Wisdom in that Provisioâ—… God has made for our Support undâ—… Sufferings As â—…t Since the generality oâ—… Mankind were not likely to prove anyâ—… great Philosophers GOD hath bestowed on them such a measure of Naturâ—… Courage as will bear Afflictions betteâ—… than the Reason and Philosophy 〈◊〉 more thinking men and we may generally observe that those who maâ—… the least use of their Reason and haâ—… the least share of External Comforâ—… have the greatest Portion of this â—…taught Courage because they need 〈◊〉 most 2. God has provided the greatâ—… Supports for the best men Thoâ—… who use their Reason and examine thâ—… nature of things will more easily beâ—… Poverty and Disgrace and such otheâ—… Evils than men who judge by Opinion and popular Mistakes Those who live by Reason and govern their sensual Appetites and Inclinations and use the things of this World so as not to be mastered by them retain that Courage and Strength of Mind which is lost by softness and Effeminacy But a truly devout man who beâ—…ieves the Wisdom and Goodness of Providence and the Rewards of the next Life has the greatest Support of all Whereas an impenitent Sinner who wounds his Conscience with Guilt and an Atheist who believes neither a God nor a Providence have nothing but Sottishness and Stupidity to support them and
to his Lord what Love was this to the Souls â—…f Men it is certainly the most perâ—…ect imitation of the Love of Christ â—…at is possible to Man Christ so â—…oved us as to come down from Heaven to live a laborious Life and â—…o die an accursed Death for us this great Apostle so loved his Lord and so loved the Souls of Men that â—…e made it his choice to stay some time out of Heaven and to encounter all the Miseries and Terrours of this Life to serve Christ and his Church Where is this Divine Spirit now to be found Let us my beloved Brethren who are entrusted also with the Care of Souls by the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls blush to think how far short we fall of this Example let this inspire us with a flaming Love and Zeal for the Souls of Men for whom Christ died and make us at least contented to deny our selves some of the Ease and Security and Pleasures of Life to serve the Church of Christ which he hath purchased with his own blood But to keep my self within some Bounds I shall briefly Discourse on these two Heads which are very proper for this Occasion and very proper to my Text. First The great Rewards of faithful Pastors and Ministers of Christ and how much it is for their advantage to be removed out of this World St. Paul was very sensible of this which made him desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Secondly How necessary the Lives of such Men are to the Church and what a great loss it is when God removes them out of it Nevertheless to abide in the Flesh is more needful for you 1. Let us then consider in the first place the great Rewards of the faithful Ministers of Christ and how much it is for their advantage to depart and to be with Christ. Now I do not here intend a comparison between Heaven and Earth Good God! what different things are these and what Christian doubts whether Heaven be a happier Place than this World Heaven whither no Troubles or Sorrows can follow us no persecuting Sword no persecuting Tongue where we shall be delivered from all the Wants Necessities and Infirmities of the Body from â—…unger and Cold and Nakedness â—…m wracking Pains and languishing â—…cknesses where there is eternal Ease â—…d Rest and Joy without labour â—…ithout discontents without quarrels â—…here our Souls shall be perfected in â—…owledge and in love where we â—…all dwell in the Presence of God see â—…m as he is and know him even as â—…e are known where we shall dwell â—…ith Christ adore his Love behold â—…s Glory and be transformed our â—…lves into the likeness and image of â—…s Glory We have but obscure imâ—…rfect Conceptions of these things â—…w Heaven will out-do our highest â—…xpectations as much as the most â—…erfect state of Happiness in this World â—…ways falls short of what we expectâ—… and this is the case of all good â—…en it is a mighty happy Change â—…ey make when they remove from â—…arth to Heaven But there are different Degrees of Glory in the next World proportionâ—…d not only to our different attainâ—…ents in Virtue but to those different Trusts in Services which we have been employed in and have faithfully discharged here We read of the Reward of a Prophet that he who gives a Cup of cold Water to a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall have a Prophet's Reward which must signify some peculiar Reward that shall be bestowed on Prophets We know so little of the other World that we cannot conceive what these different Rewards shall be The Prophet Daniel represents it by an external Glory 12. Dan. 3. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever But our Saviour represents this by a different degree of Rule and Empire 12. Luke 42 43 44. And the Lord said Who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his Lord shall make ruler over his houshold to give them their meat in due season This is the honourable Character of Gospel Ministers in this World that they are Rulers in God's houshold to instruct and feed them with the Word of Life and their Reward is proportioned to their Work Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Of a truth I say unto you That he will make him ruler â—…ver all that he hath What this Rule â—…ignifies in the other World is a Mysteâ—…y to us especially since we have â—…ancied the other World to be only a State of Contemplation not of Actiâ—…n where we shall have nothing to do â—…ut to see God and to love and to praise him but no service to do for â—…im but we know there are different â—…orders of Angels who are employed in great Trusts and Offices Arch-Angels Angels Thrones Dominions Principalities and Powers which are names of Rule and Government though we know not what their Power and Authority is nor how they Govern in like manner our Saviour promises his Apostles Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel 19. Matth. 28. The like we may see in the Parable of the Pounds and Talents He who hath gained ten Pounds had Rule over ten Cities and he who gained five Pounds had Rule over five Cities for these Servants to whom the Lord gave these Pounds and Talents to improve plainly signify his Stewards and the Ministers of his spiritual Kingdom for no other Persons have in so peculiar a manner this honourable Character of the Servants of Christ throughout the Gospel And if there be Order and Government among the Angels themselves Why should we think that there is nothing like this among glorified Saints If Angels are the Ministers of God there is no reason to think that Heaven is a State of meer Rest and Contemplation especially when Happiness consists in Action And if Christ have any Ministers of his spiritual Kingdom in the next World it is most reasonable to think that those shall have the greatest Authority and be employed in the noblest Services who have been his faithful Stewards and Ministers in this World For the Church on Earth and in Heaven is the same Church though their State be very different and therefore they do not lose their relation to Christ nor their station in his Church by removing to Heaven It is a Sacerdotal Kingdom our High Priest is King and therefore a Priest of Iesus how mean soever this be thought now will be one of the highest Characters in Heaven What the Happiness of this is we cannot tell but we know that there are no empty Titles in Heaven but every degree of Dignity there signifies a peculiar degree of Happiness
its Love and Care to its self but a Man who has a truly great and divine mind who loves all Men as himself and loves himself in conjunction with the rest of Mankind can by no means be called a selfish Man or a lover of himself for he has an universal love to Humane Nature which begins with himself but extends to all the World This is a plain and short account what this vicious Self-love is and why it is so called 2dly The Second thing I proposed was to shew how dangerous and perillous such Times must needs be wherein this Self-love Prevails Now those are perillous Times which expose Men to great Dangers and to great Troubles and Calamities and that with respect to their own private Fortunes with respect to the Publick and with respect to the State of Religion and what a malignant influence this vicious Self-love has upon all these great and dear Interests is so visible that methinks it should need no proof and therefore I shall at present only give some brief Hints of it And I shall not here take notice how much such Self-lovers suffer from themselves and from their own Self-love for though this makes themselves â—…iserable it does not make the Times dangerous the Times may be very prosperous and good Men very happy though such Sinners may reap the Fruits of their own Works and be filled with their own Devices though they sacrifice their Honour their Estates their Health their Lives to Intemperance and Lust though Ambition heats their brains into a Distraction and Cares and Disappointments break their Hearts or Guilt disturbs their Consciences and fills them with Rage and furious Despair the World is not much concerned in this let such Self-lovers look to it and thank themselves for what they suffer but then the Times are dangerous with respect to our private and personal Interests when Men are in great danger from one another when they are never secure from private Injuries when they know not whom to trust nor with whom to converse when it is hard to find a Friend and almost impossible to escape an Enemy when the greatest Virtue Innocence Inoffenciveness nay the Divinest Charity and all the charms of an obliging Conversation cannot secure Men from Envy Rapine and Detraction from the Venom of Tongues or from more malicious designs against their Lives and Fortunes such a State as this will make all Good Men wish as David did O that I had wings like a Dove for then would I flie away and be at rest Lo then would I wander far off and remain in the Wilderness I would hasten my Escape from the windy Storm and Tempest 55 Psa. 6 7 8 Verses And this is the very State which Self-love puts Mankind into when it prevails in the World This a late admired Philosopher calls the State of Nature wherein every Man is a Woolf to a Man but in truth it is only the State of this vicious Self-love which is the Corruption and Degeneracy of a reasonable and sociable Nature If Man was made for Society it cannot be his Nature to love no body but himself which is a Contradiction to the Nature and End of Societies He must first put off Nature if that be this Self-love before he can be capable of living in Society which seems very unaccountable that a Creature who was made for Society should not be fit for Society till he change his Nature For Men cannot live together in safety while they are all acted by this Principle Self-love makes every Man his own Center and the Center draws all to it self all that is within its sphaere of activity Pride is Self-love such an esteem for our selves as values no Man's Honour or Reputation but our own and this draws all Honour to it self is not contented unless it can out-shine all others and either by a greater brightness swallow them up or eclipse them by black and misty Vapours by all the Arts of Infamy and Reproach Covetousness is Self-love when Men will be rich whoever be poor and by whatever Arts they can do it and this draws all riches to it self and snatches them from all that come within its reach and what Injustice and Violence Theft Murders Perjuries does this occasion Self-love is the love of the Flesh the love of carnal and sensual Pleasures which will please it self whoever be grieved and injured by it Such brutish Sensualists have no regard to the Honour and Peace of Families to the Modesty of Virgins to the Sacred Vows of Wives to the Stain and Infamy of Posterity nay many times not to the dignity of Humane Nature but gratifie their Lusts in contradiction to them all Where Self-love reigns there is no place for Compassion for Charity for Justice for true Friendship every thing must give way to Self and let any man judge whether such be not perillous Times some such Men there are always in the World and great numbers of them too and we daily feel what mischeifs they do but the more the numbers of them encrease the more this Self-love prevails the more intolerable will Humane Conversation be And if we allow that Pride Ambition Covetousness Sensuality are great Enemies to the Peace and Prosperity to the good Order and Government of any Nation we must grant that Self-love which is the impure Fountain from whence all these corrupt Streams flow is very destructive to Humane Societies too it corrupts publick Justice loosens the reigns of Government softens and emasculates Mens Spirits renders them unfit for Counsel or for Arms makes them contemptible to their Neighbours and brings down the Judgments of God upon them Is any thing so destructive to any State as Divisions and Factions at home and was there ever any State-Faction without Self-love and private Interest at the bottom when great Men will rival one another and are impatient either of Superiours or Equals and prosecute their Private Animosities with the Publick Danger and when common safety requires united Hearts and Counsels will not adjourn their private Quarrels nor sacrifice their private Interests and Resentments to save a Nation It is wonderful to observe that when a Kingdom is divided into Parties and Factions the most threatning dangers are so far from uniting them that they take advantage of Publick Fears and Apprehensions to get ground of their Adversaries tho' they hazard the whole by it and what are such Factions but a Combination of Self-lovers who divide themselves from the Publick Interest unless their Private Humours and Intrigues may take place when a Party will be the Whole and if others will not let them be the Whole let the Whole perish This is the narrow peevish unsociable Spirit of Self-love a temper which generous Heathens had in the greatest abhorrence and till a more publick Spirit revive in the World we must never expect to see easie and happy days The Times will be perillous while men are such Lovers of themselves But how
SERMONS Preach'd upon Several Occasions Some of which were never before Printed By W. SHERLOCK D. D. Dean of St. Paul's Master of the Temple and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty LONDON Printed for William Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1700. TO THE READER ALL the Account I have to give of publishing this Volume of Sermons is only this that most of them were printed before by public Authority or by such Applications as to me were equivalent to Commands And my Bookseller having a mind to reprint those Sermons which he had an interest in desired me to add some few more to make a just Volume The choice I have made of such as I have added was not for the sake of any curious Composition or new Conceits much less for Wit and Satyr But I chose such as I hoped might be most useful in such an 〈◊〉 as this And if they shall do any good which I heartily beg of God they may I have all that I aimed at Will. Sherlock ERRATA PAge 25. line 3. for been treated read be entreated p. 44. f. indispesanble r. indispensible p. 46. l. 27. f. owes r. our p. 193. l. ult for in r. and p. 239. l. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 404. l. 21. f. they r. the. p. 413. l. 3. f. whensoever r. whencesoever â—…p 485. l. 8. f. nor r. not p. 526. l. 3. r. one thing r. Sermon 18 instead of 19. The CONTENTS THE Nature and Means of Church-Unity Sermon I. 122. Psal. 6 7. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee Peace be within thy Walls and Prosperity within thy Palaces The faithful and wise Servant a Funeral-Sermon Serm. II. 24. Matth. 45 46. Who then is a faithful and wise Servant whom his Lord hath made Ruler over his Houshold to give them meat in due season Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing The Measures of Providence towards the Church Serm. III. 77. Psal. 10 11 12. And I said this is my infirmity but I will remember the Years of the right hand of the Most High I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old I will meditate also of all thy works and talk of all thy doings The Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness Serm. IV. 4. Matth. 1. Then was Iesus led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil The Charity of lending without Usury Serm. V. 4. Luke 35. But love your enemies and do good and lend hoping for nothing again and your reward shall be great and ye shall be the children of the Highest for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil A wounded Spirit an unsupportable Evil. Serm. VI. 18. Prov. 14. The Spirit of a Man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can bear St. Paul ' s Choice a Funeral Sermon Serm. VII 1 Phil. 23 24. For I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you A Sermon upon the Queen's Death Serm. VIII 39. Psal. 9. I was dumb and opened not my mouth because thou didst it The Nature and Measure of Charity Serm. IX 2 Cor. 8. 12. For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a Man hath and not according to that he hath not The danger of corrupting the Faith by Philosophy Serm. X. 2. Col. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of Men after the rudiments of the World and not after Christ. TheFolly and Unreasonableness of Deism Serm. XI 14. Joh. 1. Ye believe in God believe also in me The Language and Interpretation of Judgments Serm. XII 6. Micah 9. The Lord's voice crieth unto the City and the Man of wisdom shall see thy name Hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it The Divine Presence in Religious Assemblies Serm. XIII 96. Psal. 9. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness The Use of Music in Religious VVorship Serm. XIV 81. Psal. 1 2. Sing aloud unto God our strength make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a Psalm and bring hither the Timbrel the pleasant Harp with the Psaltery The nature and evils of a vicious Self-love Serm. XV. 2 Tim. 3. 1 2. This know also that in the last days perillous times shall come for Men shall be lovers of their own selves The Reasonableness of Faith and the Preference of unseen things Serm. XVI 2 Cor. 4. v. 18. While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal The danger of confounding the Distinctions of Good and Evil. Serm. XVII 5. Isa. 20 21. Wo unto them that call evil good and good evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Wo unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own Sight The Progress of VVickedness and the Difficulties thereof Serm. XVIII 5. Isa. 20 21. Wo unto them that call evil good and good evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Wo unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight To the Right-Honourable Sir Iohn Chapman LORD-MAYOR OF THE City of LONDON My Lord IN obedience to the Order I received from your Lordship and the Court of Aldermen I Present you with this plain Sermon the whole Design of which is not to debate any thing nor to determine on which side the Truth lies in those warm Disputes which have been among us but to convince all those who Love and Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem how many Controversies there are which should be laid aside without Disputing and how a little condescention to each other may either happily Unite us into one Communion or at least Teach us to Live together in Love and Charity notwithstanding some different Apprehensions of Things and I hope so Charitable a Design as this will raise no new Disputes and Quarrels among us That GOD would preserve his Church restore Peace and Unity among Christians bless this Great and Populous City and direct your Lordship in the Government of it in these difficult Times is the hearty Prayer of MY LORD Your Lordship 's Most Obedient Servant WILL. SHERLOCK SERMON I. Preach'd before the Lord-Mayor at Guildhall-Chappel on Sunday November 4. 1688. CXXII PSALM 6 7. Pray for the peace of Ierusalem they shall prosper that love Thee Peace be within thy Walls and Prosperity within thy Palaces THough the particular time and occasion of Penning this Psalm is uncertain yet so much is plain that it was after David
is likely enough he thought him to be some extraordinary person He knew by the Ancient Prophecies that the Messias was to appear and knew from the Prophet Daniel that the time for his coming was accomplished nay it is probable he knew all the circumstances of his Birth and heard that â—…imony God gave him at his Bapâ—… This is my beloved Son but he saw he was a Man though an extraordinary Man and might not know that he was any thing more and having formerly foiled our first Parents in Paradise in the state of innocence hoped for the like success again Now if Christ himself was tempted by the Devil none of us must hope to escape tempted we shall be and therefore must take care to stand upon our guard and to fortify our Minds against all temptations And this encouragement we have from the Example of our Saviour that to be tempted is no Sin unless we yield to a temptation for He was tempted as we are yet without sin and we cannot imagine had it been a sin to be tempted that God would have permitted the Devil to have tempted our Saviour which may ease the fears of some Melancholly Christians who are afflicted with evil and tempting thoughts which their Souls abhor for whatever the cause of such thoughts be whether a frighted and disturbed imagination or the suggestion of wicked Spirits they can no more defile the Soul which abhors and rejects them with grief and indignation than they can the Paper on which they are writ Nay hence we learn that God many times exercises those with the greatest and most difficult Tryals and Temptations who are most dear to him He had no sooner proclaimed Christ his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased but he leads him by the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil This Life is a State of Tryal and Probation and Temptations though they create some trouble and difficulty to good men yet do them no hurt If good men Conquer Temptations do but exercise encrease and confirm their Graces and make them great and illustrious examples to the World glorify the Divine Power in the Victories and Triumphs of his Servants over the World the Flesh and the Devil give them a secure hope in God and a transporting sense of his Love and prepare great rewards for them in the next Life And if they happen in any particular encounter to be overcome as St. Peter himself was when he denied his Master yet they rise again with glory and the sense of their sin and the shame of a defeat fills them with sorrow indignation self-revenge gives them new spirit vigour activity resolution makes them more patient of hardships and sufferings more unwearied in doing good more humble and modest and more perfectly resigned to the Will of God to dispose of them and their Services to his own Glory as he pleases God does not train up those whom he Loves and whom he prepares for Glory in ease and softness Whom the Lord loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth And the more difficult Temptations he exposes us to the greater honour he does us the more glorious will our Triumphs the richer and brighter will our Crowns be Let us then behold our Saviour in the Wilderness separated from humane conversation and all the comforts of Life in the midst of wild Beasts and tempting Spirits and not think that God uses us hardly if at any time he lets loose the Tempter upon us and gives him power over all we have as he did in the Case of Iob to afflict us in our Relations our Bodies our Estates good Names or whatever gives us the sharpest and keenest sense of suffering and is the most difficult exercise of our Faith 2. Let us consider the time when our Saviour was tempted viz. immediately after his Baptism being full of the Holy Ghost 4. Luke 1. 1. As soon as our Saviour was baptized he was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness For Then in my Text relates to the time of his Baptism and St. Luke tells us this was done in his return from Iordan where he was baptized by Iohn By this Religious Rite our Saviour had devoted himself to the immediate service of God in the Salvation of Mankind and was inaugurated into his Prophetick Office by that Testimony which was given to him by a Voice from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and this was the Critical time both for the Devil to tempt and for our Saviour to baffle all his temptations and to triumph over him Could the Devil have conquered our Saviour in this first assault there had been an end of this Glorious design of mans Salvation when he had enslaved and captivated the Saviour himself and therefore he began as early with â—…he second Adam as he did with the first though not with the like success Had our first parents resisted the first â—…emptation we had been happy for â—…ver but they yielded and brought â—…eath upon themselves and their Posteâ—…ity but the seed of the Woman whom God had promised should â—…reak the Serpents Head who was made manifest to destroy the works the Kingdom and the Power of the Devil by God's order and appointment first encounters him in his own person resists his most furious assaults makes him reâ—…reat with shame and despair as foreseeâ—…ng his own destiny and the final destruction of his Kingdom As the old Serpent seduced our first Parents in Paradice and brought sin and misery and death into the world so it was very fitting that the Saviour of Mankind should give the first proof of his Divine power in conquering the Tempter This gives us great encouragement to fight under Christ's Banners against the World the Flesh and the Devil for the Captain of our Salvation has already conquered and if we are not wanting to our selves we shall be more than Conquerors through Christ who strengthens us He knows what the power of temptations is and what measures of Grace are necessary to resist them and if we do not forsake him he will not forsake us He has conquered himself and knows how to conquer and if we faithfully adhere to him we shall conquer too Nay in case we should some time be conquered this has made him a merciful and compassionate High Priest being in all things tempted like as we are He knows the weakness of humane nature and the power and subtilty of the Tempter and prays for us as he did for St. Peter That our faith fail not that if we fall we may rise again by Repentance And this is a mighty Consolation That if any man sin 〈◊〉 have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous who is not only a Propitiation for our Sins but was tempted also as we are 2ly St. Luke observes that our Saviour was full of the Holy Ghost which he received without measure at his Baptism when the Holy
considering what they do I might name many but shall content my self with some few at present which are least observed and which prove Snares to good Men as for instance To impose upon our selves constant Tasks of Religion that we will Read and Pray so much and so often every Day and observe voluntary Fasts and abstain from such innocent Diversions c. which Men commonly resolve in some great Heats and Fits of Devotion which they fancy will continue in the same fervour but never do and then these Tasks grow very uneasie as every thing of Religion does when it grows a Task and then they degenerate into dulness and formality and then Men either leave them off and with that are tempted to leave off Religion it self or they are so very cold that they fancy themselves spiritually dead and fall into Melancholly into Desertions into Despair it self It is a dangerous thing for Men by rash and arbitrary Vows to tye themselves up from doing that which otherwise they might very innocently do and which they will be strongly tempted to do when they have vowed not to do it The Guides of Souls know that this is no imaginary Case but what they so often meet with and see such ill effects of that it is very fit to warn Men of the Snare Were there no other reason against the Monkish Vows of Celibacy Poverty and Obedience I should think this sufficient that considered only as perpetual Vows they are a dangerous State of Temptation and for my own part I would never advise any Man to make a perpetual Vow to do or not to do any thing which it is not perpetually his Duty to do or not to do Thus to marry with Persons of a disagreeable Age or a disagreeable Humour or a contrary Religion is to put our selves into a state of Temptation but such particular Instances would be endless and therefore I forbear If God lead us into Temptation he will give us sufficient strength to resist if we improve his Grace if we lead â—…ur selves into Temptation and God â—…eave us to the power and subtilty of â—…he Tempter the sin and the folly is our own 5thly I observe by what means our Saviour conquered the Devil's Temptations and that was by the Authority and by the Word of God It is written Man shall not live by bread alone It is written Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God It is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve These are such Answers as would admit of no Reply for the Authority of God can never be answered And thus we must conquer also if ever we will conquer by a firm Faith in God and Belief of his Word Faith is our Shield and the Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit and we have no other sure Defence against all Temptations This ruined our first Parents in Paradise when their Reason and Natural Powers were in their greatest Vigour Perfection and Integrity that instead of insisting on God's Authority they ventured to reason the Case with the Tempter Set aside the Authority of God and the Devil will quickly out-wit and out-reason us he is skilled in all the Arts of Deceit and Methods of Perswasions and without God's Authority our Courage our Resolution our Honour our Reason it self even all the Rants and triumphant Speculations of Philosophy will fail us in the Day of Trial to Tempt is either to deceive or to perswade and there is no other secure defence against either but the Authority and the Word of God The wisest Reasoner may be imposed on by so artificial a Tempter but God can neither deceive nor be deceived and then while we believe God and have regard to his Commands we cannot be deceived neither And what is able to resist all the Terrors and Flatteries of the World and the Flesh but the Authority of that God who is our Maker and our Judge What insignificant Names are Virtue and Vice how weak and feeble is the sense of Decency and Honour and the Dignity of Human Nature and of a Life of Reason after we have read or writ so many Volumes about it when we feel the soft Charms of Pleasure and our Eyes are filled with visible Glories Who would not part with a fine Thought or two with some pretty Notions of Moral Beauty and Intellectual Pleasures for a Happiness which may be seen and felt But the Authority of GOD the firm belief of his Promises and Threatnings the hopes and fears of another World are beyond all other Perswasions unless any thing can perswade a Man to be eternally miserable This may suffice to be spoke in General concerning our Saviour's Temptation We come now to consider II. The particular Temptations wherewith our Saviour was Assaulted and they are Three 1. The first was to relieve his Hunger after his long fasting by working a Miracle And when the Tempter came to him he said If thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread This was a very artificial Temptation which it may be none but Christ himself would have been aware of For what hurt was it for the Son of God to work a Miracle What hurt was it for a Man who was Hungry to relieve his Hunger For here was no Temptation to excess but to satisfy the necessities of Nature What hurt was it for him who afterwards fed so many Thousands by Miracles in this great Distress to have wrought a Miracle to satisfy his own Hunger This was very plausible and looked like very charitable Advice but yet there was a secret Snare in it 1st For this was made a Trial whether he were the Son of God or not If thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread Now had he complied with this it had argued a distrust of his Relation to God and of the Love of his Father and this was a Temptation to Sin Thus the Tempter dealt with our first Parents made them jealous of God's good Intentions towards them and by that Tempted them to Disobedience The Serpent said unto the Woman Ye shall not surely die For God knoweth that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil That is God envies your Happiness and therefore has forbid you to Eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Thus the Devil suggested to our Saviour that he had great reason to question whether he were the Son of God because he was destitute of all the Comforts and Supports of Life and after forty Days fasting had nothing in the Wilderness to Eat unless he would turn Stones into Bread And though this part of the Temptation our Saviour takes no notice of in his Answer but scorns it yet we find it makes a very powerful Impression upon other Men who are apt to measure God's Love or Hatred by present things when they
could things be better ordered for the encouragement of Virtue and Religion Good men whatever their Condition be have the Advantage of the Wicked even as to this present Life they may be easy and enjoy themselves in all Conditions for GOD has provided for their present Support but if bad men be Sufferers they have nothing to support them and though they be prosperous they feel such Disorders of Passions or such guilty Fears as sowre all their other Enjoyments 3. God has so wisely ordered things that we cannot support our selves under Sufferings without making a wise and good use of them for the best Arguments to comfort us under Sufferings will afford us no comfort unless they make us better It is a great comfort that Afflictions are appointed by a wise and good God But he who considers this will naturally enquire into the Reason why God strikes will search and try his way and turn unto the Lord will hear the rod and who it is that hath appointed it That Afflictions are ordered for our good will make us endeavour to reap the Spiritual Benefit of them for that Afflictions are useful is no Comfort at all unless we make a wise use of them unless they bring forth the peaceable Fruits of Righteousness No Man can take Comfort in the Rewards of the next World without bearing his Sufferings well in this for our Sufferings will have no reward unless they make us better unless they purify our Minds and exercise our Faith and Patience and Submission to the Will of God 3dly I observe That it is better to suffer than to sin even with respect to our present ease because Sufferings may be born by an innocent and vertuous Mind but Guilt inflicts an unsupportable wound upon the Spirit and â—…ose Sufferings which the Spirit of a Man can bear are rather to be chosen â—…han what the Spirit of a Man cannot â—…ear Lastly I observe That the Governâ—…ent of our own Passions contributes â—…ore to our Happiness than any exterâ—…al Enjoyments While our Minds are disordered with violent and tumultuâ—…us Passions we can never be Easy and Happy whatever else we enjoy for this gives such a Wound to the Spirits as no external Enjoyments can heal But he who has his Passions under government who knows how to Love and Fear Desire and Hope though he may be a great Sufferer can never be miserable because he can support himself under all other Sufferings What a wrong Course then do the generality of Mankind take to make themselves happy They seek for Happiness without when the Foundation of Happiness must be laid within in the Temper and Disposition of our Minds An easy quiet Mind will weather all the Storms of Fortune but how calm and serene soever the Heavens be there is no peace to the wicked who have nothing but noise and tumult and confusion within To God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost be Honour Glory and Power now and for ever Amen SERMON VII Preach'd at the Funeral of the Reverend Richard Meggot D. D. and late Dean of Winchester December the 10th 1692. at Twickenham I. Phil. 23 24. For I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you ST Paul wrote this Epistle to Philippi from Rome where he was in Bonds for the Gospel but though his Body was confined to a Prison his Soul his great Divine Soul was at Liberty to visit the Churches he had planted to advise and counsel and comfort them to encrease their Knowledge and to confirm their Faith to instame their Zeal and to spur them forward to more perfect Attainmens in all Piety and Virtue The Philippians seem greatly concerned least the Progress of â—…e Gospel should be hindred by St. Paul's Imprisonment and lest they and the whole Church should be deprived of the Labours and Ministry of so great an Apostle should this Persecution extend to Life as they had reason to fear it would As for the first St. Paul assures them That his Bonds were for the furtherance of the Gospel for his Imprisonment was taken notice of both in the Court and City which made Men curious to know what that Doctrine was which he preached and for which he suffered Bonds and this published the Gospel more effectually than his Preaching could have done Verse 12 13 c. As for the second he tells them He was no farther concerned either about Life or Death but that Christ might be magnified in his Body If he lived his Life was wholly devoted to the Service of Christ and of his Church if he died it would be for his own great Advantage To me to live is Christ and to die is gain verse 20 21. and this made it a hard choice to him whether he should desire to live or die whether he should get rid of his Bonds and make his Escape out of a troublesome World into the Regions of Ease and Rest to reap the Fruit of his Labours here in the eternal Enjoyment of his Lord whom he had so faithfully served or whether he should live to Encounter with a thousand Difficulties and Deaths in the Service of Christ and of the Souls of Men. What I should chuse I wot not for I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better nevertheless to abide in the Flesh is more needful for you Was there ever such a Dispute as this before That a Man who was as certain to go to Heaven as he was to die who had himself been snatch'd up into the third Heavens and had his Mind possest with strong and vigorous and lively Idea's of the Glories of that place who had seen and heard such things as could not be expressed who saw a Crown a glorious immarcessible Crown prepared for him I say that such a Man should make any question what he should chuse whether immediately to take possession of this Crown and Kingdom or to live longer in this World to suffer Bonds and Imprisonments Hunger and Cold and Stripes and all the ill usage which he had so often met with for no other reason but still to preach the Gospel and to enlarge the Borders of Christ's Church What a Contempt is this not only of the little Pleasures and Satisfactions but even of all the Miseries of Life What a Triumph is this over the World over all the Frowns and Terrours of it What a Triumph is this over Self such a degree of Self-denial as the Gospel it self does not command which is in some sence to deny Heaven to deny all the Joys of Christ's Presence for the sake of doing good For it is to delay to put off Heaven to adjourn his own Happiness that he may live the longer to serve his great Master though with great Difficulties and Labours What Love was this
Providence but we may make our Complaints to God and be the more importunate in our Prayers for the Preservation of our King The Death of our excellent Queen both calls for and will justify and recommend such humble Importunities and the preservation of our King will in a great measure make up this Loss to us Which God of his infinite Mercy grant through our Lord Iesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Honour Glory and Power now and for ever Amen SERMON IX Preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and the Court of Aldermen at the Parish-Church of St. Bridget on Tuesday in Easter-Week April 6. 1697. 2 Cor. VIII 12. For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not THE Occasion of these Words was this The Christians of Iudaea were at this time in great Want by reason of a general Dearth which was foretold by Agabus at Antioch Acts II. 28. And there stood up one of them named Agabus and signified by the spirit That there should be great dearth throughout all the world which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Upon this Notice the Disciples every man according to his ability determined to send relief unto the Brethren which dwelt in Iudaea This is that Contribution for the Saints which St. Paul directs them about at the Conclusion of his first Epistle to them Ch. 16. and this is what he inculcates on them in this and the following Chapter but with so much Art and Insinuation that though he uses the most powerful Arguments yet he would not seem to persuade nor to think that they needed any Persuasion for it is not Honourable for Christians whose Religion is Charity to need such Persuasions and Importunities They may be directed in their Charity and put in Mind of such particular Charities as are of the greatest Necessity or the most present use or have the most general Influence or do the greatest Reputation and Service to Religion or their Charity may be heightened inflamed and enlarged by the proper Arguments and Motives of Liberality but their Religion teaches them to be Charitable and the Name and Profession of a Christian is a Reproach to them without it And this is all the Apostle aims at even in his soft and tender way of Persuasion not merely to persuade them to contribute to the Necessities of the Saints which he knew they were willing â—…o do but that they should contriâ—…ute liberally with a free and chearful Heart and open Hand which is the â—…um of all his Arguments as I shall â—…hew you in the Conclusion if Time permit But the great Difficulty concerns the proper Measures of a liberal and overflowing Charity Our Saviour has prescribed no set Bounds and Proportions to our Charity and it is thought as possible to be imprudent and excessive as too frugal and sparing We have many other Obligations upon us besides CHARITY to provide for our own comfortable Subsistence to take Care of our Wives and Children and to discharge all other Duties and Offices according to our Station and Character in the World All which ought to set Bounds to our Charity But what these Bounds are is thought the great Question which is not easily answered This is true nor can any certain Measures be prescribed nor does the Apostle pretend to it But though there is a great Latitude in true Christian Charity which does not consist in a Point but admits of different degrees and Proportions yet the Apostle in my Text directs us to such a Principle as is much better and safer than any stated Rules because it will be sure never to sink below the just Proportions of Charity and will render all we do be it more or less very acceptable to God For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not In which Words I shall observe Three Things which are expressed or necessarily implied in them First That a great readiness and Forwardness of Mind to do Good is the true Spirit of Charity which gives Value and Acceptation to all we do Secondly That this readiness of Mind to do Good to Relieve the Necessities of those who want will observe the just Proportions of Giving will give according to what a man hath as is necessarily implied in the Words for if a willing Mind be accepted according to what a man hath it is because it gives according to what a man hath Thirdly That where there is this Willing Mind with a fitting Proportion according to our Abilities whether it be more or less which we give it is equally acceptable to God Such a Man is accepted according to what â—…e hath not according to what he hath â—…ot I shall speak as briefly as I can to each of these that I may not be prevented in such an Application as is proper to this Solemnity First That a great Readiness and Forwardness of Mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to do Good to relieve the Necessities of those in Want is the true Spirit of Charity and gives Value and Acceptation to all we do Such a Willingness of Mind when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the Principle and first Mover in all our Charitable Actions is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very acceptable to God This I think I may take for granted for what is the Grace and Vertue of Charity but a Charitable Inclination Disposition Temper Habit of Mind And what is this but a Readiness and Forwardness to do Good Our Inclinations and Passions are the Principles of Action and therefore have a natural Tendency towards their proper Acts and Objects and will act when they have the Power and Opportunity of Action Charity is Love the Love of Pity and Compassion to the Miseries and Sufferings and Wants of our Brethren and Love in all other Instances is a very restless active Principle and so will our Love to the Poor and Miserable be if it be Inclination and Habit. There is no man but will pretend to be very ready and willing to do Good though he never does any For to have no Inclination to do Good is so Infamous that those who do no good are ashamed to own it but to do no good is a plain Evidence against them when nothing can hinder them from doing Good but the want of Will and Inclination to do it when God has furnished them with the means of doing Good and there are thousands of Objects to exercise their Charity and to move their Pity if they had any The Will is accepted for the Deed both by God and Men when it is not in our Power to do that Good which we sincerely desire to do and which we would certainly do were it in our Power but it is to mock both God and Men to pretend a Willingness when â—…t is
of Earthly Rivals yet it fires at great Examples and is ashamed to be out-done by Equals in love to God or Men especially when the Honour of the Church whereof they are Members and the Religion which they profess is concerned It is well known how many pious and charitable Foundations are owing to Popish Superstition they hoped to expiate their Sins and to merit Heaven by their good Works and in this hope and this perswasion they did a very great many We understand better than to think of meriting any thing of God much less of purchasing a liberty of sinning by Acts of Charity but if those great Rewards which are promised to Charity and which we profess to believe will not make us charitable without the Opinion of Merit and Satisfaction Charity is so great and excellent a Vertue and so very useful to Mankind that at least thus far Popery will be thought the better Religion and therefore as the Apostle argues As ye abound in every thing in faith and utterance and knowledge and all diligence and in your love to us see that ye abound in this grace also As we have a more Orthodox Faith a clearer and a distincter Knowledge and a purer Worship than the Church of Rome let us excel in Charity too and convince the World that to renounce Popery is not to renounce good Works SERMON X. Preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord-Mayor and Court of Aldermen at Guild-hall Chappel on Sunday April 25. 1697. Coloss. II. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men after the Rudiments of the world and not after Christ. HAD St. Paul lived in our Age it would have required little less than the Courage and Bravery of the Spirit of Martyrdom to have said this And nothing but the Authority of so great an Apostle which though some Men do not much value yet they dare not openly despise can skreen those who venture to say iâ—… after him What some Men call Philosophy and Reason and there is nothing so foolish and absurd which some Men will not call so is the only thing which those Men adore who would either have no God or a God and a Religion of their own making And what Attempts some have made to undermine all Religion and others to corrupt and transform the whole Frame of the Christian Religion upon a Pretence of its contradicting Natural Reason and Philosophy is too well known to need a Proof That thus it was in his days and that thus it was likely to be in future Ages St. Paul was very sensible when he gave this Caution to his Colossians and I 'm sure it is as proper a Caution for us as ever it was for any Age since the writing of this Epistle for this vain Pretence to Reason and Philosophy never more prevailed and never did more mischief to the World It is an endless and fruitless Task to go about to confute all the absurd Hypotheses and wild inconsistent Reasonings wherewith Men abuse themselves and others The Experience of so â—…ny Ages wherein Philosophy was in all 〈◊〉 Glory and the several Sects disputed â—…d wrangled eternally without ending â—…y one Controversie gives no great Enâ—…uragement to hope for much this way 〈◊〉 least it can never be expected that â—…dinary Christians should be better â—…structed and confirm'd in the Faith by â—…hilosophical Disputes The Christian Religion has from â—…e very Beginning been corrupted by 〈◊〉 mixture of Philosophy Thus it was 〈◊〉 the Apostles days and thus it has â—…een more or less in all Ages of the Church to this day and the direction the Apostle gives for the security of the Christian Faith is Not to dispute such Matters but to distinguish between Philosophical Disputes and Matters of Revelation and to reject all the Pretences of Philosophy when it does or seems to contradict the Faith of Christ or would make any corrupt Additions to it Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to make a Prey or to carry away as a Prey that is to seduce them from the Christian Faith or from the Pâ—…rity and Simplicity of it Through Philosophy and vain deceit that is through the vain deceit of Philosophy which cheats Men with a flattering but empty appearance may unsettle weak Minds but cannot lay a sure and solid foundation of Faith may cheat Men out of their Faith but when that is done can give them nothing certain in the room of it For it is but after the traditions of men and after the rudiments of this world Some of these Doctrines may possibly plead Prescription as having been so long received that no Man knows their Original or if they have the Authority of some Great Name yet it is but a Human Authority and they are but the traditions of men and of Men who at best had no better Information than from the visible appearances of Nature and their own imperfect Observations and corrupt or defective Reasonings after the rudiments of this world And is this an Authority to oppose against the Faith of Christ which both wants that Divine Confirmation which he gave to his Doctrines and contradicts them For they are not after Christ neither taught by Christ nor consonant to what he taught These Words might afford great Variety of Discourse but I shall confine my self to what is most Usefull and reduce that into as narrow a compass as I can by shewing I. What great need there is of this Caution To beware lest any man spoil us through Philosophy and vain deceit II. What great reason we have to rejectall these vain Pretences to Philosophy when they are opposed to the Authority of a Divine Revelation I. As for the first of these Whoever considers what an Enemy these vain Pretences to Philosophy have always been to Religion will see need enough for this Caution True Reason and the true Knowledge of Nature which is true Philosophy would certainly direct us to the Acknowledgment and Worship of that Supreme Being who made the World And yet we know that there never was an Athiest without some Pretence to Philosophy and generally such loud noisy Pretences too as make ignorant people think them very notable Philosophers and that tempts some vain empty Persons to affect Atheism that they may be thought Philosophers That this is vain deceit all Men must own who believe there is a God And if it be possible to pretend Philosophy for Atheism it self it is no great wonder if it be made to patronize Infidelity and Heresy But this plainly shews of what dangerous Consequence it is to admit Philosophical Disputes into Religion which if at any time they may do any service to Religion much oftner greatly corrupt it and shake the very Foundations of it of which more anon At present I shall only shew you how the Matter of Fact stands That most of the Disputes in Religion
conceive no Substance but Matter and Body and therefore reject the Notion of a Spirit as Nonsense and Contradiction They will allow nothing to be wisely made which they understand not the reason and uses of and therefore they fancy a great many botches and blunders in Nature which cannot be the designs and contrivance of Wisdom but the effects of Chance and then the consequence is plain That the World was made by Chance not by a Wise Author Now I confess if this way of Reasoning be allowed it will be impossible to defend either Sense or Reason or Revelation against the Cavils of Atheists and Infidels for there are unconceivable and incomprehensible Secrets and Mysteries in them all and if to conceive and comprehend the Natures of things must be made the measure and standard of true and false we must deny our Senses and Reason as well as our Faith and if we do and must believe our Sense and Reason beyond our Comprehension why must we believe nothing that is Revealed any farther than we can conceive and comprehend the Nature and Reasons of it The Sum is this Humane Knowledge whatever the means of knowing be whether Sense or Reason or Revelation does not reach to the Philosophical Causes and Natures of things but only to their Being and Natural Vertues and Powers and as a Wise man who knows the Measure of his understanding expects no more from Sense and Reason than to know what things there are in the World and what they are as far as they fall under the notice of Sense and Natural Reason so we must expect no more from Revelation than the knowledge of such things as Sense and Natural Reason cannot discover But we must no more expect the Philosophy of Supernatural Truths from Revelation than we do the Mysteries of Nature from Sense and Reason Now since Humane Knowledge is not a knowledge of the Mysterious Natures of things but only to know what things there are and what they are there can be no contradiction between Sense and Reason and Revelation unless one denies what the other affirms not that one teaches more than the other teaches or that one cannot comprehend what the other teaches Reason teaches more than Sense teaches or can comprehend and Revelation teaches more than either Sense or Natural Reason teaches or can comprehend but this is no contradiction but only a subordination between these different kinds and degrees of Knowledge but as for Unconceivableness and Incomprehensibility that is no argument against any thing for Sense and Natural Reason can no more comprehend their own Objects than they do what is revealed And it is manifest perverseness to make that an objection against Revelation which we will not allow to be an objection against Sense and Reason This is sufficient as to the reason of the thing but as far as it is possible to remove mens Prejudices also against believing Mysteries I shall briefly answer two very popular Objections 1. It is thought very unnatural that when God has made us reasonable Creatures and therefore made Natural Reason to us the measure of Truth and Falshood he should require us to believe without Reason as we must do if he reveals such things to us as we know not and cannot possibly know the reasons of If we must believe with our Understanding how can we believe things which we cannot understand This were a reasonable Objection were it true for we cannot believe what we have no knowledge nor understanding of for Faith is Knowledge though not Natural Knowledge But do we not understand what it is we believe Do we not know what we mean when we say we believe in Father Son and Holy Ghost Nay do not our Adversaries understand what we mean by it How then come they to charge us with believing Contradictions and Impossibilities For if they know not what we believe they cannot know whether we believe Contradictions or not And if we do understand what it is we believe then we do not believe without understanding which is absolutely impossible if we know what it is we believe And we know also why we believe Our Faith is founded in Sense and Reason and resolved into the Authority of God which is the highest and most infallible Reason The Miracles which Christ and his Apostles wrought were evident to Sense and owned by Reason to be the effects of a Divine Power and the Answer the Blind man gave to the Pharisees when Christ had opened his eyes speaks the true Sense of Nature Herein is a marvellous thing that ye know not from whence he is and yet he hath opened mine Eyes Now we know that God heareth not Sinners but if any man be a Worshipper of God and doth his will him he heareth Since the World began was it not heard that any man opened the Eyes of one that was born blind If this man were not of God he could do nothing 9 John 30 31 32 33. And all Mankind own that the most absolute Faith is due to God and to those who speake from God and this as I take it is to believe with Reason But still we believe such things whose Natures we do not understand and cannot account for by Natural Reason and this is to believe without Reason We believe that God the Father hath an Eternal Son and an Eternal Spirit and that Father Son and Holy Ghost are but one Eternal God but this is what Natural Reason cannot comprehend nor give us any notion or conception of how God can have an Eternal Son and an Eternal Spirit really distinct from himself and yet with himself One Eternal and Infinite God Reason can give no account of the Eternal Generation of the Son nor of the Eternal Procession of the Holy Spirit and is not this to believe without Reason which a reasonable Creature ought not to do and which we ought not to think that God who made us reasonable Creatures expects from us And this I grant would be a material Objection were Reason the Judge of the Nature and Philosophy of things and did Reason require us to believe nothing but what we understand and comprehend But then we must no more believe Sense and Reason than Revelation for we do not comprehend the Nature of any one thing in the World how evident soever it is to Sense and Reason that there are such things Nature is as great a Mystery as Revelation and it is no greater affront to our Understandings no more against Reason for God to reveal such things to us as our Reason cannot comprehend than 〈◊〉 is to make a whole World which â—…eason cannot comprehend When we make it an Objection against â—…ny thing that it is without Reason or â—…s we apprehend against Reason and contrary to Reason we must first conâ—…ider whether it be the proper object of Reason otherwise it is no Objection as it is no Objection against Sounds that we cannot see them nor against Colours
the thing and the only Dispute is about Matter of Fact whether God have revealed his Will to Mankind whether there ever were such inspired Men sent by God to instruct the World whether there ever were any true Miracles wrought or any certain Predictions of things to come and when Men are satisfied that such things may be as they certainly may be if there be a God it will dispose them to a more modest and impartial Examination of such Matters and not suffer them to despise Revealed Religion at all adventures For in Matters especially of such vast moment no wise Man will reject and scorn what may be true till he can prove it to be false 2. Since then we must confess that it is possible that God should reveal his Will to Mankind let us consider which is most probable which is most agreeable to those Notions we have of God that he should or should not make such a Revelation of his Will Now if we may judge of this by the general Sense of Mankind there was not a Man in the World in former Ages who believed a God but did believe also some kind of Commerce and Communication between God and Men. This was the Foundation of all their Religious Rites and Ceremonies which every Nation pretended to receive from their Gods This gave Birth to all their Superstious Arts of Divination that they believed their Gods had a perpetual Intercourse with Men and by various Means gave them notice of things to come â—…nd the Stoick in Tully thought That â—…e Acknowledgment of a God did as â—…ecessarily infer Divination as Divinaâ—…on did prove the Being of a God Ego â—…im sic existimo si sint ea genera diviâ—…andi vera de quibus accepimus quoeque coâ—…imus esse Deos vicissimque si Dii sint esse â—…ui divinent Is it possible as I observed before to â—…magine that God should make reasoâ—…able Creatures who are made to know â—…im and to be happy in the Knowledge and Love and Admiration of him and withdraw himself from them without giving them any visible Tokens of his Presence or any other View of his Glory then in the weak and glimmering Reflections of his Works Had Man preserved the Innocence and Purity of his Nature for whether we believe the History of Moses or not if we believe that God made Man we must believe that he made him Holy he had been fit for the Presence and Conversation of God as Angels and Holy and Pure Spirits are and in this State there can be no doubt but God would have shewn himself and his Glory to Man in some Measure and Proportion as he does to the Angels in Heaven as the History of Moses assures us that God did to Adam in Paradise So that Man was made if I may so speak with Reverence for the Conversation of God which pious and devout Souls recover in some measure on Earth and which we all hope perfectly to enjoy in Heaven Sin indeed as necessarily it must has made a greater distance between God and Man but if we must live in the other World and be happy or miserable there as the Deist professes to believe if God still exercises any Care and Providence over Mankind it seems absolutely necessary that he should give some sensible Tokens of his own Being and Presence and instruct them more perfectly in his own Nature and Will then the Light of Nature teaches For how much soever Men may magnifie the Light of Nature it is certain the State of the World was very ignorant and corrupt and Mankind knew little of God beyond a general Perswasion that there was such a Being and therefore worshipped a Multiplicity of Gods and any thing for God and that with such ridiculous and barbarous Rites as were a Reproach to the Naâ—…e both of God and Man And can â—…y Man who believes a Divine Proviâ—…nce think that God takes no care of â—…s own Glory and Worship nor of the â—…uls of Men And it is certain he has â—…ken none if he have not revealed â—…mself and his Will to the World Especially when we consider that in â—…ose dark Times of Paganism the Deâ—…l and Evil Spirits had every where â—…eir Temples and Altars and Priests â—…d Sacrifices frequently appeared to â—…eir Votaries in visible Shapes and inâ—…ituted their own Rites of Worship and â—…ave forth their Oracles and Responses â—…nd by their various Arts of Divinatiâ—…n gave them notice of many Events â—…or though these were Cheats and Imâ—…ostures they were not all the Cheats â—…f Priests but of Evil Spirits who imâ—…osed both upon Priests and People and â—…y these Arts begot in them a great Oâ—…inion of their own Divinity as we must confess unless we will deny the Credit of all Histories And when this by the secret and hidden Counsels of God was the miserable and degenerate State of Mankind can we think that God should leave himself without any other Witness than the Light of Nature should give no Demonstrations of a Power superior to all these vulgar Deities nor give Men any certain Notices of his Will no Rules of Conversation or Worship It is certain in Matter of Fact that all the Reformation which has been made in Mens Faith and Worship and Manners is owing to the Jewish and Christian Religion This put a stop to their absurd Idolatries and restored the Worship of the One Supreme God in the World which is so wonderful a Change as could not have been wrought without some visible and irresistible Proofs of Divinity This is sufficient to shew how unreasonable it is in those Men who believe a God to deny all Revelation For it is certain that God can reveal Himself and his Will to Mankind if he pleases and that the Nature and Providence of God and the State of the World makes it highly reasonable to think he has done it The Design of all which is no more but this to remove Mens Prejudices against the very Notion of a Revealed Religion For were this effectually done they would soon discover the most unquestionable Characters of Divinity in the Gospel of our Saviour I am sure if we do believe a God and another World nothing can be so desirable as a more explicite and perfect Account of â—…he Will of God and the Way to Heaven than meer Nature can give us What Impression this may make upon profess'd Deists I cannot tell they â—…ave so used themselves to laugh at eveâ—…y thing that is serious and to confute â—…he wisest Arguments with bold and profane Jests that little Good can be expected from them But I hope this may caution those who are not yet â—…nfected and make the Name of a Deist â—…n a Christian Nation as contemptible â—…s the Name of an Atheist they are both â—…wing to the same Cause they live much alike they are equal Enemies to Christianity and equally dangerous to any Government where they themselves are not â—…ppermost It is a
that St. Paul did not intend to condemn all Self-love which when it acts regularly is the natural Principle of all Moral and Religious Actions and having prevented this Objection which lay in my way for the further Explication and Improvement of these Words I shall do these three Things 1. Inquire what that Self-love is which the Apostle here condemns 2. How dangerous and perillous such Times must needs be wherein this Self-love prevails 3. Shew the Folly and Unreasonableness as well as Wickedness and Impiety of it 1. What that Self-love is which the Apostle condemns For can Self-love be the fruitful Parent of all Piety and Virtue and the cause of all the Evil and Wickedness which is committed in the World Can the same Fountain send forth sweet water and bitter and yet thus we see it is both good and bad Men act from a Principle of Self-love and design their own happiness and satisfaction This inspires good Men with great and generous designs sets them above this World makes them devout Worshippers of God and very just and charitable to Men and it is the same Principle which acts in bad Men and drives them into all the Excesses of wickedness they gratifie their own Inclinations and Appetites â—…y it they find present Ease and Pleasure they do what they love they please themselves they pursue what they call Happiness which is Self-love still though turned off of its natural Byass by mistaken Notions of Happiness All Men love themselves but Self-love does not act alike in all Men because they are not all agreed what Self to love For Man consists of Soul and Body of Spirit and Flesh which have different Interests Appetites and Inclinations and have distinct Pleasures and Satisfactions of their own A good Man loves his whole Self Soul and Body too and designs and endeavours the Happiness of both which is the entire Happiness of a Man and this is a vertuous Self-love which makes the Flesh subordinate to the Spirit governs our sensual Appetites by Reason improves our Minds in Wisdom and Knowledge raises our Souls up to God and entertains them with the love and the admiration of that best of Beings and above all things secures an eternal Interest the Salvation of our Souls and the glorious Resurrection of our Bodies into immortal Life But a Bad Man loves but one part of himself and that the meanest part too and made much more mean and vile by being loved alone His Self-love is nothing else but the love of the Flesh and of the Lusts and Appetites and Pleasures of it a love of this World and all the objects of Sense which gratifie a carnal and fleshly Mind the Soul is no part of his care so far from it that he is not willing to believe he has a Soul unless it be to subdue Reason to Sense and brutish Passions to stifle the natural notions of a Deity to root up all the seeds of Piety and Vertue or to charm his Conscience that it may not chide and condemn and disturb him in his Enjoyments For the understanding of this we must observe that when the Scripture condemns the love of our selves it does not mean our Personal Self for so every man does and must love himself or his own Person but it is to love something for our selves which we will have to be our selves when God never made it to be so which is our own Self or a Self of our own making and to love this Self in opposition to the Love of God and Men which is to love our selves only and to make all other things subordinate to Self which is the adequate notion of a vitious Self-love 1. It is a Self of our own making that is it is what a Sinner will call Himself and will account his whole Self and in pleasing of which he placeth his whole happiness though it be but a little part of that Self which God made God made Man Soul and Body but such Men will call nothing themselves but Flesh God made Man for a rational and intellectual Happiness as he made him a reasonable Creature but such Men place their whole Happiness in Sense Now Flesh is not the Man of Gods making the Pleasures of Sense are not the Happiness of a Man Man was made to enjoy the Pleasures of Sense in conjunction with those of Reason and in subordination to the Diviner Pleasures of the Mind but a sensual Happiness he was not made for that 's the Happiness of an inferiour and brutish Nature And those who will have this to be their Self and their Happiness are their own Creatures not Gods and are lovers of their own Selves of their own Inventions their own Ways and Devices as the Scripture speaks 2. Such Men are Lovers of themselves in opposition to the Love of God that is they are lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God as the Apostle here speaks They prefer their own Will and Humour and the Gratification of their Lusts before the Will and Laws of God and in contradiction to them A Good Man lives in subordination to God as a Creature ought to do to his Maker and Sovereign Lord the Will of God is the Rule of his Will and Choice the Love of God gives Laws and Bounds to his Love of himself He pleaseth himself in such Instances as God allows he denies his own Will and Appetites Inclinations and Interests when they oppose the Will and Laws of God Such a Man can hardly be said to have any Self to have any Will any Love any Desires of his own for God is all this to him God lives in him he is more Gods than he is his own as St. Paul speaks I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me 2 Gal. 20. But a Bad Man hath divided himself from God cast off his obedience affects an independent State to stand by himself and to be his own Lord and Master and a God to himself and such a Man is properly said to love himself for he distinguishes himself from God and prefers himself before him 3dly Such Men are properly said to be Lovers of themselves because they love themselves in opposition to the rest of Mankind they gratifie their Lusts and serve their private Interests without any regard to the Laws of Justice or Charity It is their Principle to do good to themselves without ever being concerned what either private Men or publick Societies suffer by it They are the whole world to themselves and have no body else to please or take care of unless they can serve their own designs by it Such men are properly Lovers of themselves that is only of themselves for they love no body else And this is the sordid narrow selfish Spirit of Flesh and Sense which dwells within it Self is its own Center and its own Circumference for Flesh is a narrow Principle can have no Pleasures nor feel any Pains but its own and therefore must confine
is as easie and natural as of an Eternal Being and that natural Notion we have of the Relation and Dependance between Causes and Effects necessarily leads us to the Belief of a First Cause for if all things were Eternal without a Cause it is hard to conceive how there should ever after be any natural Relation between them of Causes and Effects and yet destroy the Doctrine of Causes and Effects and there is an end of all Reason and Discourse But then as we have no natural Notion of the Eternity of all things so all the Appearances of Nature contradict it and will not suffer it to lie easie in our Minds We see every day that all Individuals are made Men are born every day and die and one Generation succeeds another and thus it is with Beasts and Birds and all other Animals with Trees and Fruit and Corn and Herbs and is it possible for any Man to believe that any of these things were Eternal when we see that the Individuals of all these several kinds of Beings are daily made for the World consists of Individuals and if they are all made the World was made Necessary Existence is Essential to the Notion of an Eternal Being which has no Beginning nor any Cause and therefore must be always what it is without the least Change that to ascribe Eternity to a World which is subject to perpetual Changes is as great an Absurdity as to assert an Eternal Succession without a Beginning Thus it is very natural to think that the Effect can have nothing but what the Cause can give it and therefore we may learn what the invisible Cause is from visible Effects that if we see any thing wisely made we may conclude it had a wise Cause and therefore nothing can more contradict the natural Sense of our Minds than to ascribe such a World as we now live in which discovers such wonderful Art in its Contrivance to blind and undesigning Chance I do not dispute these Matters now but only consider how unnatural it is to think so and therefore how very difficult it is for any Man in good earnest to espouse these Atheistick Principles Thus as for the Principles of Infidelity how hard is it for any Man to perswade himself that God never revealed himself and his Will to the World any otherwise than by the Works of Creation when all Mankind have believed otherwise and are naturally inclined to believe so and there are great Reasons to think that God will do so and none to think that he will not especially when we have such evident Proof of this in Prophecy and Miracles which so strongly perswade the rest of Mankind For to deny Prophecy and Miracles when the Matter of Fact is plain that there have been true Prophecies or Miracles and no Man besides themselves who believes a God doubts whether he can foretel things to come or exercise a Sovereign Authority over Nature when he pleases can be called by no softer Names than Stupidity or Impudence and whatever they say it is not so easie for them to believe what they say for Prophecy and Miracles carry such a Conviction with them of a Divine Power and give such Authority to the Prophet as is not easily resisted as is evident from hence that some of the wisest of these Men dare not deny the Authority of Prophecy and Miracles could they be assured o the Truth of them but they hear no Prophecies nor see any Miracles now and may be imposed on by fabulous Relations should they be over credulous of such Matters This would have been a good Answer had they only some idle and uncertain Reports of such things but it can never satisfie themselves when they have such an Authentick History as the Bible the Old and New Testament for the Foundation of Faith Can any Man perswade himself to reject the Credit and Authority of all Histories If he can't whatever he may pretend he will find it a very hard matter after all his Criticisms to disbelieve the Gospel which is the best attested and most credible History in the World These are the Difficulties of being an Atheist or Infidel without which Men can never reject or confound the Differences of Good and Evil that all these Principles contradict the natural Ideas of our Minds and destroy all the natural Rules and Measures of Reason that we can no more distinguish between Truth and Falshood than between Good and Evil and if it be possible ever thus to efface the natural Notions of our Minds yet it must be a very uneasie and difficult Task 3dly And yet it is at least as difficult to put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Men may bribe their Understandings but our natural Passions are not so easily stifled When the Frame and Constitution of our Natures has annexed Shame and Fear and Remorse to bad Actions which makes them very bitter and grievous in the Review whatever they were in the Act it is not laughing at these Fears as superstitious and owing to Education which will cure them no more than the Stoicks Brags that Pain was no Evil could prevent their feeling Pain What is painful will make us feel it and Atheists and Infidels themselves when they think they have reasoned and laught away all their Fears find that besides their frequent Misgivings and Jealousies when any great or surprizing Occasion sets them free these Passions return on them with such a Fury as all their Philosophy cannot resist Now this endangers all again for natural Shame and Fear and Remorse will make them own an Essential Difference between Good and Evil when they feel it 4thly But let us suppose all these Difficulties conquered they are sensible that there is one still remaining viz. That all the rest of Mankind are against them The Heathen World owned a God and as learned Men have proved one Supream God though they corrupted both the Notion and Worship of God by Polytheism and Idolatry but Atheism was so infamous among them that some Atheistick Philosophers such as Epicurus himself was forced to dissemble it They owned a moral Difference between Good and Evil they owned Revelation and instituted Religions and had them though not from God yet from those evil Spirits whom they worshipped for Gods The whole Iewish Nation own the Writings of Moses and the Prophets and the whole Christian World whom they are most at present concerned with own both the Old and New Testament These are great Authorities against them which one would think should make Men modest and put them a little out of countenance and incline them to suspect that they may be mistaken but they are sensible that Modesty would undo them that to suspect whether they are in the right is as fatal to them as to know that they are in the wrong and therefore they have no way left but to out-face all the World to laugh at all the rest of Mankind as superstitious