is hurried on to dangerous and destructive Actions but Nature goes on evenly in making Provision for its Health and Support and it enjoys its Strength and Beauty as in the Times of Quietness and Peace In the last Place a comfortable Expectation of a much better and endless Life in the Regions of Glory can spring from nothing but sincere Religion and therefore Religion is of very great Value with Respect to this world For what can be of greater value and more to be desired in this Valley of Tears this World of Sin and Sorrow and Ignorance Vexation and Disappointment than to have a well grounded Hope that 't will not be always so with us That there will be a Time when all Tears shall be wip'd from our Eyes and Sin and Misery be at an End for ever That we shall one Day be disentangled from the Clog of Flesh the Prison Doors set open and our captiv'd Souls set free and with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory return to the great Father of Spirits and with the full Vigour of all their Faculties contemplate and enjoy the only satisfying Good That instead of Floods of Years there shall then be Rivers of Pleasures flowing in upon us to all Eternity Halleluia's instead of Groans and mournfull Accents the triumphant Rejoycings of eternal beatified Spirits instead of the bitter Complaints of miserable Mortals and in a word Love in its Perfection instead of Quarrels and Discontents Envy and Hatred and Malice and Revenge and all the dire Attendants of them That instead of spiritual Blindness and Ignorance of the most concerning Truths for here we know but in Part and see through a Glass darkly we shall e're long be admitted to contemplate Truth it self and know as we are known and shall see God as he is and in him all things For God is Light What can be more valuable than such a chearing Expectation as this How will it sweeten all the Troubles of this Mortal Life and be a sensible Foretaste of the Glory that shall hereafter be revealed But now nothing can create such a Hope as this but sincere Religion for God is infinitely pure and holy and into his Presence no unclean thing can enter And 't is expresly said in the Revelations of his Will That without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. A wicked Mans Breast that is not seared can be full of nothing but the dire Reflections of an enrag'd Conscience and dreadful forebodings of the Wrath to come The Miseries he feels in this World are but as the Beginnings of his eternal Sorrows and while he continues in his Rebellion against God he can expect nothing but new Expresses of his Indignation here and to be doom'd to the Portion of the Devil and his Angels at the Day of Judgment He only that has liv'd piously in this World can with any Comfort think upon a future State But to him that has led this First Life by the Rule of Religion and serv'd his Maker in Sincerity of Heart no Joy comparable to that which he experiences when he thinks of being dissolv'd and conducted to the Embraces of his Saviour in the Kingdom of Heaven where he shall be for ever with him and unspeakably happy in the Joy of his dear Lord. And thus much for the Value of Religion with Relation to this World It is the Parent of the most perfect Peace and Quietness Content and Satisfaction of Mind of a long and healthy Life here and of a comfortable Expectation of a glorious Immortality in the Regions of Blessedness And were this all that could be said of it I question not but to any considering Man it would appear to be a Jewel of inestimable Price that nothing the whole World can afford is comparable to it and that he is the wisest Man who with the Merchant in the Parable immediately parts with all that stands in Competition with Religion and would hinder him in the Performance of the Duties of it But this is far from all Godliness has not only a Promise of the Life that now is but also and chiefly of that which is to come And if it appears to be so inestimable a Treasure when we look no further than this Life what shall we think of it when we contemplate that exceeding Weight of Glory which shall be its Reward in Heaven The Happiness that will crown Religion in the other World springing from the same Fountain from whence do flow the Felicities of God himself i. e. it consisting in an intimate View and full Enjoyment of the Beauties and Perfections of the Divine Nature for so St. John 1 Joh. 3.2 We shall see God as he is It must needs be inexpressible Nay the very Contemplation of it is too bright for Minds darkned with Flesh the Splendors of it flash too strongly upon our feeble Sense now we are in the Body and too long and closely gaz'd on will rather dazle than enlighten our Understandings No Mortal Man can see God's Face and live and therefore most true is that of the Apostle Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard 1 Cor. 2.9 neither can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive the things that God hath reserv'd for those that love him Indeed this includes all that can possibly be imagin'd of Excellence and much more than we poor ignorant benighted Creatures can imagin For God is the Fountain of Being and consequently of Perfection All that is charming and truly desirable in Nature to our Senses or to our Understandings in the visible or invisible Creation is but a Stream from this divine Fountain and is in him ininfinitely greater Excellency For he is Beauty and Goodness and Harmony it self And therefore since Religion will bring us to such a Happiness as the Vision and Enjoyment of this chief Good what can compare with it for Value The Depth says 't is not in me and the Sea says 't is not with me Man knoweth not the Price thereof neither is it found in the Land of the Living It cannot be valued with the Gold of Ophir with the precious Onyx or the Saphire no mention shall be made of Coral or Pearls for the Price of Wisdom is above Rubies Job 28.13 c. Such then being the Excellency of Religion that it is above all things conducive to the Happiness of Man in this World and will bring him to the Enjoyment of God himself to eternal Ages when this short Life is ended and the whole that the World can afford amounting to no more by the Confession of one that enjoy'd it all to the Full than Emptiness and Disappointment Vanity and Vexation of Spirit here and if the Word of God be true an eternal Banishment from the supreme Good shall at last be their Punishment who love this worthless World more than Religion and their Maker These things being duly weighed and considered let any Man in his Wits say which is of greatest Value Religion or
to the Owners thereof saving the beholding of them with their Eyes A Pleasure very empty and unsatisfying for the Eye is not satisfyed with seeing and which their meanest Servant may have as well as they Content is least of all in the Breasts of Persons of the highest Rank he that has much would still have more and is in frequent Fears of losing what he has for Riches are known to be very uncertain and unaccountably take to themselves Wings and fly away and to be in fear of losing Riches and yet dissatisfi'd in the Possession of them carries much more of Uneasiness with it than the beholding of them with ones Eyes does of Pleasure and a Stranger or a Servant may take not only as much but more Pleasure in the Sight that has none of the inward Discontent than the Proprietor and Master that hath So true is that of the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.9 10. They that will be rich fall into Temptation and a Snare and pierce themselves through with divers Sorrows and Contentment with only Food and Raiment is a much greater Happiness To so very little in reality does arise the Second thing in which consists the Happiness of the World the Gratification of the Lust of the Eyes even to nothing but Dissatisfaction and Disquiet Vanity and Vexation of Spirit Come we now to examin the third Part of this World's Treasure the Pride of Life or Honour Power and Dominion And very fitly is this stil'd the Pride of Life it being the Aim of most men to be great to command and govern and to have much of Honour and Respect paid to them and in this they pride themselves more than in any other worldly Good that they possess But what is there in all this that a Man can justly value at so high a Rate Suppose a Man to be Monarch of the whole World to be without Controul from any one on Earth and to give Laws to every Man besides suppose many inferiour Princes tributary to him and that he is honoured like a mortal God suppose all this yet however glorious it may appear at a Distance we shall find upon a closer Inspection that this likewise is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit For as for even an universal Dominion unless the Subjects were as willing to obey as the Monarch is desirous to govern a Catholic Crown would sit as uneasie nay more so than that of lesser Princes The further a Man's Dominion extends the more Difficulties in Government will occur the more ambitious and discontented Spirits will there be to tame and keep in order the more secret Conspiracies and Underminings of Men aggriev'd and disoblig'd and that are as desirous of Government as he that sits in the Throne can be And which will often break out to shake and discompose if not to overturn the present Establishment And the more extensive a Princes Dominions are the more must there be employ'd in the Government of them and those Men of different Interests and Inclinations jealous of one another and envious at the Supreme and more ready to carve for themselves and advance their own Families than sincerely to endeavour the Prosperity of their Master This is found very true and the Occasion of much Trouble and Disquiet to Princes that have Affairs more in their own View than this universal Monarch can be supposed to have and therefore much more dangerously must he sit than they and receive much more Disquietude and Trouble if he takes Notice of the Motion of his great Orb and if he does not where is the Pleasure of governing So that the most ample Dominion is thickest set with Thorns and Briars while enjoyed and in continual Danger of a Ruin which must perplex him that is sensible of it with numberless Fears and Jealousies and anxious Thoughts how to secure his Throne And he that is careless and unsensible and leaves the Fatigues of Government to Others and spends his Days in nothing but Ease and Luxury is an Emperour in Title only and may soon for any thing he knows be not so much as that The one leads a Life of Vanity the other of Vexation of Spirit That 't is easier to obey than to govern is an usual and very true Saying and would be so were Thrones not near so slippery as they are and I am sure 't is very much happier for a Man never to have had such Height of Power and Dominion than ever to see himself thrown down and laid in the Dust The very Danger of so great a Fall is enough to fill ones Breast with great Disorder so great as that all the Gauderies of Grandeur shall lose their Taste and become insipid to him and actually to fall as many glorious Princes have already done is the greatest Misery that can be experienc'd upon earth The short is Empire and Dominion fancy it how great soever is at best very troublesome and disquieting and so uncertain as that it not seldom ends in the very Depth of Ruin And as for the Honour that goes along with it glorious Titles low Obeisance and the like all of this Nature is so perfectly empty and utterly ineffective of any thing that 's truly good and Profitable to a Man that 't is of all things the most despicable and of least Regard And though 't is fit Inferiours should pay it where 't is due yet unless an inward Veneration of the Mind attends that outward Respect of the Body a great Man is so far from being honoured by it that 't is the greatest Mockery and Abuse that can be And because no great Man can tell whether he is inwardly reverenced or no neither can force any Man so to honour him against his Will 't is a very great Weakness for him to set any great Value upon outward Respect which for ought he knows nay in all likelyhood may be an Affront rather than an Honour to him And this is what Honour Power and Dominion amount to Having thus given in an impartial Account and that confirmed by the Experience of Solomon who enjoy'd it all to the Full of the Sum Total of what this World can afford that can pretend to be of any Worth and Esteem by examining the Three Particulars in which is contained all that is valuable in it namely the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life Let us now weigh Religion against it and see which does preponderate which is the most weighty and substantial Good and consequently whether the Merchant in the Parable did wisely or no in selling all that he had that he might purchase this Pearl and be Master of this Treasure And we shall consider Religion in a twofold Respect with Relation to this World as well as the other And first as for the Value of Religion with Relation to this World what is of greater Esteem than Peace and Quietness Contentment and Satisfaction of Mind a Long and Healthy Life here
believe and the things he is to do are so excellent in themselves and so conducive to intire Happiness both here and hereafter that no Man that duly considers and attends to either but will be powerfully inclin'd to assent to the one and practise the other and be no longer an Infidel or Heretick or live a vicious irreligious Life 'T was Consideration made the Prodigal Son resolve to return to his Father and humble himself before him and could the Sinners of this Age be perswaded seriously to consider and weigh things together they would soon see Reason enough to convince them that 't is their wisest Course to live at another Rate than formerly and put an End to their Extravagances by Repentance But what did this Prodigal consider when he came to himself that so powerfully inclin'd him to return to his Father with such an humble and shameful Confession of his Extravagancy 'T was this How many of my Father's hired Servants have Bread enough and to spare and I perish with Hunger He found by a woful Experience that however uneasie 't was to him formerly to be under his Father's Eye and in Subjection to his Commands 't was by far a happier Condition than that which by his Prodigality he was then reduc'd to The meanest of his Father's Servants was in happier Circumstances than he and therefore he thought it his wisest Course to arise and return to his Father And so would it be with a Sinner would he but compare a Virtuous and Vicious Course of Life together He would find by his own sad Experience if he would but attend to it that all his Extravagances from which at first he expected to reap so much Happiness are not only Vanity empty and unsatisfying but likewise Vexation of Spirit full of Troubles and Misfortunes attended with Shame and Disgrace inward Remorse and Gripings of Conscience and dire Forbodings of the Wrath to come And this would soon convince him of the much greater Happiness of Obedience and Submission to the Will of God for that has none of all this Misery but Peace of Conscience inward Contentment and Satisfaction of Mind and the comfortable Expectation of Eternal Happiness in the Presence of God And the Conclusion of such Considerations would be his Resolution to arise and go to his Heavenly Father and with much Humility and sincere Contrition say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be call'd thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants And indeed the poorest good Man that is a diligent and faithful Servant of God is in an infinitely happier Condition than the greatest wicked Prince he experiences more true Happiness even in this World and when he shall hear the joyful Sound at the Day of Judgment Well done good and faithful Servant enter into the Joy of thy Lord and wicked Emperors be thrust away with I know you not depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity then shall all the World discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not The former shall have Bread enough and to spare their Happiness shall be compleat and full while the latter shall perish with a keen Hunger after what they shall never enjoy and for ever be sent empty away After the Prodigal had consider'd himself into a Resolution of returning to his Father he put his Resolution into practice and arose and came to his Father and said Father I have sinned c. And truly 't is not bare resolving that is sufficient to Amendment of Life we must act agreeably and that immediately too or else our Resolutions though never so earnestly made will vanish into nothing and the Breach of them still more increase our Guilt For when a Man has proceeded so far towards a new Life as to resolve to forsake every Evil Way and no longer to insist in his former Vile Courses 't is a sign that his Soul is rous'd and awaken'd from its spiritual Sleep that his Eyes are open'd and that he discerns his Error and if after all this he still persists in it he then sins against clear Light and Knowledge which is the highest Aggravation of a Fault As a Sinner therefore should as soon as he is become sensible of his Sin immediately resolve to forsake it and return to his Obedience to God so must he immediately put his Resolution into Practice for otherwise he does but mock God and deceive his own Soul and will only increase his Damnation A well-grounded Resolution is a good Preparative to Amendment but 't is but a Preparative and to resolve to do a Thing and actually to do it are two very different Things We all of us I hope that pretend to be Christians so far consider as to grieve and be asham'd for having offended our Good God and are at that instant resolv'd never willingly to transgress his Holy Will again Let us but keep our Resolutions and we shall be Happy for such as with the Prodigal actually return to their Heavenly Father and humble themselves before him he is ready with the greatest Expressions of Kindness to receive to his Favour Which brings me to the Last Thing express'd in this Parable viz. The great Tenderness and Compassion of the Father of Spirits to such as repent in earnest and perform their Resolves of Amendment his Readiness to be reconciled to them and extraordinary Joy for their Return because they were dead but are alive again were lost but are found For so 't is said in the Parable That when the Returning Prodigal was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had Compassion and ran and fell on his Neck and kissed him and said to his Servants Bring forth the best Robe and put it on him and put a Ring on his Hand and Shooes on his Feet and bring hither the fatted Galf and kill it and let us eat and be merry While he was yet a great way off his Father had Compassion and ran to meet him By this is express'd God's great Desire that a Sinner's Repentance should be compleated he will meet him and that with more than ordinary Assistances of his Spirit lest any Temptation should so far prevail as to divert his Return and make him change or defer to put in practice that good Resolution he had taken up He prevents a real Penitent with the Riches of his Grace and while he is yet a great way off labouring with the Difficulties that attend a thorough Change of Life he with infinite Charity and Compassion comes forth to meet him that by his Divine Aid he may secure his Retreat from the Endeavours of the Devil and his own vile Affections to bring him back to his former vain and wicked Courses which by God's Grace he has resolved to break off by Repentance And when a Sinner's Repentance is compleated and he is actually return'd with Shame and Sorrow
that he would turn away that fierce Anger from him which he is very sensible he has but too much deserv'd Thus David fram'd a Psalm on purpose to confess and bewail his great Transgressions in the Matter of Uriah He then forgot all that was good in him and did not expect that his former excellent Piety should cover and make Amends for those foul Sins He did not search for Excuses and endeavour to extenuate his Guilt but like a truly humble Penitent chang'd his usual Strain of Praise and Thansgiving for the Accents of Grief and Shame and better Remorse acknowledging his Transgressions and having his Sins ever before him and with the most pathetick Earnestness of a broken and contrite Heart begging God's Forgiveness and that he would again Greate in him a clean Heart and renew a right Spirit within him As if those his great Wickednesses had not only polluted all that before was good in him but quite destroy'd the Rectitude and Integrity of his Soul And as David so S. Peter when he reflected upon the great Baseness of Denying his divine Master and Saviour his Spirit was so truly humbled that without endeavouring in the least to conceal or palliate his Fault he went out and wept bitterly And so the Publican in the Parable would not so much as lift up his Eyes to Heaven but stood afar off in the Court of the Gentiles which was the lowest of all and with great Compunction of Spirit smote upon his Breast and said God be merciful to me a Sinner And thus much for the First Thing to be done upon this Parable which was to shew what the Grace of Spiritual Humility is viz. a not Over-valuing our spiritual Excellencies nor our Selves by reason of them nor despising others as less Holy but returning all the Glory to God who made us to differ nor undervaluing or endeavouring to excuse and extenuate our Wickednesses but an impartial considering the Vileness and great Aggravations of them and sincere humbling our Selves for them at the Throne of God The Second Thing to be done is to shew how excellent and beneficial this Vertue is in our Christian Course and how vile and mischievous the contrary Vice is 'T is a sufficient Argument that this Vertue is very excellent and of great Benefit to Christians that our Lord has plac'd it in the Front of his Beatitudes which he begins thus Blessed are the poor in Spirit Like a wise Master-Builder he lays the Foundation low of a Building that was to reach so very high and Humbleness of Mind must be the Ground-work of that Religion which will advance a Man to Heaven Piety without Humility is very apt to make Men top-heavy and over-set like a Ship without her Ballast 't is this that preserves the Soul unshaken amidst the Temptations of the World as that makes a Ship sail sure and steady amidst the mighty Billows The House in the Gospel that was founded upon a sandy Surface of the Earth soon yielded to the Fury of the Tempest and great was the Fall of it our Lord therefore begins with poverty of Spirit as the Basis and great security of all his other Building which he foresaw and foretold was to undergo the Shock of many a furious Storm and contend with all the Powers of the Prince of Darkness But more particularly this Grace of Spiritual Humility is so excellent and highly beneficial that nothing more conduces to a Man's Spiritual growth and Encrease in Vertue nor renders him more dear both to God and Man First Nothing more conduces to a Man's spiritual growth and Encrease in Vertue For 't is very true in Religion as well as in Worldly Affairs That nothing makes Men more industrious than a due sense of their Wants and the poorness of their Stock whereas when a Man thinks he has Abundance he is generally Slothful and Careless and Impoverishment becomes his Lot rather than a farther Improvement An humble Sense of a Man's Imperfections and Sins will make him doubly diligent and consequently to improve greatly in the School of Righteousness but haughty Conceitedness will certainly make him grow worse and worse Nay there will be no End of the humble minded Man's Improvement for 't is always found in the pursuit of Vertue as well as of Knowledge that the more real Vertue increases in the Soul of a Good Man the more and greater the Defects of his Vertue appear to be and consequently the more will his Diligence be quickned and spurr'd on as St. Paul the farther he advanced in the Christian Race the more conscious he grew that he had not yet apprehended what he endeavoured after and was not yet perfect and that made him forget what was behind his former Attainments and reach out to what was still before what he had not yet attain'd to and eagerly press forward to the Mark the Prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus Now the Consequence of this extraordinary Diligence must needs be an extraordinary growth and increase and so still onward in a quick and vigorous Motion till he finishes his Vertuous Race and is perfect as his Father which is in Heaven is perfect And as this spiritual Humility makes a Man move swiftly in the Christian Course so it makes him tread surely too it ballances him and keeps him upon his Centre and secures him from those dangerous Falls which too often are the Fate of the high-minded and proud for 't was Pride and Haughtiness of Spirit we know that ruin'd the Prince of the Fallen Angels and his Accomplices But poverty of Spirit is the great Security of a Christian against the subtle Arts of the Tempter 't is the proper Mark and Character of a Disciple of the meek lowly Jesus and is a disposition of Mind the most of all apt for Repentance which is a Grace of infinite Value as being absolutely necessary to Salvation and entitles a Man in a peculiar manner to the Divine Aid and Assistance for God giveth Grace to the Humble Secondly As this spiritual Humility is of the greatest Benefit to a Christian so does it render him highly dear both to God and Man All Men love an humble Man and look upon him as a Wise and Extraordinary Person and he that is pious and circumspect in his Conversation and yet is not proud of it nor despises or haughtily reflects upon others that live more at large than he does but advises them better seasonably and with Meekness and Humility such a Man is esteem'd as a Person sent from God to do Good to Mankind that seeing his Good Works mix'd with poverty of Spirit they may be inclined to imitate so lovely an Example and glorifie their Father which is in Heaven by treading in his Steps And as for God S. Peter and S. James and the Wisest of Men all agree that he resisteth the proud but giveth Grace to the humble And our Lord himself at the end of the Parable we
more and more to soften their Hearts and make them pliable to the Impressions of the Word of Life that it may sink deep into their Souls and be fix'd there beyond the Danger of yeilding to every Temptation and withering when Adversity shall come They must not boggle at any thing that appears to be their Duty but be diligent and industrious in ridding their Minds of their former Evil Habits and Inclinations and inure themselves to the Obedience of Christ not pretending Hardship or Impossibility when He commands not endeavouring to lessen the Obligation of any of his Precepts or shifting it from themselves nor expecting Heaven upon easier Terms But knowing their Lord's Will endeavour to do it in Sincerity upon such Obedience only through the Merits of Christ hoping for the Promises And this Course like good Tillage and Manuring of our Ground will soon mollify the Heart and make it not only superficially but intirely Plyable to the Word of God receptive of its Impressions to the very Bottom so that it shall dwell in us richly and bring forth Fruit not only in Times of Security and Peace but even then when Tribulation shall arise because of the Word and take still deeper Root and bring forth greater Abundance notwithstanding all the Storms and Scorchings of Persecution or even a fiery Tryal Thirdly in order to the Fruitfulness of the Word we must be very careful that it be not like Seed that falleth among Thorns lest the Thorns spring up and choak it so that it yield no Fruit. That is that after the hearing of the Word we go not forth and suffer the Cares of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches and the Lusts and Pleasures of this Life to enter in and choak the Word and it become utterly unfruitful or at least bring no Fruit to Perfection 'T is by a lamentable Experience too true that the Love of this World very much hinders our Provision for the next and 't is as true that this is the greatest Folly and Madness in Nature because the World to come is upon all Accounts so infinitely to be preferr'd before the present that there cannot be the least Competition between them For how can a World of Cares and Vexations of Misery and Affliction of all Sorts of Hazards and Uncertainties of Sickness Pain and Death as this is compare with a World of eternal unmix'd and uninterrupted Happiness as is the other And therefore one would think Men should be so wise and so much their own Friends as to bestow their greatest Endeavours in Pursuit of their main Interest and not on the contrary such egregious Fools as for the Gain of an empty Bubble to forfeit an happy Eternity So far as is consistent with the Care of the Soul 't is very allowable to mind the Affairs of this Life Nay 't is a Duty of our Holy Religion for every man to be industrious in his Calling and to enjoy with Thanksgiving the Portion that God hath given him here below But to invert God's Order and place that First in our Esteem which should be Last when he says seek ye First the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and then all needful things of this World shall be added unto you to run quite counter and First provide for Abundance here and then and that but very coldly God knows think a little of the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness this is such a preposterous Course as can never end in any thing but Shame and Confusion If it be true that the Gain of even the whole World would be a very unprofitable Exchange when compared with the Loss of the Soul and if it be true that the Loss of the Soul will follow upon the Unfruitfulness of the Word of God for Faith alone will not save but must bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit And finally if it be true that a too great Love and eager Prosecution of the things of this World will choak the Word of God and make it unfruitful as our Lord in this Part of the Parable affirms it will If all this be true I see not how it can be avoided but that such as have a Desire that the Word of God should be fruitful in their Souls in order to the eternal Salvation of them must love the World less and their Souls more must be careful in the First place to grow in Grace and be rich towards God and clear their Minds of these worldly Thorns and Briars lest the Divine Life be stifled and that Seed choak'd which alone can fructify to a happy Immortality We must use this World yet so as not to abuse it but certainly he abuses it and all the Blessings that God affords him in it who so immoderately Doats upon it as to prefer it before the Service of his great Benefactor and spends most of his Thoughts and Endeavours about the encreasing Wealth and the Enjoyment of these sublunary Pleasures and can spare but very little if any of his Time and Pains to prepare himself for the Enjoyment of God in Glory And yet as plain as this is Men are generally so little affected with it as not only to neglect Religion as much as ever and love the World still more and more but even to plead the Cares of the World as an Excuse for their Coolness in Religion and the Unfruitfulness of the Word of God in their Souls We would be oftner at the Sacrament and more constant in at the Prayers of the Church and in reading and meditating upon the Holy Scriptures but that the Cares of the World and the Hurry of Business takes up most of our Time and Thoughts But for God's Sake let such consider is that an Excuse which is it self as great a Fault as any Will God accept such an Excuse at the Day of Judgment Has he not plainly forewarn'd us of the Danger of too much worldly Mindedness Has not St. John said plainly 1 Joh. 2.15 love not the World nor the things of the World for whoso loveth the World the Love of the Father is not in him And our Lord as plainly ye cannot serve God and Mammon How strange a Plea then is it for the Neglect of Religion to say we are deeply engag'd in the Persuit of this World 's Good If we believe we have Souls to be saved methinks we should take care of them in the First place and as for this World a moderate Industry such as does by no means intrench upon Religion is all that can be justifyed And what our Lord said to the Scribes and Pharisees about their taking care of lesser Matters and neglecting the weighty things of the Law should be our Rule in providing for our Families and providing for our Souls These things ought ye to have done and not to have left the other undone He that provides not for his own House according to the Measures of Necessity and Moderation is worse than an Infidel
deceiving his own Soul From him shall be taken away even that which he hath he shall be deprived of it to inrich his industrious Brother and add to his Abundance What Grace he had before shall be withdrawn and he naked and defenseless left to the Fury of his Spiritual Enemies the Dews of Heaven shall no longer drop upon his barren Soul but parch'd and sapless it shall be reserv'd to eternal Burnings Consider this all ye that forget God and are unfruitful under all his Care and fatherly Nurture and Admonition lest at length he pluck you away and there be none to deliver you And remember the Words of Solomon Prov. 29.1 He that being often reprov'd still hardeneth his Neck shall suddainly be destroyed and that without Remedy And thus have I done with the first of our Saviours Parables in which is set before us a Blessing and a Curse a Blessing if when the good Seed is sown and we have heard the Word we receive it into honest and good Hearts and according to our several Abilities bring forth Fruit to Perfection that is obey and Practise it with Constancy and Perseverance And a Curse if we remain still barren and unfruitful not Doers of the Word but Hearers only deceiving our selves into eternal Perdition It becomes us all therefore to take heed how we hear and not be like the High-way-side suffering our Thoughts to wander from the Instructions we have heard and leaving the good Seed unregarded to the Mercy of the great Enemy of Souls and exposing our Minds as a common Tract to vain and wicked Fancies and Imaginations and diabolical Suggestions nor like the stony Ground impenetrable to any deep and lasting Impressions of the Word of Life nor like that over-run with Thorns and Briars and noxious Weeds such as are the Cares and deceitful Riches and Pleasures of this Life which will choak the Word and render it unfruitful But that we treasure up this Divine Word in our Memories ponder and consider it and set our Love and Affections upon it So shall it grow and prosper and bring forth Fruit in some Thirty in some Sixty in some an Hundred-Fold to the Honour and Glory of God and the eternal Salvation of our immortal Souls Which God of his infinite Mercy grant for Jesus Christ his Sake Now 2 Cor. 9.10 He that ministreth Seed to the Sower both give us this Heavenly Bread for our Food and multiply the Seed that is sown and encrease the Fruits of our Righteousness that being inrich'd in every good thing to all Bountifulness there may be given through us Thanksgiving unto God Amen Amen The PRAYER I. MOST Holy Jesus thou blessed Author of the best Religion who hast in great Plenty sown among us the Seed of a happy Immortality even thy holy Word and watered it with the Dew of thy heavenly Grace and art wanting in nothing on thy Part to cause it to flourish and bring forth abundantly the Fruits of Righteousness I thy unworthy Servant unfeignedly bless this thy infinite Goodness and tender Care for the Children of Men but must with Shame confess that hitherto thy Care has been in too great Measure defeated by my Inconsiderateness and Obstinacy my Soul still remains barren as the High-way-side impenetrable to the Sermons of the Gospel or at best flitting and unconstant in religious Purposes which have been short-liv'd as the Grass that grows upon the Top of the Rocks or else choak'd with the Briars of worldly Cares and Distractions with covetous and sensual Desires Thus have I courted Death in the Error of my Life But now being awaken'd by thy Mercy and become sensible of the Danger I am in and the sad Consequence if my Barrenness continues I humbly beg and earnestly at the Throne of Grace that Thou from whom is all our Sufficiency wouldst aid me with thy blessed Spirit and help my Infirmities and strengthen me mightily in the inner Man that thy Word may ever hereafter take so deep a Rooting in my Soul as to produce the genuine Fruits of Christianity II. I am sadly sensible O Lord that the Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Do thou therefore who art the Searcher of our Spirits purge my Soul of all lurking Hypocrisy and Pride and Self-conceit and every thing that will hinder the Growth and Increase of this heavenly Seed and make me apt to receive and cherish it by creating in me an honest and good Heart and renewing a sincere and right Spirit within me Grant that I may so seriously attend to and consider the great Truths thy Goodness hath revealed to us in the Gospel as intirely to assent to them and heartily endeavour to conform my Practice to my Belief and may I always heedfully preserve those divine Instructions and moving Arguments to a persevering Piety which I have learned from thy Word lest the infernal Bird of Prey deprive me of the good Seed and in its room plant devillish Affections And O that Patience and Hope and an humble Dependance upon thee for Direction and Defence may be my Support in this my Pilgrimage That so chearfully running the Race that is set before me and thankfully acknowledging the early Influences of thy blessed Spirit in my tender Years and waiting for the later Distillations of thy Grace which will bring my Fruit to Perfection and always endeavouring o proportion my Increase to the Means and Opportunities of it thy Goodness hath vouchsafed me I may at last escape the Intolerable Punishment of Unfruitfulness and having my Fruit unto Holiness the End may be everlasting Life through thy Merits and Mercies O blessed Saviour Jesus Amen PARABLE II. Of the Tares Matth. xiii 24 25 26 27 28 29 30. Another Parable put Jesus forth unto them saying The Kingdom of Heaven is likned unto a Man that sowed good Seed in his Field But while Men slept his Enemy came and sowed Tares among the Wheat and went his way But when the Blade was sprung up and brought forth Fruit then appeared the Tares also So the Servants of the Housholder came and said unto him Sir didst not thou sow good Seed in thy Field From whence then hath it Tares He said unto them an Enemy hath done this The Servants said unto him wilt thou then that we go and gather them up But he said nay lest while ye gather up the Tares ye root up also the Wheat with them Let both grow together until the Harvest and in the time of Harvest I will say to the Reapers gather ye together first the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them But gather the Wheat into my Barn THE Interpretation of this Parable is thus set down Vers 37. of this Chapter He that soweth the good Seed is the Son of Man the Field is the World the good Seeds are the Children of the Kingdom but the Tares are the Children of the wicked one the Enemy that sowed them
prevent their running into Courses ruinous and to shield 'em from the mischievous Assaults of wicked Spirits And to mention but one Place more St. Paul charges Timothy 1 Tim. 5.21 Before or as in the Presence of God and of Jesus Christ and of the elect Angels that he would observe those things he had taught him without Prejudice or Partiality Which plainly supposes that there were Angels then present as Observers and Witnesses of what they were doing and discoursing It being then thus plain from Scripture that the blessed Angels are Observers of Mens Lives and Actions especially of those of Christians as by God's Appointment and as Ministers of his divine Government I shall not trouble my self to make curious Enquiries into the Reasons why God appoints Angels to observe and minister to us since nothing escapes his own all-seeing Eye and his own all-mighty Arm can do whatsoever he pleases in Heaven and in Earth in the Sea and in all deep Places Nor of what Rank and Order those Angels are and how many that are thus employ'd And whether every Man has a particular Angel assign'd him as his Guardian and the Inspector of his Actions Which things are too high for us Mortals we cannot attain unto them But shall make this good Use of this Particular relating to our Practice That since we are under the Inspection of such pure and holy Spirits and whose Concern for our Happiness is very great since they are Witnesses of our most secret Actions and though invisible and unobserv'd themselves are our curious Observers Methinks we that are our selves but in one Rank of Being below 'em here and shall hereafter be equal to them should not endure to be found by 'em wallowing like Swine in the Filth of Sin degrading our selves to a Level with the Beasts that perish and in base Hypocrisy pretending to be Christians when indeed we act like Infidels Nay too often like Devils incarnate How do those good Spirits tho' they may pity our deplorable Condition yet withal despise and abominate the servile Baseness of such excellent Natures Who notwithstanding they have such glorious Hopes yet quit their heavenly Reversion for the low Enjoyments of this contemptible Earth Methinks Shame should deter us from vile and impious Actions if nothing else and the Thoughts of the Dignity of our Nature not suffer us to act so much beneath our selves and a Man not brutishly impudent should not endure to expose himself to the Observation of an Angel in such vile Circumstances as he would be loath to be found in by any Man he reverences and respects nay by a Servant or a Child And as the Angels are Observers of Human Actions so are they God's Intelligencers to give him account of them not that God needs such Information for every thing lies naked and open to his own all seeing Eye but for the greater Order and Decorum of his Government And this their Office they perform with great Diligence and Watchfulness and ardent Zeal for his Glory for no sooner were the Tares discerned by 'em to be among the good Corn the formal empty Christians to be intermix'd with the sincerely good but they hasten to give account of it to their great Master and as not being able to indure the great Dishonour reflected upon God and the purest of Religions by their base Hypocrisy and impious Conversation they offer with his Permission to remove those evil Doers those not only unprofitable but wicked Servants as unworthy to continue any longer in so sacred a Society as that of Christians Wilt thou that we gather them up say they wilt thou permit us to weed this thy great Field of those noxious Tares to cull out the empty nominal Christians and exert that Power thou hast given us to their deserved Ruin that the Residue of thy Servants may see it and fear and keep from their Abominations And that those blessed Spirits that angelick Host is able to perform this Service no Man can doubt that remembers how one Angel in one Night destroy'd all the First-born in Aegypt Now this their Diligence and Watchfulness in the Service of God and Zeal for his Glory should put us upon a holy Emulation of doing God's Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven That is that we who here on Earth Luk. 20.36 are but a little lower than the Angels and shall in Heaven be equal to them should now endeavour to be as like them as we can and with the utmost Chearfulness Alacrity and Diligence perform the Duty our great Governour has set us and with a prudent Zeal endeavour in our several Stations by discountenancing Vice and encouraging and promoting Vertue to the utmost of our Power to advance the Glory of God and the Interest and Reputation of our holy Religion If Magistrates would take due Notice of those that live scandalously and wickedly and not bear the Sword in vain but be as they ought to be a Terrour to Evil-Doers and praise and encourage those that do well if the Governours of the Church who are stil'd Angels in Scripture would act like the Angels in this Parable and curiously inspect the Religion of their Charge and by such Methods as the Laws allow either turn the Tares into good Seed which though impossible in Nature yet may be and I hope often is done in Religion or pluck 'em up if stubborn and irreclaimable if Governours of private Families warm'd with the like holy Zeal would take the like Measures and either reform their irreligious Servants and Dependents or else rid themselves of 'em and bring 'em to due legal Punishment If this wholesome Course were taken with due Diligence Watchfulness and Prudence Vice would soon be dishearten'd and Vertue more and more thrive and Increase God's Honour would be vindicated the Credit of Religion redeemed our own temporal Happiness advanced and innumerable Souls sav'd that otherwise would for ever have perish'd And this would be a Work truly worthy of Christians 't is an angelick Undertaking and every Man that prays hallow'd be thy Name thy Kingdom come thy Will be done in Earth as 't is in Heaven is bound in his own Sphere and according to his best Ability to promote what is contain'd in those Petitions to the Glory of God and the Interest of Religion as he expects and hopes to have an Answer of the following Petitions and receive his daily Bread and have his Trespasses forgiven him and to be preserved or supported in Temptation and delivered from Evil. The fifth thing this Parable informs us of is the Reason why God will not suffer the Angels as yet to gather out the Tares from among the good Seed to discriminate Hypocritical from sincere Christians and give them their due Punishment namely lest while they gather up the Tares they root up also the Wheat with them and therefore he suffers both to grow together until the Harvest That is in other Words the Reason of
God's Forbearance of the Wicked and not suffering the Angels those Ministers of his Justice to punish them in this World according to what they deserve is his great Care and Tenderness even of the temporal Quiet and Safety of the Righteous Which by Reason of their Intermixture with the wicked here would at least be very much disturb'd through the rooting up a wicked Generation and without the Help of a Miracle many a good Man might perish in so great a Ruin But Miracles we find God has never thought fit to work but upon urgent Necessity when his own Glory and the Interest of Religion and the Church cannot otherwise be secur'd now there being no such Necessity of punishing the wicked by destroying 'em in this World nor consequently of miraculously preserving those that are truly good from a general Ruin for the End of the World that great Day of Recompence is not far off and both may live together untill then God for the Sake of the sincerely good lest the Rod of the wicked should come into the Lot of the righteous does generally restrain the Zeal of those blessed Spirits the Angels and forbears the Tares till that universal Harvest when the Earth shall be eas'd of its Burthen and then the good Seed shall be gather'd together in Safety and the Tares left to be consum'd in that great Conflagration when the World and all that remains in it shall be burnt up with Fire unquenchable And when in Case of almost a total Corruption of a City or Nation and to strike a Terror into others and convince the obdurate World that God sees and is able to punish obstinate and irreclaimable Sinners God thinks fit to suffer his bright Host of Angels utterly to destroy such wicked Places as sometimes we know he hath done we have several Instances in Scripture and other Histories of the miraculous Preservation of the good and that as the Psalmist expresses it Psal 91. though Thousands have fallen by their Side the Destruction has not come nigh them for he gives his Angels Charge over them to keep 'em in all their Ways Of this great Care of Providence over the good either in preserving for their Sakes Communities destin'd to Ruin or else covering them under the Wings of Providence and shielding them from Danger till the Storm was over there is an Instance in the 18. of Genesis so very remarkable that I can't pass it by In the 23. Verse of that Chapter we find Abraham interceeding with God for Sodom and Gomorrha which he had resolv'd to destroy for the abominable and incurable Wickedness that was in them and he begins with what he thought would most prevail with God to spare the Place and tells him the Safety of the Righteous would be hazarded and that they would share in the common Destruction and therefore lest he should slay the righteous with the wicked which he knew the Judge of all the Earth would be far from doing he pleads with him for the Sake of Fifty Righteous that should be found there a small Number one would think and easie to be found in such populous though wicked Places and at length being encourag'd by God's wondrous Goodness who comply'd with him in every Request and as he sunk the Number promis'd him he would not destroy he by degrees descends to Ten which was as far as ever his Modesty would reach and one would think far enough to secure the most wicked City upon Earth Peradventure Ten be found there And God said unto him I will not destroy it for Ten 's Sake Rather than those Ten should be in Danger of perishing in the general Ruin he will recall the destroying Angel and at least respite the Execution of his Vengeance and for their Sakes reprieve the condemn'd Place of their Abode And when through the extream Wickedness of those Cities that small Number of good Men was not found in them and God therefore proceeded to shower down his fiery Indignation upon 'em yet he remembers righteous Lot and his small Family and sends two Angels to conduct 'em safely out of that accursed Place who hasten'd Lot lest he should be consum'd in the Iniquity of the Cities and upon his Request spared Zoar which he fled to and bid him make haste thither for that they could not do any thing till he was escap'd out of Danger as you may read Gen. 19.22 And what a boundless Ocean is the Goodness of God! That he should not only so graciously accept the imperfect Services of his own People as to take them into his peculiar Care and Protection but for their Sakes likewise that Destruction might not so much as come nigh their Dwellings to spare those that have justly merited the severest Expresses of his Displeasure This does indeed verify the Words of the Psalmist that his Mercy is over all his Works And this as it should be a new Motive and Encouragement to true Holiness which will be so great a Security in perillous Times both to our selves and others and demonstrates the great Ingratitude and Baseness of the World in hating and despising and afflicting the good who yet are as so many guardian Angels to it and shield it from the Expresses of God's just Vengeance So it will silence that Objection against Providence drawn from the continued Safety and Prosperity of the wicked notwithstanding their living in open Defiance of God and his Commands For we see they are but repriev'd for the Sake of the righteous lest they should be involv'd in the Ruin pour'd upon the ungodly Their Punishment is but respited for a little while and at the great Assize God's Justice will have its full Course and sink 'em into everlasting Ruin And as the Husbandman may observe the Tares are among his good Corn and resolve at length to bind 'em up in Bundles and burn them though his prudential Care of the good Corn inclines him to let them alone till the Harvest and not pluck 'em up whilst the good Corn is standing and growing to Perfection lest it be rooted up together with them So God sees and resolves in due Time to punish according to their Demerit the vile hypocritical Christians but in a wise and tender Regard for the safety of the sincerely good with-holds his Judgments during their Abode in the World but will surely repay the wicked Wretches what they have deserv'd in the great Day of Recompence And this brings me to the last thing this Parable informs us of namely that though these vile unhappy Tares are forborn for a while and let pass without bearing any publick Marks of God's Displeasure here yet there shall most certainly be a Time of Discrimination even at the great Harvest Mal. 3.18 and then shall all Men discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not For then will the great Husbandman the Lord Jesus as at the Time of Harvest
may I always so attend to the Dignity of my Nature and the constant Inspection of thy holy Angels and glorious Self in all my Ways as not to dare to play the Hypocrite in thy Presence who seest the very Secrets of my Heart and be asham'd to expose my Vileness to those excellent Spirits and reflect upon the Confusion I shall be in at the Day of Judgment when the Goat and the Swine shall be discover'd under the Profession of a Christian And O that the Zeal and Alacrity of these ministring Spirits in thy Service and for thy Glory may put me upon a holy Emulation to do thy Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven That so when the great Harvest shall come and thou shalt say to the angelick Reapers Gather ye together first the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them but gather my Wheat into my Barn I may find Mercy at that terrible Day and be receiv'd to a Participation of the Glories of thy heavenly Kingdom Which grant O blessed Jesus I most earnestly beseech thee Amen PARABLE III. Of the Pearl of great Price Matth. xiii 45 46 The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant-man seeking goodly Pearls Who when he had found one Pearl of great Price he went and sold all that he had and bought it BY this and the Parable immediately before it of a Treasure hid in a Field which when a Man hath found he hideth and for Joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that Field The transcendent Excellency of the Christian Religion above all things in the World is represented And that 't is the greatest Wisdom to part with every thing that this World can afford all the Pleasures Honours and Riches of it rather than be without the inward Power and Life of this holy Religion which is a Pearl of so great Price so immense a Trasure that nothing here below can stand in Competition with it 'T is as David expresses it more to be desir'd than Gold yea Psal 19.10 than much find Gold and he professes that himself had more Delight in God's Commandments than in all Manner of Riches And Solomon says almost in the Words of these Parables Happy is the Man that findeth Wisdom or Religion for the Merchandise of it is better than the Merchandise of Silver and the Gain thereof than of find Gold Prov. 3.13 c. She is more precious than Rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compar'd unto her Length of Days is in her right Hand and in her left Hand Riches and Honour her Ways are Ways of Pleasantness and all her Paths are Peace Such great things as these being spoken of Religion by those that best knew its Excellency and the World being so very backward in the Belief of their Testimony and so foolish as to prefer every little worldly Good before this inestimable Treasure to which all that the whole Creation can afford is not comparable and the Consequence of this Delusion being so fatal no less than the eternal Ruin of both Body and Soul It highly concerns us by due Consideration to rectify our Apprehensions in this Matter and no longer childishly doat upon empty Gayes and Trifles and neglect what is of infinite Excellency and the most substantial Good It is therefore the Design of this Discourse upon the Parable above recited to weigh the Excellency of Religion against all that the World can afford in the Ballance of Reason that upon a fair Experiment we may see which does preponderate and accordingly be convinc'd which of the Two is most worthy our Choice And then if we still retain our Affection for the World against the Judgment of our Reason in behalf of Religion we shall likewise be convinc'd that we act more like Brutes than Men and that we deserve to feel the Consequences of our unreasonable and wicked Choice and taste no other Happiness than what this unsatisfying empty World can afford and in the next World be for ever miserable because we would not be for ever happy when we might First then let us see what the Whole that this World can afford will amount to All that is in the World St. John tells us is the Lust of the Flesh 1 Eph. 2.16 the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life i. e. to these Three may be reduc'd the Whole of what is valuable in the World And by the Lust of the Flesh is meant Pleasure of all Sorts by the Lust of the Eye Riches great Plenty and Abundance and by the Pride of Life Honour Power and Dominion This is that Trinity which the generality of Men adore and impatiently desire and place their greatest Happiness in the Enjoyment of and of each of these Particulars we will now enquire what they amount to and consequently what is the Sum total of the World And first to observe the Apostles Method we will begin with the Lusts of the Flesh or the Pleasures of the World and which are generally first in Men's Esteem and for which they are often content to part with the other Two Now these may be rank'd in this Order viz. the Pleasures of Lust and Uncleanness of luxurious Eating and Drinking and of great Jollity and Mirth all agreeing in the Character of the Lusts of the Flesh that is all highly gratefull to the Desires and Appetites of the Body And in the first Place I observe this in general of all worldly Pleasures that the longer a Man lives to enjoy them the more insipid still they grow to him and that not only upon Account of their own empty Nature but by Reason of the Decays of our own Faculties and consequent Disability to enjoy them As old Barzillai said to David 2 Sam. 19.35 Can I discern between Good and Evil c. when he invited him to the Pleasures of his Court. And what Happiness can be expected from that which is very unsatisfying in its own Nature and which were it not after a few Years we shall be incapable of enjoying But to be more particular As for the Pleasures of Lust and Uncleanness whatever Men's Expectations may be of receiving great Satisfaction from them they can't but find by their Experience that there is much of Disappointment in 'em and the Pleasure much greater in Imagination than Reality They are indeed deceitful Lusts and often make Men miserable even here but never happy And for the Truth of this that it may not be look'd upon as a thing only said not prov'd and the cinical Conclusion of a frozen dispirited Student whose narrow Course of Life has made him a Stranger to such Sort of Enjoyments and caus'd him to give a worse Character of them than they deserve I shall vouch the Testimony of Solomon who fill'd the Throne of a rich and flourishing Kingdom and was accountable to none but God for Actions of this Nature and his Desires perfectly
either wholly deprives the Soul of or turns it into Poison and instead of disarming a Misfortune by humble Submission to the infinitely wise and just and good Disposals of the great Governour of all things adds a thousand sharper things to it and makes that become intolerable which Religion would have made to sit light and easy Again Content is destroyed by Irreligion because it perswades Men that their whole Interest lies here below either by making them believe there is no such thing as another World or else by engaging them so fast to this as to hinder their attending to any thing beyond this Life And the Effect of this is great eagerness in acquiring these lower Goods impatient Desires of still more and more of the World as that in which is concentred their whole Happiness And what else can be the Consequence of this amidst the great uncertainties that attend these sublunary things but a World of Trouble and Discontent answerable to those numerous cross Accidents and Disappointments which every Condition is full of from the highest to the lowest Every unlucky Hit to such Men is like a Dagger stabbing to the very Heart for that which a Man looks upon as his chief Good he can by no means endure to have lessened and impaired And the World being so full of such vexatious Mishaps how full of Wounds must be the Spirit of an ungodly Worldling And as Content so Satisfaction of Mind which is much more than a submissive Acquiescence in our present Condition and supposes a Happiness that is compleat and full This is a Blessing which nothing but sincere Religion can ever make the Soul experience And he only that has learned to make God the chief Object of his Affections and Desires can indeed know what Satisfaction is For every thing besides God is unsatisfying because flitting and momentary and very imperfect and empty of that infinite Good which is the only adequate Object of that infinite Desire of Happiness which is in the Soul of Man This is the Reason that Men are so constantly disappointed in their Expectation of Happiness from the Enjoyment of this World 's Good let them continually have what they desire which yet is too much to be rationally supposed of any Man and enjoy it fully and without Controul yet still there will be something wanting to compleat their Happiness something that they desire still further and so the Soul is continually baulk'd of her Expectation and still at a Loss for Happiness and continual Longings and Desires and as continual Disappointments are her Portion in this World And what 's more uneasie and vexatious than such a Condition as this What more deplorable than even by Fruition it self to be made unhappy What other Refuge has the miserable Soul in this Case than to take off her Affections from these empty Nothings here below and as Religion directs fix them upon him who is the supreme Good and will abide the Test of an eternal Fruition In the Enjoyment of him must needs be infinite Satisfaction because there is no real Good that we can possibly desire but is in the divine Nature in the highest Degree of Excellency and Perfection and that not only for a Time but to all Eternity All the Capacities of the Soul must needs be fill'd with an infinite Good and intirely rest in it as in the very Center of Happiness Thirdly Religion is of very great Value with Respect to this World because 't is so greatly conducive to a long and healthy Life in it Long Life and Health is that which all People naturally covet and is indeed a very great Blessing and that not only because the longer Men live and the more vigorous they are the longer and more fully they enjoy or at least hope to enjoy the good things of this World which yet with too many is the main Consideration but likewise and chiefly because they have more Time and greater Opportunities to provide for the Happiness of the eternal Life to come and heap up still greater Treasures of Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven Now this great Blessing nothing is more likely to help a Man to than Religion For First it engages Men to live regularly and temperately moderates the Appetites of eating and drinking and curbs the exorbitant Desires of the flesh and by allowing no more than is necessary to the Comfortable Support of Nature makes no Provision for those many destructive Diseases which are always the Attendants of Excess How many of the meaner Sort by Labour and course Fare protract their Days than of the Rich who live in Ease and Luxury And the Reason is plain because the poor Man's scanty Fortune will not allow him to exceed but keeps him within the Bounds of Moderation and Temperance and forces him to be content with a little whereas the rich have many and great Temptations to Luxury and Excess and seldom are so religious as to resist them and so too frequently feel the sad Effects of Intemperance and live out but half their Days But now Religion is a kind of voluntary Poverty and helps Men to all the Blessings of a mean Condition though rich and out of Danger of the Sting of it and by introducing Temperance and Moderation into the Families of the wealthy brings with it Health and long Life which otherwise would seldom be found but in the Cottages of the Poor Again Religion is greatly conducive to a long and healthy Life because it regulates the Passions keeps the Soul quiet and in a Calm which has no little Influence upon the Health and Welfare of the Body That the Passions of the Mind do very much affect the Body is undeniable and when they are excessive nothing more shakes and discomposes the whole Man Even Joy which one would think should be innocent enough has sometimes been so violent as to overcharge Persons and leave them dead and Grief has been often fatal and Envy is the worst Sort of Consumption and leaves visible Tokens of it upon the Countenance and Love has had many Martyrs and Anger is a great Impoverisher of the Animal Spirits and oftentimes makes a Man his own Executioner and engages in such Scuffles and hot Inconsiderate Actions as not seldom end in Wounds and Death Every Excess of Passion of what kind soever is naturally a great Impairer of Health at least and the often Repetitions of it the ready Way to destroy it Nature not being able to bear such violent Concussions long without being much weaken'd and shatter'd by them Like the Walls of a Castle which how strong soever will receive Damage by every furious Battery and unless reliev'd must at length fall before the Cannons Irresistible Force But now Religion prevents all this Mischief and by regulating and reducing to Moderation these Passions of the Soul makes the Mind calm and quiet and keeps the Spirits in an Aequipoise and the Body consequently is undisturb'd feels no Violence nor
the World And which is the wisest Man he that ruins his Soul for the Gain of even the whole World or he that counts all these sublunary things as Dung in Comparison with Religion and is ready to part with all that this Earth can afford him for the Joys of a good Conscience here and the Glories of Heaven hereafter He that prefers the World in his Choice deprives himself of the greatest Comfort of this present Life and parts with the certain Reversion of eternal Happiness in Heaven for Pleasures that don't deserve that Name they are so empty and unsatisfying he brings most exquisite and everlasting Misery upon his whole self Soul and Body for a very short liv'd imperfect Gratification of his brutal Part only and purchases the Torments of the other World by making himself unhappy in this In a Word therefore as much as to be like God in Holiness and Happiness is to be preferr'd before being like the Devil in Sin and Misery as much as Satisfaction is better than Disappointment Peace and Quietness and Content than Vexation and continual Disturbance and Perplexity of Mind a confirm'd Health and long Life than the Diseases and hasty Death that follows Debauchery and the comfortable Expectation of being for ever happy with Saints and Angels and the blessed God in the Coelestial Paradise than the confounding Dread of the Judgment of the great Day As much as Immortality is more to be prized than a Life of a Span long and the Enjoyment of the chief Good than the Pleasures of a Swine of so much gerater Value is Religion than all that this World can afford and indeed the only desirable Treasure and a Pearl of inestimable Price And now if what has been hitherto discours'd be true the Application is easy If Religion be of all things the most precious let us make it more and more our Endeavour to inrich our Souls with this Treasure to adorn our rational Nature with this Pearl of great Price and with the Merchant in the Parable think nothing too much to part with that we may purchase that Heavenly Wisdom which will make us wise to Salvation For sound Wisdom as the wise King expresses it Prov. 3.18 is a Tree of Life to those that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her She shall give to thine Head an Oranment of Grace Prov. 4.9 and a Crown of Glory shall she deliver to thee But he that would have this Wisdom and find this Pearl must not only wish and desire but with the Merchant in the Parable diligently seek it seek and ye shall find says our Lord Pro. 2.4 5. and Solomon assures us That if we seek Wisdom as Silver and search for her as for hid Treasure then shall we understand the Fear of the Lord and find the Knowledge of God Religion is not acquired without Diligence for though it be the Gift of God yet the Soul must be prepared to receive it all evil Habits must be broke and rooted up and pious Dispositions planted in their Room and the Temper of the Mind changed by Repentance and all the Powers of the whole Man become pliable to the Motions of the Spirit of Holiness before the divine Likeness can be formed in the Soul And though 't is the Grace of God that enables us to go thus far for without it we can do nothing yet our own Concurrence and Co-operation with his Grace is necessary to bring the blessed Work of Regeneration to Perfection An obstinate Resistance of preventing Grace will grieve and quench that Life-giving Spirit and such a Soul shall know no more of Religion than that it was invited to it but rejected the Offer and might have been happy in the Enjoyment of so great a Treasure but it would not But when a Soul with Joy embraces the Motions of the holy Spirit to a new Life and makes it her great Endeavour to remove all Obstacles out of the Way that they may make a due Impression and hungers and thirsts after new Degrees of Righteousness This Soul shall be fill'd with the Treasures of the divine Grace and the Power of Godliness will be visible in all Manner of holy Conversation But this can't be perform'd without a watchful persevering Diligence there is so much Opposition from within and without to this great Business that like Nehemiah's Labourers Neh. 5.17 we must work with our Swords in our Hands and fight and strive that we may carry on the Building of a living Temple for our God and make our Souls Houses of Prayer adorn'd with religious Affections and sit to receive him that hates Iniquity He that is thus diligent shall grow rich towards God and daily increase in the Knowledge and Love of him 'till Mortality shall be swallow'd up of Life and then all the Labours of Religion shall for ever be at an End and nothing remain for the happy Soul to do but to enjoy to all Eternity the glorious Rewards of it Let us all therefore be stedfast unmoveable and always abound in this Work of the Lord for as much as we know our Labour shall not be in vain and to our diligent Pursuit of this inestimable Treasure of Religion let us add frequent and earnest Prayer to God who is the only Giver of every good and perfect Gift that he would send down Wisdom from his holy Heaven that being present she may labour with us that we may know what is pleasing in his Sight and set our selves to do it with all Alacrity running with Diligence and Patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endur'd the Cross despising the Shame Heb. 12.1 2. and is set down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God remembring that we also shall reap in due Season if we faint not And if we part with all the vile Affections for the Sake of Religion in this World and are ready in Preparation of Mind to suffer any worldly Loss even to that of Life it self for the Sake of Jesus and his Truth we shall find such a Recompence of Reward in the Kingdom of Heaven as will abundantly compensate all our Sufferings here for our light Affliction which is but for a Moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory Happy is the Exchange of all that this World can afford for a Jewel of so great Price as Religion and for such inexhaustible Treasures of Bliss as are reserved to Reward it in the Presence of God What is our greatest Interest therefore let us before all things persue and where our Treasure is there let our Hearts be also The PRAYER I. O Mercifull Jesu Who hast prepared for us a Treasure in Heaven and taught us the Way to attain it and warn'd us of the Emptiness of this World 's Good that we may not be
Wrongs how great soever to be submitted to and put up in Silence by Christians by Vertue of the Command of forgiving Injuries 't would be to betray the Sheep to the Wolves to expose the Disciples of Christ to the Malice of all the wicked World which is not consistent with the Wisdom and Goodness of the great Shepherd of the Sheep Christ Jesus And St. Paul says expresly He that provideth not for his own House i. e. for the comfortable Subsistence of his Family has deny'd the Faith and is worse than an Infidel i. e. Acts contrary to the Obligations both of Nature and Religion But he will soon ruin instead of supporting his Family who suffers ill Men without Interruption to make what Havock they please of his Person Reputation or Estate But now as for smaller Injuries in any of these Respects such as make no great Alteration in our Circumstances and may be born without any great Inconvenience these are to be pass'd by and the Injury forgiven according to the Measures before described And 't is observable that the Instances our Saviour makes use of in this Matter are of the lesser Sort of Injuries such as a Blow on the Cheek the taking away of a Garment and the like and 't was for being rigorous about a few Pence that the King in the Parable was so wroth with his Servant And rather than a Christian should embroil himself in Law-Suits and run the Hazard of losing the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit for such small Matters he should suffer a Repetition of such Injuries And indeed as Religion is in all Respects the greatest Prudence so particularly in forbidding litigious Quarrels unless a Man's whole Interest or at least a great Part of it be at Stake for Law is now become a boundless Ocean and generally very rough and Stormy and swells Men's Passions to an exorbitant Height and shipwrecks their Charity as well as their Estates And as to those greater Injuries our Saviour mentions Mat. 5.44 of Men's being our Enemies profess'd and hating and cursing and despitefully using and persecuting us Neither he nor his Apostles there or any where else forbid Christians endeavouring in a legal Manner to secure and defend themselves and recover their own but only not to return Evil for Evil and to be so far from Purposes of Revenge or retaliating such Injuries as rather to love and bless and pray for and do good to upon Occasion those that deal so maliciously by them and to manage the Suit or Contention with them with Charity having no Rancour or Malice in their Hearts against the Person of their Adversary That is in short our holy Religion does oblige us in lesser Injuries intirely both to pass by the Offence and forgive the Offender according to the Measures before described but in greater Injuries of any Sort where Ruin or insupportable Damage will follow though it permits nay obliges to endeavour a legal Reparation and so not to forgive the Offence yet Christians must as intirely and according to the same Measures forgive the Offender as in the smallest Instances of Wrong And by this Means they will become the Children of their heavenly Father who though in infinite Mercy he forgave the World of Sinners and moreover bestowed on them richly all things to enjoy yet in the Person of his blessed Son their Representative he severely express'd his Displeasure against their Sins that they might be deter'd from persisting in them afresh to the Ruin of their immortal Souls Besides those Injuries that terminate upon a Man's self and his own Concerns there are others done to our Neighbour and the Publick which must not be pass'd by without animadverting upon them according to their Deserts As for Instance if a bloody Villain murders a Man's Friend or Neighbour or Relation and he knows who is the Murderer it may be he only in this Case whatever Inclination he may have to conceal it whether out of natural Compassion or Unwillingness to be the Occasion of the Man's Execution since nothing can recall the murder'd Person to Life and the Murderer may live to repent or the like Because he is a Member of Society and obliged as much as in him lies to promote its Safety and Happiness which by such Villains is much disturb'd and lessen'd and would be ruin'd should such Men pass unpunish'd 't is his Duty to endeavour by all lawful Means to bring so heinous an Offender to condign Punishment that so corrupt a Member being cut off from the Community the Health of the whole may be better secur'd And so in all Cases of the like Nature Always remembring that if any thing of private Revenge be intermix'd it pollutes the Action and makes the Man doubly guilty of Malice and Hypocrisy What has been hitherto said concerning the Limits of forgiving Injuries concerns Men only as private Persons As for Magistrates and Governours they being constituted by God to be a Terror to evil doers Rom. 13.3 4. to be Revengers to execute Wrath upon them and to praise and encourage those only that do well the Measure of their Forgiveness of publick Injuries is the publick Good so far as is consistent with their Obligations as Magistrates as is conducive to the common Weal according to the Judgment of Prudence and unprejudic'd Reason they may and do well to incline to Lenity and Compassion but a foolish and a mercenary Pity is a betraying their Trust a bearing the Sword in vain and such Magistrates instead of being Fathers of their Country are indeed the Perfidious Destroyers of it And thus much for the Nature of christian Forgiveness of Injuries in Imitation of the divine Pattern God has set us with its general Limits As for the great Obligation we have to copy after this admirable Pattern of our merciful heavenly Father it is twofold 1 With Respect to God 2 to our Selves First With Respect to God our Obligation to forgive one another as he has forgiven us is very great because 't is what he has declared will be highly pleasing to him as a Resemblance of that Perfection of his Nature which he seems most of all to take Delight in For so Exod. 33.19 when Moses desired to see his Glory he told him he would make all his Goodness pass before him and Chap. 34.6 The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin And accordingly St. John gives the Definition of him God is Love Now certainly those that have receiv'd such infinite Favours from this good God and have been forgiven so vast a Debt as we sinners have have the greatest Reason in the World to endeavour to the utmost of their Power to please this their greatest Benefactor in every thing And nothing being more pleasing to him than to see the Image and Reflection of his
divine Love and Philanthropy upon the Souls of his Creatures to see 'em love and compassionate one another according to his glorious Example we are infinitely obliged to imitate his Pity and Forgiveness towards us in passing by the Offences of our Fellow-Servants Further those to whom God has forgiven so vast a Debt as that which miserable Sinners ow'd to the divine Justice are questionless bound and that with the strictest Ties to love him infinitely again but now St. John says plainly 1 Joh. 4.20 21. that he that loves God must love his Brother also and if a Man say I love God and yet hateth his Brother he is a Lyar and the Truth is not in him For as he says Chap. 3.17 He that shutteth up his Bowels of Compassion from his Brother how dwelleth the Love of God in him And therefore as much as we are bound to love our good God who has forgiven us our numberless Iniquities so much are we bound to manifest that our Love to him by being pitiful and gentle to our brethren that have injur'd us and ready to forgive them For so says our Lord shall ye be my Disciples and so shall ye be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven And doubtless that wicked Servant in the Parable had not so due an Apprehension of his Lord 's great Compassion to him nor so grateful a Sense of it as he ought to have had who could immediately forget the miserable Condition he was so lately in himself and how much he dreaded lest his Lord should rigidly exact his great Debt of him and how importunately he begg'd that he would have Patience with him and yet use so much Cruelty to his Fellow-Servant for a Debt very inconsiderable He could not but know that such Barbarity would be very contrary to the compassionate Temper of his Lord and therefore was bound in Gratitude if upon no other Account to imitate his Lord's Example and not immediately act what would be so displeasing to him And so it is in our Case God is Love and has wondrously manifested his Love in forgiving us miserable Sinners and therefore we are bound in Gratitude and because 't will be pleasing to him were that all to imitate that his Charity and mutually to love and forgive one another But when besides we have our Saviour's express Command for it Mat. 5.44 and Luk. 6.37 and that not until seven times only but until seventy times seven as in the Verse before this Parable As much as Men are obliged obliged to obey the Commands of God their Saviour so strong is their Obligation to forgive Injuries with Respect to God Secondly Our Obligation is very great to imitate God's compassionate Example with respect to our selves For 't is the best Way to secure Quiet and Peace and Happiness and as much as every Man is bound to provide for his own Quiet and the Peace and Happiness of Society and of his own Soul too in the other World so much is every Man bound not to be malicious and revengeful but of a Temper ready to forgive For however sweet Revenge may seem to be to malicious Spirits in the Execution it must needs make the Mind very uneasie before 't is executed and bring great Calamities along with it afterward and is the most base devillish Temper in the World and makes a Man a Fiend incarnate Whereas an Aptness to forgive is a Godlike Disposition for God is Love the Spring of Kindness and Compassion of Mercy and Forgiveness and as his Happiness is the Result of the Excellencies and Perfections of his Nature so those who resemble him in the most glorious of those Perfections must needs likewise enjoy a great Share of Tranquillity and inward Bliss But if God be the great Exemplar of Forgiveness how groundless is the usual Objection against this excellent Vertue of Christianity that it betrays a mean servile Spirit and is a thing much below a Gentleman Can any Man of common Sense think it a Disgrace to be like God and that in his most glorious Perfection too If God be the Fountain of Honour we must allow it to be rather the most noble generous Action in the World It is the best Way likewise of ending Strifes and overcoming our Adversaries by rendring Good for Evil. It eases the Mind of those great Disquietudes that constantly attend Desires of Revenge it prevents all the Mischiefs that follow it such as fresh Injuries from the Party we revenge our selves upon if we leave him his Life and the Stroke of Justice if we persue him to the Death But besides these evil Consequences of Revenge and many others which Forgiveness prevents there is more true Pleasure and Sweetness in the Act of Forgiveness and Reconciliation as was hinted above than in that of Revenge For however the Devil may hurry Men on in an eager Persuit of Revenge and flatter 'em with the Hopes of great Satisfaction when 't is perfected yet there is a secret Horrour and Aversion to it from within which as 't were pulls back the Hand when going to strike or what other way soever it be expressed endeavours to hinder it and makes the Heart recoil and repent of the Undertaking and execute it with trembling and misgivings of Soul and immediately after come dire Forebodings of the Venge ance of him to whom Vengeance belongeth and a Kind of Hell upon Earth But Forgiveness is attended with Applauses of Conscience and the Approbation of Reason and Chearfulness of Spirit There is an inward Pleasure and Satisfaction of Mind quite throughout the Action and when 't is compleated no Man can express the silent Joy that runs through the whole Soul and it seems a Foretaste of the Joys of the Blessed in Heaven Even that Part of Forgiveness which seems most of all impracticable and contrary to Flesh and Blood that of suing to a Man to be reconciled that has done the Injury and still continues to be one's Enemy this does of all yeild the greatest Pleasure to the Soul And that not only because 't is the nearest Resemblance to the Mercy of God who sent his Son to mediate between him and us and by his Death to reconcile us to himself when 't was we miserable Wretches that had offended and were then in actual Rebellion against him but from the Nature of the thing it self For 't is a kind of surprizing a Man into Charity before he is aware When Men do Injuries they generally stand upon their Defence and expect to receive Injuries again but when a Man finds instead of this Acts of Friendship and Good will and Readiness to forgive and Peace and Quietness offer'd so freely and upon such easie Terms without the Shame and natural Regret in seeking it and asking Pardon and making Satisfaction and the like How pleas'd must the Man needs be to find a Friend when he fear'd and expected an Enemy Few Men love Strife for Strife's Sake and
many a Man injures another in suddain Heat and Passion and in cooler Blood repents of it though he can't prevail with himself to ask Forgiveness And sometimes a Man injures another in retaliating something that he took amiss from him though perhaps far otherwise intended and it may be false Reports may have made the Difference But now this Way of Reconciliation presently sets all right again it creates a right Understanding between Party and Party it nips Quarrels in the very Bud and leaves no Room for further Malice and Ill Will And what a holy Triumph will there then be in the forgiving Soul thus to have softned his Enemy and overcome Evil with Good And such happy Effects of Forgiveness of Injuries as these methinks should engage every considering Man to put it in Practice were this all but when besides all this so great a Mercy as the perfect Recovery of the Favour of God the Forgiveness of our own vast Debt and the Enjoyment of the Glories and Felicities of Heaven shall be the Reward of it Surely no Man in his Wits but must think himself as much obliged to forgive Injuries as to make himself eternally happy if he can And that this exceeding great Reward shall attend the hearty Practice of this Vertue is plain from our Lord 's own Words Luke 6.37 Forgive and ye shall be forgiven And as it appears from what has been said that we have upon all Accounts great Obligation to imitate the compassionate Example of our merciful God so in the Second Place Our Baseness will be very great if we do not And that both with Respect to God and Man With Respect to God not to forgive a petty Injury from our Brother when God has forgiven such infinite Provocations as ours against himself is the vilest Baseness because as was said before 't is the vilest Ingratitude and Forgetfulness of his great Mercy to us I say a petty Injury from our Brother for every Injury how great soever that one Mortal can do to another is indeed but of no regard in compare with those mountainous Heaps of Wickednesses which we have been guilty of against God and bear not so great Proportion to them as an Hundred Pence does to Ten Thousand Talents as the Parable expresses both Debts that which the compassionate King forgave his Servant and that which that wicked Man would not forgive his Fellow-Servant The infinite Goodness of God to us if it has made its due Impression upon our Spirits will leave so charming an Idea of Forgiveness upon our Souls as will incline us to a suitable Practice upon all Occasions especially since we know from God's great Compassion towards us how pleasing to him Compassion is in others But notwithstanding God's unspeakable Kindness to us to cherish a Temper of Mind which we can't but be sensible he infinitely Hates and endeavour to make those miserable as far as our Malice will reach to whom God has forgiven as much as he forgave us and for whose Redemption Christ dyed and for whom are reserv'd Crowns of Glory in Heaven through the wondrous Mercy of God and all this unmercifulness for a small Matter for the Debt of a few Pence This shews the basest of Ingratitude and weak Sense of God's Compassion shewn to us that is possible Well may our Lord say to such Men with a little Variation as the King in the Parable said to that cruel Servant of his O thou wicked Servant I forgave thee all that Debt and that though thou didst not desire it of me shouldst not thou also have had Compassion on thy Fellow-Servant even as I had Pity on thee Obligation sufficient there was no Doubt and that his Ingratitude and Forgetfulness of God's Favour and his cruel hardned Temper was very provoking will appear in the Sequel But Secondly To be revengeful and implacable after such Mercy receiv'd our selves is the greatest Baseness with Respect to Men. For we are all Fellow-Servants of the same great Lord and his Mercy has been the same to all of us we are all of us through Christ under the same Covenant of Grace and Reconciliation Now this methinks should endear us to one another and our mutual Joy for each others Happiness should put an End to all other petty Quarrels and Animosities between us But instead of this to hate and mischief one another to endeavour by all means to make one another as unhappy as we can here below and with him in the Parable pluck out Throats for Trifles and become inexorable to any that have injur'd us this is such an unnatural Piece of Barbarity and betrays so much devillish Baseness of Spirit as that every sensible Man when he considers it will abominate 'T is as if a Man should escape to Shoar from a Wreck at Sea and there meet one whom Providence had bless'd with the same Deliverance and instead of congratulating his Safety and joyning with him in praising and blessing the Mercy of their great Deliverer endeavour to knock out his Brains in Persuance of some old Grudge Nothing can be more base than this nor more justly provoking to the God of Mercy and Compassion Which leads me in the Last Place to consider the miserable Consequence of this Baseness viz. We shall thereby provoke God to recall his Pardon to us and deal with us as the King in the Parable did with his wicked ungrateful and cruel Servant and deliver us over to the Tormentors till we shall have paid all that is due unto him For so likewise says our Lord shall my heavenly Father do unto you if ye from your Hearts forgive not every one his Brother their Trespasses God's Pardon to Sinners though it be very full and free and given in infinite Mercy yet is not pass'd in such a Manner as that it can never be revok'd 't was given at first upon Conditions and may be again forfeited if we fail of performing what God requires in order to his final ratifying it Now Forgiveness of Injuries is expresly mention'd by our Saviour as Part of what God expects from us in order to his comfirming his Pardon to us for thus Mat. 6.14 15. If ye forgive Men their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if ye forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive your Trespasses but as 't is in the Parable his Wrath will again wax hot against you and he will make void his former Pardon and deliver you over to the Tormentors till you shall pay all that is due unto him That is will consign you to the Portion of the Devil and his Angels Spirits of like malicious and revengeful Tempers who as the merciless Executioners of God's Vengeance will not for ever spare to torment and cruciate those wretched Souls who might have escap'd those Miseries and had their Pardon seal'd with the Blood of their Redeemer but forfeited it again by indulging to that devillish Temper of
Malice and Revenge Wherefore to conclude this Parable If we are touch'd with a due Sense of the wondrous Compassion of God to us miserable Sinners in forgiving us the vast Debt we had contracted to the divine Justice by Reason of our Sins and which 't was impossible for us ever to have discharg'd our selves whereby we are deliver'd from the intolerable and endless Punishment of them and moreover made Sons of God and Heirs of celestial Glory If we are duly touch'd with a Sense of this infinite Goodness of God to us which to effect was the Endeavour of the first Part of this Discourse let us express our deep Resentment of his gracious Forgiveness of us by imitating so excellent an Example and forgiving one another Let us consider the great Happiness that both here and hereafter will attend the Performance of this Duty and reflect upon the endless Misery that will closely follow the contrary We must forgive if we would be forgiven we must shew Mercy and Compassion to our Brethren that offend us if we hope to find any at the Hands of God And let us remember that how sweet soever we may fancy Revenge to be now we shall find the Consequence of it if not speedily repented of to be eternal Damnation From which sad Condition and that hellish Temper that will bring us to it let us pray earnestly that the good Lord would deliver us through Jesus Christ our merciful Saviour The PRAYER I. O Holy and most merciful King of Heaven who hast forgiven a World of miserable Wretches an infinite Debt and deliver'd those who had nothing to pay from the extremest and eternal Misery and hast commanded that in Return we do to others as thou hast done to us I who am a happy Sharer in thy wondrous Compassion do praise thee from the Bottom of my Soul and earnestly entreat the Assistance of thy Grace that I may never be wanting in a sincere and chearful Imitation of thy blessed Example but delight to copy after so lovely an Original and freely and intirely forgive nay love and do good to my most inveterate Enemies And since thou lov'dst us first and didst prevent us with the Riches of thy Goodness O that I could in this resemble thee too and even court my Injurers to Peace and Reconciliation and with a Christian Bravery of Spirit offer them that forgiveness which they will not ask This is indeed a hard Saying to my deprav'd Nature and Revenge seems sweeter far to Flesh and Blood and though my Reason I confess is satisfyed of the great Excellency of the Performance yet my Passions I must with Shame own likewise run violently the contrary Way and bear me down with their rapid Course Thy Aid I therefore beg Almighty God and that thy Spirit may enable me to stem this dangerous Current and strenuously to resist and master all Motions to revenge remembring that this is the Condition of my open Forgiveness at thy Hands and that Judgment without Mercy shall be my Portion if I shew no Mercy II. Convince me daily more and more of my base Ingratitude to thee and inhumane Barbarity to my Brethren in bearing Malice and Rancour for trifling Injuries such as are the greatest we can offer to each other in Compare with what thy Mercy hath forgiven us And do thou O meekest Jesus sweeten our Tempers and turn all Bitterness of Spirit into Love and mutual Endeavours to promote each others Happiness and may we all conspire in offering up our joint Praises to our merciful God who has remitted to every one of us infinitely more than Ten Thousand Talents O that this thy Mercy may be imprinted in lively and everlasting Characters upon my Soul so as powerfully to incline me to transcribe it in my Intercourse with Men Then shall I experience the blessed Influence this thy Commandment will have upon my Happiness even here and in the most acceptable Manner express my Thankfulness for thy Pity shew'd to me and at last by bearing this thy Badge upon my Soul be own'd by thee as thy true Disciple and receiv'd into the Joy of thee our dearest Lord. Which grant O most compassionate Jesus for thine own Mercies Sake Amen Amen PARABLE V. Of a King that made a Marriage for his Son Matth. xxii 2 3. Luk. xiv 18 19 20. Matth. xxii 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a certain King Mat. 22.2 that made a Marriage for his Son And sent forth his Servants to call them that were bidden to the Wedding And they would not come And they all with one consent began to make Excuse Luk. 14.18 The first said unto him I have bought a Piece of Ground and I must needs go and see it I pray thee have me excused And another said I have bought five Yoke of Oxen and I go to prove them I pray thee have me excused And another said I have married a Wife and therefore I cannot come Again he sent forth other Servants Mat. 22.4 saying Tell them which are bidden Behold I have prepared my Dinner my Oxen and my Fatlings are killed and all things are ready come unto the Marriage But they made light of it and went their Ways one to his Farm another to his Merchandise And the Remnant took his Servants and entreated them spitefully and slew them But when the King heard thereof he was wroth And he sent forth his Armies and destroyed those Murderers and burnt up their City Then saith he to his Servants the Wedding is ready but those that were bidden were not worthy Go ye therefore into the High-ways and as many as ye shall find bid to the Marriage So those Servants went out into the High-ways and gathered together all as many as they found both bad and good and the Wedding was furnish'd with Guests And when the King came in to see the Guests he saw there a Man that had not on a wedding Garment And he saith unto him Friend how camest thou in hither not having a wedding Garment And he was speechless Then said the King to the Servants Bind him Hand and Foot and take him away and cast him into outer Darkness There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth For many are called but few are chosen THIS Parable I suppose was in its first Intention design'd to reprove the hardned Infidelity of the Jews their obstinately rejecting the Mercy of God to them in Christ Jesus and their vile Ingratitude to him for his peculiar Care of them in so ordering it that the Gospel should be first preach'd to them to which Purpose also was spoken the Parable of the wicked Husbandmen in Mat. 21.33 which for its great Affinity to the first Part of this Parable and intire Relation to the Jews I thought fit to pass by and it was likewise intended to shew God's great Anger against them for that their Stubbornness and malicious Treatment of
or Christian Religion does 1. create the nearest Relation between Christ and Believers it makes us Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones and as was before quoted from St. Paul Ephes 5.30 i. e. it makes us as near to him as the Members are to the Head the Flesh and Bones to the Body or as our Church expresses it it makes us one with Christ and Christ with us 't is so near a Relation that nothing can sufficiently express it but what expresses an Union It creates likewise 2. the dearest Relation for thus our Lord John 14.21 He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him and Vers 23. We will come unto him and make our Abode with him and Chap. 15.14 Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you And Rev. 3.20 Behold says our Lord I stand at the Door and knock if any Man hear my Voice and open the Door i. e. by Faith and Obedience I will come in unto him and sup with him and he with me he will shew the greatest Expressions of Dearness and Affection to him And as the Gospel makes the nearest and dearest Relation between Christ and Believers so that Relation is 3. inseparable i. e. unless we willfully divorce our selves from him by Apostacy or Disobedience Thus a little before his Ascension he tells his Apostles and in them all faithful Believers that observe whatsoever he hath commanded that he will be with them always even to the End of the World And because he was to ascend to his Father and their Father to his God and their God therefore says he I will not leave you comfortless but will pray to the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever John 14.16 and in the 2. and 3. Verses of that Chapter I go to prepare a Place for you and if I go and prepare a Place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also And John 10.27 28. My Sheep hear my Voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my Hand And St. Paul with great Assurance asks this Question Rom. 8.35 Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ and after enumerating what in the Esteem of the World was most likely to do it he concludes Vers the last that nothing shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And he is likewise in a spiritual Manner always with us in the Reception of those Mysteries which he instituted in Remembrance of him The Gospel then effecting so near so dear and so inseparable a Relation between Christ and Believers that nothing can so fitly resemble it as the State of Marriage we may from hence collect in the next place what Privileges the Gospel intitles Believers to by reason of this their so intimate Relation to Christ As first it intitles to the peculiar Love and Tenderness of Christ such a Love as will incline him to promote the Happiness of Believers and to pity and compassionate their Infirmities Failures and Imperfections for Love covereth a Multitude of Faults Thus the Apostle Col. 3.19 Husbands love your Wives and be not bitter against them be not extreme to observe every little Defect and Failing in them but consider 'em as the weaker Vessel and bear with their Infirmities And accordingly the Author to the Hebrews says of our Lord he is not one that cannot be touch'd with a Sense of our Infirmities but knows and pities them having been in all Points tempted as we are though without Sin Heb. 4.15 And as for his Tenderness and Care of our Happiness 't is miraculously evident in that he gave himself for us sacrific'd his very Life for our reconciliation to his offended Father that he might sanctifie and cleanse us and present us to himself a glorious Church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but that we should be holy and without Blemish as the Apostle expresses it in the before cited Eph. 5.26 c. And he does continually nourish and cherish us by the Communications of his Grace in the blessed Sacrament that spiritual Body of his which whoso eateth of shall live for ever and by the Comforts and Assistances of his holy Spirit And to lye thus in the Bosome of the Son of God to have such great Degrees of his Love and Tenderness to us express'd in such amazing Instances to be thus pitied and commiserated and our Failures excus'd and past by by him that is to be our Judge and our Happiness in all Respects so carefully endeavoured by him who is the Fountain of it This is such a Privilege as can never be enough valu'd and is infinitely above the Reach of any Comparison Another Privilege the Gospel intitles Believers to upon their so near Relation to Christ is Christ's Protection of them from Dangers and Defence against Assaults of Enemies For as in Marriage the Husband is the Shield and Guardian of his Wife so Christ is the Protector and Defender of the faithful he covers them from the Rage and Malice of unreasonable Men and arms them against the Attacks of the Spirits of Darkness by the Supplies and Aids of his blessed Spirit who helps our Infirmities and strengthens us mightily in the inner Man so that the Gates of Hell all the infernal Powers shall not be able to prevail against us And accordingly says St. Paul I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me Phil. 4.13 Rom. 8.37 In all these things Tribulation Distress Persecution Famine Nakedness Perilor Sword in all these things we are more than Conquerers By what means Why through Christ that loveth us And our Lord says expresly in the forecited John 10.27 my Sheep that hear my Voice shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my Hand And if the Almighty Son of God be for us and takes us into his own Protection and shields and guards us as a Husband does the Wise of his Bosome who then can be against us We shall be hid under his Wings and safe under his Feathers his Faithfulness and Truth shall be our Shield and Buckler And to dwell thus under the Defence of the most High and abide under the Shadow of the Allmighty is no doubt an inestimable Privilege Again as the Husband confers Honour upon his Wife intitles her to have a Share in that Honour that is due to him so Believers by their intimate Union with Christ are advanc'd to the highest Step of Honour that Mortals can arrive at For what more honourable than to be in so near a Relation to the most glorious Son of God! Accordingly the
would have return'd again to their Dream of Vanity when this their Fright was a little over And so it is with those that think not of Repentance till Death and Judgment stare 'em in the Face they are then wondrous sorry for having offended God because they see they are like to be for ever punish'd for it with the Devil and his Angels and wish they had liv'd better and beg God to forgive 'em and promise Amendment for the Time to come But all this very seldom proceeds from Love to God or his holy Religion as appears by their being as bad as ever when God has been pleased to restore them to their former Health But such Repentance as this is but a Piece of Mockery and will not be accepted it must be a real and thorough Change of Mind express'd in an intire Reformation of Life and Manners that will incline God to pardon and forgive Notwithstanding all the Hurry of the foolish Virgins to get Oyl for their Lamps upon this suddain Notice of the Bridegroom 's coming because their Lamps were before suffer'd to go out we see the Door was shut upon them By the wise Virgins that were ready their going in with the Bridegroom to the Marriage Feast is represented the great Happiness of the sincerely good who by holy living are ready and prepar'd for their Departure hence into the World of Spirits That is as there was great Preparation made to receive the Bridegroom among the Jews and other Easterns great Joy and Festivity and which the Children of the Bride-Chamber or those that attended the Bridegroom did partake of singing Epithalamiums or nuptial Songs in Praise of the Bridegroom and his Bride and rejoycing in their Happiness and wishing them long Prosperity So the Joys of the highest Heavens which are the Marriage Chamber of this divine Bridegroom our Saviour in the Society of innumerable Saints and Angels and glorified Spirits are prepar'd for those that love our Lord Jesus in Sincerity and by a constant holy Life are ready to leave these earthly Habitations and enter with him into that holy Place Where they shall enjoy a most blisful Eternity for ever singing Halleluja's to the Praise and Honour of that glorious Name in which all the Nations of the World are blessed praising God and saying Rev. 19.7 9. Let us be glad and rejoyce and give Honour to him for the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready and blessed are they which are call'd to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. And well is that Care and Watchfulness and holy Preparation repay'd which will procure an Entrance into that holy Place where Christ is sitting at the right Hand of God and make us Sharers in the Joys of Angels and in the Happiness of our dear Redeemer In the last place by the foolish Virgins coming after the Door was shut and saying Lord Lord open unto us and his answering I know you not is express'd the sad and remidiless Condition of those whom Death and Judgment surprize unawares and that are not prepar'd by a holy Life They may cry Lord Lord long enough in the Bitterness and Anguish of their Souls and profess that they believe in him and are his Disciples and call'd by his Name that they have eat and drunk in his Presence and that he hath taught in their Streets and the like but yet for all this without a constant persevering Piety Christ will tell them I know you not whence you are depart from me all ye that work Iniquity And what inconceivable Agonies will those excluded Wretches then be in What Horror and Despair will then take Seisure of their Souls What Outcries what hideous Wailings will there be How will some frame fruitless Excuses Lord we have eaten and drank in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our Streets c. while others with deep Sighs in vain beg Pity and Commiseration of him who never before deny'd it What intolerable Anguish will they feel to see those whom they hated and despis'd on Earth then enter'd into the glorious Marriage Chamber of the Son of God and they themselves they who are prosperous here and to all Appearance the Friends and Favourites of the divine Bridegroom eternally shut out from his Presence and the Joys of those celestial Regions and left behind in unconceivable Torments and in the Company of malicious Fiends and Devils to linger under an Eternity of Misery No Words can ever reach those Horrors nor can our Thoughts conceive them and may none of us ever be so unhappy as to feel them But be so wise as to watch and be ready and have our Lamps burning and our selves always prepar'd for this great coming of our Lord for we know not the Day nor the Hour And thus have I given a particular plain and practical Interpretation of this Parable of the Ten Virgins whereof five were wise and five foolish and shewn as I went along how aptly expressive it is of the Sense our Lord couch'd under it I proceed now to the other thing to be done which is to urge that Watchfulness and Preparation by all manner of holy living against this coming of our Lord which is necessary to our being admitted into his Joy and to shew how great the Wisdom of so doing is and how great the Folly of the Contrary For those that were ready and trimm'd their Lamps are call'd wise Virgins in the Parable and those that were not ready and their Lamps out are call'd foolish As for the Folly of not taking Care to be ready and prepar'd against that great Change of Death shall come it is a thing justly to be wonder'd at that Men who know that one Time or other they must surely die and are wholly in the Dark as to the precise Time of their Death and that they must die but once and that without any any further Probation after Death comes Judgment it is much to be wonder'd at that those who know all this to be true as Christians are suppos'd to do should live so much at random and be so foolishly careless in managing their last Stake so heedless in doing that well which admits of no Repetition and which if done ill they are for ever miserable 'T is the very Height of Folly this and which one would think a Man of any Sense could not be guilty of There is nothing that Men are more afraid of than dying and yet so strangely contradictious are they to themselves they make the least Provision against this greatest Evil. In other Matters Men are so wise as to endeavour to secure themselves against their Fears they provide against Poverty by Diligence and Parsimony against Pain and Diseases by proper Antidotes and Preservatives against the Approach of Enemies by the best Defence they are capable of making and the like and this many times when there is only a Probability of these Evils coming upon them And yet against
in Time of Sickness the whole Man is dejected and the Spirit which should bear up his Infirmity is then it self for the most part wounded through the near Prospect of the other World and the bold Accusations of Conscience which then unless quite sear'd is loud and clamorous Then the Man is least of all able to help himself and the Charge of Sickness is great and he that was poor in Health when sick is doubly poor and indeed there is no greater Object of Pity and Compassion than a poor sick Man And as all Charity must be universal without excepting even Enemies so in this case our Enemies should be the Objects of our Charity to choose For upon a sick-Bed 't is most likely that they will be reconcil'd and 't is highly necessary than then they should be for Sickness often ends in Death and no Man can tell but that Sickness which his Enemy then lies under may be his last And 't is a miserable thing to die in Enmity And therefore before it be too late whoever is at variance with a sick Man should go to him and endeavour a Reconcilement if he hath injur'd the sick in any respect he should ask his Pardon and make him Satisfaction and Restitution and if the sick Man has injur'd him he should go to him to let him know that he freely forgives him and desires that all Ill-Will may be at at End for the future And at that Time when the Spirit is usually more softned and compliant than in Health and the Soul more awaken'd and sensible of her Duty 't is very probable he will hearken and the Man will gain his Brother And 't is a great Charity indeed to ease a sick Man's Mind of the devilish and tormenting Passions of Malice and Revenge it provides for Peace and Amity for the future should he recover and should he dye it makes his Account much easier at the Day of Judgment 3. As for Charity to such as are depriv'd of their Liberty the Manner of it consists in visiting and discoursing comfortably to them and in endeavouring by the best Methods we can to procure their Enlargement and in the mean time in helping them to Necessaries and perswading their Keepers to be kind to them and use them tenderly And if they are imprison'd for Grimes 't is to endeavour to make them sensible of the Guilt of them before God and that unless they sincerely repent of them an eternal Bondage in Chains of Darkness and in the lowest Hell shall come in the Place of the Dungeon their Iron Shackles and temporary Confinement And the Objects of this Piece of Charity are as before all Enemies as well as Friends Strangers and Foreigners as well as Neighbours and Acquaintance Under this Head of the Manner of expressing our Charity to the Necessitous it is proper to enquire what Preference may be made of one Object of Charity before another if more should offer themselves than one Man can relieve at least at the same time For our Direction in this matter St. Paul has left us two general Rules the one Gal. 6.10 where he says as we have Opportunity let us do good unto all Men but especially to those that are of the Houshold of Faith in which we are taught to prefer Christians before Heathens and Infidels when there is no Help but one must be preferr'd and among Christians to prefer in like Circumstances the pious and sincerely good before such as live not agreeably to their holy Profession for such only as have the Power of Godliness are properly of the Houshold of Faith The other Rule is in 1 Tim. 5.8 in these Words If any provide not for his own especially those of his own House or Kindred he has denyed the Faith c. and here we are directed if a Preference must be made to make it in Favour of our Friends and Relatives before such as are Strangers to us But these Rules must be thus explained As first where 't is impossible for us to comply with all Opportunities of doing good there this Preference is to be made but when we can we must do good to all And secondly When the Necessities of pious Christians and our Friends and Relations are equally great and urgent with those of the impious and Strangers to us there likewise our Charity should begin at Home But thirdly when the Distress of an Ill Man or a Stranger is greater and more urgent than that of a good Man or my Friend and Relative so that the former will be in danger of perishing unless immediately reliev'd and the latter will not but may safely tarry longer Then there must be no Respect of Persons but the greatest Necessity where-ever it be found must be first reliev'd I shall add but one thing more relating to the Manner of expressing our Charity and that is what St. Peter advises 1 Pet. 4.9 that it be done without grudging The Word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies murmuring or an unwillingness in doing any thing as if 't were torn and forc'd from one rather than proceeded from a free Inclination And this hateful churlish way of Alms-giving St. Paul likewise expresly forbids and says our Charity must not be shewn grudgingly 2 Cor. 9.7 or as of Necessity and Rom. 12.8 He that sheweth Mercy let him do it with Chearfulness according to the Example which God himself hath set us Who giveth to every Man liberally Jam. 1.5 and upbraideth not And here I can't but admire and adore the infinite Goodness of God who has not only oblig'd us to the Substance of this Duty but has so order'd the very Circumstantials of it that the necessitous may be reliev'd with as much Decency and Ease to themselves as can be and the Alms of others look rather like their own Propriety as the Payment of a Debt or restoring of a Pledge or bestowing a Reward and that their Souls might not be griev'd by Frowns and Taunts and unkind Language when they receive Supply for the Needs of their Body For Man as well as God loves a chearful Giver and a Benefit that comes hardly and with Shews of Unwillingness is much lessened in its Value and a Man of a generous Spirit would prefer a Mite given with a free Heart and Words of Kindness before the Largess of an Emperour if he must suffer Upbraidings for it and opprobrious Treatment Super Omnia Vultus accessere Boni says Horace All the Delicates at his Friends Entertainment would have relish'd but very indifferently had not a chearful Countenance assur'd him of his Welcome And if a free Charity be given in secret too Mat. 6.4 as our Lord himself directs the poor Man will not be so much as put to the Blush for what he receives and will come short of the rich in nothing that is necessary and be free from the Vexations that attend an opulent Condition and the Advantage
another and shews what wretched Shifts Ill Men are put to to palliate their great Neglect of their Duty to their Master as appears by his Lord 's answering and saying Thou wicked and slothful Servant thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not thou oughtest therefore to have put my Money to the Exchangers that at my coming I might have receiv'd my own with Usury By which is represented the Necessity of Mens improving their Talent for that very Reason were it true which they are apt to plead in Excuse for their slothful Negligence For to him that looks upon God as so austere a Being there is more than ordinary Obligation to improve what he has committed to his Trust for that Purpose And because a Man esteems God as an hard and severe Master therefore to be idle and negligent in his Service is a very preposterous Course and looks as if he had a mind to provoke his Anger against him But indeed This is the Truth God is so very far from being an unreasonably severe Master that He is a most indulgent Parent and commands nothing but what is very practicable and highly conducive to the Good and Happiness of his Creatures which should create a Filial Love and Reverence in us towards him rather than a slavish Dread But however he is not so unreasonably fond neither as to pass by the Provocations of obstinate irreclaimable Rebels and clear those that are Impenitent as well as Guilty that have heinously offended him and yet take no care to amend and recover his Favour Though he does not reap where he did not sow nor gather where he did not strew yet he expects a due Improvement of what he commits to our Charge and is ready likewise proportionably to reward our Industry And this is apt indeed to quicken and encourage us in our Duty but by no means to scare and affright us from it For nothing can be more reasonable than for God to expect we should improve what he bestows upon us for that very end and that we should obey those Commands of His which are so highly reasonable in themselves and which he likewise assists us to perform Let no Man therefore say God is an unreasonably rigid Master and his Commands intolerable Burdens for 't is abominably false as will appear more fully in the Sequel But were it true it would be no Excuse for Sloth and Idleness in his Service much less for wholly deserting it but rather an Argument for double Care and Diligence in it By the Lord of that Slothful Servant commanding his One unimprov'd Talent to be taken from him and given to him who by his Industry had improv'd his Five Talents to Ten is represented God's depriving those of his Grace and the Assistances of his Holy Spirit who so much neglect it and make no use of it to the great Enas for which it was given them viz. His Glory and Their own Happiness and making still greater Additions of his Grace to such as have well improv'd their former Stock And by his commanding the Unprofitable Servant to be cast into Outer Darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth is express'd their Deplorable Condition in the Regions of eternal Misery and Despair who make no Improvement of the Talents committed to them the Deprivation of Grace in this World being a certain Forerunner of Perdition in the other It nearly concerns therefore every Man carefully to improve the Talent committed to him because unto every one that hath shall be given and he shall have Abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath This Parable thus interpreted affords us these Six Heads of Discourse First That God gives sufficient Grace to every sensible Christian wherewith to work out his Salvation Secondly That God expects from every Man that he should improve what Grace he has receiv'd and that proportionably to the Measure in which it was given him and make use of it to the Ends for which it was given Thirdly That there will be a Time when our Lord will come to take Account of Men's Improvement of the Grace that was given them and reward every Man according to his Deserts Fourthly That there shall be Degrees of Men's Happiness or Misery in the other World according to the Degrees of their Improvement or Negligence and Carelessness in this Fifthly That 't is abominably False and Impious to charge God as being unreasonably rigid and severe in taking this Account of Men's Improvement and expecting to find a Good Use made of what he committed to their Trust And Lastly That the Condition of the Diligent will be unspeakably happy and that of the Unprofitable unspeakably miserable and that both in this World and the next First God gives sufficient Grace to every sensible Christian wherewith to work out his Salvation I say to every sensible Christian because I would confine my Discourse to the State of such as are Christians and such of them as have the Use of their Senses and their Reason For as for those that are out of the Pale of Christ's Church though Charity will incline us to hope well of them and that God's Mercy will extend even to Heathens that never yet heard of the Gospel of Christ and his Spirit assist them to live according to that Natural Law written in the Heart of every Man yet we can determine nothing in this Case with Relation to them and have nothing else to do but to leave them to the Infinite Mercy of God and pray for their Conversion And as for such as have been receiv'd into the Fold of Christ and have afterwards prov'd Idiots and without the Use of their Reason their Case is likewise wholly in the Dark to us and though we need not question but God's Infinite Goodness will incline him to pity their Deplorable Condition yet which Way he will express his Mercy to them we must not presume to say Hidden things belong to God the reveal'd are for us and our Children Among which I take this to be one That God gives sufficient Grace to every sensible Christian wherewith to work out his Salvation And here not to enter into the Endless and most Abstruse Dispute about Predestination which the less Men trouble their Heads about the better 't is for 'em in all Respects I shall only urge two or three plain Places of Scripture to confirm this Position and add to 'em one as plain Reason The Places of Scripture are first that in 2 Pet. 3.9 where the Apostle says that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance to which is agreeable that of St. Paul to Timothy 1 Epist 2.4 God will have or desires that all Men should be sav'd and come to the Knowledge of the Truth Now the next Scripture I will quote which is 2 Cor. 3.5 tells us That we are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as
amends for If abundance of Gold and Silver would certainly make a Man wiser and better if 't would clear his Apprehension or strengthen his Memory or improve his Reasoning if 't would make him more prudent and discreet and of a riper Judgment if 't would increase Piety and Religion and promote a Godlike Frame of Spirit nay if 't would but so much as refine a Man's Temper and make him of more sweet and obliging Behaviour or regulate the Passions and Affections of the Soul and help him to Tranquility of Mind and cure Anger and Pride and Envy and Lust and Revenge or the like if abundance of Riches would work any of these good Effects 't would be worth while earnestly to desire them and industriously to endeavour to procure them But when 't is so far from this that the direct contrary is general observable in those that have greatest Riches in Possession it must I think be allow'd to be a very great Piece of Folly for a Man to endure so much for what when he has it will not countervail But though greedy Worldlings may own that great Riches have little or no Influence upon the Happiness and Improvement of the Inner Man yet because a Man has a Body as well as a Soul to take care of they are thus greatly desirous of much Wealth because 't will help them to the Enjoyment of much of this World's Happiness and acquire what will highly please and gratifie the Body as the Rich Man in the Parable said they may take their ease eat drink and be merry when they have much Goods laid up for many Years I shall therefore in the Second Place shew the folly of expecting even this World's Happiness from Abundance of Riches For besides that the Appetites of the Body are generally observed to be more sickly and deprav'd in rich than poorer Persons their Sleep worse rather than better than other Mens Eccl. 5.12 the Abundance of the Rich will not suffer him to sleep says Solomon but the Sleep of the Labouring Man is sweet eat he little or eat he much and that Health is much more a Stranger to the Rich than to the Meaner sort and the Pleasures of having a Body Vigorous and Active without the Encumbrance of Weakness and Diseases almost engross'd by the Labouring Poor Besides this which yet alone is enough to prove that 't is a folly to expect even this World's Happiness from Abundance of Riches for without Health which Luxury destroys the most of any thing there is no Taste or Relish in any other of its Enjoyments there is this One Reason more among others that will farther and I think evidently prove that 't is a very great Folly to expect to be happier even in this World by growing Richer and it is this That Riches are of all Things the most unsatisfying and the most perplexing Other Good Things of this World do in some sort satisfie and Men are often cloy'd with Pleasures have enough of Mirth and Jollity of Recreations and Diversions and the like and the Mind is for a while eas'd and refresh'd by them But as for Riches as they increase the Desire of still more increases proportionably nay rather disproportionably with them and 't was never yet known that a worldly-minded Man ever thought he had enough but that his Appetite grew keener after Wealth the more 't was fed with it And 't is not unusual to hear the greatest Complaints Murmurings and Repinings from the richest Men. And as for the Perplexity that attends Abundance of Wealth that likewise is as evident to common Observation The more a Man hath the more Care he must take to preserve it the more Quarrels and Law-Suits will he be embroil'd in and when there are Troubles and Commotions in the State and Times grow dangerous and uncertain then are the greatest Worldlings fullest of Fears and dreadful Apprehensions and not only real but imaginary Dangers terrifie their Unman'd Souls Things always appearing with the worst Aspect to their troubled Fancies who have made Gold their Deity and ty'd up their Happiness in their Bags And nothing certainly can be more perplexing to a Man's Mind than such great Fears of losing That in the possession of which his whole Happiness is concentred And accordingly Solomon who had great Possessions above All that were before him and gather'd him Silver and Gold in such Abundance that Silver was in Jerusalem common as the Stones in the Street 1 Kings 10.27 after all says he Eccles 5.10 11. He that loveth Silver shall not be satisfied with Silver nor he that loveth Abundance with Increase And what Good is there to the Owners thereof saving the beholding of it with their Eyes And even the Eye is not satisfied with seeing neither And St. Paul says very plainly That the Love of Money is the Root of all Evil and they that will be Rich fall into Temptation and a Snare 1 Tim. 6.9 10. and pierce themselves through with divers Sorrows and that Contentment with only Food and Raiment is a far greater Happiness And therefore good Reason had the Wisest King to say after all his Increase and the Abundance he had amass'd together that it was not only Vanity but Vexation of Spirit Eccles 2.11 Now that which can never satifie and as it increases increases a Man's Trouble and Perplexity which is true we see of Riches is no doubt far from conducing to a Man's Happiness in this World and therefore 't is a very great Folly for any Man to depend upon Abundance of Wealth for Happiness for 't is rather the Cause of much Trouble and Disquietude Or however God may suddenly deprive a rich Worldling of all he has by Death and say as in the Parable Thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee then whose shall those Things be which thou hast provided For As we brought nothing into the World so 't is certain we can carry nothing out And thus much for the Folly of Immoderate Desire of Riches in Expectation of a Happy Life from Abundance I proceed now to shew The Vileness of this sort of Covetousness and of placing the Happiness of Life in great store of Wealth That 't is a very vile Thing for a Man immoderately to covet Riches and place the Happiness of his Life in Abundance of them will be very evident if we briefly consider what a Man is and what Abundance of Wealth is and what little or no proportion the one bears to the Dignity of the other A Man is a Creature endow'd with a Rational and Immortal Soul capable of Knowing Admiring Loving and Enjoying God who is the Supreme Good and the Centre of Felicity As a Christian he is an adopted Son of God Coheir with Christ of a Crown of Glory in the Eternal Kingdom of Heaven and design'd to participate of those Rivers of divine Pleasures that are at God's Right-hand for ever and ever As for
still longer Reprieve Hoping that at length the Sinner may be awaken'd by the Sermons of the Gospel and the inward Motions and Excitations of the Spirit of Life and Holiness and see and fear his Danger and return by Repentance and do no more wickedly For so in the next Place 't is said in the Parable that when the Lord of the Vineyard gave Order that the Barren Fig-Tree should be cut down the Dresser of the Vineyard by whom our Saviour is represented answering said unto him let it alone this Year also till I shall dig about it and dung it Christ is our merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God Heb. 2.17 18. to make Reconciliation for the Sins of the People for he knows our Infirmities and in that he himself hath suffer'd being tempted he is able also to succour those that are tempted and ever liveth to make Intercession for us Heb. 7.25 He moves for a still longer Respite and promises to use new Methods that we may become fruitful of such good Works as will be well pleasing in his Father's Sight and accordingly cultivates and manures our Souls with repeated Exhortations to Repentance presses the Discourses of his Ministers still more home upon Men's Consciences and gives new Aids and Assistances of his Blessed Spirit provides new Happy Circumstances by his Providence for our Good such as a Faithful Instructer Good Conversation and Example Pious Books and Discourses which may warm and enliven a Sense of Religion in the Soul and awaken Attention and soften the Heart of Stone and render it penetrable by the Arguments of the Gospel and receptive of the Blessed Impressions of the Spirit of God That as loosening the Mould about the Roots of a Tree and cherishing it with the kindly Warmth of Dung is very conducive to the spreading of its Fibres and making it flourish and grow fruitful so these gracious Methods of the great Dresser of God's spiritual Vinevard Christ Jesus may so influence the Souls of Christians as to make them bear much Fruit to the Glory of God and their own everlasting Salvation This is the last Course that can be taken for a Sinner's Safety and if this will not prevail with him to take care of his Happiness there is no longer Hope 'T is like the Intercession of a Favourite for a Condemn'd Criminal upon Condition of his better Conversation for the future but if he again returns to his old vile Courses his Friends then abandon him as one that deserves to perish And so here in the Parable Christ the Beloved Son of God intercedes for a miserable Sinner ready for Destruction and begs a Reprieve for him to see if Time and farther Care will cure his Wickedness but if this proves ineffectual there remains nothing but a fearful Expectation of Judgment and fiery Indignation His Intercessor will then give him over for Desperate and suffer Justice to take its Course for so said the Dresser of the Vineyard to his Lord If after I have digg'd about it and dung'd it it bear fruit well but if not then after that thou shalt cut it down And this in the last Place represents to us the deplorable Condition of such as after all the Methods of Grace for their Reformation are still hardned in their Wickedness Christ will no more appear in their Behalf no more Thought shall be taken for their Safety but their Compassionate Intercessor shall then become their stern and inexorable Judge And when the dreadful Day of Doom shall come and the miserable Wretches appear before his Throne to receive the just Recompense of their obstinate Impieties then shall That Jesus who once so earnestly pleaded with God in their Behalf pronounce the Dreadful Sentence Depart from me ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire Depart from me your Saviour and once compassionate Mediator between God and You Be from henceforch and for ever depriv'd of all Hope of Redemption and Reinstatement into the Favour of my Father Be banish'd for ever from all Intercourse with Heaven without any Intercessor any propitiatory Sacrifice any Advocate to plead their Cause and without any Place for Repentance to Eternal Ages Depart to the Regions of Endless Horror and Despair in the Society of the Devil and his Angels And this is but the just Demerit of your Obstinate Wickedness who despis'd the Goodness of God that should have led you to Repentance This is the sad End of Irreclaimable Sinners this is the Punishment of an unfruitful Profession of Christianity Wherefore let those consider this that forget God before it be too late lest he pluck them away and there be none to deliver them Let them no longer turn the Grace and Forbearance of God into Lasciviousness but work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling For God is just as well as merciful and though slow to Wrath and of great Goodness repenting him of the Evil yet he will by no means clear the obstinately guilty but to such is a Consuming Fire The PRAYER I. O Merciful God who hast planted me in the Vineyard of thy dear Son the Christian Church and by the Culture of thy Ministers and the enlivening Influences of thy Blessed Spirit hast taken tender Care of my Growth and that I thrive and flourish in all spiritual Excellencies till I be fit to be transplanted to thy Heavenly Paradise I bless thy infinite Goodness for the Enlargement of this thy Vineyard so as to extend even to us though so remote from thy first Plantation and for those extraordinary Helps we of this Church have in order to our Increase in all the Fruits of the Spirit And earnestly beg that we may not produce Leaves only the mock Appearances of Christian Vertue but the Fruit of a sincere Religion in all the Instances of Holy Conversation II. I acknowledge with Admiration at thy infinite Love to Mankind that 't is Our Happiness thou respectest in thus indispensibly requiring Fruit of us not any Acquisition to thy self who art infinitely full already and the overflowing Fountain of all possible Good Thou commandest that our Fruit should be unto Holiness because we shall otherwise be incapable of the blessed End of Everlasting Life and spend our Days in Misery in this Lower World O Lord as is thy Majesty so is thy Mercy O make me duely sensible of thy tender Care of my Happiness and may it never through my wretched Obstinacy be in vain And in vain it would be were not thy long-suffering wonderful With what amazing Patience dost thou wait to see if at length I shall be Fruitful How often have I disappointed thy just Expectations and yet thou hast still forborn me through thine own Compassions and the Intercession of my dear Redeemer the Dresser of thy Vineyard who hath ply'd me with new Methods of Conversion fresh Applications to invigorate my Piety that at the last I may return thee acceptable Fruits and escape the sad Punishment of Barrenness
Thou hast done all O blessed God that can be done to secure the Happiness of Rational and Free Agents I therefore beg with all the Earnestness of an awaken'd Soul that thy Goodness Long-suffering and Forbearance may soften my Spirit and lead me to Repentance and melt me into Shame and Tears of Penitential Sorrow for having so long abused the tender Kindness of so good a God O let not thy Lenity ever extinguish the Dread of thy Vengeance which though slow is sure and may I seriously consider that if this thy Mercy is not effectual to my Reformation 't will but add weight to the Eternal Ruine I deserve May these Considerations most gracious God never depart from my Mind till Fruit be added to my Leaves and I experience the Power of True Godliness which Thing if thou wilt grant me then will I praise thee without ceasing and magnifie thy Goodness for ever and ever Amen Amen PARABLE XI Of the Prodigal Son Luke xv 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24. And Jesus said a certain Man had two Sons And the younger of them said to his Father Father give me the portion of Goods that falleth to me And he divided unto them his Living And not many days after the younger Son gather'd all together and took his Journey into a far Country and there wasted his Substance in riotous living And when he had spent all there arose a mighty Famine in that Land and he began to be in want And he went and joyned himself to a Citizen of that Country and he sent him into his Fields to feed Swine And he would fain have filled his Belly with the Husks that the Swine did eat and no man gave unto him And when he came to himself he said How many hired Servants of my Fathers have Bread enough and to spare and I perish with Hunger I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee And am no more worthy to be called thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants And he arose and came to his Father But when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had Compassion and ran and fell on his Neck and kissed him And the Son said unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son But the Father said to his Servants bring forth the best Robe and put it on him and put a Ring on his Hand and Shooes on his Feet And bring hither the fatted Calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry For this my Son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found THIS whole Chapter from the Third Verse to the End is intended to represent the great Tenderness and Compassion of God towards Sinners his great Desire that they should Repent and turn from their wicked Courses and how highly pleasing to him it is when they sincerely do so And this is express'd in Three Parables The First of a Man's seeking diligently a Sheep that he had lost and leaving the rest of his Flock till he had found it and then rejoycing greatly and telling his Neighbours the good News and inviting them to partake of his Joy The Second is of a Woman's having lost a Piece of Silver and seeking very carefully till she had found it and then in like manner rejoycing with her Friends for her good Success And the Third Parable is that of the Prodigal Son And because they are All to the same purpose 't will be sufficient to discourse of One of them only and the Last being the most full and comprehensive I shall consider That The Occasion of Our Lord 's speaking these Parables was The Scribes and Pharisees finding fault with him for Instructing and Conversing with Publicans and Sinners for they look'd upon it as very scandalous and a kind of Pollution to have any Familiarity with those worst of Men as they thought them and murmur'd against our Saviour saying This Man receiveth Sinners and eateth with them ver 2. To this Objection of theirs against him he answers in the Parables before mention'd and shews how unreasonably uncharitable they were to think much of his Teaching and Conversing with those who because the vilest of Men had therefore the most Need of his holy Instructions and excellent Example that they might be Reform'd and Reclaim'd from their wicked Practices For as he said elsewhere the Whole have no need of a Physician but those that are Sick and therefore he came to Seek and to Save those that were lost and Not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Nay more he tells them in the 7th and 10th Verses of this Chapter that There shall be more Joy in Heaven in the Presence of the Angels of God over One Sinner that Repenteth than over Ninety and Nine Just Persons that need no Repentance or such a total Change of Mind as is in a Sinner that breaks off his vile Courses by Repentance And farther to explain and enforce this great and most comfortable Truth and represent it more lively to their Apprehensions he spake the Parable of the Prodigal Son and therein very naturally and movingly expresses these Four Things First The great Extravagancy of Wicked Men when they give themselves up to the Conduct of their own Wills and Affections and are weary of the Government of God their Heavenly Father Secondly The sad Condition such Men quickly reduce themselves to by that their Extravagancy and loose self-will'd Course of Life or in other Words the miserable Consequences of Debauchery and Riot Thirdly The sharp Remorse of Conscience that attends such Courses the Shame and Sorrow for them and the Resolutions of an awaken'd Sinner to return again to his Obedience to God And Fourthly The great Tenderness and Compassion of the Father of Spirits to such as Repent in earnest and keep their Resolutions His Readiness to receive them again to his Favour and great Joy for their Return Because they were dead but are alive again were lost but are found Which last Particular is the Reason of the greater Joy that is in Heaven over one Sinner that Repenteth than over Ninety and Nine Just persons that need no Repentance and is a very satisfactory Account of our Lord 's so often Conversing with and Instructing Publicans and Sinners For they had the most need of that great Physician of Souls and consequently their Salvation would cause the greatest Joy in Heaven and therefore our Compassionate Saviour so industriously endeavour'd their Conversion And had the Pharisees had any of that Goodness in them they so much pretended to they would have rejoyced at our Lord's Charity and admir'd and lov'd him for it rather than have murmur'd at it as they did and used it as an Objection against him The first Thing express'd in this Parable is the great Extravagancy
securing our main Interest the Happiness of Eternity and when Time shall be at an End that is to every particular Person when Death shall put a Period to this Life then comes that Night in which no Man can work then the Opportunity shall be for ever at an End and according as Men have improv'd or wasted their Time in this World so shall their Eternity be happy or miserable in the next And therefore he is indeed very foolishly prodigal who without any Thought of hereafter wastes this precious Treasure this only Opportunity of making himself for ever happy in Vanity and Folly in pleasing and humouring his Body and neglects the Improvement of his Soul and instead of working out his Salvation with Fear and trembling secures to himself Eternal Misery And this does every wilful Sinner when with the Prodigal in the Parable he wastes this his Substance in Luxurious and Riotous Living and studies nothing but how to gratifie the lower Life looking no further than this present World for Happiness 'till his Opportunity be quite lost and he is surpriz'd into an unchangeably Miserable Condition because when 't was put into his Hand to make himself happy if he would he neglected it and chose the Track to Ruine Thirdly The Glorious Reversion of our Heavenly Inheritance is a Treasure likewise that can never be sufficiently valu'd for Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive the Felicities and Glories of it Now this we are assur'd by him that cannot lie and whose it is to bestow shall be the Reward of Vertue and sincere Religion all this is laid up for them that love God and keep his Commandments And therefore for a Man that knows all this to be so prodigally to throw away all Expectation of and Title to such a Reversion as this upon such low and profligate Accounts as the wallowing in the filthy Pleasures of a Goat or a Swine or the heaping up Treasures of Gold and Silver which are as unsatisfying as they are uncertain and perishing or for the Sake of a little empty Honour or the like This is the very Highth of profligate Extravagancy and such as one would think no sensible Man should ever be guilty of Upon these and many other nay indeed all Accounts 't is very true that a wicked Man is the greatest Prodigal in the World for he wastes and throws away what is of highest Value to a Man and that for what is no better than Vanity and Vexation of Spirit And thus much for the first thing expressed in this Parable viz. the great Extravagancy of ungodly Men when they give themselves up to the Guidance of their own Wills and Affections and grow weary of the Government of God their Heavenly Father Like the Prodigal Son they waste their most precious Substance in riotous and profligate living The second thing express'd in this Parable is the sad Condition such Men soon reduce themselves to by that their Extravagancy and loose self-will'd Course of Life or in other Words the Miserable Consequences of Debauchery and Riot and of following so Blind a Guide as Mens unruly Passions and Lusts For so in the Parable when the prodigal Young Man had spent all there arose a mighty Famine in that Land and he began to be in Want and went and joyn'd himself to a Citizen of that Country who sent him into his Fields to feed Swine And he would fain have fill'd his Belly with the Husks that the Swine did eat but no Man gave unto him The first ill Consequence then of this Prodigality or Lawless Extravagant Living is Spiritual Want or a Scarcity and Famine of the Divine Grace in the Soul which is by so much more to be dreaded than a Famine of Provisions for the Body as Eternal Misery and Death is more terrible than Temporal The Grace of God is questionless the Nourishment of the Divine Life and which if once withdrawn will leave the Soul dead in Trespasses and Sins Now an obstinate Course of Disobedience to the Divine Will drives out that Life-giving Power and makes the Soul uncapable of Vital Union with so pure a Spirit and as a Humane Soul is forc'd to leave a Body rotten and wasted and unapt any longer to entertain it so this Divine Spirit is thrust out from a corrupted sinful Soul And consequently there must be a famine in that Soul of that Heavenly Bread which is absolutely necessary to eternal Life and the Consequence of that is Eternal Death And certainly no Man that considers what a Dismal Condition that Soul is in which is reduced to such Extremity of Spiritual Want as this how full of Horrour and Despair as doom'd to endless Misery and seal'd up to Destruction which he sees dayly nearer and nearer approaching and no way to escape but like a Wretch immur'd between two Walls there to be starv'd to Death in continual Expectation of her sad End No Man that considers this with that Seriousness he ought but will be very careful not to waste what is so necessary to his Spiritual Subsistence i. e. by no means grieve or resist or quench that Life-giving Spirit by whom all true Religion lives and moves and hath its Being and which if neglected and oppos'd will be withdrawn and that perhaps for ever If like Esau we sell this inestimable Blessing for a Mess of Pottage forfeit the Food of our Souls that we may indulge our Sensual Appetites we may fear that a Spiritual Famine will be our Punishment and no Place left for Repentance no Blessing remaining for us though we seek it earnestly with Tears As the Prodigal in the Parable when after he had wasted his Substance in riotous Living and then wanted and was ready to perish with Hunger so that he would have been glad of the meanest and coarsest Fare would fain have sill'd his Belly with the Husks that the Swine did eat even that he could not obtain for no Man says the Parable gave unto him Another ill Consequence of this Spiritual Prodigality and loose wicked Course of Life and to name no more amongst a numerous Train of them is that it extreamly degrades and debases a Man and engages him in the vilest Drudgery imaginable the serving Bestial Lusts and Devilish Passions This is express'd in the Parable by the Prodigal's being sent into the Feilds to feed Swine a thing the most abject in it self and the most detestable to the Jews to whom our Lord spake the Parable who were taught by their Law to esteem that Creature among the most unclean And as low or lower than this does he debase his Nature who neglecting the Noble Precepts of Religion makes his Sensual Appetite the Rule and Measure of his Actions For what more Beastly and Detestable than ungovern'd Lust The wretch himself that is guilty of it is asham'd publickly to commit it and takes Advantage of Holes and Corners and
still disbelieve that there is a suture State of Eternal Rewards and Punishments according as Men live well or ill here below and still keep them from being perswaded by it to Amendment though one came to them from the Dead to assure them of it For what an easie Matter would it be for them to say that the Apparition was but a melancholly Fancy or a Dream and regard it as if no more and laugh at all things of that Nature as too many now a-days are apt to do And he that will shut his Eyes aganst so much Reason and Evidence as there is for the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures is Proof against any other Sort of Conviction whatever even that of a Messenger sent on purpose to him from the other World For so our Lord in the Parable If they believe not Moses and the Prophets we may add and our Saviour his Evangelists and Apostles neither will they be perswaded though one arose from the Dead Wherefore it becomes us all to be very careful lest the Spirit of Unbelief enter into us and we grow so blinded by the Deceitfulness of Sin as either not to believe or not duly to attend to this great and strongly confirm'd Truth of the Certainty of another Life after this and of the eternal Rewards and Punishments then to be awarded to every Man according to his religious or impious Behaviour here 'T is in vain to expect any further extraordinary Proof of what is already plainly declared by him that cannot lye in those Writings which we have all the Reason in the World to believe were written by his Divine Inspiration Let us rather so serioussy consider and attend to what is there reveal'd to us as by those Terrors of the Lord relating to a future Judgment to be perswaded to a sincere Revisal of our Ways and deep Repentance of what we shall find to have been amiss and immediate Endeavours to do no more wickedly Let us have a care how we are charm'd with the Pomps and Vanities of this World as if here were our Happiness and our Heaven and we look'd for no other Life when this is done and let us be chiefly employ'd in making Provision for that other endless Life which will succed this that then we may be happy when if we are miserable we shall be always so Remembring that the Rich Man in the Parable who in this Life receiv'd his good things and was wholly intent upon the Enjoyment of them and look'd no further made no Provision for what was to be hereafter in that other State aster he died was tormented in the Flames of Hell and wanted a Drop of Water to cool his Tongue While the poor despis'd and seemingly miserable Lazarus that begg'd for the Crumbs which fell from his Table and was taken little Notice of by any but the Rich Man's Dogs because his Poverty made him Religious and think of and provide for better things in an everlasting World was when he died conducted by Angels into Abraham's Bosom that Place of Eternal Happiness Rest and Peace which is prepar'd for the Righteous These things if we consider throughly and seriously there will be no need of one from the Dead either to convince us of the Truth of them or to perswade us to an immediate Repentance that we may escape that Place of Eternal Torment reserv'd for the obstinately wicked and be receiv'd into that happy State which shall for ever crown the pious Endeavours of the Good Wherefore for the future may we all so meditate upon these things and give our selves so intirely to them that through God's gracious Assistance our profiting may appear in all things The PRAYER O God infinitely wise and Good the Disposals of whose Providence here below though always for the best are yet often the Cause of Wonder to us Mortals especially in the Prosperity of the Wicked and the Afflictions of the Righteous Teach me the Wisdom I beseech thee to look beyond this World for Happiness and never to make vain Conclusions of thy Favour or displeasure to my self or others or concerning mine or their Condition in the other World from the Circumstances of this our present Life But rather in all things to acknowledg thy Providence to be good and just and be careful to secure my Duty in whatsoever Station thou shalt please to place me Grant that in Prosperity I may be Humble Thankful and Charitable in Adversity Contented and resign'd under thy Paternal Rod and may make that good Use of every Condition which thou designest I should and carefully avoid the Snares of each and make it my great Endeavour whilst I continue here below to secure a happy Eternity in the World of Spirits where my Condition whatever it then shall be will be unchangeable And may my Belief of future Eternal Rewards and Punishments be daily more and more strengthned and confirmed by a serious and unprejudic'd Attention to the plain Assurance thou hast given me of it in the Holy Scriptures so as not to be vainly desirous of any more extraordinary Evidence in this matter but believing these great Truths without wavering Grant that I may immediately endeavour to reform my Life before it be too late That so when I go hence I may be receiv'd into Abraham's Bosom the happy Portion of the Faithful and escape the Place of endless Torment prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels Grant this O Gracious God for Jesus Christ his Sake PARABLE XIII Of the Importunate Widow Luke xviii 1 2 3 4 5 And Jesus spake a Parable to this End that Men ought always to pray and not to faint Saying there was in a City a Judge which feared not God neither regarded Man And there was a Widow in that City and she came unto him saying Avenge me of mine Adversary And he would not for a while but afterwards he said within himself Though I fear not God neither regard Man Yet because this Widow troubleth me I will avenge her lest by her continual coming she weary me THE Force of this Parable in order to the perswading to a constant and importunate Devotion lies in this That if Importunity will prevail with a sinful Man that neither fears God nor has any Compassion for the Miseries of his Fellow-Creatures to grant Petitions offer'd to him How much more prevalent will it be with the infinitely good God to relieve the Necessities of such as devoutly and earnestly implore his Help And to the same Sense is another Parable Luke 11.16 Which of you shall have a Friend and shall go to him at Midnight and say unto him Friend lend me three Loaves for a Friend of mine in his Journey is come unto me and I have nothing to set before him and he from within shall answer and say Trouble me not the Door is now shut and my Children are with me in Bed I cannot rise and give thee I say unto you Though he will not
are now considering says expresly He that exalteth himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted and the humble Publican went down to his House justified rather than the haughty Pharisee so beneficial and highly valuable both with God and Man is Humility of Spirit But on the contrary to be opinionated and proud of ones Vertue is a great Misfortune as well as Fault and brings a great deal of a peculiar sort of Trouble and Uneasiness along with it 'T is a Thing hated both by God and Men and is despis'd and disgrac'd by every Body To what would otherwise be really praise-worthy it brings the greatest Disparagement in the World and if a Man's Conversation be but indifferent and like other Mens then nothing makes him more ridiculous than much to value himself upon what is of so little or no Excellency And what a Pain 't is for Men that look upon themselves as extraordinary Persons to see others so far from that Opinion as rather to slight and deprecate them may easily be imagin'd And indeed 't is the Mishap of this sort of People always to meet with such kind of Entertainment as this Men setting themselves on purpose to tease and worry 'em that if possible they may make them ashamed and weary of a thing so generally hated But besides this peculiar sort of Vexation and Uneasiness that attends spiritual Pride there is something much worse to be said of it viz. that 't is almost impossible for Men infected with this Vice ever to improve in Religion and grow better For in the Nature of the Thing nothing slackens Diligence and Industry more than this without which no progress can be made in any thing or at best a very slow one especially where there are such Difficulties to be struggled with as in Religion and what signifies Instruction or Reproof unless it be to gall and enrage him to a Man that thinks his Vertue very extraordinary if not compleat already And besides God from whom we derive all our Sufficiency resists the proud and therefore as Solomon says no wonder if when pride cometh then cometh destruction and a haughty Spirit be the forerunner of a fall Besides as the Condition of Mankind is now to be proud of Vertue is to be proud of Imperfection for such is the Vertue even of the best Men upon Earth nay 't is to be proud of that which is not for no Man that is proud of his Vertue is indeed Vertuous that poverty of Spirit being wanting which gives the Value to all Religious Actions and renders them acceptable in the Sight of God And it not only pollutes and unhallows what might otherwise deserve the Name of Vertue but as was hinted before it keeps a Man from growing better it blinds him that he cannot discern his Faults and he is so taken up with admiring his Excellencies and with the Pharisee thanking God that he is not as other men are Extortioners Unjust Adulterers or the like that his great Defects pass unobserv'd by him And with the Man in the Fable he is so busie in gazing upon things above himself that he perceives not the Dangers under his feet till he falls into them Having thus endeavour'd to shew what is the Grace of spiritual Humility and how excellent and highly beneficial a Grace it is and how vile and mischievous the contrary Vice is destructive of all Religion and hateful both to God and Man I proceed now in the Last Place to shew how highly this Vertue shall be rewarded which is exprest thus in the Close of this Parable He that humbleth himself shall be exalted That is in short Mens Humbleness of Mind in point of Vertue their Self-Annihilation and returning all the Glory of their Good Actions to God as the Author of whatever is commendable in them and without priding themselves in their present Attainments pressing on still to greater Degrees of Perfection and Heavenly Life This shall in the World of Eternal Felicity and Glory be rewarded with the Impression of a near Resemblance to that Divine Fountain of Holiness and Perfection whom here they acknowledg'd to be the Giver of every good and perfect gift They shall then see him as he is and they shall be like him No Failures no Slips or Imperfections no Avocations from the happy Employment of Admiring and Loving God shall be There which in this Life are the perpetual Clogs and Vexations of a Holy Soul but with their Faculties free and vigorous they shall fully enjoy this supreme Good without Interruption to all Eternity This is that which makes a Heaven this is to enjoy the Happiness of God himself and this Heaven and this Happiness shall be the Portion of the poor in Spirit who here ascribe to God the Praise and Glory of their vertuous Actions And their Humbling themselves before his Majesty in a deep Sense of the Vileness and Ingratitude of their Sins which the best Man living is not wholly without shall be rewarded with the Pardon of them they shall be lifted up from their Prostration at the Feet of their God and Saviour and be received into his Bosom and Joy extraordinary Joy shall be in Heaven in the Presence of the Holy Angels for their Repentance They shall be exalted from the State of Penitents to that of Friends nay Sons of God and all Tears for the Future shall be for ever wip'd from their Eyes and they shall participate of the Joy of their Lord from Everlasting to Everlasting And such an Exaltation as this is no doubt an abundant Recompense for all the Pains of spiritual Mortification and a Repentance so rewarded will never be repented of To conclude therefore If we hope to have a share in that ineffable Felicity which shall be the Reward of this Humility of Spirit we have been discoursing of we must make it our Endeavour to tread the Path that leads to it We must humble our selves before God according to the Measures above described that he may exalt us in due time And as without whom we can do no good Thing we must with all Earnestness and Importunity beg his gracious Assistance who was meek and lowly in Heart that we may follow his Steps and return him all the Glory of our pious Advances who worketh in us to will and to do of his good Pleasure and be so duly affected with Shame and Sorrow for our Wickednesses as with the Publican in bitter Remorse and with sincere Purposes of Amendment to smite upon our Breasts and say God be merciful to us miserable Sinners The PRAYER O Meek and Lowly Jesus who resistest the Proud and givest Grace to the Humble and hast plac'd Poverty of Spirit in the Front of thy Beatitudes as the Foundation and Ground-work of thy Holy Religion Teach me this excellent Grace I humbly beseech thee and grant that I may hate and shun Pride above all Things as the most dangerous and destructive Vice which defiles every thing however otherwise commendable and excellent and naturally tends to the Pit of Destruction And to allay all vain Tumors that shall arise give me O Blessed Saviour a true Sense of the Corruption of my Nature my many heinous Violations of my Duty my vile Ungratitude to thee my greatest Benefactor and the great Imperfections of ev'n my best Services and that whatever I have done that is praise-worthy is owing to thy gracious Assistance and that of my self I can do nothing that is good O may I therefore never arrogate to my self what should be wholly thine nor despise any Man like the haughty Pharisee who have nothing my self but what I have receiv'd from thee but in sincere Humility of Spirit return thee all the Glory saying after I have done all that I can I am still an Unprofitable Servant and have done but what was my Duty to do And grant that in an humble Sense of my still great Defects considering what vast Assistances I have had I may smite upon my Breast and say with the Publican God be merciful to me a miserable Sinner Grant this thou meek and humble Lamb of God for the sake of thine own Tender Mercies Amen and Amen FINIS