commonly the Deepest most lasting and indelible And hence it is that Men are generally very apt to stick to their first Principles be they true or false and for want of due enquiry how they came by them to take them for Divine Impressions and Eternal Truths And thus an Erroneous Conscience Usurps the Authority of a Guide the ordinary effect of which is a zealous Opposition against all that standin its way or presume to Check and disturb the Dictates of it For what ever ought to be it is plain that Mens present Thoughts and Principles are and will be the Rule of their Actions and that the worse any Principles are and the Earlier they are Instilled into them under the Notion of Divine Truths the more strongly they Impregnate their Minds and excite them to pursue the Tendencies of them And therefore we need not much wonder at those who are bred up in a Religion contrary to the Truth as it is in Jesus and to his Commandments of Love Peace and Unity Who are taught from their Cradles to call us Hereticks and to speak the bitterest things against us to Break their Faith with us and to mark us out for Destruction if in process of time they grow expert in all the Arts of Confusion and with undaunted Courage Undertake the Boldest Crimes which their Party and Principles do Countenance the Practice of 'T is true the Prejudices of Education are not invincible if Men would take a right course to overcome them But this is a rare case and there are but few in Comparison of those that choose to enjoy their Errors that are willing to make a Tryal of it And indeed when our green and tender Minds are once warpt by false and Pernicious Principles it is no easy matter to bring them streight and to put them into a right Posture again It requires a great deal of Consideration and Impartial inquiry into the Reason and bottom of things which some Men want abilities of mind others Leisure Humility Patience and Integrity to carry them through And the want of any of these is enough to answer for their obstinate persisting in their First Errours and unreasonable Opposition to the Truth 2. Affected Ignorance of the Truth naturally hardens Men in their Evil Principles and disposes them to approve of any Rugged and violent Course to keep up the Reputation of them The Jews in our Saviour's time had the greatest Advantages that ever Men enjoyed of being delivered from the Chains and Fetters of an ill Education I Pet. 1.18 or as St. Peter calls it From their vain Conversation received by Tradition from their Fathers They had the Brightest Revelations of the Divine Nature and Will that ever came from Heaven And those delivered to them by their own Messiah whom they had long expected In whom all the Promises concerning that Infinite Blessing to Mankind were exactly fulfilled Who wrought the greatest and most Astonishing Miracles that ever the World beheld Who gave them a Perfect Comment on the Law which had been miserably Corrupted by the Glosses of their Scribes and Doctors and layed open their Hypocrisies to themselves and all the People and yet so Blind and Sottish were they as to reject all his Admonitions with Spight and Scorn to Love Darkness rather than Light to Admire their Deluders and to Crucify their Guide to Eternal Bliss and Happiness Our Saviour himself Testifies of them in the height of their Rage and Malice against him Luke 23.34 that they knew not what they did They had been Taught their Messiah should be a Glorious King and Conquerour and such an One they must have or none They had been long wonted to a Pompous and Ceremonious service And therefore could not bear the thoughts of having the Stately Fabrick of their Religion Erected by God himself and supported by Moses and the Prophets taken down by the Carpenters Son as they stiled our Lord. These were the Fatal Chains that held them fast in that Dungeon of Darkness and Ignorance which Paradise it self could not Tempt them nor the Son of God could not redeem them from And is not the same wilfull and Affected Ignorance still to be found amongst the Adversaries of our Religion Some think there ought to be an Infallible and Universal Head of the Church on Earth and such an one they will have what ever it costs them Others that are strongly perswaded of Christs Personal Reign upon Earth think they ought to Fight for King Jesus against all Opposers And why is Ignorance so much Cherisht and Applauded in the Church of Rome but that it gives the Guides of that Church a mighty advantage to Mis-lead the People and Embolden them to act any illthing they are pleased to Impose upon them And this is the very use they make of it they Teach them to call Evil Good and Good Evil to Invert the Nature of things and to Fix the Crossest Names they can devise upon them and then Prosecute them directly contrary to their intrinsick merit Just as the Heathens Cloth'd the Christians in Beasts Skins and then exposed them to be Worried by Wild Beasts to Death They first teach them to call our Religion on Heresie which naturally creates an Implacable Hatred of it And having gone thus far they easily perswade them they cannot be too Zealous to suppress it the next step to which Persuasion is to think any thing to be lawful that will do it or if that will not do it shall be Meritorious And then to destroy Hereticks follows of course to be a Glorious Work But surely St. Paul did not think so when he confest the contrariety of it to the Name of Jesus Nor did our Saviour think so when he reproved the Rash and Destructive zeal of his Disciples who would have consumed the Samaritans by Fire from Heaven telling them that they knew not what manner of Spirits they were of And after this Luke 9.55 should I presume to say that the Controversies between us and the Church of Rome have been managed with invincible strength and demonstration of the Truth on our side Or should I say that no cause since the sealing of the Scriptures unless that of our common Christianity was ever better Defended than our departure from that Church I should not be ashamed of this confidence of boasting 3. Secular Interests have great Power to distort the Judgments of men and to inflame their Passions against those that differ from them in matters of Religion What ever it is they place their chief satisfaction in whether they are bound for the Port of Gain or Honour or Liberty we commonly find they make all the Sail that ever they can to come speedily to it If the way to attain their ends be to appear stoutly for this or that Party or Persuasion they will readily do it and serve the cause to the Utmost if they happen to thrive by it Men of corrupt Minds and destitute
EIGHT SERMONS PREACHED On Several Occasions BY NATHANAEL WHALEY Rector of Broughton in Northamptonshire LONDON Printed for John Everingham at the Star in Ludgate-Street near the West End of St. Paul's Church-Yard 1695. Imprimatur Carolus Alstton R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. a Sacris April 30 1695. THE PREFACE TO THE Reader THE true End of Printing Sermons is to promote the Belief and Practice of Christianity Which must be at a low Ebb while the Witty part of the World is Floating in Scepticism and the Heavier sinking into down-right Atheism and Sensuality And This I think is so good an End in it self that it certainly needs no Excuse For I know not why any Man may not venture upon doing Good without asking leave of the World or Pleading the Importunity of Friends or craving a Protection for it All the Discouragement lies in the Difficulty there is in reaching this excellent End especially in this Singular and Confident Age in which He is no Body almost that has not an Opinion by himself And he is counted a very easie Man that will resign it to a stronger Judgment for being reduced to a Contradiction or two or convinc'd of a few untoward Consequences of it But however this be I think it becomes the Ministers of Religion to perswade Men if it be possible to be Wise and Happy and while the Scriptures are of any Authority with them to Admonish them of the Truths which belong to their Eternal Peace And this I can truly say is the Design of the following Sermons The two first of which are framed to shew the great Difference there is between a stable and well-grounded Faith and meer Confidence and Opinion or between the Faith of Abraham which carried him through the greatest Tryals and Difficulties and the Presumption of a Pharisee which did as strange things in their kind For as Abraham by Faith offered up his Son in Obedience to God So Saul by the impulse of his Opinions Persecuted the Children of Abrahams Faith and verily thought till our Saviour called to him out of Heaven as the Angel did to Abraham that he was doing the Will of God even when he was going to make a Sacrifice of Christianity it self The Design of the Third and Fourth Sermons is to represent the extream Danger of Impenitency under the Powerful means of Grace and of Trusting to a late or Death-Bed Repentance These I fear are very Grating and Unpleasant Subjects But I the rather think they require the plainer dealing and must needs say in reference to the Latter that upon the Review I cannot esteem it any breach of Charity to have wrested a Text perhaps more frequently mis-applyed than any other in the Gospel out of the hands of those that were never Fairly in possession of it and are apt as St. Peter speaks of some others to wrest it to their Own Destruction The Fifth was delivered at a time when great Endeavours were used to turn us out of the streight Way to Heaven Which gave occasion to shew the Grounds of our Protestant Faith and the great Advantages it has above the Romish in point of certainty How much Reason we have to adhere to the Doctrine of our own Church and to adorn it by the Purity of our Lives and Examples And the Way to do this is described and recommended in the following Discourse concerning our Improvement in all Christian Vertues and Graces And were we once perswaded to govern our Lives by the Principles of our Religion we might justly hope to Enjoy them more and perhaps much longer than we do We should think it no Dishonour to suffer those that Affront and Despitefully use us to live out the short term of Life which God and Nature hath set them and make better Use of the shortness and uncertainty of our Own to bring us to which happy Temper is the Design of the two last Sermons As to the Composure of these few Discourses the Reader will find enough to exercise his Candour and Ingenuity All I can hope for is That they may be serviceable in some measure to the Lovers of Truth for whose sakes they are Published that the Venture will be the more Pardonable because my Infirmities at present are such as hinder the Discharge of the Ordinary Duties of my Function God grant his Blessing to all Faithful Endeavours to Preserve the Truth and Promote Peace and Piety The Contents SERMON I. The Power and Efficacy of Faith Heb. 11.17 18. By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac And he that had received the Promises Offered up his Only begotten Son Of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy Seed be called SERMON II. The Danger of a mis-inform'd Conscience or mistaken Principles in Religion Acts 26.9 I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth SERMON III. Of the different Dispensations of Grace and of Impenitency under the best Means of Salvation Matth. 11.21.22 Wo unto thee Chorazin Wo unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty Works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have Repented long agō in Sack-cloth and Ashes But I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the Day of Judgment than for you SERMON IV. The Case of a Late or Death-Bed Repentance Matth. 20.9 And when they came that were Hired about the Eleventh Hour they received every Man a Penny SERMON V. The Streight and Certain Way to Happiness Hebr. 12.13 Make streight Paths for your Feet SERMON VI. Of Growth in Grace 2 Pet. 3.18 But Grow in Grace SERMON VII Of Murther particularly Duelling and Self-Murther Matth. 5.21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of Old time Thou shalt not Kill SERMON VIII Of the shortness and Instability of Humane Life James 4.14 For what is your Life It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Sermon I. Concerning the Power and Efficacy of Faith Hebr. 11.17 18. By Faith Abraham when he was tryed Offered up Isaac and he that had rerceived the Promises Offered up his Only begotten Son Of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy Seed be called THE Author of this Epistle discourseth in this Chapter of two Eminent Points of Knowledge the Nature of Divine Faith and the mighty Power and Efficacy of it In the first Verse he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a grounded Expectation of things hoped for and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conviction of things not seen ver 3.5 c. such as the Creation of this and the Existence of a better World And this shews the Nature of Faith to lye in a firm Perswasion of Truths and Promises grounded upon the Testimony of God and not upon any sensible Evidence of the Reality of them And accordingly the Holy Men whose Faith is so much magnifyed in this Chapter ver 13.
upon his Son and Talkt with him upon the Way to Moriah Nature should make a stand and his Heart should fail him to think what a sad Uncomfortable Errand he was going upon But we meet with nothing of all this in Abrahams deportment during the whole process of his Tryal He did not make a false step in three Days Journey to Moriah He was so far from staggering at the strangeness of things that he went on without delay and as far as appears by the History of this great Action proceeded by even and constant steps through all the Stages of his Tedious Duty Gen. 22.9 Even when he came to the Mountain which God told him of had built an Altar and laid the Wood in order upon it he did not so much as allow himself to say must I now Burn the staff of my Old-Age and the dearest Pledge of Gods Favour to me and all Ages of the World So that we see he perfectly overcame the Difficulties and surmounted the Discouragements which his way was obstructed with 2. The Power or Principle by which this Transcendent Act of Righteousness was wrought i. e. by which Abraham Prevailed with himself and over all Discouragements to offer up Isaac The Apostle ascribes it to his Faith Now Faith we know is sometimes taken for an habitual Belief or Perswasion of the Perfections Truths and Promises of God and sometimes for a single Act of this eminent Grace and there are places of which the Text is one in which it is apparently Used in both senses 1. First then the honour of this Noble Action was owing to a constant and habitual Perswasion of Divine Truths and Promises which Abraham had attained unto He had been long accustomed to believe God upon his Word and to rely upon his Truth and Faithfulness And being fully perswaded of the Reality and concernment of all that he Revealed to him it was easie for him to conclude and settle upon this great Principle of Religion that God in all things was to be Obeyed And this Perswasion was the Root of all his Piety and Submission to the Will of God Upon this he left his own Country for a strange Land and followed the Clue of God's Providence whithersoever it led him it directed his steps when he knew not whither he went and put him into a posture of Undertaking the Hardest Tryals and giving any proof of his Sincerity that God should demand of him And accordingly when God demanded his Son the Dearest thing he had in the World tho' it was against the Law of Nature in any Case but his to slay an Innocent Youth Tho it was in common esteem a Contradiction to all the Kindness and Tenderness which a Fathers Name carries in it and no less contrary to the Endearments of the Conjugal Relation Nay though it had all the Visible Marks of Unnatural Rage and Inhumanity upon it and was like to prove an Indelible Blemish to Religion tho' these considerations were no less Obvious than Weighty yet was Abraham through the Constancy of his Faith and Obedience so Naturaliz'd to the Service of God that nothing could divert him from it But I confess this does not fully clear the main Difficulty implyed in the Text Viz. That Abraham should offer up his Son by Faith while he Believed the Promises concerning his Seed it being against common Sense or Reason That if Isaac dyed without Issue His Seed should be Blessed after him So that Abraham might be a strong Believer and do great things by his Faith yet still it does not appear but that he must needs stagger while he shook the very Ground and Foundation which his Faith and Hope had rested upon as he did when he went about to destroy the promised Line and so Cut off all the Blessings that depended upon it Let us therefore have recourse to the second Notion of Faith and Consider it as it signifies 2. Some special and Eminent Act of this Grace And such we find in the present casu namely a strong Persuasion of Abraham of the Power of God to raise up Isaac from the dead And to this the context expresly ascribes his success By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac v. 19.1 c. Accounting saith the Apostle that God was able to raise him up even from the dead i. e. that he had Power to fulfill his Promise by bringing Isaac to Life again and that he would certainly do it rather than suffer the least tittle of his promise to Dye with him And now his Way tho' hard was clear and open and there was nothing to Interrupt his Obedience but what his Almighty Faith could deal withal He had doubtless considered that God had a better Interest in his Son and all his other Possessions than any he could lay claim unto And the great Reverence he had for his Wisdom and Soveraignty Hush't his Natural Affections and whereas God's Command seem'd to Oppose his promises he overcame the Difficulty too Believing that God was able to Reconcile them and bring back Isaac from the Dead by the same Power that gave him his First Being when he sprang from One as is observed in this Chapter that was as Good as Dead that is Himself that had Out-lived the Natural Power of giving Life to others We see then the Eminency of Abrahams Faith v. 12. and the support it gave him all along in his Tryal By the Direction of it he kept his Eye all the while upon God's Command and-Wink't at all the seeming contradictions that Oppos'd his Obedience to it He doubted not but that God had Power to Kill and to make alive To Command what he pleased and Reward those that Diligently Seek and Obey him In short amidst all the hard things that bore upon Abrahams Faith there was nothing appeared so Incredible to him as that God should lye or so unreasonable as to suspend his Obedience while he was Persuaded of God's Faithfulness to him And accordingly he immediately followed him in the Light and strength of his Faith without any Faultering or Regret through all the Dark Scenes of that Cloudy Providence which led him to the Sacrifice of his Only Son And that after a most Express and Emphatical Promise that in Isaac his Seed should be called And now 't is time for us to Consider how far we are concerned in this Discourse both in reference to our Faith and Practice First then 1. Hence we Learn the true Nature of Justifying Faith there being nothing plainer in Scripture than that Abrahams Faith was Imputed to him for Righteousness which certainly it had never been if he had not Obeyed the Command which was the Tryal of his Faith If Abraham then was Justifyed by the Faith which offered up his Son 't is clear that he was justifyed by a lively and working Faith And that no other Faith than this can Justify is evident if we consider that Abrahams Faith is more than
Greater Light we may be sure to make Streight Paths for our Feet till we come to the Perfect Fruition of them Nor are we commanded only to search the Scriptures but to prove all things by them to try the Spirits whether they be of God 1 Thes 5.21 1 Job 1.4 Luk. 12.57 and to judge of our selves what is Right That is we must use our own Reason and Judgment in comparing matters in Controversie with the Infallible Rule of Scripture For some Rule we must have to Prove and Try and Judge by And it is plain the Scripture takes no notice of any other Rule but it self and that of Modern and Unwritten Tradition as Opposite to it And this is security enough against any Dangerous Error considering that the Gospel is as much a standing Revelation to the Christian Church as the Law and the Prophets were to the Jews 5. We find the happy Effect of this Course so far that persons of ordinary capacity after a competent Trial of it do rightly believe and understand all that is necessary to their Eternal Salvation The necessary Articles of Religion are so visible in the Scriptures that it is the hardest thing that can be for an Ingenious Reader to overlook them That there is but One God that He only ought to be Worshipped that he sent his Only Begotten to Die for us that he Died and Rose again that as many as Repent of their Sins Believe and Obey the Gospel shall be Saved These and other Principles of Religion are so clearly and fully exprest in Scripture that there is no need of an Infallible Interpreter to certifie for them A common Understanding with the ordinary Means of Knowledge can reach the Discovery I mean without the help of a Roman Telescope or standing upon the Shoulders of St. Peters's pretended Successor This we know the Certainty of we feel it in our selves and we see the Demonstration of it in ten thousand Instances and do not think the worse of our Faith for being Protestant i. e. immediately Grounded upon the Evidence and Authority of Scripture We look upon it as our Inviolable Birth right to judge of Plain Truths when we see them And for this we have the general Sense of Mankind on our side and cannot think it reasonable to put it to any man to judge for us whether or no there is a God a Christ or a Heaven That all necessary Truths are plain is allowed by all Christians but those that make Articles of Faith necessary to Salvation which are so far from being plain that there is not the least mention of them in the whole Gospel And if all things that are Necessary are Plain then I hope a plain man may judge of them and without asking leave of any other man may believe them and so doing he certainly is in a state of Salvation And then the Church that declares he is not cannot be Infallible unless a Church can Err and be Infallible at the same instant 6. It is far easier for men who implore the Direction of God and use the Helps which he affords them to find their way to Heaven in the Scriptures than to find an Infallible Guide on Earth to lead them to it It must be granted that there are Obscure as well as Plain Passages in Scripture Some Places so very Dark and Intricate that they even Pose the most skilful and judicious Guides But thn our Happiness is that our Way does not lie Thorough them and that there is Light enough in innumerable other places to direct our Steps and to bring us in a Streight Line to Everlasting Bliss and Perfection I do not say that every thing tht concerns our Salvation is so clearly revealed that no man can be ignorant of it But that we may know as much as is needful for us if we apply our minds to it and laying aside all prejudice against the Truth beg of God to Preserve us from Error all which we have great encouragement to do since he has promised us the assistance of his Spirit in the search of Truth The Church of Rome indeed offers to put us into a shorter and easier Method of finding out Truth and to bring us to a Guide that will Infallibly shew us every step of our way So that we need not be at the Pains of any Tedious Inquiries nor any longer in danger of missing our Aim in them through the weakness of our own Fallible Judgments And who would not gladly embrace so Free and kind an Offer as this provided there be no Trick or Fallacy it it The Tryal of which will appear if the Proposes of this way of certainty be able to satisfy us in a few reasonable Cases without which as great as the Courtesy seems to be we cnnot prudently Accept of their Offer If a man should freely proffer me the Indies I must say it is a very Noble Gift if he can make it good and when he has convinced me that he can I will thankfully accept it from him but before he can give me Satisfaction about it I find ther must be a few words exchanged between us and therefore if he Pleases I desire him to tell me how he came to be the Owner of so vast a Treasure which is or lately was in the possession of so many Great and Potent Princes And which way he will put me into Possession of it c. If he cannot Answer these Queries as I believe he cannot I am sure he can never conveigh the Indies to me and therefor I will never trouble my Head more about them And thus I fear it will fall out in the case of an Infallible Guide to all Christians who were there such a Church or Person as they boast of at Rome that could infallibly solve all Doubts and put an end to all Controversies in Religion were richly worth both the Indies together But before I accept of the Conduct of this Guide I must desire to be satisfied in a few things in reference to him As 1. How I may be certain that there is such a Guide or Judg of Controversies For I find there is a great Controversy in the Church about it And if I can never be assured that there is such an one till he has ended all Controversies which is the great blessing the Church of Rome Promises from him 't is in vain in this Age of Controversies to enquire any farther after him But suppose it were not may I or any other Protestant determine this Controversy by the use of our own Fallible Judgments If we may then it seems a Fallible Judgment may do more sometimes than an Infallible Judg. However a Fallible Judgment is all the Judgment that we have and if by it we may be certain of an Infallible Guide which at Rome goes for a leading Article of Faith I see no Reason why we may not by the same means be certain of all the Rest and if we may
Holiness through the use of those means which he hath appointed for the increase of Holiness in us That there are degrees of Grace in good men no man ever denied And that the higher and more Perfect degrees are attained by a more frequent sincere and diligent use of the means of Grace all Divines are agreed The part therefore which every good Man hath in his Spiritual growth is to improve all Advantages for his growing better i.e. more perfect in every Grace and more Holy in all manner of Conversation And because some Graces have a more Powerful and Diffusive influence upon the Sanctification of our Hearts and Lives and the due Performance of all Christian duties than others our improvement in Grace and Holiness chiefly consists in these two things 1. In a more constant and vigorous exercise of those Radical Graces by which the Life of Holiness is conveighed into all the Branches and Instances of it Of these our Faith in God is the main and Principal Root all other Graces being Fed and Cherisht by it and Inabled to bring forth their Proper Fruits The Reason why we Love God which is both the Noblest and the strongest Motive to Obedience is because we believe that he has all Excellent and Amiable Properties in him And so the Reason why we Fear him is because we believe he is Powerful and Just and will by no means clear the Guilty And we therefore Hope in his Mercy because we believe He is Faithful that hath Promised And as Faith is the Root and Principle of these Graces so have they a Radical virtue of their own a Power I mean of Diffusing Holiness into all parts and duties of the Christirn Life Hence we are exhorted to Perfect Holiness in the Fear of God and to be Rooted and Grounded in Love that we may be filled with all the Fulness of God And every man saith S. John that hath the Hope in him of seeing God as he is Purifieth himself even as he is Pure To grow therefore in these Graces is in effect to grow in all other kinds of Vertue and Goodness of God And then secondly our spiritual growth Consists 2. In being more frequently and carnestly employ'd in the several duties of Christian practice In worshiping God with more Life Zeal and Constancy In doing good with more vigour and chearfulness In bearing Afflictions with more evenness and patience In greater Industry Justice and Faithfulness in our Temporal callings In getting a more absolute sway over our Passions and reducing our affections to Farthly things to a more equal and moderate Temper In denying our selves the Liberties which have any apparent Temptation in them in Arming our selves against the insults of Inordinate anger and the sudden starts of any sinful inclinations In pruning off the undecencies of our External behaviour in abating the freedom of our Tongues and using better care to avoid all appearance of Evil. Herein lies our Proficiency in Grace and Virtue to which our endeavours in all these instances are strictly necessary if we aim as we ought at a Perfect Imitation of our great example and to grow up to the stature of the Fulness of Christ I am next to shew 2. What are the Proper and Effectual means of our Growth in Grace And here since the nature of Grace and Holiness consists in a Conformity to the Divine nature and will it is Reasonable to suppose that the same hand that drew the first Lineaments of it must give it the more Lively and Finishing strokes before it comes to perfection I mean that the work of grace should be carried on by the Operations of the Spirit through the use especially of the same means by which we were made Partakers of the Divine Nature at first And for this Reason the Ordinances of God are of Perpetual use to all Christians and the same duties required as well of the Regenerate as of those that remain in a Natural State 1. A better understanding of the will of God and Attention to the Truths revealed by his Son Jesus Christ The usefulness of this means S. Peter seems to Recommend in the Context Grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Implying that a greater measure of knowledge is a special means of growing in other Graces as is plain by that Parallel exhortation in his former Epistle Desire the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the pure Doctrine of the Gospel or the word delivered without any Deceit is the most Natural Food for the New Creature for promoting the Growth of it and making it every way strong and vigorous in the Grace which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 2.1 In the Scriptures we have a lively Draught and Representation of the Divine Perfections In them we behold all the Glorious Revelations of God's Sacred Will to Mankind and the thoughts of his Heart from Eternity Here we meet with the kindest Invitations to the Mercy and Favour of God and the Merits of a Saviour With the most admirable Rules for the Government of our Lives the most Excellent Patterns of the Noblest Virtues and the strongest Inducements to a perfect Imitation of them The Mystery of our Redemption is here unvail'd and Heaven as it were thrown open to our view that we as the Apostle speaks with Open Face beholding as in a Glass 2 Cor. 3.18 the Glory of the Lord might be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory by the Spirit of the Lord. By frequent conversing with the Scriptures and observing the Tenour of them we shall not only attain to a competent Knowledge of our Duty but to a firm and Ruling Judgment and be thereby exempted from Error and Doubtfulness which are none of the least impediments to our thriving in Grace and Holiness By this means we shall be continually under the power of conviction The sense of our Duty will be always quick and urgent upon our Minds We shall feel the great Motives and Terrors of the Gospel the Eternal Weights of Glory and Misery pressing upon our Hopes and Fears and provoking us to every Good Work and we shall thence be furnisht with a present Answer to all Temptations to gratifie any sinful Lust or neglect the Opportunities of securing our Future Happiness So that by making the Scripture our daily Study and Meditation we shall neither wander for want of Light nor be at a stand through any mistrust of our way nor can we easily fail of making a good Progress in it being quickned upon all occasions with a present sense of our Duty and encouraged with a Prospect of our Reward 2. Regular and Constant Attendance on the Publick Ordinances of Divine Worship and Service It must be a great advantage to us to be admitted into the Special Presence of God in the Holy Assemblies of his People And having our thoughts sequestred from the World
but a solid and expereienc'd Truth And how should this animate our Endeavours and enliven us in our spiritual course that the better speed we make the less weary we shall be with our Journey And that having past the first stages of it if we do not loiter by the way we shall gather strength all along as we go and be less tired than we should have been by sitting still the while Every step will yield us a New Refreshment as it brings us nearer the glorious End of our Hope and shortens the Distance betwixt us and Heaven 7. Lastly Let us consider that the better we grow the fitter we shall be to die and the riper for Eternity Every degree of Grace will help to support and comfort us in our Last Agonies when of all the hours we have to live we would chuse to have our minds easie and chearful to be well assured of our Future state and to have nothing upon our spirits that may occasion any bitter Reflections upon the Lives we have led or any misgiving Thoughts of our approaching Eternity When our Last and Determining Hour comes we shall need all the succours which a strong Faith a vigorous Hope and a perefect Patience a good Conscience and a Holy Life can afford us to vanquish the Fears and support us under the Pangs and Strugglings of Death to make our Passage easie and our Dissolution desirable We are generally apt when we perceive our selves upon the Brink of Immortality to stand shivering at the amazing Prospect of the boundless Ocean before us being Naturally very loth to put off from this Beloved World and commonly very fearful of our landing upon the next And there is nothing that can perfectly cure us of this Fear but the lively Hopes of a better Life after this through the Mercy of God and the Merits of Jesus Christ upon the Terms of the Gospel-Covenant i. e. our Improvement of the Grace of God and the Talents he hath intrusted us with Such a Hope as this will charm our Natural Fears Disarm Death of its Terrors and make us even glad to die and desirous to see that happy World we have so long entertained our selves with the expectation of We shall not be afraid to give up our Accounts if we have been Good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God but rejoice that our Audit is at hand being conscious to our selves that we have been doing the pleasure of our Lord and that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our Conversation in the world When we are going to God it will be an unexpressible comfort to us to be able to say that vve have vvalkt before him in truth and with a perfect heart and done that which is right in his sight Isa 38.3 And vvhat greater happiness can vve imagine or chuse for our selves than to sail vvith a due preparation of Mind and a full Tide of Joy into a blessed Eternity If there are different degrees of happiness in Heaven as I think the Scripture plainly intimates to us the best men in this World vvill certainly be the happiest in the next And since there is glory enough there to crovvn all our Endeavours and Improvements vvhy should vve not aim at as great a share of it and to rise as high in the grace and Favour of God as we can possibly attain unto 'T is certain we cannot bestow our time better than in laying up all the Treasure that we can in Heaven where we are sure it will be safe and will be always in a thriving and growing state and where we shall find it after a few days improv'd into an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away Let us therefore having these mighty reasons to quicken our spiritual growth aspire every day to exceed our selves and to mend our progress in Religion They that are but in an Infant-state of Grace have many stages and degrees to pass through before they can arrive at any great perfection and so have reason to be pressing on lest Time and Death should be too hasty for them and not allow them space to finish their Course with Joy And for those that are grown up to greater strength and maturity as better Fruit will be expected from them than others so it would be a real shame and prejudice to them to come behind themsleves and that their last Works should be worse than their first When all is said to satisfie men concerning the goodness of their spiritual state assuredly the most comfortable and infallible Evidence of the Truth of Grace is the growth and flourishing of it I shall conclude all with the Words of the Apostle Wherefore beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye fall from your own stedfastness but grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To him be Glory both now and for ever Amen SERMON VII OF Murther particularly Duelling and Self-Murther Matth. 5.21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of Old time Thou shalt not Kill THe Precept in the Text was no Modern saying no positive command of Christ but one of the Ancient and standing Rules of Natural Religion It was at first engraven in the deepest Characters upon the Heart of Man by the hand of his Creator the written Law being only a Transcript or Copy of that Original But even this as it was no less Authentick was very Ancient too Ye have heard saith our Saviour to the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was said to the Ancients or to them of Old time for so the words are most naturally rendred thou shalt not Kill That is this Precept was delivered to their Fathers at Mount Sinai under the hand-writing of God himself and was often repeated in after Ages by his Priests and Prophets But it seems it was not throughly Understood in our Saviours time the Jews apprehending themselves clear of this Commandment if they did not Kill and Murther one another To rectify this great mistake our Saviour being about to give them a larger and more perfect exposition of the Law than the Scribes and Pharisees the famous Expositors of the Age generally did expresly tells them that causeless and reproachful Anger is forbidden under the greatest Penalties of this Commandment v. 22. But I say unto you that whoseover is Angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgment and whosoever shall say to his Brother Racha shall be in danger of the Counsel but whosoever shall say Thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell Fire viz. Because this quarrelsome and provoking Passion of Anger is as Aristotle observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ordinary Principle and Cause of Murthers and therefore very Sinful in it self 'T is not my design at this time to insist upon our Saviour's Improvement of the sence of this Law otherwise than the stating of particular cases may lead me to it
our selves and the Love of our selves is the Standard of our Love to him it follows that we have as great Obligations to the full to be tender of our own Lives as of his and therefore if it be Murther to Kill our neighbour it must be at least as great a crime to Kill our selves Nay in some respects it exceeds all the instances of Inhumanity and Vice and transcends the most cruel and Crying Sins For 1. To Kill our selves is the most unnatural Murther that can be if we consider how deeply the principle of Self-preservation is planted in our Nature and that it is a Law in our Minds teaching us to abhor the Destruction of our selves and to take the best care we can to preserve our own Life and Being there can be no such unnatural Murther as the putting of our selves to Death There is no Natural Union in the World so dear and intimate as that of the Soul and Body nor any that hath greater Interest depending upon it both in reference to this and the Future State And therefore nothing can be more contrary to the voice and dictate of Nature than the wilful Distruction of it by the same Person that is most nearly concerned to Preserve and Enjoy it 2. It is of any Sin the most directly opposite to the saving condition of Repentance which is a remedy for all other Sins but this Self-Murther is a Sin of that quick dispatch and that desperate Nature that it leaves a Man no time to Repent of it We may be Guilty of many other Sins and may live to Repent of them But he that Murthers himself is fure to Dye in his Sin and to be hurried away in the Reek and Guilt of his own Bloud to the Tribunal of God without allowing himself time to ask the forgiveness of it or at least to purge his Conscience from so deep and indelible a stain as this And therefore if we cannot be saved without Repentance as the Gospel assures us we can not he that Destroys his own Life cannot be saved according to the Gospel-Covenant because he dyes in a Sin that cannot be Repented of T is true God may have more Mercy for Sinners than he makes us acquainted with which may be just enough to keep our hopes alive at the Death of such Persons but the Gospel being the last Revelation of the Grace of God it is an infinite Presumption in expectation of unrevealed Grace to venture upon a Sin which all the Grace and Truth that came by Jesus Christ is too little to secure the Forgiveness of These are great Aggravations of the Sin of Self-Murther And I fear the excuses which are made for it will prove no better since they all center in a high discontent at the Providence of God NO man offers to make away himself that thinks himself well in this World or that submits to the Troubles and Calamities which befall him as coming from the just and overruling Hand of God And for men to throw away their Lives in a Pet and to grow so utterly weary of them that they cannot endure to live a few day's longer or wait for Gods Permission to Depart in peace is a very high Reflection upon the wisdom and goodness of his Providence As if he had thrust them into a World that was not fit for them to live in as if hey knew better when and how to deliver themselves out of the Miseries of this Mortal Life than he dos As if God had no Regard to their Sufferings or had left it to their discretion to leave the World and discharge themselves from his Service when they pleas'd or had not provided a better World to requit them for it As if an Eternal Weight of Glory was not a sufficient Recompence for their Patience under the heaviest Afflictions of this present Life which are but for a Moment This is so false and insolent a Charge against the Providence of God that it is enough to spoil the best-designed Action in the World and therefore cannot excuse so bloudy and unnatural an one as Self-Murther is I shall close all with a caution or two concerning this desperate unnatural Sin and the rather because it has been observed by those that have Travell'd into foreign Countries that Self-Murther is far more common in this than in any of the Nations about us 1. First then let us be very cautious of those Doctrines which have occasion'd many and some very serious Persons to despair of the Mercy and goodness of God and in the Anguish of their Souls to fling away themselves into the dreadful Abyss of Eternity There is no ground that I know of from the Gospel to believe that God had no good-will to any particular Man from Eternity and much less to the far greater part of Mankind or that the Generality of Men are bound over to destruction with the Iron Chain of an Irrespective Decree or that Christ dyed to save but very few of those that are called by his Name And methinks the effects which these and the like Doctrins have had upon Poor Melancholy Souls should be no Arguments to recommed them to any serious and impartial Judgment We ought to be very tender of narrowing the infinite Goodness of God who would have all men to be Saved Or laying the Damnation of Men upon any thing but their own wilful Oposition to the Grace and Goodness of God which leadeth to Repentance 2. It concerns us to be very cautious of all the methods and degrees of this Sin Such as piercing our Hearts with worldly Cares poisoning our Health and surfeiting our Bodies with Excess and Dying the Martyrs of Intemperance or Lust How many owe their Death to the Revels of a Night Drink away their reason and drown themselves in Rivers of Wine Game high and when they have lost their Money or engaged their Estates or Honours sell their Lives to Redeem them These Men do as certainly Kill themselves and very often as suddenly too as he that strangles himself or sheaths the Fatal Poyniard in his sobbing and despairin Breast And is not this to Dye as a fool Dyes without any consideration of the Life he has led or of the Everlasting State he is launching into That man that is not fond of Distruction and in love wih Misery would venter his Life and Soul upon such hazards as these Were there no other Life than this a prudent Man would not be prodigal of it but to throw it away at one Cast or to stake it against the Pleasure of a Debauch when all Eternity depends upon it is an astonishing instance of the Madness of Folly Oh that ment were Wise Deut. 32.9 that they understood this that they would consider their latter end That in kindness to their Souls which must live forever they would frequently entertain themselves with the serious thougths of Death and Judgment Eternal Happiness and Misery and not suffer their Lusts and