Providence concerns it self in the Administration Rule and Government of the affairs of mankind Which though it be a general subject yet must I stay a while upon it because the truth of this one thing is the very foundation of all Religion and more especially of that particular part of it which we are to exercise at this time which is to render our thanks to God for restoring our lawful Prince to us and the blessings attending his Restitution namely our Religion Laws and Liberties If this was not done by Divine Providence it would be flattery or mistake to return any thanks to God for it but if it was as it was indeed then to neglect to praise him for it would be a Sacrilegious ingratitude Now therefore let us a while reflect upon the Arguments and Demonstrations that make it evident there is a Providence that is that God concerns himself and interposes his power and wisdom in the Administration of humane affairs and all the concernments in the World 1. And first of all had we no more than the light of nature to give us assurance that this is so even that might effectually serve to do it That very light evidently shews that there is a God who made the World and all the Creatures therein contained from the admirable structure and contrivance clearly appearing in he whole and every part thereof And such are the works of Gods Creation as evidently shew an infinite wisdom power and bounty in him that is the Author of them and there is nothing more unreasonable than to imagine that infinite wisdom power and goodness either cannot or will not interpose in the ordering of the affairs of men No man will say he cannot do it for this is against the natural notion of a God and is most evidently contradicted by what he hath already done in the Creation of the World a work of infinite power and wisdoâ— And if any will say he will not do it his reason necessarily must be this namely want of concernment in God for us that is want of kindness to us the noblest works of his own hands which is most evidently contradicted in the love already shewed to us in that he hath not only made us but provided all things needful for us and given us infinitely great advantages over all the rest of his visible Creatures and still continues all these favours from whence it appears that there is nothing more unreasonable than to imagine or suspect that God either cannot or that he will not interpose in the administration of our affairs It is no toyl to him to do it his wisdom and power are never weary To do it is suitable to that goodness which he hath already shewed unto us and besides it is most extream folly to fancy that God would imploy an infinite power and wisdom in the Creation of the World and then abandon it unto chance and concern himself no further in it The same wisdom that could not but make it for an end cannot but still pursue the end for which he made it in the ordering Rule and Government of it To act for no end argues folly to cease to pursue an end propounded evidently argues want of wisdom from whence it appears that the wise God both had an end in the Creation of the World and that he still pursues that end by the Rule and Government of his Providence 2. Thus far speaks the light of nature but now if we rise a degree higher and take a view of Revelation made by God in his Holy Word here we find express witness and Authentick record of Gods Providence in the rule and Government of the World 1. For first of all God doth in most express Language own the Government of the World assume and vindicate it to himself see now saith he that I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand Deuter. 32.39 Whereunto add that of the Prophet I am God and there is none like else I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from antient times the things that are not yet done Saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure lsaiah 46.9 10. From whence observe that God expresly declares himself to be the Governour of the World assumes this as his proper right and certainly God doth not declare himself to do what indeed he doth not nor assumes what doth not belong to him 2. And then further as God himself exprefly owns the Rule and Government of the World so do all wise men ascribe it to him Thou even thou art Lord alone saith Nehemiah Thou hast made heaven the heaven of heavens with all their host the earth and all things that are therein the Seas and all that is therein and thou preservest them all Nehem. 9.6 Where he ascribes as well the preservation as the Creation of all to God and certainly he did not design to flatter him by ascribing more than he did unto him 3. And add hereunto the style and Title wherein the Scriptures represent God They style him Lord and thereby own his right and title to the World They style him King and thereby own his Government of it The Lord is King for ever and ever Psal 10.16 and the Lord sitteth King for ever Psal 29.10 Nay they expresly style him Governour the Kingdom is the Lords and he is the Governour among the Nations Psal 22.28 and call upon the Nations to rejoyce under the righteousness of his reign O let the Nations he glad for joy for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the Nations upon earth Psal 67.4 Now so universal is Gods Providence that it is concerned in every Creature in man as bearing his own Image in meaner Creatures as made for man Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and yet one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father But the very hairs of your head are numbered fear not therefore for ye are of more value than many sparrows Math. 10.29 So far doth God consider man that he concerned is in all his actions he commands he assists he rewards the good he forbids and punishes what is evil and though he permit it to be done though he do not irresistably hinder it yet hath he an end in that permission which is to bring good out of evil and uses it for his own glory This is the nature this is the extent of Gods Providence a thing so necessary to be believed that all our Prayers all our thanksgivings all our obedience depend upon it He that believes God will do nothing hath no reason to pray for any thing He that believes he hath done nothing hath no reason to give him thanks He that believes he is unconcerned in the good or evil of mankind as every man must that
may serve a turn and put off a danger for the present But sure I am that no Policies no Devices of humane Wisdom can ever lay any firm foundations of peace and settlement without the establishment of true Religion both as it relates to God and men All other methods whatsoever leave the foundation weak and ruinous though the superstructure may be specious and carry a face of strength and beauty He that made the World and now governs it by his Providence hath so contrived the nature of things that they can never be firmly settled without the practice of truth and righteousness but may by these be strongly setled As will appear if we consider that these things are 1. First of all the natural causes of Peace and Settlement 2. And then secondly that they prucure the especial aids of divine Providence to give a greater success to them to strengthen and render them more effectual 1. I shall begin with the former of these and shew that the practice of true Religion as it respects both God and men is a natural cause of peace and settlement For so it is in two respects 1. As it renders every person secure and easie in his station so it prevents intestine Troubles and Seditions 2. As it produces strength so it secures from foreign Enemies 1. It renders every person secure and easie in his station and so it prevents intestine Troubles These arise from mutual injuries and these injuries from mens unreasonable lusts and passions which Christianity would destroy From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even from your lusts that war in your members ye lust and have not ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain ye fight and war yet ye have not because you ask not ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that you way consume it upon your lusts He speaks of the Jews in the lesser Asia and it may be of some Judaizing Christians mingled with them who destroyed and ruined one another by mutual slaughters amongst themselves arising from their inordinate lusts They were full of Avarice and Sensuality swell'd with Ambition and Animosity and these created mutual injuries and oppressions and these oppressions wars and tumults amongst themselves But blessed and happy are that people who unanimously live in the fear of God and practise justice and mutual charity amongst themselves They enjoy themselves and God's blessings in peace and quiet neither designing nor fearing evil amongst themselves and this gives settlement to the whole by the ease it gives to every private and single person When no man is himself oppressed nor hath any desire to oppress another when every man is just to every other when charity is added unto justice and supplies the wants of such persons as are not able to help themselves when every man finds his life secure his fortunes safe his name unblemished when he finds that every man is his friend and himself is so to every other then is his condition easie to him and who will attempt to make a change to promote confusions and seditions when he finds every man easie to him and himself easie unto himself Nor would these errours and mistakes that will attend humane frailty while we continue here on earth considerably alter the case before us For the mutual mistakes and inconveniences which arise meerly from infirmity are neither wilful nor pernicious nor of long continuance and would readily be repair'd on one hand and easily pardoned on the other if there were Sincerity of Religion although attended with imperfection that is to say if Christianity were so practised as every man may and ought to practise it even with the alloy of humane frailty and the disadvantages that attend it Now if what I have said be so clear and evident that it cannot reasonably be contradicted the consequence necessarily must be this That the fear of God and love of Righteousness the general practice of Christianity would naturally render every person easie both to himself and others and give establishment to the times so far as this could be effected by preventing all intestine troubles 2. Let us add to this in the second place that it would also produce strength encrease the power of any people and by so doing greatly contribute to their security from foreign Enemies Strength most certainly it would produce for it would unite men amongst themselves in the bands of mutual love and charity It would give them confidence in one another it would animate them with the same mind diffuse the same spirit into them possess them all with a publick spirit and join their counsels and endeavours for the defence of publick welfare And would not this be a great security against all Enemies from abroad Nor would Religion unite them only among themselves but it would also encrease their treasure and make preparation of all those aids that publick occasions might require for their defence against foreign Enemies What hath consumed the wealth and treasure of this Nation but Pride and Luxury and Sensuality and what can encrease the same again but the Reformation of those vices by sobriety temperance and frugality which are as truly Christain vertues and as real parts of true Religion when practised in the fear of God as any other Vertues whatsoever Nor must I omit to put you in mind what courage it would produce amongst us to find our selves firmly united amongst our selves to find our Virtues increase our wealth and to give a sufficient stable fund to make preparation against an Enemy and how would this courage be heightened if we were conscious to our selves that we were a people fearing God and loving righteousness For then we should easily be perswaded to believe that God would give us assistance in all our straits that he would defend us against our Enemies that he who is just and true and righteous would defend a just and a righteous people 2. Which leads me to the second method whereby the practice of Religion in its whole extent to God and men would give stability to the times and that is by procuring the aids of Divine Providence and by engageing the Power of God to give security to that people by whom he is faithfully served and honoured The whole History of the Jewish Nation is little else but an account how God Almighty raised or depressed blessed or punished that people according to the various instances of their obedience or disobedience When they provoked him to displeasure by the iniquities of their lives he forsook and abandon'd them to themselves when they repented of their sins and humbly returned unto him again he then delivered them from their Enemies and that many times when their deliverance was beyond the power of second causes This was the case in the very days of Hezekiah which the prophet Isaiah had in his eye when he delivered the words before us Salmanasar had not long before invaded and conquered
darkest Plots he can defeat the greatest craft he can disarm the greatest Powers and scatter them all into confusion And we are not without very good hopes that he will concern himself for us and imploy his Providence for our help We have a Cause that God hath favoured wonderfully favoured in former times How many Plots against this Cause did he discover confound and punish during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth How did he do the like again when her Successor began his Reign How hath he still preserved and blessed it in many confusions many divisions amongst our selves since that time How hath he now at the present time wonderfully discovered the works of darkness brought hidden and secret evils to light Made those discoveries done those things that we could never have done for our selves God will never be wanting to us or to the Religion we profess if we our selves be not wanting to it Let us therefore awaken all our powers to diligence in our own defence and then commit our cause to God making our daily prayers to him that he would defend his own Truth that he would protect his own Inheritance and water the Vine that himself hath planted Yea let us make our appeals to him whether we or cur enemies be in the right And then O God who art a just and righteous God take the matter into thine own hand do thou judge between them and us Pardon our sins forgive those evils which may provoke thine indignation against us but for our cause for that Faith that we do profess against our enemies that we freely leave to thee we do appeal unto thy judgment and are willing to stand or fall by it Let us therefore adorn it in our lives this is the first and principal way of procuring the blessing of God upon it Let us seek and improve all occasions to gain it credit and reputation And seeing that it hath pleased the King to recommend the rebuilding of St Pauls unto our Charity at this time and himself to set us a great Example let us not be wanting to this Work according unto our proportion It is certainly a Work of Christian piety to build up places for Gods Worship No sooner were the Christians freed from the Persecutions of the Heathen but they did zealously apply themselves to this work and raised magnificent and noble Structures for the publick places of Gods Worship This Church which is now to be rebuilt may be stiled the chief of all the Nation It hath formerly been its greatest glory in its kind and we hope it may be so again What pity were it that such a Work should fail or flag at such a time when we are to give especial evidence of a publick Spirit of free and noble and generous minds The time is an extraordinary time the work an extraordinary work Let us open our hands to a more than ordinary bounty towards it And as for us in this place we have singular reason so to do seeing it pleased Almighty God to preserve our Churches and Habitations from those flames that devoured our Neighbours Now therefore let us at this time honour the Religion we do profess by this particular work of piety as well as in all other instances making our prayers to Almighty God that he would defend his own Truth that he would protect his own Inheritance and preserve the Religion himself planted And thou O God c. The Fourth Sermon Matth. 6.23 If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness THE great security of mans life as well from the cheats of his own as from the temptations of the world depends upon true and stable Principles of Faith and Piety And the ground of all these Principles is a true judgment of what is happiness what is the great end of life and what are the ways that lead unto it and a choice suitable thereunto This is the thing which our Lord suggests 19 20 21 verses Lay not up for your selves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal hut lay up for your selves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal for says he when your treasure is there will your heart be also that is to say that which you chuse to be your happiness that will you place your hearts upon and pursue in all your deliberate actions Having thus exhorted us to take care to chuse that for our chief good which is indeed really so to conduct our lives by true Principles he speaks a Parable wherein he shews the great advantage of so doing and the danger of doing otherwise The former of these in those words vers 22. The light of the body is the eye if therefore thine eye be single thy whole body is full of light The application of which words is this The judgment of the mind is the guide of life Wherefore if the judgment be true and good the life hath a true guide to rule it And then the danger of a false judgment is declared in the words that immediately follow But if thine eye be evil thy whole body is full of darkness And so he comes to the words of the Text If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness that is if thy judgment be corrupt if thy mind and conscience be erroneous how great and dangerous are those mistakes which thou art then exposed unto Now that which the words thus explained offer unto our consideration is the mighty danger that they are in to lose their souls who are led and governed by false Principles Which will appear if we consider that such Principles 1. Leave them dangerously exposed to sin 2. And not only so exposed unto it but that they also encourage to it I say 1. They leave them dangerously exposed to evil which will be very clear and manifest if we consider 1. First of all that our present condition and state is such that we are under many temptations thereunto 2. That the nature of man is apt of it self to close and comply with those temptations 3. That we have nothing else save only true and right Principles assisted by the Grace of God to prevent and hinder complying with them 4. From whence it most inevitably follows that where those Principles are not found we are most dangerously exposed to evil 1. I shall begin with the first of these which is that our present condition is such that we are under many temptations unto evil The world is full of deceits and snares where-ever we tread we are in danger to fall into them There is no business no imployment no condition or state of life but lies exposed unto temptation Sometimes we are courted by sensual charms by the hopes of favour or wealth or honour to part with our innocence and integrity sometimes we are in great
is in Heaven He is adorned with an excellent Character in the words immediately following those And I say unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church which priviledge although it was not peculiar unto S. Peter but common to the other Apostles with him yet being first declared of him adds to the Dignity of his Character and yet detracts nothing at all from the power of the rest of Christs Apostles upon whom as upon a sure foundation S. Paul assures us the Church was built Ephe. 2.20 It was built on them together with him whom our Saviour mentions in this place it was most firmly built upon them for so it appears from these words and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it For the better understanding of which words we must 1 consider that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Hell is frequently used in the holy Scriptures as well as prophane Authors to signifie the grave to denote the place and state of the dead so it is used in these words Psal 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption And then further 2 We must consider that the grave or place and State of the dead is sometimes compared unto a house If I wait the grave is mine house Job 17.13 and to a house with gates or dores shut up and locked with bars and locks and hence that saying of Hezekiah Isa 38.10 I said in the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates of the grave Hence mention is made of the bars of the pit Job 17.16 and of the keys of hell and death Revel 1.18 and of the keys of the bottomless pit Revel 9.1 3 Being then that the grave being that the place and state of the dead is compared to a house with gates and doors shut up and fastned with bars and locks from hence likewise it comes to pass that Death or Destruction is described by entering into the gates of the grave for so you find in the words which I have already cited Isaiah 38.10.11 I said in the cutting off of my days when God told me that I should dye I shall go to the gates of the grave am deprived of the residue of my years I said I shall not see the Lord in the land of the living I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world where entering into the gates of the grave plainly signifies death it self or entring into the place of the dead as all the other expressions shew 4. This being so if the Church be taken for Gods people not considered as a Society being together in Communion but as single Members of Christs Body then these words that are before us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church imply no more than that the Members of Christs body shall overcome death and the grave by a Resurrection to Immortality But then if the Church in this place be taken as it usually is and as I judge it ought to be for the general Society of Believers considered as they are a Church living together in Communion in the use of all Christ's Institutions then are the words we have in hand which tell us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church a promise that there shall be a Church professing the true Faith of the Gospel and living in the use of its Institutions in visible Fellowship and Communion till the second Coming of our Lord. Then when it is said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church the meaning will be that the Church shall never enter into those gates which is as much as if it were said that it should never be destroyed Having thus interpreted the words before us I shall proceed in this Method 1. I shall shew what Church this is which is designed in these words 2. And then secondly how far this promise of our Lord made to that Church in these words secures it from errour and defection 1. It is needful to understand what the Church is which is designed in these words where it is promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it And the reason is because the Patrons of the Roman Church have assumed this promise unto themselves with as much confidence and presumption as if it had been expresly said That the Church of Rome should never fail but always continue firm and stable nay absolutely infallible in the Faith in the true Doctrine of Christianity whereas in truth this is as well a great arrogance as a most wide and foul mistake For certain it is that our Saviour here speaks not of any particular Church planted in this or the other place but only of the Universal Church the whole Society of those persons who profess the Doctrine of the Gospel He speaks indefinitely of his Church Vpon the rock will I build my Church and speaking indefinitely of his Church cannot possibly understand any particular part of it the Church of any particular place but the Catholick Universal Church The truth is the Church of any particular place seated in any particular Country may utterly fail and be extinguished How many great and excellent Churches have failed and perished long ago How many others have so decayed that they seem near unto destruction Where are those many famous Churches which once flourished in the Coast of Africks Where are those seven Churches of Asia largely mentioned by St. John in the three first Chapters of the Revelations Where are those many other Churches which formerly flourished in the East How many of them are extinguished utterly ruined and destroyed with the very Cities where they were planted How many others are decayed almost to a total dissolution Be it then concluded that this promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church belongs to the Church Universal only and not to any Society of Christians seated in any particular place not unto any particular Church Which being so I cannot dismiss this point without an Inference and a Caution 1. The Inference is That seeing this promise of our Lord that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church belongs to the Church Universal and not to any particular Church The consequence which the Romanists draw from these words namely that the Church of Rome is indefectible and infallible is most inconsequent and unreasonable This promise belongs to the whole Church of which the present Church of Rome is but a part and a part infected with strange corruptions This promise belongs to the Universal Church of Christ the Church of Rome was never more than only a particular Church that is a member of the universal and is now what it hath long been a most corrupt and unsound member And as that Church hath strangely sunk into heathenish and barbarous Superstitions so may it utterly fail and vanish and disclaim the
this he accepts also This is really prayer in Faith in belief of the promises God hath made and certainly God accepts such prayer This is a prayer put up to God with devour and humble and holy affections for so I state the nature of it and such was that the Apostle required Eph. 6.18 and therefore supposed to be grateful to God and so will every one believe who knows that the heart is in such prayer and that it is the heart which God requires And to say no more such prayer as this although it doth not proceed from an immediate Inspiration a present dictate of the holy Spirit yet is it the mediate effect of the Spirit as being the effect of that Faith that Hope that Love and Charity and Humility which is the fruit of the Spirit of God It is the fruit of these Graces and. whatsoever else is of the same nature and these are the fruits of the Spirit of God Gol. 5.22 23. 2. The second thing which I must observe concerning this way of praying by the Spirit is that it is applicable to a form of prayer The words of Scripture are a form of words and will any men say that he cannot read or hear those words read unto him and heartily believe what he hears or reads and be as heartily affected with it If he cannot do this let him confess that he doth not believe the Word of God when he hears it read and that he is nothing affected with is but if he will not confess this let him confess that faith and zeal faith and pious and holy affections may be applied to a form of words and consequently to a form of prayer 2. Most of those persons who disallow a form of Prayer and thanksgiving to God allow and practise a certain form in singing Psalms and what are such Psalms but certain forms of Praying and rendering thanks to God and if men can heartily pray to God in verse or meeter why not in prose as well as in verse 3. All the Protestant Churches of other Nations all the Christians Churches in the World have set forms for their publick Offices and so hath the whole Church had for fourteen hundred Years at least and therefore certainly it was and is the sense of the universal Church not only that it was very lawful but most expedient and useful also that the publick Offices of the Church should be performed in a set form and that men might pray in a set form and pray by the spirit at the same time that is to say in Faith and Hope and with holy and devout affections 4. Add hereunto that there are divers forms of Prayer expresly prescribed in the holy Scripture a form of benediction whereby the Priest was to bless the People Numb 6.23 24 25 26. a form for the offering of the First-fruits Deut. 26.5 6. c. That David composed many of the psalms as the titles of them expresly shew to be used as publick forms of Prayer in the solemn worship of God in the Temple That our Saviour himself gave that which is called the Lords Prayer as a form of Prayer to his Disciples according to the custome of the Jewish Doctors and John the Baptist who did the like for their Disciples Now had it not been a possible thing for men to use a form of Prayer with faith and zeal and holy affections as every man always ought to pray we should have had no forms of Prayer expresly prescribed in the holy Scripture 5. And to conclude the present point were not faith and zeal and devout affections applicable to a form of Prayer no man could heartily joyn in a Prayer which he hears uttered by another person for all such prayers whatsoever they be to him that speaks are certain forms to them that hear them to them they as are limited forms when they are spoken as if they had been printed and read for the words are still the very same and all the sense contained in them And so I conclude the second observation that is that a man may pray by the spirit that is in Faith and holy Zeal and pray by a Form at the same time 3 I must further observe unto you that as the way of Praying by the Spirit is applicable to a form of Prayer so that it ought in very truth to be applied to every Prayer we make to God whether it be with or without a form God hears no Prayers accepts no service offered to him where there is no attention of mind no Zeal and Affection in the heart It is a great neglect of God a dangerous irreverence to our Maker not to attend to what we speak or what is spoken in our name when we make our addresses to him by Prayer doth any man speak unto a Prince not minding what he speaks unto him doth any man make an address to a King without giving heed to his own address and if we judge it a great irreverence to speak to a Prince without attending to what we speak what shall we judge of that affront men do to God when they atend not to those Prayers which they themselves offer to God or are offered by others in their names in their presence and behalf And then for Faith and Zeal and Fervour these are the very life of Prayer Prayer is but sound and noise without them Men may pray and pray acceptably where they do not utter express words Rom. 8.26 but the most excellent words in the World are not true and real Prayer where there is nothing of desire nothing of affection added to them Confess your faults one to another faith S. James cap. 5.16 and pray one for another that ye may be healed The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man avai leth much 'T is the fervent Prayer that is effectual the effectual Prayer that is useful to us and who can wonder that God should not hear those Petitions which are void of affection and desire if we our selves neglect our Prayers those very Prayers we seem to make how much more will God neglect them why should he grant what we our selves do not desire especially since it is an affront a mocking of God to ask of him what in truth we do not really desire what we have no mind to receive from him which is indeed the very case when our Prayers have nothing of attention nothing of zeal and affection in them What then shall we say to all that coldness all that remisness which appears in our publick and solemn worship of God By this we lose those spiritual joys those sensible warmths and feeling comforts which always attend fervent Prayer and tend to the strengthning of Faith and Hope and all other Virtues and Christian Graces By this we fail of Gods acceptance and of gaining the things we ask of him By this we give scandal to other persons who take occasion from our remissness and want of zeal in our
to flesh and bloud and to the animosity which they have against the persons of other men to brand them with opprobrious names to pour contempt and scorn upon them and to believe that it is Religion so to do I think we have reason to beware of such a dangerous vice as this which turns a sin into Religion and so in truth makes Religion a contradiction unto it self 3. One thing more I must further add to what I have said of this Point which is the delight that a man may take either in the opposing or deriding of the Religion of other persons and the great opinion which he may have of himself for this which yet can give him no assurance that he is not a hypocrite in so doing I need not say how sharp and eager strifes are raised about Religion in the World I need not shew what fierce debates what hot contentions there are about it and have been in all former Ages These are known and evident things but that which is here to be considered is that the zeal that many men have in these disputes is rather to destroy the Religion that is professed by other persons than set up another instead thereof it is to subvert and not to reform it is to overthrow and not amend In the mean time being it is concern'd about Religion and being it hath a mighty passion in this concern it passes for Religion itself so apt are men to mistake them to embrace a shadow instead of truth and to judge themselves to be Religious for a negative not a positive thing for being against the Religion of others rather than for any of their own wherein they gratifie their own passions please their own corrupt affections and so easily suffer themselves to be deceived and imposed upon 3. But then thirdly we must consider that as hypocrisie is not only an easie Religion but also pleasant to flesh and blood in many instances and effects so that it also powerfully tends to serve those ends which men are apt to propound and follow that is to say 1. The reputation of being judg'd to be truly pious 2. And the obtaining of wealth and power and all the advantages of this World 1. The appearance of Religion destitute of the power of it doth for a time gain the reputation of true Religion nay more reputation for the most part than true Religion itself obtains Our Saviour relating how the Pharisees gave Alms to gain the glory of men presently adds verily I say unto you they have their reward Matt. 6.2 relating how they prayed in the streets to the same end adds the very same words again verily I say unto you they have their reward v. 5. relating how they disfigured their faces when they fasted that they might appear to men to fast adds the very same words again verily I say unto you they have their reward v. 16. of the same Chapter that is to say they gain that glory which they seek they are esteemed as they desire the best and strictest sort of men and so the Apostle St Paul suggests when he calls this very sect of the Pharisees the strictest sect of their Religion Acts 26.5 when he reports that they taught according to the perfect manner of the Law Acts 22.3 for here he designs not to let us know that the thing itself was so indeed but that it was commonly judged to be so so great was their credit among the people that when six thousand of them refused to do what the rest of the Nation did swear allegiance unto Caesar and were fined for refusing so to do The wife of Pherotas a rich man out of the great opinion she had of their singular Piety and devotion was ready to pay the Fine for them she paid it and was applauded for it nay flattered with hope of the very Kingdom they told her God himself had decreed that she and her husband and their issue should have the Government of the Nation and that he himself had assured them of it in the communion they had with him and this their Prophecie was believed upon account of the great reputation of their Piety Joseph amiqu lib. 10. cap. 3. Nor must you think it a strange thing that hypocrisie should gain the reputation of true Religion for I must fay something stranger still namely that it often gains a greater credit and reputation at least for a time than true Religion itself obtains the reasons whereof are plain and evident For The Hypocrite makes it his very business to appear in the visible show of Piety takes care that every Religious action appear to the eyes or come to the knowledge of the World so did the Pharisees give their Alms so did they order their prayers and fasts that the World might observe and understand them whereas the sincere and true Christian thinks it enough to approve himself to God in private and takes no thought how to commend himself to men further than by avoiding scandal and by a true and unaffected discharge of duty to God and men without the circumstance of pomp and shew of much appearance in so doing The Hypocrite again pretends to the very height of Piety to the greatest measures of perfection the upright person pretends no more than he hath really attain'd unto The Hypocrite makes it his great business to be always speaking of Religion in every place in every company at all times upon all occasions though they be never so unseasonable the upright person contents himself to give Religion its due place to take convenient opportunities to mention propagate and promote it The Hypocrite makes it his design to shew a singular zeal and fervour for the smallest things that relate to Religion nay things of no concernment in it the upright person is more modest lays no more of stress on things than the Laws of God or men require By all which means it comes to pass that the reputation of the hypocrite sometimes far exceeds that of true and wise and sober Christians which as it may press a strong temptation to bewitch and draw men to that sin so should it move to the greater watchfulness the greater diligence to avoid it 2. But then secondly as hypocrisie often gains the credit of true Religion nay more than that itself can gain in the general blindness of mankind so doth it most effectually serve for the advancement of other ends which men are apt to entertain namely the gaining of wealth and power and all the advantages of this World And here I shall not make any stay upon meaner persons who yet generally find it useful for their advantages in the world to make a shew of greater Piety than they are really possessors of But I shall observe to what degrees of power and honour the Pharisees did advance themselves by their pretences to greater exactness in Religion than other factions amongst the Jews Josephus tells us that there were three sects
ends wherein the best and wisest men shall be esteemed the very worst superstitious cold and formal men by those that are zealous in some Faction and know no Religion but that zeal because such times as these may be it is safest to content our selves in gaining those rewards and blessings that are peculiar to Religion the testimony of a good Conscience and life eternal in the World to come 3. And then lastly Because hypocrisie is so deceitful and sly a sin as always serving worldly interest which is apt insensibly to blind the eyes and infatuate the minds of the wisest men and yet hide it self from them themselves it will concern us to be very frequent and impartial in the examination of our selves to weigh our counsels to try our ends to prove our designs in every action relating any way to Religion It will be needful to consider whether we indeed design it really intend to promote and practise it whereever we make a profession of it And then because that God alone knows the heart and because his Grace is most needful to discover our selves unto our selves in the midst of the many sins and passions that may infatuate and beguile us let us earnestly pray for his Holy Spirit to deliver us from all the infatuations and all the seductions of our lusts Let us make the Address which David did Psal 139.22 24. with whose words I shall conclude Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting The Eleventh Sermon John 14.1 Ye believe in God believe also in me The whole verse is thus Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me THESE words are a preface to a very large and kind discourse made by our Lord unto his followers wherein he delivers the main foundations of Christianity as well in matter of Faith as Practice which is the reason why he begins it with such words as might effectually stir them up to give both attention and belief to all that he should deliver in it Ye believe in God believe also in me In which words we have two parts 1. A concession or supposition Ye believe in God that is ye believe that there is a God and what is consequent hereupon that he is to be trusted and obeyed although some others read the words not as a Declaration Ye believe in God but as a Command Believe in God but there is no reason to depart from our own Translation in this matter 2. Here is a Precept also Believe in me that is to say believe that I am the Son of God sent by him into the world to reveal the Gospel of life eternal and therefore judge your selves obliged to believe whatsoever I reveal and obey whatsoever I command you Now being that belief in Christ in the sence I have now explained unto you is here required as an addition or further accession to the mere belief in God only as he may be known by the light of nature The Subject which the Words before us offer to our consideration is That the belief of Christian Doctrine as it is revealed to us in the Gospel over and above that knowledge of God which the light of Nature affords unto us is necessary to our eternal happiness In the prosecution of which Point 1. I must first consider That the firm belief of the Gospel of Christ is most expresly required by God and the denial of such belief forbidden under no less a penalty than the utter loss of life eternal Salvation is always promised to them who believe in him who hath revealed it and become his Followers and Disciples to other persons it is not promised As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.14 15. Nor is it only promised to those and those only that so believe but denied to them that believe not to them that refuse to yield their belief to him whom God hath sent and sanctified to be the Saviour of the World He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God And so again omitting several other places of the same sense and signification in the first Epistle of St John chap. 5. ver 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a Lyar because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son Thrice did God bear this Record and owne our Lord to be sent by him by an express voice from Heaven once at his Baptism in these words Matt. 3.17 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased A second time at his transfiguration upon the mount with some addition to those words Matt. 15.5 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him And yet again a third time a little before our Saviours passion when praying to God in these words Father glorifie thy name he was answered by a voice from Heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again John 12.28 To all which clear and express testimonies given by the Father to his Son I might first add the glorious miracles wrought by Christ during his life then his resurrection from the dead and the effusion of his Spirit upon the Apostles sent by him and all the miracles wrought by them and all his other followers also which being evident demonstrations that he was the very son of God and sent by him to save the World highly aggravate the great sin of infidelity and unbelief and teach us to forbear to wonder that it should be punished with death eternal and that Christ himself should thus pronounce Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned 2. But then secondly lest you should think that God will have us believe the Gospel meerly because he will have it so and that he had no further end in the truth therein revealed unto us than that we should believe them only I further add that the belief of those truths is greatly necessary to several ends of infinite moment and importance 1. For the full and perfect knowledge of the duties which he requires from us 2. For the like knowledge of the great motions to those duties 3. For our better support under all our tryals fears and dangers 1. The belief of the great truths revealed unto us in the Gospel is necessary for the perfect knowledge of the duties which God requires from us and that upon several considerations namely 1. because that though the light of nature well improved may in some measure direct us to very many of them yet
judgment in them is not only the cure of Ignorance the first disease of the understanding but what is more than I said at first a powerful and a sovereign medicine to the distempers of our wills to all our inordinate lusts and passions Secondly Let us now proceed to the second malady of our minds from which it is a like deliverance and that is Scepticism and suspense in things both evident and useful to us for general assurance and general doubt to believe every thing and nothing at all are equal distempers of the mind although of very different kinds the one proceeding from vain confidence the other from the weak suspicions of a shattered and broken understanding There are some men that can make themselves believe any thing even that their senses are deceived though duly applyed to their proper objects and yet pretend the proof of this from a Doctrine which being grounded on miracle the proper object of our senses is grounded upon the truth of sense So do they that believe the Doctrine of Transubstantiation others had rather deceive themselves by the Sophistry of their own wits in nice and uncertain speculations than content or owne themselves to be ignorant in things the knowledge whereof is useless But then as it cannot be denied that this is a levity of understanding to pretend certainty in things uncertain So is it a more unhappy weakness and a greater craziness of understanding to doubt and suspend in those things which are both evident and useful likewise A man may doubt in things impertinent to life and happiness without any danger or fear either because he neither really is nor judges himself concerned in them but if he be doubtful in those things wherein his greatest concernments lie if he question the difference of good and evil if he call Divine Revelation in question if he doubt of the very truth of the Gospel if he scruple what Christ hath brought to light eternal life and immortality if he be under suspense and fear what is the way to life immortal if he question what he shall be hereafter happy or miserable or neither of both that is as the very brute that perishes if he be held in suspense and doubt of such important things as these what reelings and fluctuations of mind what anxieties and pangs of heart what irresolution in life and practice must these uncertainties bring upon him This is part of that very bondage from which our Saviour came to free us who was made partaker of flesh and blood that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 2.15 Which very deliverance Christ hath wrought by the clear discovery and certain proof of life eternal and all the means of attaining to it for so hath he given us a firm foundation of clear and certain and stable judgment both in our duties and rewards and so delivered the minds of men from the bondage of suspense and doubt in their only true and great concernments Thirdly Now for the vanity of the mind in applying itself to useless things the last disease of the understanding this also is effectually cured by the approbation of things excellent that is to say by sound judgment in all our duties and rewards for such a judgment cannot fall to divert our thoughts from needless things from vain speculations from idle subtilties from trivial questions from angry contentions and disputes about impertinent and useless things the itch whereof hath been an epidemical disease in the minds and understandings of men in most ages and professions in the Philosophers among the heathen in the Pharisees among the Jews in the Schoolmen among the Christians to say nothing of the Mahometan imposture which is a trifle from beginning to end multitudes of volumes have been written upon impertinent and trivial subjects multitudes of Libraries hive been filled with troublesome and unuseful rubbish with the ruines of humane understanding for all the vanity we find in books was first of all in the minds of men It was the complaint of one of the greatest of the heathen that all the Philosophers before Socrates imployed their studies in the speculation of those things which were of very small concernment and did not only all that while neglect the culture of life and manners but left the very things they studied in the same obscurity they found them in Socrates indeed made an attempt to transfer knowledge from useless things into the lives and manners of men and certainly the attempt was great but the success was not such but that still many professours of wisdom mispent their studies in useless trifles and obscurities the knowledge whereof made no man better nor ignorance any man ever the worse The same disease hath long reign'd among the Jews those of their writings that are most trifling fable in history and tattle in dispute so is their very Talmud itself are most of all valued amongst them This first began amongst the Pharisees and was so infections in that Nation and so difficult to be removed when it had once seized the mind that several Proselytes to Christianity abused themselves and troubled others with foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law which the Apostle reprehends as unprofitable and vain Tit. 3.9 These are the men whom he describes 1 Tim. 6.4 5. who were proud knowing nothing doting about questions and strifes of words whereof cometh envy strife railings evil surmizings perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth where by the way we may observe that they that made the greatest pretence of striving for truth lost piety nay truth itself while they pretended to strive for it Now I will not say that the same dust hath been raised by the Schoolmen among the Christians that the same vanity and curiosity hath had all the same effects But this I think I may aver that whatsoever wit the Schoolmen shew in the subjects whereupon they treat the choice of many of those subjects demonstrates a strange want of judgment But to what purpose is this discourse To clear the use to shew the necessity of sound judgment in the things the Apostle styles excellent in things pertinent to life and happiness which very judgment is in itself an effectual cure of all this vanity of understanding that diverts the mind from its proper food from solid useful pertinent truth from the knowledge of God and of our selves to trivial disputes and speculations which after all a man's pains and studies leave his mind vain and empty his temper proud and supercilious and his life for any thing gained by them utterly unreform'd and vitious So is not he that stedily approves the things that are excellent for the very excellency of these things throughly digested and approved clears his thoughts and feeds his mind and calms
this comparison when he clearly discerns and firmly judges of all these things as this comparison represents them when he applies this judgment to every instance of life and action is it not an effectual principle to restrain him from every wilful sin to urge and press him to every duty will he chuse what is no way recommended and refuse what is represented to him under all the motives to choice and practice No man chuses or doth amiss but he that is ignorant or forgetful either in the nature of good and evil or in the effects and issues of them If there be nothing of this in the case let the charms of the world entice to evil he knows they are deceits and vanities and cannot believe what he knows is false nor be cheated by what he doth not believe Let the dreads and calamities of the world encomber and perplex his duties he reckons as the Apostle speaks that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 This gives him courage strength and patience and makes him chuse afflicted innocence rather than guilty and short prosperity Insomuch that all the great examples of the highest and the noblest vertues all these victories over the world and all its troubles and adversities that are recorded in Sacred History all the great things that have been done all the great things that have been suffered for the advancement of Truth and Piety have sprung from a setled resolution grounded upon stable judgment never to vary from Gods will and the way to everlasting happiness So Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt Heb. 11.16 So Christ himself for that joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God Heb. 12.2 And so did his first and faithful followers for the securing of their innocence and the rewards thereunto belonging patiently endure all their sufferings as knowing that their light affliction which was but for a moment wrought for them a far more exceeding and an eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Thus is the approbation of things excellent that is a clear and stable judgment in all the duties of the Gospel as there declared and recommended not only a perfect cure and remedy of all the diseases of our minds to wit Ignorance Doubt and Vanity but also a constant guide and monitor in the whole course of our lives in the World Which being so 2. Let us now consider what are the means of attaining to it the second head before propounded 1. And here I shall not need to say that since every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights Jam. 1.17 it must be sought of God by prayer Men may be rich and great and powerful meerly by the permission of Providence by practices not allow'd by God by fraud and injury and oppression But no man is wise unto salvation but by the special grace of God nor doth he give this special grace but where it is diligently sought of him which was the reason why St Paul so often puts it into his Prayers that God would bless men with this wisdom So he prays for Timothy that God would give him understanding in all things 2 Tim. 2.7 for the Ephesians That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory would give unto them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him Eph. 1.17 for the Colossians that they might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding Col. 1.9 and lastly for the Philippians here that there love might abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment that they might approve the things that are excellent from all which prayers to God for wisdom for sound judgment in all our duties as represented in the Gospel we learn that it is the gift of God and to be sought by fervent Prayer especially seeing that God hath promised to give his spirit to them that ask him and that in a promise confirmed by an argument drawn from common and known experience for so is that Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him 2. Nor shall I need to put you in mind that to our Prayers for the illumination of Gods grace something of industry must be joyned in the study both our of duties themselves and the motives that recommend them to us And yet in truth both these things are partly so written upon our hearts and since the revelation of the Gospel so expresly declared to us that we need not weary or waste our bodies nor vex and torment our understanding to gain the knowledge of either of them We need not now as St. Paul tells us say in our hearts who shall ascend into Heaven That is to bring down Christ from above to reveal the mind of God to us Or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead that he may confirm that Revelation both these things are already done so that now as the Apostle adds Rom. 10.8 9. The word is high thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Where we see the Apostle takes it for granted that he that firmly believed the Gospel could scarce fail in the very practice much less in the knowledge and approbation of what is necessary to salvation so clearly are all our duties revealed and so effectually recommended in the Gospel 3. So that what is now mainly requisite to gain a clear and stable judgment in the good and perfect will of God is so much antecedent probity so much sincerity towards God as that we are willing to do his will when it shall be made known unto us and wonder not that this should be requisite for the gaining of stable judgment in it for this is no more than the very belief that there is a God may produce in every man so believing If a man have nothing of inclination to do Gods will when he shall know it why should God reveal it to him or supposing what is so indeed that he hath revealed it in the Gospel yet how unapt a man is to believe what he is resolved not to practise and what if believed and not practised will be a perpetual anguish to him How easie is it in this case when the interests of powerful lusts and passions bribe and corrupt the understanding for a man to prevaricate with himself and baffle and cheat his own mind But where there
are honest inclinations to do Gods will in case it be known and understood these open the eye of the understanding these let the light of truth into it and so our Saviour tells the Jews John 7.17 If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self He shall rightly judge of it For such is the nature of Christianity so holy and excellent in it self so clearly delivered and confirm'd that want of will to obey the Doctrine and that where there are most cogent motives to produce that very will in us is the only cause of want of faith and judgment in it So powerful an instrument is the Gospel to produce a clear and stable judgment in all things excellent in themselves and requisite to our eternal happiness 3. Now the method of using such judgment which is the last of those particulars which I propounded to be considered lies in the application of it to every deliberate design and action in every circumstance of our lives and in firm purposes and resolutions never to stray or vary from it As having taken it up at first when our minds were clear and free from prejudice and that upon such grounds and reasons as nothing should shake or alter it in us not all the Sophistry of our lusts not all the seductions of temptation not all the allurements of ill example not all the advantages nor all the calamities of the World And therefore whensoever we do incline to stray and deviate from that judgment which we have before fixt and setled as the best and wisest principle of life whensoever we find those resolutions which that Judgment did produce begin to shake and waver in us we must remember what is most certain that we are then under a temptation that every temptation is a lie a meer seduction and imposture for every man if tempted saith St James when he is drawn aside by his own lust and enticed Jam. 1.14 courted to injure his own Soul for so it follows in the next words Then when lust hath conceiv'd it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death If therefore temptation gild the sin with the lustre of wealth and power and honour with the shew of safety ease and pleasure we must remember that all this gloss that seems to shine on the face of evil is but the cheat of our own fancies the dream of vain imagination we must remember that time will come when all this varnish will melt away and then will things appear again as they are in themselves and their true effects and as we before judged of them And why should we change our minds and judgments when there is no change in the things themselves why should we alter our resolutions while the things resolved are equally good equally necessary as they were at that very time and moment when we first took up those resolutions On the other hand if the temptation that sets a gloss on the face of evil misrepresent our duties to us as hard and difficult to be performed as prejudicial to our contents as dangerous to our Estates or interests in the world we must remember that these suggestions proceed from mean desires and fears that these infatuate and darken Counsel that if we hearken and yield to them we shall lose that which is infinitely better than all the advantages all the pleasures of the world and suffer that which is infinitely worse than all its troubles and calamities lose Gods favour and our own innocence and the rewards thereunto belonging and suffer the insupportable effects of his displeasure in another life But if we stedfastly persevere in the choice and practice of our duties through all the varieties of temptations which assault us in this vain world If we live by rule and not by shift by principle and not by chance and occasion then shall we preserve our own Integrity continue in Gods grace and favour secure the peace of our own spirits grow to an excellent habit of mind in its strength and steadiness and tranquillity and finally after all our trials and all the joys of triumph over them enter into our Matters joy and inherit the Kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the World The Thirteenth Sermon John 7.17 If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it he of God or whether I speak of my self WE live in a very inquisitive age wherein it is very much disputed what is the true Doctrine of Christ and what are the most effectual means to find it out and understand it It is disputed what is the rule of Christian Faith It is disputed what is the way certainly to understand that rule and amongst some it is disputed how we are sure that rule is true whatsoever we understand to be so In the mean time while it is disputed what is truth Piety is very much neglected men do not heartily study truth in order to the practice of it they do not seek it with true design to live in due obedience to it and this indeed is one great cause why the disputes concerning truth prove so endless and successless for did men study the will of God with hearty and sincere designs to practise it when they understand it they would soon attain the knowledge and belief of what is necessary to be known for so we learn from these words If any man will do his will In which words we may observe 1. An Antecedent If any man will do his will 2. A Consequent He shall know of the doctrine whether it he of God or whether I speak of my self Both which parts I shall 1. Explain and 2. Then speak to the sense of the whole in an observation from the Consequence and first of all for the Antecedent If any man will do his will We must consider 1. That the persons that are designed in these words are those only to whom the Gospel is proposed not those to whom it is not propounded I do not undertake to determine how far those of the heathen world may desire to know or do Gods will nor how far God may or may not express any favour or mercy to them but this is all I undertake that the declaration or promise of Christ concerns those persons and those only to whom his Doctrine is propounded for as for others St Paul himself gives us this account of them Rom. 10.14 How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher From whence it appears that there is no general promise made and therefore none in these words of Christ that men should believe Christs Doctrine unless it should be propounded to them 2. To this I add in the second place that as this promise or declaration concerns no persons but only them
truth thereof those that believe and entertain it are highly improved and bettered by it but those that resolve not to reform upon any motives any incitements whatsoever are forced for their own ease and quiet to abandon the very belief of it and having rejected this belief become exposed to the greatest evils without the restraint and contradiction of any remorses and regrets They have lost that very fear and dread which wheresoever it is retained cannot but put a restraint and awe upon all those sinful inclinations that lead to future death and misery And now if the very fear of God where it is serious and considerate that is to say where it is the thing it pretends to be carry so great a power in it to command and press obedience to him how much greater must that power grow when love being added unto fear turns it into a filial reverence and puts another nature into it Love freely offers what fear constrains Love makes that easie and delightful which was a burden unto fear nay Love itself constrains likewise but without reluctancy and opposition for it removes these very things and this is the meaning of St Paul 2 Cor. 5.14 The love of Christ saith he constrains us we cannot resist its Sovereign Power we cannot oppose its mighty influence but freely surrender all within us all our powers and inclinations into obedience to our Lord who dyed for us and rose again And to refufe him this obedience would be an eclipse of our own joys would be to resist our own desires would be a violence to our selves such an other violence and contradiction as it would be to our Lord himself And this is the reason why our Lord hath represented our love to him as a certain principle of obedience John 14.23 If a man love me he will keep my words He can no more love and offend love and displease me both together than he can chuse to vex himself and willingly practise and embrace a contradiction to his will and although my precepts may engage him to take up his cross for ray sake and his own Salvation yet will not 〈◊〉 grievous to him seeing the 〈◊〉 had for him moved me to do the some thing yea infinitely greater for his sake Now then to conclude this second general seeing that reverence to God Almighty carries both fear and love in it seeing love and fear cannot fail to produce obedience to him hence I conclude that this obedience is such an effect of that reverence as cannot be rent and divided from it 3. Proceed we now to the third general where I am to shew the contradictions to that reverence and those are not only those very acts which are usually styled contempt and scorn and are in themselves expresly so but all such actions and omissions as evidently flow from gross neglect and want of reverence towards God that is to say all deliberate and wilful sins And this appears from the very words of God himself A son faith he honoureth his Father and a servant his Master If then I he a Father where is mine honour And if I be a Master where is my fear saith the Lord of Host unto you O Priests that despise my name and ye say wherein have we despised thy name They wondered it seems and were much surprised that they should be charged with so high a crime as that of despising the name of God that is indeed God himself they were so secure they were so confident that they were not guilty of this crime that they are willing to come to trial they plead not guilty to the indictment they debate and expostulate with God himself and demand the proof of the charge against them wherein have we despised thy name But what 's the answer which God returns how doth he justifie the charge against them ye offer polluted bread upon mine Altar and yet ye say wherein have we polluted thee Is there not a Law which forbids you to offer any unclean or polluted thing upon mine Altar do ye not know that there is such a Law and do you not then despise my name while you wilfully violate that Law which you your selves know to be mine Thus doth God make good his charge against these persons who wifully sinned against his Laws and seeing the very same charge lies against every wilful sinner therefore is every wilful sin a flat contradiction to that reverence which every man owes unto his Maker But now although it be true indeed that every deliberate and wilful sin be a contradiction to that reverence which every man ows to the Lord of all yet are there some particular kinds of wilful sin that are more expresly so than others Some there are that carry the very contempt of God clearly written upon the brow some there are that carry the marks of irreverence to him in more express and legible characters although not all in the same degree 1. The first and greatest of these sins is the derision of all Religion not only neglect but explicite scorn even of the very worship of God in Prayers and Praises and thanksgivings as well as of all other parts and instances of the duties he hath required from us A thing St Peter himself foretold 2 Ep. 3.3 4. Knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming Where he describes such persons as deny the coming of Christ to judgment and then in consequence of this errour scoff and despise all Religion now what is Religion but the homage we owe to our Sovereign Lord the great Creator of Heaven and Earth and what is it then to despise Religion but to despise that homage and what is that but a despight to God himself the thing is evident beyond denial and so is another besides that which is that it is not matter of wit to deride and to despise Religion for if it be frenzy it is not wit and if it be not a real frenzy to despise the homage a man owes to God and so to destroy and ruine himself there is no frenzy in all the World 2. But to proceed another sin that carries a signal mark upon it of great irreverence towards God is drolling upon the holy Scriptures irreverent use of the words and expressions therein used the application of those expressions to trivial purposes and occasions prophane allusions made unto them and to be short the using of any thing therein said for mirth and sport and entertainment This is to play with Gods oracles this is to jest upon Gods word and so a reproach to God himself and visibly betrays a very great irreverence to him No man trifles no man jests upon the words of a mortal man turning them into sport and laughter but in derision and flight of him no man doubts but that he that scoffs 〈◊〉 â—â—rides his words brings a contempt upon his person
of the world and the glory of them and said unto him all these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me Matt. 4.8 9. Observe what a scene he spreads before him and how he varnishes and paints it over he shews him Kingdoms glorious things yea all the Kingdoms of the World he shews him the glory of these Kingdoms not the cares not the solicitudes not the labours or dangers that attend them but only the glory and splendor of them and then offers them all unto him if he would but do him homage for them And though the temptation made no impression upon him whose Kingdom was not of this World yet was it craftily laid and aimed seeing mankind are greatly prone to believe the glory of this World the greatest happiness and felicity and seeing also that the first application of mens Souls to what they believe so to be is a fixed and earnest desire of it 2. The next to this is a firm design and resolution to apply themselves to the gaining of it from which they cannot be removed if they judge it possible to attain it and if in truth this be the thing in which alone they place their happiness These things allowed the greatest difficulties the hardest labours the sharpest resistance and oppositions will scarcely discourage resolution nor hinder endeavours to obtain it If it be difficult for mankind to reduce their natural inclinations to a complyance with Christs precepts to deny inordinate sensualities to sensual appetites and desires to deny unlawful gains and interests to the desire of wealth and riches to mortifie pride to subdue ambition and all the spawn of these vices envy malice and animosity to retain piety towards God in a profane and wicked age truth and justice towards men in a deceitful injurious World If it be difficult thus to do yet he that hath firmly fixed these principles in his mind that this is the only way to heaven and heaven alone the place of happiness will attempt to make his way thither through these or any other difficulties in the view of the glory set before him I dare not attempt to describe the reproaches and contradictions to display the injuries and affronts that our Lord endured throughout his life much less the agonies of his death or his incomparable patience in them Only thus much I shall observe that what he had of man in him was still supported and born up by the stedfast view and consideration of that he had chosen for his happiness of that joy that was set before him for this joy he endured the cross despising the shame and so doing is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God Heb. 12.2 And what an account of the labours and sufferings of St Paul is that we read 2 Cor. 11.23 and the following verses In labours more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one thrice was I beaten with rods once was I stoned thrice I suffered shipwrack a night and a day have I been in the deep In journeyings often in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils by my own Countrymen in perils by the heathen in perils in the city in perils in the wilderness in perils in the sea in perils among false brethren in weariness in painfulness in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold and nakedness besides these things that are without that which cometh upon me daily the care of all the Churches What an accumulation of things is here of things most grievous to flesh and blood heaps upon heaps of all the several troubles and dangers which the life of man is exposed unto in the present World But what impression did these calamities make on him who had designed eternal happiness Did he leave the way that leads unto it in consideration of these evils did he turn his back upon future glory and quit the further pursuit of it and retreat to the ease and peace and safety which he had enjoyed while he was a Pharisee No so far was he from so doing that he reckoned the sufferings of this present World not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 and doubtless saith he I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but dung that I may win Christ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means I may attain to the resurrection of the dead that is to a blessed immortality Phil. 3.8 10 11 12. To this he pressed through all the dangers all the sufferings that did encumber the way unto it This he believed to be his happiness and therefore resolved to be true to himself in the unwearied pursuit of it And although it may seem to be something strange that they who imploy all their thoughts in the perishing things of the present World that they who have no design for Heaven should yet design their own happiness yet this is the thing which even they design also 'T is true indeed they have mistaken in their choice they have suffered themselves to be abus'd either by the outward gloss and splendour that shines on the face of wealth and honour or by the ease they find or fansie in the delights of the present World and so they mistake a meer appearance a shew a shadow of felicity instead of the very thing it self It is a vanity which they follow but a vanity under a shew of happiness What so vain as popular fame the breath of rude and ignorant people yet fame is happiness such as it is unto the proud and sensual pleasures unto the sensual and wealth and riches unto the Covetous and therefore they who have placed their desires upon these enjoyments in hope that they shall be happy in them spare no labour refuse no troubles to attain them It is not the distance of the thing wherein they hope for satisfaction nor the sliperiness of the way unto it though as hard to climb as a rock of Ice it is not the fear of sliding back nor the difficulty of proceeding forward that can obstruct the pursuit of it they will press on through the greatest straits and labour to climb the highest difficulties if there be hope to attain unto it and as for those that cannot hope for any advantage by a sin but what they find in the sin it self they are so degenerate in their natures that they please themselves in doing evil and this very pleasure they make their happiness and so they abandon themselves unto it although it lead to eternal misery And so I proceed to the third particular which is 3. That men do so desire
very nature of things themselves that peace and war strength and weakness health and sickness are as consistent each with other as quiet times with restless lusts peace with wickedness and irreligion The wicked are like a troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt there is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isaiah 57.20 21. Sin is uneasie to it self a constant disease a daily vexation to the sinner and it is so to a Nation likewise when it is national and universal And sure it is one of the greatest vanities to hope that God should preserve by miracle where people wilfully serve those lusts which naturally work their own destruction Whensover providence works a miracle to preserve a person or a Nation it is to preserve those that cannot not those that will not preserve themselves but wilfully rush upon their ruine But is there any man in the world that wilfully studies his own destruction do we not all wish and long for such stability in the times as may give us easie and quiet minds secure our Affairs succeed our labours confirm our strength and deliver us from all those fears and dreads that have given us so much pain and sorrow I make no doubt but that we do desire such days with all our hearts I make no question but there are many of such a Spirit that they would willingly undertake the greatest labours to procure them I do not question but that the generality of the Nation if they were assaulted by an Enemy would hazard their fortunes expose their lives adventure what was dearest to them to maintain their ancient rights and liberties And would it not be as easie for us and more efficacious to these ends to reform our lives to forsake our sins and turn from the evil of our ways Why should a man be willing to spill his very blood and unwilling to reform his sins for the security of his Country Why are we willing to use those means that are more grievous and less effectual for our welfare namely to hazard life and fortune for securing these very things themselves and neglect the easie and efficacious the reformation of our lives Would it be a burden to love God with all our hearts to place our hope and trust in him to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all our days Would it be troublesome and uneasie to love our neighbours with sincerity and to be so beloved by them to be freed from mutual fears and jealosies from all animosities each to other O how blind are the minds of men not to see the things that concern their peace not to observe that Christs commands are a light an easie a gentle yoke but rather to study their own security by those very things that overthrow it by fraud or violence or worldly craft than by the practice of those vertues which would ease their minds secure their fortunes succeed their labours and make them happy as well in the life that now is as in that to come How blessed and happy might we be if we would follow Gods directions how easily might we spend our days even in this frail and mortal life how firmly might we settle the times which are now so wavering and uncertain if we would spend but half that time in the subduing of our lusts that we do in the gratification of them if we would but take half that pains to possess our hearts with love to God and mutual Charity each to other and in fervent Prayers in humble thanksgivings in Holiness Righteousness and Sobriety that we do in the service of our lusts This would undoubtedly amend the days settle our Interests and bless us with quiet and stable times This would be a fair return to God Almighty for the favour which we now commemorate for restoring our Prince our Laws and Religion after we were deprived of them by former Ruines and Confusion Thus God of his mercy open our eyes that we may timely understand and practise the things that concern our peace then should there be no breaking in nor going out no. complaining in our streets and happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord. Psal 144.14 15. God of his mercy grant c. The Second Sermon PSALM 68.28 Strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought for us The whole verse is thus Thy God hath commanded thy strength Strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought for us THIS Psalm as judicious men conceive was written by David when he removed the Ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to Sion Which may be the reason why it begins with these words which Moses used on the like occasions namely when he removed the same Ark which are recorded Numb 10.35 Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee So David here in the first verse Let God arise and let his Enemies be scattered and let them that hate him flee before him And having lived to see the day wherein the holy Ark of God the Symbol of his especial presence was to be fixed in its own place which God himself had chosen for it he thought it meet to recollect the many other favours and mercies which God had granted the Jewish Nation and to render him hearty thanks for them namely for his singular Providence in conducting the People thorough the Wilderness after their deliverance out of Egypt 6 7 8. verses for his planting them in the promised land a land flowing with Milk and Hony and fruitful even to a miracle so at the ninth and tenth verses for the powerful Aids of his gracious Providence in dispossessing the former Inhabitants in scattering the Armies of their Kings that his people might possess their Countries 12 13 14. And having then in the following verses largely returned his thanks to God for all the great and admirable things which he had wrought for the Jewish Nation in order to their strength and settlement he prays for the continuance of his favour and of their present peace and welfare Strengthen O God what thou hast wrought for us In which words you may observe these two generals 1. An acknowledgement made to God that it was he and he alone who had planted and settled them in the land and wrought those great and mighty works whereby they were planted and settled in it Whath hath been done saith he hast wrought for us 2. An ardent Prayer to God to strengthen that is to continue what he had pleased to work for them Strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought for us 1. I begin with the first which is the acknowledgement made to God that it was he who had planted and settled them in the land and wrought those great and mighty works whereby they were planted and settled in it where I must not omit to take some notice that divine