and Man All our Expressions must answer our Intentions when we treat one with another We are not in the Truth unless we speak what we mean It is necessary to the Truth of a Treaty that the Materials which make the Case be fully declared For it is no Agreement if any part of the Matter be unknown For a Case is made up of all Circumstances Do but diversify one Circumstance and it is another thing They that treat together are to take care that they understand and mean the same Things and not * make it a Practice for one who is more comprehensive than another to make use of his Wit to over-reach And if they find they did not mean the same things they are to release one another For no Man is obliged further than he did mean What is meant in the Treaty is after to be stood to No After-shifts Men must not after use Wit or practise upon the Doubtfulness and Uncertainty of Words and Phrases thereby to make an escape What we have engaged we must perform unless we can obtain a release from the Party with whom we engage though it prove inconvenient and worse to us than is imagined This is Truth between Man and Man And whosoever faileth in these forfeiteth his Truth And thus I have shewed you wherein a Man may put a Lye upon God upon Himself upon his Neighbour and by this you may understand this Charge of the Apostle Whatsoever Things are True Upon the whole Matter now let us take up a Lamentation For if that which I have said be true how miserable and deform'd is the World That that is the principal Thing Wit Reason and Understanding is made ill use of to serve particular Interests Ends and Purposes How much counterfeit Ware every-where is to be found How much over-reaching in Bargains and Treaties So that now a Man had need to be universally skill'd to have Right in the World Things are generally done for the Vender's Gain only and not for the Buyer's Service Whereas every Profession doth imply a Trust for the Service of the Publick And every Man in the Way of his Profession ought to do things Truly For a Man to be false in his own Trade is a double Iniquity For the Artist's Skill ought to be the Buyer's Security Every Man ought to be ready to render a Reason to any Man as in Christianity so every-where else He that is ignorant may demand the Help of another's Skill And if he makes use of his Skill to his Prejudice he deals falsly It is not competent to any Person to be universally knowing Wherefore are sundry Trades and several Professions but for the Good of Mankind because no Man is more than particularly skill'd This Departure from Simplicity and Sincerity in Profession is a thing unaccountable But this is nothing in Comparison with the Cheats Frauds and Cozenage in Religion What think ye now of Divinity methodized to sink the People down and gain Pomp to the Clergy Religion accommodate to Ends and Purposes The infinite Gain that comes from one Doctrine The Pope's Power to pardon Sin the Priest's Power to absolve Sinners Now these Cheats these Cozenages are of greater Importance because the Consequences are greater * To conclude Truth hath always God to maintain it Truth hath Defence in it self For Great is Truth and it will prevail It may be overborn for a while but it will recover Truth hath Goodness to accompany it Therefore none need fear Shame or Cause to repent Truth hath Liberty consequent to it The Truth shall make you free He that is in the Truth is not thoughtful But a Lyar had need carry about him a good Memory Truth is Con-natural to our Principles For a Man forceth himself when he departs from it Truth is the Foundation of all Order All things will be in Confusion if not order'd united and govern'd by Truth For Falshood puts every thing out of its place Truth is the Ground of Human Converse No Man is sure of another neither knows where to have him if he abide not in the Truth It is the Bond of Union Where Men agree in the Truth they are Friendly meet and harmonize one with another and great Sympathy is between them But out of the Ways of Truth Men run counter cross and contradict one another every-where This we are to know that God's Super-intendency over Human Affairs aims at this that Truth and Righteousness may obtain an universal Empire in the World And this is an Explication of that great Phrase God's doing all for his own Glory For it is an unexplicable Form of Words to say That God doth all for himself particularly as if God were a particular Agent and sought his own particular Interest But * the Sense is that God super-intends the World for this That Truth Righteousness and Goodness might take place every-where in the World And for the Advancement of this every Man in his Sphere of Activity and within his Compass ought to endeavour And this is for us to do to the Glory of God Whatsoever Things are Honest. So the Translation But I rather keep to the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatsoever things are VENERABLE Which Word is put in the Margin Neither do I forsake the Word in the Text without very good Reason because the Word Honest doth not import the Emphasis of the Greek And the very Notion of Honest you have afterwards therefore you are not take it here Now the Greek imports whatsoever things are Honourable Grave Venerable Seemly Comely Things that may raise the Esteem of the Person and gain Reverence and Value to a Man * In this Sense there are Two Things requisite Grave Behaviour and Composure of Spirit Light Carriage and an ungovern'd Spirit render any Man mean vile and contemptible A Man lays himself low in the Esteem of others by Misbehaviour And a Man lays himself open by falling into Passion or running out into immoderate Desires Gallantly doth the Poet tell us Remember to reverence thy self There is much of God in every Man If a Man do justly value himself he will not do that that is base though it be in the Dark though no Body sees him A Man ought not to abuse himself or make himself mean or low since he bears the Image of God But if a Man will neither regard God within nor the Workmanship of God without neither have Reverence for himself he will have Cause to find that he hath been wanting to himself when he falls under other Mens and his own Contempt Sin and Wickedness doth equalize those that are therein engaged There is no Man in the Sense of his Mind or in his Judgment hath a Value or Esteem for any one that is naught No Man reverenceth a wicked Man no not a wicked Man himself He is low and base in Esteem And there is no Remedy But some * there are of so comely and grave Behaviour that they awe
that which we know by the Light of God's Creation which is weakned by Man's Sin and * his Apostacy from God but it doth also do its own proper work and teach a Man to return to his own place to acknowledge God depend upon him and be subservient to him * It teaches him to empty his Mind of all Presumption Pride Arrogance and Self-assuming So that a Man is fit to receive the Grace of Pardon and Forgiveness of Sin together with all Divine Influence Concurrence and Assistance But since I have laid so mighty a weight and so great a stress upon this Acknowledgment in the Text I must needs here prevent an Objection which may be raised and it is this Some may object and say you have no Divine Authority for these words for tho' they are in the Bible they are but here related I confess I have no more Authority from these words being spoken by these Persons of whom they are related than if they were clean the contrary to what they are For I do find concerning our Lord and Saviour that some Persons of like Disposition say that he did do his Miracles by Belzebub the Prince of Devils and if we lay the stress upon the Sayers we must as well credit them as these Therefore I will grant you that I have no Authority for ought I have said from these words materially consider'd or as related and put down here Neither do I lay any weight or stress on the Sense of these Reporters for I will grant that it might be hap-hazard what these Men said for as much as they did not speak out of any purpose or intention or out of any settled Principle and such Men have upon the like occasion given a clean contrary Report Now I will give you a profitable Observation from hence Take care how you quote Scripture for that is Scripture for which you have Divine Authority not that which is barely related in the Text. For you have the Speeches of the Devil and the Advice of the worst or Men related in Scripture Scripture is only consider'd in the truth of Matter of Fact and that these things were done but it doth not follow from hence that they are materially Good No Man must pretend to do as Ehud did because his Action is recorded in Scripture No Man must pretend to borrowing without Intention of paying as the Israelites did for if they had not extraordinary warrant they were * to be condemn'd in their Practice So for us to curse our Enemies as we read in the Psalms the Prophet did not knowing in what Spirit it was done * it is not warrantable for us to do the like from thence Neither must we hate any because the Jews were to hate and to destroy the Seven Nations which they interpreted a Commission to hate all Mankind but themselves Therefore in like case we cannot certainly prove that any thing in the Book of Job is certainly Divine that was spoken by Job's Friends because God himself declares that they had not spoken that which was right concerning him as his Servant Job had done Therefore if you will have Divine Authority see what is said and think it not enough that it is barely related in the Book Neither is it enough to pretend to a single Text nor the Practice or Perswasion of any Man whatsoever nor to any thing accidentally spoken that can amount either to Matter of Faith or Divine Institution it must be express Scripture it must be Scripture in conjunction with Scripture For Scripture as a Rule of Faith is not one Scripture but all And therefore tho' I have taken advantage from these words yet all along I have laid such certain and such infallible Grounds tending to give Satisfaction in the Matters of Reason and Faith as the several Points are capable of And now I proceed to a fourth Argument which is this The Suitableness of Natural Truth to Man in the State of his Creation And the Suitableness of Reveal'd Truth to Man in his lapsed and fallen Condition in order to his Restitution and Recovery And first for the Suitableness of that which we call Natural Religion Natural Religion was the very Temper and Complexion of Man's Soul in the Moment of his Creation It was his natural Temper and the very Disposition of his Mind It was as con-natural to his Soul as Health to any Man's Body So that Man forc'd himself offered Violence to himself and his Principles went against his very make and Constitution when he departed from God And consented to Iniquity It is the same thing in Moral Agents to observe and comply with the Dictates of Reason as it is with inferior Creatures to act according to the Sense and Impetus of their Natures It is the same thing with the World of intelligent and voluntary Agents to do that which right Reason doth demand and require as it is in Sensitives to follow the Guidance of their Sences or in Vegetatives to act according to their Natures It is as natural for a Man in respect of the Principles of God's Creation in him to live in Regard Reverence and Observance of Deity to govern himself according to the Rule of Sobriety and Temperance to live in Love and to carry himself well in God's Family this I say is as natural for him as for a Beast to be guided by his Sences or for the Sun to give light How far therefore are we degenerated and fallen below the State in which God created us since it is so rare a thing for us to comply with the Reason of Things Nothing is more certainly true than that all Vice is unnatural and contrary to the Nature of Man All that we call Sin that which is nought and contrary to the Reason of Things is destructive of Human Nature And a Man forceth himself when he doth it So that to comply with those Principles of natural Light and Knowledge which God did implant in us in the Moment of our Creation and exactly to be obedient to the Ducture of Reason is con-natural to Man in respect of the State of God's Creation And it may be as well expected from an intelligent Agent to observe God and to live righteously and soberly as from any sensitive Agent to follow its Appetite Humility Patience Meekness and such like Vertues they do favour Nature whereas Passion Pride and Envy do waste and destroy Nature Nature's Desires are all moderate and limited But Lust is violent and exorbitant Nature is content with a very few things But if a Man give way to inordinate Desires then there is no Satisfaction to be obtain'd Lust is not a thing that will be satisfied by adding and adding But he that would be satisfied must abate and moderate his Desires and undue Affections It is certain that all Natural Truth all that is founded in Reason and that derives from the Principles of God's Creation that all of these do agree with Man's
communicable Perfections Holiness Righteousness and Goodness we imitate and resemble him If we would be happy as He is we are to be holy as he is in our Measure Degree and Proportion SERMONS OF D R WHICHCOT PART II. LONDON Printed for Awnsham and John Churchill MDCXCVIII SERMON I. PHILIPPIANS IV. 8. Finally Brethren Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report If there be any Vertue if there be any Praise think on these things A Weightier Scripture more summary and comprehensive of all Perfection I do not find any where It shews how compleat and well furnish'd the Man of God shou'd be one who professeth himself a Christian names Christ and pretends to the Faith of the Gospel Whatsoever is Good in its Nature and Quality shou'd be well known to him shou'd be his Ornament and Accomplishment endow his Mind and qualifie his Spirit Whatsoever Things are TRUE And here we must take up Pilate's Question What is Truth Truth is first in Things then in our Apprehensions For the First the Truth of Things lies in this that Things do exist of their own Principles Now this Truth of Things is no Charge of ours it is God's Charge it is the Effect of God's Creation For he hath made all Things True and therefore Things must be True For God cannot fail either through Impotency or want of Power or through Error of Judgment This is Truth metaphysically But then that that we are concern'd in is the Truth of our Apprehensions And our Apprehensions are then True when they agree with the Truth and Existence of Things when we conceive of Things as they are And if we think otherwise then there is a Lye in our Understanding And here is the Occasion of all the Evil that breaks in upon Mortals that we do not conceive of Things as they are but that all Men except some few either worship the Idol of particular Imagination or the Idol of Popular Superstition They either follow private Imagination of their own or general Mistakes And he is a Man of a thousand that can rise up and quit himself of these two Idols Solomon observes that the Simple or the Fool believes every thing that is represented But the State of Things is determined fixed by God in the Moment of Creation And our Judgments and Apprehensions are to be conformable to the Reality and Existence of Things And when our Affections and Actions are suitable to such a Judgment and Sense of our Minds we are then in the Truth and never else The first belongs to a Man's Understanding and that speaks him an able Man a Man of Judgment a Man of Sense and Experience The latter speaks him a good Man And indeed if Mens Actions comply not with the Sense of their Judgments there will be Self-condemnation and no Peace within The next Distinction is the Truth of Things either upon a natural Consideration to know Things in their Natures and Qualities and this is * Natural Philosophy and is of great Use in the Life of Man and tends to the enlarging Man's Understanding But this is not the Concernment of Religion and Conscience Or else it is Truth upon a Moral Consideration And this only is the Concernment of Conscience And here we do enquire whether Things be right or wrong good or evil and accordingly charge our selves We are to be in Reconciliation with Things that are good and to have a Displacency against Things that are impure unholy and contrary to the Mind and Will of God And this is the Concernment of Conscience and the Business of Religion and is every Body's Charge For both a good State here and a future good State hereafter depends upon it Now Man's Obligation to Truth viz. That Truth should be in all his Actions and Apprehensions it is grounded upon the State and Principles of his Creation Man's Capacity Man's proper Employment Man's true End Man's Relation Of which there has been mention elsewhere I will * now give you certain Instances by which I will first show you when there is Truth on our part respectively to God And if I discover when we are said to Lye to God I shall by the same shew you when there is Truth towards God Now we put a Lye upon him in these * several ways To profess and not to believe this is high Dissimulation and a horrible Indignity put upon God This represents God as if he might be mistaken or imposed upon To believe and not to do and this is to hold the Truth in Unrighteousness Which in Scripture is look'd upon to be an Act of the greatest Violence Deformity and Malignity To begin and not to persevere To pretend God and mean a Man's self or the World To make God a Mean and the World an End I dread to have to do with any Man that will make Use of his Religion to gain him Credit and to make a Bargain Of such a Man one had need take double Security * Lastly to name the Name of God and not to depart from Evil. In these Cases we do not abide in the Truth But we put a Lye upon God In the second place As there is a Lye to God so a Man may put a Lye upon himself * viz. Either to gratifie his Lust for Lust is a false Principle Lusts are Exorbitances and Irregularities They are false Births They have not true Existence Or to give way to found Imagination It is also to put a Lye upon a Man's self to live after Temper For this is below Reason and short of Vertue And hence it is that every petty Astrologer pretends to tell Fools their Fortunes * There is no Man that is wise but he is more than Temper A Man by Wisdom doth govern himself and over-rule all Fate and Destiny whatsoever For Man under God hath a kind of Sovereignty over himself A Man hath Power to use Diligence that he may attain to right Apprehensions of Things And then he hath Power to execute and perform according to his Apprehensions This also is to put a Lye upon a Man's self to perswade ones self in any thing without warrant of Reason or Scripture To settle in an Opinion without warrant of Reason or credible Testimony is Impotency and Fondness CREDULITY is a Stranger to Wisdom and the very Nurse of Superstition * Also a Man puts a Lye upon himself if he have his Will for his Rule For Will is no Rule at all Will signifies nothing unless it be that Will which is in Conjunction with infallible Understanding which is the Will of God Some Men think it is the highest Perfection to be Arbitrary But really if they do consider it is a Piece of the greatest Impotency and foulest Deformity In these Cases a Man puts a Lye on himself In the Third place To give an Account of Truth between Man
Holiness are Agents indued with Understanding and Liberty They and They only can be the Subjects of Real Holiness Of such Agents there are but Three sorts in the whole World to wit God himself Angels and the Spirits of Men. Holiness being attributed to God doth denote God's Peerless Majesty together with infinite Power and Wisdom as it is in Conjunction with Righteousness and Goodness For if you cou'd divide Almightiness from Goodness you would destroy Holiness For the other are Perfections only as they are in Conjunction with Goodness There is no true Excellence if Goodness be not in Conjunction with it This is Holiness in God Now Holiness in Angels and Men doth import their Deiformity that is their Conformity to God according to their Capacity their being in their Measure Degree and Proportion what God is in his Height Excellence and Fulness And by this Holiness we bear the Image of God Now for RELATIVE Holiness That lies in a Separation a Distinction or an appropriated Use. For Relative Holiness doth not at all alter the Nature and Quality of Things but of the Relation and Use. Whereas Real Holiness mends the Subject and puts it into a sound Constitution It gives an inward Tincture and Colour to the Mind It gives a right Temper Complexion and Constitution to the Soul Things that are altogether uncapable of Real Holiness may be relatively Holy But only Persons indued with Understanding and Reason and priviledged with Liberty and Freedom these only can be the Subjects of Real Holiness To tell you in short that that we call Grace or Vertue for to mâ— they are all one Goodness and Righteousness these are that that we call Real Holiness They sanctifie the Subject by their Presence And wheresoever they are the Person is made good On the other side Vice and Sin which are in themselves impure and unholy Things these do defile the Soul where-ever they are Now Things that are relatively Holy are either by God's own Institution or Assuming or by Man's voluntary Dedication But Real holy Things are by an intrinsick and inward Rectitude and Goodness Relative Holiness doth not depend upon the Quality of the Thing but upon some Arbitrary Act of him that hath Power It wholly depends upon the Will and Pleasure of the Agent And so is mutable and of a dispensible Nature and at the Pleasure of the Superior For God may assume into Relation to himself either Persons or Things God may assume a Thing to signifie something from him it may be God's Instrument and afterwards he may lay it aside and make it common again And Things relatively Holy have been abated and omitted * even where the Things have been under the Command of God and of his Institution and have return'd to their ordinary Use again As for instance The brazen Serpent in the Wilderness It was God's Instrument and by God's Appointment Holy And it was good for the People for a time and of great Use After a while it is deserted of God and returns to be common as it was before It was Brass before and it was a Piece of Brass again Therefore those Things that are relatively Holy that is separate from common and ordinary use their Holiness may be taken off and they return to their ordinary and common use again But real Holiness of Persons their Principles and their Actions that can never be released is never to be dispensed with in no Case to be avoided or discharged Never any Abatement or Relaxation never any Failure to be in this Another Instance In Circumcision that great Ceremony among the Jews It was a holy Rite because it was appointed of God and had its Use and Signification Yet it slept for Forty Years together while the Children of Israel were in the Wilderness It was suspended out of Respect of the Conveniency of their Travel For this had no internal Holiness neither did it make the Persons Pure Only it did make the Persons separate for God Another Instance The Shew-bread was Holy And it was not allowed to the Use of any but to the Priests Yet it is said David and his Men when in Necessity made bold with the Shew-bread And our Saviour justifies it Our Saviour gives another Instance Mat. 12. 5. Have ye not read in the Law how that on the Sabbath-day the Priests in the Temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless The Nation of the Jews they were a holy Nation and a particular People They were appropriate unto God But they are now in an absolute Parity as to God and as to eternal Life And now all Nations are holy as they And Peter is taught this by a Revelation from Heaven He was in the Narrowness of Spirit He wou'd have nothing to do with the Gentiles But he is reproved and when he comes to understand the Vision he is made to break out into the best Words that ever Man spake a place of Scripture fit to be written with Letters of Gold And thus he expresseth himself Of a Truth I perceive that GOD is no Respector of Persons But in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him Such a Person is holy And none but such a Person is holy neither by pretended Descent from Abraham nor by any other Circumstance whatsoever Our Saviour hath expresly told us Mat. 15. 11. Not that which goeth into the Mouth defileth the Man But that which cometh out of the Mouth All Immorality For out of the Heart proceedeth evil Thoughts Murder Adultery Fornications Thefts c. And these are the Things which defile the Man Further The Priestly Office so far as it was Typical ceased It gave way to the everlasting Gospel when the true High Priest the Lord Jesus appeared We have indeed now rational Instruments that are Workers with God Helpers of Mens Faith Preachers of Righteousness to edifie the Church to admonish Men to help Mens Understandings to help Mens Memories to satisfie disturbed Minds to help Men to compare Scripture with Scripture to administer Ordinances c. And by these is the Faith of Men greatly advantaged Now these Persons because of their Employment Office State Function are in order to God and belonging to him and may be said to be Holy with this relative Holiness For we have Things that are also relatively holy now in the Christian Church as this Ministerial Office the Lord's Day the Sacramental Elements these are holy because of their Ends For these are set apart for Purposes Supernatural and therefore are not for common use These are several Instances that shew that Things that are relatively Holy have been dispensed with abated and omited in the Times of the greatest Severity But real Holiness never Wherefore Things relatively Holy have never been equalized with Things really Holy but have always been in order to real Holiness and were intended as subservient to it and for its Security And in Competition have been undervalued
not their Humours Wills Pleasures But where Men judge according to the Rule of Right their Sense is considerable and their Commendation valuable * Now he that is prais'd for something worthy useful or taking with Men hath Acceptance is attended upon with Expectation and may make good Advantage of this Whereas if he be not regarded nor consider'd he will have no Opportunity to do Men good And where Men are forestall'd prepossess'd prejudiced a Man loses his Labour with them Wherefore Men do well to stand upon their Credit and this for their own better Security * in Vertue as well as for their further Advantage to do others Good He that despises Shame despises Sin cares not what he does will do any thing 'T is a sharp Reproof a pungent Argument in few words Are you not ashamed Upon this account it is preservative soveraign and very conducive to the Safety of Persons in * a vertuous way that Men of Place and Worth either declare a good Opinion or at least good Hopes and Expectations of those within their Government It tends to engage and encourage to Proficiency in Vertue If a Man have lost his Credit he will grow desperate 'T is an irreparable Evil to take away another's Fame 'T is to take away his second Security to Goodness * as Conscience is * his first Commendation * therefore is of use both to encourage Good-behaviour and further settle the Well-resolved And he who hath the advantage of Repute and Credit may more easily perswade to ways of Goodness and Sobriety Wherefore if the good Word of others may be gain'd upon Terms of Truth and Righteousness It is a very good purchase as tending to our own better Security and Settlement in Vertue and to the enabling us to deal effectually with others for their Good Think these things REASONABLE So it is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apply to them the Reason of your own Minds In the Use of your Reason Mind and Understanding in the exercise of your Natural Faculties charge your self with these things It is not barely have them in your Thoughts but in the use of your Reason recommend all these things to your self Think that you do not acquit your self that you do not that that becomes you that you do not raise a connatural Superstructure to the Foundation of Nature if you do not in the Reason of your Mind think all these things worthy of you This is the Sense of the words Religion exercises teaches satisfies that which is the Height and Excellency of our Nature Our Reason is not confounded by our Religion but awaken'd excited employ'd directed and improved For this is the Faculty whereby we are capable of God apprehensive of him receptive from him whereby we can make Acknowledgments to him make Returns upon him The first Operation of Religion is Mental and Intellectual They begin at the wrong end who set not themselves here first to work so are not likely to bring any thing to Perfection For the Mind's Resolution and Satisfaction is first and principal If we leap over this we shall be ever after lame in our way Credulity is but Impotency The Simple believeth every word but the prudent Man looks well to what he admits Man is not well settled or confirm'd in his Religion until his Religion become the Reason of his Mind 'T is Lowness and Imperfection in Religion to drudge therein to take up Duties as Burdens to do them as Tasks barely to satisfie Conscience that Conscience may not trouble vex condemn They who are come to any growth in Religion are free-spirited in it act with inward Satisfaction Pleasure Content They understand it is for our Good desireable of it self and therefore act with Delight Religion till then is not our own is not settled in the Subject is not secured till then Men will not be friendly to it will not make it their Adoption or Choice but rather look upon it as their Exacter Controuler of Liberty and Will * and look upon God * as an Egyptian Task-Master They will carry it as a Burden which they wou'd throw off if they might have their Minds * But I dare undertake to shew that all true Reason is for Religion and nothing of Truth against it Religion doth us the greatest Service and Courtesie To our Minds it does Good directly and immediately to our Bodies by the good Consequents on the Mind's Government It relieves us in case of the greatest inward Evils Guiltiness Malignity Rancour Malice which if not removed we must be most miserable and it possesses us of truest inward Good In this Sense is that verified which Solomon says of Wisdom Her ways are ways of Pleasantness and all her paths are Peace SERMON II. ACTS XIII 38. Be it known unto you therefore Men and Brethren that through this Man is preached unto you Forgiveness of Sin THAT we may the better estimate of what Consequence this is to us and how much we are beholden to the Divine Goodness for this great Benefit of Pardon and Forgiveness let us look into the Evil that we are rid and discharg'd of by this Act of God let us look into the Nature and Quality of Sin SIN as it reflects upon God is an Act either of Neglect or Contempt And how shall we answer it if we be guilty upon either account if either we neglect our bounden Duty or cast Contempt and Scorn upon our Sovereign by whose Power we are raised out of nothing into Being at whose Pleasure we are continued in Being and at whose Appointment we shall go out of these Beings that now we have and it will not be in our Power to withhold our Souls from him one moment tho' the State and Welfare of them to all Eternity did depend thereupon Let us also consider what SIN is in it self It is a Violation of the Rule of Righteousness the Law of Heaven from which God himself who is cloathed with Omnipotency in whom is the Fulness of Power and Liberty never did vary from Eternity nor will to Eternity for the Throne of God is established in Righteousness What then do we think it is for us sorry Creatures to take upon us to controul the immutable and unalterable Law of everlasting Righteousness Goodness and Truth upon which the Universe depends Then again SIN in respect of By-standers is a thing of very bad consequence and of ill Influence because of the Prejudice of Example For we are more apt to follow Example than to live by Rule and nothing is more frequent than for Men to pretend Use Custom and Practice even against an establish'd Law and we justifie our selves as we think by doing as others do and that we are not singular and alone in what we say and Practice That which we call Moral Evil is a thing of the greatest Ugliness and Deformity in the World The Filthiness of Sin is express'd in Scripture under the names of those things
strange Fire before the Lord. One fire to Reason seemed as good as another to offer Sacrifice with But because there was an Institution to the contrary whether they did it wilfully or carelesly they perished by Fire Also let us remember the Bethshemites who being transported with Joy and Affection looked into the Ark a Thing contrary to God's Appointment to the Hazard of their Lives Likewise Uzza in his Zeal when he found the Ark ready to fall as he thought put to his Hand to keep it up and was slain for his Labour it being contrary to God's Institution When we think of these things seriously we shall find cause him abundance thankfully to acknowledge God's Goodness that we are engaged only where the Nature of the thing doth engage and that we are not made liable and obnoxious to god in things that are not Evil in themselves and hurtful for us It is greatly hazardous for a Finite and Fallible Creature to be limited and confined by Will and Pleasure where there is no Reason that the Mind of Man can discern why he should be restrained For we are mightily for Liberty And unless we be satisfied in the Reason of the thing we have a great Desire to look into that which we are prohibited 'T is hard to be subject to Will * as it is Natural to yield to Reason Therefore it is not a thing that we should affect to come into Bondage or be determined more than God hath determined us Let these things be weighed by those Men who love to multiply Positive Institutions and to determine the Liberty of our Minds in Circumstances and Punctilio's in things * where God hath not limited or determined us For my part I will not part with that Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free And this is one Part of our Liberty I must confess the greatest of all is to free us from the Guilt and Power of our Sins but the next is this to put us out of Danger and free us from the Obligation of Conscience where Reason and the Matter it self doth not oblige us The Moral Part of Religion is indispensably necessary because every piece of * It doth sanctifie by its Presence As * for instance Humility Modesty Righteousness Temperance Reverence of Deity and the like These Things cannot be in any Man's Mind but they make him Holy Whereas the Instrumental Part of Religion doth not sanctifie by Presence For you may pray and hear the Word and receive the Sacrament and be wicked still But every * thing of the Moral Part of Religion doth sanctifie by Presence just as a Remedy or Cordial or Diet doth do a Man good by receiving it * But to speak now * of the great Benefits * that accrue to us by our Saviour's being in our Nature He doth acquire the Right of Redeeming us and makes Satisfaction in that Nature that had trangressed And he doth repair the ruined Nature of Man by dwelling in it and by working Righteousness in it by which means he hath wrought out all Malignity and naughty Habits by contrary Acts the Acts of Sin and Vice by Acts of Vertue and Goodness the Acts of Intemperance by Acts of Sobriety and Temperance Now let us look for the Explication of * this in our selves in our Nativity from above in Mental Transformation and DEIFICATION Do not stumble at the use of the Word For we have Authority for the use of it in Scripture 2 Pet. 1. 4. Being made Partakers of the Divine Nature which is in effect our Deification Also let it appear in our Reconciliation to God to Goodness Righteousness and Truth in our being created after God in Righteousness and true Holiness It was a signal Evidence of a Divine Power in the Disciples of Christ at the first Publication of the Gospel that it wrought so great an Alteration in all those that did receive it The Envious Debauched and Disobedient It made Temperate Sober and Religious Humble and Good-natured It converted the Embracers of it to a Life more suitable to Reason and Nature and all Moral Vertue * We may observe from this that nothing of the Natural State is base or vile Whatsoever hath Foundation in God's Creation or whatsoever the Providence of God calls any Man unto it is not base For our Saviour himself took Flesh and Blood and that is the meaner Part of Humane Nature Whatsoever is Natural hath nothing of Disparagement in it nothing that exposeth a Man to Contempt and Scorn And this may satisfie those that are in the meanest Offices and Employments that there is nothing base that hath place in God's Creation That which is Vile Base and Filthy is unnatural and depends upon unnatural Use and degenerate Practice Also observe here the great Honour put upon Humane Nature when the Son of God came into it when Divine Goodness did take into Consideration the Rise and Advance of Created Nature and to recover and raise It to all possible Perfection He did take to himself a peculiar relation to Humane Nature Then let us take Consolation in this For it cannot be thought that God did so great a thing and of so deep a Consideration as to unite Humane Nature to his own Existence and to set it at his own Right hand to the Admiration of Angels for he saith let all the Angels of God worship him that he did such a thing as this is to beget a Notion or to raise a Talk and make a Wonder in the World and put the Creation into a Gaze and Astonishment God doth nothing for so light an end and especially not his great things such as these which call for Fear and Reverence on our part This we may say is one of the greatest Works * of God This if possible doth transcend the very Creation of God at first for there was nothing * there to resist him but in the Restoration there was Malignity and Sin God did this therefore for the great and unconceivable Good of that Nature that he hath so highly honoured Therefore what Consolation should we have from it what Declaration should we make of it what Thanksgiving for it Having this Knowledge how should we rejoyce in God and be above the World * how should we depress the immoderate Motions of Sense and savour Spiritual things that so we may the better understand this great Mystery by which we are so highly honoured And this is the proper use of this High and Noble Argument Therefore let this be explicated verified and fulfilled in us For this you must understand that Religion is not satisfied in Notions but doth indeed and in reality come to nothing unless it be in us not only Matter of Knowledge and Speculation but doth establish in us a Frame and Temper of Mind and is productive of a holy and vertuous Life Therefore let these things take effect in us in our Spirituality and Heavenly-mindedness in our Conformity to the Divine
The WORLD which by the Appointment of God is a Place habitable and fit to live in it turns into a Wilderness of Tygers and Savage Creatures For the Apostle saith Whence come Wars and Fightings Come they not from your Lusts that war in your Numbers If it were not for the Exorbitancy of Mens Spirits and Wickedness of Mens Hearts and Lives it would be the better for every Man by how many the more Men there were in * the World Whereas now many Men are formidable And a Man runs a Hazard to run into Company * Another Consideration is the Unaccountableness of not revoking by Repentance what a Man hath done amiss For this Second Evil is greater than the First For not to repent is to justifie the Evil that hath been done and to stand to it For the first Evil something may be alledged to wit Ignorance Inadvertency Temptation and the like But where Men continue in Evil and do not revoke it by Repentance this tends to settle them in a wicked Mind It is our contracting Guilt and giving God an Offence by our Carelessness and consenting to Iniquity that is the Cause of all that Trouble and Perplexity that befals us There is no Foundation of internal Peace but in a Conscience void of Offence both towards God and Man He that carries Guilt in his Breast hath Tophet burning within him The Conscience not eased by Repentance but under Guilt hath Horrour and Confusion which is a Hell on this side Hell I had almost said the worst of Hell its self For if to this we add the Sense of God's Offence you have the Hell of Hell There is no Pleasure or Satisfaction either in Life or at the Hour of Death but in living according to the Dictates of right Reason For this is the Light of God in Men God's Viceroy or Vicegerent And that which is Fundamental to Conscience So that if we approve our selves therein we shall not give God Offence nor wound our own Spirits And for this I dare refer my self to any Man who hath not contracted Reprobacy of Mind that these Things are so But for such Men they can no more judge of the Reality of a State than Men that are in a Fever can relish Food This in reality may be defended against the whole World that there is nothing Desirable Lasting or Satisfactory but what is HONEST Nothing that is Base or Vile can be Pleasant Good Men who are under the Power of Reason and Religion they are FREE Men and Happy in any Condition whether sick or well at liberty or shut up And Bad Men are SLAVES in the best Condition For they are under the Tyranny of their Lusts which are Tyrants and Usurpers that have no Authority nor any Right to govern The Desires of Nature are moderate But the Cravings of inordinate Appetites are neither to be resisted nor satisfied And hence it comes to pass that VERTUE is antecedent to Happiness and VICE to Misery It is Vice and Wickedness that fills a Man with Uneasiness Disorder Doubtfulness and Irresolution And these put a Man besides himself and out of the true Use of Reason which doth represent God to Man * So that he is * even a mad Man that questions his Being or that dares to give God an Offence by doing any Thing that is Evil For we account that these Two go together To know GOD and the Difference between Good and Evil Right and Wrong And they that have apostatized from Matters of Revelation yet have acknowledged that there is belonging to the Nature of Man an Inclination to and a Perswasion of a Divine Being For most certain it is that the Mind of Man as to God holds the same Sufficiency and Proportion that the EYE of Man holds to Light which if a Man do but open he cannot but see So if a Man do but use Reason he must see and acknowledge God The wise Man tells us That the Spirit of a Man is the Candle of the Lord. A Candle lighted by God and serving to this Purpose to discern and discover God And truly were it not thus wherein would consist the Excellency of Human Nature above the Inferiour Nature What a contemptible Creature were Man if he could not lift up himself above these Worldy Things * Were it not thus Life it self were not greatly valuable Take from Man this Power and Capacity and there is nothing in the World for which a Man would suffer Pain or Cold or break his Sleep For What is there in Worldly Drudgery We often have little more than our Labour for our Travel Now this is my Argument If Nature carry in it Sense of Deity and if to the Nature of Man belong true Notions of the several Perfections that are in God I mean his Moral Perfections As Truth Goodness Purity Holiness and the like and that those who have had no Revelation from God have arrived to a full Satisfaction of the Existence of Deity and have had Sense of Good and Evil Right and Wrong * then they who fall short of these Measures fall under Force and Violence and lay * within themselves the Foundation of Uncertainty and Distraction Because they have a Principle within themselves that doth reprove and challenge countermand and controul For it is a great Matter for a Man to approve himself to himself and to satisfie the Reason of his own Mind How true is that of the Prophet which also is verified by Reason there is no Peace * saith he to the Wicked But they are like the troubled Sea that cannot rest Nothing is more true than * that if a Man be Guilty and vary from the Rule of Right and depart from Reason he wrongs himself goes against his Principle and the Law of his Nature and shakes off his Governour Therefore cannot have Peace or Satisfaction For these Things are in Conjunction and cannot be separated viz. Innocency and Peace And on the contrary these go together Guiltiness and Perplexity of Thoughts And these Things are not as Men will or as they order and chuse but they are conjoyn'd in the Nature of Things themselves And these Things being so RELIGION recommends it self from its Usefulness and is not to be look'd upon as an Imposition or a Burthen laid upon the Nature of Man But ought to be a Matter of our Delight and Choice But then the last Consideration is this That the Perfection and Happiness of Humane Nature consists in the right Use of our Rational Faculties and in the Vigour and Intense Exercise of them about their proper and proportionable Object And what Object can be more proportionable than GOD himself the Original of our Being Him from whom it did flow Who is the Pattern of all Excellency and Goodness If therefore we find not Rest and greater Satisfaction in HIM than in all Worldly Pleasure and Delight it is because we have not exerted our highest and noblest Faculties in that