great loss when the Church is encompassed and assaulted with busie and restless Enemies A Man of an exemplary Life and untainted Virtue who shines like a Light in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation who maintains the declining Honour and Reputation of Religion and true Virtue is a mighty loss in a profligate Age when men are grown such Strangers to the sincere practice of Virtue and Religion that they begin to think there is no such thing But I can go on no farther the very mentioning of these things brings the fresh Idea of our deceased Brother to mind and the afflicting Sense of that great loss which we suffer by his Death It becomes us to Reverence and Adore the Wisdom of the divine Providence even when we cannot understand the Reasons of it We are certain God is never wanting in his Care of his Church and yet had we been made Judges of this Case we should have thought it a very ill time to have spared him He was abundantly furnished with all good Learning both for Use and Ornament he was an accomplished Scholar and a well-studied Divine he knew Books and read them and judged of them He was a Scribe instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven â—…ho like a Housholder could bring forth â—…ut of his treasure things New and â—…ld 13. Matth. 52. He had carefulâ—…y perus'd the ancient Philosophers â—…rators and Poets to discover what Nature taught which gave him a truer Knowledge and greater Value for the Excellency and Perfection of the Gospel-Revelation He had true and clear Notions of Religion and he was Master of them he knew why he believed any thing and was neither prejudiced nor imposed on by popular Opinions he was a hearty and zealous assertor of the Doctrine Worship Government and Discipline of the Church of England he saw nothing material which could be changed for the better which made him jealous of Innovations as not knowing where they would end He was a Friend to all sincere Christians pitied their Mistakes and bore with their Frowardness but did not think that Christian Charity required him to sacrifice Truth or good Order and Government to the pretences of Peace and Unity He was for several Years a very diligent and constant Preacher to a numerous Auditory till his own Diocesan who knew his Worth and the weakness of his Constitution and was desirous to preserve him for the Service of the Church provided this Place where we now are for his Ease and Health and Retirement where he lived many Years a constant Preacher though his Labours were then diviued between his two Cures which did not lessen his Preaching but made the Benefit of it the more diffusive For indeed he was an admirable Preacher not for Noise and Lungs but for well-digested useful pious Discourses delivered with all that becoming Gravity Seriousness and a commanding Elocution as made them sink deep into the Minds of his Hearers and made them hear This I speak with Assurance and Confidence in this place which was so long blessed with his Labours With what fineness of Thought peâ—…spicuity and easiness of Expression instructing and entertaining Images of Things he expounded the Doctrines and inculcated the Laws of our Saviour how plainly he Taught with what Vehemence and Passion he Exhortâ—…d with what tender Sharpness he Reâ—…roved remember how he used both to Please and Instruct to Chide and Shame you without making you angry â—…ow he has warmed and chafed your Minds into the most pious and serious Resolutions and sent you home from this place wiser and better than you came and if you grew cold and suffered your good Resolutions to die again consider I beseech you what Account you have to give As he grew in Years it was necessary by degrees to ease his Labours he could not Preach so often but yet continued to Preach And yet had he not Preached at all or much less than he did he had not ceased to be a very useful Pastor to the Church for he was a Man of great Experience and great Prudence and Foresight fit for Government and Counsel who knew Men and Things was dexterous in his Applications zealous without Passion or Peevishness steady and resolved without violent Oppositions and needless Provocations who served the Church and the Truth with little Noise and without making many Enemies And I am sure at such a time as this there is more need of such Men and a much greater scarcity of them than of good Preachers But he was not only a good Preacher and a prudent Guide but a very good Man he Preached continually by his Life and Example his Conversation was Innocent Entertaining and Useful he was a true sincere Friend very Courteous Affable Civil to all Men but never pretended Friendship where he had none he was ready to do all good Offices was Liberal Generous and Charitable a Man of a true publick Spirit who scorned to serve himself to the Injury of others who hated little Arts and Tricks mean and servile Compliances he was an open and generous Enemy if we may ever call him an Enemy who never wished never intended any hurt to any Man but my meaning is that when any Dispute and Quarrel happened as such things will sometimes happen he was open and undisguised any Man might know what he disliked and had no reason to fear any thing worse from him than what he would â—…ell them In a Word He was a very â—…ood Christian and that made him â—…ood in all Relations and that Crowned all his other Labours he took care â—…s St. Paul did Lest while he preached to â—…thers he himself should become a cast-away And now he is gone to rest and we â—…ust all shortly follow him God grant â—…hat we may all so run our Race and â—…inish our Course that when we depart â—…his Life we may rest in Him as our â—…ope is this our Brother doth and may â—…eceive that Crown of Righteousness which God the Righteous Judge will â—…t that Day bestow on all his faithful Servants and on all those who love his Appearing SERMON VIII â—…each'd at the Temple-Church December 30. 1694. Upon the Sad Occasion of the Death of our Gracious Queen And Published at the Earnest Request of Several Masters of the Bench of Both Societies XXXIX Psalm 9. â—…as dumb and opened not my mouth because thou didst it THIS may be thought a very improper Text for the Feast of our Saviour's Birth when our â—…ouths ought to be filled with the Praiâ—… of God and sing with the whole â—…ire of Angels Glory be to God in the â—…hest on earth peace good will towards â—…n This indeed is that Peace which â—…e World cannot give and which the World cannot take away whateveâ—… the External Appearances of Providence are here we find a safe retreâ—… and a never-failing Spring of Joy Fâ—… he that spared not his own Son but 〈◊〉 livered him up for us all how shall 〈◊〉 not with
their Vices and bad Names to Vertue This is so common and so well known that I need not insist on it An easie obliging friendly Conversation is very charming when it is governed by strict Vertue these Men let the Vertue alone and justifie their Vices as only the Effects and Instances of good Humour and Sociableness and of a complying Temper to make their Company easie and their Conversation pleasant and entertaining and this they think a good Apology for all their Lewdness Debaucheries and Profaneness which may make them agreeable Company for one another but very unfit for the Conversation not only of good Men but of prudent and cautious Sinners but that is all one they will have this good Humour and that is a good Name which will suit any Vice which pleases themselves and their Company Thus to be diligent in our Business prudent and frugal in our Expences to mortifie our sensual Appetites and deny the Cravings of Lust and use our Bodies hardly are very commendable things when they are opposed to Idleness and Luxury and have regard to the Care of our Families and to make us capable of all Acts of Charity and to subdue the Flesh to the Spirit and to make us more devout Worshippers of God And therefore a meer Earth-worm who does all this for no other end but to get or to save his Money tho' he starve himself and his Family and the Poor by it and makes himself a vile Slave all his Days calls this fordid Covetousness by these good Names of Diligence Prudence Frugality Temperance Mortification when in Truth it is nothing but a love of Money above his Ease and Pleasure and adoring it as his God Thus on the other hand Superstition and Hypocrisie are very ill Names and these at all Adventures they bestow upon Piety and Vertue to excuse their own Neglect and Contempt of both as if no Man could be sincere because there are some Hypocrites or as if there were no such thing as Religion because some Men would appear to be religious who are not though it is a better Argument for Religion that even bad Men desire to be thought religious Thus an affected Singularity is very offensive and nauseous to all wise Men and this is their Name for a sullen inflexible Vertue which will not do a bad thing to please its Company nor admit bad Men into the Privacies and Familiarities of Conversation as if there were no Medium between affecting Singularity and being wicked for Company This is the Art of changing Names call any Vertue or Vice by its own Name such as Piety Justice Charity Temperance Chastity or Profaneness Injustice Drunkenness Adultery and they have nothing to say against the one nor for the other for these are Names of Honour and Esteem or of Infamy and Reproach all the World over But if they can find any thing in Vice which bears the least resemblance to what some Vertues oblige us to they presently give the Names of those Vertues to their Vices and if a vertuous Man may do any thing for wise and good Reasons which has any Likeness or Analogy to what bad Men do for very bad Reasons they give the Names of those Vices to Vertue which is in a strict and proper Sense to call Evil Good and Good Evil And this there are too many guilty of who are not profess'd Atheists or Infidels who think it some Excuse for their Vices if they can find any thing good to say of them and an Apology for their Lukewarmness and Indifferency in Religion if they can charge some zealous Professors with Pharisaism and Hypocrisy but by whomsoever and for what reason soever this be done the Woe belongs to all those who call evil good and good evil 2dly What is meant by putting darkness for light and light for darkness Darkness and Light very often in Scripture signifie Vice and Vertue Sin is the work of Darkness to walk in the Light is to live holily as St. Iohn tells us 1 Iohn 1. ver 6 7. if we say we have fellowship with him God and walk in darkness live in any Sin we lie and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light if we are holy as God is holy then have we Fellowship one with another and thus it is the same with calling Evil Good and Good Evil. But then Darkness signifies also Ignorance and Error false and corrupt Notions of God and Religion and Light a clear and certain Knowledge especially in matters of Religion what concerns the Will of God and the way to Heaven as our Saviour tells us light is come into the world but men love darkness rather than light John 3. 19. And thus we must understand it here Those Men who call Evil Good and Good Evil who reject the moral differences of Good and Evil and confound the Names of Vertue and Vice pervert all the Principles of Knowledge and Rules of judging between Good and Evil they put darkness for light call all the arbitrary and ridiculous Principles of Atheism and Infidelity Light and esteem them as the most true and certain Knowledge though indeed they teach us nothing but reduce us to the most perfect state of Ignorance by unteaching all that Mankind knew before for if there be no God and no difference between Good and Evil there is an End of all Knowledge which is the Light of the Mind for the next step is to put light for darkness to reject all the Natural and all the Supernatural Means of Knowledge the Natural Notions of our Minds the Natural Light of Reason and the Supernatural Light of Revelation as meer Ignorance and Imposture the Cheats of Education or of a timorous Fancy or the Cunning of Statesmen or the Inventions of Priests Such Men you know there are in the World and this Woe belongs to them 3dly To put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter is a corruption not meerly of our Judgment but of our Natural Sensation of our Natural Taste and Relish of Things Bitter signifies whatever is naturally uneasy grievous offensive as bitter things are to the Palate that which causes Trouble Anguish Remorse as all wicked Actions naturally do now such thingâ—… as are grievous and afflicting to all the rest of Mankind who have any natural Sense left these Men call sweet account their Pleasure and Happiness But then what is naturally sweet hath a Natural Easiness Pleasure Satisfaction as all good and vertuous Actions have this they call bitter these are the grievances of their Life an intollerable Yoke which they cannot and will not bear This is the most degenerate State of Human Nature which hath lost all Relish of Vertue and all Sense of Shame and Fear and Remorse when they do Evil their Minds are perfectly dead and stupid without any Rational or Spiritual Sensations they have nothing but their bodily Senses left and by these alone they judge of Sweet and
coâ—… cerns the Christian Church we maâ—… learn from the Epistles to the Sevâ—… Churches of Asia what it is provokâ—… our Lord either severely to punish us to remove the Gospel from us Tâ—… Church of Ephesus though she had aâ—… quitted her self well in many thing yet had left her first Love had abated very much of her Zeal and Fervour for the Name and Religion of Christ. The Church of Pergamâ—…s is threatned for suffering those among her who taught Idolatrous Worship and fleshly Lusts And the Church of Thyatira likewise for suffering the Woman Iezaâ—…el to commit Fornicatâ—…on and to eat things sacrificed to Idols The Church of Sardis made a glorious and pompous Profession of Religion but without the true Life and Spirit of it â—…e had a name to live but was dead And the Church of Laodicea grew very cold and indifferent even in the Profession of Religion as well as in the Practice of it she was neither hot nor cold 〈◊〉 lukewarm All these our Saviour summons to Repentance and threatens to punish or destroy them if they did not Chap. 2 and 3. of the Revelations The Application of all this to our selves is so obvious that I need not multiply Words about it We are that very Nation wherein all these Evils meet it is hard to name any Vice which is not openly committed amongst us without Fear or Shame Nay things are come to that pass that to be a modest Sinner to boggle at any Wickedness oâ—… to blush at it is as great a Reproach as to be Virtuous And though somâ—… Men are ashamed to own themselveâ—… Atheists yet to believe in Christ and to own any Reveal'd Religion or tâ—… talk seriously of Providence of God governing the World and punishinâ—… Cities and Nations for their Wickeâ—… ness is thought a Jest and I wiâ—… it were a Jest only among vile anâ—… mean People of no Fortune or Education whereas we often see that theâ—… Condition makes them modest and uâ—… taught Nature teaches them better tâ—… they are corrupted by the Examples 〈◊〉 Men of Wit and Figure in the Worlâ—… And as for those who pretend to Relâ—… gion it is a very melancholy Prospecâ—… to observe how little of the true Liâ—… and Spirit of Christianity there is 〈◊〉 mong them There is indeed Noiâ—… and Zeal and Faction enough amonâ—… some People and that makes others 〈◊〉 cold and indifferent The Tempers of thâ—… Church of Sardis and Laodicea thâ—… one that had a Name to live but waâ—… dead the other that was lukewarmâ—… make much the greatest Parties amonâ—… us and the very best Men I fear are too much inclined to the State of Ephesus which had left her first Love those great Passions and Ardours of Devotion which ought to inspire the Minds of Christians Let us then hear the Rod and tremble See how God dealt with the Iewish Church for these Sins see what our Lord hath done to the Churches of Asia and though we cannot say what God will do to us because we know not what wonderful Designs are in the Womb of Providence yet we know what we do and how God hath dealt with those who have done as we do which is too just reason to fear that he will deal so by us too unless we repent and reform which they did not For 2dly When the Judgments of God are upon us the Reformation must be universal too It concerns every Man to reform himself for a Nation can never be reformed but by the Reformation of particular Men who make up the Nation and therefore when we are summon'd to Repentance as the Judgments of God summon us all every Man must examine himself what he has to repent of and reform himself But yet there is great difference between a National and Personal Repentance and Reformation and they serve very different Ends. A Nation may be said to be reformed and God may in great Mercy remove his Judgments though what is never to be expected every particular Man do not repent and reform himself But then such a National Reformation requires the Execution of publick Justice against publick Wickedness to make Sin publickly infamous and to teach the greatest and most powerfuâ—… Sinners Modesty To banish if noâ—… Sinners yet Sin out of our Courts and out of our Streets and to make it once more seek for Night and Darkness foâ—… a Covering that Virtue may no longer blush in Company or need Apologies Nor Vice dare to brave it at Noon-day There has indeed of late been some Care taken by publick Laws and Royal Proclamations to punish the Prophanation of God's Name by accursed Oaths but yet in most Cases Men may be as vile as they please and as publickly so as they please and little or no notice taken of them nay they may talk and write what they please against God and Religion ridicule the History of Moses and the Gospel of our Saviour and the Mysteries of the Christian Faith and gain Credit and Reputation by it I hope there are not many Christian Nations in the World which in so publick a manner permit these things We have talk'd of Liberty of Conscience and Reformation to good purpose if the only Effect of it be a Liberty of ridiculing the Christian Faith which might make one suspect that all the Zeal some Men have express'd against Popery was at the bottom of it a Zeal for Atheism and Irreligion which the Discipline of Popery as bad a Religion as it is would not endure it is indeed well fitted to make Atheists and Infidels but will make Men have a care how they profess it And it is to be feared that this Scepticism and Infidelity and Contempt of Religion will prove a Back-door to let in Popery again upon us But to leave these Thoughts with those whose proper Care and Business it is whether a Nation will be reformed or not it concerns every particular Man to hear the Rod The Judgments of God warn us of his Anger and Displeasure against Sin that we may fly from the Wrath to come and we do not hear the Voice of the Rod nor improve Judgments to their true end if we do not so repent and reform as to save our Souls and this to be sure must be a Personal and an Universal Reformation And yet even with respect to present Judgments a Personal Repentance and Reformation is of great use for when the Judgment is Publick and National God many times makes a remarkable distinction between Persons Say ye to the Righteous it shall be well with them for they shall reap the fruit of their Doings Wo unto the Wicked it shall be ill with him for the Reward of his Hands shall be given to him Which is spoke with respect to Publick Judgments Isa. 3. 10 11. Which is a sufficient Encouragement for particular Men to repent and reform their Lives whatever others do But it is time to apply what I have now discoursed to the
World believe that God and Nature has taught them is false is a Mystery to me And the only Account that can be given of it is what our Saviour gives That light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil And when they love Darkness it is no wonder that they call it Light but they must first call Darkness Light before they can put out the Light and turn it into Darkness Now if this be the Truth of the Case as our own Experience and our Observations of other Men assure us it is this is a sufficient Reason to reject all the Principles of Atheism and Infidelity without disputing for they were not born and bred with us as what is natural is and therefore must be owing to the Lusts and Vices of Men which are the Works of Darkness and hate the Light and nothing seems stranger to me than that of all the Men in the World these Men should pretend to Reason who have the least Right oâ—… Pretence to it For what Principles can they reason on who reject the Light of Nature and of Revelation What is Natural Reason but the Reason of Humane Nature And how shall we know what this is but by those common Principles of Reason which Nature has implanted in all Mankind and which Art and Wit and Vice it self have much ado to silence and can never perfectly root out and certainly that is not Natural Reason which contradicts all the Principles of Humane Nature and what is that Reason which is not the Reason of Humane Nature Or how is Mankind concerned in such Reasons as can be no Rule to them unless they put off Humane Nature And indeed this is the Case of these very Men they have put off Humane Nature are degenerated into Bruits and have the Reason and Understanding of Bruits espouse such Principles as serve no other End but to justifie the brutal Nature and therefore laugh at the common Sentiments and Faith of Mankind and pretend to Reason only to reason Humane Nature as well as Revelation out of the World How subtilly soever these Men may dispute it sufficeth me that this is not the Original Belief of Mankind and therefore is not owing to God or Nature but to Lust. No Man can call Light Darkness till he is in love with Darkness for the sake of the Works of Darkness 3dly The same may be said of putting Bitter for Sweet and Sweet for Bitter Men must first reconcile themselves to Wickedness which is naturally very bitter uneasie and grievous and shake off all sense of Shame and Modesty and Fear before they can in good earnest reproach Vertue For till Men are very wicked Vertue is the great Pleasure the truest and sweetest Pleasure of Humane Nature Thirdly Let us now consider the Woe that is denounced against these Men and how unavoidable it is Woe be to them that call Evil Good and Good Evil c. What this Woe is is not here express'd but an indefinite Woe is very terrible for it includes all the Woes that God has any where in Scripture threatned against Sinners the Vengeance of God in this World and the eternal Miseries of the next A Woe signifies a State of extream Misery wherein Men shall bewail and lament themselves without Hope or Redress all the Miseries that such Sinners deserve and therefore the greatest that Humane Nature can suffer because this is the greatest Degeneracy of Humane Nature And therefore to warn you all of falling into this State I shall briefly shew you how unavoidable this Woe is When Men are so in love with their Sins that they resolve never to part with them they vainly think that the only way to secure themselves is to banish God out of the World and to destroy all the differences of Good and Evil and then they may please themselves and live as they list without Fear or Shame or any Danger of a future Account Now so far they are in the right that if they could banish God out of the World their Work were done and they might bid defiance to all the Pulpit-thunder and laugh at all the superstitious fears of Sinners But to perswade themselves contrary to the Sense of Nature and the universal Belief of Mankind that there is no God will not banish God out of the World And if they should find a God after they have perswaded themselves there is none as they certainly will they will find this God a provoked and terrible Judge For what greater Contempt and Despite can be offered to God than to perswade themselves that there is no God This is a State of open Enmity They hate God and would destroy his Being if they could for the Reason why they perswade themselves there is no God is because they would have none and those who hate God are hated by him and must suffer his eternal Vengeance Thus if there were no essential difference between Good and Evil they might chuse for themselves and call things by what Names they pleased Evil Good and Good Evil but if there be such a difference however they havâ—… made shift to conquer this Sense at present if they refuse the Good and chuse the Evil they must lose all that Happiness which they might expect from what is a natural Good that is all the true Happiness of Humane Nature and suffer all those Miseries which those Evils which are contrary to the Happiness of Humane Nature and destructive of it will expose them too For Good and Evil are not empty Names but Good signifies the Happiness of that Nature whose Good it is and Evil its Misery And if after all their Philosophy there be such a distinction of Good and Evil with respect to Humane Nature and that is a strange Nature which has no Good or Evil belonging to it to reject the Good must deprive them of Happiness and to chuse the Evil must make them miserable And if there be a moral as well as natural difference between Good and Evil that one deserves to be rewarded and the other punished we must expect that the Righteous Judge of the World will reward and punish us according to our Works If Men shut their Eyes or put out the Light and then call Darkness Light and Light Darkness how secure soever this may make them at present all that they gain by it is to go to Hell blindfold not to see their Danger before they feel themselves irrecoverably miserable If there be a distinction between Light and Darkness in the Moral and Spiritual as well as in the Natural World as there must be if there be any difference between true Knowledge and Wisdom and Ignorance and Folly If the Office of Light be to direct us in the way to Heaven those blessed Regions of eternal Light which those who wander in Darkness can never find If the necessary Effect of putting Darkness for Light be to lose the sight