Men with Abomination and Horror as a damnable Contrivance of Hell and the Devil Nay if it were not more apt to reform Mens Lives and Manners and make them much better and holier than any other Religion that was established in the World before I don't see what Reason we could have to think that God is the Author of it or that God will have us prefer it to his former Revelations But I am sure if it was true that the Christian Religion did not exact a perfect Comformity to the Laws of Nature but encourageth Men to or indulgeth them in the Practice of Immorality and Wickedness we could never perswade the wise Heathens and much less the Jews and we our selves should have no Reason at all to believe that it proceeds from God For the only convincing Reason that we have to prove that our Saviour's and the Apostles Miracles which both Jews and Heathens attributed to the Power of Magick or at best to God's Permission to try the Children of Men were affected by the immediate Power of God in confirmation of the Truth of the Gospel is because the Doctrine of the Gospel or the Christian Religion is infinitely averse to the Genius of the Devil and most agreeable to the Spirit of God the Dictates of right Reason and our own Consciences that is the divine and everlasting Laws of the Kingdom of Heaven If the Design of the Christian Religion had been to alienate Mens Minds from God and Goodness we could not but conclude it to be the Works of the Devil But if it tends to the Glory of God and the Good of Mankind if it be apt to promote true Piety and Vertue and if its Design be to inspire Mens Minds with great and worthy Thoughts of God and suitable Affections towards him and to reduce the World to the Practice of Charity Justice and Humility Chastity Temperance and Sobriety Patience Meekness and Gentleness and all other divine Vertues then it is impossible or at least absolutely unreasonable to attribute the wonderful Deeds that were wrought in confirmation of the Truth of its Promises and Threatnings to a wicked malicious proud unjust revengeful and impious Spirit It being then evident that all those Doctrines which reconcile Vice with Religion are false and Diabolical we may therefore be sure if we explain any obscure Saying of Scripture so as to make it encourage or palliate Wickedness and excuse Men from being holy and doing Righteousness we put a false Sense upon it Our Traditions are false and abominable if by them we make the Commandments of God of none effect That 's the First Inference Secondly Those Men are infinitely mistaken who fancy the Essence of Religion to confist in Speculation and not in Practice and cry out against Morality as if true Morality was not true Religion Hollness is the end of Faith and the end of Divine Revelation it is the Law and the Prophets and the very Gospel For God's Design in the Gospel is no other than that of the Law or any former Revelation As we read of the Housholder of the Parable Matth. 21.33 c. That he sent several of his Servants at several times and last of all his own Son to those Hubandmen to whom he had let out his Vineyard and that all the Messages he sent were to no other end but this viz To demand the Fruits of his Vineyard So God at sundry times has sent divers Messengers to the Sons of Men Angels and Prophets and at last his only begotten Son And to what end was all this but to excite Men to pay him those Fruits he expects from them to take them off from their Sins and perswade them to their Duty and Allegiance to make them good and obedient that they may become his good Subjects and may be Partakers of his Holiness and divine Nature and so of his everlasting Kingdom We must then beware of those who make the end of Religion and the Essence of it to consist in Speculation and not in a holy Practice Those Men know not the Power of the Gospel they are not acquainted with the Nature of the Kingdom of Heaven they are ignorant of what they pray for in their daily Prayers when they say unto God Thy kingdom come Thirdly It follows that our chief and main Business is to study our Duty to learn it and to practice it that we may work out our own salvation with fear and trembling as it is Phil. 2.12 Those are in a great Error who imagine we must always rest in the Doctrines of Repentance and Faith against the express Commandment of the Apostle Hebr. 6.1 For as St. James says What doth it profit though a man say he has faith and have not works can faith save him Faith without works is dead and therefore unprofitable Jam. 2. at the 14 and 26 Verses They are then ignorant and sensless Christians or rather no Christians at all who do not much regard God's Commandments or do not much care to learn his Will and what it is he requires of every one of us who undervalue and despise those Books and Discourses that instruct them in all the parts of their Duty and teach them that without the sincere Performance of it it is in vain to hope for Heaven and rather delight in curious and speculative Notions fondly perswading themselves that the Knowledge and Belief of such will bring them to everlasting Happiness and fully discharge them from the Practice of the whole Duty of Man as if there was a way to be righteous without doing Righteousness But if we are seriously desirous of the things that belong to our Peace that our Faith may be approved and may be such as will be accepted of God and if we will not deceive our selves with a vain and dead Faith If we design in good earnest to have a Share in Christ Jesus to enjoy the Benefit of that glorious Redemption he hath wrought in the behalf of fall'n Mankind and to be included in that Act of Grace and Indemnity he hath obtained for all Rebels that will return to their true Allegiance that is all penitent Sinners Then it concerns us to return sincerely and impartially under the Dominion of the Kingdom of Heaven and become God's faithful Subjects which cannot be if we do not conform to his divine Laws Our Business therefore must be to study diligently and learn his whole Will and to practice it with all the Zeal and Sincerity of our Souls Our Business if we will be Christians indeed and not barely in Name is to know perfectly what is our Duty to God what is our Duty to ourselves and what is our Duty to all other Men. We must know exactly what is the Duty of Children to Parents of Parents to Children of Servants to Masters of Masters to Servants of Husband and Wife of Friends and Enemies one to another of the Poor to the Rich and the Rich to the Poor and
the like But it doth not only concern us to know these things our main Business is to practice them otherwise we are as far from Christianity as before For Though we have all knowledge if we have not Charity we are nothing 1 Cor. 13.2 And as our blessed Saviour tells us Luke 12.47 That servant which knew his Lords will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes Fourthly If Without holiness no man shall see the Lord and if it be impossibe and a very contradiction to be a Member of the Kingdom of Heaven without doing the will of God and living in Obedience to his Commands then it follows necessarily that if we have any concern for our Souls or any value for our Salvation we must neglect nothing in order to it but must proseeute the means of Grace with all diligence Some Men neglect the hearing and reading of God's Word their private and daily Devotions the Publick Service of God or if they meet in his House they little mind what is done there they neglect the Opportunities of coming to the Lords Table to commemorate with pure and thankful hearts the inestimable Death of Christ and there renew solemnly their holy Vows and Resolutions they are perfect Strangers to the Doctrine of Fasting and they let their Bodies grow too head-strong for them Then if you talk to them of governing their Appetites of Self-denial and Resignation forgiving Injuries and the like they complain of their Infirmities and cry Who is sufficient for these things But whose Fault is it if they are not Judge I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard says the Lord of Hosts what could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it Wherefore then when I looked that it should bring forth grapes brought it forth wild grapes Isa 5.3 4. Lastly We must be sure to remember it is a great piece of Madness for Men to pretend to the Name of Christians whilst they put off their Repentance and live in the Practice of any Sin and it is no less unreasonable for them after a wicked Course of Life and a continual Neglect and Contempt of the Grace of God during their Life time to conceit they depart right good Christians out of this World by vertue of a late and Death-bed Repentance Alass Repentance at best is but the way or a Step to Christianity and even that is a Business that requires a great deal of Pains and Time many repeated Resolutions and Endeavours I shall not need to add more to shew the Unreasonableness and Invalidity of a Death-bed Repentance but this I will freely say I believe there 's nothing in the World causeth the Destruction of more Souls or doth more effectually the Work of the Devil than that Doctrine which makes Christianity so easie so slight and trifing a Business I will not indeed dishearten Men at no time from doing their Duty and turning unto the Lord with all their Heart and with all their Soul but neither will I encourage any to be presumptuous at their last Hour upon the Account of a late and Death bed Repentance I will advise such sinful Wretches who while they enjoyed their Life and Health and thought themselves out of God's reach rejected the Offers of Grace and spent their time in Sin and Vanity or liv'd in the Practice of any Sin and now are loath to be damned for their Folly and would fain make their Peace when they see themselves launching into Eternity I say I will advise them not to throw away the poor Remnant of their Time in unprofitable Profession of their great Grief and Sorrow who doubts it when Hell is open before them and they are upon the Brink of the precipice in passionate Profession of great Kindness for God and Vertue when they have laught at both as long as they could enjoy their Humour or in fulsome Flatteries and Complements and least of all in confident Extasies bold Claims of Salvation and Triumphs in the Mercy of God But I would have them humble themselves to the Dust before him like fugitive Slaves who are apprehended much against their Will and are brought by Force and Violence to appear before their Lord's Tribunal I would have them dispose themselves with just Fears and profound Humility to submit to God's Judgment whatever it shall be And I would perswade them to set all in order by the way as much as ever they can to undo as much as they are able all the Evil they have done and do all the Good that may be done in so little time that is make all the Restitution and all the Reparation possible if they have wrong'd or injur'd any frame their Minds as much as they can by sober and serious thoughts and strong and well grounded Resolutions to quite different Dispositions than those they had before and endure all the Pains and Misery of their Sickness with Patience and Submission proceeding from a due sense of their Deserts and an acknowledgment of the divine Justice and when they have effected all this I will advise them to cry to God for Mercy in the deepest Humility of their Souls acknowledging that they have not performed what God requires in the Gospel that therefore they have no Reason to presume upon his Mercy and that if he consumes them in an everlasting Fire it is but that they have deserved and what was foretold them by his Ministers Yet I will urge them still to cry to God Mercy Mercy and put themselves as much as they are able in a fit Disposition to obtain Mercy For who knows whether God will not be intreated and who can tell whither the Almighty has no hid Treasures of Mercy in store However it must beacknowledged this is the safest and reasonablest Course they can take having no other Hope 's left but this And these are very far from affording any grounds of Confidence and Presumption O then since we know these things ought we not to remember now our Creator according to the Exhortation Eccl. 12.1 now while it is called to day Heb. 3.13 Ought we not with the Psalmist to make haste and delay not to keep God's Commandments Psal 119.60 Certainly if we do not take warning after all this if we refuse to hearken to the heavenly calling and are not wrought upon to forsake all our Rebellions and return to the Obedience of God with all our Heart and with all our Soul not only these things will rise in Judgment against us and condemn us but our Condemnation will be most fearful and terrible for even those impious and wicked Men of Sodom who have been guilty of the most shameful and unnatural Lusts and did provoke God by their abominable Sins to rain Fire and Brimstone from Heaven upon them and consume them in an Eternal Fire Even these Men at the last Day shall be treated far more tollerably than those who reject
the Offers of of Grace when the Kingdom of Heaven is preach'd unto them as our Saviour assures us Luke 10.12 Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also loved us and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not be once named amongst you as becometh saints neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks For this you know or may be sure of that no whoremonger uor unclean person nor covetous man which is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Ephes 5.1 c. Let us not therefore flatter our selves with a conceit of God's singular Favour whilst we are the very Children of Disobedience we must either renounce our Christianity and our Hopes of Heaven or renounce our Sins It is the most ridiculous thing in the Word to pretend to either of the former whilst we continue in the Practice of any evil thing The Lord alloweth the righteous but the ungodly and him that delighteth in wickedness doth his soul abhor Psal 11.6 Since therefore ther 's no other way to obtain God's Favour but in being righteous and forsaking all manner of Wickedness since the very Principles of our Religion oblige us to cease from all that is evil and learn all that is good let us be sure to avoid Sin as Men would the Plague and let us daily grow in grace according to St. Peter's Exhortation 2 Pet. 3.18 Let us be sure whatever Interests we have to serve whatever Dealings we may be ingaged in to be always strictly just and upright Let us never use any ill Tricks to serve our own ends but in all our Transactions with one another let us deal with that Simplicity and Integrity and good Conscience that becomes those who would be accounted the Disciples of the holy Jesus Sin is the Transgression of a known Law Now what a horrid thing is it what Impudence for mortal Men to do that they know is forbidden by the Almighty Governour of the World the righteous and impartial Judge of the Quick and the Dead But I cannot forbear saying it once more What piece of Madness is it for Men to do this and yet pretend to be God's Servants and the Disciples of the Son of his Love whom he has sent into the World a purpose to reform the World and shew the stray'd Race of Mankind the way to true Happiness and Bliss in teaching them to turn from their iniquities as it is Acts 3.26 We do infinitely mistake the Design of his Coming and the Nature of his Religion if we do not believe that it is to make Men much better and holier than they were before and indeed to make them as good and as holy as it is possible for Men to be Let us then study earnestly his whole Will and practice it accordingly least those who have never heard of him should be accounted better than we If we will be truly Christians let it be the earnest Endeavour of our Lives to render our selves as excellent and as exemplary for all sort of amiable Qualities as it is possible for Men to be in this World 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 virtue and if there be any praise think on these things Phil. 4.8 See what your Obligations are We that have such a glorious light vouchsafed unto us and such unvaluable Promises and such mighty Assistances made over to us by the Gospel of Christ must in reason imagine that in return of these great Advantages great things are expected from us It will not satisfie our Engagements that we do believe and profess the Gospel that we do no Wrong to our Neighbours that we are neither given to Lewdness nor Drunkenness though yet even these as the World goes are very great things and could all Men that profess Christianity truly say this of themselves we should soon see Heaven upon Earth but our Christianity obliges us to aspire after greater things we must get our selves possessed of the whole Circle of Vertues we must be kind and charitable as well as just and honest we must he modest and meek and humble as well as temperate and chast Then may I add to these excellent Words of an Excellent and most Reverend Prelate of our Church Then will Christ indeed own us for his Disciples for then we shall be true Subjects to God's Kingdom upon Earth and if we continue to be so unto the end we shall not fail at last to be admited into his most glorious Kingdom in Heaven where we shall enjoy the infinite Pleasure of Holiness to everlasting Ages A Morning and Evening PRAYER ALmighty God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Creator of Men and Angels and the supream Governour of the World in whom and by whom we move we live and have our Beings who shewest thy self to be perfectly Good and Bountiful infinitely wise and glorious and perfectly just and holy We thy poor Creatures prostrate our selves in the deepest Humility of our Souls before thy Divine Majesty to render unto thee the due Tribute of our Homage and Worship and offer the Morning * Evening if it be at Night Evening Sacrifice of our Prayers and Thanksgivings to beg Pardon for all our Sins and Failings and implore thy all-sufficient Grace that we may from henceforth serve thee better than we have done and may daily grow in Grace and in all Christian Vertues and finally to sue for thy Protection and thy most gracious Favour both for our selves and all Men. We confess O Lord we are not worthy to appear before thee to beg any thing at thy Hands For thou O God lovest Righteousness and hatest Iniquity Thou requirest Holiness and art perfect in all thy ways But we are miserable and wretched Creatures who have not minded our Duty as we ought to have done nor regarded thy Word thy Promises nor thy Threatings but have often been so unreasonable as to slight thy Commandments and prefer our Will to thine as if we had not believed that thou knowest what is best for us to do better than we our selves or as if we had not believed that thou searchest our ways and knowest all our Thoughts and wilt judge the World in Righteousness and reward every Man according to his Works at the great and last Day in the which we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ there to receive the things done in our Bodies according as we shall have done whether it be good or bad To us O Lord belongs Shame and