profligate Sinners can shelter themselves in a Schism and palliate or expiate their other Crimes by a factious Zeal and therefore if ever we desire to see Christianity flourish we must Pray heartily for Peace and Unity among Christians But that we may the better understand what we are to Pray for let us briefly enquire wherein the Unity of the Church consists and that is in the Unity of Faith the Unity of Communion and the Unity of Love and Charity 1st Unity of Faith Whereby I do not understand that all Christians must agree in all the Opinions and Speculations of Religion it would be well if it could be so but this can never be while men have such different Understandings and Abilities such different Skill and Opportunities of enquiry but the Unity of Faith is secured by an Agreement in all the Fundamental Articles of Religion though a little varied in some nicer Speculations which are like the different Features in mens Faces which distinguish them from one another but do not alter the Human Shape And this is the difference between the Disputes which divide Papists and Protestants and the Disputes of Protestants among themselves The first subvert the Foundations of Christian Faith and Worship and therefore these Differences can never be Accommodated and Reconciled they will not part with their Errors and we must not embrace them if we love our Souls for as dear a thing as Peace is we must not part with Truth for Peace But now the Disputes among all that are allowed to be Protestants whatever mistakes there may be on any side do not overthrow any necessary Article of the Christian Faith and therefore the Unity of the Faith may be secured amidst all these Disputes Some of these Disputes are only inconvenient Modes of speaking and the difference is only in Words when both Parties really mean the same thing which I believe if all Heat and Passion were laid aside would in a great measure appear to be the true State of that Protestant Controversy about Justification by Faith alone Others are mere Philosophical Disputes in which the Christian Faith is not peculiarly concerned for they have been and are disputed in all Religions such as the Controversy about God's Eternal Decrees and the Power and Efficacy of Nature and Grace which is only a reviving of that old Philosophical Dispute about Necessity and Fate and God's concourse with second Causes to produce their Effects And thus it is in some other Cases Now methinks such Disputes as these which do not properly belong to the Christian Faith should not divide the Christian Church Let men dispute about them as Philosophers but as Christians let it suffice them to believe what Christ and his Apostles have plainly taught us t at is enough to carry us to Heaven and methinks it should be enough to make us agree in the Way thither As to Explain this more particularly but very briefly There is no good Protestant but will confess That we are Justified only by the Merits of CHRIST's Death and Sacrifice as the only Expiation and Atonement for our Sins That no works of Righteousness which we can do can make Satisfaction to God for our Sins nor merit Eternal Life which is the Gift of God That Christ is our only Saviour and that he is the Saviour only of his Body or Church That we are incorporated into the Body of Christ and put into a state of Justification by Faith and the Christian Sacraments That no impenitent unreformed Sinner though he do profess to believe in Christ and be baptized shall be saved by Him and therefore though Repentance and a Holy Life do not merit the Pardon of Sin nor Eternal Rewards yet they are necessarily required in all those who shall be forgiven and saved by Christ. This I say all good Protestants agree in and all this is plainly taught in Scripture and whoever believes this and practises accordingly shall certainly be saved And what need is there then of reducing all this into Artificial Schemes wherein Mens Fancies and Conceits differ What necessity is there of disputing what the Office of Faith or what the Efficacy of Works is in our Justification when we all agree that we are saved only by the Mercy of God and the Merits of Christ through Faith in his Blood and the Exercise of Repentance and a holy Life To understand the reason and order of things conduces much to the beauty and perfection of Christian Knowledge but Men may be saved and the Peace of the Church better secured without such particular Determinations Thus all good Protestants agree that all God's Works are known to him from the foundation of the World That Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world That God knows who are his and always did so That we are predestinated to the adoption of children by Iesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved That we are predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will 1. Ephes. 5 6 11. That when God comes to judge the World he will appear infinitely just and good and merciful That bad men shall have no reason to complain of God and that good men shall have nothing to arrogate to themselves This secures the Glory of God of his Wisdom Goodness Justice Power and Soveraignty and what need is there to enquire any farther into the Divine Decrees than the Scripture has revealed in the particular explication of which when men follow their own Fancies they vastly differ from each other to the great disturbance of the Peace of the Church We are assured by plain Testimonies of Scripture That God desires not the death of a Sinner but rather that he should return and live That our destruction is of our selves That all the good we do is wholly owing to the Grace of God who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure That all the evil we do is owing to our selves That every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death This we all agree in and this attributts the glory of all the good we do to God and the shame of all the evil we do to our selves this encourages us to do good in a confident assurance of the Divine Grace and teaches bad men that they must not think to excuse their wickedness by charging it on God And this is all that is necessary for us to know because it is all that is needful to the purposes of Religion and a holy Life But when men frame this into Philosophical Hypotheses they then divide as far from each other as East and West and all the attempts of reconciling them
of Earthly Rivals yet it fires at great Examples and is ashamed to be out-done by Equals in love to God or Men especially when the Honour of the Church whereof they are Members and the Religion which they profess is concerned It is well known how many pious and charitable Foundations are owing to Popish Superstition they hoped to expiate their Sins and to merit Heaven by their good Works and in this hope and this perswasion they did a very great many We understand better than to think of meriting any thing of God much less of purchasing a liberty of sinning by Acts of Charity but if those great Rewards which are promised to Charity and which we profess to believe will not make us charitable without the Opinion of Merit and Satisfaction Charity is so great and excellent a Vertue and so very useful to Mankind that at least thus far Popery will be thought the better Religion and therefore as the Apostle argues As ye abound in every thing in faith and utterance and knowledge and all diligence and in your love to us see that ye abound in this grace also As we have a more Orthodox Faith a clearer and a distincter Knowledge and a purer Worship than the Church of Rome let us excel in Charity too and convince the World that to renounce Popery is not to renounce good Works SERMON X. Preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord-Mayor and Court of Aldermen at Guild-hall Chappel on Sunday April 25. 1697. Coloss. II. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men after the Rudiments of the world and not after Christ. HAD St. Paul lived in our Age it would have required little less than the Courage and Bravery of the Spirit of Martyrdom to have said this And nothing but the Authority of so great an Apostle which though some Men do not much value yet they dare not openly despise can skreen those who venture to say iâ—… after him What some Men call Philosophy and Reason and there is nothing so foolish and absurd which some Men will not call so is the only thing which those Men adore who would either have no God or a God and a Religion of their own making And what Attempts some have made to undermine all Religion and others to corrupt and transform the whole Frame of the Christian Religion upon a Pretence of its contradicting Natural Reason and Philosophy is too well known to need a Proof That thus it was in his days and that thus it was likely to be in future Ages St. Paul was very sensible when he gave this Caution to his Colossians and I 'm sure it is as proper a Caution for us as ever it was for any Age since the writing of this Epistle for this vain Pretence to Reason and Philosophy never more prevailed and never did more mischief to the World It is an endless and fruitless Task to go about to confute all the absurd Hypotheses and wild inconsistent Reasonings wherewith Men abuse themselves and others The Experience of so â—…ny Ages wherein Philosophy was in all 〈◊〉 Glory and the several Sects disputed â—…d wrangled eternally without ending â—…y one Controversie gives no great Enâ—…uragement to hope for much this way 〈◊〉 least it can never be expected that â—…dinary Christians should be better â—…structed and confirm'd in the Faith by â—…hilosophical Disputes The Christian Religion has from â—…e very Beginning been corrupted by 〈◊〉 mixture of Philosophy Thus it was 〈◊〉 the Apostles days and thus it has â—…een more or less in all Ages of the Church to this day and the direction the Apostle gives for the security of the Christian Faith is Not to dispute such Matters but to distinguish between Philosophical Disputes and Matters of Revelation and to reject all the Pretences of Philosophy when it does or seems to contradict the Faith of Christ or would make any corrupt Additions to it Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to make a Prey or to carry away as a Prey that is to seduce them from the Christian Faith or from the Pâ—…rity and Simplicity of it Through Philosophy and vain deceit that is through the vain deceit of Philosophy which cheats Men with a flattering but empty appearance may unsettle weak Minds but cannot lay a sure and solid foundation of Faith may cheat Men out of their Faith but when that is done can give them nothing certain in the room of it For it is but after the traditions of men and after the rudiments of this world Some of these Doctrines may possibly plead Prescription as having been so long received that no Man knows their Original or if they have the Authority of some Great Name yet it is but a Human Authority and they are but the traditions of men and of Men who at best had no better Information than from the visible appearances of Nature and their own imperfect Observations and corrupt or defective Reasonings after the rudiments of this world And is this an Authority to oppose against the Faith of Christ which both wants that Divine Confirmation which he gave to his Doctrines and contradicts them For they are not after Christ neither taught by Christ nor consonant to what he taught These Words might afford great Variety of Discourse but I shall confine my self to what is most Usefull and reduce that into as narrow a compass as I can by shewing I. What great need there is of this Caution To beware lest any man spoil us through Philosophy and vain deceit II. What great reason we have to rejectall these vain Pretences to Philosophy when they are opposed to the Authority of a Divine Revelation I. As for the first of these Whoever considers what an Enemy these vain Pretences to Philosophy have always been to Religion will see need enough for this Caution True Reason and the true Knowledge of Nature which is true Philosophy would certainly direct us to the Acknowledgment and Worship of that Supreme Being who made the World And yet we know that there never was an Athiest without some Pretence to Philosophy and generally such loud noisy Pretences too as make ignorant people think them very notable Philosophers and that tempts some vain empty Persons to affect Atheism that they may be thought Philosophers That this is vain deceit all Men must own who believe there is a God And if it be possible to pretend Philosophy for Atheism it self it is no great wonder if it be made to patronize Infidelity and Heresy But this plainly shews of what dangerous Consequence it is to admit Philosophical Disputes into Religion which if at any time they may do any service to Religion much oftner greatly corrupt it and shake the very Foundations of it of which more anon At present I shall only shew you how the Matter of Fact stands That most of the Disputes in Religion
are nothing else but the Disputes of Philosophy and therefore according to the Apostolical Command to be wholly flung out of Religion and not suffered to affect our Faith one way or other To be a Philosopher and a Christian to Dispute and to Believe are two very different things and yet it is very evident that most of the Arguments against Revelation in general and most of the Disputes about the particular Doctrines of Christianity are no better than this vain deceit of Philosophy that were the Matters of Faith and the Disputes of Philosophy truly distinguished this alone would be sufficient to settle the Faith of Christians and restore Peace and Unity at least in the great Fundamentals of Religion to the Christian World 1. As to begin with Revelation in general The Books of Moses are the most Ancient and that considered the best attested History in the World the whole Nation of the Iews whose History he writes pay the greatest veneration to him and if we believe the Matters of Fact which he relates he was certainly an Inspired Man who could neither deceive nor be deceived And it is impossible to have greater Evidence for the Truth and Authenticalness of any Writings at such a distance of time than we have for the Writings of the New Testament and indeed the Infidels of our Age have very little to say purely against the Credibility of the History and then one would think that all their other Objections should come too late unless they will justifie Pharaoh in disbelieving Moses and the Scribes and Pharisees in disbelieving our Saviour after all the Miracles they did For if they will disbelieve Moses and Christ though they have nothing material to object against the Truth of these Histories nothing which they would allow to be good Objections against any other History they must by the same reason have disbelieved them though they had seen them do all those great Works which are reported of them in such Credible Histories But whatever the Authority of these Books are they think they may securely reject them if they contain any thing which contradicts their Reason and Philosophy and they find a great many such things to quarrel with They think Moses's History of the Creation very unphilosophical That the Story of Eve and the Serpent is an incredible Fiction That the Universal Deluge is absolutely impossible and irreconcileable with the Principles of Philosophy and it does not become Philosophers to have recourse to Miracles That what we call Miracles are not the effects of a Divine Power but may be resolved into Natural Causes That Inspiration and Prophesy is nothing but natural Enthusiasm and all the Pretences to Revelation a Cheat and Imposture That Nature teaches us all that we need to know That there is no other certain knowledge but this That we are not bound to believe any thing which our own reason cannot grasp and comprehend and therefore Revelation is perfectly useless and God himself cannot oblige us to believe any thing which does not agree with the Reason of our own Minds and the Philosophy of Nature Those who understand the Mystery of Modern Infidelity know that these and such like are the wise Reasons for which they reject and ridicule all Revealed Religion and endeavour to rob and spoil men of one of the greatest Blessings in the World a Divine Revelation So that Infidelity is resolved into these vain Pretences to Philosophy that Men will understand how to make destroy and govern the World better than God 2. As these Men oppose Reason and Philosophy to Revelation so others either deny the fundamental Articles of Christianity for the sake of some Philosophical Difficulties or corrupt the Doctrines of Christianity by a mixture of Philosophy The Gospel of our Saviour is the plainest Revelation of the Will of God that ever was made to the World all its Doctrines are easily understood without Art and Subtilty and yet there is not a more nice intricate perplext thing in the World than what some Men have made the Christian Faith All the Subtil Disputes of Philosophy are brought into the Church and Plato and Aristotle are become as great Apostles as St. Peter or St. Paul As to give some few Instances of it for time will not permit me to discourse it at large What are the Arian Socinian Pelagian Controversies but meer Philosophical Disputes with which these Hereticks corrupted the Catholick Faith There is nothing more plain and express in Scripture than the Faith of Father Son and Holy Ghost or the Doctrine of the Trinity in Unity and that great Art and Subtilty which has been used and to so little purpose to pervert those Texts of Scripture wherein this Doctrine is contained is an evident proof That this is the plain natural obvious sense of those Texts since it requires so much Art and Criticism to put any other sense on them and that will not do neither till men are resolved rather to make any thing of Scripture than to find a real Trinity there If then this Faith be so plainly contained in Scripture what makes all this dispute about it What makes those who profess to believe the Scripture so obstinate against this Faith Truly that which makes some men Infidels makes others Hereticks that is a vain Pretence to Philosophy The first Philosophical Dispute is about the Divine Unity We all own with the Scripture that there is but one God but we say further as the Scripture teaches us That there are Three Father Son and Holy Ghost each of which is true and perfect God This they say is a Contradiction and if it be so there is an end of this Faith for both parts of a Contradiction can't be true But to be Three and One upon different accounts and in different senses is no Contradiction for thus three may be One and One Three and this is all the Scripture teaches or that we profess to believe whatever the Mystery of this Distinction and Unity be But this will not satisfie these Philosophical Wits unless they can comprehend how Father Son and Holy Ghost are really and distinctly Three and essentially One the manner of which the Scripture gives no account of and therefore this is no dispute in Faith but only in Philosophy Another objection concerns the Divine Generation how God can beget a Son of his own Substance which the Arians thought inferred a Division of the Divine Substance And a Third Objection concerns an Eternal Generation how it is possible that the Father should beget an Eternal Son that the Son should be begotten without any beginning of Being and that the Father should not be at least some few moments before the Son and consequently the Son not Eternal Now we all grant that we can give no Philosophical account of this no more than we can of the simple Divine Essence or of Eternity it self but we may believe that God has an Eternal Son as we do that there is
its Love and Care to its self but a Man who has a truly great and divine mind who loves all Men as himself and loves himself in conjunction with the rest of Mankind can by no means be called a selfish Man or a lover of himself for he has an universal love to Humane Nature which begins with himself but extends to all the World This is a plain and short account what this vicious Self-love is and why it is so called 2dly The Second thing I proposed was to shew how dangerous and perillous such Times must needs be wherein this Self-love Prevails Now those are perillous Times which expose Men to great Dangers and to great Troubles and Calamities and that with respect to their own private Fortunes with respect to the Publick and with respect to the State of Religion and what a malignant influence this vicious Self-love has upon all these great and dear Interests is so visible that methinks it should need no proof and therefore I shall at present only give some brief Hints of it And I shall not here take notice how much such Self-lovers suffer from themselves and from their own Self-love for though this makes themselves â—…iserable it does not make the Times dangerous the Times may be very prosperous and good Men very happy though such Sinners may reap the Fruits of their own Works and be filled with their own Devices though they sacrifice their Honour their Estates their Health their Lives to Intemperance and Lust though Ambition heats their brains into a Distraction and Cares and Disappointments break their Hearts or Guilt disturbs their Consciences and fills them with Rage and furious Despair the World is not much concerned in this let such Self-lovers look to it and thank themselves for what they suffer but then the Times are dangerous with respect to our private and personal Interests when Men are in great danger from one another when they are never secure from private Injuries when they know not whom to trust nor with whom to converse when it is hard to find a Friend and almost impossible to escape an Enemy when the greatest Virtue Innocence Inoffenciveness nay the Divinest Charity and all the charms of an obliging Conversation cannot secure Men from Envy Rapine and Detraction from the Venom of Tongues or from more malicious designs against their Lives and Fortunes such a State as this will make all Good Men wish as David did O that I had wings like a Dove for then would I flie away and be at rest Lo then would I wander far off and remain in the Wilderness I would hasten my Escape from the windy Storm and Tempest 55 Psa. 6 7 8 Verses And this is the very State which Self-love puts Mankind into when it prevails in the World This a late admired Philosopher calls the State of Nature wherein every Man is a Woolf to a Man but in truth it is only the State of this vicious Self-love which is the Corruption and Degeneracy of a reasonable and sociable Nature If Man was made for Society it cannot be his Nature to love no body but himself which is a Contradiction to the Nature and End of Societies He must first put off Nature if that be this Self-love before he can be capable of living in Society which seems very unaccountable that a Creature who was made for Society should not be fit for Society till he change his Nature For Men cannot live together in safety while they are all acted by this Principle Self-love makes every Man his own Center and the Center draws all to it self all that is within its sphaere of activity Pride is Self-love such an esteem for our selves as values no Man's Honour or Reputation but our own and this draws all Honour to it self is not contented unless it can out-shine all others and either by a greater brightness swallow them up or eclipse them by black and misty Vapours by all the Arts of Infamy and Reproach Covetousness is Self-love when Men will be rich whoever be poor and by whatever Arts they can do it and this draws all riches to it self and snatches them from all that come within its reach and what Injustice and Violence Theft Murders Perjuries does this occasion Self-love is the love of the Flesh the love of carnal and sensual Pleasures which will please it self whoever be grieved and injured by it Such brutish Sensualists have no regard to the Honour and Peace of Families to the Modesty of Virgins to the Sacred Vows of Wives to the Stain and Infamy of Posterity nay many times not to the dignity of Humane Nature but gratifie their Lusts in contradiction to them all Where Self-love reigns there is no place for Compassion for Charity for Justice for true Friendship every thing must give way to Self and let any man judge whether such be not perillous Times some such Men there are always in the World and great numbers of them too and we daily feel what mischeifs they do but the more the numbers of them encrease the more this Self-love prevails the more intolerable will Humane Conversation be And if we allow that Pride Ambition Covetousness Sensuality are great Enemies to the Peace and Prosperity to the good Order and Government of any Nation we must grant that Self-love which is the impure Fountain from whence all these corrupt Streams flow is very destructive to Humane Societies too it corrupts publick Justice loosens the reigns of Government softens and emasculates Mens Spirits renders them unfit for Counsel or for Arms makes them contemptible to their Neighbours and brings down the Judgments of God upon them Is any thing so destructive to any State as Divisions and Factions at home and was there ever any State-Faction without Self-love and private Interest at the bottom when great Men will rival one another and are impatient either of Superiours or Equals and prosecute their Private Animosities with the Publick Danger and when common safety requires united Hearts and Counsels will not adjourn their private Quarrels nor sacrifice their private Interests and Resentments to save a Nation It is wonderful to observe that when a Kingdom is divided into Parties and Factions the most threatning dangers are so far from uniting them that they take advantage of Publick Fears and Apprehensions to get ground of their Adversaries tho' they hazard the whole by it and what are such Factions but a Combination of Self-lovers who divide themselves from the Publick Interest unless their Private Humours and Intrigues may take place when a Party will be the Whole and if others will not let them be the Whole let the Whole perish This is the narrow peevish unsociable Spirit of Self-love a temper which generous Heathens had in the greatest abhorrence and till a more publick Spirit revive in the World we must never expect to see easie and happy days The Times will be perillous while men are such Lovers of themselves But how
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
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