Christians Which as I have begged of you I shall now beg of God THE Fools Prosperity A SERMON Preached at Coven-Garden published upon occasion of some offence and misreports By R. B. Printed in the year 1660. Prov. 1. 32 33. For the turning away of the simple shall slâ—y them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them But who so hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil THE bounteous offers and vehement exhortations of Christ here in this Chapter were accompanied with a foresight and prediction of their rejection by many yeâ— doth not that prevent â—he offers and exhortations but occasion the predâ—ction of the câ—â—â—mity of the refusers God will not go out of his way because the ungodly will not walk with him He will do the part of a righteous Governour though he foresee that men will not do the part of obedient subjects But his primary end shall be attained upon the Righteous in the successes of his grace as his secondary end shall be upon the Disobedient in the honour of his vindictive Justice This is the sense of the words which I have now read to you Which 1. Describe the ungodly 1. By their present way of sin 2. And by their future state of misery Their sin is described by 1. The occasion 2. The act 3. The habit Prosperity and ease is the occasion turning away from God and rejecting his counsel is the act And folly or simplicity is part of the habit Simplicity is here taken for sinful foolishness and not as it is often for commendable sincerity Whether you read it The turning away or the ease of the simple it is all one as to the scope and use that I shall now make of it both being included as to the sense in the other words Folly is mentioned both as the cause of their abuse of prosperity and as the effect of prosperity so abused Because they are fools they turn Gods mercies to their own destruction And because they prosper they are confirmed in their folly 2. The words describe the godly 1. By their obedience they hearken unto Christ 2. By their priviledge or reward they shall dwell safely and be quiet from fear of evil We shall begin with the first and shew you 1. That it is so that the prosperity of fools destroyeth them 2. How folly and prosperity concur to their destruction or how prosperity befooleth and destroyeth them 3. How we should all improve this truth to our best advantage I. Scripture and experience concur in proving the truth of the conclusion 1. Though God tell us in his Word of a difficulty that all must conquer that will be saved yet it is a greater extraordinary difficulty that he tells us of as to the rich and prosperous in the world such a difficulty as is pathetically exprest by this interrogation Luke 18. 24. How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God such a difficulty as is expressed by this proverbial comparison ver 25. For it is easier for a Camel to go through a needles eye then for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God such a difficulty as â—â—st he hearers into admiration and made them ask v. 26. Who then can be saved such a difficulty as is to man an impossibility v. 27. and leaves only this hope that Things are possible to God that are impossible to man 2. And though its said of men indefinitely that it is but few that shall be saved yet is it noted of the rich and prosperous that its few of them among those few or few in comparison of other sorts of men that shall be saved Joh. 7. 48. Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharises believed on him 1 Cor. 1. 26. For ye see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the worâ—â— and things which are dâ—spisâ—d hath God chosen yea and things that are not to bring to nought things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence And therefore Scripture speaketh in such general language as if salvation had been almost appropriated to the poor and the rich had been excluded because of the rarity of their salvation Luke 6. 24 25. But wo unto you that are rich for ye have received your consolation wo unto you that are full for ye shall hunger wo unto you that laugh now for you shall mourn and weep Jam. 2. 5 6. Hearken my beloved brethren hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him but ye have despised the poor Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgement-seats Do they not blaspheme that worthy name by which you are called And therefore when Christ would describe a wicked miserable man he doth it in these words Luke 16. 19. There was a certain rich man which was cloathed in purple and fine linnen and fared sumptuously every day And Luk. 12. 16 19. The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully c. And when he would describe a godly happy man he doth it under the name of a Lazarus Luke 16. 20. Judge now by the success as it is discovered in the Scriptures what good prosperity doth to fools I might turn you to Davids observations in Psal 37. and 73. and mind you why it is that Christ himself went before us in a state of chosen poverty 2 Cor. 8. 9. and why his Disciples followed him in this tract and why he called them so much to deny and forsake the riches of the world and tried them so oft by selling all and following him in hopes of a heavenly reward Buâ— the point is evident in whâ—â—'s said in my text and these annexed testimonies 2. But yet to make you more apprehensive of it I shall adjoyn the testimony of Experience And tell me whether prosperity be not the destruction of 〈◊〉 when you have noted the â—ruits of it in these few observations 1. Where do you find less serious â—ure 〈…〉 salvation then among the prosperous great ones of the world what abundance of them are deâ—d-hearâ—ed sensless disregarders of everlasting things what abundance oâ— them are of no Religion but the custome of their Country and the will of their superiours which are their Bible their Law and Gospel and their Creed what abundance of them are addicted to that worship which Christ pronounceth vain which is measured by the traditions of men and consisteth meerly in ceremonious 〈◊〉 How few of them are acâ—â—â—â—ted with the spiritual worship 〈◊〉 that God who being a Spirit can accept no worship but what is spiritual Alas poor souls they drown
THE VAIN RELIGION OF THE Formal Hypocrite And the mischief of an unbridled Tongue as against Religion Rulers or Dissenters described in several Sermons Preached at the Abby in Westminster before many Members of the Honourable House of Commons 1660. AND The Fools Prosperity The occasion of his destruction A Sermon Preached at Coven-Garden Both published to heal the effects of some Hearers misunderstandings and misreports By Richard Baxter London Printed by R. â— for F. Tyâ—oâ— at the three daggers in Fleet-street and Novel Sâ—mâ—n â—ookseller at Kedenmaster 1660. At â—â—boâ—nd TO THE READER THough God be not the Author of sin he knows why he permitteth tin the world He will be no loser and Satan shall be no gainer by it in the end The malice of the Devil wicked men is ordinarily the destruction of the cause which they most desire to promote and an advantage by accident to the cause and persons which they would root out from the earth Were there no more to prove this than the Instances of Josephs brethren of Pharaoh and the murderers of our Lord it were enough We usually lose more by the flatteries of Satan and the world than by their violence If these hasty course unpolished Sermons shall prove beneficial to the souls of any this also may come in among the lower rank of Instances If the Devil had let me alone they 〈◊〉 have been cast aside and no further molested him or his Kingdom for ought I know than they did upon the Preaching of them But seeing he will needs by malicious misreports and slanders kindle suspicion and raise offence against them and the Author let him take what he gets by it He hath never yet got much from me by violence or by his foulmouthed slanderous instruments No not when the impudence or multitude of their slanders have forced me to be silent lest I trouble the Reader or misspend my time The first of these Discourses being intended to undeceive the Formal Hypocrite and to call men from a Vain to a Saving serious Religion and to acquaint them that cry out against Hypocrisie where the Hypocrite is to be found it seems provoked the Ignorant or the Guilty in so much that the cry went that I Preacht down all Forms of Prayer and all Government and Order in the Church when there is not a Syllable that hath any such sense But it seems what I spoke against the Carkass was interpreted to be spoken against the Body of Religion The words of Mr. Bolton and other Divines which I have cited against the Reproachers of serious piety are added since the Preaching of the rest as being more fit to be presented here to the eye than in the Pulpit to the ear The petulancy of men on both extreams constrained me to add The Bridle for their tongues The second Discourse I understand offended some few of the Gallants that thought they were too roughly handled let them here peruse it and better concoct it if they please I only add this Observation to the Heirs of Heaven that are above this world and live by Faith Few rich men are truly Religious It is as hard for them to be saved as for a Camel to go through a needles eye Yet rich men will every where be the Rulers of the world and so as to outward protection or opposition the Judges in matters of Religion Judge therefore whether Dominion and earthly raign be the portion of the Saints as Jewishly some of late imagine and what usage we must ordinarily expect on earth and what condition the Church of Christ is like to be in to the end As his Kingdom so ours is not of this world A low despised suffering state is it that Behevers must ordinarily expect and prepare for and study to be serviceable in If better may I call it better come take it as a Feast and grudge not when the table is withdrawn and look not it should be our every dayes fare But yet value the more highly those few of the Rich and Great and Rulers that are above this world and devote their power and riches to the Lord and are Holy and Heavenly in the midst of so great temptations and impediments The Lord teach us to use this transitory world as not overusing it that we may never hear Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things Luke 16. 25. How shortly will they find themselves everlastingly undone that made not sure of a more enduring portion Reader that thou mayst savingly remember these common but necessary though much neglected truths is the end of these endeavours and shall be the matter of my hearts desire and prayers while the Lord continneth me His servant for the promoting the increase and edification of his Church Nov. 15. 1660 R. Baxter Postscript REaders meeting in his consideration of the Liturgy with these following words of Reverend D. Gauden I cannot but commend the Candor Justice and Integrity of M. Baxter who lately professed to me that he saw nothing in the Liturgy which might not well bear a good construction if men looked upon it as became Christians with eyes of Charity I was sensible of the great respects of this Learned and Reverend man but lest you misunderstand both him and me I think it best to tell you more fully what were my words Speaking for reformation of the Common prayer Book and an addition of other forms in Scripture phrase with liberty of choice c. I said That for the Doctrine of the Common prayer Book though I had read exceptions against divers passages I remembred not any thing that might not receive a good construction if it were read with the same candour and allowance as we read the writings of other men So that it was only the Truth of the Doctrine that I spoke of against which I hate to be peevishly quarrelsome when God hath blest this Church so wonderfully with a moderate and cautelous yet effectual Reformation in matter of Doctrine The more pitty is it that the very modes of Worship and Discipline should be the matter of such sharp and uncharitable discords which must one day prove the grief of those that are found to have been the causes of it and of the sufferings of the Church on that occasion The Contents THe Introduction Page 1. c. Dict There is a seeming Religiousness which is but self-deceiving and will prove in Vain Ten particulars that constitute the Hypocrites Vain Religion 11. to 20. Ten things that are yet wanting to the Hypocrite that prove his Religion Vain 20. to 34. By what means and method the Hypocrite makes shift to deceive himself by his Religion 34. to 49. What moveth the Hypocrite to this self-deceit and what are the reasons and uses of his Vain Religion 49. In what respects the Hypocrites religion is not Vain 80 In what respects his religion is Vain 92 Use 1. Why a seeming outside Hypocritical religion is so common in
comparison of serious faith and godliness 95 Why Popery hath so many followers 100 Use 2. To awaken the self-deceiving Hypocrite 108 Ten infallible marks of grace which are in all that are sound believers and set together describe his state premised to prevent the misapplication of what followeth and groundless troubles of the sincere iii Terror to the self-deceiver 1. His religion being Vain his hopes and comforts are all Vain 118 2. It will deceive him in his extremity 129 The detection of the Hypocrite by his contradicting all the parts of his Christian profession shewing that all the ungodly among us that profess to be true Christians are Hypocrites 148. to 173 The Hypocrites unbridled tongue 175 Sins of the tongue 177 What the text means 179 Three sorts especially reproved 180 1. The deriders scorners revilers or opposers of serious godliness Their terror in the aggravation of their sin 181. to 198 2. Those that uncharitably reproach each other for lesser differences in religion 198 Of the common malicious use of the nicknames Puritans Precisians Zealots c. 205 Bishop Downames testimony of the use of the word Puritan in his time 210 The testimony of Dr. Rob. Abbot Regius Professer of Divinity in Oxford and Bishop of Salisbury 211 Mr. Robert Boltons testimony at large 212 His further description of the Formal Hypocrite 217 Bishop Halls Character of an Hypocrite 226 3. The sinfulness of passionate reproachful speeches against superiors when we suffer by them for religions sake Proposed to the consideration of suffering tempted Christians how sincere soever 231 How far we may mention such sins of others 247 Two causes of mens frowardness of speech 250 Who is indeed the Hypocrite The impudency of our common Hypocritus that take serious godliness for hypocrisie If we will be Christians indeed we must be content to be 10 though we are not thought to be so and to be accounted Hypocrites when we have done most to approve our hearts and wayes to God 251 Eight directions to the Hypocrite to save him from a Vain religion 261 The prosperity of fools destroyeth them Prov. 1 32 33. Proved by Scripture and the impiety of such 278 How it destroyeth them 306 The ill uses of this truth to be avoided 315 The right uses urged 317 A hint of comfort to the obedient souls that they shall dwell in safety and be quiet from the fear of evil even when evil seemeth to prevail against them 336 THE VAIN RELIGION Of the Formal HYPOCRITE Jam. 1. 26. If any man among you seem to be Religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart this mans Religion is vain BEloved hearers I may suppose that we are all come hither to day for the great end of our lives and to labour in that work for which we are created redeemed preserved instructed and furnished with the helps and means of Grace even to prepare for death that is coming to arrest us and for the presence of our Judge who stands as at the door and to make our Calling and Election sure that the glory of the Saints may be our lot when the world of the ungodly are cast into endless misery and despair And I hope I may suppose that in order to this end you would gladly be acquainted with the causes of damnation that you may avoid them with your greatest dangers that you may escape them and with the hinderances of your salvation that you may overcome them When we read in the Gospel that salvation is to be offered unto all and no man is excepted or shut out but such as shut out and except themselves and yet read that there are but few that find the strait gate and the narrow way and that the flock is little that shall have the Kingdom and that many shall seek to enter that shall not be able Matth. 7. 13 14. Luk. 12. 32. and 13. 24. we must needs conclude that some powerful enemy standeth in the way that can cause the ruine of so many millions of souls But when we go further and find what rich preparations God hath made and what means he hath used and what abundant helps he offereth and affordeth to bring men to this blessed state of life it forceth us to admire that any enemy can be so strong as to frustrate so many and such excellent means But when we yet go further and find that salvation is freely offered and that the purchase is made by a Saviour to our hands and that hearty consent is the condition of our Title and nothing but our wilful refusal can undo us when we find that salvation is brought down to mens wills and also what motives and convincing helps and earnest perswasions are appointed and used to make men willing we are then surprized with yet greater admiration that any deceiver can be so subtile or the heart of man can be so foolish as to be drawn in despight of all these means to cast away the immortal crown that else no enemy could have taken from him And now we discern the quality of our enemy of our snares of our danger and of our duty It is not meer Violence but Deceit that can undo us not force but fraud that we have to resist And were not the mind of a carnal man exceeding brutish while he seemeth wise for carnal things it were a thing incredible that so many men could by all the subtilty of hell be drawn in the day-light of the Gospel deliberately and obstinately to refuse their happiness and to choose the open way of their damnation and leave their friends lamenting their calamity that might have mercy and cannot be perswaded to consent That Satan is the great Deceiver and layeth the snare and manageth the bait we are all convinced that the world and all our fleshly accommodations are the instrumental Deceivers the snare the bait which Satan useth is also a thing that we all confess But that beside the Devil and the World a Reasonable Creature should be his own Deceiver and that in a business of unspeakable everlasting consequence and that Religion it self a seeming Religiousness that indeed is Vain should be made by himself the means of his Deceit this is a mysterie that is opened to you in my Text and requireth our most careful search and consideration When Satan and the World have wounded us by their Deceits Religion is it that helpeth us to a cure He that is Deceived by pleasures and profits and the vain-glory of the world must be undeceived and recovered by Religion or he must perish But that Religion it self should become his deceit and the remedy prove his greatest misery is the most stupendious effect of Satans subtilty and a sinners fraudulency and the saddest aggravation of his deplorable calamity And yet alas this is so common a case that where the Gospel is Preached it seems to be Satans principal game and the high-way to hell There is no other Name by which
And first Negatively it is not Vain to his own carnal ends but to the true ends of Religion 1. He intendeth by it the quieting of his own accusing conscience and the keeping up his hopes of salvation and keeping off the terrors of the Lord and so consequentially the deceiving of his own heart and to these ends it s not in Vain Here he sitteth as quietly as if all were well between God and him and heareth the threatenings as securely as if they concerned not him at all and applyeth the promises as boldly as if he were one of the heirs of promise you would little think that this man must shortly be cast into utter darkness from the presence of the Lord and have his portion with Hypocrites Matth. 24. 51. His everlasting horrours appear not now to himself upon his heart nor to others in his face what sign can you see of the curse of the Law or the wrath of God in that mans countenance what sign of his spiritual captivity and slavery and of the load of sin that lyeth upon his soul unless it be that he feels it not what sign of a man in so great danger of eternal torment unless it be that he little feareth it Doth he sit there like a man that is within a step of hell and shall shortly be there with the Devil and his Angels as sure as he is here unless he be saved by that grace and holiness which he now resists No he is as confident to be saved as the precisest of you all he is as little troubled with the fears of hell or the wrath of God as those that are discharged from it by Justification and perhaps much less For all this he is beholden to his Vain Religion that in the point of self-deceiving is not Vain As solid evidences promote the comâ—orts of true believers so this superficial kind of Religion promoteth the present peace of the presumptuous 2. This Religion is not Vain as to the frustrating of all the means of grace and hindering the conversion and Salvation of the Hypocrite This is his armour of defence against the sword of the Spirit that would pierce his heart and let out his close corruption and separate him from his beloved sin What tell you him of Repentance and Conversion He thinks he needeth no Conversion or is converted long ago what is he not a Christian a Protestant a Religious man Tell swearers and cursers and drunkards and extortioners and cruel Land-lords and fornicators of Conversion tell these that they are slaves of Satan and under the wrath and curse of God that are indeed so past all controversie but tell not him of it that makes no doubt but he is a member of Christ a Child of God and an heir of heaven He loveth to hear a Minister rouze up the prophane and grossely sensual offendors and seems in pitty to wish for their conversion and perhaps will exhort them to turn and mend their lives himself But he little thinks that he is faster in the prison of Satan then they and that he is himself in the same condemnation Do you go about to tell him of the necessity of the fear of God and of loving him above all and of trusting him and serving him as our only Lord Why all this he will confess and perhaps is as forward to say as you and verily thinks that he is one that doth it you may assoon make him believe that he is not an English man as that he is not a Christian and that he loveth not himself as that he loveth not God even while he liveth not to think of him to speak of him to call upon him to obey him while he loveth not his word his waies or servants or while he loveth the world and the pleasures of sin more heartily and seeketh them more eagerly and cleaveth to them more tenaciously yet if you would perswade him that he hath not a heart as true to God as any of you all you will lose your labour Do you tell him of hypocrisie he will tell you that its the thing he hateth who speaks against it more then he And because the world shall see he is no Hypocrite he will call them all Hypocrites that are faithful to God and to their souls and will not sit down in his truely-hypocritical Vain Religion but will be more holy and diligent then he What can you say to such a man in order to his conversion which his self-deceiving Religion will not frustrate Do you tell him of hell fire and of the wrath of God against the ungodly All this he can hear as calmly as another man for he thinks that he is none of the ungodly he hath scapt the danger let them be afraid of it whom it doth concern If you tell him of his sins he can tell you that all men are sinners we are here imperfect and you shall never perswade him that his raigning deadly sins are any other then such humane frailties and infirmities as may stand with grace Do you put him upon the inward practice of Religion and the fuller devoting of his soul to God and the life of faith and a heavenly mind Hee 'l tell you that in his measure he doth all this already though none of us are so good as we should be And his heart being unseen to you he thinks you must believe him Do you blame him for his slightness and Formality in Religion and put him upon a more serious diligent course and to live as one that seeketh heaven with all his heart and soul and might why he thinks you do but perswade him to some self-conceited over-zealous party and draw him from his moderation to be righteous overmuch and to make too much ado with his Religion Unless he be an Hypocrite that falleth into the Schismatical strain and then he will make a greater busle with his opinions and his outside services then you can desire So that one with his meer book-prayers forms and ceremonies and the other with his meer extemporate words and affected outside seeming fervour and both of them by a meer Opinionative lifeless carnal kind of Religion subjected to their fleshly ends and interests do so effectually cheat their souls that they are armed against all that you can say or do and you know not how to get within them or fasten any saving truth upon their hearts 3. This Vain Religion is not Vain as to the preserving of his reputation in the world It saveth him from being numbered with the filthy rabble and from being pointed at as notoriously vicious or branded with the disgraceful characters of the scandalous Men say not of him There goeth a drunkard a swearer a curser a fornicator or a prophane ungodly wretch He may be esteemed civil ingenuous discreet and perhaps Religious and be much honoured by wise religious men Though most commonly his formal or opinionative heartless kind of Religion is discerned or much suspected
themselves the more easily that they are as good as those opinions and that company doth import and that they are truely such as those they joyn with As men are taken by others for such as those they correspond with so hypocrites take themselves for such As if it would prove that a man is sound because he dwelleth with them that are so Or as if it would prove a man rich or honourable that he converseth with such As God will not save any Nations on earth because they are such Nations nor will he save men because they are of such or such a trade or because they are skilled in this or that art or science no more will he save men for being of this or that party or Sect in matters of Religion One thinks when he hath lived a fleshly life that he shall be saved for hearing or saying the Common-prayer or because he is for Prelacy and Ceremonies another thinks he shall be saved because he can pray without a book or form of words or because he frequenteth the private meetings of those that more diligently redeem their time for spiritual advantages then others do another thinks he shall be saved because he is mocked as a Puritan or as too strict as others are that are serious believers and diligent in the things of God and another thinks that he shall be saved because he is rebaptized or because he joyneth with some separating Congregation which pretendeth to be more strict then others But none shall be saved on any such account as these Cain could not be saved for being the first born in the family of Adam Cham could not be saved for being in the Ark and family of Noah Nor Esau for being in the house of Isaac Nor Absalom for being the son of David Nor Judas for being a Disciple in the family of Christ Even Mary that brought him forth could not have been saved by him if she had not had a better title and had not bore him in her heart Mark 3. 34 35. when they talk to him of his Mother and his brethren Christ looked upon those that sate about him and told them that Whosoever shall do the will of God the same is his Brother his Sister and his Mother It is no outward badge and livery but a heart-title that must prove you the heirs of heaven You may be snatcht out of the purest Church on earth and from the purest ordinances and out of the arms of the most upright Christians and cast into hell if you have no better evidences then such to shew for your salvation If ever you be saved it must not be because you are Papists or Protestants Lutherans or Calvinists Arminians Antinomians Anabaptists Independents Presbyterian or Prelatical formally and meerly as such But because you are true Christians that have the Spirit of Christ Rom. 8. 9. and are conformed to him in his sufferings death and resurrection and live in sincere obedience to his will But Hypocrites that want the inward life and power of Religion and are conscious of their willfull sins would fain borrow something from the parties which they joyn with or the opinions which they take up or the formal outward worship which they perform or the alms which they give to make up the want and cheat their souls with a self-created confidence that they shall be saved But more specially you may hence observe the reason that Popery hath so many followers and that it is so easie a thing to make an Infidel or whoremonger or drunkard to turn a Papist when yet it is not easie to bring them to faith and chastity and temperance much less to the unfeigned love of God and to a holy heavenly life Though I doubt not but there are many sincere-hearted Christians among the Papists yet Popery it self is of an hypocritical strain and is notably suited to the Hypocrites disposition It is revived Pharisaisme I marvel that they tremble not when they read themselves so lively characterized by Christ with the addition of so many terrible woes as in Matth. 23. and other places frequently they are Woe to you Scribes Pharisees Hypocrites They bind heavy burdens of external observances to lay upon the consciences of their Proselytes They make broad their Phylacteries and in variety of holy vestures they make ostentation of such a Religion as a Peacock may have when he spreads his tail They contend for superiority and titles to be called Rabbi Pope Cardinal Patriarck Primate Metropolitane Archbishop Diocesane Abbot Prior Father c. to the great disturbance of all the Nations of the Christian world They must needs be the Fathers and Masters of our faith They shut up the Kingdom of heaven against the people forbidding all to read the Scriptures in their vulgar tongue without a special license from their Ordinary and commanding them to worship God in a strange tongue which they do not understand By the numbers of their Masses and prayers for the dead they delude the souls and devour the Patrimony of the living In Temples and Altars and Images and Ornaments consisteth no small part of their Religion They make more of tything mint anise and cummin then of judgement mercy and faith the weightier matters of the Law The outside they make clean and appear as beautiful to men as ceremonies and outward pompe can make them They make it a part of their Religion to murder the living Saints and keep holy dayes for the dead They build the Tombs of the Prophets and garnish the Sepulchres of the righteous and say If we had lived in the dayes of our Fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets Thus Matth. 23. is their description They have their Touch not â—aste not handle not after the commandements and doctrines of men their voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels and other rudiments of the world and things that have a shew of wisdom in will-worship and humility and neglecting of the body not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh Col. 2. 19 20 21 22 23. How easie a thing is it to bring an ungodly man to be of a Religion that consisteth in such things as these in eating fish on certain dayes in stead of flesh in saying over so many Pater Nosters and Ave Maries and naming so oft the name of Jesu in worshipping a piece of consecrated bread with divine worship in bowing and praying before an Image in praying to the souls of such as the Pope tells them are Saints in heaven in crossing themselves and being sprinkled with holy water and using agnus dei's and consecrated grains and amulets in dropping of beads in saying such words as a prayer at such a canonical hour and such words at the next canonical hour in hearing a Masse in Latine and saying a Latine prayer in being anointed with hallowed oyl burning hallowed candles on the Altars by day-light in going so many miles to
at as the only dissemblers of the world You must not only be honest but patiently expect to be accounted dishonest you must not only bewise and sober but patiently expect to be accounted fools and mad men You must not only be liberal charitable and contemners of the world but patiently expect to be called covetous even though you give away all that you have You must not only be chaste and temperate but also patiently expect to be defamed as incontinent and licentious and as Christ was called a wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and sinners A Minister must not only lay out himself wholly for the saving of mens souls and spend himself and all that he hath on his Masters work but also patiently expect to be accounted unfaithful coveâ—ous and negligent and murmured at by almost all whose unreasonable desires he doth not answer and be censured by almost all whose wills and humours he doth not fulfill and that is most that have a self that ruleth at home and therefore they think should be the Idol of others as it is their own and that are but unacquainted with the reasons of those things that do displease them It s little comfort to us to do good if we cannot bear the estimation of doing evil and cannot lose all the observation acknowledgement and applause of man as if we had never done the good at all It is far from Christian perfection to be honest and godly and sincere if we must needs be accounted to be as we are and cannot patiently be esteemed dishonest ungodly and hypocritical and be judged worst when we are best what have the servants of Christ lost their lives for in flames and by other sorts of torments but for the best of their service and greatest of their piety and fidelity When dogs bark at passengers commonly it signifieth but two things viz. that they are persons that they know not or that they hate but it is no sign that the persons are bad or poor or sick For be they never so bad and miserable if they know them and love them the dogs will not bark at them See that thou be not an Hypocrite and then it must be accounted a small matter by thee to be called an Hypocrite yea if persons that fear God themselves shall so esteem thee it is no other affliction but what thou must be armed for and patiently undergo Even from the godly through mistake we oft suffer most for our greatest duties and are censured most for that which God and conscience most approve us for and lose our reputations for that which God would be greatly offended with us if we did otherwise As ever then you would not prove your selves Hypocrites see that you look not for the Hypocrites reward as Christ calls it Matth. 6. 2. which is to be approved of men be they good or bad men their overvalued applause may be but the Hypocrites reward To be content and patient in doing well and being judged to do ill and in being good and being judged to be bad is the property of him that is sincere indeed therefore to be unthankfully requited and reviled and spit upon and buffeted and shamefully used and put to death even by those whose lives and souls he had with greatest care and condescension pittied this was the pattern of love and self-denyal that was set us by our Lord. And though we cannot reach his measure and distempered Christians find much strugling before they can bring themselves to patience under such ingratitude and unworthy usage from the world especially from their mistaken froward brethren yet in some prevailing measure it must be done For he that cannot serve God without the Hypocrites reward is but an Hypocrite If he will not be a Christian obedient charitable diligent faithful for heaven and the pleasing of God alone he is not a Christian indeed And alas what a pittiful reward is it to be thought well of and applauded by the tongues of mortal men How few were ever the more holy by applause but thousands have been hurt if not undone by it Thou givest all thou hast to the poor thou spendest thy self wholly and all that thou hast for the service of God and the good of others Its well it must be so But after all thou art censured slandered vilified and unthankfully and unmannerly used And what of that what harm dost thou fear by it what advantage thy pride and selfishness might have taken even by due applause and thankfulness its easie to perceive But now the temptation is taken out of thy way thou art secluded from all creature-comforts and so art directed and almost forced to look up to the love of God alone Now thou hast no other reward before thee it s easier to look singly on the Saints reward When God hath no competitour to whom else then canst thou turn thy thoughts when all others abuse thee it is easiest to have recourse to him When earth will scarce afford thee any quiet habitation thou 'lt surely look to heaven for rest Thus much I thought meet to interpose here for the confirmation of the sincere on occasion of the worlds unjust accusations and so to perswade them to be satisfied in the portion of the sincere I now return again to the self-deceiver ANd here I shall conclude all with these two requests to you which as one that foreseeth the approaching misery of self-deceivers I earnestly intreat you for the sake of your immortal souls that you will not deny me The first is that you will be now but as willing to try your selves as I have been to help you and as diligent and faithful when you are alone in calling your own hearts to a close examination as I have been to hold the light here to you O refuse not delay not to withdraw your selves sometimes from the world and set your selves as before the eye of God and there bethink your selves whether you have been what you have vowed and profest to be and whether that God hath been dearest to your hearts and obeyed in your lives and desired as your happiness who hath been confessed and honoured with your lips Consider there that God judgeth not as man nor will he think ever the better of you for thinking well of your selves and that there must go more to prove your approbation with God then commonly goes to keep up your reputation in the world The Religion that serveth to honour you before men and to deceive your selves will never serve to please the Lord and save your souls And the day is at hand when nothing but God can give you comfort and when self-deceivers will become everlastingly self-tormentors O therefore go willingly and presently to the Word to your lives and hearts and consciences and try your selves and try again and that with moderate suspicion that in so great a business you may not be deceived and be self-deceivers 2. My second request is that if you do
proudest and securest of them all For God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses Psal 68. 21. He is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with him The foolish shall not stand in his sight he hateth all the workers of iniquity Psal 5. 3 4. The ungodly that delight not in the Law of the Lord are like the chaffe that the wind driveth away They shall not stand in judgement nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous Psal 1. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the Nations that forget God Psal 9. 17. Cannot you endure to hear and consider of these things How then will you endure to feel them God will not flatter you If all your greatness enable you not to repulse the assaults of death nor to chide away the gout or stone and all your honour or wealth will not cure a feaver or ease you of the tooth-ake how little will it do to save you from the everlasting wrath of God or to avert his sentence which must shortly pass on all that are impenitent And yet prosperity so befooleth sensual men that they must hear of none of this at least not with any close and personal application If you speak as Christ did to the Pharises Mat. 21. 45. that they perceived that he spake of them they take you for their enemy for telling them the truth Gal. 4. 16. and meet our doctrine as Ahab did Elijah 2 King 21. 20. Hast thou found me O mine enemy and 1 King 18. 17. Art thou he that troubleth Israel or as the same Ahab of Micaiah 1 King 22. 8. There is one man Micaiah of whom we may enquire of the Lord but I hate him for he doth not prophesie good concerning me but evil Or as Amaziah the Priest said of Amos to King Jeroboam He hath conspired against thee the land is not able to bear all his words Amos 7. 10. And ver 13. Prophesie not again any more at Bethel for it is the Kings Chappel and it is the Kings Court They behave themselves to faithful Ministers as if it were a part of their inviolable honour and priviledge to be mortally sick without the trouble of a Physician and to have no body tell them that they are out of their way till it be too late or that they are in misery till there be no remedy and that none should remember them of heaven till they have lost it nor trouble them in the way to hell nor seek to save them lest he should but torment them before the time And thus prosperity makes them willingly deaf and blind and turn away their ears from the hearing of the Law and then their prayers for mercy in their distress are rejected as abominable by the Lord Prov. 1. 24. to 33. and 28 9. 7. Yea if there be any persecution raised against the Church of Christ who are the chief acters in it but the prosperous blinded sensual great ones of the world The Princes make it their petition against Jeremy to the King We beseech thee let this man be put to death for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war and the hands of all the people in speaking such words unto them for this man seeketh not the welfare of his people but the hurt Jer. 38. 4. It was the Presidents and Princes that said of Daniel We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel except we find it against him concerning the Law of his God Dan. 6. 5. Were it not lest some malicious hearer should misapply it and think I sought to diminish the reputation of Magistrates while I shew the effects of the prosperity of fools I should give you abundance of such lamentable instances and tell you how commonly the great ones of the world have in all ages set themselves and taken counsel against the Lord and against his Christ Psal 2. and stumbled upon the corner-stone and taken no warning by those that have been thus broken in pieces before them How ready is Herod to gratifie a wanton dancer with a Prophets head In a word as Satan is called the Prince of this world no wonder if he rule the men of the world that have their portion in this life Psal 17. 14. and can command his armies and engage them and enrage them against the servants of the Most High that run not with them to the same excess of ryot 1 Pet. 4. 4. And as James saith as aforecited Do not the rich oppress you and draw you before the judgement seats Do they not blaspheme that worthy name by which you are called Jam. 2. 6 7. 8. And in all this sin and misery how senseless and secure are these prosperous fools as merry within a year or month or week of hell as if no harm were near How wonderful hard is it to convince them of their misery The most learned wise or godly man or the dearest friend they have in the world shall not perswade them that their case is such as to need a conversion and supernatural change They cannot abide to take off their minds from their sensual delights and vanities and to trouble themselves about the things of life eternal come on 't what will they are resolv'd to venture and please their flesh and enjoy what the world will afford them while they may till suddenly God surprizeth them with his dreadful call Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided Luke 12. 20. So is he that layeth up riches for himself and is not rich towards God ver 21. II. I Should next shew you how it is that prosperity thus destroyeth fools Briefly 1. By the pleasing of their sensitive appetite and fancy and so overcoming the power of reason Perit omne judicium cum res transit in affectum Violent affections hearken not to reason The beast is made too headstrong for the rider Deut. 32 15. Jesurun waxed fat and kicked then he forsook God that made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation 2. The friendship of the world is enmity to God and if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Jam. 4. 4. 1 Joh. 2. 15. And undoubtedly the more amiable the world appears the more strongly it doth allure the soul to love it And to the prosperous it appeareth in the most entising dress 3. And hereby it taketh off the soul from God We cannot love and serve God and Mammon The heart is gone another way when God should have it It is so full of love and desire and care and pleasure about the creatures that there is no room for God How can they love him with all their hearts that have let out those hearts to vanity before 4. And the very noise and busle of these worldly things diverts their minds