deceiving his own Soul From him shall be taken away even that which he hath he shall be deprived of it to inrich his industrious Brother and add to his Abundance What Grace he had before shall be withdrawn and he naked and defenseless left to the Fury of his Spiritual Enemies the Dews of Heaven shall no longer drop upon his barren Soul but parch'd and sapless it shall be reserv'd to eternal Burnings Consider this all ye that forget God and are unfruitful under all his Care and fatherly Nurture and Admonition lest at length he pluck you away and there be none to deliver you And remember the Words of Solomon Prov. 29.1 He that being often reprov'd still hardeneth his Neck shall suddainly be destroyed and that without Remedy And thus have I done with the first of our Saviours Parables in which is set before us a Blessing and a Curse a Blessing if when the good Seed is sown and we have heard the Word we receive it into honest and good Hearts and according to our several Abilities bring forth Fruit to Perfection that is obey and Practise it with Constancy and Perseverance And a Curse if we remain still barren and unfruitful not Doers of the Word but Hearers only deceiving our selves into eternal Perdition It becomes us all therefore to take heed how we hear and not be like the High-way-side suffering our Thoughts to wander from the Instructions we have heard and leaving the good Seed unregarded to the Mercy of the great Enemy of Souls and exposing our Minds as a common Tract to vain and wicked Fancies and Imaginations and diabolical Suggestions nor like the stony Ground impenetrable to any deep and lasting Impressions of the Word of Life nor like that over-run with Thorns and Briars and noxious Weeds such as are the Cares and deceitful Riches and Pleasures of this Life which will choak the Word and render it unfruitful But that we treasure up this Divine Word in our Memories ponder and consider it and set our Love and Affections upon it So shall it grow and prosper and bring forth Fruit in some Thirty in some Sixty in some an Hundred-Fold to the Honour and Glory of God and the eternal Salvation of our immortal Souls Which God of his infinite Mercy grant for Jesus Christ his Sake Now 2 Cor. 9.10 He that ministreth Seed to the Sower both give us this Heavenly Bread for our Food and multiply the Seed that is sown and encrease the Fruits of our Righteousness that being inrich'd in every good thing to all Bountifulness there may be given through us Thanksgiving unto God Amen Amen The PRAYER I. MOST Holy Jesus thou blessed Author of the best Religion who hast in great Plenty sown among us the Seed of a happy Immortality even thy holy Word and watered it with the Dew of thy heavenly Grace and art wanting in nothing on thy Part to cause it to flourish and bring forth abundantly the Fruits of Righteousness I thy unworthy Servant unfeignedly bless this thy infinite Goodness and tender Care for the Children of Men but must with Shame confess that hitherto thy Care has been in too great Measure defeated by my Inconsiderateness and Obstinacy my Soul still remains barren as the High-way-side impenetrable to the Sermons of the Gospel or at best flitting and unconstant in religious Purposes which have been short-liv'd as the Grass that grows upon the Top of the Rocks or else choak'd with the Briars of worldly Cares and Distractions with covetous and sensual Desires Thus have I courted Death in the Error of my Life But now being awaken'd by thy Mercy and become sensible of the Danger I am in and the sad Consequence if my Barrenness continues I humbly beg and earnestly at the Throne of Grace that Thou from whom is all our Sufficiency wouldst aid me with thy blessed Spirit and help my Infirmities and strengthen me mightily in the inner Man that thy Word may ever hereafter take so deep a Rooting in my Soul as to produce the genuine Fruits of Christianity II. I am sadly sensible O Lord that the Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Do thou therefore who art the Searcher of our Spirits purge my Soul of all lurking Hypocrisy and Pride and Self-conceit and every thing that will hinder the Growth and Increase of this heavenly Seed and make me apt to receive and cherish it by creating in me an honest and good Heart and renewing a sincere and right Spirit within me Grant that I may so seriously attend to and consider the great Truths thy Goodness hath revealed to us in the Gospel as intirely to assent to them and heartily endeavour to conform my Practice to my Belief and may I always heedfully preserve those divine Instructions and moving Arguments to a persevering Piety which I have learned from thy Word lest the infernal Bird of Prey deprive me of the good Seed and in its room plant devillish Affections And O that Patience and Hope and an humble Dependance upon thee for Direction and Defence may be my Support in this my Pilgrimage That so chearfully running the Race that is set before me and thankfully acknowledging the early Influences of thy blessed Spirit in my tender Years and waiting for the later Distillations of thy Grace which will bring my Fruit to Perfection and always endeavouring o proportion my Increase to the Means and Opportunities of it thy Goodness hath vouchsafed me I may at last escape the Intolerable Punishment of Unfruitfulness and having my Fruit unto Holiness the End may be everlasting Life through thy Merits and Mercies O blessed Saviour Jesus Amen PARABLE II. Of the Tares Matth. xiii 24 25 26 27 28 29 30. Another Parable put Jesus forth unto them saying The Kingdom of Heaven is likned unto a Man that sowed good Seed in his Field But while Men slept his Enemy came and sowed Tares among the Wheat and went his way But when the Blade was sprung up and brought forth Fruit then appeared the Tares also So the Servants of the Housholder came and said unto him Sir didst not thou sow good Seed in thy Field From whence then hath it Tares He said unto them an Enemy hath done this The Servants said unto him wilt thou then that we go and gather them up But he said nay lest while ye gather up the Tares ye root up also the Wheat with them Let both grow together until the Harvest and in the time of Harvest I will say to the Reapers gather ye together first the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them But gather the Wheat into my Barn THE Interpretation of this Parable is thus set down Vers 37. of this Chapter He that soweth the good Seed is the Son of Man the Field is the World the good Seeds are the Children of the Kingdom but the Tares are the Children of the wicked one the Enemy that sowed them is the Devil the Harvest is the End of the World and
the Reapers are the Angels As therefore the Tares are gather'd and burnt in the Fire so shall it be in the End of the World The Son of Man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them that do Iniquity and shall cast them into a Furnace of Fire there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father From this Interpretation of this Parable it appears that the Design of it is to shew for the Encouragement of the sincerely good and Terrour of the Hypocritical that though there may be many wicked Professors of Christianity that are Christians only in Name and Out-side and who in this World may be confusedly intermix'd among the good and go undiscover'd of Men and unpunish'd of God nay thrive and prosper here more than the good and to all outward Appearance be the Favorites of Heaven whilst the sincerely good undergo many Afflictions and appear to Men to be under God's Displeasure Yet in the great Harvest that shall be at the End of the World there shall be a Distinction made between the one and the other the hypocritical shall be separated from the sincere and the former consign'd to ever lasting Burnings and the latter received into the Heavenly Regions the Place prepared for them from the Beginning of the World This is the Design of the Parable We shall now briefly consider how aptly expressive it is of this Sense and then discourse upon the several Parts of it The planting of the Gospel in the World in order to the converting Men to Christianity is compared to the sowing of Seed because as was said upon the former Parable the Gospel like Seed is that Principle of a future great Increase of Piety and Holiness in this World and of Glory and Happiness in the next 'T is that which if sincerely embrac'd and its Growth and Progress not hindred will spring up to Glory Honour and Immortality And 't is said to be like Seed sown or committed to the Furrows and then left to its own seminal Powers and the favourable Influences of Heaven because the Gospel being actually planted in the World is as to particular Persons left to make its Way by its own Power and Efficacy the Excellency of its Precepts and its transcendent Rewards and Punishments together with the constant Dews of the Divine Grace that attend it without any more extraordinary Means unless upon some extraordinary Occasion to make it take Root and fructify 'T is generally propos'd to all in its whole Latitude which is the sowing of it and then Men are left to their own free Choice whether they will embrace it with its Promises or turn their Backs upon it and run the Hazard of its Threats without any irresistible Force to the one or the other only the small still Voice of God's Spirit in Men's Hearts and Grace descending like the gentle Dew to soften and incline them to cherish this good Seed which is the leaving the Gospel to its own seminal Powers with only the benign Waterings of the Divine Grace and Blessing Our Lord is call'd the Sower of the good Seed because he is the Author and first Teacher of this holy Religion and its Validity to the great Purposes to which it is design'd depends upon the Merit of his bitter Death and Passion and the invigorating Vertue of his precious Blood For 't was upon his satisfying the Divine Justice by his Death that he receiv'd Authority to mark out to us this Way to Life and Reconciliation as the only Principle and Seed of Immortality The World is call'd the Field where this Seed is sown because this blessed Religion is catholick and universal not confined to any particular Place or People as the Jewish Religion was but whosoever of what Nation or People soever shall believe in Jesus and repent shall be saved And agreeably in another Parable which for its great Analogy to this I shall not particularly discourse of the Gospel or Kingdom of Christ is represented by a Net cast into the Sea Mat. 13.47 not any particular Lake or River And this World is stiled the Field because this is the only Place of receiving this Seed and bringing forth the genuine and expected Fruits of it and he that shall refuse to receive this divine Seed now while he continues here or not suffer it to grow and increase and bring forth Fruit shall never have the like Opportunity again but suffer for ever the Punishment threatned to obstinate Infidelity or barren Unfruitfulness This World is the only Field this Life the only Seed-time and at the End of it comes that one great Harvest which shall consign Men to an eternal Condition either happy or miserable according to their Barrenness or Fruitfulness during this Time and in this Place of Growth and Increase The Children of the Kingdom or those that are sincere Christians intirely devoted to the Service of their great Master and have receiv'd the good Seed of the Gospel into honest and good Hearts as 't is express'd in the preceeding Parable These are themselves likewise compared to good Seed because they have a substantial Piety the Power as well as the Form and Appearance of Godliness and bring forth the genuine Fruits of their holy Religion That divine Seed that was sown in their Hearts has produced not only the Blade in the Ear but the full Grain in the Ear the same Kind of Seed that was sown appears in their Lives and Conversations the Seed of the Spirit brings forth the Fruits of the Spirit and the Seed of Holiness produces real and substantial Holiness so that the Gospel is called good Seed as 't is the first Principle of Holiness and truly pious Men are likewise call'd good Seed as the genuine Product and Increase of that first Principle The Gospel is the good Seed sown and the sincerely religious are the good Seed as springing from it and being produc'd by it The Children of the wicked one or the hypocritical Professors of Christianity are compared to Tares or Gockle because they have only a Shew and Appearance of Religion as Tares and Cockle have of Corn but like them no Substance of good Corn none of the real Excellencies of Religion nothing but hurtful and vicious Qualities as Tares are said to have hurtful to themselves in the final Consequence as bringing them to so miserable an End and hurtful to others by their ill Neighbourhood and Converse as Tares to Wheat and likewise injurious to the holy Religion they profess as reflecting Dishonour upon it by their scandalous Conversation Upon all Accounts 't is infoelix Lolium as the Poet calls it unhappy Tares they are that bring Dishonour upon God and Destruction upon themselves and others The Devil is very fitly stiled the Enemy that
yet be so taken up with minding other things as not to attend to the Danger and heedlessly fall into it And so a Man may habitually believe that there is a Pit of Bottomless Destruction which will at length swallow up the incorrigibly wicked and yet be so deeply engag'd in the Pleasures and Follies of the World as not to attend to it till 't is too late But suppose some that call themselves Christians do not at all believe any thing of the Christian Religion there are innumerable more that do believe and live accordingly and the Harmony of their Belief and Practice methinks should be a better Argument in the Affirmative than the Infidelity and Debauchery of a few titular Christians should be in the Negative And though to a Man that stiles himself a Christian and yet believes not a Word of the Matter to him the Whole of Religion 〈◊〉 is as nothing yet certainly it cannot be from thence concluded that therefore 't is really and indeed a Fiction For that may be assuredly true and that to their Cost which some Men don't care to believe Thus we see 't is no strange thing that there should be both good and bad that go under the general Name of Christians in this World and that though some are much scandaliz'd at it and raise an Objection from it against the Truth of the Religion yet there is no Reason so to do for 't is not the Name that makes a Christian he only is a Christian indeed that to a right Belief adjoins good Works The first Planters of the good Seed or the Tares the bad or good Professors of Christianity respectively are Christ and the Devil Christ by teaching a holy Reliligion to the World such as shall conduct Men to Glory and Immortality and by the good Motions and Inspirations of his holy Spirit inclining 'em to imbrace it does endeavour to make all Men happy to deliver 'em from the Miseries of this World for if Sin were weeded out of it there would be no Misery in it and to prepare 'em for the eternal and ineffable Felicities of the Kingdom of Glory in which after a persevering Righteousness here they shall be actually instated The Devil on the contrary that great Enemy both to God and Man makes it his great Endeavour by all Sorts of Wiles â—nd Stratagems to obliterate the divine Impressions of this holy Religion upon Mens Souls to divert 'em from attending to its great Beauty and Excellency and the Nature and Duration of its Rewards and Punishments to perswade 'em that here lies the only Scene of Happiness and that a future Felicity or Misery is only fit to amuse and frighten Children withall that the Desires of the Body are given us that we might gratify them to the full and that to deny and mortify our selves is the most unnatural Cruelty in the World that we must make our selves happy while we have Opportunity and not trust too much to uncertain Reversions And when he can't wholly blot out the Belief of another World then he endeavours to corrupt it by perswading us that a very little Religion will serve turn seeing we have to do with so merciful a God And if by these Means or the like of which he has great Variety he can incline Men if not intirely to apostatize from Christianity yet like Tares to rest satisfyed with the Name and Appearance of Christians and live at loose and random and follow the Stream of their own Passions and Desires and his sly Insinuations and tempting Delusions then he has his End and will at length cheat 'em of the Happiness that Christ design'd 'em and decoy 'em into his own Possession and so bring them to the Portion of Tares and noxious Weeds that Furnace of Fire prepar'd for himself and his Angels And therefore as we tender our eternal Welfare we must be very watchful and observant that we may discover the sly Insinuations of this our great Enemy Whatever would disparage Religion or lessen the Obligation to a good Life comes certainly from that infernal Tempter The Temptations to an excessive Gratification of our bodily Appetites assuredly come from him the Opportunities of Vice are of his disposing and 't is he that ingages us in so great a Love and earnest Persuit of the World And therefore every thing of this Nature must be rejected with the greatest Abomination as the Endeavours of our great Enemy to deprive us of our Happiness and involve us in his own Ruin And on the contrary those blessed Motions that we all of us often feel to a more pious and holy Conversation must be thankfully embrac'd and chearfully follow'd as the Directions and Excitations of our dear Saviour to what is conducive to our eternal Happiness They are those heavenly Dews which will refresh our Souls and improve their Growth and Increase in Holiness and if sincerely cooperated with will at length bring the Fruits of our holy Religion to Perfection And thus much for the first thing this Parable informs us of namely That the State of the Gospel in this World is such that there will be both bad and good under the general Name of Christians as good Corn and Weeds together go under the Name of one Field of Corn and that the first Planters of this Good and Evil respectively are Christ and the Devil together with the Improvement of each Consideration to the Interest of Religion But before I quite leave this Particular I shall from what has been said of the promiscuous Mixture of bad and good Men in the Christian Church and God's suffering it to be so without any extraordinary Discrimination From this I shall observe how unreasonable 't is for some to object as too many do against the Reception of the Lord's Supper in our Church because as they say we admit any that will come even those that have been scandalous Livers and by that Means the Solemnity is prophan'd and made less beneficial to the good But now supposing though not granting that we admit any that will come though Men of ill Lives I say not granting this for the thing is evidently false as appears from the Exhortations to the Communicants before and at the Solemnity and from the Rubric of that Office And from the 26 27 and 28th Cannons of our Church in which Ministers are expresly forbidden to admit notorious Offenders Schismaticks and Strangers to the Communion But supposing this which is so evidently false as to the Church to be true as to some particular Ministers why must communicating with such Ministers and as we think in such prophane Company be unchristianly abstain'd from and the Ministers declaim'd against with so much Bitterness At this rate they may as well desert the Communion of the whole Church of Christ and refuse to join in any part of divine Worship for no Doubt but ill Men are intermxi'd in all though they may not be discover'd and if their Company
God's Forbearance of the Wicked and not suffering the Angels those Ministers of his Justice to punish them in this World according to what they deserve is his great Care and Tenderness even of the temporal Quiet and Safety of the Righteous Which by Reason of their Intermixture with the wicked here would at least be very much disturb'd through the rooting up a wicked Generation and without the Help of a Miracle many a good Man might perish in so great a Ruin But Miracles we find God has never thought fit to work but upon urgent Necessity when his own Glory and the Interest of Religion and the Church cannot otherwise be secur'd now there being no such Necessity of punishing the wicked by destroying 'em in this World nor consequently of miraculously preserving those that are truly good from a general Ruin for the End of the World that great Day of Recompence is not far off and both may live together untill then God for the Sake of the sincerely good lest the Rod of the wicked should come into the Lot of the righteous does generally restrain the Zeal of those blessed Spirits the Angels and forbears the Tares till that universal Harvest when the Earth shall be eas'd of its Burthen and then the good Seed shall be gather'd together in Safety and the Tares left to be consum'd in that great Conflagration when the World and all that remains in it shall be burnt up with Fire unquenchable And when in Case of almost a total Corruption of a City or Nation and to strike a Terror into others and convince the obdurate World that God sees and is able to punish obstinate and irreclaimable Sinners God thinks fit to suffer his bright Host of Angels utterly to destroy such wicked Places as sometimes we know he hath done we have several Instances in Scripture and other Histories of the miraculous Preservation of the good and that as the Psalmist expresses it Psal 91. though Thousands have fallen by their Side the Destruction has not come nigh them for he gives his Angels Charge over them to keep 'em in all their Ways Of this great Care of Providence over the good either in preserving for their Sakes Communities destin'd to Ruin or else covering them under the Wings of Providence and shielding them from Danger till the Storm was over there is an Instance in the 18. of Genesis so very remarkable that I can't pass it by In the 23. Verse of that Chapter we find Abraham interceeding with God for Sodom and Gomorrha which he had resolv'd to destroy for the abominable and incurable Wickedness that was in them and he begins with what he thought would most prevail with God to spare the Place and tells him the Safety of the Righteous would be hazarded and that they would share in the common Destruction and therefore lest he should slay the righteous with the wicked which he knew the Judge of all the Earth would be far from doing he pleads with him for the Sake of Fifty Righteous that should be found there a small Number one would think and easie to be found in such populous though wicked Places and at length being encourag'd by God's wondrous Goodness who comply'd with him in every Request and as he sunk the Number promis'd him he would not destroy he by degrees descends to Ten which was as far as ever his Modesty would reach and one would think far enough to secure the most wicked City upon Earth Peradventure Ten be found there And God said unto him I will not destroy it for Ten 's Sake Rather than those Ten should be in Danger of perishing in the general Ruin he will recall the destroying Angel and at least respite the Execution of his Vengeance and for their Sakes reprieve the condemn'd Place of their Abode And when through the extream Wickedness of those Cities that small Number of good Men was not found in them and God therefore proceeded to shower down his fiery Indignation upon 'em yet he remembers righteous Lot and his small Family and sends two Angels to conduct 'em safely out of that accursed Place who hasten'd Lot lest he should be consum'd in the Iniquity of the Cities and upon his Request spared Zoar which he fled to and bid him make haste thither for that they could not do any thing till he was escap'd out of Danger as you may read Gen. 19.22 And what a boundless Ocean is the Goodness of God! That he should not only so graciously accept the imperfect Services of his own People as to take them into his peculiar Care and Protection but for their Sakes likewise that Destruction might not so much as come nigh their Dwellings to spare those that have justly merited the severest Expresses of his Displeasure This does indeed verify the Words of the Psalmist that his Mercy is over all his Works And this as it should be a new Motive and Encouragement to true Holiness which will be so great a Security in perillous Times both to our selves and others and demonstrates the great Ingratitude and Baseness of the World in hating and despising and afflicting the good who yet are as so many guardian Angels to it and shield it from the Expresses of God's just Vengeance So it will silence that Objection against Providence drawn from the continued Safety and Prosperity of the wicked notwithstanding their living in open Defiance of God and his Commands For we see they are but repriev'd for the Sake of the righteous lest they should be involv'd in the Ruin pour'd upon the ungodly Their Punishment is but respited for a little while and at the great Assize God's Justice will have its full Course and sink 'em into everlasting Ruin And as the Husbandman may observe the Tares are among his good Corn and resolve at length to bind 'em up in Bundles and burn them though his prudential Care of the good Corn inclines him to let them alone till the Harvest and not pluck 'em up whilst the good Corn is standing and growing to Perfection lest it be rooted up together with them So God sees and resolves in due Time to punish according to their Demerit the vile hypocritical Christians but in a wise and tender Regard for the safety of the sincerely good with-holds his Judgments during their Abode in the World but will surely repay the wicked Wretches what they have deserv'd in the great Day of Recompence And this brings me to the last thing this Parable informs us of namely that though these vile unhappy Tares are forborn for a while and let pass without bearing any publick Marks of God's Displeasure here yet there shall most certainly be a Time of Discrimination even at the great Harvest Mal. 3.18 and then shall all Men discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not For then will the great Husbandman the Lord Jesus as at the Time of Harvest
of the Wealthy over the Poor would then consist chiefly in this That they are by God's Providence enabled to be the Supporters of the weak it being according to the Words of the Lord Jesus Acts 20.35 more blessed to give than to receive Especially if we in the Next Place consider the Measure of this Charity And in general it must be equal to the Necessities of the Poor or at least agreeable to every Man's Ability A great Necessity must have a great Supply as suppose a whole Family be in want the Relief ought to be greater than to a single Person If a Forreigner is distress'd and has not wherewithal to carry him to his own Country he should be more plentifully reliev'd than a Traveller that is in his Native Country and has comparatively but a little Way to go He that is a Prisoner or Captive for a great Debt or Ransom should receive more liberally of our Charity than one that may be releas'd for less the Necessities of a poor Man that is sick being doubly great the Relief that is given him should bear Proportion and be more liberal than ordinary And the more dangerous and lasting and consequently chargeable the Sickness is the Charity should rise the higher still and greater Care be had of him and Visits oftner made to him He that is utterly helpless and uncapable of working ought to receive more largely of our Charity than one that is in some Measure able to help and provide for himself In these and all other Cases of this Nature he that has the greatest need must have the greatest Supply and he that has the greatest Ability his Charity must be answerable and he must give most But to prevent all unnecessary Scruples in this Matter we should remember that Charity does not consist in an Indivisible Point less than which shall not be accepted for a Mite given with a free Heart and good Intention by a poor Widow that could afford no more was not only accepted but the Charity highly commended by our Lord himself and no doubt but was crown'd with a great Reward The general Rule in this Case is that of the Apostle 1 Pet. 4.11 As every Man has receiv'd the Gift even so minister the same one to another as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God That is every Man's Charity must be proportionable to his Ability he that has much must give plenteously and he that has little must chearfully give of that little and no Man that has any Share in this World 's Good must wholly shut up his Bowels of Compassion from his Brother that hath need Remembring That he that soweth sparingly 2 Cor. 9.6 shall reap sparingly and he that soweth plenteously shall reap also plenteously So that according to the Order of our good Creator we see Riches are like our Blood to circulate and ought to be convey'd in due Proportions to every Part of the great Body of Mankind The greater Channels are to supply the lesser and the fuller they are the more they must communicate And none must presume upon Pain of the worst of ill Consequences to stop this Course or divert it to unprofitable Uses When our own Needs and those of our Relatives are modestly and reasonably satisfied and provided for all the rest God gives us to bestow upon the poor and needy 't is their Inheritance and we shall be unjust in our Stewardship if we with-hold it from them And in the Words of the excellent Bishop Taylor Certainly there is not any greater Baseness than to suffer a Man to perish or be in extreme want of that which God gave me for him and beyond my own Needs And it must ever be remembred That as Men's Estates increase their Charity must in due Proportion increase likewise it must not lie an useless Lump in a Chest or be improv'd only to increase the Hoard or minister to Luxury and Excess or the Extravagancies of a prodigal Heir but this Blessing of God must be distributed according to the Will of God to sweeten and alleviate the Miseries of Man And now would Men but act according to this their Duty what abundant Supply would there be for the Necessities of every one That of Isaiah 49.9 10. would then be literally fulfill'd Say to the Prisoners Go forth to them that are in Darkness shew your selves they shall feed in the Ways their Pastures shall be in all high Places They shall not hunger nor thirst neither shall the Heat nor Sun smite them for he that hath Mercy on them shall lead them even by the Springs of Waters shall he guide them How many bitter Complaints how many Sighs and Tears how much Misery and how much Sin would by such Charity be prevented How many more might most Men relieve than they do How very many might a Man of a large Estate take care of and what vast Numbers of poor might have a very comfortable Subsistence if all such Men would conscientiously perform their Duty in this Matter And with what Ease might this be done too That which is every Day squander'd away to no Purpose or consum'd in Vice and Vanity could it be computed would amount to a prodigious Sum and were but so much bestow'd in Charity by every rich Man as heedlesly and unaccountably slips from him how many would enjoy a comfortable Maintenance who now want Necessaries and are ready to be starv'd and all the while the rich Man be not discernably the poorer for it And if so little when rightly dispos'd of would go so far in this blessed Work what happy Effects should we soon see if Men of large Possessions would be perswaded to obey their great Benefactor and give largely of their Abundance And in order to this they would do well to remember that Riches are not properly and intirely Men's own but Talents committed to them by God to improve and lay out to his Glory That 't is he that is the great Lord and Proprietor of all and Men how opulent soever no other than his Stewards inrich'd on purpose that they may supply those that have need and take care that none in this great Family of the World perish for want of what is needful for their Support And that of the Discharge of this their Steward-ship they must render an Account at the Day of Judgment the general Audit of all Mankind and then the faithful and good Stewards that have fulfill'd their Lord's Command and gave the poor of this great Family their Portion of Meat in due Season shall be receiv'd into their Master's Joy But the unfaithful and wicked Stewards that were cruel and hard-hearted to their fellow-Servants and only feasted and pamper'd themselves grew excessive and luxurious with their Lord's Allowance and did eat and drink with the Drunken their Lord will come in a Day when they look not for him Luk. 12.42 and cut them asunder and appoint them their Portion with Unbelievers
Heedless Inadvertency 't is thus express'd v. 13. of this 13. ch Therefore speak I to them in Parables because they seeing see not and hearing they hear not neither do they understand That is because his Plainer and more Common Discourses were but little regarded by them and not consider'd and attended to as they should be but forgotten as soon as heard therefore the more to engage their Attention and induce them to look close into and dwell longer upon what he said he put his Discourses into a more Mystical and uncommon Dress that their desire of understanding his hidden Meaning might employ more of their Thoughts about it and put them upon making a further enquiry than otherwise they would do and by that means his Doctrine make a deeper Impression upon their Minds and Memories For Men are naturally desirous of finding out Mysteries and Hidden Meanings and more than ordinary Attentive to what is unusual and out of the common road of talking and will take Pains to discover what is under the Disguise of a Parable and be much more pleased and affected with the Discovery of such a hidden Treasure to which our Lord elsewhere resembles the Gospel than if the same thing had been offer'd them at an easier Rate And accordingly St. Luke after he had recorded several of our Saviour's Parables subjoyns that all the People were very Attentive to hear him and no Doubt but they were as Inquisitive to Understand what they had heard And indeed tho' this be a Mystical way of Instruction and hath something of Obscurity in it yet as it may be manag'd nothing can be more Familiar or more suitable to the Capacities of the Meanest Auditors For the vulgar sort are but little Receptive of Abstracted Notions and Nice and Lofty Speculations and that is most likely to take with them which is cloathed in a Dress they have been well acquainted with and Illustrated by some Material Representation For by this means a Truth which otherwise deliver'd they would either not Apprehend or not Consider and Attend to being express'd by way of Resemblance to what they have been much used to and understand very well is presently entertain'd and becomes Familiar and Easie to them and they can as well remember and attend to it as to other common Concerns of Life And accordingly we find our Lord's Parables taken either from some common and known Actions of Men such as of a Husband-man sowing Corn in his Field and the springing up of Weeds with the good Corn of a Fisher throwing his Net into the Sea of the looking for a lost Sheep and the Extravagancies and Repentance of a Prodigal Son and the like or from some common Accidents and Events that are taken notice of in the World such as of a Treasure found that was hid in a Field the Plentiful Product of a Man's Ground the Vnfruitfulness of a Tree the Reckoning of a Master with his Servants the Importunacy of a Poor Widow for Justice and such like Relations of this nature are easily Remembred and People are naturally apt to listen and attend to them and the meanest Capacity can understand and apprehend them and if well manag'd they make what is repesented by them appear very Lively and Affecting as if 't were Acted before our Eyes and by this means the Truths deliver'd under that Disguise insensibly Insinuate themselves and work upon the Mind even before a Man is aware of it or can set himself to make Resistance And as these Parables of our Lord were drawn from the most Familiar things they were so Apt likewise and so excellently Manag'd and there was so great Analogy between the things represented and the Representations of them that a little Thought and Reflection of even an ordinary Vnderstanding would discover what was hid under so thin a Veil And accordingly we find several of our Saviour's Parables taken presently by the Auditors in their true and naked meaning and no doubt but more were so than the Evangelists took notice of But least they should not be apprehended we find our Lord when in Private explaining them to his Disciples and giving them command to speak in the Light what he told them in Darkness Matt. 10.27 and by this means that Impression which the Parable made upon the Fancy and Imagination of the People at the first relation of it would afterwards either by Mens own Interpretation or the Apostles have its due effect upon their Understandings Wills and Affections Besides this General Vsefulness of Parables there is one thing they are more peculiarly proper for and that is Reproof which is a thing Men are most of all Impatient of and that must be manag'd with great Prudence and Nicety or it will do much more Harm than Good If it be too Plain and Open and Severe it often Hardens an Offender still more and if it be too Cool and Lifeless it loses its Force and makes no Impression In an Effectual Reproof then there must be sufficient Strength and Smartness and likewise so much Privacy and Secrecy in it as may not exasperate the Man too much from a Sence of the great Shame and Ignominy that attends the laying Open his Faults to the World Now Reproving by way of Parable does all this There may be Strength and Smartness enough in it if it be well chosen and applied and yet there is so much of a Disguise and Covering upon it as makes it very Private and not to grate so much upon that Tender Passion of Shame as a more publick and barefac'd Reproof would do 'T is as one handsomly expresses it like Lancing a Sore with the Lancet wrapt up in a Sponge when under Pretence and Shew of nothing but smooth and gentle Vsage the place is unexpectedly open'd and the Corruption let out which the Patient would not have suffer'd to be done if attempted Roughly and without that Stratagem And there is a notable Instance of this Parabolical way of Reproving mention'd 2 Sam. 12. Vpon David's Murder of Uriah that he might enjoy his Wife without Disturbance the Prophet Nathan was sent to Reprove him for it and denounce God's Great Displeasure against him And that he might do this the more effectually did not Flatly and Immediately tell him of his great Wickedness but frames a Parable of a Rich Man that had great Flocks and Herds of his own who yet to entertain his Guest took the Only little Ewe Lamb of a Poor Neighbour of his which he had bought and nourish'd up with great Tenderness and Pleasure and dress'd it for the Man that was come to him And David 's Anger the Story says was greatly kindled against the Man and he said unto Nathan as the Lord liveth the Man that hath done this thing shall surely die and shall restore the Lamb Four-fold because he did this thing and because he had no Pity When the Prophet saw that his Design had so far taken effect he immediately follows
more and more to soften their Hearts and make them pliable to the Impressions of the Word of Life that it may sink deep into their Souls and be fix'd there beyond the Danger of yeilding to every Temptation and withering when Adversity shall come They must not boggle at any thing that appears to be their Duty but be diligent and industrious in ridding their Minds of their former Evil Habits and Inclinations and inure themselves to the Obedience of Christ not pretending Hardship or Impossibility when He commands not endeavouring to lessen the Obligation of any of his Precepts or shifting it from themselves nor expecting Heaven upon easier Terms But knowing their Lord's Will endeavour to do it in Sincerity upon such Obedience only through the Merits of Christ hoping for the Promises And this Course like good Tillage and Manuring of our Ground will soon mollify the Heart and make it not only superficially but intirely Plyable to the Word of God receptive of its Impressions to the very Bottom so that it shall dwell in us richly and bring forth Fruit not only in Times of Security and Peace but even then when Tribulation shall arise because of the Word and take still deeper Root and bring forth greater Abundance notwithstanding all the Storms and Scorchings of Persecution or even a fiery Tryal Thirdly in order to the Fruitfulness of the Word we must be very careful that it be not like Seed that falleth among Thorns lest the Thorns spring up and choak it so that it yield no Fruit. That is that after the hearing of the Word we go not forth and suffer the Cares of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches and the Lusts and Pleasures of this Life to enter in and choak the Word and it become utterly unfruitful or at least bring no Fruit to Perfection 'T is by a lamentable Experience too true that the Love of this World very much hinders our Provision for the next and 't is as true that this is the greatest Folly and Madness in Nature because the World to come is upon all Accounts so infinitely to be preferr'd before the present that there cannot be the least Competition between them For how can a World of Cares and Vexations of Misery and Affliction of all Sorts of Hazards and Uncertainties of Sickness Pain and Death as this is compare with a World of eternal unmix'd and uninterrupted Happiness as is the other And therefore one would think Men should be so wise and so much their own Friends as to bestow their greatest Endeavours in Pursuit of their main Interest and not on the contrary such egregious Fools as for the Gain of an empty Bubble to forfeit an happy Eternity So far as is consistent with the Care of the Soul 't is very allowable to mind the Affairs of this Life Nay 't is a Duty of our Holy Religion for every man to be industrious in his Calling and to enjoy with Thanksgiving the Portion that God hath given him here below But to invert God's Order and place that First in our Esteem which should be Last when he says seek ye First the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and then all needful things of this World shall be added unto you to run quite counter and First provide for Abundance here and then and that but very coldly God knows think a little of the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness this is such a preposterous Course as can never end in any thing but Shame and Confusion If it be true that the Gain of even the whole World would be a very unprofitable Exchange when compared with the Loss of the Soul and if it be true that the Loss of the Soul will follow upon the Unfruitfulness of the Word of God for Faith alone will not save but must bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit And finally if it be true that a too great Love and eager Prosecution of the things of this World will choak the Word of God and make it unfruitful as our Lord in this Part of the Parable affirms it will If all this be true I see not how it can be avoided but that such as have a Desire that the Word of God should be fruitful in their Souls in order to the eternal Salvation of them must love the World less and their Souls more must be careful in the First place to grow in Grace and be rich towards God and clear their Minds of these worldly Thorns and Briars lest the Divine Life be stifled and that Seed choak'd which alone can fructify to a happy Immortality We must use this World yet so as not to abuse it but certainly he abuses it and all the Blessings that God affords him in it who so immoderately Doats upon it as to prefer it before the Service of his great Benefactor and spends most of his Thoughts and Endeavours about the encreasing Wealth and the Enjoyment of these sublunary Pleasures and can spare but very little if any of his Time and Pains to prepare himself for the Enjoyment of God in Glory And yet as plain as this is Men are generally so little affected with it as not only to neglect Religion as much as ever and love the World still more and more but even to plead the Cares of the World as an Excuse for their Coolness in Religion and the Unfruitfulness of the Word of God in their Souls We would be oftner at the Sacrament and more constant in at the Prayers of the Church and in reading and meditating upon the Holy Scriptures but that the Cares of the World and the Hurry of Business takes up most of our Time and Thoughts But for God's Sake let such consider is that an Excuse which is it self as great a Fault as any Will God accept such an Excuse at the Day of Judgment Has he not plainly forewarn'd us of the Danger of too much worldly Mindedness Has not St. John said plainly 1 Joh. 2.15 love not the World nor the things of the World for whoso loveth the World the Love of the Father is not in him And our Lord as plainly ye cannot serve God and Mammon How strange a Plea then is it for the Neglect of Religion to say we are deeply engag'd in the Persuit of this World 's Good If we believe we have Souls to be saved methinks we should take care of them in the First place and as for this World a moderate Industry such as does by no means intrench upon Religion is all that can be justifyed And what our Lord said to the Scribes and Pharisees about their taking care of lesser Matters and neglecting the weighty things of the Law should be our Rule in providing for our Families and providing for our Souls These things ought ye to have done and not to have left the other undone He that provides not for his own House according to the Measures of Necessity and Moderation is worse than an Infidel
't is true but he that provides not for his own Soul is still more unnaturaly cruel These are the things that our Blessed Lord says make this Heavenly Seed the Word of God unfruitful and therefore those should with the greatest Care and Application possible be provided against nothing being of so great Importance to us as the Flourishing and Encrease of the Word of God I come now to consider the last Part of this Parable viz. what it is that will make this holy Seed to thrive and bring forth plentifully the Fruits of Righteousness and which Course consequently it highly concerns us all to take that we may not be barren under the Means of Instruction that we enjoy Our Lord expresseth it thus But other Seed fell into good Ground and brought forth Fruit some an Hundred-Fold some Sixty and some Thirty That is he that receiv'd Seed into the good Ground is he that having heard the Word understandeth it and receives and keeps it in an honest and good Heart and brings forth Fruit with Patience according to his Ability whether Thirty Sixty or an Hundred-Fold In this Part of the Parable there are Five things to be consider'd First That the good Ground in which the Seed of the Word will take deep Rooting and bring forth Plentifully is an honest and good Heart Secondly That that which infixes the Seed of the Word in this good Ground is Consideration translated understanding the Word Thirdly That the Seed so planted in this good Ground must be diligently kept and preserved in it Fourthly That we must expect the Encrease of it with Patience and take care that the Fruits come to Perfection and Lastly That this Increase must be proportionable to the Quantity of the Seed that is sown and to the Strength and Power of the Soil in which it is sown that is to every Man's Ability and the Opportunities he has had of Improvement whether Thirty Sixty or an Hundred-Fold First The good Ground in which the Seed of the Word will take deep Rooting and bring forth plentifully is an honest and good Heart that is a Heart sincerely desirous to be inform'd in its Duty and that cordially proposes to perform it and is truly humble and of a modest teachable Temper St. 1 Cor. 3.5 6. Paul tell us that though he plants and Apollos water yet 't is God alone that giveth the Increase Now can any Man imagin that God will make that effectual to our Good which we despise and value not and force those Favours upon us which we neither now desire nor if we had them should do other than neglect The Graces of Religion are too precious to be bestow'd upon such brutish Natures and none but those that have Hearts earnestly desirous of his Divine Assistance that they may be purifyed and renewed by his blessed Spirit and instructed in his holy Will that they may know how to pay a more acceptable Service to him none but those that have such honest and good Hearts can expect the Word should flourish and grow fruitful and they only that thus hunger and thirst after Righteousness shall be filled And this those would do well to consider who frequent our religious Assemblies in complyance to Custom only and because their Neighbours do or to learn new Modes and Dresses or to shew their own or to while away the Time that lies useless upon their Hands or to meet a Friend or please their Ears with some new Notion or to gratify their Curiosity or the like Let not such Persons be deceiv'd God is not mock'd let not such think they shall receive any thing of God but the Fierceness of his Displeasure for their prophaning to such vile Purposes what he intends as a Means to their Salvation Those only shall receive Advantage by God's Word that sincerely and earnestly desire its Nourishment that they may grow thereby This honest and good Heart is likewise Modest and Teachable and indeed this Disposition is very necessary in order to the Fruitfulness of the Word For Pride and Conceitedness are naturally the greatest Hinderers of Improvement in all Sorts of Acquirements whatever but in Religion they do the most Mischief of all and are the great Destroyers of whatever is religious and good For besides that a high Opinion of ones own present Endowments cuts off all Endeavours of growing better and renders all spiritual Advice barren to him that thinks he hath no need of it Besides that Reproof frets and inrages one that thinks Commendations rather belong to him and Instruction in Cases of Difficulty is thrown away upon a Man that thinks himself Wiser than his Teachers Besides these and several other Natural Ill Consequences of an over-weening Opinion of ones self which might be mentioned there is this yet above all that it utterly bars and shuts out God's holy Spirit it deprives the Soul of his gracious Influences and diverts the Streams of his Grace and Benediction from watering our Hearts Prov. 16.5 For Pride is an Abomination unto the Lord a thing that he hates and detests above all things And St. James tells us that instead of assisting God resists the Proud Jam. 4.7 is his profess'd Enemy And no wonder if that Soul be barren which is thus cursed of God and denyed those refreshing Dews of his Favour which alone can make it fruitful Let us therefore lay our Foundation low in Modesty Sincerity and Humility and God will build us up to Life everlasting We shall then be like Trees planted and deep rooted by the Rivers of Water that bring forth their Fruit in their Season our Leaf shall not wither and whatsoever we do it shall prosper Psal 1.3 Secondly that which infixes the Seed of the Word in the good Ground of an honest and good Heart is Consideration and Meditation render'd in our Translation understanding the Word The Word in the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original signifies weighing pondering and considering And St. James says agreeably whoso looketh into the perfect Law of Liberty and continueth therein that is as the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Words in the Greek signify has look'd close and dwelt upon it by serious Meditation he being not a forgetful Hearer but a Doer of the Work this Man shall be blessed in his doing Jam. 1.25 He therefore that desires the Word should encrease and multiply must not only receive it in an honest and good Heart but infix it there by serious Consideration and be not like those compar'd to thorny Ground in the Parable who having heard the Word go sorth and think no more of it but suffer the Cares and Pleasures and Riches of the World to enter immediately into their Minds and choak the Word so that it becomes unfruitful But by after Meditation and Recollection of Thought make it sink still deeper into their Souls and strike a Root to the very Bottom of their Hearts And indeed without such Consideration there can
sows these Tares because he is the busy Prompter to Vice and Hypocrisy and the great Encourager of it by his sly and wheedling Insinuations and wicked Injections He is that great Enemy of God and all things heavenly and good and whose constant Endeavour it is to oppose and weaken the Kingdom of Righteousness and upon the Ruins of it to establish his infernal Dominion The End of the World is compared to the Harvest because then is the Time of Gods gathering all Men from off the Face of the Earth and disposing them according to their Deservings into a new State of endless Happiness or Misery as good Corn at Harvest is taken from off the Ground and carryed-away and laid up in Repositories of Safety but the Tares and other noxious Weeds sever'd from the rest and bound up in Bundles to be burnt And the Angels are said to be the Reapers at this great Harvest because 't is by their Ministry that God will execute his most equal Sentence whether of Absolution or Condemnation the Righteous shall by them be caught up into the Clouds to meet their Lord in the Air and like good Corn be laid up and that for ever in God's heavenly Garner for they shall ever be with the Lord And the wicked and hypocritical shall by them be separated from the good and like vile Tares be thrown into a Furnace of Fire unquenchable And thus much in short for the Aptness of this Parable to express the Sense that our Lord conceal'd under it I shall now proceed to consider its several Parts And it will inform us of six things First it will inform us of the State of the Christian Church in this World that there will be both good and bad under the general Name of Christians as Tares and Wheat together go under the Name of one Field of Corn and that the Two first Planters of this Good and Evil respectively are Christ and the Devil That there will be both good and bad in this World under the general Name of Christians will be no wonder to any Man that considers how many there are that are Christians by Custom and Education only because their Fathers were so before 'em and in their tender Years procur'd their Reception into that Communion but seldom look any further into the Reasons and Inducements to such Belief and trouble themselves but very little to be inform'd in much less to practise the Duties that are bound upon them by that holy Profession And for the same Reason would have been Mahometans or Jews had their Parents been so and educated them in that Way and therefore are Christians by Chance not Choice And this those would do well to consider who spend the whole Six Days of the Week in drudging for the World from Morning until Night and then like tir'd Beasts when they have fill'd their Bellies without any further Thoughts lay them down to rest and when the Lord's Day comes which is design'd for the Nourishment and Improvement of their Souls in Piety and Goodness and their Instruction in the Religion they profess to be of make little better Use of it than their Horses do in the Stable rest from bodily Labour and saunter and prate and drink away the Day but seldom come at the Places of divine Worship and Instruction and if they do are as little the better for it as if they were absent Let such consider before it be too late whether this Sort of Christianity will bring 'em to Heaven or no Whether their being baptized in their Infancy will save 'em without any more to do Whether their telling our Lord at the Day of Judgment that they happen'd to be born in a Country where his holy Religion was profess'd and of such as call'd themselves Christians and were by them presented to a Minister of Christ who receiv'd them into the Pale of the Catholick Church and that they continued to call themselves Christians all their Lives and now and then came to Church as other Christians did Let them consider whether at that great Day such an empty Plea will be accepted when the Judg comes to enquire into what Obedience they have paid to his Commandments If it will be accepted Mat. 7.21 why does our Lord say not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.14 And why is the Way said to be narrow and the Gate strait that leads to Life and that few there be that find it but if it will not be accepted as most certainly it will not Doubtless it highly concerns such Men to consider more seriously of Religion than they have done hitherto unless they think their Souls not worth taking care of or that the everlasting Pains of Hell are not so great as those of Repentance and living a new Life And tho' for the Reason assign'd above it is no Wonder that many ill Men here go under the common Name of Christians and that Title be all the Christianity they can boast of yet 't would be a very great Wonder indeed if such empty Tares as these should be laid up with the good Wheat and get to Heaven as much by Chance as they became Christians Further 't is no strange thing to find ill Men amongst a Society of Christians because Men are free Agents and Religion does not force but only by proper Methods incline and perswade And those who in their Infancy were devoted to the Service of God and educated in his Discipline in their tender Years may yet through the Predominancy of their Lusts and vile Affections and the Temptations of the wicked one together with their own careless Inadvertency be when grown up inclined to live at quite another Rate than Christianity allows And though for Fashion's sake they may retain the Name of Christians yet choose to be indeed the Servants of their own Passions and of the Prince of Darkness And therefore 't is very unreasonable for the Enemies of Religion to conclude as they do that because many that profess Christianity live in direct Contradiction to it therefore the whole is a Cheat Because did they believe what that Religion teaches to be true they would not dare to live in such continual Opposition to it Indeed this should make all Christians very careful and circumspect in their Conversation lest they bring so great a Scandal as this upon their holy Religion remembring our Lord's Words Woe be to him by whom the Offence or Scandal cometh But it will not at all follow that because some of a Profession live contrary to its Precepts and Doctrin that therefore the whole is a Forgery For believing and doing are Two very different things and a Man may habitually assent to the Truth of a thing and yet not actually attend to it As a Man may be very well assured that there is a dangerous Pit in his Way and
and promis'd as fair as the good Corn but when the Time drew nigh that the Corn should appear and come to Ripeness and Perfection then there was a manifest Disparity and what appear'd so well at first was then found to be an empty noxious Weed And thus it is too often in Religion Many Men make a fair Shew and Semblance of Piety attend the Place of divine Worship with much seeming Seriousness and Devotion and to all outward Appearance listen to the Sermons of the Gospel and beg the divine Aid as that Dew of Heaven which alone can make 'em fruitful as earnestly as others do And this looks very well and is as far as Men or Angels can discern for the present as hopeful a Beginning as need be desir'd The really good Seed can send forth nothing more promising at first and hitherto the Tares grow undiscover'd among the Wheat by any Eye but that of God But after this first Blade has appear'd and that for some considerable Time after they have begun to make this Shew of Religion instead of advancing further and further to Perfection as the good Seed does and abounding in every good Work like the full Grain in the Ear these have nothing but a Blade and Stalk of Religion no Fruit appears there is no no real substantial Vertue attends this Shew of Piety but rather the Works of the Flesh are discernable in their Lives and Conversations And this is a plain Discovery to themselves and others that they are but formal not sincere Christians vile unhappy Tares but not good Seed for every Tree is known by its Fruits Wherefore let no Man flatter himself with vain Hopes from a formal customary Religion when there are no real Fruits of Righteousness but on the contrary much Wickedness and Folly and Vanity for unless his Religion makes him grow in Grace and Vertue and is seen in all his Conversation 't will be to no purpose to make an hypocritical Shew of it at Church and is no better than the most provoking Mockery of God and an unnatural starving of the Soul with such fantastick Food and will consign to the lowest Hell which is the Portion of Hypocrites And as a hypocritical Religion will have a very sad Consequence in the other World so it exposes Men to much Shame and Contempt in this For every Man that sees such great Shews of Religion such Pretences to Christian Vertue will naturally expect to find the Man all of a Piece and that to his Devotion and Shew of Godliness at Church be added Sobriety and Righteousness in his Conversation and Intercourse with Men. As when Men see the first Sproutings and Flourishing of a Field that was sown with good Grain they expect to find Increase of the same good Fruits But when after all this fair and florid Shew of Piety and Goodness there appears nothing but Tares and the Man is over run with wicked Habits and vile Affections little or no Sign of a real Sense of Religion upon his Mind but rather the hidden Works of Dishonesty in his Dealings Lying and Collusion instead of Sincerity and Truth Lewdness and Intemperance Pride and Malice instead of Purity both of Flesh and Spirit When such Vileness as this treads upon the Heels of a Mans Shew of Religion any Man may discern that he is a christian Pharisee like a whited Sepulchre beautiful without but within full of Rottenness and all Uncleanness that his Religion is confin'd to the Church whither he goes sometimes for Fashion's Sake to visit it but always leaves it there behind him and will not be troubl'd with its Company abroad Now such Hypocrisy as this is certainly one of the most hateful things in the World and instead of gaining Reputation to a Man is the ready Way to make him a common Scorn Men can't but discover the abominable Cheat and they can't but hate and detest it Tares will at length appear to be Tares and the sooner for being among the good Corn. 'T is therefore certainly the greatest Folly in the World to pretend to conceal under a fair Appearance what will in a very short Time discover it self and will bring a Man to nothing but Shame and Hatred in this World and the Flames of Hell in the next And it concerns every Man that desires to be happy either here or hereafter to lay aside all Guile and Hypocrisy in Religion and sincerely endeavour after the Power of Godliness as well as put on the Form and Appearance of it And thus much for the third Part of this Parable viz. when the Blade was sprung up and brought forth Fruit then appear'd the Tares also The next thing it informs us of is the holy Angels Observation of the Actions of Men especially of Christians and their Diligence and Watchfulness in doing God Service and Zeal for his Glory For thus 't is said the Servants of the Housholder that is the Angels as 't is in the Interpretation came and said unto him Sir didst thou not sow good Seed in thy Field From whence then hath it Tares He said an Enemy hath done this They answer'd wilt thou then that we go and gather them up They observ'd by the loose Lives of some Professors that there were very ill Men that went under the Notion of Christians which they knew would reflect Dishonour upon Christ the great Planter of that holy Religion and would be injurious to the Progress of the Gospel and therefore they haste to tell him that they may have his further Commands and with Zeal for his Glory and Intentions of great Charity to us poor Mortals they offer their best Endeavours to rid the Church of those scandalous hypocritical Members That the blessed Angels are by God's Appointment Observers and that for excellent Purposes of the Lives and Actions of Mankind especially of Christians is evident not only from this Part of this Parable but from many other Places of Scripture as an attentive Reader of the holy Writings must often have observ'd Of which some few of the new Testament only that give most Light to this Matter I shall at present mention St. Paul in 1 Cor. 11.10 giving Directions for the more decent Service of God in the Church for this Reason says he according to the Custom of that Time ought Women to be veil'd or cover'd as the true Sense of the Place is in their publick religious Assemblies because of the Angels That is lest any thing indecent should be observ'd by those pure Spirits who are present as God's Spies upon the Actions of Men. The last Verse of the 1st Chapter to the Hebrews is likewise very plain to this Purpose where the Apostle speaking of the Angels Are they not all says he as assur'd of the Truth of what he said Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be Heirs of Salvation That is to take notice of their Behaviour in the World in order to
say to his angelical Reapers gather ye first together the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them but gather the Wheat into my Barn And accordingly they shall gather out of his Kingdom all that have been a Scandal to it and under the Disguise of Christianity have done Iniquity and shall cast them into a Furnace of Fire where shall be wailing and gnashing of Teeth And then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father That is when the Close of the World shall come and the whole intelligent Creation be met together at the Summons of the Trump of God Men to receive their several Sentences whether of Absolution or Condemnation according to their several Deserts and Angels to execute these Sentences Then shall the sincerely good Christians indeed and in Truth be plac'd by the blessed Angels of God on the right Hand of the glorious and just Judg and after a Display of their excellent Piety and Charity to all the World hear this joyful Sound Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepar'd for you from the Foundation of the World and then be immediately caught up into the Clouds to meet their dear Lord in the Air and from thenceforth be for ever with him and shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father having Crowns of eternal Glory plac'd upon their Heads and loud and rapturous Halleluja's in their Mouths Whilst those miserable Wretches that knew no more of Christianity than the Name in whom Religion was only Shew and Formality having no real Influence upon thir Lives and bringing forth no Fruits of Piety whilst these shall find to their Confusion that God is not to be mock'd and be plac'd on the left Hand as Vessels of Wrath and be doom'd to depart for ever from the Fountain of Happiness into eternal Burnings prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels Then will the good find by a happy Experience that there is indeed a Reward for the Righteous and that however they were laugh'd at and discourag'd here their Labour is not in vain in the Lord. And then will the Mock Hypocritical Christians be sadly assur'd notwithstanding all their Plea of having eaten and drank in the Presence of the Judge and at his Table and of his having taught in their Streets that without real and substantial Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. And instead of being receiv'd into their Master's Joy for cringing and fawning upon him and giving him magnificent Titles Lord Lord Jesus Saviour but heeding little his Commandments they shall be rejected with I know you not depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity And then will God be justifyed in the Face of the whole World and found to be not an unconcern'd Spectator of the Affairs of Man-kind but a wise all-knowing and just Governour of the Universe And though Clouds and Darkness seem here to be round about him yet Righteousness and Judgment are the Establishment of his Throne Then will there be eternal Joy and Exultation of the blissful beatify'd Souls of the righteous and weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth in the wretched Companies of the Damn'd for ever Mal. 4.1 Behold the Day cometh saith the Prophet Malachi that shall burn like an Oven and all the proud and all they that do wickedly shall be as Stubble and the Day that cometh saith the Lord of Hosts shall burn them up that it shall leave them neither Root nor Branch Rev. 9.6 And in that Day shall Men seek Death and shall not find it and shall desire to die and Death shall flee from them And now for a Conclusion of the whole Matter Since from this Parable of our Lord's it appears that though an empty Shew of Religion may pass well enough in this World and meet with no open Discrimination or Punishment from God here yet there shall most certainly be an after Reckoning when all the Thoughts and Intentions of Men's Hearts shall be reveal'd and their vile Hypocrisy and secret Impiety laid open before Men and Angels and an irreversible Doom of greatest Severity pay'd upon them according to their Deservings Since this is true it nearly concerns us all to be Christians in Reality as well as in Name and Appearance to obey the Commands of Christ as well as call him Lord and to approve our selves true Disciples of this holy Institution by leading our Lives in all holy Conversation and Godliness diligently endeavouring to be found of this great Judg in Peace without Spot and blameless Remembring that God shall bring every Work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or evil and that the wicked shall go into everlasting Punishment but the righteous into Life eternal The PRAYER I. O Holy Saviour Jesus from whom are deriv'd all our Possibilities of Salvation the Means of Grace and the Hopes of Glory but who expectest our Concurrence with thy gracious Endeavours for our Hapiness and for the Tryal of our Sincerity permittest thine and our great Enemy to scatter his hellish Injections where thou sowest thy heavenly Doctrin I earnestly intreat thee so to assist me with thy Life-giving Spirit that my Faith and Obedience which thou hast made the Condition of my Happiness may be so vigorous and active as to manifest that I am thine not only in Word and in Shew but in Deed and in Truth Grant that I may ever esteem those inward Motions which I feel to a progressive Holiness to be what indeed they are thy gracious Endeavours to promote my eternal Welfare and may I always thankfully and chearfully embrace and follow them And whatever Thoughts and Inclinations tend to discourage sincere Religion and perswade to rest in the Formality of it for thy Mercies Sake help me to reject them with the greatest Abhorrence and Indignation as the Endeavours of Satan to involve me in his own Ruin And since 't is while we sleep that our great Adversary sowes these his Tares Give me Grace O blessed Jesus to awake to Righteousness and rouze from my thoughtless Inadvertency and shake off my Dreams of Vanity lest this spiritual Slumber at length prove fatal and betray me into eternal Death II. Thou hast assur'd us O Lord to whom the Father hath committed all Judgment that this Life is the only Time of our Probation O therefore grant that now in this our Day all we that name the Name of Christ may depart from Iniquity and embrace the things that belong to our Peace before they be hid from our Eyes That by serious Consideration we may make Religion our Choice and adhere to it firmly with all our Powers and Faculties and be in Reality thy peculiar People zealous of good Works remembring thy blessed Words why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I command And that though here the wicked go unpunish'd it will not be always so and at last Hypocrisy shall meet with its Deserts And
without any humane Restraint and who made it his Business to find out what was the greatest Happiness of Man in this World and whatsoever his Eyes desir'd he kept not from them he with-held not his Heart from any Joy and who amongst other Delights had great Numbers of Wives and Concubines to the Number of Seven Hundred Wives that were Princesses 1 Kings 11.3 and Three Hundred Concubines and these the fairest doubtless that could be met with Variety enough one would think to take off all Possibility of loathing and Desire of Change But now what says Solomon after so full and uncontroul'd Enjoyment of these carnal Pleasures Why truly in the very Beginning of his Book of Proverbs Chap. 2.18 19. he tells the World that the House of the Strange or Whorish Woman inclineth unto Death and her Paths unto the Dead None that go unto her return again neither take they hold of the Paths of Life And Prov. 5.3 The Lips of a strange Woman drop as an hony Comb and her Mouth is smoother than Oyl but her End or the End of having to do with her is bitter as Wormwood sharp as a two edged Sword Very frequent are his Invectives against this Vice and deliver'd with more than ordinary Earnestness And in the 7th Chapter of Ecclesiastes the Book of his Recantations he publickly declares that he finds as by his own Experience He finds more bitter than Death the Woman whose Heart is Snares and her Hands as Bands whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her but the Sinner shall be taken by her Vers 26. As if 't were a peculiar Providence of God to protect a good Man from falling into so great a Mischief and that he suffers the wicked to be ensnar'd by it as a severe Punishment and great Expression of his Displeasure And in the next Verse Behold says the Preacher this have I found counting one by one to find out the Account which yet my Soul seeketh but I find not One Man among a Thousand have I found but a Woman among all those have I not found That is he did at last meet with a Man that answer'd his Expectations as a Friend or faithful Servant But among all his Concubines not one but who baulk'd and disappointed his fond Hopes of Happiness from the Enjoyment of her and depriv'd him of more Satisfaction than she gave him And thus we see from the Confession of Solomon himself who gratified his carnal Appetite to the full and experienc'd the utmost of what Lust and Wantonness could afford that this Sort of Pleasure amounts to no more than this Dishonour and Disappointment always and not seldom Diseaes and Death Let us now proceed to enquire what the Pleasures of luxurious Eating and intemperate Drinking will amount to All that it can pretend to is the Gratification of the Taste and Palate For as for true Nourishment High Feeding falls far short of more ordinary Diet and as for refreshing and cherishing the Spirits a moderate Quantity of Wine is sufficient and what is more than that ends in a Fit of Madness and impoverishes Nature Now the Pleasures of the Palate make the best of them are of very short Continuance no sooner tasted but they vanish and the Stomach will not bear a long Repetition of this Pleasure and is soonest cloy'd and surfeited with what is of the richest Gust and Relish And the Inconveniences that attend this short-liv'd and very imperfect Pleasure are great and of very long Continuance For suppose a Mans Revenues to be so large that he can bear the Expence of Luxury without weakening his Fortune in the least and so that very usual ill Consequence of it cannot in this Case be charg'd upon it yet others full as great may As first the more a Man indulges his Palate the harder he will find it to be pleas'd and at length 't will grow so troublesomely nice that its Disgusts will be more frequent than its Pleasure and so instead of procuring a constant Gratification of the Palate Luxury is the ready Way to make a Man disrelish almost every thing Which must needs make his Life a continual Vexation and Uneasiness and a Plowman with his coarse Fare and no other Sauce to it but a good Stomach will experience far greater and more lasting Pleasure in eating and drinking than the greatest Epicure in the World And therefore Luxury is indeed the wrong Way to procure an intire Gratification of the Palate and destroys what it pretends to create Another very ill Consequence of Luxury is that it mightily weakens and impairs Health and makes a Man a living Hospital full of Diseases and very often cuts his Days off in the Midst And thus does an over-Indulgence to the Body cruciate and destroy it and by an extravagant Care to please the Palate Men bring upon themselves a Necessity of taking such medicinal Compositions as are abundantly more nauseous to it than ever the most artificial Dishes or richest Wines were grateful And by this Time we perceive what luxurious Eating and drinking amounts to truly no more than this a very short imperfect Pleasure attended with great and durable ill Consequences which abundantly outweigh the Pleasure and would do so were it Greater and more lasting than it is Another Desire of the Flesh is Mirth and Jollity a thoughtless Course of Life spent in Recreations in Laughter and an aery facetious Way of Conversation and this is very taking with Abundance of People and he counted the happiest Man that can spend his Days in this Manner and has little else to do Well then suppose a Man so intirely disengag'd from the Fatigues of Business as to have his Time wholly at his own Disposal suppose him to be of a brisk lively Temper and free from all Care and Trouble and that he has the Conversation of such as are as sprightly as himself so that the Day seems too short for their Mirth and Pleasantry their Pastimes and Recreations Suppose all this that is suppose a Man to have all of this Kind of Pleasure that the World can afford we shall find upon a nearer View that there is as great an Alloy here as in the Instances before mention'd Solomon who was a very competent Judg in this Matter and for a considerable Time made Jollity his Business and tasted as much of it as 't is possible for a Man to do was so much of this Mind as to pronounce it not only Vanity but Vexation of Spirit He gave himself wholly up to Mirth as he tells us Prov. 2.1 c. and the Pleasures of Wine with agreeable Company He planted beautiful Gardens Vineyards and Groves interwoven with artificial Streams to improve the Relish of those his Delights and as the Crown of all he had all Sorts of Musick attending him both vocal and instrumental so that he had whatever his Heart could desire to make himself happy this Way if this could do it And what was
the Result of all this Why truly a few serious reflecting Thoughts discover'd to him that All was but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit I said of Laughter it is mad and of Mirth what doth it And what doth it indeed 'T is profitable for nothing and when excessive and attended too extravagantly 't is naturally as well as morally an Evil It unmans and effeminates the Soul and dispirits and hebetates the Body The most profuse Laughter ends in a Sigh and Uneasiness and looks much like Madness and is a certain Indication of Folly A decent chearfulness is commendable upon many Accounts but to make a Trade of Jollity to be always upon the Laugh and spend the greatest Part of a Man's Time in Recreations and Diversions as 't is a very childish thing and looks much like the Behaviour of Naturals and Changelings so 't is a very uneasie thing too and grows from a Pleasure into a Toil and Burthen Witness such Persons frequent shifting and changing one Diversion for another how at a Loss somtimes they are how to dispose of their Time and what Sport to go to next and how quickly tir'd they are with their idle Employment And it may be very truly said there is less of Pleasure in a Course of Life that is always hunting after Pleasure and intent upon nothing else than in a more severe serious Way of living which but now and then and sparingly tastes of Mirth and Recreations and soon returns to things of more Weight and Concern And the Reason is those light Sort of Enjoyments are so empty of what will gratify a rational Soul that they presently grow flat and insipid and become tedious rather than diverting when too long dwelt upon and suck'd too dry A short transient Enjoyment is most agreeable to their fading perishing Nature and as he enjoys the Fragrancy of a Rose both more and longer who smells of it gently and with frequent Intermissions than he that uses it more roughly and presses it too constantly and too hard so he experiences much more of the Sweet of Mirth and Pleasantry who but seldom and moderately uses it than he that makes it his Business and follows it as close as others do their Callings Even in Laughter when extravagant says the wise King The Heart is sorrowful Eccles 7.2 and the End of that Mirth is Heaviness Nay he says 't is better to go to the House of Mourning than to the House of Feasting for that may have some substantial good Effect upon a Man Death being the End of all Men and the living at such serious Times may be inclin'd to lay it to Heart whereas Jollity and Mirth wholly evaporate into Folly and leave nothing behind them that is any Way profitable unless it be Repentance Sorrow and Seriousness make Men consider and become receptive of wise Instructions but a light frothy Temper both exposes a Man's Folly and fatally prevents his growing wiser It shews that he is a Fool and that he is like to continue so For as the crackling of Thorns under a Pot so is the Laughter of a Fool there is much of Noise in it but it serves to no other Purpose than to shame himself And thus we have seen what the Heigth of Mirth and Jollity amounts to namely Disappointment Vexation and Uneasieness Shame and Vanity Madness and Folly Having thus summ'd up the true Value of one of the Three things in which consists the Happiness of the World the Lusts of the Flesh or those things which more immediately gratifie our bodily Appetites let us now look into the Second which is call'd by the Apostle the Lust of the Eyes that is Riches and great Abundance of this World 's Good such as ample Possessions magnificent Structures a splendid Equipage glorious Apparel and the like Which are call'd the Lusts of the Eyes because 't is the Sense of seeing that these things affect with the greatest Pleasure Now suppose a Man to have all of this Nature that the World can help him to suppose he has Riches enough to answer all these things to provide all this Splendor and Magnificence and to support and maintain it What more will it amount to than as Solomon expresses it Eccles 5.11 the beholding of it with our Eyes For as for great Treasures of Gold and Silver though they may procure many things to delight the Eye and please the Fancy yet the Man that hath 'em remains still as Nature made him none of the Powers or Faculties either of his Soul or Body receive any Improvement nor Alteration unless it be for the worse But Mony will erect magnificent and stately Buildings 't will purchase rich Furniture and all that Art can do to adorn and beautify them 'T is true it will so but will those stately Structures preserve a Man better from the Injuries of the Air and Weather than more ordinary Houses Shall a Man sleep better in a costly than a meaner Bed And will a Fever handle him more gently that lies within Curtains of Velvet and has his Chamber adorn'd in the most costly Manner than one that is contented with a cleanly Meanness If not still 't is the Eye that receives all the Pleasure As for the splendid Equipage of the Men of great Possessions a Croud of Attendants following them in gay Liyeries glittering Coaches and the like this may please the Eye too but what more does it effect 'T is but Two or Three of those Attendants that can be serviceable the rest are own'd to be for State only and are kept for little else than to eat and drink and be troublesome and the Experience of all Men will tell us that he is the happiest Man that stands in need of the fewest Servants and retains no more than he stands in need of As for fine Coaches and glorious Apparel if Gold upon a Coach and costly Trappings would make a Journy more safe and easie and if rich Clothes would keep one Warmer or last longer or be less troublesome than a more ordinary Habit there might be something said for them But since there is nothing of this in them nay rather they are less serviceable to the Ends they were at first design'd for and that over-Niceness and Curiosity in Dress or any thing else is the Occasion of much Disturbance and Uneasiness The beholding these gay things with the Eye is all that is considerable in them And what does the beholding of all these splendid Sights amount to Is there any through and lasting Pleasure in it any thing that will make a Man happy or so much as promote his Happiness Why truly Solomon 1 Kings 10. who experienc'd all of this Nature to the full gives us this Account of it Eccl. 2.4 He that loveth Silver shall not be satisfyed with Silver nor he that loveth Abundance with Increase 11. Eccl. 5.10 When Goods are increased they are increased that cat them and what Good is there
to the Owners thereof saving the beholding of them with their Eyes A Pleasure very empty and unsatisfying for the Eye is not satisfyed with seeing and which their meanest Servant may have as well as they Content is least of all in the Breasts of Persons of the highest Rank he that has much would still have more and is in frequent Fears of losing what he has for Riches are known to be very uncertain and unaccountably take to themselves Wings and fly away and to be in fear of losing Riches and yet dissatisfi'd in the Possession of them carries much more of Uneasiness with it than the beholding of them with ones Eyes does of Pleasure and a Stranger or a Servant may take not only as much but more Pleasure in the Sight that has none of the inward Discontent than the Proprietor and Master that hath So true is that of the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.9 10. They that will be rich fall into Temptation and a Snare and pierce themselves through with divers Sorrows and Contentment with only Food and Raiment is a much greater Happiness To so very little in reality does arise the Second thing in which consists the Happiness of the World the Gratification of the Lust of the Eyes even to nothing but Dissatisfaction and Disquiet Vanity and Vexation of Spirit Come we now to examin the third Part of this World's Treasure the Pride of Life or Honour Power and Dominion And very fitly is this stil'd the Pride of Life it being the Aim of most men to be great to command and govern and to have much of Honour and Respect paid to them and in this they pride themselves more than in any other worldly Good that they possess But what is there in all this that a Man can justly value at so high a Rate Suppose a Man to be Monarch of the whole World to be without Controul from any one on Earth and to give Laws to every Man besides suppose many inferiour Princes tributary to him and that he is honoured like a mortal God suppose all this yet however glorious it may appear at a Distance we shall find upon a closer Inspection that this likewise is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit For as for even an universal Dominion unless the Subjects were as willing to obey as the Monarch is desirous to govern a Catholic Crown would sit as uneasie nay more so than that of lesser Princes The further a Man's Dominion extends the more Difficulties in Government will occur the more ambitious and discontented Spirits will there be to tame and keep in order the more secret Conspiracies and Underminings of Men aggriev'd and disoblig'd and that are as desirous of Government as he that sits in the Throne can be And which will often break out to shake and discompose if not to overturn the present Establishment And the more extensive a Princes Dominions are the more must there be employ'd in the Government of them and those Men of different Interests and Inclinations jealous of one another and envious at the Supreme and more ready to carve for themselves and advance their own Families than sincerely to endeavour the Prosperity of their Master This is found very true and the Occasion of much Trouble and Disquiet to Princes that have Affairs more in their own View than this universal Monarch can be supposed to have and therefore much more dangerously must he sit than they and receive much more Disquietude and Trouble if he takes Notice of the Motion of his great Orb and if he does not where is the Pleasure of governing So that the most ample Dominion is thickest set with Thorns and Briars while enjoyed and in continual Danger of a Ruin which must perplex him that is sensible of it with numberless Fears and Jealousies and anxious Thoughts how to secure his Throne And he that is careless and unsensible and leaves the Fatigues of Government to Others and spends his Days in nothing but Ease and Luxury is an Emperour in Title only and may soon for any thing he knows be not so much as that The one leads a Life of Vanity the other of Vexation of Spirit That 't is easier to obey than to govern is an usual and very true Saying and would be so were Thrones not near so slippery as they are and I am sure 't is very much happier for a Man never to have had such Height of Power and Dominion than ever to see himself thrown down and laid in the Dust The very Danger of so great a Fall is enough to fill ones Breast with great Disorder so great as that all the Gauderies of Grandeur shall lose their Taste and become insipid to him and actually to fall as many glorious Princes have already done is the greatest Misery that can be experienc'd upon earth The short is Empire and Dominion fancy it how great soever is at best very troublesome and disquieting and so uncertain as that it not seldom ends in the very Depth of Ruin And as for the Honour that goes along with it glorious Titles low Obeisance and the like all of this Nature is so perfectly empty and utterly ineffective of any thing that 's truly good and Profitable to a Man that 't is of all things the most despicable and of least Regard And though 't is fit Inferiours should pay it where 't is due yet unless an inward Veneration of the Mind attends that outward Respect of the Body a great Man is so far from being honoured by it that 't is the greatest Mockery and Abuse that can be And because no great Man can tell whether he is inwardly reverenced or no neither can force any Man so to honour him against his Will 't is a very great Weakness for him to set any great Value upon outward Respect which for ought he knows nay in all likelyhood may be an Affront rather than an Honour to him And this is what Honour Power and Dominion amount to Having thus given in an impartial Account and that confirmed by the Experience of Solomon who enjoy'd it all to the Full of the Sum Total of what this World can afford that can pretend to be of any Worth and Esteem by examining the Three Particulars in which is contained all that is valuable in it namely the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life Let us now weigh Religion against it and see which does preponderate which is the most weighty and substantial Good and consequently whether the Merchant in the Parable did wisely or no in selling all that he had that he might purchase this Pearl and be Master of this Treasure And we shall consider Religion in a twofold Respect with Relation to this World as well as the other And first as for the Value of Religion with Relation to this World what is of greater Esteem than Peace and Quietness Contentment and Satisfaction of Mind a Long and Healthy Life here
and a comfortable expectation of a much better endless Life in the Regions of Glory And all this Religion is the only sure Way to attain What the World it self affords we have seen cannot make us happy in it its Riches and Pleasures and Honours and Power and Dominion are empty and unsatisfying and indeed the Parent of nothing but Vexation of Spirit And therefore I shall wave the Enquiry how far Religion is conducive to these things though it might be made apparent that this is the surest Way even to become rich to live Pleasantly and with Honour and Respect and as for Dominion to govern a Mans self which Religion only teaches is more than to govern the World Now as to Peace and Quietness which are Blessings of the first Magnitude and indeed give a Relish to every thing else for without them neither Riches nor Honour nor even Health and Life it self sits easie That Religion is the only sure Way to procure these great Blessings and that both in Private and in Publick Abroad with others and at Home in a Man 's own Breast will soon be evident As for Peace and Quietness in our Intercourse with others Religion does manifestly tend to procure that upon these two Accounts 1. Because it forbids the offering any Injuries 2 Because it forbids returning any Now that which embroils the World and is the Occasion of all Contention being the doing and Retaliating Harms and ill Turns and Religion so strictly commanding us to love our Neighbours as our selves to do to others nothing but what in like Circumstances we would be willing to receive from others and to forgive if any have done injuriously by us as we hope to be forgiven by God at the Day of Judgment 'T is plain that were our holy Religion sincerely embrac'd and had its due Influence upon the Minds of Men the World might in the Literal Sense of the Words beat their Swords into Plough-Shares and their Spears into Pruning-Hooks and need not learn War any more nothing would then hurt in God's holy Mountain And the World would be what God at first design'd it a Paradise of Happiness and Mankind a Family of Love And as for Peace and Quiet at Home in a Man 's own Breast and without which all other Peace would lose its Relish Religion is the only Way to attain that Blessing For as long as there is such a thing as Conscience which there will be as long as a Man is in any Possibility of Salvation it will do its Office freely and impartially and lash the Soul that sins as often as it sins and fill it full of Horror and Confusion and dreadful Apprehensions of the just Vengeance of God at the Day of Retribution There is no Peace saith my God to the wicked but their Souls are like the troubled Sea which cannot rest and whose Waters cast up Mire and Dirt. But a good Mans Breast is quiet and serene full of the Joys of Innocence and the Applauses of a Conscience void of Offence both towards God and Man And as Peace and Quietness so Contentment and Satisfaction of Mind is the natural Product of Religion and of that only Without Contentment of Mind no Condition how good soever in its self is pleasing and with it every Condition is For Happiness consists in the Proportion of the Object to the Desire and he that has the whole of what this World can afford if he desires still more and thinks his present Condition not good enough is by many Degrees less happy than he that must drudge for his living but yet is contented with his Lot Happiness consists not in Abundance he only is indeed a happy Man that is so wise as to enjoy his present Portion and knows how patiently to endure a worse Condition and dreads a base and wicked Action however gainful and advantagious it may be even worse than Death And he 'll for ever be a Slave that can't be satisfied with a little But the contented Man is always easy under his present Lot and if his Fortune will not rise to what he could desire he will bring his Desires down to his Fortune and so be sure of Happiness because by this means his Desires and his Fortune bear a due Proportion to one another And truly so various are the Turns of Fortune here so many unexpected Accidents that make great Changes for the worse in Mens Circumstances of Life and which 't is utterly out of their Power to have any Influence upon so as to amend that were there not this Remedy of making our Minds comply with the Event and taking out the Sting and Venom of it by Acquiescence and Contentment and Contraction of our Desires Man would be the most miserable Creature upon the Face of the Earth But he that has learned and can apply this Remedy whatever he may suffer from without has a Power still ready of turning it into Good and though he can't prevent the Accident yet he can prevent its doing him a Mischief Now this excellent Remedy for the Calamities of Life Religion best of all teaches us For in the first place it teaches us that God is the great Governour of the World and with the exactest Wisdom and Justice and Goodness disposes all things and consequently that all Events are as they should be and upon the whole Account ordered for the Best For there is no Possibility of amending what is done with infinite Wisdom and Justice and Goodness And secondly it teaches us that our Interest does least of all lie in this World where we are but Strangers and Foreigners and are to continue but for a little while and that our Treasure and Inheritance is in Heaven which is our native Country and to which e're long we shall be recall'd and our Glory and Happiness there be the more increas'd as we have more patiently and contentedly submitted to God's Pleasure here upon Earth And a hearty thorough Perswasion of these two things will certainly teach a Man to know with St. Paul How to abound and how to want and in every Condition to be content And for this Christianity gives the clearest Evidence even the Word of God himself who cannot lye as no Man can be to learn that has read the Scriptures But Irreligion on the contrary is the great Destroyer of Content and fills the Soul with continual Vexations and makes every cross Accident doubly evil by Impatience For first the ungodly have not God in all their Thoughts are wholly taken up with second Causes and look upon things as the Effect of Chance and Fortune and so when Crosses come upon them or ill Fortune as they call it they grow querulous and out of all Patience and as for divine Providence that 's wholly unregarded unless it be to revile it and impiously to call in question the Goodness and Justice of its Disposals And so that which in Affliction is the greatest Cordial of all Irreligion
either wholly deprives the Soul of or turns it into Poison and instead of disarming a Misfortune by humble Submission to the infinitely wise and just and good Disposals of the great Governour of all things adds a thousand sharper things to it and makes that become intolerable which Religion would have made to sit light and easy Again Content is destroyed by Irreligion because it perswades Men that their whole Interest lies here below either by making them believe there is no such thing as another World or else by engaging them so fast to this as to hinder their attending to any thing beyond this Life And the Effect of this is great eagerness in acquiring these lower Goods impatient Desires of still more and more of the World as that in which is concentred their whole Happiness And what else can be the Consequence of this amidst the great uncertainties that attend these sublunary things but a World of Trouble and Discontent answerable to those numerous cross Accidents and Disappointments which every Condition is full of from the highest to the lowest Every unlucky Hit to such Men is like a Dagger stabbing to the very Heart for that which a Man looks upon as his chief Good he can by no means endure to have lessened and impaired And the World being so full of such vexatious Mishaps how full of Wounds must be the Spirit of an ungodly Worldling And as Content so Satisfaction of Mind which is much more than a submissive Acquiescence in our present Condition and supposes a Happiness that is compleat and full This is a Blessing which nothing but sincere Religion can ever make the Soul experience And he only that has learned to make God the chief Object of his Affections and Desires can indeed know what Satisfaction is For every thing besides God is unsatisfying because flitting and momentary and very imperfect and empty of that infinite Good which is the only adequate Object of that infinite Desire of Happiness which is in the Soul of Man This is the Reason that Men are so constantly disappointed in their Expectation of Happiness from the Enjoyment of this World 's Good let them continually have what they desire which yet is too much to be rationally supposed of any Man and enjoy it fully and without Controul yet still there will be something wanting to compleat their Happiness something that they desire still further and so the Soul is continually baulk'd of her Expectation and still at a Loss for Happiness and continual Longings and Desires and as continual Disappointments are her Portion in this World And what 's more uneasie and vexatious than such a Condition as this What more deplorable than even by Fruition it self to be made unhappy What other Refuge has the miserable Soul in this Case than to take off her Affections from these empty Nothings here below and as Religion directs fix them upon him who is the supreme Good and will abide the Test of an eternal Fruition In the Enjoyment of him must needs be infinite Satisfaction because there is no real Good that we can possibly desire but is in the divine Nature in the highest Degree of Excellency and Perfection and that not only for a Time but to all Eternity All the Capacities of the Soul must needs be fill'd with an infinite Good and intirely rest in it as in the very Center of Happiness Thirdly Religion is of very great Value with Respect to this World because 't is so greatly conducive to a long and healthy Life in it Long Life and Health is that which all People naturally covet and is indeed a very great Blessing and that not only because the longer Men live and the more vigorous they are the longer and more fully they enjoy or at least hope to enjoy the good things of this World which yet with too many is the main Consideration but likewise and chiefly because they have more Time and greater Opportunities to provide for the Happiness of the eternal Life to come and heap up still greater Treasures of Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven Now this great Blessing nothing is more likely to help a Man to than Religion For First it engages Men to live regularly and temperately moderates the Appetites of eating and drinking and curbs the exorbitant Desires of the flesh and by allowing no more than is necessary to the Comfortable Support of Nature makes no Provision for those many destructive Diseases which are always the Attendants of Excess How many of the meaner Sort by Labour and course Fare protract their Days than of the Rich who live in Ease and Luxury And the Reason is plain because the poor Man's scanty Fortune will not allow him to exceed but keeps him within the Bounds of Moderation and Temperance and forces him to be content with a little whereas the rich have many and great Temptations to Luxury and Excess and seldom are so religious as to resist them and so too frequently feel the sad Effects of Intemperance and live out but half their Days But now Religion is a kind of voluntary Poverty and helps Men to all the Blessings of a mean Condition though rich and out of Danger of the Sting of it and by introducing Temperance and Moderation into the Families of the wealthy brings with it Health and long Life which otherwise would seldom be found but in the Cottages of the Poor Again Religion is greatly conducive to a long and healthy Life because it regulates the Passions keeps the Soul quiet and in a Calm which has no little Influence upon the Health and Welfare of the Body That the Passions of the Mind do very much affect the Body is undeniable and when they are excessive nothing more shakes and discomposes the whole Man Even Joy which one would think should be innocent enough has sometimes been so violent as to overcharge Persons and leave them dead and Grief has been often fatal and Envy is the worst Sort of Consumption and leaves visible Tokens of it upon the Countenance and Love has had many Martyrs and Anger is a great Impoverisher of the Animal Spirits and oftentimes makes a Man his own Executioner and engages in such Scuffles and hot Inconsiderate Actions as not seldom end in Wounds and Death Every Excess of Passion of what kind soever is naturally a great Impairer of Health at least and the often Repetitions of it the ready Way to destroy it Nature not being able to bear such violent Concussions long without being much weaken'd and shatter'd by them Like the Walls of a Castle which how strong soever will receive Damage by every furious Battery and unless reliev'd must at length fall before the Cannons Irresistible Force But now Religion prevents all this Mischief and by regulating and reducing to Moderation these Passions of the Soul makes the Mind calm and quiet and keeps the Spirits in an Aequipoise and the Body consequently is undisturb'd feels no Violence nor
is hurried on to dangerous and destructive Actions but Nature goes on evenly in making Provision for its Health and Support and it enjoys its Strength and Beauty as in the Times of Quietness and Peace In the last Place a comfortable Expectation of a much better and endless Life in the Regions of Glory can spring from nothing but sincere Religion and therefore Religion is of very great Value with Respect to this world For what can be of greater value and more to be desired in this Valley of Tears this World of Sin and Sorrow and Ignorance Vexation and Disappointment than to have a well grounded Hope that 't will not be always so with us That there will be a Time when all Tears shall be wip'd from our Eyes and Sin and Misery be at an End for ever That we shall one Day be disentangled from the Clog of Flesh the Prison Doors set open and our captiv'd Souls set free and with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory return to the great Father of Spirits and with the full Vigour of all their Faculties contemplate and enjoy the only satisfying Good That instead of Floods of Years there shall then be Rivers of Pleasures flowing in upon us to all Eternity Halleluia's instead of Groans and mournfull Accents the triumphant Rejoycings of eternal beatified Spirits instead of the bitter Complaints of miserable Mortals and in a word Love in its Perfection instead of Quarrels and Discontents Envy and Hatred and Malice and Revenge and all the dire Attendants of them That instead of spiritual Blindness and Ignorance of the most concerning Truths for here we know but in Part and see through a Glass darkly we shall e're long be admitted to contemplate Truth it self and know as we are known and shall see God as he is and in him all things For God is Light What can be more valuable than such a chearing Expectation as this How will it sweeten all the Troubles of this Mortal Life and be a sensible Foretaste of the Glory that shall hereafter be revealed But now nothing can create such a Hope as this but sincere Religion for God is infinitely pure and holy and into his Presence no unclean thing can enter And 't is expresly said in the Revelations of his Will That without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. A wicked Mans Breast that is not seared can be full of nothing but the dire Reflections of an enrag'd Conscience and dreadful forebodings of the Wrath to come The Miseries he feels in this World are but as the Beginnings of his eternal Sorrows and while he continues in his Rebellion against God he can expect nothing but new Expresses of his Indignation here and to be doom'd to the Portion of the Devil and his Angels at the Day of Judgment He only that has liv'd piously in this World can with any Comfort think upon a future State But to him that has led this First Life by the Rule of Religion and serv'd his Maker in Sincerity of Heart no Joy comparable to that which he experiences when he thinks of being dissolv'd and conducted to the Embraces of his Saviour in the Kingdom of Heaven where he shall be for ever with him and unspeakably happy in the Joy of his dear Lord. And thus much for the Value of Religion with Relation to this World It is the Parent of the most perfect Peace and Quietness Content and Satisfaction of Mind of a long and healthy Life here and of a comfortable Expectation of a glorious Immortality in the Regions of Blessedness And were this all that could be said of it I question not but to any considering Man it would appear to be a Jewel of inestimable Price that nothing the whole World can afford is comparable to it and that he is the wisest Man who with the Merchant in the Parable immediately parts with all that stands in Competition with Religion and would hinder him in the Performance of the Duties of it But this is far from all Godliness has not only a Promise of the Life that now is but also and chiefly of that which is to come And if it appears to be so inestimable a Treasure when we look no further than this Life what shall we think of it when we contemplate that exceeding Weight of Glory which shall be its Reward in Heaven The Happiness that will crown Religion in the other World springing from the same Fountain from whence do flow the Felicities of God himself i. e. it consisting in an intimate View and full Enjoyment of the Beauties and Perfections of the Divine Nature for so St. John 1 Joh. 3.2 We shall see God as he is It must needs be inexpressible Nay the very Contemplation of it is too bright for Minds darkned with Flesh the Splendors of it flash too strongly upon our feeble Sense now we are in the Body and too long and closely gaz'd on will rather dazle than enlighten our Understandings No Mortal Man can see God's Face and live and therefore most true is that of the Apostle Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard 1 Cor. 2.9 neither can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive the things that God hath reserv'd for those that love him Indeed this includes all that can possibly be imagin'd of Excellence and much more than we poor ignorant benighted Creatures can imagin For God is the Fountain of Being and consequently of Perfection All that is charming and truly desirable in Nature to our Senses or to our Understandings in the visible or invisible Creation is but a Stream from this divine Fountain and is in him ininfinitely greater Excellency For he is Beauty and Goodness and Harmony it self And therefore since Religion will bring us to such a Happiness as the Vision and Enjoyment of this chief Good what can compare with it for Value The Depth says 't is not in me and the Sea says 't is not with me Man knoweth not the Price thereof neither is it found in the Land of the Living It cannot be valued with the Gold of Ophir with the precious Onyx or the Saphire no mention shall be made of Coral or Pearls for the Price of Wisdom is above Rubies Job 28.13 c. Such then being the Excellency of Religion that it is above all things conducive to the Happiness of Man in this World and will bring him to the Enjoyment of God himself to eternal Ages when this short Life is ended and the whole that the World can afford amounting to no more by the Confession of one that enjoy'd it all to the Full than Emptiness and Disappointment Vanity and Vexation of Spirit here and if the Word of God be true an eternal Banishment from the supreme Good shall at last be their Punishment who love this worthless World more than Religion and their Maker These things being duly weighed and considered let any Man in his Wits say which is of greatest Value Religion or
the World And which is the wisest Man he that ruins his Soul for the Gain of even the whole World or he that counts all these sublunary things as Dung in Comparison with Religion and is ready to part with all that this Earth can afford him for the Joys of a good Conscience here and the Glories of Heaven hereafter He that prefers the World in his Choice deprives himself of the greatest Comfort of this present Life and parts with the certain Reversion of eternal Happiness in Heaven for Pleasures that don't deserve that Name they are so empty and unsatisfying he brings most exquisite and everlasting Misery upon his whole self Soul and Body for a very short liv'd imperfect Gratification of his brutal Part only and purchases the Torments of the other World by making himself unhappy in this In a Word therefore as much as to be like God in Holiness and Happiness is to be preferr'd before being like the Devil in Sin and Misery as much as Satisfaction is better than Disappointment Peace and Quietness and Content than Vexation and continual Disturbance and Perplexity of Mind a confirm'd Health and long Life than the Diseases and hasty Death that follows Debauchery and the comfortable Expectation of being for ever happy with Saints and Angels and the blessed God in the Coelestial Paradise than the confounding Dread of the Judgment of the great Day As much as Immortality is more to be prized than a Life of a Span long and the Enjoyment of the chief Good than the Pleasures of a Swine of so much gerater Value is Religion than all that this World can afford and indeed the only desirable Treasure and a Pearl of inestimable Price And now if what has been hitherto discours'd be true the Application is easy If Religion be of all things the most precious let us make it more and more our Endeavour to inrich our Souls with this Treasure to adorn our rational Nature with this Pearl of great Price and with the Merchant in the Parable think nothing too much to part with that we may purchase that Heavenly Wisdom which will make us wise to Salvation For sound Wisdom as the wise King expresses it Prov. 3.18 is a Tree of Life to those that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her She shall give to thine Head an Oranment of Grace Prov. 4.9 and a Crown of Glory shall she deliver to thee But he that would have this Wisdom and find this Pearl must not only wish and desire but with the Merchant in the Parable diligently seek it seek and ye shall find says our Lord Pro. 2.4 5. and Solomon assures us That if we seek Wisdom as Silver and search for her as for hid Treasure then shall we understand the Fear of the Lord and find the Knowledge of God Religion is not acquired without Diligence for though it be the Gift of God yet the Soul must be prepared to receive it all evil Habits must be broke and rooted up and pious Dispositions planted in their Room and the Temper of the Mind changed by Repentance and all the Powers of the whole Man become pliable to the Motions of the Spirit of Holiness before the divine Likeness can be formed in the Soul And though 't is the Grace of God that enables us to go thus far for without it we can do nothing yet our own Concurrence and Co-operation with his Grace is necessary to bring the blessed Work of Regeneration to Perfection An obstinate Resistance of preventing Grace will grieve and quench that Life-giving Spirit and such a Soul shall know no more of Religion than that it was invited to it but rejected the Offer and might have been happy in the Enjoyment of so great a Treasure but it would not But when a Soul with Joy embraces the Motions of the holy Spirit to a new Life and makes it her great Endeavour to remove all Obstacles out of the Way that they may make a due Impression and hungers and thirsts after new Degrees of Righteousness This Soul shall be fill'd with the Treasures of the divine Grace and the Power of Godliness will be visible in all Manner of holy Conversation But this can't be perform'd without a watchful persevering Diligence there is so much Opposition from within and without to this great Business that like Nehemiah's Labourers Neh. 5.17 we must work with our Swords in our Hands and fight and strive that we may carry on the Building of a living Temple for our God and make our Souls Houses of Prayer adorn'd with religious Affections and sit to receive him that hates Iniquity He that is thus diligent shall grow rich towards God and daily increase in the Knowledge and Love of him 'till Mortality shall be swallow'd up of Life and then all the Labours of Religion shall for ever be at an End and nothing remain for the happy Soul to do but to enjoy to all Eternity the glorious Rewards of it Let us all therefore be stedfast unmoveable and always abound in this Work of the Lord for as much as we know our Labour shall not be in vain and to our diligent Pursuit of this inestimable Treasure of Religion let us add frequent and earnest Prayer to God who is the only Giver of every good and perfect Gift that he would send down Wisdom from his holy Heaven that being present she may labour with us that we may know what is pleasing in his Sight and set our selves to do it with all Alacrity running with Diligence and Patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endur'd the Cross despising the Shame Heb. 12.1 2. and is set down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God remembring that we also shall reap in due Season if we faint not And if we part with all the vile Affections for the Sake of Religion in this World and are ready in Preparation of Mind to suffer any worldly Loss even to that of Life it self for the Sake of Jesus and his Truth we shall find such a Recompence of Reward in the Kingdom of Heaven as will abundantly compensate all our Sufferings here for our light Affliction which is but for a Moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory Happy is the Exchange of all that this World can afford for a Jewel of so great Price as Religion and for such inexhaustible Treasures of Bliss as are reserved to Reward it in the Presence of God What is our greatest Interest therefore let us before all things persue and where our Treasure is there let our Hearts be also The PRAYER I. O Mercifull Jesu Who hast prepared for us a Treasure in Heaven and taught us the Way to attain it and warn'd us of the Emptiness of this World 's Good that we may not be
Wrongs how great soever to be submitted to and put up in Silence by Christians by Vertue of the Command of forgiving Injuries 't would be to betray the Sheep to the Wolves to expose the Disciples of Christ to the Malice of all the wicked World which is not consistent with the Wisdom and Goodness of the great Shepherd of the Sheep Christ Jesus And St. Paul says expresly He that provideth not for his own House i. e. for the comfortable Subsistence of his Family has deny'd the Faith and is worse than an Infidel i. e. Acts contrary to the Obligations both of Nature and Religion But he will soon ruin instead of supporting his Family who suffers ill Men without Interruption to make what Havock they please of his Person Reputation or Estate But now as for smaller Injuries in any of these Respects such as make no great Alteration in our Circumstances and may be born without any great Inconvenience these are to be pass'd by and the Injury forgiven according to the Measures before described And 't is observable that the Instances our Saviour makes use of in this Matter are of the lesser Sort of Injuries such as a Blow on the Cheek the taking away of a Garment and the like and 't was for being rigorous about a few Pence that the King in the Parable was so wroth with his Servant And rather than a Christian should embroil himself in Law-Suits and run the Hazard of losing the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit for such small Matters he should suffer a Repetition of such Injuries And indeed as Religion is in all Respects the greatest Prudence so particularly in forbidding litigious Quarrels unless a Man's whole Interest or at least a great Part of it be at Stake for Law is now become a boundless Ocean and generally very rough and Stormy and swells Men's Passions to an exorbitant Height and shipwrecks their Charity as well as their Estates And as to those greater Injuries our Saviour mentions Mat. 5.44 of Men's being our Enemies profess'd and hating and cursing and despitefully using and persecuting us Neither he nor his Apostles there or any where else forbid Christians endeavouring in a legal Manner to secure and defend themselves and recover their own but only not to return Evil for Evil and to be so far from Purposes of Revenge or retaliating such Injuries as rather to love and bless and pray for and do good to upon Occasion those that deal so maliciously by them and to manage the Suit or Contention with them with Charity having no Rancour or Malice in their Hearts against the Person of their Adversary That is in short our holy Religion does oblige us in lesser Injuries intirely both to pass by the Offence and forgive the Offender according to the Measures before described but in greater Injuries of any Sort where Ruin or insupportable Damage will follow though it permits nay obliges to endeavour a legal Reparation and so not to forgive the Offence yet Christians must as intirely and according to the same Measures forgive the Offender as in the smallest Instances of Wrong And by this Means they will become the Children of their heavenly Father who though in infinite Mercy he forgave the World of Sinners and moreover bestowed on them richly all things to enjoy yet in the Person of his blessed Son their Representative he severely express'd his Displeasure against their Sins that they might be deter'd from persisting in them afresh to the Ruin of their immortal Souls Besides those Injuries that terminate upon a Man's self and his own Concerns there are others done to our Neighbour and the Publick which must not be pass'd by without animadverting upon them according to their Deserts As for Instance if a bloody Villain murders a Man's Friend or Neighbour or Relation and he knows who is the Murderer it may be he only in this Case whatever Inclination he may have to conceal it whether out of natural Compassion or Unwillingness to be the Occasion of the Man's Execution since nothing can recall the murder'd Person to Life and the Murderer may live to repent or the like Because he is a Member of Society and obliged as much as in him lies to promote its Safety and Happiness which by such Villains is much disturb'd and lessen'd and would be ruin'd should such Men pass unpunish'd 't is his Duty to endeavour by all lawful Means to bring so heinous an Offender to condign Punishment that so corrupt a Member being cut off from the Community the Health of the whole may be better secur'd And so in all Cases of the like Nature Always remembring that if any thing of private Revenge be intermix'd it pollutes the Action and makes the Man doubly guilty of Malice and Hypocrisy What has been hitherto said concerning the Limits of forgiving Injuries concerns Men only as private Persons As for Magistrates and Governours they being constituted by God to be a Terror to evil doers Rom. 13.3 4. to be Revengers to execute Wrath upon them and to praise and encourage those only that do well the Measure of their Forgiveness of publick Injuries is the publick Good so far as is consistent with their Obligations as Magistrates as is conducive to the common Weal according to the Judgment of Prudence and unprejudic'd Reason they may and do well to incline to Lenity and Compassion but a foolish and a mercenary Pity is a betraying their Trust a bearing the Sword in vain and such Magistrates instead of being Fathers of their Country are indeed the Perfidious Destroyers of it And thus much for the Nature of christian Forgiveness of Injuries in Imitation of the divine Pattern God has set us with its general Limits As for the great Obligation we have to copy after this admirable Pattern of our merciful heavenly Father it is twofold 1 With Respect to God 2 to our Selves First With Respect to God our Obligation to forgive one another as he has forgiven us is very great because 't is what he has declared will be highly pleasing to him as a Resemblance of that Perfection of his Nature which he seems most of all to take Delight in For so Exod. 33.19 when Moses desired to see his Glory he told him he would make all his Goodness pass before him and Chap. 34.6 The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin And accordingly St. John gives the Definition of him God is Love Now certainly those that have receiv'd such infinite Favours from this good God and have been forgiven so vast a Debt as we sinners have have the greatest Reason in the World to endeavour to the utmost of their Power to please this their greatest Benefactor in every thing And nothing being more pleasing to him than to see the Image and Reflection of his
Malice and Revenge Wherefore to conclude this Parable If we are touch'd with a due Sense of the wondrous Compassion of God to us miserable Sinners in forgiving us the vast Debt we had contracted to the divine Justice by Reason of our Sins and which 't was impossible for us ever to have discharg'd our selves whereby we are deliver'd from the intolerable and endless Punishment of them and moreover made Sons of God and Heirs of celestial Glory If we are duly touch'd with a Sense of this infinite Goodness of God to us which to effect was the Endeavour of the first Part of this Discourse let us express our deep Resentment of his gracious Forgiveness of us by imitating so excellent an Example and forgiving one another Let us consider the great Happiness that both here and hereafter will attend the Performance of this Duty and reflect upon the endless Misery that will closely follow the contrary We must forgive if we would be forgiven we must shew Mercy and Compassion to our Brethren that offend us if we hope to find any at the Hands of God And let us remember that how sweet soever we may fancy Revenge to be now we shall find the Consequence of it if not speedily repented of to be eternal Damnation From which sad Condition and that hellish Temper that will bring us to it let us pray earnestly that the good Lord would deliver us through Jesus Christ our merciful Saviour The PRAYER I. O Holy and most merciful King of Heaven who hast forgiven a World of miserable Wretches an infinite Debt and deliver'd those who had nothing to pay from the extremest and eternal Misery and hast commanded that in Return we do to others as thou hast done to us I who am a happy Sharer in thy wondrous Compassion do praise thee from the Bottom of my Soul and earnestly entreat the Assistance of thy Grace that I may never be wanting in a sincere and chearful Imitation of thy blessed Example but delight to copy after so lovely an Original and freely and intirely forgive nay love and do good to my most inveterate Enemies And since thou lov'dst us first and didst prevent us with the Riches of thy Goodness O that I could in this resemble thee too and even court my Injurers to Peace and Reconciliation and with a Christian Bravery of Spirit offer them that forgiveness which they will not ask This is indeed a hard Saying to my deprav'd Nature and Revenge seems sweeter far to Flesh and Blood and though my Reason I confess is satisfyed of the great Excellency of the Performance yet my Passions I must with Shame own likewise run violently the contrary Way and bear me down with their rapid Course Thy Aid I therefore beg Almighty God and that thy Spirit may enable me to stem this dangerous Current and strenuously to resist and master all Motions to revenge remembring that this is the Condition of my open Forgiveness at thy Hands and that Judgment without Mercy shall be my Portion if I shew no Mercy II. Convince me daily more and more of my base Ingratitude to thee and inhumane Barbarity to my Brethren in bearing Malice and Rancour for trifling Injuries such as are the greatest we can offer to each other in Compare with what thy Mercy hath forgiven us And do thou O meekest Jesus sweeten our Tempers and turn all Bitterness of Spirit into Love and mutual Endeavours to promote each others Happiness and may we all conspire in offering up our joint Praises to our merciful God who has remitted to every one of us infinitely more than Ten Thousand Talents O that this thy Mercy may be imprinted in lively and everlasting Characters upon my Soul so as powerfully to incline me to transcribe it in my Intercourse with Men Then shall I experience the blessed Influence this thy Commandment will have upon my Happiness even here and in the most acceptable Manner express my Thankfulness for thy Pity shew'd to me and at last by bearing this thy Badge upon my Soul be own'd by thee as thy true Disciple and receiv'd into the Joy of thee our dearest Lord. Which grant O most compassionate Jesus for thine own Mercies Sake Amen Amen PARABLE V. Of a King that made a Marriage for his Son Matth. xxii 2 3. Luk. xiv 18 19 20. Matth. xxii 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a certain King Mat. 22.2 that made a Marriage for his Son And sent forth his Servants to call them that were bidden to the Wedding And they would not come And they all with one consent began to make Excuse Luk. 14.18 The first said unto him I have bought a Piece of Ground and I must needs go and see it I pray thee have me excused And another said I have bought five Yoke of Oxen and I go to prove them I pray thee have me excused And another said I have married a Wife and therefore I cannot come Again he sent forth other Servants Mat. 22.4 saying Tell them which are bidden Behold I have prepared my Dinner my Oxen and my Fatlings are killed and all things are ready come unto the Marriage But they made light of it and went their Ways one to his Farm another to his Merchandise And the Remnant took his Servants and entreated them spitefully and slew them But when the King heard thereof he was wroth And he sent forth his Armies and destroyed those Murderers and burnt up their City Then saith he to his Servants the Wedding is ready but those that were bidden were not worthy Go ye therefore into the High-ways and as many as ye shall find bid to the Marriage So those Servants went out into the High-ways and gathered together all as many as they found both bad and good and the Wedding was furnish'd with Guests And when the King came in to see the Guests he saw there a Man that had not on a wedding Garment And he saith unto him Friend how camest thou in hither not having a wedding Garment And he was speechless Then said the King to the Servants Bind him Hand and Foot and take him away and cast him into outer Darkness There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth For many are called but few are chosen THIS Parable I suppose was in its first Intention design'd to reprove the hardned Infidelity of the Jews their obstinately rejecting the Mercy of God to them in Christ Jesus and their vile Ingratitude to him for his peculiar Care of them in so ordering it that the Gospel should be first preach'd to them to which Purpose also was spoken the Parable of the wicked Husbandmen in Mat. 21.33 which for its great Affinity to the first Part of this Parable and intire Relation to the Jews I thought fit to pass by and it was likewise intended to shew God's great Anger against them for that their Stubbornness and malicious Treatment of
together and they both amount to thus much that they preferr'd the minding their own petty Affairs and which might have been as well let alone till another Time before that great Honour the King did them in inviting them to the Marriage of his Son And they might well believe such Excuses would serve to no other Purpose but to provoke the King to Anger when he should see his Favour made thus light of and Men's common Business preferr'd before it In like manner too many now-adays are so weak as to plead Business and the Affairs of the World in excuse of their great Neglect of the things of Religion Our Callings must be follow'd Business must be done our Families must be maintain'd and therefore it cannot be expected that we can be much at Leisure for Religion at the present when the Fatigues of this World begin to be over and we draw near the other then we 'll give our selves up to the making Provision for it And this though few Men will speak it out is the Sense of too many as is evident from their Practice and truly some make no Scruple to declare this openly Now though it be very true that Business must be minded and our Families maintain'd and Industry is as much a Christian Duty as any other and is it self a Part of Piety yet it is but a Part and will not commute for a Neglect of all the rest nay this Sort of Industry we are speaking of is one of the least Parts of Piety and provided the Necessaries of Life are secur'd 't is not only lawful but very commendable to abate of our Industry in the Persuit of this World 's Good and lay it out upon the greater Concerns of the next Thus when Jesus came to the House of Martha and Mary and Martha out of a commendable Zeal to entertain him well was busied in making ready Provisions for him while Mary set at his Feet listning to his divine Instructions when Martha complain'd to him that her Sister had left all the Trouble to her and desir'd him to order that she should help her Jesus answer'd and said unto her Martha Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things but one thing is above all needful and Mary hath chosen that good Part which shall not be taken from her Luk. 10.40 c. And accordingly in his divine Sermon on the Mount Mat. 6.24 25. ye cannot serve God and Mammon says our Lord therefore take no Thought i.e. no anxious over eager Concern for your Life what ye shall eat or drink or wherewith be cloathed but Vers 33. seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness let it be your principle Care and Endeavour to be rich towards God and abound in good Works and then a moderate Care for the things of this Life will with God's Blessing which alone can give Prosperity be sufficient And therefore to do as is too commonly done in the World and first provide with great Care and Industry for Abundance here and then at last think a little of the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness is such an ungodly and unreasonable Course as can never end in any thing but bitter Remorse at last and utter Confusion so vain and frivolous is this first Excuse Men offer for their not entertaining Religion so affectionately as they should do namely that they have bought Farms and Oxen and must look after them i. e. are deeply engag'd in the Affairs and Business of this Life The other Excuse offer'd in the Parable for absenting from the Marriage of the King's Son was the having married a Wife the Man was so taken up with the Pleasures of his own new Condition that he had no Appetite for those at the King's Son's Wedding And this as little of Validity as it has in it is in Effect very often pleaded by Men against their medling with Religion at least at present They are young they say and in the Age of Pleasure and Jollity the Enjoyments of the World are very sweet to 'em and Religion is too austere for them as yet what Pleasures are said to be in it are of a Nature contrary to their Propensions and Inclinations and therefore they desire to be excus'd if they don't leave these present Satisfactions but enjoy them while they can and afterwards 't is likely they may advert to the Pleasures of Religion which though they have heard so much Talk of they can't frame any so lovely Idea of them as to incline them to leave what by Experience they find so grateful to them And this not only the Practice of most younger Persons expresses but many are so forsaken of Reason as to own it plainly But since they talk of Experience I dare appeal even to themselves whether they have not met with more Disappointment than Satisfaction from the greatest sensual Pleasures they have enjoy'd The thing is too notorious to be deny'd and they tacitly confess it by shifting Pleasures so often as they do for where there is Satisfaction what need of Change And I may likewise boldly assert this from the Experience of very many that have tasted both Sorts of Pleasures those of the World as well as of Religion that there is no Comparison between the one and the other and that the Satisfaction that flowes from a sincere Religion is infinitely to be preferr'd before the most studied Gratifications of Sense nay even those Pleasures of Sense relish much better for being season'd with Religion So that to neglect Religion out of a Fondness for Pleasure is as if a Man should run from a Fountain because he is parch'd with Thirst No Pleasures certainly like those of Religion and he that once drinks of those Rivers of Delight that flow from her will never thirst again after the tainted Puddles of brutal Enjoyments for her Ways only are Ways of sincere and unmix'd Pleasure and all her Paths are Peace But supposing the Pleasures of this World to be indeed as great as some Men after all their Baulks and Disappointments will still fancy them to be and that Religion is an austere and rugged thing and but little or no Delight and Satisfaction to be met with in the Practice of it yet since the Pleasures of the World how great soever are very short and momentary and must certainly die with us and generally leave us long before we die and since Religion how unpleasant soever here will secure to us the Enjoyment of unconceivable Pleasures that are for ever in the Presence of God No rational Man but will think it a very childish Excuse for the Neglect of Religion to plead our Fondness of the Gaieties and Enjoyments of this World 'T is like a Child's slighting a Wedge of Gold and rather persuing an empty
obstinate Infidelity and their murdering their Saviour was to urge the Jewish Christians to a Preparation and watchful Care against that Time of Sorrows and that they would be so wise as to make Provision for their Safety by being very careful that that Time surprize them not in wicked Courses but that living like faithful Disciples of Christ in all Obedience to his holy Commands his Providence might watch over them and secure them from perishing in that dreadful Destruction Though this might be the first Intention of this Parable yet I suppose it designed likewise to represent the Necessity of Men's constant Preparation for Death and Judgment by a sedulous Care and Watchfulness over themselves and diligent Practice of all religious Duties and Obligations Because 't is very uncertain when God will summon any of us to leave this World and appear before his just Tribunal and his Call may be very suddain and unexpected and because the Consequence of being unready and not fit to obey it will be inexpressibly miserable Watch therefore says our Lord in the Conclusion of this Parable for ye know neither the Day nor the Hour when the Son of Man cometh In my Discourse upon this Parable thus understood I shall do two things First I shall give a particular Interpretation of the Parable and shew how aptly expressive it is of the Sense our Lord couch'd under it And Secondly I shall urge that upon the Practice of Christians which is express'd by it namely that they would watch and be ready because they know not the Day nor the Hour First I shall give a particular Interpretation of this Parable and shew how aptly expressive it is of the Sense our Lord couched under it The Parable is an Allusion to a Custom among the Jews of the Friends and Neighbours of the Bridegroom when there was a Wedding conducting him to the Bride-Chamber with Songs and burning Lamps and partaking of an Entertainment that was prepar'd for them and shutting the Door when the Bridegroom was enter'd to keep out the intruding Rabble and afterwards admitting none that were not ready to attend him at the Hour he came which was uncertain And the Sense which our Lord couch'd under this Representation is this That 't is highly necessary every Christian should be always ready and prepar'd by a holy Life to attend the Call of Christ whenever he shall summon him out of this World by Death in order to his final Judgment because the Time of that great Summons is so very uncertain and eternal Happiness or Misery respectively depends upon Men's being prepar'd or not prepar'd for it Now how aptly and movingly expressive this Parable is of this Sense will appear from the following Interpretation of it By the Virgins in the Parable is represented the Society of Christians those that profess to believe in and to be Disciples of the holy Jesus who like Virgins ought to be pure and spotless innocent and modest and humble solâ— and temperate in all things pious and devout and the like And as the Want of these or any of these good Qualifications is to a Virgin the greatest Blackening and Disparagement so the Want of them in Christians is likewise the greatest Dishonour to them exposes them to the Scorn and Contempt of God and all good Men renders them unworthy of that holy Name by which they are call'd and defiles and stains those Souls which Christ purified with his precious Blood that they might be his own Peculiar zealous of good Works By half of those Virgins being wise and half foolish is represented the great Difference there is among those that go under the same general Character of Christians some vain and idle careless and unthoughtful taken up with the Gaieties and Follies of the World lavish of their Reputation and loose in their Conversation and Behaviour while others are so wise as to consider the Character they bear and live as those that make Profession of Holiness that is with Care and Circamspection Watchfulness and a diligent and attentive Piety That so they may preserve their Honour and the Dignity of their Profession inviolate and unstain'd and be presented as chaste Virgins unto Christ that divine Bridegroom whenever he shall come By the Lamps of those Virgins is expressed the Souls of Christians which are to burn with holy Fires of Love and Devotion to God and their Saviour and make them as so many Lights in this dark and benighted World for ye are the Light of the World says our Lord to his Disciples therefore let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Mat. 5.14 16. That is as the Souls of Christians are illuminated by the Spirit of him who is the Father of Lights and in whom is no Darkness at all as they are warm'd by his Influences who descended upon the Apostles in the Likeness of Fire and have divine Affections by his holy Breathings inkindled in them so they should influence the whole Man and make those that name the Name of Christ like so many burning and shining Lights in the Midst of a crooked and perverse Generation so many eminent Examples of Piety and real Goodness such as by theis own Practice should recommend their most hloy Religion and set before Men's Eyes the Beauty of Holiness by their own Conversation By the Bridegroom whom these Virgins with their Lamps went forth to meet is represented our dear Saviour that heavenly King 's divine Son for whom he made so glorious a Marriage in the Parable I last discours'd of where the Reasons why the Gospel is compar'd to a Marriage and our Lord to a Bridegroom are particularly insisted on And by going forth to meet this divine Bridegroom is signifyed our preparing against his calling us from this World by Death and providing against his Advent to Judgment that is by frequently contemplating our Mortality reflecting on the Shortness and Uncertainty of Life and therefore making the best Use of our Time while we have it as not knowing how soon our Breath may be required of us and because after Death comes Judgment therefore endeavouring to make ready our Accounts by frequent Self-Examination and from the serious Consideration of the Terrors of that great Day and the severe Scrutiny into our Thoughts as well as Words and Actions that we must then undergo collecting with S. Peter 2 Pet. 3.11 what manner of Persons we ought to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness that we may be found of the great Judg in Peace and as Virgins without Spot and blameless By the Oyl in the Virgins Lamps and which they took with them in their Vessels when they went to meet the Bridegroom is represented the Graces and Vertues of Christianity which are the proper Nourishment of the Soul that Lamp of the Lord as Solomon calls it and will brighten and enliven it as Plenty of Oyl does a
would have return'd again to their Dream of Vanity when this their Fright was a little over And so it is with those that think not of Repentance till Death and Judgment stare 'em in the Face they are then wondrous sorry for having offended God because they see they are like to be for ever punish'd for it with the Devil and his Angels and wish they had liv'd better and beg God to forgive 'em and promise Amendment for the Time to come But all this very seldom proceeds from Love to God or his holy Religion as appears by their being as bad as ever when God has been pleased to restore them to their former Health But such Repentance as this is but a Piece of Mockery and will not be accepted it must be a real and thorough Change of Mind express'd in an intire Reformation of Life and Manners that will incline God to pardon and forgive Notwithstanding all the Hurry of the foolish Virgins to get Oyl for their Lamps upon this suddain Notice of the Bridegroom 's coming because their Lamps were before suffer'd to go out we see the Door was shut upon them By the wise Virgins that were ready their going in with the Bridegroom to the Marriage Feast is represented the great Happiness of the sincerely good who by holy living are ready and prepar'd for their Departure hence into the World of Spirits That is as there was great Preparation made to receive the Bridegroom among the Jews and other Easterns great Joy and Festivity and which the Children of the Bride-Chamber or those that attended the Bridegroom did partake of singing Epithalamiums or nuptial Songs in Praise of the Bridegroom and his Bride and rejoycing in their Happiness and wishing them long Prosperity So the Joys of the highest Heavens which are the Marriage Chamber of this divine Bridegroom our Saviour in the Society of innumerable Saints and Angels and glorified Spirits are prepar'd for those that love our Lord Jesus in Sincerity and by a constant holy Life are ready to leave these earthly Habitations and enter with him into that holy Place Where they shall enjoy a most blisful Eternity for ever singing Halleluja's to the Praise and Honour of that glorious Name in which all the Nations of the World are blessed praising God and saying Rev. 19.7 9. Let us be glad and rejoyce and give Honour to him for the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready and blessed are they which are call'd to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. And well is that Care and Watchfulness and holy Preparation repay'd which will procure an Entrance into that holy Place where Christ is sitting at the right Hand of God and make us Sharers in the Joys of Angels and in the Happiness of our dear Redeemer In the last place by the foolish Virgins coming after the Door was shut and saying Lord Lord open unto us and his answering I know you not is express'd the sad and remidiless Condition of those whom Death and Judgment surprize unawares and that are not prepar'd by a holy Life They may cry Lord Lord long enough in the Bitterness and Anguish of their Souls and profess that they believe in him and are his Disciples and call'd by his Name that they have eat and drunk in his Presence and that he hath taught in their Streets and the like but yet for all this without a constant persevering Piety Christ will tell them I know you not whence you are depart from me all ye that work Iniquity And what inconceivable Agonies will those excluded Wretches then be in What Horror and Despair will then take Seisure of their Souls What Outcries what hideous Wailings will there be How will some frame fruitless Excuses Lord we have eaten and drank in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our Streets c. while others with deep Sighs in vain beg Pity and Commiseration of him who never before deny'd it What intolerable Anguish will they feel to see those whom they hated and despis'd on Earth then enter'd into the glorious Marriage Chamber of the Son of God and they themselves they who are prosperous here and to all Appearance the Friends and Favourites of the divine Bridegroom eternally shut out from his Presence and the Joys of those celestial Regions and left behind in unconceivable Torments and in the Company of malicious Fiends and Devils to linger under an Eternity of Misery No Words can ever reach those Horrors nor can our Thoughts conceive them and may none of us ever be so unhappy as to feel them But be so wise as to watch and be ready and have our Lamps burning and our selves always prepar'd for this great coming of our Lord for we know not the Day nor the Hour And thus have I given a particular plain and practical Interpretation of this Parable of the Ten Virgins whereof five were wise and five foolish and shewn as I went along how aptly expressive it is of the Sense our Lord couch'd under it I proceed now to the other thing to be done which is to urge that Watchfulness and Preparation by all manner of holy living against this coming of our Lord which is necessary to our being admitted into his Joy and to shew how great the Wisdom of so doing is and how great the Folly of the Contrary For those that were ready and trimm'd their Lamps are call'd wise Virgins in the Parable and those that were not ready and their Lamps out are call'd foolish As for the Folly of not taking Care to be ready and prepar'd against that great Change of Death shall come it is a thing justly to be wonder'd at that Men who know that one Time or other they must surely die and are wholly in the Dark as to the precise Time of their Death and that they must die but once and that without any any further Probation after Death comes Judgment it is much to be wonder'd at that those who know all this to be true as Christians are suppos'd to do should live so much at random and be so foolishly careless in managing their last Stake so heedless in doing that well which admits of no Repetition and which if done ill they are for ever miserable 'T is the very Height of Folly this and which one would think a Man of any Sense could not be guilty of There is nothing that Men are more afraid of than dying and yet so strangely contradictious are they to themselves they make the least Provision against this greatest Evil. In other Matters Men are so wise as to endeavour to secure themselves against their Fears they provide against Poverty by Diligence and Parsimony against Pain and Diseases by proper Antidotes and Preservatives against the Approach of Enemies by the best Defence they are capable of making and the like and this many times when there is only a Probability of these Evils coming upon them And yet against
Instrument of rescuing others from Misery and Want from perishing with Hunger or by other Calamities and restoring 'em to Life and Comfort and Health and Liberty What Delight more high and noble than that which will arise from our changing the Sighs and Groans and Laments of the Miserable into Rejoycings and the Curses and horrid Blasphemies and impious Reflections upon Providence utter'd by those whom Extremity of Poverty has made desperate into Praises and Blessing of God and Acknowledgments of his Goodness and Care of the Children of Men What can cause greater Complacency and Satisfaction in the Soul than for a Man to be as a Father to the Fatherless not only in maintaining them but in providing for them good and pious Education and honest Trades whereby these very Children become Men of Probity and useful to the State who otherwise if left at loose and unregarded would in all Probability have been the Pests and Disturbers of the Community Miserable themselves and the Occasion of much Misery to others And what more grateful to a pious Man than to relieve the forlorn Poverty of such as are at once depriv'd of their Husbands and the Means of providing for their Families and to be blessed by those that were ready to perish and cause the Widows Heart to sing for Joy Job 29.31 This is pure and undefil'd Religion says St. Jam. 1.27 James to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Affliction nay 't is a near Resemblance of the Charity of God himself Psal 146.9 who preserveth the Strangers and relieveth the Fatherless and Widow And indeed every Expression of Mercy and Compassion resembles us to God whose Mercy is above all his Works and to the Compassionate Jesus who so pitied the miserable Estate of Mankind as to leave his Father's Glories and take on him the Form of a Servant and suffer in our stead that we might be Partakers of Life and Pardon and Immortal Happiness and who went about doing Good all the Days of his Humiliation And certainly to be like God and the great Redeemer of the World Christ Jesus and that in the most Amiable and Glorious Persection must needs fill a Man's Breast with Heavenly Joy since the Happiness of that blessed place consists in the Souls being transform'd into the Divine Image and Likeness from Glory to Glory 1 Joh. 3.2 2 Cor. 3.18 But Secondly and which with some may be the most prevailing Argument there is great Encouragement to Charity with Relation to this World because 't is the most thriving of all Christian Graces and is always attended with Prosperity and a Blessing David says expresly Psal 37.25 I have been Young and now am Old and yet saw never the Righteous forsaken nor his Seed beging their Bread i. e. as it follows in the next Verse the Righteous Man that is ever merciful and lendeth And not only himself but his Posterity is blessed And this a learned Author of our own Dr. Hammond Pract. Cat. Lib. 3. Sect. 1. Extends to all Ages and challenges any Historian of Past or Observator of present Times to give one Instance of any Christian Alms Giver that ever brought himself or his Posterity to Want nay that did not thrive and prosper the better by that means And this is confirm'd by Solomon Prov. 11.24 25. There is that scattereth and yet increaseth and there is that withholdeth more than is meet and it tendeth to Poverty The Liberal Soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be water'd also himself That is as the same Author has it unless by Negligence or Suretiship or some other Sin that he lives in he brings a Curse and Poverty upon himself and Mercifulness prove not Antidote sufficient against all other Poison And he that is thus assur'd of the peculiar Care of God concerning him and that he shall always have a comfortable Provision as long as he lives in Recompence of his liberal Charity to the Poor and Needy has questionless very great Encouragement to perform the Duty And as for the unavoidable Troubles of this Life which will mix with the most perfect Prosperity here as Sickness Vexation and Disappointments and Temporal Losses and such like Psal 41.1 3. The Lord will deliver him that considereth the Poor says David in the Time of Trouble and strengthen him upon the Bed of Languishing and make all his Bed in his Sickness And though many may be the Troubles even of the thus Righteous which God may permit them to be exercis'd with for many excellent Purposes yet he will surely deliver them out of all As for the Encouragement to this Charity with Respect to the next World it is thus express'd by our Saviour Mat. 5.7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain Mercy that is at the Time when every Man will stand in the greatest Need of Mercy the Day of Judgment For then there will be particular Enquiry made into the Discharge of every one's Stewardship in Point of Mercy and Compassion to the Indigent and Calamitous and the great Judge of all the World has declar'd that when he shall come in the Clouds of Heaven to render to every Man according to his Works he will esteem the Expresses of our Charity to his necessitous Servants as done to himself and will reward the Merciful not only with a publick Commendation at that General Assembly of all the World but will receive them to a Participation of the Glories and Felicities of his Eternal Kingdom Saying Come ye Blessed Children of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepar'd for you from the Beginning of the World Mat. 25.34 And surely no Man can want Encouragement to the Duty when it shall be rewarded in such a Manner as this I shall now infer some few things from the whole and so conclude this Argument And first from the strict Charge that God has given in the Revelations of his Will to every capable Person to supply the Necessities of all that want Relief and that according to the Wants of the Needy and in a Measure suitable to his Ability and inforced this Charge with the most prevailing Motives that can be made use of From hence I infer the great Unreasonableness as well as Impiety of charging God with the Miseries of Mankind in this Instance For what would they have God do more in this Matter than he has already done Would they have him exercise his Omnipotence in wholly preventing Poverty That is would they have him interpose in all the Contingencies of this Mortal Life and immediately command the Sea for Example to be calm when a Vessel is in Danger whose Wreck would be the undoing of several or send an Angel to steer her from Shelves and Quicksands to preserve her from Pirates and conduct her in Salety to the Haven Would they have the Land miraculously secur'd from all Misfortunes too from the Villanies of Men from Casual Fires from Inundations and Earthquakes and
would they have Men forcibly with-held from being guilty of such Vices as ruin Thousands such as Pride and Luxury and Wantonness and Excess Or if as well they may they think this too unreasonable to be desir'd would they have God when Men are thus reduc'd to Poverty immediately work Miracles for their Relief Would they have Ravens bring Food to the Hungry as they did to Elijah 1 Kings 17.6 or would they have every Poor Widows Cruise of Oyl and Barrel of Meal be as lasting as the Widow 's of Sarepta was 16. or would they have Water spring from Rocks and be immediately turn'd into Wine to chear and refresh such as are parch'd with Thirst Would they have our Lord come down a second Time from Heaven to heal Diseases or an Angel always set open the Prison Doors when good Men are confined and macerated or the like That such extraordinary things have been sometimes done is sufficient to evince that God is not an idle Spectator of Humane Affairs but to expect it should be always so is foolishly presumptuous But it may be those that are asham'd of this would yet by all means have God take a severer Course with his unfaithful Stewards than he does and at least displace them and give their Riches to others that Men might see and fear and do no more wickedly Thus Man will be replying against God and the Clay saying to the Potter Why hast thou made me thus But I would fain know whether these Counsellours of the All-wise God would have all that are unfaithful in their Stewardship us'd in this Manner or only some for a Terrour to the rest If all the World would quickly be in Confusion by such frequent Changes in States and Governments and Private Families as would then be made if some only in Terrorem and to affright the rest into a more Conscientious Discharge of their Duty why that is often done nothing is more common than the Rise and Fall of Men and Families and sometimes their Decay is made very remarkable by some extraordinary Accidents Which if Men would observe it is warning enough to them to be faithful in their Stewardship but if they will be thoughtless and regard it not the Blame ought to be their's not God's and their's will be the Punishment too at the long Run when he shall call every Man before him to make up his Accounts Wherefore let no Man any more for the future pass Impious and Rash Censures upon the All-wise and Good Governour of the Universe because his Servants neglect their Duty in this Matter but rather humbly and earnestly intreat him to incline their Hearts to a better Observance of his Holy and Just and Merciful Commands And if the Poor shall still go unpitied and unreliev'd let us commit their Cause unto him who if with Patience they persevere in well-doing will at length abundantly recompence their Sufferings here with Glory Honour and Immortality in the Kingdom of Heaven Secondly From what has been said I infer the great Baseness and Ingratitude of those who thus wickedly betray their Trust and thereby bring such Odious Aspersions upon their great Benefactor and so much Sin and Misery upon Mankind Good God! That ever Men should be so low sunk so vilely brutish and degenerate as to prefer a Shining Coach and Gay Livery 's and Vanity and profuse Folly in many other Instances before the Honour of their God and the Comfort and Reward of a Poor Afflicted Christian That they should be contented to hear the Groans of the Distressed and the Blasphemies of Atheists against that God who gave them all they have rather than by retrenching any thing from their Excessive Way of Living to silence either 'T is a Monstrous Complicated Impiety this and will at last pull down a Heavy Vengeance Wherefore from the whole I infer in the last place how highly it concerns us all to imitate the Example of the discreetly and thoroughly charitabe Samaritan in the Parable and be more careful of this our Duty for the future For if we prove ill Stewards of the Talents God has committed to our Trust for the Relief of the Calamities of our Brethren we shall not only have the Sins of Unfaithfulness and base Ingratitude to answer for but the Prophane Flouts and Cavils of the Atheistical the Curses and Imprecations of the desperately Miserable the Thefts and Murthers and other Villanies of such whose Unrelieved Poverty forced to be thus wicked and the Blood of such as dy'd for want of Succour All this will be charg'd upon us and overwhelm us with Eternal Horrour and Confusion Wherefore to conclude while we have Time let us do good unto all Men but especially to those of the Houshold of Faith let us make Friends with the Mammon of Unrighteousness that when all this World 's Good shall fail us we may be receiv'd into Everlasting Habitations Let us lay up for our selves a good Foundation against the Time to come and be Faithful Stewards of the manifold Grace of God committed to us lest our great Lord should come in a Time when we think not of him and place us on the Left Hand and pass this Dismal and Irreversible Sentence upon us Depart from me ye cursed into Everlasting Fire prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels For I was Hungry and ye gave me no Meat Thirsty and ye gave me no Drink a Stranger and ye took me not in Naked and ye cloathed me not Sick and in Prison and ye visited me not From which terrible Condemnation and that hardned Disposition that deserves it and will inevitably bring it down upon us if not speedily amended the Merciful and Good Lord deliver us all for the Sake of his Compassion in Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen Amen The PRAYER O Most Compassionate Jesus The great Pattern of Charity who in the Days of thy Flesh wentest about doing Good to Mankind relieving the Necessities both of Body and Soul and hast commanded thy Disciples to go and do likewise give me the Grace I beseech thee according to my Ability to be charitable to all that are really Necessitous without excepting any but always to guide these good Works with Discretion Lest by my ill-plac'd Alms I encourage Debauchery and Sloth and have the less to give to those that truly want And since the Poverty and Sickness of the Soul is of all the most dangerous and deplorable O that I may be so happy as by Fraternal Correption and Seasonable wholsom Counsel and Advice according to my Opportunities and Capacity to relieve the Spiritual Necessities of my Brethren and convert a Sinner from the Errour of his Way and save a Soul from Death And may I always chearfully perform this Godlike Duty and take Delight in being Instrumental in the Blessed Work of chearing the Hearts of the Distressed and making light the Burthens of the Afflicted and thereby vindicating thy Providence from the Vile Aspersions of
another and shews what wretched Shifts Ill Men are put to to palliate their great Neglect of their Duty to their Master as appears by his Lord 's answering and saying Thou wicked and slothful Servant thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not thou oughtest therefore to have put my Money to the Exchangers that at my coming I might have receiv'd my own with Usury By which is represented the Necessity of Mens improving their Talent for that very Reason were it true which they are apt to plead in Excuse for their slothful Negligence For to him that looks upon God as so austere a Being there is more than ordinary Obligation to improve what he has committed to his Trust for that Purpose And because a Man esteems God as an hard and severe Master therefore to be idle and negligent in his Service is a very preposterous Course and looks as if he had a mind to provoke his Anger against him But indeed This is the Truth God is so very far from being an unreasonably severe Master that He is a most indulgent Parent and commands nothing but what is very practicable and highly conducive to the Good and Happiness of his Creatures which should create a Filial Love and Reverence in us towards him rather than a slavish Dread But however he is not so unreasonably fond neither as to pass by the Provocations of obstinate irreclaimable Rebels and clear those that are Impenitent as well as Guilty that have heinously offended him and yet take no care to amend and recover his Favour Though he does not reap where he did not sow nor gather where he did not strew yet he expects a due Improvement of what he commits to our Charge and is ready likewise proportionably to reward our Industry And this is apt indeed to quicken and encourage us in our Duty but by no means to scare and affright us from it For nothing can be more reasonable than for God to expect we should improve what he bestows upon us for that very end and that we should obey those Commands of His which are so highly reasonable in themselves and which he likewise assists us to perform Let no Man therefore say God is an unreasonably rigid Master and his Commands intolerable Burdens for 't is abominably false as will appear more fully in the Sequel But were it true it would be no Excuse for Sloth and Idleness in his Service much less for wholly deserting it but rather an Argument for double Care and Diligence in it By the Lord of that Slothful Servant commanding his One unimprov'd Talent to be taken from him and given to him who by his Industry had improv'd his Five Talents to Ten is represented God's depriving those of his Grace and the Assistances of his Holy Spirit who so much neglect it and make no use of it to the great Enas for which it was given them viz. His Glory and Their own Happiness and making still greater Additions of his Grace to such as have well improv'd their former Stock And by his commanding the Unprofitable Servant to be cast into Outer Darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth is express'd their Deplorable Condition in the Regions of eternal Misery and Despair who make no Improvement of the Talents committed to them the Deprivation of Grace in this World being a certain Forerunner of Perdition in the other It nearly concerns therefore every Man carefully to improve the Talent committed to him because unto every one that hath shall be given and he shall have Abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath This Parable thus interpreted affords us these Six Heads of Discourse First That God gives sufficient Grace to every sensible Christian wherewith to work out his Salvation Secondly That God expects from every Man that he should improve what Grace he has receiv'd and that proportionably to the Measure in which it was given him and make use of it to the Ends for which it was given Thirdly That there will be a Time when our Lord will come to take Account of Men's Improvement of the Grace that was given them and reward every Man according to his Deserts Fourthly That there shall be Degrees of Men's Happiness or Misery in the other World according to the Degrees of their Improvement or Negligence and Carelessness in this Fifthly That 't is abominably False and Impious to charge God as being unreasonably rigid and severe in taking this Account of Men's Improvement and expecting to find a Good Use made of what he committed to their Trust And Lastly That the Condition of the Diligent will be unspeakably happy and that of the Unprofitable unspeakably miserable and that both in this World and the next First God gives sufficient Grace to every sensible Christian wherewith to work out his Salvation I say to every sensible Christian because I would confine my Discourse to the State of such as are Christians and such of them as have the Use of their Senses and their Reason For as for those that are out of the Pale of Christ's Church though Charity will incline us to hope well of them and that God's Mercy will extend even to Heathens that never yet heard of the Gospel of Christ and his Spirit assist them to live according to that Natural Law written in the Heart of every Man yet we can determine nothing in this Case with Relation to them and have nothing else to do but to leave them to the Infinite Mercy of God and pray for their Conversion And as for such as have been receiv'd into the Fold of Christ and have afterwards prov'd Idiots and without the Use of their Reason their Case is likewise wholly in the Dark to us and though we need not question but God's Infinite Goodness will incline him to pity their Deplorable Condition yet which Way he will express his Mercy to them we must not presume to say Hidden things belong to God the reveal'd are for us and our Children Among which I take this to be one That God gives sufficient Grace to every sensible Christian wherewith to work out his Salvation And here not to enter into the Endless and most Abstruse Dispute about Predestination which the less Men trouble their Heads about the better 't is for 'em in all Respects I shall only urge two or three plain Places of Scripture to confirm this Position and add to 'em one as plain Reason The Places of Scripture are first that in 2 Pet. 3.9 where the Apostle says that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance to which is agreeable that of St. Paul to Timothy 1 Epist 2.4 God will have or desires that all Men should be sav'd and come to the Knowledge of the Truth Now the next Scripture I will quote which is 2 Cor. 3.5 tells us That we are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as
amends for If abundance of Gold and Silver would certainly make a Man wiser and better if 't would clear his Apprehension or strengthen his Memory or improve his Reasoning if 't would make him more prudent and discreet and of a riper Judgment if 't would increase Piety and Religion and promote a Godlike Frame of Spirit nay if 't would but so much as refine a Man's Temper and make him of more sweet and obliging Behaviour or regulate the Passions and Affections of the Soul and help him to Tranquility of Mind and cure Anger and Pride and Envy and Lust and Revenge or the like if abundance of Riches would work any of these good Effects 't would be worth while earnestly to desire them and industriously to endeavour to procure them But when 't is so far from this that the direct contrary is general observable in those that have greatest Riches in Possession it must I think be allow'd to be a very great Piece of Folly for a Man to endure so much for what when he has it will not countervail But though greedy Worldlings may own that great Riches have little or no Influence upon the Happiness and Improvement of the Inner Man yet because a Man has a Body as well as a Soul to take care of they are thus greatly desirous of much Wealth because 't will help them to the Enjoyment of much of this World's Happiness and acquire what will highly please and gratifie the Body as the Rich Man in the Parable said they may take their ease eat drink and be merry when they have much Goods laid up for many Years I shall therefore in the Second Place shew the folly of expecting even this World's Happiness from Abundance of Riches For besides that the Appetites of the Body are generally observed to be more sickly and deprav'd in rich than poorer Persons their Sleep worse rather than better than other Mens Eccl. 5.12 the Abundance of the Rich will not suffer him to sleep says Solomon but the Sleep of the Labouring Man is sweet eat he little or eat he much and that Health is much more a Stranger to the Rich than to the Meaner sort and the Pleasures of having a Body Vigorous and Active without the Encumbrance of Weakness and Diseases almost engross'd by the Labouring Poor Besides this which yet alone is enough to prove that 't is a folly to expect even this World's Happiness from Abundance of Riches for without Health which Luxury destroys the most of any thing there is no Taste or Relish in any other of its Enjoyments there is this One Reason more among others that will farther and I think evidently prove that 't is a very great Folly to expect to be happier even in this World by growing Richer and it is this That Riches are of all Things the most unsatisfying and the most perplexing Other Good Things of this World do in some sort satisfie and Men are often cloy'd with Pleasures have enough of Mirth and Jollity of Recreations and Diversions and the like and the Mind is for a while eas'd and refresh'd by them But as for Riches as they increase the Desire of still more increases proportionably nay rather disproportionably with them and 't was never yet known that a worldly-minded Man ever thought he had enough but that his Appetite grew keener after Wealth the more 't was fed with it And 't is not unusual to hear the greatest Complaints Murmurings and Repinings from the richest Men. And as for the Perplexity that attends Abundance of Wealth that likewise is as evident to common Observation The more a Man hath the more Care he must take to preserve it the more Quarrels and Law-Suits will he be embroil'd in and when there are Troubles and Commotions in the State and Times grow dangerous and uncertain then are the greatest Worldlings fullest of Fears and dreadful Apprehensions and not only real but imaginary Dangers terrifie their Unman'd Souls Things always appearing with the worst Aspect to their troubled Fancies who have made Gold their Deity and ty'd up their Happiness in their Bags And nothing certainly can be more perplexing to a Man's Mind than such great Fears of losing That in the possession of which his whole Happiness is concentred And accordingly Solomon who had great Possessions above All that were before him and gather'd him Silver and Gold in such Abundance that Silver was in Jerusalem common as the Stones in the Street 1 Kings 10.27 after all says he Eccles 5.10 11. He that loveth Silver shall not be satisfied with Silver nor he that loveth Abundance with Increase And what Good is there to the Owners thereof saving the beholding of it with their Eyes And even the Eye is not satisfied with seeing neither And St. Paul says very plainly That the Love of Money is the Root of all Evil and they that will be Rich fall into Temptation and a Snare 1 Tim. 6.9 10. and pierce themselves through with divers Sorrows and that Contentment with only Food and Raiment is a far greater Happiness And therefore good Reason had the Wisest King to say after all his Increase and the Abundance he had amass'd together that it was not only Vanity but Vexation of Spirit Eccles 2.11 Now that which can never satifie and as it increases increases a Man's Trouble and Perplexity which is true we see of Riches is no doubt far from conducing to a Man's Happiness in this World and therefore 't is a very great Folly for any Man to depend upon Abundance of Wealth for Happiness for 't is rather the Cause of much Trouble and Disquietude Or however God may suddenly deprive a rich Worldling of all he has by Death and say as in the Parable Thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee then whose shall those Things be which thou hast provided For As we brought nothing into the World so 't is certain we can carry nothing out And thus much for the Folly of Immoderate Desire of Riches in Expectation of a Happy Life from Abundance I proceed now to shew The Vileness of this sort of Covetousness and of placing the Happiness of Life in great store of Wealth That 't is a very vile Thing for a Man immoderately to covet Riches and place the Happiness of his Life in Abundance of them will be very evident if we briefly consider what a Man is and what Abundance of Wealth is and what little or no proportion the one bears to the Dignity of the other A Man is a Creature endow'd with a Rational and Immortal Soul capable of Knowing Admiring Loving and Enjoying God who is the Supreme Good and the Centre of Felicity As a Christian he is an adopted Son of God Coheir with Christ of a Crown of Glory in the Eternal Kingdom of Heaven and design'd to participate of those Rivers of divine Pleasures that are at God's Right-hand for ever and ever As for
Riches or Abundance of Gold and Silver in which now-a-days we esteem Riches chiefly to consist they are really no better than Heaps of Earth of different Colours impress'd with different Stamps and made of different Sizes and to which Men have given a different Value and Esteem according to their different Colour Size and Impression and which in themselves are good for little but to be look'd on and which he that would live must part with when he has them in Exchange for other Things that are necessary for his Subsistence Now what can be more vile and base than for so Noble and Excellent a Creature as Man so far to degrade himself as to employ his greatest Love and Admiration and Desire upon a Piece of Earth which was originally made for him to tread upon and produce Things for his Food and Pleasure To make that his Master nay his God which was made to be his Servant For a Rational Soul to doat upon a sensless Clod to neglect the Contemplation of the Excellencies of his infinitely perfect Maker and admire one of the lowest of his Creatures to desire a Piece of Earth with the greatest Application and have no Value for the Immortal Glories of Heaven to place his Happiness in what is so very much inferiour to him and upon that which is indeed his Happiness to bestow no Thoughts what can be more vile and abject than this what more unbecoming the Dignity of the Rational Nature and of a Creature that has such glorious Hopes Where is the Reason of a Man that lays out all his Endeavours to acquire a Trifle and in the mean time disregards that which is his chief good and where is the Religion of a Christian that has been redeem'd not by Corruptible Things such as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without Blemish and without Spot where is his Religion that notwithstanding this makes Silver and Gold the chief Object of his Affections and treads under foot the Son of God and counts the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy or common Thing and does despight to the Spirit of Grace and loves and admires Mammon more than his Saviour What more vile and brutish than this what more stupidly ungrateful This is to come down to a Level with the Beasts that perish nay 't is to sink much lower for They act according to their Natural Instincts and choose as they are directed by their Great Creator and serve him obediently in that Rank of Being in which he has plac'd them But that Man much more that Christian that makes perishing Riches the main Object of his Desires and Endeavours acts directly contrary to the Reason that God has given him degenerates many degrees below the Dignity of his Nature disobeys the Orders of his Creator slights the Heavenly Counsel of his Saviour despises the Glories and Felicities of the Kingdom of Heaven and of a Man and a Christian makes himself a vile Muckworm delighted in nothing Noble and Excellent but groveling upon the Earth as if that were the Centre of his Happiness And what can more vilifie and degrade a Reasonable Soul made after the Image of God than such base Affections as these 'T is certainly a most vile Degeneracy and renders a Man the most contemptible Creature in the Universe both to God and Angels and all wise and good Men. And thus much may suffice to expose the Folly and Vileness of an immoderate Desire of Riches as in them placing the Happiness of Life I shall now shew The ill Consequences that attend it which besides that great Perplexity of Mind they cause mention'd before are chiefly these two 1 It mightily hinders a Man's Progress in Religion which is the one Thing necessary 2. It exposes a Man more than any thing to the Danger of Apostacy or falling from the Truth First An immoderate Love of Riches does mightily hinder a Man's Progress in Religion which is the one Thing necessary We may remember our Lord in his Interpretation of a Parable before discours'd of Matt. 13.22 says that the Cares of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches like Thorns that spring up with Seed choke the Word of God and render it unfruitful and in another Parable of a great Supper made at the Marriage of a King's Son Matt. 22. Luk. 14.18 by which as was discours'd upon that Parable is represented the glad Tidings and Invitations of the Gospel he tells us That that which detain'd Men from it was likewise the Cares of the World and the Love of Riches they had Ground to look after and Oxen to prove and therefore they could not come to the Wedding Supper And accordingly says our Saviour in as express Words as can be Matt. 6.24 No man can serve two Masters ye cannot serve God and Mammon Now the Reason of this is twofold For first Nothing so much distracts a Man's Thoughts as an eager Desire and Pursuit of Wealth for Riches are so difficult to be acquir'd as has been said and so very slippery when gain'd that as to get them will exercise all a Man's Contrivance employ all his Thoughts and Attention and consume his whole Time so to keep them when once gotten will to a Man that knows the Hardship of getting them and how soon they are lost again engage him in constant Care and Solicitude to watch his Idol lest he be depriv'd of it and so his Mind becomes distracted with continual Apprehensions of Danger and at leisure for no other Thoughts than how to secure his Riches And this those that are acquainted with Men much wedded to the World may soon perceive by their careful anxious Looks and distrustful Timorous Discourse Now the immoderate Love of Riches thus engrossing a Man's Soul and the great Business of Religion or making Provision for Another World and laying up a Treasure of good Works in Heaven being a Thing that likewise requires Time and Diligence and a close Application of all our Faculties to the Performance of it and it being impossible for a Man to attend closely to two Things at once and the Love of this World and of the next being not only different but contrary the one to the other How can it be but that he that eagerly loves Riches and has his Soul prepossess'd with a strong Desire of them and all his Faculties before engag'd in their Pursuit must move very slowly in the Way of Religion if he moves at all nay indeed rather move backward than forward and the more he loves the World grow colder still in his Affections to God Another Reason of this is Because an Immoderate Love of Money is a kind of Fascination and Enchantment it casts a Mist before a Man's Understanding and makes him less sensible and apprehensive of the great Obligation to a Religious Life and so dulls and stupifies the Soul that it becomes very little moved with the Sermons of
Duty of a good Steward is thus represented in the 42d Verse of this 12th of Luke Who then is that faithful and wise Steward whom his Lord shall make Ruler over his Houshold to give them their portion of Meat in due season That is To give the Family their Portion in due Season is the Duty of a Faithful and Good Steward Now the Race of Mankind is God's great Family in the World and some of the Members of this his Family he has made Choice of as his Stewards and Purveyors to provide for the rest and has according entrusted them with such a share of his Revenue to some more to some less as in his infinite Wisdom he has thought most fit and order'd them to expend it to the Advantage of his Houshold that every one be provided for according to his Needs and that no Man be suffer'd as much as in them lies to be miserable and perish And this he requires should be done faithfully after a moderate Provision first made for themselves and Relatives as they shall answer it at that great Audit when every Man must give Account of his Stewardship The Rich Man then in the Gospel being as every other Rich Man is God's Steward to provide for such as were in Necessity and Want according to the Abundance God had given him 't is an easie Matter to answer the Question he propos'd to himself upon his great Increase What shall I do because I have no room where to lay my fruits Why act like a good Steward for thy great Master and let the Houses of the Poor be the Granaries for the Abundance of thine Increase Charity to the Necessitous is the best Way of bestowing Abundance and as many Ways as there are of expressing that Charity which are innumerable so many Ways are there of disposing of what is more than needful for our own comfortable Support To Feed the Hungry to give Drink to the Thirsty Harbour to distressed Strangers Cloaths to the Naked Visits of Comfort and Relief to the Sick and Freedom to Prisoners to be a Father to the Fatherless and a Husband to the Widow and the like this is to discharge a good Stewardship this is what every Rich Man ought to do with his Abundance And Blessed is that good Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Of a truth saith our Lord his Master will make him Ruler over all that he hath he will commit still more of his Reuenue to his Management bless him with greater Prosperity and Increase and at last he shall be received into the Joy of his Lord and Reign with Christ his Great Master in Glory for ever Whoever therefore has Abundance needs not much to perplex himself how he shall bestow it for the Poor are always with us and for the Relief of their Necessities not the Gratifying our own Luxurious Desires must God's Extraordinary Blessings be laid out Let us now in the Fourth Place consider the great Wisdom of not setting our Hearts upon nor eagerly pursuing Riches and disposing of them as Religion directs if it shall please God in an extraordinary Manner to bless us with them If Riches increase set not your Heart upon them is excellent Advice of the Royal Psalmist Psal 62.10 and very true is that of St. Paul to Timothy Ephes 1.6 10. that while some have coveted after Mony they have err'd from the Faith and pierc'd themselves through with divers Sorrows and that Godliness with Content is great Gain and therefore wise indeed is that Man that knows how to be content with his present Portion and by setting his Affections upon more noble Objects escapes the Snare of coveting after Wealth He is free from the most dangerous Passion the Love of Mony being the root of all Evil and is secure of Quiet and Satisfaction amidst all the Turns and Varieties of Fortune the great Uncertainties of a false and fickle World If Poverty should become his Lot he is prepar'd for 't he knows there is no Stability in this World 's Good and therefore values it accordingly and remembers that he has a much greater Treasure in a better Place of which none can deprive him and which he shall enjoy to Eternity and upon that fixes his Affections and longs for the Happy Time when he shall take Possession of it While he hath a plentiful Fortune he acts like a good Steward of his great Lord and enjoys the Comforts of it by letting those share with him that want a Supply and thanks God that he is so blessed as to give rather than receive and in every respect makes the best use he can of what he has to the Advancement of the Glory of his great Patron and the Good of his Brethren and then can step securely though Dangers and Misfortunes threaten if God thinks fit to divert them and continue to him what he has he knows he can do it if not he knows that all will end for the best at last and so chearfully resigns what God before had lent him he is satisfied that Happiness does not consist in Abundance and that a good Conscience is a continual Feast and therefore his main Endeavour is to preserve a good Conscience a Soul clear and unspotted and with that coarse Fare will relish well and a homely Garment sit easie upon him and such Necessaries as these he that feeds the Ravens and cloaths the Lillies will surely provide for him And he that is thus dispos'd must needs be in perpetual Tranquility and Peace and very wise consequently in taking that Course which helps him to those inestimable Blessings As for the Wisdom of disposing of abundance when God thinks fit to bless a Man with it according to the Direction of Religion in the Relief of the Poor and Needy there needs nothing more to recommend it to Christians than for them to read the latter Part of Mat. 25. where we are informed that the Expresses of Men's Charity shall at the great Day of Judgment be particularly enquir'd into and the Charitable rewarded infinitely with Glory and Happiness in Heaven and the Uncharitable doom'd as accursed Persons to depart from God the Fountain of Bliss into Everlasting Torments prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels And if so to direct our Steps in this World as to avoid the Miseries of Hell and arrive at the unspeakable Happy Kingdom of Heaven be the greatest Wisdom then is it the greatest Wisdom by a Charitable Disposal of Mens Abundance to the Poor to make Provision against that great Day of final Retribution when Charity shall be so particularly enquired into and so highly rewarded There remains nothing now to be done but to urge what has been said upon Mens Practice We have seen in this Discourse how great Folly 't is eagerly to desire and pursue Abundance of Wealth that 't is very uncertain whether ever such Desire shall be gratified or no and that there is no Satisfaction in
'T is Fruit then God expects from Christians not Leaves not the Form of Godliness but the Power of it not to be call'd Lord Lord but to have his Commands Obeyed But since God is infinitely full already and can receive no Addition to his Inexhaustible Store since our Goodness extendeth not to him neither is it any Profit to him that we make our Way perfect It will not be amiss to enquire upon what Accounts God so strictly and indispensibly requires that we should be Fruitful And 't is upon our own Account that we might be happy in this World and made capable of enjoying the Glories and Felicities of the Kingdom of Heaven First God expects the Fruits of Righteousness from all that name the Name of Jesus and are planted in his Vineyard that they may be happy in this World 'T is the great Design of our good God to make his Creatures happy and because we are plac'd in this World to fit and prepare our selves for Heaven and are to spend a Life here below he has given us a Rule which if we walk by we shall be happy here as well as in the world above and which if we disregard and deviate from a double Misery will be our Portion And in this God deals with us as a wise and good Parent with his Children he keeps them close to what will conduce to their Happiness though he himself receives no other Benefit by it than the Hope of seeing his Off spring happy 'T is for this Reason that our Saviour the great Dresser of God's Vineyard and his Servants the Apostles so often press the Observance of such Rules as have chiefly Relation to the Comfortable Living in this World as with Relation to others Mercifulness Charity Meekness Forbearance and Forgiveness of Injuries Peaceableness Compassion and Pity together with exact Justice and Honesty without which there would be be no Comfort of Society and Men would be like so many Wild Beasts preying upon and devouring one another And with Relation to our selves we are taught Temperance and Sobriety and Chastity and Moderation in all things Contentment of Mind Patience and the like without which neither a Man's Mind or Body would be at Ease nor taste any Comfort and Happiness in Life Indeed God has been pleas'd to annex the Rewards of Heaven to the sincere and constant Practice of these Virtues as a further Encouragement to Men chearfully and diligently to set about them but 't is the Happiness of this World that they have a direct Influence upon and are therefore commanded and therefore encourag'd that much Sin and Misery might be prevented and Men might be happy in this lower World For as for the contrary Vices as Cruelty and Unmercifulness Rage and Intemperate Anger Uncharitableness and Revenge Strife and Envy Injustice and Oppression and the like these would make a Hell upon Earth and quite destroy Society and all the Comforts of it and make the World like a Desert and force Men to the Shelter of Rocks and Mountains and Dens and Caves of the Earth And where-ever they should go if Intemperance and ungovern'd Lust and Inordinate Desire and Use of the Gratifications of Sense Discontent and Anxiety of Mind Impatience and the like should follow them their Misery would be endless and Happiness an utter Stranger to them And therefore as much as the Happiness of Life is to be valu'd so much are we bound to praise and adore the Infinite and Disinteressed Goodness of God who hath given us such Rules of Living as if observ'd will procure that Happiness and who besides that we may not fail to observe them has over and above propos'd to us ineffably Glorious Rewards in Heaven if we do and threatned as great a Misery in Hell if we do not That is he has done all that is possible to be done to make a free Agent happy in the World that now is as well as that which is to come and therefore 't is highly reasonable that we give all possible Praise and Thanksgiving to that his Infinite Goodness and use all possible Diligence to co-operate with his Gracious Intentions for our Good for 't is our Happiness that will be promoted by it not his And this is the first Reason why God so indispensibly requires of us the Fruits of Righteousness because 't is impossible we should be happy even in this World without them A second Reason of this is because otherwise 't is impossible we should be happy in the next Life The Happiness of the next Life we are well assur'd consists in an intimate Vision and Enjoyment of God who is the Fountain of Excellency and Perfection and consequently of Bliss and God being an infinitely Pure and Holy Being and it being necessary to Enjoyment that there should be a Correspondence and Agreeableness between the Object and the Faculty no Soul but what is Pure and Holy is capable of enjoying a Pure and Holy God The Soul therefore of every Man being since the Fall of Adam stain'd and polluted full of vile Affections and Lusts such as render it uncapable of so pure and Divine a Happiness 't is necessary that it should be refined and purified and have Heavenly Affections and Desires planted in the Room of those Vile and Brutish ones and recover the Divine Likeness which has been so shamefully defac'd that so at length by the Actual Excercise of the Divine Life here we may become in some Measure capable of enjoying the Celestial Happiness that flows from the Contemplation and Love of the Supreme Good Or in the Words of St. John that being like him in this State of Probation we may be prepar'd to see see him as he is in the Regions of Glory And this an Observance of the Precepts of our Holy Religion will effect and they were therefore given that they might effect it We are exhorted to be poor in Spirit humble and resign'd to the Will of God that so we may be conducted safely to the Kingdom of Heaven to hunger and thirst after Righteousness that we may be fill'd with Grace here and Glory hereafter to mourn for our former Vileness and Degeneracy and Estrangement from God and flee from all Wickedness and sincerely endeavour a Reformation that so we may be comforted in the Day of Retribution and as good and faithful Servants be receiv'd into the Joy of our Lord. We are urg'd to Purity of Heart that we may see God to be holy as he is holy perfect as he is perfect pure as he is pure because he hates Iniquity and into his Presence no unclean thing can enter and without Holiness no Man can see the Lord. So that the Reason why God requires that we should bring forth Fruit unto Holiness is that the end may be everlasting Life These are the Reasons why God so strictly and indispensibly requires that we should be fruitful of good Works after he has planted us in his Vineyard and
still longer Reprieve Hoping that at length the Sinner may be awaken'd by the Sermons of the Gospel and the inward Motions and Excitations of the Spirit of Life and Holiness and see and fear his Danger and return by Repentance and do no more wickedly For so in the next Place 't is said in the Parable that when the Lord of the Vineyard gave Order that the Barren Fig-Tree should be cut down the Dresser of the Vineyard by whom our Saviour is represented answering said unto him let it alone this Year also till I shall dig about it and dung it Christ is our merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God Heb. 2.17 18. to make Reconciliation for the Sins of the People for he knows our Infirmities and in that he himself hath suffer'd being tempted he is able also to succour those that are tempted and ever liveth to make Intercession for us Heb. 7.25 He moves for a still longer Respite and promises to use new Methods that we may become fruitful of such good Works as will be well pleasing in his Father's Sight and accordingly cultivates and manures our Souls with repeated Exhortations to Repentance presses the Discourses of his Ministers still more home upon Men's Consciences and gives new Aids and Assistances of his Blessed Spirit provides new Happy Circumstances by his Providence for our Good such as a Faithful Instructer Good Conversation and Example Pious Books and Discourses which may warm and enliven a Sense of Religion in the Soul and awaken Attention and soften the Heart of Stone and render it penetrable by the Arguments of the Gospel and receptive of the Blessed Impressions of the Spirit of God That as loosening the Mould about the Roots of a Tree and cherishing it with the kindly Warmth of Dung is very conducive to the spreading of its Fibres and making it flourish and grow fruitful so these gracious Methods of the great Dresser of God's spiritual Vinevard Christ Jesus may so influence the Souls of Christians as to make them bear much Fruit to the Glory of God and their own everlasting Salvation This is the last Course that can be taken for a Sinner's Safety and if this will not prevail with him to take care of his Happiness there is no longer Hope 'T is like the Intercession of a Favourite for a Condemn'd Criminal upon Condition of his better Conversation for the future but if he again returns to his old vile Courses his Friends then abandon him as one that deserves to perish And so here in the Parable Christ the Beloved Son of God intercedes for a miserable Sinner ready for Destruction and begs a Reprieve for him to see if Time and farther Care will cure his Wickedness but if this proves ineffectual there remains nothing but a fearful Expectation of Judgment and fiery Indignation His Intercessor will then give him over for Desperate and suffer Justice to take its Course for so said the Dresser of the Vineyard to his Lord If after I have digg'd about it and dung'd it it bear fruit well but if not then after that thou shalt cut it down And this in the last Place represents to us the deplorable Condition of such as after all the Methods of Grace for their Reformation are still hardned in their Wickedness Christ will no more appear in their Behalf no more Thought shall be taken for their Safety but their Compassionate Intercessor shall then become their stern and inexorable Judge And when the dreadful Day of Doom shall come and the miserable Wretches appear before his Throne to receive the just Recompense of their obstinate Impieties then shall That Jesus who once so earnestly pleaded with God in their Behalf pronounce the Dreadful Sentence Depart from me ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire Depart from me your Saviour and once compassionate Mediator between God and You Be from henceforch and for ever depriv'd of all Hope of Redemption and Reinstatement into the Favour of my Father Be banish'd for ever from all Intercourse with Heaven without any Intercessor any propitiatory Sacrifice any Advocate to plead their Cause and without any Place for Repentance to Eternal Ages Depart to the Regions of Endless Horror and Despair in the Society of the Devil and his Angels And this is but the just Demerit of your Obstinate Wickedness who despis'd the Goodness of God that should have led you to Repentance This is the sad End of Irreclaimable Sinners this is the Punishment of an unfruitful Profession of Christianity Wherefore let those consider this that forget God before it be too late lest he pluck them away and there be none to deliver them Let them no longer turn the Grace and Forbearance of God into Lasciviousness but work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling For God is just as well as merciful and though slow to Wrath and of great Goodness repenting him of the Evil yet he will by no means clear the obstinately guilty but to such is a Consuming Fire The PRAYER I. O Merciful God who hast planted me in the Vineyard of thy dear Son the Christian Church and by the Culture of thy Ministers and the enlivening Influences of thy Blessed Spirit hast taken tender Care of my Growth and that I thrive and flourish in all spiritual Excellencies till I be fit to be transplanted to thy Heavenly Paradise I bless thy infinite Goodness for the Enlargement of this thy Vineyard so as to extend even to us though so remote from thy first Plantation and for those extraordinary Helps we of this Church have in order to our Increase in all the Fruits of the Spirit And earnestly beg that we may not produce Leaves only the mock Appearances of Christian Vertue but the Fruit of a sincere Religion in all the Instances of Holy Conversation II. I acknowledge with Admiration at thy infinite Love to Mankind that 't is Our Happiness thou respectest in thus indispensibly requiring Fruit of us not any Acquisition to thy self who art infinitely full already and the overflowing Fountain of all possible Good Thou commandest that our Fruit should be unto Holiness because we shall otherwise be incapable of the blessed End of Everlasting Life and spend our Days in Misery in this Lower World O Lord as is thy Majesty so is thy Mercy O make me duely sensible of thy tender Care of my Happiness and may it never through my wretched Obstinacy be in vain And in vain it would be were not thy long-suffering wonderful With what amazing Patience dost thou wait to see if at length I shall be Fruitful How often have I disappointed thy just Expectations and yet thou hast still forborn me through thine own Compassions and the Intercession of my dear Redeemer the Dresser of thy Vineyard who hath ply'd me with new Methods of Conversion fresh Applications to invigorate my Piety that at the last I may return thee acceptable Fruits and escape the sad Punishment of Barrenness
believe and the things he is to do are so excellent in themselves and so conducive to intire Happiness both here and hereafter that no Man that duly considers and attends to either but will be powerfully inclin'd to assent to the one and practise the other and be no longer an Infidel or Heretick or live a vicious irreligious Life 'T was Consideration made the Prodigal Son resolve to return to his Father and humble himself before him and could the Sinners of this Age be perswaded seriously to consider and weigh things together they would soon see Reason enough to convince them that 't is their wisest Course to live at another Rate than formerly and put an End to their Extravagances by Repentance But what did this Prodigal consider when he came to himself that so powerfully inclin'd him to return to his Father with such an humble and shameful Confession of his Extravagancy 'T was this How many of my Father's hired Servants have Bread enough and to spare and I perish with Hunger He found by a woful Experience that however uneasie 't was to him formerly to be under his Father's Eye and in Subjection to his Commands 't was by far a happier Condition than that which by his Prodigality he was then reduc'd to The meanest of his Father's Servants was in happier Circumstances than he and therefore he thought it his wisest Course to arise and return to his Father And so would it be with a Sinner would he but compare a Virtuous and Vicious Course of Life together He would find by his own sad Experience if he would but attend to it that all his Extravagances from which at first he expected to reap so much Happiness are not only Vanity empty and unsatisfying but likewise Vexation of Spirit full of Troubles and Misfortunes attended with Shame and Disgrace inward Remorse and Gripings of Conscience and dire Forbodings of the Wrath to come And this would soon convince him of the much greater Happiness of Obedience and Submission to the Will of God for that has none of all this Misery but Peace of Conscience inward Contentment and Satisfaction of Mind and the comfortable Expectation of Eternal Happiness in the Presence of God And the Conclusion of such Considerations would be his Resolution to arise and go to his Heavenly Father and with much Humility and sincere Contrition say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be call'd thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants And indeed the poorest good Man that is a diligent and faithful Servant of God is in an infinitely happier Condition than the greatest wicked Prince he experiences more true Happiness even in this World and when he shall hear the joyful Sound at the Day of Judgment Well done good and faithful Servant enter into the Joy of thy Lord and wicked Emperors be thrust away with I know you not depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity then shall all the World discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not The former shall have Bread enough and to spare their Happiness shall be compleat and full while the latter shall perish with a keen Hunger after what they shall never enjoy and for ever be sent empty away After the Prodigal had consider'd himself into a Resolution of returning to his Father he put his Resolution into practice and arose and came to his Father and said Father I have sinned c. And truly 't is not bare resolving that is sufficient to Amendment of Life we must act agreeably and that immediately too or else our Resolutions though never so earnestly made will vanish into nothing and the Breach of them still more increase our Guilt For when a Man has proceeded so far towards a new Life as to resolve to forsake every Evil Way and no longer to insist in his former Vile Courses 't is a sign that his Soul is rous'd and awaken'd from its spiritual Sleep that his Eyes are open'd and that he discerns his Error and if after all this he still persists in it he then sins against clear Light and Knowledge which is the highest Aggravation of a Fault As a Sinner therefore should as soon as he is become sensible of his Sin immediately resolve to forsake it and return to his Obedience to God so must he immediately put his Resolution into Practice for otherwise he does but mock God and deceive his own Soul and will only increase his Damnation A well-grounded Resolution is a good Preparative to Amendment but 't is but a Preparative and to resolve to do a Thing and actually to do it are two very different Things We all of us I hope that pretend to be Christians so far consider as to grieve and be asham'd for having offended our Good God and are at that instant resolv'd never willingly to transgress his Holy Will again Let us but keep our Resolutions and we shall be Happy for such as with the Prodigal actually return to their Heavenly Father and humble themselves before him he is ready with the greatest Expressions of Kindness to receive to his Favour Which brings me to the Last Thing express'd in this Parable viz. The great Tenderness and Compassion of the Father of Spirits to such as repent in earnest and perform their Resolves of Amendment his Readiness to be reconciled to them and extraordinary Joy for their Return because they were dead but are alive again were lost but are found For so 't is said in the Parable That when the Returning Prodigal was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had Compassion and ran and fell on his Neck and kissed him and said to his Servants Bring forth the best Robe and put it on him and put a Ring on his Hand and Shooes on his Feet and bring hither the fatted Galf and kill it and let us eat and be merry While he was yet a great way off his Father had Compassion and ran to meet him By this is express'd God's great Desire that a Sinner's Repentance should be compleated he will meet him and that with more than ordinary Assistances of his Spirit lest any Temptation should so far prevail as to divert his Return and make him change or defer to put in practice that good Resolution he had taken up He prevents a real Penitent with the Riches of his Grace and while he is yet a great way off labouring with the Difficulties that attend a thorough Change of Life he with infinite Charity and Compassion comes forth to meet him that by his Divine Aid he may secure his Retreat from the Endeavours of the Devil and his own vile Affections to bring him back to his former vain and wicked Courses which by God's Grace he has resolved to break off by Repentance And when a Sinner's Repentance is compleated and he is actually return'd with Shame and Sorrow
and if they do not Thrive they will be inclined to follow the Course of those that do as looking upon Prosperity to be an Argument of the Favour and Blessing of God But All this is throughout a great and dangerous Mistake and Worldly Prosperity is neither a certain Argument of God's Favour to Men in this World or of their Happiness in the next Neither is Affliction a certain Sign of God's casting Men off here or a sure Forerunner of Eternal Misery hereafter but frequently on the contrary the Good are calamitous in this World but received into Abraham's Bosom in the other and those that are Prosperous and Happy here too often have their Portion in the Flames of Hell hereafter Prosperity is in it self indeed a Blessing and promis'd as a Part of the Reward of Godliness and accordingly many good Men are Happy even here and were All truly good All would be Prosperous and Happy for 't is Sin only that makes the World miserable And on the other side Affliction is in it self a great Evil and by no means joyous but grievous and is always the Punishment of some Offence But oftentimes Worldly Prosperity is sent as a Curse rather than a Blessing and is the Effect of God's Displeasure and the only Happiness that some shall e'er enjoy And Adversity proves a great Blessing and is an Expression of God's Favour and Paternal Regard the only Misery some shall ever feel and an Introduction to Eternal Happiness some in mercy being corrected here for their Faults that they may escape the everlasting Punishments of the other World and others fatted up here as to a Day of Slaughter and suffered since they choose it to have their Portion in this Life As Abraham in the Parable said to the Rich Man who through the Excess of his Torment begg'd that he would send him who was once a poor Lazarus but then in a Place of Happiness to dip his Finger in Water and come and cool his Tongue Son remember that thou in thy Life-time receivedst thy good Things and likewise Lazarus his evil Things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented And indeed it is no wonder that it should be so and that Prosperity in this World should so often end in Misery in the next and the Afflictions Men meet with here be turn'd into Happiness hereafter For Worldly Prosperity however charming it may appear to us is a State so full of Dangers so beset with Temptations to Vice so apt to divert Men from attending to Things of infinitely greater moment and laying up a Treasure in Heaven and Adversity on the contrary though very uneasie to Flesh and Blood yet is so apt therefore to wean Men from the World and the fading Vanities of it and make them out of Love with what is so fickle and uncertain and full of Trouble and is a State that humbles Men much and increases Devotion and Trust in God and puts 'em upon Repentance and a Desire of enjoying that Heavenly Treasure which shall never be taken from them That for a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven seems by far the greater Difficulty and more likelihood is there of the Calamities of this World bringing a Man to that happy Place than the prosperous Enjoyment of its Pleasures And accordingly says the Apostle Not many Rich not many Mighty are called and that Riches are a Temptation and a Snare and drown Men in divers hurtful Lusts and bring them to Destruction and Perdition and therefore exhorts Men to count it all Joy when they fall into divers Temptations or Afflictions The Use then that we may make of this first Part of the Parable is this not to be dejected under Adversity as if cast off by God and utterly depriv'd of his Favour nor puff'd up by Prosperity as if peculiarly dear to Heaven but in every State to make it our greatest Care and Endeavour to secure our main Interest and with Fear and Trembling in the one Condition as well as the other to work out our Salvation by the Practice of that Holiness without which no Man whether Rich or Poor Calamitous or Prosperous shall see the Lord and with which any Man in whatsoever Circumstances he is in this Life shall be sure of a glorious Eternity in the Presence and Enjoyment of his Maker If Riches increase by honest Industry and conscientious Dealing and prudent Management we ought to esteem it as a Blessing and humbly thank God for it but by no means should we set our Hearts upon them nor grow high-minded and conceited of our selves as if greatly in Favour and Esteem of God and our Prosperity the Reward of our extraordinary Vertue nor despise the Poverty of others looking upon them as less Holy because not so prosperous as we Neither should we grow vain and luxurious or covetous and sordid but make Friends with the Mammon of Unrighteousness and act like good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God being given to Hospitality and ready to relieve the Necessities of such as are in want remembring always that many have all their Share of Happiness in this Life and while they dote immoderately upon the World and place their chief Good in being prosperous here forfeit their Glorious Reversion hereafter And always fearing lest our Prosperity become a Snare to us in this Matter and we turn it into a Curse by our ill Use of it and become such Fools as for the Gain of a little of the World to lose our Immortal Souls What Comfort had the Rich Man in the Parable of all his former Prosperity when he lay weltring in the Flames of Hell All his Purple and Fine Linnen and Sumptuous Fare because he abus'd 'em to Luxury and Excess and grew negligent of laying up a Treasure of good Works in Heaven ended at length in the Want of a Drop of Water to cool his inflam'd Tongue If Affliction and Poverty should be our Lot 't is then our Duty to endeavour to be contented and not despond as if utterly rejected of God but to remember that there is a better World in which those shall be unspeakably and for ever happy that are patient and resign'd in this Vally of the Shadow of Death that the Lord loveth whom he chasteneth and that if we comply with the Ends of his Correction and amend under his Paternal Rod our light Affliction which is but for a Moment shall work for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory Lazarus in the Parable we read was miserably poor desirous though but of the Fragments that fell from the Rich Man's Table and full of noisom painful Sores a sad Spectacle both to himself and others and yet when he died was carried up by Angels into Abraham's Bosom 'T is not a Man 's outward Circumstances that God respects but the inward Temper of his Mind and often makes his outward Condition calamitous 1 Sam. 16.7 that his Mind may grow
still disbelieve that there is a suture State of Eternal Rewards and Punishments according as Men live well or ill here below and still keep them from being perswaded by it to Amendment though one came to them from the Dead to assure them of it For what an easie Matter would it be for them to say that the Apparition was but a melancholly Fancy or a Dream and regard it as if no more and laugh at all things of that Nature as too many now a-days are apt to do And he that will shut his Eyes aganst so much Reason and Evidence as there is for the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures is Proof against any other Sort of Conviction whatever even that of a Messenger sent on purpose to him from the other World For so our Lord in the Parable If they believe not Moses and the Prophets we may add and our Saviour his Evangelists and Apostles neither will they be perswaded though one arose from the Dead Wherefore it becomes us all to be very careful lest the Spirit of Unbelief enter into us and we grow so blinded by the Deceitfulness of Sin as either not to believe or not duly to attend to this great and strongly confirm'd Truth of the Certainty of another Life after this and of the eternal Rewards and Punishments then to be awarded to every Man according to his religious or impious Behaviour here 'T is in vain to expect any further extraordinary Proof of what is already plainly declared by him that cannot lye in those Writings which we have all the Reason in the World to believe were written by his Divine Inspiration Let us rather so serioussy consider and attend to what is there reveal'd to us as by those Terrors of the Lord relating to a future Judgment to be perswaded to a sincere Revisal of our Ways and deep Repentance of what we shall find to have been amiss and immediate Endeavours to do no more wickedly Let us have a care how we are charm'd with the Pomps and Vanities of this World as if here were our Happiness and our Heaven and we look'd for no other Life when this is done and let us be chiefly employ'd in making Provision for that other endless Life which will succed this that then we may be happy when if we are miserable we shall be always so Remembring that the Rich Man in the Parable who in this Life receiv'd his good things and was wholly intent upon the Enjoyment of them and look'd no further made no Provision for what was to be hereafter in that other State aster he died was tormented in the Flames of Hell and wanted a Drop of Water to cool his Tongue While the poor despis'd and seemingly miserable Lazarus that begg'd for the Crumbs which fell from his Table and was taken little Notice of by any but the Rich Man's Dogs because his Poverty made him Religious and think of and provide for better things in an everlasting World was when he died conducted by Angels into Abraham's Bosom that Place of Eternal Happiness Rest and Peace which is prepar'd for the Righteous These things if we consider throughly and seriously there will be no need of one from the Dead either to convince us of the Truth of them or to perswade us to an immediate Repentance that we may escape that Place of Eternal Torment reserv'd for the obstinately wicked and be receiv'd into that happy State which shall for ever crown the pious Endeavours of the Good Wherefore for the future may we all so meditate upon these things and give our selves so intirely to them that through God's gracious Assistance our profiting may appear in all things The PRAYER O God infinitely wise and Good the Disposals of whose Providence here below though always for the best are yet often the Cause of Wonder to us Mortals especially in the Prosperity of the Wicked and the Afflictions of the Righteous Teach me the Wisdom I beseech thee to look beyond this World for Happiness and never to make vain Conclusions of thy Favour or displeasure to my self or others or concerning mine or their Condition in the other World from the Circumstances of this our present Life But rather in all things to acknowledg thy Providence to be good and just and be careful to secure my Duty in whatsoever Station thou shalt please to place me Grant that in Prosperity I may be Humble Thankful and Charitable in Adversity Contented and resign'd under thy Paternal Rod and may make that good Use of every Condition which thou designest I should and carefully avoid the Snares of each and make it my great Endeavour whilst I continue here below to secure a happy Eternity in the World of Spirits where my Condition whatever it then shall be will be unchangeable And may my Belief of future Eternal Rewards and Punishments be daily more and more strengthned and confirmed by a serious and unprejudic'd Attention to the plain Assurance thou hast given me of it in the Holy Scriptures so as not to be vainly desirous of any more extraordinary Evidence in this matter but believing these great Truths without wavering Grant that I may immediately endeavour to reform my Life before it be too late That so when I go hence I may be receiv'd into Abraham's Bosom the happy Portion of the Faithful and escape the Place of endless Torment prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels Grant this O Gracious God for Jesus Christ his Sake PARABLE XIII Of the Importunate Widow Luke xviii 1 2 3 4 5 And Jesus spake a Parable to this End that Men ought always to pray and not to faint Saying there was in a City a Judge which feared not God neither regarded Man And there was a Widow in that City and she came unto him saying Avenge me of mine Adversary And he would not for a while but afterwards he said within himself Though I fear not God neither regard Man Yet because this Widow troubleth me I will avenge her lest by her continual coming she weary me THE Force of this Parable in order to the perswading to a constant and importunate Devotion lies in this That if Importunity will prevail with a sinful Man that neither fears God nor has any Compassion for the Miseries of his Fellow-Creatures to grant Petitions offer'd to him How much more prevalent will it be with the infinitely good God to relieve the Necessities of such as devoutly and earnestly implore his Help And to the same Sense is another Parable Luke 11.16 Which of you shall have a Friend and shall go to him at Midnight and say unto him Friend lend me three Loaves for a Friend of mine in his Journey is come unto me and I have nothing to set before him and he from within shall answer and say Trouble me not the Door is now shut and my Children are with me in Bed I cannot rise and give thee I say unto you Though he will not
the Dangers of the Night past God's careful watching over us while we slept and lengthning out our Opportunity for Repentance and making Provision for a Better Life ought certainly to bring us upon our Knees in humble Adoration of that Good God in whom we live and move and have our Beings in humble Submission to his Providence for the Future and devout Oblation of our whole Selves and our whole Time to His Service who has continu'd to us Life and Health and all Things And since all our Sufficiency is of God and we can do no good Thing nor so much as think a good Thought without him to beg his Blessed Presence with us That he would work in us to will and to do according to his Good Pleasure That he would guide and protect us and bless and prosper our honest Undertakings and still continue to watch over us for Good That we may be undefil'd by the Temptations of the Day and look back with Comfort upon our Actions when we cast up our Accounts at Night 2. As for our Mid-day Devotions because we are then in the midst of the Dangers and Temptations of the Day beset on every side with Allurements to do Evil 't will highly concern us afresh to beg the Divine Aid and Support that we may stand upright If we have pass'd securely the former part of the Day it becomes us to pay our humble Acknowledgments to our Divine Guardian and Guide and if we have fallen it becomes us with Shame and Sorrow to confess our Vileness and deprecate God's Anger and beg his Grace that we may be more circumspect the Remainder of it And besides the Works of the Creation the wonderful Order of the Universe the Variety Beauty and Usefulness of the Creatures and the plentiful Provision God hath made for all our Necessities will then be very proper to engage our Thoughts and will minister abundant Matter for Devotion and be very apt to fill our Breasts with Holy Breathings and Aspirations towards that inexhaustible Fountain of Beauty and Perfection and Power infinite who by his Word spake all this into Being 3. And for Prayer at Evening our Protection from the many evil Accidents and the many great Blessings of the Day past the Miscarriages likewise and Failures of it if no worse and the Dangers of the approaching Night are sufficient Motives and Engagements to renew our devout Addresses to the Almighty And as private Prayer ought to be thus constant and without wilful Intermission so and more especially no Opportunity of praying to God in the publick Congregation should be omitted For this Attendance upon the publick Worship of God is that which is chiefly and primarily intended by the Apostles in what they wrote about this Duty of Prayer Most part of the first Epistle to the Corinthians is spent in giving Directions for the more decent Management of the publick Service of God and 1 Tim. 2.8 the Command of Praying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every place and that Ephes 6.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon every opportunity must primarily relate to the publick as any capable Person may perceive by considering the Context And accordingly those Converts made by S. Peter Acts 2.42 Continu'd stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking Bread and in Prayers and v. 46. They continu'd daily in the Temple with one Accord and on the Day of Pentecost we find them all with one accord in one place Acts 2.1 And thus it was in all Ages of the Church till Iniquity abounded and the Love of many began to wax cold But methinks the Consideration of the great Advantages of these Publick Devotions above the Private should have some Influence upon us in order to our more constant Attendance at the places of Divine Worship for our Lord has expresly promis'd his peculiar Presence there and that the Prayers there offer'd shall be successful Thus Matt. 18.19 I say unto you says he that if two of you shall agree on Earth as touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in Heaven for where two or three are gather'd together in my Name there am I in the midst of them The Church is an Emblem of Heaven and the Congregation of the General Assembly of the First-born which are written there whose happy Employment is to Admire Adore and Extol the Infinite Mercy and Majesty of God for ever and ever and as there so here the Devotion of others will raise our Affections and their Zeal and Fervor quicken our Devotion To which purpose is that of the Apostle Heb. 10.24 25. Not forsaking the Assembling of your selves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and provoking to Love and Good Works by pious Example and devout Behaviour in the Church And the Blessing pronounc'd by the Minister at the Close of those publick Offices was in the Primitive Times thought a Thing of no mean Regard whatever low Thoughts Men now-a-days may have of it To this Head of Publick Prayer may be reduc'd the Assembling of a Family together to offer up their joint Petitions to God whether by the chief of the Family or by some Minister of Religion if present And this has been a Practice of very long standing and is of excellent Use It keeps a Family in a serious Sense of Religion it accustoms Youth to it betimes and is an excellent Example to Children and Servants who are apt to mark and imitate their Parents and Masters Steps more than they are aware of and Young People will be inclin'd to think there is something more than ordinary in Religion when they see those of whose Prudence and Experience they have an Opinion so seriously set about it The Returns of these Family-Devotions at the Beginning and Close of the Day ought not without good Reason to be omitted for they naturally tend to make People more Industrious and Just in their Dealings in the World as keeping up in their Minds a sense of their being in the Sight and Presence of a Just and Holy God and to prevent Abundance of Folly and Levity and Loosness of Manners and make the Days Sober and Honest and the Nights Innocent and Chaste And this appears evidently to be true in the great Difference any Man may discern between Families where this Holy Custom is and is not observ'd Idleness and Laziness Pilfering and Cheating Swearing and Lying Lewdness and Intemperance and Debauchery of all sorts generally where 't is neglected and good Order Modesty and Sobriety Diligence and Faithfulness where 't is observ'd For it tending so much as it evidently does to the making Men Good Christians it consequently must needs tend to the making them good in every Relation These solemn Family Devotions are likewise a very good preparation for the better performance of the more publick Offices in the great Congregation For they tend to create that habitual Seriousness
and Recollection of Thought which our Publick Prayers command and without which we shall offer but the Sacrifice of Fools The more Men are affected with the Prayers of a Family at home the more sacred and awful will the publick Service in the House of God appear to them if attentive and devout there much more so here and the more they feel the Comfort of joint Devotions in their own Houses the more desirous will they be of and the more benefited and refreshed by the Harmony of a full Choir of Saints in the Holy Temple I 'm afraid this pious Custom is now-a-days too much neglected some grudging to take so much Time from their other Employments as this Duty requires and others on Evenings especially making themselves unfit for the Performance of it by tarrying long at the Wine and enflaming themselves with Strong Drink and some truly thinking it too precise and puritanical a Thing to be practis'd now-a-days But these last should have a Care how they throw ill Names upon what our Religion has made our Duty and what has all along been observ'd by the best Men in the World and they would do well to consider those Words of our Lord Mark 8.38 Whosoever shall be asham'd of me and of my Words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be asham'd when he cometh in the Glory of his Father and of the Holy Angels Is it a fitting Reason that a thing so excellent as this should be despis'd and disus'd because those that in other Matters dissent from us are so careful to observe it Let their Piety in this Instance rather shame us into Amendment that we may be behind them in no Good Work and leave them no Occasion of Caviling and making Objections against our Church by reason of the careless indifferent Religion of some that are of our Communion In particular this Neglect of Family-Devotions is often thrown in our Teeth and the best way to take off the Aspersion is heartily to set about the Practice of the Duty 'T is our great Happiness were we duly sensible of it that we are Members of the most Primitive Church in the World and the greatest Encouragers of True Piety and Religion and methinks we should be very careful had we any Love for this Church any desire that it should flourish and prosper not to disparage it by our so disagreeable Conversation Other Sects and Parties we see extraordinary diligent to gain Honour and Reputation by all means to their Profession that their Antagonists may discover no Flaw or Indecency no Breach of the Orders and Customs they have embrac'd while we that have the best Cause are generally the worst Managers of it For Shame let us at length grow wise and live up to what we profess in this and every other Particular and transcribe the excellent Rules of our Church in our Conversation let us act like true Sons of the Church of England as well as talk as such and then no Doubt but God and his Truth will prevail We are as a City built upon a Hill a Light set in an eminent Place many envious Eyes are upon us and rejoyce to see our Taper burn dim and our City defil'd by Wickedness and Impurity wherefore we should be the more careful to trim our Lamps and purge out our Stains and shine brightly in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation That these Men seeing our good Works may at length glorifie our Heavenly Father by a Hearty Union and Communion with us and return to the Fold which they have so groundlesly deserted As for such as grudge Time for this Duty of praying in their Families let them consider whether they can indeed improve it more to their Advantage whether the Gain of a little Money is to be compar'd to having the Blessing of God and the Guidance and Protection of his good Providence And whether their Time was not chiefly given them to worship God in and to make Provision for another World And as for such as make themselves unfit for this Holy Duty by Night Revels and Intemperance they can't but be sensible that that 's a very ill Excuse such as they should blush and be asham'd of and a Fault which it highly concerns them speedily to amend remembring that Drunkards are in that black List of such as shall not enter into the Kingdom of Christ and of God 1 Cor. 6.10 Having thus shewn that Prayer is not only the Priviledge but the Duty of a Christian and how far the Obligation to this Duty does extend I proceed to the Third and last thing to be done which is to shew what is requir'd in order to the effectual Performance of this Duty and what St. Paul says 1 Tim. 2.8 added to the Importunity recommended in the Parable we are now discoursing upon will doubtless make our Prayers to be availing The Apostles Words are these I will that Men pray every where lifting up Holy Hands without Wrath and doubting and of these Requisites I shall first discourse and then of Importunity First If we would be accepted at the Throne of Grace we must lift up Holy Hands The Word in the Original signifies pure and undefil'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 't is an Allusion to the Custom of the Jews who constantly us'd the Ceremony of washing before they pray'd which was intended to signifie the Necessity of a clean Heart in order to Acceptance with God For God is a Being infinitely Pure and Holy and that cannot behold Iniquity and into whose Presence no unclean thing can enter and therefore the Sacrifice of the Wicked as Solomon observes must needs be an Abomination to him and bring down a Curse rather than a Blessing and the Prayer of the Upright only his Delight Prov. 15.8 More particularly by this Expression of lifting up Holy Hands is meant these three Qualifications First That the Suppliant be one of a good Life or if he has not formerly been so repents and is sincerely resolv'd to live as becomes the Gospel of Christ for the future For how can he that is a Rebel to God a Traytor and Judas to his Saviour and that will obey none but the Devil and his own vile Lusts how can such an one think that God should hearken to his Requests who consumes God's Blessings upon his Lusts Jam. 4.3 as St. James expresses it and as S. Paul Turns the Grace of God into Lasciviousness and sins still more that Grace may still abound and is encourag'd by God's Goodness to persist in his Wickedness He only can with Reason expect to be heard by a Holy God who is either actually pious and good or heartily desires and intends to be so Secondly By lifting up Holy Hands is meant Purity of Intention unmix'd Desires of advancing the Glory of God and of the Supply of our real Needs and of promoting our Eternal Salvation That is no Man must
are now considering says expresly He that exalteth himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted and the humble Publican went down to his House justified rather than the haughty Pharisee so beneficial and highly valuable both with God and Man is Humility of Spirit But on the contrary to be opinionated and proud of ones Vertue is a great Misfortune as well as Fault and brings a great deal of a peculiar sort of Trouble and Uneasiness along with it 'T is a Thing hated both by God and Men and is despis'd and disgrac'd by every Body To what would otherwise be really praise-worthy it brings the greatest Disparagement in the World and if a Man's Conversation be but indifferent and like other Mens then nothing makes him more ridiculous than much to value himself upon what is of so little or no Excellency And what a Pain 't is for Men that look upon themselves as extraordinary Persons to see others so far from that Opinion as rather to slight and deprecate them may easily be imagin'd And indeed 't is the Mishap of this sort of People always to meet with such kind of Entertainment as this Men setting themselves on purpose to tease and worry 'em that if possible they may make them ashamed and weary of a thing so generally hated But besides this peculiar sort of Vexation and Uneasiness that attends spiritual Pride there is something much worse to be said of it viz. that 't is almost impossible for Men infected with this Vice ever to improve in Religion and grow better For in the Nature of the Thing nothing slackens Diligence and Industry more than this without which no progress can be made in any thing or at best a very slow one especially where there are such Difficulties to be struggled with as in Religion and what signifies Instruction or Reproof unless it be to gall and enrage him to a Man that thinks his Vertue very extraordinary if not compleat already And besides God from whom we derive all our Sufficiency resists the proud and therefore as Solomon says no wonder if when pride cometh then cometh destruction and a haughty Spirit be the forerunner of a fall Besides as the Condition of Mankind is now to be proud of Vertue is to be proud of Imperfection for such is the Vertue even of the best Men upon Earth nay 't is to be proud of that which is not for no Man that is proud of his Vertue is indeed Vertuous that poverty of Spirit being wanting which gives the Value to all Religious Actions and renders them acceptable in the Sight of God And it not only pollutes and unhallows what might otherwise deserve the Name of Vertue but as was hinted before it keeps a Man from growing better it blinds him that he cannot discern his Faults and he is so taken up with admiring his Excellencies and with the Pharisee thanking God that he is not as other men are Extortioners Unjust Adulterers or the like that his great Defects pass unobserv'd by him And with the Man in the Fable he is so busie in gazing upon things above himself that he perceives not the Dangers under his feet till he falls into them Having thus endeavour'd to shew what is the Grace of spiritual Humility and how excellent and highly beneficial a Grace it is and how vile and mischievous the contrary Vice is destructive of all Religion and hateful both to God and Man I proceed now in the Last Place to shew how highly this Vertue shall be rewarded which is exprest thus in the Close of this Parable He that humbleth himself shall be exalted That is in short Mens Humbleness of Mind in point of Vertue their Self-Annihilation and returning all the Glory of their Good Actions to God as the Author of whatever is commendable in them and without priding themselves in their present Attainments pressing on still to greater Degrees of Perfection and Heavenly Life This shall in the World of Eternal Felicity and Glory be rewarded with the Impression of a near Resemblance to that Divine Fountain of Holiness and Perfection whom here they acknowledg'd to be the Giver of every good and perfect gift They shall then see him as he is and they shall be like him No Failures no Slips or Imperfections no Avocations from the happy Employment of Admiring and Loving God shall be There which in this Life are the perpetual Clogs and Vexations of a Holy Soul but with their Faculties free and vigorous they shall fully enjoy this supreme Good without Interruption to all Eternity This is that which makes a Heaven this is to enjoy the Happiness of God himself and this Heaven and this Happiness shall be the Portion of the poor in Spirit who here ascribe to God the Praise and Glory of their vertuous Actions And their Humbling themselves before his Majesty in a deep Sense of the Vileness and Ingratitude of their Sins which the best Man living is not wholly without shall be rewarded with the Pardon of them they shall be lifted up from their Prostration at the Feet of their God and Saviour and be received into his Bosom and Joy extraordinary Joy shall be in Heaven in the Presence of the Holy Angels for their Repentance They shall be exalted from the State of Penitents to that of Friends nay Sons of God and all Tears for the Future shall be for ever wip'd from their Eyes and they shall participate of the Joy of their Lord from Everlasting to Everlasting And such an Exaltation as this is no doubt an abundant Recompense for all the Pains of spiritual Mortification and a Repentance so rewarded will never be repented of To conclude therefore If we hope to have a share in that ineffable Felicity which shall be the Reward of this Humility of Spirit we have been discoursing of we must make it our Endeavour to tread the Path that leads to it We must humble our selves before God according to the Measures above described that he may exalt us in due time And as without whom we can do no good Thing we must with all Earnestness and Importunity beg his gracious Assistance who was meek and lowly in Heart that we may follow his Steps and return him all the Glory of our pious Advances who worketh in us to will and to do of his good Pleasure and be so duly affected with Shame and Sorrow for our Wickednesses as with the Publican in bitter Remorse and with sincere Purposes of Amendment to smite upon our Breasts and say God be merciful to us miserable Sinners The PRAYER O Meek and Lowly Jesus who resistest the Proud and givest Grace to the Humble and hast plac'd Poverty of Spirit in the Front of thy Beatitudes as the Foundation and Ground-work of thy Holy Religion Teach me this excellent Grace I humbly beseech thee and grant that I may hate and shun Pride above all Things as the most dangerous and destructive Vice which defiles every thing however otherwise commendable and excellent and naturally tends to the Pit of Destruction And to allay all vain Tumors that shall arise give me O Blessed Saviour a true Sense of the Corruption of my Nature my many heinous Violations of my Duty my vile Ungratitude to thee my greatest Benefactor and the great Imperfections of ev'n my best Services and that whatever I have done that is praise-worthy is owing to thy gracious Assistance and that of my self I can do nothing that is good O may I therefore never arrogate to my self what should be wholly thine nor despise any Man like the haughty Pharisee who have nothing my self but what I have receiv'd from thee but in sincere Humility of Spirit return thee all the Glory saying after I have done all that I can I am still an Unprofitable Servant and have done but what was my Duty to do And grant that in an humble Sense of my still great Defects considering what vast Assistances I have had I may smite upon my Breast and say with the Publican God be merciful to me a miserable Sinner Grant this thou meek and humble Lamb of God for the sake of thine own Tender Mercies Amen and Amen FINIS