do's beg it but he who out of real compassion to the wants of others and hearty sense of their calamities and out of sincere obedience to God resolves with himself to deny himself such and such advantages of his condition to such a good proportion of what God hath bestow'd upon him purposes in his heart to set aside such a portion from his own uses knowing and considering that by so doing he do's part with such and such satisfactions which did accrue to him by that wealth yet will do it for the relief of others necessities that their souls may be comforted and they may praise God in his behalf This person hath in himself a great evidence of an heart truly and sincerely wrought upon by the Gospel and wrought over into the realities of Christianity I shall prove this to you and tho I know there be many vertues which seem to have no connexion with liberality and many inclinations in the heart which bounty hath no direct influence upon several evil tendencies of soul which it hath no formal opposition to that it should thrust them out of the heart yet that such a complexion of mind doe's either directly or by consequence so oppose them as not to endure them in the heart I shall very briefly shew you in gross and by retail And first that in gross that is a sign of a true Christian heart see Col. 3. 12. Put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercies kindness it seems that bowels of compassion and bounty is a sign of being such full Christians that the Apostle takes in all words to compleat the Character and do's it in words of a beloved sense and let men take them in what sense they please they do my work whether as persons chosen out before all time it seems then to be liberal is a sign of that and they will have very little reason to conclude themselves elected an eternity before they were who now they are and are call'd and taught by God do not find this disposition in their hearts or to take them in their naked meaning be liberal as being God's choice and pretious ones so it signifies elect pretious 1 Pet. 2. 6 and in other Scripture elect is the choicest best such as are priz'd and valued by God as the elect of God holy such as have his sanctifying Spirit poured out upon them and such are beloved by him as choice and pretious things are alwaies dear to us Now then to be compassionate and bountiful is to be as thus and liberality of heart is one mark of Election and Holiness and they that have it are as God's choice sanctified dear ones Put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of compassion and bounty 2. As it is a sign of our being the Elect of God and the Inhabitation of the Holy Spirit so it is also a sign of our being like minded with Christ. S. Paul do's urge his example as a motive to the Corinthians liberality Ep. 2. c. 8. v. 9. For ye know the grace or charity of our Lord Jesus Christ that being rich yet for your sakes became poor that ye thro his poverty might be rich and therefore for us to do so is to follow his example and to have our hearts set to it is to be like minded and truly that is to be Christian enough If that a person of the God-head emtied bimself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2. 7. exhausted himself of Divinity to relieve us if the God of all the pleasures of the earth and the joies of heaven became the Man of sorrows to rescue us if that the Lord of everlasting blessedness made himself Prince of sufferings and calamities to ransom us if this be a temtation to the inclinations of our heart to set us upon going to do likewise in some low weak mesure after the rates of our abilities then to do so considerately to deprive my self of some advantages to exhaust somewhat for the sakes of those that want is to have the like mind in us that was in Christ Jesus our Lord but because this may possibly evince us to be like-minded only in one thing therefore 3. In particular he that is thus minded hath a great evidence of his having overcome the World a wide and a vast conquest for my Brethren 't is not only he that is a slave to mony whose heart and actions do importunately pursue the waies of getting or of hoarding that whom the world overcomes but he is a slave to the world whose mind is impotently set upon any of the advantages of this world the man whose heart do's in too great a proportion either of time or whatsoever else pursue any thing which this World is to furnish with that man's heart is entangled in the pursuit and it is fetter'd to the World which is his motive and pretence for that too eager inclination And therefore in our Baptism when we renounce the World we do not only bid defiance to the love of mony but we renounce the Pomps and vanities of this wicked World whatsoever either too great pleasure or height excess or ostentation or pride that this World ministers unto Now then when a man do's not only now and then give little to them that ask and beg of him for so it go's away in such small instances as will not evidence either much consideration of it or any great work wrought upon him as to not loving of the World but in devout retirements resolves to deny himself in such a proportion and cut off such a part 't is certain he do's cut off such degrees either of pomp or vanity or plenties or whatsoever other thing that part of his estate did serve Now he that can do this resolvedly in his soul not out of any heat but from deliberate purpose of heart 't is certain he hath to so great a degree disentangled himself from the snares of the pleasures or other advantages of this World he hath unloosed their fascinations and weakned all their sorceries 't is clear he hath so far withdrawn his heart from the degrees of whatsoever he did love that this World serv'd him in that he resolves none of them shall engage him to their superfluities for to prevent that he cuts off their foment the streams of those contents they shall not overflow his soul for he will turn the spring and make the current run another way 'T is evident he hath so torn all beloved earthly satisfactions from the embraces of his heart as that he will not feed them not with his own estate if he cannot also to a vertuous degree feed the poor he hath so far turn'd out the love of pleasures or of pomps or whatsoever as that he willingly do's part with those degrees of them cannot be retain'd together with his liberality And such a heart sure is without the vicious degree of worldly contents for vicious inclinations to
of this World can entertain and slatter Thus they did and thus they did prevail For the first Ages of the Church were but so many Centuries of Men that entertained Christianity with the Contempt of the World and Life it self They knew that to put themselves into Christ's Service and Religion was the same thing as to set themselves aside for spoil and Rapine dedicate themselves to Poverty and Scorn to Racks and Tortutes and to Butchery it self Yet they enter'd into it did not onely renounce the Pomps and Vanities of the World in their Baptism when they were new born to God quench their affections to them in those waters but renounc'd them even to the death drown'd their affections to them in their own heart bloud ran from the World into flames and fled faster from the satisfactions and delights of Earth than those flames mounted to their own Element and Sphere In fine they became Christians so as if they had been Candidates of death and onely made themselves Apprentises of Martyrdom Now if it were not possible it should be otherwise than thus as the World stood then it was necessary that the Captain of Salvation should lead on go before this noble Army of Martyrs if it were necessary that they must leave all who followed him then it was not possible that he should be here in a state of Plenty Splendor and Magnificence but of Poverty and Meanness giving an Example to his followers whose condition could not but be such To give which Example was it seems of more necessity than by being born in Royal Purple to prevent the fall of many in Israel who for his condition despis'd him I am not so vain as to hope to persuade any from this great Example here to be in love with Poverty and with a low condition by telling them this Birth hath consecrated meanness that we must not scorn those things in which our God did chuse to be install'd that Humility is it seems the proper dress for Divinity to shew it self in But when we consider if this Child had been born in a condition of Wealth and Greatness the whole Nation of the Jews would have received him whereas that he chose prov'd an occasion of falling to them Yet that God should think it much more necessary to give us an Example of Humility and Poverty below expression then it was necessary that that whole Nation should believe on him When of all the Virgins of that People which God had to chuse one out to overshadow and impregnate with the Son of God he chose one of the meanest for he hath regarded the low estate of his Handmaiden said she and one of the poorest too for she had not a Lamb to offer but was purified in formâ pauperis When he would reveal this Birth also that was to be the joy of the whole Earth he did it to none of that Nation but a few poor Shepherds who were labouring with midnight-watches over their Flocks none of all the great Ones that were then at ease and lay in softs was thought worthy to have notice of it Lastly when the Angels make that poverty a sign to know the Saviour by This shall be a sign unto you You shall â—ind the Babe wrap'd in swadling cloaths and laid in a Manger As if the Manger were sufficient testimony to the Christ and this great meanness were an evidence 't was the Messiah From all these together we may easily discover what the temper is of Christianity You see here the Institution of your Order the First born of the Sons of God born but to such an Estate And what is so original to the Religion what was born and bred with it cannot easily be divided from it Generatio Christi generatio populi Christiani natalis Capitis natalis Corporis The Body and the Head have the same kind of Birth and to that which Christ is born to Christianity it self is born Neither can it ever otherwise be entertain'd in the heart of any man but with poverty of spirit with neglect of all the scorns and the Calamities yea and all the gaudy glories of this World with that unconcernedness for it that indifference and simple innocence that is in Children He that receiveth not the Kingdom of Heaven as a little Child cannot enter thereinto saith Christ True indeed when the Son of God must become a little Child that he may open the Kingdom of Heaven to Believers Would you see what Humility and lowliness becomes a Christian see the God of Christians on his Royal Birth-day A Person of the Trinity that he may take upon him our Religion takes upon him the form of a Servant and He that was equal with God must make himself of no Reputation if he mean to settle and be the Example of our Profession And then when will our high spirits those that value an huâ—â— of Reputation more than their own Souls and set it above God himself when will these become Christian Is there any more uncouth or detestable thing in the whole World than to see the great Lord of Heaven become a little one and Man that 's less than nothing magnifie himself to see Divinity empty it self and him that is a Worm swell and be puffed up to see the Son of God descend from Heaven and the Sons of Earth climbing on heaps of Wealth which they pile up as the old Gyants did Hills upon Hills as if they would invade that throne which he came down from and as if they also were set for the fall of many throwing every body down that but stands near them either in their way or prospect Would you see how little value all those interests that recommend this World are of to Christians see the Founder of them chuse the opposite extream Not onely to discover to us that these are no accessions to felicity This Child was the Son of God without them But to let us see that we must make the same choice too when ever any of those interests affront a Duty or solicite a good Conscience whensoever indeed they are not reconcilable with Innocence Sincerity and Ingenuity It was the want of this disposition and temper that did make the Jews reject our Saviour They could not endure to think of a Religion that would not promise them to fill their basket and to set them high above all Nations of the Earth and whose appearance was not great and splendid but look'd thin and maigre and whose Principles and Promises shew'd like the Curses of their Law call'd for sufferings and did promise persecution therefore they rejected him that brought it and so this Child was for the fall of many in Israel 2. This Child is for the fall of many by the holiness of his Religion while the strictness of the Doctrine which he brings by reason of mens great propensions to wickedness and their inability to resolve against their Vices
as the Omniscience of his understanding perfect rectitude and purity of his will and not to enumerate particulars perpetual blessed infinite delight in the unwearied uninterrupted exercise of his understanding in the utmost latitude of its comprehensions and the undisturb'd enjoyment of his holy will in all things all this unchangeable because spiritual and immortal of all these so much as is communicable to a creature man shall then partake of be exalted into yea so far partake in all of it as he is exalted into an estate to see God as he is And this is certainly enough to make good David's expectations that when he shall awake up after God's likeness he shall be satisfied with it and truly 't were great simplicity to go about to prove so far as any one is like to him who is the Fountain of Eternal Blessedness and so far as himself is happy and unchangeably is so that he must needs be satisfied for it imports a contradiction at once to be happy and unsatisfied since so far as any person is unsatisfied wants any thing that he would have so far he is uneasy and not happy either sure unhappy in not having it or else most certainly unhappy in desiring it which cannot be in any one that is like God But King David seems wary in his expression here when I awake up after thy likeness I shall be satisfied with it as if he did not count them satisfactions at the present to the state and condition he was then in or at least the apprehensions he then had And indeed St Paul who tasted the joys of it says he knew not whether he were in the body or no so that it seems that half of him was not concern'd at all in those transports of those joys and it is no wonder therefore if most men that never had a tast of any thing but what is sensual and worldly have bin entertain'd onely with satisfactions of those appetites that rise from body have no apprehensions or at least no relish for those other which not onely to enjoy but understand men must be spiritual to some degree for they are spiritually discern'd saith the Apostle and the natural man that hath no other guide but sense or what is wholly founded upon sense and imagination cannot tast or fancy them with any life at all Yet notwithstanding this how dim soever and faint the images of those things were in David's time before the Sun of Righteousness was risen and had brought to light that blessed Immortality and Glory of that state the very expectation was so satisfying that it could ingage him to pursue them attemt to compass them that he might after he should be awak'd from death see God as he is and by consequence be like him he resolves he will behold his face in righteousness here in this life as being satisfied that in his presence there was fulness of joy and at his right hand pleasures for evermore When alas after all the advantages the force and beauty which the Gospel-revelations have enricht the draught of that state with yet now men do not apprehend any such satisfaction in it as can quicken an affection or endeavor after it they will not move a step nor a desire towards it And here as to this I will neither wonder at nor instance in the men whose minds the pomps the gauderies the heights the state and what do's furnish all the wealth and riches of this world have seized if such men be not taken off from the pursuit of these things by invisible Treasures and by spiritual Thrones and Scepters or if they whose souls have dwelt long in their dishes and their cups who drink to create thirst eate to hunger are not pleas'd much with a state whose happiness is said to be that men shall neither hunger nor thirst in it or if they whom all the pleasures of the flesh sawc'd with variety have made loose and dissolute will not be temted to restrain themselves in those bounds that are set to chast tongues chast eyes or chast bodies or tho they may be mov'd it may be to dismiss a while yet cannot be made willing to divorce their lusts by notions of an happiness for Spirits that have no sex where they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like God I will not call in here for evidence that most men have no satisfying apprehensions of the Blessedness of that state since altho they had yet there are appetites in the constitution to those other satisfactions that are opposite to all these Blessednesses and these appetites are hot and fierce have bin long pamper'd and now will not be deni'd being grown too strong for any notions of the understanding to make head against them But here is one fatal instance that will certainly evince men have no pleasing sense of the condition of that after-state they do not fancy it with any takingness at all and it is this that in those duties of Religion which have nothing opposite to any carnal appetite which of themselves retrench not any of our sensual satisfactions yet most men have all unwillingnesses to them deadness in them To name one of them Praier for example which is rather priviledge than duty a most blessed merciful indulgence such as if God had not onely not commanded but not given us leave for we must have thought our selves most wretchedly unhappy since 't is but giving us leave to pour out all our wants into the bosom of our Father who is both Almighty and most Mercifull to beg those things which if we have not we are miserable here and everlastingly and which Christ's bloud that purchas'd them does joyn in intercession with us when we pray in earnest for them and our sighs mixe with his agonies and the merit of his dying groans to his and our Father for us Now there is not one appetite in our making that 's adverse to praying as there are many to strict virtues 't is not uneasy to the flesh nor yet repugnant to its satisfactions it is not possible to find a ground on which one can mislike it and then to see men backward to it languid and dead in it weary of it suffering little avocations to divert them at it wandring going from it while they are about it engag'd in it glad to make quick end of it seeking out occasions to pretermit it yea more out of an insensible stupidity long omitting not at all performing it as if that men had nothing at all to desire of God or at least nothing they desir'd so much that they will take the pains to ask in earnest for it Now 't is impossible to give an account of this there 's no imaginable reason but that men have no concern or value for nor apprehensions of the things they pray for 'T is plain men perform chearfully what tends to those things they affect and fancy especially if it be not
a prey of the meek patient and long-suffering treading under foot the humble because they know their principles will make them suffer it and somtimes by invading them with downright persecution when duty and Religion are made crimes true faith and a good Conscience mark men out for ruine Sometimes on the other side it courts us shews us all it's glory it's places powers plenties pomps and gayeties and so kindles in us the desire of wealth which is the only way to compass all those which desire if it touch the heart once if the world can charm us once with the deceitfulness of riches as our Saviour words it Matth. 13. 22. we are quite betraid For these deceitful riches tho they are and may be made great instruments of good and most well minded men when they are in the way of getting them imagine they shall do more good with more of them when they have got them they deceive them prove occasions and foments of vices do not only serve but grow incentives to those Sins which men have any inclinations too yea many times betray them into those they before had no disposition towards by putting them into their power and by heightning for them And however many that possess them do make blessed use of them yet those that seek them and endeavor their increase on the account of doing so to make them help their entry into life do in our Savior's judgment for the most part so deceive themselves and are as sottish as a man that should get up upon a Camel to ride thro the eye of a Needle 'T is our only wisdom to beware of all temtations 'T was Christ's last advice in that agony both of his Love and Sufferings Watch and pray that ye enter not into them Look about you give no opportunities to them to approch you undiscern'd advert still that you may be either able to avoi'd them or have time to fortify and call up all the succours Reason and Religion offer and all those of Grace which God is ready to bestow upon your prayers that you may not be surpriz'd and taken unprepar'd and rather bear suffer any thing then yield Whatever 't is that is most precious to thee serves thy greatest uses contributes to thy most charming satisfactions rather part with it then let it temt thee 'T is our Saviors charge if thy right Eye offend insnare thee pluck it out and cast it from thee It is sad indeed when the Eye that should watch the organ of Circumspection and with which we should discern the snare to shun it should it self lead into it and be it But 't is sadder when the snare is dear to men as the usefullest part and most delightful of their senses when they can no more endure to withdraw from temtation then to cut off their right hand or pull out their right Eye when they use those parts to look about for ruine and lay violent hands upon the instruments of their Perdition when they will loose any of those organs rather then not pursue what the temtation suggests rather cut off a right hand and pull out a right Eye then not satisfy the appetite it raises give up all their own aimes and the worldlings also for that only loose their Salvation their God and their own Soul spend wealth and strength and body honor and understanding on one sin that they may become their own ruins here in this life and the type of their judgment in the life to come Now these are such instances of folly that the men that practise them and call themselves Christians are not to be put in the comparison with the children of this world who in every part of wisdom are much wiser in relation to their ends and to the means they pitch upon and to the use of those means in pursuit of their intentions which I undertook to shew And then when all their Wisdom is foolishness with God and branded with the worst extremest names of it in Scripture in what rank of folly stand most Christians And truly to sum up all 't is a most astonishing contemplation how 't is only in these everlasting interests that most men act without any consideration as men wholly destitute of understanding and that could not think He that hath a journey or a voyage which he must make and accordingly designes he takes some thought of fit means of conveyance and providing whatsoever else is at least necessary for it never is so sottish as to chuse and prepare a Ship for land or a Coach for Sea nor to hire and put himself in any one he meets by hazard without minding whether it is going and will carry him Now each man hath a journey to the other World knows he must make it and is going on it and and pretends at least to be assur'd there are two ways to that world one that leads to felicities which never can dye and the other to as endless and immortal misery and torment yet the one of these however dreadful and the other how desireable soever never enter into his Consideration so as to weigh ought with him and to incline him in the choice he makes of that way which he walks in all his life long And tho men know that they approch nearer to that terrible moment every day and have for ought they know few paces more but are to step immediatly into one of these two Eternities yet if you ask them why they go that way they march in not another whether they ever minded where that way will lead them why alass they did not ask themselves that question may be never yet reflected on it but their inclinations and affections the example of converse with others carried them along without consideration whither these did guide them wholly and from these they took their sentiments of things and actions which they follow'd without ever giving heed too or examining how they came by them or what grounds of truth or goodness they have for them but pursued them constantly and doing so that while those sentiments remain in them as judgments and remaining long so and by that becoming prejudices with them go for Principles and if ever they be call'd on to reflect upon the way they walk in being willing out of a desire that 's natural to man and is inbred in him to justify themselves as much as may be in their inclinations and their actions they seek reason or colour of it to guild over and beautify the principles they took up so Thus they come to have their maxims and rules and so a Conscience which excuses or at least does not reprove their conduct and so go on confidently and acquiesce in those and never take nor ask other direction Yet these very men will hire a Tutor to direct their footings that they may be to the mesures and the rules of Music will be bountiful and docile obedient to him and spend time too
to this rencounter of the object of its strong affections no rest but in the labors that work towards it no calm but in those violences And much of this there must be in Religion where the heart is set upon the hopes of it on heaven He must be eager in it as the covetous is on his gains the proud man on his pomps the pleasurist on his sports the Epicure on his excesses It is not possible a man should have no heart to that on which his heart is set He therefore that hath set his heart on heaven must be religious and holy and so it is concluded that the liberal-minded must needs be so The progress of which proof is this he whose heart is in heaven his conversation will be there his life will be Christian and holy he whose treasure is in heaven his heart is in heaven he that hath taken off his heart from the world and out of liberality of heart gives alms he laies his treasure up in heaven and then it is concluded that he is religious And this now may apply it self without my help to press it to you Ah my Brethren chuse and strive towards a vertue that will help you to all the rest that will calm and moderate your affections to this world and the dying follies of it and that will draw your hearts to heaven and set them on the world to come Who would not labor for one disposition of mind that comes with such a train of pieties that hath all Christianity in its attendance and brings all into the soul with it Who would not give alms if by doing so he give himself a shole of vertue to whom is this man bountiful but to himself indeed Here is a ground for men to beg after the fashion of Lombardy Be good to your self Sir and bestow an alms upon me for he indeed is good unto himself who what he gives laies up in heaven as a treasure for eternity and at the same time entertains the disposition to all piety in his heart receives all vertue into him I sahll not need to call in accessory proofs fetch in auxiliary motives tell you that works of charity are called good works in Scripture and the liberal man good So Rom. 5. 7. the good man signifies and Tit. 2. 5. where the women are commanded to be good it is merciful so works of mercy are call'd good works Acts. 9. 36. doing good Matt. 12. 12. Heb. 13. 16. good fruits James 3. 17. So to work good signifies Gal. 6. 9. and every good work 2 Cor. 9. 8. is works of mercy as if he did engross all goodness and that same vertue did fulfil the title Nay I tell you more that the merciful man and the perfect man are but two words for the same person Matt. 5. 48. Luke 6. 36. all Christianity is so sure appendant to this disposition of the heart when it is in the soul I tell you not when it is now and then in the actions that this alone is perfectness 't is entire lacking nothing And then here is a clear account why at the last great trial nothing should come upon account but charity that is the only thing the Judg takes cognizance of at the day of final doom When I was hungry ye gave me meat the words of everlasting Judgment pass only in relation to this nothing but charity do's come into that sentence for all the rest is implied in this and where the heart is liberal the whole life will be Christian this is an evidence will pass at God's Assise stand before the Searcher of the heart and reins And therefore it may well be a sign to us and make proof that this grace in the heart bounty of mind is a great evidence of a truly Christian heart the second Proposition Blessed Savior thou that wert all bounty to us that didst emty thy self to enrich us and didst chuse rather to die thy self than not relieve us when we were sick to everlasting death give us grace to be like-minded shed into our hearts this disposition of soul that will make us so remember thee a disposition that will make our affections even and moderate to things of this earth which by teaching us to part with wealth contentedly will work us out of the world and teach us not to be enamoured on the advantages of wealth not to be passionate for pomps or pleasures or for any superfluities which wealth procures which will set our hearts in heaven and lay up treasures for us there which if it rob us of the pomps and the magnificences of this world will give us for them pomps of piety the whole train of vertues a long attendance of graces if it deprives us of some heights or some excess of pleasures it will recompence with the satisfactions of relieving Christ in his members here and reigning with him hereafter in Kingdom SERMON XXII THE LIGHT OF THE BODY is the Eye Matt. 6. 22 23. The light of the body is the eye if therefore thy eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light But if thine eye be evill thy whole body shall be full of darkness If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness PHILOSOPHY do's say that all vertues are so annext and tied together that it is not possible for any man to have any one truly and compleat but he must needs have all they are like pearls upon the necklace from which if any violence pull one the string is broke and all are shatter'd and disorder'd And S. James saith c. 2. 10. Whosoever shall offend in one point is guilty of all and sure the vertue of the Text makes good both these Positions if liberality of heart be that one point he that excludes it from his Soul shuts out the rest at once All the graces are as train to that leading vertue are its such close attendants that they must needs have the same fate and either dwell together in the heart or all together be thrust thence for if thine eie be single thy whole body shall be full of light but if thine eie be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness An envious discontent uncharitable mind makes the whole life un-Christian and he that do's offend in that one point must needs be guilty of all and if Charity that bond of perfectness in S. Paul that tie of graces that do's unite them to it self and with each other if that be there all graces must be there and liberality of heart makes the life Christian for if thine eie be single thy whole body shall be full of light But I am now to shew you that bounty in the heart is a great Sign of a true Christian heart that that person who not out of easiness or modesty of constitution not knowing how to deny when he is askt nor out of inconsideration or vanity bestows an alms or else when importunities
he is a Man that is considers if he do abound and the World prostitute it self to his Delights that this cannot continue long or if the World conspire to make him miserable remembers that he is not so except he think he is so a man greater than his perils stronger than his desires And thus far the Stoick's Wiseman is victorious Christ's Believer goes a little farther That man hath the World Subject to him but the Christian does not stay at that he must not treat it as a Subject but a Traytor one whose Service is Conspiracy that does attend on us onely to watch and to betray us to know our weak part and to storm us there Therefore as the Lord commanded Israel concerning Amalek that did by them as the World doth with us in our journey to Canaan comes upon advantages and smites the feeble Deut. xxv 17 18 19. Therefore said the Lord remember what Amalek did to thee by the way how he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee even all that were feeble behind thee when thou wast faint and weary therefore thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under Heaven c. So must we also with the World put all to death not spare the best and goodliest as Saul did yea more put all to the pomps and cruelties of Death as Gideon us'd the men of Succoth tear their flesh with thorns and bryars or as David us'd the Ammonites put them under Saws and Iron Harrows so the Christian must serve the World VVhatever Instruments of Tyranny that us'd upon his Saviour on the Cross those he must exercise on it again those Thorns those Nails that Spear he must employ like Gideon's Bryars and like David's iron Harrows it must be Crucified and then he is a glorious Conquerour Gal. vi 14. God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ whereby the World is Crucified to me and I unto the World He that does march under the Banner of the Cross that Conquering Ensign as he thereby declares himself upon such terms of enmity with the World that he does look upon himself as one despis'd by it counted as an accured thing for so was that that was Crucified as it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on the Tree So also he does look upon his Standard as the Instrument of Execution to the World on which it must be Crucified unto him and so it is He is so taken off from finding any stirring delights in the glories of it that he accounts it a dead thing that hath no more attraits than a Carcass yea he does look upon this World as on a detestable and accursed thing as it was indeed whose Thorns and Briars do not onely scratch and tear and do it most when we embrace it most but also are a Refuge for the cursed Serpent to lurk in and add his Stings to their sharps that Devil Serpent that was doom'd into it and is always in it and then most when it is most Paradise Now he that hath thus us'd the World he that hath nail'd it to the Cross of Christ hath overcome the World Should we now cast an eye at once upon our selves and that which hath been thus deduc'd tracing all back again then First It would appear so evident that I were vain if I should stay to prove that those which have such desires to any of the profits heights or pomps or any dear thing else whatever of this World as that they are impatient if they miscarry in them and full of strange complacencies if they do answer their desires these have not overcome the World to any such degree For had I overcome and Crucified it sure I should not be so affectionate as to desire court and pursue what I had Executed I should as soon adore the Paintings of my Enemies Tomb embrace and make love to his Carcass And were I Crucified to it had I but one Thorn of my Saviour's Crown struck through my Head but one Nail in my Foot of those that nailed him to his Tree were my Soul fastned to a Cross how were it possible I should run gadding after the gay follies of the World hasty in my desires of it Nor could I be impatient if the World do not answer my desires and expectations disquieted and discompos'd if I be disappointed when any thing in it is not subservient to my heights and I miss of those respects I look'd for were the World vanquish'd Crucified to me should I look for services from my dead Enemy whom I had slain or be troubled if the person on the Cross did not do fitting reverences to me or be impatient if I had not respects and the Attendances of Pomp from one upon the Gibbet or if I were Crucified to it certainly these heats would not warm the dead these are none of the troubles of an Executed person when he is rack'd upon that instrument of Death he is not grieved because the Nails were not of Silver the Spears head not bright or the Cross was not hung with Arras Aud suppose it were sure I were very weak if I should please my self with that and let such poor contents thrust out all the just sadness of my Sentence and demerit And yet it is as strange to find delights in having any of the Worlds advantages and pride my self in the possession if I be Crucified to it But much less is it Crucified to them that will do actions of injustice for the sake of any of the Pomps or profits of the VVorld there are that grind and screw and rack all that they have to deal with others that deceive and rob in Vizours plunder in the disguises of fair words and of false arts Some that dress their Pomps in none of their own trappings such as they never mean to have a right to because they never mean to satisfie for them if they can avoid it they furnish the grandeur of their own condition with the goods of others which they never care to make their own by any recompence at least not in such ways and seasons as the needs of those that own'd them and the rules of Justice do require they cram and sauch their Dishes with the vital Blood indeed of those who starve for want of and who own all that which does provide them their excesses Now would a man do this to entertain and feed and dress the Carcass of his vanquish'd his dead Enemy would he be so vain so guilty to provide to deck the Cross on which he Crucified his Foe least of all would he retrench from the proportions of Charity or Piety deny the calls of Mercy and compassion or Religion for his profits sake or to furnish out the trains of Pomp take the Lords portion to serve the dead World with If it were overcome and Crucified they would not feed it with hallowed things and the Poor's portion
is such nor rob the Altar to give it excesses take Consecrated things to make a cursed Carcass gay and proud strip Christ's Body starve their Saviour so He does interpret to deny a portion to the naked and hungry to make Pomps and Riots for an Executed World In any of these cases he is far from being overcome And if so the Second Proposition will apply it self to such and must conclude they have no Faith for if they had that were a Victory and however goodly they pretend they are but Infidels But it may be they will boldly own the Consequence for now adays it is not gentile to believe any thing of Christ's Religion And sure 't is for the Reputation of the gallantry and courage of our love unto this World that when the covetousness of the Gadarenes would not suffer Christ in their Coasts and for their Swines sake drove him out when that of Judas would not let him be upon the Earth but for thirty Silver pieces did betray him up to Death that of this Age proceeds and will not let him be in Heaven neither but it scoffs him thence and his Faith from the Earth And because they like this VVorld so well they will not suffer there should be any other It is not my part to Combat these I undertook only to shew a way to overcome the World if they will not use it let them enjoy their Bondage And yet without all doubt these candidates of Infidelity and Atheism have faith enough to do the work in good degree for certainly there 's none of them but does believe but he shall die and it is easie for his Faith to look through that thin vapour which our life is stiled by to the end of that small span and there see a Bed though gay now and soft as the sleep and sins it entertains then with the Curtains close the gayety all clouded in a darkness such as does begin the desolateness of the Grave if you draw the Curtain to his Faith it sees a languishing sad Corps which nothing in the VVorld can help or ease forethrowded in his own dead hue himself preluding to his winding-sheet in which within a little while he shall be cast from the society and sight of men and shall have nothing else of all his VVealth and Pomp To see all this is no great monstrous difficulty for his Faith Now though while he is in his prosperity and health and the VVorld serves every of his desires and if I should tell him all his superfluities all that is beyond a meer convenience are but empty things meer shadows of delight that onely mock his fancy should I tell him that the silver furnitures of his Tables and those more wealthy shining ones those in his Cabinet and the Silken ones of his Rooms and the more exquisite pieces of rich Art which people must have skill to understand the pomp of must have been the Disciples of the Pensil to discern how they do serve Pride tell him these are phantasms onely dreams of Pomp advantages no where but in imagination I shall not persuade him but he will despise me But then if he will ask his Faith how all these will look to him in the state which is now before his thoughts what his opinion of them will be then he knows he may as well go to his Pictures now and entertain his Mirth and Luxuries with them and hearken to their painted sounds and dine upon the images of Feasts as hope in that sad hour from all his Wealth to find coment or ease though his hand sweat under the weight of Winter Jewels they will not heal one aking joint His Plate the greatest Riot of his Table will not make one morsel tast savory yea more he knows that then all the worldly uses of these superfluities such as satisfying curiosity and emulation and the estimation of the World to be the talk of people and the like these will appear most evidently to be insipid things meer conceits of delights things of which there can be no real enjoyment or advantage any time And if it then appear evidently that in themselves they are so then they are so always and a constant Contemplation of that time will make them always seem so So that a Faith that cannot see into another VVorld that will but look through this must needs take off our hearts from the entanglements of those advantages when it appears how small a thing can dash them all so as that we cannot enjoy them while we have them and that the enjoyment of them while we do is but imaginary And really when we consider how unquiet and disturb'd a thing Man is except he raise himself above the Power of all these how till the Mind escape out of the whirl and circuit of the Worlds allurements it cannot but be in perpetual agitations at every ebb or flow of things without there is a tide within of swelling or sinking affections every change abroad does make a change of thoughts and of designs cross Accidents have cross Passions and I am as much an Universe of various thwarting contradictious affections as the World is of motions How the Beasts are free serene and quiet Creatures in comparison for they not understanding many Objects consequently have few inclinations and their satisfactions very obvious whereas the Comprehensive mind of Man that looks into a world of things and out of them creates a world of temptations finds out varieties of Pleasures or of Profits and then starts as many eager affections in himself to pursue them his copious understanding does but procure him various Lusts and his Reason does but make him sagacious in searching out occasions of disquiet Nor is it possible it should be otherwise for while my inclinations are chain'd to those external movements and my slavish mind attends upon those inclinations I must needs suffer as many servitudes as the world hath changes of temptation And then putting these two Considerations together how unsatisfying and how uneasie too it is to be engaged in the Advantages of this World which are meerly Dreams of good things that disturb our rest and make our sleep unquiet with the working of Imagination yet do but delude the Appetite and we find we have had nothing when we awake sure if I thought there were no other World yet would I not be greedy after the great things of this when 't is more easie far to want them here would I indulge my self the sensuality of a Contented mind the luxury of an Ataraxy of an indifference as to all these things of being quiet and untroubled by not having them free from the hurry and disorder of them The Moralists did so account it certainly when they call'd this living according to our Nature as if all the other were a Violence upon us and upon the same ground they accounted it not hard to overcome the Allurements of this World it was onely not to
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that mind earthly things the fourth sort in whicâ— all their wisdom lies Which two last sorts of Enemies I shall attaque together The Cross of Christ amongst its other ends was set to be an instrument whereby the World is to be Crucified to us and we unto the World to be the means whereby we are enabled to prevail upon and overcome our worldly lusts and inclinations and to sleight yea and detest all the temptations of its Wealth Delights and Heights when they attempt to draw us into sin or take us off from Duty Now to this it works by these three steps First shewing us the Author and the finisher of our Faith nailed himself to that Cross his joints rack'd on it his whole Body strip'd and nothing else but Vinegar and bitter potions allow'd his thirst and thus convincing us that if we will be his Disciples we must take up his Cross and follow him at leastwise we must have preparedness of mind to take it up when ever it is fix'd to Duty to renounce all profits honours and delights of this World that are not consistent with our Christian profession This is the Doctrine of the Cross of Christ it being otherwise impossible to to be the Disciples of a Crucified Master And when this great Captain of our Salvation was himself consecrated by his sufferings and had for his Standard his own Body lifted up upon the Cross we that are listed under him and with that very badg the Cross too crucis Consecranei Votaries and fellow Soldiers of that Order if we shall avoid our Duty when it is attended with a Cross or straitned any ways and the provisions of this World are cut off from it and betake our selves rather to the contents of Earth we do not onely shamefully fly from our Colours Fugitive and Cowards Poltrons in the Spiritual Warfare but are Renegadoes false and traytours to our selves too such as basely ran away not onely from our Officer but from Salvation which he is the Captain of and which we cannot possibly attain except we be resolv'd to follow him and charge through whatsoever disadvantages to attend Religion vanquishing all those temptations with which the World assaults us in our course to Duty Thus the Cross of Christ first shews us the necessity we have to renounce and Crucifie the World But to encourage and enable us to do so it does also shew us Secondly The certainty of a good issue in the doing it assures us that those who deny themselves forbidden satisfactions here that will be vertuous maugre all the baits and threats of Earth will embrace Duty when it is laden with a Cross although so heavy as to crush out life and kill the body assures us that those lose not but exchange their lives shall save their Souls and that there is another World wherein their losses shall be made up to them and repaired with all advantage To the truth of this the Cross of Christ is a most pregnant and infallible testimony For as by multitudes of Miracles Christ sought to satisfie the World that he was sent from God to promise all this and justified his Power to perform it by experiment raising some up from the dead so when they said he did his Miracles by Beelzebub he justified it â—urther with his Life affirming that he was the Son of God no 't is impossible but he must know whether he were or no and consequently sent and able to do all he promised and resolv'd to do it also for our more assurance in himself that he would raise himself up from the dead within three days and saying this when he was sure he should be Crucified for saying so and sure that if he did not do according to his words he must within three days appear a meer Impostor to the world and his Religion never be receiv'd Now 't is impossible for him that must needs know whether all this were true or no to give a greater testimony to it than his Life For this that Bloud and Water that flowed from his wounded side upon Cross which did assure his Death is justly said to bear witness to his being the Son of God and consequently to the truth of all this equal to the testimony of the Spirit whether that which the Spirit gave when he came from Heaven down upon him in his Baptism or the testimony which he gave by Miracle for there are three that bear witness upon Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood Thus by his Death Christ did bring Life and Immortality to light his choosing to lay down his own life for asserting of the truth of all this was as great an argument to prove it as his raising others from the dead and Lazarus's empty Monument and walking Grave-cloaths were not better evidence than this Cross of Christ. 4. Once more this Cross not onely proves the certainty of a future state but does demonstrate the advantage of it and assures us that it is infinitely much more eligible to have our portion in the life to come than in this life That to part with every thing that is desireable in this World rather than to fail of those joys that are laid up in the other that to be poor here or to be a spoyl to renounce or to disperse my wealth that so I may lay up treasures for my self in Heaven and may be rich to God never to taste any one of these puddle transient delights rather than to be put from that right hand where there are pleasures for evermore to be thrown down from every height on Earth if so I may ascent those everlasting Hills and Mount Sion that is above that this is beyond all proportion the wisest course it does demonstrate since it shews us him who is the Son of God who did create all these advantages of Earth and prepare those in Heaven and does therefore know them both Who also is the Wisdom of the Father and does therefore know to value them yet for the joys that were set before him choosing to endure the Cross and despising the shame On that Beam he weigh'd them and by that his choice declar'd the Pomps of this World far too light for that exceeding and eternal weight of Glory that the whole earth was but as the dust upon the Ballance and despis'd it and to make us do so is both the Design and direct influence of the Cross of Christ. But as at first the Wise men of this World did count the Preaching of the Cross meer folly to give up themselves to the belief and the obedience of a man that was most infamously Crucified and for the sake of such an one to renounce all the satisfactions suffer all the dire things of this Life and in lieu of all this onely expect some after Blessednesses and Salvations from a man that they thought could not save himself seemed to them most ridiculous So truly
all this he cry out who is sufficient for these things sure they are not sufficient who in those little intervals which their trades and necessities afford them fall into fits and frenâ—ies of Religion have a sharp Paroxysme of irregular convuls'd Divinity as if they were its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 possest with their Theology 'till their weariness and not knowing what to say do exorcise them But not to speak only to the wild fancies of this Age the Scripture says of the men of these callings they are taken from among Men and ordain'd for Men in things pertaining to God And such discriminations are evinc'd by all the expressions of a Church in Scripture 'T is call'd the body of Christ Now the parts of a body as where they are so separate that they divide from one another they do not make a body but are an Execution so where they are not separate in a diversity of Organs for several faculties and operations it may be a dead Element as similar bodies are but cannoâ— be that body which St. Paul describes 1 Cor. 12 Which is not one Member but many ver 14. And if they were all one member where were the body v. 19. and indeed all that Chapter is inspired for this Argument In Christ's Church 't is as impossible that every one can be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Overseer as that every part in the body can be an Eye And the whole frame of Man may be nothing else but a Tongue as well as every Christian may be a Preacher And if it might where indeed were the hearing as St. Paul does ask The Church is also call'd a building and Gods house Now it is true that every Christian is by St. Peter call'd a lively stone and all of them built up a Spiritual house an holy Priest-hood 1 Pet. 2. 5. and they all are a Royal Priest-hood an holy Nation a peculiar separate people vers 9. Yet all this is no more of privilege than is affirmed in the very same words of the Jewish Nation Exod. 19. 6. Where yet God had his separated Levites Priests and High-priests too But sure 't is manifest enough that in this building as in others stones have their separate places and distinct every one can not bear up the Corner or be a pillar and foundation-stone much less can every one place it self in the Ephod assume to be one of the Urim and the Thummim-stones and there break out in Oracles and give Responses and every rubbish stone set it self in the Mitre and shine in the head ornaments as if it were one of the precious stones of Sion In fine to speak now out of Metaphor not only the transactions of the Text which is a precedent for men to commission such and such but also all Scripture rules direct a Choice and where there is Election there is also dereliction and both evince a separation And if all the Nations in the World have had their distinct Officers for Religion and as it were to signalize the separateness of their function in many Nations they did live apart from Men The Priests had their adyâ—a as well as the Deities dark solitary Groves were made choice of not so much for the God as for his Officers retirement so that every appearance of him also was a Vision and the Priest was reveal'd as well as the Oracle and all this at the first to make a kind of sacred Pomp for the solemnity of awfulness though afterwards it often prov'd but opportunity for foul performances And if to this uniform practice of the World Gods attestation be set who order'd it in his own Government nor that as a Levitical or Jewish administration but it was practised amongst his own from the beginning and when dominions were but greater families there were still distinct persons for the imployments of Religion that was the office and the privilege of the first-born Esau was call'd profane for sellâ—ng that birth-right of his And the word in the Text here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate is the same which God does word the sanctifying the first-born for him with Exod. 13. 2. 'T were easie to deduce all this out of all ancient Jewish Records And when the practice ever since hath been the same in Christ's Religion after all this sure nothing else but absolute defection of the Notions of Mankind and blotting out all the impressions of Vniversal Nature and Vniversal Religion or else an absolute Command from Heaven could alter this Establishment from which command we are so far that 't is the Holy Ghost himself that said expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate Now this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Separateness in Function does infer upon us a separateness in Life and Conversation and they who are thus set apart from the World must keep themselves unspotted from the World To separate and Consecrate are but two words for the same thing Separate three Cities is the Command in Deut. 19. 2. and they sanctified three Josh. 20. 7. Our Offices assume them both and all are holy Orders Now separate and pure are both so primitive and so essential notions of holy that truly I cannot determin which of them is original and which secondary Our Consecration does challenge both and as we will be separate in our calling so we must be separate in our lives not conforming our selves to the World for I have chosen you out of the World saith Christ. A torrent licence of an Age must not carry us along an Universal Custom of the World must be no precedent and can be no excuse for us to do what is irregular We are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate and that the World does such things is no more a plea for us to do so than that because the World is Common ground therefore the Church is so too fit to be put to all the uses of the field or of worse places Were it a reasonable argument because I see that the whole Country 's till'd why should I not break up the holy places and plow the Temple Why so we are enclos'd for God and separated for the uses of Religion and to preserve our selves pure for them Our Saviour says that the Community of Christians is a City upon an hill and then sure the consecrated Persons are the Temple of that City the separate places of it and then as they are most in sight the Church is ordinarily the most visible building so truly he that sees one of them it should be as if he saw an open Church where there is nothing else but holy duty as if his life were Liturgy publick Service and Worship of God Hath your zeal never rose at least your indignation at the profane fury of this Age which never made a stop in violation of things sacred when to its heap of other Sacrileges it added most contemptuous defilements of God's hoâ—â—â—s making the place that