Serviceableness to others The first of these challengeth Men's Esteem the other their Love Now both these Qualities Religion and Vertue do eminently possess us of For First The Religious Man is certainly the most Worthy and Excellent Person for he of all others lives most up to the great End for which he was designed which is the natural measure of the Goodness and Worth of Things Whatever External Advantages a Man may have yet if he be not endow'd with Vertuous Qualities he is far from having any true Worth or Excellence and consequently cannot be a fit Object of our Praise and Esteem because he wants that which should make him Perfect and Good in his Kind For it is not a comely Personage or a long Race of Famous Ancestors or a large Revenue or a multitude of Servants or many swelling Titles or any other thing without a Man that speaks him a Compleat Man or makes him to be what he should be But the right use of his Reason the employing his Liberty and Choice to the best purposes the exercising his Powers and Faculties about the fittest Objects and in the most due Measures these are the Things that make him Excellent Now none can be said to do this but only he that is Vertuous Secondly Religion also is that which makes a Man most Vseful and Profitable to others for it effectually secures his performance of all those Duties whereby both the Security and Welfare of the Publick and also the Good and Advantage of particular Persons is most attained It makes Men Lovers of their Country Loyal to their Prince Obedient to Laws It is the surest Bond and Preservative of Society in the World It obliges us to live peaceably and to submit our selves to our Rulers not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake It renders us modest and governable in Prosperity and resolute and couragious to suffer bravely in a good Cause in the worst of Times It teacheth us to endeavour as much as in us lies to promote the Good of every particular Member of the Community to be inflexibly upright to do hurt to none but good Offices to all to be charitable to the Bodies and Souls of Men to do all manner of Kindnesses that lie within our power It takes off the Sowrness and Moroseness of our Spirits and makes us Affable and Courteous Gentle and Obliging and willing to embrace with open Arms and an hearty Love all Sorts and Conditions of Men. In every Relation wherein we can stand to one another it influenceth upon us in order to the making us more useful It makes Parents kind and indulgent and careful of the Education of their Children and Children loving and obedient to their Parents It makes Servants diligent to please their Masters and to do their Work in Singleness of Heart not with Eye-service as Men-pleasers but as unto God and it makes Masters gentle and forbearing and careful to make provision for their Family as those that know they have a Master in Heaven that is no Respecter of Persons In a word There is no Condition or Capacity in which Religion will not be signally an Instrument of making us more serviceable to others and of doing more good in the World And if such be the Spirit and Temper of it how is it possible but it must needs acquire a great deal of Respect and Love from all sorts of Men If Obligingness and doing good in one's Generation do not endear a Man to those that know him do not entitle him to their Love and Affections what thing in the World is there that is likely to do it But Secondly True and unaffected Goodness seldom misses of a good Reputation in the World How unjust to Vertue soever Men are in other respects yet in this they generally give it its due where-ever it appears it generally meets with Esteem and Approbation nay it has the good Word of many that otherwise are not over-fond of Religion Though they have not the Grace to be Good themselves yet they rarely have the Confidence not to commend Goodness in others Add to this that no Man ever raised to himself a Good Name in the World but it was upon the score of his Vertues either Real or Pretended Vice hath sometimes got Riches and advanced it self into Preferments but it never was accounted Honourable in any Nation It must be acknowledged indeed that it may and doth sometimes happen that Vicious Men may be had in Esteem but then it is to be considered that it is not for their Vices that they are esteemed but for some good Quality or other they are eminent in And there is no doubt if those Men were without those Vices their Reputation would be so far from being thereby diminished that it would become much more Considerable It must also be acknowledged on the other hand that even Vertuous and Good Men may sometimes fail of that Esteem and Respect that their Vertue seems to merit nay in that degree as to be slighted and despised and to have many Odious Terms and Nick-names put upon them But when we consider the Cases in which this happens it will appear to be of no force at all for the disproving what has been now delivered For First It ought to be considered what kind of Persons those are that treat Vertue and Vertuous Men thus Contemptuously we shall always find them to be the Worst and the Vilest of Mankind such who have debauched the natural Principles of their Minds have lost all the Notions and Distinctions of Good and Evil are fallen below the Dignity of Humane Nature and have nothing to bear up themselves with but Boldness and Confidence Drollery and Scurrility and turning into Ridicule every thing that is grave and serious But it is with these as it is with the Monsters and Extravagances of Nature they are but very Few Few in comparison of the rest of Mankind who have wiser and truer Sentiments of Things But if they were more numerous no Man of Understanding would value what such Men said of him It looks like a Crime to be commended by such Persons and may justly occasion a Man to reflect upon his own Actions and to cry out to himself as He did of old What have I done that these Men speak well of me But Secondly It cannot be denied but that some Persons who are otherwise Vertuous and Religious may be guilty of such Indiscretions as thereby to give others occasion to slight and despise them But then it is to be considered that this is not to be charged upon Vertue and Religion but is the particular Fault of the Persons Every one that is Religious is not Prudent the Meanness of a Man's Vnderstanding or his rash and intemperate Zeal or the Moroseness of his Temper or his too great Scrupulosity about little things may sometimes make his Behaviour Vncouth and Fantastick and betray him to do many Actions which he may think his Religion obliges him
of the covetous that God abhorreth them Psal 10.3 which implies the utmost aversion that the Divine nature is capable of to any sort of Men or things The uncharitable and hard hearted Men God hath declared he will have no mercy on Jam. 2.13 but they shall have judgment without mercy that have shewed no mercy Fourthly and lastly a necessity there is that those that are rich in this World should do good and be rich in good works c. upon their own account Though there were no other tye upon them yet self-love and self-preservation would oblige them to it I meddle not here how far in point of worldly interest they are concerned to be charitable though even the motives drawn from hence are very considerable For certainly Charity is a means not only to preserve and secure to them what they have and to make them enjoy it more comfortably but also to increase their store No Man is ever poorer for what he gives away in useful Charity but on the contrary he thrives better for it God seldom fails in this World amply to repay what is thus lent to him besides the other Blessings that accompany his store and go along with it to hs Children after him This I am sure is solemnly promised and in the ordinary dispensations of Providence we see it generally made good whereas to the greedy and penurious Man all things fall out quite contrary he may have Wealth but he hath little comfort in it for a curse generally attends it of which he feels the sad effects in a variously miserable and vexatious life and often in either having none or an unfortunate Posterity But this is not the thing that I mean to insist on This World lasts but for a while and it is no great matter how we fare in it but we have Souls that must live for ever If therefore Men have any kindness for them if they mean not to be undone to all eternity it is absolutely necessary they should do good with what they have O that uncharitable rich Men would think upon that woe that our Saviour pronounceth against them Luke 6.24 Wo unto you that are rich for ye have received your consolation O that they would seriously consider and often remember those words of Abraham to the rich Man in Hell Luk. 16.25 Son saith he remember that thou in thy life receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Not that it is a crime to be rich or to have good things in our life no it is the inordinate love of their Wealth to which those that have it are too frequently prone and their not imploying it to those purposes of doing good for which it was given it is these things that bring these curses upon them and really make it easier without an Hyporbole for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Luke 18.25 Certain it is there is no one sin that can be named doth more fatally exclude from Salvation than this we are speaking of We never find the Prophets or the Apostles giving a list of those black crimes that will involve all that are guilty of them in inevitable destruction but we are sure to meet with Covetousness and all the attendants of it among them as many instances might be given Nay so great is this sin of Uncharitableness and not doing good with our Wealth that God in the final sentence that he shall pass upon wicked Men to their condemnation at the last day seems to take no notice of the other sins and crimes of their life but only to censure them for this Matth. 25.31 c. Thus we find that when the King having gathared all Nations before him comes to pronounce the sentence upon those on his left hand who are those that are doomed to everlasting fire there is no mention made of their criminal actions they are not condemned for fraud and oppression for unbelief and irreligion for lewdness and debauchery though any of these be enough to damn a Man but merely for their not doing good for their not relieving the necessitous and excercising other acts of Charity when it was in their power Since now from these Considerations it doth appear how necessary how indispensable a Duty it is to do good with what we have to be rich in good works to be ready to distribute and willing to communicate let me at this time charge all of you that are rich in this world as you would not be unthankful to your great Benefactor nor unjust to your Neighbours as you have any piety towards God or any care of your own Souls that you put it in practice And two instances of this great Duty the present occasion and the exigence of things doth oblige me more particularly to recommend to you The first is the business of the Hospitals the encouraging and promoting that Charity which the piety of our Ancestors begun and whose examples their Successors have hitherto worthily followed and of which we see excellent effects at this day for this we need no better proof than the Report given in of the great number of poor Children and other poor people maintained in the several Hospitals under the pious care of the Lord Mayor Commonalty and Citizens of London the year last past For these so great instances of Charity what have we to do but with all Gratitude to commemorate those noble and publick Spirits that first began them and with all devotion to put up our prayers to God for all those now alive that have been promoters and encouragers of such good works and lastly with all chearfulness and diligence to follow these Patterns by liberally contributing to their Maintenance and Advancement These are th Publick Banks and Treasuries in which we may safely lodge that Money which we lend out to God and may from him expect the Interest O what comfort will it be to us when we come to die to be able to say to our selves That portion of goods that God hath in his Providence dispensed to me I have neither kept unprofitably in a Napkin nor squander'd it away upon my lusts but part of it I have put out towards the restoring my miserable Brethren to to the right use of their reason and understanding part of it to the amending Mens manners and from idle and dissolute persons redeeming them to vertue and sobriety and making them some way profitable to the Publick part of it for the healing the sick and curing the wounded and relieving the miserable and necessitous and lastly another part of it towards the Educating poor helpless Children in useful Arts for their Bodies and in the Principles of True Religion for their Souls that so both in their Bodies and Spirits they may be in a capacity to glorifie God and to serve their Country These are all
up the Reins to his Appetites only serves to dull and stupifie them Nor doth he reap any other Benefit from his continual hankering after Bodily Pleasures but that his Sensations of them are hereby made altogether flat and unaffecting Neither is his Meat half so savoury nor his Recreations so diverting nor his Sleep so sweet nor the Company he keeps so agreeable as Theirs are that by following the Measures of Nature and Reason come to them with truer and more unforc'd Appetites But besides this there is a certain Lightsomness and Chearfulness of mind which is in a manner peculiar to the truly Religious Soul that above all things sets off our Pleasures and makes all the Actions and Perceptions of Humane Life Sweet and Delightful True Piety is the best Cure of Melancholy in the World nothing comparable to it for dispelling that Lumpishness and Inactivity that renders the Soul of a Man uncapable of enjoying either it self or any thing else It fills the Soul with perpetual Light and Vigour infuseth a strange kind of Alacrity and Gaiety of Humour into us And this it doth not only by removing those things that Hinder our Mirth and make us languish in the midst of our Festivities such as are the Pangs of an Evil Conscience and the storms of unmortified Passions of which I shall speak in the following particular but even by a more Physical Efficiency It hath really a mighty Power to Correct and Exalt a Man's Natural Temper Those Ardent Breathings and Workings wherewith the Pious Soul is continually carried out after God and Vertue are to the Body like so much Fresh Air and Wolsom Exercise they Fan the Blood and keep it from Setling they Clanifie the Spirits and purge them from those grosser Feculencies which would otherwise Cloud our Vnderstandings and make us dull and listless And to these effects of Religion doth Solomon seem to allude when he tells us that Wisdom maketh a man's face to shine Eccl. 8.1 Where he seems to intimate that that Purity and Exaltation into which the Blood and Spirits of a Man are wrought by the Exercise of Vertue and Devotion doth diffuse it self even to his Outward Visage making the Countenance clear and serene and filling the Eyes with an unusual kind of Splendor and Vivacity But whether this be a true Comment on his words or no certain it is that Piety disposeth a Man to Mirth and Lightness of Heart above all things in the World and how admirable a Relish this doth give to all our other Pleasures and Enjoyments there is none but can easily discern Thirdly let it be farther considered that Godliness is a most Effectual Antidote against all those Inquietudes and Evil Accidents that do either wholly destroy or very much embitter the Pleasures of this Life For whilst it teacheth us to place all our Happiness in God Almighty and our selves only whilst we have learn'd to bring all our Affections and Passions our Desires and Aversions our Hopes and Fears under the command of our Reason and endeavour not so much to suit Things to our Wills as our Wills to Things being Indifferent to all Events that can happen save only that we always judge those Best which God in his Providence sends us Being I say thus disposed as certainly Religion if it be suffered to have its perfect work upon us will thus dispose us what is it that shall be able to disturb or interrupt our Pleasures or create any trouble or Vexation to us Our Present Enjoyments will not be embittered with the fear of losing them or lessened by our Impatient Longing after Greater Our Brains will not be upon the Rack for Compassing things that are perhaps Impossible nor our Bodies under the Scourge of Rage and Anger for every Disappointment We shall not look pale with Envy that our Neighbours have that which we have not nor pine away with Grief if we should happen to lose that which we have But the Vicious Man is exposed to all these Miseries and a thousand more he carries that within him which will perpetually fret and torment him for he is a Slave to his Passions and the least of them when it is let loose upon him is the Worst of Tyrants He is like the Troubled Sea restless and ever working ruffled and discomposed with every thing He is not capable of being rendred so much as Tolerably Happy by the best condition this World affords For having such a World of Impetuous Desires and Appetites which must be all satisfied or else he is miserable and there being such an infinite number of Circumstances that must concur to the giving them that Satisfaction And all these depending upon Things without him which are perfectly out of his Power it cannot be avoided but he will continually find matter to disquiet him and render his condition troublesome and uneasie a thousand unforeseen Accidents will ever be crossing his Designs Nor will there be wanting some little Thing or other almost hourly to put him out of Humour And if this be the Case of the Vicious Man in the Best Circumstances of this World where the causes of Vexation are in a manner undiscernable in what a miserable Condition must he needs be under those more Real Afflictions unto which Humane Life is obnoxious what is there that shall be able to support his Spirit under the Tediousness of a Lingering Sickness or the Anguish of an Acute Pain What is become of all his Mirth and Jollity if there should happen a Turn in His Fortune if he should fall into Disgrace or his Friends forsake him or the Means of maintaining his Pleasures fail him and the miserable Man become Poor and Despised Not to mention a great many more Evils which will make him uncapable of any Consolation eat into the Heart of his best Enjoyments and become Gall and Wormwood to his Choicest Delicacies And has he not now think you made admirable Provisions for his Pleasures Has he not done himself a wonderful Piece of Service by freeing himself from the Drudgery as he calls it of Vertue and Religion Alas Poor Man this is the only Thing that would now have secured him from all these sad Accidents and Displeasures The Good Man sits above the Reach of Fortune and in spite of all the Vicissitudes and Uncertainties of this Lower World with which other Men are continually Alarm'd enjoys a Constant and Undisturbed Peace Those Evils that may be Avoided and really a great many which afflict mortal Men are such he by his Prudent Conduct and Government of himself wholly prevents And those that are Vnavoidable he takes by such a Handle that they have no power to do him any Harm For he is indeed possessed of that which the Alchymists in vain seek for Such a Sovereign Art he has that he can turn the Basest Metals into Gold make such an use of the worst Accidents that can befal him that they shall not be accounted his Miseries but
day render for so doing Thirdly Mens Religion and Christianity are also deeply concerned in this point Works of Charity are so essential to all Religion and more especially to that which we call Christian that without them it is but an empty name in whosoever professes it Let Men pretend what they will let them be never so Orthodox in their belief or regular in their conversation or strict in the performance of those Duties that relate to the worship of God yet if they be hard hearted and uncharitable if God hath given them Wealth and they have not Hearts to do good with it they have no true piety towards God They may have a name to live but they are really dead An unmerciful Christian or a Religious covetous Man are terms that imply a contradiction For the satisfying you of this I shall but need to put these following questions Can that Man be accounted Religious that neither loves God nor his Neighbour Sure he cannot for these two things are the whole of Religion as the Holy Scripture often assures us but now the Covetous Man neither doth the one nor the other His Neighbours he doth not love that is certain for if he did they would find some fruits of it unless this be to be accounted Love James 2.14 c. to give them good words to say to a Brother or a Sister that is naked and destitute of daily food depart in peace be ye warmed and filled when notwithstanding they give them not those things that be needful for the Body But this kind of Love S. James hath long ago declared not to be worth any thing And as for the Love of God another Apostle hath put it out of doubt that the uncharitable Man hath no such thing in him 1 John 3.17 Whoso saith S. John hath this World's good and seeth his Brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him cap. 4.20 For he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Can he be thought a Religious Man or a true Christian that wants the two main qualifications that go to the making up a Disciple of Christ that is to say Faith and Repentance yet this doth he that is rich in this World but is not rich in good works Good works are the very soul of Faith and it is no more alive without them than the Body is without the Spirit as S. James has expresly told us Jam. 2.26 If we mean that our Faith should avail us any thing it must work or be made perfect by Charity Gal. 5.6 saith S. Paul for though a Man have all faith so that he could remove mountains i. e. though he be so heartily persuaded of the truth of Christ's Religion as in the strength of his belief to be able to work Miracles as was usual in the first times of Christianity yet if he have not charity his Faith is nothing 1 Cor. 13.2 If it be said that the Charity that S. Paul makes so necessary to effectual Faith is not giving Alms but quite another thing for according to him a Man may give all his goods to feed the poor and yet want the Charity that he speaks of I answer it is true a Man may give Alms and very largely and yet want that Charity that S. Paul here so much recommends but then on the other side none can have that Charity that he speaks of but they will certainly express it in Alms and Bounty as they have ability and opportunity So that for all this suggestion Alms and Bounty are absolutely necessary to the Efficacy of Faith if there be opportunity of doing them The plain account of this matter is this S. Paul speaks of Charity with respect to its inward principle in the heart which consists in an universal kindness and good-will to the whole Creation of God and we speak of it with respect to the outward fruits of it in the Life and Conversation which are all sorts of good works especially works of Mercy and Bounty But both these come to the same thing as to our purpose for the one always follows the other whereever there is Charity in the heart it must of necessity shew it self in these kind of actions as there is occasion otherwise the Charity is not true but only pretended for as S. John hath told us He that loveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in truth must love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in work and in deed And then as for Repentance Charity and Alms-giving is a necessary ingredient into that also Luke 3.10 11. When S. John Baptist came preaching Repentance unto Israel the people asked him saying what shall we do meaning in what manner they should express their Repentance his answer was this He that hath two Coats let him impart to him that hath none and he that hath meat let him do so likewise and suitable to this was the Prophet's advice to the King of Babylon when he exhorteth him to Repentance Dan. 4.27 break off thy sins saith he by righteousness and thy iniquity by shewing mercy to the poor that is evidence thy Repentance by thy Alms-giving and Charity Furthermore can he be either a good Man or a good Christian that lives in the habitual neglect of that which of all other Vertues God in Scripture seems to set the greatest value upon and contrariwise practiseth that which God hath most particularly declared his hatred and aversion to Yet thus doth he that is not charitable with what he hath So highly acceptable to God are works of Mercy and Charity that they are declared to be the sacrifices with which he is well pleased Heb 13.8 the things in which he doth delight Jerem. 9.24 and blessed and happy are they pronounced that do them Pro. 22.9 cap. 14.21 for hereby Men become the children of God Luke 6.35 and entitled to his more especial care and protection Ps 41.1 c. nay so dear do they render a Man to his Maker that the wise Son of Sirach scrupled not to recommend the practice of them in these terms Be thou saith he a Father to the Fatherless Ecclus. 4.10 and instead of a Husband unto their Mother so shalt thou be as the Son of the Most High and he shall love thee more than thy own Mother doth On the other side if we will believe the Scripture there is nothing more odious to God than the contrary qualities and practises The love of money which is the foundation of all uncharitableness 1 Tim. 6.10 is in Scripture called the root of all evil as certainly the greatest evils and mischeifs in the World do often take their beginning from thence Those that are covetous are styled by the name of Idolaters Eph. 5.5 than which no more hateful appellation can be given to a Man in the Sacred Language It is said
and assuring them of Eternal Rewards if they would repent I say If they were Witnesses of these things I will appeal to all the World whether they had not greater Means of Conviction offered to them than if any Ghost had appeared to them from the Dead or any particular Miracle had been vouchsafed them for the bringing them over to Vertue and Sobriety But I believe no Body will much doubt of this for indeed the matter will not bear a dispute But here is the Question Whether we that live at this distance from our Saviour have the same Means of Conviction and Whether one now appearing from the dead to us would not be of greater force to persuade us than the standing Revelation of the Gospel as we have it now conveyed to us This therefore leads me to my second Proposition upon this Head which if it can be made out will wholly take away all Controversie in this Matter And it is this That we at this day have as great Arguments to convince us of the Truth of Christ's Revelation and consequently as great Motives from thence to persuade us to reform our Evil Lives as those that Lived in the Times of our Saviour It is true indeed we want the Evidence of Sense in these Matters which they had and upon that account it must be acknowledged that they have the Advantage of us But this we say notwithstanding that if we take all things together and weigh them Impartially we shall find that that Want is abundantly supplied to us in other respects For first of all Our Saviour's Gospel and all the Evidences of it I have been now speaking of were timely and faithfully recorded and are as faithfully transmitted down to us So that though we did not see or hear those things yet we have a certain and exact Account of them and such an Account as was never yet questioned by any Adversaries that lived in those Times when such a Question was most reasonably to be made and such an Account as appears by all the Evidences that a thing of that Nature is capable of to have been written by Eye-witnesses and such Witnesses as were honest undesigning Men and not only so but they sealed with their Blood the Truth of what they reported And this same Account was religiously received by all Christians in all Places without Contradiction in those very Times and was shortly after translated into a Multitude of Languages so that it is scarce possible it should in any Considerable Matter be corrupted And from that Time to this in a continual Succession there have been Men that have suffer'd Martyrdom for the Attestation of it and in the first Ages after Christ when they had the best Opportunities of Examining the Truth of these things many thousands did so Now I say Though acccording to the Ordinary Proverb Seeing be Believing Yet next to Seeing an universal well-grounded Tradition which hath visible Effects attending it hath the most force to gain belief Nay I do not know whether there be so much Difference between the Evidence of the one and the other as one would think at first Sure I am there are many Cases in which we do as firmly believe Matters of Fact upon the Credit of Tradition and the permanent Effects that do accompany it as if we our selves had been present and seen them with our Eyes Which of us for Instance doth make any more doubt of the Story of William the Conquerour his subduing this Kingdom or of Henry the Eighth his casting off the Pope's Supremacy than he doth of the Revolutions that have happned in his own time And yet these Matters of Fact are no better attested than the History of our Saviour and his Miracles and Doctrines But Secondly Though those that lived in our Saviour's time had Evidence of Sense for the Truth of what they believed concerning him and his Doctrine which we have not Yet this is to be considered that they laboured under far greater Prejudices against his Religion than we now do And consequently all that sensible Proof which they had of the Truth of it would not be more effectual for the convincing of them than that Proof we now have though it be less ought in reason to be for the convincing of us They that were the Hearers and Spectators of what our Saviour said and did had mighty and inveterate Prepossessions to struggle with They were educated in a quite Different Religion and so must be supposed to have entertained several Notions and Principles which would very difficultly be rooted out and indeed for the effecting of it there needed little less than an Almighty Power But it is not so with us we by our Education are already disposed and prepared for the receiving Christianity We have no praevious Engagements to alienate our Minds from it nay it is our Interest to be of that Religion rather than any other So that certainly a less Evidence for the Truth of it will be as convincing to us as a much greater would have been to those to whom our Saviour first Preached Nay I am very confident that this thing being duely considered it will appear that our Arguments for Christianity drawn from Tradition will be more convincing to thinking Men among us than those Arguments they had from Sense and Experience could be to them But Thirdly If to what hath been said we add the several Arguments for the Credibility of the Christian Religion which we now have at this distance that they had not nor could have that were our Saviour's Immediate Disciples we shall be satisfied that in point of Evidence we have indeed much the advantage of them We have now several standing proofs of our Religion which they could not have and which are so strong and conclusive that they do more than compensate for the want of that Evidence of Sense which they had and we have not I breifly Instance in these three following First The strange Propagation and Success of our Religion throughout the World and the Means by which it was Effected That a poor despised crucified Person should in a few Years draw all the Roman Empire after him and that without any visible Means except the Goodness of his Cause and the Reasonableness of his Doctrine and the Sincerity and Constancy of his Disciples not in fighting for their Master but in laying down their Lives for him And this against all the Power and all the Arts and Stratagems that the Devil or the Princes of this World could invent to stifle and suppress his Name This is so strong an Argument that this Cause was the Cause of God and that his Providence was particularly concerned in the promoting of it that he must seem little to be sensible either of God or Providence that is not convinced by it If Christianity had been of the same strain that the Religion of Mahomet is had been as well calculated for Mens Lusts and Worldly Interests as that
hence Did not God in this appear with a witness as a Voucher and Approver of his cause Was not this a demonstration to all the World that Christ Jesus was no Deceiver but that he came from God and that whatever he delivered was the Truth of God and to be received as the Oracles of God Certainly it was For that a man should be raised from the Dead by any other Power than the very Power of God all the World knows to be impossible The Devil though he can do very strange Feats in the natural World Yet I rever heard or read that either he or any of his Agents or Ministers so much as pretended to raise the dead to life again And certainly if he could have done it he would have done it often before this as in the case of Apollonius Tyanaeus Mahomet and others if it had been for no other reason than to baffle thereby the Evidence of our Saviour's Resurrection and render it unconcluding Ir must therefore certainly be the Power of God that raised up Jesus from the dead But then to suppose that God should employ this Tower for the giving Testimony to a Falshood that he should set his own Seal to attest an Untruth as he must be supposed to have done if Jesus was not his Son What an unaccountable thing is this No man that believes that God is faithful and just and true and that he governs the World can possibly imagine such a thing For this had been to have contradicted all his own Attributes and to have laid an invincible temptation and snare before all mankind to believe an Impious Lye You see then what an unexceptionable Proof nay Demonstration I may call it the Resurrection of Christ doth afford us of the Truth of his Religion which is the second Instance of the Power that is in it to bring men over to Holiness and Vertue III. But Thirdly the Power of Christ's Resurrection for the making us holy and vertuous will further appear in this respect Namely as it is in particular the great support of our Future Hopes the great Pledge and Assurance of our own Resurrection and Immortality For if Christ be risen then may we also be certain that we shall at last be raised by him Because Christ is not risen for himself only but as the first-fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. xv Good reason therefore had S. Paul to argue as he doth in that place If Christ be preached that he is risen from the dead how say some among you that there is no Resurrection On the contrary as he urges If we believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again Even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thess iv 14. For how can we desire to be better assured that our Bodies shall not for ever sleep in the Grave but shall at last be reunited to our Souls and both Soul and Body live eternally in unspeakable bliss and happiness I say How can we have greater assurance of this than by what was on this day brought to pass in our Saviour We have hereby a clear demonstration that the Resurrection is possible For Christ who was once dead is alive again and lives in unexpressible Glory at the right hand of God And at the same time that he rose he raised up other Bodies also of Holy Men to accompany him in his Triumph over Death But that is not all He that raised up himself and them hath given us his solemn Word and Promise in as express terms as is possible that he will by the same Power raise up us also and exalt us to the same Glory that he is possessed of He hath told us That he is the Resurrection and the Life And that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life and he will raise him up at the last day There cannot be a stronger Proof of any thing than our Saviour's Resurrection is of the happiness of good Men in another State Which being so How powerful a means must we needs conclude it to be for the Reforming the manners of Mankind and making them truly Holy and Vertuous Since we have thereby such a Demonstration given us of a glorious Immortality to be expected by us what is it that can be able to hinder or divert us from a serious pursuit of those things that lead to it What could God do more by way of Motive and Argument towards the Proselyting the World to Religion and Righteousness than he hath done by thus Ascertaining our future Happiness by the Resurrection of his Son Jesus To be certain that if we seriously apply our selves to a life of Piety here we shall be crowned with everlasting Felicity hereafter To be certain that if we follow the steps of our Blessed Saviour we shall for ever shine in the same Glory and Lustre that he now doth at the right hand of his Father To be able positively to say I know that my Redeemer liveth and I know that if I live as he did I shall for ever live with him and tho' it doth not yet appear what I shall be yet this I know that when he shall appear I shall be like him O what noble Thoughts what brave Resolutions is this able to inspire us with What Difficulties shall we be afraid of What Labours shall we not willingly undertake What Temptations shall we not easily vanquish in the Prospect of such an eternal Crown of Glory as awaits us and is secured to us by our Lord Jesus O happy we Christians that have so clear a Revelation of those things which God hath prepared for them that love him those things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither did they enter into the heart of man Blessed for ever blessed be our Lord Jesus Christ that hath begotten us again to this lively hope by his Rosurrection from the dead O! what mighty Encouragements have we to set our selves against our Sins and to labour after the Perfection of Vertue in comparison of what those have who are ignorant of our Saviour's Resurrection and who know nothing of the other World but by the uncertain conjectures of their natural Reason If we had no other assurance of the Immortality of the Soul and the rewards and punishments of another life but what is afforded us by the light of Nature and the deductions of Philosophy I doubt we could never expect to see any great Reformation in our manners Some of the Philosophers have indeed to their immortal Fame asserted the truth of these things But then others of them have as much made it their business to run them down And as for those of them that spoke the best concerning the other World yet God knows their Discourses upon this Argument as will appear to any that reads them are generally very uncertain and altogether conjectural But admitting their Reasons to be strong and conclusive as I am far from denying
is thereby made a Blessing of God which without it perhaps might have been a Cross and an Affliction It is Prayer by which every Thing and every Action is sanctified to Believers I might name several other Benefits and Advantages to be reap'd from the conscientious Practice of this Duty But those that I have mention'd may I think if they be considered be sufficient to recommend it to any Man whatsoever that hath the least Kindness for himself And therefore I will not burthen your Memories with heaping up more Motives Only one thing I desire leave to press a little more earnestly and particularly than I have yet done and that is The Absolute Necessity of Constant Prayer in order to a Holy and Vertuous Life Do any of you here present in good earnest mean to live as you should do Do you really intend or desire to endeavour after such a Pitch of Vertue and Holiness as will be available for the saving your Souls everlastingly If you do not 't is in vain to attempt the perswading you to any thing of this Nature If you do then give me leave to tell you that it is absolutely necessary that you should live in the constant Exercise of Prayer otherwise you will never do your Business And on the other side I dare assure you if you do thus practise you will not fail of attaining the End you aim at These three things I dare lay down for Truth in this Matter First It is impossible for any Man to be good that lives without constant Praying Secondly Whoever is good at the present yet if he disuse himself in this Point he will not continue good long And Lastly Whoever makes a Conscience of Praying frequently and heartily and continues so to do tho' he cannot at present be said to be a good Man yet it is impossible for him long to continue bad he will certainly at last get the Victory over his Lusts and evil Habits So that Prayer is both the Means without which Vertue cannot be attained And the Means that never fails of attaining it And the Security of it when it is attained Of these three things very briefly and I have done First I say No Man can be a vertuous Man that lives without Praying I do not deny that some who make no great Conscience of this Duty but live in an habitual Neglect of it may so far retain the Notions of good and evil and those Notions may to far influence their Actions as that they shall not be notoriously and scandalously vicious It may be they will not lie nor cheat nor oppress any one It may be they do not live in a Course of Lewdness and Debauchery nor will be engag'd in any Design or Action that is apparently base or dishonourable But all this while these Men are far from being vertuous in the Sense we now speak of For we speak of such a Vertue as recommends us to God such a Vertue as will be effectual for our Salvation in the other World Now to such a Vertue as this there goes nothing less than an Universal Care over all our Actions a Serious Endeavour to frame all our Conversation suitably and conformably to the Laws of our Saviour But how can any Man think he takes Care of this that knowingly and willingly lives in a constant Contradiction to one of the principal Duties of our Saviour's Religion Our whole Duty is made up but of Three Things That a Man live soberly with respect to himself righteously with respect to his Neighbour and piously with respect to God Supposing now that a Man take care of the two former that is of doing his Duty to himself and his Neighbour which yet I believe never any Man did that made no Conscience of neglecting his Prayers But suppose a Man could satisfie himself as to these two Points of his Duty yet if he make no Conscience of the third that is of Piety towards God as no Man can make Conscience of that who makes it no matter of Conscience whether he says his Prayers or no in what Sense or Notion can this Man be said to have done his Duty or to lead a vertuous Life Certainly in no Sense at all For as to one third part of his Duty which is indeed as considerable at least if not more than either of the other he is a notorious Transgressour And tho' he be not unjust tho' he be not debauched yet wanting Piety towards God he is Impious And that will as certainly damn him as either of the other Either therefore one of these two things must be made appear that is to say that there may be Vertue such Vertue as will recommend us to God without Piety Or that there may be Piety without ever Praying or worshipping God neither of which I believe will be easily affirmed Or it will follow That where there is no Praying there is no Vertue and consequently no Salvation But besides We all know there is no Possibility of Living a Holy and Vertuous Life such a Life as our Religion requires of us and which alone will stand us in stead in the Day of Judgment without the Grace of God and the Assistances of his Holy Spirit And we all know likewise that these are no way to be come by but by earnest and affectionate and constant Prayer How therefore is it possible that any Man who is not very serious and frequent in the Exercise of Devotion should ever be able to live a Holy Life He may indeed by his own Study and for his own Interest possess himself of such good Qualities as may make a fair Shew in the World and recommend him to all about him But the inward Principle of Goodness and Holiness he cannot have Because he doth not practise the Means of obtaining the Grace and Spirit of God by which alone that Principle is to be wrought in him But Secondly Let a Man at present be in a good State of Soul yet it is impossible to preserve himself in that State without the constant Exercise of Devotion If a Man once begin to neglect his Prayers or to grow more dull and remiss in them or more averse to them it is a certain Argument that he is in a declining Condition as to Vertue and Goodness And as that Neglect or that Dulness or that Aversion increases in the same Degree doth the Goodness of his Condition abate also And when once it is come to that pass with him that the Flame of Devotion is quite extinguished in his Heart so that he can live and enjoy himself without any Converse or Intercourse with God in Prayer He may from that Period date the Loss of his Spiritual Life He is reduced to the State of a sensual natural Man Alive to the World and to his Lusts but perfectly dead to God The plain English is Prayer and Devotion is as necessary a Means to preserve the Union between the Soul and God in which
our Spiritual Life consists as Meat and Drink is to preserve the Union between our Souls and Bodies in which our natural Life consists And we may every whit as reasonably expect to keep our Bodies alive without the constant and daily use of Eating and Drinking As we can expect to keep our Souls alive to God without the constant and daily Exercise of Devotion This may to some appear strange Doctrine But I do believe I may appeal to experience for the Truth of it Nay I dare put the Question to any one that ever took any serious Care of his Soul and sincerely endeavoured to live vertuously and to please God whether he hath not found the Matter to be so as I have represented Have not such always found that so long as they kept up the Fervour and Vigour of their Devotion so long as they were constant and diligent in their Prayers and other Holy Exercises So long nothing could hurt them So long they have always maintained their Post and rather grown better than worse And though they have sometimes been foully overtaken by some Sin that they resolved against yet that Relapse hath done them no Mischief Their Continuance in their Prayers hath been an Antidote against the Malignity of the Sin And they have presently weather'd it out and suffered no ill Consequence by it But it has rather made them more watchful over themselves and more careful of their Actions afterward But on the other side have they not always found that when once they began to abate of the Fervour of their Devotions when once they began to pray seldomer or with more Coldness and Indifference They then began to live more loosely and carelesly to be more dull and sluggish towards every good Work Till perhaps by degrees the true Sense of God and Religion hath been in a great measure worn off from their Spirits and they in a manner have returned to a Worldly and Sensual Life Nay have they not often found that when it has been their Misfortune to break loose from their Duty and sink for some time into a State of Carelesness and Forgetfulness of God and of their own Vows and Resolutions as it hath sometimes hap'ned to very good Men I say Have they not often found that this their going backwards in Goodness was occasioned purely and solely by the Intermission of their Devotions That there was no visible Reason or Account to be given of this their Fall but only that through Sluggishness or some other Cause they have neglected to pray to God so earnestly and so frequently as they used to do I am confident a great many can say this out of their own Experience So that it concerns every Man that is at present in a good Disposition of Mind and hath good Hopes towards God It concerns him as he loves his Soul As he would not lose all the Fruits of his past Labours and Endeavours in the Service of God By all means possible to keep his Heart in a devout Frame And whatever comes of it not to grow cold or languid in his Prayers Or to omit or disuse them either in publick or private upon any pretence whatsoever But Thirdly and Lastly to conclude all there is this farther to be said for the Encouragement of all sorts of Persons to persevere in the Practice of this Duty namely That whoever makes Conscience of Saying his Prayers frequently and heartily and continues so to do tho' he be not good at the present yet it is impossible for him long to continue bad He will at last certainly get the Victory over all his Lusts and evil Habits and attain to the Favour of God and the Salvation of his own Soul This necessarily follows from what hath been said A Course of Prayer and a Course of Sin cannot consist together One will necessarily destroy the other Praying will either make a Man leave Sinning as a pious Man of our own used to say or Sinning will make a Man leave Praying But this is to be understood of Prayer that is put up to God with great Seriousness and Heartiness and out of a Sense of Duty and Conscience For as for those formal Prayers that are made out of Custom or upon the account of Education or for the serving some Worldly Ends of Interest or Reputation or the like God respects them no more than the impertinent Tattle of Fools All those of us therefore that mean and design to be good though we are not so already Let us above all things take care to mind our Prayers Let us pray to God in Private Let us pray to God with our Families And let us join as oft as we can with the Prayers of the Publick Assemblies This I am sure is the best Method we can take for the reforming our Lives and for the gowing in all Vertue and Goodness And the more we practise it the better we shall like it And if we persevere therein we shall find the Comfort of it both in the Grace and Assistance we shall receive from the Holy Spirit for the vanquishing all our Lusts and Corruptions And in the Blessings we shall procure from God both to our Selves and our Families and all our Affairs and Concernments And lastly in the Everlasting Salvation of our Souls in the Day of the Lord Jesus To whom c. FINIS