an Eternal God without knowing how any thing is Eternal These are Disputes in Philosophy and such as none but vain Men will dispute about as being acknowledged above our Compreâ—…ension and therefore no reasonable â—…bjection against our Faith Thus as for the Doctrine of the Incarâ—…ation nothing can be plainer in Scripâ—…ure than that the Son of God was made â—…an That the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us That God was manifest in the flesh And all the Disputes about this Article are purely Philosophical Some men reject it because they cannot understand how God and Man can be united in one Person Others confound the Divine and Humane Nature as Eutyches did or divide the Persons as Nestoriâ—…us did both which indeed destroy the Article of the Incarnation for the Word is not made Flesh unless the same Person who is God is Man too and continues perfect God and perfect Man after this Union But all these Disputes concern the Philosophy of the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ and if we would separate between Faith and Philosophy such Disputes might soon be ended Thus most of the difficulties in the Pelagian and Quinquarticular Controversy are ultimately resolved into mere Philosophical Disputes about Fate and Prescience Liberty and Necessity and God's concourse with Creatures or the Powers of Nature and Grace And would time permit it were easy to shew this in most of the Controversies of Religion That it is not what God has revealed and what he requires us to believe but such nice Philosophical Questions as men raise about these matters which occasion all these Disputes It has often been proposed as a means of Union to silence all Disputes To confine our selves to Scripture-Words and Expressions without determining the signification of them But this would make only an Agreement in Words not a Consent in Opinions not could it secure the Peace of the Church while all men knew that under the same form of Words they had very different and contrary Meanings which would still make them as much Hereticks to each other as if their Words did as expresly contradict each other as their Faith But would men reduce all their Disputes to Scripture and make that the only Rule of their Faith without intermixing any Philosophical Disputes with it this would be an infallible means of Union for it is only this vain pretence to Philosophy which raises all â—…ese Disputes and then tempts men to â—…ervert the Scriptures to justify their â—…hilosophy In all these cases we are concerned to â—…quire what the true sense of the Article 〈◊〉 for this the Scripture teaches and â—…o far our Faith is concerned and these â—…re not only justifiable but necessary Disâ—…utes if the true Faith be necessary And â—…uch were the Disputes of the Cathoâ—…k Fathers with the Sabellian Arian and â—…hotinian Hereticks Whether Father â—…on and Holy Ghost were only three Names or three Appearances or Manifestations of the same one single Person or any other Three but three True Proper Coeternal and Coequal Persons Or whether He who is in Scripture called the Son of God be a Creature though the most Excellent Creature or a Son and God by Nature truly begotten of his Father's Substance Or whether Christ be God Incarnate or a meer Man And their ancient Creeds pretended to no more than to teach what the Catholick Faith was not to expound the Philosophy of the Trinity and Incarnation And thus far we must explain the Faith as to know and to let others know what it is we believe and if to assert the ancient Catholick Faith against old and New Heresies should be called new Explications we cannot help it for we must explain what the Scripture teaches about these Articles and how the Catholick Church always understood them But that which we are to beware of is Not to mix Philosophy with our Faith nor to admit of any meer Philosophical Objections against the Faith nor to attempt any Explications of these Mysteries beyond what the Scriptures and the Faith and Practice of the Catholick Church will justify Indeed the Importunity of Hereticks did very often engage the Catholick Fathers in Philosophical Disputes but this they did not to explain the Christian Mysteries by Philosophy but only to shew that as incomprehensible as these Mysteries are the Philosophy of Hereticks and their Objections against these Articles were very absurd And such Disputes as these may somtimes be absolutely necessary and of great use to shame these vain Pretences to Philosophy while we do not put the Trial of our Faith upon this Issue Secondly Let us now consider what â—…eat reason we have to reject all the â—…in Pretences to Reason and Philosophy â—…en opposed to a Divine Revelation â—…r that is all the Apostle intends in this â—…ution not to discourage the use of â—…eason or the study of Philosophy â—…hich are great Improvements and a â—…lightful Entertainment of Humane â—…inds and with a wise and prudent â—…onduct may be very serviceable to Reâ—…gion too but we must not set up any â—…onclusions in Philosophy against the â—…hristian Faith nor corrupt the Faith â—…ith a mixture of Philosophy nor reâ—…ct any revealed Truths for want of â—…atural Ideas to conceive them by To shorten this Discourse as much as 〈◊〉 can I shall at present only shew you â—…hat reason we have to believe those â—…octrines which are thought the most â—…ysterious and inconceivable notwithâ—…tanding any Objections from natural Reason and Philosophy against them And the account of this must be resolved â—…nto the Nature Use and Authority of Revelation that Revelation as to such matters as are knowable only by Revelation must serve instead of Sense Natural Ideas and Natural Reason that is That we must believe things whiâ—… we do not see things which we haâ—… no Natural Notion or Conception of things which are not evident to Naturâ—… Reason for without this there is littlâ—… use of Faith no Authority of pure Revelation It is true the General Corruption oâ—… Mankind made it very necessary for God to revive the Laws of Nature and to reinforce the observation of them by his own Authority and Command but the proper work of Revelation is to discover such things to us as Nature cannot teach of which we have no Natural Notion nor any Natural Evidence At least thus it may be if God knows more than Natural Reason teaches or can comprehend and thinks it fit to reveal such Supernatural Truths to us when he sees it useful for Mankind Now if God ever does reveal such things to us if we believe upon God's Authority which is the strickt Notion of a Divine Faith we must believe without any Natural Evidence meerly because God has revealed it and then we must believe such things as are not evident to Sense and Reason and then it can be no Objection against Revelation nor against the belief of any such â—…pernatural Truths that we have no Natural Notion nor Natural
had setled the Ark at Ierusalem and made that City the place of God's House and of Religious Worship and the Seat of Justice and Judgment There was the House of God verse 9. that is though the Temple was not yet built if this Psalm was composed by David as the Title of it signifies it was yet there was the Tabernacle and the Ark of God which formerly was in Shiloh and afterwards removed from one place to another till David setled it in Ierusalem Thither all the Tribes of Israel were to resort three times a year to worship God before the Ark of the Testimony 4 ver There was the Imperial Seat where David had built his Throne and Palace and where his Posterity were to dwell and govern Israel and therefore it was the Seat of Justice too as that must be where the Kings Throne and the House of God was placed There are set thrones of judgment the thrones of the house of David 5. ver These were the peculiar Privileges of Ierusalem above any other City in Iury. This was the reason of that peculiar affection and passionate concern which David had himself and exhorts all others to express for Ierusalem that he greatly rejoiced to go thither and to continue there I was glad when they said unto me Let us go into the house of the Lord our feet shall stand within thy gates Ó Ierusalem That he exhorts all people to pray for the peace and prosperity of Ierusalem and promises a Blessing to those who love it as it is in my Text Pray for the peace of Ierusalem they shall prosper that love thee peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces All this was not for the sake of the material Buildings the beauty of the place or the conveniency of its scituation but because it was the Center of Unity Which is builded as a City that is compact together whither the Tribes go up the Tribes of the Lord unto the Testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the name of the Lord 3. 4. ver Which shews in what respect he commends Ierusalem that it is built as a City which is compact together not with regard to the Uniformity and regular Order and Union of its material Buildings but that it was the Center of a Religious Unity and Order in Worship where all the Tribes of Israel met and united in the same Acts of Worship and Praise to God There was the House of God there were the set Thrones of Judgment So that to Love Ierusalem to Pray for the Peace and Prosperity of it is to love the House the Worship the Name of God to love and pray for the Unity Happiness and Prosperity of the Church for the flourishing State of Religion and the peaceful Opportunities of Worshipping God in his Holy Temple together with the equal and impartial Administration of Justice which is so much for the Publick Good to promote the Temporal and Eternal Happiness of Men that our Love to Mankind but especially our Love to the Brethren as well as our Zeal for God's Glory and Worship requires this of us For my Brethren and Companions sake I will now say Peace be within thee Because of the House of the LORD our GOD I will seek thy good v. 8 9. Thus I have given you a very plain and easy Exposition of this whole Psalm and therein have sufficiently Explained my Text. I have but one thing more to add to make way for my intended Discourse and that is to shew you that this Exhortation does directly and not merely by Accommodation and Analogy concern Us as well as it did the Iews For Ierusalem was but a Type of the Christian Church as the carnal Israel or the carnal Seed and Posterity of Abraham were of true and sincere Christians who are the Children of Abraham by Faith in Christ And therefore St. Paul expresly distinguishes between the earthly Ierusalem and the Ierusalem which descends from above 4. Gal. 25 26. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Ierusalem which now is and is in bondage with her Children but Ierusalem which is above or from above that is the Christian Church is free which is the Mother of us all Which in 12. Heb. 22. he calls Mount Sion the city of the living GOD the heavenly Ierusalem And 3. Rev. 12. it is called The city of GOD the new Ierusalem which cometh down out of heaven from GOD. And 21. Rev. 2. The new Ierusalem coming down out of heaven from GOD prepared as a bride adorned for her husband Which is a Description of the most reformed and purified state of the Christian Church on Earth So that this Exhortation To Pray for the Peace of Ierusalem does most properly belong to Christians because the Christian Church is the true Ierusalem the new the holy Ierusalem descending out of Heaven from GOD v. 10. By this time I suppose you understand the meaning of my Text and how much we are concerned in it and there are two parts observable in the words 1. The Duty to Pray for the Peace of Ierusalem or of the Christian Church Peace be within thy Walls and Prosperity within thy Palaces 2. The Encouragement to this They shall prosper that love thee It is the first of these I shall at present speak to The Duty to Pray for the Peace of Ierusalem wherein I shall consider two things 1. What we must Pray for 2. How necessary Prayer is to obtain these Blessings I. What we must pray for Peace and Prosperity Peace be within thy Walls and Prosperity within thy Palaces Now the Peace of the Church signifies two things 1. The Unity and Agreement of Christians among themselves 2. The Preservation of the Church from external Oppressions and Persecutions 1. The Unity and Agreement of Christians among themselves When they profess the same Faith and join in the same Worship when they love like Brethren and have a tender affection and sympathy for each other as Members of the same Body This all Christians confess to be a great and necessary Duty and pretend to lament the many scandalous Dissentions and Divisions of the Christian Church This I am sure that though Divisions and Dissentions are destructive to all Societies yet there is no Society suffers so much by it as the Christian Church This destroys Love and Charity which is the true Spirit of the Gospel and the Badge and Cognizance of our Profession By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another This turns the Christian Church into a School of wrangling Disputes and makes men more concerned what they believe than how they live this gives great offence to the World representing the Christian Faith as very doubtful and uncertain and Christianity it self as a great Disturber of the Peace of Mankind this overthrows all Government and Discipline in the Church and makes its Censures despised and scorned when the most
is vain and fruitless for there is no Medium to unite in The only way to Peace is to silence all these Disputes as matters which Mankind will never agree about and wherein Religion is no more concerned than the Government of Kingdoms or States and on which the Salvation of our Souls no more depends than the conduct of our Secular Affairs or the preservation of this Mortal Life For the dispute about Decrees Predestination God's Power over our Wills how God and Creatures produce the same Effect what belongs to God and what belongs to the Creature in every Action since in him we live and move concerns every thing else as well as Religion and yet in all other cases men let Philosophers dispute these Points and quietly go about their Business and do what is fit to be done as if there were no Controversy about these matters and I cannot imagine why they should not do so in Religion too Believe what is plainly taught and do what is commanded use the greatest Wisdom and our utmost diligence in doing good and depend upon the succours of the Divine Grace and leave these Disputes to be decided at the day of Judgment and that will decide them all By this means I am sure most of the Disputes among Protestants which have given the greatest Disturbance to the Church would be for ever silenced and Christian Religion would not be clogged nor reproached with such Philosophical Controversies 2ly The Unity of Communion and that consists in our worshipping God together when we resort to the same Church to offer up our united Prayers and Thanksgivings to God and to partake of that holy Supper which is the Sacrament and Symbol of our Union to Christ and to each other and this indeed is true Church-Unity and it is greatly to be lamented that men who profess the same Faith and agree in all the Essentials of Worship should divide Communion and refuse to Pray together and to Feast at the same holy Table of our Lord. We cannot indeed Communicate with the Church of Rome because they have corrupted the very Essentials of Christian Worship Most men do not understand their Prayers and therefore cannot joyn in Prayer with them they worship Images and Pictures which is expresly forbidden by the second Commandment Instead of praying to God in the Name of our only Mediator and Advocate Jesus Christ they have joyned other Intercessors with him pray to Saints and Angels and the Virgin Mary to pray for them and help them They worship the Host which we believe to be nothing but Bread and Wine as to the substance and therefore no Object of Worship and turn the Sacramental Feast of Christ's Body and Blood into a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead Such a Worship as this we dare not joyn in because it is Sinful and Idolatrous But the case is quite different among Protestants they pray to the same God in the only Name of the same Lord Jesus Christ put up the same Petitions offer the same Thanksgivings and Praises observe the same Divine Institutions without any essential change and alteration and yet cannot worship God together as if it were an impious thing to put up the same Prayers and to offer the same Praises to God in a pious and grave and well-composed Form of Words which others do it may be not so well and decently in their conceived Prayers as if the Devotion of the Communicant in receiving so inestimable a Blessing as the Sacramental Body and Blood of Christ upon his knees were a prophanation of that Holy Feast as if a white Linnen-Garment which never underwent any Religious Conjurations and is used only as a decent Habit without any opinion of its Virtue or Sanctity were a just reason to drive men out of the Church from the Christian Communion of Prayers and Sacraments These would be surprizing stories to any Christians in the World who had never heard before of such Disputes among us Pray give me leave to speak my mind freely upon this occasion Upon the best and most impartial Inquiries and Observations I can make I do in my Conscience believe the Church of England to be the most Apostolical and best Reformed Church in the World I see no reason from the nature of things to make any material Alterations in her Doctrine or Worship and therefore I confess it has given me very just Resentments to hear our Church charged with such unjust Imputations of Popery Superstition Idolatry Will-worship and what not and to see a blind and furious Zeal ready to raze up the very Foundations of it It has often grieved me to see such a Church as this rent and torn by Schisms which a man of ordinary prudence might easily foresee would give great advantage to the common Enemy of the Protestant Faith This and the care of mens Souls and of their temporal Fortunes too moved several Divines of this Church when the Government thought fit to re-enforce the Laws of Uniformity to examine and answer all the Arguments of our Dissenting Brethren which they performed with that good Temper with that perswasiveness and strength of Argument as will be a Vindication of our Church to future Ages and I wish it may upon second thoughts have yet a better effect upon those who were not then perswaded and this I suppose will not be called Persecution much less can the many kind Offices they did in keeping off Ecclesiastical Censures be called a Persecution And yet after all when it is so apparent that Prejudices are grown as obstinate as they are unreasonable when not the reason of the thing but the weakness of some and the ill designs of others require some compliance and condescension we have reason to hope that the CHURCH of ENGLAND which at the beginning of the Reformation took such prudent are not to offend the Papist by going farther from them than was necessary will whenever it is likely to do good condescend a great deal farther than it is necessary to Reform to meet the Dissenter for while the external Decency Gravity and Solemnity of Worship is secured no wise and good Man will think much to change a changeable Ceremony when it will heal the Breaches and Divisions of the Church and let us all heartily Pray to GOD that there may be this good and peaceable Disposition of Mind in all Conformists and Non-conformists towards a happy Re-union and all considering Men will think it time to lay aside such little Disputes when it is not merely the Church of England nor any particular Sect of Protestants whose Ruin is aimed at but the whole Protestant FAITH 3ly Another kind of Unity is Love and Charity and a mutual forbearance This I confess is a very difficult thing when the Dispute runs so high as to divide Christian Communion for it seems in effect to declare Men to be Heathens and Publicans when we refuse to Worship GOD with them and few Men can
bear this when so dear an Interest is concerned as the Salvation of their Souls And the truth is that Forbearance St. Paul so often mentions was to preserve Men of different attainments and different apprehensions in the Unity of the Church not to countenance their Schisms and Separations But yet since we are fallen into such unhappy Circumstances that a great many Men whom we have reason to hope are in other respects very good Christians and such as our common Saviour will receive with all their Infirmities are involved in a Schism let us still treat them as Christian Brethren pay all that Kindness and Respect to them which is due to the Members of Christ to the Children of the same Father and the Heirs of the same Promises The good Order and Government and the wholesome Laws and Constitutions of a Church must not be presently Sacrificed to the Scruples of every good but it may be ignorant and indiscreet Christian but yet in our Treatment of them we must consider whether we have not reason to think that Christ will own them with all their Faults and if we have reason to believe that Christ will own them we ought also to own them and pay such Kindness to them as is due to all sincere Christians tho under some Mistakes Now I am very confident after all the Heats that have been between the Church of England and Dissenters neither of them will Damn each other upon account of such Differences as are between them no Church of England-man will say that to Pray Extempore to Baptize without the Sign of the Cross to Officiate without a Surplice to Receive the Sacrament Sitting are damning Sins and I believe there are very few if any of our Dissenters that will say That the contrary Practise is Damning and then there may be good Christians on both sides and those who are so ought to love one another as Members of the same Body of CHRIST though divided in their external Communion by some unhappy Differences Schism indeed we do say is a damning Sin but there may be Divisions where there is not always the guilt and formality of Schism and we hope this is the Case of all good Men who separate from the Church through some invincible Prejudices and Prepossessions This shews what great reason we have to love one another notwithstanding such dividing Disputes but if we would practise this true Christian Charity we must take care that these Differences do not grow up into personal Hatreds and Animosities Mens Opinions and Practices may differ and while they dispute fairly they may be Friends still but when Self-love Honour Reputation and Interest is engaged in the Quarrel this makes the Enmity mortal and they must Ruin one another though they both fall together This I am sure is not the Zeal which descends from above which is pure and peaceable gentle and easy to been treated 2. The Peace of the Church signifies its Preservation from the Oppression and Persecution of its Enemies For the Church never wants Enemies though their Power be not always equal and this I presume I need not perswade you to Pray for for you are all sensible what an advantage this is There is none of you would choose Racks and Tortures a Gibbet or a Stake these are grievous things to Flesh and Blood the very thoughts of which make us tremble though immortal Life and the Joys and Pleasures of GOD's Presence are an abundant Recompence for the loss of this present Life and all the Sufferings of this World yet it is a very difficult Tryal even to the best Men who when they see it a coming cannot but Pray with the Importunity of an Agony as our SAVIOUR did Lord let this Cup pass from me Though good Men prefer their future Hopes before all present Things yet their Life their Ease their Liberties their Estates are valuable things too and all Men would be glad to get to Heaven without meeting with such a Storm by the way Especially if it be such a Storm as threatens the very Ruin of the Church and of the true Religion to subvert the Faith of many professed Christians to entail Ignorance Infidelity or monstrous Errors on our Posterity in such a case the love of our Religion of our Country of our Posterity will make us raise our Hearts and our Voices to Heaven in our fervent and passionate Prayers for the peace of Ierusalem And if we do heartily Pray for the peace of Ierusalem methinks we should not Sacrifice our Religion to private Animosities GOD forbid were it in my power and had I never so little kindness for Dissenters that I should ever embrace any Proposals which would Ruin all the Dissenters in England and the Protestant Religion into the bargain and I doubt they are no Protestant Dissenters who would be contented to Ruin the CHURCH of ENGLAND though they introduce Popery and set up the Church of Rome in its stead Thus I have shewn you what that Peace is which we must Pray for and I need not add many words in the second place to shew you how necessary Prayer is to obtain these Blessings for not to insist now on those common Topicks of the necessity of Prayer in general and its Power and Efficacy to obtain our Requests of GOD I shall desire you only to consider that this Peace is such a Blessing as none but GOD can bestow and therefore we ought to pray for it 1. As for Unity and Peace among our selves this Saint Paul expresly prays for 15 Rom. 5 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ for it is God that maketh men to be of a mind Whoever considers the unruly passions of men their different capacities and understandings and different interests will not wonder that the best Arguments and the most obliging Arts do not always prevail but God can still our passions enlighten our minds over-rule our interests remove our prejudices and unite and reconcile the most distant persons and not to take notice now of that power he has over our Wills and his immediate applications to our Minds and Spirits he many times effects this by some external and visible Providences The Gaol and the Stake presently reconciled the Differences between those two excellent Bishops and Martyrs RIDLEY and HOOPER who before disputed fiercely about some Ceremonies as we have done and I pray God grant us so much Christian prudence and temper that we may not need such means to reconcile us and we have great reason to hope this since the Divine Providence has in a great measure already removed the Prejudices on both sides and convinc'd us that we are not at such a distance from each other as our Enemies would have us and as it may be we thought
he Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is 1. Act. 4. 8 9. come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Ierusalem and in all Iudea and in Samâ—…a and unto the uttermost parts of the Earth And accordingly we find that during the time of the Apostles the Supreme Authority of the Church was in their hands which they committed to their successors and has ever since been exercised by Christian Bishops and Presbyters with regard to their different Order and Power But what is this Power which Christ hath given to his Ministers They have no Rods nor Axes as secular Princes have to compel men to the Faith of Christ and to force their obedience No this is contrary to the Genius and Spirit of Christianity If men will be Infidels if they will be wicked we cannot help it For though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh For 2 Cor. 10. 3 4 5. the weapons of our warfare are not carnal such as earthly Princes use but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Our Saviour in my Text acquaints us what this Power and Authority is he makes them Rulers over his Houshold to give them meat in due season This is the Authority Christ hath given to his Ministers to instruct to exhort to advise to admonish to reprove and that with sharpness too when there is occasion for it according to the power 2 Cor. 13. 10. which the Lord hath given to edification and not to destruction as St. Paul speaks But what Authority is this May not every Christian do the same Is it not the duty of us all as we are able to instruct exhort reprove one another Yes it is and I would to God it were more generally practised but yet every private Christian cannot do this with the Authority of a Bishop or a Gospel-Minister The Instructions and Exhortations of private Christians are acts of Friendship and Charity and the obligation to it is that mutual concernment and sympathy which the Members of the same Body ought to have for each other in Gospel-Ministers it is an act of Authority like the Censures of a Father a Magistrate or a Judge We do not pretend indeed as St. Paul speaks to have dominion over 2 Cor. 1. 24. your Faith to exercise a kind of Soveraign Authority to oblige you to belive any thing meerly because we say it but yet our Authority is such that if in the exercise of our Office we explain the Articles of Faith and Rules of Life to you it lays an indispesanble Obligation upon you carefully to examine what we say and not to reject it without plain and manifest evidence that what we teach you is not agreeable to the Will of God revealed in the Scriptures For when we come in the Name and Authority of Christ that man who rejects our Message without being sure that we exceed our Commission rejects the Authority by which we act and he that despiseth despiseth not man but God It is our Work and our Commission to instruct you and it is your Duty to be instructed and whoever shall wantonly reject any Doctrines which do not suit with his humour and interest or oppose some popular mistakes and prejudices against the Instructions of his Guide or turn away his ear from instruction and heap to himself Teachers having itching ears such a man must give a severe account of this neglect and contempt to the great Bishop and Shepherd of Souls While we are careful to discharge our Office in pursuance of that Trust our Great Master hath committed to us what our Saviour tells his Apostles is true of the 10. Luke 16. meanest of us all He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me The like may be said of the Exhortations and Counsels and Directions and Reproofs of our Spiritual Guides they carry great Authority with them they are not like the private Admonitions of our Friends who exhort and reprove out of kindness and their particular concernment for us To reject such Counsels as these does mightily aggravate our sin and our condemnation as every thing does which makes our sin more wilful and obstinate but to reject the Counsels and Reproofs of our Guide is a new act of disobedience to that Authority which Christ has set in his Church Whether you will hear or whether you will obey we must exhort reprove advise and wo be to us if we do not and wo be to those who will not hear who will not obey Our great Master looks upon this as a contempt of his own Authority and this is all the Authority we have We cannot force you to obey our Counsels or Reproofs but ours and your Master will severely punish you if you do not In a word the Instructions Reproofs and Censures of Christ's Ministers carry such Authority with them that they can receive into or shut out of the Communion of the Church which is the only visible state of Salvation Remission of sins and eternal Life is ordinarily to be had only in the visible Communion of the Church and therefore the Power of Receiving into the Church by Baptism and of Casting out of the Church by Excommunication which is the only Authority Christ hath given to these Rulers of his Houshold to receive in and cast out of his Family is called a Power of Remitting or Retaining sins because the forgiveness of Sins is to be had only in the Communion of the Church and no man belongs to the invisible Church who does not live in Communion with the visible Church when it may be had The Authority of Christ's Ministers is to feed those who are of his Houshold to give them their meat in due season and to judge who shall belong to this Houshold who shall be received in or cast out of Christ's Family This is the highest Act of Church-Authority on Earth and the only Sanction of all our instructions counsels and reproofs and therefore this Authority is not intrusted with every Gospel-Minister but is committed to the chief Governours of the Church the Bishops who succeed into the ordinary Apostolical Power II. Let us now consider the due Qualifications which are required in Gospel-Ministers and they are two Faithfulness and Prudence Who is that Faithful and Wise servant First Faithfulness Now Faithfulness in a Servant consists in being true to his Trust and when this is applied to Preaching the Gospel it signifies that he is extremely careful to publish the whole Mind and Will of God which as it concerns us in this Age includes these following Rules 1. To be careful to acquaint our selves with the Will of God that we may be Scribes which are
Steward there are not many men I should sooner have thought on than Dr. Calamy to have been the Pattern That he did take care to give you Meat in due season I need not tell you because you all know it If Preaching in season and out of season if publick Instructions and private Applications where they were needful or desired be feed the Flock of Christ and to give â—…eat to his Houshold and Family this â—…e did and that very faithfully and â—…isely too In the first place he took care â—…o inform himself and to furnish â—…is own Mind with all useful knowâ—…edge and his constant Preaching though without any vain affectation of Learning which serves onely to amuse not to instruct did sufficiently discover â—…oth his natural and acquired Abilities He had a clear and distinct apprehension of things an easy and manly Rhetorick strong Sense conveyed to the mind in familiar words good Reasons inspired with a decent Passion which did not onely teach but move and transport the Hearers and at the same time gave both light and heat for indeed he was a good man which is necessary to make a good Preacher he had an inward vital sense of Religion and that animated his discourses with the same Divine Passions which he felt in himself He did not entertain his Hearers with School Subtilties or a conjectural Divinity with such thin and airy Speculations as can neither be seen nor felt nor understood but his chief care was to explain the great Articles of Faith and Rules of Life what we must believe and how we must live that we may be eternally happy And he did as a faithful Servant ought to do as he declared a little before his death that he never preached any thing but what he himself firmly believed to be true I need not tell you what a troublesome World we have lived in for some years past such Critical times as would try the Principles and Spirits of men when a prevaling Faction threatned both Church and State and the fears of Popery were thought a sufficient Justification of the most illegal and irreligious methods to keep it out when it was scandalous to speak a word either for the King or the Church when cunning men were silent and those who affected Popularity swam with the Stream then this great and good man durst reprove Schism and Faction durst teach men to conform to the Church and to obey and honour the King durst vindicate the despised Church of England and the hated Doctrine of Passive Obedience though the one was thought to favour Popery and the â—…ther to introduce Slavery but he was â—…bove the powerful Charms of Names â—…nd liked Truth never the worse beâ—…ause it was mis-called His publick â—…ermons preached in those days and â—…rinted by publick Authority are â—…asting Proofs of this and yet he was no â—…apist neither but durst reprove the Errors of Popery when some others who made the greatest noise and outâ—…ry about it grew wise and cautious This was like a truly honest and faithâ—…l Servant to oppose the growing Diâ—…tempers of the Age without any regard either to unjust Censures or apparent Danger And yet he did not needlesly provoke any man he gave no hard words but thought it severe enough to confute mens errors without upbraiding or reproaching their persons His Conversation was courteous and affable to all men soft and easy as his Principles were stubborn he could yeild any thing but the Truth and bear with any thing but the Vices of men He would indeed have been the wonder of his Age had he not lived in such an Age as thanks be to God can shew many such wonders and yet in such an Age as this he made an Illustrious Figure though he had his Equals he had not many Superiors Thus he lived and thus this good man died for thus he was found doing when his Lord came The first symptoms of his Distemper seized him just before his last Sermon at White-hall but gave him so much respite as to take his leave of the World in an excellent Discourse of Immortality which he speaks of with such a sensible gust and relish as if his Soul had been then upon the wing and had some fore-taste of those joys it was just a going to possess And indeed he encountered the apprehensions of Death like one who believed and hoped for Immortality he was neither over-fond of living nor afraid to die He received the Supper of our Lord professed his Communion with the Church of England in which he had lived and in which he now died and having recommended his Soul to God he quietly expected how he would dispose of him But I must not forget to tell you that he died like a true and faithful Pastor with a tender care and affection for his Flock When he imposed this unwelcome Office upon me he told me he â—…d not desire any praises of himself but â—…t I would give some good advice to â—…s people who said he are indeed 〈◊〉 very kind and loving people And â—…is was not the first nor the onely time 〈◊〉 have heard him own not onely your â—…nd reception of him at first but the repeated and renewed expressions of your affection which did signally manifest it self in his late Sickness and now accompanies him to the Grave A Character which to your honour I speak it you have now made good for several successions and which I hope you will never forfeit But what that good counsel is he would have me give you he told me not and therefore I can onely guess at his intentions in this Were he now present to speak to you I believe he could not give you better counsel than he has already done and therefore my advice to you is 1. To remember those Counsels and Exhortations which you have heard from your deceased Pastor Though the Sower be removed yet let that immortal Seed that Word of Life which he has sown live and fructifie in your hearts and bring forth the blessed Fruits of Righteousness He has shewed you the plain way to Heaven have a care you do not forget it have a care you do not wander out of it He has recommended the Communion of the Church of England to you He has taught you to be Loyal to your Prince and to be true to your Religion take care then that neither your Religion destroy your Loyalty nor your Loyalty corrupt your Religion remember that beloved person whose Memory is dear and sacred to you was neither a Rebel Papist nor a Fanatick 2. Since you have lost your Guide a faithful and a prudent Guide and the choice of a Successour is in your selves be very careful as the concernment of your Souls requires you should be of your Choice Consider what an Age we live in which requires an experienced and skilful Pilot to steer a secure and steady course Have a care of dividing into Factions and Parties let not meer private
promises made He saith not Unto seeds as of many but as of one And to thy seed which is Christ. I say till Christ who was the promised Seed and typified by Isaac came the carnal Posterity of Abraham descending from Isaac and Iacob were the Typical Israel and God's peculiar People and visible Church on Earth and all this while God never wholly cast them off but when Christ came then the Promise was established to the spiritual Seed of Abraham those who are the Children of Abraham by Faith in Christ as the Apostle proves in the same place 〈◊〉 7 8 9. and in several other places And this is the Answer which the Apostle gives to that terrible Objection against Christs being the Messias and God's owning the Christian Church for his peculiar and elect People as formerly he did the Iews that then God's Promise to Abraham and his Seed fails His Answer is That the Promise to Abraham and his Seed was meant of Christ and his spiritual Seed those who are the Children of Abraham by Faith in Christ as he proves at large in the 9 10 11 Chapters to the Romans though he gives another answer to this too That though the Promises do no longer belong to Abraham's carnal Seed yet God so far remembers his Covenant with Abraham and his carnal Seed that he has not wholly cast them off but will in time engraft them into his Church again by Faith in Christ For out of Sion shall come the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Iacob But I cannot enlarge on this now To apply this then to the times of the Gospel We certainly learn from God's Care of the Iewish Church that God will always preserve and protect the Christian Church that the true Faith of Christ and his true and sincere Worshippers shall never wholly fail in the World as Christ promises That the gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church for God established an everlasting Covenant with Abraham and his Seed that is with Christ and the Christian Church who are the true spiritual Seed of Abraham to whom the Promises belong and if God so punctually performed his Promise to the carnal Seed of Abraham while they were to be his visible Church that is until Christ came who was the promised Seed we learn by that Example how he will protect defend and support the Christian Church to the end of the World till Christ the promised Seed return again to Judge the World to put an end to all Things and to receive his Church into the Kingdom of his Father To this we owe the Continuance and Preservation of the Christian Church to this Day amidst all the Dangers which have threatned its final Ruin when the Church is tossed on the foaming Billows of this World like the Ship into which Christ and his â—…isciples entred 8. Matth. 23 24 25. â—…hen there arose a great tempest in the â—…a insomuch that the ship was covered â—…ith the waves and Christ was asleep â—…nd his disciples came to him and awoke â—…im saying Lord save us we perish And he saith unto them Why are ye so â—…earful O ye of little faith then he â—…rose and rebuked the wind and the sea and there was a great calm This was a Figure and Emblem of the condition the Church is very often in in this World for most of our Saviour's Miracles had some spiritual significations in them His curing the Halt and Blind and Lame and Deaf represented his Diviner Power in curing the Diseases and Distempers of our Souls in making the Blind to see and the Deaf to hear and the Lame to walk and therefore when he cured the Man that was born blind he turned his Discourse to spiritual Blindness 9. Ioh. 39 40 41. When he had fed that great Multitude with a few Loaves and small Fishes he discourses to them of that Bread that comes down from Heaven and will nourish them unto Eternal Life and which he only could give them 6. Iohn When he discoursed with Martha about raising her Brother Lazarus from the Dead he preaches to her his Divine Power to raise dead Souls as well as dead Bodies into immortal Life 11. Iohn 25 26. When the Disciples at Christ's command had cast their Net into the Sea after having toiled all night and taken nothing and encompassed a great multitude of Fishes he tells them the meaning of it that he would make them Fishers of Men. Thus here Christ's rebuking the Wind and Sea which were ready to swallow up the Ship wherein he and his Disciples were is a Figure of the State of the Church in this World and of his readiness to Protect it How threatning soever the Dangers are Christ is in the Ship and all the Powers of the World how much soever they rage and foam can never swallow up that Ship wherein Christ is unless they can swallow Him up too and though he may seem to be asleep and to take no notice of the Sufferings and Dangers of his Church yet the importunate Prayers and Cries of his Disciples will awake him and then he will arise to their defence and hush the Winds and Seas into a Calm This the Church had frequent exâ—…erience of under the Pagan Persecuâ—…ons which raged with Fire and â—…word and all the witty Arts of Cruâ—…lty when nothing would serve but â—…he final Extirpation of the Name of Christians But how often did Christ â—…ebuke the Wind and Sea and restore profound Peace and Rest to his Church What a glorious Triumph did he give his Church over the last and most terrible Efforts of the Pagan Powers when he raised Constantine into the Throne and made the Empire Christian And this is a very comfortable Consideration to us at this time The Protestant Churches which profess the Pure and Uncorrupt Faith and Worship of Christ as to all the essentials of Faith and Worship have now for many Years groaned under the Antichristian Tyranny and Persecutions and now at last and I hope it may be the last as it is the most terrible Insult of the Antichristian Powers a Great and mighty Prince bends his whole Force to root out the Protestant Name as well as to Usurp upon the Liberties of Europe What he has done in his own Country and where-ever his Power and Influence reached I need not tell you From some of his Subjects he has forced away their Faith others to keep their Faith have lost their Estates their Liberty their Country their Lives What danger we were in at Home we all saw and felt not long since though some Men would now perswade us it was but a Dream but it was a very terrible Dream if it was one and thanks be to God that we are awakened out of it and may we never fall into such frightful Slumbers more or rather let us neither be lulled asleep nor dream awake lest these frightful Dreams prove Realities at last For should that mighty Monarch
prevail and like an irresistible Torrent bear all before him as some kind Friends to the Liberties of Europe and the Protestant Name and Interest wish and pray he may it requires not a Spirit of Prophecy to foretel what will become of Protestants But our Hope and Trust is in God that the true Christian Faith shall never be rooted out and I am as certainly perswaded that the Protestant Faith and Worship as to the Essentials of it and â—…s opposed to Popery is the true Christian Faith and Worship as I am â—…f the truth and certainty of Christiaâ—…ity it self and when I remember â—…y what little beginnings and weak â—…nd contemptible means GOD spread â—…he true light of the Gospel over great part of the European World when it was covered with the Aegyptian Darkness and oppressed by the Unsupportable Tyranny of Popery notwithstanding all the Follies Divisions and Miscarriages of Protestants I cannot fear that God will cause our Sun to set again and that he will finally remove his Gospel from us and that gives great reason to hope that he will â—…heck the Pride and Ambition and â—…t a stop to the Successes of a Prince who glories in the Extirpation of his â—…rotestant Subjects and at once enâ—…aves both the Bodies and the Souls of Men who challenges as absolute a Dominion over the Faith as over the Estates of his Vassals to fill his Exchequer and Purgatory together This I am sure we ought heartily to â—…eg of God in our most solemn Prayers and Fasts and those who scruple this if they understand themselves must never say the Lord's Prayer more wherein our Saviour has taught us to pray Thy Kingdom come which those who wish success to Persecuting and Antichristian Powers do not and cannot pray II. I observe farther That as God's Covenant with Abraham and his Posterity was sure and stedfast that no provocations could ever tempt him utterly to destroy them so he never inflictted any publick Judgments and Calamities on them but when he was greatly provoked by their Sins This was God's express Covenant with them 26. Levit. That if they walked in his statutes and kept his commandments then he would bestow all Temporal Blessings on them Rain in its season and the encrease of their Land in Corn and Wine and Oyl Peace at home and Victory abroad and his special Presence and Favour I will set my tabernacle amongst you and my soul shall not abhor you and I will walk among you and will be your God and you shall be my people But if they would not hearken unto him and would not do all his Commandments â—…hen he threatens all sorts of Evils â—…hould befal them sickness of Body â—…o fly before their Enemies the unâ—…ruitfulness and barrenness of their Land that they shall be a prey to wild Beasts that the Sword shall devour them and they shall be enslaved to their Enemies and buy their own Bread of them that they should suffer Famine to such extremity as to eat their own Sons and Daughters that he would lay waste their Cities and make their Country desolate and carry them away captive into foreign Countries as you may see at large in that Chapâ—…er This was his Covenant with them and this he punctually observed whenever they did obey him they were a happy and prosperous People their Enemies crouched before them they enjoyed Plenty and Peace â—…nlarged their Borders and made their Neighbours Subjects and Tributariâ—…s â—…o them and though God did not always punish them according to their â—…leserts yet he never did inflict any publick or National Judgments on them but when they were grown very corrupt and wicked in their manners as it were easie to shew from the History of those Times and all the remarkable Judgments God inflicted on them Now I must confess when we apply th is to the Christian Church the case is very different for God has not so expresly covenanted with the Christian Church for external Peace and Prosperity as he did with the Iews they were the carnal Seed and Posterity of Abraham Heirs of an earthly Canaan and external Prosperity but the spiritual Seed of Abraham are Heirs of spiritual and eternal Blessings which were typified by the carnal Promises made to the Iewish Church the Christian Church was founded in the Sufferings of our Lord the Christian Faith was at first propagated by the courage patience and sufferings of the Apostles and the Primitive Martyrs and Confessors The Terms ouâ—… Saviour proposes to us are If any mâ—… will come after me let him deny himsel and take up his Cross and follow me Hâ—… that loveth his life shall lose it but 〈◊〉 that loseth his life for my sake shall find it And therefore the most sincere Believers and most exemplary Christians may suffer very severely in this Worlâ—… and their support and comfort is that â—…hey shall be proportionably rewarded â—…n the next this was the great Objeâ—…ction the Iews made against Christians being the Sons and peculiar People of God that they were hated and persecuted for the Faith of Christ and God suffered them to be so whereas he had promised all Temporal Prosperity to the observance of his Laws and Staâ—…utes and if believing in Christ had been the Will and Commandment of God he would certainly have made good all the Promises of their Law to the Disciples of Jesus An Objection which very much troubled many believing Iews themselves who did not thoroughly understand the difference between the Iewish and Christian Dispensation between the Law of Moses and the Gospel of Christ and therefore is particularly answered by St. Paul 8. Rom. and in the 7. Heb. But this shews that the Faith and Worship of Christ is not always rewarded with external Prosperity and we must not expect it should be and consequently that very severe Sufferings and Persecutions may befal Christians not always for the correction and punishment of their Sins but for the trial of their Faith and Patience to make them conformed to their Suffering Head to prepare them for richer and brighter Crowns to convince and convert their Persecutors and to propagate the Christian Faith in the World Though it is observed by some of the Ancient Fathers and particularly by St. Cyprian That God never sent a general Persecution upon the Christian Church but when their Sins the general declension of Piety and Discipline their Worldly-Mindedness the formality and coldness of their Devotions called for a Scourge Thus it was with the Church while it sojourned as I may so speak in the world as in a strange land had no place of its own no earthly Power and Authority to support it but lived under Pagan Powers was intermixt with them and oppressed by them when they pleased but the case of a Christian Nation where the Power and Authority is Christian seems very different and to come nearer the state of the Iewish Church for God does not use to inflict Publick Judgments and
Calamities upon Nations but for the Punishment of some Publlick and National Sins And therefore a Christian Nation which professes the True Faith and Worship of Christ preserves the Reverence of Religion corrects and suppresses Vice may expect to be blessed with all external Prosperity for righteousness exâ—…alteth a nation it does so in its natural tendency and effects and it does so by the Blessing of God and therefore when God brings any Publick Judgments upon a Nation professing the true faith of Christ we have reason to take notice of God's Anger and Displeasure to enquire what is amiss among us what that accursed thing is which hath provoked God to Jealousy and made him take the Rod into his hand We have then reason to humble our selves before God to deprecate his Anger and Displeasure to turn from all the evil of our ways that hem ay return and be merciful to us But there is one thing worth observing which may be matter of Hope and Comfort to us at this time That God never delivered the Iewish Church into the hands of their Enemies to oppress them never carried them away into captivity excepting the last Destruction of Ierusalem in Punishment of their Sin in Crucifying their Messias but only when they were guilty of Idolatry A Corruption of Manners might bring other Judgments upon them but it was generally and I think always for their Idolatry that God made their Enemies rule over them and carried them captive into a Strange land This we have a summary account of Iudges 2. how that after the Death of Ioshua and those Elders who had seen all that God did for them they forsook the Lord and served Baal and Ashtaroth and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and God deliver'd them into the hand of spoilers who spoiled them v. 11 12 c. For this Sin of Idolatry the Ten Tribes were carried away into a Perpetual Captivity and Iudah carried captive to Babylon which they were threatned with by the Prophets for their Whoredoms that is their Idolatries 2 4 5. ch of Hosea and this is the account the Prophet Ieremy gives of it Like as ye have forsaken me and served strange gods in your land so shall ye serve strangers in a land which is not yours 5. Jer. 19. Now in proportion to God's dealâ—…g with the Iewish Church we have â—…ason to hope That though a Church â—…nd Nation which professes the true â—…aith and Worship of Christ may be â—…everely punished for their other Sins â—…et while they preserve themselves â—…lean from Spiritual Fornication from all Antichristian Idolatries God will not Un-Church them nor deliver them finally up into the Power of Idolatrous Oppressors I am sure we of this Nation ever since the Reformation of Religion among us though God has made us smart severely for our other Sins have yet always found a watchful Providence defending us from all Attempts though contrived with Art and Skill and backed with Power to reduce us again under the Roman Yoke May the same Good Providence still watch over us and defend us and neither suffer our Popish Enemies to rejoice over us nor deluded Protestants to make dangerous and fatal Experiments 3dly When God did think fit to correct his People he always kept the Rod in his own hand and prescribed the Measures and Continuance of their Sufferings This is so plain from all the Promises and Threatnings of the Law and from the Examples of God's Providence towards Israel that there is no need to multiply particular Instances There was no Good not Evil befel Israel but by a particular Providence God inflicted Judgments on them when he saw fit and he removed them again He gave the Commission to Plague and Sword and Famine which they could not exceed In the 26. Levit. we may observe That God proportion'd his Judgments to their Sins When their Sins were grown so Publick and National as to deserve some Publick Judgments yet at first God threatens them with some more light and gentle Punishments but if they continued incorrigible he tells them he had more terrible Judgments in reserve for them which proves That God determines the Kinds Degrees and Continuance of his Judgments When David for his sin in Numbring the People had that hard Choice given him of seven years famine or to flee three months before his enemies or three days pestilence he answers Let me fall now into the hands of the Lord for his mercies are great and let me not fall into the hand of man 〈◊〉 Sam. 24. 14. That is he chose Peâ—…ilence before the Sword for Pestiâ—…ence is God's immediate hand and â—…ho the Sword be God's Judgment too â—…et it is put into the hands of men who gratify their own Lust and Rage and Revenge with it And yet tho God leaves more to man in this than â—…n any other Judgments he does not â—…ut the Sword wholly out of his own hands when he puts it into the hands of men but gives Laws to it as appears from the example of the King of Assyria whom God sent against Ierusalem To take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down like the mire in the street Howbeit he meaneth not so neither doth his heart think so but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion what he himself not what the King of Assyria intended to do I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his high looks 10. Isa. 5 6 7 12. Now God has the same tender care of a Christian Nation that he had of Israel He mingles our Cup for us he prescribes what we shall suffer and how long and he corrects as a Father not to destroy but to reform and this is a mighty comfort that whatever men threaten we are in the hands of God who has the Winds and Seas aâ—… his command who giveth Salvation 〈◊〉 Kings who delivereth David his Servaâ—… from the hurtful Sword Psal. 144. 10. The most powerful Oppressors are but the Rod of God's Anger the more fierce and savage Instruments God employs to correct us we may conclude the more angry God is but whatever the Rod is it is God that strikes whâ—… knows when to strike and when to spare We never have any reason to be afraid of men whatever their Power how great soever their Rage and Vengeance be but ought to pray to God as the Prophet does O Lord correct me but with judgment not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing Jer. 10. 24. O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger neither chasten me in thy sore displeasure have mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my bones are vexed Psal. 6. 1 2. or as it is in Psal. 56. 1 2 3. Be merciful to me O
know no reason why Men may not Trade with Money as well as with other Commodities And this I take to be the true reason why the Iews were permitted to take Usury of Strangers but not of their Brethren because their Heathen Neighbours were Merchants as is plain of Tyre and Zidon 23. Isai. They improved their Money by Trade and therefore it was fit they should pay Interest for it especially if they were to lend upon Usury only to such Strangers as came among them for Trade but did not dwell and sojourn with â—…hem which seems probable from â—…5 Levit. 35. where the Stranger that â—…ojourns with them seems to be entituâ—…ed to the like Charity as a Brother â—…f thy Brother be waxen poor and fallen to decay thou shalt relieve him yea though he be a stranger or a sojourner that he may live with thee take tâ—…ou no â—…sury of him nor Increase For a Stranger never signifies a Proselyte of Justice who by Circumcision was incorporated into the Body of Israel made a Brother and entituled to the Privileges of a Natural Iew but only a Proselyte of the Gate who renounced Idolatry but did not undertake the Observation of the Law of Moses and yet they were not to take Usury of these Strangers if they were poor no more than of their Brother according to that Law 22. Exod. 21. Thou shalt not vex a stranger nor oppress him for â—…e were strangers in the land of Egypt The Answer our Saviour gives to the Servant who hid his Talent in the Napkin seems to justify this Account unless we can suppose that his Lord would have been pleased with unjust and wicked Gain 25. Matth. 27. Thou oughtest to have put my money tâ—… the Exchangers and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury So that though it was unlawful to lend Money upon Usury to the Poor it was not so to the Exchangers who traded in Money And our Saviour's driving the Money-Changers out of the Temple no more proves that he disallowed that Profession than that he disallowed selling Oxen and Sheep and Doves for Sacrifice for he drove them out also the Fault was not in the Merchandise no more of Money than of Sheep or Oxen or Doves but they made his Father's house a house of Merchandize 2. John 14 15 c. It is certain the ancient Fathers who were professed Eenemies to Usury opposed it under this Notion for their great Arguments against Usury are levelled against Uncharitableness and Oppression of the Poor as appears from Gregor Nyssen St. Ambrose St. Basil and others and yet it is no wonder should we meet with some Passages in them against Usury considered as Trading and Merchandise of Money For it is well known that they were not much greater Friends to Trade and Merchandise than they were to Usury which they thought â—…nbecoming a Christian as ministring only to Covetousness and Luxury And yet I suppose the greatest Enemies at â—…his day to Usury will not carry the Quarrel so far as to condemn Merchandise And yet under this Notion of Covetousness and sordid Gain which is equally applicable to all Trade Usury is forbid the Clergy by the Seventeenth Cannon of the First Council of Nice but no Council ever forbad it to the Layety or threatened Church-Censures against them for it which they would certainly have done had they thought it evil in its self This may satisfy us in what Sence Usury is forbid both by the Law of Moses and the ancient Writers of the Christian Church viz. as contrary to Charity when we lend upon Usury where Charity requires us to lend freely When we take Increase of the Poor who borrow to supply their Wants and sink them still more irrecoverably into Poverty by such Exactions This always was and always will be hateful to God and to all Good Men and yet such detestable Usurers there are among us who grow rich upon the Ruins and Spoils of the Poor and drink the Tears of Widows and Orphans but when to lend without Usury is no Charity and to take Usury is no Oppression there Usury it self is no Crime And hence we learn which is the great thing I aimed at that Usury was forbid only for the sake of Lending which proves that to lend freely to the Poor is a great and necessary Act of Charity Though a Man never took a Penny for Usury in his Life yet if he neither gives nor lends to the Poor he is guilty of all that Uncharitableness for which Usury is condemned nay in most Cases even these worst sort of Usurers are the more charitable Men For excepting some very hard Cases it is greater Charity to lend even to the Poor for Usury than not to lend at all For this Reason the Emperor Leo was forced by a New Constitution to permit Usury which his Father out of a pious Zeal had wholly forbid because he found that when Men were forbid to take any Usury they would not lend at all which was a greater â—…ardship to the Poor than Usury it â—…lf Meerly not to take Usury is no Virâ—…e but to lend to the Poor without â—…sury is To lock up our Money in â—…ur Chests to rust and canker and to â—…o no good with it is what St. Iames 〈◊〉 severely threatens rich Men for Go â—…ow ye rich men weep and howl for your â—…iseries which shall come upon you your â—…iches are corrupted and your garments â—…re moth-eaten your gold and your silver â—…s cankered and the rust of them shall be 〈◊〉 witness against you a Witness of your Covetousness and Uncharitableness â—…hat you have done no good with it â—…ut hoarded it up to rust and canker for want of use 5. Iames 1 2 3. This Controversy then may be stated and decided in a few words Usury is a very great Sin that is to lend our Money upon Usury to those who borrow for Necessity and Want and to exact such Payments with Rigour and Severity to strip such miserable People of that little that remains to imprison their Persons and make them end their Lives in a Goal To lock up our Money and do no good with it is to hide our Talent in a Nâ—…kin for Money is improvable aâ—… must be improved either for Charâ—… or Increase to be a new and perpetâ—… Spring of Charity To declaim 〈◊〉 gainst Usury and not to exhort men 〈◊〉 lend to the Poor without Usury is to 〈◊〉 stake or overlook the true End and Dâ—… sign of the Law and â—…o betray unchâ—… ritable Men to a greater Evil than Usâ—…ry it self but if men lend freely to tâ—… Poor in such Proportions as Chariâ—… requires they may very innocenâ—… and virtuously without transgressâ—… this Law against Usury lend their Money for Increase to the Rich. 2. But our Saviour seems to meaâ—… something more by lending hoping for nothing again not only to lend freelâ—… without Usury but to lend where the Principal may be
great loss when the Church is encompassed and assaulted with busie and restless Enemies A Man of an exemplary Life and untainted Virtue who shines like a Light in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation who maintains the declining Honour and Reputation of Religion and true Virtue is a mighty loss in a profligate Age when men are grown such Strangers to the sincere practice of Virtue and Religion that they begin to think there is no such thing But I can go on no farther the very mentioning of these things brings the fresh Idea of our deceased Brother to mind and the afflicting Sense of that great loss which we suffer by his Death It becomes us to Reverence and Adore the Wisdom of the divine Providence even when we cannot understand the Reasons of it We are certain God is never wanting in his Care of his Church and yet had we been made Judges of this Case we should have thought it a very ill time to have spared him He was abundantly furnished with all good Learning both for Use and Ornament he was an accomplished Scholar and a well-studied Divine he knew Books and read them and judged of them He was a Scribe instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven â—…ho like a Housholder could bring forth â—…ut of his treasure things New and â—…ld 13. Matth. 52. He had carefulâ—…y perus'd the ancient Philosophers â—…rators and Poets to discover what Nature taught which gave him a truer Knowledge and greater Value for the Excellency and Perfection of the Gospel-Revelation He had true and clear Notions of Religion and he was Master of them he knew why he believed any thing and was neither prejudiced nor imposed on by popular Opinions he was a hearty and zealous assertor of the Doctrine Worship Government and Discipline of the Church of England he saw nothing material which could be changed for the better which made him jealous of Innovations as not knowing where they would end He was a Friend to all sincere Christians pitied their Mistakes and bore with their Frowardness but did not think that Christian Charity required him to sacrifice Truth or good Order and Government to the pretences of Peace and Unity He was for several Years a very diligent and constant Preacher to a numerous Auditory till his own Diocesan who knew his Worth and the weakness of his Constitution and was desirous to preserve him for the Service of the Church provided this Place where we now are for his Ease and Health and Retirement where he lived many Years a constant Preacher though his Labours were then diviued between his two Cures which did not lessen his Preaching but made the Benefit of it the more diffusive For indeed he was an admirable Preacher not for Noise and Lungs but for well-digested useful pious Discourses delivered with all that becoming Gravity Seriousness and a commanding Elocution as made them sink deep into the Minds of his Hearers and made them hear This I speak with Assurance and Confidence in this place which was so long blessed with his Labours With what fineness of Thought peâ—…spicuity and easiness of Expression instructing and entertaining Images of Things he expounded the Doctrines and inculcated the Laws of our Saviour how plainly he Taught with what Vehemence and Passion he Exhortâ—…d with what tender Sharpness he Reâ—…roved remember how he used both to Please and Instruct to Chide and Shame you without making you angry â—…ow he has warmed and chafed your Minds into the most pious and serious Resolutions and sent you home from this place wiser and better than you came and if you grew cold and suffered your good Resolutions to die again consider I beseech you what Account you have to give As he grew in Years it was necessary by degrees to ease his Labours he could not Preach so often but yet continued to Preach And yet had he not Preached at all or much less than he did he had not ceased to be a very useful Pastor to the Church for he was a Man of great Experience and great Prudence and Foresight fit for Government and Counsel who knew Men and Things was dexterous in his Applications zealous without Passion or Peevishness steady and resolved without violent Oppositions and needless Provocations who served the Church and the Truth with little Noise and without making many Enemies And I am sure at such a time as this there is more need of such Men and a much greater scarcity of them than of good Preachers But he was not only a good Preacher and a prudent Guide but a very good Man he Preached continually by his Life and Example his Conversation was Innocent Entertaining and Useful he was a true sincere Friend very Courteous Affable Civil to all Men but never pretended Friendship where he had none he was ready to do all good Offices was Liberal Generous and Charitable a Man of a true publick Spirit who scorned to serve himself to the Injury of others who hated little Arts and Tricks mean and servile Compliances he was an open and generous Enemy if we may ever call him an Enemy who never wished never intended any hurt to any Man but my meaning is that when any Dispute and Quarrel happened as such things will sometimes happen he was open and undisguised any Man might know what he disliked and had no reason to fear any thing worse from him than what he would â—…ell them In a Word He was a very â—…ood Christian and that made him â—…ood in all Relations and that Crowned all his other Labours he took care â—…s St. Paul did Lest while he preached to â—…thers he himself should become a cast-away And now he is gone to rest and we â—…ust all shortly follow him God grant â—…hat we may all so run our Race and â—…inish our Course that when we depart â—…his Life we may rest in Him as our â—…ope is this our Brother doth and may â—…eceive that Crown of Righteousness which God the Righteous Judge will â—…t that Day bestow on all his faithful Servants and on all those who love his Appearing SERMON VIII â—…each'd at the Temple-Church December 30. 1694. Upon the Sad Occasion of the Death of our Gracious Queen And Published at the Earnest Request of Several Masters of the Bench of Both Societies XXXIX Psalm 9. â—…as dumb and opened not my mouth because thou didst it THIS may be thought a very improper Text for the Feast of our Saviour's Birth when our â—…ouths ought to be filled with the Praiâ—… of God and sing with the whole â—…ire of Angels Glory be to God in the â—…hest on earth peace good will towards â—…n This indeed is that Peace which â—…e World cannot give and which the World cannot take away whateveâ—… the External Appearances of Providence are here we find a safe retreâ—… and a never-failing Spring of Joy Fâ—… he that spared not his own Son but 〈◊〉 livered him up for us all how shall 〈◊〉 not with
6. Matth. 26 30. Where from God's care of mean Inferior Creatures the Fowls of the Air and the Grass of the Field he more strongly concludes his care of Men and by the same reason from his care of particular men we may more strongly conclude his care of Kingdoms and Nations and therefore of the Lives of Princes who are the great Ministers of his Government and Providence and whose Lives or Deaths make such a mighty Change in the Affairs of the World So that when or by what means soever Princes dye this is God's doings and how severe soever we may feel it We must be dumb and not open our mouths because he has done it which is the 2. Thing to be explained What is meant by being dumb and not opening our mouths For this seems a very hard saying in the strict literal sense that we must not complain of our Sufferings when we feel 'em smart Humane Nature can't bear this we must feel our Sufferings and when we feel them we must complain To have no sense of what we suffer is Stupidity not Submission it is irreverence for the Judgments of God and in some cases the most unpardonable baseness and ingratitude to Men. To be unconcerned for the Death of our dearest Friends or greatest Patrons and Benefactors not to pay Nature's Tribute to their Memories in a Sigh and a Tear not to long after them and send some vain Wishes to call them back not to preserve their Idea fresh in our minds and to think with some uneasiness of those happy hours which their Conversation sweetn d to part with our Friends as if we suffered nothing by their loss and were as well without them is so far from being a Virtue that such a man is uncapable of ever being a Friend and never deserves to have any much more then when we lose a publick Friend and Benefactor the greatest of Friends and Benefactors which is a good Prince Let us briefly consider what we have lost in the loss of our Gracious Queen and try if we can bear the thoughts of it without complaining She was the Glory of her Sex and an Ornament to the Crown she wore made truly Great by Nature Birth and Education She had a large and capacious Mind a quick and lively Apprehension and a piercing and solid Judgment She had a strength and firmness of Mind beyond her Sex and such a dexterity in managing the greatest Affairs as would have become the greatest and most experienced Ministers Never was there greater skill in Government with less fondness for it which she could take up and lay down with the same equality and indifferency of Mind Though I doubt I must unsay that for she was always grieved at the occasion of taking the Government and as glad to resign it Never was Majesty better tempered with easiness and sweetness She knew how to be familiar without making her self cheap and to condescend without meanness She had all the Greatness of Majesty with all the Virtues of Conversation and knew very well what became her Table and what became the Council-Board She understood her Religion and loved it and practised it and was the greatest Example of the Age of a constant regular unaffected Devotion and of all the eminent Vertues of a Christian Life In the midst of all the great Affairs of State she would rather spare time from her sleep than from her Prayers where she always appeared with that great composure and seriousness of Mind as if her Court had been a Nunnery and she had had nothing else to do in the World In all the Ease and Prosperity of Fortune she had that tenderness and compassion for those who suffered which sufferings themselves cannot teach meaner Persons She was Charitable to the utmost of her Power amidst all the Expences of War and Government and when a proper Object was presented to her was always pleased when she could grant their requests and very uneasy to deny In short her greatest and most â—…placable Enemies for Virtue self will meet with Enemies in this â—…orld had no other Fault to â—…arge her with but her Throne â—…hich is the only thing for which â—…ost other Princes are valuable â—…he ascended the Throne indeed â—…efore she desired it but was â—…rust into it not by an hasty â—…mbition but to save a sinking Church and Kingdom and I hope England will always have reason to â—…ay That an empty Throne could â—…ever have been filled with a nobler Pair But though the necessary absence of the King to give check to the Progress of a Powerful and Insulting Monarch engaged her more than she desired in State Affairs yet the promoting of true Religion and the service of the Church of England the greatest and best Nursery of it since the Apostolick Age was her constant and natural Care This her Thoughts were full of and she had formed great and noble Designs had she out-lived the Difficulties and Expences of War and been at leisure to attend the peaceful Arts of Government I have reason to say this from those frequent Intimations I have had from our late admirable Primate who had great Designs Himself to serve the Christian Religion and the Church of England in its truest Interests and had inspired Their Majesties and particularly the Queen who had more leisure for such Thoughts with the same great and pious Designs It may be no Church-man ever had I am sure not more deservedly a greater Interest in his Prince's Favour and the great Use he made of it was to do publick service to Religion and what ever some Men might suspect to the Church of England though it may be not perfectly in their Way And the greatest Fault I know he had was That some envious and ambitious Men could not bear his Greatness which he himself never courted nay which he industriously avoided Before this all England knew and owned his Worth and had it been put to the Poll there had â—…en vast Odds on his side that 〈◊〉 would have been voted into the â—…e of Canterbury for no Man had â—…er a clearer and brighter Reasoâ—… truer Judgment a more easy and â—…ppy Expression nor a more 〈◊〉 fearless Honesty he was a â—…e and hearty Friend and was a â—…e Friend whereever he profâ—…â—…d to be so Though he had maâ—… Enemies at last he took care 〈◊〉 make none He was obliging 〈◊〉 all Men and though he could â—…t easily part with a Friend he â—…uld easily forgive an Enemy 〈◊〉 that Bundle of Libels witnesses â—…hich was found among his other â—…pers with this Inscription These â—…e Libels I pray God forgive them do But I cannot give you the just Character of this Great Man now â—…hat I have already said I conâ—…ss is an Excursion which I hope â—…ou will pardon to the Passion of 〈◊〉 old Friend and learn from Two great Examples That neither â—…e greatest Innocence Virtue or Merit can defend either Crowned or Mitred Heads from the
will observe a just proportion Let no Man then enquire how much he must give the proper enquiry is how much he must love Let no man satisfy himself with some small trifling Presents which bear no proportion to what he has upon pretence that God has prescribed no proportion of giving but let him ask himself Whether in his own Conscience what he gives bears any proportion to that love and charity to the poor and miserable which God requires and let him remember that though God has not fixt the proportions of giving he requires great degrees of Charity and though Men may give liberally without Charity yet not to give in some due proportion is a certain sign of want of Charity when there wants no ability to give Give me leave to observe by the way that what I have now said of Charity is true of all other Christian Graces and Virtues that it is the principle which both must and will give laws and measures to the external acts of such Graces and Virtues As to instance at present only in the Acts of Religious Worship the measures and proportions of which are as much disputed and no more determined and limited by the Laws of our Saviour than those of Charity We are commanded to fast and pray and to communicate at the Lord's Table and to read and meditate on the Holy Scriptures and such other acts of Religion but we are not told how often we must fast and pray and receive the Lord's Supper nor how much time we must spend in our publick or private Devotions for though all the publick Exercises of Religion must be regulated by the publick Authority of the Church which as to time and place and other external circumstances is the safest rule yet our private Devotions are free and both publick and private Devotions have a great latitude and thus as it is in the case of Charity some men think they can never spend time enough in the publick and private â—…xercises of Religion and others â—…hink a very little will serve the turn â—…nd any trifling pretence is sufficient to â—…xcuse them from their Closets or the Church and especially from the Lord's Table And the resolution of this is the same â—…s in the case of Charity We are commanded to be devout Worshippers of God and the true spirit of Devotion â—…aturally prescribes the external meaâ—…ures and proportions Devout minds who have a true sense of God and of their constant dependance on him That they owe all temporal and spiritual Blessings to him and daily need the pardon of their Sins the ptotection of his Providence and the supplies of his Grace will never fail to worship God whom they inwardly reverence and adore and as our devout sense of God encreases in strength and vigour the external expressions of devotion will be more frequent more lively and affecting for nature will exert it self and will exert it self in proportion to its strength and vigour But to return 3. The third thing I proposed I must at present wave that where there is a willing mind with a fit proportion according to our abilities which as you have heard there will be where there is a truly willing and charitable mind whether it be more or less that we give it is equally acceptable to God Such a man is accepted according to what he hath not according to what he hath not and indeed there is no great occasion to insist on it for it is self-evident that God will not exact that from us which we have not Only we must observe that this does not excuse any man from Charity though he have nothing to give he must have a willing charitable mind to make him accepted nor does it excuse those from Charity who have but little to give for they must give according to what they have nor does it excuse those who have nothing to give from other acts of Charity which require the giving nothing and a great many such acts of real charity there are which poor people may do for each other though they have not a penny in their purse But it is time now to turn my Discourse to the proper business of this great Solemnity Publick Charities are always reckoned amongst the greatest Ornaments of any Country and make up the most lovely and charming part of their Characters Stately and magnificent Buildings shew great Art and great Riches and a gallant and noble Genius but great Charities have something divine and strike the Mind with a Religious Veneration There may be much more magnificent Shows than this Day 's Procession but none which affect wise and good Men with a sincerer Pleasure To follow a great number of Orphans in the mean but decent Dress of Charity singing the Praises of God and praying for their Benefactors is beyond all the Roman Triumphs however adorned with a pompous Equipage and great numbers of Royal Slaves These present us with nothing but the miserable Spectacles of Spoil and Rapine the uncertain Changes and Viâ—…issitudes of Fortune the lamentable Fate of conquered Princes and People and the Pride and Insolence of Conquerors but here are the Triumphs of a generous Goodness and divine Charity Triumphs without Blood and Spoil without Slaves and Captives unless redeem'd Slaves rescued from the Jaws of Poverty and all the Injuries and Miseries of a ruined Fortune That to me this great City and this honourable Train never looks greater than in this humble Pomp. A Pomp not for Vanity and Ostentation but to endear and recommend Charity by shewing the visible and blessed Fruits of it and to the same End I must give you an account of the present State of these publick Charities The Report was here Read THAT these are all great Charities I need not tell you indeed all so great that it is hard to know to which to give the Preference and what occasion all these Charities have of fresh liberal and constant Supplies the Report acquaints you But I cannot pass over one thing I observe in this Report and which I fear many necessitous People feel that there have been no Orphans taken into Christ's Hospital this Year nor as I remember for two Years last past I do not mention this by way of Reflection as any fault in the administration and government but to put you in mind how much that excellent Foundation needs your Supply and though I do not love to compare Charities they being all of great use and necessity in their kind yet I think this Foundation has something to plead for it self beyond any other A helpless Age destitute of Friends â—…nd all means of Support will plead â—…or it self without saying any thing â—…t is a pitiable Sight to see poor â—…nnocent Children turned helpless inâ—…o the wide World to starve or beg or steal or to suffer all imaginable Difficulties and Necessities at home without Education without Government or Discipline without being used â—…o labour or taught any honest
that we cannot hear them because Sounds are not the Objects of Sight nor Colours of Hearing Now no man pretends that the pure Natures and Essences of things or their Essential Reasons Properties Unions Operations are the Objects of Humane Reason for no man living knows any thing about them And yet this is all the Incomprehensibility men have to complain of in the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Incarnation That they cannot comprehend how God can beget an Eternal Son nor how Three Divine Persons should be so united as to be essentially One God nor how the Divine and Humane Nature can be united into one Person God-man All which concern the Essence and Essential Properties Operations Unions Relations of the Deity which a modest man might allow to be incomprehensible if God be Infinite though he could comprehend the Natures Essences and Essential Reasons and Properties of Created Beings but when all Created Nature is such a Mystery to us that we know not the pure Nature and Essence of any one thing in the World is it an affront to our Reason that we cannot comprehend the Divine Nature Such Matters as these are neither without Reason nor against Reason nor contrary to Reason because Reason has nothing to do with them and can take no cognizance of them They belong not to Reason but to that Infinite Mind which comprehends it Self and the Ideas of all possible Beings A perfect comprehensive Knowledge of Nature belongs only to the Maker of all things for it is not only to know what things are but how to make them which would be a vain Curiosity and useless Knowledge to those who have not a Making and Creating Power This is to know things à priori with an Intuitive Ideal Knowledge which is infinitely more superiour to Reason â—…an Reason is to Sense And it is the â—…ffectation of this Intuitive making Knowledge which makes some Men Atheists and others Hereticks 2dly Another great Objection against such a Revelation as contains matters which Natural Reason cannot comprehend is To what purpose such â—…a Revelation serves What Merit there can be in believing such Doctrines And of what good use such a Faith can be to us Now I confess I cannot think it meritorious merely to believe things which are incomprehensible or that God any more intended to puzzle our Faith with revealed Mysteries than to puzzle our Reason in making a Mysterious World Whether we receive our information from Sense or Natural Reason or Revelation it is certain we must believe Mysteries if we believe any thing for all things have something mysterious and incomprehensible in their natures what natural Reason cannot account for and what God never intended we should understand For God never intended to teach us how to make the World nor how every Creature was made and therefore we cannot and are not concerned to know the internal Frame and Constitution of Nature But though neither Natural nor Revealed Knowledge extends to the Reasons and Causes of Nature and of essential Properties and Operations yet both natural and revealed Knowledge is of as much use to us as if we did perfectly understand all the secret and incomprehensible Mysteries of the nature of God or of the Natures of Creatures Both natural and revealed Knowledge are alike upon this account That they only acquaint us what things are and what ends they serve and then we know what use to make of them without understanding the secret Mysteries of Nature Is this World or any thing in it the less useful to us because we cannot conceive how God created all things of nothing Or because we do not understand the Nature of Matter nor how the several parts of Matter came by their different Virtues and Qualities Is Corn or Fruit or Herbs the less nourishing or refreshing because we know not how they grow Does it require any Philosophy to know how to eat and drink and sleep Will not our Food nourish us â—…less we understand how it is concoctâ—… and turned into Chile and Blood â—…d Spirits Nay is it of no use to â—…ow that God is an Eternal Omnipoâ—…nt Omniscient Omnipresent Being â—…less we can conceive how any Being â—…n be Eternal without a Cause and â—…ithout a Beginning Or can compreâ—…end how he can do and know all things â—…d be present in all places at once â—…ithout Extension and without Parts â—…e may make all the use that can be â—…ade of this World and of every thing 〈◊〉 it without understanding the essential â—…easons and Causes or internal Nature â—…f any thing and we must do so if we will make any use of it and we know God to all the ends and purposes for which Creatures ought to know God â—…hough his Nature be incomprehensible And thus it is in matters of pure Revelation such as the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Incarnation how unaccountable soever the Mystery of a Trinity in Unity the Eternal Generation and the Incarnation of the Son of God be yet it is the most useful Knowledge in the World Though we know not how the Eternal Father begat an Eternal Son of his own Substance nor how this Eternal Son in time became Man yet it is the most desireable Knowledge in the world to Sinners to know That God has an Eternal Son and that he so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son for the redemption of mankind that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life and that this Eternal Son of God became Man lived a poor necessitous laborious Life and died an accursed Death for the Salvation of Sinners and to know That the Holy Spirit which proceeds from Father and Son dwells in the Christian Church and quickens and animates the whole Body of Christ. If this be true as we must suppose in this Argument all Mankind must confess that this is a very useful Knowledge and never the less useful because a Trinity in Unity and the Eternal Generation and the Incarnation of the Son of God are great and unconceivable Mysteries Could we give a Rational and Philosophical Account of the Eternal Generation and of the Incarnation we should know more than we now do but Faith makes it as useful to all the purposes of Religion as the most perfect intuitive Knowledge could do This is a sufficient Answer to that Objection against the Usefulness of such Mysteries as have something incomprehensible and unconceivable in their Natures Which is an equal Objection against all created Nature which is but one great Mystery and yet the World is a very useful World and we know in some good degree what use to make of it And the Knowledge of those Gospel Mysteries which are the Subject of our present Dispute are manifestly of infinite use to us if the certain knowledge of the Pardon of Sin and Eternal Life by the Obedience and Sufferings and Death and Intercession of the Son of God Incarnate be of any use and
coâ—… cerns the Christian Church we maâ—… learn from the Epistles to the Sevâ—… Churches of Asia what it is provokâ—… our Lord either severely to punish us to remove the Gospel from us Tâ—… Church of Ephesus though she had aâ—… quitted her self well in many thing yet had left her first Love had abated very much of her Zeal and Fervour for the Name and Religion of Christ. The Church of Pergamâ—…s is threatned for suffering those among her who taught Idolatrous Worship and fleshly Lusts And the Church of Thyatira likewise for suffering the Woman Iezaâ—…el to commit Fornicatâ—…on and to eat things sacrificed to Idols The Church of Sardis made a glorious and pompous Profession of Religion but without the true Life and Spirit of it â—…e had a name to live but was dead And the Church of Laodicea grew very cold and indifferent even in the Profession of Religion as well as in the Practice of it she was neither hot nor cold 〈◊〉 lukewarm All these our Saviour summons to Repentance and threatens to punish or destroy them if they did not Chap. 2 and 3. of the Revelations The Application of all this to our selves is so obvious that I need not multiply Words about it We are that very Nation wherein all these Evils meet it is hard to name any Vice which is not openly committed amongst us without Fear or Shame Nay things are come to that pass that to be a modest Sinner to boggle at any Wickedness oâ—… to blush at it is as great a Reproach as to be Virtuous And though somâ—… Men are ashamed to own themselveâ—… Atheists yet to believe in Christ and to own any Reveal'd Religion or tâ—… talk seriously of Providence of God governing the World and punishinâ—… Cities and Nations for their Wickeâ—… ness is thought a Jest and I wiâ—… it were a Jest only among vile anâ—… mean People of no Fortune or Education whereas we often see that theâ—… Condition makes them modest and uâ—… taught Nature teaches them better tâ—… they are corrupted by the Examples 〈◊〉 Men of Wit and Figure in the Worlâ—… And as for those who pretend to Relâ—… gion it is a very melancholy Prospecâ—… to observe how little of the true Liâ—… and Spirit of Christianity there is 〈◊〉 mong them There is indeed Noiâ—… and Zeal and Faction enough amonâ—… some People and that makes others 〈◊〉 cold and indifferent The Tempers of thâ—… Church of Sardis and Laodicea thâ—… one that had a Name to live but waâ—… dead the other that was lukewarmâ—… make much the greatest Parties amonâ—… us and the very best Men I fear are too much inclined to the State of Ephesus which had left her first Love those great Passions and Ardours of Devotion which ought to inspire the Minds of Christians Let us then hear the Rod and tremble See how God dealt with the Iewish Church for these Sins see what our Lord hath done to the Churches of Asia and though we cannot say what God will do to us because we know not what wonderful Designs are in the Womb of Providence yet we know what we do and how God hath dealt with those who have done as we do which is too just reason to fear that he will deal so by us too unless we repent and reform which they did not For 2dly When the Judgments of God are upon us the Reformation must be universal too It concerns every Man to reform himself for a Nation can never be reformed but by the Reformation of particular Men who make up the Nation and therefore when we are summon'd to Repentance as the Judgments of God summon us all every Man must examine himself what he has to repent of and reform himself But yet there is great difference between a National and Personal Repentance and Reformation and they serve very different Ends. A Nation may be said to be reformed and God may in great Mercy remove his Judgments though what is never to be expected every particular Man do not repent and reform himself But then such a National Reformation requires the Execution of publick Justice against publick Wickedness to make Sin publickly infamous and to teach the greatest and most powerfuâ—… Sinners Modesty To banish if noâ—… Sinners yet Sin out of our Courts and out of our Streets and to make it once more seek for Night and Darkness foâ—… a Covering that Virtue may no longer blush in Company or need Apologies Nor Vice dare to brave it at Noon-day There has indeed of late been some Care taken by publick Laws and Royal Proclamations to punish the Prophanation of God's Name by accursed Oaths but yet in most Cases Men may be as vile as they please and as publickly so as they please and little or no notice taken of them nay they may talk and write what they please against God and Religion ridicule the History of Moses and the Gospel of our Saviour and the Mysteries of the Christian Faith and gain Credit and Reputation by it I hope there are not many Christian Nations in the World which in so publick a manner permit these things We have talk'd of Liberty of Conscience and Reformation to good purpose if the only Effect of it be a Liberty of ridiculing the Christian Faith which might make one suspect that all the Zeal some Men have express'd against Popery was at the bottom of it a Zeal for Atheism and Irreligion which the Discipline of Popery as bad a Religion as it is would not endure it is indeed well fitted to make Atheists and Infidels but will make Men have a care how they profess it And it is to be feared that this Scepticism and Infidelity and Contempt of Religion will prove a Back-door to let in Popery again upon us But to leave these Thoughts with those whose proper Care and Business it is whether a Nation will be reformed or not it concerns every particular Man to hear the Rod The Judgments of God warn us of his Anger and Displeasure against Sin that we may fly from the Wrath to come and we do not hear the Voice of the Rod nor improve Judgments to their true end if we do not so repent and reform as to save our Souls and this to be sure must be a Personal and an Universal Reformation And yet even with respect to present Judgments a Personal Repentance and Reformation is of great use for when the Judgment is Publick and National God many times makes a remarkable distinction between Persons Say ye to the Righteous it shall be well with them for they shall reap the fruit of their Doings Wo unto the Wicked it shall be ill with him for the Reward of his Hands shall be given to him Which is spoke with respect to Publick Judgments Isa. 3. 10 11. Which is a sufficient Encouragement for particular Men to repent and reform their Lives whatever others do But it is time to apply what I have now discoursed to the
one Place neither to the Temple of Ierusalem nor Samaria but it should be free all the World over to erect Houses of Prayer and Worship where God would be as present with them as in the Temple of Ierusalem for there should be an end now put to that Typical State and Typical Worship which was confined to the Temple and the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth and this Spiritual Worship is confined to no one Place but will find God present all the World over which is so far from abrogating all peculiar Places of Worship such as the Temple at Ierusalem and Samaria were that it makes every Church whatever part of the World it be in in a truer Sense the House of God than ever the Temple at Ierusalem was And there is one thing more of great consequence which we learn from this that we now want no new Appearance of God to consecrate a Place for his Worship as it was in the Days of the Patriarchs nor any new Command to appoint us where to build a House for God as it was under the Law Our Saviour has consecrated every part of the World where Christians live to be such Holy Ground as is fit to receive a Temple and House of God and his Promise to be in the midst of the Assemblies of Christians gives us as great an Assurance of a Divine Presence in such Places as if like the Tabernacle and Temple we saw them again filled with a Cloud and a visible Glory Having thus shewn you that God who fills all Places is yet peculiarly present in some Places and what this peculiar Presence is that God is present as the Object of our Worship to hear our Prayers and to receive our Praises and Thanksgivings our Alms and Oblations let us now consider the Exhortation of my Text which is the natural Improvement of this O worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness 1st And here first I observe that the very External Beauty and Ornament of God's House is one Part of Homage which we owe to him The Riches and visible Glory of Solomon's Temple was one of the Wonders of the World a Divine Art and Nature conspired to build a House as fit as Art and Nature could make it to signifie the incommunicable Majesty and Glory of that God who dwelt there And this Nature taught all Mankind the Magnificence of their Temples did not only shew their Devotion but what their Art and what their Riches were And the Primitive Christians when they enjoyed Peace and Plenty under Christian Emperors were so far from thinking this a Piece of Pagan or Iewish Superstition that their first Care was to erect Beautiful and Stately Churches to rival and out-do all the External Glory of Pagan Temples and it was always accounted a great Instance of the Piety of Princes to encourage and promote such Works But you 'll say what is all this to God Can we think that he who has made the World with such unimitable Art and Beauty can be pleas'd with any House we can build for him whatever Art or Riches we bestow on it But this very Objection answers it self For God has made this Beautiful World for his Temple and has chose the most Glorious Part of it for his Throne which shews that though he be an infinite pure Spirit he does not despise an External Glory for thus he must represent his invisible Greatness and Majesty to his Creatures And therefore when he thinks fit to vouchsafe his Presence with us on Earth we must provide the most honourable Reception for him that we can and when we have done all that Art and Nature can do we have so far express'd our Devotion and Reverence for the Divine Presence This Objection lay against the Temple at Ierusalem as well as against Christian Churches and yet David thought it very undecent and a want of a just Reverence for God that he himself should dwell in a House of Cedar and the Ark of God dwell within Curtains 2 Sam. 7. 2. which should be considered by those Men who think all that is bestowed upon Beautifying and Adorning God's House a vain and superfluous Expence when they think no Cost too great to adorn their own 2dly The House of God too must be used as God's House that is must be separated from common Uses and appropriated to the Worship of God It must not be a Place of Trade and Commerce and ordinary Conversation as we learn from our Saviour's Zeal in driving those who sold Oxen and Sheep and Doves and the Changers of Money out of the Temple which he did at two several times the first immediately upon his entrance on his Ministry Ioh 2. 13 14 15 16. the second immediately before his Crucifixion Matth. 21. 12 13. Some learned Men observe that the Place of this Merchandise in the Temple was the Court of the Gentiles and from hence conclude that our Saviour's Zeal was not confined to the Iewish Temple but concerned all Christian Churches to which the Court of the Gentiles bore a greater Analogy but whatever Force there may be in this I think the Reasons our Saviour gives do much better explain his meaning Make not my Father's House a House of Merchandise John 2. 16. and it is written My House shall be called a House of Prayer but ye have made it a Den of Thieves Matth. 21. 13. Which Reasons have no relation to the typical State of the Iewish Temple but equally concern all Places which are the House of God and the House of Prayer that is where God vouchsafes his peculiar Presence to hear our Prayers And indeed when Christ expressed so much Zeal for the House of God when the typical Glory of the Iewish Temple was at an end having received its Accomplishment in his own Person it is a very good Reason to believe that he intended this as a standing Rule for the Religious Use of all Christian Churches and Oratories I am sure the Reason is universal and unanswerable that the House of God which is a House of Prayer ought not to be prophaned by any common Uses 3dly Let us worship in the Beauty of Holiness that is let us resort to the House of God to the House of Prayer there to offer up our Prayers and Thanksgivings to him For if God have a House where he has promised his peculiar Presence to hear our Prayers that is the proper and peculiar Place of Worship The Scripture makes it a very material Circumstance of Worship to approach God's House to enter into his Courts to come into his Presence to own our selves his Servants and Worshippers and without disparaging private Prayers or Closet and Family Devotions there is no reason to think God will own those for his Worshippers who deny him this publick Homage There is no doubt but God knows our Prayers where-ever we make them for he knows our very Thoughts but to hear Prayers
aside the afflicted State of the Christian Church the Profess'd Enemies of Cathedral-Worship allow us as Great and Early Authorities as we desire St. Basil St. Ambrose and St. Chrysostom always will be Venerable Names The Church was restored to Peace but in the Fourth Century and then this Worship revived and that by the Authority and Example of as Great and Good Men as any the Church had That Erasmus himself and many Reformers were great Enemies to this way of Worship as it was then practised in the Church of Rome is no great Wonder when their Hymns as well as their Prayers being performed in an unknown Tongue all their Singing was meer Noise which could contribute nothing to Devotion But this is no greater Argument against our English Hymns and Anthems than against our English Prayers If they meant any thing more we must demand their Reasons For as for Authority our own Reformers and Reformation have anâ—… that deservedly a much greater Authority in the World But I must hasten to a Conclusion Which brings me to the Third Thing I proposed How Musick may and ought to be improved to the Purposes of Devotion And here I must beg leave to speak something briefly to Three Sorts of Men Composers Singers and Hearers which will serve for the Application of the Whole First As for Composers Those who set our Hymns and Anthems to Musical Notes I do not pretend to Skill in Musick much less to be able to Teach such great Masters as this Age hath bred but I hope in some Measure I do and may be allowed to Understand and Teach Devotion which is all I intend in this for that which according to all the Rules of Art must be allowed for excellent Musick may not always be proper for Devotion It is a great Mistake in Composing Hymns and Anthems to consider only what Notes are Musical and will Delight and Entertain the Hearers The true Rule is What Notes are most proper to Excite or Quicken such Passions of Devotion as the Words of the Hymn or Anthem Express This indeed can't be done without Skill in Musick but true Devotion is the best Director of that Skill for a Devout Mind will judge of the Devotion as a Skilful Ear does of the Musick of Sounds That the most certain way for the greatest Masters to Compose such Hymns and Anthems as are fit for the Worship of God and may best serve the Devotions of Christians is to work their own Minds first into all those Heights and Flames of Devotion which they are to Express in Sounds which they will find a double Advantage in it will make them Good Christians and Admirable Composers of Church-Musick A Devout Ear without any great Skill in Musick soon finds the want of this A Grave Serious Mind which is the true Temper of Devotion is disturbed by Light and Airy Compositions which disperse the Thoughts and give a Gay and Frisking Motion to the Spirits and call the Mind off from the Praises of God to attend meerly to the agreeable Variety of Sounds which is all that can be expected from such Sounds as have nothing of Devotion in them Which is so much the worse still when as is now grown very common in such Compositions they are elogged with Needless and Endless Repetitions A Repetition serves only to give an Emphasis and it requires a great Judgment to place it Right and is very absurd when it is placed Wrong but we often see that there is too little Regard had to this The Skill of Altering Notes is the whole Design which when there is not very great occasion for it is like School-Boys Varying Phrases or like Ringing the Changes which how entertaining soever it be when we have nothing to do but to attend to Sounds is yet very Nauseous and Offensive to Devout Minds in Religious Worship I thank God the Ordinary Service of our Church is very Grave and Solemn and well fitted to Devotion And as for more Modern Compositions the Governours of Churches ought to take care to receive nothing into the Worship of God but what is fitted to serve Devotion and this would effectually answer the greatest Objections against Church-Musick Secondly As for those who are Employed in Singing the Church-Service and Anthems to assist the Devotions of the Congregation it certainly becomes them to behave themselves very Devoutly in it Musical Instruments which have no Life and Sense may Minister to our Devotions though they are capable of none themselves but it gives great Offence and Scandal to see those who are daily employed in Singing Praises to God to shew no Signs of Devotion in themselves much more by an Irreverent Behaviour to betray great Symptoms of want of Devotion I thank God we have no great reason to make this Complaint in this Church and I hope shall every day have less but this is a good occasion to mind all such Persons how Devout they ought to be if Musick be a Help to Devotion who have this Advantage from Art and Nature first to Excite their own Devotions and then to Assist the Devotions of others which last must be a very tasteless uneasie Employment if they have no Devotion of their own And a great Reproach also to their Art when they themselves are Witnesses how little Devotion it Teaches But there is one thing which I believe is not so well considered which yet is just Matter of Scandal for those who Sing Divine Hymns and Anthems at Church and whose Prosession it is to do so to Sing Wanton and Amorous Lewd Atheistical Songs out of it Men who have enter'd themselves into the Service of the Church have Consecrated their Voices to God not so as never to Sing any thing else but Hymns and Anthems but yet so as never to Sing any thing to the Reproach of God Religion or Vertue This unbecomes any Man who calls himself a Christian much more those whose peculiar Employment it is to Sing the Praises of God Thirdly As for Hearers they ought also to consider That their Business at Church is not meerly to be Entertained with Musick but to Exercise their Devotions which is the true End of Church-Musick to Praise God with the more servent Passions It is a Contempt of Religion and of the House of God to come only to please our Ears to hear Better Voices and more Curious Compositions and more Artful Singing than we can meet with in other Places This I have reason to fear is the Case of very many who resort hither who especially on the Lord's-Day Crowd into the Church to hear the Anthem and when that is over to the great Disturbance of the Worship of God and the Scandal of all good Christians Crowd as fast out again Though there is this good in it that they make Room for Devouter People who immediately fill up their Places to attend the Instructions of God's Word But I hope this will not be charged upon the Service
of our Church that Men who have no Devotion come only for Musick For Church-Musick can't create Devotion tho' it may improve it where it is But indeed we ought all to be aware that the Musick does not Employ our Thoughts more than our Devotions which it can never do if as Common Sense teaches us it ought to be our Minds be in the first place fix'd and intent upon the Praises of God which are express'd in the Hymn or Anthem which when conveyed unto us in Musical Sounds will give Life and Quickness to our Devotions not first fixed on the Musick which most probably will leave the Devotion of the Anthem behind it Those who find that Musick does not Assist but Stifle their Devotion and many such there may be had much better keep to their parish-Parish-Churches and prefer Devotion before Musick For to come to Church without any Intention to Worship God in his own House or to pretend to Worship him without Devotion are great Affronts to the Divine Majesty In a word Those who profess themselves Lovers of Musick ought to consider what the true End of Musick is and to improve it to the Noblest Purposes The meer Harmony of Sounds is a very pleasant and innocent Entertainment Of all the Delights of Sense this is in it self the least sensual when it is not abused to recommend Vice and to convey impure Images to our Minds But yet meerly to be delighted with Charming and Musical Aires does not answer the true Character of a Lover of Musick For it is the least thing in Musick to please the Ear its proper natural Use and the great Advantage and Pleasure of it relates to our Passions To Compose to Soften to Inflame them and the Diviner Passions it inspires us with the more it is to be admired and valued and then Musick must attain its greatest Glory and Perfection in true Devotion That the Lovers of Musick ought to be very Devout Men if they love Musick for that which is most valuable in it and its last and noblest End To conclude It concerns the Lovers of Musick to vindicate it from all Prophane Abuses not to suffer so Divine a thing to be prostituted to Mens Lusts To discountenance all Lewd Prophane Atheistical Songs how admirable soever the Composition be To preserve Musick in its Virgin Modesty and without confining her always to the Temple make the Praises of God her Chief Employment as it is her greatest Glory Thus have I spoke my Mind very freely shewed you the Use and the Abuses of Musick which was one great Inducement to me to comply with the Desires of those Honourable and Worthy Persons who imposed this Office on me that I might have an Opportunity of Saying that which I thought fit should be said at one time or other and for saying of which there could not be a more proper Occasion than this And I hope this may plead my Excuse with all good Christians if it have drawn my Sermon out to too great a Length and given too long an Interruption to the Entertainment of those the least part of whose Business it was to hear a Sermon To God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost be Honour Glory and Power now and ever Amen SERMON XV. Preach'd before the QUEEN at White Hall in Lent 2 Tim. iii. ver 1 2. This know also that in the last days perillous times shall come For men shall be lovers of their own selves IS Self-love then so dangerous a thing as to make the Times perillous What Times then can be prosperous and happy What Age produces such Monsters as do not love themselves And where is the Man that would be contented to live in such an Age The Apostle then by the Lovers of their own selves cannot mean all those who are acted by this natural Principle of Self-love to take care of their own Happiness for that is all Mankind in all Ages of the World and cannot be the Character only of the last Days nor the cause of perillous Times Self-love is the very Life and Spirit of the reasonable World which has no other Spring of Motion It unites Men into Societies is the Parent of all Arts and Sciences it makes us take care of our selves and it teaches us to do good to others It is no Vertue it self because it is not Matter of our choice but as necessary as our Being but it is the Seed and Principle of all Moral Vertues as it obliges us to make our selves happy to preserve our Health to encrease our Fortunes to gain the Good-will and good Opinion of our Neighbours to be easie to our selves and to make the World easie to us which requires the Practice of all healthful thriving and sociable Virtues It is Self-love which inspires us with that Divine Principle of Universal Goodness and Charity to do to other Men what we desire they should do to us It is this which makes us soft and tender to all the Impressions of Kindness which makes us feel other Mens Sufferings and other Mens Resentments in our own which makes us relish the Sweetness and Pleasure of doing Good by the Pleasure of receiving it and gives us an Antipathy and Abhorrence of doing Injuries from our natural Aversion to suffer them It is this Self-love which makes Mankind governable and secures the Peace and good Order of Humane Societies Humane Laws would signifie very little without Rewards and Punishments and Rewards and Punishments would signifie as little as Laws without Self-love For could Men be unconcerned for themselves did they neither hope nor fear any thing they could be governed only as Beasts are by external Force It is the love of our selves which makes us delight in Humane Conversation and promote the Publick Good wherein all Mens private Fortunes are involved In a word This Self-love is the Principle of all Religion which teaches us to love and worship God who is eternal and essential Love and Goodness to praise him for our Being for our Preservation for all the Enjoyments of this Life and for the great Hopes and Expectations of the next It teaches us to reverence his Laws to fear his Justice and Power to depend on his Providence to pray for the Supply of our Wants and for the Pardon of our Sins 〈◊〉 It gives Virtue and Efficacy to Faith and Hope which are the great Gospel-Principles of Obedience For what would the belief and expectation of unseen Glories signifie if Men were not concerned to make themselves eternally happy So wild and extravagant is that Enthusiastick Conceit of serving God without respect to the Recompence of Reward which contradicts the whole Scope of the Gospel all the Motives and all the Principles of Evangelical Obedience the Examples of all good Men and of Christ himself who for the Ioy that was set before him endured the Cross despised the Shame and is set down at the Right Hand of God This is sufficient to prove
deplorable must the state of Religion needs be when Self-love prevails which is such a direct contradiction to all Piety and Virtue to the Love of God and Men The Apostle indeed tells us of these Lovers of themselves that they have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power thereof They make a Show of Religious Worship and it may be a very glorious and pompous Show too for this may serve their Interest and give them Reputation with their Prince or with the People but their Religion has no power upon their Lives cannot subdue any one Lust as it is impossible it should while they are acted by Self-love And yet it is much to be desired that such Men would retain a Form of Godliness that they would not publickly affront Religion nor ridicule all that is Sacred but it is in vain to hope for thus much from all of them St. Paul's perillous Times was a very Modest and a very Religious Age to ours wherein men seem to be ashamed to be thought Religious and therefore if they ever think fit to go to Church take great care that no Man who sees them shall suspect that they come thither to worship God But though few Men attain to such an outragious Contempt of Religion as this yet all the Corruptions of Religion are more owing to Self-love than to Innocent Mistakes This secretly influences Mens Faith and forms their Notions and Opinions This invents a Form of Godliness and turns Religion into Show and Pageantry when Men bring Self-love into the Church it quickly turns true Religion out it is Pride and Ambition or Covetousness and a love of sensual Pleasures which makes Men Infidels and Hereticks and occasions all the Schisms which divide the Church For when such Self-lovers cannot cast off all Religion they must fit their Religion to Self-love to serve their Lusts or to give them security in the Enjoyment of them when they cannot raise Self up to the terms of Religion they must bring Religion down to Self It were easie to give undeniable Proofs and infinite Examples of this but I must proceed For having shewn what this vicious Self-love is and what Mischeifs it does in the World both to Mens private Fortunes to publick Societies and to the Church of God it remains 3dly To consider the Folly and Unreasonableness as well as Impiety of this Principle All the Wickedness that is committed in the World and most of the Miseries which Mankind suffer are owing to Self-love and could we convince Men of the Folly and Unreasonableness and Impiety of this it would lay the Axe to the very Root of all Wickedness it would reform the World and heal all the Maladies and Distempers of it And to do this the more effectually I shall distinctly apply what I have to say to the several Notions of Self-love 1. Let us consider Self-love as it signifies the love of Flesh and Sense when we love a part of our selves for the whole and expect our whole entire Happiness from the gratification of some inferior Appetites which at first hearing appears as absurd and impossible as it is to make a Part the Whole The greatest part of Mankind in all Ages have made this Experiment but no Man was ever made happy by it We see infinite Examples of miserable Sinners and the most prosperous always find that that they want something else to make them happy and would Men wisely consider the nature of things they would find that it is impossible it should be otherwise What is Happiness but such a State of Ease and Rest and Self-enjoyment as is agreeable to our Natures and can a reasonable Soul then find its compleat and perfect satisfaction in the Pleasures of sense the perfection and the happiness of our Natures is the same thing and therefore that which perfects our Natures must perfect our Happiness Is Sense then the perfection of a reasonable Nature if not how can it be its perfect Happiness Is not Wisdom and Knowledge the perfection of the Understanding is not the love of the best and most excellent Being the perfection of the Will and is not this the perfection of a Reasonable Soul and is it possible to make a Man happy who feels none of those divine and exalted Pleasures which are proper to a Mind Well! but if the enjoyments of Sense will give a compleat and entire satisfaction that will make the Man happy when he has no relish of any other Pleasures and then we need not dispute which Pleasures are greatest in themselves when the Man has what he likes best and is happy in it which is as much as to say that it makes no difference whether a Man enjoy the happiness of a Man or of a Beast that a Beast is as happy a Creature as a Man a Worm as an Angel because it has what satisfies and wants and desires no more But however let us consider whether the pleasures of Sense can give perfect ease and satisfaction to a reasonable Soul that they do not all Men find and the reason why they cannot do it is very plain The Pleasures of Sense cannot give perfect ease and satisfaction without a full unconfined and undisturbed Enjoyment and without such an Enjoyment as equals the Desire As for the first not to take notice how apt Men are to be disturbed in their Enjoyments from without there is enough within the very Frame and Constitution of a Reasonable Soul do disturb them For they find there a Natural Sense of the difference between Good and Evil a Natural Modesty which makes them blush in secret at some infamous Vices and sours the Pleasures and frequently interrupts the commission of them a natural belief of a God who is the Judge of the World and the Avenger of all wickedness a strong perswasion that they shall live after death and be rewarded and punished according to their works I need not tell you how uneasie such thoughts as these make the enjoyment of all sensual pleasures and an uneasy Happiness is a contradiction that if God intended Man for a Sensual Happiness I must confess he is the worst contrived Creature in the world as if he were made by chance not by a wise Creator for the Principles of his nature disturb and contradict the enjoyment of his natural Happiness Or whether you will call this Nature or Education or what you please there are very few Men with the help of all the Wit and Philosophy of Atheists can deliver themselves from this Belief and from these Fears and much fewer do it than pretend to do so and therefore there are very few who have an easy and undisturb'd Enjoyment of Sensual Pleasures that is who are easy and happy in them unless to sin with Fear with Shame with Guilty Remorse with frightful Presages of judgment be an easy and undisturb'd Enjoyment As for the Second it is very plain that the Enjoyment of Sensual Pleasures can never answer the
of Humane Nature is to do good this I take to be the great Advantage and Glory of Riches and Power that it makes Men Publick Patrons and Tutelar Angels to their fellow Creatures which is the nearest Resemblance of the Perfection and Happiness of God and in the Pagan World made Gods of Men But Self-love knows nothing of this Happiness but destroys not only the Sense but the Notion of it But to set aside other Considerations Mankind will not suffer a Man to make himself Easie and Happy by Self-love When he is known they combine against him as a common Enemy they load him with Infamy and Reproach they strip him of his ill-gotten Riches and severely revenge his Injuries this is the great End of Humane Government and the proper use of the Rods and Axes of Princes to restrain and govern Self-love and to punish the outrages it commits This is enough to satisfie us of the Folly and Unreasonableness of this Principle and how impossible it is that Self-love should make any Man happy I will add but one Argument more to disswade you from it that this Self-love can never enter into Heaven That is a Holy Place a Spiritual State wherein nothing can enter that is Unclean Flesh and Blood whether a fleshly Carnal Mind or an Earthly Body cannot inherit the Kingdom of God There God is all in all there is Universal Love among all those blessed Inhabitants and therefore there can be nothing of Self O that blessed Place where there is perfect Unity and Harmony of Souls no Parties and Factions no Emulations and Jealousies no Private Interests no Rivals where all center in God and embrace each other and mingle Flames and feel and rejoyce in each others Happiness To which Blessed Place God of his infinite Mercy bring us all through our Lord Iesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Honour Glory and Power now and for ever Amen SERMON XVI Preached at the Temple Church 2 Cor. iv ver 18. While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen For the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal THIS is the Principle of that true greatness of Mind which appeared in the Apostles and Primitive Christians and enabled them to do that which the Pagan Philosophy boasted of without doing viz. to contemn the World and to live above its Hopes and Fears to bear the Miseries of Life and to despise the Pleasures of it to suffer Shame and Reproach and the loss of all Things and Death it self made as terrible as Pain could make it not only without Fear but with Joy and Triumph For which Cause saith the Apostle we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal By the Things which are seen is meant all the Good and all the Evil things of this Life by the things which are not seen all the Happiness and Miseries of the Life to come But is not this a very strange Choice to prefer what is absent and unseen before what is present and sensible To be unconcerned about the Happiness or Miseries of this Life and to live upon unseen Hopes and Fears No saiâ—… 〈◊〉 Apostle We have all the reasoâ—… 〈◊〉 world to do so because seen thingâ—…â—…re but temporal and unseen things are eternal This World will last but a little while the Fashion of this World passeth away but the World to come will have no end and this makes such a difference between seen and unseen Things that there can be no reasonable Competition as there is no Comparison between them So that in speaking to these Words there are two things distinctly to be considered 1. The Reasonableness of this Principle of looking to unseen Things or of living by Faith for it is Faith alone that can give us a View of the invisible World And 2. The Reasonableness of this Choice in preferring unseen before seen Things because the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal 1. The Reasonableness of this Christian Principle of Action of looking at unseen things or living by Faith Some unthinking Men are apt to make a Jest of believing if you have any natural Reasons or sensible Demonstrations they will hearken to you but Faith is below a man of Wit and Philosophy who knows how many Cheats and Impostors there have been in the World But such men little consider how necessary Faith is in Humane Life that they themselves in a thousand Cases have no other Principle to act upon in the greatest Concernments of this Life and that upon much less evidence than we have for another World There are but three ways of knowing any thing Sense or Reason or Faith which last extends further and has a more universal Influence upon the Government of our Lives than either Sense or Reason Our whole Conversation with Mankind is resolved into Believing into a Civil Historical or Political Faith all humane Commerce and Intercourse is founded on it and there are very few Actions of our Lives that can be performed without it that he who will not believe must not live in this World And is it not absurd and ridiculous then to laugh at believing when they might as well laugh Sense and Reason out of the World and live as well without them Now if we must live by Faith in this World if we must believe and must trust one another if we must depend on Mens Word or Oath or Friendship or Honesty though we can have no natural Certainty or Demonstration of Moral Causes what reason can there be to banish Faith out of Religion which is of such absolute necessity in all the other Concernments of Life One would think there should be less need of Faith for this World than for the next which is an invisible State and can be certainly known only by Revelation and if Faith be ever reasonable it is most reasonable where it is most necessary where there is no other means of knowledge This is enough to shew you how little those Men understand themselves who ridicule Faith which is to ridicule Humane Nature and all Humane Conversation If we may if we must believe if we cannot live without believing it must make a man contemptible to talk against all Faith which is an Essential part of Humane Knowledge and a necessary Principle of Moral Prudence Some Men are so afraid of being thought easy and credulous that they run into the other Extream and will believe nothing at least nothing concerning another World And think