Holiness through the use of those means which he hath appointed for the increase of Holiness in us That there are degrees of Grace in good men no man ever denied And that the higher and more Perfect degrees are attained by a more frequent sincere and diligent use of the means of Grace all Divines are agreed The part therefore which every good Man hath in his Spiritual growth is to improve all Advantages for his growing better i.e. more perfect in every Grace and more Holy in all manner of Conversation And because some Graces have a more Powerful and Diffusive influence upon the Sanctification of our Hearts and Lives and the due Performance of all Christian duties than others our improvement in Grace and Holiness chiefly consists in these two things 1. In a more constant and vigorous exercise of those Radical Graces by which the Life of Holiness is conveighed into all the Branches and Instances of it Of these our Faith in God is the main and Principal Root all other Graces being Fed and Cherisht by it and Inabled to bring forth their Proper Fruits The Reason why we Love God which is both the Noblest and the strongest Motive to Obedience is because we believe that he has all Excellent and Amiable Properties in him And so the Reason why we Fear him is because we believe he is Powerful and Just and will by no means clear the Guilty And we therefore Hope in his Mercy because we believe He is Faithful that hath Promised And as Faith is the Root and Principle of these Graces so have they a Radical virtue of their own a Power I mean of Diffusing Holiness into all parts and duties of the Christirn Life Hence we are exhorted to Perfect Holiness in the Fear of God and to be Rooted and Grounded in Love that we may be filled with all the Fulness of God And every man saith S. John that hath the Hope in him of seeing God as he is Purifieth himself even as he is Pure To grow therefore in these Graces is in effect to grow in all other kinds of Vertue and Goodness of God And then secondly our spiritual growth Consists 2. In being more frequently and carnestly employ'd in the several duties of Christian practice In worshiping God with more Life Zeal and Constancy In doing good with more vigour and chearfulness In bearing Afflictions with more evenness and patience In greater Industry Justice and Faithfulness in our Temporal callings In getting a more absolute sway over our Passions and reducing our affections to Farthly things to a more equal and moderate Temper In denying our selves the Liberties which have any apparent Temptation in them in Arming our selves against the insults of Inordinate anger and the sudden starts of any sinful inclinations In pruning off the undecencies of our External behaviour in abating the freedom of our Tongues and using better care to avoid all appearance of Evil. Herein lies our Proficiency in Grace and Virtue to which our endeavours in all these instances are strictly necessary if we aim as we ought at a Perfect Imitation of our great example and to grow up to the stature of the Fulness of Christ I am next to shew 2. What are the Proper and Effectual means of our Growth in Grace And here since the nature of Grace and Holiness consists in a Conformity to the Divine nature and will it is Reasonable to suppose that the same hand that drew the first Lineaments of it must give it the more Lively and Finishing strokes before it comes to perfection I mean that the work of grace should be carried on by the Operations of the Spirit through the use especially of the same means by which we were made Partakers of the Divine Nature at first And for this Reason the Ordinances of God are of Perpetual use to all Christians and the same duties required as well of the Regenerate as of those that remain in a Natural State 1. A better understanding of the will of God and Attention to the Truths revealed by his Son Jesus Christ The usefulness of this means S. Peter seems to Recommend in the Context Grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Implying that a greater measure of knowledge is a special means of growing in other Graces as is plain by that Parallel exhortation in his former Epistle Desire the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the pure Doctrine of the Gospel or the word delivered without any Deceit is the most Natural Food for the New Creature for promoting the Growth of it and making it every way strong and vigorous in the Grace which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 2.1 In the Scriptures we have a lively Draught and Representation of the Divine Perfections In them we behold all the Glorious Revelations of God's Sacred Will to Mankind and the thoughts of his Heart from Eternity Here we meet with the kindest Invitations to the Mercy and Favour of God and the Merits of a Saviour With the most admirable Rules for the Government of our Lives the most Excellent Patterns of the Noblest Virtues and the strongest Inducements to a perfect Imitation of them The Mystery of our Redemption is here unvail'd and Heaven as it were thrown open to our view that we as the Apostle speaks with Open Face beholding as in a Glass 2 Cor. 3.18 the Glory of the Lord might be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory by the Spirit of the Lord. By frequent conversing with the Scriptures and observing the Tenour of them we shall not only attain to a competent Knowledge of our Duty but to a firm and Ruling Judgment and be thereby exempted from Error and Doubtfulness which are none of the least impediments to our thriving in Grace and Holiness By this means we shall be continually under the power of conviction The sense of our Duty will be always quick and urgent upon our Minds We shall feel the great Motives and Terrors of the Gospel the Eternal Weights of Glory and Misery pressing upon our Hopes and Fears and provoking us to every Good Work and we shall thence be furnisht with a present Answer to all Temptations to gratifie any sinful Lust or neglect the Opportunities of securing our Future Happiness So that by making the Scripture our daily Study and Meditation we shall neither wander for want of Light nor be at a stand through any mistrust of our way nor can we easily fail of making a good Progress in it being quickned upon all occasions with a present sense of our Duty and encouraged with a Prospect of our Reward 2. Regular and Constant Attendance on the Publick Ordinances of Divine Worship and Service It must be a great advantage to us to be admitted into the Special Presence of God in the Holy Assemblies of his People And having our thoughts sequestred from the World
Establisht Religion of the Nation but because we have throughly tryed and examined the Grounds of it because we have proved it by a Rule which cannot fail us and do find it to be the very Religion which Christ and his Apostles have revealed in the Gospel Now if we have taken up our Religion upon due confidweration and Judgment it very highly concerns us for the sake of it to live according to its excellent Rules and Precepts and to be as steddy in our walk as we pretend to be sure of our way to Heaven If we go wide from the Paths we have made streight and do not Obey the Doctrine we profess to believe upon clear and convincing Evidence we condemn our selves and give just Occasion to the Adversary to triumph over us and to twist us with the great need we had of a Reformation to make us worse than we need to have been without it We put a sharper Weapon into their hands than any they were ever able to forge against it A Witty Men may make a hard shift to say something for Romish Errors but there is not a word to be spoken for an Antichristian Life With what face can we inveigh against Popish Indulgences while we allow our selves as great a liberty in sinning as they do If we are heedless and undevout in our Prayers we may blush to say we cannot dispence with Latin Service because it is an hinderance to Devotion And is it not much at one whether he that in the holy Sacrament eateth or drinketh Judgment to himself does it in both Kinds or but One Or what signisies a change or no change in the substance of the Elements to him that discerns not the Lords Body Or why may not an Implicit Faith serve to make an Empty Profession as well as any Protestant Faith in the World And indeed if that were all we design by being Protestants it were hardly worth the while to be so For as without Faith it is Impossible to Please God So without Holiness as the Apostle tells us in the verse immediately after the Text No man shall see the Lord. We that are Protestants profess a great Veneration of the Scriptures both as a Rule of Faith and Manners And therefore we can never excuse our selves if we do not Govern our Lives as well as our Judgments and Opinions by them And there are those that will not excuse our Religion but raise Objections against it out of those very Actions it expresly Condemns and Warns us of the Infinite Danger of It is I confess very unreasonable that Religion should Answer for the Faults which it Aimes to Rectify Yet it must be Own'd a Real and Mighty Prejudice to it to be Contradicted by its own Professors and Betrayed by those that pretend a Hearty Zeal and Concernment for it And we have the more Reason to be Cautious on this hand because our Religion is so Excellent in it self and so fully Justified by its Learned Advocates that it requires nothing more for its Defence and Vindication from t is than that we should Adorn it by our Holy Conversations and keep the Enemy out of those Breaches which our Divisions have made and our Lusts have Widen'd for them And this is our Proper Post In which we may do Excellent service tho we may not be so fit to engage in the Field of Controversies merely by Exercising our selves unto Godliness by keeping to the Plain Rules and standing to the Principles of our Holy Religion This I say is our Proper Task And by this means we shall utterly Defeat our Adversaries and put them to the same strait that Daniel did the Caldeans Dan. 6.5 by leaving them no Occasion against us Except it be Concerning the Law of our God And for that we give them leave to Try their utmost skill And if by fair Reasoning and Arguments such as are fit to be used in the great Concernment of mens Eternal Salvation they can Win the Victory let them wear it I wish the mean while we could clear our selves as well as we can our Religion I wish we could all shew out of a Pure Conversation that our Lives are measured by the Laws as our Faith is by the Revelations of the Gospel I do not speak this as if I thought our Adversaries had the advantage of us in this respect but because it may be Justly expected that we who have the best Religion should live at the best Rate That we who pretend to understand what we believe and to know whom we Worship and have Renounc't the Errours and Corruptions that spoil the Religion of other men should be extreamly careful that we do not Blemish our own That we do not stain the Purity of our Profession and Furnish Men with Objections against it by our vain and vicious Conversations Let us consider the Necessity of walking by the Rules and obeying the Laws of our Religion in order to our own safety and Happiness Tho a Man knew every Foot of his Way to Heaven and were Acquainted with all the Crooked and Deceitful Paths which others are lost and Bewildred in yet if he will not make use of his knowledge to Direct his Steps and keep on in the way he should go he can never arrive to that Blessed Place We must not think to Fly to Heaven with a Wish or to be saved by being Orthodox or excused from doing our Duty because we know it Tho we had all knowledge and all Faith without Obedience and Holiness of Life I know not of what importance they would be to us but only to Intitle us to the greater Damnation The Sanctions of the Gospel are the same to Men of all Persuasions The worst of which will hardly Deny that a good Life is as Necessary to make a good Christian as a sound and Orthodox Faith So that 't is not Believing as the Church Believes nor Believing the Truth as it is in Jesus nor Relying upon him for salvation that can bring us to Heaven while we bid Defiance to his Laws Heb. 5.9 For he is the Author of Eternal Salvation to them only that Obey him If we are ill Men it matters not what we are besides Any Religion will serve a wicked Man as well as the Best And become him a great deal better than the Pure and Undefiled Religion which the Son of God brought down from Heaven with him And which of all Religions in the World Denounceth the most Terrible Threatnings against its own Professors that Reject the Mild and Reasonable Conditions of it Rom. 2.7.8 To them that by patient Continuance in Well-doing Seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality It promises Eternal Life But unto them that Obey not the Truth how Zealous soever they may be in the Defence and Profession of it It denounceth Indignation and wrath Tribulation and Anguish without Respect of Persons upon every Soul of Man that doth Evil. So that if we live
any Gratitude in us any Ingenious Sense of the Infinite Debt that lyes upon us will strongly engage us to make the best Returns and Acknowledgments we are able knowing that when we have done all Luk. 17.10 we are but Vnprositable Servants And then the Danger of Forfeiting the Grace of God by our Wilful Negligence and of Driving away his Grieved Spirit from us and so Clouding and Shortning our Day of Grace How should this Quicken our Diligence and Inflame our Endeavours after Grace to serve God in a more Lively and Acceptable manner with Reverence and Godly Fear But there will be an occasion of enlarging upon this Argument in the Next Particular which is this 5. The stronger we Grow in Grace the better we shall be able to hold out unto the End without which all our Pains and Diligence in Religion will be thrown away A constant Proficiency in Virtue and Goodness is the best Security against Apostacy While we go on and Persevere in Well-doing there is no Danger of our Falling away All the danger is while we are at a stand and are strongly Tempted to Return to our former Courses of Sin and Folly By pressing forward to the Mark for the prize of our high Calling we are continually getting ground for our Spiritual Enemies And the more we keep before them the less Danger we are in of being Surpriz'd and Overtaken by them A State of Sin and Perfection being the two opposite Terms of our Christian Course so far as we advance towards the latter we leave the former behind us and by Consequence are at so much the greater Distance from Apostacy So that if we would secure our Perseverance it concerns us to get as Forward in Religion as we can and not Rest in any mean Attainments as if we thought our selves at any time good enough for Heaven and were sure of our Crown so soon as ever we had begun our Race We know not what Tryals we may be Exercised with or what degrees of Fortitude and Patience we shall need to support and carry us through them But certainly 't is a great Advantage to be well Prepared before hand And it therefore becomes us to be constantly Training and Exercising our Graces and Daily Reinforcing our Resolutions to break through all the Difficulties that obstruct our passage to Glory and Happiness If we Faint in the day of Tryal we shall very hardly recover our selves And if we fall away we shall loose all the Fruit of our former Labours and our latter End will be far Worse than our beginning I know there are those that take sanctuary at the supposed Impossibility of falling from Grace I will not dispute the Truth of this Doctrine I will only remind those who are too Flush and Confident of it for surely it is too much for Man to venture his salvation upon it that tho it should be true it may do them no service And that for this plain reason that many that have taken themselves to be in a State of Grace and had the Character of Good Men amongst those that were truly so have at last yeilded to the Charms of this Tempting World and Neglecting to Work out their Salvation with Fear have Outlived all the Evidences of their Good Estate and the Fair Opinion of the most Candid and Charitable persons And for this Reason we should be extreamly Cautious of Presuming too far upon the Grace of God and Dashing against the Rocks which many that have had the Steerage of a Religious Education and seemd to set out with all Advantages for Heaven have Fatally struck upon for want of that Diligence and Circumspection which is Requisite in so weighty an affair as that of our Eternal salvation There is no doubt but that Good Men may Grieve and Resist the Holy Spirit of God And that every Degree of Resistance is a New Provocation to him to withdraw his Grace from them And that the oftener he is Repulsed the more Danger there is of his Forsaking those that withstand his blessed motitions And whether this may or may not proceed to an utter Dereliction I am sure we have all the Reason Imaginable to be Cautious of it Considering the Dreadful End of some very Hopeful Beginners Who if once they were not Really Good were Deceived in themselves Nay were so Extreamly like those that are Good that they Deceived the best Judges of Sincerity and Goodness Let him therefore that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he Fall And let us all Endeavour by a sensible and constant Improvement in Grace and Piety to Grow Stedfast and Vnmovable alwaies abounding in the Work of the Lord And then we may be assured our Labour will not be in Vain in the Lord. 6. The Difficulty in Religion will Daily lessen and the Pleasures of it Increase the farther we proceed in the Practice of it The true Reason why any of God's Commandments appear Harsh and Grievous is because we are not used to obey it For use and diligence make any thing Easy and all Excellent things Delightful And hence we find by Experience that the seldomer we do any good the unwillinger we are to come to it again And the more faintly we set about it the less satisfaction we have in the performance of it But now let us but inure our selves to any part of our Duty and take care to do it but as well as we can and we shall quickly perceive that we are pleased with what we have done and that it is indeed but the same thing to Please God and our selves A Good Man is never Weary of Doing Good And it were strange if he should for it is the Nature of Goodness to give satisfaction to all that deal in it which I doubt not is the meaning of that saying of the Wise-Man A Good Man shall be satisfied from himself When he Prays Pro. 14.14 or Meditates on Heavenly things with due Attention and Devotion he is as it were in Heaven the while And never Enjoy's himself more than when he does any thing well which God requires of him He that is hardly persuaded to an Act of Charity and at last does it but with half a Consent is fain to struggle with himself before he proceeds so far and so loses all the Pleasantness of it Whereas he that gives freely and chearfully has no trouble in himself about it but is highly pleased with what he has done and finds it a more blessed thing to Give than to Receive And thus could I run through all the parts of Christian Practice I should not doubt to gain this Conclusion that every thing in Religion would be Easie and Pleasant if it were but done as it it should be And consequently the more we improve and the better we discharge our Duty the faster we overcome the Difficulties of a holy Life and make our progress the more easie and delightful to the End This is no Romantick Fancy
Dictates as essentiael to Christianity which the Scripturs and the next Ancient and venerable Writings do assure us are not There are those that call us Hereticks and have often proved us so as clearly as Fire and Faggot can do it because we are so strait-laced as to Believe but just so many Truths and Articles of Faith as were at first delivered to the Saints And are so Nice and Humorous as not to Believe the flattest contradictions to them There is a Church that for several Ages and in several Councils hath Decreed the Extirpation of Hereticks i.e. the most Orthodox Christians by Fire and Sword and fairly Recommended it as an Eminent Test of Catholick Zeal Others at least there have been who with mighty Confidence pretended to secret motions and Immediate Warrants from Heaven to Worry and Destroy all that should withstand them and their Doctrin I might tire you with instances of both kinds and make it appear that the Zeal of Christians against One another hath in point of Fierceness and Cruelty far exceeded the Pattern in the Text. For the Proof of this I might but desire you to take a short Review of the Ruines which Romish Zeal hath made in Protestant Countries from our own to the very borders of the Ottoman Empire To keep nearest home I might appeal to the Holy League of France for the Utter Extirpation of the Reform'd Religion And to the Barbarous Usage of more than many Thousand Christians in the United Provinces Grot. Annal lib. 1. I mean before the Quarrel began with the Civil Government I might refer you to Inquisitions Invasions and Massacres to the Burning Zeal of the Marian days and the Powder Conspiracy here in England that Master-piece of Inhumanity design'd no doubt to make amends for the long Peace and Tranquility we enjoyed under the Pious and gentle Reign of our Immortal Virgin Queen After these it were cold and endless to mention all the Impious and Unnatural Artifices of the Agents of Rome against the Lives of our Princes the felicity of our Government Foulis Hist of Romish Treasons and Vsurp and the Vitals of our Religion One thing in the general you may observe that when ever the Church of Rome hath lost any thing by dint of Argument she hath presently betaken her self to sharper and deadlier Weapons for the Recovery of it And methinks it is the least of Wonders that a ChurchPamper'd with Power and Wealth and Honours that thinks her self fit to give Law to the whole Christian World and that it is her Unquestionable Right and Duty by all possible means to do it should not wave her Principles and content her self to admonish and Weep over Obstinate Hereticks as our Blessed Lord did over Jerusalem when her designs call for Blood and Cruelty and 't is apparent that Men will not be made Obedient without them On the other hand there has been another sort of men that under pretence of Refining the Reformation have shamefully violated the Pure and Undefiled Religion that came from Heaven And for this I might refer you to the Wicked Outrages of the Anabaptists at Munster and the Terrible Battles which have been fought for little Phansies and affected singularities in Religion I might call to your Remembrance the many Insurrections and what I even Tremble to speak of the horrid Murther of the late Arch-Bishop in Scotland I might desire you to reflect upon the fierce and bloody Attempts which in our Memory and Nation have been managed upon the fifth Monarchy Principles In a word I might carry you to the Tombs of Kings Nobles and Prelates of worthy Patriots and Ministers of Justice of Preachers and Ambassadors of Peace who by hands lifted up to Heaven have been offered to use the Apostles Phrase upon the Sacrifice and Service of your Faith which some call Heresie and according to which we now Worship the God of our Fathers Now to apply these Allusions to the purpose of the Text I shall only observe to you that the chief Actors and Parties in them have at one time or other confest that they verily thought they were engaged in a good Cause many Apologies have been made and many volumes have been written for them Yea many have sealed it with their Blood and pronounc't it with their last breath that the things they did and Dyed for as ill as they look'd towards the World were done out of Zeal to God and Religion that is they thonght they ought to have done them as contrary and Dishonourable as they really were to the Name of Jesus I come now in the second place 2. To shew whece it is that Men are liable to be thus Misguided by Erroneous Principles and Transported with this Extravagant and destructive Zeal I confess 't is very natural to men to be warm and zealous for their own Doctrines and Sentimests ill so much that they that have the Truth on their side have not always the Charity and Good-Nature that should attend it But that this Inclination should so mightily raise the Spleen and fire the Spirits of Men That it should grow so violent Quarrelsome and Impetuous as to scorn the Restraint of Laws both Divine and Humane and break down all the Fonces of Government to set up the Kingdom fo Christ which is not of this World That the Disciples of so meek a Master as our Saviour was and the Professors of so Charitable and obliging so Holy and Healing an Institution as Christianity is should think themselves bound to promote every Crude Opinion with the Sword Nay that inspired and as they call themselves Infallible Men should be so much out of the way so exceedingly fierce and angry with all that are not of their Minds as to devote them to Present and Eternal Ruine These things are so extreamly full of Scandal and Contradiction that without a Demonstration of the Truth it were scarce Charity to believe the possibility of them But let us do that Right to Christianity and our selves as to see where the fault lyes and what it is that under the pretence of Conscience has wrought so much Misery and Coufusion in the Christian World To assign all the causes of these Evils would require more Time and Patience than the present occasion will allow I shall therefore confine my self to such as I think have the greatest Interest in them and are best able to answer for them 1. The first is Bad Education which has a strange Influence upon the Spirits and Persuasions of Men and is able to change the sweetest natural Dispositions into the Bitterest and fiercest Tempers The great Spring and Mover of Humane Actions in the Judgment of the Mind and therefore the first Information of the Judgment which is the Business of Education must have a mighty stroke in the Conduct of the Life of Man and the rather because the Impressions we receive of things while our Minds are free from all suspition and Prejudice are
the Power of godliness and the Flourishing of Christianity in the World In short there is nothing more directly contrary to the Spirit of the Gospel than Spiritual Pride and particularly to that humble and Teachable Frame of Spirit which is essential to the Disciples of the Meek and Lowly Jesus and indispensably Necessary to the improvement of all Divine Virtues and Qualities in them I shall now endeavour in the last place 4. To inforce the Apostles Exhortation by shewing what weighty Reasons and Obligations we have to be growing in Grace it is you see as plain a Duty as any the Gospel Urges and it is a very large and comprehensive one But our encouragement is the Spirit of God is always ready to assist us and to carry our endeavours succesfully through it and therefore the Difficulty of it can be no reasonable exception against it Especially considering 1. That it is a State of Perfection which the Practice of this Duty naturally leads us to It is the very greatest Condition the highest and noblest Attainment we can possibly aspire after Holiness is the Glory of our Nature and the Crown of all Humane and Angelical Perfections so that every time we attain to a new degree of Grace we acquire a new degree of Honour and Excellency The Righteous saith Solomon is more Excellent than his Neighbour Pro. 12.26 And the more Righteous he is the more he advances in real Worth and Dignity above him The Glory of conquest the Enlargement of Empire and the Affectation of deep curious knowledge are but Childish and Mean things in Comparison of a Godlike Temper and Disposition which is the natural Fruit of Growing in Grace and Goodness Since therefore the Perfection of our Nature lies in living up to the Rules of Christianity and Exercising the Virtues and Graces of it and there is Room for Improvement in the best of us we should greatly neglect our selves and stand in our own Light if we should not continually aime to Grow better than we are and to Perfect Holiness in the Fear of God 2. The certain knowledge of our Good Estate towards God Depends upon our Proficiency in Grace and Virtue We cannot argue strongly from the First Essays of Goodness while our Graces are Weak our good Resolutions untryed or our Relapses Frequent And while we slaken our Diligence we shall be continually Hovering between Hopes and Fears and never come to a clear and settled understanding of our spiritual condition But now no Man doubts of his sincerity towards God while he studies to Please him and is careful to avoid every thing that is Offensive and Dishonourable to him His mind never troubles him while he is well employ'd unless it be first Clouded with Melancholy which as one well observes is not a Reasonable case but when he grows Remiss in his known Duty or is Conscious to himself of some wilful Sin or Deviation from the way of Righteousness And the onely way to be eased of this trouble and to be well assured of his Integrity for the future is to return into the Paths of Virtue and Religion and proceed Vigorously in them The more we Grow in Grace the more evident will our Good Condition be The farther we Pierce into the ways of Holiness the more plainly it will appear to our unspeakable satisfaction that we are no longer in a State of Sin and Death and that by the Grace of God we are Delivered from the Power of Darkness Col. 1.13 Prov. 4.18 and Translated into the Kingdom of his Dear Son The Path of the Just is as the Shining Light which Shineth more and more unto the Perfect Day As the Sun shines the Brighter the Higher he Rises in the Heavens so the Light of the Righteous his Spiritual Joy and Comfort Increases in the same Degrees by which he Advanceth to the Heavenly State 3. Let us Consider that our minds are of that Quick and Active Temper that if we do not Grow better we shall be in Constant danger of declining in our Spiritual Estate and Growing worse Something we must be doing to quiet our Restless Desires and Faculties And if we don't seriously mind the Business of Religion the Tempter and our own Hearts will find us other Imployments And the World will Inveagle us with Gayer Promises and more Charming Invitations than any the Gospel has to Gratify our Sensual Inclinations with If we once make a stop in our Christian Course we give our Cunning Adversary the Devil a fair opportunity to Practise his Wiles and Delusions upon us he knows the Activity of our Minds He observes which way our Thoughts rove and our Affections Wander What Duties are most Tiresome to us and what Vanities we most Hanker after And therefore he will be sure to lay his Trains and manage his Temptations to the best Advantage And having found the weak side of our nature to assault us where he is most likely to do the greatest Execution upon us It therefore mightily Concerns us having begun Prosperously to keep on the Growing hand And not lose the Ground we have gain'd and the Conquests we have made over our Lusts and Vices by standing still while we see them Falling before us with our hands in our sleeves till the Enemy renew the War and we are Driven back from all our Good Resolutions and are Forc't to Retire with Shame and Anguish to Review the Wounds we Received in our Dishonourable Retreat from Virtue and Goodness 4. We may next Consider that God is pleas'd to lengthen out the day of Grace unless we shorten it our selves to the End of our Lives that we may be alwaies Growing to greater Persection in it 'T is our own Fault if ever he withdraws the Assistance of his Spirit from us and makes our Day of Grace shorter than the Days of our Lives Nothing but our incurable Barrenness under the Means of Grace can provoke him to so high an Act of Justice and Severity But that this will do it his Declaring upon Oath that the Revolting Ifraelites should not enter into his Rest and our Saviours Cursing the Fig-tree that brought forth nothing but Leaves let no Fruit grow on thee hence forward for ever are very Dreadful Intimations This Consideration therefore should excite us to abound in all the Fruits ef Righteousness Phil. 1. â—â— which are by Jesus Cnrist to the Praise and Glory of God Who is pleased to wait for our Improvement and to furnish us with all the Means and Abilities which are requisite to it And is so gracious as not to Exact at once the whole summ in which we are Indebted to him but accepts our obedience in such Small Parcels and poor Degrees as we are able to Pay him 'T is an unspeakable Favour that God overlooks the Weaknesses and Imperfections of our best Services and allows us time and Grace for a Gradual Improvement And this Goodness and Forbearance of God if there be
Vices to hurry them out of this World before they have any reasonable hopes of a better or have made any tolerable preparation for it There is infinite odds between a State of Hope in this Life and of endless Dispair and Misery in the next where the worm dyeth not and the Fire is not quenched And then what a desperate thing is it to cast away our Lives when all our hopes interests in both Worlds do depend upon them This is so wild and extravagant an Action so contrary to all the dictates of Sense and Reason to the Rules of our Faith and the foundation of our Hopes to the very end of our Creation the Honour and Goodness of the Divine Providence and that eternal desire of Happiness which is inseparable from the Constitution of every rational Being that there seems to be a principle wanting in humane Nature to account for it And can we be so monstrous and unnatural as to break thro' all the restraints of Humanity Religion and comply with the instigation of the devil to destroy ourselves rather than submit to the wise method of God to save us Shall we Massacre our Souls and Bodies which the Son of God did not think his own Life too dear a Sacrifice for Shall we deprive our selves of all advantages for securing Eternal Life to gratify a Passion that never pretended to the least degree of Pleasure or Satisfaction in it Let us make all the hast we can to qualify our selves for the Glory and Happiness of the Future State there is no fear our time should lye upon our hands Death without our assistence will soon take it off and Eternity will require and diserve the utmost preparation we can possibly make for it Let us therefore be wise and since through the Grace of God we may live and be happy and weather out the stormes of this angry and tempestious World let us possess our Souls with Patience and value our Lives as one of the choicest Blessings of Heaven and not Judge our selves unworthy of Eternal Life by refusing to wait for it all the days of our appointed time till our change cometh SERMON VIII Concerning the Shortness and Instability of Life James 4.14 For what is your Life It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away THE Apostle in the Verse before the Text expostulates with a sort of Proling and busy Men that were laying a long train of Designs to raise their Fortunes in the World without taking any notice of God's Providence or asking his leave to thrive and be happy Go too now ye that say To day or to morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a Year Vers 13. and Buy and Sell and get Gain As if he had said don't Reckon to fast You are sure of nothing that you Count upon nor consider in whose hand your Life is or on whose Pleasure your fine Projects depend You reckon as if you were absolute Lords of Time and had the World in a String and could draw the Wealth and Traffick of it into your own Hands as you Please You talk of great Matters and are very Free of what is none of your own while you dispose of a Year to come as if you knew the just Number of your Days and were sure your Lives would hold out as long as you have occasion for them Whereas you know not what shall be on the Morrow Vers 14. Or what a day may bring forth You may Sicken and Die before to morrow comes Or you may finish your Journey and Breath your last in the next Village before you come to the City where your Designs are laid For what is your Life It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away These Words are a lively and emphatical Description of the frailty and shortness of Humane Life The Question What is your Life as St. James seems to propose it to take down the confidence of presumptuous Men implyes it to be next to nothing a thing not at all to be Trusted or Relied upon Alas what is your Life And the answer lessens it a much It is a Vapour a thin vagrant Fume or Flash that rather appears than subsists and that but for a little time and then vanisheth away that is It presently sinks into that Nothing as to this World which wyile it appear'd it was so little rais'd above But the Life of Man in this World as vain and short as it is deserves his most serious Thoughts because there lies a mighty Weight upon it no less than the concernment of a whole Eternity And therefore the Shortness and Fickleness of it are so far from excusing a careless manner of Living or Prompting us to Mirth and Jollity as the onely Remedy against them that they are very weighty considerations to quicken our preparations for a better Life and to excite us to the Well spending of this since there is an Eternity to be gained or lost by the good or ill management of it Our great hindrance to this Duty is that we are very apt to misreckon our Lives being willing to Believe they will last as long as we can invent Business for them or Hope to find any Pleasure in them And for this Reason we need to be often Reminded of the shortness and instability of our Lives For so many Years as we Reckon upon more than we have to Live We Borrow upon the Interest of the next Life and are therefore like to pay dearly for them and especially since we can never enjoy them We shall Live indeed to Eternity but our stay here will be short and yet what we do for Eternity must be done here in this World and therefore it behoves us to take a right Measure of our present Being and not think that our Lives will stretch as our Fancies and Desires of Living do For t is plain that the Stronger our Hopes of Life are and the more Years we Reckon we have before us the greater our Temptations will be to put off the main and necessary Work of our Lives and to run the hazard of a too late and fallacious Repentance of being Hardened by the Deceitfulness of Sin and of falling at last into the ravings and distractions of Dying Sinners the sad presages of a miserable Eternity This we have often seen the Tryal of in Others with that Ill Success that of all things methinks we should not desire to make the Experiment which yet we cannot avoid if we do as they have done before us and suffer our selves to be Gull'd with the Flatteries of this present World into a Fond expectation of a long and happy continuance here The surest way to avoid the consequences of this Fatal Errour is to Understand the true State of our Lives and to season our Minds with frequent and serious Meditations upon it that so we may apply them to the
The shortness and instability of our lives should teach us to moderate our Cares about earthly things and submit all our designs and purposes to God's good Pleasure and Providence over us 'T is a strange Absurdity which the over-busie and designing Men of this World are Guilty of that they love it better than their lives tho' all their enjoyment of it depends upon them They complain that their lives are short and yet sell them very cheap to purchase a little Estate or Honour and wear them out much faster than they need to do by immoderate Toyal and Labor only to have a Name for leaving something behind them To Dy Rich they Kill themselves with piercing and vexatious Cares and have hardly the wisdom of the Fool in the Gospel to ease and refresh their Souls tho' they have goods laid up for many years and scarce know where or on whom to bestow them And methinks of all Persons such Men should not Taxt the Providence of God for allowing them so short a time in this World since they take so much pains to shorten it themselves and cannot afford to live out the time which God and Nature have allowed them On the other hand where is the wisdom seeing our lives are so short of laying a long Train of Designs reaching into Future Ages and promising our selves success upon any little encouragement from the present Posture of Affairs when it is impossible we should live to see or be competently assured of the conclusion of them Who that reads Campanellas Discourse concerning the Spanish Monarchy can forbear to smile at the simplicity or admire the confidence of crowing Mortals who undertake to govern the World in future Times and instruct the Providence of God how to demean it self in relation to them 'T is too much for a mortal Man to undertake for the events of a single day 't is very unreasonable for him to trouble himself and the World with Projects which are never like to take effect in his days and nothing is more absurd than to brag what great things he will do at such a time which it may be proves to be Ten or Twenty years after he is gone to his Grave St. James having to do with such men teaches them immediately after the Text to express themselves in a more Modest and Christian Style For that saith he ye ought to say If the Lord will we shall live and do this or that Since your Projects depend upon your Lives and your Lives upon God you will do well to take him into your Counsels and propose none but reasonable and moderate things always submitting your selves and them to his Wisdom and Conduct to leave Future Time and Events to God's over-ruling Providence to do your present Duties and not interest your selves in the World any farther than you may be serviceable to it 5. The Consideration of the shortness of our Lives and the great instability of them should engage the youngest of us to begin them well and to use all the care and Frugality that they can in the spending of them least they should not hold out for the great purposes of Living While we are young we are as capable of Virtue and Religion of Dying and going to Heaven as when we are Old All these things are necessary to our Happiness and as much our concernment now as ever they will be all the difference is that Youth is the best and perhaps the only opportunity that a young Man will ever have of being good and happy Old-AGe is no necessary part of Huamen Life there are more that Dy young than that Live to be Old and of those that do so there are few that live well that did not begin to live betimes I mean that had not an early sense of God and Religion Consider therefore you that are young how much it concerns you to make Religion your first and immediate care if you would aim to do the most necessary and important Work of your Lives to the best advantage You will be sure to escape two mighty Hazards by it viz. The Danger of Dying Young which is over when you are fitted for Heaven by an early Piety And that of deferring your Repentance till you are Old or you know not when which seldom comes to any Thing or at most but to a deep and piercing Sorrow that you did not Repent sooner when you had Life and Quickness of Thought Opportunity and Ability of serving God and laying a good and lasting Foundation for Eternal Life And then by consecrating your green and blooming Years to the Service of God you will have the advantage of making the most of a short Life You will soon find the ways of Religion pleasant and the pleasantness of them will engage you to Persevere to the End which will be everlasting Life and Pleasure for evermore By setting out early towards Heaven and taking the morning of your Days you will find it a much easier Journey than they generally do who thinking to Ride it off in a few hours in the Evening are soon benighted and forc't to Travel without any certain Guide or Light till they stumble into a Dark Grave and a doubtful Immortality And should you live but to a competent Age yet beginning Young and making the best Improvement of your short Time you may do very great and eminent Things for God's Honour and your Own and the good of Humane Society For your Comfort in this and your Happiness in the other World And so may live more in your little time than they that live longer by many Years than the late Evening Convert or the Sinner that is an hundred Years Old For indeed we are not properly said to Live till we are alive to God and our Redeemer and begin to look towards Heaven and Eternity which are the proper and great Ends of Living And therefore if we would make the best of our Time as we had need to do that have so little in Store We must begin at the right End and Engage betimes in the Service of God and not think it enough when we have spent the Flower of our Age upon His and our own greatest Enemy to put him off with a few of our blasted and wither'd Days in which we have no Pleasure and can have no Reason to think they should be acceptable to Him And for the same Reason it concerns us having begun well to hold on in the ways of Vertue and Piety and to get as forward as we can towards Heaven in the next Stage of our Lives remembring that our Lives are now shorter than they were and that our Time is every day more precious than other the value of it improving as the Stock Decreases That nothing less than our Progress in Well-doing can secure our hopeful beginnings That every good Work we do will both help to insure and enhance our Reward and that the true Way of lengthening our Time is to