that ever were upon Earth shall then flee from the face of Him whom they have so often blasphemed and denied and shall so far despair of finding mercy with Him in that Day who would sue to Him for it no sooner that they shall address themselves to the Mountains and Rocks as being more pitiful and exorable than He to hide them from the face of Him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb From the wrath of the Lamb to signify to us that nothing is more terrible than Meekness and Patience when they are throughly provok'd and turn'd into Fury In such dreadful confusion shall all impenitent Sinners be when they shall be surpriz'd by that Great and terrible Day of the Lord And the Case of a dying Sinner who would take no care in the time of his Life and Health to make preparation for another World is not much more hopeful and comfortable For alas how little is it that a sick and dying man can do in such a strait of time in the midst of so much pain and weakness of Body and of such confusion and amazement of Mind With what heart can he set about so great a Work for which there is so little time With what face can he apply himself to God in this extremity whom he hath so disdainfully neglected all the days of his Life And how can he have the confidence to hope that God will hear his cries and regard his tears that are forc'd from him in this day of his necessity when he is conscious to himself that in that long day of God's Grace and Patience he turned a deaf ear to all his merciful invitations and rejected the counsel of God against himself In a word how can he who would not know in that his Day the things which belonged to his peace expect any other but that they should now be for ever hid from his eyes which are ready to be clos'd in utter darkness I will not pronounce any thing concerning the impossibility of a death-bed Repentance But I am sure that it is very difficult and I believe very rare We have but one Example that I know of in the whole Bible of the Repentance of a dying Sinner I mean that of the penitent Thief upon the Cross And the circumstances of his Case are so peculiar and extraordinary that I cannot see that it affords any ground of hope and encouragement to men in ordinary Cases We are not like to suffer in the company of the Son of God and of the Saviour of the World and if we could do so it is not certain that we should behave our selves towards Him so well as the penitent Thief did and make so very good an end of so very bad a Life And the Parable in the Text is so far from giving any encouragement to a Death bed Repentance and Preparation that it rather represents their Case as desperate who put off their Preparation to that Time How ineffectual all that the foolish Virgins could do at that time did in the conclusion prove is set forth to us at large in the Parable They wanted Oyl but could neither borrow nor buy it They would then fain have had it and ran about to get it but it was not to be obtain'd neither by entreaty nor for money First they apply themselves to the wise Virgins for a share in the over-plus of their Graces and Virtues the foolish said unto the wise give us of your Oyl for our Lamps are gone out but the wise answered not so lest there be not enough for us and you The wise Virgins it seems knew of none they had to spare And then they are represented as ironically sending the foolish Virgins to some famous Market where this Oyl was pretended to be sold go ye rather to them that sell and buy for your selves And as dying and desperate persons are apt to catch at every twig and when they can see no hopes of being saved are apt to believe every one that will give them any so these foolish Virgins follow the advice and whilst they went to buy the Bridegroom came and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut and afterwards came also the other Virgins saying Lord Lord open to us but he answered and said verily I say unto you I know you not You see how little or rather no encouragement at all there is from any the least circumstance in this Parable for those who have delay'd their Preparation for another World till they be overtaken by Death or Judgment to hope by any thing that they can then do by any importunity which they can then use to gain admission into Heaven Let those consider this with fear and trembling who forget God and neglect Religion all their Life-time and yet feed themselves with vain hopes by some Device or other to be admitted into Heaven at last Fifthly I observe that there is no such thing as Works of Super-erogation that is that no man can do more than needs and than is his duty to do by way of Preparation for another World For when the foolish Virgins would have begg'd of the wise some Oyl for their Lamps the wise answered not so lest there be not enough for us and you It was only the foolish Virgins that in the time of their extremity and when they were conscious that they wanted that which was absolutely necessary to qualify them for admission into Heaven who had entertain'd this idle Conceit that there might be an over-plus of Grace and Merit in others sufficient to supply their want But the wise knew not of any they had to spare but supposed all that they had done or could possibly do to be little enough to qualify them for the glorious Reward of eternal Life Not so say they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest at any time that is lest when there should be need and occasion all that we have done or could do should be little enough for our selves And in this Point they had been plainly instructed by the Bridegroom himself But ye when ye have done all say we are unprofitable servants and have done nothing but what was our duty to do And yet this Conceit of the foolish Virgins as absurd as it is hath been taken up in good earnest by a grave Matron who gives out her self to be the Mother and Mistress of all Churches and the only infallible Oracle of Truth I mean the Church of Rome whose avowed Doctrine it is that there are some Persons so excellently good that they may do more than needs for their own Salvation And therefore when they have done as much for themselves as in strict duty they are bound to do and thereby have paid down a full and valuable consideration for Heaven and as much as in equal justice between God and Man it is worth that then they may go to work again
a great deal more in Innocence And the more any man considers this the truer he will find it and when-ever we are serious we our selves cannot but acknowledge it When a man examines himself impartially before the Sacrament or is put in mind upon a Death-bed to make reparation for Injuries done in this kind he will then certainly be of this mind and wish he had not done them For this certainly is one necessary qualification for the Blessed Sacrament that we be in love and charity with our neighbours with which temper of mind this quality is utterly inconsistent Thirdly There is yet a more specious Plea than either of the former that men will be encouraged to do ill if they can escape the tongues of men as they would do if this Doctrine did effectually take place Because by this means one great restraint from doing evil would be taken away which these good men who are so bent upon reforming the World think would be great pity For many who will venture upon the displeasure of God will yet abstain from doing bad things for fear of reproach from Men Besides that this seems the most proper punishment of many Faults which the Laws of Men can take no notice of Admitting all this to be true yet it does not seem so good and laudable a way to punish one Fault by another But let no man encourage himself in an evil way with this hope that he shall escape the censure of men When I have said all I can there will I fear be evil-speaking enough in the World to chastise them that do ill And though we should hold our peace there will be bad tongues enow to reproach men with their evil-doings I wish we could but be persuaded to make the Experiment for a little while whether men would not be sufficiently lash'd for their Faults though we sate by and said nothing So that there is no need at all that good Men should be concern'd in this odious Work There will always be Offenders and Malefactors enow to be the Executioners to inflict this punishment upon one another Therefore let no man presume upon Impunity on the one hand and on the other let no man despair but that this business will be sufficiently done one way or other I am very much mistaken if we may not safely trust an ill-natur'd World that there will be no failure of Justice in this kind And here if I durst I would fain have said a word or two concerning that more publick sort of Obloquy by Lampoons and Libels so much in fashion in this witty Age. But I have no mind to provoke a very terrible sort of men Yet thus much I hope may be said without offence that how much soever men are pleas'd to see others abused in this kind yet it is always grievous when it comes to their own turn However I cannot but hope that every man that impartially considers must own it to be a fault of a very high nature to revile those whom God hath placed in Authority over us and to slander the footsteps of the Lord 's Anointed Especially since it is so expressly written Thou shalt not speak evil of the Rulers of thy People Having represented the great evil of this Vice it might not now be improper to say something to those who suffer by it Are we guilty of the evil said of us Let us reform and cut off all occasions for the future and so turn the malice of our Enemies to our own advantage and defeat their ill intentions by making so good an use of it And then it will be well for us to have been evil spoken of Are we innocent We may so much the better bear it patiently imitating herein the Pattern of our Blessed Saviour Who when he was reviled reviled not again but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously We may consider likewise that though it be a misfortune to be evil-spoken of it is their fault that do it and not ours and therefore should not put us into Passion because another man's being injurious to me is no good reason why I should be uneasie to my self We should not revenge the injuries done to us no not upon them that do them much less upon our selves Let no man's Provocation make thee to lose thy Patience Be not such a fool as to part with any one Virtue because some men are so malicious as to endeavour to rob thee of the Reputation of all the rest When men speak ill of thee do as Plato said he would do in that case Live so as that no body may believe them All that now remains is to reflect upon what hath been said and to urge you and my self to do accordingly For all is nothing if we do not practise what we so plainly see to be our Duty Many are so taken up with the deep Points and Mysteries of Religion that they never think of the common Duties and Offices of humane Life But Faith and a good Life are so far from clashing with one another that the Christian Religion hath made them inseparable True Faith is necessary in order to a good Life and a good Life is the genuine product of a right Belief and therefore the one never ought to be press'd to the prejudice of the other I foresee what will be said because I have heard it so often said in the like case that there is not one word of Jesus Christ in all this No more is there in the Text. And yet I hope that Jesus Christ is truly preach'd when-ever his Will and Laws and the Duties injoyn'd by the Christian Religion are inculcated upon us But some men are pleased to say that this is mere Morality I answer that this is Scripture-Morality and Christian-Morality and who hath any thing to say against that Nay I will go yet further that no man ought to pretend to believe the Christian Religion who lives in the neglect of so plain a Duty and in the practice of a Sin so clearly condemn'd by it as this of evil-speaking is But because the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged Sword yea sharper than Calumny it self and pierceth the very Hearts and Consciences of men laying us open to our selves and convincing us of our more secret as well as our more visible Faults I shall therefore at one view represent to you what is dispersedly said concerning this Sin in the Holy Word of God And I have purposely reserved this to the last because it is more persuasive and penetrating than any Humane Discourse And to this end be pleas'd to consider in what company the Holy Ghost doth usually mention this Sin There is scarce any black Catalogue of Sins in the Bible but we find this among them in the company of the very worst Actions and most irregular Passions of men Out of the heart says our Saviour proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications false-witness
over let us say Peace be within thee For the House of the Lord our God for the sake of our Holy Religion and of that excellent Church whereof we all are or ought to be Members let every one of us say I will seek thy good And what greater good can we do to the best Religion how can we better serve the interest of it in all parts of the World than by being at peace and unity among our selves here in England upon whom the eyes of all the Protestants abroad are fixed as the Glory of the Reformation and the great bulwark and support of it That so under the Providence of Almighty God and the conduct of two such excellent Princes as He hath now bless'd us withal The One so brave and valiant and Both of them so wise so good so religious we may at last arrive at a firm establishment and become like mount Zion that cannot be moved the perfection of Beauty and Strength and the admiration and joy of the whole Earth which God of his infinite goodness grant for his mercies sake in Jesus Christ To whom with thee O Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory dominion and power thanksgiving and praise both now and ever Amen A Conscience void of Offence towards God and Men. IN A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL February the 27 th 1690 1. A Conscience void of Offence towards God and Men. ACTS xxiv 16 And herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards men THese words are part of the Defence which St. Paul made for himself before Faelix the Roman Governour In which he first of all vindicates himself from the charge of Sedition ver 12. They neither found me in the Temple disputing with any man neither raising up the People neither in the Synagogue nor in the City that is they could not charge him with making any disturbance either in Church or State After this he makes a free and open profession of his Religion ver 14. But this I confess that after the way which they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets Here he declares the Scriptures to be the Rule of his Faith in opposition to the Oral Tradition of the Pharisees More particularly he asserts the Doctrine of the Resurrection which was a principal Article both of the Jewish and the Christian Religion ver 15. And I have hope also towards God that there shall be a Resurrection both of the just and the unjust And having made this declaration of his Faith he gives an account of his Life in the words of the Text ver 16. And herein do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men Herein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in this work do I employ my self or as others render it in the mean time whilst I am in this World or as others I think most probably for this cause and reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this reason because I believe a Resurrection therefore have I a conscientious care of my life and all the actions of it The Discourse I intend to make upon these words shall be comprized in these following Particulars I. Here is the extent of a good man's pious practice to have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men II. Here is his constancy and perseverance in this course to have always a conscience void of offence III. Here is his earnest care and endeavour to this purpose I exercise my self IV. Here is the principle and immediate Guide of his Actions which St. Paul here tells us was his Conscience V. I shall lay down some Rules and Directions for the keeping of a good Conscience VI. Here is the great motive and encouragement to this which St. Paul tells us was the belief of a Resurrection and of a future State of Rewards and Punishments consequent upon it for this cause because I hope for a Resurrection both of the just and unjust I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men I shall speak but briefly to the three first of these Particulars that I may be larger in the rest I. Here is the extent of a good man's pious practice It hath regard to the whole compass of his Duty as it respects God and Man I exercise my self says St. Paul to have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men And this distribution of our Duty under these two general Heads is very frequent in Scripture The Decalogue refers our Duty to these two Heads And accordingly our Saviour comprehends the whole Duty of Man in those two great Commandments the love of God and of our Neighbour Matth. 22.38 Vpon these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets that is all the Moral Precepts which are dispers'd up and down in the Law and the Prophets may be referr'd to these two general Heads II. Here is his constancy and perseverance in this course St. Paul says that he exercised himself to have always a conscience void of offence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 continually at all times in the whole course of his life We must not only make conscience of our ways by fits and starts but in the general course and tenour of our lives and actions without any balks and intermissions There are some that will refrain from grosser Sins and be very strict at some Seasons as during the Time of a Solemn Repentance and for some days before they receive the Sacrament and perhaps for a little while after it And when these devout Seasons are over they let themselves loose again to their former lewd and vitious course But Religion should be a constant frame and temper of mind discovering it self in the habitual course of our lives and actions III. Here is likewise a very earnest care and endeavour to this purpose Herein do I exercise my self says St. Paul The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here render'd exercise is a word of a very intense signification and does denote that St. Paul applied himself to this business with all his care and might and that he made it his earnest study and endeavour And so must we we must take great care to understand our duty and to be rightly informed concerning good and evil that we may not mistake the nature of things and call good evil and evil good We must apply our minds in good earnest to be thoroughly instructed in all the parts of our Duty that so we may not be at a loss what to do when we are call'd to the practice of it And when we know our Duty we must be true and honest to our selves and very careful and conscientious in the discharge and performance of it I proceed in the IV th
Place to consider the principle and immediate Guide of our Actions which St. Paul here tells us was his Conscience I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence By which he does not only mean a resolution to follow the dictate and direction of his Conscience but likewise a due care to inform his Conscience aright that he might not in any thing transgress the Law of God and his Duty Conscience is the great Principle of moral Actions and our Guide in matter of Sin and Duty It is not the Law and Rule of our Actions that the Law of God only is but it is our immediate Guide and Directour telling us what is the Law of God and our Duty But because Conscience is a word of a very large and various signification I shall endeavour very briefly to give you the true notion of it Now in common speech concerning Conscience every man is represented as having a kind of Court and Tribunal in his own breast where he tries himself and all his Actions And Conscience under one Notion or other sustains all parts in this Tryal The Court is call'd the Court of a man's Conscience and the Barr at which the Sinner stands impleaded is call'd the Barr of Conscience Conscience also is the Accuser and it is the Record and Register of our Crimes in which the memory of them is preserv'd And it is the Witness which gives testimony for or against us hence are those expressions of the testimony of our Consciences and that a man 's own Conscience is to him instead of a thousand Witnesses And it is likewise the Judge which declares the Law and what we ought or ought not to have done in such or such a Case and accordingly passeth Sentence upon us by acquitting or condemning us Thus according to common use of Speech Conscience sustains all imaginable parts in this Spiritual Court It is the Court and the Bench and the Barr the Accuser and Witness and Register and all But I shall only at present consider Conscience in the most common and famous Notion of it as it is the Principle or Faculty whereby we judge of moral Good and Evil and do accordingly direct and govern our Actions So that in short Conscience is nothing else but the Judgment of a man 's own mind concerning the morality of his actions that is the Good or Evil or Indifferency of them telling us what things are commanded by God and consequently are our Duty what things are forbidden by Him and consequently are sinful what things are neither commanded nor forbidden and consequently are indifferent I proceed in the V th Place to give some Rules and Directions for the keeping of a conscience void of offence And they shall be these following First Never in any case to act contrary to the persuasion and conviction of our Conscience For that certainly is a great Sin and that which properly offends the Conscience and renders us guilty guilt being nothing else but trouble arising in our minds from a consciousness of having done contrary to what we are verily persuaded was our Duty And though perhaps this persuasion is not always well grounded yet the guilt is the same so long as this persuasion continues because every man's Conscience is a kind of God to him and accuseth or absolves him according to the present persuasion of it And therefore we ought to take great care not to offend against the light and conviction of our own mind Secondly We should be very careful to inform our Consciences aright that we may not mistake concerning our Duty or if we do that our errour and mistake may not be grosly wilful and faulty And this Rule is the more necessary to be consider'd and regarded by us because generally men are apt to think it a sufficient excuse for any thing that they did it according to their Conscience But this will appear to be a dangerous mistake and of very pernicious consequence to the Souls of men if we consider these two things 1 st That men may be guilty of the most heinous Sins in following an erroneous Conscience 2 ly And these Sins may prove damnable without a particular repentance for them 1 st That men may be guilty of the most heinous Sins in following an erroneous Conscience Men may neglect and abuse themselves so far as to do some of the worst and wickedest things in the World with a persuasion that they do well Our Saviour tells his Disciples that the time should come when the Jews should put them to death thinking they did God good service Nay the Jews murthered the Son of God himself through ignorance and a false perswasion of mind Father forgive them says our Blessed Lord when he was breathing out his Soul upon the Cross for they know not what they do And St. Peter after he had charged the Jews with killing the Prince of Life he presently adds I wote that through ignorance ye did it as did also your Rulers And St. Paul in mitigation of that great Crime says Had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of life and glory And concerning himself he tells us That he verily thought with himself that he ought to do many things against the Name of Jesus of Nazareth And yet notwithstanding that he acted herein according to the persuasion of his Conscience he tells us that he had been a blasphemer and a persecutour and injurious and a murtherer and in a word the greatest of Sinners So that Men may be guilty of the greatest Sins in following an erroneous Conscience And 2ly These Sins may prove damnable without a particular repentance for them Where the ignorance and mistake is not grosly wilful there God will accept of a general repentance but where it is grosly wilful great Sins committed upon it are not pardon'd without a particular Repentance for them And an errour which proceeds from want of ordinary human care and due Government of a man's self is in a great degree wilful As when it proceeds from an unreasonable and obstinate prejudice from great pride and self-conceit and contempt of counsel and instruction or from a visible byass of self-interest or when it is accompanied with a furious passion and zeal prompting men to cruel and horrible things contrary to the light of nature and the common sense of humanity An errour proceeding from such causes and producing such effects is wilful in so high a degree that whatever evil is done in vertue of it is almost equally faulty with a direct and wilful violation of the Law of God The ignorance and mistake doth indeed make the person so mistaken more capable of forgiveness which is the ground of our Saviour's Prayer for his Murtherers Father forgive them for they know not what they do St. Paul likewise tells us that he found mercy upon this account Nevertheless says he I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and in
for their Friends and begin a new Score and from that time forwards may put the Surplusage of their good Works as a Debt upon God to be laid up in the Publick Treasury of the Church as so many Bills of Credit which the Pope by his Pardons and Indulgences may dispense and place to whose account he pleases And out of this Bank which is kept at Rome those who never took care to have any Righteousness of their own may be supplied at reasonable rates To which they have added a further supply of Grace if there should be any need of it by the Sacrament of extreme Vnction never heard of in the Christian Church for many Ages but devised as it were on purpose to furnish such foolish Virgins with Oyl as are here described in the Parable And thus by one Device or other they have enervated the Christian Religion to that degree that it hath almost quite lost its true virtue and efficacy upon the hearts and lives of men And instead of the real fruits of Goodness and Righteousness it produceth little else but Superstition and Folly or if it produce any real Virtues yet even the virtue of those Virtues is in a great measure spoil'd by their arrogant pretences of Merit and Super-erogation and is render'd insignificant to themselves by their insolent carriage and behaviour towards God Sixthly and lastly if we could suppose any Persons to be so overgrown with Goodness as to have more than needs to qualify them for the Reward of eternal Life yet there can be no assigning and transferring of this over-plus of Grace and Virtue from one man to another For we see that all the ways that could be thought on of begging or borrowing or buying Oyl of others did all prove ineffectual because the thing is in its own nature impracticable that one Sinner who owes all that he hath and much more to God should have any thing to spare wherewithal to merit for another Indeed our B. Saviour hath merited for us all the Reward of eternal Life upon the Conditions of Faith and Repentance and Obedience But the infinite Merit of his Obedience and Sufferings will be of no benefit and advantage to us if we our selves be not really and inherently righteous So St. John tells us and warns us to beware of the contrary Conceit Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous If we do sincerely endeavour to please God and to keep his commandments in the general course of a holy and virtuous Life the Merit of Christ's perfect Obedience and Sufferings will be available with God for the acceptance of our sincere though but imperfect Obedience But if we take no care to be righteous and good our selves the perfect righteousness of Christ will do us no good much less the imperfect righteousness of any other man who is a Sinner himself And the holiest man that ever was upon Earth can no more assign and make over his Righteousness or Repentance or any part of either to another that wants it than a man can bequeath his Wisdom or Learning to his Heir or his Friend No more than a sick man can be restored to Health by virtue of the Physick which another man hath taken Let no man therefore think of being good by a Deputy that cannot be contented to be happy and to be saved the same way that is to go to Hell and to be tormented there in Person and to go to Heaven and be admitted into that Place of Bliss only by Proxy So that these good Works with a hard name and the making over the Merit of them to others have no manner of foundation either in Scripture or Reason but are all mere Fancy and Fiction in Divinity The Inference from all this shall be the application which our Saviour makes of this Parable Watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh as if he had said the design of this Parable is to instruct us that we ought to be continually vigilant and always upon our guard and in a constant readiness and preparation to meet the Bridegroom because we know not the time of his coming to Judgment nor yet which will be of the same consequence and concernment to us do any of us know the precise time of our own Death Either of these may happen at any time and come when we least expect them And therefore we should make the best and speediest provision that we can for another World and should be continually upon our watch and trimming our Lamps that we may not be surprized by either of these neither by our own particular Death nor by the general Judgment of the World Because the Son of man will come in a Day when we look not for Him and at an hour when we are not aware More particularly we should take up a present and effectual resolution not to delay our Repentance and the reformation of our Lives that we may not have that great Work to do when we are not fit to do any thing no not to dispose of our temporal Concernments much less to prepare for Eternity and to do that in a few moments which ought to have been the care and endeavour of our whole Lives That we may not be forced to huddle up an imperfect and I fear an insignificant Repentance and to do that in great haste and confusion which certainly does require our wisest and most deliberate thoughts and all the consideration in the world And we should provide store of Oil in our Vessels wherewith to supply our Lamps that they may burn bright to the last I mean we should improve the Grace which we received in Baptism by abounding in the fruits of the Spirit and in all the substantial Virtues of a good Life that so an entrance may be ministred to us abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ By this means when we are called to meet the Bridegroom we shall not be put to those miserable and sharking shifts which the foolish Virgins were driven to of begging or borrowing or buying Oyl which will all fail us when we come to depend upon them And though the Dying man may make a hard shift to support himself with these false Comforts for a little while yet when the short Delusion is over which will be assoon as ever he is stepp'd into the other World he will to his everlasting confusion and trouble find the door of Heaven shut against him and that notwithstanding all his vast Treasure of Pardons and Indulgences which have cost him so much and are worth so little he shall never see the Kingdom of God And lastly we should take great care that we do not extinguish our Lamps by quitting the Profession of our Holy Religion upon any temptation of advantage or for fear of any loss or suffering whatsoever This Occasion will
sake of that to deny themselves almost all sort of ease and pleasure To deny themselves did I say No they have wisely and judiciously chosen the truest and highest Pleasure that this World knows the Pleasure of doing good and being Benefactors to Mankind May they have a long and happy Reign over us to make us happy and to lay up in store for Themselves a Happiness without measure and without end in God's glorious and everlasting Kingdom For his Mercies sake in Jesus Christ to whom with thee O Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Thanksgiving and Praise both now and for ever Amen A SERMON AGAINST EVIL-SPEAKING Preached before the King and Queen AT WHITE-HALL Febr. the 25 th 1693 4. A Sermon against Evil-speaking TIT. iij. 2 To speak evil of no man GEneral Persuasives to Repentance and a good Life and Invectives against Sin and Wickedness at large are certainly of good use to recommend Religion and Virtue and to expose the deformity and danger of a Vicious course But it must be acknowledged on the other hand that these general Discourses do not so immediately tend to reform the Lives of men Because they fall among the Croud but do not touch the Consciences of particular Persons in so sensible and awakening a manner as when we treat of particular Duties and Sins and endeavour to put men upon the practice of the one and to reclaim them from the other by proper Arguments taken from the Word of God and from the nature of particular Vertues and Vices The general way is as if a Physician instead of applying particular Remedies to the Distemper of his Patient should entertain him with a long discourse of Diseases in general and of the pleasure and advantages of Health and earnestly persuade him to be well without taking his particular Disease into consideration and prescribing Remedies for it But if we would effectually reform men we must take to task the great and common disorders of their Lives and represent their faults to them in such a manner as may convince them of the evil and danger of them and put them upon the endeavour of a cure And to this end I have pitched upon one of the common and reigning Vices of the Age Calumny and Evil-speaking by which men contract so much guilt to themselves and create so much trouble to others And from which it is to be feared few or none are wholly free For who is he saith the Son of Sirach that hath not offended with his tongue In many things saith St. James we offend all And if any man offend not in word the same is a perfect man But how few have attain'd to this perfection And yet unless we do endeavour after it and in some good measure attain it all our pretence to Religion is vain So the same Apostle tells us If any man among you seemeth to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart that man's Religion is vain For the more distinct handling of this Argument I shall reduce my Discourse to these Five Heads First I shall consider the Nature of this Vice and wherein it consists Secondly I shall consider the due extent of this Prohibition To speak evil of no man Thirdly I shall shew the Evil of this practice both in the Causes and Effects of it Fourthly I shall add some further Considerations to dissuade men from it Fifthly I shall give some Rules and Directions for the prevention and cure of it I. I shall consider what this Sin or Vice of evil speaking here forbidden by the Apostle is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to defame and slander any man not to hurt his reputation as the Etymology of the word doth import So that this Vice consists in saying things of others which tend to their disparagement and reproach to the taking away or lessening of their Reputation and good Name And this whether the things said be true or not If they be false and we know it then it is down-right Calumny and if we do not know it but take it upon the report of others it is however a Slander and so much the more injurious because really groundless and undeserved If the thing be true and we know it to be so yet it is a defamation and tends to the prejudice of our neighbour's reputation And it is a fault to say the evil of others which is true unless there be some good reason for it besides Because it is contrary to that charity and goodness which Christianity requires to divulge the faults of others though they be really guilty of them without necessity or some other very good reason for it Again It is Evil-speaking and the Vice condemn'd in the Text whether we be the first Authors of an ill Report or relate it from others because the man that is evil spoken of is equally defam'd either way Again Whether we speak evil of a man to his face or behind his back The former way indeed seems to be the more generous but yet is a great Fault and that which we call reviling The latter is more mean and base and that which we properly call Slander or Backbiting And Lastly Whether it be done directly and in express terms or more obscurely and by way of oblique insinuation whether by way of down-right reproach or with some crafty preface of commendation For so it have the effect to defame the manner of address does not much alter the case The one may be more dextrous but is not one jot less faulty For many times the deepest Wounds are given by these smoother and more artificial ways of Slander as by asking questions Have you not heard so and so of such a man I say no more I only ask the question Or by general intimations that they are loth to say what they have heard of such a one are very sorry for it and do not at all believe it if you will believe them And this many times without telling the thing but leaving you in the dark to suspect the worst These and such like Arts though they may seem to be tenderer and gentler ways of using men's reputation yet in truth they are the most malicious and effectual methods of Slander because they insinuate something that is much worse than is said and yet are very apt to create in unwary men a strong belief of something that is very bad though they know not what it is So that it matters not in what fashion a Slander is dress'd up if it tend to defame a man and to diminish his Reputation it is the Sin forbidden in the Text. II. We will consider the extent of this Prohibition to speak evil of no man and the due bounds and limitations of it For it is not to be understood absolutely to forbid us to say any thing concerning others that is bad This in some cases may be necessary and our duty and in several cases
very fit and reasonable The Question is In what Cases by the general Rules of Scripture and right Reason we are warranted to say the evil of others that is true In general we are not to do this without great reason and necessity as for the prevention of some great evil or the procuring of some considerable good to our selves or others And this I take to be the meaning of that advice of the Son of Sirach Whether it be to a friend or a foe talk not of other men's lives and if thou canst without offence reveal them not that is if without hurt to any body thou canst conceal them divulge them not But because this may not be direction sufficient I shall instance in some of the principal Cases wherein men are warranted to speak evil of others and yet in so doing do not offend against this Prohibition in the Text. First It is not only lawful but very commendable and many times our duty to do this in order to the probable amendment of the person of whom evil is spoken In such a case we may tell a man of his faults privately or where it may not be so fit for us to use that boldness and freedom we may reveal his faults to one who is more fit and proper to reprove him and will probably make no other use of this discovery but in order to his amendment And this is so far from being a breach of Charity that it is one of the best testimonies of it For perhaps the party may not be guilty of what hath been reported of him and then it is a kindness to give him the opportunity of vindicating himself Or if he be guilty perhaps being privately and prudently told of it he may reform In this Case the Son of Sirach adviseth to reveal men's faults Admonish a friend says he it may be he hath not done it and if he have done it that he do it no more Admonish a friend it may be he hath not said it and if he have that he speak it not again Admonish a friend for many times it is a slander and believe not every tale But then we must take care that this be done out of kindness and that nothing of our own passion be mingled with it and that under pretence of reproving and reforming men we do not reproach and revile them and tell them of their faults in such a manner as if we did it to shew our authority rather than our charity It requires a great deal of address and gentle application so to manage the business of Reproof as not to irritate and exasperate the person whom we reprove instead of curing him Secondly This likewise is not only lawful but our duty when we are legally called to bear witness concerning the fault and crime of another A good man would not be an accuser unless the publick good or the prevention of some great evil should require it And then the plain reason of the thing will sufficiently justifie a voluntary accusation otherwise it hath always among well-manner'd People been esteemed very odious for a man to be officious in this kind and a forward Informer concerning the misdemeanours of others Magistrates may sometimes think it fit to give encouragement to such persons and to set one bad man to catch another because such men are fittest for such dirty work But they can never inwardly approve them nor will they ever make them their friends and confidents But when a man is call'd to give testimony in this kind in obedience to the Laws and out of reverence to the Oath taken in such Cases he is so far from deserving blame for so doing that it would be an unpardonable fault in him to conceal the truth or any part of it Thirdly It is lawful to publish the faults of others in our own necessary defence and vindication When a man cannot conceal another's faults without betraying his own innocency no charity requires a man to suffer himself to be defamed to save the reputation of another man Charity begins at home and though a man had never so much goodness he would first secure his own good name and then be concern'd for other men's We are to love our neighbour as our selves so that the love of our selves is the Rule and Measure of our love to our neighbour And therefore first otherwise it could not be the Rule And it would be very well for the World if our Charity would rise thus high and no man would hurt another man's reputation but where his own is in real danger Fourthly This also is lawful for caution and warning to a third person that is in danger to be infected by the company or ill example of another or may be greatly prejudiced by reposing too much confidence in him having no knowledge or suspicion of his bad qualities But even in this case we ought to take great care that the ill character we give of any man be spread no further than is necessary to the good end we designed in it Besides these more obvious and remarkable Cases this Prohibition doth not I think hinder but that in ordinary conversation men may mention that ill of others which is already made as publick as it well can be Or that one friend may not in freedom speak to another of the miscarriage of a third person where he is secure no ill use will be made of it and that it will go no further to his prejudice Provided always that we take no delight in hearing or speaking ill of others And the less we do it though without any malice or design of harm still the better because this shews that we do not feed upon ill reports and take pleasure in them These are the usual Cases in which it may be necessary for us to speak evil of other men And these are so evidently reasonable that the Prohibition in the Text cannot with reason be extended to them And if no man would allow himself to say any thing to the prejudice of another man's good name but in these and the like Cases the tongues of men would be very innocent and the World would be very quiet I proceed in the III d place to consider the evil of this Practice both in the Causes and the Consequences of it First We will consider the Causes of it And it commonly springs from one or more of these evil Roots First One of the deepest and most common Causes of evil-speaking is ill-nature and cruelty of disposition And by a general mistake Ill-nature passeth for Wit as Cunning doth for Wisdom though in truth they are nothing a-kin to one another but as far distant as Vice and Vertue And there is no greater evidence of the bad temper of Mankind than the general proneness of men to this Vice For as our Saviour says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh And therefore men do commonly incline to the censorious and