the Law and the Prophets but to fulfil them This he performed partly by doing and suffering all that the Prophets had foretold concerning him and by accomplishing what was fore-shewn by the Types and Shadows of the Law partly by his divine Discourses and Sermons giving new life and authority to those Rules of Good Living they had been taught by Moses adding to and improving them where they were defective and restoring them to their primitive sense and purity where they were either obscurely delivered or by the misinterpretation of their Doctors were generally misunderstood and this he did suitably to the different nature of those Commands which they had received in Moses's Law some whereof consisted of Rites and Ceremonial Observances which were a Shadow of things to come and were upon the accomplishment of those things presently to have an end Others contained the necessary Rules of Good Living and were of an absolute and unchangeable nature Now so it came to pass that the Jews a People infinitely prone to Superstition were very nice and curious in the observance of those outward Circumstances and Ceremonies of the Law even to the neglect of the greater duties of Righteousness Judgment and Mercy which they ought chiefly to have done though not to have left the other undone The blame of this practice is by our Saviour frequently laid upon the Scribes and Pharisees who then were the great pretenders to the Righteousness of the Law yet in truth the greatest corrupters of it by laying the chief stress upon the outward and less material circumstances and evacuating the moral parts of it by too nice and narrow interpretations Our Saviour therefore having declared that he came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets in pursuance of that design at the 20. v. he forewarns his Hearers of this practice and doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees I say unto you Except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven And that they might not be ignorant in what particulars they ought to exceed what the Pharisees taught in the continuance of his Sermon he gives them several instances wherein the Law of Moses partly by its own obscurity partly by their misinterpretations was generally misunderstood Among other parts of the Moral Law which were not well understood by the Jews there was none to which they were greater strangers than this in the Text of Loving Enemies They had received Levit. xix 18. this precept Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Now the Jews understanding the word Neighbour only of the children of their People of men of their own Tribe and Country of men that kept mutual correspondence and agreement with them they took it for granted that as for other men who were strangers and aliens to them they were at full liberty to exercise what revenge they pleased as appears by the Verse before the Text Ye have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy But this latter clause and hate thine Enemy was an additional interpretation no where to be found in the Law and was in truth contrary to the true intent and meaning of the former precept of Loving our Neighbour as appears by our Saviours explication of it Ye have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy but I say unto you love your Enemies c. Having thus far shewn the Connexion of these words with the foregoing and with the design of the whole Chapter I shall now consider them by themselves and shall endeavour to set before you 1. The Nature and Extent of the Duty enjoined 2. Our Obligation to the practice of it I begin with the Nature and Extent of this Duty Love your Enemies c. The word Love is of a very large signification and in the language of holy Scripture is generally used to express the whole duty of man Thus our Saviour useth it in the Summary of Religion which he taught the Lawyer telling him that the whole Law was comprised in these two things the love of God and of our Neighbour Thou shalt love the Lord thy Matth. 22. 37. God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind this is the first and great Commandment and the second is like unto it thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self on these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets By which use of the word it is plain that the love of our Neighbour includes all the Duties and Offices which one man can owe to another and so it is here to be understood when applied to Enemies as appears by the connexion of these words with the former Verse Ye have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy but I say unto you Love your Enemies Where it is plain our Saviour altered not the comprehensive signification of the word only enlarged the object of it viz. that whereas they had been before taught to confine their Love that is the several offices of Justice and Charity onely to their Neighbours that is as they understood it only to their Friends and Countrymen they should now extend the same offices to Enemies likewise as well as to them not onely to Strangers and Aliens but to those also that profest hatred to them and did them injury This he prescribes first generally by the name of Love I say unto you Love your Enemies and then left they should make too narrow an interpretation of the word he further explains it by the most obliging instances can be given of it and that in opposition to the contrary practice of their Enemies Bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you But not to insist upon this large signification of the word I shall now onely take notice of those offices which are peculiarly due to our Enemies as such over and above what can be due to the rest of our Neighbours and those are referred usually to these three general Heads 1. That we do not return those evils upon our Enemy which he hath done us 2. That we forgive him from our hearts 3. That we recompense good to him when he stands in need of our assistance 1. If we are commanded to love our Enemies it is easie to understand that we are hereby forbidden all practices towards him that are inconsistent with Love and Charity and therefore that we must forbear all acts of revenge and hostility towards him all recompensing evil for evil This branch of our duty our Saviour particularly teaches at the 38 39. verses of this Chapter Ye have heard that it hath been said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say
may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus The Judgment therefore here and elsewhere so frequently forbidden cannot be meant of the Judgment of authority in matter either Civil or Ecclesiastical 2. Neither are we forbidden all kind of judgment of the persons of men from their outward and visible practices though we have no superiority over them we are still allowed the judgment of discretion to distinguish between man and man to know whom to avoid and whom to associate our selves with and it is a great part of Christian prudence so to do The actions of many men are so plain and notorious that they are not capable of a mild and easie interpretation and should we stay till publick authority had set a mark upon such persons before we provide for our own innocence and security by forsaking their acquaintance and conversation we may in time grow partakers in their iniquity and be defiled by them Bad Company and Example do insensibly prevail upon our minds and betray us into evil and unless we were allowed to make a judgment of some persons from the actions we see we could have no reason to stand upon our guard or beware of them Nay further Christian Charity it self which obligeth us against all rash and malicious censures of other men doth in many cases not onely allow but exact of us to make a judgment of and be jealous over them that we be able to afford to them seasonable reproof and admonition before they are confirmed in a habit of sin And to this kind of Judgment if it be exercised with true charity and moderation out of a zealous concern for the soul of our offending Brother there is a reward annexed S. James v. 19. Brethren if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him let him know that he that converteth a sinner from the evil of his way shall save a soul from death and hide a multitude of sins Now we should be excluded both from this duty and blessing if it were not Iawful to judge of men in some measure by what we hear and see 3. We are not forbidden to judge and pass censure upon our selves For this is elsewhere made our duty and prescribed to us as a great means to escape the Judgment of God For this S. Paul tells us 1 Cor. xi 31. If we would judge our selves we should not be judged And the reason is plain For would men find leisure seriously to examine their own lives and actions and to judge impartially of them they would not then so freely indulge themselves in those practices to which they know the judgement of God is due They would think themselves obliged in all times and places to a more strict and circumspect walking with God and when they have through inadvertency and neglect yielded to temptation by a due examination and judging of themselves they would be convinced of the necessity of an hearty and sincere repentance before they go hence and be no more seen The power of Conscience was given us by God for that end that we might be enabled to judge of the good and evil of our actions and be thereby more vigorously engaged to continue in well-doing and eschew evil upon a prospect of a future and more dreadful judgment that would otherwise ensue When therefore S. Paul tells us verse 3. that he judged not his own self This is not to be understood as though he made no judgment at all of his own life and actions and particularly of his discharge of his Apostolick Office mentioned in the former Verses but that he was not finally to rely upon his own judgment but that although he knew nothing of himself as he declares Verse 4. yet he was not thereby justified in as much as he was afterward to be judged by the supreme Judge of all the Earth who knew better how he had behaved himself and would judge more impartially than he himself could and then immediately subjoins the prohibition of the Text Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come These things therefore being excepted from the general prohibition the sin which is here forbidden is the uncharitable practice of censuring and condemning other men without any probable or just grounds when men take occasion from little circumstances and appearances to judge the person of their Neighbour and the inward thoughts and inclinations of his heart When they take up an ill opinion of him from every idle report and stick not to spread and divulge the same to his prejudice When they take all occasions to lessen and detract from the good he doth and aggravate the evil This unchristian practice is capable of many degrees and aggravations which I shall not insist on particularly I shall onely take notice in general that whoever will consider calmly with himself how he would have his Neighbour deal with him in the like matter with what candour and simplicity he would have him judge of the outward circumstances of his life how loth he would be to have the worst interpretation made of all his words and actions and how willing he would have others be to admit his excuses if not to take away yet at least to lessen and alleviate the guilt of any miscarriages such a one cannot but understand what those degrees of uncharitable judgment are which are here forbidden I proceed therefore to the second thing propounded to shew the great unreasonableness of this practice and this will appear from these three considerations 1. From the baseness of its original 2. From the greatness of the injury done to the person we censure unjustly 3. From the mischief which redounds to the Publick by uncharitable judgment of one another 1. For the original of this practice of censuring and reviling one another I think it may ordinarily be resolved into one of these three Principles 1. Secret pride and over-valuing our selves Men who are destitute of real worth and yet have a mighty opinion of themselves have no other means to buoy up themselves in that conceit but to pick faults in the life and actions of other men And this I doubt is the humour of too many pretenders to the strictness of Religion who if they declare a great abhorrence of some particular fault of their Neighbours which is contrary to their own natural inclination or present interest are apt vainly to please themselves with the opinion of their own righteousness and to vaunt it in the language of the Pharisee Luke xviii 10. God I thank thee that I am not as other men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers or even as this Publican Now the unreasonable folly of this method of proceeding no man can be ignorant of that considers the nature and genius of true Religion that it doth not consist in the abstinence from some particular sins which I may apprehend others to be guilty of but in an universal obedience to all the commands of God And therefore what
advantageth it me to be able to declaim zealously against this or that Vice of the Age I live in or the persons with whom I converse if I cherish in my bosom other impieties which if not so open and notorious may yet be as inconsistent with my salvation as any other If we will take our Saviours judgment in the case the poor Publican though conscious of so many faults and infirmities and already judged and condemned by the Pharisee was yet in a much fairer way to be justified before God than the other who did not seem to apprehend that he needed any repentance Now were men truly humble and conscious of their own manifold defects and miscarriages they would find infinite more reason to turn the edge of their censure upon themselves There is no man who will take pains to search into the secrets of his own soul but may find himself guilty of more faults than he can reasonably suspect or accuse his Neighbour of We see onely the external gesture and behaviour of other men and cannot easily determine from what principle their actions flow we do not know all the circumstances they are engaged in which will much alter the nature of the actions we judge them for We cannot tell what we our selves should do in the like case and how far we may be able to resist the same temptations Whereas we may easily know the true grounds of our own miscarriages that the blame of them is due onely to our selves So that every man hath upon this account much greater reason to think and speak well of other men than of himself But now if notwithstanding this evidence men may have of their own guiltiness above that of their Neighbours they can give themselves the liberty zealously to declaim against the supposed faults of other men this must needs argue an unreasonable degree of self-conceit and proud overlooking those imperfections and follies which may be found at home in their own bosome 2. A further ground of this uncharitable practice is Idleness and a gross neglect of our own necessary affairs The business of our own salvation is of so near and great concern to us that unless we be very negligent of it we cannot find leisure to prie into and condemn the miscarriages of others Our life here is short enough to fit and prepare us for that unalterable state which we are hastning to and can we think it reasonable to spend any of those pretious hours which are never to be recalled in a business of so little concern to us as the faults and follies of other men especially when they may be imployed to so great advantage in furthering our journey and facilitating our admission to that glorious Kingdom which we all pretend to seek after Surely did men seriously consider that their title to an eternal and never-fading inheritance did depend upon the wise management of a few days here that the very best of mankind when they had done all they could were but unprofitable servants and that our future condition would be determined not according to other mens actions but our own they would think it much more reasonable to spend that leisure they had in the search and examination of their own souls while there is room left to repent and amend lest while they are impertinently busie in inquiring into and censuring the actions of other men they themselves should be surprised by the evil day and snatched away unprepared to the great Tribunal Every mans own business therefore being of so great and weighty a concern he that is really mindful of it can have no further leisure to observe the failings and miscarriages of other men than to take occasion from thence to exercise that great part of Christian charity which consists in friendly reproof and admonition where it may be given and when it may not to take heed to himself lest he also be tempted and if any man suffer himself to be transported beyond these bounds to censure and condemn other men he justly deserves the reproof in the Comedy Tantúmne ab re tuâ est otii tibi Aliena ut cures eaque nihil quae ad te attinent 3. A further occasion of uncharitable censures is Interest and Design When men make the disreputation of other men the step to their own advancement in the World and of this the experience is too manifest this being a disease that widely spreads it self among all sorts and conditions of men How seldom do we see any matter of interest decided without many hard speeches and unjust censures of the persons we contend with How apt are men to take advantage of every little circumstance of anothers life that is capable of an ill interpretation when it may suit their interest to disparage him There is a sort of politick and designing men in the World who can converse familiarly and speak friendly to their Neighbour and be lavish in his praises till a competition of Interest happen between them but then all his good deeds had some sinister design blended with them they can then discover many circumstances which are apt to create suspicion and those suspicions are soon spread with so much aggravation as though the suspected faults were real and evident and when they have said the utmost they can to lessen his esteem they can still express a great tenderness for the reputation of the man and that they are loth to say or think the worst of him Besides the greatness of the injury and other bad effects of this way of proceeding which I shall have occasion to insist on more particularly that which I shall at present take notice of to shew the great unreasonableness of it is this that none but bad men and a bad cause can stand in need of it He that pursues his own interest and advancement for no other ends but such as are just and reasonable viz. that he may be able with more freedom to discharge his duty toward God and Man and be in better capacity to do good in the World Such a one will consider that there is no such great need of his advancement in the World but that another man in the same state and condition may discharge the offices of that state as well as he And in the mean time he may satisfie himself that the duties he performs in a lower sphere are as acceptable to God and less distracting to himself than if he were raised higher and then what temptation can such a man have to exalt himself with so great an injury done to another man And this leads me to the second thing propounded to shew the unreasonableness of uncharitable judgment of our brethren from the greatness of the injury we do by it 1. It is an injury against which there is no defence He that assaults a man by open violence may be restrained by the use of our own power against his besides the publick authority of Laws provide for
his good Spirit to enable us to understand and do those things which are necessary for us and to lead us into all truth For we are not to understand this promise of our Saviour as though God would infuse the knowledge of divine truth by a miracle but that those that will do the will of God shall be blest by him in the diligent use of those ordinary means which he hath appointed for their instruction And therefore in the old Oeconomy the Jews were referred to Moses for their instruction what they ought to do And under the Gospel God hath given some Apostles some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ and to these men and their successors we must have recourse in order to instruction and satisfaction in matters of Religion To these themselves we may have recourse in the Books of the New Testament which they have left behind them as a certain guide to us in all things necessary if we be not wanting to our selves To their Successors we have recourse in our attendance upon the publick Ministry who derive their commission by a continued succession from the Apostles who were impowered by Christ to ordain others for the continuance of their Office to the end of the World And to these persons thus impowered all private Christians ought to apply themselves with humility and diligence for their instruction and in the diligent use of those means of knowledge above-mentioned he that will do the will of God by vertue of this promise of our Saviour shall know of the doctrine 3. This condition if any man will do his will implies further that in our search after divine truth and in our use of those means of knowledge which God hath afforded us we must propose to our selves the doing the will of God as the ultimate end of our knowledge This is that which is more particularly expressed in the Text. Many there are who are very inquisitive after truth but they have oft-times very different and undue ends in their enquiry sometimes they do it to gratifie their curiosity sometimes that they may be able to maintain their Party they are ingaged in with some plausible shew of reason sometimes they do it for ostentation and vain-glory that they may appear wiser and more learned than their neighbours and sometimes they seek for knowledge as other men do their Merchandise that they may make a gain of it and provide for their subsistence in the World Now Now all these several sorts of Enquirers may possibly attain the several ends they propose to themselves they may grow learned and wise in the ordinary account of men they may grow rich and gain esteem and applause among men and in this they have their reward but still they may want the true knowledge and satisfaction which our Saviour here speaks of which is not attainable by any that do not intend and resolve to do the will of God according to their knowledge this alone makes them capable of a full and sensible conviction of the divine authority and excellency of those revelations which are contained in the Gospel For it is not every one that can talk superficially about religious matters or that can give a tolerable account of the rational grounds upon which the truth of the Gospel is conveyed to us not every one that can dispute learnedly about points of Faith and decide Controverfies not every one that is thus accomplished is properly said to know of the doctrine in our Saviours sense No he that is resolved to do the will of God absolutely and entirely such a one shall receive a more full and ample satisfaction concerning those things that are necessary for him than can be gained by the strongest reasonings and most convincing demonstrations He shall find in his soul a lively sense of the excellency of those truths which the Gospel delivers such as shall leave no room for doubtfulness or disputing 4. We must not onely intend and resolve to do the will of God and propose to our selves this as the great end of our enquiry but we must actually endeavour to discharge those duties we already know if we hope to attaim to a sufficient satisfaction in our Religion for he that neglects to do the will of God as far as he already knows he cannot be presumed to have a sincere resolution of submitting to those further instructions which he may find in the Gospel And indeed in this place our Saviour may well be understood to exact this qualification of those who came to hear him that they should practise those duties they already knew if they would be satisfied concerning the truth of his Religion for otherwise it may seem an improper and preposterous way of proceeding to persuade men first to obey the Gospel and then to promise them satisfaction about the truth of it Men are not willing to enter upon a way of living so strict and severe as the Gospel enjoyns without being satisfied before hand of the truth of it that that is truly the will of God which is there required and that it is their great duty and interest to obey it Nay it is manifest by sad experience that many who are convinced of the truth of the Gospel are yet very backward to practise the precepts of it but how much more unwillingly would they undertake this practice if they were not capable of satisfaction about the truth of the Gospel till they had obeyed it So that it is most reasonable to suppose that the doing the will of God here spoken of must in part be understood of those previous instructions in the will of God which those who came to hear our Saviour had before received The Jews to whom our Saviour here directs his discourse had the instructions of Moses and the Prophets from whom they might have understood the principal rules of good living and their obedience to Moses and the Prophets would doubtless have been a great preparation for their reception of the Gospel and then for those Enquirers after truth who have been bred up in a Christian Commonwealth they cannot be supposed to be wholly ignorant of their duty No man can ordinarily grow up in a Christian Society to an age capable of such enquiries but must have been competently instructed in the general rules of good living in the substantial and necessary parts of Religion Those three great branches of Duty which S. Paul teaches us to be the summe of the Gospel the living righteously soberly and godly in the World are in themselves of so evident an obligation that no man who hath come to the use of Reason especially in a Christian Common-wealth can be ignorant that it is his duty to live so Suppose we then a man competently instructed in the general rules of good living whether by the Law of Nature written in his
our repose and happiness as though we should nourish a Snake in our bosome which would leave behind it an incurable sting and perpetual anguish Tell me I pray is any man happy that is easily provoked Can he enjoy the same content with other men who leaves it in the power of any one that dares affront him to raise in him those tempestuous passions and to rob him of his repose and quiet Certainly the angry and revengeful man if he hath an enemy gives him the greatest advantages over him that can be For there is no injury so effectual as that which raises disturbance in the mind so that a malicious designer always does the intended mischief when it is directed against a man that indulgeth these passions Whereas on the contrary he that inures himself to patience and forbearance though his adversary seek to do him mischief yet by this temper of mind he frustrates the design of his malice and in spite of all injuries is perfect Master of his own happiness In a word there is no condition of life so happy no enjoyment so full of satisfaction which can give us the least content while the desire of Revenge prevails with us And of this the Hihory of Haman is abundant evidence which we read Esther v. 11. where Haman having called his friends and kindred together and having told them of the greatness of his riches and the multitude of his children and all the things wherein the King had promoted him and how he had advanced him above the Princes and Servants of the King yet saith he v. 13. All this availeth me nothing so long as Morcai the Jew sitteth at the Kings gate So unhappy is the envious and revengeful man amidst the greatest prosperity which this World can afford 2. Next to the peace and quiet of our own minds this duty of forgiving injuries and loving Enemies doth highly conduce to the peace of the World and to the preservation of unity and good will among Christians as being the most generous and likely way to reduce our enemies to peace and friendly agreement with us There is no man so averse from reconciliation who will not in time be wrought upon by kindness and charity Enmity will of it self expire if it be not continued by repeated acts of unkindness how much rather when men find all their injuries repaid with courtesies all their uncharitable dealings with good deeds This Argument is made use of by S. Paul Rom. xii 20. If thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head Which is not to be understood as though by so doing we should design to increase his condemnation before God For though possibly that may be the event if notwithstanding our kindness he continue obstinate in his malice yet to design that in relieving him would indeed be the cruellest piece of revenge and malice The Apostles meaning therefore is that by doing good to our enemy and relieving him in his wants we shall kindle in him that fervour of affection and holy fire of Love to us that he may for the future become our friend and repent and be ashamed of his wickedness This I conceive to be the meaning of heaping coals of fire upon his head and this is confirmed by the following words of the same Apostle Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good Let no mans injuries or malicious practices towards thee deface in thy Soul that divine temper of mind that inclines thee to do good but endeavour rather by repeated acts of charity towards thine enemy to overcome his enmity and bring him to agreement and peace with thee This consideration ought to have great force upon us because there is nothing more desirable in this World than that brethren should live together in unity nor any thing more agreeable to the design of our most holy Religion When our Saviour was born into the World Angels attended his birth with this song Glory be to God on high on earth peace good will towards men Our Saviour is often called the Prince of Peace and when he left the World the last Legacy he bequeathed to his Disciples was Peace My peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you Nor ought any thing to be dearer to us who pretend to be his Disciples than this peace nor ought we to be unwilling to let go much of our right and to forbear many injuries and to forego all desires of revenge so that we may obtain the blessed fruits of peace and live in unity and godly love 3. From what hath been already said it is easie to conclude that the practice of this duty doth highly conduce to the true dignity and perfection of our Nature Those good dispositions of mind that encline us to be merciful and friendly to others are the great perfections of reasonable beings and we are so much more perfect by how much more enlarged and extensive they are and less capable of being removed or changed And therefore he who is so setled in the habit of doing good as not to be withdrawn from it by the injuries and provocations of his enemy hath gained a victory over himself far beyond what he could hope for in pursuance of his revenge and hath attained to as great a degree of perfection as he is capable of For proof of this we may have recourse to the consideration of the divine nature for the great perfection of Man was that he was created after the image of God nor is there any thing whereby we attain a nearer resemblance to the Divine Nature than by this universal and unrestrained charity this desire to good to Enemies as well as Friends That which makes God the most adorable Being in the World is chiefly his infinite and unchangeable goodness This reason is assigned by our Saviour to engage us to the duty of loving Enemies in the following Verse That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven for he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and unjust And at the last Verse concludes his discourse with this advice Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect 3. The last Argument to persuade us to forgive and love our Enemies was this that our greatest interest doth indispensably depend upon this our practice of it We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God and do therefore all of us stand in need of pardon and forgiveness at his hands And can we pray to God for pardon of our own sins if we refuse for his sake to forgive our Brethren Surely this were a very vain thing to hope for For what is there can seem to render our Neighbour uncapable of forgiveness which doth not aggravate our sins against God infinitely beyond his transgressions against us If our Neighbours offences
mind or conscience as was the case of the better sort of Heathens or by the Law of Moses as the Jews were in our Saviours time Or lastly by the benefit of a Christian education as the state of those among our selves is who come to examine the truth of the Gospel and to enquire more nearly into the sense of it Suppose we a man already instructed by any of these means in the fundamental rules of practice desirous of further knowledge and satisfaction in the doctrine of the Gospel he must be careful to live up to those principles he is already instructed in resolving also to submit obediently to whatsoever else upon his further enquiry he shall find to be his duty Such a man thus prepared by doing his duty and thus resolved to do the will of God as far as it shall be made known to him such a one is the person to whom this promise of our Savior doth belong If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self I proceed to the second thing propounded to shew the certainty of success to those that seek for knowledge with this preparation and here it will not be amiss to consider briefly in what sense this promise is to be understood before we undertake to prove the certainty of it We are to observe therefore that this promise of our Saviour is not to be understood so universally as though no man who was sincerely resolved to obey God shall fall into any kind of errours in matters of Religion For this is contradicted by the constant experience of all Ages for it would be very uncharitable to suppose that among most of the dissenting parties in Religion who maintain great controversies with one another there should not be some persons truly devout and sincere on both sides We are not therefore to suppose that a man truly religious shall not err at all but that he shall not be led into such errors as are dangerous to or inconsistent with his salvation And indeed the promise in this place is not set down in so general terms as that they should seem to require any larger interpretation than this I am speaking of If any man will do his will saith our Saviour he shall know of the doctrine I now beliver to you whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self Which cannot reasonably be extended beyond these two things 1. He shall receive satisfaction concerning the truth of Christian Religion in general that it is a doctrine truly divine and heavenly and that the author of it came from God and delivered his mind and will 2. He that will do the will of God shall be satisfied also concerning those particular truths which are indispensably necessary for him to know in order to his salvation These two things will be the undoubted effects of a religious frame of mind of a sincere resolution to do the will of God and will certainly be made good to all who seek for knowledge with that preparation and this we have great reason to be assured of whether we consider 1. The natural influence that a religious temper of mind hath upon the understanding to make it fit for the reception of divine truth 2. The peculiar blessing and assistance of Gods good spirit which always accompanies a truly religious man to guide him into all truth which is necessary for him I will begin with the former and shall endeavour to shew that the practice of religious Duties hath a natural efficacy upon the mind to clear its discerning faculties to make it capable of understanding and giving a full assent to the doctrine of the Gospel And this I shall make appear by instancing in some particular duties which are of a natural obligation which no man can be ignorant of each of which singly considered hath a very immediate influence upon the understanding to make it capable of divine knowledge In consideration of which it will also appear that the contrary vices to these are the onely causes of dangerous and damnable errors The Duties I shall particularly insist on are these 1. Simplicity of mind without prejudice 2. Purity of heart and affections 3. Humility 4. Calmness of Temper 5. Prayer to God These are all Duties of a natural obligation and therefore he that comes to examin the truth of the Gospel cannot be presumed ignorant of nor unwilling to practise them if he seek for knowledge with that preparation I have been speaking of 1. He that examines the doctrine of the Gospel with this intention to satisfie his conscience concerning those things that are necessary for him to believe and do resolving by Gods grace to do the will of God as far as it shal be made known to him such a one will bring with him an honest simplicity of mind not biassed by prejudice or preconceived opinions such a one will consider with himself that the truth of things doth not depend upon his own fancy or petty reasonings that a strong imagination cannot make those things Articles of Faith which God hath not revealed and therefore he will bring with him no preconceived opinion which he will not be ready to lay aside upon sufficient evidence to the contrary he will not endeavour to distort and wrest the plain words of Scripture to that sense of things which he formerly had but will readily yield up all his former notions to the authority of divine revelation That we are naturally obliged to this simplicity of judgment in all enquiries after truth is evident because in all manner of disputes this is one of the first things we challenge from our Adversary as our undoubted right that he would hear what we have to say without prejudice and therefore we also ought to bring with us to a religious debate the same free and unprejudiced minds which we expect from others And indeed this temper of mind is highly necessary and very advantageous to prepare us for the reception of truth For certainly the power of prejudice is very great to darken mens minds and to mould them into such apprehensions as are most suitable to it And therefore it is easie to observe how men who are engaged in a Party and prepossessed with the distinguishing opinions of their Sect easily find ways to pervert the plainest places of Scripture to their own sense to make it agree with the Analogy of their Faith that is of their darling Notions When I speak of laying aside prejudice in the search after divine truth I do not understand that we must call in question all kind of preconceptions we have had concerning religious matters Some things there are in Religion of so great certainty and evidence that though an Angel from Heaven should teach us otherwise we ought not to receive him Such are those preconceptions we have concerning the Being and Attributes of God that he is most wise just powerful faithful
more fit and expedite for the race set before us viz. that we be more particularly careful to arm our selves against those temptations to lay aside those lusts to which we perceive our selves by nature or custom most inclined This I conceive is meant here by the sin which doth so easily beset us Every man who gives himself the leisure to examine his own heart impartially will find that some temptations have a great deal more easie access to him than others and our great adversary the Devil is very diligent and watchful to set before us such objects and lay such snares in our way which are most likely to prevail upon us The sins we are naturally inclined to oft-times creep upon us insensibly and get possession of our hearts before we are well aware of them Sometimes they disguise themselves under the pretence of Piety and seeming holiness and a great zeal against the contrary extream Sometimes they plead Nature and Custom for their continuance that these cannot be overcome sometimes we have ways to extenuate them and make them seem small and venial and if men take time to deliberate about parting with them there is great hazard but they will keep possession So apt are we to be vanquished when we have a mind to it when our Adversaries from without have their correspondents in our own bosom when we have so many treacherous Guests so many deceitful Lusts within us which are ready to betray us and to yield up our hearts to a subtle and powerful enemy Here then is our greatest danger here we must exert our greatest care and vigilance here we must shew our courage and resolution in throwing off these darling and beloved Lusts the sins that do so easily beset us This is that which our Saviour elsewhere requires of us when he bids us cut off our right hands and pluck out our right eyes when they make us to offend And thus much for the first part of the Exhortation Having according to our power laid aside every weight having freed our selves from our evil habits and customs and from our most secret and beloved Lusts we are not to rest here Thus much is required as a preparation to be Christs Disciples but when we are admitted into the number we must then set our selves upon an active obedience to his Laws A negative holiness will not serve our turn We must not onely eschew evil but we must do what good we can in the several places and stations to which God hath called us They who run in a Race when they have stript themselves and laid aside all unnecessary weights and incumbrances have yet the whole Race before them which they must run through if they expect their Crown and Prize and therefore in proportion to what is required of them we also are exhorted in the 2. Second place to run the Race set before us Now the positive duties required of all Christians answer to that part of the similitude and to discharge them faithfully is meant by running the race set before us And this is elsewhere expressed in plainer Exhortations Work out your salvation with fear and trembling giving all diligence add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any praise or if there be any vertue think on and do these things Now these and the like Exhortations and Precepts often repeated in holy Scripture being all in general terms the particular instances of duty required by them must be left to each mans private consideration and they are various according to mens several abilities and opportunities according to their several relations in which God hath placed them God the supream 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath by his wise and good providence allotted every man his course It is not of our choosing but it is a race set before us He hath likewise distributed among men various gifts and abilities whereby they are severally fitted to do good and according to these every man must judge of his duty in particular what it is that the Lord requires of him and no man who doth not want will and resolution to do the will of God can ordinarily be ignorant what he ought to do and therefore I shall not descend to any particular instances of duty only from the similitude here used I shall crave leave to suggest these two things 1. That our obedience to God ought to be vigorous and chearful 2. That it ought to be constant and uninterrupted 1. The similitude of Running imports great vigour and alacrity in the discharge of our duty They who run with hopes of Victory must not be faint-hearted and languish but must be chearful and couragious full of hope and eager expectation of the desired triumph Thus must a Christian behave himself in the race set before him He must go about his duty with chearfulness and freedom as one that doth it with a willing mind and hopes for success by so doing He must always have in his eye the great recompence of reward the joy set before him the Crown of Glory laid up for him and in prospect of that he must chearfully undertake whatever difficulties he meets with in his way And indeed if we have once obeyed the former part of the Exhortation if we have once freed our minds from the low and sordid cares and incumbrances of this life present there can then remain nothing to hinder or retard our motion or to abate our courage in running the Race set before us And this holy David seems to express saying I will run the way of thy commandments when thou hast set my heart at liberty When we are once at liberty from the World and have weaned our affections from things below and placed them on a better and more enduring substance then though we meet with dangers and inconveniences we shall joyfully go on and every days progress in our course of piety will render our task more easie and delightful We shall apprehend our selves every day more and more approaching to the end of our hopes and to the Crown of our labours and out of prospect of so sure a reward so nigh at hand and out of a fore-taste of that happiness shall be able to say of Religion from our own experience that her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths Peace 2. Another thing represented by this similitude of Running is that our course of Piety our religious conversation ought to be constant and uninterrupted He that runs in a Race cannot find leisure to stop and divert himself or salute his friends by the way A little needless ceremony at such a time may hazard the loss of the whole
appearance We must all appear all men that ever lived or shall live upon the Earth high or low rich or poor no order or degree of men excepted we must all then make our appearance 5. There is something considerable in the appearance it self Doctor Hammond interprets the Phrase We must appear onely with analogy to Tribunals of Justice among men that as Prisoners at the Bar are wont to be set in a conspicuous place in order to their Trial so we also must give our appearance before the Judgement Seat of Christ But the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath a more important signification and must be understood not onely of our being actually present at Gods Tribunal but we must appear or be made manifest as the same word is interpreted in the following Verse and then the Apostle means thus much that all our hidden actions and secret designs which are now undiscovered by men shall then at the Judgement Seat of Christ be made manifest and laid open to us before God and all his holy Angels We have now many ways to hide our selves and to disguise our actions from the knowledge of men we can now put on the Mask and Garb of a Righteous man and appear as such to the World when our hearts are full of wickedness and deceit but at the Judgment of the Great Day all these arts will avail us nothing our false pretences will then be discovered our disguise pulled off our hypocrisie made visible and manifest inasmuch as all things are naked and open before him with whom we have to do and we must all appear 6. Here is the method that will be used at the Judgment Seat of Christ Every one shall receive the things done in the body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 7. Here is the use S. Paul makes of all these considerations Knowing therefore these terrours of the Lord and being assured how dreadful this appearance and the event of it will be we persuade men that they would now behave themselves as men that must then appear but to insist particularly on all these circumstances would be too large an Exercise of your Patience I shall therefore confine my Discourse to these three things 1. I shall endeavour to remind you of those grounds and reasons by which we may be assured of a Judgment to come that we must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ 2. I shall consider the method of proceeding at the Day of Judgment Every man shall receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 3. I shall draw some inferences that may be of use to us in the government of our lives First of the truth and certainty of a Judgment to come And this will appear upon these following accounts 1. From the dictates and testimony of our own Conscience 2. From the Nature of God and his Attributes 3. From the concurrent testimony and belief of all Nations 4. From the particular revelation of this truth in holy Scripture 1. If we look into the secrets of our own souls and examine the natural powers we are endued with they will afford us great evidence that there is a Judgment to come when we shall be called to account for our actions here and be rewarded or punished according to them The knowledge of good and evil and the obligation to do one and eschew the other is naturally written in the Soul of Man nor can any man be wicked without violence to his own reason and best faculties Every man bears about with him a secret Monitor in his bosom which upon the temptations to evil doth faithfully forewarn him of it and upon the commission of evil doth afflict his soul with a sense of guilt and with a fearful expectation of punishment due upon it On the contrary there is a secret joy and satisfaction naturally springs up in the soul of a good man which is an exceeding support and comfort to him in the discharge of his duty which enables him to bear many difficulties and oppositions which oft-times attend him in the practice of Vertue his conscience breeding in him a strong confidence and assurance of some future recompence for his good deeds Now that conscience is thus active and busie to forewarn men of the evil which they are about to do and to set before them in order the evils they have done and to support them in doing good every man that gives himself the leisure to attend to the motions of his own mind may be convinced by his own experience Or if we would rather learn from the experience of others it were easie to produce a crowd of Witnesses which give us large descriptions of the unsupportable burden a troubled spirit and the great comfort and security of a conscience void of offence And now would we know the true ground and foundation of those hopes and fears which the conscience naturally suggests to us according to our actions whether good or bad there is no sufficient reason of them can be assigned but this that they are the voice of God and Nature forewarning us of another state after this when all men shall be recompensed according to that they have done here For that the fears and disquiets of a guilty conscience are indeed the effects of Nature and are not grounded upon the apprehension of temporal punishment or of the Laws of men as some vainly suppose is sufficiently evident in that those persons who have been beyond the reach and above the fears of any earthly Tribunal have yet been the greatest examples of this force of conscience The Story of Caligula is in every bodies mouth and is indeed a signal instance of this truth He who was possessed with so unlimited a Soveraignty over a great part of the Known World and exercised his power with so extravagant a cruelty was yet upon every flash of Lightning and clap of Thunder awakened to a sense and fearful apprehension of the power and justice of that God whom at other times he was wont to defie But not to dwell upon a single instance a further evidence that these Fears are the effects of Nature may be gathered from hence that the sting of conscience is most remarkable in those actions which are done in secret and far removed from the knowledge of men For though we seek the darkest retirements where no mortal eye can trace our steps or behold our doings yet there our conscience is as a thousand Witnesses continually upbraiding us with what we have done and afflicting us with terrours which can proceed from nothing else but from a secret conviction of soul that there is a God whose power and knowledge reaches to all places even to our most secret retirements and who will one day bring upon us punishments proportionable to our deservings I will not insist longer upon this Argument than to take notice that S. Paul himself seems