must this be to be so concerned for your good Works A Father your Father so great a Father A Father that dwells on high to humble himself and stoop to look upon your good Works and withall declare his willingness to accept of them surely this is self-denial infinite For him that is higher than the Heaven Higher than the Highest Higher than the greatest Potentates to vouchsafe a favourable Aspect to your good Works surely this must this should one would think prevail with many of you who retain some Sense of your Duty Nay and he is therefore said to be in Heaven to let you see where you shall be and whither you shall go when you leave this World having let the Light of your good Works shine before Men even into that Heaven where himself is adored by Angels and all the Morning Stars sing together where his own infinite Felicity fills all that are about his Throne with Joys and Ravishments unspeakable And therefore suffer this word of Exhortation and let your Light so shine before Men that others may see your good Works and Glorifie your Father which is in Heaven SERMON XVIII St. Matth. Ch. v. Ver. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil CHRIST having in the foregoing Discourse open'd and laid down the true Nature of the Christian Religion what it imports and what Qualifications it challenges and what Temper it requires and told us that a Christian is a Person Humble and concern'd for his own and other Men's Sins Meek and earnestly desirous of high degrees of Holiness Merciful and kind and Pure in Heart and of a peaceable and peace-making Disposition and Patient under Injuries and in his Affliction comforting himself with the Rewards of Heaven and the Blessings of Eternity and ready to do good and profitable and useful both to the Souls and Bodies of other Men I say having laid down these Characters as Essential to a Christian to a Disciple of the Holy Jesus He now goes on not only to let his Disciples see how much of the Old Religion he intended to adopt into his own which he was going to publish but to enforce the Duties he had mention'd from the Law and from the Prophets shewing that in prescribing the aforesaid Rules and Directions he was so far from contradicting the Law and the Prophets that he spoke their Sense and Meaning and that this was not to call them away from an Esteem and Veneration of the Law and the Prophets but to increase it and that what the Law and the Prophets had but obscurely hinted he was come to explain more largely and to deliver more clearly and to press with greater Motives and Arguments Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil In the Explication of which Words these four Things do naturally offer themselves to our Consideration I. What the Law and the Prophets are II. What it was that rais'd a Suspicion or made People think and fear That Christ came to destroy the Law and the Prophets III. How it appears That he came not with that intent IV. How he fulfill'd the Law and the Prophets I. What the Law and the Prophets are 1. By the Law and the Prophets are meant the Doctrine contained in the Books of the Old Testament call'd by various Names in Holy Writ sometimes the Law in general Joh. x. 34 sometimes Moses and the Prophets Luke xvi 31 sometimes the Law of Moses the Prophets and the Psalms Luke xxiv 44 sometimes the Scripture Joh. v. 39 sometimes the Book of the Lord Isai. xxxiv 16. sometimes the Law and the Prophets as here because this Book consists not only of the Law given by God to Moses on Mount Sina for the Instruction and Edification of the Jewish People but the Writings of other Men also Men inspired by the Holy Ghost who writ either in a Historical or Dogmatical or Prophetical way strictly so called by way of foretelling things to come even as the Spirit of God which governed their Thoughts and Pens thought fit to dictate to them for the use of the Church or Gods People The Law of Moses is as it were the Text the other Books are in the nature of Comments They are called the Law and the Prophets not as if the Law were not written by a Person inspired but the Law is named distinctly either because the Law had some peculiar marks of Divinity in it as appears from the circumstances of its Publication or because it was written by a Prophet of a higher Order and such was Moses Exod. xxxiv whose Prophetick Office God doth distinguish from that of other Persons moved by the Holy Ghost or because the principal part of the Books of Moses the Ten Commandements are said to be written by the Finger of God which gives the Law a special Priviledge so that both the Law and the Prophets came from God only the Law had something more Majestick than ordinary in it and therefore deserves to be named by it self This Law of Moses consists of Commands of a very different Nature Some are the result of natural Justice and Equity of the Eternal Law imprinted on the Souls of Men of the Law of Nature or of right Reason and Deductions from the common Notions of God and of his Perfections and the Relation we stand in toward him and toward one another the summary whereof is the Decalogue or the Ten Commandements Another sort of Commands in that Law relates to the outward manner of Gods Worship and to external Ceremonies to Gifts and Sacrifices and Meats and Drinks and divers washings and carnal Ordinances imposed on the Jewish People until the time of the Reformation Heb. ix 9 10. And these Commands are purely positive depending altogether upon the Will and Pleasure of the Law-giver and therefore alterable and mutable as Occasion and Time and Necessity and the Reason of things c. require and this is commonly stiled the Ceremonial Law A third sort hath Relation to Policy and Government made up partly of Rules issuing from natural Justice and Equity partly of Constitutions such as the Nature and Temper of the People and the Situation of the Country and the Neighbourhood of the Nations who dwelt round about them and the danger of being infected by them and the Circumstances they were in did suggest commonly call'd the Civil or Judicial Law 2. These three sorts of Commands given by God to Moses made up the Digests the Pandects or the Body of the Jewish Law and that 's it that 's commonly understood by that known and frequent Expression in Scripture especially the New Testament the Law it 's written in the Law or the Law saith c. even the complex of all these Laws given at the Command of God by Moses to the Jewish People and as such they did particularly oblige the
in some Cases by quitting our Right we prejudice the right of others but this cannot be said of so small a thing as a Coat which is a Man 's own to a Proverb or a Cloak or something like it 2. This is to shew a good Example to others and to teach them what they should do Our Actions are the best School-Masters and as we see Men learn from ill Example so they may I am sure ought to learn from good ones By not hearkening to a Temptation of Injustice by not defrauding a Child or ignorant Person by not speaking Evil of him that speaks ill of me by being Conscientious in my Duty I teach another and direct him how he is to govern himself This was the Method our great Master took He taught nothing but what he practis'd himself And indeed all the Oratory which a Man uses to another to persuade him to a Virtue is insignificant except his own Conscientiousness in the thing leads the way He that would sue us at Law for our Coat if rather than fall into a Passion with him we let him have our Cloak too we instruct him how he is to behave himself to others if the like should happen to him It 's true he may not be so considerate as to learn his Duty from our Example yet still our Intention in the Self-denial was good and commendable and shall not go without a Recompence and the Person who would not learn his Duty from what he saw in us shall give an Account to God for his Untractableness and Indocility 3. This is an excellent way to prevent great Vexation both in our selves and others The Rage of the Enemy will not only be restrain'd by it but hereby our own quiet and ease will be promoted To fill our Souls with Rage and Disorder upon such a force offer'd to us is to punish our selves for another Man's Weakness and Folly and to increase the Trouble and Affliction which befalls us The loss of the Cloak or Coat was outward only but if together with that loss I join the loss of quietness and calmness of Mind I increase it and become my own Tormentor and to the Injury that another doth me I add doing Injury to my self which is highly Irrational 4. Hereby we do certainly glorifie God who is ever best glorified by our Obedience and conforming to his Will Whatever the loss or inconvenience may be that may happen to us upon the account of that Obedience This is to glorify him in our Souls and Bodies according to the Rule 1 Cor. vi 20 i. e. in our Thoughts and Actions For this is a manifest sign that my Spirit stands in awe of the Supream Being that his Law is in my Heart and that my Mind is govern'd by his Will By resigning actually my Cloak to him that would take away my Coat here is an Action that brings Glory to God and declares that God is in me and gives me Strength and Power to overcome the Flesh and the sinful Motions of it And from hence arise not only Thanksgivings in my self but all good Men who see it will glorifie God for my professed Subjection to the Gospel of Christ 2 Cor. ix 12 13. 5. And this must needs endear God to us and move him to have kind Thoughts of us Not that we deserve his Love by such an Act but so gracious and condescending he is that upon decessions from our right for his Honour and Glory he is willing to look upon us with a very favourable Aspect This is Goodness that hath some Substance in it This looks like imitation of his Goodness who in his Dispensations decedes infinitely from his own right for our good What was the giving of his Son but a miraculous deceding from his own right of punishing us according to our Deserts And indeed there is not an act of Mercy to poor Sinners but God decedes from his Right even from the right of his Justice And when he who parts with his Cloak to him that would by force of Law deprive him of his Coat doth express the goodness of God in so lively a manner that God so great in Goodness cannot but say as he did to his People under Nebuchadnezzar Jer. xxix 11 I know the thoughts that I think towards you thoughts of Peace and not of Evil. But you will say may not a Man go to Law for his own and may not a Man justly defend himself by Law when he is wrong'd by another which leads me to the II. Query Whether it be in no case lawful for a Christian to go to Law with his Brother or defend his Right by Law when wrong'd by another Man 1. It is certain that Humane Laws permit a great many things which a Pious Christian cannot in Conscience make use of and which do not become him as he is a profess'd Disciple of such an humble self-denying Master as Christ Jesus Humane Laws to prevent greater Evils in a Common-wealth permit several things which a Christian who is chiefly to be guided by the Law of Christ doth wave as having a greater Law in his Heart And therefore though Humane Laws or the Laws of the Land permit you to go to Law with a Man that wrongs you yet that 's not the strict measure of your Actions Not that a Christian can safely disobey the Laws of the Land he inhabits when they do not clash with the Law of God But there is a great difference betwixt disobeying the Law of the Land and not making use of it upon all occasions 2. Our Saviour consider'd and all reasonable Men must grant it what Wrath what Malice what Abusing Slandering Disparaging of our Neighbours what Partiality what base Arts what Tricks are made use of by Persons who implead one another How Law-Suits are prolong'd to the loss of our Time and Quiet and better Employments What needless Charges Men involve themselves in to their own Vexation and Discontent And what a lasting Hatred is settled in the Hearts of Antagonists by such Doings And therefore to prevent the occasions of Evil he forbids going to Law And that Person that takes no care to shun the occasions of Evil can never be fit for the Kingdom of God So that 3. In lesser Injuries such as Mens taking or offering to take from us by force a Cloak or upper Garment a thing which we can spare without any great damage to our selves he doth absolutely forbid this Remedy which is indeed more than the Disease Insomuch that he who delights in going to Law upon every trifling occasion a small Summ of Money or a thing amounting to the Value of a Cloak or Coat most certainly knows not understands not the Principles of that Religion he professes but acts against them and hath no sense of the Love Christ Jesus bore to him and which ought to constrain him to forbear any thing he hath forbid 4. Going to Law in any case is forbid and
kindness O Lord toward them that fear thee and put their trust in thee before the Sons of Men They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy House and thou shalt make them drink of the Rivers of thy pleasure for with thee is the Fountain of Life and in thy Light we shall see Light This must needs be a very comfortable Consideration to all that by patient continuance in Well-doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality Rain and Sun-shine and the common Blessings of this Life are not the proper Rewards God intends you These are Mercies design'd chiefly for his Slaves and meaner Servants They are greater richer and nobler Blessings that are appointed for his Friends and Children Eye hath not seen and Ear hath not heard and Heart cannot conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him Grieve not ye in whom the fruits of the Spirit do appear that God doth not give you the Blessings of his Left-hand the Blessings of Men who have their portion in this Life If he should put you off with these you would be miserable The Joys above the triumphs of Paradise the felicity of Angels the festivals of Heaven the eternal Enjoyments of God the everlasting rest the endless beatitude in your Father's House These are the Portions of his Children This World indeed is inhabited by his Friends but the greater part of those who dwell in the Earth are his Enemies Among these good Men live as Strangers and Pilgrims but they are higher larger and loftier Mansions that are prepared for them and when their Earthly House of this Tabernacle shall be dissolv'd there will fall to their share a building of God a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens SERMON XXXVII St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 46 47. For if you love them which love you what Reward have you Do not even the Publicans the same And if ye salute your Brethren only what do you more than others Do not even the Publicans so LAws are best understood by the Preamble because that gives an account of the occasion to these Words by the preceding Among the Rules of Holy Living prescrib'd by our Saviour to his Disciples in this Chapter that of loving our Enemies blessing them that curse us and doing good to them that hate us and praying for them which despitefully use us is most remarkable He was sensible Flesh and Blood would raise Objections against this Duty and therefore he backs it with Arguments great and powerful to let us see how equitable and reasonable it is In the preceding Verse he sets before us the Example of God who receives greater Affronts and Injuries and Abuses from sinful Men than one Man can possible receive from another And yet as ill as that Supream Being is used he lets his Sun rise upon the Evil and the Good and sends Rain upon the Just and Unjust The next Motive is taken from the nature of the Christian Discipline which transcends all other Religions in the World and whose very design it is to raise Men above the common level of Nature and Education and consequently requires greater degrees of Love and Goodness to Men than natural Men Heathens and Sinners and Publicans usually pay for if ye love them which love you what Reward have ye do not even the Publicans the same and if ye salute your Brethren only what do ye more than others do not even the Publicans so The Publicans here mention'd were Persons that sate at the receipt of Custom or receiv'd the Customs due to the Roman Emperors in Palestinae from Commodities Imported or Exported Such a one was Matthew the Writer of this Gospel Matth. ix 9 and Zachaeus Luk. xix 2 i. e. before they were Converted for though Tertullian will not allow that any Jews were Custom-House Men or would suffer themselves to be employ'd in the receipt of Customs yet that in this Point he is under a very great Mistake is evident from the Examples of Matthew and Zacchaeus who were both Jews and of the Stock of Abraham Mar. ii 14 Luk. xix 9 It 's possible there might not be so many Jews of that Profession as there were Greeks or Romans yet that even the Jews did sometimes court and accept of these Employments and personally discharg'd them what has been alledg'd is as good as Demonstration These Publicans were properly Gatherers or Receivers of the Customs or a kind of Under-farmers For the Roman Government under which the Jews at this Time were used to let the Customs of the several Countries under their Dominion to Farm or to be farmed by the Noblemen Knights and Gentlemen of Rome These undertook to pay the Government a certain Summ for the Customs of such a Country And these Farmers had Officers under them who either farmed the Customs of them again or were at the trouble of Gathering and Receiving them whereby they had great Opportunities and were under very great Temptations to Cheat and Exact upon the Merchants and others they had to deal with and such were the Publicans in the Text. And therefore they were commonly look'd upon as Extortioners Unjust Unrighteous and Oppressors and among the Jews particularly they had so ill a name that they were called Sinners by way of eminency and a Heathen and a Publican were with them convertible Terms Nay the Pharisees seem'd to exclude them from all hopes of Salvation which was one great reason I suppose why many of them I mean of these Publicans did so readily close and join with Christ when he preach'd to them Repentance and offer'd them the Kingdom of Heaven But though they were guilty of great Oppression and Extortion and false Accusation and lived by it and by that means lay expos'd to other Vices as one Sin seldom goes alone yet they were not so bad those who were Jews especially as to neglect the common Duties of Religion or the ordinary Offices of Civility and Humanity which makes our Saviour say and affirm that they loved those who were loving and friendly to them and saluted those who were their Brethren and Acquaintance and were civil to Men of their own Religion This being premised the Observations the Text affords may be reduc'd to these three Propositions I. Even wicked Men do and may perform the common Duties of Religion and Morality II. Those who would be Christians indeed must do more than Carnal Men in Matters of Religion and Morality III. If they do not they have no Reward I begin with the first which imports that even wicked Men do and may perform the common Duties of Religion and Morality a truth plainly intimated in the Text for the Publicans were Men wicked and scandalous who got their Livelihood by Cheating Lying Defrauding False-accusation c. It 's true there lay no necessity upon them to do so for St. John the Baptist told some of them who came to him for Advice that they might continue in their Calling provided they
the progress of Goodness and of the Kingdom of God prompted his Instruments and Agents to blacken the Noble attempt with hard and dreadful Names the most likely way to fright people from submitting to it It was so in the beginning of our Reformation when our Governours and Spiritual Pastors began to look more narrowly into the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome and resolv'd to rectifie what was amiss and contrary to the Word of God All the dreadful Imputations the Church of Rome could invent were made use of to hinder the glorious Work The Reformers were traduced as dealing with the Devil their Doctrine was called New and Strange and Antichristian never heard of in the World before nay styled Blasphemy and Arianism and Manicheism and Mohometanism and what not It is so still even in private Reformations Let a person break loose from the Devil and his evil Companions and by a secret impulse of God's Spirit betake himself to a life Spiritual and conformable to the Rules of the Gospel presently Mens Tongues are let loose against him especially if accidentally he be guilty of some little Imprudencies These are straitway aggravated and his whole design charged with Baseness and Hypocrisy and he is either become a Fanatick or mad or proud or ill-natured or bad Company or something that may render him odious But this must be no discouragement to a person that knows that this hath been an old stratagem of the Devil as old as the Fall of Adam when he put false Interpretations upon God's Prohibitions and accused even God himself of Envy and Ill-nature What! Could God say indeed ye shall not eat of this Tree He knows that that very moment ye eat of it ye will be wise and knowing and omniscient like himself and therefore forbids you this delicate Food He that will be saved must break through all these Cobwebs and esteem the reproach of Christ greater Riches than all the Treasures of the World II. Though the end of the Law and the Gospel are one and the same yet still there are remarkable differences which discover the excellency of the one above the other 1. The Author of the Law is God speaking by Moses the Author of the Gospel is the same God but speaking by his Son 2. The Law of Moses revealed much the Gospel much more especially with respect to the Incarnation and Life and Death and Resurrection of Christ Jesus 3. The Law was the shadow of good things to come the Gospel the truth and substance of them 4. The Law caused Fear the Gospel produces Love and hence arise two different Spirits the Spirit of Fear and that of Adoption 5. The Law promis'd Temporal Blessings the Gospel Eternal and though something of Eternal Life was revealed to those under the Law yet it was truly manifest to those under the Gospel 6. The Law was a Heavy burthen the Gospel an easy Yoke 7. The Law was our Schoolmaster to lead us to Christ The Gospel is the Mark the Law did aim and point at 8. The Law reacht the Jews only the Gospel all Mankind 9. The Law as to the ritual part was Temporary the Gospel Eternal 10. The Law had great Imperfections the Gospel was a most perfect Discipline 11. The Law discover'd the Will of God and help'd to make People sensible of their Sins and Transgressions of Gods Commands the Gospel Administers Grace to perform and do them 12. The Law converted but few the Gospel made innumerable Proselytes Yet after all as I said the Law and the Gospel are the same in Substance both contain the Will of God they have the same Author press the same Duties both Centre in Christ both are intended to make Men Holy and Spiritual and ready unto good Works only the Gospel sets things in a greater Light and ministers stronger Motives and nobler Encouragements so that the Law is not contrary to the Gospel nor doth the Gospel abolish but Establish it The Law especially the Moral contains the same Duties in substance the Gospel doth and therefore is still as obligatory as the Gospel Want of Faith made People careless of the Observance of it and want of Faith hath the same unhappy Effects under the Gospel And therefore the Apostles Exhortation was very seasonable and ought to be taken notice of by every one of us Heb. iv 1 2. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his Rest any of you should seem to come short of it for unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them but the word preached did not profit them not being mixt with Faith in them that heard it III. Christ came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets so must we fulfil the Law of the Gospel for what he did here was for our Example as St. Chrysostom notes As he fulfilled the Law and the Prophets so our business is to fulfil that Gospel which the Law and the Prophets pointed at In a word this is the Law we are to live by He that looks upon the Lives of Men that profess the Gospel would be apt to think that this Law was given only for Formalities sake so little of the Power of it is to be seen in their Conversation If the Behaviour of Men who call themselves Christians were the measure of our Judgment we might conclude the Gospel stands for a Cypher which signifies very little or if it signifies any thing declares rather Gods wishes that things were at a better pass and that we were such Persons as that Law describes than Arguments of Gods peremptory Will that we must and shall be obedient or else be miserable and buried in the Ruins of Eternity Thus things stand and one would think you believe that your Resoluteness not to mind the Injunctions of the Gospel is your Security against the Terrors of its Threatnings But could this lessen the Authority of the Law or make an Alteration in the Obligation or could it prevail with the Law-giver to give over pressing Obedience as a thing that is not to be effected and in vain to urge something might be said for their refusal But these are Dreams and feverish Fancies and you 'll find the woful and wilful mistake when it is too late This Law you are bound to lay before you as much as the Law of the Land nay more than that as it is of greater Concernment In this you are to study Day and Night and by this Law your Thoughts Desires Speeches Actions and your outward and inward Man are to be governed let Men say of you what they will let them commend or discommend you slander or praise you still you are to remember you have to deal with a Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy The Gospel gives ease it's true and frees you from Burthens but it is from the load of the Ceremonial Law not from the Obligations of the Natural Moral and Eternal Law of
Men Do not you own that God sees the very Secrets of your Hearts and do you hope to hide your secret Malice from his All-seeing Eye Do you hope to make the Sepulchre so white that he shall not spy the rotten Bones that lie concealed there Do you think to make the Grass so thick that the Snake which lies underneath shall escape the piercing Eye of his Omniscience Vnderstand this ye bruitish among the People and ye Fools when will ye be wise He that planted the Ear shall not he hear He that formed the Eye shall not he see Psal. xciv 8 9. INFERENCES To draw some Inferences from the Premises I. What I have said is no discouragement to external Duties No! Your Gifts must be brought to the Altar and God must be worshiped and honoured and adored God your Relation to him and your Interest requires it God the Author of your Being Hath he made you Creatures and rational Creatures Creatures capable of understanding Glory and Excellency above all created Beings and shall not he have your Homage even the Homage of Prayer and Praises and acknowledgment of his Authority He that spoke you into Being hath not he power to command you Hath not he power to prescribe Rules how you are to worship him And dare you deny him that service which your entire dependance upon his Charity doth challenge at your Hands Do not you acknowledge him as the All-seeing the All-knowing the Almighty the All-wise the most Perfect the most Holy the most Blessed the most Happy Potentate the King Immortal Invisible and who inhabits Eternity and doth not his Incomprehensible Excellency deserve Love and Delight and Admiration and Adoration and suitable Expressions of Duty and Respect Do you own him for your greatest Benefactor and the rich Fountain from which all things come that make you Rich and Healthy and Easy and Blessed and Glorious both in this World and in that which is to come and can you do less than apply your selves to Prayers and Supplications and devout Humiliations before the Throne of his Glory Do you look upon him as the inexhausted Spring of Bounty and Mercy and Compassion Do you own all this and shall you think much of bowing the Knee before him and breaking forth into Celebrations of his wonderful Works Nay have not you found it very Comfortable to do so to tread his Courts and to worship him in the Beauty of Holiness If you have not ask those who feel and find that one day in his Courts is better than a Thousand in the Tents of Wickedness where Plenty flows and Sensuality abounds and that they had rather be Door-keepers in the House of their God than to divide the Spoil with the Rich and with the Great Do you take all this to be Fancy only or do you think that these are only Symptoms of brain-sick and melancholy Men If so whence is it that such Men find comfort when the profane Herd can find none Whence is it that such Persons can rejoice in Tribulations under which the careless Sinner faints and sinks and casts away his Hope Look abroad and see who hath greater Comforts greater Peace and greater Consolation Consolation I mean that 's solid and lasting and can resist Storms and weather the greatest Brunts than those who Love and Admire and Adore and Worship him who lives forever and ever This therefore is certain that God must be Worship'd and Devotion and external Service must be paid him whether it be Fasting or Alms or Prayer or Praise or a thankful remembrance of the Death of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament But then I add that our taking notice of the Faults and Errors which some of you commit in these Religious Services is no just Discouragement to the faithful performance of these Services Are we therefore your Enemies because we tell you the Truth Is it not Kindness in us to shew you the Rocks you are to shun Is it not Charity in us to acquaint you in what manner these Services are to be performed Do not you find fault with your Servants and Children if they do not things according to your Mind And do not you tell them of it that they may amend and do better And is not our Intent and Design the same Would ye offer Devotions to God which vanish in the Air Would not you have your Adorations of him useful and profitable to you and if so then we tell you by the Word of the Lord that without Charity they are nothing worth and did ye speak with the Tongues of Men and Angels nay could ye pray like Angels and have no Charity ye would be no better than sounding Brass or atinkling Cymbal and though ye had all Faith so that you could remove Mountains and have no Charity ye are nothing and if ye bestow'd all your Goods to feed the Poor and gave your Bodies to be Burnt and have no Charity it would profit ye nothing 1 Cor. xiii 1 2 3. That 's the first II. Let none of you entertain high and lofty Conceits of your Religious Services because they are called Gifts when thou bringest thy gift to the Altar If they are called Gifts it 's not their intrinsick Worth or Merit that is the cause but it 's God's infinite Goodness and Mercy that is pleased to call that a Gift which is our bounden Duty and they are called Gifts not as if we might chuse whether we will offer them or not but to let us see with what Freedom Alacrity and Chearfulness they ought to be performed That which makes a Gift very pleasing to the Person who receives it is the Candour the Ingenuity the Chearfulness the Alacrity the readiness of the Giver I will freely Sacrifice unto thee saith the Royal Prophet Psal. liv 6 Dragg'd Services he doth not care for and Devotions offered to him with an unwilling Mind are a Smoak in his Nostrils But the Votary that comes chearfully to his Altar that with a good Will worships him that runs to his Duty that goes to it as if he were going to a Banquet with Joy and secret Exultation and like him Psal. cxxii 1 is glad when they say unto him let us go into the House of the Lord that 's the Person upon whom his Eyes are open for Good that 's the Man whom he sees coming as he did the Penitent Prodigal when he was yet afar off the good Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his Neck and Kissed him Such Services have Love at the Root Love that constrains that forces that compels the Soul to advance toward the Throne of Grace and Mercy Such Services God meets with Euges with Applauses with Approbations such Services he calls Gifts such he Honours with that glorious Title not to make us Proud but to encourage us to our Duty But the Man who values his Religious Services as if he did God a greater Kindness by them than he doth to himself
at the Heart though they do not or will not perceive it or take notice of it so that their Heart hath a secret Aversion from an entire conformity to Gods will 3. It is an Argument that an evil Custom prevails more with them than their Duty and a vain humour of the Age they live in hath the ascendant of their Piety And consequently these Asseverations whether Oaths or Solemn Protestations in their ordinary Discourses savouring of so much Evil they cannot but be sinful and odious to God and the plain Affirmations and Negations in our Speeches Answers and Promises must be necessary and tending to the Peace and Satisfaction of our Consciences II. If we enquire into the Causes that make Men act contrary to this Rule we shall find them many and various but I shall confine my self to these two as the chief and principal 1. Imaginary Danger Men fansie abundance of Dangers which they pretend they shall incur by their nice watchfulness over their Words and a precise confining themselves to plain Affirmations and Negations One cries Men will not believe me if I do not Protest and Vow and use some such Expressions which may give weight to what I say A miserable shift if they will not believe thee surely they suppose thee to be a very ill Man or they do not take thee to be honest or thou dost give them occasion and they have reason to think that thou art a Person light and frothy and vain and perfidious and in this case the best way to convince them of the contrary is a blameless Life If they will not believe thee let thy inoffensive Conversation shew that thy Principles are good and pious and serious and be sure upon all occasions to perform what thou promisest and they 'll see there is no reason to suspect thy Fidelity Speak nothing but the Truth and what thou art very well assured of and experience and the event of things will witness for thee that thou art an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile and if after all they will not believe thee thou hast this comfort that thou hast acted according to the Will of God than which there is no greater comfort on this side Heaven Another cries Men will think it humor in me and what if they do think so where lies the hurt as long as thou art satisfied in thy Conscience that it is the fear of God that keeps thee within the bounds of Christian Simplicity He that observes the wind shall not sow and he that regards the Clouds shall not reap saith the Wise Man Eccles. xi 4 He that nicely regards the Opinions of Men will never become a good Man A plain Text of Scripture must prevail with a Man more than a thousand censures of his Neighbours if not He 'll be as far from the Kingdom of God when he comes to die as he was in his vigorous State of Life Another cries I shall be counted a Fanatick or a Quaker But as to that I am sorry that so pitiful a Sect that turns Religion into Non-sense should have so much as the Name and Reputation of coming nearer to the Rules of the Gospel in this particular than we who have Divinity and the Articles of the Christian Faith and the Duties of the Gospel so plainly so distinctly so orderly delivered to us But see how Men fright themselves with Bugbears Suppose a Jew or a Turk or a Heathen should have something that 's good in his Religion what should hinder me from following it if it be agreeable to the Word of God Is it not our bounden Duty to think of and to do whatever things are True and Just and Honest and Lovely and of a good Report Phil. iv 8 And let these things be found among the Brahmins and Indians and People that never heard of the Gospel they may and ought to be Adopted into our Practice as long as they are conformable to the Holy Ghost Others are afraid of losing their profit their Credit and their Interest if they should not do in this particular as the rest of their Neighbours do But this is as Precarious a Principle as any of the rest and he will have but little reason to believe that he belongs to Christ or hath any share in the benefits of his Redemption that loves the praise of Men more than of God or prefers his Interest before the Safety of his Immortal Soul especially when Christ hath so seriously told us if any Man come to me and hates not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple Luke xiv 26 So that 2. The true cause is this Men are unwilling to be true Christians or Christians altogether Half-Christians they are and with Agrippa almost perswaded but they will not go through with the Work They love to play about the Out-works and about the suburbs of Religion but they care not for entring too far into the Holy Discipline So much of Christianity as is consistent with the Lusts of their Flesh they are willing to embrace but farther they dare not they will not go and therefore when Religion comes to clash with an evil Custom they have got and which the World counts harmless and which makes them good Company and Acceptable to Men they bid Religion farewell or they will not see nor understand that that part of Religion which crosses that evil Custom is their Duty Inferences I. What I have said relates not only to downright Oaths in common Discourses Speeches Answers Promises but to all mincings of Oaths and to those vulgar Expressions I Vow I Swear I Protest I 'll take my Oath on 't as I hope to be Saved c. and to all gilding or abbreviating of such Expressions and turning them to a more tolerable found especially in matters frivolous and vain and impertinent What do we think Are things of this nature fit do they deserve to be confirmed with such Religious Affirmations How can we use them with what Conscience can we venture on them when the Text is so plain But let your Communication be yea yea and nay nay for what is more than these comes of evil Will you plead that you mean no evil by it How doth that excuse you might not a Papist say I mean no Idolatry by Worshipping Saints and Angels It is not what you intend but what is against the Will of God that is to be regarded in this case Christ assures you What is more than these comes of Evil. As harmless as these Asseverations seem they are Branches of an Evil Tree suckers of an Evil Root They betray a love to Evil in the Soul They discover a Heart ignorant of the Nature of the Gospel of Christ and therefore they must be left and shun'd and watch'd against for they are sinful and forbid and contrary to the mind of God There is a fondness in most Men
Let 's earnestly labour after Perfection and that none may ask what Perfection is It is no other no less no meaner Perfection that what is pressed in the Text Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect This Perfection to give a fuller account of it relates 1. To the kinds of Graces 2. To the degrees of Grace 1. To the kinds of Graces Endeavour after Perfection appears in nothing so visibly as in our serious endeavours after the several Graces which make up the Wedding-Garment spoken of in the Gospel and the charming Ornament of Christ's Spouse Not only one but all must appear very lovely in our Eyes If one seems amiable and the rest are nauseated the Heart is not right with God We must not content our selves with being liberal to the Poor and Needy but Meekness and Humility and love of Enemies and overcoming the Evil with Good must be as heartily espoused as the other To this purpose is that Command of St. Peter 2 Pet. i. 5 Add to your Faith Vertue unto Vertue Knowledge unto Knowledge Temperance unto Temperance Patience unto Patience Godliness unto Godliness Brotherly-kindness and unto Brotherly-kindness Charity c. There is indeed a great stress on some particular Vertues and particularly on Almsgiving and there are such lofty things said of it that the unwary Reader will be apt to think he need do no more in order to Salvation But though God's special favour and esteem of such a Vertue is set down by way of Motive and Encouragement yet it 's certain it 's no where said that such a Vertue alone will suffice in order to eternal Happiness and when the rest are injoyn'd with as great severity as this it must necessarily follow that the rest are equally necessary The Pharisees indeed had an Opinion that if a Man did exercise himself in any one Command though he neglected the rest he would not fail of a blessed Portion in the Life to come But this plainly contradicts the Christians Rule which is Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John xv 14 and it 's to be fear'd that where the Obedience is partial the Plant cannot be or is not of our Heavenly Father's Planting The Stoicks which held that he who had one Vertue had all the rest were so far in the right that he who upon a good Principle out of love to Goodness applies himself to one Vertue is in a disposition to be Master of the rest if he pursues that Principle but to think that all the rest will fall in in course to him who by frequent acts shews he is pleased with one is what Experience confutes and Reason tells us cannot be except the same Industry be used to attain to the rest that was used in the pusuit of that we have made a considerable progress in 2. This Perfection must be seen in the degree of those Graces we are possessed of A lower degree must be raised into a higher Faith which is like a Grain of Mustard-see must be advanced into a spreading Shrub so must Hope so must Love so must Charity so must other Graces The Acts must be improv'd into Habits and the tender Plant must become Robust till it can bear the Injuries of Wind and Weather The beginnings of a Vertue are Incouragements to proceed in it he that doth not doth not grow strong in the Lord and consequently doth not endeavour after Perfection 3. This Perfection reaches farther yet even to doing of such things as are more perfect There are divers Actions which seem to have no great hurt in them and yet it is certainly a more perfect act to abstain from them This is to be observed particularly in Eating and Drinking in Dressing and Cloathing in Speeches and Discourses and Visits in Conversation and Company in Sports and Recreations c. Such a Jest eating of the other Dish drinking the third Glass playing for Company 's sake such a gaudy Dress c. may seem harmless but it is greater Perfection to forbear them so in doing good it is many times greater Perfection to do such an act of Charity than to forbear it In all which Cases a Christian who follows our Saviour's Rule in the Text will have a special regard to what is more perfect and therefore more pleasing to God In such Particulars as these consists the Christian Perfection which here we are exhorted to labour after but I can have but little hopes that you will exercise your selves toward this Perfection except you were very resolute to make use of the proper means which are these following 1. A mighty ambition after Spiritual things as great an ambition to be truly Good and Holy as others have to be rich and great in the World 2. A vigorous consideration of the future degrees of Glory according to the progress you make here He that meditates much of these degrees will find in himself a vehement desire after such degrees of Sanctity as the most perfect Persons have attain'd to 3. A fervent Love of the Lord Jesus such a Love as we find in St. Paul in St. John in Mary the Sister of Martha c. a love which must rise from the strong Impresses made upon the Soul by the Sufferings of Christ and his Love in descending from Heaven and dying for us 4. A lively representation of what God hath done for us both in Spirituals and Temporals for this will mightily inflame the Soul and put her upon doing any thing which he delights in 5. An attentive Consideration of the Title in the Text where God is called Our Father which is in Heaven an Epithet often repeated and therefore often to be thought of If we are his Children what should we do but imitate him that being the nature and duty of Children that do not bear that name in vain He is in Heaven this speaks his Greatness We see how Great Men prevail with us to do things even contrary to our Inclination And shall not he who is the greatest of all Influence our Resolution to be Perfect as he himself is Perfect Moreover he is in Heaven and from thence looks down upon us It is his condescension that he doth so and that condescention ought to be a Motive to this Perfection He looks down upon us to see how we improve our Talents if we do not he notes our Guilt in his Book where it will stand as a Witness against us And he is said to be in Heaven to let us see the place which we are to be receiv'd into if we be Perfect and truly endeavour after it Thither he intends to draw us to the same Kingdom where himself Reigns and where Christ our Head Reigns And is this no Argument to stir us up to this Perfection I do not mention Prayer as a means because we still suppose that what-ever helps we offer all are insignificant without fervent Prayer And thus we have chalk'd out
all your mournful Accents will open the Kingdom of Heaven to you If you go no farther than these Men by this Rule of Christ you must inevitably be Miserable and all your Wealth and Grandeur and Estates and Relatives cannot help you If you go no farther you sink into a State of Hypocrisie and I need not tell you that the Portion of Hypocrites is a very sad Portion for it is to be cast into outward Darkness where there is Howling and Gnashing of Teeth so saith your Master and mine Matth. xxiv 51 In speaking to You I speak to Christians even to Men who believe that to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven is beyond all the Bliss that this or Ten Thousand Worlds do afford and that not to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven is to be Wretched and Miserable Odious and Contemptible beyond Expression and to Groan in Torments to Eternal Ages This is the Notion You have of these Things as You own Your selves Christians Men Fathers and Brethren do you believe the Prophets Do you believe the Apostles Do you believe the Son of God that came into the World to save Sinners I know you believe and surely this is Motive sufficient to suffer the Word of Exhortation If therefore any of you have hitherto laid the stress of your Devotion upon the External Task and been Strangers to the inward frame of Mind which is in the sight of God of great Price If you have been Zealous for small little inconsiderable Things in Matters of Religion and have wilfully neglected the more Substantial and Self-Denying part of it If you have been Selfish in your Acts of Piety and Righteousness and been Devout and Good for Worldly Ends more than from a Sense of your Duty If you have taken some care to Purifie your outward Man from Clamorous and Scandalous Sins and have been careless of rectifying what is amiss within you even of subduing that immoderate Love of the World and Pride and Revengeful Thoughts and Desires and Anger and wrathful Temper and other secret Sins which do so easily beset you If you have thought it your Duty to observe some of the greater Commandments of the Gospel and made no Conscience of the lesser All this Fabrick must be pulled down undone and unravell'd and you must turn over a new Leaf and apply your selves to a true Gospel Life and Temper else there is no entring into the Kingdom of Heaven Flatter not your selves with the Merits and Sufferings and Death of Christ Jesus for poor Sinners I grant I own this is a very Glorious and comfortable Truth and there is no sincere Believer but confesses to thy Praise and Glory O Blessed Jesu That there is no Name under Heaven given whereby Men may be Saved but thine alone But still it is this exceeding the Scribes and Pharisees in their Righteousness that must give you a Title to the benefits of the Death of Jesus Christ By this the Pardon of your Sins which was purchased by that Death must be sued out and applied and rendred comfortable to your Souls and if the Death of Christ doth not kill in you that Hypocrisie and Partiality which made the Righteousness of the Pharisees defective that Death cannot will not profit you All the Christian World knows that the design of Christ's dying for Sinners was That they which Live should not henceforth Live unto themselves but unto him that Died for them and rose again They are the express Words of the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. v. 15 and it is as certain that you cannot Live unto him that Died for you except your Righteousness be a Righteousness without Guile and therefore beyond that of the Scribes and Pharisees I suppose you are sensible that Christ cannot contradict himself when he spake these Words He knew he was to Die for Sinners yet to these Sinners for whom he was to Die he protests Except your Righteousness shall exceed c. And therefore certainly the Mercies of his Death cannot clash with our Duty and whosoever means to enjoy the Benefits of that Death must Die to the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and a Righteousness more Rational an Evangelical Righteousness must Live in him even that which St. Paul speaks of Phil. iii. 9 And that 's the Life of God as it is called Ephes. iv 18 If we are to exceed these Men in their Righteousness we must do more than they did and if we do more can we do less than what hath been hinted in the preceding Particulars of Sincerity Simplicity Humility Charity and Vniversality of Obedience For these Qualifications rectifie what was amiss in the Righteousness of these Men and set us in the right way from which those Self-Conceited Men deviated and wandred in a Wilderness of Vulgar Errours Should any of you be so Unfortunate what I say here is nothing but a plain and easie Comment upon the Commination of the Text I say should any of you be so unfortunate as to come before the Gate of the Kingdom of Heaven and be denied entrance there how like a Thunder-bolt would this strike you And yet I see not how it is possible to prevent it if these Words of Christ make no impression upon you or do not oblige you to go beyond these Men in their Acts of Devotion and Piety Their Righteousness was an External Mechanical starcht kind of Righteousness it was not Free not Natural and they took no care to reform their Thoughts Desires Lusts Affections and such Things as Human Laws take no notice of and it 's to be feared that this is the Disease of too great a number of Christians Nay Thousands there are which do not come up to so much as the Negative Virtues of the Scribes and Pharisees They were no Drunkards no Swearers no Whoremongers no Adulterers and yet how many that profess themselves Illuminated by the Gospel of Christ are so and worse than so And if even those who do not exceed the Righteousness of these Men shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven how shall those that are not so good as they And but that Unbelief and Stupidity reigns so much in the Hearts of Men certainly here is enough to fright them from the Carnal Life they lead There stands before the Gate of the Kingdom of Heaven an Angel with a Flaming Sword as much as there did before the Gate of Paradise to keep out all those who voluntarily chuse Death before Life and do not you chuse Death before Life when you had rather forfeit your share in the Kingdom of Heaven than exceed the Scribes and Pharisees in their Righteousness Surely it must be a dismal and deplorable Condition when Men have flattered themselves all their Life time with hopes of entring into the Kingdom of Heaven to find themselves at last thrust out and may not this be the condition of some of you And is not the very possibility of it enough to oblige you to Purifie and
and looks upon it as a Favour that he will express his Respect to God in Devotion or fancies God reaps some great Advantages by them or performs them more because it is his Duty than because it is his Choice more because he doth not think himself safe without it than because he delights in it more to satisfy his unruly Conscience than his Pleasure or in a manner angry because God hath obliged him to the Drudgery of Devotion all such Persons have odd sinister preposterous Notions and Apprehensions of God and mistake the Nature of their own Felicity the World hath the Ascendent of them and something here below is dearer to them than their God In a word let every Soul that approaches to pay her Duty to God remember that God loves a chearful giver III. See here how heinous this Sin is I mean this Rancour Hatred Malice in our Hearts to our Neighbours whom we have offended and Unwillingness to forgive or to be Reconciled to them I say see here how heinous the Sin is since no Gift can prevail with God to pass it by It is very true my Friends Not all the Gold and Silver you have not all the Alms you give not ten thousand Rams not a thousand Rivers of Oyl not all the external Services you offer to him or lay upon his Altar will move him to overlook it Therefore if thou bring thy Gift unto the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy Gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift Aristippus and Aeschines were both Heathens yet hear what they did Being at Variance for some time Aristippus of his own accord goes to Aeschines his Enemy and tells him shall not we be Reconciled till we become the Table-talk of all the Country Aeschines replied I would very gladly been at Peace with you Remember therefore said Aristippus that I the Elder and the better Man have first sought unto you You are so saith Aeschines not only the Elder but the better Man for I began the Quarrel and you the Reconciliation These things many of us can hear and read many of us that call themselves Christians Disciples of Christ Children of the Revelation Children of Light and that vow'd Obedience to God over and over and yet they blush not to see themselves out-done by Heathens Notwithstanding all this they can carry plumbeas iras as the Comedian speaks leaden and lasting Wrath and Hatred in their Hearts and though they have given occasion to the Variance and been the Beginners of that Distance which is between them and their Neighbours yet will not be persuaded to forgive or to be reconciled Or if they be sometime by the Endeavours of some Charitable Friend forced into a Reconciliation yet that Friendship is to use Menander's Phrase Lupina Amicitia a Wolflish kind of Friendship which lasts for a little while and then the Sore breaks out again And yet such Men shall say their Prayers and go to Church and sometimes receive the Holy Sacrament when a Place or Office or Employment or some such carnal Reason puts them upon it a Profanation so great that it is almost in vain to argue with such Men out of the Gospel for they have not common Principles of Morality they throw down the Bounds of Nature how shall the Gospel overrule them Yet that they may be without Excuse I must a little reason the Case with them Tell me then ye Men that name the Name of Christ and dishonour and disgrace it by your uncharitable Temper is it nothing to you that God hath declared himself your Enemy Hath not he declared himself your Enemy when he hath protested he will not forgive you and hath not he Protested so when he hath told you over and over in his Gospel in that Gospel which you pretend to believe that except ye forgive your Neighbours their Trespasses and from your Heart too he will not forgive you Do but read these Texts Matth. vi 11 Matth. xviii 31 Marc. xi 25 26. How do you forgive them when ye will not be Reconciled to them or do you call that Forgiveness and Reconciliation when after pretences of Agreement you speak ill of the other party again and invent a thousand Excuses to evade the Obligation of a true brotherly Reconciliation either that you will do them no hurt or that you will not meddle with them or that you will let them alone if they let you alone c. And is this Forgiveness doth this look like Reconciliation Have you read the Gospel and can you call it so If God be not Reconciled to you if this Gospel be true you must be Miserable and fall into the Hands of Tormentors and God will not be Reconciled to you except you Reconcile your selves to your Brethren who have ought against you And when shall this Reconciliation be What upon a Death-bed A Death-bed Go then and cry to the Gods whom ye have served and let them deliver you if they can Is it likely God will have any thing to do with you then when all the Charms of his Mercies and entreaties could not prevail with you to be Reconciled before Again to what purpose is the Multitude of your Sacrifices to what purpose do ye pray for if you spread forth your Hands toward Heaven he will hide his Eyes and when ye make many Prayers he will not hear for your Hearts are full of Rancour and Bitterness And how dare you in the Holy Sacrament look the Lord Jesus in the Face that Jesus who died for you that were his Enemies that Jesus who sought unto you when you had affronted God and wrong'd your own Souls that Jesus who came from Heaven to seek you and laid down his Life to rescue you from the Power of the Devil that Jesus who suffered the bitterest Torments to move his Father to forgive you ten thousand Talents I say how dare you look him in the Face who have no Compassion for your fellow Servants Can you hope for any Mercy from him at such a time when you do obstruct that Mercy by your uncharitable Spirit Ay but this seeking to be Reconciled is so Ungentile a Thing you 'll say it makes a Man look ridiculous among People of the better Sort to entreat a Person to be Reconciled when a Man can live without him and hath no need of him A wonderful Argument And doth not the neglect of this Reconciliation make you look far more ridiculous in the sight of God! Will it not provoke him to laugh at your Calamity and to mock when your Fear comes And have not you a fine Religion that makes you more afraid of the Opinion and Censures of Men than of the Wrath of the living God Ay but I have endeavour'd to Reconcile my self to the Person whom I have offended but he will hearken to no Terms of Peace
a Fever the Oath in this case cannot be said to be broken but must be interpreted according to the tacit Condition aforesaid though it was not express'd It is so in other cases as by Example if a Person should Swear or Vow to God to abstain from all Food and Drink such a Day or so many Days in the Week though the Exception except I fall Sick or should not be Well c. is not expressed yet it is to be understood and the Oath in this Case cannot be said to be broken though by Providence the Party is hindred from the Performance of it according to his Purpose and Intention 6. Where an Oath is founded in a certain priviledge or prerogative there if that privilege doth actually cease the obligation of the Oath taken to that Person considered under that Notion doth actually cease to oblige as suppose a Man should swear to a Person in such an Office that he will Assist him and Act under him to the utmost of his Power if the Person in that Office doth either relinquish the Office or is put out or leaves it or runs away from it so as not to be in a capacity to take care of it or to execute it the obligation of the Oath of Fidelity ceases because it had respect to that Office and the Persons being or continuing in it 7. An Oath so far as it clashes or interferes with an antecedent Obligation ceases to oblige an Oath indeed obliges and can super-induce a new Obligation where there was none before but cannot destroy that which it finds or was in being before And therefore an Oath taken to a Person though in a very high Station that clashes with the antecedent Obligation we have to the community or publick good or humame Society whereof we are Members must necessarily cease to oblige 8. In all Conquests an Oath of Fidelity taken to the preceding Governour ceases to oblige if we resolve to stay under the power of the Conquerour who by that Conquest gets a Right to the duty of the Oath taken to him who was before in power V. What the Ceremonies used in several Nations in taking of Oaths do import and why they are used The Answer is in general Ceremonies in taking of Oaths have been used in most Nations to encrease the reverence of an Oath and to oblige those who swear to be more cautious and fearful of venturing rashly upon a thing so Sacred The ancient Phoenicians in taking an Oath would hold a Lamb in one hand and a stone in another ready to strike the Lamb to intimate their wishes that God might strike them dead as they were ready to do that Lamb if they did forswear themselves The old Romans upon the same occasions would take up a Stone and cast it from them imprecating to themselves that God might cast them away as they did that Stone if they sware not that which was true Some Nations would light Torches and hold them in their Hands while they took an Oath wishing that in case of Perjury they might be consumed with Fire others would take a knife and hold it to a pigs Throat devoting themselves to the Revenging stroak of Heaven in case of swearing falsely Abraham made his Steward swear to him by laying his Hand upon his Thigh the place where the Sword used to hang as an item that he should fall by the Sword if he performed not what he had promised by Oath Gen. xxiv 2 The Angel Dan. xii 7 lift up his right and left Hand to Heaven when he sware to shew that he engaged all the Power of Heaven against him if the thing he confirmed were not true The Jews Jerem. xxxiv 18 in the Administring and taking an Oath slew a Calf and cut it asunder and the Person that sware walk'd through the dissected parts to convince the Spectators that he wished God would cut him asunder if he broke the Covenant The customs of other Nations I omit and shall only take notice of one in use among our selves which is swearing upon a Bible and the import of that is a tacit imprecation or wish that if we swear falsely the Curses Temporal and Eternal contained in that Book may light upon us which if it were considered well it would make some Men more fearful of swearing so often as they do and though the Sense and Design of the Words of the Oath we Administer in Judicial Courts are great yet it were to be wished that what is intended by the Words and by the Ceremony used were more fully and more largely expressed to make the ruder sort of People especially more sensible of that Act of Religion they perform in taking of an Oath And possibly a great many Perjuries might this way be prevented if the Expressions were more Astonishing and the Words more Dreadful as in some Northern Nations with lifting up three Fingers with respect to the Holy Trinity they solemnly Renounce all their share in the Happiness of another World in case of Perjury Inferences 1. Though the obligations of an Oath may in some cases cease because the Oath may have respect to certain Conditions Circumstances and Constitutions which failing the Obligation must fail too or there may be some defect either in the object or subject of the Oath yet from thence it doth not follow that Man can dispence with an Oath lawfully taken for an Oath being taken to God as well as to satisfie Man how can Man poor Dust and Ashes give away Gods Right to whom a Man obliges himself in an Oath An Oath is matter of natural Right and therefore cannot be dispensed with at Humane Tribunals and if such Dispensations were admitted there could be no Security of the thing promised by Oath Besides these Dispensations would be giving away another Mans Right which is against the Rule of Common Justice and Equity The Bishops or Popes of Rome who for several Ages have attributed to themselves power to absolve Subjects of their Oaths of Allegiance to their Princes have in doing so invaded God's Right and Prerogative and given the Considerate World too much occasion to think that what is said of Antichrist 2 Thessal ii 4 is very applicable to that See for his Character there is That he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worship'd so that he as God sits in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God And this Power of Dispensing with Oaths the Pope's Parasites do commonly place in his Oecumenical Power and Authority as he is Emperor of the whole World though how he came by it none can tell except it be as Highway-men come by a Man's Purse by Fraud and Force Some to avoid the Sin of Blasphemy upon which their Opinion borders tell us that the Pope only declares that the Oath in such Cases doth not oblige because of some great Good which is impeded by it or some great Evil which is like to
to be believed in what they say and this fondness they discover even in telling things which they have only by hear-say and very often false and that tempts them to these extravagant Additionals I have mention'd and since that fondness is the occasion of it even that must be subdued and mortified It 's true a Man ought to be desirous to be believed but then it must be in things Serious and Weighty and of Importance and such as he hath a Moral assurance of that they are true and that desire must go no farther than God hath allowed of And since not only in things Trivial and Complemental and telling of Stories but also in ordinary Promises Bargains and Negotiations he hath forbid these solemn Confirmations and Protestations as pleasing as they may be to Flesh and Blood and as Customary as they are and as agreeable as they are to the humor of the times they must be forborn What 's the Reason that we hear People say sometimes of a Man that they will take his Word for a Thousand pound and that if such a one hath said it they 'll believe it sooner than they will do another Man upon his Bond. Is it not because they are assured of his Honesty Sincerity Piety Constancy Veracity and unfeigned Goodness Is not this a mighty Commendation Is it not an excellent Character And are not these fit Examples for us to follow Doth a Principle of real Goodness give a Man such Reputation among his Neighbours and is it not fit we should imitate these Patterns We that stand so much upon our Credit why are we loth to venture upon that which will procure us such Credit not only with Men but with God too Were we Christians indeed and did Men see that we live up to the Rules of our Great Master without wavering they would depend upon our Promises as much as they do upon other Mens Oaths and more too But when they see us Treacherous and Persidious and Regardless of our Words and that we take no heed to our Ways when they find that we pretend to Religion and yet can be Knaves that we call our selves Children of God and yet can Cheat and Defraud that we commend good Men and talk well and can undermine and over-reach another in a Bargain no wonder if they do Mistrust us And then we run our selves into a necessity of helping out our Want of Sincerity with Protestations and needless Asseverations and thus by degrees we come to venture upon Oaths and to other Sins and undoe our Souls Our Religion was intended to make us the honestest Men in the World and were we true to our Principles there would be no need of so many Bonds and Obligations and Indentures and Counterparts and giving of Securities and Sollicitations to second our Word and Promises with Oaths and Vows and Protestations as now there is But all that can be said in this point is this If Men be truly converted to the Laws of Christ they will be Just and Honest and Sincere and Upright and Faithful and True and Invincibly so if they are not their Conversion is Nonsense their Regeneration a Fable their Love to God a Romance their Repentance a fancy and their Piety Paint and Varnish II. We see here that the Government of our Tongues requires our special Care He that offends not in Word is a perfect Man saith St. James Jam. iii. 2 and able also to bridle the whole Body It 's one great Lesson of our Religion to labour after Perfection as appears by the frequent commands 2 Cor. xiii 9 Hebr. vi 1 Jam. i. 4 2 Cor. xiii 11 and this Perfection is not to be attained except our Care and Watchfullness extend to our Speeches and Words and Discourses and Communications in Conversation and how this Care is to be expressed I shall briefly shew in the following Directions 1. Let 's always propose to our selves a good end in Speaking either to rectifie the Mistakes of others or to Instruct or to Counsel or to Exhort or to Comfort or to Reprove or to Edifie others or to acquaint them with the true Merit of the Cause or to prevent frothy or impertinent Discourses This is part of that Discretion which is made a good Man's Character Psal. cxii 5 He that speaks with an intent either to be applauded for his Wit or Learning or Piety or to make the Company Laugh or meerly to trifle away the time or to provoke others to Wrath c. such a Person hath no great Care of his everlasting Concerns and puts no Oyl to his Lamp and therefore if the Bridegroom should come unawares he 'll have Oyl to buy when the Doors are going to be shut 2. Let 's speak Circumspectly so that in our Discourses neither God be abused by Profaneness nor Scripture undervalued by wrong Applications nor our Neighbour rendred contemptible by Calumny nor our Souls wounded by Lying nor Religion blacken'd by misrepresentations nor weak Christians scandaliz'd by immoderate Liberty nor other Men harden'd in their Sins by flattering Compliances To this purpose Solomon Eccles. v. 2 Be not rash with thy Mouth and let not thy Heart be hasty to utter any thing before God 3. Let 's speak modestly of our selves especially and of our Duties and Performances and Accomplishments and not only with respect to our selves but in regard of others too when Kindnesses and Obligations and admiration of their Gifts prompt us to speak in their Commendation There is great modesty requir'd particularly when Inferiors speak to their Superiors Disciples to their Teachers Servants to their Masters Children to their Parents and Hearers to their Spiritual Pastors Young Men to the Aged This is part of that Submission and Subjection and Humility most earnestly pressed upon us 1 Pet. v. 5 4. Let 's speak opportunely suitably to the time and place we are in A word fitly spoken is like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver Prov. xxv 11 Comfort is proper for the Afflicted Reproof for the Obstinate Admonition for the Tractable Instruction for the Ignorant and Colloquies Divine and Spiritual for the House of God and when God sends the Sword the Prophet asks very justly Should we then make Mirth Ezek. xxi 10 5. Let 's talk sparingly In the multitude of Words there wants not Sin but he that refrains his Tongue is wise Prov. x. 19 A Man that talks much had need be a very accomplish'd Person if he doth not run out into something contrary to Truth or good Manners This Rule deserves to be observ'd so much the more because multitude of Words is made the Character of a Fool Eccles. x. 14 6. Let 's use our selves to talk Piously It is a commanded Duty Ephes. iv 29 This is wanting in most Companies nay it is become a piece of Rudeness and a mark of ill breeding to talk of Jesus Christ when People visit one another and that 's one great Reason of the decay of Piety
been a sweet Odour a very unacceptable Sacrifice for though the needy Brother be actually reliev'd by the Gift yet the Giver can enjoy but little comfort of it since that which should have made it amiable and pleasing to God is wanting God doth not so much regard what we give as with what Heart we give A ready Mind like a magnifying Glass makes even a Cup of Water given to a Disciple of Christ look great in the sight of God whereas a richer Donative coming from us with an unwilling Mind looks mean and pitiful and like Objects seen through the wrong end of a Perspective dwarfish and inconsiderable 2. Give with Simplicity with holy good and warrantable Ends and with pious Intentions This is the Command Rom. xii 8 And we shall soon be convinc'd of the Necessity of it if we consider how it fared with the Pharisees whose sinister ends and designs in giving Alms drew upon them the threatning Christ speaks of Matth. vi 2 Verily they have their Reward To glorifie God with the gift to express our gratitude to the Donor of all we have to testifie our Compassion to our Fellow-Creatures and Fellow Christians in distress to discharge our Duty and to express our Obedience to the Commands of our Master c. These are Ends good and laudable and which a good Man may take satisfaction in and I doubt not but we may lawfully have an Eye to the future recompence in the Resurrection of the Just as we may conclude from what Christ saith Luke xiv 1 2 4. But to think to cajole the Almighty by the Gift and lull him into connivance at the Sins we are unwilling to part with or to hope for some temporal advantage by the Donation or to be able to give no better reason for our Giving than because Persons of our Rank and Quality have done the like Such designs as they are inconsistent with the Maxims of our Religion so its needless to tell you they must be laid aside when the meanest Capacity may easily conclude so much from the Premises 3. Give with Discretion This is requir'd Psal. xli 1 where we read Blessed is he that considereth the Poor In the Original it's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which imports Wisdom and Discretion in the distribution of our Charitable Gifts Mens Necessities being various some more urging others more tolerable Some are in greater Want than others the Rank and Quality and Station of some makes them greater Objects than those who were born to a poor and mean Condition some grow providentially Poor others through Debauchery and Idleness some with their Poverty are Sincere and Good and Religious others retain their Insensibleness of things Spiritual Sometimes our very Parents and nearest Relations crave our assistance as well as Persons recommended to us by our Friends and Acquaintance All which Circumstances require Direction and Prudence which Vertue though it be sometime made a Cloak for Covetousness yet is a Vertue still and to be practis'd by the best of Men though it be made a shelter under which wicked Men hide their Sin and Hypocrisie 4. Give proportionably Where God hath given much remember to give much too and let not Selfishness tempt you to call that little which all your Neighbours and understanding Men count a very large Portion And that you may be able to give much abate abundance of things which are superfluous and serve for nothing but to Feed your Luxury It 's impossible that he who hath much should give much if he be resolv'd to have every thing that the Men of the World have even all the Fineries and Gaudies and Pomp and Retinue and State which other voluptuous Sinners rejoyce in If every one of us be to lay up in Store for Charitable Uses as God hath prospered and blessed him in this World as we read 1 Cor. xvi 1 2. Certainly we cannot satisfie our selves that we give as we ought if we give not proportionably And the best guide to direct us in this proportion is Love The more fervent our Love is to our distressed Brethren the more liberal we shall be See how Love wrought upon the Macedonians for they went not only beyond proportion but beyond their power too in giving relief to the Churches of Judaea 2 Cor. viii 1 5. Give to all sorts not only to a Christian but to a Heathen too as there is occasion not only to a needy Relation but to a distressed Stranger too not only to a a Friend but even to an Enemy The Jews were abominably partial in their giving To a Jew one of their own Nation and Religion they were liberal but a Samaritan they thought no proper Object of Relief and therefore would not do the common Offices of Humanity to them or shew them the least Civility Our Religion rests upon better Principles and another Temper is requir'd of Christians And that 's the true import of that Command Luke vi 30 Give to every Man or to all that ask of thee i. e. to all sorts of Men confine not thy Charity to Persons of the same Faith and Party and Opinion but like God disperse and scatter thy Profits on all both good and bad whether just or unjust and do not deny thy help no not to Sinners and Publicans These without all peradventure are the true Qualifications of Giving but we are not to think that all the Duty requir'd here is incumbent on the Giver He that doth ask is to observe Rules as well as the Giver which if he doth not he makes himself incapable of receiving the Gift of the Giver 1. Give to him that asketh of thee and is a proper Object of Charity Of this a hint was given before and if any Necessitous Persons are excluded from being Objects they must be such as spend what is given them in Rioting and Drunkenness in Idleness and Laziness and live useless and unprofitable in the World I know abundance of Covetous Niggardly and Narrow-hearted Christians make this an excuse and rashly Censure all that ask of them as People Idle and delighting in the common Vices of the Age that they may have some colour for their backwardness in Giving but in Cases of this Nature we are not to go by Guesses and Fancies and precarious Imaginations but by our certain Knowledge and when we are ignorant of the manner and particulars of their Lives and Conversations our Judgment must be Charitable and Favourable where Experience and common Fame and rational Evidences do convince us of their dissolute way of Living we may lawfully with-hold our Hands for in this case we do not with-hold the Good from those to whom it is due Prov. iii. 27 the Persons we speak of falling under another Notion even of Men to whom Correction and Punishment and the severity of a Prison is due and whom to lash into better Manners is a very good act of Charity 2. Give to him that asketh provided he doth ask
you do not heartily believe an eternal Reward What! Believe it and do nothing for it Yes something ye do as much as some of your indifferent Neighbours do but that 's the very thing Christ finds fault with because you stop there where Men of no great sence of Religion stop It 's true all the doing in the World cannot deserve this everlasting Reward but since doing more than Publicans and Sinners is the Condition to which God hath annex'd this eternal Reward will you neglect the Condition without which you cannot be sure of that Reward 4. When in the last Day ye shall see those excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven who were loath to step farther than their Friends and Acquaintance in the way to Happiness those particularly who thought it sufficient to be kind only to those who were kind to them Will not you wish that you had done more than they But what will Wishes signifie in that Day when the time of Sowing and Planting and Working is past Now you have an opportunity of shewing your extraordinary Zeal and Love and Fervour and Charity and endeavours to do more than others Lay hold and remember we entreat you in Christ's stead to lay hold on the present opportunity and let the eternal Reward tempt you the Reward invisible indeed but as sure as certain as infallible as the Great God who hath promised it Say not this doing more than others is an endless thing for at this rate we must do more than every Man we see or hear of or converse withal a thing enough to make a Man distracted with Religion No my Friends there is no danger of that the Persons beyond whom you are to go are chiefly carnal careless indifferent Men who have a low Opinion of Religion and do no more in these Matters than is consistent with their Interest and Honour and Reputation and Ease and Temper and Profit and Sensual Pleasures Cross your selves in all these and do more than Flesh and Blood and Nature and Custom and Education would prompt you to and as you excel others in Temporal and Spiritual Advantages labour still to do more than they especially where you see they are defective and let all be done according to the Directions of the Text and this Chapter not ceasing to implore God's powerful Arm and the Time will come when you shall Sing and Triumph and Rejoyce more than others and when others shall be Judged Disgraced Despised and Rejected you will sit on Thrones judging the Tribes of Israel Amen SERMON XXXVIII St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 46 47. For if ye love them which love you what Reward have you Do not even the Publicans the same And if ye salute your Brethren only what do you more than others Do not even the Publicans so I Thought I had done with these Words but upon a review of the Text there appear several Things which will require our farther Disquisition and Examination Our Saviour's principal Design in these Words I think I have sufficiently explain'd in the last Discourse his principal Design I say which is to shew that in Matters of Love Charity Kindness and Civility we are to do more than others more than Heathens and Infidels more than Carnal Men and according to the Rules and Measures of Analogy I extended the Command to other Collateral Duties of Religion and Morality But I find that while I have pressed doing more than others I have forgot to urge some of you at least to do so much as others and while I have taught you to go beyond Publicans and Carnal Men I have overlook'd the Duties and good things suppos'd in the Text to be in Publicans and Carnal Men which are loving those that love them and being kind and civil and courteous to those who are so to them and doing good to those who do good to them Indeed to recommend to you such Duties as these seems to be a thing altogether needless and superfluous as needless as to teach People to Trade one with another or to Eat when they are Hungry or to Drink when they are Dry. But if we look abroad and consider the Christian World as it appears to us now we shall find that even these lesser Duties are trampled upon as well as the greater and as impossible as it may seem to be not to love those who love us it will appear from the sequel that there are not a few even among our selves Christians such as they are who break through the Obligation of this Duty and may be justly charged with wilful Omission and Neglect even of these common Offices which Nature Custom and Education teaches Indeed it is a great disparagement to our Religion at least to the Professors of it that they who for the time they have lived in the Church should be able to digest the strongest Meat should stand in need of Milk the those who should be able to teach others should have occasion or lie under a necessity to be taught the common Principles of Heathen Divinity But so it is and to that pass are things come that we are forced to teach People the first Rudiments of natural Theology so incapable or so unfit are many to be instructed in the higher Lessons of Christianity To love and do good to those who love and do good to us is a pure natural Principle and it looks a little impertinent to prove the necessity of it because it is a Point all Men take for granted yet that I may not seem to leave out any thing that should have been said and for your fuller Conviction and Satisfaction I shall I. Consider the reasonableness of this Principle II. Enquire what Persons they are who act against this natural Principle III. Examine what it is that makes Men sink so low beneath Publicans and Heathens and act against this Principle of Nature 1. The Reasonableness of this Principle of loving and doing good to those who love and do good to us And it will appear from the following Particulars 1. Not to love those that love us or not to be civil kind and courteous to those who are so to us tends to the Ruine and Destruction of Humane Society Mutual and reciprocal Kindnesses are the Solder of Humane Life and without these the World would soon become a Habitation of Savages Trade and Commerce would quickly cease and the Condition of Mankind like the Leviathan's state of Nature become a state of perpetual War This would encrease Animosities and set at variance Father and Son and the Daughter against her Mother and the Daughter-in-law against her Mother-in-law and open a gap to infinite Quarrels and Dissentions for as nothing sowres our Spirits more than Unkindnesses from those whom we have been kind to so if this proceeded to an universal Custom Love and Charity would be destroy'd aud with that the Peace and Order of Common-wealths or Kingdoms This would alienate Mens Affections one from another and this would
but reproves them either for their Oaths or other Sensualities But that Clownishness if it must be call'd so is a Duty Notwithstanding this we may preserve the respect due to their Places and Elevations in the World as we see in St. Paul who though he did not comply with the Sins of Ananias the High-Priest and of Festus the Governour yet paid them the respect their Stations and the Figure they made in the World requir'd II. The Text teaches us how we are to aggravate our Sins in our confessions to God To commit Sins which the very Heathens and Publicans condemn and abhor must needs be very dreadful in a Christian because he Sins against the very Principles of Nature In the same manner to neglect that which Heathens and Publicans by the light of Nature do find and affirm and observe as necessary must make the omission exceeding black in a Christian because he is without excuse And therefore if any of us have been unkind disobliging ill-nanatur'd cross and surly and morose to those who are kind and loving and tender and charitable to us let 's not make light of the Sin which is so much the greater by how much it is condemn'd by Heathens and Publicans Christians the Gospel obliges you to love your Enemies and will not ye love your Friends Not to love your Enemies will bring the Wrath of God upon you how much more your not loving those who love you The neglect of the more difficult Task will make you miserable and will not neglect of the easier cover your Faces with Confusion Intemperance Drunkenness Cheating Defrauding Lying Extortion Profaneness c. are condemn'd by the very Heathens and will you from whom greater Vertues are expected defile your selves with such Sins as these The brighter the Light is the greater is the Sin and therefore a Christian who lives under a higher Dispensation if he neglects that which the lesser was sufficient to instruct him in Sins with a witness for he Sins in the midst of Sun-shine In our Confessions therefore such Sins must be particularly deplor'd as exceeding others in heinousness And O! let the greatness of the Sin fright us for ever from venturing upon the like again and let 's bless God that there is yet hopes of Mercy and Vertue the Efficacy in the Blood of Jesus to wash away Sins which bring more than ordinary Guilt upon the Soul III. Since it is so unnatural and irrational a thing not to love those who love us behold how irrational and unnatural a thing it must be not to love God who loves us and hath loved us into Miracles and Prodigies Hath not he loved us Dares any say he hath not If he hath not loved us what do our Praises signifie Why do we praise him as it is in our Liturgy for our Creation Preservation and all the Blessings of this Life Why do we publickly and privately praise him above all things for the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ for the means of Grace and for the hope of Glory Are not these signs of Love Can there be greater Characters of his Love Do not we own and confess and acknowledge that these are certain marks of Love But why Christian why art thou so unkind to that God who hath loved thee thus He keeps thee he watches over thee he is thy Sun and thy Shield thy Shade on thy right Hand daily and hourly he showers down Blessings upon thee and all the Evils that befall other Men and which thou art preserved from it 's he that preserves thee from them But why so disrespectful to that God who incircles and crowns thee with loving kindnesses and tender Mercies Art not thou unkind to him when thou sin'st against him Art not thou disrespectful to him when thou wilfully do'st that which he protests in his Word is abomination in his Eyes What Iniquity do'st thou find in him that a God so tender and so kind cannot attract or charm thy Heart into reciprocal Love Why wilt thou suffer that Tongue of thine to vent it self in frothy and corrupt Communications which was given thee to sing his Praises Why wilt thou dishonour him with those Creatures which were intended for thy use and refreshment Why wilt thou make those Members of thy Body Instruments of Unrighteousness which were intended to be Instruments of Holiness Why wilt thou make thy Soul a sink and sty of impure and noisome Lusts which was intended to be a Temple of the Holy Ghost Why wilt thou make those Mercies thou enjoyest Weapons to fight against him which were intended as silken Strings to lead thee to his Banqueting-House the Banner whereof is Love He draws thee with Cords of Love was ever greater gentleness used toward a Child and canst thou find in thy Heart to grieve such Bowels of Compassion Behold what manner of love the Father hath shewn to us that we should be called the Children of God and is this your gratitude to make your selves Children of Hell and Heirs of Damnation There is that in the Love of God which would be an Antidote against all Sins whatsoever had'st thou but Courage to remember that Love and to set it before thee in lively Characters Joseph remembred God lov'd him and he resolutely resists the Charms of his Mistress How can I saith he commit this Wickedness and Sin against God Christian were the Love of God seriously remembred and thought of thou could'st not Sin To offend him would go as much against thee as drinking Poyson or a draught of Gall and Wormwood We talk a thousand great Things of Love what Power it hath to charm rational Souls Sirs God hath given you rational Souls and you are sensible there is no Love so great so amazing so wonderful as the Love of God to your Souls and Bodies I beseech you therefore Brethren by the Mercies of God by the Love of God by the Charity of our Lord Jesus Christ that you present your Souls and Bodies living Sacrifices Holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service Amen SERMON XXXIX St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 48. Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect THat no Man may be offended at this Command of Perfection which some think utterly impossible on this side Heaven and others do as vainly boast of as if they were arrived to it Give me leave to tell you that it 's no unusual thing in Scripture to meet with Exhortations of that Nature It was God's Order to Abraham Gen. xvii 1 Walk before me and be thou perfect and it seems it is the design of the Gospel and of the preaching of it that we may present every one perfect in Christ Jesus Coloss. i. 28 And to this purpose was the Prayer of Euphrates for the same Colossians That they might stand perfect and compleat in all the Will of God Col. iv 12 And accordingly St. Paul entreats treats the
is guilty of that Adultery and therefore causes her that is put away to commit Adultery VIII How he that Marries her that is put away commits Adultery 1. In saying so our Great Master confirms the antient Law of God Deut. xxiv 3 where the Wife put away by her Husband is peremptorily forbid to return to the Husband that did give her a Bill of Divorce and put her away She had Liberty indeed to Marry another but if after his Death or during his Life her former Husband should be desirous to Marry her again this God saith there is Abomination and Christ calls it Adultery So that the words of the Text whosoever shall Marry her that 's put away commits Adultery do establish and ratifie what God said of old to the Jewish People He that puts away his Wife may not afterward when another Man hath known her Marry her again if he doth he commits Adultery 2. He that puts away his Wife for a less or meaner cause than Adultery doth not by that means or voluntary Divorce cancel the Marriage Bond and the legal Contract betwixt him and her That Bond continues firm and indissoluble notwithstanding that Dismission and therefore he that Marries such a Person that is unjustly put away Marries another Man's Wife and consequently commits Adultery Under the Law he that Married the Woman put away by her Husband for Causes God then allow'd of did not Sin except the High Priest who was forbid to Marry any Woman that was Divorced And under the Gospel he that Marries her that 's put away legally for Causes the Gospel allows of cannot be said to commit an Offence especially if the Rules we mentioned before be observed But he that Marries her that's justly put away or divorced for Causes frivolous or not allowed of by the Gospel and so Marries her he hath no power no right to Marry even a Person who notwithstanding the Divorce is still the Wife of him that put her away he certainly commits Adultery INFERENCES Having thus resolved the Queries suggested by the Text it 's time I should after all add some wholesom Directions whereby such Divorces and all Desires after them may be prevented I. There is no better Antidote against such Mischiefs than Love mutual Love a true Conjugal Love a Love grounded not upon a bare satisfying the desires of the Flesh for that will be of no long continuance but establish'd upon the lasting Principles of Duty and fed by Pious Considerations And they who think that no less Authority hath joined them together than God himself and intended that this Union should be great and withstand all Temptations of Dissolution except that of Death and thought fit to represent by it the Love of Christ to his Church They who make these Considerations the Foundation of their Love will not be easily moved to the desire of Separation Love in a married State being grounded only upon Beauty and Riches and other external things when these fade Love will fade Vertue and the Fear of God and the Oath that is betwixt them these must tye their Hearts together and where they do so their Love like a treble Cord is not easily broken Love is the great Preservative of Happiness in a Married State where that reigns no desires of Divorcement can find Entertainment But then it must be such Love as the Apostle describes 1 Cor. xiii 4 5 6 7. that suffers long and is kind that envies not that vaunts not it self that is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeks not her own is not easily provoked thinks no Evil rejoices not in Iniquity but rejoices in the Truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things and endureth all things This Charity we owe to all that are of the Houshold of Faith more or less much more to Persons of so near a Relation who besides the general Obligations as Christians have bound themselves Vowed and Promised before God and the Elect Angels and the Congregation to love one another with a pure Heart fervently Love is an Universal Medicine If the Infirmities of one Party be invincible Love will bear with them if vincible Love will endeavour to reform them If Crosses happen Love will administer Comfort if Prosperity comes flowing in Love will exhort to Thankfulness if Disputes arise Love will appease them if Quarrels are broacht Love will quench that Fire If Misconstructions be made Love will rectify them if Suspicions disturb the Mind Love will reject them if Failings appear Love will cover them and whatever things are amiss in a Family Love will endeavour to cure them Where this Love decays there the Good Angel that should guard the House prepares for his departure Where this Love is not maintain'd Temptations prevail and Quarrels come and Differences arise and Persons are let loose and ill Thoughts do enter and reproachful Language flies about and the Parties become uneasy and Divorces are thought of and being difficult to compose according to Law they are wished for and desired and if they cannot be had there Adulteries and Fornications and a thousand Evils are entertain'd as woful Experience shews and thus the married State becomes bitter as Wormwood which if Love had had the Management of it might have been sweet as the Morning Rose fragrant as the Balm of Gilead refreshing as Evening Showers II. As unequal Yoakings are very often the causes of great Contentions so where they may be they ought to be carefully shun'd and prevented By being unequally Yoaked I do not mean only Inequality of Age of Temper of Rank and Fortune but marrying Persons of a different Persuasion in Matters of Religion for if one of the Parties be Zealous for the Religion he professes he will think himself bound in Conscience to draw the Partner of his Bed into a Partnership of his Religion and if the other will not yield there arise such Flames of Discord sometimes that Divorces and Separations are not only desired but unjustly Endeavour'd and Practised and one party contrary to Law and Reason and Conscience and Modesty leaves the other Of this we have too many Examples not only where Protestants have married Papists but where Protestants have joined themselves to Protestants of different Sentiments not that the Differences among Protestants are of any great Consequence but where Pride Passion Ignorance or Prejudice turns disputable Questions into Articles of Faith and makes them Balls of Contention they shed a bad influence even upon a married State Indeed where both Parties are of a gentle and charitable Temper there is no great danger of falling out about Religion but as such Tempers are somewhat rare so where they are found they may be Influenced by external Causes and Motives which may alter them and though Promises are often made before Marriage not to molest one another in point of Religion yet false Persuasion afterward that it is their Duty to convert them who are so nearly related to them
we see hath prevailed with them to break all those Engagements Besides in these unequal Yoakings there cannot be that sweet that mutual Encouragement to Prayer and Praises and other Acts of Devotion and Piety which ought to be betwixt such Relations and though I doubt not but it 's possible to Admonish one another to serve God faithfully in their own Way without Passion or passing Censures one upon another yet the Thoughts that one of them worships God in a forbidden Way will still be an Impediment to this faithful and Conscientious Exhorting one another duly And therefore though I cannot say it 's absolutely unlawful to marry a Person of a different Persuasion in Matters of Religion yet the Inconveniences are so great that he who duly Weighs and Ponders them before he enters upon that State will think himself obliged to arm himself against all such dangerous Mixtures and Conjunctions III. There is nothing causes these Desires of Divorcements more than unhappy and unfortunate Matches And as such Matches are too often the Effects either of Rashness and Precipitation or want of enquiring into the Temper and Disposition of the Persons that are to make this near Relation or of Covetousness and Greediness after Fortune and Riches and Mony or of nelecting the advice of Parents and faithful Friends or of a preceding vain and vitious Life which is punish'd very often with such uncomfortable Conjunctions so where the married State is embitter'd with many sad Ingredients to prevent all such Wishes and Desires of Divorcement these following Considerations and Remedies may be very useful 1. Let it be considered that though your Married State be full of grievous Troubles yet it doth not it need not hinder you from attaining Everlasting Salvation It 's true People may make any State and Condition an Impediment to Eternal Life but there is no Necessity for it Nay in the Case before us the Troubles in a Married State naturally direct you to seek a better Country and if you are in a Capacity of enjoying God for ever notwithstanding the Evils which befall you you have Reason still to Praise and Adore the Divine Goodness and since your Married State affords so little Comfort To labour hard to be made Partakers of Everlasting Consolations 2. Let another Consideration be added to this that as miserable as your Married Condition is this happens not comes not to pass without a very special Providence God either orders it or wisely permits it corrects you for great Purposes and chastises you to let you see your Affections have been misplaced and must be set upon Objects and Beings more Sublime more Adequate more Commensurate to your Immortal Souls God and Heaven and the Things unseen 3. Under such a Providence the Soul must learn to be humble to look upon her Sins as Meritorious and the Cause of this uncomfortable State and accuse her Carnal Worldly and Sensual Desires and Designs as the Procurers of this Misery and improve the Dispensation into Repentance and Self-Examination and Submission to the Will of God and the Practices of Spiritual Devotions and Aspirations and Breathings after Enjoyments of a nobler Nature 4. In this Case the Divine Power and Goodness must be adored to supply you with Grace and Assistance suitable that you may chearfully bear the Injuries Indignities and Crosses that befall you in that State and do not doubt but your Prayer if strong and importunate will draw Honey from the Rock and Oyl from the Flint and Blessings of great Value from him who hath declared himself a God that heareth Prayer 5. Another Consideration will be very profitable that God by such Crosses in a Married State teaches you Patience at home that you may be the better able to practise it abroad Thus the Philosopher said of his Angry and Unquiet Yoak-fellow That he found his Silence under the Effects of her Rage and unquiet Spirit when he was at home proved very salutary and beneficial to him when he was in Company abroad for by that means he was the better able to bridle his Passions when he was provoked or affronted in Publick And St. Chrysostome hath this Observation upon it It grieves me that Heathens are wiser than we who are to imitate Angels nay God himself in Meekness and Patience Indeed we cannot imitate a more Excellent Pattern He that is best able to Revenge himself upon the Insolent Wretches that affront him suffers most Be patient therefore unto the coming of the Lord Behold the Husbandman waits for the pretious Fruit of the Earth and hath long Patience for it until he receive the early and latter Rain Be ye also Patient Stablish your Hearts for the Coming of the Lord draws nigh Jam. v. 7 8. SERMON XXVIII St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 33. Again ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time Thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths THE sence of these words we have Levit. xix 12 but the Words themselves seem to be a Paraphrase of the ancient Expositions of the Law among the Jews upon that Law in Leviticus where it is Ye shall not swear by my Name falsely neither shalt thou profane the Name of thy God which Words those ancient Interpreters expressed it's like as it is in the Text Thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths And that 's the thing aimed at in these words Again ye have heard That it hath been said by them of old time And most certainly he that forswears himself swears falsly by the Name of God and he that doth not perform unto the Lord his Oaths or performs not what he hath Sworn and Promised to God and Man profanes his Name with a witness Or possibly all that is said in the Old Testament against Swearing was contracted by the Learned Men of old Time into this Axiom or Sentence Thou shalt not forswear thy self but c. Or These words are a Comment made by the Ancestors of the Jews upon the Third Commandment Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain Or They relate to Numb xxx 2 However it be or whoever were the Authors of this Saying it must be confess'd that they spake conformably to the Will of God and therefore these words are in effect a Divine Precept and Obligatory for ever as much as a Command in the Decalogue and though it was said so by them of old Time yet it is no more than what the ancient of Days hath said over and over by Moses and the Prophets And to discourse of this Subject profitably I shall enquire I. What an Oath or taking an Oath or what Swearing is II. Whether an Oath or Swearing even in a modest serious judicial way be lawful III. Why Forswearing our selves or Perjury or not performing unto the Lord our Oaths is forbid and wherein the virulency or heinousness of the Sin consists IV. What the Ceremonies
this mean Spirit of theirs as being contrary to this natural Principle of loving those who love us 3. The same may be said of all Persons who have been signally oblig'd by others and yet can hardly afford a good Word to those from whom they have receiv'd such signal Kindness but carried away by Faction or Interest speak Evil of them and Revile them would to God such Persons were as rare among us as African Monsters are but even of such ungrateful Wretches the Age we live in gives us too many Instances David complained of them long ago Yea mine own familiar Friend in whom I trusted and who did eat of my Bread hath lift up his Heel against me Psal. xxi 9 and could any thing be more base or barbarous than for Herod to go about to kill Christ who had purged his Country of Devils and Diseases Luke xiii 31 And was it not a most Inhumane Attempt for those very Soldiers whose Lives St. Paul preserv'd from Shipwrack to consult to kill him with the rest of the Prisoners Acts xxvii 42 43. And it seems this wicked Generation doth last still And what shall I say more we cannot without Grief behold the many bold Offences which are committed daily against this Principle of Nature even in those Relations the very Name of which speaks mutual and reciprocal Kindnesses such as Husband and Wife Brothers and Sisters Masters and Servants c. who would suspect Unkindness among those Relatives to those especially who study and seek their Good and are more than ordinarily concern'd to express their Love and Respect to them and in whose Mouth is the Law of Kindness yet even in this Grass the Serpent lies and the Snake doth hiss After all the Rich and Great offend against this Law such I mean as are Morose and Proud and Self-conceited and do not think a poor Neighbour their Brother in Christ worthy of a civil Salutation a Civility not denied by Heathens and Publicans to the meanest of their Brethren and of this nature are those false Salutations and pretended Civilities of dissembling and Hypocrital Men such as Joab and others whose Words are softer than Butter but War is in their Hearts who seem indeed to love those who love them but it is from the Teeth outward for they hate them within There needs no Gospel to condemn such bold and daring Sinners The light of Nature will serve to do it though it is confess'd that the Gospel under which they live and which teaches them greater and better things will help to aggravate both their Sin and Punishment And this will justifie our third Enquiry III. How Men come to sink so low so much beneath Heathens and Publicans as to act against this natural Principle And 1. They have very weak dull and dark apprehensions of the worth and nature of Christianity and indeed of any Religion some Religion or other they must profess and since Providence lets them stumble upon the Christian they embrace it but cansider not what it imports how holy its Precepts are how rich its Promises how ample its Advantages how clear its Revelations how great its Excellencies and how justly it requires greater Strictnesses than either Judaism or Heathenism or any other Religion in the World This Consideration would make them dread offending against the Law of Nature and make them asham'd to think that they who are bound to do more than others should not do so much as others These things being no Objects of their Thoughts they have a very low Opinion of the Religion they profess and therefore are not concern'd nor frighted if they fall below the Grandeur of it lower than Heathens and Publicans and consequently do not love those who love them 2. Their Lusts are stronger than their Religion This natural Principle of loving those who love them is agreeable enough to their Reason and Speculation but some predominant Lust either Avarice or Ambition or Pride or Envy or Lasciviousness or Delight in vain Company or something their sickly Desires crave and which they fancy their reciprocal Love would hinder them from some such Lust I say reigning and domineering within it damps and drowns that reciprocal Love they owe to those that love them A Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and enticed saith St. James Ch. i. 14 As natural as it is to be kind to those who are so to us yet if a Man gives way to some violent Lust or Desire and le ts that have the upper-hand it will draw and force the Man away from the most easie and most familiar and most rational Duty whatsoever Not to mention that if the Party who is or hath been kind be defective in one Act if after nineteen Kindnesses he fail to do the twentieth This shall be thought by such Persons an Argument sufficient to justifie their want of reciprocal Love and Affection But this shews the disingenuity of their Temper and that an Evil Spirit hath taken Possession of their Hearts and committed a Rape upon the dictates of their Reason and Understanding And thus Men come to act against Principles which even Heathens and Publicans do observe Inferences I. I observe here That Religion is not intended to make Men Clownish and Uncivil For our Saviour in the Text supposes saluting our Brethren to be not only Lawful but a natural Duty which God expects of Men as Men. Indeed he would have us do more than this comes to and extends it even to Enemies and to Persons who have wrong'd affronted and abus'd us but he doth not deny the lawfulness of it but establishes this lower Duty which even Heathens and Publicans count reasonable And therefore that Sect which places Religion in forbearing all external Salutations sins against a natural Duty The Gospel doth not abolish but exalt all natural Duties and sets them in a brighter Light and that therefore if saluting our Brethren or Fellow Christians be a natural Duty it must be much more a Christian Duty so that the Spirit of the Hat seems rather a Spirit of Pride and Delusion than the Spirit of God which inclines the Soul to Assability Courteousness and Civility and Respect to Superiors Nor must the condescention of Superiors to the meanest Capacity or their Humility make us lay aside the Respect we owe them for this is to give occasion that the way of Truth is Evil spoken of and to bring an Evil report upon the good Land It 's true in Christ we are all equal with respect to the Privileges and Advantages that come by Christ they being promised or tender'd to all but that doth not destroy the external Respect Obeisance and Civility we owe to Persons of different Ranks and Qualities or to Men whom Providence hath raised above the common level in Church or State I grant the Men of this World will call that Clownishness when a good Man will not drink with them nor comply with their Sensualities