can I think that to be a Perfection in Religion which none but Philosophers and men that lead the lives of such I mean Sedentary Contemplative lives are capable of arriving at As if God had not the same regard to a poor Labouring man that studies diligently to serve him in a plain well meaning way as to the most Speculative person in the world It is the meek and humble Soul that Christ delights most in and it were well therefore if these high Notions did not puff mens minds up with too much Spiritual Pride to make them deserve the Character of such persons 11. I never met any people in my life that were more unwilling to leave the world than those who make a Longing desire of enjoying God in Heaven to be a necessary part of our Love towards him You shall find these cling as close to the earth as other people when Death gives them warning to prepare themselves for parting with it they are as peevish as others and inquisitive after Remedies and desirous to be flattered into good hopes of doing well again which are certainly no signs of any extraordinary Forwardness to go to their long Homes Nor can I see Ground of Condemning men of this as long as we find our Saviour himself Sympathizing with Humane Nature in it Were there any necessity of such an instance to prove our Love towards God to be sincere we might justly have expected from Christ a desire of leaving this world and being united to God upon any Terms For what were the Sufferings he was to endure compared with the joy that was set before him But our Saviour desired not to make himself an Example of such Heights of Love which tho visible in some Prophets and Divinely Inspired persons from their intimate Converse with God as well as in some Saints and Martyrs immediately before their deaths for Confirmation of theirs and other peoples Faith yet in the ordinary Dispensations of Grace are little less than impracticable And therefore when the Cup of his Passion was presented to him Mat. 26.39 he shrinks back from it in a natural abhorrence and he chuses rather to receive the irrevocable Sentence with an act of bare Submission to God's Will Father not as I will but as thou wilt than any Rapturous Expressions of Longing after God The same which is observable in the whole History of his Death But if Christ behaved himself at this rate whose Faith was so strong and consequently his Love of God so ardent What more can be expected from us weak Creatures Indeed the glass we see through here is so dark as to Heavenly Things compared with that which presents Earthly Objects to us that if our Bodily Welfare affect us more than the Hopes of Future Happiness it may in a great measure be excused by the different Force of the Objects striking upon our Faculties And therefore it required all the Arguments and Exhortations that the Wisdom of God as it were could invent to raise our Thoughts to a tolerable relish and apprehension of those glorious things revealed in his Word Wherefore in short though the Enjoyment of God in Heaven be certainly the Great End of a Christian's hopes and that which all his actions ought in some measure to be directed towards yet to propose this to our selves with Passion and Eagerness of Desire or so as utterly to despise the Comforts of this World may well be thought a little above the proportion of the imperfect estate of a Christian in this life being reserved by God as a main part of that Happiness which we must expect in the Blessed Vision above 12. Prayer is an excellent expression of Piety towards God And there is nothing recommends this Duty so effectually to him as Fervour of Devotion in it But then our Saviour shews us that this Fervour consists not as some would have it thought in wild Gestures or loud and passionare Exclamations When he himself prayed in the Garden he prayed earnestly it is said Luke 22.44 and we may well think his heart was never fuller than in that bitter Agony nor consequently his Affections more raised than at that time And yet what is the result of this but that he fell meekly upon his knees three times Mat. 26.39 42 44. and uttered these few gentle words Father if it be thy will let this cup pass from me And if we consider that Prayer of his which he prescribed to his Disciples both as a Pattern to Pray by and a Form to be constantly used by them it may seem contrived on purpose to answer the Enthusiasts pretences about this Duty For not to insist upon its being a Form of Prayer in the first place it was such a Form as was very short consisting of but Six Petitions and those comprehended in few Words He was not for the way of some people who measure their Prayers more by the Hour-glass than their Wants He exposes it as an Heathenish Custom to use vain Repetitions Mat. 6.7 and impertinent Length in Prayer Besides this it is calm and meek suitable to the Temper of its Author no Heats of Passion in it no vehement Outcries or Exaggerations nothing to raise those wild Spirits in men which make 'em rave and foam and toss about as if they were possessed Not that Length of Prayers is blameworthy in it self nor yet Vehemence of Action or Speech which in a sober sense is commendable in Prayer upon some occasions but to shew That Fervour of Devotion is no ways inconsistent with cool blood or fewness of words and that God is as often at least in the still small voice as in the earthquake or fire 13. It is a great part of Piety to bestow due portions of time upon God's Service Mark 14.49 And we find our Saviour therefore often in the Temple and the Synagogues of the Jews worshipping God in Publick as well as frequently retiring with his Disciples and by himself John 18.20 Mark 1.35 to his private Devotions Though all this while our Saviour was no such Euchite as to think the greatest part of his Life ought to be spent in Prayer but he bestows considerable portions of his time upon his own Refreshment John 2.1 Luke 22.39 and upon the offices of Humanity and Friendship besides what must be supposed to take up the main bulk of his Life his Working as it is thought till Thirty years of Age at his Father's Trade And neither therefore is he for that way of practice which prevailed so much in after-Ages of peoples retiring from the world and mewing themselves up in Cells and Cloisters that they might have nothing else to do but to Meditate and Worship God The Romanists look upon this as the greatest Perfection in Religion And what was begun therefore in Primitive Times out of Necessity when men were forced to fly into Desarts to avoid Persecution these take upon themselves of Choice some few
Zeal for the Sanctuary of God should not show greater concern than he did for the Honour of his Sabbaths But the case betwixt these was very different For the Jews who at this time so profanely neglected the Temple were no less superstitiously nice in keeping the Sabbath and tho a Whip were fittest to scourge their Profaneness a Bridle was most proper to restrain their Superstition Wherefore we may observe him holding the Reins in here upon every occasion He is far from encouraging any in a loose regard towards this day for he considers it as a day dedicated to God's Service and we find him therefore Preaching continually upon it in the Jewish Synagogues Mark 6.2 to shew that one principal Duty of the Day is to attend the Publick Worship of God and all the liberty he pleads directly for on this day is only for works of Necessity and Mercy It is in respect of these alone he tells us Mark 2.27 28. That the Sabbath was made for man and that man is lord also of the Sabbath Nor does he give the least countenance for spending this Day upon Recreation or Secular Business As sure it is very hard since God has given us six days in the week for the benefit of our Bodies if the seventh shall not be allowed by us to his Glory and the good of our Souls Though neither is Christ for tying men up upon this Day to that strictness which was enjoined by Moses as a Clog and Punishment to the Jews He himself was a Jew and as a Jew therefore no question he observed this Day in all respects answerable to the intent of Moses though not to the Pharisees superstitious Glosses upon it But the Curse of the Law which he was made under he desired not to bring upon any of us And lest his Example therefore should be brought into president there is no mention made of any Legal Observances in resting from Culinary Affairs or the like which he tied himself or his Disciples up to on this Day Rather the whole drift of his Discourses about this Day being more to take off from than advance any scrupulous Rest upon it is a plain Argument of his Design to set up that more Rational Sabbath which the Primitive Christians afterwards observed upon the Lord's Day when the Sabbath was reckoned not so much a Day of Rest as a Day of Good Works And instead of sitting still upon it as the Pharisees did with frozen hearts and sullen dejected looks Christians thought nothing so proper next to God's Worship as to express their Joy upon it in making comfortable Provisions for themselves and for the Poor We know what hard words the Father gave such persons who chose to Fast upon this Day 7. Fasting I think may well be brought under the Head of Ceremonial Duties And this is certainly an excellent Ordinance in it self there being no means more proper for resisting the Devil's Assaults by making us meek and poor in spirit fit for the Influences of God's Spirit to work upon And our Saviour therefore is so far from discountenancing this that he says there are some Devil 's not to be cast out without it Mat. 17.21 And he not only prepared himself therefore by it Mat. 4.2 Mark 6.16 17. in order to that grand Conflict he had with the Devil but he recommends the use of it to his Disciples at the same time that he cautions them against the Pharisees way of Fasting Indeed he is against the Pharisees Fasts not only as they had an Hypocritical Air of Pride and Vainglory in them but as they were reckoned by them a Meritorious Act. For never were higher Asserters of the Doctrine of Merit by Good Works than among these Pharisees Whence it was that to enhanse the value of this Duty before God their Fasts were both carried on with greater Strictness and were much more frequent than other peoples Neither of which is much commended by Christ As to the frequency of their Fasts our Saviour used his Disciples so little to this Mark 2.18 as to make the Pharisees think they Fasted not at all It may seem he was not for making this Duty too common but for using it only as occasion required When such Duties are practised of course they are apt to lose their virtue soon like Physick to which mens bodies are accustomed It is the applying them upon great and special occasions chiefly that makes them have due Operation upon mens minds And though our Saviour therefore tells us That his Disciples should practise this Duty oftner when he was gone Mark 2.20 this implies not that it should always be so but only whilst the days of Mourning as it were for the Bridegroom's Departure did in an extraordinary manner require it And much less does our Saviour commend the Pharisees rigid Observance of this Duty pale looks and drooping heads are things perhaps that man may admire people for but God delights not in Even in this most Mortifying Act of Religion Mat. 6.17 Christ is for anointing the head and washing the face for behaving our selves with modest expressions of Chearfulness before the World 8. This Principle of Merit which the Pharisees so espoused put them not only upon Fasting at this rate but upon Whipping themselves also and using the like acts of Austerity as good Authors report which is the practice of the Romanists at this day And this was a mighty work of Supererogation among them But our Saviour gives not the least Encouragement to this either by his Precept or Example As Whipping is reckoned a part of Penance by the Romish Church we are not so unreasonable to expect to find our Saviour exercising his Body after this manner for sins he never committed tho as it was reckoned awork of superabundant Merit as well as of Satisfaction by the Pharisees it may seem as proper for him as any body else But then certainly it is very strange among so many Penitents as came to him for cure of their Sins that he should never prescribe this Method of letting themselves blood did he believe it of any avail to that end It 's true Luke 18.13 he gives a fair Character of the Publican's smiting upon his breast when he made Confession of his sins to God But what then That was an Act significant of True Contrition and was no less natural for persons in great Trouble of Mind than Whipping is foolish and unnatural Nor is John the Baptist's course of life which the Papists insist so much upon any just ground for this or the like Austerities For besides that there is nothing there of this Whipping Practice John the Baptist had an extraordinary Call from God to do what he did He was to come in the Spirit of Elias as a Forerunner of Christ and so was to imitate that Prophet in a rough hardy way of Life And this we may suppose to represent to us as in an Emblem
the Romanists object against us That our Religion is barren and unfruitful in such good works as these Though I think we may safely enough defie them to make good their Charge when a Reverend Author in King James the First 's time has given us a particular Account of Charities bestowed upon Colleges Hospitals Free-Schools and the like Pious Uses within the compass of Sixty Years since the Reformation amounting to a Million of Money That which he challenges any Age of Popery to parallel in this Kingdom And I think this Age has given sufficient Evidence to stop the mouths of our Adversaries of the respect they bear to this great Duty of Religion in those Liberal Contributions they have made of late to Distressed Strangers as well as in every other Instance of Charity Which also ought the more to be taken notice of for that it is done in a free generous way from the voluntary motions and inclinations of the Benefactors alone not grudgingly or of necessity as it frequently happened in former times when people were frighted into Charity by their Confessors sorely against their wills only to make composition for Pardon of their sins May our light still so shine before men that others seeing our good works may glorifie our Father which is in heaven 26. There is nothing that tends to the ease and benefit of mankind that seems beneath our Saviour's Care And therefore besides these greater Duties that we owe to our Neighbour he insists upon others that may seem of lesser moment though they are of no small comfort to those among whom we converse Such particularly is that of not being Angry with our Brother rashly or without a cause For indeed there is nothing that destroys the Blessings of Society more than this Vice of Anger Prov. 21.19 what Solomon says of an angry woman being certainly as true of an angry man It is better to live in a wilderness than where such be Besides that the Consequences of this Vice are oftentimes very mischievous and fatal Anger being a Passion of a very bloody and desperate nature whereever it is suffered to grow to a head it knows no rules or bounds The two Sons of Zebedee would have destroyed a whole City in a mad Fit of this Passion had Christ been as ready to furnish them with Instruments of Revenge as they were to call for them And we have multitudes of Instances in every Age of peoples murdering their Dearest Friends and doing other things in their Anger which have proved Wounds to their Reputations and their Minds never to be cured in this World Wherefore our Saviour presses the Duty of not being Angry under as great obligations as any other Duty of Religion for he tells us That no less a danger attends the breach of it than that of the Judgment Mat. 5.22 and of Hell-Fire And to shew of how great esteem it is in God's sight he represents it as such without which God will accept no Sacrifice from us 24. Leave thy gift at the Altar therefore he says go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Not that our Saviour would make his Disciples hereby such poor passive creatures as to hinder them from expressing their Resentments with shews of Anger upon just occasions For by commanding us not to be angry with our Brother without a cause he plainly insinuates that in some cases a man may have just cause of being angry And we find therefore that he himself looked upon the Pharisees with anger at the hardness of their hearts Mark 3.5 and that by the Privilege of his Prophetick Office he called Herod Fox in way of Indignation Luke 13.32 when the Message was brought that Herod had a design to kill him Wherefore it is only some Excesses and Irregularities of this Passion that our Saviour reproves when he condemns Anger as a Vice As when it breaks out upon trivial occasions when it is disproportioned to its cause when it swells to immoderate heights when it rankles and breeds bad Blood in us every of which are things not only so mischievous in their consequences but so unseemly in themselves besides that if Christ had not forbid them our own Consciences would have done it And there is nothing of a Wise or Brave man therefore but though he may be taken sometimes in such Indecencies is ashamed of himself afterwards Whilst the Blood indeed is up and the mouth swells with big words a man appears to himself very Great and he Lords it with no small Pride and Tyranny over those who are bound in Duty or Interest not to oppose him But he that stands by and considers the poor grounds upon which this deal a-do is often made is so far from admiring the Greatness of the man's Soul that he does but pity his Weakness all the while They are the shallowest streams that are generally most Noisy and most subject to overflow And a man therefore that values his Reputation would keep a strict hand over himself about this Passion tho he had no other obligation to restrain him 27. Censoriousness is another Vice opposite to the Duties of Love which may seem of lesser moment to our Neighbour's good though it cause none of the least uneasinesses to him This our Saviour frequently reflects upon the Pharisees for who it may seem reckoned it a greater piece of Holiness to Judge other peoples Faults than to Correct their own And all their Discourse therefore ran upon this subject and they could not so much as Pray to God but they must tell him of their Neighbours Faults and thank him that they were not as other men Luke 18.11 not as this Publican It was much the worse to be sure that their Censoriousness was generally attended with Pride and Uncharitable Aggravations though it had been bad enough had it been only a supercilious reproving their Neighbours continually for lesser faults which for the most part they had no other ground to condemn than that they were not according to their own Pedantick ways of walking For this is what our Saviour means by their beholding the mote in their brothers eye Mat. 7.1 3. which gave occasion to his Precept of not judging And indeed this must render Converse so very uneasie to men and consequently Religion so uncomfortable a thing when upon every appearance of evil they must be disciplined and Schooled by their Friends that it is more to be feared they should be hardned against all Reproof than to be hoped they should amend by it which is the greatest dis-service we can do either to Religion or our Neighbour's Soul No question but to reprove people with Candor and Discretion is an excellent Duty in it self and there is no office of Love more worthy the name of true Friendship But to perform this aright requires more of Temper and Prudence than the Vulgar are generally Masters of And that men
may use all Caution therefore in it we find our Saviour more solicitous in condemning the opposite Extreme than in enforcing the Duty Particularly where Reproof is like to do more harm than good Christ has given us Advice very plainly in a prudential way not to expose Religion and our selves in such cases Mat. 7.6 Give not that which is holy unto dogs neither cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them under foot and turn again and rent you Though this is to be understood not without some Reserve to Parents and Ministers and Masters of Families and the like whose Duty it is to be instant in season and out of season in reproving those committed to their Charge as there is much less danger of their Reproof being despised by such than by Strangers or Friends it being the proper business of their Office to do this which few are so unreasonable as not to make some allowance for and more especially these having Authority on their side to back their Reproofs with Correction where the former work not the effect designed This as to our Saviour's Life and Doctrine in respect of Duties relating to our Neighbour 28. I should now put an end to this Discourse but that I think it convenient to answer some general Objections that may be brought against it The principal of which is The Example of the Primitive Christians whose rigid observance of many Duties it must be confessed was much beyond the Measures prescribed here especially in respect of Temperance Contempt of the World Mortification and the like self-denying Virtues And now in answer to this I must declare That I cannot think the Primitive Christians practice an adequate rule of walking to us For though their Zeal be certainly much to be admired yet it is plain in some things they went as much beyond the bounds of Prudence as of their Duty Particularly in the case of Martyrdom a thing they grew so fond of in a little time as to run themselves wilfully into Dangers and even to provoke their Persecutors to put them to Death As if our Saviour had given no such Advice to his Disciples Mat. 10.23 to fly from City to City to avoid Persecution and this they did sometimes in ways scarce warrantable Such was that of Apphianus a famous Martyr of Palestine holding the Prefect Vrbanus's hand when he was going to Sacrifice Insomuch that the Church thought fit at last in several Councils to blame this unnatural and overzealous Ambition And neither were their Austerities less strained beyond the Limits prescribed in the Gospel Origen's chusing to lye upon the ground and walk barefoot many years was more I am sure than any Law of Christ obliged him to as likewise were those severe Rules of Temperance which he and others observed in those days Of which we have a remarkable Instance in one Alcibiades who was wont to live upon Bread and Water for a long time till it was Bevealed says the Historian to Attalus the Martyr That the Man did not well in refusing God's Creatures and giving offence to his weak brethren Upon which Alcibiades was prevailed upon to eat and drink as other people and gave Thanks to God for it And the same must be said as to their Renouncing the World to that degree many of them as well nigh to fall under the Apostle's Censure 1 Tim. 5.8 of not providing for their own at least to come within the compass of that voluntary humility Col. 2.18 and neglecting the body which the same Apostle declares to have only a shew of wisdom in them And it would be endless to insist upon every other Duty wherein the Zeal of those Times was wont to supererogate as in Watchings and Fastings in Vows of Chastity in unmerciful Penances and the like 29. Though here I cannot but admire the Wisdom of God's Providence in ordering things at this rate as well for the good of those that were already Converted as for the Conversion of others in those times For considering what Persecutions the Primitive Christians were to lye under it was little less than necessary to infuse such Principles as these into their minds By this means their voluntary Austerities became a sort of hardning to them to make them fit Soldiers for that severe Service they were called to For it was no great difficulty for such to endure long and cruel Imprisonments who were wont to lye upon the bare earth and fare coursly in their ordinary way of life And this must mightily take off from the Pain and Terror of those Tortures which they daily saw inflicted upon others and were at last condemned to themselves This made the great Champions of the Church when they mounted the Stage to be more concerned for their Fellow-Sufferers lest through Weakness or Tenderness of Body they should be tempted to renounce their Faith as not being used to such Ascetick Discipline than for any miseries they saw prepared for themselves Of which we have a notable Instance in the case of Blandina a Martyr of France though by an admirable Fortitude she frustrated the Fears of her Friends as well as the Expectation of her Enemies And of much greater necessity was their Contempt of the things of this life for engaging them to maintain their Profession with Resolution and Constancy amidst the Persecutions they lay under For men that are Wedded to the World are very loth to be Divorced from it and there is nothing more difficult than for such to follow Christ who are fast tied to Riches and Honour and Pleasures The First Christians looked upon these things as little better than the Incumbrances of life and like true Sojourners therefore upon Earth they desired nothing more than just enough to bear their Charges to Heaven So if Persecution seized their Estates it was but like robbing them of an upper Garment which they had little need of and which they were ready enough to throw off of their own accord and it could be no doubtful Choice to such whether they should part with this or a good Conscience which they knew was a Treasure to them to all Eternity If Persecution reached their Lives also it brought them but the sooner to their Journey 's end they knew and they had little reason to be otherwise than contented with this who proposed so small a share to themselves in the Comforts and Enjoyments of this World 30. Nor do I less admire God's Gracious Providence in ordering things at this rate on account of the Gentiles of those times there being no means more likely than this for Converting them For these were a sort of Principles which the Philosophy of that Age ran very much upon and we no where meet with greater Examples of Severity of Manners as to Temperance and Mortification and Contempt of the World than the Schools of the Heathens would at least pretend to in those times The Stoicks were extremely rigid this way who bid