the World And which is the wisest Man he that ruins his Soul for the Gain of even the whole World or he that counts all these sublunary things as Dung in Comparison with Religion and is ready to part with all that this Earth can afford him for the Joys of a good Conscience here and the Glories of Heaven hereafter He that prefers the World in his Choice deprives himself of the greatest Comfort of this present Life and parts with the certain Reversion of eternal Happiness in Heaven for Pleasures that don't deserve that Name they are so empty and unsatisfying he brings most exquisite and everlasting Misery upon his whole self Soul and Body for a very short liv'd imperfect Gratification of his brutal Part only and purchases the Torments of the other World by making himself unhappy in this In a Word therefore as much as to be like God in Holiness and Happiness is to be preferr'd before being like the Devil in Sin and Misery as much as Satisfaction is better than Disappointment Peace and Quietness and Content than Vexation and continual Disturbance and Perplexity of Mind a confirm'd Health and long Life than the Diseases and hasty Death that follows Debauchery and the comfortable Expectation of being for ever happy with Saints and Angels and the blessed God in the Coelestial Paradise than the confounding Dread of the Judgment of the great Day As much as Immortality is more to be prized than a Life of a Span long and the Enjoyment of the chief Good than the Pleasures of a Swine of so much gerater Value is Religion than all that this World can afford and indeed the only desirable Treasure and a Pearl of inestimable Price And now if what has been hitherto discours'd be true the Application is easy If Religion be of all things the most precious let us make it more and more our Endeavour to inrich our Souls with this Treasure to adorn our rational Nature with this Pearl of great Price and with the Merchant in the Parable think nothing too much to part with that we may purchase that Heavenly Wisdom which will make us wise to Salvation For sound Wisdom as the wise King expresses it Prov. 3.18 is a Tree of Life to those that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her She shall give to thine Head an Oranment of Grace Prov. 4.9 and a Crown of Glory shall she deliver to thee But he that would have this Wisdom and find this Pearl must not only wish and desire but with the Merchant in the Parable diligently seek it seek and ye shall find says our Lord Pro. 2.4 5. and Solomon assures us That if we seek Wisdom as Silver and search for her as for hid Treasure then shall we understand the Fear of the Lord and find the Knowledge of God Religion is not acquired without Diligence for though it be the Gift of God yet the Soul must be prepared to receive it all evil Habits must be broke and rooted up and pious Dispositions planted in their Room and the Temper of the Mind changed by Repentance and all the Powers of the whole Man become pliable to the Motions of the Spirit of Holiness before the divine Likeness can be formed in the Soul And though 't is the Grace of God that enables us to go thus far for without it we can do nothing yet our own Concurrence and Co-operation with his Grace is necessary to bring the blessed Work of Regeneration to Perfection An obstinate Resistance of preventing Grace will grieve and quench that Life-giving Spirit and such a Soul shall know no more of Religion than that it was invited to it but rejected the Offer and might have been happy in the Enjoyment of so great a Treasure but it would not But when a Soul with Joy embraces the Motions of the holy Spirit to a new Life and makes it her great Endeavour to remove all Obstacles out of the Way that they may make a due Impression and hungers and thirsts after new Degrees of Righteousness This Soul shall be fill'd with the Treasures of the divine Grace and the Power of Godliness will be visible in all Manner of holy Conversation But this can't be perform'd without a watchful persevering Diligence there is so much Opposition from within and without to this great Business that like Nehemiah's Labourers Neh. 5.17 we must work with our Swords in our Hands and fight and strive that we may carry on the Building of a living Temple for our God and make our Souls Houses of Prayer adorn'd with religious Affections and sit to receive him that hates Iniquity He that is thus diligent shall grow rich towards God and daily increase in the Knowledge and Love of him 'till Mortality shall be swallow'd up of Life and then all the Labours of Religion shall for ever be at an End and nothing remain for the happy Soul to do but to enjoy to all Eternity the glorious Rewards of it Let us all therefore be stedfast unmoveable and always abound in this Work of the Lord for as much as we know our Labour shall not be in vain and to our diligent Pursuit of this inestimable Treasure of Religion let us add frequent and earnest Prayer to God who is the only Giver of every good and perfect Gift that he would send down Wisdom from his holy Heaven that being present she may labour with us that we may know what is pleasing in his Sight and set our selves to do it with all Alacrity running with Diligence and Patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endur'd the Cross despising the Shame Heb. 12.1 2. and is set down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God remembring that we also shall reap in due Season if we faint not And if we part with all the vile Affections for the Sake of Religion in this World and are ready in Preparation of Mind to suffer any worldly Loss even to that of Life it self for the Sake of Jesus and his Truth we shall find such a Recompence of Reward in the Kingdom of Heaven as will abundantly compensate all our Sufferings here for our light Affliction which is but for a Moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory Happy is the Exchange of all that this World can afford for a Jewel of so great Price as Religion and for such inexhaustible Treasures of Bliss as are reserved to Reward it in the Presence of God What is our greatest Interest therefore let us before all things persue and where our Treasure is there let our Hearts be also The PRAYER I. O Mercifull Jesu Who hast prepared for us a Treasure in Heaven and taught us the Way to attain it and warn'd us of the Emptiness of this World 's Good that we may not be
is planted wherever the Word is preach'd he expects the Fruit of Righteousness The Seed is good and most of all agreeable to the Soil wherein 't is sown for Religion is the best Reason and therefore most natural to a reasonable Soul and 't is sown in great Plenty there is no Scarcity of God's Word among us and 't is water'd sufficiently with the Dew of Heaven the Grace of God which is not wanting to any Man that will receive it and therefore at our Peril we must all be fruitful none of us must appear before our great Lord empty lest the Punishment of Barrenness be our Portion and we be burnt up with unquenchable Fire This Seed then or the Word of God being thus actually sown the Christian Religion planted in the World and all things done on God's Part in order to its being fruitful and which accordingly he expects it should be it highly concerns us in the next Place to take care that it be so and that nothing make it otherwise That is that in the First Place it be not like Seed sown or scatter'd by the Way Side which is trodden down by the Feet of Men and Beasts or devoured by the Fowls of the Air. We must not be thought less and inconsiderate after we have heard the Word and suffer our Souls to be like a High-way laid open and exposed to all Comers to all Sorts of wandring useless and wicked Thoughts which thronging in Abundance will trample down the Good Seed that was sown that it shall never more appear be no more thought of or remembred by us Nor must we leave it to the Mercy of the Fowls of the Air the Devil and his Legions who like Birds of Prey hover over us continually and are always ready to catch away immediately those good Instructions instill'd into our Minds lest they should grow into Faith and Salvation and which they see lye scattered and unregarded by us and unobserved throw in their Places the Seeds of Sin and Misery which like ill Weeds will flourish any where and grow apace Thus heedless of so great a Treasure must we by no means be but by Recollection of Thought advert closely to the great Truths of the Gospel and exclude all wandring and vain Imaginations and carefully gather up those Notions of Religion which lie scattered in our Minds and reduce them to some Order and Connexion and infix them by Meditation still deeper in our Souls and instead of a dry barren and common Way for all Temptations and Injections of the Devil for numerous and vain and incoherent Phancies we should by serious Attention to those concerning Truths that we have read or heard make our Souls as Solomon expresses it a Garden enclosed a Spring shut up Cant. 4.12 and a Fountain sealed And then no Fear of the Seeds being trodden down or devour'd by the Fowls of the Air but 't will remain rooted and grounded in our Hearts and will bring forth its Fruit in its Season Secondly We must take care that the Word be not like Seed sown in stony and rocky Places where there is no Deepness of Earth lest it spring up too hastily and when the Sun is hot it be scorch'd and wither away because it hath no Root That is as our Lord interprets it we must be carefull not only to receive the Word with Joy and have an extempore superficial Religion and believe and obey only for a while but likewise to endure and not be offended or discouraged though Tribulation or Persecution arise because of the Word nor to fall away in Time of Temptation I doubt there are too many of these Rocky Hearers that perhaps are well enough pleas'd to be handsomsely told of their Duty to hear a well-pen'd Sermon and for the present readily assent to the Truth and Reasonableness of what is discours'd to them and believe it their Interest to live as becomes Christians and rejoyce at the News of being freeed from the Tyranny of the Devil and their own unruly Lusts and Passions of being made Children and Heirs of God and Coheirs with Christ of an Eternal Inheritance and that there are never-fading Crowns of Glory reserv'd for them in the highest Heavens and are resolved to set about the Performance of that Duty immediately which is so excellent in it self and shall be so infinitely rewarded And indeed the Christian Religion is so highly reasonable in its own Nature so conducive to the Comfort and Happiness even of this Life and the sure Way to such endless Bliss hereafter that it can't but be very pleasing in the Theory to any Man of Sense and Reason But after all this I fear there are too many Hearers that like Rocky Places have only a Surface of good Earth and retain this good Affection to Religion but for a while and at the Bottom are impenetrable as a Rock and will not suffer the good Seed to shoot so deep into their Hearts and take so firm a Rooting as is necessary to its Fruitfulness and Increase Their Spring is quickly over a Blade or a Stalk is the farthest Progress their Religion makes and never arrives to the full Corn in the Ear but when they meet with any Difficulty in the Practice of it in it self or any Opposition to it either without from Men or from the Devils Temptations within For want of Deepness of Earth and Moisture they fall and wither away If there were nothing else for 'em to do but to receive the Promises they would with Joy indeed give ear to the glorious Descriptions of the Happiness of a Christian Nay that Happiness is so exceeding great that at present they may very well be glad to hear of the Way to attain it and for a spurt set chearfully about it and a shallow Crust of Earth will be sufficient to make some Shew and Appearance of Fruitfulness and Increase But unless the Heart be throughly plyable and there be Deepness of Earth an humble Sense of the great Need we have that this Divine Seed should take Root and grow up in our Souls and likewise the Moisture of a sincere Repentance for our former Barrenness and stony Hardness of Heart the Word will take but shallow Rooting for all our suddain Raptures and upon upon every Difficulty and Temptation be ready to languish and wither especially when the Heats of Persecution strike upon it and then too often the latter End is worse than the Beginning and the Men grow more hardned and insensible than ever Those therefore that find themselves of this rocky Temper so difficult to be perswaded to be Christians indeed so ready to look upon the smooth Side of Religion only and please themselves in the Theory of it admire the Promises of Christianity but find great Resistance in their Breasts when the Word would take deeper Root and they are exhorted to a still more and more excellent and fruitful Piety These Persons are by all means to endeavour still
prevent their running into Courses ruinous and to shield 'em from the mischievous Assaults of wicked Spirits And to mention but one Place more St. Paul charges Timothy 1 Tim. 5.21 Before or as in the Presence of God and of Jesus Christ and of the elect Angels that he would observe those things he had taught him without Prejudice or Partiality Which plainly supposes that there were Angels then present as Observers and Witnesses of what they were doing and discoursing It being then thus plain from Scripture that the blessed Angels are Observers of Mens Lives and Actions especially of those of Christians as by God's Appointment and as Ministers of his divine Government I shall not trouble my self to make curious Enquiries into the Reasons why God appoints Angels to observe and minister to us since nothing escapes his own all-seeing Eye and his own all-mighty Arm can do whatsoever he pleases in Heaven and in Earth in the Sea and in all deep Places Nor of what Rank and Order those Angels are and how many that are thus employ'd And whether every Man has a particular Angel assign'd him as his Guardian and the Inspector of his Actions Which things are too high for us Mortals we cannot attain unto them But shall make this good Use of this Particular relating to our Practice That since we are under the Inspection of such pure and holy Spirits and whose Concern for our Happiness is very great since they are Witnesses of our most secret Actions and though invisible and unobserv'd themselves are our curious Observers Methinks we that are our selves but in one Rank of Being below 'em here and shall hereafter be equal to them should not endure to be found by 'em wallowing like Swine in the Filth of Sin degrading our selves to a Level with the Beasts that perish and in base Hypocrisy pretending to be Christians when indeed we act like Infidels Nay too often like Devils incarnate How do those good Spirits tho' they may pity our deplorable Condition yet withal despise and abominate the servile Baseness of such excellent Natures Who notwithstanding they have such glorious Hopes yet quit their heavenly Reversion for the low Enjoyments of this contemptible Earth Methinks Shame should deter us from vile and impious Actions if nothing else and the Thoughts of the Dignity of our Nature not suffer us to act so much beneath our selves and a Man not brutishly impudent should not endure to expose himself to the Observation of an Angel in such vile Circumstances as he would be loath to be found in by any Man he reverences and respects nay by a Servant or a Child And as the Angels are Observers of Human Actions so are they God's Intelligencers to give him account of them not that God needs such Information for every thing lies naked and open to his own all seeing Eye but for the greater Order and Decorum of his Government And this their Office they perform with great Diligence and Watchfulness and ardent Zeal for his Glory for no sooner were the Tares discerned by 'em to be among the good Corn the formal empty Christians to be intermix'd with the sincerely good but they hasten to give account of it to their great Master and as not being able to indure the great Dishonour reflected upon God and the purest of Religions by their base Hypocrisy and impious Conversation they offer with his Permission to remove those evil Doers those not only unprofitable but wicked Servants as unworthy to continue any longer in so sacred a Society as that of Christians Wilt thou that we gather them up say they wilt thou permit us to weed this thy great Field of those noxious Tares to cull out the empty nominal Christians and exert that Power thou hast given us to their deserved Ruin that the Residue of thy Servants may see it and fear and keep from their Abominations And that those blessed Spirits that angelick Host is able to perform this Service no Man can doubt that remembers how one Angel in one Night destroy'd all the First-born in Aegypt Now this their Diligence and Watchfulness in the Service of God and Zeal for his Glory should put us upon a holy Emulation of doing God's Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven That is that we who here on Earth Luk. 20.36 are but a little lower than the Angels and shall in Heaven be equal to them should now endeavour to be as like them as we can and with the utmost Chearfulness Alacrity and Diligence perform the Duty our great Governour has set us and with a prudent Zeal endeavour in our several Stations by discountenancing Vice and encouraging and promoting Vertue to the utmost of our Power to advance the Glory of God and the Interest and Reputation of our holy Religion If Magistrates would take due Notice of those that live scandalously and wickedly and not bear the Sword in vain but be as they ought to be a Terrour to Evil-Doers and praise and encourage those that do well if the Governours of the Church who are stil'd Angels in Scripture would act like the Angels in this Parable and curiously inspect the Religion of their Charge and by such Methods as the Laws allow either turn the Tares into good Seed which though impossible in Nature yet may be and I hope often is done in Religion or pluck 'em up if stubborn and irreclaimable if Governours of private Families warm'd with the like holy Zeal would take the like Measures and either reform their irreligious Servants and Dependents or else rid themselves of 'em and bring 'em to due legal Punishment If this wholesome Course were taken with due Diligence Watchfulness and Prudence Vice would soon be dishearten'd and Vertue more and more thrive and Increase God's Honour would be vindicated the Credit of Religion redeemed our own temporal Happiness advanced and innumerable Souls sav'd that otherwise would for ever have perish'd And this would be a Work truly worthy of Christians 't is an angelick Undertaking and every Man that prays hallow'd be thy Name thy Kingdom come thy Will be done in Earth as 't is in Heaven is bound in his own Sphere and according to his best Ability to promote what is contain'd in those Petitions to the Glory of God and the Interest of Religion as he expects and hopes to have an Answer of the following Petitions and receive his daily Bread and have his Trespasses forgiven him and to be preserved or supported in Temptation and delivered from Evil. The fifth thing this Parable informs us of is the Reason why God will not suffer the Angels as yet to gather out the Tares from among the good Seed to discriminate Hypocritical from sincere Christians and give them their due Punishment namely lest while they gather up the Tares they root up also the Wheat with them and therefore he suffers both to grow together until the Harvest That is in other Words the Reason of
God's Forbearance of the Wicked and not suffering the Angels those Ministers of his Justice to punish them in this World according to what they deserve is his great Care and Tenderness even of the temporal Quiet and Safety of the Righteous Which by Reason of their Intermixture with the wicked here would at least be very much disturb'd through the rooting up a wicked Generation and without the Help of a Miracle many a good Man might perish in so great a Ruin But Miracles we find God has never thought fit to work but upon urgent Necessity when his own Glory and the Interest of Religion and the Church cannot otherwise be secur'd now there being no such Necessity of punishing the wicked by destroying 'em in this World nor consequently of miraculously preserving those that are truly good from a general Ruin for the End of the World that great Day of Recompence is not far off and both may live together untill then God for the Sake of the sincerely good lest the Rod of the wicked should come into the Lot of the righteous does generally restrain the Zeal of those blessed Spirits the Angels and forbears the Tares till that universal Harvest when the Earth shall be eas'd of its Burthen and then the good Seed shall be gather'd together in Safety and the Tares left to be consum'd in that great Conflagration when the World and all that remains in it shall be burnt up with Fire unquenchable And when in Case of almost a total Corruption of a City or Nation and to strike a Terror into others and convince the obdurate World that God sees and is able to punish obstinate and irreclaimable Sinners God thinks fit to suffer his bright Host of Angels utterly to destroy such wicked Places as sometimes we know he hath done we have several Instances in Scripture and other Histories of the miraculous Preservation of the good and that as the Psalmist expresses it Psal 91. though Thousands have fallen by their Side the Destruction has not come nigh them for he gives his Angels Charge over them to keep 'em in all their Ways Of this great Care of Providence over the good either in preserving for their Sakes Communities destin'd to Ruin or else covering them under the Wings of Providence and shielding them from Danger till the Storm was over there is an Instance in the 18. of Genesis so very remarkable that I can't pass it by In the 23. Verse of that Chapter we find Abraham interceeding with God for Sodom and Gomorrha which he had resolv'd to destroy for the abominable and incurable Wickedness that was in them and he begins with what he thought would most prevail with God to spare the Place and tells him the Safety of the Righteous would be hazarded and that they would share in the common Destruction and therefore lest he should slay the righteous with the wicked which he knew the Judge of all the Earth would be far from doing he pleads with him for the Sake of Fifty Righteous that should be found there a small Number one would think and easie to be found in such populous though wicked Places and at length being encourag'd by God's wondrous Goodness who comply'd with him in every Request and as he sunk the Number promis'd him he would not destroy he by degrees descends to Ten which was as far as ever his Modesty would reach and one would think far enough to secure the most wicked City upon Earth Peradventure Ten be found there And God said unto him I will not destroy it for Ten 's Sake Rather than those Ten should be in Danger of perishing in the general Ruin he will recall the destroying Angel and at least respite the Execution of his Vengeance and for their Sakes reprieve the condemn'd Place of their Abode And when through the extream Wickedness of those Cities that small Number of good Men was not found in them and God therefore proceeded to shower down his fiery Indignation upon 'em yet he remembers righteous Lot and his small Family and sends two Angels to conduct 'em safely out of that accursed Place who hasten'd Lot lest he should be consum'd in the Iniquity of the Cities and upon his Request spared Zoar which he fled to and bid him make haste thither for that they could not do any thing till he was escap'd out of Danger as you may read Gen. 19.22 And what a boundless Ocean is the Goodness of God! That he should not only so graciously accept the imperfect Services of his own People as to take them into his peculiar Care and Protection but for their Sakes likewise that Destruction might not so much as come nigh their Dwellings to spare those that have justly merited the severest Expresses of his Displeasure This does indeed verify the Words of the Psalmist that his Mercy is over all his Works And this as it should be a new Motive and Encouragement to true Holiness which will be so great a Security in perillous Times both to our selves and others and demonstrates the great Ingratitude and Baseness of the World in hating and despising and afflicting the good who yet are as so many guardian Angels to it and shield it from the Expresses of God's just Vengeance So it will silence that Objection against Providence drawn from the continued Safety and Prosperity of the wicked notwithstanding their living in open Defiance of God and his Commands For we see they are but repriev'd for the Sake of the righteous lest they should be involv'd in the Ruin pour'd upon the ungodly Their Punishment is but respited for a little while and at the great Assize God's Justice will have its full Course and sink 'em into everlasting Ruin And as the Husbandman may observe the Tares are among his good Corn and resolve at length to bind 'em up in Bundles and burn them though his prudential Care of the good Corn inclines him to let them alone till the Harvest and not pluck 'em up whilst the good Corn is standing and growing to Perfection lest it be rooted up together with them So God sees and resolves in due Time to punish according to their Demerit the vile hypocritical Christians but in a wise and tender Regard for the safety of the sincerely good with-holds his Judgments during their Abode in the World but will surely repay the wicked Wretches what they have deserv'd in the great Day of Recompence And this brings me to the last thing this Parable informs us of namely that though these vile unhappy Tares are forborn for a while and let pass without bearing any publick Marks of God's Displeasure here yet there shall most certainly be a Time of Discrimination even at the great Harvest Mal. 3.18 and then shall all Men discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not For then will the great Husbandman the Lord Jesus as at the Time of Harvest
may I always so attend to the Dignity of my Nature and the constant Inspection of thy holy Angels and glorious Self in all my Ways as not to dare to play the Hypocrite in thy Presence who seest the very Secrets of my Heart and be asham'd to expose my Vileness to those excellent Spirits and reflect upon the Confusion I shall be in at the Day of Judgment when the Goat and the Swine shall be discover'd under the Profession of a Christian And O that the Zeal and Alacrity of these ministring Spirits in thy Service and for thy Glory may put me upon a holy Emulation to do thy Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven That so when the great Harvest shall come and thou shalt say to the angelick Reapers Gather ye together first the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them but gather my Wheat into my Barn I may find Mercy at that terrible Day and be receiv'd to a Participation of the Glories of thy heavenly Kingdom Which grant O blessed Jesus I most earnestly beseech thee Amen PARABLE III. Of the Pearl of great Price Matth. xiii 45 46 The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant-man seeking goodly Pearls Who when he had found one Pearl of great Price he went and sold all that he had and bought it BY this and the Parable immediately before it of a Treasure hid in a Field which when a Man hath found he hideth and for Joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that Field The transcendent Excellency of the Christian Religion above all things in the World is represented And that 't is the greatest Wisdom to part with every thing that this World can afford all the Pleasures Honours and Riches of it rather than be without the inward Power and Life of this holy Religion which is a Pearl of so great Price so immense a Trasure that nothing here below can stand in Competition with it 'T is as David expresses it more to be desir'd than Gold yea Psal 19.10 than much find Gold and he professes that himself had more Delight in God's Commandments than in all Manner of Riches And Solomon says almost in the Words of these Parables Happy is the Man that findeth Wisdom or Religion for the Merchandise of it is better than the Merchandise of Silver and the Gain thereof than of find Gold Prov. 3.13 c. She is more precious than Rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compar'd unto her Length of Days is in her right Hand and in her left Hand Riches and Honour her Ways are Ways of Pleasantness and all her Paths are Peace Such great things as these being spoken of Religion by those that best knew its Excellency and the World being so very backward in the Belief of their Testimony and so foolish as to prefer every little worldly Good before this inestimable Treasure to which all that the whole Creation can afford is not comparable and the Consequence of this Delusion being so fatal no less than the eternal Ruin of both Body and Soul It highly concerns us by due Consideration to rectify our Apprehensions in this Matter and no longer childishly doat upon empty Gayes and Trifles and neglect what is of infinite Excellency and the most substantial Good It is therefore the Design of this Discourse upon the Parable above recited to weigh the Excellency of Religion against all that the World can afford in the Ballance of Reason that upon a fair Experiment we may see which does preponderate and accordingly be convinc'd which of the Two is most worthy our Choice And then if we still retain our Affection for the World against the Judgment of our Reason in behalf of Religion we shall likewise be convinc'd that we act more like Brutes than Men and that we deserve to feel the Consequences of our unreasonable and wicked Choice and taste no other Happiness than what this unsatisfying empty World can afford and in the next World be for ever miserable because we would not be for ever happy when we might First then let us see what the Whole that this World can afford will amount to All that is in the World St. John tells us is the Lust of the Flesh 1 Eph. 2.16 the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life i. e. to these Three may be reduc'd the Whole of what is valuable in the World And by the Lust of the Flesh is meant Pleasure of all Sorts by the Lust of the Eye Riches great Plenty and Abundance and by the Pride of Life Honour Power and Dominion This is that Trinity which the generality of Men adore and impatiently desire and place their greatest Happiness in the Enjoyment of and of each of these Particulars we will now enquire what they amount to and consequently what is the Sum total of the World And first to observe the Apostles Method we will begin with the Lusts of the Flesh or the Pleasures of the World and which are generally first in Men's Esteem and for which they are often content to part with the other Two Now these may be rank'd in this Order viz. the Pleasures of Lust and Uncleanness of luxurious Eating and Drinking and of great Jollity and Mirth all agreeing in the Character of the Lusts of the Flesh that is all highly gratefull to the Desires and Appetites of the Body And in the first Place I observe this in general of all worldly Pleasures that the longer a Man lives to enjoy them the more insipid still they grow to him and that not only upon Account of their own empty Nature but by Reason of the Decays of our own Faculties and consequent Disability to enjoy them As old Barzillai said to David 2 Sam. 19.35 Can I discern between Good and Evil c. when he invited him to the Pleasures of his Court. And what Happiness can be expected from that which is very unsatisfying in its own Nature and which were it not after a few Years we shall be incapable of enjoying But to be more particular As for the Pleasures of Lust and Uncleanness whatever Men's Expectations may be of receiving great Satisfaction from them they can't but find by their Experience that there is much of Disappointment in 'em and the Pleasure much greater in Imagination than Reality They are indeed deceitful Lusts and often make Men miserable even here but never happy And for the Truth of this that it may not be look'd upon as a thing only said not prov'd and the cinical Conclusion of a frozen dispirited Student whose narrow Course of Life has made him a Stranger to such Sort of Enjoyments and caus'd him to give a worse Character of them than they deserve I shall vouch the Testimony of Solomon who fill'd the Throne of a rich and flourishing Kingdom and was accountable to none but God for Actions of this Nature and his Desires perfectly
to the Owners thereof saving the beholding of them with their Eyes A Pleasure very empty and unsatisfying for the Eye is not satisfyed with seeing and which their meanest Servant may have as well as they Content is least of all in the Breasts of Persons of the highest Rank he that has much would still have more and is in frequent Fears of losing what he has for Riches are known to be very uncertain and unaccountably take to themselves Wings and fly away and to be in fear of losing Riches and yet dissatisfi'd in the Possession of them carries much more of Uneasiness with it than the beholding of them with ones Eyes does of Pleasure and a Stranger or a Servant may take not only as much but more Pleasure in the Sight that has none of the inward Discontent than the Proprietor and Master that hath So true is that of the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.9 10. They that will be rich fall into Temptation and a Snare and pierce themselves through with divers Sorrows and Contentment with only Food and Raiment is a much greater Happiness To so very little in reality does arise the Second thing in which consists the Happiness of the World the Gratification of the Lust of the Eyes even to nothing but Dissatisfaction and Disquiet Vanity and Vexation of Spirit Come we now to examin the third Part of this World's Treasure the Pride of Life or Honour Power and Dominion And very fitly is this stil'd the Pride of Life it being the Aim of most men to be great to command and govern and to have much of Honour and Respect paid to them and in this they pride themselves more than in any other worldly Good that they possess But what is there in all this that a Man can justly value at so high a Rate Suppose a Man to be Monarch of the whole World to be without Controul from any one on Earth and to give Laws to every Man besides suppose many inferiour Princes tributary to him and that he is honoured like a mortal God suppose all this yet however glorious it may appear at a Distance we shall find upon a closer Inspection that this likewise is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit For as for even an universal Dominion unless the Subjects were as willing to obey as the Monarch is desirous to govern a Catholic Crown would sit as uneasie nay more so than that of lesser Princes The further a Man's Dominion extends the more Difficulties in Government will occur the more ambitious and discontented Spirits will there be to tame and keep in order the more secret Conspiracies and Underminings of Men aggriev'd and disoblig'd and that are as desirous of Government as he that sits in the Throne can be And which will often break out to shake and discompose if not to overturn the present Establishment And the more extensive a Princes Dominions are the more must there be employ'd in the Government of them and those Men of different Interests and Inclinations jealous of one another and envious at the Supreme and more ready to carve for themselves and advance their own Families than sincerely to endeavour the Prosperity of their Master This is found very true and the Occasion of much Trouble and Disquiet to Princes that have Affairs more in their own View than this universal Monarch can be supposed to have and therefore much more dangerously must he sit than they and receive much more Disquietude and Trouble if he takes Notice of the Motion of his great Orb and if he does not where is the Pleasure of governing So that the most ample Dominion is thickest set with Thorns and Briars while enjoyed and in continual Danger of a Ruin which must perplex him that is sensible of it with numberless Fears and Jealousies and anxious Thoughts how to secure his Throne And he that is careless and unsensible and leaves the Fatigues of Government to Others and spends his Days in nothing but Ease and Luxury is an Emperour in Title only and may soon for any thing he knows be not so much as that The one leads a Life of Vanity the other of Vexation of Spirit That 't is easier to obey than to govern is an usual and very true Saying and would be so were Thrones not near so slippery as they are and I am sure 't is very much happier for a Man never to have had such Height of Power and Dominion than ever to see himself thrown down and laid in the Dust The very Danger of so great a Fall is enough to fill ones Breast with great Disorder so great as that all the Gauderies of Grandeur shall lose their Taste and become insipid to him and actually to fall as many glorious Princes have already done is the greatest Misery that can be experienc'd upon earth The short is Empire and Dominion fancy it how great soever is at best very troublesome and disquieting and so uncertain as that it not seldom ends in the very Depth of Ruin And as for the Honour that goes along with it glorious Titles low Obeisance and the like all of this Nature is so perfectly empty and utterly ineffective of any thing that 's truly good and Profitable to a Man that 't is of all things the most despicable and of least Regard And though 't is fit Inferiours should pay it where 't is due yet unless an inward Veneration of the Mind attends that outward Respect of the Body a great Man is so far from being honoured by it that 't is the greatest Mockery and Abuse that can be And because no great Man can tell whether he is inwardly reverenced or no neither can force any Man so to honour him against his Will 't is a very great Weakness for him to set any great Value upon outward Respect which for ought he knows nay in all likelyhood may be an Affront rather than an Honour to him And this is what Honour Power and Dominion amount to Having thus given in an impartial Account and that confirmed by the Experience of Solomon who enjoy'd it all to the Full of the Sum Total of what this World can afford that can pretend to be of any Worth and Esteem by examining the Three Particulars in which is contained all that is valuable in it namely the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life Let us now weigh Religion against it and see which does preponderate which is the most weighty and substantial Good and consequently whether the Merchant in the Parable did wisely or no in selling all that he had that he might purchase this Pearl and be Master of this Treasure And we shall consider Religion in a twofold Respect with Relation to this World as well as the other And first as for the Value of Religion with Relation to this World what is of greater Esteem than Peace and Quietness Contentment and Satisfaction of Mind a Long and Healthy Life here
Scripture exhorts us to walk worthy of our holy Profession Ephes 4.1 Phil. 1 2â— and to have our Conversation as becomes the Gospel of Christ And agreeably said our Lord to the Seventy Disciples whom he sent as Harbingers to the Places whither he himself intended to come he that despiseth you despiseth me and 't is in some Proportion true of all other sincere Believers Christianity is a most honourable Profession and what David said to Saul when he offered him his eldest Daughter to Wife for his great Services â— Sam. 18.18 who am I and what is my Life or my Fathers Family in Israel that I should be Son in-law to a King may with infinitely greater Reason be said by every true Christian who am I and what is my Life that I should be taken into the nearest Relation to the eternal Son of the Majesty of Heaven and Earth No Title comparable to this no Relation so much to be glori'd in nor any Care too great to live up to so august a Character But In the last place the Gospel intitles Believers as to a Participation in some Degree of the Honour of Christ so likewise of his Glory and Happiness And as a Husband is to provide for his Wife suitable to his own Quality and make her a Sharer in his Happiness and Prosperity so will Christ confer upon sincere Believers a plentiful Share of his Glories and Felicities in Heaven Thus John 14.2 3. a little before his Passion in my Father's House says he are many Mansions and I go to prepare a Place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also And in that solemn Prayer to his heavenly Father John 17.22 The Glory says he which thou gavest me I have given them and Vers 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold thy Glory which thou hast given me i. e. may share in the Beatifick Vision which is the Summit of all Happiness And Rom. 8.17 St. Paul says we are joint Heirs with Christ and if we suffer with him i.e. still continue faithful Believers notwithstanding the Discouragements and Temptations of the World we shall be glorified together And 1 Cor. 14.23 Christ is call'd the first Fruits of a glorious Resurrection to immortal Bliss which supposes a general Harvest to follow Christ the first Fruits afterwards those that are Christ's at his coming For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a Shout with the Voice of the Arch-Augel and with the Trump of God and the Dead in Christ shall be raised first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds and so shall we ever be with the Lord 1 Thes 4.16.17 And if to all this we add that this intimate Union of Believers with Christ as of a Wife with her Husband and these immense Privileges that are consequent upon it will be everlasting that nothing can put a-sunder whom God has in infinite Mercy joyn'd thus close together but our wilful Unfaithfulness to this our divine Husband As it will make up the Account of the Wonders of God's Love to the Children of Men and should in Return make us all over Love and Gratitude to that good God who hath done such great things for us so it should make us exceeding careful upon no Considerations whatever to divorce our selves from this our glorious Husband but for ever pay all possible Love and dutiful Obedience to him Which brings me in the next Place to shew that as the Gospel effects the same Relation between Christ and Believers as Marriage does between a Man and his Wife and intitles to the like Privileges so it obliges likewise to the like Duties And first As a Wife is bound to bear unspotted Love and Fidelity to her Husband so is every Believer bound to demean himself towards Christ That is to love him above all things and to be intirely his not to suffer his Affections to wander after strange Loves such as the World and the Vanities of it not to be debauch'd by the Devil and his Temptations and share his Heart between Christ and Belial But since his Maker is his Husband Isa 54.5 as the Prophet Isaiah expresses it to be intirely faithful to him and admit no Creature to that Dearness of Affection which he alone should have For this is that Crime which the Scripture calls spiritual Fornication and Adultery and which St. Paul told the Corinthians he began to fear they were guilty of I am jealous over you says he with a Godly Jealousie for I have espous'd you to one Husband that I may present you as a chaste Virgin unto Christ But I fear lest by any means as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his Subtilty so your Minds should be corrupted from the Simplicity or Purity and Integrity that is towards Christ 2 Cor. 11.1 2. This is that Fornication for which Christ will give us a Bill of Divorcement and for ever put us away from him depart from me ye cursed c. Mat. 25.41 This is in a spiritual Sense to take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of an Harlot and these spiritual as well as carnal Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge And therefore as much as it concerns us to continue in this near and dearest Relation to Christ which is attended with such inestimable Privileges so much it concerns us to bear an intire and unspotted Love to him for he hath hought us with a Price therefore we should glorifie him in our Bodies and our Spirits which are his Secondly As a Wife is bound to submit her self to her Husband to comply with his Government and reverence his Person and Authority so and much more is every Believer bound to do to Christ That is to be satisfied with the Disposals of his Providence to submit to his Guidance and Conduct to reverence all the Expresses of his good Pleasure to be in Subjection to his holy Discipline to have one Will with him the same Likes and Dislikes and in no Case to oppose or resist his Sovereign Authority This is no more than what the Apostles command from a Woman to her Husband as every one that has read their Writings knows very well and that though they are both alike frail sinful Mortals much more then ought we to be subject and bear the profoundest Reverence to Christ our Saviour who is the King of Glory the Son of God who upholds all things by the Word of his Power and sits on the right Hand of the Majesty on high whom all the Angels of God worship and who besides is most tender and affectionate to us and his Government directed by infinite Wisdom Thirdly As a Wife ought not only to be subject to the Disposals of her Husband and
necessary Advice even to the best Man living be watchful and strengthen the things that remain which are ready to die for I have not found thy Works perfect before God And what our Lord says Rev. 16.15 deserves to be seriously consider'd Behold I come as a Thief blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his Garments lest he walk naked and they see his Shame By a Cry being made at Midnight behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye forth to meet him is very lively and movingly represented how unexpectedly the Day of Judgment shall surprize the drouzy World and how suddain for any thing we can tell to the contrary the Time of our Death may be which is to us the Forerunner of it Midnight is a Time of great Silence and destin'd to Rest and a Forgetfulness of the Toils and Troubles of the Day and then suddain Outcries and Alarums are doubly scaring and affrighting and seize with an inexpressible Confusion Horror and Consternation And thus when Men are in the Midst of their Wickedness that spiritual Night employ'd in Deeds of Darkness given up to Ease and Luxury and forgetful of the great Business of working out their Salvation then shall that Time of Sorrows steal upon them as a Thief in the Night the terrifying Cry shall be made behold the great Judge of the World cometh go ye forth to meet him For when they shall say Peace and Safety says the Apostle Then suddain Destruction cometh upon them as Travail upon a Woman with Child and they shall not escape 1 Thes 5.3 Then shall the Kings of the Earth and the great Men and the rich Men those that were thought happy upon Earth instead of going out to meet this Judg hide themselves in Dens in Rocks and Mountains and say to the Mountains and Rocks fall on us and hide us from the Face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb for the great Day of his Wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Rev. 6.15 16 17. And no wonder if a guilty Wretch dreads to go meet his angry Judg and all on the suddain with all his Stains and Pollutions about him appear before his Tribunal who hateth Iniquity and into whose Presence no unclean thing can enter And who is a consuming Fire to those who by their obstinate Impieties have provoked him to become their Enemy And since all this is so a Man of any Thought and that has any Apprehension of the sad Condition of being thus surpriz'd and hurried into the other World by so quick and unforeseen a Summons which no Man is sure shall not be his Case since many have been call'd away with little or no Warning that have no more expected than we do now a Man of any Thought and Apprehension of things will surely be mov'd by such Considerations to shake off that fatal Drouziness which too easily besets him and by a constant Attendance to his Duty and Preparation for his Departure hence be ready chearfully to obey his great Master's Call whether at Even or at Midnight or at the Cockcrowing or in the Morning lest coming suddainly he find him sleeping By the wise Virgins arising and trimming their Lamps when that Midnight Cry was made is represented the more than ordinary Care that even good Persons ought to take when by Age or the Violence of any Distemper the Time of their Departure hence seems to be near approaching to enliven their Piety and by putting a Recruit of Oyl into their Lamps acquiring new Degrees of Sanctity and warming their Souls with greater Ardors of Devotion and holy Love prepare to go chearfully to meet their Lord. Then is the Time when every sincere Christian should endeavour to adorn his Soul with all the Graces of the holy Religion he professes to improve every remaining Minute of his Time to this best of Purposes to redeem the many Hours formerly mispent in Vanity and Folly and by frequent Contemplation of the infinite Glory Sanctity and Bliss of that heavenly World to which he then so sensibly draws near inflame his Defires of being at the End of his wearisom Journey to it and fit himself for the spiritual unspotted Enjoyments of that happy Place by having as little Commerce as is possible with this World below and have his Conversation in Heaven which will so quickly be the Place of his everlasting Abode By the foolish Virgins saying to the wise give us of your Oyl for our Lamps are gone out is represented the Want of Preparation among the careless and inconsiderate for this so great and suddain Change and their mighty Consternation upon it and the vain and insignificant Courses they will take in their Surprize to make up if possible their own Defects by borrowing of others that have Souls better furnish'd with Piety than theirs And by the wise answering not so lest there be not enough for us and you and bidding them go rather and buy for themselves is shewn that 't is utterly groundless to expect at that great Day of Retribution when every Man shall be rewarded according to his own Works to fare the better for the Sanctity of others and that every Man has enough to do to work out his own Salvation and must keep his Lamp alive with his own Oyl must nourish his Soul with his own Vertue for there was never nor ever shall be any meer Man so holy and excellent but must return this same Answer as the wise Virgins did to such as should beg them to bestow some of their Vertues or Merits upon them not so lest there be not enough for our selves and you And if this be true what will become of the Popish Doctrin of Works of Supererrogation If the best Man in the World has but Vertue enough to secure his own Condition and that through infinite Mercy too and upon Account of the all-sufficient Merits of Christ where is there any left for him to bestow upon others But this is one of those doctrins that bring much Mony into their Coffers and therefore right or wrong they 'l be sure to maintain it By the Bridegroom's coming while those foolish Virgins went about so unlikely an Employment as then immediately to furnish their Lamps with Oyl which before were unregarded and suffer'd to go out and the Door before they were provided being shut is represented the Invalidity generally speaking of a Death-Bed Repentance that 't is too late to begin to be good when the Bridegrom comes and those that would enter with him into the Marriage Chamber must be ready and prepar'd by a previous Course of holy Living and that for some considerable Time This Hurry of the foolish Virgins at that Time to get Oyl for their Lamps was only the Effect of the Terrors of that Midnight Call had it not been for that they would have drouz'd on still in their thoughtless Way of living and in all Probability had it prov'd a false Alarm they
what Instruction he hath met with in the School of Righteousness what plenty of Religious Discourses and Exhortations he has enjoy'd and how frequently he has felt Motions from within to a still more and more holy and exemplary Life He that hath experienc'd all this in a great degree that hath had his pregnant natural Capacity well cultivated by an early and excellent Instruction and had the whole of Religion plainly laid before him in all the Doctrines Duties Rewards and Punishments of it and been often and affectionately exhorted to live accordingly in all holy Conversation and Godliness and has frequently felt secret internal Motions and Perswasions to it this Man has received much more than One Talent at the hands of God and God will expect from him a proportionable Improvement and he must abound in every good Word and Work For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much requir'd and to whom Men have committed much of him they will ask the more But because all Men are not of equal Abilities naturally neither have the same Opportunities of Instruction and Improvement nor the same immediate Impulses of the Blessed Spirit where there is any defect in these Respects God will abate proportionably in his Expectations and he that received the One Talent had he gained but One other with it would have been call'd a good and faithful Servant and been receiv'd into the Joy of his Lord. Let us all therefore endeavour to grow in Grace according to the measure of this unspeakable Gift to perform our Duties each in his Station and according to his Ability faithfully and industriously that when our Lord comes to make Enquiry into each ones Improvement of his Talent and call for every ones particular Account we may all from the least to the greatest chearfully give it up and receive the immense Reward of a sincere Diligence For In the third Place There will most certainly be a Time when our Great Lord will come to take Account of every Man's Improvement of the Grace that was given him and reward every Man according to his Deserving That there will certainly be a Day of Judgment both of Quick and Dead when every Man shall be rewarded according to that he hath done in the Body whether it be good or evil is a Truth so evident from Scripture that those who have read and do believe those Writings can make no doubt of it And the Proof of this from Reason has been so convincingly manag'd by several Learned Pens particularly of late by Dr. Sherlock in his Excellent Discourse upon Judgment that I think nothing can be added to it I shall only therefore Collect such a Description of that Great Day and the Proceedings in it out of the Revelations where it is the most movingly represented as may incline us all with the greatest Diligence and immediately by self-Examination and Amendment of every evil Way to prepare for that great Audit that we may give up our Accounts with joy and not with grief In the 20th Chapter of the Revelations ver 12. after the divine Apostle had given a Description of the Appearing of the great Judge upon his Throne I saw a great White Throne says he and him that sat on it from whose face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was found no place for them He proceeds I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened And another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the dead were judged out of those Things that were written in the Books according to their Works and the Sea gave up the dead that were in it and Death and the Grave deliver'd up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their Works And whosoever was not written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire That is The Records shall then be laid open wherein every Man's Receipt of Grace is enter'd and those whose Works shall be found proportionably good according to the Assistance they have receiv'd from Above or in the Stile of the Parable that have made an answerable Improvement to the Number of Talents committed to them their Names shall be written in the Book of Life and they received into the eternal Joy of their Lord. But those who can then give no good Account of their Talents shew no suitable Improvement in Holiness according to the measure of Grace they have received shall never see Life but be cast into the Lake of Fire which is the second Death And because so very few will be so wise as to make due Preparation for this great Day of Account by improving the Grace God has given them to the great Ends for which it was design'd therefore as 't is describ'd Rev. 3.15 The Kings of the Earth and the great Men and the rich Men and the chief Captains and the mighty Men and every Bond-man and every Freeman many of all Qualities and Conditions from the highest to the lowest shall hide themselves in Dens in Rocks and Mountains and say to the Rocks and Mountains fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb for the great Day of his Wrath is come and who shall be able to stand May these Terrors of the Lord perswade us to provide in this our day for the Things that belong to our Peace before they be hid from our eyes looking for by frequent Meditation and hastning unto by a diligent Improvement of our Talents the coming of this dreadful day of God and being above all things careful That we be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless for God will bring every secret Thing into Judgment whether it be good or evil and exactly adapt every Man's Recompense to his Work Which brings me to the next Thing I am to consider in this Parable namely Fourthly That at that great Day of Account when every Man's Work is fully known and his Improvement compar'd with what he has receiv'd the Diligent shall not only in general be receiv'd into the Joy of their Lord and the unprofitable cast into outer Darkness but the most Diligent those that have made the greatest Improvement shall receive the greatest share of Happiness And those that have been most careless and Unprofitable shall be doom'd to the greatest misery That is in short there will be degrees of Happiness or Misery respectively awarded to Men according to the degrees of their Holiness or Impiety I know this has been much question'd by some and wholly deny'd by others and their main Reason against it I conceive to be this That since the Happiness of the Just in Heaven consists in the Vision of God or the Excellencies and Beauties of the Divine Nature which will fill a holy Soul with eternal and inexpressible Delight for so St. John expresses the Bliss of Heaven by seeing God as
he is 1 Joh 3.2 and St. Paul by seeing him face to face and knowing him even as we are known 1 Cor. 13.12 And since the Misery of the Wicked in Hell consists in an eternal Banishment from his Divine Presence for so the Sentence runs that shall be pass'd upon them at the Day of Judgment Depart from me ye Cursed c. Upon these Accounts it seems to them most agreeable to Truth that All the Just being admitted to the Beatifick Vision of God should be equally Happy and All the Wicked being for ever exil'd to him should be equally Miserable But this Argument in my Apprehension is so far from destroying the Doctrine of the Degrees of Happiness and Misery in Heaven and Hell that I think 't is rather the best Supporter of it For since 't is very true that the Happiness of Heaven consists in the Beatifick Vision of God and the Misery of Hell in an eternal Banishment from him and since 't is as true that some good Men in this Life approach nearer to him and see more of his Excellencies and bear a greater Resemblance to him than others and so become capable of a more intimate Vision of him in Heaven and some bad Men on the contrary wander to a greater distance from him here and become more unlike him by their great Impieties than other Sinners do and so become more incapable of that pure and holy Vision than others that are less wicked Since this is so methinks it should be most agreeable to Truth that those that were the Holiest Men here should be the Happiest Saints in Heaven as bearing a nearer Resemblance to the Divine Nature and consequently capable of a more close and intimate Vision of him and that those who by their great Impiety beyond other Men were most estranged from God here should be banish'd farthest from him in the Regions of Despair and Darkness as being the most hateful to him because the most unlike nay contrary to him and the most uncapable of seeing and enjoying him and consequently feel the most exquisite Pangs of Horror and Despair the hottest Boilings of Rage and Impatience and most bitter Remorse of Soul for bringing this most miserable Condition upon themselves when once they might with much Ease and Pleasure have avoided it and been for ever happy in the Vision and Enjoyment of God Indeed as to plain Proof from Scripture of the Degrees of Misery in Hell I must confess I cannot recollect any and would by no means strain God's Word beyond its due Extent but as to Degrees of Glory and Happiness in Heaven I think there are several Places of Scripture that plainly enough establish that Doctrine of which I shall mention but one and that because 't is part of a Parable exactly the same in the concealed sense of it with that I am now discoursing upon only something differently related by S. Luke 'T is in the 19th Chapter the 15th and 4 following Verses where we find when the King came to take Account of his Servants Improvement of what he left in their Hands to trade with in his Absence he exactly proportion'd every Man's Recompense to the Increase he made of what was committed to his Charge to him that had gain'd Ten Pounds with the Pound his Lord left with him was given Authority over as many Cities and so to him that had gain'd Five proportionably Authority over Five Which I think can mean no less than this that where there is different Degrees of Mens Improvement of Grace in this World there shall be as different Degrees awarded of Glory and Happiness in Heaven and there being great Difference between the Degrees of Christians Improvement here there will be as great Difference in the Degrees of their Happiness hereafter And though every Saint in Heaven shall have as clear and intimate Vision and Enjoyment of God as he is capable of and partake in an agreeable Measure of the Happiness that will flow from such Vision and Enjoyment and be as Happy as 't is possible for him to be yet the Capacity of every Saint will not be equal Some Souls will be more enlarg'd than others and able to receive more Rays of the Divine Glory and so though every of those Vessels of Honor shall be full yet all will not hold alike and one Star there will differ from another Star in Glory 'T is true indeed that the Mind of every good Man shall then be clarified and refined purg'd from the Dross and Soil contracted during its Residence in the Flesh and rendred more agile and expedite in the Exercise of its several Faculties and its Knowledge and Love of God vastly improved But that Souls of less Improvement here shall immediately upon their Departure from the Body receive extraordinary new Additions to equalize them to those of higher Attainments is hard to imagine and would mightily discourage the generous Endeavours of Heroick Piety and Exemplary Religion But when every Man shall in that glorious Kingdom above be rewarded according to the Degrees of his Piety and a great Love to God and zealous Prosecution of the Interest of Religion and an eminent Sanctity shall be crown'd with a more than ordinary Glory and Felicity in Heaven 't will mightily encourage a holy Soul to forget with St. Paul the things that are behind and press on to what is still before always aiming at still greater Degrees of Perfection till Mortality shall be swallow'd up of Life The Improvement of this Speculation to Practice is this That since the Degrees of Glory and Happiness in Heaven shall be answerable to the Degrees of Mens Holiness and Improvement of their Talents upon Earth we would run with Diligence the Race that is set before us and gird up the Loins of our Mind and set our selves to the Performance of every thing that is well-pleasing in the sight of God with Cheerfulness and not pretend Difficulty when the Reward is so exceeding great and shall be proportion'd to the Degrees of our Vertue For can we be too happy Can we be too like God Can our Crown be too glorious and resplendent Away then with that mean-spirited Religion which thus lessens and confines our Happiness let us unfold our Hands and pluck them out of our Bosoms and encourage our selves in a vigorous Pursuit of an excellent Piety forasmuch as we know that our Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Fifthly In the next Place I am to shew that 't is abominably false and impious with the Unprofitable Servant in the Parable to charge God with being unreasonably rigid and severe in taking so strict an Account of Mens Improvement of his Divine Grace and Assistances and expecting to find a good Use made of what he committed to their Trust That God is often charg'd with such unreasonable Severity by Men that care not to perform their Duty is too true to be question'd and such as love to indulge their vile
Riches or Abundance of Gold and Silver in which now-a-days we esteem Riches chiefly to consist they are really no better than Heaps of Earth of different Colours impress'd with different Stamps and made of different Sizes and to which Men have given a different Value and Esteem according to their different Colour Size and Impression and which in themselves are good for little but to be look'd on and which he that would live must part with when he has them in Exchange for other Things that are necessary for his Subsistence Now what can be more vile and base than for so Noble and Excellent a Creature as Man so far to degrade himself as to employ his greatest Love and Admiration and Desire upon a Piece of Earth which was originally made for him to tread upon and produce Things for his Food and Pleasure To make that his Master nay his God which was made to be his Servant For a Rational Soul to doat upon a sensless Clod to neglect the Contemplation of the Excellencies of his infinitely perfect Maker and admire one of the lowest of his Creatures to desire a Piece of Earth with the greatest Application and have no Value for the Immortal Glories of Heaven to place his Happiness in what is so very much inferiour to him and upon that which is indeed his Happiness to bestow no Thoughts what can be more vile and abject than this what more unbecoming the Dignity of the Rational Nature and of a Creature that has such glorious Hopes Where is the Reason of a Man that lays out all his Endeavours to acquire a Trifle and in the mean time disregards that which is his chief good and where is the Religion of a Christian that has been redeem'd not by Corruptible Things such as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without Blemish and without Spot where is his Religion that notwithstanding this makes Silver and Gold the chief Object of his Affections and treads under foot the Son of God and counts the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy or common Thing and does despight to the Spirit of Grace and loves and admires Mammon more than his Saviour What more vile and brutish than this what more stupidly ungrateful This is to come down to a Level with the Beasts that perish nay 't is to sink much lower for They act according to their Natural Instincts and choose as they are directed by their Great Creator and serve him obediently in that Rank of Being in which he has plac'd them But that Man much more that Christian that makes perishing Riches the main Object of his Desires and Endeavours acts directly contrary to the Reason that God has given him degenerates many degrees below the Dignity of his Nature disobeys the Orders of his Creator slights the Heavenly Counsel of his Saviour despises the Glories and Felicities of the Kingdom of Heaven and of a Man and a Christian makes himself a vile Muckworm delighted in nothing Noble and Excellent but groveling upon the Earth as if that were the Centre of his Happiness And what can more vilifie and degrade a Reasonable Soul made after the Image of God than such base Affections as these 'T is certainly a most vile Degeneracy and renders a Man the most contemptible Creature in the Universe both to God and Angels and all wise and good Men. And thus much may suffice to expose the Folly and Vileness of an immoderate Desire of Riches as in them placing the Happiness of Life I shall now shew The ill Consequences that attend it which besides that great Perplexity of Mind they cause mention'd before are chiefly these two 1 It mightily hinders a Man's Progress in Religion which is the one Thing necessary 2. It exposes a Man more than any thing to the Danger of Apostacy or falling from the Truth First An immoderate Love of Riches does mightily hinder a Man's Progress in Religion which is the one Thing necessary We may remember our Lord in his Interpretation of a Parable before discours'd of Matt. 13.22 says that the Cares of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches like Thorns that spring up with Seed choke the Word of God and render it unfruitful and in another Parable of a great Supper made at the Marriage of a King's Son Matt. 22. Luk. 14.18 by which as was discours'd upon that Parable is represented the glad Tidings and Invitations of the Gospel he tells us That that which detain'd Men from it was likewise the Cares of the World and the Love of Riches they had Ground to look after and Oxen to prove and therefore they could not come to the Wedding Supper And accordingly says our Saviour in as express Words as can be Matt. 6.24 No man can serve two Masters ye cannot serve God and Mammon Now the Reason of this is twofold For first Nothing so much distracts a Man's Thoughts as an eager Desire and Pursuit of Wealth for Riches are so difficult to be acquir'd as has been said and so very slippery when gain'd that as to get them will exercise all a Man's Contrivance employ all his Thoughts and Attention and consume his whole Time so to keep them when once gotten will to a Man that knows the Hardship of getting them and how soon they are lost again engage him in constant Care and Solicitude to watch his Idol lest he be depriv'd of it and so his Mind becomes distracted with continual Apprehensions of Danger and at leisure for no other Thoughts than how to secure his Riches And this those that are acquainted with Men much wedded to the World may soon perceive by their careful anxious Looks and distrustful Timorous Discourse Now the immoderate Love of Riches thus engrossing a Man's Soul and the great Business of Religion or making Provision for Another World and laying up a Treasure of good Works in Heaven being a Thing that likewise requires Time and Diligence and a close Application of all our Faculties to the Performance of it and it being impossible for a Man to attend closely to two Things at once and the Love of this World and of the next being not only different but contrary the one to the other How can it be but that he that eagerly loves Riches and has his Soul prepossess'd with a strong Desire of them and all his Faculties before engag'd in their Pursuit must move very slowly in the Way of Religion if he moves at all nay indeed rather move backward than forward and the more he loves the World grow colder still in his Affections to God Another Reason of this is Because an Immoderate Love of Money is a kind of Fascination and Enchantment it casts a Mist before a Man's Understanding and makes him less sensible and apprehensive of the great Obligation to a Religious Life and so dulls and stupifies the Soul that it becomes very little moved with the Sermons of
the greatest Riches when possess'd and that they are often very suddenly lost again and then the Grief for being depriv'd of them will fill the Soul with abundantly greater Trouble than the Enjoyment of them did with Pleasure and we have seen as the Folly so the Vileness of Covetousness how much a Christian is debas'd by thus groveling on the Earth and placing his Happiness in what is so much beneath him and neglecting that which is the only proper Object of his Affections and is of infinitely greater Value than all the Riches of Ten Thousand Worlds we have seen likewise the ill Consequences of Covetousness what a great Hindrance it is to nay Destroyer of Religion how it indisposes a Man for the Service of God and endangers more than any thing his steady Adherence to the Truth we have been directed to much better Ways of disposing our Abundance when we are blessed with it than either in hoarding it up or wasting it in Luxury and Excess namely in relieving the Necessities of the Poor which will intitle us to the Reward of a good and faithful Steward even the Eternal Joy of our dear Lord and we have seen the great Wisdom of a contented Mind the Blessedness of not overvaluing Riches and the great Advantage that will be made by the Charitable Disposal of them when Christ shall come to take Account of Mens Works at the great Day of Recompense Wherefore to conclude all in the excellent Exhortation of our Lord immediately after my Text let none of us take Anxious and Perplexing Thought for our Life what we shall eat nor for the Body what we shall put on for the Life is more than Meat and the Body than Rayment and he that gave the Greater will no Question provide the Lesser Let us consider the Ravens for they neither sow nor reap have neither Store-House nor Barn and God feedeth them how much better are we than the Fowls And which of us by taking thought can add one Cubit unto his Stature If we then be not able to do what is least why take we thought for the rest Let us consider the Lillies how they grow they toil not they spin not and yet Solomon in all his Glory was not arrayed like one of these If then God so cloath the Grass which to Day is and to Morrow is cast into the Oven how much more will he cloath us who very much betray our little Faith in doubting it Wherefore let us not immoderately seek what we shall eat or what we shall drink or wherewithall be cloathed neither be of doubtful or anxious and too careful Mind for our Father knoweth that we have need of all these things but seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto us in such a Proportion as Infinite Wisdom and Goodness knows to be best for us Remembring that as the Covetous Rich Fool in this Parable that trusted in his Riches and propos'd to himself much Happiness from a Luxurious Enjoyment of them was suddenly snatch'd from them to give Account of his Stewardship so shall it be with every one that layeth up Treasure for him self and is not rich towards God The PRAYER OEternal God the great Creator and Governour of all things and whose Wisdom and Goodness in all the Disposals of thy Providence is Infinite grant me the Wisdom to be contented with my present Lot and satisfied with a moderate Proportion of this World 's Good and not to be too careful and solicitous in my Pursuit even of that For ever preserve me I entreat thee from the great Folly and Sin of Covetousness and may I be so thoroughly convinced of the Uncertainty of Riches both in the getting and the keeping how unsatisfying they are when possess'd and the many Snares and Temptations that attend them as always to preserve a great Indifferency to them and make it my chief Endeavour to attain the real Happiness of a contented Spirit Grant that I may be more and more sensible how vile a thing it is to place my Felicity in what is so much beneath me as these Perishing Riches are and which instead of improving me in what is really valuable tend to betray me into many vile and hurtful Lusts retard my Progress in Religion which is the one thing necessary and too often betray into Apostacy from thy Truth O grant that I may act like a Man and a Christian and make it my chief Aim to be rich towards thee my God and to lay up a Treasure in Heaven and if through thy Bountiful Goodness Riches here increase give me grace I intreat thee not to set my Heart upon them but to dispose of them so as may most conduce to thy Glory and the Good of the Community that making Friends with the Mammon of Unrighteousness according to thy Blessed Will when these fading Riches shall fail and be left behind me my Charity may procure for me a Reception into these Everlasting Habitations where I shall have a glorious Inheritance that fadeth not away where neither Rust nor Moth doth corrupt and where Thieves break not through and steal and where my Happiness shall be ineffable fully satisfying and Eternal Amen Blessed God Amen Amen PARABLE X. Of the Barren Fig-Tree Luke xiii 6 7 8 9. A certain Man had a Fig-Tree planted in his Vineyard and came and sought Fruit thereon and found none Then said he to the Dresser of his Vineyard Behold these Three Years I come seeking Fruit on this Fig-Tree and find none cut it down why cumbereth it the Ground And he answering said unto him Lord let it alone this Year also till I shall dig about it and dung it And if it bear Fruit well And if not then after that thou shalt cut it down THIS Parable was spoken upon the News that was brought to our Lord of the sad Fate of some Factious Galileans whom Pilate the Roman Governour had set upon and destroy'd mingling their Blood with the Sacrifices they were offering To this our Lord first made this Answer Suppose ye that those Galileans were Sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Or those Eighteen upon whom the Tower in Siloam fell and slew them another sad Accident that had lately happen'd think ye that they were Sinners above all that dwelt in Jerusalem I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish And then he added this Parable that he might further enforce the Necessity of a speedy Repentance and Amendment of Life in all Men in order to their escaping the Just Judgment of God in this World and the Eternal Punishments of Sin in the next From what our Lord said to his Disciples upon the sad Fate of the Galileans and those slain by the Tower in Siloam think ye that they were Sinners above all c. we may
that he would turn away that fierce Anger from him which he is very sensible he has but too much deserv'd Thus David fram'd a Psalm on purpose to confess and bewail his great Transgressions in the Matter of Uriah He then forgot all that was good in him and did not expect that his former excellent Piety should cover and make Amends for those foul Sins He did not search for Excuses and endeavour to extenuate his Guilt but like a truly humble Penitent chang'd his usual Strain of Praise and Thansgiving for the Accents of Grief and Shame and better Remorse acknowledging his Transgressions and having his Sins ever before him and with the most pathetick Earnestness of a broken and contrite Heart begging God's Forgiveness and that he would again Greate in him a clean Heart and renew a right Spirit within him As if those his great Wickednesses had not only polluted all that before was good in him but quite destroy'd the Rectitude and Integrity of his Soul And as David so S. Peter when he reflected upon the great Baseness of Denying his divine Master and Saviour his Spirit was so truly humbled that without endeavouring in the least to conceal or palliate his Fault he went out and wept bitterly And so the Publican in the Parable would not so much as lift up his Eyes to Heaven but stood afar off in the Court of the Gentiles which was the lowest of all and with great Compunction of Spirit smote upon his Breast and said God be merciful to me a Sinner And thus much for the First Thing to be done upon this Parable which was to shew what the Grace of Spiritual Humility is viz. a not Over-valuing our spiritual Excellencies nor our Selves by reason of them nor despising others as less Holy but returning all the Glory to God who made us to differ nor undervaluing or endeavouring to excuse and extenuate our Wickednesses but an impartial considering the Vileness and great Aggravations of them and sincere humbling our Selves for them at the Throne of God The Second Thing to be done is to shew how excellent and beneficial this Vertue is in our Christian Course and how vile and mischievous the contrary Vice is 'T is a sufficient Argument that this Vertue is very excellent and of great Benefit to Christians that our Lord has plac'd it in the Front of his Beatitudes which he begins thus Blessed are the poor in Spirit Like a wise Master-Builder he lays the Foundation low of a Building that was to reach so very high and Humbleness of Mind must be the Ground-work of that Religion which will advance a Man to Heaven Piety without Humility is very apt to make Men top-heavy and over-set like a Ship without her Ballast 't is this that preserves the Soul unshaken amidst the Temptations of the World as that makes a Ship sail sure and steady amidst the mighty Billows The House in the Gospel that was founded upon a sandy Surface of the Earth soon yielded to the Fury of the Tempest and great was the Fall of it our Lord therefore begins with poverty of Spirit as the Basis and great security of all his other Building which he foresaw and foretold was to undergo the Shock of many a furious Storm and contend with all the Powers of the Prince of Darkness But more particularly this Grace of Spiritual Humility is so excellent and highly beneficial that nothing more conduces to a Man's Spiritual growth and Encrease in Vertue nor renders him more dear both to God and Man First Nothing more conduces to a Man's spiritual growth and Encrease in Vertue For 't is very true in Religion as well as in Worldly Affairs That nothing makes Men more industrious than a due sense of their Wants and the poorness of their Stock whereas when a Man thinks he has Abundance he is generally Slothful and Careless and Impoverishment becomes his Lot rather than a farther Improvement An humble Sense of a Man's Imperfections and Sins will make him doubly diligent and consequently to improve greatly in the School of Righteousness but haughty Conceitedness will certainly make him grow worse and worse Nay there will be no End of the humble minded Man's Improvement for 't is always found in the pursuit of Vertue as well as of Knowledge that the more real Vertue increases in the Soul of a Good Man the more and greater the Defects of his Vertue appear to be and consequently the more will his Diligence be quickned and spurr'd on as St. Paul the farther he advanced in the Christian Race the more conscious he grew that he had not yet apprehended what he endeavoured after and was not yet perfect and that made him forget what was behind his former Attainments and reach out to what was still before what he had not yet attain'd to and eagerly press forward to the Mark the Prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus Now the Consequence of this extraordinary Diligence must needs be an extraordinary growth and increase and so still onward in a quick and vigorous Motion till he finishes his Vertuous Race and is perfect as his Father which is in Heaven is perfect And as this spiritual Humility makes a Man move swiftly in the Christian Course so it makes him tread surely too it ballances him and keeps him upon his Centre and secures him from those dangerous Falls which too often are the Fate of the high-minded and proud for 't was Pride and Haughtiness of Spirit we know that ruin'd the Prince of the Fallen Angels and his Accomplices But poverty of Spirit is the great Security of a Christian against the subtle Arts of the Tempter 't is the proper Mark and Character of a Disciple of the meek lowly Jesus and is a disposition of Mind the most of all apt for Repentance which is a Grace of infinite Value as being absolutely necessary to Salvation and entitles a Man in a peculiar manner to the Divine Aid and Assistance for God giveth Grace to the Humble Secondly As this spiritual Humility is of the greatest Benefit to a Christian so does it render him highly dear both to God and Man All Men love an humble Man and look upon him as a Wise and Extraordinary Person and he that is pious and circumspect in his Conversation and yet is not proud of it nor despises or haughtily reflects upon others that live more at large than he does but advises them better seasonably and with Meekness and Humility such a Man is esteem'd as a Person sent from God to do Good to Mankind that seeing his Good Works mix'd with poverty of Spirit they may be inclined to imitate so lovely an Example and glorifie their Father which is in Heaven by treading in his Steps And as for God S. Peter and S. James and the Wisest of Men all agree that he resisteth the proud but giveth Grace to the humble And our Lord himself at the end of the Parable we
is hurried on to dangerous and destructive Actions but Nature goes on evenly in making Provision for its Health and Support and it enjoys its Strength and Beauty as in the Times of Quietness and Peace In the last Place a comfortable Expectation of a much better and endless Life in the Regions of Glory can spring from nothing but sincere Religion and therefore Religion is of very great Value with Respect to this world For what can be of greater value and more to be desired in this Valley of Tears this World of Sin and Sorrow and Ignorance Vexation and Disappointment than to have a well grounded Hope that 't will not be always so with us That there will be a Time when all Tears shall be wip'd from our Eyes and Sin and Misery be at an End for ever That we shall one Day be disentangled from the Clog of Flesh the Prison Doors set open and our captiv'd Souls set free and with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory return to the great Father of Spirits and with the full Vigour of all their Faculties contemplate and enjoy the only satisfying Good That instead of Floods of Years there shall then be Rivers of Pleasures flowing in upon us to all Eternity Halleluia's instead of Groans and mournfull Accents the triumphant Rejoycings of eternal beatified Spirits instead of the bitter Complaints of miserable Mortals and in a word Love in its Perfection instead of Quarrels and Discontents Envy and Hatred and Malice and Revenge and all the dire Attendants of them That instead of spiritual Blindness and Ignorance of the most concerning Truths for here we know but in Part and see through a Glass darkly we shall e're long be admitted to contemplate Truth it self and know as we are known and shall see God as he is and in him all things For God is Light What can be more valuable than such a chearing Expectation as this How will it sweeten all the Troubles of this Mortal Life and be a sensible Foretaste of the Glory that shall hereafter be revealed But now nothing can create such a Hope as this but sincere Religion for God is infinitely pure and holy and into his Presence no unclean thing can enter And 't is expresly said in the Revelations of his Will That without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. A wicked Mans Breast that is not seared can be full of nothing but the dire Reflections of an enrag'd Conscience and dreadful forebodings of the Wrath to come The Miseries he feels in this World are but as the Beginnings of his eternal Sorrows and while he continues in his Rebellion against God he can expect nothing but new Expresses of his Indignation here and to be doom'd to the Portion of the Devil and his Angels at the Day of Judgment He only that has liv'd piously in this World can with any Comfort think upon a future State But to him that has led this First Life by the Rule of Religion and serv'd his Maker in Sincerity of Heart no Joy comparable to that which he experiences when he thinks of being dissolv'd and conducted to the Embraces of his Saviour in the Kingdom of Heaven where he shall be for ever with him and unspeakably happy in the Joy of his dear Lord. And thus much for the Value of Religion with Relation to this World It is the Parent of the most perfect Peace and Quietness Content and Satisfaction of Mind of a long and healthy Life here and of a comfortable Expectation of a glorious Immortality in the Regions of Blessedness And were this all that could be said of it I question not but to any considering Man it would appear to be a Jewel of inestimable Price that nothing the whole World can afford is comparable to it and that he is the wisest Man who with the Merchant in the Parable immediately parts with all that stands in Competition with Religion and would hinder him in the Performance of the Duties of it But this is far from all Godliness has not only a Promise of the Life that now is but also and chiefly of that which is to come And if it appears to be so inestimable a Treasure when we look no further than this Life what shall we think of it when we contemplate that exceeding Weight of Glory which shall be its Reward in Heaven The Happiness that will crown Religion in the other World springing from the same Fountain from whence do flow the Felicities of God himself i. e. it consisting in an intimate View and full Enjoyment of the Beauties and Perfections of the Divine Nature for so St. John 1 Joh. 3.2 We shall see God as he is It must needs be inexpressible Nay the very Contemplation of it is too bright for Minds darkned with Flesh the Splendors of it flash too strongly upon our feeble Sense now we are in the Body and too long and closely gaz'd on will rather dazle than enlighten our Understandings No Mortal Man can see God's Face and live and therefore most true is that of the Apostle Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard 1 Cor. 2.9 neither can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive the things that God hath reserv'd for those that love him Indeed this includes all that can possibly be imagin'd of Excellence and much more than we poor ignorant benighted Creatures can imagin For God is the Fountain of Being and consequently of Perfection All that is charming and truly desirable in Nature to our Senses or to our Understandings in the visible or invisible Creation is but a Stream from this divine Fountain and is in him ininfinitely greater Excellency For he is Beauty and Goodness and Harmony it self And therefore since Religion will bring us to such a Happiness as the Vision and Enjoyment of this chief Good what can compare with it for Value The Depth says 't is not in me and the Sea says 't is not with me Man knoweth not the Price thereof neither is it found in the Land of the Living It cannot be valued with the Gold of Ophir with the precious Onyx or the Saphire no mention shall be made of Coral or Pearls for the Price of Wisdom is above Rubies Job 28.13 c. Such then being the Excellency of Religion that it is above all things conducive to the Happiness of Man in this World and will bring him to the Enjoyment of God himself to eternal Ages when this short Life is ended and the whole that the World can afford amounting to no more by the Confession of one that enjoy'd it all to the Full than Emptiness and Disappointment Vanity and Vexation of Spirit here and if the Word of God be true an eternal Banishment from the supreme Good shall at last be their Punishment who love this worthless World more than Religion and their Maker These things being duly weighed and considered let any Man in his Wits say which is of greatest Value Religion or