his Folly will further appear if we consider Secondly the Error and Mistake that must necessarily precede in his Judgment before he does or can make such a Choice all Sin is founded upon Ignorance and Mistake for as 't is impossible to chuse Evil as Evil in general so is it no less imposfible to chuse any particular kind of Evil as Evil and consequently 't is impossible to chuse the Evil of Sin as such The Devil himself as Abstract a Sinner as he is can't love Sin as Sin If therefore it be chosen it must be chosen under the appearance of Good and it can have this appearrance no otherwise than as considered as a lesser Evil for that 's the only way whereby an Evil may appear good or eligible and so it must be considered before it be chosen He therefore that chuses Sin considers it at the instant of Commission as a lesser Evil and therein consists his Error and Mistake he is either Habitually or Actually Ignorant he either has not the Habitual Knowledge of all those things which should preserve him in his Duty or at least he has not the Actual Consideration of them for 't is that which must bring him to Repentance there being no Consideration beyond this And 't is impossible a Man should Sin with the very same Thoughts Convictions and Considerations about him as he has when he Repents This I say is no more possible than for a Ballance to move Two contrary ways with the same Weight and in the same Posture He therefore that Sins wants that Consideration at least to keep him in his Duty which when he Repents brings him to it and is therefore Ignorant and Mistaken The Sum of this matter lies in this form of Argument Whoever thinks Sin a lesser Evil is mistaken in his Judgment but whoever commits Sin does then think it a lesser Evil Therefore whoever commits Sin is mistaken in his Judgment So great is the folly of Sin both in reference to the Absurdity of the Choice and to the Error and Mistake of the Chuser and so great reason has every Sinner to take up that Confession of the Psalmist so Foolish was I and Ignorant and even as a Beast before thee And thus far of the Folly of Sin in general I come now in the Second place to the other ground of the Charge where I am to consider the folly of placing our Happiness and Content in the good things of this World and of that particular sort of Earthly-Mindedness which we call Covetousness It is certainly a very great folly to place our Happiness in any Created Good even in the very Best of the Works of God there is nothing even in Heaven that 's Created which can be our Happiness not the Discourses of Angels not the Love of Seraphins not the Musick of Alleluiahs And therefore the Psalmist excludes all the Creatures even in Heaven as well as in Earth from being the Objects of his Happiness Whont have I in Heaven but thee says he 't would be a great folly therefore to make any Created Good our Happiness even in the very Region of Blessedness But then to place it in any good that this World this Sediment and Sink of the Creation can afford is such a degree of Sottishness and Stupidity as did not Experience convince us that there are such Fools one would hardly think incident to a Rational Creature for it plainly argues that we are grosly ignorant of one of these Two things either of our selves or of the things of the World we are either ignorant of the Dignity and Excellency of our Natures of the Designs and Ends of our Creation and of the Strengths and Capacities of our Appetites which are to be satisfied with nothing less than Infinite or if we do know and consider all this of our selves then we are so much the more ignorant of the World about us to think that there is any thing to be had in this Circle of Vanity to satisfy the importunity of such Hungry and Capacious Appetites So far indeed is any thing in this World from being able to afford us Happiness and Satisfaction that 't is well if it can give us Entertainment and sweeten the otherwise insipid and to some very bitter Draught of Life The wisest Enquirer into the Capacities of Nature will hardly allow it so much as that but says of all here that 't is not only Vanity but also Vexation of Spirit and if we do by an extraordinary Fortune meet with any thing in this World that can a little cool and allay the heat of our great Thirst and refresh the drought of our Spirit yet we are assured by our Saviour who well understood the World though he enjoy'd but little of it that whosoever drinks of this Water shall thirst again and we all find by repeated Experiences that 't is so and our Reason tells us it must be so considering the vast the infinite disproportion between the best things of this World yea of the whole Creation and the largeness the immensity of our Appetites and Capacities which are a plain Demonstration that we were neither made for them nor they for us and that here is neither our Good nor our Evil. And what a Folly then is it to place our Happiness and take up our Rest in such things as these against the Confession and experimental Verdict of the Wisest of Men against the express Declaration and Asseveration of God who made both the World and us and knows the exact Proportion that all his Works have to each other and that a Barn full of Corn can never satisfy the Hunger of a Soul against the united experience of all Men ever since Adam nay and against our own Experience too which will witness to us if we but ask her that we never enjoyed but were disappointed and found our Souls empty when our Arms were full nay and against the Answer of our Reason too which satisfies us of the Necessity of what our Experience confesses to be true and that as it has ever been so so it ever will and must be so I say what a desperate incorrigible Fool must he be who after all this will yet dream of a Heaven upon Earth and place his Happiness in the good of this World The short is there is no Folly or Disappointment like that of being mistaken in ones End and of all Ends none is so foolishly mistaken as our Last End and this can never be more foolishly mistaken than when 't is placed in the things of this World This therefore is a very great instance of Folly and Stupidity and to him that is guilty of it whatever he be for Wit and Parts in other Matters of lesser consequence God justly may and will say Thou Fool. And now if there be so much of Folly in Centring in this World which consists of great variety of Good and wherein there is a great Latitude
serve me with an Answer to an Objection wherein it is pretended that Men are the worse for having so much Application made to them for their Recovery that they suffer in their Morals by being over-tutour'd as some Men do in their Health by being over-Physick'd The ground of which Objection proceeds I suppose upon this Observation that when there are the greatest helps and advantages to goodness the Age is then always worst The Observation I confess is too true but the Consequence that is made from it may I conceive be taken off by supposing that this comes to pass by the special Assignment of God's Providence reserving the best assistances against the worst times and not by any natural connexion that is between the things themselves in order to such a Juncture Upon these Considerations I am incouraged to send these Discourses abroad having this only to say concerning them that as the Subjects of them are of extraordinary importance so I think they do not fall very much beneath what they undertake for in their several Titles that they consist of very weighty and serious matter and are indifferently Correct as to their Composition that they speak both to the Reason and to the Affection of the Reader and are in good measure fitted both to Convince and to Perswade In short that they may be read with a great deal of Profit and not without some Entertainment The former is the more considerable end and 't is what I mainly aim at I wish the Reader may do the same and when both of us concur in so laudable an End 't is to be hoped the Blessing of God will not be wanting and I pray God it may not J. Norris The General CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME A Discourse concerning Worldly and Divine Wisdom upon Luke 16. 8. A Discourse concerning Righteous and Unrighteous Judgment upon John 7. 24. A Discourse concerning Religious Singularity upon Rom. 12. 2. A Discourse concerning the Excellency of Praise and Thanksgiving upon Psal. 50. 23. The Importance of a Religious Life considered from the happy Conclusion of it upon Psal. 37. 38. A Discourse concerning Heavenly-Mindedness upon Phil. 3. 20. A Discourse of Submission to Divine Providence upon John 18. 11. A Discourse concerning the Folly of Covetousness upon Luke 12. 20. A Discourse concerning the Consideration of God and of the Divine Presence upon Psal. 16. 9. A Discourse concerning doing God's Will on Earth as it is in Heaven upon Mat. 6. 10. A DISCOURSE CONCERNING Worldly and Divine Wisdom Luke 16. 8. The Children of this World are in their Generation Wiser than the Children of Light Of all the infinite Follies incident to Mankind there is none that may more justly imploy both our Pity and our Admiration than an Ill-timed Misplaced and Disproportionate Wisdom The thorough Fool is not nigh so great a Prodigy as the Half-wise Man nor is a stark uniform Ignorance so mysterious and unaccountable as an uneven misconducted Prudence Of this latter we may conceive Two sorts either a proposal of a wrong End or an undue prosecution of a right one In the sormer the Man is supposed to be right enough in his Means but to be wrong in his End in the latter he is supposed to be as right in his End but to be wrong in his Means In the former we consider the Man as Wife in little things and a Fool in great concerns Wife where Wisdom might be spared and a Fool where 't is highly necessary In the latter we consider him as not so wise in great things as either himself or another is in little things And this I take to be a stranger sort of Folly than the former for here the Man is supposed to be so wise as to have aim'd at the true Mark and to have fixed upon a right End but yet withal at the same time to be so much a Fool as not to prosecute this right End as prudently and carefully as the other does a wrong one which truly is a very odd Combination 'T is a great Folly not to propose a good End and he that fails in this part can never expect to have any thing orderly and regular in the whole course of his Life Such a Man if he deserve that Name lives Backward and the longer he lives and the more active and busie he is the more he is led out of his way and the further he is from his Journey 's End A Man were better have no Mark before him but live at Rovers without any End or Design at all than to propose an End to himself that is not good The former indeed seems to be more sottish and stupid and to have less of Soul and Thought in it but the latter if I mistake not is more dangerous and mischievous and will lead a Man into more fatal Miscarriages But though it be so great a Folly not to propose a good End yet it seems a much Stranger Folly not to prosecute it when you have proposed it and when one has attained so far not to proceed further The Reason may be obvious why a Man does not propose a good End for he may want clearness of Understanding to discern which is so But he that has proposed aright shews by his very doing so that he does not want that The rightness of his Aim sufficiently argues the goodness of his Eye-sight and why then he should not prosecute his well-chosen End is somewhat unaccountable And besides the greatness and the goodness of the End has a natural and genuin efficacy both to quicken and to regulate the execution of it and the more considerable the End 18 the more it has of this Influence As the Means themselves do take their measure from the End so does the execution of them too and the more weighty and concerning is the End proposed the more pressing and urging is the engagement that lies upon the Proposer both to chuse fit and proper Means for the compassing it and to be diligent in the use and application of them when chosen So that whether we regard that rational Light and discernment of Mind which he discovers himself to be Master of that proposes a right End or that aid and assistance which is communicated to him from the weight and moment of the End it self which cannot but help on its own prosecution the Folly of not prosecuting a well-proposed End will appear to be of all others the most strange and amazing And yet this is that Folly which is more or less chargeable upon the Wisest of Men those who have duly considered and taken a just measure both of themselves and of the World without them that have well examined and sifted out the capacities of their Nature and the utter insufficiency of all created Good to fill those Capacities those that have duly prized and valued the whole Inventory of this Worlds Goods and have fixed a general Inscription of Vanity upon them all and who
and Inspection be as strong a Preservative against Sin as the Presence of a Man Without doubt it would and infinitely more did we but equally consider it it would then secure us not only from Sin but even from Temptation too and keep us out out of Danger as well as in Innocence For how can he be tempted to Sin who dwells always in the Presence of his Creator and Judge Why are the Angels and the Souls of Just Men made Perfect secure from the danger of Sinning but only because they are always in the open Presence of God and dwell in the Light of his Countenance This is their great Preservative above and the same if well attended to would be a Preservative to us below The Perseverance of the Angels in Heaven is owing to their always beholding the Presence of God there and if we could do the same here in proportion that is if our Contemplation were but as actual steddy and uninterrupted as their Vision we should be as Confirmed and Established as they In short notwithstanding the great Corruption of our Nature and our Proneness to Evil we need no other Guard either against Sin or against Temptation than these Three Words well considered God is Present But there is One particular Sin to which this Consideration is utterly irreconcilable and against which it is a peculiar Antidote and that is the Sin of Hypocrisie this is a Sin which of all others proceeds most upon the Supposition of God's not being privy to our Thoughts and Intentions and his not having a thorough Comprehensive Knowledge of all things As the Fool says in his Heart there is no God so the Hypocrite says in his Heart that if there be yet he is no Observer as being neither Omnipresent nor Omniscient Which Attributes of God whoever seriously Contemplates must needs have his Antidote against this Vice For to what purpose should a Man play the Hypocrite before him who can discern the Fraud and Rottenness of the Proud Pharisee under his broad Phylactery and the ravenous Covetousness of the Precise Sectary under his long Prayer No as the Hypocrite takes care to avoid open Immoralities because they are visible to the Eye of the World so had he a due Sense of the Divine Presence and Observation he would be every whit as careful to be without all inward Impurities because they are Visible to the Eye of God But Secondly This Practice is also a general Incitement to all that is good As the Supposition of Gods Omnipresence and Omniscience is the Foundation of all Religion for to what purpose should we make Religious Addresses to a Being that is either afar off or unconscious of our Behaviour towards him so the constant and actual impression of it would greatly promote the Practice of all Religion Walk before me and be thou Perfect How can he be Perfect that does not walk with and before God and how can he be otherwise that does The actual Thoughts of the Presence of God is the very Life and Spirit of all Religion without which we should be quickly weary of well-doing and with which we shall be so far from flagging in our Duty that we shall be always endeavouring to do better and better that so we may the more approve our Selves and our Actions to our All-present and All-seeing Judge This was the Principle into which David resolved all the Perfection and Integrity of his Obedience that he acted as in the Sight and Presence of his Judge I have kept thy Commandments and Testimonies for all my Ways are before thee And no doubt if we acted by the same Principle we should live with the same exactness if we lived under a constant sense of the Presence of God as he did we should also with him have respect to all his Commandments When the Glorious Presence of God appeared to the Israelites upon Mount Sinai we find that they were so sensibly affected with that terrible Sight as to take up earnest Resolutions of Obedience for all the People answered Moses reporting the Words of God to them with one Voice and said All the Words which the Lord hath said will we do And as long as this Presence of God continued we don't find but that they were very Orderly and Obedient and contained themselves within those Boundaries which Moses by Divine Order had set about the Mount And there is no question to be made but that if they could still have maintained a fresh and lively Idea of this great Presence in their Minds they would also have retained the same obedient Temper of Spirit and would have contained themselves within all other Bounds of God's setting as well as those of Mount Sinai their Heart would have been whole with him and they would have continued stedfast in his Covenant We may therefore and without Censure conclude that those who take liberty to break through the Bounds which God has set by transgressing those excellent Laws which he has given for the good Order and happy Being of Mankind are not duly sensible of the Divine Presence and Observation They may know it indeed Habitually as a meer Point of Speculation but they do not actually weigh and consider it and have reason to say in the Words of the Patriarch when awakened from Sleep Surely God was in this Place and I knew it not And now since the Spiritual Advantages of setting God always before us are so great and so many I think I need use no other Perswasive to recommend this excellent Expedient of Holy Living to our constant Practice In all other things we love the most Compendious Methods and to make use of such Means as lead most directly and by the shortest Line to the End we aim at And why should we not follow the same Method in the Practice of a Religious Life the difficulty and consequence of which is enough to ingage us to seek out for the best and most forwarding Assistances Now this certainly of all others will deserve that Character being the most general Instrument of Perfection and consequently the most Compendious way to it Let us then be perswaded to make use of it by setting God always before us and having him always in our Thoughts especially under this Threefold Consideration as the Supream Good as a Pattern and as an Observer so shall we have a perpetual incouragement to do well and a sufficient Counterpoise against all Temptations And God grant we may so set him always before us here that we may not be afraid to appear before him hereafter Amen A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The doing God's Will on Earth as it is in Heaven Mat. 6. 10. Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven SO our Blessed Lord bids us to Pray who came to be the Promoter of Holiness as well as to be the Author of our Faith and to Reform the World as well as to Redeem it Now as 't is the Perfection of the Natural
World to be Conformable to the Understanding of God those Immutable Ideal Representations which are in the Divine Mind so is it the Perfection of the Moral World to be Conformable to his Will and in both these the Second Person of the Sacred Trinity the Eternal Word seems equally and particularly concerned As to the Natural World St. John tells us that all things were made by him or according to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and without him was not any thing made that was made And St. Paul that by him were all things Created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth and that by him all things consist Again 't is said by whom also he made the Worlds And again Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Works of thy Hands Then as to the perfecting the frame of the Moral World as t was his Meat and Drink to do the Will of his Father himself so was it his principal business and the Main of his Undertaking to repair the Ruins of Morality to inlarge the bounds of his Fathers Kingdom to make others conformable to the Divine Will and Partakers of the Divine Nature which in part has already taken effect and of which as we are told we are yet to expect a further accomplishment under his glorious Millennial Reign when Righteousness shall flourish and be exalted and the Will of God be done on Earth to a very near degree as it is in Heaven To this end serves the great Mystery of Godliness that Grace of God which has appeared to the World teaching us that denying Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godlily in this present World the Covenant of Grace being so ordered and contrived that our Duty is secured as well as our Insirmity and Necessity relieved and our Repentance is only made effectual by the satisfaction of Christ not unnecessary To this End he gave us a new System of Christian Morals which though no addition to the Eternal Law of Nature and right Reason was yet a great Improvement of that of Moses And he took care also to second his excellent Precepts by as excellent an Example that they might appear to be Practicable as well as Reasonable And here because Example has the greater Influence of the Two he not only gave us an absolute one of his own and exhorted us to the imitation of it when he said Learn of me but also remits us to the excellent Example of the Angels those ready Performers of God's Will and winged Ministers of his Pleasure in that he bids us Pray Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven That God's Will is done in Heaven is here supposed we are therefore further concerned only to inquire 1. Of what Will of God our Lord is to be here understood 2. By whom it is done in Heaven 3. After what manner it is there done 4. How far we are concerned to imitate this great Pattern of Obedience 5. How reasonable it is for us to do so And First by Will here our Lord cannot be supposed to mean that which is a Faculty in the Divine Essence or rather the very Essence it self for how may we Pray that that should be done which Eternally and Necessarily is Neither by Will here are we to understand the Act of Willing for this can no more properly be said to be done than the other but that Will for the doing of which we here Pray is the Res Volita or the Object of the Divine Will But then this is Two-fold either the Object of his Will Decreeing or the Object of his Will Commanding or to word it according to the ordinary distinction the Will of his Decrees or the Will of his Commands And 't is generally held that both these are to be here understood But I must confess it does not appear to me how the Will of God's Decrees can be at all here concerned any further than as our Submission to it is a part of the Will of his Commands for not to insist upon the necessary and uncontroulable accomplishinent of God's Decrees and that things necessary and certain are not so proper Objects of Prayer I only observe that this Will of God is here desired to be done in Earth as it is in Heaven which supposes it to be more perfectly performed in the one than in the other the latter being proposed as a Pattern and Precedent to the former But now as God is in all Places equally Almighty so are his Decrees in all Places alike performed in Earth as well as in Heaven according to that of the Psalmist Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in Heaven and in Earth and in the Sea and in all deep Places this therefore cannot be meant of the Will of God's Decrees any further than as 't is a part of the Will of his Commands that we should submit to them and acquiesce in them Neither indeed can this be directly and strictly intended but only by way of Proportion that as the whole Will of God which is capable of being done in Heaven is there done so all that is capable of being done on Earth should in like manner be there done But I say it cannot be directly intended there being no Afflictive Dispensations of Providence incident to those who do God's Will in Heaven and consequently no room for the Exercise of Patience and Submission as will further appear by considering the Second Inquiry namely by whom it is that this Will of God is done in Heaven And this indeed is of no great Difficulty to resolve since the nature of the Will does of it self point out to the Doers of it for it being the Will of God's Commands it can no more be done by God than 't is possible for God to obey himself Nor can it be done by the Celestial Bodies for however these in a large and improper sense are sometimes said to obey God as when the Psalmist says that the Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his Handy-work and that Wind and Storm fulfil his Word and the like Yet being necessary Agents they cannot yield any Moral and Acceptable Obedience much less in such an eminent and exemplary manner as to be a Pattern to us which yet is here supposed And yet they will be every whit as capable of this Obedience as we are if we be not free Agents which by the way leave to be considered by those who deny that Priviledge to Human Nature It remains therefore that the Holy Angels are they that do this Will of God in Heaven none else are capable of doing it and of these the Psalmist says expressly that they fulfil his Commandment and hearken to the Voice of his Word Proceed we therefore to the next Inquiry namely after what manner this Will of God is done by the Holy Angels in
Angelical Life pray'd at some times more earnestly than at others this depends in a great measure upon the various junctures of Circumstances and the various impressions of Objects from without and the different fineness and quickness of the Animal Spirits within with many other Accidental Dispositions which are not in our Power We are only accountable for the Motions of our Wills and for ebbs and flows of Passion no further than they are at the disposal of the other and therfore if we Sail by a true Compass and steer our Course to the right Point we do our Duty and are not Chargeable for want of Gusty Blasts and Swelling Sails which are not in our Power to have Then Secondly as to the Extensiveness of Angelical Obedience if this be considered in the First Sense with respect to the kinds of Good we are certainly obliged to have our Obedience as Extensive as theirs being bound to obey the whole Will of God For the sincerity of our Obedience can no otherwise be justified than by its Universality and Uniformity Uniformity as to the Object though not as to the Act and therefore 't is that the Psalmist Prays O that my Ways were so direct that I might keep thy Statutes so shall I not be confounded when I have respect unto all thy Commandments But if the Extensiveness of Angelical Obedience be considered in the latter Sense with respect to the several Degrees in each kind of good so we are not bound to come up to the Measures and Attainments of Angels and that because 't is beyond the Capacity of our present Condition Nay I think we are not strictly obliged under Pain of Sin to attain to all the degrees of good which we possibly can or always to do what is simply Best for I think it plain from Scripture that the Degrees of good admit of Counsel as well as Precept and of Perfection as well as Duty Much less therefore are we obliged to the full extensiveness of Angelical Obedience as thus considered If we are not bound to our Best much less to their Best But besides this way of considering the Extensiveness of the Angelical Obedience as to the kinds and degrees of Good there is yet another namely with respect to Time or Continuance this is what we otherwise call their Perseverance or Constancy of Obedience Now as to the Measures of our Obligation to this we are to distinguish and consider the Gospel in a double Capacity as a Law and as a Covenant if we consider it as a Covenant then we are not obliged to a constant and all the way along continued Obedience For 't is not uninterrupted but only final Perseverance that is the condition of the Covenant But if we consider it as a Law then we are not only obliged to a final but to an uninterrupted Perseverance that is we are not only required to be found at our last Exit in a state of sincere Obedience which is the Condition of the Covenant but also to continue all the way in it For every deliberate and voluntary interruption of it is Sin and such as while unrepented of intitles us to and if never repented of will actually bring upon us Damnation Having thus in short stated the general Measures of our Conformity to the Angelical Pattern which are also the Measures of our Evangelical Obedience I come now lastly to consider how Reasonable it is that we should do thus and certainly if any thing in the World be reasonable 't is that we should do the Will of God for the Will of God is the highest Reason Indeed were God an Arbitrary Humersom Being that loved to domineer over his Creatures and to impose on them harsh and troublesom Commands only for his own Pleasure and to shew his Authority though even then we should justly owe him Homage and Obedience yet there might be some pretence for disputing it and making demurs about it But God is so good and kind as to enjoyn us nothing but what is pursuant of the End for which he Created us that is our Happiness and Perfection So kind as to link our Duty and Interest together and to make those very things the instances of our Obedience which are the natural Means and necessary Causes of our Happiness So that were we to contrive a way to make our Condition Happy we could pitch upon no better than what he has already prescribed to us in the Laws which he has given us So highly consonant and agreeable are they to the frame of our Natures and so absolutely necessary are they both to the order of this present World and to the Happiness of the next This might easily be demonstrated of every one of the Divine Commandments in particular but that being too long an Undertaking for the close of a Discourse I only consider that we have a certain ground to conclude what the Will of God must be in reference to us by what he is in himself for this is an evident Principle That such as God himself is such must be his Will it being unconceivable that he should will any thing contrary to his Nature But now we all take God to be a Being Essentially and Immutably Wise and Good Holy Just and True and if these are Properties inseparable from the Nature of God as all grant they are then the Will of God must also be Holy Wise Just True and Good and consequently highly fit and reasonable to be Obeyed But why O God do we want Reason to perswade us to do thy Will Is it not enough that it is Thine Thine who art the great Creator and Governor of the World and hast the highest right to be served by all the Creatures and by all the Powers which thou haft made Thine who art the best and greatest Being who art infinitely Wise Holy Just and True and canst therefore command nothing but what is so Thine who art above all capacity of addition to thy Happiness and canst therefore propose no good but that of thy Creatures in the Laws that thou givest them Why then do we inquire after the Reason of thy Will It ought to satisfy us that it is Thine And since this Will of God is done in Heaven why should it not be done on Earth Since the Blessed Angels who can discern the Reasons of things even the deep things of God and are infinitely better able to judge of the Reasonableness of Obedience than we are since they are so ready and forward to pay it why should we make any Question or any Delay about it Since the great Heavenly Host those Excellent Beings that excel both in Wisdom and Strength acknowledge and submit to the Government of God why should we a little handful of Rebels stand out Since the Will of God is done in Heaven why is it not on Earth Yes it is done on Earth for at his Commandment the Waters flow and the Wind and Storm fulfil his Word only Man disorderly Man will not be Obedient though he has a God for his Maker and Angels for his President But let as many of us as hope to be like Angels hereafter study to be like them here let us seriously and diligently endeavour to write after so fair a Copy and set before us the Holy Angelsas Patterns as well as Observers in all our Actions which would certainly work more upou us than that Expedient so much advised by a great Man the imaginary presence of a Cato or a Lelius Let us make it our care as much as in us lies by the Angelical Piety and Regularity of our Lives to resto e the Moral World to that Symphony and Uniform Harmony wherein God made it and not only Pray but also heartily Endeavour that the Will of the great God may be done here on Earth as it is in Heaven FINIS Psal. 84. 6. Phil. 3. 19. Luke 12. 15. Job 31. 24. Pfal 52.8 Phil. 3.19 1Tim 6.5 1 Thef 5.5 1 Cor. 3. 19. Psal. 49.13 Job 28. 2 Cor. 4. 18. 2 Cor. 5.7 Eccl. 9.10 2Cor 6.2 Prov. 6.6 1 Cor. 2.14 2 Cor. 3.4 Acts 13.10 Psal. 91. 6. * See a short but very convincing Account of this matter in Dr. Burnet's Latin Theory the Second Part Pag. 126. Luke 12 56. 1 Cor. 13. 6 Isa. 5. 20. Mat. 11.19 Prov. 22.4 Gen. 6.6 Ver. 5. Ver. 12. 2 Pet. 2. 5. Psal. 12. Psal. 14. Psal. 55. Psal. 74. Psal. 82. Rev. 12. Mat. 7.13 Psal. 64. Prov. 11. 21. 1Cor 9.22 10. 33. John 5.19 Mat. 23. 32. 1 Thes. 5. 5 6. 2 Pet. 2. 8. Rev. 2. 13. Gen. 7. 1. 2 Pet. 2. 5. Wisd. 2. Mat. 22.38 Rom. 13. 10. Rev. 2.13 1 Cor. 13.8 Acts 13.48 Psal. 1. 3. Heb. 2. 3. Psal. 39. Isa. 38. 2 Tim. 4. Deut. 32. Isa. 57. 20. Psal. 119. Prov. 14. 32. Isa. 32. 17. 2 Cor. 1. 12. John 3.14 Ver. 21. 1 Cor. 2. 11. Rom. 8.16 Ephef 1. 13. 14. Rev. 2.17 Eccles. 12. 6. 2 Cor. 1. 12. Jaâ—â— 3.17 Mark 10.21 Rom. 8. 2. 2 Cor. 3. I Joh. 3.2 2 Cor. 12. 4. Exod. 12. Mat. 6. 32 33. Col. 3. 1. 1 Pet. 1. 23. Psal. 27. Rom. 8. 5. John 12. 32. 2 Kin. 2.2 John 17. 15. Heb. 11.9 Psal. 112.7 Prov. 3. 17. Psal. 65. 4. * Epictetus Psal. 126. Job 1. 11. Luke 22. 54. Wisd. 11. 23. Theor. and Regulat Love P. 52. Job 22.13 Gen. 1.2 Mat. 18.10 Job 5. 6. Psal. 146. Lam. 3.33 Heb. 2.10 1 Cor. 12. 17. Ephes. 3. 10. Wisd 8. 1. Eccles. 1.9 Epist. 96. Epictetus Psal. 39. Job 1. 21. 1 Pet. 12. 1 John 4. 8. Job 2. 10. Wisd 9.16 Psal. 2. 4. Isa. 5. 5. Mat. 13.30 1 Cor. 1. 24. Eccl. 2. 9. Reason and Religion Pag. 250. Pfal 73. Pfal 73. Jeh 4. 13. Psal. 145. 17. Heb. 10. 23. Heb. 116. Mat. 22.38 Rom. 5. 5. Cant. 2. 3. Psai 45. Psal. 77.3 1 Joh 3. 12 Psal. 52.1 Psal. 10. De Sacrisiciis Lib. 1. Pag. 162. Heb. 4. 13. Job 22.13 Gen. 17. Gen. 4.16 Psal. 119. Gen. 28. John 1. 3. 1 Col. 16. 17. Heb. 1. 2. 10. 2 Tit. 11. Psal. 135. Psal. 103. Luk. 20.36 Rom. 7.23 Mat. 18.10 Joh. 3.2 Isa. 6. 2. Ezek. 10. Psal. 104.4 Eccl. 43.1 Deut. 4. 19. Ephes. 6. Psal. 126. Psal. 119.
Bustle that is in the World about the World it self who shall have the greatest Share of it and make the greatest Figure in it Do we not see Men all set and intent upon the World that lay themselves out wholly upon it and that can relish nothing but what has relation to it Men that seem to grow into the Soil where they dwell and to have their Heads and Hearts fastened to the Ground with as many Cords and Fibres as the Root of a Tree and that seem to be staked down and nailed fast to the Earth and that can no more be moved from it than the Earth it self can from its Center In one word Men of whom it may be said without Censure that the World is their God and its Pleasures Honours and Profit their Trinity Nor is this matter of Practice only but of Opinion too for we know there have been some among the Antient Philosophers who have expressly taught that the End of Man the Totum Hominis lies in the Good of the Animal Life in the Pleasure of the Grosser Senses Thus we know did Aristippus Cyrenaeus and a whole Sect of Philosophers after him called Cyrenaici which Opinion is also charged upon Epicurus by Cicero and by many of the Fathers of the Church And the Charge is still believed and entertained among many Persons of sufficient Learning and Worth notwithstanding the favourable and plausible Plea Monsieur Gassendi has offered in the behalf of his Master But the best Plea is that these are Pardonable in comparison of those who enjoy the Advantages of a Revealed Religion and that in its last Perfection and Consummation too and yet take no higher aim than at the Good of this World and in direct Contradiction to our Saviours Aphorism think that the Life that is the true Interest and Happiness of Man does consist in the Abundance of things which he possesses To our Experience we may add the Attestations of Scripture which gives several intimations of this low-sunk wretched and deplorable Degeneracy of Soul To instance in a few does not Job say in vindication of his Integrity If I have made Gold my Hope or have said to the Fine Gold thou art my Confidence Implying that some there were that did so And does not the Psalmist say Lo this is the Man that took not God for his Strength but trusted in the multitude of his Riches and strengthened himself in his Wickedness And does not the Apostle tell us of some whose God is their Belly and of others whose Godliness is their Gain And what else does the Apostle mean when he says of Covetousness that it is Idolatry Does he not thereby intimate that the Covetous Wretch not only delights in his Possessions and loves to count over his Heaps for this a Man may do without being an Idolater but that he places his End and chief Happiness in his Treasures that he falls down and adores his Golden Calf and in the forementioned Phrase of Fob makes Gold his Hope and says to the Fine Gold Thou art my Confidence But the Minds of Men thanks be to God are not all under this Eclypse nor is this Darkness spread over the whole Face of the Deep Light and Darkness divide the Moral as well as the Natural World though with the difference of unequal Proportions the Darker is here the bigger side There are however though not so many yet there are Secondly a sort of Men who are Children of Light whose Minds are more Illuminated and their Eye more clear and single who look beyond the Veil of the Material World the Beauty of which can neither charm nor its Thickness detain their piercing Sight and propose to themselves the Beatitudes of another Life as their true and last End This many do in Profession and some in Reality In Profession all Christians do it to whom therefore the Title of Children of Light is promiscuously given by the Apostle Ye are all the Children of Light and the Children of the Day We are not of the Night nor of Darkness That is as far as concerns Profession and Solemn Undertaking But that which all Christians profess some do really do proposing to themselves Habitually at least the Happiness of the other World as their last End being by repeated Experiences as well as rational Reflections upon the Nature of things abundantly convinced of the vanity of this And these indeed aim at the right Mark though all of them have not a Hand steddy enough to hit it But to return again to the Children of this World 't is implied in the Third Place that these do not act according to the Measures of true Wisdom for our Lord does not say absolutely that they are Wise but only that they are Wiser in their Generation which implies that absolutely speaking and upon the whole they are not Wise. Indeed they think themselves Wise and the World for the most part is of their Opinion They are generally esteemed not only Wise but the only Wise Men Men of Reach and Design Policy and Conduct and he that does not play his Game so as to thrive in the World is generally pitied more for his Folly than for his Poverty Nay hence and hence only are taken the Measures of Wisdom and Prudence and this is made the Rule and Standard of all Policy and Discretion a Man is counted so far Wise and no farther than he knows how to get an Estate to raise a Family to give Birth to a Name and make himself great and considerable in the World He that can do this is a Shrewd Man and he that can't is either Pitied or Laught at according to the Humour the World 's in by those that can Neither is it any Allay or Abatement of their Character to say that all this is brought about by Sinister and Indirect Means by Fraud and Cousenage by Deceit and Corrupt Proceedings This rather Commends the Parts and Ingenuity of the Man shews him to be a Man of Art and Contrivance and that he owes his Success more to good Management than good Fortune nay he that can do thus is the Topping Wise Man and is thought worthy not only to have but so far to ingross the Name that a Shrewd Cunning Man even in their own Language is but another Word for a Knave This is the general Sense of the World But whatever the Opinion of Men may be we are assured by the Apostle who had Conversed in the other World as well as in this that the Wisdom of this World is Foolishness with God and if so to be sure `t is Foolishness in it self since the Intellect of God is the Measure of all Truth And the Psalmist speaking of Worldly-Minded Men that think their Houses shall continue for ever and call their Lands after their own Names says expresly This is their Foolishness And this Censure he boldly charges upon them how singular soever it might
Princes for this those Schools and Nurseries of Immorality for there is scarce any Society of Men free from it To this if I should add the unnatural Fewds of Relations the ungrateful Returns of obliged Persons the Treacheries of the Marriage-Bed the Falsnesses of Friends the ill offices of Neighbours and the intolerable Practices of Revenge not only upon pretences of Honour among the Duellifts but as they are generally carried on by the power and Interest of great Men by the corrupt and vexatious methods of the Law and by the common malice of the World if I say I should add this and a thousand times more that might be said what a Picture should I draw of Mankind and what intelligent Spirit is there that would not be afraid if such an account should be given him before-hand to be born into or to live in such a World as this But thus it was immediately upon the beginning of things thus it has been in all Ages and thus it will be till the Arch-Angel's Trump shall at once awaken us from the sleep of Death and from the sleep of Sin and Time it self shall be no more For no sooner had God finished his Creation and declared all things good in it and began to take a Complacency in the works of his Hands but through Envy of the Devil Sin came into the World and untuned the proportions of its new set Harmony and being once planted in the Earth it liked the Soil and increased and multiplied by the care and industry of the Devil as fast as Mankind could by the Benediction of God Insomuch that God who not long before was represented by Moses as Creating Man upon the most considerate Pause of Counsel and Deliberation is now brought in repenting that ever he had made him And accordingly he first shortens his Days and that expedient failing he proceeds to a severer Judgment and issues forth a Sentence to destroy him from the face of the Earth For God saw that the Wickedness of Man was great and that every Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was evil continually And again the Text says that God look'd upon the Earth and behold it was Corrupt for all Flesh had Corrupted his way upon the Earth And truly 't is incredible almost to think to what a pitch of Villany and Wickedness the World was then arrived in so short a time the World then like some of our Modern Sinners was young in Years and old in Debauchery it lookt as if the Devil being newly thrown out of Heaven were in the very height of his Malice and Resentment and to retrieve again the lost Field endeavoured to increase his Numbers to double his Ranks by making Men as very Devils as himself For Vice seem'd to reign Absolute and Uncontroll'd and to have taken full Possession of the whole Earth so that excepting only Four Persons Abel Seth Enos and Enoch we read not of one good Man from Adam to Noah so extreamly wicked and debauched was the World at that time and so highly deserving of that Emphatical Character which the Apostle St. Peter gives of it calling it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the World of the Ungodly As if it were a state directly opposite to that of the blessed Millennium to that new Heaven and new Earth wherein as the same Apostle tells us dwelleth Righteousness But this you 'll say was at a time when God had not given any express Directory for the Manners of Men who were then left to the sole guidance of their natural light which at best is but a doubtful Twilight and is withall apt to be clouded and corrupted by ill Customs and Practices and in a little time to be quite extinguished with the Damps of Vice and Debauchery Let us see therefore how it fared with the course of the World after the giving of the Law when God had trim'd the dim Lamp of natural Conscience when Revelation had illustrated the obscure Text of Reason and the Moral like the Natural World was governed by a greater as well as by a lesser Light Now sure one would expect that Men should walk as Children of the Day and that works of Darkness should disappear like Mists before the Rising Sun And questionless it must be acknowledged that the State of the Moral World was considerably better'd by this new accession of Light and that there was less Vice and more Goodness among those who enjoy'd it the Peculiar People of God than among the rude Heathen who had no knowledge of his Laws For to what purpose should God visit them with this his Day-spring from on high and give Light to them that sate in Darkness and in the Shadow of Death but only that he might the better guide their Feet into the way of Peace In comparison therefore of the Heathen World this was a good state of things but yet Vice had still the upper hand and considering the vast disproportion between the Numbers of good and bad Men the World might still be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the World of the Ungodly For not to mention the particular Vices of that perverse and untractable People the Fews their Superstition their Idolatry their Infidelity their Rebelliousness their Lust and Luxury their Uncharity their Covetousness and the like the Scripture seems to speak of that state and age of the World in general as if'twere quite overgrown with Wickedness and as if Vertue were a Stranger among the Dwellings of Men. Thus the Psalmist Help me Lord for there is not one Godly Man left the Faithful are minished from among the Children of Men. And again The Lord lookt down from Heaven upon the Children of Men to see if there were any that would understand and seek after God And what was the result of this Scrutiny Why they are all gon out of the way they are altogether become abominable there is none that doth good no not one And again says the Psalmist speaking of the City of Jerusalem I have spied Unrighteousness and Strife in the City Day and Night they go about within the Walls thereof Mischief also and Sorrow are in the midst of of it Wickedness is therein Deceit and Guile go not out of their Streets And again more largely All the Earth is full of Darkness and Gruel Habitations And again lastly to add no more They will not be Learned nor Understand all the Foundations of the Earth are out of Course Thus miserably deformed was the face of things in this state and period of the World Nor were only the Morals of Men universally Corrupt but they had debauched and corrupted their very Principles too and defaced the Map that was to guide and direct them as well as lost their Way They had almost put out the light of Revelation as well as that of Natural Reason so that by that time our Saviour appeared in the World what by ill Glosses and worse Practices
the People of God had almost reduced themselves again to the state of Darkness and shadow of Death and defaced the Characters of the Mosaic Table as much as their Forefathers had done those of the Law of Nature But then again perhaps it will be said that this was at a time when God had not made any clear and express Revelation of Heaven or Hell and therefore though Men had a written Law to walk by yet it being supported by no other Sanctions than of Temporal Rewards and Punishments they wanted a sufficient Counterpoise against the violence of Temptations and then no wonder that Wickedness should so universally prevail when the Allurements to Vice were strong and the ingagements to Duty but weak and unconstraining But when once Obedience comes to be inforced by better Promises and by Severer Threatnings this certainly will introduce a new way of Living Men will consider more and live better and will never be so mad and silly as to spend a few days in Wickedness and Folly and then in a moment go down to the Grave and be Damned for ever Let us see therefore how 't is with the Moral World under the Revelation of the Great Mystery of Godliness and now Life and Immortality are brought to light by the Gospel this I think fully answers the Objection Now therefore certainly one would expect at least a state of Millennial Happiness that Men should be and live like Angels that we should see the Tabernacle of God come down and abide among Men with a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousuess But alas the Mystery of Iniquity began to work assoon as the Mystery of Godliness and altho the Primitive Christians were for a while kept bright and shining in the Furnace of Persecution yet no sooner was the heat of their Affliction over but their Zeal cool'd with it and they left their first Love For then it was that the great Dragon being wroth that the Woman was delivered of a Man-child that Constantine the Great was Converted by the Church to the Christian Faith thought to overwhelm her by casting out of his Mouth that mighty Flood of Arianism And altho' the Earth helped the Woman by opening her Mouth and swallowing up the Flood which was done when the First Council of Nice declared against that Pestilent and Prevailing Heresy yet 't was not long before the same Dragon cast forth two other mighty Floods out of his Mouth and the Christian World suffered almost an inundation by the breaking in of Popery and Mahumetism We have indeed by the Blessing of God and the Zealous Endeavours of good Men dried up one of those great Floods from a good part of the Christian World and restored the Doctrin of the Gospel to its Primitive Purity and Simplicity But has the Reformation gon on so prosperously in our Manners as it has in our Faith Are we as Good as we are Orthodox I doubt not for if we look abroad into the World how little true Goodness and Vertue shall we find in it How rare is it to meet with a Man that lives up within some tolerable measure to the Obligations of his Profession And how much more rare is it to see one that 's truly Serious and Confiderate Circumspect and Recollected that considers thoroughly and effectually the End of his coming into the World the shortness and uncertainty of his stay in it and what shall become of him when he is to go out of it and accordingly lives under a constant and lively sense of God and of his Duty to him walks with him and gives up himself wholly to him makes Religion and the care of his Soul the main business and concern of his Life works with all his Might while 't is Day and is utterly resolved whatever it costs him to mind and secure the One thing necessary This one would think were no more than what common Sense would prompt any Man to that would allow himself to think but one Minute in a Year and yet how few such Men shall we find in the World Do we not rather see Men drink down Iniquity like Water and commit Sin with Greediness Do not the generality of Men live as if they were resolved to Sin as much as they could in a little time and thought it not only safe but necessary to do ill Do they not live as if they were to be nothing after this Life or as if they were to be saved by their Vices rather than by their Vertues or lastly as if they thought Hell a better Place than Heaven and were in love with Damnation and Everlasting Burnings But to come a little nearer to our selves does not the present Age abound with a sort of Men who are Crafty and Designing False and Treacherous Rotten and Hypocritical Men that seem to have their Eye fixed upon and terminated with the Horizon of this World that make Gain their Godliness and Interest their Measure that will betray the Church for Preferment sell their Religion and their Souls for Mony that will depart from the way of Truth for the Wages of Unrighteousness and be Damned hereafter to be Rich and Great here Never was there more Religion pretended than now and never less in truth and reality never more noise about it and never a less hearty concern for it What Straining about the Knat of a Ceremony with those who can in the mean while Swallow down whole Camels of profitable Abominanations This we may talk of and lament but we can't help it 'T will be ever so with the general course of the World Vice will always have the Cry of her side and we are told that in the latter days Iniquity shall abound and the love of many shall wax cold And all this we may learn from the final issue and event of things we may measure the state of this World from the final distribution of things in the next Our Saviour tells us that broad is the Way that leads to Destruction and many there be that go in thereat And that strait is the Gate and narrow is the Way which leads to Life and few there be that find it And this we shall the less wonder at if we consider the universal pravity and corruptness of Human Nature the Multitude of Temptations we are all exposed to and the peculiar unhappy circumstances of Living that many Men are ingaged in To which if we add the great Strength Cunning and Malice of the Invisible Powers that the same Envy of the Devil that first brought Sin into the World is still concerned to uphold and increase it that there are two different Interests carrying on that there is a Kingdom of Darkness as well as a Kingdom of Light and a Mystery of Iniquity as well as a Mystery of Godliness we can't think any other but that the course of the World must needs be very bad And the wonder will fall yet lower if we further
are only to take care that our Compliance prove not a Snare to us an occasion of falling into Sin that we do not offend God out of Civility towards Men. In all other cases we would do well to consider and follow that of the Apostle I am made all things to all Men And again 1 please all Men in all things Neither again Secondly is this Caution to be so rigorously understood as if we were forbidden to conform to the several indifferent Modes of Ages or of Countries either as to Customs or Ceremonies whether Religious or Civil or Habits or manner of Address or way of Diet or the like For however these may not possibly be ordered according to the best convenience or measure of Discretion yet 't is according to the publick Wisdom of the Place and Nation for the Wisdom of a Nation is seen as much in their Customs as in their Proverbs and therefore the matter of them being supposed indifferent 't is not civil or modest to contradict them And there is this further to be considered that besides the pride and rudeness of such an opposition all the advantage or convenience a Man can get by it will not compensate for the Odium and Censure of Affectation and Singularity And accordingly we find that the Wisest of Men in all Ages have ever thought it Prudence to conform to the Innocent though otherwise not so convenient Customs of the Age and Place wherein they lived And 't is observed concerning our Blessed Saviour himself who was the Wisdom of the Eternal Father that when he condescended to put on Flesh and live among Men he condescended yet further and complied with all the received Customs and manners of the Jewish Nation And indeed he became in all things like unto his Brethren Sin only excepted Innocence was his only Singularity And this in one Word is our measure we may and ought to be conformable as far as the bounds of Innocence usque ad Aras is the measure of our civil Conversation as well as of our Friendship and dearer Intimacies For why should we shew so much disrespect to our Company as to quit the Road they have taken if we may safely travail in it The Conformity therefore which we are here cautioned against is that of Imitating the general Practice of the World as to Actions not of a Civil but of a Moral Nature We must not be Conform'd to the general Morals of this World the Reason and Equity of which Caution I come now to justify And the first Reason why we must not be Conform'd to this World is because this is not such a World as we may safely imitate 't is not a World for us to be Conformed to it never was so even in the Best and Purest times much less is it now in these last and worst days 'T is not safe following the Multitude at any time much less now nor in any thing but least of all in the ordering our Life and Conversation 'T is a very ill Guide in matters of Opinion but much worse in matters of Practice for the World is a meer Theatre of Folly a Stage of Vice and Debauchery one great Aceldama of Blood and Cruelty and to use the Description of St. John the whole World lieth in Wickedness the Words are Emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it has not only fallen into the Gulph of Sin but it lies there contentedly and quietly 'T is not only slightly dipt or stained with the Waters of Impurity but it lies as it were Moated round or rather all over drench'd and soak'd in them like the Earth in the Universal Deluge But this I need persue no further having already made it a distinct Member of my Discourse Again Secondly another Reason why we must not be Conformed to this World is because by so doing we shall confirm and strengthen the cause of Wickedness and give it Settlement Succession and Perpetuity For we shall countenance and imbolden those whom we imitate and cause others to imitate us and they again will be a President to others and so on till Vice pretend to the Right of Custom and Prescription and Iniquity be established by a Law This is one great Reason why the World is so bad now and 't is the best expedient the Devil has to make it yet worse for by this the Vices of the former Ages descend upon the future Sin becomes Hereditary Children transcribe their vicious Parents and actual like Original Sin is intail'd upon Posterity Fill ye up the Measure of your Fathers said our Saviour by way of Prophecy to the Jews implying that they would do so for our Lord very well knew the Temper of those to whom he said it and I question not but that most of the wickedness of that Nation was owing to this that they were so generally possessed with this Superstitious Humour of Conformity and were resolved to do as their Fore-fathers had done before them Again Thirdly another Reason why we Christians must not Conform to this World is because both the Precepts and the Rewards of our Religion require a very different method of Life from what is ordinarily practised the Precepts are strict and severe and the Rewards high and noble such indeed as cannot be conceived for their greatness and they both call for a very excellent and extraordinary way of Conversation for after the common way of Living we shall neither obtain the one nor fulfil the other Indeed our Religion obliges us to great Strictness and Singularity and a Christian cannot be like himself if he be like other Men. To be a Christian indeed is to be a New Creature to be New in Nature and New in Life and Conversation he must not be like his former self much less like the rest of the World The Argument is the Apostle's Ye are all the Children of Light and the Children of the Day that is Christians Professors of an holy and excellent Religion whose Precepts are excellently Good and whose Promises are excellently Great And what then Therefore let us not Sleep as do others but let us Watch and be Sober Again Fourthly and Lastly we Christians have one more peculiar Reason not to be Conformed to this World we have renounced it in our Baptism with all its Pomps and Vanities By which are meant not only the Heathen Games and Spectacles their vain Shews and loose Festivities their lewd Bacchanals and Saturnals which we renounce Absolutely and the Wealth and Glory and Grandeur even of the Christian world as often as they prove inconsistent with the ends of our Holy Institution but also the promiscuous Company the general Practices and the popular Examples of this World which are generally so very corrupt and wicked that we renounce them not upon supposition as in the other instance but at a venture The very first step to a Christian Life is to dye to the World and to its general Usages and Customs
and if we will follow Christ we must forsake the Multitudes and ascend up to the Mount of Solitude and Holy Separation And that we may be the better incouraged to undertake this Religious Singularity let us to the Reason of the thing add two very remarkable Scripture Examples The First that invites our Consideration is that of Lot who happened to live in a City so prodigiously wicked and beyond all Measure or Example Debauched that though a very Populous Place it could not afford so much as Ten good Men they were so universally seiz'd with the Pest and Contagion of Vice And yet this good Man though he breath'd in so corrupt an Air was not at all infected with it the health and cleanness of his Soul like that of Socrates's Body was too strong for the Contagion and preserved him from the Malignity of a Plague that was more infectuous and more mortal too than that of Athens Indeed the filthy Conversation of that wicked Place disturb'd his quiet but it could not sully his Innocence it vex'd his Righteous Soul as the Text says but it could not Debauch it He dwelt like the Church of Pergamos where Satan's Seat was in the very Metropolis the Imperial City of the Devil's Kingdom but he Convers'd there like an Angel of Light among Fiends and evil Spirits He was surrounded with the works of Darkness but he had no Fellowship with them his Company was Devilish but his Conversation was Angelical though he could not make them better yet they could not make him worse he lived with them but he lived against them This indeed was great and extraordinary but there is an Example of Religious Singularity beyond this and that is in Noah who lived in a World that was as corrupt and more than the other's City the whole World then was but one Greater Sodom nay it was much worse than that Seat of Wickedness Sodom indeed was so given up to Debauchery that it could not yield Ten Righteous Persons but the whole World in Noah's time could not afford so much as Two he himself was the only good Man then in the World as may reasonably be concluded from that Reason expressed by God why he excepted him from the general Deluge For thee have I seen Righteous before me in this Generation Now 't is impossible to imagin that Vice should ever be more in mode and fashion than it was then when as the Text says all Flesh had Corrupted his way upon the Earth and the whole Earth it self was fill'd with Violence And yet in this allover-wicked World Noah maintained his Innocence and his Integrity shin'd forth as a Light in the midst of this Crooked and Perverse Generation and was not only a Doer but a Preacher of Righteousness In other Ages of the World though never so Corrupt Religion and Vertue has had some Party and the Singularity of Living well is shared and divided among several and one is a Countenance and Incouragement to another but here poor single Noah was sain to Live as Athanasius was to Dispute against the World and the whole Singularity lodged and center'd in his single Person which puts it beyond all Example or Parallel And thus have I gone through the several Stages of my Undertaking I shall now make one or two brief Reflections upon the whole and conclude In relation therefore to the First Supposition it may be inferr'd That the Multitude is no safe Guide and that the Measures of Right and Wrong are not always to be concluded from the consent of Majority for you see here that Vice has by much the Majority of its side and yet 't is Vice still From the Second it may be inferr'd That those who have already a Majority for their way ought not to think their Cause any whit the better for having new Proselytes every day brought over to them and because Men flock to their Standard from every Quarter For as it has been discoursed this is no more than what is to be expected from the ordinary course of things Men are naturally apt to imitate that which is most prevailing and to conform to the course and way of the World Those therefore that value themselves or their Cause the better for this seem not to understand the World but to be meer Strangers to the Inclinations of Human Nature for did they consider that they would quickly perceive that this does not reflect any Credit upon their Cause but rather upbraids the levity and weakness of Mankind and is no argument that they themselves are Wise but only that other Men are Fools Lastly from the Caution it self we may justly infer that the Censure of Preciseness and Singularity which the Men of this World commonly charge upon good Men and the Hatred and Spite wherewith they prosecute them upon that very account are both of them utterly senseless and extreamly absurd This has been an old Grudge Thus the Sinners in the Book of Wisdom Let us lie in wait for the Righteous because he is not for our turn and he is clean contrary to our doings He upbraideth us with our offending the Law and objecteth to our infamy the transgressings of our Education And again He was made to reprove our Thoughts He is grievous to us even to behold for his Life is not like other Mens his Ways are of another Fashion A very high Charge indeed and as notable an Inference he lives otherwise and better than we do and therefore we must hate and persecute him But this I say is a very absurd and unreasonable way of Proceeding for the ground of the business if sifted to the bottom comes to no more than this They are angry with a Man for not loving their Company so well as to be content to be Damned for the sake on 't But I think we may with great Civility beg their excuse in this matter if they will have us do as they do then let them take care to do as they should do But for a Man to make himself a Beast utterly unfit to be convers'd with and then to call me Singular and Unsociable because I won't keep him Company is hard measure And as these Men are guilty of an unreasonable Charge so shall we be guilty of an inexcusable Folly and Weakness if we depart from our Duty and our greatest Interest upon such a trifling inconsiderable Discouragement For then 't is plain that we are of the number of those low and unconsidering Spirits that love the Praise of Men more than the Praise of God Let us not therefore be led away with Noise and Popularity nor be frighted from our Duty by those empty Anathema's of the Multitude the Censure of Unsociableness Preciseness and Singularity Let us be sure by doing our Duty to satisfy our own Consciences whatever others do or think Let us not be carried away in the Polluted torrent of the Age nor be Fools for Company Let us for once
strong Argument for it that is consistent with it and these do necessarily infer it Thus his Omnipotence Omnipresence and Omniscience render him abundantly able to sit at the Helm of this great Vessel and his Goodness and Justice ingage him to undertake the Charge He that contemplates the former can no longer question How doth God know can be judge through the dark Cloud Nor he that contemplates the latter suspect that he purposely declines the Office and walks idle and unconcern'd in the Circuit of Heaven Besides the Perfections of God would not appear so conspicuously if there were no Providence 'T is great to Create but 't is more to Govern a World as the Skill of the Artist is more seen in well ordering and artfully touching the Strings of a Musical Instrument than in the first making and framing of it And if it be once granted that there is a Providence 't is an absurd and ridiculous conceit to consine it as some do to the Supralunary Regions for the same Arguments that infer the being of Providence in general conclude also for the Universality of it 'T is most congruous to think that the Providence of God is of equal extent with his Creation for sure that which was not too mean to be Created cannot be too mean to be Governed and that the same loving and Harmonious Spirit that first moved upon the face of the Waters and ranged the most minute particles of Matter into Beauty and Order does still run through the now Organized Mass and preside over and sweetly direct not only the Greater but also the Lesser Motions of this his most exquisite Machine For without this the Harmony of the Universe would be very defective and its parts disproportionate and ill-forted 'T is true Beauty and Order would dwell above but all would be Chaos and Confusion below and the Earth would still be without form and void And thus the irregularity of the Lower World would cast a disparagement upon the whole System of things as the untunableness of one or two Instruments dis-recommends the whole Musical Consort 'T is therefore necessary to affirm that the Providence of God extends to both Worlds as the Sun Beautifies and Inlightens each Hemisphere In this respect also as well as others that Divine Comparison will hold God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all But though nothing be too small or inconsiderable for the Comprehensive reach of the Divine Cognizance yet we may reasonably suppose that he considers the value of his Creatures and proportions his Providential Care according to their different excellencies Now throughout all the order of the Visible Creation Man is the most noble and accomplished Being and consequently the chiefest Object the most peculiar Charge of Providence so peculiar that as the Creation of other Sublunary things carried a particular respect to Man so is their Government too chiefly in subordination to his Interest And indeed 't is no more than what by the Measures of Proportion we are warranted to suppose that he should have a more than ordinary Interest in the care and superintendency of his Creator who was made by an immediate Pattern from himself and with his solemn Counsel and deliberation Nor is this ever waking and broad Eye of Divine Providence open only on Societies and Communities of Men and intent only upon the Revolutions of States and Kingdoms but also watches over the affairs and concerns of every particular Person in the World no Man is too little and despicable for the notice of Providence however he may be overlook'd by his Fellow-Creatures for we are told in Scripture not only of the Guardian Angel of the Jews and the Prince of Persia but that we should take heed how we offend or despise even the meanest of Men because of the interest they have among the Angels of special Presence the Courtiers of Heaven Nay we are told by the same infallible Oracle that even the very Hairs of our Head are all numbred so that not only the Meanest of Men but even the meanest things relating to them their most indifferent and insignificant concerns are under the charge and care of Providence And if the care of Providence be so very punctual and exact even to Grains and Scruples in the most trifling and indifferent Concerns of Man we may with great reason conclude that it is much more so in our more weighty and considerable Interests And since not only our present but future Happiness depends much upon various junctures of Circumstances and States of Life we have consequently reason to conclude that these are more particularly conducted by God's Providential Hand and accordingly that Affliction comes not forth of the Dust neither does Trouble spring out of the Ground but are disposed and ordered by God and Arrest us with a Divine Commission And accordingly the excellent Wisdom of our Church in her Office for the Visitation of the Sick piously orders the Minister to exhort the Sick Person after this Form Dearly beloved know this that Almighty God is the Lord of Life and Death and of all things to them pertaining as Youth Strength Health Age Weakness and Sickness Wherefore whatso ever your Sickness is know you certainly that it is God's Visitation c. As indeed we have reason to think that every other Affliction is as well as Sickness that there is a Chastising as well as Destroying Angel and that all Plagues are from God as well as those of Egypt that no Calamity can either privily steal or violently break in upon us without the Divine notice and particular permission But that every bitter Draught which we take is weighed mingled and reach'd out to us by an invisible Hand by the Dispensation of Providence that 't is a Cup which our Father has given us Our Infinitely Wise Good and Compassionate Father one who knows to chuse for us infinitely better than we can for our selves and whose Infinite Goodness Love and Faithfulness give us all possible assurance that he will use his Wisdom for our best Interest and give good Gifts to his Children Which leads me to consider the Second general Proposition that therefore we ought to submit to every Dispensation with all Patience Meekness Contentedness and Resignation of Spirit Patience and Resignation under all Providential dispensations however difficult in the Practick has yet perhaps more to be said for it in the Theory than any one instance in all Morality but I am obliged by the limits of my Discourse to confine my Thoughts at present to such Arguments and Considerations only as may be afforded by the excellent Nature Attributes and Relation of God For 't was for this reason alone that our Blessed Lord chearfully submitted to the drinking of his Bitter Potion because 't was given him by his Father The Cup which my Father bas given me And that this is a Pillar strong enough for so great a weight a sufficient Argument
the Wisdom of God Thus again as to the Government of the Christian Church even those who have received the Christian Faith are not altogether satisfied with that for many of us are apt to think that Christ would have made much better Provision than he has for the good of his Church if he had constituted in it an Infalliable Gnide and Visible Judge of Controversies by whom all Difficulties might be cleared and all Disputes ended which now so confound and divide the Christian World I say many who do not believe that there is any such Constitution are yet apt to think and say that t were a thing much to wish'd it had been so and that 't would have been a great deal better so than otherwise and yet God we see in his Wisdom has not thought fit to have it so Thus again as to the condition of Human Life we commonly imagin it would be mightily for our Advantage to have a prospect of Futurities and to foresee what shall happen to us hereafter and accordingly we are very curious to tast of the Fruit of this Tree of Knowledg and to pry into the obscure Manuscript of Destiny and some are so impatient that they will have recourse to the Devil for such Discoveries rather than fail And yet we see God in his manifold Wisdom has thought fit to Seal up this Book of Futurities from our Eyes and will not trust us with so dangerous a piece of Knowledge Thus again Lastly We many of us think it a great Point of Wisdom to heap up Wealth to get Honours and Preferments to raise Families to perpetuate a Name and we are hugely satisfied with our good Policy and Discretion if we can secure to our selves a little Portion of this dirty Planet this little Spot this Point though we pay for it not only the Price of Labour and Care Contempt and Disgrace Danger and continual Fear but even the great Price of our Future Inheritance and part with our Religion and our very Souls in the Exchange This we oftentimes think Wisdom to do for a little of the World whereas in the Judgment of God to gain the whole upon such Terms would be but an ill Bargain What shall it Profit a Man says our Saviour to gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Yes but there are some and never so many as in this Age that think this no such unprofitable Merchandize but are very well content to sell Heaven for Earth Happiness for Vanity and will readily part with the great Reversion of another World for a Turf of Ground in present Possession This is the way of them and they think they do well and that they may say of themselves all the while what the Wise King did in the midst of all his sensual Indulgencies Also my Wisdom remained with me But however these Men applaud themselves in their extraordinary Reach and Policy God in the mean time has another Opinion of their Conduct and will say to every one of them what he did to the Rich Man in our Parable Thou Fool. And now whereas the Judgment of God is ever Infallible and according to the truth and reality of things I am hence led in the Second Place to consider the great Folly of what God here condemns as such the thing condemned is the Conduct of the Rich Man which he himself thought Wise but God thought very Foolish and the First ground of the Charge wherewith God taxes him was the Sinfulness of it he was a Fool because a Sinner I shall therefore in the First place reflect a little upon the Folly of Sin in general Sin and Folly Sinner and Fool are Words in Scripture especially in the Writings of Solomon of a parallel Signification and are indifferently used one for the other And the Schools of Morality insinuate the same in that common Aphorism of theirs every Sinner is ignorant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Socratical Proverb Indeed Sin has its Birth in Folly and every Step of its Progress is Folly and its Conclusion is in Folly there is its Rise there is its Advance and there is its End But this will appear more distinctly from the consideration of these Two things First The absurdity and madness of the Choice which every Sinner makes Secondly The Error and Mistake that must necessarily precede in his Judgment before he makes it These Two things wherein is comprized the whole Folly of Sin have been by me already considered elsewhere but because it is a Consideration of such an uncommon importance I shall rather present it here again to the Reader with a little Alteration than refer him to it As for the Absurdity of the Sinners Choice 't is the greatest that can be imagined for what is it that he chuses 't is to do that which he must and certainly will repent of and wish he had never done either in this World for its Illness and Sinfulness or in the next for its sad Effect's and Consequences 'T is to despise the Authority Power Justice and Goodness of God 't is to transgress his Commands which are good and equitable and in keeping of which there is present as well as future Reward 't is to act against the frame of his Rational Nature and the Divine Law of his Mind 't is to disturb the Order and Harmony of the Creation and by extra-lineal motions to violate the Sacred interest of Society 'T is lastly to incur the Anger of an Omnipotent and Just God and to hazard falling off from his Supream Good and the last end of his Being and the being ruin'd in his best Interest to all Eternity All this the Sinner partly actually incurs and partly puts to the hazard in the Commission of any one Sin And for what is all this Is it for any considerable Interest for any thing that bears something of Proportion and may pretend to Competition and a rival weight in the opposite Scale of the Ballance No 't is only for a Shadow for a Trifle for the gratisication of some baser Appetite for the acquirement of some little Interest which has nothing to divert us from adhering to that which is truly our Best but only that poor Advantage of being present though at the same time its Vanity be present with it And now is this a Choice for a Wise Man for a Man of common Sense Nay is it a Choice for a Man of any Sense at all for one in his right Wits to make Is there a better Demonstration to be had of a Man's being a Fool or Mad than this No certainly and were it not for the Customariness of the thing and that too many are concern'd this would be thought a sufficient Reason why a Man should be begg'd for a Fool or sent to Bedlam For if Absurdity of Choice be any Argument of Folly the Sinner is certainly no common Fool there being no Choice so absurd so unaccountable as his But
then one would think he should have but little heart to be Covetous and yet then is the time when Men are most of all so for Covetousness is the proper Vice or rather Disease of Old Age and is almost as constant an Attendant of it as Grey Hairs or a Trembling Hand When all other Vices leave the Man as no longer fit for their Service when even Lust it self the last of the black Train has bid him adieu then Covetousness seizes him as if it designed to have him wholly to itself without Partner or Competitor to domineer over him with an absolute Tyranny Strange that a Man should be most solicitous for Provision by the way when he is almost at his Journeys end within view of Home Thou Fool If thou must be Covetous take a proper Condition and a right Time for it and be so either when thou art Poor or when thou art Young when thou hast a Temptation to it and a Pretence for it But it seems Absurdity and Nonsense is so far of the very Essence of this Mysterious Vice that then Men are most addicted to it when in all Reason and Expectation they should be Proof against it nay one would think even naturally uncapable of it when they are Rich and when they are Old And now I think there is sufficient ground for the Charge wherewith God taxes the Rich Man he might well be called Fool as a Sinner as an Earthly-minded Person and particularly as being Covetous But let us now consider the particular Circumstances of his Covetousness and we shall find that his Folly was of a nature very Extraordinary the Text says that the Ground of a certain Rich Man brought forth plentifully now 't would be expected that upon this his very next Thought should be to return God Thanks for the Fruitfulness of his Ground if it were for no other Reason but that he might have the like Success again the next Season No but instead of that he immediately thought within himself what he should do because he had no room where to bestow his Fruits there was the first Instance of his Folly Well but in case this unseasonable and too early thoughtfulness of his had but put him upon doing some good thing with his Abundance 't would have been pretty tolerable yet and there would have been some amends for the ill-timing it before he had returned his Thanks to God No but he thought thus within himself I will pull down my Barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my Fruits and my Goods All my Fruits and my Goods he designs you see to ingross all to himself and to remember neither God nor the Poor to let no part of it go to any Pious or Charitable use and there 's another instance of his Folly But after all perhaps he does not mean to place his End and chief Happiness in his full Granary but only to use it as a lesser good and as relating to the Conveniences of the Body and the gratification of the Animal Life No but his Folly proceeds further than so I will say to my Soul says he Soul thou hast much Goods laid up for many Years take thine Ease Eat Drink and be Merry A very noble Soliloquy indeed That ever a Man should be so much a Brute and a Sot as to make a full Barn the good of his Soul of his Soul who must seek her Happiness from the same Hand whence she had her Being and can be satisfied only by him who is Absolute Perfection This certainly was a strange extravagance of Folly and yet even this has a further Aggravation yet for had this Provision of his been indeed for many Years as he fancied there would have been more Cause and Pretence for the great Complacency and Satisfaction he took in it But little did the poor Fool think upon what Contingencies this Project of his depended and how precarious and uncertain the Lease of his Life was much less that that very Night his Soul should be required of him and yet this was a very obvious Consideration though in the heat and hurry of his Contrivances he was not at leisure to take it in his way And this is the lamentable Fate of all Covetous Men they are so busie in making hast to be Rich that they overlook the Grave notwithstanding that they are continually poring upon the Earth But not to consider a thing so obvious is a great piece of dotishness and stupidity and yet to consider it and go on in heaping up Riches without Reason and without End is much worse And thus have we seen the whole procedure of the Rich Man if he may now be allowed that Name and the incomparable Folly of it and in him the Folly of all Covetous Persons who yet in one respect do generally exceed their Original in the Parable for he though he had resign'd up his Heart and Soul to his Wealth yet he was so wise as to know when he had enough and when 't was time to give over retreat and take his Ease But our Misers never know when they have sufficient but drudge on to the very last Minute and Dye in their Slavery and are therefore the greater Fools What therefore remains but that we take other Measures of Wisdom and other Objects of Content that we place not our Happiness in the things of this World nor labour for that which is not Bread that we lay not up Treasures for our selves upon Earth but rather endeavour to be Rich towards God that we do not plunge our selves so deep into the World and the Pleasures of this Life this short Life as to forget the days of Darkness which shall be many Above all let us take care that we do not take any thing of the World to be the good of our Souls much less so far as for the sake of any Honour Profit or Preferment to be false to the infinitely dearer Interest of our Religion and the Cause of God and his Church lest when we begin to Pride and Applaud our Selves in our Wisdom and withal fancy that even Posterity shall praise our Saying God in the mean time should say to any of us as he did to the Rich Man in our Parable Thou Fool. A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Consideration of God and of the Divine Presence Psal. 16. 9. I have set the Lord always before me AND 't were Happy we could all do so we should then certainly be more Pure and Uncorrupt in our Thoughts and Intentions more Spiritual and Elevated in our Affections and more Orderly and Regular in our Actions whether in our Retirements or upon the open Stage we should demean our selves with more care and exactness both towards God our Neighbour and our Selves we should lead our Lives with more Innocence and leave them with more Courage and Chearfulness than we generally do The Words as indeed the whole Psalm seem immediately to concern the Person and the Condition